Ohisashiburi desu ne? It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been trying to get a higher level of writing out, too. Partners, which really just wrote itself, has had such a great turn out that I wanted to try and capture that style and feel again. The result is this. It's been bothering me for a while now, and after reading it several times, I'm relatively confident in its look and feel, so now I wish to post it. I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I did trying to write it.
Please be advised!This story is based off a lot of assumptions on my part. The majority of events are taken from the manga version's perspective, which I think makes a more solid storyline. While I will undoubtedly end up referencing certain scenes that do show up in the anime, both the Duel Monsters and the Toei version, that's not the core universe I'm working with. That being said, I did try to get the two to coincide as much as I could, but I have completely thrown out the Noa and Doom arcs. I also completely screwed with the timeline in a (remarkably vain) attempt to make a good starting and ending place for myself. But for the purposes of setting the stage, you only need to know three. So...
Assumption #1 - The Timeline) The time spent between the beginning of the manga and end of the manga equals out to a year and a half. The first seven volumes take a year. Duelist Kingdom occurs before the new school year starts (the beginning of April). It takes Kaiba four month of production before the Duel Disk is ready for Battle City, which falls during the summer break (early August). The final battle between Yugi and Atem happens before the break is over (late August). The story starts just after the autumn break (mid October).
Assumption #2 - The Setting) Everyone is in the last half of their sophomore year by the time Battle City ends. This means everyone's approximate age is 17 during the course of the year. For example: Jounouchi's birthday is January 25, which is in the middle of the academic year. With the story starting in October, he hasn't had his birthday yet, so Jounouchi is only 16, while Yugi, whose birthday is June 4, has already turned 17.
Assumption #3 - The Characters) Kaiba's background is completely arbitrary and was totally made up by me and my roommates. His attitudes/interactions towards/with Mokuba are also inspired by my roommates. The majority of the story revolves around Kaiba, Yugi, and Jounouchi, and the relationships there between, but with a group as close as this, there's no way to get away from everyone being involved.
I think I've blabbed enough now. Hope you enjoy the story.
~Tawnya
Chapter 1—
The last thing Jounouchi Katsuya needed from anyone was to be saved.
Despite the lengths he would go to for others, his willingness to place everything on the line for those he considered friends and the near reckless abandon he put into a fight (any fight), he did not and could not accept these things in return. And when someone tried, he would quietly and firmly refuse the assistance. It didn't matter who was offering what, or how obviously or desperately he needed the help, Jounouchi refused to accept anything that remotely resembled charity. Rather, he had to be tricked into accepting. So while "Do you want part of my lunch?" would fail, "I don't like these very much, are you interested in them?" succeeded.
Like any game, there were very specific rules to be followed and etiquette to be observed. When someone overstepped their bounds, the game stopped. Jounouchi would smile, and with some easy line rolling off his tongue, simply walk away. The board was cleared and there were no hard feeling at the next meeting. It was a dance Yugi had caught onto quickly, Anzu followed, and Honda, who despite knowing Jounouchi just that much longer than everyone else, still managed to stumble to along the way. It had taken Ryou a while and Otogi even longer because the reasons for this bizarre bit of behavior never came up in conversation. No one talked about Jounouchi's parents, his financial situation, or the constant wash of bruises and scrapes on his skin. No questions were asked when study groups turned into all night affairs, or when he asked for a third helping, or when there was the conspicuous lack of a lunch towards the end of the month.
Rumors abounded, and for the most part, Jounouchi let them be. To classmates and teachers alike, he was a goof-off and a punk, one of the worst students to ever attend Domino High School. But Jounouchi would simply laugh and say someone had to be at the bottom or be heartfelt about what they were doing. There were only a select few whose opinions mattered to him and everyone else could just fuck off, as far as he was concerned. And to these people, he was an incredibly strong and smart person in ways that defied testing results.
Of course, the only one that didn't follow the rules, and yet still somehow managed to matter, was Kaiba Seto.
Everyone knew (and expected) the CEO to play by his own rules. Being on the cutting edge of both games and technology usually meant that he was not only setting the standard for the industry, but creating the rules that all others would follow as they struggled to catch up. Business, and certainly not the big business Kaiba Corp. was engaged in, was not for the feint of heart or the meek; two things no one in their right mind would accuse Kaiba of, even if it was behind his back. So while countless rumors were still whispered about the weird circumstances that lead to his take over the company, no one would deny that he was a powerful and dangerous man. Especially considering that he'd fought for, and won, custody of his younger brother while he himself was still considered a minor by the government.
Most people were baffled by his very existence at Domino High. How could such an average place have both the best and worst students at the same time? In the same class? And how could someone who only showed up to class a third of the time possibly best the scores of one who was always there? Many believed that it was because of this extreme case of opposites the made Kaiba and Jounouchi gravitate towards each other. Like super magnets, neither could escape the strong pull of the other, which resulted in no end of insults, name calling, yelling and arguing whenever they met, much to the dismay of teachers and the joy of students respectively. If anyone asked, neither had anything good to say about the other, if indeed they said anything at all.
Which is what made the following incident so strange…
All things considered, everyone should have known it wouldn't be a normal Wednesday. Normally, students would file into the classroom slowly, small groups talking amongst themselves. Normally, it was one of the few days when the group met up individually at school, rather than walking into the grounds all together. The Game Shop usually got shipments that morning and Yugi would stay behind to help with inventory. Anzu always worked late the night before, so she gratefully took the extra half hour of sleep meeting at school offered. Ryou's family called Wednesday mornings, Otogi generally busied himself with extraneous paperwork at his store, and Honda arrived early in an attempt to spend discreet time chatting up Miho. No one really knew what Jounouchi did with the extra time, but he would walk in just as the last bell would ring. The only thing that really was missing was the click of a keyboard from Kaiba's desk, who still had yet to returned from his American venture.
But this day, Kaiba was there, typing away on his laptop as if he hadn't missed a day, let alone two and a half months. Otogi and Honda walked in together, the former explaining some point on the previous day's homework. Having shipments come in the night before, Yugi had met early in the morning with Anzu for an impromptu cram session for a test later in the day. Jounouchi, still the last one to arrive, walked in shortly behind them and slumped into his chair without much of a greeting. They were the only ones there. There was still almost twenty minutes before first bell.
Awkward silence filled the air between the ratta-tattas of keystrokes. Yugi, being Yugi, tried to greet the recently absent CEO classmate, but got the usual grunt of acknowledgement and nothing else. Conversation was hushed and stilted, as if breaking the quiet of the classroom had suddenly become taboo. That is, until Anzu let out a startled gasp and bolted out of her chair.
"Jounouchi! You're bleeding!"
This caused everyone, including Kaiba, to stare at the blond. Jounouchi wearily raised his head to return the startled gazes with a bleary one of his own before looking down at the desk. Sure enough, there was a small puddle of blood on the laminate wood surface. A hand came up to touch his face, trying to find the source, which was a cut along his scalp line on the right side. The thin trail of crimson fluid was dripping down the side of his face, pooling where his chin had rested against the desktop. He stared at the blood on his fingertips, and then shrugged. "Ain't that big of a deal…"
"Other than the fact that blood is a bio hazard," Kaiba said coolly. "Had all your shots?"
"You're the one that's been outta the country for months. Shouldn't you be in quarantine?" Jounouchi growled back.
"That only applies to animals and produce. Which would be you and not me."
"Kaiba-kun, please," Yugi begged, stepping between the two boys, his concerned gaze focusing on his friend. "What happened?"
Jounouchi shrugged again. "Nothin'." He wiped at the blood trail with his hand, frowning at the half-congealed liquid on his fingertips. Facial lacerations always bled twice as much as was necessary, but there hadn't been any blood on his face when he'd visited the washroom before walking into the classroom. He reached up and felt the cut again, wincing slightly as something dug deeper into the skin and more blood rushed out of the wound. Great…
By this time, Honda had returned from the bathroom with a wad of paper towels. Jounouchi wiped the worst of the blood from his hands and took off his school jacket. Blood had started seeping into the collar of his shirt, spreading out at a rapid rate through the white material, and it was smeared across his cheek and neck. Without a second thought, he pulled off that shirt too, mopping up the side of his face with it. This left him in a very thin tank top that revealed the marbled bruises forming along his shoulders and upper arms, and a series of large bandages wrapped around his side. Without looking at anyone, he turned his back to the group before he started digging at the cut in his scalp. With a few muttered curses, his fingernails finally caught a hold of the offending shrapnel. He stared at the gory piece of glass, wondering how he'd missed something of that size in the first place. He tossed it onto the desk before picking up his bloodied shirt to finish cleaning up the mess.
"It's not even seven in the morning and already you've been in a fight?" Kaiba sniffed. "What happened? Had to fight the other rats for breakfast?"
"Hey, lay off, Kaiba," Anzu and Honda said together.
"You don't know what you're talking about," came from Ryou.
"Can't you just give it a rest?" asked Otogi.
"You know, I'm really not in the mood for your shit today," Jounouchi said, as though his friends hadn't said anything. He turned and leaned against the desk, staring directly in Kaiba's eyes. "So how about we just fast forward to the part you where you call me all sorts of idiotic and inane names, I tell you to fuck off, and we both go our separate ways?"
"It's been over two months," Kaiba said lazily, leaning back slightly in his chair. "I wouldn't want to rush you on your decent back to your proper place, lest you go into shock and take all the amusement out of this."
"Then let me make your day," Jounouchi responded, smiling in a way that showed no humor. "You're right. I admit it. I'm a lousy mutt, an amateurish and third-rate duelist who has no business ownin' cards, let alone duelin' someone with them. I'm a perpetual loser and all around failure as a human bein' who will never amount to anythin' because the only things I'm good at is runnin' my mouth and gettin' my punk ass into fist fights. I don't have the brains or the balls the gods gave a crowbar, so no matter how hard I try, the best I'm ever gonna be is a drain on society and the people around me. The only reason I'm where I am today is sheer dumb luck. I should do the world a favor and find some small hole to crawl into and just die. Then people like you wouldn't have to put up with my stupidity and general degenerative state constantly affrontin' your finer senses." The smile dropped as he finished the tirade. "That cover everythin'?" Kaiba just stared at him. "Yes? Good. I'm leavin'." He grabbed his jacket and bag in one hand, red stained shirt in the other and started for the door.
"Jounouchi!" Yugi and Honda shouted.
The blond didn't even turn around. He merely waved them off with a "Yeah, yeah. Later." The door crashed closed behind him.
For a moment, the group looked at each other with somewhat helpless expressions and half formed questions. Honda made the first move, grabbing the rumpled paper towels from earlier and finished the cleanup of the desk. Otogi had found something extremely interesting under his fingernails. Anzu and Ryou were giving Yugi worried looks, but the smaller boy merely shook his head before busying himself with arranging his books for the day. Kaiba just stared at them in much the same manner he had Jounouchi moments before. Weren't they going to do something? Where had all the bullshit about friendship and loyalty they were always preaching about gone? He might not like Jounouchi, but there had to be an explanation for why he'd just pulled a piece of glass from his head.
He stood sharply, making the chair rock back unsteadily. If they weren't going to ask what the problem was, then he would. In long strides, he crossed the classroom and was just about out the door when Yugi's voice caught up to him.
"No, Kaiba-kun! You need to leave him alone!"
He wanted to sneer and make some comment about how ludicrous friendship was if you weren't going to actually help someone when they obviously needed it, but Jounouchi had already made it to the end of the hall and had started down the stairs to the main floor. If he stopped to talk now, the other would be off the school property and gods only knew where after that. So he ignored the call, shut the door firmly behind him to dissuade anyone else from coming along too, and headed down the hall as quickly as dignity would allow. Being just that much taller than Jounouchi also meant his stride was just that much longer, but even Kaiba conceded that when the blond wanted to move, he could move. Because of that, they were out in the courtyard before he finally caught up.
"Jounouchi," he called in a tone that made adult men freeze in their tracks, brought board meetings to perfect silence, and on more than one occasion had actually stopped babies from crying. As was to be expected, though still frustrating in its own right, Jounouchi merely flipped Kaiba off over his shoulder and kept walking. With a growl, Kaiba dashed forward the few remaining steps between them, grabbing Jounouchi's wrist to force him around.
He was expecting to have a punch thrown at him. He was expecting a barrage of insults and threats. He was expecting a rather heated physical altercation that would probably leave both of them with bruised knuckles, bloody lips, and three-week suspension notices. But nowhere in those expectations did he have a half yelp of pain, a very audible pop that sounded like a joint being dislocated, or the feeling of bone grinding against bone under his hand. He knew his grip was tight, maybe even tighter than was really necessary, but he still couldn't crush bones with his bare hands. The courtyard suddenly drew quiet, all eyes drawn to them. Some of the students started to whisper. Belatedly, Kaiba released his grip. Jounouchi's arm swung down limply, the bloody shirt dropping to the ground. They both stood there quietly for a while before Kaiba straightened. "I'm sorry."
It was a lame line, and everyone knew it, but what else was he supposed to say? Yet, where force hadn't made a difference, Jounouchi turned at the softer tone. He stared at Kaiba over his shoulder, his one visible eye dark with some swirl of emotions that the CEO couldn't even begin to decipher. It wasn't until the blond blinked that Kaiba realized they'd been staring at each other. Jounouchi gave a half shrug as soon as the spell wore off. "Forget about it." Then he calmly walked away.
Kaiba watched until the blond had exited through the school gates, posture and step never once betraying exactly how much pain Kaiba believed he truly was in. He spent a full minute glaring at the last place he'd seen Jounouchi, not sure what he was angry about or why he cared or even what business it was of his to interfere in the first place. Then he stooped to pick up the dropped shirt, cast an icy glare to all the students still standing around, and walked back into the school.
To be continued.
