Chapter One
—A Meaningful Gesture—

"I hear you're doing a make-up test for math today"

Jonouchi Katsuya lifted his head up to stare briefly at the girl standing by his desk before shutting his eyes again.

"Yeah. What's up, class rep? Come to nag at me for not studying?"

"Not today" she sounded oddly calm after hearing his remark. "Actually, I came over because I couldn't help but notice you haven't eaten anything yet. Lunch period is almost over, you know"

"I don't have anything today"

"But Jonouchi-kun, you won't be able to do well on your test if you don't eat"

She wasn't worried about him- the girl was just stating a fact. He shrugged at it.

A soft rustling near his ear was heard, and curiosity made Katsuya open his eyes again.

Neatly wrapped in a red cloth, a box-like object sat on his desk, along with a pair of plain looking chopsticks.

"What's this?" he muttered, trying to hide his surprise with his sleeve.

"It's my lunch" she explained. "I'm not as hungry today and won't be able to finish it. How about you have the rest?" she placed her palms on the desk behind her while speaking, leaning against it gingerly.

The blonde teenager scowled up at her. "I might be tight with cash, but I can do without charity"

It was her turn to scowl. "This isn't charity! As the class representative, it's my duty to ensure that my fellow students are performing as best they can. A low class average is something I want to avoid, you know!"

He continued to frown up at the girl, who had now placed her hands on her hips. Kidono Akina was her name, the representative of class 2-B.

He had been misfortunate enough to be placed in a different class from Yuugi and the rest this year, and even more misfortunate because this girl was similar to Honda in that she was bossy, but worse since she actually held a bit of authority over others. She loved ending her sentences with 'you know', because there wasn't a single person in the class whom she hadn't lectured on something, so she was right. Everyone knew. What they knew wasn't very clear, but she'd repeat things so much it didn't really matter.

"Listen, Jonouchi-kun!" she continued lecturing. "If you eat properly then you'll do better on your test! Consider it study help from me, alright?"

His stomach knotted up with impatience. "Fine, I'll eat your girly lunch" he grumbled while untying the red cloth. "Now buzz off, class rep"

"Hey! You could at least thank me, you know!"

"Yeah, I know…"

Akina rolled her eyes before taking her irritating presence to a different part of the classroom.

Katsuya opened the box and was confused by what he saw.

'Have the rest' was what she said to him, but it looked like the food hadn't even been touched. He peeked over to where she was talking with a few other girls, trying to find answers in her distant features. Needless to say, he didn't succeed.

Absently, Katsuya admitted that her lunch wasn't all that girly, and tasted pretty good. It didn't matter if she already ate any or not, he supposed. More for him.

"Yo, class rep!" he waved to her after shutting his shoe locker. She looked up from the task of tying her street shoes. The blonde felt a wall of hesitation surround him. Talking to girls wasn't his strong point- especially if they were bossy ones who liked to point out every mistake you made. Actually, talking in general wasn't his strong point. Fighting was much easier.

"Yes? What is it, Jonouchi-kun?"

Ah, but she would carry the conversation out if he couldn't. Lucky him.

Katsuya held up her lunch box, red cloth wrapped around it in a very untidy manner. "Here's your stuff back" he said in a mumble, looking away from her. Akina stood up after finishing with her laces.

"Oh, thank you. Did it help?" her fingers curled into the red cloth and lifted it from his palm.

"Er…yeah!" the teenager could feel himself struggling to keep a straight face. "I think I got more questions right then on the first test"

"Good to know" the girl told him, putting the wrapped box into her schoolbag. "See you tomorrow, Jonouchi-kun" she turned away and began walking towards the exit of the school.

"Class rep, wait!" Jonouchi blurted as she was opening the door, his hand outstretched. She paused, looking back at him with an annoyed expression. Hesitation befell him again, but the girl's knitted brow made him continue. "Uh…well…thanks!" he pulled his hand back, rubbing his neck with it as heat ran over his cheeks. "It tasted pretty good"

He expected her to scowl at him, saying 'of course it did!' or something like that. Instead, Kidono blushed furiously, looking away for a minute. Then she turned her pink face back to him, smiling.

"You're welcome!"

Her tone was sweet and kind, and for a minute Katsuya thought he was talking to someone else.

Akina disappeared from sight as she walked out the door.

"Huh…" the teenager leaned against the wall of lockers with his hands behind his head, the heat on his cheeks refusing to lessen. "Didn't think she could make a face like that…"

"Jonouchi-kun!"

The blonde looked to where the voice of Mutou Yuugi had come from, flashing a grin at the sight of the smaller boy running towards him. Anzu, Miho and Hiroto followed behind at a walking pace.

"Yo, guys!" Katsuya stepped away from the lockers walk towards them.

"How were your classes today?" Yuugi asked excitedly when they reached each other. "In English, we got our tests back!"

"Oh? How'd you do?"

Yuugi's face fell at the question. "Um…well, not too good…"

"You passed, Yuugi!" Anzu told him cheerfully. "That's plenty good"

The owner of the millennium puzzle smiled. "Yeah!"

"Well, nothing new happened for me" the blonde told them while stretching. "Let's head home, I'm beat!"

"You're face is really red, Jonouchi-kun!" Miho pointed out in wonder. "Are you sick?"

"Uh? Wha?" Katsuya rubbed a hand over his face vigorously. "No! No, I'm fine! It's nothing!"

"Hmmm…" Honda narrowed his eyes at him, grinning knowingly. "If it isn't a fever then…aren't you blushing?"

"I'm not!" he denied furiously. "Who'd blush over the class rep?! You're such an idiot!"

"Class rep?" Anzu joined in curiously. "You mean the class representative of 2-B, Kidono-san? I though you said she was bossy and annoying"

"She IS!" the blonde shouted at her, making the brown haired girl cover her ears.

"She's a cute girl, Jonouchi! I wouldn't blame you if you liked her despite the personality!" the head of the 'beatification committee' pointed out slyly, before turning to the blue haired girl beside him. "But unlike her, Miho-chan has both good looks and a splendid personality!"

Miho giggled at the complement.

"I'm confused!" Yuugi said on the sidelines. "Jonouchi-kun likes someone? Kidono-san? I don't think I've met her…"

"And you don't wanna!" Jonouchi told him, ignoring the rest of his friends' comments stubbornly.

Eventually they parted ways and he made it to his apartment, cringing when the smell of smoke hit his nose. His dad must have forgotten to open the window while having a few cigarettes. The old man was passed out on the couch now, still-burning cinders in the ashtray. After removing his shoes the teenager walked over to the small apartment's window, careful to avoid the bits of broken glass on the floor. He unhooked the latch and opened it, sticking his head out to breath in fresh air.

"Man, maybe I should just stay outside for a bit while the smoke fades…" he sighed, laying his head down on the windowsill. "It's lucky that the fire alarm didn't go off…"

On second thought, it would be better for him to stay inside. His dad would be waking up soon enough and be wondering where his brat son was to shout at.

Waking up in the morning was never hard for him.

There was always the sound of heavy footsteps and clinking glass as his father returned home from another night of money-spending and drinking to take him away from sleep. The man would collapse on the couch, either falling asleep or finishing whatever he drink had in hand. That would be the boy's cue to get up and get ready for school.

Today was no different, and as Katsuya was fitting into his uniform jacket his dad began to snore, the bottle of beer falling from his weakened grasp and to the floor. Its contents spilled onto the carpet, soaking through the already stained material. The blonde hopped over the wet spot before skillfully kicking the emptied beer bottle up into the air, catching it with a quick hand. He treaded over to where the rarely used garbage can was and placed the bottle into a bag tucked behind it.

Returning them got him ten yen a piece, so with how much his dad drank, it was a good way to get food money. The old man never asked about the disappearing bottles, though he probably assumed it was his son trying to be useful by cleaning. While Katsuya would agree that he was cleaning, it was to his own benefit.

Stretching languidly, the blonde picked his book bag up off the floor and left the apartment, locking it behind him. The drunken man asleep on his couch wouldn't do any good against robbers.

Class was really boring.

It was boring last year, but it was worse now because Yuugi and the others weren't there to talk to. The English teacher droned out words he didn't understand, sleepiness urging him to shut his eyes. His lids drooped against his will, and just as his head started nodding something caught his attention, snapping the drowsy blonde out of his half-asleep state.

He had a familiar feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. It was the same one he got when he was being trailed, people- usually thugs- sneaking after his footsteps.

Someone was watching him.

To get such a notion while in the classroom felt out of place, but he couldn't deny what his gut was telling him. Suspiciously he looked to the left of the class, slowly dragging his gaze across the room, observing everything in his field of vision. As he turned his head to the right side of the room, his brown eyes met with blue ones. They were shy and half-closed but definitely directed towards him. Katsuya leaned back a little, taking in just whose eyes he had met.

Kidono Akina had royal blue eyes that suited her position of authority as class representative. The girl looked different from usual, though. Her eyes were dazed and out of focus, when normally they were sharp and watchful, beaming or glaring at whomever she chose. The girl's mouth would be straight, twisting into a frown more often then not, and she never hid her displeasure from others. Today she rested her chin in her palm, the girl's fingers covering her lips.

Why's she looking at me instead of the teacher? Katsuya asked himself in irritation, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. Is she mad that I was about to fall asleep? And why's she got her mouth covered like that? She should just scowl at me openly like she always does. He made eye-contact with her again, the girl's hazy eyes unsettling him even more. God, she isn't even glaring! Quit being so out of character, class rep!

Maybe Akina had somehow heard what he was thinking, because she blinked away the clouds in her eyes and then quickly looked to the front of the class, her free hand moving up to join the other under her chin.

Jonouchi relaxed immediately, looking away from the class representative as he put his head on his desk. Eyes shutting, the student gave into his previous desire of falling asleep.

--

"Jonouchi-kun! Hey, Jonouchi-kun! Class is over, you know!"

"Uhn…what?" Katsuya lifted his head wearily. Why the hell was the class rep waking him up? No, why was she even in his apartment?

"I said class is over!" the girl repeated herself loudly.

Reality settled in around the blonde as he realized that it wasn't his apartment he was in, but the classroom. Kidono seemed to have regained her normal personality as she slapped her notebook down beside his head, waking him further.

"Hurry up and go home!" she demanded, her hair shining in the afternoon light. "I have things to do and I can't leave the classroom if you're in here!"

"I got it already!" Jonouchi snapped back, glaring. "Give me a second, would you?"

The girl took a step back from his desk and planted her hands on her hips, foot tapping to show impatience. The blonde boy grumbled as he gathered his things, shoving them inside his book bag indelicately before pushing his seat out of his way, walking towards the classroom door.

"Hey!" Akina called from behind him. "At least push in your seat! It's rude to leave it like that!"

Katsuya didn't stop walking. "Do it yourself!"

He heard the girl let out a noise of frustration as he shut the classroom door, walking leisurely down the steps to the first floor of the building. He reached the shoe lockers soon enough, and was surprised to find that the area was completely empty.

The student scratched at his blonde head in confusion. Just how late was it? Come to think of it, the lighting in the classroom was pretty dark. He looked at the clock on the wall.

"S-six thirty?" he sputtered out. "Seriously, that late?! That stupid class rep should have woken me up sooner! Damn it…"

If he went home now, his dad would yell about him not getting back fast enough…

"Better to just hang around town until he's left the apartment" the boy decided, grabbing his street shoes and throwing the indoor footwear into his locker. Sighing, he sat down and tied up the runners. What all could he do tonight? Play at the arcade, get a bite to eat, maybe stroll around the park for a bit…

Shoving one hand into his uniform pocket while holding onto his book bag with the other, Katsuya left.

After finally watching season zero of Yu-Gi-Oh, I found that I loved it immensely. Ignoring the bad animation quality and the rushed storyline near the end, this version of the series was far more enjoyable then the other over all, despite my rampant love of the show's memory arc. The character's back-stories are better explained, people's lives don't revolve around children's card games, Yuugi is disturbed about his memory loss, Yami acts as evil as his name implies, Anzu openly questions her friend's multiple personality situation, they go to class and do work, Hiroto actually has a personality, and Katsuya fights people, hardcore!

On that note, Jonouchi Katsuya was my favorite character in this season. His story was so better explored, but it bothered me that Yuugi and the others never seem to seriously worry about his home life, so in this story I wanted to look into all of that more closely while mixing in the romance that I so adore, and really feel that he deserves. I mean, he pays for the bills while still only in high school! His dad's throwing whiskey bottles at him! How hard could that man kick?! He's got really heavy looking boots on! Poor Katsuya needs some TLC for all the hard work he does.

Onto the subject of the class placement and the start of the new year- I had them start their second year at domino high because in one scene of season zero, we are shown the characters at the beginning of class, and we hear a voice saying the usual 'stand! Bow! Be seated!' morning routine. This is usually done by the class representative. The voice was a male voice, however, so without making it different class, and thus a different year, I wouldn't be able to explain this plot hole involving Akina.

I put Katsuya into a different class from the other canon characters for several reasons. The biggest one was the large sum of characters to handle. I was worried that if everyone from the show was involved in the story too deeply, it would end up like the actual show, and I wouldn't be able to focus on Katsuya's life as strongly as I want to, since I would worry about balancing the other character's roles well enough. Furthermore, with Akina's bossy-with-good-intentions attitude, I felt that I might have ended up making her look overpowering when working with the full canon cast. That'd be a very bad thing, especially since OCs are risky things that need to be placed carefully into a story.

To those who read my DMW sorry, I'm not quitting, I just want a break from all the crazy Bakura-ness and Bastet's angst. High school scenarios don't make me nearly as depressed.

I do believe that's all I have to say. Sorry for the long author note, I'm sure it won't happen again.