Underage.

Ice Puppet & Sakura Kaiba

Ryuuji laughed lightly, waving at a girl as she left the cafe with her boyfriend. He picked up a clean rag and began to clean off the counter, humming along with the music that played over the speakers.

Noa sighed, shifting his bookbag over his shoulder as he walked into the shop with a small smile.

The black haired boy finished cleaning the counters, before walking over to Noa, wiping his hands on his apron. He grinned. "What's up?"

The blue haired boy smiled. "Nothing, really... You?"

"Same old." Ryuuji grinned. "Let me guess... root beer float, right?"

Noa smiled happily, nodding. "Hai!"

Ryuuji turned to the back. "BAKURA! ONE ROOT BEER FLOAT!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Came the girly boyish voice, before silence.

The black haired male sat down across from the younger boy, grinning. "How'd you do on that last test?"

The younger boy smiled happily. "Much better than I did before, thanks to you."

Laughing, Ryuuji brushed some hair out of his face. "Neh... I'm not that good! And its no problem! Glad to help!"

"You're better than I am," Noa blushed, looking down at the table nervously.

"Well, I'm out of high school, so I know all this stuff."

"That's true."

"Otogi! Order up!"

Ryuuji got up, quickly walking over to get the float. He stalked back over to Noa, placing it in front of the boy, before pulling a straw out of his apron and handing it to Noa.

Noa smiled, taking it. "Arigatou."

"No problem," he said in English, with a grin.

Noa blushed, laughing nervously before placing the straw in his drink and leaning over to dig around in his bag once more.

Ryuuji looked up as a few more people entered. "Be back," he nodded to Noa, before getting up to walk over to the people. "Welcome to The Change of Heart Cafe. You may sit anywhere you'd like. Over here we have the non-smoking section, and over there we have the other non-smoking section."

Noa giggled, before pulling out a couple sheets of his History homework and placing them on the desk in front of him.

The girls giggled, and the older male flashed them a smile as they sat down. He pulled out two menus from his back, and they clapped, as if he had done it with magic. He bowed, before backing over to Noa, and taking a sit.

The younger boy pouted at his homework, pulling out a pencil and attempting to find the answer to question 3 in his textbook.

Ryuuji smiled at him, looking over his shoulder. "Ouch. World war II."

"Maaaaaa. It's not fair. I hate this class."

"I hated that class too! But you know which one was worse?" He leaned closer to the other boy, before sticking out his tongue. "P.E."

Noa chuckled, blushing by trying to hide it. "Yeah,"

Sitting back, Ryuuji scowled. "I always got beaten up by the bullies and what not. Fuckers."

"Well, yeah...that too...."Noa muttered, looking out the window.

"You too!?" Ryuuji cried, astonished. "The big Kaiba Noa? No way!"

"Heh," He rolled his eyes. "I have money. That's it,"

"But you're cute, too."

The younger boy's blush increased as he giggled nervously. "Uhm...ah..."

Ryuuji glanced at the table of giggling girls, before grinning and standing up, walking over to them. He pulled a pen from his ponytail, and a notepad from his pocket. "Are you two ready to order?"

The two girls nodded,  before ordering their food.

Noa sighed, feeling stupid as he put his head back on the table.

Slipping the paper to Bakura, Ryuuji stalked back over to Noa's seat. He lightly patted the boy on the head. "Don't feel stupid, Noa."

"Na-nani..?"

"You looked like you felt like something was completely your fault, and that you felt like an idiot. I'm good with reading people. You gotta be to work here."

Ryuuji frowned. "Hey, what's wrong? Your not your usual cheerful 'yay, Ryuuji's here!' self."

Noa looked up. "Huh? Oh, nothing, really." He smiled, putting his happiness back in place.

Deciding not to comment, Ryuuji grinned. "Hey, you know, you're old enough, you should get a job here!"

He laughed lightly. "I really don't think I could handle both a job AND school.."

"Hey, i get it," Ryuuji waved his hand, grinning. "Why do you think I dropped out?"

Noa blinked. "Ehh..."

"Same reason! I just decided that a job was more important then an education. Yeah, I was an idiot back then."

"Ahh..." The younger boy nodded, putting his head back down on the desk and staring at his root beer.

"Any more homework you need help with?"

"Yeah, my English...but if you're busy, it's okay..."

"Nah, I have to wait for the food to cook, then I just gotta give it to them. Oh, hey! I got you something!" He got up, walking over to the counter, and pulling something out. He walked back over to Noa, handing him a little blue box with wrapping paper. "I know your stupid brother doesn't let you guys celebrate Christmas and all, but I had to get it for you. It reminded me of you too much."

He blinked, blush returning from hiding. He took the box and examined it for a bit, smiling.

"Go on!" Ryuuji urged. "Open it!"

He nodded, opening the box.

Inside sat a bracelet with several charms on it. One with a dice, one with an arc, and then two little hands with their birthstones embedded into them.

Ryuuji chuckled. "Okay, so I made it myself... but I really wanted to get you something!"

His blush increased and he smiled, holding it up. "I think it's wonderful," He murmured.

"Yeah?" The green eyed boy smiled. "I'm glad."

Noa stood, jumping up and hugging the taller boy happily. "Mmm...Arigatou~!"

Ryuuji laughed lightly, hugging Noa back. "Your welcome!"

The younger boy blinked, pulling away and still blushing. "Um...eh.." He laughed nervously, before holding the bracelet and his wrist out for Ryuuji's help.

The older smiled warmly, before reaching out and taking hold of the clasps. He locked them together, before letting the bracelet fall limply on Noa's wrist. "It looks good on you."

He held it up, smiling at it fondly. He nodded to Ryuuji's comment.

"Order up!" Bakura called from the back.

"Be back," Ryuuji said, before heading off. He grabbed the plates and smiled at the girls as he placed them in their proper spots.

"Is that your boyfriend?" One of the girls asked.

"What?" Ryuuji blinked.

"He's kind of young for you, don't you think?" The other girl growled, looking pissed.

Noa turned away, going back to his seat nervously and still blushing to himself.

"No," The black haired boy said calmly. "He's not my boyfriend. At least, not yet."

The blue haired boy sighed, staring out the window.

The girls were silent, before Ryuuji turned, walking back over to Noa.

Noa looked up solemnly, and then went back to staring through the window.

"Hey, it's getting late. I get off in a half an hour. Wanna go out for some pizza or something?"

Noa smiled, turning to look at him. "Hai!"

"Great!" He smiled. "I'm so beating you at DDR this time!"

"Awwww...no fair," The younger pouted.

"You always win!"

"I guess I'm just magical, then.."

"I think you practice more then me."

"Ssshhh. Don't doubt my magical powers."

"Ohh, I'd never doubt you, o holy Kaiba Noa!"

He blushed, laughing.

Ryuuji laughed as well, shaking his head.

Noa let out a breath, staring into his lap.

"You are the most amusing thing in this city, Noa."

"Na-nani?" He muttered, looking up.

Grinning, the green eyed boy winked at him. "I dare say, you are my best friend!"

He blushed, smiling fondly at Ryuuji. "Yay,"

"Your also the only person who's nice to me. Doesn't that make you speical?"

"Sure," He giggled.

Ryuuji looked over at the girls as they finished off their meal. Sighing, he went over and took their card, before ringing it up. He handed the card back to them, before going to the task of cleaning off the table.

Noa smiled to himself, happy about what the other boy had said as he looked to his side once more in waiting.

Ryuuji sighed, placing the plates in the sink. "Ryou! Dishes!" He stepped back out, picking up a clean rag as he began to wipe down the table.

He glanced over at the girls, then back to the table, hoping they'd stay away from him.

They giggled to each other, before leaving the building.

Ryuuji placed the cloth in the bucket, before walking over to Noa, taking off his apron. "I'm off work."

"Yay!"

Ryuuji laughed lightly, setting his apron on the table. "Ryou! Bakura! I'm leaving!"

"Hai~!" Two identical voices called from the back.

"Come on," Ryuuji said with a smile, holding out his hand.

Noa packed up his bags hastily, and took Ryuuji's hand, standing with a  small blush.

Ryuuji stepped out the door, not letting go of Noa's hand.

The younger boy followed, happily, and nervously.

"So, to the arcade?"

He nodded. "Hai."

Smiling, the other boy let go of his hand, walking toward the arcade.

Noa followed along behind him quietly.

"You still need help on your English, right?"

He nodded from his spot. "Hai," He muttered.

"All right." He paused for a moment, before saying: "Translate this for me. Watashi wa boku desu."

Noa blinked. "Uhm..."

Ryuuji smirked. "Just kidding."

"That wasn't nice.." He muttered.

"I'm a bad-boy, remember?"

He blushed again. "Right."

"Here we are!" Ryuuji smiled as they walked up to the arcade. "Good old arcade, ne?"

Noa nodded. "Nn."

The black haired boy frowned. "Something wrong?"

He shook his head. "Iie.."

"You sure? No problems at home or anything?"

"I'm okay, " He whispered. "Really."

"All right..."

He smiled. "DDR?"

"Hell yeah!"

He giggled. "Let's go then."

The black haired boy grinned. "Race you."

Noa laughed. "Okay,"

"Ready... set.... GO!"

Noa took off running as fast as he could, following Ryuuji who was still in lead.

Ryuuji laughed as he reached the DDR game, smiling as Noa as he came running up behind. "I win again."

Noa gasped for air, hunched over his knees. "Of course."

"Hey, you okay?" Frowning, Ryuuji knelt down, putting a hand on Noa's shoulder.

"Fine," He muttered, coughing.

"Noa... I don't think your fine."

"No, I..." He tried, covering his mouth. "I've just had a little cold.."

"Why don't I believe you? I think you need to go to the doctors, Noa."

"If you say so.."

"I'm serious!"

He looked up, coughing again and shaking his head. "But.."

"I care about you a lot, Noa. I don't want you to get sick."

"Seto told me I'd be okay.." He muttered, looking away.

Ryuuji's eyes narrowed. "Seto is a lying fucker."

He tried to laugh, but coughed again.

Noa blinked, taking Ryuuji's hand and nodding.

Ryuuji helped him up, slowly.

He blushed. "A-arigatou..." Noa stammered.

"You don't need to thank me. I worry about you."

"Gomen nasai," He muttered. "I must be a bother to you.."

"No way! I enjoy taking care of you."

He giggled. "Oh, really..?" He tried to stand, losing his balance. He remembered playing tag with Mokuba a couple days earlier, and the same thing happened.

Ryuuji caught him easily, a frown on his face. Without another word he lifted Noa up onto his back and started toward the entrance.

Noa blushed again, holding his mouth. "Ryuuji, you really don't have to do this..."

"I know."

Noa smiled lightly. "Please tell me, if I start bothering you.."

"I will."

Noa nodded.

Ryuuji started walking to the hospital, which wasn't far away. "How long have you been like this?"

"Holy shit.. and you didn't tell anyone? Aside from Seto, anyway?"

"Mokuba knew I was coughing...but I didn't tell anyone else. I thought Seto would know what was wrong..." He muttered, before wrapping his arms around Ryuuji's neck lightly to hold on.

"Why didn't you at least tell me?"

"Because I thought it would go away. I didn't want you worrying about me, I'm not that important.."

Ryuuji stopped dead, looking over his shoulder at the boy on his back. "Why would you ever think that?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, I just..." He muttered. "No one else cares about me.."

"I care about you more then I do my own self!"

His blush increased. "Really..?"

The black haired boy nodded.

"Arigatou..." He whispered.

Only smiling, Ryuuji started off on his walk again, ignoring the people that gave them all strange stares.

Noa held a hand to his head carefully. "I feel dizzy, Ryuuji-kun.."

"Hold on. We're almost there."

He nodded slowly. "Hai..."

They came up to the hospital, and Ryuuji automatically rushed to the emergency room. He stepped inside and walked up to the front desk, glaring at the woman working there. "Listen, lady. I don't have his insurance or anything like this, but Noa here needs help."

He blushed, closing his eyes and sighing.

"All right," the woman sighed. "We're not busy right now, so have a seat and I'll call you up real soon." She handed a few papers to Ryuuji. "Just fill out your name, age, and address, then his name, age, and address."

Ryuuji nodded, before taking the papers and walking over to a few chairs. He sat Noa down, before taking a seat beside him. "Hey, Noa, you okay?"

The younger boy coughed, nodding as best he could. "Hai..." He muttered.

Sighing, the older male began to fill out the papers. "Hey, Noa?"

"Hai?"

"How old are you?"

"16."

Ryuuji gasped, looking at him. "R-Really!?"

The younger boy blinked. "Hai. Nani yo? Is there something wrong?"

"N-no... I just... I just thought t-that you were older, is all..."

He blinked, looking away, embarrassed and defeated. "Oh."

Standing up, Ryuuji walked over to the woman, handing her the papers. She nodded, before looking at Noa. "You can come in now."

He stood, stumbling a bit and holding his head before trying to take a deep breath. "Hai.."

Ryuuji tried to follow Noa into the back, but the woman held up her hand.

"Only family," she told him sadly. "Sorry."

Noa looked up at her. "Please..?"

She frowned. "But the rules—"

"I doubt any of my family would care even if they were here. I'm sure we could just lie...right? Please?"

After a long pause, she sighed, and nodded.

"Thank you," Ryuuji said with a smile.

She nodded. "But no one hears about this, okay?" After they both nodded, she headed into the back, before ringing up the doctor. "He'll be here in about two mineuts."

Noa nodded. "Okay."

"Your room is number four." She nodded to the door, before flashing them a smile and going back to the desk.

Ryuuji took Noa's hand, helping him over to the room. He shuttered. "I hate hospitals."

"Gomen nasai."

"Hm?" He frowned at Noa as they entered the room. "For what?"

"For....I don't know. For being sick."

"Its not something you can help, Noa. Now, do you want me to lift you into the bed?"

"Could you..?" He blushed.

Smiling, Ryuuji lifted Noa up and sat him on the bed. "They make these things too high, anyway."

The younger boy was still blushing, while he looked into his lap nervously.

Sighting, the back haired boy sat down on the doctor's chair, rocking it back and forth lightly with his feet.

Noa sighed, looking up at him. "Bored?"

"Nah... I just hate waiting."

"Oh," He smiled.

Soon, a tall, slender looking female doctor walked in, closing the door behind her. She smiled up at them.

Ryuuji smiled back warmly, getting off of the seat.

"So, who's Noa?" She asked lightly, in her odd, professional tone. Noa raised his hand shyly.

"Ahh..." She smiled. "I see." The woman looked over her clipboard as Noa fidgeted.

Ryuuji placed a hand on Noa's shoulder, trying to get him to relax. He sent the boy a huge, playful grin, as if trying to make him smile.

Noa giggled, coughing and covering his mouth. The doctor tilted her head to the side, concerned look on her face. "That didn't sound good," She stated blankly, before looking back down. Her eyes widened. "Ohh....how long has it been since you've been here?" She inquired. Noa pondered it for a moment, before sighing.

"Since I was 5 years old...I think..."

The doctor gasped. "You've got shots missing and everything...that's awkward. Didn't your mother ever take you?"

"My mother's dead. It's my older brother that takes care of me. He never really thought about it, I guess..."

Ryuuji stayed silent, inwardly hating Seto.

The doctor made a 'tsk' noise with her tongue, before telling Noa that he'd have to get his shots. The aqua-haired boy shivered, making a small whimpering noise.

"Hey," Ryuuji smiled, sitting down next to Noa. "It doesn't hurt that much, actually. And I'm here. You can squeeze my hand, okay?"

Noa blushed, smiling. "Arigatou," He muttered.

"But first," She began. "What is it that you're here for?"

"I'm not sure..."Noa told her truthfully. "I've been coughing a lot lately and feeling dizzy. I've been sick from school a couple times, and I always get exhausted when I run."

She furrowed her brow. "I see. How long has this been?"

"About a month or two, maybe.."

"Noa... you didn't tell me all that..." The black haired boy sounded somewhat hurt.

Noa glanced over at Ryuuji. "I didn't think you'd care..." He muttered, before the doctor looked back at him.

"How are you related to him, anyways?" She asked.

Ryuuji's eyes widened. "Uh... um... second cousin once removed?"

She laughed. "That wouldn't have worked anyway. But it's okay that you're here, as long as no one finds out and you don't do it again."

"Arigatou."

She looked back to Noa. "I'm going to give you some cough syrup, okay? It's prescription, and the directions will be on the bottle. If it doesn't start to heal, or if you don't think it's working, come back here and tell me, okay?"

The younger boy nodded. She smiled, before patting him on the head lightly. "Good." She muttered, before turning around to fill out his prescription form and hand it to him.

"Hand this to the woman at the Prescription desk, and she'll get it for you." She instructed as Noa listened and nodded the entire time.

"Now..." She began. "You're missing 3 shots."

Ryuuji squeaked lightly as Noa's grip on his hand tightened.

"Are they really necessary?" He muttered. "I mean..."

The doctor laughed, before nodding. "Yes, they are. Now I'm going to go get everything, okay? Don't move!" She told them, as if they had anywhere to go.

"Itai..." the older of the two squeaked. "My hand... cant feel... fingers... itai...itai..."

Noa blinked, before moving his hand from Ryuuji's with a little blush. "G-gomen nasai..."

"Its okay," he sighed. "Not too much damage done..."

The doctor came back in, with three bottles and three needles.

Ryuuji stayed calm, even thought on the inside he hated needles as much as the next sane person.

She set 2 of the sets down, before pulling one needle out of it's individually wrapped package and stabbing it into the top of the bottle, watching as she filled the syringe. Noa was clinging to Ryuuij's arm now, shaking and closing his eyes.

"Hey... its gonna be okay. It doesn't hurt that much. I got my ear pierced and it hurt like fuck, and compared to that, this is nothing."

The younger boy sighed as the woman approached, and asked him to take his school jacket off. He did as told, moving so she had access to his shoulder.She smiled, holding the needle up. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon." She told him, before pricking him with the needle as he winced and squeezed Ryuuji's hand again. Soon after, she'd pulled the needle out and Noa blinked.

"Done with that one," She smiled, before starting on the second. Soon after, she was finished, and was marking dates on her clipboard. Noa was attached to Ryuuji's arm, jacket in one hand.

"See?" The black haired boy smiled. "Didn't hurt too much, did it?"

He shook his head in response, still holding onto the taller boy.

"I'm glad!" He slowly moved some hair out of Noa's eyes, before lightly kissing him on the forehead. "Now, before I take you home, how about that pizza?"

Noa blushed, covering his face to try and hide it as he pulled away. He nodded happily. "Hai!"