Chapter two; departure and arrival
That morning when Jounouchi woke up the sun was already shining through his window. He yawned and stretched, and then it hit him, today was the day they'd leave on their camping trip. Very much excited the blond jumped out of his bed and got dressed, he looked at his clock, they were meeting at the game shop around 8 AM, right now it was 7 o' clock. He was going to be right on time.
He opened his bedroom door silently, to see if his dad was still passed out on the floor, he was relieved to see him nowhere in sight. Jounouchi closed the door behind him and made his way to the kitchen. A simple omelet and then he'd be off to the game shop.
After breakfast, and still no sign of his father, Jounouchi put on his jacket and put on his backpack. He was about to leave the apartment when he heard a drunken stumble come out of his dad's room.
"Oh God," Jou mumbled as he saw the door opening.
Out of the door hung the still dressed, still very much drunk father of Jou.
"Where do ya think you're goin'?" he slurred.
"Dad, I explained," Jou said, "I'm going camping with my friends.
"Like hell you are," his dad said, making his way over to his son.
"Sorry dad," Jou said, "I'm going."
"And I'm telling ya not to," he was now standing in front of Jou, he smelled of sweat and booze.
"I'm going," Jounouchi said once again. His dad tried to punch him, but his reflexes weren't that amazing in his drunken, half asleep state. Jou could easily dodge the blow, and deliver one himself right in his old man's stomach. The man let out a scream of pain and clutched his stomach. Jou took this opportunity to bail and ran out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. As he walked out in the street he could still hear his father shout.
Jou looked up at the already blue sky. He would not let this ruin his day. He breathed in and smiled, his father would have forgotten all of this when he got back home anyway. Humming a song he once heard he walked down the street towards the game shop. No, this would not ruin his mood.
When he finally arrived at the game shop, he realized he was the last one there.
"Oh there he is, finally," Honda yelled as he saw his friend approaching.
"Hey!" Jou grinned, "I'm on time."
"You are Jou," Yuugi said, being his own cheery self.
"Now that we're all here, we can leave," Anzu said, looking around.
"First we need to make a trip to the grocery store though," Yuugi said, "Unless you want to starve to death."
The gang walked to the nearest grocery store, they agreed only the most vital things were necessary, as they'd have to go a long way, and carrying a load of things wasn't an option. They did their shopping and divided the groceries among the five of them. When they walked out of the store they saw a huge black limo parked in front of it.
"There's only one person that rides around in that car," Jou muttered under his breath. And right he was as Kaiba slammed open the car door and stepped out in a most elegant manner.
"Well, look who it is," Kaiba smirked, "the happy little campers."
"Leave us alone Kaiba," Jou snapped.
"Whatever, mutt," Kaiba said as he walked towards the entrance, "You guys aren't worth my time."
"Don't you have servants to do your shopping for you, rich boy?" Jou asked.
"I don't like to be dependant of those people," Kaiba said, "I'm perfectly capable of doing my grocery shopping myself." And with that he disappeared into the store.
"Whatever," Jou mumbled.
"Come on guys," Anzu said, "the bus is leaving in fifteen minutes."
Jou was still staring at the doors of the store, but he decided that not even Kaiba's insults were going to ruin his mood.
The bus ride took longer than Jounouchi liked, he hated the bus. It was too stuffy, too dirty, and he always sat next to the strangest people. Since Yuugi and Yami were an item, they almost always sat next to each other, Honda was sitting next to Anzu, leaving Jou to sit with the strange guy who smelled of weed and was constantly looking around with shifty eyes. When they finally arrived at lake Domino they were the only five left in the bus.
"Last stop, lake Domino," the bus driver said, and they all got out. Jou yawned and stretched his arms, the ride there had made him sleepy.
"We reserved a boat ride to the center of the lake at 10 AM," Anzu said checking her watch, "It's now 9:30 so we still have some time."
Jou looked around, there wasn't a lot of people at the lake. Normally on a day like this, it'd be packed.
"Strange," he thought out loud.
"What is, Jou?" Honda asked.
"Aren't there more people here, normally?" he asked. Honda looked around.
"You're right," he replied, "Looks like we're the only ones here."
"Isn't that weird?" Jounouchi asked, "It's a beautiful day, normally there would be thousands of people."
"Don't be paranoid Jou," Honda said, putting his arm around Jou's shoulders, "This is a good thing, now we get to enjoy some quiet time on the island, instead of being surrounded by screaming kids."
"I guess," Jou said, but still he didn't feel comfortable.
"Let's go look for that boat," Yuugi said.
There was only one pier so finding the boat wouldn't be a difficult job. In the water they saw a small boat, and standing in it was the man they assumed to be their 'captain'.
"Are you Mr. Ikeda?" Anzu said, approaching the man.
"That I am, little missy," he replied.
"We seemed to have arrived a little early, and we're wondering if you could already get us to the island?" she asked.
"No problem," the man replied, "All aboard!"
The gang got in the boat, which smelled a lot like dead fish, and the man started the boat. They were happy they didn't have to row or anything.
As the boat slowly made its way to the island, their 'captain' starting humming a song. Jou had to try his best no to laugh, as the man reminded him a lot of the sea captain from The Simpsons.
"Argh, matey," he whispered in Honda's ear, and the two boys started snickering, earning disapproving glares of Anzu.
Yami was staring at the water, and was getting paler by the second.
"What's the matter?" Yuugi asked him.
"I feel like I'm going to throw up," Yami said, "maybe we should turn back."
"Oh, you're just seasick, you'll get better once we get to the island."
"I disapprove of boats, Yuugi," Yami frowned, trying his best not to vomit.
"You'll be fine," Yuugi smiled at his lover reassuringly.
"If you say so," Yami said, having a distinct green glow on his face.
After spending, what seemed to Jou, hours in the little boat, and Yami throwing up several times, they finally reached the island. Yami jumped out of the boat instantly and lay down on the sandy shore muttering something along the lines of "Never again".
"I'll pick you up Monday morning at 10Am," Mr. Ikeda said.
"Okay!" Anzu said cheerfully, "see you Monday!" She was the only one to wave off the man when he left.
"You guys are so rude," Anzu said, turning to Jou and Honda, "that man was nice enough to bring us all the way to this island."
"Yeah," Honda said, "he was also a total freak, right Jou?"
But Jou didn't reply. He was too busy looking at the forest. For some reason he felt uncomfortable.
"Jou!" Honda shouted.
"Huh? Yeah of course," was all Jou could say.
"Are you okay?" Yuugi said, looking at his best friend.
"Do you guys suddenly feel cold?" Jounouchi asked.
"Cold?" Honda asked, "Are you kidding? It's a million degrees."
"It's still morning Jou," Yuugi said reassuringly, "It'll get warmer."
"I guess…" was all Jou said, still staring at the trees.
When they could finally convince Yami to move, they started looking for a camping spot in the forest.
"I wonder if there are any wild animals here," Honda wondered out loud.
"Oh please," Yuugi said, "all the wild animals that are here are dear."
"Maybe there are wolves here," Honda said looking around.
"Yeah," Jou said, teasing his friend, "and they're gonna eat you!"
"Don't even kid about that Jou!" Honda said, "I'm not gonna be able to sleep one bit if I think there are wolves around.
"You were the one starting it, Jeez," Jou said.
They were walking around in the woods for quite some time, when they finally reached an open spot.
"This is perfect!" Yuugi shouted excitedly."
"Okay," Anzu said, ready to hand out orders, "I'll stay here with Yuugi and set up camp, and you guys," she pointed at Jou, Honda and Yami, "will go out and find some firewood."
As Jou roamed the forest looking for dry sticks and leaves he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable again. Almost as if someone was looking at him. He decided to hurry up and get back to camp as soon as possible. Suddenly he felt a light tap on his right shoulder, he turned around instantly, but was greeted by nothing.
"Is someone there?" Jou asked, but he saw or heard no one.
Jou shrugged, probably something that fell out of the trees. He made his way back to camp, but felt eyes burning on his back. He decided it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but he couldn't shake that uncomfortable feeling.
He was the first one to get back to camp, Anzu and Yuugi were still putting up the tents. He dumped the dry leaves and sticks he gathered on the ground and helped his friends. He wanted to tell them about the strange feeling he has, but decided against it, he wouldn't let anything ruin this trip.
When Yami and Honda returned and the tents were set up, it was already noon and time for lunch. Anzu had prepared a bento for everyone of them. As they were munching on food and contemplating about what they would do this day, Jou felt better and decided that he was definitely just acting paranoid.
The gang spent the rest of the day on the beach of the island, the weather was magnificent and the water was just right. Once the sun was setting they decided to get back to their camping place. But when they got back they were shocked by what they saw.
The camp was covered in clothes, Jou's clothes.
"Who did this?" Jou asked as he got together all his belongings.
"I don't know…" was all Yuugi could utter.
Jou stuffed all his clothes back in his backpack, most of them were dirty. When he was checking if everything was there, he realized he was missing something.
"My wallet's gone," Jou said.
"Oh no…" Anzu said, looking around camp.
"Maybe it's still here," Honda said, searching around.
"It was in the front pocket of my backpack, if it's not there, it's gone," Jou was starting to get annoyed.
"Maybe the wolves-" Honda started.
"Don't be ridiculous, Honda," Jou snapped, "this was done by people, we're not alone on this island guys."
"No…" Yami said, "while I was out in the woods earlier, I had the feeling someone was spying on me."
"Me too…" Honda said.
"I suggest we don't leave the camp unless we really have to," Yuugi said, "if we do any activities we do them here, and otherwise we take all our stuff with us."
"Was there a lot of money in your wallet, Jou?" Anzu said.
Jou shook his head, "No, just some spare change, in case we'd need to buy something."
Jou looked around at the tall, looming trees as the paranoid feeling snuck on him once more.
"Well there's nothing we can do now," Anzu said, "Mr. Ikeda will return Monday, there's no way off this island until then."
"All we can do is act like this didn't happen," Yuugi said, "but keep your eyes open for anything weird."
Dinner was surprisingly quiet that evening, and everyone went to bed early. Yami slept with Yuugi, while Anzu slept with Jou and Honda. Normally she had a tent for just her, but she was too scared to sleep alone.
It took a while until Jou found rest and fell asleep. If he had stayed awake a bit longer he might've heard the footsteps going around his tent, that night.
A/N: Hope you guys had fun reading this! It's a lot longer than the first chapter, but I expect chapters to grow more as the story progresses.
I like how whenever I typed 'Anzu' Word wanted to change it to 'Nazi'. She so is a Nazi, a friendship Nazi. D; haha.
I also thank my two reviewers. :3 you definitely made me smile.
Review guys! It'll make me want to write more. 3
Hope you all have a nice day. : D
