A/N:

Here we are at chapter two! I promised several people, including one who held me at gunpoint (yes, I'm talking about YOU, Teal Phoenix), that I'd get this out sooner rather than later. Too bad that didn't happen. We had midterms at school, so sue me. Ha. Anyway, I've decided to rework the puppyshipping (Kaiba/Jounouchi) back into this a little bit! I hope that's okay with you all!

~Write in your review whether or not you think I should bring the puppyshipping back!!~

Disclaimer:

I don't own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh!. If I did, I would be rich! And really, would I be writing fanfiction?

Thursday, Domino City Airport, Morning

Yuugi, Ryou, and Malik stood together at the gate amidst the hustle and bustle of the crowd around them. They were locked together in a fierce group hug, no one daring to let go. Only when the airline employee admitting people onto the plane gave the final call for boarding passengers did Malik break away from them. He slung his carry-on bag over his shoulder, giving Yuugi and Ryou a sad smile. "I guess this is it then," he said quietly.

"You're going over there to study, Malik," Yuugi stated, attempting a small smile, "So give the German clubs a break once in a while."

Ryou and Malik chuckled weakly at Yuugi's weak joke. The white haired teen turned towards his blond friend, giving him a watery-eyed grin. "Who am I going to get to accompany my flute pieces now?"

"I'm sure you'll find someone, Ryou," Malik told him, voice wavering. "When I come home for Christmas break, I'm bringing lots of souvenirs back with me. Don't forget to write to me every now and then."

And, with a small wave, he disappeared into the tunnel leading onto the airplane. Ryou turned to look at his remaining friend. "Nothing's going to be the same anymore, is it?"

Yuugi nodded, biting his bottom lip. "Not until he comes back. It's just you and me now, Ryou."

"Just you and me," Ryou repeated, grabbing onto Yuugi's hand a squeezing it tightly.

Monday, Domino High School, Homeroom, Morning

A tall, busty, blonde woman stood at the front of the classroom, filling out the class attendance sheet while the announcements played over the loudspeaker. Her dark, violet eyes scanned the rows of students in front of her, noting the absentees. She laughed quietly to herself as she took in all of the unpleasant expressions of the students. The first day of a new school year always made everyone unhappy. With a worried frown, she realized that Yuugi was sitting all the way in the back of the room. Yuugi always made it a point to sit up front and keep her company. The small teen was her favorite student, and seeing this change in his behavior set off warning bells in her head. She stared at him, trying to catch his eye. His gaze was firmly fixed on his desk, never looking up and barely blinking.

'This can't be from the start of a new school year, Mai,' the teacher told herself, clicking her large, funky heels off of the tiled floor in a nervous motion . She strutted back to her desk and pulled out her make-up bag. Bringing it back to her podium in front of the class, she fished out her compact and lipstick. Opening the mirror, she studied her reflection for a moment before touching up her appearance quickly. 'Your star pupil is in trouble. Now, what are you going to do about it?'

The bell rang, and the students all but ran for the door. The room was emptied in seconds. Yuugi sluggishly got out of his seat and made his way towards the door. He was stopped by a pale hand on his shoulder, polished nails tapping against him impatiently. "And where do you think you're going, honey?" Mai asked testily. She whirled Yuugi around and shoved him into the rolling chair that was positioned next to her desk. Crouching down, the busty woman looked into his eyes with concern. "What's the matter?"

"Yami's not here anymore, Ms. Valentine," Yuugi informed her dejectedly, turning his head to the side in a vain attempt to hide the light blush on his cheeks.

"Oh, sweetie," Mai murmured, "I know how that can be. You'll just have to tough it out."

Yuugi sniffled softly, and Mai hugged him tightly. "I wish I could be as strong as you when it comes to this sort of thing, Ms. Valentine," Yuugi confessed a bit breathlessly, inhaling the strong scent of her perfume.

"You just come to me whenever you feel like you need to talk to me, alright, sweetie?" Mai asked him, putting her hands on his tiny shoulders and staring him down, almost as if daring him to refuse her help.

"Okay," Yuugi replied, laughing in spite of himself. "I'm going to be late if I don't get moving." The small teen wriggled out of Mai's hold and headed for the door, feigning happiness for his teacher's sake. "See you later, Ms. Valentine!"

First Period, Mathematics Class

Anzu Mazaki searched around in her oversized, designer purse, snatching up her lip gloss triumphantly when she found it. Using the back of her cell phone as a make-shift mirror, she applied a quick swipe of the glittery substance before smiling charmingly at her reflection. Ah, her senior year at Domino High. What a year it would be. "It's too bad Yami's not around," she commented to the girl in front of her, "Or this year would've been twice as fun."

The girl turned around, pushing her lavender-dyed hair out of her face. "Anzu sweetie, Yami is both gay and taken. When will you finally give up?"

"Miho, Miho, Miho…," Anzu chided, making a clicking noise with her tongue, "I have given up. That Yuugi is just too cute with our Yami! I just wish Yami would be around because he is oh so fun to mess with! That and I miss his adorable little displays of affection for the little freshman. Oops! I guess it's sophomore now."

"He'll always be your little freshman, won't he, girl?" Miho asked, combing through her purple locks with her fingers.

"Speaking of," Anzu began, swiveling her gaze to lock on the door to the classroom, "Look who just walked in!"

Yuugi entered the classroom carefully, looking around for a place to sit that wasn't up in the front. His arms ached slightly from carrying his books the long distance between his homeroom and his math class. 'I guess Yami had other uses, too," he thought to himself with bitter amusement.

"Yuugi!" Anzu called out, waving a perfectly manicured hand in the air to call his attention. "Come sit by us, Yuugi!"

The entire class' attention was now focused on Yuugi. Now that Yami, Bakura, and Marik had graduated, Anzu was officially the most popular student at Domino High. The fact that she had completely overlooked the other, more popular, students in the classroom and tried to get Yuugi's attention was, to say the least, confusing.

Uncomfortable with all the stares directed his way, Yuugi hurried to take the seat next to Anzu. She beamed at him as he sat down. "Hey, Yuugi! This looks like it's going to be a great year, huh? By the way, this is Miho Nosaka."

Miho smiled sweetly at the sophomore. "Hey, honey!"

"Er, hi," Yuugi greeted, unaccustomed to being called "honey" by anyone. "I didn't know you'd be in my math class, Anzu," he remarked conversationally.

"Yeah, well," Anzu stated simply, shrugging, "Math was never my thing. I wasn't even supposed to be taking a math my senior year, but that bastard Kaiba failed me last year! Same with Miho. God, it's such a pain!"

At that moment the late bell rang, and Kaiba walked in to the room, slamming the door behind him. The room was engulfed in utter silence as the stoic teacher picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the board. "I'm not going to welcome you to my Advanced Mathematics 1 class because I highly doubt any of you want to be here in the slightest. I assume you all know that my name is Mr. Kaiba, and I will be addressed as such." He tossed the chalk back on the chalk tray after finishing the complicated equation he had written on the board. "Let's test what you remember from summer vacation, shall we?"

Second Period, Language Arts

Yawning widely, Ryou threw his books onto his desktop and slouched down into his seat, resting his head on top of his folded arms. He was fighting to stay awake, a usual situation for him lately. The teen considered checking in with the school nurse to see if it was anything serious, but he quickly decided against it when he tried to stand up again and found it took more effort than he was willing to put in to it.

Anzu came strutting into the room, waving goodbye to Miho and Yuugi as they parted ways in the hallway. She glanced around the room, searching for anyone she knew to sit with. The senior girl automatically spotted a familiar face. The white haired boy who always hung out with Yuugi was sitting in a corner by himself, looking like death itself. A curious frown settled onto her perfectly polished features as she approached him. Setting her books down on the desk next to him, she slid into the seat and gave him her brightest smile. "Hey!"

Ryou blinked blearily, his brain not fully processing what he was seeing. "Uhm. Hello," he replied tentatively, eyebrows raised.

"Come here often? Ahahaha! Oh, I'm just kidding, Ryou! I was really hoping one of my friends would be in this class, and here you are! Man, I'm lucky or what? Do you know who teaches this class? I think he's new. Think he'll give a lot of homework? If he does, we'll have a problem because there's no way I'm letting homework cut into my social life. Know what I mean?" she babbled, finally ending her monologue and fixing Ryou with a hopeful stare.

"Do I… know you?" Ryou asked dryly.

"You sound just like Bakura when you said that!" Anzu cried happily, laughing at the situation. Ryou have her a dismal look when she said that, and the peppy teen checked herself. "Sorry. Guess I shouldn't bring him up, what with the college and all. So, you mean to say that you don't know me, Ryou?"

"No, sorry," Ryou replied, glad that the girl had steered the conversation away from Bakura. He even lifted his head up to be polite and look interested.

"I'm one of Yuugi's best friends! Plus you went to one of my parties last year!" Anzu declared happily, fixing the white haired teen with a winning smile. Her perfectly white teeth shone prominently against her bright red lipstick.

"Oh. Forgive my rudeness, Anzu. I'm not having the best day today," he explained with a halfhearted chuckle, trailing off.

"Well, maybe I can brighten it up for you a little bit, Ryou," the senior girl said optimistically, pulling a big, pink hairbrush out of her giant purse. She moved behind Ryou, leaning on the desk behind him, and started running the object through his hair. "There's not much time before the torture known as grammar starts, but the back of your hair was just so sticky uppity and whatnot that it was driving me crazy!"

Ryou laughed quietly to himself. It was a bright, cheerful laugh, something rare to him nowadays. "More than usual?" he asked her.

Sixth Period, Cafeteria

Yuugi, Ryou, Anzu, Miho, Otogi, and Jounouchi held everyone's as they sat at the very same table that Yami, Bakura, and Marik had claimed as their own last year. Even though they had showed up late to lunch, the table was empty and waiting for them due to the fact that everyone else was too afraid to sit there.

After grabbing their lunch trays from the cafeteria line, the students all sat down at that famous table and immediately launched into conversation. Yuugi and Ryou picked at their food idly with their forks, talking excitedly about the new student teacher that was at their music lessons that day. Anzu and Miho, as soon as they were introduced to Otogi, started up on gossip with the fashion-savvy sophomore. The girls practically drooled on him, both extremely proud that they'd finally found a decent man amongst the hopeless cases of fashion disasters at their school.

However, Jounouchi kept his thoughts to himself, only chiming in to his friends' conversations when asked. His mind was on a certain math class he would have to attend later that day. The blond and Seto hadn't spoken since the end of the last school year.

Seventh Period, Mathematics Class

"That will be all for today, class," Kaiba said sternly, picking up the eraser on the chalk tray and erasing everything that was written on the board, "You may talk amongst yourselves, but be quiet about it."

The classroom erupted into quiet whispers and footsteps. The class of sophomores didn't try to conceal their hatred for the strict math teacher. They glared openly at his back as he erased the board indifferently, whispering about how they would transfer out if the class wasn't required.

Jounouchi sat in the very last row in the corner, carefully arranging his book, notebook, and pencil so he would look busy. The blond snuck glances at Kaiba's back every so often, reprimanding himself mentally whenever he did. He didn't know where they stood in their relationship, seeing as the two hadn't had contact all summer. Admiring his teacher's light tan briefly, Jou told himself they couldn't possibly be over after all they had done.

The bell rang, and the students hurried out of the classroom, eager to be rid of Kaiba. Jounouchi hung back, hoping Kaiba would approach him like he had done so often the previous year. A relieved sigh reached the blond's ears as he heard his lover collapse into his desk chair. Jou walked up to the fatigued man with a curious frown on his face. "Tired?"

"Very," Kaiba agreed, rubbing his temples, "Being hated isn't exactly the easiest thing to deal with in the world."

"You could try being nicer," Jou suggested dryly, moving to massage his lover's shoulders, pleasantly surprised when he wasn't shrugged off.

The teacher almost, dare it be said, moaned under Jounouchi's ministrations. "How would they ever learn to survive in society if I was soft like the other teachers?"

"I don't know," the blond replied, focusing on his hands. "So, Seto. How come you never called me this summer?"

"Well, for one thing, if anyone saw you at my house, us together on the streets, or otherwise, there would be unwanted gossip," Kaiba explained briefly. He leaned forward. "Go a little lower?" he asked in a commanding voice.

"If you insist, sir," Jounouchi teased, complying to Seto's wishes. The brunet made a low noise in his throat again, and Jou smiled cunningly. "I would like to go to your house sometime. Word on the street is that it's pretty massive."

"Family money."

"What's with the brief answers?"

"You know."

"Do I?"

"What would you say if I told you to be at my house this weekend around four o'clock and that you wouldn't be expected home until around noon the next day?" Kaiba asked, swiveling around in his chair to look Jou right in the eyes.

"I would have to say…" Jou trailed off, pretending to think about it, "I would say that you'd better not make me bring a sleeping bag!"

Evening, Monday, Dresden, Saxony, Germany

Malik stumbled off of the long tramway, lugging his giant suitcase behind him, as the thin crowd of Germans went about their business, talking in their strange, native language. 'Not many people,' Malik thought to himself. Being used to the hustle and bustle of the crowds in the tightly packed cities of Japan, the blond teen felt it was all too quiet in his new home. Though he was grateful. He hadn't known the organ tutor lived in Saxony instead of Berlin. So a couple of wrong train stops later, he had finally made it to where he was supposed to be. The sun was just setting, and Malik had a bad case of jet lag. The teen just wanted to curl up in his own bed and sleep for a week.

He emerged from the station and scanned the area around him. The buildings were very different from Japan, that was for sure. When Malik thought about Germany, he pictured quaint cottages and carriages drawn by horses. The buildings were modern enough, but still not like the Japanese buildings. The one thing that surprised him the most was the lack of cars. Spinning around so that he got a good look, he finally noticed an old man staring right at him. The man was dressed in a brown suit and had a cane. His light blue eyes were set off by his dark gray hair. Staring at Malik intently as if trying to match a face with a picture, the old man took a step closer.

"Uhm… Hallo?" Malik said, trying out the German he had been practicing on the airplane ride over.

"Du bist Malik?" the old man asked in a heavy German accent.

"…Ja?" Malik tried again, hoping he was right.

"I take it you do not speak much German," The man said in carefully pronounced English with a hearty laugh that surprised the Japanese teen, given the man's thin size.

"Nein," he replied with a laugh, dragging his suitcase over to get closer to the man he took to be his organ tutor, who was also laughing at Malik's joke.

"Ah, how rude of me. My name is Georg Heidrich. I trust you would rather save pleasantries and get right to the part where you get to come back to the Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik and sleep?" Georg asked with a knowing smile at Malik's tired appearance.

"The what now?" Malik asked, switching to the familiar English he had been learning since grade school.

"The music school where I teach. My home is too small to accommodate you, so I arranged for you to board there," Georg explained, "It is the equivalent of, how you would say it, college dorms?"

Malik made a noise of acknowledgement, his posture slumping with fatigue.

Georg laughed. "It is a good thing that I did not come by bicycle."

A/N:

Sorry this one's not too long. I tried to beef it up a little, but it didn't do much good.

You would not -believe- how long it took me to figure the whole Malik/Germany thing out. Seriously. Ages.

I know what you're thinking. "What? No Yami, Bakura, and Marik?" Well, who asked you anyways? Oh. I did. I decided I would do a whole chapter of Hikaris, and then the next chapter has the Yamis. I didn't forget or anything! Ahahaha what are you talking about?! Sillies, why would I forget something like that?! WE'RE ALL FINE HERE!!

On a side note: I made my deadline by 10 days, babies! Know how your documents stay in your upload box for 60 days? Well, I use that as a deadline of sorts. The next chapter has to be up before the previous chapter reaches 0. Isn't that cute? No? Who asked you, anyways…