Coral: Wow, thanks so much for the positivity! I'm really inspired to keep writing, I'm glad you guys like it so far. :) Thank you Dukefan01 for the nice review, I'm happy that you found it cute! X3
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Note: I added some minor characters but it was just for a gag scene in this chapter, it's not meant to be serious and it won't be a constant thing, but I couldn't resist! I hope you all won't mind, lol!
Chapter 3
Waking up to his own room, Jounouchi stretched his arms out and slipped out of bed. It was like everything that occurred yesterday was a dream. Feeling more enthusiastic about his time as a youth, the blond quickly got dressed, refreshed himself with his normal hygiene protocol, and was just getting ready to start his day, (He made sure to wrap his sleeping father in his bed sheets in an adult swaddle) when he tumbled out his door in shock at seeing Isono standing in the entrance way.
"Good morning, Jounouchi-san."
"EH?! You're that announcer guy that works for Kaiba! What are you doing here?!"
"Kaiba Mokuba-sama requested that you are to be escorted quickly to the Kaiba estate."
"Wait, what?!"
Isono patiently began to repeat his already spoken phrase only to immediately be cut off by the duelist.
"It's Saturday!" He wailed, practically bawling his eyes. "I have things to do! It's not fair!" Jounouchi proceeded to throw a mini tantrum while Isono, being a good loyal employee that he was, stood there without flinching in spite of the teenager acting like a four year old that wasn't getting his way. "So it wasn't a dream! Kaiba's still ruining what's left of my high school days." Hiccuped Jounouchi dabbing at the corner of his eyes with his fist.
Isono offered his handkerchief, which Jou took gratefully and blew in it. Of course the handkerchief was made of very absorbent material complete with a gold Kaiba corp. logo in the corner, now ruined by Jounouchi's runny eyes and nose. Jou offered to hand it back, but Isono shook his head. The blond made a mental note to clean the hanky before returning it.
"If it would be any consolation, Seto-bocchama has stated he was looking forward to seeing you."
"That doesn't help."
"Then it's a pity. Mokuba-sama has assured me once you are to arrive, he may allow you to partake in handling some of Seto-sama's rare cards."
Jounouchi scoffed. "What does he take me for?! I'm not a guy that could be easily bought out!"
"You may also keep one that is on Seto-sama's approval list."
"Pfft! Please, I bet Kaiba's list only includes cards I could get from a booster!"
"...Also an autographed photo of idol group Perfume."
"EEEEEH?! WHAAAATT?!" The teen's shriek grew higher with every extension of the syllable. "P-P-PERFUME?! YOU MEAN KAIBA'S GOT A-CHAN, KASHIYUKA, AND NOCCHI'S PHOTO AND IT'S AUTOGRAPHED?!"
If anything, Isono's sunglasses shined sharply. "That is correct."
The blond stared at the Kaiba corporation employee for the longest five minutes before puffing his face in a pout.
The Kaiba manor was impressive as always with the well kept large garden and long walkway from the gate... And that was just part of the front lawn! Isono escorted Jou right on through before he could stand there to gawk at the water fountains and small pieces of architectural art. It wasn't long before he met up with the two kids again since yesterday. Jou was relieved to find that not only were they well but they also seemed to be adjusted nicely to one another in spite of the situation.
"Hi, Jounouchi!" waved Mokuba excitedly running head onto the blond, Seto tailing behind while holding his brother's hand with a smile.
"Ahahaha, Mokuba you dog, you!" He patted the two young Kaiba brothers. "So how is everything?"
"It's fine. I can handle the company pretty well in niisama's absence." puffed the black haired boy proudly.
Seto looked up curiously as Jounouchi blanched while retorting that it really shouldn't surprise him that Kaiba's pride clearly transferred to his brother. "Jounouchi-nii?"
Remembering that the younger version of Kaiba was there, he quickly added, "Ah! But that's a good thing that you're so capable!" Apparently that wasn't the reason the child was frowning as Jou noted the frown widening a bit.
"Are we bothering you? You had something to do, right?"
The blond blinked in surprise. "E-eh?"
"You look kind of bothered, I think... I heard Isono-san say that we might have interrupted whatever you were doing." Seto looked away in guilt, fidgeting and leaning from one leg to the other.
Oh... Understanding grew in the blond duelist's eyes and he smiled and shook his head. "It's nothing! You're not bothering me, I was just taken off guard because it's so early in the morning!" And threw a tantrum, but he wasn't going to tell the little kid that. His smile grew to a grin. "So you wanted to see me again so badly? Hehehe!"
"That's right, niisama! Besides, Jounouchi has to fulfill his promise to visit us every day remember?" chirped Mokuba as he placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder. He smiled in relief as Seto smiled back.
"Un!"
With that, Jounouchi patted his jeans and straightened up. "Alright! We're gonna go out today!"
Brightening up immediately, Mokuba hopped up and grabbed Jou's left arm. "Where are we going, Jounouchi? Lead the way!"
Seto grabbed Jou's right in glee, swinging. "Yay, Jounouchi-nii!"
Jounouchi took that moment to begin spinning around with the two boys hanging from his arms. "Okay! Jounouchi FIRE!" He then launched himself straight out of the Kaiba gates, both children somehow managing to hold on for dear life.
Honda stared at the abysmal sight before him. There was Jounouchi right in front of him in the park with both of the Kaiba children and they were all a big sticky mess with rainbow paint, powder, and vanilla/chocolate ice cream all over. "What the... What happened to you?!"
Jounouchi clutched at his side where there was red paint that had stuck to his ribs. "Honda... It may be too early for me to say this, but I don't think I have much time left." He gasped and fell over, jumped again, and fell over.
The two boys giggled uncontrollably as Jou acted like he was having a seizure.
"Honda... Don't forget... Tell Yugi and the others I... Ahhhhhhh...!" Jou widened his eyes for a moment before shutting them and falling over in 'death'. He quickly got up to pluck a white flower weed from nearby grass to hold in his hands and collapsed back down quickly.
Seto and Mokuba bursted into hard laughter, rolling over on the floor repeatedly.
Honda rolled his eyes and gave his best friend a kick.
"AUGH! Honda, what'd you do that for?!"
"Oh look, I brought him back to life, kids!" He declared, raising his arms up almost prophetically while the kids ooh'ed and clapped.
"Like hell you did!" Jounouchi launched himself against the pinhead, tackling the other teen and proceeded to roughhouse. "Eat this!"
Seto's blue eyes widened and he quickly covered Mokuba's face on reflex. He stared transfixed at the violence that occurred right in front of him. Adults could be so scary sometimes...
It wasn't long before the fight ended with both teens making idiots of themselves and laughing rather loudly as if that would make things any better. Honda then pointed at Jou's t-shirt. "So? What happened that you made a mess of yourself and two kids?"
Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "What does it look like, Honda? Paintball, paaaaaint ball. That and we had ice cream but a jerk decided ice cream was way more fun to throw than paintball. I showed them though!" He pulled up his signature fist.
Honda shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Geez, Louise."
Mokuba decided they've talked enough and approached the two. "So what are you doing here at the park, Honda?
The brown haired teen stiffened and began to laugh just as much. "Ah, funny you should ask, um..."
"Honda-kun! I'm sorry I'm late!" called out a voice in excitement.
Jounouchi widened his eyes considerably. He definitely knew that voice! "Shizuka!"
Surely enough the familiar long shiny strands of brown hair flowing through the wind was really unmistakable. The face connected to said strands of hair was considerably shocked at seeing the blond present. "Eh?! Oniichan?!"
"W-well would you look at that, Shizuka-chan! Well we shouldn't dilly dally!" panicked Honda as he rushed to push Shizuka away and run off with her.
"Eh?! Wait a minute, Shizuka! What are you doing here in Domino meeting Honda?! ShizukaaaaAAA! Honda you bastard!" barked Jou as he grabbed Mokuba and Seto into his paintballed sticky arms all of the sudden.
Mokuba and Seto gulped. They had a bad feeling about thi-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" The two boys clung onto the power rocket that was Jounouchi Katsuya! He was mad! MAD!
"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!" cried Seto.
"HONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"JOUNOUCHI STOOOOOOOPPPPP!" shrieked Mokuba.
"HONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"I DON'T LIKE THIS GAME ANYMOOOOOORE!" Seto.
"HONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"ME NEITHEEEERRRRRRRRR!" Mokuba.
"HONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Somewhere in the distance, it is said that the rain that followed belonged to the tormented tears of two little youngsters.
In the end, Jounouchi was unable to catch them and ended up with almost dead children in his arms. Jou apologized excessively while giving the pouting boys more ice cream.
Seto gazed up at Jounouchi who was currently wiping away the sticky mess on his face with a handkerchief and made him stand near the sprinkler fountains. The brown haired boy shivered as the sprinklers splashed all over him and his clothes, clearing away a good portion of paint and ice cream, but soaking him up to his socks in the process as well. Mokuba stood nearby, taking off his shoes to attempt cleaning them. Looking up at Jounouchi closely, the boy couldn't help but observe the teen's prominent features. Jou's hair was a nice golden color and his smile was really warm. It kept making him happy to see that beaming face. Come to think of it, since this was the future and Mokuba seemed to know him, did that mean he knew him too? The grown up him? The possibility was very likely, he thought to himself. Come to think of it, what was his grown up form like? Was he nice? He certainly hoped so. He wouldn't like it if Jounouchi didn't like him... He felt his face grow a little warm. "U-um... Jounouchi-niisan..."
Jounouchi paused in wiping the boy's cheek. "Yeah?"
"A-ah... Jounouchi... Nii..." Seto's eyes shifted floor to Jou back and forth.
"Hm?"
"Um, Jounouchi-nii..." He settled with staring at the floor.
"Hehe, come on, tell me."
"Um, do you like me?" A small innocent whisper.
Brown amber eyes widened in surprise before settling to a happy curve. "What are you talking about? Of course I like you!"
Seto's face revealed how delighted he was and the boy placed a small hand on Jounouchi's wrist. "And, what about the big me? Do you like him too?"
Once again Jou widened his eyes. The ten year old was just full of surprises wasn't he? "Ahaha, the big you?"
Seto bobbed his head up and down expectantly awaiting Jounouchi's answer.
"W-well... Um..."
Seto's large azure eyes widened with interest. "Hm?"
Jou's eyes shifted from nearby tree to Seto back and forth. "Ah, well um Seto..."
"Yes?"
"Hurgh... Well you see, Seto..." He settled with staring at the tree.
"Hehe, come on! Tell me!"
"Ahaha, well I don't hate the big you..."
Seto blinked. He wasn't quite expecting this sort of answer. To him it just seemed more like a yes or no question more than anything, yet here was the teen answering his simple question with a complicated answer. The only possible conclusion was that there may be a possibility that his older self might not have liked Jou... But what was there not to like about him? Either that or maybe they didn't really know each other at all? Maybe Mokuba only knew Jou and he didn't... His thoughts were interrupted by a hand ruffling through his hair. Seto gazed up in surprise before closing his eyes enjoying the touch.
"But it's not a bad thing."
The boy looked up curiously at Jounouchi as he continued patting, "It's not a bad thing. We don't exactly get along, because we're rivals!" Raising up his other hand in a fist he proclaimed, "We fight but we respect each other... Sort of. Does that make sense?" Actually he wasn't even sure if Kaiba viewed himself as such considering he had always put blond down with insults, but the child definitely didn't need to know that.
If anything Seto was even more confused. "You don't get along so you fight but you respect each other? So does that mean you like him or hate him?"
Jou grinned a bit stiffly while racking his brain for a possible answer. If Kaiba had been there, he probably would have sneered commenting it was so typical of the bonkotsu. A scowl formed on his face and it took a great deal of a struggle not to kill mental Kaiba. In the end, he gave Seto a hug. "Don't worry about it! Um, just know you're not a bad guy, ok?"
Seto wanted to protest and ask for a straight answer on whether Jounouchi liked him, but it looked like the teen didn't want to discuss it further so he resigned. Deciding to be satisfied with answer for now, he nodded.
A more natural smile formed on Jou's face as he continued ruffling the soft brown locks. "How was yesterday with Mokuba?"
The boy smiled back. "It was fun! I didn't know that big me did so much work, and everything was so big!"
"Yeah? Fun huh?"
"We even have a swimming pool!"
"No way!"
"Uh huh! Jounouchi-nii, you should see it!"
Mokuba trotted over to the two of them and held out his sneakers to Jou. "Jounouchi, my shoes got ripped." the boy lamented at the obvious hole in the poor red and white sneakers.
Jounouchi's jaw dropped. "Mokuba, was this from the paintball games? How bad were you running from the other team?!"
"I-I don't know, I was running pretty fast, but I didn't think this would happen..." The black haired boy lowered his head ashamed. "I'm sorry..."
"Hey, you don't have anything to be sorry about! We'll just go back to your home and get you different shoes." He ceased ruffling Seto's head and proceeded to do so to Mokuba. "Besides! You managed to escape the most! I'd say you were the fastest little rocket we saw today!"
Seto nodded in agreement proud of his future brother.
"Well, yeah, but that's wasting our day..."
"You can play with me tomorrow. I'm coming every day remember?"
"That's right, but... Tomorrow's Sunday so you'll be busy and won't be able to spend as much time with us," pouted Mokuba crossing his arms. "It's not fair..."
Jounouchi blinked but then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Hey..."
"It's a big shame since I really like playing with you Jounouchi. Niisama does too."
Oh great. The we-really-like-you-cause-you're-so-awesome-and-fun-to-play-with card. Shizuka tended to use that card a lot when they were younger.
Well...
"Hehehe, ok fine. I'll make up for it by playing video games at your house and a movie, what do you say?"
It's not like it never always worked on him.
"Wow! You're right, the swimming pool is huge!"
"Yeah! It's so big!"
"And it's ours, niisama!"
"YAY!"
"Wait a minute, you two can't just-!"
Before Jounouchi could finish, the two brothers hopped straight into the pool, clothes on and all, conveniently splashing their temporary guardian in the process. "OI! Watch it!" screeched Jou flailing wildly as he got soaking wet from pool water.
The two boys splashed around wildly, making waves and shoving mini tides to each other, only to stop once sensing the very scary dark aura of Jounouchi Katsuya.
"Ehehe... Um... Now, now, Jounouchi... Um... We were just having fun?"
"You two are dead to me!"
"AUGHHH! Jounouchi if you kill us, it's child abuse!"
"Don't worry. I thought it through. I'll bury your bodies in the lake."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"GYAHAHAHAHA COME HERE BRATS!"
The two youthful minors swam like never before, somehow reaching the other side of the pool in record timing. Gasping for breath, they turned to look back...
...And found Jounouchi gracefully flitting around in the water practically akin to synchronized swimming skits.
Finally having a change of clothes, Jou sat down on the cushy couch with Seto on one side and Mokuba on the other. Mokuba had managed to provide the blond teen with a set of casual clothing, claiming they were Kaiba's. Jounouchi didn't take it too well until the boy pointed out that so long as Kaiba wasn't there, he was in charge. After retorting that Kaiba was there (albeit ten year old him), Mokuba rebutted with the fact that he was actually eleven, thus actually the oldest of the two. Defeated, Jou agreed and gave thanks.
They played a few board games here and there, carefully avoiding certain video games in case it might have made an impression on Seto. After a few rounds of Speed, Goldfish, and Uno, Jou's pride and dignity was battered down. Seriously, did Seto had to be so much of a genius? Or was there something that Jounouchi was giving out that spoke volumes of his moves? Each and every win earned him a good amount of giggles too.
"Hey, is me losing so funny?" Scowled Jou as he slapped down the rest of his Uno cards.
"Yes!" giggled Seto as Mokuba tallied the score. "You make the funniest face, Jounouchi-niisan!"
The blond then contorted his face so much his chin stretched and his scowl grew into a squiggly mess. Needless to say it was rather frightening, even to himself though he wouldn't admit it.
The two boys shrieked in fear as Jou declared his vengeance. "I give, GIVE! Please don't hurt meeee!" shouted Seto tossing his Uno card running off into one of the many hallways. "Wait for me niisama!"
Unleashing a bellowing laugh of horror, Jounouchi crawled after them exorcist style, flipping himself on his back and moving with his arms and feet all while continuing that terrifying chin face. It was so terrifying that Isono nearly called for backup thinking that the Kaiba manor was being possessed!
"Bisono! This is Isono, I need help!"
"Copy, Bisono here. Kisono and Misono ready for action. What's the problem Isono?"
"We need to protect Mokuba-sama and Seto-bocchama at all costs! There is an intruder!"
"Copy that. Bisono, Kisono, Misono ready!"
"HEY! You guys are forgetting me!"
Isono facepalmed. Oh great...
"Nobody forgot you, you just didn't radio that you're available!"
"Shut it, Bisono! You should know that I'm always ready! Chi-So-No! Ready for action!"
"Do you always have to be so hot-blooded, Chisono?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Isono!"
Isono rubbed his forehead sweatdropping as his radio for the next 20 seconds consisted of yelling similar to a certain character leveling up in Dragon (beep!) Z. He blinked however, seeing Seto and Mokuba laughing as Jounouchi tossed them both up in the air and catching them in his arms. Relieved that it was only Jou, albeit still sporting that terrifying face, Isono called in the radio, "Cancel, situation has been averted."
"Copy, Bisono, Kisono, Misono over and out."
"You forgot me again!"
The bodyguard swiftly turned off the radio and gazed back at Jounouchi who was still having that face but the children were no longer scared and even squeezing his cheeks. He sighed and shook his head having absolutely no clue why a juvenile was tasked with taking care of juveniles.
The day came and went and soon Jounouchi had to say good bye to the kids. Giving each boy a hug, he promised to come visit again soon the next day. Isono offered to drive him back home, which Jou was grateful for but had to refuse. It would draw too much attention at that time and he wanted as little as possible considering the neighborhood. Isono understood and handed Jou a radio. Upon seeing the look of confusion, the bodyguard explained that Mokuba had requested for Jou to have in case something did happen. Plus considering he was partly caring for them it seemed ideal for him to have.
Jou fingered the small device which was no more than a headset that was wireless. Bluetooth? He wondered. It seemed pretty expensive too, he mindlessly traced the KC logo engraved on the side. Thanking him for the time, he nodded to Isono and proceeded to walk home. The walk was a bit far, but he made sure to walk as slowly as possible, taking in the nice scenery. The Kaibas lived in quite a posh area, lots of trees and flower bushes, all nicely trimmed and the road was wide and clear. It was vastly different from his own lifestyle. He pondered a bit on it. He had always assumed that Kaiba inherited all of his wealth, but finding out from Mokuba that he and the kid were adopted... It sounded like it wasn't so simple after all. Not that it changed anything on how he felt about brunet but it did paint a small picture on Kaiba's behavior pattern. Being orphans, he probably had it rough. It was no wonder that he turned out the way he did. Jounouchi frowned as he thought about Seto, how his big blue innocent eyes shine and how he smiled whenever Jou managed to make him happy. Just where did the child go in the Kaiba he knew?
In the midst of his walk, he paused and slowly took out his time wizard card. "You really seemed to have caused a mess here, didn't you?" Jou scolded, as if telling the card would somehow make it ashamed. As expected though, the card didn't respond. It was just print on a bit of paper cardboard or whatever material, really. He sighed looking to the slowly setting sky with somewhat depressed amber eyes as if it would give him answers. "Damn it, Kaiba... Hurry up and come back, your brother needs you, you know."
In a far off street in a quiet neighborhood, a light briefly shined and faded swiftly, leaving behind a tall figure sporting a white trench coat and the signature Domino High School uniform. The person looked around for a bit and gazed at the gadget on his arm. It looked like there wasn't anything wrong, but that didn't take off the possibility that the duel disk malfunctioned. He'd have to look into it later when meeting the mutt again. He narrowed his eyes. Now where was he? Blue eyes blinked gazing up at the sky. It was dark, he observed as he stared at the stars and moon in the atmosphere. Turning his gaze to his left and right, Kaiba Seto began to analyze his surroundings. Small houses, most of which were of modest builds, all seemed to have lights off. It must have been really late at night at the moment. "Hm..." His eyes shifted focus to the newspaper nearby tossed on the ground. Picking it up, he widened his eyes. The article was quite old, which was quite shocking in itself, but what was more shocking was the front cover picture depicting a certain CEO claiming an award for leading innovation in manufacturing arms for Japan.
"Kaiba... Gozaburo...?" He stared in shock at the date claimed on the paper. It was dated six years in the past. "This... Has to be some kind of sick joke!" He tossed the article to ground and stomped on it in anger. Withheld emotions buried deep began to resurface and he kept going on stomping the paper until the front page ripped into satisfying shreds. The CEO scowled knowing that if it were a joke, whoever was playing it really did quite a bit of work. The paper itself should have been at least faded considering that it wasn't kept in top condition in a case, but there were no signs of age on the newspaper. He noted that the street seemed familiar as well, but it didn't quite hit him until he walked further down the block. He froze.
"It... Can't be... It's not possible..."
But there in all it's glory was the building for orphans he once was an admission of along with his brother... Domino's Home for Angels.
Coral: And that's it for now! We got to see adult Kaiba here and he's just beginning to see he's not in Kansa- Domino anymore? Lol! And Jou's actually feeling pretty bad about the situation, it looks like! Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, I'll be working on the next! Thank you so much for following my story so far! Let me know what you liked about it! :)
