Chapter 9-

A/N- Hehe I was going to combine this chapter with the last one but a better idea came to me grins wickedly for the evil plans that warp my fragile little mind hehe

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh so stop asking me for money glares at the voices in my head

I'd like to thank Ceara Corey for helping me with this fic.

Ryou stood there silently watching Yugi and Bakura walk back inside the building and head down the hallway. Whatever had happened between Yugi and Bakura once he had left, Ryou wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to worry about that. For now he had something he had to go take care of first…

'Hmm… I wonder if… nah that would only piss Bakura off even more, I doubt it would hardly make him jealous.' Ryou thought to himself as someone's hand had rested on his shoulder, snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Oh hey Joey what's up?" he asked the other boy cheerfully, hiding any intent that he was thinking of any dark thoughts. Dark thoughts of which he usually didn't even venture towards. That was usually how Bakura acted and he would usually be the one to try and stop Bakura from whatever he was planning, but something inside Ryou had changed somehow.

"Hey Ryou, have ya seen Yug today at all by any chance?" Joey asked him curiously leaning against the locker, he was hoping that Ryou would know what was troubling Yugi.

"Yeah I saw him just a few minutes ago, why what's up?" Ryou asked him curiously.

"Do you know where he went, I just wanted to make sure he was alright is all. I ran into him earlier and… he seemed like he was tryin to hide somethin from me." Joey explained smiling, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it Joey, I just saw him go down the hallway with Bakura and he seemed perfectly fine to me." Ryou said trying to reassure him.

"Look Ryou just because he doesn't want anything to do with me, doesn't mean I don't still care 'bout him, he's still my friend and hopefully you are too." Joey said smirking as he looked down at the empting hallway as the other students around them started to head towards whatever class they were supposed to be in.

Joey didn't say anything though he didn't believe Ryou, he could tell that there was something troubling him as well. Joey opened his mouth to say something, but choose to dismiss it. "What does he even see in him anyway?" Joey asked smirking and turned back to stare down at Ryou.

"You mean what does Yugi see in Bakura? Hmm… I'm not so sure myself." Ryou said shrugging his shoulders, about to walk away though Joey's arm was still resting on his shoulder.

"Wait, why do I get the feelin that ya don't want them to be together?" Joey asked arching his eyebrows at this. Ryou didn't answer, but just looked down at the ground not saying anything nor looking back up at Joey.

Joey lightly placed his hand underneath his chin lifting Ryou's head upwards so that both of their eyes met one another. "Ryou?…" Joey started, wondering what he could say to make the other boy feel better.

"It's nothing Joey, I-I'm happy for them… maybe you should be too." Ryou said before he lightly brushed Joey's hand away from him before he headed down the hallway, disappearing around the corner.

"Hmm… well it doesn't seem like you're very happy at all, at least to me." Joey said softly out loud to the now deserted hallway as he started to head towards his last class of the day…

((scene change/ Yugi's p.o.v))

Yugi and Bakura were approaching the nurse's office, Yugi was still walking slightly behind Bakura. Yugi having no desire to go in there and have to explain to the nurse what had happened to him.

So once they were a few steps away from the room, Yugi stopped walking and waited for Bakura to see that he wasn't walking behind him anymore.

Bakura noticed this and turned around to face Yugi, he could tell that Yugi didn't want to go in there. "Come on Yugi, you have to let the nurse at least clean it up, that way it won't get inflected." Bakura explained grabbing Yugi's arm, practically dragging him closer to the nurse's office.

Yugi just pushed his arm away struggling against Bakura's hand that was around his upper arm. "No… she'll see all the other cuts and want to know how they all got there…" Yugi started to explain biting his lower lip, trying to prevent his body from shaking.

"And, so what? We'll just tell her that you got in a bloody accident or something. Come on Yugi, do you really believe that she'll think anything else of it?" Bakura said as he wrapped his hand around Yugi's upper arm once more.

'I will get you there, one way or another, whether Yugi agreed with me or not…' he thought to himself as they continued their way down the hallway. Bakura dragging Yugi behind him, as Yugi struggled to break free from his tight resistant grasp…

((scene change))

Ryou wondered the halls confused. 'After all this time Joey and most of the others still seem to care a lot about Yugi, even though he doesn't hang out with any of them anymore. Hmm… maybe there's something I can do to change things between them?' Ryou thought to himself as he thought of earlier when Joey had tried to ask him about Yugi.

"Hmm… or maybe I can start with getting Joey to help me?" he thought to himself out loud as he headed back towards the last class of the day, since he also had that class with Joey and the rest of the gang.

Ryou sat beside Joey, taking him by surprise. He just smiled at Joey innocently, noticing Yami and Tea were sitting behind them, their heads bent low near one another, their foreheads almost touching as they talked in hushed whispers.

"I wonder what they're talking 'bout?" Joey muttered out loud causing Tea to look up and smile at him innocently.

"It's nothing for you to worry about Joey, unless you want to hear about me and Yami's sex life." Tea said laughing noticing Joey's eyes widening in surprise and fear at this.

"Naw that's okay, I think you should keep that between the two of you." Joey said making Tea just laugh at his reaction.

Yami just rolled his eyes at this as he looked up as well, though his eyes had landed on Ryou's. He offered Yami a smile seeing their eyes meet in silence.

"So Ryou… do you know where Yugi is?" Yami asked him curiously trying to break the awkward silence that had filled the room after Tea's comment.

"No… not since earlier, when I was outside talking to Bakura." Ryou explained still surprised that they were even talking to him.

"Talking to Bakura about what?" Tea asked overhearing what Ryou had just said, wondering if it was time to place her plan into action.

"……" Ryou was silent at this not knowing exactly how to answer Tea's question, especially since Yami was in the room and his eyes were still on him, it was starting to unsettle him, especial since he was thinking of the thoughts he had wondered earlier.

Joey was about to ask Ryou another question, seeing that he was uneasy about something, when the bell had finally rang, signaling the end of the school day.

Yami was the first one to leave the room, trying to look for Yugi once more and try and smooth things out between the two of them.

Ryou left soon after, not wanting to be left alone with Joey and Tea and allow them to fire more questions at him.

Joey was about to go after him seeing his unease, when Tea grabbed his arm holding him back.

"What's wrong Tea?" Joey asked her confused, though only receiving a friendly smile from her.

"Nothing, why would you think anything was wrong?" she asked him smiling at him innocently.

"Okay so if nothin' is wrong, than what's with da whisperin between you and Yami?" he asked her curiously.

"Nothing, he just wanted to make sure that I was okay… we broke up last night." she explained still a little upset about it, but she tried not to let it show on her face.

"Oh, how come?" Joey asked her surprised since they had seemed kind of close the day before and up until now.

"Well he made it clear that he just wanted us to stay friends and nothing more than that, plus… he wants Yugi." she explained quietly lowering her gaze once she had explained this to Joey, a small sign of hurt shown in her soft brown eyes.

"Yeah but he's with Bakura, right?" he asked still not liking the fact that Yugi could stand to be around someone like Bakura, and had pushed them all away.

"Yeah, but if you haven't noticed we're not the only ones that aren't happy about it." she said her eyes landing on Ryou's back as she watched him disappear down the hallway and around the corner.

"You mean Ryou?" Joey asked taken aback by this, he thought that Ryou would be the only one that would be happy for Yugi and Bakura.

"Yeah, probably not for the same reasons as us, but I think that he feels like he's being pushed aside for Yugi." Tea explained smirking seeing that Joey was starting to realize the plot behind her ingenious plan.

"But that don't make sense Tea, why would Bakura push Ryou aside just to be with Yugi?" Joey asked obviously still confused.

"Well maybe Ryou thinks that Bakura is trying to use Yugi for some reason." Tea suggested remembering the little bit of Ryou and Bakura's conversation that she had overheard earlier while she was outside during gym class.

"And so what, what can we do 'bout it?" Joey asked still not understanding what Tea was trying to imply here.

"Well maybe if we make Bakura seem jealous somehow, he'll show Ryou that he's right about this." Tea explained grinning as she ran one of her hands through her short brown hair.

"And how are we supposed to do dat?" Joey asked as they made their way out of the classroom and towards where they usually met up with everyone else after school.

"Simple, all you have to do is make Bakura jealous by making it seem like you like Ryou." Tea explained as she turned around on her heal and walked away.

Joey's eyes widened in shock as it finally registered in his tiny brain, what Tea had wanted him to do. 'Can I really do dat? Even if I could, do I really want to?' he thought to himself confused, scratching the back of his head as he headed outside where he saw Ryou walking through the school gates, obviously about to start walking home.

"Hey Ryou, wait up!" Joey called out to him as he walked past Duke and Tristan, who were both staring at him strangely, as he picked up his pace trying to catch up with Ryou.

Ryou heard the blonde male calling out to him to stop and wait up for him to catch up to him. He slightly hesitated before stopping and turned around staring at the ground. "What's up Joey, did you need something from me?" he asked Joey confused.

"Naw I wanted to give ya a ride home, seeing as ya have no one else to give ya a ride." Joey offered as he had finally caught up to him, struggling to catch his breath.

Ryou just shrugged his shoulders up once nodding as he expected to see the rest of the gang surround them. "Where's everyone else?" he asked Joey confused.

"Probably with Yami, after school they usually either head to the arcade or to his house to hang out and stuff. It's usually the same thing, so I thought I'd try hangin out with you, if ya don't mind." Joey explained as he lead Ryou towards the school parking lot where his black pick up truck was at.

"No, but why now… why me?" Ryou asked, he wasn't trying to sound rude, but besides Yugi or Serenity no one else had really talked to him, outside Yugi's little group.

"Well you seemed kinda lonely earlier, though I guess it seems weird to ya, huh?" Joey asked smirking as they both stepped inside the truck.

"No it's not weird, I'm just... surprised." Ryou admitted softly.

"Well don't be, so where too?" Joey asked him as he turned the key in the ignition bringing the truck to life.

Ryou didn't answer him, he just kept quiet, continuing to stare out the window.

"How 'bout da arcade?" Joey suggested, it seemed like a fun idea to him, plus he figured it was most likely that the gang was going to the game shop.

Ryou just nodded not taking his eyes off the window.

'Dis will be harder than I thought, he's just like Yugi.' Joey thought to himself kind of amused at how much the two were alike…

Once they had reached the arcade Joey smiled to himself expecting to see a lot of people there. He took a deep breath as they headed inside and found themselves a table.

What Joey wasn't expecting was to see was Yugi and Bakura there as well. 'Isn't this a nice surprise?' he thought to himself as his eyes met with Bakura's.

'What the bloody hell is Ryou doing here with that pathetic mortal?' Bakura thought to himself angrily as he noticed Joey staring at him, he just glared at him as the hand wrapped around Yugi's waist tightened as they found a table to sit at as well.

"What's wrong Bakura?" Yugi asked him in concern noticing that his grip around his wais had tightened slightly.

"It's nothing Yugi, don't worry about it." Bakura said trying to drop the subject.

"Is it about Ryou, you two have been avoiding each other all day." Yugi said concern filling his eyes, he didn't want to see his two friends fighting.

"Yeah but I don't want to talk about it, so just let it go for now." Bakura said giving him a reassuring smile.

"But Bakura-" Yugi started again he wanted to know what they were fighting about.

"I said drop it Yugi, I don't want to bloody talk about it." Bakura snapped his eyes narrowing into slits.

Yugi just nodded as he pulled away from Bakura, a wounded look in his eyes. "Okay I'll be right back I'm going to get us something to drink." Yugi explained walking away from Bakura.

Bakura was going to call Yugi back, feeling slightly guilty for the pained look he had caused him, but Yugi had already walked away from him, not hearing Bakura calling his name.

Joey noticed this as he told Ryou the same thing wanting to talk to Yugi. This gave Bakura the perfect opportunity to ask Ryou what he was doing here.

"Oh hello Bakura." Ryou said cheerfully noticing his darker half appearing him as he sat in the seat across from him.

"Ryou what the bloody hell are you doing here, and with that pathetic mortal?" Bakura demanded pointing an accusing finger in Joey's direction.

"He asked me to come here with him, why does it bother you?" Ryou asked him smiling at him innocently.

"No not yet, why is there a reason why it should?" Bakura snapped getting the impression that Ryou was trying to piss him off.

"No not at all." Ryou said as he noticed Joey coming back to their table a pitcher of soda in his hands…

"Hey Yugi what are ya doing here?" Joey asked as he approached him.

Yugi looked up surprised to see that Joey was even talking to him. "Oh well I thought it would be nice to come here and hang out. Where's the rest of the gang?" Yugi asked surprised not to see the rest of the gang along side him.

"There hangin out with Yami at the gang shop, they might come here afterwards." Joey explained smiling at Yugi.

"Okay well I'll see you later." Yugi said as he grabbed something to drink as he headed back over to his table.

'This should be interesting.' Joey thought to himself bitterly as he headed back to his own table as well…

End of chapter 9 Yay! I hope you guys like where this is heading I'm still not sure what I plan to do with Yugi and Yami yet, I just haven't planed it out that far yet, actually I wasn't expecting this fic to be this long because I honestly didn't think anybody would even read it, let alone enjoy it. Well anyways please read and review and I will try to update this fic soon.