Chapter eleven: realization
Sometimes the cold truth of reality feels like splash of freezing water in the face. We walk around all day, feeling sort of OK. Then something comes along that shatters everything. Sure, we all have problems that we drag along like a dead horse. Some problems are big, some are small. Some are insignificant and some are humongous. Life molds us, on some occasions forcefully so, into who we are, or who we must become. Hardships prepare us for what may come, and lessons come forth of what has already happened. Reality will forcefully pursue you until it catches up. And it forces you to look at what it is you have to do.
Reality caught up with Jounouchi when he answered his cell phone one morning, a few weeks after his father had died. Reality spoke with the voice of his beloved sister Shizuka. Reality blared the same three words over and over again in his ears.
"Mother has died."
The words felt like someone slapped him in the face, hard. The colour drained from his face, as he was sharing breakfast with the Kaiba's. Kaiba immediately saw something was wrong and sent Mokuba up to his room to continue get ready for school. Kaiba also quietly left the room, giving Jounouchi the privacy he deserved.
"Her skin was torn off," Shizuka continued, sobbing in between her words, "The police say they've never seen anything like this before."
But they have, Jounouchi thought, this is the exact same way Natsume killed his mom.
"Oh God, there was blood everywhere," she cried.
"Shizuka, where are you now?" Jounouchi asked her.
"I-I'm at the police station," Shizuka replied, "They're going to question me about this… Y-you don't think they think I killed her, do you?"
"Of course not sis," Jounouchi tried to comfort her, "they're just going to ask you some routine questions, and then they'll let you go."
"But w-what will I do, big brother?" Shizuka asked him, the sobs getting louder, "I have no place to go."
"Stay with some friends," Jounouchi urged her, "whatever you do, don't be on your own."
"Y-you think I'm in d-danger as well?" Shizuka asked him, he could hear the fear in her eyes.
"As long as you surround yourself with people you'll be fine," Jounouchi said. Though he wished he could believe it.
They talked for a little while after that, mostly Jounouchi just trying to calm his sister down. Then the police officers told her she had to hang up for questioning.
Jounouchi hung up the phone and stared at his plate for a while. The eggs had gone cold, but that didn't matter. Jounouchi's appetite disappeared. He wished he could just have Shizuka come here, but the distance between them was too big, and he didn't want her to travel by herself. He had to stop this somehow, or Shizuka would be the one who had to pay the price.
So instead of packing his bag to go to school, he just quickly grabbed some important stuff: his wallet, a flashlight, a knife and a compass. He took out his phone and dialed one last number before he left the house; Anzu. She answered with a timid 'Hello' and Jounouchi asked her the question he most desperately needed the answer to: "What's Mr. Ikeda's number?"
A surprised Anzu gave him the number, but before she could ask him what for, he hung up on her.
Jounouchi was long gone when Kaiba came looking for him, telling him they were about to leave for school. When he entered Jounouchi's bedroom and noticed he wasn't there, he speedily informed Ayami and together they searched the house. When Kaiba looked at the security cameras as a last resort he noticed that Jounouchi had just up and left. He tried his best to ignore the painful twang in his chest, when he watched the black and white footage of the boy gathering some of his stuff and leaving.
"His clothes are still in the house, master Kaiba," Ayami said, "he'll probably be back soon."
"Throw them out on the sidewalk," Kaiba said scornfully, "he's not allowed back inside."
He then went back to his office to gather his own stuff, and didn't acknowledge anyone, not even Mokuba (who was pleading for Jounouchi), until they got to school.
He'd believed Jounouchi had left without him that morning as a sign of showing how much he still disrespected Kaiba. Somewhere Kaiba had expected no less, seeing as how he'd treated the boy throughout the years. But he'd given him a place to stay when he had nowhere to go, the least Jounouchi could do was just appreciate that fact. The fact that he left without telling him anything felt the same as being slapped in the face, and Kaiba didn't like that someone had that much power over him, could make him feel betrayed. Kaiba realized grudgingly as he was walking to class that he had allowed Jounouchi to get too close to him.
When he opened the classroom door he had believed that Jounouchi would already be there, chatting away with his geeky friends. The geek squad was there all right, but Jounouchi was not with them. They seemed worried and were whispering amongst each other. Kaiba just shrugged it off. Jounouchi was probably late again.
The teacher entered the class and the murmur amongst the students settled down. Roll call was next, and when there was no voice piping in when the teacher read the name 'Jounouchi Katsuya', he frowned and automatically looked at Yuugi.
Yuugi just shrugged and said he hadn't seen Jounouchi. His eyes met Kaiba for a while, but Kaiba just gave an icy glance and looked away.
"Oh right, he had some family difficulties, I forgot," was all the teacher said before he continued reading names off of his list.
A few kids sniggered in the back of the classroom, and Kaiba had to grind his teeth in order not to lash out at them.
When the bell chimed that it was lunchtime, and Jounouchi still hadn't showed up, Kaiba started to get worried. He remembered the phone call Jounouchi had gotten in the morning, and he hoped to God Jounouchi hadn't done anything stupid.
Stupid is all that mutt ever does, Kaiba thought, still feeling betrayed by Jounouchi's sudden disappearance. But his mind kept on wandering, and he couldn't help but feel worried. It felt as if his stomach had transformed into a rock, and the bland cafeteria food tasted even worse than normal. Kaiba's eyes kept travelling over to Yuugi's table; they looked just as miserable as he felt. Kaiba sighed in an annoyed manner, threw down his cutlery and strode over to their table.
The frantic whispering of the friends fell dead when Kaiba approached them. They all looked at their plates, refusing to talk; only Yuugi gazed up at Kaiba, giving him a half-smile, worry never leaving his eyes.
"Hey Kaiba," Yuugi said.
"Why isn't he here?" Kaiba asked, straight to the point.
"Isn't that what we should be asking you?" Honda asked, sharply, "weren't you taking care of him?"
"Last time I checked I wasn't the dog's master," Kaiba snarled back, "besides, aren't you guys his friends? I just provided a roof over his head, that's all."
"You know what, Kaiba?" Honda stood up straight, but even then Kaiba was the bigger of the two, "we have no clue why Jou decided to stay with you, but we don't trust you. For all we know you just dumped him out in the street somewhere!"
"Yes, this is why I come to ask you where he is. Because I threw him out," Kaiba gave a nasty grin, "master detective What's-his-name has done it again."
"The name's Hiroto Honda!" Honda shouted.
"I don't give a shit who you are, I came here for information, not to be shouted at. It's obvious you guys are still the losers I thought you were," Kaiba turned on his heels and was ready to walk back to his table when Yuugi's voice made him stop in his tracks.
"We may have a clue as to where he is, Kaiba," the small boy piped in.
"Yuugi don't, it's none of his business," his lover, Yami said.
"It's all of my business," Kaiba said, turning around again, "now tell me what you know."
"And why exactly is it your business, Kaiba?" Honda said, staring straight into the cerulean eyes, "you got a crush on Jou or somethin'?"
The question caught Kaiba so off guard that he could not do anything else but blush.
"Oh look, the rich boy is turning beet-red. I guess I'm on to something here," Honda taunted him, "You wanna hug Jou, Kaiba? You wanna kiss him?"
Kaiba balled his hand into a fist, but before he could punch Kaiba in the face, Yami had appeared behind him, holding him back.
"You don't know shit, Hiroto," Kaiba said, his words drenched with anger.
"I think I'm hitting rather close to home, actually," Honda said, rather smug with himself.
"Kaiba if you don't calm down, we won't tell you what we know," Yami said, grinding his teeth from the effort of holding the brunet back.
It took Kaiba all his will to calm down then and there, but not without making a mental note to punch Honda later. He clenched his teeth visibly, his eyes still dangerous. Yami let go of him, but still stood besides Kaiba, as to make sure the larger boy would not decide to fulfill his little promise to Honda right now.
Honda was still standing up, ready to fight. Anzu however, just pulled him back down in his seat.
"What do you know?" Kaiba said, still angry.
"All we know is that Anzu got a phone call from him this morning," Yuugi said.
"He just asked me for someone's phone number, that's all," Anzu said.
"Who's phone number?" Kaiba inquired.
"The guy who brought us to Domino Island in his little boat," Anzu said, "but there's no way he went back there, I mean, why would he?"
Kaiba just frowned and turned around again, he headed back to his own table and gathered his own stuff. Yuugi was yelling after him as he strode out of the cafeteria and pulled out his cell phone to call his driver.
His heart was pounding as Kaiba approach the school gate though he had no idea why. Was it something that Hiroto-character had said? Of course not, he did not feel that way towards Jounouchi. That was ridiculous. But then why was his heart beating this fast? Why did his hands feel clammy? Was there something Hiroto noticed that I cannot? He wondered. He then cursed aloud and forced himself to dispel these crazy thoughts. He did not think about Jounouchi that way. He did not. Or do I?
Domino Island is where it had all begun, Kaiba knew, Jounouchi had told him. It's where he first saw the man that Jounouchi claimed was the cause of his father's death. Would he honestly be going back there? What would he hope to achieve? Kaiba mulled these questions over in his head as he ordered his driver to head for Domino Island.
Jounouchi and Kaiba weren't the only one that headed over to Domino Island. Kimura decided to check out the island one last time before he started question his suspects again. All he had done in this investigation had been to no avail. He had no killer, he had no other witnesses except for Jounouchi, and even though there were enough people with a grudge against the elder Jounouchi, none of them seemed likely to have done it. Except for Jounouchi Katsuya, he seemed to be somehow involved everywhere, yet he couldn't figure out why. Somehow Kimura could not believe Jounouchi was the murderer, but at the end of the day, if he didn't come up with another liable suspect, Jounouchi was likely to be the one to pay the price.
He arrived at the lake around noon, the other police officers already standing by with the boat. They gave each other a quick hello. He looked around and saw no one but an old man and his boat. Kimura headed over to the man, and waved his hand as a sign of greeting. The man stepped out of the boat, and waved back.
"What brings you here, officer?" the man asked.
"We have some business to take care of at the island," Kimura answered, "I just wanted to let you know that you are not allowed to bring anyone else to the island."
"Well, you are too late with that order, officer," the man said, chuckling, "Why I just brought someone over to the island this morning."
"What? Who?" Kimura asked.
"I cannot say this, officer," the man said, "but he was very determined to get there."
Kimura returned to the boat with a sour look on his face. This wasn't going according to plan. He just hoped that, whoever was on the island, wouldn't get in his way.
Right before he told his team to start the boat the ringtone of his cell phone rung through the air. Kimura sighed and picked up the phone.
"Kimura speaking," he said.
"Kimura, we just got some news in from another district," his supervisor said, "it seems the Jounouchi kid's mother has been killed as well."
Kimura's eyes widened, "are there any suspects?"
"The mother was well liked, and there aren't any witnesses. We need you to bring in Jounouchi Katsuya back to the island, right away!"
"Why Jounouchi Katsuya?" Kimura asked, "there's no way he could have killed his mother."
"He's the only lead we have, Kimura," his supervisor said, before he hung up the phone.
Kimura put his cell phone back into his pocket, but right before he wanted to blow off the entire search he heard a familiar chuckle behind him. He turned around and saw the old man looking at him, a smile playing around his lips.
"What is it?" Kimura said, clearly losing patience.
"Why, Jounouchi Katsuya," the old man said, "that's exactly the name of the boy I brought to the island this morning."
Kimura looked out to the island, and smiled a little: "looks like the search is back on."
A/N: IT'S BEEN FOREVER. I am sorry. I lost this chapter somewhere and I haven't been bothered to re-write it because I've been so busy. BUT THEN I FOUND IT AGAIN. Yay!
I hope you enjoyed it! Remember to review. c: