Ryou's School Life

by Annzy Bananzy

Under special circumstances, Ryou Bakura has to pretend to be a girl for his freshmen year, but what happens when boys and girls alike start hitting on him? Will the -never-tells-lies Ryou be able to handle it? And what happens when he starts to fall for a boy who thinks he's a girl? Thiefshipping VS Angstshipping VS Tendershipping.

11. Gossip Spreads Fast

This chapter's so long already that I don't want to make it any longer by adding long author's notes… so, I'm sorry for the long wait, but hopefully this makes up for it! (Hopefully).

Chapter 11: Gossip Spreads Fast (As the Wind Blows)

---

"Marik! Someone's at the door for you!" Marik's sister, Isis, called from the front door.

"Coming sis!" Marik responded before getting up from his desk. It was a typical Saturday night, nothing really exciting happening; he had finished all of his homework and was currently doodling another random drawing while he waited to go to sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But Otogi appearing at his doorstep? Definitely out of the ordinary. Of course, considering earlier at the coffee shop, maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised, especially since it was seven o'clock…

"Hey…" Otogi said awkwardly, rubbing his arm and looking anywhere except at the handsome Egyptian boy. "… Can I… Can I come in…?" he asked in a way that expected rejection.

"… Yeah, sure, come on in," Marik responded, wondering why Otogi looked even more forlorn than usual. Well, usual for recent times anyways…

Otogi stepped into the house and Marik closed the door behind him. The Egyptian was glad his sister had left when he'd come to answer the door, otherwise this would be way more awkward than it already was…

"So," Marik started, causing the raven-haired boy to look at him for the first time. His eyes were red and puffy, and it was obvious he had been crying… the sight distracted Marik for a second, but he quickly regained his train of thought and said, "Wanna come to my room? Or -?"

"Yeah," Otogi interrupted before Marik could say anything else. The host nodded and started walking to his room, the depressed-looking boy following after him.

That's how it came to this: Marik sitting cross-legged at the head of his bed, Otogi on the other side still trying to avoid his gaze… "Is something wrong Oto – er, Ryuji-san?" Marik asked, remembering that he could stop calling him "Otogi" now. That would take some getting used to.

The boy in question was still staring at the bed sheets, looking like he hadn't heard a word Marik said. He was about to repeat his question when Otogi spoke up: "I had seventeen dates this weekend... Five yesterday, six today, and six tomorrow… Eight cancelled, leaving me with three dates for each day… Only two showed up yesterday, and only one showed up today… Of course, maybe the date I had planned for right now would have shown up, but I called and cancelled…"

"…" Marik wasn't exactly sure how to respond to what he just said, so he decided to ask, "Why'd you cancel?" in a soft voice.

"… I just, couldn't handle another disappointment I guess…" the boy responded, putting his head down even more than it already was.

"…" once again, Marik was speechless. What was he supposed to say?

"You wanna know why I was so against gays?" Otogi spoke up again, startling Marik somewhat.

"Yeah, sure," Marik responded smartly.

"It's just… my dad. Growing up he always said they were bad people or whatever… he kept filling my head with all these stories about them being confused and misguided and naïve and just… evil, I think he said once…" Otogi took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. "One day, I hugged one of my friends… We were young, in like, third grade, you know? The time when personal space meant nothing and we were all really friendly? My dad got mad, told me that it was wrong to hug other guys, said if I ever did it again that he'd hurt me…" at this point, Marik saw something that looked distinctly like a tear drop from his face and into his lap. "… He told me I wouldn't be his son anymore…"

Marik's eyes widened, and suddenly he was filled with pity for the boy in front of him. He understood what it was like to be hurt by your father… he understood it a lot. He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something comforting when Otogi spoke up again, "Then, when I was in fifth grade and I told him that I liked this one girl in my class, he seemed really happy… He told me to talk to her, be smooth; he gave me a bunch of advice on how to "talk to the ladies" and how to "be a ladies' man" and stuff…" Otogi's hands clenched up into a shaky fist before he continued. "He was always really happy when I told him about girls… so I guess I thought, since that's what my dad wanted, I'd become one of the cool kids so I could talk to a lot of girls and make him happy… and then, in seventh grade, I finally met one of the people my dad always told me to never become, and I just… started making fun of him. After all, if my dad hated them, then they must be bad, right?" Otogi's voice had cracked on the word "right," and Marik almost felt like crying himself. What was he supposed to do? His ex-nemesis was telling him all this stuff… what was he supposed to do…?

"But then… I," Otogi's whole body was shaking now, and Marik felt the need to just touch his shoulder, or say or do something, but he still wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't exactly the best at comforting people… "Then I," Otogi started again, Marik still at a loss of what he should do. "I started to like this one kid in seventh grade… but I told myself I didn't and tried to stop thinking about it, but the thoughts just wouldn't go away…! No matter how hard I tried, they just… stayed… so I thought that maybe if I just mocked and teased gays all the time that I wouldn't think like that anymore; I would realize that being gay wasn't good, you know? I'd stop thinking like that… and when that didn't work, I tried to just, surround myself in girls, so to speak… I tried to get with as many girls as possible to prove that I wasn't gay, I wasn't something my dad hated…"

All was silent in Marik's room for what seemed like hours. Marik felt like the air was crushing him, and he was afraid to breathe, especially since Otogi was shaking and obviously trying very hard not to cry. For what seemed like the millionth time, Marik tried to say something only to be interrupted by Otogi again. He said in a strained, high-pitched voice, "I didn't know who to talk to… I didn't know what to do; it was all just so confusing. My mind was pulling me in a million different directions; my brain said one thing but my body said another, and sometimes I just wanted to scream…" Otogi looked up finally, and Marik could see the tears streaming his face, the running mascara, the pure expression of agony and confusion etched into every inch of his expression. "Did you ever feel like that?" he asked, more hot tears pouring from his eyes, tensed words somehow coming through his clogged throat. "Did you ever want to scream? Did you ever want to run away from it all?"

Marik opened his mouth to speak, but nothing would come out at first. He tried multiple times until eventually a hoarse "Yes" escaped his throat.

Otogi shut his eyes tight and bowed his head again, digging his palms into his eye-sockets. "I was such a jerk… just because of what my dad thought… I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, and hell, maybe I am, but I just… I'm tired of it, I don't want to do this anymore…! There's too many opinions, too many "right" ways; what's the point of living in such a confusing world? A world where people can say something's right when it could be completely wrong? I hate it! I should just leave this –" Otogi couldn't speak anymore as Marik finally decided to do something besides sit there like an unfeeling idiot: slap the confused boy.

Otogi looked up at Marik to see a fierce expression on his face. "No," he said forcefully. "Don't even finish your sentence. I don't care how bad your life gets, that's never the answer…!"Marik leaned in close to Otogi and spoke his next words in a harsh whisper, "Do you think people don't go through exactly what you're going through? There are people in the world who's parents rape them, who don't even have a place to call home, who probably wish they were dead every day, but you know what? They don't give up, and neither should you. If everyone gave up when life gets tough, hell! There'd be no more people on the planet!" Marik leaned back and looked at Otogi, who stared at him with wide eyes and a slightly parted mouth.

Eventually, the previous bully clenched his jaw and asked, "Then what should I do?" The words sounded so desperate as they scraped through his teeth. "No one at school likes me; acting like a jerk ensured me of that… My dad will kick me out of the house if he ever knows what I'm questioning, and I'm sick and tired of everything! It's all so stupid! What if the only answer is death, huh Ishtar-san?" more tears flowed from his eyelids. "What if there's no hope for me anymore? I bet you no one will miss me when I'm gone –"

"Don't say that!" Marik interrupted with a yell. He quickly quieted his voice before saying, "I guarantee that a lot of people will miss you Otogi. I'm not exactly sure what I can do about your father… but on Monday, you can sit with me at lunch."

Otogi stared at Marik and almost felt like smiling. Almost. "Yeah right, no one at your table's gonna want me to sit there –"

"You really underestimate the Friendship Gang, Ryuji-san," Marik said, remembering to call him by his first name. "I bet that they'll accept you no problem. Well, maybe Bakura won't…" Marik added as an afterthought.

Otogi managed a small smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I really appreciate it, I really do Marik-san, but I just don't know…" more silent tears traveled down onto his shirt. "Why should I even be given a second chance after the way I've acted…"

"Because everyone deserves a second chance," Marik answered encouragingly. "As long as you really want to change, you deserve a second chance."

Otogi stared at Marik before looking down at the bed again. He wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up. "I think I'll go now –" he was stopped when Marik grabbed his arm. Otogi turned to him with a questioning look before tugging at his arm. "Hey, let go," he said weakly.

"You think I'm going to let you leave when you look suicidal?" Marik asked him like he was crazy. They stayed like that for a while, until Otogi sat back down on the bed, his legs planted firmly on the ground this time and his head still bowed. Marik let go of his arm slowly, almost expecting him to bolt as soon as he let go.

"How do you deal with it?" Otogi whispered.

Marik tilted his head to the side slightly and asked, "Deal with what?"

"All the comments," Otogi raised his voice only slightly, "the bullies, me; how'd you deal with it?"

Marik took a while to answer before saying, "Well, as you know I didn't really deal with it well, I can't even count all the fights we've gotten into," Marik smiled slightly as Otogi let out a slight laugh. "You just have to realize that they're idiots who don't know anything and their opinions don't matter I guess, though sometimes they say things that really get to you…"

"So what do you do then?"

Marik smirked. "Well, I usually fight it out, but I haven't really had to "fight" in a while. Throwing a few punches is a different story. You could just ignore the taunts and count to ten and all that nonsense."

Otogi shook his head slightly. "Ish – I mean, Marik-san, you're so… perfect."

Marik felt a shiver go down his spine at the word "perfect," and couldn't help but loathe the fact that it kept popping up. "Trust me, I'm far from perfect."

"Farther along than I'll ever be," Otogi said, turning his head away from Marik altogether.

Marik rolled his eyes. "Enough of this self-pity crap, what happened to the confident Otogi?"

The boy let out a short laugh before turning to smirk at Marik, the mischievousness slightly enhanced by the smeared mascara running down the right side of his face. "Is that the Otogi you like?"

Marik smiled back and rolled his eyes before saying. "It's the one I'm used to, not… this," he gestured to the boy in front of him, causing said boy to laugh again. Marik smiled, finding he liked the sound of Otogi's laughter.

They stared at each other for a while, and before Marik knew what he was doing he started rubbing the mascara off of Otogi's face. "Wh-what are you doing?" the boy stuttered, his face turning red. He wasn't used to such personal contact form a guy; the most he'd had since that hug in third grade were high fives and fist pounds.

Marik just chuckled at the sight of the flustered boy. "Mascara is hardly attractive when it's running down your cheeks," was what he said in place of an explanation.

Otogi pushed Marik's hand away and started rubbing the mascara off himself. "Weirdo…" he mumbled.

Marik just laughed before asking, "Why'd you come here anyways?" he smirked before continuing, "Just to complain?"

Otogi stuck his tongue out at Marik. "As I said before, I came here because I couldn't handle it if another date didn't show up…"

"But why'd you come here, to my house?"

"…" Otogi shrugged before smiling sheepishly at him. "I guess I was just drawn to it… you can tell I wasn't really thinking straight when I came in. Maybe I was "reaching out" or whatever…"

Marik stared at him for a second before standing up and stretching. "Well, you're here now, so what do you want to do?"

"I don't know…" Otogi said sulkily before smirking and looking at the Egyptian with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Make out?"

Marik glared at him. "And you used to be a homophobe?"

Otogi laughed so hard that he had to clutch his stomach. Once he calmed down he said, "After yesterday and today, I don't think I'll ever be like that again. I think I might cancel my dates for tomorrow too… I need a break."

"You're cancelling a date?" Marik said with a smile. "Oh my gosh, what is this world coming to?"

"Shut up!" Otogi said with a laugh as he pushed Marik's back lightly. "You're the one who said I need to stop dating and flirting." They both laughed, and then a comfortable silence washed over them before Otogi looked away again and said timidly, "Marik-san, I… I think I'm going to tell my dad everything…"

Marik's eyes widened and he rubbed the back of his neck. "… Good for you," he said, and he really did mean it; not even Marik could tell his brother and sister about his preferences…

"… But," Otogi said, sounding nervous, "If… if my dad kicks me out, can I stay here? It's okay if you say no, I can find somewhere else…"

Marik stared at him for a while, pondering what would be the right thing to do. The facts were that Otogi didn't have many friends right now, there was a high possibility that he would get kicked out of the house, and he'd have nowhere else to go… "I'd have to ask Isis and Rishid, but it should be fine."

Otogi gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Marik couldn't help but smile back. "You're welcome. Now, what do you wanna do? Besides what you said earlier?"

Otogi chuckled. "You can't say "making out" can you?"

"… It's uncomfortable for me."

Otogi laughed. "Okay, fair enough. Do you have any board games?"

"I think we have some in the basement."

"Then let's play!" Otogi said as he ran out of Marik's room.

Marik rolled his eyes and followed after him walking. "You don't know where the basement is!"

"Then hurry up and show me!" came the impatient reply.

---

"Bakura, please, you can tell me what's wrong," Ryou pleaded with the depressed-looking boy lying on the couch.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk about it!" he snapped angrily.

Ryou stood over his brother, his arms akimbo and an impatient look on his face. "I've let you just lie there ever since dinner at six. It's seven now Bakura, just tell me what's wrong! Only bad things happen when you brood about something for so long."

"I'm not brooding!" Bakura defended as he sat up and glared at his brother. "I'm contemplating life, something you fail to do!" They glared at each other for a minute before Ryou sat on Bakura's back and crossed his arms. Bakura just groaned and laid his head back down. "You know this never works Ryou."

"I don't care; I'm not moving until you tell me what's wrong," Ryou said stubbornly.

"I can easily flip you over you realize…"

"I don't care. Plus, I know you won't."

Bakura growled. "Oh, you know me so well, don't you? Then why don't you know what I'm mad about?"

"So you are mad about something!"

"… Damn it."

Ryou turned his body so that he was sitting cross-legged on Bakura's back and leaning down so he could talk in Bakura's ear. "We're already making progress, can we please just make more?"

"Ryou, I'm not going to tell you a damn thing, so just drop it already."

Ryou continued to just sit there, not saying anything for a bit. He knew that if he stayed quiet long enough that eventually Bakura would talk, it was just a matter of how long it would take. Meanwhile, Bakura was getting fed up with Ryou. He had said a million times that he didn't want to talk about it, that nothing was wrong, and that he shouldn't worry, but he wouldn't leave him alone! And he knew why too, it was because he had actually cried in front of the smaller boy… I mean, he'd admit that he cried before, especially after the loss of his dad, but he always made sure that Ryou was nowhere near him. He needed to be the tough twin and take care of things around here now; their aunt and uncle were good for nothing except money, and Ryou needed a strong figure to look up to, trust, and depend on when things turned bad.

Of course, now he was beginning to wonder that even if Ryou hadn't seen him cry if he'd leave him alone. The other twin had been trying to get Bakura to open up and trust more people and talk about his feelings openly ever since they were kids, and this need to "help" Bakura had only increased when their parents died because Ryou knew that Bakura must feel something about it, especially since he had been so close to their dad…

In reality, Bakura was right. Ryou wanted Bakura to be more open, and talking about what was troubling him was part of that process. He would not give in until Bakura started talking, no matter what!

So the twins stayed like that for a while, still and silent, until Bakura almost yelled, "All right! Fine! I'll fucking tell you whatever the hell it is you want to know, just get off of me and leave me alone afterwards!"

"Yes!" Ryou cheered as he jumped off of Bakura. The older twin sat up, soon being joined by Ryou sitting right next to him a little too close for most people's comfort, but not for Bakura's. At least, not when Ryou was involved.

Ryou looked up at his brother with eager, encouraging eyes and a happy smile, and Bakura let out an irritated sigh. He started to try and think of a possible way to explain himself… he wasn't exactly the best at describing his "feelings," his plans he could explain though… But this wasn't really a "plan." Eventually Bakura took in a deep breath and started with, "It's just… You're always telling me to make new friends and stuff, right? Trust people more?"

Ryou nodded. "Yes."

"… Well, I've tried before, believe me, I've tried, but everyone I trust either leaves or disappoints me." You're the only one who hasn't so far, he added to himself.

Ryou furrowed his brows. He didn't really understand Bakura's problem so far; he was feeling down because he was thinking about people leaving or disappointing him? But why did that suddenly come to mind while they were walking through town? He decided to just go with it for now and asked, "Well… you said you kind of trust Marik, right?"

Bakura scowled and crossed his arms. "Don't mention him around me."

"Why?" Ryou asked, confused. He had thought that Bakura actually liked Marik… If not "that way," then at least as a friend.

Bakura sighed again and said, "Earlier today, I saw him hanging out with Otogi."

"… Okay, and your point is?" Ryou asked, really not getting the big deal.

Bakura whipped his head around to face Ryou with a disbelieving expression. "My point?-! My point is I thought he hated that guy! He lied to me, hell, he probably used me to get to that jackass!" Bakura stared at Ryou for a little longer before turning his head away, grinding his teeth so he wouldn't say anymore.

"…" Ryou stared at Bakura for a second, trying to process this information. "So, you're hurt?"

Bakura's eye twitched. "It sounds stupid when you say it like that."

"Then explain it better."

Bakura looked down at the ground. "Can you imagine what it's like having everyone you love and trust leaving, backstabbing, disappointing, or lying to you? Imagine people you thought were your friends doing those things to you… That's pretty much every single one of my friendships Ryou," Bakura scowled. "I shouldn't have expected a friendship with Marik to be any different, but I did, and when I saw that he lied to me it just…" Bakura's eyes hardened, "really…"

"… Hurt you…" Ryou finished for him.

Bakura turned his head away from Ryou. "This is why I don't trust people Ryou, they're never reliable. They can turn on you in a snap. I thought Marik was different since he seemed kind of like me. I figured he had morals, more so than most people are age, but it turns out he's just like all the rest. It turned out that I was wrong, and you know how I hate being wrong."

Ryou looked down at the ground. So, his brother was feeling hurt because he had actually started to trust Marik and thought about becoming his friends, so when he thought he lied to him… "Bakura," Ryou said, looking up, "you don't know the whole story."

"I saw them coming out of a coffee shop and laughing Ryou, how can that be interpreted in any other way than as a date?"

Ryou shrugged. "Maybe Marik didn't like Otogi before, but now that he's changed Marik wants to be friends with him. He could also be feeling guilty about practically ruining his life…"

"And some life it was," Bakura said sarcastically. "I'd hate to lose that life," he finished with an eye roll.

Ryou sighed. "My point is, Bakura, that you can't be mad at him yet. I think you should talk to him first and see what he says."

"How will I know he's telling the truth?"

Ryou smiled. "Bakura, you're the best lie-detector I know, just trust your instincts or your gut or whatever."

Bakura scowled, thinking about what his brother said. It would be a good idea to talk to him he supposed, after all, if his brother was right and Marik only recently liked Otogi, then he didn't want to seem like he was… "hurt" over a stupid think like the Egyptian lying to him, did he? Of course not! "Fine," Bakura said eventually, "I'll talk to him. But if he lies, he's getting a one-way ticket to the hospital."

Ryou shook his head amusedly. "Of course Bakura, of course," he said before grinning mischievously and pronouncing in a sing-song voice, "Kura's got a friend~!"

Bakura turned and glared at him. "No I don't~," he sang back, annoyed.

Ryou stood up and twirled around while singing, "Yes he does~!" and giggling. He started skipping away when Bakura got up to chase him.

"No. I. Don't!" he almost yelled as he ran after his brother.

They ran all around the house, saying, "Yes he does~!" and "No I don't!" and giggling and growling as they ran for a good ten minutes straight. Eventually though, Ryou began to get tired so he turned around and trapped his running brother in a hug, although the impact caused them both to fall, since Bakura hadn't had time to stop himself from running full in to him.

Bakura groaned and looked down at Ryou, who was supported only by his elbows, his body curved upwards slightly. Bakura's hands were placed firmly on either side of his brother, his head barely lifted over his neck. "Ryou…" he said, his eye twitching, "why did you do that…?"

Ryou smiled sheepishly, his elbows and backside hurting since that's what he landed on. "I was tired of running… and hugs make everything better!"

Bakura stared at his brother, un-amused, but then smiled and just laid his head on his brother's neck. "Well, I'm sleepy so I think I'll go to bed."

"What? Bakura, get off me!" Ryou said before pushing him.

Bakura dug his feet in the ground to stop himself from being pushed and smirked to himself. "Naaah, I'm comfortable."

"Bakura!" Ryou whined, pouting slightly. Though it was in vain, for Bakura couldn't see him pouting.

"This I what you get for accusing me of having friends."

Ryou sighed and laid down fully. "So, how long are you going to lay on me this time?"

"Until I wake up."

"What? But you're not asleep!" Just then Bakura made a fake snoring sound, causing Ryou to roll his eyes and say, "Not funny 'Kura!"

---

"Another tie?-!" Otogi exclaimed unbelievingly, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Marik laughed. "Don't doubt your opponent Otogi," he said with a smirk.

Otogi frowned and started packing up the card game they had been playing. "Okay, let's do something else now."

"I thought you said you'd keep playing until you beat me?" Marik responded proudly as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, still smirking at him.

Otogi glared at him. "Yeah, well I said that three games ago! I'm done."

"Aw, come on, one more game?"

"No!"

Marik started laughing again, and Otogi just pouted. He hadn't expected Marik to be so good at card games; they had tied at almost everything so far, except for the first time when Marik won because Otogi underestimated him. Yes, that was the only reason he won… The. Only. Reason.

Otogi took a special pride in being good at games, so when people beat him he got a little, upset… that's why he held a grudge towards Yugi in 7th grade (and onwards) and told Jounouchi to torment him. He also had a grudge towards Atem, but Yugi was weaker and didn't like violence, so he was an easier target. However, even if he was competitive he knew when to cut his losses, which is why he wouldn't play Marik again.

But as Marik kept laughing and laughing, his anger snapped and he yelled, "Fine! One more game, but then I'm done."

Marik smirked. "I'll go easy on ya."

Otogi's eye twitched as he started setting up the game again. "Yeah yeah, act like a big-shot why don't you…"

"I never knew you were such a game geek Otogi," Marik commented, "I'm surprised you and Yugi aren't friends."

Otogi sighed. "My father owns a game shop and he's Yugi's Grandpa's rival."

"Oh," Marik said. He had almost forgotten that the Mutou twins lived in a game shop with their Grandpa, although he never knew that Otogi owned a game shop. "You own a game shop?"

"Well," Otogi hesitated. "I don't own one, but my dad does, and he's really competitive so, I guess I learned that from him." Otogi smiled softly.

"… You really love your dad, don't you?" Marik asked curiously.

Otogi sighed and nodded. "Yeah, which is why I want to tell him the truth…"

Marik looked at him for a few seconds before smiling and telling him, "Well, then just tell him that; any father who's mad at his son for telling the truth shouldn't be a father." Like how my father shouldn't be a father… he added in his head.

Otogi smiled. "Yeah, you're right…" he said as he passed out seven cards to Marik. "Let's just play "Go Fish.""

"Such a weak game…" Marik muttered under his breath.

Otogi glared at his opponent, but he proceeded with the game nonetheless. "Got any threes?"

"Go fish," Marik told him with a smile.

Otogi took a card and gave him a stern look. "No cheating."

Marik rolled his eyes. "I think the old you should've been the one to take that advice."

Otogi's face burned with shame and he quickly buried his face behind the fanned out cards in his hand. Mark winced at the sight; did he always have to bring up people's pasts and throw it back at them? He really needs to think before he speaks, and not let his temper get the best of him anymore…

Marik couldn't yell at himself anymore when he heard a timid voice say, "It's your turn…"

"Oh! Right, uh," he looked at his cards, and deciding to lose this one on purpose, he said, "Got any fives?"

A hand extended a card with a "5" on it and Marik took it sheepishly. The thing about Go Fish was that it was kind of hard to purposefully lose… "Got any twos?"

"Go fish," Otogi said, finally putting the cards down with a sigh to reveal his tired face. "You're right, this is a weak game."

Marik smirked and was about to mention how Otogi only didn't want to play when he saw he was losing, but he quickly held his tongue and said, "Yeah, let's do something else."

Otogi laughed and stood up,."Actually, I think it's time I go home," he said to Marik with a smile, "thanks for letting me hang out, and… helping me."

Marik stood up too and smiled. "No problem. Good luck with your dad."

Otogi nodded, his face paling as he did so… the sight struck a warning note inside Marik, but he shrugged it off as paranoia and said it was just the lack of light.

The two boys walked up the basement steps and to the front door where they parted ways, Otogi calling behind him as he ran to his house, "I'll see you Monday Marik-san!" Marik just waved with an amused smile before closing the door and thinking to himself, And here I thought that he'd never change…

"Marik?" his sister's voice called from behind him. He turned around to face her and smiled. "Hey Isis," he said, "what's up?"

Isis smiled softly. "Nothing, it's just that… you seem to be much more social lately."

Marik smiled softly. He knew his sister was worried about him since he didn't talk about his friends much and he usually never hang out with them outside of school, so going to Bakura's house and Otogi coming to his was probably a big relief to her. "Yeah, well… there's a lot more interesting people here," he said, immediately thinking of the yin-yang twins and Otogi.

Isis smiled brightly and hugged her brother tightly. "Oh Marik! You're finally making friends! I'm so proud!"

Marik pushed his sister off him gently. "Isis, I already had friends before today –"

"But you never hung out with them outside of school," Isis brought up, "now, you are!"

Marik shook his head amusedly. "Relax Isis, I wouldn't get too excited about this. It might not happen again if you're going to make such a big deal out of it."

"What? No! Okay, fine, I won't say anything more about it," she said before running her fingers over her lips in a "zipping" motion, winking at him, and walking away with a happy smile on her face.

---

"I can't believe we got the job!" Ryou exclaimed happily to Bakura on Monday morning while they were walking to school. He wasn't lying; when he got that call on Sunday morning yesterday, he jumped with joy and even woke Bakura up, though he knew the boy would be grumpy.

"Yes, I know Ryou, you've told me eight times now," came the tired boy's reply. He hated the mornings, and being next to an excited person when you just wanted to crawl back in bed for ten more hours wasn't very good for your nerves.

"Well excuse me for being excited!" Ryou said, ignoring his brother's tone. They started work after school today! And they do get a discount on their phones! When they can afford to buy them anyways… and then there's so many different cell phones to choose, from, not to mention all the cell phone plans available, and –

Ryou had to steady himself after he almost tripped over the unlevel sidewalk, much to Bakura's amusement. "Watch where you're going Ryou, you might fall," he said with a slight chuckle.

Ryou pouted. "You'd catch me," he muttered under his breath before they continued walking. The new job wasn't the only thing on his mind, however, he was also thinking about another call he had received yesterday:

~!~!~!~

"Hmm… Should be done in a few minutes…" Ryou said to himself as he was grilling some cheap steaks they had bought earlier in the day in a pan. Ryou didn't really like taking Bakura shopping with him because… well, he acted just like a little kid: "Can we get that?" "I want this!" and "It doesn't cost a lot," are just a few of the phrases Bakura uses to get a particular item that he wants, and Ryou usually ends up buying it too because he'd rather pay for the thing than risk it being stolen. This time Bakura wanted steaks, and he was determined to get them too; he had been planning to smuggle them out with his new coat, so now they were having steaks for lunch, even if Ryou would rather have vegetable stir-fry with shrimp and a side of rice (1).

Their home phone ringing interrupted his thoughts, and he looked at the steak hesitantly before turning down the heat as low as it would go and walking into the living room to answer the phone. "Hello? You've reached the Bakura residence," he said in a practiced voice.

"Ryou-chan?" a familiar female voice rang on the other end.

"Hey Amora, what's up?" Ryou said with a smile, relieved that it was her and not some salesman or something equally annoying.

"Did you hear?-! Otogi cancelled all of the dates he had planned today!"

"… What?" Ryou asked, confused.

"I know right! It's crazy! But I swear it; the girls for today just called me and said their dates got cancelled!"

Ryou creased his eyebrows together, trying to think. "Amora, what's the big deal?" he asked, confused as to what the problem was.

He had to bring the phone about a foot away from his head when Amora yelled at him: "What's the big deal?-! Ryou, this was the biggest jerk in school who would take dates like goldfish ate food! Why in the world would he cancel?-!"

"Surely he's cancelled dates before…?" Ryou said softly, the phone a good distance away from his ear now just in case.

"Not that I recall… unless something really important came up, but his excuse for today was that he just wanted to be alone!"

Ryou sighed. "Amora, I think you're overreacting –"

"I think you're under reacting!" Amora screamed back. "Think about it Ryou, Otogi's been acting depressed lately, right? We even thought he looked kind of suicidal? Don't most people who feel like that cancel all their plans so that they have the whole day to… you know, jump off a bridge or whatever?"

Ryou paused for a few seconds before his brain registered exactly what Amora was saying. Then his face paled, and his stomach tied up in knots as a wave went through his body, making him feel weak. No… Ryou thought, Otogi wouldn't do that, would he…? He seems like a strong person, he would never actually… kill himself, would he?His knees started buckling and his mouth turned dry as he pictured Otogi about to jump off a bridge, or tying some rope in a loop, or simply taking a kitchen knife and –

He snapped out of his thoughts when he had to catch the phone he just dropped before it hit the floor, and when he almost fell down himself he walked over to the couch to sit down and took a deep breath. "Amora, do you really think that Otogi would… k, k…" he couldn't even say the word! "Jump off a bridge, or something like that…?" If he does, it's all my fault… It was because of me he's received so much torment, oh dear gosh what have I done…? What if Otogi does kill himself over this?-! It's all my fault… I don't want a dead man on my conscience!-!

"I don't know," Amora interrupted his grief, sensing that she might have worried the poor 'girl' too much. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid… I wouldn't worry too much about it. I mean, it's not like there's anything we can do about it."

"… Right…" Ryou said, but he wasn't convinced at all.

Amora sighed, disappointed that she didn't think of the fact that Ryou would feel horrible after hearing her thoughts… of course someone like Ryou wouldn't want to hear about someone possibly being suicidal! Stupid, stupid, stupid! "Listen Ryou, I really wouldn't worry about it, I just over-exaggerate, okay? I'm sure everything will be fine."

"That's not what you said one minute ago…" Ryou said quietly.

The line was silent before Amora said, "Listen, don't worry about it, okay? Please? I mean… I'm pretty sure Otogi won't do that, I'm just saying in case he does, don't be surprised, er… You know what? Don't listen to me…" Amora sighed. She was never the best at comforting people…

"Pretty sure." "In case." "Don't listen to me." Ryou repeated Amora's words to himself.Thoseare all words people use when they're trying to comfort you and not lie at the same time… Dear high goodness, Otogi might actually…! "Okay Amora," Ryou lied in a reassuring voice. "I won't worry about it. I have a lot of stuff to do today anyways."

Amora exhaled in relief. "Good. Okay, see you tomorrow!" were the last words before she hung up, happy that Ryou seemed okay now. Maybe she wasn't the worst at comforting people!

Ryou put his home phone back on the stand, colors swirling in his vision. He put his hands up to his eyes as he felt hot tears come out of them. No… this can't be happening…His body was shaking and even more tears came out of his eyes as horrible, deadly thoughts entered his mind. This won't happen… it won't, there's no way… it can't happen… He kept telling himself things like this for a few moments, until he remembered what Bakura said yesterday: Otogi and Marik had been hanging out. Which means that Marik would know how Otogi was feeling… sure, it was earlier in the day, but a mood can't change that rapidly, can it? Yes, surely Marik would be the one to know what mental state the boy in question is in? And whether or not he's… sui… suicidal…?

Ryou wiped his eyes and ran up to his bedroom quietly; he didn't want Bakura to see him cry, because then he'd ask what's wrong… and once he knew, he'd probably say something like, "Good, I hope that jerk kills himself." So that's why he tiptoed up to his room, carefully avoiding the creaky floorboards underneath the blue carpet, and walked over to his desk to take out the phone number that Marik had given him not too long ago. He took in a deep breath before walking back downstairs and picking up their phone, dialing each number carefully, hoping desperately that he wouldn't get Marik's voicemail…

Soon, someone picked up: "Hello there!" an old, scratchy, high-pitched voice said into the phone. "You've reached Grandma's Glorious Gifts, how may I help you today?"

… What number did I dial? Ryou thought to himself. I've never even heard of this place… "Um, I'm awfully sorry, I seem to have dialed the wrong number…" and I thought I had entered it in correctly too… Ryou thought to himself as he looked back at the phone number in his hand.

"Ryou?" said a much more familiar voice: Marik! Ryou breathed out a sigh of relief as Marik explained himself. "Oh! Sorry about that, I um… answer my phone weirdly to numbers I don't know, in case it's someone I don't… um… want to talk to, like a salesman or something…" he laughed nervously, thinking to himself, Ohgod… Ryou probably thinks I'm a weirdo now…

Although, he was unaware that right now Ryou was smiling and holding back laughter. He thought the idea was really clever! Not to mention extremely humorous. "No, no, I think it's a really good idea," he managed to say eventually.

"… Really?" Marik asked in a voice that clearly did not believe him.

"No! Really! I like it, I think I might start doing that," he laughed into the phone, causing Marik to smile on the other end; he really did like the boy's laughter. "It would certainly make phone calls more interesting!"

Marik laughed with him. "Tell me about it, I've actually had to make up orders for some of these places sometimes… Ever heard of a triple-decker caramel coconut fudgie bar?"

"No," Ryou laughed out. "But it sounds delicious!"

Marik laughed into the phone some more, a smile etching its way onto his face that promised not to go away for a long while. "So, why'd you call anyways?"

Marik was sorry he asked when Ryou's laughter quickly died out, leaving an uncomfortable silence. "Um," the boy said quietly after a pause, "It's just… Were you hanging out with Otogi yesterday?"

Marik took a little while to answer. "… Yeah, why?" he asked guardedly.

Ryou ignored his hesitance and continued with his investigation. "Did he seem… okay, to you?"

"Okay? Define "okay.""

"Like… not depressed?"

Marik took a little while before answering with a sigh. "Well, he was a little depressed, but he's fine now. Last I talked to him anyways."

Ryou felt a little relieved at hearing that. "Oh, well that's good," he exhaled, releasing some of his tension.

"Why do you ask?"

"Huh? Oh, um… Amora called and said she was worried he wasn't feeling too, uh, confident…" Ryou bit his lip when he was done talking. He wanted nothing more than to just hang up the phone right now, but that would be extremely rude, so he couldn't.

"… Oh, I see. Well, don't worry, he'll be fine Ryou."

With Marik's last words, all of Ryou's worry melted away. He sounded completely sure of himself when he said that it would be fine, which meant that there was nothing to worry about! "Thank you, Marik," Ryou said with a smile on his face.

"No problem. Anyways, what's up with you?"

~!~!~!~

Ryou smiled, remembering the rest of the call with Marik. They had started talking about their weekend, and Ryou told Marik about their new job! Which he sounded very happy about (although just a little cynical that Bakura had gotten the job as well). Marik also told him about how Otogi is a changed person now, and that he invited him to eat with them today. Which Ryou didn't mind too terribly; after all, everyone deserves a second chance. After that they just started talking about… practically anything at all, and Ryou had a blast talking with him. He had even started twirling his hair around his finger, which was usually a reaction reserved for when he talked with his girlfriend… Although, Ryou had kind of forgotten about the steak he had been cooking during the call and almost ruined it... luckily he had turned the heat down beforehand or else they would have been ruined.

But that's all in the past now; currently they were still walking to Marik's house, which was quickly coming up on the horizon.

"So Ryou, what are you going to do today?" Bakura asked curiously. "If I remember correctly, the girls' plan involves something else?"

Ryou rubbed the back of his head. "You're right," he answered. Today was supposed to be the day where he donned his "by clothes," confronted Otogi, and "pretended" to be a boy so that he'd leave him alone for good, but were they going to continue that plan now? He had the clothes in his backpack just in case, but at this point in time he doubted they'd do anything more. Especially if he really is a changed man like Marik said.

"Hmm… My plan involves another step too…" Bakura smirked, "And I do hope we'll be continuing it, but if Marik actually likes that jerk now I'll have to do it myself."

"You're talking to him about that today," Ryou reminded him.

Bakura just rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever."

Ryou smiled; he had never mentioned his talk with Marik yesterday to Bakura because he wanted Bakura to solve his own social problems. He needed to figure out how to confront people in ways other than yelling at them immediately, and this would be a good first step.

Eventually, they made it to Marik's house, and he was waiting outside like always. The boy smiled, and he would have talked with his "Grandma's Glorious Gifts" voice to make Ryou laugh again if Bakura wasn't there, but he really didn't feel like giving the cynical boy another reason to make fun of him so he just said, "Hey Ryou! Have a good day yesterday?"

Ryou smiled. "Yup! And Bakura just lazed around all day –"

"I was catching up on my sleep! Which is very important for a teenager I hear," Bakura excused himself with slight annoyance.

"Yes yes, I'm sure," Ryou said with a slight shake of his head.

"And you got a job?" Marik asked with disbelief. "You'll probably sleep through your shift. Or better yet, steal during it."

"No! He's not going to –"

"Wait, how'd you know I got a job?" Bakura interrupted Ryou with a confused expression on his face.

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Ryou told me yesterday."

"Oh he did, did he?" Bakura said with concealed anger as he glared at Ryou, who refused to meet his gaze. "And, pray tell, what did he say?"

Now Marik was a little wary, as he didn't want to get Ryou in trouble for whatever Bakura was on the fence about. However, he also knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to lie, so he said, "He was worried about Ryuji, so I told him he seemed fine and then we just, talked."

Bakura stared at Marik for a little while before stating, "Ryuji."

It was silent between the three after that one word. "Um," Marik said into the silence. "Yeah, Ryuji… you know, Otogi?"

Bakura's head tilted down, his bangs covering his eyes, and his shoulders started shaking. Ryou was about to ask what was wrong when he heard the distinct sound of chuckling come from his mouth. "Ryuji?" he questioned, with more amusement in his mouth. "You're on first-name basis now? Oh that's rich…"

Marik was beginning to feel annoyed by the way Bakura said that last sentence; almost like he thought he was someone who didn't deserve respect. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

"Oh, me?" he responded with a superior tone. "I'm simply noticing the fact that –" Bakura stopped talking when Ryou poked him in the ribs with his elbow and shot him a look that said, "Be polite." Bakura rolled his eyes and took a deep breath before saying in a much calmer voice, "I mean, I find it a little bit... odd, that you'd call someone you hate by their first name."

Marik bit his bottom lip and raised an eyebrow at Bakura. Was he mad at him again? What was it for this time? It couldn't possibly be about Otogi, could it? Although, this is Bakura he's dealing with; it probably is. "Yeah, well… I did hate him – more than anyone I've ever met I think," he added under his breath, "– but then we caught up on Saturday and started talking, and I realized he's not that bad –"

"Not that bad?-!" Bakura asked incredulously. "Excuse me, but how in the world is… He's everything you despise, isn't he?" Ryou poked him lightly again, trying to tell him to calm down before this gets out of hand.

"Well, he was, but he said he wants to change –"

"And you bought that crap?-! And here I thought –" Bakura's eye twitched as Ryou poked him in the ribs again. He knew that this would turn into a fight soon if the conversation continued the way it was going, and he did not want that.

"No, it's okay Ryou," Marik said, narrowing his eyes at the older twin. "Let him finish what he was going to say. You thought what, Bakura? Thought you knew me?"

Bakura clenched his teeth as he felt more anger bubble up inside him; Marik was clearly using his own words and feelings to get to him, and as much as he'd like to deny it: it was working. "No," he practically spat, "I was going to say that I thought you were smarter than that, but obviously I was wrong." He turned and walked past them both. "If you want to be friends with a complete and utter lying jerk, then that's your problem."

"Funny you should say that," Marik commented without turning around, "seeing as you're a jerk yourself."

Bakura stopped walking and turned around, about to yell at the Egyptian boy before deciding that it wasn't worth it; he was right after all, he was a jerk, but at least Marik knew he wasn't going to change. For some reason though, he thought Otogi would; why would he?-! He turned back around to walk to school by himself. He knew Ryou would be left with Marik alone, but frankly right now he didn't care; he knew Marik wouldn't try anything anyways. That he knew for certain.

Ryou just stared after his brother, his expression sad. He sighed before smiling weakly at Marik. "Well, should we walk to school now?"

Marik was still annoyed at Bakura's behavior; did he think he could control him or something?-! How dare he care who he was friends with or not! "Yeah," he answered before taking a deep breath and smiling at Ryou.

---

Amora arrived to school bright and early, just like always. She had always made it a habit to show up before everyone else so that she could have a moment of peace and quiet before she acted like her zany, outgoing self. That, and she usually had some homework to finish up…

She was just starting her math homework when the other early bird in the school showed up: Anai. "Hey girl!" Amora called. "Come sit by me!"

Anai smiled at Amora; she really wasgrateful to the girl for sticking by her all these years… Especially considering how different they were and how difficult she could be sometimes. "Yeah, I'm coming Amora-chan."

They sat next to each other, and Anai helped the other with her math, since she really was not good at that. ("I'm good with love calculations, not number calculations!" she always exclaimed.) Soon, they were joined by another person, one that neither of the two girls liked. At all.

"What are you doing here so early, Otogi?" Amora asked curtly, looking up and glaring at the boy. Anai just stared at her shoes, not wanting to look at him… Although, they both found it weird that he was wearing both a hat and a long-sleeved hoodie and also wore his hair in a way that concealed half of his face; was he turning emo now?

Otogi noticed both of the girls' reactions and sighed, knowing that he deserved them. "I wanted to say that, I'm sorry… To both of you."

The hallway was silent, until: "What?-! I'm sorry, could you repeat that?-?"

Otogi couldn't help the smile that crossed his face; of course Amora wouldn't believe he wanted to apologize. "I want to say I'm sorry, for… what I did, when we first met…"

Amora narrowed her eyes at him while Anai just looked up at him with wide eyes. "You want to apologize? To us?" It was obvious she didn't believe him at all. But that was perfectly understandable, considering what he did to them…

~!~!~!~

~The story of Amora and Anai's friendship~

Anai looked up at her new school with bright eyes; she was a seventh grader, and extremely excited about making new friends in this new environment; it was all just so new! She quickly walked in through the doorway, her young eyes looking at all the bright paint colors and people and making her smile. This new school is going to be great! she thought to herself as she found her locker and started putting her books and things inside it.

"Hi!" a voice coming up next to her said. A girl with short, wavy, brown hair started putting her school items in the locker next to hers, smiling brightly at her. "My name's Hanamia Amora, what's yours?"

"Um, I'm Sagaki Anai," she said, smiling back.

Amora smiled. "Well, looks like we're locker-buddies, Sagaki-chan! What class do you have?"

"7-A," Anai said, closing her locker and peeking into Amora's for a sec. The locker was already messy, and it was the first day… She must not be very good at organizing. "Um, do you want me to help you with your locker?" she asked.

"No! I've totally got this!" she denied, stuffing more books and folders into the already messy locker. "Hey!" she said suddenly, looking at Anai, "We've got the same class!" She smiled at her. "See ya there, I'm gonna stay here for a little bit," she said as she pointed at her locker.

Anai laughed and left, waving behind her back. "Okay, see ya later."

She left to go to classroom 7-A and saw a few other people already inside. She walked over to them eagerly, wanting to make new friends. She and these new kids talked for awhile, with much laughter and small-talk going around. Soon, Amora came in, and immediately put her arm around Anai's shoulders. "Hey locker buddy!" she said before looking at the group. "What are we all talking about?" she asked.

Anai smiled at her, ignoring the slightly 'weird' feeling she got from Amora putting her arm around her and said, "Hey Hanamia-chan, we were just talking about our summer." She looked back at the group who nodded and started talking again. So far, her new school year was going off without a hitch!

That is, until lunchtime.

At this unfortunate time on this particular day, Anai went down to lunch with her locker buddy, chatting up a storm and causing Amora to laugh so hard that she swore her ribcage would break. Anai laughed at her antics and comments, and that was when she met him: Otogi Ryuji. He walked up to them both and, at first, acted really nice by saying, "Hello ladies, you two are new here, aren't you?"

They both nodded, and then they looked at each other, saying, "You're new here too?" They both blinked at each other and laughed at how they didn't even know that.

Otogi laughed too, but then he put his arm around Anai, which she really didn't like. You see, she had kind of, developed early, which made her a target for a lot of boys, and she hated it. She'd much rather have a slender figure like Amora, but she was cursed with curves.

"Want me to show you around?" Otogi asked smoothly.

Anai bit her lip and said, "I'm sorry, but, uh –"

"I already agreed to take her," Amora interrupted, smiling at him.

Otogi looked at Amora, surprised, and then raised an eyebrow. "But you said you're new here, too."

"I know, but I already know the school pretty well," Amora said with a sickly-sweet smile.

Otogi looked at her, unconvinced, but he just rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you two around then," before walking away, much to the relief of Anai.

"Thanks Hanamia-chan," she said gratefully.

Amora smiled brightly at her. "No problem! I hate male jerks like that anyways. So, when do you wanna do this tour?"

Anai shrugged, and then Amora grabbed her hand and dragged her off. "How about now!"

"But, but I didn't eat!" Anai exclaimed.

~!~!~!~

For a while, everything was great; Anai had a lot of friends, she was doing well in school, the teachers liked her, it was all wonderful! The only thing that she could complain about was when Otogi started flirting with her, but even then nothing too terrible happened. However, one time he asked her out, and even though she politely declined, Otogi seemed to become very… violent. "Why do you keep turning me down?" he almost yelled. "Do you not like boys or something?"

Anai shrugged. "Boys are okay," she said before walking away. The truth was, she hadn't really thought about boys, or dating, or boyfriends, or any of that stuff yet; she had so much else to worry about already. So, of course she wouldn't have an opinion on the subject. I mean, she liked them as friends, sure, but anything more she wasn't too sure about. Actually, if she really thought about it, she much preferred girls over boys, but her mom said that was normal for her age.

Of course, when Otogi heard that, he thought that Anai was just in the closet, and now felt humiliated. How dare these gay people make a fool out of me…! he thought to himself angrily. He wanted revenge for the humiliation he felt, and also just wanted to make her life miserable since she was that way.

And so, what he did next will affect her for the rest of her school year.

He told a rumor.

A very juicy rumor:

"Hey, did you hear? The new girls are lesbo!"

"What? No! Which ones?"

"Sagaki and –"

"What!-! No, not that sweet girl!"

"You know it is always the quiet ones."

"Oh please, how do you know?"

"I saw her and Hanamia kissing."

"Get out!-!"

"No! It's true, I swear."

"Oh my gosh, I don't believe it!"

This was how the rumor spread; most did not believe it, but even if they didn't believe it they still retold it, and the people who did believe it added details to the already untrue rumor, blowing it way out of proportion.

And the next day, when Anai got to school, she said "Hi" to some of her friends, but they all stuck their nose up at her, turned, and walked away. She was confused, to say the least; just yesterday they had been talking about getting everyone together for a sleepover, and now they it seemed like they didn't want to talk to her… Maybe it was something else, she assumed as she started putting things into her locker.

"Hey Sagaki-chan!" a few boys called over to her with grins. She creased her eyebrow at them, but waved nonetheless to be friendly.

Soon she was finished at her locker and walked into her classroom, seeing the group of girls that were usually there at this time. She smiled and walked over to them. "Hi!" she said brightly.

She almost took a step back when the girls all turned and glared at her. "Oh, hey, Sakagi-kun," one said. Anai was a little scared at the hostility they all looked at her with, and what was with the use of the honorific "kun"? She was going to ask them, but then they all turned away from her.

She bit her lip and asked, "Did I do something wrong…?"

One of them turned back to her and said, "Yes; you're yourself." Anai felt a pit in her stomach and tears threaten her eyes; why were they being so mean? "Why don't you just go hang out with Amora?" the girl sneered before turning back.

Anai just stood there, feeling like she was an empty shell. Her mind was completely blank, but her eyes were full to the brim with tears. She turned away as they started falling; trying to block the flow by closing her eyes. She ran out of the room, to the inner courtyard, next to the cafeteria, and leaned against a beautiful cherry blossom tree. She looked up at the pink tree with tears streaming down her face. "What did I do?" she said out loud to it. Everything had been going great, she had thought she had made some great friends, so what was going on now? Had she said something yesterday? Did they really just not like her? But why did they act like they liked her yesterday?

After a while, the poor, confused girl just covered her tear-stained eyes and wondered, What did I do? All I wanted were some friends.

~!~!~!~

For the next week, she had absolutely no idea what was going on. All she knew was that it seemed as if the girls wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, and most boys wanted everything to do with her. These behaviors just put her in tears, because she wasn't getting the attention – any attention – that she wanted from the girls, and she was getting attention from the boys that she didn't want.

Why was this?

She hated it; all the girls' glares, all the boys' looks, all the cold shoulders, all the pats on… places of her body. She hated it; she hated it all, and she just wanted it to stop, but whenever she asked it just seemed as if they kept going, and going, and going…

She was forced to spend her homeroom in the bathroom, and her lunch outside next to that cherry blossom tree, even though she still had no idea what was going on; no idea why the girls and boys were behaving this way to her. She felt so alone now, yet she used to feel so happy with all the new friends she thought she had made. What happened?

She hadn't figured out what had happened until the following week, when she heard Amora arguing with someone over the fact that she did not kiss Sagaki-chan, and that she wasn't gay. She said she wasn't sure where everyone got this idea from, and proclaimed, quite loudly, "These lips are still a virgin!"

When Anai heard this, tears instantly sprang to her eyes and she raised a hand to her mouth. Her still-unkissed mouth. Who would start such a rumor? Why? What could they possibly have to gain from it? She had to run away from the scene; her heart just felt so heavy with sorrow and confusion and guilt that she had dragged Amora down into this too. Had she been going through the same thing? She would completely understand if Amora hated her now…

This was how Anai's days passed; getting emotionally abused by the girls and physically abused by the boys; feeling like crying almost all the time; not having any friends in the school… But then one day, she was visited by someone she hadn't seen in weeks.

Underneath her cherry blossom tree, during lunch, on a beautiful sunny day, Amora visited her. "Hey," she said simply, smiling. "Can I sit here?"

Anai looked up at her, confused beyond belief. Why would Amora want to sit next to her? That would just enforce the rumor, wouldn't it? Anai opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. After not speaking for so long at school, she feared she may have forgotten how…

Unfortunately, Amora just sat next to her anyways and started eating her bento. Anai stared at her, unable to eat her own vegetable stir-fry. Why was she here?

Amora turned to her and smiled brightly. "I haven't seen you in so long, what with all the craziness that's been happening around here. How have you been doing?"

"… I, I… Aren't you afraid of sitting n-next to me…?" she managed to stutter out.

Amora tilted her head to the side and asked, "Should I?"

Anai's eyes widened. "Well, with that r-rumor going around, I thought –"

"Thought what? I hated you?"

Anai didn't say anything.

Amora sighed and put her hands behind her head, staring off into space. "Why should I care what those people think about me? Honestly, all this situation's showing me is who the good people in this school are." She smiled at Anai. "Sure as hell saved me the trouble of doing background checks!" She laughed, punching Anai playfully in the shoulder. The shy girl, however, cringed at the touch and scooted away. Amora sighed. "Look, I don't care what people say about us. Nothing's gonna keep me from my friends."

"… But, we were never really…" Anai didn't finish her sentence.

Amora looked at her sadly. "Don't you want to be?"

"… I guess so…" Anai said. Yes, she thought, I want a friend more than anything… a true friend that I can talk to about everything…

Amora smiled and held out her hand. Anai grabbed it warily, and immediately had her whole body shaken with Amora's violent handshake. "Good! We're friends then!"

Anai looked at Amora curiously, wondering how she can just not care what people think. She wished she could be as strong as Amora, she wished she could be as open and loud and friendly as her…

"There is one thing I would like to know though," Amora said as she stared at Anai seriously. "Are you gay?"

Anai stared at her for a moment before looking away. "I don't kn-know," she said, finding it very hard not to stutter now… "I just think… I should wait to think about th-that st-stuff…"

Amora nodded before asking, "Do you think boys are attractive?"

Anai thought about it for a second, before realizing… "No… Not really."

Amora smiled a little and nodded. "Okay. Well, when you figure it out for sure, can you please tell me?"

Anai looked at her curiously. "Why do you w-want to know?"

Amora smiled mischievously, scaring Anai a little. "I'm a bit of a love whiz," she said, looking pretty smug. "At my old school, I helped almost every couple there get together! So," she smiled kindly at Anai, "I wanna help you too. But only when you want to, I guess, or like someone. It's not like I'm going to force you to feel love, that'd be crazy!"

Anai stared at Amora before smiling slightly. "Hanamia-san, y-you're amazing…"

Amora laughed. "Strong words you use there, let's see if I can live up to them!"

They talked for the rest of that lunch period, and others after that. While the others may have ignored, laughed, mocked, or teased them, they stuck together, supporting each other. As far as they were concerned, they had no one but each other.

Until, of course, they talked to this one girl named Mazaki Anzu. She said she didn't care about the rumors. In fact, she hadn't even heard them until earlier in the morning that they met her! She brought them to the Friendship Gang, and introduced everyone. "Yeah," Yugi agreed with Anzu when he heard of the situation. "We really need to figure out a way to keep track of all the gossip in this school – it moves so fast!"

"I could find everything out for you!" Amora offered happily.

Atem smiled. "All right, you've got the job. The fate of our school gossip information depends on you!"

Anai and Amora loved it over at the friendship gang. Everyone was friendly and nonjudgmental; just their type! Anai especially loved it, because she now felt like she had friends. Real friends; she hadn't even known what that felt like until she met them! She felt loved and extremely happy now, even if she was still a little shy around them.

She couldn't have been happier.

---

"Yeah, I didn't even find out it was you who started that rumor until later on in the year," Amora said, remembering the moment very well.

Otogi sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry…" he looked at Anai sadly, who looked back up at him. "I'm especially sorry to you, I… I can't even explain how much." He looked down, ashamed of the way he used to act.

Which is why he was very surprised when he felt Anai hugging him. "It's okay," she said quietly. "Because of that, I was able to meet some really great people… so it's okay."

Otogi smiled and hugged Anai back. And even though he had gone through a whole, character-development stage, he still couldn't help but think about how hugging a gay girl was no different than hugging a straight girl…

Amora stared at them and sighed before standing up and hugging them both. "Okay, if Anai forgives you than so do I… but not for everything." Otogi and Anai laughed; just like Amora.

Soon, the three of them were talking in the hallway like good, old friends, and all was forgiven…

---

"Ryou!" Was what the 'girl' heard as soon as she entered the school building, 'her' sight soon being blocked by a very pale-looking Amora.

"Woah!" Ryou said, taking a step back as he looked her over. "Amora, you look like you've seen a ghost; what happened?"

"It's Otogi, it's… it's… UGH!" Amora said, frustrated that she couldn't phrase what she wanted to say. She grabbed Ryou's hand forcefully. "Just come with me! Marik, you come too!" she ordered before running off with the 'girl' in tow. Marik followed with a sigh, wishing that just once he could come to school without something going on.

Ryou, meanwhile, was being pulled by Amora and feeling like he would be lifted up off his feet and simply be dragged by the tomboy at any second. Soon this experience was over as they arrived at classroom 9-A, which was very crowded; Amora had to push many people over to get them through the mass that had gathered. "Out of the way! Coming through! If you don't want to lose it – move it." She kept saying things like that to push through the annoyed crowd that seemed to be gathered around one desk. Eventually they got to the front, and now Ryou could see Otogi, with a black eye and many bruises across his arms! What the hell happened?-! "Could everyone please go away?" he heard the boy practically begging. "I really don't need a lot of attention right now…"

Much to his dissatisfaction, the crowd only kept asking more questions, causing Ryou to feel an overwhelming amount of pity for him – he understood wanting to be alone while looking like that…

"What's going on?" Marik whispered in Ryou's ear before his eyes wandered over to Otogi and immediately widened. His frame immediately started shaking with anger; he knew who was most likely responsible for his current state, and the thought had him seeing red.

But while Marik was trying to control his rapidly increasing anger, Ryou stepped next to Otogi and asked very politely, "Could everyone please leave him alone? He needs some space."

"Yeah!" Amora said loudly as she stood next to Ryou. "I'm sure you'll all find out what happened soon anyways – gossip travels fast here."

The crowd grumbled, but a few people started leaving – others stayed, glaring at the two; why should they get to stay? Although they soon left as Ryou stared at them with sad eyes and asked very sincerely, "Please?" They'd have to be heartless if they didn't follow that simple wish from such a sad-looking 'girl.'

Once the crowd left, Marik finally walked up to Otogi, and before he could say anything, the dice boy held up his hands in a defensive pose and said, "I know this looks bad, but it's really not." He took a deep breath and smiled happily at Marik, showing off gums that looked like they had been bleeding, which of course only spiked Marik's anger. How dare his own father do this to him...! Not that he should be surprised; it seemed like almost every father he's known was worthless and hurtful.

Ryou, on the other hand, was still in the dark about who caused this, but he just felt so bad for the boy that he found it hard to speak. In fact, Amora was the only one able to say anything at this point: "Not that bad?-! You look like crap!" she yelled.

"Yes, I know, but…" he took a deep breath before looking up at Marik. "Everything's fine now, I swear…"

Marik stared into Ryuji's eyes, and knew that he wanted to talk with him alone. The Egyptian sighed before looking at Ryou and saying, "Can you leave us alone for a minute?"

Ryou looked up at Marik and nodded slowly, grabbing Amora's hand and starting to leave, not without protests from Amora of course: "Hey! Why do we have to go?-! I want to hear this!-!"

Soon the 'girl' got her out of the door, and Marik pulled up a chair and sat across from Otogi, leaning on his desk. "Your father did this to you," he stated more than asked.

Otogi looked down as he answered, "Yes… When I told him everything, he got real quiet, and at first I thought he was going to just accept it, but then he punched me…" Otogi took a deep breath before continuing, "He said I wasn't his son anymore, which I expected, so it hurt a lot less than I thought it would… and he punched me a few more times. Picked me up and threw me against the wall once," he chuckled lightly as he looked up at Marik, but quickly looked down as he saw the fierce and raw anger on his face. "I left as soon as I could, and I was going to walk to your house… but I didn't want you to see me like this, so I went over to Domino Park instead. Me and dad used to go there all the time when I was younger…" He looked back up and smiled at Marik, even though said boy looked like he was ready to kill someone, probably Otogi's father… "I think that, somehow… my dad knew I'd be there, 'cause he came a few hours later to look for me, and when he saw me he had tears in his eyes. He apologized for everything; the way he just acted, hurting me, making me feel like I had to be a ladies' man to get him to be proud of me… by the end of it, we were both in tears," Otogi let out a little laugh, but Marik was jut confused; his father apologized… just like that?

"He also said that he'd be proud of me no matter what I did," Otogi continued with a jovial smile. "As long as I was honest with him from now on… even if he might be a little angry at first." Otogi stared directly at Marik as he said this next part, "He also told me why he hated gays… he said that he knew people like that when he was younger, and apparently they hit on him or something, he wouldn't really go into it, but I think he just didn't like the attention they gave him so he hated them for it and never let it go." Otogi laughed a little more loudly before saying, "He also made me promise to never act like those guys in his high school, but how am I supposed to know what they did?" Otogi shook his head amusedly. "I promised anyways, but still… Oh dad."

Otogi stared at Marik, who was currently staring at the desk with a blank look in his eyes. Otogi sounded… really happy, with the way things turned out with his dad, and why wouldn't he be? His dad actually apologized, his dad actually saw the error of his ways… his dad wasn't a pathetic, no-good, worthless, pain-bringing, horrible excuse for a father, his dad was actually good and accepting… So, he should be happy for him, right? So why couldn't he bring himself to feel happy? So who cares if the situation with his own father wasn't that good… that shouldn't matter, should it?

Marik looked up at Otogi finally and said, "I'm happy for you… And thanks for telling me all this." I wouldn't be able to tell anyone about my dad… Marik inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly before asking, "Well… what are you going to tell everyone out there? If you say your dad did this to you he'll get in a lot of trouble no matter what you say."

Otogi smiled sheepishly. "Well, I was kind of hoping…" he looked around before gesturing for Marik to lean in, which he did. Otogi whispered his plan in the boy's ear, who's eyes slowly widened as a smirk appeared on his face. When the plan was told, Marik leaned back and crossed his arms, giving the boy opposite him a very mischievous smirk. "I'll see what I can do, but I warn you: he's pretty mad at me right now."

---

"Stop! People are trying to have a conversation in here!-!" Ryou desperately tried to keep people out of room 9-A as he blocked the entrance with his body. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to hold them off – they were getting very impatient.

"I'm trying to get to class!" one person complained; others joined in with some grumbling.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I'm sure they'll be done s-OON!" Ryou screeched the last half of the word as the door suddenly opened, causing him to fall backwards into the room. He would have fallen flat on his behind if Marik hadn't caught him. Unfortunately, when Marik wrapped his arms around him to make sure he wouldn't fall, Ryou's face blushed crimson and he quickly stood back up again and backed away from the door, laughing nervously towards his "savior." "Marik, what's up?" he asked, trying to sound casual and failing.

Marik smiled, slightly happy at the color of Ryou's face but having to ignore it, and said, "Can you find Bakura and bring him here, pronto?"

Ryou blinked at him and scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "What? Why?"

Marik smiled and, fully aware of the crowd around the door, said in a completely innocent voice, "Why, I need him. We have certain… business to take care of."

Ryou raised an eyebrow, not knowing why he was talking like that, but he shrugged it off and went to go find Bakura. Marik, on the other hand, looked at the crowd and gave them all a big wink before going back behind the door. Soon the gossip started – as he knew would happen, but he needed them to stay out of the room for just a little longer…

"You're willing to start rumors to help me?"Otogi asked with a smile.

Marik smiled. "You'll find I'd do a lot to help my friends, Ryuji-san." Luckily for him, he heard someone knock at the door, and he quickly slid it open to reveal a wary-looking Bakura and a confused Ryou. Marik just smirked. "Perfect," he said before grabbing Bakura by the arm and pulling him into the room.

"Hey!" he protested, "Let go of my bloody arm! Ishtar!" He continued struggling, and after Marik closed the door his arm was finally released and he glared at the guy who just manhandled him. "What. The. Hell?-! Why did you –" Bakura was too shocked to speak as he felt Marik's hand go over his mouth and saw his other hand move to his face to shush him. Bakura pushed him away and took a step back, anger evident on his face. "How dare you…!"

"Listen," Marik interrupted, "I know you're mad at me, and I know it's because of him for some reason," he said as he pointed to Otogi, "but I'm suggesting we put that all behind us as I explain a few things to you."

Bakura switched from glaring at Marik to glaring at Otogi as he thought things over. It sounded like Marik was offering an explanation… finally, maybe he'll finally know what's going through that thick head of his! But what if his explanation just made him angrier? Although, it might also give him a way out of his anger…

Well, what's the risk in hearing a few words? He'd rather hear the truth than anything else, and it'd make Ryou happy for sure if this "little talk" helped to ease his anger; Ryou would think he was actually progressing. Bakura, with all these thoughts running through his head, looked back at Marik and said, "Fine. What is it?"

Marik smiled before launching into his tale about how Otogi's father was a bad man who "brainwashed" him into thinking gay people were evil and to be a ladies' man, and how the "brave" boy finally managed to tell his dad all about his hidden feelings and how he was punished for it… then he told of a heartwarming scene between father and son and a mutual understanding. He then told about the boy who wanted to change his ways, and who wished desperately for a new start but knew he wasn't going to get one. (If you hadn't caught on yet, he went through everything he knew about Otogi and dramatized it tenfold.) Otogi joined in a few times to explain minimal things better, but other than that Bakura barely paid him any mind.

By the end, Bakura just stared at Marik. He had never taken into consideration that there would be an outside source causing Otogi to act the way he does… if this was the case, then he could understand why Marik was giving him a second chance, and he supposed he could "understand" where Otogi was coming from, and why he was the way he was. He turned to the previous homophobe, who was sitting with a nervous expression on his face. Bakura smirked slightly as he remembered that this guy was afraid of him, or at least he was the last time he checked. He quickly scowled at the boy and told him, "That story still doesn't give you the right to act the way you did." Otogi looked down, ashamed. He was going to say something when Bakura interrupted, "However, it does give you an excuse. And if Marik's giving you a second chance, then so can I. And if you truly do want to "change," then I can respect that. So," he turned to Marik, "despite boring me to death with that tale and trying to tap into my compassion – which I'm sad to say failed –, what else do you need of me?"

Marik smirked. "Simple – we need you to take credit."

---

"Like my handiwork?" Bakura asked. Currently he was in the cafeteria with his feet up on his usual table and few people around him. He was admiring his fingernails with a smirk on his face as he talked about what "he" did to Otogi yesterday. "I could have gone a lot farther, but after he promised to "be a better man" and all that, I decided to be merciful." Bakura pointed at Otogi as he said this, who happened to be eating with them for today and evermore.

"Wait, so you made him look like that?" one kid asked.

"Of course!" Bakura proclaimed quite proudly. "Who else would?"

"But… if you hate him, why are you eating with him?" another asked.

"Well, I figured there isn't any real harm. He is trying to change after all."

As Bakura answered every single question thrown at him with logic and no hesitation, Ryou just watched, trying very hard not to smile. Marik had also told him everything about Otogi (only toning it down as to not worry him too much, but Ryou didn't know that), and he also knew that Bakura hadn't hurt someone (again) and was just faking it. He enjoyed seeing his brother so happy, but he was just a little worried that he'd get in trouble for something he didn't do… although, considering the way Pegasus was, Ryou wondered if anyone got in trouble at this school.

His gaze traveled over to Otogi, who was sitting in between Marik and Yugi. He was smiling slightly, staring at Bakura tell everyone that "he" was the one who hurt him, instead of his dad. After all, it's not like getting beat up by Bakura would hurt his reputation any more than it's already been hurt, and it might actually make the crazy boy be able to tolerate him.

Marik on the other hand, Ryou noticed with amusement, was smiling smugly at the crowd around their table. He supposed he felt proud that he was able to convince Bakura to do this for him, although not that it was terribly hard – Bakura loved to trick people.

"Hey Bakura!" an obnoxious, loud voice interrupted his story-telling and Ryou's musing. They both looked over at the sound, and saw that it was Otogi's ex-right-hand-man. Ryou glanced quickly at the previous bully to see him scowling at the boy walking up to them. He was the one in control of the gang now, and Otogi didn't really want to deal with this jerk-bag.

Eventually, the new leader came up to the older Ying-Yang twin and gave a big smile. "Hey, me and the guys couldn't help but notice the way you decorated our old leader's face," he gave a mocking look towards Otogi who just glared at him, silently seething. "And, we respect people who do things like that," he placed his hands on the table and looked Bakura directly in the eyes. "Wanna join our group? We've heard lots of stories 'bout you Bakura."

Ryou sighed, knowing that one of three scenarios would play out. The first one is that Bakura would accept the invitation and become the "bad boy" again, and the other is that he'd freak the poor guy out and cause him nightmares for a week or something equally as scarring. The third, and most preferred one, is that he'd simply make something up, insult him, and turn him down.

Luckily for him, it appeared to be the third one: Bakura acted all happy and said, "Ooh! Can I be the leader?"

The guy was shocked to say the least; it was obvious that he did not want to give up his leader position. "Um…" was all he said before Bakura interrupted with another happy proclamation.

"Because you know I'd love to be the leader of a gang!"

"… I'm not so sure that would –"

"You know, it's weird. I thought for sure you'd be bothered by the rumors about me," Bakura interrupted with genuine curiosity.

"What, you mean the ones started by Otogi-chan?" the guy asked mockingly as he pointed at the boy who crossed his arms and continued glaring. "Well, we know he's a liar most of the time so we don't really buy them anymore."

Bakura smirked. "Oh, but what if I told you he's right?"

Ryou had to resist laughing as he saw the new leader pale. "You mean…" he said slowly, "You're actually –?"

"Oh honey, you have so much to learn," Bakura interrupted with a smile and a flick of his wrist. "Oh wait, but one of the rumors are false – I absolutely hate Ishtar. Spread the word."

"No way! You've gotta be –"

"Gay as a fruit bat?" Bakura offered, smirking.

The disrespectable young man backed up, looking at Bakura like he was a hideous creature. "Fuck you man!"

"Oh, but you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Bakura replied with a wink.

The Friendship Gang's table, those surrounding it, and nearby tables promptly burst out laughing as they saw the new leader blush, stutter, and run off. "Well, I guess he couldn't handle the power of me," Bakura said smugly as he flipped some hair that was over his shoulders back, looking very much like a girl at that moment. This, of course, just caused everyone to laugh harder, and Bakura just sat there smiling, glancing at Ryou and thinking how happy he was just by seeing his little brother laugh.

"Glad you're permanently part of the team, Bakura-san," Yugi finally managed to say after calming down some, which is more than could be said for his brother, who was almost falling out of his chair with laughter at this very moment. "Did you see that kid's face Yugi?-!" Atem asked, putting a hand on his shoulder to balance himself.

Yugi just rolled his eyes. "Yes Atem, it was very funny, now eat your lunch."

"I think that kid's gonna be too scared to even look at you now Bakura!" Amora said, a highly amused smile on her face.

"Look?" Kana-chan asked. "Try, "be in the same room with.""

"He'll probably have to change schools," Jounouchi joined in with a snicker.

"Not to mention cities," Honda added with a grin.

"Oh, I don't think he'll do anything that drastic," Otogi put in. "But as long as you keep winking at him like that, he might go ballistic and we can get him expelled."

Bakura smirked. "I've always wanted to get a kid expelled," he mused.

"I know," Ryou mumbled, a very un-amused expression on his face.

Bakura chuckled, but ignored his brother's comment as he stood up. "Well," he told the question-asking group that was still at their table, "I'm done with questions for now. If you'll excuse me…" he said as he walked behind Otogi and placed both hands on his shoulders. He bent down so that his face was practically on top of one of his shoulders, causing the raven-haired boy to feel very uncomfortable. "… I'm going to go have a chat with my new friend. Come on, new buddy," Bakura said, as he pulled Otogi out of his chair and started pushing him out of the lunchroom. Otogi managed to look back once and caught Marik's eyes, trying to ask for help. Unfortunately, Marik just smirked, closed his eyes and waved him off; he had no idea what Bakura was going to do to him, but he was pretty sure he approved (he still held a few grudges against the boy, and he knew Bakura wouldn't hurt him… Well, he was pretty sure anyways).

Ryou just stared after them, wondering what Bakura could possibly want with Otogi now, but he was thankful that the crowd was gone. He started talking to his new friends about miscellaneous things, and he couldn't help but smile as Amora tried, once again, to ask Jounouchi about Mai. He loved this school.

After a few minutes, Bakura and Otogi came back, and their expressions were complete opposites. Bakura looked very happy and smug about something, whereas Otogi was pale and looked very frightened and shocked about something. The white-haired boy took his rightful place at Ryou's side and smiled an "innocent" smile at him, which of course made Ryou suspicious. 'She' glanced over at the other boy, who was taking his seat next to Marik. He happened to catch 'her' eyes, and he blushed and looked away immediately. At first, Ryou was confused as to why Otogi seemed shy of him now, but then his eyes widened as he looked back at Bakura, who was leaning back in his chair with that same "innocent" smile on his face.

And then, Ryou became angry.

Ryou clenched his fists and felt himself start to shake. "Bakura," he started slowly. "You. Did. NOT."

Bakura shrugged nonchalantly, a smile still on his face. "Oh, but I did."

Ryou slammed his fists on the table, causing all of the conversations going on at said table to drop instantly. "I can't believe you!-!" 'she' yelled. "Why would you do that?-! I specifically told you not to tell anyone!"

"Um," Amora interrupted, "what are you talking about?"

"It's secret!" Ryou snapped at her. He couldn't believe this; Bakura had really told Otogi that he was a boy? Had he really gone and done that when he'd asked him not to. Ryou understood that Bakura usually did those types of things, but he also knew that the older boy usually respected his wishes, so why would he do that?-! Honestly, he probably wouldn't have been so mad about this if the girls hadn't cancelled the last stage of their plan; the step where Ryou donned his boy clothes and told Otogi he was a boy. Oh no, if that plan was still on he might have actually thanked Bakura, but as it was? NO. He. Was. Furious. He was furious because now Otogi would never look at him the same way again, and it would be a constant reminder that he was lying to everyone and that everyone thought he was a girl… It would be a constant reminder that he was a huge, lying jerk who probably deserved whatever Amora would do to him because of all that he'd done…

So, that is why he glared at Bakura with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, and that is why he stood up abruptly to go get some air and clear out his head. He walked stiffly towards the exit, when a short, green-haired, glasses-wearing boy intercepted 'her.' "Hey baby-doll," he said, "how'd you like to take a look at my bug collection some time?"

At this point, Ryou just snapped. That… he thought to himself, was the worst. Pick-up line. EVER. Even I've heard better! What, does he think I'm some stupid, dependant girl who needs a man so desperately in my life?-! Ryou just stared at him with an unemotional mask on his face, while underneath there was a torrent of rage. He was done with all these stupid boys looking at 'her' and deciding, "Oh, hey, she's weak. An easy target!" He was tired of having to deal with all of these imbeciles. And he was absolutely, positively, fed up, with all this unwanted flirting! That. Was. It! He. Had. Had it.

Just as the green-haired boy was about to snap his fingers in front of 'her' face to have respond, 'she' smiled a sultry smile at him, causing shivers to go up his spine. 'She' brought a hand up and placed a finger playfully on his shoulder. "What's your name again?"

"Uh… Haga…" he said, a blush coming to his face. He hadn't actually expected that line to work! Who would've thought?

Ryou batted his eyelashes. "Well Haga," he said in a low voice before his expression turned sour and he grabbed the boy's wrist, threw the arm over his shoulder and flipped him onto his back. "Don't ever talk to me again," he finished, glaring down at the boy who lay on the floor dazed and confused. "In fact," Ryou continued, kneeling down and rolling him over onto his stomach before grabbing one of his arms and twisting it over his back. He cried out in pain. "Don't even look at me, if I even see you I'm going to rip out your hair strand by strand. Do I make myself clear?" Haga was in too much pain to answer, all he could do was grit his teeth and close his eyes tight. Unfortunately, his silence enraged the already cracked boy. "I said," Ryou repeated as he twisted the arm up even more, "Do I make myself clear?-!"

"YES!" Haga cried out, wondering if he'd ever be able to move his arm again.

Ryou released the tortured appendage, and he quickly retracted it to his side to cradle it. The sight of the pathetic boy who thought he could get 'her' sickened him, and his brain was still on anger-overdrive, which was not a good combination. He raised a hand to strike him just one last time, just so he'd get the message, but just then he felt himself be pulled up by his armpits. "HEY!" he yelled, looking behind him and seeing his brother. "Bakura, let me go!-!"

"Ryou, as much as I love to see you like this," Bakura said with a broad smile, "and I mean love, I know you'll regret this later when you're back to normal."

Ryou tried to struggle out of Bakura's firm grasp. "I don't care! Let me go!-!"

"Ryou, you're not yourself. Calm down."

"I said let me go!" Ryou screamed right before Bakura turned him around so he faced him instead and gave him a hug. Ryou pushed against Bakura, but then he felt his hair being pulled. His eyes immediately went wide and a blush crossed his face. "Bakuraaaaa!" he whined, pushing against him again. "Let go of my hair…! You, you know I don't like it…" he mumbled, finally snapped out of his anger rampage.

"You think I like knowing this about you?" Bakura said before releasing his hair. Yes, pulling on the Ying-Yang twins hair caused them to… go quiet, if you will. Bakura stopped hugging him and took a step back, smirking at his younger brother.

Ryou, on the other hand, was running his fingers through his hair, trying to get it to feel right again, and completely unaware that the entire cafeteria was staring at him. Eventually, his hair felt normal again, and he looked at Bakura. They stared at each other for a while until Ryou's eyes widened and he slowly put his hands up to hide his slowly blushing face. "Bakura…" he said quietly. "Did I… snap, again?"

"Oh, big time," Bakura said with a nod.

"…" Ryou didn't say anything more before he ran out of there faster than a roadrunner, calling over his shoulder, "I'm sorry!-!-!"

Bakura chuckled and shook his head, a smile evident on his face. He looked down at Haga and felt an overwhelming sense of happiness; that little stunt just proved that Ryou did remember some of the old karate he had learned, which made him feel much better. He turned and walked back to his table, leaning back in his chair as everyone stared at him with slacked jaws.

"What… What just happened?-!" Atem was the first to break the silence, and his comment sent the whole cafeteria into a fit of hushed whispers. ("Did you see that?-!" "That Ryou chick is crazy!" "I wouldn't want to mess with her." "Oh, I don't know, I think that just makes her more hot." "Are you crazy?-!" "Well, I mean, Haga probably started it, you know how much of a creep that guy is." "Hmm… yeah, you're right, Ryou was probably just defending herself." "Not to mention that she did apologize." "Oh my gosh, she looked sooo cute when she ran out!" "I know right!")

"I'll tell you what just happened," Bakura said with a superior air. "She snapped."

The Friendship Table was silent. "… What?" Tea asked.

"She snapped," Bakura simply repeated with a careless shrug, a smile still on his face.

"How do you mean, "snapped"?" Marik asked.

"Simple," Bakura started, waving a hand in the air. "She got tired of all these stupid boys flirting with her, and she snapped with anger."

"So, what you're saying is," Jounouchi articulated slowly, "that she's just as crazy as you?"

"Jounouchi!" Amora yelled at him. "Just because a woman is defending herself it makes her crazy?-!" she turned her head away from him and crossed her arms. "Shows what kind of man you are!"

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "Oh come on!" he complained. "You know I didn't mean it like that, stop twisting my words!"

As Amora and Jounouchi started fighting yet again, Kana-chan asked Bakura, "She'll be back to normal now though, right?"

"Of course, she usually doesn't last that long."

"Does she, "snap," often?" Yugi asked, hesitating a bit on the word "snap."

"Not really, only when something really pisses her off."

"Is, she gonna come back?" Otogi asked, gradually getting used to the fact that Ryou was actually a boy pretending to be a girl… What had mainly shocked him before was the fact that he had actually kissed a boy. And liked it. Granted, he had thought the boy was a girl at the time, so did that really prove that he was gay or bi or whatever…? Ugh, whatever.

Bakura thought about this for a second. "I'm not sure…" he smirked. "Why don't you go look for her, Otogi-san?"

Otogi shrunk down in his seat a little bit. "Why don't you go? You know… her… better."

Marik just watched the conversation with mild fascination, wondering how nobody else was noticing how they emphasized or hesitated on the word "her."

---

Ryou was headed to the girl's locker room for gym class along with his fellow students. He had his head down and tried to ignore the comments about him, wishing he could just disappear right now… He was so regretting his little outburst earlier, and he was just thankful that his friends weren't asking him all sorts of questions about it. Bakura must have explained to them… Thank goodness.

Anyways, he made it to the bathroom without seeing anything he shouldn't have, and immediately noticed that Anai was already in her stall. Wait a minute… That reminded him, Anai wasn't sitting with them at lunch today. "Hey Anai-san," he called.

"H-Hi, Ryou-chan…" she stuttered quietly.

"Where were you at lunch today?" Ryou asked as he walked inside the stall next to hers.

"… I was, um, outside… There was a big crowd at your table by the time I came down, and I didn't want to go through it…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ryou said genuinely, but then he thought of something. "So, uh… you didn't see anything that went on in the cafeteria today…?"

"No. Why? Did something happen?" Anai asked.

"Nope! Nothing major," Ryou quickly covered up. He exhaled in relief, extremely happy that Anai hadn't witnessed his little outburst. If she had seen that, there was no way she'd ever talk to him again, and he didn't want that.

"Oh, okay…"

"Yeah," Ryou said. He soon finished changing and headed out, briefly wondering why Anai takes so long to get changed. She's in there before him and always out after him, why was that? Well, no matter. He made it to the gym unscarred, and then walked over to Bakura. "Hey…" he said hesitantly, still a little ashamed of his cafeteria scene.

Bakura smiled and patted him on the back. "Hey. Cheer up, at least now people know not to mess with you."

Ryou groaned. "You mean now people are afraid of me…"

"Well, maybe, but it's better than being harassed, isn't it?"

Ryou was about to say something when their gym teacher started speaking. "Okay everyone! You know that dodge-ball game we talked about last week?" The class let out an excited, "YES!" that caused the teacher to smile brightly. "Well," she continued, "we're gonna have it today after school against the other class!"

The entire gym resounded with cheers of joy, and the teacher just shook her head. "I'll never understand you kids… Anyways! That's after school, right now we're going to –"

"But teacher!" someone interrupted. "If we're going to be playing dodge-ball against the other class, we should practice!" There were murmurs of agreement after this was said.

The teacher raised an eyebrow. "But that would give you an unfair advantage. No no, we'll stick with badminton right now." The class groaned. "Oh, boo-hoo! Tell it to your mommies you bunch of babies…" she mumbled.

Ryou smiled; he really liked badminton. It was one of the only gym sports that didn't require him to try and get the ball or whatever it was away from another person. Not to mention that everyone got to pick their own teams, so of course he teamed up with Bakura. Although, since this was the first day of playing badminton, the teacher was required to teach the rules and have them practice the different techniques for awhile, so they didn't actually play any actual games yet.

Before he knew it, the dodge-ball game had arrived. He didn't really like dodge-ball, the balls always hurt when they hit him and he didn't have a very good aim… The only thing he was good for was a decoy, really.

Anyways, class 9-B walked out into the track field, soon being joined by class 9-A, and Ryou easily spotted Otogi among the crowd. He smiled sheepishly and waved at the boy who now knew his secret, and much to his surprise, he smiled and waved back. Ryou was absolutely shocked; looks like Otogi really had changed if he wasn't judging him!

Soon, the two classes were lined up and facing one another, a line of dodge-balls in-between them. Some were getting ready to run and grab the balls as soon as the whistle rang while others were just waiting for the game to start already while others (albeit how small the group was) just wanted this game to be over already so they could go home. The smell of friendly competition was clear in the air, and each class knew that whoever one would hold this against the other class for the rest of the school-year. Obviously, a lot was at stake.

Then, hark! The whistle blew! People raced towards the line, grabbing dodge-balls and throwing them backwards for their team to grab and start using. It wasn't long before the multi-colored plushy balls were whizzing through the air, each trying to go to the destination their throwers intended. Many loud cries called out during the game; some of joy, some of disappointment, and not to mention all the witty banter that went back and forth between enemy lines. Sweat glistened in the sun like a shiny medal of honor as people ran, dodged, threw, and even fell sometimes, whether to avoid a ball or simply tripping.

During this glorious battle, Ryou mainly tried to stay in the back and not get hit while he watched Bakura go right up to the front lines, dodging dodge-balls like some sort of professional and getting kids out with ease. He also noticed Amora immediately trying to hit Otogi, shouting, "I'm still mad at you for what you did to Anai!" Ryou tilted his head to the side slightly upon hearing that, what had he done to that sweet girl…?

He noticed all of his other friends trying to get people out as well, especially Marik, who looked like he was having a blast. And much to Amora's dismay, it was him who got Otogi out. Ryou couldn't help but smile at that, and eventually the inevitable happened; someone noticed him hanging in the back and asked him to be a decoy so they could get some of the other guys out. Ryou sighed but agreed, grabbing a ball, running up to the front lines, and yelling to get attention. He quickly had to run to avoid all the dodge-balls thrown at him, yikes!

Soon, a dodge-ball managed to hit him (it really wasn't fair though, since so many were being thrown at him), and he went to go sit out next to the field. He watched the game with interest, smiling and laughing a bit because he was pretty sure that Marik and Bakura had teamed up to get people out. And Bakura still denied Marik was a friend… Nice try, big bro.

~!~!~!~

The game was over now; class 9-B had won (good thing too, Ryou wasn't sure if Bakura would be able to handle losing). Their entire class was cheering as 9-A just looked sour, and some were already asking the teacher for a rematch. Ryou just watched it all with fascination, not really wanting to join in since he hadn't really helped win the game all that much. He did see, however, a crowd of girls surrounding Otogi, and by the looks of it he seemed to just be talking to them like normal human beings instead of "girls." In fact, they were laughing a lot, and Otogi didn't try to touch or flirt with them once.

"I'm kind of proud of him," Ryou heard a voice over his shoulder. He turned around to see Marik standing behind him with crossed arms and a smile. "He's actually changing…"

Ryou smiled. "Yeah, I think it's great too."

"Attention! All Girls' Club members!" Ryou heard Tea call. "There is no meeting today! I repeat, there is no meeting today! Go home and do your homework!"

Ryou laughed. "It makes sense that there's no meeting today; the dodge-ball game took up all the time."

"What do you do in those things anyways?" Marik asked, for just like every male in Japarica high he was extremely curious as to what went down at one of these things. (A few people thought that the girls were plotting how to take over the world, but of course Marik didn't believe that.)

Ryou blinked at him and then smiled, zipping his lips together. "It's a secret~," he said, holding a finger to his mouth and making a "Shh" sound. Unfortunately, that action made his cuteness meter rise by about, oh, 20 points (2). And since he was normally a 7 on a scale of 1-10, you can imagine just how cute he looked to Marik at that point in time. Which is why he blushed a little and had to look away immediately, causing Ryou to look at him a little oddly and wonder why he looked away. Of course, in Ryou's mind, he figured it was because of his little cafeteria outburst earlier and immediately wished he could rewind time so that he wouldn't have done that. Was this one little incident going to haunt him for the rest of his life?-!

"I'm just glad that Ryou chick calmed down before the game," he overheard a 9-A student say to a fellow classmate. "I mean, did you see her at lunch today?-! Can you imagine all that fury during the game? Our class would have been out a lot faster, let me tell you."

… Apparently, it was going to haunt him for the rest of his life…

---

Otogi was walking down the empty school halls, whistling a happy tune and not caring who heard, especially since he was so close to just skipping. After today, no one teased him about being gay anymore because they all had a new thing to obsess about: Ryou's Cafeteria Freak Out, as it was being called. Otogi couldn't help but chuckle; the Friendship Gang's table had been close enough to see and hear what had happened, but they were all just so shocked to see Ryou, the sweet little Ryou, go absolutely ballistic on Haga. Especially since most people had only heard what Ryou shouted at him, and didn't actually know the whole story. But anyways, the point was that now Otogi had blended into obscurity! He was now just one of those people who could walk through the halls without having to say "Hi" to a million people or be expected to act a certain way, and he was loving it.

Yes, this day would have almost been perfect for him, if it wasn't for one, tiny detail… and his name, was Pegasus.

"Excuse me!" Pegasus called to him. "Otogi-san, could I talk to you for a second?"

Otogi swallowed, already fearing this talk. Oh, why oh why did he decide to wait around for that group of girl to go home before leaving to change out of gym clothes? And why did he decide to take his sweet time changing? And why in the world did he decide to walk down Pegasus' hallway after school?-! Everyone knew that you didn't do that!

He took a deep breath before turning around and smiling weakly at the guidance counselor. "Sure, Pegasus…"

~!~!~!~

"Sooo," Otogi said once he was seated in the standard teen chair, across from Pegasus who was in his throne-like chair. "What did you want to talk about…?"

Pegasus had his eyes closed, so he opened one to look at Otogi before sighing. "Otogi-san, I know that Bakura is not the one responsible for your black eye and bruises."

Otogi felt cold fear grip his heart. "… What do you mean?" he asked, trying to trick the man. "Bakura –"

"Was nowhere near you when your father did this to you."

Otogi stared at him, feeling hollow inside. "Please," he started begging, "it's okay, really. He was just mad, but it's okay now! I swear! This is the first time he's ever done anything like this, and I know he won't do it again, I promise! He's not an abusive father, please believe me, I –"

"Otogi!" Pegasus interrupted. Otogi stopped talking, and just now felt the tears that had fallen down his cheeks in the middle of his plea. "Otogi, it's all right… Just tell me all that happened and I'll see what happens from there, all right?"

Otogi felt panic take hold of him. "No!" he yelled, standing up. "I know what that means, you're going to take him away, aren't you? You can't! He's the only family I have left!" Otogi stared at the ground, closing his eyes tightly so as to try and stop the water flow. "He's the only family left… since my mom died… You can't take him away, you can't…!"

Pegasus looked at the poor boy in front of him, his heart practically breaking with the emotion and weakness he was revealing. Of course he wouldn't want to be taken away from his father… "… All right," Pegasus relented. "I won't tell anyone about your father's little, um, anger-fit, we'll say?" Otogi looked up at him with a relieved smile. "However," Pegasus continued, sounding more like a teacher, "if something like this ever happens again, I'm reporting it immediately; that's not a safe home environment Otogi. You understand the difference between abuse and discipline, don't you?"

Otogi nodded so much that for a minute Pegasus thought his head was going to pop off. "Of course, sir!"

Pegasus sighed. "Please sit down." He waited until the boy did as he asked before saying, "Now, there's another matter to discuss… Will you press any charges, so to speak, against Marik and Bakura for all that they've done to you?"

Otogi shook his head and smiled. "No… it actually helped me in the long run."

Pegasus smiled, relieved. "Well, that's one thing taken care of… Now, there's a more, personal matter that I'd like to discuss…"

Otogi stared at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about, but asked anyways: "… What is it?"

Pegasus sighed. "Otogi-san, I've tried talking to you about your sexual orientation before, but you wouldn't listen…"

Otogi looked down, really not wanting to talk about this with a guidance counselor of all people. It didn't help that he was right; Pegasus had tried to talk to him about this before, but of course Otogi had a lot of stake at that time… He had a reputation, and he didn't want his father to be disappointed in him… but now, everything was great! He could build a new reputation and his dad was perfectly fine with him being gay or bi or whatever he decided. "… Everything's fine now, sir. We don't need to –"

"Ah, but we do," Pegasus said, standing up and walking towards the window with his arms behind his back. "You never let me finish what I was going to say that one time," he continued, his back facing the boy. "I had explained to you how it was perfectly natural for you to have these feelings, these "desires" if you will –"

"Pegasus, this is making me uncomfor –"

"And," Pegasus interrupted, "I also told you how you had to accept these feelings, and that they wouldn't simply "go away," like you so wished them to." Otogi sighed, laying his head back on the couch and closing his eyes, just waiting for this to be over now. "Now, I'm happy to say that you've accepted these feelings, which I am very pleased to hear as it just clears up so much confusion and stress that you really don't need at this delicate stage in your development –"

"Is there a point to this?" Otogi interrupted, wanting to go home.

Pegasus turned around with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Yes. The point is, back then I was going to tell you that based on your record and a few other factors, these feelings will probably go away."

Otogi stared at Pegasus, now fully intrigued. "… What?"

Pegasus walked back over to his chair and sat down, staring straight at Otogi. "You enjoy a young lady's company, don't you?" he asked.

"… Well, yes –"

"Well, then at the very most you're bi, not gay," Pegasus concluded. "Otogi, a lot of kids start having these feelings at your age, what with all their hormones and the things they hear nowadays, but most of them end up going away once they're a little older. I believe you're one of them."

"… But how are you so sure?" Otogi asked. "Why do you think they'll go away?" He didn't understand; if they'd go away, then what was he feeling…? Was it really just hormones talking? But then wouldn't the feelings have gone away by now? Why did they seem to be sticking with him? What was Pegasus talking about?-!

Pegasus stared at Otogi and sighed. "Well… I'm not one hundred percent certain that they'll go away, there's no way I can tell that… I'm mainly just basing this theory on your "womanizer" history." The guidance counselor stared deep into the pupil's eyes before saying, "I'm not going to lie to you Otogi; most likely, this will be something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. You might always have to deal with these feelings, even if you somehow manage to maintain a lasting relationship with a woman, unlike you have been –"

"That really pissed you off, didn't it?" Otogi interrupted. It was something he'd noticed, Pegasus didn't really seem to like him all that much, and he figured it was because of all his "girlfriends."

Turns out he was right; Pegasus' eyes lighted with anger, even though the rest of his face stayed the same. "Well, I just don't find it very appropriate that you're dating at this age at all, actually. And I certainly don't like the fact that some men treat these young girls like they're objects. I, I just don't understand! In my day, we treated ladies like princesses, and now they… they… Sometimes your generation disgusts me, they –"

"Sorry…" Otogi interrupted, not wanting Pegasus to start ranting to him about how "the olden days were so much better."

Pegasus sighed. "I'm sorry… What was I talking about before?"

"Uh, you were just about to let me go…?" Otogi said hopefully.

Pegasus stared at him before smiling slightly. "All right, you're off the hook. For now."

The raven-haired boy smiled, stood up, and walked out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "Thanks Pegasus!" before he closed the door on his way out.

Pegasus stared at the door for a few moments before chuckling. "Four down," he muttered to himself, "zero to go… now I just have another problem to take care of…"

---

Kannibal-sensei was seated at his desk, working on some paperwork for the school, when he heard a knock at his door. "Come in!" he called before briefly looking up to see Pegasus enter. "Ah, Pegasus," he said, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Oh, I'm afraid there's no "pleasure" coming along with this visit," Pegasus said as he sat down at the chair across from the principal. "It's all business."

Kannibal froze, slowly putting down the document he had been looking at and switching his gaze to his boss. "… And what business are we doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

Pegasus smiled kindly before saying, "You're fired, Kannibal-san."

Kannibal felt a pit appear in his stomach. "… What?" he asked, having a hard time believing it.

Pegasus stood up. "You heard me; you're fired. Please leave and take all your things with you by the end of the day, though I'll understand if you need to come back tomorrow to pick up a few things. A few things, mind you, not all."

"Y-You can't be serious!" the ex-principal said as he stood up, panic-stricken. This was the only job he had, where was he going to get another one?-!

"I'm afraid that I am," Pegasus said before patting him on the shoulder. "I really wish it didn't have to come to this… but I think it's best for all the students, as well as the school." Pegasus smiled at him before saying this next part, "And surely you know how important having an elite school is, yes?"

Kannibal looked up at his previous boss before sighing and looking at the ground. "I'll… start packing…"

Pegasus smiled. "Wonderful! I do hope you find a job soon, Kannibal-san," he said as he walked out the door.

"And I hope one day you get arrested as a pedophile," Kannibal muttered under his breath before starting to pack up.

---

(1): I don't know many Japanese dishes… all I know is that there's a lot of fish and rice involved *shifty gaze* (why do I write about Japan when I don't live there?-!)

(2): I was soooo tempted to put: "His cuteness meter rose to OVER 9000!" XD

… I have too many useless details in here, don't I? XD

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm just happy Otogi's ark is finally over… Oh my gosh, it took so much longer than I thought. I also hope you all enjoyed Amora and Anai's back-story (actually, that's only part of it. I have so much back-story planned for every character XD). I also hope you liked Ryou's freak out and Pegasus firing Mr. Kannibal! (There was so much that happened in this chapter… Even I forget all that happened. Although to be fair, I did write this sporadically over a period of MONTHS -_-")

Also: I auditioned for a role in a TV Pilot, and they narrowed the role down between me and another girl… I have to go back this Saturday with a prepared monologue to read for them to decide… EEEP! It's a callback, I got a callback. I'M FREAKING OUT. Anyways, if I get the part, than updating will probably be even slower than it is right now… (I'm so sorry for that TT_TT)

Any questions, concerns, or comments, then click that pretty little button below that says, "Review this Chapter." Come on, do it to make me happy and give me luck for my callback…? I'm so close to 100 reviews that I'm screaming inside…

Have a wonderful life! :3

~~~{REVIEW REPLY}~~~

Vi: I'm glad you loved the last chapter! :3 That makes me happy~! And yeah, poor Otogi… ah well, he's better now. And I'm glad you like Bakura and Ryou's conversations! I work pretty hard on them, and they're really fun to write ^^ You're welcome for the update! (and this one too XD) Thank you very much for reviewing~! I love your reviews :3