Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.
Title: Endearment and Enmity
Rating: T-M depending on chapter, M overall
Summary: When you're literally married to the person you despise.
Warnings: Homosexual relationships, vulgar words and adult situations.
Author's Note: I don't know why I wrote this.
Chapter 24: Confluence
Yugi, Anzu, and Ryou, having been flown in by Seto himself, were invited to stay at the hotel and by extension Domino, for a few days.
Even after the emotional meltdown and following exhaustion due to him and his spouse having to acknowledge their past trauma, Jonouchi was still over the moon with his old friend group back in town, even if it was just going to be for a few days.
Seto wasn't going to join in on their excursions, reiterating that he never was and never would be part of 'Yugi's friendship patrol', and that he had a business-related trip to South Korea to get to anyways. Jonouchi didn't expect anything more or less from him, honestly. Just because they were married didn't mean he was going to be buddy-buddy with the reformed Yugi-tachi.
Shizuka had only taken two days off from work to make it to the celebration, so she was gone the next day, and Mokuba similarly returned to his University.
Ryuzaki wasn't going to be with them, either, he explained that it was rare that he and Haga got more than a few days together with their conflicting schedules, and Haga didn't like being in groups. So it really was just the old gang together.
Sugoroku was especially delighted by this, having not seen all the 'kids' together since they graduated almost a decade ago. Infact, they were currently hanging out in the tabletop section of the Gameshop. Ryou's presence, as it always did, brought a flock of young and amourous girls (and some boys) in his wake, which gave Sugoroku an influx of new customers.
As always, Ryou politely acknowledged this attention, but didn't engage in any of it; after all, he was an adult, and these fans were mostly teens.
"So what are you up to these days, Ryou?" Anzu asked, head lying on her partner's shoulder as they sat together. "You never did say what your career goals were, did you take up Archaeology like your father?"
Ryou put his plastic cup of boba down, his brown eyes flicking upright. "I'm a Social Researcher for an international company based in Bristol." He explained "I majored in Cultural Anthropology."
"Ah, is your focus European?" Otogi asked, taking Chokichi from his partner so Honda could have a break.
Ryou shook his head "My Anthropological focus is mostly on Asia and India," he explained, "I had an advantage over some of my English peers because I was raised in Japan for my adolescent years."
"That's pretty great, Bakura." Jonouchi commented; he was surprised his old friend hadn't taken up Archaeology, but he supposed it made sense since Anthropology was a somewhat similar field of study, and his late fathers occupation is what lead to his death and Ryou being possessed by an evil spirit for a good chunk of his teenhood. "You must have to travel a lot, though."
"Mostly to India." Ryou shrugged.
"I'm surprised you didn't tan." Jonouchi quipped, holding his cardboard latte cup securely between both hands.
"I did." Ryou corrected him. There were a couple of chuckles and head shakes at the table; Ryou simply raised his eyebrow at this, as if not understanding what his friends found funny.
"I wouldn't exactly call your skin tone a tan..." Otogi said.
Ryou smirked at that "Oh really?" He said, and stood up; he pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to show the cream colour of his arms, then he lifted up the bottom of his shirt to show his abdomen and torso. His fan entourage squealed and giggled amongst themselves. His friend group gaped. Comparing the paleness of his arms to the stark white of his torso was like comparing beige to a fish's belly.
"You sure you're not an albino?" Jonouchi asked, eyes a bit bugged; he forgot just how pale Ryou was back in the day.
Ryou dropped his shirt back down, leading to some disappointed sighs and pouts from his crowd of thirsty fans. "I'm sure." He replied, sitting back down.
"Are all English people that pale?" Jonouchi jokingly asked; Ryou gave him a side-eye.
"You should know," he smirked "yank."
Jonouchi scoffed "I do, limey."
Ryou chuckled in response.
"Anyways, grandpa said you've been stopping by here and there?" Yugi chimed in, shoulder-bumping Anzu who kept insistently trying to fix the slightly bent corner of his shirt collar.
Jonouchi nodded "With everyone off doing their own thing, when I came back to Japan after years I was mostly on my own." He explained, feeling a pang in his chest, thinking back briefly to the life he had built in the United States that he had to leave behind, and the resulting feelings of isolation and loneliness when he had when returning to his home country.
Yugi nodded "I wanted to thank you for visiting," he began, lacing his fingers together in front of him "I feel bad for not being around, but with Anzu and I living in the states… Well, you know. I'm sure he appreciates the visits more than you realize."
"He really does miss you, man," Jonouchi told him, glancing slightly over his shoulder at the old man who was trying to herd Ryou's fans away from the white-haired man and more towards the merchandise "I'm pretty sure that when people ask him where you are, he tells them that you went to pick up olives three years ago."
Yugi and Anzu both laughed a bit at that "Wow." Anzu giggled. For the most part, these were Duelists who wanted to challenge Yugi for his King of Games Title, including students from the Duel Academy that Seto opened a few years ago.
"I'm happy to visit - really. I don't have a lot of people I can visit - Shizuka doesn't live in Domino." Jonouchi waved off, picking up his latte container and taking a deep sip of it.
"What about your dad?"
Jonouchi's eyes widened at Ryou's innocent question, as he gagged on the coffee drink in shock. He coughed as he slammed the cardboard cup down, loudly coughing as he tried to clear his trachea which was only meant for air, covering his throat with one hand and loudly hacking up into his opposite elbow to avoid spewing coffee and spit all over the place.
"Whoa! Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Ryou desperately apologized, almost doing the jazz hands gesture over his friend.
"N-No it's, okay." Jonouchi shook his head dismissively, eyes watering slightly from the choking. He recovered a bit, and grabbed a napkin to wipe off his face and the inside elbow of his shirt. Honda's face was straight, but when Jonouchi made eye contact with him there was an understanding between them. Yugi and Anzu had a vague idea that Jonouchi's home situation in his adolescent years wasn't ideal, but only Honda really knew the whole story.
Jonouchi looked back to Ryou with an awkward half-grin that was clearly fake "I haven't seen my dad since I left for America." he explained "One day, I just packed my bags and told him I was going to pick up a pack of cigarettes. Haven't gone back since, I don't know what he's up to." He explained. All he knew about his father really was that he at least wasn't dead or in jail.
"Oh..." Ryou trailed off, picking up the desperate undertone of Jonouchi's explanation, so he quickly tried to change the topic "How did you afford the travel expenses anyways? I know you had a full-ride, but it didn't cover travel and housing did it?"
Jonouchi shook his head "No, my mother covered the expenses, up until I became a CNA and could support myself through school."
"Really?" Anzu cut in "I thought your mother- well, you know."
Jonouchi shrugged, looking down slightly "It was one of those 'don't say I never did anything for you' type situations." He said, as if a near nonexistent relationship with both parents was a normal thing. Then again, in this group it wasn't too unusual - Anzu and Honda were pretty much the only ones in their entire peer group who had grown up with both parents around and not neglectful or abusive.
Otogi's only parent was his father, and he was a nutcase. Yugi had his mother but his father had never been around for his childhood and adolescent years, leading to his paternal figure in life being his grandfather. Ryou only had his adoptive father, who had left him alone for months at a time in his teen years, and his biological father had died right in front of him right before giving him a cursed ring, and his mother and sister were long gone.
Kinda depressing in hindsight, but now wasn't the time to think about it.
"Have you done any tournaments since you moved, Yugi?" Jonouchi asked his friend, moving to a more light-hearted topic. He himself had done a few tournaments and 'title matches' in the United States in the rare downtime he had during his schooling. Being a dual citizen, Jonouchi technically counted as the American Champion where as Yugi could not, as Yugi was just a guest of the country. Though, they never crossed paths this way, as they were in different states.
Yugi nodded, but it was Anzu who chimed "Duel Monsters isn't as big in the States as it is in Japan, he's taken up a lot more gaming platforms."
"Really?" Jonouchi perked, tilting his head slightly.
"He's big in the online gaming scene, especially through Youtube and Twitch streaming." Anzu continued to gush, obviously trying to fluster her partner "Some people even say he's the Japanese Pewdiepie."
"That's not surprising," Otogi piped up, letting Chokichi sit on the edge of the table with support "he is the King of Games after all."
"You guys are too much." Yugi waved his hand dismissively, flustered much to the amusement of his wife. Jonouchi simply hummed in thought - despite his own extensive background in gaming, he wasn't big on video games or really virtual gaming as a whole. He was more of a 'table-top' type, maybe because he was a purist, more likely it had to do with the many near death and other traumatic experiences he had when it came to the virtual worlds.
"You know..." Jonouchi leant forward a little over the table "How about a duel between us? For old times sake." He hadn't had a super intense duel in years. Sure there was that tag team duel he had with Seto against their siblings, but Shizuka and Mokuba, while not bad or unskilled, didn't duel quite from the heart like their older brothers did. Ryuzaki didn't duel anymore either, only really joining him for the occasional game of MtG.
"Right now?" Yugi blinked.
"Sure- well, I don't have my duel disk on me… I have my deck on me though, so how about a table-top match?"
"It'll be just like how it was in high school then..." Anzu sighed in remembrance, watching as the two men took out their decks not unlike how they would ten years ago.
Honda didn't seem to be taking in the game though, like any other tired dad he just sat in the chair, head rolled back and arms crossed as he 'rested his eyes'.
In Camp Humphrey's, a US military base in South Korea, three soldiers walked towards one of the installations Community Activity Center where they had a very important - and unexpected - meeting. Two of the soldiers stood side-by-side as they walked, both were older, but one was female and the other was male, with the females rank being Captain, and the males rank being First Sergeant. The soldier trailing behind them was much younger, and his rank was Specialist.
"I cannot believe such a small card tournament would garner an audience from someone this important..." The Captain said to the First Sergeant.
"Me either, ma'am." The Specialist behind them mumbled lowly, his shoulders anxiously drawn up "I didn't even get first place..."
"I thought this man's interest was in Duel Monsters, not Magic and Dragons." The first sergeant commented, much to the chagrin of his younger counterparts.
"Magic the gathering, First Sergeant." The Captain corrected, but her non-comissioned peer simply grunted, and they finally entered the Community Center. There was already a room set aside for them, with a big sign on the closed door which simply said 'Meeting in Progress'. Once they were inside, all three took their uniform hats off.
"We'll be waiting outside, Blackburn." The First Sergeant said, nodding slightly down at his subordinate, but there was an underlying message of 'Don't fuck this up' in his eyes and posture.
Blackburn nodded as stoicly as he could, smoothing out the fly-away's dark blue hairs of his recent medium fade haircut before entering the room.
"Ah, Specialist Blackburn." A Japanese accented voice greeted him from across the room. The cool, near emotionless tone made Blackburn's mouth go dry. Mr. Kaiba was an incredibly intimidating figure, even sitting it was obvious he was very tall, his face was as straight as his voice, and his blue eyes were equally as cold and unfeeling.
It wasn't just them there, there was also another uniformed soldier as well - a female. Her skin was light, but her features were very obviously Hispanic. She was vaguely familiar.
"Hey," the female soldier greeted him as he sat down across from her at the long table - he could now see her rank was also Specialist, and her name tape read 'Casallas' "I've seen you before - aren't you a medic too?"
Blackburn blinked his marigold eyes in surprise - ah, yes, he remembered her now. He'd seen her at the Medic branch meeting a few weeks back. And also at the recent Magic the Gathering tournament. He'd won third, and she'd come in second.
"I'm glad to see both of you accepted my invitation." Kaiba addressed cooly, hands folded in front of him. "I imagine you're wondering why I requested your audience."
"Is this about the post-wide tournament last weekend?" Casallas asked, Blackburn felt his stomach twist up at how seemingly casual she was being towards a multibillionaire.
Kaiba nodded "You two came in second and third - the soldier who came in first turned down the meeting. He said something about a 24 hour duty."
"Makes sense..." Casallas trailed up, then looked back up at the businessman "Were you the one holding it? I was under the impression it was being held by the United Service Organization."
"It was." Kaiba confirmed, glancing briefly at both of the soldiers "I happened to be in town when I heard about it. And… I was wondering if you were interested in a sponsored trip to Japan for a larger card game tournament."
Both of the soldiers gaped in shock.
"It's in six months - I'm working with the chain of command of both of your units, and I'm sure they would support you taking leave for this tournament. Only if you're interested, of course... I don't suppose either of you two have heard of Duel Monsters?"
To be continued…
Authors note: I swear I'm not disappearing on purpose. It's just that, well… I was keeping it on the DL, but I actually bought a house in Texas. And, I work in Korea for work purposes, but something came up and I have to take a last-minute trip to move back to the States, so things are even more hectic for that reason.
I digress, here we have another chapter after much waiting. The gang's back together for a short time and catching up. If any of you are wondering what exactly Honda does - he used to be a factory worker, but now he's dedicated himself to being a parent to his son while Otogi, who runs his own Game Shop and business, is the 'breadwinner'. I was a little stumped at what Ryou does as a grown up, a lot of people have him as an Archaeologist so I wanted to give him something kind of similar, but not the same because well, look where that got his dad… So he's an Anthropologist instead.
Yeah Duel Academy is still a thing, it's just not really an element of the story so it's seldom mentioned.
Looks like there's a tournament coming up.
