~Chapter 3~

"Jounouchi-kun! Leave Mutou-kun alone!" Bakura ordered, crossly.

The blond looked at him, not putting the smaller boy's feet back on the floor. "Why should I? What are YOU going to do to me?" he sneered.

"I'll tell Mazaki-san," Bakura threatened, pointing at the door to the classroom she was in.

Jounouchi dropped Yuugi. "You're not worth it," he informed the small boy. "But someday she won't be around, and then you'll get it."

Yuugi looked at him aprehensively, then ran away, giving Bakura a greatful look as he passed.

"What's wrong with you today?" Bakura demanded of Jounouchi. "You attacked him!"

"He got in my way," Jounouchi said with a shrug. "I don't have to answer to you."

"He was across the room! Really, Jounouchi, you'd think you were better friends than that...!" He stopped, startled at his own words, and Jounouchi barked laughter.

"I don't have 'friends,' Bakura. Certainly not Mutou. And not you." The blond pushed past.

"I thought we got along...." Bakura said softly.

Jounouchi didn't even answer, as he pushed his way into the classroom. Bakura followed unhappily, but close enough to hear Honda address his deskmate.

"How'd it go?"

"She'll be blind by next month and my mother never wants to see my sorry ass again," Jounouchi answered flatly. "Shut up."

'But Shizuka shouldn't be blind!' something in Bakura's head protested. He shook his head, not sure why he thought he knew what Jounouchi was talking about. He sat in his seat, trying not to think of a girl with darker hair than his deskmate but the same smile.

He focussed instead on the threatening looks that deskmate was giving Yuugi, kicking him a few times under the desk and shooting warning glances at Anzu.
Anzu wasn't in school.

His deskmate had noticed the fact and was signalling back and forth with Honda, probably planning something against the nervous looking Yuugi. He kept a close eye on the pair all day, but grew lax toward the end of the day when they didn't try anything.

He wasn't sure what made him look up as he left the building, but what he saw caused him to dash back inside, pelting up the stairs to the roof.

He gasped for breath as the pair stood over small Yuugi, the childish looking boy pressed against the rail of the roof but strangely seeming like he was trying to protect himself. Jounouchi picked him up by his shirt, holding him menacingly.

"Jounouchi-kun stop it!" Bakura called with the first breath he could catch. "Yuugi-kun is your friend!"

All three stared at him, Honda in shock, Jounouchi in revulsion, and Yuugi in a wide-eyed surprise that quickly gave way to a beatific smile.

"Friend?" Jounouchi sneered. "I don't have friends." He dropped Yuugi carelessly.

The boy pinwheeled for balance as he hit the rail, then silently, eyes widened in surprise, he fell.

"Yuugi-kun!" Bakura shouted as the other two were rooted to the spot in shock. Time slowed. He reached instinctively for the power of the Ring, then remembered that it wasn't there.

No Ring. No Puzzle. No stronger, more confident Yuugi-kun. No Duel Monsters.

His father. His life.

But not his friends. And now, with no way to reach him, no Yuugi-kun and no chance for his friends.

"This isn't what I wanted!" he shrieked to the sky, eyes tearing.