{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 4: More Books Please!}

Yugi ran quickly down the hallway. Jou had passed out? He sped up slightly; he needed to get to the nurse's office.

//Aibou, what's the matter? You seem distressed.//

/Yami, Jou's collapsed./

//Collapsed?//

/Yes, he passed out at the end of lunch./

//Do you know what's the matter?//

/No, they didn't tell me./

Yugi finally reached the office and stormed quickly in through the doorway. Jou was lying on the cot silently. Yugi ran up to him, but was caught by the shirt.

He turned around to see Kaiba.

"Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

"Checking on the mutt, Yugi. Don't wake him up."

Faintly surprised, Yugi answered back, "I just wanted to get closer, is all. Do you know what happened?"

Seto nodded. "He ..." He paused, then said, "He just passed out. Luckily I was there to catch him."

Yugi looked grateful. "Nothing happened to signal it?"

Kaiba shook his head, lying.

Yugi sighed and glanced wearily back to his fallen friend. As much as he didn't want to, he had to go back to his class. "I gotta go back now."

Seto nodded and watched as Yugi left.

He pulled up a close chair and sat down next to Jou.

"... Stupid mutt," He grumbled, "What's going on with you?"

Jou didn't answer, but turned on his side, facing Kaiba. Seto leaned a little closer. Did Jou look tanner? He blinked and the tan went away. Pale as usual.

Kaiba noticed the bracelets on Jou's arms. They had Egyptian eyes on them. Strange. Although they weren't really bracelets ... they looked more like cuffs.

Jou's eyes snapped open.

Seto bounced back in his seat in surprise.

Jou looked around quickly. Where was he? ... School. Nurse's office. Bed. Blanket. ... Kaiba?

Jou looked at Kaiba with a strange look. What was he doing here?

"What are you doing here?"

Kaiba stared down at him in surprise. "Do you remember what happened?"

Jou looked away in thought, then nodded.

"Did you catch me?"

Seto nodded as well.

"...Thanks."

Had he just ... thanked him? Seto was dumbfounded.

They both fell silent, until Seto remembered the bracelets.

"And what about those bracelets?" Kaiba looked down to Jou's arms. They weren't there anymore!

He stood up quickly.

Jou sat up in his bed. "What bracelets?"

"Where the hell did they go?!"

Jou glanced down to his arms and sighed. How was he going to explain this one?

Jou stayed silent for the time being and brought a hand to his head. He felt a headache coming on. A normal one this time.

He glanced up to Kaiba. He was staring intently at him.

Jou huffed and moved his legs over the bed to a sitting position. He dragged a hand through his hair and sighed.

"I ... I um ... don't know."

"What?" He didn't know where the bracelets went?

"Yeah, I don't know. They just kinda disappear. Freaky, hm?" Jou looked to the floor.

"They just disappear. You realize how ridiculous that sounds, Jounouchi." It was more a statement than a question.

He didn't answer; just stared at the tile. Black, white, black white, black. ... Tan? Was that sand? He looked around himself, and the floor looked like sand. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. It was gone. He looked at his arms. There were his bracelets.

They looked bigger. Flatter.

"Hm. They're bigger than they were before."

Kaiba looked down to Jou and noticed the bracelets' sudden appearance. He stood up and backed away a few paces.

"Where'd they come from!?"

"I said I don't know!" Jou stood quickly. Too quickly. He wavered on his feet. Kaiba moved forward and caught his arms.

"..."

"I'm alright. I just gotta sit down." Kaiba moved forward slowly, moving Jou with him. He helped Jou sit back on the bed. Jou suddenly gripped Kaiba's arms as he saw the ground turn into sand again.

"Jou?"

No answer. His eyes widened and flipped around the room. His grip tightened.

"Jou!" Seto shook him.

Jou blinked and looked ahead of him. "Sekh?"

"What?"

Jou closed his eyes, and shook his head. He blinked again and looked around.

He looked at Seto once more. His eyes widened in surprise.

Jou gasped and quickly jerked out of Seto's grip. He stood, wavered again, but ignored it, and continued towards the door.

"What?" Seto turned around to look at Jou. "Wait." Jou threw the door open and ran out.

Just at that moment, the school bell rang. All the students came rushing out of their classes. Jou was lost in the crowd.

"Where did Katsuya go?" The nurse behind him sounded out.

"He felt better; he left." Seto didn't look back at her and left the room.

-_-_-

Jou ran out of the school building: out into the parking lot, across the street, and down the road. He had a feeling if he stopped running he would remember what he just did. What he had just thought about Seto.

He didn't want to think about it.

Within a minute, Jou's initial adrenaline rush faded, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He made his way quickly home and slammed into his room.

He threw himself on his mattress, and breathed hard. What the hell was that? How could he have thought that? What if he had acted it out and never knew?

He let out a short yell of anger. He turned on his back and stared at the ceiling.

He had just thought about Seto ... 'Kaiba, not Seto,' he told himself. The images came flashing into his mind again.

He leaned forward and placed a hand under his chin, lifting it to make the blonde look him in the eyes. A thumb stroked over his cheek.

"...and I'm never letting you leave again." Jou continued staring at the ceiling. Remembering.

"Sekh?" The brown-haired man leaned in and placed his mouth over the other's. He stood stiff for a moment before leaning into the kiss, deepening it. Sekh flicked out his tongue over his mouth. Jou moaned softly and squeezed his eyes together.

Jou closed his eyes in the same manner. It was disgusting. How could he have thought it was a nice feeling? Sekh ... Seto, whatever, had just kissed him. He turned on his side.

Jou groaned to himself. This was stupid. He'd freaked in front of Seto, told him about the bracelets.

Well, it wasn't as if he could just tell him that there weren't any bracelets. He had seen them disappear and appear again. But then, he had that ... that thing with Sekh. Jou could feel Sekh lean into him ... running a hand slowly down his arm, on to his--

It was just gross.

But why had he liked it?

He growled in frustration. This was so confusing! He glanced at his arms. The bracelets were there once more.

A sound came from his door and he looked up. He glared down at his bracelets.

'Stupid things. Just disappear already,' he thought.

And they were gone. His eyes widened in surprise.

Jou blinked at his arms as the door was banged on once more.

He looked back over to the door and got up. He walked slowly over to it and opened it.

There stood Honda and Anzu. He blinked again.

"Guys?"

"Your dad let us in, Jou," Anzu answered his unasked question. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Honda started as he lifted Jou's backpack, "You left so quickly you didn't even remember your bag! What happened?"

Jou backed away from the door to let the two in. They walked into his slightly messy room as Jou turned to both of them.

"Just passed out is all. Didn't feel well. Heat exhaustion, I guess."

They both nodded; it had been rather warm today.

They sat in silence before, "Oh! Jou, did you check these out?" Anzu held out the four books he had taken earlier that day.

Jou nodded and took them.

"Since when did you start reading so much?" Honda asked grinning.

Jou stared wanly. "You have a problem with my reading?"

Honda stopped smiling and shook his head.

Anzu spoke again, "Jou, are you feeling alright now? Yugi was really worried about you earlier. We all were."

Jou nodded. "Where is Yugi, anyway?"

"I think he's talking to Kaiba, actually. Back at the school library, I think." Anzu answered.

'Kaiba? What if he ... ' Jou trailed his thought off. He stood up quickly and turned to his friends.

"You need to go. I need to leave, so you need to leave." He pushed both of them out his door.

"Thank you for bringing my backpack and stuff, but I just remembered something." He opened the front door, and pushed them out. They stared back at him in shock.

"See you tomorrow." Jou flashed a fake grin, and closed the door.

Anzu and Honda stared at the door, and then at each other.

"Did he just ... Kick us out?" Honda blinked.

Anzu shrugged and turned to walk away. Honda quickly followed.

-_-_-

Jou waited a few minutes and ran back out his house. He paused and then began to run. What reason would Kaiba have for telling Yugi? Perhaps Jou was just over reacting?

He sighed and walked back into the house.

He plopped down on the mattress again and grabbed for the classics. He could just ask Kaiba tomorrow at their chess game. If he was still going to play him, that is.

Jou only hoped that he hadn't kissed Seto. If this hallucination had been like the one this morning ... he didn't know what to expect anymore. He'd sure find out tomorrow.

'So, if Kaiba kicks my ass, I'll know I kissed him,' he thought blandly.

He leaned back to lie on his pillows. He took one more glance at his arms. They were still gone. But they only brought back memories from earlier. Just thinking of them.

He felt his cheeks heat up and his blood run quicker. He wasn't thinking about this! He stood up quickly and paced.

What was going on here? Why was he having these hallucinations? Why did they start so suddenly? He had never had them before ...

Before ... before he had gotten the bracelets!

He stared down at his wrists. Was it them? They did strangely disappear. He reached down to take them off.

His door was suddenly banged on, and he paused.

"Jounouchi! We're going out for dinner!" It was his father. "Get out here now!"

Jou sighed.

"Coming." He walked towards the door.

{End Chapter 4}

Ezra: So, Jou finally sort of realized it was the bracelets. Hmmm. ^^

Betty: Yup. And one more thing! O____O 53 reviews???

Ezra: ... *hands cookies and punch to everyone* Thank you sooooo much! =DDDD

Betty: We love you all!

Ezra: Chapter 5 out soon! ^_^