Author Notes:
Hello, mina-san! Here's the next chapter for this wonderful little ficcy...
and again we thank everyone for reading the first two chapters! Things are
going to start happeningggggg this chapter... *expects everyone to look
fascinated... or Logan is going to come and... and... scare you with Yuki*
so enjoy everyone!

Thank you's:

neko_mimi: *quickly hands you more of the story* Feeling better? XD

The Evil Laugh: Well, how would you take it if your lover ran off with a
different person... and as Nalan-san put it... made out on your street?
*smacks Honda and Ryuuji* Nice going, smart ones. Anyhow, nice to know there
are other Law & Order buffs out there.... XD

Shamanic Guardian Lena: *restrains Ryuuji* You are ALLOWED to conk Honda-kun
as many times as you want.
Honda: I thought you liked me!
PM: Keep dreaming.

Chapter 3

Heartbreak

Ryou wasn't sure who he was supposed to hate. Which wasn't a very good thought, truly, since Bakura Ryou was supposed to be a nice person and never supposed to hate anybody.

In theory, at least.

Now though… he wanted to be anything but the nice person who liked everyone and was friends with everyone. Even those people who had tried to kill him… or really get him killed, if one was thinking about Yami no Bakura.

Currently, he wished that he could have the audacity to do anything other than sit at his desk and pretend that everything was all right.

He also hadn't been sure about how to react when Honda had broken the news. Was he supposed to sit there and say, "I'm proud of you for moving on?" Somehow, he doubted that. And even if he was supposed to say that, he wouldn't have.

He barely remembered what he had done… how he had reacted. It was currently a vague, empty fog in his mind that made as much sense as a book in a foreign language that one knew nothing about. It spoke to him in words he could not understand… it gave him memories he could no longer remember. It was as if nothing had happened.

Absolutely nothing.

So, currently, he sat his desk and pretended to listen to the teacher. As well as you could when your ex-boyfriend was sitting approximately two seats behind you… and his new boyfriend is sitting two seats to the right of you. Which isn't very well, so it wasn't of any particular surprise that he couldn't understand the teacher's lecture about the… whatever she was talking about. 

He didn't have any idea about what she was trying to say….

What were Honda's reasons, again?  He could barely remember that… though he didn't really want to remember it.

Kaiba Seto often did not spend much time in class paying attention to the lesson.  It was usually a waste of his time, anyway, and he had other things to concentrate on.  Typically, this involved working on things for Kaiba Corporation or mentally plotting out strategies for defeating Yuugi, but today Seto couldn't focus on the papers before him.  That likely had something to do with the faint sniffling sound that had risen up beside him.  Ryou was wearing a rather blank expression, and Seto had distinctly heard a few sniffles coming from his direction.  It just made it rather hard to concentrate, given that sniffling was a somewhat distracting sound.

Still, Seto being Seto, he tried to force himself to focus on his work.  Bakura Ryou was none of his concern, and it was none of his business why Ryou seemed oddly sad, but in a blankly detached sort of a way, today.  Something was obviously wrong, but unlike Yuugi-tachi, Seto wasn't about to interfere in someone else's business.  After all, if he were feeling miserable, he'd prefer to be left to do so in peace, so he would afford others the same courtesy. 

When class finally came to an end, Seto felt a bit relieved, as the effort of forcing himself to concentrate on his work and pretend to pay attention to class had seemed a bit strenuous today.  He meticulously organized his papers and stowed them, ignoring the way others hurried out, eager to escape into the bright afternoon sunlight.  Finally, when things were arranged to Seto's satisfaction, he turned to leave the classroom, only to collide with something soft and pale, a flutter of papers whooshing up around him as a pale arm grasped the front of his jacket.  "Bakura...?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow and gazing down at the one who had just unleashed the maelstrom of books and papers that eventually came to rest on the floor.

Ryou didn't reply to the question, instead continuing to cling onto the jacket while staring at the mess on the ground. He barely seemed to notice what was going on around him, except for the papers and textbooks and binders and… and… and how much time was he going to have to take to organize it anyway? Not only pick it up but organize it and get them into the right places and… and… he didn't have time for this.

Well, actually he did… no more need to put off time for dates, right? Just… work, work, work, and….

Before he could stop himself, he found himself bursting into rather ugly, embarrassing tears.

Well, make that extremely ugly, embarrassing tears.

It was as if everything had reached its climax in that single moment. Unable to maintain his composure any longer and no longer caring about who was around to witness his decidedly embarrassing breakdown, Ryou had simply lost any control over his emotions. Not to imply that his control was ever that good... but still....

Seto's other eyebrow leapt up as Ryou completely ignored his question and continued to grasp his jacket. If anything, his grip seemed to tighten on the fabric. Seto frowned faintly, following Ryou's gaze as he took in the mess of books and papers that now surrounded them. He really wasn't going to have any choice about whether or not he would help the silver-haired boy gather up his things, because it would be all but impossible to take a step in any direction without setting foot on one paper or another. It would not exactly be the best use of his time, but helping Ryou gather up his things wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Seto sighed softly, raising his gaze towards Ryou as he did so. "I'll help you g--" The brunette's words broke off in mid-sentence as suddenly, and with no real warning whatsoever, Ryou had tears streaming down his cheeks. For a moment, Seto simply froze. To say that Kaiba Seto did not have the faintest clue as to how to handle this situation would be putting it mildly. In the course of his life, he pretty much managed to avoid people bursting into tears before him. Sure, there might have been the occasional moment with Mokuba when he'd been younger, but his younger brother knew him well enough not to expect his behavior to be typical, and besides, he was more comfortable around Mokuba than around anyone else. And that was the sum total of his experience. His presence was too imposing to invite confidences, let alone to encourage someone to cry on his shoulder. Seto didn't tend to spend much time around females at all, least of all those who might have actually been emotional enough to break down in front of him.

So, unlike his typical cool and reasoned manner of handling any situation, Seto was utterly nonplussed by this sudden turn of events. For a long moment, he simply gazed down at Ryou with wide azure eyes, trying to come up with some solution that would put an end to his tears. Honestly, Seto needed to find some way to make him stop crying before the situation just grew too awkward for words, and he was forced to stay there until Ryou just wept himself out. Assuming that ever happened. Really, Seto wasn't quite sure how such things worked.

He considered trying ordering Ryou to stop crying, just being a little stern or harsh to try to snap him out of it, but judging by the way people tended to respond to such things, he rather expected that would prompt all the more tears from Ryou. There was no way that Seto could try to reason with Ryou, as he most certainly would have tried to do, because he had no notion of the other's reasons for crying in the first place. Suddenly, a rather unfortunate idea occurred to Seto. It was an unfortunate idea, because he was so desperate for some solution that he was actually willing to try it. Seto knew that physical comfort tended to be employed in situations such as these. So, gently, and with a rather uncomfortable expression on his features, Seto gathered Ryou into his arms and embraced him. Seto remained silent with his arms wrapped around the other's slender form, hoping that this would stop the tears.

To be frank, it didn't work.

What happened, instead, was that Ryou was rather unfortunately reminded of all the times when a certain other brunette had done that to him as well, with the same exact hopes. And while the initial gesture was comforting, the memory of what had happened that day was anything but. So instead of calming down, as he usually would under normal circumstances, Ryou just started crying harder. Leaving the two in an awkward and extremely embarrassing situation.

In a distant part of Ryou's mind, he realized that this really was not the time to be breaking down. Especially when one considered who he was currently clinging onto (and not to mention being embraced by). He also realized, amazingly enough, that if there was one person he did not want involved with this situation… under the extreme delusion that the billionaire would care in the first place… it was Kaiba Seto.

It wasn't that he thought Seto was a cruel person… but he was a bit cold.

Well, 'a bit cold' was probably an understatement of the year. Ryou had discovered times where even the spirit of the Sennen Ring could be warmer than the teen whose shirt he was currently sobbing into. Perhaps it seemed like a stretch, but it was true. Seto just seemed so distant from everything around him, with the exception of his younger brother. He couldn't help but be vaguely surprised that Seto was even bothering to try and comfort him. It didn't really seem like something that the Seto he knew would do.

Granted, he didn't know Seto very well so that probably wasn't saying much… but he did happen to remember the time when Seto had demanded the former pharaoh to attack him when he was bleeding….

Memories like that just happened to stick out in one's mind. Especially when it involved the possibility of death or winding up like a vegetable for the rest of his life.

Seto's features began to take on a rather desperate expression as Ryou sobbed against his chest. It was awkward enough that he had actually gone so far as to embrace Ryou, but now, it seemed that his action had actually encouraged the other's tears, which was absolutely the opposite of what Seto had wished to encourage.

This clearly wasn't helping. Seto had no idea of what one was supposed to do under these circumstances to maintain detachment. Unfortunately, Ryou had now collapsed against him a bit, making it basically impossible for the brunette to gracefully extract himself from this situation without leaving Ryou in a puddle on the ground.

To be honest, the awkwardness of the situation aside, it did not give Seto any pleasure at all to see the small, silver-haired boy so utterly distraught. In a vague way, it troubled him, if only because Ryou always seemed so fragile, as if his tenuous hold on happiness could break down at any moment and leave him like this. Perhaps it was just that Seto had always seen the possibility of this moment in the way the other often behaved, even if he didn't have the faintest notion of what the actual reason for Ryou's misery was.

Seto sighed and gazed down at Ryou. There was only one other means he could think of to try in order to get Ryou to stop crying. He was going to have to talk... and then most likely listen to whatever this story was. If only Ryou would stop crying, then Seto would be more than happy to listen, because anything had to be better than this horribly awkward feeling that seemed to well up along with Ryou's tears. "Bakura... tell me, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Seto asked softly, trying to use as gentle a tone as he could possibly manage.

For one crazy moment, Bakura Ryou was under the impression that Kaiba Seto… Kaiba Seto… was speaking to him.

At least, he thought he heard the brunette speaking to him. He had heard a voice, and it seemed to make sense, but the entire notion of Seto actually speaking to him was a difficult one to grasp. He had expected, at  least, for the billionaire to let him drop him to the ground like an unwanted sack of rotted vegetables.

A small part of his mind wondered then about the hug. If that was the appropriate thing to call it, which it probably wasn't. But despite his knowledge of his classmate, Ryou couldn't help but feel that it really had been just that: a hug.

It was no wonder, really, that Ryou was utterly confused. And a confused Ryou never meant a happy Ryou, and an unhappy Ryou meant a Ryou that was liable to keep crying until he cried himself out.

Still… had Seto really been talking to him?

"Bakura?"

The voice was repeating his name… over and over again. And although there was a hint of annoyance and impatience, it was enough to jolt Ryou back to reality. Bitter, horrible reality that he would give anything to escape, but reality nevertheless.

"Kaiba-kun?" he asked hesitantly, as if still in utter disbelief of what was happening.

After having repeated his name several times, Seto really was beginning to believe that Ryou had completely lost it.  The crying wasn't stopping, nor did it seem as if he had any intention of responding to his words.  He seemed to be gazing at him blankly and just gaping for no apparent reason.  Seto was seriously considering slapping or shaking the silver-haired boy just to try and snap him out of it when Ryou finally chose to speak. 

Seto was highly relieved to hear that soft, shaky voice.  He chose to ignore the fact that Ryou seemed to be completely unaware of the fact that he'd asked him a question for the time being, because at the least, Ryou was talking.  While Seto was not entirely accustomed to talking to most of his classmates, and Ryou would surely fall into that category, at the least, he was far better equipped to handle that than he was to handle tears. 

"Bakura..." Seto repeated, keeping his voice gentle, as if anything too strong might force the tears to resume once more.  He gazed down at Ryou and forced a small, awkward smile onto his lips.  This, too, was meant to be reassuring, though given how uncomfortable he was feeling at the moment, it probably looked a little strange.  "Why were you crying?  Tell me what's wrong, Ryou..."

***Flashback***

There was something wrong… it started as a hunch but as soon as Ryou saw Honda's face, he knew it for a fact.

"Bakura? We need to talk."

It was at that moment that Ryou knew what was happening. Knew completely and without any doubt whatsoever. And it wasn't as if it took a genius to figure out what that was… the use of his last name rather than his first? He understood immediately that something was about to change drastically.

He just didn't know why.

"Hi… Hon…." Ryou could only stutter around the name… which was one was he supposed to use now? Hiroto or Honda-kun? Neither seemed appropriate anymore… both just seemed wrong. One was too close and the other too formal.

Luckily for the sake of his quickly declining sanity, Honda interrupted him before he had a nervous breakdown.

"You know that I never wanted to hurt you.  I would never do anything deliberate to hurt you..." Honda said, glancing up to gaze into Ryou's eyes with an earnest expression, though he could hardly bear to look him in the eyes for more than a moment.  The tall brunette drew in a deep breath, focusing on the words that he'd gone over in his mind. 

Then he gazed down at his hands, anxiously staring at his interlocked fingers.  There was just no way he could look at Ryou and come out with it.  Even though telling Ryou right before class was definitely not a good way to go about doing things, given what had already happened the night before, Honda couldn't wait any longer.  At the least, they were on an empty side of the room.  Few students were there at all, though Otogi Ryuuji was one of the ones who were.  So, it was going to have to be done like this, out of fairness to Ryou. 

"It isn't you, Bakura... Before I say anything else, please just know that it isn't because you did anything wrong or because you're anything less than a wonderful person.  This is all my fault.  Onegai, don't blame yourself.  I know that's what you'll be prone to do..." Honda sighed and drew in one last deep breath before he forced the words out.  "I can't be with you any longer... I wish there were a better way to put this, and maybe I'm just too much of a baka to know the words for this that wouldn't hurt you so much.  I know that you deserve to hear the truth, though.  Now, before... well, before..." Honda let the words die in his throat.  He just couldn't quite manage to say that he was leaving Ryou for Ryuuji just yet.  It just felt too cruel to do so.  He let his gaze wander over to the raven-haired male, as if to remind himself for just a moment of why he had to do this.

Despite Honda's assurances that he would be alright, Ryuuji couldn't help but glance over at the two every once in a while. It was a natural thing, really… frankly, he was worried. And rightfully so, it seemed. Honda didn't seem to be doing too well, and neither did Ryou.

A pang of guilt flashed through him momentarily… but that was nothing new. The whole situation made him somewhat nauseous, even though it was something he wanted badly. Funny how things turned out… he finally got the person he loved, but at the price of another.

During one of his glance-overs, he was shocked to see that Honda was looking right back into his eyes. And he was so shocked that he wasn't able to look away in time when Ryou chose to follow Honda's pleading glance.

Ryou's eyes widened as he stared at the darker game inventor, who looked just as shocked as he was. But the guilt in those emerald green eyes quickly confirmed who it was that had ultimately caused Honda's decision.

"Bakura-kun…."

The apologetic words had barely escaped his lips before Ryou had pushed his seat back, gotten up, and walked out of the classroom without a reply. 

***End of Flashback***