Authors' Note:  Sorry for the delay!  I was on vacation, but now I'm back.  This is such a fun chappie!  It really needs no further introduction.  Enjoy!--Neph

Disclaimer:  Nope, we still don't own anything, except Yuki and Skunkzilla and they're not in this chapter. 

Tuulikki:  Thank you so much!  So glad you like this ficcie!  And thanks for letting us know about the weird chapter switch.  That should be all fixed.  Hope this chapter is worth the wait!

MarmaladeGirl:  I like Honda, too!   He's sweet at heart, just a bit of a baka in his actions at times.  Hope that you enjoy the infamous chapter ten!  Thanks so much!

Windswift:  Yes, now you will find out where Ryou went.  And I'd have to agree about the banging one's head against the wall—not good.  As to shocking the hell out of everyone, someone might be doing just that in this chapter.  Thanks for sticking with this fic!

Youkai Kuronue:  Thank you so much!  So glad that you've enjoyed the fic!  Sorry for the delay in updating.  Here it is at last!

Ashuri chan:  Thanks!  Sorry to keep you waiting so long.  Lots more to come before everything gets sorted out.  Enjoy!

Mikazuki Kagaya:  Well, Yami no Bakura is not into having headaches himself.  XD  And I'm glad that we can help you out with squirrel-related pick-up lines.  Just be sure that you're outside.  You get some funny looks if you're indoors.  And we hope this chapter was worth the wait!

The Evil Laugh:  Aw… thank you so much!  Yes, poor clueless Honda.  He has no idea what he's just set into motion!  Can't blame Ryou for leaving, though.  Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Rowan and Sakura:  Sorry about the confusing switch between the first two chapters!  Thanks so much for all of the reviews!  Yami no Bakura will put in an appearance later on, but he's kind of been busy thus far.  You'll see what I mean by that.  I love the word 'flummoxed' as well.  Had to work it in! 

Ice Puppet:  Yes, Ryou's been through a lot, and it's not close to being over.  This chapter should answer the question about Ryou doing anything crazy, by the way… Hope it is to your liking!

Shinitenshi-shirotenshi:  Well, we hope that we can get you past your Ryuuji-hatred at some point.  He certainly carries his share of the blame in all of this, though.  He'll get a measure of comeuppance in this chapter, though.  Glad that you like the Seto!

SGL:  Hee!  Poke away!  And here is the next chappie!  Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Snapping

Ryou had long ago left the scene, not even bothering to reply to Honda. He might have felt guilty about this, but currently guilt was the last thing on his mind. Revenge and disembowelment were much higher priorities, he decided, with a cackle that was scarily similar to Yami no Bakura's.

A small part of him thought that perhaps he was going too far. After all, Honda had been perfectly reasonable and he had given up a lot to tell Ryou the truth. The truth that he had wanted. The truth that he had been searching for, but only ended up hurting him even more.

He had known all along that it would hurt him... after all, Ryou wasn't stupid. Although he could act like it at some times... well, often times... Ryou was pretty perceptive. He had realized long before he had actually asked Honda the question that perhaps he would be better off not knowing. Unfortunately, while Ryou was intelligent enough to figure *that* out, he wasn't intelligent enough to figure out that he should have stopped while he was ahead.

Ahead? He had never been ahead, to be frank. This entire time... he had believed one thing only to find out that he was going in the wrong direction. He had foolishly believed that Honda and him would be together forever... or at least something close to it. Instead, he was now discovering how... how *easily* he had been replaced.

Honda couldn't have been that happy with him if Ryuuji had come along so easily. So why didn't he ever just say so? Why was it that everyone seemed to believe that Ryou couldn't handle the truth? Why did they have to creep around him, only to reveal the truth when pressed to the limit? What was it about him that caused everyone around him to treat him like a stupid, pathetic child who couldn't think for himself and couldn't be relied on to handle matters in an appropriate way?

Ryou was shaking as he walked, his vision somewhat blurred from the tears that he wanted to shed but refused to. And because he was so intent on his thoughts rather than taking care of not walking into walls, he promptly walked smack into the wall when the hallway ended.

The white-haired teen yelped, an odd sound that he had never heard before. But it was too late for that, he thought sadly to himself, as he felt slightly faint. Did he really hit his head that badly? Or was this just another sign of how much of an idiot he was?

"Bakura-kun! Daijoubu ka?" a concerned voice asked, its owner obviously very worried.

To put it frankly, it was a nice gesture but the wrong person to give it. If it had been any other person on the entire planet, Ryou might have appreciated it. Even if it was Yami no Malik, it would have been preferable to who it really was. And because of this, combined with the fact that Ryou was not acting very Ryou-ish, a very traumatizing experience was about to occur.

Ryou quickly turned to face Ryuuji, eyes slightly wild. Added to the way his hair had been mussed up during the fall, Ryou looked very scary indeed.

Whether or not Ryuuji was acting out of pure self-preservation instinct or whether he had actually perceived the fact that Ryou was verging on the point that one might refer to as 'dangerously unstable' at the present was uncertain, but either way, when he caught sight of the look on Ryou's face at that moment, Ryuuji stumbled back a few steps.

"B-Bakura-kun?" he asked again, gazing at Ryou nervously. "Is something wrong? You don't look so--"

That would be the point when something in Ryou just snapped completely. Even though Ryuuji's words had been spoken with good intentions, and even though he'd intended to convey nothing but concern, something about the way he said them made Ryou quite angry, quite possibly angrier than he'd ever been before. It was as if Ryuuji were treating him like a child, or a psychopath, or an idiot. And where did Ryuuji get off telling him how he looked?! Ryuuji should try getting dumped by Honda and then having to sit there and listen to how someone else had so easily seduced him away and then see how HE looked! Currently, Ryou was not in any frame of mind to take into account the fact that he'd asked Honda for an explanation. In that moment, he knew with whom the blame rightfully lay.

Ryou's eyes narrowed as he glared up at Ryuuji. "Don't you dare talk to me like that," he snapped in a barely audible voice that nearly shook with anger.

Ryuuji's eyes widened as he took in the look on Ryou's face. He seemed scarcely recognizable at the moment, and Ryuuji had no idea how he should handle this. Clearly, whatever it was that Honda had told him, it hadn't gone well. Ryuuji desperately looked around for some sign of his koi, who could at least tell him what had been said and make suggestions for ways of calming down the brewing tempest that was Ryou. If only he were here... Ryuuji thought, sighing to himself as there was no trace of the brunette in sight.

"Anou... try to calm down, Bakura-kun," Ryuuji said, nervously patting Ryou on the shoulder in an attempt to soothe the savage Ryou. "I'm sure if we just talked about--"

CRACK!

The sound of palm hitting cheek reverberated throughout the hallway as Ryou's hand flew up and abruptly silenced Ryuuji's attempt at conciliatory words. "Don't touch me!!!" Ryou cried, his voice rising to a shout by the end of his words.

It was only as he was holding his reddening cheek that Ryuuji came to realize that 'hadn't gone well' was a definite understatement for the way things must have gone when Honda talked to Ryou. Ryuuji's jade-hued eyes widened as he saw the people along the hallway beginning to turn and stare at them in response to Ryou's shout and subsequent slap.

Ryuuji felt bad enough for what had happened to Ryou to hold his temper in check for the present. Getting slapped once for stealing Honda away even eased a bit of the guilt that Ryuuji had felt over it. So, he was prepared to let it go...

Ryuuji did not, however, wish to be a public spectacle this type of situation. He also knew that under normal circumstances, Ryou would feel even worse about being stared at by a large group of people than he would. All of this meant that he had to put a stop to this at once, before the confrontation got too interesting to their onlookers and it became a matter of school-wide gossip. Not to mention public observation.

Ryuuji reached out and caught Ryou's shoulders, holding him in place with gentle firmness. "Bakura-kun, you've got to calm down and get a hold of yourself. People are starting to stare at--"

A moment too late, Ryuuji realized that touching Ryou again had definitely been a very bad idea. That was a moment after Ryou's hand had shot up and caught the end of his ponytail and yanked it hard.

"Let go of me!!!" Ryou yelled, for once not caring in the least bit if people were staring. That was probably due largely to the fact that he hadn't noticed them at all. His anger had boiled over and erupted in a way that Ryou himself had never imagined, and now all he could focus on was Ryuuji. The one before him was the one who had stolen Honda away without a second thought. He had kissed Honda, his Honda, when it was so clearly wrong to do so.

Ryuuji made a small yelp of pain at Ryou's tugging on his hair, and he winced, unconsciously loosening his grasp on the smaller male's shoulders. When Ryou's hand finally came free from his hair, Ryuuji could only stare downward in dismay at what remained in that small, pale palm, drawing in a shocked gasp. "My hair... you pulled out a piece of my hair..."

Of course, having the other's grip loosened was precisely what the very angry Ryou had been awaiting. As Ryuuji stared down at the clump of silken black hair that was now grasped in Ryou's fist, the silver-haired teen had launched himself forward, pummeling the other's chest with both of his clenched fists. "You stole him from me! Why did you have to go out of your way to steal Hiroto from me?! You're a horrible, horrible person!" Ryou cried, his voice getting louder and louder as he went on, angry tears slowly trickling down his cheeks.

The gasps and mutterings increased as Ryuuji lost his balance, causing the two topple over onto the ground in an extremely compromising position. A normal Ryou might have blushed, especially since such am embarrassing situation was happening in such a public place. Unfortunately for Ryuuji, who was still in shock from having his gorgeous hair pulled, this was not a normal Ryou. No, this was a hell-bent, revenge-driven, and insanely rabid Ryou who wanted to cause extreme damage. And this crazy Ryou was currently baring his teeth at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji resisted the urge to shriek.

Instead, he settled for shoving Ryou off of him. The good thing about Ryou's hysteria was that Ryou wasn't using as much force as he could have… well, then again, Ryuuji couldn't be sure of that. After all, he had never seen Ryou slap or punch anybody, and he had certainly never felt it. But even though Ryuuji had been punched before with much more force, it still hurt.

A lot.

There was quite a bit of sympathetic cooing from fangirls as Ryuuji pulled himself off the ground, a grimace on his face. But most of the witnesses were simply too busy ogling… the guys interested in a fight, and the girls were entertaining shounen-ai thoughts between two very cute guys.

Ryou had stumbled slightly as he was pushed back. A part of him registered that Ryuuji was perfectly capable of beating him up black and blue, but the rest of him knew that Ryuuji wouldn't. He tried to rush at Ryuuji, but the raven-haired teen was faster. Before Ryou had reached hitting range, Ryuuji reached out to grab Ryou by the shoulders, stopping him in his tracks.

"Bakura-kun, listen to me," Ryuuji tried to sound as calm as he possibly could, but he was still stung by Ryou's words. "I didn't steal Hiroto from you."

"Usotsuki!" Ryou snapped, eyes closed as he shook his head angrily. "He told me what you did. He *told* me what happened! He told me how you jumped him after he dropped me off, and how you just… just… how could you?!"

"I…." Ryuuji stuttered, trying to find the right words to keep Ryou from attacking him again. "Bakura-kun, I…."

"You what?!"

"Look, I don't quite know what Hiroto told you, but…."

"I trusted you!"

Almost everybody who saw what happened next could not believe their eyes. With that accusation, Ryou managed to wrench himself away from Ryuuji before slapping the poor teen again. Ryuuji's cheek was starting to become a brilliant shade of red, which some of the girls thought enhanced the color of his eyes. Thus, the muffled grunts of the two opponents were accompanied by some coos from the pleased fangirls who were fairly close to drooling.

Ryuuji had, by this point, unfortunately, lost his patience with Ryou. Being attacked by an obviously distraught Ryou was one thing… being accused of being a 'horrible, horrible person' was another. Before anyone could blink, there was a full-blown catfight occurring between the two.