Title: Dark Eyes(Chapter 9)
Author: Andro
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Nope. Damn.
Couples: Y/Y, S/J
Warnings: Yaoi.
Author notes:=D I am happy. Why? Because I finally know how this fic is going to end. And it's a good ending too. I'm hoping that it'll only take two more chapters.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, all of you rock. ^^ I still want to know how in the world you italize things in FF.net format thought. ;_; And thanks to Steph again for that lovely E-mail with information about fighting moves. =D
Oh, and Jou is just way too easy to torture. _
And lastly-this is completely un-beta'ed because all my beta readers are busy or not present. ~_~; Sorry.
*~*~*~
Chapter Nine: Am I Wrong?
*~*~*~
He'd smacked the Principal. Not just *the* principal, the one known for his foul temper.
Jou gulped. //Oh, great.\\
"DETENTION MR.KARUYA!"
The blonde boy groaned and turned back to his table, dropping his head against the wood, glaring.
"The *least* he could do is get my damn name right." He muttered sulkily.
*~*~*~
"Sorry, I didn't mean-" Ida began to apologize for getting Jou in trouble as soon as the afternoon bell rang, but he simply waved her words off with a careless hand, picking up his books.
"It's okay. It's not like it's weird for me to be sent to detention after all." He told her cheerfully enough, not looking bothered at all by getting punished.
"Besides, did you see the look on Principal Muraki's face? It was a priceless, I wish I'd had a camera with me." Jou snickered, both teenagers waiting by the door of the classroom for the traffic of human bodies to thin out. She grinned back, obviously relieved.
"Yea, it was a fucking riot. I wish you'd smacked off that fake wig he's wearing though. Remember that time the wind pulled it off his head?"
"Who doesn't?" Jou snorted, then burst into laughter remembering that incident. Muraki had been *furious*, but unable to actually punish anyone since no one had actually done anything. Coral lips slid into a faint smile, before Jou pushed himself off the doorway.
"I better get going. Don't want to be late." He rolled his eyes and slipped into the hall, avoiding backpacks that were thrown on the floor as fellow students prepared to leave and crammed all that they needed into them. With ease, Jou took a corner and walked down a new section, knowing from countless visits where the detention room was. A few feet ahead of him, he recognized a spiky, multicolored head streaking across and bursting through the open glass doors. The sophomore blinked and kept walking, giving a glance outside of the clear paneled exit, only to catch a glimpse of Yugi crashing into Yami. Jou blinked, and shook his head, moving past them. //Yug's got something for smashing into people I think.\\ He reflected with a grin.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
Jou's head snapped up at the sound of a soft, cultured voice cutting into his thoughts. His eyes came across a wide chest, covered with an expensive looking Armani suit. Confused, he followed a gaze up to meet somber black eyes that peered down at him above lowered sunglasses. Slightly nervous, since the man simply *radiated* power, Jou nodded.
"Sure man. What is it?"
"Tatsuha please.My name is Tatsuha Wakamiya." The man gestured gracefully for them to sit together at a bench, and they did.
"Okay Tatsuha." Jou offered him a wary smile.
"What's up?"
Tatsuha seemed to hesitate, and took off his sunglasses, using a handkerchief to wipe at the lens. He was quite handsome, tall and tanned with hair as black and smooth as a raven's wings. He couldn't have been older than twenty three at the most.
"I'm not quite sure how to begin with this." He spoke carefully. "You are Jounochi Katsuya, correct?"
Jou tried to move a bit away without drawing attention to himself.
"Yea, that's me, how'd you know that?"
"I have something to tell you about my employer, Mr.Seto Kaiba."
*~*~*~
Yami looked at Yugi speechlessly for a few seconds, until he realized that he needed something called oxygen and breathed in deeply, pulling himself up with his elbows.
"Well...that's great Yugi, but do you think you can wait to tell me until we're both off the concrete?"
"No."
"No?" The ruby eyed teen arched an eyebrow questioningly, the fact that there were people all around staring at them fading out of his mind as he focused on his interest.
"No." Yugi echoed simply, and then bent his head to kiss Yami without hesitancy. Experience was more than lacking, but enthusiasm wasn't.
Something inside Yami breathed a sigh of silent relief, and he felt like he was floating in a warm, soft place. His hand rose and cupped the back of the younger man's head, keeping him there as he explored his mouth thoroughly. The lips were just as soft as he remembered them, and Yugi tasted oddly enough of the strawberry shake he liked.
When Yugi pulled back, both looked slightly dazed, and their chests rose in a hard rhythm.
"Is that what you wanted to tell me...?"
Yugi smiled jocundity down at him, shaking his head.
"No. I want to know if you'll go out with me tonight."
"Yes." Yami answered immediately. //Anything, everything, whatever, as long as it's with *you*.\\ The instructor thought dimly, staring into light violet eyes.
"Brilliant. I'll give you a tap on the shoulder when seven o'clock rolls around then." Yugi announced, then finally scrambled off him, offering Yami a hand up. Books and papers were strewn about them, so after getting themselves settled, they began to pick up and divide what belonged to who.
"What happened?" Anzu squeaked, seeing the mess around the two boys as she turned a corner and found both trying to fix things.
'Well, I kinda crashed into Yami, and...yea." Yugi trailed off, debating what to tell Anzu. He felt bad that she liked Yami too, but he wasn't going to let him go either. Would it make it worse if he didn't tell her? How to tell her then? When to tell her? How would she take it? He hoped not badly, he didn't want to lose a friend.
"Oh. Okay." She gave both a curious look, but shrugged it off and knelt down with them to help with the process.
"Jou said to not wait for him, he has detention today, and I have cheerleading practice. So it'll just be you two walking home." She informed them when everything was finally in place.
Yugi resisted the urge to giggle stupidly and not stop for a *long* time.
"O-okay."
*~*~*~
"C'mon, c'mon..." Yugi whispered, turning to look nervously above his shoulder. Nothing. His grandfather was down in the store since it was the busy time after school, and Yami was helping him it seemed, because he wasn't around. Satisfied, the young teen turned to the cordless phone in his hand and tapped his foot. //Pick. Up. The. Phone. Jou.\\ He urged, and perked up when a click gave away that someone had answered just a second before Yugi was about to give up.
"Katsuya residence." A subdued voice greeted his ears.
"Jou! I need help!"
"Hn? What? What's wrong?" Worry thrummed through his friend's voice.
"I asked Yami out-"
"About time."
Yugi flushed a dark red.
"Shush. But now I don't know where to take him! Where do you and Seto go on dates?"
A dead silence dropped like a hammer on the other line before Jou struggled to speak.
"This is Seto we're talking about, we *don't* go out on dates." A sigh filled the phone.
"Just go to a movie or something. It's like the most fail-safe cliché thing you can do for a date."
"A movie. A movie." Yugi echoed, as if it was the first time he'd ever heard of it, before perking up.
"Thanks Jou! That's great! I'll see you later, okay?" With that, he destroyed the connection and dived over the living room to snatch the newspaper off the table.
//Problem Number Two: What to watch?\\
*~*~*~
Jou slowly dropped the phone back on it's hook, and avoided meeting his younger sister's eyes when she asked him why he'd been late. He lied and told her that he'd been in detention before escaping to his room. It wasn't completely a lie, he had after all supposed to be in detention. He just hadn't gone. It wasn't like it really mattered.
Closing the door of his bedroom, brown eyes closed and the sophomore boy sank against the sturdy wood of his door, dropping to his knees. He refused to cry. Men didn't cry. He told himself that over and over again in a mantra, but was unable to hold back the two tears that dared to squeeze out of the corners of his eyes. Jou swallowed and opened his eyes, only to glare at the floor.
"Fuck you Seto, just..."
*~*~*~
Yugi looked sick.
"I am *never* going on a cruise ship Ever. Or a ship at all. I think I'm going to take an airplane. Yes, fast and safe. You know, no demons trying to send me to hell *there*." He decided as both teenagers walked out of the movie theater, the murmurs of people wondering about the end rising around them. Yugi felt incredibly grateful as the lighting around them returned to normal, illuminating everything in sight. //Why I picked Ghost Ship out of all the movies, I'll never know.\\
Next to him, Yami chuckled, and slung a casual arm around Yugi's shoulders, leading both boys outside where a brisk, cool wind hit them head on.
"It's just a movie, it's not like it's real." He said easily, looking up at the clear night sky.
"Yea, a really creepy one. I hated the beginning. I really, really hated the beginning." Yugi mumbled, looking down at the floor to hide the blush that had flooded his face.
"Understandable." The taller teen agreed dryly. He slipped his other hand into his pocket, and they walked down a row of stores that were still open. Ahead was a shop full of kids clambering around left and right, ordering ice cream cones despite the chilly temperature. He looked down and found his own little one staring at the ice cream shop wistfully.
"Yugi?"
"Hn?"
"Stay here for a bit."
"O-okay..." With a curious look, Yugi realized that Yami was intending to do when he slipped into the store that he'd been looking at. //I hadn't meant for him to notice.\\ He thought, faintly embarrassed but stood still, waiting for his date to come out. He bit back a yawn, feeling tired, and tried to give life to his hands by rubbing them together quickly. They'd missed the first showing of their movie, and had waited until the next one was scheduled to run, forty five minutes later. They'd just talked about completely random things. One was Yugi's nightmare, which he had explained was a result of having been in a car accident in which his parents had died in when he was very little. He didn't really remember much of anything from his mom and dad, and it was so long ago that he rarely thought of it. He was more than happy with his grandfather. Still, when the nightmares snuck at him from out of nowhere, they were usually quite bad. They were filled with blood and screams, the screech of metal and red hot sparks.
A shiver ran through Yugi's body, and it had nothing to do with the frigid air. He pulled his jacket tighter around him to ward off the inner chill and turned his thoughts to more pleasant ones. Christmas was coming up soon, and he was pretty sure that they were going to end up going with Yami back to the dojo to spend Christmas Eve there. He hoped so, he really missed Sayeka's easy way with words and the peace that just permeated everything. He even missed Sawayuki's presence, though the man was usually as silent as a stone. He also knew his grandfather missed having someone to talk to, an old friend.
"What do you know? Fancy meeting you here."
Yugi gave a startled squeak and turned into a pained groan as he was slammed brutally against a wall. Tears stung his eyes as his head collided with hard bricks. He looked through a watery gaze at the malicious black eyes and felt sick to his stomach.
Ahel.
He thought he'd finally been left alone. He really had thought that. Perhaps Ahel had gotten bored. He'd prayed and hoped that was the case. Apparently though, he'd just been bidding his time.
"Speechless? Not even going to whimper?" Ahel's fist reared back, ready to smash into Yugi's face. But Yugi struck first, hand curled into a fist, driving his index and pointer finger knuckles into the older male's temples as best he could, and was released from his bondage as Ahel gasped and stumbled back. With out a second to waste, the sophomore ran into the crowded, highly public ice cream shop, knowing Ahel wouldn't be stupid enough to follow him in there.
"Yugi? Sorry that took so long, I had a family of five before me." Yami said, concerned as he watched his date dash inside, face red.
"I-er, it's okay. Let's just sit here for a while before we go home, okay?"
Handing him a strawberry flavored ice cream cone, Yami shrugged and lead both to a tiny booth away from the windows, the only place left unoccupied. He sneaked looks in the younger man's direction, noting how a slight tremor ran through his hands.
"Are you all right?"
"Yea! Just, cold, you know?" Yugi flashed him a bright smile, and then bit into his ice cream.
"Eerph!"(1)
*~*~*~
Humans take things for granted. There's no way around that. Because something is always there, the mind reasons that it will always *be* there and moves on to more pressing issues. Nobody notices oxygen, even though we breathe it all the time, because it has always been there. Television, electricity and cars are all things we take into the norm. This is better in a way, for they are materialistic things. No matter what we do, we can always work to getting them back, even if the path is hard.
But another person is different. Be it death or feelings that drive them out of your grasp, you never realize how much they mean to you once you can't see them, talk to them, hug them or kiss them anymore.
So what do you do when that happens to you?
*~*~*~
Days later
*~*~*~
The paper on his desk announced that it was December twentieth of 2003. There was an article about the death of a young girl who had wandered too far out into the ocean, and before the parents had even realized it, she had drown. Another was a story about a heroic cat who had been lost in the highway when a family was moving from one prefecture to another, and had somehow made it's way back to them.
Fingers drummed ceaselessly against the smoothly polished dark oak desk top, the nails trimly cut and shaped, glossy and healthy. Other papers, important looking documents were strewn about the table, but Seto Kaiba ignored them mercilessly. He only had eyes for the phone just a foot away from him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Five days.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Five days since Jou had begun avoiding him.
To begin with, both didn't really get to spend much time with each other. But they usually saw each other for a bit every other day. Or Jou would storm into Kaiba HQ after school and hang around, pestering him. And then usually fall asleep on the CEO, and then Seto would have to drive him back to his home.
Tap.
They were supposed to have spent the night together. But Jou had called at the last minute to cancel. Not wanting to look like he actually cared, or was disappointed, Seto had simply accepted that with out demanding *why* and that had been the end of the matter. The next day, Jou hadn't dropped by his office. Or the day after that. On the third day, Kaiba had gone to school, only to find with a sense of dismay that every time he approached Jou, his boyfriend would suddenly have somewhere to be. On the fourth day, Seto kicked his ego to the curve and tried calling the Katsuya residence.
Shizuka, the little sister had picked up the phone. She told him that Jou wasn't home at the moment, but it was obviously a lie. He could hear Jou's voice on the other side. He knew exactly what his voice was like after listening to it so many times.
Tap. Tap.
That had been yesterday. Now there he was, in the middle of a highly important deal with an American company, and he was thinking about a middle class mutt that exasperated him beyond human comprehension. Seto drew in a long breath. But Jou was *his* middle class exasperating mutt. It hurt to be rejected, though Jou hadn't actually said anything. So why in the world was he acting like Seto had done him some great injustice?
"Sir?" Tatsuha asked, watching as his boss only tapped his fingers and stared off into empty space, mind a thousand miles away. Blue eyes focused long enough to throw him a cold glare.
"What is it Wakamiya?"
The tall man held up the papers he'd been carrying.
"We need you to sign these for the trade deal. We'll need you to sign the rest when they're drawn up in a few days." He told him calmly, too used to anything Mr.Kaiba threw at him.
"Leave then on my desk."
"Yes sir." Bowing, Tatsuha dropped them off on the desk and walked away, leaving a reticent Seto behind.
*~*~*~
End Chapter 9
*~*~*~
1.Have YOU ever bit into really cold ice cream? It's painful. :
I'm really glad I finally have the rest of this fic planned out. ^^ I don't know, it just feels like it's very different *now* from when it originally started. Perhaps it's because I have more confidence in my writing now as well? Whichever the cause, I like it. ^^ After I finish this fic-or perhaps right now, I'm not sure-I'm going to start a new YGO one. It'll have Y/Y as well, but it'll be the secondary couple. I'm sorry, but I'm much more of a SetoxJou fangirl now. It's about Jou winning a radio contest and it's a two week stay at a highly posh, expensive skiing resort up in the mountains. Jou takes Yugi with him, and there they meet with none other that Seto Kaiba, his fiance and a *very* nice looking sky instructor named Yami. ^.~
Dark Eyes Character Profiles! (Different from YGO profiles of course. ^^)
*~*~*~
Name: Yugi Motou
Age: 15
Height: 5'2
Hair: Spiky, tri colored.
Eyes: Violet
Grade: 10th
History: Yugi's parents died when he was very young, and he's been living with his grandfather ever since.
Love Interest: Yami
*~*~*~
Name: Yami Nagasaki
Age: 17
Height: 5'9"
Hair: Spiky, tri colored
Eyes: Red
Grade: 12
History: Yami's dad died when he was little, and he has been living with his mother, moving from location to location a lot because she's a wildlife photographer. Every summer he got sent to his grandfather's dojo however, until he was about 16 when he decided to stay there for good.
Love Interest: Yugi.
*~*~*~
Name: Anzu Masaki
Age: 15
Height: 5'4
Hair: Shoulder length, brown
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 10th
History: Anzu's lived in Domino all her life with her parents who are nice people.
Love Interest: Yami.
*~*~*~
Name: Jounochi Katsuya
Age: 15
Height: 5'5
Hair: Light sand
Eyes: Brown
Grade: 10th
History: Jounochi has also lived in Domino all his life with his parents, who are relatively nice people(his dad isn't a &^% isn't this fic.) and his little sister, who he loves.
Love Interest: Seto
*~*~*~
Name: Seto Kaiba
Age: 17
Height: 5'10"
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 12
History: Seto's dad is dead from a heart attack, and his mom is pretty much an idiot, so he has completely taken over Kaiba Corp, a huge multi-million dollar worth business. He takes care and lives with his little brother Mokuba and his mother.(When she's in Domino, which isn't often.)
Love Interest: Jou.
*~*~*~
Name: Sayeka Onori
Age: 16
Height: 5'6"
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 11th
History: Sayeka comes from a very proud, old family that maintain the family house that has belonged to them for hundreds of years, and care and maintain it. She's lived next to the Nagasaki's all her life, and knows Yami quite well.
Love Interest: Used to like Yami, but is all for getting him and Yugi together now. She has no current love interest.
*~*~*~
Name: Tatsuha Wakamiya
Age: 22
Height: 6'0"
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Grade: N/A
History: N/A
Love Interest: N/A
Author: Andro
Disclaimer: They're not mine. Nope. Damn.
Couples: Y/Y, S/J
Warnings: Yaoi.
Author notes:=D I am happy. Why? Because I finally know how this fic is going to end. And it's a good ending too. I'm hoping that it'll only take two more chapters.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, all of you rock. ^^ I still want to know how in the world you italize things in FF.net format thought. ;_; And thanks to Steph again for that lovely E-mail with information about fighting moves. =D
Oh, and Jou is just way too easy to torture. _
And lastly-this is completely un-beta'ed because all my beta readers are busy or not present. ~_~; Sorry.
*~*~*~
Chapter Nine: Am I Wrong?
*~*~*~
He'd smacked the Principal. Not just *the* principal, the one known for his foul temper.
Jou gulped. //Oh, great.\\
"DETENTION MR.KARUYA!"
The blonde boy groaned and turned back to his table, dropping his head against the wood, glaring.
"The *least* he could do is get my damn name right." He muttered sulkily.
*~*~*~
"Sorry, I didn't mean-" Ida began to apologize for getting Jou in trouble as soon as the afternoon bell rang, but he simply waved her words off with a careless hand, picking up his books.
"It's okay. It's not like it's weird for me to be sent to detention after all." He told her cheerfully enough, not looking bothered at all by getting punished.
"Besides, did you see the look on Principal Muraki's face? It was a priceless, I wish I'd had a camera with me." Jou snickered, both teenagers waiting by the door of the classroom for the traffic of human bodies to thin out. She grinned back, obviously relieved.
"Yea, it was a fucking riot. I wish you'd smacked off that fake wig he's wearing though. Remember that time the wind pulled it off his head?"
"Who doesn't?" Jou snorted, then burst into laughter remembering that incident. Muraki had been *furious*, but unable to actually punish anyone since no one had actually done anything. Coral lips slid into a faint smile, before Jou pushed himself off the doorway.
"I better get going. Don't want to be late." He rolled his eyes and slipped into the hall, avoiding backpacks that were thrown on the floor as fellow students prepared to leave and crammed all that they needed into them. With ease, Jou took a corner and walked down a new section, knowing from countless visits where the detention room was. A few feet ahead of him, he recognized a spiky, multicolored head streaking across and bursting through the open glass doors. The sophomore blinked and kept walking, giving a glance outside of the clear paneled exit, only to catch a glimpse of Yugi crashing into Yami. Jou blinked, and shook his head, moving past them. //Yug's got something for smashing into people I think.\\ He reflected with a grin.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
Jou's head snapped up at the sound of a soft, cultured voice cutting into his thoughts. His eyes came across a wide chest, covered with an expensive looking Armani suit. Confused, he followed a gaze up to meet somber black eyes that peered down at him above lowered sunglasses. Slightly nervous, since the man simply *radiated* power, Jou nodded.
"Sure man. What is it?"
"Tatsuha please.My name is Tatsuha Wakamiya." The man gestured gracefully for them to sit together at a bench, and they did.
"Okay Tatsuha." Jou offered him a wary smile.
"What's up?"
Tatsuha seemed to hesitate, and took off his sunglasses, using a handkerchief to wipe at the lens. He was quite handsome, tall and tanned with hair as black and smooth as a raven's wings. He couldn't have been older than twenty three at the most.
"I'm not quite sure how to begin with this." He spoke carefully. "You are Jounochi Katsuya, correct?"
Jou tried to move a bit away without drawing attention to himself.
"Yea, that's me, how'd you know that?"
"I have something to tell you about my employer, Mr.Seto Kaiba."
*~*~*~
Yami looked at Yugi speechlessly for a few seconds, until he realized that he needed something called oxygen and breathed in deeply, pulling himself up with his elbows.
"Well...that's great Yugi, but do you think you can wait to tell me until we're both off the concrete?"
"No."
"No?" The ruby eyed teen arched an eyebrow questioningly, the fact that there were people all around staring at them fading out of his mind as he focused on his interest.
"No." Yugi echoed simply, and then bent his head to kiss Yami without hesitancy. Experience was more than lacking, but enthusiasm wasn't.
Something inside Yami breathed a sigh of silent relief, and he felt like he was floating in a warm, soft place. His hand rose and cupped the back of the younger man's head, keeping him there as he explored his mouth thoroughly. The lips were just as soft as he remembered them, and Yugi tasted oddly enough of the strawberry shake he liked.
When Yugi pulled back, both looked slightly dazed, and their chests rose in a hard rhythm.
"Is that what you wanted to tell me...?"
Yugi smiled jocundity down at him, shaking his head.
"No. I want to know if you'll go out with me tonight."
"Yes." Yami answered immediately. //Anything, everything, whatever, as long as it's with *you*.\\ The instructor thought dimly, staring into light violet eyes.
"Brilliant. I'll give you a tap on the shoulder when seven o'clock rolls around then." Yugi announced, then finally scrambled off him, offering Yami a hand up. Books and papers were strewn about them, so after getting themselves settled, they began to pick up and divide what belonged to who.
"What happened?" Anzu squeaked, seeing the mess around the two boys as she turned a corner and found both trying to fix things.
'Well, I kinda crashed into Yami, and...yea." Yugi trailed off, debating what to tell Anzu. He felt bad that she liked Yami too, but he wasn't going to let him go either. Would it make it worse if he didn't tell her? How to tell her then? When to tell her? How would she take it? He hoped not badly, he didn't want to lose a friend.
"Oh. Okay." She gave both a curious look, but shrugged it off and knelt down with them to help with the process.
"Jou said to not wait for him, he has detention today, and I have cheerleading practice. So it'll just be you two walking home." She informed them when everything was finally in place.
Yugi resisted the urge to giggle stupidly and not stop for a *long* time.
"O-okay."
*~*~*~
"C'mon, c'mon..." Yugi whispered, turning to look nervously above his shoulder. Nothing. His grandfather was down in the store since it was the busy time after school, and Yami was helping him it seemed, because he wasn't around. Satisfied, the young teen turned to the cordless phone in his hand and tapped his foot. //Pick. Up. The. Phone. Jou.\\ He urged, and perked up when a click gave away that someone had answered just a second before Yugi was about to give up.
"Katsuya residence." A subdued voice greeted his ears.
"Jou! I need help!"
"Hn? What? What's wrong?" Worry thrummed through his friend's voice.
"I asked Yami out-"
"About time."
Yugi flushed a dark red.
"Shush. But now I don't know where to take him! Where do you and Seto go on dates?"
A dead silence dropped like a hammer on the other line before Jou struggled to speak.
"This is Seto we're talking about, we *don't* go out on dates." A sigh filled the phone.
"Just go to a movie or something. It's like the most fail-safe cliché thing you can do for a date."
"A movie. A movie." Yugi echoed, as if it was the first time he'd ever heard of it, before perking up.
"Thanks Jou! That's great! I'll see you later, okay?" With that, he destroyed the connection and dived over the living room to snatch the newspaper off the table.
//Problem Number Two: What to watch?\\
*~*~*~
Jou slowly dropped the phone back on it's hook, and avoided meeting his younger sister's eyes when she asked him why he'd been late. He lied and told her that he'd been in detention before escaping to his room. It wasn't completely a lie, he had after all supposed to be in detention. He just hadn't gone. It wasn't like it really mattered.
Closing the door of his bedroom, brown eyes closed and the sophomore boy sank against the sturdy wood of his door, dropping to his knees. He refused to cry. Men didn't cry. He told himself that over and over again in a mantra, but was unable to hold back the two tears that dared to squeeze out of the corners of his eyes. Jou swallowed and opened his eyes, only to glare at the floor.
"Fuck you Seto, just..."
*~*~*~
Yugi looked sick.
"I am *never* going on a cruise ship Ever. Or a ship at all. I think I'm going to take an airplane. Yes, fast and safe. You know, no demons trying to send me to hell *there*." He decided as both teenagers walked out of the movie theater, the murmurs of people wondering about the end rising around them. Yugi felt incredibly grateful as the lighting around them returned to normal, illuminating everything in sight. //Why I picked Ghost Ship out of all the movies, I'll never know.\\
Next to him, Yami chuckled, and slung a casual arm around Yugi's shoulders, leading both boys outside where a brisk, cool wind hit them head on.
"It's just a movie, it's not like it's real." He said easily, looking up at the clear night sky.
"Yea, a really creepy one. I hated the beginning. I really, really hated the beginning." Yugi mumbled, looking down at the floor to hide the blush that had flooded his face.
"Understandable." The taller teen agreed dryly. He slipped his other hand into his pocket, and they walked down a row of stores that were still open. Ahead was a shop full of kids clambering around left and right, ordering ice cream cones despite the chilly temperature. He looked down and found his own little one staring at the ice cream shop wistfully.
"Yugi?"
"Hn?"
"Stay here for a bit."
"O-okay..." With a curious look, Yugi realized that Yami was intending to do when he slipped into the store that he'd been looking at. //I hadn't meant for him to notice.\\ He thought, faintly embarrassed but stood still, waiting for his date to come out. He bit back a yawn, feeling tired, and tried to give life to his hands by rubbing them together quickly. They'd missed the first showing of their movie, and had waited until the next one was scheduled to run, forty five minutes later. They'd just talked about completely random things. One was Yugi's nightmare, which he had explained was a result of having been in a car accident in which his parents had died in when he was very little. He didn't really remember much of anything from his mom and dad, and it was so long ago that he rarely thought of it. He was more than happy with his grandfather. Still, when the nightmares snuck at him from out of nowhere, they were usually quite bad. They were filled with blood and screams, the screech of metal and red hot sparks.
A shiver ran through Yugi's body, and it had nothing to do with the frigid air. He pulled his jacket tighter around him to ward off the inner chill and turned his thoughts to more pleasant ones. Christmas was coming up soon, and he was pretty sure that they were going to end up going with Yami back to the dojo to spend Christmas Eve there. He hoped so, he really missed Sayeka's easy way with words and the peace that just permeated everything. He even missed Sawayuki's presence, though the man was usually as silent as a stone. He also knew his grandfather missed having someone to talk to, an old friend.
"What do you know? Fancy meeting you here."
Yugi gave a startled squeak and turned into a pained groan as he was slammed brutally against a wall. Tears stung his eyes as his head collided with hard bricks. He looked through a watery gaze at the malicious black eyes and felt sick to his stomach.
Ahel.
He thought he'd finally been left alone. He really had thought that. Perhaps Ahel had gotten bored. He'd prayed and hoped that was the case. Apparently though, he'd just been bidding his time.
"Speechless? Not even going to whimper?" Ahel's fist reared back, ready to smash into Yugi's face. But Yugi struck first, hand curled into a fist, driving his index and pointer finger knuckles into the older male's temples as best he could, and was released from his bondage as Ahel gasped and stumbled back. With out a second to waste, the sophomore ran into the crowded, highly public ice cream shop, knowing Ahel wouldn't be stupid enough to follow him in there.
"Yugi? Sorry that took so long, I had a family of five before me." Yami said, concerned as he watched his date dash inside, face red.
"I-er, it's okay. Let's just sit here for a while before we go home, okay?"
Handing him a strawberry flavored ice cream cone, Yami shrugged and lead both to a tiny booth away from the windows, the only place left unoccupied. He sneaked looks in the younger man's direction, noting how a slight tremor ran through his hands.
"Are you all right?"
"Yea! Just, cold, you know?" Yugi flashed him a bright smile, and then bit into his ice cream.
"Eerph!"(1)
*~*~*~
Humans take things for granted. There's no way around that. Because something is always there, the mind reasons that it will always *be* there and moves on to more pressing issues. Nobody notices oxygen, even though we breathe it all the time, because it has always been there. Television, electricity and cars are all things we take into the norm. This is better in a way, for they are materialistic things. No matter what we do, we can always work to getting them back, even if the path is hard.
But another person is different. Be it death or feelings that drive them out of your grasp, you never realize how much they mean to you once you can't see them, talk to them, hug them or kiss them anymore.
So what do you do when that happens to you?
*~*~*~
Days later
*~*~*~
The paper on his desk announced that it was December twentieth of 2003. There was an article about the death of a young girl who had wandered too far out into the ocean, and before the parents had even realized it, she had drown. Another was a story about a heroic cat who had been lost in the highway when a family was moving from one prefecture to another, and had somehow made it's way back to them.
Fingers drummed ceaselessly against the smoothly polished dark oak desk top, the nails trimly cut and shaped, glossy and healthy. Other papers, important looking documents were strewn about the table, but Seto Kaiba ignored them mercilessly. He only had eyes for the phone just a foot away from him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Five days.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Five days since Jou had begun avoiding him.
To begin with, both didn't really get to spend much time with each other. But they usually saw each other for a bit every other day. Or Jou would storm into Kaiba HQ after school and hang around, pestering him. And then usually fall asleep on the CEO, and then Seto would have to drive him back to his home.
Tap.
They were supposed to have spent the night together. But Jou had called at the last minute to cancel. Not wanting to look like he actually cared, or was disappointed, Seto had simply accepted that with out demanding *why* and that had been the end of the matter. The next day, Jou hadn't dropped by his office. Or the day after that. On the third day, Kaiba had gone to school, only to find with a sense of dismay that every time he approached Jou, his boyfriend would suddenly have somewhere to be. On the fourth day, Seto kicked his ego to the curve and tried calling the Katsuya residence.
Shizuka, the little sister had picked up the phone. She told him that Jou wasn't home at the moment, but it was obviously a lie. He could hear Jou's voice on the other side. He knew exactly what his voice was like after listening to it so many times.
Tap. Tap.
That had been yesterday. Now there he was, in the middle of a highly important deal with an American company, and he was thinking about a middle class mutt that exasperated him beyond human comprehension. Seto drew in a long breath. But Jou was *his* middle class exasperating mutt. It hurt to be rejected, though Jou hadn't actually said anything. So why in the world was he acting like Seto had done him some great injustice?
"Sir?" Tatsuha asked, watching as his boss only tapped his fingers and stared off into empty space, mind a thousand miles away. Blue eyes focused long enough to throw him a cold glare.
"What is it Wakamiya?"
The tall man held up the papers he'd been carrying.
"We need you to sign these for the trade deal. We'll need you to sign the rest when they're drawn up in a few days." He told him calmly, too used to anything Mr.Kaiba threw at him.
"Leave then on my desk."
"Yes sir." Bowing, Tatsuha dropped them off on the desk and walked away, leaving a reticent Seto behind.
*~*~*~
End Chapter 9
*~*~*~
1.Have YOU ever bit into really cold ice cream? It's painful. :
I'm really glad I finally have the rest of this fic planned out. ^^ I don't know, it just feels like it's very different *now* from when it originally started. Perhaps it's because I have more confidence in my writing now as well? Whichever the cause, I like it. ^^ After I finish this fic-or perhaps right now, I'm not sure-I'm going to start a new YGO one. It'll have Y/Y as well, but it'll be the secondary couple. I'm sorry, but I'm much more of a SetoxJou fangirl now. It's about Jou winning a radio contest and it's a two week stay at a highly posh, expensive skiing resort up in the mountains. Jou takes Yugi with him, and there they meet with none other that Seto Kaiba, his fiance and a *very* nice looking sky instructor named Yami. ^.~
Dark Eyes Character Profiles! (Different from YGO profiles of course. ^^)
*~*~*~
Name: Yugi Motou
Age: 15
Height: 5'2
Hair: Spiky, tri colored.
Eyes: Violet
Grade: 10th
History: Yugi's parents died when he was very young, and he's been living with his grandfather ever since.
Love Interest: Yami
*~*~*~
Name: Yami Nagasaki
Age: 17
Height: 5'9"
Hair: Spiky, tri colored
Eyes: Red
Grade: 12
History: Yami's dad died when he was little, and he has been living with his mother, moving from location to location a lot because she's a wildlife photographer. Every summer he got sent to his grandfather's dojo however, until he was about 16 when he decided to stay there for good.
Love Interest: Yugi.
*~*~*~
Name: Anzu Masaki
Age: 15
Height: 5'4
Hair: Shoulder length, brown
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 10th
History: Anzu's lived in Domino all her life with her parents who are nice people.
Love Interest: Yami.
*~*~*~
Name: Jounochi Katsuya
Age: 15
Height: 5'5
Hair: Light sand
Eyes: Brown
Grade: 10th
History: Jounochi has also lived in Domino all his life with his parents, who are relatively nice people(his dad isn't a &^% isn't this fic.) and his little sister, who he loves.
Love Interest: Seto
*~*~*~
Name: Seto Kaiba
Age: 17
Height: 5'10"
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 12
History: Seto's dad is dead from a heart attack, and his mom is pretty much an idiot, so he has completely taken over Kaiba Corp, a huge multi-million dollar worth business. He takes care and lives with his little brother Mokuba and his mother.(When she's in Domino, which isn't often.)
Love Interest: Jou.
*~*~*~
Name: Sayeka Onori
Age: 16
Height: 5'6"
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Grade: 11th
History: Sayeka comes from a very proud, old family that maintain the family house that has belonged to them for hundreds of years, and care and maintain it. She's lived next to the Nagasaki's all her life, and knows Yami quite well.
Love Interest: Used to like Yami, but is all for getting him and Yugi together now. She has no current love interest.
*~*~*~
Name: Tatsuha Wakamiya
Age: 22
Height: 6'0"
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Grade: N/A
History: N/A
Love Interest: N/A