Crawford's Angels

Author's Notes: Okay as promised Jonouchi shows up in this chapter. So Jou fans I hope I get him right, I'm sure you'll tell me otherwise. ^_^ By the way thank you all for the reviews so far. ^_~

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Charlie's Angels.

Chapter 6: School Days, and the Strange boy in white

Morning light streamed in from his window and Yuugi woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and smacked the clock to shut it off. Glancing at the time he yelped, "Oh no! I'm going to miss my bus!"

Yuugi grabbed hold of his cloths and pulled on his pants as he hopped down the stairs to the kitchen.

Aibou? What are you doing? Yuugi glanced over at his Hitori who was watching him struggle into his uniform.

"I'm trying to get dressed," Yuugi explained to his other self as he pulled on his genken –the boy's uniform. Yuugi hurried down to the breakfast table, and grabbed some toast, and kissed his mother who was making some eggs. His grandfather was already eating, and was looking at the newspaper. Yuugi caught a quick glimpse of one headline. CEO VANISHES: KAIBA CORPERATION FILES STOLEN.

"So, see anything interesting?" his grandfather asked. Yuugi shook his head. He didn't really know Kaiba Seto at all, only that he went to Domino, was a shoe in for valedictorian, was richer then anyone else Yuugi knew, and was in the same class as his friend Mayumi. He figured he would ask her when he got to school about it. "Strange. I always felt sorry for that boy."

"Huh? What do you mean, Jiichan?" Yuugi asked as his mother shoved him down into a chair and insisted that he eat something other then dry toast.

"You probably don't remember when Gozaburo Kaiba's son passed away," Sugoroku explained to Yuugi. "Hit and run accident they claimed. Although some rumors were running around that it may have been a relation to Kaiba that killed his young son on purpose. It wasn't that long after that he adopted two boys, Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. I'm sure you've seen the eldest at School Yuugi."

Yuugi nodded, he'd seen Kaiba, and avoided him. Seto Kaiba was very antisocial, and the one time he, Yuugi, had tried to talk to Seto he'd been told he was a pesky fly, and to leave before he was swatted. Yuugi had taken the advice and had not bothered to talk to Kaiba after that.

"I never had the pleasure of meeting Gozaburo," Sugoroku told Yuugi, his face frowned. "But from what I've learned through friends that have he wasn't the nicest of fathers. He was down right cruel to elder Kaiba, and the younger one faired no better. There was rumor running around after Gozaburo disappeared that Seto Kaiba had something to do with it. But I think its nonsense."

"Dad, don't go off with those wild theories again." Mrs. Mutou insisted; as she sat down to eat. "Yuugi, don't believe a word of it. Your Grandfather thinks that Seto Kaiba won the company from Gozaburo, and supposedly Seto tried to have him killed after he threatened his younger brother. But that's all rumors. Naturally Seto would take over after his father abandon his station, he was the heir apparent."

Yuugi listened to this in wonder. He didn't realize how strange a life Seto Kaiba had lived. Yuugi glanced at the clock, and grabbed his backpack.

"Bye, Mom. I'm going to go by Mayumi's after school, okay?" He kissed her on the cheek, and gave his grandfather a hug.

"Alright, I'll call you then," his mother said. "And Yuugi, please, try to stay out of trouble."

"I will, Mom. Promise." Yuugi smiled at his mother and ran down to the game shop, and went out the front door.

* * *

From where he sat the boy with the white hair watched Yuugi leave his house. He grinned, and jumped down out of the tree, and started to follow Yuugi. This white haired young man chuckled to himself as he walked along the sidewalk, hands in his pocket, feeling up a deck of cards that he had collected. A very special deck, designed to scare and torment the person he dueled against, and it had a special ability. A set of cards that killed his opponent if a message was correctly spelled out, that message: DEATH.

Yuugi walked along, not seeing the boy or realizing that he was being followed. He stopped at the corner where a group was waiting for the bus, and the boy with white hair was about to go up to him and make conversation when….

"YUUGI!" A shout made the boy turn and duck into the crowd, as a girl with green hair and brown eyes came racing up to the bus stop.

"Mayumi-chan, Good morning," Yuugi said waving to the girl. The boy with the white hair frowned, this was a missed oppertuntiy, and his boss would not be pleased with him. What's more he would have to listen to that cackling idiot that had taken up as his partner deride him about how weak he was when it came to attacking in public. Yet somewhere another voice called out to the boy with white hair, and it seemed to whisper.

Stay your hand; I won't let you attack him like this. I won't.

Who asked you, the boy thought slipping away from the crowd and into the near by park. He grasped hold of something under his coat, and in an instant his hard, smirking face became soft and fair. He let out a long sigh, and started to walk further from where Yuugi and Mayumi stood, and was thankful that she had come when she did. He had enough blood on his hands already, and didn't wish to have anymore.

* * *

"Yuugi, I'm so glad I caught up with you," Mayumi laughed sweetly. Yuugi smiled at her, he'd known Mayumi since kindergarten, and she was like a sister to him. "I've got to tell someone…guess what I won last night. You know that Avalon Concert that everyone has been raving about."

"Yeah, of course, who hasn't heard about it," Yuugi smiled. Avalon was the name of a singer from the UK, who had been born in Japan, and was making waves all over Europe and the United States. She was known for her grace, but also for her wild stage shows. Mixing medieval music, with a techno-beat, and Jpop as well. It was a very unusual sound, but Yuugi liked to listen to it. He'd heard about the concert, but tickets were the hardest thing to get, and were virtually sold out, unless you had about thee million yen that is.

"Well, last night the radio station I listen to had a quiz, and I called in. I never thought I would win, but they asked such a simple question..." Mayumi beamed proudly as she said, "Yuugi, I won three tickets to see the show!"

"Oh wow!" Yuugi said excitedly. "That's amazing Mayumi, who are you going to take."

"Well you of course," she said as the bus pulled up and they got on, depositing their coins in the slot. "And I was thinking of someone else."

She blushed slightly, and Yuugi smiled. He knew who she was thinking of, a boy at their school who went by the name of Katsuya Jonouchi. Mayumi had a crush on him for over a year now, but Katsuya had been so busy he didn't even pay her any mind. Yuugi felt bad for his friend; he had a feeling that Jonouchi would turn her down. He was a tough, but not a bad as some of the other bullies in the school; Yuugi had never seen him pick on the weaker kids, but Jonouchi had a reputation at the school, and Yuugi tried to stay away from him. Now though, for Mayumi, he was going to try to talk to him. As they reached the school, Yuugi and Mayumi got off, and kept talking about the concert. It was then that someone ran into –no more like over him.

"Hey," Yuugi shouted as he was shoved down. Mayumi cried for him to watch out, but it was too late, the taller blonde boy collided with Yuugi and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Several of the kids laughed, and Mayumi helped Yuugi up. The blonde boy got to his feet, and rubbed his arm, he'd crashed onto it when he tripped over Yuugi.

"Knock it off you Bozos," he shouted. "Bunch of jerks; think it's so funny. Well, I'll show you funny."

"Hey Jonouchi, knock it off," shouted one boy.

"Yeah, jeeze, we were only having some fun," added another.

"Yeah, shoving me into the wimp here was a load of laughs," Jonouchi replied and looked over at Yuugi. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, just a scratch," Yuugi told him. Jonouchi nodded.

"Right then, See ya."

He got up to leave, and Yuugi glanced over at Mayumi who was watching Jonouchi go. She had a dreamy look to her brown eyes, but quickly shook it off and checked on her best friend.

"Yuugi, he didn't hurt you did he?" 

"No, I'm fine," he lied; he had a nice cut on his forearm, and was going to have to go to the nurse. Mayumi frowned at him.

"You're lying. I know when you lie to me, Yuugi. You get all red in the face, and look down at the ground," Yuugi's face went pink as she gently pulled up his sleeve. He winced, and she saw the long cut, and twisted her lips into a look that was trying not to be worried, when in fact she was. "Ow, that must have hurt. I wish those morons would not do that to you."

"It's okay," Yuugi started to say and Mayumi shot back.

"No, it's not. You're hurt. Come on, I'm taking you to the nurses office."

Exactly twenty minutes later, a large amount of antiseptic, and a huge Band-Aid, Yuugi and Mayumi headed for class. Yuugi touched the area of the cut gently with his finger. "Ow."

"Still stings huh," Mayumi asked, and Yuugi nodded. She shook her head, "Those jerks. I wish…I wish…I guess I wish that some how you could stand up to them. You're so much better then them Yuugi, why can't they leave you alone."

"I don't know," he admitted. He didn't, maybe it was because of his hair, or the pendent, or even the fact that he was so short that got him into trouble. Yuugi had never been sure, but this had been going on since middle school, and he doubted very much that it would stop even after he got out of high-school.

"I think I do," Mayumi said smiling broadly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it's because you're cute, and you hang out with the cutest girl in school. That's why," Mayumi said and Yuugi grinned.

"Bet that's it. They're all jealous of us Mayumi," Yuugi paused when they were by her class room. "Uh, Mayumi, can I ask you something really fast."

"Sure."

"I know that Seto Kaiba was in you're class," he started and she nodded vigorously indicating that she had read the newspaper that morning. "Well I was wondering, was Kaiba acting odd…I mean I didn't think he was the type of guy to just disappear like that."

"Well," Mayumi said slowly thinking back. She didn't know Kaiba well at all, he mostly kept to himself, and she didn't bother to change that. "He was mainly a loner most of the time. Always reading a book under the desk, but still way ahead of everyone in class. It was like, I don't know, he was some sort of super genius or something. But I can tell you this much, he wasn't the type of person to just bolt out of anything. Not him, he was a very strict type of guy –but very quiet, and he always had a snide remark to say to you. I don't think anyone in the class liked him at all. Wouldn't be surprised if they're all glad he's gone."

"Oh," said Yuugi softly. He suddenly felt bad for Kaiba, not having a good home life, and then being ignored by his classmates. Yuugi thought they were kinda alike, in some ways.

"But the thing was, while he was rude and arrogant, and always thought he was better then everyone. Once in a while, he'd actually do something nice," Mayumi explained. "Like this one girl Nami, she lost one of her hair clips, and was going crazy looking for it because it was so expensive. Well a day later she opened her desk, and there was the same antique hairclip that she had lost. I think that Kaiba may have bought it for her, because I saw him hovering around her desk during the morning."

"Really," Yuugi said surprised. "Huh, so you think someone got to him?"

"Don't know," Mayumi said softly and whispered to Yuugi. "But he was getting into trouble with the Kendo Club. Something about pulling their funding, and from what I know, you don't mess with the Kendo Club. Urshio, the hall Monitor, he's been stalking Kaiba for a few weeks now. At least that's what I've heard."

Could it be that Urshio got go upset at Kaiba that he went after him? But that would mean that he…Yuugi was thinking when Mayumi's voice cut in.

"Yuugi," he looked up at her sheepishly, and she crossed her arms –frowning.

"Eh-heh, yes, Mayumi?"

"Yuugi, I know what you're thinking," she said, and looked at him afraid, her brown eyes wet with tears that looked ready to fall onto her cheeks. "Please, Yuugi, don't mess with this. Please. Rumor has it that Urshio has connections with a gang from Rintama, and they don't play around Yuugi. They could really hurt you Yuugi, and I don't want to see my best friend die, okay."

Yuugi saw her wipe tears away, her older brother Sashio had run into trouble with gangs, and wound up in a wheel chair because of it. Mayumi slid down against the wall, and Yuugi gave her a gentle hug.

"Alright, Mayumi," he said softly to her. "I won't look into this."

Mayumi nodded and hugged him back, "Thank you, Yuugi."

After a minute she stood up, and brushed away her tears, "Well, we better get to class, or we'll both be in trouble."

"Right," Yuugi smiled, and bid his best friend a farewell. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as far a Yuugi was concerned. Class was the same as always, teachers coming in and out, and long time for lessons. During breaks Yuugi went looking for Jonouchi in hopes that he could stop him long enough to ask him about Mayumi. But Jonouchi was as slippery as an eel in pinning down. He moved so fast that Yuugi couldn't keep up, and by lunch time Yuugi was exhausted. He and Mayumi went outside to have lunch under their usual tree. Mayumi laughed a lot, and the two played several games. Yuugi was one of the few people who could actually make her feel better about herself. He had never told her but when they were in Middle school he had had a long standing crush on her, but that had changed when she told him that he was like a brother to her.

"You win again, Yuugi," Mayumi was saying as they played Magic and Wizards. "I can't believe how good you are. It's like a whole new personality when you duel."

"Well I just try my best," he told her. "Want to play a different game now? Go maybe…huh?"

Yuugi and Mayumi glanced up as a shadow loomed over them. A very tall, hefty boy stood towering over the two juniors. He had thick, black hair that split into two horn shaped spikes at the nape of his neck, and bangs that hooked over his forehead. His face was cold, with a strong jaw, and a nasty looking glint to his sharp eyes.

"Can we help you?" Mayumi asked cautiously. Yuugi recognized the person at once: Urshio, the hall monitor that Mayumi was warning him about earlier. He looked from Mayumi to Yuugi and broke into a sarcastic grin.

"Yeah, you can. I was looking for a Yuugi Mutou," he said and Yuugi's other self took over. He crossed his arms, and legs, and scowled up at Urshio.

"I'm Yuugi Mutou, who's looking for me?"

Urshio chuckled, "I am, the name is Urshio. I'm the hall monitor at this school. I'm checking up on some of the…um…special cases. Would you mind coming with me for a minute, I'd like to have a word with you in private."

Mayumi shook her head and her eyes went wide with fear. Yuugi stood up, and she grabbed at his arm saying, "Don't go with him. Please, don't go."

Yuugi took her hand in his and smiled brightly at her, "Don't worry Mayumi, I'll be fine. I promise."

She nodded, and he turned to Urshio who was waiting. The two teenagers walked along quietly for a while until they got past the basketball court. Here there were less people, and it was quite dark.

"I hear you're into Magic and Wizards," Urshio said, and Yuugi glanced at him cautiously. "Heard you were pretty good too?"

What's this guy getting at?

I'm not sure Aibou. But I don't trust him at all.

"I'm average," Yuugi shrugged. "But I've heard that Seto Kaiba is far superior in this game. He won the World Championship just last year."

"Heh, yeah, wasn't that something," Urshio said, clenching his fist. Yuugi noticed this and made a mental note that that was a sore spot.

"You play?"

"Who me?" Urshio laughed when Yuugi nodded. "No, that's my brother's job. Ah, here we are."

"The back of the school," Yuugi said, looking around at the dank, ugly, alley. "Why bring me here, Urshio?"

Snik, Urshio drew a large switch blade from his breast pocket, and grinned sadistically at Yuugi. He grabbed the smaller boy and shoved him roughly against the wall of the school, bringing the knife up to his cheek. Yuugi only flinched for a moment, and then stared coolly back at Urshio, his violet eyes burning with a dark fire that once cast upon a person it became fatal for them. Urshio though, did not know this, and grinned nastily at the younger boy.

"I'm giving you a warning Yuugi. You see, my little brother is going to be in that tournament tomorrow, and I intend to make sure he wins…"

"By what," Yuugi said, glaring at the older boy. "Intimidating the rest of his opponents? A cowardly move…"

"Heh, you won't think it's so cowardly after I slit your throat," Urshio said dangerously waving the knife near Yuugi's neck. Mou Hitori no Yuugi just grinned. "In fact you won't be thinking at all."

Yuugi suddenly started to laugh, and it sent a shiver down Urshio's spine, "Is that the best you can do, Urshio? I thought you would have a better threat then that. Slit throats, I've heard it all before."

Urshio dropped Yuugi to the ground, and the younger boy stood up, turned and started to walk away.

"You better heed my warning Yuugi Mutou, let my brother win, or you're poor old mother will be weeping over you're grave!"

Yuugi paused, turned his head, and said in a smooth voice, "I wouldn't be too sure of that Urshio; Because, if you're not careful, it might very well be your mother weeping over that open grave, and what a pity to loose a son before she has any grandchildren."

***

Out by the tree Mayumi waited for Yuugi to return. She was busying herself putting away the remains of their lunches, when she noticed a boy with white hair standing just outside the gate of the school. He looked up at her when he saw she was watching and waved.

"Hello there," he said in a very polite voice. Mayumi waved back, and noticed he was wearing all white except for a dark black trench coat. He motioned for her to come over and she walked over to the gate. Mayumi decided he had a nice, warm, smile.

"How are you on this fine day?" he asked, brown eyes sparkling sweetly.

"Okay, I guess." She replied and he laughed.

"I bet. Eating lunch with your boyfriend then I see."

"No, he's not my boyfriend," Mayumi blushed slightly. "He's my best friend though."

"Then what a lucky best friend to have such a lovely thing to eat lunch with," said the white haired boy. Again Mayumi blushed. "You have a name?"

"Mayumi."

"Pleased to meet you Mayumi," said the boy. "I'm Bakura. Ah, tell me something, what's your friend's name?"

"Yuugi."

"Wait, as in the Yuugi Mutou? Oh my, I never thought I'd ever get the chance to meet him. And he actually goes to this school." Said Bakura looking around as if he was trying to see if anyone was watching them, "Well then, I'll ask you to wish him luck at the tournament tomorrow. You will do that for me, won't you Mayumi."

"Of course."

"Wonderful," Bakura said, "Tell him I'll be watching. But uh, best off not to mention my name."

"Are you a competitor?" She asked as he turned to go.

"No, just a…fan," his face changed and became harder as he turned and left Mayumi standing at the gate, alone.