Rowan: Well, I said to myself "5 reviews and I'd write another chapter, so...anyways, on to the thank you's!
Hieiandkuramalover: backs away from computer screen Well...it's only the beginning of July...I sure hope this is soon enough... Thanks for the compliment! Poor Jou...will last for a couple more chapters, unfortunately.
Shadow-demon18b: Sorry, it's not a false alarm, and it is Yami's child. It would just be too easy if I got rid of those complications. Don't worry, though, Jou will overcome those obstacles...eventually. It'll work out in the end, I promise.
Santurion1: Yes, they will get together. I wouldn't not have them get together...unless I had said in the beginning that it was going to be one-sided YamiJounouchi.
Cool: Yes, Jou will find happiness.
Digimagic: Gee, thanks! I'm really humbled that you like my writing that much! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Penny: Angel of Darkest Dreams: Oops! Sorry about that! And I do deserve that whap on my head! I am dense! Pity me! No, just joking, don't pity me. Heehee, you may get this first, but any mistakies are your fault! But I know you'll catch 'em all, so I'm not worried! Happy Reading! Ro
Rowan: I was originally going to do the following chapter in two different parts, but I decided against it, so in a way you're getting a double dose of "A Love Denied", filled to the brim with Jounouchi angst. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Once upon a time, a brilliant person created an amazing anime/manga called YuGiOh! It went on to become extremely successful and made this person very rich. Unfortunately, that person is not me.
Not me: That's right! I created it! I'm a genius!
Rowan: I meant that I, Rowan, did not create it!
Warning: Um, some shounen-ai, which is boy/boy fluff and such. If you don't like, I suggest you leave now. And if you don't (leave even though you don't like), well, don't say I didn't warn you. Also, there may be some OOCness in the story.
A Love Denied
Chapter 10: Jealous Jounouchi
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The rain drove Jounouchi to seek shelter quickly. The blonde wasn't choosy, and so, he found himself entering a pub. It was quiet and pretty well kept for a pub. Not many people were inside, it only being 4 o-clock in the afternoon. Shrugging, Jou made his way over to the bar and slid into a seat. While he was here, he might as well drink away his sorrow, right? After all, that's what alcohol is for. So resigned, Jou waved the bartender over.
"What'll it be?" the barkeep asked.
"A beer, and keep 'em coming."
"Planning on drowning yourself in drink?" the man inquired as he filled a mug and set it in front of the desolate man sitting pitifully in his bar.
Jou replied by taking a large swig from the mug, nearly emptying it. "You bet I am," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
The man nodded in understanding. He had seen many men like this one try and seek solace through alcohol, be it beer, vodka, whiskey, rum. It always ended the same: a terrible hangover the next day and an even more dank mood than before.
Those men never came back to the bar; the bartender called them his "one night strands" because for one night a man-it was usually a man- whose life was only hanging by a few sparse strands would wander into the pub and drink themselves into oblivion. They never came back, either searching out other bars or other ways to relieve their stress and pain. The barkeep got many interesting stories from these men. Unlike his "regulars", these men simply would talk their problem out. They didn't expect anything; not advice, nor understanding, simply an ear to listen to their woes, and not even that. Yes, the bartender very much enjoyed and looked forward to his "strands" customers.
Jou had just about finished his first beer. The first mug was nearly always finished off fastest, which was probably due to the fact that the customer did nothing but drink. The man behind the counter knew no juicy tidbits of a ruined life came out until at least halfway through the second mug. The man drew up another mug and set it in front of the blonde, and watched eagerly as Jou gulped it down. He looked forward to tonight's performance.
The foreign words were still ringing in Yami's ears as he reentered the game shop. Everyone was settled on the couch, waiting anxiously for his return. Anzu, the most jumpy and apprehensive of all, leapt to her feet and was standing in front of Yami in an instant, her hands clutching his. "Yami, where'd you go? Bakura told us you went out to speak with Jou, and then you didn't come back, and I got really worried!" flustered Anzu, her voice trembling as she burst into tears and buried her face in Yami's chest. Then, thinking, she glanced behind Yami. "Where's Jounouchi?" she asked.
Yami looked behind himself as well. He knew Jou hadn't followed him, but he had assumed that the blonde would return to the game shop. Obviously he had been wrong.
"I'm not sure," Yami replied.
Shizuka stood up, indignant. "You're not sure? You mean to say that my brother could still be outside in the pouring rain, Kami knows where, soaked to the bone, catching cold, and none of us are doing anything about it? It's bad enough that he just came back from America to find out that the girl he loves is taken! Now he's going to add pneumonia to the list? No, we must go find Jou!"
Everyone else, sans Kaiba, who really wasn't worried, jumped up from the couch. Oh, and Bakura, who equally felt calm and at ease. But everyone else, namely Yuugi, Mai, Mokuba, Ryou, Honda, and Otogi (oh wait, Honda was passed out on the floor due to his love of champagne and drinking it at special occasions...) leapt from their previously lax and comfortable positions and voiced their acquiescence to Shizuka's proclamation.
"Let's split up," Yuugi suggested. "Shizuka and I can go check in one part of the neighborhood, while Yami, you and Anzu should go back to where you left Jou, and start your search from their. Otogi, you and Ryou should go check by the docks. Kaiba..." Yuugi trailed off, glancing over at the taller and wealthier man nervously. Even seated, Kaiba gave off such a domineering air that Yuugi, who was nearly as tall as Jounouchi now and no longer self-conscious of his height, still felt small when pitted against the CEO.
Mai stepped in and took charge of her little party of searchers. "Seto, Mokuba and I can use the limo to search a wider range of Domino."
Yuugi smiled. "Thanks Mai. Now, who does that leave?"
All eyes turned to Bakura, who was still lounged on the couch. As all gazes fell to him, the tomb thief stood up slowly and languidly, like a cat, stretching his arms and letting out a yawn. Then, turning to Ryou, he said. "I'll be back, hikari. If Otogi gets one hair on your body harmed, let him know that I will personally see to it that he does not see another day. Take care tenshi."
Bakura walked towards the Game Shop door, everyone watching him. "Bakura, where are you going?" Ryou asked tentatively.
Bakura looked over his shoulder and smirked. "I'm going to some old hangs of mine. I'll let you know if I come up with anything." And with that, he was gone, out into the rain.
Jou was sitting in the bar, four empty beer glasses in front of him. 'Why didn't I tell him? Why couldn't I have been selfish for once? Why oh why?'
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to come face to face with Bakura. "What d'you want?" he asked, slurring his words together.
"I knew I'd find you here," Bakura replied. "Everyone's worried about you! They think you're upset by the news. They think you love Anzu. But I know better," Bakura said with a wink.
"Wha?"
"I've known since the day the Pharaoh and I got our separate bodies. I knew, because that's when I realized that I loved Ryou. That's how you knew about Ryou and I first, isn't it? Because you were in love, you could sense our love for each other too, couldn't you?"
Jou's head started to ache and he said so.
"Let's get you to the bathroom!" Bakura said, pulling Jou to the restroom and into a stall. Jou was very grateful to have Bakura there as he retched into the toilet. It was only later on that he wondered how Bakura was so familiar with the location of the bar's bathroom.
Ryou? I have news.
Ryou froze in his tracks, causing Otogi and Honda, who had been eventually coaxed awake, to turn and look quizzically at him. "Ryou? What is it?" the brunette asked.
Ryou didn't answer, his eyes glazed over as he spoke to Bakura. /What is it? What is the news?/
I've found Jounouchi. He isn't feeling very well, so I brought him back home. You might want to tell the others.
/What's wrong with him? He's not sick, is he?/ Ryou asked, concerned.
No, just a hangover. I found him at a bar and brought him home. I haven't told anyone else and I don't think Jou would want anyone else to know about his condition.
Ryou mentally nodded his head. /I understand. See you when I get home./
Aishiteru.
/Love you too./ Ryou then turned to his two friends, who were by this time very worried. "Bakura found Jou and brought him home. He's all right, just tired."
Honda and Otogi grinned foolishly at each other. "That's great!" Otogi said.
"But...where did Bakura find Jou?" he inquired.
Ryou shrugged. "He didn't say. You can ask Jou later, I suppose. I think we should tell the others first that Jou's alright, don't you think?"
The two nodded and the raven haired man pulled out his cell phone. Ryou turned and started back towards the car. 'Jou, what were you thinking?! Why did you get drunk? What is hurting you so much to drive you to do that?'
Jou's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring up at the ceiling of Bakura and Ryou's living room. Finding himself tucked under the covers of the foldable bed/couch, Jou figured he had been sleeping. But for how long? And how did he get here? Last he remembered he had been in a bar. What was he doing back here?
Sitting up, a flash of intense pain lanced through his head. "Ah, now awake, are we? Welcome to the world of the living Jounouchi," Bakura, who was sitting beside Jou on the bed, said as he pushed the blonde back down into bed. "You've got a hangover, at least you should and the best way to get rid of one is through sleep."
Jou snorted. "Like you would know."
"Actually, I do know Jou." Jou sat up and shot Bakura a confused look. In order to know what a hangover was like, one had to get drunk. In order to get drunk, one had to drink. Jounouchi couldn't fathom how Bakura could have gotten his hands on enough alcohol to become intoxicated beyond judgement and why he would want to. Sighing at the blonde's inquisitive glance, Bakura explained. "When I first acquired this body of my own, and I realized that I was in love with my former host, I was terrified. I admit it, though I faced more wretched and horrible obstacles in my previous career as a tomb thief, and even things in this era, the one thing that got me was love. I had never loved before; Ryou was, is, and always will be, my first and only love, and all the fears, the hopes and dreams that come with it came to me as well. What if Ryou didn't feel the same? What if the Pharaoh found out I had a weakness? What if he tried to use that weakness against me? I had no answers, nor solutions, to "my problem", and I had no one to turn to. So I turned to drink instead. I knew my limits, and used that to determine how drunk I wanted to become. Until one night, I let loose completely..."
Flashback (in italics)
Bakura stumbled out of the bar, eyes red and puffy from lack of sleep. His walk was unsteady; his speech, slurred. He shuffled down the road, back to his whitewashed neighborhood, but his coordination and sense of direction were muffled, and he barely made it to the end of the block before bending over and retching into a nearby garbage can. The white haired man then slid to the side of an abandoned building, resting by the side of the road.
Cars drove by, their lights blinding the teenaged spirit. Then, a large black shadow loomed in front of Bakura's weakened vision. A door opened, and someone walked up to the drunk, pulling him up from his squatted position by the side of the road and flung him into a leather interior. Bakura opened his mouth to complain, but no words came out before he was engulfed in darkness.
The car started moving, and Bakura's stomach lurched. Before he could request a barf bag, however, a voice began to speak. "I cannot understand how you, Tomb Thief, could possibly lower yourself to the level of drunkards and scum like that. You always seemed too dignified for that. And why do you drink? Is it because you like the taste of liquor? Probably, but no. Your main motive is to drink away love. Well guess what? News flash, love does not go away like that. Love is too permanent for that.
"You think of love as a weakness; nay, it is a strength! I have drawn upon my love for my friends and their love for me countless times. They give me strength, motivation. They are my driving force; they and their love. And here you are, drinking your love away. That is why you always lose to me, and always will. You have nobody's love to fall back on. And if you keep fighting, you never will."
Bakura may have been drunk, but he had enough of his capacities to glare suspiciously at the person in the car and garble out, "Who're you?"
The person let out a laugh, harsh and biting and victorious. That laugh was always victorious, whether he had won something or was merely laughing at a joke. "Why, it is me, Yami no Yuugi."
End Flashback
"The next day, once I was over my hangover, I told Ryou about my feelings towards him, and found them reciprocated. And so, I never took to drink again."
Jou, who had returned to his resting position, frowned. "Yami knew about your feelings for Ryou?"
Bakura heard the underlying concern beneath Jou's seemingly innocent question.
"If he saw my feelings, why can't he feel yours?" he voiced.
Jou sat up for the third time that morning. "What?" he hissed.
Bakura smirked at the blonde. "I told you before, though you may not remember, that I have known about your feelings for Yami ever since I fell in love with Ryou. As for how Yami knew, I believe it is the same thing. Yami fell in love during the same time period, and sensed Ryou's and my love. Why he couldn't sense yours as well? Perhaps, when love involves one's self, one cannot feel it at all. 'Love is blind', is that not a popular saying nowadays? Then perhaps that is true in this case."
Bakura stood up then. "Jou, rest for a little while longer, before you've to get up. Anzu phoned earlier; she wants you to help her in her wedding preparations. Said something about catching up and what not. So around two, Ryou and I will give you a lift on our way to work. And don't you dare try and get out of it either."
Jou didn't argue. He was already asleep.
Despite Bakura's earlier instruction, Jou tried desperately to get out of visiting with Anzu. Ryou, waiting in the driver's seat of the rental car (it was a four-seater. They still hadn't found their other one. They probably never would. Oh well.), could not understand Jou's reluctance to see Anzu, or so he feigned to be confused. Finally, Bakura managed to get Jounouchi to agree to seeing Anzu and spending the day with her. Grunting, he entered the car and draped his arm around Ryou's shoulder, watching as the blonde entered after him with a defeated sigh. Ryou glanced back at Jou as well. "What was that about?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing," Jou replied with a shrug.
Ryou nodded and faced forward, starting the car up. "Nothing, perhaps, dealing with Yami, hm?" he stated nonchalantly.
Jou peered over Bakura's arm at his innocent white haired friend. "What do you mean by that?"
Ryou pulled out of the driveway and drove onto the neighborhood street. Without moving his eyes from the road, he said, "I overheard Bakura talking to you. Jou, tell me. The reason you went to America? Is it Yami?"
Jou looked over to Bakura, seeking answers, or approval to answer Ryou's question truthfully. Bakura sent a minute nod in Jou's direction. "Yes, the reason was Yami. I...wanted to get away from him."
"Because you loved him?"
"Because I love him."
"You love him even after six years?" Ryou inquired.
"Yes, I love him even now, two weeks away from his marriage to Anzu. Kinda foolish of me, eh?"
The car was sitting at a stoplight, the light flashing red. Ryou turned with an understanding and sympathetic smile to Jounouchi. "Love does that to people. They become quite foolish. Look at me, for example. Because of my love for Bakura, I am going to be foolish and marry him. Imagine that!"
"Hey!" Bakura protested. "What's foolish about marriage?"
"Binding one's self to another for all eternity? And have you seen the current divorce rate these days? All those fools, falling in love and putting up with a person for who knows how long, until it becomes unbearable!" Ryou argued, face turned to the road once more.
"Are you only 'putting up' with me?" Bakura asked quietly, unsure.
Ryou smiled at his lover. "Of course not, Bakura!" he leaned over and pecked him chastely on the cheek.
"Watch the road, baka," Bakura warned gently.
Ryou's eyes returned once more to the highway. "Jou, did you ever tell him?"
"No," Jou replied.
"Don't you think he has a right to know? Don't you owe yourself that chance as well?"
"What chance?" Jou spat bitterly. "That he could possibly-? No," Jou shook his head. "It isn't possible. He loves Anzu, and she loves him."
"Maybe he is blind," Ryou suggested, glancing and winking slyly at his yami.
"'Blind'?" Jou repeated. "How so?"
Ryou chuckled at Jou's naiveté. "Don't be ingenuous!" he exclaimed. "You know what I mean. Maybe he does return your feelings, he just doesn't know!"
"Not possible!" Jou exclaimed. "Besides, he should stay with Anzu. She can give him something I could never in a millennia do."
"And what would that be?" Bakura catechized, curious.
"Children, an heir. Anzu...she is going to give him that. The most I could do is adopt, and he wouldn't want to do that."
Ryou glanced concerned at his friend, then quickly turned his attention back to driving as he parked the car in Anzu's driveway. Bringing the car into park, he directed his entire focus on his friend. "Jou, listen to me. Love, when it's true, cancels out all obstacles. If Yami could possibly love you in return, he would not care about anything else, even children, even a family descended from his own blood. If he were concerned about that, he would not truly love you. Now, go on inside, and if you see Yami at all, tell him. For your sake. You deserve to be happy, or at best, at peace. You cannot do that as long as your carry around this secret of yours. I want you to promise me that you'll tell Yami. Promise?"
Jou nodded slowly. "All right, I promise." Jou exited the car, and Ryou backed the car out into the street.
"Have fun shopping Jou! See you at seven. We're all meeting at the Game Shop for dinner! Sayonara!"
"Bye Ryou! See ya, Bakura!" Jou waved enthusiastically to his two friends as they drove off. Ryou was right, Jou should tell, for his own happiness. What was he waiting for?
Just then, he heard a voice behind him shout, "Jou! You're here! Ready to help me plan my wedding?" Jou turned to find the source of the speaker. Anzu.
The car trip to the mall was quiet. Anzu chatted on and on about the goings on in Domino for the five years Jou had been away, but the words went in one ear and out the other. Jou gazed desolately out the window, moping and not paying Anzu an iota of attention. The brunette didn't mind though. She was perfectly happy to talk and for Jou to feign attention. Just as long as she spent time with her long absent friend. Jou, however, did not feel the same way, resenting his peppy friend and all that she represented. Yami's fiancée, the mother of his child, the comforter, the nucleus of their group of friends. Everything that Jou could resent, he did, even if it didn't affect him, even if it did not annoy or anger him.
When they reached the mall, Anzu and Jou headed straight for the bridal shop. "Let's look at the wedding gowns Jounouchi!" she said excitedly. Jou had to admit he felt himself get excited as well. Maybe helping Anzu plan her wedding wouldn't be too bad, because it was Yami's wedding as well, and Yami deserved the best. If Jou couldn't be the one exchanging vows with the duel king, then he would make sure that everything was perfect, down to Anzu's dress. She would look beautiful, Jou decided determinedly.
The two friends started skimming the dresses, looking for "the one". After twenty minutes of searching in silence, Anzu broke it by throwing a question into the air. "Jou, have you ever felt that searching for "the one" piece of clothing, like a wedding dress for an example, is harder than finding "the one" person?"
Jou shrugged. "I'm not too experienced in either clothes shopping or partner searching, but I think it's harder to get "the one" than to find them."
Anzu pondered that thought for a moment. "I don't know. I think I'd have to disagree. I mean, it didn't take too much to get Yami."
"No, you just had to get pregnant," Jou muttered bitterly under his breath.
"Pardon?"
"Uh, I said that of course you'd disagree. I mean, you barely had to work to get Yami. He's been there all the time, hasn't he?"
Anzu nodded. "True." Holding a dress to her figure, Anzu looked at Jou. "What do you think?" she asked.
Jou examined the gown. The skirt was full length, sweeping the floor with white silk. The corset was of a velvet texture, decorated with a silk ribbon on the top. Overlaying the silk bottom was a thin veil of pink, dotted with tiny white roses. The sleeves were long and sheer, of the same material as the veneer, coming down to beyond Anzu's wrist. Jou imagined a light dawn-tinted mantilla covering her face, hiding lovely blue eyes and soft, curled chestnut hair.
Smiling, he nodded. "It's lovely Anzu," he said. "You should give it a try."
Anzu beamed happily at the verdict. She glanced at the tag, and her face fell.
"Too big," she sighed unhappily.
"Look for it in a smaller size then. It's likely that they'll have it here."
They continued to look, though Anzu was throwing strange looks at her friend across from her. Jou didn't notice until a five minute period of Anzu simply staring. "What is it Anzu? Did you find anything else?"
"Jou," Anzu said, "where in America were you located?"
"I lived in New York City," Jou replied.
"Really? What was it like?"
Jou shrugged. "It's a city. People are so rushed there, they never take a time to just stare up at the stars. I always looked at the moon, every chance I got, just to assure myself that it was still there."
Anzu nodded. "Did anyone ever watch it with you?" she asked innocuously.
Jou frowned. "What do you mean?" Just as the question slipped out, Jou understood. "No, never. I had no...romantic relationships in America."
"Not for an entire six years?"
"Nope."
"So that would make you a virgin, eh blondie?" a voice spoke up from the front of the store. Turning, Anzu and Jou found themselves faced with Malik.
Jou snorted. "You should talk," he said, eyeing Malik's very sun bleached blonde hair.
Malik laughed. "So what are you girls doing in here?" he asked, sauntering over to them.
Anzu gestured to the wedding dresses. "We were just looking. What about you, Malik? What are you doing in Domino. Last I heard you were in Egypt."
"I was, but I decided to come back. Shadi and Isis were starting to bore me and so I sought out a livelier crowd. Say," Malik remarked, glancing at a clock, "how about lunch? I'm famished and the food courts should be serving luncheon about now. You're both invited, my treat."
Jou looked to Anzu, who nodded eagerly. Looking back to Malik, he shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"So, Jou...Yami told me how you took the...news," Anzu said, her eyes sliding from her salad to the blonde on her left.
The blonde on the right perked up. "What news?" he inquired.
Anzu held her hand up for Malik to see the diamond on her finger. "I'm pregnant, so Yami and I are getting married," she explained.
Malik looked away from the ring. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like the Pharaoh," he muttered.
"Pardon?" Anzu said.
Malik shook his head and waved his comment away. "Nothing for you to worry about. Now, how did Jou react to the news?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly.
Anzu looked expectantly at the CEO of the American branch of Kaiba Corps, but he did not answer. Sighing, Anzu spoke for him. "Yami and I figured...that he wouldn't take the news well. When Jou found out, he ran outside the Game Shop and Yami followed him. Yami, on some strange impulse decided to give up all claim to me and nearly demanded Jounouchi to marry me. Jou refused. It almost seems...like he doesn't want to marry me; that he never wanted me." Anzu gasped. That was it! They had been wrong all along! Jou didn't love Anzu, he loved..."Yami," Anzu whispered.
It was Malik's turn to be confused. "Pardon?" he said. "What did you say?"
Anzu ignored Malik and nearly pounced on her friend. "Jounouchi, tell me. Is the person you love Yami?"
Jou looked away from Anzu and Malik, his head nodding slightly. "You've figured me out Anzu," he whispered, his voice laced with sorrow and regret.
Anzu smiled and patted Jou's hand gently, surprising the blonde. "I can't blame you for loving him. He is quite something." Anzu stood up from the white picnic table, Jou and Malik watching her as she rose, concern for her fragile condition evident in both sets of eyes. She laughed at them. "I'm pregnant, not a china doll! I'll be back in a minute. I have to use the restroom."
As Anzu washed her hands a few minutes later, she remembered something that she had overheard at the wedding planner's. Something Bakura had said. "When it hurts to be away from that person for just one instant, yet a single minute of pure and total bliss is enough to last you a lifetime. When you would do anything for that person, even give them up to someone else, just for their own happiness. When all of that and more happens, then, my friend, you will most indefinitely have found love."
Anzu recalled Yami's account of his and Jou's confrontation. 'Yami was willing to give me up, just for Jou's happiness, and Jou refused, for Yami's happiness. If what Bakura says is true, then is it possible...could Yami love Jou and not even know it?' Anzu shook her head. 'Impossible! If Yami loved Jou, he would have realized it when Jou was in America! And besides, he's marrying me!' Anzu nodded curtly at her reflection in the mirror, as if it were she who was challenging Yami's devotions. 'Still, it is slightly suspicious, what Yami did. But whatever. I won't worry about that. And I won't tell Jou's secret, not to anyone, not even Yami. It is Jou's secret and not mine to meddle with. I hope Jou tells everyone soon though. I wonder, besides Malik, and myself who else knows?'
Meanwhile...
Malik looked sidelong at Jou. "So...you like the Pharaoh, do you?" he questioned.
Jou lifted his chin defiantly. "So I like him. What's it to you?"
Malik smiled wickedly to himself, but forgot to conceal it from Jounouchi. "Oh, nothing. Y'know, I think you should tell him."
Jou glared suspiciously at the Egyptian. "What are you plotting, Malik?"
"Nothing, I swear!" Malik held up his hands, as if to prove that he was not up to anything.
Jou shrugged and decided to drop the subject. "Do you remember when you dropped me off at the Game Shop the other day? You said that you wanted to be friends with everyone, that if you couldn't do that, you would not be able to love. What did you mean?"
It was Malik's turn to become sheepish as he looked away from Jou, in the direction of the restrooms that Anzu went to just moments before.
Jou smiled. "You like someone, don't you?" Malik nodded. "Who?" Malik shook his head, causing Jounouchi to pout. "C'mon, you know that I like Yami, so you can tell me who you love!"
"She's off limits anyway," Malik said quietly, "so what does it matter?"
Jou snorted. "Well Yami's kinda off limits too, if you know what I mean. Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll just guess. And you tell me when I get it right."
Malik nodded in agreement to these terms. "Well, it better not be Shizuka-"
"It's not."
Jou smiled. "Good! Now then...could it be Mai?"
Malik grinned. "Now if I liked Mai, I would have no chance at all! But no, it's not her."
Jou pondered the remaining candidates left. "Miho?"
"Who?"
"Never mind...I sure hope it ain't Isis-"
"That, Jounouchi, is insulting. She's my sister."
Jou nodded. "I know, I just had to check, that's all! So that leaves...Anzu?"
"What about me?" a voice asked above their heads. Jou and Malik looked up to see Anzu smiling down on them. "Well, what about me?"
Jou and Malik glanced between each other and Malik shot Jou a pleading look that told Jou two things. One, that Malik was in love with Anzu, and two, he did not want her to know. Jou quickly came up with an explanation. "We were just discussing this year's mother of the year award! We were discussing possible candidates, and your name appeared."
Anzu looked between the two men skeptically. "Riight, I believe you. Anyway, fellas, my wedding is in two weeks and I only have the caterer and the flowers! What say we go scope out some linen for the table settings, the bridesmaids' gowns and some tuxedos for you fine gentlemen? And then we can continue to look for a wedding dress! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Malik and Jou groaned as Anzu dragged them off to the next store, fellow sufferers in shopping, fellow sufferers in love.
Rowan: I thought that was an appropriate place to end this chapter. So, we have about five chapters left! Whoo hoo! Celebrate, come on! throws confetti and dances around
Sakura: I don't know you.
Rowan: Aren't you excited?! Next chapter is the best! The start of the JouYami fluff!
Sakura, Cast, and Readers: Finally!
Rowan: Well, the next chapter takes place two weeks later, the day before Yami and Anzu's wedding. As you all probably know, there is a tradition that the bride and groom cannot see each other 24 hours prior to the wedding. In addition, it's a double wedding, which means that Yami's gonna stay the night over at Bakura's house, while Ryou will be bunking with Anzu. And why am I telling you all this?
Sakura: That's a good question. Why are you?
Rowan: To get everyone revved up for the next chapter. The title is "Canine's Confession!"
Jounouchi: What the hell! Did Kaiba tell you to name it that? I am soo going to kill him!
Rowan: smiles Actually, I named it that. Kaiba had no influence on it at all.
Jou: snorts I'm sure. Say wait a second...
Rowan: Yes?
Jou: Canine's "Confession"?! You mean I'm going to tell Yami I love him?!
Rowan: Hush, don't give the chapter away!
Jou: Oops! Review please!
Bakura: Say, there's RyouMe fluff in this chapter! Finally!
Rowan: Well, not that much. Just a peck on the cheek.
Bakura: pouts You will write more fluff.
Rowan: Well, yes that's true. But not of you.
Bakura: ring starts to glow
Rowan: Heh heh, that's what "First Love" is for!
Bakura: calms down Really?
Rowan: Yup! Which reminds me...but anyway, I'll get to that later...um, review, please! 5 more gets you Chapter 11!