Disclaimer: Oh dear, I do wish I own Yu-Gi-Oh, but alas, it belongs to Takahashi Kazuki. But nevertheless, I'm not complaining...as Takahashi is a good artist! That's why YGO is so damn popular now, right? XD
Author's Notes: Well, well, here's another chapter again. And as usual, little reviews again. But no matter what, for those who reviewed, I truly appreciate your reviews. And for those who answered the poll, the first one is my email bud, the Ghost of Jounouchi, thank you as well. Don't worry, I'll still continue to post the poll in the next chapters to come. Yes! I'm still finishing this fic even though I have little reviews. I don't want history to repeat again where two of my Harry Potter fics were never ever finished (two years have passed already). No matter what, I'm determined to finish this fic.
And I believe I have some explanation to do. Yes, I know---it's been more than a month already that I haven't posted this chapter. Well, it's been a busy summer for me as I was a pollwatcher last Philippine National Elections, then my requirements for transferring in another university, and also, mental block. But, just when the mental block is gone, ideas kept popping in my mind and I'm in the mood to type, what happens?! OUR DAMN COMPUTER BREAKS DOWN AND GETS SENT TO THE COMPUTER SHOP FOR A WEEK!!! And then it comes back, and what happens?! BLUE SCREEN ALWAYS APPEARS IN FRONT OF ME AND I CAN'T EVEN USE THE COMPUTER WITHOUT IT COMING OUT!!! TT You know those "Press to continue" thingy. . . IT'S SO DAMN IRRITATING!!! WHAT'S THE USE OF BRINGING IT TO THE COMPUTER SHOP IF IT WON'T GET FIXED AT ALL!!! Damn computer---IT'S MORE ANCIENT THAN ANCIENT EGYPT Oo (I know it's a bit exaggerated, but you know what I mean). I had to use a computer in the computer shop just to type some of this away!!! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!!!
But enough of the ranting for me XD I just think I owe all of you an explanation after disappearing for more than a month. At least it's here. . .and so folks----read and review!!!
Some reminders again:
Amber eyes - Jounouchi
Hazel eyes - Honda
And yeah...this is a yaoi fic, so if you're a yaoi hater...OUT, OUT, OUT!!! pushes a yaoi hater out of the room
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HOLDING ONTO YOU by silver dragongurl
As what Leika had said last night, Mrs. Jounouchi came in the hospital at exactly nine 'o clock. BY that time, both boys were awake and Jou's things were ready. So. After saying goodbye to Dr. Mizuro and the other nurses who knew him, they were on the road with Mrs. Jounouchi on the wheel and Honda on the passenger seat.
"Hey mom, I know this is a last minute request, but could you drop me off at Honda's?" Jou asked nervously from the back seat of the car. "I'm going to stay with them for awhile so that Honda and Leika could look after me."
"But honey, you have your father at home. He can take care of you."
Jounouchi rolled his eyes mentally. Yeah right. If he can't even take care of his family, how the hell can he even take care of me. Why the hell did you divorce him anyway, mom?! He was about to voice this out, but then decided he didn't want to have a heated argument with his mother. It usually happens whenever they talk about Mr. Jounouchi.
"Uh mom, let's just say that I'd rather have Honda and my friends take care of me than dad. I hope that would be fine with you." Jou said. The blond didn't know if he was imagining it, but he though he heard his mother sigh in relief.
"Okay honey, if that's what you want." She said as she turned left in an intersection instead of right. And throughout the whole trip, the three people were silent especially Honda and Jounouchi as they were still both sleepy and tired.
When they got to Honda's house, Leika was there to greet them and helped Honda in helping Jou as his upper body was still in pain because of the wounds. But being the stubborn boy that he was, he shrugged off their hands.
"Look, I am not an old man, so I can walk by myself, okay?!" And with that he walked, though slowly, towards inside the house.
"I'm sorry, but Katsuya has always been stubborn. He got that from his father." Mrs. Jounouchi said from the gate.
"I know, Mrs. Jounouchi." Honda said. "I'm used to him being like that already. But this will still be a challenge for us. Don't worry, we promise to take care of him and bring him back to his energetic self."
The older Jounouchi smiled. "Thank you, Hiroto, Leika. I'm sorry if I can't be with him now, but I have some work to do back in Germany."
"Don't worry, ma'am. I know Jounouchi understands." Leika said.
Jou's mother nodded as she got inside the car. They two siblings said their goodbye to her before they went inside to see Jounouchi sitting by the kitchen table, and eating the spaghetti that Leika had cooked. Honda chuckled at seeing this. Some things never change at all.
"Hey Jou, I see you're having a good time eating there. But don't forget to share." Honda said as he sat beside the blond and got a fork from the table.
Leika rolled here eyes. "There goes the lunch."
"Hey, give us a break. We never got to eat breakfast."
"Fine, fine! I'll just cook another food. I'll be upstairs fixing Jou's bed, so if you two need anything, just call me." She turned her heel towards stairs.
Jounouchi looked at the brunette questioningly. "My bed? What bed? Am I going to sleep in another room?"
Honda's face fell at Jou's last question, but smiled immediately. "Well, after what happened this morning, I told Leika to put a separate bed inside my room for you. But. . . if you want to sleep in another room, we can immediately fix that up. I'll got tell Leika---"
Jou got hold of Honda's wrist. "No, no, a separate bed would be fine. The last thing I want is for me to sleep in another room all by myself in this, well, condition. At least, even though I have a separate bed, I'm still in the same room as you are and I would have no problem in asking for something."
"You sure?"
The blond nodded. "I'm sure. Uhm. . . thanks Honda. You thought of what I would feel after what happened this morning.
"Uh. . . okay." Honda said as he ate some spaghetti. Jou couldn't look at Honda in the eye when they both woke up and found how close they were; Jou's head on the brunette's chest and the latter's hand around the blond. They had been awkward for awhile, especially when Honda was doing a last minute preparation of Jou's things. But the brunette couldn't take away the fact that somehow, Jounouchi was blushing furiously the moment they separated. Though his head was down, Honda had noticed this and he didn't know what that blush was all about.
Honda's thoughts were broken though when he suddenly noticed a hand moving in front of him.
"Hey Honda, you okay? You totally spaced out."
The brunette blinked. "What? I did?"
"Yeah." The blond was smirking. "In fact, you were so busy thinking of something that a string of spaghetti is hanging by your mouth now."
"What?!" Honda cried out as he put the said spaghetti inside his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
By now, Jou was laughing. "I was trying to, but it's like you didn't hear me at all."
"Stop laughing, will ya!" He said scowling as he got a tissue and wiped his mouth. "It's not funny." Honda scowled even more as the blond continued laughing. Yeah, some things never really change, no matter what.
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"Man, I'm hungry." Jounouchi grumbled as he awoke from his day's rest. He glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was already one 'o clock in the afternoon. No wonder my stomach's grumbling. The blond sat up, but not without wincing in pain. Though it had been a week since he arrived from the hospital and his wounds were in the process of healing, the pain was still there. In other words, he shouldn't be moving too much.
Jounouchi proceeded to go downstairs, and found that he was alone again, though he was a bit used to it already. Since Leika had gone to Europe and Honda was always in school, Jou was usually left alone. He went in the kitchen to find some food, but not before he noticed a note from Honda on the table.
Hey Jou,
I don't want to wake you up as you need some rest. I suspect that you'll be up late, so I just left some fried chicken, noodle soup and rice in the microwave oven. Just heat it up, and you can eat all you want.
Anyway, I'll be back around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, so you take care of yourself and don't move too much. Plus, don't tire yourself too.
See ya later, buddy!
Honda =)
Jounouchi smiled as he reread the letter. Though Honda's notes tend to be overreacting and too much, the blond couldn't help but be happy knowing that somebody cared this much for him no matter what. He was looking forward to Honda's arrival at home because it was depressing being alone in the house nowadays. He glanced inside the oven and saw the food that Honda mentioned in the note, and heated it. In about ten minutes, the food was in front of him and Jou started eating.
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"You know, I'm glad that the teachers had an emergency meeting 'coz we get to go home early." Honda said to Ryou as they walked towards Honda's house. "And, I could look after Jounouchi more."
"Yeah, me too. And the good thing about that is we get to have a long weekend." Ryou said, winking. "I already have plans. . . starting tonight."
The brunette rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Ryou, you don't have to tell me. I know who's the other one involved with these plans. I'm sure you and Marik would have a good time tonight. . . you always do."
"Honda!" Ryou blushed. The brunette just laughed as the white-haired boy continued to blush. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Honda put his hands on his pockets and sighed.
"Is something wrong, Honda?" Ryou asked as soon as he heard the sigh.
"It's Jounouchi." The brunette said. "I have a feeling he's hiding something from me."
"What would he be hiding from you? You're best friends and you tell things to each other that even we don't know."
"Yeah, but not since after Battle City. I felt that he's not telling me everything. Ryou, I have never seen Jou so scared and cry so much on the last night in the hospital when he was telling me that he didn't ever want to go back to his house. He said that it would be another nightmare if he ever go back there."
The white-haired teen put his hand on his chin. " So, are you saying that it wasn't only beatings that Jounouchi received from his father?"
Honda nodded. "Yeah. I have something in mind of what could've really happened in that house, but I don't want to jump into conclusions yet. I have to be sure first."
"But you know, Honda, just what Jounouchi's father did to him, he should pay for that! He almost killed him!" Honda had already mentioned to Ryou about he and Leika's talk with Jou the night before he left the hospital and now knew who had beaten up the blond.
"I know, Ryou, but it's Jou who doesn't even want to file a case against the old man. He didn't want to make the issue bigger, but I think he's just scared to do that because he would have to relive whole the incident." Honda said sadly as they stopped in front of his house. "Hey, Ryou, wanna go inside?"
Ryou nodded. "Sure. I want to visit Jounouchi and see how he's doing."
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Jounouchi stopped getting his second serving of rice as he heard the front door open. How could someone get in here? It's only Honda who has the key, but he won't be home until later. He thought as he stood up, but not before he grabbed a spatula from the table as had a suspicion that it was a thief.
The moment Jounouchi heard the door close, he ran out of the kitchen and started hitting the intruder without even looking at him.
"Ah! Ah! Hey, stop it!" The "intruder" yelled, shielding himself from the blond's hits with his hands. "Ah! Jounouchi!"
The amber-eyed teen stopped as the "intruder" said his name and put down his arm, He gasped when he saw who it was.
"Oh my. . . Honda!" Jou exclaimed as he helped the brunette towards the kitchen and let him sit in one of the chairs. "Honda, I'm really sorry. I didn't know it was you. . . I didn't expect it. And. . . wait a minute! What're you doing home so early?!"
Honda groaned as he rubbed his head. "Well. . . there was a emergency teachers' meeting and we had the whole afternoon off, much to my delight. But it seems. . ." The brunette glared at his blond best friend. ". . . somebody's not even happy to see me!"
"Honda, I'm really sorry, and you said in the note that you'll be back at four 'o clock. . . so you can't blame me. The least you could do next time is, well, knock. . ."
"Fine, fine, whatever you say, Jou. . ." Both boys jumped though when they heard somebody chuckle.
"Oh, I forgot about you, Ryou. Sorry. . ." Honda said sheepishly.
The white-haired teen smiled. "Oh, that's okay. But you were really funny awhile ago, Honda."
The brunette rolled his eyes. "Oh great! What am I. . . a clown? But don't worry, Jou, I'm not mad."
"Ei Honda, have you eaten already? I've got some extra food here." Jounouchi said as he presented the food. "My crave to eat more disappeared when you came."
"Don't worry, I'm already finished. Me, Ryou, Anzu, Yami and Yugi already ate lunch in Burger World after the school dismissed early to celebrate." Honda pushed back the food. "you're the one who should---Jou?"
The blond had suddenly stood up and didn't wait for Honda to finish talking. He walked towards the living room without looking back, sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Honda stared at Jou's back in confusion, then turned to Ryou. "What's wrong with him? Did. . . did I say something wrong?" The last thing he wanted was to hurt his best friend.
"I think you did, Honda. . .not intentionally though. I think it had something to do when you said about us eating lunch in Burger World."
"Oh. I think I know what's wrong with him, now that you mentioned it." Honda stood up. "I'm sorry, Ryou, but I have to talk to him."
The white-haired teen nodded. "Don't worry about me. I have to go anyway." He turned towards the door. "See ya." They said their goodbyes, before he went out of the house.
The brunette looked back at Jououchi who was now watching a basketball game (though Honda knew he wasn't watching at all). He stood up from the kitchen stool, went towards the the living room and sat beside the blond.
"Jounouchi?"
The blond didn't even stir at the sound of his name. And even though it looked like Jou was watching, Honda noticed that his head was bent down a little casting a shadow over his amber eyes.
"Jou?" The brunette placed his hand on the blond's. "What's wrong?"
"You know very well what's wrong, Honda!" Jou's voice was shaking. "You know well what!"
"Did it have to do with what I said awhile ago about us eating lunch?"
"Honda, you don't how much it gets lonely here! While you and the others are eating and talking happily out there, I'm here all alone. It's so depressing." The blond put his head up and Honda noticed his eyes glistening. "I know I said I didn't want to go back to our house, but this is even worse than that! I...I miss my old life, I miss hanging out with my friends...I miss hanging out with my best friend..."
"Jou, why didn't you tell me you felt this way?" Honda asked, placing his hands on the blond's. "In truth, we also miss you. There's nobody to make us laugh and to make the conversations alive. And...I admit that we're not used to having a quiet lunch..."
Jounouchi smiled through his tears.
"Finally, I got a smile from you I'm sorry about mentioning the lunch awhile ago. And I'm sorry if you had to experience this, but it's for your own good. Besides, it's just temporary. You'll be hanging out with us in no time" Honda chuckled when his best friend frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I talked to Dr. Mizuro, and she said you can go back to school anytime, though you still have to keep the bandages. She believes you're strong enough for school."
Jounouchi's face lit up, something the brunette hadn't seen in weeks. "Really?! Honda, that's great! I have never, ever been so happy to go back to school!"
Jou, giddy with apparent joy, leapt on Honda in a crushing, friendly hug. This sudden move surprised the latter, as both of them crashed to the couch, Honda lying on his back. Needless to say, the blond was on top of him.
At first, both boys didn't realize this and stayed in their current position where Jou was still hugging his best friend and smiling with eyes closed, while Honda still had the surprised look on his eyes when the blond suddenly hugged him.
"Ho-Honda..."
The surprised look in the brunette's hazel eyes disappeared when a soft, husky voice called his name. He blinked a few times and gasped when he saw Jounouchi's amber eyes staring at him and stared back as well.
And for that long moment, they stared at each other as if there was no tomorrow.
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Waaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Finally, I've finished Chapter 5...and now I'm on my way to doing Chapter 6. What a long chapter and I think it was boring. Not much action...more on the talkies...again. How was it? Please do review, so that I'll have more energy to finish this story (and I really want to so that I can do my other stories). And, it's sort of a cliffhanger...I'm sorry, but I can't help it! smiles evilly But at least I was able to finish it already...AT LAST!!! AFTER DAYS OF NOT HAVING A COMPUTER!!! Well, whatever you want to tell, whether about the chapter, the grammar and spelling, typo graphical errors, or the like, just put press the purple button and type it all the way. I need some reviews so that I'll be inspired to the next chapters!!! Again, I'm really sorry for the long, long wait! I'll try my best not to do it again.
By the way, I have something for you readers out there. I have this poll that I'm going to ask you 'coz I need it for one of my Hon/Jou fics and I need your votes. Here are the two (2) questions:
Which course would fit for Jounouchi when he goes to college?
--> Medicine (I was thinking he'll become a vet) ---> though I'm starting to reconsider this, but your answers are still welcome.
--> Business Management (I'm not sure about this, but it just came on my mind)
--> Other course (please specify)
What would be a good first (1st) anniversary gift for Jou from Honda?
-->The usual Duel Monster deck (I want this to be a special deck. . . something that hasn't been released yet and Honda was able to get one before it really came out.)
-->Others, please specify
Honda's done already, so no need a poll for him.
Now, to vote, use either the reviews section or you can email me at malfoygurl09yahoo.com with the subject "course/gift". Comments, suggestions and explanations are very welcome! I'll be posting this poll and updating you on it on every chapter of "Holding Onto You". But don't worry, the fic that has a poll will not be my next fic.
Last minute requests: All you Seto/Yami fans out there...or any yaoi fans to say the least, I'm inviting you to read Merry-go-Round, The Unfaithful and Young Blood by my fellow writer, Mooguri Klaine. You'll definitely like her stories...I just love the way she writes...and she draws great too! bows down on a blue altar with Mooguri Klaine's picture on it XD So, read and review it...the same goes with my story, ok?