Slam dunk
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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.
Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
written at 17th march 2004, by Misura
Thanks to the people who reviewed the eleventh chapter :
To Sugar Kat : -smiles- Glad to hear you liked it! Next update will be a little longer, sorry. -smiles apologetically-
To FREAK014 : -looks indignant- Otogi isn't dumb! And Joey isn't the only one you should be feeling sorry for I think ... -smiles guiltily- Thank you!
To Sarasusamiga : -bites her lip- 'Yes', to the question about 'Spacedogs' I'm afraid. There -is- a chance I might write more, but I'd rather not have you get your hopes up, only to be disappointed. Thank you!
To kamehameha : -grins- Please be careful with my Seto. I still need him and so does Joey. -winks- Thank you!
To RaineKitsune : -smiles- More Bakura in this chapter. Well, kind of. Thank you!
To Suppis Tenshi : Sorry to say there's not much interaction in this chapter. -smiles nervously- People just keep walking away from each other. It's rather frustrating, really. Sorry and thank you!
To hieiandkuramalover : -grins- Either you're clairvoyant, or you read the notes. But yes, you're right. Also in feeling sorry for Joey, although Seto might be worthy of some sympathy too. Thank you!
To Crystal Blaize : -beams proudly- Especially for you, I have had Seto angst a bit in the start of this chapter. -coughs- He'll cheer up again, I promise. Thank you!
To Ril : -smiles- And you'll meet him again this chapter. Sorta.
To Anime-Ali : -smiles- Thank you!
To Star Light Shadow : -grins- Ah, another clairvoyant. Thank you very much!
To Koishii No Tenshi : -smiles- Say 'please'?
To Anonymous : Well, everyone's more or less where I want them to be now, with no more characters waiting to be introduced. Thank you! -smiles-
To Kitty Neko : It's a hard world sometimes. -coughs- Sorry.
To hAdOwCat : Seto and Joey are going to Angst. Yami and Yugi ... well, that's a secret. Thank you! -smiles-
To Leaf Zelindor : -grins- Well, 'likes' might be a big word. But on their behalf, I'd like to thank you for the plushies. Thank you!
To Anime Crazed : I'm ah not quite sure yet. -blushes- Thank you!
To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Hey, there's nothing wrong with Seto/Anzu. -smiles- Thank you!
To UnknownDarkMystery : Thank you! -smiles-
To FungiFungusRayne : -gulps- Uhm, please don't harm Seto. I kind of need him. And Joey'd be really upset if something happened to him. You wouldn't want to upset Joey would you? Thank you!
To A. Hailan : -gulps and smiles- I'm glad I'm not pocket-sized too. It'd be really hard to type or read books then. Not to mention I wouldn't get much inspiration living in your pocket. -sweatdrops- Otogi and Honda ... well, Honda's going to try. Subtly. Thank you very much! -beams-
To invisible-eyes : All right, I'll make Seto angst. How about that? -smiles guiltily- Thank you!
To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thanks for the glomps! -smiles- I'll do my best to fix things with Joey and Seto, though they both need to do something about it too.
To The Chaotic Ones : -beams- Thank you!
To Kaze Thorn : -smiles- Thank you!
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One simple kiss shouldn't bother him this much, Seto sternly told himself, slowly walking past the basketball-court to school. Not when it came from Joey, at any rate.
The blonde mutt jumped and glomped him on a regular base, after all, screaming 'I love you!' at the top of his lungs. Those things hadn't bothered Seto in the slightest.
Well, they had -bothered- him, of course, but not ... they had never made him doubt if maybe Joey was -serious-. They had never made him nervous about meeting the mutt again the next day. That kiss, clumsy and shy as it had been, had.
Maybe, Seto reflected, it was the fact that it -had- been 'clumsy and shy' that did it. While 'clumsy' was an attribute he'd readily apply to Joey's actions any day, 'shy' just didn't seem to fit his character.
Was he just imagining things? Or might it be that Joey wasn't as self-assured as he seemed to be? And why would Seto care about it either way?
Sighing, Seto tried to shove Joey out of his thoughts and focus on remembering his schedule for the day instead. When he looked up, he noticed that he had been too distracted to notice the object of his musings, leaning to a wall nearby and staring at him with a rather peculiar expression on his face.
Just staring. No yelled declarations of love, no glomping-attempts, no nothing. It was unsettling. And that it unsettled him unsettled Seto even more.
"Mutt." He nodded in greeting. He -never- greeted Joey, barely even acknowledged his existence. What the heck was wrong with him? Now Joey would probably do something to make him regret it ...
There was no reply. Joey had simply slipped away to class, as if he hadn't even seen Seto.
Seto decided the world had gone crazy. And that he didn't like it one bit.
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"You really don't enjoy having any spectators, do you?" Anzu asked with a slight smile. She had walked in on Yugi practicing. Since she was a friend, Yugi hadn't felt right about asking her to leave, even if she was right about her presence making him feel uncomfortable.
"I'm trying to get over it," Yugi replied, giving up his pretense of trying to make a shot. "Basketball's a teamsport after all." He offered her a small smile in return. It was hard -not- to smile back at Anzu, really. She just had this way of cheering people up in spite of themselves.
"That's true, yes." She nodded, looking pensive.
"And if I'm going to play in any real games, there'll be people watching me too," Yugi continued, wondering what was on her mind.
"Well, yes." She bit her lower lip. "But Yugi, listen, if you don't want to ... I mean, you're not doing this just because of Joey, are you? I know he can be a bit overwhelming and that he's really excited about your talent. But if it's not what -you- want ... "
"I do want this," Yugi assured her. "I'm sick and tired of being so shy anyway. And basketball's fun."
"Good," Anzu grinned, relieved. "I just wanted to be sure that it -is- your choice." Placing her backpack in the grass, she walked onto the field, coming to a stop a few feet away from Yugi. "All right then, how about a little one-on-one? I promise I won't look at you. Just at the ball."
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Honda woke up to the sound of a door falling shut. Opening his eyes, the first question on his mind was : 'where am I?'. Once his brains had woken up enough to give him the answer to that one ('In the living-room of the apartment I'm sharing with that really cute guy'), his next inquiry was to the time.
A quick glance on his watch told him it was a few minutes to nine. Meaning that if he was really, really quick, skipped breakfast and wouldn't bother digging up his uniform from the bottom of his suitcase, he'd still be late for school. Great.
Honda groaned, deciding he might as well skip school altogether today. His uncle probably wouldn't approve but it wasn't as if Honda -cared- about that. And his room-mate ...
Shooting out of bed, Honda hurried to the door that he remembered Otogi going through last night, assuming it would lead to some bedroom. -He- might not care about missing classes, but Otogi might. And who knew, if Honda saved him from over-sleeping too bad, he might get a little nicer to Honda.
Unlike what Honda'd expected, the room behind the door contained no bed. It was a working-room at first sight, with a computer and stacks of disks and folders. Honda wondered what Otogi did that produced so much mess.
Moving on to another door, he discovered the bedroom, which looked only a little less messy. It also was quite empty of any sleeping Otogi. Honda frowned, not believing what his eyes were telling him at first. Surely Otogi hadn't just left, -knowing- Honda had to go to school as well?
Granted, Otogi might have forgotten about his unexpected guest, but Honda had been lying on the couch in the living-room, which was impossible not to notice before leaving the apartment, since it was the only room directly connected to the door.
"Damn it! Why do the cute ones always have to be such incredible, unsufferable, annoying -brats-?" Honda scoffed. In desperate need of an outlet for his annoyance, he punched one of the cushions that he had used to make the couch a bit more comfortable to sleep on.
White feathers fluttered through the living-room in reaction. Apparently the cushion wasn't used to being used for a punching-bag. Honda cursed and went looking for a dustpan and brush.
-to be continued in three weeks or more-