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 5th april 2004, by Misura
Thanks to the people who reviewed the twelfth chapter :
To Star Light Shadow : -grins- Yugi's cute no matter what he does I think. Thank you! -smiles-
To kamehameha : -glomps the plushie- Thank you very much! -smiles-
To Icy Flame : Well, Honda did arrive pretty late. And he had Otogi to dream of ... -winks- Thank you!
To Amarin Rose : -smiles guiltily- Thank you!
To Kaze Thorn : I did my best, thank you! -smiles-
To Crystal Blaize : This chapter's Seto-less again, I'm afraid. Though people do talk about him. -grins- Thank you!
To s/jforever : Thank you! -smiles-
To Yugi-obsessed : Tried to. -smiles-
To FREAK014 : Well, with a cutie like Otogi around, it's easy to get a crush, ne? -winks- Thank you!
To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Thank you! -smiles-
To Kiawna : -sweatdrops- I hope your headache's over by now. Thank you! -smiles-
To hAdOwCat : Yup, Bakura's in this story. Thank you!
To Leaf Zelindor : Poor you! -smiles- Thank you!
To upset reviewer : Some things simply aren't meant to be I'm afraid.
To A. Hailan : -beams- Thank you very much! You're probably right about a hug from Seto having the power to cheer Joey up tremendously, but, well, it's -Seto-. Not the type of guy to go around hugging people. -winks- Though someone might give him a 'little' shove ...
To Ril : Don't worry, everyone will cheer up eventually. -smiles- Thank you!
To Sugar-Kat : I hope you had a good trip. Thank you! -smiles-
To UnknownDarkMystery : -pats- There, there. Thank you!
To RaineKitsune : Thank you! -smiles-
To DarkShadowFlame : -nods- There was an explanation for 'Kura', involving hungry orphans, young thieves, adoptions and blood-oaths, but, well, in the end I decided giving Ryou another last name would be simpler. -grins guiltily- And now I can use that plot for another story. Thank you very much!
To Kaira-chan : Forgotten Honda? Perhaps you're giving Otogi too much credit ... Thank you very much! -beams-
To Lethe Seraph : Honda and Otogi -don't- get along. For now. -winks- Thank you!
To Kitty Neko : Say please? -winks-
To The Chaotic Ones : -sweatdrops- I hope you haven't wilted away yet. Thank you!
To FungiFungusRayne : The odds of Seto apologizing ... well, you never know. Thank you!
To invisible-eyes : I did my best, thank you! -smiles-
To Suppis Tenshi : A tiny bit of Ryou in this chapter ... and Bakura? Thank you very much! -beams-
To Uoyr's lover : Well, for you it's a little over ten days. -winks- Thank you!
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[!] Please note that the last part of the previous chapter has been cut. I decided the explanation for 'Kura' having taken the last two syllables of Ryou's last name for a name and Ryou's father knowing him, while Ryou did not, would be too lengthy and complicated for this fic.
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Playing basketball with Anzu, Yugi decided, was a lot of fun. He couldn't exactly explain why he felt more at ease with her than he had felt with Joey, Otogi or Yami, but somehow he did. Maybe it was because she was a girl, though Yugi didn't see what being a girl had to do with playing basketball.
Or perhaps it was the fact that she didn't seem to be expecting anything else from him except for him to enjoy himself. She wasn't praising his talents or making it easy for him to gain possession of the ball; Anzu was good at basketball and while she might try to teach him something, she wasn't as obvious about it as Joey or Otogi.
In front of Yami, he had felt awkward, like he was being weighed and judged. Anzu was merely having a good time, making no difference between a game of basketball or eating lunch together. In both cases she'd be smiling, making him feel welcome.
She was a good friend.
She was, however, not more than that.
Joey and Otogi had begun to tease him about having a crush on Anzu, but Yugi knew they were wrong. It wasn't that Anzu wasn't smart, pretty or cheerful. It was just that he didn't feel about her that way.
"Hey, Yugi, are you in there?" Anzu's cheerful voice brought him back to the present.
"Sorry." He blushed, picking up the ball that was lying at his feet. "I was just thinking."
She grinned, though there was a slight edge to it. "Has Joey been bothering you again about that whole boyfriend-girlfriend-thing?"
Yugi shook his head. "No, not at all." It wasn't entirely true, but Yugi figured that the last thing Joey could use right now was getting another tongue-lashing from Anzu. "He's been rather quiet these past days."
Anzu sighed. "I used to pray for him to shut up for a while and to stop getting so worked up over Kaiba. Now it seems I got my wish ... and all I want is for the old Joey to get back. He's just not himself. And I can't figure out why, or what any of us can do to change it."
"Maybe Kaiba ... " Yugi's voice trailed off as he realized he had no idea how to end that line. Kaiba didn't seem to care about Joey, whether the blonde was chasing him relentlessly or moping in a quiet corner. Kaiba simply went on ignoring him, like he ignored the rest of the world.
In his more charitable moments, Yugi thought Kaiba was probably very lonely. It was, at least in part, his own doing though.
"Do you think Kaiba has done something to him?" Anzu inquired, the expression on her face promising a slow and painful death to Kaiba, were Yugi to say 'yes'.
"No!" Yugi answered hastily. The thought -had- crossed his mind once or twice, but what reason could Kaiba possibly have for harming Joey? Aside from the blonde following him around and bugging him, of course ... "I was just wondering if maybe we could ask Kaiba to help."
Anzu stared at him like he had proposed to cheer up Joey by taking off their clothes and go to class naked. "Ask Kaiba for help? You're kidding me, right? I'll grant you that he's probably not as bad as he pretends to be, because -nobody- could be that big a jerk, but ... " She shook her head. "You've been standing in the sun too long. Or you got hit over your head by a ball."
"It's not -that- ridiculous!" Yugi defended himself. "Joey likes him after all."
"Yes, he does," Anzu admitted. "And that's saying more about Joey's ability to judge people than about Kaiba's qualities as a human being, in my opinion."
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"You look like a puppy whose master has beaten him for no good reason," Otogi noted, sitting down next to Joey without awaiting his invitation. Or rather, considering Joey's present mood, his polite but firm request to go somewhere else and leave him alone. Which Otogi wasn't willing to do, so it was better to simply prevent Joey from trying to make him.
"I'm not a puppy," Joey snapped. Otogi tried to figure out if it was a good sign that Joey was acting annoyed or not. Did it mean he was annoyed with Kaiba? That Joey was getting over his infatuation?
"Kaiba says you are," Otogi prodded, not quite managing to sound as patient and sympathy-offering as he had intended when he had decided to seek out Joey for a little talk.
"I didn't know you and Kaiba were such good buddies. What else did he say about me? That I was a complete moron? That he was disgusted by me and never wanted to see my face again?" Joey sounded bitter. Otogi didn't like that.
"Actually, he confessed to harbor an undying passion for you and expressed an ardent desire to make sweet love to you," Otogi replied lightly.
"Very funny," Joey said, in a tone that indicated he found it anything but.
Otogi rolled his eyes. "Well, you started the joking. You know I don't like Kaiba. And I like seeing you all moping and downcast even less. What happened, Joey? You proposed to him and he turned you down? He's done that thousands of times. It never seemed to bother you before."
"But that was before I kissed him," Joey mumbled, averting his gaze. Otogi blinked, his brains needing a few seconds to confirm that yes, Joey had just said he'd actually managed to kiss Kaiba.
"Kaiba allowed you to kiss him?" Otogi grabbed Joey's shoulder. "Then what the heck are you feeling so depressed about?"
"He didn't ... it wasn't like that!" Joey shook his head wearily. "I just surprised him."
"Riiiight," Otogi snorted. "Please, Joey. You've been trailing the guy for ... what? months? years? The only way you could surprise him would be because he -wanted- to be surprised. If you kissed him, it's because he -wanted- you to kiss him." Was that a glimmer of hope he saw in Joey's eyes?
"Otogi ... leave me alone, okay? I'm not in the mood for company." Joey sighed, grabbing his head as if Otogi's mere presence was giving him a headache.
"Fine. I'll go." Otogi rose indignantly, not feeling too pleased with having played the devil's advocate. Who could ever know what moved Kaiba? For all he knew the man -had- had an exhausting night, causing him to be a little less alert.
It wouldn't have done Joey any good to hear Otogi confirm that though.
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Ryou stared in satisfaction at the small ad that was now hanging amongst the mass of other ads on the special message-board of the supermarket. Since the service was free for anyone who was a customer, his small, white card didn't exactly stand out, but the writing on it was clear, not like the messy scribbles on some of the others.
Besides, he only required one person to see it.
Well, only one -interested- person, Ryou amended silently.
'Wanted : a helping hand in the household, in exchange for boarding.'
One interested person whom he could live with. That wasn't too much to hope for, was it? He had considered offering some sort of salary as well, but had decided against it in the end.
He didn't want some ... servant. He just wanted, well, a kind of roommate. Someone to help him keep the house clean and such. That was all.
Ryou sighed. He had done what he had come here to do. Time to go home and prepare some sort of dinner, never mind that he was about the worst cook he had ever met.
Hopefully his new housemate-to-be would be a better cook.
"Hey, aren't you in Maths with me? Is that ad yours? Can I apply?"
Ryou blinked, turning around.
to be continued
A/N : Guess who? -winks-