lauren: Thank you! Yami shows up in this very chapter.
Lil Nezumi: Danke Schane!
SetoKaibaWheeler: Here's a new update!
The world is coming to an end, actually no, just this story is. One more chapter after this and possibly an Epilogue. Well enjoy it while it lasts!
"Jou!" Jonouchi turned towards the chorus of voices, recognizing them as Gloria and Jacques. Jonouchi made his way to the lunch table and sat down across from the two. It had been two weeks since Kaiba had been hospitalized. "Did you hear?" Gloria said in-between bites of her food. "Next week they're sending fifteen of us to Domino High to start before the rest of the people do.
"Really? Who's going?"
"Check the list," Jacques said slyly as he shoved a sheet of paper towards Jonouchi. "By the way. Your English has gotten a lot better."
"Well, I got an ausgezeichnet teacher."
Jacques frowned as he heard Gloria laugh.
"Wunderbar!"
Jacques muttered something in French as he shook his head.
Jonouchi ran his fingers over the list, checking each name carefully. "Gloria? You got in? That's great!"
"Yeah," Gloria nodded her head, her cheeks flaming. It was at least ten seconds later when they heard a whoop of joy from Jonouchi.
"I'm going back to Domino High!"
"And we're coming with you," Jacques pointed out.
"Give him a break Jacques," Gloria chided him. "You know Jou's mind can only cover one thing at a time."
"So, do you want to go out for desserts and celebrate?" Jacques asked.
"We can't Jacques. Remember, we have that huge psychology project to work on," Gloria told him.
Jonouchi suddenly slapped his head. "I forgot! I promised Yugi and the gang that I'd be at the Game Shop today!"
"It's okay Jou. If it's okay with your friends we'll do our project there!" Gloria told him excitedly as she grinned broadly.
"Jou!" Jonouchi lifted his head up as he heard Yugi's voice. He was so glad that the school day was finally over.
"Hey Yuge! Ya think a couple kids from dis school could come over too?"
"Sure," Yugi said exuberantly. "I don't see why not. Gramps is gone for the day, and oh yeah, warn them about Yami!"
Jonouchi nodded his head quickly and hurried back towards where Gloria and Jacques were waiting. "Hey ya guys! Yuge says it's okay!"
"Great!"
"Just gotta warn ya. Yuge's 'brother' can be a bit fanatical about Egypt and curses and all. So don't git him started and don't let 'im scare ya too much."
"Okay," both of them quickly agreed.
"Come on guys," Jonouchi said as he hurried back towards Yugi.
"Jonouchi!" The blind boy tried to run but couldn't escape the strong arms that crushed him as soon as he stepped into the game shop. Almost everyone else had been hiding behind him, knowing just how exuberant gramps would be.
Jonouchi felt the pressure on his ribs as the short old man hugged him as tight as he possibly could. His cane was wedged in between them, pressed uncomfortably into Jonouchi's abs.
"Thanks gramps," Jonouchi said in a suffocated voice. "Glad to see ya too." He squirmed and finally managed to get away from gramps, following the others towards the steps. He was a little nervous as his white cane hit the first narrow step. When he finally made it up the steps Gloria was already comfortable, chatting away with Anzu and Honda.
"I gotta talk to you a minute Yugi," Jonouchi called as he made it to the top of the steps. He could hear the mixed voices, pinpointing the locations of each of his friends mixed with the sound of the TV.
"Just a minute Jou!" Yugi raised his voice over the noise of talking. "I'll come over there." Yugi knew that with the groups of teens strewn over the floor it would be hard for Jonouchi to find him without causing a commotion.
"Hey Yugi, how 'bout we go up to yer room."
"Sure!" Yugi said with a grin as he grabbed Jonouchi's sleeve and dragged him down the hallway towards his room. As soon as the door opened to Yugi's room Jonouchi could hear the beeps of a game system and the muttered Egyptian curses from the player.
"Yo Yami!" Jonouchi said as he let a grin touch his lips. He had been so busy that he hadn't even spoken to the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh since the fight.
"Jou!" He dropped game controller and almost lifted up the blind boy with a hug. "Where have you been? Take of those glasses!"
"Trust me Yami, you don't want me to." Jonouchi said as he tilted his head towards where he had last heard Yugi and frowned. Yugi caught the frown and tiptoed closely to Jonouchi and whispered in his ear.
"I haven't told Yami yet about your condition."
Jonouchi gave a slight nod and slowly removed the dark glasses. As soon as he did he heard a string of Egyptian curses.
"What horrible plague have the gods sent upon you?"
"Plague?" Jonouchi frowned for a moment, confused by Yami's words.
"Your eyes!"
Jonouchi quickly put on the glasses again to cover his eyes in embarrassment. "Yugi, I gotta tell ya something."
"What?" Yugi asked as he frowned.
"It's nothing bad. But, next week I'm coming back to Domino High."
Yugi gave a yelp as he jumped on his blond friend. He couldn't believe it; Jonouchi was coming back. He was coming back for good.
"You're home late." A gruff voice said as Jonouchi stepped through the door into his new home.
"Sorry George. I had a project to finish up before I switched schools."
Jonouchi heard the man sigh. "How many times-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry about that dad." Jonouchi quickly said as he stepped past George and into the house.
"You missed dinner. We were expecting you. I thought I told you to call us if you weren't coming right home." George's voice was stern as he stepped in front of Jonouchi.
"But, I told you about the project," Jonouchi said earnestly.
"Yeah, and I called Jacques' place and Gloria's. They said you weren't there and they hadn't seen their kids either. Where were you?"
"I was at Yugi's."
"Who's Yugi?"
"Yugi Mutou, a friend from Domino High. His grandpa owns the Kame Game Shop." Jonouchi took a step away from him and brought his cane in front of him.
"I'm only asking to know where you are. Is that so unreasonable?" George said as he rested a hand on Jonouchi's shoulder. The contact caused Jonouchi to wince away from his touch, pulling back. He looked almost afraid to be touched. George's mouth dropped open and pulled away from him. "You best go and finish your homework Jou." He said as he turned away, leaving the room.
Jonouchi threw his bag towards the direction of his bed as he found his computer. He knew Mokuba had uploaded a program onto it to help him. Slowly the voices of George and Ingrid drifted up to his ears through his cracked open door.
"Ingrid, I know how you feel about kids but we'll have to talk to Miss Usamu tomorrow morning."
"George, just because of one incident? Give him another chance."
"It's not about that Ingrid. I think he's been abused and while we can foster blind kids. Ingrid, this is way over our heads."
Ingrid began sobbing lightly. "Please George, just give him a chance. We can take him for some help."
"Ingrid! This is over our heads!" George said raising his voice for the first time Jonouchi had ever heard. "We have no idea how deep his problems go and we weren't trained for this."
"George, are real parents ever trained when their teen experiments and plummets into depression? We can help him George, we have the means to get him the help he needs. We can be the real parents that Katsuya never had."
"I don't know Ingrid. There's no promise we'll succeed."
"George, there never is a promise. At the least we can maybe give him a head start."
"Alright," George sighed loudly. "We take him in to a doctor as soon as we can and go from there."
Jonouchi relaxed into his chair. They were taking him to a doctor. As long as nothing happened to them he would be fine with it but with his secret out just how long before they were torn apart because of him?
Jonouchi buried his head in his hands. Tomorrow he would deal with it. His head was hurting as the phone rang, the sound sending the pain to hammer through his skull. There was a short exchange as George picked up the phone and covered the receiver.
"Jou! It's for you!"
"Okay! I'll get it up here!" Jonouchi reached towards his own phone and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey Jou!" Mokuba's perky voice said from the other side of the line. "I heard the good news from Yugi."
"That's great hun," Jonouchi said as he pulled his literature book from his bag and opened it up to where he had marked the part he was supossed to read. "How's your brother doing?"
"Seto should be headed back to school same time you are. The doctors are going insane. They don't want him working for awhile in case he has a relapse."
Jonouchi let a smile touch his lips as he heard Mokuba's light laugh.
"He wants to see you."
"Okay, maybe sometime this week I'll drop by. Seeya Mokuba, love ya."
"Love you too," Mokuba chirped before hanging up.
Here's the glossary for the German in the chapter. Finally, my two years of German have a use!
ausgezeichnet-excellent
wunderbar-wonderful