To Protect You- A Jounouchi/Mai Fanfic

Chapter 5

A maniacal laugh escaped from Boss again. "You'll kill me?! Whatever!" he jeered, not giving the threat a second thought. He threw Mai back against the wall. She winced from the force he used. He was just too strong for her to stop him alone. He once again leaned down...

"Hey! I said..." Jounouchi ran to Mai's aid in the blink of an eye, "Don't fucking TOUCH HER!" His hands gripped Boss's collar and yanked his body away from Mai. Boss's eyes opened wide; he was surprised at Jounouchi's power. Jou released his right hand, only to rear it back and launch a full force punch right into his opponent's nose. Jou could feel the nose's structure give way behind his knuckles. Boss stumbled backward and fell into a pile of garbage. His weight caused some of the bags to pop, and trash fell out of them onto the pavement. His nose was twisted and blood gushed from it. His fellow thugs stood back in astonishment, confused by the turn of events.

Jounouchi stood firmly in front of the girls as he shouted, "Mai! Shizuka! Get outta here!"

Mai's mind raced, unsure of exactly what had taken place in the past split second. "Wha...? No! I won't leave you here!" she objected.

Jou's head whipped around to the confused girls. "Don't argue with me, Mai!" he hissed. "Run to your place as fast as you can. Shizuka, you head home. I'll keep these guys busy so they don't follow you," he quickly instructed.

"But, Jouno-,"

"JUST GO!" he screamed, turning back to the thugs.

Mai hesitated, and then nodded. She took a hold of Shizuka's wrist and pulled her away from the scene. They heard Boss and his groupies try and run after them, but Jou exclaimed, "Over my dead body!" Then the girls were too far away to hear the fight.

Blindly, Mai ran with Shizuka through the back alley maze. It was dark and a light drizzle began to fall. The rain dripped down Mai's face as she frantically looked for a way back to the main street.

After what seemed like hours (when it actually had been aboutone minute since they left the scene), Shizuka yelled, "Mai! Look! Street lights!" Mai looked back and saw Shizuka pointing down a nearby alley. Sure enough, streetlights glimmered through the rain like a sign. They ran to the light and quickly oriented themselves. They had exited the maze only a few streets away from where they were originally abducted. Shizuka began to run in the direction of her apartment as her brother had instructed. Just as Mai was about to do the same, she found herself paralyzed. Her feet were stuck to the ground, and her heart beat furiously as terror took hold of her. What am I doing! her mind screamed into her ears. I can't just leave Jounouchi like this! If he gets hurt.... I could never forgive myself!

Shizuka was nearly a block away when she saw that Mai had not been running behind her "Mai! Come on! We have to go!" she yelled, motioning forMai to follow.

The blonde's head darted back and forth between Shizuka and the alley, trying to decide the best course of action. Finally, she decided she wouldn't run. "Go on without me, Shizuka! I can't leave him like this!" she replied and ran back into the alley. She heard Shizuka call her name, but there was no way she was going back.

Mai navigated her way through the dark maze again, only now her sense of direction was much more accurate. Soon she found herself right around the corner from where Jounouchi was fighting the gang members.

Suddenly, the younger blonde punk flew into Mai's range of vision and stumbled into the brick wall. His face was beaten and bruised. Sweat, rain, and blood dripped off his childish features and stained his clothes. Mai jumped back into a nearby shadow to avoid being detected, but the boy wasn't really oriented enough to see her through the curtain of rainfall. Soon after the boy slammed into the wall, the bald boy stumbled on the pavement a few feet before the blonde child. Frantically, he picked himself off the ground and scrambled over to his friend and tried to help him up.

"Let's get the hell outta here, Araki!" screamed the boy with the piercings. The other nodded in confusion, and they ran out of the back alley as fast as their legs could carry them.

Mai cheered a quiet victory for Jou as she watched them run. When they were out of sight, she looked around the corner and saw Jounouchi hurl the tattooed grunt's head into a wall. Jounouchi's school jacket was soaked and torn. Despite his obvious exhaustion, he seemed to be in control of the match. Boss kept throwing a barrage of punches at Jou's face, but he would always find the perfect way to dodge and counterattack. The blood that flowed as a result of Jou's first assault was now mixed with the rain and stained his white undershirt. Everything seemed controlled enough.

But there was something that still bothered Mai. She had seen the bald and blonde thugs run off into the night, and she could see Boss and the guy with the dragon tattoo try desperately to bring down Jounouchi.

But...

Wasn't there one more?