Orli: Ok, first on the agenda. Thank you all for your reviews. They really inspired Kiawna to write more.
Kiawna: ::grinning:: Arigato minna. They really did help. Ugh, I was just having difficulties at school.
Yami: ::pats:: Now second on the agenda. Since we all kept forgetting to say it, she does not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Kiawna: Unfortunately. But I will one day. All of us fans will get together and buy it. Muahahahaha!
Yami and Orli: ::sweatdrop::
Orli: yes, well, I'm sure the people who actually own it will let you fans buy.
Kiawna: ::evil glint in her eyes:: we have ways of making them sell. ::laughs evilly::
Yami: Oh-Kay.
Kiawna: Aw, but Yami, you know you want us fan girls to own you. Just think of the things we could do. ::goes off into fantasy land::
Yami: Um.Orli, I'm scared. Don't let them take me. ::hides behind Kadsuki::
Kadsuki: Hey, what about me?! ::he waves to get her attention::
Kiawna: ::blinks:: where the hell did you come from? This is a Yu-Gi-Oh fic.not Get Backers.
Kadsuki: Well, I'm only here to find out when you plan on typing that Get Backers story you started. Ban is really getting annoyed.
Kiawna: ::sweatdrop:: Um, when I find the book.now go. ::shoos him away:: Ok, now. The last thing on the agenda is the chapter! Yay ::everybody cheers:: Sorry it took so long. School and all, but I promise the next chapter won't take so long.
Orli: Yeah, but before you read, here are a few things you should know.
"speech"
'thought'
::someone interrupting::
Now on with the story.
Chapter 3: The last two classes of the day.
Kaiba got to Geology a bit early; hoping that Joey would come early, without any of his friends. He sat at the back of class (as he does with every class), reading his book, The Elvenbane. It was pretty good so far. However, every once in a while he glanced at the door to see if Joey was coming in yet. No one else was in the class.
He looked at his watch, only 12:50. There was 10 minutes before class started. People usually arrived 5 minutes or less early. 'Jeez, I didn't drop Mokuba off that early did I?' He asked himself, then sighed. 'Oh well.' He went back to his book.
As predicted. 5 minutes later people started to arrive. Kaiba kept his head down to make it look like he was reading, but his eyes kept looking back to the door. Hoping the puppy would come in without anyone so he could talk to him. He would have talked to him during lunch, but he had promised Mokuba lunch. He wouldn't be home after school. So Kaiba decided he could get some Kaiba Corp work done before the puppy came over to work on our project. looked back at the door to see Yami come in, followed by Tristan, Marik, Bakura and finally, his puppy. His eyes widened at the thought. 'I mean the mutt, he's not my puppy… Damn it, doesn't he go anywhere without those guys.' Kaiba sighed and went back to his book. Maybe he could talk to him in history. Maybe.
"Good afternoon. Class." Ms. King said. Everyone mumbled 'good afternoon' back. "Today, you will be starting a partner project on one of the planets." Kaiba glared at her. 'Another project? I already have one for Comp Civ.' Although, he noticed, he was the only one that thought it would be a bad thing. This class seemed to enjoy studying the planets and solar system. Kaiba looked over at Joey to see his reaction. He was surprised. Joey was excited. "Now, I am going to be pairing you up." She waited for all the groans to pass. "There will be 9 pairs doing planets, 1 pair doing asteroids and comets and 1 pair doing meteors. The last group will be working on the sun and our moon." She brought out a bag. "In this bag each of you names are in here. I will be pulling them out randomly, when I am done, I will number your group off." She started pulling out names. After a while she pulled Yami and Tristan's name to be partners, then soon after Bakura and Marik. 'Well, this is looking somewhat good. Neither Joey nor himself have been called. It is quite possible that we could be paired.again.' A small grin made its way to his face. 'The more projects we have together, the more time we will have to spend together. Interesting.' Finally she pulled his name. Right after she pulled out Joey's name. Kaiba looked at Joey to see him turn to look at himself. He gave him a little wave.
It was a long walk to Geology class. Yami was still smiling and Bakura and Marik were planning ways to do pranks on different people. Once again, Joey sighed. Tristan was just babbling on to him, mostly about Otagi. "Jeez Tristan. Why do you have to keep talking about him? It's like you never see him."
Tristan blinked. "Let's see, because he is an amazing person and I couldn't imagine me being with anybody else." He rolled his eyes. Tristan and Otagi were going out. Which was good, it meant that Otagi wouldn't focus on him.
They arrived at the classroom and Yami led the way, followed by Tristan. He went in after Bakura and Marik did and sat on the other side of Yami. He was sort of the middle. Joey sat on one side, Tristan sat in front of him, and Marik sat on his other and Bakura behind him. The teacher came in and greeted everybody with "Good afternoon. Class." Ms. King said. Everyone mumbled 'good afternoon' back. "Today, you will be starting a partner project on one of the planets."
Joey looked at her with a smile on his face. 'This will be fun. I love the planets. Maybe we will be able to choose our partners.' He thought. 'Hmm, I wouldn't want to work with Tristan, all I would hear is stuff he has said a million times about Otagi. Bakura and Marik I don't totally trust. I could work with Yami. I don't think Yug would mind. Besides it's for a project.' He suddenly thought about something. 'But if I worked with him then he would probably pester me about Seto.' Joey's eyes widened. 'Wait, did I just call him Seto? Damn it.' He mentally slapped himself. 'Hmm. That is someone I could work with. Although, I don't think he would want to work with me after the incident this morning. Oi.' He rested his head on his hands. He was doing too much thinking. 'I think it is best if she paired us.'
Sure enough, as soon as I thought that, she mentioned she was pairing them up and began to explain what the projects would be. She then started the pairing. 'Wow. All these people in this class and I will probably be paired with Kaiba.' He thought about this for a moment. He could swear that the gods were doing this on purpose because once again, as soon as he thought it, she pulled Kaiba's name, then his own right after. He turned to look at Kaiba. All he did was wave.
Joey turned back around in his seat as the teacher started to number off the pairs. Yami and Tristan got Earth, Bakura and Marik got Mars and he and Kaiba got Jupiter. She finished numbering the groups off and suggested that they sat next to their partner. As Joey got up to go sit next to Kaiba, Yami winked at him with a smile on his face. He sighed and sat beside Kaiba.
"Well, another project to work on tonight I guess." Kaiba stated as Joey sat down. All Joey did was sigh, which he seemed to be doing a lot lately. It meant that he would get a bigger beating from his dad when he got home from Kaiba's place, but he wasn't about to tell Kaiba that.
"It would be so much better if this was an in class project. That way we could concentrate more on our other project." Joey replied. "Oh well. Did she ever say what the requirements of this project were?" He went red in the cheeks a bit "I wasn't listening, I was too busy thinking."
"Wow, you do think. I would have never guessed." Seto said, joking. Joey glared at him. 'He is really cute when he does that.' He thought. Joey turned away from Kaiba, crossed his arms across his chest and stuck his bottom lip out in a mock pout. 'Damn, is he trying to seduce me?' He swallowed his thoughts. There were papers being passed around to the different groups with the criteria on it.
They both leaned in to read what was on it. Their heads were mere inches away from each other. 'Hmm. He has nice smelling hair. It smells like passion fruit.' Joey thought, trying not to look at Seto. 'Why do I feel this way around him. I mean I have nothing wrong with being gay. I won't feel left out when I hang around my friends, seeing as how they all have boyfriends. Except Tristan. He has Serenity. But still. I don't understand why it is Kaiba? He puts me down anytime he can. Hell, he even ignores Yugi in order to put me down and Yugi is his rival!' A thought struck him, but he put it to the back of his mind to read.
The paper was a question sheet with all the planets on it. The first 4 questions under each one were the same:
1. How long does it to revolve around the sun? Rotate on its axis?
2. Which way does it revolve? Rotate?
3. Is there any life on this planet?
4. Is there any water? If so, what form? Solid, liquid or gas
There were a different number of questions for each one. The rest of Jupiter's were:
5. What is the huge Red Spot?
6. One of the moons is bright yellow/orange/red, why?
7. Apparently one of the moons is larger than Mercury, which one?
8. How many moons does Jupiter have?
Kaiba finished reading, but didn't lean back in his chair yet. 'His hair smells so nice.' He thought and took a deep breath, breathing in the smell of Joey's hair. 'Smells like peaches, I like peaches.' He finally sat back in his chair and watched Joey finish reading. 'I shouldn't feel this way about the mutt. I mean, I won't admit this to anyone, but I enjoy being around him. He is always happy, and from what I have seen, he would do anything for his sister. Just like Mokuba and I, those are about the only thing we have in common, that I know of. Well, that and the fact that our favorite cards are both dragons.' He continued thinking.
Joey leaned back in his chair when he finished reading. He grabbed the paper with the actual criteria on it. "You will be marked on: how well you work in class, how creative your poster is, how easy it is for other groups to find the answers to the questions, and your presentation." He read and turned to look at Kaiba. He had a blank look on his face, like he was thinking. 'Don't ask me how, but he is cute when he thinks.' Joey thought then decided that he should talk to him about the project.
"Se-I mean Kaiba." Kaiba turned to look at him when he had started to call him by his first name, but Joey couldn't help but notice the disappointment in Kaiba's eyes when he corrected himself. 'I wonder what that is about?' He shrugged it off deciding to ask him about it later, if he remembered. "So, since this project is due Friday and the other one due next Wednesday, I think we should concentrate on this project first." Kaiba nodded his agreement. "Great." Joey said as the bell rang signaling the end of class. He sighed, "The way this day is going, why do I have a feeling we aren't going to like History class." He stated more than asked. Once again, Kaiba agreed. "Oh well, see you in History, Kaiba." He left to catch up with the other four. They weren't in his next class, but he would hook up with Malik, Tea, Yugi, and Ryou, who were in his next class.
'He nearly called me Seto.' Kaiba thought as he left Geology. He was hungry, so he decided to head to the vending machines for a chocolate bar, before History started. 'He never even comes close to calling me by my first name. He always calls me Kaiba.' He had reached the vending machines and put a dollar in the machine, punching in the numbers to get a Coffee Crisp. He grabbed it when it fell and decided to grab a coke while he was at it, so he went to the pop machine and stuck in a dollar. When he had got his coke, he headed to class.
Joey never knew why he followed Yami and them to meet up with Yugi and the rest. It always ends the same way, Yug and the others kissing just before class. It drove him crazy. He am the only one in the group that didn't have a boy/girl friend to kiss good-bye. As they said their good-byes to each other Joey looked away, not wanting to see all the smooching. When they were finally done, they headed to History. 'I wonder why Seto looked disappointed when I corrected myself after I almost called him by his first name. I swear I'll never get that guy. He is always so calm. I don't think I have ever seen him smile, except towards Mokuba. And even that is rare in public.' Once again, Joey pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he entered the classroom. This time he sat just in front of Kaiba and behind Yugi.
Mr. Bancroft came in the room with a smile on his face. "Good afternoon, everybody. As you know, we just finished studying WW2." Everyone's eyes widened. They knew exactly what happened when they finished a unit in Bancroft's classes and that was a project. Joey and Seto both smiled, figuring this was coming the way their day has been going. 'I'm guessing it will be another partner project.' Joey thought. 'If so, I might as well work with Kaiba.'
"You will get to choose your partners for this project." The teacher said. "Here are the criteria sheets for it." He handed out a few sheets of paper to each of the students in the front row to pass back. When everyone got one, there was a shuffle of desks as people moved to sit next to their partners. Malik and Ryou decided to work together and Tea and Yugi were partners. Yugi turned and winked at Joey. 'Damn him. It's not like that! That is why he decided to partner with Tea. So Kaiba and I would have to work together.' He sighed, 'Oh well.'
Joey turned around and smiled at Kaiba, "Shall we have another project to work on together?" He asked.
Kaiba did his absolute best to not smile and yell his excitement. He did it very well. So instead he just said, "Whatever, pup." He quickly looked at Joey, forgetting not to call him pup. However, to his astonishment, Joey just smiled and moved his desk so it was beside his. 'Hmm, that was weird.' He thought, 'I thought that would hurt him. Not that I wanted it to.' He smiled inwardly, seeing Joey's smile. 'How can he be so hot?'
Joey didn't know why it didn't bother him to hear Kaiba call him pup. He guessed it just sounded better coming from him. Well, not always. Like earlier, but this time he thought he heard a hint of joy when he said it. So instead of flipping out, Joey just smiled and moved his desk to sit beside him.
"Ok, now that everyone has partners, you have to discuss the event you want to research. It is a first come first serve thing. So quickly discuss. When you have a topic, come tell it to me as well as the name of your partner." Mr. Bancroft said. The classroom quickly filled up wit chatter. Kaiba knew what he wanted to do, so he turned to Joey and said, "Pearl Harbor. I don't want any arguments, you chose the first project, so I get to pick this one."
Joey just blinked and rose an eyebrow. Smiling he said, "Wow, the almighty Seto Kaiba really wanting to do a certain topic." Kaiba glared at him and Joey just laughed. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to argue, I was going to suggest the same thing." Kaiba didn't say anything; "I'll go and tell him." Joey went up to the teacher's desk and told him the info. The minute he left he was being watched. 'Damn, look at that ass.' Kaiba thought. 'Crap, stop thinking that. He isn't interested in you. After all, he turned to you as a last resort for a partner.'
'Did he really?' Another voice inside his head countered. He looked pretty damn happy when he asked you.' Kaiba took what his conscience said into consideration. It was true Joey did look happy. He snapped back to reality when Joey sat back down beside him, still smiling. "What are you smiling about, Joey?" He tried to sound cold, but with the smile on Joey's face, it just didn't come out that way.
Joey looked at him. 'Did he just call me Joey?' He thought. 'He did. He said it earlier too, now that I think about it. Aw, he does care.' Joey laughed to himself.
"Am I missing something?" Kaiba asked sounding confused. Joey shook his head. "Fine, now it says here that it will be due the first day back from break. Let's see." He checked his watch. "It is the 10th now. So we have about three weeks to get this done. So it will be the last one we concentrate on. For the rest of the week we will work on our Jupiter project. On the weekend we will work on our Anubis project and when that is done and over with we will work on this project." He took a deep breath and released it in a sigh. "I don't know how I am going to be able to cope with this and work too."
Joey stopped smiling and looked sympathetically at the CEO. He had forgot that Kaiba was the CEO of a big company. "Why don't you take a couple weeks off from work?" He asked. "I mean, it is the best company in Japan, if not the world. You deserve to take a break. Besides, if you take a break, then you can spend more time with Mokuba. You have been working way too hard and you need a break."
Kaiba glared at him. "How do you know I haven't been able to spend time with Mokuba?" He asked. Joey shifted under the glare he was receiving. "Oh, uh. A little birdie told me." He replied.
"Would that little birdies name happen to be Mokuba?" Kaiba asked with a raised eyebrow. He knew it was because Mokuba had been trying to get him to take a couple weeks, if not months, off of work. He had said basically the same thing as Joey had just said.
"Maybe." Joey looked down and said quietly. Kaiba smiled one of his rare smiles as he looked at Joey. When Joey moved his head to look up, Kaiba quickly replaced his smile with an expressionless face. "Any ways, we will need poster boards." He took out his wallet to see if he had a few dollars to get one or two. When he opened it, moths came out. ::not literally of course -:: Joey had a sweatdrop. 'Great, no money. It's both of our posters. I don't want Kaiba to have to buy all of them.' He sighed. "I'll see if my dad has any money to lend me. So I can buy one of the poster's at least and give you half of the price for the last one.'
"Don't bother. I'll buy them. It will only be a couple of bucks. No need to worry." Kaiba replied. Just then the bell rang and everybody headed out. Glad it was the end of the day.
"If you are sure." Joey said slowly, "Any ways, I'll see you around six." He waved and headed out with Yugi and the others.
"Yep. See then pup." Kaiba whispered with a little smile on his face. He then headed out to his car to go buy the posters.
:::: :::: :::: :::: ::::
Kiawna: Is it just me, or was that a long chapter?
Orli: It was a long chapter, it took you at least 6 hours to write, with breaks and things.
Kiawna: Wow, it took that long. I must have done a lot of thinking. What do you think Yami?
Yami:.
Orli and Kiawna: Yami?
Orli: ::pokes him with a stick:: I think he is dead.
Kiawna: I don't think so. Remember what I wrote, just before they went to History? ::points to paragraph::
Orli: Oh. Sheesh, you would figure Yugi has never kissed him before.
Kiawna: ::laughs::
Joey: Um...I'm going home the next chapter right?
::Orli and Kiawna nearly jump out of their skin from the sudden appearance::
Kiawna: ::holding her chest:: why? And how did you get in?
Joey: The door was unlocked and I don't want to go to him. ::shudders::
Orli: We can not give you that information. You will just have to wait like the rest of the fans.
Joey: But.
Orli: No 'buts'. Now, can you take Yami upstairs? He is a distraction. And I don't want him to see the next chapter.
Joey: ::confused, but does as asked::
Kiawna: ::sighs:: now you all know the drill. You take your mouse and click that pretty button at the bottom of the page if you want more chapters. Please and thank you. ::goes to write next chapter::
Orli: What she said ::goes to help::
Kiawna: ::returns momentarily:: As for 'The Elvenbane' that Seto was reading. It is a good book. I own it. However, Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton wrote it and it was their idea. Not mine.