Disclaimer: No I don't own Yuugiou or Yuugiou: Duel Monsters or Yuugiou: Duel Monsters Genex or anything related except for a few stories I wrote and so cards I made up. Glad we're clear on that.
Chapter 3: Be Mine
Jounouchi looked from Julie's comforting eyes, to the card in front of him, then to Kaiba. 'Man, what can I do? Kaiba's got out his 'Blue-Eyes', and none of the cards in my hand can beat it. I gotta think of somethin' quick.'
"Face it Jounouchi," Kaiba (2600) said, "You can't beat my 'Blue-Eyes'. You might as well just give it up now."
"It's not over yet Kaiba," Jou said.
"Well since this duel's not over, I'll cover one card and end my turn. So draw another useless card."
"We'll see whose cards are useless," Jou said. 'This is bad; all I have on the field is my 'Little-Winguard' (1600/1800) and 'The A. Forces. And I don't have any cards in my hand. This next card has to be a good one, or I'm finished' He drew. 'All right, this is perfect' "Now Kaiba, I play 'Precious Coins from Above'. This'll force us both to draw until we each have 6 cards in our hand."
"A desperate move," remarked Kaiba as he drew 5 cards, "but also a very dangerous one."
"We'll see," retorted Jou, drawing 6 cards. "First I cover 2 cards. Then I'll play 'Foolish Burial'. This magic card will let me take one monster from my deck and place it in the graveyard." He picked up his deck and searched for the card he wanted. "I pick 'Android Psycho Shocker'." He placed the card in the graveyard. "And for my final move, I summon 'Battle Warrior' (700/1000) in defense mode. And thanks to 'The A. Forces', his ATK increases to 1100. Plus, my 'Winguard's' attack increases to 1800. You move Kaiba."
Kaiba drew. "I summon 'Blood Vors' (1900/1200) in attack mode. And then play 'De-Spell', destroying 'The A. Forces'. And then I'll play 'Fissure', destroying the weakest monster you have on the field."
Jou placed 'The A. Forces' and 'Battle Warrior' in the graveyard, glowering at Kaiba the whole time.
"Now that that's out of the way, I'll use 'Blood Vors' to attack 'Little-Winguard'."
"Not so fast Kaiba, I activate 'Magic-Arm Shield'." Jou said, turning over the pink card. "Now I can take one of your monsters and use it as a shield. I choose your 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'."
Kaiba growled as he slid the card to Jou, who placed it in an empty monster zone.
"Now you monster's attack is headed for your own dragon, which'll destroy it and lower your LPs," Jou said happily.
"How dare you pit my own dragon against me," Kaiba growled as he lowered his LPs to 1500. "I end my battle phase, so my 'Blue-Eyes' returns to me. I'll cover 2 cards and play 'Poison of the Old Man'. This card can either do 800 points of damage to your LPs, or increase mine by 1200. I choose to increase mine."
"Big deal," Jou said, "Just hurry up and end you turn."
"Very well, I end my turn," Kaiba (2700) said.
"About time." Jou said, drawing. "Hey Kaiba, I hope all 3 of those facedown cards aren't Traps, because if they are, they're about to be useless."
"Just make your move," Kaiba demanded.
"If you say so. I activate my facedown card, 'Call of the Haunted'. And since you used it earlier, I don't have to explain what it does to you. So I'll use it to revive 'Android Psycho Shocker' (2400/1500)." Jou took the card from his graveyard pile and placed it back on the field.
"Big deal, what good's it going to do you if my dragon can blow it away in one attack?" Kaiba asked smugly.
"You don't get it. I just wanted 'Psycho Shocker' to block your traps so I could play this Magic card. 'Share the Pain'."
"'Share the Pain'?"
"That's right. Now I can sacrifice one of my monsters to destroy one of yours," Jou said, now copying Kaiba's evil smile. "I sacrifice 'Little-Winguard' and destroy your 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'."
They each placed they're monsters in the grave.
"And now," Jou went on, "I'll attack you directly with 'Psycho Shocker'."
Kaiba deducted 2400 of his LPs, leaving him at only 300.
The rest of the class, including Jou's friends, was in awe at this final move.
"All right Jou-kun, just one more move like that and Kaiba's history," Honda exclaimed happily.
"You can do it Jou-kun," Anzu added.
The rest of the class was cheering for Jou, but he wasn't listening. His eyes were locked on the eyes of Julie, who seemed only half interested. She noticed Jou was staring at her and gave him a small smile. Jou turn a reddish color and looked back to the field.
"I'm done Kaiba," Jou (1600) informed him. "Make you last move."
Kaiba drew. "I play the 'Pot of Greed', letting me draw 2 cards." He drew them and stared for a moment before he began to laugh.
"What's so funny Kaiba?" Jou asked.
"What's funny? I'll tell you what's funny. What's funny is you were right; this is my last turn," Kaiba answered. "And when it's over, you won't get another."
"We'll see. Just hurry up and play."
"As you wish," Kaiba complied. "I activate one of my facedown Magic cards."
"Magic cards?"
"That's right," Kaiba confirmed. "Your 'Psycho Shocker' can't block Magic cards, just Traps. So I'll use this one." He turned the card over to reveal a green border around a picture of a pale blue background behind a single, floating, aqua-colored ankh. "'Monster Reborn'. I'll use it to revive my 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' in attack mode." He placed it back on the field. "And then, I'll use my other Magic card." He turned over yet another green card. The picture on this one contained two orange things that looked like a dragon and a demon on each side. Behind the orange images was a swirl of green, purple, and blue. "'Polymerization'. I'll fuse the 'Blue-Eyes' I have on the field with the ones in my hand to bring forth my most powerful monster. The 'Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon' (4500/3800)."
"Man, why'd you have to summon that?" Jou questioned in terror.
"To show you that I'm by far superior to you," Kaiba answered. "For now, I'll add this Magic card. 'Megamorph'. And since my LPs are lower, my dragon's ATK doubles, increasing it to 9000. And I still have one more facedown card. 'Quick Attack', so my dragon can attack right now. Say good-bye Jounouchi. I attack with the 'Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon'. 'Ultimate Burst'."
Jou didn't say a word as he placed 'Android Psycho Shocker' back in the graveyard and deducted 6600 of his LPs, reducing him to –5000.
"Looks like I win. Let me know when you learn to play." Kaiba said, picking up his deck and walking away to his desk.
While the rest of the class began to disperse back to their lunches, Jou remained sitting in his desk, miserable.
"Cheer up Jou-kun, you came close," Anzu said, trying to lighten Jou's mood.
"But that's the thing. He only had 300 LPs left. And he still beat me. I just don't get it. Why can't I beat him? I was one turn away. Look at the next card from my deck."
Yugi picked it up and gazed at the green card with the picture of fireballs on it. "One of the 'Hinotama' cards Malik put in your deck? You kept it?"
"Yeah," Jou said, "I thought it might come in handy. And it would've. If I could've used this card, I could have done 500 damage to him and won. I'm always one card short."
"Excuse me," came a soft, timid voice.
They all looked up and saw Julie standing there, her big, blue eyes bright and cheerful. "Um, Jounouchi-san, right?"
"Yeah, or just Jou."
Julie blushed a little. "Oh, well, I just wanted to say that was a great duel. You put up a good fight. I've seen some world class dueling in America and I don't think anyone could hold their own against Kaiba-san like you did."
"Um...uh...arigatou," Jou thanked, blushing a bit as well. "Do you play?"
"Not really, but it's so big in the US, you can't go anywhere or change the channel without seeing it," Julie answered. "Anyway, good job." She turned and went back to her desk, Jou staring, almost mesmerized, after her the whole time.
"Jou-kun...hello. Snap out of it," Honda called.
Jou shook his head once, bringing himself out of his daze.
"Are you okay? You kinda zoned there," Honda asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Post-duel shock, that's all," Jou replied.
"Looks more like new girl shock to me," Honda corrected. "I think Jou-kun has a thing for the new girl."
"Do you really Jou-kun?" Yugi asked.
"No, of course not," Jou said defensively, his flush deepening a little.
"I know a crush when I see one," Anzu said, "Jou-kun definitely likes Julie-chan."
"Shut up!" Jou yelled.
The bell rang and everyone walked back to their seats as the sensei walked in. As he began to lecture again, Jou's mind and eyes both wondered back to Julie, where they stayed for the rest of the day.
(AFTER SCHOOL)
"Jaamataashi, mina," Jou called to his friend as he headed home.
"Jou-kun?"
Jou turned around and saw Julie standing there, her dark hair blowing gently in the light breeze of the early evening. He stood there a moment, stunned by her. Those big eyes of hers seemed to grab hold of him and not let go.
"Jou-kun?" she asked again, concern in her voice now.
Jou snapped himself out of his stupor. "Uh...what...oh...uh...Julie-chan, right?"
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You just kinda zoned out. You did that during class too, I noticed."
"Oh, I just do that sometimes," Jou lied. 'Great, now she'll thing I'm crazy.'
Julie laughed a little at him. "That's cool. I do the same thing sometimes. So, are you walking home alone?"
"Uh...yeah...I mean no... I mean, I'm moving in with my okaa-san and nee-chan and I have to go take some stuff over there."
"You have a sister?" Julie asked as they started walking.
"Yeah, her names Shizuka," Jou said. "She's 13 and goes to Domino Junior High. So are you headed home?"
"Yeah."
"Where do you live?"
"I live in a small house over on Chess and Fourth."
"No way, that's where the apartment I live in now is," Jou said happily.
"That's cool. But if you're moving in with your mom and sister, who do you live with now? Do you live alone or something?" Julie wondered aloud.
"No, my parents got divorced when we were little," Jou said. "Shizuka-chan went to live with okaa-san and I live with otou-san. But he's a drunk and I'm tired of living with him. And since I help paid for Shizuka-chan's eye surgery with the money I won at Duelist Kingdom, okaa-san decided I could move in with them."
"Wow, that's so cool," Julie said. She looked around at where they were and said somewhat sadly, "Well this is my house."
"Huh?" Jou looked up, puzzled. They were standing in front of a small, one-story house. He hadn't realized they'd been walking the whole time. "Well, then I guess I'll see you around," he said.
"See you," she turned and started toward her house.
"Hey, you wouldn't want to come meet Shizuka-chan, would you?" Jou asked the back of the retreating girl. "I think she'd like to meet someone new."
"That sounds fun," Julie said, turning back to him. "Do I have time to change?"
"Sure, I'll meet you out here in a few minutes," Jou said.
"It's a date," Julie said cheerfully before running into the house, glad to have met such a nice person.
Jou wasted little time getting changed and gathering some things. He came back down from his apartment in jeans and pale-green tee shirt, his dog-tag necklace around his neck. He was carrying a box of Duel Monster cards, model kits, and other odds and ends.
While he was loading the box into the car, Julie re-emerged from her house, wearing a navy-blue, sleeveless dress; a pattern of a rose stitched in gold into the front, and was carrying a matching purse.
"You look really nice," Jou complemented shyly.
Julie blushed a light pink. "You're too sweet. So where does you sister live?"
"Across town, but that's okay. I got my driver's license the other day and my otou-san said I could have his car since he's moving to America."
"You didn't tell me your dad was moving to America," Julie said.
"I didn't?" Jou asked. "I guess I forgot. That's the other reason I have to move in with okaa-san and Shizuka-chan. I wasn't about to leave all my friends here in Domino, not yet anyway. We'll all leave eventually, so I have to prolong our time together as long as possible."
"That's really nice," Julie said, getting into the passenger seat while Jou made sure he had all he needed before climbing into the driver seat. The card smelled strongly of alcohol.
"Sorry about the smell," Jou said, starting the car up. "I haven't gotten a chance to clean it out yet. Still a lot of beer cans in the back, so I have to make sure I don't get pulled over."
Julie laughed a little. "That's okay, I'm used to this smell." She immediately wished she hadn't said that and glanced down at her lap. Jou would've said something but at seeing the look on her face, decided not to. Not now anyway.
About ten minutes later, Jou pulled into the driveway of a cream colored, two-story house. It was a quaint house in a nice neighborhood, set a little away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
"It's so quiet and tranquil here," Julie commented.
"Yeah, but getting to school on times gonna be even more of a bitch," Jou said, pulling his box out of the car. "I told the gang I'd drive them to school in the mornings. I could drive you too if you want."
"Oh, I don't want to be any trouble. Besides, I don't think we'll all fit."
"None sense," Jou said, "I'll drive, you sit next to me. Anzu-chan, Yugi-kun, and Shizuka-chan can have the middle, and Honda-kun, Ryou-kun, and Otogi-kun can squish in the back. And your house is on the way anyway."
"Well it would be nice to not have to make daddy drive me," Julie said without thinking. "That'll give him one less thing to yell about." She immediately fell silent again, staring at her feet.
Jou couldn't help but ask this time. "Julie-chan, what's your home like?"
"Things are fine," she replied.
"Does your otou-san drink?" Jou asked, heading for the door with the girl following him.
"Lots of adults drink; it's not a real surprise." She replied, refusing to look up.
Jou fumbled with his keys but continuing to press the subject. "I mean does he really drink? Is he like an alcoholic or something?"
"What gives you that idea?"
"Well, you're used to the smell of beer, you try to find things to keep your dad from yelling, and I couldn't help notice a large bruise on your leg." Jou really didn't want to say anything, but he couldn't leave it alone anymore.
Julie, shifting to try and hide her leg, was about to respond when a voice behind them said, "Hey, what going on?"
They both turned around to find a girl, apparently 13, with long brown hair standing behind them. She was dress in the dark blue sailor uniform of Domino Junior High. Her eyes were almost the same honey color as Jou's only they had a grayish tint to them, and they were much wider and joyful.
"Who's your friend onii-chan?" she asked.
"This is Julie-chan," Jou replied. "Julie-chan, this is my sister, Shizuka."
"It's nice to meet you Julie-san," Shizuka said, bowing a bit.
"Same here."
Shizuka gave a sudden gasped. "Wait a sec. Is this a date onii-chan? You're not cheating on Mai-san are you?"
"Who ever said Mai and me were going out?" Jou asked.
"Who's this Mai-san?" Julie wondered aloud.
"Kujaku Mai, she's another duelist friend."
Julie suddenly became very excited. "You mean Mai Kujaku-san, the duelist who made it to the finals of both the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments?"
"Yeah," Jou said, a little surprised. "I thought you weren't into Duel Monsters."
"I'm not really," Julie said. "But like I said it's all you hear about in America. I've seen some of Mai-san's duels and she's really awesome. Are you really going out with her?"
"No we're just friends," Jou stated, somewhat embarrassed.
"Can we continue this conversation in the house?" Shizuka asked. "I'd like to change out of this uniform."
"Yeah, sure," replied Jou, unlocking the door at last.
"Do you think you can get me Mai-san's autograph?" Julie asked.
"I'll see what I can do the next time I talk to her," Jou said.
(THAT NIGHT)
Jou and Julie came out of the house, both waving back inside.
"Oyasumi nasai okaasan, Shizuka-chan," Jou called.
"Good night, arigatou," Julie said before the door closed. "That was a lot of fun."
"It was all right I guess," Jou said, getting in his car. "Your otou-san won't be upset if you're out so late will he?"
"He's probably passed out on the couch by now." She just didn't know when to stop.
"I knew it," Jou exclaimed. "Your otou-san's an alcoholic. Julie-chan, I've lived with an alcoholic my whole life; I know it's not good for you. You've gotta do something."
"It's okay Jou-kun, really. He's a nice person," Julie said sadly.
"There's no such thing as a nice alcoholic," Jou argued.
"Well what do you want me to do?" Julie asked. "It's not like I can live on my own. Or leave him by himself. You can't leave alcoholics by themselves. That's when they're most likely to hurt someone, like themselves. I had a friend, Ryu, over in America, whose dad died because he was an alcoholic. And then left his daughter with Ryu and his family. And then Ryu went and killed himself."
"I don't care about that," Jou shouted. "I don't even know them. All I care about is your safety." What he had said hit him quickly, but only after he'd said it.
They both fell dead silent, neither saying a word until they got back to Jou's apartment building, just across the road from Julie's house. They both got out and Jou walked her to her door, stopping with her on the porch.
"Look, I'm sorry about-" Jou started.
"No it's all right," Julie interrupted. "I'm glad to hear that you care. It feels nice."
"Well I said some things I probably shouldn't have," Jou went on.
"Really, it's fine," Julie tried to sooth. "You were right about some things." They both stared down at their feet for a while until Julie spoke up again. "We'll I'd better go in. See you tomorrow."
"Hai, jaamataashi." That said he started back to his apartment building.
Julie started into her house, but stopped in the doorway and looked back to him. "Jounouchi-san."
Jou stopped and looked back to her. She was a reddish color, although it wasn't too noticeable in the darkness.
"Jou-kun," Julie went on, "I know we just met but, would you like to be my boyfriend? Would you, be mine?"
Jou looked at her, dazed, a moment. His heart gave a great leap and he was left momentarily speechless, but finally managed to say, "Hai, daisuki. I wanted to ask you, but I wasn't sure. I would like to be yours"
"What's daisuki?" Julie asked, still learning her Japanese.
"It means 'I really like you'. Hey, this means you'll be mine right?"
"Hai, daisuki," Julie replied. "Oyasumi nasai, Jou-kun."
"Oyasumi nasai, Julie-chan," Jou said, blowing a kiss to her.
She smiled once more before going into her house. Jou walked back home in the darkness, his stomach in knots with worry for Julie.