AN: Yes, the last chapter was more of a humourous one- but lets not forget Acid is VERY bad for you andI bet mostpeople would get alcohol poisoning from drinking that much vodka in one sitting...but this is Jounouchi. He's fictional therefore he can defy laws of logic and human limitations. You on the otherhand are real and would probably get alcohol poisoning. SO just remember: i don;t condone substance abuse.,This chapter is a bit more...serious- in the sense that everyone is like mad.

Disc: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything related.

Chapter 5

They finally got to Yugi's home, where they struggled to bring Jounouchi in quietly. Kaiba left before he even made sure they got into the house. He didn't understand why he even allowed those people in his car anyway- not that there was any evidence that anyone but him had been in the car. Somehow the nerd-herd had really kept Jounouchi under control, using seat belts to restrain him as well as their own weight.

"Where would Jounouchi get drugs from?" Anzu asked quietly, when they locked themselves in Yugi's bedroom. Honda raised her eyebrow as if it was the most obvious thing. Where WOULDN'T Jounouchi get drugs from? The kid knew the streets well enough to know where to get any drug- plus Honda highly suspected Jounouchi really had gone back to his old gang.

"Do you think…No Jounouchi-kun wouldn't do that." Yugi looked at Honda, wondering if he knew what he was thinking. "Honda-kun…what do you think?"

"I think we shouldn't rule anything out. It's Jounouchi. He does dumb shit without thinking." Honda crossed his arms, and glared at his friend, who was investigating the curtains on Yugi's window. "Anyway, if I know anything about acid, he'll be like this for a while. I don't know when he took this stuff, but it lasts for hours- I heard like 12."

"Ouch." Anzu fell onto Yugi's bed. "This isn't going to be a fun night."

"He LIED to me, that stupid punk!" Honda threw a pen at Jounouchi, angrily. Jounouchi made a weird noise when the pen hit his head and started to mutter something none of them could understand. "I hate him right now." Honda sat in Yugi's desk chair and rubbed his forehead.

"Well, obviously, Jounouchi-kun needs help. What can we do?" Yugi asked, ignoring the blonde as he poked him, unsure if the short boy was there or not.

"I'll beat the shit out of him in the morning, and scare him into NEVER doing this again." Honda stated. Anzu rolled her eyes wondering why she hung out with such violent meat-heads.

"We'll TALK to him in the morning, and see what's wrong. Maybe he's hit a rough spot, and just wanted to escape it? Jounouchi isn't the most rational of people." They agreed talking was the best thing to do; first that is. Honda still intended to beat some sense into him if Jounouchi didn't cooperate.

It was after 10 am before Jounouchi finally fell asleep.

"Ok, so basically, we'll talk to him tonight?" Anzu frowned, feeling a headache come on. She barely got any sleep that night, but the boys had had none. They told her to go get some rest while they looked after Jounouchi.

"No, let's wake him up at noon. I want to have a nap. But I don't want to wait all day to talk to the idiot." Honda frowned. 7 Pepsis, 3 coffees and straight sugar, kept him awake all night, but now he needed to sleep. He had a headache from the caffeine and now that the buzz had worn off, he was exhausted. Yugi fell asleep as soon as Jounouchi was beginning to drift into sleep.

"Ok, well I'll stay awake, incase Jounouchi wakes up." Anzu offered, pulling a book out of her purse to read. Honda nodded and laid down on a matt, and instantly fell asleep.

Anzu sighed, opening the book. What could have been responsible for Jounouchi suddenly feeling the need to get involved with that bad crowd again? She remembered the last time he was with that gang. He hadn't wanted to be there, but she had jumped to conclusions.

"You're the worst Jounouchi!"

She remembered thinking he was just like them, and had been just nice to Yugi while he felt obliged to be, because Yugi helped him out once. But she had been wrong then. Jounouchi only went back with them to protect his friends and classmates. Did he have the same reason this time? She shook her head, and focused on her reading. She and the others would figure this out soon enough.

Anzu fell asleep with her book opened and laying across her stomach, so she wasn't awake to get Honda and Yugi up at noon. Jounouchi woke up around 1:00, and was confused. He had a huge headache and felt like crap. He realized he had been sleeping in a corner, tangled up in a sheet, his black t-shirt half on (one arm through the sleeve was the only thing keeping it on) and his denim jacket sleeves were tied around his neck like he had tried to make it into a cape. He stumbled out of his nest-like sleeping area, removing his jacket, and slipping his other arm back into its sleeve. He tripped over a few objects, and fell on Honda who was sleeping on a matt in the middle of the floor, which woke him up.

"Honda?" Jounouchi asked, rubbing his knee, which he had hurt when he fell.

"Jounouchi!" Honda pushed the other boy off him hard.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were lying there!" Jounouchi snapped. "Don't be all bitchy on me!"

"What's going on?" Yugi rubbed his eyes, waking up. "Jounouchi-kun, you're awake."

"Oops!" Anzu woke up, suddenly. "I'm sorry, I guess I fell asleep!"

"Hey…" Jounouchi suddenly felt nervous. Why did he not remember last night? "Um…did we uh… Honda did we go to that party last night?" Jounouchi asked hopefully, remembering Honda, and plans for a party. Maybe he just got really drunk at that party, and they invited Anzu and Yugi to go too…

"No, that's TONIGHT, you idiot, and I don't think I'm going to go with you anymore. I don't think you should go after how retarded you got last night." Honda snapped.

"Honda, we said we were going to TALK to him, not ATTACK him." Anzu scolded. Jounouchi became more nervous.

"How much did I drink last night? I feel totally hung over." He admitted. "I'm hoping I was with you guys, right?"

"No." Honda said coldly. "We don't know WHERE you were. WE were at a movie and found you trying to catch "angels" on a parking meter."

"What?" Jounouchi, suddenly remembered the faces of the most beautiful angels and their singing. He remembered wishing he could fly like them.

"You had THIS in your pocket." Honda held up the blotter Kaiba had found. He had taken it out of Jounouchi's jacket pocket when they got to Yugi's. "Wanna explain?"

"I…I can't remember…" Jounouchi stopped seeing, and was lost in his thoughts. What happened? What did he…He suddenly remembered. He was with Hirutani yesterday, and the rest of the gang…He had flashes of memories from that night. Hirutani sniffing cocaine, the guys doing buckets, the 26 of vodka, the skull blotter being given to him, the mermaid… "Oh shit." Jounouchi muttered.

"Jounouchi-kun, we're your friends. We want to help you. Please tell us the truth!" Yugi put his hand on Jounouchi's shoulder.

"You DID go back to them, and you LIED to me. WHY?" Honda shoved Yugi aside, and grabbed Jounouchi by the scruff of his shirt, and shook him.

"BECAUSE!" Jounouchi kicked Honda away. "It's not of your f'kin business so stay the hell out of it!"

"Please, Jounouchi, if they're forcing you to join them, you can tell us. We'll find a way to get you out from under that guy's thumb for good!" Anzu was getting pissed at Honda for making Jounouchi turn hostile on them, and was trying to get the situation calm again.

"I'm NOT being forced to join them; I went back because I WANTED to. For REAL."

"IDIOT!" Honda yelled, fighting the urge to kill his best friend.

"What do you guys care! It's not like I can't still hang out with you- Hirutani is allowing me to have both lives. I don't have to choose or anything like all the other times."

"You could have been really hurt last night." Yugi said sadly. "You were crazy."

"Kaiba even saw you like that! We tried to allow you to keep some dignity, but you were being so STUPID, we had to ask him for help. Kaiba was the one that found the blotter." Honda explained. Jounouchi was devastated that Kaiba would now have some serious ammo against him, but he didn't let that show on his face.

"So what?" he shrugged.

"WHY are you back with them?" Honda asked, getting irritated with how Jounouchi just didn't seem to care.

"I told you it wasn't your business." Jounouchi said coldly, glaring. Anzu decided it was her turn to pull out the big guns.

"What would your sister think had she have seen you? Would she still look up to you if she saw her big brother behaving like that?"

"That's not fair Anzu!" Jounouchi snapped. "Don't talk about Shizuka."

"Please, we don't like seeing you like this. It scares me, worries Yugi, and upsets Honda."

"I'm not upset! I'm just really, really mad!"

"You guys, just piss off ok?" Jounouchi started to leave, but Honda wouldn't allow it. He grabbed the blond by the shoulder and pushed him into the wall.

"Honda!" Anzu gasped.

"Watch it Honda!" Jounouchi growled.

"You're not going anywhere until you start talking." Honda threatened. "I won't just sit back and watch my best friend kill himself! Acid never leaves your system! It permanently fucks with your brain!"

"I don't need you to baby me, Honda!" Jounouchi tried to push Honda off him, but Honda's anger seemed to give him extra strength, where as Jounouchi's hang over was hindering his strength.

"Yes you do." Honda stated quietly. Jounouchi always tried so hard to be the toughest, to be independent and to be grown up. But Jounouchi never really did grow up. The innocence of childhood was ripped away from him at a young age, but he never actually matured. He was stuck in this mental state of adolescence, as if he was still 12 or something, no matter how hard he tried to act otherwise. "And it doesn't matter to us. I know I'll always be around to look out for you, just like I know you're always watching out for me. Why do you always have to fight this fact? Why do you always need to prove yourself?"

"You don't understand!" Jounouchi seemed to give up his struggle.

"What don't I understand?" Honda asked, now sounding like he was trying to be understanding and empathic, unlike before when he was angry and violent. His grip loosened slightly, almost as a reward for Jounouchi, and to encourage him to continue talking.

"You can't understand, 'cause your not like me. None of you guys can relate."

"We'll try." Honda said quietly, as Jounouchi's voice was barely a whisper now.

"No!" Jounouchi pushed Honda away and tried to make his escape. Honda grabbed him again and the two broke out into a fight. Jounouchi punched Honda in the gut, and Honda kicked Jounouchi in the knee. The two had ended up on the ground and were rolling around, tying to beat the other into pulp. Honda finally managed to put Jounouchi in a headlock.

"Guys, please stop!" Anzu pleaded.

"You guys just don't get it! You guys make me so mad!" Jounouchi squirmed to get out of his friends grip.

"What did we do?" Yugi asked, worried.

"Nothing on purpose!" Jounouchi said, stopping his squirming. He was upsetting Yugi and Anzu, and he didn't mean too. He didn't like upsetting them, because they seemed so sensitive. He was worried that Yugi was going to take this personally now. Honda on the other hand, he knew Honda rarely took anything to heart when Jounouchi was angry- or hung over for that matter. "You guys just…" he decided there was no point in fighting with them anymore. "You guys just make me hate myself. Everyone respects you guys."

"Explain." Honda released Jounouchi, and sat on the bed.

"Yugi is respected by everyone he comes into contact with. He's a great duelist, he's a good person- he helps people. When I help people, they ignore that I did and say that I didn't do anything, or they give someone else all the credit- and it doesn't matter what place I get in any tournament. They always say I suck. Anzu, lots of people admire you in our class, and in other classes. Teachers trust you and respect you. The kids at school all hate me and use me as a scapegoat, and so do the teachers. They all think I'm just a bad kid. Honda, you're also respected by kids and teachers at the school. Ever notice when there was a problem the kids would go to YOU, but the only time anyone asked me for help was to get their revenge on some bullies? And you all have real families that care about you, and love you no matter what… I only have Shizuka, and she doesn't even know who I am anymore- that's the only reason she still likes me."

"That's not true, we respect you!" Yugi tried to comfort his best friend. In this little circle of friends, everyone cared about Jounouchi the most it seemed. He was Honda's best friend, Yugi's best friend, Mai's best friend (or more? It was up in the air now) and Anzu cared about him like he was her brother. When Jounouchi almost died in his battle with Marik, everyone was so scared for him. It was like the last straw for a lot of them- including him self. How could Jounouchi feel this way, when so many cared about him?

"Yea right, you guys really respect me. How many times did you guys doubt me during Battle City and Duelist Kingdom? You guys didn't think I could hear how many times you guys said I was going to lose or something? You guys made fun of me when Kaiba beat me- you weren't even there for me! You guys always told me to back down, or let someone else do it for me. You had no faith in me at all. You guys even forgot I was dueling in battle city half a dozen times!" Honda knew that last one was targeted at him mostly. He forgot several times- mostly because he was too busy with Shizuka.

"I'm sorry dude. We didn't know you felt that way- but we should have." Honda admitted. He knew all to well how fragile Jounouchi's ego was. It always seemed like Jounouchi as a bit full of himself, but that was a defense mechanism Jounouchi had been using since middle school. Talk yourself up, and hopefully people will believe you and back off. If people knew how low his self esteem actually was, well, Jounouchi would feel a little too vulnerable for comfort. Eventually the tough guy persona became who he was, although inside he was really unsure of himself. But he had to be cocky because a rule of survival was "always act like you're in control of every situation".

"Whatever." Jounouchi looked towards the door, arms crossed. He sighed, knowing he was going to have to make peace with them really quick if he ever wanted to get out of there. "Kay, look guys, I see that this…" he pointed to the mess in Yugi's room "…is inappropriate, and I never should have gotten like that, I'm sorry."

"Well, are you going to do this stuff again?" Anzu asked. Jounouchi smiled, and patted her cheek, before leaving the room. No one tried to stop him this time. "What, was that a no?"

"I think it was a 'prolly will, but let me worry bout it' if I ever saw one." Honda sighed, watching his friend walk down the street from Yugi's window. "There's just no helping this kid."

"We'll have to keep trying." Yugi stood up, as if he was ready to run after the blond.

"That is of we ever see him again…" Honda muttered.