Forbidden Fruit
by: Wareta Shooki
Important authoress's notes at bottom.
Thanks to all who've reviewed.
I own the song "Trickling Echoes" which I wrote some three weeks ago for this fanfic.
Go to the prologue for the disclaimer on everything else.
Forbidden Fruit
Chapter 6
Making Amends
The birds sang
And the animals played
But all I ever heard
Was the voice saying I should have stayed.
Jounouchi sat alone in Domino City Park, the bench beneath him cold but comforting - slightly. But as he continued to sit and stare at the ground, hands clasped before him, arms resting solely on his thighs, he felt the anger he'd had towards Kaiba melt away. The inexplicable anger he'd felt only five minutes before was leaving and he wished more than anything it had left sooner. However, the evil little voice in his mind (A/N: We all have one of these!) said he should still be mad at him. And he had every right. After all, the brunette had called him a whore, completely unprovoked and everything.
Jounouchi sat alone in Domino City Park, the bench beneath him cold but comforting - slightly. But as he continued to sit and stare at the ground, hands clasped before him, arms resting solely on his thighs, he felt the anger he'd had towards Kaiba melt away. The inexplicable anger he'd felt only five minutes before was leaving and he wished more than anything it had left sooner. However, the evil little voice in his mind (A/N: We all have one of these!) said he should still be mad at him. And he had every right. After all, the brunette called him a whore, completely unprovoked and everything.He coughed then sneezed and leaned back against the bench, his honey-brown eyes slowly bleeding back to amber and flickering. Finally they settled on a look of pure, dark honey with no traces of the brown that had been there since his birth. It was the only thing that really linked him to his Mother. Shizuka had been lucky, but not him. . . .His looks were his father's when the man had been in shape, had a job, and had everything going for him. Now - well now he was fat, ugly, and stunk to high heaven.
He sighed. Life just never turned out the way he wanted it to. Not with his family, and not with the relationships he found he actually wanted to continue but could never make them work. He feared getting hurt, so instead, he hurt the other and made them push away. But this time. . . .He'd been the one to feeling guilty, been the one to yell and bitch and holler, and he had been the one to storm out. Why? was the only question that kept yelling the loudest in his mind. Over, and over, and over again.
And I sat alone,
In some desolate park.
Wondering how it all happened
And why I was still in the dark.
Briskly, Jounouchi rose from the bench, slipping his hands in the pockets of his jeans and walking down a well worn path that he'd memorized at such a young age. He'd been no older than seven when he and Shizuka had come exploring. Yet now. . . after everything had past, after all the good memories this path used to hold. It was all gone, washed away by the bad reasons he'd come here. He'd come here to get away, to hide, and now. . . Well now he didn't want to hide anymore but he was so afraid.
What if Kaiba really did hate him now? What if he'd been the wrong one to further shatter the brunette's destroyed sense of safety in his own home? As another 'what if' formed, the blonde stopped it, not willing to bring himself to believe that Kaiba would hate him for one measly fight. It didn't matter really, that Kaiba would no longer be safe, anywhere for some time, and yet. . . He had this nagging feeling like he was missing something.
Like there was something out there that would complete this whole damn puzzle and his life would look up again. Hell, he and Kaiba hadn't been dating for more than three days and they'd already had a big fight, the brunette had already gotten attacked, nearly killed, and Mokuba was still unconscious. A sigh escaped his lips and it was a sound more of pain than of anything else. Life was just too cruel and he was truly beginning to hate it.
But your eyes kept haunting me
Kept returning like a broken dream.
Your whispered words echoed in me
Like an ever flowing stream.
Feeling alone, cold, and unexplainably guilty, Jounouchi continued down that well worn path, his head bowed and brilliant eyes shadowed by his unruly golden bangs. The wind picked up, whispering to him of the coming night and he knew he didn't want to be stuck here when nightly fully fell. So as he lifted his gaze he saw he'd found his way back to the front of the park and he sighed heavily. He couldn't return home, he couldn't go to Yuugi's or the others' houses to stay, and he couldn't really go anywhere else.
So, having made up his mind, Jounouchi began the long trek back to Domino Hospital. The cars whizzed past him, naught but blurs to his sharp eyes, naught but loud noise-makers he just couldn't get to shut up. Sighing once again for what had to be the millionth time in a space of ten minutes, he crossed the road, not really noticing anything when a car beeped at him just as he made it onto the sidewalk on the other side. He didn't hear it, never would hear it, and just plain didn't care.
His heart felt heavy and sore, like someone had taken up a splintered bat and continuously beat him with it. Over and over until his heart was black and blue from the bruises. He blanched when he imagined how Kaiba must be feeling. What if he was asleep and everyone else had gone home and that attacker came to his room? What would he do if Kaiba was murdered? Simple, he thought darkly, I'll make them pay for it with their own lives. Clearly, his mind was set in 'protective mode' for Kaiba and any other person he cared for deeply.
These are the trickling echoes
That lie somewhere beyond this madness
And I keep searching
For a way out of this hopelessness.
Looking up at a sudden loud screech from some moron burning his tires on the road, he saw that Domino Hospital was only one block over. Sending a prayer to whatever Gods were listening, he ran across the street, making sure no cars were coming and calmly walked the rest of the way to the front doors. Stepping from the now twilight-darkness into the full, blinding light of the hospital's lobby, he fought the odd urge to hiss.
Walking up to the front desk, he stared into the brown eyes of a typical looking Japanese woman who smiled at him and said, "May I help you?"
He nodded barely. "Yeah, my name's Katsuya Jounouchi. I'm here to see Seto Kaiba."
It stretches on for endless time
A yell, a scream, for pure serenity.
I want to have it, but I can't
And so I'll just keep the memory.
Her brown eyes sparkled and she stood up, smiling brightly and leading him to room 713, the very room he'd been in earlier that morning, earlier that afternoon and now felt condemned to return to. Thanking her politely, he ignored the odd look his friends were giving him and slipped inside Kaiba's room, noting instantly by the silence that the young CEO was sleeping.
Taken aback by this new sight and form of Kaiba, Jounouchi sat down in the chair he'd moved earlier, never pausing to wonder as to why it hadn't been moved. Sitting there, in that silent room, staring at a peacefully sleeping Kaiba, his mind began to wander, began to wonder so many things. It ran through possibilities from along the lines of a family with Kaiba, to never seeing the seventeen-year-old brunette sleeping this peacefully again.
Shaking the rather nasty thoughts from his head, he reached out and tentatively touched Kaiba's left hand which was above the covers, looking so pale against the deep, dark blue sheets. His dark honey-coloured eyes glanced to the heart monitor by the bed and felt an odd sense of relief when he saw it was steady and normal. Shivering slightly, involuntarily more than anything else, he bowed his head, his eyes falling closed. It didn't bother him that just touching the brunette made all his fears and doubts, all his insecurities just - disappear, as if they'd never even been there in the first place.
I keep hearing this voice whisper
"It's silent now, it's okay."
And I keep wondering why it sounds like you
So I whisper back, "Let's play."
"Kaiba. . ." He murmured, not even noticing that his friends were looking in the window on the far wall in front of him, to the right of Kaiba's bed and beside the door. He held that limp hand in his own, almost like someone from a soap opera would do to a coma patient, as he rubbed the back of Kaiba's hand with his thumb. The other boy never moved and he sighed, feeling even more guilt come over him.
"I'm sorry. I was a jerk before. . . But I was worried, still am, that you'll get hurt again. Just that this time, you won't be so lucky. Gods, you don't know how scared I was when I got that call from Yami. Damn it, Kaiba, it felt like my world had died. Really it did. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why it felt that way." Jounouchi paused, his thumb no longer rubbing the back of Kaiba's hand, his eyes no longer closed, but open and staring at nothing and everything all at once.
"I want to be able to see you smile. Truly smile. Though. . . I might shit a brick or something when I first see it, I still want to see it. I want to see Mokuba grow up and take over KaibaCorp when you're old and can hardly move. I want so much, Kaiba, that I've never had nor wanted before. . . .Yet, now -" He trailed off and bowed his head so his bangs completely shadowed his eyes, those orbs closed tightly to hold back something almost. "Now I can't ever imagine leaving your side." He finished, his voice barely shaking, but if one listened and looked hard enough. . . they'd know why it was shaking, if only slightly.
These are the trickling echoes
That lie somewhere beyond this madness
And I keep searching
For a way out of this hopelessness.
For a long time, Jounouchi didn't move. Even when a pair of icy midnight eyes opened after he'd finished speaking to who he thought was his sleeping boyfriend, he remained still and silent. It was only when Kaiba felt something cool and wet hit the back of his hand did he realize what was wrong. And he looked harder at the unnaturally still blonde. His shoulders barely shook and his body was extremely tense so as not to move.
Why - why had he come back? Shoving the thought away, Kaiba gently squeezed the blonde's hand, smiling when wide honey-brown eyes shot up to stare at him directly. They shimmered and danced, though there was obviously no light in the world that could make them look like that. Unbidden thoughts of the blonde beneath him, writhing in passion and those wide eyes staring at him exactly like they were now flashed before his mind's eye. He shivered and reached out his other hand, a gesture of the blonde to 'come here.'
Complying without protest, Jounouchi laid beside the brunette on the hospital bed, his face buried the in the other's chest, mindful of his wound and hoping he hadn't hurt him when he'd laid down. He felt Kaiba slip an arm around his shoulders, letting Jou snuggle into the crook of his arm, his other still holding Jounouchi's hand. How long the two simply lay like that, one holding the other, neither knew and didn't really care. The silence was no longer so thick it was unbearable, but now it was a silence that was comforting and enjoyable.
I'll make up for everything I've done
The good and the bad.
Just as long as I can look at you
And never again feel so sad.
As the silence stretched on for what felt like hours until finally, Jounouchi sat up slightly, his hand moving from Kaiba's to rest on the other side of him so the blonde was half on top of the other, his eyes locking onto those icy midnight eyes that had become liquefied pools of soft indigo. He leaned closer to the brunette subconsciously, drawn in by that stare alone, and something much more.
"Are you still mad at me?" Jounouchi asked, brushing his lips softly against Kaiba's.
The other simply smirked. "If you stop teasing and kiss me, I'll think about it."
Jounouchi laughed at that and pressed his lips firmly to the other's. He pulled back after a few moments of passionate kissing to stare at Kaiba, his eyes holding something even the blonde couldn't explain in their depths. It danced and it echoed and the CEO felt himself drowning in that emotion alone, wanting to explore it and so much more.
Kaiba leaned up, wincing slightly as pain shot up his chest once again, but he ignored it, kissing the blonde's ear, nipping at it and pulling him down, closer so he didn't have to lift off the bed. Jounouchi chuckled, but it sounded strained, but complied otherwise. A soft moan escaped Jounouchi's lips when Kaiba nipped his neck, sucking on the big pulse-point that was now echoing his heart which was beating a mile a minute.
Pulling back, the young CEO smirked, his eyes telling a different story. Jounouchi returned that smirk, his honey-brown eyes dancing dangerously and he thrust his hips down against Kaiba's, enjoying the deep throated moan that came in response. When he leaned in and kissed the other deeply, their tongues meeting in an angry dance for dominance once more, he moved his hips once again, feeling Kaiba's right hand dart up his shirt and press against the heated skin that lay beneath.
"You're warm. Perhaps you've come down with a fever, puppy." Kaiba teased, breaking the kiss to nip and suck at the blonde's neck once again. "Maybe you should see a doctor."
The blonde scoffed in return. "The only doctor I want to see me right now is currently laying beneath me." Was the half-purred reply.
My heart's healing
And you're asking me to come home.
Yet I thought for a moment to turn away
Because I never felt so alone.
Kaiba groaned softly, collapsing back on the pillows, staring up at the blonde, his eyes dancing withwhatone might consider mirth. But anyone who didn't know the more playful side of Kaiba (or that one even existed for that matter) would take one quick look, do a double-take, followed by an impression of a demented looking blow-fish and promptly run off screaming bloody murder. Jounouchi leaned down and tilted his head to the side, kissing Kaiba's neck as that hand twitched against his stomach.
"Get them to let me leave this damned room and place and perhaps. . . We can play doctor?" Kaiba whispered in Jounouchi's ear, licking the lobe before nibbling it slightly. The other shivered and froze when his words fully sank in.
"You're serious?" Jounouchi asked incredulously.
Kaiba shrugged then laughed softly, barely coherent, when the blonde scrambled off him and headed to the door. He felt there was no need to ask the question that came to mind, but he really had to know, just one of the nagging little things people do. He was human (for the most part) and therefore was liable to be ignorant and stupid at some point or another. This just happened to be that point.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
The blonde smirked mischievously at him. "To find a way to get you out of here without having my ass chased by a horde of doctors and nurses." Was the coy reply before the blonde disappeared through the door. Kaiba collapsed against the pillows on his bed and sighed, staring at the midnight border that surrounded the walls of his hospital room. It was almost unnerving how he'd never noticed that before. At least it had some decoration.
Some time later, he heard whooping and hollering. It caused him to smile and then - for the first time in years - he felt nervousness flood him like a tsunami had crashed into him. This was it. Here was hoping he was up to the job. . . . .Or - task for lack of better, nicer, terms.
And here was also hoping he wasn't terrible.
The birds sang,
And the animals played.
I chose to go back to you
And I'm glad I stayed.
End Chapter 6 of Forbidden Fruit
Okay, here is the important notice! There will be adult scenes in the next chapter, however, the well demanded (I emphasize that word more than any of you know) lemon won't happen until later. Why? Because the evil F - person - has yet to reveal his or her true plans to Jou, Kaiba, and the Yuugi-tachi. But don't worry, and don't hurt me, because the evil won't destroy the wonderful romance between the two love-sick ex-archenemies.
However, that doesn't mean I won't try. :she chuckles and ducks a well aimed tomato: Hey! I demand to know who threw that!
Jou: . . . . :looks completely innocent, whistling even to emphasize the point of said innocence:
Kaiba: Moron puppy.
:pales slightly: Okay, ignore them, they're having. . . sexual tension issues. Anyway, moving on :she absently ducks another tomato, this time directing her glare to Kaiba who's whistling: Pushy bastards, the both of you!
Thanks to all who reviewed, and I hope you will all stick with me for the next chapter and the adult scenes that are to follow. . . And the well awaited lemon that - isn't for another few chapters.
Oh, and Malia, I will update if only you teleport those boxes upon boxes of cookies to my house. I live :gets attacked by Jiro and she sighs: Just leave them in my review in-box and I'll get them that way.
Arigatou, minna-san!
-Wareta Shooki
Last Edited 2 / 23 / 05
