Chapter 2

What happened: Ok, Jounouchi decided to run from home for all the beatings he was getting from his father. Old Lady Karu wants him to go back to her house after school. Now he is walking to school with Honda. Which guy should hit on Jou first? Please vote. Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, Seto, Honda, Otogi, Malik, Marik, someone else, and OC you guys want put in?

"Hey Jou, where yah been?"

"Hi Honda."

"Hey man, what happened to your face?" Honda asked as he observed the large bruise on Jou's face.

Jou frantically searched his mind for an excuse. 'Damn, I should have thought of this earlier.' He thought as he looked at the worry written across Honda Hiroto's face. He knew that Honda had been suspecting his father beating him for awhile, but he never told. "I tripped last night over the kitchen rug and hit my head on the counter is all."

"Oh." Honda sighed as his the worry washed from his face. He knew Jou wasn't telling him something, but he couldn't pinpoint what. "Come on Jou. School will be starting soon. And Anzu threatened to kill us if we ever happen to be late again." He mocked as he posed as Anzu and mocked her with a high pitched voice.

"Uh oh. Anzu and friendship speech-alert. Run!" Jou screamed as he grabbed Honda's arm and made a break for the school.

"Hey Yugi, there they are!" Anzu shrieked as she watched golden blonde and chocolate brown hair duck behind a tree. "Come on, I have a speech for debate class, and I need you guys to tell me how it is."

Yugi opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off as he was abruptly dragged across the street. He whimpered in protest but still had no effect on the pushy girl. Finally he went along. "I'd come out guys. You already know she's found you." He said quietly as he looked behind the tree, smirking.

"Yeah guys. She would just get you later anyway." A deep voice said from behind.

Jou turned around and glared daggers a Yami. "How long have you been near school?"

"About ten minutes now. I have been waiting for you all to show up." Yami said as he bent down and grabbed Jou's face. "How did this happen Jou?" He asked concerned.

"He says that he smacked his head on the kitchen counter when he tripped over the kitchen rug." Honda replied as he stood up and looked around the tree hastily. Finding Anzu observing her nails waiting for them to come out of hiding. "She's still there guys. What do we do?"

"The school is right behind us Honda. Why don't we just go their now?" Yugi asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Lets go." Jou hissed, a shooting pain going through his back as he slowly stood and started in that direction clutching his book bag at his side.

"Hey Jou. Something wrong with your shoulder?" Yugi pointed out as he noticed Jou didn't have his bag slung over his shoulder as usual. "Something happen?"

"Hmm, oh yeah. But I'll be as right as rain tomorrow. My shoulder is somewhat sore from when Kaiba pushed me into the wall yesterday is all."

"Ok. If you are sure, come on the bell is about to ring." Yami pointed out as they made a dash for the doors. Making it into their first period class a few seconds before the bell. "Hey, where the hell is the teacher?"

"We have a sub today." A cheery voice answered from behind. They turned to find the holder of the voice was Ryou. "Oh Jou! What happened?"

'Can people please stop asking me that already?' He asked himself as he told Ryou his reason with the counter, again. "I'll be fine, no need to worry, promise." He said, holding up a hand to Ryou before he could respond.

"Ok class. Settle down… Class will begin shortly." The teacher, Mr. Kujaki said as he took his seat at the head of the class.

Jou and the others grumbled slightly before shooting glares at Ryou. "You could have told us we had the fruitcake Ryou." Honda muttered as he looked around the class. "And where the heck is Bakura?"

"Behind my hikari, where else would I be antenna hair." Bakura smirked at his reply, and also the reaction he was getting from the brown-haired boy. "Oh, I struck a nerve?"

"Shut up Bakura. Class is about to start, I should have never let you out of the Sennen Ring." Ryou hissed as he looked at the door to see Anzu stumbling in, Malik and Marik right behind her. He sighed as he heard Bakura mutter something about the psycho coming out of his sennen item just to bug them.

"And where have you three been?" The teacher asked, before receiving dumb and blank looks from the three. "Never mind, take your seats and prepare for your assignment." Meanwhile Kaiba sat in the back of the classroom reading one of his books. "Mr. Kaiba, would you please open up to page 243 please. You need to do this assignment as well."

Kaiba just snorted while pulling out his textbook, smirking as he looked over the assignment, this would be way to easy. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote all the answers on it perfectly before turning it in and going back to his book. 'Hn, how did that puppy finish right after me?' he thought as he watched Jou stand up and hand in his work. 'That damn mutt. Maybe he isn't so dumb.'

Long after that the bell rang to signal the end of school. Which Jou cringed at the sound, wishing school would last just a bit longer. "Hey Jou. Are you coming over to the game shop with the rest of us?" Yugi asked hopefully as him, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, Honda, Malik, Marik, and of course Anzu, were all heading to the door ready to go. "Well?"

"Uhhh…" Jou stuttered as he looked from his friends to the direction of his house. 'Would old Karu mind if I was home a bit late?' He wondered. 'Nah.' "Sure yeah, I'm coming!"

They all walked out of the school and down the street heading for Yugi's house.

Meanwhile at old Lady Karu's. "No! Please, don't come any closer, please!" She screamed as rolled back into a corner shielding her face from the pistol that was pointed at her. "What do you want?"

"For you to die!" The masked man said slowly as he shot the gun repeatedly at her head. He shot her eight time before being satisfied, turned and left Old Lady Karu in a pool of blood around her lifeless form. "Yah old hag."