Disclaimer: I'm a cheap student who begs her mom to buy milk tea. Does it look like I would have enough money to own Yu-Gi-Oh?

Summary: Because of Jou's grades, a teacher has assigned Seto Kaiba to be his tutor after school to improve his grades. Jou likes Seto, but is too shy to say anything. Valentine's Day is coming up, and Yugi thinks Seto likes Jou too! Jou doesn't believe so he comes up with a plan to find out if Yugi is right or not…


The Good Kind of Losing

Confessing Hidden Feelings Kept Away


If Jou thought the room was silent before or if he thought that the question he asked earlier on "does he like you" was bad, he spoke too soon. The question obviously hit Kaiba harder than Jou thought it would and judging by the look of his face, it didn't look like he was expecting it.

Jou's eyes never left the CEO's. He was waiting for a response, any kind of response, if there was any at all. It was hard to tell. Kaiba had been known for masking and keeping his feelings and true thoughts inside without ever revealing it to another live human being. But hey, Jou could try.

Kaiba buried his face in his hands for a moment, leaving Jou scared and unsure of what to do. He could always take the question back and ask another less frightening question, but that would make him a coward, wouldn't it? A coward that was too afraid to face his fears—and in this case, it was the fear of being rejected by Seto Kaiba because he liked someone better—and would rather live in denial and just hope, dream, and think about it at night.

He could do that, but he would never be able to forgive himself. He spent so many nights thinking about it that it drove him crazy. Sometimes, Jou would think that there was something there and other times, he thought Kaiba was just toying with him like usual.

Looking at Kaiba, Jou realized that even though at first he thought it was a master, a genius, a fool proof plan, it wasn't at all. It was anything but fool proof. This wasn't supposed to happen. All he had imagined was Kaiba liking some blonde cheerleader. Now that he had finally asked the question, it hit him: He wanted to be the person Kaiba wanted so badly it hurt. He had gotten his hopes up so high that it was practically in space orbiting with the other planets around the sun. And in just one word, in just one moment, in just one second, it could all come tumbling down.

Would that be any better? Truly knowing the truth or just think about it wishfully at night? In the end, which did he truly want? The chance for Kaiba to reject him once and for all, damage the friendship or relationship they had steadily made over the weeks, or to just forget about it and going back to the way things were, before today.

Jou could walk away now so that Kaiba wouldn't piece the puzzles together and realize that he did all that and asked all those questions to see if the person was Jou. If he stuck around, he was sure that he would reveal his true feelings to him, and Jou wasn't sure he was up to the task and confronting him about it.

Suddenly, he wished he could have an alcoholic drink right now. Maybe a Pina Colada. He could use it right about now.

"Get out."

Kaiba's words were quiet, short, and firm. Jou's head shot up in surprise, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked at him, Kaiba's eyes no longer like before and now showing anger, true anger for some reason that Jou didn't know.

"What?" Jou asked, in shock. What just happened? Did Kaiba just tell Jou to get out, after all the torture that he had put himself through, after what Kaiba put him through?

"You heard me. Get out. I'm done with this stupid game of yours. I have work to do," his tone was deadly cold and life threatening. Had Jou been any weaker, he would have backed down and left, especially when Kaiba turned his back and started to walk towards the door, trying to exit the room.

Now, Jou was certain that he had heard correctly. No one, not even someone as dense and stupid as he was, could miss hearing that. Jou stood up and started walking after him, hurrying to the door that was closing behind him.

"Kaiba, wait," Jou shouted down the hall, running to catch up to the extremely long legged and fast Kaiba, who was waiting for the elevator. Luckily for Jou, one of the elevators was probably stuck in the very first floor and was taking its sweet time getting up to the highest floor of Kaiba Corp, fifty-seventh floor. But unfortunately, another just opened up.

Jou grabbed Kaiba's arm when he tried to get inside the empty elevator. Kaiba scowled at him, trying to break free from Jou's strong grip. Jou, stubborn as always, kept on holding his arm for all it's worth, knowing that when he let go, he would have lost his chance, his only chance, of getting the answer from Kaiba.

He will not leave the building without getting an answer. Screw the consequences, he wanted to find out now and wanted to get the facts from the source from itself. Not Yugi, not his own wishful thoughts, but Kaiba.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of my arm," he hissed at him, stopped the doors from closing. He yanked it once more, but Jou still hung on.

"No, not until get what I came here for," Jou spoke, pigheadedly and starting to become angry. "Look, I did not drag myself all the way here, about an hour away from my house just to play games. You think I thought of the game just to prove Yugi wrong or just to win some stupid bet? Then you thought wrong. I came here to find out what I just asked you and you sure as hell better give me your damn answer."

He was now angry, livid, beyond mad. His voice certainly portrayed it. Kaiba stopped struggling for a moment at the sudden change of tone. Kaiba looked straight into Jou's fierce and fuming eyes, not backing down or showing any signs of changing his mind.

"Why does it matter? It's all just a game to you, that's all it was. It doesn't matter, and it never will. Especially not to you. Why do you even care? I have never been your number one priority on your list. I thought I was your sworn enemy, remember? Or did you forget all the things that happened? You come in here, thinking we're friends and coming up with that stupid idiotic amusement of yours to pass the time. You shouldn't care. I don't know why you want to know so badly. You just want to taunt me don't you? Humiliate me? Blackmail me? Why else would you want to know? As far as I'm concerned here, this has nothing to do with you and I am so sorry that I ever agreed to it to begin with."

Kaiba finished, throwing out his last words with more resentment and rage than the others. Jou wasn't sure what hurt him the most. The part where he basically told him that they would never be friends and never were or the "you shouldn't care" part.

Actually, the whole thing hurt him. He felt like crying. And Katasuya Jounouchi never felt like crying. Not since Serenity was taken away from him. It… was not good for him. It was a horrible feeling to want to lock yourself in a dark room, curl up and just cry until you couldn't anymore.

That was what Jou felt like doing.

Jou leaned closer to Kaiba's face, blinking back the tears so that Kaiba wouldn't get the satisfaction. He may have been stupid enough to allow himself to feel so hurt and betrayed even though he really wasn't, but he wasn't stupid enough to cry and let Kaiba see. No, no way. He would rather die than let him see that.

"Oh, I shouldn't care right? Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't care. I shouldn't care who you like, I shouldn't care about being stressed out too much because of the company, or whether or not you have eaten at lunch at school. I shouldn't, yet I do anyway." He laughed bitterly even though there was nothing funny about the situation. "Yet I do anyway. You want to know why, Seto Kaiba? Why I worry so much? Why I thought of the game? Why I wanted to know so badly? And why I want the answers I came to find so badly?"

"I don't care for what you have to say. Let. Go. Of. My. Arm."

Jou tugged his arm again to keep Kaiba from slipping away into the elevator, which was still being stopped by Kaiba's foot from closing. "Well, guess what, you're going to hear it anyway because I care. I care that you hear it. You may not, but I do. So listen closely because after today, I'm never mentioning this to you again and you may as well consider this the last time I ever worry or talk or even think about you."

"You think I shouldn't care about you and you're right, I agree. But I do anyway. I thought of this stupid idea not to prove Yugi wrong or anything but to see if there was anything there that I thought there was. To see if I was just imagining it or if really was real. I wanted to find out who you liked and I wanted to see whether or not you do like me. There are some days where I think you do and some others where I'm not sure. It's to tell with you. I wonder about it every damn night about it and you say that we're sworn enemies? I care about you. I worry for you. And, for whatever reason, I might even be starting to love you. I never felt this way about anyone before. Not even with Mai. You don't have to worry, I don't love you yet. And I won't because I'm going to stop myself from doing so. And you have to think about why is it that I care and what my true reasons are for doing so. You know what? You should have just said 'No, I do not like you' or even 'Why would I ever like a worthless mutt like you'. That would have been better but no, you had to prolong my misery and just walk away like that. It was an easy question, Kaiba."

Jou let go of his arm and Kaiba pulled it back, but didn't move. His feet remained on the very spot he was still in and he was still staring into Jou's eyes without breaking the gaze they had.

"But I guess you answered it for me, didn't you?" Jou asked, not really expecting an answer back, quietly. "You told me everything I needed to hear right there. I'm sorry I wasted your precious time. I'll never bother you again. I only wished that you didn't have to lead me on like that, leading me to believe we were friends when you yourself just admitted that we're enemies and that is all we'll ever be."

Jou took a step back when he heard a DING! and an another elevator opened up, with a young woman in a nice black blouse and skirt coming out. She stopped when she saw the two gentlemen there and she decided to break their silence by saying, "Mr. Kaiba? You had an important phone call on line two. I'll be dropping off a few papers on your desk," waving papers in the air.

Kaiba nodded curtly at her, and she smiled politely and started to walk towards Kaiba's office. Kaiba turned to Jou with somewhat a shocked yet still hostile expression towards him. He looked sort of speechless, as speechless as Seto Kaiba could possibly look.

He opened his mouth, but Jou stopped him by quickly saying, "Don't." He hurried to the other elevator just as it was closing. Inside, just as the door was closing, he heard Kaiba say something, but wasn't sure what he said. Jou thought he might have heard Kaiba actually say, "Stop," but that could be Jou's hoping.

The door closed finally and Jou collapsed onto the floor, not caring how dirty the elevator may be. Jou's eyes, who was now at the point of letting the tears come, finally did and it started to trail down his cheeks.

It was okay, he had a long way to go. By the time he reached the first floor, he would be done crying and he would be over Seto Kaiba. Yes, over that cruel, heartless bastard. He would not care anymore. He will forget about today and forget all the others time he spent with him.

Seto Kaiba would be out of his life, for good.


The End.

Just kidding! I like this fanfiction too much to make it a sad ending! I invested so much in this, there is no way that Seto and Jou not get together. So rest assured, they will have an ending they deserve. At first, I was going to make the story end today with a good ending, but one reviewer suggested to make it dramatic or something? So… yeah!

Sorry, this is the shortest chapter I have written! Grr… I was trying to hit a certain mark but… oh well, better short than S T R E T C H E D out right? And I'm sorry it took so long. With testing, and spring break, I didn't realize that twenty days had gone by! Wow!

Thanks for the reviews! I love you ALL and I appreciate ever single one.

Check out my other stories… and remember to review! Last chapter coming up soon! (Well, as soon as I figure out how to end it and as soon as I type it up that is)

-lilrubydevil-