UNLIKELY

Chapter Two

She didn't even know his name. Damn, damn, damn. She feels stupid, too. He must be wondering why she's even doing this for him. Either that or he assumes its because she's smitten with him, and then he's a cocky bastard. Well . . .

Damn it, Yumiko, she chides herself, you think too much!

Seeing someone that damn cute has made almost her regret her decision. But no, a flicker of her father's face flashes before her and she forgets all thoughts of repenting. Yumiko, sighs and turns to the teenager in the seat next to her. "So, what's your name?" she asks politely, trying to spark some sort of conversation between them to break the silence.

"Shizuka," the girl answers simply, not looking over at Yumiko. The girl reaches over to radio dial and beings fumbling with it. Yumiko looks nervously, unsure what music she will have to survive through the rest of the ride through. The girl looks annoyingly like the type who would—

And of course, Shizuka chooses the worst possible music. A bobbing, bouncy song full of love and happiness. The high voice and lively melody makes her want to step on the brakes and kill the dial. A hammer would work, but if she really hand to, she could probably pull apart with her bare hands.

But then again, politeness's the rule, is it not? She had learned that when under extreme pressure (and if this isn't pressure, what is?) you must remain civil. Why had her father chosen the extremely polite-crazed governess? After several deep breathes she tries to instigate some dialogue once again. And then she takes some more deep breathes.

"How old are you anyway? Sixteen?" She grins at the girl, flashing Shizuka an affable glance before turning back to the road. The look she got back from the girl was far from amiable. In fact, it was mostly hatred. Either that, or deep dislike. Both are unexpected and remarkably unanticipated. Wasn't the be-civil thing cool anymore? Was being a bitch in? Yumiko can now think of two targets for that hammer . . .

She sighs deeply before swiftly turning lanes. Then she builds up her resolve and asks as politely as she can, "Why do you dislike me? You barely know me."

"You barely know my brother and you're already playing with him. He's not a dog, you know. I think too many people make that assumption." She says this coldly and Yumiko raises a thin eyebrow at her words. Dog? Well . . . hmmm . . . this girl's odd, isn't she?

"And who says I'm planning on playing with him, in any sense of the word?" Her eyes flick over the signs popping up every so often, searching for the one says Domino. She can see herself playing chess with him maybe . . . or tag, if he's into that sort of thing.

"Oh, please. As if it's not easy to read that look on your face. It's the same expression almost everyone uses on my brother. And of course he's blind to it all." Yumiko doesn't exactly catch the act of Shizuka rolling her eyes, but from her tone of voice, it's apparent that's what she's doing. God, what is with her, she thinks, beginning to get extremely annoyed. What look? A friendly look? Would she rather if Yumiko acted snotty and flounced about, ignoring him as if he were trash?

"Well, I'm not going to play with your brother. No matter how adorable he is." She can't help it. This little girl is irritating her so badly, she feels the need to get back at her somehow. The thin, not-so-innocent smile emerging on her face seems unconscious and she looks surprised when Shizuka grunts a gruff, "I told you so."

"Did I say that out loud?" Shizuka grunt noncommittally and doesn't answer any more than that. Yumiko holds back a chuckle. Score: Yumiko, one; Shizuka, zero.

"Look, I can't play with him anyway . . .because, well, I'm engaged." She gently wiggles the large ring on her hand, glancing at it for a moment as it gleams in the sunlight. She hates it. It's too big, too blunky, too obvious. Anyone who knew her at all would know what whoever had given it to her did know her at all. So the fact that it's her engagement ring doesn't really show her fiancé's undying love for her.

Shizuka's gaze is caught on the ring and she can't believe she missed it before. It's huge, and Shizuka is sure that whomever this woman's marrying, he must be filthy rich. The stone is a deep blue, and it shimmers as if it's got ocean in it, with mysterious deeps and sunlit reflections on the water's surface. On the gold surrounding the stone, various designs are etched in deeply, practically pulsing ancient power.

"He said it originated in Egypt, and was carved by ancient priest who planned on putting its power in a card. It's power was too haphazard though that they trapped it in this ring, which has held it for years, and years." She coughs lightly, as if to dismiss this theory completely. "I just think its lovely." She coughs again, trying to cover up the fact she thinks quite the opposite.

Shizuka nods silently, forgetting that she is supposed to hate this woman. An angry expression materializes on her face once again as soon as she remembers, and the ride gets quiet again. Neither of the two speak for the remaining of the ride. Yumiko thanks every god she can think off for this small pleasure.

Jounouchi and Otogi ride in almost complete silence, deep in their own thoughts, gazing into the horizon ahead of them without really seeing it. Then Otogi speaks and Jounouchi is nudged from his intense thoughts. If by intense you mean food and semi-perverted thoughts (complete separate thoughts, mind you).

"You've never really liked the fact that I'm going out with Shizuka, have you?" His voice is soft. Why is Otogi being so nice all of a sudden! It's beginning to getting very irritating.

"I can't say I have." Jounouchi answers bluntly, his hands tightening on the handles. "I suppose I always expected her to see Honda in that way. I thought she did, for some time. But you came along and kind of pushed him aside. I mean, you had something Honda couldn't possibly hope to have, well, several things, actually. . . Why do you ask?"

"I've been thinking lately . . ." he begins, but Jounouchi interrupts him with a swift bit of wit.

"Oh, and that's always dangerous." He grins in spite of himself and Otogi winces at being caught so quickly in that trap.

"Maybe Shizuka isn't right for me. We're so different and she's so . . .well, you know. Of course you know, you're her brother and you know how incredible she is. And I'm . . . I'm not like that. And maybe she would be better suited with Honda. I mean, he's always had that shining armor knight quality. Not counting that time he spent in a gang, that wasn't very knightly of him . . . I mean . . . That's one trait I've never quite been able to grasp." He sighs, but doesn't continue; even though it's obvious he's got more in his head.

There's doubt in that spiky-haired head of his? There's angst? GASP!

Jounouchi doesn't answer right away, the thoughts slowly running through his head, and he tries to come up with a reasonable response. At last it comes together—kind of—and he replies, "Yeah, Shizuka's fantastic. And she's always had great judgment. I don't expect to know what's best for her. I mean, if she'd told me to choose who she should fall for, I'd have chosen Honda over you in a moment—no offense. But seeing you two together . . . like this, well, it changes my mind a bit. I still like Honda much more than I like you, though, don't assume differently, but maybe you are better suited for my sister than he is. I mean, you make her happy. What more does she need than that?"

Yes! Score one for Team Jounouchi! See, he can be helpful.

Otogi smiles gratefully, but Jounouchi doesn't see it, his eyes still on the road. But he catches onto the thankful silence that follows his words and realizes he really has said the right thing for once.

"So, what about her?" Otogi asks, talking about the woman who had offered to take Shizuka back to Domino, obviously. "Where do you know her from?"

It finally dawns on Jounouchi that he doesn't know that woman at all, and that Shizuka is riding with a complete stranger. He'd begun to feel that he'd known that woman a lot longer than he actually had. Shit.

He didn't even know her name. He panics for a couple of seconds and Otogi feels Jounouchi tense in front of him. "Chill, Jou. I see her car—I mean how can you miss it?—up there. She's safe. But still, I'm guessing from your reaction, you don't know her, and also that you've just realized that. You better not be repeating the Mai thing—"

"What Mai thing!" Jounouchi asks furiously, his fists tightening over the handlebars. "There was no Mai thing! I just . . . it was a phase, okay? I'm over her. And when I first met her, I would have never let her drive Shizuka anywhere! I thought she was a whore when I felt met her, which has nothing to do with this conversation, so pretend I didn't say it." His fury practically radiates from him in waves, but Otogi doesn't need to feel that to know he's angry. Jounouchi is stumbling over his words rather badly—Otogi is smirking behind a subtly placed hand—which he only does when he's angry.

Otogi almost puts up his hands defensively before realizing he would fall off the bike and onto the highway if he did. That thought doesn't look especially appealing so he decides otherwise. "Look, I didn't mean anything by it. I just don't think your sister would appreciate going through that whole phase again. "

"Right. Like my thing with Mai affected her a bit. She loved Mai. She liked that I was going out with her. And anyway, I didn't tell her everything. I doubt she even noticed." Jounouchi's defensiveness is getting heavier. He can't be that thick, can he, Otogi wonders.

"Of course she knew, you fucking idiot!" Otogi kicks the motorcycle with his leg in his irritation. The motorcycle makes a small vibrating noise for a second, and Jounouchi grunts as if Otogi just caused him physical pain. He promises the bike to look it over later. Note to self: never let Otogi near baby again.

"She didn't know." Jounouchi replies firmly.

"Oh yeah? How didn't she know exactly? Everyone knew, Jou. It was almost impossible not to. " Otogi's calm answer only manages to infuriate Jounouchi more.

"Know what! What exactly did everyone know!" Jounouchi screams at Otogi, his knuckles once again white on the bars.

"That Mai had you whipped and that you did everything she asked. You were her personal puppy dog, and you housebroke and trained yourself for her. God, Jou! Did you think it was a secret? The way you looked at her when she even glanced at you was all anyone needed to know."

"I was not a puppy, hers or anyone else's! I never will be!" The blood throbs in his ears loudly and he can barely hear the traffic around him clearly. "I loved her—"

"—too much!" Otogi finishes for him. "You loved her so much, you forgot about everyone else. Anzu, Yuugi, Honda, Shizuka, even Kaiba. Everybody! You were in that house for almost a year, Jou! You even said yourself that you hardly even got out. Jesus, Jou, she had you so bad you didn't even know it was a year until you got Yuugi's present. And you're trying to tell me you weren't whipped?"

"Can you drop it?" Jounouchi asks in a low voice. Otogi can tell that the subject is getting intense and that he's approaching the point of no return. Maybe it's best if he does drop the subject now, while their thin friendship is still intact.

"Look, I'm just saying . . . don't do that to your sister again. She might not come back to you next time." Otogi drops the subject on that solid note, and a few minutes later they pass the sigh that says in large letters, "Welcome to Domino!"

Mai turns the corner, her arm hanging out of open window, her hair blowing back. She ignores the second glances she gets from the guys she passes. She would rather if they wouldn't . . . she's not like that anymore, reveling in the attention she had always received from the male part of the population. She can't smile back at them flirtingly; she can't flip her hair over her shoulder. She's gotten past that part of her life, the part where she smiled at any boy good-looking enough to be worth it.

She'd licked the tip of the iceberg. It had tasted light and sweet on her tongue, and she'd grabbed it all in a desperate attempt to have it all at once. It'd fallen apart it her hands.

She shakes her head mentally, trying to shake out all these wretched thoughts of the past. They are going to drive her mad, and she knows it. That is, if they haven't already. She reaches over to the glove compartment at the red light and slips on her sunglasses. Everything looks glazed and separate now, like a fantasy world where she still has complete control over herself and is that beautiful, confident duelist she once was. She'd been getting them since the year before, after everything. They manage to block her eyes from everyone else, at least a little bit.

She had changed from those long-lost days, and she knows it. If she met any of her old friends on the street, they would never recognize her. Her blonde locks had old strands of her dyed hair, if looks horrible. She doesn't care. She'd dyed it black, hoping that some change might help her. It hadn't. Change only reminded her that things weren't the same; that some things had left her forever. Although she hadn't done anything physically to her eyes, they're darker than they had been. The dark thoughts in her mind had eventually begun to show themselves through her eyes.

Even her clothes have changed. She no longer cares to carefully match every accessory and she takes about ten minutes in the shower. At first, she had tried just throwing on whatever she grabbed first because she could care less. But every single item managed to bring the shivers back to her spine and made her eyes water. In the end she had ended up throwing away every article of clothing she owned, in exchange for a whole new closet of black and white clothing.

She wouldn't even have recognized herself.

The green light flashes through her sunglasses and she steps on the accelerator. She wonders flippantly if its time she dyed her hair again. Maybe another shade, this time. Red wouldn't be a bad choice. Anything but blonde. Blonde like . . .

At the next red light, she notices a white head bobbing around on the sidewalk. Her eyes widen and she lays her hand down on the horn until the figure turns around. Why's she doing this, she wonders? Even as she asks herself this, she knows the answer perfectly well. She needs to know if this is who she thinks it is. Once he turns to look at the source of the sound, she's sure of who he is.

Ryou.

He sees her, too. His eyes widen, and his steps accelerate as he turns around again.. Her mouth opens to say something—anything—but the light turns green, and she's forced to pass him. His expression stays frozen in her head, and she can't shake it out. No matter what she tries think about, she can't stop thinking about it.

It seems she's not the only one who's come back to Domino.