Rowan and Sakura, once again, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any other anime for that matter. We are ownership-less. Hey! Come back here with our ship! Yes you, that creep in the back with the shady glasses and shifty demeanor! We know you have it and we want it back!
Ahem. Yes. Well…you get the idea.
Warnings: Uh…some smut…well, more lime-ish smut, but still…maybe some cursing…seeing how this was written before the fic itself…anyways…on with the story, right? One last thing- somewhere along the storyline it is to be inferred that Jou has the hots for Seto. Since it's not ever really mentioned flat out, just a heads up.
Pairing: SetoJou…heh !
Picking Up Rose Petals
"Seto! Seto, wait up!" Shizuka yelled, running down the hall after the CEO.
Seto turned when he recognized the voice calling his name, and turned to see the girl dashing down the hall in a blur of bright pink. He waited a moment for Shizuka to catch up to him, and, out of breath, she hung on his arm a moment later, panting heavily.
"Where's the fire, I wonder?" Seto said with a smile.
Shizuka half-heartedly laughed, then straightened herself out. "Ha ha, very funny. Actually, I wanted to catch you before you took off for work."
"What's so urgent you had to run around the school looking for me, hmm?" Seto asked, curious, as they proceeded down the hall at a leisurely pace.
"This!" Shizuka announced grandly, waving a bright orange paper in the brunette's face.
Seto peered at the sheet. "What is it?" he asked.
"Otogi's holding a Halloween party Saturday evening; the whole school's invited!" Shizuka exclaimed.
Seto raised an eyebrow in question. "And?"
Shizuka's bright face darkened a little. "Don't you want to go?" she asked, puzzled.
Seto snorted. "Not particularly."
"C'mon Seto, you never go to parties. Just this once, please? Will you do it for me?" Shizuka begged.
"And if I say no?"
"Then I'll send Mokuba this flier," Shizuka grinned craftily, "and make him beg you to go instead!"
Seto sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll go. But you're coming with me."
"Naturally!" Shizuka said, bouncing up and hugging the upperclassman in her excitement. "Here's all the information," she added, handing Seto the paper. "Pick me up at seven thirty, okay?"
"Sure," Seto replied, relinquishing the girl of the flier and glanced over it with mild interest.
"Okay Seto! See you later!" Shizuka skipped merrily down the hall, waving cheerfully good-bye. Seto watched the happy sophomore leave, then left for work.
Otogi surveyed his group of willing helpers. "Okay, I propose we split up into groups so we can cover a larger area of the school in the shortest amount of time. So Anzu, why don't you and Bakura go down to the cafeteria and the gyms, okay? Here's some fliers and scotch tape; I think there's enough."
The brunette accepted the fliers, carrying them with both arms stretched out in front of her, Bakura following slightly behind her and carrying the tape.
"Honda, you, and Shizuka can cover the math and science wings, alright?"
Honda and Shizuka headed off with their supplies, talking and laughing as they walked.
The raven haired inventor turned to Yuugi and Jou with a smile. "We've got outside to take care of- all the trees, picnic tables- anything that we can tape these suckers to." Otogi bent and picked up the rest of the fliers, Yuugi grabbing their roll of tape.
"Tomorrow I'm going to need you guys to help me pass these out. Word'll get around really fast that way."
Yuugi and Jou followed Otogi outside. "Otogi, why are you doing all of this for your party? Wouldn't just inviting a handful of friends be easier?"
Otogi shrugged- a dangerous thing with all those fliers in his care- and replied, "But what's the fun in that? This way, we can meet more people! Plus, it adds to the mystery."
"What mystery?" Jou asked.
"Well, it's a masquerade," Otogi explained as he set the pile of papers on one of the picnic tables usually used in the spring. "Everyone will be required to wear a mask, to hide their identity until midnight, at which point everyone will reveal themselves."
"Wow, that sounds awesome!" Yuugi exclaimed, excited, Jou voicing the same sentiments.
Otogi winked at the two of them. "It gets more interesting. I'm going to have everyone who comes sign in, so that at a quarter to twelve, people can guess who came as what, based on everyone at the masquerade. The person who gets the most right will get a…surprise."
"What is that surprise?" Jou asked, eager to know.
Otogi laughed as he handed the blonde a flier to tape up somewhere. "Now if I told you, would it be a surprise?"
"Well, I guess not…" but Jou's mind was no longer thinking about the prize, the wheels in his head turning over the question of what he would disguise himself as at the party.
Shizuka was unable to catch her brother until Friday afternoon, desperate to talk to him before the weekend began. "Katsuya, I'll walk you home today!" Shizuka said, running up to her brother as he closed his locker shut for the day.
"Sure, Shizu," Jou agreed with a smile. Home for Jou was on the outskirts of town, by the docks. Most days it was Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda that walked Jou home, but today they were all on dates, so Jou was alone. And luckily for Shizuka, it was about a twenty minute walk from the school, which gave her plenty of time to beat around the bush.
"So, Katsuya…Seto and I have decided on a cooling period in our relationship," Shizuka said abruptly, five minutes after they had put their school behind them.
Jou was startled by her statement. "What? Why?"
Shizuka's gaze averted to the ground. "Seto told me about…the other night."
"You mean…"
"Yes."
"Oh." Jou looked down at the ground as well, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"Ani, how long have you felt like that? How long have you had feelings for Seto?" Shizuka questioned quietly.
Jou sighed heavily. "A year," he whispered.
"That long? Why didn't you say anything?"
Jou shrugged. "I didn't want you guys to hate me."
Shizuka stopped walking and laid a gentle hand on Jou's arm. "'Tsuya, I could never hate you." (1)
"But the others…I don't know what Yuugi would say…" Jou said helplessly.
Shizuka smiled pitifully at her brother. "You mean you haven't even told Yuugi?"
Jou shook his head. "The only person I told was Seto…and, well, you know too now, I guess."
"Yeah, I guess…" Shizuka was stunned silent, surprised that not even Jou's best friend knew. "Anyway, the reason Seto and I have put our relationship on hold at present is because he told me that he felt something…felt something when he kissed you."
Jou paled. "He told you about that as well?"
Shizuka nodded, an amused smile gracing her face. "Yeah. Seto told me about that, how you asked him for a kiss and how he kissed you twice."
Jou blushed, eyes turned abashedly away from his sister. "Are you mad at me?" he asked quietly.
Shizuka shook her head. "No, I'm fine with it. You acted with your heart; how can that be wrong?"
"But Shizuka, it was because of me that Seto was unfaithful to you!" Jou exclaimed, his guilt convincing him that he should take the blame.
Shizuka laughed lightly. "I'd call it more like an experiment. And Tsuya, I suggested that Seto and I stop seeing each other until he can sort out his feelings for you…whatever they are."
"Oh."
Shizuka linked her right arm under Jou's left, pulling her brother closer to her. She smiled and said softly, "I told Seto about Otogi's party. He's picking me up at seven-thirty so we can both go." Shizuka then unlinked her arm and winked at her brother with a broad smile.
"Wow, thank you for the welcoming committee Japan!" were Mai's first words as she stepped off the plane and into the many embraces of her friends.
"Our pleasure Mai," Anzu said as she hugged the blonde to her.
After enduring a hug from the seven people assembled to greet her, Mai stepped back and surveyed them all at arm's length. "Wow, it's so great to see you guys again! It's been what, four months?"
"About that," Shizuka piped up. "So Mai, tell us about America!" the younger said excitedly as she and Anzu latched onto her.
"I have to get my bags first…" Mai said, but was stopped mid sentence by Jounouchi.
"Honda and I will grab them," the blonde volunteered, him and his friend then turning and striding down to baggage claim while the others steered Mai towards the parking lot.
Twenty minutes later the gang were all driving back to Domino downtown and Anzu's place in particular, where Mai would be staying. Otogi was turning his charms to the blonde, much to the jealous eyes of Honda. "Mai, you came home just in time for my Halloween masquerade!"
"A masquerade, huh?" Mai's violet eyes sparkled with mirth. "And what is everyone going as?" She looked around expectantly.
"Actually, Mai, nobody's supposed to tell what they're going as. It'll ruin the surprise," Otogi informed her.
Mai shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself. Guess that means Anzu and I'll have to go blindfolded, since we're not allowed to see each other, huh? Gonna be pretty hard to drive like that, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow," the blonde remarked sarcastically.
Otogi laughed, bending in his seat, doubled over with laughter, and laying his hand on Mai's arm familiarly. "Good one. No, it's fine if you two see each other's costumes before you show up. Honda's coming over early so he and I can set up the decorations and such, so he's just changing over there. But it'll be interesting to see if the rest of us can pick each other out of the crowd, you know?"
Mai nodded. "Sounds cool, Ryuuji."
It was obvious to the entire entourage packed in the van the flirting passing between Mai and Otogi. Honda, seated beside his boyfriend, who was squashed between the brunette and the blonde female, was frowning decidedly at the pair. The only thing stopping Honda from turning into a complete green-eyed monster was Otogi's hand rubbing his lover's inner thigh. The rest of the van decided to ignore the three.
Yuugi turned to Jou. "I just remembered Jou! I meant to ask you earlier, but do you want to come over later today so you can change into your costume? That way we can drive over together."
Jounouchi nodded his acceptance of Yuugi's invitation. Though nobody said it, the blonde knew Yuugi's real reason to have him come over was because of his domestic complications. And Jou was grateful for Yuugi's invitation, because Jou knew for a fact that if he tried to get out of his house in the costume he had planned, his father would probably kill him first. If he was sober enough to recognize his son in the first place.
Jou smirked to himself as he thought of his Halloween costume. With a little contribution from Mai's wardrobe, he knew he was going to kick ass that evening.
TBC…
1- It was getting tiresome for Shizuka to call Jou "Katsuya" all the time and I figured, because sometimes he calls her 'Shizu" that she might, on occasion, call him "Tsuya"- "Katsu" didn't sound right. Though it would have been amusing to have her call him "Kat"…
Anyway, that chapter was…surprisingly short, but I wanted to get the masquerade all in one chapter, so…expect a nice long chapter next! Also, the next chapter will feature Clay Aiken's "When You Say You Love Me"…anyone who wants to know what Jounouchi is dressing up as will find a big clue in the lyrics. Otherwise, until next week...review!