A/N: I'm pleasantly surprised that people have actually found this fic interesting enough to read. To be honest, I though people would shy away from it because of the sport involved or the fact that it's set in an AU. I would just like to thank…
MewmiC ( hope this was fast enough of an update)
Morgaine of the Fairies (Thanks for giving it a shot, I hope you enjoy the rest of it)
Tawny-Kit (no need to apologize, and I'll let people know what happened with Gozaburo as the story progresses)
Yami Evelyn (don't worry…Seto/Serenity action is on the way)
Shy and LeighC (thanks for the encouragement, I can't wait to read more of Shy's work!)
Yuka Kitsune (I hope you enjoy this chapter too)
Komo Pineconeseed (yeah…Believe it or not, I think Kaiba is probably the best candidate to be the 'prototypical' quarterback in the YGO cast. good Height, about the right size body type wise, and pretty smart…though I do agree the sight of him in a football uniform would be rather funny)
Special thanks to those of you who have put me in your C2 Communities, Author Alerts, etc. I appreciate it a bunch.
If I happened to miss your name, I apologize in advance. Now...on with the story!
Summer Burns, Winter Scars
Chapter Three
Serenity yelled a loud curse as she fell to the hard concrete sidewalk. She hurriedly picked up her sheet music and clairnet, scrambling to reorganize everything she had dropped.
"I'm so, so sorry! I'm in a hurry to get to practice and-" Serenity's face froze as she looked over at exactly who it was she had run over. His blue jogging pants with the white stripes down the side, his tight-fitting white muscle shirt with the letters 'ND' written on them. His rich, medium length brown hair was a mess, and his royal blue eyes burn with an intensity she had never seen before.
"Um...Seto, is it? I'm really, really sorry for-"
"Don't call me that."
Serenity blinked. What was the problem? She was certain that his name was Seto Kaiba, star quarterback for the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" footballteam.She had heard her brother complaining so much about Kaiba playing ahead of him that she almost felt like she knew him to an extent.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't call me Seto. Only my family calls me that, and no one that is related to me can be as dimwitted and careless as you are."
Serenity blinked again. She could only keep eye contact for about a second more before standing up. Those eyes were beautiful yet so dangerous to her, piercing her, gazing into her very soul...she had to get up and get the hell out of there!
"Sorry to interrupt your running, but I've got to go."
With that, Serenity grabbed the rest of her things and ran away. It was Kaiba's turn to blink now. For the first time since he had arrived on campus three years ago (he's in his second year of football) someone that he had insulted did not challenge him loudly in front of the entire student body or go running off to cry in the arms of a simpleton friend.
Who the hell was that?
(END OF FLASBACK)
Kaiba was practicing his throwing motions, aruguably the worst time of practice for him. It wasn't necessarily that he had problems throwing the ball (he held National records in high school for most passing completions, scores and yardage) but rather the person he would be standing beside durning these drills.
"Kaiba...you goin soft? This is da worst I've seen ya since dat bowl game we lost two years ago."
"First off, Mr. Mediocrity, my WORST could easily beat you at your best on any day. Secondly...I've told you never to bring that game up again."
Joey shrugged. "Don't see da harm in it. It's over wit now...62-0. Dat was a tough one ta swallow."
Kaiba was becomming more and more annoyed with this puppy. If the game was in the past, why the hell did he have to bring it up so much?
"Wheeler...go find your muzzle, play fetch with Yami, do SOMETHING else besides talk about that game."
Joey's ball fell to the ground, his good nature seemingly gone. "And what are ya gonna do if I don't?"
"Why don't you use that peanut you call a brain and imagine..."
The two rivals were inches apart before Duke, Yami, and Tristan among others broke them up.
"LEMME AT 'EM! I'LL WIPE DAT SMIRK RIGHT OFF IS FACE!"
"NOT EVEN IN YOUR DREAMS COULD YOU EVER BEAT ME AT ANYTHING, GOT THAT YOU FLEA- INFESTED HYENA?"
On the other side of the field, the head coach was working with one of the most important players on his team, kicker Mako Tsunami. The coach, who stood about 5'11'', had a light brown skin tone and curly black hair underneath a green visor. His eyes, a calm shade of green, looked over at the situation between his players and simply went on coaching.
"You've been working on your form I see, Mako. What was your long this summer?"
"Forty-five yards, sir."
"Hmmm...you think we can get that up a little bit more, to about fifty maybe? I might need you to come through in the clutch more than once."
"Aye, sir, I'll do my best."
"Good...go practice your punting." (A/N 1)
Mako did as he was instructed, heading off to another side of the field.
The coach wearily made his way over to the congestion of players and laughed a little. Partly because he thought it was actually humerous, partly because frankly he didn't know what else to do besides knocking them both out.
"You two at each other's throats again?"
"Blue-eyed show-off!"
"Blonde-haired jackass!"
"ENOUGH!"
Both boys looked over at their coach, who had went from slightly amused to extremely pissed in less than sixty seconds. "Now...Keith? Where's my favorite defensive end?"
A blonde with an American Flag bandanaon his head ran over to his coach. "Yeah Coach Weatherbie?"
"Set up the cones."
Keith blinked in curiousity. "For who?"
"Kaiba and Joeseph. They need to relieve a bit of this tension they seem to have between the two of them."
Keith laughed a bit, and went to go set up the cones as instructed.
"Coach, with all due respect, that's just gross! Anything that they need to settle in their relationship, they can do it in the privacy of their own apartments!"
This comment, from a Tristan Taylor, drew a death glare from Kaiba, a rather obscene gesture from Joey, and a few laughs from some of the other teammates around.
"Tristan?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Shut up and go run a mile."
"But..."
"GO!"
Tristan, seeing no point in arguing, started running around the field as he was told.
"Now...very simple boys. 40 yard race. The first to cross the finish line doesn't have to run speed drills today. The loser does extras the rest of the week. Got it?"
Joey nodded his head. "Yeah, I got it."
Kaiba nodded as well. "Wheeler, do you wish to be embarrased in front of the entire team...again?"
Before Joey could say something REALLY nasty, Keith yelled something about everything was ready to go. The two young men lined up next to each other, not speaking or even acknowledging the other's existence. Each had his own set of backers cheering for him, granted Kaiba's was MUCH smaller.
"C'MON KAIBA, THAT MUTT'S SLOWER THAN MOLASSES, MATE!"
Joey looked up momentarily from his position on the starting line to see his heckler, Varon.
"Ass..." Joey muttered quietly.
"ON YOUR MARK!"
The two braced themselves.
"SET!"
Only a second more of waiting...
"GO!"
The race got off to a surprising start with Joey taking a lead. But the faster he ran, the closer he felt Kaiba behind him. Even when he ran at full speed, he could not catch up with the leaner, faster brunette. Kaiba passed the finish line with about 5 feet to spare, a smug smile on his lips.
When Joey crossed the line, he shouted a string of obcenities this author won't bother to repeat and fell to the ground.
I can't believe dat Kaiba showed me up AGAIN! DAMN!
"Wheeler...it fits your personality to crawl on the ground...enjoy your extra drills."
With that, Kaiba walked off to complete his passing drills as Yami and Tristan tried to help up their friend.
About 30 mins. later...
The group had gathered around their head coach, their practice finished. Before he let them hit the showers, he had something that he wanted to say.
"I need somebody that can read to answer this...what does that sign say out of our locker room?" (A/N 2)
A boy with spiky, sandy white hair and a brown complexion raised his hand in a mocking fashion. "Oh! I know, I know!"
The coach rolled his eyes, knowing he would regret letting the young man speak. "What Marik?"
"JOEY IS THE KING OF THE DUMBASSES!"
The coach sighed deeply as Joey was restrained by teammates, shouting threats of violence as they kept him from attacking. "Okay...anyone else care to try?"
Yami raised his hand. "Play like a champion today."
"Yes...for a long time, you boys have not played like champions. You've bickered among yourselves, with the school, even with me. I'm going to be straight with you: If we don't do something special this year, I probably won't be back next year. In then end though, answer me this: Who will feel more shame, the man who gave everything he had into a program, or the people who let him and themselves down?"
The boys looked around, some slightly ashamed, others dismissing his speech as BS.
"We play Wyoming in three weeks. We'll be ready to play, I think. But...will you be ready to win? Will you be ready play like a champion on that day? Now I'm not going to fill your head with talk of a National Title, this is Notre Dame after all. (A/N 3)Enough people are around to do that without my help.All I can hope for is that you men play like champions. If you do that, win or lose I'll be proud. See you all at six."
Meanwhile...
Campus Cafeteria
Malik, Ryou, Yugi and Serenity were all sitting down eating lunch together. They had endured another practice under their oddball conductor, Pegasus J. Crawford.
"What the hell kind of a name is Pegasus anyway?" Malik asked as he dug through something that looked like beef stroganoff.
Yugi shrugged, about as confused as his section leader was. "Maybe his parents were into mythology or something?"
"Yeah, at least it's not as bad as someone naming their child Anakin Walker or something like that...Star Wars geeks."
Serenity nearly jumped out of her seat. "HEY! I'm one of those Star Wars geeks you're talking about, idiot!"
"Calm down, geesh! I was kidding!"
Serenity shot a glare in his direction. "You better be!"
Yugi and Ryou laughed a little as the redhead returned to her seat.
"Yugi, where are you going after we're finished here?"
"I'm not sure...maybe the arcade?"
Serenity shook her head at the idea. "I'm not going there until the fix the Tekken (A/N: Tekken is the property of Namco, therefore not mine) machine. The left joystick broke off the thing for crying out loud!"
Ryou muffled a giggle. "Only because you pulled on it so hard."
"Hey, there's a party over there on the West Side tonight. Near the football guy dorms. All the hottest hotties will be there, INCLUDING yours truly."
Ryou, Serenity and Yugi collectively rolled their eyes.
"I hear Tea will be there...YUGI!"
Yugi's face turned a fierce shade of red as Serenity and Ryou laughed. "I don't know what your laughing for Ryou, YOUR crush is going to be there, too!"
Ryou suddenly stopped laughing and joined Yugi in a feeble attempt to hide their blushing faces. "Oh, Serenity...your new friend will be there too, you know?"
"And who is this new friend, smartass?"
Malik grinned as he leaned in and whispered the name in her ear.
"Seto Kaiba."
Yes...not as long as I said, but I hope it was good enough for your tastes anyways.
A/N 1: Punting is the act of kicking the ball away after failing to advance the ball at least ten yards in three plays. Confusing? I'll try to explain rules and such as the fic progresses. (or you can e-mail me with questions, whichever is easier)
A/N 2: Notre Dame does indeed have a sign posted outside the locker room door saying "Play LikeA Champion Today" I'm not sure who put it then or when it was put there, but school tradition dictates that every player touches the sign as they head out of the locker room before and during the game for good luck. Many other schools have similar traditions.
A/N 3: Notre Dame is one of the most successful College Football schools in American History, winning somewhere between 12 and 14 national titles. Why the uncertainty on the number? For starters, there is no REAL playoff system in place. Secondly, these records go back to the late 1800s, so some people have conflicting records of what happened.
Hope that wasn't too much information to try to digest. Please leave a review on the way out, eh? Oh, if you ever get bored, I do have some other fics to check out. Who knows, you may find something you like! Well, later people! Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, and take a moment to remember why we celebrate it, aight?
BDB...out