Sadly, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Jou and Mai was a couple, but Mai leaves with Valon, leaving Jou heartbroken and alone. He moves on and realizes that he has feelings for a certain blue eyed CEO. Little by little, Seto and Jou fall in love with each other, but do not admit it out loud. However, Mai comes back, expecting Jou and her to be together. She breaks up whatever Jou and Seto had and persuades Jou to give her a second chance. Jou is confused. He thought he would be thrilled to have Mai back in his life, yet he cannot stop thinking about a person he left hanging. When Seto decides that it hurts him too much, he makes a decision to leave Domino City forever to get over Jou, and to never return. Will Jou realize his feelings for Seto before it's too late?
Slight Yugi and Yami, Bakura and Ryou, Otogi and Honda, and Mai (possibly Anzu) bashing.
Main couple: Seto and Jou
The Last To Know
The First of Many Signs to Come
Jou decided not to go out with his friends to the arcade. No, nothing personal. Just a little preoccupied because of the run in with Mai. It made him feel so uncomfortable to know all his friends were thinking about how much they hated Mai.
Why, exactly, do people hate Mai?
"Bye guys, have fun," Jou said, getting out of the booth.
"I thought we were going to the arcade," Yugi asked, confused at his friend's sudden change of mind.
"Yeah well… change of plans," Jou said in a cheerful voice he didn't feel. "Listen, Yuge, I'm sorry for what Mai said..."
"It's okay Jou," Yugi told him quickly. "Really. I just wish you wouldn't... you know... let her treat you that way all the time."
Jou gave him a sad smile and waved goodbye. He started to walk over to Mai's table first. Her group of friends stopped talking and stared back at him, as if he was some sort of freak. Jou noticed that Mai was still hanging onto that Danny or Daniel or Dan dude.
"Uh… Mai, I'll be going now. If there's a change of plans… well, call me, okay?"
Mai frowned. "Jou, there won't be. I'll see you later."
"Kay. Bye dudes," Jou bid in a happy tone with a fake smile. He could still feel the horrible stares of Yugi and the others. He shrugged it off and walked out of the pizzeria, his heart crashing down like a thousand bricks.
"Imbeciles! Incompetents! Must I do everything myself?"
Seto Kaiba was not a happy person. Another batch of reports had just managed to be botched up and he had just finished firing every single person responsible. Oh, he was in a murderous mood.
Meet Seto Kaiba, the owner of the infamous toy company, Kaiba Corp. Seto was one of the smartest men in the planet. At the age of three, Seto had learned to read and write. At age ten, he was already doing high school math problems. At his current age, eighteen, he was running a multi billionaire company, and he held over a hundred thousand people's fate in his fingers.
No one knew why he was still in high school. Seto blamed it on the Domino City laws. Does he really need a high school diploma? He was already running a company, didn't that prove he didn't need one?
He was a brunette with cold blue eyes and also one of the most wanted bachelor. Already, he had been listed under "25 Teenagers to Die For" under People magazine over twenty times. Looks, money, and intelligence was what he had and basically, he had everything a person could want. Yet, there were two things preventing him from dating. First thing was his company.
Running Kaiba Corp took up most of his time. On weekends, he sleeps until 6:00, 6:30 at the latest. He worked until the wee hours of the morning, sometimes without sleeping. On weekdays, he woke up at 5:30 to get ready for school and worked until 7:00 A.M. After school, he goes to his office and worked some more. He always came home in time for dinner with his younger brother Mokuba. After an hour or so, Mokua would go back in his room to play video games and he would retreat back to his room and work even more.
His room was an office too.
Simply put, he's a workaholic.
Whatever time he had left over was spent bonding with Mokuba. Despite what countless magazine gossips said, he had no time for dating and love, whatever that was.
What other thing was stopping Seto from dating? Oh yeah, Seto Kaiba.
Born and left alone without parents, Seto and Mokuba had always been on their own. They were adopted by a man named Gozaburo Kaiba. He was a cruel man who pushed them further than they could go. He treated them with harshness and cruelty that led Seto to believe emotions were useless and not supposed to exist. Seto had been void of emotions ever since Gozaburo came into his life and Gozaburo did not allow himself to open up to another person. He was raised to believe that emotions were a waste of time and energy and that love was purely stupid. He never really smiled or found anything worth smiling over. The only person he cared for and will do anything and everything for was Mokuba.
That Saturday afternoon, he was cooped up in his office working away, as usual. Today had been extremely stressful; two meetings, tons of paperwork, and twenty workers short, due to the fact they had messed up again, so Seto fired them.
He sat down, frustrated. He had spent the last thirty minutes yelling on the phone, trying to get his problems solved. He was tired and exhausted. He needed a break. He looked over to the window and stared at the scenery. Being on the seventy seventh floor did give him an incredible view of Domino City. He nearly smiled when he saw a group of children on the playground across the street. He always had a soft spot when it came to young kids.
His eyes trailed to a young man walking down the street. Seto could tell who he was. Blonde messy hair, sort of lanky. No doubt, it was Jou.
His lips curved into a smirk. Everyone in school knew who Jou was. Boyfriend of the biggest slut in school. What was her name again? Oh right, Mai. Mai wasn't a person that goes unnoticed. She'll make sure she was noticed, or she would die trying. Hell, she even tried to get Seto to go out with him, flirting and bugging him constantly even when she was dating Jou. Needless to say, Seto gave her one of the coldest looks and she hadn't bothered him since.
"Jou, Jou, Jou… hmm, I do wonder…" he said out loud. To him, Jou was a pure mystery. Sure, he looked happy and open all the time when he was with his friends, and even in the little time he had with that so called girlfriend of his. Yet, being Seto Kaiba, he had been trained to feel and see some things that no one else could and he could sense that there was more to him than meets the eye.
"Kaiba is so lucky."
Jou took a moment to pause and look at the tall, shiny building with a "KC" on the center. It was a wonder how Seto—being only eighteen—could manage to run a rich company, go to school, get good grades without really trying, take care of his twelve year old brother, and still not collapse under the pressure. Jou would definitely.
In his mind, Seto was the luckiest guy alive. He had the money, he had the family, and he had everything, except maybe feelings. But then again, Seto liked it that way. Although he never said much, anyone could tell that Seto didn't want anyone around. He never said anything, but people knew to stay away from him. It was like a silent rule, never made to broken unless you want to be burned.
Jou brushed his hair back from his face, only to feel his hair rebel and go back to the way it was. Besides the money, Seto had the looks. Seriously, this guy looked like a movie star, only better looking. He had many fan clubs at school run by both guys and girls. It is amazing how he is still single.
He had tried to get along with Seto in the past, with an occasional "hi" or "bye". Seto never really responded, probably too busy with his laptop. (Seriously, this guy brought his laptop to school to work, even outside of Kaiba Corp).
Jou wondered every now and then why Seto didn't welcome any friends or acquaintances. He could easily be popular without really trying, but he doesn't want to be. Maybe he had his own reasons against being popular. Who knew?
He would never admit this out loud, but Jou really wanted to be his friend. Kaiba seemed so lonely at times. Jou knew how that felt. He had seen the way Seto treated Mokuba with such love and care. It was very rare to see that part of Seto, but Jou had been one of the few lucky ones to have seen it. Sometimes, he wondered how it would feel to be treated that way.
Jou shook his head and resumed walking home. Why was he thinking about Seto, anyway?
The party was a blast, everyone knew about it. By the time Jou got to school on Monday after surviving another lonely Sunday, people started to talk about the keg, the fun, the sex, and of course, Mai.
From across the hallway, Jou could see Mai—barely. As usual, she was surrounded by her friends, most of them guys. He could join them, but the conversation would stop automatically. Mai had never been the first to say hello and she had made it clear she didn't want Jou around her friends. Jou sighed.
"Could you please move out of the way?"
Jou blinked at the sound of Seto Kaiba's impatient voice. He moved to the side and somehow managed to mumble, "Sorry," before he left.
Dang, that guy was fast. He should be in track.
He was still watching Seto walk away, with his white trench coat trailing behind him. From the back he looks good.
"Yo, Jou! Are you in?"
Honday waves his hand near his face with a look of curiosity in his eyes. "We have to get to class!" he told him, just as the bell rung and everyone stopped talking in order to start rushing into classrooms.
"Oh yeah," Jou finally commented, remembering. Thoughts of Mai and Seto had made him forget what he was supposed to do.
Honda rolled his eyes and started to drag Jou forward. "You seriously need to stop drooling over Kaiba."
"What!"
"Yeah. Seriously, he's hot and all but…"
"Honda? Shut up."
The teacher merely glared at them when they both walked in. Jou and Honda grinned sheepishly, glad they weren't going to get a detention. Jou's eyes glanced over at Mai, who was talking to a guy with spiky brown hair. He had seen him around school, but never really found out who he was. He must have been new, because he certainly wasn't around last year.
He walked to his seat, which was right next to Seto Kaiba. He sometimes hated the alphabetical seating. He never got a chance to talk to Yugi or Ryou. Then again, Yami and Yugi were always talking and Ryou and Bakura were always flirting, so it's just as well.
He took his seat. Not surprisingly, Seto didn't even notice Jou. He was too busy typing on his laptop, his eyes focused on the screen.
The teacher, Mr. Tokiyama, also known as "Tomato Head", stood up and started yapping about something in the 1800s. Jou tried to pay attention, but it just wasn't working. His eyes were starting to droop already due to the fact that he only had six hours of sleep last night—too much caffeine—and plus, he already knew all this stuff.
Trusting that Mr. Tomato Head wouldn't notice, Jou slid back in his seat and gently laid his head on the cold, hard desk. He closed his eyes and was ready to drift off when…
"Ow!"
Jou's head shot up when he felt someone poke him hard on the side. He turned his head and glared at Seto, who had put his laptop aside and was now writing on a piece of notebook paper. He was curious as to why he had stopped typing on his laptop, but ignored this curiosity and asked instead, "What was that for?"
"In case you haven't noticed," Seto answered back, his voice smooth and cool, "he's giving us a pop quiz on the board." He was still writing and he didn't even bother to look at Jou when he advised Jou, "You might want to start writing."
Jou glanced at the board and saw Tomato Head writing questions and in the center, he had written in big block letters, "POP QUIZ, CHAPTER 12". Hastily, he reached for his binder and took out a piece of paper. Luckily, he had read the previous chapter earlier on in the week and knows most of the answers.
"Thanks Kaiba," Jou told Seto in a grateful tone, while searching for a pen he thought he had brought to class.
Seto didn't bother to answer.
-TBC-
It's always helpful to give a gal a little bit support, eh? I still want to hear what you think and it means a lot when I do. :)
-lilrubydevil-