Protectshipping (Ryo x Honda)

He woke up in an alleyway for the third time that week. Sitting up told him that his ribs were bruised, and walking back onto the street told him that his ankle was twisted. The scared, quick looks downward from the people that passed him told him that his face was messed up terribly again.

"We have a new student today," Chouno-sensei announced. "Come in, Bakura-san."

The doors slid open, and the sound made Honda stir from his dream. Jonouchi smacked him on the back of the head and he woke up fully.

"What the hell?" Honda hissed.

"New student, man!" Jonouchi hissed back. "You don't want to sleep through this!"

Honda sat up, slumping back in his chair to watch with disinterest. The new student appeared through the door, walking softly as though floating. For a moment, Honda thought it was a girl. But then he realized the student was wearing the boy's uniform, and he couldn't help but stare.

The boy was not very tall, fair skinned. His long, unnaturally white hair fell past his shoulders. Most striking, however, were his vibrant green eyes…eyes that, while calm and kind, seemed…guarded, somehow. Honda's first thought was: he's a bully magnet.

He managed to make it to school in time for the first bell. That kid sent him a nervous look, but dropped his eyes back to his desk as soon as he caught Honda's eyes. Honda scowled slightly. Some thanks from that kid, after he had just gotten his ass kicked protecting him. Not that he was surprised. They were all like that. Everyone he tried to help ended up being afraid of him.

That was just how it worked.

The new kid, Ryo Bakura, ended up sitting next to Jonouchi. Jonouchi, naturally, brought him over to join the rest of the group at lunch.

"Hey, so let me introduce you to everyone," Jonouchi said. "This is Anzu Mazaki, Yugi Mutou, and Hiroto Honda."

"Pleased to meet you," Ryo said with a small, polite smile.

He was a quiet kid, Honda thought. Kind of shy, maybe. Anzu asked Ryo a little bit about his old school, which Ryo answered politely and with as few words as possible. Jonouchi started talking to Yugi about the game shop, and Honda joined in. He wanted to know if the new shipment of Monster Fighter had come in yet.

"Oh, you have a game shop, Mutou-san?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, it's my grandpa's," Yugi said. "Do you like games?"

Ryo smiled, and Honda thought it might be the first real smile he had seen out of the kid all day.

"I love games," he said. "My favorites are role-playing games. Have you ever heard of Monster World?"

The chatter about games might have continued if not for the girls that came to spirit Ryo away. Ryo looked a bit miffed at being surrounding by a bunch of fawning girls, but was polite enough to go with them for a tour of the school. Honda and the others turned back to a discussion about what was new at the game shop, and for games in general. Yugi seemed to know a lot about that Monster World Ryo had mentioned, and filled the rest of them in on the details.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Honda said. "Be right back."

"Hurry, Honda, the bell will ring in a few minutes," Anzu said.

"Geez, you don't have to act like my mother."

"But that's Anzu's specialty!" Jonouchi said, which earned him a resounding crack on the head from Anzu. "Ow!"

Honda laughed and headed out into the hallway.

He had been in the hall for only a few seconds when he heard harsh tones that could only mean one thing.

He shouldn't have done it. But he hadn't had a choice. He was lucky that he didn't get expelled for what he did. But he couldn't just stand there and watch a girl get raped by her teacher. He had burst into the classroom, socked the guy on the jaw, and hurried the girl back out into the hallway. The girl avoided him after that, always dropping her gaze upon coming across Honda in the halls. Someone told him that she had told her friends she was scared Honda's actions would get her expelled.

It had made Honda sick.

The teacher nearly had him expelled, but that would have meant he would have had to explain why Honda punched him in the first place, and why the girl had been there. Honda was lucky to pass with that teacher automatically failing every one of his assignments.

He promised himself he would never bother to protect anyone ever again.

"I don't know how your old school worked, but we have rules here at Domino!" Karita said. "Long hair for boys is against the rules!"

"Sensei, I –"

"No excuses!"

Honda chanced a glance around the corner. The gym teacher, Karita had grabbed Ryo by the hair. Pain flared in Ryo's green eyes, and the girls around him squeaked and chattered in protest and nerves.

"I'll expect you to have a crew cut by tomorrow if you want to be treated as a student of this school!"

Karite punctuated each word with a yank of Ryo's hair. Ryo flinched with each tug. Honda's fists clenched and his chest tightened.

Well godammit.

He marched around the corner. The sound of his footsteps caught Karita's attention, and the man glanced up. He glared at Honda.

"What are you doing out of class?"

"Bathroom."

Honda stood there, meeting Karita's eyes. He itched to punch that guy in the face, but tried to restrain himself. Ryo and the girls stared in surprise. Finally, Karita dropped the gaze, and let go of Ryo's hair.

"Bah! Whatever."

He stalked away. The girls instantly clustered around Ryo, asking him if he was okay. Ryo reassured them with a few words, then met Honda's gaze. Honda shrugged. Ryo smiled slightly – in gratitude.

And Honda couldn't help but grin.

A/N: Hey, wow, a long one for once. I saw how popular this pairing is (for some reason I won't understand) and decided to try and put a little more effort into it. I've always seen Honda as kind of a broken justice fighter for some reason. I have this headcanon that while he was in middle school, he tried to protect people, but usually ended up beaten and unthanked, thus turning him into the thug that he was at the beginning of the story. I think that's why Yugi made such an impression on Honda, because being with Yugi let Honda's true protective nature shine through. Next is Prophetshipping (Ishizu x Roba).