Impulseshipping (Jonouchi Katsuya/Mana)

. . .

((takes place about a year before to the start of Duel Monsters))

. . .

This was supposed to be the day he went straight—got himself a job, starting saving up for high school, stopped getting mixed up in fights. He had already stopped going to Hirutani's place for a whole month, which was dangerous enough in itself. But he couldn't hang around that kid anymore if he was gonna try and fix himself up. That was what he told himself. Jonouchi Katsuya wasn't gonna be a street thug for the rest of forever. He had decided that two weeks ago when he woke up to hear his old man throwing bottles at the wall again, and realized that he couldn't live in this house like this anymore.

So. This was the plan. Stop going to Hirutani's place. Stop hanging with Hirutani and his goons. Get a job to start paying off dad's debts and save up for high school tuition. Study for the high school exam so that he could at least squeak past Rintama's scores and get himself into Domino High instead of the place that Hirutani was headed. And no more getting into fights.

No. More. Fights—

Okay but these two were really, really, REALLY asking for it!

Jonouchi's fist crashed into the side of the high schooler's face. The boy bit his own tongue and stumbled into a wall, but the other was already aiming a fist for Jonouchi's gut and it took every bit of speed and skill Jonouchi had to get his elbow down in time to block it. Then the other guy recovered, and a set of knuckles swung for Jonouchi's head.

Not gonna dodge that!

They were too big for him, and too fast. He was already small and scrawny for a middle schooler, and he might have gotten in over his head—

The fist finally connected and jolted all of Jonouchi's jumbled thoughts right out of his head. He gasped as he felt his head twist around, almost too far, stumbled and tripped as his foot twisted onto its side and he felt his ankle pop. His shoulder banged into the alley wall and he rolled against the wall before finally gasped to his knees and striking the ground on his shoulder.

A shoe struck the small of his back and he spat up bile with his cry of pain.

"Little fuck," one of them spat. "Should've just apologize for bumping into us."

"Fuck you," Jonouchi gasped back. He pressed one hand against the wall, intending to get himself back up. But he took another kick to the back and gasped, almost biting his tongue.

"Stay down, if you know what's good for you," the taller one laughed.

"Yeah, so it's easier to hit ya," the other said.

Jonouchi groaned as he managed to loll his head back over to look behind him. He felt the blood drain from his face when he saw one of them dragging a shaft of wood out of a dumpster.

I'm about to get my ass handed to me, he thought.

And then,

They might actually kill me.

I—I won't get to go to high school.

Even if he survived this, he wasn't going to be fit to go to work in the next fifteen minutes. If he missed even one day, he was sure to be fired; the guy didn't even want him there. Without that money, he'd never make his dad's next payment, and never have even half of what he needed for Domino High's tuition fee.

All of his hard work in the past two weeks. All of it, just—up in smoke. Like it hadn't even mattered. Like hehadn't even mattered. Because of one careless insult from a pair of assholes, something he couldn't let go.

He screwed his eyes shut—partially from the fear of seeing what was coming next, and partially to hide the tears.

He had...just lost. Everything.

And then he heard a soft fwump. A hrrrk.

His eyes opened with a jolt when a hand grabbed his shoulder and another his hand.

"Hey, come on, get up! It's time to go!"

There was—a girl. There was a little girl hovering over him. She didn't look at all Japanese, with her big green eyes and deeply tanned skin, messy brown hair tangled and wild around her shoulders. She tugged desperately on his hands again, the long sleeves of her sweater tickling his palms.

"Let's go, you lazy bum! Now, now, now!"

Jonouchi's head was throbbing so badly. The girl looked like she was made of fractured light all of a sudden—man, he was really losing it. Maybe they had already beaten the crap out of him, and he was dead. Was this the shinigami here to take him to the afterlife?

"You're too cute to be a shinigami," he mumbled without thinking about it.

The girl huffed.

"Flattering," she said. "But really! Let's get up, now, so that a real shinigami doesn't have to come and take you away, all right?"

He let her drag him up to a sitting position. Now that his eyes were clearing, he could see that both of the other boys were on their knees, clutching their stomachs and wheezing. He blinked once; his lips parted. His eyes flickered to the girl still pulling on his arms, trying to get him to his feet. Had...shedone that?

"Are you just going to sit like a boulder or are we going to go? Come on, come on, gods, I swear Khepri has an easier job!"

Jonouchi's brain still wasn't quite working. He felt dizzy and distant, like nothing that was happening was actually real. He noticed, as though from a distance, one of the boys starting to recover, his hand coming down to the ground beside him and fingers curling around that shaft of wood. Jonouchi's eyes widened and his lips parted. The taller of the high school boys was getting up on one knee, wood wielded like a baseball bat, his face screwed up with anger and malice as he wound up for a killer strike.

"Watch out!" Jonouchi shouted.

He grabbed the girl around the shoulders and tucked his hand and head over her head, dragging her to the ground. The wood whistled over their heads just inches from striking. No time to stay on the ground! Jonouchi tried to scramble back to his feet, but a wave of dizziness hit him and he wobbled, losing his balance.

The girl, however, sprung straight from her back up to her feet, like a gymnast. Her hand latched around his wrist and she twirled him behind her, dragging a smaller stick of wood from her belt loop in the same fluid motion.

The boy swung his stick again as the girl spun around. Without pausing between a single step, she whipped her own wooden weapon through the air and both sticks clashed. There was a ringing clack that snapped across Jonouchi's ear drums, making him wince. And then both weapons broke in half, shattering right at contact.

The girl recovered much more quickly from the shock than the other boy did. She stabbed forward with the remains of her stick. The pointed edge caught him right under the sternum and he let out a loud HRRRRK!

His knees crumpled under him, but the girl was still moving with the unstoppable fluid grace that she had started her motion with. She dropped her stick and grabbed Jonouchi's wrist again. Then they were running—or rather, she ran, and he just flapped along behind her.

They barreled around the corner and out into the street. The world opened up into light and people, but the girl barely hesitated as she dove into the crowd. She ducked in and out and around people like they were drops of water in the ocean, and she was a mermaid moving in her natural element. Jonouchi could barely think or breathe as she dragged him along.

Finally, his brain snapped back to himself like a yo-yo on a string.

"H-hey! Where are we going?"

The girl's grip loosened on his arm. Then she let out a tiny gasp. And suddenly, they were barreling to a stop so quickly that his face smacked into her back and he stumbled away from her, moaning.

She let go of his wrist and turned to face him, blinking.

"I don't know," she said. "I actually don't know where anything is here. I was just trying to make distance."

Jonouchi blinked through the headache that was suddenly taking over him, pressing the heel of his palm to his temple. He took a few moments to breathe.

"So..." he started, not sure what to say first. Thanks? Where did you come from? Where did you learn to fight like that? Why did you help?

But she cut him off before he could ask anything.

"Don't be so reckless!" she said, waggling a finger. "What will we do if you don't make it to high school next year? It will be a disaster!"

Jonouchi's mouth fell open.

"W-what?"

"Don't what me! You're going to be late for work! Now shoo, shoo!"

She turned him around and pushed him forward by the shoulder blades.

"H-hey! Wait!" Jonouchi said. "Who are you? A-and my work is the opposite direction!"

"Oh, really? I guess I really don't know where anything is."

Her hands fell away from his shoulders. He whipped around, mouth opening and ready to start grilling her for answers—

She was gone.

He blinked. He looked in both directions. He turned quickly in a circle, eyes searching frantically between people and moving bodies for some sign of her—had she darted away? Disappeared into a shop?

Or...

Or had she...been here at all?

His head was aching. He rubbed it again with the heel of his hand, looking up into the sky.

Well...she had been right about one thing, real or not...he wasgoing to be late for work.

. . .

A/N: I guess that works haha :'D Next up is Imoutoshipping (Shizuka x Amane).