Honda falls out with Katsu and almost shops her in public! Be warned of some tension and swearing in this chapter.
Chapter 19
Impossible Choice
The seconds seemed to drag as Honda and Katsu stared each other out. Honda could see her eyes welling up with tears, and the way she was almost pleading with him not to do this to her made his insides clench. Looking into her face, he could no longer see any hint of Jonouchi reflected in her gaze. Was his friend really gone? He could feel himself wavering; there was no way he could be so unkind as to shop her in such a cruel way. This was a public place; it would be a scandal.
Sensing something bad might happen, Mokuba had already run to his brother's side and was tugging on his sleeve, urging him not to get into a fight with them.
Meanwhile, Yugi felt a surge of panic and dread rush through him as realised that Honda might be on the verge of shopping his friend. If Honda did tell Kaiba that Katsu was Jonouchi, there would be a cataclysmic eruption of such magnitude, that even the unlikely event of Mount Fuji suddenly spewing hot lava all over Japan would pale in significance. He had to stop this, now!
Stepping in front of Honda, he bravely held his hand up in a gesture that told the tall brunette to back off, and glared pleadingly at his two friends. The pair were still boring holes into one another over the top of his head and it broke his heart to think that their friendship might be permanently destroyed should Honda spill the beans. "Guys! It doesn't matter!" He commanded, as boldly as he could.
Honda did not seem to hear him due to the red mist that was consuming him, so Yugi reached out and gripped Honda's sleeve, and shook him. "Honda! Please don't ..."
Honda thumped his hand away forcefully. But when Yugi yelped at the pain it caused him, Honda blinked and the red mist cleared allowing him to regain his usual voice of reason. "I'm sorry if I hit you Yugi. I'm not going to say anything. I'm just concerned and angry." He took in a shaky breath. "Have you no pride in Jonouhci's reputation, Katsu?" He snarled.
If there was one thing Katsu had in common with her male self, it was her refusal to back down or admit defeat. Like a dog stealing the Sunday roast, she gave him a victorious and rebellious smile. "You don't own me," she snapped, "and neither does Jonouchi. I make my own decisions."
Seto Kaiba folded his arms smugly. So, he had been right earlier. Honda did have a thing for Katsu, but she had obviously rejected him. And now the idiot was putting on a stupid display of possessive anger and jealousy. It made him want to laugh out loud. If that moron wanted to fight him for her, he would soon find out that Seto had a black belt in Karate.
Beside him, Mokuba could feel his brother flexing his muscles. "Please... Seto? It really doesn't matter if Katsu wants to stay here with them, so please don't fight with Honda over her... Seto?" He looked up at his brother, pleadingly.
Everyone could see how tense and upset Katsu and Honda were. Seto was enjoying himself; it was like a boardroom stand-off – and he always won those. "It's not that simple Mokuba," he growled. He had come to the conclusion that if she were to choose them, he would take that as a rejection of his offer for her to move in, and as much as it would hurt, he would be forced to finish with her. But he would not let his emotions show in public.
Katsu had just about had enough of this. Honda and Seto were both being pathetic jerks. They didn't own her and had no right to force her to choose. "Screw all of you!" She yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "You all think you know what's best for me?! Well, fuck you all, because you don't! How can you possibly know what I feel like?!" She screamed, gesturing to herself.
Honda opened his mouth to try to explain that he was only doing this for her own good, but she silenced him.
"Shut it Honda!" She knew she was sounding more like Jonouchi, but she was suddenly past caring. So what if Kaiba found out. All of a sudden, that was starting to feel far more preferable than everyone fighting over her. A crowd of amused onlookers had also gathered, and were wondering what was going on, but she was on a roll and didn't care. "You can all do what the fuck ya like! I'm going home." She gave the finger to a couple of onlookers that thought it was funny enough to laugh, and then turned away to leave.
Yugi could not stand to see his friend upset like this and reached to grab her sleeve. He opened his mouth and almost muttered Jonouchi but thankfully, the words faltered on his tongue. Katsu turned around and winked at him.
"It alright Yugi. I'm not angry with you. It's these two knuckle headed morons I'm angry at." She turned away from him again and stomped back down the path towards the exit.
As she passed Seto, he put his arm out to stop her but she swerved around it and kept walking. He kept quiet. If there was one thing Seto Kaiba did not like, it was being made a fool of in public. The last thing he wanted was for her to dump him in front of the dweeb squad and the crowd of onlookers. Instead, he turned to Honda and levelled the blame at him. "This is all down to your moronic behaviour," he snarled.
Honda shook his head. "You don't have a clue," he growled.
Meanwhile, Yugi and Anzu were watching Katsu walking away. "It's okay Yugi. I will deal with this," Anzu reassured her friend. She rounded on Honda and Seto. "You are both idiots!" She scolded. "And as for you, Kaiba! You don't deserve her. She's far too good for you!" She turned and hurried down the path to catch up with her friend.
Mai jabbed a finger in Seto's chest as she passed him. "Don't even think about following."
Yugi wanted to go with them too, but girls problems were out of his comfort zone. Sure, he could listen to Anzu complaining about aching feet and how sexist men were – as if he didn't count. But he seldom knew what to say in response. There was no way he could deal with whatever emotions Katsu was suffering right now. He would leave Anzu and Mai to deal with her, while he tried to calm Honda down.
"What do you want to do Yugi?" Said Honda, his voice filled with exhaustion. "Not sure I can be bothered with the reptile house."
"Might take our minds off it," Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "But if you don't..."
"You're right," Honda interrupted, sighing, before marching into the reptile house.
Yugi followed him into the dingy, cave-like walkway in silence. The reptile house was designed to appear as though they were walking through a jungle cave. Along the walls, were glass fronted cases containing various different species of snakes, lizards, exotic frogs and spiders; each surrounded by their own familiar environment.
They stopped in front of a case containing chameleons. "Native to Madagascar, they change their appearance to suit their surroundings" Honda read from the label. He chuckled. "Remind you of someone?" he added, with a hint of irony.
Keeping his voice low, Yugi scratched his head. "I don't think you're referring to me and Bakura owning Millennium items, so I guess you mean Jonouchi. But I wouldn't describe him as a chameleon."
"Well, Katsu's changed Jonouchi's behaviour to suit her appearance." Honda's expression was pained. "I just don't understand why she would choose to date Kaiba?"
"I don't understand either," Yugi admitted. "I'm trying to, but it's not easy. I guess Katsu wants a life of her own, independent from Jonouchi. She knows her time here is short and wants to make the most of it. But that still doesn't make sense. It's like she doesn't care about all the bad things Kaiba has done."
"That's what I can't understand. She knows about it, but it's like she wants to pretend none of that stuff ever happened."
"You know me? I'm all for forgiveness," said Yugi, reflectively. "I forgave you and Jonouchi for bullying me. So perhaps she is doing the same for Kaiba." They moved on as a mother with a young girl came to stand fairly close to them.
Honda waited until they were out of earshot before continuing. "Yeah, but at least me and Jonouchi changed for the better. Kaiba will always be a bastard."
Yugi was not as convinced. "The other Me has more faith in Kaiba than I do, but I do still believe Kaiba can change his ways," he whispered, as someone else walked by.
Chewing his bottom lip, Honda glanced down at Yugi with a frown. "We can't just go along with it and let her date him though. What if something.. romantic happens?!" Fearing that Katsu might have already become too close to Kaiba, he grimaced. He could only hope that enough of Jonouchi's awareness remained in that thick skull to prevent anything intimate from happening. "Do you think Jonouchi is aware?"
"It depends on the type of Shadow Magic Bakura used. At first, he was, but I don't think he knows what is happening anymore." Yugi was certain that his friend would never have allowed Katsu to get so close to Kaiba if he was aware.
Honda nodded at his much shorter pal. "My worry is that he does know, but can't do anything about it." He nodded at Yugi's pendant. "But you know more about the sort of weird stuff those items are capable of than I do."
Yugi clasped the pendant in his hands and tilted it up slightly to look into its eye. He felt a warm, soothing tingle tickle his palms. "I don't know that much. It's only recently that I have started getting to know the other Me properly. He doesn't know very much about the items either and has no memories of his past. But we both believe that the Items are all connected. They seem to be drawn to each other. But they have different abilities, and in the wrong hands they are dangerous. I think, that somehow, Jonouchi has been locked away by Bakura's spell and Katsu is what he would be if he had been born a girl."
"Yeah, now you mention it. When I looked into her eyes earlier, it was like looking into a different soul. She really is a new person."
"I think so too. She still has his memories, but is not him." Yugi frowned. "I guess we have to try and be understanding."
They both gave this a few moments of thought as they continued to the end of the displays.
Honda suddenly let out a sigh. "Man... I seriously screwed up today, didn't I? I hope she forgives me."
"I'm sure she will," Yugi replied, positively. "And I'm sure everything will work out in the end."
Honda acknowledged his diminutive friend with a small shake of the head and a smile. Whatever adversity was thrown at him, Yugi always managed to remain optimistic.
In the past, he had treated Yugi badly for his naïve optimism. When Yugi had tried to be friends with him, he had responded by pushing him around. When Yugi did not fight back, he had picked on him by forcing him to spend his own money on things like porno magazines, which he knew would embarrass him. He felt pretty shitty about it all now, and even though Yugi had told him it was all water under the bridge and didn't matter, Honda would never completely forgive himself for being such a jerk. He had prejudged Yugi as a pathetic wimp with no backbone. But Yugi had the strongest backbone of them all, and was the most honourable, respectful, forgiving person he had ever met.
Some of Yugi's good nature had definitely rubbed off on him and he was definitely a better person for knowing Yugi. He would prove it by apologising and offering much better support to Katsu than he had shown so far.
He just hoped that Katsu's temper was not as fiery as Jonouchi's could be and that she had calmed down enough to forgive him. "Can you send Anzu a message for me Yugi? Tell her we're coming over to her house. I want to make it up to Katsu."
Obliging as ever, Yugi agreed.
::::::::::::
What had started out as an attempt to socialise in a place full of common people, had been a disaster for Seto. It had only served to confirm why he always avoided mingling with the general public and doing the sort of boring activities they participated in. But he had done it on a whim – which was very unlike him – partly because Mokuba was always nagging him to do things that 'normal' people do and partly because he wanted to see if could deal with what it would be like if he and Katsu became a regular couple. He had been foolishly prepared to change himself to suit her, but now he was not so sure that was a good idea. He had now come to the conclusion, that if she did move into the mansion, she would have to bend to suit his lifestyle. He was sure she would comply. What woman wouldn't if it meant that she could have a luxurious lifestyle with the most eligible bachelor in Japan?
"I hope Katsu forgives you Seto," Mokuba suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence in the back of the limo.
"For what exactly?" He responded, slightly tersely.
"Well," Mokuba hesitated. "You and Honda did get a bit..." He faltered when Seto shot him an unamused look.
"I wasn't the one putting on a silly display of overprotective friendship. It re-affirms my view that Katsu should not be wasting her time with those idiots. The sooner she moves in with us and they stop having any influence over her, the better."
"Do you think she will move in with us?"
"Of course. She is a fool and not worth bothering with if she doesn't." He folded his arms and the tone of his voice told Mokuba that this conversation was done.
It left Mokuba feeling a little worried. Their early life experience, followed by the brutality inflicted on him by their stepfather, had caused Seto to build a protective shell around his emotions. Even after Yugi had fragmented Seto's mind and left him in a coma to re-build himself, the protective shell had still remained intact.
But since meeting Katsu, small chinks in his wall had begun to appear, and the lively, fun loving big brother that Mokuba barely even remembered, was slowly starting to re-emerge. If Katsu did not move in or ended the relationship, Mokuba feared that the protective shell may become even more impenetrable.
::::::::::::
At first, Katsu had been a bit offhand and ignored Anzu and Mai's attempts to comfort her.
She had fast marched to the bus stop.
They waited for nearly six minutes before the bus arrived, and in that time, Katsu hardly said a word.
Mai was silent too, but Anzu kept on saying that she was sorry the boys had to behave like idiots.
Katsu grunted and shrugged, but did not agree or disagree with her.
They got on the bus, showed their tickets and chose a seat. The bus was not crowded at this time of day so they had the pick of where they sat and chose a seat at the back, out of earshot of the few elderly passengers who had chosen to sit near the front.
It was so unlike Jonouchi to sulk. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and was an open book, so to have Katsu sulking and being surly, just felt wrong. It just went to prove how far removed she was becoming from her male counterpart.
"It's so unlike you. I wish you would say something?" Said Anzu.
Visibly deflating, Katsu turned to her. "What's there to say? I may not be Jonouchi, but I have his gift for completely fucking up!"
"Jonouchi never...!" Anzu began but then changed track. "Okay, well, he does muddle through sometimes. But no, you're not him. You are you, and what happened today was not your fault. It was Honda's. He's really struggling, you know?"
A pang of guilt suddenly tugged at her insides and Katsu sagged. "Yeah, I think you're right. I should have gone easy on him. It didn't help that I lied to him and told him I only saw Kaiba that one time, just to get an expensive meal."
Mai rolled her eyes. Just like Jonouchi, she would do anything for food. "You need to talk to Honda."
"I dunno if I can face him." Katsu looked at Mai, desperate for help. "What do I say?"
Mai shrugged. "Just apologise! He's not a total idiot. I'm sure he wants to understand, but you two have known each other for as long as.. well, for ever!"
"Yeah... and as soon as this happens to me, he acts like a jerk!"
Anzu pursed her lips and chewed on her cheek. They were both being jerks. How could she explain this so that Katsu could understand? It suddenly came to her. "Imagine the situation is reversed. You are still Jonouchi and Honda suddenly changes sex. How would Jonouchi react?"
Katsu nodded as she considered the question. Jonouchi would most likely freak out over it. He would struggle to understand and make crass jokes as a way of trying to deal with it. He would probably call Bakura out and demand that the spirit faces him like a man, and would threaten to beat him up if he did not reverse the spell. He would probably make things worse by accidentally blabbing the truth in public and revealing Honda's identity.
"He wouldn't give Honda the same shit he's giving me,"she concluded, defensively.
"I'm not so sure about that," said Anzu, sceptical of Katsu's answer. But she could see that it had made Katsu think about the way Honda was behaving.
The bus pulled up at the stop nearest to Anzu's house and they got off. It took roughly six minutes to walk the rest of the way to Anzu's house.
"Maybe you should call Yugi and tell him to bring Honda back here so we can talk," Katsu suggested.
Anzu raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. "I'm not the one who upset him. Why don't you ring him?"
Katsu was apprehensive. "I don't know! It will sound better coming from you."
"Why do I always have to be peacekeeper between you two?!" Anzu huffed with exasperation.
"Please? Just this once..." Katsu pleaded.
"Honestly!" Mai gestured with exasperation. "What's with you?" She scolded. "You're just as bull headed as Jonouchi. Why will neither of you ever apologise or admit the other is wrong?"
"It's pride," Katsu admitted. "I might be female, but I still have pride."
"More like stupid ego," Anzu sighed. "Okay, just this once. I will call Yugi and tell him to bring Honda here."
She was just about to pull her phone out when she received a message from Yugi, telling her that he and Honda were just leaving the zoo and would be coming over on Honda's motorcycle, shortly.
"They're already on their way," she told Katsu, opening the front door to her house and stepping inside.
::::::::::::
They took their drinks up to Anzu's room and closed the door so that her parents would not hear their sensitive conversation. Luckily for them, her parents just thought they were being typical teenagers and left them alone.
The atmosphere between them was far more awkward than it ever had been; it was even more awkward than when Jonouchi had lifted Anzu's skirt up, or when he and Honda used to pick on Yugi and Anzu would threaten them over it.
Honda placed his tea on Anzu's desk. "I guess I owe you girls an apology for earlier." He grimaced slightly and rubbed the side of his face with the pads of his fingers. "I probably acted like an over protective jerk."
"Probably?!" Katsu snorted loudly, only to be elbowed by Mai.
"You're supposed to be making up, remember?" She hissed.
"Yeah," Katsu looked guilty. "Sorry Honda. But..." She was tempted to confirm that he was an over protective jerk, but would only get a lecture. "But I don't need you to worry. I can make my own decisions."
"Or mistakes," Honda could not resist interjecting.
Anzu rolled her eyes. "Forgiveness guys..." she groaned.
"Yeah, come on guys. We're not making any progress here," Yugi added.
"If we're to make any progress, Katsu has got to stop seeing Kaiba," Honda answered.
"Let's all sit in a small circle so we can talk properly," Anzu suggested. "That way, we can each take it in turns to speak, and no one is allowed to interrupt."
They nodded in agreement and all sat cross legged on the floor, facing inwards, in a circle.
"I will go first," Anzu decided. "I admit that I'm worried about Katsu seeing Kaiba, but I think it would be unfair to force her to stop seeing him if she really and genuinely likes him. We will just have to trust her to have good judgement and not do anything that Jonouchi will live to regret."
Honda let out a groan of disapproval and opened his mouth to speak, but Anzu put her hand up. "It's Yugi's turn next."
"I agree with Anzu, kind of," he said, tentatively. "But I want Katsu to promise that she will not," he blushed with embarrassment, "do anything." In his mind, he heard his other Self urging him to speak his own mind and not just agree with everyone else.
"You'll have to be more specific than that Yugi," Mai snickered, even though she knew what he was trying to say.
"It's not your turn to speak, Mai." Honda glared at her.
Agreeing with his alter ego, Yugi pulled his posture up to sit taller and looked straight at Katsu. "Okay, I don't completely agree with Anzu. I think you should stop seeing Kaiba. I really like you Katsu and I am sad that you can't have your own life. But I know that Jonouchi is still deep inside you somewhere, and he is my friend. I don't want him permanently scarred because you end up in Kaiba's bed!"
Mai raised an eyebrow at his directness, while Anzu gasped.
Katsu just stared at him with a hurt expression. Yugi cringed slightly and his posture sagged back to it's normal state.
Honda clapped his hands and nodded. "Wow! Way to go Yugi. Just what I wanted to say."
Clearing her throat, Anzu felt her face heat slightly at how this debate was turning out. "Do you have anything to add Honda? It's your turn."
"You bet I do." He looked straight at Katsu. "Tell me the truth Katsu. How far have you gone with Kaiba?"
"What?! That's way out of line," Katsu squawked.
"Just answer the question," Mai grumbled. She was really getting fed up with this childish behaviour.
Katsu scowled. "I haven't done anything, Okay?! And even if I had, it's none of your damn business."
"It is my business, because I will have to deal with the fallout," said Honda, with a serious expression. "What do you think it would do to Jonouchi?"
"And Kaiba," Yugi added. "Because he would be affected by any romantic encounter too."
"Can I explain something to you all?" Katsu raised her voice, causing them all to fall silent and look at her. "I am not Jonouchi. I can't explain what has happened to him because I don't know. But I am ME."
They all stared at her in stunned silence, so she continued her rant. "Yes, I can remember everything that happened to him growing up: I know my sister has poor eyesight and that he went to Duelist Kingdom to fight for her. I know that Yugi is giving my family the money for her operation to fix her eyes. I know that Kaiba has been cruel to Jonouchi in the past. But he's not like that with me. I have seen another side of him; a kind generous, playful side."
At that disclosure, her friends all pulled faces like squeezed lemons.
"But," she added, "I can assure you that as much as I like him, I have resisted his advances because I know that deep down inside, I am still Jonouchi. Like you, I worry that when I disappear, he will wake up and remember it like some sort of nightmare. And because of that I have kept Kaiba at arms length."
There was an awkward silence between them all.
The silence was finally broken by Honda. "So, what do you intend doing? According to Bakura's guess, you have between one and two more weeks."
Katsu smiled sadly. "I been thinking about that. Seto Kaiba has asked me to move into the mansion with him." This was met with gasps. She put her hand up to placate them. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna. If I had a choice, of course I would accept. But I don't have a choice because as much as I want my own life, it is not mine to enjoy." Sniffing, she wiped away a sad tear and forced a smile. "Besides, I don't want to fuck up Jonouchi's life any more than he's already tried to do himself! Him and Me are lucky to have you all as friends."
Crying. Anzu reached out to squeeze Katsu's hand.
Blinking back his own tears, Honda took the other hand. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. If there's anything I can do to help, just ask," He smiled weakly and looked at the emotion on his friends faces. He now understood how important it was for them to not be at odds over this. Katsu would soon be gone for good and their likeable goof-ball, but rough around the edges pal, would soon be back.
And when he returned, he would need his friends to be on good terms.
We're getting closer to the end of this story now. Maybe two chapters to go.
Please review.
