Thanks to my beta, Amanda.

*1* Jounouchi *1*

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I shot out of bed at the horrible sound of my alarm clock. Whoever invented such a sound ought to be killed. I reached over and yanked the bastard clock from the wall. Ha! Try to live without your lifeline. Lifeline… that made me think of the dream I had. It was so real and so intense. I had always heard that if you died in a dream, you died for real. I tensed and looked down at my chest and felt around for the bullet hole I was certain was there.

I lifted my shirt and let out the breath I'd been holding when I felt nothing but the smooth skin of my chest. I let my shirt fall back down and got out of bed. I was already late for school, so I decided to head out in the clothes I had on.

I walked out of my room and I plugged my nose against the strong smell of smoke, alcohol and vomit caused by my old man. With any luck he would be passed out on the couch and I wouldn't have to deal with him.

"Stupid kid!" he screamed. Oh shit. I followed the sound of his voice and entered the living room, which was aglow with the light from the T.V. I looked over at the couch and watched my father sleep. He was covered in cans of beer and the table was covered in cigarette butts. I held my breath and turned off the T.V.

"Little bastard!" he said. I looked over and watched him shift around. I shut my eyes tightly and waited for him. When nothing happened I opened my eyes and saw that he merely rolled over and passed out again. I sighed and headed out of the door.

As I walked to school I thought about my dream once more. Maybe it was a sign that I should make friends with Yoshi. He wasn't unlike Yugi. Yugi and I had turned out to be the greatest of friends. Because of Yugi, my life got turned around. It was decided; when I got to school I would find Yoshi and let him know he had a friend.

He may not believe me; I had been a bully for much of my life. I had started out as a bully at an early age and then I had joined a gang, so it wasn't hard to see why everyone was afraid of me. I had made a reputation for myself and it was going to take time to fix it.

In the distance I could hear the chime of the clock coming from my school. Fixing my life would have to come later, I was going to be late for school. I ran full force through the streets and decided to take a shortcut. I rounded a familiar corner and grabbed onto a pipe that was sticking from the wall of a building and hoisted myself up over a fence that divided the alleyway. I ran out of the alley and through the back entrance of my school.

As I walked to my classroom, I noticed everyone seemed to be floating all around, there were no signs of teenage drama, no girls gossiping, and no guys talking about girls or parties. No, instead there was an air of danger and sadness.

What was going on with everyone? I decided I would ask Yugi later. I walked into my classroom and everyone was wearing black and sitting quietly at their desks. Shit, I didn't get the memo. I was wearing my favorite shirt and usual uniform pants. I sat down at my desk. It was too late for me to go change and no one was saying anything about it so I figured it would be okay.

I looked over at Seto's desk and smirked to find that it was empty. I've hated him ever since the first day of kindergarten.

My mother worked really hard to get me into the Elite School for Little Thinkers, one of the most expensive kindergartens in the world. She had wanted me to be safe and get an education that no one in her family had ever gotten.

I didn't care, I was a kid. I went into that school with every intention of making friends; I had never had friends before and my mother told me I could make as many of them as I wanted to in school. I hugged my mother (one of the few times I could remember hugging her) and walked into the room. I smiled at the other kids and noticed a group of them sitting at a table. They were wearing little suits and practicing their writing skills.

I walked over and said "Hi, I am Katsuya." One of the kids, Seto Kaiba, looked up at me and laughed.

"It's funny," He said.

"What is?" I was smiling, hoping to laugh at what he thought I said that was so funny.

"That you think you can talk to us." I blinked, what was he talking about? "We don't play with people like you."

"People like me?"

"My father says you grew up on the south side and we aren't allowed to talk to you. He says that people from the south side grow up to be hoodilioms," another kid said. I never learned his name.

"Not hoodilioms, hoodlums," Seto corrected.

"What is a hood…what is that?" I asked.

"Look in the mirror," Seto said and then the other kids started to chant the word over and over.

Just thinking about that day makes my blood boil. I finally looked away from Seto's empty seat and tapped Yugi on the shoulder. He shivered and turned around. "Why is everyone wearing black?" I asked.

I watched his face carefully and sat back as his eyes began to water and I noticed the tracks running down his cheeks. He had been crying before. "Yug, what's wrong?" He said nothing; he turned away and was suddenly comforted by Anzu and Honda. Was Yugi mad at me or something? "Hey, yug… don't cry…" I paused when our Sensei entered the room.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked. What the heck was going on? She walked over to my desk and looked at me; in fact, now that I noticed, everyone was looking at me. "Let's go."

Everyone stood and walked to the door, forming a line. I shrugged and joined them. I shouldn't have left school early yesterday, apparently something major was happening today and I was totally unprepared. I followed my class through the halls of our school and out the front doors to the courtyard at the entrance.

We circled around a bench that I had never seen before. "What's with the bench?" No answer.

I looked up as the rest of the students at our school circled around us and then our Sensei broke formation and walked up to the bench and turned around to talk to us.

"We are all gathered here to honor one of our school's students, whose life was taken suddenly. This is certainly a tragic event, but we will not let this bring us down. We will be stronger than ever and we will let the world know that even though we will never forget, we will never let this tragedy define us." She continued to say things along those lines. I guess it was a good thing I had skipped school yesterday.

"Who are we honoring?" I asked Yugi but he was still ignoring me.

"I have something I want to say," Yugi said suddenly. His eyes were dry again, but I could tell he was ready to cry at any moment. Yugi walked up to the bench looked out at everyone. "He was my best friend… everyday without him will be like torture of the worst kind. We may have started off on the wrong foot…" Yugi paused to laugh but it was an ironic laugh. "In fact, the first time he told me we were friends, he lost his shoe."

What? Wait a minute… That's when I told Yugi I was his friend.

"I know he will be watching over us and I know we will always be incomplete without him."

"He was my best friend too." This time Honda spoke. "We got into loads of trouble together before we met Yugi; the four of us won't be the same without him."

"Jounouchi," Anzu spoke. I looked at her. She burst into tears and Yugi and Honda wrapped their arms around her.

"Guys…" I said. "Please tell me what's going on." Even though, by now I was sure I knew what was going on, I just didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to admit that this memorial was for me.