Only in Tokyo
Skitter160
Author's note: Sorry it took so long! You have no idea how hard it was to come up with this chapter! Please enjoy and Review!!!! Now on with the story!!!
Unfortunately, Yugi wouldn't let Joey skip school and he ended up being dragged to school with him since he had stayed at his house. It wasn't a pleasant sleep over what with Joey crying himself to sleep after complaining about Kaiba and cursing Mai. Poor Yugi had to listen to it all and try to comfort Joey.
When they reached the classroom Kaiba was already there, as well as most of the class, typing on his laptop as usual and from the aura he was emanating you could tell he was in bad mood. Walking past him to his desk Joey didn't notice Kaiba look up from his typing and see who had walked past him. Joey did his best to ignore the fact that Kaiba even existed.
Looking up Kaiba wasn't surprised to see Wheeler headed to his desk. What surprised him was the fact he couldn't take his eyes off him. 'What's wrong with me?' He thought as he vaguely remembered something about the golden haired boy. 'His hair reminds me of a mangy mutt.' His evil aura lightened a little as he watched Joey all the way to his seat. Then upon realizing he was watching he returned to his gaze to his screen. Just then the door slid open and Duke walked in.
Duke saw Kaiba's grim aura and noticed that he was glancing at Joey every few seconds. Walking up to Joey's desk he wrapped an arm around Joey's shoulder. "Hey Joey!" He said loudly and swore if looks could kill he would be dead twenty times over from Kaiba's death glare, it was even worse than Akira's as Kaiba's aura turned deadly.
'That's my Mutt!' Kaiba heard somewhere in the back of his mind but it was muffled and unclear.
"Hey Duke." Joey said as happily as he could waving his arm off his shoulder causing Kaiba to lessen his glare a little. "So you start today?" Joey said looking up at him.
Kaiba looked back at his screen typing more as he tried to figure out why he got angry when Duke put his arm around Wheeler and what it was that his mind had said. 'What was it?' He tried to recall but it was too muffled to understand.
As class started and Devlin was seated next to Wheeler, Kaiba found that he couldn't help but glance up at Wheeler every two minutes and glare at Duke every five minutes as he sat rolling a dice in his hand while discreetly watching Wheeler. Kaiba didn't notice the anger that was building up inside of him until he noticed that he was pressing the keys harder than he should. He quickly stopped pounding the keys glad that no one had noticed, or so he thought.
Duke had been watching Kaiba for a few moments from the corner of his eye after hearing an unusual amount of noise coming from his keyboard. Seeing the anger in his eyes he wondered what was causing it. Just then the teacher called on him and he was unable to see him look at Joey and suddenly lighten up a little.
As the school day dragged on Joey was barely able to keep from breaking down at the sight of Kaiba in class and in the halls. It was now lunch and Joey wasn't as eager as usual to eat as he sat with his friends. Looking at his food he almost passed it to Tristan until Yugi spoke up.
"Joey you need to eat. I mean think about it…" Yugi was surprised when Kaiba spoke up as he was passing.
"You think this Mutt can think?" Kaiba sneered but something inside him was off as he looked at Joey, something was warm inside.
"Shut up Kaiba!" Joey spat as he stood up about to take a swing at him.
"Joey." Duke's hand caught Joey's fist before it collided with Kaiba's jaw.
Joey tensed up as he looked into Kaiba's eyes, they showed his confusion but not disdain like it normally did when they had fought instead it was almost as if he didn't know him.
Looking into Joey's eyes Kaiba felt something inside him wrench as he saw the hurt in them. Turning Kaiba walked away in confusion leaving the gang to watch him in confusion.
Suddenly Joey's knees hit the floor and he was almost in tears. "Joey!" Duke was at his side instantly comforting the tortured blonde.
Hearing Joey's name called in such concern Kaiba couldn't help but look back and the sight of Joey on his knees almost in tears had him wanting to run back and shove Duke away taking Joey in his arms. Shaking his head he continued to his table where he sat down and went over his odd emotions but he found he couldn't as his eyes drifted to where Duke was helping Joey up and leading him to the door. 'My Mutt!' A part of Kaiba growled but it went unheard by his mind as Duke wrapped an arm around him causing him to glare harshly at the other company owner.
Meanwhile Yugi and the others were looking on in worry as the cafeteria was wrung with whispers of the event.
Returning to his thoughts Kaiba tried to recall what had possessed him to even taunt Wheeler to begin with what history of interaction did they have? He couldn't recall any. 'That's odd.' He thought as he tried to remember any interaction with Wheeler other than being in the same class. He couldn't recall any at all. 'So why did I even speak to him?' Kaiba wondered.
'You love him!' A voice cried out in the back of his mind as loud as it could, but it was muffled and barely audible to Kaiba and thus went unnoticed but not unheard.
Kaiba instead placed his actions on the fact the blonde was one of the dumbest in the class and thus was not capable of thought. 'But that doesn't explain your reaction.' His mind reminded him. So he chalked it up to lack of sleep since he wasn't able to sleep well last night with his tossing and turning as a feeling of loneliness crept into his dreams. When he woke up he was hugging a pillow and at the opposite end of the bed.
As Duke lead Joey out of the cafeteria and to the bathroom he wasn't surprised to sense Kaiba glaring at him. 'What did Mai do?' Duke thought not for the first time that day. 'Kaiba still seems to notice Joey…Wait Kaiba didn't pick on Joey at all today…Could she have made him forget Joey?' Duke noticed they were lost and looked over at Joey. He was gone. 'Where did he go?' That's when he noticed he was standing in front of a door. Peeking inside he saw Joey standing in front of a painting. Coming up beside him he noted the painting was the one Yugi had bragged on Joey about. "So this is yours?"
Joey nodded solemnly as he looked at the painting. "He doesn't remember me does he?" Joey whispered as tears began to fall down his cheeks and his knees started to feel weak.
"I don't think so." Duke whispered softly wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
Wiping away his tears Joey turned to Duke. "Then I'll have to make him remember." Joey's voice cracked and he lost his resolve as he remembered how things were. "But how? I can't go back to the way things were…" Joey sniffled.
"I know." Duke patted his shoulder. "We'll think of something." He smiled as the bell rang. "Want to get out of here?" Duke asked pointing out the window to his car.
"Hell yeah!" Joey cheered sounding almost like his old self as he looked at the convertible. "Can we drive with the top down?" He asked happily.
"Sure." Duke smiled leading Joey out to his car. "So where do you want to go?"
"But I'm broke." Joey faltered at the door of the red convertible.
"That's fine it's on me." Duke smiled happily as he got in followed by Joey. Putting the top down he started the engine. "So where to?"
"Um…" Joey thought a moment. "Well I'm not too hungry…" Joey started and his stomach growled making him blush.
"You shouldn't starve yourself." Duke told him pulling out of the parking place heading to Burger World.
Meanwhile back in class Yugi was a little worried when Joey and Duke hadn't come to class. A cell phone went off, well vibrated loudly and Yugi looked at Tristan.
"Duke took Joey to Burger world." Tristan whispered to his friend making him sigh in relief. "Says that they're skipping the rest of school." Tristan added.
Yugi nodded, though he wasn't happy he knew that it would help Joey. Looking back at Kaiba Yugi was surprised to see he wasn't typing but instead was staring at Joey's empty desk, but it was only for a second.
Kaiba was surprised when he noticed the Mutt was missing. So surprised he had actually stopped working for a minute. Looking back at his screen he shook his head and continued to work. Finishing quickly he had a little free time and decided he would look over his files from his trip. He was surprised to find one labeled contract. Opening it he was surprised to find it was a contract for an assistant. 'Who did I make this for?' A memory of a pen moving over the bottom line crossed him mind along with golden hair. 'I'll have to look for it.' He sighed as he caught himself looking at Joey's empty desk again.
Joey ate all of one burger before trying to claim he was full, but was belied by his growling stomach. Duke sighed as he looked at Joey. "Just eat." Duke said pushing another burger toward him. Joey smiled weakly before picking up the burger and eating it slowly. "You know not eating won't help anything." Duke said quietly.
"I know that." Joey said sullenly. "But it makes me feel better."
"No it doesn't." Duke replied. "It makes you hungry."
Joey chuckled a little. "I guess it does."
After eating Joey had Duke drop him off at home where he pulled out a canvas and began to sketch. Painting had always been a way of release for Joey so as he sat sketching an outline he began to feel better if only a little bit.