Chapter 9- The Solution in Action
DISCLAIMER: I don't Yugioh or anything else I put into this fanfic. I only own Emi, Ren, Ken and any other original character I may put into this story. Also, when I have the characters refer to 'last year' or their first year of high school I'm referencing to season Zero.
Anyway, on with the next chapter!
Start of Thursday- 4 Days Left
When Seto woke up the next day she looked over to the rest of her bed. It was empty. Where did Jounouchi go? He had been there when she had fallen asleep. Seto closed her eyes, 'So this is what it was like for Jounouchi when I left before he woke up. I'm a horrible person for doing that… but where is Jounouchi?'
Seto looked at her bed side table and found a note. She opened it up. It read, 'Hey Kaiba, sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. I had to get ready for school and my stuff was all at home. I'll see you at school in a little while; From Jounouchi.'
Seto smiled and got ready for school.
Once Seto got to school, she saw Yami waiting in front of her shoe locker. "Hey, Kairi-chan," Yami waved at her happily, "I wanted to talk to you before school started. It's kind of important."
'Uh oh,' Seto thought as she stopped in front of the former pharaoh, "What do you need?"
"I need to tell you about your past life," Yami said, "I remember everything from my past life in Ancient Egypt and I remember you were there as well. At first I thought it was Kaiba-kun, but now I know that it was you. Your past life gave birth to my child, the boy that then ruled Egypt. I was a pharaoh and you were my lover."
Seto tried to back away from Yami, but he grabbed the brunette's arm, "And those feelings from my past life are starting to affect me now."
Seto backed up to the lockers, unable to get away from Yami, "There's no way you could remember your past life. There's no such thing. People only get one life and the reason people look like others from a long time ago is from genetics. You're just imagining things."
"I'm not," Yami said, "The puzzle that hangs around Aibou's neck is where my soul was kept for the past 3,000 years and I finally found you again. It's fate."
Yami rose on his toes to kiss Seto. He closed his eyes and slowly leaned in. Seto closed his eyes and tried to face away from Yami, but he caught the brunette's chin, forcing Seto to look at him. Seto tried pushing him away, but Yami was being too persistent! Yami's lips almost grazed Seto's when Jounouchi tore them away from each other.
The look on Jounouchi's face clearly showed he was angry, "What the hell were you doing, Yami!"
"Jounouchi," Yami exclaimed in shock, "You don't understand. Seta is my lover from my past life in Egypt! I just wanted to kiss her again. I haven't seen her in about 3,000 years and I finally found her again!"
"Well, not only does she not remember, but she's a different person too! And she's mine, you got that!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
Seto's and Yami's eyes widened. Yami blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and said, "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me. It was like something was controlling my actions. I'm sorry, Kairi."
Seto patted Yami on the shoulder, "It's alright. Just don't do it again or I'll castrate you."
Yami's face twisted in shock and a bit of fear. He chuckled nervously and waved good bye to them. Seto looked at Jounouchi and said, "What did you mean when you said I'm yours?"
Jounouchi looked at Seto nervously while she crossed her arms, "I meant that he couldn't have you because… uh, you and I are already together?"
"You don't even know? Damn it Jou, I don't belong to you! I don't belong to anyone so never say that I'm yours again," Seto said angrily, smacking him on the arm.
Jounouchi smiled and kissed Seto on the forehead and put his arm around Seto's waist, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you belonged to me."
"NO PUBIL DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION!" A teacher yelled at them as she pulled Jou away from Seto, "Do you want to be expelled?"
"No, Chouno-sensei," Jounouchi said, "We won't do it again. Just make sure your face doesn't fall off or crack up again."
"EXCUSE ME?" She asked angrily, "You better watch it, Jounouchi Katsuya. I know what kind of boy you are and I won't hesitate to expel-."
Just then, her face actually cracked. Seto's eyes widened and they both watched as Chouno-sensei ran for the bathroom to apply more of her make up. Jounouchi laughed, "Thank god Yami's power still affects her. Last year she was so strict and always threatened to expel everyone, but Yami used his Shadow magic on her and now every time she tries to do something like that her face cracks like a mirror."
"That's the creepiest thing I've ever seen," Seto said, "She sure is ugly. She'd be even uglier without all of that makeup."
The bell rang and the two headed off to their first class.
After school Jounouchi and Seto went home together and lay down on the couch in the living room. Jounouchi sat up and said, "What do you want to do, Seto?"
"Um, how about watching a movie? I fall asleep in the middle of most movies, but we can still watch one," Seto said, "Pick one form underneath the television."
"Okay," Jounouchi said, getting up and searching through the many DVDs. He raised an eyebrow and pulled out a movie, "What's the movie Juno about?"
"It's about a sixteen year old girl that gets pregnant with her best friend's child and how she deals with it. They let the actors speak awkwardly so that it makes it feel more real instead of a movie," Seto said and looked over at Jounouchi, "It's actually a movie I can stay awake through."
"Really," Jounouchi asked, "Then let's watch it! I'll go make us some popcorn and get us some drinks. What would you like?"
"Anything, but alcohol," Seto said.
Jounouchi came back about five minutes later and they started the movie. Jounouchi actually really liked it. He liked the guy playing Paulie Bleaker named Michael Cera and the girl playing Juno, Ellen Page, was very good at acting as well. He looked over to Seto, who seemed to enjoy the small details in the film to make it unique and different from all the other films in the world.
His favorite part was Juno's monologue at the end of the film. He ended up wondering what it would sound like if it was Seto saying it, so he replaced Paulie with his own name. And he quoted from the movie as it played. "As far as boyfriends go Paulie Bleaker is totally boss. He is the cheese to my macaroni. And I know people are supposed to fall in love before they reproduce, but… I guess normalcy just isn't our style."
The movie credits came on after Juno and Paulie sang a song. Seto stood up and stretched. Jounouchi asked, "What was the name of the song they just sang?"
"It was called 'Anyone Else But You'. It's a very sweet sounding song and I'll listen to it whenever I want to calm down from something," Seto said as the credits played, "And this song is called 'Loose Lips'. Kimya Dawson is a very good singer. Her voice is unique and lower in register than most women, but it has a tone to it that's nice and soothing."
"Maybe we should do what they did at the beginning of the movie," Jounouchi said.
"What did they do at the beginning of the movie?" Seto asked.
"Well, it showed why the story started with a chair in the beginning and it made me think it was going to be a porno," Jounouchi said as he also stood up, "But it didn't show anything."
Seto narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going to have sex with you."
"Oh, come on!" Jounouchi said, "Just one time- it might help turn you back into a guy!"
"How could having sex with you help me turn back into a guy?" Seto said.
"You said it took for me to love you to turn you back into a guy, right?" Jounouchi asked, and Seto nodded, "Well, how can I put my entire heart into loving you if I don't feel that love back? You need to show me you love me too! All you've done is shove me away, yell at me and hit me!"
"So you want me to sleep with you to show you I love you?" Seto asked, "Jounouchi, you Bonkotsu, that doesn't show love! It shows lust! There's a difference!"
"Then how! How can we show love for each other without using seduction or physical attraction!" Jounouchi asked angrily, "Damn it Kaiba, what the hell is wrong with you! Why can't you just try it!"
"Maybe because I've never let anyone close to me!" Seto yelled even angrier than Jou, "I've been taught by that bastard of a father that love and affection are illusions and that others will only cause you pain! That kiss you gave me was my first kiss from ANYONE! The only person that's ever shown real affection that's still alive is my little brother!"
Jounouchi's eyes widened at Seto's last outburst. When he took a closer look at Seto he saw that Seto's blue eyes were watering up. Jounouchi tried to grab Seto's shoulder, but Seto slapped his hand away and said, "I'm going to work in my office. Don't bother me."
When the blonde heard the door slam he sighed. What had he just done? How could he have been so mean! Of course Seto didn't know how to show love. The only person Seto had really ever loved was Mokuba and they couldn't use that kind of affection for this situation. He shouldn't have tried to force the brunette. 'Wait a second,' Jounouchi thought, 'That's still alive? Oh DAMN IT! I forgot that he had been adopted by Gozaburo Kaiba when he was 10! I wonder what happened to his family.'
He wanted to do something to show Seto he was sorry, but what could he do? He decided to watch a few more movies so that he could get an idea of what to do. He knew that the girl in Juno had given Paulie a bunch of his favorite Tic-tacs to make up for what she had said, so maybe he should give Seto something to make him feel better. What did Seto like? Jounouchi went up to Seto's room and went through all of his drawers, looking for some kind of hint and was careful not to mess up anything. Finally, Jounouchi found something.
It looked like a drawing of a Blue Eyes White Dragon along with a bunch of weaker Duel Monsters cards. He looked on the back of it. It had a message from Mokuba. He read it. 'Seto, I wish I could see you right now. I feel so lonely. I want to see you so badly. One day, when he's finally dead or disappeared to the point no one can find him, we can search for the real Blue Eyes White Dragon cards! They remind me of you. You're strong, you can triumph over everything and anything, and you have the same eyes as a Blue Eyes White Dragon. I drew this so that you could have a little part of me with you until we can see each other again. I love you. From, Mokuba.'
Jounouchi's smiled at the messy message written in crayon. He wondered how long ago Mokuba wrote this. He couldn't ask since then Seto would know he went through his stuff, but now he had an idea.
Once Seto finally came out of his office it was already closing in on 11 PM. Seto took a quick shower and went to her room. Jounouchi wasn't there, thankfully. The brunette got into bed and fell asleep. She knew that she'd only have three days left from tomorrow so they didn't have much time, but she didn't want to be around him right now.
Thursday Ends- Friday Starts- 3 days left
When Seto woke up, she felt something in her arms. She looked down to see what it was and her eyes widened. It was a plushy of a baby Blue Eyes White Dragon! Where had it come from? Who gave it to her? She heard the door open and she looked up to see Jounouchi with a bed tray with food on it, "Good morning, Seto, did you sleep well?"
"Fine," Seto said, sitting up and putting the plushy next to her on the bed, "Where did this stuffed toy come from?"
"I asked Pegasus to help me make it for you," Jounouchi said, placing the food in front of Seto and kissing her forehead, "Do you not like it?"
"I don't know what to say," Seto said, trying not to blush, "Why did you do this?"
"When I realized how what I said yesterday affected you I felt like a real jerk so I wanted to find a way to make it up to you," Jounouchi sat on the bed next to Seto, "I know you're not much of a breakfast eater, but I hope you like it. And the first thing I think about when I think about you is a Blue Eyes White Dragon. You and that Dragon are a lot alike."
"Everyone thinks that," Seto said, "A powerful, cold-blooded beast that takes whatever it wants no matter what happens to others."
"That's not right. You're alike because you're both strong physically and willfully, you can take down anything in your way, your eyes shine with pride," Jounouchi gently grabbed Seto's chin with his hand and kissed her cheek "And you care for your loved ones like a mother."
Seto smiled and said, "Thank you, Jounouchi."
"We only have three days including today," Jounouchi said, "Today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
"I know," Seto said then saw Jounouchi's uneasiness said, "I know that you're nervous about not being able to get me back to normal, but you need to calm down. I'm nervous about it too."
"You're right," Jounouchi said, "But it's a lot to take in. If you don't become a guy again, then Yami would have never been in this time period and I never would have become friends with Yuugi. It's amazing what one little detail in life can change."
There was an awkward silence between the two of them until Seto said, "We should probably get ready for school."
"Shit! I forgot all about that!" Jounouchi said as he jumped up.
Seto chuckled and got dressed in her uniform. Jounouchi looked over at her and smiled. He liked the fact that Seto hadn't gone into the closet or the bathroom to change. Then, he saw something on Seto's back he'd never seen before. He asked, "Seto, what's that thing on your back?"
Seto felt the mark on her back and said, "Oh, the mark on my back? I got that a long time ago."
"When, what happened?" Jounouchi asked.
"It was on my eighth birthday- the day my father died," Seto said, surprisingly serious.
Jounouchi's eyes widened. He got up from his spot on the floor and put his arms around Seto, feeling the rough scar, "How did it happen?"
Seto looked away from Jounouchi, "My dad had picked me up from school on my birthday. We were on our way to the day care center where Mokuba was while I was at school and when my dad was at work. The streetlight was broken and a big truck hit our car. My dad saw it coming and only had enough time to protect me. When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital. They said that if my dad hadn't protected me like he did we both would have died. The only thing that happened to me was that a piece of glass had been wedged in my back. It almost hit my spinal cord."
Jounouchi silenced Seto by smashing their lips together. Seto's eyes widened in surprise, but slowly closed. The brunette put her arms around Jounouchi's neck, deepening the kiss. They broke apart when they finally needed a breath of air. They stared at each other for a second before Jounouchi said, "Well, I'm glad your dad did save you. If he didn't, what would have happened to Mokuba, me and the others? We all are better people thanks to you."
Seto tried to hide her blush from the blonde. Jounouchi let go of the brunette and held a lock of Seto's hair, "You should really cut your hair. It's gotten too long and it'll be easier to picture you as a guy if you have short hair."
"You think so?" Seto asked, "I've never really thought about it… but I guess you're right."
"Then let's do that after school today. Finish getting ready," Seto said.
They made it to school with enough time for Jounouchi to talk with his friends. Honda put his arm around Jounouchi's neck and yanked, "Hey Jou, you've been coming to school with Kairi a lot. What's the deal? How are you two so close?"
"Huh? Uh well," Jounouchi stuttered, "Kai- uh, I mean, Seta- is really close with Mokuba and is living at the Kaiba Mansion until Kaiba gets back and Mokuba and Shizuka have gotten really close. I'll take Shizuka over to the Kaiba Mansion when she and Mokuba want to play together or hang out and I end up staying to be with Seta."
"What?" Honda said, unhappily, "Damn it! First Kairi is untouchable because of you and now I can't have Shizuka because of little Mokuba! It's not fair!"
"You can always be with Otogi," Jounouchi pointed out.
Honda blushed, "No way! I can't be with Otogi! We're both guys! Maybe if he was a girl I'd go for him, but he's a guy and there's nothing I can do about that. If he had boobs, then maybe I could be into him, but he doesn't."
Jounouchi smirked and thought, 'I have an evil idea for you and Otogi in the near future, Honda. If I get you and Otogi together then you won't be able to say anything when I get Seto back to normal.'
Jounouchi saw Yuugi and Yami enter the room. He smiled at them and waved. He still had to keep an eye on Yami, but that didn't mean he couldn't be friends with him. It just meant he had a love rival for the time being. Class started and after roll was taken the teacher asked, "Does anyone know where Mazaki Anzu is?"
A Yuugi raised his hand, "She went to America to try out for a college for the performing arts. If she doesn't make it, then she'll be back next week."
"Well that's too bad. Class what do you all have to say about Anzu leaving," The teacher asked.
Everyone whooped and yelled in joy. The teacher yelled at them. "Enough! No more of your horrible cheering. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for doing such a thing! Alright, tell me where you're living after class. Now let's begin," the teacher said, starting to write on the board.
Their classes seemed to drag on, but before their class ended someone burst into the room. No one knew who the man was. He looked at all of the students, "Is there a Jounouchi Katsuya and a Kairi Seta in this class?"
Jounouchi and Seto stood up, "What's going on?"
"We need you to accompany us to Domino Middle. It's about Kaiba Mokuba and Kawai Shizuka," the man said, "My name is Shirahama. I am the teacher aid for one of their classes."
The two teenagers' eyes widened. They followed the man, their minds racing with questions and worry for their younger siblings. Thoughts of horror filled their minds as they made their way to the middle school. Had they gotten lost? Were they unable to find them? Had they been kidnapped? Had they been raped? Were they going to be tortured to look like mutants and forced to be in a freak show to make money? Had they gotten hurt in a car accident? Were they being tested on by evil scientists? Were they being forced into slavery or servitude? Were they being kept in an asylum? Had the plane they were on crashed? Were they on some deserted island, starving to death? Were they already dead!
When they finally got to the middle school and seated in a room with one of Shizuka's and Mokuba's teachers, they finally got their answer. "Do you two know why I've called you here?" the woman asked.
"No," Seto said, "You 'teacher aid' didn't tell us anything! What's going on with Mokuba? What has he done? What have you done? Why didn't you just tell us at our school so that we were given the chance to calm down instead of imagine horrible things that might have happened to our children! They're so far away and I didn't even want him to go on that field trip! That boy is going to kill me from a panic attack one day!"
"Seto, calm down!" Jounouchi said, "Let her explain what's happened."
Seto exhaled, "Explain."
The woman cleared her throat, "My name is Mrs. Cavallone. I've brought you here to discuss a project they worked on together."
"What was the project on?" Seto asked.
"It was to create a family tree," Mrs. Cavallone said, "They added many people in it and went all the way back to Ancient Egypt."
Mrs. Cavallone brought out the long poster. It was made to look like a timeline and the first person the two had put down were Seth and Atemu in Ancient Egypt. They looked at pictures of themselves at the very bottom. There was a picture of Seto, both male and female, with his birthday next to the pictures and a picture of Jounouchi with his birthday next to it. They were all there!
"I'm older than you?" Jounouchi asked, "I thought I was younger."
"So did I, but just because I act and look older doesn't mean I am older," Seto said.
Jounouchi's eyes widened when he saw a foreign looking woman with unruly black hair and blue eyes looking so sweet. When he looked down at the name it read Sarah Gallagher. "Who is she?" Jounouchi asked Seto.
Seto eyes widened at the woman. Seto whispered almost inaudibly, "It's… she's my mother. That's a copy of the only picture left of her."
Jounouchi wasn't very shocked. The woman looked almost exactly like Seto and her hair looked like Mokuba's. He saw his father's photo from when he was in high school. His father had the same eyes as Shizuka did when he was in high school and the same blonde hair he did. Jounouchi didn't want to look at the man he resembled so much. Instead he asked, "Where is your mother from?"
"She's Irish. She came to Japan as a tourist and loved everything about it. She decided to go to college nearby Domino and she loved visiting the city Seto so that's what she said she'd name her first son," Seto explained, "That's how she met my dad. They got along, but my mother died giving birth to Mokuba."
"I'm sorry if this project brings up bad memories, but this is how your siblings decided to make it," Mrs. Cavallone said, "I, myself, am half Italian. Though, what surprised me is that Mokuba and Shizuka put down Kaiba Noah as one of their siblings, but didn't put your step mother or step father, Gozaburo Kaiba. They also didn't include any aunts or uncles. Why do you think that is?"
Seto glared to no one in particular and said, "Mokuba and I don't see any of them as family. Gozaburo Kaiba is a bastard that deserved to die and it is our aunt's and uncle's fault he got his hands on us. I don't blame him. If I had the chance to, I'd gladly kill Gozaburo myself a couple dozen times just to see him die."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Kairi, but that's no way to speak of someone who took you into his home. Gozaburo Kaiba was a man known throughout the world and gave some of his money to charities and orphanages," Mrs. Cavallone pointed out.
Jounouchi knew this woman was just asking to be killed by one of Seto's glares. He knew what was coming next from Seto. Seto spoke calmly, "That was the façade that Gozaburo put on for people to see, but the people who knew him personally couldn't wait for the day he died. If that is all then I would like to leave now."
Mrs. Cavallone and Jounouchi looked at Seto nervously. The thought that Seto would have killed her for sure. Then it hit him. Maybe the sight of Seto's parents made her sad. He looked at the project once more and saw that the picture of Seto's father was a brown haired man reading a child's book to a brown haired boy in his lap. So that was Seto's father? He looked like an ordinary man, but even through the picture it felt like there was something special to the man.
Mrs. Cavallone let Seto and Jounouchi leave. Once they were alone Jounouchi asked, "Seto, what was your father like? It felt like there was something special about him."
"I can't remember," Seto said, "When I woke up after the accident they did tests on me and they said that most of my memory had been lost. But it's not lost, it's just too far away for me to reach- like they were linked to something inside of me like chains, but broke off and floated away."
"Let's go home. We've had enough today," Jounouchi said, extending his hand out to Seto.
Seto took it gratefully. Seto had called someone over and asked the man to cut her hair short. The brunette felt a little weird with short hair again, but liked it better that way. Later on the two watched older movies with Shirley Temple, John Travolta, and a few older romantic comedies until Seto fell asleep. Jounouchi carried Seto up the stairs, bridal style, while the brunette held the Dragon plushy that Jounouchi had made for her.
Woo! It's finally finished! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I never found the time to upload it, but it's up now! Again, I do not own anything or anyone mentioned in this story except any original characters. Juno is a great movie and I completely recommend it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet.
Sincerely, Kakamashi7~