Yo! How's it going? Hope everyone's doing alright. Me. Well, school started this week. I think it's ok. But i'm absolutely terrified of my classes. I just hope i do well in them. I'm very lazy, that's why I worry. Ah, well, let's just see how it goes. Anyways, enjoy!

DIZCLAIMER: Meh. y'all know the drill...

HONDA NEEDED TO SPEAKwith someone badly. Well, maybe not that badly, but there was something he figured he couldn't keep to himself much longer. They needed to know it could not be a secret forever.

He had tried Yugi, but Yugi seemed very busy and he didn't want to be much of a bother. Besides, he could tell that Yugi has been a little down lately, despite the fact that Yugi had tried to hide it with his fake smile.

Whatever it was, Honda is sure that Yugi will get over it. After all, Yugi wasn't the type of guy to let things get to him.

Honda glanced at his watched and he swore under his breath, it was almost time. Jonouchi had promised him that they'd met at the karaoke almost ten minutes ago. So far, it looks like Jonouchi will be late.

Honda frowned, he figured this would happen. Jonouchi was never the type to be punctual, but Jonouchi always keeps his promises, even if he is a tad bit late.

Honda glanced at his cell to see if Jonouchi may have texted him a message explaining his late arrival. There weren't any unread messages. Could Jonouchi have forgotten?

Honda was about to text Jonouchi, when he spotted the least expecting person to come to the scene. Honda got out from their reserved karaoke room, he noticed a certain fair-skinned person taking out the empty bottles of beer and some occasional bottles of soda from a room.

"Bakura?" Honda asked.

Bakura immediately whipped around, as soon as he saw who it was, he smiled, "Hey, Honda! What's up?" he asked.

Honda smiled, "Hey, since when did you work here, man?" he asked.

Bakura frowned and glanced up thoughtfully, "I dunno," he admitted, "Maybe around a few weeks actually."

Honda nodded, "Really? So how's the job?"

Bakura shrugged, "It's not really that much of a hassle. It's pretty easy and my boss is great! I think he likes me."

Honda nodded, "That's good. I'm happy for you."

Bakura grinned, "So, what brings you here?"

Honda couldn't help but to smirk, "Well, I was actually supposed to meet up with Jou…but it seems he's running a bit late."

Bakura nodded, "It's nice to hear that Jonouchi is still the same as always," he admitted.

"Yeah," Honda admitted, "I don't wanna hold you up on your job and stuff. So, I'll just let you go."

Bakura waved his hand dismissively, "It's fine, really." His eyes were on the bottles he was holding, "As soon as I take care of these I'm off."

"Oh," Honda said. That's when it occurred to Honda that he's never really hung out with Bakura much. Bakura's a nice guy, a bit shy and soft spoken, but overall he was a nice guy.

"Hey, why don't you come with me in the bar for a bit?" he asked, then Honda realized that it was possible that Bakura may have plans, "Uh, I mean-if-if you're not busy or something…" Honda added quickly.

Bakura shook his head, "No, of course! I can hang out for a while!" he said, "I'll be back soon ok?"

Honda nodded.

He watched Bakura walk away.

MEAWHILES…

Jonouchi felt like he was forgetting something as he made his way to Mai's apartment. He couldn't remember what, but he knew it was something important.

Crap. Jonouchi wished he could have at least gotten some of the smart genes, but sadly, it was all given to Shizuka.

Jonouchi began to climb his way upstairs to the second floor, where Mai lived. Jonouchi grinned from ear to ear, but his smile was wiped away as his eyes came upon the door left slightly ajar. His mouth tensed, he clenched his jaw. Was Mai robbed?

Jonouchi knelt down to examine the lock on Mai's door to see if it was jammed.

"…Think that's when it happened…" Jonouchi heard someone say as he kneeled. Jonouchi recognized that voice, Ryuji?

"Why?" he heard Mai say afterwards, "What took you so long to tell me?"

Jonouchi eyes widened in surprise, he felt his whole body tense. No, Jonouchi couldn't believe that he was hearing. This got to be some kind of joke, a misunderstanding. There was just no way that Ryuji was saying…what Jonouchi hopes he wasn't saying.

There was a pause, obviously Ryuji was obviously hesitating.

Don' say it, Jonouchi prayed. Don' say dat your da father…

"Because I didn't think it was possible," Ryuji admitted afterwards, "And…I was a bit scared."

There was another pause. And then-

"I'm sorry Mai."

Jonouchi clenched his fist. He felt a tight knot in his throat. Without thinking about what he's doing, without trying to process what just he had witnessed, Jonouchi got up and left.

LATERS…

Honda and Bakura had just left the karaoke bar, Honda glanced at his cell. He had left Jonouchi a message asking where he was, but Jonouchi hasn't replied. Honda is now very worried.

Jonouchi was always late, but he'd at least notify Honda about his whereabouts.

Where the hell is Jonouchi?

"Is that Anzu?" Bakura suddenly asked. Honda glanced up at his cell, and sure enough, across the street from where they were at, Anzu was heading their way. Bakura and Honda both smiled.

"Hey Anzu!" Bakura greeted as soon as they came close.

Anzu grinned from ear to ear, "Hey, what's up guys!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Aw, nothing," Honda replied casually, "Bakura and I were just hanging out."

"Cool," Anzu said, "I was actually heading home,"

"You want us to walk you?" Honda offered.

Bakura nodded in agreement, "It's not safe for a girl to walk by herself." He added quietly, "Especially at this hour," Bakura's eyes didn't look into Anzu's as he said it.

Anzu was about to protest, and assure her male friends that she can walk herself home just fine. But Honda insisted, "I'd feel bad if I didn't," he said.

Bakura nodded.

Anzu nodded reluctantly giving in. She knew that her friends wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. "Alright," she sighed deeply, "Thanks guys,"

LATERS…

Shizuka glanced at her cell for the third time already. Then, like any person who was expecting someone glanced around the train station. Her eyes searching for a certain blonde-haired man that was her brother, she frowned.

Did she miss the memo? Did Jonouchi mention that he was going to be a bit late? Shizuka tried to recall what Jonouchi had said that morning. He didn't mention that he was going to run late.

Shizuka bit her lip, now she was worried. She glanced at her cell again; Jonouchi is now an hour late. Where the heck is he? Did something happen? Is Jonouchi ok?

Shizuka quickly glanced at her cell phone and began searching on her contacts list. Her eyes widened in relief as she found the number she was looking for. Shizuka brought the phone up to her ear, listening to the phone ring and glancing around the station anxiously hoping Jonouchi would appear.

"Hello?" said the person over the phone tentatively.

"Yugi?" Shizuka said trying to keep her voice even, "Is…by any chance…Jonouchi there?"

"No," Yugi replied, "Why?"

"He hasn't arrived yet," Shizuka answered.

"Did you try calling him?" Yugi asked sensing Shizuka's anxiety.

Shizuka shook her head, "Yeah, but he won't answer."

Yugi nodded over the phone, "He's probably still hanging out with Honda…" Yugi recalled from the conversation from yesterday, "You should try texting Honda.

Shizuka nodded, "Oh, ok." Shizuka nodded again and said her thanks and her goodbyes.

Shizuka did as Yugi suggested. As her cold and clammy fingers texted Honda a message, her heart sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong.

Calm down, Shizuka repeatedly thought, calm down. Everything's fine.

Everything's fine.

Everything's fine.

Something was wrong, Shizuka's heart knew. She had this horrible feeling that she wasn't going to see her brother again.

Yep, most definetly everybody is hiding something. THe question is...what? What exactly is everybody hiding? ANd what the heck happened to Jonouchi? MMM! read n' review!:D