He arrived at school late as usual, sitting down quietly in his seat. Instantly, Yugi looked over and bit his lip, the new injuries would not sit well with the gang. He looked over to Yami, who's face was tinged with anger. Yugi looked pleadingly to the red eyed boy, praying he wouldn't follow through with his plans. Joey slumped down, everything was aching. Class began and Yugi nudged the blond.

'What happened?' Yugi looked over to the honey eyed teen who was almost unrecognisable. His eyes where blacked with cuts beneath and bruises covered his usually flawless skin. His nose had dried blood around it and looked a little broken. His hair fell about in an usual pattern before Yugi noticed his head was also bleeding. Eyeing the blond over, he noticed that his waist, chest and back had blood spots seeping through the uniform.

'I'm fine.' Joey smiled as best he could, his lips cracking and bleeding.

'Joey you're not fine.' Yami glared at the teen. 'How long has this been going on for?'

Téa looked over.

'Do you think we don't know?'

'You said you'd stopped.' Duke glared down.

'And we thought that you meant it too.' Tristan spat, looking disgusted. Joey looked to his friends, looking confused. Yugi looked away, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

'Well, no more.' Téa looked across. 'I don't want anything to do with you if you're going to lie to us like this. In fact, the whole gang wants nothing more to do with you.' The group nodded, bar Yugi. Joey could feel the eyes of the class burning into him, seeking answers. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He'd let them finish.

'You're no good for any of us Joey. We don't want to be involved.' Yami glared the blond down. 'We know you're back in Hirotaro's gang. We know that's where the cuts and bruises are from.' Joey bit his lip, letting it go when pain surged through. They thought he was back in a gang? He couldn't believe it.

'You are putting us all in danger and it's not fair Joey. You should have at least told us. We don't even know why you're doing this.' He stared at them,

'Well aren't you going to say anything?' Tristan added, 'Apologise, or something?'

'Don't be stupid Tristan,' Téa cut in, 'He doesn't even understand what's going on, he doesn't understand what danger he's putting us in…'

'What he's putting Yugi in.' Yami added. Joey stood up in amazement to the class, their eyes burning him again.

'I understood.' He whispered, 'And I though you would too.' He picked up his bag and left the room. All the eyes followed him, including a darkening pair of cerulean orbs, that flicked between surprise, anger and shock as he watched the limping mutt leave. He glared over to the gang.

'It was the right thing to do…' Yami looked to Yugi, who looked like he was about to break. 'He was putting us in danger…putting you in danger.' He tapped the small boy, whose eyes glazed over. Téa nodded.

'He's a jerk, Yugi, forget about him. He lied to us all, and he got what he deserved. He has his other gang he'll be fine.'

Kaiba slammed shut his laptop the annoying group was becoming even more annoying. It was too much to bear this time.

'Shut up. You're all idiots.' Kaiba snarled from across the room. 'Take your bitching elsewhere, I'm trying to concentrate.'

'This doesn't concern you, Kaiba.' Yami yelled at the brunet, who instantly collected his things and stormed out. He was not putting up with their incessant complaining about the stupid mutt. He had more important things to do.

Walking through the halls, he decided to freshen up and wash the warm air from his face. Turning into the bathroom, he placed his case on the floor before looking in the mirror. As he glared into his own reflection he heard a light sobbing coming from one of the stalls. He turned around to work out where it was coming from, before noticing it sounded a damn sight like the mutt…

Hey,

Short again? But kinda important.

Please R&R and let me know

Much love

xxx