Title: Alone
Pairing: BakuraxHonda/Morishipping
Season Six. Round Ten.
Note: This is AU on Bakura's part because he isn't a spirit of the millennium necklace nor does he have an ancient past.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
"Come on now, Honda. Don't be shy."
The little boy was urged with a gentle push forward, his eyes wide and his stuffed dinosaur clutched to his chest tightly. The loud noise around him strangled his senses, and he choked in silent fear.
Children his age ran about wildly, screaming, laughing or crying. Plastic toys clanked against one another, crashing and exploding sounds being made by the little ones for the big effect.
"I don' wanna," Honda said quietly out of nervousness, turning back around to face his mother and father. Tears welled up in his eyes, knowing their intentions.
In her high heels, Mrs. Hiroto bent down so she squatted, and took Honda's small shoulders in her hands. Her brown eyes sparkled, and her mouth formed a soft smile.
"Don't worry, Honda," she said reassuringly, wiping on of her son's trickling tears away with her fingers.
"Daddy and I will come back for you, we promise."
Honda pouted, inching ever so closer for protection. "But it's scary here."
"It's only daycare, Honda," his father interrupted quickly, looking at his wristwatch. "You'll be fine."
His mother nodded. "Plus, you'll make lots of friends here," she added. Suddenly, she pulled Honda into a hug, kissing his forehead briefly. "But Mommy and Daddy have to go to work now. We'll be back around four-ish, okay? We love you tons, sweetie."
Honda was going to protest to make the pair stay longer, but both his parents hastily made their exit, already late to work.
Holding his T-Rex impossibly closer to himself, Honda turned around to yet again face the loud, hectic room of playing children. It seemed noisier than before, and the little boy suddenly felt very alone despite the fact that the room was filled.
Backing up to the nearest wall, Honda swallowed, taking the room and it's occupants in for the first time.
Playing with building blocks, there were two kids, one girl, the other boy. The girl had short brown hair and blue eyes, and the boy had unusual spiky tri-colored hair. They both seemed very happy playing together.
Playing with dump trucks of different colors was a boy, with a shaggy blonde mess of hair. He seemed to be in his own little world as he made exploding and crashing noises to himself.
He looked around some more, idly watching the other toddlers play with each other or by themselves.
Finally, after some time of wondering what he should do, Honda timidly made his way over to the blonde playing with the trucks.
He stood there for a couple moments, before the blonde realized he was there. Hazel eyes looked up at him questioningly before a large smile spread on his face. "Hi! I'm Jounouchi!"
Honda offered his own small smile. "I'm Honda. Can I play with you?" He motioned to the toy trucks lying haphazardly on the carpeted floor. An idea came to mind. "We can have my dinosaur attack them!"
"Yeah! And they can run him ova!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Just watch!"
Honda had successfully made it to the floor, getting into the small game they were playing. He made roaring sounds while Jounouchi made revving engine sounds. Soon enough, they had become the loudest in the room.
"Vrooom...vrooom...vrooom...eeeerrrkk!" Jounouchi sound effected, a mad grin on his face as he pushed his truck back and forth, each time running over the dinosaur's clawed feet.
Honda hissed at the trucks, adding in his own louder roars. He stopped however when Jounouchi let out a yelp of pain. Looking up, the brown haired boy's eyes met with cold brown ones and a sadistic grin.
"Bakura, stop!" Jounouchi yelled again, crawling out of the way from the boy who was hurting him with some stolen wooden blocks. "'at hurts!"
With confusion, Honda stood up, watching as the white haired boy laughed at Jounouchi's pain. The blonde continued to protest, but the one named Bakura didn't stop, clonking the blocks on Jounouchi's head with sharp whacks.
"'Dere, I stopped, blondie," Bakura said cruelly after a while, and Honda noticed that Jounouchi was on the verge of tears. "But who's that?"
Flustered a bit at the sudden look he got, Honda looked at Bakura, wondering why this kid wanted to know who he was. Was he going to hurt him like he had hurt Jounouchi? Honda certainly hoped not.
"I'm Honda," he introduced himself, gulping slightly, wondering what would happen next. Unexpectedly, Bakura stepped over the crouched Jounouchi, and pulled an arm around him.
"You're gonna be my best friend," the white haired boy announced casually, and Honda was really confused.
"Why?" he asked, wanting an explanation.
"'Cuz you are. Ya seem like the best friend for me." Bakura had said it in such a way that Honda instantly felt drawn to the other. There was a tone of true friendliness and security, and Honda didn't feel that when he was playing trucks and dinosaurs with Jounouchi.
"Okay," he said certainly. He picked up his discarded T-Rex, and offered it to Bakura. "Wanna play together?"
With a smile Honda didn't understand, Bakura nodded enthusiastically, taking the offered stuffed toy.
"Yeah."
A shiver was suppressed as Bakura wrapped an arm around him. He was pulled close, as if he were being protected.
"...so beat the hell outta here." He heard Bakura finish, and Honda stared straight ahead as the kid gave them both the finger before running away.
Suddenly, Honda was pushed out of the one-armed embrace, and wasn't given any warning to a sudden punch in the arm. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Honda? Trying to kill yourself? God..."
Honda rubbed his arm from the hard whack, knowing that a bruise would form later on.
"Sorry, Bakura. I thought I could take him on," he apologized, a little embarrassed as he admitted he wasn't strong enough. He usually was able to take most on, but he supposed he had gotten a little cocky this time around. At least Bakura was around to save his butt.
A cold but knowing glare was sent at him. "Well, obviously you couldn't, now could you?"
Honda didn't answer this time, afraid of another meaningless punch. "Let's just get to class, Bakura." He retrieved his discarded backpack and slung it over his shoulder, watching his best friend do the same.
Ever since that first day of daycare, he and Bakura had been best of friends for at least thirteen years now. They were always together, almost like brothers. Or at least that's how Honda viewed it as.
Yes, Bakura had gotten a little vicious through the years, but never once did Bakura turn his boiling anger on him. It was always taken out on either Honda's other friends or random people he didn't know, but it was never on him.
Honda did have his questions as to why Bakura acted nice, caring and kindhearted toward him and nobody else, but he never got around to really answering these questions. The reason was that he had already figured out the answer.
He had realized that he had feelings for his white-haired best friend.
It started when they both entered middle school. Or in other words, when puberty hit. It seemed like a logical explanation, and it was the best thing Honda could come up with as to why he liked his friend so much.
This led to another thought of why Bakura was only nice to him.
Did Bakura really like him in return? Honda was too afraid to ask, but yet again, it seemed very possible.
"You can go in first," Bakura's voice said, interrupting his thoughts. Honda blushed profusely as he realized that Bakura was holding the door open for him, and with a quick nod of his head, he walked inside the school.
Bakura followed right after him, and they walked down the hallway together, Honda totally oblivious of the dirty glares Bakura was giving to students here and there.
"Hey, Honda!" an accented voice called out, and Honda looked further ahead to see Jounouchi and Yugi waving at him. These two also had turned out to be life long friends because of daycare all the way back, but they'd never match up to Bakura.
He and Bakura came closer, and Honda looked away with shame when Jou gave Bakura a glaring look. Neither Jou nor Yugi really liked Bakura from day one, and Honda knew exactly why.
Bakura was mean. He picked on his friends all the time without a care in the world, and Jou especially wanted Honda to stop hanging out with Bakura. Yugi was a little more lenient most of the time, but Honda knew Jou was thinking right.
"Hey guys," he greeted, ignoring the for umpteenth time when both Bakura and Jou scowled at each other.
"You ready for that big geometry test today, Honda?" Yugi asked innocently, ignoring the other two also.
Honda rolled his eyes, sticking his hands in his school trousers. "Probably not. I mean, I studied and all, but I just don't get it."
Suddenly, there was breath against his ear. "I can help you if you want."
He knew he froze on the spot, and Honda tried to keep his face's complexion in order so that Jou and Yugi wouldn't notice. "Sure...I have math seventh period."
An awkward silence rang through the four, and Yugi was the one to break it, grabbing Jou's jacket. "C'mon, or else we'll be late for homeroom, Jou!" He turned them both around, and called over his shoulder, "we'll meet up with you later, Honda!"
Honda merely waved. Bakura swore at how stupid the two were. Honda ignored him.
"Let's just get to homeroom ourselves," Honda finally said, going over to his locker to get his books and binders.
A couple weeks later, Honda trudged out of school, happy that the day was over. His teachers had weighed him down with homework though, and Honda silently moped, not really wanting to work on what was assigned for the night.
Spotting one of the school's benches, Honda took a seat. He had promised to wait for Bakura today. His friend had told him that he had a special surprise for him today.
A good twenty minutes passed, and Honda started to wonder if Bakura had gotten detention today. It was very probable, because at least two students were beaten up pretty badly today, but it was always uncertain if Bakura got caught or not. It was usually a not though.
Finally, after a good half and hour of waiting, his white-haired friend emerged from the school, looking quite disgruntled. Honda stood up excitedly, lugging his heavy backpack up with him.
"Hey, Bakura. Where were you?" Honda asked curiously, and was shut up when a hand went over his wrist.
Without a word, Honda let himself be led down the street to a familiar sight known as Bakura's apartment. About a year and a half ago, Bakura was given his own place because of family difficulties that Honda wasn't informed of. He was, however, constantly funded by his parents to pay for the apartment, school, food, etc.
By the time they were at the front door, Honda was sad when Bakura let go of his wrist to fish for his keys in his back pocket. They quickly got into the house, and Bakura closed the door behind them.
"So what's up?" Honda tried again, throwing his bag down on the floor by the door, kicking his shoes off.
There was a strange air around Bakura today. Honda couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was, but when his friend looked up and gave him a smile, Honda forgot his thoughts on something being wrong.
"Today's the day, Honda," was what Bakura said, confusing Honda a little bit as the brunette was back up until the back of his knees were pressed up against the old looking couch in the middle of the room.
His hands were taken in Bakura's, and without warning, Bakura's lips were crushed against his in a gentle kiss. All thoughts of confusion and worry were pushed out of Honda's mind as a bell went off in his head, telling him that Bakura really did like him.
Kissing back with enthusiasm and compliance, Honda realized without much worry that Bakura was pushing him back even further so that he toppled over the arm of the couch and onto the cushions. Sliding back a little so that his feet weren't hanging off the end as much, Honda looked up to see that same look of kindness on Bakura's face...along with a little something extra, but Honda didn't notice.
Mind slightly cloudy with happiness and pleasing warmth, Honda watched as Bakura walked over to the front of the couch, and then sat on the middle cushion, right by Honda's hips. A hand ran up his right arm, and Honda smiled happily. Words couldn't express what he was feeling at his point.
Bakura's mouth claimed his again within time and Honda let out a small moan which he was sure his friend liked. He moaned a couple more times, and in turn, he heard Bakura moan lowly.
Bakura's hands were sliding down his arms again, and suddenly, Honda felt his arms being pinched ever so slightly. He ignored it for a while, taking gasping breaths between kisses before he started to wince in pain.
"That hurts," he murmured quietly, and Bakura let up to his protest. Suddenly, there was an unusual hard bit to his bottom lip, and Honda jerked in surprise. "Seriously, Bakura," he quipped, bringing a hand to his mouth to check for blood.
Looking up at his friend, Honda's eyes widened considerably when he caught the look on Bakura's face.
Like the look he so vividly remembered from the first day he met him when Bakura was hurting Jounouchi...that same look was on Bakura's face right now. Honda's heart started to race and he sat up abruptly. "Bakura...?"
Without warning, Bakura started to laugh in a manic kind of way, a cruel look on his face, and Honda felt his stomach twist. Something horrible was about to happen.
"You are so gullible...you know that, right?" Bakura shot at him, sitting up also, a wicked look in his eyes. "Do you really think I care about you? Do you think I ever cared about you, Honda?"
What was he saying? Honda's mind became muddled, and he moved his mouth to ask for an explanation as to what Bakura really meant.
Thankfully, and yet, unthankfully, Bakura seemed to know what he was silently asking. "If you haven't noticed, my friend, I feed off of other's pain. Whether it's beating them up physically or mentally, I always get my fill. Why'd I become your best friend all those years ago then?
"I hadn't thought of it then, but something drew me into you, to make me claim that you were my best friend. By the time we had gotten into sixth grade, I knew what I wanted to do with you. And that was to make my 'best friend' feel the most pain."
Honda was starting to catch on, and his heart dropped. "So that's why you were so nice to me. So I wouldn't suspect anything." He felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment.
"Exactly. And if I acted the way I did around you, I knew it wouldn't be long before you'd fall for me, making this day so much easier for me. I thank you for that," Bakura concluded, standing up.
"So we've never really been 'best friends' then, have we?" Honda muttered calmly, feeling so stupid for ever developing feelings for his monster of a friend.
"I certainly wasn't," Bakura said, smirking down at Honda, a pleasing feeling running through his body, knowing that everything had worked the way he wanted it to. Honda's heart was broken, and that kind of pain was hard to piece back together.
A part of him felt excessively enraged at Bakura; so mad that he wanted to unleash the captured anger within himself and beat the crap out of the other. But if he had learned anything about Bakura, Honda knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against the other.
Jounouchi was right, he should've stayed away from Bakura from the first warning he was given years ago. But no, he had to be a fool and think that Jounouchi and Yugi were dead wrong.
"Now get out of my house," Bakura said finally, stepping back with arms crossed over his chest as Honda stood up from the couch, wiping spit off the side of his mouth. He gathered his bag and put his shoes on before letting himself out.
Once outside, Honda stood in front of the door, a dread overcoming him with tremendous weight. His throat clenched a couple times, and he could feel hot tears pricking at his eyes, threatening to spill over if he wasn't careful.
Taking a deep breath, Honda did his best to push Bakura to the back of his mind for now, and focus on something entirely different. Unfortunately, this was a hard task. He walked away from the apartment.
Halfway down the street, Honda slowed his pace, finding himself feeling alone again...wishing that he still had his stuffed dinosaur for comfort.