Title: Disconnected

Pairing: HondaxRyou/Protectshipping

Season Eight. Round Three.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ugh. I can already tell this day will suck.

Okay, so here I am in homeroom, listening to Sensei Kiro drone on about this and that, occasionally shouting at Jou to stay in his seat.

Although I usually join in, I have to roll my eyes as Jou tries yet again to get a snapshot of Anzu's ass. She sits right in front of him, but he feels the need to lean ahead anyway. Sensei yells again, and Jou sits back grumbling, stashing the mini camera in his book bag.

I hold my head with him hand, trying not to fall asleep, ignoring Jou's constant whispers about how one day he'll humiliate Sensei Kiro. That'll be the day.

"Jou, shut up," I mumble, and I can feel his glare on me, but I ignore it like usual. After a moment, he turns to Yuugi for counseling instead.

With the idiot's attention off of me, I go back to spacing out, not really thinking about anything in particular. Mom and Dad are out for the week on their 'extravagant cruise getaway' when I really know that they'll be screwing in some motel instead. They took my little brother to my sister's house so that he could spend some time with our nephew. That left me home alone with three hundred bucks for the week.

I suppose that would mean Jou'd be over almost every night with crappy pizza so he wouldn't have to spend nights with his Dad like he did every night my folks were out.

Sighing at the stress I knew would come, I glanced up, my attention being caught almost immediately.

Was that a boy…or a girl?

"…Ryou and he's come to Japan from England, class." Sensei gave all of us a pointed look. "Please make him feel welcome."

Well, I guess it was a boy, 'cause nearly every female in the room squealed like he was glitter on sale.

For a moment, I took him in. Dressed in one of the weird, body suit uniforms the school offered, he held a briefcase, making me wonder if he was anything like that jerk Seto Kaiba. Though, he had a kind face that made him look feminine, an expression of nervousness obvious. His brown eyes sifted through the class in search of a friendly face, obviously passing over mine. I personally think that his hair was unusual though, being a snow white color and almost past his shoulders.

"You can sit next to Yuugi, Bakura," the Sensei instructed, and he nodded, stuttering to his seat when Yuugi waved.

Jou whipped around suddenly, that old gleam showing in his eyes. However, I shook my head. Something told me that his Bakura kid and Yuugi would soon become best buds, and it'd be stupid of Jou to pound on him. It'd be kind of pointless if he did because he and Yuugi were friends now, which included me, and probably this new kid too.

"Of course he would get a fan-girl club!" Jou exclaimed. "What does he have that I don't? He looks like a pansy!"

"He's actually really nice, Jounouchi. You shouldn't be jealous," Yuugi commented, and I couldn't help but laugh at Jou's expression.

"Jealous, Yuugi? Jealous? Is that what you think?" He had a grin growing on his face, obviously making Yuugi nervous, but in a few seconds, Yuugi was in a head lock as Jou gave him a noogie.

"Ow, quit it, Jounouchi!" Yuugi laughed, and he was released. We continued walking down the street, and after a while, I noticed Yuugi looking at me funny.

"What?" I quipped, watching as the little guy recoiled slightly. "Sorry," I mumbled in apology. To be honest, I wasn't as open as Jou to become Yuugi's buddy and all, even if he did help me with Ribbon. But Yuugi really wasn't a bad guy, and even though Jou could be a total blockhead sometimes, I have to give him credit, because, he did often know when to make the right choice, like befriending Yuugi. I suppose it'll just take some time to get used to him. But going from the bully to the nice guy isn't the easiest transition ever.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his courage returning when he realized I apologized softly. "You…you seem a little…off?"

Shrugging when Jou gave me a funny look, I stuffed my hands into my pant pockets. "I don't know. Just one of those days, I guess."

Jou laughed then, slapping me on my shoulder. "Oh, I know what you're thinking!" He gave a shifty eyed look at Yuugi. "You're trying to figure out how to rent," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "the movies."

One of my eyebrows drifted up. "Uh, sure." Yeah, it was often that I rented porn for Jou and I to watch, and it wasn't that difficult a task. But not this time. I honestly was just thinking blank.

Thankfully Yuugi, being the naïve little punk that he is, took the attention away from me. "What movies, Jou?"

We were heading toward Yuugi's place, and I suddenly didn't feel like tagging along this time. Before Jou could launch into a perverted explanation that would for sure cause corruption to Yuugi's beyond innocent mind, I interjected, "I'm gonna split, guys. Forgot I had stuff to do." It was easy to get away, for they both waved, Jou muttering quickly that he'd stop around later, and then picked up on his explanation of the movies.

Turning to go back, I walked the streets for a while, again, not really paying too much attention to anything.

That is, until I noticed some fighting when I passed the school.

Now, normally I wasn't playing the part of a hero. I was the villain, the bully. But as of late, I've felt like nothing ever since Yuugi and Jou and I became a small troop. Then Anzu started to tag along, probably just to protect Yuugi, but she usually just picked on Jou and me anyway. But I guess you could say that I was a little dependent on Jou when it came to making decisions like whether or not to beat on a kid. But after hearing Yuugi and Jou speak about that certain matter, I have to admit that my perspective has changed a little.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I demanded before I realized I was going to be the hero. Two kids I vaguely recognized stopped kicking the weakling on the ground, giving me their full attention.

"Well, well, well, care to join in on the fun, Honda?" the taller sneered, not at all alarmed as he let his hand motion to the kid on the ground. "I haven't seen ya in action lately."

I'm blaming Jou and Yuugi on this one. My fist slammed into the guy's jaw, sending him reeling back, leaving him to stagger to his feet. He gave me an incredulous look.

"Hey, Honda, what'chu doing, man?"

I didn't say anything, just merely standing my ground. The two jerks glanced at the kid in the fetal position with disgust, then back at me. "Way to ruin the fun, bastard." Without anything else to say or do, they made their retreat. I watched until they turned the corner before I walked forward to see if their victim was okay.

"You okay, man?" I asked as I kneeled down, shaking the kid's shoulder. It was then that I realized who it was when I finally took in the long, pansy white hair. "Bakura?"

He turned over, obviously wiping away the tears, blood and dirt from his face, looking me square in the eye with those big brown eyes. "It's Ryou, please," he mumbled, moving to stand up, dusting himself up along the way.

The way he moved looked so routine that it had me wondering if he was a target back from wherever he was from. "Are you alright?" I blurted out again, and he gave me a weak smile, pulling down his jacket's sleeves.

"I'm fine, thank you," he assured me. "Just a few cuts that I can fix when I get home."

I don't know if it was the way he said it or…something just seemed off about him. When Jou and I used to pick on Yuugi, the little kid never picked himself up like this…so calmly and smiley.

My mother's teachings of being polite and helpful kicked in out of nowhere then. "Uh, do you want me to walk you home or something?" I offered, scratching the back of my head as he gave me an odd look like 'I hardly know you, why would you ask such a thing?'. "Just in case those jerks decide to pick on you again?" I added, hoping it would convince him.

His smile had faded, and he blinked at me before letting his gaze drop down to the ground, making me think that he was sad for some reason. "If you want to," he finally decided on saying, making a move to lead the way.

We walked in an awkward silence for some time. He kept his gaze down the whole time, like he was trying to become invisible to me. Stuffing my hands into my pockets again, I asked, "So…where did you come from again?"

"England," he answered curtly.

"Your whole family move?" I pressed, hoping to get some kind of conversation going.

"Just me." Well, that was two words, but it puzzled me.

"Why just you?" I investigated, making sure to keep my eyes on him.

He actually looked up this time, unconsciously pulling down his jacket's sleeves again as a breeze picked up. "I'd rather not talk about it, sorry," he replied, letting me see his brown eyes that quite frankly looked really sad.

Okay. Touchy subject then. "Uhm…" I trailed off, not sure what to say now. He wasn't coming off as a very happy kind of person, and I felt like even if I asked a question that wasn't probing, he'd answer with one word anyway. As we turned a corner, I felt stuck, that is, until something shiny caught my eye.

"Is that a necklace?" I asked, pointing to his slightly open jacket, trying to discreetly see the gold underneath. From what I could tell, it looked more like a pendant than a necklace since it appeared to be real big.

Ryou stopped where he was, looking at me in one of the most helpless ways. It was an odd expression to be shot at me, and it caused me to stop in my tracks too. For a second we both stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, the only sound being that of a dog barking a ways away. Then time sped up again and he was desperately trying to zip up his jacket.

"Whoa, whoa, wait…!" I exclaimed, my actions taking over because they were habit. I grabbed his wrists to pull them back, his sleeves scrunching back. I meant to stop him from pulling the zipper up so that I could see what he was trying to hide, but the moment I felt his wrists, all actions left me.

He looked utterly terrified now, frozen in my grasp. I wasn't usually the one to typically be touchy feely or anything, or get real emotional or upset over somebody's dilemma - well, unless it was Jou's, but that rarely ever happened anymore - but I couldn't help but feel shocked when I looked over the small but many scars on this kid's wrists.

"Dude, you…" I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't his freaking parent or guidance counselor or anything like that. I barely knew him. Looking up at his frightened face, I let his wrists go, watching him scramble to cover his secret, along with zipping the rest of his jacket up.

I barely caught it in his flurry of motion, but he whispered,

"Help me."

Then suddenly he stopped moving all together, his stare on me. Those brown eyes stared a thousand yard stare no doubt, just vaguely hinting what horrors he had seen. They enticed me almost, and then they changed from innocent to corrupt.

My back hit the pavement without me realizing it, my brain only registering that his eyes had changed somehow. The next thing I knew was that his foot was over my chest, pressing down hard, and that it seemed so much darker. My fighting instincts were screaming to pummel him down to the ground, but I felt immobilized as I watched the kid change even more.

His features became so much sharper, even his hair. A sinister smile played on his lips, his physique becoming stronger somehow.

I felt disconnected from everything else as this new Ryou leaned over me menacingly, unzipping his jacket so that the gold pendant fell out. It appeared to be a ring of sorts with a weird eye and some small extensions swinging back and forth. It hit me that it seemed so familiar because it looked like it belonged with the pendant Yuugi always wore.

My thoughts on this didn't dwell very long with Ryou's foot digging deeper and deeper into my chest, making me grunt. He leaned even more forward, letting his bodyweight settle on his knee that was on me.

"I know what you're up to, but stay away," Ryou spoke, but I noticed that his voice was different, not so timid like before.

"What are you talking about, get off me!" I said, my breath catching in my throat when his heel jabbed again. I wanted to wrap my hands around his ankle so that I might get some leverage, but no such luck. I felt like I was dead weight floating now.

This new Ryou leaned down even closer, adding to my discomfort. "Stay. Away. None of his business concerns you."

He spoke the truth, but I was convinced that this wasn't the Ryou from two minutes ago. Then suddenly I was freaking out as Ryou pulled a sharp knife out of nowhere, holding it at my throat, making me feel like he was closer to me than ever.

"He is mine."

The words sent chills down my back and I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, the knife and Ryou's closeness were gone, and everything seemed to be back to normal. I was able to stand up again, my strength returned. Scratching the back of my head as I tried to figure out what just happened, I realized that Ryou had disappeared.

There wasn't much of anywhere he could have gone. The street went down for a couple more blocks, and there were only two turns he could have made, but they were farther down the road. He couldn't have run that fast to be gone so suddenly like that.

I stood where I was for a little while longer, trying to figure out who that was who held that much power over me. It definitely wasn't Ryou. Then I backtracked. Why had Ryou had those cuts all over his wrists? None of it made sense, and it made me want to know more about him.

As I started back home like I had originally planned, I felt a looming darkness about me, almost like it was a threat or something. I'll admit I felt creeped out on the way home, and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder every now and then too.

But what confused me the most was when he said 'He is mine.' What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I knew that a kid with long white pansy hair would be weird.

But this thought wouldn't settle my curious mind like that, that's for sure.