A/N Hey, Guys and Gals - I suprised myself at how quickly I wrote this, but then again, I did have half of it written before I published the first chapter. I do hope your enjoying this, because I'm a bit worried since only one person reviewed... If you don't like something, or I've misspelt something, or you're confused about something - DON'T hesitate to ask me, I'll be happy to banter/agree/correct/explain whatever I need to!
In anycase... Enjoy Chapter 2 of Hidden Brilliance!
CHAPTER 2.
"Ah man Jou, I'm so sorry you got stuck with Kaiba, I mean you even have to be 'bus-buddies' on the bus and in the museum for the trip tomorrow..."
"Save ya crap Honda, you're all just tryin' ta make me feel better after you guys all got paired together," Jou looked enviously upon the sheepish faces of his friends, only really half-listening to what they were saying. He'd joined them after being reprieved from doing any work due to Seto Kaiba still not having shown up.
"And look at the gods you lot got, 'Mutou and Atemu on Ares', 'Honda and Otogi on Aphrodite', 'Ishtar and Ishtar on Thanatos', 'Bakura and Tozokuoh(Could you be more obvious, Bakura)on Alecto' and 'Mazaki and Kogano on Iris' I mean it's not fair, your gods sound way cooler than mine!" Jou winced a little at the self-depreciating manner he had to put forward, but quickly replaced it with a giant, almost lecherous, grin, "Hey Honda, wanna swap?"
"Are you kidding, even I know who Aphrodite is, and no way am I going to swap her over some Apollo-dude, who I've never even heard of."
Severely put out by the unintended insult one of his own friends had dealt, Jou proceeded to imploringly look over at the others, with large round eyes and a quivering bottom lip.
"Sorry Jou, but we're all happy with our projects, we may not know who they are, but that's what this project is for. And you never know, this Apollo could turn out to be really cool and interesting!" So said Yugi, gently trying to console his friend, unknowingly causing fond feelings to well up within Jou due to his optimistic and praising nature.
"Thanks Yug'. I needed that. Still..."
"Aibou, what are these Greeks and why are their Gods so supposedly important?" Yami, although usually the more worldly knowledgeable, had such a look of innocent confusion on his face, that it would have been had to tell him and Yugi apart – were it not for the harder red eyes, the extra blond streaks running up his spiked hair, and the additional height. There was silence in the group.
"Are you serious? I mean, I may not know much about them, because of the fact I'm Japanese and Ancient Greece isn't taught in schools, but I've heard of them – and what they've done – they're everywhere!" Honda had broken the silence to stand upon his chair and shout this at Yami, who was looking uncharacteristically shocked, "Hey, I thought that you would know the Greeks anyway, they were around at the same time, and, I know that eventually the Greeks conquered Egypt, so how could you not know?"
'He just had to mention that part didn't he – idiot.' Jou was very ready for the outrage that was soon to follow this statement.
"They did what?" Bakura had finally been awoken by Honda's rantings in an awful temper, "You hear that Pharaoh! Your precious Egypt...Mffph!-"
"Now, now, that's enough." Ryou had intervened, slamming his pale hand over Bakura's mouth, to stop him infuriating Yami more.
"Yeah, Bakura 'That's enough'!" Marik had a look of utmost glee on his face at the sight of one of the most feared criminals to have ever lived, being hushed by such a feeble looking person. 'Looking' being the operative word as Ryou turned a darkened glare towards the former spirit.
"Excuse me?"
Marik started to sweat at the sheer force of Ryou's glare and opened his mouth, gaping like a fish for a few moments, before stuttering his apologies.
"Oh... eh... heh... Not that I mean anything by it, I was just suggesting that...no, not suggesting, implying! No, wait that's not right either... Hey isn't that Kaiba?" The rest of the group had emotions ranging from exasperation (Malik), to amusement (everyone else) during Marik's ramblings, but it was the last sentence that really caught their attention as they – as one – swivelled their heads around to see the formidable figure of Kaiba Seto. He was scowling straight at Jou, his blue eyes mere chips of ice, over the top of Chono-Sensei's head as she distractedly told him of the pairings and thrust the project paper into his hands.
It didn't take Kaiba long to stalk over to the Yugi-Tachi, and sneer his feelings on the fact that he had to interact with people such as they.
"I bet you think this is funny, don't you, mutt?" Kaiba's fists clenched as he towered over the seated form of Jou, "I bet your low-class mind has already decided to not do any work and leave it all to me. But that's not going to happen. You Jounouchi, are going to be doing your fair share, because I don't have the time right now to lower myself to your standards."
Jou stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor with a clatter, his mind was enraged; filled with furor. And while he wasn't quite as tall as Kaiba, standing up was a lot better than craning his neck for intimidation,"Ya think I need ya help Money-bags! Ha! I betcha' I already know more about this project than you an' ya crappy attitude!" By he end of this speech Jou's face had fallen from its original rage into a slowly dawning horror as he realised what exactly he had just said.
"Oh, really?" Kaiba's eyebrow raised in a mocking gesture, "Then we'll have no problems will we, mutt... unless you were only bluffing?" A sardonic smile was now firmly plastered to his face as he looked at Jou, and Jou couldn't really blame him.
'I walked right into that one.' Jou felt incredibly stupid, he should have known better, 'Heck! I do know better – I've been 'Jou' for close to sixteen years! I know that I shouldn't have made things more difficult for myself'
"Yeah, 'course Money-bags! But I ain't, with my superor...superyo...larger knowledge of the Ancient Greeks, gonna' do all your work either!" Jou had a rather smug grin on his face that was entirely genuine. 'There, that should throw them off!'
"Like I need your help, idiot, you've just proven to me that I will probably find your... superior knowledge sadly lacking." Kaiba shifted his weight onto the other foot as he reached out to grab Jou's collar, "In any case, mutt, we need to prepare ourselves for the field trip and for who is doing what on our project."
"Eh? Field trip? What are you talking about Money-bags?" Jou was so completely confused by this, that he didn't react to the hand trying to pull him away.
"Oh, Jou! Weren't you listening?" Yugi had an exasperated look on his face, that you knew meant he was far too used to this happening with Jou, "We've been invited to the exhibit tomorrow, isn't that great? We're apparently supposed to use the day to help with our research and get a feel for what the Ancient Greeks were really capable of!" Yugi certainly was the most excited out of the group, practically bouncing out of his seat and smiling up a storm from the very idea. The rest of the group appeared rather more controlled than Yugi, but still just as excited. Even Bakura, Yami and Marik, the self-proclaimed 'tough guys' were looking enthusiastic, well...as enthusiastic as they could.
"Yeah... great... field trip..." Jou tried to look as delighted as his friends did, even with Kaiba dragging Jou over to the other side of the classroom, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head, a certain apprehension, that things were going to go wrong quite quickly.