A/N - Um. reason this is so late coming? Well, I had this done on Thursday, but FFnet seemed to not want it til now. Then again prostination and Uni work/exams and Christmas have held a large factor too... I'm sorry.
At least I never made it to the six month mark - I am very proud of that fact! I will also never leave this unfinished - I've already got it all scoped out! Yay!
Thanks to all my readers, but particular thanks to favs and alerters and the almighty reviewers:
AtomBunny, TearfullPixie, Lost Inspiration to Write (I feel that way too sometimes; as to your question...;P You'll find out!), Balrog Roike (Damn Straight), kitty tokyo uzumaki (Sorry Sensei is so late! :'-( ), IAmLove, Bakura, Crescent Moon Lady (Sorry it was not ASAP...Will try harder next time!), Kanberry (3 You too!), TheLightoftheLionShrine (Thank thee!), kyothefallenkit (The end is near - but I hope it'll rock your socks off!), Rae37 (Ummm...Soon?), Blue Lagoon Loon ('Dragon-obsessed weirdo', snorts we'll see!), DemonicPudding101 (Puppy eyes? How can I resist thee?) and finally, basestmoto (Thanks, keep reading to find out! XD).
Enjoy and review!
CHAPTER 14.
The entirety of the Yugi-tachi, barring Honda and Jou, made it to school extremely early that morning, for their secret meeting.
They felt it both unusual and unfortunate that both Honda and Jou had arrived early too, but this was soon no longer a problem, as Honda dragged Jou out of the room like a sack of potatoes.
They all looked at each other.
The room seemed to still around them as the all nodded in agreement.
Quick as a flash, they'd moved together and huddled their heads.
Yami immediately took charge of the situation.
"Alright, report in – Anzu,what could your dad get on Jou?"
Anzu took some Manila folders out of her school bag and slapped them on the table.
"Absolutely squat," She flipped open those closest to her, "Everything Jou's said is here; from his half-Greek Mom, to his gang-days – and the half-brothers have also checked out,"
Yami nodded.
"Right, Ryou, Bakura-"
"Hang on, Pharaoh," He turned to Anzu, "Half-brothers? As in, more than one?"
The group all crowded round the form.
"Well, well," Otogi snickered, "Looks like Jou has not been honest at all,"
On the form clearly stated Jounouchi Katsuya as having several half-brothers from his father's side – Bromius, as they expected; but also an Eric Osner, and a Satsugaisha Tsukai.
"Weird, why didn't Jou talk about the others to us?"
Ryou looked puzzled, but Bakura was the one to snort.
"Maybe he just didn't know they existed, if what this paper is telling me is correct,"
He indicated to a section on another sheet that said:
The Father has fourteen criminal charges, several of which are for public indecency...
"While that is interesting, I don't see how it's relevant to your point," Yami's expression comprised of pure superiority towards the Tomb Robber.
"What?" Bakura looked for himself, "No! Not that line the one above my finger, not under!"
It read:
….It is noted that the wife, Kawaii Himiko, divorced the aforementioned Jounouchi Tomoyuki, due to his many affairs with varying women...
"Oh..."
That certainly brought that matter to a close.
"Ryou, Bakura, how was your search for information on that skull?"
Ryou sighed, while Bakura huffed in his chair.
"We got not much more that what Yoshimori-Sensei told us at the museum," Ryou looked helplessly over the table, "Bakura says not even the shadow realm have any information,"
Yami's disappointment, as well as the group's was visible.
"I see, Otogi?"
Otogi shuffled guiltily in his seat.
"Well, you only gave me the task two days ago," His eyes shifted around the room guiltily, "And I did have that important meeting with the Gintou Group..."
He trailed off nervously at Yami's blank face.
"Right, so you have nothing," Yami sighed, but smiled when Yugi gently place his hand on his arm, "Luckily, our research came out better, but still nothing we can really link to Jou," He sighed again, "Just a lot of old stories of love, magic and war; however, we did get a link to Jou's brother,"
"The dress guy?" Anzu enquired.
The grouped snickered.
"Yeah!" Yugi chirped, "Apparently, Bromius, is the Ancient Greek word meaning 'the roaring one' and it refers to the god Dionysus-"
"Wait!" Bakura interrupted a frown upon his face, "So, when he said he was an actor pretending to be this god, he's really a god, pretending to be an actor, who's pretending to be an actor playing a god?"
Everyone's eyes went crossed at this.
"Ummm," Yugi said, "I think it's actually that he's a person who thinks he's a god, pretending to be an actor-"
"Yes, yes! It's all very complicated! Jeez! Don't get them started Yugi!" Anzu sighed, "This is all so weird"
This last comment seemed to sum up their entire secret meeting before class.
"Alright, Class," Chono-Sensei glanced longingly towards the door, as her make-up started to peel off her face, "Project work, now, I'll be back momentarily,"
She tottered out of the door as if the hounds of Hell were behind her – to the jeers and giggles of the class.
"Aw, man," Jou grumbled.
He moved over to Kaiba with great reluctance, as all his friends slid into their respective groups, only to be stunned by a sudden voice at the door.
"Big brother?"
He turned so sharply, Jou wondered why he did not have whiplash.
"Shizuka?"
She huffed prettily as she glided into the room, but smiled when she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "I was worried when you hung up yesterday," She looked into his eyes beseechingly, before her eyesight moved around the classroom.
"Oh, hello Honda-san, Otogi-san," She smiled winningly at them as she released herself from her brother. Yugi and the others were soon greeted in an after-thought.
Honda, however, did not wave gormlessly back with a love-struck smile as Otogi did, rather his face paled worryingly.
'He's probably been told of the horror stories about what she does to men who are attracted to her,'
"Shizuka, not that I ain't glad ta' see ya'," Which he wasn't, "But what are you doing here?"
She smoothed out her skirt as she sat in a nearby chair, Jou wondered how she could seem so calm in this new environment filled with people she didn't or barely knew – especially since she was in a class filled predominately with men. Men who were all drooling towards her in a way that Jou knew would set Artemis off on a killing spree in any other situation.
"Jou, you asked me to call you – you sounded desperate at the time," She grasped his hand tears in eyes, and Jou wondered how his sister could be- no act so dainty, when he knew she could take on everybody in the room and leave without a scratch, "I wondered why you never called back, so I came to see if you were alright?"
The last part seemed to be a question, and Jou knew that Artemis was genuinely concerned for his safety.
He grasped her hand back just as tightly, and he swore he could hear Kaiba scoffing in the background.
"Yeah, Sis, I'm fine- Hang on," Jou tugged his hand out, "Called? When, I haven't called for weeks – I've been too busy..."
Shizuka looked up in part puzzlement and part hidden aggravation.
"Jou, you really did call me last week...Remember? You asked how I was doing and if I was enjoying myself, and when I would come and see you-"
"Uh, guys?"
Yugi's voice trembled.
"Hang on Yug'," He frowned at his sister, "Sis, I ain't called ya'. No matter what you've heard, it certainly weren't me-"
"Mutt!"
Jou turned his aggression on Kaiba, whose stare was even more chilling than usual.
"What?"
"If you two weren't bickering so much – and if you had a few more brain cells, you would have realised the room has become overly quiet,"
This startled Jou.
He looked around.
It wasn't just silent.
The classroom was empty – and pitch black.
"Ugh...guys? Where'd everybody go?"
A/N2 - Review! I do so love to read them all!