Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ A Day in the Life ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I AM THE WALRUS! And you thought this song didn't make sense... Okay, okay, Yu-gi-oh and A Day in the Life both belong to their respective owner-people, who are not me. So neh.

A/N: Bwuha, face the insanity! Eh. Okay, I would just like to state, for the record, that I was not on crack or some such during the writing of this story... Though, heh, the people who wrote the song probably were XD There's really no denying that one... I personally would like to blame the creation of this, this thing on looooong car trips with my mom's music. Okay, I admit it, I like the Beatle too, but I'm trying to shift the blame elsewhere here! Anyhoo... Yes, I decided to try the ultimate challenge, and write a songfic using one of the Beatle's obviously pot-influenced songs... [sweatdrop] Is that so wrong?! Why, yes, you answer. Too bad. Just read the damn thing and get it over with already. LOL...

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I read the news today, oh boy

About a lucky man who made the grade

And though the news was rather sad,

Well I just had to laugh

I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car

He didn't notice that the lights had changed

A crowd of people stood and stared

They'd seen his face before...

It was around noon when he finally managed to drag himself out of bed. Some hapless servant had had the misfortune of being chosen, no doubt by the drawing of straws, to rouse him at around seven thirty. He had screamed at the poor girl semi-nonsensically until she had fled, leaving him to doze on and off until he just couldn't take it any more. The bed was just so huge and cold and empty... Plus he was sort of hungry.

Only sort of, though, really. He marveled at the concept as he stared, bleary-eyed, over the rim of his coffee cup at the newspaper on the other end of the table. When had he last been `only sort of' hungry? Even after he had moved in with Seto and had had all he could eat at his fingertips, he had still made a point of abusing the privilege... Seto often teased him that he would get fat... His eyes seemed to be watering, how strange. So he blinked them a few times, and set about getting some breakfast. After the screaming episode that morning the servants were avoiding him like the plague. He didn't used to be nearly so good at scaring people; Seto must be rubbing off on him... have been rubbing off on him...

It was no use. With a skillet in one hand and an un-cracked egg in the other, he leaned over the cold burner and cried. It was amazing he still could; he'd cried so much already... But it seemed to be the complete opposite - now that he'd started again, he couldn't seem to stop...

How... How could he leave him all alone like this? Right about now Seto should be wrapping his arms around him, terribly concerned and trying his best to cover it up with that gruff attitude he favored... kissing his neck absently and whispering words of consolation until he felt better... But no arms came. He had never noticed how cold Seto liked to keep his house; he'd have to talk to the servants about that... So shocking that he really could, that he was their main master now. So shocking that Seto had had the foresight to add that provision to his will an entire week before... before... He had to pull himself together...

Briskly, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and got back to work. Spray the pan with cooking oil, crack the egg, toss the shell, mechanical movement providing comfort. It had been a while since he'd made an egg, but he was still quite good at it if he did say so. Yum yum. A little salt, a little pepper, some more of the now lukewarm coffee, the newspaper...

He considered the newspaper for from where it sat, untouched, still in its plastic wrapper, brooding on the other side of the table. The too-big table. It occurred to him to wonder where Mokuba was; this must be hitting the boy just as bad as it was hitting him. Some servants were probably comforting him. He should be comforting him too. Wasn't it time for him to be the strong one? Now that his pillar of support was gone, he was just going to have to shape up... And the first step was looking at the damn paper. With a trembling hand he pushed the empty plate away and started to unwrap the object of dread.

God. Oh, God, no. Nightmares - he would have nightmares for the rest of his life. Had the press no decency? The story had, naturally, made the front page. And right there, smack in the middle of the text, was a vast and explicit photograph of the scene. What a lucky reporter that snapped that thing; it must have just made their day. More like their month, their paycheck. Beautiful. Horrible, really unbearable. Did the human body really contain that much blood? He laughed, looking at it, the kind of insane giggle that soon dissolves to tears. And then he flung it away; it didn't matter where it landed, just so long as it was away from him. And then he buried his face in his arms and proceeded to sob. He really sobbed this time; that was just too much. Where were those comforting arms... just when he needed them the most...? Those arms that had comforted him so many times before... covered in blood streaming down... He felt ill... What had he been doing committing suicide at a stoplight, anyway? Did he carry a gun with him everywhere? In between that and the will, Seto had been so prepared... Had he really known him at all?

This was all his fault, he realized glumly. He felt more inadequate than he had in his whole life. He was so stupid, a stupid puppy, completely helpless when it came to understanding the workings of a great mind. Seto had once told him it was a good thing, a blessing, to be of average intelligence. He said that there was an indescribable pressure that came with being brilliant; everybody always expected you to be able to take care of all the hard stuff. Worse yet, you always expected you to be able to take care of all the hard stuff. And if you couldn't, if you couldn't figure it out and deal with it... Well, the stupid puppy hadn't even been able to figure that out. And it hadn't bothered him a bit. He had just done his best, like always, offering simple things to make him feel better without really understanding the problem he was trying to fix. And apparently his best hadn't been good enough. It couldn't have been, or how... would this have happened...

Why had he even let his emotions get the better of him and fallen for Seto in the first place? he wanted to know. He couldn't have cared the slightest if Seto had bit the dust, say, a couple years ago. Yuugi might have been a little sad, because it was the proper thing to do, and Anzu might have even cried just a little, but the most passionate reaction it could have elicited from him would have been a good, heartfelt laugh. In morbid joy, he might have actually gone so far as to post the picture on his bedroom wall. What a horrible person he had been, to have not realized what a sad, trapped person Seto really was...

Why, why had he fallen in love with him? Foolishness. He had done neither of them any good, he was sure. Maybe delayed the inevitable a bit, but had he made any lasting changes? No! Though it had seemed like the right thing at the time...

I saw a film today, oh boy

The English army had just won the war

A crowd of people turned away

But I just had to look...

I'd love to

Turn you on...

He could remember that day in History like it was yesterday. Of all the ways...

They had been showing some dry old black-and-white, soundless movie of people in Britain celebrating after winning, er, one of the World Wars, he'd already forgotten which. It was supposedly all very controversial because since history was written by the winners the English were `right', but nevertheless the Japanese had lost, a fact hard to politely cover up when you were in a Japanese school, and therefore blah blah blah. Fascinating, truly fascinating. If he watched that screen for more than five seconds he would probably fall asleep.

But at least he wasn't the only one. There he sat, perfectly unchallenged by way of pretty much owning the school, right up in the front row, fully concentrated on his book. What was old money-bags reading, anyway? Probably something just as bland as the film, he told himself. But maybe he would get a glimpse of the cover in passing, most likely as it was being flung at his head, if he could ever... just... hit... him!

Again and again, he cursed his lack of depth perception. He was going to run out of rubber bands before he hit the damn bastard! It didn't help that he sat in the back row and Kaiba sat in the front, of course. And the light from the movie was kind of blinding. Argh. He paused a moment, fuming. Smug bakayarou. He was making himself unhittable just to irritate him, he was sure. He really wanted to strangle him, just now... Of course, if he ever did manage to hit him, he was the one who would probably get strangled... Insignificant! He would worry about that when he got there. Right now he needed to concentrate on getting one decent hit in. And... twang!

He immediately jumped to his feet, ready for anything as always. Ha, he could feel it; this time, he would finally wipe that smug grin of his face! And Kaiba... glanced over his shoulder, looking mildly surprised, and saw him and smiled.

He gaped. So did the rest of the class, but they were looking more in his general direction. "Was there... something you wanted, Jonouchi?" the teacher inquired, sounding amused. Thank God the lights were off; he could feel himself going red. The other students started giggling, here and there, and he sat down so fast that he almost didn't catch Kaiba mouth, `Talk to you after school.' Oh, boy.

................

So he waited outside the school after everybody went home, tense and ready for a fight. And eventually, Kaiba strolling around the corner - hands in pockets, totally relaxed, of course. He just rolled his eyes as the blonde hurriedly assumed a defensive stance, and leaned against the wall.

"Settle down, puppy, I'm not here to beat you up," Kaiba said dryly.

He growled deep in his throat. "Then don't call me a dog! Why, I oughtta..."

Kaiba held up a hand with a long-suffering sigh. "For the love of... Have you ever considered that I might just be here to talk?" He blinked, as if the concept really hadn't crossed his mind. "Uh, yeah... Well, I am. Seriously, Jou, rubber bands? You're really staring to annoy me. In fact, it's taking far more self control than you could possibly have to not beat you up. But nevertheless I, at least, am a civilized person. There are better ways of handling these problems than violence, don't you think?" He eyed the brunette suspiciously, and he smirked. "So I've decided that, if you ever speak to me again, I'll see that the custody arrangements of you and your sister are switched. That would probably get you out of my hair... Sayonara." And he started to walk off.

If he clenched his fists any harder, he would draw blood. "Kaiba! I knew you could be cold-hearted, but I didn't think you had it this bad! Do whatever you want to me, but don't you dare drag my sister into this! Why the hell do you hate me so much, anyway?"

Kaiba looked over his shoulder, and rolled his eyes. "You drive me insane, Jou," he said frankly, and for a moment he though he saw something odd in the CEO's expression... "I can barely stand being in the same room as you, let alone listening to you speak." He chuckled. "Which is why I'd really like to get rid of you. In fact, maybe I should have you shipped off to your mother in any case..."

Without giving any warning the blonde lunged forward, pinning Kaiba to the school wall. His fist hovered in the air; it seemed to be all he could do not to punch Kaiba right in the face. "Why do you always have to act like such an asshole?!" he ground out. "Did it ever occur to you that I might want to just be your friend?"

Kaiba scoffed, relaxing now that it seemed Jou probably wasn't going to punch him. "You've certainly got a strange way of showing it for one thing, and for another, I don't need a friend. We've had this argument a million times. Anyway, why would you want to be my friend when you just said that I'm an asshole?"

He blinked. "I didn't say you were an asshole. I said you act like an asshole. I've seen the way you act around Mokuba; I know there's a good guy down there somewhere. That's the Kaiba I'd like to be friends with." And to the brunette's acute surprise, he smiled.

Kaiba couldn't help but stare at him for a moment. Nobody had ever said anything quite like that to him, he had to admit. A `good' guy, huh? Most people seemed to be of the opinion that major changes would have to take place before there would be anything remotely `good' about him. For just a moment, he was intrigued. Then, even though it wasn't really what he wanted to do, Kaiba brushed the shorter boy off and started to leave again. "Sorry, but I just don't have a need for someone to cheer me on from the sidelines."

He growled impatiently; how dense could Kaiba be? "That's not what friendship is about at all! They're... someone to tell your problems to, and someone to actually give you advice, which is more than your computers can do! And I know I've said it before, but I'm not going to stop until you understand! Because I... I really want to be your friend, Kaiba."

Kaiba stopped in his tracks at that. And then he chuckled coldly, and glanced back again. "Fine, if it'll get you to stop your incessant yapping... I'll be your `friend'. Feel free to come over this weekend; whatever makes you happy. But I think you'll find out that there's no place for a little mutt like you in my life. And don't even pretend you'd be able to understand my problems." With that, he stalked off.

Kaiba was not accustomed to being wrong, but this time he had to cope. His new friend did come to visit him that weekend, and instead of playing Duel Monsters they played basketball. He had hardly ever played it before - he had little interest in physical sports, he snapped at one point when the other boy was ahead - but in the end he won. And instead of rising to the bait when Kaiba smirked and taunted him, the blonde just laughed - and dumped a bottle of water on his head... After the following battle came to an end they found themselves lying side by side in the grass, panting, and for the first time ever Kaiba let someone besides his little brother see him smile...

Yes, he could remember it all just like yesterday, all right. He realized that he'd started crying again, and angrily wiped the tears away. He had to get over this, somehow... Seto wouldn't want him to be so sad, surely... Just remembering this, he realized, had made him terribly exhausted. He should really go up to bed if he was going to go to s... really... The sound of the newspaper on the floor fluttering in a slight draft was the only sound, as the new master of Kaiba mansion fell asleep with his head resting on the table.

Woke up

Got out of bed

Dragged a comb

Across my head

Found my way down stairs and drank a cup

Looking up, I noticed I was late

Found my coat and grabbed my hat

Made the bus in seconds flat

Found my way upstairs and had a smoke

Somebody spoke and I went into a dream...

And then he woke up. Jou shot up in bed - the bed with the filthy sheets, located in an even filthier apartment complex, on the wrong side of the tracks of Domino city - and stared dazedly at his alarm clock for a few moments. The alarm clock, he suddenly realized, which hadn't been reset for the new school year...

At least he made it in time to catch the last half of the second class. He was reprimanded rather humiliatingly, but at least he wasn't given detention or anything. That was a first. He met his friends briefly in between classes in the halls, but it wasn't until the last class before lunch break that he got to really talk to any of them. It was only Yuugi and Ryou, but at least it was something.

"Where are Anzu and Honda at right now; do either of you remember?" he asked, taking advantage of the fact that their History sensei wasn't there yet by propping his feet up on the desk.

Yuugi scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure, but I think Anzu's in the science lab... and I think Honda has English." They all had a good laugh over that; English was by far the poor brunette's worst subject.

Jou scanned the almost-full class thoughtfully, and frowned. "And where's that ass Kaiba? I thought he had this class..."

Ryou nodded. "Yes he does. I'm sure he's just a little late; I had Algebra with him this morning so I know he's here."

Jou snorted. "Money-bags, skip school? Not unless he's having a business emergency or something..."

And yet the sensei arrived, and still Kaiba had not shown. When they had roll call and he was discovered missing, there was much raising of eyebrows and muttering. Finally the sensei called for quiet, and continued. Jou was looking forward immensely to seeing him get lectured about being tardy in front of the whole class, but when the lunch bell rang he still hadn't appeared. Mildly disappointed, he filed into the lunch room with a mass of other students.

Honda and Anzu waved History escapees over, and the five of them sat down together. "Ah, how I've missed cafeteria food," Honda commented, rolling his eyes. Jou voiced his agreement by making a face at the first spoonful of gruel begrudgingly shoved into his mouth.

After he'd consumed about as much of the `food' as he could handle, Jou checked his watch and grinned. "Hey, I think I'm going to, you know, go for a walk," he said, winking. Anzu rolled her eyes, watching him go.

Jou had a true talent when it came to slipping successfully under school officials' radar. He knew all the back ways and staff-only areas like the back of his hand. In no time he had located an empty classroom off a deserted hallway. He slipped inside, closing the door behind him.

"What do you think you're doing here?" a gruff voice behind him demanded.

He jumped, whirling around and hurriedly shoving the pack of cigarettes into his back pocket. "Um, I-I-I got lost on the way to the bathroom?" he said, in the kind of voice that just begged the other party to poke holes in whatever was being said. The tall figure, silhouetted against the window, tilted his head to one side irritably.

"I doubt that," the voice snapped, and this time Jou got it.

"Seto Kaiba?!" he choked, instantly bristling. "I could ask you the same thing, you know."

He shrugged. "I asked first, mutt." And he turned back to the window, effectively conveying the extent of his interest.

Maybe it was his tone that prompted him to do it, or maybe it was something much different, but instead of attempting to strangle him for the use of the nickname Jou simply walked over to join him at looking out over the campus. "Why weren't you in History class today?" he asked, not looking at him. "You missed a great film, real great..."

Kaiba's face twisted into a wry grin. "I'm sick," he said. The blonde was frankly shocked by the fact that he actually answered more than by what he said, but he chose not to comment.

Instead he said, "No you're not! You'd be in the infirmary." He chuckled. "How'd you sneak out? I hafta say, I didn't think you had it in you..."

"I really am sick," he said. "I stopped by the infirmary for some pills, and I just didn't feel like coming back to class after all."

Jou arched an eyebrow. "You are? What do you have, a cold? You don't look like it."

"None of your business," he snapped.

Jou looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Now that sounded like the Kaiba he was used to, but when that he looked closely at him he noticed that he looked different from last year. He looked a bit thinner, and paler. His eyes had dark circles under them, which made them looked almost sunken. He frowned thoughtfully before he spoke again. "Are ya sure about that? Because, you know..." He reached out to rest a hand on the other's shoulder, again carefully not thinking about the precise details of what motivated him to do so, because of course he didn't mean it like that... "I care about you. I mean, me and Yug' and everyone, we all care about you. Maybe you don't realize it, or maybe you don't want us to, but we do."

Kaiba stared at him for a moment, before wrenching his shoulder away. "I don't need another of your damn friendship speeches," he sneered. But while Jou expected him to stalk out of the room, he simply went back to staring out the window.

Jou stared too, deciding to just let it rest for the moment. It was worth the look. It was a beautiful spring day, and the sakura trees scattered around the campus were in full bloom. But when he snuck another sideways look at the CEO, Jou wondered if they were looking at the same things. Kaiba had a far-off, grim expression that might be associated with someone in prison.

"I had a dream last night that you died," Jou heard himself say. Aw, crap. He'd really rather not think about that dream; it'd just been too... weird... Well, he felt he had to say something.

"How nice for you," Kaiba said sarcastically.

Jou laughed. "You'd think so, wouldn't you? But in the dream, I was actually sad about it. You shot yourself, in case you're curious."

The last sentence seemed to catch Kaiba's interest more than anything else. He finally looked at the blonde again, and Jou thought that he was maybe just a little paler. "...On purpose?"

Jou rolled his eyes. "You'd have to be really out of character to be stupid enough to do it any other way, y'know?" Kaiba just `hmph'ed and looked away again, and Jou's expression softened. "Kaiba?"

"Hmm?" It was amazing how much annoyance Kaiba could put into a simple `hmm'.

"Have you ever thought about dying?"

Kaiba's head shot up; he looked disgusted. "Of course not! Get out of here, mutt."

Jou scoffed. "You could be a little trusting once in a while, y'know. I promise I won't tell. Don't lie to me, please." He held Kaiba's eyes for a few moments, and then Kaiba looked away. He said nothing. Jou sighed - and then surprised them both, by leaning up to give him a quick kiss.

Kaiba gaped. "W-what...?" he said, but couldn't seem to get any further than that.

The blonde smiled. "Just curious. And, about the whole dying thing... If you ever want to talk about it, I'd be happy to listen, okay?" And he walked out, somewhat quickly, since he was a bit afraid it was now him Kaiba wanted to kill.

It didn't help, he thought some time later, after finding another good place far away, that he didn't know exactly why he'd done it. It had been a big risk to take, and he wasn't even sure if he liked the guy like that. Before that freakish dream it had never even occurred to him to wonder if he liked guys in general, or if he liked Kaiba in any way at all. He didn't even know for sure that Kaiba was really suicidal or anything. Well, he had just practically come out and said it, but he couldn't be completely sure... He'd just wanted so desperately to do something to take that look out of his eyes. He shivered. Remembering that look, he wondered if he might be too late to help much. Not like he could probably help at all. Probably, Kaiba was already plotting various ways to kill him...

It would have surprised Jou no end if he'd seen the small, bemused smile that crossed Kaiba's face as he left in search of his next class.

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