Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Family Bonds ❯ Chapter 7: School Troubles ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, however I do own all of the Original Characters except for three and they belong to my friend. (They'll be mentioned later)

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“What do you mean, ‘we’re not in the same class’?!” Tama exclaims. “We need to be in the same class as each other!”

Seto lays a hand on Tama’s shoulder. “Nee-chan, calm down. Ryou-kun is going to be in the same class as Malik and you know he’ll help him. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Tama bows her head in defeat. “I know. I just have a bad feeling is all. Something’s telling me that us being separated won’t be a good thing at all.”

“We’ll be fine, Tama-chan.” Malik says. He’s picked up a little Japanese during the last few months and has begun using it. Sometimes he gets English and Japanese words a little mixed up, but it’s easily fixable.

“If you say so…” Tama says, unconvinced.

“See you at lunch and recess.” Seto says. He then steers Tama off to their classroom before she can say anything else.

Ryou and Malik wave ‘bye’ and then the two of them go to their classroom.

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Malik shifts uncomfortably, feeling many looks and several glares cast in his direction. He twists his fingers together nervously and looks down at the desk, causing his sandy-blonde bangs to cover his eyes.

A note lands on his desk softly and he looks at it for a moment before recognizing Ryou’s tidy handwriting. After making sure the teacher is busy and not looking in his direction, he opens the note and reads it.

Malik-kun,

Relax. Don’t let the other kids bother you.

-Ryou

Malik smiles and scrawls a quick ‘thanks’ in his unique handwriting and then tosses the note back to Ryou. Then he starts paying attention to the teacher again, only to find himself even more confused than earlier.

As the classes stretch on, Malik grows more and more confused with the new material. And then paper balls and things begin hitting him and he starts getting more stressed out. By the time lunch comes he’s a nervous wreck and jumping at every little movement. Right before they leave he asks to go to the bathroom. He doesn’t show up for lunch.

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“Where is he?” Tama asks for the tenth time, looking around the lunch room. “Lunch is almost over and Malik-kun hasn’t even showed up.”

“It doesn’t make sense that he’s been in there for this long.” Seto says worriedly. “Maybe one of us should go check on him.”

“I hope he’s okay…” Ryou murmurs. “The other kids were being mean to him.”

Tama pushes her tray aside. “I told you that something bad would happen! Now we can’t even leave the lunch room to go find him!”

Seto lays a hand on Tama’s shoulder, a silent way to tell her to calm down. “We’ll need a distraction. Tama and I can handle that. Ryou, there’s only five minutes left in lunch. That should be enough time for you to find Malik and rejoin the crowd to go outside for recess.”

“Don’t get in trouble.” Ryou tells them.

Tama winks at Ryou. “Don’t worry, Ry-kun. We’re pretty good at stuff like this. Remember last month's food fight at Chuck E. Cheese?”

Ryou looks at them incredulously. “The one you two and Mokuba nearly got grounded for?”

“No, that one was for fun. The other one was to help Kiba execute his genious plan.” Tama replies.

“Just wait for our signal and then go.” Seto says. “Don’t get caught.”

Ryou nods. “Alright…”

Tama snaps into action immediately and jumps up onto the table and screams, “RAT!!!”

The lunch room erupts into pandemonium after a millisecond of silence. In the chaos of screams, yelling, and movement, Ryou slips out of the lunch room unnoticed.

Tama and Seto discreetly high-five, happy that their plan has succeeded.

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Ryou quietly opens the bathroom door and looks inside to see if Malik’s there. He spots the blonde Egyptian curled up in a corner crying. Ryou slips into the room and goes over to his friend. “Malik?” He asks. “Malik-kun, are you okay?”

“…alone.” Malik mumbles.

“What?”

“Leave me alone!” Malik snaps.

Ryou recoils from his friend, startled by the amount of anger in his voice. “Doshite?” (1)

“I’m worthless… nobody likes me, the teacher ignores me, and I don’t understand anything! I can’t…! I’m just… so confused…” He finishes softly, blinking back tears.

Ryou sits down beside Malik and hugs him. “You’re not worthless and you do have someone who likes you. More than one, actually. There’s me and Tama-chan and Seto-kun and Mokuba-kun and Kiba-san and Kojiro-san.”

The two are silent for a moment.

“Thank you…” Malik murmurs.

“Ready to go join Tama-chan and Seto-kun outside?” Ryou asks.

Malik nods and wipes away his tears. “Okay.”

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“Never in all my years of teaching have two young students gotten into a fight on the first day of school! And two nine-years-olds at that!” Mrs. June says harshly, pulling Tama and Seto down the hall.

Tama and Seto each have a bruise forming on one of their cheeks and Tama’s elbow has a scrape on it.

“They deserve it.” Tama growls. “They hurt Malik-kun and nobody hurts family.”

“That’s no excuse!” Mrs. June says, ushering them into the office. “Fighting, no matter the reason or excuse, will not be tolerated at this school. Your father will be called in and told what you’ve done.”

Tama and Seto tune her out, knowing their dad won’t be too angry with them especially once they explain what happened. They also know, however, that there will be a punishment.

“You two sit here quietly and think about what you’ve done.” Mrs. June says. She waits until the two of them sit down before explaining the situation to the secretary. Then she leaves to get back to her class.

Five minutes later a sulking Kiba is led into the office by one of his teachers.

The secretary, Ms. Bird, looks at him in shock. “Mr. Muto, I’m appalled! I never expected to see you in here because you got in trouble! First your younger siblings and now you, honestly…!” (2)

Kiba glances at Tama and Seto. “Defense?” He questions.

Seto nods. “Always.”

“Have a seat, Kiba.” Kiba’s teacher says sternly. “I take it that your father is already on the way. Good.” She quickly leaves the room, muttering about troublemaking students.

Kiba sits down beside his siblings and pulls out a deck of cards. “War, anyone?”

“Deal me in.” Tama says immediately.

“Same here.” Seto says.

Kiba expertly deals out the cards. “Ace high, jokers skip, two cards face down for tie, least cards loses, loser cleans dishes. Got it?”

“Gotcha.” Seto and Tama reply.

The three play for the next fifteen minutes until Kojiro arrives. Kiba loses.

“What’s this I hear about you three getting into fights?” Their dad asks, sitting down beside Kiba.

Kiba launches into an explanation immediately. “There were some kids saying mean stuff about Malik and I asked them to stop but they turned on me and started pushing me around. I tripped one of them by err… accident and they took that as an invitation to fight.”

Kojiro nods. “Fine. What about you two?” He asks Seto and Tama.

“They shoved Malik-kun and called him names!” Tama exclaims angrily.

“We asked them to stop but they kept on doing it and then Tama lost her temper.” Seto glances at his sister, silently apologizing. “I told Ryou-kun to get Malik-kun away from there and then I helped Tama.” He and Tama both bow their heads and say, “Gomen ne.”

Kojiro sighs. “I should have expected something like this to happen…” He stands up and walks over to Ms. Bird. “May I make a request?”

Ms. Bird nods. “You may.”

“Tama and Seto, along with Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar, will have their recess inside for the next two weeks. I would also like for them to be placed in the same class. If I’m correct in my assumption, Tama got a little afraid when she found out they weren’t in the same class and so she’s been panicky all day.”

Tama shifts in her chair.

Kojiro looks at the three kids. “Don’t think I’m going to let you off easy. No sleepovers on school nights for the next two weeks and you will sleep in your own beds. You will all be given additional chores to do for the next week. Understood?”

“Hai, otou-san.” They all say.

“I’ll see you all at home. No more fighting.” Kojiro says. “Good day to you, Ms. Bird.”

Seto, Kiba, and Tama watch as he leaves and then they turn their attention to the secretary. Ms. Bird smiles.

“Would any of you like a sucker?” She asks kindly.

Tama’s eyes light up. “Ooo! I would!”

Ms. Bird chuckles and tosses a Dum Dum to the fifth grader. “Anyone else?”

Seto and Kiba exchange glances and then they both nod. “Sure.”

Soon all four of them have their own sucker. Fifteen minutes later the middle school’s bell rings, signaling the end of a class.

“Now, I don’t want to see any of you in here for trouble again.” Ms. Bird says. “Now go on to your classes.”

They listen to her, not wanting to get in any more trouble.

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(1) Doshite: Why?

(2) Mrs. Bird met Kiba back on orientation, that's how she knows him.

Q&A

Someone asked how old they all are now and I decided to post this here in case anyone else was wondering. The easiest way to keep track of how old they are is by looking at what year it is. At this moment it's around the end of August 1999 in this chapter which means Kiba is 12, Tama, Yugi, Damian, Anzu, and Malik are 9, Seto and Ryou are 8, and Mokuba is 6.

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Shiro: This chapter is brought to you by Dum Dums, one of the most awesome kinds of suckers in the world! Not really, but they are good.

Bast: Ignore hikari. She thinks that snails from outer space will one day rule the world.

Shiro: They're not just snails! They're evil alien spork-weiling, pudding-loving, nuclear mutant radio active snails of terror from outer space that want to take over the world!

Kyle: (to Damian) Is it just me or does the name get longer every time?

Damian: It's not just you.

Kyle: Okay, as long as I'm not losing my mind.


NEXT CHAPTER: Grounded, more fights, and venting.