Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Love Through a Portrait ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Warnings: This is HARDCORE YAOI! WHICH MEANS THAT IT'S GOT MALE-ON-MALE ACTION IN THIS! Also, for the first few chapters, there will be sentences in Japanese!

Summary: Idea taken from the Yu-Gi-Oh! PC game I won on Ebay on July 14, 2004!!: Tokidomi ~Rikashitsu de Matte te~. Basically, as Seto Kaiba, you want to get Katsuya to fall in love with you. However, unlike the game, there aren’t any side-choices or parameters. Here's the site with info on the game, though: http://fx.sakura.ne.jp/~hiyu/tokidomi/

I must say, though, that the artwork is very, very beautiful. Check it out. You may also want to use Babel Fish to figure out what the Japanese saying... but some of the translations may be off, so don't follow it to the T.

I was mostly listening to "Black Wing" from the Japanese PC game "Rashiel's Riddle".

Started: 7/8/04 Finished: 7/10/04 Revised: 7/24/04

Many Japanese Romanized sentences in this chapter.

A double hyphen (--) means it's a long vowel. There're quite a few of those... even in "Jo--nouchi", but it's easier to use "Jounouchi."

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Love Through a Portrait

Chapter 1 - What's Up With YOU?

By Kurohi Tatsaki

Icy blue eyes met sparked chestnut ones, and locked in an instant. The blue eyes human's lips quirked up in a taunting smirk.

Instantly, the brown eyes' spark ignited into a flame and the owner growled, "Kaiba! Would'ja knock it off?!" [Why are you starin’ at me, you dumbass?!!]

Lips tug downward in a frown. [And again, he chooses to bark at me...] "Stop what?" he asked innocently, smirking and cocking his head to one side just a bit. "I'm not doing anything, puppy." [Yes, yes, of course you don't buy that, Puppy. I mean, come on. Puppies don’t know how to buy things.]

With a deep frown, Jounouchi Katsuya looked away as the bell rang and started to - very sloppily - scribble down the notes on the board. Kaiba copied the action quickly with just as much legibility and pulled out another sheet of paper from behind his notes and scribbled something down before wading it up and chucking it at the puppy, hitting the back of his head.

"Itai kore wa...?!" he hissed, turning around to grasp the paper and snarl silently at the Kaiba Corp. President. He picked up the wad, hesitated, and opened it up as he turned his body back to the front of the classroom.

It read: "Chotto, koinu. Teme-- no hashi wo shitsutta, mata wa okubyo--monode aru ka." It basically asked if Jou was a coward or not. Or, to be more specific, it said, "Hey, puppy. Have you lost your edge, or are you a coward?"

"Kuu..." [A coward, am I?! I'll show him something different this time.] He scribbled something back, crumpled it quietly, and chucked it back.

Kaiba deftly caught it just as the teacher fully turned away and opened it. It said, "Ore wa teme-- no ge--mu no tsukareteiru. Saisho-- wo iu tame ni sore wa taikutsushiteiru."

[I'm boring?] Kaiba frowned before writing something back and chucking it so it landed in front of the pup's nose.

Opening it, the paper read in English: "Screw off."

Jou frowned and clenched his fist. [Kaaaaiba!] he mentally growled before writing back, "Fuck you!"

Receiving the note - and catching it with ease - he read the two English words on the paper, frowned, and wrote back in Japanese, "Sorry, but I must decline. I don't want to be associated in that kind of crude manner with a mutt like you."

As soon as he read the note, Jou's body stiffened with rage. After a moment, he raised his hand, and his teacher wearily called on him.

"Hai, Jounouchi-san?" She was an old woman, about fifty years, and only had a few gray hairs sticking out amongst her lush head of back. The hair flowed down to her waist and was held back in a loose ponytail by a green scrunchie. A few stray hairs dangled into her slightly lined face.

"May I use the restroom, please?" he asked, his eyes troubled by his rival, and still on fire from his pent-up rage. He needed to get out before he did something regrettable. He felt that he'd been doing regrettable things lately, and he didn't want any more of them to happen because of something he could do to prevent it. [He's just being himself,] he thought. [...and I’m getting angry. I need to get this anger out of me... Just like Yuugi showed me - but mostly for Kaiba - in the last of the Battle City semi-finals when he dueled Kaiba: One cannot win if their heart is full of hatred.]

The madam sighed. "Hai... but be back before the end of class this time, will you?"

Jou nodded, and stood up, flashing his friends an agitated look while cocking his head towards Kaiba, and walked out the door. [That was close... Any more abuse like that, and I woulda decked him... I don't need another month's worth of detention. Especially after the fact that I just HAD a month's worth of detentions...] He cringed in silence. [...and... a month's worth of... *that*... because of my tardiness back home... NO! I don’t need to be thinking about that! Think of Shizuka instead!]

Kaiba frowned at his back before his friends' various gazes caught his own. He silently sneered back at them and returned to his studies - not that he really needed to focus very hard on them. He'd already learned it all when he was about ten years old.

Ten minutes later, a weary blonde reentered the classroom and plunked down in his seat. His knuckles were red and a little sore-looking, and his fiery gaze seemed more under control.

"It's about time you got back. Can you please read the section from Chapter 12, Section 3?"

Nodding once, Jou read aloud, and his voice - but not his words - caught Kaiba's attention. His voice held a fake - but plausible - degree of interest in the book of American history, but the masked undertones told just how bored the blonde was.

[Speaking of "blonde"...] Seto found the sudden urge in his veins to reach out and pet those silky-looking strands, and he willed his gaze away from the side of Jounouchi's face. He glanced down at the text, not at all interested - because he already knew the important stuff of America's history, the wars undergone and the lessons from the outcomes - and proceeded to gaze out the window, his fist the perch for his jaw. Distantly, Jou's soothing voice resounded in his head, and he found his thoughts drifting to disorder.

Jou's smiling face showed up behind his sightless blue eyes, his lightly-tanned face glowing with joy as he played with a leashed dog at the park. Next, he focused in on his face one time while they were both at the beach. The blonde didn't know that Kaiba was there at all, and he thoughtlessly imagined the feel of the blonde's skin beneath his fingertips, and how the pup's lips would feel against his own... or elsewhere on his own body, for that matter.

He flushed a minute amount of pink before banishing it with thoughts of Kaiba Corporation, and how things were running: smooth as ever... Just so long as none of the dumbass employees screwed it up again. If they did, he would certainly fire their asses all the way to Antarctica, and leave them stranded to freeze to death. He had no use for mistakes.

However, the idea of firing people all the way to that icy continent was enough to make him smirk again. After all, since HE was President of Kaiba Corp., he COULD do it, too. He could MAKE it happen.

Eventually, the bell rang, and in a collective fashion, the brunette gathered his things into his briefcase, snatched it up, and walked out the door. Outside of the school, he heard a, "Oi, Okanefukuro!"

Kaiba turned around, his blue trench coat billowing out behind him. His smirk was still visible. "Koinu?" he greeted.

[I was just gonna ask 'im a simple question! Jeez!]

However, the rational part of his brain retorted, [But you just called him Money-Bags! He has a strange right to call you a puppy!]

Jou's eyes ignited again, and he shouted vehemently, "Teme--! Ore wa teme-- no ge--mu no BYO--TO de aru!" His lips curled back in a snarl. "Soshite ore no chikaku ni aritai to omo wa na kattara soshite cho--do ore ni JIGOKU wo hotte okinasai!" With that, and a glare on his whole face, he power-walked the other way, book bag slung over one shoulder.

Kaiba Seto stared at the pup's retreating back with emotionless eyes, but inside, he felt fairly bad for making Jou react in THAT way. Sure, he was expecting a shouting match, but he didn't expect THIS... [I can't just leave you alone... it's not that you can't handle yourself... I... need to be near you. You're more than an outlet for my anger. If only you knew the truth behind me... Katsuya...] Shaking his head slightly and glaring at his audience, he walked to his black limousine and yanked open the door. "Home," he clipped at the driver, and he received a clipped affirmative.

Seto took to staring out the window, but he didn't actually look at anything, and only saw the blonde's angry face. [Katsuya... I swear to you, I will make you see...]

***

[Icy bastard can't even treat me with respect! I came in third in Duelist Kingdom and only came in fourth in Battle City because of Marik and when I lost to Kaiba! Hell, it's not like I ORIGINALLY did anything to piss him off and make him treat me like this!] "Aaaarrrgh! I HATE Kaiba! He's so friggin' annoying!" suddenly shouted Katsuya, flinging his arms into the air for his own emphasis. "Ore wa ore ni taishite, kare NANIKA motana kerebanara nai chikau! Mata wa... inu. " He paused mid-stride, frowned, and thought a moment. [What's with the dog comments, anyway?! Was it because of Otogi when he made me dress in that damn dog suit? ...Nah, he's been callin' me a dog long since before then.] He resumed walking. [...But... why?] Frowning slightly, the most he could do about the question was draw up a blank answer. [Dammit... I need more hints... more clues... if I wanna solve THIS puzzle...]

Coming up to his house, he sneaked in quietly and closed and locked to door to his room once he got inside. Dumping his book bag on the ground, he glanced at the window to make sure that it was closed, Jounouchi then yanked off his purple-blue jacket, revealing his white t-shirt. He then worked at his sneakers before going to his disarrayed dresser and yanking a long blue pair of shorts and a loose gray tank top. Hesitating for a moment, he quickly yanked off his shirt without looking at himself - knowing what injuries lay hidden underneath the cotton - and tugged the tank top right over his form. He didn't hesitate to shed his pants and hastily pulled on the shorts.

Now comfortable, he flopped quietly down on his not-too-shabby bed and returned to his thoughts. [Okay... time for a rehearsal of what I DO know. One, he calls me "puppy", "dog", and "mutt" a LOT. Two, he hates my guts. Three, he thinks I suck at Duel Monsters. Four, he thinks I suck at EVERY GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED! Fifth, it doesn't seem like he has a girlfriend, let alone enough TIME for one with his busy schedule...

[Wait, why am I thinking about whether or not he has a girlfriend or not?!

[Tonikaku, Sixth... he likes to embarrass me, and he almost always tends to. The other times are with Yuugi, and Kaiba only managed to do that once. Seventh... Besides Yuugi, he only targets...] He paused and stiffened slightly. [...me, really. So...] He looked at the ceiling. [...um... yeah. I think that's all... that I know, I mean.]

He stiffened as the door opened, then closed, and disoriented footsteps echoed downstairs. [...?!!] Quietly, Jou sat on the edge of his bed and pulled on his shoes just in case he had to run away, snagged his book bag, and scrambled back toward the window, opening it wide.

"KATSUYA!! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!!!" came a slurred voice from the next room.

[Oh, goody. He's drunk again. He's MUCH more pleasant when he's sober! I needta get outta here!] He got onto the open windowsill just as his father entered. As his dad lunged, he jumped - from the second story - and landed on his feet in a crouching position. He was SO glad that their apartment was on the second floor!

"Y'ASSHOLE! GEBBACK 'ERE DIS INSTANT!!"

Jou then dashed down the block and came upon Honda's house. Rapping on the door, his mother opened it. "Hi, Jou. Here to see Hiroto again?" The woman was a dark brunette and the locks of hair draped across her shoulders. Thick eyelashes accented her bright brown eyes as she smiled. She loved it when Jou came over, and he was never a burden to her.

The blonde nodded. "Yeah. I was wondering if I could spend the night."

"Did you dad /okay/ it?"

Katsuya nodded. "Hai. He did." [Not! But I haven't the choice to return home until he clears his head.]

"Come on in, then." She called, "Hiroto! Jou's here! Get you butt offa the floor and your eyes offa those games and come greet him! He's staying the night!"

"Thank you." Walking inside, he took off his shoes at the door and collapsed onto one of the soft rocking chairs that they had. He pulled out his homework binder - he actually WAS a good student with English and Math - and began on his English stuff just as Honda came from down the hallway to the small living room.

"Hey, Jou. What's up?"

"The usual back at home," he replied, finishing the first question and starting the second. He had told the brunette before that his dad got drunk and that he didn't like it when his dad got that way, so he would go down to either his or Yuugi's house to escape the wrath. But, he never mentioned the wrath, just that his dad was drunk again. "The usual back at home." meant to Honda and Yuugi: "My dad's drunk AGAIN." "I figured that while you were playing games, that I would tackle some of the easy stuff."

"What? English? Easy??! Do they even belong in the same sentence?! I have a hard time enough with Japanese!"

"English, while difficult at times, can be easy if you think of it as entertaining. For instance, imagine that you could, say, out-word Pegasus!"

"Ah... I think I understand. Basically, the trick is to make whatever you're doing amusing somehow?"

Jou grinned. "Aa." [But I like English, so it's easy to understand. I don't even HAVE to make it amusing. The things for jokes that they use: Slang and Puns. Jeez. I even hear that some of the porn-heads like to make fun of the word "come".] He flushed slightly. [Waaa?! Why am I thinking like THAT?! 'ttaku!]

"Um, dude, are you okay? Your face is like, totally tomato-red!"

The blonde nodded. "Aa, aa. I'm fine. Just thinkin' 'bout the strange ways that Americans use their own words. It's really crude."

"Huh? Like what?"

"Like the multiple uses for the word /come/. It ain't just a command anymore," deadpanned the blonde. Then he chuckled as Hiroto's face lit up with a sneaky grin, and he calmed instantly. "No, Honda. I didn't find a girlfriend."

Hiroto's face fell and he pushed back a stray strand of brown hair - which wasn't out in its normal spike since it was after school - from out of his face. He huffed slightly - like a dog would when it's exasperated - and flopped down on the floor. "You about done yet??"

"I just got started, but since I'm so good, I should be done soon."

"/Soon/... it's always /soon/, and you never get done until late night!"

"So what if I like to be a little bit on the exact side??!"

[Exact...?!!] Giving his friend a teasing stare, he retorted, "Oh, you just wanna up your grades so that you can get that /Beramoto Aki/ brainiac girl's attention!"

Beramoto Aki was a Junior-class at Domino High, and she always got her grades around the top five. Rumor has it, she’s never been in sixth rank. Always five, four, or so on.

Blushing, Jou retorted curtly, "Something like that." He willed some of his blush away. "I like English. Is that wrong?... Wait. Stupid question. Don't answer that." [Speaking of smart people...] Kaiba's cocky face flashed in his mind's eye, and he mentally waved at it to go away as his blush heated up again. [I think not. I don't need to be thinking about my rival... but sometimes, I wish we weren't...]

Honda stared. "..." [He likes someone, but I've never seen him blush so MUCH in such a SHORT amount of time! He must really have the hots for this one... Anyway, I hope she’s a great catch. Jounouchi isn’t the kind of guy that deserves his heart broken...] Silently, Hiroto got out his homework, too, intending to get any help he might need for his assignments. [In the meantime, I can see if I can figure out who it is that has captivated him so much.]

***

Seto neatly brought out his supplies for his English class and blinked when the sight of blond hair greeted his icy eyes. [...He's... early for first period...] he thought in awe. [That's a first.]

"You gonna stare at me all day, Kaiba, or is it that yer happy t'see me?" Jou asked without turning his head. He scribbled something down before furiously erasing it and trying again. [Can the questions get any MORE confusing?!] he silently demanded the 3/4-finished paper in front of him.

Kaiba glared. "Don't think too highly of yourself, mutt."

Jou set down his pencil and turned around, a smirk gracing his lips. He crossed his feet at the ankles absently as he leaned back in his chair. His hair fell into his face, but he paid it no mind, and his eyes shone with keen intelligence and fire that usually was only sparked by fun or challenging games and screaming matches. "I have reason to. I may not be the best at everything, but even *I* have my talents. Just last week, I got second-to-highest ranking on the English test. Knew most of the answers cold." [And Aki wouldn’t shut up about it all day after that.]

Covering up a stare of shock, he turned it into boredom. He had forgotten to look for anyone else’s name except his own, and hadn’t recognized Jou’s name right below his. Big shocker, but he vaguely remembered a girl named Beramoto Aki griping about it for quite some time. "...Really?"

The blonde nodded once, grinning broadly. He hadn't missed the surprised look on Kaiba's face at all. "Of course I did. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to study after I spent the night at Yuugi's." He frowned to himself then, and looked down at his desk. [...I know I'm proud of these high scores, but why am I being civil to KAIBA of all people?! Shouldn't I be sneering in his face just like he does to me?!] Picking up his pencil, Jou twirled it idly. [...Maybe it's because I don't want to be like Kaiba...] He began to write again.

[Of course it is!] the little voice in his head thought back. [Especially since you don't want him as a rival! You're in L-]

Jou stopped mid-sentence on the paper and gripped the pencil tightly in his fist, oblivious to the snapping noise and his new one-person audience that had blue eyes. [SHUT UP! Okay, no more coffee for you! I am SO not thinking of the “L” word!!]

Coming out of his trance, the blonde blinked at his broken pencil. [How did THAT happen...?] He frowned, chucked the remains into a slot in his book bag, and pulled out a fresh one. [Jeez, even *I* should know that the little voices in people's heads are usually right. Okay, fine, even if I DO like him, I can't tell him! He'd exploit my "weakness" and display it all around school! I don't want THAT kind of publicity!

[Then again, Kaiba wouldn’t want that kind of publicity, either!]

Kaiba stared in silence. The dog seemed lost in thought, and with conflicting emotions on his face. He scrawled out a note and folded it up. "Pup?"

"Huh?" he replied, letting his eyes stray to the brunette.

For a moment, Kaiba closed his eyes, opened them after coming to a conclusion, wrote something down, and then he flicked the folded sheet of paper the boy's way. He caught it mid-flight and pulled it open. It read: "Sakura ni yotte gakko-- no ato no boku ni, auinasai."

[That old thing?] thought Katsuya. [No one really goes there anymore because it's out of the way. I HAVE seen a few couples here and there having make-out sessions there, though.]

[I hope he accepts. At least this way I won't have to worry about anyone trying to mess with my reputation... and I won't have to worry about people seeing if Katsu' doesn't want them to.]

With a resigned sigh, Jou wrote down a reply and tossed it to his side. The paper slid across the desk only to be scooped up by an agile hand. Opening the folded piece of paper, it read, "Sure. Whatever. This had better not be some ploy to get me to drop my guard and embarrass me later."

Seto wrote something in reply, passing it to Jou. It read, "It will be worth your time, I assure you."

***

When the final bell rang, Jou quickly grabbed his things and marched off to his locker. He got out the book for his history homework, did a quick double-check - found that he forgot his favorite, personal art supplies and shoved them into his bag - and marched outside. Taking one big breath of fresh air to settle whatever nerves had been riled up, he took a right turn at the side of the school and walked forward, through some of the other trees.

In the small clearing, there sat Seto Kaiba, his eyes closed, and he seemed to be asleep. A slight draft from the mid-fall sky tugged at his mahogany bangs, moving them slightly around his forehead. [He looks... no, no, NO! I can't be thinking like this!! And yet... the thoughts come so smoothly... and without my knowing it... so... it’s gotta be... but...] Taking another step forward before crouching down before the CEO, he murmured, "...Kaiba?"

Opening one eye, Kaiba replied, "Yes?"

[Your hair looks soft. I wanna run my hands through it...] "What did you want me here for? Especially in THIS place, of all of the other possibilities?" [One would think that we were now a couple that's meeting up in secret only to whisper sweet nothings and make-out.] He stifled a snicker, but couldn't stop the grin that would have accompanied it..

Kaiba opened his other eye, sat up a little more and stretched a moment. He folded his arms against his chest, his cobalt eyes brightening a little in curiosity. [What's he thinking about to make him look so... happy...?] "..."

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Is it good? Did it suck? What needs to be improved? What needs to be left in or added? As long as it’s not a flame with bad spelling, I’ll try my best to accept flames. Comments are welcome.

Here is Jou's 5-day-a-week schedule I made up:
Hour 1: Advanced English. Hour 2: Algebra 2. Hour 3: Painting. - Lunch - Hour 4: Homeroom. Hour 5: American History. Classes start at roughly 7:30 in the morning and end around 1PM. I know it’s not totally consistent with the manga, but will you just bear with me? (It’s the time that my school starts, but it ends at 2:36).

Time Frame is about halfway through October.

Personally, I'm really good in English - am writing an original story - and I read even better. I've got fair grades in Math, and most say I'm a great artist with anime (I've even drawn Jounouchi a few times, but Kaiba's kinda hard to draw...) and am doing a doujinshi of my own (mostly in English). I SUCK at history. I think it's absolutely horrid AND boring and I don’t care about it. Good thing I only have to suffer through one or two more classes of it this coming year... ugh, I HATE it...

Well, with the help of Babel Fish, I managed to have my Japanese sentences make some semblance to sense to all those critics out there. I apologize NOW for any errors from now on, as I have the intelligence of a 3-year-old when it comes to Japanese punctuation.

Itai kore wa...?! = What the...?!

Chotto, koinu. Teme-- no hashi wo shitsutta, mata wa okubyo--monode aru ka. = Hey, puppy. Have you lost your edge, or are you a coward?

Ore wa teme-- no ge--mu no tsukareteiru. Saisho-- wo iu tame ni sore wa taikutsushiteiru. = I'm getting tired of your games. It's boring, to say the least.

Oi, Okanefukuro! = Hey, Money-Bags!

Teme--! Ore wa teme-- no ge--mu no BYO--TO de aru! Soshite ore no chikaku ni aritai to omo wa na kattara soshite cho--do ore ni JIGOKU wo hotte okinasai! = Asshole! I'm SICK of your games! And if you don't want to be near me, then just leave me the HELL alone!

Ore wa ore ni taishite, kare NANIKA motana kerebanara nai chikau! Mata wa... inu. = I swear, he must have SOMETHING against me! Or... dogs.

Tonikaku = Anyway

Aa. = Yeah.

'ttaku = Sheesh/Mattaku = Really

Sakura ni yotte gakko-- no ato no boku ni, auinasai. = See me after school, by the sakura (cherry blossom) tree.
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