Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Re-Discovering Innocence ❯ Day 4: Innocence part 2 ( Chapter 10 )

Day 4: Innocence, Part 2

Yugi ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to get to Jounouchi's house.

His breath came out in little puffs of cold air as he pushed on.

' What could be wrong with Jounouchi?', he thought.

Just as the thought came to him, visions of Anzu selfishly came to his mind.

Yugi shook his head.

Jounouchi needed his help right now. Sure, he cared for Anzu more than anyone else, but this time, he had to focus on getting to his best friend as soon as he possibly could..

>POMP!<

Another Pikachu shaped pillow hit Jounouchi upside the back of his head by Honda.

"Got you." Honda placidly cheered.

Jou said nothing. In fact, he didn't move from his slouch against a wall in his room.

His mind was flooded with random thoughts and confusions. Many of them concerned Yugi and others concerned...

"Anzu...." Jou whispered.

It was his fault things were happening the way that they were. It was his fault that Anzu was hiding her feelings from Yugi.

He'd seen the way they'd look at each other--the joy, the love--

All this time he thought that he wanted nothing more than for Yugi and Anzu to be happy; but, ironically, jealousy stepped in and changed everything.

Jounouchi envied Yugi now.

Not only just because he was the king of games, and could best any challenge, but he was also the nicest guy that seemed to unnoticeably charm any girl into liking him--even loving him.

"...dammit..."

">POMP!<

Yet another pillow was thrown at the back of Jounouchi's head. This time it was a Ryo-Ohki shaped pillow!

Jou said nothing, feeling his muscles tense up. Before Honda could protest, Jounouchi sprung up and threw the pillow right back at Honda. "Knock it off, already!!" he bellowed.

"Ah! Idiot!!" Honda yelled, dodging the flying projectile. "Hey! What's your problem, man?!"

"My PROBLEM?!", Jou repeated, his voice raising, as well as a fist, "MY PROBLEM?!! Don't be stupid, Honda!"

Silence.

Feeling vulnerable and having a disliking to awkward silence, Jounouchi sighed and nervously ran his fingers through his messy hair, allowing himself to fall back against the wall.

With a hurt expression, he tried to form his words without looking at his friend.

In soft words, he spoke. "I'm sorry Honda. It's just----I thought you of all people would understand what I'm going through and what I've done."

Honda said nothing, yet nodded in reply. Taking a fair risk, he neared closer to his downtrodden friend.

Jou regretfully continued. "At first, I tried to get the two of them together---Anzu and Yugi---to help them know each other even more, you know? It was obvious that Yuge was head over heels for Anzu ever since they were kids. But she'd hardly ever show more than strong and loyal friendship to him in return."

He shrugged. "I guess I kinda felt for Yugi then. I knew what it felt like to try your absolute best for something, and in the end, you don't get it---like it doesn't even matter. That's the way I feel, anyway.

"But, no matter what the little guy did for her, she never returned his feelings the same way he presented his to her. So...that's when I got this crazy idea to try and get Anzu to like Yugi a bit more---to appreciate him.

"Little did I know, I was placing a trap hole for myself. I began to fall victim to her charms--"

"And violence." Honda added.

Jou chuckled. "yeah...her violence too.."

"And the constant sexual tension between you two."

"Yeah. The constant sexual tension betwee---HEY!"

Honda laughed. "Sorry. I had to slip that one in there. Just try to lighten up a little, will ya?"

"..."

" Sure, you've made a careless mistake, but this one is different from any other stupid mistake that you've made. You had no control over this one! You were just trying to help Yugi and Anzu out."

"Yeah, but, I've found myself calling her late at night pretending that I needed help with math or something, just to hear her voice."

Honda sadly shook his head. "All that, huh? That's pretty sad, Jounouchi. But I understand you."

Jounouchi said nothing, but gave his friend a weak smile and a light nod.

"And besides.." Honda continued, stepping over to Jounouchi and wrapping an arm around his neck, "You're the one who's got some hopeless misguided crush on Anzu, not Yugi! Yugi knows what he wants and goes for it. You on the other hand beat around the bush, hoping something will happen!"

Jou felt his face tense up. "Thanks a lot", he growled through gritted teeth.

"Ohhh I'm sorry! Did I hit a nerve?!" Honda mused, digging his knuckles into Jou's head.

"AHHHH!!! Knock it off!!!" Jounouchi yelled, pushing Honda to the side. Just as he did, he snatched up a Pikachu pillow and hurled it at Honda.

Honda nearly dodged it as it bashed into the window beside Jou's bed.

"Idiot!! Watch where you throw that thing! Don't blame Pikachu for your misguided love affair with Anzu!"

That did it!

Honda was only joking, but that comment got Jounouchi boiling with anger!

"Dat's it!!" Jou yelled. Just as he was preparing to charge after Honda to start a fight, the sudden sound of his door shutting stopped him in his tracks.

Both Jounouchi and Honda froze as their attention was drawn towards the doorway.

There, Yugi stood with his hand still on the doorknob. He had to have been there for a while, his knuckles were already beginning to turn white.

Jounouchi broke out in cold sweat. Had Yugi heard? If so, how long had he been there?

"Yugi..", Jou began, facing his friend with sincerity in his eyes. " I can explain--"

Yugi said nothing. Instead, he stared at Jounouchi with sad and confused eyes, brimmed with a thin film of tears.

Hesitantly, his quivering lips parted as troubled words dared to tumble from them. But because he was so torn by his emotions, all Yugi could mutter one thing.

"......How could you...."

"Achoo!!!" Anzu sneezed while trying to finish her studies. Finals were officially tomorrow!

Sniffling, she rubbed her nose and sighed. "Someone must be talking about me.", she figured briefly, then returned her attention to her studies.

She hoped the others were studying too. She hadn't heard much of anything from either of them though----except for Jounouchi.

Sometimes he'd call her at nearly 11:00 at night for the answer to a simple arithmetic problem like 2 -2 or something.

Or he'd call her to ask how she's doing, then stay silent for a while, and just as she would tell him she was about to hang up, he'd instantly whip out a question from out of nowhere and demand an answer from her.

For example!!:

Anzu:"Hello?"

Jou:" Hey..um...Anzu. How are you tonight?"

Anzu:"Fine."

Jou:"Oh? It sounds like you're occupied with something."

Anzu:"Jounouchi, aside from being abnormally ill, I have homework to finish and finals to study for---as do you!"

Jou:" er...oh right. Thanks for reminding me. "

Anzu:"yeah...sure.."

Jou:"....."

Anzu:"....."

Jou:"........."

Anzu:"....Listen, Jou..?"

Jou:"Oh! Yeah?"

Anzu:"If you're not going to say anything, then I should be going now."

Jou:"Oh!! Wait!"

Anzu:"...What is it?"

Jou:"...."

Anzu:"......"

Jou:".................uh...I need some help!"

Anzu:"...Really..."

Jou:"Y-yeah. Um. I forget, uh.. what's 2 2 again?"

Anzu:"...Jounouchi, I'm hanging up on you now."

Jou:"-2!!! I meant 2 -2!!!"

Anzu:"Good night, Jounouchi."

>CLICK!<

As feeble and pointless as that may seem, part of it still bothered Anzu. Why would Jounouchi be so pestingly persistent like that?

Sure, he always seemed like not all the lights were on upstairs, but still, she'd never seen him act this way before.

Ever since that incident with her passing out Tuesday at The Dream, he'd been calling her late almost every night.

Everytime he did, it was right after something happened to her because of her aging heatstroke.

Was there any connection?

...

.......

No use wasting any brain cells on it.

Now realizing that the time she had spent reminiscing took her concentration away from her work, Anzu pushed herself up from her open textbook and walked over to her bed.

Once there, she flopped on it on her stomach and lazily reached out for the phone receiver.

Since she wouldn't be able to get anymore work done until later that night, she figured she'd call Yugi and see what's up with him.

Maybe they could study together.

Yugi...

Just thinking about him brought a smile to her face. But was it just because of her evolving love for a childhood friend, or did her heart desire another close to Yugi?

"...Yami.." she whispered, not knowing her doing so, and totally oblivious to the reddening of her cheeks.

With a dreamy sigh, Anzu picked up the receiver and began punching in the numbers to the Turtle Game Shop.

"...Yugi...I..", Jou stammered, trying to get around telling Yugi what was really going on.

But he couldn't just lie to Yugi, could he?

Either way, Yugi didn't want to hear his words. Shutting off all surroundings, Yugi closed his eyes and about faced, preparing to leave back out the door.

But a firm hand on his arm stopped him.

"Yugi...", Jounouchi pleaded softly, "Please don't leave."

Yugi said nothing, but kept his back to Jou.

Jou noticed Yugi's shoulders beginning to quiver a little. He and Honda both knew that the little guy was crying.

And Jounouchi didn't blame him.

Knowing what he had been trying to avoid had come back and hit him twice as hard, Jounouchi heavily sighed and tugged on Yugi's arm to get him to turn around.

When Yugi refused to comply, Jounouchi switched to using soft words instead. "....I'm...I'm sorry Yu---"

"Sorry for what, Jounouchi!" Yugi spat in a low and acidic tone.

Jou and Honda were equally taken aback by Yugi's behavior.

This wasn't like him at all!

"Yugi, I can explain!"

"Explain what..." Yugi demanded. It took nearly all his strength to muster the ability of controlling his emotions from getting out of hand. Slowly, he turned his head to the side, but he didn't look at Jounouchi. "You were only kidding right...? You and Honda were just joking, right?"

When neither Jounouchi nor Honda gave any intelligent reply, Yugi froze as he felt something inside him snap.

>BRING! BRING!<

Grandpa: "Hello? Turtle Game Shop."

Anzu: "ACHOO! Bless me. Hello, Grandpa?"

Grandpa:" Yes? Hello Anzu. I know you don't have any important business with an old man such as myself, so I assume that you want to talk with Yugi, am I right?"

Anzu:"....You don't have to say it like that, Grandpa! But yeah, is Yugi there?"

Grandpa:"Heh heh. No, I'm afraid that little Yugi ran out earlier today."

Anzu:"Do you know where?"

Grandpa:"No. But if he's not with you, maybe he went over the 'Sailor Snouts' lover's house."

Anzu:"..............That's 'Sailor Scouts', Grandpa."

Grandpa:"So I'm wrong again! Sue me!!"

Anzu:"So he's over at Jounouchi's. Er..thanx Grandpa. I'll see you later."

>CLICK<

--

And yeah, I know they're called Sailor Senshi or Sailor Soldiers, but…Jou likes the American version…and watches it from time to time along with the original

-Mel