Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Across the Border of Popularity ❯ Meet Our Main Characters ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: This is the official disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I do own the plot to this fic.

Note: This story contains yaoi and shonen-ai, and some lemon Also, the millennium items do not exist in this fic.

This fic focuses on Yami/Jou the most, but it will jump around to different pairings.

Contains Anzu bashing in further chapters

~Across the Border of Popularity~

~Chapter One: I Which Our Main Characters Meet ~

Today was your normal, average, typical morning.

Waking up to an aggravating alarm clock blaring the news, not your favorite music station. Followed by a quick shower, a piece of toast grabbed off of the plate, reading a `have a nice day, son' note from Dad, and running to school, arriving just when the bell rang. Or, at least, that was how Katsuya Jonouchi always had his mornings. Today, however, Jonouchi woke up far before his alarm clock. Quietly, he pulled off his pajamas and replaced them with Domino High's uniform, a white shirt with a button up blue jacket, and blue pants. Running a hand through his messy blonde hair, Jonouchi grabbed his satchel, and ran downstairs. Mmm, he thought, closing his eyes and smelling the sweet, sugary, warm smell of pancakes drifting up to reach his nose.

"Good morning, Katsuya," Mr Jonouchi greeted his son, "up so early?"

"Yeah Dad," Jonouchi (I'll just call him Jou from now on) said, rubbing his hands eagerly as his father laid down a stack of pancakes in front of him. "I promised to meet Ryou and Malik early before school starts." He shoveled a few pancakes into his mouth, savoring the taste.

Mr Jonouchi sighed as he observed his son's manners at the table. "Honestly, Katsuya, one at a time please."

"Sorry Dad," Jou said, but, due to the pancakes in his mouth, all he could say was "mmmhph mph."

Chuckling a bit, Jou's dad steered the conversation away from food. "So, how come Yugi's not included the meeting?"

Jou swallowed, and grabbed more syrup to add to his breakfast. "Well, y'see, Dad, the meeting's about Yugi."

Mr Jonouchi gave his son a quizzical look, but Jou suddenly jumped up, staring in horror at the digital clock on the oven.

"I'm late!" Jou frantically cried, grabbing his lunch and satchel, "I have to go now Pops, see ya later!" However, in the process of tying his shoes AND running down the front porch steps, Jou, yup you guessed it*, tripped and fell.

"Katsuya! Daijabu? (are you all right?)" Mr Jonouchi asked his son, helping him up.

"I'm fine," Jonouchi reassured, "bye Dad, have a nice day!" He took off, sprinting.

Mr Jonouchi walked back inside, and glanced at the oven clock. "Dear God! It's not that time is it?!" He ran into his room, giving himself a quick shave, and ran downstairs, grabbing his briefcase. After he locked the door, without looking, he fell down the porch steps too. As a car drove by, Mr Jonouchi heard the announcer from a radio station say: "and today is National Fall Down Day!"

"Ohayo Jou!" A boy with white, semi-spiked medium length hair called, running towards Jou.

"Hey Ryou," Jou greeted, "you're just as late as I am today!"

Ryou pouted, giving his friend his HUGE puppy dog eyes (so kawaii!). "But Katsuya," he whined, jogging to keep up with his friend, "I was up all night reading the letter I received from Father…" He trailed off, looking dejectedly at the ground.

Jou stopped, and patted Ryou's hair. "What'd he say?"

"Father said that a new dig site had come up, and they had given him an offer `of highest honor' he quoted. So he'll be gone for another two months. But…it's not like it's new or anything."

Jou gave Ryou a reassuring smile. "Better than coming back here and figure out what his son has been doing while he's been gone, and the manner of people he's made friends with."

Ryou smiled. "Thanks Jou, and you don't need to say it like that, you, Malik and Yugi are the best friends I'd ever want to have," he said, as they stepped onto school grounds.

"Hey Jou! Ryou!" A rumbling sound came from behind them, followed by a VERY close screech and Jou and Ryou spun around. Malik was casually leaning on his motorbike, having narrowly missed almost hitting them. There were heavily imprinted skid marks where Malik had frantically stopped the bike. "Uh...'S'up?"

Ryou grinned. "You're late too!"

"Hey, don't rub it in."

Jou stood silently listening to Malik and Ryou argue, or at least what Ryou called `debating'. "Arguing", he had stated, "means that a group of people who despise each other fight over petty things. Debating means to argue in a friendly manner, just to prove your point. And that's all." Malik, this time, seemed to have the upper hand. Malik had tan skin, acquired from baking in the hot, Egyptian sun. His eyes were heavily lashed, with a slanted `L' under each far corner of his eyes. The color of his eyes was a pale purple, orchid, some said. He had shoulder length spiky, extremely light tan hair, and had a hidden but easily seen hard-headedness. Ryou had pale skin that matched his silver hair, and semi-large chocolate brown eyes, although not as large as Yugi's dark lavender ones…

Speaking of Yugi, Jou thought, what's he doing here? Wait, Yugi's here?! His eyes widened when he saw Yugi waving at his friends. The teen was shorter than everyone, apart from the exception of Hanasaki. He was what some called `wimpy' but Jou knew that Yugi was really nice, and always thought of someone before him. His hair was set in five tall spikes, fringed by red. The rest was black, apart from the yellow bangs. "Hey guys, what are you doing here?"

"That's my line!" Malik whined, "so, what are you doing here? And at this early time?"

Yugi rubbed his head, embarrassed. "I'll tell you later…"

"But Yugi, you're getting us all worried!" Ryou cried, tears brimming over his eyes. "Please tell us!"

"Yeah Yugi," Jou said, knelling in front of his best friend. "If someone's hurting you…"

Yugi shook his head. "I suppose I should have told you from the beginning," he whispered, clinging onto Jou tightly. "But I thought you would all get mad at me… And leave me…"

"Don't worry," Malik soothed, "we won't"

"Yeah," Jou and Ryou said, "promise."

Yugi opened his mouth to speak.

Everyone held their breath.

All the readers held their breath.

Hey you, yeah, you ! Hold your breath!

Everyone was getting purple in their face from holding their breath.

Yugi opened his mouth to speak…

The school bell rang.

"I'll tell you guys after school, okay?" Yugi asked, "meet me at the cherry blossom tree behind Domino High?"

Jou, Malik and Ryou nodded, as they all separated to go to their different classes. And I was that close… Jou thought.

*

"All right Yugi, now spill. What's the deal with acting all quite and spending a whole lot of time doing something else?" Jou stretched down lazily under the shade of the tree, and stared intently at Yugi. "Well?"

"I think I can explain that," a voice behind Yugi answered. A tall teen with brown hair and cold blue eyes appeared, and pulled Yugi into his lap. "Well, koi, you told them, now all we have to do is to see if they can piece it together." He placed a soft kiss on Yugi's lips.

"Jou, Malik, Ryou," Yugi said after the kiss had ended, "I want you to meet Seto, he's why I haven't been around lately…" He blushed deeply.

Ryou nodded, smiling. "That's really cute Yugi! Congratulations!"

"So, when'd you two get together?" Malik asked.

"Mr Straightforward," Jou said, rolling his eyes. "I'm Jou, and this here is Malik," he pointed at Malik who was doing a crazy-guy imitation. "He's a lot weirder than this, and this is Ryou." Ryou nodded politely at Seto.

"Hey Seto, who's your new friends?" Another two teens had sauntered over, settling themselves down on the grass. Jou stared wide-eyed at them, they looked so much like Ryou and Malik.

Seto opened his mouth to speak, but one of them interrupted. "Good for you Seto, you found a boyfriend!" He turned to look at the other teen, one hand out. "Pay up, I told you he'd get a boyfriend!"

Rolling his eyes, Seto introduced the two teens. The one that looked like Ryou was Bakura, and the one that looked like Malik was Marik. Bakura had more spiky hair, and his eyes were heavy lashed and were a darker, hard, brown. Marik's hair was spiked up in Yugi's fashion, but was grey and had more spikes. He also wore a `I'm kinda weird so beware' look on his face. Jou looked at Malik, expecting him to make a weird but funny face at Marik. However, he found both Ryou and Marik blushing profusely at the sight of their look-alikes.

"Hello love," Bakura greeted, "what's your name?"

"R-Ryou," Ryou stuttered, blushing even more red as Bakura pulled him into his lap, nuzzling his neck.

"Ryou," Bakura whispered. "I love it. Rolls right off the tongue." Ryou blushed even more.

"I'm Marik," Marik said, more to Malik than anyone else. "What's yours?"

"M-Malik," Malik whispered. "I-It's nice to meet you."

Marik grinned. "I'd like to get to know you better," he whispered back, running a hand through Malik's hair seductively.

"Hello, Yami," Jou turned to see a taller, stronger version of Yugi walk up to them.

Bakura scooted over so Yami was sitting with them too.

Realization dawned on Jou. "Y-You, you guys are the popular teens!"

Yami turned to face Jou, and Jou's face suddenly felt hot. "That's right," Yami answered, and Jou noticed that his voice was rich, and sultry.

"Well then, why are you with us?"

Yami turned to look at Ryou, Bakura, Malik, Marik, Seto and Yugi. "They look very happy, don't they? I wouldn't want to make them unhappy just because the person they love is not popular."

Jou looked down at the ground, abashed.

Yami suddenly felt a clench around his chest as he saw Jou's sadness. "I'm sorry," he whispered, awkwardly patting the teen's back gently. "My name's Yami, what's yours?"

"Jou," Jou said, "Katsuya Jonouchi."

"Hellooooooo, Yami!" A girl with short brown hair grabbed Yami's arm, literally clinging onto it.

Yami rolled his eyes, and shoved Anzu off VERY ungracefully. "Please go away, Mazaki," he ordered, as Anzu brushed the dirt off of her uniform.

Anzu opened her mouth to speak, but Yami grabbed her arm painfully and led her away, looking highly disgruntled.

Watching them, Jou suddenly felt a jolt of pain and jealously in his chest. Why is he with Anzu? She's not very attractive… Wait, why was I jealous? It's not like I love him or anything… Or, do I?… Jou closed his eyes and softly hit his head against the tree. "Damn."

"You shouldn't bang you head on the tree, it's not good for you." Yami had returned, smirking.

"What'd you do with Anzu the Bitch?" Bakura asked Yami, stroking Ryous' hair. "If she annoys you again, I'll torture her to death. Slowly and painfully…" He snickered, and returned to Ryou.

The eight sat under the tree for a while, thinking to themselves.

Yugi was getting up. "I have to go home now guys," he said, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

After saying their own good-byes, everyone except Yami, and Jou left.

Jou shifted uncomfortably, and asked Yami: "where do you live?"

"In an apartment by myself," Yami answered. "My parents sent me over here to learn Japanese and the culture. They're back in America."

"Which apartment?"

"Depends, where do you live?"

Jou looked away. "I live in a house. Anyway, me dad should be home by now. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

Yami nodded. "Yes, I'll see you later, Katsuya."

Jou stood there stunned, as Yami walked away. Did he just call me Katsuya?

******

~And that was how our main characters came to meet, but many questions still remained unsolved…~

millenniumspirit: Chapter one, down! On the next chapter, we will focus on Yami and Jou's feelings for each other. Please Review!!