Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Behind Blue Eyes ❯ The Day Before: Project From Hell ( Chapter 1 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: kiokukaiba 
The day before the project begins.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 07.02.2007 | Updated On: 07.02.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Work In Progress
The day before the project begins.
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 07.02.2007 | Updated On: 07.02.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Work In Progress
Behind Blue Eyes
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Disclaimer: This disclaimer is for the entire story. Yu-Gi-Oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi and Konami. I don’t make money from writing this and I don’t intend to. I only write using Kazuki Takahashi’s ideas and characters for simple entertainment and do not own any part of Yu-Gi-Oh in any way. Enjoy.
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The bell rang loudly, piercing the air, soon followed by the sound of students’ feet rapidly pounding the ground as they ran to their classes in an attempt not to be late. Doors shut, silencing the previously busy hallway. The unfortunate students that were locked out sluggishly made their way to detention.
Jounouchi Katsuya, Motou Yuugi, Masaki Anzu, Honda Hiroto, and Bakura Ryou all sat in a clump in their classroom, talking about what they had planned for the upcoming weekend, which began tomorrow. Other students also sat in small clusters or in pairs. There was only one teen who sat all alone in the back of the room, only occasionally surrounded by a group of die-hard fangirls. This loner was the rich and powerful CEO of Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba Seto. He was reading a novel, just like he always was.
So now that you’ve got a pretty good idea of what is going on, let me introduce myself. My name is Jounouchi Katsuya. Welcome to my world. Let me tell you right now, it sucks, and Kaiba has nothing better to do than make my life even more of a living Hell. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is sexy beyond belief, but he seriously needs an attitude adjustment. So anyways, where was I? Oh yeah
Kaiba was reading a novel, just like he always was. You know, I sometimes wonder if he is reading the same book over and over again, or if he has his own private library somewhere in his ridiculously large house. . .probably the latter.
Our teacher, Ms. Asuka, cleared her throat loudly, hoping that we would take the hint and return to our seats so she could begin class. Much to her delight, the groups instantly began breaking up and each individual took his or her sweet time getting back to their assigned seat. Some of my peers allowed for a groan to escape their lips as they pulled out their books and propped their heads up on their hands. It took me a moment to realize that I had done the same exact thing, yet much louder than the rest of my classmates, earning me a few giggles and the feeling of an icy stare digging its way into my back.
“Now, now,” Ms. Asuka began, “There’s no need for that. I have a strong feeling that you all are going to be very excited about what we are going to do today ” She plastered a large grin on her face.
Again, we all groaned dramatically. Every time she told us we were going to enjoy class, she assigned either some stupid project or a lengthy research paper. We could only fidget in our seats as we awaited our sentencing.
“I’m assigning a new project ” She clasped her hands together, as though it were the most exciting thing in the world, and there was a loud thud as the heads of many of my classmates, including my best friend Honda, were slammed down upon their desks. “Oh come on now This is going to be a fun project This one is always the favorite of my students ” The faces of a few students looked at their teacher with lazy eyes while the many others kept their faces buried in their desks. I remained indifferent.
“Ms. Asuka,” I called out, “You say that about all of our projects.” It was more of a complaint than an observation, but she took it as the latter.
“You’re right Jounouchi ” She chuckled, “I do say that about all of them, but this time I’m telling the truth ” I arched my right eyebrow a bit, starting to become slightly interested in what the woman had to say. Looking around, I saw heads rising from the desks. “I have randomly paired all of you up Boys will be with boys and girls will be with girls ” This elicited a few frowns, but she continued, “The project will take place over a span of three weeks. The first week, you will both live together in one partners house, and the next week you will both live in the other partners house. The third week is where you need to work. You see, during the first two weeks, you need to get to know your partner very well so that you can write a ten page biography about them ” This earned big eyes from me and loud sounds of protest from my peers. “Trust me, you will all grow to like this project. Now then, let me tell you all who will be staying with who ”
I glanced around the room to see how Yuugi and the others were reacting to this, when a particular brunette caught my eye. Kaiba was uncharacteristically slumped down in his chair as our teacher went down her list of pairs. I wondered what was bothering him, but it didn’t really matter I guess. It was fun seeing him with his hair not so perfect and his eyes in a fight between anger and. . . fear?
“Jounouchi Katsuya and Kaiba Seto ”
I snapped out of my daze after realizing that my name had just been called, “What? Me and who?” I looked around the room frantically, searching for some sort of hint as to who my new housemate was going to be. My answer literally stood before my eyes. Seto Kaiba had a thin, feminine body that made even guys give him a good looking-over. He was tall, towering over most of the students in our school. I was pretty close to his height. If he were a few inches shorter, I would be eye-to-eye with the ice prince. Looking up from my seated position, his height was more intimidating. Those burning sapphires penetrated my own eyes and read my heart and my soul. . . or so it felt. He was a truly stunning sight and his body was certainly good on the eyes. In fact, he was so good on the eyes, that I had failed to notice that during all of this thinking, my eyes were laid on him.
“What are you gawking at?” Those fierce blue eyes were fixated on me once again, but I didn’t have time to stare now I had to think up a quick excuse, and I knew that saying ‘your sexy body’ wouldn’t go over too well with the filthy-rich teen that had now seated himself beside me. . . when had he sat down? Was it while I was daydreaming? Oh shit I was daydreaming again
“Answer my question mutt. I’m not in the mood for one of your mindless games.” He had his arms folded across his chest now and was tapping the fingers of his right hand onto his left arm. No I can’t go into another daydream I need to answer
“I-I’m just in shock that God would punish me by forcing me to live with the Devil’s incarnate for three weeks ” Gah I stuttered But he turned away after a quick roll of the eyes, apparently satisfied with my last-minute excuse. I, too, faced the front of the room to avoid a repeat of the incident.
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After what seemed like an eternity, lunch rolled around. I sat at my usual table with my usual group, which consisted of Yuugi, Honda, Anzu, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura. I had always found it strange that Bakura sat with us, considering the fact that he was friends with the gothic kids and could have easily sat with them, but I think that he has a crush on his hikari, Ryou.
Honda playfully jabbed me in the side, “So, is Jou excited about the project? Three weeks with the biggest asshole in the school Congratulations on winning a trip to Hell and back, man ” He gave me one rough pat on the back.
I allowed myself to let out an irritated grunt. Honda was pretty much right though, three weeks with the richest boy was close to a death sentence. No matter how sexy Seto Kaiba was, if attitudes could kill, we’d all be dead. I know that Kaiba hates me with a passion, so enjoying these next few weeks is out of the question.
Awakening back into reality, after drifting off into a daydream once again, I noticed that my friends were giving me funny looks for not answering the question. I had completely forgotten that something was asked and so I changed the subject, “Who did you all get paired up with?”
Yami groaned loudly, holding his head up with his hands, “I’ve been paired up with the psycho from Hell.” He pointed his thumb at Bakura, who seemed to be very preoccupied with the hamburger on the tray that lay before him. Yami clenched his left fist and sat up straight, “I swear, one of us is going to be dead before these next three weeks are up, and I sure as hell hope it isn’t me ” Using his right hand, he shoveled some fries into his mouth, his face falling back into a rather depressing frown.
Honda shrugged, “She paired me up with Ryou, so I don’t have any complaints.” Though he looked cool and collected, I knew that he was actually very excited. He had told me long ago that he had a crush on Ryou. I knew that he might be fighting with Bakura for the spot of Ryou’s boyfriend, but hey, I’ll support Honda whether he has a snowball’s chance in Hell or not. I think that he and Ryou would make a pretty cute couple, if I do say so myself. I wonder what the two of them will be up to for the next three weeks.
Anzu sighed loudly, “I got paired up with that snobby girl, Kioko. . . Jou, aren’t you in our class? You should have heard who we were all paired up with.” She looked over me like a concerned mother, but I said nothing. . . I couldn’t think of an excuse this time.
“I think that Jou was busy looking at someone.” Yuugi gave me a wink and then motioned his head in Kaiba Seto’s general direction, receiving muffled giggles from those sitting at our table.
My stomach began to burn, but I felt more nervous than angry, for a reason beyond me, “Yuugi, if you’re trying to imply that I have some sort of sick crush on Kaiba, you are totally wrong I was in shock because I was paired up with him, and therefore I was looking at him for awhile ” Okay, so I lack originality, but perhaps they would fall for it like Seto did. . . gah I said Kaiba But I doubt it; my friends know me a hell of a lot better than that rich snob does They all looked at each other, so I figured I was safe.
“Oh? Then what are your excuses for staring at the boy all of the other days? Surely you aren’t in shock everyday ” Ryou uncharacteristically arched an eyebrow and smirked in a catlike manner, “It’s quite alright if you like him, Jou, I certainly have nothing against it and I believe that Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda would be okay with it as well, am I right in assuming this?”
“Absolutely Ryou ” Honda quickly answered. Yup, he still liked him. “You always seem to be right about these kinds of things Ryou ” I really don’t see how no one else noticed Honda’s dead-obvious crush on the normally-shy albino. I could just barely keep from cracking a smile about it.
Ryou chuckled, “Call it a gift. . . so anyways, you going to admit it now, Jou? It’s so obvious ” If it’s so god damn obvious, then why can’t you see that Honda has a huge crush on you? No, I wouldn’t say that. Honda was my best friend and I don’t betray friends like that.
“I don’t like him.” It may have been stupid to say, but being silent would have implied that they were right, which they weren’t. . . were they? Ryou and the others rolled their eyes at my denial and shook their heads. I had begun to try and come up with something to prove them wrong, but it dawned on me that nothing I could say or do would change their minds.
Bakura snorted, claiming our attention, “Have you all read the shit that we have to do for this project?” He waved a rather large packet of paper in the air, which I suppose was the list of rules and requirements for the lengthy assignment.
Yami scrunched his face up a bit, “Hopefully there won’t be too much interaction needed. I’d like to do as little with you as possible.”
Bakura just rolled his eyes and turned away, smirking, “Here comes the priest.” I felt my heart’s pace quicken dramatically. “It appears as though he is coming for his puppy. Does it hurt, Pharaoh, to know that your priest doesn’t come for you anymore?” He cackled psychotically at the double meaning of his words. Yami attempted to lunge at the perverted thief, but Honda and I grabbed ahold of him and kept him away while Yuugi tried to calm him down with soothing words.
I looked to my right, the direction in which Bakura had turned, and, for a reason unknown to me, I felt my stomach flutter as I watched the blue-eyed devil walk over to our table.
His expression was emotionless, his eyes an icy barrier to conceal the shadowed life that he held deep within. I mused slightly over the fact that for the next three weeks, I was going to learn what lied beneath that flawless surface. I would finally learn why Seto Kaiba was the way he was.
“Dammit mutt Listen to me when I’m talking to you ” His voice had been a restrained, angry, whisper, but it was enough to catch my attention. Finding nothing to reply with, I merely raised my eyebrows at him as though to say ‘what?’ and tried my best to look as calm as possible.
He rolled his eyes in a rather dramatic fashion, his folded arms seeming to shake with frustration, “What I said was, bring only clothes, a toothbrush, and your school books, you know, the necessities. The rest will be provided for you.” His eyes drifted around the cafeteria as though what he had said had taken some great effort, which it probably did, considering the fact that he was making a generous offer. . . or maybe it was just a statement.
“Okay.” I flashed him a smile, hoping he would say more, but he only spun on his heels and walked away. I was very tempted to follow him, but since he left the cafeteria completely, I decided against it, “What the fuck is his problem?”
“You know how he is, Jou,” Honda assured me, “He’s just a stuck-up, rich, asshole.” He shrugged his shoulders and picked up his half-eaten burger, biting a huge chunk out of it and setting it back down.
Unlike the rest of my friends, I’m curious about nearly everything, and I’m pretty well known for my spunk. I wasn’t quite willing to leave it at just that, but seeing as I was going to have the next few weeks to learn about that son-of-a-bitch, I decided to let it go. . . for now at least.
The remainder of our lunch period was rather uneventful, though I frequently found that the young CEO was on my mind. Once we had gone back to class, I felt excited about the upcoming project. Yeah, you heard me right. Katsuya Jounouchi is excited to spend an extended period of time with Seto Kaiba.
You know when you’re really excited for something to come and you get that feeling inside? Like on Christmas Eve, when you’re laying in bed and you look at the clock every five seconds and all the while you have this tingling sensation throughout your body. . . you know what I mean? Well anyways, that’s how I felt. Here it was, the last class of the day and I couldn’t even pay attention to the teacher. . . not that I wanted to or anything, but this was math, and I had been trying to pay attention recently so that I could bring my grade up and pass the class. This was my senior year, after all, and the last thing I wanted was to have to repeat the grade while all of my friends graduated.
My eyes drifted around the room, landing on a certain blue-eyed classmate. If Anzu just came to mind, you ought to be slapped. It was Seto, the perfect, straight-A student. I wondered if he would be willing to help me with my math while we lived together. That would be awesome
Too bad Seto’s such a bastard. Who knows, he could be a really cool guy under that ‘holier-than-thou’ exterior. . . or maybe he’s just a complete and total asshole all the way through. . . nah, no one in the world is like that. . . except child molesters. . . and murderers. . . and Hitler. . . but I’m pretty sure that the almighty Seto Kaiba is none of the above. . . of course, I wouldn’t put murder past him. . .
A paper wad to the head was enough to knock me out of my daze and cause me to jump about three inches off of my seat, disrupting the teacher’s lecture. I muttered my apologies to the man and glared at everyone in the room, eyes traveling from face to face in an attempt to figure out who threw the paper at me. . . which is kind of hard to do when no one is snickering or even looking my way.
Glancing down at the floor, I spotted the projectile and absentmindedly picked it up, un-crumpling it and noticing that, in very neat cursive, someone had written something on it. Expecting it to be someone’s notes or an old homework assignment, even though there was only one line of writing, I read it. It said, “Hey mutt, what did I tell you about staring at me? Eyes off ” Crumpling the paper back into a wad and tossing it to the floor, I scribbled down a little note of my own and threw it at the offenders’ head in relatively the same fashion as he had done to me.
It was the most funny thing to watch Seto Kaiba get pelted in the head with a paper wad, and quite cute, if I do say so myself, to see the rather stunned look on his face. I watched on, half in wonder and half in anticipation of his reaction, as Seto leaned down to retrieve my note, his fine ass facing me. . . I wondered if he took a long time because he knew I was looking. . . either way, it was a nice view, and judging by the looks on the faces of the guys and girls around me, they were enjoying the show as well.
After a long while, he sat upright in his seat and commenced in opening the paper and studying my message. . . a part of me wondered if he could read it, penmanship wasn’t exactly my forte. . . I could have sworn that I saw a hint of a smile flash across his velvet lips before he returned the sheet to its former state and dropped it back to its place on the floor. The note had read, “You better sleep with one eye open for throwin’ that at my head, pretty-boy ” I figured that maybe he was smiling at what I had called him. . . wouldn’t that be something?
My eyes switched back to the clock. An hour of class left. Was it just me, or was that second hand taking its sweet-ass time today? Okay, no problem I’ll just. . . plan what I’ll do at the Kaiba mansion
My fingers drummed ever-so lightly on my desk as my mind wandered off in thought. Let’s see. . . I’d be in the same house as the royal asshole, so I might as well find a way to entertain myself. I allowed for my eyes to sweep over Seto’s body again. . . Heh, you’re probably thinking that I have some sort of weird crush on him. . . well allow me to rain on your parade; I hate Seto Kaiba with a passion, but he’s hot as Hell Not even I can deny that Sure, I’d fuck him into next week, but I’d never go out with him Hmm. . . not a bad idea. . . fucking the gorgeous Seto Kaiba wouldn’t be very easy, but damn, what could possibly be more entertaining than that? Yeah. . . it’d be fun tying Seto down on his own bed with his hands above his head, him yelling at me and trying to squirm away. . . I bet I would scare him if I did that, making it all the more enjoyable. Oh shit. . . hopefully none of my peers would take notice of the rather obvious bulge in my pants.
I had kept my eyes on the CEO. . . his fine, rounded ass to be precise. Yeah, he would be a nice fuck. Most of the guys in school would agree. . . Seto had made a lot of guys turn bisexual, one of those guys being me. With him having such a feminine shape, there really wasn’t much of a difference between him and a woman.
Seto had been throwing frequent glares my way, each one appearing more flustered than the last. He was fidgeting in his seat now, apparently feeling my eyes on his nice ass. Sure, I was probably going to get a severe ass-kicking from this later, but right now I might as well kick back and enjoy the view Hey, at least my mind was off of the clock. . . well shit My mind was off the clock. . . oh well, so much for that.
My eyes drifted up to that evil circle on the wall, much to Seto’s relief I’m sure, and just stared at it as though it would tick faster if I did so. There were only five minutes left of class Time really does fly when you’re having fun
Okay, so now I only have five more minutes to waste. . . scratch that The announcements started over the intercom and were soon drowned out by the loud chatter of the students around me. Guys and girls were up from their chairs, moving to gather in small groups wherever space was available. . . all except for Seto, who silently packed away his books and copied down the weekends’ homework assignment in his agenda, which was then put away along with everything else.
I had expected him to at least glare at me, but all he did was fold his arms, looking rather impatient and annoyed.
As I zipped up my bag, the bell rang, releasing everyone from a full day of classes and bringing chaos to the previously-serene hallways. Looking back to where I had last seen my new eye-candy, I was rather surprised to find him still seated there. . . yet now he was facing me, his arms still folded across his chest, blue eyes burning into me. . . I almost looked myself over to see if he had stared any holes into me, but that would only succeed in pissing the brunette off even more.
Something in my gut told me that he was waiting for me to say something. . . waiting for me to say the first word. . . or maybe I was just hungry. . . both were pretty good possibilities.
The moment out teacher was gone, I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again when Seto put his hand up as though to stop me. . . and it worked. He stood from his seat, finally, and collected his things.
“I don’t want an explanation.” His smooth voice drifted lightly through the air, tickling my ears and sending chills down my spine, “If you try to pull any of those stunts at my house, I swear I will-”
“Let’s go to my house for the first week. I’d like to delay my stay in Hell for as long as possible.” Yeah, it was a lie, but there was no way in Hell I was going to tell him the truth.
He studied me intently for a moment, as though he expected some sort of catch. “Fine, but the same rule applies. . . no funny stuff.” He picked up his briefcase, “I’ll be over at ten in the morning. I expect to come to a clean place and you’d better have an extra bed for me to sleep in. I refuse to sleep on a couch or the floor.” He looked me up and down again. Maybe he thought that he was intimidating me by doing so. He left after that. I wondered if he knew how nicely he moved his hips when he walked. . . I certainly wasn’t the only one who thought so. On many occasions, I had overheard male students talking about it. Yeah, everyone and their brother wanted to sleep with the finest guy in the city.
I collected my things and walked out the door. Seto sure is demanding, of course, I wasn’t going to be cleaning or anything just for him.
As I stepped outside, I could smell the rain coming. I figured that maybe if I were to walk fast enough, I’d get home before the showers began. Yup, that’s right Katsuya Jounouchi can’t afford a car. . . not even an old shitty one. Why? Because even when I did have a job, the money went to pay for my father’s gambling debts, which are going to be even more pricey now that he has gone to Vegas. . . but hey, he won’t be back for a whole ‘nother week, which is plenty of time for Kaiba to stay at my place without any trouble from my drunken father.
It wasn’t that I was worried about Seto getting raped or anything, though it was a likely possibility, it was just that I didn’t want my enemy to know my biggest secret, Lord knows he’d use it against me and probably even make it public knowledge. Yeah, Seto Kaiba is a complete and total asshole that only cares about his brother, his company, and himself. ‘Fuck the rest of society, I only care about me ’ That’s basically his attitude. He must think that he’s some sort of God. . . he’d do better as a whore. . . heh, with those looks he’d probably rake in more dough than he does now
I felt the first cool drop of rain land on my arm, which was, of course, followed by numerous other little drops that gradually increased in both size and number. Puddles began to form at the curb of the sidewalk I was currently traveling on. As it began to pour heavier, my hair fell into my eyes and on my neck and cheeks, quickly sticking.
Though the sound of the falling rain drowned out most noise, my ears were able to pick up the faint hum of an approaching car. I stepped as close to the shops as I could in hopes of not getting soaked by the spray of water that would fly out from under the tires.
I turned to look back, blonde hair sliding off of my neck slightly as my head naturally titled, to watch the driver. This action would usually make them slow down when driving through a puddle, as though by looking them in the eyes, it would put some sort of guilty weight on them. This time, however, it was I who slowed my pace. In fact, I came to a dead halt.
The familiar limousine came to a standstill beside me, and for a fraction of a second, I expected Seto to roll down his window, make a rude remark, and then speed away. . . but I shook that thought away, it just wasn’t his style. Just then, the passenger door swung open and Mokuba’s head poked out, quickly retreating soon after.
“Come on in, Jou You’ll catch a cold if you stay out in the rain like that ”
I like Mokuba. He’s a cool kid, and a million times nicer than his brother. Sure, he didn’t have the good looks that Seto had, but that was alright. . . Mokuba was much too young for me anyways.
I almost got into that car, when I caught site of two mocking blue eyes peering at me from the other side of the little Kaiba. Icy sapphires watching me, laughing at me, judging me. . . he wanted me to accept the ride home. . . wanted to make me rely on him for something so that he could tease me for it later. . . that fucking bastard.
“No thanks, Mokuba. Besides, I don’t think I’ll be catching a cold this close to Summer.” I turned on my heels, cursing silently at the rain for making me shiver slightly.
“Get in the car mutt.” That voice always gave me chills. I turned back and now Seto had taken Mokuba’s place, those sacred blue eyes no longer laughing. . . sacred? I was losing it.
“I said get your ass in the car.” He wasn’t yelling yet, but I could hear the tension in his voice rising. He had one leg out of the limo now. . . was he really going to get out into the rain and get me?
“How ‘bout you fuck off?” That was all that it took. I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly before. Unfortunately, there was only a short amount of time for me to marvel about it, because I soon found myself pinned between the sexiest CEO on Earth and the local daycare.
I could feel the eyes of the youngsters digging into my back through the large glass window that served as a wall, but that was currently the least of my worries.
His hands clenched my collar tightly, blue eyes ablaze and his body seething with pure hatred, “Don’t you ever say that kind of shit around my brother ”
“Sounds like you cuss around him all the time.”
He paused for a moment as though to ponder this, “But I don’t say fu-”
I covered his mouth with one hand and pointed behind me with the other, “I don’t think you want to ruin your reputation with the little guys.”
He leaned to look around me, eyes catching site of all of the children. I could have sworn I saw him flash a faint smile, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come.
He backed away, taking his luscious body heat with him. I noticeably frowned, but made no effort to bring him back to me. . . there’d be plenty of time for me to do that over the next couple of weeks.
“Get in the car, mutt.” His voice was back to being emotionless and cold, just as it usually was, his eyes showing nothing but the icy wall that they were composed of.
It seemed as though the rain had gotten heavier just then, and before I knew what was happening, I found myself climbing into the backseat of rich-boy’s fancy limousine, right next to Mokuba. . . wait, that meant that-
Kaiba’s arm brushed against mine as he seated himself on my right. His hair clung to his face, his clothes sticking to his body. . . and I realized just how frighteningly thin Seto Kaiba really was.
“Do you ever eat?” My question was completely serious, but apparently he took it as an insult, because he merely rolled his eyes and looked out his window. “Seriously Kaiba, you’re really skinny. That’s not very healthy, you know?” I heard a few small sounds of protest from the kid on my left, but I had turned to face Seto, so any warning gestures or facial expressions were hidden to me.
“I have a high metabolism and I eat healthy.” He turned to me, expressionless.
“Bullshit.” Something told me that there was more to it than that, otherwise why would he have hesitated to answer? His only reaction to my accusation was facing forward and sighing.
“I picked you up because Mokuba pointed out to me that I have no idea where you live.” Ah, so he had already told Mokuba about the projects and the arrangements for the next couple of weeks. “Rather than taking the time to just look your address up, Mokuba insisted that we just take you home. . . this way I can get a feel for the hell-hole I’m going to be living in for the next week, and my driver will already know where to take me tomorrow morning.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my apartment.” I clenched my fists, but I wasn’t about to punch Seto Kaiba in front of his kid brother, “I’m so terribly sorry that not everyone gets a luxurious life handed to them on a silver platter like you did ”
Had we not been in the car with Mokuba, Kaiba probably would have slapped me. His expression changed from cocky to seething within a matter of seconds, “You know nothing about me, my family, or my life ” His thin body shook with an anger that I had never seen him show before. . . apparently his past was a touchie subject. . . I would have to probe him about it eventually.
The remainder of the trip was quiet, well, other than me spouting off directions to the over-paid driver. I had thrown Kaiba several glances, wondering when he would stop looking out the window and comment on the part of town I lived in. . . but he never even budged.
“We have arrived, master Kaiba.” The car came to a gentle halt in front of my apartment complex. For the first time in a long time, I felt very ashamed of where I lived. Kaiba’s door was opened by his obedient servant, and he began to climb out. I had moved to follow, but stopped dead when Seto fell back on me, “Master Kaiba ” His employee reached out his hand, but Seto slapped it away, shaking his head as though trying to wake himself up.
I had just realized that my arms had snaked around his lithe waist. He didn’t seem to notice, and if he did notice, he didn’t seem to care. His eyes were half-lidded, looking out into nothingness, and he made no effort to move. The door behind me slammed shut, and the pitter-patter of little feet warned me that Mokuba was racing around the automobile to scope out the situation. I quickly dropped Seto so that he lay in my lap as though he had just fallen that way.
“Seto?” He stepped between Seto’s spread legs, cupping the brunette’s gorgeous face in his little hands, “Seto, if you would stop working so late, this wouldn’t happen.” Kaiba grunted at his little brother, his eyes sliding shut as he moved his head around stubbornly. A blush must have crept to my face, after all, his head was in a rather compromising area. Mokuba grinned, “Jou is enjoying you moving your head around on his crotch.”
Again, the genius amazed me as he leapt from his resting place, much to my displeasure, and straightened his uniform, “Alright Jounouchi, get out and go home. I’ll be over at eight tomorrow morning.” He turned around to glance at the building, “Which one are you in?”
“Third floor, left-hand side.” I slid out and stood beside him. You know, he really isn’t so much taller than me. . .
He climbed back into the limousine, “Well Jounouchi, we’ll be taking our leave now.”
“Wait Kaiba ” I leaned down, hands on the doorframe. Mokuba looked at me from the other side of his brother, but Seto continued to stare forward, “You’d better be prepared to tell me everything I want to know about you.”
There was that expression again The same twist of anger and fear that he had when we had first learned about the project. “Yes,” He said, his eyes coming to rest almost sorrowfully on my own, “and you will tell me everything that I wish to know.” He smirked now, and I stepped away from the car. My eyes followed it as the shimmering black faded in the distance.
Tell him everything about me, huh? I wandered up the rusty stairs, I had followed this route enough times to do it without much thought, and began to ponder what exactly I would let the billionaire know about me. I crept inside my apartment, shutting the door behind me and locking it, testing the handle to make sure it had closed all the way. I then sauntered inside, pulled the drapes shut, and plopped down on the couch.
Immediately, a cloud of the scent of prostitutes and cheap beer littered the room, flooding my senses and making me choke. What does a prostitute smell like? A sickening mixture of cheap perfume and cigarette smoke. My dad had actually offered to pay for a prostitute for me, but something about fucking an aids-infested whore just wasn’t very appealing to me.
My dad has always been like that; getting drunk and having sex. . . that’s why mom left him and took Shizuka with her. I often wondered why she didn’t take me with her, but I supposed it was probably best that I didn’t know.
A loud gurgle came from my stomach, a sure sign that it was high time to grab a bite to eat. Lazily, I lifted myself to my feet, dragging myself to the kitchen and opening the fridge to find a wide assortment of. . . nothing.
“Lovely.” I looked at my watch; a quarter ‘til five. . . already? It was plenty of time to run to the store, but now I’d have to shop for Seto too. . . just great What the hell does that rich brat eat anyways? Does he even eat at all?
I dragged my heels as I sauntered back into the living room. I pulled open the drawer of the table next to the couch and retrieved the phonebook. Flipping through the pages, I came to find that the number to the Kaiba mansion wasn’t listed within. The Kaiba Corporation number, however, was printed larger than life in the business section.
The phone was answered by a young woman, whom I guessed was Seto’s secretary. Perhaps she was new, because when I asked to speak with “Mr. Kaiba” the call was quickly transferred without question.
“He must’ve gone straight to work. . .”
“Yes, mutt, I did.” The low tenor of his voice had startled me. “So tell me; why in the hell are you calling me at work? This had better be very important.” He was clearly irritated. He must have been on the speaker phone, ‘cause I could hear his fingers flying across the keys of his computer.
“Actually, I was just calling to find out what you eat.” He made a noise of annoyment and ceased typing, “I need to go to the store and-”
“We’ll just eat out.”
“Every day?” I made some sort of half-assed noise that resembled ‘yeah right’ and ‘fuck that’ equally, “Not all of us are made of money.”
Kaiba groaned on the other end, which, I must admit, turned me on a little, “Just go to the store and buy whatever you want. I’m really not that picky when it comes to food.”
His tone had changed then. It wasn’t frustrated or matter-of-fact. . . it was hard to explain. . . would ‘gentle’ be a good word perhaps? “What?” I taunted, “No fancy requests?”
“Can it, mutt. I have work to do.” With that, there was a click and then the dull dial tone. Okay, so that was a giant waste of time. I looked inside the fridge again, as though perhaps something would appear when I did. Maybe if Kaiba got hungry enough, we could go out and he could pay for it Yup, sounds like a plan.
I allowed for my tired feet to carry me around the house, occasionally bending my body to pick up discarded beer bottles and cigarette butts. I needed to get rid of the evidence that my dad was a fucking alcoholic.
I never really took the time to clean the place up before. . . and the mess sure as hell showed it Before I knew it, I was scrubbing counters, making beds, and vacuuming the damn carpet Hell, I didn’t even know we owned a vacuum cleaner until just then
So much for what I had told Kaiba earlier. . . the place was going to be clean when he came. . . which reminded me that I needed to find a place for the rich hottie to sleep.
I looked inside my father’s bedroom, thinking that perhaps Seto could sleep in there, seeing as there were only two beds in the house and I’m sure he wouldn’t want to sleep in my bed with me, though I wouldn’t mind, or on the odor-ridden couch. . . however, when I opened the door, the couch became about 10,000 times more appealing. The scent of alcohol overwhelmed my nostrils, almost making me sick to my stomach. The sheets were strewn about the floor along with female undergarments that belonged to God-only-knows which whore in Domino.
I slammed the door shut. Okay, so Seto wouldn’t be sleeping in there. . . unless he liked that sort of thing. I laughed out loud. The thought of Seto with a prostitute was all-too funny. He was the most gorgeous guy in the city. If he wanted a girl, or a guy for that matter, I’m positive that he could get them for free.
The only options left were the couch, the floor (yeah right, I could see that happening), and my own bed. I had a strong feeling that Seto would be taking my bed and I’d be hitting the couch. . . otherwise that royal pain-in-the-ass would do nothing but complain for the next week. . . then again, he’d probably do that anyways.
My stomach groaned loudly at me, reminding me that I was still hungry after finding the fridge empty earlier. Perhaps I’d have to go to the store after all. . . No, no I wouldn’t. After checking around the house for my father’s wallet - he always kept the credit cards - I came to realize that he had taken it with him to Las Vegas. My own wallet was bare, containing only my I.D. and small change.
Frustrated now, I entered the kitchen, yanking open the refrigerator, as though food would magically appear, and then doing the same to the freezer, which I had neglected to check earlier.
I thanked every deity I had ever heard of as my last resort on the quest for food was rewarded with two frozen oven pizzas. . . sausage pizzas at that Someone up there decided to give me a break for today. . . but two pizzas weren’t going to last a whole week for me alone, let alone both Seto and I. Maybe if I did enough ass-kissing tomorrow, he would buy some groceries for me.
Putting that all behind me for the time being, I pulled one of the precious boxes from the freezer, gripping it tightly as though it might disappear, and took it to the kitchen counter.
Surprisingly enough, the kitchen was kept neat and organized, especially considering the disastrous state that the rest of the apartment is usually in. The baking pan was in the small drawer under the oven, just as it was supposed to be.
I really don’t think there’s anything interesting about me cooking a pizza and then hurriedly scarfing it up, so I’ll refrain from boring you with the details of that dull moment, and skip straight to the point after I had lay the pan and plate into the sink, pouring water over them to allow the crust stuck to the pan to soak and eventually fall off. . . hey, it would save me from having to scrub the damn thing for an hour before I went to wash it.
Finally, I made it down the hall and to my own bedroom which, I mused, was rather clean from my work earlier. My clock showed 8:30. I guess I must have been straightening things up for a lot longer than I initially thought. . . and to think that I told myself that I wouldn’t clean at all
I really wasn’t so tired, and tomorrow would be Saturday, so there really wasn’t a reason to go to sleep just yet. I sat on the floor, my back against my bed, and stared at my school-bag, which I had hauled with me on my trek back to my room, wondering if I should go ahead and work on the weekends’ homework so that I wouldn’t have to do it with rich-boy pestering me about my handwriting and my intelligence. He really did think I was a complete moron. I wasn’t stupid, but when it came to academics, things just didn’t click for me.
Again, my thoughts drifted to the possibility of Seto helping me. He might act differently when it’s just me and him than he acts around groups of people. Yeah, I had been thinking about him all day, it was getting ridiculous. . . and pretty creepy.
I pulled my bag into my lap, unzipping it and scrounging around inside for one thing in particular. After digging through the pool of scrap paper and out-dated, unfinished homework, I retrieved a plain, black notebook. The pages were blank, not a single mark or word darting across the clean, blue lines. It was perfect, I thought, for taking notes for my report. Okay, I was getting way too eager to do this. . . never thought Ms. Asuka would actually give us an interesting project.
I yawned, my eyelids feeling suddenly heavy. I rubbed at my face with my hands, trying to somehow wipe the tiredness away. My attempts were futile, as I found it rather difficult to hold my head up any longer
I reached a hand up to the lamp that sat on the night stand beside my bed. After fumbling around for a bit, my fingers finally found the small black knob, ceasing all light and showering the room in total darkness.
I climbed into bed, ignoring the fact that I was still in my school uniform, and closed my eyes, allowing for sleep to steal my soul away for the night. . .
- - -
- - -
Disclaimer: This disclaimer is for the entire story. Yu-Gi-Oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi and Konami. I don’t make money from writing this and I don’t intend to. I only write using Kazuki Takahashi’s ideas and characters for simple entertainment and do not own any part of Yu-Gi-Oh in any way. Enjoy.
- - -
The bell rang loudly, piercing the air, soon followed by the sound of students’ feet rapidly pounding the ground as they ran to their classes in an attempt not to be late. Doors shut, silencing the previously busy hallway. The unfortunate students that were locked out sluggishly made their way to detention.
Jounouchi Katsuya, Motou Yuugi, Masaki Anzu, Honda Hiroto, and Bakura Ryou all sat in a clump in their classroom, talking about what they had planned for the upcoming weekend, which began tomorrow. Other students also sat in small clusters or in pairs. There was only one teen who sat all alone in the back of the room, only occasionally surrounded by a group of die-hard fangirls. This loner was the rich and powerful CEO of Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba Seto. He was reading a novel, just like he always was.
So now that you’ve got a pretty good idea of what is going on, let me introduce myself. My name is Jounouchi Katsuya. Welcome to my world. Let me tell you right now, it sucks, and Kaiba has nothing better to do than make my life even more of a living Hell. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is sexy beyond belief, but he seriously needs an attitude adjustment. So anyways, where was I? Oh yeah
Kaiba was reading a novel, just like he always was. You know, I sometimes wonder if he is reading the same book over and over again, or if he has his own private library somewhere in his ridiculously large house. . .probably the latter.
Our teacher, Ms. Asuka, cleared her throat loudly, hoping that we would take the hint and return to our seats so she could begin class. Much to her delight, the groups instantly began breaking up and each individual took his or her sweet time getting back to their assigned seat. Some of my peers allowed for a groan to escape their lips as they pulled out their books and propped their heads up on their hands. It took me a moment to realize that I had done the same exact thing, yet much louder than the rest of my classmates, earning me a few giggles and the feeling of an icy stare digging its way into my back.
“Now, now,” Ms. Asuka began, “There’s no need for that. I have a strong feeling that you all are going to be very excited about what we are going to do today ” She plastered a large grin on her face.
Again, we all groaned dramatically. Every time she told us we were going to enjoy class, she assigned either some stupid project or a lengthy research paper. We could only fidget in our seats as we awaited our sentencing.
“I’m assigning a new project ” She clasped her hands together, as though it were the most exciting thing in the world, and there was a loud thud as the heads of many of my classmates, including my best friend Honda, were slammed down upon their desks. “Oh come on now This is going to be a fun project This one is always the favorite of my students ” The faces of a few students looked at their teacher with lazy eyes while the many others kept their faces buried in their desks. I remained indifferent.
“Ms. Asuka,” I called out, “You say that about all of our projects.” It was more of a complaint than an observation, but she took it as the latter.
“You’re right Jounouchi ” She chuckled, “I do say that about all of them, but this time I’m telling the truth ” I arched my right eyebrow a bit, starting to become slightly interested in what the woman had to say. Looking around, I saw heads rising from the desks. “I have randomly paired all of you up Boys will be with boys and girls will be with girls ” This elicited a few frowns, but she continued, “The project will take place over a span of three weeks. The first week, you will both live together in one partners house, and the next week you will both live in the other partners house. The third week is where you need to work. You see, during the first two weeks, you need to get to know your partner very well so that you can write a ten page biography about them ” This earned big eyes from me and loud sounds of protest from my peers. “Trust me, you will all grow to like this project. Now then, let me tell you all who will be staying with who ”
I glanced around the room to see how Yuugi and the others were reacting to this, when a particular brunette caught my eye. Kaiba was uncharacteristically slumped down in his chair as our teacher went down her list of pairs. I wondered what was bothering him, but it didn’t really matter I guess. It was fun seeing him with his hair not so perfect and his eyes in a fight between anger and. . . fear?
“Jounouchi Katsuya and Kaiba Seto ”
I snapped out of my daze after realizing that my name had just been called, “What? Me and who?” I looked around the room frantically, searching for some sort of hint as to who my new housemate was going to be. My answer literally stood before my eyes. Seto Kaiba had a thin, feminine body that made even guys give him a good looking-over. He was tall, towering over most of the students in our school. I was pretty close to his height. If he were a few inches shorter, I would be eye-to-eye with the ice prince. Looking up from my seated position, his height was more intimidating. Those burning sapphires penetrated my own eyes and read my heart and my soul. . . or so it felt. He was a truly stunning sight and his body was certainly good on the eyes. In fact, he was so good on the eyes, that I had failed to notice that during all of this thinking, my eyes were laid on him.
“What are you gawking at?” Those fierce blue eyes were fixated on me once again, but I didn’t have time to stare now I had to think up a quick excuse, and I knew that saying ‘your sexy body’ wouldn’t go over too well with the filthy-rich teen that had now seated himself beside me. . . when had he sat down? Was it while I was daydreaming? Oh shit I was daydreaming again
“Answer my question mutt. I’m not in the mood for one of your mindless games.” He had his arms folded across his chest now and was tapping the fingers of his right hand onto his left arm. No I can’t go into another daydream I need to answer
“I-I’m just in shock that God would punish me by forcing me to live with the Devil’s incarnate for three weeks ” Gah I stuttered But he turned away after a quick roll of the eyes, apparently satisfied with my last-minute excuse. I, too, faced the front of the room to avoid a repeat of the incident.
- - -
After what seemed like an eternity, lunch rolled around. I sat at my usual table with my usual group, which consisted of Yuugi, Honda, Anzu, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura. I had always found it strange that Bakura sat with us, considering the fact that he was friends with the gothic kids and could have easily sat with them, but I think that he has a crush on his hikari, Ryou.
Honda playfully jabbed me in the side, “So, is Jou excited about the project? Three weeks with the biggest asshole in the school Congratulations on winning a trip to Hell and back, man ” He gave me one rough pat on the back.
I allowed myself to let out an irritated grunt. Honda was pretty much right though, three weeks with the richest boy was close to a death sentence. No matter how sexy Seto Kaiba was, if attitudes could kill, we’d all be dead. I know that Kaiba hates me with a passion, so enjoying these next few weeks is out of the question.
Awakening back into reality, after drifting off into a daydream once again, I noticed that my friends were giving me funny looks for not answering the question. I had completely forgotten that something was asked and so I changed the subject, “Who did you all get paired up with?”
Yami groaned loudly, holding his head up with his hands, “I’ve been paired up with the psycho from Hell.” He pointed his thumb at Bakura, who seemed to be very preoccupied with the hamburger on the tray that lay before him. Yami clenched his left fist and sat up straight, “I swear, one of us is going to be dead before these next three weeks are up, and I sure as hell hope it isn’t me ” Using his right hand, he shoveled some fries into his mouth, his face falling back into a rather depressing frown.
Honda shrugged, “She paired me up with Ryou, so I don’t have any complaints.” Though he looked cool and collected, I knew that he was actually very excited. He had told me long ago that he had a crush on Ryou. I knew that he might be fighting with Bakura for the spot of Ryou’s boyfriend, but hey, I’ll support Honda whether he has a snowball’s chance in Hell or not. I think that he and Ryou would make a pretty cute couple, if I do say so myself. I wonder what the two of them will be up to for the next three weeks.
Anzu sighed loudly, “I got paired up with that snobby girl, Kioko. . . Jou, aren’t you in our class? You should have heard who we were all paired up with.” She looked over me like a concerned mother, but I said nothing. . . I couldn’t think of an excuse this time.
“I think that Jou was busy looking at someone.” Yuugi gave me a wink and then motioned his head in Kaiba Seto’s general direction, receiving muffled giggles from those sitting at our table.
My stomach began to burn, but I felt more nervous than angry, for a reason beyond me, “Yuugi, if you’re trying to imply that I have some sort of sick crush on Kaiba, you are totally wrong I was in shock because I was paired up with him, and therefore I was looking at him for awhile ” Okay, so I lack originality, but perhaps they would fall for it like Seto did. . . gah I said Kaiba But I doubt it; my friends know me a hell of a lot better than that rich snob does They all looked at each other, so I figured I was safe.
“Oh? Then what are your excuses for staring at the boy all of the other days? Surely you aren’t in shock everyday ” Ryou uncharacteristically arched an eyebrow and smirked in a catlike manner, “It’s quite alright if you like him, Jou, I certainly have nothing against it and I believe that Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda would be okay with it as well, am I right in assuming this?”
“Absolutely Ryou ” Honda quickly answered. Yup, he still liked him. “You always seem to be right about these kinds of things Ryou ” I really don’t see how no one else noticed Honda’s dead-obvious crush on the normally-shy albino. I could just barely keep from cracking a smile about it.
Ryou chuckled, “Call it a gift. . . so anyways, you going to admit it now, Jou? It’s so obvious ” If it’s so god damn obvious, then why can’t you see that Honda has a huge crush on you? No, I wouldn’t say that. Honda was my best friend and I don’t betray friends like that.
“I don’t like him.” It may have been stupid to say, but being silent would have implied that they were right, which they weren’t. . . were they? Ryou and the others rolled their eyes at my denial and shook their heads. I had begun to try and come up with something to prove them wrong, but it dawned on me that nothing I could say or do would change their minds.
Bakura snorted, claiming our attention, “Have you all read the shit that we have to do for this project?” He waved a rather large packet of paper in the air, which I suppose was the list of rules and requirements for the lengthy assignment.
Yami scrunched his face up a bit, “Hopefully there won’t be too much interaction needed. I’d like to do as little with you as possible.”
Bakura just rolled his eyes and turned away, smirking, “Here comes the priest.” I felt my heart’s pace quicken dramatically. “It appears as though he is coming for his puppy. Does it hurt, Pharaoh, to know that your priest doesn’t come for you anymore?” He cackled psychotically at the double meaning of his words. Yami attempted to lunge at the perverted thief, but Honda and I grabbed ahold of him and kept him away while Yuugi tried to calm him down with soothing words.
I looked to my right, the direction in which Bakura had turned, and, for a reason unknown to me, I felt my stomach flutter as I watched the blue-eyed devil walk over to our table.
His expression was emotionless, his eyes an icy barrier to conceal the shadowed life that he held deep within. I mused slightly over the fact that for the next three weeks, I was going to learn what lied beneath that flawless surface. I would finally learn why Seto Kaiba was the way he was.
“Dammit mutt Listen to me when I’m talking to you ” His voice had been a restrained, angry, whisper, but it was enough to catch my attention. Finding nothing to reply with, I merely raised my eyebrows at him as though to say ‘what?’ and tried my best to look as calm as possible.
He rolled his eyes in a rather dramatic fashion, his folded arms seeming to shake with frustration, “What I said was, bring only clothes, a toothbrush, and your school books, you know, the necessities. The rest will be provided for you.” His eyes drifted around the cafeteria as though what he had said had taken some great effort, which it probably did, considering the fact that he was making a generous offer. . . or maybe it was just a statement.
“Okay.” I flashed him a smile, hoping he would say more, but he only spun on his heels and walked away. I was very tempted to follow him, but since he left the cafeteria completely, I decided against it, “What the fuck is his problem?”
“You know how he is, Jou,” Honda assured me, “He’s just a stuck-up, rich, asshole.” He shrugged his shoulders and picked up his half-eaten burger, biting a huge chunk out of it and setting it back down.
Unlike the rest of my friends, I’m curious about nearly everything, and I’m pretty well known for my spunk. I wasn’t quite willing to leave it at just that, but seeing as I was going to have the next few weeks to learn about that son-of-a-bitch, I decided to let it go. . . for now at least.
The remainder of our lunch period was rather uneventful, though I frequently found that the young CEO was on my mind. Once we had gone back to class, I felt excited about the upcoming project. Yeah, you heard me right. Katsuya Jounouchi is excited to spend an extended period of time with Seto Kaiba.
You know when you’re really excited for something to come and you get that feeling inside? Like on Christmas Eve, when you’re laying in bed and you look at the clock every five seconds and all the while you have this tingling sensation throughout your body. . . you know what I mean? Well anyways, that’s how I felt. Here it was, the last class of the day and I couldn’t even pay attention to the teacher. . . not that I wanted to or anything, but this was math, and I had been trying to pay attention recently so that I could bring my grade up and pass the class. This was my senior year, after all, and the last thing I wanted was to have to repeat the grade while all of my friends graduated.
My eyes drifted around the room, landing on a certain blue-eyed classmate. If Anzu just came to mind, you ought to be slapped. It was Seto, the perfect, straight-A student. I wondered if he would be willing to help me with my math while we lived together. That would be awesome
Too bad Seto’s such a bastard. Who knows, he could be a really cool guy under that ‘holier-than-thou’ exterior. . . or maybe he’s just a complete and total asshole all the way through. . . nah, no one in the world is like that. . . except child molesters. . . and murderers. . . and Hitler. . . but I’m pretty sure that the almighty Seto Kaiba is none of the above. . . of course, I wouldn’t put murder past him. . .
A paper wad to the head was enough to knock me out of my daze and cause me to jump about three inches off of my seat, disrupting the teacher’s lecture. I muttered my apologies to the man and glared at everyone in the room, eyes traveling from face to face in an attempt to figure out who threw the paper at me. . . which is kind of hard to do when no one is snickering or even looking my way.
Glancing down at the floor, I spotted the projectile and absentmindedly picked it up, un-crumpling it and noticing that, in very neat cursive, someone had written something on it. Expecting it to be someone’s notes or an old homework assignment, even though there was only one line of writing, I read it. It said, “Hey mutt, what did I tell you about staring at me? Eyes off ” Crumpling the paper back into a wad and tossing it to the floor, I scribbled down a little note of my own and threw it at the offenders’ head in relatively the same fashion as he had done to me.
It was the most funny thing to watch Seto Kaiba get pelted in the head with a paper wad, and quite cute, if I do say so myself, to see the rather stunned look on his face. I watched on, half in wonder and half in anticipation of his reaction, as Seto leaned down to retrieve my note, his fine ass facing me. . . I wondered if he took a long time because he knew I was looking. . . either way, it was a nice view, and judging by the looks on the faces of the guys and girls around me, they were enjoying the show as well.
After a long while, he sat upright in his seat and commenced in opening the paper and studying my message. . . a part of me wondered if he could read it, penmanship wasn’t exactly my forte. . . I could have sworn that I saw a hint of a smile flash across his velvet lips before he returned the sheet to its former state and dropped it back to its place on the floor. The note had read, “You better sleep with one eye open for throwin’ that at my head, pretty-boy ” I figured that maybe he was smiling at what I had called him. . . wouldn’t that be something?
My eyes switched back to the clock. An hour of class left. Was it just me, or was that second hand taking its sweet-ass time today? Okay, no problem I’ll just. . . plan what I’ll do at the Kaiba mansion
My fingers drummed ever-so lightly on my desk as my mind wandered off in thought. Let’s see. . . I’d be in the same house as the royal asshole, so I might as well find a way to entertain myself. I allowed for my eyes to sweep over Seto’s body again. . . Heh, you’re probably thinking that I have some sort of weird crush on him. . . well allow me to rain on your parade; I hate Seto Kaiba with a passion, but he’s hot as Hell Not even I can deny that Sure, I’d fuck him into next week, but I’d never go out with him Hmm. . . not a bad idea. . . fucking the gorgeous Seto Kaiba wouldn’t be very easy, but damn, what could possibly be more entertaining than that? Yeah. . . it’d be fun tying Seto down on his own bed with his hands above his head, him yelling at me and trying to squirm away. . . I bet I would scare him if I did that, making it all the more enjoyable. Oh shit. . . hopefully none of my peers would take notice of the rather obvious bulge in my pants.
I had kept my eyes on the CEO. . . his fine, rounded ass to be precise. Yeah, he would be a nice fuck. Most of the guys in school would agree. . . Seto had made a lot of guys turn bisexual, one of those guys being me. With him having such a feminine shape, there really wasn’t much of a difference between him and a woman.
Seto had been throwing frequent glares my way, each one appearing more flustered than the last. He was fidgeting in his seat now, apparently feeling my eyes on his nice ass. Sure, I was probably going to get a severe ass-kicking from this later, but right now I might as well kick back and enjoy the view Hey, at least my mind was off of the clock. . . well shit My mind was off the clock. . . oh well, so much for that.
My eyes drifted up to that evil circle on the wall, much to Seto’s relief I’m sure, and just stared at it as though it would tick faster if I did so. There were only five minutes left of class Time really does fly when you’re having fun
Okay, so now I only have five more minutes to waste. . . scratch that The announcements started over the intercom and were soon drowned out by the loud chatter of the students around me. Guys and girls were up from their chairs, moving to gather in small groups wherever space was available. . . all except for Seto, who silently packed away his books and copied down the weekends’ homework assignment in his agenda, which was then put away along with everything else.
I had expected him to at least glare at me, but all he did was fold his arms, looking rather impatient and annoyed.
As I zipped up my bag, the bell rang, releasing everyone from a full day of classes and bringing chaos to the previously-serene hallways. Looking back to where I had last seen my new eye-candy, I was rather surprised to find him still seated there. . . yet now he was facing me, his arms still folded across his chest, blue eyes burning into me. . . I almost looked myself over to see if he had stared any holes into me, but that would only succeed in pissing the brunette off even more.
Something in my gut told me that he was waiting for me to say something. . . waiting for me to say the first word. . . or maybe I was just hungry. . . both were pretty good possibilities.
The moment out teacher was gone, I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again when Seto put his hand up as though to stop me. . . and it worked. He stood from his seat, finally, and collected his things.
“I don’t want an explanation.” His smooth voice drifted lightly through the air, tickling my ears and sending chills down my spine, “If you try to pull any of those stunts at my house, I swear I will-”
“Let’s go to my house for the first week. I’d like to delay my stay in Hell for as long as possible.” Yeah, it was a lie, but there was no way in Hell I was going to tell him the truth.
He studied me intently for a moment, as though he expected some sort of catch. “Fine, but the same rule applies. . . no funny stuff.” He picked up his briefcase, “I’ll be over at ten in the morning. I expect to come to a clean place and you’d better have an extra bed for me to sleep in. I refuse to sleep on a couch or the floor.” He looked me up and down again. Maybe he thought that he was intimidating me by doing so. He left after that. I wondered if he knew how nicely he moved his hips when he walked. . . I certainly wasn’t the only one who thought so. On many occasions, I had overheard male students talking about it. Yeah, everyone and their brother wanted to sleep with the finest guy in the city.
I collected my things and walked out the door. Seto sure is demanding, of course, I wasn’t going to be cleaning or anything just for him.
As I stepped outside, I could smell the rain coming. I figured that maybe if I were to walk fast enough, I’d get home before the showers began. Yup, that’s right Katsuya Jounouchi can’t afford a car. . . not even an old shitty one. Why? Because even when I did have a job, the money went to pay for my father’s gambling debts, which are going to be even more pricey now that he has gone to Vegas. . . but hey, he won’t be back for a whole ‘nother week, which is plenty of time for Kaiba to stay at my place without any trouble from my drunken father.
It wasn’t that I was worried about Seto getting raped or anything, though it was a likely possibility, it was just that I didn’t want my enemy to know my biggest secret, Lord knows he’d use it against me and probably even make it public knowledge. Yeah, Seto Kaiba is a complete and total asshole that only cares about his brother, his company, and himself. ‘Fuck the rest of society, I only care about me ’ That’s basically his attitude. He must think that he’s some sort of God. . . he’d do better as a whore. . . heh, with those looks he’d probably rake in more dough than he does now
I felt the first cool drop of rain land on my arm, which was, of course, followed by numerous other little drops that gradually increased in both size and number. Puddles began to form at the curb of the sidewalk I was currently traveling on. As it began to pour heavier, my hair fell into my eyes and on my neck and cheeks, quickly sticking.
Though the sound of the falling rain drowned out most noise, my ears were able to pick up the faint hum of an approaching car. I stepped as close to the shops as I could in hopes of not getting soaked by the spray of water that would fly out from under the tires.
I turned to look back, blonde hair sliding off of my neck slightly as my head naturally titled, to watch the driver. This action would usually make them slow down when driving through a puddle, as though by looking them in the eyes, it would put some sort of guilty weight on them. This time, however, it was I who slowed my pace. In fact, I came to a dead halt.
The familiar limousine came to a standstill beside me, and for a fraction of a second, I expected Seto to roll down his window, make a rude remark, and then speed away. . . but I shook that thought away, it just wasn’t his style. Just then, the passenger door swung open and Mokuba’s head poked out, quickly retreating soon after.
“Come on in, Jou You’ll catch a cold if you stay out in the rain like that ”
I like Mokuba. He’s a cool kid, and a million times nicer than his brother. Sure, he didn’t have the good looks that Seto had, but that was alright. . . Mokuba was much too young for me anyways.
I almost got into that car, when I caught site of two mocking blue eyes peering at me from the other side of the little Kaiba. Icy sapphires watching me, laughing at me, judging me. . . he wanted me to accept the ride home. . . wanted to make me rely on him for something so that he could tease me for it later. . . that fucking bastard.
“No thanks, Mokuba. Besides, I don’t think I’ll be catching a cold this close to Summer.” I turned on my heels, cursing silently at the rain for making me shiver slightly.
“Get in the car mutt.” That voice always gave me chills. I turned back and now Seto had taken Mokuba’s place, those sacred blue eyes no longer laughing. . . sacred? I was losing it.
“I said get your ass in the car.” He wasn’t yelling yet, but I could hear the tension in his voice rising. He had one leg out of the limo now. . . was he really going to get out into the rain and get me?
“How ‘bout you fuck off?” That was all that it took. I’ve never seen anyone move so quickly before. Unfortunately, there was only a short amount of time for me to marvel about it, because I soon found myself pinned between the sexiest CEO on Earth and the local daycare.
I could feel the eyes of the youngsters digging into my back through the large glass window that served as a wall, but that was currently the least of my worries.
His hands clenched my collar tightly, blue eyes ablaze and his body seething with pure hatred, “Don’t you ever say that kind of shit around my brother ”
“Sounds like you cuss around him all the time.”
He paused for a moment as though to ponder this, “But I don’t say fu-”
I covered his mouth with one hand and pointed behind me with the other, “I don’t think you want to ruin your reputation with the little guys.”
He leaned to look around me, eyes catching site of all of the children. I could have sworn I saw him flash a faint smile, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come.
He backed away, taking his luscious body heat with him. I noticeably frowned, but made no effort to bring him back to me. . . there’d be plenty of time for me to do that over the next couple of weeks.
“Get in the car, mutt.” His voice was back to being emotionless and cold, just as it usually was, his eyes showing nothing but the icy wall that they were composed of.
It seemed as though the rain had gotten heavier just then, and before I knew what was happening, I found myself climbing into the backseat of rich-boy’s fancy limousine, right next to Mokuba. . . wait, that meant that-
Kaiba’s arm brushed against mine as he seated himself on my right. His hair clung to his face, his clothes sticking to his body. . . and I realized just how frighteningly thin Seto Kaiba really was.
“Do you ever eat?” My question was completely serious, but apparently he took it as an insult, because he merely rolled his eyes and looked out his window. “Seriously Kaiba, you’re really skinny. That’s not very healthy, you know?” I heard a few small sounds of protest from the kid on my left, but I had turned to face Seto, so any warning gestures or facial expressions were hidden to me.
“I have a high metabolism and I eat healthy.” He turned to me, expressionless.
“Bullshit.” Something told me that there was more to it than that, otherwise why would he have hesitated to answer? His only reaction to my accusation was facing forward and sighing.
“I picked you up because Mokuba pointed out to me that I have no idea where you live.” Ah, so he had already told Mokuba about the projects and the arrangements for the next couple of weeks. “Rather than taking the time to just look your address up, Mokuba insisted that we just take you home. . . this way I can get a feel for the hell-hole I’m going to be living in for the next week, and my driver will already know where to take me tomorrow morning.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my apartment.” I clenched my fists, but I wasn’t about to punch Seto Kaiba in front of his kid brother, “I’m so terribly sorry that not everyone gets a luxurious life handed to them on a silver platter like you did ”
Had we not been in the car with Mokuba, Kaiba probably would have slapped me. His expression changed from cocky to seething within a matter of seconds, “You know nothing about me, my family, or my life ” His thin body shook with an anger that I had never seen him show before. . . apparently his past was a touchie subject. . . I would have to probe him about it eventually.
The remainder of the trip was quiet, well, other than me spouting off directions to the over-paid driver. I had thrown Kaiba several glances, wondering when he would stop looking out the window and comment on the part of town I lived in. . . but he never even budged.
“We have arrived, master Kaiba.” The car came to a gentle halt in front of my apartment complex. For the first time in a long time, I felt very ashamed of where I lived. Kaiba’s door was opened by his obedient servant, and he began to climb out. I had moved to follow, but stopped dead when Seto fell back on me, “Master Kaiba ” His employee reached out his hand, but Seto slapped it away, shaking his head as though trying to wake himself up.
I had just realized that my arms had snaked around his lithe waist. He didn’t seem to notice, and if he did notice, he didn’t seem to care. His eyes were half-lidded, looking out into nothingness, and he made no effort to move. The door behind me slammed shut, and the pitter-patter of little feet warned me that Mokuba was racing around the automobile to scope out the situation. I quickly dropped Seto so that he lay in my lap as though he had just fallen that way.
“Seto?” He stepped between Seto’s spread legs, cupping the brunette’s gorgeous face in his little hands, “Seto, if you would stop working so late, this wouldn’t happen.” Kaiba grunted at his little brother, his eyes sliding shut as he moved his head around stubbornly. A blush must have crept to my face, after all, his head was in a rather compromising area. Mokuba grinned, “Jou is enjoying you moving your head around on his crotch.”
Again, the genius amazed me as he leapt from his resting place, much to my displeasure, and straightened his uniform, “Alright Jounouchi, get out and go home. I’ll be over at eight tomorrow morning.” He turned around to glance at the building, “Which one are you in?”
“Third floor, left-hand side.” I slid out and stood beside him. You know, he really isn’t so much taller than me. . .
He climbed back into the limousine, “Well Jounouchi, we’ll be taking our leave now.”
“Wait Kaiba ” I leaned down, hands on the doorframe. Mokuba looked at me from the other side of his brother, but Seto continued to stare forward, “You’d better be prepared to tell me everything I want to know about you.”
There was that expression again The same twist of anger and fear that he had when we had first learned about the project. “Yes,” He said, his eyes coming to rest almost sorrowfully on my own, “and you will tell me everything that I wish to know.” He smirked now, and I stepped away from the car. My eyes followed it as the shimmering black faded in the distance.
Tell him everything about me, huh? I wandered up the rusty stairs, I had followed this route enough times to do it without much thought, and began to ponder what exactly I would let the billionaire know about me. I crept inside my apartment, shutting the door behind me and locking it, testing the handle to make sure it had closed all the way. I then sauntered inside, pulled the drapes shut, and plopped down on the couch.
Immediately, a cloud of the scent of prostitutes and cheap beer littered the room, flooding my senses and making me choke. What does a prostitute smell like? A sickening mixture of cheap perfume and cigarette smoke. My dad had actually offered to pay for a prostitute for me, but something about fucking an aids-infested whore just wasn’t very appealing to me.
My dad has always been like that; getting drunk and having sex. . . that’s why mom left him and took Shizuka with her. I often wondered why she didn’t take me with her, but I supposed it was probably best that I didn’t know.
A loud gurgle came from my stomach, a sure sign that it was high time to grab a bite to eat. Lazily, I lifted myself to my feet, dragging myself to the kitchen and opening the fridge to find a wide assortment of. . . nothing.
“Lovely.” I looked at my watch; a quarter ‘til five. . . already? It was plenty of time to run to the store, but now I’d have to shop for Seto too. . . just great What the hell does that rich brat eat anyways? Does he even eat at all?
I dragged my heels as I sauntered back into the living room. I pulled open the drawer of the table next to the couch and retrieved the phonebook. Flipping through the pages, I came to find that the number to the Kaiba mansion wasn’t listed within. The Kaiba Corporation number, however, was printed larger than life in the business section.
The phone was answered by a young woman, whom I guessed was Seto’s secretary. Perhaps she was new, because when I asked to speak with “Mr. Kaiba” the call was quickly transferred without question.
“He must’ve gone straight to work. . .”
“Yes, mutt, I did.” The low tenor of his voice had startled me. “So tell me; why in the hell are you calling me at work? This had better be very important.” He was clearly irritated. He must have been on the speaker phone, ‘cause I could hear his fingers flying across the keys of his computer.
“Actually, I was just calling to find out what you eat.” He made a noise of annoyment and ceased typing, “I need to go to the store and-”
“We’ll just eat out.”
“Every day?” I made some sort of half-assed noise that resembled ‘yeah right’ and ‘fuck that’ equally, “Not all of us are made of money.”
Kaiba groaned on the other end, which, I must admit, turned me on a little, “Just go to the store and buy whatever you want. I’m really not that picky when it comes to food.”
His tone had changed then. It wasn’t frustrated or matter-of-fact. . . it was hard to explain. . . would ‘gentle’ be a good word perhaps? “What?” I taunted, “No fancy requests?”
“Can it, mutt. I have work to do.” With that, there was a click and then the dull dial tone. Okay, so that was a giant waste of time. I looked inside the fridge again, as though perhaps something would appear when I did. Maybe if Kaiba got hungry enough, we could go out and he could pay for it Yup, sounds like a plan.
I allowed for my tired feet to carry me around the house, occasionally bending my body to pick up discarded beer bottles and cigarette butts. I needed to get rid of the evidence that my dad was a fucking alcoholic.
I never really took the time to clean the place up before. . . and the mess sure as hell showed it Before I knew it, I was scrubbing counters, making beds, and vacuuming the damn carpet Hell, I didn’t even know we owned a vacuum cleaner until just then
So much for what I had told Kaiba earlier. . . the place was going to be clean when he came. . . which reminded me that I needed to find a place for the rich hottie to sleep.
I looked inside my father’s bedroom, thinking that perhaps Seto could sleep in there, seeing as there were only two beds in the house and I’m sure he wouldn’t want to sleep in my bed with me, though I wouldn’t mind, or on the odor-ridden couch. . . however, when I opened the door, the couch became about 10,000 times more appealing. The scent of alcohol overwhelmed my nostrils, almost making me sick to my stomach. The sheets were strewn about the floor along with female undergarments that belonged to God-only-knows which whore in Domino.
I slammed the door shut. Okay, so Seto wouldn’t be sleeping in there. . . unless he liked that sort of thing. I laughed out loud. The thought of Seto with a prostitute was all-too funny. He was the most gorgeous guy in the city. If he wanted a girl, or a guy for that matter, I’m positive that he could get them for free.
The only options left were the couch, the floor (yeah right, I could see that happening), and my own bed. I had a strong feeling that Seto would be taking my bed and I’d be hitting the couch. . . otherwise that royal pain-in-the-ass would do nothing but complain for the next week. . . then again, he’d probably do that anyways.
My stomach groaned loudly at me, reminding me that I was still hungry after finding the fridge empty earlier. Perhaps I’d have to go to the store after all. . . No, no I wouldn’t. After checking around the house for my father’s wallet - he always kept the credit cards - I came to realize that he had taken it with him to Las Vegas. My own wallet was bare, containing only my I.D. and small change.
Frustrated now, I entered the kitchen, yanking open the refrigerator, as though food would magically appear, and then doing the same to the freezer, which I had neglected to check earlier.
I thanked every deity I had ever heard of as my last resort on the quest for food was rewarded with two frozen oven pizzas. . . sausage pizzas at that Someone up there decided to give me a break for today. . . but two pizzas weren’t going to last a whole week for me alone, let alone both Seto and I. Maybe if I did enough ass-kissing tomorrow, he would buy some groceries for me.
Putting that all behind me for the time being, I pulled one of the precious boxes from the freezer, gripping it tightly as though it might disappear, and took it to the kitchen counter.
Surprisingly enough, the kitchen was kept neat and organized, especially considering the disastrous state that the rest of the apartment is usually in. The baking pan was in the small drawer under the oven, just as it was supposed to be.
I really don’t think there’s anything interesting about me cooking a pizza and then hurriedly scarfing it up, so I’ll refrain from boring you with the details of that dull moment, and skip straight to the point after I had lay the pan and plate into the sink, pouring water over them to allow the crust stuck to the pan to soak and eventually fall off. . . hey, it would save me from having to scrub the damn thing for an hour before I went to wash it.
Finally, I made it down the hall and to my own bedroom which, I mused, was rather clean from my work earlier. My clock showed 8:30. I guess I must have been straightening things up for a lot longer than I initially thought. . . and to think that I told myself that I wouldn’t clean at all
I really wasn’t so tired, and tomorrow would be Saturday, so there really wasn’t a reason to go to sleep just yet. I sat on the floor, my back against my bed, and stared at my school-bag, which I had hauled with me on my trek back to my room, wondering if I should go ahead and work on the weekends’ homework so that I wouldn’t have to do it with rich-boy pestering me about my handwriting and my intelligence. He really did think I was a complete moron. I wasn’t stupid, but when it came to academics, things just didn’t click for me.
Again, my thoughts drifted to the possibility of Seto helping me. He might act differently when it’s just me and him than he acts around groups of people. Yeah, I had been thinking about him all day, it was getting ridiculous. . . and pretty creepy.
I pulled my bag into my lap, unzipping it and scrounging around inside for one thing in particular. After digging through the pool of scrap paper and out-dated, unfinished homework, I retrieved a plain, black notebook. The pages were blank, not a single mark or word darting across the clean, blue lines. It was perfect, I thought, for taking notes for my report. Okay, I was getting way too eager to do this. . . never thought Ms. Asuka would actually give us an interesting project.
I yawned, my eyelids feeling suddenly heavy. I rubbed at my face with my hands, trying to somehow wipe the tiredness away. My attempts were futile, as I found it rather difficult to hold my head up any longer
I reached a hand up to the lamp that sat on the night stand beside my bed. After fumbling around for a bit, my fingers finally found the small black knob, ceasing all light and showering the room in total darkness.
I climbed into bed, ignoring the fact that I was still in my school uniform, and closed my eyes, allowing for sleep to steal my soul away for the night. . .
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