Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Chrysalis ❯ And Found ( Chapter 19 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Rowan Girl: Bakura it is. I'll get on it as soon as I'm done dancing around for joy.

Dragonmaster TC: As always, thanks for the review. You are the best. I hope your Yugi muse is feeling better. ^_^

Dugfinn: I hope this chapter helps. The phone was good too. The broccoli was just so spectacular. I nearly hit the ground laughing, Bakura as a teacher!! Just the thought of that scene makes me giggle.

RyokoMink: Yeah for Bakura and his homework spree. What could have caused the fearsome spirit of the Millennium Ring to do a history essay???? Just wait and find out. FYI- Matzo balls are Jewish food. They're great, give `em a try, just not at school. *shiver of horror* I bolted out of the cafeteria after the tostadas. That was based on a real incident. I haven't been back since. A can of soda and a package of cookies for me please!!

Pharaoh's High Priestess: Thanks! I should tell you that I intend to go back and fix a few things, typos, sentence endings that mysteriously disappeared, words that the spell checker shifted like suit to suite, and the like, but I'm honored that you like my story so much. I actually, don't mind Anzu all that much either, and I agree that her personality needs work, so that's what I did, I gave her a new one. You'll have to wait till the epilog for the vengeance though.

Warning: Lemon in here folks, not for the kiddies. Shame kiddies, shame! What would your parents think!!!

Okay, I know that Yugi is and has been a OOC. My defense is that this is the first time he's really had a girlfriend and hormones can make any guy into a raving Neanderthal, they're bound to at least make sweet Yugi a bit touchy.

Chrysalis

Chapter Eighteen: And Found

~*~*~*

Yuai- Tuesday

~*~*~*

Bay Side High School wasn't much different than Domino City High School. The building was large and cold; the teachers were either struggling, indifferent or liked being on a power kick; the students were either victims or victors; and the uniform didn't fit. This time, though, Yuai didn't care. When her foster mother, Sakura, dropped her off at school in her borrowed uniform to stand and freeze in the school yard, Yuai just slipped out of the car and walked away as her foster brothers and sisters brushed past her to go smoke on the other side of the building.

Class was the same, same uncomfortable desks, same whispers, same looks. Yuai slipped down the aisle after she had been introduced and pretended she wasn't there. She wasn't going to be there for long anyway, a few days, a couple months, maybe a year. She'd been classified as a temporary foster child, which meant that everything in her life was temporary. Temporary home, temporary family, temporary life. All so she could be reunited with her parents.

Yuai pulled out her notebook and started aimlessly doodling. Yesterday morning she'd been happy, a bit nervous, but happy. She had friends, she had a new uniform, money in the bank and a plan to get her own apartment. Now, she shared a bedroom with a girl who hid food under her pillow like a crazed squirrel and her friends were gone.

She still didn't understand that. She'd spent the night trying to think over what could have happened, what had caused Yugi and Honda to turn on her. The only thing she could think of was they had found out. They had found out all about her parents, maybe about Ekko. She had considered the possibility that Ekko had posted those pictures like he had threatened to do, but if that had happened, wouldn't other people have known? The other kids at school hadn't paid any attention to her, Jonouchi even waved hello. If Ekko had posted the pictures, wouldn't there have been more reaction?

It could only be her parents. They had found out that her parents had used her like a inflatable sex doll and punching bag. She had really thought they wouldn't mind. After all, Anzu had gone through some of the same kind of thing, and Yuai, at least, hadn't reacted by trolling Domino City like a bitch in heat. The difference had to be Yugi.

Anzu was an old friend of Yugi's, they'd grown up together, so, she guessed, Anzu got special treatment. Yuai on the other hand had been a friend for only a few months, she got no special treatment. She got tossed aside, not good enough, she supposed, to even get a brush off. No, she had to be thrown out with unspoken threats and cruel words, just so she wouldn't make the mistake of thinking that they still cared, that someone like her could consider themselves their friend.

That, she supposed, hurt the most. She could deal with the school, her odd room mate, her obsessively cheerful foster mother, the complete uncertainty that was now her life, but to know that Yugi couldn't stand to even look at her, that hurt.

~*~*~*

Jonouchi and Kaiba

~*~*~*

Kaiba yawned and looked at Jonouchi sprawled next to him with a slight, sinful smile. The blond looked so peaceful, so innocent, in the morning light. Almost a shame to wake him. Almost. Yesterday and last night had been fever hot, desperate. All the want, loneliness and frustration of the last weeks had raged in them with hunger and need as they nearly tore pleasure out of each other's bodies with harsh cries and demanding hands. This morning, however…. Kaiba slipped out of bed to find a few things before returning and slipping back to his lover's side.

Kaiba leaned forward and brushed a kiss along the delicate curve of Jonouchi's jaw, "Wake up, Jo. It's payback time."

Jonouchi mumbled, thick lashes flickering, soft lips tightening slightly.

"Wake up, love." Kaiba nipped playfully at Jonouchi's ear. "It's late and I have plans."

Jonouchi blinked sleepily at him, "Pl'ns? Wha's up?"

Kaiba laughed softly, "Your hands in just a moment."

"Wha ya mean?" Jonouchi felt something soft wrap around one of his wrists, "Se'o, wha ya doin?"

Kaiba smiled naughtily into his eyes, watching Jonouchi finally come into the waking world. He gave him a soft kiss of greeting, "Something you'll like. Lift your hands."

Jonouchi, still slightly sleep dazed, obediently lifted his hands, feeling Kaiba's guide them to the headboard. Something tightened around his other wrist, making him lift his head and look up at his now bound hands. They were now neatly tied with a silk scarf. He gave them an experimental tug. The silk tightened, but didn't give. A shiver of excitement drove the last of the sleep out of his body as he looked into his love's gleeful smirk. "Plans, huh?"

Kaiba sat back looking over the lovely sight before him. Jonouchi was already naked, the toned muscle of his chest stretched and accented by his extended arms, sleek ribs curving to the flat plane of his stomach, the shadowed dip of his navel with a tracing of gold hair leading down to the delightful length of his still sleeping manhood, slender hips, long slender legs with a dust of golden hair, all ending with gracefully arched feet that twitched against the covers of the bed. Mine. Mine, mine, mine.

He leaned forward, looking into curious and excited brown eyes, "Do you want to play?"

Jonouchi grinned back, "What's the stakes?"

"You'll see." Kaiba leaned forward farther, catching Jonouchi's mouth in a kiss, soft at first, exploring the satin curve, tasting, teasing, till the lips eagerly pressed forward, opening, inviting him deeper. He nibbled teasingly, coyly, at the edges before dipping inside for a taste, then pressed forward, hard, demanding. His hands coming up, slipping into tousled blond strands, holding, controlling, as his mouth ruthlessly claimed the other's lips and tongue as his own. Then just as quickly stopped. Kaiba leaned back, inspecting the now slightly bruised lips that were still parted. He raised a finger and lightly traced them. "Beautiful."

Jonouchi nipped playfully at the fingers, but they flicked away out of reach. Kaiba leaned back over, replacing his fingers with his lips, half laying on Jonouchi he gently explored his mouth, tongue slipping between parted lips to tap lightly against the warm hardness of teeth, then past to duel with his love's tongue. His hands sliding up Jonouchi's arms, feeling the taunt curve of muscles, the straight line of bone, till he found and twined his fingers in Jonouchi's.

The kiss deepened, each claiming victory in their duel, then surrendering back to the other. Tongues dancing together, joining, parting, pressing forward, retreating back. Teeth softly biting, clicking lightly. Lips stroking, yielding, pliant, demanding, insistent. Breath catching, sighing, gasping, mingling as the two maneuvered for both victory and defeat. Fingers tightening, flexing, rubbing.

Kaiba raised his head, flicking his tongue across swollen lips then dipped downward to press his mouth against Jonouchi's neck, nipping delicately, swirling patterns over the quickening pulse. He nudged Jonouchi's head back, exposing more vulnerable skin to his mouth as he slipped his fingers away from Jonouchi's grasp and ran them down to cradle his shoulders. Kaiba traced his tongue down the soft ridges of trachea and Adam's apple down to the curved hollow between the winging sweep of collar bones. His mouth paused to taste with a quick flourish as he pressed up with his hands causing the muscles beneath his lips to tauten more.

"Kaiba…" Jonouchi sighed quietly.

"Hmmmm?" Kaiba slipped his hands down farther to curve around ribs, finger tips stroking along the taunt column of spine, lips brushing downward over Jonouchi's breastbone. When he reached the end, where ribs dropped off to the flatness of belly, he bit down.

"Ahhhh." Jonouchi's body jumped, hands jerking against their restraints.

Kaiba soothed the spot, lavishing it with tender strokes of his tongue and soft kisses, till the body he held quieted again, then he kissed his way back up to flat, satin nipples. Taking one in his mouth he gently took it between his teeth, enjoying the smoothness, the contrast from velvet to silk.

Jonouchi gasped and arched, "Kaiba, please…"

"I'm not even half done yet, koi." Kaiba murmured, then nipped tenderly at the already sensitized nipple.

Jonouchi's body arched, begged, "Hurry."

"No." He leisurely moved over to the other nipple, feeling Jonouchi flex and twist beneath him, an excited hardness pressing against his belly. He moved his body teasingly away, pulling a protesting moan from his lover. He smiled slightly as he sucked the other nipple into his mouth, twirling his tongue around it, lazily taunting, enjoying the feel of muscles moving beneath his lips.

"Kaiba, please." Pleasure forked down Jonouchi's spine with each lazy flick of muscle, centering hot and heavy between his thighs. The frustrating pleasure of being unable to touch, to guide, to demand, driving him close to the edge. "Please."

Kaiba tapped one last kiss on the nipple then blew on it thoughtfully, "Do you want to be gagged, too?"

Jonouchi shook his head, his body shivering in delight at the sudden coolness, "No, no."

Kaiba slid his hands down around Jonouchi's waist, thumbs rubbing trembling sides as his mouth continued down across stomach muscles that quivered and leapt. He drew patterns in whirls and flicks across skin that now had a light sheen of sweat, enjoying the slightly salty taste. He thoroughly explored the delectable dip of navel, listening to the cries and whimpers of pleasure he wrung from a now wordless throat.

Jonouchi's hands twisted, tugged, desperate to be free of their confining bindings. His body demanded relief, demanding to touch, shuddering, out of control and desperate. He cried out, nearly screamed, as Kaiba's mouth dipped lower, silky hair brushing against his now hard member as those skillful lips skimmed around his base. Hands, both soothing and controlling, pulled his legs apart, allowing those lips to dip downward to play over his balls. His body arched up hard, only to be thrust back to the bed by those hands.

Kaiba lifted his head, examining the dazed, fevered look in Jonouchi's eyes with a smile, "Patience, love, patience."

Jonouchi nearly howled in frustration as Kaiba's lips slid away, tracing down the inside of his thigh, down further to his knee to nip at the tender flesh of the back, then further down his calf to the curve of his foot. He jerked, twitched at the sensations that shot up his leg as Kaiba lapped across the instep of his foot, soft inarticulate cries slipping from his lips.

Kaiba switched his attentions to the other foot, starting with the toes, nipping and sucking them, while carefully keeping the twitching foot still. He then nipped his way back across the instep of that foot to sweep quickly up the ridge of shinbone, gave the knee a kiss and a nip before heading swiftly up shivering thigh muscles. He pushed Jonouchi's legs apart farther.

This time Jonouchi did scream as Kaiba's hot mouth pleasured his sac. Hands held his hips still as tongue and lips drove him mad, achingly, pleasurably, painfully, delightfully mad. Kaiba's words, "patience, patience," echoed around insanely in his head as he thrashed against his restraints. Patience was gone, all there was now was need.

Kaiba could feel that last of Jonouchi's restraint break as the sleek, wet, body he held writhed in his grasp. He lifted his head and licked Jonouchi's shaft with a long swipe of his tongue, hearing the nearly mindless shriek of pleasure it pulled from panting lips. He swirled around the tip, tasting the precum, then slid down, taking the length in his mouth. Jonouchi's hips jolted up, just to be pushed firmly back down as Kaiba slid his mouth over the rigid flesh, setting a quick pace.

Jonouchi's head thrashed from side to side, wordless sobs and moans tumbling from him. His hands stopped fighting against his bonds and instead grasped them, holding onto them tightly as Kaiba took him in deeper, humming slightly in the back of his throat, causing vibrations against already excited flesh. His climax hit him hard, slamming his head back into the mattress as his body released into Kaiba's eager mouth.

Kaiba slid up to lay next to his lover. Untying the silk from his wrists, he gathered the trembling body close. He looked at the limp, sated body he still held, the marks he'd left over flawless, sweat damp skin, and waited for dazed eyes to refocus and for the last of the shudders to still, wanting Jonouchi to be with him before the next round began.

~*~*~*

Yugi and Honda

~*~*~*

Lunch sat in a brown lump on Yugi's tray and seemed to be endlessly fascinating to Yami, who leaned close to it, inspecting it intently.

"Couscous?" Honda shook his head, "There is no way, none, that I am eating that."

I used to eat something like this in Egypt. Yami looked enthralled. It was quite good.

Yugi wondered if he'd accidentally hurt Yami when he'd slipped on the ice this morning causing the Millennium Puzzle to strike with a loud crack onto the sidewalk. Are you feeling okay Yami?

Yes, aibou, I feel fine. Yami looked over at him questioningly. Why do you ask?

You just said the food was good. Yugi wondered briefly if Yami could have a concussion. Could he have knocked his head against the side of the puzzle?

No, I said what I used to eat in Egypt was good. Yami waved his hand at the couscous. This looks like mouse droppings.

Oh. Okay, that's better. Yugi smiled, relieved and started eating his meal.

Aibou, couldn't you consider bringing a lunch? Yami winced as Yugi shoveled the food into his mouth.

Nope. I can't stand squishy sandwiches. They get all slimy and smelly. Yugi looked up and grinned as Jonouchi and Kaiba sat down across form them.

"Hi, guys." Jonouchi slid his tray onto the table.

It's good to see Kaiba up and around. Yami grinned. I wonder if he's up to a duel?

"Hey. Good to see you. Took your time getting to school today." Honda laughed.

Kaiba nodded coolly to then set a boxed lunch on the table, "Had to catch up on a few things."

Yami laughed and sat down on the bench next to Yugi. Yes, I would say he had a lot of catching up to do.

He is very busy Yami. I'm sure that Kaiba Corp. takes a lot of time. Yugi sat feeling lost as Yami started laughing again.

"Something wrong Yugi?" Jonouchi noticed the distracted look on his friend's face.

"No, Yami's laughing about something." Yugi shrugged. "He won't share the joke."

"Keep your mouth shut pharaoh." Kaiba whispered unpacking his lunch.

You first, priest. Maybe then you won`t be late. Yami snickered.

Yugi looked bewildered. Yami are you sure you're all right? You didn't hit your head did you?

"Yug?" Honda regarded his friend as Yugi looked doubtfully into space.

"Yami's been acting strange since I dropped the Millennium Puzzle this morning. I think he hit his head." Yugi watched as Yami doubled over in laughter as Kaiba glared at where he could guess the pharaoh was and ground his teeth together.

"Hey, where's Yuai?" Jonouchi checked around for the girl. She was always hanging around like Yugi's shadow. He supposed she got sick yesterday and went home, but she should have been back today.

Honda shrugged, " Who cares?"

"Huh? But I thought she was like…" Jonouchi stopped, looking at Yugi's face. Yugi looked hurt. "What happened?"

"After hanging around, pretending to be all sweet and innocent, we saw her kissing some guy out on the street." Honda glared at his couscous.

"Uhmm, so?" Jonouchi looked from Honda's angry face to Yugi's hurt face, then back.

"So. She keeps saying she isn't allowed to date, can't kiss, can't go to dances and then stands on the street doing mouth to mouth with a older guy." Honda stabbed his couscous viciously with his fork.

"I'm still not following."

"Here, let me explain." Kaiba sounded as disgusted as he felt. "Yugi, after protesting to everyone for months that Yuai was nothing but a friend, didn't consider her just as a friend. My guess is they saw Yuai kissing Ekko and Yugi got his feelings hurt." He gestured toward Honda, "That idiot got angry because Yugi got hurt. They're too idiotic to have asked Yuai what was going on and probably took it out on her. Now no more Yuai."

Jonouchi blinked, remembering yesterday, Yuai walking around the corner of the school, just to run back around like a frightened rabbit a couple of minutes later. "What did you do?"

Yami had straitened and was now leaning with his hands on the table, looking intently at the brunette. I think a better question is who is this Ekko and how does Kaiba know about this.

Yugi nodded, "Kaiba, who is Ekko, and how do you know about this?"

Kaiba looked at Yugi for a moment, judging, then nodded, "When I hired Yuai to look after Mokuba, I had a background check done on her. I didn't get the complete file till Saturday."

"And Ekko is in that file?" Yugi asked, looking stressed.

"The file was about eight inches thick. There was a lot in that file. Ekko was just one of the little highlights."

Honda snorted, "See, trash. Not worth the time to spit on."

Kaiba repressed the urge to reach across the table and strangle the moron.

Yugi was quiet a second then nearly whispered, "What was in the file?"

Kaiba wondered what the pharaoh was up to. There was no way that Yugi was asking these questions, they were too perceptive, too sharp. However, if Yami wanted to ask, why didn't he just take control? "Documentation of about sixteen years worth of severe child abuse, police reports, hospital records, interviews, pictures."

Yugi turned white and Honda shut up. Yami wasn't done yet, though. "And Ekko? How does he fit in?" Yugi whispered.

"Yuai's father liked to play poker. He didn't win much and it was costing him money. He came up with a creative way to still play without going into debt, he'd bet Yuai. Sometimes, he'd take pictures and bet with those." Kaiba watched as Yugi started looking sick and figured out what the Egyptian was up to. The ancient spirit was making a point and if Yugi`s behavior was any indication, the point was being taken. "Ekko won a couple hands and got some pictures of it. Unless Yuai became his little playmate, he was going to make posters of the pictures and spread them around school. You probably saw her meeting to make her payment."

Yugi bolted toward the bathroom, hands covering his mouth and tears streaming down his face.

Honda's mouth dropped open and he made a little squeaky sound. Then he dropped his head and covered his eyes. "Oh, man. Oh, man. When I fuck up, I really fuck up. She needed help and all I did was….. Oh, man. I really fucked up."

Jonouchi looked furious. "What the hell did you do?"

"Acted like a fucking moron." Honda moaned.

"And this is new?" Kaiba calmly started eating his lunch.

Honda lifted his head and glared at him, "You are one cold son of a bitch. You know all this and you just sit there eating like it's nothing. Why don't you help her?"

Kaiba ignored him, till Jonouchi nudged him, looking worried. "Relax, soon as I read the file, I took care of it." He smiled slightly at Jonouchi's relieved look. "Soon as the paperwork is finalized, she'll be staying at the mansion with us."

.

.

Yugi washed his mouth out. The couscous had been bad enough going down, but it's return visit had been…memorable. Yami leaned against the wall of the bathroom, looking up at the cracked plaster ceiling. He hadn't said anything since they had come in here. He had waited patiently as Yugi had his little reunion with his lunch in the bathroom stall, then barely looked at him when he had come out. Yugi could almost feel the disappointment radiating off his darker half.

You're angry aren't you. Yugi leaned against the sink, water still dripping down his face.

Yami nodded not answering or looking at him.

Yugi slumped sadly forward. I should have asked her.

Yes, you should have. Yami wasn't giving a millimeter

Did you know? Yugi looked at the water swirl down the sink and reached over to turn the faucet off.

Not exactly. Yami shook his head, looking over at his drooping hikari. I guessed, but not the extent whole extent of it.

Why didn't you tell me? Yugi cried. She was my friend.

You don't trespass in other people's souls without good reason, aibou. The secret was hers to tell, not mine. Yami softened, seeing the devastation in his light's eyes. No one said she wasn't still your friend.

Yugi shook his head. She'll never forgive me.

Isn't that her choice? Yami walked over and wrapped his arms around Yugi.

Yugi took a deep breath and nodded.

~*~*~*

Yuai- Thursday

~*~*~*

Yet another happy day in the life of the poor and down trodden. Yuai got out of the car and walked into the school building with her foster sister trailing along behind her, stuffing a candy bar down the front of her blouse.

The rest of the students were already filing into their seats as Yuai walked into the classroom and headed for her chair.

"Excuse me, Miss Tasuke?" The teacher walked over to her. "Miss Tasuke."

Yuai jumped, it had been so long since anyone had addressed her by her real name, that she'd forgotten it. "Sorry. Sorry. I…."

"Please report to the principle's office Miss Tasuke." The teacher frowned importantly down at her, lips sneering as he took in her oversized uniform.

Yuai's shoulders slumped as she turned around and walked to the main office. Her fellow students raced by to classes, a few jeering as she reached the office and slid the door open. It was actually warm in the office, unlike the rest of the school's nippy temperature. A large secretary with a mustache and a huge bosom, leaned over the counter to inspect Yuai like a small rat that had dared to poke it's nose into her domain.

"I'm Yuai Tasuke. I was told to report to the principle." Yuai murmured.

The secretary glowered at her and pointed toward a rickety, yellow, plastic chair. "You will just have to wait."

Yuai sat down and waited, and waited, and waited. She opened her bag and pulled out her notebook and began doodling. More waiting, more doodling, more waiting. The secretary sat down behind her desk and pulled out her lunch and began to eat. Yuai drew a frog with a mustache eating flies. More waiting. Finally the door opened and her social worker stepped out.

She smiled at Yuai, "Just a few more minutes honey." Then she left Yuai there and walked out the door.

Yuai stretched her aching back, receiving a warning glower from the secretary. More waiting. The social worker came back smiling and smelling vaguely of fried food, just to disappear into the office again. More waiting. The secretary finished her lunch and started typing. More waiting. Yuai wondered if she'd be able to stand when the principle finally called her in. More waiting.

The door opened again and both her social workers stepped out, smiling and bowing to the principle, then another figure stepped out, looming foreboding next to the principle, who smiled nervously at him and bowed greasily. Yuai, sitting stunned in her chair, didn't blame him. She'd received a much watered down version of that look from Mokuba. The full impact of a irritated, annoyed and very, very angry Seto Kaiba was enough to even make the chair she sat on quiver. She didn't blame the principle for looking like he wanted to cry and run back to his office.

Kaiba bowed tersely to the principle and social workers, then marched over to her, grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the office. "Come on. We're going home."

"Home?" Yuai managed to peep as Kaiba dragged her out the front entrance and down to a waiting limo.

"Of course. You don't think I'm going to lose the only babysitter I have do you?" Kaiba growled as the driver hurriedly opened the door for them. He nearly tossed Yuai into the car.

.

.

Kaiba had to admit, he liked Yuai. He'd just saved her from a miserable life, but she still negotiated like a contract lawyer smelling blood. "Okay, fifty dollars a day, no uniform and every other weekend off."

"Two week days off, no mornings, two weeks paid vacation in summer and in winter." Yuai was getting the hang of this, just so long as you didn't directly meet those blue eyes, negotiating with Kaiba wasn't too hard. It was the impact of those eyes that reduced one to mush, his physical presence was intimidating, but the eyes were the killer.

"Two days a week off consecutively, one week end a month. You will do mornings. Three weeks in summer, one week in winter." Kaiba tried glaring, but Yuai refused to notice. Intriguing, most competitors hadn't figured out that strategy. Kaiba made a note to himself to see about getting business training for Yuai.

Yuai considered, hiding her smile. Part of her wanted to continue dickering. It was one of the best games she'd played in days, full of strategy, maneuvering, tricks, bluffs and gambits that made chess seem dull. However, a good player knew when to call it quits, she nodded. "Deal. Fifty dollars a day, two consecutive days a week off, mornings, no uniform, three weeks in summer, one in winter and one weekend a month free."

Kaiba nodded, "Done."

Yuai broke into a happy smile as the limo drove through the main gates to the mansion. Mokuba had to be home by now, probably laying on the couch entranced by his Playstation. She wondered if Jonouchi was there with him. She hadn't really gotten to know him before, but he always seemed nice enough, and Yugi liked him. The smile faded a little. She'd be going back to Domino High, probably back to her desk behind Honda. Damn, should have negotiated for a private tutor.

~*~*~*

Yugi and Honda

~*~*~*

Yugi and Honda stood nervously at the front gate of the school, waiting. Students flowed steadily by them, trying to get into the minimal protection of the school yard and away from the cutting wind that picked up icy crystals from the snow and sandblasted them into tender exposed skin. Cars dropping students off, crept slowly on the ice slicked street, tires desperately whirling for purchase.

Do you think she'll even talk to us?" Honda pulled his coat closer to his shivering body, futilely hoping for some warmth.

Yugi drooped next to him, "Yami keeps saying it's up to her. That after what we did she deserves the chance to tell us both to go to hell."

Honda nodded miserably, "Yep. She does. Man, I can't believe we did that."

Yugi nodded looking at his feet, "My fault. I just kept telling myself that Yuai was my friend. I just got used to her being there. Then when I saw her kissing that guy, I guess I realized, that well, she was more than a friend. Then I got all hurt and then you got angry on my account and well…here we are."

The wind blew viciously down the street, pelting the two with even larger ice pellets. Yugi shivered, as the overhead wires whined and ice cracked as it fell in tiny drops from over head to shatter on the pavement. A group of girls frantically dashed by, holding their skirts down with one hand while trying to steady themselves on the slippery pavement with their other.

The school doors finally cracked open and the students in the yard rushed in the doors. Yugi and Honda looked longingly at the entrance then turned and waited. An eternity of ice and wind later Kaiba's sleek limo glided up to the curb. The driver calmly walked around and opened the door setting Kaiba free on the innocent school for another day. Jonouchi bounded joyously out after him, grinning happily at his friends, then a slender delicate form slipped out to shiver on the sidewalk next to him.

"Hey guys!" Jonouchi smiled at his two huddled friends, "Whatcha doin'?"

Kaiba looked at the two, nodded a curt hello and reached out and yanked Jonouchi unceremoniously through the gate, hauling the protesting blond off, to leave the two friends to face Yuai alone.

"Uhmmm. Hi, Yuai." Yugi looked at her with large uncertain eyes.

"Hi." Honda mumbled at the ground.

Yuai just stood waiting. Wherever this was going, she wanted it to get there soon. Jonouchi had told her about the scene in the cafeteria, about Yugi, about Honda, about how sorry they were. She guessed it helped to know they didn't blame her for her parents and Ekko, but she wasn't sure she wanted to forgive, could forgive. Standing there on the sidewalk looking at Yugi's sad face, she wanted to forgive him, but most of her life was all about survival. In her life, you don't forgive if you're going to survive.

"Yuai," Yugi took a deep breath and rushed his words out. "I'm real sorry. Really. I am. I shouldn't have acted that way. I…you…. I mean…" Yugi looked down biting his lip. "You're my friend, and I acted like a jerk, and I'm sorry."

Honda nodded at the ground, "Yeah, me too. We saw you kissing that jerk and I got all angry 'cause you had said that… well…" He looked up, his eyes sad and guilty, "I should've been …you're my friend too, and I should've been helping you, and instead I bullied you…Aahh, man Yuai, I'm sorry. I wouldn't blame you if you're angry, I should've been there for you and…"

Yuai pursed her lips in a slight frown. Ekko strikes again. She looked at them considering. Honda, was well, Honda, not too bright, always ready to help a friend. And Yugi was Yugi, how could she stay mad at him? The blame, if blame had to be pinned on someone, was for Ekko. She remembered the first time she'd met Yugi, sitting in the cafeteria, playing Greedopoly. She remembered Honda, scooping up her books, bowing, offering her his arm like a knight out of a story. Yugi sprawled snoring across Jonouchi's shoulders. Honda laughing. No, it wasn't their fault. It was Ekko, it was her parents, reaching out and destroying her life, even when they weren't even there. Well, no more of that. I'm not letting them do it to me this time.

"You know, I thought you were my friends." Yuai forced herself to meet their eyes.

"We are. Really, we are." Yugi looked desperately at her. Honda nodded fervently. "And we are so sorry, Yuai. Really."

"Friends don't bully each other like that." Yuai frowned, trying out a Kaiba trick. She'd studied it that morning when Mokuba had been trying to scam his brother into getting a rope, emergency escape ladder for his bedroom.

"My fault. I sorta over reacted there." Honda shook his head, "Honest, Yuai, I wouldn't have hurt you. I just… well, wanted to... I lost my temper." Honda pulled off his jacket and handed it to her. "Here, you're cold."

"No, I couldn't. You'll get cold." Yuai shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself. She really wasn't all that cold. Kaiba had some of Mokuba's old winter thermals unearthed for her. She felt pretty good actually.

"We'll be going in, I can manage." Honda stepped forward and draped his coat over her shoulders.

Yugi stepped to her side, "Can we still be friends? Please?"

Yuai nodded, "Sure Yugi. I'd like that."

Yugi bounced happily, nearly slipping on the pavement, "Yes! Thanks Yuai. I promise if I'll ask next time. I won't just jump in and hurt you like that."

Honda gave her a quick hug. "I promise to. Friends?"

Yuai smiled at them both, Bye mom, bye dad. I`m not going to miss you. I want more than just surviving. I want a life, "Friends."

~*~*~*

Okay folks, just an epilog and this is done. So what do you think? What scenes do you like best in the story? What scenes just didn't work for you? Let me know. It helps me improve, after all I'm writing not just for me to write, but for you to read, so your opinion means a lot to me.