Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Contrast: Blue ❯ Zippo Lighter Bastard ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO: Zippo Lighter Bastard

"Hirano Seto…" drawled Jounouchi as he flicked the lid of his Zippo lighter open. "Somethin' about that kid I don't like."

"Aw, you say that about every new face," Honda replied.

"I give him a week," Anzu whispered as she took a sip from her bottle of water.

"Before she makes him scrub her floors?" Jounouchi inquired as he flicked the lighter's lid shut.

"And leave you without an after-school job? His ass is gonna be done." Honda glanced around the room as Jounouchi gave him the finger.

"Well, let's be careful now. The handsome devil IS sitting right there." Anzu pointed.

Jounouchi shot a puzzled look at Anzu for stating that Seto was "handsome", but was once against distracted by Seto. He was engrossed in the same book he had brought with him to class, completely oblivious to a moderately sized group of girls that were observing him, whispering and giggling amongst themselves.

"Either he's a homo or that is the world's best damn book," Honda concluded.

"Well queer or not, he's at least givin' Otogi a run for his money; look at all them girls just watchin' him," Jounouchi stated. It wasn't even seconds after he said that before he felt the impact of a die smack him in the head.

Jounouchi whirled around, appearing to be quite angry. The aforementioned Otogi Ryuji was definitely more of a "pretty boy" than handsome, but he was undoubtedly attractive. He wore his long jet-black hair in a ponytail, with several of his ebon curls hanging over his face. Had it not been for his crimson headband his hair would have overwhelmed his bright green eyes. Otogi folded his arms, an almost bored expression on his face.

"Dickweed, you weren't supposed to hear that!" Jounouchi exclaimed through clenched teeth.

Otogi smirked. "I bet people tell you your voice carries. And besides, as far as my fangirls are concerned, once they realize that he's not interested in them they'll all come running back to me." He twirled one of his jet black strands of hair between his index finger and thumb.

"You sound so sure of yourself," Anzu stated. She glanced at Seto. "Seriously, how can he not notice that the girls are just staring at him?"

"Because I'm very well-focused," Seto suddenly replied. The quartet jumped the instant he spoke.

"Jesus Christ, you mean you were listening in?" Jounouchi demanded.

"It's rather difficult not to with the volume of your bark, puppy," Seto stated bluntly.

"Puppy?!" Jounouchi was already cracking his knuckles.

"See; I told you your voice carried," Otogi jested.

"Looks like we have to get ready to restrain Jounouchi," Anzu sighed. "Again."

"I'm sure you two can handle that," Otogi declared as he strutted out of the classroom. The girls, though tempted to see what the new boy was capable of against Jounouchi, decided it was best to stay out of the way, and followed Otogi out of the classroom.

Seto smirked as he closed his book. "As much as I would like to see the puppy at his most aggressive, I have better things to do." He arose and instantly began walking, his head held high and expression smug. Those intense blue eyes took a glance at Jounouchi.

Seto stopped, and stepped back three paces.

The intense blue eyes met with the aggressive amber eyes.

"What," growled Jounouchi, "in the hell are you staring at?"

Seto gave a slight smirk, and held up his hand. The object was small and metallic bearing the word "Zippo". "I am borrowing this," Seto stated. "As amusing as it would be to watch you sniff around for this because I failed to inform you of my taking it, it is simply more convenient for the both of us if I simply informed you." He turned and walked away once more, using the lighter's reflective surface to give him a view of Jounouchi's enraged expression.

"You bastard, how in the hell did you get that?!" Jounouchi was ready to leap upon the lithe teen, had it not been for the combined restraining forces of Honda and Anzu.

"He said he was borrowing it; it's not even worth fighting over!" Anzu exclaimed.

"You can just get another one anyway, man!" Honda added. "Hell; I'll buy you one!"

Their words were best left spoken to a concrete wall, for Jounouchi continued to struggle in hopes of breaking free so he could catch up to that bastard Seto and make him really sorry for the remarks he made about him, and especially for taking his lighter.

It took some effort, but Jounouchi managed to break the hold that Anzu and Honda had him in, causing Anzu to fall flat on her bottom and Honda to stumble backwards and nearly tripping over a chair. Jounouchi instantly dashed out of the classroom, his hand grabbing hold of the doorjamb as he turned to prevent slipping.

Students and doors appeared to be nothing more than a blur as Jounouchi tore through the hallways of the school. If the hall monitors or teachers were yelling at him, he certainly didn't hear them. All of his attention, all of his focus, was on the tall lithe boy named-

"Seto!" Jounouchi screamed; his fist was raised to strike his target down. The boy who answered to the name glanced over his shoulder before deftly sidestepping the oncoming strike. Jounouchi rushed past Seto, cursing aloud that he missed and rapidly turned on his heel, instantly raising his fists in a ready stance.

Seto only responded with an indifferent stare.

"I'm not gonna let you get away with this!" Jounouchi exclaimed. A group of students suddenly surrounded the pair; a fight in Domino High was about as common as a cold.

Seto continued to stare.

"You not gonna say anything?"

Seto still stared.

"Fine…you can talk when you tell the medics how I messed you up!" Jounouchi immediately lounged at Seto, his left fist prepared for an incoming hook punch.

Seto leaned forward. As he ducked, Seto's left arm hooked onto the inner bend on Jounouchi's arm, interrupting Jounouchi's attack and twirling him in a counter-clockwise direction. Seto's left arm had a hold on Jounouchi's left in an arm lock; Seto placed his right hand on the blond's wrist to ensure that the arm stayed in its place. Jounouchi was stunned; not by the maneuver that was used against him, but by the rate of speed in which Seto moved to get Jounouchi into such a position in the first place.

The surrounding students would have normally cheered, but the unexpected and turn of events had them speaking in a tone no louder than a whisper. However, it was Seto's arrogant and commanding voice that spoke volumes:

"If you want us to be "friends", you will never address me by my name again. Is that understood?"

"Whatever ya say, ya bastard. Can I call ya `Bastard'?" Jounouchi snarled as he struggled.

"You can call me whatever you like, but if you dare call me by my name, especially like that ever again…" Seto leaned in close to Jounouchi's ear as he loosened his grip on the blond's arm, "I need no more than forty-five degrees of movement in order to dislocate your arm." He immediately released his hold on Jounouchi's arm, turned on his heel and slowly retreated.

Jounouchi held his arm. Seto's grip was surprisingly strong-despite the fact that he was lanky and appeared almost sickly.

In fact, that grip, no; those very maneuvers! They felt very familiar to him…he had experienced a grip and arm lock not unlike the one Seto just used on him. Could it be that Seto…?

"By the way, I won't be returning your lighter to you just yet. Thanks to your pitiful attempt at an ambush, I missed my chance for a smoke," Seto called.

At that time, Anzu and Honda rushed to Jounouchi.

"Jesus Christ, why did you have to try to take him on?" Honda demanded as he took hold of Jounouchi's arm.

"Honestly, if you were going to fight him, you could have waited until you were more focused. It's no wonder he was able to take advantage of you like he did," Anzu scolded.

Seto stopped walking the instant Anzu said "take advantage of you". Back still facing the trio, he taunted: "She's absolutely right, puppy. If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have been so easily defeated."

"Shut the fuck up and keep your skinny ass walkin', Hirano!" Honda warned. Seto simply sighed, rolled his eyes and continued to walk away from the scene. Honda had sneered, and returned his attention to his fallen friend.

Anzu scowled at Seto's retreating form before she too returned her attention to Jounouchi. "Jounouchi, come on. He's just being a bully…he's so not worth losing your cool over."

"She's right, man. Look, we'll go out for hamburgers after school. My treat," Honda offered.

Jounouchi suddenly arose to his feet, surprising some of the surrounding students. Anzu gave a worried glance to Honda, who also appeared concerned. They slowly rose to their feet, hoping in vain that Jounouchi would calm down.

"I just need to be left alone," Jounouchi stated flatly. Before Anzu or Honda could protest, he immediately walked away. Honda looked away, scratching the back of his head. Anzu let out a frustrated sigh, and instantly turned her attention to the students, who still surrounded the area.

"All of you! The show's over, so stop hanging around here and take your gossip elsewhere!" Anzu considered crowd control to be something of a talent of hers. However, she was as frustrated and angry for Jounouchi as she was at him, that she needed some way to vent.

It wasn't good enough.

________________________________________________________< b>____

Jounouchi decided that his mood was just too shitty to take Honda up on his offer for hamburgers. After what had happened to him earlier in the day, he was just far too pissed off to even warrant the wrath of Ms. Chono. He had trudged his way home, hands in his pockets and lips murmuring curses about the blue-eyed bastard that humiliated him in school today.

If anyone had ever told Jounouchi "Cheer up. It could be worse", he would have smashed his fist into their face, because in Jounouchi's case things had a tendency to get worse on occasion. And in this such occasion, all he had to do in order to make that worse-case scenario happen was to unlock the door to his apartment and step inside.

"Boy!" A gruff voice called.

Jounouchi threw his briefcase onto the couch; he didn't bother to remove his sneakers as he stepped inside.

"I'm talkin' to ya, boy!"

Jounouchi simply leaned against the wall, hands remaining in his pockets as a glass beer bottle came crashing against the doorjamb. It had missed Jounouchi by two feet.

"Your aim's improving, old man," Jounouchi taunted with a sneer.

"Jes' get yer ass in here," the gruff voice slurred.

Jounouchi used his foot to remove himself from the wall as he approached the kitchen. Sitting in the kitchen was a man who appeared much more rugged than Jounouchi was, and was certainly much older. His dark hair was a mess and he appeared as though he was in dire need of a shave. He wore mud-stained jeans, a dirty white tee, and a flannel top that was gray-and-blue once upon a time, but so much dirt and mud had accumulated on the flannel it appeared to be more of a dull brownish-gray. He was leaning back in the chair as his boot-clad feet rested upon the table, periodically knocking over emptied beer bottles and potato chip bags.

"So? What do ya want?" Jounouchi's tone was more bored than annoyed.

"Th' phone's off."

Jounouchi's fists clenched. "I gave you the money I got from work to pay that off!"

"I tol' YOU to pay th' damn bill, boy."

Jounouchi rolled his eyes; did not need this. "No; you told me you were gonna take care of the bill!" He paused. "You spent it on beer, didn't you? God-dammit! Fuck! You said you were going to take care of the bill so I handed you money that my ass earned working, and…do I need to remind you how close we are to gettin' our asses booted outta this hole?"

The man tried to stand on his feet, but in his current inebriated state he had stumbled and fell back into his seat.

"Boy, I won' take this shit from you. I tol' yer ass to pay th' fuckin' bill. Wha'ever way I had spent th' money on is none `yer fuckin' business, boy!"

"It was MY hard-earned money, you drunken fuck! If it were yer own money, I wouldn't be sayin' shit about it, but dammit, dad! You know how many times we nearly got evicted?"

"I won' argue wit' you on dis no more, boy. You either pay th' bill or haul yer ass out! Ain't got no time for good-for-nothin's tha' got no prior'ty."

Jounouchi snarled, immediately leaving the kitchen for his room. Arguing with that man was always the perfect end to his perfect day, and few days came more perfect than today. He slammed the door shut, locking the two chain-locks and the lock on the doorknob, and fell onto his bed.

His eyes focused at the ceiling, but they were staring at nothing in particular. He just needed to rest.

More importantly, he needed to think things over.

______________________________________________________ ______

AND NOW, RANTS AND RAVES FROM THE WRITER:

The alternate title of this chapter could easily have been "Jounouchi's Shitty Day!", but it simply wasn't stylish sounding to me! But seriously, future writers of Jounouchi angst take note: You don't have to have Jounouchi be beaten badly and raped by his dad just to get some angst out of him!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people (Because I forgot to in chapter 1):

*Mayflower (or as I say it, "Mayflowah"): She's been real supportive of my works, and gave me the confidence to post this project in written form.

*Elf: She's always been supporting my art things. Check her writings out, and you'll see why she's the Gothic Writer Goddess. *thumbs up*

*Tekkenicus: He's been such a good friend of mine, and if it weren't for his wicked sense of humour, I have no idea where I'd be at right now.

*Vinja-Ryou: Another awesome friend of mine; she's been there for me when I needed her most, and has been a major supporter for the Contrast Project.

*The Thug Nation @ Dev Art: I'd like to thank all my Dev Art supporters for their support of the visual version of Contrast! Thanks a bunch for making this a success so far, y'all!

*And of course you, dear reader, for taking the time to read this work. Your continued support will always be appreciated.