Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ My First Treasure ❯ Chapter 2

Title: My First Treasure

Chapter: 2/4

Author: Madyamisam

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Jou/OC, Seto/Jou

Beta: Jennie B (the ultimate beta)

Spoiler: Mentions of the Death-T tournament.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Yu-Gi-Oh or the songs of Fruits Basket Four Seasons. Credit for these go to manga artist Kazuki Takashi and composer/singer Ritsuko Okazaki

Summary: This fic was inspired by the songs of Fruits Basket written and composed by the wonderful Ritsuko Okazaki. It has been three years since he left, three years since a confession was made and Seto now twenty-four returns to Japan. However, he is about to discover how much things have changed in the three years he has been away.

 

---

 

Seto's heart stopped. `Daddy?' He thought as he shrunk away from the doorway and leaned against the wall. `If Jou has a daughter then does that mean he's…?' Kaiba never finished the thought in his head, as it seemed to only cause a painful constriction in his chest and a nauseating feeling in his stomach. Finding the strange emotions that came over him overbearing he leaned against the wall, looking fatigued.

 

“Kaiba?” The sound of Jounouchi's voice brought the CEO out of his thoughts and he was assaulted with a fresh new wave of mixed emotions at a closer look at the blond. Seto could now clearly see the family resemblance between father and daughter, the warm rich brown eyes and blond hair. The only difference is that Riku's hair seemed a little darker and duller than Jou's golden mane and the fact that Riku had a sparkle in her brown eyes that had disappeared from her father's. Jounouchi had taken off his brown coat and scarf to show a close-fitted cream coloured turtle neck that accentuated the shape of his well-toned body as if further taunting the brunet. `Is… is Jounouchi…?' His unfinished question was answered when he eye caught sight of the ring. It was a simple band of gold that was fitted snugly around the blond's third finger and suddenly, the constriction returned tenfold. “Hey, are you alright?”

 

“I'm fine.” Kaiba replied trying to get his bearings. He could still see the concern in the blond's eyes and his mind worked quickly to steer the blond away from him. “So, it looks like you've been busy,” he said indicating the bundle in Jou's arms.

 

“No busier than you I guess,” the blond replied as he started putting on Riku's coat to get ready to leave. The infant squirmed and whimpered in protest as Jounouchi buckled her into her travel chair. “Speaking of which, how's business and Mokuba?” Before the brunet could reply, Yami and Yugi who had just woken up rushed down the stairs.

 

“Whatever happens we have to find her before Jo-” Yami let out another silent scream and fainted. Confusion was written all over Jounouchi's face as Yugi tried to revive his former soul partner. After a few moments of panicking and reassuring, Yami came to. As soon as he was awake, the former pharaoh went into a long line of ramblings of windows, scaffoldings and pleas for forgiveness of negligence.

 

“Coo…” Riku suddenly interjected as he babbled, flailing her tiny legs in the air in defiance to the restrictive belts that held her down. Yami gasped and grabbed the baby, chair and all, into a suffocating hug.

 

“Oh thank Ra, Isis, Min and whatever deities there are out there that you're alive!” Yami crowed as he rocked Riku in his arms, with joy.

 

“I guess I should have warned you about her. She's quite adventurous and will take any opportunity to explore,” Jounouchi explained. Allowing a small smile to grace his lips as he took the chair from Yami. “Thanks again for looking after her for the day though. I think we've bothered you two enough.”

 

“Bother us, are you kidding me?” Yugi cried as he tickled the baby's chin. “We had so much fun looking after her today. She has been really good, she hasn't cried at all and she even attracted some customers because they saw her through the shop window and thought she was so cute.” Yugi's eyes shined as he described the day as if it was a wonderful dream. Yami who had now calmed down from his ordeal added.

 

“Point is Jounouchi-kun, we were honoured to be able to baby-sit her today and hoped to look after her again,” he smiled at the child with a sense of pride of being a part of her life. Riku gave another toothless grin to the twins and kicked her legs again as they were the only things not restrained to her travel seat. Yami's pride turned to dread. “That is, if you trust us to look after her again after that incident.”

“Why don't you join us for dinner as our way of making it up to you?” Yugi added showing all the whites of his teeth as he smiled. Yami caught on to his brother's train of thought and matched his twin's smile with a Cheshire cat grin of his own.

 

“It's getting late, I really should-” Jou was interrupted by a whimper from his daughter who was starting to feel incredibly frustrated with sitting in her chair for so long.

 

“See, see? Riku doesn't want to leave yet!” Yami beamed, rushing to release the infant and strip her of her coat before settling down to play with her.

 

“But-”

 

“Come on Jounouchi-kun, just like old times,” Yugi said as he dragged Jounouchi away from the door.

 

“I ~cooked~ for you in the old times,” Jounouchi retorted looking flummoxed and slightly irritated.

 

“Don't worry we'll handle it this time. Kaiba-kun's joining us and he came all the way from America too, you know. Besides, you being so busy lately with your job and taking care of Riku, you probably haven't eaten a thing all day,” Jounouchi worried his lip as he was made to sit down on the sofa, whilst Yugi went to drag the silent brunet to sit in a chair next to him.

 

“Are you sure Yugi?”

 

“Of course, now sit, and chat to each other.” Yugi's eyes twinkled as he gave a mischievous wink to the brunet. “I'm gonna go fix dinner now.” The smaller of the twins bounced towards to the kitchen only to stride back into the lounge and dragging his brother by the ear. “~You're~ coming with me,”

 

“Oh but Riku wants to play with me!” Yami whined as he was yanked away from the child who, incidentally, was quite content with playing by herself. There was a awkward silence between the men apart from the sounds of Riku banging on a baby-sized keyboard before turning her interests upon a cupboard where the handles were just high enough for her to reach if she stood up.

 

“So…” Jounouchi finally began. “Before we got interrupted I asked-”

 

“Business has gone well, which is why I was able to find time to come back.” Jounouchi raised an incredulous eyebrow. Seto chuckled. “Alright, my brother forced me to go on a vacation. Apparently, my employees were struggling to keep up with my working pace. How about you?”

 

“I'm managing, though I wonder if Riku's getting enough attention what with me being so busy.” As if she understood their conversation Riku stopped trying to chew Yugi's old duel disk that she found in the cupboard to stare at her father, her big brown eyes gazed up at him as if he was an interesting piece of artwork. “Were your duel disks saliva proof by the way?” Seto chuckled as the baby went back to sticking the hunk of plastic into her mouth only to have it confiscated by her father.

 

“I think so though I never tested them in that respect.” The brunet smiled in amusement whilst the baby gazed longingly at the strange blue and white toy that Jou took away from her. A line of drool dripped from her lips down her round chubby chin. The blond man plucked the scamp into his arms wiping away the mucous-like liquid from her mouth. “She's really cute, a spitting image of you.” Jounouchi smiled.

 

“She has her mother's eyes though,” he commented and Seto suddenly found the differences between father and daughter more noticeable. Jounouchi's eyes were more a golden brown whilst Riku's was deep, dark chocolate colour.

 

“Her mother as in-”

 

“My wife, Kyoko,” Jounouchi replied. Seto's heart sank. “What else did you think it was?” He had constantly thought of Jounouchi over the three years in America since the blond's confession before he boarded the plane. He left feeling confused but in time his feelings became clear and he began to regret that he might have missed opportunity in pursuing a relationship. The evidence became clear from the blond himself. Jounouchi had moved on.

 

“I guess it's just that I thought you're a bit young to be a father. Sorry, it was wrong of me to jump into conclusions like that,” he said hurriedly in order to hide the ache in his heart.

 

“No, I get that a lot especially with my own family background. Riku was planned. No doubt about that,” Jounouchi said. “I even set her a bank account ready for her when she goes to college, if that's her choice of course.” As he talked about his daughter, a smile crept onto his face and the dullness that Seto saw his eyes started to regain a little of the light that Jou used to have three years ago. It appeared like a weak candle in a dark room and seemed to warm the CEO inside at the same time it comforted him to deal with the fact that he could never experience such feelings from the blond.

 

“She's a beautiful lady then? Your wife I mean,” Kaiba really wanted to know about the woman that captured Jou's heart but at the mention of Kyoko, the light in Jou's eyes faded again becoming dull and lifeless. Alarmed by this Kaiba kept questions about the woman to himself.

 

“Yeah,” Jou answered fiddling with the band of gold on his ring finger. It seemed the subject about Jou's wife was sensitive one. “What brings you back to Japan?” Jounouchi asked in order to change the subject. Seto wasn't sure if he should answer. `What should I say? That I've been thinking of you constantly since you confessed and over the course of these three years I think I might have fallen in love with you and now it's clear I've come back to tell you?' Even a total idiot with no common sense knew that explanation was stupid and it surprised Seto that it was this very reason that he did come back for. Finding out that the person he had developed a crush for had moved on even getting married, made things all the more awkward and complicated.

 

“Just…” his mind reeled with trying to come up with a good explanation for his return “…to make up for time being wasted and hoping to find new opportunities to amend those errors.”

 

“You could have simply said that you missed us. There's no shame in that,” the blond chuckled whilst the CEO looked a little embarrassed.

 

Eventually, the awkwardness between the two men dissipated as they both talked about everyday things whilst playing with Riku at the same time. Kaiba had found it strangely pleasant being able to just engage in conversation about mundane subjects and he never thought himself to do it so easily.

 

They were in the middle of a film when a shriek from the kitchen drew their attention. Riku looked as if she could leap up to the ceiling as the cry surprised her. The two men glanced at each other before they both got up to investigate only to find that the kitchen was a mass of boiling saucepans, white flour scattered across the floor two spiky headed brothers covered head to toe in white. Yami was in Yugi's arms bridal style holding very tightly to the smaller midget.

 

“What happened in here?” Jounouchi exclaimed in alarm whilst the CEO tried his best not to burst into tears with laughter.

 

“We were going to make apple pie.” Yugi stated miserably before glaring at his soul twin. “Until ~he~ got scared by a spider when I asked him to get the flour.”

 

“I wasn't scared, just surprised.” Yami pouted indignantly. “Those eight legged things are evil jumping out at people like that.”

 

“Gee, I'd hate to imagine what the spider was feeling,” Kaiba commented, flashing a wicked grin at the twins. Yami glared at his former rival in spite of knowing that being completely covered in flour made him look even more ridiculous. Wordlessly, the blond headed toward the closet for the vacuum cleaner to help clean up the mess. Yugi sighed as the blond got to work on the kitchen.

 

“I guess we're ordering pizza tonight huh?” Yugi said as he stood still allowing the blond to clean off most of the flour from his and Yami's clothes. Although they still looked like two ghosts. Jounouchi glanced at the room and the various saucepans filled to the brim with sauces and ingredients.

 

“It would be a waste to throw all this stuff away,” he said as he rolled up his sleeves and continued on where the twins had left off. “Why don't you two go get yourselves cleaned up?”

 

“Oh, oh, oh I want shogayaki then (1) and could you make some of your yummy daifuku (2) cakes with the red bean paste in them?” Yami cheered childishly. He tensed up when he heard a quiet growl from his brother and realised that Yugi was still carrying him when he leapt into the other's arms. Suddenly, Yami wished he were still dead.

 

---

 

Things had settled down after the flour incident and Jounouchi had managed to divert the potential disaster in the kitchen into a delicious supper. The four adults sat together and chatted about their lives and Seto had come to learn that Jounouchi had obtained a PhD as a physician. He also learned that the blond had named both Yugi and Yami as Riku's godfathers. Every now and then Riku would butt in with a nonsensical word of her own and both her godfathers would literally squeal and babble talk with her. As Yugi was busy telling the group a story one of his trips visiting Anzu, Seto couldn't help but watch with fascination at the blond plucking a stewed pear and delicately cutting the soft mushy flesh up with his chopsticks and feeding the pear to Riku who ate it with relish. Yet he looked a little concerned when Jounouchi's own food remained untouched. Eventually as the evening progressed, the child started rubbing her eyes as a sign that she was sleepy and Jounouchi left the table barely even eating a bite of his meal.

 

“He hasn't even touched it yet,” Yugi commented as he put his plate down and gave thanks for the meal before taking it to the kitchen to start cleaning.

 

“What is going on?” Seto asked starting to feel annoyed with his lack of knowledge.

 

“I'd thought you'd have figured it out by now,” Yami mumbled whilst chewing on a daifuku. “But you're going to have to find out for yourself. He doesn't like it when we talk about his life behind his back and believe me he usually finds out about it if we do,” Annoyed with the former spirit for being so enigmatic, Seto got up to follow Jounouchi into a small sitting room next to the lounge. He opened the door just wide enough to see what was going on. Jounouchi sat into a reclining chair holding the baby girl in his arms whilst Riku's head rested on her father's arm as he rocked her to sleep and singing her a lullaby. His soft tenor of his voice sounded pleasant and calming yet at the same time sad as the sounds melted together creating a little world that belonged to the father and daughter. Seto strained his ears to hear the words of the lullaby.

 

“You are my first treasure

I love you that much

Although my strong, yet weak heart

Gets lonesome occasionally

 

Your smile alone makes me happy

And it makes everything OK

I was looking down every day, down into the mud

But, I am looking up at the sky now

 

I wish I could say something

To your troubled and anguished back

Right away, I want to embrace your shoulders

That are soaked with pouring rain

 

It's alright that you don't seek me always and anytime

I know you any day

The key that will open your heart is not a strong power

It is made of straight-forward feelings.

 

I shall do my best again today. Let's gain the strength not to be defeated.

For the sake of the person whom I love. (3)”

 

Satisfied that Riku was asleep, Jounouchi carefully placed her into her travel chair ready for the journey home and relaxed back onto the reclining chair with a heavy sigh. Although it was too dark to see the blond's face, Kaiba could tell that there was something troubling the younger man.

 

“Jounouchi?” The blond sat up in alarm to the sudden intrusion into the sitting room and tried to hide his face. Seto could just make out that he was rubbing at his eyes. `Is he crying' he thought as he cautiously edged closer into the room. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” The blond stood up as he picked up the travel chair. “It's really late now though, I need to go home. It's been nice to see ya again Kaiba.” Jounouchi stared at the floor refusing to meet the brunet in the eye as he pushed past. Seto stood by the doorway as Jounouchi bid farewell to his friends and thanking them again for babysitting Riku.

 

---

 

A week passed by since Seto last saw Jounouchi. Many a time he considered if he should just look up the damn blond's address or workplace and visit him yet he became self-conscious of the fact that he might inadvertently cause trouble between Jounouchi and Kyoko. Worst of all, Mokuba gave him an ultimatum about work during his `holiday'.

 

“Spend one minute on work and that's one more ~day~ before you're allowed to come back to America,” Kaiba was bored out of his mind. When the phone rang he almost leapt out of his seat in his study.

 

“Kaiba,” he announced in his usual business tone wincing inwardly if it was indeed work.

 

“Yo, I heard you were back in Domino,” a familiar voice came up on the line.

 

“Honda?”

 

“Bingo, glad you still remember me. Thought you might be interested in lending a helping hand tomorrow since I've been told you've been given the red card by Mokuba at work.”

 

“I'm just taking a vacation.” Kaiba snorted. “What do you need help on anyway?”

 

“Well, me and Otogi went to the hospital Jounouchi works at and informed his boss that Jou's come down with the flu and shouldn't come in, in case he passes it onto his patients.” Honda explained. “Long story- short.”

 

“Too late,”

 

“Jou's got a whole week off but he doesn't know it yet, so we're going to go to his place first thing tomorrow morning before he gets up and let him sleep in. How's that sound?” Kaiba frowned at the frivolous nature of the plan but on the other hand it allowed for Seto to meet Kyoko for the first time without making her suspicious.

 

“What time and where?”

 

TBC…

 

(1) Shogayaki- Pork with ginger sauce

(2) Daifuku- Japanese dessert made from rice flour. It has a very doughy/chewy texture taste to it and can contain all sorts of sweet fillings such as red bean paste. It's kind of a Japanese equivalent to a jammy doughnut

(3) This song is called Serenade by Ritsuko Okazaki. It sounds odd in English but I kept it in its literal translation as it's the lyrics are what were significant and deliberately changing it may alter it altogether. For those of you who are interested. Here is the original Japanese version.

 

Serenade

 

Hajimete no takara mono yo,

konna nimo suki ni natte

Tsuyoku te yowai kokoro,

Toki ni wa sabishi garu kedo

 

Kimiga warau to sore dakede mou ureshikute

Subete ga nuku warerun da

Utsu muite ta hi wa koko kara mite ta no wa nukarumi

Demo ima wa sora wo mi age teru

 

Tohou ni kureru senaka ni

Kotoba wo kake tai kedo

Dosha buri ni nureta kata wo

Sugu nimo daki tai keredo

 

Itsu mo itsu demo motomete ite kure nakute ii

Don na hi mo kimi wo shitteru

Kokoro no kagi wo akeru no wa tsuyoi chikara jya naku

Massugu ni omou kimochi

 

Kyou mo ganbarou makenai tsuyosa wo motou

aisuru hito no tame nimo”