Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pools of Glass ❯ Basket Case ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Note: This is my second Jou/OC fic… my other one I deleted coz it sucked major time. Anyway, this one will be a lot better, I promise. So please, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Basket Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jounouchi sat on his apartment step outside, frustrated. A wide, white full moon shone down on him in the 12:45AM morning air. It was chilly as he held his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. He watched Mai's thin figure disappear into the night - the last time he would probably ever see her. What have I done to deserve this? Why'd she do it? Why'd she… cheat on me? I guess I was an idiot to think that… that it would… last. He choked into tears once more as the icy air surrounded him. About half an hour later his head was clear enough to return upstairs to his trashed apartment room…

**** … flashback … ****

"You fucking slut! Why the fuck did you do it?! Huh?! You fucking whore, get out of my fucking house!" Jounouchi had screamed.

"I should have known you wouldn't understand!" Mai shrieked back at him, dodging a chair that sailed across the room in her direction.

"There is nothing to understand! You fucking cheated on me! Why? Why the fuck would you do something like that? SLUT!"

Mai burst into sobs again and ran for her purse and jacket. She ran out of the apartment, but Jounouchi followed closely behind. She jumped into the elevator just before Jou could get inside, so he took the stairs. She ran down the street quickly, her purple boots clapping on the cold concrete pavement.

"Yeah! You keep running! Fuckin' whore!" Jou yelled. All he got in reply was the one-fingered salute as she ran away into the night.

**** … end … ****

Jou frowned and groaned at the state of his apartment. There were smashed bottles, overturned chairs and there was a huge hole in the wall, compliments to Jou's fist. When Jou got angry, he got ANGRY. He sighed and began cleaning things up. It was 2AM before he got to sleep - alone.

9:32AM…

Jou looked at the time as he rolled over in bed. "FUCK!" With all the strength he could summon, he leapt out of bed and ran for his wardrobe, pulling on his school uniform and ducking out the door with his schoolbooks thrown untidily into his schoolbag.

It was about ten to ten by the time Jou finally arrived in third period - math. After receiving an after-school detention from Horoki-sensei, he fell into place behind his desk at the back of the classroom next to Honda. He didn't bother to explain, but instead lay on his desk and closed his eyes.

"Dude, what are you so late for?"

Jou let out a long, frustrated groan. "Let's just say I'll never be seeing that spiteful wench ever again."

Honda looked taken aback. "Who? You mean Mai?"

"Yeah. She cheated on me man." Jou clenched his fists.

"Sorry to hear that, dude. You okay?"

"Not right now."

"It'll get better man. What say we go to the arcade after school? I got 2000 yen from pops this morning."

Jou sighed again. "Can't. Horoki-sensei just gave me a detention for bein' late."

A throat-clearing sound was heard from the front of the classroom. "Would you like detentions after school every day of the week, Mr. Jounouchi?"

"No." Jou replied sourly.

"Then I suggest you get out your math book and start writing something."

Lunchtime came. Jou wasn't in the slightest bit hungry - which was unusual at this time of the day. Honda had told the rest of the gang what had happened between him and Mai in the early hours of the morning. Yugi and Anzu looked especially sympathetic.

In the cafeteria, Jou stirred the mush on his plate with his fork. It looked so disgusting that he actually felt like vomiting - hell the food itself looked like vomit. Honda greedily tucked into his sushi while Anzu sipped on her lemonade. Yugi was reading some magazine about duel monster strategies. Kaiba passed by and made his usual comments on Jou:

"What's the mutt done this time? Snapped his leash? His tail is between his legs…" He giggled smugly.

"You wanna repeat that to my face?" Jou threatened.

"Don't be obnoxious, puppy. Heel!" Kaiba chuckled again.

Jou shot up from the table onto his feet. "Fuck you Kaiba, you loaded jerk!" He cried.

"Down boy! Behave yourself!" The blue-eyed brunet laughed harder.

Jounouchi growled low in his throat and attacked Kaiba on impulse. This wouldn't be the first fist-fight they had been in together. Everyone gathered around them and started cheering them on.

"You're no match for me, Katsuya!" Kaiba hissed as he threw a swing at Jou's face. Jou grunted as Kaiba's fist came into contact with his eye and knocked his brain about inside of his head.

"Asshole!" Jou gave Kaiba a blow to the stomach and he went flying back into a load of spectators. Jou was still on his feet, but blood was trickling down his face from his bottom eyelid.

"Jou! Calm down man!" Honda ran to Jou and held him back from taking another lashing out at Kaiba.

A flock of girls flooded to Kaiba's side as he lay on the ground, propped up by his elbows. Kaiba began to laugh as he picked himself up, ignoring the sympathetic comments from the females that surrounded him. He brushed himself off and grabbed for his briefcase.

"Well I'll be damned; the mutt finally got a good punch in. You're such a useless fighter, Katsuya." Some girlie giggles were heard.

Jou growled and writhed harder in Honda's grip. "Lemme at him, Honda!"

"Jou, calm yourself!" Anzu said.

"Yeah, calm yourself puppy - don't wanna get too excited, do we?" Kaiba snickered as he walked off.

Jou's chest puffed out and deflated quickly as he watched his mortal enemy disappear out the corridors of the cafeteria. He eventually calmed down and went to clean up his eye. The crowd of spectators returned to their seats and went back to their lunches. Jou felt like crying his eyes out more than ever.

Detention…

Today's detention was held in one of the science labs at the other end of the school upstairs. Jounouchi strode into the room and noticed he was, more than likely, the last to arrive. The teacher taking the detention was a kindly old lady who should really be retired at her age - Ms. Sae.

"Jounouchi Katsuya?"

"Yeah?"

"Good, you're here. Please take a seat next to Johnny."

Jounouchi took a seat up at one of the science benches next to some crazy kid with piercings in every possible place on his face. He had a lime-green Mohawk and was reading some gothic book with really old fashioned pages in it. A shiver ran down Jou's spine.

Jou pondered about, taking in the dull grey surroundings of the room. The air had a sour twang to it… probably all the chemical gases and what have you. About ten minutes later, a girl came rushing into the lab and ran to the front desk. Jou startled out of his daydream and creased his brow at the girl who was running frantically up the middle aisle of the room. She ran by so fast Jou didn't even see her face.

"I'm so sorry I'm late! Oh boy… I'm really in for it now, aren't I?" She panted. Ms. Sae looked at her sternly.

"Bell Ramika?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Take a seat. For being late you will have detention every day for the rest of the week. Do I make myself clear?"

The girl sighed. "Yes Ms. Sae…" She turned to walk back up the aisle and took a seat next to Jounouchi.

She wasn't much to look at - she had these huge goofy brunette bangs and thickly framed glasses. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail which fell to the middle of her back between her shoulder blades. She got out a book from her bag and began reading. Jou stared curiously at her… he recognized her after a while. Her name was Bell Ramika and she was a bit of a geek. She had hardly any friends and was seen most of the time in the library. She was a real brain-box too… she was in every one of Kaiba's classes. She looked up at Jou who was staring absurdly at her, and gave him a little smile.

"What are you in here for?" She asked timidly.

"I las wate." Jou's words came out all jumbled. Of course he actually meant to say `I was late.'

"Las wate? Is that Danish?" She asked, being deadly serious.

Jou laughed a little. "No… I actually meant to say that I was late." He felt like kicking himself.

"Oh…" Bell replied, her cheeks touched with crimson. She went back to reading her book.

"So… whatsa girl like you doin' in a place like dis? You don't seem like the type to get detentions often." Jou asked, plainly out of curiosity.

"Well, if you really wanna know, it's because some jerk in my class swapped my essay paper with his. He had written all this abuse over it and of course the teacher thought that I had written it. He didn't even bother to listen to my side of the story." She sighed and shook her head.

"Damn, that really sucks."

"Yeah, I know." She paused for a minute. "Your name is Jounouchi… isn't it?"

"Yeh… call me Jou."

"Okay, Jou. Do you mind if I ask how you got your…"

"My black eye?" Jou asked, grinning and pointing to his bruised eye. "Compliments to Kaiba."

"I'm sorry Jounou- uh, Jou. Kaiba's really nasty sometimes."

"You're tellin' me. I bet he's not an ass to you though, since he's in all of your classes and all."

Bell smiled and thought for a moment. "No, actually he's rather nice. Too nice, if you ask me."

"How come?"

She rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter."

"Aww, go on!" Jou teased.

"Really, it doesn't -" Bell looked up to a fuming looking Ms. Sae. I guess her `kindly old lady' mode had switched to `horrid old bag' mode.

"Mr. Jounouchi! Miss. Ramika! There will be no such chatter going on! Mr. Jounouchi, you will be joining Miss. Ramika for the rest of the week! Is that perfectly clear?"

Jou groaned and collapsed onto the desk. His day couldn't get much worse if he tried. Bell looked at him and mouthed a silent `sorry'. He shrugged.

"It's okay. I'll live. Anyway, as you were saying?"

"Uh… I'd better write you a note, don't wanna earn ourselves another week in here, right?" Bell whispered and got out a notebook from her bag and ripped out a page.

"Yeah." Jou replied. She began writing in blue ink on the lined paper.

"I don't know what it is with him, but I think he's got some sort of… crush? It's weird. As far as I know I'm the only person that he's nice to. I have no idea why. What would he see in someone like ME? I mean, he's the richest teenager in the world… its crazy." Jou read over the note a couple of times. Kaiba? Have a… crush? Jou snorted a laugh out loud, drawing attention to the rest of the class. Ms. Sae shot a spiteful look at him.

1 hour later…

"Alright, you are all free to go. But I will be seeing you two tomorrow, in here. If you don't show up then you'll be paying a visit to the principal, is that clear?" Ms. Sae said, referring to the blonde teen and the brunette girl sitting at the science bench at the end of the classroom.

Jou and Bell nodded in unison and gathered their things before exiting the classroom. They went down the stairs and outside into the schoolyard. The school was empty and there were storm clouds overhead. A slight rumble of thunder crashed in the distance.

"So… Kaiba's got a thing for ya, huh?" Jou asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Well… that's what I've been told. He does act awfully nice around me. We spend most of our lunchtimes together." Bell replied.

Jou reeled. "You do? Why would you wanna hang out with a good-for-nothing swine like him?"

Bell chuckled a little and pushed her glasses back up. "It's not like I ask him to… he just… I dunno, comes and sits with me sometimes."

Jou let out a grunt of dissatisfaction. "So… what does he talk about wit ya?"

"Oh you know; this and that. Schoolwork mostly."

"I bet there's a lotta girls that would just love to take ya place right now." Jou replied, thinking back to all the girls that follow Kaiba around aimlessly at school.

Bell sighed. "I guess that's one reason why I don't have many friends…" Her voice trailed off.

"Ehhh, they're just jealous. Don't worry about `em. You're more dan welcome to come `n sit with me and da gang if ya like." Jou offered.

Bell gave him a little smile. "Thanks Jou… are you sure Anzu wouldn't mind?"

Jou frowned. "Why would she?"

"I don't know… female instinct… territorial sorta thing?"

"Pfft, Anzu's not like that. Don't worry; she wouldn't be all bitchy at ya or nothin'." Jou replied.

"Well, if you're sure. Anyway, here's my street. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Bell said, stopping at the corner of a small street and the main road.

Jounouchi nodded. "Yeah, see ya tomorra." Jou watched the girl with skinny brown legs walk away down the street which was choked with Sakura trees in full bloom. He breathed out deeply through his nose and continued his journey down the main street to his own apartment. Nice girl. He thought. All these years I've been living here and I never noticed her once walk out of that street… geeze…

+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+

Okay well I hoped you all liked that. Look out for chapter 2 - I'm posting it up soon.