Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pools of Glass ❯ Reality Check ( Chapter 8 )

JG-chan: Chapter 8 commence!… well not a lot to say here but…. Enjoy! ^_^

DugFinn: LOL thanks for the review ^_^ it was awesome! For your sake… here is the next chapter! BTW, email me damn you! ^_____^ OH and your last chapter of your story was kawaii!!!! ^_____^

Avvy: Didn't like Bell huh? That's not what your first review said! Anyhoobobble… don't worry about Jou! I got plans for him! ^_^ (no prizes for guessing what though e_e;;)

Reality Check
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Jounouchi had never had so many apologies in his life. He was getting rather sick of it, actually. He had big plans for him and Bell. He even thought as far ahead as marrying her in the not so far future. Now all those thoughts and dreams were shattered. He was so angry… just when his life was going somewhere, this had to happen.

Jou walked into the school grounds on the Monday after the disaster. Bell hadn't been the only one that had been killed in the incident. One of Shizuka's friends, Suki, the girl with blonde hair and ruby-red eyes, had also been killed. About three others had also died, not necessarily instantly, but in hospital. The reason to the collapsing of the building was because the foundation had not been built according to plan, therefore making some of the supporting frames to collapse.

Today would be a memorial day for those that died - Bell, Suki and the other three students. It was being held outside the school hall in the courtyard, where people would be giving speeches about the five wonderful students who so tragically lost their lives.

Memorial…2:30PM…

"Suki… was such an amazing person!" Shizuka blubbered. "It's such a shame she had to leave us… so soon… May you rest in peace, Suki Nakazo." Flustered and weeping, the auburn-haired girl returned to her small cluster of friends sitting in the audience. The rest of the school applauded her speech.

Behind the speech stand, were photos of the five deceased students, including Bell. Below the photos were hundreds upon hundreds of bouquets of flowers, including a colossal bunch of one hundred red roses by Bell's photo from Kaiba. Jou had picked some roses and violets from Mrs. McKnight's garden on the way to school again to put next to Bell's tribute.

"Next, we have Jounouchi Katsuya giving us a speech in remembrance of Ramika Bella. Take it away Jounouchi." Principal Onzaburou-sama said.

"Good luck, bud." Honda said, patting Jou's back as the blonde youth stood up, his speech paper in his fingers trembling.

Jou made his way up to the speech stand and cleared his throat, wiping away the salty tears that stood in his eyes as he glanced up at the photo of the brunette girl who he had grown to love. Clenching his fists to stop himself quivering, he began to read the speech he had prepared off of the crumpled piece of paper.

"A few months ago… I had little knowledge of who Bell really was. To me and probably the rest of you, she was known as the quiet, shy girl who would rather read books at lunch time than have a game of Duel Monsters or football. You'd rarely see her with anyone else, but if you did, it would more than likely be Kaiba Seto, considering the tremendous crush he had on her." Everyone laughed quietly. Jounou looked up and scanned the audience for a humiliated Kaiba, and found him, staring frigidly at the blonde, beet red.

"Anyhow, over the past few months, I had grown to know Bell quite well. We even started dating… and that's probably why I miss her so much." Jou continued, his voice about to crack. He quickly regained composure. "Bell had an identical twin sister, Allodia. Allodia died three years ago in a boating accident. Right now, Bell and Allodia's mother, Ava, is grieving for her two lost daughters, her only children. Bell's father is in the Navy at present, and has to come home from the arctic waters of northern Siberia for his second daughter's funeral tomorrow." The audience was silent.

"Bell is in a better place now, reunited with her sister… may they rest eternally in peace." Jou put the crumpled piece of paper, now drenched in tears, into his pocket and stepped down from the stand, making his way back through the audience as they applauded him.

"That was beautiful, Jou." Anzu murmured.

"Good job, dude..." Honda said quietly.

"Yeah… thanks."

Later… Jounouchi's Apartment…

Jou sat on the couch, staring at the television mindlessly with a bottle of cola and bourbon in his hand, his other hand resting over his chest. He could tell he would be in for another sleepless night once more; nightmares of last Saturday haunting him over and over again.

As the night became darker and the television shows more mind-numbing than the last, Jounouchi began dozing off to sleep after his third cola and bourbon. Shortly after he had fallen asleep in the crease of the couch, a sharp knocking on his door woke him instantaneously. He groaned and staggered over to the door to answer it.

"Jounouchi."

"Wha… Kaiba? What-"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your speech today. It can't have been easy for you." Kaiba said, looking down a fraction into the tired brown eyes of Jounouchi.

"Thanks… err," Jounouchi replied, a little awkwardly, taking sudden interest in the floor. "Wanna come in?"

Declining Jounouchi's request, Kaiba shook his head. "I just thought I would stop by. It's on my way, anyhow."

Jounou frowned. "How'd ya know where I live anyways?"

Kaiba shrugged. "Word gets around." He looked at his watch. "I'll be going."

"Where you off to?" Jounouchi asked with a touch of hope, wondering if Kaiba was actually being…civil?

Then Kaiba scowled at him. "Does that concern you?"

Jounou snarled. "Guess not." And shut the door.

* * * * * * * * * *

It was an odd day for a funeral, such a clear, sun-drenched morning with not a single cloud in the sky to threaten rain or otherwise. Lots of people were standing around in small groups, standing out like sore thumbs in their mainly-black attire against the bright hue of the day. Jou made his way into the church yard where he found Ryou, Honda, Anzu, Yuugi, Otogi and another figure who he couldn't quite make out, standing around.

"Hi Jou." Ryou mentioned in barely a whisper as Jou made his way up to them.

"…hi, guys." Jounouchi replied, and noticed that the person he couldn't recognize from the distance was that weird Egyptian kid that works at the bookstore with Ryou: Malik. Why was he of all people here?

"Hey look, there's Kaiba." Anzu said, causing the rest of the group to turn their heads to the church gates.

Honda clenched a fist. "That bastard has nerve showing up here. What do you say, Jou?"

Jou shrugged and sank his hands into his coat pockets. "Whatever. He liked Bell just as much as I did I guess…"

The others stared open-mouthed, gaping at the blonde's pathetic response. Usually Jou would have come back with a witty insult that either made the rest of his friends laugh or roll their eyes. This time it was… well, nothing.

After the Priest had preached about Bell's life, and after the songs had been sung, people passed by Bell's casket to say their last words, before it would be closed and taken to the crematorium. Honda, Ryou and the others decided to go outside and let Jou be alone with Bell for the last time.

Biting his lip, the blonde youth stepped up to the open coffin where Bell's lifeless body lay. She looked like she was sleeping; her thick black lashes resting peacefully on her peach-coloured cheeks, made to look alive once more by the deceiving art of cosmetics. Her hair was glossy and shiny, billowing out around her shoulders. In her hands she held a bouquet of miniature yellow and pink roses. Jou touched her cheek and quickly snatched it back, noticing she was ice-cold.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she?"

"Huh?" Jounouchi turned around to face Ava and a strongly-built man standing behind him. The man had deep-set grey eyes and a square, chiseled shaped chin with graying hair. He didn't look a lot like Bell, but Jou could tell that he was Bell's father.

"Er… yeah, she was." Jounou replied, finding his voice.

"Lochie, this is Jounouchi… Bell's boyfriend." Ava said to her husband.

Lochie nodded, but stared blankly and icily. "I see."

Intimidated, Jou took one last look at Bell's corpse. "…I love you, Bell Ramika."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Come on Mokuba, we should be going." Kaiba said as he motioned for his younger sibling to follow.

"Thank you for coming." Ava said quickly before the Kaiba brothers exited the Ramika residence.

Kaiba nodded. "It was the least I could do."

Ava nodded. "Take care."

"Likewise." With that said, the two walked down the steps and into Kaiba's classy black sports car.

"I really ought to be going too." Jou said, being one of the last people at the after-gathering of the funeral.

"Wait, Jounouchi… I want to show you a few things before you leave." Ava said gently.

"Oh?"

"Yes… follow me, if you will."

Jounouchi followed the brown-haired woman up a flight of dark, narrow stairs and came to a locked room. Ava took a key from her pocket and inserted it into the keyhole and unlocked the door. Jounouchi followed her in, and guessed it was more than likely Bell's old room.

"Here… I think Bell would want you to have these…" Ava said, taking out a large brown-paper envelope. "I also put in a few photos of her… for you to keep, of course."

Jounouchi was stuck for words. "Oh… uh, thank you Ava… I'll be sure to look at them."

On Jounouchi's way home, he opened the parcel and looked at a few of the photos. She sure was a sight for sore eyes. Swiftly, a piece of white paper slipped out of the envelope and landed gracefully on the pavement. Creasing his brow, Jou picked it up.

"Ehhh… what's this?" He thought out loud.

Picking up the piece of smooth white paper and turning it over between his fingers so it was face-up, Jou found it being a portrait sketch of someone, sketched in varying shades of pencil. On closer inspection, it was a sketch of… him.

* * * * * * * * * *

JG-chan: Okay another short and CRAPPIE chapter… I know -_-

Jou: Do you get sadistic pleasure in torturing me?

JG-chan: Nope but I know who does >:-D

Kaiba: *whistles quietly in the background*

Jou: Son of a---!

JG-chan: NOW Jou… be niiice…

Jou: *attacks authoress*

JG-chan: O.O Aaaahhh!!! *runs away screaming in terror*

Kaiba: Juvenile morons -_- review, for my sake, okay?