Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pools of Glass ❯ Only Time Will Tell ( Chapter 14 )

JG-chan: Okay I'm not going to make this too long as it's getting kinda late… and…alkdjf;iasdkfnkdjfg.ser34rjlfjdkfl;eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Nyoko: O.O Damn it! She's fallen asleep on the keyboard again! -___- *picks up and takes her hikari to bed*

Anubiset: THANK YOU for your review! I appreciate it so much! Frankly I don't know where I'm going with this fic either, but I'm glad you like it all the same ^_^

DugFinn: Yay! You reviewed! Thank you! ^____^ my email is still the same (if you've still got it) so email me some time kk?! PS - I still love your fic! It's the best!!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH!!! If I did, there would be Seto Kaiba x Jounouchi Katsuya and Malik Ishtar x Ryou Bakura flavoured ice cream mixed together… *coughcoughNoI'mnotcrazycoughcough* oh and I don't own the song "Broken" by Seether and Amy Lee either.

WARNING: Fluff and cursing in this chap, me thinks…

Only Time Will Tell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I wanted you to know… that I love the way you laugh… I wanna hold you high and steal your pain… away… I keep your photograph; I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain…" Jou sang into the microphone.

Jou and Ryou then sang together, "'Cause I'm broken, when I'm lonesome…and I don't feel right… when you're gone away…"

Otogi hadn't talked to Honda since receiving the letter from the brunet. He was completely stumped on trying to figure out what to say to him. He'd probably just get his tongue twisted and babble out a whole lot of junk that didn't make any sense. He got like that around people he liked. Every time he saw the brunet he couldn't help but blush furiously and avoided eye contact with his life.

At present Otogi was thrashing about on the drums while practicing with the rest of the guys in their band. He had suggested they meet up for once so they could talk about what they were going to do with their band. They hadn't all been together as a group for so long it was almost as if their band was no longer existent.

Jou and Ryou, being the lead singers of the group, had taken a look at the song that Otogi had wrote, and decided to give it a try. So far it seemed to be going very well. Even after such a long period of not singing, Jou and Ryou's voices seemed to be in perfect condition.

"The worst is over now… and we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high; you steal my pain away… There's so much left to learn, and no-one left to fight, I wanna hold you high and steal your pain…" Ryou sang his solo.

Bakura, Marik, Malik, Yami and Anzu were sitting on a whole lot of cushions on the floor opposite the small stage, watching the group perform. Malik had never seen Ryou sing before; he thought it was sweet. Ryou was awesomely talented and Malik never knew. The lavender-eyed boy made a mental note to spoil Ryou rotten tonight.

The song ended shortly. There were a few moments of still silence before the spectators registered that it was their cue to applaud them.

"That was awesome, you guys!" Anzu cheered as she got up and clapped.

"Wow Ryou… I never knew you could sing like that." Malik said as he walked up to the pastel-haired teen and kissed him on the head.

Ryou blushed a little. "I'm not that good you know…"

"Oh don't be so modest, hikari." Bakura protested, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

This only made Ryou chuckle and flush harder.

"So what do you say then? Again?" Honda asked, looking at Otogi in particular. The raven haired-boy still chose to avoid eye contact at all costs.

"Nah, I gotta get going. We've been practicing all afternoon!" Jou whined as he turned the microphone off and jumped down from the stage.

"Off to Kaiba's again, are we Jou-kun?" Yami teased. It was no secret that Jou had been going to Kaiba's for quite a while. Everybody knew - but they didn't know why.

Jou grimaced at the elder spirit. "No, actually, I wasn't."

"Then where do you have to go?" Honda asked.

"…Somewhere."

"Ah! Come on, Jounou! You can tell me, Honda Hiroto, your bestest buddy of all time! Can't you?" Honda cried as he tackled him.

The blond rolled his eyes. "I'm going to meet up with Mai. Happy now?"

A confused expression spread onto Honda's face. "Mai? What does she want to meet up with you for?"

"It's a long story," Jou said, slinging his bag over his back. "I'll see you tomorrow, guys!"

"See ya," Everyone said waving him off.

"I'd better get going too." Otogi mumbled quietly and gathered his things.

"I'll join you! Where're ya off to?" Honda said.

Otogi groaned internally. The last thing he wanted today was to be humiliated by Honda hanging around him like a bad smell. He could hardly face the boy as it was, let alone go and do something with him. "I'm just going home…" Otogi said. "You know, it's getting kind of hot. I need a shower."

Damn it, Ryuuji! That was not the best thing to say in this situation…

"Oh, right! So…" Honda looked at his watch. "It's almost six o'clock. How about I cook up a storm in the kitchen while you have your shower, then?"

Otogi sighed and rubbed his temples. "Why do you suddenly want to spend so much time with me? When I first got here, all we did was play football together."

Honda's eyes widened and adrenaline soon took its toll. "I dunno… I guess… You know… That song you wro-"

"Who gives a fuck about the song, Honda?!" Otogi suddenly screamed. "God damn it! I don't even know why I wrote that! I'm straight, Honda! I don't wanna be gay, but I fucking think I am! Why can't you just get out of my life?!" With that, the black-haired boy growled in frustration, punched the concrete wall on the side of the performing arts block and stormed off toward his car in the student car park.

Honda stood aghast, his mouth slightly apart, eyes wide. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He hadn't seen someone erupt with such anger and frustration before.

Ryou, Malik and the others stood quietly in the main entrance of the building behind Honda. They had seen the whole thing.

"Honda-kun! Are you okay?" Yuugi rushed up to the taller brunet boy who was still standing, gaping at the infuriated boy who was nearly out of sight.

"Um… yeah." Honda managed to croak. "I'll see ya around, Yug'." Shoving his hands in his pockets, Honda stalked off to his motorbike which was parked, unfortunately, in the same parking lot as Otogi's car.

~*~

Jounouchi waited patiently in the diner for Mai's arrival. Ten minutes had already gone by, and she hadn't shown. He was thinking of leaving soon. The only reason he wanted to meet up with the blonde bombshell is because he didn't want to disappoint her. She could get pretty nasty when she didn't get her own way, and her feelings were hurt easily.

"Hey! Jounouchi!"

About time you got here!

"Heya, Mai."

"Sorry I'm so late," The blonde panted, and collapsed into the booth opposite Jou. "Traffic at this time of the night is unbelievable."

"Yeah, I hear ya. So, wanna order?"

Mai gave him a skeptical look. "Oh no, Jou. I can't eat anything from this place! Do you realize how much weight I would put on just by eating one burger?"

"I don't think I wanna know. You on a diet or something?"

She nodded. "Three square meals of organic food a day. No snacking and certainly no desserts… unless it's fruit."

"Right…" This was definitely not the Mai that Jounouchi used to know. She'd changed dramatically since they were together. Jou had said he didn't care what she looked like though, because he loved her. Junk food was a way of life for them back then - they used to come to this same diner every Sunday for breakfast.

"Anyway, I want to show you these." Mai said as she fished around in her purse and pulled out a large yellow envelope. "I got some of my modeling photos processed today. Would you like to have a look?"

"Sure," Jou nodded. "What sort of photos are they?"

"These ones are lingerie and swimsuit. I wasn't sure if you wanted to see the nude ones or not." She giggled a bit.

Jou raised an eyebrow. "Nothing I ain't seen before anyway…"

She shrugged. "I guess. Anyway, here. Tell me what you think."

Jou took the photos out of the envelope and looked at them. She certainly had what it took to be a model - no wonder she was wanted all over the world. You'd probably be seeing her in the next issues of Playboy, FHM or Ralph. The skimpy spaghetti-string bikinis she was wearing reminded Jou of times they had together during summer at the beach. Every other guy was gawking at her and all Jou could do was laugh in their faces and then kiss her right in front of them.

"These are pretty good." He said. "Do you plan on going back to America any time soon?"

"Well… that's what I was about to ask you about, actually." Mai said as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "After I do these videos in Japan, they want me back in Los Angeles. But I'm not going to go because…" Her voice trailed off. She looked outside at the darkening sky and suddenly went quiet.

Jou knew what was on her mind. "Don't let me stop you, Mai. Look how far you've come already! You can have anyone; what do you want with me?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Jou. I guess there are some unresolved feelings still there…" She looked up at him with her pretty violet eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, hon. I will never forget the night we broke up… I'd never seen you so angry."

"I was pretty upset… I'm sorry it had to turn out this way. You hurt me, Mai… You were all I had at the time and then I lost you too. My life hit rock bottom." Jou mumbled.

Tears sparkled at the corners of Mai's amethyst eyes. "I'm sorry… Do you think we could ever give it another try?"

Jou shrugged. "Maybe. But if you'd be going back and forth to America and be doing pornography with other guys then I don't think I'd be able to handle it."

Mai nodded and hung her head. "Alright… well, at least I know my answer now." She smiled half-heartedly.

Jou stood up. "I guess some things just weren't meant to be, Mai." With that said, the blond walked out of the diner and started on his way home down the dark streets of downtown Domino.

~*~

Ryou woke the following morning - Saturday. It was unusually hot in his bedroom, and he was soaked from head to toe with sweat. Malik was still asleep; twitching and moaning softly in his sleep. Ryou propped himself up and peeled the sheets off of his Egyptian lover and noticed his tanned form was also glistening with sweat.

Hmm… maybe Bakura left the heater on downstairs last night or something…

The snow-colour-haired hikari crawled out of bed and staggered to the bedroom window and threw it open, only to notice that it was the same temperature outside as it was in. He frowned and looked across the crystal clear morning sky. There was not a cloud in sight, and the sun was burning down harshly upon the Earth. Then he clicked.

Oh Gods! Heat wave!

Ryou quickly tied his hair up behind his head, changed into a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt and rushed down the hall to Marik and Bakura's room. He quietly creaked the bedroom door open, only to find the two yamis still sound asleep. Marik was spread right across the bed on his back with Bakura sprawled across him on his stomach. Ryou assumed that it was the position they had fallen asleep in that night after the obvious sounds to their fanatical lovemaking.

Well… at least he's still asleep… for now…

Ryou went downstairs and clicked on the TV. It was only 7:45AM, but he was a morning person anyway so it didn't matter. Neither of the other boys that lived in the house surfaced until about 10 am at the earliest. Malik found it unbearable having to wake up at 6 am on week days to get to school by seven. It was lucky that Ryou unquestionably woke up early; he was like Malik's alarm clock.

The early morning news was on. Some bubble-brain blonde was doing the morning update on the terrorism attack in Russia. Ryou's heart sank as she announced how many children's lives had been lost due to two country's political dilemmas, greed and jealousy.

It's not their fault that two countries are conflicting! England and Scotland fought for centuries but they didn't have to take innocent little children hostage just to get their own ways! Ryou thought in protest. What a fucked up world this place is becoming…

The weather bulletin soon came on. The reporter announced that most of southern Japan, including Domino, Tokyo and Osaka, was being hit by an immense heat wave coming from the coast of Vietnam and southern China.

Ryou thought of Amane. She never did like the heat, that's why she loved England so much, especially at Christmas time with the snow. She looked like an angel with her white hair and turquoise eyes against the snow in Ryou's parents' old back yard. It was a shame that what Amane loved the most also had to kill her…

Ryou remembered quite clearly the day that he had found out the news. It was early January - the time when the snow is the heaviest in the United Kingdom. Faith, Ryou and Amane's mother, had received a phone-call from Liverpool one Friday evening. Her mother had fallen ill and didn't have much time left. She had requested to see her family at least one more time before she passed on.

At that time, Ryou was eleven and Amane nine. Ryou was sick with Scarlet Fever, and therefore couldn't go on the trip to Liverpool to see his grandma. He stayed home that weekend with his father, as Faith and Amane packed their things and left on Saturday morning.

They never did make it to Liverpool.

The narrow winding country roads on the way to Liverpool were slick with ice and slushy snow, and a large truck carrying timber had slid out on a blind corner. Faith could not stop in time. They ploughed right into the truck… and were both killed instantly.

"Ryou?"

Ryou was startled out of his trance which had taken him so deeply down memory lane by the sound of his lover's voice. "Malik… you're awake."

"Yeah." Malik plopped down on the couch next to Ryou. "Why is it so freaking hot? I feel like I'm at home again!"

By home, Ryou knew he meant Egypt. "The heat wave Bakura was talking about has finally hit."

Malik looked out the window and sighed a bit. "I hope Bakura's going to be okay. He's going to freak as soon as he wakes up."

Ryou nodded. "I know… We just have to be as supportive as we can."

Malik nodded in agreement. "Well, might as well go take advantage of it! I'm going to sunbathe for a while."

Ryou rolled his chocolate eyes. "As if you need it."

Malik gave him a horrified, yet sarcastic look. "I do need it though! Look at me!"

Ryou looked at him and crossed his arms. "Don't be modest. You're already as brown as a berry."

Malik shrugged. "You can never be too brown." Then he strolled outside.

Ryou set his hands on his hips and called, "You're going to smell like burnt toast by the time you're done!"

~*~

Jounouchi smoothed back his annoyingly silky blond hair before proceeding to knock on the Kaiba Estate's front doors. Damn… I shouldn't have washed my hair this morning! Bloody annoying stupid hair…

"About time you got here."

Jou, startled, looked up into a pair of blue eyes staring down at him in the doorway. "Traffic jam." Jou muttered.

"I see." Kaiba said. "Come in."

Jou walked into the huge mansion that had now become quite familiar to him. He could find his way around the place at ease now - the library was on the second floor, kitchen and living room on the ground floor, and the bedrooms were on the third floor. Out the back was the bathhouse which had an in-ground heated swimming pool, a steam room, sauna, spa and gym. Outside in the back yard was a lush garden full of exotic flowers from many parts of the world, a lily pond, a rose bed and a lot of marble statues from Greece and Italy.

Jou watched Kaiba adjusting his tie in the mirror. "What are you putting a tie on for? We're only going to the cemetery."

"I have to go to the office quickly afterwards."

Jou felt his heart sink. "Oh."

Kaiba picked up the tone in Jou's voice and gave him an odd look. "You can come if you want… I'll only be ten minutes or so."

"And for that you have to put a tie on?" Jou nearly laughed.

"For my employee's sake, yes."

Jou frowned. "What do they care?"

"Well I hate to sound vain," Kaiba began. "But if I walk into the office wearing my casual attire I get about ten-thousand pairs of eyes abusing me. Now, shall we go?"

Jounouchi had to roll his eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get outa here."

It was lucky that Kaiba's car had air conditioning, or Jou would have disintegrated into a pile of melted nothingness. The heat of the day was overwhelming, and there wasn't even the slightest breeze to relieve the residents of Domino - or rather, most of East Asia.

"Uh so… shouldn't we have gotten some flowers or something?" Jou asked as they pulled up outside the cemetery.

"I already got some." Kaiba said as he gestured to the leather back seat of the Lamborghini they were currently in. "They're from my own garden."

The two boys got out of the luxury sports car and approached section of Domino's main cemetery where Bell's ashes had been buried. The tombstone above her grave was her twin sister's - Allodia's. They had been buried together after Bell had died. The tombstone read: "Allodia and Bell Ramika, much loved sisters and daughters. May they rest in peace in the hands of God".

"It's hard to believe she's gone, even after all this time." Kaiba said quietly.

"Yeah," Jou agreed. "She was such a nice girl… I can't believe I never noticed her before…"

"You were lucky." Kaiba said sternly.

"How do you suppose that?" Jou asked. "I loved her Kaiba… Now she's gone."

Kaiba looked toward the tombstone. "At least you got the chance to have what I always wanted… and I'm sorry for being a jerk about it."

Jou knew what he was talking about. "It's okay… Friends?"

Okay, why did I just say that? Stupid, stupid, STUPID!!

Kaiba gave him a peculiar look. "Why?"

"It's… probably what Bell would have wanted." Jou bit hard down on his bottom lip and placed the bunch of flowers next to the tombstone. A couple of tears surfaced at the corners of his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away before he stood up.

"Yeah I guess…" Kaiba replied. "Hey, you're not crying are you?"

"No," Jou lied in an obvious, wobbly voice. Then he let out a loud sob and apologized for it. "I'm sorry…"

Kaiba felt perfectly awkward standing next to the blond who was obviously unable to hold in his emotions. What should I do…? Just stand there and wait for him to calm down? I suppose I could… comfort him… in some way or another… Sighing quietly, the blue-eyed boy slowly put his arms around Jounouchi and let the shorter boy cry into his chest.

Together they stood there, in the blistering heat of the day, grieving for the girl whom they both once had grown to love. Kaiba couldn't help but wonder as he was holding Jounouchi in his arms, whether this would be the first and last time that he would be able to get this close to the boy that he used to despise.

He guessed only time will tell.

* * * * * * *

JG-chan: *snooooooooooooooooooooooooooore*

Nyoko: Well… since the authoress is currently crashed out in her bedroom right now, I guess I'll end it here. Hope you liked it and don't forget to leave your comments! ^^ flames will be used to fuel my powers of darkness! MOOAHAHAHAHAHAA!!