Cinnamon and Sugar

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Chapter Two: Oregano

Johan was enjoying his well deserved rest after his long flights to East Academy, but it seemed that it was not meant to last as the stereo suddenly blared up, waking both inhabitants of the room. "What the heck is going on?!" Johan shouted as he sat up. "Sorry, I forgot to turn off my alarm clock." Jehu shouted back in answer from his bed on the opposite side of the room before he began looking down at the carpeted floor as if looking for something.

"Well turn it off Jehu!" Johan shot back as he covered his ears. It took a few more seconds for Jehu to find what he was looking for, but when he did, he picked up the small black remote and pushed a white round button. Instantly, the music stopped and Johan finally let go of his ears. "That was your alarm clock?" Johan asked incredulously. "More like the perfect way to blast your eardrums…" He muttered and Jehu couldn't help but to laugh a bit.

"Anything less than that won't get me up on time for first period. But don't worry little brother, you'll get used to it soon enough." Johan grumbled something about insensitive siblings before looking up at the clock on the wall. It read nine twenty five, which was way too early for him who was planning on sleeping in today. He groaned before laying back down on his bed, maybe if he was lucky enough, he would be able to fall back to sleep.

"You still plan on sleeping, Johan?" Jehu asked before getting out of bed and walking over to the closet to pick out some clothes. "Yes, I am. What about you, where are you going so early in the morning?" Jehu turned back to face his younger brother and raised one of his eyebrows. "Early in the morning? It's almost nine thirty, Johan." He answered which caused Johan's eyes to snap open as he stared at his brother as if he was the eighth wonder of the world. "What?"

"You are my idiot brother, Jehu, right? You know; the one whose definition of waking up early is getting up quarter past noon?" He asked and Jehu spluttered. "That was a long time ago!" He told the younger male as his brother gave him a look that said 'I-don't-believe-you'. "That happened just last Christmas break. Remember when you came back home for the holidays?" He deadpanned and a shirt got thrown at his head. "Jehu?! What's the deal, man?" Johan asked angrily, a scowl present in his face.

"Since you're up, you might get dressed as well and go with me…" Jehu muttered and his brother almost didn't hear. "Go where?" He asked in between shooting suspicious looks at his brother. "Isn't that obvious? We're going out to get some breakfast." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then suddenly, Jehu's eyes seemed to light with some amusement as an evil grin appeared on his face. "And if you're lucky, you might just see your cute little Judai again."

It took a few seconds for him to process his brother's words, but when he did; his face turned a nice shade of red. "Jehu!" The older bluenette might have teased his brother even more if not for the fact that he had to dodge the pillows that were aimed at his head. He did a few side steps to dodge and when his brother had run out of ammo, stepped inside the connecting bathroom. "I call first dibs on the bathroom!" Was the only thing he said before shutting the bathroom door.

"Man, I'm stuffed. That was a good meal right, Johan?" Jehu said as the two Anderson brothers walked out of the restaurant that they had breakfast at. But when the younger man made no reply, Jehu frowned. "Johan? What's up with the sudden silent treatment little bro? Don't tell me you're still mad I dragged your butt out of the dorms…" He asked but then another thought came into his head. "Or are you upset about the fact that you didn't get to see Judai?" He teased.

The effect was instantaneous. Johan whipped his head back so fast that his brother thought that he would get backlash from the action. "I keep telling you, it's not like that!" He protested as his older brother just smirked before ruffling the younger teen's hair. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." He said before walking ahead with his brother following shortly behind. But it was only because he didn't know the area very well and didn't want to end up lost.

"Well since you're already out here. I'll give you a tour of the city." Jehu said as he stopped to look back at his brother. "I'm pretty sure you already know this but here in Expressione Island; aside for being the place where the East Academy is located, it also has fully functioning town." He explained and Johan just nodded. "Alright, pop quiz. What is the name of the town?" Jehu asked and it only took less than two seconds for Jonan to answer. "The town's name is Risorsa."

"Bingo! That's the right answer. Next question, who live and run the town?" At that, Johan had no answer, so his brother decided to enlighten him. "Buzz! Time's up! The correct answer is the school staff." He said and quite predictably, Johan gaped at him. "Everyone in the town is a part of the school staff?!" Jehu's face turned thoughtful as contemplated how to explain things to his baby brother. "Well, the adults are anyways."

"The younger members of the town are mostly the children and relatives of the school staff. Let me tell you a bit about the town Johan, like I said before it's a full functioning town. The school staff all live here in Expressione Island, and they're given their own house in the town. But they can also bring their family to Expressione Island as well as raise their family here. The town has it all! It has a hospital, a library, and even schools for the younger population of the town." He explained before grinning.

"Pretty sweet place to work at, huh? Not to mention the food's the best here!" He added, but his brother said nothing, having been completely and utterly stunned speechless at that revelation. "Don't just keep staring at me, say something!" His brother told him, feeling slightly unnerved by the continuing silence from his brother. "I-" He began only to be cut off when they heard a scream. The brothers looked at each other for a second, before both ran off to search for the source of the scream.

The two followed the direction that they thought the scream came from and arrived at what looked to be a park. There, they found a little girl standing on top of the bench, looking visibly scared as a rather large dog with mangy black fur kept jumping up and snapping at her. Both brothers could see that with every attempt at jumping the dog made, it got closer to the little girl. They were about to rush over and help the child out, but someone had beaten them to it.

From the right side of the park came a person with long brown hair wearing a white shirt with a black vest on top, black Khakis and black gladiator sandals. Johan almost thought that it was Judai when he saw that the girl had piercing golden eyes, and he did a double take to make sure that his eyes weren't just deceiving him. But no matter how long he looked, those eyes stayed golden and he could only watch as the teen walked closer to both the little girl and the dog.

The dog instantly stopped trying to bite at the child as it turned to the teen instead. It went on all fours and got into a position to pounce, growling loudly all the while. But the teen made no motion to move, and instead stared unflinchingly at the dog's eyes. It seemed to go on for hours to the younger bluenette, when in reality; it couldn't have been longer than a few seconds. The teen then slowly began to walk forward and for a second Johan thought that the dog would attack her.

But it didn't, it just stayed where it was and kept its eyes on the approaching teen. When she was only a few steps away from the bench, she turned her attention to the crying child for a few seconds before returning it back on the animal and it seemed to have tense as those deep golden eyes fell on it. "Heel." With just one word, the dog obeyed and got out of its pouncing stance and lied down as if it was a tamed animal.

Johan could only watch in amazement as the teen continued to walk forward, picking the child up from where she stood on the bench, before setting her back down on the ground and sending her on her way. The child gave her a tearful 'thank you', before running back home. Once the child was no longer in sight Johan soon found an intense golden gaze being turned towards their way. Johan was at a loss of what to do, but it didn't seem to be the same case for his brother.

"Haou!" He shouted as he began running over to where the teen was standing, his arms outstretched and as if he was planning on embracing the girl. But sadly for him, before he could get within four steps of her, the same dog that had been obediently lying down suddenly got up and went in between both teens. It faced Jehu with its teeth bared and claws outstretched, and the bluenette wisely choose to cease his running and back up a bit.

"Jehu, it's been a while." The teen now known as Haou calmly greeted as she walked over and put her hand on the dog's head. Instantly, the dog relaxed before using it's snout to nuzzle her hand. "You've tamed yet another animal again, I see." Jehu commented and watched as the teen sat down on the bench with the dog putting it front paws and head on her lap before she started to pet it. "You say it like that's a bad thing, Jehu. But enough about that; aren't you going to introduce me to the young man over there?"

It seemed that was the only time that the older male remembered his brother and began waving him over. Though Johan was hesitant at first, he slowly made his way to where his brother was. "Haou, this is Johan, my younger brother." Jehu introduced as Johan gave her a small polite bow. "Hmmm, Yubel was right. He's definitely a younger and more polite version of you." She said before turning to Johan. "A pleasure to meet you, Johan." She said, a small smile on her lips.

"The pleasure's all mine, Haou-san." Johan answered as Haou gave a small laugh. "You can drop the honorific. Most people just call me Haou." She said and before anyone could say anything else, Jehu cleared his throat. "Like I was saying, Johan this is Haou, my girlfrie-" He wasn't able to finish when he got hit on the forehead by a flying projectile. "Ow! Haou, no need to throw stuff!" He protested as she answered as calmly as always. "There is no need to lie either, Jehu."

Johan couldn't help it, and began to laugh. "It's not funny Johan." Jehu muttered as he rubbed the red spot on his forehead. "But, I've never seen you get hit so easily before! If only the others back in Norway saw this, they'd be laughing their butts off." He said in between laughs, as Jehu's face paled before a red tint appeared. "You better not tell any of the guys back home about this!" Jehu exclaimed before running up to his brother and putting him in a head lock.

While this was happening the brunette teen merely watched in amusement as the brothers interacted with each other. "It's nice to see you brothers so close to each other." She commented and Jehu released his hold from shock. "We're not close at all!" Both of them shouted simultaneously. "Of course you are. See, you're even in the same wavelength if you said the exact same thing." She retorted and both brothers began glaring at each other.

"Don't copy what I say!" Both said at the exact same time before returning to their glaring contest. Their little contest was stopped though when a clap got their attention. "Settle down boys, save your brotherly bonding for when you get home later." Haou told them amusement clearly in her eyes. "Like I said Haou, we're not- …never mind…" Jehu stopped himself in the middle of his sentence; he wasn't up for continuing this pointless argument any further, especially not when his forehead was still sore.

Just what had Haou hit him with? As he looked down to the ground where he thinks the projectile landed, his eyebrow raise when he sees what exactly is on the ground. "A key chain?" He asks as he picks it up. It was kind of shaped like a giraffe, since it was made from blocks of wood that was painted yellow with distinguishable brown spots. "I won it as a prize at West Academy, but you can have it." She said as understanding dawned on Jehu.

"Oh yeah, East Academy sent you there a couple of days ago for some kind of summer seminar right?" He asked and was given a nod as an answer. "They happened to have some kind of school festival at the time, so I played at a couple of the game booths and got that as my prize, among other things." Haou said as Jehu began chuckling. "That's sounds like something you'd do… Speaking of something that you'd do, what are you going to do about Fido over there?" He asked gesturing to the dog.

Haou gave him a bland look. "Fido, really?" She then turned to look at the dog in her lap before she began to scratch behind his ear, which seemed to please it if the happy whines it gave her were any indication. "I'll probably keep Brahms." Was the only thing she said and both brothers gaped at her. "You're keeping him, no, you've already given him a name?" Jehu asked her incredulously. "Well, at the very least, it's a much better name than Fido."

"But wouldn't that be dangerous Haou? Just a little while ago, it was attacking a child." Johan asked worry lacing his tone. "Brahms was hardly attacking her; he was just confused and hungry." She answered and as if to prove her point she took something out from her pocket, it looked like biscuits and when she placed it near the dog, it quickly devoured the treats. "See? When I picked up the little girl a while ago, I noticed she had something like barbecue sauce on her clothes…"

"You're thinking the dog just mistook her as food?" Jehu asked and Haou only shrugged. "Either that or it thought she had food." Johan looked at the dog in question, and certainly he had to admit that it ate as if it had been starved for days. But… "But how can we be certain? It could have just been a coincidence…" He said and Jehu had to admit, his brother made a valid point. "I know a starving dog when I see one." Haou answered before running her fingers through the dog's body.

"Brahms might look like any other healthy dog because of its thick fur, but he's practically skin and bones. This dog clearly hasn't had decent meal for a long time. He was originally a stow away at Mr. Alexey's boat, poor thing's been seasick and was living off any scraps it could find in the hull. Mr. Alexey only found out about him when a dog came running out of the hull when he opened its doors after docking at the pier. But he sound didn't mad though when he told me of what happened earlier this morning."

"What was it doing in there in the first place?" Jehu asked as he looked at the dog. "Mr. Alexey said that it probably snuck into the ship while he was stocking up on supplies. Brahms was probably hungry and after seeing a lot of food being placed in the ship; decided to follow it and ended up in the hull." She answered. "Alright, I get that. But how did you get involved in all this?" Jehu asked as a look that was a mix of confusion and curiosity appeared in his eyes.

"I was at the taking a morning walk at the pier when I met Mr. Alexey and he told me of what happened to him this morning. After hearing his story, I decided to go looking for the dog before it gets into some kind of trouble. When Mr. Alexey heard that though, he gave me some of Axel's doggy treats because in his own words, "the poor dog looked like it hasn't eaten a proper meal in weeks."" She summarized as a quizzical look appeared on Johan's face.

"But then why did it go on-board Mr. Alexey's ship, that's not something even a starving stray would do." Johan commented as Haou looked down at the dog on her lap, before slowly standing. "That's probably because Brahms used to be someone's pet." She said as Jehu raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?" She didn't answer and instead gestured to the dog's neck. "If you look really closely, you'll see a healing mark where the collar used to be on too tight."

"That and the fact that Brahms doesn't have the instincts most strays do when it comes to getting food. My guess is that this dog probably used to have an owner, but it was abandoned for some reason. Mr. Alexey also said that he's seen Brahms a lot when he was getting supplies at the port of the island closest to Expressione. He said that he just wanders around, waiting for scraps of food and that no one in that small town ever bothered looking for him."

Johan felt bad for the dog when he heard that. If his cat, Ruby, ever went missing like that, he would leave no stone unturned in Norway to find her. But Brahms owner had just abandoned him like that. Didn't he or she know that a domesticated pet would have a harder time surviving when they were released out in the streets? "I should probably get going." Haou suddenly declared breaking Johan from his trance. "I need to give Brahms a decent meal, and get permission from the Academy to keep him."

"After that you'll probably need to give him a bath and groom his fur too… You got a really busy day ahead of you..." Jehu commented as Haou began to walk out of the park, Brahms following less than a step behind her. "Well that can't be helped. Anyways, I'll see you around Johan." She said, deliberately ignoring Jehu's outcry at the fact that she had only mentioned Johan. "She was a nice person…" Johan said as he looked at his brother who was looking quite dejected.

"I'm sure the reason she didn't mention you was because you guys are already friends. So it's a given that you would see each other again." Johan said in an attempt to comfort his older brother. But that was when he realized something. "Wait! I thought you couldn't keep pets in the dorms?" Jehu sighed before looking at the direction that Haou had went off to. "Johan, there's one thing you should know about Haou." He began as curious expression appeared on the younger Anderson's face. "That woman is the only one in Expressione Island exempt from almost all of the rules."

After Jehu had dragged Johan all over town they had a quick lunch before heading back to the dorm. Once they arrived at their dorm room Johan immediately crashed onto his bed. "Bed, how I've missed you." He murmured into the sheets as his brother shot him an amused look before sitting down on his own bed. "Hey Jehu?" Johan called without lifting his head from the sheets. "What is it?" Slowly, Johan maneuvered so he would be facing his brother. "Exactly what kind of relationship do you have with Haou?"

Jehu had not expected that question. He was completely thrown off balance and seemed to have a difficult time articulating his words. "Ah, I, she and I…" Jehu growled before taking a deep breath and trying it out one more time. "We're friends, I guess? I can't really say we have a relationship that can be described other than that. Well, I guess the word group mate would also be applicable for us." He answered and Johan's eyes seemed to light up in interest at the words "Group Mate."

"Yubel mentioned that too… Just what are group mates exactly?" He asked as a teasing smirk appeared on Jehu's face. "Ah, ah,ah, no spoilers allowed. You'll just have to find out once the new semester starts." Johan scowled at that before deciding to let it go like his brother said. He did say that he would find out when the new semester starts, and it was going to begin in a couple of days anyways. Instead he decided to use this chance to tease the older Anderson. "So I take it Haou is also part of the patissier course?"

Jehu felt uncomfortable as Haou was once again brought into the conversation, but answered anyways. "Yeah, she is. Why?" Johan smiled, but not his usual warm or happy smile. It was one that had a certain dark bite to it that promised much embarrassment for the older male. "No reason, just curious about the girl you've got it so bad for." He commented offhandly, and instantly Jehu's face turned into the same color as a ripe apple.

"I'm not blind bro. I can tell you weren't just joking around like usual." He said as Jehu tried to laugh it off. "What are you talking about? You know how much I love flirting with the ladies…" He replied, trying to keep his voice calm. "Nope, there was definitely something different about how you talked to Haou and how you'd flirt with other girls." He retorted. "Well you know, a different girl calls for a different strategy. Haou's a no-nonsense type of person; so my regular flirting wouldn't work on her."

"But you want it to work on her." His brother summarized as Jehu cursed inwardly; he had walked straight into his brother's trap. The older teen then decided that this conversation was getting a bit too dangerous for his liking, so he decided that it would be a good time to retaliate. "Why are you getting so interested in my relationships? You should think about your own, rather you should think about how to change the fact that your relationship with Judai is currently nonexistent."

This time it was Johan who blushed. "Nice try Jehu, but I won't let you change the subject!" He retorted dryly and Jehu cursed inwardly again. But then an idea that Jehu could only consider as ingenious suddenly came to him and he smirked. "Hey Johan we weren't able to breach this topic when we were at the park, but I'm sure you were wondering why Haou looks so much like Judai…" He trailed off as he waited for his brother to take the bait. "Hook, line…" Jehu thought.

"Damn him." Johan thought. He knew what his brother was doing, he was trying to slyly go off topic. But he had no other choice than to go along with what he wanted since he's been wondering about that ever since he first saw Haou. "Are they siblings?" Johan asked as Jehu's smirk grew. "Sinker." He thought to himself before answering the younger male's question. "Close, but no cigar, little brother. They're cousins." Johan raised an eyebrow. "Cousins, as in like Yubel and Jim kind of cousins?"

Jehu laughed. "Technically, they're second cousins. But not really, Jim is Yubel and Judai's cousin from their father's side while Haou is their cousin from their mother's side." He answered as Johan just blinked. "Then to Yubel and Judai every single day here on this island is like a family reunion." He said and Jehu laughed even more. "You don't know the half of it." He mysteriously answered before snickering. Before Johan could ask him what he had meant by that, Jehu decided to change the topic again.

"But still, I'm surprised that mom let you go here. She was all fired up on making you a doctor and getting a PHD just like her." He said as Johan's face fell. "She really didn't want to let me attend East Academy. Even up until my flight she was completely against me going here…" He replied in a sad tone and Jehu scoffed. "That is so like her. You know ever since you were just a baby, she's already been dreaming of the day you'd go off to med school." Johan gave a small chuckle, but it lacked any mirth.

"I must have broken her heart when I told her that I wanted to be a patissier." He said before turning so that he would be facing the ceiling. "Well, as far as I can remember, she's never really let you have much of a choice in the matter… She meticulously planned out your life and expected you to follow it to the letter. But she should have seen it coming. It's in our blood after all." Jehu replied as a dry smile appeared on Johan's face. "Yes, how did she miss it when our family business is sweets?"

Jehu and Johan's father was a self made man who owned a famous candy company in Norway called Anderson Sweets. It was in demand not only locally, but internationally as well. Not only that, but their father also used to be a famous patissier before he entered into the world of business. "She was fine with me going to East Academy since one of us had to take over the company one day. But both of us going here? I'm surprise she didn't chain you down to your bed."

"I'm pretty sure she wanted to." Johan remarked dryly. "How did you convince her to let you go to East Academy, anyways? What did you, or what did you say to her?" He asked as Johan started sitting up before sighing. "Nothing I said or did would even sway her decision. She was like an unmovable rock that only moved because of dad." He answered and Jehu had to do a double take. "Wait a sec, you're saying our dad, the same one who's only home like once a month, actually helped you out with the whole mom issue?"

"Unbelievable, I know." He remarked as Jehu gave him an incredulous look. "And mom gave up, just like that?" He asked and Johan pursed his lips. "For now. But I don't know how long that'll last." Jehu sighed. "Just do your best to keep your grades up. Even as unreasonable as she can be, she won't take you out of East Academy if you're doing well in your studies here. Don't do anything that will give her any reason to bring you back to Norway and you'll be just fine, Johan." He said with the younger bluenette only nodding to him in reply. After that, there was a awkward silence in their dorm room and Jehu, not liking it, tried to break it.

His brother was faster though and spoke up first. "So going back to our previous topic; just how serious are you about Haou?" He asked and Jehu spluttered. "Why do you keep bringing Haou up, are you interested in her or something?" He screeched, before pausing and regarding his younger brother with a wary look. "You aren't right?" Johan almost laughed when he heard the slightly frantic tone that laced his brother's words, but held it in. "Why won't you answer my question, Jehu?"

"Why aren't you answering my questions, little brother?" Jehu shot back and suddenly tension seemed to permeate the air of their dorm room. "Whatever, it doesn't matter to me if you're interested in her or not. Even if you try asking her out, I'm pretty sure Haou will just turn you down flat ." He said as a playful grin appeared on his face. Johan's face twitched when he heard what his brother said before retorting. "Speaking from personal experience?" He asked wryly, which instantly caused the older teen to stand up before proceeding to chase the younger teen around their dorm room. "Johan, I'm gonna kill you!"

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