A Day In The Life

by ThePopTartSpirits... aka DeepSense Remix

AN: Well, while Orion is on hold whilst someone plugs up the holes in it, I decided to start another one. It's an idea I've been toying with. It shouldn't be too long.

Ch. 1

Jonouchi Katsuya opted not to fall asleep in class for some reason that day, and afterwards was immensely glad he'd made that decision. The project announced was worth their second quin grade.

"It's rather simple, really," the sensei explained. "You are to come up here, draw a name out of the hat, and for the next month you are to learn as much about them as possible. The only catch – they cannot find out who their 'stalker' is, if you will. I want a documentary in either PowerPoint or video form by the end of the semester. We'll present that last week before Christmas break."

Jou and one of his best buddies, Honda Hiroto, exchanged glances of apprehension and scorn. On the one hand, here was a chance to stalk someone in the class. It was a fair distribution of female and male; Honda figured he might get lucky. On the other hand, however, Jou was dreading accidentally having to stalk or being stalked by his archenemy, Seto Kaiba, who sat two seats across from him.

Honda knew what was troubling his friend. Jou lived a harsh life, and few knew it. "It's not that big of a deal," he said comfortingly, patting his buddy on the shoulder. "What could happen in a month?"

"Lots of things," Jou groused. "I could rattle off about twenty, but you'd get scared again and start sending those whaddayacallems – social workers - around again."

Honda drew himself up in self-defense. "You know perfectly well why I thought that had to be done."

"Yeah," Jou sneered, drawing up his right pant leg to reveal a purple scar. "And here's what Dad thought of it."

His expression softened when he saw Honda's face fall. "I'm sorry, man... I got no right bein' so jaded. Ya did what ya thought was right, there's no wrong in that."

Honda offered him a feeble grin, but his eyes were still troubled as he stood. Together they wove through the mass of people towards the teacher's desk. Crossing his fingers, Honda was the first to plunge his hand into the old-fashioned top-hat. Reading the name, he frowned.

"What?" Jou queried.

"It isn't you."

"So?"

Honda sighed. "Well, I was hoping I'd get you... so no one else did."

Jou nodded. It was times like these when he felt luckiest to have a friend like Honda. Taking a deep breath, Jou felt around in the hat. He didn't look at his slip of paper right away; instead, he shoved it deep in his pocket and grinned at his friend. "I'd rather wait to rant about whoever it is when no one can hear me," he explained.

A shout behind him caused Jou to turn. Yugi Motou, another good friend, was staring at his slip in dismay. "Who'd ya get?" Jou asked, poking his nose forward.

"Can't tell you that, Jou..." Yugi sighed. "It's not you, though."

"Did everybody want to get me?!" Jou exclaimed. Yugi giggled. "No. I said that because that's all I can tell you."

Suddenly the door slammed, resulting in a few half-hearted shrieks. No one but Jou noticed that Seto Kaiba was no longer in the room.

The sensei shoved his glasses back up the bridge of his nose with a casual sigh, then shouted above the teenage din, "Tomorrow, everyone needs to bring me the name of the person they're stalking, as well as what type of project you're doing. Don't forget: you can't tell anyone who you're going to follow."

The bell rang, and in the resulting clatter, no one heard the sensei say, "Have a great rest of the day."

When he got home, Jou phoned Honda, but the young man wasn't home. His mother said something about 'he's going to rent a video camera'. Jou tried calling Yugi, too, but he was busy with customers in the Game Shop his grandfather ran. Sighing dejectedly, Jou flopped back on to his bed... and then remembered the school project.

He wondered, first, who he might have gotten. Could be Yugi, and that would be fun. Could be Ryou, and that would be scary, because the spirit of his Millennium Ring might try to kill anyone it thought was stalking its host. Could be Anzu, and that would be downright sickening... Jou shuddered at the thought of having to stalk the school bicycle.

Well, there was no use in deliberating any further. Digging around in his pants pocket, his fingers closed around the slip of paper. Steeling himself, he held it in the light and read the name printed there.

The paper fell to the dirty floor, and Jou collapsed with a bang against the wall his bed sat next to. Somehow, he'd known all along who he'd get, and had been dreading it.

"With good reason," he grumbled aloud. "I could get killed stalking someone like that."

The forlorn little slip of paper, now crumpled on the ground, bore the neatly printed name of Seto Kaiba.

-fin chapter-

For the teacher, think Lupin from the Harry Potter movie.

Reviews please. If I get flames, I won't care. I'll just go back to making icons instead of writing, because I have plenty of fans in that business.

Hope you liked it. Next chap soon.