"More than a Weapon" by: Setsuna X
Summary: Joey Wheeler escaped from a secret organization in the USA to Domino, Japan and resumed a life as Katsuya Jounouchi, but is still being pursued. What will Seto Kaiba do once he is asked to take down his long time crush and rival? S/J
Disclaimer: Yugioh and its characters do not belong to me.
Chapter 7- Moving On
-Jou's Place; Saturday Morning-
Otogi woke up first by the sound of clichéd birds chirping. In reality though it was the suns glaring rays stinging his eyes that had awoken him. The ebony haired boy blinked his eyes open a couple of times, winking away the heavy sleep. He grinned once he realized the position he and Jou had ended up in.
Jou, unused to sharing a bed, had stretched out and kicked off half the blankets. Their legs had entwined during the night and Otogi found his body draped over half of Jou's. It was the only way both teens had been able to stay on the bed together. Otogi, his grin never leaving his face, snuggled closer onto Jou's side, already planning on sleeping in.
Jou found himself waking up a half an hour later, the sun's rays finally making their way onto his eyes. He blinked to rid himself of the sleep before awakening automatically. Several people woke up slowly, eventually coming into the state of wakefulness, but Jou just woke up without that period of being half asleep. His body tensed as he realized that he wasn't alone.
'Of course, Otogi,' thought Jou wearily as he glanced down at the emerald-eyed teen wrapped around his chest. He stayed there on the bed for another twenty minutes simply thinking over the situation he was in. He didn't want to get too close to Otogi, heck, he didn't want to get too close to anyone since it would be putting said person/people in danger. 'Well, maybe except Kaiba…' Jou shook his head abruptly, dispelling the thought immediately. He had to shake his head once again in order to get the images from his dream out of his head as well, deciding that he'd think about them later when his head was clearer and when he was alone.
Right now he had to think what he was going to do about the whole 'people chasing Otogi to get to me' thing. Add that to the fact that it seemed that Otogi wasn't going to leave him alone for a while and he still hadn't found out anything too new about DS. Jou let out a soft sigh as he slowly disentangled himself from the other teen. His movements were slow and hadn't managed to wake the other person, which is exactly what he wanted. Jou continued to go through his morning routine, namely taking a quick shower and dressing.
He didn't normally eat breakfast since his body had been altered so he didn't need food as much as other people, but figured Otogi might find it weird that he didn't eat in the morning so opted to make a quick American-style breakfast since it was easy to make.
Otogi woke up to the smell of freshly cooked eggs and bacon wafting to his nose. He opened his eyes and realized that Jou was no longer in bed. He wondered how the other teen was able to get out of the bed without waking him, especially since he was such a light sleeper, but shrugged away the thought. He got up and fixed the slight dip the shirt did on his shoulder. Otogi padded his way into the kitchen, which also served as a dining room and sat down on the chair. He noticed that there was already an assortment of foods on the table and eyed them hungrily. He really hadn't eaten anything the day before and was absolutely famished right now.
"Morning," said Jou as he placed the last dish on the table and sat on the opposite seat from where Otogi was sitting.
"Morning," yawned Otogi in response, covering his mouth with his hand.
"I hope you're hungry since I made all this food," said Jou already piling eggs, bacon, and some toast onto his plate.
"Mmm, yes, very hungry," responded Otogi filling his plate like-wise. Everything smelled really good and he couldn't wait to eat, especially since American style breakfast was his favorite. Jou poured them each a glass of orange juice when Otogi continued. "How did you learn to cook so well?"
Jou chewed on his food a bit longer before answering. "Well, since I'm living by myself I figured I had to learn to cook if I didn't want to spend so much money eating out all the time. I just kind of experimented and taught myself," laughed Jou. Inwardly his thoughts had turned slightly dark. The reason he had to learn to cook himself was out of sheer survival. While the previous reasons were true, it was because of the circumstances he had found himself in that he had to learn how to take care of himself. No mother, no father, no little sister learning to cook – he was all alone.
Otogi just glanced at him happily; learning new things, cool things, about Jou made him want the blonde more. After breakfast had finished Otogi and Jou had cleared away the table together then found themselves sitting on the couch.
"What are we going to do now?" started Otogi, still happy that he was within the blondes' vicinity.
Jou thought for a moment. He wished he knew what DS was planning, or what their current motives were. Then again, he wasn't completely positive that it was Deadly Sins after him. The possibility that it was just some thugs from a rival school still existed.
"Well, since it's Saturday we don't really have to worry about anything for a few days, but once school starts again on Monday we'll have to do something," thought Jou out loud. Otogi simply nodded. "How about I meet you at your house every morning and walk to school with you, then afterwards if I don't have detention and you don't have a club meeting we can walk back together."
Otogi opened his mouth to say that he couldn't possibly let Jou be his bodyguard, but the blonde beat him to the punch. "Don't worry about me, Dice Boy. I can take care of myself. Honda and I have had our share of fights, and if anything my skills have sharpened. I'm sure I can take these guys," Jou finished off with a grin. Otogi looked at him dubiously, but only nodded, knowing that Jou really could take care of himself.
"Well, do you want to hang out today then?" innocently asked Otogi, though inside he was nervous. He had had a crush on the blonde for some time now, but it was incredibly hard to get him alone. Now he and Jou had a chance to get to know one another better. He really did regret that whole dog suit thing during the grand opening of his store, but that was all in the past.
Jou thought over the question a bit. He had wanted to start setting up some surveillance of Otogi's home to see if he would catch one of the bastard's by surprise, but it seemed that plan had to be put on the back burner. Otogi still looked a bit shaken up, no matter how much the raven-haired teen tried to hide it. Several bruises, although healing, were still noticeable. And what could the harm be in hanging out with the other boy? This way he could start his personal surveillance earlier and maybe even get a feeling as to the places the dice-boy normally frequented.
The blonde also wondered if his other friends were similarly threatened and decided that checking up on them would be a good idea.
"Sure, I don't mind hanging out with you, Otogi. But I would like to check on Yugi, Honda, Anzu, and Bakura. I hope nothing happened to them like with you."
Otogi visibly shuddered at the memories from the day before, but he also panicked. "Don't tell them!"
Jou just looked at him with confused eyes. "I mean, I just don't want them to know how weak I am." The honey-eyed teen let out a little glare.
"Listen Otogi, I know that you don't want to appear weak or anything, but don't you think this is something they should know? I sure they'll only be worried and not think you weak at all. Besides, that's what friends are for, right?" ended Jou with a slanted grin.
Otogi still didn't seem convinced, but it seemed that he would not be able to talk Jou out of this idea. "Does that mean that everyone is going to be my body guard then?" asked Otogi with a small pout. He had really been looking forward to the time he and Jou would spend together on their walks to and from school.
Jou frowned. Otogi did seem to have a point. If he told the rest of the gang that the other teen had gotten beat up and threatened then they would all want to help and protect him. It would make finding information whether this was a rival gang or DS so much harder. With an internal groan he began to reformulate their day. "You know, I think that although you would be safer with the group around you, it would stop the bastards from coming near you again. And believe me, I don't want you to get hurt." At those words Otogi seemed to glow.
"But, I have to know who did this to you. Not only for revenge, but I also want to know what they want with me. I guess we don't really have to tell the gang if you don't want to," finished off Jou lamely.
Otogi beamed. He would get his alone time with Jou! "Don't tell them. Not only will I feel humiliated, but I want to help you catch those rotten bastards too." Jou let out an unsure smile, but inside he was glad that it had worked out.
"I still want to check with the guys and see if they're okay, if you don't mind. I won't tell them what the reason is, but I just want to let them know that they should stay on their guard, or something." Otogi nodded sagely.
"That sounds fine with me. Maybe afterwards we can do something together, like the mall or get something to eat?" asked Otogi a bit hesitantly. He had never acted this way around other people before. Usually he played to a crowd, but he really did like Jou and wanted to be able to show the blonde that he was able to compromise and be nice, instead of being the arrogant, playboy jerk that most people saw him as. Granted, he was still egotistical, but that was only because he was confident in himself – it wasn't his fault that other people lacked that type of mentality. He really wanted Jou to like him though and didn't want to upset the other boy, especially since he was being so nice to him.
"Sure, that sounds like it would be fun. I guess let's get ready for the day. Do you want to stop by your house and change?"
"No, I'm sure you have something I can borrow," Otogi said with a small smirk. All he wanted really was to wear some more of Jou's clothes. He found it strangely intimate. Jou just nodded and made his way to his bedroom. There he searched through his drawers and picked out some jeans and a dark green shirt for Otogi and a similar outfit, but the shirt was a deep blue, for himself. Both teens changed, Otogi in the bathroom and Jou in his bedroom. After finishing up they began to head out.
Jou wasn't sure exactly what he was going to tell the gang about why he wanted to know if they had be assaulted or trailed, but he just knew that he wanted them to be alright. The last thing he wanted was the guilt hanging over him if something happened to those that he considered 'under his care'. It was probably a dumb move on his part to befriend Yugi and them, but it just sort of happened. And throughout the months they had been true and kind friends – he couldn't bear to see them hurt.
First stop was Honda's, since the brown haired teen lived the closest to him, then it was Anzu, Yugi, and finally Bakura. Bakura lived the closest to the mall anyway, so it worked out perfectly. He and his friends could enjoy a nice Saturday together, and finally Jou felt that despite the recent attack on Otogi, things might go back to normal for a while.
But it wouldn't last long.
TBC
A/N: I offer no excuses. All I can say is that I grew bored with Yu-Gi-Oh! and with writing in general. I'll be typing up some other things as the summer progresses, but no promises on updates. Nothing really happened in this chapter – it was mainly a set up and a foreshadow of events for future chapters. Thank you to everyone who has read and is still reading/waiting for this story.
Last updated: 08-27-2007