For Friends

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Write by Joanther

Fandom: Yugioh

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Those characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

Rating: T

Genres: Romance, Drama

Pairing: eventually Kaiba/Jounouchi

Beta Reader: roseofnoonvale, dancing elf

Summary:

Kaiba finally agreed to become friend with Yugi's group. Jounouchi was curious at first, but then he started feeling like he was falling out of place while Kaiba was closer with his friends. But the worst part was when Jounouchi found out about Kaiba and Yugi having a secret...

-o0o-

Chapter 1

Jounouchi ran as fast as he could to the classroom. Because of the stupid part time job with its stupid overtime last night, he had come home very late and didn't sleep enough. He could swear he had just laid his back on the bed and close his eyes then the sun had risen. The night and morning went by so fast that it made Jounouchi has little time for rest. He was exhausted, but he was late for class too. That why, right now, he had to run even though his body was very tired.

Jounouchi made it just in time. When he got to the classroom, almost everyone was inside. Fortunately, the teacher still had not appeared. He sighed in relief and turned his attention to find his friends, but then his eyes widened. On the seat he usually sat was nobody other than Kaiba Seto sitting there, and he was talking with Yugi and his friends.

Okay, maybe he was dreaming, or that person wasn't Kaiba and just happening to be look like Kaiba. But then again, he remembered there were no other students who wore white uniform in Domino High School, or who had the neat brown hair and perfect blue eyes other than the rich CEO of KaibaCorp. So, he must be dreaming right? Maybe he was still in his bed and was sleeping, getting a bit more rest before the new day come. How he wished it was true...

Jounouchi walked behind his friends, still stunned and confused, uncertain wondering this was a dream or not. His friends didn't seem to notice his presence because they were too busy talking with Kaiba. Even Honda and Anzu enjoyed his company and they were laughing. Jounouchi threw Kaiba a dirty glare before making a sound to let his friends know he was here. The tri-color haired boy then turned around to greet him, "Jounouchi-kun. Good morning."

"Morning, Yugi," Jounouchi said, but still glared at the brunet. "What is he doing here?" He snapped.

"Kaiba finally accepted our friendship," Yugi said with a happy smile. "We were talking, you know. He can be really fun to talk with. Honda and Anzu agreed with me too."

Jounouchi blinked and then stared at his best friend's face. Since 'other Yugi' – Atemu went to Afterlife more than six months ago, Yugi was always in a deep depressing mood; even Jounouchi had done a lot of things to try to make him happy again but with no success. He smiled less than before, and always forced himself to smile to make his friends worry less. It hurt Jounouchi everytime he watching Yugi like that, but it also made Jounouchi feel useless when he knew he couldn't do anything for his friend. And now Yugi was smiling happily because Kaiba had agreed to become his friend?

Kaiba... Jounouchi glared at the brunet one more time. The young CEO has moved to USA after the Battle City tournament ended, and he still stayed there even after the last time he met Yugi's group in Egypt. Jounouchi had thought they would never meet each other again, but suddenly Kaiba came back to Domino five months after the ceremony battle, and stayed permanent nearly four months now. The brunet made more surprises by appearing at school and studying like a rest of the students in his grade, when his company was very popular throughout the whole world. It was strange and Jounouchi never understood the CEO reason, but he didn't want to know neither. Yugi had nicely asked Kaiba many times and invited him into the group, but Kaiba always refused and stayed away from everybody. But there were some times when Kaiba picked on Jounouchi and insulted him, mostly when Jounouchi was saying something funny. Jounouchi hated everytime the brunet called him 'bonkotsu', 'inu' or 'baka'. He wished that the young CEO never came back to Japan and never bothered him like that. With those insults Jounouchi never wanted to be friend with Kaiba and he always was silently thankful when the brunet ignored Yugi's friendship idea. Jounouchi'd rather run to Yami Malik and ask him to burn his soul one more time with Ra than be friend with Kaiba, but then he remembered Yami Malik was gone and Kaiba was still there.

"I think you better sit down rather than stand there and stare at us like an idiot, bonkotsu," Kaiba's voice brought Jounouchi back to reality. He then immediately glared at the brunet; his blood boiled because he didn't know where to sit since the brunet was sitting on his usual seat. He stood still where he was and retorted sarcastically, "I thought you are now our FRIEND. And FRIENDS don't call each other 'bonkotsu', rich boy." His meaning was obvious. He didn't want to see Kaiba as a friend.

Kaiba smirked, but when he was about to say something the teacher came into class and told everybody to go back to their seats. The brunet just looked at Jounouchi challengingly before going to his real seat not too far away without saying anything. Hazel eyes glared darkly at the young CEO one more time, and then he went to sit in his seat. His friends looked at him worriedly, but he was too stunned to care. How his friends could act and talk to Kaiba as if they were friends for a long time like that? Did they forget how the brunet had treated them? Did they forget how the brunet always rejected them and said that "friendship isn't real"? How come they opened so easily to Kaiba like that? And Kaiba too. He must be planning something. That heartless person never did something like this without wanting to get something back. The last thing Jounouchi believed was Kaiba wanted to be friend with his friends without planning anything.

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"Oh, come on, Jounouchi," Honda smiled at him. "Give him a chance. I was curious at first, but when we talked to each other, I discovered Kaiba could be real interesting. Talk with him; he's not as boring as I expected. You don't have to be hard on him like that."

"Yes? When he calls you "bonkotsu" or "inu" all the time, 'friend' is the last thing you'll need from him. Thanks," Jounouchi retorted, trying to eat his lunch in class. He refused to go to the cafeteria with his friends when he knew Kaiba would be there with them. Honda stayed in class to confirm to him about Kaiba being nice, but Jounouchi didn't believe it.

The cone-haired brunet sighed, knowing his friend was too stubborn to acknowledge this news. He himself had doubted Kaiba at first, but when he talked with Kaiba, he thought Kaiba could really be nice. He didn't know why Kaiba suddenly decided to become friends with his group, but he could tell the young CEO didn't have a bad intention. Still, he got a very good idea when he saw the way Kaiba looked at Jounouchi, but he was not completely sure, so he decided to say nothing about that.

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"Why don't you come with us, Jounouchi?" Yugi asked slowly, but he knew the answer already. Jounouchi was packing his bag and looked at his friend with a guilty expression. "Sorry Yugi, but I have my job. I can't skip it even though I really want to." The two started walking out of the classroom, heading to the front of the schoolyard where his other friends were waiting. But as the two stopped into the usual spot, Jounouchi's eyes narrowed when he noticed another person was standing there with his friends.

"Why the hell are you here, Kaiba?" he snapped, eyes glared dangerously at the white uniform wearing brunet in the group.

"Oh, Yugi invited me to come with everybody, so here I am," Kaiba smirked; it seemed like he had expected Jounouchi's reaction.

"Then, why did you invite him, Yugi?" Jounouchi turned to Yugi, and asked in annoyance. The smaller teen looked at him with big purple eyes and said shyly, "I assumed you wouldn't come with us, so I invited Kaiba since he is our friend too. I hope you don't mind..."

"Oh... okay..." the blond duelist frowned but nodded, then waved his hand to everybody and turned away. "Bye guys, have fun. I have to get to my work place as soon as possible. I don't want to be late. We'll meet at school tomorrow." With that he separated from his friends and ran down the street, feeling uncomfortable about Yugi's action earlier. It was like his friend was trying to replace Jounouchi by adding Kaiba into the group. Perhaps he was thinking too much.

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Jounouchi yawned, lately, he wanted to just lie down and continue sleeping until he felt awake enough to get up, but instead he had to force himself awake. His night work was rushed these days, so there were many things he had to do last night and he could only come back to his apartment toward midnight. He had so little time to sleep, along with the lack of sleep he got the night before caused him to feel exhausted. He wondered how he could still be here, walking to school with an absent mind. Perhaps he should use some time during class to sleep so he could regain his strength. He assumed that tonight his jobs would make him stay late again.

He went straight to class, noticed that he was a bit earlier than he was yesterday. The first thing he saw in class immediately ruined his mood, since it was not anything good this morning. Kaiba was sitting in his usual seat again, while his friends were surrounding the brunet, talking and laughing. Jounouchi started to think about the idea that Kaiba has changed his body with someone else, but then the brunet noticed him first and smirked at him. The blond duelist immediately knew that person was no other than the real Kaiba.

"Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi greeted him cheerfully as he followed the brunet's glare and saw him. His friends turned to him and greeted him with smiles too, but then they turned back to the brunet and continued the conversation that Jounouchi didn't catch up on. Jounouchi blinked; he never expected that from his friends. Even Yugi seemed happier. What the hell was happening?

"Hey guys. Did I miss something?" Jounouchi walked close enough to his friends and asked, trying to sound excited. However, he felt too exhausted to stand, but there was not another chair for him and neither of his friends seemed to notice. He also tried to ignore the brunet; cursing the smirk that bastard was throwing toward him. He hoped Kaiba would leave him alone, at least if the two couldn't become friendlier than the current state.

"We were talking about yesterday. After you left, we went to the arcade. It was a lot of funs with Kaiba around, you know. He is a skillful player, as much as Yugi and you. If you were there it would be more fun, but with Kaiba... We never imagined we could enjoy his company like that. He even made jokes," Honda said with excitement; he failed to see the horrible look of his best friend. Jounouchi suddenly felt he was... out of place, or didn't know how to catch up with his friends. His smile fell, as he stood still with a blank mind. What was it all about?

The teacher saved him by walking into the class and told the students to return to their regular seats. Jounouchi sat down in his seat which Kaiba just vacated, and tried to figure out what happened earlier about his friends, but then he gave up because his head hurt from the lack of sleep. The rest of day Jounouchi pretended nothing happening and went through every class. He wanted to sleep, but didn't know why he couldn't. When the lunch break came, Jounouchi was very tired and couldn't stay still anymore, so he decided to skip lunch and take a nap in his class. He ignored his friends when they tried to convince him to go to the cafeteria to eat lunch with them, especially since he knew Kaiba would go with the rest of them.

Jounouchi took a slight nap, not long enough, but it made he feel better than before lunch. When he woke up he realized lunch time almost over, with some students started to go back to the classroom. Suddenly, a girl stormed in the classroom and looked around before she ran into Jounouchi. Jounouchi recognized her as one of his classmate, but couldn't remember her name. "Jounouchi-kun! Mutou-kun is in trouble. Some seniors are picking on him again," she said hurriedly.

"What?! Again?!" he stood up and ran out of class before he yelled back, "Thanks for informing me." He tried to head down to the backyard as fast as he could, where he was sure Yugi was there.

Again. After Yugi won the title King of Game, it didn't mean his life had changed at school. The smaller duelist was still picked or bullied by the others guys who thought they could be better than Yugi if they beat him up. Jounouchi had rescued Yugi several times before, but it seemed like it never end. The senior guys never learned their lessons; sometime they would try to do more terrible things. Jounouchi wished he knew a way to make them stop their stupid actions toward Yugi. Yugi didn't deserve any of their bullying.

Jounouchi started to run down the stairs, but then he stopped in surprise. Kaiba and Yugi were heading up the stairs, talking with each other. Jounouchi couldn't hear what they were talking about but... Didn't that girl said Yugi was surrounding by the bullies? Why he was here talking with Kaiba? Had Kaiba...?

"Yugi!" he called, when he knew his friend didn't notice him yet because Yugi was still talking with Kaiba. The smaller duelist and the one next to him stopped talking and looked up to where Jounouchi was standing on the highest step of the stairs. Then Jounouchi ran down to Yugi's spot.

"Jounouchi-kun." Yugi smiled. "I thought you were still sleeping."

"I woke up a little while ago," Jounouchi said, his hands reached out and touched the small teen's arm. "Are you okay? I heard one of our classmate said some seniors were picking on you."

"They were," Yugi nodded, still smiling. "But Seto saved me. I'd be dead meat now if he didn't. They were too pissed today, you know." With that, the tri-color haired turned his head to Kaiba and smiled. Jounouchi frowned, and looked at Kaiba too. "Seto?!"

"It's my name, isn't it?" Kaiba smirked. "I called him 'Yugi' for a long time now and now we're friends. Aren't friends calling each other by name, bonkotsu?"

"As if it's true, Kaiba," Jounouchi snapped; he disliked Kaiba's smirk very much.

"You know you can call me Seto too." Kaiba said and stepped on the stair with Yugi, so that he came closer to where Jounouchi was standing. "Are we friends now, bonkotsu?" The blond duelist could feel Kaiba purposely bolded the word 'friends'.

"Didn't you just say we're friends, Kaiba?" He retorted back, using the other last name. "Friends don't call each other names, especially something like 'bonkotsu'."

Kaiba then smiled as he stopped right in front of Jounouchi. "Alright then, I'll call you Katsuya. There is nothing to complain about anymore, right?"

"What?! Wait!" Jounouchi jumped back. "What did you just call me?"

"Katsuya. Isn't that your name?" Kaiba said. "Am I pronouncing it wrong?"

"But... but... you called... my name..." Jounouchi stuttered. "Nobody called me by my name before."

"Didn't you mean that we should call each other by our names because we are friends? Or do you prefer 'bonkotsu' instead of 'Katsuya'?"

"I never recognized you as a friend, Kaiba!" Jounouchi growled, glanced at Kaiba with a stone voice. "Still, I prefer you call me 'Jounouchi' if you at least see me as a friend."

"I'll call you 'Katsuya' as long as you call me 'Seto'," Kaiba smirked. "Or 'bonkotsu' if you still call me Kaiba. No change."

"Are you trying to pick a fight? Because I would be happy beat the shit out of you right now," Jounouchi glared deadly at Kaiba; one hand grasped Kaiba's collar-shirt while another hand was turning into a fist. But before he could punch the brunet, he heard a familiar voice spoke in.

"Jounouchi-kun! Please, stop!" the tri color haired boy cried, waving his hands in front of the two. Jounouchi then let go of Kaiba, and turned his head to Yugi. "Please don't fight with each other. Seto is our friend too. Why don't you accept it? He even saved me from the senior guys. If he is a bad guy, he wouldn't have helped me!"

"And I make sure those guys would never pick on you again, Yugi," Kaiba added.

Yugi nodded and smiled at Kaiba. Jounouchi frowned, feeling a slight pain shot through his heart when he saw that Kaiba smiled back at his friend. Without a word he turned away, heading to the lockers. He heard Yugi called him from behind but didn't turned back or pretend as if he hadn't heard him. He didn't know why, but his stomach was filled with butterflies, and it made him uneasy. What was it? Maybe because he was hungry? He just remembered he hadn't eaten lunch, but now he didn't feel like he wanted to eat. Beside, lunch time was almost over.

"Jounouchi-kun!" he turned back this time, surprised to see that Yugi was behind him. Luckily, there was no Kaiba next to the shorter teen. Jounouchi smiled at him; the feeling in his stomach was a lot better.

"Hey, Yugi," he greeted; he tried to sound cheerfully as he turned all of his attention to the locker in front of him. "I'm sorry that I was not fast enough to save you today. I'm glad that you're okay."

"Jounouchi-kun..." Yugi muttered. "Why do you hate Seto too much? He just wants to be friend with us. Why don't you give him a chance?"

"He calls me 'bonkotsu', Yugi," Jounouchi protested, eyes still on the locker he was trying to unlock it. "Friends don't call each other names. I hardly believe that he wants to be friend with us, comparing that to the way he acted before." Then he stopped. "You know something about him, right? Even Honda and Anzu accepted him, but I saw he's only close to you. Did he threaten you? Why do you want me to be friends with him so badly?"

"That..." the small duelist opened his mouth but then stopped and turned his head away. It didn't escape Jounouchi's hazel eyes. He turned to face his friend, "I knew it! He is really up to something! What did he do to you?! Tell me, Yugi! I'll send him on the best trip to hospital," he growled angrily. That bastard really did something to his friend. Yugi never had this expression before.

"No. You're mistaken, Jounouchi," Yugi said quickly, trying to calm the blond. "It's just... Seto decided to join to our group because of me."

"Because of you?"

"Yeah... I wanted him to be more... open." the small duelist paused before he continued hesitantly. "The truth is, Seto and I are dating now. In other word, he is my boyfriend."

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TBC