That Perilous Stuff Which
Weighs Upon the Heart
~Chapter 1~
'So you see, I couldn't make dad worry, especially since I'm all he has
left. But I couldn't leave him in that house. I really
couldn't stay there anymore either.
'So I brought him home with me.'
Jounouchi looked up from Bakura's paper and glanced toward the back of
the room. The small, dark haired boy his deskmate had brought with
him was studiously colouring a page of muscle groups out of an anatomy
colouring book with crayons the teacher had brought in for him.
'He's probably learning more than me,' the blond reflected, glaring
down at his biology textbook. 'Maybe if they wrote this so that
someone without eight science degrees could understand it....'
It comforted him, however, to know that the usually studious Bakura was
also ignoring his classwork. He looked back down at the letter the
other boy was writing.
'So until he gets back - and I don't know when that will be! He
was only supposed to be gone one weekend -'
Seeming to suddenly realize he was being watched, Bakura covered the
paper and looked up. Seeing Jounouchi's eyes on him, he blushed
deeply.
"Don't look at other people's papers," he whispered, folding the letter
and hiding it in his notebook.
Jounouchi sighed noisily. It wasn't like he didn't know that his
friend was the tutor for Kaiba Seto's younger brother. He had
recommended him for the position, after all. But he couldn't let
on that he also worked for Kaiba Seto.
That thought in mind, he glanced around the room, trying to decide if
anyone else was thinking about the new world owner. Several weeks
had passed since the public announcement, though, and it was hard to
tell if the teenagers in his class thought about it at all
anymore. As yet there didn't seem to be any changes in the world.
"Class," the teacher called, drawing their attention to the front of
the room. "We have another old student returning to us today."
The class glanced at Jounouchi and Honda quickly, trying not to seem
like they were, then turned back to the front of the room.
"Welcome Mutou Yuugi back."
The small boy beamed at the class and bowed. "It's good to be
back!" he chirped. He smiled directly at Jounouchi and the blond
found it impossible not to smile back.
"Why don't you take your old seat?" the teacher suggested.
Yuugi look at his old seat next to Anzu and his smile slipped.
His expression turned pleading, but the girl turned away, hair swishing
as she turned her nose in the air. Yuugi looked down, hair falling
in front of his eyes. "Maybe there's another seat?" he asked
softly.
The teacher looked surprised at the request, but Honda rose
instantly. Shooting a dirty look at Anzu, he called out, "Mutou,
there's a seat next to me." There hadn't been, but his deskmate
had changed seats when he and Jounouchi had returned to school.
Yuugi looked up, smile blossoming again. "I'll sit with
Honda-kun," he said to the teacher. As everyone watched in
amazement, he joined the brunet at his seat, smiled up at the taller
boy, and sat. Honda sat as well, glaring at the class so they went
back to their work. He caught Jounouchi's eye and shrugged, then
helped Yuugi find the page they were on in the textbook.
Jounouchi sighed again and looked down at the page of Swahili.
"It's not that bad," Bakura whispered, almost hearing his thoughts.
"Might as well be," Jounouchi muttered. He looked at the text and
found himself more greatful than angry or embarrassed when Bakura began
reading softly aloud and paraphrasing everything as he took notes.
After a few paragraphs he started thinking that maybe it really wasn't
that bad after all.
~Chapter 2~
"And this is..." Jounouchi was sure he was the only one to notice
Bakura's pause. "...my cousin. He's staying with me while
his..." This time Honda noticed too. "...parents are away on
business."
The small boy pulled closer to Bakura, practically hiding behind
him. He looked at his "cousin's" friends with almost fearful
wariness as he clung to the older boy's hand. "Nice to meet you,"
he said politely.
Jounouchi nodded politely, noting out of the corner of his eye that
Honda had finally recognised the boy from pictures and the background of
televised interviews with Kaiba. Yuugi still hadn't.
"It's nice to meet you too, Mokuba-kun," he said with a big
smile. Jounouchi almost laughed to realize that his small friend
didn't have to bend over at all to look in Mokuba's eyes. Bakura's
charge returned the smile with a small one of his own. "Do you
like games?" Yuugi asked.
At that, Mokuba's expression brightened and he pulled away from Bakura
for the first time. "All kinds," he admitted.
The pair started off to Yuugi's family's game shop, Bakura following
with an indulgent smile as they chattered excitedly about their favorite
games. Honda sidled up to Jounouchi as the blond begain following
as well.
"Is that really...?"
"Bakura's cousin?" Jounouchi interupted. "Why would he lie?"
"...Yeah," Honda agreed. He shot Jounouchi a look that very
clearly demanded an explanation at a later time, and hurried to catch up
with the others. Jounouchi took his time.
He knew that his boss was overseas starting disarmament programs.
It had been all over the news when the other boy had made breakthroughs,
as well as the people and places he had visited. Jounouchi had
thought it odd that Mokuba was never in the pictures or mentioned in the
stories. Honda thought he was overreacting, but it was a
well-known fact that Kaiba Seto never went anywhere without his brother.
It would appear that Mokuba had been left with Bakura. Or rather,
that Bakura had been left with Mokuba. Jounouchi wondered what he
should say about the circumstances in the report he had to turn in in
two days.
"Katsuya-kun!" Yuugi called from far ahead, waving his arms to get
Jounouchi's attention. "Hurry up!"
Putting the thought aside for later, Jounouchi hurried to catch up to
the others. The afternoon was a whirlwind of card games, board
games, computer games, and even homework. Under Bakura's patient
guidance they all finished with time left to go out for burgers before
splitting to head home for dinner.
"Well?" Honda demanded several blocks after they left Bakura and Mokuba
behind. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Not when he still wasn't sure in his own mind what was going on.
"You should watch the news, Honda," he said instead, hands thrust in his
pockets, resolutely not looking at his friend.
"Like hell," the brunet responded, pinning him to a wall. "You're
going to tell me what's going on now, Jounouchi."
The blond glared up at his larger friend. "There are times you
can pin me. Now isn't one of them." He pulled out of the
other boy's hold and continued walking.
The walk finished silently, each lost in his own thoughts.
Jounouchi wasn't sure what Honda was thinking, but his own mind had
moved away from thoughts of Mokuba. For some reason - one that had
nothing to do with strength - he could still feel Honda holding him.
~Chapter 3~
"Are you going to tell me what's going on yet?"
Jounouchi gave an undignified screech and pushed Honda away from him,
causing the brunet to fall out of the bed they shared by
necessity. The Honda family's third bedroom was still used by his
friend's older sister more often than not, and they couldn't afford -
and didn't have room for - a second bed in the room he was in.
"Don't do that to me when I've just woken up!" Jounouchi yelled,
throwing a pillow at Honda's head while he pulled the bedclothes tighter
around himself. "And after waking me like that you'll be lucky if
I ever talk to you again!"
Honda covered his ears. "That would be a relief, yes."
"Bastard," Jounouchi muttered, getting up to find clothing to put on.
"Everything ok in there, boys?"
They both paused to look guiltily at the door, sorry to have bothered
Honda's mother.
"Yeah, ma," Honda answered quickly.
"Good! Then get dressed and out here for breakfast before you're
late for school!" They heard her mutter something about teenagers
as she went toward the stairs, and grinned at each other.
When they were finally ready to go, Honda's mother gave them each a
lunch, a kiss on the cheek, and a kick out the door.
"And if your teacher calls me to tell me you're in trouble you'll have
more than you know what to do with," she threatened, even though they
hadn't been in any trouble since restarting school.
Mokuba was in the back of the classroom again. He had brought his
own crayons today, but all the teachers had colouring books for
him. Several students - mostly boys with lower grades - watched
enviously as he coloured all day while they had to read from their
textbooks that were written for Ph.D's in Turkmenistan.
Jounouchi caught a few references to Kaiba throughout the day. It
seemed that he wasn't the only one who had started watching the
news. His boss had made a big breakthrough the previous day.
The news hadn't said what it was, though, and everyone was trying to
guess.
Jounouchi jotted the question down on a piece of scrap paper to include
in his report. The reminder of his report made him glance at
Bakura, wondering again what he should do about his deskmate in the
report. After staring for a short while, Bakura looked up and
blushed slightly at the attention.
He hadn't decided what to do by the end of the day, and put if off
again to figure out that night while writing the actual report. In
the meantime, the afternoon passed similarly to the previous - although
he and Honda decided they didn't want to play anymore after losing five
hands of poker to an eleven year old. Watching the impish smile
that blossomed on Mokuba's face at that announcement, Jounouchi had to
wonder how Bakura and Yuugi had been able to make such a big difference
in the young boy's personality so quickly.
Maybe it would be better to not tell Kaiba about it, he thought.
He didn't know how his boss would react to Mokuba being out in the real
world, and Mokuba was acting more like a normal kid than he had been
even the previous day. Would a few extra weeks do any harm?
And if this was what happened when the boy got out, it would even do him
some good.
He had one final internal debate finishing his report at home that
night, but Mokuba's elated grin finally decided him. He would
leave it out, and let things fall where they would. Satisfied with
his decision, Jounouchi put the final flourishes to his signature, using
up all the extra space on the page so nothing could be added in if
someone happened to get hold of it.
"Still writing?" Honda asked, leaning over the back of the chair with
his chin on Jounouchi's head.
"You know I always leave it to the last minute," Jounouchi said,
pushing the brunet away and putting the coverslip back over his
report. He never let Honda see what he reported and never asked
what the other boy was reporting. If they said different things,
he'd find out eventually from Kaiba anyway, and he wasn't going to
change what he told his boss.
"Just like your homework," Honda joked, flopping back onto the bed, his
feet still sticking out halfway across the room. "And then you
keep me up all night. Whatever. Let's go to bed now that
you're done. We still have school tomorrow."
"Let me finish this first." Jounouchi sealed the packet, making
it ready to go out in the morning. He kicked Honda's feet out of
the way as he pulled his clothes off, then got into bed.
