• 1-The dog, that was a tiger
• 2-Northwind
• 3-Heat
• 4-Denial
• 5-Clouds forming in the distance
• 6-Southwind
• 7-Tainted breeze
• 8-Soaring the troubled sky
• 9-A rumble behind the horizont
• 10-Lessons in swiftness
• 11-Gray
• 12-Westwind
• 13-Whirls of auburn
• 14-Gentle passion
• 15-Author's note
• 16-The faintest of eastern currents

Where’s the
action? some of you might ask, while reading this fic.

There isn’t
any action, this is about Kastuya growing up and taking responsibility of his
life, just like any normal person does. This story is more of an in-depth look
into the way everybody’s favourite blond duelist deals with the repercussions
of his former, current, and future life.

I will put
in the occasional fight, angst, humor and lime, but they will really be nothing
more than spice and sugar on the side.

So, for
anybody who wants to see Katsuya maturing into a young, considering man,
welcome to the journey.

For
everybody else, there are my other fics ‘Umi no kaze’ and ‘Meant to be’.

Arigato.

Oh, btw,
enter stage left: my OC Fukuda-san, don’t steal him!^^

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

9. A
rumble behind the horizont

Yawning,
Jou walked next to Yugi, Honda and Anzu direction class, when Kaiba rushed
towards them.

The CEO had
only handed in his homework and was headed for another meeting, being excused
from classes.

Jou nodded
to him:

“Kaiba.” The
brunet didn’t even pause, only mumbled:

“Jounouchi”,
before he turned the corner to where his limo stood waiting.

Scratching
the back of his head, Jou walked on, before he realized that the others
weren’t joining him.

Turning, he
cast them a puzzled look.

“Well? Are
you coming, or what?” Honda was the first to regain speech, and croaked:

“Yes,
but..but-that was Kaiba, ne?” Katsuya blinked in confusion.

“Sure,
why?” Now, Anzu shook off her trance aswell.

“It’s just,
that, well, the two of you don’t seem to be able to stay within eyesight of each
other without starting-

“-an
argument!” butted Yugi in.

“I mean,
everytime the two of you meet, you start bickering around and insulting each other,
and now, well, you must admit, this kind of behaviour is rather, uhh-weird?” he
ended lamely.

Kastuya
smirked and shook his head.

“Let’s just
say, the two of us got tired of all this stupid fights and agreed on a..truce.”

The others
caught up with him, as they walked through the doors and halls of Domino High.

Honda
cocked a brow.

“And just
how long, oh pray tell, will that truce last?” he pondered aloud.

Jounouchi
smirked again, before replying:

“Time will
tell, Honda, time will tell.”

The lessons
were long and difficult, and slowly but surely, his head started to ache.

Given, this
trick he had learned from Fukuda-san next door about only focusing on the task
at hand and blocking out everything else was great, but it also took it’s
toll.

He could
already feel a migraine rising and tried to drown the pain with the flood of
information Nakamura-san dealt out, but it only helped so far.

By the
time the bell rang, he was exhausted.

Slumping
down in his desk he panted, before wiping the sweat off his brow. A small hand
came to rest on his shoulder and he heard Yugi’s worried voice say:

“Hey,
Jou, are you ok? You don’t look so well.”

“Yeah,”
added Honda concerned, “actually, you look like shit!”

“Honda!”
eclaimed Anzu as she elbowed the tall boy in the ribs, causing him to wince.

“I feel
like shit, too”, mumbled Jou under his breath, before rising from his chair and
facing his friends with a weak smile.

“It’s ok,
really, I guess I’m just a little overworked from last night. The house was really
full and I got tips, worth like 5000 Yen, and that only for staying one hour
longer.”

It was not
quiet the truth, the tip had been given to him by one of the bussiness men who
had been gathered at Kaiba’s table, and had dared to place his money on the
blond youth. And since all odds had been against Katsuya, the bussiness guy had
made fifty grand within the time the duel had lasted. So, basically, the
five-thousand were more of a promotion, but Jou was not one to look a gift
horse in the mouth, and he didn’t really care about the money, because he had
already won what he had fought for.

By now, he
had more than enough money to buy that Light Swords card he was so eager
about, and with what he was going to earn if he kept working there-let’s just
say, becoming a college student was no longer so far out of his reach.

Which also
meant, he had to raise his marks from a current –C to a steady +B(preferably an
A) and that’s where Fukuda-san came in.

~Being a former teacher himself, Fukuda
had early seen a certain learning handicap in the blond boy, despite this one’s
otherwise sharp mind. He was so lively, so energetic, sitting quietly at one
place, save for eating, was torture to him. Fukuda had first even thought that
Katsuya might be hyperactive, but that was not the case.

It was
just that Katsuya needed a..physical challenge. And that was something, neither
the greatest adventure story nor thriller book could offer.

In time
and with a lot of patience plus his father’s occasional training, Fukuda managed to quieten the overactive boy so far that he could make it through a
regular school day without going crazy.

Sadly
enough, Katsuya had thought that he had reached his goal, thanked him, and
hadn’t returned for any further lessons.~

~*Until
three weeks ago.

He had
heard the fight through the thin walls which had been about one topic or the
other, the shattering of glass, the screams, the slamming of doors and then-an
eerie, discomforting silence.

He had
layed on his bed, waiting for something to happen, when he heard the soft,
creaking sound of a door opening and closing, naked feet tapping over the
staircase to stop at his appartment and then, there was a knock from his door.

Grabbing
his old bokken, he peeped through the spy, and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Katsu-chan,
what are you doing here?” he rasped, his old nickname for the blond boy
slipping from his lips.

Not that
this one seemed to care, he didn’t look, as if he cared about anything anymore.

“May..may I
come in?” he whispered, and Fukuda shivered slightly.

There was a
strange qualitly to Katsuya’s voice, as if something was missing..or broken.

And
Fukuda-san doubted, it could ever be found or fixed again.~*

Ever since,
night after night, as soon as his father was asleep, Jou slipped out the door
to meet Fukuda-san, who helped him with his homeworks. They would work until
01.00.a.m., then Jou would fall in his bed, exhausted, just to get up at
05.00a.m. to make it in time to his shift at Ogawa’s by six in the morning.

He would
wash, clean, dry, pre-fry, polish and prepare until eight, then go to school
and try to stay awake, whilst soaking up as much information as possible at the
same time.

Katsuya
knew, he only needed a few more days for his body to adjust to the new rhythm.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

No
super-duper-suddenly-popping-out-of-nowhere-intelligence, but really hard stuyding
turned Jounouchi into an egghead. But can he keep up with all of his duties?
Well the next chapter is up, soon…