Racing my back

Ugh, this
chapter sucks. Big time. It sucked to write it, and I’m sure, it will suck
reading it, but I needed some kind of..bridge, connecting the past with the
present, and reveiling a little bit of Jou’s feelings towards Kanashi-no, not
that kind of feelings, get your brains out of the gutter(although the thought of
a gothic Jou and ‘normal’ Jou doing the nasty is quiet appealing..wait, wait,
forget I said that ~ ~°)!

Ok, back to the
story, almost the entire chapter is one large flashback, and all Ocs* are mine,
but I do rent them for free, if you ask nicely and give me credit.

Arigato!^^

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

10

It was
their last semester at Hiun+ Elementary school, and twelve year-old Honda
leaned against the battered lockers, waiting for his best friend to arrive.

He had just
received the best of news.

“Hon-kun,
Hon-kun!” an cheerful voice yelled, as a mop of wild, blond hair shoved past
the pupils crowing the hall.

Panting,
Jou came to a stop in front of of his brunet friend and rested his hands on his
knees.

He grinned
from ear to ear, one eye squinted, as he managed between deep lungfulls of air:

“Guess
what, Honda? I got like, the greatest news ever!”

Hirot
flashed an equal smirk back.

“Mmmh,
lemme see; you passed the exams and are being transferred to Domino High?”

Jou gaped
in amazement.

“But-how..when-and..you..”

Realization
hit him.

“Alright!
We’re both heading outta here! Way to go, Hiroto!”

The boys
high-fived and started a frendly brawl. Just as Katsuya had Honda in a
headlock, a nasal voice spat:

“Well,
lookit th’ two lil’ fags going at it! Neva hea’d o’ getting a room?”

Both boys
looked up at eight-grader Kiramura Satoshi* looming over them, his pulk of
followers surrounding him.

Normally,
Jou and Honda would have made a hasty retreat, just like everybody else, when
faced with Kiramura’s wrath. But Katsuya was so high on glee, his brain didn’t
even register, when he shot back:

“Yeah but
seeing you and Shikawa screwing in the biology classroom, we decided to wait,
‘till we get home!”

Shocked
silence reigned the corridor; even Honda froze in terror.

With an
inarticulated roar Satoshi leapt at Jou-and was stopped by the bell. Thrusting
a finger at the blond, he growled:

“You. Me.
Lunch time. Behing the gym.”

With that,
he turned on his heels, even as Honda dragged his blond friend to their next
class, Jou yelling after the bully:

“Just make
sure you’re on time, I hate eating cold Ramen!”

The reply
consisted of a choked, furious growl.

Ten minutes
after the luch bell had chimed, Jounouchi showed up at their usual table,
sporting a black eye and a split lip. He sat down a superior smile on his face,
and took out his bento. Honda gawked, before asking:

“So, who
won?”

Kastuya
shrugged, as he dug into his meal. Honda moaned.

“Oh, no,
don’t tell, me, you sent him to the nurse’s office?”

Jou
answered with a broad grin.

Of course,
the last word had not been spoken in this matter, and several weeks later, the
two boys found themselves surrounded by Kiramura’s entire gang, when they tried
to short-cut through the abandoned tire yard. Standing back to back the two
pree-teens searched for an escape route, but found none. They were outnumbered
by a dozen.

Smirking,
Kiramura entered the circle and cracked his knuckles.

Jou weighed
their options, then whispered over his shoulder:

“Honda,
listen, the only way t’ get outta here is if we split up. I’ll distract ‘em,
and you try and make a run f’r the money, and get some help, ne?”

The brunet
shook his head.

“Iie, no
way I’m gonna let my best friend-“

“Just do
it!” hissed Jou, and Honda knew, there was no arguing with him at this point.

Not when he
used that tone anyway.

“Kanashimi?”

“I’m
here, Katsuya”, came the soothing voice of his other best friend.

Kanashimi
had shown up the first time the night his mother left and took his imoto* with
her.

Ever
since, he had been Jou’s most trusted companion, he was always there, when the
boy needed him, especially when it came to fighting.

Not that
Katsuya was weak or clumsy, in contrary, he was a very fierce brawler, but
Kanashimi fought..different. All swiftness and skill, literal poetry in motion,
his dark friend was the embodiment of power and grace.

And
grace was the one thing, which would see him through this battle alive.

“Get ‘em!”
yelled Satoshi, and all of a sudden, the tire yard came alive with battle cries
and roars, and Katsuya told Kanashimi to get ready.

Honda
jumped, ducked, swirled and blocked, even as Jou hit, punched, stabbed and
kicked.

They were in
perfect sync, and the attackers’ large numbers were actually working for
them, because they didn’t had to care, whom they hit, except for one another.

Swiftly,
two gang members were out of the fight, and Honda used the short momentum the
mob needed to regroup to knock a third one out and, pushing him into one of his
comrades, scurry past the astonished guy to savety.

He was out
of the yard, before the mob realized, they were missing one victim.

“Let him
go, we got the one we came for!” declared Kiramura, and suddenly, there was a
knife in his hand, and he stabbed Jou.

The blade
slid past the fabric of his school uniform and shirt, grazed his left side and
scarcely nicked his skin.

It was
still enough, to flare Kanashimi’s anger.

“How-dare
you?” he spat, as he took over Katsuya’s body, snatched the upperclassman’s
hand and bent it back.

The wrist
broke with a cruel snap, and Satoshi screamed, causing his followers to pause a
split-second.

It was all
the time, Kanashimi needed.

His side
ached, his lungs burned and his legs throbbed, but Honda kept running.

He had
managed to find a police officer, who was ready to call a few reinforcements in
order to save Katsuya from being literally beaten to death by an angry gang.

Honda
hadn’t waited for the other officers to arrive, but turned around and ran back,
in order to help his best friend.

When he
rounded the corner to the tire yard, he was greeted with the most incredible
and scaring picture:

From all
their attackers, they were but four left who were still able to fight, and Jou
systematically decimated them.

The
remaining thugs tried to wrestle him down, but all of a sudden, Katsuya was
airborne, and came crushing down on his opponents with devastating force.

His usually
friendly, if not cocky face was a mask of pure anger, and Honda couldn’t shake
the feeling of watching an alien, bloodthirtsy beast satisfying its carnal
needs.

Or a raging
god of war seeking revenge.

Katsuya was
still beating up his fallen enemies, when the police arrived.*~

He had
spent the entire summer holidays ivenivenile prison, and again, it had been
Kanashimi, who had saved him on several occasions of being beat up, mugged or
even molested.

The judge
had insisted on him being sent there, eight points of felonious attack just
couldn’t simply be brushed off.

Especially
if one of the victims was bound to a wheelchair for the rest of hife.ife.

When he
finally was back in his own four walls, he had gotten the beating of a lifetime
from his father, and that very same night, he had banished Kanashimi with the
spell stitched upon this one’s belt, vowing to never ever call him back.

The dogtags
around his neck would be a constant reminder of his downfall.

Walking
home, Jou let the final moments of the battle against his dark half pass before
his eyes, unaware that words were tumbling from his lips, as he tried to recall
the exact phrase of the spell.

“I do hope,
you are reciting the next school play, otherwise I would be seriously worried
about your mental condition. When did you start talking to yourself, mutt?”

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

See? See? I
told you, I would bring the CEO back, ne?^^

+Hiun:
translates as doom…^^

#imoto:
little/younger sister