I am Heba

Added Complications

200+ reads? Wow! Thank you all so much! Ya'll are simply the greatest! Just as a heads up: from this chapter on much of the plot will be loosely based on what happens in the anime since much of Heba's history is the same as Atemu's. Dat Backstory.

I listened to the song "Desert Rose" by Sting and am now officially making it this fanfiction's theme song. Yep. I just can't get over how fitting it is.

Note:

//Atemu to Yuugi//

\\Yuugi to Atemu\\

-word- : extra emphasis

'...' - thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Seriously, I don't. Enjoy!

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Chapter Eight: Added Complications

Domino, Japan, Present Day

It was five minutes before class and Yuugi was nowhere to be seen.

Ryou looked worriedly at the clock behind him. 7:58. "Has he answered any texts yet?" he asked, gently nibbling on a fingernail. The three people beside him shook their heads in sync. Anzu scrolled to something on her touchscreen and sighed. "I have nothing."

"Same here," Honda agreed, tapping his long fingers against the desk. He glared intently at his phone's small screen. "This is so unlike Yuugi. I wonder what's keeping him?" Jounouchi tapped his foot anxiously against the linoleum floor and stared at his text conversation with Yuugi. Many blurbs of 'You sick?', 'Everything good?', and 'You coming to school?' sat unread in the box. His brow furrowed.

This was most definitely not like Yuugi.

Being late, yes. They'd all had those days. Normally Yuugi would have said something if he'd been running behind, but not today. He hadn't said a word. Jounouchi felt in his gut that something was up - and he needed to discover what that was. If Yuugi were still sleeping in then all was well, but after the way Yuugi was yesterday...

"Could he be sleeping in? Yuugi did have a lot on his mind yesterday and he -did- look pretty worn out after we set everything up. Maybe he got a hold of Ishizu and they discussed what was going on?" Ryou leaned forward in his desk and bit his lip. "I'd want to sleep in if I were having dreams like his, too."

"I don't think even sleeping in would keep that child away from school. You know how he is about keeping up his grades," Honda sighed and swiped a hand through his brown hair. "I mean, seriously. He's more of a nut about it than I was when I was still a Beautification Member..."

Jounouchi knew Yuugi's reason for why he was so focused on his schoolwork - and none of it had to do with his goody-goody tendencies. If Ryou was right, and knowing Yuugi, Jounouchi had a good idea of what was wrong with his best buddy; what else would it be other than the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle himself? He stood abruptly, eyes set with a sharp determined light that he hadn't had since the gang's adventure in Egypt four months prior. "I'm gonna go check on him."

The other three started, staring at Jou with wide eyes. "Now?" Anzu asked in disbelief. She eyed the front of the room where their teacher was gathering her things into a neat pile. "Class is about to start. As much as I know we all want to check on Yuugi we can't just-"

"This isn't my first skip, Anzu." Jounouchi said with a small, lopsided grin, "You guys stay, I'll go check on Yuug'. I'll text ya'll what's up."

"But Jou-" Jounouchi didn't hear the rest as he had already ran out of the room, ignoring the angry shouts of "Mr. Katsuya!" from his teacher. Used to the exercise Jounouchi pumped his legs faster and sped from the school, barely feeling the strain in his legs as he ran down blocks. All he could think about was checking up on his small friend.