Hey. This is the Star-Goddess Z speaking.

Confused? Go read my bio. Yes, the Goddess of the Dark Moon file also belongs to me, by an incident that happened a long time ago. The grueling details of the long-lost-fanfiction-penname were recently re-discovered by me.

I decided to keep this old-yet-somewhat-new file, and post my new story on it! So, read this one, review, and then go read some ‘Star-Goddess Z’ stories.

I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, I most certainly would not be talking to you losers.

Just kidding! On with the fic.

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The Moon Cannot Shine On His Own

“What’s the matter, mutt? Cat got your tongue? Answer his question.”

Jounouchi Katsuya gritted his teeth, staring very hard at his egg salad. He idly wondered if he closed his eyes, the annoying voice by his right ear would go away. It didn’t.

“. . .”

“What’s the matter? Is your mental capacity going into an overload? Frankly, I agree with unicorn-boy over there. It wouldn’t be beyond your stature of grace to run into a wall.”

Jou was shaking now. It took everything he had to stop from throwing himself at the brunette that was currently teasing him.

“Don’cha have a meetin’ to go to, rich-boy?” Jou smirked. He was proud of that comeback! Anything that took more than five seconds to think of obviously had to be good, right?

The annoying voice snorted. “Where’d you learn that one? Did your mother teach it to you?”

Jou growled. That was a good comeback! How dare he!

“Why don’t you just shove off, loser!” Jou stood up, facing the cold teen behind him. Kaiba just smirked. He started to speak very softly; each word tearing into Jou like a hot knife.

“Loser? You have the nerve to call me a loser? Let’s just analyze that statement, shall we? I have exactly thirty-three billion, six-hundred and seventy million, five-hundred and twenty thousand dollars in my bank account, and right now I can tell that all you have on you right now is about thirty-seven cents. I go to my very successful job in a stretch limo, and then go home to my one-hundred and ten acre estate. You, on the other hand, work three jobs that you hate, and probably walk home through the slums to get to your filthy little dog-house!

“So, tell me—who is the loser?”

Jounouchi didn’t know whether to scream or cry. Eventually, the latter won him over.

“Shut up! SHUT UP! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE! You’re just a cruel, black-hearted snob who doesn’t understand the meaning of true work! You had everything handed to you by your father, while I have to earn everything I own! You take everything you have for granted, and I’m sick of it! Have you ever once considered that some of us may not be so lucky?”

Jounouchi shoves passed a shocked Kaiba, and bursts out into the hallway. The anger is gone, and all that is left are the tears.

‘He doesn’t understand what it’s like to be poor, to be forced to work three jobs to be able to survive! He most certainly does take his life for granted, and he doesn’t have an abusive father breathing down his neck. Rather, choking it. He doesn’t understand what it’s like to be me,’ Jou thought sadly as he continued on his way.

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Kaiba was shocked. That was the only way to put it. He’d left the lunchroom in a stupor, heading on the opposite direction Jounouchi had gone. Down towards the gym changing rooms, which was the period he had next.

The fact was, Jounouchi was wrong. He did understand. He did understand what it was like to have nothing; to work hard just to survive in the world. If it came to that, he even understood more than the mutt, having been forced to do that work at a much earlier age.

He also understood what was happening to Jou now. Granted, the mutt was clumsy, but not so clumsy that he would run into a door five times a week. Joey was being abused.

He understood that, as well. Gozaburo Kaiba, his adopted father, had been a fierce alcoholic, often “teaching” his adoptive son “lessons” about the cruelty of the world and the standards and goals he was expected to meet. Gozaburo had always chosen the most painful punishment for errors, and Seto had the scars to prove it. Of course, no one but Mokuba knew of the abuse Seto had faced, and no one was about to find out.

Jou had misunderstood his teasing. He had been trying to push the blonde into telling the midget and his gang about his abusive father and the bruise that covered one-half of his face, but it had been harder than expected. And then, Kaiba’s pride had been wounded, making him forget about his concern for the blonde and start teasing him more harshly.

Kaiba reached the locker room door. Ah, well. It was the blonde’s own problem, and if he didn’t want to confess, he didn’t have to.

Seto always went to gym early, to change into his specially-ordered long-sleeved gym uniform without anyone seeing his exposed skin. He would just die of humility and panic if anyone ever saw his badly-scarred flesh. But, no worry there. No one was ever in the locker room before the bell rang—it was the only class people could be late for and the teacher not care.

A sharp intake of breath, coming from somewhere behind him, was all it took for Kaiba’s stomach to sink dangerously low in his body.

‘Shit. . .’

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Jounouchi hastily wiped his eyes as he heard someone enter the locker rooms. He dashed hurriedly to the front of the changing room (no one ever changed there) and slid his thin body in-between the sinks to hide himself. He heard the person head to the back of the room.

Jou, after getting his face back to normal, stood up silently from his hiding spot, and started to sneak around to the back of the room. After all, it was probably Hiroto or Yugi, and he was going to give them the scare of their lives!

Just as he rounded the corner to scream out ‘BOO!’ he caught sight of the person and stopped dead in his tracks. He gave a sharp intake of breath as his attention was immediately drawn to the other boy’s exposed back.

Long, thin white scars criss-crossed down the boy’s back, and a million more short, fat pink-ish scars scattered the remaining flesh of the back, neck, and arms. Some of them still had a bit of an indentation, sinking a little lower than the skin around them. That freaked Jounouchi out. Those scars looked as if they had grown with the boy, a hint that they were pretty old. That indicated how deep they had been, when fresh.

Jou looked up; a lost and horrific look on his face, to find out who was the bearer of those terrible looking scars. He gasped loudly, however, when he was met with a six-foot-tall lanky brunette, who’s cold blue eyes looked into Jou’s honey-colored irises startlingly.

It was Kaiba.

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I wanted to write more, but I promised myself to get this chapter posted before I go to bed. Its thirteen minutes past eleven (my beddie-by) and I have to post it now. Hope you liked it. Review, and then go read my other stories. (remember, I’m Star-Goddess Z also) YOU WON”T BE DISSAPPOINTED!