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Description
This is going to be somewhat of a quick story, I'm going to finish this before Christmas. This is another story I've had in the works for while...I think since August. Well enjoy the story and let me know what to improve on. Special thanks to Scooby82101 for checking over this.

It was the night of December 24th , my day started out normal. I got out of bed, ate breakfast and such. Just seemed like any other day. However that night I had to be somewhere very important and I looked outside. Just by the fact the whole world around me seemed liked it was covered in snow told me I had to walk.

"Bloody brilliant..." I said to myself as I looked out the window and glared at the snow outside.

Normally I was not opposed to walking to where I needed to go. It was good exercise, I didn't have to worry about getting gas and I could listen to music as I walked. However that day...I had to walk through heavy snowfall as well as grounds covered in slush and ice. I would normally have ridden my motorcycle but the streets were covered in more ice than the actual sidewalk. So on top of the freezing cold stinging me no matter how bundled up I was, I had to endure it longer than I would have liked. And on top of that, I continued stepping into the mounds of sludge and ice. Occasionally cars would drive by and nearly splash mud on me. All of this just so I can go to some party.

As I continued to walk I noticed I stepped on something that was not snow or even the concrete of the sidewalk. I looked down to see it was a drenched magazine, by the looks of it a recent issue of some sports magazine. And on the cover was shot of Yusei Fudo turbo dueling with his catch phrase above him. My jaw clenched at his image with the magazine being crumpled more than it already was, thanks to my hands crushing it.

Yusei and I had always been friends/rivals. Even as kids, we would try to defeat each other in various competitions, even some of the most ridiculous of things like eating food quicker than each other. Even nowadays, even as we're more mature, we like to compete with each other at Duel Monsters all the time. He definitely was quite a rival...though sometimes a bit more of one than I desired.

I used to be the champion of Duel Monsters through the entire world. I could still see fans cheering and hear the announcer call my name every time I entered the arena....then Yusei defeated me in one single duel and suddenly, no one gives a damn about me anymore. Various news sources called me old news, calling Yusei the king and it was even starting to show in how much people asked me for things such as promotion and interviews. Even things right down the sales of merchandise dropped and slowly, so did my income. At times Yusei was on the border between friend and enemy, and while I do respect him a lot...I also hate him for basically ruining my career at the moment.

I quickly skimmed through the magazine to see if there was anything on me, to no avail. I folded it up and put it inside my coat pocket and continued walking towards the party. You see, Yusei was throwing a party for all of his friends that night in celebration of Christmas. I thought that could be a way to get my spirits up from all the shit that has been going on with my career so I accepted his invitation. Besides when I asked him who else was going, one name stuck out to me in particular.

Mikage Sagiri.

Mikage was once my secretary when I worked for Godwin along with I still having a career. At the time though I never really acknowledged her too much, I just thanked her whenever she did something and never really thought much of it. However, after she quit and became a police officer and when things were going wrong I began rethinking some things. I realized she helped me out...a lot. She probably helped out my career a lot more than I thought. Yes I realize that someone like Godwin might have been a very good advertiser but I feel like Mikage organized things best and picked out duels that would boost my reputation the best. She knew what was best for me, certainly more than Godwin did. On top of that, she was always very kind, very gentle and always cared about others. I can't believe I never noticed until she was gone. For a while she had escaped me and although we bumped into each other, I never properly apologized....nor even showed the appreciation I should have.

So at this party I hoped to thank her properly for all that she has done as well as...well...tell her how I feel about her. Along with the realization for what she has done, I also realized I really liked her. Not like her as you would a friend but as someone who you want to be potentially more than a friend. I really wanted someone as kind as her to be someone I could be in a relationship with. She was smart, kind, beautiful even. I needed to see her, to tell her.

That time drew closer as I reached my destination and I reached the front door of where the party was being held. However on the doorstep sat a black cat, sleeping in my path. I carefully nudged the creature and it instantly woke up, quite surprising since I normally hear cats are lazy. It moved out of my way though when it was leaving it seemed to look back at me a couple times. I just shrugged and rang the doorbell. After a couple seconds, the door was answered.

"Jack, glad you can make it, come on in." Yusei said as he welcomed me inside with his good-natured smile.

As I walked into Poppo Time, I saw many of the familiar faces that had come across Yusei's or even some of my, adventures. I could see Carly taking photos of the whole party, Aki Izayoi wearing a Santa hat & female suit, setting up some mistletoe for some poor soul in the room and I had a good guess who. I could even see Kiryu and Crow clinging glasses of egg nog in celebration. Looking at the ceiling, I saw strings of Christmas lights shining brightly, some still being set up by Rua and Ruka. The sounds were full of chatting between people as well as the sounds of various Christmas songs. In the living room stood a Christmas tree with a bunch of presents everyone was planning on opening with each other once it was midnight, thankfully I already mailed mine there hence why I didn't bring anything on my walk. I was keeping a very special gift for Mikage which I had been saving up for, for a while. I knew she would love it and when midnight struck, I would give it to her and confess to her. Speaking of her, I looked around for her, sometimes bumping into people in my search.

After a bit of searching, I managed to find her sitting in the kitchen sitting on drinking some hot chocolate with some whipped cream on the top. However just as I took my first step to talk to her, someone just came completely out of nowhere. However, by the time I took a closer look I recognized the person's bulky figure and dark skin.

"Hey Mikage...how's it goin?" Mikage looked at the man as surprised as I was. Cupping her hands around her mug, the woman smiled lightly. "Oh hello Ushio." She replied back in her usually humble tone.

"Why aren't you with everyone else? Ushio said proudly, taking a seat beside the woman and leaning in like he was ready to listen full heartedly.

Laughing a bit, Mikage took a sip from her mug and was silent for a moment. "I'm going to later, it's just that I've had a long day and I kind of want o rest a bit and drink some hot chocolate. Besides, it looks as though they are still setting up a lot of the things in there and Jack has not arrived yet, so I'll join in later." She explained to her coworker.

Ushio, I saw, nodded at the girl with what I'm assuming was a goofy grin since Mikage chuckled a bit. "Well want me to get something for you? We still have some time for ourselves before Jack arrives." The officer asked, resting his hand atop her shoulder. That's when I stepped in immediately.

"Am I interrupting anything?" I said cockily. Ushio sat up in flash looked at me in surprise while Mikage looked at me delightfully surprised.

"Oh, uh Jack, great to see you.. I didn't think you be here so soon, since it's snowing and all" Ushio said in his surprise.

I mentally rolled my eyes, ignoring the concern in the officer's eyes. I did not want any sympathy today, I just wanted to relax. Pointing my thumb over at the other room, I said "Come on you two, they are about to finish in there." Mikage risen from her seat, nodding as did Ushio. When they started walking by me, I started a conversation with the petite woman. Ushio didn't seem to notice we had started talking for he walked on ahead of us. Perfect, this would make talking to her much easier.

"So how have you been doing lately Mikage?" She looked at me with her golden eyes shining, the Christmas lights reflected in her eyes given her a more holiday look than I was prepared for.

The woman rolled her shoulders a bit, making me wondering a bit how late she was staying up. She brushed a lock of hair from her eyes, smiling still. "I've been working at the station a lot, it's been hectic but I still get through it no problem."

"Glad to hear it, so who are you going to stand under the mistletoe with?" I asked with a hint of cockiness. I was acting a little more well...joyful than I usually was that night. I believe it's because I had been going through so much shit I needed to let go, even for just one night. Plus I wanted to be a nice guy around Mikage and not be such a crab ass around her. "Oh...well I err..." She replied shyly; a crimson blush burning across her face.

"Hehe, it's alright, only joking around a bit." I gave her an innocent and since smile. She smiled though blush was still evident on her face.

After a while, once everyone was in the main room and chatting with each other, Yusei started to tap a spoon on a glass, signaling us to quiet down for moment. "Alright everyone, I wanted to thank you all for coming. Now we have a lot going on tonight and I wanted to try something out. You see, I wanted to try an exercise I saw on TV where people tell stories about someone in the room, what they mean to them, etc. Yes, I completely understand if you find it sappy, but isn't that what the holidays are all about? What do you say?" Everyone basically cheered save for me because god knows how much of a "friend" I've been. Then I noticed Yusei looking at me which could mean only one thing as he took a seat....

"Jack how about you be the first one up?" Yusei asked me charismatically. I just shrugged and agreed, if I tried to fight it I knew I'd get complaints from everybody. Yusei instructed me to sit in one of the two chairs put in the middle of the living room and I complied.

"Guess I'm first then." I sighed and prepared myself.

"Jack and I have been friends since childhood, I think you all know that. Though most of you would probably think of us as mortal enemies considering the ups and downs we've been through and trust me they're have been plenty!" I cynically laughed in my head. 'You don't say? 'I thought to myself.

"But you know...even after our missteps, Jack is pretty much a brother tom me. He often looked out for me when we were growing up, he's an intelligent duelist like myself, we love to compete with each other . Hell, he even managed to make a D-Wheel better than what I originally designed with the "Wheel of Fortune." I never understood why he chose to name a bike after a game show but I digress. I said nothing as Yusei continued, "Jack I will keep dueling you and forever be your rival til the end."

I actually began to feel...somewhat touched right there. No one has ever really spoken so positively of me before. He even overlooked a lot of the shit I've done to him and mainly looked at the positives. That's hard to do especially for two people with a relationship as complicated as ours. It made me feel a bit sentimental. I guess people thought so too as when he stood up to leave, people clapped for him as well as me.

However, after Yusei's surprisingly touching words, Crow Hogan stepped up and sat in the chair which Yusei sat in before. I was a bit surprised someone like him would want to say some words about me I honestly didn't know what expect from him talking about. I knew we had our ups and downs, just like I had with Yusei, but we fought more than anything else but I suppose that was what our relationship was.

"I remember I have been hanging out with Jack and Yusei since we were kids, making trouble all the time." Crow said in a tone one would expect for thinking about memories such as those. I didn't mind his introduction as, well it was true and me and We did cause a lot of trouble...but then...

"It's funny to see how Jack hasn't changed a bit. He's still pretty much an angsty teenager, always being antisocial and always not giving a damn about anything." He said in a way similar to a stand-up comedian...problem was he was not funny. In fact it kind of irked me a little as I did care about a lot of people, I wouldn't have tried to help save the world if I didn't. Now I see what this was turning into, it was a roast...though it seemed Crow didn't know how to do one. "I mean he had to resort to stealing a card and crappy bike from Yusei in order to get to New Domino. I guess it's that easy these days, let me get a baseball card and my cousin's tricycle, I'll become the next big thing." Crow continued in a mocking tone. While yes I did indeed take Yusei's things and I do regret it, he was making it seem like we were little kids.

"However I guess that was all for nothing as it took only one duel from Yusei to send his career crashing down and now he is the king of duels." I noticed the crowd was silent, probably because what he was saying was not funny, in fact it was beginning to anger me. At least everyone else were being polite about my then economic situation. I just prayed he was almost done.

Crow chuckled, not realizing he had lost his touch of humor with adults rather than children. "It got so bad that even Mikage did not want to be seen with a loser like him so she's going with someone like Ushio."

That tore it.

I instantly stood up so quickly the chair behind me fell from behind me then crashed onto the floor. I heard several gasps while I grabbed Crow by the collar of his shirt and looked at him with bloodthirsty eyes. Everyone was gasping still and asked questions in their confusion.

"Just..shut up..." I growled at him.

"H-h-h-h-h-hey Jack calm down, it's just s-some jokes." I dropped the man on the ground and stared him down. Crow, now leaned back on his hands, stared up at me with wide doe eyes making it seem like I was going to kill him. I was close to, but the thought never even crossed my mind.

"I have been working my ass off to recover my damn career...you have no freaking right to talk pathetic man." I snapped, pointing an accusing finger at him. Yusei and Mikage stepped forward then, obviously upset at my sudden action.

"Jack calm down, he's just..." I looked over to Yusei with the same angry eyes, he looked at me with a bit of shock. I shoved my accusing finger against his chest, screaming at him, "and you! While I'm down on my luck, trying to recover, all you're doing is sitting on your ass, happily accepting the fame and glory. You claim to be a humble, stoic guy when really you just love all this fame. You don't want me to get any publicity as it might pose a threat to YOUR career even whether we are or were friends or not!" I shouted at Yusei with pure...unaltered rage. Yusei looked at me unsurprisingly shocked, hurt flashed in his sapphire eyes before he looked away. The sounds of the crowd around us gasped at my anger.
Mikage however was still upset at my actions. "Jack please, calm down. Crow just..." Mikage tried to calm me down but I was looked at her just as angry.

"AND YOU! For someone whose supposedly always there for people, you sure not here for me when I'm PROBABLY NEARING BANKRUPTCY! But no you just ran off to go play cops and robbers!" Mikage looked at me horrified as did the rest of the party guests. My brow was scrunched at them and my muscles tightened. However after a really looked over what had just happened: seeing the crestfallen look on Yusei's face, Mikage tearing up with her fingers to her lips, Ushio and Aki helping a shaken Crow up off the floor. My angry expression melted away after I looked over the situation more horrified than angry.

"I....I'm so sorry, I...I didn't know what I was doing...I'm sorry." Mikage walked forward a bit and rubbed me on the shoulder.

"It's ok....It's ok..." I looked at her and while Mikage has her bright, caring expression with a soft smile, I kept my horrified face on. I took her hand and gently pushed removed it from my shoulder. Mikage looked at me confused as did everyone else in the room. I sighed, turning around now facing the door, I walked towards the door and grabbed my coat slipping it on. I looked back towards the crowd and while Mikage tried to stop me, Yusei put his hand on her shoulder and when she looked at him, he shook his head. I sighed and walked out the door, back into the freezing world.

Sure felt better than what had happened at that party.

Let me know what to improve on and comment and there is more to come folks.

Description
This is going to be somewhat of a quick story, I'm going to finish this before Christmas. This is another story I've had in the works for while...I think since August. Well enjoy the story and let me know what to improve on. Special thanks to Scooby82101 for checking over this.

It was the night of December 24th , my day started out normal. I got out of bed, ate breakfast and such. Just seemed like any other day. However that night I had to be somewhere very important and I looked outside. Just by the fact the whole world around me seemed liked it was covered in snow told me I had to walk.

"Bloody brilliant..." I said to myself as I looked out the window and glared at the snow outside.

Normally I was not opposed to walking to where I needed to go. It was good exercise, I didn't have to worry about getting gas and I could listen to music as I walked. However that day...I had to walk through heavy snowfall as well as grounds covered in slush and ice. I would normally have ridden my motorcycle but the streets were covered in more ice than the actual sidewalk. So on top of the freezing cold stinging me no matter how bundled up I was, I had to endure it longer than I would have liked. And on top of that, I continued stepping into the mounds of sludge and ice. Occasionally cars would drive by and nearly splash mud on me. All of this just so I can go to some party.

As I continued to walk I noticed I stepped on something that was not snow or even the concrete of the sidewalk. I looked down to see it was a drenched magazine, by the looks of it a recent issue of some sports magazine. And on the cover was shot of Yusei Fudo turbo dueling with his catch phrase above him. My jaw clenched at his image with the magazine being crumpled more than it already was, thanks to my hands crushing it.

Yusei and I had always been friends/rivals. Even as kids, we would try to defeat each other in various competitions, even some of the most ridiculous of things like eating food quicker than each other. Even nowadays, even as we're more mature, we like to compete with each other at Duel Monsters all the time. He definitely was quite a rival...though sometimes a bit more of one than I desired.

I used to be the champion of Duel Monsters through the entire world. I could still see fans cheering and hear the announcer call my name every time I entered the arena....then Yusei defeated me in one single duel and suddenly, no one gives a damn about me anymore. Various news sources called me old news, calling Yusei the king and it was even starting to show in how much people asked me for things such as promotion and interviews. Even things right down the sales of merchandise dropped and slowly, so did my income. At times Yusei was on the border between friend and enemy, and while I do respect him a lot...I also hate him for basically ruining my career at the moment.

I quickly skimmed through the magazine to see if there was anything on me, to no avail. I folded it up and put it inside my coat pocket and continued walking towards the party. You see, Yusei was throwing a party for all of his friends that night in celebration of Christmas. I thought that could be a way to get my spirits up from all the shit that has been going on with my career so I accepted his invitation. Besides when I asked him who else was going, one name stuck out to me in particular.

Mikage Sagiri.

Mikage was once my secretary when I worked for Godwin along with I still having a career. At the time though I never really acknowledged her too much, I just thanked her whenever she did something and never really thought much of it. However, after she quit and became a police officer and when things were going wrong I began rethinking some things. I realized she helped me out...a lot. She probably helped out my career a lot more than I thought. Yes I realize that someone like Godwin might have been a very good advertiser but I feel like Mikage organized things best and picked out duels that would boost my reputation the best. She knew what was best for me, certainly more than Godwin did. On top of that, she was always very kind, very gentle and always cared about others. I can't believe I never noticed until she was gone. For a while she had escaped me and although we bumped into each other, I never properly apologized....nor even showed the appreciation I should have.

So at this party I hoped to thank her properly for all that she has done as well as...well...tell her how I feel about her. Along with the realization for what she has done, I also realized I really liked her. Not like her as you would a friend but as someone who you want to be potentially more than a friend. I really wanted someone as kind as her to be someone I could be in a relationship with. She was smart, kind, beautiful even. I needed to see her, to tell her.

That time drew closer as I reached my destination and I reached the front door of where the party was being held. However on the doorstep sat a black cat, sleeping in my path. I carefully nudged the creature and it instantly woke up, quite surprising since I normally hear cats are lazy. It moved out of my way though when it was leaving it seemed to look back at me a couple times. I just shrugged and rang the doorbell. After a couple seconds, the door was answered.

"Jack, glad you can make it, come on in." Yusei said as he welcomed me inside with his good-natured smile.

As I walked into Poppo Time, I saw many of the familiar faces that had come across Yusei's or even some of my, adventures. I could see Carly taking photos of the whole party, Aki Izayoi wearing a Santa hat & female suit, setting up some mistletoe for some poor soul in the room and I had a good guess who. I could even see Kiryu and Crow clinging glasses of egg nog in celebration. Looking at the ceiling, I saw strings of Christmas lights shining brightly, some still being set up by Rua and Ruka. The sounds were full of chatting between people as well as the sounds of various Christmas songs. In the living room stood a Christmas tree with a bunch of presents everyone was planning on opening with each other once it was midnight, thankfully I already mailed mine there hence why I didn't bring anything on my walk. I was keeping a very special gift for Mikage which I had been saving up for, for a while. I knew she would love it and when midnight struck, I would give it to her and confess to her. Speaking of her, I looked around for her, sometimes bumping into people in my search.

After a bit of searching, I managed to find her sitting in the kitchen sitting on drinking some hot chocolate with some whipped cream on the top. However just as I took my first step to talk to her, someone just came completely out of nowhere. However, by the time I took a closer look I recognized the person's bulky figure and dark skin.

"Hey Mikage...how's it goin?" Mikage looked at the man as surprised as I was. Cupping her hands around her mug, the woman smiled lightly. "Oh hello Ushio." She replied back in her usually humble tone.

"Why aren't you with everyone else? Ushio said proudly, taking a seat beside the woman and leaning in like he was ready to listen full heartedly.

Laughing a bit, Mikage took a sip from her mug and was silent for a moment. "I'm going to later, it's just that I've had a long day and I kind of want o rest a bit and drink some hot chocolate. Besides, it looks as though they are still setting up a lot of the things in there and Jack has not arrived yet, so I'll join in later." She explained to her coworker.

Ushio, I saw, nodded at the girl with what I'm assuming was a goofy grin since Mikage chuckled a bit. "Well want me to get something for you? We still have some time for ourselves before Jack arrives." The officer asked, resting his hand atop her shoulder. That's when I stepped in immediately.

"Am I interrupting anything?" I said cockily. Ushio sat up in flash looked at me in surprise while Mikage looked at me delightfully surprised.

"Oh, uh Jack, great to see you.. I didn't think you be here so soon, since it's snowing and all" Ushio said in his surprise.

I mentally rolled my eyes, ignoring the concern in the officer's eyes. I did not want any sympathy today, I just wanted to relax. Pointing my thumb over at the other room, I said "Come on you two, they are about to finish in there." Mikage risen from her seat, nodding as did Ushio. When they started walking by me, I started a conversation with the petite woman. Ushio didn't seem to notice we had started talking for he walked on ahead of us. Perfect, this would make talking to her much easier.

"So how have you been doing lately Mikage?" She looked at me with her golden eyes shining, the Christmas lights reflected in her eyes given her a more holiday look than I was prepared for.

The woman rolled her shoulders a bit, making me wondering a bit how late she was staying up. She brushed a lock of hair from her eyes, smiling still. "I've been working at the station a lot, it's been hectic but I still get through it no problem."

"Glad to hear it, so who are you going to stand under the mistletoe with?" I asked with a hint of cockiness. I was acting a little more well...joyful than I usually was that night. I believe it's because I had been going through so much shit I needed to let go, even for just one night. Plus I wanted to be a nice guy around Mikage and not be such a crab ass around her. "Oh...well I err..." She replied shyly; a crimson blush burning across her face.

"Hehe, it's alright, only joking around a bit." I gave her an innocent and since smile. She smiled though blush was still evident on her face.

After a while, once everyone was in the main room and chatting with each other, Yusei started to tap a spoon on a glass, signaling us to quiet down for moment. "Alright everyone, I wanted to thank you all for coming. Now we have a lot going on tonight and I wanted to try something out. You see, I wanted to try an exercise I saw on TV where people tell stories about someone in the room, what they mean to them, etc. Yes, I completely understand if you find it sappy, but isn't that what the holidays are all about? What do you say?" Everyone basically cheered save for me because god knows how much of a "friend" I've been. Then I noticed Yusei looking at me which could mean only one thing as he took a seat....

"Jack how about you be the first one up?" Yusei asked me charismatically. I just shrugged and agreed, if I tried to fight it I knew I'd get complaints from everybody. Yusei instructed me to sit in one of the two chairs put in the middle of the living room and I complied.

"Guess I'm first then." I sighed and prepared myself.

"Jack and I have been friends since childhood, I think you all know that. Though most of you would probably think of us as mortal enemies considering the ups and downs we've been through and trust me they're have been plenty!" I cynically laughed in my head. 'You don't say? 'I thought to myself.

"But you know...even after our missteps, Jack is pretty much a brother tom me. He often looked out for me when we were growing up, he's an intelligent duelist like myself, we love to compete with each other . Hell, he even managed to make a D-Wheel better than what I originally designed with the "Wheel of Fortune." I never understood why he chose to name a bike after a game show but I digress. I said nothing as Yusei continued, "Jack I will keep dueling you and forever be your rival til the end."

I actually began to feel...somewhat touched right there. No one has ever really spoken so positively of me before. He even overlooked a lot of the shit I've done to him and mainly looked at the positives. That's hard to do especially for two people with a relationship as complicated as ours. It made me feel a bit sentimental. I guess people thought so too as when he stood up to leave, people clapped for him as well as me.

However, after Yusei's surprisingly touching words, Crow Hogan stepped up and sat in the chair which Yusei sat in before. I was a bit surprised someone like him would want to say some words about me I honestly didn't know what expect from him talking about. I knew we had our ups and downs, just like I had with Yusei, but we fought more than anything else but I suppose that was what our relationship was.

"I remember I have been hanging out with Jack and Yusei since we were kids, making trouble all the time." Crow said in a tone one would expect for thinking about memories such as those. I didn't mind his introduction as, well it was true and me and We did cause a lot of trouble...but then...

"It's funny to see how Jack hasn't changed a bit. He's still pretty much an angsty teenager, always being antisocial and always not giving a damn about anything." He said in a way similar to a stand-up comedian...problem was he was not funny. In fact it kind of irked me a little as I did care about a lot of people, I wouldn't have tried to help save the world if I didn't. Now I see what this was turning into, it was a roast...though it seemed Crow didn't know how to do one. "I mean he had to resort to stealing a card and crappy bike from Yusei in order to get to New Domino. I guess it's that easy these days, let me get a baseball card and my cousin's tricycle, I'll become the next big thing." Crow continued in a mocking tone. While yes I did indeed take Yusei's things and I do regret it, he was making it seem like we were little kids.

"However I guess that was all for nothing as it took only one duel from Yusei to send his career crashing down and now he is the king of duels." I noticed the crowd was silent, probably because what he was saying was not funny, in fact it was beginning to anger me. At least everyone else were being polite about my then economic situation. I just prayed he was almost done.

Crow chuckled, not realizing he had lost his touch of humor with adults rather than children. "It got so bad that even Mikage did not want to be seen with a loser like him so she's going with someone like Ushio."

That tore it.

I instantly stood up so quickly the chair behind me fell from behind me then crashed onto the floor. I heard several gasps while I grabbed Crow by the collar of his shirt and looked at him with bloodthirsty eyes. Everyone was gasping still and asked questions in their confusion.

"Just..shut up..." I growled at him.

"H-h-h-h-h-hey Jack calm down, it's just s-some jokes." I dropped the man on the ground and stared him down. Crow, now leaned back on his hands, stared up at me with wide doe eyes making it seem like I was going to kill him. I was close to, but the thought never even crossed my mind.

"I have been working my ass off to recover my damn career...you have no freaking right to talk pathetic man." I snapped, pointing an accusing finger at him. Yusei and Mikage stepped forward then, obviously upset at my sudden action.

"Jack calm down, he's just..." I looked over to Yusei with the same angry eyes, he looked at me with a bit of shock. I shoved my accusing finger against his chest, screaming at him, "and you! While I'm down on my luck, trying to recover, all you're doing is sitting on your ass, happily accepting the fame and glory. You claim to be a humble, stoic guy when really you just love all this fame. You don't want me to get any publicity as it might pose a threat to YOUR career even whether we are or were friends or not!" I shouted at Yusei with pure...unaltered rage. Yusei looked at me unsurprisingly shocked, hurt flashed in his sapphire eyes before he looked away. The sounds of the crowd around us gasped at my anger.
Mikage however was still upset at my actions. "Jack please, calm down. Crow just..." Mikage tried to calm me down but I was looked at her just as angry.

"AND YOU! For someone whose supposedly always there for people, you sure not here for me when I'm PROBABLY NEARING BANKRUPTCY! But no you just ran off to go play cops and robbers!" Mikage looked at me horrified as did the rest of the party guests. My brow was scrunched at them and my muscles tightened. However after a really looked over what had just happened: seeing the crestfallen look on Yusei's face, Mikage tearing up with her fingers to her lips, Ushio and Aki helping a shaken Crow up off the floor. My angry expression melted away after I looked over the situation more horrified than angry.

"I....I'm so sorry, I...I didn't know what I was doing...I'm sorry." Mikage walked forward a bit and rubbed me on the shoulder.

"It's ok....It's ok..." I looked at her and while Mikage has her bright, caring expression with a soft smile, I kept my horrified face on. I took her hand and gently pushed removed it from my shoulder. Mikage looked at me confused as did everyone else in the room. I sighed, turning around now facing the door, I walked towards the door and grabbed my coat slipping it on. I looked back towards the crowd and while Mikage tried to stop me, Yusei put his hand on her shoulder and when she looked at him, he shook his head. I sighed and walked out the door, back into the freezing world.

Sure felt better than what had happened at that party.

Let me know what to improve on and comment and there is more to come folks.