Wheeeeee, I've just gotten finished with the tests for the first semester! Yay! And I guess I just felt like posting this...

In case you're wondering: I don't remember what the heck inspired me to write this, so please don't ask me about why I did something like this and something like that... -sheepish grin-

Jou sighed as he looked at the equipment that was set up throughout the gym hall. Damn those practical exams… He loved sports, no doubt about it, but not when he was being graded. That meant pressure, and when being under aforementioned pressure, he usually made the silliest mistakes, and it was a shame that the coach wouldn't understand why he simply couldn't help it.

He had fallen flat on his face after his hands had slipped off the bars. He hadn't been able to shoot one basket with twenty basketballs. His fingers had slipped off the rings, and this had made him land painfully on his rear end – sitting had hurt for a whole week after that. In short, he was a purely laughable sight when under a teacher's observation.

Jou picked up a basketball and stared intently at it, as if it held the answer to his problem. Suddenly, his golden ears laid themselves back, and he growled angrily. He hated being laughed at, especially if that laughter came in a maliciously taunting way from Kaiba Seto. Whenever Jou was in trouble, the young billionaire seemed to appear out of nowhere, as if he had just waited to laugh at him again.

The puppy-boy flung the ball at the ground with all his might and made it jump straight to the ceiling, then fall back to the ground. It bounced up and down a few times before it was kicked mercilessly against the wall.

"If it weren't for him, it'd be only half-bad!" Jou hissed. Suddenly, he felt an immensely painful jerk on his tail, and he jumped at least a foot into the air with a yelp. "Yow!"

No sooner had he landed when he spun around, hazel eyes ablaze with anger. As he had slightly guessed, laughter greeted him.

Kaiba Seto stood there, his head thrown back with laughter that shook his shoulders. He even stomped his foot like a horse, and a tail of exactly that animal swished back and forth vivaciously.

"You're so amusing, Mutt, even when you're angry!"

"Get lost, Rich Boy!" Jou snarled.

Kaiba smirked. "And miss out on this? Not a chance."

"Oh, shut up! I'm trying to practice here, so if you won't leave, at least shut your face!" Jou huffed before sprinting off towards the vaulting horse and jumping over it with a perfect leap.

Kaiba just stood there and watched silently (for a change) as Jou ran around the entire hall, doing at least one exercise on each contraption. When the blond started running around for the sake of variety, he chuckled to himself, then slowly broke into a run. Because he was a horse-type, his running style pretty much resembled a gallop. Had he not been wearing a shirt, his mane would have billowed just like his silky tail. Soon, he caught up to the puppy and ran alongside him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jou gasped as they ducked under the high bar.

"Running. What does it look like?" Kaiba retorted sarcastically, "Listen, I challenge you: I bet you can't catch me."

"Oh yeah? I bet I can!"

"Prove it!"

With that, Kaiba started to run even faster and quickly put some distance between him and the now definitely wound-up blond, who did his very best to prove that he was right. Driven by Kaiba's taunting calls and a few mocking gestures now and then, he ran on, even though he was slowly beginning to tire.

Kaiba was as agile as a fleeing horse and made cunning use of everything he could, like the trampoline. He went soaring over the mat and landed securely on his feet again before quickly breaking into his gallop-like run again. He didn't see the admiring look in Jou's eyes as he flew through the air. At one point, though, he made the mistake to turn back to Jou again to taunt him once more, but unfortunately didn't pay enough attention to where he was running. In a twist of fate, he stumbled over one of the thin mats on the floor and frantically waved his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. Just when he had almost accomplished that, he felt two strong hands grip his tail and pull it hard. With a hiss of pain, he whirled around instantly.

Jou felt a surge of triumph rush through him when he finally laid hands on the silky strands of Kaiba's tail. And wow, it sure felt good…! Before he forgot himself, the memory of how the taller boy had pulled his tail earlier on returned, and in reaction to that, Jou pulled as hard as he could. He heard a hiss as the handsome half-stallion suddenly turned around, then he was jerked forward – and collided with the other boy.

They went sprawling, but fortunately enough for Kaiba, the thin mat broke his fall a bit and spared his back from a nasty deal of pain. The next thing he registered was how Jou was lying on top of him. He felt every heaving breath the blond teen took, and the face with the at times puppyish features took up his entire field of view. The cheeks were flushed red from the previous activity, and pearls of sweat glistened on the forehead. And those lips that could pout so uniquely when the other was upset, oh how they were parted as he panted, and they looked… tempting…

Jou was experiencing something similar. He too felt every movement the other made because of the close body contact they were having. He stared into Kaiba's stale cerulean eyes. That look was indefinable, as it usually was. But contrarily to how they usually were, the black ears weren't laid back, but stood upright – and with normal horses, that meant that they were considerate towards somebody. The question was whether that fact could be applied to Kaiba as well…

"…Get off me!" Kaiba demanded as he squirmed to underline what he had just said.

Jou blushed furiously and rolled off of him. He propped himself up on all fours and tried to grin sheepishly. "Whoops."

"Yeah, whoops!" Kaiba snarled as he pushed himself up into a kneeling position and rubbed his back a bit, "Next time, choose somewhere else to land on!"

"Hey, it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't turned around so suddenly!"

"Well, you pulled my tail!"

"That was just payback for what you did to me!" Jou bellowed.

Kaiba looked dangerously furious for a moment, but then looked away and muttered: "Still; it hurt…"

"You think it didn't hurt me?" Jou hissed. He hated it when others were so selfish as not to think of what they did to others. When Kaiba just scowled, he sighed and asked exasperatedly: "Why did you do that in the first place? Do you think it's fun to go around and pull other people's tails?!"

Kaiba just snorted and got back to his feet again. Quickly, his slender hands ran through his hair to make it fairly neat again, then he turned to leave. He stopped, however, when something was demanded of him:

"Goddammit, Kaiba, answer me!"

"Don't you go giving me orders, Mutt!" he spat, turning around as swiftly as he had before.

"It's a free country," Jou retorted stubbornly as he sat upright and crossed his arms demonstratively.

For the first time in the presence of someone else, Kaiba fidgeted and tried to stall. He knew the answer to the actual question, but to answer it truthfully could spell nothing else but "disaster". He had a reputation to uphold! He wasn't supposed to give in to what others wanted! He –

"Today, Kaiba, if your Highness pleases," Jou drawled.

Kaiba wanted to lie – oh God, how he wanted to lie! But to his horror, he found himself saying: "You wouldn't understand." Oh shoot, such a comment was rarely made without receiving a persistent demand of a clear answer…!

"Try me."

Kaiba turned away and sat down on the thick mat that was right beside him. In the background, Jou watched with surprise as the young CEO's shoulders sagged a bit as if in helplessness. What the other said was nothing more than a murmur, and Jou was glad that his hearing was so good, or else he surely would have missed it:

"I can't."

Hearing this made him almost burst with curiosity, so he stood up, walked over to the mat and crawled over it to sit beside the brunet while taking care not to tread on the tail that was spread out. He leaned forward and tried to look into Kaiba's face.

"Why not?" he asked, temporarily forgetting whatever he had held against the other teen just moments ago and letting himself be purely innocent once more.

Almost tiredly, Kaiba raised a hand and looked away pointedly. "Go away, Mutt."

"What? What did I do?"

"Nothing. Just go!"

Jou cocked his head to one side – looking very puppyish just then – then spoke decidedly: "Relax, Kaiba. You can tell me, I promise I won't laugh."

"Oh, really?" the other remarked with a bitter laugh, "Sure you wouldn't, you'd never dream of missing the perfect opportunity to use it against me after all I've done to you –!"

His words were cut short as Jou lunged at him, and a second later he was being pinned down by the puppy. "Shut up! I said I wouldn't laugh, and you can be damned sure that I won't! So why can't you just be honest for once? Would it kill you or something?!" The hurt look that came from the previous statement faded, and now the eyes looked nothing less than pleading. "Come on, Kaiba… can't we just be civilized for once?!" he said; no, almost whispered.

For a moment, Kaiba was speechless as he wildly wondered whether he could really trust this. It would mean opening up to someone, and only one other person, namely his beloved little brother, had been granted that honor so far…

"…Jou…" His normally so steady voice shook a little.

"Are you alright?" the blond asked worriedly – it was quite a shock to see Kaiba act so differently from his usual arrogant, egoistic way.

"…I don't know…"

Jou raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply directly to that. He thought that Kaiba looked almost anxious, worried about something, though he couldn't think of a single thing that could cause that… He let go of Kaiba's wrists and drew back a bit. "Kaiba…?"

Meanwhile, the CEO was overcome with the clash between two different intentions. Part of him wanted to just stand up and leave and blackmail the puppy if he'd even get the mere idea of mentioning what had happened to anybody. But another part of him wanted to tell the truth, to give the other the answer he sought, for Jou of all people was extremely honest and hated to even use white lies. And in those moments, Kaiba lost control as he began muttering to nobody in particular in a desperate attempt to hide the part of him that was unknown to the world.

"I want to tell you… No, I can't… Nobody understands…! I'm alone… My reputation… Mokuba… But it's… there… I refuse it! … I… I don't know…!"

Jou stared in horror at his schoolmate. Never before had he seen the blue eyes so wide, and the tall teen looked downright scared. His ears were twitching nervously, as was his tail too, though it was halfway pinned down by his body. His hands gripped repeatedly at his clothes, only to let them go and then grab them all over again.

"Kaiba, stop it! …Please!" he whispered nervously and grasped one of the prodigy's hands. Immediately, the other hand closed around his, and even the touch signaled the distress he was suffering from.

"What's wrong with you? You're scaring me! Listen, can I help you? Speak to me!" He continued to speak to him, hoping to get an answer. Right now, he didn't even care if it would only be a nasty remark. When he got nothing of the sort, however, he sighed helplessly, then got an idea. "Maybe you need some water… I'll be right back –"

But he was just about to let the other go, scramble off him and run to the bathroom when Kaiba seemed to awaken from his semi-trance and pleaded:

"No… Jou, don't go…!"

The blond stopped instantly. "Huh?"

"P-P-Please…!" Kaiba stammered.

"Oh… um… alright, I won't. But only if you calm down now; don't start hyperventilating or something," Jou told him. 'God, I gotta get to the bottom of this!'

To his dismay, unfortunately, Kaiba indeed seemed to be doing just that as his breathing became more stressed and the look in his eyes more frantic. At this rate, he'd end up hurting himself…!

"Kaiba, look at me," he said as firmly as he could and cupped one of the brunet's cheeks with his hand to force him to do exactly that for now, "Listen, it's alright. I don't know what's bothering you, and since you aren't willing to tell me, I can't help you. But please, for goodness' sake just calm down before you hurt yourself! Calm down…" he repeated that last part in a soft murmur as his other hand began to slowly pet the other's chestnut-colored hair.

At first, it didn't look like he would be successful with what he was doing; but then Kaiba really started to give in to that. His frantic breathing slowed down, and his eyes gradually lost the frightening part of their anxiety. What remained, though, was worry and insecurity. All the while, he just stared straight into Jou's face, taking full notice of the honestly concerned look in the brown eyes.

'He's honest… maybe… I can trust him…'

He closed his eyes and just concentrated on the hand that kept petting his hair in the ongoing attempt to calm him down or to make sure that he'd remain calm. It felt so good… he had never been touched like this before…

"Jou…" he murmured.

"…Kaiba?" the puppy's voice replied softly, questioningly.

'I must tell him. I can do it now if I really want to… it might be too late afterwards!'

"Jou, I wish I hadn't pulled your tail."

"…What?" the blond asked, flabbergasted.

Kaiba opened his eyes again and barely dared to look into the other's face. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Actually, I never really did… it was just my way of interacting with you."

"But… why? Why couldn't you just be nice like Yugi and the others?"

"They're your friends, and I am not. And yet… how can I put it? I-I just wanted to be near you as well… even though you hate me."

Jou thought about this. Now that he mentioned it… yes, Kaiba had really been around him quite often, even though his appearance hadn't been pleasing – and yet, on those days when Kaiba stayed at work and didn't come to school, he had always thought that something was missing… someone…

"Kaiba, I don't hate you." Yes, that sounded right. He had been honest again, though he at first hadn't been sure how truthful that would sound.

"You don't?!"

Jou smiled and shook his head, making his ears waggle a bit. "No. You may have always acted like a jerk when you were around, but when you weren't there, it felt kinda weird. Heck, when you are gone for a week or so, I guess I almost miss you!"

Kaiba took a deep breath and silently told himself to just let it go for once. Something told him that it would be alright, that Jou would stay true to his word.

"I miss you too, Jou, many times. I think of you very often. I wasn't being honest to you… and certainly not to myself," he finished quietly.

Jou felt how he was starting to wag his tail. Hearing this made him happy – he had always had at least a slight ounce of trouble in believing that Kaiba really was such a horrid person, for it was said that there was some good in everyone…

"You know, I'm very glad to hear that. But you'd make me even happier if you'd start acting honestly all the time. It's not a crime – but being cruel without an explanation is one."

"Could you…?" Kaiba suddenly choked, unable to say the rest.

Jou grinned knowingly. "Could I forgive you? Yeah, I guess I can. I can't stay mad at people for long anyways."

"Jou?"

"Hmm?"

And that was when Kaiba Seto blushed. Jou was quite sure of that, for nothing else could explain why his pale cheeks suddenly turned pink – a cute shade of pink. "I love you."

It was a breathed whisper, barely audible even for Jou's keen ears. But he heard it, and he gave a bark of laughter. "Heh, and I was close to thinking that you really hate me…!"

"I don't. I love you, and now I know that I can trust you. I want to be with you. I don't want to miss you anymore," Kaiba spoke, his voice becoming more hopeful the more he said.

"…Kaiba…" Now Jou really was flabbergasted. He-who-had-always-claimed-to-not-need-anybody was practically begging for him to agree to be his boyfriend?!

"Please, puppy! I can be nice if I want to – ask Mokuba if you don't believe me!"

"Well, I… um… wow…" Jou stammered. This was rather unexpected; the effect wouldn't have been different if Kaiba had suddenly dropped to one knee and asked for his hand in marriage.

"Jou…" Kaiba breathed, then wrapped his arms around the other's neck for support before reaching up and kissing him on the lips.

Barely a second later, Jou's tail started wagging like mad. The boy knew in that instant that he would tell Kaiba that he accepted and would be his, his and no one else's. The brunet's lips felt as soft as his tail did, and the way in which they touched his… God, it was just fabulous!

When Kaiba drew back, he pleaded one last time: "I need you…!"

Jou sighed and gestured to his tail. "I gave myself the answer to my own question. See?"

"So you accept!" Kaiba exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, I do," Jou confirmed brightly, and his tail resumed its previous mad wagging again.

The CEO quickly hugged and kissed him again. Jou kissed back gladly, and a first spark of passion came up between them. Sensing that, Jou giggled and ended the touch.

"You know, if you hadn't pulled my tail, we might not have gotten into this…"

"Maybe, but we most certainly wouldn't have if you hadn't pulled mine," Kaiba agreed and graced Jou with a first true smile.

"I guess you're right!" the puppy-boy laughed, and as if the laugh was contagious, Kaiba joined in too. When they calmed down again, Jou suddenly asked: "By the way, d'you have… you know, a mane?"

Kaiba smirked and sat up. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

Without warning, he grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, allowing Jou a short, admiring glance at his well-built chest before turning around. Jou stared at the lacy black mane that actually started right beneath Kaiba's human hair and ran all the way down to his backside, though becoming thinner and thinner until it was almost just a stripe the closer it got there.

"Wow…" he murmured and fingered the black hair strands.

His fingers became quite entangled in the hair when Kaiba arched his back to intensify the touch. "Ooh, that feels good… Don't stop, puppy…"

"Say what? I was only petting it a bit!"

"I know! But I've never experienced that before, and I love it! Go on!" Kaiba invited him, shooting him a one-eyed glance.

"Okay…" Jou complied and continued to caress and pet the mane. Sometimes a hand would wander up to Kaiba's brown hair, but the brunet didn't protest against that either. Of course, the blond's fingers also touched his bare skin, and that made him moan every now and then. Once or twice, Jou blushed at this.

'Does he know what he sounds like when he does that?! Oh well…'

Hours later, the two teens left the gym hall. Their hair was wildly disheveled from their first make-out session, and over all the emotions-and-hormones commotion they had forgotten to actually practice for the exam, but there was barely anything else that was further from their minds as they left the grounds with their hands firmly linked.

Review, if you like ;) (it'd make me very happy!)

Oh, by the way: this is simply a oneshot...

P.S: Many thanks to everyone who reviewed!!