Thank you, fantasywriter93, lily272, Mimi-senpai, and dancing elf for your kind reviews. I'm happy that I caught some people's attention. I managed to get further towards the end of this story but not too much further. LOL I'm trying to find the ending I want, but it seems like my creative mind doesn't want to end it.

Warnings: none except for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but don't worry. I'll update this next chapter as fast as I could.

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Chapter Two

Jou spent the whole night taking care of the sick burnet. Walking up and down the stairs for more ice water, Jou found himself being careful not to wake Mokuba and wondered why there was no staff around the house. The entire time Kaiba never woke. Jou rubbed his tired, dry eyes and glanced at the clock in the kitchen. This was his fifth trip downstairs. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and dialed his teacher's number. He knew this wasn't going to go over well, but he had to try anyway. He was worried about Kaiba not waking yet, and he didn't want to leave him even though he was sure Mokuba would know what to do. On top of the fact that he might fall asleep in class which would be worse than just not showing up. The phone rang a few times before an angry woman's voice answered. "You better not be calling to tell me you're not making it."

"I'm sorry, Minako-sensei. I've been up all night tending to a sick person."

"Am I suppose to believe that? You do know that if you miss another day after this I'll have to hold you for another semester. At this rate you'll never graduate."

"It's the truth! Seto Kaiba came into my restaurant last night where I work. After I left he was outside, but he didn't look good, and I helped him home. He's extremely sick and needs someone to watch over him."

"I'm sure Mr. Kaiba has someone that could do that. Whatever. You make your own choices, but remember one thing. If you need to take another day off don't bother calling me and don't even think about finishing this semester. I'll automatically sign you up for the next one."

The woman hung up and Jou frowned. He hated how close he was to not graduating again. Jou sighed, not sure what he should do. There was still a few months left to the semester, and he didn't know how his father would react to him not coming home last night. Jou reached back for the bowl and filled it again with ice water. He was just about to leave when a tall male with black hair walked into the kitchen. His stern brown eyes stared at him. "How did you get in here?" The man pulled out his cell phone and grabbed Jou by the arm.

"Wait! I helped Kaiba home last night. He's really sick and upstairs in his room."

The man growled and threw him against the counter, causing the blond to drop the bowl. It shattered on the floor. Jou gasped from the force aggravating his already bruised back. The male had him pinned to the counter before Jou could even react. "What is going on?" another tall bald male said. His glasses prevented anyone from seeing his eyes.

"I found this man in here."

The man pulled out a small device. "There was no security breach last night. How did you get in here?" the bald man asked Jou.

"Kaiba was sick and couldn't drive himself home. I helped him upstairs to his room. Him and I are old classmates."

"Keep him secured there. I'll check on Kaiba-sama. You better not have hurt him." The bald man left quickly while the man holding Jou pulled him with a bruising grip over to living room. Pushing Jou into the leather couch, Jou glared up at him. He knew it was good that Kaiba had intense security, but he also knew that they wouldn't be able to wake Kaiba. He tried several times during the night.

The bald man came storming down the stairs. He pulled Jou up by his collar and slammed him into a nearby wall. Jou groaned from the abuse. "What did you do to him?"

"He's sick! I've been taking care of him."

"Kaiba-sama never gets that sick."

"Well there's a first for everything."

The man growled and punched Jou directly in the stomach. Jou gasped and coughed. He hated being abused and never thought he would run into something like this at Kaiba's mansion. Tears collected at the sides of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. The pain was too much. The new injuries were making the old ones hurt twice as much. "What are you doing?" a young voice spoke.

"Master Mokuba, we found this man in the kitchen."

Mokuba gasped as his eyes landed on Jou. "Release him. He's an old classmate of Seto's." The two guards instantly let go, causing the blond to fall. Mokuba was at his side in an instant. "What are you doing here?"

"Your brother showed up late last night at the restaurant that I work at. When he left, I found him outside, and he didn't look good. He's sick. I managed to get him home. I was just returning to his room when they found me."

"Master Mokuba, I checked on Kaiba-sama. He's unresponsive."

Jou growled. "That's because he's sick. I've been nursing his high fever all night. Check the kitchen floor. It probably still has cold water on it."

"Enough. I'll handle this."

"But Master Mokuba."

"Jou is no threat. You are dismissed." Both of the guards left the room. "Seto doesn't normally get sick."

"So I've heard. He's got a high fever and chills. It's probably the flu, but I didn't want to wake you in the middle of the night for something like that. I was keeping his fever down until they interrupted me. Excuse me a second, Mokuba." Jou walked into the kitchen and picked up the pieces of the bowl he dropped. He sighed and moved to the cabinet that he found the first one in and filled the bowel up.

Mokuba followed him. "You've been up all night. Aren't you tired?"

"A little, but it's nothing I can't handle. Is there a doctor we can call? I'm sure they didn't try hard enough to wake Kaiba."

"Sure. I'll get him over here right away. Are you sure Seto is okay?"

Jou smiled and ruffled Mokuba's long black hair. "Positive. I'll meet you up there."

Jou walked around the corner just as Mokuba called his name. He stopped and glanced back at him. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine. How about you call that doctor of yours." Mokuba nodded and dashed off down the hallway. Jou sighed and shifted his sore body. He didn't want to make the younger Kaiba feel responsible for what happened. He opened Kaiba's door and moved back to his seat beside him. Wetting the washcloth again, Jou gently padded the moisture that formed over Kaiba's face. "Your security is very protective. I'm glad but mad. That really hurt," Jou mumbled, thinking Kaiba was still asleep.

"How bad?"

Jou looked up at Kaiba's cloudy blue eyes. His voice was strand. "Nothing to be worried about. You know it would take much worse to get me down. Feeling better?" Kaiba coughed and buried himself further into the covers. Jou chuckled. "I guess not. I'm going to get you some water. Mokuba called your doctor."

"Jounouchi?"

"Don't worry. Your security won't come after me. Mokuba cleared everything up."

"Jounouchi?" Kaiba sighed as he watched the door shut. He figured the blond was ignoring him. He glanced over at the clock with a heavy sigh. He should have been at work a long time ago. That would explain the reason for the security showing up at the house and instantly suspecting something happening to him. He wondered why Jou was still there, and why he didn't wake Mokuba to watch him. He was sure Jou had somewhere to be.

Jou opened the refrigerator and grabbed one of the water bottles he seen earlier. He searched the downstairs for some medicine, but he couldn't find anything. He walked down the hallway he saw Mokuba disappear to earlier to ask him for medicine, but he couldn't find the raven haired teenager. Jou walked back up to Kaiba's room and stopped at the door hearing voices.

"You have to say something, Seto. By the time I got downstairs, they had him pinned to the wall. I don't know what they would have done if I didn't say anything."

"I don't know, Mokie. They were doing their job. I don't know why he didn't wake you up. You could have stopped all of that before it got out of hand if he told you want was going on earlier. I don't want to fault them for protecting us. He could have been robbing the place or something."

"They found him in the kitchen carrying a bowl of ice water!"

"Mokuba, enough," Kaiba barely got out before a round of strong coughs. "You didn't call the doctor, did you?"

"Of course not. I know that would upset you. Though I wish you would let the doctor look at you this time. You look horrible."

"Thank you, Mokie. I'll be fine. Check on Jou. He should have been back by now."

Jou chose that time to walk in the room and handed Kaiba a bottle of water. Kaiba drank half of it before Jou could tell him to sip it. "Are you sure you're okay?" Kaiba asked, feeling better now that his throat wasn't dry.

"Fine. If everything is fine now, I'm going to head home. My shift starts soon."

Kaiba noticed the change in Jou's personality instantly, but chose not to say anything. "I can have my driver take you home."

"It's fine. I can just walk back. Feel better, Kaiba." Jou left the room and walked down the stairs.

"He seemed different," Mokuba mumbled.

Kaiba sighed and nodded. "I'll figure it out later," he mumbled, disappearing into his thick blankets. He did feel much better compared to last night. He wondered what Jou did to make it like that. He closed his eyes. "Mokie, inform my secretary that I won't make it for the afternoon appointments and to reschedule everything. I'll go in tomorrow." Kaiba was asleep before Mokuba could even get out of the room. He smiled at his brother, knowing that it wasn't often that he got sick, but when he did he'd been out for several days. Maybe having someone watch over him was great for his brother. He gently shut Kaiba's door, wondering what Jou did to help his brother recovery quickly.

Jou shoved his hands in his pockets, choosing not to take a bus home only because he didn't have any cash on him besides the large sum Kaiba gave him for a tip. He had already spent his other tips on eating that night. He shivered from the extreme cold and hated seeing the fallen snow all around him. His trip to home was quiet with barely any cars driving through the snow covered streets even though it was mid-afternoon. His shift didn't start to later on that night, but he didn't want to stay any longer in the mansion, especially since Kaiba wasn't going to do anything to help himself. If he would have known that he wouldn't call the doctor, then Jou would have forced some sort of medicine down his throat. He would have still done that if he didn't want Kaiba knowing that he was standing right outside listening to their conversation. Guilt washed over him as he stepped up to his squeaky, swaying metal stairwell leading to his apartment.

The metal stairs swayed under his weight, but like every other night, he made it up with no other resistance. Fishing his keys out his pocket, he fumbled with lock. Finally after several long minutes, Jou got the door opened. He was instantly bombarded with the smell of rotten food and alcohol. He could smell a distinct odor of urine, but ignored it. The smell of his house always caused him to lose any appetite he had. Shuffling through the surprisingly quiet house, Jou made it to his room and opened the door. What he saw caused him to frown. His room was destroyed again. His broken bed leaned more towards the wall than normal. All his treasured pictures were torn in half. He gently moved them off the floor and placed them in the trash. He should have known that he couldn't keep anything special.

Fear plagued him as he noticed all his clothes lying just in front of his closet. He abandoned his clean up and moved everything off the floor to his closet. Lifting up a loose board, he sighed with relief. The cherished picture of his sister and himself on the beach lied untouched. He replaced the board and started cleaning his room, coming to the conclusion that he needed to get that picture someplace safe. It had been several months since he talked to Yugi, but he knew that Yugi would take care of it. He couldn't live with the fear of something happening to it. Even though it was just a picture, it was the last happy event before his mother took his sister away and abandoned him.

Once the room was cleaned, Jou moved towards his bed and stared down at the broken frame being held up by several books under the legs and middle of the mattress. He sighed and readjusted the bed. "There you are you little whore," a voice spoke suddenly. Jou jumped, but before he could turn around to defend himself from his father, something collided with the back of his neck. He blacked out quickly, not feeling anything as his unconscious body crashed with the floor. The older man sneered down at his son and grabbed his leg. Dragging him out of the room and down the hallway, Jou's father pulled him into a dirtier room. He knew that it would take his son more time to clean up his room and would give the older man the opportunity to capture him.

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I hope this is to everyone's liking so far. The next chapter will be up hopefully either in the morning tomorrow or early afternoon. Thank you all for reading and please review.

Angel Dove