Pheonix: Alright people, here we are with another chapter!
Kisara: Where's Cerberus?
Pheonix: Oh, he's in the doghouse, almost literally. I caught him on my laptop last night, trying to write a chapter that was a piece of utter crap with an author's note asking anyone who knew LittleKuriboh to have him take a look at my stories. I am just fine with it if he wants to but not when Cerberus is practically begging him to look.
Seto: Making him grovel for anything he wants is starting to look really good, isn't it?
Pheonix: I'm considering it and we've got another chapter in Seto's POV. But now, please review!
Kissa's tongue was the first thing I was aware of when I woke up. She always licked me awake fifteen minutes before my alarm went off, sometimes I wondered why on earth I kept her in my room but even if I shut the door, I'd always wake up to find her on my chest licking me awake.
"Alright girl, I'm up," I said as I pushed myself into a sitting position. Kissa took a seat in between my legs as I stretched. Honestly, I would've liked to wake up to the annoying buzzing of an alarm like a normal person not to my cat begging me to feed her.
I pulled the covers off and walked over to my closet to get my uniform for school. Kissa slunk out. She always did that whenever I changed. One of the many things about Kissa is; her attitude's almost human. She always left the room when I needed to change, she would sit or curl up at a distance from me when I was in a bad mood, and whenever I worked too hard she'd pounce on my laptop and keep it shut until I left it alone or she'd scratch me.
Moving on from my cat, my school uniform was simple enough: a black or white shirt under a blue jacket that could be left buttoned or unbuttoned and tucked in or not if we so desired, a pair of blue pants and black shoes for outdoors and white shoes for indoors.
I opened my door and smacked something in the face that let out a howl-ish yelp. I looked behind the wood at my little brother's Golden Retriever. I'd bopped the poor boy right on the snout.
"Sorry boy," I said. The dog's brown eyes shone a little. I the right light, I suppose you could say they were gold. Around his neck was a blue collar with a pair of dog tags that read, "Joseph Wheeler" in large gold letters but my brother and I just called him Joey for short. For those of you who don't know, Joseph Wheeler was a general for the Confederate army back during the Civil War. "Where's Mokuba? Don't tell me he's still asleep." Joey's eyes almost widened and he darted back to my brother's room. I chuckled slightly as Kissa walked up to me and rubbed her body against my leg. I picked her up and scratched behind her ear. Kissa and Joey got along well but I was always slightly anxious when they were on the floor in the same room together.
Joey padded into the dining room a few moments later, almost dragging my sleepy-eyed brother by the drawstring of his pants. Mokuba was 14 years old, which was five years under my nineteen, with a wild mane of black hair and dusty violet-blue eyes and slightly darker skin than myself.
"Morning," I said as he took his seat. Mokuba set his forehead on the table as Joey curled up at his feet, waiting for his breakfast. Kissa had already begun to eat a bowl of fish and saucer of milk. She only ate that and hamburger meat but she never allowed a morsel of catnip or Friskies into her system, even if it meant she'd sit right next to my plate all morning and eat nothing.
Kissa pawed Mokuba's ear and he perked up to give her a sleepy glare.
"Not now girl. I'm too tired." Joey turned his head and started licking his master's toes, making the boy kick and sit up straight. "Don't do that you silly dog!" he said as a maid set his breakfast in front of him. Joey just looked at his two bowls as they were set before him. Joey's rather a bit like Kissa; he'd always give us privacy, he'd leave us alone when we needed it, he'd always play with Mokuba and his friends when they came over and he'd only eat human food.
"Enjoying yourself down there boy?" I asked. Joey barked in reply.
I stepped out of the limo and let out an annoyed sigh. I turned back to the car where Kissa was laying on her side, staring at me expectantly.
"I'll see you in a few hours girl," I said, scratching behind her ear. I turned to leave but she clamped her teeth into my sleeve. She had my lunchbox at her feet. I reached back in and took it. "Thanks." She rolled her eyes and curled up again as I shut the door. She was sometimes that motherly sort of cat other times, she could be annoying like a little sister who never shuts up, and then there's the moments when she's just a normal cat.
I pushed my lunchbox into my black schoolbag and looked around the abandoned yard. I was about fifteen minutes away from the opening bell so I would've expected a few children to be here, but I was alone. I sighed and shook my head. Some people didn't understand the value of time.
"Heyya Kaiba!" I turned slowly and glared dagger at the annoying blonde boy walking up to me. His name's Joseph Wheeler but people call him Joey. He's roughly 16 with blond hair that was never really in any sort of order, hazel eyes that could look gold or red in certain lights, always speaks with a Brooklyn accent and such a horrible grammar that it makes me cringe and he stands at about 5' 10". How do I know that last part? Well, I stand at about 6'1" and he'd three inches shorter than I am, so there.
I ignored him. I normally did. You see, Joey's part of this… Not really a gang but some close band of friends with my rival in school, Yugi Muto. Why we're rivals? That's not important right now.
"Hey! Kaiba, I'm talking to ya!" I continued on my way towards the building.
"I'm not interested in speaking to mongrels," I said. And no, that's not an insult to my dog. Mongrels and mutts are different than pedigreed purebreds like my dog.
"Mongrel?! Seriously Kaiba, can't you think of anything better to do than insult everyone around ya?!"
"Yes I can. I'd much rather be working on something for my company or with my little brother right now but unfortunately, I have to be here until I graduate and associate with half-witted morons like you." That shut him up long enough for me to get into the building and get to class.
Some people might call me a jerk, but in the corporate world, you either bring down everyone around you or get brought down yourself. It's survival of the fittest.
I sat down on one of the couches at home and rubbed my temples. Wheeler hadn't made my day any easier, neither had my company and the idiot employees I'd hired to work on my new Duel Disk system. None of them could follow the simplest instruction and the entire project had to re-start from scratch for the up-teenth time. It was only a matter of time before I snapped and took the entire project into my own hands.
A warm, furry body moved themselves under my neck and started licking my cheek. I gave Kissa a light tap on the back of her head, letting her leap down and curl up on my arm.
"I'm fine Kissa. Thanks for worrying," I said, moving my fingers down the lines of spots on her back. She purred lightly and licked my fingers before turning around and staring at the door. I looked and there stood Mokuba, dressed in one of his favorite shirts that had white and orange stripes on the arms and a red torso, jeans and sneakers. "What's up Mokuba?"
"You didn't see Joey on your way home, did you?" he asked. Joey always pulled a vanishing act on us. Right after breakfast, he'd go outside and would normally show up in time for Mokuba to be home or for dinner at the latest.
"No, I didn't. But if he's not home by dinner, we'll go look for him. Have you tried calling him from the door?" Mokuba nodded. "Why don't you try again?" He nodded and ran off to do just that. Kissa shook her head and re-settled herself in my palm before loud barking filled the hall.
Joey bounded into the room, practically covered in mud. Kissa leapt up, began hissing and arching her back. That was her warning system to Joey. If he shook that mud and got so much as a speck on her, he'd get scratched. Mokuba walked in with muddy paw prints on his front and lick marks on his face.
"He must've been out in the forest area again." Joey barked and neared me.
"Don't you come near me you silly dog!" I said with a chuckle and raised my hands. No way was I touching that muddy dog. Mokuba walked over and grabbed him by the collar.
"Come on boy, you need a bath!" Joey let Mokuba lead him away while Kissa padded back into my lap and rubbed her cheek on my thumb.
I felt Kissa moving off the bed later that night. I pushed myself up and watched her slink through the crack in the door into the hall. I checked the clock; 2:00 am.
"What are you up to girl?" I asked as I pulled the blankets off and grabbed my robe. I followed her down the hall. If she heard me, she didn't let it show as she crept into another one of the bedrooms. Mokuba's to be more precise. I tried to look in through the crack but couldn't see anything but Joey's crate where he slept, now empty and heard a light whimpering. I opened the door just a little more and looked in. Joey normally would've jumped on me, making sure I was me and not going to hurt Mokuba but this time, nothing happened.
I pushed the door open and looked around.
A bolt of lightning lit up the room, showing two people, a man and woman on the bed with my brother. The woman was holding his head in her lap and looked up at me with startled eyes. Both were dressed in black clothes with dark hoods covering their heads. The only things really visible on the woman were her pale hands and long, talon-like fingernails.
I turned to flick on the lights but when they failed I looked back, ready to shout, but only saw Joey with his head on his fore paws and Kissa rubbing her head on Mokuba's cheek.
I shook my head.
"Must've been a hallucination," I muttered as I walked over to the bed. Kissa made room for me as I sat down. "Maybe I've been working too hard, eh girl?" Kissa meowed in agreement. "Think it's time for a break?" She rubbed her head on my leg and purred happily. I rubbed her head before picking her up. "Joey," The dog looked up at me, "Keep an eye on him," I said. He let out a huff of agreement and I left.
Pheonix: Well, that's as far as my inspiration would get me. I didn't want to get into too much Kaiba OOC-ness and a good thing to get my plot really going!
Cerberus: Well, I know that if I walked into your room while you were sleeping and saw two strangers in the bed with you, I wouldn't bother about lights.
Seto: This is getting interesting.
Kisara: Please review!