A/N: ...This chapter was a bitch to write. Mistakes galore I'm sure. Also, I'm not good with converting dollars into yen, so to just make it all easier on everybody; I just kept it at dollars. I could attempt the yen thing, but I don't want to... Mistakes galore I tell you. Anyway, onto the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: -.- Don't own YGO or anything like that :/ if i did, i'd make sure to make EVERYONES HAIR REALLY WEIRD BECAUSE THE HAIR ON THERE IS JUST SO NORMAL! ...oh wait...Its alreaaaaaaady like that! ;D Nevermind then!

I kid, I kid. X3

Oh, and I did some editing on the last chapter, trying to patch up mistakes and such. Added in a little. Edited lots. I hate editing my own stuff .

Also! School's already starting up for me (I'm not sure about everyone out there...) but it actually started today. So...lack of updates might ensue. I have other stories to update other than this one so for people who like quick updates, I'm not sure how quick they'll be.

Sorry for the long author's note. Dx


After fixing the water from ice, to lukewarm, to steaming, the falling water felt nice against Jounouchi's skin. He saw the steam rise off his body as he stood there in bliss. He lifted his head back and let all of the worries and thoughts plaguing his mind just wash away down the drain of Kaiba's shower.

That was right…Kaiba's shower. Seto. Kaiba's. Shower.

Jou had been so consumed in his moment of happiness he had almost forgotten about the menacing teen and broken briefcase. Menacing old man was more like it. Kaiba may look like your average tall, mysterious, handsome young man, but underneath was an old, cranky, sour old man. Jounouchi could see right through his act. But then again, Jou couldn't picture Kaiba as anything else. That was just Seto Kaiba. Jou tried as hard as he could to think of Kaiba being someone different. Someone nicer, happier, and bubblier. It strained his brain to think like that. It was just…impossible. Even if he succeeded, he knew the idea of it all would be so frightening he'd be in a coma for months.

The blonde shook away those thoughts along with the excess water in his now soaked through hair. He massaged his scalp and applied a heavy helping of shampoo; something his hair accepted happily. He washed away the suds and stared up at the ceiling above. It was white, no intricate design really, just a plain…simple white ceiling. It was quite a surprise…to find something simple in the Kaiba mansion. Everything else the blonde had been introduced to so far was amazing and full of unique designs. This ceiling…as weird as it may seem, offered a bit of comfort to Jou. It made him feel reassured. It made him feel he wasn't the only plain…dull…boring thing in this house. He had the ceiling.

Jou laughed out loud at his stupidity. Really? Relying on a ceiling as a "friend"? Maybe Kaiba was right and his years of insulting paid off. Maybe he was insane. It didn't make any difference to the blonde. Sanity was overrated anyway.

Jou made the rest of his shower quick and enjoyed it for as long as he could. He knew if he took to long, Kaiba would be back up here badgering for him to hurry the hell up. As he washed the way the rest of the suds and worries that clung to him, he turned around and turned off the running water. Kaiba was right; it was easy once you got the hang of it.

Jou pulled back the shower curtain and examined the bathroom for clean towels. Before, he had instinctively on a whim grabbed towels to clean the mess. He hadn't really paid attention where he grabbed them from. Just like everything else in the Kaiba manor, it wasn't hard to find. He saw racks and racks of them next to the sink, all of them in different assorted colors. Sheesh…at his house there was one towel, and it was so soured no one dared to touch it. For all the blonde knew, it was already home to something alive.

He picked an off-white towel off the closest rack to him and quickly dried his body off. He ruffled his hair in the towel briefly and left it at that. He looked in the mirror and smirked. It definitely gave him a more…edgy… look. Or maybe just messy...either way he kept it like that. Jou threw the towel aside and slipped on his boxers, ready for Kaiba to produce him a top and pants to wear as well. It was damn cold in that house when you were half naked.

After shaking his head once more Jounouchi finally headed towards the door. He gulped slightly as he quietly pushed it open. The sound of sliding fabric stopped the blonde in his tracks. He peered quietly over the side of the door and saw what had fallen. Kaiba had balanced a shirt and bottoms on the back of the doorknob. Jou looked both ways before lightly stepping out into the dark hallway and gathering the clothes. He ran back inside and shut the door lightly behind him. He held up his newly obtained outfit and grimaced. It wasn't that bad of an outfit really. A familiar black button up shirt with long sleeves and familiar matching black skinny jeans. Pretty much the same outfit Kaiba wore under all his layers of coats. He eyed them distastefully as he thought how it clashed with his style. It made him look to clean and orderly!

He unbuttoned the buttons on the shirt and slipped it over his tanned abs. It felt loose and smelled clean, making Jou happy. He buttoned up the buttons starting at the bottom and stopping at two before the top. He always thought it was nerdy looking when people buttoned these shirts all the way up. Next, he unbuttoned the bottoms of the sleeves, making it easier to pull them up to the elbows. Jou turned to the mirror and struck a pose. Not bad.

He looked down at the pants he had abandoned on the floor and sighed. Kaiba was known to wear tight pants in his day (not that Jou noticed this kind of thing of course) and these were one of them. He picked them up and eyed them once more. He sighed. He didn't really have a choice. It was these, or his boxers. Jou slipped the pants on after much struggle and quickly realized boxers were not the best thing to try and wear under skinnies. So that must mean Kaiba wore...

Jou shook his head quickly and mentally punished himself for even wondering what kind of underwear Kaiba wore. After calming his thoughts down, the blonde looked himself over once again. He messed with his hair around a little more before finally deciding it was passable. It had been a long time since Jou was actually satisfied with the way he looked. He was also a bit surprised at how well the clothes fit him. Kaiba had actually done well.

The blonde slowly turned towards the door that led out into the hallway. He neared it with a gulp, thinking about how it was time to face Kaiba. He felt it was too soon.

The blonde made his way over to the door leading into the hallway, and quietly flipped the switches down to turn off the lights. He tiptoed down the corridor; the only light was at the end of the hallway, indicating to Jou where the stairs were. Jou fumbled his way through the darkness and finally found himself standing in front of the stairs. He gripped the railing with his left hand and made his way down the stairs, trying to move as quietly as possible. As he hit the last step he followed the lights into the kitchen; the meeting place of him and the CEO. The CEO he owed money to. Jou felt a lump rise in his throat as he entered the room. The lump disappeared when his eyes found Seto Kaiba. Seto had changed his clothes as well. He was leaning against the same counter as earlier, a cup of coffee in one hand and a paper in the other. He had a grey undershirt type top and wore black exercise (the word sweat pants is taboo) type pants that looked surprisingly attractive. The blonde couldn't stop ogling at the brunette… Jou had to admit he wasn't half bad looking. The shirt conformed nicely to the brunettes body, bringing out how built the CEO really was.

This, of course, wasn't the first time Jou had ever thought another man was attractive…and as much as Jounouchi hated to admit it, he knew deep down that he was gay…or at least bi. Bi, to him, was a "nicer" word and besides…he still found women attractive. There just a few choice guys Jou couldn't help but feel attracted to…and unfortunately…he found Seto Kaiba making his way onto that dangerous list.

"No Jou, bad!" Jounouchi spat, while mentally slapping the crap out of himself and erasing Kaiba from his list. Jou shut his eyes tightly for a few seconds, hoping to clear his thoughts before facing the sex god, I mean, arch rival in front of him.

"Bad Jou! Stoppit! You did NOT just think of Seto Kaiba as a sex god!" The blonde found himself squeezing his eyes harder before finally clearing those thoughts. He opened his eyes slowly and peered over at the brunette.

He hadn't noticed a thing, not even Jounouchi's entrance in the room. His eyes were transfixed on the paper. Jou looked around awkwardly before finally bringing a fist up to his mouth and clearing his throat. Kaiba's head shot up in response and his eyes met Jounouchi's.

"H-Heey Kaiba." Jou found himself saying as casually as possible. "Whatcha readin'?" Kaiba gave him one of his poisoned smiles and set his coffee down along with tossing the paper aside.

"Is it business stuff?"

Kaiba looked half amused. He walked over to the table where his busted case lay and sat down.

"Actually no…It was a book report Mokuba turned in. He got an A of course. He should have had a "+" tacked at the end of it."

"'Ey now, ain't just getting' an A enough? I wish I could be so lucky." Jou smiled and sat across from the brunette, giving him a teasing smile. Kaiba merely sighed and shut his eyes.

"I suppose…it's better than a cursed B after all. I still expected better."

"Everyone's not as perfect as you rich boy. What was the report on anyway?"

Kaiba took a moment to answer.

"The Tempest. One of Shakespeare's-"

"Yeah, yeah I know who Shacksphere is." Jounouchi cut him off and crossed his arms.

"…It's Shakespeare."

"That's what I said! Shacksphere! I'm surprised Mokuba already knows about him." The blonde repeated. Kaiba could almost feel a headache coming on.

"Never mind. I don't feel like arguing right now. Yes yes, Mokuba's a brilliant kid. Anyway. Let's get down to business." Kaiba muttered while rubbing his temples. He eyed the briefcase in front of him. Jou eyed it to...hatefully that is. Kaiba didn't care and continued to talk. "Take a seat."

Jou did, across from Kaiba.

"Inside that briefcase were years and years of priceless information I, along with KaibaCorp. have been working on for ages." He began. He could see the fear light up in Jou's eyes and a cold sweat begin to break out across his forehead.

"However,"

A sigh of relief was heard from across the table.

"I'm not so stupid as to not back up my information." He pointed to his busted laptop. "All the data and information on that was backed up on a hard drive just a few hours before the accident. Let's just say if I was stupid and didn't do this, you'd be in for quite a bit of money." Kaiba eyed him from across the table. Jou avoided all eye contact and merely stared down at his feet.

"So, all you have to pay me for is the briefcase itself and the laptop. After that we'll call it a deal."

After hearing this Jou looked up wearily.

"So how much am I in for?" He asked nervously, his voice shaking a bit. Kaiba smirked.

"Well, my laptop was quite a sum of money for someone like you, estimated around $1000 or $1200 dollars. I'll make it so you owe me $1100. I'd say that's fair enough." Kaiba held an inward smile as he watched all the color drain from Jounouchi's face. "And as for my briefcase…well…I can honestly say I was attached to that thing and it had sentimental value. So, I want another…hmm…let's say $900 for it?"

Jou felt he could fall over dead any minute now. When he did, this would all be a dream. He'd wake up on his crappy excuse for a mattress, his dad beating him upside the head for sleeping in so late and Seto Kaiba would be miles away. Out of sight out of mind. Besides, they say you never actually see yourself die in dreams, and that you never hit the bottom when you fall of a cliff. Where was a nice cliff when you needed one? That was a sure fire way to wake him-

"Fair enough I believe? Right, mutt?" Kaiba asked sternly, interrupting Jou's raging thoughts. Jou couldn't say anything. His tongue was numb from shock and all that came out was gibberish. Utter and complete gibberish. This wasn't a dream or nightmare. This was turning out to be hell itself.

"So when can I expect my money?" Kaiba questioned again without waiting for an answer or reaction.

"Y-Ya sick filthy rich bastard! How the hell do ya think I'm gonna be able to pay you? I can barely afford to live as it is! I don't see why I should pay someone as rich as you when ya already have all the damn money in da world!" Words exploded from Jou's mouth as he was unable to control his temper. If Kaiba was shocked by the sudden outburst, he didn't show it. He continued to rub his temples before finally speaking again.

"So…you're telling me you don't have the money? Is that it?" He asked wryly. Jou grimaced.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to find another way of working this out, now won't we?"

"…What exactly do you have in mind?" Jou asked expecting the worst.

"Simple."

"And what's "simple" supposed ta mean?"

"Simple. You'll become my dog.

Just those four little words…and Jou's imagination went wild. You'll become my dog... Before becoming too engrossed in his own perverted thoughts he managed to sputter out.

"D-Dog…? Wh-what do you h-have in m-mind…?" Jou thought about adding a "master" onto the end of it (just for fun) but restrained himself, knowing if he said that he wouldn't live to see tomorrow. He mentally slapped himself again for even thinking about that. An amused smirk teased its way onto Kaiba's face.

"Sim-"

"I swear if you say simple one more damn time I'm gonna claw your throat out."

The brunette's eyes narrowed.
"Fine. I'll just cut to the chase then. Being my dog, means you'll be my errand boy so to speak."

"Yer what?"

"My errand boy, mutt. You'll be the obedient puppy that goes around and does the petty things I don't have time to do. "

"So what you're telling me is I hafta go around and do whatever you don't want to?" Jou muttered through gritted teeth in attempt to keep his anger under control.

Kaiba shrugged.

"In a sense. We can start from there. If I think of anything else I'd like you to do for me, then you'll do that."

"Sounds like I'm more a slave than anythin'!" Jou yelled in outrage. He received a penetrating stare from Kaiba.

"Mokuba IS trying to sleep I hope you know. Don't take you anger out on him."

Jou's fists clenched.

"I'm not taking my anger out on him. I'm taking it out on you, bastard!" He whispered harshly. Kaiba shrugged it off.

"Anyway, if you want to think of it as a slave, then go ahead. In a sense you're right. For awhile, you are employed to me." Another terrifying smirk grew on the brunette's face. Jounouchi found himself wondering just how far this was going to go.

"He said slave...Slave." Jou's mind began wandering again. He wanted to bang his head down on the table to stop those damn thoughts. "Dammit mind! Stoppit! I hate you at times like this! I don't like the guy so you can just stop."

There was no way in hell he liked Seto Kaiba. Not the devil that was sitting across from him, playing and toying with his once innocent life...there was no way.

"I won't ever. Besides, I'll never really like a guy, I just, might find one...I feel attracted to. But other than that I like girls! Girls! With their-"

"So is it a deal? If you do this, we'll just say your debt is vanquished." The brunette stretched his hand across the table and waited for Jou to shake it. It wouldn't be a deal otherwise.

Jou, shook back to reality, stared at the hand and slowly thought about his options...and those were quite limited.

"Mutt?"

Jou sighed and closed his eyes.

He smacked the hand away.

"Dumbass, like I'd agree to something like that! The conditions aren't even that clear! How long do ya plan on owning me? My whole life?"

"Depends on how obedient the dog is." Kaiba retracted his hand and placed both of his hands under his chin to support it, his elbows lying stiffly on the table. Jou scoffed quietly, his gaze meeting Kaiba's once more.

"And if I refuse?"

"Ever heard of a thing called blackmail? Unless you think of another way to pay me back, I'll make your life a living hell."

"You're a bit late fer that." The blonde answered quickly, malice embedded deep in his voice. "It already is as far as I'm concerned."

As Jou said this, Kaiba stopped and seriously thought about what to say to that. It was...a surprise to him, more than anything. For once the Seto Kaiba was speechless. An exasperated sigh was heard from the opposite end of the table.

And then...the unexpected happened.

Jou slammed his left hand abruptly down on the table, outstretched towards Kaiba. It was cocked slightly to the left, exposing his palm. Kaiba stared at it, his eyes a bit wider than usual. He looked up at Jou who was looking away from the table in almost embarrassment. His cheeks were a tinted red after all.

"I don't really have a choice...and a deal isn't a deal unless you shake on it, right?"

Kaiba remained silent and slowly stretched his hand out to meet Jounouchi's. They shook quickly and pulled there hands back to their laps mere seconds later. As soon as Jou retrieved his hand back he wiped it all over his shirt.

"Eww...It's got snobby rich germs on it. I hate snob germs."

"Most people would like to be touched by "rich germs". I should be the one more worried. Who knows what's on this hand now. For all I know you slobbered on it." Kaiba replied with a teasing smile. Just the sight made Jou gulp.

"S-So anyway," the blonde continued as he looked away. "When do I start this...being a "slave"?" He spat the word slave still not happy with it at all.

"What do you mean "start"? It already has."

"...Huh." Jou said more than asked, a stupid looked stretched across his face showing he was confused.

"Why that look mutt? It makes you even more unattractive than you are now. Of course you've already started. This isn't like a part time job."

Jou, who was now far beyond pissed off, merely grimaced and waited for Kaiba to finish.

"This "dog" ordeal is a full time thing. You have to be there for my ever wish and beckoning call." Kaiba finished and leaned back in his chair, looking perfectly relaxed. Jou on the other hand felt as if he just died. If he'd been taking a drink of anything, he was sure he would have spit it out all over the smug face across from him and fallen over dead. If only that had actually happened... Instead, Jou found himself choking on spit and suffering from a short coughing spell after words.

"Swallow a bone, mutt?"

"No one asked you."

"I'd be kinder if I were you. After all, I'm not making you pay me anything."

"Yeah! At the expense of my LIFE."

"Whatever mutt, think what you want. It makes no difference to me."

Jou sat silent for a minute when another question hit him.

"When can I go home?"
Kaiba appeared to think for a minute.

"Well, tonight you probably wouldn't want to. It's pretty late. Besides, I'll need you early in the morning. If I suggest you stay here for a night would you refuse? As for other situations, I'm not sure. Depends on when I have what I want done."

Jou remained silent and thought about his options again. Once again, it didn't take much thinking.

"Awright. I'll stay here fer ONE night. But other then dat I'm goin' home, and ya can't stop me."

"I don't own you, mutt. You're just my dog for the time being."

"Whatever." Jou spat. Kaiba sighed and stood up from his seat, stretching a bit before saying;

"Well, come on then, I'll show you to your cage." He gave Jou another acid smile again before walking towards the stairs. Jou lagged behind considerably, trying to decide if Kaiba was really joking or not. After reaching the top of the stairs, the blonde spotted the brunette standing by a door two away from Mokuba's room.

"Here, this is the guests room. Stay here for the night, and make sure you sleep. You're going to work with me in the morning." Kaiba pushed open the door and let Jou inside. Jou couldn't keep from gasping.

The room was decorated perfectly for Jounouchi's tastes. A grand bed lay against the back wall, its intricately carved wood head and foot boards were finished in a shiny bronze color. The sheets were red and off white, a perfect combination in Jou's eyes. The carpet was perfectly vacuumed and a pale cream color. Curtains draped the windows on opposite sides of the room and a giant walk in closet was just a few feet away. Jou ran over to his closet and threw open the doors. Kaiba followed silently behind and watched him examine his room. The closet was HUGE but very bare and empty. It needed more clothes. Closets weren't meant to be so bare. After Jou examined the closet, he ran off to open and close every drawer in the desk he spotted. Kaiba could see the resemblance in Jou and an excited puppy. The joke he'd thought of in the bathroom slowly returned to him. All he hoped for was that this puppy was house broken.

"Th-This is...well hell this is amazing!" The blonde couldn't help but comment as he dove face first into his temporarily bed. The sheets had that fresh crisp smell to them, just like everything else in the guest room did. Seeing all this would almost make Jou sad he had to leave it...It was much better then the sorry excuse he called home now after all. Kaiba began to talk but was cut off by a huge yawn from Jou. The blonde frowned and rubbed his eyes.

"Damn...I didn't know I was this tired yet." He chuckled and moved himself into a more comfortable position and closing his eyes.

"Get some sleep mutt. You have a full day of work tomorrow." The brunette said and he flipped off the lights to Jou's room. As he shut the door behind him, Kaiba whispered in a low voice, before continuing on to his room

"Good night...Jounouchi."

It didn't matter though. Katsuya was already fast asleep.

And not a storm cloud was to be seen in the sky...


A/N: (Yes another one) *sighs* Geez...what a pain this was to edit. *bangs head against desk* I swear I wrote some, I changed some; I spelled that wrong, wrong tense. *takes out stress by pounding keyboard* ...Ok, I'm good. =.=

Also, I'm TRYING my hardest to keep them as close to everyone's original character as possible! . I don't mind OCC-ness really, but I know people who do! Same with the whole AU thingy. This chapter I think some were a bit OCC and I apologize ._. please don't flame 'cause of it. Believe me, I tried. . That was the main reason this was such a pain to edit and write, and why this update wasn't as quick as the last one. Blah...