From Dusk 'Til Dawn

Chapter 11

At Waking Hour

Jou came back to with a groan. His throat hurt from the attack he had pulled and his stomach felt like it had been tied to a knot. He did not think he would be hungry in a while.

The blond blinked his eyes open to see a ceiling of pale cream. He frowned at that. He remembered clearly collapsing on the alleyway, ready to die. Then why in the world was he in a room with a ceiling that made his reconsidering the act of not getting hungry. Not to mention he was laying on a very soft and comfortable bed.

There was sounds of movement from his side and Jou turned his head to look into dark blue eyes. He forgot to think for a moment. He actually forgot to breath aswell.

The eyes appeared completely emotionless for a moment. They looked like ice but from his close place to watch them Jou saw eyes that were the exact mirror of his own. The eyes were those of a tortured and a lonely person. Jou did not like those eyes but found himself loving them none the less.

"Hmph, not golden..." a low voice mumbled. Jou breathed again in a hissing gasp when he heard that voice. It seemed to carress his raging and confused being. He smiled despite his confusion as the voice continued: "But they're still beautiful."

"Hm?" Jou hummed in question at the comment. He did not know what the stranger thought beautiful but he was pretty certain it was something about him.

"Your eyes..." the low voice said softly and Jou's smile widened. He was pretty certain that he had fallen in love with that voice.

"Who are you?" Jou asked and the stranger pulled back. Jou was now able to see the other's face completely and noticed the other to be more than just slightly handsome. His pale face had sharp features and the semi-long brown hair looked silky soft.

"I am Kaiba Seto", the brunet replied. "And what might your name be?"

"Uhh... I'm Jou..."

"Jou? Not that I don't like it but would you mind telling me your complete name?"

"Yes", Jou said and noticed Kaiba's calm expression falter slightly. "Yes, I would mind."

Kaiba was now giving him a glass-breaking glare, but Jou was not glass and was not about to back down.

"I don't want to give out my name to just anyone", Jou said with a low growl. "So...Back. Off."

The glare intensified as Kaiba leaned closer, eyeing Jou's face carefully.

"So you really are a run-away, hmm?"

"None of your business!"

"I'll let you know that I will find out your real name", Kaiba said in a warning tone. "I have the means to. I would have just wanted to hear it from you."

Jou shrugged his shoulders and turned away from the brunet. He did not think the other was bluffing about finding about his identity on his own. He only hoped that he was full of it.

Jou heard Kaiba get up and walk across the room.

"I'll be back in a while", he said coldly. "You will be here when I get back."

"And if I'm not here?" Jou asked defiantly, shooting a glance at Kaiba. The brunet sneered at him sinisterily. Jou felt coldness creep into his very being and suddenly he was sitting very, very still. Kaiba stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Jou was still sitting still.

&&&&&&&

Seto stormed into his office with as much speed as he could move without actually running. He had to have a little dignity even though he did not feel like it at the moment.

The brunet turned his computer on to open the files and programs he would need to find out Jou's real name. He had only gotten one name out of the blond, and such a short one even. He would have believed that to be the other's name if he had given a surname to go with it. But since he had not gotten such he figured the name to be a fake one. Or atleast a nickname.

Thoughts ran through Seto's mind as he let pictures drift across his eyes. Multitasking was one useful ability when one was as busy as he was.

The way Jou had not told him his real name and reacted so defensively to further questioning indicated that the blond did not trust him. Seto believed this to be more because of his earlier experiences than because of Seto. He had seen the way Jou had looked at him at first.

The blond had attitude. That might be either good or bad, Seto did not yet know which one it was. He just hoped that Jou did not react that agressively to everyone. Seto respected the ability to take care of oneself but he did not look kindly on a violent nature.

Jou's eyes had not been a disappointment. That was one thought that distracted Seto from his personality analyzis. Jou's eyes might not have been golden but they were the most captivating color of deep brown. Almost like a puppy's. Seto frowned at that thought. Make that a bad-mannered puppy.

An image on the computer screen caught Seto's attention. He clicked back a bit and saw Jou's face staring back at him. However, this Jou appeared to be slightly less-tanned and rounder on the face. It was Jou before he had run away.

Seto scrolled down and read all the information that there was. Apparently Jou was seventeen, the same age that him, and his real name was Jounouchi Katsuya. Jou had run away from home four months ago and there were various sightings of him from all over the cities around Domino. Jou had been moving around a lot, apparently changing location every time he had been found out.

Seto stood up from his desk and turned the computer off. That had all been very interesting, he decided. His suspicions had apparently been correct and Jou had gone through a lot durin the last months. Not to mention he had probably not been all that welcome back home either. Why else would he run away?

The CEO was already walking down the hallways towards the room he had left Jou in. There had been some mentionings about a winged monster in the interviews dealing with Jou being sighted. Seto knew that it hurt to be referred to as a monster. He had gotten some of that until he had showed just how monstrous he could be. Without using any of his powers.

Seto marched into Jou's room without bothering to knock. He had not been very tactful with the blond before but he was not going to apologise. He would have to figure out another way to make it up to Jou. He wanted the other to stay. He would not accomplish that by scaring the blond away.

The room was empty. Seto growled as he stormed over to the bathroom and threw the door open. No Jou there either. Seto whirled around the room, figuring out that Jou had left the room since he had left it unlocked.

Seto stormed into the hallway, deciding that the joke Mokuba had made with the collar would actually prove as a usual piece of advice. Seto would chain Jou to a wall in his room, making sure that he did not attempt to escape again.

A slight smirk made its way to Seto's face as he looked around, trying to figure out where Jou might have gone. For some reason he was not as angry as he would usually be. It was almost like a game to find the price. This time the price would be Jou.

&&&&&&&

Jou rushed down the corridor in an attempt to find an exit. If Kaiba was really going to go through all the data he could find out about him he was sure to find out what kind of a monster Jou really was. Kaiba's reaction to that piece of information was one thing Jou did not want to witness.

That was when Jou noticed the metallic twin doors. They looked like something that would lead outside. Jou rushed to them and tried to open them, only to find them locked tightly. It was only to be expected since the parts of the building he had seen so far made the building look very important.

Jou focused and felt his fingers tingle as claws extended. Soon Jou's hands were completely covered in black, metal-like scales. With a couple of tries the lock was torn out of the door and Jou kicked the door open, rushing inside.

It was cold in the stairway as Jou rushed down the stairs. He figured that the way he had taken would lead somewhere to the basement. Hopefully there would be a way out once he got there.

In no time Jou was at the bottom of the staircase. This time he was facing a pair of wooden doors that had been painted light blue. There were small windows on the doors but Jou simply tore out the the locks without peeking inside. Someone had certainly noticed his escape already. The doors were kicked open and Jou ran through.

Jou barely had time to register that he had arrived into a room that looked like a training room before he was hit on the head with something hard. He stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. The adrenaline was leaving him and he was exhausted and hungry. And now his head was spinning. Not being concious seemed like a good option at that moment. Jou fell flat on his face as his vision turned black.

&&&&&&&

Saguru peered at the blond head and realized that this was the same person whose aura he had analyzed only some hours ago. He turned his gaze to the tonfas still in his hands. He had been in the middle of a training routine when the boy had walked in and he had reacted like under an attack.

'Well...' Saguru thought as he dropped the weapons on the floor. 'This is troublesome...'

&&&&&&&

Seto did not have to wonder where Jou had gone for long. He had barely gotten to the ground floor when he noticed that the doors that were not in use were open. Torn open to be precise.

"Gotcha", Seto said with a sneer as he started walking into that direction. The blond would not find a way out from there. All the other doors were password coded. He would only get out by taking the same way out that he had come in from.

Just then a thought came to Seto. Jou had just run into the training facilities. A still-recovering Jou had run into the training facilities that were most likely in use at that time of the day. The training facilities that were used by the Shadow Wyverns who had learned to fight by instinct alone and carried very dangerous and sharp weapons when not shooting elemental attacks.

Suddenly running appeared to be a very apealing option to Seto.

&&&&&&&

When Seto came to the open doors, he was relieved by the sight of Hakuba picking up Jou's unconcious form. Hakuba was currently practising the use of a tonfa, which meant that he was the least-lethal person Jou could have run into.

"Hakuba!" Seto called when stepped into the room. Hakuba looked up at him in suprise which was quickly wiped away.

"I was in the middle of a training routine", Hakuba said in an explanation. "I reacted on instinct, sir."

"It was only expected of you", Seto said as he walked to the two blonds. He streched out his arms. "Hand him here."

Hakuba looked at him incredulously before saying: "I can't possibly allow that, sir. I was the one who made a mistake."

"It doesn't matter", Seto said firmly. "I want to carry him."

Hakuba did not comment on that as he placed Jou into Seto's arms and now it was Seto's turn to be suprised. He had not expected Hakuba to bend so easily. Either his tone had convinced the blond or something else.

"Carry on", Seto said as he turned around and walked out of the room. He heard Hakuba pick up his discarded weapons to continue his practise. If only every one of the Shadow Wyverns was that dedicated. They would defeat every oponent they came across.

&&&&&&&

When Jou regained conciousness the first thing he realized was that he was back in the room he had woken up in before. He turned his head to the side in an experiment and found Kaiba sitting on the edge of his bed just like he had expected.

"It's about time you woke up", Kaiba commented coldly. He sounded angry so Jou figured he had really read all his files.

"I guess you now know..." Jou said carefully. "I'll leave. I was actually trying to when I got whacked on the head."

"What do you mean 'leave'?" Kaiba snapped. "You're not going anywhere! If you even attempt something like that again I'll chain you up. I am very tempted to do that right now."

Jou looked at Kaiba's angry face in confusion and was suprised to see worry in the blue eyes. That meant that the anger was not because of what he was, but because Kaiba had been worried about him.

"You mean you don't hate me now that you know I'm not human?" he asked carefully.

"Hate you? Don't be ridiculous", Kaiba said. "We're in the same boat here, you and I."

"You mean you're not human either?" Jou asked. That meant he had hope. Kaiba did not hate him after all.

"I'm more than just that, Jou", Kaiba said. "I'm what you are."

Jou's eyes widened at that. Someone who was like him? He reached out with one of his hands, letting it turn into a black claw. Kaiba took hold of it with a white claw and Jou gasped at the pure white scales.

Kaiba's claw was not as slender as his own. The fingers were larger and the whole hand appeared stronger. Jou felt his lips curl into a smile.

"You could have gotten seriously hurt, you know", Kaiba spoke while holding Jou's hand firmly. "You were lucky Hakuba was practising the use of a tonfa when you went in. He's not very experienced on that weapon yet. If he had been practising his shooting you would certainly be dead."

"Why do you say 'certainly'?" Jou asked. "What if Hakuba would have missed me?"

Kaiba gave Jou a slight glare and said: "Hakuba never misses."

"...You talk like you think him a good shot."

"He's the best shot I've ever come across."

Jou pondered this for a moment and then smiled, saying: "I bet that's something you would never say to him face to face."

"And you better not tell him I said that either."

Jou pulled Kaiba's clawed hand to his cheek and nuzzled the metal-hard fingers to his cheek.

"I promise", he said softly.

"Good", was Kaiba's reply. Jou noticed that the brunet was trying hard not to look at their joined hands. Kaiba was clearly feeling embarrased.

Jou could not help but smile brightly. Even if Kaiba did not have claws he was sure that he would feel like this. There was something about the brunet that soothed him, convinced him that for once he did not have to run away. That someone was going to keep him safe.

To be continued...

Ending Notes: Now, before I even consider putting up the next chapter, I want at least five reviews. I really don't think that's too much to ask. I want to know the things you people like about this story or what you want me to improve. I'd also like to know what characters you want me to focus on and how important do you think the actual plot behind this is. Because as far as I can see the plot isn't going to be revealed in a while. 'Til next time: bye!