Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh Characters, or characters from Jackie French' book Slave Girl.

Author's notes:

THE first few chapters of this story are based heavily on a novel by Jackie French called Slave Girl, I loved reading the story originally and it is a really good read if any of you want to look it up, however as I read my mind began to wander – and this is where it ended up. Somewhere between the "Chase is on" and "Under sail" does my version kick in – I hope you enjoy.

If Welsh phrases have been used there will be a note at the bottom of the chapter, which will be the nearest accurate translation.

~Sleepless Nights~

The boy had been through the bedtime routine, and he was in his room now – his Master waited at the door, he came into the room and clipped the boy's collar to the chain that was by his bed. Jou stood at the side of the bed, he placed his hands on it, he had never felt something so soft – he had always slept on a mat. His Master walked out of the boy's room and into his own bedroom, and left Jou to wonder at the bed.

Once the boy had finally gotten into bed, Kaiba went and pulled the door too; he had been playing games with Mokuba, as a reward for him doing his homework without much fuss. It was getting late now, and they all had to be up in the morning – they had a busy day planned, he was considering a shower and then bed.

He turned the shower on, and slowly stripped out of his clothes, and stepped under the steaming water in the shower. He allowed himself to slowly relax, as the water poured over his body. His thoughts drifted to the boy in the other room, to all the plans he had – he wondered about the various things that were possible – and how the boy would react to them.

***

Meanwhile Jou, started to toss and turn, the pictures flashing in his head:

He held the Chief's wife as her soul passed back into the sea, he watched as Gwynwr fell to the ground, body after body flashed before his eyes – he tossed some more – he saw Jerik – eyes full of terror – he screamed out his name – "JERRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKK!" and he fell to the floor.

Kaiba flew from the shower wrapping himself in his bathrobe, he pushed open the boys door, he flicked the light on, the boy was not in his bed, but he could hear the crying. He walked over to the side of the bed, and quietly got down on his hands and knees, he looked under the bed, to see the boy with his hands over his ears, rocking himself back and forward, his eyes scrunched tight, as if he didn't dare open them for what he may see.

"Jou, come on out …" he said, as he reached under and touched the boy's leg, the boy slowly opened one eye, he saw his Master and his eyes went wide, he pulled himself out from under the bed, and bowed low in front of his Master, he was surprised when his Master lifted him up.

"What has scared you?" he asked, the boy didn't understand him, and tears flowed from his eyes again, as he crumpled into a ball, holding his Master for reassurance – the older boy was startled for a moment – he did not expect this – from a slave – but right now the boy – was in turmoil – whatever had happened had truly scarred him.

He wrapped his arms around the boy, and held him until the boy finally relaxed and he fell back to sleep. Kaiba slowly and carefully lifted him back into the bed, he pulled the blanket over him, and walked to the door – he was shocked to see Mokuba standing there – the shouting must have woken him up as well.

"What is it Mokuba?"

"He is scared!"

"I know – but I can't talk with him – he does not understand me!"

"We need to help him, he is in need of our help!"

"Mokuba, he is a slave – nothing more – but if it makes you happy I will look into it, now go back to bed!"

"Night Seto!"

The younger boy, walked back out of the room and across the hall to his bedroom – Kaiba shut his bedroom door, dried himself off from the shower, and got into bed. His thoughts remained with the boy in the other room – his face – when he was under the bed, his face earlier that day in the Office ~ was ~ he able to see into the future? It was something he had to consider – people on the Sacred Islands often had various gifts; he would look it up in the morning. Right now he needed some sleep!

Around 3 AM Seto was once again awoken, by mumblings coming from the slaves room, not again he thought, as he flipped the bedside light on, he walked into the room, the boy had settled again, the dream a passing fit – he walked back to bed.

When Jou next awoke, he was laying on the floor the blanket folded around him, daylight shone across the room through the doorway, he had no idea what time it was, he glanced out through the door, his Master was still asleep, he wrapped the blanket around him, and crawled under the bed. He must have dosed off again, as he was awoken by the bed shaking – his Master shouting at him.

He crawled out from under the bed, his master unclipped the chain, and sent him towards the shower – he laid out clothes for him on his bed, he didn't want him to wear the clothes that Mai had provided for him. The doorbell rang downstairs, the door opened and within three minutes a large dog, with matted white fur, burst into the room, and scratched at the shower door – seconds later Jou emerged from the room. He grabbed hold of the dog, he grabbed onto him scared that his Master would take him away any moment.

He pulled the dog through to his room, and put on the clothes that had been laid out for him. Once dressed he walked down the stairs to the kitchen, breakfast was being prepared, he looked into the room – unsure where his Master was, he backed out again, and walked to his Office. He knocked the door, and was told to 'Enter', he did so; the dog following closely behind him, the boy knelt down and waited for his Master to instruct him in what he was to do today.

His Master pointed to a bucket on the floor, it had all sorts of cleaning items in it, and he held up a bit of paper in front of him, he had copied it off the computer – it asked that Jou cleaned the house, and did so quietly. Jou nodded and picked up the bucket he walked out of the room, and back up the stairs, he cleaned the bathroom, and the bedroom, without any problems. He had filled the bucket up with water, and was washing the long hallway floor, when the dog grabbed his cloth and ran down the stairs with it.

Jou got off his hands and knees, and ran after the dog, downstairs in the entrance way he was engrossed in the 'pull the cloth' from the dog's mouth, that he did not hear his Master come in, he felt the collar around his neck give off a shock and he fell to his knees.

NO! He had seen this - why did his Master not understand – he had not been playing! Jou looked up in the corner of the room, there was the cage he had seen, he grabbed the dog, pulling him close to him,

"I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN THE HOUSE!" shouted his Master – annoyed that the boy had been caught playing – the boy grabbed the dog – like he knew what was going to happen. He pressed the button on the key fob again, and the boy released the dog, as he his body contorted, as another shock passed through him. Master Kaiba, pulled the dog away towards the cage, Jou cried out …

"Master … please!" he said, tears streaming down his face – his Master continued to lock the dog in the cage, and then he marched back up to the boy, he picked him up by the collar, he turned him around, and hit him across the backside,

"Get on with your work!" he said and pushed the boy back up towards the stairs, Jou did as he was told, he knew what this man was capable of now, and he did not want to anger him further. When he finished his chores he once again knocked on the office door, he had left the cleaning stuff in the kitchen and it was now about 4pm. As he entered the office, his stomachs rumbled for the third or fourth time that day. His Master looked up from the game of chess that he was playing with his brother, the boy knelt on the floor next to him.

The chess game went on, and the boy sat there silently, until his Master gave him permission to leave the room, he had written out several sayings, and he used them with Jou now. The boy walked out of the room, he was to fetch the dinner for the dog and give it to him, and to also get his own food and eat it where he pleased. Seto knew that he would spend the time with the dog – he wanted the boy to understand that because he had misbehaved the dog was being punished – the cage was wired up to shock any human that touched it, (that happened to wear – a charged collar) but it would not harm the dog.

***

Outside the room, he heard the boy bring back the food that was in the kitchen, Jou had another bowl of gruel, for now and the dog just some scraps of meat and gravy with biscuits.

"Arf!" the dog barked as Jou approached him, he wagged his tail happy to see his Master again. Jou placed his bowl on the floor away from the cage, and he bent down to the latch on the side of the cage,

"Owwch!" a shock ran through his fingers, he dropped the bowl as he pulled his arm away; it clattered on the floor leaving the gravy and meat in a pile with splatter effects. The noise had bought his Master out of the room, Jou was hastily trying to pick up the food, his Master took the bowl off him, and pushed it next to an opening in the cage, large enough for the dog to stick his head through.

He turned his attention to Joey, who was knelt with his head pressed to the floor, he had upset his Master yet again – twice in one day, his Master looked down at him, and then walked away, he came back with a small device, the numbers clear, he turned it up to a level 2, while facing the cage – the dog was going to get hurt.

"Master …" said Jou, as he remained knelt on the floor, his Master held a small palmtop on his hand, and Jou knew what he said his Master would be able to read –

"Master … please … not … Snorri –"

Kaiba, flipped through the cards he had created earlier, and showed him that if he misbehaved then the dog got punished. The boy nodded, and Kaiba showed him another, the boy looked at it …

'Punishment for disturbing the Master – 2 shocks!'

The boy nodded, and he looked at his dog – was he really going to hit the dog –

"No! Master – me!"

The boy said, he would not bare his punishment to be suffered by Snorri – Snorri had done nothing wrong. Kaiba smiled, at him and nodded, he pulled the boy to his feet, and had him face the dog cage – he pressed the button and the dog yelped out … and again … Jou fell to his knees in despair, how could this man punish an animal in his place.

What Jou did not know, was that the dog had not received any lashes – in fact, the button had produced a high pitched noise, that only the dog would hear, and that is what the dog had responded too. He left the boy on his knees in front of the dog, and went back to his chess game, once inside the office, he chuckled to himself – taming this boy would be much easier than he had planned.

It was once again, 9pm and time for the boy to go up to bed – Jou walked up behind his Master – he was allowed in his bed from 9pm until 6am, and was not allowed to move out of it in-between, as he had been chained to it for the last few nights, although the chain did allow some movement it was not enough for him to escape.

Jou laid in bed, scared to close his eyes the room was dark apart from the glow that came from Kaiba's computer, Jou had learnt so much in the last two weeks, and he had realised that his Master was a caring man – deep down – he only had to watch him with his brother, and the way he had been when he had woken up shouting out Jerik's name.

***

"JERRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKK!" again came the scream from the room next door – Man! He really had to sort something out, thought Kaiba, this couldn't go on – but the boy on the previous four occasions had refused to talk about, all he wanted was to be reassured. He had tried to get it out of him what he saw, and he only hoped that it was of something past, than something to come – something that the boy could prevent.

He had been forced to believe that the boy had visions, when earlier in the week, he had been sat at his desk in his Office, when the boy had been watering his plants, had crumpled to the floor, holding his head – as if it would explode. The boy had curled up in a tight ball, and finally allowed himself to relax; he had given the boy another glass of water, and helped him to sit up.

The boy had suddenly got to his feet, and ran out of the Office – Kaiba looked at him, and then followed him, the boy ran outside of the building – he was looking for something for someone. He found them, and he had ran over to them and tackled them to the ground, he had turned the man over, just before his Master arrived two of the security guards from Kaiba Corp, pulled him off the man, but Jou had grabbed the briefcase the man had held, and thrown it at his Master, before allowing the guards to cuff him.

Kaiba, opened up the briefcase – and seeing the two disc's knew exactly what this man was up too, technicians were not permitted to take anything away from the building, seeing that Jou had calmed down, Kaiba reached out and lead him back into the building, the other security guards bringing the other man, who was spouting all sorts of reasons for why the discs were in his case.

Once back in his Office, he had pushed Jou to the floor – although he didn't see what he could punish him for, after all – he might have just saved one of his companies projects. He looked out of the window there were already reports milling around out the front – how would he explain Jou – plans went through his head. The security guards were dealing with the Technician downstairs, and then they would hand him over to the police – that man would be lucky to see the outside world again- when Kaiba had finished with him.

***

His focus went back to the boy, that was still hiding under the bed, it was unusual that he had not come out yet, he bent down to look, the boy had cried himself to sleep again, under the bed – he put the blanket over the sleeping form the best he could, before he himself went and got back in bed.

The next morning he found Jou up and waiting for him, already dressed, he just needed the chain releasing so that he could pull his tee shirt down properly. He was knelt on the floor waiting for his Master to release him,

"Good Morning! Master!" he said when, he came through the door – Jou had learnt that his Master, carried with him a translation device, that seemed to pick up his voice – he didn't realise that was all because of the collar he wore. The lock was undone, and Jou raced off to get things ready for his Master, he turned the shower on, and laid the towels out. He then got his clothes for the day ready, and if he was quick, he would get a glimpse of his Master's body, as he rinsed himself off – is this what Jerik had meant by sexual immorality he didn't know – all he knew was that watching his Master caused some strange feelings in his body. Even though he had the nightmares regularly now, he loved the after effect and the cuddle that he got from his Master, as he tried to reassure him, that whatever frightened him, was not going to get him in his house.