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.

~ Haunted Past ~

The week passed without incident, each night his Master came home uninjured and thankfully still alive. Jou couldn't resist a smile, at the time when his Master would walk through the door – life was like clock work.

Jou had been into the Office with his Master, but he was so on edge – his Master guessed the reason why, and had the boy taken home, while he was in a meeting. His receptionist had taken him down to the car, and had told him that Kaiba-sama would be home this evening as normal.

Normal that meant that Jou would need to have a cup of tea waiting for him – and being at home also meant that he would need to do his chores – mind you anything was better than being in the office waiting for the fateful moment, that his Master would be taken from him.

***

At the house, Jou let himself in – he went to get his cleaning stuff – he had two hours at the most until his Master came home, that was time enough for him to clean the downstairs of the house, and have a cup of tea ready. He moved into the lounge, and started to clean and tidy away the few items that Mokuba had left out from the night before. He gathered the remotes, he would usually place them carefully in the drawers of the unit the television sat on.

The drawer was open, and as the remotes went in, the television flicked on, as Jou shut the draw, he had turned around and was walking away as the sound came to his ears. He had never been allowed to watch the television before; his Master had always sent him from the room, or into the hallway with a book from which to study. The screen was full of colour, there was a woman sat at a desk, the backdrop of a large city behind her.

"We are moving live now, to the horrific discovery – that was found on one of the Sacred Islands, we join our correspondent live on the shores of Bendithio Ilys."

The camera panned out, along the water – and before it got to the land – Jou was inches in front of the screen – HOME –

"This is the horrific scene that met the lay priests making their semi-annual delivery of food stuffs to the Sacred Island of Bendithio Ilys. The only word that can describe the scene they were met with is horrific – bodies lay outside the village, massacred. Thirty bodies were discovered today, unfortunately we are not allowed to go to shore – but these were the pictures captured earlier, from our film crew."

The camera panned around his village, showing the lay priests moving the bodies that had lain there since the day Jou had left, away from the camera. In his panic Jou grabbed the remotes hitting at buttons – the sound disappeared but the picture stayed – where were the girls who had been up in the hills – where was the witch? Jou crumpled to the floor, his eyes still fixed on the screen. Tears fell liberally from his eyes, and he cried out the names of the villagers, his breath catching in his throat – he got up and touched the screen – as the priests hut came into view –

"Jerik – why – I loved you so much!" his tear damp hand pressed against the screen, could they hear him – the person on the screen was silent now, as if listening to the boy sobbed his heart out. The scene flashed back to the newsroom, and his homeland was gone – he hit the screen,

"Home! Home!" he shouted out …

In his despair he had not heard the front door open, he did not see his Master standing in the doorway watching the scene – he did not realise anything, as his world blacked out, and he crumpled to the floor.

Joey could feel someone pressing of a cool wet cloth to his face. Uncomfortably he moved his head away – then he was laid on something soft, his feet were elevated and the wet cloth returned. He opened his eyes; his Master sat next to him, pressing the cloth to his head. He sat upright as he remembered the television picture – the screen lay blackened out now.

"What was that about Jou?" asked his Master. Seto wasn't sure he wanted to know, but was well aware that whatever had happened had caused his slave, to cry out in anguish and to declare his love for the person he so often screamed out the name of at night, it held the key to the boy's pain. Kaiba's thoughts caught on that for a moment – there was no hope for him now – the boy was in love with someone else – and he would not be able to compete with an unknown.

Jou shook off the cloth, stood slowly and moved over to the screen, his drying hand print on it from earlier still visible – he looked at it – why had it been full of colour minutes ago and now it lay as if it had not shown the awful truth of his home.

When the boy did not answer he prompted. "Was that home?"

Jou left his hand on the screen and turned his head slightly to his Master, and nodded silently.

"Do you want to talk about it?" his Master looked at him, as he held out a glass of water, and turned himself on the chair to face the boy. The boy's eyes glowed at the moment, they had a secret to tell – something he had done his best to keep hidden. But just maybe in order to move forward and to understand it – maybe he had to talk about it - maybe his Master would understand – maybe his unexpectedly kind Master could help.

He slowly made his way over to his Master and sat at his feet, he rested his head against the arm of the chair, his Master placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and the boy took a deep breath.

"Master that was my homeland … and the day I was taken … was a horrible day … a day of death and ..." tears welled at the corner of his eyes, between the sobs, and the tears, the boy managed to tell his story – he wasn't surprised when his Master got up and paced the room. His master was probably disgusted with him for being a weak whiner.

Seto was reeling with shock. He must have misunderstood. He had to make sure.

"You mean –they MASSACRED your village – and they took you without permission? You weren't sold into slavery?" His voice was icy with shock and the dawning of lethal rage.

Jounouchi cringed at the tone. "Y...Yes Master. I...they killed everyone but me and ... and Snorri." He didn't tell him about the women left on the mountain. He would protect that secret to the death. "They ... I didn't want to leave but it was better than dying."

Seto exploded into a torrent of curses and death threats to 'the animals.' Joey didn't understand his Master's anger. Moaning in sheer terror he crouched low, bowing to the floor.

The tortured sound of his slave's fear brought Seto out of his rage. His heart shattered as he saw the shaking, abject fear of the golden boy. Rage banked, he crossed and knelt beside his slave – no not slave. Joey was a free person by all the laws of the land - a free person who had been horribly abused. Tenderly he cupped the trembling shoulders.

"I need to know more. I know it hurts you, but please tell me, who did this? Was it Mai? Or someone else?"

Deep inside he hoped it wasn't his old friend, but at the same time a sinking feeling told him that the blonde woman had been spiralling out of control for a long time and it was possible.

Joey saw the hope in his master's eyes and knew the thought of Mai causing all of this would hurt his master. But he couldn't lie. His throat worked as his lips tried to form the words. Finally, on a rush of breath he sobbed. "Mistress Mai ... Master Pegasus. They...the village...they killed." Losing control he buried his face in his hands, rocking back and forth as torment ripped through him.

His Master was on his knees in front of Joey, he reached out to him, unable to touch him – he had done so much wrong to the boy, by not finding out about him, by not taking into consideration that the boy had not been a willing participant in the deal, he had made with Mai.

From the sobbing mess before him, Joey whispered …

"Master please, let me rest! I am so tired …"

"Joey you may go upstairs, but first can you tell me something else?"

The boy looked up, hadn't he been through enough already – could be face answering any more questions.

"Is this what you dream about?"

The boy looked at his Master, the tears still streaming down his face, he closed his eyes again, and nodded – he was weak – no man from his people would ever admit to being this weak. His head hurt so much and his breath still caught in his throat – he looked again at his Master – he had caused him much trouble.

The boy slowly stood to his feet, using the chair for support he staggered from the room, and up the stairs to his room. The dog followed him – he knew his Master was in distress, and he was not going to leave him alone. He reached the bedroom door and holding onto the handle, he noticed the dog,

"Snorri … go …" he pointed down the stairs, "You know the rules …" the dog raised his soft brown eyes up to him, the rejection of being sent away, he turned his head, and then gazed back at his Master, before walking down the stairs.

Kaiba, watched as the dog as he came down the stairs and lay by the door, burying his nose under his front paw. As if hiding away from the world – Kaiba sank back into his favourite chair and put his head in his hands, as he thought out what had been discussed.

Pegasus and Mai, were unknown quantities at the moment – he had never thought them capable of such atrocities, but their wild spiral, had lead them to that Island, and now that their crime had been bought to the public attention, there was certainly going to be repercussions.