Dull, throbbing pain; it was the most prevalent sense as he began to blur into consciousness. Slowly he became aware of the scent of wet dogs, each slightly different. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realized the dogs weren't wet, it was just the closest approximation that his human brain could come up with because the smell was so strong. Blurred gray steel caged him, keeping from the other dogs. He was completely fine with this; he liked solitude.
A dalmatian puppy in a neighboring kennel stuck his nose out, sniffing at Seto's behind. Immediately he backed away from the edge of his cage and growled, barking at the black and white dog until it began growling back at him. The dalmatian took an aggressive stance and began to bark; Seto took a defensive stance and growled in warning. Other dogs began to chime in for no discernable reason. It wasn't their fight.
"Calm down," came a cheerful female voice, soft footsteps sounding before the blonde lady in a white coat appeared in the hallway.
"Shh shh shh," she calmed, unlocking Seto's cage and reaching towards him as though she thought petting him would help. He growled at her and snapped at her hand. It was rapidly withdrawn and she frowned.
"Now now, that's rude," she admonished, still in that soothing voice. "It's ok."
She stuck her hand back in the cage and Seto growled louder. Why did she have to be bothering him when all the other dogs were barking too?
"Are all these other dogs scaring you?" she asked as the hand disappeared again.
Her voice sounded like she was talking to a baby, or something else that couldn't understand her words. He supposed it made sense that she didn't expect him to understand, but he still felt offended.
"I must be scaring you too," she cooed.
He barked at that, hoping she would just go away.
She pouted at that. "You better not get jealous," she warned, but her tone once again didn't match the words. The woman was making him angrier the more they interacted. They had people this incompetent working with dogs?
She closed the door to his cage and locked it. Then she started making the same round on all the other dogs. The dalmatian seemed to enjoy the woman's presence and it made Seto even angrier. Why was she rewarding him for bad behavior? It didn't settle with him.
She tsked him as he visibly reacted. "I told you not to get jealous."
At that he growled. There was no way that he was jealous. He was offended. Why couldn't she see that?
Footsteps sounded from the same direction the woman came from and a short man with black hair, wearing a similar white coat entered the room. He carried with him a small tray and he stopped in front of Seto's cage. There was a ledge near the entrance to the cage, which he set the tray on. Then he made a soothing noise and unlocked the cage; Seto snarled at him in warning.
He put on a pair of heavy gloves and didn't otherwise react. Seto barked. It was frustrating not to be able to communicate in any other manner.
"I'd probably be barking too if I had been in your situation," the man mused. He had a slight accent that Seto couldn't quite place. He reached into the cage and tried to soothingly pet Seto's neck. Seto snapped at the offending hand. He didn't want to be touched.
The man sighed. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you,"
Seto didn't care. He growled again.
"It must be scary here when all you've known is the streets," he commented. "You aren't used to people like me." He reached for the tray and selected a syringe, which Seto quickly recognized as containing a needle. He backed up and found himself whining. Pathetic.
But his instinctual fears didn't seem completely unfounded. The logical part of his brain wondered if they were going to put him down. He began to bark, his whole body fluffing up to make himself look bigger. He didn't even stop to think it would be unlikely that it would happen in front of the other dogs.
The man, however, didn't seem concerned. He expertly manipulated Seto into showing his flank, and then slid the needle in. Seto yelped in surprise and then howled. He wasn't going down without a fight!
The drug hit very quickly after that. The pain he had felt earlier completely disappeared, and he realized what it was; a painkiller. His eyes glazed over and his brain began to feel fuzzy. He had the nagging feeling something was supposed to be wrong, especially as the man patted his head and began to scratch him behind the ear. But it felt so good.
"That should have calmed him down," the doctor called to the other. "Less pain."
And Seto was reminded exactly what was wrong. He didn't want to be touched. Even if it was making him feel like the happiest dog in the world, he didn't want to be -oh that felt so good. He leaned into the scratching of his ear, whining a little when the hand was withdrawn.
"Good boy," the man responded, patting Seto's head before locking the cage again.
This didn't really upset Seto. He still felt happy, like anything that happened would be ok. Besides, he didn't have to worry about being touched by humans.
He found a blanket in the corner of his cage and lay down on it, sleepily closing his eyes.
When he woke it was to another sharp stinging and the same feeling of euphoria. He noticed some food had been added to the cage, and so when the hand was withdrawn this time, he sniffed at the brown mixture. Deciding it was edible, he grabbed a few pebbles and began to chew on them. They were a little harder than expected, but he was able to manage.
He somehow was enjoying the dry, grainy substance. Still, it had a weird after flavor, and he was starting to wonder if he was crazy for being ok with eating it. What the heck was this even made of? It wasn't until a few bites in that he realized the flavor was similar to the smell of a landfill or composting facility. Kind of sickly sour-sweet. The human part of his brain started to wonder what he was doing, but was overridden by the happy feeling of the drug. The nub on his tail tried to wag.
That sent shooting pain up his spine. He whined as he realized what he was doing and backed off from the food. Unobjectionally eating dog food, whatever had been placed in front of him, something that tasted like it should be garbage...
He lay down and made more displeased noises. He vaguely became aware of the pain subsiding and his quieting. He almost went back to sleep when another few sets of footsteps sounded. These were accompanied by two laughing voices, and Seto realized he recognized them.
"Thanks for getting us in Yug'," Jounouchi's obnoxious voice rang out. "I'm glad I get to see that dog I rescued."
The last thing Seto wanted was to see Jounouchi, so why did he feel so warm inside? He got up and crowded next to the bars.
A doctor was talking now. "He is doing better than when Mr. Moutou visited before," she explained. "But that likely has something to do with the drugs. He's been very calm since we began treating him."
The door opened revealing his rival and his rescuer, accompanied by the same blonde woman that he had encountered before. The woman opened the door to his cage and he panted a little as she placed a collar on him without initial objection. It wasn't until he realized exactly what was going on that he whined.
"It's ok," she cooed, attaching a leash. "You get to go to the big pen to play with these guys."
He sniffed Jou's hand sleepily as it was presented to him. His hand smelled like grease and automobiles and soap. It was an odd combination, but it made sense to Seto. He lowered his head and the hand softly pet the dog's head, as though that gave him permission. Again, Seto's responses were delayed, and he whined. The hand was immediately withdrawn.
He heard the dalmatian to his right whining and he glared at the other dog to the best of his ability. But he was too tired to keep it up for long. He went back to the corner to lay down, but was stopped by the leash.
"You get to go to a bigger pen," the woman stated, tugging a little towards the exit to the cage.
He whined a little again but followed along. Maybe they'd let him sleep in the other cage.
When he got there there were a mess of dog toys, the only bed being a pile of blankets in a corner. He immediately headed towards them once he was off his leash and locked in the room with the two duelists.
The woman disappeared and Jounouchi turned to Yugi. "You might be right, it might not be him," he said. "He's acting too friendly."
"It's not like he's missing, just acting weird," Yugi replied. "Maybe your dream was a warning?"
"Still, what if something else has his body and he is this dog?"
Seto's eyes were closed, but he continued listening to the pair talk, suddenly realizing they were talking about him. He wasn't missing? Someone was still operating as Seto Kaiba?
He growled a bit, but it was sleepy and not all that strong.
"We could always try to test it," Yugi suggested.
"I guess," Jounouchi said.
He approached Seto and knelt down. "Hey Seto," he said in a soft voice. "Can you bark once if that's your name?"
Seto stared at Jou in complete shock. How did he know?
Jou held out his hand and Seto sniffed it again, allowing Jou to pet him.
"This can't be him," Jou said. "Even drugged up, do you think Seto would let me of all people touch him?"
Yugi laughed. "So it must be a warning then."
Seto barked, once, slowly registering what was going on. But the pair seemed to have made up their mind.
"Still, adopting him seems like a good idea. It would be nice to not be the only mutt that escaped Hirutani," Jounouchi thought aloud.
Yugi nodded. "Hopefully they can figure out how to get him to be calm like this without the morphine."
Jou agreed and the pair fell silent. It wasn't long until Jou's soothing strokes were lulling Seto to sleep, and the world went quiet and happy again.
