A/N: The third chapter is here. Hopefully it will post right, if not review right away and tell me so I can fix it like last time. I never would've know if my reviewers hadn't thankfully pointed it out. Hope you enjoy, this chapter goes a little fast and a little weird. Despite what the first part of our chapter seems to indicate we ain't over yet. Also, Kaiba is still going to remain a coldhearted bastard, just a slightly repentant bastard, but for his own selfish reasons.

Disclaimer; I own nothing.

****

Jounouchi stared up wonderingly at the sky, his eyes shining brightly in the darkness. Night had long since descended and the stars were beautiful pinpricks of light in the vast velvet blackness above. A soft breeze ruffled through his hair, bringing with it the soft scent of night flowers, slowly opening to let their loveliness be absorbed by the darkness.

Jou smiled, his eyes blurry and tears still trailing down his cheeks. It was nice, so real. He formed every picture perfectly and lovingly in his mind's eye, sparing no detail. He could imagine the colours within the colourlessness of the sky, the sweet scents of the flowers he created. He made a perfect world and retreated inside himself, shutting out the pain and unhappiness of the real world. He was getting quite good at pretending, at ignoring the outside, the things his body tried to convey to his mind. He was away from it all though, caught up in the saga of his wonderful imaginary life.

This unexpected turn of events displeased Kaiba to no end. He'd certainly meant to break the boy, but to this extent? He often walked in his puppy's cage to find the mutt talking to people who weren't there. Certainly more frightening was the fact that Kaiba suspected these invisible people didn't actually exist outside Jou's wounded mind. He had never caught him talking to friends, not even Yugi, Jou seemed to have retreated from everything his life had ever held. He was a completely different person now, gone far beyond what Kaiba had intended. Jounouchi Katsya had been swallowed by darkness and this frightening stranger remained locked in his place, another person staring out from behind those soft chocolate eyes. Kaiba retreated often from the boy, unable to face this new person that he had help to create. Scary as it was Kaiba could admit that he actually missed Jounouchi, the brash explosive kid he'd sought to tame. He'd tamed him alright, tamed and executed. Kaiba knew nothing of this new Jounouchi and didn't want to find out. He took everything passivly, no matter what Kaiba did to hurt him the boy accepted without changing expression. Jou always looked dazed, somewhere else, and he was usually crying. He wasn't loud, wasn't sobbing, but his cheeks were always wet with recently shed tears. The mutt probably wasn't even aware that he was crying.

As he watched Jou from the doorway the puppy smiled at him and sat up, seemingly at attention, his eyes said otherwise though. They were soft and heavy lidded, the way he was looking they seemed out of focus. Jou never actually looked directly in Kaiba's eyes, he seemed to stare at something beyond him. Kaiba knew perfectly well, since he had investigate and made sure, there was absolutely nothing of any interest on the rough brick wall. What ever Jou saw was not there. The cold icy ice burned into the flat brown ones, trying to detect some movement of feeling or emotion stirring beneath the placid surface. It was no use, Jou was a pretty shallow pool at the moment, whatever lay beneath the exterior was as lifeless as what showed outside.

The boy got to his feet unsteadily and came to kneel before his master, a light grin across his blank features. If only those eyes would tell him something, Kaiba thought angrily, if they showed anything then perhaps the real Jou still lived somewhere inside his puppet. Graceful hands moved up along Kaiba's pant leg, fingers eagerly gripping his belt and beginning to unfasten it. Kaiba pulled away as if burned, loathing the look and feel of his slave, not wanting the dead boy to touch him.

Jounouchi's didn't change his position or expresson, his hands simply fell limply to his sides and he continued to stare upwards, ready to preform whatever task given to him. His mind and body were numb, ready to eagerly obey his master if it meant living through another day. The essence of Jounouchi Katsuya was too far away to care or even notice what he was doing. Whomever occupied the controll room of his mind had drifted to sleep and left the autopilot on to take care of the day-to-day matters of keeping his body up and running.

Kaiba shuddered. Hating himself, hating the dead creature sitting on his knees before him. He hated everything, especially his own stupid need to conquer the boy, to possess him. It was dissatisfying to hurt a person who would even scream or cry as the lashes came down. To take such pain in absolute silence was beyond chilling. "I hate you." Kaiba hissed quietly, but the blonde gave no sign of having heard. He slapped the boy as hard as he could, sending Jounouchi skidding across the cold floor. The blonde promptly stood and returned to his former position at Kaiba's feet.

"Oh Jounouchi." he whispered in horror.

***

He hated it how he was shuddering uncontrollably. Seto Kaiba showed no weakness, even when alone, this blantant act of fright was so wrong. He didn't know what else to do, what more he could do. The blond lay beside him in the limo as it sped through the midnight streets of Domino. Soon the shop loomed in front, the Kame Game Shop. He was desperate, uncertain, and it didn't suit him.

He had lost control, everything had gone so wrong and it was frigtening. Jounouchi Katsuya had been almost completely destroyed by his game, and there was only one person who Kaiba knew could fix this, fix Jou. He bit the nails of one normal well manicured hand in frustration, staring at the darkened shop with impassive eyes. Turmoil spun turbulently beneath, but on the outside Kaiba was as calm as still waters.

He wrapped Jounouchi in a blanket and opened the door of the limo quietly. He couldn't walk up to the shop, couldn't allow the game King to know what he had done to Yuugi's best friend, how Kaiba had managed to break the puppy. Kaiba had wanted him so badly, obsessed over the boy with the unruly blonde hair. He had wanted him and taken him. Kaiba had also managed to lose him, in a way more complete and hurtful than it was to simply stae at the boy at school without taking him and holding him. Kaiba knew his own particular brand of love was harmful and destructive, he didnt want and equal or a partner, he wanted a subservient, a person who lived to please him and that was all. He had gotten that and so much more than he had bargained for. An empty puppet who pleased him willingly, smiling even, but without a soul, without thought or feeling. Kaiba had tried to repair the blonde, to bring him back to himself, beat thought back into that thick skull. Large dark bruises and welts stood out starkly against Jou's too pale skin. Kaiba's own prefered methods certainly weren't going to help the boy, if anything if Kaiba tried harder he might just lose any chance of recovering Jou at all. He knew though that Yuugi Mutou would be the one to bring Jounouchi back if anyone could.

He walked into the yard and placed Jou on the steps, wrapped tightly in the blanket. He turned swiftly and reentered the car, not saying a word. He sat silently on the drive home, cursing the world and himself. He also cursed Yuugi Mutou for having the ability to fix the one thing Kaiba wanted most, Jounouchi. If he let Yuugi fix the blonde he could never have him again. Kaiba sighed bitterly. He was brilliant, rich and had his whole life ahead of him, but the one thing he needed most would now be forever denied to him. He hated irony. He had possessed Jounouchi for a short while and because of it now had to give up his obsessed love for the blonde forever. Things were hardly ever fair.

***

His body was so tired, every part of him felt used, sensitive to the rough texture he was spread across. The wind was blowing harshly, he could feel it against his bare skin. His eyes were hazy and he tried once more to get to his feet. He moved slowly along the rough pavement on his hands and knees, searching something out, something he wasn't sure of. He felt the softness of grass in his next shuffle forward and moved onto it gratefully, resting momentarily against the sweetness of the morning grass. It was pleasantly wet with fresh dew and felt so blessedly cool against his hot skin. He closed his eyes to the morning light and found he couldn't open them again, he didn't want to. Moving was fruitless and pointless so he collapsed heavilly onto the ground, content to remain forever.

He wasn't sure when or where but sounds began to nag him from all around, soft at first then growing louder and more frantic.

---Oh god!!---

--...at's happened to him, he's so hurt! He looks half dea...--

More voices assaulted him from the white nothingness he was cocooned in.

--Please, Jounouchi-kun! Say something, please say anythi....--

--..gi, it looks like he's been beaten, he's suff....--

--...pital, he needs treatment badly, I'll go make the ph...---

He vaguely recognized the sounds but dismissed them as more lost memories, still fighting to come back and hurt him freshly. He wanted quiet, wanted to fade back into the whiteness where nothing touched him. He felt strong hands pick him up and he instictivly cringed as pain and memories stung his mind. He scream and thrashed, striking out violently at the one who had touched him. He hit the ground hard, still smelling the soft scents of morning before he lost consciousness completely.

***

He hurt, oh god how he hurt. A steady stream of tears wound painfully down his face, the salt stinging the cuts and scrapes on his cheeks. He sat hunched over and curled up tightly. Both hands were restrained and he sat sobbing into the wall. It was a safe room, he's heard them say that, safe. Jounouchi wailed, not recognizing the meaning of that word anymore. He thrashed violently and screamed for them to let him go, to unlock him from his prison, but the cries fell on deaf ears.

He curled in further upon himself, trying to become small and invisible, longing to melt into the white floors and walls, to become no more than a part of his surroundings. He wanted out, oh god how he wanted out. They refused, no one would listen, not even Yuugi. He screamed for the small boy most nights, begging his friend to come and set him free. The boy never came, Jounouchi was left alone to howl impotently at the walls. Jou cried and howled and screamed his anger and fury and hatred, but it had been a mask. He didn't feel any of those things. He felt gone. He was lost within himself, to himself, and there wasn't any trail of bread crumbs to lead him back.

The walls closed in around him so tightly, it was all so small and bright, so hard to breath. He gasped and panted between his hollering, but felt that he wasn't pulling air into his lungs. Everything was being sucked out of him, drained away in this terribly bright prison. His eyes stung and watered as the bright flourescents burned down on him, scaring him and making him wish for the darkness to save him. His skin itched and hurt, the dressing gown he wore pulling roughly across his shattered body, making his wounds break open again and bleed more of his blood onto the floor. People came regularily to clean up his blood, to change his soiled clothing and tell him everything would be fine. Damn bastards were liars, nothing was fine, there was no definition to such a word, it was no more than a false hope they extended him so that he might stop screaming at them. He refused to listen. None of them understood anything of what they said, how dumb and pointless their words were, how harmful.

He twisted his hands roughly in their bonds, breaking open a deep cut against the inside of his wrist. He watched slowly as the blood began to pool and stain the white bandages a bright crimson. He stared dazzed at the rednes as it began to seep down his arm, his eyes hurt and transfixed. He was so confused, he didn't know what he was doing anymore, what was happing inside his head. He leaned back into the wall and glared up into the fierce lights which glared back at him, scorcing his sensitive eys.

As nighttime descended a pristinely dressed orderly came into the room, a needle held delicately in one manicured hand. Jou froze, his eyes glazed over in terror, memories and flashbacks assaulting him fericiously. He called for help but no one came and steadily the orderly beared down on him. He shrieked and hurled himself back against the wall, his body snapping this way and that as he tried to avoid the inevitable. The pain was relitively small as the needle was inserted in his arm. He sobbed wretchedly as more orderlies entered the small space and carried him limply to the bed. He felt to weak and tired to resist their firm hands as they strapped him down for the night. The first orderly, a young woman looked down sadly at him adn pulled the covers over him, tucking them in securly at his sides. "Sleep well." she whispered quietly as she left the room, turning of the brightest of lights, leaving a lesser one on by the door so they could check on him during their rounds.

Jou blinked as the haziness overcame him, pain and terror washing away in the sleepiness of the drugs. He tested his straps lightly, more out of habit than anything else, but they held fast of course. He spoke haltingly into the darkness at the shadows of the people that surrounded him, seeking out some reassurance, some kind of respite from the agony. His eyes closed slowly as he was blessedly carried away into the darkness of a dreamless sleep. "Kaiba......" he murmured softly before he was overtaken completely.

***

A/N: Jou's in a mental hospital, in case I didn't make that clear enough. Why? That gets revealed next chapter. There will be more Kaiba-the-bastard, Jou-the-tormented and other such stuff, plus flashbacks. Why? Flashbacks are fun! For those who might complain about my treatment of a mental facility, yeah, I'm putting forth the more made-for-TV-movie style version which isn't as common as you'd think. How do I know? I've been in a mental institution. It was actually a very nice place, had a gym and a pool and a great caf. I attended 4 weeks of classes and sessions to help me deal with my agoraphobia. (I havea fear of going outside. One of the hardest parts of the whole thing was getting TO the center, hour drive...not happy 'bout that!) For those who do have fears and problems that greatly affect how you live your life I suggest getting help, it's not shameful, it helped me alot. I'm not perfect, but I can go to the store by myself now. See ya!