GGJ: Well, soulsearcher is away and I have to do the disclaimer sooo… here's a poem! That has prolly been seen before!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I don't own anything

SO FUCK YOU, DON'T SUE!

Chibi: eh… ~twitches~

GGJ: Well well well… what have we here?  Why look! It's a fanfic written by soulsearcher and GemGemJoo!  I guess I'm in charge of the A/N's for the time being… ~gets thwapped by soulsearcher~ OWWIE! =P meanie.

SS:  *shoves GGJ off chair*  I want to terrify them too. 

GGJ: =P FIIINE! Oooo... we need a title, dont we? ~sweatdropps~

SS: Hows about… "THE PUPPY!" ~trumpets blare~

GGJ: ..... ~whines~ It's too cliche!

GGJ: OOOO hows about "Josie and the Puppy Dogs!" ~giggles~

SS:  *rolls eyes*  Whatever works.*is too sick of screaming children to argue*

GJJ: Well, if ya put it that way... then no

SS:  =p 

GGJ: ~thinks~

SS:  *also thinks*

GGJ Maybe "Come Puppy, Come"

SS: Sure

GGJ: Well, now that that's cleared up ~looks at audiance~

SS: Oh yes.  Perhaps they would like the fic now?

GGJ: Maybe we should just... stall?

SS:  yes....perhaps.....*starts typing v e r y   s l o w l y*

GGJ: Hmmm..... well, now that we've stalled long enough...

SS: Yes.  *trumpets start blaring*  DUN DUNDUN DUNNNNNNNN! ON WITH THE SHOW!

After Much debate, we present to you…

Come Puppy, Come

"SETOOOOO!!!!! Please?!?!?!?!?!?!" Mokuba screamed. 

Seto sighed.  "Well, I guess, but it's your job to look after it!"

Mokuba giggled in a girlish fashion as he latched himself to his brother's pant leg.

"THANK-you Seto!! I promise that I'll take REAL good care of it!!!" Mokuba paused, thoughtful.  "Demo, YOU have to name it!"

"Hmmm....." Seto thought for a moment.  There were the usual names for a puppy, Max, etc, but at that moment, there were only two in his life that he could think of.

He looked down at the happy eyes of his little brother.

"How about Josie?" Seto said.  After all, didn't that name seem familiar?

Mokuba looked puzzled for a moment before nodding.  "I guess that mean's we're gunna get a girl then, huh Nii-sama?"

Seto shrugged.  "I guess.  Why, did you want a guy?"

Shrugging, Mokuba shook his messy black hair.  "I guess it doesn't matter... OH!" he cried, running up to a window and pressing his nose against it.  "I want a golden retriever!"  Looking up at his bother hopefully, the wild-haired boy patiently awaited the answer.

Seto walked over to his little brother, and looked in at the sleeping puppy, its nosed pressed right were Mokuba's was.  He grinned.  It sure did remind him of another mutt…"Sure."

Mokuba grinned ecstatically as the little puppy opened one sleepy eye to look at the boy.  The warm chocolate colored hues brightened when they saw a possible master and the little pup sat up and gave a small "Yip!"

The delight in Mokuba's eyes was enough for Seto.  He walked up to the clerk at the desk, and pointed to the puppy.  "We're taking that one."

"Ah, yes, we found her on the streets a few nights ago.  She adores children," the store clerk said, smiling.  He took a key from beneath the desk, and walked over to Mokuba.  "You like that one, eh, little one?" he said, kneeling down next to the child.

Mokuba nodded eagerly.  "She's so sweet.  How old is she?" the gray eyed boy asked as the clerk unlocked the door that caged the young puppy in.

"We're not sure, but we're guessing around a month or two," he explained. 

Seto watched from afar.  The store clerk had such happy, playful eyes, almost to match Mokuba's; almost as if he had never really fully grown up.

As soon as the door was open, the young pup launched herself at Mokuba.  The young Kaiba shrieked in laughter and the store clerk joined in, his eyes sparkling with mirth.  The energy the puppy had seemed to mimic the energy and enthusiasm of a certain blonde the Kaiba's knew....

Mokuba came up to them then, a sparkling red collar in hand.

"Seto?" the young teen asked, eyes sparkling with glee "Can we get a tag for her?  One with our address and everything?"

Seto smiled.  The kid was really getting into this.  "Sure, go pick one out."  There was a selection of tags just beside the collars.  You had to get the clerk to engrave them.

The younger Kaiba grinned and nodded. Running over to the selection of tags, she immediately saw the one perfect for the puppy that was obediently trailing at his ankles; a rectangular shaped tag made to look like a duel monster's card.

"This is perfect," he whispered before bringing it up to his brother and the clerk.

With that, Seto paid the cheery shop keeper, picking out certain other necessities, food dishes, toys, etc, and the brothers headed for home with their new yipping and yapping friend.

~*~*~

Mokuba couldn't be any happier.  His biggest dream had come true.  He now had an adorable little puppy that was as loyal to him as Jounouchi was to dinner.  Suddenly, a thought struck across his mind.

"Seto, doesn't Josie sound an awful lot like Jounouchi?"

Seto started at the remark.  It did, now that he came to think of it . . .but that couldn't have been the purpose for his choice of the name.  "I guess it does.  Just coincidence, probably," he said, shrugging it off.  What was the mutt doing on his mind?

Mokuba nodded at that and went back to playing with his newfound friend.

           Watching his little brother and Josie play, it reminded him of the occasions he had seen Honda and Jounouchi wrestling each other in the schoolyard.

The little pup was just like Jounouchi in many ways.  Happy, carefree, loyal and if this feeling in his stomach was correct, a royal pain in the ass.  But the good far out weighed the bad. 

Seto blinked.  Where did THAT thought come from? 

He shook his head.  "Look, kido, it's getting late.  Time for bed."  While Mokuba moaned, Seto got up and lifted the little puppy into his arms and starred into its big brown eyes.  "What are you doing to me, little mutt?" he muttered, grinning at the puppy, unable to feel annoyed as those eyes stared up at him.  He carried the puppy upstairs, and gave it to Mokuba to sleep for the night.

Mokuba opened one eye before smiling softly.

"Arigato Nii-sama.  This was the best day of my life."

A tiny tongue drove Seto Kaiba from his sleep, and he snapped open his eyes, batting his hands in front of him, only to feel the incredibly soft fluffy ball that someone had named a puppy.  He grinned, squinting his eyes against the bright morning light.  "Well hello there," he said, scritching the little thing behind its ears.  He lifted it from his bed.  As he got dressed, it batted its tiny paws at his heels, and now and again the older brother had to run away in order not to trip over the dog.

He came down the stairs to see Mokuba waiting in the kitchen.  The little brother smiled as Seto Kaiba laughed and fled the evil clutches of Josie the golden retriever.

"It's nice to see you smile again," Mokuba said softly.  The tone of his voice was strange coming from a child his age. 

Seto starred at his brother.  There was something about the boy, something there that seemed to beat even the genius CEO's intellect.  A childish wisdom, a simplicity that rivaled the greatest minds. (GGJ: Even though in this fic he's like… 12… and the brother of a child prodigy)

Seto went for the cereal today, and sat down next to his little brother.  They watched and laughed in amusement as Josie seemed only then to discover her tail, and find it an enemy.  She chased it, spinning in clumsy little circles, until she ultimately fell on her butt.

As soon as she was sitting, she turned her large doe eyes upon Seto.  The CEO found himself gulping at the likeliness of those big, honey brown orbs...

"DAMNIT! Why am I reminded of the mutt whenever I look at this puppy!" Seto thought to himself.  Josie stood suddenly, wagging her tail like mad and gave a little "Yip!" before coming over to tug on Seto's pant leg.  Seto gave Mokuba one hopeless look that sent the younger Kaiba into a fit of giggles and picked up the pup before she did any serious damage.

"She need to go out for a walk," he said, glaring playfully at the little pup as she just looked up and kept wagging her tail.

Mokuba just giggled and nodded his head as he moved to retrieve the bright red leash from the bag of things they had gotten for the puppy

He clipped it to her collar and the brothers set out.

*     *     *

Walking through the park, the Kaiba brothers laughed together as Josie frolicked about strangers' feet and leaped about the bigger dogs in glee.  It was good for Kaiba to get out; he hadn't had a lot of free time lately.

Josie ran up to a tree, trying to scramble after a terrified and fleeing squirrel, only to bounce right back off the touch bark and tumble back to Seto's feet.  This sent the brothers into another fit of giggles as Josie blinked stupidly and got up only to repeat the scenario again.

Mokuba suddenly lit up at the sight of a messy blonde mop of hair.

"Seto! That's Jounouchi!  Lets go introduce Josie to him!" The kid exclaimed, tugging on the puppy's leash slightly, running towards the blonde.

The pup barked a bit, chasing after her owner.  The bark was a bit watery and unstable but still held promise of many headaches to come.

Watching Mokuba run up to Jounouchi, whom was sitting on a park bench, Seto moaned inwardly, but followed his little brother anyways.

"What're you doing here, mutt?"

The question wasn't for Josie. 

"I might ask the same to you," Jounouchi replied, ignoring the mutt comment and still smiling and scritching the excited pup behind its ears.

'She's such a sweetie,' the blonde thought as the puppy leaned into his touch.  A soft chuckle escaped the blonde's lips as the puppy closed her eyes, tail wagging furiously.

"Her name's Josie! Seto picked the name!" Mokuba exclaimed happily. Jounouchi's eyes widened and turned into a glare as he looked at the older Kaiba.

"Any specific reason as to why that name sounds like mine?" he asked, his voice slightly bitter.

"You're both a mess, annoying as hell, and tend to show up far too often," he replied, his tone annoyingly calm and collected.  Inside he rolled his eyes.  'That seems to be the question everyone wants an answer to.'

Jounouchi's eyes flashed angrily for a moment.  Neither boy noticed Mokuba's pleading glances as the blonde stood, his eyes narrowed sharply.  The little puppy just blinked and walked around the two boys in confusion.

:

"I'M NOT A DOG!" Jounouchi yelled, his anger beginning to get the better of him.

"Not a dog . . .but pretty damn close."  He grinned at the rage growing in Jounouchi's eyes. 

"Where's your collar, mutt?" the brunette asked, his infamous smirk set in place.  "Where's your nice little bowl of kibble and your tennis ball?"

Jounouchi growled and looked like he was ready to lunge at the CEO.  However, before his feet could come off the ground, Josie spotted that same squirrel and began to chase after it.  Before anyone knew what happened, Jounouchi and Seto where flush against one another, thanks to the bright red leash around their ankles.

The boys eyes went as wide as saucers and Seto heard Mokuba giggling off to the side.  He put his hands on Jounouchi's chest, and thrust him away hard… "Get away from meeeeeeeeeeee…..!"

      ....but he forgot about the leash around their ankles, and suddenly the two boys were lying on the ground, Kaiba somehow pinning Jounouchi beneath him.

Jounouchi felt a hot flush begin to creep up on him.  Seto Kaiba, THE Seto Kaiba was pinning him to the ground.  And in all honesty, the blonde didn't want to move from the position. But he couldn't let anyone know that... no one could know...

"Gerroff a me!" Jounouchi cried, squirming a bit under the taller boy's weight.

Seto gulped and wriggled enough so he fell to the side, startled a bit at the reaction he had received.

With threatening glares exchanging between the two, Mokuba brought Josie back and managed to untangle the two.

"Come on, Mokuba, let's go," said Seto, ruffling the kids hair as he strode off beside his little brother, not taking a second glance back at the blonde boy he had left standing with a confused look on his face.

Jounouchi watched the Kaiba's brothers walk off.  The elder brother was laughing and smiling again and Josie's antics.  A smile ambushed Jounouchi's lips despite the fact that the CEO was so cold to him. It was more common to see Seto Kaiba smirk a cruel grin than to see him genuinely smiling.  But the boy loved his brother, probably more than he loved anything else and the blonde could see the little dog he had gotten for Mokuba would likely become to Kaiba himself.

But though it made Jounouchi smile to see Seto Kaiba so happy, his smile quickly faded and he found himself hurting more than he wanted to.

This hurt confused him.  He hated the cruel Kaiba; he always had, for teasing him.  But maybe there was a little more to it than the surface.  Maybe he didn't entirely detest the guy.  Maybe . . .he stopped himself from thinking those thoughts. All this pondering was hurting his head.  He plopped down on the bench and only found himself back in those thoughts again.

'Why doesn't he smile more often?  And not just around Mokuba?"

Life couldn't have been so cruel to him that it had stopped his smile completely.  He pictured Kaiba's face, as he laughed at Josie's playful antics; he pictured him laughing, with genuine delight in his hard, icy eyes.  And it made him both sad and happy: because he knew there was yet hope that Kaiba might not be all lost. 

"JOU!" a voice called.  Jounouchi turned to face his tri-colored haired friend and all thoughts of Kaiba left him as the short teenager approached him, panting.

"Hey, Yuug.   . . .What's the rush?"  he asked, looking over the boy as he tried to catch his breath.

Yuugi blinked once, before looking up at his friend with a confused expression on his face.

"Don't you remember? We where supposed to meet at the arcade at one!  You where really late so Anzu suggested we go looking for ya!"

Jounouchi kind of staggered backwards and smacked his forehead.  "Oh, god, I totally forgot!  Oh man, I'm so sorry!"

Yuugi shrugged and smiled.

"That's okay!  Let's just get going and meet up with everyone else!"  With that the small teen turned and started walking back in the direction he came from.  With a final look over his shoulder, Jounouchi sighed, with one thought running through his head:

'I wish I could make Kaiba smile like that.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

GGJ: Well, will you look at that! SEVEN PAGES! :D

SS: ~camera pans onto her sleeping in her swivel chair, dead to the world~

GGJ: SS? Hello? ~pokes her bff~ Yup… she's dead. Wells, if you please, R&R and tell us what you think.  Zombie girl (soulsearcher) up there want to know especially cuz she's new to this section and isn't sure if she played the character's right.  (We RP'ed it and swapped characters every so often but for the most part, she was Kaiba and I was Mokuba and Jou.  When we got to about halfway, we swapped and I also became Yuugi.)

So tell us what you thought! Baiz!

GGJ&SS

~*~Crikey doodle Batman!~*~