Title: Barking To Disaster (PBFF)
Author: Glue Project
Rating: PG-13?
Pairings: SetoJou
Spoilers: Err. None?
Disclaimer: Nothing mine. Not even the bunny.
Summery: See TEXT BUNNY #22
Note: School in Japan ends in March and starts up again in April. Just for time reference.
Chapter Four
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As it turned out, Jou's almost constant sleeping was also a cause of the cursed spring. It had taken loads of energy from Jou himself to complete his transformation, and was still completing his transformation after the vet visit, even if it was mostly complete by that time.
Now, the day after the visit, Jou's sleepy state was abating, and he woke to a beautiful guestroom at the Kaiba mansion. Shaking himself awake, Jou trotted out to the smell of bacon, hopeful that he would be sharing in that specific aspect of breakfast.
Since it was Mokuba cooking, and Seto was already off at work, the younger Kaiba was able to give Jou a plate of bacon with a wink and a shush. He then went into a dramatic monologue that Jou enjoyed much, about how he had just 'dropped' a plate of bacon on the floor and now 'had to throw it away'.
The plate was licked clean by the time that Mokuba had finished (over) acting.
-Thanks.-
Mokuba turned, startled.
Jou was already gone.
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Jou had done his best to write a note while armed with a pencil in his mouth and paper between his paws. The resulting letter was a scribbled mess almost readable, but hey, it was the thought that counted right?
Now he was traveling the downcast streets of Domino, watching the world with a slightly different air. Down here, so close to the ground, everything seemed dirty, contaminated. Granted, this was a city, and that everyone did their best to keep it clean, it still had a gloomy air to it.
That, or the impending rain clouds factored into that.
He carefully transverse across the busy streets, standing patiently at the crosswalks for the green walking light. He'd also stopped quiet a few children from walking out without their parents notice, and one had decided to ride him across the street, all the while shouting, "Pony!" in her tiny little voice.
He found all of that amusing.
Now, however, he stood in front of his apartment complex, a dingy, rathole of a place. He padded up the broken cement steps, a sense of 'forbidden' cloaking the area. The door leading in had the lock broken out--always had--and he continued up the steps. On the fourth flight, he departed from stairs that went up another level, and continued down the hallway. At the door marked 412, he nosed it open, surprised that it had admitted him in.
He was almost immediately nauseated by the stench of alcohol and cologne. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and followed the noises of a tv somewhere nearby.
His father sat among mountains of beer cans and wine coolers, voice rising and falling as he talked to those he could only see within his drunken mind. He pitched another bottle at the wall and it spilt into millions of diamond shards, light fracturing off them as they stayed suspended in the air for a fraction of a second before they joined their brethren on the floor.
The wall was covered in horrible peeling wallpaper that was dotted with amber beerstains and purple shards of glass. It was also covered in a not so pretty substance of brownish-red.
Thankfully, he could concentrate on the beer scent and not on that that paralleled copper.
His father turned his head to the side, and in a slurred and jumbled voice, started conversing with the table lamp. It had a yellow shade.
Jou almost wanted to laugh. His father found a companion in a lamp and thought that it was actually him. Not that his father was ever sober enough to know otherwise, of course. His father most likely didn't even know that Jou's name was Katsuya. It was so much easier to call him the name that they shared in common, the only thing they shared in common.
Katsuya left. He couldn't stand it anymore.
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Seto found Jou's note on the floor of his own room. Evidentially Jou had used his canine sense of smell to find it. It took the work of a minute to figure out that the messy pencil marks went something along the lines of, 'Was bored, went walking.'
However, it was now raining outside.
And rain in March is cold.
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Seto had walked out of the house without an umbrella. He didn't regret his, but he did acknowledge that the rain was chilly. He just pulled his blue duster closer to himself.
He had called everyone that might have seen the golden collarless puppy. That'd been just fun, explaining to Yuugi and co. that Jou was now a dog and that he was not making fun of him.
He just hoped that Jou hadn't been taken to the pound.
Now he was just searching the streets in an attempt to find him.
He stopped at the gates of the park. He shrugged mentally and entered.
After a half hour of walking, he could hardly see, but continued anyway. He could see a figure sitting on a bench.
When he got closer however, he recognized the mop of blond hair. He stopped right in front of the slouching form in disbelief.
It was Jou, looking as he had right before Seto had pushed him into the spring. Hands jammed into the kangaroo pouch of the green Red Eyes hoodie, wet blond hair flat on his head. His jeans were faded and severely worn at the knees. His tennis shoes were now gray and cracked, the soles independent and flapping.
Seto let the thought that Jou looked peaceful like that, asleep and not running his mouth.
He flipped back a bit of Jou's bangs before lifting him up in his arms, almost tripping at how heavy Jou actually was. Not heavy in a bad way. Just heavier than his too-thin dog form.
Seto took him home.
Heh. He couldn't say 'the puppy followed me home' now.
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Well, that was fun.
--Glue