Rowan: Happy! I'm sooo happy!
Sakura: Yes, we all know how happy you are.
Rowan: 22 reviews! I have 22 reviews for this story! Lots of ppl like it! And I've been ungrounded!
Sakura: *grumbles * Don't push it.
Rowan: Yeah, anyway…. Hehehe! Chapter four! Jou's dream!
Jou: *Really, REALLY worried * I don't want to know what it is.
Rowan: Oh c'mon! It's kawaii!
Jou: I'm scared now too.
Rowan: Well, anyway, don't mind him. He's just mad that he can't figure out who F&D are and that I'm not telling until the end of the story!
Jou: Tell me! Please!
Rowan: No! Now, do the disclaimer!
Jou: *whimpers * Fine. –Rowan and Sakura do not own YGO! or any of the characters. If Rowan did own it, she would most definitely have me dating Seto. How sweet.
Rowan: Thank you Jou!
Jou: My pleasure. By the way, where is Siran?
Rowan: Oh, Siran's just fed up with all the Jou*Seto fluff and stuff!
Jou: Who could get fed up with that?
Rowan: That's what I'd like to know as well!
Arigatous: Thank you to Ani-coolgirl (go ahead and take a guess!); Stardreamer; Kotono-hacker; Blood Roses 1; Assassin of the Shadows; ColeyCarissa; GemGemJoo; Kidie, Vanessa, Rei, and Kai; Jane Silver, and anyone I forgot to thank!
Life's Little Treasures
Jou, Kaiba and Mokuba ate the pizza and then watched TV. before Mokuba had to go to bed. Jou and Kaiba, neither wanting to spend another moment with the other, also quickly went up the stairs and to their respective bedrooms. (Jou's was right across the hall from Kaiba's.) Jou placed Kismet in her crib, then washed up and went to bed. He fell asleep almost instantly.
~*~*~&~*~*~
The whole room smelled of lavender shampoo. Jou was sitting on the sofa with Seto as they watched Kismet play in her pen. Jou smiled at the little girl, then looked over at Seto. "Y'know, I think we should give her a nickname. Kismet is too much for a little girl."
"What do you suggest?"
"How about 'Kis'?" asked Jou
Seto thought about it for a moment, then leaned closer to Jou. "Good idea," he whispered before placing his lips on Jou's. Jou gasped in surprise and Seto's tongue entered his mouth, caressing and exploring. Just as Jou started to relax and enjoy the kiss, Kismet started wailing and they were startled apart. Then both of them leapt off the couch…
And Jou woke up.
~*~*~&~*~*~
Jou shook his head in surprise. 'What was that dream? Set- I mean Kaiba actually kissing me? What was I thinking? Why did I dream that?'
Well, one thing he hadn't dreamt was Kismet's crying. Jou scooped her out of her crib and cradled her in his arms. "Shhh. Hush, Kismet, hush." But Kismet wouldn't 'hush'. Jou started to panic. He ran across the hall to Seto's room. "Kaiba-kun! Wake up!" he yelled, banging on the door.
Seto opened the door. "What's with Kismet? Why's she crying?"
"I don't know! Help, please!'
"Here, let me see her." Seto took Kismet from Jou, sending him a whiff of lavender, and rocked the baby gently. She soothed slightly, then stopped wailing. "Maybe I should keep her for now."
"Yeah. Night Kaiba." Jou started to go when Kismet started sobbing again. "Gou! Gou!"
Seto looked to Jou. "What does that mean?"
Jou shrugged. "I dunno."
"Ah well. You'd better go. I'll handle her." Seto took the weeping baby and laid her on his bed, then curled next to her. But she kept crying, "Gou! Gou!" and pointing her flailing arms at Jou. "I think she wants both of us Katsuya-kun."
Jou looked shaken. "Both?"
"You lie on her other side, okay?" Jou obeyed, crawling under the covers across from Seto. His honey brown eyes looked over to sea-blue ones as Kismet stopped crying and fell asleep.
Jou too soon fell asleep, as it was easier than staring at Seto, who zonked out soon after.
Seto was the first to wake up. Seto slipped out of the bed and crept towards the bathroom.
Jou was up and dressed by the time Seto returned from his shower. "Ohayo gozaimasu Kaiba-kun," he greeted formally.
"Oho gozamas," Kismet repeated.
Seto smiled at the infant. "She catches on quick. Kismet'll be talking in no time." Seto glanced at the clock. "Speaking of no time, I've got to get to work! Cya Kismet, bye Katsuya-kun!" Seto dashed out the door and into his limo.
Jou walked the living room and sat on the couch with Kismet. "Are you hungry now Kismet?" he asked the baby, who feebly shook her head and closed her eyes. "I'll take that as a 'no'." Jou sighed. "What to do today? Oh, I know! I've gotta call Shizuka and okaasan! They're probably wondering where I am!" Jou picked up the phone and dialed his number.
"Moshi moshi, Katsuya residence, Shizuka speaking."
"Hey little sis! How're things?"
"Oniisan! Where are you? We've been worried sick about you! And Yuugi and Honda are really anxious too! We've been searching all over for you!" Shizuka exclaimed loudly.
"Jeez, I'm not a little kid! But sorry I worried you. But what did you say about Yuugi and Honda? I thought they were at college!"
"It's Thanksgiving break Jou! [1] We were all going to hang out, remember? Yuugi, Honda, Mai, you, and me. How could you forget?"
Jou winced when his sister reminded him about his plans with his friends. "It musta slipped my minds. Opps!"
"Well, Mai'll be here in the afternoon and she's been dying to see you. Now, you gonna tell me where you are?"
Jou mentally slapped his head for his stupidity. "I'm at Kaiba's. Bring the guys over here when Mai comes, okay? I'll be staying here for a while."
Shizuka laughed slightly. "What, did you lose a duel to him or something?"
Jou scowled. "No, I'm here for a different reason. Now, you gonna come over later or what?"
"Sure, sure. I'll tell everyone else. See you soon Jou."
"Yeah, bye Shizuka."
~*~&~*~
It was around two o'clock in the afternoon when Shizuka, Yuugi, Honda, and Mai came over. "Jou! We're here!" Honda said loudly.
Jou crept out of his room and came down to the lobby. "Shh, Kismet's sleeping and I don't want her to wake up. I might not be able to get her to stop crying if she starts!"
The four guests shot various degrees of confusion at the blonde. "Oh, that's right! You don't know about Kismet! Here, you can all come see her, if you promise to be quiet." Jou gave them all a warning look that clearly said one-noise-out-of-any-of-you-and-I-chop-your-head-off-and-feed-it to-the-wolves. Shizuka, Mai, Yuugi, and Honda followed Jou on tiptoe into his room, where he led them all to the crib in the middle. There was an intake of breath and then quiet chatter. (AN: When is chatter ever quiet?)
"Oh," Shizuka breathed. "She's so pretty Jou! Look, she's got your hair!"
Yuugi smiled up at his friend. "She's adorable Jou. I love her rosy, chubby, cheeks! What a sweet little baby!"
"What did you say her name was again Jou?" Mai inquired.
Jou grinned down on the infant. "Kismet," he whispered.
Honda scrunched his eyes together, a sign that he was thinking. "Kismet…Kismet…I recognize that word. Why? Why does it sound familiar?"
Jou shrugged. "It sounded kinda recognizable to me to, but I can't remember why either. It's a good name for her though."
Just then something happened that stopped all talk, as Kismet opened up her eyes and gurgled cutely.
"Aw," they all cooed at the girl.
"Oh wow! Look at her eyes! They're such beautiful eyes Jou!" Shizuka exclaimed.
"Yeah, they are Shizu! What a gorgeous blue color!" Honda added. "Like, like…"
"Like sapphires!" Mai inserted
"Warm, liquid sapphires," Yuugi elaborated.
Jou glanced at Kismet's eyes. They were eerily familiar…
"Eh hem," a voice said behind them. The five cooing adults turned around and Jou found himself staring into ice-cold versions of Kismet's eyes.
"Kaiba-kun! Hi!" Yuugi greeted politely.
"Konnichiwa Motou-kun, Katsuya-kun, Kujaku-kun, Hiroto-kun, Katsuya-kun," Seto returned. He walked over to the crib and glanced down at Kismet. "Ah, she's awake." He lifted her out of the cradle and held her against his chest.
"So, um, who's is she anyway?" Mai asked.
"Mine," both Jou and Seto replied at the same time.
Honda laughed. "What, one of you a girl and never told us?" he joked.
Jou and Seto blushed. "No, not mine technically. Kaiba-kun and I both found her two days ago in an alley. Apparently we were both meant to take care of her." Jou reached into his pocket and handed the letter to Honda.
Honda read it and shook his head. "I wonder who F&D are. I'd like to meet them one day. They must be either crazy or brilliant to even consider the two of you to take care of a baby together."
Seto shrugged. "We seem to be doing okay so far."
Jou nodded. "Yeah. I mean, she's still alive, so we must be doing something right!"
They all concurred with Jou's statement. Then they all started talking. Shizuka, Honda, and Yuugi were all gathered around Seto, fussing over Kismet and (mainly on Yuugi's part), inquiring about business, leaving Jou alone with Mai.
Mai flicked her hair and smiled at Jou. "So, Jou…how've you been lately?"
Jou shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Nothing much was happening up until the time Kaiba and I found Kismet, now she takes up most of my day. But it's all good."
Mai nodded vaguely. "So, what? You're going to spend the rest of your life looking after a kid? And where you going to live? Here? Or when Kismet turns five are you going to move back to your mom's and she'll go between houses?"
Jou blinked and wrinkled his forehead. "I don't know. I never really thought about it, actually. I just figured that I would stay here until Kismet was grown-up."
Mai laughed shortly. "You do that and you know what everyone's going to think? They're going to think that you and Kaiba are closet gays or something and that you two are secretly having an affair ."
Jou frowned and mumbled something.
"What did you say Jou?"
"I said, 'I'm not exactly sure I'm not a closet gay.'"
Mai blinked at Jou in shock. "You-you're kidding, right? You don't really mean that, do you? I-I always thought you liked me."
"I thought that too, back at Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. But about a year ago, when Shizuka started setting me up on dates, I think I finally realized that I don't like women."
Mai sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that Jou? I thought I was your friend!" 'And if I had known back then I wouldn't have tried so hard to get you to ask me out on a date! An entire year wasted!'
Jou looked down. "I-I wasn't sure how you and the others would react. I figured you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."
"Jou, if we didn't accept you and your orientations, we'd be pretty fickle friends."
Jou smiled shyly. "Thanks Mai."
Just then, the other four, plus Kismet, came over to the two blondes. "We were thinking about going out to dinner tonight, just the six of us. Kaiba-kun told us about this new club down the street that sounds really cool. And we figured Mokuba could take care of Kismet for the evening. So what do you two think?" Yuugi asked, smiling.
Jou smiled back. "Sounds good to me!"
"Me too!" Mai acquiesced
"Cool! Let's go!"
~*~&~*~&~*~
[1] Yes, I know the story takes place in Japan, but I had to come up with some excuse for them to be home! And I had said in chapter one that it was 'two years ago, on a sleepless, restless night, where the wind was howling up a storm and the bright orange autumn leaves were turning crisp and dry, preparing for the winter…' which would be November, so…
So, how was that chapter? All you were expecting? More? Less? (I hope not!) Well, tell me in a review!