Takashima - Here's the part one sequel of Employer and Employee! I would really appreciate some feedback so I can further improve my writing skills! Arigatou gosaimashita and happy reading! Btw, sorry that this installment was so late!

Update: Sorry! When I rereead this, I found some really stupid mistakes that I forgot to pick up! tears Forgive me!

Disclaimer: The characters in this fanfiction are borrowed and are not mine. They belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

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Ever since that visit, Seto was always on his mind. The memory of his Boss kissing him kept replaying over and over again in his mind and it didn't seem to want to dissolve; even now it played. It didn't leave a bitter taste in his mouth, on the contrary... It was sweet and this memory made his heart skip with joy and beat in his ears as his cheeks flushed furiously each time he watched it in his head.

His fingers traced the plush flesh of his lips. "...Seto."

---

He had been blushing feverishly and stammered, "K-Kai-Kaiba?? W-why?" His fingers slipped over his lips, as if he could feel the traces of the brown-haired boy's lips against his and he wanted to touch them with his fingers.

"Because you're more than just an employee to me, Jounouchi," Seto had said firmly and truthfully. His fingers had been strangely hot that night when they held the blonde boy's chin between his thumb and curled fingers. It was as if...unselfconsciously, Seto wanted to touch him more, more than anyone he had known but dared not as he was afraid for himself and his employee.

The blonde boy's small hands reached from under the sheets in the darkness to take a firm hold of the standing boy's wrist. He didn't know what to say. "I'm more than an employee to him?" Katsuya remembered thinking at that moment as he felt his heart racing in his chest and thundering in his ears, "How could Seto possibly--" But this thought had never completed...

He hadn't been quite as prepared and he found himself falling deeper... The second kiss had been much deeper than the first. So deep that he could hardly breathe.

The kiss told him what he had wanted to know, and it sent his insecurity back to the dark confines of his mind. This was what he had wanted from him. It was selfish and he knew it. He was only suppose to be his friend but as he had began to learn more about the composed CEO, he found himself entranced by his silent and frosty beauty, as if he had been a puzzle, ready and willing to be broken apart and put back together once more. He had wanted to know more.

When Seto's lips finally parted his, he could almost see the splendor behind the darkness. Jounouchi. The way his hair was swept messily behind his ears, a few strands about his face, and his handsome brown eyes that were dreamily watching him. He had wanted to kiss him again, but he knew that if he were to stay any longer, he wouldn't be able to leave his side. His younger brother was waiting for him at home and as a brotherly obligation, he had to return home to him. There was so much more to explain between himself and Katsuya.

"Jounouchi-kun," Seto whispered huskily.

He wet his lips with his tongue, "Y-Yes..?"

"I'm--"

---

Katsuya turned on the lights and when the fluorescent wicks of the bulbs erupted with luminosity, he walked into his living room. He was happy to see that none of his things were missing. From time to time, his neighbor, Haruko, would come into his apartment uninvited and although he knew that she wasn't a thief, you could never tell what she would do next. She was unpredictable.

The pine dinner table to his left was still polished and beautiful along with its six chairs that sat beneath it, and the hanging photos on his right were perfectly angled. Just a few paces ahead was the familiar semi-circular suede couch that he had gotten a long time ago by himself and sitting just before the couch was his prized entertainment item, his large LCD plasma television. It looked like a thin frame from the side but standing in front of it gave you the impression of being inside a program without having to step foot outside of your home.

Crossing the polished wood floor, he made his way onto the couch. He dropped his weight into the seat, making it hiss out the air from the pockets inside of the cushion. He took a moment to think before his hand reached behind the couch to touch the 'play' button on the chirping answering machine. As he sat, his fingers touched his lips nostalgically again as he listened to each message.

The first message was from his mother, telling him that she was going to transfer money into his banking account. He didn't mind, however, he told her a while back that she didn't need to anymore. He had gotten a job at the prestigious toy company, Kaiba Corporation; he could support himself now. But he knew, as a mother, she wouldn't take 'no' as an answer. He was her son. "Danks Mom."

When he had been younger, his mother and father had gotten a divorce, forcing his sister, Shizuka, and himself apart. Those were the most painful years of his life. To make matters even worse, in the coming years, Shizuka had begun to lose her sight and their father was drinking and gambling again. The old man couldn't even hold a job for long. He even had the gall to ask his own son for money to buy more liquor!

The depts. gave birth to more depts. until Jounouchi knew that if he didn't help his father pay them back, that he too would be destroyed along with his father. He would have no future. It wasn't until he was in high school that all the depts. were either paid off or forgiven. However, because of how much he had suffered because of his father, the school's administrative somehow had his father committed to a twenty-four hour rehabilitation center where he could properly recover. They also gave him special permission to work after school to support himself. Not many students were allowed to do this.

The next few messages were from his best friends: Yugi, Anzu, Honda and Ryou. It touched him to know that they cared about him and their concerned voices conveyed how much they missed him even over an electronic message. "You guys," he murmured as he smiled inwardly, "Ah'm so glad dat you guys are mah friends..."

However, the next message was a hang-up call. And the next was the same. When the annoying buzzing echoed from the speaker, Jounouchi sat up and looked at the little black machine with a puzzled expression on his face. The final message was the same as the last two....

He didn't usually have many people call him aside from his friends, his mother, sister or rarely his father. No one else had his number, not even his troublesome neighbor Haruko. But then, his mind rolled back, as if wanting him to remember or perhaps it was simply jumping onto conclusions at a drop of a dime.

He was working for the biggest toy company mogul in Japan... Kaiba Corporation.

"Seto Kaiba...?" It made sense but on the other hand, it didn't. Why would the cold-hearted employer call an employee at his home while he was gone? But then again... The cogs in his mind began to turn... Why would an employer kiss his employee when he knew that relationships such as those were against working etiquette...? It just didn't make sense, at least not to this boy. Besides, this was Seto Kaiba!

He had only been gone for a day to go to a festival with Honda and it wasn't that long of a trip... "Not even a day," Jounouchi thought to himself, "It was only a night.. Amane and Ryou had a pair of tickets and we had the other.." It puzzled him and he didn't like to be puzzled. It just didn't suit him to leave things unsolved and not to mention, it annoyed him.

His hand reached into his left seat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. With a flick of his wrist, the lip of the two-inch phone extended to four. He pressed the down button to automatically open his address book in the phones database and selected a number. He put the receiver to his ear and waited.

There were two rings before there was an answer. "...Hello?" The voice was monotonous.

"Kaiba..." He had almost expected for Seto to hang up on him when he heard his voice but that didn't happen, that detested end-call buzzing never came.

"...You're home."

Jounouchi slowly cast his eyes forward, looking at the pine dinner table. "That's all...?" He thought. His heart felt like it was being squeezed in a fist. "Yeah," he said slowly. "We were only gone a night.."

There was no response.

"So.." Even though Seto was nowhere in sight, Jounouchi didn't feel comfortable talking to him. Who could over night? That would just be a miracle! "Kaiba, did you call me last night?"

Jounouchi could almost hear Seto shifting through his receiver. It was as if he was nervous or maybe it was his imagination... "Yes," Kaiba said coolly but his voice faltered subtly.

"Three times?"

Simply, Seto replied, "Yes..."

"Why?" Jounouchi could hardly believe that Seto had admitted it. Sitting back in his couch, he thought that maybe he had another job for him to perform... Or maybe... could it have been for some other reason? However, Kaiba knew that he shouldn't call in the evening for such things and he also knew that Jounouchi was going to be gone. So then why? "Is there something I need to test out tomorrow morning, Kaiba?"

"No."

"'No...?'"

Seto's voice was soft and there was a touch of tenderness and a ring of honesty. "I....wanted to hear your voice."

Katsuya could almost feel the shock appear on his face. His eyes widened and his face became picturesquely surprised. His voice wouldn't come when he wanted it to say "why?" and it even failed to make a single sound. It must have been several seconds before he could utter a word. "M-My voice... Kaiba..?"

"Yes. I found myself wanting to hear it."

His cheeks flushed and his brown eyes shifted to his fidgeting knee. "B-but Kaiba--"

"Jounouchi," as quickly as he was warm, he was cold again, "Tomorrow, I need you to help me test out a new simulator; The Duel Monsters Rink." It was a drastic topic change and it almost left Jounouchi dumbfounded and depressed. "Make sure you bring your deck with you."

"He had finally opened up a little bit," Jounouchi thought, teeth grating together mutely, "and he goes and changes the subject just like that! Now.. I'm just as confused as before.. Does... Seto have any feelings for me..?"

---

The next day wasn't a great day. Right when the morning started, it was dark and as soon as the earl gray clouds rolled into the sky, one could tell that it was going to rain and pretty heavily too.

Jounouchi stepped out of his apartment, looking from the terrace to the city that stretched before him. "It's going to rain for a while.." He murmured, grimacing. A chilly breeze flew by him, mussing his hair out of its usual style and those goldenrod locks covering half of his face.

"Ya look like crap, Jou-kun!" A tomboyish voice shouted to him from his left side.

He sighed. He didn't need to look to know who it was. "Haruko-chan... Danks for carin'! I was only in da hospital for a week!"

"Well how was I suppose ta know? Ya didn't even botha callin' me! Some friend you are!" Haruko was what you would call a 'goth' but she still had punk in her. Her hair was straight and lengthy and was a black color with bright pink flames at the ends; she always wore fishnet shirts and leather skirts. She was beautiful, utilizing her natural Asian beauty and western attires perfectly.

She walked over to him and hung herself around his neck. "But I still love ya, Jou-kun!" And affectionately kissed his cheek, leaving a bold, blood-red imprint of her lips. That was her favorite color; blood red. "So where ya goin'? Work?"

Jounouchi nodded. "'ey, if Tristen comes by, ya mind tellin' him dat too?"

"Sure, Jou-kun! When ya comin' back?" She loosened her hold and stood back. Her hand swept her bangs from her eyes.

"Maybe at seven if I'm lucky," Jounouchi cast his eyes on her before he turned to go to the stairs, "Smell ya later!" His hand gave her a back-handed wave.

It wasn't too long after Jounouchi left the dry, warm apartment building that it started to rain. The drops falling towards the Earth felt like they were hail, hard and cold. The sky began to grow increasingly darker and darker before the lightning began to fork through the sky, clearly a sign of omen.

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Jounouchi burst through the front glass doors of Kaiba Corp. His salvation green jacket and the rest of his attire was completely soaked from the rain. He gasped, surprised. It was a shock on how cold it had gotten in a fraction of a second and it had only been raining for only a few minutes. He had only been running through the rain quickly but he was drenched from head to toe. His skin was giving off goose-bumps and the hairs on his body were standing on end. He didn't like this feeling.. the chill was starting to make his fingers go numb.

The people in the foyer had momentarily stopped to stare at him. Some whispered but then they went on their way. They were wearing white lab jackets, meaning they were employees of this company. He, aside from the secretary that sat dutifully in the circular desk in the center of the foyer, didn't have one of those jackets. He was just a tester for this company. Just a tester....

As he walked towards the desk, his sneakers squeaked across the marble-tiled floor. Deliriously annoying and high-pitched, he winced with each step. "E-Excuse me... Ma'am--"

The secretary looked up at him and a smile appeared on her lips. "Hello, Katsuya Jounouchi. We've been waiting for you. If you would, please take the elevator over there and it will take you where you need to go." Jounouchi could only nod. He was soaked and he wanted to change. Maybe there would be some extra clothes in the building that he could borrow?

He crossed the floor, trying not to make too much noise, and approached the elevator. As he was about to press the down button, the silver doors slid open. The cage was empty. It was as if, it had been waiting just for him. How curious... He decided that he didn't want to toil with this thought and stepped in. The doors glided shut and soon, he could feel the cage descend.

A few moments later, the elevator stopped and chirped as the doors glided open. Stepping out, Jounouchi could see that the room was completely pitch dark, with an exception of a few lamp lights here and there. He had this bone chilling feeling that this room was going to be huge and a moment later, he was revealed an entire stadium, one similar to the one in the duel monster tournaments, when the lights turned on and flooded the area.

"Wow.." He was awed. Although this stadium was similar to the one in the duel monster tournaments, it wasn't completely the same. There were no stretching platforms where duelists had to climb onto, there were no bulky simulators acting as rails, just a flat plain with only a few guidelines painted onto the floor to show where each player were to stand. Was this just... a field? There didn't even seem to be any kind of simulator there! "Dis is kinda cool! I wonda where da sims are...?"

"They're built into the field."

"Into da fi--" Jounouchi blinked and whipped around, where the voice was coming from. "Kaiba...!"

Seto, dressed in that ever-long purple coat, walked over to him and looked down on him with his hard blue eyes. "Now you really look like a mutt, Katsuya."

"Erk!" Jounouchi reeled back a step, water dripping everywhere. "Dun call me that! 'sides! It ain't my fault! I didn't think it would rain before I got ova here!"

"That's the problem with mutts, they don't think."

Now, maybe it was his imagination or not but, Jounouchi was beginning to think perhaps that Kaiba only acted this way towards him. Although, he didn't like Yugi that much and thought of him as his rival, Seto had some kind of respect for him still. But not for Jounouchi. Seto was always teasing him, may it be for his own entertainment or he was just in a sour mood.

Seto was his boss and there was a certain way to perform in front of him and him to perform to his employee. Maybe it was because they were the same age? Who knows, but this just plain ticked him off.

"Seto!" Jounouchi scowled as his eyes narrowed.

Surprisingly, Seto was chuckling. It didn't seem like it was directly at the shorter boy but rather at his expression. He was soon back to his old self when he looked at the other boy's curious expression. "I can't have you get a cold. Come with me, Mutt."

---

Seto had taken him to the Corp.'s hospital wing and lead him to one of the vacant rooms. There he let the blonde dry up with a towel as he set out to retrieve some company clothing; namely pants and a shirt. When he came back and stood by the door and knocked, he heard no movement. He considered that an a-ok to enter.

The door opened and he stepped in, his shoes making soft clicks with each step. The curtains that created a barrier between the patient's bed and the door were closed. Before he had left, he remembered that they were open. Was Jounouchi playing games? Was Jounouchi waiting for him on the other side to get ready and... and...

He walked further in, his chest clenching his heart tightly and flung the curtains wide open only to see a half-naked Katsuya, faint and sprawled on the bed. He instantly observed that the boy's cheeks were flushed and his forehead was clammy with sweat beads. Quickly, he put down the clothes on a bedside table and put his hand on the boy's forehead. He could feel the intense heat coming from his head and into his palm. "He has a fever! Nurse, come quickly!!!"

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Takashima - I wonder what's gonna happen next! XD