Chapter 2

Despite Kaiba's intense need for productivity, however, he spent the afternoon running his lunchtime encounter over and over in his head, all work forgotten. Why did he lose control like that? Why didn't it come to blows, like it usually did? Kaiba knew that he was just itching to rearrange the blond's face for touching him like that – what the hell stopped him? And just what the hell was Jou talking about? He didn't know anything about Kaiba, far less what or who he wanted. It definitely wasn't Jou. Was it?

He stayed at the office for as long as possible and, Mokuba was already in bed by the time he got home. He wondered when it was exactly that Mokuba stopped waiting for him on the living room couch, but ended up thinking about the kiss again. And Jou. He really didn't want him – did he?

He was soon very sorry that he searched for the answer to that last question so fervently, because they came to him in his dreams that night. Grasping hands and seeking lips pervaded his dreams, shocks of blond hair flashing in his eyes. He'd needed a good long cold shower before he could leave the house that morning. He still tried to tell himself that it was his subconscious playing tricks on him, that dreams were just that, but these reproofs were half-hearted at best.

His mind had never been in such a mess, and he was having a hard time sifting through everything that was now whizzing around in there. He wasn't used to indecision and confusion, and they were definitely taking their toll on him. Although he tried to hide his inner turmoil, Mokuba noticed that something was wrong with him, and asked Kaiba if he was sick while they were on their way to school. He assured his little brother that he was fine, while thinking that he was going crazy. So much emotion – it was driving him mad.

Of course, once he got to Domino High, he'd been confronted about ditching school the day before by his homeroom teacher. But after one icy glare from him, she quickly dropped it and moved onto someone else. He'd treated everyone like that that morning, acting more unfriendly and imposing than usual. Crowds parted for him, and everyone avoided him (even the cheery Yugi), sensing his horrid mood as if it were a mist of cold air rolling off of him. He was satisfied that others still knew that he was not to be trifled with, even if that dog had clearly forgotten his place.

Speaking of the mutt, he'd come to class late, looking very dishevelled. His uniform was wrinkled, and his hair was more of a yellow mess than usual. Red faced, and puffing like he'd run all the way to class, he slid into his seat and winked at his friends.

Kaiba resolved not to look at him, to pretend as if he had already forgotten yesterday and the bastard's very presence, but he couldn't stop himself. He turned his head to the side, and looked out of the corner of his eyes to see Jou, sitting two seats behind him to the right. Jou had been waiting for him to look, his brown eyes already trained on Kaiba's. They stared at each other for a moment, Kaiba's face as blank as he could manage, Jou's with a slight smirking smile, as if he knew something Kaiba didn't. It was more than a little annoying.

Then Kaiba broke the gaze, turning back to the teacher. He didn't even know what class it was, not that it mattered much; heavy teaching had been officially over for weeks already. Well, that and he was a certified genius and hardly needed to ever come to class. He could have stayed home today. Why didn't he stay home? For the next few periods he concentrated on not thinking about Jou or his dreams, and then it was recess. They had a free period afterward, and he decided hastily to leave. He was going to go to KaibaCorp and sit in his big office and do some important work.

When he was almost to the door, he felt a hand on his chest. He looked sideways to find Jou there, an inviting smile on his face. "Where are you going? I thought we were due for a fight," he said, licking a canine with the tip of his tongue.

Kaiba looked at the tip of pink behind Jou's lips, the same lips and tongue that had been on his own just yesterday. He wondered what the blond was on about now. Couldn't he leave well enough alone? He saw the steely flash in Jou's eyes. Ah, he knew what this was about. This was about revenge; Jou wanted to get back at him for the rejection he faced yesterday. Behind Jou, he could see his friends, the ever present Yugi & Co, hovering warily.

"How about you save yourself some more humiliation? End your stay at Domino High with just a little dignity? Hm?" Kaiba spoke softly, so that no one but Jou could hear.

Jou leaned in a bit, hand still on Kaiba's chest, almost a little conspiratorially. He spoke softly, too. "Are you sure I was the one humiliated yesterday? You seemed pretty upset yourself. I mean, what if anyone ever found out that you were lusting after a – what was it you said? - a lousy, second-rate, dumb mutt?" Jou didn't look particularly upset when he said the last part, but he did stare Kaiba down, waiting for a response.

Kaiba grit his teeth, angry at himself for not seeing this sooner. He had to admit, though, he didn't think that Jou was the type to sink to blackmail or anything so drastic. But this was easily fixed. The easier, the better. Gozaburo had always taught him not to negotiate with terrorists or bargain with enemies, but this was one incident Kaiba waned to put behind him for good, no matter the cost.

"The way I remember it," he said just as quietly, "it was you lusting after me. And no one's going to find anything out. I didn't think you were the type, but I guess it just goes to show that everyone has their price. What's yours?"

"Price? What are you –" Realisation hit Jou. "Goddamnit, Kaiba! I said I didn't want your fucking money!" he hissed.

Kaiba saw the numerous people that had remained in class, including the King of Games and his clique, casting suspicious glances their way. He suddenly thought that they must look like they were having a lover's quarrel, the way they were so close to each other and whispering angrily.

"Then what the fuck do you want?" he hissed back. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"I already told you," he said. Then Jou pushed him hard in the chest. "Fuck you, Kaiba!" he shouted.

That got everyone's attention. All eyes swivelled their way as Kaiba caught his balance, stunned by Jou's outburst. He really did want to fight. And bastard had pushed him. Well, who was he to decline such a heartfelt invitation?

"You just can't leave well enough alone, now can you? You know what they say about the cat? Well, I think stupidity killed the dog," Kaiba said loudly.

Jou laughed. "That's the best you got for me, Kaiba? You're not going soft on me, are you? Jeez, someone'd think you liked me or something, that was so weak!" He smiled knowingly, mockingly. "You don't like me, do you, Kaiba? Are you gonna miss me?"

"Poor desperate mutt, looking for love in all the wrong places, are we? I bet there's no one willing to sink so low as you –"

"'Cause I'm a second-rate dog, right?!" There it was, that fire. Seto could see it building up in Jou.

"You forgot lousy," Kaiba reminded him casually.

That did it. Jou was flying toward him, and they let their fists do all the talking. The blows rained, and Kaiba knew they were giving a good show, because the students were gravitating toward them, surrounding them. He though he heard the bell signalling the end of recess ring; but then again, maybe he heard ringing because Jou had boxed him in the ear. He noticed no one tried to separate them, though, not even Jou's buddies. After receiving a good cuff in the vicinity of his left eye, Kaiba elbowed Jou in the face, and before he could right himself, Jou lunged at him, taking them both to the floor.

Kaiba cracked his head on the ground, seeing stars for a minute. And then Jou was on top of him, holding his arms above his head. Kaiba struggled, trying wildly to wrench his arms from Jou's grip, but it was impossible; it was like his arms were clamped in iron. He quickly changed his tactics. He tried to flip them over, pushing up and sideways against Jou's hips. It worked, and he was suddenly looking down into Jou's chocolate coloured eyes, their faces very close, their chests heaving against one another.

"Figured you'd like it on top," the blond breathed. The air rushing from his lungs stirred the hair in Kaiba's eyes, and Kaiba decided that he'd had enough. He made to get off of the boy beneath him, but Jou still had his arms pinioned, quite painfully now.

Sensing Kaiba's movements, Jou quickly wrapped his legs around his waist, pinning Kaiba on top of him. He tightened his legs, pulling their hips together, and Kaiba gasped. He hoped that their audience would think that it was because Jou was trying to squeeze the air out of him. They didn't need to know that it was because Jou was rubbing against him in an excruciatingly pleasurable way. Jou continued to move beneath Kaiba, giving the illusion of struggle, but really arching up into the boy above him.

"Do you want me yet?" he asked breathlessly. "Never mind, I can feel that you do. I told you, Kaiba. It was only a matter of time."

And it was true. Kaiba was trying his best not to react to Jou, but his body betrayed him. Jou suddenly let go of Kaiba's arms and slackened his legs, giving Kaiba leave to push off of him and scramble backwards a little. Jou sat up, gulping in air as if a chokehold on him had just been released. He stared at Kaiba through his straw-coloured bangs, and Kaiba looked away. The dark haired boy got to his feet shakily and shoved his way through the crowd, not waiting for them to part for him. He grabbed up his briefcase that had been kicked away in all the chaos, and immediately left, calling his driver as he walked down the halls.

He went straight home, rushing through the front door and up the stairs, barely stopping to disrobe before he hit the shower. First freezing cold water, and then scalding hot. He stood under the hot spray, turning his face into it and running his hands through his sopping hair. If only the water could burn away the last two days, or the last hour, or what he had done in the shower mere moments before at the memory of the way Jou had pressed into him.

But it couldn't. These things couldn't be burned away, because they'd already been burned into him, deep inside him. The best he could do was take his mind off of these things for a moment, focus on something else. Then he had an idea. He'd get Mokuba from school, and they'd spend the day together, the way they used to when they were younger. They'd go to the zoo, or the movies – whatever Mokuba wanted. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his brother would help him take his mind off the bizarre feelings he was having for the yellow-haired, brown-eyed bastard he'd, until recently, completely detested. Not that these new feelings were any different. Not really.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, heartened for the moment. As he was drying his hair, however, he felt a stinging pain at his temple. He winced, and moved to the mirror, turning his head slightly to see what the problem was. And there was a blooming bruise, on his left temple, still red and tender. And there across his forearms, long red strokes, from Jou's fingers, already tinged with blue.

"Shit," he muttered. He looked at his bruises in the mirror. He suddenly had the absurd though that that Jou had marked him, claimed him somehow. He hung his head. Maybe Jou really was serious about him, about wanting to be with him, he thought out of nowhere. And Kaiba couldn't understand it at all. He looked back at the mirror; and realised that he could never push Jou to the back of his mind as long as those marks were still there. He sighed. He couldn't go out like that either. Oh well, he and Mokuba would just spend the rest of the day indoors. That was better than nothing.

And that's just what they did. Despite being a bit surprised at the fact that his big brother wasn't at Domino High, or at work, and had pulled him out of school without a legitimate emergency underway, Mokuba was very excited about spending time with Kaiba. And although Mokuba asked all too often about the bruises on his big brother's face and arms, they had a good time.

He and Mokuba played games, watched TV, and did all sorts of brotherly things that afternoon. Then they made dinner together, something they hadn't done in a very long time. Kaiba pretended that they were both years younger, when they still slept in the same room and spent as much time together as possible. When Mokuba still needed him desperately, and that was all he cared about. Not like now, where he had so many more concerns in his head – his company, his rivals, his games, and, the most recent addition, Jou.

Kaiba remembered when he could have a knock-down, drag-out fight with the boy, and then come home and forget all about it. The bruises meant nothing, they faded in time. His words never haunted him. He never dreamt about him. And then it had all changed in an instant, the second their lips touched. Or maybe things didn't change; maybe he just recognised them for what they were, and had been all along. Maybe the mutt was right; maybe he'd always felt this way and just didn't want to believe it.

But what was 'this way'? He didn't want to think bout it; when he thought about that too hard, his head started to ache. He instead decided to focus his energies on acting normal around Mokuba.

That night, the dreams returned, and they were as enjoyable as they were repulsive. He started awake in the middle of the night, fully conscious, a brilliant idea forming. He wouldn't go to school the next day. He wouldn't be missing anything important, and he'd have some peace of mind if he didn't have to see the mutt, hopefully. Satisfied with his temporary fix, he tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep again, only drifting of mere hours before sunrise.

So he stayed home. He got up after the sun had risen, something he hadn't done in years. After seeing Mokuba off, he resisted the urge to roam the mansion like a spectre, or succumb to tortuous thoughts. He really should have gone to KaibaCorp, but given how much work he'd done yesterday, he really didn't see much point in it. Instead, he chose to play a couple prototype KaibaCorp games he had brought home a few days ago. He had given them over to Mokuba to play and search for bugs, but he decided that he needed the distraction more. He got surprisingly caught up in the games, and before he knew it, Mokuba was home, and he hadn't had a single thought about Jou.

They went out to eat, despite the hideous state of his face, and had a lovely evening. Kaiba got happier and happier – well, as happy as he could possibly get - as the evening wore on. He and Mokuba went to KaibaLand after the restaurant, where Mokuba played everything in sight until it was way past his bedtime. He fell asleep on the way home, and as Kaiba watched him sleep, he renewed his resolve to regain control of his mind. He had to take care of his brother. He couldn't fall apart, especially because of something so little as a kiss.

And a few wet dreams, he reminded himself, but he chose to ignore that.

He breathed deep, as the streets whizzed past him, satisfied that he had put an end to all the nonsense of the past few days. Tomorrow would be his last day at Domino High, and the last day he'd ever see Jounouchi Katsuya. That brought him solace, and after putting Mokuba down, he went to bed himself, sure that his dreams would remain unmolested. But they weren't, and he woke up feeling more troubled than ever.

I thank you kindly for a review!