Bakura stood soaked completely, his shirt ripped as well as his pants, with blood slowly trickling out of his nose, despite the tissues stuffed up his nostrils. There were bandages on his arms and he was sore in places that he didn't even realize were at all involved in the washing of a dog. He looked at the dog in front of him, sitting calmly licking his left paw, lying at his master's feet. He was the exact opposite of Bakura. The dog seemed at peace; all clean and happy...that wasn't the dog Bakura had bathed.

It had been seven in the morning on the fourth day that Bakura had worked at Puppy City and Bakura had woken up extra early and gotten out of the house before Yami and Yugi. He had made sure to dress comfortably, as he had been told to do on his first day by his new manager who seemed to be more human than his last manager. He had run out of the house and made sure that he was there nice and early at seven.

And as much as this would sound like he had finally developed some good work ethic it was really that his new coworker Jasmine had said that if he was early there would be a better chance that he wouldn't have to bathe Puppy, a notoriously insane and difficult dog to deal with.

Let's get this straight, because names can be deceiving. Like a big burly man nicknamed Tiny, or a whips and chains leather clad dominatrix named Honey, Puppy was NOT like his name. He was an old dog, almost so much so that he didn't seem to even remember what being a cute sweet puppy was like. He was also NOT small; when he sat his head was usually at an average man's waist. And unlike puppies he was not innocent, he had a way of grinning after he snapped at you that let you know that he had only missed because it was an accident and that next time he wouldn't be as careless. So 'Puppy' was not the correct label for the ill tempered beast.

But all was well in the land of Puppy City, there were two Labrador pups that were feisty but calmed down when Jasmine started singing to them. Bakura marveled at that, he couldn't believe how the pups calmed down and stopped thrashing about so quickly. They were followed by a cat which Bakura wasn't allowed to bathe, and Bakura was confused about that until he saw the other employees suiting up.

"Um what's with the battle gear, I thought you were bathing a CAT not fighting a DRAGON?" Bakura joked.

An employee, the same one who had 'greeted' him the first day he had walked in, looked at him sourly and replied, "There is no difference." That was after she had put on a ton of armor and before she walked into the room with all of the bathing equipment.

There were some other animals but Bakura only washed the pups and a few other small animals, and some calm dogs. Then, at twelve, he and Jasmine walked into the building after their lunch break they heard a voice that made them both seize up, but for different reasons. Bakura froze because it was a shrill and very harsh voice that peaked at words like 'MY PRECIOUS POOCHIE!' and 'DO TAKE CARE OF HIM!'

Jasmine's blood ran cold in her veins because this voice had come to be associated with a terror of an animal. She wanted to run but she couldn't because just as the thought crossed her mind the manager looked toward the door where she and Bakura still stood, completely still.

"Thank you, ma'am, we will take the BEST care of your Precious as possible." The manager said and smiled good-naturedly. There was something 'off' in his smile that Bakura noted.

"OH I TRUST YOU!!!" the woman said. She seemed to only have two levels of volume, loud, shrill, and harsh or LOUDER, SHRILLER, and HARSHER. She turned and Bakura actually physically flinched. Her make up was in hideous abundance, and what you could tell of her face, through the pounds of make up that was piled on it, it was just as hideous. "HELLO!! GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN JASMINE!!! AND YOU MUST BE NEW!!!" she looked at Bakura.

The dog sat as any well trained dog would, close to his master, not barking or rooting around, just sitting and looking around calmly. Bakura smiled to himself, this meant that it would be an easy dog to bathe.

"PUPPY SAY HELLO TO THE NEW MAN!!!" the woman touched the dog's nose and he barked. She smiled obviously very proud of her pet.

Bakura just looked at the dog, 'This is 'Puppy'? That's the creature that everyone fears? HA! The only scary thing about him is his master and that's it.' He smiled.

"Yes Bakura is new here, he of course will not be bathing Puppy, he doesn't understand how special he is, Bakura will have to watch for today and then on your next visit if he is good enough he will have a chance to help bathe Puppy." The manager was looking at Bakura as he said this and Bakura could sense something a bit 'off' again.

"OH IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL BAKURA!! IT'S JUST THAT MY DEAR PUPPY IS JUST OH SO SPECIAL AND HE NEEDS SPECIAL ATTENTION!!" the dog smiled and licked the woman's hand contentedly.

Bakura smiled sweetly, "Well we like to make sure that the best care is given and if that means that I will have to wait my turn to bathe Puppy then I will gladly wait it." his words and tone were silky smooth. He had excelled in this ability; if he had wanted to he could probably talk someone out of their own life.

"OH I LIKE THIS ONE!! WHAT DO YOU THINK PUPPY!?!" she smiled and touched the dog's nose again and he barked again.

Bakura smiled and thought of how stupid the employees had to be to be scared by such a content creature, just like the cat that had been bathed earlier.

"PUPPY SEEMS TO LIKE YOU!!" The creature and the woman, smiled widely.

Twenty minutes later one creature had left and the other had stayed, the one with the scheduled bathing stayed Puppy really wasn't a bad looking dog. He was tall, majestic, with a nice coat of fur and a pleasant demeanor. He lay on the floor, where he had been sat, waiting to be bathed.

"Congratulations! You're so lucky that you got this job when Puppy was coming! Unfortunately I won't be able to give you any work for you to do while the others take care of Puppy, but I'm sure that Grace," the manager motioned to the small sour woman with the sharp tongue. "will be able to help you. I have to go run an errand and I'll be back in an hour or two." With that the manager walked out.

Jasmine walked over to Bakura in a hurry, "Let me show you the store room, we can work there."

"NUH HUH! Jasmine, the newbie has to deal with the torture as well." Grace smiled wickedly.

Bakura grinned evilly, "Sure I'll wash Puppy, since you all are so afraid of such a calm animal then I guess I have to be the one who does it!" he laughed tauntingly.

"I'll help you." Jasmine started for the door to the first cleaning station but Bakura took her arm.

"No I can do this by myself. Just give me the things I'll need."

A few minutes later Bakura walked into the washing area and over to the dog sitting patiently waiting for his bath. Puppy's tail wagged and his eyes were happy. Bakura looked at him and thought of Mokuba's beloved yellow Labrador named Hikari, 'Some people have to find humans to give all of their love to. But I guess while their looking an animal isn't too bad, I mean look at how much that woman loves Puppy and how much Mokuba loves Hikari, and in turn all of the love they receive from their pets.'

He set up all of the things for the bath as he had learned and then he went to get Puppy and lead him from the tub. As soon as the leash was unhooked from Puppy's collar the dog put his paws on Bakura's shoulders and looked at Bakura in a way that seriously didn't make him comfortable, something close to a look that he might have given Ryou when he was hitting on him before they began their relationship. Then a big pink tongue flopped out of Puppy's mouth and bathed Bakura's face. Slobber ran down his face and he cringed shocked. "Down Puppy!" the dog stopped licking Bakura, but he didn't get back down on all fours.

Instead he started to try to dry hump Bakura, which disturbed Bakura even more than the look the dog had given to a few seconds earlier. Bakura cried out in horror and disgust. "GET OFF OF ME!!!!"

The dog went back down on all fours but there was an eerie smile on the creature's lips. He sat and looked at Bakura who was looking at the dog and thinking about breaking its legs. He bent down carefully and took the leash, keeping his eyes on the dog. "C'mon we better get this over with." He said as he led the dog to the tub.

But a step away from the tub Puppy quickly ran around Bakura. "HEY!! WHOA!!!" the dog ignored Bakura's yelling as he ran out of the bathing room and down the hallway, dragging Bakura behind him. Bakura screamed and cursed. And at the end of the hall the dog finally stopped and sat quietly and patiently until Bakura was able to untangle himself. At which point he stood up and trotted back to the bathing room, pushed the swinging door open and calmly sat waiting for his bath.

Bakura just watched the dog leave; he stood up and took a long calming breath. He had to be good...even if the dog deserved to have his legs ripped off and beaten to death with them!! He followed the dog back into the room and then he looked at the creature.

"Look can you please just behave? I'm not asking for much I just want you to sit and be a good dog." The dog just sat quietly and Bakura took this as a good sign to continue...but as soon as he got close enough Puppy pounced on him and then proceeded to rip his pant leg up.

Lucky for Bakura he was strong, or else he wouldn't have been able to get the evil behemoth off of himself. After much shoving, pushing, yelling, cursing, and other such fighting, he was finally able to get the huge hairy mass off. "OK, I get it, you hate me. Well little thing I need to let you in on, I'M NOT TOO FOND OF YOU EITHER!!!!"

Puppy snarled and growled at Bakura. Bakura ignored it and grabbed the leash, expecting Puppy to try the same trick again he made sure that he was aware of Puppy's movement if he started to circle him, he made sure he watched the dog's every step. Only problem with this genius plan was the fact that Puppy wasn't going to wrap him up and drag him down the hall.

Instead he dashed off out of the other swinging door which led to the kennels. Bakura was carried through dazed and angry. They stopped just outside the swinging door when Bakura yanked on the leash quickly and harshly. "HA!" But his victory was short lived as the door came back. WHACK!! Right in the back of the head!!!

Bakura yelped in pain, dropping Puppy's leash as he grabbed his head. His mind wandered to whether his head was really hurt but was brought flying back as small daggers sank into the flesh of his lower leg. He looked down, shocked, and saw a green eyed tabby grinning up at him viciously. Bakura stared for a moment more and then screamed in utter and total horrible pain. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Pain shot up into his head from his leg and he tried to shake the cat off but it wouldn't budge, he hopped around on one foot, trying unsuccessfully to kick the evil thing off of him. He bumped into a cage and didn't realize that the cage door was open until a small jaw sunk into his shoulder with claws to accompany them.

Bakura screamed and tried to grab the creature. He began getting desperate and trying to knock the cat on his back against a wall to get it off. Some how or another, by whatever daemonic powers it had, it dodged every hit, and the cat on his leg that he was trying to knock off kept moving which caused Bakura to keep hitting his own leg!

Then the real insult came when Puppy, who had been calmly sitting watching, waited and when Bakura wasn't facing him, he sunk his teeth into Bakura ass.

At first there was absolute stillness, nothing moved. Bakura's breath caught in his lungs and his attempts to rid himself of the furry little minions of Satan ceased. Then there came a scream that must have been heard around the world. And the amount of profanity he spat out was incredible, I don't think there has EVER been a person who had cursed that much in one breath.

Bakura ripped the cat on his back off and threw it into a cage, it made a sickening sound as it hit the metal back of the kennel. He slammed the cage door shut and then grabbed the other cat that was trying the run off by its tail and threw it into the nearest empty cage. He turned and looked at the dog that had thankfully let go of his butt. "Dog I am going to DROWN you!!!!!!" he screamed and Puppy just smiled, turned tail and walked into the bathing room.

There was the insane urge to actually go through with what he had threatened as the dog sat in the bath and cheerfully let Bakura bathe him. Bakura grumbled and the dog simply smiled and moved for Bakura.

Then it came time to dry Puppy. Bakura went to grab a towel but when he turned back around Puppy shook out all of the water on him. Bakura yelled and tried to put the towel up but the dog jumped on him and started rubbing all over him. Bakura tried to fend him off but Puppy grabbed his arm in his jaw and bit down, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to leave a nasty bruise. Bakura tried to knee the dog and get him to let of his arm.

The dog leapt off and ran out of the bathing room. Bakura jumped up and ran to catch up but jut as he ran to the door the door came back with deadly forced. Puppy had jumped up at the right moment and shoved it back at Bakura, with the speed and weight behind it the door it smacked him right in the nose, and Bakura swore he felt and heard something crack.

The force knocked Bakura back and he slipped on the wet floor and fell back into the tub, into the water which hadn't drained out yet.

So that's how it had happened. Jasmine had found Bakura knocked out in the tub, after hitting his head on the edge. And she was helping him clean himself up when Puppy's owner came to pick him up.

"OH PUPPY YOU'RE SOOOO CLEAN!!! I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE OF YOU DID IT BUT YOU DID AN EXCELLENT JOB!!!" the woman beamed and Puppy sat up and smiled.

Bakura stayed quiet, that dog had tried to kill him. It was official he hated animals!

He turned and walked back down the hall to the back, hoping that the woman wouldn't see him and ask what the hell had happened, because he knew he'd HAVE to tell her dog was Satan himself. But as he did so his mind went back to when he had thought about this woman and her relationship compared to Mokuba's with Hikari. His nose wrinkled up and he stopped walking, "Wait I hate dogs!!...so why'd I take this job!?!"

"What the hell happened to you, Bakura?" The manager asked as he tried to keep from doubling over laughing.

Bakura looked at him and was about to answer when the look that the manager had given the woman finally clicked in his head. "You know...you knew!!!!!! You knew this would happen!!!!!!!" he roared as he noticed that the smile had been the same as the one he used when he lied but wanted the person all good and buttered up.

The manager erupted into a fit of laughter. Bakura clenched his fist and was about to deck the guy when his good sense came to him. "This is the day I get paid, isn't it?"

"Yeah (gasp laugh)"

"Good, can I get my paycheck now, then?"

"(Laugh laugh) Sure!" the manager reached into his pocket and handed the check to Bakura. "C'mon dude it was pretty funny, you have to admit that."

"Yeah it was actually!" Bakura smiled and waited for the check to be in his hand so he could be on his way.

"See, no harm no foul!" the manager laughed and finally straightened himself enough to hand the check over.

The paper touched Bakura's palm and it triggered the other hand which had been lying in wait. Up it came and across it went, and DOWN went the manager. "Blow it out your ass shithead, may Puppy rip your fucking balls off asshole!"

Bakura grabbed his jacket and stormed out, leaving his former manager in a crumpled heap.

End- Second place of employment [~][~]

Next Time: Cleanin the Battle Wounds

A/N: there is an actual place called Puppy City, I don't own it in any way shape or form, I don't even know the people that work there! ^_^

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Bakura: -sits watching Yugi and Yami trying to calm the small child, he didn't understand all about taking care of children. He'd never understood why anyone would EVER want to have children...but they did....and now Ryou wanted one.-

Yami: -sighs as Matthew finally settles down and quiets down-

Yugi: -smiles and carefully puts him back in his carrier to sleep-

Ryou: How about we go in to the kitchen to talk, I wanted to ask you about adoption?

Phoenix: -nods and stands up-

All of them went into the kitchen, apparently forgetting about Bakura, who had been unusually quiet.

Bakura: -watched them all leave. Then he walked to the carrier, sitting on the floor, he knelt down and looked at the little child lying looking around sleepily.- Hello?

The little boy turned to look at the source of the sound.

Bakura: -looked at him and couldn't help himself, he reached out and touched the soft fabric of the babe's clothes-

Happy to be touched and to have someone to play with the baby cooed and moved.

Bakura: -smiled warmly. He reached up and touched the babe's cheek and recoiled a centimeter. He had never touched a child's skin, it was so soft and smooth and just totally unlike the harshness of the other things he was used to touching.- You're soft...and small...and new...and so easy to hurt...but you are just so perfect...so many possibilities...you may grow into a horrid person

The baby's nose wrinkled softly and it made Bakura laugh softly.

Bakura: But you may not...You can be a million different people

The baby took his finger and nibbled on it gently.

Bakura: -wrinkled his nose a bit and then laughed gently- I hope you don't turn out to be a cannibal kid. Though I do like your style, lull them into a false sense of security then start eating them.

The little boy looked up at him puzzled and then giggled and kicked his feet happily.

Bakura: Yea that cuteness thing is a good look for you.

Just then the babe scratched his gum on and he stopped moving anthen cried out in pain.

Bakura: -looked shocked- Oh no, c'mon please don't do this to me!

Then Yami ran in, he saw Bakura sitting by Matthew and then he saw the red on his baby's bottom lip. He ran over to Matthew and looked at Bakura and saw the red on his finger.

Yami: WHAT DID YOU DO!?!?! –he grabbed up Matthew- Yeah you SHOULDN'T have a child, you'd probably try to kill it!! –he stormed down the hallway to the kitchen to take care of the small child who was still crying-

Bakura: -just sat stunned. He hadn't MEANT to hurt the child, he didn't even know how he had hurt him, he was just looking at him-

He stood up and walked to the door, grabbing his jacket as he did, he figured he better get away from the baby before he hurt him again. Why was he a hazard?

Bakura: Children are only trouble. –he said as he walked out-