Those of you who were reading When Love Goes Bad, you may recognize this chapter slightly. It's actually the first two chapters of the original story together. I'm editing them a bit so that they match the new fic, but that's about it.

Enjoy!

Arise Ye Heroes and Tormentors

Chapter 4

Painful moans and whimpers were being uttered in one of the rooms of Kaiba Manor. In the next room over, Jonouchi laid silent, tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried in vain to ignore the sounds. Those were Seto's moans, Seto's whimpers that he heard; Jonouchi didn't like it one bit. He knew what was going on, and he hated it. Why would Seto let someone do these things to him? The man had never let anyone harm him on purpose, for pleasure or otherwise, and people had tried before. When Pegasus' thugs cornered him while he was in hiding, he chose to feign his own death by jumping out of a window instead of staying to fight the men off. Why, why would he do this now? Didn't Seto realize that there were people out there who would treat him the way he deserved to be treated? Didn't Seto see the other boy who lived with him? Then again, how could he with that bastard patrolling Seto's every move.

The gang had hated Sayuu, Kaiba's boyfriend of six months now; everyone had from the moment he set his leather clad foot in the game shop. But no one loathed him as much as Jonouchi did and everyone but Seto understood why. Jonouchi had grown to accept his feelings for his old enemy, and to constantly hear that man in pain hurt him. It was as though Seto and Jonouchi were connected somehow, and when Seto was hurting Jonouchi got the full blast of it as well. A few of the braver members of their little group openly suspected jealousy as well. Jonouchi silently agreed with them but the real reason for Jonouchi's vehemence toward Sayuu was something that only he and Kaiba knew about.

About a week ago, Jonouchi lost it. He couldn't take the sight of Seto limping around his manor and wincing whenever he sat down anymore than he already had. Jonouchi confronted Seto. The action resulted in about thirty minutes of heated argument. They swore at each other occasionally, as well. Jonouchi nearly packed up and left but the thought of returning to his abusive alcoholic of a father and leaving Kaiba with no one but a young boy and a satal masochist made him stay. He wouldn't leave Seto with that man regardless of whether Seto could handle him or not. It was at this point that Jonouchi really hated Sayuu. The ever sadistic Sayuu would use Seto for his little "sessions" and then leave for a day. For half of that precious day Seto would be unable to get out of bed. The scratches from Sayuu's nails would bleed uncontrollably and only time seemed to help. Sayuu would leave Mokuba and Jonouchi to care for Kaiba, who would not be able to care for himself due to the massive amounts of electricity that Sayuu would run through him to incapacitate him. Put bluntly, Seto could not move to take care of himself. Thusly the other two boys were left to try and stop the bleeding. When Seto regained control of himself, he would hobble around his home aimlessly before sitting down gingerly on the couch to stare blankly at the television, obviously not taking anything in. Jonouchi was left to make Seto's food and put him to bed when the time came. It wasn't that Jonouchi didn't like taking care of Seto. Jonouchi hated that Kaiba needed someone to care for him and that Sayuu had never offered just made it worse. Sayuu's ability to keep everyone under his thumb was the final link in the chain that was Jonouchi's abhorrence. He couldn't stand the sound of Sayuu's name. He couldn't stand to hear people speaking about him. He couldn't stand to see him. There were just too many things to list. It was quite a long chain.

Jonouchi's mind returned to present time and he looked over at the clock. The clock that Kaiba had in the guest room was fast by five minutes; Jonouchi had found that out when he moved in. After doing the necessary calculations, the clock told him that it was four in the morning. Soon Kaiba's door would open…yes there it was. Sayuu was leaving. Jonouchi would wait for ten minutes after Sayuu's footsteps died out before he got up from bed. The ten minutes passed and Jonouchi wiped the rest of his tears from his face and went to the bathroom to get bandages. He was learning. Another link to be added to the chain.

Jonouchi rifled through the medicine cabinet for any antibacterial cream, hoping to smooth out the bandages and ease Seto's suffering. He found some and applied a liberal amount to one of the cloth bandages he found in the drawer beneath the sink. Once he was finish, Jonouchi took the strips of cloth with him to the kitchen. There he filled a bowl with water and placed the bandages in the bowl to keep them from drying out. Then he set about making breakfast for himself and Mokuba.

Even though it was the weekend, Mokuba had an odd habit of waking up extremely early. Jonouchi guessed that it was something that he learned while he was living with Gozaboro Kaiba, the brothers' foster father. The former CEO turned lost-mind-in-cyberspace had always made Seto get up early for his work. Mokuba saw very little of his brother while Seto was concentrating on his studies. The solution was to wake up early enough to get to Seto before Gozaboro could. Still, eventually Seto would be wheeled away to bury his face in numerous books, but at least Mokuba got to spend time with his brother when he wasn't exhausted.

Today was another one of those days. The grandfather clock in the massive living room struck five in the morning, and as soon as the chimes had stopped, Mokuba's shuffling feet could be heard coming down the hall. It seemed strange to Jonouchi that someone as young as Mokuba could have the stamina to wake up that early all the time. Jonouchi shrugged and returned to cooking the food.

"Something smells great," came Mokuba's disembodied voice from around the corner. The boy to whom the voice belonged soon appeared, nose stuck out in front of his whole body.

"Mhmm, strawberry crepes and waffles," Jonouchi responded. Grabbing the spatula, he neatly flipped one of the crepes before turning to the strawberry syrup. "Real strawberries in here, too." Jonouchi subconsciously stirred the drizzle with a wooden spoon while attempting to read yesterday's paper. It was lying at a bizarre angle for reading. The fact that it was all the way across the kitchen counter didn't help matters either. Then again, reading wasn't something he really enjoyed doing. "Mokuba, would you turn on the television, please." Mokuba obliged and turned on the TV. The news report was just beginning. A couple of robberies, an assault, someone's cat turning 23, nothing that grabbed at Jonouchi's attention. It was the city after all, and the news always liked to report all of the bad stuff. As for the cat, well, how excited could he get about a cat's birthday, even if it was 23. Still the rapid Japanese relaxed him and he allowed the television to remain on. Right about seven though, Mokuba's Saturday morning anime shows would come on. Mokuba always got really into those cartoons. It was quite amusing to watch his facial expressions as the plots continued. Whenever something really unexpected would happen, Mokuba's eyes would grow to the size of saucers; sometimes he would gasp. He had shouted loudly at the television a couple of times as well, using wild hand gestures and waving his arms around to emphasize whatever dramatic scene he was trying to put on. It made him look ape-like almost.

Jou smiled and looked over at the crepes.

"Just about done," he whispered to himself.

He reached for a plate and placed the crepes on it. Then he took the waffles (which by this time had already been finished and removed from the waffle iron) and stuck them in the microwave to reheat them. He may have been great at the chemistry aspect of cooking, but his organization of priorities was a little off. Still, it wasn't much of a hassle to heat them up again. Five minutes later, all of the food was on the table and waiting to be devoured. Jonouchi suspected that Mokuba would want to eat his breakfast in front of the television. He had no objections just as long as Mokuba remembered to clean up after himself. He wasn't much worried about that, though. Mokuba had always been good about cleaning up.

An hour passed, and then two hours. Jonouchi's mind began to wander to the bandages on the kitchen counter. The water would have cooled off by now. Yet again, Jonouchi's priorities were off. He decided that it would be a good idea to check on Seto now.

Standing up from the chair in the kitchen nook, Jonouchi called to Mokuba and the two of them headed down to Kaiba's room. Mokuba opened the door and the two of them looked in on Seto's figure. He lay still but his eyes were open. Seto's pupils darted toward the open door and the two bodies that stood silhouetted there. Apparently not much electricity had been administered during this session.

"Come in with those damn bandages and put them on me already."

Yeah, not a lot of electricity. Seto's voice was low and mumbled, but at least he was able to speak. Mokuba came bounding up to Seto's bedside and wrapped his arms tightly around his brother. Jonouchi walked gracefully up to the nightstand.

"Mokuba, could you go to the kitchen and warm up those bandages again. Bring a bowl of warm water, too. I need to be alone with your brother for a little while." Jonouchi spoke without taking his eyes off of Seto. Mokuba looked up at Jonouchi with questioning eyes before turning and walking rather quickly out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Jou pulled a chair up beside Seto's bed and sat down, taking Seto's hand from beneath the crimson sheets to clasp it. For the whole five minutes that Mokuba was bustling around the kitchen Jonouchi sat there, unmoving, squeezing Seto's hand gently. A tear fell from Jonouchi's eye and landed on Seto's hand. The stunned man turned his head and looked at up at Jonouchi with a look of confusion. Jonouchi made no notice of the tear having appeared. The door gave a click and opened. Mokuba entered with the tray of cloth bandages and a bowl of warm water. Mokuba set the bowl and bandages down on the table and the two of them moved to pull the covers of Seto's bed down to look at the damage that Sayuu had done.

He had been relatively gentle during last night's sexual escapade. There were a couple of scratches stretching from the left side of Seto's chest down to his naval. His arms showed signs of early bruising as well. Compared with some of the gashes that Seto had been given though, these were only minor problems. There weren't even any scratches on his back. Jonouchi took one of the bandages and placed it over the two scratches. He took the remaining strips of cloth and wrapped them around the other's bruises. He hoped that the cream might help somehow. He was never very good when it came to being a nurse.

Mokuba, satisfied with their handiwork, left the room quietly. Jonouchi stood up slowly. He turned and walked to the door, becoming a silhouette once again. Then he turned again to face Seto.

"If you need anything, just call me. I'll leave the door open."

Jou's eyes lingered on Seto's helpless form and his he felt the unmistakable urge to cry. He exited the doorway, wiping the half formed tears from his eyes as he approached the living room. Mokuba had turned on the television once again, burying himself in his anime. As expected, he began flailing his arms around, various words of profanity escaping his lips.

"Mokuba, please keep your voice down. I need to be able to hear your brother if he calls for me."

Mokuba immediately quieted down, now simply mouthing the words instead of actually saying them. The arms were still present, flying in all directions as usual. Jonouchi chuckled to himself. What a tremendously hilarious child Mokuba could be. Jonouchi decided that it would be prudent to start working on some of his chores before it came time to start making lunch. Jonouchi set to work, washing, drying, folding, and ironing clothes; washing the dishes from that morning; picking up trash around the house, the normal household chores. The trouble was, Seto's manor was enormous, and that meant a lot of housework to do. Sure the servants were around to clean, but Jonouchi liked to stay down to earth. Therefore he cleaned the house with them. Seto said that it made him seem lowly while Mokuba lobbied Jonouchi's position. Mokuba was always good at winning these kinds of arguments with his brother; Seto backed down on the condition that Jonouchi didn't clean outside.

The telephone was ringing. Somewhere near him, the telephone was ringing. Jonouchi didn't care, though, he was too tired to answer the phone. That was until…

"JONOUCHI! ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE!"

Jonouchi sprang up from his rather casual position on the couch and ran to the phone, startled by Kaiba's loud voice.

"Moshi moshi" Jou answered with a yawn.

"Hey, Jou, did I wake you?"

"Actually, Kaiba's shrieking voice did."

Kaiba shrieked in protest.

"Jou, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, Yuug."

"Well, okay, Jou," Yuugi said, still uncertain. "I was wondering if you and Kaiba would like to come down to the Karaoke bar with us tomorrow. I've got to cover for my grandpa at the game shop tonight, but since we have no school on Monday I figured we could all go out tomorrow night for some fun."

Jonouchi thought for a bit. Sayuu was supposed to be here tomorrow. That bastard could wait though. Seto may be hurt, but if going out meant that Seto was protected from Sayuu for at least one night, that was worth it to Jonouchi.

"We'll be there, Yuug.

"Alright, Jou. We'll see you there at eight then. Bye"

"Bye. Oh, and Yuugi, thanks. You're really helping Kaiba out."

I hoped you liked it. Reviews are always nice, even if it's simply to reiterate what you said before. I'm working on Chapter 5 as we speak. You can expect karaoke in it, I promise! It wont be like last time, I swear! Oh, and something else. That's more of a secret, though. It's incentive to keep reading, muahahaha.