I have no excuse for taking this long to update. O sure, I could go on about my job working me a lot and my friends calling me every other spare moment, but I mean, It's been like, what, 4 or 5 months? (try at least 6) Ack! I'm sorry. I love you all, and I want to apologize profusely, but I doubt you want to hear, or rather read me ramble
I want to thank:
SilverWing147;MarikIshtarRH01970; Kumori Sakusha formerly Saelbu; qtpi8601; Lead Tears; Misura; MarinK; CrimsonSchai; murai-sakura; and as always Visser One.
You guys are my heroes. And I'm really sorry I haven't updated sooner. Good news actually, I revised chapter 2. I took out this one part, because it kinda didn't fit in the story I think. It probably isn't as good, but whatever, you can go back and read it if you want. Umm… and that's probably all I have to say. Just that I love you all, and now for the disclaimer and story:
Disclaimer- I own nothing! Don't sue, because then you will inherit my nothing, and then we'll both have nothing.
Enjoy!
Jou looked at the money on the ground. Now normally, he would have yelled at Kaiba, saying he didn't need his money and would refuse to take it, but at the moment he was out of options. He reluctantly picked up the scattered bills and headed off into the direction of the nearest motel…
It was still fairly early by the time he got home. "Stupid mutt" he muttered angrily. It was to late to go back to bed, for he was wide awake after that incident, but he didn't want to go into work just yet. Sighing, he put on a pot of coffee and went to his computer to finish up some paperwork he didn't finish yesterday. The mansion was again silent except for the fingers gliding on the keyboard making a soft click….
Click Click Click
Click Click
Click
Click
The soft ticking of the clock in the motel room was the only sound that could be heard besides the uncontrollable sobbing escaping from Jou. It felt so good to cry. He hadn't been able to in such a long time. With either his friends around or his dad constantly there, or Kaiba was watching. What was with Kaiba anyway? Why couldn't he mind his own business? Jou yawned. "Best not to think about it now…or really anything for that matter." His sobs slowed, and his eyes started to droop. He curled up on the bed, falling asleep, looking very much like the puppy Seto claimed him to be…
"Wake up!" Kaiba snapped at an employee. The poor man got up, bright red and ran to go look busy. Kaiba rolled his yes. "Incompetent fool" Kaiba muttered under his breath. Morons. That's what he had to work with. He rubbed his forehead as he felt a massive headache coming on. He went back to his office and sat in his chair. As he got back to writing his program, he let his mind wander.
Ignorant dog. Why did he have to be so stupid? He didn't even have the common sense to run to one of his friends! But what do I care? He's probably off in some hotel, gorging. The stupid mutt probably couldn't manage money if his life depended on it.
At that Kaiba let out a smirk. How ironic he thought, his life kind of does depend on it.
His headache was climaxing to migraine. He finished what he wanted so he shut off the computer. He just filed a few papers for the day and headed home. It felt good to go home early for once… that is if you could consider 10 p.m. early.
At the moment, all he wanted to do was get home and relax in a nice warm shower…
Washing his hair felt so good. When was the last time he had hot water and was able to take his time? He couldn't remember. The good feeling quickly went away. He didn't deserve this. He deserved to be back at home, being beaten or on the street, but not here. He spotted the razor. He picked it up and looked at it. It had an inviting glint.
Slowly he brought it down to his arm. Breathing heavily, he pressed down on his skin but before he cut, he seemed to snap out of a daze and dropped it. Bringing his hands up to his face, he started to shake his head. Letting the hot water run over his body for a moment longer, he reached a shaky hand to turn off the shower.
He hopped out of the shower and toweled himself dry, pulled on the only clothes he had with him and climbed back into bed. Sure he hadn't done anything today but he just couldn't pull himself out of the room. One was the fear he might run into Kaiba. That was one meeting he was not looking forward to. Plus he just couldn't get himself to move. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything that day. He closed his eyes and figured he'd deal with money, food and clothes tomorrow. For now, he just wanted to sleep.
Kaiba woke up around 6 in the morning. He didn't have to be to work until 9 but he hadn't slept past 6:30 in who knows how many years. He went downstairs and started his morning ritual by putting on a pot of coffee. He then took out the morning paper and turned to the business section. He read the whole business section from front to back. Just as he was finishing the paper, Mokuba came downstairs and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Seto glanced up from his paper and uttered a solemn good morning. Mokuba flashed his overly happy smile stated his greeting before taking a seat next to Seto and turning on the television so that the Saturday morning cartoon marathons could begin. Seto looked at Mokuba thinking that he reminded him of Jou when his thoughts were interrupted by bursts of laughter…
Jou was rolling on the floor laughing. "These cartoons kill me!" he thought out-loud. It was 8:30. He flipped off the tv and got dressed. He looked down at his clothes. They were ripped, torn and splattered with blood. He decided that clothes came first. He counted what money he had. Jou still had around $120 left. He found a cheap hotel that was around $60 a night (sorry if that's unrealistic, I've never had to pay for a motel) and rented it for 3 nights. He figured he could go to a hand-me-down shop and get a shirt and some jeans for $35 and then have $85 for food for 2 days. Jou made sure he counted his money right. Never had he had so much money. For once he could actually go get a full meal and maybe have some leftover quarters for the arcade and have some left over so that he could buy lunch next week. He was getting quite optimistic until he remembered where the money came from. He thought about returning it to Kaiba. It's not that he thought that Kaiba would miss it, but he couldn't accept charity from an enemy…could he? He sighed. He knew he couldn't even be in the same room with Kaiba until he paid back the debt. His mood plummeted. With this thought, he wandered out of his room and onto the street wondering how he was ever going to pay back the debt. Not really paying attention to where he was going.
"Excuse me" Seto heard a voice say. Why did he choose to walk to work? He forgot how many incompetant fools rushed around the street at this hour. Honestly, you think they could even half-heartedly pay attention to the street and avoid him. He looked at the source of the voice. He immediately regretted his decision, for the source of the voice had been none other than a wide eyed, open-mouthed Jou.
My god! You have got to be kidding me! I've seen him more in the past couple days than I have seen him this entire year at school! Why did I choose this morning of all mornings to walk to work? This is just too ironic, Seto thought to himself.
Neither knew quite what to do, which was a complete first for both. The always calm, collected Seto was fidgeting and nervous, and Mr. Always have something to say, Jou, was speechless.
"Err…Uhm…Sorry…" Jou apologized, what sounded that it had a deeper meaning than just bumping into him. Kaiba, tried to think of a witty insult, but his mind was coming up blank. Instead he just grunted and started walking off, he didn't get far before he heard Jou's meek voice announce, " I'm going to pay you back Kaiba, I won't be your charity case."
Seto smirked. "You do what you want dog. I don't expect a weakling like you could even earn that much. It's kind of a pity that you intend to pay it off. I was hoping I could take it off my taxes." And with that remark, he left Jou, who was now red faced and had a death glare in his eyes, standing on the corner.
Kaiba didn't know what to do about his little mutt. He understood the situation that Jou was in but he did not know why Jou was acting the way he was. When Seto was in that predicament, he took matters into his own hands but he seriously doubted that Jou was strong enough to do the same. He sighed. You don't care, Seto told himself, You only care about your brother, your company and yourself…Quite possibly in that order. He added as an afterthought. He brought his hand up to his head. Seto groaned, it was too early to start getting a headache. He set his briefcase on his desk and got to work. Saturdays were his busiest days and with the morons he was working with asking him questions every 5 seconds…
"Can I help you?" the annoyed cashier said impatiently.
"Yea, a number 2 super sized."
"Anything else for you today?"
"That's it"
"$4.85"
Jou handed over the money and received his food. He picked a booth in the back and started eating slowly; well, eating slowly for him anyway; trying to figure out what he should do about Kaiba. He still hadn't figured out how he was gonna pay him back or how in the world he was supposed to go to school with the stuck up snob. Then his mind started wandering to Tuesday, which is when he would go back home. He kept hoping that maybe his dad just wanted to sober up without any distractions and that things would be all hunky-dory when he got home. While it was a nice thought, wishful thinking got him nowhere so his mind switched to more pressing matters as he took the last bite of his Quarter Pounder. What was he going to do now?
Well, It took me forever to do it, but I did it. I wish I could promise to do it faster, but I realized, when I make promises, I tend to get flustered and not keep them. I will say though, reviews motivate me. In fact, I got a review today and that's why this is posted right now, otherwise it would be quite another while. wink wink Thanks for reading my story! I love you guys.
