Juu56: Wow. Hot Kaiba……………O.O *drowning in inspiration* oooooooohhhh………….. *drool* Well, that picture was effective. If anyone has the address for any sites with hot pictures of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters, send 'em to me, please!! They're wonderful inspiration……………@_@

Okay, mega sugar high. Anyway, the Poll Results:

1. Seto: 11

2. Mai: 9

3. Honda: 3

Thanks so much to everyone who voted!! Seto, obviously, won, so this chapter is Seto/Jou!!

For reviews, I drown you guys in sakura petals: (gotta love the sakura petals………)

Burning-Yami-Rain: It would have been, wouldn't it? Hate for that to happen to me……..Yay!! I updated!! Finally………

SAN-princess mononoke: Computers are annoying, aren't they? And I'm sorry!! Writer's block + too much homework = very sad author! *sob* And this one is for all of yours. SO glad you like!!! Yami/Yugi will come back, I promise!! I just don't know how yet………….

animegirl1234: It's been a long time……………Wow. Well, it's up now…

Pheonix: I might have to cut back on the lemon………….A lot of fanfics have been taken off because of complaints, and I don't want that to happen to me…..Even though I state very clearly exactly where the lemons are……..And Seto won!! Yay!

firedraygon97: Lemon…..@_@

Goddess of Death: More romantic than I expected, too……And I'd probably kill the other person……….Or myself…………Or both! ^_^

Silver Dragon: They're coming back, I promise!! Eventually…………They just disappeared temporarily because I couldn't figure out what to do with them……..

pharoasgirl: I state very clearly at the beginning of each chapter that contains a lemon that lemons are in *CAPS*. I apologize if they offend you, but I do make sure that it's very clearly stated exactly where they are and where they end.

Ashurei: Two lemons!! I know, amazing, isn't it? I surprised myself…….

Kou-Andrea: I know! Don't you just wanna sob for him! I would DIE if something like that happened to me!!

Asian Angel 12: I know!! Lemony goodness!! And I'm glad you like!!

Renee the Rabid Squirrel: Glad you like!!!!!!!!!

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Chapter 9

Jou laughed at Seto as he hopped back into bed.

"Honda's comin' over later, and Mai's comin' for a visit and that banquet thing in three days," he informed his boyfriend, grinning. Seto hated Honda for some inexplicable reason, and Jou had dated Mai for a while before he'd found out he was gay; Jou had learned very quickly that Seto was extremely possessive. "And we have to visit Yug later," he added, reminding Seto before the brunette could "accidentally" forget and schedule for something else.

"Fine. But only if you get over here and convince me." He lowered his voice suggestively.

He needn't have bothered; Jou had planned on doing that anyway. He pounced on him, and they got down to business.

*

Head propped on his hand, the once lone millionaire Seto Kaiba grinned at the "puppy" beside him. His puppy, only his. Jou turned and moaned, and Kaiba settled him down again. Kami, how he loved this boy.

How do I love you? Let me count the ways, he thought, a small, ironic smile playing at his lips. He didn't remember ever loving anyone, except Mokuba. And yet here he was, head over heels in love with a boy he'd thought he'd hated not three weeks ago. He remembered that final, revealing confrontation.

*FLASHBACK*

He enjoyed roaming the streets at night. It was quiet and peaceful, and since he wasn't inclined to wander dark alleys alone, the only trouble he ran into he could take care of on his own. He generally let his feet take them where they would.

This particular night Seto found himself nearing the slums of the city. He rarely came down here, and now he remembered why. It wasn't peaceful of quiet here; it was dangerous and loud. He could hear the sounds of screaming, and he shuddered. As loathe as he was to admit it, he abhorred violence. Something left over from his childhood, perhaps.

He heard a door slam and saw a boy - he looked like a redhead, but Kaiba couldn't be sure - tumble down a set of rickety porch steps. He expected the boy to get up, but there wasn't so much as a twitch. Carefully, he walked over, just in case.

He didn't expect to recognize the kid, but he did: Jounouchi, blood in his hair, still breathing but barely. It didn't look like anything was broken, except maybe the boy's skull. Any other time he might have made a joke about that, but not even he was cruel enough to laugh about this. Besides, Jou didn't appear conscious to "appreciate" the joke.

He would have left the blonde there, but Yugi would be angry with him, and he really didn't want to be beaten by Yami. At least, he convinced himself that was the reason he picked the boy up and carried him to the Kaiba mansion. He was not attracted to the boy…He'd always liked guys - why else would he reject that stupid flock of giggling girls? - but Jou couldn't possibly, and besides, the boy was an idiot and the best friend of Seto's greatest rival. It didn't matter if he was attracted (I'm not! he insisted to that stubborn little voice in his head.) Jou wouldn't be.

Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, though. The crazy blonde was still bleeding steadily from his head wound and several deep cuts along his arms and chest, where the shirt had been cut away. Seto had an unexplainable feeling - and what turned out to be a correct one - that Jou's father had done this, and the thought made him sick.

They made it to the mansion, and Seto, blushing furiously, removed Jou's pants to help him wash the blood off so the wounds could be bound. He also had to remove the remains of the shirt, and he winced; pieces of it had been ground into and were stuck in and on the open wounds, and Jou let out pitiful whimpers as he peeled and dug the shirt off.

He lowered Jou into the water once that was done and, still blushing, washed him off, then grabbed the shampoo bottle and carefully washed Jou's hair. The wounded boy whimpered again as Seto's hands brushed a very large lump, and his eyes shot open. Seto checked his trench coat to make sure it covered the rather prominent lump in his suddenly too-tight pants.

"W-where am I?" Jou tried to sit up, then with a cry stopped and fell back. Only then did he notice Kaiba. His eyes went wide. "What's going on?" He looked very small and scared, and Seto realized rather abruptly that the tough-guy and happy idiot acts were just that - acts, defense mechanisms.

"You're awake. Towels are in the closet; you can finish on your own." He felt a strange sense of regret as he stood to leave.

He didn't notice that when he stood his trench coat fell from what he'd carefully arranged it to hide. He did notice Jou's gaze directed there, and the sudden expression on his face, and felt the still-present blush move all the way down to his toes.

"I'm…" he began, and was too embarrassed to manage anything more.

He wasn't yet far enough from the tub that Jou couldn't pull him back down and kiss the living daylights out of him.

*END FLASHBACK*

They'd only kissed, that time, but they'd been together since - and thus had had ample to go further. That first night they 'd only talked, and once Seto had gotten a full explanation from Jou about the incident he'd sent the police after Jou's father. Since the blonde no longer had anywhere to go, he'd been staying with Seto and Mokuba. Not that anyone minded that arrangement…Jou was a second brother to Mokuba, and the commute to and from Seto's house every night would have tired Jou out very quickly otherwise…

Seto was driven out of his reverie when he felt a soft kiss just behind his right ear. He moaned and heard a low chuckle, and turned just in time to catch the bundle of clothing his already-dressed boyfriend tossed at him.

"Unless ya want Honda t' find us like this, we probably oughta get dressed. I wouldn' mind, but…" he left the sentence open, grinning.

Seto blushed a brilliant scarlet and hurried into the clothes Jou had thrown at him - his usual, with a suit jacket instead of his trench coat because he had a meeting later. He scowled at the jacket, but yanked it on anyway.

It was already eleven; Seto thought they might at least have another hour, but five minutes later the bell rang. Jou leapt up and ran to answer it; Seto shook his head and followed more slowly, detouring to the kitchen for a bag of pretzels to be used a distraction if necessary.

It wasn't. Honda left in less than an hour, saying he was going to see visit Yugi, who had apparently just been released that morning, the old head injury proving to be only slightly significant. Jou went back to the living room and sat in one of the cushioned chairs; Seto saw him wince as he moved, and jumped up.

"Let me see." Jou didn't have to ask what it was he wanted to see - the cuts weren't healed yet, and Seto always wanted to make sure they were closing up right.

"It's nothing'…" But he stood, turned, and lifted his shirt.

Gently Seto pulled away the bandages. Jou winced as they pulled on the two worst injuried, and the elder Kiaba brother winced in sympathy for his lover.

"They're healing, but you need to take it easy!" Kaiba lectured, rewrapping the bandages with fresh gauze.

"You're one t' talk!" Jou scoffed. Seto mock-glared at him; it was true, after all.

"I'm not the one with injuries-" he began anyway.

"And I'm not the one who's gonna have a heart attack before he's thirty!" Oh, the joys of misplaced anger. He lowered his voice, trying to keep the tears of worry, exasperation, and pain to himself. "Ya work too hard. Ya hardly ever spend any time with me outsida bed, and ya never see Mokuba at all anymore! If yer not doin' one thing, it's another! I jus'…don' want ya getting hurt." Despite his best efforts, the tears began to fall.

Kaiba was holding him immediately. He hated it when Jou cried. "Hey, hey, puppy, come on…I'll slow down, I promise…Let's go see Yugi now!" Anything to stop those tears; he just had not idea how to deal with them.

Jou sniffled, then nodded. "Okay!" He sounded perfectly happy again, and privately Seto let out both a sigh of relief and a groan. Him and his big mouth…

*

Jou didn't even bother with knocking, just bounded right in. Seto rolled his eyes and followed, hoping that Yugi and Yami weren't doing anything…inappropriate. Thankfully, they weren't, unless Yami feeding Yugi lunch was inappropriate. Of course, the way he was doing it, it was damn close. Yugi was trying to bat Yami's hands away, but the effort was half-hearted at best.

Yugi's eyes lit up when he saw Jou, and he must have said something mentally to Yami, because the taller one stopped feeding and simply wrapped his arms around Yugi's neck.

"Jou! You just missed Honda."

//They also missed getting a show,// Yami told Yugi grumpily. If Seto and Jou wondered why Yugi was blushing and giggling furiously, neither was bothered enough to ask.

It took a moment for Yugi to notice Seto, but when he did, he went slightly pale. Yami just regarded him calmly. "Kaiba." He and the rest of "the gang", including Yugi, all knew about Jou and Kaiba's relationship. He was a little curious as to why exactly the brunette had come - he rarely accompanied Jou here - but it wasn't really any of his business.

"Yami." He might have continued - being president of Kaiba Corporation had given him many chanced to practice and perfect the art of small talk - but Jou grabbed his hand and whispered something in his ear. With an audible sigh, he nodded.

"It's my turn to host the annual banquet." Why the large companies of Japan always hosted one in the middle of Spring was beyond him - maybe for Easter - but it was his turn. "You and your friends are invited." It would have been so much easier to send and invitation through the mail. "It's in three days. The puppy-" he nodded at Jou, who mock-scowled "-has already invited Mai."

Yugi and Yami had a hasty mental conversation (//No.// /Yes./ //No.// /Yes./ //He's our rival.// /WE'RE GOING!!/) then agreed, and Jou and Yugi moved into the living room and settled back for a nice, long conversation. Seto sighed again and dug out his ever-present laptop.

*************TBC*************

So tired……………………….I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next chapter, so don't be surprised if it takes even longer than this one did. I'm sorry for the wait, by the way.

And about the banquet thing, I seriously doubt that it's true, but I threw it in there because it fit really well. The next chapter might be about that, a little; I don't know.

Well, 9 is done, anyway, so be happy!! Ja ne!!!!!!!!!!!