Jou woke the next morning after a terrible night's sleep. He did not expect much less considering what he had seen the night before. It was clear that he was truly scarred for life. Jou cracked an eye open and looked at the large digital clock on the night table beside his bed. The clock read 5:30 am. Jou shuddered. There was some cruel twist in fate these days. First he's stuck with Kaiba, and then both Kaiba and Sensei Kimura find out about his father, then last night... Jou shuddered at the memory that was all too fresh, and now this. Jou was up with the sun. While the sight out his bedroom window was truly lovely, he had sworn long ago to the laws of laziness that dictated unless an enemy was near or school waited, loyal subjects should never be up before 10:00am at the earliest.

But Jou was awake. Climbing out of his bed he streaked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. At his own place such an early shower would get him crap from his father and hell from the residents below who would be woken from the noise of water in the old pipes. Jou had no doubt that Kaiba's plumbing system would be near silent compared to his and unless someone was sleeping with their ear to the water pipes no one would wake up.

He only had a quick shower that morning; just enough to cool his body and wet his hair to make it manageable. After drying off, Jou wrapped his towel around his waist and brushed his hair and teeth. His stomach bruises were no less painful looking this morning though they were starting to turn yellowish brown around the edges. Jou checked out his polka-dotted arm and was pleased to see those bruises were also browning. In a week his bruises should be gone.

His morning routine over, Jou dressed in his customary blue jeans and white t-shirt. Seeing as how he was up early Jou decided to see what the world was like at this hour. He left his bedroom and after ten minutes of being lost he finally found the front door. There was no alarm system that he could see so he opened the front door and left.

Outside it was a beautiful morning. Jou walked down the blacktop driveway that led to the main gate about a hundred meters down. At the gate there were two guards. Jou balked at the idea of what those guards would do if they didn't like someone, they were very big men, but when they saw Jounichi they let him out with out a problem and Jou aimed himself towards town. Jou figured he'd visit Yugi. He hadn't talked to him since school let out and by the time Jou got to town it should be time to open the shop.

Jou enjoyed the walk. As it was so early there was hardly anyone in the streets, which was a rare treat for the Tokyo area. Of course that could just be that he was still on Kaiba land where no one willingly trespassed unless they had a death wish.

After ten minutes of lazy strolling, Jou noticed that the traffic was picking up and shook his head in disgust that people could be up at this hour. His watch read that it was five after six AM and he shuddered a bit. These people looked way too awake and Jou doubted that they had as a good a reason to be awake as he did. He noticed himself checking out the cars and day dreaming as to which one he would own in his next life. He also liked to imagine what type of person would own each car. It was just a game he liked to play while walking.

There were also a lot of pedestrians at this time too. Jou was most disgusted by these people because they were up this early to exercise alone and with dogs. Jou shook his head. These people are bloody nuts.

Sighing, Jou noticed that he had already reached the Kame Game shop. It was only 6:30. The shop wouldn't open till 7:00 at the earliest as it was Friday. Jou looked around and spotted a coffee/bubble tea housea few store down that looked like it was open. He pulled out his wallet and checked his cash section. Twenty Bucks to last him ten days. Did he really want some bubble tea? Yeah, he did.

He entered the shop and was rewarded with the smell of fresh coffee brewing. He didn't exactly like coffee as a drink but he enjoyed the smell. Sitting on one of the stools that surrounded the counter Jou ordered a small blueberry bubble tea and began to drink it slowly savouring every moment. He'd been here often during the school year. This was one of Tea's favourite hangout places and she'd often dragged Jou, Yugi and who ever else wasn't going straight home from school in there to try the latest flavour.

After Jou had been finished his tea for a long time he stood up to leave. It was nearly 7:00 and Mr. Moto should be opening up soon. When he reached the entrance of the shop his forehead broke out in a cold sweat. Jou could see his father walking down the street and he was headed towards Jou! He hadn't seen Jou yet so the boy ducked back into the tea shop and prayed that his father hadn't developed an affinity for bubble tea. Jumping onto one of the stools, Jou picked up a newspaper and hid his face from view. His breathing calmed, somewhat, when after a minute his father hadn't ripped the paper out of his hands and punched him. The bubble tea server gave Jou a funny look but Jou didn't stick around to explain his life story to her.

Approaching the door once more, Jou poked his head out the door and looked for the tell tale walk his father always had. Something of a cross between slouching, limping, and strutting. It didn't make sense but that's how his father walked. Also, there was the green jacket, that looked like it had been taken from the lost and found, and the light brown un-kept mop of hair.

Jou spotted him a few stores down and cringed when he realized that it was the Kame Game Shop. Jou watched as Mr. Moto flipped the "closed" sign on his door to open. Jou's father opened the game shop door and entered.

'Oh shit.' Jou thought. Please don't let him do anything rash. Jou left the relative safety of the bubble tea shop and went up the narrow alley way to the back of the shops and to where Mr. Moto, Yugi, and Yami's entrance to their home was. Jou climbed the fire escape, as he always did when he came to visit Yugi and Yami, and let himself into their room through the window that they always left unlocked for him. Their room was neat and orderly but Yugi's bed, on the bottom of the bunk bed, looked like no one had slept in it last night. Yami's bed, on the other hand had a rather grumpy looking pharaoh in it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked groggily. "At seven in the morning." He added with a glance at his alarm clock.

"My dad's in your shop looking for me and I don't want to be found." Jou answered and left the room and a confused Yami to go downstairs. He wanted to see what he could hear through the door that separated the Moto home from the Kame game shop.

"I'm sorry Mr. Jounichi, your son is not here." Mr. Moto was saying in his polite manner of speaking. "Nor have I seen him since school ended."

"School's ended?" Jou's father asked in confused voice. Jou could imagine the shock on Mr. Moto's face that Jou's father didn't even know that school was over yet.

"School has been out since Tuesday." Jou could just picture his father nodding dumbly.

"Well... if you haven't seen him maybe that kid of yours has."

"Yugi is not here right now. He is doing a week project at his friend malik's house. Perhaps Yami has seen him. I will go ask if you'll just wait here a moment."

"I'm coming with you." Jou's father growled. 'Shit! Jou thought. He's going to see me!'

"Very well," Mr. Moto was saying. "Just let me lock the door to my shop first."

Jou raced back up the stairs to Yami's room. "Yami!" He whispered harshly. "Yami wake up!"

"What's wrong Jou? What's happening?" he asked as groggy as before and clearly not awake.

"Grandpa's coming up here with my father to ask if you've seen me. Say no, no matter what. You got it?"

"Yes, but what's going on?" Yami asked, hearing the urgency in Jou's voice and waking up. Jou didn't answer because he heard steps on the stairs. Jou slid under Yugi's bed and held his breath. He could hear Yami turning onto his side on the top bunk.

Jou watched the door open through the gap between the floor and Yugi's bed skirt. Mr. Moto softly walked in the room with Jou's father right behind him.

"Yami?"

"hnnnnnn." Yami grunted feigning grogginess.

"Mr. Jounichi is here looking for his son. Have you seen Jou?"

"Jou?" Yami said through a yawn. "No. I haven't seen him since Tuesday."

"Where is he?" Jou's father growled.

"I dunno. Try Kaiba's house. That's who his partner is."

'Shit' Jou thought. 'I hope dad doesn't try there next.'

"Kaiba. Isn't he a tallish kid with short brown hair and blue eyes?"

No one said anything so Jou assumed that Yami must have nodded because next thing Jou knew his father's feet were leaving. Jou involuntarily sighed. Holding his breath again, Jou saw his father's feet pause a bit at the door. Then they left with Mr. Moto's following closely.

When the door was closed, Jou sighed again. "That was close." Yami said from the top bunk. "I though for sure he heard you down there." Jou slid out and nodded his agreement. Yami was now sitting up displaying a bare, well built chest and a concerned face. "So what's up with your father?" He asked.

Jou sighed. Once Yami was concerned he wasn't going to let it drop. "The night I was to go to Kaiba's, Wednesday, I sorta caused a bit of trouble before leaving. Kaiba put on his list thingy that I needed a suit and you know perfectly well that the most professional article of clothing I own is my school uniform." Yami nodded.

"Well," Jou continued. "I tried to borrow my dad's suit and that didn't sit too well with him. When Kaiba came to pick me up, my father tried to stop me from leaving and well... a few fists flew and my dad got a nice wallop on his face that knocked him over."

"You hit your father?!" Yami asked incredulously.

Jou shook his head. "Not me, Kaiba."

Yami let out a low whistle. "So," he said. "Basically your dad is bent on a little revenge? Or what?"

"I dunno. He's looking for me not Kaiba. Maybe he was too drunk to tell who hit him. He'd had quite a few beers. Anyways, I left with Kaiba and hadn't seen him till this morning."

Yami looked thoughtful but Jou didn't give him a chance to say anything. "Listen, Yami, I'll catch you later, kay?" Yami nodded and Jou left his room to go downstairs and see Mr. Moto.

Mr. Moto, was needless to say a little surprised to see him.

"Jounichi?!" He exclaimed. "You just missed your father. He was here looking for you."

"I know." Jou said. "I meant not to be found. Ummmm... Thanks for everything-"and Jou left it hanging. Mr. Moto patted the tall boy on the back as an understanding gesture. Jou appreciated it and left the game shop by the storefront door. Out side though he was in for a bit of a shock.

"Hello, boy." Jou's father had been waiting for

him and seeing him up close, Jou couldn't miss the bruise that was splashed across his face. "I think it's time we had a little man to man talk if you catch my drift." And he grabbed Jou's arm tightly. "Don't make a scene."
Jou struggled a little and said, "You're the one making a scene. Why don't you ask me if I wanna go with you?" Jou's father gave him a deadly glare and Jou figured he may as well ride it out. Jou glanced at the Moto home above the shop wishing he lived there. He wasn't happy to see Yami staring back at him with that knowing and sympathetic look.

Jou started walking quickly and noticed that his father looked surprised to see him agreeing to come. "You want to go? Then let's go!" Jou said wanting to get away from Yami's penetrating stare.

It was a five minute walk to the apartment. When they got there and Jou's father opened the door, Jou wasn't surprised to see the mess that awaited him. Jou's father locked the door and sat on the couch and stared at Jou who stood in the now closed doorway uncertainly. Not that he appeared uncertain because he would never give his father the satisfaction of knowing he was nervous. Jou just couldn't help noticing that the door now locked from the inside as well as the outside and Jou suspected that he wasn't going to be getting a key to fit that lock.

"You've been gone for a few days." Jou's father said as if he was striking up a perfectly normal conversation. Jou wouldn't have been surprised if his father started cleaning his nails he was so comfortable and cocky on that couch. After all, he was in no rush now that Jou couldn't go anywhere.

Jou, fervently wishing he had struggled a bit more or left the Moto home through that bedroom window, nodded. "I've been staying at Kaiba's house doing that school project I told you about."

Jou's father laughed. "Do you take me for an idiot, boy? I know perfectly well that school is out."

"It's a summer project, dad."

"Bullshit." His father said. "If you're supposed to stay at his house what were you doing in that Kame Shop house?"

"It's called visiting, Dad. Friends visit each other's houses, you know."

Jou watched his father's eyes narrow. His father didn't exactly have a lot of friends. He had acquaintances and people he opted to avoid as he owed them debts. Jou had met a few of the latter type when they'd come looking for Jou's father to collect.

"It doesn't matter." Jou's father said. "You won't be visiting anyone until school starts again. I'm leaving for work. You stay here make your self useful by cleaning up."

Jou's father stood up with a satisfied smirk on his face. He walked right up to Jou and roughly grabbed the collar of Jou's shirt and pushed him against the wall. "Welcome back, son." He said and he opened the door and quickly closed it behind him.

Jou was shocked to notice that there was no alcohol in his father's breath. His dad was completely sober.

AU: Normally I would stop right here and leave you all hanging but everyone keeps grumbling at me that my chapters should be longer so this is for you grumpy people. Author sighs cause she knows she won't be getting much sleep tonight

Jou tried the doorknob and was less that surprised to find it locked. He looked around the room and went straight to the living room window. A huge lock, so big Jou was surprised he hadn't seen it the moment he walked in, was keeping the window shut and Jou couldn't get the window open more than an inch. Just open enough that he wouldn't suffocate in the apartment. A quick survey revealed that the kitchen and master bedroom window were also sporting large locks. His own bedroom didn't have a window, but Jou checked into that room to see what condition it was in.

It was a mess. Jou's father had obviously let off some steam in here. The mattress was off the bed springs and one of Jou's foam pillows was shredded as if his father had sat there for a while manually shredding it or stuck it in a blender and 'let it rip'.

Jou started tidying by habit and started by righting his mattress and putting it back on the bedsprings. He had almost no clothes in the room because they were all at Kaiba's place so it was just a matter of reorganizing his knick-knacks. When he was finished with his room he started on the kitchen next. He washed the dishes. There weren't that many cause Jou and his father are constant take-out eaters and with out Jou to cook spaghetti or anything special, Jou's father had been living off takeout and ramen noodles. Apparently his father could boil water.

Lastly, he cleaned the living room, which was mostly organizing magazines and throwing out more food containers, and sat on the couch in defeat. He hadn't found any keys lying around and he never went into his father's room. Jou's dad would know if someone had touched anything and it was an unspoken understanding that Jou wasn't allowed in there without dire consequences. Besides, the last time Jou had been in there was to get his father's suit and that had turned into such a lovely scenario.

With out anything better to do Jou flipped on the television. It was nearly lunchtime and with no food in his stomach, because he hadn't eaten breakfast, he was getting hungry. He made himself a cup of ramen and sat down and flipped on the AGAT channel. All Games All the Time. The AGAT channel was owned and run by the Kaiba Corp. 'I just can't get away from him can I?' Jou thought. It was showing re-runs right now and Jou changed the channel. He'd already seen Rex get beaten by Weevil enough times that he could quote the taunts the duellers used on each other before they even said them.

The next channel was cooking, and the next was cartoons. With a frustrated sigh Jou threw the controller at the TV. This was pathetic. He was locked in his own bloody house. Jou, never one susceptible to claustrophobia before, started to notice just how close the walls were when you couldn't escape them. He wanted out now, but there was no way.

Sighing in defeat Jou decided to sleep it off. After all, his sleep schedule was totally out of whack now that he'd gotten up at 5:30 in the morning. Jou threw out his ramen cup on the way to his bedroom. He turned off the light, shut the door, took off his top and flung himself on the neatly made bed. He didn't cover himself with the blanket because he was feeling hot enough as it was. Instead he shut his eyes and thought of nothing in particular until sleep finally came.

When he woke up later he couldn't tell why at first. When the telephone rang all became clear and he leaped out of bed and ran to the only phone in the apartment which was on the coffee table in the living room. Jou picked up the phone mid ring and put the receiver to his ear.

"Hello?" He heard a voice say. "Hello? Is Jounichi there?" It was Mokuba. What did Mokuba want?

"Hey Mokuba." Jou said, not really sure if should have answered or not.

"Jou? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you leave?" Mokuba asked in slightly hurt voice.

"I... I had to get home." Jou said thinking on the spot. "My dad isn't feeling too well."

"I thought your dad was a jerk." Mokuba said.

"What?!" Jou exclaimed. "Where'd you hear something like that?"

"Seto told me."

"Well, Seto told you wrong." Jou shook his head. Damn Kaiba for ruining a perfectly good excuse.

"Soooo... are you coming back, Jou?"

Jou was silent for a moment. "I don't know kid. Not right now." There was silence on the phone. Jou thought he heard Mokuba sigh but he couldn't be sure. "Listen, Mokuba, I gotta get going. My dad needs me. I'll see you around kay?"

"Okay." Mokuba said. "See ya." And the two boys hung up.

Jou put the phone down and glared at the floor. What the hell was he gonna do? Kaiba had already 'saved' him once and damned if he was gonna be saved by money bags again. He had to get out before Kaiba showed up or he'd lose any dignity that he still had. Shit!

Alrighty then. I got my cliff hanger and you get your new chapter. We're all happy right? Let me know what you think of this chapter and if you have anything you want to see let me know and I'll see if I can incorporate it into my brilliant scheme (Author ignores all the people who snorted at the word brilliant and pretends they don't exist)