A/N: I got over 100 reviews...sniff. (Cries) My god I'm so happy! It's my first 100 reviews! Thank you! So for my gratitude to all you guys, here's a kick ass chapter filled with, possession, rivalry, and a very confused Seto Kaiba! Enjoy!
Spark of Life: Constructive criticism! (falls over and dies) J/K, besides, I like constructive criticism! Well, to put it this way, (starts with first comment) Yeah, I know Seto is sort of (okay, not sort of) OOC in that chapter. But in my opinion, anybody who always has Jou on the mind is bound to indirectly collect traits about him. For Seto, it was Jou's impulsiveness. If you think about it, there are many people out there who get certain habits from the people close to them: talking, physical movements, word choice, etc. And technically, Seto did not plan on a full blown fight with another top notch CEO in front of live TV. If you analyze the chapter further, many tabloids and such keep a close eye on Seto Kaiba for any imperfection to get a story, hense the news crew at the scene. In my mind, you just need the right material to set Seto off. And the thought of Schroeder raping Jou had sent him over the edge. (Plus, many wanted a fight scene and I added a bit of humor to make it interesting.) Yeah, I know went overboard with the whole, 'women aren't worthy' pizzaz, but if you were in Seto's shoes and you were pissed, annoyed, and in the middle of a fist fight while some female reporter was contradicting your sexuality, I'm sure you would of said something unconsciously out of nowhere too.
As for your second comment, Jou is not technically entirely feminine. In my experience, many fanfics have Jou and Seto completely bang heads because they are TOO dominate, and sometimes, those relationships don't last long. This is because the writer would have Jou confused over his role in the relationship, and make him dense enough to not realize that they need to compromise and sacrifice to make their relationships work. And the story would usually get pulled off topic and may even sometimes make the reader give up reading the story. (I sometimes do that.) There are too many fics out there that make their relationship over the top difficult that many would get tired of reading the same old ups and downs that at one point, their problems may have actually be solved much easier if they had not made it so difficult in the first place. In the last chapter, where Jou is intentionally hanging out with the women AND the teenagers, is because of his emotional understanding of them. You see, Jou's mother evidently did not care for Jou in the first place, and left him and took his beloved sister. In my opinion, that was downright lousy of her and she's not a good mother, but that isn't the point. Jou likes to hang out with the mothers because, most of his childhood he was devoid of one, and it makes him feel that bit of his childhood come back when mothers are fawning over him. So, technically, he was not trying to be feminine, he just enjoyed the company of mothers, (plus, he was enjoying his pie...)
Now, this is when it gets confusing. You say that this is a domineering relationship. It really isn't. 'Master' and 'Puppy' are not technically the basis of a dominant/submissive relationship. They are pet names. Jou, over the course of two months, knows of Seto's habits, and it does not bother him that Seto has a protective side over him, (and maybe a bit of a psychotic domineering). If fact, he finds them endearing. Because if you read a chapter 6, he was not as loved as much and adores the fact that even someone like Seto does that because he loves him. And he is a free spirit. Seto lets him have his own freedom like he usually does and doesn't strap him to the bed until he deems him worthy to be released at a certain time. If you look at it this way, they do have an equal relationship, it's just indirect and most readers don't bother with the psychology of why they're in a strange relationship in the first place. So, at the most, I don't put it much into detail, because I would be going off topic, and many wouldn't have stayed with this story for too long...but no matter, in this chapter, it delves a bit deeper into Jou's role in his current relationship, and hopefully, you can get the gist of what I am saying. (Looks at writing) Geez, I write more here than I bother in one scene...! Anyway, I enjoyed your criticism. Hopefully, many would read it and understand!
Dragonlady222: Yes, I always perceived that Mokuba was a little Seto Kaiba making devious plans for Seto and Jou. Maybe Kisara hadn't heard about it on TV? She could of lived under a rock, ya know!
KeraJeir: Yeah, domino effect. Everything comes crashing down.
Chiyoku Shibata: Loved that? I thought you would! He reminds me of a pup too!
Bunsdarien: (laughs at the review) The first thing that came to my mind when I saw your name was, 'Is that related to Sailor Moon?' Sailor Moon rox! That was my first anime! Go you!
Amyrose300: Yay! Woot, woot! Did it sound like I was hitting on you? Whoa. Oh, well. That's cool, I guess. (Spends too much time with her bisexual friends) No one calls me anymore, wah! I wish I can give you Mokuba, but I need him for the next chapter! Maybe next time, when I write a lemon between Seto and Jou!
Robin Moto: Cool. Glad to hear it.
LP-lova210: Really? Kweh! I was planning on becoming either a novelist or a graphic arts designer at Square Enix! (Eyes turn into dollar signs) Big bucks...
Bluerosety: Thank you! I had to get Seto to catch Jou before he left, so I got Mokuba to say that he was going to commit suicide, and he fell for it! MUWHAAHAHAHAHA!
Muchacha: Cool name! Everybody likes the 'he's my master' line! I'm so happy!
FireieGurl: Everybody's on Jou's side! WHEE!
Bleedingchaos: Whoh! You're serious! I didn't know that! Wow...(freaks out) I didn't know I was doing that! I love Rurouni Kenshin! Sweet! Maybe in my subconscious, I thought of Kenshin and put those names on there!
Sc00byD00: Thanks, sorry your dad shut off the internet, my dad does that too...(sniff)
koolmint26: (laughs) That's so mean!
100 REVIEWS EVERYONE! THANK YOU!
Chapter 10: A Romp In the Kitchen- Seto's Annoyance and Jou's Realization
After Kisara felt at home in Seto Kaiba's mansion, she and Jou have fiercely tried to get Seto's attention whether if it was an important opinion or a trivial matter.
In the end, it was more of 'I bet I can help Seto out more than you can!' kind of contest. Like one time when they were making dinner...
Seto came down from the stairs after locking himself in his own study doing Kaiba Corp activities, and found himself terribly hungry.
Looking at his watch which said 5:00 pm, he decided that dinner was in order. He walked into the living room to find Kisara folding laundry alongside Jou and Mokuba holding a stopwatch.
Seto frowned and cleared his throat. "What's going on here?"
Mokuba frowned as well and turned around, "Kisara and Jou are competing to see who can do the laundry the fastest. Apparently, it's part of being a 'good wife', Kisara said."
Seto blinked a few times. He had never seen Jou fold laundry before. And he was doing a bad job of it as well. While Kisara's pile was neat and folded without wrinkles, most of his pile was wrinkled and even folded the wrong way.
He didn't know whether to be amused and annoyed at the thought of Jou dressed in a wife's housecoat folding laundry and taking care of the house while the husband was away.
As soon as the last of the clothes were folded, Mokuba stopped his watch and looked at them. "10.34, a tie."
Kisara looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Are you sure, Mokuba? Why don't we just see the quality of the work we made then and see."
"Well, it'd be too obvious," Seto spoke with a frown. "Jou's is too messy."
"Hey! I haven't done this before! Usually, we'd just take the clothes out of the dryer and use it!" Jou defended, glaring at his own sloppy handiwork.
Kisara looked him. "Who's 'we'?"
"My father and I—" Jou abruptly stopped then looked away, apparently saddened again by the thought of his father's sudden death. Seto noticed then cleared his throat again.
"No matter. I'm starving. Either we order something or make something."
"I'll do it!" Jou yelled getting onto his feet, only to have a bunch of 'folded' clothes on top to fall on him. Seto forced the snigger down his throat. Jou reminded him of a puppy under all the laundry.
Mokuba had got to his feet as well. "What are you planning on making, Jou?"
"My special recipe unknown to man!"
"Oh no." Seto groaned. He desperately hope that Jou was not one of those self-called chefs who make appetizers into mutated science projects gone wrong.
"Can you make Entree' a Alacarte? (1)" Kisara rose up gracefully. "I can make a good one if you want, Seto."
Jou glared then interrupted. "Nah! I'll do it! Just you wait! I'll make the best Untre Aaracate!"
He ran into the kitchen, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
The pup in fact was having a terrible time looking up the recipe, Entree' a Alacarte, in Seto's huge cookbook. He didn't even know how to spell it!
Letting out a huge sigh, he skimmed into the ground beef section and discovered a name the closest to the goal, 'Entree' a Lacrap'(2). /That may be it/ Jou thought in triumph. /I'll make the best dinner and Seto will like me the most/
Seto, Mokuba, and Kisara watched behind the closed doors of the kitchen in sheer bewilderment. They heard pots and pans screeching, the sound of towel patting, loud cursing, and the loud honks from some sort of bird...
...wait. 'Loud honks from some sort of bird?'
After about another minute, Seto strode over to the door and opened it with carefulness. And nearly dropped dead with what he saw.
His sparkling clean kitchen was replaced with messes beyond imaginable! There were dirty rags all over the counter, pots on stove spouting out colored bubbles, and a disheveled pup fighting a live chicken.
"JOU!" Seto screamed at the top of his lungs nearly dodging the chicken who tried to make an escape through the CEO.
Jou halted in mid jump at the angry expression on his face. He was done for it this time. He screwed up big time.
"Seto, I—AHHH!"
"PUP!"
He was about to explain the reason for the mess when one of the pots went crazy and toppled over onto the blond. Seto grabbed Jou in time so that only some of it spilled on Jou's upper arm. The pup let out a terrified yell as he felt his arm sizzle with burns. He then felt being pulled upward and being hurried to the sink, where Seto had pulled on the extended faucet and sprayed cold water on the smoldering arm. Jou whimpered from the pain and closed his eyes tightly.
"Mokuba!" Kaiba yelled. Both Mokuba and Kisara arrived on the scene, both looking at the mess and Kisara let out a small squeal as the chicken flapped past the top of her head. "Mokuba! Get the first aid kit and Kisara, come here and help hold the hose while I check the burn."
Mokuba ran off to find the first aid kit and Kisara immediately strolled and took the hose from Seto's grasp and aimed it gently on the wound. That was all Jou could remember as he slid into unconsciousness.
"Jounouchi, are you alright?" Kisara asked worry etched on her face.
Jou moaned a bit as he sat up, then realized that Seto was in the middle of bandaging his burn, so he slumped back down. "I guess."
"Stupid pup." Seto murmured, finishing off the last of the bandaging and inspected his work. "If you didn't know how to cook, you should of just said so."
"I can cook!" Jou defended. "Just...not that kind of food." He then looked around, someone was missing. "Where's Mokuba?"
Kisara smiled faintly. "He's ordering take-out. We can't work with the kitchen, because it's like a...a...?"
"Ground zero. A nuclear explosion set off by a clumsy pup." Seto bluntly replied. He looked at Jou with a gleam in his eyes, as if daring the blond to retort.
Jou looked at him back, then averted his eyes and looked down. "Sorry.." He muttered.
Seto narrowed his eyes in confusion. /Why hadn't he taken the bait/ It was then that he realized...
"Jou." Seto grounded out evenly, standing. "Get up."
Almost at once, Jou did what he told, which made Seto confirm his suspicions. "Follow me."
The blond followed Seto up the stairs and into the hallway, right in front where the spare guest bedroom was.
"Seto?"
"You're sleeping here, tonight."
"What? You don't want me in your bedroom?"
Seto did his best to ignore the hurt look on his pup's face. But he needed to teach Jou a lesson about who he is and not who he was trying to be. "Get in there and get some sleep. You're hurt and you're exhausted. And maybe this will teach you a lesson on why I want a man. Not a subservient woman." With that, he shut the door.
Jou didn't know what the hell had happened, but he slumped on the floor and refused to cry. After all, he wasn't a woman.
Seto sighed against the door. It wasn't his intention to put his beloved pup in another room away from his, but it was only for a night. What was wrong with Jou? Where was the disobedient mutt he had fallen in love with?
He come to the conclusion that...
...Jou was forcing himself into the role of a wife.
Kisara carefully knocked on the door of Seto's study. "Seto? May I come in?"
Seto's eyes looked toward the door then returned them to the screen. "Come in."
She quietly walked across the room and sat down respectfully on one of the comfortable couches. "How's Jounouchi?"
He stopped from his mid-type for a second, then resumed. "He's fine."
"I see." She then got up. "What are you working on?" She walked to the desk and turn to see the computer screen.
"There's a problem I'm trying to solve involving the game distribution." Seto replied. "Apparently, we don't seem up-to-standards with our offer to the other companies. We offered the gaming distribution a cut amount of time, so the rest of the gaming world would receive foreign games in a short amount of time, but many could not rise up to the challenge on taking it."
Kisara thought for a moment then answered. "Why not up the price a bit?"
"Then, not many distributors can afford giving their equipment to us. Which all in all, is bad."
"Well, not the smaller companies, but maybe the larger companies can see why you increased the price, making them consider your offer and eventually join your company." Kisara shrugged. "That's at least, what I think."
Seto considered the thought. Then smirked. "Hm. Not bad, Kisara. I'll think on it."
She smiled back. "Glad to help."
Today, though, Seto was dutifully at work, leaving Kisara to attend to her own family business and Jou to console with his new friend, Monique. She was in fact, Kaiba's International Translator for the North American Electronic Gaming Association. Jou looked up to her upbeat, yet brash qualities as a person, and enjoyed the news of what's happening back in his home continent. When she wasn't being served as a translator, she became of Kaiba's personal secretary under Jou's complaining of seeing more of her. He usually came to her during the work day and when he needs guidance.
"So, what's up in America, Monique?" Jou asked in English as he sat next to her on the desk.
Monique frowned as Jou's butt sat on her perfectly finished pile of paperwork and pushed him off rudely. "Man, Jou! I just finished those!"
"Aw come on Monique! Seto wouldn't mind if the papers are a bit wrinkly!"
"He would if I told him that your fat butt sat on them!"
"You're crazy! Seto loves my butt! And it's not fat!" Jou pouted shuffling the papers away from his 'fat butt'.
"Yeah, yeah. Spare me the boy on boy action." She mumbled, leaning back against her seat.
"You kidding? I thought you would like that sort of thing! Many girls do!" He exclaimed.
"I'm not 'many' people. You might want to talk with my older sister though. She loves that sort of thing."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah, she works in a part of your boyfriend's company. She's a graphic designer at Square Enix." She answered. "But she's causing a bit of trouble."
"Why?" Jou inquired.
Monique looked up thoughtfully. "Apparently, she's trying to coax the creator of Kingdom Hearts, Mr. Nomura, to change the plot line so Sora can get it on with Riku." She shrugged then leaned her head on one hand. "I think she's getting through to him." (3)
Jou nodded, trying to keep a straight face at the thought of Disney agreeing to put full blown yaoi into a video game aimed mostly at a young audience.
"We saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." She continued. Jou perked up. "Really? How was
it?"
"I thought it was pretty good. Better than the last one. My sister couldn't stop on how action-packed, angst driven, over the top hilarious it was." She then sighed. "But why do the cute guys have to die...?" (4)
"I wished I could of seen it." Jou said dejectedly. "Japan don't get those kind of movies fast enough, and ends up a thing of the past."
"That's because they have to ask if they can get the movie, then translate it, then try to get it to the public. It's hard work, usually takes years to get the approval," She said with professionalism. "It's the same thing with our video games importing to the western region of the world. It takes a year or two for them to get our approval, set up the translation to the English language, then distributed to their public. On the other hand, Kaiba Corp is so powerful in the industry, that it only takes two to three months to do so, that's why the major companies like Square Enix is harping up their cash to Kaiba Corp so their products get distributed across the world in such a short amount of time. But the downside is that Kaiba Corp is so damn expensive to work with, that many small companies must make do with the normal way. Hense, why your lover-boy is so damn brilliant."
Jou made a bored face. "Okay, okay, spare me the business talk! I just complained about not seeing a British movie and you turn it into a business gamble! Go you!" He finished the last part with pure sarcasm.
Monique mock glared. "Fine then, I was planning on giving you a bootleg copy of the movie, but since you're pmsing like a chick..."
"I am not a chick!" Jou declared. "I'm just as manly as the next guy!"
"Who? Carson from the Fab 5?" Jou glared at the statement. "Spare me the drama, Joey (5)! Admit you're the bottom of the relationship."
"We haven't even gotten that far!"
"Why not? You guys been together for months!"
"I'm not ready! Gotta problem with that?"
"You know I do!" She smirked. "You act like a woman in the relationship! No wonder you guys haven't been hitting the sheets! He wants a guy, Joey, not a woman!"
"I know!" Jou screamed. "But I'm trying to keep him with me! Even if it means bending over for him! Even if I HAVE to be the woman in the relationship! Because...because..."
"Because you love him." She answered for him. "But don't you think that maybe, just MAYBE he misses the fiery side of you? The resistant, little mutt that he's been working so hard to keep?
Think about it."
Jou sat in silence, contemplating his next move. Then sighed sadly. "I think Seto doesn't want me anymore."
"Why's that?" She inquired.
"Isn't it obvious? He made me sleep in the guest room last night for crying out loud! Then, I heard from Mokuba, that Kisara was in Seto's study for most of the night. It's obvious that he's tired with me."
Monique snorted. "You sound like my boyfriend. Always thinking that one day, I'll be tired of him and leave him like the next man whore."
"Dusty?" Jou exclaimed. He always considered Dusty the manly of the man. Like one time when some guy was trying to ask Monique out, he got terribly pissed and beat the crap out of him.
"The one and only. Even my sister thought of him as a caveman wielding a big ass club." She reminisced. "He's afraid that he's not subservient enough for me. He does everything I tell him to. Even though it was fun making him run all over town for blueberry Pixie Sticks for me, I keep telling him that it's not really that fun if I don't have an over dramatic drama queen to argue over. It's good to have a little friction in a relationship. It keeps things from being a bore."
Jou pouted. "So what are ya' trying to say?"
"I'm saying is you're making things too complicated. Here's the gist: Seto's gay. He likes men. He likes to ruffle your feathers–okay, fur, ya little mutt." Jou growled. "You're gay. You like men. You like to annoy Seto, too. Opposite's attract, you're perfect for each other. End of story." She leaned back against her chair. "Oh, and I'm sure he found it disgusting of you turning into one of those feminine, high-pitched voice gay men who's only source of comfort is shopping and humming Broadway tunes. He wants a bottom, but a disobedient bottom who fights for the top even though there's no way in hell of it ever happening."
Jou blinked and said, "Sooooo, acting like the perfect woman was a waste of time?"
She looked up, then nodded. "Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure. That's probably why he wanted you to sleep in the guest room, to think over what you did to freak him out."
The blond thought for a moment, when the buzzer rang and Monique pushed the button. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"
"After the stock meeting, I'm heading home around 6. Make sure you have a limo ready."
"Gotcha, Mr. Kaiba. Consider it done."
The machine didn't answer, which meant that Seto had hung up.
Monique picked up the phone and dialed the number. "Machura," She said in Japanese. "Get the limo ready at 6 sharp. Seto Kaiba will be arriving." She then hung up.
He began to think of a plan, then smirked. Monique saw this and smirked back.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Monique?"
"Sure do. Give him the friction, Joey, give him the friction!"
(1): I have no idea what that is. It's just a name I made up to make is sound like an expensive dish.
(2): (laughs) Please tell me you got the gist of the name!
(3): Anybody know Kingdom Hearts? Well, there's a lot of fandom for Sora and Riku together so I added that to give us the false hope that somebody working on Kingdom Hearts 2 out there is trying to make it a shonen-ai.
(4): Yeah, I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday. It was awesome! Totally better than the previous one! I recommend it!
(5): Jou's English name is Joey, so why not add it in?
A/N: I somehow keep putting off the fluff...oh well.
Review, review , review!