Disclaimer: I do not own yugioh, just this plot heh.

Chapter 3

Yami and Yugi were in math class when Jou eventually turned up. Again he looked spaced out but the two decided to ignore it for now. They still had no idea what was up with him but decided to let him tell them what it was.

Fortunately the sensei never asked Jou any questions when he walked in but just let him take his seat and took his mumbled excuse about his dad needing him to run an errand. He didn't ask him any questions as the class went on as well which struck Yami and Yugi as weird as everyone else in the class was asked at least one question.

The lesson came to an end and Jou got up. Again he was swaying slightly and Seto who had been watching him during the lesson went over to him. He whispered something in Jou's ear that Yami and Yugi couldn't catch and that made Jou frown but then grin.

"Hey don't worry about it man." He said and Seto snorted in disgust before stalking out of the room with his usual hefty briefcase by his side. Yugi often joked that it was glued to his hand as he hardly ever put it down.

"What did he say to you?" Yami asked as they left the room and headed outside to spend break under their favorite tree.

"Don't worry about it man, he's just a stuck up know it all idiot." Jou said his grin back again.

"I thought you liked him?" Yugi said surprised.

"I do, can we drop it?" Jou said and sat down under the tree. "It's hot today." He said and took his jacket off. Yami and Yugi caught sight of his arms then and both of them gasped. There were tiny pinprick wounds on both arms and they couldn't help but stare.

"Jou what are those?" Yami demanded.

"What are what?" Jou said obviously oblivious to their stares.

"Those." Yugi said pointing at the wounds.

"Oh those? Nothing, I just had to have a couple blood tests." Jou said and instantly the other two knew he was lying. There were a lot of little wounds, many more than just a couple blood tests would have done.

Jou hurriedly got up and put his jacket back on.

"Uh, I have to go." He said and took off suddenly before either of them could say anything else.

"Yami, what the hell is going on with Jou?"

"I don't know Aibou, listen there's the bell we should get back to class. Maybe he'll come back later. I wonder why he took off like that?"

"I wish I knew." Yugi said sadly and they made their way back into the building both puzzling about what they had seen.

Jou stopped running when he had got round the corner and was well away from prying eyes. Damn why did they have to see that? Now they wouldn't leave him alone with their annoying questions. Maybe it would be better if he stayed away from school from now on. The way he was feeling, he couldn't be bothered with school at the moment anyway. What good was it doing him anyway? He was bad at lessons at the best of times and now he had found something that made him feel good. He was still on a high after his last fix that morning though he could feel the effects beginning to wear off slightly. Soon he knew he would need more and over recent days he had been feeling as though the high wasn't lasting as long as it had to start with. Also he was feeling less and less of a high each time. He wondered if he should talk to his dealer about it.

Making up his mind he headed off in the direction of his dealer's apartment.

He arrived and rang the bell.

"Yeah?" Came a voice on the intercom.

"It's me."

"Back so soon?" the disembodied voice said sounding amused. "Well you better come up then."

Jou heard the door release and he pushed it and entered the building. It was a grotty place with peeling, yellowing paint and mould growing up the walls. It smelt of damp and old urine but Jou didn't care. He was only here for one thing and he didn't care where the apartment was as long as he got what he came for.

"Come in." A voice said when he knocked on the door.

Jou entered the apartment that wasn't much better than the rest of the building though there was no stale urine smell.

"You're back quick." The occupant of the apartment commented still sounding amused.

"Yeah I want to know why it's wearing off quicker than it was."

"You need a higher dose." The other said without hesitation. He hadn't really needed to be asked, as he already knew why Jou was back so soon having seen it in plenty of other addicts. The longer they took it, the less the high got and the faster it wore off.

"I'll sort it for you."

"Thanks Ushio." Jou said desperate to feel the same way as he had the first time he had injected. Ushio knew this and grinned to himself as he prepared a higher dose. He finished and handed it to Jou who was already tying his arm with a tourniquet.

Ushio watched him shoot up and lay back on the chair while the effects of the heroin kicked in.

"Oh man that feels good." Jou said as he reached into his jacket for the wad of money that he had stolen the night before from the game shop safe.

Ushio eyed the cash up greedily.

"Tell you what, you give me that cash and I'll keep you supplied until it runs out." He said knowing that Jou wouldn't argue with him in his present state.

"Yeah sure man." Jou said his eyes glassed over. Ushio took the cash and counted it grinning to himself. Jou was young and Ushio fancied taking his neck payment out of him in other ways when this cash ran out but the way Jou was going, he would have no idea when the money was going to run out. Ushio could say it had in about a week and the kid probably wouldn't know any different. The dealer eyed Jou's lean body up while he enjoyed the effects of his high. Yes, he could suggest Jou stayed with him and take 'payment' from him whenever he felt like it and with his mind messed up from the heroin, he probably wouldn't have a clue what was happening to him.

"You want to stay here for a while?" Ushio said thinking that there was no time like the present.

"Sure man." Jou said not really caring where he was as long as he could enjoy his high for as long as possible.

Ushio's grin widened as he looked over his new little pet. Jou would do whatever he wanted in order to keep getting high like this and Ushio would have so much fun with him. By the time he was done, Jou wouldn't even remember his own name let alone who he was.

Chuckling to himself, Ushio walked into the kitchen and poured himself a large glass of vodka.

Yami and Yugi walked home from school feeling very worried as Jou hadn't showed up again and they were beginning to think that something was seriously wrong here.

"Where do you think he went?" Yugi said for the millionth time since he had run off earlier that day.

"I wish I knew Aibou, Maybe we shouldn't have mentioned those marks on his arms."

"Well it's too late to worry about that now, do you think we should try his apartment?" They looked at each other neither of them fancying the idea of that at all.

"Let's wait and see if he turns up tomorrow before we start getting too worried." Yami said and Yugi nodded.

"If he's not there again we can always try the apartment, maybe his dad won't be drunk this time." He said hopefully.

"Well I doubt it but you never know."

They had arrived home by this time and Yugi let them both in.

"Come on Yami let's get hot chocolates and do our homework." Yugi said not sounding at all enthusiastic about the homework part of his statement. Yami giggled.

"You never were a homework lover were you Aibou?" he said chuckling.

"Nope, only your lover." Yugi grinned and Yami raised an eyebrow.

"Care to show me later on?" he said and winked.

"Definitely!"

Jou was not in school the next day or the day after that and by the end of the week there still had been no sign of him. Yami, Yugi and the others were all worried about his empty seat and Yami noticed that Seto was not looking his usual calm and collected self and would eye Jou's empty seat with nervous glances.

Yami wondered to himself whether Seto actually liked Jou more than he had let on in the past.

He cornered him later on during lunch break.

"What do you want?" Seto demanded clearly annoyed.

"You're worried about him too aren't you?" Yami said. "You said something to him the last day he was here, what was it?"

Seto sighed.

"Yes I am concerned, I told him to watch who he was hanging around with. I've seen him with a bad crowd out of school and I know they do drugs. I didn't want him dragged into crap like that."

"You do like him then."

"Yeah I do." Seto admitted and Yami thought to himself that Seto must be really worried about Jou to make an admission like that to him of all people. Normally he would have vehemently denied such a thing.

"I've been searching for him after school every night but couldn't find him."

"Yugi and I think he took the takings from the shop safe." Yami said quietly. Jii chan had discovered the missing money and as there had been no evidence of a break in, Yami and Yugi had come to the conclusion that it must have been Jou and Seto mentioning that this bad crowd was into drugs suddenly made everything click into place. If Jou had started taking drugs then the situation was much worse than any of them had suspected.

"This is bad." Yami said remembering a few lessons they had had about drugs at school and what they could do to a person.

"Are you sure he stole the money?" Seto asked having been silent for a while in shock over that revelation.

"Well there was no evidence of a break in at the shop, it was the only thing we could think of." Yami said and sensed someone at his side then. Yugi appeared at his side and smiled shyly at Seto. Seto smiled back slightly but it came out as more of a grimace than a smile.

"What are we going to do about him?" Yami said.

"Keep looking." Seto said determination on his face.

"Well we will help as much as we can." Yugi said and Seto nodded.

"Listen I know we haven't always seen eye to eye and I know I'm arrogant but I would be grateful if you would."

"Well what are friends for?"

Seto blinked, after all no one had referred to him as a friend before. He was beginning to think that there was more to this friendship thing than just hanging around with people. Friendship he realised, meant you really cared about those who were close to you. He suddenly didn't feel so alone and a warm feeling came over him. It felt quite strange to him, as he had cut himself off from things like that for years deeming them unnecessary and a burden. He decided it wasn't a bad feeling and maybe he had been wrong?

"We'll look for him later, you can come round with me if you like. I know the places he has been going."

Yami and Yugi wondered briefly why he knew this but decided not to pry as Seto might get arrogant again and they had just gained his trust a small amount and didn't want to spoil it.

"Yeah okay we'll meet you after school." Yugi said as the bell rang for the final class of the day.

"Don't be late." Seto warned thinking that if they were late he would go without them and they knew him well enough to know that he would do it too.

"We won't be." Yami promised and The two tri coloured hair teens walked off hand in hand while Seto went to his class which happened to be different to theirs on this particular day feeling slightly jealous and wishing he had a certain puppy on his arm.

Ushio had decided that this day would be the day when he told Jou that his cash had run out and that he had other ways in which the blonde could pay him. For the last two days he had kept Jou locked in the bedroom just bringing him food and regular fixes. Jou didn't really care that the door was locked, he was too wrapped up in the world that was heroin and when he was going to get his next fix. Right now though he was crying and moaning. He needed more and Ushio had left him much longer to make sure he was really desperate and would do anything to get his next fix.

Grinning to himself he prepared the dosage that he had upped slightly to keep Jou needing more and carried it to the bedroom. He unlocked the door and found Jou curled into a ball on the floor crying and begging for the fix he so desperately needed.

"Would the little addict like his fix?" Ushio taunted.

"Yes, oh yes I need it bad." Jou said uncurling himself and looking up at Ushio with pleading eyes.

"Well your cash has ran out, but don't worry about that, I have another better way for you to pay me."

"How, please tell me how." Jou said not caring what the payment was as long as he could get his hands on the syringe that Ushio was holding.

"Well I think you can pleasure me in payment." Ushio said.

"Yeah sure anything, just please let me have the stuff." Jou begged. It hadn't really registered in his mind just what Ushio was asking the desire for the heroin too strong for him to care.

"There's a good little addict." Ushio said patronizingly and handed the syringe to Jou who grabbed it but his hands were shaking so much he almost dropped it.

"Here let me help the poor little addict." Ushio said and tying the tourniquet, she injected Jou.

"Now then my little addict you are going to do exactly as I tell you of no more of this." Ushio said his tone suddenly turning quite nasty.

Jou looked at him suddenly wide-eyed but the look quickly vanished as the heroin rushed through his bloodstream. He nodded knowing that he couldn't live without it and so desperate he was ready to do anything.

He felt no pain as Ushio took his pleasures from him in everyway possible. He left Jou naked and dirty on the bed his wrists red raw where he had tied him to the posts. Jou felt nothing his high still there and barely registered what had happened. All he cared about was getting a regular supply and it didn't matter to him how he got it. Already he had virtually forgotten his old friends though Seto's face swam before his eyes a few times but he shrugged it off.

Ushio smiled to himself as he sat drinking vodka on his settee watching some wrestling on TV. Such a willing little bed slave was going to be very handy especially as he had a few friends who he know would love to meet his new pet.

TBC…

Okay I know it's evil but this is what it's like for some people who are addicted to heroin. For everyone's information, Jou had been on heroin for a while before this and the more an addict takes the higher the dose they think they need to gain back that first high they experienced. It is a terrible drug and so hard to get off.

Some dealers do take payment like this so evil as it seems it really does happen.

It's just best to not take drugs of any sort in the first place!

See you guys next chapter!