A/N: I just finished the third chapter, and it's long too, I have a feeling that I'm not gonna be able to write short little chapters anymore. Oh well... I had a lot of awkward sentences in this chapter, some of them I fixed, but some of them I just couldn't see...so I left them. Sorry.
Thanks for all the reviews, I appreciate them. I'm glad people are enjoying this.
Warning: there is some cursing in this chapter...(thinks) I'm pretty sure there's nothing else...
Chapter Two:
Without removing his fingers from his newly acquired slave's chin, Seto sat down on the ground with his legs spread out flat. He leaned against the bed, and stared open-mouth at those red eyes. Never before in his life had he seen anyone with eyes that color, and his mind couldn't get over the entire picture sitting before him. They stared at Seto blankly, but he could see a fire just beneath the surface. Seto had always been able to see hidden parts of people; he prided himself that ability. It had come in handy more than once in his lifetime.
"So," Seto started. "What's your name?"
The person sitting in front of him continued to stare.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Yami," he said quietly. His voice was deeper than Seto would have guessed, almost not fitting his body, but then again, it seemed to fit perfectly. Seto chuckled to himself.
"Alright, Yami, where do you come from?" A perfectly reasonable question, Seto thought, but Yami was giving him a confused look.
"I don't know," he answered cautiously. No one had ever asked about his personal information before and he was unsure about how to answer it. Yami decided, looking at the convincingly curious face of the brunet sitting opposite him, that he would just tell the truth. "I've always been a slave, at least, as long as I can remember."
Yami's voice washed over Seto, invading his senses and leaving him helpless. The only thought going the his head was, 'make him talk more.'
"What were your other masters like?" Seto said.
Yami went dead silent, not even the energy that had previously surrounded his body was buzzing. He had learned before that talking bad about people greater than himself would get him nothing but trouble, and even though he had a different feeling about this one, he didn't want to take his chances. Seto looked at him expectantly, and Yami returned the stare full force.
"What's wrong?" Seto asked.
"I shouldn't talk about the people that owned me before," Yami stated like it was a well known fact.
"Why not?" Seto felt like he was being left out of the loop, a feeling he wasn't too keen on.
"Because I have nothing good to say about them."
Seto laughed softly. Of course, Yami would be afraid of offending Seto, and the repercussions of doing that would undoubtedly be a severe punishment. Yami seemed like a man with a very strong will, and it intrigued Seto. He wanted to know everything, but would keep his curiosity in check until he had broke through Yami's built-in censorship.
"Hmm, well, for future reference, tell me all the answers you have for the questions I ask," Seto smirked. "I don't need another mindless drone to follow me around trying to please me."
Yami nodded. He was right, this owner would be far more different than his previous ones. Not only was Seto closer to his age, but he actually wanted Yami's input on things. Most of the things Yami was required for by his other masters had no need for any conversational skills, so this experience would be one to remember.
"So, you want me to..." Yami started. He didn't really know where to go from there, he was lost in his new position with no prior information to go on.
Luckily, Seto knew where Yami was going with this. "I want you to be you, don't worry about stroking my ego, I don't need any more confidence. Have your own opinions, I don't have the energy to always tell you what to do and think. Use your common sense."
Yami furrowed his brow in concentration, absorbing all that the other was saying. He had guessed that was what Seto had wanted, but didn't really trust himself to believe it, and then there it was, coming out of his master's mouth. Proof that he didn't have watch his own mouth.
"That means I wont get sold again," Yami said quietly to himself.
"What was that?"
"The last two master's I had sold me because I was getting belligerent." Yami kept his face static, but the fire that Seto had seen before was now more prominent.
"Fantastic," Seto said. "That's exactly what you will be like with me. No fake bullshit, okay?"
"Right," Yami agreed.
"Then let's get you cleaned up, you look horrible."
Seto sighed in annoyance. He watched as three incompetent female servants undressed Yami and put him in the bath, starting to rub furiously at his skin and looking dumbfounded as to what to do with his hair. Yami looked thoroughly uncomfortable, glancing over at Seto every once in a while with a pleading look. The servant who had been assigned to Yami's hair was having a tough time, alternating from brush to comb trying to release all the tangles out. She wasn't getting very far, and huffing impatiently, yanked harder and harder until Yami's head was being pulled back too. Every time she pulled he would let out an almost inaudible hiss and close his eyes in pain. The servant didn't even seem to notice.
Seto wanted to go and jam that brush where it wouldn't see the light of day, but he contained the urge. This was just further proof that added onto Seto's anger at servants.
"For fuck's sake!" Seto screamed, throwing his arms up in frustration. The three servants and Yami looked at him, surprised and shocked at the outburst. "Can't you see you're hurting him!" He gestured at Yami.
The servant who was tackling Yami's hair looked at Yami's head, at Seto, and then back at Yami's head.
Seto let out a deep sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fucking morons," he muttered to himself.
"Leave," he ordered, walking over to the edge of the bath. " I should've just done this myself."
The servants scrambled to their feet and bowed a little before exiting the bathroom. Seto heard them whisper something to each other, but didn't care to find out what it was.
Yami had turned so that he was facing the edge of the bath. He still looked shocked at what Seto had said, and what that had implied. Was Seto really going to wash him? That would be a bizarre twist, Yami thought. But then again, this entire day had been a bizarre twist. Yami would never have dreamed that he would be bought by someone who wanted his mind, and now he was sitting in a huge bath tub being washed. It didn't even matter who was washing him, the point was he didn't have to do it himself. Now that he thought about it, Yami had never actually been in a proper bath tub before. He usually bathed himself with a towel and small bucket of water.
Seto was still looking at the door, burning with rage. Then he remembered that Yami was in the bath, and looked down at him. Yami looked so pathetic with his messy hair, skinny little body, and the large red eyes staring back up at him. Seto sighed and sat down on the cold, hard marble facing Yami. There was no point in beating around the bush, so without any words, Seto picked up the neglected brush and stared at Yami.
"Turn around," he said, using his index finger to illustrate what he wanted the other to do. Yami turned around, still in shock over what was happening.
Seto looked at the black mass in front of him and took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult. Just start, he thought, it'll get better. He hoped it would. With another deep breath, Seto took a small knot and started to comb it out, making sure he was gentle and not pulling. It was difficult, he had to constantly keep his frustration in check, because he could easily lose patience and do something he would regret.
Through some miracle of Seto's will, he untangled all of Yami's hair. It took quite a while, Seto had to change his position many times due to something or another falling asleep. Yami, on the other hand, stayed completely still the entire time, never moving and never talking. His eyes stared off into space like he was thinking something profound that Seto would never understand. While Seto sat back and admired his work, he stretched out his long legs.
Yami took this opportunity to turn around. "Why are you doing this?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you washing me?" Yami squinted his eyes when he stressed "you" and "me."
"Because I like things to be perfect, and I am the only one who can achieve that," Seto replied.
"But...I can clean myself," Yami protested. He was unnerved by the niceness his new master was showing, knowing that no one ever did things for him without expecting something in return.
"Not as well as I can," Seto retorted. "I am a little obsessive about...well, everything. Once I show you exactly how I want you to wash, you can do it yourself. And you have to wash at least once every three days, the stench of body odor is incredibly displeasing to me, even if it is covered up with perfumes."
"Do you bathe that often?" Yami asked. It was strange for someone to wash that often, though usually people didn't have enough water or enough man-power to get that amount of water into a bath tub.
"Yes, maybe even more," Seto said. "And I keep my hair short, and I wash my face and change my clothing every single day."
Yami smiled, his new master was a complete control freak. He didn't mind, at least the tall brunet didn't want to control him.
"Alright, now I have to wash your hair, and pay attention to this, I'm going to show you which bottles to use when." Seto got up and walked over to a tall, thin closet. It was barely noticeable from where Yami was sitting, it seemed to just be part of the wall. But when Seto reached out for a small, silver handle and pulled the door open, Yami saw a distinct difference between the patterns on the door and the wall. Seto grabbed three bottles off of one of the shelves and closed the door. There was a tall, thin clear glass bottle with a clear liquid inside, a smaller light- purple stained glass bottle, and an opaque dark red bottle. Seto walked back over and sat down, placing the bottles in a neat row next to him.
Seto picked up the red bottle and showed it to Yami like he was showing a wine bottle. "You use this one first," he uncapped the bottle and sniffed it, then put it in front of Yami's face, ushering him to do the same. "It smells like roses. It will get all the grime off of your hair, but leave it very dry. So..." He recapped the bottle and put it back in the line, then picked up the purple one. "You use this one to make it feel less like straw." He did the same with this bottle as he had done with the rose bottle so Yami could smell it too. "This one is lavender." Yami nodded.
"What's that one for?" Yami pointed at the clear bottle.
"That one," Seto picked up the clear bottle, but just held it up and looked at the liquid inside, "is for after you dry your hair. The other two you have to wash off, but this one stays in. It doesn't smell like anything, really, but will leave a silky sheen to your hair."
Yami snickered. "You said I could say anything I wanted to, right? Even if it would offend you?"
Seto looked at Yami suspiciously. "Yes," he answered carefully. "Continue."
"You're like my old mistresses, they always had bottles and bottles of things that would make their hair or skin look pretty, or make them smell good," Yami laughed again at the implication that Seto was like a woman. That implication wasn't lost on Seto either, who glared at Yami, but made sure that it wasn't as mean as he could make it.
"I'm not a woman," Seto said, Yami laughed again. "I already told you, I like to be clean."
"But all those fragrances..." Yami burst out into hysterical fits of laughter.
Seto could see why Yami's other masters had sold him. He took it as a personal challenge though.
"Would you rather I smelled bad? Hmmm." Seto thought dramatically, bringing his index finger and thumb up to his chin and looking off to one side. "Sour, like sharp moldy cheese? Would I be more appealing then?" Seto looked back at Yami, who had slowed down to a small giggle, and tilted his head to one side waiting for an answer.
Yami stopped and lowered his head a little. He knew he was bested because he really didn't find that appealing. His other masters had smelled like that, but of course, they covered it with perfume like most people did. "No, I guess not..." He said.
"Good," Seto said. "Besides, even if you said 'yes,' I had no plans on changing, you'd just have to live with me smelling like roses."
They both stared at each other in silence. Yami let the conversation they just had sink in, all the things he wouldn't have dared to say to others he had said to this man, and he wasn't being beaten for it, Seto even played along. Yami almost cried. He had never felt this safe in his life, and even though at the back of his head he knew what would happen eventually, he just wanted to savor this moment when he didn't have to worry about it.
"Alright, dunk your head under and then come back up. I'm going to show you how to use these," Seto said, turning to pick up the red bottle.
Yami did as asked and marveled at the feeling his untangled hair made on his face when he was underwater. It moved of its own accord, lightly touching his skin. He smiled a little and turned his head from side to side, slowly, loving that feeling. He stopped when he felt a tap on the top of his head, and remembered that he was only supposed to wet his hair and go back up. Quickly, Yami shot up through the water and tossed his head back to get the veil of hair off of his face. He brought his hands up to smooth the stray hairs out and opened his eyes, starting to apologize about being under so long. But he stopped at the sight in front of him. Seto was sitting back with his weight supported on one of his hands, his free one out in front like he was stopping something, and the whole front of his clothes was wet. Yami started to furrow his brow in confusion, and then remembered that he had whipped his hair back and in the process had sprayed large amounts of water in front of him. And Seto was in front of him.
"I asked that you get wet, not me," Seto said sarcastically. Yami was trying to hold in his laughter, he figured that he had already laughed at Seto enough for one day, but he couldn't hold back one small burst of it before he quickly brought his hands up to hold his mouth closed.
"Sorry, I didn't realize what I was doing," Yami managed to say through his fingers.
"I hadn't planned on changing my clothes for the rest of the day, maybe I'll just sit here sopping wet," Seto remarked, looking down at his wet clothes and sighing. "Anyway, let's get on with things."
He uncapped the red bottle and tipped it over, letting a thick gel pour out onto his hand. The liquid was almost clear, with an iridescence of red. The smell was intoxicating, sweet and musky, Yami thought it must have more fragrance in it than just rose. Seto righted the bottle and waited for the excess stop dripping before putting the cap back on and placing it with the others. Then he put his hands together and smeared the gel on either hand.
"Turn around again, I don't want to miss any spots," he said. Yami turned once again.
Seto started by running his hands on top of Yami's hair, getting it roughly even on the surface. Yami didn't know what to expect and pulled away a little bit from the contact Seto made. Seto started massaging the gel into Yami's hair going from the top of his head to his neck. Again, Yami pulled farther away.
"Stop moving," Seto commanded. "I can't bend that far."
Yami forced himself to relax back to the edge of the tub. He watched his breathing and willed it to slow down to it's normal pace before relaxing his shoulders. Yami didn't like to be touched, especially not by his masters, even though this was a different kind of touching. He knew that it was only meant to get the dirt out of his hair, but it still bothered him.
Seto continued massaging the liquid into Yami's hair completely unaware of what it was doing to him mentally. When it had become frothy, he pulled his hands out and dipped them in the water beside Yami, who instinctively moved away.
"I'm just washing my hands off," Seto assured. "Wash that out of your hair. I'm going to have to do it again, your hair is so dirty."
Yami held his breath and went underwater again, this time he tilted his head back when he was still under to prevent a flashback from earlier. When he came up, Seto was ready with the next amount of gel and quickly went about applying it to Yami's hair. Now that Yami knew what to expect, he was a little less jumpy, and closed his eyes so that the only thing stimulating his senses was the circular motions on his head. Right when Yami was starting to enjoy the feeling, Seto took his hands away and put them in the water, a signal for Yami to rinse his hair.
Seto started talking when Yami was out of the water again. "Now this next one, the lavender one, is also one that you wash out, but it doesn't lather up like the other one." Seto repeated the process, uncapping the bottle and pouring a small amount out on his hand, then rubbing it slowly into Yami's hair. He let his hands linger on the small head, making sure he got every strand. This part always made Seto feel complete, like he was taking something away and then replacing it with something better. A strange feeling, but it settled something restless in his body.
He stopped rubbing it in and untangled his hands from the dark hair, then went back over it to make it smooth and get the excess off. "Now wash that away and see the difference," Seto said.
Yami dunked his head under for the fourth time, but this time his hair was not just soft, it was also silky. He brought his hands up and ran them through it, he had never felt anything like it before. He surfaced and turned around with a big smile on his face. "I can see why you like to be clean," Yami said. "My hair is so soft."
"Yeah," Seto agreed. "Do you remember all the steps so far? Good, now get out and dry off." Seto got up and walked over to the chair the servants had placed the clean towels on. Behind him, he could hear the displacement of water and then feet on the marble floors. Yami wasn't very modest even though he didn't like being touched; it didn't bother him if people looked, since they were going to do it anyway.
Seto turned around with the towels in hand, but wasn't quite prepared for what he saw. He knew that Yami had gotten out of the bath, and that he would be naked, but he expected some underfed, gangly creature. Yami was far from gangly. His entire body was the tan color his face was, his long, thin appendages well defined and perfectly proportioned. His torso was lean, with a small amount of definition around his abdomen and chest, not too much, but more than Seto would have thought. Yami could have almost passed for a nobleman, although he was a little too tanned. Seto's breathing deepened and his heartbeat quickened at the mere thought of what he could do to a body like that. Yami's expression completed the portrait, it was stately and contemplative, he wasn't looking at Seto, but rather at something far in the distance. He had a little bit of a smirk, just enough so his face became familiar, not like someone you meet on the street and don't really know or care to know. Seto didn't want it to seem like he was staring, but he didn't want to look away, so he made like he was walking back to Yami at a very slow pace. It all came abruptly to a stop when he finally reached the dripping boy, and Yami looked at him as he took a towel.
Yami started to dry his body off, rubbing his arms and legs down, all the while Seto was watching. When Yami had finished, he wrapped it around his waist and took the other towel, turned away from Seto and flipped his hair upside down, making sure he dried it to the best of his ability. When he was done, he handed the wet towel back to Seto.
"No, put it back on your head when you were flipped down and twist it. Make it into a turban, it'll dry your hair faster." Seto said, rejecting the towel.
"Oh, ok," Yami bent down again and did as told.
Seto sighed. "Now we need to find clothing for you," Seto looked away worriedly. "For the time being you'll just have to wear my clothing. Tomorrow we'll go into town and get you some fitted clothes."
"Really? I get my own clothes?" Yami asked. Before he had always worn hand-me-downs, he didn't even know that he could have clothes that fit him.
"Yeah, you wont fit any of my clothes, you'd be swimming in them. For tonight you can wear a shirt, it should cover you. They're almost too big on me. My pants would probably be too large," Seto thought, "but maybe we could tighten them up with a belt. Follow me."
Seto walked out of the bathroom, headed toward his closet. When he was out of the bathroom he noticed how dark it already was, and was having trouble seeing what was in front of him.
"Ah, shit!" Seto screamed. He had ran into what he guessed was a low coffee table he had near his window, and if the curtains had been open he would've seen it. Now his shin was pounding in pain. Yami, who was walking closely behind Seto, bumped into him with the sudden stop and they both toppled over.
"Master, are you alright?" Yami asked edging closer. Seto cringed at the title and the pain in his leg, it hadn't really set in that he owned Yami.
"Mmm, I'm fine," Seto said through clenched teeth. The pain was receding, and Seto started taking deep breaths to quicken the recession. He heard Yami get up, and then felt small hands feeling around his shoulder and down his arm to his hand, both of them grabbing onto his one. He caught on and, with Yami's help, stood up. Seto tried to stand on his own, but he hurt his leg more than he thought, and if it wasn't for Yami's hand, he would have fallen backward. He felt another hand snake around his waist and he hung his arm around Yami's shoulders. Like this, they walked toward the bed, and Yami let Seto plop into it. Seto let out a sigh of relief.
"Where's your closet?" Yami asked.
"Go forward a couple of steps and you should be at the door. But before you do that, open some of those curtains," Seto said. He closed his eyes and waited for the light.
Yami swung the heavy black velvet curtains open, and the room was provided with enough light from the full moon to see the general shapes of things. It was definitely nighttime, and Yami was a little hungry, but he could handle it, he had gone hungry before. He wondered if Seto was hungry. Probably not, he hadn't mentioned it, and Seto seemed like the kind of person that would. Yami tied the curtains and walked over to the doorway he assumed was the closet. He opened the door and confirmed it was.
"Which shirt can I borrow?" Yami called back to Seto.
"I don't care, just pick one," Seto replied.
"Ok," Yami muttered to himself. There were so many shirts to pick from, luckily there wasn't a wide array of colors, or Yami would be stuck there forever trying to pick which he wanted to wear. He lifted the shirts without unfolding them, one by one, feeling their different textures and looking at their different colors, until he got to the bottom of one stack in the middle. There, hidden underneath various shades of blue and black, was a dark red shirt made from the softest material Yami had ever felt. He carefully pulled it out and unfolded it, looking at its size and fully appreciating how expensive it must've been. He scrunched the cloth up and rubbed it against his cheek, smiling at how it felt just like his hair underwater. Quickly, he pulled it on and removed the towel. There was something about the way the fabric slid over his body that made him completely peaceful, with that one act he had solidified his feeling of security in his master's house. He still worried about being raped, but somehow his body told him that it would be alright, even if his mind protested.
"Have you found anything?" Seto's voice asked from the other room.
"Yes," Yami replied. He walked out of the closet and closed the door. When he turned around he found that Seto had lit some candles that were around the room, giving it a warm glow.
Seto looked up and noticed the shirt, almost laughing when he saw it went down to the smaller boy's knees. "I didn't know I had that color in my wardrobe," he commented. Then he smirked. "What's up with your hair?"
"Huh?" Yami asked, bringing his hands up to feel his hair.
It was sticking straight up, adding at least a foot onto Yami's height. Never before had his hair been so clean, so like Seto, he was shocked at the odd behavior.
"Guess that's what it does," Yami concluded, shrugging his head.
"At least you're not that short anymore," Seto said, blowing out the lit match.
Yami scowled at him in the semi-darkness, and then remembered that he was free to do so, and scowled more noticeably. He walked over to Seto and placed the towel on a back of one of the chairs. The room was more or less visible now, and Yami took his time to look around. When he arrived, he was forced down to the ground and stayed staring at it, then he was rushed into the bathroom, so the full magnitude of the room couldn't hit him. It was gorgeous, there were at least three areas in it, a sitting place facing the tall, long wall made almost entirely of windows with a door leading to a balcony just as large as the room, a large couch facing the fireplace that was opposite the windows, and near the bathroom entrance there was a bookshelf. At the other end of the room there was an enormous bed, with black covers and pillows, and the wood of the headboard was stained black. It appeared like a black hole in the room that was full of a soft golden glow, and as far as Yami was concerned, it could stay that way.
"Now that your hair is dry you have to put this in it," Seto said, pulling Yami out of his own thoughts. Yami turned around and stared at the clear bottle in Seto's hand, then took it. He continued to stare at it, unsure of what to do, when Seto stood up and took the bottle back. He uncorked it and took one of Yami's hands, causing the other to cringe. "You don't like to be touched, do you?" Seto asked, not even looking up at Yami's expression.
"No, I don't," he replied. Seto nodded subtly, and poured a little bit of the oil into Yami's upturned hand. It felt sticky and slimy at the same time, and slightly disturbed Yami.
"Rub your hands together and drag them through your hair," Seto said, releasing Yami's hand.
Yami stuck his tongue out in disgust when he put his two hands together and heard the squishing noise it made. This oil stuff was gross, and it only got worse when he rubbed them together to get it evenly coated. Yami was relieved when he brought his hands up to his head and started to rid them of the oil. Seto, during Yami's freak out, had disappeared into the bathroom, only to reappear with a brush in his hand. Yami wiped the extra oil on the towel and took the brush, gently running it through his hair.
"Do I have to use that all the time?" Yami asked. He really didn't want to repeat the experience again.
"I guess not," Seto said. "But it makes your hair really shiny."
"I think I'll leave being shiny to you," Yami said. "That stuff is revolting."
Seto grunted. He couldn't see what the big problem was, but then again, he didn't remember a time when he wasn't using it, so he was used to the feeling.
Yami and Seto yawned simultaneously. It was getting late and they had both had a long, difficult day. Yami was just about falling asleep on his feet, but his eyes shot wide open when he thought about where he was going to sleep. He hadn't been shown to his quarters, which meant he currently didn't have any. His heartbeat quickened, he was having too good a time to ruin it with...something he didn't want to even think about. This entire day had been like a dream, but it was threatening to come crashing down.
Seto closed his mouth after a long yawn and blinked his eyes a couple of times. "Are you tired too?" Seto asked. Yami nervously nodded his head.
"Do you have a room yet?" Yami shook his head 'no.'
"Well, I guess you could just sleep with me," Seto said. Yami wasn't sure that was the tone he was expecting, there was something in it that put a small part of Yami's mind at ease.
But Yami couldn't get rid of the dreadful feeling that easily. "M-maybe I could just sleep on the couch," Yami said.
"God no, that thing is so uncomfortable, trust me, I've fallen asleep on it before, and woken up with my back stiff as a board," Seto eyed Yami suspiciously. Something wasn't right, but Seto was too tired to figure it out, and he was starting to get annoyed. "Just get in the bed."
Yami's breath hitched in his throat. That was the tone he was waiting for, the one that would destroy his hopes that maybe this master would be different. His head sunk and he walked slowly over to the side of the bed closest to him, followed by Seto. Yami lifted the covers and got under, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for the inevitable. He waited, and waited, and when he was just about to give up waiting, he cracked one eye open, and saw that the other side of the bed was unoccupied. Thoroughly confused, he sat up and bent further over, noticing that the door to the closet was open. Out walked Seto, his clothing changed into black silk pants and matching button-up top. He walked lazily over to the bed and lifted the covers on the other side, not bothering to look back at the confused Yami. Seto laid down and rolled over so that his back was facing Yami, then pulled the covers up over his shoulders. Yami sat there, wondering what had just happened. He shook his head and laid back down, doing the same as Seto had. He stayed awake for a couple minutes, listening to Seto's quiet, steady breathing, before he closed his own eyes and went to sleep.
A/N: (Sigh) It's over...
Couple of things... First: I kinda based Seto's cleanliness on myself, cause I have OCD where everything needs to be really, really clean. Bathing is a total must! Second: My beta has never hurt her shin so bad that she couldn't walk, so she was a little confused when I wrote that Seto needed Yami's help to get up. Well, I don't know how many of you have ever done that, but I have, and trust me, it is NOT a pleasant experience. One time I ran into a metal slide and bruised my shin all up, I couldn't stand up for a really long time. Just reading that part makes my shins hurt.
Alrighty then, that's all I got to say, so review please, I wanna know if I wrote something good. These chapters seem to be taking just about a week to write and proof, so I guess chapter three will be up next weekend...except that I'm going on a cruise...maybe I'll throw my policy of finishing the next chapter before I post the most current one out the window just this once and post before Thanksgiving. (Smile) Though, I dunno... Might just be mean and wait till Tuesday of next week.