Story: Puppies and Dragons Don't Mix
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.
Warning: Yaoi (boyxboy). May contain lime and/or lemon.
Pairings: Jou/Kaiba Possibly: Yami/Yugi Ryou/Bakura Otogi/Honda
Summary: Jou finds out that Kaiba is slowly destroying himself and desperately needs help. But why should he care? He's his worst enemy...right?
Symbols: "Talking" 'Thinking' -Scene Change- Chapter Start & End
Chapter 14: Searching
It smelled of spices and sweets, the aroma filling every corner of the cozy house. Flowers decorated the garden and spilled over the boxes that had been set on the windowsills while a breeze blew the snow-white curtains. Spring had sprung and birds made sure that this was known in their musical songs that added life to the world.
His mother held a swaddle of blankets with her delicate hands, cooing softly while the sunlight fell upon her. The rocking chair she sat in creaked softly, her cinnamon brown curls shining in the sun. He stood in the doorway, watching her.
Her eyes, bright blue like a cloudless summer sky, lit up when her soft gaze found him and she smiled tenderly.
"Come." Her singsong voice beckoned him. "Come see what wonderful gift I have."
She held the bundle out to him as he toddled over, setting it gently in his arms. It was warm and heavier than he had expected. He looked between the folds of cloth and found the wrinkled, rose pink face of a baby; eyes seemingly glued shut and wisps of raven black hair littered its scalp.
"What is it?" He inquired, bemused. "A monkey?"
Her happy laugh filled the room and confused him even more. "Close." She said, reaching out to stroke his head. "It is a baby. Your brother."
He looked up at her, his sea blue eyes filled with concern. "Is it going to replace me? Am I not your baby anymore?"
She bent down and kissed his forehead. "No no, honey. You'll always be my baby. And now, he will too."
Still slightly unsure, he watched as his brother's tiny mouth yawned, stretching the skin taut around his mouth. He scrunched his nose up, unsettled. It looked odd.
"I want you to take care of him because you two will be together always. It is a special bond that brother's share." His mother spoke again, soothingly brushing the baby's forehead. "You must protect him too because you are the oldest."
Doubt clouded his eyes and he glanced back up at his mother. "What if I don't like him?"
She beamed at his innocence. "Don't worry, you will. At times maybe you'll feel like you don't." She slipped the baby from his arms. "But deep down inside you always will."
Climbing onto her lap, he touched the baby's cheek, the silky skin warming his fingertips, and smiled. "I think I will like him"'
He leaned his head on her and she began to rock again, singing softly. "What's his name?"
"Mokuba. My little wooden horse."
-Kaiba's desk-
"Kaiba! Kaiba!"
He jerked up sharply from the surface of his desk, his mind still stinging from the recent dream-memory. "What?" Looking upwards, his gaze met Jou's and he flinched inwardly.
'Jou…'
"What are you doing? Have you forgotten the paper we had to write?" Jou took a deep breath to calm his nerves but it didn't help much. "It took me forever to find your office and when I do find you, you're sleeping!"
Kaiba leaned back upon his chair, keeping his icy exterior in place, and smirked. "Well, what were you doing at the foot of the stairs?"
Jou flushed slightly, gritting his teeth, and forced a sort of warped smile. "That was different because you were doing something important and I had to wait. Plus, you woke me up then disappeared. Why the hell did you do that? You should have just let me sleep!"
His stomach doing somersaults, Kaiba cut the topic short. "Fine, fine, let's just begin on this stupid paper."
He started up his laptop that was placed on his desk and waited impatiently for it to load, tapping his fingers until something held them still. A hand.
Yanking his away, he turned sharply towards Jou who was now seated next to him. "Why did you do that? Don't touch me."
"The tapping of your fingers was annoying me." He grunted as he straightened his chair. "What is your problem?"
"I hate to be touched, especially by you." Kaiba spat as he struggled to keep his focus on the screen, rubbing his hand unconsciously. "And who said you could sit next to me?"
"I did since I need to see what the hell you are writing. Who knows what you could make up?" Jou moved nearer and Kaiba felt his heartbeat accelerate. "Now, how should we begin this web of lies?"
"Uh…"
This wasn't as easy as it sounded.
"It has to sound plausible for us since we aren't exactly the best of friends, so no friendship bracelets or anything." Kaiba offered, fuzzily staring at the screen. "Though we can't say we just fought with each other either."
"How about we say that we played with Mokuba? Or…I dunno…something that we both enjoy."
"Is their anything, besides playing with Mokuba, that we both enjoy?" Kaiba gave a sideways look at Jou who was grinning sheepishly.
"Well…what do you do besides go to school, work, and be an arrogant idiot?" Kaiba shot him a glare who was trying to look innocent. "What? I'm just telling the truth."
"I play the piano."
"Excuse me, what?"
"I play the piano! Do you know what a piano is, mutt?"
"Of course I do. I just find it fascinating that robots can play pianos now."
"Watch it."
"Fine, fine. But do you really?"
"Yes!"
"Wow, you really are human. Who taught you?"
"My mother."
"Oh…well…have you forgotten?"
"No, I still can play!"
"Fine then, play! Where's your piano?"
"I will not play for a moron like you!"
"Why not? Because you can't?"
"I can!"
"Then play!"
"No!"
"What are you bad or something?"
"No!"
"Then play!"
"I won't."
"Or you can't? Which is it?"
"I can play!"
"Then prove it to me. I never thought you'd back down so easily."
"Arrgh! Fine!"
Kaiba shoved himself away from the desk and pushed past the puppy, stalking down the hall. Scrambling to keep up, Jou nearly fell on his face and grabbed Kaiba's sleeve to steady himself.
"Do you mind?" He sneered, twisting away from his grasp. "I don't need you to dirty my coat."
"My deepest apologies, your highness." Jou rolled his eyes at Kaiba. "It was just an instinct."
"Shut up."
They walked in silence, footsteps echoing in the halls and Jou kept glancing uneasily around him.
"Why is it so dark?" He said as the lights became dimmer and fewer of them were seen on. "And cold?"
"As rich as I am, I still think it is a waste to heat and keep electricity on in a part of the house I hardly ever visit." He shook his head at the blonde's question.
"It's kinda creepy if you ask me." Jou tried not to think of what could be hiding in the shadows that were growing into fearsome forms. He was defenseless to these sorts of things.
"You were the one who wanted to hear me play the piano, you idiot." Kaiba hissed and sped up the pace. This was taking way too long.
"Is this house haunted?" Jou whispered, fear slowly constricting his throat. "I heard big houses are more likely to have ghosts."
"No, you dumbass. There is nothing of that sort here or in the rest of the world." Kaiba was on the verge of losing his temper with the dog, his irritating questions grating on his nerves.
Finally reaching the door, he stopped only to have Jou run headlong into him. Whirling around, he growled. "Watch where your-"
"KAIBA! Did you hear that? It…it…" He didn't finish his sentence and instead just stood there, shaking until… "Hurry up and open the door!"
'Baka…' Kaiba thought as he unlocked the door to reveal a pitch-black room, the curtains drawn and sheets thrown over the furniture. He flicked the switch on, flooding the room with light and Jou shoved inside, feeling a bit better.
An ebony grand piano, spotless and elegant, sat in the middle of the room, glinting in the light's glow. He gawked at its size and sat down on the bench, fiddling around with the keys. Noises collided with one another and made a jumbled mess of sound.
"Stop it." Kaiba snarled as he hauled Jou of the piano. "Do you know what a racket your making?"
Looking a bit hurt, Jou seated himself on one of the chairs and rested his chin on his hands. "When are you going to start?"
Kaiba, who had been standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, glared at Jou scathingly before sitting down upon the bench. Poising his delicate fingers over the keys, he suddenly remembered that he had never played for anyone else other than Mokuba and his mother. He swallowed the saliva that had been gathering in his mouth and reassured himself. 'What are you so damn worried about? It's just the inu.'
Muffling the tense feeling in his stomach, Kaiba breathed in and began playing the song he knew by heart and that had automatically come to him. His mother's. The one played at her funeral, her wedding. The first one he learned with her on that dismal day in the middle of rain season. The one he had played for Mokuba when he was little and the one that he had often played when his stepfather had hurt him.
'Why this one?' He frowned inside and felt stupid. 'Why did you pick this one? Why not some cheesy or chipper one?'
The thoughts became less persistent as he lost himself in the music, letting the neutral mask slip from his face. The memories of his mother and him flooded into his mind and he became that little boy that had sat in her lap once again.
The frown disappeared and his eyes, which had been empty, filled with life. Jou sat forward, watching this transformation come over Kaiba. It was as if he had lost all those years of hardship. He became his age. Jou was fixated.
The slow, peaceful song was coming to an end, Kaiba's favorite part. He pressed the cold ivory keys longer and held the last note until it flittered away into the night.
Unable to look at Jou out of slight embarrassment, he slid off and headed to the door. "Come on, it's done."
"Wait! Kaiba!" Childishly, Jou called out to him and fought to catch up. "That was really good so why are you running?"
"I'm not running." Kaiba threw his defenses back up that were down only moments ago, detached and emotionless once again. "I just don't see the point in hanging around there after you got what you wanted, mutt."
"Kaiba." Shaking his head, Jou followed the CEO, wondering if he had imagined what had just happened back there.
End of Chapter 14
Author's note: Can I even express to you how sorry I am that this is incredibly late? All I can do is what I did when I was about three: It wasn't my fault! My computer did it! It broke itself! It all started when I was beginning my new chapter and it just…blew up! Arrgh! Not literally of course, but still. I couldn't get on or anything. So I turned it over to a specialist who kept it FOREVER just to clean out all the crap that was in there. So annoying! Now, here I am with a chapter that took a hell of a long time to write. I wanted to make it longer but I also want to get it to you as fast as I could. Hope that you liked it and I won't emotionally beat myself up for it either. (People get sick of that) Thanks so much for my reviews, I loved them tons. Also, I know that a couple of people have fanart. I am so happy that you took time to do that! Thanks so much! Here's my email if you need it: But I don't know what else to do. Do you want me to email you? Or what? Sorry, but I've never had anyone nice enough to do this for me and I really want to see it! Please email me or tell me in your reviews. I bet it's gorgeous! I have to warn you all about something, though. My laptop isn't mine. The company that my mother works for and has borrowed the computer from just found out that she's getting married and moving away and they are really mad. So, in vengeance for her leaving, they are fighting for the computer and I might lose it. Now, if that happens I won't have any contact with anyone until I can get my own computer and that really blows. Why is the world against me? Anyways, feeling sorry for myself isn't going to get me anywhere so I guess I'll have to either live with my dad or buy my own computer. Great choices. I won't give up though because that damn company is really pissing me off. Thanks to all my reviewers (again) because you were patient enough to wait for this. So, bringing it to an end, I want to thank you all for reading another chapter and I am asking you to REVIEW! Please? Hope that you had a wonderful thanksgiving and that you won't be eating leftovers for too long. Bleh!
P.S. Somehow, Kaiba playing the piano makes me feel happy all over. I think he is cut out for that kind of stuff.