A light rain was falling all around Jou as he stepped outside. Everything was covered in a mist that accentuated the beauty of Domino's scenery. Trees were outlined in a beauty that could only be matched by some divine creation. Raindrops bounced off of surrounding buildings and cars, giving everything that foggy, surreal peruse. Jou stopped in the middle of the courtyard and stood. Just stood, with his face to the weeping heavens. His outline became more and more distorted through windows dripping with moisture, until he was trickling angel.

Upstairs, still in the room where Jou had drawn him, Seto Kaiba stood gazing at the teenage artist, basking himself in the revitalizing liquid, such as a cat or turtle would do outside in the sun. One palm rested on the cool glass of the window, almost as if he expect to reach down and tug Jou back into the room, just to feel his warmth. Kaiba watched with sad eyes as the blonde below shrugged on his backpack and set off for home, walking leisurely to enjoy the misty rain.

Sighing, Seto turned around and gazed at the room, not really seeing it. For a moment, he was a bit introverted; staring at his soul in a way that would put psychics to shame. That was when it surfaced.

Blue eyes began to lid heavily, like one who had been awake for several days in a row. His normally pale face began to shadow upon itself; light upon light upon light began to extinguish from his youthful face, bringing seemingly immeasurable age to this teenager.

As Seto Kaiba began retreating into his subconscious, another entity surfaced, locking the real Seto deep within his own soul.

Slitted eyes painted green peered out from underneath a dark skin tone. Normal canines were lengthened to that of a mythological vampire, Seto's nose lost its perkiness; it became flat, almost non-existent. Underneath the mop of normally well-kept brown locks, an indentation formed: holding the strength-giving liquid of the kappa. The webs between his fingers lengthened and joined about halfway up the digits.

A kappa stared at the classroom Seto Kaiba had been earlier. It's black-and-white vision gave cruel rendition to the landscape of its surroundings. It knew why it was here, what its purpose was, but it had no idea about whose body he had taken over, where it was, when it was, and how it got there. Scratch that–it did know how it got there, but that was irrelevant to it's rationale.

The little trickster's mouth–if it could be called that–curled up into a grin that could only be described as a grimace. With the piece of paper still clutched in its hand, the kappa in Seto Kaiba's body meandered out the door of the classroom, down the stairs, and out of the schoolyard, ready to follow Jou home. It was ready, that is, until Kaiba's phone rang.

–

The blonde stretched feverishly, reveling in the feel of his muscles loosening and his limbs popping. When he settled his arms by his sides, he felt a lot better than he had coming out of the school. No longer feeling the general unease of sitting in close quarters with his enemy, Jou relaxed, taking to the streets in an eased stupor.

Half the people on the streets stopped to stare at the duelist who was walking down the street leisurely, normally thrown around blonde hair now drenched past his shoulders. Water droplets dangled off his long, luxurious eyelashes and some splattered down his porcelain cheeks. His clothes were already soaked and sticking to his body like a second skin. Needless to say, the unwanted stares he got put a bit of a damper on his good mood.

"Hey, baby. I'm dating. Want a date?" one prostitute ventured to inquire. He...or she (Jou couldn't really tell) leaned against the corner of an alley, twirling a bit of long brown hair around one finger. The person's body was covered–or rather, barely covered–with skin tight leather that showed unaltered curves. Though the top part of the prostitute was unadulterated, the bottom half was very questionable.

Jou swallowed nervously and continued walking, wincing as he heard the she-male curse him and his family behind him. Turning the corner, Jou sighed in relief. This portion of his neighborhood always gave him the creeps, but it was cheap and filled his and his father's needs, so it was fine.

"Hello, Jou!" the artist was greeted cheerfully at the elevator to his apartment by a kindly old lady carrying a green bag filled with groceries. It was the same routine everyday. He would walk in around the same time, help out Missus Nakaura from down the hall, and then head into his own dwelling.

"Afternoon, Miss Nakaura," Jou answered back, smiling. He reached out his arms and gingerly pried the bag of bread, milk and flour from the old woman's gnarled hands. The old lady smiled in that sly, secretive way of hers and let her bag of groceries go.

Chiyo Nakaura was around seventy-three, survivor of two wars, and one who produced many, many generations in her family. She was a retired seamstress, but that didn't stop her from doing everything working people did. Chiyo loved being independent, and with her flyaway graying hair and stooped over pitch, she was a very well-respected citizen in Domino. She liked spending some of her free time with Jou. Chiyo had come to think of the unruly, impulsive teenager as a grandson, and he thought of her like a grandmother, since none of his ever came to visit.

They stepped into the elevator together.

"How was your day, Miss Nakaura?" Jou asked, shifting her bag of groceries from one hand to the other and readjusting his backpack. He shook out his straightened locks, careful not to get any water on the elderly lady beside him.

"I baked some cookies this morning. Would you like to come over and have some?" she answered, her blue eyes shining cheerfully.

"Thanks, but I got a lot of homework to do, so I gotta say no," the statement was regrettable, but he really did have a lot of homework, and Jou didn't want his grades slipping more than they already were.

"Ah, I understand. Wouldn't want you to fail, now would we?"

For no reason at all, Jou laughed at her reply. Perhaps he was letting of some of the tension he had been feeling earlier. Maybe it was just to laugh, which he had been doing so little of the past few days. Whatever the reason, it sure felt good.

"Have a good evening, Jou!" Chiyo called as she snatched her groceries out of the boys hands and started down to her apartment.

"Yeah, you too..." the blonde muttered, turning and walking down the hall towards his door. A key turn and a toeing of shoes later, Jou was standing inside his comfortable apartment.

It was silent, eerily so, not something Jou was accustom to hearing after he set foot inside his home. This was a silence so deep, so introspective, that it settled into the bones like a decomposed body settled into the Earth. Jou shivered, and not just with the cold of bring in the air conditioner wearing a soaked outfit. Something just wasn't right.

Ignoring that sinking feeling in his stomach, the blonde shrugged off his jacket and hung it on a hook behind the door. That was it's temporary home until he could get downstairs to get it dried. He pulled off his socks and stuffed them into his shoes. Jou shed the rest of his clothing, albeit his boxers and walked down the hallway toward his bathroom, eagerly awaiting the warm caress of a shower. Though it was mid-fall, the apartment was still blowing out cold air. Goosebumps rose on his pale flesh, making him run to the bathroom.

Jou never heard the front door open and shut as his foot set down on the white tile of his bathroom.

–

"Hello? Oh, hi! Yeah, he gave it to me, but I was out working all morning with Grandpa! When? What movie? Oh, no thanks! Yeah, I'll see you at school!"

Little Yuugi Motou put the phone down gently, regardless of how he felt. Yes, Yami had given him the message that Anzu had called earlier, but he'd be damned if he was going to call her back! Not to mention she wanted to go to the movies! Hoping that the phone would burst into flames with the intensity of his glare, Yuugi pulled on his socks and stood at the large window in his room.

"Is something wrong, Yuugi?" Yami asked, coming up the stairs with a pile of clothes in his hands.

Only four months ago, Yami had unlocked the powers of his ancient past, and had been able to surmise a flesh and blood form. The tri-haired pharaoh had been a terrific help around the house, but a magnet for the never-ending calls from the friendship queen. Yuugi had come to rely on and trust the pharaonic spirit more and more as time dwelled on.

"Not really," the short one muttered, turning away from the majestic view of Domino City he had. The rain had become less than a drizzle, droplets finding their connection to the ground less and less. "Anzu called...again."

"I see,"

The two shared a knowing glance; neither one of them like the brunette.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Yami questioned, putting Yuugi's freshly laundered clothes into his oak dresser. He shut the drawer and dusted his hands off, turning to face his smaller counterpart. He smiled warmly as he looked upon the small champion duelist.

Wide, innocent eyes gazed at everything with a sense of understanding, even if Yuugi didn't understand everything going on around him. The boy's small frame was a starking contrast to his age, which was a whopping sixteen. Silky, tri-colored hair circled his petite face like an angelic halo of gold, black and magenta. It was the quality of innocence that attracted people to him and gave his that air of leadership. Every one of his friends were willing to die for this young man in front of the spirit, and for good reason. He had already saved the world twice! In one year!

"Me and Jou had plans to catch a ball game for school," he turned around to look at the pharaoh. "Do you want to come?" Yuugi asked excitedly. His violent eyes sparked up with the prospect of having his most loved person in the world at his side during the Domino baseball game.

"Ball game?"

"Baseball! You know, that sport we watched yesterday with the guy throwing a ball and another one hitting it!"

"Oh. Well, sure!"

Yuugi smiled; and for a moment, Yami was blinded by the intensity of this young man's candor.

"Yuugi! Yami! Jou's here!" Grandpa Motou called from downstairs. Yuugi looked at the clock on the wall.

"He's early."

"Is that bad?"

"No, but Jou's one to be late...not early..."

"Do you think something's wrong?"

"Not necessarily..."

"Why don't we go on down and see?"

"Yeah!" pulled on his blue school jacket, Yuugi bounded down the steps with Yami in tow. Something gnawed at the back of Yami's mind, but he pushed it aside.

"Jou?" Yuugi called when they reached the bottom of the steps.

"Hey Yuug'..."

Sitting in a chair in the kitchen was Yuugi's blonde, Boston accented friend, holding an ice pack to his face, with millions of minute gashes all over his body.

–

Whew! Sorry that took me so long to get out. English has really been swamping me with school work and things have been happening at home and–I'm just making up excuses. What matters is, I updated ; Thank you so much for all your reviews!

Sapphire Dragons: Thank you ; I was kind of tired of seeing those two always acting extremely stupid around each other. And Feng Shui is the Chinese art or practice of positioning objects, especially graves, buildings, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.

ember-fang: YAY! I have a new fan!! ;

mandapandabug: chibi eyes stutters Thank you for that big ego boost! I don't think I'm one of the best writers on here, but thank you! huggles I hope you find you're adjective soon...lolz.

Ice Flame: I guess the old 'Kaiba you're such a bastard!' and the conveniently placed 'Jou fell into Seto's lap and they began making out passionately' thing got a bit old for you? Well, I'm glad I could give you a taste of something different.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews, I can't wait to read more!! ;