Over the next few days, the puppy became a comfortable part of the Kaiba life. The vet's diagnosis on his day of discovery quickly came true, and his leg healed. After a while, a schedule was built. The puppy would spend the day playing with Mokuba, but would follow Seto around as soon as he arrived at home, finally worming its way into his bed at night. The brunette always fell asleep with the warm furry bundle in his arms.
One day, as Seto returned from school, his ankles were ambushed by a familiar furball, who tugged on his pants leg excitedly, but good-naturedly. He smiled and knelt to scratch behind fuzzy ears. Right away, the puppy nuzzled happily against his hand and affectionately licked his fingertips.
"Hey! Joey? Jo- Oh!" Mokuba spotted his older brother and the puppy as he emerged from a side hallway. "Seto. Welcome home!" He said happily, hugging the brunette and watching him scoop up the puppy.
"Who's Joey?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow. His younger brother simply grinned brightly and pointed to the puppy. His older brother blinked, rather blankly.
"I was watching a nature show about kangaroos on TV, and he was sitting in my lap. When the baby kangaroo came on the screen and the narrator called it a 'Joey,'" Mokuba paused to show how the puppy looked up at the name, smiling, "The puppy ran to the TV and barked each time the narrator said the name, like he was being called." Seto chuckled at the story and held the puppy in the air.
"Is that you?" he asked, "Is your name Joey?" He received an excited bark and wild tail wagging as the puppy squirmed to be put down. "Alright! Joey it is, then." he said, setting the puppy down and kicking his shoes off so he could go sit down. Joey barked and followed Seto into the house.
The evening was relaxed and enjoyable, as evenings always were. The only exception was trying to keep Joey away from the dinner table. The puppy didn't seem to know when to give up. He wouldn't touch the dog food the butler had bought, and instead, would manage to look cute enough to guilt the chef into giving him scraps. Every evening, he'd sit looking determined, at the dining table's end, hoping for scraps. He received them from Mokuba whenever Seto wasn't paying attention.
By the end of the evening, as Seto headed for bed, Joey was still tagging along, at his heels. The brunette held the door open for the puppy instinctively, who ran inside and immediately hopped up onto the bet, curling up on the pillow.
"Come on, now. Get off." Seto said with a chuckle, as he mercilessly pushed Joey off the pillow. "You know that's mine." Joey growled softly, but obeyed and sat, waiting for the brunette to settle. Upon changing into pajamas and peeling back the covers to slide into the bed, Joey wormed his way under the sheets and the brunette smiled and sighed. He dropped the blanket, and suddenly there was only a small lump under his covers. The lump moved left, and then right, then straight for the edge of the bed, so fast it may have been determined to go on forever. Seto reached out only just in time to catch Joey as he tumbled out from under the blankets and off the bed with a small yelp. He chuckled and held the puppy up. Joey simply barked and wagged his tail, catching Seto off guard by licking his nose. The brunette smiled and climbed into bed. Immediately, Joey curled up on his chest and yawned, nuzzling into his top. Still smiling softly, Seto reached down and scratched his puppy's ears as he closed his eyes and began to doze.
Seto's dream that night was strange. He dreamed of a blonde man, handsome and with kind eyes, holding a hand out to him. The young man, probably his own age, pulled him into his arms and nuzzled Seto's neck. The brunette dreamed that they fell asleep in each other's arms, warm and happy. When he awoke in the morning, he shook his head groggily, trying to remember his dream. However, it disappeared from his mind quickly and left him with a playful puppy pulling on the sheets and pillow to get him up quicker.
They bought Joey a collar with his name on the tag only a few days later. Joey Kaiba was officially part of the family.
Weeks passed by swiftly, during which Seto continued to attend school, as every teenager must. Once, Joey got out of the house and followed the brunette to the school, where he began to dig big holes in the field. When he was spotted in the field, the janitor tried to catch him. Joey was too quick and bolted through the employee's legs and down the hall. The principal and vice principal were both outsmarted as well, and it was after a good twenty minute-long chase, that Joey was finally cornered in the girls' washroom.
Seto was sitting in class, reading a book as the P.A. sounded.
"Attention to the student who brought a golden retriever puppy to school… Joey is waiting in the office for you to take him home." The last three words were so emphasized that the brunette winced visibly and stood suddenly. The wide eyes of his classmates, who simply could not believe that their stone cold and near robotic classmate could ever own a dog, let alone a troublesome puppy, followed his exit.
As the brunette entered the office, Joey, who'd been enjoying coos of adoration from the office ladies, barked and ran to his side. Seto sighed and knelt; completely ready to scold the pup, but Joey licked his cheek excitedly and wagged his tail in a completely innocent manner. He sighed heavily and turned to his principal.
"My apologies for this. He must have followed me to school." he said, bowing slightly, dog still in his arms. He was dismissed to take Joey home. As he entered the classroom, only to grab his bag, all of the girls spotted the cute, tail-wagging bundle in his arms and a collective excitement broke out among them as they all jumped up to pet him. Joey loved the attention, and Seto suffered through it as he answered the questions about his dog, pushing through the crowd, grabbing his bag and leaving the class, long before the girls had gotten their fill of Joey cuteness.
As they headed out down the street toward the Kaiba mansion, Seto sighed and shook his head, flicking Joey on the nose. He received only a content lick of the fingertips.
"So, a troublemaker and a ladies' man, eh?" he asked with a small chuckle. The brunette shook his head. "Well, I suppose I'll have to keep a closer eye on you from now on." he noted mildly that Joey's tail faltered in its wagging for only a moment.
Joey was a clever puppy, and although Seto was much more careful after the school incident, he still managed to escape the mansion grounds on a regular basis. The puppy followed Seto absolutely everywhere, even when told to stay. He was unbelievably exasperating, but whenever Seto tried to discipline him, Joey would droop his ears and look up at the brunette with the most pitiful and imaginable expression one could ever picture a dog making. Seto's heart would melt and he'd usually give up immediately.
Nevertheless, the house brightened considerably with Joey's presence, with the exceptions of the maids he tortured by ruining pillows and tracking dirt when he came in from the yard. However, discipline didn't work, and the puppy was too free a spirit to be trained. Not that it was really such a bad thing. Joey was the family's free spirit.