Chapter Title: Searching
Chapter Genre: Drama/Angst
Chapter Summary: Jou gets a new job, and we find out the first part about what Kazuya said to Kaiba.
BETA:I think my BETA is busy, so...I need another one any volunteers? It's just in case my main BETA is busy...
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Yu-Gi-Oh
Dedication: EVERYBODY!
Review Replies: I think I responded to all of them
Notes: sorry for the long wait, writer's block is very hard to crack, anyway I think you will enjoy this chapter, and I'll make it extra long, because you guys waited so patiently!
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His porcelain face, tossed and turned "no, n-o please s-stop it!" he screamed, bolting right up his bed, sweat poured down his body, in shimmering waters.
Kazuya went to the bathroom, he picked up one of the many white face towels, dabbed it a little with water, and wiped himself clean of the perspiration that gathered on his body.
He sighed wearily, and stripped to nothing then settled into a relaxing bubble bath filled with a soothing scent, Lavender and Chamomile, he noticed.
He sighed, and settled more comfortable in the bath, suddenly his eyes closed, unknowingly lulling him back into his nightmarish world.
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In a dark office in the upper part of Domino, the occupant folded his hands together, deep in his thoughts. Well the lesser part of his thoughts were thrown out the window when a black fur ball bounded to his desk at a fast space.
Kaiba braced himself, for the flying hug of his life, of course only Mokuba would do that and thought of it as that
"Hi, Seto!"
Kaiba's face stretched upward, a little "Hey, Mokuba"
Mokuba instantly noticed that something was amiss in Kaiba's attitude, usually by now Mokuba was being screamed at for being at his office, instead of at home.
"What's wrong big brother?"
"Nothing's wrong Mokuba, shouldn't you be at home?"
Mokuba's lip pursed down and he tried glaring down at Kaiba, but Kaiba chuckled
"Oh Mokuba please, I invented that! Don't use it, if you don't how"
Mokuba scowled and Kaiba instantly stopped chuckling. Mokuba's scowling face turned upwards into a smile, and Kaiba frowned, something was very wrong, if Mokuba smiled that maniacally.
"Come on, Seto let's go somewhere..."
Kaiba raised a questioning eyebrow "where exactly...?"
Mokuba grinned and dragged a pouting Kaiba out of the office
"You'll see..." Mokuba said
"Somehow I don't find that comforting..."
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They ended up in a little café, Kaiba found the place actually a little soothing, it was dark, the place smelt like cinnamon, sandalwood and Japanese cherry blossoms, and his senses were simmering in the scent, his head felt a lot relaxed.
Kaiba didn't even hear the waiter, come by and asked for his order "Sir? What will you have?"
"Hmm...I'll have green tea"
Mokuba looked a little worried "Seto is something wrong?"
"Oh nothing Mokie...I like this place"
Mokuba smiled both at the simple compliment and the pet name he had not heard his brother call him in awhile.
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Jou and Mai were still conversing about the mysteries about Kazuya, and other times jumping to random conversation about the old days, when the gang were themselves.
After an hour or two of chatting, Jou placed his hands on the table, ready to get up
"Where are you going Hon?"
"I have to go Mai, I have to go find a job soon, if I didn't know you were coming, I would have gone on a job hunt, well not exactly..." Jou smiled
"Well okay Hon, I just hope it doesn't rain soon, the weather didn't look too good out there, before we came out here, even though the sun was out..."
Jou sighed. "I just hope it doesn't rain, I need a job desperately, I just lost my job as a burger boy, and the day before Kazuya stepped into my life, weird huh?"
"Yeah...but were would you work now, for good cash?"
"I don't know...at the nearest Starbucks?"
"It's better than being a burger-boy any day..." Mai chuckled, and Jou ducked his head, blushing.
"Ah well, you have to do anything to get by, especially in today's world..." Jou sighed.
"Come on Hon, don't be depressed, and let's go somewhere that's not too dark, ne?"
Jou smiled 'she's always trying to make me happy' he thought "sure"
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"Seto we need to talk"
"About what Mokuba?"
"Jou; I didn't like how you treated him the other day..."
Seto's eyes instantly hardened "Why would you care about that mutt?"
"I see him as one of my friends, and just because he doesn't live just as extravagantly as us, don't give you the right Seto"
Kaiba snorted, "That's for sure..."
"You're going to apologize to him Seto, I don't care how you do it, but you're going to do it, and I'll know if you don't apologize, I give you only 2 days..."
After Mokuba's speech, Kaiba's mouth was hanging open "Mokuba you're not to tell me what to do! I am far older than you are! Besides if I don't apologize what can you do?"
Mokuba smirked and that scared Kaiba just a tad. "Well, we'll see won't we...?"
Kaiba hurriedly sipped his tea, to quench down the butterflies in his stomach the thought of apologizing to that mutt, was a little un-nerving, he had not had the need to apologize to anybody, exempting his brother...
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"Come on let's go Hon" Jou was about to pay, but Mai stopped him, and smiled
"My treat, besides you can tip off the waitress if you want..." Mai frowned and went to pay
Jou got up from his spot, and put a decent amount of money on the table, and just his luck the waitress that served them, was just coming by.
"Here, thanks for serving us" he bowed respectively
She blushed "no need for formalities, thanks anyway..."
Jou smiled "No problem, so you will be my server when I come again..."
She blushed "Sure and my name is Azuwa"
"Thanks Azuwa-kun"
She blushed yet again "No problem" then she walked off, leaving a smiling Jou trotting off in the direction Mai followed.
Mai was fuming 'how dare she?!' she of course saw the whole scene between the girl and Jou, and didn't like it one bit!
She grabbed Jou's ear "what did I tell you about molesting young girls?!"
Jou was in too much pain to answer, but smiled nonetheless...
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After their tea, Kaiba paid and was about to leave as well, ignoring Mokuba
The limo pulled up to the front of the cafe, and Kaiba looked up, to see the name of the café, he really liked that place, it numbed his busy mind, even if for a moment.
He didn't catch the name, two flashes of blond (e) hairs, caught his peripheral vision and looked at the spot, but he only caught a flash of a purple car.
Kaiba sighed, 'I must look really dumb, in this position' he gathered, his wits about him, and entered the awaiting limo, besides looking at the name was stupid, he could always ask Mokuba.
"Mokuba what is the name of that café?"
Mokuba Cheshire grinned broke out "Café Suku, why?"
"No reason...how did you find it anyway?"
"Big Brother, you don't really think that I stay at home, all the while you're in the office do you?" Mokuba smiled
Kaiba's face instantly whirled in Mokuba's direction "what!"
Mokuba instantly broke out laughing and Kaiba was just confused "I was just joking...Jou introduced me"
"Oh, are we on the subject of that mutt again?" Kaiba scowled
"You liked it there, didn't you?" Mokuba taunted
Kaiba just scowled and turned towards the window, ignoring Mokuba once again
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When they got to Jou's apartment, it was already pouring outside, oh well spring was almost here anyway, so it was expected, I guess no job hunting today then...Jou thought.
Jounouchi appeared from his bedroom, adorned in comfortable sweats
"Where can I change?" Mai asked already stepping into Jou's room
"The bathroom Mai, you know that..." Jou smiled
"Just checking Hon, a lot has changed...I never know with you anymore..."
Jou chuckled
"Whenever you get back, I have soup prepared..."
"Okay Hon..."
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Mai came out pretty much wearing one of Jou's old sweats, which looked odd, because the woman never wore anything less than a little revealing.
Mai peeked her head into the kitchen, and saw no one; she was confused, until Jou called her from the parlor
There sat two sets of plate full of Miso soup on the table; she inhaled the aroma and smiled pleasantly
"Smells good..." Mai said the dreamy smile still plastered on her face
Jou blushed "well...if there's one thing I know how to cook very well...its Miso soup...I used to make it for Shizuka when she was sick...well now..."
Mai hugged Jou to her chest, "its okay honey...come on let's watch one of those romantic comedy's like Bridge Jone's Diary...have you watched the first movie?"
Jou smiled "well duh...it's like the best romantic comedy out there, and in my opinion the best, let's watch 'Edge of no reason', it's even funnier than the first"
"Okay hon"
Mai curled up with a blanket one of the love seats and Jou curled up in a sitting position on the other love seat, opposite of Mai, with his favorite Red-Eyes black dragon blanket, both sipping their soup and laughing, all the while.
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Kazuya walked down the street, he stepped on a puddle, and cursed the rain. The blond head was on his way to Jounouchi's house, it was a couple blocks away, and he felt like walking today, the smell of the rain to clear his head and hope that his nightmares will vanish...the blond man shuddered.
Kazuya knocked for the third time, was there nobody home?
He tried to peek in through the windows, and saw two figures lying on the couches; he sighed and reluctantly used the extra key Jou kept under the doormat. 'I didn't want to do this, but since their sleeping...I have no choice'
When the door opened, Jou's head rose from the couch, and went to inspect the commotion, but before that, he tucked Mai's blanket closer to her chest.
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Jounouchi blinked sleepily and looked at the kitchen clock, 7:00pm it seemed
He blinked once again and he saw the intruder as Kazuya "what are you doing here?"
"I came to check up on you...I can see your doing just fine..." Kazuya smiled lecherously
Of course, Jou could not see it, the kitchen was dark, and so he put on the light
"Wipe that smirk off your face, were just friends!"
"Hn...Whatever"
"Jou?"
Katsuya turned to face Mai, standing in the doorway rubbing her eyes, willing it to adjust to the lighting
"Yeah?"
"What's going on?"
"Kazuya just came by to check up on me..."
"Oh ok, I'm gonna go sleep now, is your bedroom okay?"
Jou smiled "sure, I'll sleep on the couch"
Kazuya intervened "You can take my room...I won't be here long..."
Jou looked at him "that's fine by me...goodnight Mai"
She parted with a smile on her face "G'nite guys..."
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Jou woke up, and wiped the puddle of drool on his mouth. His head hurt like a motherfucker, he could not even strain his eyes that far before wincing, he managed to see a cup of water and aspirin on the nearby coffee table. What had he done last night anyway...?
The blond man tried to gather his thoughts and came to conclusion: he and Kazuya went drinking
'Oh shit!' he fell out of the bed
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Mai heard the loud thud from the kitchen and went to go check up on Jou
She saw him lying on the floor face first 'typical Jou' she laughed and helped Jou to his feet
"Not funny" but that just riled her on
Jou rolled his eyes, and went into his bathroom to wash up
'I am definitely getting a job today...I do not care what gets in my way...'
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After Jou took a shower, he quickly ate and looked over the jobs section in the newspaper and indeed a Starbucks was looking for a new help
He went on the internet and filled out the form, after that, he went to be his lazy self. That is until Mai asked him about school
"I don't feel like going...I'll go after school to get my homework, and oh can you call in sick for me? Thanks"
Mai nodded; after that was out of the way...she sat next to Jou on his bed and watched the little screen television
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'Where is that mutt?' Kaiba thought
It seemed that Jounouchi wasn't present in school and it was kind of bothering him, he had no one to taunt, besides if he wasn't present, he would only have once more chance to apologize because he really didn't want to know what Mokuba would do if he didn't.
Didn't Mokuba know he had better things to think of better than that mutt? No; of course not
Part of the reason he did not want anything to do with the mutt, was because of what Kazuya threatened to hold against him, if he as much as came close to the blond man.
'Why the hell am I even worried about that? This Kazuya guy is just another headache I don't even need to worry about...right?'
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Notes: It ends there, for now...I was going to go on, but I had to post this chapter! Thanks to you guys for waiting patiently, as it says above, this is dedicated to you guys, this story is still going slow, but that's how I want to take it, it's better slow paced and make it good than fast-paced and make it bad ne?
REVIEW!
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TBC...