Sooooo...*kicks rock absently* I totally wish I could find something to say...

EXCEPT THE NEW SEASON OF NCIS STARTS SEPTEMBER 21 ON CBS BITCHES!

Chapter 3

"I hate you."

"I can understand you now, you know that right?" Mokuba flipped the page in his porno magazine. "Marik and Bakura came over and gave me the charm," Mokuba wiggled his wrist with the charm bracelet on it, "instead of me sleeping."

"The only thing tha' does is take away da fun of makin' fun of ya behind your back."

Mokuba looked over the magazine to Katsuya laying in front of him on the bed, "What did you say half the time when you were barking at me?"

"Where are we goin' on the trip?" Katsuya yipped, rolling onto his back, exposing his belly to be scratched. Mokuba ignored him and went to reading his magazine. "Ya gotta be the only kid ta ever actually read the articles in it."

"They're interesting," Mokuba said, taking another couple of M&M's from his bowl. "Seto's taking us to Hawaii for a week. He's taking me to practice my English."

Katsuya rolled back over, "I know English."

"Mine's got to be better than Japanese average English." Mokuba glance up again. "Bein' a Kaiba and all."

Katsuya was silent for a moment. "I told you, I know English. My Pa' is American, renewing his citizenship every couple of years. He talked English to me all the time. I know English."

A half chewed M&M fell out of Mokuba's gaping mouth. "Oh my God! Did you just speak English to me? Good English?"

"Listen once in a while. Yes, I spoke English to you."

"SETO!" Mokuba screeched. "OH MY GOD! SETO!"

Heavy footsteps hit the stairs at a pace Katsuya would have never thought possible for Seto. Quite frankly, he was actually impressed. However, his impressed state was quickly thrown out the window when Seto slammed open the door and he was dry-heaving.

Ha. Dry-heaving. What a loser.

"Mokuba? What's wrong?"

"Jou can speak English!" He exclaimed. "Good, American English!"

Seto continued to heave, but his face twisted in confusion. "One, you scared me half to death because of that? Two, Joe is a dog. He can't speak at all."

"Yes—I mean—! Human Jou! Human Jou can speak English!"

Seto huffed and leaned tiredly against the door frame, holding his chest. "You are kidding me."

"No!" Mokuba said, "I can't believe it either! He hardly even has an accent!"

Seto's eye twitched and Katsuya snorted, bemused. Even he could tell they weren't on the same page. Seto was definitely not talking about him speaking English to an advanced level. "Oh, you're in for it, Dunder Head."

Mokuba ignored Katsuya.

Seto growled. "Mokuba, I thought someone had been hiding in your closet the way you screeched. Don't scare me like that."

Mokuba's face went from surprised to 'Oh…'. "Um…sorry?"

"Right," Seto hissed, turning around, "'Sorry'."

Mokuba looked down at Katsuya who looked back like he was an idiot. "Ya should really think befo' ya act."

Mokuba just glared at him. "Shut up."

"Excuse me?" Seto snapped, turning back around. He glared down at Mokuba. "Would you like to repeat that?"

"Uh! No! Not you! Joey! He was making a face at me at me and I could tell he was thinking I was an idiot!" Mokuba put his hands up like the police were pointing guns at him. "I swear."

"Mokuba," Seto said, "Do not start blaming the dog. It's eight o'clock. Go to bed."

Mokuba blinked rapidly. "What?"

"You heard me," Seto said, reaching over and flicking the switch off. "Good night."

"But—!"

"Good night, Mokuba!"

Mokuba stared stupidly at Seto's retreating back. Did he really…? Mokuba turned his stare darkly over to Katsuya. "This is all your fault."

Katsuya pawed the air and jumped down. "Night, Mokie." He trotted out through the door way. "By the way, you're lucky Seto didn't see your magazine. He might not of been too happy wit' ya if he saw it…"

Mokuba looked down and eeped before slamming the magazine shut. "I hate you, Jou!"

Katsuya snorted and trotted down the hall, "Yeah, yeah….then why can't I be human again yet?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Big Brother…I don't think that Joey like planes…" Mokuba leaned over and whispered to Seto.

Seto leaned over too, so he could whisper back to Mokuba, "Me neither."

"Nnn-uuuuuuuuh…."

They both looked at Katsuya laying pitifully on the plane floor, his head down and whimpering. They had been on the plane for four hours—with an hour and a half to go—and Katsuya had been like this for three fourths of the way so far. Mokuba half-wondered if they had Bonine for dogs.

"I hate yooooooou…"

"It's okay, Jou," Mokuba cooed softly. Gently he left his seat to kneel in front of Katsuya, who lifted his head an inch and let it fall back down to the floor like it was a heavy weight iron. "We'll be there in no time, you'll see."

Softly he brushed his fingers over Katsuya's cheek, but Katsuya growled in agitation and snapped at Mokuba's fingers. "Fuck Off!"

Mokuba retracted his hand faster than Superman acting as a speeding bullet and stumbled back, hurt, to his seat. He just wanted to help Katsuya feel better…"Sorry…."

Seto raised an eyebrow, looking from Mokuba to Katsuya, back to Mokuba. The poor kid looked completely lost, like it wouldn't be normal for an animal to act that way when it wasn't feeling well. Funny, Seto thought, because he expected the sixteen-year-old to know better.

"Fuuuuu…" Katsuya whimpered again. "Sorry, Mokuba…."

"It's okay…" Mokuba mumbled half-heartedly.

Seto shook his head and without a second thought, swooped down and grabbed Katsuya by his scruff— where he couldn't reach Seto if he decided to bite—and placed him in Mokuba's lap. "Don't touch him, just let him sit there."

Mokuba looked down at Jou in surprise, who looked utterly miserable with his huge, brown puppy eyes staring back up at him. The small pit of anger in Mokuba from Katsuya biting at him dissipated. When Katsuya looked up at him like that he just looked so cute—how could Mokuba be mad at that face for long? He may have been a teenage boy, but he was not heartless.

Mokuba paused though, looking out the window and back to Seto. He should have gone before they left…"Big Brother, I have to use the restroom."

"I just put Joey on your lap."

"But I have to go. And you're treating me like a kid again. I'm sixteen, not twelve."

Seto glanced over to his brother, "You act twelve."

"I do not." Mokuba picked up Katsuya by his scruff—like Seto did—and plopped the whimpering pup on Seto's lap as he got up.

"I'm alive here! And ready to puke!" Katsuya yipped half-heartedly at Mokuba.

"Good," Mokuba said without thinking, "Puke on him."

"What?" Seto asked, raising one of his eyebrows just the way it ticked Mokuba off. "I never said anything about puking."

Mokuba pulled a 'Screw You!' face before turning around and walking to the back of the plane. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"Hmph," Seto grunted as Mokuba slammed the bathroom door shut. "Then stop acting like one."

He looked down at Katsuya, who looked up with the same soulful eyes that he had used to dispel Mokuba's anger before. They sort of reminded him of someone else's big, brown, soulful eyes… "I swear, the more I look at you, the more you remind me of the mutt."

"That's because I am 'the mutt', dumbass," Katsuya rumbled grumpily. The plane shifted, going through a second of turbulence that Seto didn't seem to mind, but Katsuya's stomach did. "Yip!"

"Shh," Seto whispered and softly stroked Katsuya's back. It didn't take much stroking, Seto mused, because his hand was almost as big as the small skin-and-bones puppy. He really should find something the puppy would eat more of. Maybe human food was okay for a while until the dog wasn't so skinny. The vet had said that steak wasn't too bad for dogs and there had to be some vegetables that would be okay too.

Katsuya whimpered pathetically. Seto petting his back felt nice, but his tummy burned and flipped. He was okay on boats, why couldn't he handle planes? It wasn't fair! He just wanted to be on land again. Nice, solid land…

When the plane dropped again, Katsuya snuggled his muzzle into Seto's abdomen. He wanted this plane trip to be over. And he wanted be in Domino, not Hawaii.

He had to take this stupid trip all over again! Just backwards!

The bathroom door slammed open and shut and Mokuba took his place next to Seto, glancing over his older brother's lap to the crying puppy. No matter how mad he was at his brother he still felt bad for Katsuya.

"He really doesn't look good."

"No," Seto agreed, "He doesn't." While they were in Hawaii, Seto figured he'd take the dog to the vet and see if they could find a sedative that agreed with Joey. They hadn't thought that the plane would be that big of a problem and didn't try in Domino.

Mokuba reached over, a little more attentively this time, and scratched behind Katsuya's ears. Katsuya had said he enjoyed that this morning on the way to the airport, it would make him feel better right? "Does that feel good, Joey?"

"Mm-hm, a little."

Mokuba smiled and looked up at his brother staring at him. "What?"

Seto shook his head and looked past him out the window. There were a lot of cotton clouds, it was surprising the turbulence wasn't worse.

Mokuba sighed, knowing Seto wasn't going to answer. He figured Seto had talked enough in the past ten minutes to last the rest of the day. Even with him, Seto wasn't a big talker. In fact, the only time he was a big talker was when he was babble-battling with Katsuya.

"Big Brother, do you like Jou?" Mokuba asked.

"He can be cute," Seto said, looking down to the dog sprawled miserably over his lap. "A bit messy."

Mokuba laughed. "Not the dog—Jounouchi, the person."

Seto shrugged and looked out the window on his side of the plane, across the aisle. "I stand the same."

Mokuba felt a chord struck in him. That was beyond surprising. He'd expected a 'He's a mutt' or 'No.' but instead he got that. He looked at Katsuya, wondering if he had heard it. If he had, he made no motion of recognizing it.

His big brother was growing up! He was maturing and growing up! He had a (possible) crush! Mokuba made a few, soft, faux sniffing noises. Seto turned around and gave him and questioning look and Mokuba just returned it with an I'm-so-proud-of-you face and responded, "You're growing up so fast!"

Seto rolled his eyes and continued to softly stroke Katsuya's back.

Mokuba smiled contently. He…was a bit jealous—maybe—but he was glad. Even he noticed the way Katsuya often gravitated to Seto, maybe Katsuya liked Seto too.

It would be cute if they did. And he'd have to call Bakura, Marik, and Shizuka and ask how they felt about it. Shizuka would be happy, Mokuba was sure of it, Marik might be amuse by it, he was close to Katsuya too, like an older brother that, but he traveled a lot. And then there was Bakura…he could be a 'little' over protective of Katsuya, even if 'little' was a major understatement.

Which made Mokuba wonder why Bakura so protective of Katsuya. Katsuya didn't seem to mind, in fact it seemed like he enjoyed it when Bakura would yell at him when he got hurt, or coddle him when he was sad.

Bakura was still really in love with Ryou too. Though, Mokuba did remember one fiasco where Ryou had burst into the game shop the night Katsuya had been shot a few months ago. He pointed a finger at Bakura and accused him of cheating on him with Katsuya when he had left without waiting for Ryou.

He remembered Ryou exclaiming that Bakura cared more for Katsuya than him, and then started blaming Katsuya for things.

Katsuya though, despite being shot, seemed to find the situation hilarious and started telling Bakura that it seemed he was not meeting Ryou's needs and explained to Ryou that nothing was going on and it was just a strong bond he and Bakura had formed, like true family. Not the kind you were always born with, but the kind you spent the rest of your life growing up with.

"You know," Mokuba said, he'd never told his brother about the incident, "When I was sleeping Yugi's so I could help him in the shop a few months ago, Jou had came in and he'd been shot by a bullet."

Seto glanced at him, surprised, but stoic. "It wasn't bad," Mokuba continued, "It just grazed him a little deep on his arm. He wouldn't have called Yugi to help if it didn't hit him in an awkward place."

"Why," Seto asked, raising a brow, "Would I care?"

Mokuba glanced at the puppy that whimpered pathetically again and snuggled more into Seto's stomach. Seto lifted his hand enough to allow it and began stroking Katsuya's back again. There was something...sweet about it. Mokuba wondered if Seto was as careless about it as he said—after all, he just admitted he thought Katsuya (the human) was cute. That, in itself, was a complete ball field. "I don't know, I was just thinking about it."

Seto lifted his hand off Katsuya's back again and glanced down at him also before looking out the window across the aisle again. "…Do you like him? The mutt."

Mokuba smile and leaned back. He looked at the plane roof and thought about him. "I love him, he's a brother to me like you are. But he's someone that everyone wants to protect but has no idea how since he's the one always protecting them."

Seto continued stroking Katsuya's back and a serene look became his face, "He's like a shatter proof plate."

Mokuba gave him a weird look.

"He's fragile," Seto explained, resting his chin on his free hand. "You are supposed to be able to drop shatter proof plates without them breaking, but if you drop them just right they shatter everywhere. They're still glass."

"Only you, Big Brother, could compare Jou to a dog and a glass plate."

Seto shook his head and sighed.

The pilot came on speaker and gave them their instructions to put their seat belts on as they head downwards for landing.

-.-.-.-.-

One week. Katsuya had been in Hawaii for one week. One week away from 'home', one week away from Japanese, one week of translating things for Mokuba's miserable existence.

One. Whole. Week.

To say Katsuya was ecstatic to be back in Domino was an understatement. Especially since he had to be on the plane again. Even if he was drugged up on sedatives. As soon as he reached the yard of the Kaiba mansion he had streamed pass the humans and rolled happily in the grass, yipping and tripping over the rocks and sticks in the yard.

He was home again!

"I'm hoooome, I'm hooome, I'm very very hooooome!" He howled loudly before dashing back over to the Kaibas and their staff, running busily around their feet and making them trip over him. "Mokuba! We're home!"

"I know, I know," Mokuba slurred, his body not exactly as adjusted to the time change as Katsuya's. He slammed the limo door shut. "I'm happy too."

Katsuya's chest rumbled with a laugh and he barked again, wagging his tail and watching Seto and one of his staff walk by to go to the front door of the mansion. As soon as they had opened it, he was inside, dashing up the stairs to check out the rooms and then rushing back down stairs to check on the slow people.

"Come on people! We're home! You should be excited!"

"Well," Mokuba said, putting a suitcase down in the doorway, "unlike someone, we didn't sleep the entire way home."

"No excuses!" Katsuya yelped, "Be happy!"

"I'm too tired to be happy right now, Jou," Mokuba hissed. He picked up the suitcase again. "I'm putting my crap upstairs and going to sleep!"

"Language, language, young man!"

"At least I act my age!" Mokuba countered and filed up the stairs, Katsuya nipping at his heels. "You're nineteen, act like it!"

"Who are you talking to, Mokuba?" Seto stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at him. "You have been grumbling since we got in the limo."

"Joey! I'm trying to teach him to calm down."Mokuba looked at Katsuya who looked innocently back up at him. "Joey, stop!"

"By grumbling?" Seto quirked a brow.

"Yeah," Mokuba looked away nervously, "I read somewhere to use an 'indoor' voice when training your dog; something about them listening better."

Seto stared at him but shook his head and asked no further questions as he walked into his room, "Maybe I should sign him back up for therapy…"

"I don't need therapy!" Mokuba defended and looked at Katsuya and growling, "This is your fault."

"I know!" Katsuya yipped and raced past him up the stairs to Seto's room to bother the CEO. Seto spared a glance in his direction as he jumped up on the bed, spun three times, and settled down...for about two seconds.

Katsuya lifted his head and cocked it to the side and watched Seto change into pajamas. It was eight o'clock at night, and he did guess Seto was human that needed sleep (even if he didn't act human most of the time)…just a very well built with a cold attitude human—did he mention Seto had a nice body?— that needed sleep. Man, Katsuya could even see Seto's muscles ripple under his skin as he pulled up his pajama pants!

"Why'd ja have ta be such a jerk!" Katsuya whimpered. "Ya woulda made a nice mate for someone!"

Someone like him.

Katsuya caught himself and paused. What was he thinking? He put his paw over his nose embarrassedly. He shouldn't be thinking that! It was Seto! The guy who acted like he hated him! The guy who made snide dog comments! The guy that spoke down to him and insulted him and his friends! The guy that pushed paper work and still wound up with one of the best bodies Katsuya had ever seen!

AAAAAAAAUG! "This is all your fault!" Katsuya growled. "I hate you!"

Seto turned around and looked at him. He didn't look happy, but a little surprised and displeased. "What are you growling at?"

"You!" Katsuya barked, bouncing off the bed. "I can't stand you! You're such an ass!"

He turned his head in time to see Seto roll his eyes and sit tiredly on the bed. Not a moment later though, Seto had collapsed backwards onto the fluffy pillow-top. The man groaned in pleasure as his bones melted into the mattress and Katsuya snorted and continued out.

He needed something to do. Something fun, something entertaining, something….something he could do by himself.

Well, when the butler had opened the door to the limo for Seto and Mokuba he had mentioned something about maids making fresh 'Welcome Home' cookies. He hoped they were Pillsbury sugar cookies, he was slightly allergic to peanuts (it didn't do much more then make his lips and tongue swell if there was enough peanut, but it was a discomfort that he didn't really want to go through) and he dared not to try to eat any sort of chocolate as a puppy.

He trotted down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Cookies sounded so good right now. The only treats he got were dog treats and he was feeling a little sugar deprived. The more he thought about it, the more he drooled and the more he craved it.

He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. It smelled like….like chocolate chip. Katsuya whimpered sadly and took another sniff just to double check. She couldn't have made just one type of cookie, could she? Well, yeah she could, Katsuya whiffed, but she had also made…she made cupcakes! This goddess of which stature that he had no idea who to thank made cupcakes!

He could have a cupcake instead!

"CUPCAKESBITCHES!" He barked and started off excitedly. His claws scratched the floor and his feet couldn't get any traction so he ran in place for a few minutes before he landed roughly on his chin. Well, that hurt. He stood, shaking his head with a moaning 'oww..', and started off again, slower this time.

He was going to get a cupcake! Those were just as good as his cookies! They still had a lot of sugar, and even though he wasn't as crazy usually when it came to sugar as Yugi was, he hadn't had it in forever! He was so excited!

Screeching into the kitchen, he tried to stop. He put his front paws at a standstill and flopped onto his butt, but still wound up sliding in circles directly into the cabinet. He thumped against it before pulling back and whimpering sorrily to his poor side. Yeah, that was gonna bruise.

Whatever. He stood, shaking off the pain and looking around for the cupcakes. They were vanilla! And some were without frosting! And they were sitting right there on the countertop. Right there. Oooo!

But the countertop though, was too high for him to reach from his size. Even on his hind legs he was too small. This small little detail created a huge dilemma. Huffing, he start to locate something to help him,

He looked at the chair.

He could jump on the chair and onto the counter. That would work! All he needed to do was move it. Padding over to the chair at the small dinner table in the kitchen—the one that Mokuba and Seto always ate at—he went behind it and started to push.

It was a lot heavier then he remembered chairs being. Admittedly, he was remembering from when he was still human, but those were minor details. He could still push it…it just took a little more work than usual.

Just why did the stupid chair have to get stuck in the cracks between the tiles?

Every time it got stuck he'd have to trot to the leg that was stuck, move it, and then go back to the back to push it some more just to have the process repeat. That was it, he officially hated cracks, screw his mother's back!

After some struggling and barks and yips of frustration, the chair hit the counter. He could finally get his cupcake!

Storming up the chair and onto the counter like they were steps, he padded excitedly over to the delicious looking cupcakes. He sniffed them, making sure they were as plain as they looked and grabbed a plain one before hopping down the chair and onto the floor to happily dive into the cupcake.

It was still a little warm! She must have finished them right before they got home! His tail wagged as he continued to savor the cupcake and he brought his chin up in delight.

"So gooood!" He hummed, taking another bite.

Who knew when his next treat would be? He didn't! Not with Mokuba treating him as much like a dog as his brother. "Which is unfair," Katsuya growled. Mokuba was the reason he was like this! Have a little compassion for him as the human he was not right now!

"I hate you Mokuba!" He grumbled and finished his cupcake. He looked up at the other cupcakes. He could get a second one…but really, one was enough. Most of the time they were more fun to make than eat and he had eaten one already.

Picking up the cupcake wrapper he wondered over the freelancing trash can in the corner of the kitchen and dropped the wrapper in quickly, holding his breath. Gods! Did that trash smell rank! How did dogs eat out of it?

Katsuya didn't think he'd ever know.

His tummy was starting to feel full, and he had exerted a bunch of energy running around and pushing the chair…he was getting a little sleepy.

Padding out of the kitchen he looked around. He could go sleep in the living room where they had a nine-foot in diameter beanie bag chair that was obliviously comfortable. He would have to take his fair share of naps on it before he was turned human again. The more he thought, though, the more tempting a bed would be.

Sighing, he made his decision and sauntered up the stairs to the bedrooms. Mokuba had closed his door, and Katsuya felt mildly hurt that the teen didn't leave it open for him. Maybe…maybe Mokuba was beginning to dislike him. A sole pit of loneliness swelled in his furry chest. His floppy ears pinned to his head and his face scrunched.

Was Mokuba really starting to hate him?

"Would you really, Mokuba?" Katsuya wondered about the little boy that was like a little brother to him. He thought they were close, that Mokuba wouldn't try to get rid of him after taking him in from his Pa. "Would you really stop loving me too? Like Ma after her and Pa started to fight? Like Pa after he found alcohol as his best companion? Like Shizuka after she met her first boyfriend?"

He sat in front of the door and whimpered, pawing the air. Mokuba had always been a part of the group that always said they loved him to see him flustered. Him, Marik, and Bakura. Now that he knew Katsuya better, would he abandon him too?

"I wanna be human again. I wanna go away." Katsuya whimpered some more. If he were human, he'd be crying. He hated being abandoned, it was the worse cluster of feelings in the world. Hurt, loneliness, betrayal, those were only the best of the emotions you got from being left behind. "I'll leave ya alone, I promise. Please don't hate me like Ma, Pa, and Shizuka."

"Joey?" Katsuya turned his head to Seto peeking tiredly out of the room. "So you really were whining."

Katsuya laid on the floor and put his head down submissively. "I'm sorry. I'll stop." He paused. "You don't hate puppy-me, right? Please at least don't hate puppy-me."

Seto looked at him, almost like he knew Katsuya was depressed. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door way. "What's wrong, Joey?"

Katsuya didn't reply, he just looked up sadly with his ears pinned back and his tail curled between his legs. Maybe he would just go sleep on the beanie-bag chair. Neither Kaiba would have to worry about him then.

The beanie bad chair wouldn't reject him.

Seto sighed and stood straight. "Come on, Joey," He called, pushing his door the rest of the way open. "Come to bed."

Katsuya didn't move. He didn't want to bother the older Kaiba either. He already disliked him—the human him at least, but that was still him—even if he said he didn't.

After a few passing moments Seto huffed and walked over to him. Katsuya yipped in surprise when Seto lifted him by his scruff and cradled him to his chest in one arm to carry him back to his room. "Your belly is full, you got into something, didn't you?"

Katsuya just snuggled his head into Seto's warm armpit.

Seto paused a moment before slowly starting to stroke Katsuya's back and closing the bedroom door with his foot as he started back to the bed. Katsuya's eyelids lowered tiredly and he didn't shift much after Seto put him on the pillow beside his head, like he always did. He even did it while they were in Hawaii.

Seto didn't say anything, but Katsuya looked up at him to watch his muscles in his back ripple as he reached over to shut off the light, turning the usually deep sky-blue room black except where the crescent moon shined through the window onto the floor.

The bed rocked at Seto situated himself comfortably in the bed with his face in front of Katsuya's. Seto's lips twitched, like he wanted to say something. When it looked like he decided against it, Katsuya licked the tip of his nose.

Seto smiled, softly. Very softly, to a point Katsuya wasn't sure he was seeing right. "Night." The brunette said and closed his eyes.

Katsuya lifted his head in surprised and dropped it back onto the pillow, a little warm glow spreading over him. "Night, Seto."

Hehehehehehehehe. Okay. I'll stop.

It's just...YOU GUYS ARE SO AMAZING!

I have, I am proud to say, ten reviews per chapter! Now, for many brilliant authors this is no feat, but for me IT IS VICTORY! So I love you all very, very, very much~