It wasn't sickness or pain that woke Jonouchi up this time, when his eyes fluttered open and looked over the unfamiliar room. His body was fine. Unlike the first time, he hadn't drank excessively or felt so dulled out from alcohol to realize that he was pushing himself physically too far. Kaiba hadn't been equally as drunk, rushing through the foreplay during a moment of intense passion and being far too sloppy with his movements. Jonouchi could feel the muscle soreness from being stretched out in a tender place, but it was no different from waking up after an intense workout. He could manage it, after walking it off a little.

Pulling the sheets back, he felt a chill as his bare skin met with the air of the bedroom. It was a little drafty, and finding his boxer briefs near his feet, Jonouchi put them on quickly before jumping out of the bed. Kaiba had been laying next to him, completely out still, and his hand was clutching onto Jonouchi's waist before he pulled away.

Now, turning the other way and grabbing onto a nearby pillow, Kaiba had fallen right back to sleep, if he had woken up at all. His eyes didn't open, and moving the blankets back as not to disturb him, Jonouchi tip-toed towards what he assumed was the master bathroom.

He needed to take a shower, badly. Jonouchi felt grimy, among other things, and immediately jumping into hot water, he scrubbed himself hard all over before washing out his hair and face. The hot water felt great on his skin, and brushing the wash cloth past his backside, Jonouchi couldn't help but feel a little giddy and embarrassed about the night before.

Looking down at his hips, he noticed that his skin was slightly bruised where Kaiba had been holding onto him, which was fine. Bruises happened, and Jonouchi was okay with that. He still had a huge one on his chest, although it was more like a ghost mark now than an ugly mess of purple and yellow.

However, how and where Kaiba finished was not a moment Jonouchi was proud of.

It was gross. There was no getting past that thought. Jonouchi felt a little emasculated by it, but there was nothing to be done about it now. He'd said he didn't like it, so hopefully Kaiba would use his brain next time long enough to use a condom, if he ever hoped to get so lucky again.

It wasn't even anything more than just cells, sugar, and water, but all logical sense went out the window when he felt it hit inside of him, and knowing his body had dissolved it all in his sleep did not make Jonouchi's uneasiness any better.

If anything, it made him feel even more grossed out about the whole thing. Maybe girls were okay with that, but he certainly wasn't.

He decided not to think about it anymore. Getting out of the shower, Jonouchi wiped himself down before going back into the bedroom and quickly getting dressed. Kaiba was still out of it, laying on his side and clutching onto his pillow tightly as if his life depended on it.

Snickering, Jonouchi almost felt tempted to take a picture, but he also wanted to live to his next birthday, so he let the opportunity for amusement go.

Besides, he still had so many things to get done.

He waited in the hotel lobby. It was almost nearly empty, save a few people drinking coffee in the cafe. No one paid him any attention, and once Isono arrived with the limousine, Jonouchi jumped in and felt secure once more, hidden from the rest of the world by tinted glass windows.

"Where to, sir?"

It took him a second to realize he was the sir.

"Err, the Kame Game Shop. I need to get dressed quickly and pack a bag, and then I need a ride to Kaiba Corporation."

He'd be meeting his entourage there. They (Isa and Nakahara) would be handling him, so to speak, while Jonouchi was in Tokyo. Nakahara had the majority of the responsibility; booking their hotel rooms, signing Jonouchi up, buying train tickets to Tokyo, taking care of food restaurant arrangements, etc etc while Isa was to keep Jonouchi camera-ready at all times during competition.

Jonouchi had only one job; win the tournament.

It was a major one. Yamazaki would be there, with Mai, watching. He didn't want to embarrass himself, and the Duel Network would be showing the entire competition. There was a giant ten million yen first place cash prize, and the competitors would be all professional bracket players who had played high stake duels before.

"Don't let those hot shots get into your head," advised Sugoroku, "You are better than all of them and you've come so far. But you get hot headed and over-confident. Play smart, and don't let that mouth run off with you."

"Of course, Oji-san," said Jonouchi as he bowed before Sugoroku smacked him upside the head, "Ow, what the hell was that for?"

"You were supposed to come over last night to practice and you forgot!"

Jonouchi felt like his eyes were about to explode out of his head. He had forgotten. Rubbing the back of his head, he looked away shyly before glancing back at Sugoroku apologetically, "I'm sorry, I got caught up. It won't happen again. But in my defense, I've been practicing hard all day and night, and I'm ready to just duel already."

"You better win, then."

He nodded before running up to Yugi's bedroom. His clothes were scattered inside his best friend's drawers, and shoving all his clothes into a suitcase, Jonouchi didn't even know what all he was taking with. The only thing he knew he had in there was his lucky shirt from Battle City. Isa-chan wanted him to bring it, but everything else, he hadn't a clue what it was.

Changing his clothes, he got on his old kicks, as well. They'd gotten him far, and he'd need all the positive energy he could get while in Tokyo.

The competition was stiff. There weren't that many entries, but everyone competing was well-practiced and had won at least at Regional level. Jonouchi had felt overwhelmed at first, going up against so many people not only from Japan, but also from all around Asia, until he caught a thumbs up and smile from Mai in the stands.

People were counting on him. He was counting on himself. If he hoped to come home with any kind of self-respect for himself, Jonouchi would have to win.

Every duel was tough. Not one had been easy, and Jonouchi felt himself straining to keep up as the day progressed. Each hour brought along another new competitor along with it, and going without break, Jonouchi continued to beat every player stacked against him until he reached the very last finalist.

Ryota Kajiki, the water duelist from Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. The last person on earth Jonouchi expected to be up against, but Sugoroku had trained him against this sort of thing.

"He's not your friend while you are in battle," Jonouchi played back in his head, "he's not your friend until his life points drop down to zero and you have been declared the victor."

Even Yugi would have had to agree with that.

So, Jonouchi didn't hold back. Despite Kajiki knowing Jonouchi's deck well from two duels previous, he was able to keep him on the ropes and dominated the entire duel, defeating all his trump cards before delivering a final blow with his Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Jonouchi didn't catch his breath until Kajiki's life points had dropped to zero. Miraculously, he still had seven hundred himself. It was a close game, but not too close.

He didn't remember much after winning, though. Someone had grabbed him and wouldn't let him go, and then someone else had collided into him, jostling him around stage until the arms finally let ago and someone shoved a giant gold trophy in his arms. It was only after blinking several times did he realize it was Mai and Yamazaki, who were both smiling for the pictures, and then Nakahara and Isa-chan had appeared by his side too, holding the check for the first place prize money Jonouchi had been playing for.

It was a lot of money. Jonouchi knew he wouldn't be seeing all of it, but the majority of it would be his. It would finalize his sponsorship with Kaiba Corporation, since he won a duel with a larger cash prize than his yearly pay check, and that in itself was a relief. He didn't feel like the job was handed out to him just because Kaiba liked him now.

It felt earned.

The events had happened later that night, Jonouchi couldn't quite recall. The night after was the same, too. He had gone back to Domino, thanks in part to Mai's direction, making sure he actually got up in time to catch his bullet train back home and after Isa-chan nursed him with bottles of water and coffee the entire ride over, Jonouchi crashed at Honda's place.

Which only led to more victory drinking. Although Jonouchi wouldn't be able to remember, he spent a great deal of money on food and booze, and the two made a wild night of it together, going all over town before finally passing out at Honda's place. Jonouchi woke up on the couch, covered in dirty magazines and beer bottles with some dog licking his face before he realized it was Honda's annoying pet Kishu Inu, who Jonouchi now smelled a lot like.

"Did you let that giant fur ball sleep on me again?" groaned Jonouchi as he got up on his elbows, "she's so annoying. Keep her away."

"She prefers being around the company of her own kind," joked Honda.

Jonouchi just gave him a death glare before getting up, the dog skirting across the floor in a happy sort of jump before it reached down on its forefeet, butt in the air as if ready to pounce. It was white and fluffy, nothing like the old mangy Akita Honda used to have as a high schooler.

"You got that thing for your girlfriend, didn't you?"

"She likes dogs," Honda laughed, "and I like her, so yeah. You shouldn't hate so much. Sakura loves you, just look at her."

Jonouchi did. The dog just wagged her tail, tongue sticking out of her mouth.

"I got to go. I actually have work this morning."

"Right after a major tournament?"

"Yeah," laughed Jonouchi, "that's how real jobs go, if you actually had one you'd realize that. I'm not taking a break, I got enough time off while fooling around with you."

Grabbing his stuff, Jonouchi shoved it into his backpack before picking it up and tossing it over his left shoulder. Despite some aches from dueling with the brace on, he felt so much better. His ribs were almost entirely healed and although the doctor recommended physical therapy, Jonouchi felt as good as new.

"I got some junk mail for you, too," said Honda as he tossed a bunch of mail over towards Jonouchi, who caught it mid-air. The letters were in a bundle, held by a tight rubber band. "Sugoroku had been keeping them, and he meant to give them to you, but you know how bad his memory can be."

"Yeah, no problem. I'm sure he forgot because I'm not always around, anyways."

It would have to wait. He was due at Kaiba Corporation that morning, and he didn't want to hear shit from his manager for not showing up early enough.

After taking a shower and changing into a new set of clothes, Jonouchi showed up at work. Thankfully, he wasn't missed, and taking a seat at his not-office, he closed the door and sat down before pulling out the mess of letters from his bag.

Most of it was from Yugi. Happy messages and well wishes, with postcards from Cairo and all sorts of random pictures Yugi had taken while visiting with Ishizu. Thankfully he was tactful enough to know that Jonouchi did not really like Marik, so there were no pictures of him, but Yugi had sent him a new duel monster card. It wasn't very strong, but the sentiment behind it was nice.

Then came bills, already paid, and one ominous letter from his mother.

That couldn't be good. How his mother found out about his staying at the Kame Game Shop, Jonouchi didn't really want to know. Shizuka had probably spilled it, being the naive fool that she was. Groaning internally, Jonouchi wished she could keep his secrets better, but she thought too much of the good in people, even among those who had none.

He wouldn't open it until later. There was no way on earth he was going to deal with her new load of crap when he was having such a good turn in his life.

Jonouchi had just reached for his cell phone to check his schedule for the day when his office door abruptly opened. Kaiba, a thick stack of papers in hand, had shock written all over his face. He stood there in the doorway, door knob still in his grip, before he seemed to come to his senses and enter, closing the door behind him.

"I'm honestly surprised to see you here," he said, his voice and expression leveling out to neutral.

Perplexed, Jonouchi squinted at Kaiba, tapping the bottom of his phone against the desk. "Um, I was just going to check my schedule, but am I not supposed to be?" It was one of his work days, right? The past few days after the tournament had bled together, but Jonouchi had been certain today was one of the days he was required to report in.

Jonouchi could feel Kaiba's mood darken from across the room. The skin on his arms began to prickle.

"I'm not talking about your schedule, Jonouchi. What the hell gives? You disappear for days without a single word; you don't even bother to wake me up to tell me where the hell you're going." Kaiba's jaw was tight, and Jonouchi almost comically expected Kaiba to pop a vein from the strain.

"I had that competition. It was on your schedule..."

"But you couldn't even bother to wake me to tell me you're leaving?"

It hadn't even occurred to Jonouchi to do that. Quite frankly, he woke up slightly embarrassed and a little grossed out, and the last thing he wanted to do was add Kaiba's commentary to the mix while trying to get himself situated.

"I thought you were a manly man, Kaiba," snorted Jonouchi as he found himself wavering between fright and amusement, "I didn't think you'd care."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Give me a fucking break, Jonouchi, we're supposed to be dating," he hissed low through his teeth. "Do you even know what it felt like to wake up in an empty room? What was I supposed to think, when you didn't even bother to leave or send a message."

"That I was running really late, like I usually do?"

"That's beside the point," Kaiba groaned, snapping the documents against his leg. "What about after? Or that you'd even gotten back into town?"

"I've been drunk off my ass for the last two days," whined Jonouchi as he sighed loudly and rolled his eyes dramatically, collapsing on the desk with his head between his arms, "I didn't even know up from down until this very morning, after Honda's dog woke me up. Give me a break.

"If it's any consolation, I won that duel for your company, and I did have a good time, at the opera. And after. Okay?"

Striding over to Jonouchi's desk, Kaiba dropped the stack of papers onto it. "Admitting your poor decisions isn't an excuse for bad behavior. And while I appreciate your efforts, it is also your job to perform at a certain level." He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Just...don't run off again like that," he finished quietly.

"Fine." Jonouchi dropped his eyes, feeling a tinge of guilt before pointing at Kaiba directly, "But just so you know, you're like impossible to please."

He snatched the first paper off the pile, not even really knowing what he was looking at. Jonouchi needed a distraction. This whole new development was too weird for him, and still hung over, he wasn't ready to deal with strange emotions first thing in the morning. Not after drinking half a bottle of sake and a bunch of cheap beer.

"Not impossible. I have expectations. Very few people live up to them." Kaiba shifted his weight on his heels, crossing his arms. "I was going to leave that on your desk for us to discuss later. It's the analysis from the tournament. We can go over it tomorrow."

"Wait, do you mean you and I personally have to go through all this-," Jonouchi stopped himself from saying crap before the word could come stumbling out of his mouth, "-stuff together?"

Raising an eyebrow, Kaiba replied, "Is there a problem?"

"No."

Yes. But he certainly wasn't going to say anything while Kaiba was in a mood.

Kaiba inclined his head, staring down at Jonouchi bent over the dense report. Jonouchi could practically feel Kaiba's eyes bearing down through his skull. "I hope...you're smart enough to know not to use headquarters as a personal address…" he began.

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

Peering up, Jonouchi narrowed his eyes at Kaiba, his patience wearing thin again, "First off, remember when I told you before that you can be too intense? Well, you're doing just that right now. Second off, stop picking at me. You act as if I haven't done shit for you, and I just won a buttload of money two days ago in a competition all by myself, which you haven't bothered to congratulate me over yet, and third off, I've never used this office as a personal address, so I don't even know where you're getting that from..."

A crease was forming between Kaiba's eyebrows. Ignoring most of Jonouchi's comments, he said, "Never mind. Those letters just didn't seem like ones the company regularly gets…" His gaze flickered across the desk. How Kaiba had even noticed the small bundle, Jonouchi didn't know - they'd mostly been turned over or stuck under his elbow. Sometimes, Kaiba was too observant for his own good.

"I thought I recognized one of the names."

Make that supremely observant for his own good.

"Why are you even looking through my stuff in the first place?"

"I haven't laid a finger upon it - it's in plain view," Kaiba pointed out.

Feeling his face twitch, Jonouchi shoved everything quickly into his backpack, not wanting Kaiba to look into his stuff anymore than he had before. "Well, it's not anymore," Jonouchi answered back rather spitefully, "so was there anything else you wanted to do to me, besides give me the third degree?"

"Why is your mother writing to you?" The question had been stated so matter-of-factly that Jonouchi couldn't discern a motive behind it. It hadn't even really been accusatory, but he knew there was weight behind the words.

"That's not something I really feel like talking about right now, Kaiba. The last thing I want to discuss while fighting a hangover is the situation with my mother..."

He'd need to be sober, with at least a case of Kirin between him and his dignity to talk about that. Kaiba didn't need to know. It was all so humiliating, and Jonouchi wanted to spare himself. Only Honda knew about it, and not because Jonouchi had wanted him to know.

Staring at Jonouchi for an extended moment, Kaiba's eyes turned icy. "Oh. I get it. Mother heard about her boy's winnings and has now come forth to demand her share. It's like history repeating itself, only worse."

"And now you're being hurtful. Goodbye, Kaiba. I don't have to listen to you berate me while I was having a good day."

And getting up, Jonouchi staggered out of the room, backpack still in hand, before brushing past Kaiba and heading towards the end of the hallway where the elevators stood. The last person on earth he wanted to talk to his family problems with would be Kaiba.

Mostly because he was so insensitive. He forgot what feeling was like, thinking someone could just shove aside a family member because shit was difficult. Maybe that was easy to say, when someone's parents were both dead already, but Jonouchi couldn't imagine being so cold and he still felt some responsibility for them, especially his father.

Not only that, but he didn't want to start a fight in Kaiba Corporation where people could hear him, and feeling suddenly very emotional, he needed to get out of the room. And quickly.

Hearing brisk footsteps behind him, Jonouchi picked up his pace, but he was surprised when Kaiba called out after him anyway. At least the hallway was empty.

"Jonouchi, would you just listen-"

He was listening, but he wasn't going to respond while any stranger could just appear. Jonouchi shoved past a few salarymen, getting right to the elevator as it opened and slipping inside as he smashed the button for the last floor. Unfortunately, Kaiba had also managed to get in, as well, before he could get crushed by the closing doors.

"I'm not trying to start a fight, but you can't deny the timing."

"You might be right," Jonouchi answered, "but that doesn't mean I want to talk about it. I already said as much before."

Kaiba backed up to the opposite side of the elevator car, leaning against its wall. He looked out through the large glass wall adjacent to him, watching as Domino City grew larger with their descent. "So your family is permanently off-limits, then? I have to act like they don't exist, like they don't affect you?"

Jonouchi rolled his eyes. Did Kaiba hear a word he said at all? "I said I was hungover and didn't feel like discussing my mother. That doesn't mean I'll never talk to you about her at all. And when you get like that, guilt tripping me, you don't make me want to talk to you about my family, so just stop it already."

"You never seem to want to talk about them sober, either, so you can't call me out for guilt-tripping when I'm just voicing the truth."

"That's because I'm not ready to talk to you about that yet. Not everything in my life is your business, Kaiba. I respect your privacy, so you could learn to respect mine."

Kaiba continued to stare through the glass. They had almost reached ground-level. "...Fine," he said, finally turning to face Jonouchi again.

Now the ride down was just awkward and slightly painful. Looking over at Kaiba, Jonouchi caught a glance of him before looking away again. He was wearing his usual black leather attire, with the black sweater turtleneck now that it was getting colder. His face looked tense, but he was still handsome as ever, and sighing, Jonouchi finally broke the silence before the doors could open and they'd end up parting still mad at each other.

"You look nice today."

Kaiba's eyebrows raised fractionally, and Jonouchi could have sworn the tips of his ears had turned a faint pink, but maybe it was just a trick of the sunlight. "Flattery will get you nowhere," he muttered, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Flattery gets me everywhere," answered Jonouchi back flirtatiously, bumping his shoulder into Kaiba a little roughly before the doors opened, "including into your bed, so don't act so unaffected by it. I'll see you later."

Watching Kaiba's eyes go wide from scandal almost made Jonouchi burst into laughter, but he managed to contain himself, giving Kaiba a wink for good measure before strolling out of the opening doors. Kaiba had just rolled his eyes in return, but Jonouchi noticed the hint of a smile start to spread into a real one as the doors closed shut again.

It was actually a good thing Kaiba was releasing him early. Or rather work was, since Kaiba wasn't usually who Jonouchi directly dealt with. Shizuka had messaged him, wanting to meet for lunch. He didn't have the heart to tell her no. And with the bonus from his win, Jonouchi wanted to treat her for all the times she'd bought him food because he couldn't afford his next meal.

Four million yen. It was more money than Jonouchi could ever remember having in his life, especially all at one time.

Of course, Shizuka wanted to meet at some girly cafe. She had turned into one of those trendy girls who wore soft wool peacoats with tights and leather pumps despite the cooling temperatures. Jonouchi wanted to ask if it was because of a boy, but he knew it was probably because all the other girls dressed like that. Cold weather be damned, looking cute was more important.

At least she didn't dye her hair or something silly like that. Taking a seat at the table, he smiled as Shizuka looked over the small menu, ordering a cappuccino and cake for herself while Jonouchi just asked for a glass of water.

"Onii-san, at least get some tea," she chided, "It's good for you and you never treat yourself."

"Don't worry about me. I'm taking you out this time, so you can get that fancy shit you like drinking so much."

"I like coffee," she giggled, "I wouldn't get through school without it... Okaa-san and I watched your Duel on television. She knows about the prize money."

"Is that why I got that letter from her?" laughed Jonouchi as his face tensed up. Of course Kaiba was right. Kaiba was always right. "How much does she want this time?"

"Onii-san, don't give her the money! She doesn't need it!"

Jonouchi sighed, rolling his eyes and biting his lip before exhaling out of his nose loudly. "Why not? It's going to go to you, anyways. You're in school."

"She doesn't need alimony money from Otou-san anymore. She remarried... Just a few months ago. I didn't tell you, because I didn't think you'd want to know. But if she's sending you those stupid letters still, you need to know. We're fine. Her husband-"

"Our stepfather..." mumbled Jonouchi darkly.

"-makes good money. She doesn't even have to work anymore. You don't have to give her anything, and it wasn't your job to before, anyways. That was Otou-san's responsibility."

"He never took care of it."

"That doesn't make it your job, Onii-san."

Jonouchi shrugged. Shizuka was a girl. She'd never understand.

"I'll talk to dad about it, how about that?" offered Jonouchi. He'd probably seen the news by now somewhere and would be begging for money as soon as Jonouchi arrived home. The old man was consistent like that; he knew all of Jonouchi's pay days from the garage and used to steal Jonouchi's money from under the mattress while he worked.

"You know what he's going to do," bemoaned Shizuka as she shook her head. A waitress appeared, serving their drinks and cake before bowing and walking away. Shizuka cut into her cake, her eyes appearing sad despite the smile on her face.

"He doesn't need that much money, Shizuka. And I'm sure our crazy mother isn't asking for too much, either. I'm making good money now," he reasoned, "and I'm going to take care of us. Don't worry about me, I can handle them both and I'll have another competition soon enough to get more cash from, alright?"

"I know you can do it, Onii-san, but that doesn't mean you should."

They spoke for some time. Jonouchi changed the conversation to happy things, laughing loudly once more as his sister giggled and people in the cafe stared. He didn't care, though. Jonouchi hardly ever saw her, and being alone together without anyone interfering on their time meant so much to him.

No drunkard father. No crazy mother.

Deciding to take care of business, Jonouchi took the subway home, riding the bus over to the old neighborhood before running through the streets to reach his crummy apartment. He wasn't going to risk getting beat down again, and only until he was through the door of his foyer did Jonouchi stop to take a rest and realize what had happened.

At first, he thought someone had broken in. The crappy television was missing. All the food that was on the counters was gone, and the door to his father's bedroom was wide open, no bed in sight. Walking in carefully, he found the entire room empty, save a few dirty magazines strewn across the floor.

But his own bedroom was the same. Nothing was missing. Looking around, he even saw that his busted lamp had been replaced, as well as an attempt to fix the crack down his door.

When he looked into the kitchen drawers, he found a wad of cash, but nothing else.

Then it occurred to him.

The yakuza were looking for his father. Everything that belonged to him was missing. There was money to cover for the missing food, and his stuff had been "repaired." No one had broken into the room.

His father was gone.

Still censoring my dirty bits hehe. I just got done through 22 chapters today. I will either finish tonight or have it done tomorrow. Again, the uncut version is available via Adult Fanfiction.

~AW