The grey suit-jacket was no longer grey. Her fingers trembling, the woman, Kanako, let go of the knife-handle and hesitated. She seemed scared, and for a second Jou was wondering why she seemed so frightened. Then he remembered that she had just stabbed him. That would generally scare somebody.
Still, he would have thought that she knew that hat she was doing was wrong, so he didn't see why she was so nervous all of a sudden. Unless it was like one of those things where people plan to do something, but the weight of it doesn't hit them until they actually do it.
Why was he thinking about her, anyways? The crazy bitch had just stabbed him in the gut. But for some reason he couldn't think about that, and instead his mind began to wander. This was an expensive suit. Would he have to have it dry-cleaned to get the blood out? This was the only one he owned, too.
He felt himself dropping to his knees, staring ahead of him as the girl turned tail and ran. Now his pants were dirty too. He was going to have to do a lot of laundry tonight…
If he was even alive tonight. That was right. He had just been stabbed. He might not live to see the sunset, and if he did, he certainly wouldn't be doing laundry. He looked down at the blade that was sticking out of his body, and he realized why he hadn't been thinking about the injury.
Thinking that you might die was scary as all shit.
It was lunch time, so the streets were fairly busy, and once he fell down a couple of high-school girls passing by on their way to McDonalds spotted the knife and screamed. That was when the commotion started, but Jou couldn't really focus on all of that. He couldn't really focus on anything, not the worried questions, not the blare of the ambulance when it came, or the flashing lights. Instead, he briefly wondered whether he should call Kaiba and let him know he wouldn't be going back to work that day.
***
It had been two hours. Geez, how the hell long did it take to change clothes? Jou's house wasn't that far away, and surely he should have returned already. Maybe his sister needed something… Kaiba had been surprised when he'd mentioned a sibling, and so had forced the story out of Mokuba. Realizing that he had gotten jealous and nearly raped the guy over a misunderstanding, it was needless to say that the brunette felt like a real douche. Not that he would ever say anything or apologize, but that didn't change the fact that he had made an ass out of himself. Yeah, like that was anything new. Still.
The CEO absently fiddled with his pen, nodding his head as he listened to the other executives drone on and on about this and that. New business proposals were rejected, irritating old men tattered on about stock-prices and suggested various ways to increase the value of the company, but they too were rejected.
He hated routine meetings like this. He knew that the corporation was growing at a steady rate, and Kaiba had been in business long enough to know that it was best to let things roll along on that track than try to boost them. All of these ideas to promote sales would just topple over in the end.
Tap, tap. Cold blue eyes glanced up towards the clock in the corner of the room, the tip of his pen tapping against the desk as he watched the little hand finally reach the three.
"Well then, gentlemen, I'd say we're finished here." He interrupted the pathetic speech of one of the wrinkly old failures, collecting his papers as he made his way to the door. It was safe to say that the oh-so-lovely CEO wasn't exactly well-liked among his peers. Oh well, it wasn't like he needed their approval.
Looking confident and arrogant as always, he stepped out of the conference room and headed to the elevator, going up three floors to get back to his office. As soon as the doors opened, his eyes traveled to the secretary's desk, only to find it still empty.
Geez, what the hell was taking so long? He was wasting time, and his paycheck was certainly going to reflect that. After stepping out of the elevator and into the hallway, however, he noticed something else. Mokuba was nervously pacing his office, and once he realized that Seto was out of his business meeting he quickly burst out into the hall.
"Big brother, there's been an accident. Jounouchi got stabbed."
***
"I'm sorry, sir, but he was just released from surgery less than half an hour ago. We're only letting family in at the moment." The nurse was one stubborn bitch. Kaiba wasn't about to plead to get in, but he had tried dropping subtle hints concerning money to see if he could sway her, but the old hag stood strong, and refused to let him past into the room.
"But if you'd really like to do him a favour, nobody's paid his hospital bills yet." Oh, so it looked like the little hints hadn't gone unnoticed. Bitch. Oh well, she did have a point. It wasn't nearly the five hundred grand that he'd lent Jounouchi before, so paying his hospital admittance fees and the cost for the surgery upfront wouldn't be that big of a deal. After he'd pulled out his checkbook and the nurse had directed him on where to go, the brunette strode down the white halls, wrinkling his nose at the smell of chemicals and sickness that floated through the air.
Kaiba had always hated hospitals. They reeked of death, decay and disease, and while they were filled with the stench of blood, it was a foul, rotten smell. He hated the blood of the sick and dying, along with the putrid taste it left in his mouth, which was why he very rarely even set foot in a place like this.
But his pet had been injured. As any good owner, he had to check on him.
As soon as that thought crossed through his mind, however, he was confused by it. Jou wasn't something he was supposed to care about. He was a dog – little more than a distraction, something to toy around with. True, he had tried to make sure he dominated the other man's life, but that was just for his own amusement. If he died, he died. He'd just find a new pet; that was what he'd done before.
So why was he here? Why was he coming to see him? Moreover, why was he worried about him?
He stopped in his tracks and thought for a minute. What was so different about this one? Was it the fact that he had defied him so vehemently, and then accepted him with little complaint? He didn't get this. It confused him, and he didn't like being confused, even moreso when it came to his own feelings.
That was when the oh-so-familiar smell caught his attention. The stubborn nurse at the front desk had refused to tell him where his pet's room was located, but it seemed that he didn't need her after all. After turning left and walking to the end of the mostly empty corridor, he spotted the room. It wasn't a private room like he had expected, but he could see Jounouchi laying in the bed closest to the door.
It was a somewhat disturbing sight. His skin was pale, bandages wrapped around his abdomen and chest, an IV in his arm. He looked like the slightest touch would cause him to crumble.
Surprisingly, there was no nurse or doctor in the room, only the brown-haired girl whom he had seen the day before with the bandages wrapped around her eyes. Kaiba didn't know if she was able to cry or not after her surgery, but the look on her face told him that she was falling apart from the inside.
But she couldn't see. He took advantage of that. Opening the door, he stepped inside, causing her to look up.
"Doctor?" She asked, and he nodded even though she couldn't see it. "Is something wrong?"
"No, it's fine. I only need to check the IV." He lied blatantly, choosing the first excuse he could think of as he walked over to the sleeping young man. The smell of blood was overpowering when he was this close, and Kaiba felt himself bending down, running one finger across the blond's exposed throat. Maybe coming into the room was a bad idea.
With the younger sister right there, he leaned in and pressed his lips to the pale flesh, running his tongue dup towards his jaw-bone, kissing his neck before he prepared to sink his teeth in and enjoy his last meal with the young man.
"Erm… Doctor? Is it ok?" The girl's voice broke through his trance-like state, and he quickly pulled away. That was bad. He usually never lost control of himself like that, especially not in public. Clearing his throat and wiping his mouth as if to get the taste out, he glanced towards her.
"Yes, it's fine." He was surprised at how weak his voice was at first, and he had to repeat the words in order to convince the young female that her brother wasn't dying. He wasn't, Seto knew that for sure. He could smell it; Jou was weak, but he wasn't about to die from this injury.
Kaiba, on the other hand, suddenly felt a strong urge to get out of the hospital. Looking down at his dog in the bed, spotting the glistening trail of saliva that had been left on his skin, was making him restless and uncomfortable. He couldn't stay here for any longer without risking losing control.
So, the young CEO quickly spun around on his heel, leaving the room and making his way back to the service counter, where he wrote a check to pay for the hospital bills, including the fee to move Jou to a private room. He didn't like the idea of having his injured pet sharing a room with somebody else. But after paying, he made a bee-line for the nearest exit. There was no way he wanted to be in that building anymore, and he needed to get rid of this tension. Jou had roused his hunger, and he was feeling agitated.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell-phone and checked through his address-list until he found Kanako's number and dialed it.
He needed something to distract him, and right now even a cheap, foul-tasting meal would do.
My shortest chapter yet. ;.; I suck at writing romance stories, too, as I realized with this chapter. Kaiba and Jou's relationship has gone next to nowhere, and what feelings Kaiba did have were more like 'don't touch my stuff' that an elementary-school kid would have. So I tried to elaborate more on his jealousy and tried to make him actually feel more.
But god, I hate writing for Kaiba. There was a reason why the majority of the story focused on Jou up until now. Xx Anyways, I'll try to update again soon.