A/N: So it has been a while since I updated. I wish I could justify it, but I really can't. I'm just busy and this falls to the wayside. I relaly hope to keep it going as long as I'm able. I hope you enjoy this chapter, its fairly sizable.

Chapter 18.

The sanity of Kaiba's actions were immediately questioned when he was brought back inside. If there was ever a doubt, at least in the doctor's minds, there wasn't now. Throughout the long walk, Jou was at Kaiba's side like a sentry, but he kept his distance. That showed well on Kaiba's face. Seated in a wheelchair, he frequently turned his head to catch a glance of Jou out of the corner of his eye, but would look away and be impassive when sitting forward.

Without having to look for very long, Jou could see where the smirk on Kaiba's face had faded into stoicism. What worried him more was how Kaiba had obviously revitalized, but not in the way that he wanted. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking." Jou said as they neared Kaiba's room. There was no response.

Mokuba, on the other hand, stayed right by his brother, keeping the pace and touching Kaiba's hand every so often. The worry had dissipated but was replaced by anguish. Likely, he was thinking the same thing that were all thinking. One main question lingered as they entered the room:

When was the social worker coming back?

The nurses took Kaiba into the room, but it was Jou that eased him into bed. Fierce independent shown through as Kaiba used only the one foot and fell into the bed, moving around and holding no more than Jou's hand to keep his balance.

Kaiba's hands folded together at his waist once in bed. He seemed partially stoic, but partially serene. His countenance betrayed none of his thoughts. His head lulled to the side, and he stared towards the window even though the blinds were closed.

Jou elevated Kaiba's leg and walked around to the opposite side. There was a chair beside him, and usually he would sit but he was too worked up. Mokuba sat instead. The nurses left the room and were replaced by the doctor. He left it ajar.

"So?" Jou asked.

"So what, Jounouchi-san?"

"What's going to happen now?"

The doctor had a minor hesitation. "We respond to the problem at hand. I'm placing him on a psychiatric hold for another 72 hours, and he's going to be closely monitored."

"Ya gonna restrain'm too?"

The doctor opened his mouth, paused, and then hunched his shoulders as if shrugging slowly. "I am conflicted, Jounouchi-san."

"Tch."

"Do you think he needs restraint?" Jou was surprised by the question.

"It don't matter what I think. Matters what you think and do. I think you should let 'em go and let 'em heal at home, but he's a threat so whaddya do? Cuz I dunno anymore. I dunno what he wants or needs.

Kaiba shifted. He propped himself up in the bed, crossing his arms and switching between Jou and the doctor. Jou looked him in the eye and expected to be able to read him. "This is your fault, stupid."

A minor smirk drew on his face, and Kaiba closed his eyes as if ready for sleep. Something told Jou he was just gauging those that were around him, listening instead of being an active participant. And Jou could see that he wasn't going to fall asleep in that position. With no machines to monitor his biorhythms, the doctor couldn't definitely say if Kaiba was asleep or not. It made Jou smile the slightest knowing it was a game.

"I'd like to speak with you privately," the doctor said to Jou. "You as well, Kaiba-san," he addressed to Mokuba. Mokuba was reluctant to stand up and leave, but did so when Jou put a hand on his shoulder.

All night, Kaiba laid awake as the nurses came and checked on him. Not that it mattered. He was tethered to the bed like a torture victim, though he didn't writhe. For moments at a time, he wondered why they would subdue him like that because of his ankle. Then he would smirk to himself and knew that the state of his ankle meant nothing.

All day, and all night, he hadn't spoke. He hardly ate, except the little that Jou fed him, and he now was reaching the insomniac point. His medications were still in their proper doses, although the pain still stabbed through time and again. But there was no reason for him to be awake other than the burning in his mind. It seemed to create a fire that blazed just beneath his eyes, though it didn't break through to his features.

Every so often, he would close his eyes and would fake the sleep was upon him. Like his body was falling back into the bed and finally his mind would disperse into the world like ashes floating in the wind. But then, he would find himself awake again, all the comforts purged from him. Thoughts of Yami were dancing in his head. His words were haunting him.

"Admit yourself for what you are."

And the words kept swimming and swimming. Deep down in his psyche. They were the things that burned in the back of his eyes and itched in his brainstem. And why did that seem to matter so much to him? What was it that seemed to worry him so much? And it almost made him want to snap in half, as if tension was holding him over.

What was he, though? What about him did he need to admit that the media didn't already know?

What you are...

And then he writhed, fighting against the restraints as the night pressed on. The nurses still came, but didn't notice the subtle movements. Nothing. Nothing was wrong, yet nothing was right.

Stuck in his routine, Jou expected little as he walked out of the office after his shift. He pulled out his phone, checking for any calls from Mokuba. His next plan of action was to go to the hospital, not that he was entirely excited about it. Not after what the doctor talked to him about.

As he got to his car though, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. There had been a shadow following him the distance.

"Hey there, Jou."

Jou's brows furrowed. "What do you want Mai?"

"Wow, are you still mad at me? I thought we last talked on good terms."

Jou turned away. "I don't have the time to talk about it," he said. "Bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?" But Jou didn't answer. That didn't deter Mai too much, strutting over to Jou and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Jou, are you still with Kaiba?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Kinda? How are you 'kinda' with someone?"

Jou shrugged her away, unlocking his car and putting his things inside it. "I gotta go, Mai. Don't got the time."

"Well how's he doing? Can you tell me that?"

"It's none of yer business, a'right?" Jou said, and gave himself a second to look at Mai before dropping into the seat. "'Sides, I tell you anythin' an' you could make it worse like before."

"Jou I did not..."

"Look, don't care. Gotta go so I get t' sleep at midnight tonight at least." Mai was getting ready to speak, but Jou slammed the door on her. In her last ditch effort, she banged on the window. Jou tried to lurch forward, and Mai backed away in fear. Jou stopped, rolling down the window. "Mai...get in..."

Shocked, it took Mai a second to register what Jou said. She shuffled over to the other side of the car and got in. "Thanks Jou..."

"Yer car here?"

"No...I took the bus."

Jou nodded briefly. "Where are ya going?"

"You can drop me off wherever you're going. I can get a ride anywhere." Mai replied. She was somber suddenly. It made Jou aware that his behavior was off, but part of him bit it down. Mostly because he kenw what was driving those feelings, and he didn't mean for them to be happening like they were.

"A'right...Icould always just take ya there too."

"Thanks Jou," she tucked a blond hair behind her ear. The quiet in the car made Jou uneasy. Mai got in to talk with him, now she was like a statue.

"What were ya askin' me earlier?" he said, breaking the silence. Mai cleared her throat.

"Well...I was wondering what was going on with you and Kaiba. I hadn't really heard anything since the man jumped from the KaibaCorp. building."

Jou's hand clenched on the steering wheel. "It really is complicated Mai."

"Hun, that's what I'm here for. You can talk to me."

"I'm jus' worried."

Mai sighed. "I didn't leak, okay? I had the idea and someone who had the ear of a journalist, but I didn't leak anything. I was waiting for you, like I said. Whatever that trash was that was in the papers came from the opposite end." She was waving her pointer finger around absently, talking with her hands before settling them in her lap.

"Whaddya mean?" Jou knew he was going to have time to get it out of her. Traffic was already backing up.

"From Kaiba's side. Someone around him. All the info is coming from there."

"How'dya know that?"

Mai shrugged. "I just read enough of the rag mags to know. Doesn't say too much about you. Just things about Kaiba and stuff from his end. Like Kaiba's "feelings" and all that."

Jou never thought of it that way. All he could see was that something was written down. "Wow..."

Mai shrugged again. "Anyways, how is he? And what's this 'kinda' relationship you guys got going on? Last I heard you were...confused about everything."

"Yeah, well, that hasn't changed much."

"No?" she turned to him.

"No...I mean we're more together now but...he's still..."

"Kaiba?" Mai almost laughed.

"I wish. He's...goin' crazy and the hospital's starting to think there's nothing they can do ta help 'em."

Mai folded her hands on her knee. "But..."and she almost asked 'isn't he already crazy' but she didn't continue, trying to to think of something else instead. "What are they thinking that they're going to do?"

Jou shrugged. "They gave me and Mokuba some suggestions. One of which was move him to a long-care facility...that seemed to be the best choice. But it leaves Moki as a ward of the state. No one's around ta take care of 'em."

"What else did they suggest?"

Jou quieted, eyes focused on the road as traffic inched forward. When he got the chance, he took a side road to get away from the main street. All the while, he could see the KaibaCorp. building glimmering in the distance and he wondered if maybe Mokuba was there instead of the hospital.

"Nothing good," he replied, and reached for his phone. "Hit four on the speeddial, would ya?" he asked, tossing his phone to Mai. She fumbled for a second before doing as he asked. She handed it back to Jou.

His trajectory changed to the KaibaCorp. building, knowing that it wasn't too far out of the way of the hospital. "Kaiba Mokuba," he heard. It seemed all too staunch for the growing adolescent. Jou cleared his throat.

"Hey Moki, it's Jou."

"Hey Jou!" The tone lightened, but Jou could still hint at the sorrow.

"Where are ya right now?"

"Uh...I'm at work right now, actually. I was just about to close up some stuff and head over to see nii-sama. Thought maybe I could talk to the doctor."

"I'm gonna come pick ya up, if that's alright."

"Sure." There was a pause. "Oh, I was going to bring a lawyer with me actually."

Jou slowed down, coming to a stop just behind a car. He was at that very intersection, clearing in his throat again, he tried looking away and pretending that it wasn't there. That it wasn't the same. In the streets, he could still see small shards of glass and debris from the many months ago. It didn't matter how well something was cleaned up, there was alway something there.

"That oughta be persuasive."

"Well...if I really need to, I think theres some stuff that I can do."

"Okay, I trust ya kid," Jou said. "They gonna be takin' ya then?"

"Yeah, I think so. I have a car waiting right now."

Jou nodded. "I'll meet ya there then. I get there any later and he'll be gettin' mad at me cuz the other nurses are tryin' ta shove food down his throat."

Mokuba giggled a bit, but it was a forced laugh at the dark joke. Their reality seemed so screwed up in comparison to everything else. All these tragedies were laid out in cneter stage, magnifying each little granule. After a while, like an ant with a magnifying glass, the limelight burned down on them and made them wriggle. Worst was that it was for sport. All of them knew that, and yet there was nothing they could do to combat it. They had walked into that limelight, knowingly or unknowingly, and now they were trapped by their own fame.

"Alright Jou. We'll win this yet."

Jou nodded. "See ya, Moki."

And they hung up, Jou putting his phone in cupholder. Mai was burning a hole in his temple the entire time he was talking to Mokuba. "So what's up?" Jou made a sharp turn away from the KaibaCorp. building.

"We're meeting Mokuba at the hospital. He's got a lawyer comin' along ta talk with the docs. Should be talkin' to the social worker but hey, it's a start."

"This is really that serious, isn't it?"

It took Jou a few moments before shrugged and half nodded. "Yeah. Guess it's that serious..."

"This is just impossible...as if it's bad enough there were badguys who always wanted to kidnap Mokuba, now the government thinks that the best course of action. What a trip."

For the rest of the way, Jou drove in silence. He didn't know what to tell Mai about his relationship or his feelings. He didn't know himself. All he knew was that as soon as he got to the hospital, there was a pang in his heart. Every minute, every second made it draw sharper and sharper, as if someone was slowly inserting a knife into his chest. Half of him wanted to say that Kaiba would be best if there was at least one person around him who could make everything better. That one person had to be Mokuba, even if Jou wanted to be selfish enough to think that he could hold that position. The other half told him that, if he wasn't so involved, if he wasn't so important, maybe Kaiba would be better off. Maybe he would be able to hold onto his sanity and it wouldn't be such a big deal.

But hadn't he tried both already? That was what he meant when he told Mai he was confused. Jou wanted desperately to be in a relationship. He believed that in some realm, he really was. But in another, he was just a burden, a monster killing some strangely majestic creature. He was suffocating the life out of Kaiba by being caring. What kind of romance, and what kind of love, was that in the end? Even if Kaiba was some masochist like he seen in bed, there was no way that he liked the emotional turmoil or the mental stretching from all that was going on.

"I...I think I got a plan."

Jou pulled into the hospital parking lot, parking in a spot close to Kaiba's ward. "Oh, and what's that?"

"I...I don't think I can tell ya. Not if I want to keep it safe, ya know?"

Mai blinked. "Jou...I don't like that talk," she said. "Whatever you're cooking up doesn't sound very legit."

"I'm jus' gonna do what I can ta make sure things don't completely fall apart."

Mai got out of the car with Jou. "You really love Kaiba, don't you?" she asked softly.

Caught off guard, Jou nearly tripped over himself. "Wha...Mai..."

"Would you go this far for anyone else?"

Jou cleared his throat. "My...sister. Some of my friends," he said. "Look, it don't matter. I know what its like to be seperated from my sister. It can make you go crazy; Kaiba can't handle much more and I wanna make sure he at least knows Moki at least safe and we know where he is."

Standing at the car, Mai lowered her head and nodded. "I get it," she said. "If you ever need help, you can just ask. For...whatever it is you're doing."

"You gonna take off here?" Jou asked.

"Yeah, I'll just catch another bus," she came around to him, grabbing his hand. "Call me if you need help alright. Really, Jou."

Jou nodded. "Yeah...look, I really gotta go. I wanna be there when Mokuba gets here."

And Mai walked off, understanding. After she was out of his line of vision, Jou ran up to the hospital and rushed his way to Kaiba's room, only to be stopped along the way by a nurse. "Boy, Kaiba-san must be popular today."

"Popular?"

"He's got some visitors right now."

Shit. Jou kept going, opening the door and seeing that there was a younger man standing there, talking to Kaiba. He was still restrained, but didn't look half as flustered. Something in him was sharp, focused, though he wasn't speaking.

"Who'r you?"

The man looked back. "I'm Kaiba-sama's assistant," the man said. "He...he had a nurse call me, I'm not sure what for though."

"Hasn't said a word to ya yet?" Jou asked. The assistant shook his head. Kaiba's eyes were following Jou around the bed. "Whaddya want 'em for, Kaib'. He's prolly got other things ta be doin'."

Kaiba smirked, looking over to the assistant. He seemed to have to spit up his words where his throat was dry. "You're fired."

The assistant blanched. "Kaiba-sama...?"

"Welp, that was fun," Jou sat down. "May as well leave now."

"But...but...Kaiba-sama, I don't understand."

"The tabloids..."he said. "That's my information...for only me. Only me. Only me," he seemed to get stuck repeating himself. He looked away from the assistant. "I'll tell them. Just like Yami said."

Jou's ears perked up. "Yami?"

"Leave now," Kaiba said. "Collect your things. No more words. No more."

The assistant stood up. "You gonna pull the Tatsukiyo bullshit?" Jou asked. The assistant shook his head. He looked afraid more than anything else.

"No...no never. I don't understand why this is so harmful. I never though Kaiba-sama would mind. It was for PR."

Jou raised his hand. "Save it, kid...don't matter if it was good or not. Jus' best ya go away and don't come back." He set his hand down over Kaiba's, rubbing it. The assistant, still trembling, left the room in the time that Mokuba entered, two figures behind him. One Jou could recognize as Roland, the other was a man that just looked like a lawyer. "Hey there, Moki."

Kaiba's eyes shone when Mokuba stepped in the room. "Hey, nii-sama. Hey Jou," Mokuba walked around, hugging Kaiba around the neck. The first thing he did was start unlatching the restraints. Kaiba smiled wearily.

"I'll go get the doctor," Roland said and left.

"Moki...I know you got a lawyer and all," Jou began, picking his words carefully. "But I think we need to deal with this another way."

"What do you mean?" Mokuba sat down on the edge of the bed. Kaiba's fingers were latching to the back of Mokuba's shirt, scrunching it up and pulling on it.

"We can do all the legal mumbo-jumbo ya want, but we gotta get you safe first. So the government don't take ya."

Mokuba seemed confused. "Jou...I don't..."

"I'm gonna hide ya where no one will ever find ya."

A/N: Hmmm...wonder where that may be. And can Mai be helpful? Is she the only one helpful? Till next time, KenSan out!