Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Freak of Nature Documentary ❯ It's a Dog's Life ( Chapter 5 )

Joey swallowed hard, suddenly realizing a small flaw in his plan. He hadn't thought up any hiding places to get to, first. The practical consequences of that were that he was going to be caught, and he didn't dare hope that his punishment would be light.... Oh, great, stuck between a rock and a hard place already....

Looking around, Joey's eyes fixed upon the first thing he could find to offer him cover, a nearby rose bush. The blonde dove for its protection, crouching down behind the carefully pruned shrubbery and praying for small miracles. He was invisible, he was a bush, nobody could see him.... Well, they said if you repeated something often enough, it'd eventually come true, right? He was willing to experiment. He was invisible, he was a

bush, nobody could see him....

Seto slowly and deliberately pulled off the bucket, letting it fall to the ground with a hollow thud. It bounced a few times, before rolling towards the shrub Joey was hiding behind, almost as if it wished to convict him. The CEO's face was so carefully, utterly, intensely calm that it was frightening to see. His eyes narrowed as they followed the bucket's path, and noted several sudden aberrations in his prized roses. Number one, there were patches of incongruous green between the leaves. Secondly, it was a windless day, yet the bush was still rustling. And thirdly.... there was a very distinct mop of gleaming blonde hair that he could see over the top of it. It wasn't quite tall enough to

fully conceal it's occupant.

Leaning over with affected deliberateness, Seto grabbed a handful of shirt, hauling the fugitive up and over the bush, clear of the thorny boughs. His eyes narrowed in a steely gaze, and deep blue eyes met brown. Joey squirmed nervously, beads of sweat starting to form on his brow. Kaiba wasn't supposed to have seen him! Hadn't he been invisible or something? The android guy must have X-ray vision, or something like that.... He stared back with wide eyes, gazing deep into the unfathomable, limitless azure depths of Seto's unblinking eyes. Couldn't this guy feel how uncomfortable he was, yet? Joey tried to penetrate into him with the look, tried to see just how much humanity he could see.

The trapped boy was stopped as surely as if he'd rammed into a cold, cast iron wall. The blue was like a calm, iced over lake. Still waters ran deep; they also had glassy smooth surfaces while hiding tumultuous depths. He couldn't see past the surface; all there was to find was ice, ice.... Smooth, flawless, implacable, impregnable..... So cold..... Joey shivered in spite of himself. ....Maybe it was just because of how cold the water had been? Hey, it could happen!

He finally found his voice again. "Well? What're you gonna do to me?" He tried to sound nonchalant, but only succeeded in dulling the edge of fear in his voice.

Seto, after deciding that he had glared long enough to be thoroughly intimidating, let the fistful of material go, letting Joey hit the ground hard. The boy rubbed his sore backside resentfully, knowing it would probably bruise from the landing. Kaiba gave him a cold, expressionless look. "Wait here." He said simply, and turned on one heel to stride back into the house.

Joey stared after him incredulously, not sure whether to be scared out of his wits, or incredibly relieved. He'd just.... left! Did that mean he could make a great escape now? One glance at the gate made him second-guess himself; it was still locked. Did he have enough time to get out? Kaiba could just be getting some implement to torture him with.... but if he ran away, wouldn't Kaiba's wrath be even worse, once he was finally caught? It was a scary thought.

While he was debating, though, the door swung back open. "....What the....?" His eyes crinkled in slight confusion. Why was Kaiba carrying belts? What reason could he possible have for....

"Oh..." Joey winced. He knew that those metal ends were supposed to hurt pretty badly if you were hit with them, sometimes even drawing blood. Was Kaiba planning to spank or whip him or something? He had no idea that the guy was so brutal!

"Umm...." Joey sweatdropped as a belt was wrapped gently around his neck, several times over before being buckled. He could feel the smooth, cool leather against his throat. Was Kaiba planning on hanging him instead, or something?

Hmm... there was more to come, apparently. Joey shivered at the touch of cold metal against the back of his neck, as another belt was slid under the first. He soon realized what was going on, as Seto secured the last bit around one of the wrought iron bars of the gate. It was a leash! And it was tied so far down that he was forced to crouch, otherwise the surprisingly sharp leather edges would slice into his skin, though not breaking it, and generally cause pain.

Seto turned, calling out towards the house, where the front door was still ajar. "Mokuba! Come see what followed me home!"

"Yeah?" Mokuba ran out, eyes lighting upon Seto, his hand resting on Joey's shoulder casually. "Oh, wow! A dog!" He bounded over to glomp Joey, throwing his arms around the boy's neck and clinging. "Did it really follow you home?" His green eyes sparkled with excitement.

"That's right." Seto nodded, smiling a little.

"It must really like you, then!"

"I would think so, wouldn't you?" Seto let out a deep, baritone chuckle, and ruffled Joey's hair haphazardly with a hand, in a parody of affection.

"Hey, hey!" Joey yelped, awkwardly trying to get his head away from Seto's hand, while still being glomped. "I'm NOT a dog!" His head tilted further as he tried to put more distance between it and Kaiba, coming to rest on Mokuba's shoulder.

"Aaaww, he's so sweet!" Mokuba giggled, and hugged Joey even more tightly.

"This is _so_ NOT funny!" Joey argued indignantly, starting to squirm in the little boy's grasp, to no avail.

"Such a cute puppy!" Mokuba patted Joey's head enthusiastically, further mussing his poor, abused hair.

"It sure is." Seto agreed with a small nod and a smirk.

"Ow!" Joey discovered that jerking against his leash wasn't very healthy. "Kaiba, cut it out! I'm sorry, already! Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"I always wanted a pet! Can I keep him, Seto? Huh? Pleeeeeease? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Mokuba wheedled.

"Well...." Seto appeared to be considering it. "I don't know, Mokuba. Are you very sure? Owning a pet is an awful lot of work...."

Joey's eyes widened in horror. Mokuba.... wanted him.... as a PET?! Impossible! "NO! Mokuba! C'mon, buddy, pal, remember me? Joey? Lemme go, please!" He tried to put a hand on the boy's shoulder, but discovered the hard way that he couldn't maintain his balance very well with just three limbs, and toppled sideways, the belts cutting into his neck painfully before he could right himself.

"Yeah, yeah!" Mokuba bounced. "Uh-huh! I'm REAL responsible! You know I am, right? I can do it!" He giggled at the sight of Joey falling over, and helped him to sit back upright again. "Silly puppy! He's kinda clumsy, isn't he?"

"You're right about that." Seto nodded emphatically. "That could be a problem. But... if you're sure.... I suppose we could try it out. You have to promise to take very good care of him, though, okay?"

"Yay! You're the BEST, big brother!" Mokuba ran over to hug Seto tightly. "I will!" he promised, overjoyed. "I'll take very, _very_ good care of Spot! I'll feed him, and brush him, and play with him all the time."

Joey stared. "....Spot? SPOT?! My name is JOEY! Joey Wheeler!" He jerked at the restraint again with a guttural growl, falling back with a soft whimper of pain as the leather lacerated the sensitive flesh on his neck.

Mokuba looked at him with an air of understanding. "You know.... I don't like the name Spot. I'll call him.... Rusty! That's a good name!"

Seto nodded. "That's right. Now, go tell the driver that we'd like the limo pulled up to the front, okay?" He could drive; heck, he even had a license! The thing was though, he had to keep up a good appearance, usually. The CEO casually moved his hand to scratch behind one of Joey's ears.

"Okay!" Mokuba gave him a broad grin, a thumbs up, and bounded off to go find their driver.

Joey sweatdropped. He didn't really want to admit it, but that actually felt pretty good.... "Will you let me OUT, already?" He tugged at the belts fruitlessly, totally bamboozled by their buckles. How on earth did Seto WEAR things like these? They were impossible to open! Whoever wore them had a big bladder, hopefully, because it must take at least an hour to take these things off....

"Nice try, mutt." Seto paced before him a little, clearly enjoying the other boy's helpless position. "Good, but not good enough. Better luck next time...." He smirked.

Joey flinched back, so that the billowing bottom hem of Kaiba's trenchcoat wouldn't smack him in the face. "Yeah, yeah.... Just get these things OFF!" He was so eager to get out, he didn't even care about being called a mutt.

Seto knelt before him, his long, quick fingers deftly unbuckling the first belt. It fell away, allowing Joey the very gratifying freedom of being able to stand up and stretch. He made short work of the others, then stood up as well. "Now, shall I show you to the door, or would you prefer to be thrown out?" He asked, quite amused.

Joey brushed his clothes off sullenly, casting Kaiba a resentful look. "I can walk, thanks." To prove his point, Joey turned to walk out the gate, having the presence of mind to grab his video camera before slinking off. He was blushing furiously, head hanging low as his cheeks burned with humiliation. The only thing missing from the picture was that he had no tail to tuck between his legs. That had been demeaning.... and it had only been one silly, stupid, harmless little prank, too! Geez, that guy was way too harsh....

Seto watched Joey's departure, chuckling softly. It grew into a laugh, and he grinned, shaking his head in consternation as he went back inside to change into a dry set of clothing. His own were still dripping; he wiped a sodden lock of hair out of his eyes. That had to have been the most fun he'd had in a while. Joey had gotten him, well and truly taken him by complete surprise with that little sleight of hand. Yes, he had gotten his revenge, but he didn't really care about that. The important thing, really, was that he'd been _had_.

Did Joey realize just what he'd done? He, Seto Kaiba, depended on his wits and reflexes to keep himself alive in this world, whether it was physically, in the buisiness sense, or

even in something as trivial as verbal banter, he NEEDED to come out on top. Being victorious was a must, not an option. If he showed any weakness, then all was lost to him. Being so young, so apparently 'green', he was forced to be aggressive, just to show his worth in the world of buisiness. It was impossible to let his guard down; it was a dog-eat-dog world out there.

And yet, he hadn't had it up just then, and he'd been caught by a childish trick. He'd slipped up! And amazingly enough, it hadn't done him any harm. It hadn't mattered one whit. He wasn't going to lose his job, or his life, or even his reputation. The only consequences were that he'd gotten wet. The knowledge in and of itself was liberating; he was quite glad for the experience.

Seto stripped down to his boxers, with a genuine smile on his face, and reached for a set of clothes. The limo would be waiting for him by the time he got back outside. He pulled his hand away from the suits contemplatively, and on an impulse, grabbed a T-shirt and pair of jeans instead. Why not go for a casual look today? Heaven knew that it'd been long enough since he'd worn this sort of thing.

Dressing quickly, Seto walked back outside, towards a full day of shopping and spending time with Mokuba. Another thought made his smile widen. He hadn't thought of it until now, but his security cameras had caught that entire scene on tape.... Home videos were the best, weren't they?