Fetch?

Canadian Raccoon Girl

Chapter One:

A Cat Named Dog

Seto Kaiba sat back in the stiff, iron-wrought café chair, steaming coffee in hands. His long, beautiful cobalt eyes, above their high, sloping cheeks, were distracted and thoughtful as he gazed into the steam drifting up from the off-white rims of the cup and within. His chestnut hair was slightly more mussed than he would like to admit to in public, and his cheeks slightly flushed with the chill present on the patio of the 'Cheshire Cat'.

He could feel the curious stares of more than one of the other residents of the patio, yes, but currently, even dressed for lounging around the house- in jeans and a t-shirt (which, in fact, was a bad decision, considering the temperature)- he really didn't care. For once, he was too distracted to dote on the media.

'Maybe Mokuba-nii-chan has a point... but I don't see why he's so fixed on getting a pet. Dogs could be disruptive, have to be walked- and housetrained- but cats are attention-demanding, distractive, and likely to disappear if they get outside. Hmm... but still, they are said to be stress therapeutic.' He mused, running a hand through his hair.

'But where to find one without the world proclaiming 'Oh Kami-sama! Seto Kaiba's a sensitive guy!'? Decisions, with the influence of Mokuba-nii-chan, become infinitely harder.' He made a small, impatient noise, caught up in his dilemma.

(Fetch?)

Yami no Bakura made his annoyance known through a hissing noise behind his clenched teeth. "Hikari! Bakayarou! What on earth possessed you to invite that dobe pharaoh here?!" He yelled, cheeks flamed red with anger. Yami no Yugi sat languidly on the couch, smirking at him, with his arm around his blushing hikari.

"Honestly, tombrobber- is it impossible for you to give us a little civility?" He asked cattily. "I should think you should be happy with the fact that you have your own body now- or are you still holding that against me?"

The silver-white hair of the previously raving yami was thoroughly tousled from his vigorous activities, falling into dark-lashed, angry garnet eyes. The white skin of the yami made his eyes look even darker in it's almost deathlike paleness. "You. You don't have to put up with a hikari who gushes about his precious Jounouchi all the time, now do you?" He blazed, raving once more.

Yami no Yugi laughed. "Bakura, I think you may learn to love sooner than you think." Bakura stopped and looked at him strangely, conscious of the oddness of his cryptic words.

"And what does that mean, dobe?" He seethed, hissing.

"Just that you're being a bit- say- catty, tombrobber." He cackled mysteriously, causing Bakura to scoot away from him cautiously for a moment, like a startled cat, then catch himself doing it, glare, flush, and rush out the door, slamming it behind him.

Yami no Bakura's soft, curving cheeks and fairly innocent looks were not to be mistaken for the actual thing itself- a semi-psychotic, and possible sociopath, Bakura was anything but innocent. But, rather, he had been unusually law-abiding lately- which probably only meant that he hadn't been caught.

Bakura walked down the road, teeth grinding, head thrust forward and down militantly, and eyes blazing like twin rubies. His skin began to tingle, presumably with the cool air and brisk breeze, but he paid it no mind as he climbed swiftly and recklessly into the branches of a very large cherry tree, adjacent to their neighbours' community park. He looked down at the people below, shrouded by the blackened, frost-bitten twigs, and narrowed his eyes in contempt at the poor, innocent fools.

He began to amuse himself with thoughts of revenge on Yami noYugi, or, otherwise known, the bakayarou pharaoh. He took no notice of the soft tingling of the thick white hair that grew upon his body, nor the shortening of his own hair, nor the shrinking of his torso, hands, legs, arms and head. He did, however, take notice of how small everything suddenly was, and the weight of his clothes bearing him down.

---

Seto Kaiba's sharp ears couldn't miss the confused yowl coming from the higher branches of the cherry tree, nor the pile of clothes that adorned it. He peered up at the small white cat that struggled free of the restrictive fabrics, uncollared, and slightly scruffy, but healthy looking enough. A muscle at the corner of his mouth twitched as he reached strenuously upwards with long arms and lifted the young cat from the branch. A year old, perhaps less? He smiled a little at the convenience, and looked at the clothes skeptically. What kind of weirdo abandoned a cat with a pile of clothes?

Bakura, however, was very puzzled as to why a pair of very large hands scooped him up about the midriff and cradled him carefully against something soft to the touch, but hard like muscle. Confused and frightened, and angry because he was frightened and that wasn't proper for a tombrobber of his caliber, he bit down on the long, delicate hand, inciting a grunt of surprise, then a pulling force upwards by his scruff.

He found himself looking into a pair of annoyed, dark blue eyes, and a very becoming face- if rather a bit unamused at present. A finger tapped him on the nose firmly as the ground still moved of its own will beneath his dangling feet. "No," The face said sharply. He stared at it in confusion, fright beginning to wear down into a sort of pulsating pain behind his temples.

"Let me go!" He yelled commandingly at the face.

---

Seto laughed a little at the cross-sounding meow the cat directed at him, accompanied by a growl. Looking at it musingly as he walked, still carrying it by it's- he checked, inciting a startled hiss from the cat in question- his scruff. "You know, you remind me more of dog than a cat," he said, licking the small welling drops of blood from his finger, and looking at the displeased feline. "So that's what you are. A Dog. And that's what we'll name you, I suppose. ...Therapeutic, my ass." He eyes him frigidly, curious about the scarlet eyes of the young ex-stray.

Bakura, or rather, Dog, was not incredibly pleased at this new turn of events.

(Fetch?)

Seto dumped 'Dog' on the floor, not unkindly, but none too gently, provoking another growl. Dropping down onto his ass and peering at it, he reached out and scratched Dog behind the ear.

---

Bakura found himself learning into the warm fingers that rubbed behind his ear and beneath his chin, eyes closing slightly in spite of himself and his situation. A low, rumbling noise built in his throat, not unlike a growl, but not a growl. He found himself looking up at the blue-eyed face once again, as the fingers picked him up easily and deposited him onto something uneven and caving downwards in the middle. He realized vaguely, unconsciously,that it was a lap. The fingers became a hand, and began to stroke down his back- not a truly unpleasant feeling, but a very new one for the newly changed thief.

"Onii-san?" A small voice said from nearby, causing Bakura to look up sleepily at a huge ball of black hair, dark eyes and smiles. "Oh, Onii-san! You got a cat?" It asked, delighted. Upon being lifted once more, Bakura decided that 1) he liked being picked up by the blue-eyed face much better, as it was much more gentle, and 2) that it was really time for him to discover what had happened, and what kind of bizarre drugs Yami no Yugi had snuck into his system.

As such, he scratched deep into the black furball's hand,wand, with a mind to dash from the room as fast as his new, ungainly legs would take him, he smacked into the metallic barrier of Kaiba's briefcase, and glared at it in annoyance for thwarting his plans.

He yowled in renewed shock at the sight of his reflection.

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