Yume Genjitsu

Chapter One: D

Joey

Blood. Everywhere. Alcohol. A scream. It fades. Yelling. Blackout. (1)

&-&-&

Joey awoke in a pool of blood. His blood, to be exact. Every part of his body ached. His once beautiful blond hair was matted with dry blood. Dark purple bruises and scars marred his pale skin. The distinct smell of alcohol reached his nose and he crinkled it in disgust. That was not the smell he wanted to wake up to, yet one he had awoken to since he was seven.

Unsteadily, Joey climbed to his feet, a fresh wave of pain and dizziness washing over him. He groaned a bit, but stifled it when he realized that the possibility of his dad being home was very likely. Looking around, having to strain his eyes in the darkness, and listening carefully, he made his way to the bathroom. He paused briefly by his room –small, with one window that was covered with tarp because there was now glass, a bed that would was more of a cot, and a locked closet that had his book bag and all things valuable in it- to get some fresh clothes, medical tape, some –more like a lot- of gauze, and a jar of medical cream that his grandmother and sister taught him how to make.

His grandmother, from his mother's side, had worked for a hospital when she was younger. After she retired Joey would visit her all the time; half of the time because of the injuries he got in fights and from his dad –though she didn't know this, Joey knew she suspected it. She had decided that because he always got hurt she would teach him a few remedies. Also, she taught Serenity, too, in case she died and Joey couldn't help himself or get help. He smiled painfully at the memory. Shaking his head slightly, so as not to give himself a headache, he continued on his way to the bathroom, limping a little.

When he reached his destination, he closed and locked the door, not wanting any disruptions. He took a quick look at the watch on his wrist. The glass was shattered and he could see small shards of glass imbedded in his skin. The watch still worked, though, and said the time was 4:57 a.m. He groaned, this time not bothering to stifle it. It was way too early to be up. But, ignoring that fact, he set about stripping of his tattered clothes, cleaning, and bandaging his fresh wounds, occasionally coming across a few shards of beer bottles and watch glass.

The process was slow and painful. He stripped of everything he had on, leaving him naked and shivering in the middle of the small bathroom. Then he wet a washcloth with cold water and wiped the blood off himself. He knew his body probably would not be able to handle the water if he used the bath.

So, now that he was naked, cold, and covered in cold water, which only seemed to make him colder and his cuts sting more, he could apply the medical cream, then bandage himself up, and finally get dressed in some clean clothes. He took a cotton ball, dabbed it into the medical cream, and gently applied it to a cut on his bare chest.

Gritting his teeth together, Joey forced himself not to scream. That stuff hurt! But, he knew that that was just the extremely painful process of disinfection. He looked at himself grimly in the mirror. "Great, only a thousand more!" However, it was nothing new…

&-&-&

His watch said 5:21 a.m. Joey lay in his bed, hoping to get another hour of sleep before the school started. It didn't look like that was about to happen, though. He had finished bandaging all his cuts a few minutes ago and had washed his hair in the bathroom sink, and now he had nothing to do except sleep; except sleep continued to elude him. He sighed and got up. Looks like I'll have to sleep in class again.

He had not bothered himself with putting on pajamas because he knew he would only get back up again later to face the day. And school. Also, he knew he might not even get to sleep and would end up leaving. Therefore, he slowly put on his shoes and left the house with his backpack slung over his right shoulder.

As Joey walked down the street his stomach let out an inhuman, er, stomach growl. The early birds around him –around six people in total- stared at him strangely and a few of the closer ones inched away slowly. Joey couldn't help but grin sheepishly, but then frowned. What food place was open at 5:20 in the morning? His walking slowed to a stop as he thought. Then, the all-knowing metaphorical light bulb, which was said to never appear before Joey, went on in his head and he smacked his forehead. This, in turn, caused a colossal headache. "Owwww!" Joey cried, causing already nervous pedestrians to turn tail and flee. Joey took no notice to this, though. After a minute, the headache subsided and he resumed his train of thought.

Duh, why didn't I think of that before! Joey cried questioningly in his head. I can go to the Osuwari Inu Café! And with that, Joey dashed toward the Osuwari Inu Café (2)!

The Osuwari Inu Café was open 24/7. Joey had only been there once before, and had found the name odd. The name came from the fact that the owner had a dog training area in the back, where he, of course, trained dogs. The dogs where also given a plate of food as a reward when a dog did something successfully. From that one time at the Café Joey knew why the dogs loved the food. It was delicious! Joey had promised himself that he would come back again, and now was the perfect chance!

&-&-&

When he reached the Café it was empty except for three people and the workers. He went in and sat at table and a waitress handed him a menu. He accepted it gladly and allowed his stomach to choose the food. After a minute of thinking, and some grumbling on his stomach's part, he decided on a cheeseburger and a coke. While he waited for his order, he looked around. The Café could not really be called a Café; it was more of a diner. But, hey, he wasn't complaining. Osuwari Inu Café sounded so much better than Osuwari Inu Diner, ne?

Seto

Cobalt blue eyes opened blearily and the CEO of Kaiba Corp. shot up into a sitting position. He was not supposed to be sleeping. He was supposed to be finishing his game (3)! A few months after the big five had forced him to go through the hellishly modified game he decided he would fix it, then put it in arcades, sell it, and see how it went.

He stared at the laptop screen blankly. His mind was unfocused and the words on it were beginning to mix, forming a mess of incomprehensible babble. He pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the oncoming headache. He really did not need to be awake at –he looked at his clock in the bottom right corner of the screen on his laptop- 5:20 in the morning! He wanted to yell. Seto had promised his little brother, Mokuba, that he would be home before midnight. Mokuba hated to see his older brother work so hard.

If he was lucky, Mokuba would save the waterworks and just yell. It was hard for Seto to see his only living family cry, especially if it was because of something he did. Sighing, he stood, stretching to loosen his muscles. He shut off his laptop and grabbed his suitcase, exiting his office and, shortly after, Kaiba Corp., heading home. It wasn't a long walk to his mansion. He wasn't going to bother with his limousine.

Several times on this route, he had taken note of the Osuwari Inu Café. He knew of the dog training facility in the back. Several times on this route, he found himself wondering if Joey ever went in there. It would fit, since Seto always called him a dog. Moreover, that would only give Seto something else to tease Joey about. However, only one time on this route had he ever been shocked. That one time was when he rounded the corner and saw, sitting in Osuwari Inu Café, the very mutt he oft mused about. He watched as Joey looked out the window and his heart nearly skipped a beat when his honey colored eyes landed on him.

Joey

Something, a flash of a blue trench coat, caught Joey's eyes as he looked out the window. There, staring at him with those beautiful, enticing –No! That's wrong! He's a cold, heartless, sexy bastard! Oh, shit! He felt his face burn in embarrassment and fought the blush mental tooth and nail. Finishing his homework, which he had had no chance of doing last night due to… circumstances with his father, he packed up the work, paid for his food, and left the Café as quickly as he could. From there he went to the closed school, where he waited until it opened.

&-&-&

When the school finally opened, Joey had entered and headed straight for his locker. He grabbed the books he needed for his first two classes –Math and History- and went to the class. Shortly after other kids filed in, too. Yugi and Tea sat down on either side of him while Tristan sat in front of him.

"Hey, Joey, you look awful!" Yugi exclaimed with worry. "You look so pale!"

Joey smiled. Sweet little Yugi. Always concerned with everyone but himself. So unselfish. "No reason ta worry, I'm fine." Joey thought he heard a snort and turned to look for the source. His eyes met cobalt blue and he felt himself blush. His earlier thoughts about the brunet coming back to haunt him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tristan asked, "Are you sure you're okay, man? You're face is all red, now."

"Course I am!" Joey replied cheerfully.

Tea laughed slightly and said, "It doesn't matter. Even if there where something wrong he would never admit it. His ego wouldn't allow it!" That had gotten them all to laugh, even Joey, though his seemed more forced. He felt someone watching him and looked around but everyone was minding his or her own business and Kaiba was back to reading his book. He shrugged it off and continued conversing with his friend until the teacher came and shouted for them to shut up.

Seto

Seto observed the blonde closely, who was with his herd of geeks. All throughout the day, he had watched him –from a safe distance. Though it was hard to see, Joey's smile seemed hollow. His eyes had lost that glimmer of determination that always seemed to be there. Seto also noted the bandages that were barely visible through the white school uniform shirt. He probably got into a fight.' Seto had silently told himself. Though, somewhere deep inside, he knew that to be a lie. He knew Joey had stopped fighting when Yugi had come to Domino High and they formed a friendship. 'Why do I care if the mutt is hurt or not?' -Because you care about him.- Seto's conscience whispered into his ear. Like Hell I do! Now, go away! And go away it did.

It disappeared and Seto approached Joey after his geeky friends had departed. "Hello, mutt." Seto said coldly. He got a glare in return. "Not a very good dog, are you? You should answer when your master calls."

"Shad up!" He began to walk away.

"What where you doing at the Café this morning? Getting training? That's good because you really need to learn some manners." This froze Joey in his tracks. He turned and asked:

"What'd you say?"

"You heard me, mutt." came Seto's cold reply. He held in his gasp when he saw the dead look in Joey's eyes. And, was that hurt? No. He mentally shook his head. Then Joey's eyes held that shining fire of determination and Seto was glad the other look was gone.

"I'm not a mutt, Kaiba!" Joey spat angrily, and then stormed away. Seto smiled. That was the blonde pup he knew. Then his smile faded.

The puppy was limping. And when Joey turned the corner farther down, Seto could have sworn he saw that dead look on his face again. He mumbled something along the lines of, "My mind's just playing tricks". Nevertheless, he could not help but look back and ask himself, "What happened to you, Joey?"

He mentally berated himself for calling the mutt Joey. Still, he could not help but wonder…

&-&You can't see what I hide&-&-& (4)

A/N:

(1) This, I swear, has no real meaning, okay? See, when I first got the idea, I wrote random words that I would associate with abuse, and these came out, I just decided to post them at the beginning of the chapter.

(2) "Osuwari Inu" means "Sit Dog", okay?

(3) I'm not sure if he already decided to send it out anyway or not, but oh well.

(4) These, at the bottom of the chapter, are lines from a poem I wrote especially for this fic. It's acrostic, and you'll see what it spells out, but you'll probably get it halfway through.

This is being revamped. That is all. Well, bye!

Insomniac Jaki