Drought

Title: Drought 1/1
Author: Shipposister
Beta: None
Pairings: Seto/Jou
Disclaimer: Don’t own YGO
Rating: PG13-R
Genre: Angst, Romance, Fluff, Waff
Summary: There has been no rain in Domino for one year. There has been no Seto for Jou for exactly one year.

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Static crackled on the small black radio on the side table and a man’s voice floated from it.

“Yes, that’s right folks! Today marks day number 365! Domino has been plagued by lack of rain for one full year! Farmers say that if rain doesn’t come soon, all of Japan will suffer from loss of food. More details to follow…”

Sighing, a blonde teen curled up in a recliner in front of a fire and pulled his knees up, resting his chin upon them. It was strange, Jonouchi Katsuya thought. A year of no rain and year of no Seto. Somehow the two had always seemed to coincide, merging and changing until they formed one huge tragedy. One could not exist without the other.

Somehow he had formed an idiot theory over the year that if it would only rain, his Seto would come back to him. Jou shook his head, amused at himself. That was just the kind of thing Seto hated. He was always creating theories that he knew were incorrect. However much better they made the blonde feel inside, they were still not correct. It was an imperfection, and Seto hated imperfection.

It was a year since high school ended, and Jou was now nineteen. The blonde had been eighteen when he had last spoken to Yugi, Honda, Ryou, Bakura, Anzu, Yami, or anyone else from his past.

Of course, he had sent letters, kept them from worrying too much. Seto had crushed his young heart, and Jou needed time to heal. He’d moved into an apartment across the large city, leaving a note on the door for his father, which he doubted had even been read. He had sent a letter to each of his friends, explaining the situation and asking them to do him a favor and please leave him be for a while. They had all complied, resentfully. He had used the year to cleanse his thoughts and rebuild his heart.

A bell rang, signaling a visitor. He stood, shaking his long blonde hair from his eyes. The teen had been neglecting his body for a while and hadn’t bothered to get a haircut. The result was very long hair tied back in a dirty red bandana. Jou looked down at his stained black muscle shirt and ratty blue jeans. Ah well, he thought. If it’s that important, they won’t care how I’m dressed.

He took the two steps required to cross the tiny living room and flicked open the three locks on the door. There was a boat-lock, a chain-lock and the regular one on the door handle. He also had to deactivate his alarm system. He lived in one of the worst neighborhoods in Domino, where you could look out your stingy little window and were almost sure to see some sort of crime in progress. It could be anything from jaywalking to pick pocketing to stabbing someone in the back with a filet knife. One had to be careful.

He pulled open the heavy wooden door. There, in a double-breasted navy blue silk suit, was Seto Kaiba. Jou rolled his eyes and blew out a sigh of exasperation.

“Oh, damn. And I though it might be someone important.” pivoting on the balls of his feet, the blonde slammed the door and slid the locks home.

He walked back across the living room and was prepared to drop into his chair and wait for the brunette to leave in his fancy damn limousine, but jumped when he heard a sigh from the other side of the door, followed by a ‘thud’ and a ‘crack’ as his door landed on the floor with a bang.

“Hnn…You need to invest in some steel hinges, mutt.” Seto strode into the room, eying the single rickety chair with distaste and decided to remain standing for the time being.

“Go away, asshole.” Jou bared his teeth at the intruder, like a dog prepared to attack. “You got no business here.”

“Actually, I do.” Seto said; his voice perfectly calm. “I’m afraid that your little geek squad has threatened me. I believe the Pharaoh’s words went along like this: ‘Bring my friend back or I’ll rip your soul from your body and doom you eternally to the shadow realm.’”

Jou snarled. “Don’t give me that shit, Kaiba. I know you don’t believe in that stuff.”

Seto smirked. “Perceptive today, are we? Well, fine. I don’t believe in that kind of thing, but I decided that you needed to stop running away.”

Jou made an obscene gesture. “Fuck you, Kaiba. Fuck. You. I am ~not~ some little kid, dammit! Treat me like an equal. I thought a year would be enough time for you to realize what you did! I guess not! If you would have just treated me like an adult, nothing would have happened!”

Seto blinked, stunned. “I don’t want to discuss this.”

“Tough shit. I do.” Jou stepped across to Seto, narrowing his eyes.

“Fine. But not here. Let’s…go for a walk.” Seto gestured to a door.

Jou nodded resentfully. “I guess so. That’s where all this shit started, and that’s where I’m going to end it.”

“What do you mean?” Seto asked, starting out into the hall.

“Don’t you remember?” Jou asked. “Oh, that’s right,” he said before Seto could answer. “You hurt people every day. Why should you remember where you were when you hurt me?” He thudded down the stairs to the front door of the apartment complex and threw open the door. “Come on.”

Seto followed him out onto the sidewalk. It was a cloudy day, as usual, but that didn’t mean the rain would come. It never did.

They strolled down the street in silence for a bit before Seto gently touched Jou’s shoulder to halt him.

“Let’s talk,” He said, staring the blonde straight in the eye.

“Fine. Here’s as good a place as any.”

“No, it’s better than any other.” He gestured to the orange Hooters sign. “Don’t you remember?”

“Jou looked around. The settings were very familiar. Painfully so. “Of course I do. I thought you didn’t.”

“I never said that. I remember very well that you don’t understand a damn thing. You didn’t understand then, and you don’t understand now! I never, ~never~ treated you like you were any smaller or less than me! But you, in all your conceited, self-indulgent glory, couldn’t see past your own mind and could not place yourself in my shoes! Then you decide to run off, and I’m hurting and feel broken, and Mokuba’s yelling at me every chance he gets! Your little pep squad harasses and blames me for making you leave every day! The damn rain hasn’t come since you left, and that just makes me feel worse!” He angrily kicked at a tire of the blue Chevy Silverado parked on the road. “Have you ever even considered that you running from me tore me up?” At Jou’s blank stare, he bared his teeth. “Well, guess what, it did! My business is going downhill, someone stole my Blue Eyes card, and my little brother just started smoking!” I’ve been sulking for a year, and I’ve lost everything I once cherished so dearly.” He huffed out a breath. “I lost some main parts of my business, I lost the card I wanted for years before I got it, I lost the youthful innocence I loved in Mokuba, and…I lost you.” He had calmed, and his eyes were cast downward. “Do you remember exactly what happened that day, Jou?”

“Of course.” Jou’s voice was hoarse. He cleared his throat. “How could I ever forget?”

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“Seeetoooo,” Jou’s adorable whine had Seto looking up from his leather-bound book. His puppy was leaning out the window, staring at the pouring rain. Seto stood; wrapped his arms around the blonde from behind, and rested his chin on his shoulder.

“What is it, Pup?” he mumbled against his love’s ear.

“Isn’t the rain, pretty, Seto?” he asked; his gaze full of wonder and amazement.

The brunette regretfully turned his gaze from the delicious little ear to the view outside the window. “It’s just rain, Jou. What’s so pretty about it?”

The smaller teen ruefully shook his head. “Seto, it’s not ‘just’ rain. That’s like someone looking at your picture and saying ‘hey, that’s ‘just’ Seto Kaiba.’ There’s so much more to you than your name. And there’s so much more to rain than just small drops of water falling from a cloud.” When he saw that he wasn’t getting through to his love, the blonde stepped away. After taking the brunette’s hand, Jou tugged Seto toward the door. “Come on, Cutie. I can explain better outside. Let’s take a walk!”

Seto sighed but tossed his book aside and followed Jou outside.

They had been in one of Seto’s estates. It was a small house, with a pretty little door and only one floor. Jou stepped out into the rain, and Seto followed, grabbing an umbrella.

“Seto!” Jou scolded, taking the umbrella and setting it on the stoop. “The whole point of this is to teach you about the rain! How can you learn if you block it out?” He dragged Seto along the sidewalk.

Seto reached up and touched the brunette tresses atop his head that had been dry a moment before. “I hate rain, Puppy.”

Jou cocked his head. “Why’s that, Seto? It’s just like taking a shower.”

Seto shook his head. “No, it’s not. People don’t throw you into a shower when you haven’t studied what was expected of you. They throw you outside, into the rain. And they make you wait, for hours, until the rain stops. Then you’re not allowed back inside until you’re dry.”

Jou blinked and stopped pulling on his love’s arm. “Oh,” he said. “I…I didn’t know, Seto.”

“No, you didn’t. Now you do. Don’t worry about it, Pup.”

Jou looked around. An orange Hooters sign blinked overhead. On and off. On and off. “Why shouldn’t I? I love you Seto. I love who you are, and I love how you do what you do. But…You never ~tell~ me anything. We never talk.” He paused. “Okay, that sounded like some femme whine. But it’s ~true~. I’ve told you everything about me. I’ve told you about my past, present, and my dreams for the future. You haven’t. Why can’t you confide in me?”

Seto blinked. “I…I try. Honestly, I try. But I can’t.”

Jou shook his head. “No, you don’t. You couldn’t possibly be trying very hard, because you still don’t trust me.”

“You’re wrong. I-”

“Stop. Just stop. Seto, I love you. I’ve said that so many times, I can’t count them. But every time I say it, I love you more and more. But if you can’t ~trust~ me, then there’s nothing left for a relationship.”

Seto stared at the blonde No! His mind was screaming at him to grab the blonde and haul him home. But his body wouldn’t move. He cleared his throat and looked down. How could he possibly tell his Puppy that he was wrong? How could he convince him that Seto trusted him completely?

Jou watched the brunette carefully, looking for signs. At first the taller teen’s eyes were dumb with shock, but then he bowed his head, closed his eyes tight.

Jou backed away, shaking his head. “No,” he whispered. Then he turned, ducking his head, and ran away.

Seto stared after him, but made no move to stop him. What would he do? What could he do? What would he say if he ever caught up with the blonde? So he stood, in the middle of a deserted sidewalk, under pouring rain, and watched his puppy run away.

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Jou’s head was bowed now, under the orange glow of the Hooters sign that had been fixed to stop blinking some time in the past year. “Seto, you hurt me that day, more than I could ever explain. More than you could ever understand.”

“I could, would, and do understand. Puppy, I’ve never loved anyone as much as you, except for Mokuba. And when you ran off, my heart was gone, too. You destroyed me, and I hated you for it. There’s a very thin line there, isn’t there? Between love and hate. In this year, I’ve been dancing on that line. And today, I finally decided which side I’m going to end my two-step on. I love you, Puppy. I don’t ever want to be away from you again.”

Jou’s mouth was dry, and he couldn’t tear his gaze from the blue orbs of the Dragon Master. “Seto, even if you love me, you still won’t trust me. I need your trust more than anything else.”

“I’ve thought about that, too. And that’s something…I can’t do. It will take me a very long time before I’m able to talk about myself. I trust you more than anyone else on Earth, Puppy. I just…can’t talk about myself. I’m sorry.”

Jou nodded. “Seto, I want to know about you. But…Can I trust you to tell me… when you can?”

Seto let a ghost of a smile pass over his face. “Absolutely.” He pulled Jou into a tight embrace, just as the first drops of rain landed on the sidewalk.

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Heehee…There it is! I post 1 chap per 5 reviews, and flames do NOT count