~With our lovely captive~

It was a cold, late February night. February 23 to be exact, it had been a month and a half since the boy had been kidnapped. Not that any of this mattered to the boy, considering he was trapped in a room he couldn't see due to a blindfold, and he had no sense in time at all. He was very week due to high loss of blood and lack of nutrition. He could only eat that of was provided. All the men fed him were bread and water. They would also beat and molest him almost every night.

The boy thought he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, thinking this had to be the worst of punishments. Man was he ever wrong, and he learned that only four nights ago. One of the men, he couldn't see which one, had brutally raped him. The bastard stole his virginity! The worst part was, due to his restraints, he could nothing but whimper and cry out in pain as the man mercilessly drove into his lithe body. He struggled all his small form would allow, but to no avail. The man was much bigger and stronger than him. That and he was tied down to something, arms bound above his head. Of course he struggled, there was no way he would ever willingly give himself to someone like that. There was only one person in all of Domino that he would ever willingly give himself up to. He trolley loved this person, but felt his chances were shot. Especially now, he just felt so dirty and ashamed of himself. If he ever thought he wasn't good enough for the guy before, he deffinitly thought so now.

After every beating the men would bathe him where he lay so they wouldn't have to deal with him struggling and possibly getting free. Though as they bathed him they would molest him more (they did let him go to the bathroom though, but only if it was an emergency, b/c laying in his own waste would be kinda gross. Of course his hands were still bound though.). He struggled to get away from their touches but it was all in vain. He almost felt as if he were suffocating, since he was blindfolded he couldn't tell which way to move in order to avoid their wondering hands.

Though tonight they did not clean him up after they beat him. Instead they left to go to another bar. They didn't worry too much about him, seeing as how weak they left. So he lay there, on the bed just how they left him, bleeding and excruciatingly sore.

So now that he was alone, the blonde haired boy was going to do what he always did when those two men left. He was going to see about freeing himself. He built up as much strength as he could muster in his unnaturally small frame and started to pull harshly against his binding, in turn causing his wrists to bleed more.

He pulled, yanked, and struggled as much as he could, but it seemed futile only thing he managed to do was hurt his right arm even worse. He continued to struggle until he heard a snap and his arms fell slack against his front. Well his arms were free, now for him to get up and off the bed he was currently tied to.

He rolled off the bed with much effort and stumbled a bit, wincing as he tried to support his weight on weak legs. True he didn't have much to support anymore, but he was weak from lack of nutrition and using his legs, so therefore he wasn't used to the gravity. He pulled the blind fold off his face so he could tell where he was going, and winced as the light stung his eyes. The light was rather dim, but he was under a blindfold for quite some time.

He stumbled around the room a bit more until he found his shirt and pulled it on, and then did the same when he found his shoes and socks. With that done, he tripped and stumbled yet again over to the door, that looked like it was made of iron, and hauled it open with a great amount of effort.

`Man this door is heavy, how'd *they* ever get it open?' The young blonde thought to himself. A broken chair leg and a completely sore body later he was free from the dingy room.

Twenty minutes later the boy found himself outside of some old abandoned warehouse.

`That is so cliché, why do the kidnappers always use an abandoned warehouse?' He shook his head in disbelief that nobody had figured that one out. It was so obvious!

He glanced around, taking in every last detail of the place incase he needed to find it again. Making sure he didn't miss anything, he stumbled off down the empty dirt road. Three torturously long hours later he collapsed in a very familiar park. Glancing over it for a minute, he realized it was the park down the street from his home. He shuddered at both the thought of being home, or anywhere near it, and the cool breeze that blew by him.

He was a little hesitant about going home, but the current status of his clothing said otherwise. All he wore was the same thing he disappeared in, minus the trademark green jacket. His jeans were a bit torn and faded with a few blood stains, and his shirt had a few more holes in it also with blood stains.

He rose from where he collapsed and made his way home slowly. When he got to the all too familiar apartment complex, he slipped in very quietly and even more quietly when he slipped into the apartment room itself. Despite how quietly he was, he was greeted by a fist connecting with his stomach. He doubled over in pain and coughed up a little bit of blood.

"Where the hell have you been?! A month and a half! One fucking month and a half you've been gone you son of a bitch!" The man currently shouting, which happened to be the teen's father, backhanded him across the face sending him to the floor. He continued his assault, either not noticing or not caring that his son was a lot thinner and a lot bloodier than when he last saw him. "The police have been all over this City looking for you! You're friends," He spat disgustedly, "were worried as all hell about you! You better not have tried to run away from me." He growled angrily as he dragged Jou to his room and tossed him in then slammed the door. "You better be up early enough to go to school tomorrow!" He yelled through the door.

~The next morning~

Jou woke up early, he needed to get showered and bandage his wounds before he left for school. He jumped into the shower and was out five minutes later. He didn't sleep to well the night before, though sadly, it was the best sleep he'd had since the night before he disappeared when he spent the night at Yuugi's.

He sat at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of stale cereal. Despite the fact the cereal was stale; it still tasted heavenly to the frail boy. When he was done with his breakfast he hobbled (yes hobbled) over to the sink and rinsed the bowl clean, dried it and placed it back in the cabinet with the rest of the bowls.

~At the school~

It was Monday, after a weekend of practically no sleep due to the worry. Yuugi, Anzu, Honda, Ryou, Yami, Bakura, and Seto (of all people) now sat in their homeroom (that by mere coincidence, they all happen to be in the same room) seats, eyes have lidded about to catch up on the sleep they missed so much.

Yuugi turned to the rest, determined to figure out a definite full-proof, sure-fire way to find their lost friend.

Just as the small, violet-eyed boy was about to open his mouth the door to the room swung open and the entire class went speechless.

The group turned around to see what that reaction was to when they saw him. Yuugi was the first to snap out of his stupor. The small bundle flung himself from his chair right into the arms of his best friend, in turn knocking the poor boy to the floor.

The blonde yelped once he made contact with the floor, sucking in gulps of air to calm the fiery pain coursing through his back.

Yuugi circled the boy's neck with his slim arms, hugging him tight to his body. He wasn't sure whether he should laugh with joy that his friend was back or cry from relief that his friend was still alive.

The rest of the group came to their senses and left their seats as well. Honda, Anzu and Ryou tackling the boy as well while the yamis' and Seto stood there looking on in disbelief.

Honda was the first to get out of the mangled pile of limbs, then Anzu followed by Ryou (though slightly reluctant to do so) But Yuugi stayed glued to the blonde.

"Where on earth have you been?!" Yuugi squealed, tears streaming down his childlike face (HE'S SO KAWAII!) Jou winced as he was reminded of the pain in his right arm, the fact that he was tackled didn't help the pain, only succeeding in amplifying it.

"Jou?" Anzu asked, "What's wrong with your arm?"

"Huh? Oh it's nothing, don' worry `bout it Anzu." He rubbed his arm and gave a weak smile. "It just really hurts."

"Jou! It's dislocated you baka!" Honda scolded his friend while smacking him on the back good naturedly. This action caused the blonde to hiss and go into a coughing fit. "Oh God's Jou I'm sorry."

"*cough* It's ok *cough* really *wheeze* Just don't *cough* do it again." He stopped coughing; now gasping for much needed air.

"W-where have you been all this time?" Yuugi's bottom lip trembled adding the threat of more tears.

Jou looked around the room self-consciously. Everyone in the classroom was staring at them. "Um… not here Yuug'. I'll tell ya at lunch ok?" He smiled weakly then coughed again. He didn't pay attention to the thin stream of blood that made its way down his chin, not even realizing that there was one.

Seto, Yami, and Bakura didn't let it slip past them. The other four let in go, thinking the blonde bit his lip or something. Ryou walked over plucking a tissue from the tissue box on the teacher's desk and dabbed at the blood, frowning when he didn't see a cut.

Jou blushed at the close contact and scooted away a little bit, not noticing another movement from the side.

Another form of human contact made itself known and the blonde jumped. Seto took hold of his limp arm and popped it back into place non-to-gently causing the smaller boy to yelp in pain and reel back from him clutching his arm to try and ease the pain.

"Just relocated your arm, it was getting on my nerves just hanging there limp like that."

"T-thanks…" Jou blinked in confusion.

"Jou?" Yuugi looked up to him with bright, innocent violet eyes.

`Such innocence, if only I could have that again.' Jou thought to himself.

"Jou, you're trembling, you ok?"

"Huh? 'm fine Yuug', Don' worry `bout me." He smiled down at the boy still attached to him as he attempted to stand up. Yuugi climbed off the blonde as Honda helped him to his feet.

"You don't look so good man. I know you were a little on the skinny side before, but now you're tooth pick, and paler to boot. You sure you're feeling ok?"

"I-I'm fine Honda, I already told ya not to worry `bout me." He tried to back that statement up with a fake bright grin, "'sides you know me, I'm tough I can survive anything, a few scratches aint gonna keep me down no way no how." As if fate were playing a cruel joke on him, he began to feel dizzy and started to sway a little.

"Jou?" Air didn't seem to come fast enough to the poor boy as he gasped for it. At that moment both Honda and Seto (to everyone's amazement) were standing to either side of Jou to keep him from falling over. Their voices seemed to drift farther and farther away from the blonde as he fought to stay conscious. All he would see and hear were the men that kidnapped him.

"Jou? Jou?! Come on snap out of it!" Yuugi was almost in hysterics. Here he was, just talking to his best friend he hasn't seen in a little over a month and the boy just started hyperventilating. He was trembling and when Seto or Honda tried to touch him he'd cringe away from them. They just couldn't seem to get him to calm down, until the boy just passed out.

"Jou!" Anzu fell to her knees by her unconscious friend, "Jou come on! Wake up damn you! This isn't funny! Wake up!" Tears started to fall from her crystal blue eyes as she held her friend close to her. She looked into the boy's face when she noticed something that didn't seem right. "Oh God!"

"What?! What is it Anzu?"

"You guys, h-he's not breathing!" She cried in hysterics.

Now Yuugi was crying as well. Seto pulled out his cell phone and called the paramedics while Honda got to his knees to perform the rescue breathing. The others tried to keep everyone else in the class from crowding around them.

After Honda did the two slow breaths he checked the blonde's pulse only to find there wasn't one. From there he went to doing CPR.

"He has a pulse, but it's a weak one. He's still not breathing though." Seto pushed Honda out of the way and took his place for rescue breathing.

After eight aggravating minutes he finally got the blonde to start breathing, though he was still unconscious.

"Jou, come on, please wake up." Anzu continued to cry. She was hugging his limp form to her and rocking back and forth.

"The ambulance is on its way, we should probably get him to the main entrance." Seto spoke up. He lent down and effortlessly scooped the frail blonde into his arms away from Anzu. He looked down to the blonde and frowned.

"What's wrong Kaiba?"

"Huh? Nothing Yuugi."

~At the hospital~

"I would like ask you a few questions." Stated a man wearing a white coat holding a clip board and pen, obviously the doctor. The group nodded, "First, where did this happen?"

"We were all in our homeroom at school; he's in there with us. He came in late and he wasn't looking so good. We all started talking and then he collapsed. He's a really good friend of ours." Honda explained.

"Do you have any idea what may have happened to him?"

The group shook there heads in a negative. "He has been missing for the past month and a half, he just sorta showed up in school today."

"Uh huh, you say he's been missing for the last month and a half?" He received a nod in conformation from the group, "Interesting, I take it you don't know who did this to him or where he was held?"

"If we knew that, he wouldn't have been missing for so long." Growled Yami dangerously.

"Um… Could we see him?" Asked Yuugi timidly.

"He's asleep at the moment, but I don't see why not. Just don't bother him, he needs his rest." The doctor replied (Yielding to the kawaii-ness that is Yuugi Motou ^ . ^) "His room is this was, please follow me." With that the doctor turned and led the group to Jou's room.

"What's his condition?" Seto asked.

"Not so good. He's just barely holding on." The doctor replied grimly, "I'm not fully aware of all that happened to him, but I have my suspicions. And they aren't exactly pleasant. From what I've found, I feel it might be worse both mentally and physically for him."

Seto frowned hearing this, "Why? What'd you find?"

The doctor turned to face the tall youth with a grim expression plastered on his weary face. "That is not my place to say, only he should be the one to tell you this when he wishes to. Though I do not think it will be any time soon." `Especially with how bad he is, I hope he makes it through the night.' The older man thought to himself.

`What *happened* to you, Jou?' Seto thought to himself. When he entered the hospital room he was met with the fragile `beep' of the life monitor. `He looks so small laying there, he really is too frail.' He thought as he studied the boy in the hospital bed.

Yuugi looked up as he saw the taller boy enter.

`Gods that boy is just radiating with grief.' The tall brunet thought as he noticed the tears in the huge violet eyes.

"Yuugi? Would I be able to have a minute wit him?" Yuugi looked particularly shocked, `Since when did Kaiba ask politely? For that matter, what would he want with Jou?' "Um… sure, Kaiba. Come on guys let's give him a minute." Yuugi steered Anzu, Ryou, Honda, Bakura, and Yami from the room out into the hall.

`beep'…. `beep'... `beep'

"Well Jou, I hope you're happy. You've scared your friends completely shitless… Hell you've even got me worried about you." A nervous chuckle, very unlike Seto, "Come on, baka, wake up!" He hissed, "You've worried everyone with your sudden disappearance and this is not helping." He argued with the sleeping boy. "Who do you think you are anyway? Making me, the great Seto Kaiba, worry about a mutt like you?! Just who the hell do you think you are?!" He was on the verge on an emotional breakdown and he didn't even know why. He didn't have any idea why he should care so much for the stupid blonde.