With Your Love

She Ain't Got A Thing On Me

Joey hated Kisara; and that was saying something because he had thought at one point the only person he really hated was Seto Kaiba. He wasn't sure when it had changed but he knew that he definitely didn't loathe the man as much as he had in the past. The fact that they had come to some sort of agreement (both of them making it clear that they would never love each other) seemed to have dimmed the hatred down to a mutual tolerance of each other. Kind of.

They could be in the same room without glowering at each other, if that gave anyone any indication.

However, it still seemed to be difficult because Kisara was always there. Why hadn't she left already? And the way Seto accepted her like it was nothing was… well infuriating. He had tried to ask the man multiple times in the next few days but Seto always had the same impassive answer.

"She's a friend."

Well if she was a friend, then why was she hanging off of you like some kind of koala bear? Was Joey's immediate thought upon hear this. It really shouldn't have mattered to Joey that Seto was allowing some female friend to behave intimately around him, but the fact still stood that Joey apparently wasn't allowed to be in love with Duke and yet Seto could do anything he wanted. He was pretty close to confronting the King of Pious about it but something kept holding him back. What if Seto was speaking the truth? What if… they really were just friends and any assumption of them being more than that would make Joey humiliated?

It was frustrating to Joey to say the least.

On a much happier and friendlier note, Yugi seemed to be fitting in well in the palace. Joey could admit that he was overly relieved that he was no longer alone in this situation. Mokuba had taken a liking to Yugi straightaway as well, making it easy to relax and play a fair amount of games that they all enjoyed immensely. It was times like those that Joey was away from the irritation that being around Kisara and Seto inflicted upon him. (And he was without a doubt positive that Kisara did that on purpose.)

Also, Seto's guards: Bakura and Yami seemed to be hanging around more often. Apparently they were allowed to do so now that things were a bit different between Seto and himself. Yami was nice enough, the few times he'd been near him, but he unquestionably didn't appreciate the full out staring contests he had with his smaller friend Yugi. Joey had a suspicion that Yami was thinking inappropriate things about the newcomer and Joey would be keeping an eye on him at all times. No one would be taking advantage of his best friend. And that meant no one.

Bakura on the other hand sort of gave Joey a bad impression. He was strange, if that could even be the right word to describe him to say the least. He was tall, bulky, and full of muscle and the large scar running down his tanned face was disturbing to Joey. His snarky, and bizarre sense of humor was a bit off balance too. There was no mistaking the fact that he was friends with the King. Joey was sure that they hit it off swimmingly when they had the chance. Both seemed to take joy in other's sufferings.

The bastards.

"Hey Joey? Can I come in?"

A small voice from his doorway broke his thoughts and he sat up on his bed to look at Mokuba's hopeful face peering around the door. A smile lit up Joey's features in response. "Sure thing, bud."

Mokuba looked relieved and happily came into the room, closing the door behind him, before jumping onto the bed in front of Joey. The blond made some room for him, as his long legs did take up a lot of space. Mokuba didn't say anything immediately and Joey looked up at him to see an uneasy expression on the boy's face. His eyebrows furrowed and his stormy gray eyes were downcast on the distressed covers on Joey's bed.