Warning: YAOI which is MxM. Flames will be ignored.
Pairing: Puzzle (YamixYuugi), Puppy (KaibaxJou)
Disclaimer: YGO is not mine. I make no money of fanficcing this.
Background: Second in a trilogy.
Dedication: To whoever sends dreams. And the hot myth teacher. ^_~

Prologue

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"That brings the total to $124.96," the cashier said.

Beside Yami, Yuugi turned away from the sweets wall with a gasp of dismay.

Yami winced inwardly and tried to still the onsetting headache.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "but could you take all the cereal off that?"

The cashier nodded and pressed a few buttons. "Your new total is $117.43, sir."

Inwardly, he swore. To Yuugi, he asked plaintively, "Is there anything else we can do without for this week?"

The shorter male shook his head.

Yami sighed. "I have $100," he told the cashier. "Is there any way to lose as little as possible and make it under that?"

She nodded and reached for the controls, but then paused. The sympathetic gaze she offered Yami made him feel even more sullen, if such a thing were possible.

"Just take them," she said, placing the winkled set of bills Yami had given her into the cash register. "I'll cover the loose ends for you. I know what it's like to be short on funds."

He hated accepting charity, hated taking help from others when he was unable to accomplish something himself. But he also knew when he was in over his head, and so he thanked the cashier graciously and gathered the little they had purchased to see them through until next week.

Left behind at the register was a pile of cereal boxes and fresh produce carefully bagged – in a heap nearly the size of the items they were leaving with.

Laden with plastic bags, Yuugi somehow still managed to be smiling. "Look on the bright side, Yami," he chirped. "We don't have to carry as much weight home."

Yes, Yami reflected. That was true. But only because the hundred dollars that should have been able to feed them easily for a week with surplus no longer stretched quite as far.

If this keeps up, Yami thought, I won't be able to take care of the two of us anymore.

The thought of losing Yuugi was too painful to consider.
He would find a way. They both would. They always did. Though those ways were getting trickier and more difficult to navigate by the day, and eventually would be too narrow to take.

*~*~*~*~*

"She seemed nice," Yuugi commented, tucking the milk into the mostly empty mini-fridge.

Yami, leaning on the table, looking out the window, shook his head. "She felt sorry for us," he corrected. "Pitied us."

Yuugi's nose wrinkled slightly while he tried to decide where to put the bowl of leftover rice to make room. "I still think she was being nice. She didn't have to help," he pointed out.

Oh, Yuugi – ever the optimistic one, Yami reflected. A smile tugged at his lips.

"Aibou?"

"Hmn?" Yuugi sounded distracted by the contents of the fridge. For a brief moment, Yami entertained the idea of a tussle, but the phone rang before he'd taken two steps in Yuugi's direction.

"Yami, can you get that?"

He did, and by the time he had hung up, he knew they were in more dire straits than before.

"Who was it?" Yuugi had finished emptying the bags into the fridge, reducing it from entirely empty to somewhat full.

"Landlord," Yami replied, eyes dark. "Said he's tired of waiting for the rent."

Yuugi's soft violet eyes had widened in alarm. "How much do we owe?" he exclaimed.

"Too much to be paid off by the end of the week, aibou. We have until Friday, and then we have to be gone."

"That's only three days!" the younger male exclaimed. "How are we supposed to do that?"

He sighed and dragged fingers across his forehead, seeking to chase away the very real beginnings of a headache starting to pound in his temples.

"I don't know, aibou. I just don't know."

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Author's Notes: Now how's THAT for a depressing start? For anyone who hasn't read TCR, that's the beginning of this all. This story takes up pretty much where TCR left off…just in a different setting, different time period and the cherries all have different names. XD
Simple enough to follow, ne?
Well, since I was bored today, this part got written, but I have yet to start the first actual chapter. Prologues rock, though, hah.