Title: Driven Apart
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Romance
Summary: AU. Yoh is a maturing werewolf, learning from Horohoro and loving Manta. Bad summary, good story.
A/N: This is a gender-bender, people! You've been warned! It takes place when Yoh is 13. The first of a series of stories.

Chapter 1

Asakura Yoh lay in silence, staring at the tiny form that was curled up against him. It was the fourth night in a row he had done this. He would lie awake for hours, unable to stop studying every inch of the short girl that had become his best friend over a year ago. He smiled, enjoying the sound of her peaceful heart beat, and then leaned down and nuzzled his face against her own, and then sighed while laying his head back on the pillow. After a minute of hesitation, he wrapped his arm around her midriff and carefully pulled her so that her back was tight against his chest.

"Even at our age you trust me," Yoh thought gently while licking at her neck. "I wonder if maybe one day I could tell you?"

After a moment, the blonde stirred, and then looked up with eyes that were barely open. "Yoh-kun?"

Yoh looked down and smiled. "Yes, Manta?"

"C'n we have choclit p'ncakes t'morrow?" she mumbled

Yoh smiled at her lovingly. "We can have anything your lil' tummy wants, Manta."

"Thank you," she mumbled while drifting to sleep again.

Yoh smiled as she fell back to sleep, and then looked up a bit and sniffed the air.

"Pst! Yoh!"

The brunette looked towards the window and saw his Ainu friend, Horohoro, looking in at them. "Horohoro?"

The blunette nodded sideways slightly, and then turned and walked away from the window.

Slowly Yoh rose to his feet after he had tucked Manta in, and then he walked over to the window. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Ne. It's a good night," Horohoro said while looking back. "There's a buck in that direction. Not so young that he can't protect himself, but not so old that he could hurt you."

Yoh frowned slightly. "A hunt?"

"Mm hmm. If we stay north he won't sense us."

Yoh looked back quietly to Manta, and then sighed. "She's leaving tomorrow. I wanna spend this last night with her."

The Ainu's eyebrow twitched. "Yoh, I've told you before. You gotta worry about transformation, control and hunting before you can start worrying about mates."

Yoh turned red. "Sh-She's not my mate…"

"I'm not stupid, Yoh. You're doing exactly what I did. Now come on! You didn't eat dinner anyway. You wanna end up gnawing on Manta before she leaves? That'd be a nice last impression, wouldn't it?"

Yoh was quiet for several minutes, and then sighed while climbing out the window. "Fine. But it'll be quick, right?"

Horohoro pointed at his neck. "Go for the sweet spot and it'll be quicker than you'd believe." With that he began walking away from the hotel, Yoh following close behind.

"Shouldn't we transform, first?" Yoh asked with a frown.

"I was wondering when you'd remember," he said with a grin.

Yoh sighed. He didn't like himself very much. He missed the days of his youth when he was a normal boy. He wondered just how he had managed to acquire a canine gene when both his parents were normal humans. His thoughts were cut off soon, though, when he caught wind of his prey, and then it clicked in that he wasn't human any more. Horohoro had once told him he was lucky to be able to mentally drift off whenever he made his transformation. It saved him a lot of initial pain and nausea. Yoh wasn't so sure it was so great, though. He could almost never tell when he was human any more, and it scared him.

Horohoro, also transformed, walked over to Yoh and nuzzled his face against the other's in a friendly manner, then looked South and made a small grunt.

"That direction."

Yoh was quiet for a moment, and then sighed while looking down.

"Yoh, you have to learn to hunt. If you don't, you'll instinctively go for weaker creatures like humans!" He growled when he didn't receive a reply. "Yoh, go on! It's nature! At least be thankful you didn't have to grow up with this!"

Yoh looked over. Horohoro would sometimes tell Yoh stories of when he was much younger. The Ainu had been born, pure blooded werewolf, and so these things were all very natural to him. He wasn't shunned by his family for doing stupid or terrible or bizarre things. Yoh, however, didn't begin to experience these things until he was eleven, and because of it, his family had been scared and forced him to live alone in the large, abandoned hotel that rest so many hours away from them. Their intentions had been good, for they thought that a different lifestyle would make him 'normal'; but it still hurt that they had done such a thing, and especially since it didn't change him in the least.

"There he is," Horohoro said in a very low growl. "He's a beauty, ne?"

The young Asakura stared hungrily at the grazing buck, and then took a step forward, stopping when Horohoro entered his path. "Horohoro, what are you doing?"

"Look at our position. If we attack from here, he'll hear us." He nodded upwards. "Remember how I taught you to climb?"

"Yes…"

"Then do it. Go to the third left branch, and I'll spook him towards you. Remember, we may be animals, but we aren't sadistic animals like humans, so go for that nerve."

Yoh was still for a moment, and then nodded while beginning to climb quietly, and then looked down curiously to see if Horohoro had moved. Seeing that he had, he decided he may as well continue on. Once he reached the branch, he looked down and saw Horohoro creeping up on the buck. When the Ainu shot him a glance, Yoh tensed, and then allowed his predatory instincts have some control. A second later Horohoro growled lowly, and Yoh watched as the buck looked. A moment later he took position as its tail raised up, and then he leapt off the branch as it started running in his direction.

Horohoro stood up and watched as Yoh leapt onto the deer, and then growled softly as it let out a cry

"Oh, no," Yoh thought shakily, realizing he had missed the nerve, then he felt a knot tie in his stomach. He immediately let go and dropped to the ground, and then stared helplessly as it collapsed.

"Yoh, finish it," Horohoro said angrily while joining his friend.

"I… I..." He swallowed nervously when Horohoro growled at him, and then looked away as the more experienced werewolf walked over to the fallen creature.

"You can look, Yoh," Horohoro snapped a minute later. "Eat your fill, and then leave the rest for them."

Yoh quietly looked over and spotted a normal, female wolf and her young pups, and then nodded slowly. The meal was certainly less upsetting than the hunt had been, and Yoh quickly filled, and then backed off, leaving a generous amount for the family that was waiting for its turn.

"Come on," Horohoro said while backing off, and then turned and started towards the hotel.

Yoh looked back momentarily at the family that had begun to feast, except for the mother, who watched him carefully, and then finally he turned and ran after Horohoro. Before long, the two boys had returned to their human state, and Horohoro proceeded to hit Yoh.

"Idiot! I told you! Always go for that nerve!"

"I'm sorry, Horohoro," Yoh whimpered. "It's hard to remember when you're trying to keep yourself from losing control."

The blunette groaned. "Yoh! It's natural instinct! There's no need to remember! If you keep thinking like a human, you forget everything!"

Yoh looked away sadly. "I'm sorry…"

The Ainu was quiet for a few moments, and then sighed while calming down. "No, I'm sorry, Yoh. You haven't lived with this for long." He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I shouldn't have yelled." After a moment, he wiped a drop of dried blood off of Yoh's chin and smiled weakly. "Hey, cheer up. You jump better than I can. If you just remember you don't have to suppress all of your instincts, you'll be a good hunter in no time."

Yoh stared at the ground silently. "I… I don't wanna be a hunter…"

Horohoro sighed. "I know. I don't like it too much either. But we're a bit like those skanky vampires. There are times when we have no choice but to hunt." He smiled while lifting Yoh's chin. "The big difference? We only need to hunt once, and that's during the full moon. It's better to hunt more so we are able to protect ourselves better, but we've got the choice to not hunt at all."

Yoh looked up quietly. Horohoro had a weird habit of bringing up vampires, and whenever he did, he always belittled them. "Horohoro?"

"Yeah?"

Yoh looked away a bit. "Can we go home, now?"

"Sure," Horohoro said with a smile, and then the two began walking back towards the hotel. He looked up and smiled at Yoh. "Ne. You probably shouldn't spend so many nights with Manta, you know."

"Why is that?"

Horohoro shook his head. "It's not good for a werewolf's sanity to sleep by a potential mate so often."

"No," Yoh whispered softly. "I couldn't touch Manta like that…"

Horohoro looked at Yoh with a quirked eyebrow. Normally he would contradict Yoh with facts, but his tone wasn't one that could easily be contradicted. "Yoh…"

The brunette shook his head. "I couldn't touch her… She's never even been in heat… and she won't be any time soon." Yoh's expression became sad. "Sometimes I wonder if she's going to be a puppy all her life…"

Horohoro looked at Yoh with a baffled expression. "You can tell whether or not she's been in heat?"

Yoh looked up. "Well, yeah. It's easy enough when I have to go to school with all those other girls."

The Ainu was silent for a moment, and then sighed. "How come you can figure out people's sexual status already without me teaching you anything, and yet I spend six months trying to train you and you still can't hunt?" He began laughing to show Yoh he was trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Yoh made a small smile, and then sighed while looking away. "No… I couldn't touch her…"

Horohoro came to a stop, and then smiled some. "Yeah. There are some really nice things about being a werewolf, Yoh. I think maybe we're more empathetic than humans, really. And our hormones work a lot more civilly than a human's."

Yoh looked to his friend with a weak smile. "You have a very odd way of cheering people up, you know that?"

"I know," Horohoro replied with a grin. "Come on. Your puppy's probably getting cold."

Before long, Yoh looked up with a frown.

"Yoh?" Horohoro asked curiously.

Yoh's eyes shook, and then he broke into a run. "Manta!"

"Huh? Wait up!" Horohoro called after his friend.

Before long, Yoh reached the hotel, a knot tying in his stomach. When he peered in the window, he saw Manta curled up and sobbing. "Manta?" he asked while running to the door and opening it, and then ran over to the blonde, who had looked up with a startle.

"Y-Yoh-kun?" she asked shakily, and then immediately ceased her tears.

"Manta, are you alright?" Yoh asked worriedly while lifting her slightly into his arms. "Why are you crying?"

Manta took a few moments to calm herself, and then looked up. "I had a bad dream… and when I woke up you were gone…" She snuggled against his chest tightly. "I didn't know if you would come back… I… I thought I wouldn't get to see you again…"

Yoh looked down at her sadly, regretting the hunt, and then he cuddled her warmly. "Shh, shh…. I'm here," he said gently, not noticing that Horohoro had been momentarily watching with a grin. Finally Yoh let out a sigh while lying down, allowing the girl to rest on top of him. "It's okay, Manta. I'm here."

The blonde nuzzled her face into his chest with a tired sigh, and then fell back to sleep.

Yoh was quiet for several long minutes, and then sighed. "It'll be okay, Manta," he murmured softly, and then settled into the futon. After a few minutes, he too fell asleep.