Disclaimer – Yu-Gi-Oh is not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Warnings – Yaoi (lemon/lime), OOC-ness, kind of bloody, curse words, etc.
A/N: I don't know how to properly write Joey's accent so don't yell at me about that and just deal with him talking like everyone else. Please and thank you.
This world is ruler by cats; specifically, human-cat hybrids called nekos. At this point the ruler is Prince Yami, and his second-in-command is a younger neko known as Seto Kaiba. Seto is a tall brunet with ice-blue colored eyes, and despite his younger age he is so highly respected due to his strength- both mentally and physically. An example of his strength would be his beautiful dragon; she has shining white scales and dark blue eyes that rival her master's. Now Seto is going to go through his coming-of-age ceremony today, which means that his cat features will be growing in; this is quite important because of the fact that nekos weren't considered adults until their cat parts accumulated in their teen years. Another addition to the coming-of-age is that the new adult must find a mate before three years have passed. Luckily, Seto already had a special person in mind to mate with. Although Seto would have to wait since the person he had in mind hadn't had their coming-of-age of yet. Right now Seto was sitting out in the lawn of Price Yami's castle under the shade of a tree with his special someone. This person has silky golden blond hair and honey-brown eyes, had a lithe body with a few muscles, and went by the name of Joseph Wheeler; also known as Joey by his friend Yugi and mutt by Seto. Joey was a poor boy, if it wasn't for Seto taking him into the castle on some days, he'd be in his lonely little cottage out in the woods. He lived by himself due to the fact his parents abandoned him- his mother ditched Joey in the cottage and left with Joey's little half-sister Serenity, and for Joey's dad, no one knew who he was, not even Joey knew. Now Joey was wary of others because he always felt different, his mother was a normal human, so Joey had no clue what kind of breed he is. This fact was what gave him the name mutt from Seto. "Mutt…" Speaking of the nickname, Seto poked Joey on the cheek.
"Yeah Seto?" Joey yawned softly and removed his head from the brunet's shoulder.
"I have to go soon; I can feel the headache coming on." Seto muttered.
"Oh, can I come and see?" Joey asked.
"No, the first half of the ceremony is for the healer, the prince, and my family." Seto explained.
"Oh…" Joey sighed.
"Just stay out here, I promise to come and get you for the second half." Seto gave Joey a small kiss on the temple before standing up.
"Seto! Come on, the healer's ready for you!" Out of the castle came Yugi; he was a small boy that hadn't come-of-age yet, he had tricolored hair, which were the colors blond, black, and purple, and he was also the soon-to-be mate of the prince.
"I'm coming Yugi." Seto shook his head.
"Hurry." Yugi grabbed Seto's arm and pulled him into the castle. Once left alone Joey flopped onto his back in the grass and stared up at the sky. He was about to fall asleep until he saw a white glare in the sky. "What the?" Joey sat up tried to get a better look at the strange object. A loud roar then resonated and the next thing Joey knew was that he was pinned down by a large beast. "Blue-Eyes…" Joey groaned as he recognized the beast as Seto's dragon. The she-dragon made a slight purr and sniffed at Joey's chest. "What's wrong?" Joey asked as he rubbed the white dragon's snout. The large reptile then huffed and lay down, still keeping Joey under her claws. The two remained this way as time slowly passed and soon enough a boy with long black hair came running out of the castle. "Blue-Eyes get off of him!" The boy shouted.
"Mokuba…" Joey sighed in relief. With that Blue-Eyes took off, flying away to the sky. "Are you okay?" Mokuba walked over and helped Joey onto his feet.
"No harm done." Joey replied.
"Mokuba, what's going on out here?" Joey squeaked at the sound of Seto's voice.
"Hey brother, Blue-eyes was just pinning Joey to the ground." Mokuba explained. With that Seto walked straight up to Joey and looked him over. Joey grew wide-eyed as he stared at Seto, taking in the new features. There were the chestnut brown, triangular cat ears that sat atop Seto's head, there was a matching sleek tail that swished behind him, and lastly he now had longer eyeteeth that poked out of his top lip. "Are you alright?" Seto questioned and brought Joey into a hug, taking in the younger's scent as he buried his nose in Joey's hair.
"As I told Mokuba, I'm fine." Joey replied.
"If you say so. Now why don't we head inside? The second half of the ceremony is about to begin." Seto finally let go of Joey and started to walk back inside, with his younger brother and Joey right behind him. They walked through many large halls of the castle until they reach the dining room. The room had dark wood floors that had a light purple rug underneath the twenty-person round table in the center of the room. The room had double doors that led to the kitchen and had four different hallways that led to other parts of the castle. Already at the table sat Prince Yami, Yugi, and four others that were Yugi's friends. Joey recognized them as Tristan, Mai, Ryou, and Tea. Seto took the seat next to Yami that wasn't occupied by Yugi, Joey and Mokuba followed suit; Joey between Seto and Mokuba, and Mokuba next to Ryou. The empty seats were soon filled by older nekos that assisted Prince Yami in ruling the land, one of which that include the royal healer, Ishizu. "Since everyone is gathered, I shall take it upon myself to say how proud I am to have Seto Kaiba among my faithful followers, I am also proud to call him a friend. I wish a happy future for you, and congratulation on your coming-of-age." Yami stated with a small smile on his face. A round of cheers went around the table before Yami spoke again. "May the feast begin." Yami raised a hand up and then servants from the kitchen came out with handfuls of silver trays. As the trays were placed and uncovered, it was revealed that the feast consisted of various meats and fish; as any cat would enjoy. As everyone happily put fish and chicken onto their plates, Joey awkwardly put only bits of deer and beef on his plate, taking small portions only to keep from feeling greedy. No one looked to Joey's strange eating habits either because they were too busy enjoying the feast or already were used to it. "Mutt, it's a feast, eat to your heart's content." Seto whispered softly the blond.
"I'm good…" Joey replied to the other.
"Joey." Seto hissed slightly. This only got the blond to squeak, knowing that Seto only used his name like that when things were serious. "Just eat." Seto sighed and turned his attention back to his guests at the table. Everyone talked and ate until the moon rose. The servants picked up any mess and everyone split from the dining room, leaving Seto and Joey alone. "You know when I mate with you that you'll be staying here." Seto purred into Joey's ear.
"T-That's over three months away." Joey huffed and pushed Seto away.
"Just stay with me, it's already late enough. I don't want you walking to your cottage at this hour." Seto explained.
"If that's all you wanted to say, you could have said so without mentioning mating." Joey crossed his arms over his chest, a small hint of red dusting his cheeks.
"Excuse me." Seto murmured and then started to lead Joey to the room they'd be sharing for the night. The room belonged to Seto, it had a single window with thick white curtains, a nice king-sized bed that had blue sheets, a desk full of books and paperwork, and lastly there was a walk-in closet full of Seto's clothes and random knick-knacks. Seto took a set of night clothes from the closet and handed them to Joey, "There's a bathroom two doors down the hallway, go take a shower and then come back here to bed. If I'm not here then I'll be in a different bathroom."
"Alright, whatever you say." Joey nodded and then went to do as Seto told him to do. When Joey finished showering, he took his dirty clothes with him back to Seto's room. He tossed the dirty laundry in a hamper that was in the room and then went to lie in the bed. As Joey began to fall asleep, Seto walked into the room and joined the blond in the bed. He gently placed his arms over Joey and pulled him close. This woke Joey back up, "Hey Seto…" He mumbled.
"What is it mutt?" Seto replied.
"Um… I wanted to know, what was the coming of age like?" Joey questioned.
"It really started to hurt… But then the healer replaced the pain with a more soothing feeling. I was glad for that because I had started to bleed out in some places." Seto shivered slightly.
"I can imagine." Joey pouted.
"Ssh, it's alright, don't think about it." Seto huffed. Joey nodded his head and then closed his eyes. The pair then went to sleep for the night.
Three months pass when Joey starts to release a pheromone smell that disgusted half of the nekos in the castle. At the moment Joey sat with Seto in their shared room on the bed. "Seto, why does everyone keep asking if I've taken a bath recently?" Joey asked with a sigh.
"Even I had to ask, everyone says you smell like something that came from the forest, and I have to agree. It's not necessarily bad; it just doesn't sit well with our sensitive noses is all." Seto explained.
"No shit! I live in the forest, so how come only now it screws with everyone's noses?!" Joey growled out.
"It's different, like the smell of wild flowers and dirt all mixed together." Seto put a hand to Joey's shoulder in hopes to calm him down.
"…So then…do you like the way I smell?" Joey sighs.
"I like the flower part if that's what you're asking." Seto smirked and went to ruffle Joey's golden hair.
"Not helping." Joey groaned, he then put a hand up to his head. He's head started to throb dully in pain. "Joey?" Seto grew worried in an instant.
"I think I got a headache…" Joey whimpered.
"Damn it, I didn't think this would happen till later! J-Just close your eyes mutt!" Seto huffed in panic and lifted Joey into in his arms and ran out of the room. "Someone, anyone!" Seto hissed out.
Just then the maid Mai ran up, "Forgive me sir Seto, but it just so happens that Yugi is going through his coming-of-age. Prince Yami is with him."
"Crap! Hold on Joey I'll at least take you outside." Seto explained as he ran for the nearest route outside. Once outside, Seto propped Joey up against a tree and soothingly patted his hair. "Try not to think of the pain, think happy thoughts. I'll try and find someone who could help, along with some towels." Seto then ran back into the castle as fast as he could. No later had Seto left that Joey's pain intensified ten-fold. It all started with the pain of Joey's spine breaking up, elongating and pushing its way out of his skin; the starting formation of Joey's soon-to-be tail. The blond howled out in pain as blood dripped down from the place the tail broke out of his lower back, as well as the feeling of muscle, skin, and fur grew over the new tail.. The next set of heavy pain came from his head as Joey's new ears started to form on the top of his head and his old human ears disappeared. He could feel the heaviness of the ears as they flopped over and stick to his now blood soaked hair. Joey could then feel his canine teeth grow along with his jaw, getting thicker as so to accumulate for a stronger and deadlier bite. Joey whimpered as his new teeth poked his bottom lip, tearing the sensitive skin up. The last part was how Joey's muscles grew a bit thicker and a small tingling in his mouth and nose as they grew more sensitive; finalizing his new age of adulthood.
When things were finally over, Joey was on his hands and knees within a small pool of his own blood, crying his eyes out. Joey whimpered as he his new hypersensitive noses took in all the new kinds of smell and as his tail curled up to his stomach from in between his legs. The scent of cats drove Joey nut though, it caused his instincts to yell at him things like run, chase, and prey! Then the sudden sound of things dropping and a loud hiss got Joey to look up; he saw Seto standing over a pile of cleaning supplies, his tail straight up and fluffed out and then look of shock and fear on his face. "S-Seto?" Joey called out with a hoarse voice as he tried to stand on shaky legs.
"Stop, don't make any other movements!" Seto hissed out angrily. Joey immediately froze in place and stared at Seto with watery eyes. "Seto where's Joey? Is he okay?" It was Yugi; he ran up to Seto and pulled on the brunet's arm. Joey noticed the flicking yellow cat tail that was now a part of Yugi's body. At that moment Yugi looked over to Joey, "Oh my gosh, Joey!" Yugi cried out. He then tried to run over to the blond, but Seto put an arm over Yugi's chest to stop him. "What are you doing Seto? He's bloody and confused, we have to help him!" Yugi pushed away the arm and ran to Joey while taking a towel from the floor.
"He's an inu Yugi! We can't just go up to him, you could get hurt!" Seto roared angrily. Joey gasped at Seto's words and looked himself over. Is tail wasn't long and sleek like other nekos; instead it was more bulky and sturdy as if to not be moved in any ways other than left-right and up-down. He then brought a quivering hand up to his head, feeling the floppy ears, they weren't up and triangular. He really was an inu! Joey started to cry, nekos hated only one thing, and that was their mortal enemy, inus. "Stop crying Joey… It's okay." Yugi brought Joey from his thoughts as carefully started to soak up the blood on Joey's body with the towel he brought over.
"You shouldn't be helping me…" Joey whined.
"Ssh, you are my best friend… just because you turned out to be an inu doesn't mean you've stopped being my friend." Yugi explained with a sigh.
"If o-only the others felt that way…" Joey sniffled as he looked to see that Seto has disappeared.
"Well… you can stay with me till things cool down." Yugi offered.
"N-No…" Joey pushed Yugi back and then stood.
"Joey?" Yugi squeaked.
"Thanks for everything Yugi…" Joey looked away from the other, "Good-bye!" Joey then ran away, ignoring the pain of using his new body without getting used to it first. He ran and ran, all the way back to his cottage. Once at his empty home, he passed out by the mouth of the cave that was nearby. Little did Joey know of the creature that walked right up from the cave and took Joey inside.