A month has passed and the assassin received the death penalty for trying to kill yugi and Yami. Atem was currently preparing for the Emperor's visit and Yami completely avoiding him was not helping their current situation and so here he was, in front of Yami's chambers ready to face him but now was having second thoughts.

"I can do this" Atem muttered as he knocked on Yami's door

Yami was currently changing yugi as he decided to spill a bottle of oil on himself when he heard a knock on his door.

"Who could that be?" Yami questioned as he looked at yugi but the smell began to get to him "I'll deal with you later" Yami said as he covered his nose

He opened the door only to face Atem and sighed knowing there was no way to avoid him now. He let Atem in and the atmosphere became awkward.

"I know that this whole thing is..." Atem began but couldn't continue

"A mess?" Yami answered for him as he scrunched up his nose at yugi's new odor

"I guess you can call it that" Atem admitted as he saw Yami turning a little blue "Yami are you alright?" Atem asked in concern

"The smell...it's too strong" Yami said as he fainted

Atem caught him before he could hit the floor, he was confused for he only smelled ginger and lavender. The smell wasn't as strong to him but he realized that Yami was a cat and he had more heightened senses. He carried Yami bridle style and placed him on the chair out on the balcony to get some fresh air.

"Now to get rid of that smell" Atem said as he tried to find the source of the odor

Atem looked everywhere when yugi got his attention by throwing a toy ball at his head. Atem glared at yugi and realized the smell came from yugi.

"Well I guess that you need a bath" Atem said as he picked up yugi and took him to the bathing chambers

Atem placed yugi in a tub full of warm water and began to scrub the oil off of him, Atem chuckled as yugi began splashing the water on himself instead of Atem.

"Nice try" Atem stated with a smirk as yugi narrowed his eyes at him

Once yugi's bath was finished, Atem placed a towel around the young Neko and walked back into the bedroom to see Yami putting the crib outside on the balcony.

"Now I believe I need an explanation on how yugi got bathing oil on himself" Atem said as he laughed at Yami expression

"He must've got it when I wasn't looking, but when I did he had a purple bottle and began to pour it all over himself" Yami said as he scowled

"Well yugi is now clean from any oil substance" Atem said as yugi giggled and clapped his hands

Yami smiled at him which made Atem blush lightly but he quickly regained his composure when Yami took yugi from him.

"Thank you for helping me, again" Yami said softly

Atem smiled at him which made Yami blush lightly as well which thankfully, Atem didn't see. Soon it became awkward again and Yami began to change yugi into more suitable clothing. Yugi wore golden bands on his arms and legs as he wore a white tunic with gold belt tied around his waist.

"I know you want to speak about...our situation" Yami said as he looked at Atem with yugi now resting in his arms

"I know that we, suddenly engaged to each other, is not helping you or me" Atem said as Yami slowly nodded

"Buts it's not up to us, it's up to the Emperor" Yami said as Atem was about to reply but a guard came in to report that the emperor has arrived

"We'll be there shortly" Atem stated as the guard bowed then left the room

"I guess we should get going" Yami said shyly as he left the room with Atem

They both walked until they were in the throne room where the Emperor of Japan was waiting beside the priests and his daughter. He stared at Yami and yugi then at the other three neko's that left Japan.

"We have much to discuss" the Emperor said as he sat next to his daughter

"Of course" Atem said as he left Yami's side and went to sit on his throne

Yami held yugi close to his arms as he stood next to his friends. They all looked worried until two familiar voices were heard which made the neko's look at each other in confusion.

"Run Serenity!, Run!" An older Neko said as barking was heard near the throne doors

Soon Yami saw his grandfather along with jono's sister run into the throne room while being chased by a dog. The dog barked playfully and when he caught sight of the others neko's he smiled more as more dogs came running into the throne room.

"Oh no" Jono said as he looked at the five dogs in the throne room

"RUN!" Malik yelled as all the neko's scattered around the throne room with a dog each going after them

Everyone else in the throne room tried to get the dogs but they were to fast and soon the neko's ran out the throne room to who knows where with the dogs following.

"Who...let...the dogs...in the...palace," Atem said as he tried to catch his breath

"My fault, Pharaoh," said Marik as he walked into the now messy throne room "those are the new guard dogs in training" Marik stated as he held five ripped leashes

"Great, now we have to find them before they get lost" Seth stated as he fixed his clothes

"It won't be that hard, they'll look for the closet thing to climb on" Mai informed as she examined her nails

"And that would be?" Seth said with a glare

"Where's the garden" Mai said with a smirk

Soon everyone in the throne room ran towards the royal gardens and found six neko's high up on the trees with dogs barking at the bottom.

"For Ra's sake" Atem muttered as he saw Yami holding yugi close to him as yugi only laughed

"Get them away!" Malik snapped once he saw the royals, the priests, and Marik

Marik smirked and used his hands to whistle a command which the dogs quickly obeyed. But they ran over Marik and ran somewhere else.

"Wow...our hero" Malik said sarcastically as he crossed his arms

"New dogs, they don't know things around here yet" Marik said as he got off the ground

Soon the sound of barking was heard and the dogs were back barking up the tree. Yami noticed his grandfather Solomon and jono's little sister, Serenity.

"We'll talk later" Jonouchi said as he pointed a finger at his sister

"I'm so grounded am I?" Serenity questioned as Jonouchi gave her a look "I'm taking that as a yes" Serenity said as she laughed nervously

"Don't worry we'll get the dogs out of here as soon as we get new ropes to tie them up with" Atem called out

Yami was about to respond until the branch he was sitting on began to break. He quickly noticed this and gave yugi to his grandfather.

"Atem, this branch is about to-" Yami didn't get to finish as the branch broke and he fell

Atem quickly ran and caught Yami before he hit the ground, Yami had his eyes closed but he never felt the ground only strong arms holding him. He opened them to see Atem looking at Yami with concern and he was about to say something before a dog ran between Atem's legs which made them both fall, with Atem on top of Yami.

"Ow" Atem muttered as he used his arms push him upright and once he opened his eyes he saw Yami beneath him blushing madly

"Can you..." Yami stated as Atem quickly knew the question

"Oh...of course, sorry" Atem said as he got off Yami and helped him up both blushing brightly

The emperor observed this and once he saw the markings on their arms he raised an eyebrow. Soon the smell of fresh meat caught the dogs attention as they now ran towards the kitchen.

"Great" Marik mumbled as he ran a hand down his face

Malik jumped off the tree and did a flip before landing gracefully on the ground. He glared at Marik as his tail flicked in agitation.

"Thank you for letting those...those..." Malik began as he couldn't bring himself to say 'dog'

"Dogs" Marik said as he too crossed his arms

"Yes!, those things! cats hate dogs with a passion for they always think we want to play but we don't!" Malik stated as he flung his hands in the air

Marik was about to retort when he finally saw a closer look at Malik, his eyes widened a little as did Malik's.

"You!" Marik&Malik said at the same time

But once they looked at each other everyone saw the hint of pink tint their eyes before it disappeared as if nothing happened.

"Enough!...explanations, Now!" The emperor yelled out as he went back inside the palace

Everyone looked at each other and listened right after they got Yami's Grandfather out the tree as he still held yugi. Of course, Yami just used his magic which shocked the priests but they didn't pay any attention as yugi began to cling onto his grandfather.

"Let's go" Atem said as he led the way back into the throne room

The emperor stood next to his daughter as he kept a straight posture along with Mai. They both saw the rest of them as they walked into the throne room as everything went back to as it was before the dogs came running in.

"Now, the situation at hand" The emperor said sternly as the nekos flattened their ears in worry, "my daughter tells me You four left Japan to rescue a child, am I correct" he stated as he looked at the nekos

"Yes" Yami answered as he stared at the man before him

"My daughter also claimed the boy has claimed the Pharaoh as his father" he said as he raised an eyebrow

"Yes" Yami said again as he glanced at Atem

"Prove it" The emperor said sternly

Yami shook yugi awake, and once he was Yugi looked at everyone but he brightened when he saw Atem.

"Dada!" Yugi said happily as he stretched his arms out for Atem to hold him

The nekos looked at their king as did Mai before he smiled along with Mai as her plan worked perfectly.

"I believe you have a wedding to prepare" the emperor said with a smile

Solomon's eyes widened as he stared at Yami in shock, Yami had no words as he was also in shock along with Atem.

"But we barely know each other" Atem stated as looked at the emperor

"I have set a time limit, you both will be wed by the next year...you both will have plenty of time" The emperor stated as he went back to his room to rest for his trip back home

Atem and Yami looked at each other before yugi screamed 'Dada' once again which made them both blush madly. Isis smiled at the soon to be couple as Mahad placed his hand around hers.

"We have a long year" Mahad whispered as he looked at the engaged couple

"Well it will be an adventure that we can handle" Isis said as everyone left back to their rooms to rest

Yami was walking with Atem as yugi slept in the pharaoh's arms. They both took glances at each other until they arrived at their rooms.

"Goodnight Atem" Yami said shyly as he took yugi from Atem

"Goodnight Yami" Atem said as Yami smiled at him before disappearing into his room

Atem sighed and ran his hand through his hair before going to his room. He changed into his night clothes and went to bed thinking of his upcoming wedding in a year, and unknown to him Yami was thinking the same thing.