Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in this chapter, but I spent all weekend reading Chapters 1-73 of the Karneval Manga. So, the most current chapter being #76 (that I was able to find), I'm officially all caught up, unless they've made any episodes past #13(which it doesn't appear they have, but I hope they do!) Which means as far as the Karneval characters are concerned, I'll be mixing Anime cannon with Manga cannon from here on. … I REALLY need to find the Shiki Manga and/or novel if I'm going to keep writing fanfics about it. (…DON'T JUDGE ME!) The smile I'm referring to that Gareki makes when he's teasing Yogi is found in Manga Chapters 26 and 45. The closest I recall we ever see to it in the Anime is right after Nai tells Gareki that Karoku said Gareki had to leave or he would break (episode 3: Illusionary Picnic) and this may be the only time we've ever seen it without Yogi being the subject involved. Oh, and please don't hate me for what Megumi says about Yogi and Tohru! I'm just trying to write her in character, she and Kiichi would probably get along famously if she were still human. If it hasn't become obvious, the blondes are my favorite characters in all this! Oh, and by the way, I know I said shipping the boys wasn't going to be at the forefront of the story when I started, but it is still present. That said, there's still time to place bets on who's going to admit how they feel first, Natsuno or Gareki.

Chapter 10: Full of Surprises

The voice rang out clear and cold, warning the Okiagari not to harm the dark-haired teen. Blinking, Gareki and both Okiagari looked down at the blonde whom Megumi was still perched upon. Yogi's voice had been so stern, Gareki had almost expected to find Silver Yogi there. He was still his normal self, but there were signs that the Silver personality was trying to take over, even with his allergy patch still in place.

"Damn it all!" Gareki thought, "I knew he hadn't been changing it!"

Megumi frowned and hissed at the blonde. "What is it about you blonde idiots that make you think you can boss me around?" She turned and straddled Yogi's chest again, grabbing him by his shirt collar. "You're probably no different than Mutou-Kun; an idiotic pretty-boy man-child who doesn't know when and how to keep his hands to himself and thinks his smile is all he needs to charm someone off their feet, when you're really just a two-bit, cowardly nobody dumber than a sack of bricks!"

"Well, except for the 'nobody' part, she pretty much hit the nail on the head," Gareki thought, looking away, "Or at least that's how he plays it anyway. He's a lot more than he lets on, though." Gareki looked back at the pink-haired Shiki. "I wouldn't provoke him any further if I were you," he warned.

Megumi looked back at Gareki. "Why not? This chump doesn't look threatening in the least."

"Oh, trust me. He's just full of surprises. He tries to avoid it, but when forced to fight, Yogi doesn't play around," Gareki assured her.

"YOGI?" Megumi asked, raising an eyebrow, a slight giggle in her voice. "You can't be serious?" She blinked and glanced down at the blonde she had pinned to the ground beneath her. She remembered once seeing a western cartoon bear with that name. She sneered at the thought. "Yeah," she shook her head, "Nobody named Yogi has the right to look this damned pretty." She smiled and giggled. "Ne, ne, Taatsuumii-kuun," she started in a sing-song voice, "is it alright if I hypnotize them both into being my thralls for the last remaining nights of their lives?"

"Both of them?" Tatsumi asked, "Come now, Megumi-Chan, be reasonable, I've got to feed too, you know!"

Megumi pouted. "Fine, then we each get one tonight, and then we swap tomorrow? It'll take two or three nights to drain them both like that, which will keep us fed for a while, anyway." She looked down at Yogi, "And something tells me it might take even longer for this one."

Tatsumi sighed. "Very well, which one would you rather have, first, then?"

"Well," she leaned in toward Gareki and smiled, "As handsome as this one is…" Tatsumi smirked, having expected her to look toward Gareki first. She surprised him however, as she turned back to Yogi, "I think I'll start with this one. He's going to learn he can't boss me around… And his blood smells SO much sweeter." Megumi gave an evil smile, baring her fangs.

Tatsumi smiled, and still holding both of Gareki's arms behind his back with one hand, grabbed hold of the boy's black hair with the other. "Watch carefully, now, because you're next," he chortled.

"Y-Yogi…! NO!" Gareki thought frantically, as he tried to look for some way out of this mess. "Get your damned hands off of him, you pink bitch!" Gareki exclaimed, kicking a nearby stick. Megumi let out a shriek as the stick hit her in the head. It stunned her. "Yogi, now's your chance, get up and run!"

"G-Ga…" Yogi started to object.

"Go! If this guy tries to run after you, then he'll be forced to let me go. Either way, he can't hold us both," Gareki insisted.

Yogi nodded, pushed the dazed Vampiress off of himself, and scrambled to his feet. Gareki was right, in order to give chase, Tatsumi would have to release him first. Yogi would have to find a way to double back and take the two Okiagari by surprise. But he'd have to do it quick!

"MEGUMI-CHAN!? Are you alright?" Tatsumi asked, rather surprised Gareki had managed to stun her.

"These guys are stronger than they look," she groaned holding her head. She looked up at Gareki, the red lights shining in her eyes. She growled in anger and lunged at him. Her prey had gotten away, and it was all this guy's fault. "You're going to regret that!" she hissed.

Before Megumi's fangs could even make contact with Gareki's neck, she and Tatsumi both found themselves wrapped in thorned vines and lifted off the ground. In surprise, Tatsumi released his hold on Gareki, dropping him back onto the ground. Gareki pushed himself onto all fours and looked upward at the two Okiagari. "Wh-What the hell's going on!?" they both exclaimed.

"Gareki, RUN!" Yogi's voice called. Yogi had hidden behind the trees while Tatsumi had been distracted with checking on Megumi. Gareki scrambled to his feet and made a break for it. They had been avoiding flying up until now, because it was something Natsuno, Tohru, and Nai couldn't do on their own, but now all bets were off. Yogi flew up next to Megumi and smiled at her. The post-human found the look of surprise on the faces of the Okiagari priceless. "Here's a little advice," he offered, "If you want to attack someone or talk down about them, be sure you know what they're capable of first." He smiled and added one last piece of advice, making sure to say it quietly enough that Gareki couldn't hear him, "And if you want to avoid heart-break in your future choices in men… Perhaps you shouldn't keep looking at guys who have been spoken for!" He smiled as the blush crossed her face, and in spite of having been caught up in the situation along with her, Tatsumi even found himself trying not to laugh at her. "You should be down in half an hour or so," he said, loud enough that everyone could hear him as he descended back to the ground.

"Yogi?" Gareki called from the tree line.

"Gareki-Kun? Garekiiii-Kuuun!" Yogi exclaimed, rushing to Gareki's side and throwing his arms around the teenager. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" His violet eyes were full of worried tears.

Gareki sighed and rolled his eyes. Leave it to Yogi to get all worked up in a tizzy and assume the worst. "Get off, will you!" he scoffed as he rapped his knuckles against the blonde's forehead, "I'm fine. She didn't have time to bite me, if that's what you're worried about!" Gareki sighed and caught Yogi by the chin. "What about you?" he asked, tilting the blonde's head sideways to show the neckline. He heaved a quiet sigh of relief upon finding no signs of a puncture mark.

"You hit her before she had the chance," Yogi answered.

Gareki blinked. "What? What are you smiling about now?"

"You were worried about me back there, weren't you, Gareki-Kun?" Yogi giggled happily.

"No I wasn't!" Gareki denied, looking away.

"Aw, c'mon, Gareki-Kun!" Yogi pouted, "Don't be like that. Admit it, you were worried!"

"Ok, maybe I was worried," Gareki sighed. He had to think of a way to keep Yogi at a distance. "But not about you!" he lied. "You can handle yourself," he just barely audibly mumbled under his breath. "I warned her you were full of surprises. Tohru had mentioned earlier that the smell of your blood was extremely tempting, even without getting close to you, and that pink witch back there kept carrying on about how good it smelled to. If it's that good, and their blood absorbs the blood they drink into itself the way Varuga cells do, I don't want to imagine what would have happened if I had actually let her bite you."

Gareki quietly looked away from Yogi with a blush on his face. Of course Yogi's wellbeing was on the forefront of his mind at the time, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it. So, he brought up the last thing that had been on his mind instead. The second thing that had crossed his mind, he couldn't even voice his concerns over. Yogi knew nothing about his other personality. When Yogi's golden hair turns silver, he becomes a completely different person. He still had a playful nature; but he had a tendency to be sort of bully-like about it, and while normal Yogi hates to fight, the Silver Yogi loved it. This is something that according, to Akari-Sensei only happened once Yogi had used up all his energy in battle and his allergy patch was removed, especially if Yogi forgot to change it as often as he was supposed to. It would take putting the patch back on to return him to normal, and if he didn't his body would use up too much energy upholding that personality and kill them both. While Nai and Tsukumo had seen how Yogi behaves in that form, so far Gareki had been the only one around to actually see him transform. However, each time Yogi had transformed, Gareki had either been injured or in trouble. Just now, with the two Okiagari, Yogi hadn't used nearly enough power, and Gareki was uncertain if Yogi had changed his patch at all or not. What he did know was that when Yogi first warned Megumi to leave him alone, he could have sworn the silver personality was trying to surface.

Gareki sighed. "I guess I gotta' give him SOME hope, if I don't leave enough bait to keep him dangling, he might just give me my walking papers, yet," Gareki thought. "Still…" he said softly, "I suppose I am glad you're alright." He smiled at Yogi. This was a smile that he only made when the situation involved playfully teasing Yogi. The first time had been when they met Yanari and he teased Yogi when the blonde made a frantic attempt to keep him out of a certain folder on his cell phone, insisting that the information within it was for work. To be completely honest, Gareki wouldn't have been surprised to look in it and find out Yogi had been taking pictures of him in his sleep or some other nonsense. The second had been shortly after he went to Kuronomei; the first and probably, if he thought about it, only time he ever replied to one of Yogi's text messages. He sighed and rustled a hand through Yogi's already messy hair. "C'mon, those two are going to be up there for a while, but they won't be there forever. I'd hate to go back to the others empty handed."

"You don't want to double back now?" Yogi asked.

"We came out here with the intent to bring back food for the others," Gareki reminded him, "So we can all eat and so that that Corpse Demon back at the cave," he held his hand in the direction of the cave, "doesn't do to them what the other two members of his clan just attempted to do to us!" He turned his hand pointing in the direction of Megumi and Tatsumi. "I'm not giving up on that now, just because of a bad run-in. Even if we are still out here when they get down, I have a feeling they're going to want to regroup before coming after us again. They shouldn't be a problem any further tonight."

"I suppose you're right," Yogi nodded, quietly, yet happily following behind Gareki. He didn't care how much Gareki denied it, he knew deep down Gareki had been worried about him, he'd seen it in Gareki's eyes. He just wished Gareki would say so.

Gareki smirked. "Yogi, you're supposed to be the one in charge, yet you always tend to let me give the orders," he thought, "Sometimes I think you're a bit too submissive."