High up in the tall trees, hiding under the cover of darkness, Yami sighed as he shifted, his black leopard body blending in perfectly with the starless night.

Yami felt physically ill as he stretched his lean body, not having eaten a thing in the three days since Seto had left. Desperately, Yami had waited in the spot they had parted, hoping that the demon hunter would eventually forgive him and return but with each passing day, Yami became more and more aware that the thread of hope he was hanging onto was getting smaller and smaller. Finally needing to eat, Yami knew he'd have to temporarily move from the spot if he wanted to find something to hunt.

In his leopard form, Yami easily climbed headfirst down the enormous tree trunk. He knew he wouldn't have much trouble finding something to eat, since leopards were one of the best nighttime hunters – which Yami often took advantage of. He hoped to quickly make a kill so he could return to his temporary home in the tree to continue waiting for the demon hunter.

Rapidly making his way over the rough ground, Yami headed through the thick bushes, traveling as far away from the worn path as he dared; he didn't want to get lost, but the majority of animals knew to stay away from the forest path as that where humans traveled.

It wasn't long before Yami caught the scent of a hare. Although the hare was smaller than Yami desired it would do.

Crouching low to the ground, hiding in the brush, Yami soon spotted the hare a few feet of him, nibbling on some grass. Yami realized right away that he was fortunate; he was downwind and the hare's back was to the cat demon, making it impossible for the small animal to see or smell the larger cat that was silently crawling forward.

When Yami was close enough to touch the hare, he sprang forward, jaws snapping around the small animal's neck. The hare struggled between Yami's teeth but eventually became limp, as its life slipped away. With his prize in his mouth, Yami hurried back to the tree that he called home and quickly climbed up it in case any predators were nearby and wanted to steal his snack.

Satisfied with a job well done, Yami quickly began inhaling his food, not knowing when he would have a chance to eat again.

For the next nine days Yami's life fell into a steady routine. Every few days, Yami would get down from his perch and hunt for food. Except for those hunting trips and occasionally getting water from a nearby river, Yami didn't dare to leave the tree in case Seto returned while he was off somewhere; Yami had nightmares of Seto returning only to find the cat demon wasn't there and then thinking that Yami had left, giving up hope; Yami vowed never to allow that to happen.

Because he spent all his time in a tree, Yami's reflexes and speed began slowing. Hunting eventually became more difficult as Yami didn't have the stamina to give chase if his prey ran. As a result his hunger was causing him to make stupid mistakes while hunting, like not being silent and not getting close enough before pouncing.

Starving himself to death, Yami realized he soon had to leave the tree. His body was weak and he needed to seek safety in his human form. He would welcome death if he thought he had lost all chances with Seto but in his heart he knew the demon hunter would eventually come around.

On Day 11, a quiet chatter was heard from down the path; the sun was high in the sky creating soft shadows throughout the damp underbrush and Yami knew that the voices had to belong to human travelers. The cat demon was desperately weak, not having eaten a thing in 6 days, but knew it was the one opportunity he had get among humans.

Using the last of his strength Yami transformed into his human form. Completely exhausted, Yami's small form tumbled to the forest floor landing in front of three pairs of feet.

"Get some water Amelda," Yami heard a voice command before he completely blacked out.

Seto paused his step, a cold chill running through his body and an image of the cat demon sprung up in his mind, which was odd itself as Seto hadn't thought of Yami since they had parted 11 days earlier. In fact the demon hunter tried everything in his power to forget that Yami existed.

Shaking his head to clear it, Seto continued on his way, walking through tall grass on top of a massive cliff; rolling hills could be seen for miles down in the valley below but Seto cared little for the scenery, all he could think about was something bad had happened to the cat demon and he hated himself for caring.

Yami blinked open his crimson eyes. The first thing he noticed that it was now nightfall. The second thing was that he was naked, lying under a warm brown blanket.

Frantically Yami tried to recall what happened. He remembered hearing human voices and then falling out of a tree but that was it. Under the blanket he shifted his body until satisfied nothing was broken.

"Hey take it easy," a soothing voice said moments before a redhead hovered over him. At first Yami thought the redhead was a girl, with his shoulder length hair and tunic that only covered half of his body, but then the cat demon quickly realized that the person was a guy.

"Who are you?" Yami demanded, already feeling stronger. Next to him he heard a fire crackle as the flames burned wood sticks.

"Easy friend, my name is Amelda." Briefly Yami remembered someone mentioning the name before he fell unconscious. "You literally fell out of the sky in front of my companions and me. You were in bad shape so we made camp and began force-feeding you water and stew. Varon and Raphael are out hunting and gathering more firewood while I stayed behind to take care of you."

"And my clothes?" Yami questioned as he propped himself up on one arm, and to his dismay he noticed his bell remained on the ribbon around his neck and it jingled as he moved.

"They were dirty and grimy so we washed them for you," Amelda explained pointing to Yami's right. Turning his head, Yami saw his leather clothes and black cape were neatly drying next to the fire.

"Thank you," Yami whispered as he laid down again, this time on his side so he could stare into the fire at it crackled and danced with life. "My name is Yami."

Amelda smiled as he knelt next to Yami's prone form. "No problem Yami. We just did something that any human would do. I have to ask though…what were you doing?"

"Seeing if I could fly," Yami lamely replied. He knew he owed Amelda and his friends his life but that didn't mean they were privy to all his information.

"Ah…trust me, secrets are something we all know about," Amelda simply replied and Yami was grateful; he didn't need someone insisting he talk just because they saved his life. "You should rest some more. I'll wake you when the others are back with some food."

Yami yawned as he nodded his head; the past week and a half had taken a huge toll on his body. Re-closing his eyes, Yami soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

Amelda watched the tri-haired young man drift off and was eventually satisfied that the one called Yami was in a deep sleep. "He's out," he quietly called into the woods behind him. Two men appeared from the trees; one was large with short blond hair while his companion was shorter with spiky brunet hair. Despite their size difference, anyone could easily tell that both could handle themselves in a fight. The brunet was carrying a pile of firewood while the blond was dragging a deer carcass, an arrow piercing out of the deer's heart.

"Did you get any information out of him?" the brunet asked in annoyance.

Amelda nodded his head, his demeanor changing from the light hearted attitude he had with Yami to one of extreme seriousness. "He said his name is Yami."

"So? I'm sure a bunch of people have that name," the brunet argued; the brunet clearly didn't believe they had found the one they were looking for.

"Shut up Varon, next time you stay and play nurse!"

A smirk crossed the brunet's face. "That role is perfectly suited for you."

"I'm warning you Varon…"

"Do you really think you can defeat me in a fight?" Varon scoffed. Although the two were friends they often had a rivalry going on as to who was second in command behind Raphael and were both willing to stab the other in the back to prove themselves to their employer.

"Both of you stop it," the blond commanded, clearly the leader of the group as both Amelda and Varon stopped arguing and looked at the tall, muscled man. "We know his alias is 'Yami' and I doubt that many humans go around wearing a bell around their necks. Plus he seems to be recovering well from the state we found him in this afternoon."

"So should we take him back to Lord Dartz?" Varon questioned and Raphael nodded his head.

"We'll put the suggestion in his head when he wakes again."

"And if he doesn't agree to come with us?"

"We make him."

Unable to go against Raphael's decision, Varon and Amelda quickly agreed with their friend. Sitting down around the fire, they began preparing the deer Raphael had killed for them and waiting for Yami to wake up again.

With a frustrated growl, Bakura tossed what was supposed to be that night's bed companion out of the rented room at the inn where he was staying. At first the shaggy blond had seemed interesting and was certainly hot enough for Bakura's taste but Jou had turned out to be far too stupid for the fire demon to bear.

A satisfied smirk crossed his face as the railing of the balcony hit Jou in the stomach. Once the blond regained his bearings he swung around, ready for a fight but wisely backed down when he was met with the imposing figure cackling madly. Reluctantly the shaggy haired blond stormed off down the stairs, clutching his stomach.

Bakura continued to laugh until a particular scent invaded his nostrils, wild flowers mixed with honey. The fire demon quickly darted back inside his room and quietly closed the door until only an inch was left open. As he waited and watched he soon heard the quiet humming sound of someone singing their favorite song.

Holding his breath, Bakura soon saw Malik pass his door. Quietly closing the door the rest of the way, the fire demon frantically looked for an escape route. He couldn't morph out as the fire used to morph would burn down the inn and despite wanting to get away from Malik, Bakura didn't want him dead.

Throwing his shirt on over his head, the only article of clothing he wasn't already wearing, Bakura raced over to the window. His room was on the second floor but it shouldn't be too much of a drop for a demon. Silently he remembered his days as a child, hopping from rock to rock with Atemu next to the waterfall near their home.

Shoving open the window, Bakura jumped, catching his right foot on the windowsill. Ungracefully tumbling to the ground, the fire demon landed awkwardly on his side, damaging some ribs.

As he limped away, Bakura congratulated himself on a job well done of escaping Malik.

Seto woke with a start as the feeling of dread ran throughout his body. He had been dreaming, having a nightmare really, about Yami and couldn't help but think that something was wrong with his former partner.

"This is stupid," the demon hunter grumbled as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, allowing the blankets to fall from half naked body. The hunter had stopped at a village for the night, needing a safe haven after the disturbing feeling he had earlier that day. "Yami is fine; he can take care of himself. I'm just feeling bad for hurting his feelings, despite the fact that he deserved it."

Seto began pacing as he continued to mutter to himself, reassuring his mind that Yami was fine. He was however bothered by the fact that these odd occurrences were happening now and not sooner to when they had parted. Seto figured that any guilt should have left him days ago.

A loud thud of a knock against Seto's room door brought the demon hunter out of his grumbling. Dressed in only his slacks, Seto grabbed his sword and swung open the door ready to strike; but instead he found angry lavender eyes staring at him. "Malik?"

"Have you seen Kura?" the blond demanded to know. "I lost track of him a few days ago and have no clue where he went."

"Have you been following me?" Seto's matched Malik's glare with one of his own as he lowered his sword; Malik was no threat to him; only a beetle and Bakura feared the wrath of Malik.

"No," Malik replied with a roll of his eyes. "I've been following Bakura but I lost track of him. I think he did his fire morphing thing to this village and want to know if you've seen him."

Seto rubbed his temple; he had a bad headache from the nightmare and really didn't need to deal with a psychotic demon and his lovestruck boyfriend. "No I haven't seen the fire demon."

"Where's Yami?" Malik persisted as he tried peaking inside the room. "He'll probably know something; Kura likes to annoy him."

"He's not here Malik!" Seto insisted; he was tired and had a crummy day, all he wanted to do was get rid of the blond, go back to sleep and hopefully have no more nightmares.

"Oh, he's out roaming somewhere isn't he?" A grin crossed Malik's face. "Are you sure that's wise? A tomcat could find him and want some action…" Malik trailed off as he began lightly thrusting his hips at the demon hunter.

With a fierce growl, Seto grabbed Malik by the front of his tanned tunic, hauled the blond into his room and slammed him up against the wall. "Look you little punk, that wasn't funny!"

"Relax!" Malik protested as he squirmed free of Seto's grasp. "It was a joke! Everyone knows that Yami belongs only to you!"

Again Malik found the back of his head being slammed against the wall. "Yami means nothing to me!" Quickly Seto released Malik and stalked to the other side of the room so he wouldn't be tempted to further hurt the blond.

"What's with you?" Malik grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Did something happen between you and Yami?"

Seto glared at Malik from where he remained on the other side of the room. "You knew didn't you?"

"Knew what?"

"About this whole mating business." Seto began angrily pacing on his side of the room, knowing that if he didn't he would go over and hurt Malik again. "That's why you're so hung up on finding Bakura this time when it's never bothered you before. You're worried he's going to find someone else."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm worried. I love the idiot and have less than a month and a half to convince him he loves me or else we'll never be able to be together."

"What do you mean?"

"I won't be around in 500 years for the next season and although I don't know all the details I know enough to understand that this is an important moment for demons. They don't just go out and find the first human they come across; their mate is the other half of their soul. I heard it's possible for a demon to die if he and his mate do not join and become one."

Seto remained silent, ignoring the blond as he stopped pacing, the anger flowing from his body. Finally Malik became fed up and quietly left the room, allowing Seto to become lost in his thoughts.

'Dead…?'

The sun was slowly rising in the sky when Yami woke again. "Soup?" Amelda offered as the cat demon sat up and spied the bowl, which was held out towards him.

"Thank you," Yami replied. Making sure the blanket was still covering all his body parts as it pooled around his waist, Yami gladly took the bowl and began slurping down the food.

"These are Varon and Raphael," Amelda explained as he continued to talk. It was then that Yami noticed the two other men seated on the other side of the dying fire. Cautiously he eyed them; his animal instinct told him to be wary of them.

"Hello."

"I would be Raphael," the blond one confirmed. Yami recognized his voice from the day before as the one who had ordered Amelda to get water before he passed out and began to relax; if the trio meant him harm they had had plenty of opportunities to do it already. "You're lucky we found you yesterday."

"Very lucky," the one called Varon added as he stood and moved over so he could sit back down next to the cat demon. Trapped with Varon and Amelda on each side of him and Raphael in front of him, Yami's caution began rising again. "Normally our employer doesn't have us travel this far."

"Employer?"

"We work for a rich Lord," Amelda explained but left it at that.

"Perhaps if you come with us we can arrange for him to hire you," Varon suggested. "You look as if you could use a job."

"It's a kind offer but no thanks," Yami replied with a shake of his head. With his head clear he knew he did not want much more to do with the group. They seemed suspicious and he didn't trust their mysterious employer. "I'm waiting for someone and cannot leave the area."

"We insist!" Amelda argued. "You're one of us now. We take care of each other. We wouldn't abandon you here in the middle of the woods."

"Seto didn't abandon me!" Yami yelled as he jumped to his feet, forgetting he was naked. The three men rose as well but didn't stop Yami as he quickly dressed and turned his attention back to the trio as soon as he was fully clothed. "Thank you once again for your help but I think it's time for us to part."

"Take it easy," Varon cooed. Neither Varon nor Amelda left his side while he dressed, always remaining too close for Yami's comfort. "Lord Dartz could use some extra help and we thought having a nice job, living in a castle would be much better than hanging out in the woods with no food, no water, no shelter, waiting for some guy to return."

Yami frowned at the name Dartz. He'd heard that name somewhere before but couldn't remember where knew it from. "I prefer waiting here."

"Don't give us a bad name Yami," the big Raphael ordered. When they had stood, the blond had moved to stand behind the cat demon. "It would be dishonorable if Doma's Three Swordsmen did not assist a person in need."

Yami froze. He knew the name Doma. Once before he had passed through Doma's territory while hunting the psychotic demon, Pegasus. A strange magical energy encased the area making Yami jittery and Seto more moody then normal. The demon hunter hadn't noticed a thing, insisting that its ruler, Dartz, was a righteous man who was helpful in the fight against demons; it was only through Yami's begging that they moved on quickly through the area.

Yami tried darting off but in his human form he was no match for the three larger men. He didn't even get a foot away before feeling Varon and Amelda grabbing his arms. He certainly felt but didn't see the blow Raphael delivered to the back of his head. Once again Yami fell unconscious, slumping into Varon's arms as the brunet easily held up Yami's small form.

A/N - And yet another chapter where Malik shoved his way into the story when he was not supposed to be there, lol. Thanks for the editing job Dukie.