Shadows That Bleed

by YamiYugiPuzzleshipper

Pure-Bloods are said to be myths, not even well-known within stories. "A specialized genetic coding of the moon and the dire," their spoken lore proclaims. They are creatures beyond the power of mortality, gifted by the gods themselves. Known as the Eternal Ones, their existence once extinguished, resurrection foretells a powerful omen.

3. The Body

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day (no update on June 2nd)

Chapter warning: Some blood and gore, mentions of hallucinations and night terrors, mentions of medication, mentions and description of dead body

Chapter III: The Body

Work Log Entry III: December, 1992

December 19

Both chosen specimens have fallen ill. Their organs seem to be failing and they are growing much weaker.

Perhaps the constant advances towards the devolution of their genetics has caused this sickness?

There was nothing more Yugi hated about surgeries than the ones that involved cats. The anesthesia had to be perfectly balanced and when they were sleeping they would cry out softly as if still awake. They were just too small to be fully put to sleep for fear they would slip away in the middle of the surgery. The procedures always made him feel sick with tension. So he had always naturally attempted to avoid them whenever he had the chance. His mind always leaped to the thought that they would consciously feel all of what they did. With that constantly on his mind at even the mention of a cat needing to go into surgery, Yugi had kept away from them whenever possible and now this had escalated into avoiding the surgery room altogether. It wasn't for the sake of avoidance or what his mother had come up with to explain his behavior.

"The dog might have gotten loose even if it was me or Dad taking care of it," she said out of the blue two weeks after the surgery on the kitten.

Yugi looked up from checking on his homework answers and stared at her blankly for a moment. He blinked and furrowed his brows in slight confusion. For a moment he had no idea what dog she was talking about or even that one was missing. He blinked again, the statement finally clicking in his confused mind; the word "might" burning through him as he swallowed harshly. She thought he was avoiding helping out in the clinics because of what happened with the hybrid.

"Maybe," he said reluctantly, shrugging and turning back to his homework. "But I don't understand why you're bringing it up."

The sigh she let out was loud and harsh and he barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "Well, you've been avoiding the animals ever since it got loose," she snapped in a slightly cold tone that made him stiffen. "You even refused to help me move the puppies into the main clinic."

"Okay, but you saw me helping Jonouchi with math and you know that the animals haven't exactly been friendly towards me anyways," he hissed, narrowing his eyes as he flipped through his worksheets. The grip on his pencil tightened to the point that it almost snapped and his fingers ached with the force of it. "Besides, there were enough techs to help without me."

"That's not the point. The point is that I asked for your help and you decided that you wouldn't because you didn't want to—"

"Didn't want to? No, Mom, that's not what happened. You know that. I love helping the animals—"

"You sure have a funny way of showing it," she scoffed, giving him a dark look when he opened his mouth to object. Yugi shut it again, scowling at her. "You won't even feed and water them anymore. You ignore me when I ask you to help me with surgeries—"

"Ignore you? I've never ignored you," he interrupted sharply, shaking his head and glaring at her furiously. "I've had schoolwork and tutoring to deal with, too, Mom. My life doesn't revolve around the clinic. I have to make sure I get my scholarship to go to college and become a vet. I don't think you understand how hard it is to juggle all of that and constantly shadow and help out, too. And, besides that, the animals don't even seem to want me around them anymore."

"That's not true, Yugi, and you know it."

"Oh, so you mean I've been imagining it then, Mom? I must have imagined the way the kitten attacked my hand or the parakeet freaks out. How about the way the puppies always cry whenever I go near them and their mom always tries to tear my hand open?"

"That's ridiculous, Yugi—"

They both fell immediately silent as the door opened. A soft metallic jingling of a dog tag shaking with movement and clicking highlighted the entrance of a small canine. Yugi looked down curiously, smiling as he spotted the black and tan Shiba Inu. Even without her well-known owner he would have recognized her immediately because of the unusual white tip to her tightly curled black and tan tail. She was sixteen pounds with slender legs and somewhat large paws with sharp nails like hooked knives. She had the usual sesame patter to her dark short-haired pelt, with tan the shade of tawny on her chest which outlined the curves of her forelimbs. Her belly was white rather than tan and her eyes were an unusual golden-flecked rather than the deep brown Shiba Inus were generally known for. But she had the same small compact body with the slender muzzle and the wide eyes and self-confidence that the breed was so well-known for and often identified by.

"Sesame!"

The two-year-old let out one of her signature yips of excited greeting. Yugi grinned as she trembled with excitement, wagging her curled tail wildly. She was one of the only animals he knew of that liked to be at the clinic. She had to be the friendliest canine Yugi knew aside from Blankey when he bribed her with treats. Usually they all were somewhat wary upon meeting him and especially when they were left in the same room together alone. He had always assumed that it was because he smelled of medicine and the various tools that he helped his mom with in the examination room, as well as the stress of being in an unfamiliar place.

"Hello," Sesame's elderly owner said cheerfully. He flashed Yugi a grin that he mirrored immediately.

"Hello, Mr. Hawkins," Yugi greeted with a polite edge to his voice. "How are you?"

"I'm well. How are you, Yugi?" He leaned over and straightened again with Sesame in his arms. The little dog was panting and Yugi could see that her teeth were still perfectly clean.

"I'm the same as always. How's Rebecca?"

"She's good. She's actually back in America with her parents now that summer is over," he replied with a smile, rubbing Sesame's small ears with a content grin and pulling her a bit closer. The Shiba Inu licked his palm and somewhat stout fingers, panting a little harder as she wagged her tail. "And since Sesame and I were in the neighborhood we decided to come in and say hello. Right, Sesame?"

The Shiba Inu immediately welcomed his mom's show of affection with licks to her hand, trembling harder with excitement as Yugi picked his way around the desk to join him. Sesame was still paying complete attention to his mom, kissing her fingers eagerly. Her body was shaking as if she was a phone put on vibration and Yugi waited until his mom had pulled back some. For a brief second he hesitated, some part of him refusing to reach out, and then he stretched his hand. Sesame was at first still wagging her tail and panting, but as soon as his hand was within an inch of her head the situation changed. A snarl bubbled up in warning, the noise almost like a rusty purr or an engine put on idle.

It was enough to make him stop, hand still stretched out, and Yugi watched as her squirming became an action of anxious discomfort in Mr. Hawkin's arms. The small teen tilted his head and the elderly man looked at her in stunned surprise. "What are you growling at, baby?" he cooed, raising a brow and looking at Yugi curiously. "You know who that is, Sesame. You know Yugi well. Don't be a grumpy little girl today."

Yugi knew without looking that the interaction had caught his mother's attention. She was watching them with surprised, thoughtful blue eyes, taking note of the situation. It occurred to him that this would be the first time she would see for herself that animals no longer liked him.

He had practically helped Mr. Hawkins to raise her, giving Rebecca advice on food the day she had walked in with her in her arms and boasted about having a dog. She'd sneered at him about how he didn't have one even though he had a house with a clinic in it, and Yugi had laughingly teased her that he didn't need one with all of the animals around there. Since then, helping her with the food and items necessary for the small dog, she had been so grateful she'd begun to volunteer at the clinic on days that she got done with her chores early. His grandpa constantly teased him that she was head over heels for him. Yugi always found it awkwardly; they were four years apart in age, and he considered it more of an admiration crush if anything.

Now Kasumi stood watching Sesame treat her son as if he were a stranger. She wondered for the briefest of moments if he'd held her the wrong way at some point. Perhaps he had done as Rebecca had and stepped on her paw or scooped her up rather roughly. But even then the Shiba Inu had been easygoing and loved the attention she got after it all. And the fact that it was a dog he'd known for years made it all the worse.

She had always ignored it whenever the animals acted aggressively towards him. There had never truly been a reason for it before. And Yugi had always stepped back and allowed her to come in behind him to fix whatever issue might have occurred. She had always been watching, and Yugi had always known it, so he would simply glance at him and then step away.

"I'm sorry, Yugi. I don't know what's going on with her today," Mr. Hawkins commented, truly astounded as Sesame continued growling. Her squirming grew tenfold and she started to whimper, a high-pitched noise that seemed to bury itself in his eardrums. She twisted around in his arms, trying desperately to get away from Yugi by way of climbing his arm.

Yugi began to withdraw his hand. It happened in slow motion. Her eyes were wide. The whites of them were showing. She spun on him. Her teeth snapped first at air. Then, as he jerked, she caught his hand. His fingers were coated in blood in mere seconds. His incisors tore through his flesh like razor-sharp thorns.

He yelped. Sesame snarled louder. Yugi blinked. Impulse said to snatch his hand away. Instinct told him to cause her to release before he bled more. He moved before he thought about it. His free hand pressed into her ribs. She released, startled more than in pain. Her eyes were wide, frantic. Yugi drew his hand towards his chest and looked his fingers over. Blood welled from the wound. The cut was rather shallow for the most part. But he must have jerked his hand at some point. Or perhaps she had gotten him twice in the attack. His knuckles were bleeding. His nails were coated. Both halves of his fingers held some kind of punctures.

The way it dripped downwards made it seem almost as if he had dipped them in paint.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath, blinking at the wounds. He could hear it when a drop of blood hit the tiles. "Holy fuck…"

His mom blinked in astonishment. Sesame had never so much as growled before. And now she had drawn blood. She had Yugi's blood. And it was dripping in thick droplets. Kasumi was amazed, bewildered and shocked. But she did not think her expression matched Yugi's by any degree.

He looked fascinated. It was almost as if he had never seen blood before. It shocked her to see that glazed glimmer to his eyes. He seemed so focused on the way it was falling from his fingers.

Her stomach churned. He was anemic again. The night terror medication must have been thinning his blood again. How much had he taken recently?

But then she glanced at Sesame again as the dog cried and stared at Yugi as if he might attack her at any moment. Had he done anything to provoke the bite?

Kasumi spent a minute considering this question, backtracking and thinking over his body language. Whenever he had pulled away from another animal, none of them had bothered with a full lunge before. As soon as his hand was out of immediate reach, they just watched him until they felt that it was safe to turn away again. The only possible signal he could have sent to Sesame was the confused tension in his shoulders but all of the other animals had only growled rather than attacked in similar situations.

"Oh my god! Yugi, are you all right?"

Kasumi was truly bewildered for a moment. Then Yugi blinked wide eyes as she did the same. His gaze had lost the fascination now. His lips pulled up in the corner and he shrugged with his half-smile in place. He had to be extremely uncomfortable, but he had enough common sense not to allow Mr. Hawkins to see. The old man looked startled and ashamed. A bald panic shone in his eyes, his pupils blow.

Yugi tilted his head. He must have thought that they would report it and have Sesame quarantined. "Yes, I'm fine, Mr. Hawkins," he answered with a small nod and wider smile, attempting to make him feel better. "I'm just a little anemic so I'm bleeding more than someone else would. Besides, it doesn't hurt anymore."

Yugi almost thought that if he just cleaned the two cuts and looked them over he might find that they were healed already. He doubted there was any truth in it but, thankfully, the sharp throbbing pain was completely gone. He still had a phantom sensation of her teeth digging into his skin, tearing through it, but there was nothing else that he could complain about.

"I probably did something to upset her somehow," he said with another shrug. "I probably smell like medicine, anyways. It tends to make some of the animals freak out at times."

Or perhaps he still somehow smelled like that dog. If he still smelled like the hybrid, it explained her ferocity towards him now. But he didn't understand how it was possible. He had found no trace of DNA on his clothing when he had attempted to study the possibility of giving off a chemical like he thought. Unless the animals were the animals were the only ones capable of finding a trace of the scent, he should have been able to find a source of it somehow. He was not ready to dismiss his theory just yet, but he knew it probably held no merit now.

"I…suppose so…" he muttered uncertainly, looking at the Shiba Inu in his arms slowly. He could see the concern clear in his eyes and Yugi felt almost sickened by it. He would never have Sesame thrown into the pound like that. "I just…She's never done that before…God, I'm sorry, Yugi."

"It's fine, Mr. Hawkins. Don't worry about it. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

The elderly man blanched at the word "anymore" and Yugi swallowed hard, wishing he had chosen his words more carefully. But then, what other way was there to put it? He couldn't just say it hadn't hurt. First, he might come off sounding utterly childish and stupid in an attempt to seem brave or they might both think he had nerve damage if he didn't feel that bite. Second, he had cursed when it had happened so he highly doubted it would come off as believable anyways.

Perhaps it was wistful thinking on Mr. Hawkins' behalf to think that it was normally possible for such a wound to not be painful any longer. But then, he was aware that he was feeding his desire for such a thing to be true.

But he was being somewhat honest. It had stopped stinging mere seconds after he had initially turned his full attention to it. He was anemic from taking too much medication for the growing onslaught of terrors and he knew his mom was aware of it. It was disgusting, and the weakness of it made his skin crawl. His growing insomnia, unable to sleep any longer due to it all, his lacking diet, and the stress all made them worse. He already knew that he had crossed that line, the one which made the influence of it grow threefold what it had been before.

The truth was somewhat twisted, but he thought it a good way to put the elderly man at ease. He didn't need to worry about his dog being put into a kennel at a shelter for days. It would break his heart and Yugi would feel that pain as well.

"I would check on your hand, but…"

"It's okay. My mom and I will look at it."

"Will you…tell me about it later?"

"Oh, sure, of course. I'll call you later when we've gotten it cleaned up," he agreed nonchalantly. "But I promise I'm okay."

He nodded shakily and held Sesame a little tighter. Yugi wished he could have told him that they would never have reported the incident. But if word got out that the veterinary clinic was ignoring a wound to its own staff, there would be no reprieve from the surveillance or the police interventions. They would dig through the files and work through everything to see about what was going on. They'd find out about the hybrid and all hell would break loose, he was sure.

Domino had grown to have far stricter rules than the other cities in Japan where animals were concerned. A few months back a rabies epidemic had broken out. A mass amount of wild rabid dogs had been found in the mountains when a few hikers had been killed and eaten with only a few scarce remains left behind. Because of the dog pack any incidents involved misbehaved pets were required to be filed with animal control and the police. The pets were then to be put in a heavily supervised quarantine area of the nearest pound.

Domino City was not the largest place in Japan by any stretch of the imagination. But it held a wide placement of areas within its district with sixteen different cemeteries, one elementary, one middle, and one high school. There were only three malls, one massive shopping complex, four veterinary clinics, three hospitals, two libraries, one museum and one arcade. There were more restaurants and cafes and neighborhoods than there were anything else.

The eastern and southern areas led to the other cities and further into Japan, but the north and west borders were untamed mountain ranges full of forests and rivers. Directly to the north of the clinic, miles beyond, was the Daisetsuzan National Park, where almost every hint of wildlife seemed to exist. There were the giant red flying squirrels and the serows and black bears, the golden eagles and red foxes and bears. The mountains had proved themselves too harsh, the undergrowth too thick and abundant, for them to expand any farther. The mountains were littered with volcanoes as well, and their protected status prevented any potential building or attempts to buy from any investors.

He knew that many people still attempted to hunt there at times, despite its prohibited status and punishments done by law. When money was truly scarce, some were brave enough to attempt it. Not many had tried since the rabies epidemic, however, out of fear of becoming infected as well if an attack should happen.

"Okay, I…I'll wait until you call…" He blinked as if in a daze and then turned away to start towards the door. Yugi and his mother watched him as he glanced over his shoulder uncertainly and then walked hurriedly out of view of them in the window.

"I told you that the animals weren't so happy with me anymore," Yugi commented almost smugly, looking his hand over again. The wounds were still there though they did not hurt, and Yugi was oddly relieved to see that. He was unsure as to why he had even questioned it for the smallest of seconds, but it had crossed his mind regardless. The realization that such a thought existed in the first place made his stomach flip with growing tension. What kind of thought was that? It made him want to vomit to consider it. No wound could heal that quickly.

"Yes, well…" She trailed off completely for a long minute and then caught his wrist with her hand. "Come on, let's get your hand cleaned and then we'll talk about you taking a few days off."

"A few days off?" he echoed, eyes widening drastically. "But I don't—"

"Well, you're going to have to, Yugi. I don't want to see you get hurt any worse," his mom interrupted. Her tone held no room for argument, and Yugi nodded reluctantly, not wanting to argue. Confrontation had never been one of his strong points. "Just focus on your grades for a little while. I'm sure that Jonouchi could use all the extra help he can get with midterms coming up so soon, right?"

He sighed softly and nodded again reluctantly. "Yeah, okay, Mom."

---

Yugi woke up late and still exhausted. He blinked tiredly, rubbing at his eyes, and cut a sideways glance at his alarm clock. He already knew he had missed some school but he wanted to know how much. He cringed, eyes widening, and his throat burned as heat flooded his skin and made it bright red with an almost feverish gleam. The school day was half over, he realized, swallowing hard. His mom was going to kill him when she found out—if she wasn't already upset and waiting. She might have been waiting to see if maybe he would attempt to run or come out and admit it to her.

He rubbed his eyes and swallowed against the dry pastiness of his mouth, the most common side effect of his medication. Tiredly he pulled his sheets back, rolling his shoulders and listening. The house was oddly quiet and for a moment he didn't think he even heard the employees moving around to help any animals. Maybe they had all gone to the main clinic, moving animals out or something. He didn't remember any of the animals needing immediate care any longer. None of them had required emergency services or constant watch and hourly doses of medication so he didn't think any of them needed to be there. It was possible his mom had assumed the same and so they had all been moved to the main clinic and maybe that gave him the perfect opportunity to make a break for class without his mom knowing.

The thought was extremely exciting, until he remembered slowly that the school called to report any absences. The voice recording would tell exactly which classes he had missed, and Chono would take delight in reporting his skipping class to his mom. She would love to paint him in a horrible light as a student. She had always loved taking the opportunity to make her students feel bad or making their parents punish them.

So he guessed it was better to just go out and face the music by telling his mom he had overslept rather than letting her find out from the school.

Yugi got dressed after a moment's hesitation, blinking at his reflection from the mirror hanging on the wall near the edge of his bed, and then headed for the kitchen. He cringed slightly when he saw his mom seated in the chair opposite of the hallway entrance. There were pictures spread across the table in front of her, and when he came closer, he could see his grandpa standing a couple of feet away and shaking his bowed head.

For a brief second he almost thought that maybe they were doing something like looking at possible boarding schools to ship him off to. Maybe his mom had finally lost her patience with him, with his grades and his nightmares, or his inability to help with the animals anymore.

He trembled at the thought and his eyes shot to the pictures on the table. Even upside down, he could tell that were of something far different from the various school buildings and brochures his mind had conjured up.

The tremble passed and Yugi tilted his head to the side. Was he seeing things again or was the image in front of him really what it looked like?

What the hell was he actually looking at? His lip curled even as he continued eyeing the photos and a small grunt of discomfort escaped him before he could stop himself. His mom gasped, jumping like a startled cat, and his grandpa looked up with wide eyes. Yugi blinked slowly, looking at them and then at the pictures again. He still wasn't completely sure that what he saw in those shots was real or not but he still found himself staring and his mouth fell open as his mom began to scoop them up to put them away.

"No, wait, what are you—?"

"You don't need to see—"

"Kasumi, let him see—"

"No, he doesn't need to see them, Dad. His night terrors are already bad enough without adding more, damn it!"

"I don't think they could have more added to them," Yugi muttered, reaching out and managing to snatch one of the pictures from her now that she was distracted. Her head snapped towards him and her blue eyes narrowed furiously as he flipped the photo over and his mouth went dry. "Oh my god, what the hell is that?"

His grandpa blinked wide plum eyes and shook his head slightly. "A couple of teenagers on their way to an early study session in the library found the body in the quad this morning. They called the police and took some pictures before they were all escorted from the premises. The police came about an hour ago to see if anyone had any information and asked your mother about any animals that could have done something like that…"

Yugi wanted to scoff that no animal could have done something so gruesome but he knew of grizzly bear attacks. They were always violent and gruesome if they left any remains. But grizzly bears lived in North America and the bears in Japan may have been vicious but they had to be provoked to violence for an attack so terrible to happen. There was no zoo in Domino from which an animal could have escaped from. He had not heard of any animal escapes anyways.

"What did you say?" he asked after a moment, swallowing harshly.

His mom hesitated before sighing and glaring at the pictures in her hands. "I said that a pack of canines might have been able to do something like that but they would have to be a large breed and have rabies or particularly nasty temperaments. There are always bears and maybe wild boars if they were antagonized into attack," she answered quietly, glancing at him and narrowing her eyes in annoyance. She didn't want to talk about this; she knew already that Yugi was really asking about if she had said something about the wolf-dog. "There are also dholes but since they don't live in Japan, it's a bit impossible."

Yugi nodded and looked at the pictures closer. The body had been mauled to the point that it was almost impossible to identify even the gender. Its head was nearly stripped of any hair that had existed on its scalp, skull laid bare. Its throat was torn to a point where it was nearly decapitated, with only a single strip of sinewy skin to hold it together. The bottom jawbone had been torn away completely and only grizzled flesh, half-eaten away and its tongue lying feet away in ribbons. Its eyes had been gouged out and the entire left side of its face was torn open so that loose flesh hung in chunks and the bones were fractured and splintered where teeth or claws had ripped through it. What remained of its stomach had been shredded and the organs cut into strips of pale flesh that had been nearly shoveled out. The ribcage had been crushed and torn open, splinters of bone jutting from what little meat and skin it still possessed. The entire lower half of the body had been stripped of any muscle or flesh, with only pale bone to be seen, the ankles and feet broken while the left wrist had a full hole ripped out of it. The muscles were dangling like shredded clothing from a cracked and half-chewed wrist joint. The other arm had been tugged nearly out of the socket and twisted in a way that should have sent the elbow jutting out of its skin had it not clearly been completely shattered. The flesh was bruised darkly as if the veins had spread to fully encompass the range of the crushed bone.

He shuddered and put the photo back down, pushing it away with unsteady fingers. "Have they found out…?"

"Not yet, but they're closing down the schools for the next week in order to investigate and make sure that no one else is attacked."

"Oh…okay…"

Yugi blinked and his eyes widened as hi mouth grew dry again. His friends; it couldn't have been one of them, could it? He barely suppressed the urge to quake and vomit as adrenaline pumped through him and made his head spin. His stomach twisted violently for a brief second and his heart missed a beat, blood pounding in his ears. For a split second his head felt as if it was throbbing. He thought for a moment that the pounding in his ears had grown threefold. His eyes burned briefly, painfully, and his spine tightened, tingling as if with an uncontrollable itch. His shoulders ached with a brief pinch like a pulled muscle. He could, for a split second, see a twitch in his mother's lip where she was grinding her teeth slightly. He could see the way his grandpa shifted his weight in a faint movement. He saw the tiny sheen of sweat or possibly half-dried tears on his mother's face. He could see a stray black cat hair in the threads of her thick plaid sweater. The sensation of his adrenaline rush and the keener eyesight faded a moment later but still the pounding in his ears remained, quick and vibrant, staying at threefold its original speed.

His stomach twisted momentarily and he cleared his throat awkwardly. His mother and grandfather blinked at the noise. The elderly Motou tilted his head minutely as his grandson's cheeks took on the faintest hint of a blush. He had not wanted their attention like that. He scratched his wrist to get rid of the sensation of nerves he felt coming through him.

"I…I need to go call the others," he mumbled softly, spinning on his heel and racing for his bedroom as if something had bitten him. He could still feel his mother and grandfather's eyes on him before he shut the door behind him. He scrambled for the nightstand again, springing on the bed to grab it. He missed it when the mattress bounced him and had to grab it the second time he lunged for it. He nearly pulled the charger out of the wall but just barely managed to stop himself in time, breathing out in relief at having kept from damaging the delicate wire.

He unplugged it and dialed the second number on his speed dial, chewing his lip until it bled. The phone rang for a moment and Yugi nearly sobbed with relief when it was finally answered after what seemed like an eternity.

"Yugi?"

"Anzu." He breathed out a relieved sigh and reached up to run his hand through his hair. An awkward laugh left him after a moment and he swallowed thickly. "Oh thank the gods. Fuck. Did you hear about what happened?"

"Yeah," Anzu said softly, voice somewhat choked as if she had been crying moments before. He couldn't say he was all that surprised, however. The brunette had always been sweet and sympathetic. He remembered her bawling when her parents had accidentally hit a rabbit at the same intersection that the wolf-dog had been. It had taken hours to calm her down and they had had to have a burial service in her backyard. "I actually called earlier to make sure you were okay but your mom answered. She said you were still asleep…?"

"Um, yeah…I actually just woke up a few minutes ago," he admitted, cheeks heating faintly.

"Well, that's good—I mean that you're…actually catching up on your sleep. You're normally so…restless and exhausted."

Yugi scrunched his eyes up. This was so awkward. Why couldn't he ever just speak to her normally anymore? He always got so nervous and he knew just how much it showed. It was like a beacon or a neon sign hanging over his head to expose his crush on her. But…she often sounded just as awkward and fumbled with her words as he did. He wouldn't exactly claim that as proof that she liked him back, but it was somehow just as comforting.

"Yeah."

A moment of silence passed between them and Yugi bit his lip hard again.

"Have you talked to Jonouchi and Honda yet?"

"Uh, no, not yet—I…called you first."

"Oh. Well, thanks for thinking of me first," she mumbled and he could just imagine how red her cheeks must have been at the moment. The thought made him grin widely, proud and amazed. He loved it when he made her blush because her rosy cheeks made her bright blue eyes sparkle and her skin glow captivatingly. Her entire face lit up and easily made her the single most beautiful girl in the room. "I called them earlier but they were already talking to each other so I just figured that I would let them talk and then I would check on you again and see if you were awake yet."

"Oh, okay. I see." He nodded and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. What else was there to actually talk about? He didn't want to make her cry again by saying anything about the death so was he just supposed to thank her for her concern and tell her he would call her back later? How was he supposed to make small talk and light conversation with her when all he could think about was how awkward the whole conversation was and the dead body?

He almost wished his cell was a landline with one of those long coiled wires so that he could curl them around his fingers to work off some of his nerves. He thought that might have been one of the best stress and nerve relievers out there when it came down to it. He thought maybe it would have helped him think about something to talk about or give him the courage to ask her out. Maybe that coiled wire around his finger would have lent him distraction and let the words slip out more freely.

He waited for some topic of discussion to pop into mind, thinking only momentarily about autumn and winter. Holidays slipped into his mind—Halloween which he always spent with his friends, Thanksgiving which he only celebrated with Mr. Hawkins and Rebecca in the states, Christmas which they celebrated but not out of religion. But mostly he dwelled on New Year's, because that was always when he tried to work up the nerve to kiss Anzu. He thought that maybe he could use them for conversation but the words died in his throat before they even began to form. September was nearly over and none of them had plans, as he already knew. October would pass as it always did, but this time without celebration on the last day. November would faithfully follow suit, and then Christmas would come around and they would all exchange gifts. On New Year's Jonouchi and Honda would try to give him room to kiss Anzu and then ask her out. He already knew of all those plans; it was what happened between the holidays that mattered.

And, because he had no idea what would happen in those days between, he had no topic of conversation.

He turned away from the idea and chewed his nail. How long had both been silently listening to the other's breathing?

"Hey, Yugi, are you still there…?"

He covered his face with his hand. "Yeah, Anzu, I'm still here."

"Oh, okay, good, but I kind of have to go. My mom wants me to do my chores."

His cheeks heated furiously as he blurted out, "O-oh, okay, Anzu. I, uh, I'll call you later" and ended the call before he could stop to think straight. He stared at his phone stupidly, the length of time spent talking flashing at him as he swallowed hard. By the gods, he had just hung up on Anzu.

The thought made his stomach twist with despair. At this rate, even if he did ask Anzu out she was going to turn him down immediately. With how stupid he had just acted, he would agree wholeheartedly. What kind of idiot hung up on the girl they liked like that? Yugi fought the impulse to cover his face and whine pathetically, beyond mortified by his own reaction.

He didn't think he had ever been this embarrassed and ashamed of himself before.

He almost wanted to vomit in distress. This had to be one of the worse mistakes he had ever made in his sixteen-year-long life. It ranked right up there with the tomcat that he had lost due to the hallucination he had been witnessing and the loss of the wolf-dog that might have about by the same means.

Yugi shook his head in jerk sideways movements and then narrowed his eyes and pulled his phone back to his face, blinking stupidly as he sorted through his contacts to dial Jonouchi's number. He swallowed hard, mouth growing dry and pasty once more, and then let out a soft sigh of relief as the blond happily greeted him with a boisterous, "Hey, Yug, did you hear what happened yet?"

He raised a brow. "Hey, Jonouchi. Yeah, I did—and you sound oddly happy about it."

"Eh, no one's happy about it," Honda's voice chimed in, making him blink in surprise. Right; Anzu had said that they were on the phone together when she'd called to check on them. He remembered now. "But we have been trying to figure out who it was through process of elimination."

"How utterly morbid," he snickered, smirking. "I wonder why I never guessed you would be doing that. I shouldn't even be surprised."

"Aw, come on, Yugi, what else were we supposed to do? School is closed for a week because someone died and you really didn't expect us to come up with ideas? No way, man. That's just not possible for us interesting people."

"Well, thanks for calling me boring, Jonouchi."

"Oh, please, I didn't call you boring."

"Uh, yeah, you kind of did," Honda snorted.

"Okay, well, I didn't come outright and say it. You two did. So you two think that Yugi's boring," Jonouchi announced with a triumphant tone to his voice. "I'm just agreeing fully with the statement."

"You are truly the best friend a guy could ever have," Yugi drawled sardonically. He rolled his eyes and wondered briefly if his mom and grandpa were talking and what about if they were. His mom didn't think that the wolf-dog had killed that person, did she? The small teen chewed his lip and swallowed hard at the idea. One wolf-dog—and with such a gentle temperament from what he had observed—could not have done something so disgusting, right? It didn't have such a destructive nature, especially since it was not a pure-bred dog—over-bred canines tended to slowly but surely lose their minds over a time-span of about three to five years but mutts had never had that issue. Wolves never had that issue, either, unless they had been infected with rabies. Maybe if the wolf-dog had contracted rabies and the disease set in like it would for the wild canine rather than the domesticated, it could have done something so terrible. He still highly doubted it, however, as he had the rabies epidemic in the first place. How was it possible for only those canines to be infected and no other animal?

"I know. I'm the perfect best friend."

He rolled his eyes again. "Your support is astounding," he mocked, once again wondering about the body. Was it possible for a person to do that? Human cruelty was not something he had ever underestimated. As far as he was concerned, there were honestly no lengths that a person would avoid if they could kill a person in the first place. But it was clear from the photos that the body had been half-eaten rather than simply mauled. And the lack of maggots in the shots said something rather extreme and strange in itself, as if there were something unnatural about it all. The placement was rather odd as well but he was beginning to think that it was possible the killer would have wanted the body shown off to scare everyone at the school.

But the chest cavity had been emptied out and the organs mostly eaten. He knew that organs and bone marrow were the first things all predatory animals went for. They were the most nutritious parts a carcass had to offer, so the evidence did suggest more animalistic qualities. But if it were canine the kill seemed almost too efficient and he had to wonder why it was that no one had heard the screams.

He shuddered, skin crawling violently, and shook his head jerkily. He didn't really need to be thinking about this. That was what the police were for. They could figure it out on their own and then everyone would know who the victim was and the species of the killer.

"Dude, no way is it one of them!" Honda said, drawing him back to attention and making him blink in surprise. "Those guys are huge! I don't think another person could take on one of them and live through it."

"Well, if they were bigger than them—"

"Are we…talking about the same Disciplinary Committee?"

Yugi cringed at the name, shoulders stiffening somewhat as he swallowed. The Disciplinary Committee was still a relatively new concept at their school. The members were all senior students about to move on to college and had formed the committee when they were freshmen. Yugi knew of them not through personal use of their services or interactions with any of the members—outside of them picking on him mildly in gym—but rather rumors and looks. All of them were identifiable by the identical armbands they wore on their upper left biceps and the muscle mass they all seemed to have. A lot of people thought they were all on steroids because they had the typical bodybuilder shape, like an upside down triangle of pure muscle.

He knew of tons of rumors about the committee. They circulated constantly among the other students at school. Most were about steroids and others more serious drugs like amphetamines and cocaine. Some people said that the reason they were so closely knit was because they had made a blood oath to be members—a rumor that was by far one of the most ridiculous he knew of. There was another that the leader—Ushio Tetsu, one of the guys who loved the most to pick on Yugi—had at first simply made the group with his friends but had eventually begun to drug their meals when they weren't looking and made them dependent upon it. Yugi had always found that idea to be somewhat amusing because, while Ushio was pushy and mean on a good day, he was hardly the type to drug someone. He would go with the direct route of intimidation because he was well aware of the effect he had on people. He was cocky and arrogant and he was not afraid to push his will on anyone he saw fit to.

It was probably why he loved to pick on Yugi so much, because he was always so quiet and tried to make himself as small as possible in order to avoid drawing unnecessary or unwanted attention to himself. Ushio liked to steal his uniform from his locker and throw it back and forth with the other three committee members in their class. Yugi wasn't one to truly argue, just to ask for it back and wait until they got bored with his inaction and finally handed it over. He was probably like the mouse to Ushio's cat and so the committee leader liked to force him into play, viewing him as a piece of prey he took delight in messing with.

"Well, yeah, but there are totally people who could kick their asses," Jonouchi said loudly in his ear.

"Oh, yeah, like who?" Honda scoffed.

"…Well…Jackie Chan," the blond mumbled uncomfortably, nearly smothering the name.

"Huh? Jackie Chan?" Yugi and Honda both crowed in unison.

"Don't you care bring my movie hero into this, Katsuya. I'll kick your ass, man."

"Yeah, you can't just bring a legend into this. He's too awesome to want to murder a teenager anyways."

"Wait, has he ever even been to Japan?"

"Ah, so you're finally asking the really questions, huh, Yugi?"

"It's a legitimate question! I want to know."

"Guys!" Jonouchi complained, his voice frustrated from having been bulldozed from the conversation. "It doesn't matter. I was just saying that he could kill them if he wanted to. Not that he would, but he definitely could."

"Well, yeah! He does his own stunts and he's somehow not dead. So, yeah, he definitely could if he needed to."

"Wait a second there, Yugi. Did you threaten to kick my ass before?"

"Err…um…n-no?" he stammered, cheeks flushed.

"And say 'man'?"

"No, I never said…shut up."

Both of the other teens burst into laughter, making his cheeks heat further and his ears begin to take on the same deep hue. Today was just turning out strange and awkward and just plain annoying. The embarrassment of it all was enough to make him want to bury his face in his pillow and groan unhappily. It made him want to vomit with nerves but he held off, instead listening more closely as their laughter began to die away.

"We should make a list of people," Honda said excitedly, his voice making Jonouchi snicker softly. "Then we can mark them off as the victim."

"That's…disgusting," Yugi muttered, rolling his eyes. "Why the hell would we do that? And how are we actually going to cross of the names in the first place? Are we going to visit everyone at their houses and do a head count?"

"Head count," Jonouchi laughed, his voice making Honda crack up in response. "I can't believe you just said that!"

"Wait, what are you even—?" He smacked his palm against his face, groaning softly. He hadn't meant to make such an awful pun. "That's not funny, guys! Stop laughing at that. It's not even slightly funny!"

"Oh, come on, Yugi. It was a little funny! You didn't even think it through and then that pun came out!"

His face burned and he shook his head with a sigh. "Seriously, guys."

"What? You're the one that said it!" the blond laughed loudly. "And it's even better because you didn't even mean it!"

"That has to be one of the best things that has ever come out of your mouth!" the brunet chimed in. "Only you, Yugi, only you."

"It's not funny!" he protested again, a whine creeping into his undertone. The other two continued cracking up, almost appearing to ignore him, and he huffed, bringing a thumbnail to chew on and swallowing hard with a shake of his head. If he hadn't known them so well that he could tell they were trying to deflect some of their initial fear of the entire situation, he would have thought them completely callous. But he knew how often they had to joke around when it came to things like this.

Jonouchi had always been something of a superstitious person and always distinctly fearful of things like murders and the gruesome details that came with them. He had an iron stomach when it came overeating but could not even stand to see real blood and gore in horror movies never failed to make him pale and break into a cold sweat.

Honda's fear in situations was based more on the need to know that all of his friends and family were safe and well. He had always tried to be the one that could keep them all calm and levelheaded fin bad situations, the one that kept them out of trouble and from getting hurt in some way. He was, in no uncertain terms, the leader of their group. He was a natural-born authority figure, with a drive that would put almost everyone to shame. He was highly protective of them all and keen on keeping them all safe. So a murder on the school campus would have set him on edge.

"It's hilarious, Yugi," Honda continued laughing, making him huff again. "But, anyways, I still say we try to figure out who it is. We can all get together at the arcade and make a list of possible victims by naming who comes to school early a lot of the time and the reading club that always goes there early and the sports clubs. There's also the staff to think about—janitors, principal and assistant, librarians, and the security guards."

"Wait, how the hell do you even know all of that?" Jonouchi asked in a voice that was slightly high-pitched with disbelief. "I mean, you're a nerd but even this is a bit of a stretch to know about, don't you think?"

"Oh, you're so funny, Jonouchi. So terribly funny. To answer your stupid question, I help out in the office during my final class, remember? I get to see when they clock in whenever I do the paperwork. They're really strict about making sure each of the teachers get in on time. They all come in at almost the exact same time every day—"

"Nerd!"

"Oh, shut the hell up. At least I actually know how to use my brain. I bet you actually would have gone around doing a head count."

"No, I…" He trailed off, grumbling under his breath and making Yugi roll his eyes with a smirk. Jonouchi really did suck at planning things. He knew without having thinking about it that he really would do that if no one pointed out the faults in the idea. "Whatever. You're still a nerd, Honda."

"Well, at least I'm not completely brainless."

"Guys, come on, no arguing." He paused, biting his lip briefly and swallowing hard as they fell silent, waiting for him to continue. Yugi pursed his lips momentarily, listening to his mom and grandpa moving around in the kitchen beyond his closed door. "I actually am kind of curious about it all, though. We could really meet up at the arcade and make that list. It would be kind of fun, actually…in a morbid kind of way."

"We don't have to invite Anzu, too…do we?" Jonouchi voiced hesitantly after a moment of silence.

His cheeks burned with indignation on the brunette's behalf. "Why wouldn't we?" he demanded, heat creeping into his tone.

"She's just going to lecture us about it with that holier-than-thou attitude she always gets when she doesn't agree with something we're doing."

"Jo, stop whining. Yugi, don't even bother arguing with him about this. It doesn't matter."

The small teen ducked his head in momentary embarrassment and chewed his cheek. Both of them knew exactly how fierce he got at times when Anzu was brought up in a conversation in any way that was unflattering. But they all also knew how sometimes Anzu and Jonouchi just wound up butting heads violently at times. Anzu was always put off by the blond's more blunt words and crass humor and Jonouchi always felt that Anzu was silently judging him and marking him as inadequate and not worth her time.

Honda was always the one to diffuse any growing situations when they began to arise while Yugi watched almost mindlessly, wishing he could stop them but not wanting to be drawn into the argument. He wasn't made for confrontation and it really showed in moments like this.

"Well, it's true!" the blond snapped indignantly. "That's all she ever does and you both know it! She just lectures us because she doesn't agree with what we're doing."

"I said shut up."

Yugi cringed at the cold tone, biting his lip until it bled again. He realized immediately that Honda was going to give Jonouchi an earful if he didn't stay quiet now. He would snap at him to keep his opinions to himself just because they both knew about his crush on her. He knew for a fact that not only would he make the blond feel miserable for doing so, but then he would let him say it as much as he wanted when they were alone. It was only Yugi hearing it that made them argue now.

"Fine, whatever." The blond sighed irritably into the phone and the small teen bit his lip harder, cringing at the harsh metallic taste that flooded his tongue immediately with the action. "Are we going to the arcade or not?"

"I don't see why not. I'm curious about who we can come up with. What about you, Yugi?"

"Yeah, sure. I want to see, too. It's interesting to think about what we might come up with…"

"Ignore Jonouchi. If you want to ask Anzu to come, then do it."

"I don't think she would want to anyways. It's…kind of morbid and she's usually against that kind of thing. She gets enough of it at home," he mumbled, getting to his feet again and listening to the other two Motou's as they continued moving around. He could hear their voices but not what they were saying, and he had to presume it was about him, because they rarely fought about anything else. It was mostly about his medication, however, so it thankfully didn't always seem to be about him so outright. "I'll meet you guys at the arcade in a few minutes."

"Sure, Yug, see you then."

"Bye."

"Yep, bye guys." He hung up, listening a little closer, and then licked his lips as he wondered if maybe he should ask Anzu if she wanted to come anyways. He didn't really see a reason why not to except that she had chores she was doing. Her parents would probably still let her go with them, though; especially if it was her dad that she asked. He had a soft spot for her and his job as a detective often made him more sentimental about letting her do things that she wanted.

But then, he already knew that she would be absolutely disgusted with the reason behind their get together. She wouldn't want to even know about it. Besides, how was he supposed to call her again after what had happened earlier? He'd hung up on her and he doubted asking her about helping list off names of potential victims was the right way to make it up to her. His cheeks heated and he bit his lip. What was the right way to apologize for that?

Was there even a way to do that? Or were they just supposed to pretend it had never happened in the first place? But what if they started dating and she decided to pull that up during an argument?

He blinked wide eyes, cheeks beginning to burn again. He had to be over-thinking this, right? Or did girls really have memory like elephants? Did they remember everything they said and did and everything said and done to them? He shook his head sharply to turn away from the train of thought he already knew was coming.

He already knew he was thinking far too hard about this. The memory thing had to just be a rumor of some kind—although, then again, it always seemed that way with his mom. She always seemed to retain any bit of knowledge that she was given. Yugi thought that she must have been the personification of that idea.

He really just hoped that Anzu wasn't like that. He hoped she had slightly faulty memory so that she never brought it up again.

Yugi hurried out of the room before he could stupidly make himself panic and obsess over the entire situation all over again. He didn't glance towards the kitchen aside from making his way into the living room to put his shoes on and head for the hallway again. Both of his guardians looked up in surprise and confusion, eyes widening as he stopped short where he was standing and turned to them in response.

"What?" he asked, tilting his head and casting a quick glance down at his sneakers to make sure that the laces were tied. He blinked and raised his eyes to their faces again in absolute confusion. They were tied, even double-knotted. He nearly sighed in relief. He had originally assumed their stares of surprise had to do with the fact that they were untied and he might trip over them at any time. If he did, he'd awkwardly pop back up and tell them that he was okay, then quickly tie them and feel stupid. But he'd never tripped over them. He'd run to school with them completely untied and not noticed until it was pointed out to him.

"Where are you going…?" his mom inquired slowly, blue eyes narrowing slightly.

He blinked. "Oh! Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you. I was going to meet up with Jonouchi and Honda at the arcade."

The look that came over her face as soon as he spoke made his eyes widen drastically. He could see nothing but frank disapproval that clearly said she did not agree. "When did you decide this?" was said in such a cold tone that he barely suppressed a shiver. It was somewhat disheartening to know that what she truly meant was "Why didn't you think to tell me or ask before you decided this?"

He swallowed hard. "Um…a minute ago, actually. We just wanted to get together and talk a little at the arcade down the street."

His grandpa was watching them both with a somewhat startled expression, plum-colored eyes wide as his attention shot back and forth between them. Yugi could tell immediately that he was not about to play the peacekeeper between them, clearly uncertain himself with what he wanted to say or whose side to take.

"I don't think that you should go," she said with a firm shake of her head. "I don't want you leaving the house."

"What?" He blinked wide eyes and shook his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Yugi, someone at your school was murdered earlier today," his mom murmured with a sharp shake of her head. "I don't want you leaving the house today, Yugi."

The teen started to object but fell silent again. She was worried about him and no matter how he tried to argue, she wasn't about to back down. It would not make any difference to her at all that there were two others that would be with him. She was always protective of him and had never been open to willingly let him wander into any dangerous situation if she could prevent it.

Yugi wasn't one who was drawn to anything dangerous at any rate but sometimes even his instincts weren't great enough to allow him to avoid it all. And, if it was a rabid canine or an extremely aggressive bear, then numbers would not even matter. If it was the hybrid, it was most likely that it was more like the wolf than the dog considering its immense power and size, and that meant that the symptoms that domesticated dogs went through.

There would be no staggering and instead it would go straight for the throat of any potential threat—or anything that moved. The canine's natural strength would prove itself lethal to anyone without a weapon. Even with a weapon, he doubted them able to defend themselves from the hybrid.

So he nodded at her instead, not wanting to argue. It was always refreshing when his mom showed such concern for his physical well-being; usually all any of them had to worry about was his medication and his grades. She had always trusted him enough to keep himself safe and out of trouble. Seeing such a rare display made him feel good at that moment.

---

Yugi picked at his nail with his teeth, ignoring the harsh sting that came when a hangnail was torn, and blood coated his tongue. His finger tingled with the ache he had given himself and when he breathed against it, the hot exhale made the sore pulse painfully. He pulled his finger away, looking it over, and watched as blood began to pool in his wound. It spread out to coat his nail and along the bottom of the bed, the cuticle highlighted in the deep shade. He watched it, slightly mesmerized by the sight of it, and then quickly stuck it back in his mouth to wash away the blood. The taste was sharp and nearly disgusting, somehow a lot stronger than he would have assumed. He could still smell it thickly in the air, sharp and metallic and disturbingly sweet.

The dulling sting of the torn flesh was a welcome sensation in that moment, however. It had to be one of the only things that had felt real in the last five days he had been stuck inside of the house. His mother had prevented him leaving each time he had even thought to mention it. There were continuous pleas and reminders of the murder—which truly he needed no mention of anymore. The police had interviewed each of them and checked the animals in both of their clinics for any signs of aggression or illness such as rabies. They had made it clear that they were to report any wild animals—they were really strays but the officer had referred to them as "wild pests"—that were admitted to the clinics.

Yugi was simply glad that the hybrid had not been sighted anywhere or wounded and brought back to the clinic. He was sure that if the canine came back at a time like this it would screw them all over. His mother would likely be put under constant surveillance due to withholding the fact that she had come across an animal that could potentially be the one that had killed the student. The fact that she had the blood work and DNA results and it was a hybrid would also be used against her.

They still had yet to identify them by any means. They claimed that it was a female and that was the furthest they had gotten. This lack of information gathered was why the police were cracking down in Domino and checking each animal as they were. A couple of animals had been caught in the mountains to check the health of—blood samples were taken for testing, skin was scraped, fur was plucked—the predators that lived there. Feral dogs had been caught but released again as had the bears that were tested.

The blue-violet-eyed teen continued sucking on his finger, momentarily enjoying the heightened taste his blood gave him. The tingling was almost completely gone, soothed away, and Yugi was disappointed by the realization. He hated the fact that it was leaving him, seeing as it had to have been the only thing that was even slightly new in the last few days. Being in the house and unable to leave or even step outside to breathe fresh air because of the police's constant annoying presence, he thought he might have been going insane. The air had grown stuffy and oppressive and it weighed down on his skin like a heavy blanket. His thoughts circulated back almost constantly towards the wolf-dog, the murder—he was honestly beginning to hope that it was some horribly demented person rather than an animal—and who the victim could possibly be.

Jonouchi and Honda had called him after he had texted to tell them he wouldn't be able to meet with them. He had expected them to be extremely unhappy with him but had been pleasantly surprised when he found that they were fine with it. He supposed that it was a testament of how well they knew his mother considering how easily they had taken the decision. They knew as well as he did that if she put her foot down there would be no negotiating.

She had never been one to have her mind changed when she had it set. She was like a pit bull in that way, with tenacity that was unmatched, and all of his friends knew better than to question her. So they didn't attempt to call her and try to make her agree as they would have Honda's and instead had contacted him to tell him who they thought it was.

Well, actually, it was more of who they hoped it was out of the school's three major pests—Insector Haga, Dinosaur Ryuzaki, and Kokurano.

Haga was an extremely annoying bug fanatic who constantly brought insects up whenever he got the chance. He often cut into class time during biochemistry to talk about them. Whenever a school event came up, he would point out any bugs around them. Haga was honestly the bane of a lot of students' existence. Even the very sight of him made most people cringe and grit their teeth.

He wore massive circular glasses that made his eyes look three times as large as they should have been, with a black horned beetle serving as its bridge. His hair was a bright turquoise cut in a bowl fashion, and when he was not in school and in uniform, he dressed in a way that honestly reminded Yugi of that animated child explorer he saw on a baby show. He wore shorts that were too small and a tuxedo shirt with a large red bowtie beneath a bright, disgusting yellow-green collared jacket that made his head look massive.

Ryuzaki was Haga's best friend. He, like Haga, apparently had no idea when to draw the line with conversations about dinosaurs. He blabbered on and on about them continuously even if they had nothing to do with the conversation. During biochemistry, he actually asked if there was a way to make Jurassic Park a real thing and held the entire class an hour longer than necessary just to argue with the teacher about the possibility. Yugi could—much to his own disdain—remember almost each word he had used to make his argument. Ryuzaki was just as disgustingly annoying as Haga but he at least made the conversation somewhat exciting by arguing about Jurassic Park almost without pausing to take a breath while the bug fanatic drawled about little-known facts.

And while Haga dressed almost like the little brat in those baby shows, Ryuzaki at least dressed in a way that was a little bit like what was considered usual for a teenager. Usually Yugi could find him in his signature out-of-school outfit of a dark forest green button-up shirt with a tan vest and brown khakis. Yugi had seen his hair dyed several times, with streaks of red in black shoulder length hair to its natural silver streaks set against dark reddish-brown that bordered on black. He honestly liked Ryuzaki for the most part, because sometimes his conversational skills were actually worth the interest that was put into listening.

Kokurano was the school's self-proclaimed psychic. He was always at school early giving fake fortunes that he knew were simply statements that should have been common sense. He had several group of girls that swooned and worshipped him. He wore a cloak that Yugi was sure held all of his false fortunes taped to it. He had two necklaces of massive plastic beads colored dark blue and royal purple and a bright fuschia star in the center of a faded periwinkle headband. His hair was on odd silver color that sometimes looked purple and fell in greasy clumps to rest at near shoulder length. He always had a black button-up sweater with shiny yellow brass beads and dark blue skinny jeans and no teacher had managed to actually enforce the dress code on him.

He was, to put simply, the one that Yugi would not have minded being the victim. He was nasty all the time as if he thought he were too great to mingle with them, he took money he did not deserve, and he often ogled Anzu when he thought no one saw. Yugi could have easily overlooked that if it were not for how he treated everyone and so blatantly stared at girls as if they were objects for purchase. Many people hated Kokurano for the same reason that some cared to even have him open his mouth.

Yugi honestly hoped that none of them had died. He would rather that no one had been killed in the first place, but what other way was there to truly deal with it? None of them wanted to consider that it could possibly be one of their friends, whether they were close or simply mutual. Joking about it was so much easier than considering the truth of the situation.

He looked his finger over again, wondering at the fact that it did not bleed again even when he pushed on it to produce more. He did not feel more than a brief sting at the sensations and pushed his lips in obvious disappointment. He wished that there was more to the little wound.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep that made him feel that way. Or maybe it was the way that the walls seemed too close together or the air too thick. Perhaps it was the lack of exercise because he was so used to having room to move around, whether at school or home. He had no idea what it was that set him off more but he knew it had to be one of these.

It had to be because he knew of nothing else that would result in the constant almost paranoid uneasiness. Even when his terrors were at his worst, he had never gone and suffered through such a strange sensation or felt his muscles lock beneath his skin and refuse to relax completely. There was always that strain like he had pulled a tendon and his bones ached steadily when he moved a certain way.

He always had to battle the urge to glance over his shoulder when he was alone. The hairs on the nape of his neck were seemingly locked in an eternal bristle that made his skin tingle and tighten almost to the point of pain.

He looked his nails over again, curious about the state of them where he had chewed them each to the nubs. He could still taste blood on his tongue and the lingering scent of it in the air was hardly there but still somehow strong enough to make his head swim briefly. His mouth watered faintly and his stomach churned momentarily as his eyes studied the jagged lines that had once been far better well-kept and almost admirably so. A tendon on the back of his hand twitched beneath his skin almost painfully before settling again and Yugi barely suppressed the urge to flinch at the sensation. It was the familiarity of it that made him react more than the actual brief prick of pain, the way that he had actually grown expectant of its arrival and often enjoyed it in passing.

The lack of movement made his head throb faintly with a stressful twitch of muscle in his temple and his right brow. It came almost in tense waves and always left him with the desire to run around.

He could already feel one coming now and jumped to his feet in an effort to rid himself of it rather than suffering through it. He listened briefly for his mom and grandpa moving around but heard nothing as he headed for the living room to slip his sneakers on. They must have been asleep or something, which made him immediately wonder what it was in the first place.

He hesitated in the staircase, listening again, and then threw the door open with a swift, silent twist of his wrist before heading quickly down the steps to the second door and relaxing noticeably. The animals in the crates—two Shiba Inus and one chihuahua—perked up as he shut the door and Yugi felt his lips tugging into a grin as some of the pressure that had formerly strained his muscles began to alleviate.

Despite the small bit of dim cold blue-white moonlight coming from the window, Yugi could see them clearly in their kennels. The chihuahua was trembling with exuberance as it spotted him, wagging its tail until the metal walls shook like a vibrating phone. The female Shiba Inu yipped once and the male beneath her yawned as he stretched in a leisurely fashion in his cage. He could see the small glint of the light where it hit their groggy, dilated pupils.

Yugi had yet to be around the three of them alone, having stayed far away from any of the animals ever since Sesame had nipped him. Seeing them now, how relaxed and excited they seemed, he almost thought they would begin growling and snarling angrily as he got closer. He waited expectantly for the atmosphere to change and the muscles along the blades of his shoulders tightened in anticipation of it all. A long minute passed before he finally flicked the light switch and waited for the bulb to slowly transition to its brightest. He watched them closely, waiting, but somehow the three small canines remained happy to see him. Each of them was wagging their tails and Yugi could see that the ginger male was trying to pull himself up on two broken forelegs.

He smiled at the sight, the way he simply refused to remain lying down and tried again to jump up and waddle towards him. Yugi moved to its cage door, turning the handles of the locks and pulling them out of place in order to hold a hand out for the Shiba Inu to sniff. He bit his tongue to keep from snickering at the sensation of warm air ghosting over his open palm, still extremely alert and cautious. The incident with Sesame the week before had not been an accident. And he was not looking forward to repeating the experience. But he was also well aware that this was perhaps the opportunity he had been looking for to see if the wolf-dog's scent had finally somehow faded from his clothes.

A rough pink tongue passed over his palm after a moment and Yugi reached inward to grasp his sides and pull him out. He was about eight months old and heavily malnourished after weeks of being on the street. He'd been horrified when his mom had first mentioned it to him and he'd almost impulsively gone downstairs to see. But it was that same day Mr. Hawkins had visited and it had been distressing to think of being bitten a second time.

But who in their right minds could have abused and abandoned such a sweet, beautiful puppy like this? The idea that someone could do that—to any animal—had always made him sick.

He pulled him into his lap, running his hands over both tiny triangular ears, and made a soft kissing noise. The canine squirmed and attempted to run its tongue over his chin and jaw, shaking with excitement. It was something of a funny image, because Shiba Inus had such dignified temperaments, with proud and no-nonsense attitudes, and really only the puppies had such softness to boast.

Usually by a year old they had grown to bear the signature keenness of their popular breed. It was why no breeder could claim that the canines were good for small children to grow up with. To pull on their tail was to get their teeth in retaliation. Yugi personally considered them to be more of a show breed rather than having much of a working purpose. They were best for older companionship than anything else as far as he knew, seeing as they were much more popular with elderly citizens of Japan such as Mr. Hawkins.

"Who's a good boy?" he cooed, making another kissing noise and getting to his feet with the puppy in his arms. He positioned him more comfortably, cradling his bottom and holding him closely to his chest with the forelimbs folded slightly to the side. They were all probably pretty hungry and he could guess that the pup's food was either canned or chicken that had been boiled and pulled from the bones.

He did know for sure, however, that he was eating solids now and taking oral medication instead of having to use an IV solution any longer. And that he was gaining weight a lot faster, which thankfully meant that he was healthy and did not have any deficiencies such as parvo or pancreatitis.

Yugi carried him along to the examination room, checking the time and then the charts for the three of them in the plastic sleeve that rested on the back of the door just beneath the window. His mom always put them there because of the lack of animals in the emergency clinic. He and his grandpa always found their files there before they even entertained the thought of helping.

The puppy was getting his casts off in only a handful of weeks.

Yugi wrinkled his nose as the little pink tongue passed over it again. "It's a good thing I came down here, huh? All three of you need to be fed in a few minutes, don't you?" he teased warmly, making another kissing noise and heading for the storage room for three cans of dog food and some shredded boiled chicken. The female had a small dusting of protein powder that was better absorbed in wet food and the chihuahua was recovering from a dental procedure. His medication was to be put in his water bowl which the wet food helped ensure he drank.

"Was Mommy going to feed you, hmm? Or Grandpa? Who do you like better?"

He snorted to himself in amusement, smiling happily as the puppy squirmed and tried to eagerly lick his face, tail wagging furiously and making his entire hindquarters quake and tremble in his arms. He had always kind of wondered what a puppy thought about, especially as it grew older and learned along the way. He knew that animals didn't think quite like humans—if they could, he was sure that mankind would be long extinct—but he was always curious to wonder how their thoughts changed.

Wild animals would always be tons smarter than their domesticated counterparts, but those canines and felines were still smart in their own rights. They could open their own cages and steal food, hunted and fought if it was needed, and almost every mistake they made outside of adolescence was nearly never repeated. They learned faster than people who had a knack for repetition of mistakes in order to figure it all out.

Was that only instinctual as it was always speculated or was it possible that they actually had some kind of more complex thought process that was equally balanced and ruled by ancestral and genetic laws? Was it possible that humans, in the process of civilizing the species, had lost that ability?

Yugi would not have been surprised. Most people refused to admit that they were animals in the first place.

"I'm going to feed you first," he announced, chuckling as the puppy licked his face more eagerly, "because you're an adorable little handicap."

He would have fed him first simply because he was the youngest and the other two were well away from his senior years, but it also helped that he was so cute.

"This wounded baby gets to be spoiled some, with expensive wet food and chicken. Damn, little boy, you eat better than me." He hummed as he carried him back to the kennel; the puppy would be able to walk when he set him down again. He could walk around stiffly, limping softly because of the casts, now that he was more fully awake. "Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled."

He placed the pup down, still holding the three large cans and small container of chicken. The Shiba Inu made a dull thudding sound as it moved with its casts and a loud clicking as its back nails hit the tile. He couldn't hear the gentle panting as it tried to chase him, but he knew regardless that was what was happening. Despite the weight of the casts, the puppy was probably under his feet already as he grabbed the bowls from the cabinet that made up the bottom of the reception desk. They kept only the clean ones in the front for him to easily access in order to feed them before he went to school. There was a drawer above a small empty cubby that held some forks, spoons, and a handful of can openers for easy access. There was a small bin next to the desk for him to drop the bowls and silverware that his mom would take to clean almost immediately after he started for school.

For fuck's sake, did hyperosmia grow stranger if you were paranoid or inactive or something?

He narrowed his eyes, shaking his head minutely, and marked it as another reason to hate the stupid condition. At this rate he didn't even care if that thought was realistic, just that his nose was burning and he hated it. He would blame anything right about now—paranoia, inactivity, the dog food, the air, the lights, weariness, the dogs themselves; anything at all if it only presented itself.

He listened to it plop into the metal dish forkful after forkful, and flattened it out somewhat with the utensil, opening the small plastic container to drop some of the shredded chicken on top of it. He mixed it, ignoring the sound of his grandpa closing the door behind him, and set it down on the floor next to the malnourished pup.

"I wasn't expecting you to be awake…"

"I couldn't sleep." He sidestepped the small canine and allowed it more room to maneuver and dig in fully. "Were you going to feed them tonight then?"

"That was the plan…"

Yugi dropped the other two cans of food into the metal bowls and pulled out three more dishes to fill with water from the tank resting against the wall, nestled between the desk and kennels. "You could still help me feed and water them," he mumbled, glancing up at him and holding out one of the bowls for him. His grandpa was momentarily still but then moved forward quickly to take it from him.

Yugi wondered curiously at the hesitation but did not question it, instead letting him place the bowls for the other two canines while he mixed the oral medication for the female and checked on the small puppy still happily munching on his food. He was just happy that his mom had left all of the needed material and medication for him to take care of them. He knew it was mostly routine that had made her do this but it was comforting nonetheless.

"You smell like basil," Yugi commented after a moment, narrowing his eyes into slits for a split second before looking at the puppy again. The canine was licking his bowl clean and running his tongue over his lips happily. He put the water down next to the bowl, smiling as he wagged his tail and nearly threw his face straight into the dish.

"Do I?" He glanced up as the elderly Motou sniffed his fingers curiously. "Huh."

"And vanilla." Yugi paused and leaned against the desk for a moment, watching him closely and sniffing deeply once. "There's also cinnamon…and chocolate. And I believe there might be something like lemon and possibly peanut butter…"

"I made lemon tea and had a sandwich before I came down here…"

"So the vanilla, basil, chocolate and cinnamon are…what, hidden around for me to find again?"

His grandpa's moustache twitched with amusement as his lips pulled back into a small grin, eyes twinkling briefly. "You seem to need the distraction, though I was going to save it for tomorrow morning or whenever you woke up," he explained.

He tilted his head. He could definitely use some kind of distraction. He was too wired and his mind too tightly packed with his obsessive thoughts. He was too lost in the way his mind refused to slow and his thoughts shaken. He had no more nails left to bite. There was nothing else he could do to push away some of the tension and the unease in his muscles. But Yugi had to be frustrated with the comment as well, especially since his grandfather had feigned surprise upon seeing him awake. He knew he was restless and unhappy. So he would never have been surprised to see that he was downstairs with the dogs. So why had he even bothered pretending?

"Are the vanilla and chocolate extracts or chips?" he finally mumbled.

"Extracts."

The scent was far stronger and more concentrated to the point that it was overpowering and nearly confusing to try to pinpoint. It was, more or less, like trying to find a spot where a dog or cat had peed. And he had the feeling that he had placed the two extracts close by so that their smells overlapped completely in an effort to confused him more fully.

"Cinnamon sticks or ground?"

"Stick—and the basil is a small leaf."

He tilted his head. "Just one?"

"Just one."

Interesting. He was using one stick of cinnamon and leaf of basil. It was a bit different and definitely made it a tiny bit more strenuous a task when he went hunting for herbs like this. But the challenge was welcomed wholeheartedly.

"All right," he murmured, grabbing the medicated water dish to place in front of the female, smiling as she bounded forward to lick his hand first before happily lapping up as much liquid as she could. "Anything else to search for? No lavender or rosemary or anything like that?"

"Not at all. There are the extracts, the cinnamon stick and the basil leaf," he announced, nodding in approval towards his grandson's thoughtful expression. Yugi was questioning the truth of the statement, not at all taking his words at more than face value. He was intuitive and seemed to know without much thought whenever someone said something that was not entirely true. He had always appreciated that about his grandson.

He was not naïve but he was always willing to give the benefit of the doubt whenever he was given the opportunity. He usually had a great insight into things but other times he tended to ignore it in order to find something worth liking in a person or some kind of truth in a lie. He was too nice in that way, and Yugi was well aware of his own faults but he seemed to be unable to balance them when he needed to.

Yugi was sniffing. It was unconscious and nearly unnoticeable, but he could see it. He was breathing in deeply, slowly, almost as if he were asleep. His eyes had become partially hooded and darkened, analyzing the smell in the air without even truly meaning to. His head very slowly tipped to the side fractionally and then he straightened again abruptly. He knew that the teen was not even aware that he had done so, the action and analysis taking only a split second for him to determine what he wanted to know.

"You did something with the peppermint," he commented, plucking the puppy from the floor and glancing at the leashes on the wall. A walk before he did this test might be a good idea, bordering on great. He could really only smell the slight scent of basil beneath the sharper extracts and the heaviness of the gravy-coated turkey from the cans. And those smells, mixed so completely as to disgust anyone with the misfortune of breathing them in, were just too much to deal with if he did not get clean fresh air between inhales. He wrinkled his nose to shed some of the lingering burn it left in his nostrils.

"I might have," he teased, smiling as Yugi glanced at him before heading for the leashes. "Do you want help walking them?"

"If you could walk them that would be really helpful," he said distractedly. Where had his mom put the plastic sleeves to protect his casts? It was too late in fall for him to risk walking him without them. He wouldn't let the casts get wet with morning dew if he could prevent it. The fastest way to get his legs infected was to do that.

"His covers are in the cabinet above the bowls."

"Oh, okay."

He found it almost amusing to watch him as he cradled the small canine. He looked, for a moment, almost as if he were holding a newborn infant. He had the puppy against his chest, its small head against his ribs to listen to his heart and feel his pulse. His chin rested against its tiny cheeks, and its hindquarters were supported in a way that made it look almost as it might have had its mother been carrying it by the scruff.

When he crouched down to pull the drawer open, his knees were bent in such a way that the puppy rested against his thighs comfortably, cushioning it as he grabbed the sleeves. The entire time he moved, he sat crisscrossed and settled it between his legs to pull the sleeves over its short forelimbs, and he once again looked like a parent dog. He kept it nestled in his lap, refusing to let it pull away and wander from his sight, and was constantly giving it playful glares. He tugged the plastic over to tie the velcro straps at the top of the casts, adjusting them to settle perfectly and hold them each upright. He looked—to his grandpa, at least—as if he were a parent, child held between his arms to be bathed.

"Can you get me his leash and collar please, Grandpa?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at him briefly before turning back. "Do you want to go for a walk, little boy? You can pee on all the trees and bushes and be the king over here."

He was chuckling at Yugi's cooing when he returned with a red nylon collar and a black leash. His grandson glanced up only to wrinkle his nose at him before taking the two items from him with a soft thanks. The puppy flattened its ears against its skull and its brown eyes grew wider in unhappiness as Yugi pulled the collar closer to its neck. Its tail fell completely and for a moment it looked terrified, completely undone by the sight of it.

Yugi thought that was understandable. Dogs may have been beautifully loyal and willing to do anything for their owners, but strays—especially abused ones that might have come to know a leash or collar in a way that it was not intended to be used for—were always wary of them.

They were always scared and suspicious and the older the canine was, the higher the risk of getting bitten became. Most strays could not even be put in muzzles and attacks could be vicious and nearly deadly if the person handling them was not well-prepared to deal with it. People had the idea that dogs had no sense of memory but traumas such as living on the streets or being abused was not something that they forgot. Nor were the lessons they learned while they were growing older. Most people didn't take such things into consideration or even considered that their memory spanned longer than all of five minutes.

"Who's going to be the little king of Domino?" he cooed again, relieved when the puppy's ears perked momentarily. His tail stayed down, his eyes still extremely wide, and his ears flattened again immediately when the collar snapped to a close around his neck. The Shiba Inu whined softly in discomfort and Yugi thanked every deity he knew of that he didn't let out the signature high-pitched scream his breed was so well-known for. "You're going to pee on everything and all the other doggies are going to bow down to you."

"He's going to pee all over the floor and miss his chance if you don't hurry," his grandpa teased in amusement, smiling widely when Yugi wrinkled his nose at him and turned away again.

"Don't listen to him, little boy. Grandpa's just a jerk who likes to put little puppies like you down because he's jealous of your adorable face and youthful features," he said to the small dog, getting to his feet with the leash around his wrist and the canine balanced in his arms again. He still wasn't happy with the collar around his neck or the leash attached but Yugi at least hoped he would perk up while they were outside. Walking him with such a miserable expression would break his heart even looking at him.

"You really like inflating dogs' egos, huh, Yugi?"

"It's not my fault it's the truth." He turned the lock on the knob and pulled the door open to head outside. He nearly sighed in relief at the beautiful chill of autumn night air that immediately bathed his skin. His cheeks tingled and the cold bit at his fingers lightly as he headed into the grass and slowly allowed the pup to settle on its feet and find its balance. He already knew he wouldn't be able to walk him too far with the weight of the casts that he knew was tugging at his energy. A larger dog would have been able to move a long distance and the strip of trees at the end of the street where it leveled out into a mall parking lot. This puppy wouldn't make it a quarter of the way a dog like Blankey or the hybrid would have.

He swallowed hard at the thought of the wolf-dog. A trickle of self-doubt and wonder crept down his spine like the touch of ice sliding along his skin. Again he was forced to wonder if maybe he had let the canine loose, if he had somehow missed the inconsistencies that warned of a hallucination again. He had to wonder about that gray substance that had appeared on the cage's door in the shape of the hybrid.

The puppy tugged gently on the end of the leash and Yugi stepped along to keep up with the small canine. The sleeves made a soft crinkling sound as it moved along, the plastic brushing together nearly forcefully with its new balance. He wondered briefly if he would have to hold its sides when it used the bathroom or if he would need to help support its weight as it tried to pee. Then again he supposed it might do as a senior would and spread its back legs into a forward crouch so that no limb had to be lifted. Dogs were always innovative like that, adapting nearly endlessly as was the gift of its wild ancestor, the gray wolf.

Wolves were possibly the single most widespread predators in the world before humans came into the picture. They had lived and survived in practically every area of the world on land, an apex predator that was highly adaptable and thrived in places no human ever could. They were highly intelligent and adapted well to new environments with a safe introduction and the smartest dog in existence would only be as keen as a wolf pup. The fact that they came from such a successful ancestor was a testament of how great dogs truly were, how much potential they truly had despite their various shortcomings due to breeding.

The Shiba Inu did exactly as he had guessed, squatting to pee rather than attempting to compromise its balance. Yugi watched him straighten again, shaking himself out briefly before looking at him happily, mouth opening to pant while his ears pricked and his tail wagged briefly.

"You want to go back to bed, little boy?"

But didn't he need to exercise some more? He hadn't even done anything else. Didn't he need to do more? Yugi was used to them using the bathroom several times when he walked them before school because they were almost always given high fiber and protein diets to help them gain and manage weight. They had to monitor their weight whenever they were in the emergency clinic, because most of the accidents treated within it required specific diets and their metabolisms made or broke their recovery. Puppies were more concerning due to how young and small they were and how easily they could get indigestion. They could wind up vomiting or with extreme diarrhea.

Yugi pursed his lips when the dog continued looking up at him happily and then scooped him up again. "You, sweet boy, need to go poop so we're going over to the tree line. And then all the dogs in Domino will recognize you as their little king," he murmured, nuzzling his ear briefly and lengthening his stride to move a bit faster towards the end of the street.

"Don't venture too far, Yugi."

"I'm just going to the trees. We aren't even going to go into it."

He thought it was lucky that his grandpa could hear well and didn't ask him to repeat or make him turn around to speak again. He was not really one for repeating himself or pausing when it came to the animals. Hopefully now that he was putting him near the trees and giving him more room or the more open and less marked area there would ease some nerves.

He was hoping that the canine would find the less heavily marked area to seem unlike he was invading another's territory and feel more open to relieving himself. He placed him down gently as he had the first time, loosening his grip on the leash to allow him more space to wander some. It was only a handful of inches but it was more like a mile for the small puppy.

The Shiba Inu immediately bounded forward, tail wagging wildly, and nearly threw himself off balance before catching his footing again almost effortlessly. Yugi padded along after him nearly silently, listening to an owl hooting in the trees further into the darkness. He watched the puppy as it sniffed the ground closely and waddled forward to satisfy some of it extreme curiosity.

He allowed it to wander further somewhat before it squatted again and glanced over his shoulder to see his grandpa talking softly to one of the dogs. Yugi narrowed his eyes to peer through his lashes and see what he was saying but his moustache managed to practically block out any chance he had of reading his lips, and he was not about to try his hand at listening to what he was saying. There were too many night sounds between bugs and a light rustle as a breeze pushed through the trees, the puppy moving around, and the soft purr of a passing car.

---

Petrichor had always had a pleasant smell to Yugi. It was one of the most natural and beautiful odors he knew of. There was the unnatural heaviness of cold asphalt heated by the warm rain that always made his nose wrinkle but beneath it were the tones of wet earth and blades of grass as sweet as when they were cut in the summertime. The light drizzle was refreshing against his skin, cooling his flesh as he tipped his head up towards the dark clouds and reveled in the way his scalp tingled with the sensation.

He kept his legs crisscrossed, leaning against the wall of the house and closing his eyes into the tiniest of slits. A light wind tugged at his clothes and he breathed in deeply, appreciative of the smells that greeted him. He was sure that the smell was far better in the woods beneath the trees, without the heaviness of asphalt and spilled gas or the onslaught of chemicals like car exhaust.

He watched the small strip of trees across the street from him, long lashes cutting a delightful shade in his field of vision. It was almost like looking through a thin film of gray, so light towards the bottom that the streetlight's illumination was still a rather solid yellow cast. The light breeze stirring at the leaves and grass made a soothing movement in his tired mind and the momentary urge to sway in time with the greenery.

Because of how relaxed he was he nearly missed the sight of something moving in the darkness.

He sat upright immediately, straightening and straining his eyes to see it all. The grass stirred, dappled shadows moving like dark-scaled serpents across the ground. Yugi felt his spine tighten, the muscles in the back of his neck twitching and quaking as if in an isolated shiver. His shoulders rose slowly, growing rigid in the way that they tightened and the muscles corded and grew taut beneath his skin, the gesture nearly defensive. He strained his ears, focusing every ounce of attention he had to give on the task of identifying the thing that had caught his eye moments before. He drew in a deep breath, holding it and attempting to sort through any underlying scent that he could catch. He opened his mouth into a narrow gap, exhaling and searching the trees again. All he could catch was the asphalt, the gas and exhaust, the sweetness of the grass. He drew in another breath through his mouth. His palate burned and tingled, briefly feeling packed and weighed down with the scent of the petrichor, the sensation spreading further in a creep towards the back of his throat.

The only difference that came with the new attempt to draw in any underlying scents was that his mouth felt stuffed as if with a wad of cotton. His tongue grew somewhat dry and pasty and his throat felt almost as if it had closed with the heaviness of the rain. He swallowed thickly, trying to flush out the dryness by forcing his mouth to water, and closed it again completely as he narrowed his eyes and peered harder.

He could see and hear nothing and the scent of whatever it was out there was heavily hidden and guarded away from his searching.

But he knew he had to have seen something. He might have suffered a moment of hallucination but he did not recognize but it could have been. He was used to visual hallucinations but they were always so much more elaborate than a simple movement in the dark. It would have been something like the trees becoming skeletons or the rain turning into thick droplets of blood. This had been nothing but an unnatural shadow passing through the darkness. He was unsure of even the shape of the thing that had made the movement and his stomach churned momentarily with uneasy tension.

His shoulders rose slightly once more, straining his senses again as his spine grew tighter to the point of pain, the muscles along his shoulder blades and nape of his neck bunching violently with a heavy twitch. His neck corded, aching beneath his skin dully.

He slowly moved his hand to the wall, pressing his palm against it and sinking his nails into the wood as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. Every part of him was on high alert now, tensed and confused as his instincts told him to run but an ingrained curiosity held him in place. A part of him was rooted to the spot, searching endlessly for anything that was unusual and could possibly be the source of the tension growing tenfold beneath his skin. He didn't step forward or back, staring straight ahead and watching as closely as he could in order to prevent being taken by surprise once more. If there was some kind of feral animal that was hunting and killing people then surely there was no room for him to hesitate or allow the chance to attack, right?

He really hoped that it was not an animal that was doing this. He didn't want it to be a person either but he had to hope that it was not an animal. It made far more sense that it was a person despite how inefficient bears were as killers.

Yugi spun around, every muscle in his body tightened and bunched beneath his skin, his skeleton aching sharply with the sudden movement. His eyes were wide, wild with the adrenaline in his veins, body still tense with a defensive air, and he wondered upon seeing his grandfather's startled face what he must have looked like.

"Are you all right?" the elderly Motou asked with wide, startled eyes. He looked past Yugi and into the tree line as well but his sight was too poor to see anything that could have remotely caught his attention. He could only see the darkness, blurs of deep gray and black where the grass and leaves twitched. Yugi had far superior eyesight, especially with his youth and attention to detail, something that his mother shared.

"Uh…yeah…" Yugi turned away again, eyes still wide as he looked around to see if there was another touch of movement to be found. Nothing was there but his body refused to relax and now he had to wonder if maybe the new higher strung tension in his system was now so abundant in his veins because now his grandfather was in the equation. His heart was pounding, blood pounding in his ears, his entire body was almost locked in place and he could already tell that his hands were shaking with the rush. He didn't think that he would have been so scared and tense if not for his grandfather being there. If he were still alone, he thought he would have remained completely still, searching and drowning in his fight or flight instinct and the need to answer his insatiable curiosity.

A brief, split second thought to explain himself was immediately gone again. He did not even entertain it for more than the fleeting moment that it took to pass.

"Are you looking for something?"

He blinked wide eyes, surprised that he could even hear such soft spoken words with the rapid pounding in his ears. "No," he mumbled, shaking his head and smiling faintly. "Just watching the rain. It's going to become a storm later."

His grandfather raised a brow, smiling at him with an amused twinkle to his eyes. "Do you smell it?" he asked curiously.

Yugi paused for a moment, biting his lip at the realization. When he had come outside it was because he had smelled the dampness of an oncoming autumn shower as Domino City was known for. His room, despite the window being shut, had been overwhelmed with the beautifully familiar smell. The scent had abruptly assaulted him while he was reading and looking over his history study guide and he had known immediately that it was going to be a slow growing thunderstorm of epic proportions. He had always had the ability to gauge storms and nearly the exact moment that they would strike; at first he had assumed that it was just intuition or instinct that had given him that ability but he was somewhat floored with the reality of the situation and the statement.

"Yeah…I guess so," he said quietly, still extremely thrown by the idea. Why had he never realized that himself? Why was it that it had never occurred to him? Were there other things he had assumed to be intuition and instinct that was information actually unconsciously drawn in from something that was so routine to him that he did not even realize it was happening in the first place?

His head snapped around, staring in confusion, stomach twisting momentarily as he blinked stupidly. He could see something there, but with the raindrops outlined with the golden cast of the streetlight it was hard to see anything. The shadows were too dark and the grass swaying too much to allow him to see the source of it. Or perhaps—if it was an animal—its pelt was too dark to see in the first place. Still he looked for any sign of it all, a chill of something almost like ice creeping down his spine with pure unease once more. He forced his shoulders to fall from where they had been raised fully to almost completely shield his throat. If it was an animal it would go for the jugular…but that was only if there really was something there in the first place and he was not just seeing things.

"Are you going to stay out here and watch it or go inside again?"

Yugi only noticed in that moment that his grandfather was in his pajamas. He blinked once, eyes widening momentarily before he bit his lip once more. "I'll go inside. I need sleep anyways." He feigned weariness, rubbing an eye and keeping his focus solely on the elderly Motou so that he would not see him glancing across the street again. He didn't need him to grow curious and look too.

When his grandfather was curious he would be completely focused on the idea of getting answers. He was stubborn and refused to let up when he truly wanted to know things and had multiple ways to find his answers. Yugi knew that he would not even think about it before crossing the street and searching for whatever there was to find. And if it was whatever had killed that girl in the quad, it would maul him before Yugi had the chance to even attempt to stop him or he could turn around to flee it.

Predatory animals were fast and most were efficient and knew multiple ways to make a kill. Felines could go for the throat or sometimes smothering them with their mouth over their prey's nostrils. Some dogs ate their prey alive, went for the throat, or left multiple puncture wounds so that they bled out. Bears tended to crush with their weight and tear into them while they were still alive, often inflicting more damage than necessary to kill and unintentionally prolonging their deaths.

"You didn't happen to set up another test, did you?"

"No." He paused momentarily, blinking and frowning. "Did you want me to?"

Yugi started to say that he wanted nothing more at that point. He needed the distraction, truly craved it, but he realized immediately that he shouldn't say so. If his mother found out, he thought for sure that the first thing she would consider doing would be to have his night terror medication strengthened. And Yugi would avoid that at nearly any cost if he truly had the chance. He also wasn't entirely sure that he would be able to do that as constantly as his mind immediately supplied.

He had taken over an hour trying to figure out where the two drops of extracts had been placed, just barely realizing the vanilla came from the leg of the couch and the chocolate on a napkin discarded in the trash. Then there was the cinnamon stick that had been hidden in a desk drawer in the dining room, the basil in his pillowcase and the peppermint leaf under a pot underneath the sink. And it hadn't helped that he had circled those three rooms almost five times each in absolute confusion, thrown off by it all. The sharpness of the extracts had done well to help confuse him and throw him off balance as he had tried to pick his way along using those much softer scents as guides.

"No. I was just curious." He stretched his arms skyward, eyes focused on his grandfather, but his attention was on his peripheral. "Come on, Grandpa. You'll get sick if you don't go inside."

He scoffed, smirking in amusement and shaking his head when Yugi's face began to fall into a firm scowl. "You worry too much."

"I worry just enough." He narrowed his eyes and made a shooing motion to force him back a step. "You need to change into your pajamas and go to sleep, Grandpa."

"Definitely your mother's child," he chuckled, turning around and starting back inside with Yugi behind him. Immediately the sixteen-year-old glanced over his shoulder, searching fiercely once more for anything in the dark. When nothing stirred he turned back, relieved to see that the elderly Motou had not noticed his hesitation. He fought away a smile at the thought, tucking his hand into his pocket while the other grasped the doorknob to pull it to a close.

A small shiver traveled up his spine and his fingers tingled momentarily as he shut the door. He didn't bother to glance back over his shoulder once more. He was sure that he had not missed anything in his failure to do so despite the strange sensation that had momentarily come over him upon touching the knots. He did, however, bite his lip and feel something of an urge to stop walking and stand still for a moment as if to absorb something around him. And he felt something burning into his shoulders, eyes boring into his skin.

He turned around only to switch the lock, ignoring the urge to once again try to see something that wasn't there. He guessed that maybe it was the darkness that had played tricks on him because it was fur from his typical hallucination. There was nothing in it that made him barely resist the urge to flinch or vomit as his mind always demanded of him. It only left him with this keen, tense uneasiness that he had known upon imagining the animal and his grandpa interacting.

"You wouldn't have lasted this long if I wasn't."

"You underestimate your grandpa."

"Just telling the truth." He pursed his lips momentarily, wondering once more at the identity of what might have been out there. He thought maybe a big cat might have been lethal but if they attacked and their prey kept its footing they were usually scared off by the idea. Dogs like pit bulls sometimes came at someone without warning due to breeding and they were a missile of raw muscular power that clamped into the inner tendons of the victim and tore through them to give them maximum blood loss. Bears were tanks that mowed you down almost immediately.

Wild canines like coyotes used wit versus strength and wolves used numbers, endurance, and the chase to inflict shallow wounds. But he knew a team of two or a loner were nothing to take lightly—they were more efficient and Yugi had seen one stop a buffalo six times its own weight during a hunt on TV. If it was the wolf-dog in question he thought it might be a far bigger threat than any of the wildlife that did exist in Japan.

But then, there were still unverified rumors that the Hokkaido wolf, standing at close to the same size as the Siberian wolves they had descended from, still lived somewhere in the mountains. He sometimes hoped but highly doubted it was since they had been hunted to extinction during the Meiji period.

"You smart mouthed brat."

He grinned lopsidedly at the affectionate insult and stretched his arms out again, folding them behind his head. "Well, with you as my grandpa, I think it's safe to say that we all know where it comes from," he quipped, glancing minutely at the cages before leading the way towards the stairs. He wasn't about to let his grandpa even look out the window again just in case. "Now go get changed and go back to bed, Grandpa."

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes and started up the stairs when Yugi opened the door for him. The teenager followed immediately after him, shutting it once more and shooing him up the steps as they stepped into the main hallway again. He snorted at the gesture, rolling his eyes a second time and smiling in amusement. "All right, go change your clothes and see if you can get some sleep, Yugi. You haven't gotten any rest besides that two hour nap earlier."

He thought it was unnecessary to tack that statement on in the first place considering he knew since it was something that involved him. But he also knew to consider how concerned his mother and grandfather were. His lack of steady sleep was an unnecessary strain on them despite how hard he always tried to hide it.

"Yeah, okay, Grandpa."

It was a tiny bit disheartening to realize he could not say anything else. He could not promise that he would get some sleep, only that he would genuinely try to do so. There was never any guarantee that he would actually manage to sleep or even settle enough to close his eye and relax as much as he needed to even close properly. He knew his grandfather noticed his inability as well, that his mother was keenly aware and probably thought about it more often than she needed.

"Night, Yugi."

He turned and wandered into his room, rolling his shoulders to ease the knot of locked muscle in the back of his neck. Pain spiked at the moment, trailing along the center of his vertebrae and making his shoulders ache and rise almost as if in defense once more. His left collarbone pulled taut and nearly immobile for a split second before relaxing abruptly, and Yugi bit his tongue with the need to alleviate some tension in his body. He narrowed his eyes faintly, glancing at his bed before kicking his shoes off. His spine loosened with the action, relieved to find that it did not take a million more efforts to do so.

Impulsively he threw himself onto the bed, rubbing his cheek against the rough cover of the comforter. Tiredly he glanced at the clock, relieved to see that it was not too late, and felt the chill of his wet clothes against his skin. He reveled in the sensation, resisting a purr of appreciation, whereas he would have usually been unhappy with the coolness due to the wet fabrics against his skin. Yugi resisted the urge to sigh loudly in approval, instead feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rising with a familiar seasonal anticipation. A crack of thunder made him jump, his muscles twitching and growing wired beneath his skin with pleasure.

Storms always made him happy, tense and pleased out of his mind by it all. The smell was always thick and wet, making his senses fill with it, the sound always immense, the room charged with electricity and his spine tingling with energy. One could taste sparks in the thickened air, bolts of it like the falling rain or heat rushing over the skin. The clouds were always so swollen with water that their underbellies were almost black in color. And the petrichor was always a reward in itself, powerful and enticing, and one could nearly taste the undertone of winter in the wind whenever it stirred. He could hear it whipping now, a low howl rising into the air with the velocity of it. The window shook in its frame and his head turned towards the sound, startled by the unfamiliarity of it.

He was used to harsh winds that whined and howled wildly but he had only ever heard the window quake when he was eight and a tsunami had happened in a neighboring city. Sitting up, he narrowed his eyes faintly and tilted his head as he listened to it more closely. The window shook again, making him pull himself upright on the bed and peer out of it as sharply as he could. His focus grew keener and it occurred to him as he looked it over that the steady shaking was not just the gusts from the growing thunderstorms. Large pellets of ice were barraging the glass with enough force to make it vibrate and rattle violently.

Yugi settled back on his haunches, watching the hail as it pelted the window, and listened to the sharp impacts, ears nearly ringing with the sound of it. Was there another tsunami? He did not think so, at least. That sense of tension was not in his system, tearing through him with enough brutal force to make his muscles quiver beneath his skin.

This storm was loud but it did not make him want to hide under his bed or in his closet like the aftershock of the tsunami. This was just a thunderstorm with hail, nothing more and nothing less.

He tipped his head to the side at the howl he could hear now. He thought for a moment that it was the wind again but there was something else to it. It was unnatural and the low note beneath a shrillness easily hidden away in the wind was almost unholy. It was deep and almost guttural, something that distinctly made him think of a ferocious snarl curling and rising into an ear splitting roar.

He thought immediately of the distant boom of thunder as it rolled harmoniously through the air like the ripple of a disturbed pool of water, loud and vicious until the ripples faded into stillness and the liquid was calm again.

It was nothing that the wind could produce but it also brought to mind the question of what it could be. Unless there actually was a wolf somewhere in Japan or that was the hybrid, then there was no animal that could make that noise. But it was still so deep and unnatural, making his blood feel alight beneath his skin, and he didn't think an animal could let loose such a powerful noise.

Maybe it was just the sound of the wind mixing with a stray dog's howl.

He doubted it, however. The noise was almost too terrible to be considered anything less than ungodly. Especially with the way it resonated in his bones, lighting his blood on fire and making his heart pound in his chest violently. And it seemed momentarily to drown out the sounds of the storm itself before fading into nothingness. They were only background noises set against the intense sound that still seemed to make him drown in heat and power.

Yugi shook the thought off, trying not to focus on the sound any longer, and pulled his attention towards the desk next to his bed instead, wondering what to do. He could read the book lying on top or grab the DS from inside one of the drawers. He could bring his laptop out and play videos until he was too tired to deal with the effort of keeping his eyes open any longer. But he wasn't in the mood to spend a few minutes looking for some terribly boring hour long movie so that he could fall asleep because anything less than monotonous drawling and mediocre acting would keep his attention just enough to stay awake.

There was some kind of ingrained excitement and curiosity that always spiked when something even remotely interesting was playing. It was a constant buzz beneath his skin, lingering like blood, and it just seemed to wait there for the chance to spike without the slightest warning, and Yugi always felt strangely like a tiny, excitable dog in that way.

A book was probably the best bet. He could try something boring and plain or maybe something he had read a million times before. Knowing the story ahead of time could always him to remain calm and lose any bit of interest that would have come later. There would be nothing to surprise him, no plot twist to excite him. But in doing so he would find his boredom growing too immense to be ignored as he would need to. It would demand satiation and he would never sleep if he attempted to refuse it.

He snatched the first book off his desk, tilting his head in surprise at the title. He had pulled Grimm's Fairytales from his mom's bookshelves the day before when he had remembered her telling him that it was the collection of the originals and they were far darker. He had been drawn to them only for the reason of seeing if maybe they could somehow help to lighten his mood after the reminder of the hybrid and the thoughts of his hallucinations.

He glanced over the leather bound book, opening it to look over the table of contents and momentarily wondering about the one he should choose. Maybe the darkest one—perhaps Blue Beard or Little Red—would make him feel better about his own possible blunder just long enough to sleep.

He took on Blue Beard for the sake of avoiding his mind wandering towards the idea of the hybrid or the history of wolves in Japan. He knew a small bit about the tale but hardly anything more than the very basics. He knew something about his former wives' heads being kept in a room but not much else. It was a curious childlike wonder that made him continue towards the end of the story, thought it eventually faded slowly into an exhausted nothingness.

His mind lost any sense of alertness on the last page, his cheek falling to rest against his arm where his other hand held the book's pages upwards to read. His eyes slowly feathered shut, the darkness embracing him immediately. The sound of the rain and hail against the window made him shiver briefly before it began to slip and fade, pulling away from his senses.

Scattered patterns almost like the rippling reflection of sunlit water, bright white and glittering like the ocean, came to the forefront of his mind. It was only momentarily, fleeting by all means, and touches of green almost like smoke followed after a moment. The sound of the wind outside pushed in on his senses, the hail and rain and snarl of booming thunder ripping through the split second of silence as the darkness grew deeper. He had the momentary urge to blink and pull his eyes open once more, to look around the room and turn off the lamp and put the book away. But despite the soft, weary itch of tiredness tickling his eyes, the teen seemed unable to pull together the immense strength it took to do something so seemingly mindless and easy only minutes before. Instead his mind continued to grow weighted with the depth of a dreamless sleep that he could feel crawling over him. The sounds of the outside world faded again, swallowed away into the exhaustion, and it felt like forever had passed when it finally changed.

He was not entirely aware of the time that passed, though his mind was not so far into slumber that he was not aware that it had done so.

Voices were drifting through the immense darkness. They crept forward like weightless shadows but as long as chirping birds when morning came. Even in this state he was aware that he did not recognize these voices or the statements that they gave life to. A thrill of something like adrenaline and terror curled through his belly, his shoulder twitching violently in response to the keen drive of emotions in his groggy state. A tension crept through him, his muscles coiling beneath his skin with the way that his blood seemed to thicken momentarily in his veins.

"Outstanding," a deep voice, sharpened with intense and brutal approval, cooed.

His shoulder jerked, his leg nearly falling down the side of the bed to touch the floor with the force of the spasm.

"His capacity to resist the physical strain of collapsing is amazing," a second voice, somewhat lighter and almost whimsical, purred.

"His endurance is growing in increments of sixteen minutes," a third said in awe, voice slightly raspy and throaty with a deeper edge like that of a constant smoker.

His spine tightened almost to the point of aching, and Yugi's exhausted but somewhat focused mind was aware that no dream was meant to carry a physical pain. But his muscles continued coiling beneath his flesh and the churn of his stomach grew more violent as the moments passed.

"If this is only his physical body, imagine the capabilities of his mind," the first purred slowly, lowering in volume and making Yugi's shoulders rise as if in a vain attempt to protect his vulnerable throat. "Imagine the adaptability and raw intelligence to be tapped into. Do you have any idea the beauty of that potential?"

"The possibilities of what he is capable of are endless. Just his physical strength alone is worthy of praise," the third agreed, a low chuckle making Yugi tremble violently.

"He has gone through a full month of tests and each time his endurance has proved itself and even grown stronger," the first announced. "Double his scheduled tests. One in the morning and one at night. Perhaps he will grow further…"

"Very well…"

"Take him back to his cage and feed him a bit extra today."

He swallowed a harsh whimper, the noise drowning in his throat. Something ghosted over his head, gossamer at first but growing stronger. A pain began to form in the center of his neck, vicious and bordering on the sensation of fire burning within his marrow. Yugi jerked harshly at the sensation and every muscle in his body twitched and ached as his eyes finally opened once more.

The book hit the ground with a thud loud enough to make his head spin. Momentarily his heart pounded, pulsing in his throat violently. His lungs constricted painfully, his chest aching with the task of expanding to compensate his somewhat panicked breaths. The back of his neck continued aching, the marrow still seeming to sizzle in his bones with the burn spreading quickly through him. He blinked rapidly, eyes burning and itching as if with exhaustion, and glanced own at the fallen book. It had landed in a close, laying with the front cover upright for him to read its title.

The wind seemed to have died and the hail lifted. The rain was still steady, however, and the window's glass gave off a methodical rhythm that was too rapid to ignore. Yugi watched the drops splatter against it, trying not to feel the pain in his system any longer. If he could ignore it then it might just fade. But while ignorance was a hopeful option where the pain was concerned, it was completely impossible in terms of the sensation of the touch that had woken him. It may have been nothing more than some kind of diluted night terror that was halfway a lucid dream, but the pain, the fear, the momentary touch, still remained.

And Yugi could not ignore the fact that he recognized this phantom touch at its fullest.

Fingers. A hand.

Someone had been touching him. And he was not sure if he preferred it to be nothing more than something drawn from his half doze or someone like his grandpa or mom having momentarily combed their fingers through his hair in a comforting gesture.

Because he had never had such a night terror.

The next update might be a day late.