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.

12. Theories

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

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

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of Blood, Blood Clotting Test, Mentions of Death, the boys being pervs

I know I said Sunday and that obviously didn't happen. The reason for that is I decided instead of just getting one chapter done and having it posted, I would go ahead and try to get a jump on the others and get back on schedule (cause that's been driving me NUTS). I managed to get thirteen typed up and I'm working on fourteen and hopefully I'll get the next few out on time as well. I should be able to get a good amount of them typed up since I've got another two days off in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday too. So, wish me luck.

Anyways, so next chapter is going to be considerably smaller than this one. There is going to be a little bit of a uncomfortable subject in the thirteen. I'm warning now cause I don't want anyone to be surprised by it.

There is a reference to the show Friends. I don't own that either.

Chapter XII: Theories

Work Log Entry XII: July, 1996

[Date Unidentified]

She has given birth to six healthy pups. Each of them has shown amounts of muscle mass undocumented formerly amongst wolves. All of their vital systems are level and stable with no signs of sickness or transgression.

Her health has remained stable but we shall monitor each of them persistently to ensure that none of our prizes are for naught.

[Date Unidentified]

The show of health was nothing but a false start. She has declined rapidly in the days following her pups' births.

And now three of her pups have grown ill and passed through the night.

We believe that, due to her genes being altered so significantly to produce these pups, that giving birth may be the last thing she shall ever do.

[Date unidentified]

Only one of the pups has survived. The others have all perished.

Efforts to restore the she-wolf's health have failed dramatically. There is no foreseeable solution to the illness that has overcome her.

"Hello?"

"Anzu," he breathed, unable to fight back the relief that flooded his voice as he blinked and gripped the phone a little tighter. His fingers were trembling, weakened with his gratitude that she had even bothered to answer his call. He would never have blamed her if she'd decided she would rather not speak to him.

"Yugi! Are you okay? What happened to you last night?"

He hesitated for a moment and, just as great as it had been, the relief fled him with a new sense of speed that made him dizzy. He stepped forward, rocking back and forth on his feet for a split second, and breathed out so quietly he could not even hear it himself. He should have prepared himself before he had chosen to call her like this. He rolled his eyes towards the sky, rocking back and forth once more before biting his lip as he struggled to think of something he could say.

"Yugi?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm here," he muttered, voice sounding somewhat small before he cleared his throat and took a seat on the bench. He'd been sure to leave the house before he made the call, unwilling to let his family hear it in the meantime. "And I'm okay. I just didn't feel well. I…I shouldn't have gone in the first place, Anzu. I felt like I was going to throw up the whole time. I…I'm sorry for running off like that."

"Why didn't you just tell us you weren't feeling well?"

"Because I didn't want you guys to be disappointed," the small teen murmured, wincing at the clear desperation that colored his tone. He reached up to run a hand through his hair, bringing his fingers to his mouth immediately after and nibbling on a nail in an effort to collect his thoughts further. "And I'd been acting so weird lately. I just…I didn't want you guys to think I didn't want to hang out or something…"

"You know we would have understood if you said you didn't feel well."

Would you have? Yugi thought, the words making their way up his throat but folding on his tongue as he pressed it against the roof of his mouth. He would not ask that. Beyond how rude it would be to put into words, he also knew that she would grow defensive. And, if she did, then he would have no true chance of smoothing things over. As manipulative as it was, he knew the dynamics of the group well enough to recognize that she was his key supporter. If she was infuriated with him and mentioned it to the other two, that would give them all reason to ignore his efforts to rejoin them. Beyond that, she did not deserve to be snapped at as if she had done something wrong and, no matter how he phrased it, it would come out nasty and condescending and he wouldn't allow that to happen. "I know. I do. I just…I don't know. I just felt bad for all the crap that's been going on and—"

"That's not your fault," she cut in immediately.

No? He wanted to laugh suddenly, feeling sick to his stomach once again as his head spun. It sounded so nice to hear but the words were so hollow as they processed in his mind that he could not fully understand them. He shook his head and again ran his hand through his hair, desperate to think of something—anything—else.

But Valon's voice was already replaying in his ears. He was infuriated, as if Yugi's very existence was a betrayal of such magnitude it shook him to his very core.

"If you're here all it means is death for the rest of us. Bloodshed. War."

He stayed silent, narrowing his eyes and slowly pulling his mouth into a grimace, teeth digging into his lip. His lungs felt tight, constricted, and he swallowed hard as he wondered if his voice might crack should he try to give it life. He blinked, looking up at the sky and the blankness of the gray clouds that were still scattered about. For a long minute he refused to speak, his mouth curling further downwards as he bit into his lip with enough force to break skin. "Yeah, I know," he muttered softly, blinking at the glare the sky cast and reaching up to run a hand through his hair again.

It took him a moment to realize that he had left her an opening for argument. He knew and recognized it in the way that she hesitated for a moment. Immediately, bristling, he felt blood fill his mouth as he rushed to interrupt her thoughts. "Thanks for covering for me yesterday. I know I really freaked you out and I doubt it was an easy thing to do considering it all."

"No, it definitely wasn't, but you're my best friend. Of course I was going to cover for you if you needed it," she replied with a tone he thought sounded condescending and stern all at once. The change of direction in the conversation was certainly nothing that pleased her, as she made clear with clipped words, and a burst of pure anger shot through him. The small teen bit back a furious snarl, mindless in his mounting frustration, and barely resisted the urge to leap to his feet and pace about the small park. He drew in a deep breath, clenching his eyes shut, and ran his hand through his hair once more. Somewhere in the back of his mind was a clear and almost visible disconnection, as if there was somehow a piece of him drifting, his concentration foggy and beginning to pull away completely.

"What happened to you, Yugi?" she asked quietly, voice so soft that he did not catch the words. For a split second his mind continued to drift, as if set upon dismissing the conversation altogether, and then it slowly began to interpret what had formerly been a mere loosely-strung formation of words in his ears.

"I fainted in the woods."

It was not too much of a lie that he felt so immensely guilt as to want to blurt out the truth regardless of his personal need to fib. He knew that he had fainted during the Change, pushed to his limits and beyond so that the fatigue swept him away like a blistering wind. The edges of his memory were still tainted black, where his body had turned into that of the canine's form as well as the moment the other had begun to nurse his wounds.

"Oh my god," Anzu gasped sharply on the other end. He blinked, sitting up a little straighter in surprise at the alarm that colored her tone. "I knew we should have gone after you—"

"No!" Yugi blurted out violently, voice taking on such a hideous bark of an edge that he flinched and could almost hear it as she recoiled in shock. He hesitated, taking a deep breath, and tugged harshly on his bangs in his mounting frustration. "I…No, it was better that you didn't. I…I wouldn't have wanted you all so freaked out like that. I mean—you didn't need that much more stress. It wasn't…"

He cringed and shook his head after a moment. He might as well have put a question mark at the end of his words for all the power they held. He rubbed at his left temple, biting back a harsh sigh of discontentment. For the briefest of seconds he thought perhaps the other wolf might show himself there.

His body felt small and weak, his mind burning with intense pain. If the other showed himself, even with his suffocating silence, Yugi found himself happy beyond belief. He needed someone who knew this new reality of his, and who would never say that he was not meant to exist.

"Yugi…"

"I'm okay though. I just…I fainted but I'm okay now." He shook his head at himself once more, rolling his eyes upwards again and licking his swelling bottom lip to soothe some of the ache there. Why had he phrased it so pathetically? He could not fight away the jumpiness which plagued him, desperation making his tongue feel as swollen as his lip. He shook his head again, more slowly than ever, and tipped his head slowly towards the sky. "Besides, there wasn't anything any of you could have done, Anzu. I was out cold the entire night. I don't even know how I managed to get so far into the woods before I lost consciousness."

He almost smacked the heel of his palm against his forehead. Saying that to a concerned friend was hardly the right choice. He frowned and returned his fingers to his mouth, chewing on his nails uncomfortably. The conversation was almost like nothing more than a drifting background thought as he swallowed roughly.

There was a growing desperation beneath his skin, demanding satiation by the presence of the other wolf, eager for the next time they crossed paths. He needed to see him again, have him as some kind of support, no matter how small.

"Yugi…"

The way she sighed his name so softly made him flinch back for a brief moment. He curled his lip, pressing his tongue against the blood that coated the throbbing skin painfully. It was obvious that she did not believe him in any way, that no matter how colorfully he twisted his words it would not truly bridge the gap that was already rapidly forming between them. There was no means for which he could defend himself against her apparent suspicion and frustration. But he realized, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it was better to strike out then, at that moment, rather than later.

"I have to go," she muttered in a voice that made him feel sick to his stomach. Her words seemed to catch in his ears and he bit his finger hard enough that he almost thought the nail might shatter between his teeth.

She sounded almost as if he she had been defeated somehow, as if maybe she were losing her will to fight with him. The idea made him reel, as if she were pulling away from him completely and swiftly, making it clear that he had no chance to fix the problem.

"Okay," he breathed out, voice quivering at the edge of the words as he bit his lip again. "We'll talk later?"

Yugi did not think that he could sound anymore desperate if she was dying in his arms and he was begging her not to. He rolled his eyes up again, almost disgusted with himself, and nearly swallowed his tongue in an effort to keep from snarling angrily.

"Yeah, we'll talk later."

He knew the soft tone was meant to be a gentle reassurance, but, as it rattled within his eardrums, he was wrapped with intense dread. They would not be talking again later, and that very idea was nothing more than a mere mockery to the brunette. He flinched as if bitten by a bug and swallowed roughly as it began to fade quickly.

Despite himself, the smaller teen was amazed as he put the phone away into his jacket pocket and looked around for a moment. The blood on his tongue seemed to glue it to the roof of his mouth, making it almost impossible to think past the very strong realization that made up the focal point of his thoughts.

His friends were the best that could ever be offered someone. They still supported him with what seemed like so little reason. He doubted in their place that he would have done the same. It seemed so weak and plain the relationships that existed between them each, as if held together by such a small thread it might break any moment. There was not a single thought of which he could pull forth concerning them all that could bear testament to their loyalty at that moment.

He closed his eyes, discomforted by the fact, and bit into his fingernail harder. There was not a single recollection he came across that gave him the idea that he deserved them by any means.

---

The lights were still on in the upper corner of the small building. In the darkness they looked like bright beacons, beckoning forward any unfortunate enough to gaze upon it. The glimpse of it through the trees as the large canine continued a restless pace forward caused it to halt, head turning and muzzle tipping upwards as it regarded it momentarily. The branches overhead did nothing to shelter its sharp eyes from the sight of the window's uneven array of light where it stretched outwards amongst the shadows. None of the jagged, skeletal branches blocked the beams and his fur bristled slightly in distress at the way the yellow seemed to dance and then flicker for a brief moment.

Beyond the room, the entire building was thrust into blackness, almost with an accompanying silence to make one's ears ring uncomfortably. The walls were discolored and painted a shade brighter than usual, touched by the replaced streetlight that sat on the corner nearby. The ragged and chipped layer of paint gave an appearance akin something darker and jagged, like hideous claw marks against the contours of the grooved wood. Even with the distance of the wood and the tree line and the darkness to falter another's vision, there was no pause or need for analysis in its keen eyes.

Its ears flickered back and then forth, listening with such acuteness as to drown away everything around them, but the noise they attempted to focus on. Sure enough, slowly and rather hesitantly, as if the boy were trying to be silent, came the soft sound it desired. The boy's weight was slighter than average, the canine had come to realize, but in no such way as to be claimed unhealthy.

Though he had struggled to heal on his own, his body failing to mend its hideous wound or allow him room to breathe, the boy was not wholly unhealthy and, from what it could hear, he had recovered rather well. There was no strain on the lungs as he breathed in and then exhaled softly or the way his heart continued its strong, gentle steady pulse.

The wolf blinked once, focus kept on the window and thus the boy who had appeared in the frame of glass. He tilted its head to the left, peripheral locked on the door. Its fur rose and then fell again but the jerk of movement did nothing to make it pause as it continued its silent study. If the boy was fully recovered by the time of the next full moon, when he changed, there would be no reason for any further worry.

He seemed as if he might survive the toll of it, even with such a terrible start, but an extra precaution was nothing that should have been overlooked at any point. The law of survival for the lycanthrope was to take advantage of as many things as possible, to make the world its own when necessary, to mold things into its own making. Kills were stolen, battles chosen with care, and secrecy was used as the ultimate means of camouflage.

A small sound in the trees, the stirring of something amongst the dying undergrowth, made its head turn. The movement was so sharp and out of character that it visibly caught the attention of the boy in the window, it realized without taking full notice of such an instance. Fur rising into a bristle once more, head raised, lips drawn back, ears pricked forward, its tail came up and shoulders rose in preparation. If it was a threat, it would not be for long.

The hunger sated, the canine was easily far more powerful and dangerous than any other animal it might run across, and as it waited, it sensed the sudden hesitance and fear the other possessed. The animal moving the darkness halted altogether and then, as if listening for the lycanthrope and failing to hear it but unable to calm its nerves, it took off swiftly.

The wolf lowered its tail immediately, fur falling flat, and eased the tension from its immense muscles as it blinked and peered into the dark. On another night, it might have cared enough to scent the air and find out what it was that it had startled, but now it merely turned away. The first step it took was halted immediately and its head snapped back towards the small building, startled but fully aware of what was happening in the moment.

The lights had turned on in the narrow doorway, and the sound of soft footsteps echoed in his ears again. A soft scraping and tapping noise announced that the boy had missed the doorknob on his first attempt. A gentle swear word left his mouth, so soft the wolf nearly missed it.

In the shadows and beneath the trees, the wolf was comfortable enough to lower its haunches to the hardened ground and watch. The light flickered for a brief second and then the door cracked and the beam of its yellowed touch made the wolf's ear flick in acknowledgment.

"You still out here?"

For a moment the canine thought to turn and trot off into the dark but, as if held in place by some spell, merely leaned forward and let out a loud huff. The noise made the boy startle but the light from the streetlamp illuminating his face made his relief apparent, bathed in soft gossamer incandescence. The boy's bangs flashed briefly with the touch of light and the way the shadows played on his face due to them as he started a slow walk forward had something of an effect like moonlight against the surface of water. He looked smaller than before, but it could have been the baggier clothing he now wore upon his pale skin that made him seem as such.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again today."

The wolf snorted and shifted its body just enough to give him more of a visual direction. The movement made his head snap around and the moment his eyes locked on the canine, he found himself frozen and nearly breathless. Against the trees, the massive canine seemed to blend seamlessly, and if not for the light from his own house, he knew he would have easily missed it.

The trees cast a deeper pitch black array of color that made it trace the immense frame there. But, as it leaned forward, the skin of its nose, calloused and twitching, was bathed in something of a golden and silver light. It almost looked as if it resided in both the cold moonbeams and the harshness the man-made illumination. Its long, broad muzzle was deeper in angle than he had noticed before, with the bridge of it fading into the stops of its sharp eyes. The orbs danced and glittered with the reflection of light but with their own gleam of bright and beautiful yet hideous red like sunbeams through a stained glass rose.

"What are you doing out here?" he finally mumbled, unsure of what else to say, nor if there was anything he truly could without sounding entirely childish and stupid. He swallowed hard, wondering why it was the lycanthrope might have come so far towards the edge of the trees when, just hours before, it had fled so angrily.

Yugi blinked and glanced over his shoulders before crouching down, unwilling to go all the way to the other side of the street. If nothing else, the expression of disdain from that morning had taught him to exercise caution as he should have always been doing.

It was funny how having one's life saved could blur the lines of reasonable caution and suspicion to nothing more than something like drifting instinct and reminders and a rather large willingness to trust another.

The wolf did not look even slightly surprised by this new development and, if he was truthful with himself, he thought maybe he even seemed relieved. The mouth opened faintly and the bottom incisors glittered like dewdrops beneath sunlight as it breathed out gently, a gust of crystallized air coming forward. He watched for a moment until they faded, as the lights illuminated it and bathed it like silken gold spun within the center of a flame. Each flicker of yellow was edged with a sparkle of white, glittering abundantly and blurring into the next touch of color it could find.

Staring at each other, the canine tilted his head and his ears flicked to the side, a move so pointed that Yugi could never have confused its meaning. He was giving him a very clear indication that he was walking through and heading back towards the mountains, though the small teen still wondered why he might have been there in the first place.

Why show up in the city like this again if he was merely going to flee into the woods once more? Had he hunted something down from the trees into the city limits and thus eaten and planned to travel back? Or was it something else entirely?

Disgusted with himself, the first idea that came to mind was that of Ushio. He shuddered, horrified once more by the image as it filled his brain, and shook his head slightly as he looked at the other. The lycanthrope shifted forward only slightly, but the way it seemed so effortless and its body blended with the darkness, Yugi flinched back and immediately grimaced. His movement startled the canine into jumping to its paws, almost as if it was recoiling from his reaction, and then its head turned again towards the trees.

Its eyes flickered and glowed even though its movements had blocked away any hint of the light from behind him flooding the doorway. They shimmered almost like mist, glossy and beautiful like melted gold rimmed bright and terrific red, the pupils nearly all but nonexistent. When its head turned briefly towards him as if in consideration, the color splashed with something like glittering silver, turning flat and reflective like a cat's when light was displayed within its depths.

They gave off an orange-rimmed flicker like embers, Yugi realized, almost tempted to lean forward in surprise, but the effect was lost again almost immediately as they seemed to turn bright red instead. He opened and closed his mouth once before smiling faintly, curious and unable to stop himself from feeling almost hypnotized by the way the color danced there.

Then, slowly, head turning off towards his door for a moment, the canine took a small and somehow graceful step back. Beneath the branches, he blended so well it was almost as if he were one of the trees' many shadows, seamlessly fitted amongst them even with the glow of its powerful eyes. He could no longer make out the frame of its profile, flustered by the way it seemed to have no need for him and so turned abruptly away. It took him a moment of staring at the animal as it began to trot away to realize that he, in a way, had just been given an answer and a gift all wrapped in one.

The wolf had chosen to travel in its fur, but it had not been forced to change.

Yugi had barely noticed that the sun had gone down, let alone that the night had claimed the sky. When he raised his head, straightening to his full height, the moon still appeared full, lending the clouds a beautiful gloss, but the right side had the smallest of slivers which unbalanced it. The fact that it was not completely full had to have been the reason he was not forced to his knees, puking and listening involuntarily to his bones breaking and his body changing shape.

He blinked after a moment, glancing over his shoulder, and thanked the gods that the full moon was only one night a month and not three or seven. A hand ran through his hair, shaky and weak, and he breathed out a sigh of relief as he began to make his way back to the door. A single look over his shoulder granted him the sight of red eyes peering back at him further down the road, nearly invisible, and he was tempted to call out again.

Yugi was not sure what he might say, maybe ask him to change back, or if he was hungry, where he was going, if he was often in the city, but all of the words died in his lungs. It wasn't worth bothering the large canine a second time. And it was so far along, about to bound away, he knew, and he didn't care to try another attempt at a one-sided conversation.

---

"Yugi!"

He spun, jerking in response to his name, and for a moment he thought his body seemed unnaturally spry with such an action. It was so sudden and swift that he was almost surprised that he could move so quickly and the sensation made his stomach twist for a brief second. He blinked, watching as the familiar brunette made her way quickly towards him, moving between the students with all the grace of a dancer. For a moment he wanted to watch her, almost tempted to tip his head to the side and study her legs, but found himself nearly blushing at this new train of thought.

"Hi, what's up?"

Yugi was thankful that his voice didn't squeak and nearly rolled his eyes upwards in frustration at himself. He wasn't entirely sure where it was this direction of thought had come from. In all reality, aside from the occasional thought of how her legs might look wrapped around his hips or her lips swollen and her hair in disarray, he had never truly considered much more.

He had never even once thought to watch her unless her back was to him and he could make a quick getaway while staring at her hips or the sway of her skirt as she walked away. Otherwise it just seemed wrong and strange, though wholly natural, as he didn't want her to become just a body to think about and picture himself with.

That was what those stupid videos were for. He nearly reached up to sweep his hand through his hair, flustered with his new thoughts. It made his skin crawl briefly, but he shook it off as swiftly as possible, pausing only momentarily.

"I…" Anzu reached up to play with her hair, tucking a strand behind her ear, and the smaller boy blinked at her curiously. He was still a head shorter than her, something that sometimes irritated him, but, seeing as it had been two years like this, he hardly thought of it anymore.

Now, however, his height was something cold and sharp which punctured his thoughts. There was something odd in the fact that she was so much taller than him, in the idea that maybe she was sprier and more powerful as well. He was somehow ashamed to think of this as they stood in front of each other but there was nothing else that seemed to occupy his mind.

It took him a moment to recognize another thing that slowly trickled through these thoughts. Her voice, though she had only said a single word, had come out oddly strained and awkward, tense with nerves. He blinked, surprised as it crossed his mind fully, and wondered if perhaps she was responding to his own disgruntled state.

He knew he looked rather normal, much better than he had the last couple of days—and especially at the festival—but he also knew he appeared exhausted as well. While the color had returned to his face and blue-violet gaze with vivid brushstrokes, the bags had grown deep, almost purple and black as if married by bruises.

For a moment he thought of his reflection that morning, the way he had seemed the picture of health despite the incident the day before. In the pale morning light the color had returned, and his eyes seemed almost to sparkle and dance. But the way the sunbeams bounced on them made his head spin, and, immediately, he had thought of those brilliant, sharp red eyes. He had pictured the large black wolf, the stunning red gaze from the night before, the way the teenage boy watched him keenly and with a lazy smile of amusement.

"What's up?" he coaxed, blinking to shed the image of his sharp eyes and the long lashes that framed them. For a moment his mind was caught on the glint they'd possessed, the way that, when he had laughed at him silently, his canines had been sharp and prominent.

Nothing about him had seemed dangerous, only somehow mesmerizing, to the point that it was troubling. Would he turn out that way as well? Unnaturally beautiful, with intelligence that made one's heart pound and their bodies quiver as prey animal would before its predator?

"I, uh, I was actually wondering if, um…maybe you would like to go with me to the…the arcade later?" Anzu asked, and he watched her tongue flicker outwards to wet her lips and his heart skipped a beat. For a moment, he thought of what it might feel like to have that same muscle in his mouth and bit his tongue harshly to keep from speaking. Her voice was so nervous, however, with a little tremor to its undertone, that it managed effectively to knock away any hint of desire he retained after she spoke.

He hesitated, unsure for a moment, as to whether or not his interpretation of the words was correct. He blinked, staring at her, and that brief moment of silence between them was enough to effectively rattle her. She began to play with the ends of her hair, which—he noticed as an afterthought—had been curled slightly inwards, and her eyes lowered. For a moment he thought she was looking at her hair and then realized that she was purposefully staring at the wall over his shoulder.

Fuck…

"Sure!" he answered quickly, blinking and then cringing at the desperation and volume of his own voice. Of course he would sound overeager when her tone had come across mostly casual. "I…I'd love to—I—when do you want to meet up?"

She let out a low, soft nervous giggle that made him blink in surprise. "How about after school?" she asked quietly, voice a tremor away from shaking with apparent relief. "Maybe an hour after?"

"An hour after school sounds great!" That gives me just enough time to get home, jump in the shower, check the paper and see if there's any news about the two wolves and then meet up with her, he thought with a small grin. "You want to meet there?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to your mom about Peaches' stomachache so I could meet you at the clinic instead…?"

For a moment the name meant nothing to him. He blinked, mystified by the development of another person in their conversation, and then abruptly remembered. Peaches was her bunny, who had apparently become bloated the other day. She had asked him for help, though he had been unable to do anything seeing as he was mostly interested in canines and felines. He had managed to get hold of his mom while she was at the other clinic, but he'd been lacking some details and no appointment had been made.

"Oh, yeah, okay, let's do that then," he agreed immediately, growing somewhat fearful that should he not agree quickly enough she might withdraw the invitation. She leaned forward suddenly, kissing him swiftly on the cheek before making her way down the hall. He blinked, startled, and his cheeks grew hot with satisfaction towards such a tiny display of affection.

"Dude, congratulations!" Jonouchi crowed, clapping him on the back so hard that he stumbled forward a step and nearly tumbled over. Somehow, his feet righted themselves, however, so abruptly that he nearly questioned if he had even almost fallen. The sensation had lasted but a fraction of a second but it seemed to pass in hours for him. He spun around, startled but grinning, but stared up at his best friend in amusement. "About time you finally asked her!"

He opened his mouth to reply, but Honda beat him to it, snickering, "You don't listen very well, do you, Jonouchi? She just asked him. Nice try, though. You owe me fifty bucks."

The blond cringed and shot him a dirty look before wrapping his arm around Yugi's shoulders and drawing him into his side. His other hand quickly ruffled his hair, rapidly moving it back and forth as he smirked widely. "We don't mention that in front of our best buddy! He is finally going to become a man!" he announced, dragging his friend forward several steps. "He'll finally know what it's like to be able to—"

"I don't think Anzu is quite that easy," the brunet snorted, smirking. Yugi flushed harder, unaware that he had been doing so beforehand, and pursed his lips faintly. He blinked stupidly, feeling his cheeks tingle and burn, and ignored the way they both burst into laughter at the sight of his face. "Poor Yugi, he's going to have to wait another two years before she'll give it up."

"Or until marriage—she's all about that girly romance stuff."

"Guys!"

"Dude, don't discourage him! He'll begin to lose faith in women altogether!"

"He's had a crush on the same girl for the last two years—there's no way he'll 'lose faith'. If he didn't lose faith when she was oozing over that guy in middle school, he won't now either."

Honda gave him an annoyed look on Yugi's behalf, shaking his head when he saw the smallest of their trio frown at the mention of those long months. "You do realize you're not supposed to mention that kind of crap on the day your best friend gets his first girlfriend—and with his lifelong crush, right?"

"Um…Lifelong?" Yugi objected, blushing when they both arched thin brows at him. He shook his head and frowned faintly. "No, that's actually Jennifer Aniston—she's my lifelong crush."

"Dude I knew you were just a little too happy watching that show!" the blond guffawed. "Now we know why!"

"Oh shit, I thought you had the hots for the brunette but you were into blondes the whole time!"

"She's gorgeous—and looks fine as fuck."

"Anzu's got competition!"

"Hell yeah, she does!"

"You'll have to forget about Jennifer when you're with Anzu though."

"No, because we'll have the list. The one where we can sleep with those ten people and not get reprimanded for it because they're famous and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he declared, smirking and raising his chin a little higher. "And she'll have Johnny Depp as her first one."

"Wait, Johnny Depp, seriously?"

"Wait, how do you know?"

"Because she has a thing for his accent and every single one of the characters he's played in those movies. She's totally head over heels for him."

"It's…so weird that you know that."

"Not really. You forget that she tells me almost everything."

Honda rolled his eyes and started walking, the other two quickly following suit. "Who else is on your list then, Yugi?"

"Megan Fox," he grumbled with a shrug. "And Alison Hannigan. I would pay money for Eliza Dushku. Her voice is fucking sexy. Imagine her saying something around moaning and—"

"Fuck, stop," Jonouchi begged, practically panting with pleasure at the idea as Yugi snickered and smirked at Honda. The brunet rolled his eyes upwards and shook his head. "You can't talk like that in public! That's something you save for at home…while watching videos…and imagining other people and—"

"You've just made it so much worse for yourself!" he guffawed, slipping out of his grip and racing into his homeroom as the other two hurried after him. Both taller teens huffed, snickering at him as he quickly claimed his seat and hooked his backpack on the narrow hook on the back of the chair.

"I'm going to get you back for that later," Jonouhi hissed at him as he took his seat beside him, scowling and narrowing his eyes. He shook his head when Yugi grinned at him playfully and raised a brow in open amusement. Honda rolled his eyes from where he took his seat on the other side of the brunette. "You mark my words, Yugi."

"I'm quivering," he snorted, smirking as he looked back towards his bag to pull his notebook and a pencil from the pockets. "I'll be sure to watch my back all day and night, Jonouchi, just for that special moment when you decide to 'make me pay'."

"Someone's being a smartass," Honda sang, snickering when the blond shot him a nasty look and the smaller teen merely winked at him. There wasn't much that the blond could actually do, he realized, with his heightened senses in play. If he wanted to, he would hear him before he could even think to come up with a better strategy and he would turn it around on him immediately. The idea made him grin but the reason behind it caused it to fall away.

Yugi tilted his head towards them for a moment, thinking for a second whether or not he could possibly say something of that magnitude. It didn't matter that it was in a public place, just that they actually believed him. But he had no proof unless they waited until the full moon to watch him change, and that seemed like such a disgusting thing that he would never allow them to behold it. All of the puking and the blood spill was nothing he would ever want to expose them or anyone else to.

And what more was there to do?

Say he was a werewolf and hope they didn't think he was insane?

He lowered his head, grabbing the pencil firmly between his fingers and flipping it several times. There was only so much he could let them in on with this as a new denominator in his life. There would be no more festivals on the full moon or running around on those nights of the months. He wouldn't have an explanation as to why he couldn't be around them then, and someone was bound to notice and take note of the frequency of every full moon. So, how was it that he was supposed to hide it?

He could only think fully of isolation, cutting himself off from them completely at some point. He would have to start out slowly and then work it up to more frequent absences, until it was eventually no longer a question. And that thought disgusted him more than he considered even the Change did.

Here he was, sitting here, thinking about how he should ditch his friends instead of tell them a secret like this. But, in the question of his sanity or his lifestyle, he had no choice when it came down to it. He swallowed hard, focusing fully on the pencil in his hand, and wished for a moment that there was a way to erase mistakes in life. If only there was so that he could simply draw upon it as needed when things got rough…

He could erase the entire disease and never have had a reason to have that run-in with Ushio, because the former student wouldn't be waiting for him. Because he wouldn't have locked eyes with him and looked away. He would never have been looked at that group. Maybe Kokurano would still be alive as well. And then Tomoya, too…

---

"You know, not all deaths appear in obituaries," Kasumi commented suddenly, startling Yugi so violently that he jumped and nearly fell out of his chair. The only thing that saved him from completely collapsing backwards was the sudden instinctive tilt of his body and the way his right hand grasped the top of the table. He drew in a deep breath, nearly swallowing his tongue, and shook his head faintly, frowning at her in feigned puzzlement.

"What are you talking about?"

An elegant eyebrow rose and he felt his cheeks flush with humiliation. "Considering you've been combing through the obituary pages and watching that news program, I think it's a safe guess to say you're looking at that kind of thing," she commented wryly. "Now, the only question is why."

Yugi opened and closed his mouth and then shook his head with a frown, glancing at the paper and back slowly. "I don't know…I just…I got kind of curious. I mean, I guess I was just wondering if there's a serial killer or what's going on. I mean…Kokurano with his drugs, then Tomoya in the alleyway and Ushio left on our front door. I don't…I'm just a little freaked, I guess."

Kasumi stared at him for a long moment, blinking slowly and shaking her head with a frown. She had watched him closely ever since Ushio's death and, though he had been unmistakably rattled, he had not been traumatized. He had not wound up obsessed with it nor interested in finding out more about it. He had not done much more than find that there was something of a small connection to link the two cases of Tomoya and Ushio. He had not even paid much attention to Kokurano's death when it had happened, though that may have been just because the articles were so little on him.

Now, looking at him, Yugi appeared almost feverish with confusion and perhaps some concern, as if he were afraid of something or other. If she had not raised him for the entirety of his sixteen year lifespan, Kasumi might have considered his expression to be one of guilt. But that gleam in his gaze could have just as easily been because of the deep bags set beneath his vibrant eyes, lending them an emotion that did not truly exist there.

"Maybe," she consented, not sure what more to do. Yugi would not open up to her unless he felt safe to do so. If he didn't feel that he had reason to, then she had no need to bug him. As long as he was fine at the end of the day, she supposed it didn't truly matter that he decided he suddenly wanted to read the few obituaries Domino City had to offer. "You might have to read online if you're really looking for something though."

"I'm not looking for anything," Yugi said, raising a brow at her, but there was something in his voice that they both heard and recognized as his tell. It was clear, in an instant, that he was lying and maybe even the smallest hint nervous and guilty about it. But neither commented on it, and she instead brushed a hair from his forehead to play with his bangs and kiss his temple.

Yugi watched her go seconds later, listening to her footsteps as she headed into her bedroom, and closed his eyes with a soft sigh. She had chosen the day to be off, something that he was both relieved and flustered about. If she caught wind of Anzu having asked him out, she would lecture him on safe sex yet again. And that was nothing he needed.

After she had accidentally walked in on him watching one of Jonouchi's videos she had given him several talks about the entire thing. Most of it had even made their health classes pale in comparison—and Japan's health classes were regarded as some of the best in the world, if not the best.

An hour after their conversation the doorbell rang. He paused, momentarily confused by the way the chime echoed in his ears, and frowned in puzzlement as to who it was. It was gone instantly, however, and he moved down the stairs, only pausing at the bottom step to make sure he did not seem too eager as he opened the door.

When he padded over to the entrance, Anzu was waiting for him, rocking back and forth on the heels of her shoes, smiling shyly with cheeks that were slightly flushed from the chilled air. The sunlight bounced off of her hair like it was silk and for a moment, when the breeze stirred it, he thought of leaves and warm weather, of the sun touching the earth. He thought briefly of the way the branches had stirred in the trees and then, as if summoned by his refusal to openly confront it, he found himself picturing those two wolves with the darker and lighter shades of brown fur.

Both wolves had had pelts that were extremely ragged in comparison to the black wolf's. Was it a part of their disease? Would the black wolf appear the same? Would he suffer the same, with tufts of fur missing and a pelt caked and layered as if with blood and mud?

He tried to shake away the thought but already he saw the brown wolf with the icy blue eyes that seemed to peer at him through the darkness.

There was a small flash of amber, unmistakable in the moonlight, outlined with a glint of silver, and his stomach tossed violently. For a brief moment he heard the snarls again, violent and reverberating in his ears, making him stiffen and feel sick. He blinked and teeth were glistening with saliva, fur was rising into a bristle. There was the shift of dirt and the crunch of fallen leaves and dying undergrowth crushed by their weight.

"My mom is upstairs if you still wanted to talk to her about Peaches," he mumbled, unable to do more than step aside for her and feeling as if he might puke. There was an unsettling dizziness that was creeping over him, the efforts slow and minimal, but with enough malice to make his head ring for the tiniest of seconds. He watched her curiously, took in the way that he hesitated as if unsure of how to respond, and then gave him a small "Thanks" before making her way up the stairs. He closed the door carefully, breathing in roughly, and narrowed his eyes into slits.

He didn't need to think anymore about those wolves than he already had. Even with how dangerous the night before had been and how draining the entire experience was after having to get back up on his feet and pretend nothing had happened, he found himself disinclined to spend so much time caught on them like this. It was a hideous idea, but he wanted nothing more than to bury his head under his blankets and sleep it all away, to let it be something outside of his normal life and let it die there. It would be on the outskirts, far from his mind and inquisitive nature, and he would never worry about it.

Except that the wolves had been there. He had been there. They had died. He had nearly been killed.

He shook his head sharply, tempted almost to twist the lock into place with the anxiety growing within his muscles. He glanced over his shoulder towards the doorway and was tempted almost to see if he could pick up on their conversation, but the distraction was nothing he desired. He didn't want to hear about another sick animal because it would lead, inevitably, back to the wolves. Nothing seemed to keep his attention away from them, from the idea of them.

Had their bodies been found? On the internet he had been unable to find even a trace of them. On the news they had merely mentioned the festival and its large turnabout. In the newspaper there had only been a mention of Miho, Kokurano, Tomoya and Ushio and how no leads had come about. There was to be a reward placed soon, if there was no information to be found solely by the police.

He frowned and tipped his head up, sure he had heard the stairs squeak, but there was nothing else to accompany it. There was no soft touch of the carpet fibers springing beneath someone's weight and the lack of disturbance was both relieving and yet unnerving all at once. He wished for a distraction, but he hardly wanted anyone to see him in such a state. If Anzu walked down the stairs and spotted him, he would have no means of denying just how uncomfortable he was or how badly he was unfocused.

And what kind of date would this be if he could not even think to stay focused on her? She had asked him out, he'd agreed, and now he was regretting it so fully that it nearly made him sick with nerves. Maybe a reschedule would have been better, but then would she even listen to him if he tried to do so? He didn't even think he would listen if someone tried that with him.

He bit his lip, frowning, and glancing towards the empty kennels behind the reception desk. For a moment his eyes lingered on the bottom right one, where he knew they had housed Valon, and his gut twisted that much harder. How had he managed to escape? How had no one noticed him? And what had that residue been that was still left on the metal like a stain of ink? It was shaped like the hybrid, almost as if it were a permanent shadow or replica of his fur. He shuddered and thought for a moment to go over, to maybe see if he could find something now that he had not then.

Was there a secret to the lycanthropy that he still did not know? Could the answer maybe somehow be in that stupid residue?

He doubted it, but, with the abrupt tilt of his axis like this, he was unable to shake the possibility. If it was possible that Valon held so many answers, why would he not share them with him? What was his reasoning behind telling him he was not meant to exist? That all he would bring to the world was war and bloodshed?

Yugi turned his head, startled mentally but body reacting on autopilot as he heard Anzu begin to descend the stairs again. How long had she been up then? How long had he been musing about this? He wondered if he looked as lost as he felt and quickly shook the thought off.

Now wasn't the time for this.

He would enjoy his time with Anzu and then maybe he would deal with it further without being forced to. No wolf would have to track him down now to thrust him further into this struggle of a new lifestyle. He would figure things out as necessary without all of the outside help to cripple him.

A new and steady noise began to form in his ears, catching his attention. It was wet, small, a twisting motion that came in slow beats. His head tilted, confused, but then his eyes widened. His pulse was jumping in response. His fingers had begun to twist where he had pressed them unconsciously into his jacket pockets. Against the fabric his palms had grown warmer than natural, clammy with perspiration. The idea made his stomach twist and his mouth feel dry with confusion. His skin crawled for the smallest of moments, the hairs on his arms bristling with discomfort.

He bit back a small groan at the realization that came over him. He was perspiring nervously and that second thumping noise within his ears was his best friend's heartbeat. She was something of the mirror of his emotions, though less noticeably. The brunette was not sweating but her heart had sped up.

The sounds of both of their pulses in his ears made his head spin faintly. He could smell something, warm and mellow, laced with something like vanilla, and the scent made his thoughts flicker to a halt. A salty, buttery hint of a breeze came through to his senses, burning at his attention, and his stomach clenched more painfully.

In a jerking movement, forgetting himself and the idea to remain calm, Yugi wiped his palms on his jeans in order to rid himself of the excess perspiration. The action made the brunette smile faintly, amused by his discomfort, but he ignored it. If only she knew why it was that he was suddenly so terrified of it all. If she knew he was listening to her heartbeat and smelling much more than just her perfume at the moment, she would probably never think to smile like that. Nor would she probably ever speak to him.

The thought nearly made him giggle hysterically, stunned by the boldness of the accusation, and he bit the inside of his cheek to smother the impulsive noise. Instead he hurriedly returned his left hand to his pocket and flexed his fingers faintly before giving her a small smile.

"You ready?" he asked, sure that maybe his voice would give way to the tightness in his throat and amazed when it failed to. When she nodded voicelessly, ducking her head slightly and again pushing a hair behind her ear, he was relieved to have an excuse to turn away and twist the doorknob open.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye as they started out of the door, holding it open for her and allowing her to get a step ahead. It occurred to him that she looked beautiful even with the basic combination of a t-shirt beneath a jacket and a pair of jeans. The fact that it was winter made it impossible for her to enjoy wearing skirts and shorter jackets as she always did in the warmer seasons.

During the warmer months he admittedly liked to hold a door open for her and watch her, just as anyone else would have. He would let her stray ahead and then hurry to her side seconds later before she could notice he had fallen behind somewhat. He would use the longest strides he possibly could, anxious not to let her catch him and label him a pig as she had so often Jonouchi.

The thought of being clumped with him like that made him cringe every time he considered it. It wasn't that he thought it demeaning in all actuality—because Jounouchi was most definitely not shy about his antics with porn and fantasies—but that he didn't want her to think of him that way. He could have anyone else consider him that way but if she ever did, he thought it might kill him.

Her opinion of him mattered far too much to him sometimes, to the point that it scared him every now and then. And the thought of it being lowered made him feel worse than maybe even the idea of telling the others about his new disease.

Yugi glanced between them once, quick and certain. They were almost matching in the basic structure of their outfits. She was wearing a bright blue shirt and a pink leather jacket over it with a pair of navy jeans. Her sneakers were a basic pink with white laces, flat-soled with a brighter design on the very bottom. He could hear rather than see the bangle bracelets she wore, the constant clicking making him smile faintly. She had always told him that the bracelets were something of a good luck charm for her.

He had chosen to wear his royal blue uniform jacket and a dark gray tank top beneath it. A studded belt hung around his waist to hold up a pair of black skinny jeans and his feet were covered by black Converse. On his left wrist was a black band of soft material, and on his right a studded bracelet to match the belt. It was not completely dressed up, but it seemed more or less better than his average outfit. He looked as if he had least tried some, even if he might have failed.

Anzu's heart skipped slightly when Yugi locked eyes with her and gave a small smile. The momentary falter was almost enough to make him stop short. His immediate thought was that she was sick and then he reminded himself that she was nervous. Somehow the lycanthropy seemed to have drawn out the more mindless part of him, replacing something of his common sense. He nearly rolled his eyes upwards, frustrated with the thought, and then looked away again with a faint frown.

"So, how is Peaches?" he muttered, voice distinctly distracted but somehow forming the words with enough conviction to sound interested. The smaller teen kicked a pebble aside, watching it skid and listening with a deft attention to the way that it scraped the asphalt. It distracted him from the weight of his newest keenness of sense and he wanted almost to cry out in victory. Another kick made it jump and the silence that should have been there was filled with a heartbeat, though he could not tell whose now.

"She's fine," she replied, watching him as he casually sped up to get to the small rock again, kicking it forward once more. She thought of a cat leaping at a mouse, tossing it forward and then pouncing again. It was unnerving to see how focused he seemed on this task, as if he were so nervous that he could not face her or bear hold up better conversation. "We think it was probably just that she ate too much. There's nothing else wrong with her, she's just bloated."

Yugi nodded and pictured the small bright orange and white pink-nosed bunny. She was long-haired, with floppy ears, and the image of her in his head was just enough to keep him from feeling sickened by the sound of their hearts in his ears again. He paused, looking at his rock for a moment, and was just about to kick it when Anuz's elbow brushed against his.

The movement was electrifying, making his spine tighten with elation before it dissolved almost immediately. She wanted to hold hands; his hands were noticeably sweaty. He almost cringed at the idea. He flashed her a small, unnerved smile, something that she graced with a sympathetic look. They were both nervous, he knew, and she was showing him that more fully with the depths of emotion in her eyes.

He continued to kick the rock, not bothering to look at her again as they continued. The conversation was nonsensical and unimportant, to the point that he drowned it out with no effort on his own behalf. Their voices were mild buzzes in his ears, scattered by the scraping of his newest entertainment, and then the smallest hint of their pulses though they were nearly nonexistent.

A new sound caught his attention, however, making him stop short, and he stopped abruptly at the way it curled in his ears above the rest of the noise around them. For a moment he thought it was a car oncoming, maybe veering off the asphalt and towards the sidewalk where they were. Then, as his eyes scanned rapidly, he realized he had merely caught the noise of a dog.

It was small and black and cream in color, darting forward at the end of its leash. A small five-year-old boy was walking it, though it merely tugged him along as if he were nothing more than a toy. The parents were several steps behind, laughing and chatting softly over the display in front of them.

The small canine abruptly stopped short, nose twitching, and its head turned to stare at him. The brown eyes were wide, almost amber in the way that the sun hit them directly, and the wagging tail halted. The head tilted, floppy ears pricking very faintly, and the fur lifted slightly along the shoulders but not into a full bristle. The tail very slowly dropped completely, then began to curl between its legs fearfully.

"He's a beautiful dog," Yugi commented casually as the boy's parents passed by, trying to pretend not to notice the effect his presence had on the other canine. His stomach rolled for a moment; had he just considered himself a canine? He nearly choked at the realization but swallowed away the impulse, instead narrowing his eyes slightly to keep from saying or doing anything stupid.

"Yeah, he's pretty great," the father commented, the mother instead muttering about the puppy's sudden fear as the boy shook his head with an extremely confused look. Yugi was almost tempted to apologize, seeing the way that the family had turned their attention so solely to the animal with displays of such obvious concern. "Would you like to pet him? He won't bite."

The smaller teen shook his head with a smile and pressed the toe of his right sneaker against the rock on the sidewalk in front of him. A curl of disgust seeped through him for a moment, but did nothing to stop him from pulling the stone closer to him and then pushing it back again. The crunching noise was soft enough that the others did not hear but it burned his ears, soothing and somehow rich.

Yugi watched them from the corner of his eye, wondering if they might understand and make the connection. With the way that the puppy licked Anzu's hand and wagged its tail happily, he would have assumed they would say something. But nothing happened as the seconds passed, and the only thing that seemed to hint even remotely towards this predicament was that the canine kept looking between the two of them nervously. Every few seconds the wide brown eyes were on him, burning his skin, desperate and unsure, as if he expected Yugi to leap forward and attack him.

"He's never acted like this before," the mother commented after a long moment, her voice so low and soft that it made Yugi blink in confusion before turning his head toward her. He had not even realized she might think to speak, and the realization that she was staring at him so calmly made his insides twist painfully. Her eyes were sharp, specks of blue ice, boring into his face as he studied her perplexed and slightly challenging expression. "Normally, he's really excited to meet new people. I've never seen him so timid before…"

"The bottom level of my house is an emergency clinic," he said as smoothly as possible, though he was unnerved when her expression sharpened. For a moment he felt stupefied, and then realized she thought he was telling her there was something wrong with her dog. Startled by the idea of a confrontation, he rushed to explain, "He probably just smells all the chemicals and the other animals on me."

A moment passed between them and her expression grew a small bit more relaxed, but only showed a growing dubiousness that made his skin crawl. "Oh, well, yeah, maybe." She smiled at him only halfheartedly, a forced curve of her lips made frustration bubble up in the young teenager's stomach. How dare she look at him like that. "He's only ever been to the vet once."

"He got fixed," the father snorted, smirking at him in that way that said they were sharing an inside joke when he glanced over. The expression was goofy and somewhat cynical, as if he had not completely agreed to have him neutered for whatever reason. "He probably remembers it just because of that."

Anzu was giggling around cooing at the dog as Yugi glanced at the boy. He was bragging proudly about his small canine companion, nodding vigorously as if he planned to prove each of his words. The mother laughed softly, the noise somewhat shaky in his ears, and the small teen wondered if his lycanthropy were inflicting nerves upon each of them unconsciously.

Her eyes were still fully on him, he knew, and he nearly curled his lip back in discomfort, instinct momentarily telling him to growl in warning. He didn't want a confrontation and her eyes on him began to unnerve him further. Instead of following this instinct, however, Yugi turned his attention towards the second that crept over him.

His head turned and he locked eyes with her again, the two gazes boring into each other almost angrily. For a moment he looked almost startled and then, as if he had somehow hypnotized her, the pupils of her eyes began to dilate slowly but surely, pushing away the blue ring of color. There was no fear, but he could not detect anything else in her eyes either, and for a moment, he wondered if perhaps she saw something in his eyes that she should not have.

His mind was unable to place where he had seen such an expression before. As he watched her, her pupils began to dilate further, and the sight of it set him on edge but did not give him an answer of any kind. It was only as he ground the rock a little harder beneath his shoe, listening to the scraping noise and feeling some of the tension drop from his frame, that he recognized it.

He had seen his own face twisted into this particular expression about twenty hours prior, when he had seen the wolf that morning. He had not fully paid attention to it all, too stunned by the whiplash of his emotions, but he recognized the awe and confusion as well as he knew his own face. The emotions had utterly blindsided him and left him shocked, and so it begged the question of what it was that she saw there now.

What was it that any of them saw?
He knew that Valon had said that he could see the lycanthropy in his eyes. That was how he had figured it out at the library, was it not? But he was also a werewolf, so Yugi was not sure that the statement held true for a regular person.

But he would have had to be blind and senseless not to notice the way she stared at him.

Yugi stared at her, unable to do anything more. He prayed she would not speak, that nothing would come out of her mouth to condemn him at this moment. He didn't need them all to know about how unnatural he was. The longer he watched, the more he felt ensured that she would not speak. Later, she would probably mention to her husband that she thought he was strange. Beyond that, he did not think she would have an explanation for it.

He ignored the urge to tip his head to the side as he caught a new sound in the back of his skull. It pounded and resonated like a pulsing drum, like the skin had been drawn tight, hit heavily, and the echo was centered behind his eyes. It threatened to drive him insane the way that it pulsed at such a rapid and powerful pace, dancing as if it were part of his thoughts.

He wanted, for a small moment, to snap at Anzu that they needed to leave, that there was no reason for them to stay. There were plenty of dogs elsewhere to pet. And preferably he would not be there for it.

Finally, unnerved and unable to hold his gaze any longer, the mother turned away. In a low and nearly inaudible voice she managed to say that they needed to get back to the house. Her husband frowned faintly at her, drawn out of a conversation with Anzu and their son, and finally nodded his response.

The blue eyes flickered quickly back to him, boring into his skin, and for a moment he wondered if she thought he was a sociopath. And, really, what this situation came down to for him, was the strange and drifting thought of whether she worried for herself or her family, which weighed more heavily on her mind.

He shook it off as they walked away and continued kicking the rock around as they began to make idle chitchat again. It seemed forced, however, as if maybe she had noticed the strain of their encounter with the family as well. Tiredly, the blue-violet-eyed teen kept his focus centered more proficiently on the small stone, and ignored the urge to flinch away when Anzu brushed against him by accident.

The arcade was packed when they walked in and the fact that there were so many packed within the four walls made him abruptly stiffen. His body grew rigid, his spine aching with intensity, and chewed his lip violently at the sight of so many bodies there. His skin began to crawl, the perspiration beading on his forehead and sliding down his skin as if the temperature had grown fiercely hotter than ever before. The atmosphere seemed to cram inwards, pushing on them all, and it burned him as if he were being lit on fire.

There was a hideous clicking and bouncing noise in his ears as buttons were jammed down violently. Sweat made soft squeaking noises on the surface of the plastic as thumbs slipped briefly. Clothes were rustling heavily, bunching up beneath clammy palms. Soft curses were let loose, followed by whispers and annoyed groans. The music beat his ears with enough force to make his head pound. A few people laughed and cheered. Someone mentioned high scores set by YM on each game.

Ice shifted in sodas, bubbles of carbonation bursting to the surface. Someone opened another can. A cup was placed down against the wood next to the machines. Beads of perspiration rolled down the side of the plastic. It pooled against the bottom. Someone clapped their friend on the back when he became frustrated with his loss.

The timers on some of the games chirped. The characters grunted as they were knocked around. The clock in the corner on the back wall ticked heavily. The soft leather of the seat covers squeaked with shifts of weight. The metal rungs were touched gently by softened rubber. Coins made hideous metal thudding noises as they were released inside of the slots. Levers were pulled hard enough to make the metal snap and buckle, vibrating.

But, over it all, was the assault of war drums in his ears. They were played out of tune. His heart was pounding in his ears, echoing and yet leading them all at once. A dull roaring centered itself in the center of his skull. His eyes stung and burned. Frustration and annoyance pushed at his insides. His veins ached as if caught on fire individually. The perspiration on his forehead grew more abundant. His back felt as if it were soaked. His clothes were clinging to his skin.

He shifted both forward and somehow backwards on his feet. The air was laden with the harsh odor of bodies drenched in sweat. There was the undercurrent of sugar and stale gum, of snacks like pizza, and a couple of meals like fries and chicken fingers. There was mingling and disgusting swirls of perfumes and colognes so strong as they mixed together that it made him feel sick. Above this, however, was the strong and overpowering metallic smell which burned his nostrils and made him nearly sway. His legs almost buckled, trembling beneath him, as he caught the warmer, buttery scent that still lacked definition in his mind.

The laughter made him cringe back. A whine was bubbling up in his throat. The pain was pulsing in his head. His eyes were becoming spotted with the infliction. The buttons jumping against their springs made his jaw clench. His lungs grew constricted as the toggles moved back and forth rapidly.

Hands clapping against someone else's flesh made him dizzy. He swayed only for a moment, eyes clenching shut. He could hear the ribs of each person in the room as they expanded, creaking gently under their skin. Sweat made a dripping sound as it hit the ground.

And, as he struggled to push away such intense strikes towards his senses, he felt it. It was like someone was touching him with invisible fingers. They probed and traced his skin with gossamer affection. They tried to seep within him like mist in his lungs. There was a chill of loss, the bitterness of defeat, the frustration of being leered at.

He felt the annoyance pricking his skin like needles. The humor poked at him as if beckoning for laughter. He trembled as they pushed further against him. It was almost as if water were beginning to push first at his skin and then through his veins. The emotions swirled within the depths of his stomach and curled upwards. His body trembled painfully.

His skin felt stretched, aching. It seemed to crawl and trail upwards. The hairs on his arms began to rise to a stand. An image appeared in the forefront of his mind. The trees were stretched out before him. The branches touched the sky. The wind trailed through the dying undergrowth. The animals chattered softly. A leaf fluttered downwards.

He trembled again, clenching his eyes shut as tightly as possible. A noise was bubbling in his lungs. It crawled up his throat. Then it slowly began to dissipate. It pressed on his tongue and then fell into nonexistence. It built up continuously, then faded just as often. His diaphragm ached, heaving briefly, and his stomach twisted. He gagged reflexively.

"Yugi?" Anzu asked immediately, eyes wide as she took him in. He was statuesque beside her. His jaw was clamped together so tightly she thought it had locked. His body was wracked with a tremor every few seconds. His face had become screwed up, skin bunching together around his nose and beneath his eyes.

His expression was one of pure pain, almost powerful enough to be described as agony. For a moment he did not respond to her, then the repetition of his name made his eyes open. They were mere slits at first, his skin scrunched so far upwards that it seemed he would be blinded by it. Then they opened slowly into a size almost thrice their normalcy.

The blue-violet irises were sharp, the pupils blown hideously.

He had to get out of there. He had to escape before something stupid happened beyond the noise that kept bubbling up and dying and rising again.

He took in a deep breath, stepping back once with wild eyes. They glittered with an almost artificial design to their depths. The pupils glimmered with an almost silver light, the depth lost like a shard of mirror. Anzu watched him, mesmerized and horrified. She was frozen next to him, unable to do anything more than stare.

For a moment he stared blankly forward. Then, as she managed to breathe out his name again, his head turned. The way his eyes glowed at the edges, the blue lighting as if with flames, was so unnatural that she nearly flinched away. She stumbled back a step but kept her footing, opening and closing her mouth in horror. Her heart leaped into her throat, stomach dropping as she stared back at him.

His pupils had become nothing more than mere pinpricks. The color had dashed from his irises altogether. They were nothing more than dull glittering plates of purple and blue. The edges of the small dots of black bled straight into his irises as if they were becoming a droplet of ink to be absorbed by paper.

Slowly the two colors of what was usually a vibrant sapphire blue and warm violet merged together. A uniform blanket of color came over his irises, making them flat and almost lifeless. But there seemed almost to be a layer of reflective glass there now, almost as if his eyes had been replaced by mirrors.

All she could see was herself. In the center of his irises, where his pupils should have been, all she could find was her reflection. She was a discolored and almost pale figure there, surrounded by white. The fluorescent lights made gleams of cold slices like ice, bringing her shape to the forefront in his gaze. She flinched backwards, away from him, horrified. Everything in his eyes was just so clear, defined and sharp, reflecting everything around him like glass.

His mind fearfully wondered if he might be forced to change somehow. His skin twitched and grew itchier. The blood in his veins had reached a boiling point. His mind was feverish, confused and dazed. He thought momentarily of the heat he had felt during the Change the night before. He felt his teeth grind minutely as he tried to open his mouth.

A fog of disdain and desperation seeped through his mind, leaving him sick and disgusted as his body trembled once more. His spine was pulled taut like his muscles. His heart was beating faster than ever. The noises had all blended together, becoming dull roars of energy. Abruptly, his feet moved. He backed up two steps, then blinked.

Then he jerked violently. He spun on his heel, running out the door.

He was panting as he tore through the streets without a second glance.

---

The minutes seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Winded by his own fear more than exhaustion, the blue-violet-eyed teen pulled himself to a halt at the edge of the woods he knew would eventually lead him back towards his house. He glanced over his shoulder, wondering if he looked suspicious, but could not find it in himself to care as he turned and headed through the trees.

His mind slowed almost immediately, the air making his skin feel lighter than ever. The heat in his body was brought to a halt by the cold chill around him. He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, and exhaled as he opened his gaze into slits. He watched the small puff of white that came with the motion, and closed his eyes for a brief second. There was a hint of sickness that still lingered in his belly but he did not puke as he continued to walk slowly towards the trees.

He had not truly expected to find himself there, halting on the sidewalk in front of the grass and trees. The sound of his footsteps was echoing in his ears, crunching like little symphonies of noise. He breathed out deeply again, frowning faintly, and glanced over his shoulder at the street again before shaking his head. He had assumed he would make his way back to his house or even to the park.

But something in his gut had guided him there, and he realized going home would have been the worst of ideas. His family was there, and they would probably ask what had happened. They would want to know if he was okay, why Anzu wasn't there with him. And he could not think of something worthy to say.

Yugi let out a soft sigh and glanced around curiously, a scent almost like cedar trees making his nose tingle. He paused, blinking, and sniffed at the scent until it uncurled into a more blanketing breeze to identify its source. It unfurled like the new growth of leaves in spring, making his stomach warm with comfort at the sensation. His mind sorted it as autumn leaves bathed in sunlight, touched by the chill of coming winter air. He closed his eyes tightly and let the smell comfort him for a brief moment.

The wolf must have wandered that way that night. He must have taken the path through the trees there on the way to whatever his destination had been. He smiled faintly at the thought, looking around him slowly, and sighed when he realized that he could follow and hope to find it and maybe gain answers or remain where he was. He supposed it didn't truly matter if he were to find him. He did not speak. He would not open his mouth just for him. The thought made him frown faintly and he almost chastised himself for the stupidity of the idea.

For a moment he thought of only the red-eyed wolf, of how he had made him play charades after saving him. And that stunned expression that had crossed his face when he had said it was okay if he didn't talk still made his stomach twist. He thought briefly of the way the other teen had seemed so horrified by the idea of getting too close to him. And as that idea passed through his mind, he found himself unable to fight away Valon's words in his head, echoing so violently that he cringed.

He reached up, sinking his teeth into his nail hard enough to make it bleed, and frowned at himself in frustration. The words were like arrows, pricking at his insides painfully, and he swallowed hard as he shook his head sharply and looked around once. His eyes lowered to the ground, his mind trying unsuccessfully to draw into itself and form a tiny ball without enough air to breathe and circulate ideas through his head.

Was that why he had fled like that?

Because he, too, considered Yugi some kind of creature that meant death and war?

Did he consider him so unnatural that it warranted fleeing after saving his life?

But, if he was so terrible, why would he have wasted so much time doing so much to save his life like that?

He shook his head again and ran a hand through his hair. His thoughts didn't make sense. But, if that was how the wolf viewed things, then his actions didn't make any sense either.

A stronger breeze of the scent brushed through his senses and he flinched but grew more alert all at once. Was the wolf nearby? Was it watching him, sitting and studying him?

He tried to tell the direction the wind was coming from, whether the animal was downwind or flanking him, but his thoughts were too disheartening to put much effort into the task. The way the scent enveloped him for a brief moment, swirling as if tugging at his clothes and kissing his senses, made him frown faintly. It was as if something were seeping into his blood, a fire set in his veins again, and his conscious circulated with the strength of it until he was attempting to grasp it halfheartedly.

He turned his head, breathing in where he felt it brushing against him more prominently. He sniffed once, then drew the scent as deep into his lungs as he possibly could. For a moment he thought to drown himself in it, enamored with the scent and feeling wondrous with the sensation. It was a relieving distraction from the intense loss he felt he was being swallowed by. By, even as he did this, searching with his senses, he knew unconsciously that the wolf was not there. He would not show himself. He would not come forth from one of the trees to check on him.

The red-eyed lycanthrope was nowhere around when he decided to keep walking.

---

No one was home when he got there, opening the door and straining his ears to listen for even the tiniest scratch of noise. The only things to greet him was the hum as the air vents rattled softly, the buzz of the fridge as it began to cool the food again, and the tick of the second hand of the clock in his bathroom. The noises were comforting, cloaking him in a sense of familiarity that made his tensed muscles relax slightly.

The power of the calm of which the noise granted him made Yugi falter slightly, breathing in roughly and looking upwards for a moment. His status of being alone within the house made his stomach twist briefly, warmed uncomfortably, and he leaned against the glass pane of the windows. He closed his eyes, letting out a soft laugh of amusement, and reached up to run a hand through his hair.

He had barely decided to come home. For what had felt like hours, he had remained debating whether or not he should wander back or find somewhere else to hide away. The noises in his ears made him smile faintly as he kicked himself forward and began to make his way towards the staircase. He licked his lips, wondering how long they might have been gone, and for a moment wondered if he could sniff the air and find out, but decided against it. He was not sure it was worth it.

And an instinct whispered somewhere in the back of his mind that it would be a while. It might have been intuition for all he knew but he had the idea that it might be hours before they arrived. Yugi grinned faintly, still listening to those three noises, and pulled the door open to trot up the stairs two at a time.

He would have worried about stumbling on another day, but considering all the strange reflexive saves that that his body seemed to have given him earlier, now he didn't care. If he fell, that meant a small bit of carpet burn if he was lucky and some normalcy and familiarity to combat his disease and changing circumstances.

The sound of his weight catching on each of the carpeted wooden plants was too loud for him. His head spun with the pain of it for a moment, as if tempting him to stumble and fall, but he ignored it. He threw the second door open, stepping immediately onto the carpet floor and heading for his room. His mother would be upset with him later if she found his sneakers in there but he had done it so often as of late that he doubted she would say something to him again about it.

He kicked his shoes off almost immediately after stepping into his room, humming as he padded towards his bed and took a seat. A glance around the room showed him that nothing had changed since he had left it last and the idea was somehow so relieving that he almost wanted to cry. The consistency made him smile faintly as he bunched his body together to draw his knees almost up to his face and settle comfortably against the mattress with a soft sigh.

Where had he put the notebook he had put the tests in? He would need to see about how fast his blood clotted, maybe write down theories about the disease. He had considered it before but now he knew he had to. The immensity of the condition was enough to make it clear that ignoring the opportunity to do so would only be foolish. He had never thought of himself as a fool and didn't plan to have to consider himself as such now. The lycanthropy could alter a lot of things, but it could not make him stupid or ignorant as others might have taken the chance to become.

He thought about it for a while and then sprang to his feet, making his way towards first his hamper and then the cabinet storage system in his closet. The doors opened in a little compartment space, drawing outwards and to the side, and though he had convinced his mom that it was only used for clothes and studies, most of the videos he borrowed from Jonouchi were there as well. There were also the few failed tests and early progress reports that he refused to show her because his grades had plummeted too far, and the occasional video game that he knew she would disapprove of.

He gripped at the back of the metal knob, tugging to dislodge it partially, and then twisted it downwards hard enough to make the metal rattle. The latch that kept it shut tight, practically gluing the door to the adjacent wall, clicked and fell away with the harsh movement. He pulled the door open, frowning faintly at the sight of the filing cabinet he knew so well. He pulled the top drawer outwards, glancing about the contents. They were arranged easily for instant access, so that if he were in a hurry he could grab one without pause.

The notebooks were in the back, the writing utensils in the front, with a few stray note card packets and things of a similar nature strew about. The second drawer held unused binders, the third a few used notebooks he studied from, and the fourth was locked and held most of the porn and the things he refused to let his mom see. He had claimed to have lost the key long ago, but he kept it hidden beneath the filing cabinet itself, where there was the tiniest slit where he could use a pencil tip to pull it back without too much effort.

Now Yugi grabbed a notebook and snatched a pen, ignoring everything else, and closed the door back in place. He slammed the door, the impact making the swinging latch click back into place with a soft noise. He narrowed his eyes, heading for the bed, and took a seat with a small kick of his legs before frowning faintly.

What was it that he could record exactly? That he thought that his senses heightened at times or that the amount of food and its nutrition level dictated his healing? And then, did he start the bloodletting tests in another notebook or just flip it to the back and work from both ends?

He huffed, frowning, and drummed his fingers over the paper for a moment. Abruptly he flung it open again, rolling his eyes, and began to write the heading of the date, time according to his phone, and Incision One. It took only a moment to dig through his drawers and relocate the instruments he had pulled out before. He snatched the needle and paper, humming as he pricked his index just enough to draw blood.

The droplet that came forward between the folds of torn flesh was a hideous and deep red, glistening with a touch of the sunlight from the window, and he shivered faintly before pressing his finger against the paper. Every two seconds he repeated the gesture, keeping his mind focused completely on the task, and frowned when the third press came all but nonexistent. The fourth attempt to press some of his blood on the sheet came back empty.

He looked at his finger, pulled at where he knew the wound to be with his other thumb and forefinger, and found himself staring blankly. There was no wound to be found. It was completely healed, nonexistent by any means, and he swallowed hard as he looked at it thoughtfully with a shake of his head. He was healing quickly and efficiently now, after having had several healthy meals his mom had decided to make, and the idea made his skin quiver.

He flipped to the end of the notebook, quickly jotting down the last few meals he'd had since the full moon, the amount he'd eaten those two days, and how much it might have affected his senses. It took him less than a minute to recall all of it, from snacks to the salmon meal she'd made, and how many servings he'd had. He even remembered the rough estimate of the time each meal had been eaten, how quickly, and how hungry he'd been each time.

An hour was spent repeating tests, jotting down the times, and eventually making his own small notes and ideas and theories about the disease. The last he wrote was about the diet of wolves and wondering if he might be more intensely drawn to fresh and raw meat than anything else. The idea horrified him enough to make him shudder and he shook his head as he got to his feet.

He heard the car doors before he glanced out the window, relaxing when he saw it really was just the two of them. He was not truly sure what he had been expecting but he had been worried all the same. But, just as sudden as his relief, so came his frustration.

What if he felt their emotions as he had everyone at the arcade? What if he found himself drowning in some kind of emotions that he had nothing to do with nor needed to even acknowledge? What if they were feuding and somehow it caused him to change like he had wondered the arcade might force him to? Or, what if, while he was with them, their emotions influenced him enough to end up as irritable?

Yugi cringed. Why was he even assuming that they were fighting in the first place? He shook his head sharply and started for his doorway as they began to come inside. It took him a moment to run into them, as his mom was laughing softly but halted at the sight of him, nearly jumping as her eyes fell on him.

"God, Yugi, don't do that!" she grumbled, shaking her head and then offering him a small smile that quickly melted away into a frown. Her eyes grew narrow, confused, and he realized with a small twinge that she was wondering at his presence there. She had assumed he would still be out with Anzu, as a date was normally longer than just a couple of hours. He should have known that she would catch onto the fact that it was just he and Anzu going and come to the most obvious conclusion.

"Curfew, remember?" he murmured, smiling at her faintly and moving around her. The gesture of facial expression made his mouth feel funny, the skin pulled almost taut at the sensation, and he shrugged at her when she raised a brow. "Anzu's parents wanted her home before curfew so we split up early."

"So, what did you two do then?" she asked, following him into the kitchen and placing several bags onto the table. He immediately moved towards them, at first confused by the amount of groceries and then remembering the new recipe that she had mentioned and wanting to try out. He began pulling out several items, humming as he took them in, and raised a brow when she continued staring at him. At his perplexed expression, she smiled slightly but shook her head. "Are you going to tell us how it went or not?"

"Oh!" he laughed, feeling stupid for his immediate fear that she might have somehow noticed something unusual and unnatural about him, but refused to speak. He relaxed a little further, turning back to the bags and grabbing another item. "We went to the arcade for a little bit and then split up. There wasn't much to it, really."

"What? Really?" his grandfather sighed, shaking his head as he placed several more bags on the table and began to empty them. Both of them glanced at him curiously at his exasperate tone. "You know, Yugi, when I was your age, I had lots of girls flocking to me."

He opened his mouth to reply, maybe to snap at him; he wasn't sure, but wound up grinning instead when his mom snorted, "Um, no, Dad, you didn't. You wish those girls were flocking to you instead of Arthur."

"They were all there for me," his grandpa argued, smirking as his voice grew light and playful. He winked over at Yugi as the small teen smiled and shook his head in amusement. "It just looked like they were all there for Arthur. There's a big difference."

"Ah, yes, obviously," his daughter returned, "because you dated all of two girls in high school."

"I was committed to my relationships!"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't believe your mother, Yugi. I was a stud when I was your age."

"You better not be encouraging him to be a womanizer."

"What? No, of course not!" Sugoroku cried indignantly, scoffing at her before quickly wrapping his arm around his grandson's shoulder and pulling him into him. He lowered his mouth to his ear, snickering, "No matter what your mother says, it's always good to sample as much as you can before you settle for something. Maybe even while you're settled."

"Dad!" his mom snapped, giving him an annoyed look. "If you turn him into a player, I am going to make you regret it."

"Oh, I'm quaking," he snorted in Yugi's ears.

The small teen shrugged out of his grip, pushing him away with a faint smile of amusement. "No worries, Mom, I'm not going to be a player." He snorted, for a moment thinking of how nearly impossible it seemed to even consider the idea when he could barely get one girl to pay attention to him, let alone more, and shook his head. He didn't need to say something like that. Besides, the only girl he liked was Anzu and she was—hopefully—still attracted to him. "Do you need some help?"

"Not really, but if you could put this in the fridge, I would appreciate it," she replied, handing him some butter and couple of butter-flied chicken breasts. He took them easily, ignoring the small tingling chill that greeted his fingers, and opened the door to place them inside. He had just barely raised his head from doing so when his mom continued. "And then men wonder why women seemed so bat-shit crazy to them all the time. With comments like that, it's amazing you made it through marriage like you did."

Yugi paused, smirking and shaking his head, and then closed the doors. The fridge let out the same gentle buzzing noise that always accompanied its existence, and he blinked slowly as his lips pulled downwards. His mom and grandpa had gone back to bickering, laughing every now and then, but he could not find it in himself to join them. He felt the laughter and warm amusement, the usual familial emotions that cloaked the air when the two of them were together and talking, but nothing was pulsating or bombarding him.

And, as he blinked long and slow and listened harder, he realized he could not hear their heartbeats.

He could not even hear his own.

Two hours later, Yugi considered it a reaction to the nerves he had already surmounted because of his date. The fact that one of them had finally gotten up the courage to ask the other out after years of having a crush on the other had to weigh in there as well. He had never even considered how many other people would be around or how nervous he might become. Whether it was caused by his lycanthropy or her in general didn't matter. He had still simply failed to take that into account and now he was being reminded never to ignore or disregard something seemingly so trivial.

He had not considered his anxiety when it came to what it would be like when he considered dating her, but it made sense to him now. Anzu was his first friend, his first crush, the only girl he had ever been truly interested in, and it only made it harder. There was a delicate line between having a relationship and ruining a perfectly great friendship with carelessness. He could potentially fuck up the entire dynamics of their group when it came down to it.

The entire balancing act could be entirely too stressful with the new disease to navigate. Was it possible for mental and physical stress to draw the wolf out? What if they were doing something together and all of the sudden he changed? What would happen then? He could potentially end up killing her if he wasn't careful.

Yugi speared a piece of chicken, making a mental note to put something in his notebook so he might be able to prepare better if he was put in a situation like that again. It was a pretty big if considering he did not think Anzu would be all that interested in going out with him again. He bit back a groan, nibbling on the end of his piece of meat and ignoring the way the tender strands separated in his mouth and caught behind his bottom right canine.

He carefully poked at it with his tongue, then made a movement of sticking the head of the fork into his mouth in order to press the teeth harshly against the enamel and gums. It did nothing to dislodge it, but he tried it anyways, unamused and somewhat disappointed that it failed.

It would have been really nice if maybe the stupid lycanthropy came with a way to get food out of the teeth faster. He wondered if the wolves even did get food caught like that. He couldn't imagine it. Their teeth were a lot different in design, with spaces between each of them, to allow fiercer bites and easier passage. Or so he remembered reading anyways. He couldn't remember what his own jaws had felt like during the Change. He didn't even remember the way the black wolf's teeth looked the night before while sitting in the dark watching him.

He was ignoring the idle dinner conversation his mom and grandpa were making, though subconsciously his mind was picking and sorting through some of the statements being made. He knew they were talking about the chicken dish, about the new seasoning she had tried out. The meat had been tender but not as juicy as usual, and his grandpa was pointedly trying unsuccessfully to say this in the nicest way possible. He would have simply said that it wasn't her fault, just that the other store had better meat but the rest of the meal was good. His grandpa was spinning something more complex, trying to talk her in circles, and failing badly.

She had never been one to be led around the bush and had made it clear multiple times. The fact that her dad was even attempting to do so was mildly insulting to even Yugi as a bystander.

He picked at the meat caught in his teeth again, spearing another piece and dutifully eating it without much thought. The flavor that exploded on his tongue was hardly registered by his taste buds. It seemed more like a drifting afterthought than anything else, something impossible to focus on.

This werewolf thing seemed to rapidly be turning into a massive bust.

What kind of supernatural creature was supposed to be so startled by emotions like this?

He nearly scoffed at himself but fell short. A thought occurred to him immediately after and he swallowed hard as he ignored the impulse to pull on his bangs in frustration. Animals sensed emotions. Wolves were no different. They sensed emotions just like cats and dogs and everything else besides humans.

He shifted his fork to scrape against the back of his teeth, biting down on the metal prongs uncomfortably, and then looked at his dish for a moment. Of course the wolf would be that strong, wouldn't it? The wolf would feel their emotions in a room full of people, listening to heartbeats and everything else happening within the area.

But then, he supposed, that was no different to kitsune, from what he knew. Weren't they supposed to have heightened senses and everything too? Considering they were fox spirits, did that mean they felt similarly or not so much?

He frowned and fought off a sigh, running his tongue over the fronts of his teeth in an effort to keep from making noise, taking another bite of chicken. Werewolves in those stories were described as mindless beasts that ran out in a rage during the full moon and killed relentlessly, without remorse. Some stories said that they felt guilt afterwards but would never remember actually doing it.

So, taking Ushio into consideration, he had to wonder if maybe it was still possible that that was not so much a myth. Maybe Ushio had been so enraged as a person and a wolf and so bloodthirsty that it became one and the same between his personalities. Was it possible that he might still end up like that somehow? Those two wolves in the woods had hardly seemed to have much conscious thought. Had they maybe been controlled by some kind of anger that the lycanthropy brought upon its host?

Would that mean he might spontaneously burst out of his skin into a pelt and a wolf body when he was furious? Was he going to maybe have a split personality where the wolf half of him spoke to him like a mental illness festering in his mind? Would the voice of his disease eventually drive him insane?

He knew of only about three things about werewolves at the moment. One was that it took a strong body that was nourished and well-maintained to heal properly as stress and lack of food made it impossible to bind wounds together like they needed to be. The second was that the full moon dictated the Change but it could also be controlled as the black wolf, Ushio and Tomoya had all displayed for him. The last was that they read and sensed others' emotions when in the same room as them.

"Maybe," his voice replied as if possessed by something other than himself. He blinked but did not give them the confused look that he knew would cling to his features if he glanced over. Instead he picked at another piece of chicken, using the need to chew to hide it as he glanced back between his grandfather and mother.

"Not before I get to see your grades, you won't."

He blinked, swallowing his mouthful, and wondered what it was they were supposed to be talking about exactly.

"Oh, please, Kasumi, let the boy play some games without worrying about his grades," the elderly Motou replied, rolling his eyes. The small teen's mind jumped into a million different directions at once, spreading outwards before slowly settling on something completely and irrevocably calming. They were talking about the new game coming out, the one that his grandpa knew he had been planning to buy for the last month and a half. His mom was simply saying that he was not going to be able to play it unless he supplied her with his report card. It was one of the most usual things that happened between them.

He bit back a startled laugh of nervousness and ache; finally there was something normal again.

"You aren't getting that game until you show me your report card, remember?" Kasumi pressed, raising a brow at him and frowning. Yugi nodded automatically, not bothering to point out that he was still in the highest percentile of his classes. Then again, more than once, he and Jonouchi had gotten their grades altered when he and the group got together and realized how bad their grades really were in comparison to everyone else's.

He had yet to be caught but he wasn't entirely proud of having to do it. And, every time he had been forced to do it, he had made sure to bring up each of his grades to the exact percentage he had forged. He had never really questioned his ability to pull his plummet into a higher percentage before the semester ended or tests started out now he wondered.

Maybe it's the wolf, he thought rather reluctantly, swallowing hard. His own voice in his head made the statement nearly inaudible, a ghost of words that made his heart skip a small beat and then triple in pace. He nearly choked as he took another bite, horrified by the idea but unwilling to allow his family to notice.

Was it? Could it be the wolf?

He swallowed hard again, desperately chewing on the newest piece of chicken on his tongue. He knew from documentaries and books that wolves were extremely intelligent and adaptive, to the point that he honestly had to wonder if maybe the Honshu wolf really did still exist. He wondered, biting into his cheek by accident and nearly yelping, if it counted as having two brains in his skull.

Was it possible that the wolf brain only reacted where they worked when given the right stimulus and the human was so often in control that it did not feel any different when they worked together? Or, was it just some kind of personality altercation?

Was it like a borderline personality, where one side could be extremely violent and the other completely controlled?

Then again, what else did he get from being one of them? If the legends were true and he got enhanced strength, that might be kind of cool—or speed. He wouldn't want ridiculous amounts of the two, but just enough that it was noticeable to him and he could use it to defend himself if he needed to. That seemed like a nice touch to a curse that seemed so grotesque when it was studied under a microscope.

If it simply made him smarter than most and allowed him to change into a wolf at will, he would not argue with that either. He wasn't sure that he liked the idea of much more to be added to the new experiences he had already had. His senses had scared him enough as it was. There was no need for something further than that.

He almost wanted to ask someone. And the one he thought of was the wolf in the woods. He would have answers, maybe been so many that he could give him everything he needed. But the wolf was a mute, he remembered abruptly, the hope inside of him dying immediately. He did not talk so he could not give that answers Yugi so desperately wanted. He would have to phrase them as closed questions, in ways that he could answer yes or no. Then he could easily nod or shake his head in response to them.

There was Valon, who he knew could tell him if he asked, but he did not think that was an offer he could try to take advantage of. His words still echoed in his head too often for him to consider differently. And had he not told him he didn't have the answers for him; that his alpha would?

But the idea of just suffering through it was terrifying. How was one supposed to survive something as drastic as this without issue? He wanted almost to cry out in pain at the mere thought but bit his tongue to suppress the urge. He didn't have the words to explain to his mother or grandfather what it was that made him so weak. And, besides that, if he truly tried, he was sure he could find the other wolf.

He would find the red-eyed teen and speak to him. He might answer him or he might not. If he didn't, then at least he could say he tried. If he did, then maybe he would have a better chance at understanding it all. But, before he attempted any of that, he would have to make a list of questions. He would need to find a way to communicate his needs with the other and have him answer in the most basic of ways. Maybe if he got the simplest answers to the most basic of questions he could figure everything out from there.

Yugi almost nodded to himself but suppressed the impulse instead. He looked towards the other two family members and wondered vaguely if they had even noticed just how awkward he had been acting recently. Had they been too caught up in other arguments—possibly about him or his medication—to notice? For the smallest of seconds he almost wanted to snarl at them, demand to know why they didn't notice, why they didn't ask, why no one seemed to care anymore. He desired nothing more than to just scream at them how scared he really was with all that was going on.

He wrote another theory down in his notebook after dinner. It was possible, he supposed, that maybe he had not noticed his family's heartbeats because they were so familiar to him that his mind no longer recognized them as noises. Maybe his brain had categorized them with such consistency that it was no longer deemed necessary to notice them.

He left the house promptly after he knew his mom and grandpa had fallen asleep. It wasn't too late, but his mom was doing an early morning surgery, his grandpa was just tired. He had been worried about his health, but he never told him if he was feeling ill in the first place. For all he knew, he could be ill and dying and neither he nor his mom would have a heads up about it. But, from what he knew of the blood test from the month before, his grandpa was healthy as a horse; he just needed to eat better.

His phone was at his ear as he paced along the sidewalk. Since the sun had gone down, the streets were mostly empty. He barely saw anyone but the occasional person hurrying home. The curfew was nothing that anyone would refuse to take seriously. After the rabies incident years before and the murders going on now, none of them were willing to risk anything. A serial killer in Domino City may have been a rare occurrence, but it was still a possibility and so he was not surprised by how quick and dutifully they all walked.

The ringing echoed in his head as he debated what he should say, pursing his lips and straining his ears. He could hear several people's hearts as they passed by, but none of them were even faintly as loud as they had been before. And all of them seemed almost serene in tempo, nothing to alarm and scare him so badly.

He narrowed his eyes and tried harder, struggling against the faint chirp of crickets on the other side of the road and a couple of cars passing by. He could barely hear the ones just within his range of senses, and their emotions were nothing he could taste or even take into consideration at the moment.

Maybe the space was too open.

The arcade had been crowded and stuffy like it always was. Maybe with all the people pressed together as they were and all the noise that had made his ears ring, it had been impossible to miss it all. Maybe with all of the dead space between him and others now, it was just much easier for it all to come lost in the air between them.

Or maybe it was just the night air, so light with the touch of chill that should have been more proficient. Maybe it was too comforting to pronounce the presence of a predator amongst these few people and the comforting edge gave them, too, the feeling of a security blanket. He may have been lost and confused and desperate for answers, but he was still a predator nonetheless.

His adrenaline spiked.

"Hey."

"Yugi?" She paused for a moment, hesitating but nonjudgmental. "Hi. What's up?"

"I, uh, I really wanted to apologize for what happened earlier, Anzu," he admitted, guilt lacing his words and his heart abruptly skipping a beat before tripling in speed. His head turned, startled by the sudden touch of something running over his skin as if by fingers gliding there.

His skin crawled briefly and he blinked stupidly as he tried to find the source. It was something strange and almost eerie, and Yugi realized without thought that he had never truly felt such a thing before in his life. "It wasn't very…nice of me to do that. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay."

He went to argue and say that it was not okay and he would understand if she hated him for it, but then slowly took in her words and the tone that she had given them. He held them there in his head for a long moment, as if cradling something fragile and precious, and realized with a twisting stomach that she had already forgiven him. She had already moved past it, come to peace with it somehow and he was only wasting his breath if he insisted on going past the initial point of apology.

"But, can I ask what happened exactly? You just…seemed to lose it for a second there. I don't understand what…Did I do something…?"

"W-what?" Yugi cried, stumbling for words and feeling stupid as he nearly gaped at the phone in disbelief. "No! Of course not! I—I just—I don't even really know what happened to me, to be honest. I just…I started feeling really sick. I…it was almost like at the festival. I just…I really needed out of there before it got worse. And I…I'm so sorry, Anzu."

"It's okay, Yugi. I was just worried."

When he strained his ears and really listened, all of his attention put forth into the task, he swore he could hear her turning the page of a magazine. The sound made his stomach drop in despair. Anzu was not a girly girl, more somewhere between that and a tomboy for the most part, and she didn't really go shopping constantly and so wasn't one for magazines. She only bothered to flip through a catalogue when she was truly worried or sad about something, stressed and emotional, and that had always been a way for him to find out if she was hurting.

To hear her doing it now was not a surprise seeing as she had put herself out there with him and he'd abandoned her. The guilt that pooled in his stomach made Yugi feel hollow and nearly alien as he took a step forward and then stopped on the sidewalk. He had been aware that he had hurt her—how he could not be?—but some part of him had hoped that she would be okay, a stupid wish by all means but one all the same.

"You ran like a bat out of hell."

He wanted almost to make the pitiful plea for her to understand. He wanted to blur out that problem, what had happened, and why he had run like that. But the words refused to form in his mouth and his lungs would not draw in air at the thought. He frowned and shook his head, looking down and away with a lick of his lips. There were no words he could say…

His head snapped up and around, eyes searching the growing darkness. His spine had grown tense and rigid, alarmed now. His senses were picking nothing up, but a faint touch of that ghost-like tickle of something against his arm. He bristled, stiffening, and shook his head as he glanced around himself. What was that?

"I know. I'm—never mind," he muttered, eyes still flickering about rapidly. She didn't want to hear another apology and he felt he was more likely to give another one than do anything else. He wanted almost to beg again, desperate and feeling sick to his stomach.

But there was another sensation warring with his guilt now, pushing at him sharply with cold ice to crawl up his skin. He bristled again, shivering briefly, and turned his head sharply towards where he thought the source might be.

"I really don't know what happened. I just…I startled feeling sick and I had to run for it," Yugi finally breathed out, feeling selfish and sick with the sensation. He knew exactly when he had called and what he had wanted to say, but none of that seemed possible anymore. Actually opening his mouth and giving his curse a name to his crush was nothing that he seemed to have the strength to do.

He swallowed against the bitter taste that cloaked his tongue at the lie, shaking his head and glancing away towards the alley again. The touch had grown hideously demanding sharp and grating against his skin like a knife cutting through butter.

Something licked at his skin like warmth from a fire in a cozy room. It blindsided him, pushing him until he nearly stumbled. His belly twisted heavily and gurgled painfully, reminding him of what hunger really meant. His muscles ached, his nerve endings spiking with pain and burning viciously.

He shivered, glancing around him once more, and vaguely his mind provided him an answer that he did not welcome. His skull seemed empty, becoming a vast cavern of nothingness, the resources of his power and thought thrown aside as if by nonexistence.

It scared him but also relieved him to the point that he nearly trembled, both startled and slightly amused. He swallowed hard and took in another long breath, his lungs expanding to their fullest. His spine trembled with the force of it and his stomach twisted sloppily as his mouth grew somewhat dry. Something called to a foreign entity inside of him, tugging and flickering touches of something with no name.

"Hey, uh, Anzu…I have to go."

He realized belatedly that perhaps she had spoken in the space between them, if perhaps he had missed a part of their conversation. He frowned faintly, blinking, but he doubted that he had been paying too much attention to this strange new sensation to dismiss her like that. He had not missed something she might have said, had he?

"Okay. It's time for dinner anyways…"

"Uh, okay," he muttered distractedly, blinking once before clearing his throat. "Anzu, I really am sorry about earlier. You know I would never do that to you if it hadn't been something really bad."

"I know."

It was a sigh, soft and breathy, telling him that he was forgiven. But it was also an indicator that she no longer wanted to talk about it. It was over as far as he was concerned, not something that was too unusual; she usually got over things pretty quickly. It was he and Jonouchi who tended to unconsciously linger. She and Honda managed to brush things aside with relative ease and move on as if it had never happened.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" He paused. "After you're done with dinner?"

"Sure."

Maybe it was wistful thinking but he heard her sound a little hopeful. Maybe it was even a small bit relieved by the possibility that he would call back after she was done with dinner. He ignored that train of thought, however, frowning and shaking his head. "Goodbye," he returned when she offered a farewell of her own, and his phone lit up as the call ended and he quickly locked it before slipping it into his pocket.

There was something nibbling at his insides. He thought something was digging around inside of him, beneath his skin. It was curling around his bones, inside of the marrow. It was trying to replace his blood. He tilted his head in confusion before narrowing his eyes.

What the hell was that?

He had never felt it before, but he recognized the other two emotions that came with it. The hunger was sharp like teeth, gnawing at his flesh. The other burned at his body as if an undercurrent of pain were swelling through him. He thought of it like a flesh wound and internal bleeding, drawing at his attention so much it was impossible to ignore.

What was that noise?

Yugi swung his head around, ears tuned in to the sound that had cut into his thoughts. Paper crinkled and danced, scraping against the asphalt. He furrowed his brows, nose twitching as he caught the scent of something familiar. He blinked, eyes widening drastically as he tipped his head to the side and breathed in heavily.

It smelled of aging leaves and the bark of a cedar tree, stroked by sunlight as the very edges curled up and inwards. He blinked, drawing in a deep breath once more, and wondered at the possibility of its source being a threat. His mind shied away momentarily, and it occurred to him that he could very easily turn back on his heel and make his way to his home again, before he might be sighed.

But the more curious half of his mind made his head turn swiftly in the direction it came from. His sense of self-preservation and curiosity burned against each other, cutting and warring within his skull, and he bit his tongue to keep himself from making any rash movements. It took him a moment, and his tongue slipped between his lips to move along his jowls in almost unnaturally, predatory motions that made him cringe briefly. He shook his head sharply once more.

The noise came again a moment later. This time, more noticeably, was a touch of metal grating. The screech was low and soft but he still cringed before making his way slowly forward. There was a thudding noise, echoing loudly, and a sharp screeching that tore through the air once more.

He assumed it must have been a dog that was digging through the trash for a meal, sniffing for some kind of scraps that it was desperate enough to dive into the can for. The idea made him relax as well as grow reluctant to investigate any further. If it was so simple, then why should he disturb it? But he could not help it when his feet kept moving, carrying him close to the source despite the way that he found his mind growing somewhat bored with the idea.

He froze in place.

That wasn't a dog.

Leaning over the side of the metal object was a small and slender form just taller than himself. The shoulders were hunched downwards, the back arched only faintly. In the dark with such dim light, the color of its skin was an almost stunning shade of brown and gold that looked desert sand beneath the night sky. The clothes were somewhat baggy, with a more form-fitting touch to the shoulders and hips down to the knees. The sneakers on its feet were pressed at the toes, pushed against the very side of the dumpster, giving it more leverage to either jump down and flee or pivot more fully into the trashcan. Their elbows were arched like jagged swords at their sides, making the shape look almost unnatural and anything but human at first glance. And, when they tipped their weight forward just enough, he could see the way the shoulder blades even from beneath the jacket and shirt on its back.

"Hey."

He was not sure why his voice came out so soft, nor why he did not make it an exclamation instead of a simple greeting. Surely he should have said it in a way to make the other boy stop what he was doing, right? But it was just enough to get him the reaction he had awaiting. The boy turned his head, blinking, and his posture changed to a more relaxed one as he leaned back somewhat.

His toes remained pressed against the metal bin, spine straightened and elbows no longer so unnaturally bent to support him. His hands were loose enough in their grip that he could not see the tendons beneath his skin as his long fingers kept a hold, but it was firm enough to support his weight. Yugi blinked a couple of times, watching him, surprised by the very fact that his mind could even catalog such things without his acknowledgment or conscious effort, and then let out a small breath.

The puff of air that greeted him made him stiffen for a brief second. The way the light bounced off the crystallized exhale made his stomach twist briefly. It looked almost like a light and drifting mist, glittering silver and white and faint gold as if laced with a fairytale touch. He shook his head faintly at himself, lowering his eyes quickly when he saw the other boy's shoulders rise and fall in a rolling motion.

"If you're hungry, we can go inside and I'll buy you a burger."

The lycanthrope before him blinked slowly when he raised his gaze back to Yugi's. With the gleam of faint gold from the streetlamp a little further down the alley, Yugi found his stomach twisting furiously in tight knots. There was a glassy gleam to the glittering gaze before him, with such vibrancy and hideous reflection that it made his breath catch in his throat briefly. His bright red eyes looked marred with the little splash of gold, rendering such touch a toxic and hideous rustic orange that made him shiver.

But the intelligence in those bright eyes was enough to make Yugi feel sick. He was considering him, taking note of his words and tossing them back and forth within his mind. He was watching him, studying, attempting to pull the sincerity from his words and maybe hold them in his own thoughts.

However, very quickly, the moment of such acknowledgment passed. His head snapped away, looking to the metal before it, and when he drew a hand away to shift his grip, the metal screeched as if it were being torn and punctured. His nose lowered, sniffing once more, and the way his shoulders rose into a bristle made it clear that what greeted him was not satisfactory.

"Do you want one?" Yugi offered, frowning when the other did not immediately turn back to him. The dismissal made his heart lurch violently for several moments, stomach twisting painfully. It cut too deeply for his liking; was it the end of their interaction altogether simply because he had done him the favor of saving his life? Had he meant to ignore him and act as if his existence was nothing due to this simple fact?

The small teen began to snap at him in frustration at the very thought but those bright red eyes flickered over to him abruptly with a new emotion to burden him with. The glimmer of orange shone like amber, harsh and violent, like a splash of fire to offer deception to his formerly relaxed stance. His eyes grew narrow and his lashes blocked away the light to make his gaze nearly black, but his expression had not grown any further undone in its serenity.

Not a muscle moved in his jaws, not a shift of weight came to his balance, and not once did the other boy so much as blink at him. Yet he could feel the defensive aggression that threatened to come over him, as if it were his own, and it seemed for a moment to thicken the air and make it harder to draw a breath into his lungs.

"I'm sorry," Yugi said quickly, quietly, head snapping away and his eyes lowered to the ground. He had read somewhere that eye contact made wolves more likely to fight; he knew common dogs shied away from it with people because of this instinct as well. But he also realized that whatever tension tugged at the other was caused by his own brief flash of anger.

Yugi turned back, sure that the moment had passed and he might be more relaxed, and reached up to scratch at the back of his left ear in an almost sheepish expression. The movement caused the lycanthrope to stiffen faintly, eyes boring into him now and snapping towards his other hand where he had subconsciously moved it to cover his stomach.

He opened his palms, tugging them away from his skin immediately, and showed them off to the other as if he might take such a display as a reason to consider him harmless. The other boy huffed so loudly that he nearly cringed, then turned away and glanced back towards the dumpster before facing him once more.

"You're just…a little frustrating, I guess."

The laugh that came out was slightly strained but light all the same, a choking noise, and with such contradictory a sound that the other tilted his head in surprise. Abruptly, he pushed off the dumpster. The movement was so fast that Yugi almost missed it even while watching him. He landed on his toes, then flattened the soles of his sneakers again, eyes sharpened like twin blades as he considered the smaller boy.

"Uh…anyways," Yugi mumbled, clearing his throat awkwardly. He reached up to run his fingers over his neck, scratching gently before frowning faintly. The other boy jerked his head in a clear indication, eyes glued to where Yugi knew his pulse rested beneath his skin, and he frowned faintly with a subconscious urge to turn away in embarrassment. It seemed almost too unnatural and confusion, almost shameful, as he considered the way in which he watched him so keenly. "It's a lot better. Thank you."

The other boy did not do more than blink at his gratitude, refusing to so much as nod or even raise his chin as if his attention might make him more uncomfortable. Gracefully, as if the backstreets were his home, the shadows his most loyal friends, he moved back several steps to lean against the brick behind him. The red eyes were lazy, flickering over his form, but the sharpness in them had not left.

His arms moved, crossing themselves over his chest, and his legs stretched outwards as he bent his right to press his foot firmly against the brick. The position was somehow intimidating despite his fluid and easy grace, and the action made Yugi's stomach twist painfully but there was no malice to be seen in his position, no anger or aggression to be found against the leisurely body language.

"Listen, if you're hungry, I'll go and buy you a burger. You don't…it's not necessary for you to dig through the trash like this. It's hardly healthy and I don't know if we can technically get sick but I don't think you would like it if you did…right?" he murmured, attempting at first to make a joke and then wondering about it all even as his stomach twisted painfully. His lips twitched and formed an uncomfortably frown despite his attempt to give him a small smile, but the red-eyed teen barely seemed to notice it at all.

He watched him for a moment, narrowing his eyes, and then turned away. He pushed off the wall, stepping forward once, and then spun away from him. The teen sprang away with such efficiency that he cleared the open lid of the dumpster and landed easily on the second. He watched, stunned, as the other boy failed to so much as crouch to recover his balance, as if the leap had been nothing more than a simple step. The thud that should have come with the action was only the softest of sighs from the metal creaking where it lightly pushed against the wall with the sudden disturbance.

Long legs pushed forward in two strides, almost as if attempting to propel himself with the simplest of movements. Lazily he moved towards the chain-link fence a few inches away and pressed his weight into his legs. Yugi watched, mystified and stunned, as the boy bent his legs only slightly and then threw himself over the fence without a second glance.

The impact with the ground was so light that he barely heard it and his mouth opened and closed pathetically in confusion. Though his mind had somehow managed to catalog each second of his departure, in his head Yugi was well aware that it had taken all of nanoseconds to do as he had.

That fact alone made him feel sick. Were his eyes changing and adapting? Were they working to make up for what his usual senses lacked? He shuddered faintly, and realized there would be no chance to keep up or even find the other wolf. It was a weak blow to his system, but with enough force that he cringed as he bit his lip hard enough to tear the soft tissue. Yugi shook his head, feeling small and weak, and pressed his tongue firmly against the backs of his teeth.

He looked around him, wondering what it was that might have held the lycanthrope's attention for so long. Had he not known it was he who was approaching him, he would have easily been caught. And what would have possibly kept his attention so fully that he might risk exposure? The Burger World hamburgers were good, and Yugi's absolute favorite, yes, but they were not so amazing that they could take away one's sense of self-preservation and instinct. He knew for a fact that the wolf would not have risked discovery just for that.

He would not have risked discovery for that in his shoes. And if Yugi could say that with such absolute certainty, then there was no question that the other boy would never once consider the idea of doing such a thing like that.

He frowned, mildly confused by the very idea, and then shook his head as he drew in yet another deep breath. All he could catch was the smell of the decaying remnants of the fast food, of meat rotting within plastic bags. It was sickening, both sweet to the point of making his head spin, and sour with such power it made his nose burn faintly, and he shuddered as he attempted to sort through it all.

There was the very faint but persistent remaining residue of burning tobacco which he knew would have been snuffed against the metal of the bins and the concrete beneath his feet. There was the tone of molding bread, sour and bitter and causing and ache to form behind his eyes for a brief moment, but there was something else that was far out of place.

It came slow and light to his nostrils. The sensation was enough to make his stomach lurch faintly. He recognized it, though it came slowly to his mind. The scent was sweet with a strong and harsh coppery undertone that made him shake his head sharply. He wrinkled his nose, skin itching furiously where all these smells burned at his nasal passages and made his head spin a little harder. It felt as if the skin might peel away in ribbons and the tissues split to shed blood as he blinked and struggled to put a name to the familiar scent.

It took him a long moment for the identity of this misplaced smell to come to him. And when he finally pulled this thought to the forefront of his mind he wondered, chastising himself, but he had not noticed beforehand. But it was so light and airy in his senses that he was almost unable to fully understand its implications. It burned in his skull like a branding even as he struggled. And his senses ached with the ferocity of its infliction.

The air around it made his heart pound and his stomach drop. At first he could not have sorted it from another scent within the alleyway and then he wondered if the blood came from the werewolf himself. He blinked, frowning and wondered if perhaps the lycanthrope had been harmed.

Yugi's eyes snapped towards the spot the taller teen had been standing before, swallowing hard, but could not find even the smallest of specks that littered the concrete. He grimaced, leaning forward, and breathed in heavily to draw in a massive lungful of the rancid scents that burned at his attention.

He almost gagged from the force of the smells, clenching his jaw and nearly trembling with disgust at the very touch of it. He recoiled violently, swallowing away his curses, and trembled as he breathed in weakly and realized immediately that the smell had not come from him.