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.

20. Adapting

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

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

Chapter Warnings: Discussion of Night Terrors, Changes, Hunting, Slight Blood

MY APOLOGIES GUYS! I COMPLETELY MESSED UP! I THOUGHT I HAD LOST MY ORIGINAL FILE FOR THIS CHAPTER AND I FOUND IT SO I'VE BEEN FIXING THIS ONE CAUSE IT HAS THE INFORMATION I HAD LOST AND I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO REPLACE! HOLY CRAP! (SO lucky I have three copies of this damn story on three different apps, OH MY GODS) And it should definitely help to fill in some of the blanks.

Okay, so I wanted to say that I know beforehand Yugi mentioned in a different chapter that his mom never believed in anything mythological. I didn't make a mistake when I put the explanation in this chapter; it's more of why Yugi never considered mentioning/asking her about it. Because he doesn't think she knows that he knows about it.

Anyways, that aside, so I DID legitimately have two teachers at one point who told ME that if I didn't write LARGER and I didn't draw things that weren't wolves (because their body shapes were one of the easiest things for me to draw when I was younger due to having dogs and drawing them) I would be failed in art and French class. I was not the most impressed with that threat and I honestly wrote all of my French even smaller just to spite her. She didn't fail me because I stopped going to the class like a week later anyways. So I figured I would put it in the story that she had a similar experience even if it wouldn't actually apply in Japan when she was only twelve.

Back to the point though, I didn't get MUCH research done ahead of time regarding the school rules and regulations in Japan. I haven't had NEARLY enough time to go back and focus more on the smaller details regarding some of the things in the story. But I DID find that only school until the end of middle school was mandatory and that high schools required entrance exams just like the colleges do. And, in having middle school be mandatory, they actually won't fail any of their students and will pass them even if they're absent most of the school year and things of that nature. That changes in high school and basically every absence is immediately reported or parents must call in for their child's absence in order to keep them from getting in trouble. Or at least that's what I read.

Matt: I figure since you reviewed here, I'll go ahead and respond on ff (although chances being you'll probably read the update on AO3 lol). You honestly made my day lol I'm sorry about the migraine, by the way. Hopefully you feel a lot better. Haha Yeah the buildup is pretty slow, but I make no apologies for it. I'm glad you loved/hated it though~ (I did kind of semi-aim for that) And you're right, there are a LOT of red herrings and false trails. And part of the reason why is because Yugi himself is very much in the dark with almost everything in this story until he starts to get more used to things. BUT! All things DO get confronted/figured out at some point or another. Okay, so, parts of what irritate you ARE explained here in this chapter, if only slightly (Sugoroku and the bite) but the story IS designed to keep you more in the dark with Yugi because Yugi is just learning and so is the reader. And while Yami might have more information on certain things, he's also very unreliable because he tends to be as likely to ignore things as he is confront them. Hahaha Yugi's nightmares and being Atem…hmm, you'll have to wait to find out. Valon~ Yep, there's also him in the mix. Oh, so yeah, the truck incident! That comes up later (I'm not sure which chapter, but it's probably late twenties or early thirties) and it's explained a little bit more. I'm glad you love the story so much though! I'm honestly super honored that someone loves it this much. That's honestly amazing to me! Thank you so much! And that's totally fine, by the way. I'm honestly super shy about reviewing or commenting on anything (because I either get so excited I forget details or I feel like I can't put anything into words properly enough) so I normally just give kudos or PM the author when I like their story or just fave and disappear into the background again, so I can definitely relate to that. But you actually can comment on AO3 as a guest and not have to log in if you're more comfortable on that site. You would just put in your email and your guest name and post the comment you wanted and it would still notify you when someone responds.

Chapter XX: Adapting

Work Log Entry XX: April, 1997

April 16

An unauthorized visit was paid to A.T.E.M. today. The worker succumbed to panic upon seeing him. He was soon fired for his reaction to the boss's favorite "pet". But he has declared him an omen of death, so unnatural that it will perhaps kill anyone unfortunate enough to look upon the pup.

We have all fallen prey to fear of this possibility.

Were I not the main veterinarian within this laboratory, I myself would not approach A.T.E.M. either.

Yugi pushed the bowl into the cage, almost flinching back at the growl that greeted him. The dog was pushed against the back wall, almost completely merged with the metal wire and cream-colored plaster behind it. The long tan leg was encased in white plaster, the dog hunched forward with the weight of it. He paused, staring at it for a moment, and nearly cringed. Its large floppy ears folded back and its mouth wrinkled with another snarl. The brown eyes darted back and forth between his quickly.

He grimaced, swallowing hard, and looked away from the wariness plaguing the exhausted animal. It was hunched and pressed backwards and it looked incredibly pathetic in comparison to what he knew it might otherwise. It was so large but gangly as well, and the thought of it appearing so tiny in front of him now made him want to be sick.

He pushed the door shut, locking it, and wondered for a moment if it would even bother to touch the food he had set in there. He was not sure if hunger would win out on such precise instincts of self-preservation as what it was exposing to him now. So he backed up a few steps, pushing the thought away, and went to the next bowl of food.

The cat arched, hissing, and he could see that it was prepared to pounce on him at any moment. It didn't matter to the feline that it lacked claws in the front. All that mattered was that a potential threat stood in front of it and had even gone as far as to open its cage. Yugi wondered if he had the reflexes to snatch his hand away before it hit him. Weren't cats believed to be one of the fastest animals? He shivered slightly. Cheetahs were the fastest land animals. He didn't think werewolves topped that exactly…

Although, Yami had moved so quickly as to nearly disappear from his sight that night at the dumpsters…

And he'd found his way to him quickly when he'd been injected with the wolfsbane and silver mixture. The idea made him shiver again.

Were werewolves faster? Did it have something to do with them being unnatural? Was it something that the lycanthropy gave them?

Either way, the cat was a stray, had survived that way for what he assumed was its whole life. The idea of testing out that theory was nothing he cared for in even the slightest. Besides, most cats that were unhealthy would cause infections when they bit or clawed someone.

Yugi was not sure that he would see that in himself with the disease as it was—it had pushed poison out of his system; what was an infection compared to that?—but he wasn't willing to take chances. It seemed childish to ever consider going against such a thing in all reality. To bank on the idea that he would not get an infection because of his lycanthropy seemed incredibly foolish and pathetic to him.

So Yugi snatched the bowl out as quickly as he could manage, surprised that the cat did not take the opportunity to lunge forth. Instead it continued hissing, tail lashing, ears flattened back, eyes sharp as they bore into his skin, and remained pressed as far back as possible.

He gritted his teeth for a moment as he locked the door. He had already come to the conclusion that being a veterinarian was not going to be a possibility any longer. But the slap in the face of them reacting as they were once more made him falter slightly. It came to him with a fresh new wave of reality and that made him bristle as he scooped more food into the bowl from the containers they kept.

The thought of such isolation from the animals he was meant to help out with made him shake his head slightly. And it brought back the question that had been haunting him for quite a while now—when would his friends do the same? When would they shy away from him because of this affliction? When would they turn on him and refuse to be anywhere near him? How long until that time came?

Yugi shivered. He was not sure he could live with himself should that happen. He would be left with only Yami. And Yami was the one who had bitten him.

He cringed, a flare of shame making his stomach twist painfully. Yami had bitten him only because he had not wanted him to die. He had not meant to condemn him as he so often felt. Yami had wanted to save him rather than let him die when there was a chance he could alter such a fate.

But what he had done to Tomoya…? What was he meant to call that? Yami had gone after him because he had assumed him to have been the one to put Yugi in such a predicament. So was that considered revenge or was it him protecting him?

And then…what was he meant to do if he did find out that it was Yami who had killed Ushio and planted his body there at his door? What explanation could he have possibly given him that would make such a thing less than horrifying?

He swallowed hard at the thought and popped the lid back onto the container forcefully. He pushed it away with his foot and then undid the lock of the cage once more in order to put the bowl back inside. The cat snarled and hissed and the cage rattled where its tail struck the metal harshly.

Yugi ran a hand through his hair before locking it back again. The feline hissed louder, then began to sit, the effort of its protests seemingly taking most of its energy. He shivered as he looked at the scrawny animal, how badly it looked with all that fur clumped in various places and patches of it missing altogether.

The ribs were visible and its shoulder blades look like sharp knives as it paced about the small space that confined it. He shivered and his mind briefly wandered back towards the moment Yami had shown up at his house. He had been so scrawny as well, though he now suspected that it was not only the wound that had caused this, but an irregular feeding pattern that he had been unable to keep up with.

It was obvious that he healed much better when he had the chance to eat regularly and without issue. Yugi had seen such an effect on himself as well. The concept, in all reality, was not hard for him to grasp. A malnourished animal was likely to die from a simple scratch. A healthy, well-fed one was likely to recover from one.

The fact that Yami still suffered somewhat now was another question altogether. He wondered again, if perhaps it was the electrical currents that had plagued him that caused his healing to become so stunted.

It was confusing to him however, that Yami had been able to regenerate the flesh that he had pulled out to get at the microchip. If he was unable to recover from an electrical shock that had obviously put him at odds with Bakura during that fight, why should he have been capable of regeneration at such a rapid rate?

Yugi shivered and ran his hands through his hair again. Would Yami know if he were to ask? Or could he find out himself if he tried to work with something of a similar wound elsewhere on his body? If he healed just a quickly, perhaps he could see what the new tissue was made of or...

He pushed the thought aside. He would think of that another time. If he let the idea linger much longer he might get the idea to do it sooner rather than later and that wasn't something he was sure he could afford to do at the moment. He would have to sit on the idea for a little while.

But then again, maybe Yami would have an answer for it. Maybe it was as simple as the Change causing it or something? Maybe there was nothing scientific or logical about it?

But then…Yugi glanced at this nails.

Yami had explained that the nails got thicker to make up the wolf's claws. And the cuticle on the thumbnail helped to pull the dewclaw into position during the Change. That was scientific, wasn't it? He blinked stupidly. So…obviously there was more of an answer than just that, right?

He bit his lip hard. His stomach tossed violently. Did he really want to know what it was that caused him to heal as he had? Maybe it was better it remained a mystery of some kind?

He swallowed thickly. But…didn't he have the right to know what it was that caused all of these new things within his body? It seemed relatively easy to shy away from the knowledge, but wasn't his right to know something that required more attention than the instinct to hide from it?

He could not fathom having this disease and allowing it to be all but a distant thought in the back of his mind. It was going to dictate a lot of things, he already knew, so why would he ever consider the idea of turning away from answers that he so obviously needed and wanted? The thought made him grimace.

If Yugi did not find out on his own he would be disappointed with his inability to do such a thing. If he turned around and refused to take the chance he would then grow further upset with himself over it. The entire thing was a frustrating game of confusion and turns of truth or dare that could easily shake him. The thought made him nearly quiver but he pushed it aside for a moment.

Yugi would figure out what he would do later. He would do it around the time that he got the courage to even explain to his mom that veterinary school was not in the future for him.

He cringed at the idea. His mom would be disappointed, though he was not sure if it might be with him or simply the idea itself. She had always been so proud of him as he followed the path that she had laid out for him. He did not want to think of how much of a punch it would feel for her to have him turn around seemingly out of nowhere, without explanation, to tell her that he could no longer do it. He felt like he would be playing a game of how quickly he could break her heart when he finally did tell her.

He shivered. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He especially didn't want to break her heart.

But what other choice was there, truly?

He did not think there was one in all reality.

Kasumi would find out one way or another and he thought it better to tell her himself than have her lost and wondering. It seemed stupid to think otherwise. He refused to let her wonder and come across the entire issue with wide eyes and a heartbroken shock.

Yugi tilted his head and listened for a moment. One of the animals was eating, he realized, and he was relieved that his smell and presence did nothing to scare them from their necessary meals. He wanted to smile, but the edges of his mouth didn't seem to curl and pull upwards so he turned away from such a thought.

He wondered, for all of a moment, if his mom might even notice it. He wished she was the type who would fade into the background, allow him to do anything he wanted, and ignore anything that she deemed wrong with him. But she knew most things, was well aware of the events in his life, and kept track of him. It seemed almost neglectful the way she went back and forth within his life, wandering about to only truly focus on him when she noticed something wrong. He had resented her for it a few times before. But he also realized that their strained relationship had put them both in that place.

Yugi himself only truly paid attention to her when he thought something was wrong. And he only really thought of her when he feared disappointing her or finding himself in trouble. In all actuality, he sometimes wondered if it was his own decision growing up that had put her at arm's length most of the time. Perhaps when he had chosen video games and friends and stories from his grandpa he had begun to first alienate her.

It was not truly surprising to him should that be the case. The fact was that he had chosen multiple things that she had supported but clearly would not have wanted herself. She had been far more of a loner than Yugi ever had. He couldn't stand nor fathom the concept of willingly being alone when there was a chance someone at his side.

Kasumi had always been willing to support him, but had also had the desire to guide him in any way she thought possible. Veterinary school had been the biggest aspect of leading him along, but it had also been more of a gift as well. He had never complained about it, because it had always made sense to him.

Veterinary school had been one of the only things to fully encompass his attention to the point of pursuit. The only other had been a month-long idea that perhaps he would become a doctor. His mom had helped him with that as well, until—as they had both known would happen—he wanted to drop the idea.

Yugi frowned and nibbled his lip, turning away and feeling almost sick to his stomach. What was he meant to tell her? They would both know the lie if he said he had simply lost the drive for it. He'd been learning for so long that such a statement would most likely make her worry he was sick. Kasumi would wonder if he was ill and try to nurse away an imaginary illness. And then the disappointment would set in. And she would worry about him even more. And he didn't want that.

But to ignore the issue just meant further stress for everyone involved. The animals could grow even further ill because of it all if he did not think to tell her sooner rather than later. And it would weigh upon him further, which he did not want to have happen any longer. Nor did he care to think to worry his mother any more than necessary.

He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated, and shook his head slightly. He would have to deal with it as he did everything else. He needed to think it over until he came to a conclusion that was not too terrible for any of the others involved. There was too much at stake otherwise.

Yami looked up when he entered the room. He seemed almost expectant as they stared at each other for a minute, but then it faded. He sat up after a moment, rolling his shoulders so that the skin bunched and jerked in a painful motion on his left, and then tilted his head at him. Yugi opened and closed his mouth, frustrated, but could not find the words as he looked at the silent offer to listen to anything he had to say.

Yugi lowered his gaze to the floor, narrowing his eyes, and bit his lip hard once more. "I have no idea how I'm supposed to tell my mom about the fact that I'm not going to be able to become a vet anymore. I mean…the only way I can think to do that would to be to explain that I'm a fucking werewolf, and she's not going to believe that." He hesitated because, though he said nothing, he knew the other boy was clearly listening. "Even if I changed right in front of her, I think she would be more likely to claim that it was some kind of trick than anything else."

Yami remained quiet for a moment, then asked, puzzled, "Is your mom truly so ignorant?"

Yugi flinched. "No," he muttered, sighing. "She's not. She'd believe it—if I changed right in front of her. But I…"

"She doesn't have to know such a thing, though, does she?"

"I don't know." He licked his lips but did not look up, instead running a hand through his hair once more and biting his cheek harshly. "I think I might…I think I'm probably just over-thinking it all. I'm…it's just not something I want to tell her. It seems so…out there."

"Then simply tell her that perhaps you have changed your mind."

Yugi shook his head sharply. "She wouldn't believe me. And I wouldn't either."

Yami stayed quiet for a long time. "Then what do you think is the best course of action, Yugi?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you."

"And you expect me to have the answers?"

"No." Yugi sighed and finally looked up at him. "I just kind of wished you would."

The other boy stayed silent again, then shifted his weight. His shoulder twitched again. But he ignored it as he looked at him for a long minute longer. "What can you tell her that she might listen to?"

"Anything but the truth."

Yami snorted at the response, lips pulling into a half-smirk that made Yugi freeze in surprise upon seeing. His mouth grew incredibly dry, shocked by the sight of the way his eyes grew warm and darker with amusement.

"Tell her that the animals are reacting badly to your presence."

Yugi halted, head spinning for a moment, and opened and closed his mouth in surprise. "Huh?"

"That is what has upset you so much, yes?"

Yugi nodded stupidly after a moment, mystified. "How...?"

"You just came back from the clinic. You said you want to tell your mom why you can't be a vet any longer but can't think of any logical way to do it without changing. The only reason I could think that you might return here in such sour spirits and frustrated as you are would be the way that the animals have reacted to your presence there."

Yugi opened and closed his mouth again, then felt his cheeks grow slightly heated, flustered. He frowned at him openly for a moment. "Were you always this smart or is it the lycanthropy?"

Yami blinked at him and his half-smirk became a pained grimace. "I don't know."

Yugi cringed at his own insensitivity, feeling all the more stupid as the other boy looked away from him completely and began to pick at his nails. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" But he had. He'd insulted him, whether or not he had meant to. The thought made him feel stupid beyond comprehension and he wanted to bow his head in shame. "I tend to put my foot in my mouth too much…"

"Your feet remain on the ground," the other said in something of a clipped tone. "Get past this apology and ask the question I know you've been wondering about since I bit you."

He stared at him, unsure of what more to do than gape for a split second. The small teen swallowed, feeling almost breathless with confusion and pain that swelled on his lungs. Yami was not going to make a big deal of this event. He was not going to make him feel bad about it. He was simply ignoring it altogether. For a reason Yugi could not explain, it broke his heart that he had chosen to do so.

"I…" Yugi trailed off, because again his instinct told him to apologize, to make Yami believe his sincerity. But he clearly did not want to hear it and Yugi would not further alienate him for his own benefit. So he swallowed hard, lowering his eyes to the comforter where it was bunched at Yami's hip, and muttered, "Why do they all react like that?"

The werewolf stayed quiet for a moment. "They smell the wolf even beneath the human skin. It's not pleasant to them and it seems unnatural—as it should—so they lash out at the source of it." He paused. "They also sense the power in our bodies, which is unnatural and strange to them. We share many of the aspects of the wolf in this form and that causes any animal within our presence to react to it. Even if the animal could not see or smell us, it would sense us. And it would flee. But when a scared animal is cornered, they lash out. It is a natural reaction, and one of the smartest instincts any of the other animals possess."

"Do…Do people sense it too?"

"No. Humans are more likely to ignore their first instinct to flee. Their self-preservation is often overruled by what the consider common sense. And common sense often rules that they should not fear what looks to be a normal person standing near them."

Yugi nodded slightly.

"It also helps that we tend to simply look better than most humans. Due to that, they would be more drawn to the idea of satisfying themselves than worrying about that first warning their bodies give them."

He curled his lip slightly. "You say that like everyone is drawn to someone else because of sex."

"Are they not?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No! Sometimes they're around people just because they like their personalities and they want to have a companion!"

Yami studied him for a long minute. "And yet, most times, those interactions come because they assume themselves able to satisfy themselves with another person sexually. Whether that is rejected by the second in the party is another thing entirely. Humans are attracted to the thing that most catches their eyes. And why should they be attracted to it but to have sex?"

Yugi opened and closed his mouth, eyes wide and cheeks growing hot with frustration. "And what about when I helped you when you showed up here? Or when you killed Tomoya because you thought that he had been the one to attack me?"

The other wolf tilted his head slowly and narrowed his eyes into slits of gleaming bright red. "You helped me because I showed up at your house and was in need. It is natural for a werewolf—born or bitten—to react to another of their species being wounded. As for why I killed Tomoya and bit you, I did so because I did not think you should have to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I did not assume to wish for more of you than to help me heal my wrists. The fact that you allow me to stay here baffles me. There is no true reason to keep me here, is there?"

Yugi froze in place, stunned by the statement. Did Yami want to leave? Did he really hate it here so much? Or was he simply pointing it out to him like this? He opened and closed his mouth again, choking on the words he expelled so weakly, "Do you want to leave?"

Yami chopped his teeth, patience shot. "No, I did not say that. I said simply that I do not understand your reasoning upon inviting me to remain here as long as I should wish it. If I wished to leave, I would have done so long ago. You would still be searching for even a discarded scent upon which to track to me!" he spat, sitting up and scowling at his stunned expression. He looked as if he planned to say something further but fell silent after a moment, turning away and narrowing his eyes into slits once more. "I simply don't understand your motivation. And I… You offend me to have planted in my head the thought that I should come here for the reason of bedding you. I…"

"I…I never meant to insinuate that I…" Yugi felt his cheeks growing a little hotter as he shook his head and watched him for a long moment. "I'm sorry. I just…you said that people—"

"People, yes, as in humans. Werewolves stick together for reasons beyond simply wanting satisfaction. We remain together because it helps us as well as gives us companionship, something which humans seem to know nothing of." Yami faltered and frowned at him as he tilted his head. "And…I have just come to realize that I'm upsetting you unjustly. You were raised among people and think the most of them rather than know them for the worst of their faults. You don't deserve my anger simply because we view things differently. I am sorry."

Yugi opened and closed his mouth, then cleared his throat painfully. "You weren't raised with people?"

Yami stared at him for a long time, then curled his lips back into a sneer of a smirk, baring his teeth at him. "They were the wrong kind of people."

Yugi was haunted by that statement for hours after their initial conversation. Yami had not acted the least bit undone by his own confession nor did he seem to care that Yugi had grown somewhat tense beside him while they sat around and all but waited the day away.

Yugi could not understand how Yami did not see the importance of the admission. There were so many things that could have been done in the span of those words. There was physical, emotional, mental abuse, manipulation to do things he never would have otherwise, and a million more things he was too afraid to put fully in his mind.

So he was somewhat relieved to have an escape when his grandfather called for him a few hours later. He jumped up, glancing at Yami who blinked in surprise at his haste, and turned away once more to make his way towards the door. "I'll be right back," he stated, though he was too afraid to glance back towards the other boy. Yugi was practically fleeing through the door, all but bounding into the kitchen to see the elderly Motou.

Sugoroku glanced up, startled, and then grinned at him in a seemingly playful manner. "You look like the hounds of hell just chased you here," he teased, his tone making Yugi almost bristle with frustration. That wasn't nearly as funny a joke as he seemed to think it. The betrayal was still an open wound to him.

Yugi ignored the statement so as not to lose his temper or startle Yami in the other room. "I just figured it might be important," he mumbled, fighting away the biting edge that his words were so desperate to be spoken in. "Did you need something or…?"

His grandfather watched him for a long moment. "You look unusually tense today…" He paused for a second and then smiled slightly. "Is something wrong between you and Anzu?"

Yugi felt as if something had just struck him in the gut. Oh gods, he hadn't even considered Anzu or anything to do with her in a while now. Since he had initially brushed her off before the attack, he had failed to follow up with anything concerning the possibility of their relationship. He fought away the guilt that crashed through him at the realization, frowning.

"No, why would you assume that?"

He hoped that he had not waited too long to speak for his words to be something of a reliable statement.

He blinked as his grandfather nodded slightly. Something shifted in the corner of his eye. It folded and trailed along the wall beside him effortlessly. He turned towards it, startled, unable to suppress his instinct to find the source of his distraction. But it was gone, despite how swiftly he had moved. He blinked again, then turned away.

"I just thought that might be the source of such tension. It's not every day that you look so keyed up."

Wasn't it though? Yugi wondered if he had simply failed to notice beforehand. It seemed impossible to him that being the buffer between his family and his alpha had left him with anything less. Being tense because of the constant pressure seemed only logical. He frowned at the thought, however. It was his own decision to make this happen. He could have told Yami to leave. Or he could have figured something else out that was just as simple.

"No, there's nothing wrong between us. I'm just a little…frustrated," he muttered after a long minute before tilting his head slightly. He didn't know if his grandfather was simply gauging his reaction or if he truly did not know about Yami. He had known about the lycanthropy, teasing his senses with those little tests. It was not much of a stretch to him that perhaps he knew this as well. But why hide knowledge of Yami's presence there? The lycanthropy had been far more understandable.

He considered for a moment that perhaps, should he not know, it might do Yugi well to tell. It might make it an easier secret to hide if he had an ally.

And yet, as he looked at him, part of him snarled in denial of such a thought. He could not subject him to that. Yami would surely become further unnerved by his constant questions. And he had no idea how he might react to the sensory tests should Sugoroku attempt them.

A potential ally wasn't worth the inevitable discomfort.

He turned his head only slightly.

Something crept along the wall again.

Yugi's head snapped in its direction. This time he caught the telltale end of it. It was brighter than the plaster and disappeared as quickly as it had come. He blinked as he turned away from its vacant spot.

"So, is there a reason you called me out here?"

Sugorku raised a brow. "Do I need a reason to see my grandson?"

There was a small but powerful wave of heat that crashed through him. His stomach burned for the briefest of moments. His eyes narrowed faintly. The marrow in his bones had become ice. His face threatened to fall into a scowl. He let out a small, almost rough breath.

No, apparently there was no time that his grandpa wanted to see him that did not involve something extra.

Yugi snatched at his hand. The quarter he had been using to reflect the light on the wall clattered to the floor.

"Apparently not," he snapped icily.

The elderly Motou did not bother to look sheepish in the least. His face split into a wide, pleased grin. Yugi stared at him for a moment. There was a small urge inside of him to physically lash out. How dare he look at him in such a way! He was grinning almost as if he were the first successful experiment in a long string of them.

It was infuriating.

He bore his teeth and his breath was a raspy snarl.

The noise seemed to startle his grandfather into the realization that he was neither as amazed nor excited as him. He narrowed his eyes at the elderly man but did not wait for him to speak.

Yami startled and sat up straighter as the door was thrown open. Yugi blinked at him, still enraged but rapidly losing his anger. He blinked and his cheeks grew flushed, slightly horrified and ashamed of his reaction. He ducked his head, unable to look at him any longer.

"How…how much of that did you hear?"

Yami blinked, frowning in puzzlement. He tilted his head in silent question but the other would not lift his gaze. The taller lycanthrope rolled his eyes and huffed loudly. Still Yugi did not look up.

"None."

Yugi hesitated, unsure that he had heard correctly. He kept his head down but his eyes raised themselves slightly from the floor to look up from beneath his long lashes. He peered at him for a moment, unsure what more to do, and waited as the other boy regarded him with a bland expression to his face.

It was clear he had heard something of his statement. What parts of it he had truly taken in was another thing to be decided altogether. Yugi furrowed his brows but Yami remained rather expressionless. For several long seconds neither of them spoke, staring silently and regarding each other with mirrored growing curiosity.

"None."

Yugi pursed his lips and tilted his head as he stared at him. His voice sounded no better than it had originally. But the word was something of a great relief as he studied him for a moment. He hadn't heard any of it?

"None of it?"

Yami tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I could hear voices but the words were unclear. It was more mumbling tones." He furrowed his brows. "Why? Should I have been listening?"

The smaller boy's cheeks grew slightly flushed with shameful frustration. "No," he grumbled in response, nearly rolling his eyes at the way the other lycanthrope seemed to hardly care for his answers. "I just…I mean…with your senses…"

Yami peered at him as if he had just spoken several different languages that he had no understanding of. He blinked at him, then narrowed his eyes and tilted his head further. His expression was nothing short of mildly cynical and amused all the same.

"I was not raised to listen in on the conversations of others," he drawled lazily. "I tend to ignore the things said that do not involve myself directly. And you…would have told me had you spoken to your family about me…"

He sounded abruptly unsure of himself, voice somewhat lower than usual and tone dropping with something like confused interest. They looked at each other for a moment, Yugi's expression becoming one of both sincerity and pained acceptance of his slight hesitation towards such a statement.

"Of course I would have."

Yami still looked somehow cynical of his response, though there was a faint hint of mild satisfaction towards his words. He looked pleased but somewhat disheartened as well, as if his slight shock of the statement had rendered it somewhat uncertain to him. But he did not object to the words, instead giving him something that resembled a ghost of a smile. It was stunning to him, to see the red-eyed teen look so seemingly haunted for that brief moment.

Yugi shivered. "I won't tell them unless you're comfortable with the idea," he murmured, swallowing hard and biting his lip. He felt sick for a moment as they looked at each other. His expression did not change for a minute and even as it did, it was not all-compassing or complete. It was in his eyes, the trepidation of it all. Yugi felt queasy to see that. Yami seemed so strong and confident and yet he could not remove such emotion from his face.

Yugi swallowed tightly, tilting his head, and then bit his lip slightly. "Do you think you would ever want them to know about you?"

He didn't know if he sounded as strange as he felt at the moment. The words seemed to stick in his throat as they looked at each other. He could not fully fathom the thought of his family knowing about him. What would they do if they found out Yugi had kept him there all that time, right under their noses without the slightest hint of remorse? And what would they do when or if they ever found out why?

Yami didn't look at him for a moment, then narrowed his eyes faintly. "The circumstances might eventually push for you to tell them," he stated dismissively.

The nonchalance of the statement unnerved him. Yami truly seemed to care for nothing of their conversation. He wondered if that was a testament to his adaptability or if he truly refused to be concerned with future events. It almost served to give him the impression that life happened around him rather than with his participation.

The thought was somehow incredibly alarming to him. Yami seemed—to him, at least—like someone who cared for their life for the most part. Whether or not such an observation was truthful was something he did not know.

Perhaps he enjoyed things more as a wolf than he did as a human?

Perhaps the enthusiasm he had thought him to possess was only noticeable when he was a wolf.

Perhaps it was the adaptability that he could see in both.

But then, there was no question of that. Yami adapted before his eyes as if there were nothing easier to him.

But how could he desire to be a canine more than a human? Yugi couldn't fathom such a thing. As a human you were smarter, could talk and make eye contact, could smile to show happiness or frown to show disagreement. You didn't have to snarl or snap your teeth or bristle or wag a tail to get a message across. You didn't have to worry if eye contact for too long might get you hurt. And best of all, your food was cooked and you didn't have to hunt it.

Although…Yugi guessed he could see a few benefits to having four legs instead of two. They were a hell of a lot faster. The wind whistling in someone's ear or shifting through their fur would be an amazing sensation, he was sure. And the endurance could mean hours upon hours of just running around, at really any speed he thought to go…

He shook his head. But that still did nothing to put them ahead of humans. As a person, you also had a conscience and knew right from wrong.

Then again, as a werewolf, that sense stuck with you. It was just—

He stiffened abruptly. Yami tilted his head from his spot on the bed, shoulders rising slightly. He was bracing himself for an attack, Yugi realized somewhere in the back of his mind; he was protecting his neck. But he had no thought towards attacking him. It was something else entirely, in fact.

He swallowed hard, nearly choking on the sensation. His mouth had grown dry and his heart had leaped into his throat. His lungs ached as he struggled for a moment to comprehend the thought that had come over his mind.

At the consideration of a conscience his mind had seemingly rebelled against him.

He had killed that wolf in the woods.

Bakura, he thought, mind growing disjointed with shame. His name had been Bakura. That was what the man had called him. That was what he had responded to. He opened and closed his mouth but no noise came out.

He had killed someone.

He had killed another werewolf.

He had completely torn their head off.

He had done it to protect Yami but he had killed someone all the same.

It was a horrifying and sickening thought in the back of his mind.

He had physically ended someone else's life.

It had been for someone else but it had still happened.

And that was not something he had ever considered himself capable of before.

Had he even been aiming to kill him?

He couldn't remember. Everything was becoming a jumble in his head. He'd killed someone and had not even considered it until this moment when he had been wondering about his alpha's ability to like his wolf form more than his human one.

Yugi felt a little dizzy with the realization. Yami had killed those two wolves in the woods and he seemed okay. If he could shake that off as easily as an argument, what exactly did that mean for him? Did Yami kill often? Was that why the entire thing was so nonchalant to him? He had barely seemed to even blink.

Yugi shuddered as he looked at the other boy. He hardly seemed murderous—by any stretch of the imagination. And yet…he had seen him kill those two wolves and watched him hunt and eat that squirrel. And he had brought that rabbit into his room, had been covered in blood and—

"Fuck."

Yami did nothing more than stare after him when he immediately escaped to the kitchen again. His head was spinning when his palms pressed against the table and he nearly groaned. It was so cold to his hands and he thought he might faint if he did not lower his face to the surface as well. It was horrifying to him, that Yami might kill without thought for no other reason than his ability to. And that...

It seemed so unusual to him but at the same time, he was not sure. He knew almost nothing about Yami in all reality. It seemed pathetic of him to assume that he knew something about him and could make such a judgment.

He shivered. Then his head snapped up as a noise caught in his ear. He spun on his heel immediately, startled. For the briefest of seconds he expected to find himself followed by Yami, that confused and somewhat unnerved expression marring his face. Yet part of him expected as well to see a furious snarl there, as if he might be able to sense his thoughts. His teeth would be exposed, his eyes sharp and fierce, and his expression of pure hatred.

What greeted him, however, was a confused expression upon a face of high cheekbones, dark gray hair, and bright plum purple eyes. He blinked, almost dazed upon seeing his face rather than Yami's, and then glanced quickly over his shoulder for a brief second. His earlier anger forgotten, a small sense of fear crept through him. What if Yami did decide to follow him out? What if he could do nothing more than stare as Yami both blew his secret and possibly attacked his grandfather?

Yugi knew without much thought that he was not as strong as the other lycanthrope. It was obvious in no small sense of the word. Yami could possibly rip him to pieces in seconds if he only wished to. The very idea shook him but he knew the other to be capable of such a thing.

He had been injured when he had gone up against Bakura but he had not when he had fought those two wolves in the woods. The fact that he had managed to keep them both at bay and eventually kill them both—his distraction aside—was enough of a warning to him.

Yami was built for the kill. He was sure that even if he remained human he could manage to utterly destroy him or his grandfather or his mother in only a handful of seconds. Yugi was sure he could barely blink and it would happen.

He shivered, then opened and closed his mouth as he turned to his grandfather again. Impulse said to flee. Another said to get him out of there.

The one which won was the latter.

In a seemingly exuberant tone, his voice burst out of his lungs to say, "We should do a scent test!"

His grandfather halted on his way to the table. The concern in his eyes grew to a more immense height. He frowned at him, shaking his head as he mumbled, "Yugi, what are you...?"

"Well, I mean, I didn't want to do anything with the coin reflection but I could do a scent test right about now. Why not?"

Sugoroku stared at him as if he had never come upon such a strange creature before in his long life. Then he shook his head slightly as he and Yugi watched each other with wide eyes. His grandson looked almost ready to leap up and tear off down the stairs in a panic at any moment.

The thought made him frown further; he might be a little jumpy every once in a while but to look at him with such obvious fear was beyond him on an average day. Yugi usually hid his emotions when he was so scared, a practice he knew he had implemented against his bullies in order to get them to leave him alone after he had had enough.

But now his eyes were dilated and he looked as if he might tremble and perspire at any moment. The thought was stunning to him. His grandson usually had much better composure than this. He looked almost sick at the moment, however.

He frowned deeply, his brows knitting together as he regarded Yugi more fully. For a moment he wanted to reach out and embrace him, thinking to perhaps draw him close and say that things would be okay. But the concept was archaic and so deeply removed between the two of them as it was. Yugi had never truly needed to be comforted in such obvious ways, not since he was about ten. Since then he had found his own feet, had managed to adapt and work with the things dealt him.

Sugoroku knew about the bullying. He had seen it even when Yugi thought himself well at hiding it. He had cleaned blood from his uniforms more than once, hiding it without so much as a pause. Physical pain had been something he had learned to adapt with. Even emotional he did not cow beneath.

But everyone succumbed at some point and every now and then, he wondered if perhaps it was overwhelming the small teen. Sugoroku thought sometimes that Yugi would crumble beneath it, that he might show it at the most terrible of times. And he thought that, should that happen, his mother would swoop in as only she could, determined to find and somehow cure the affliction she thought him assaulted with.

"Yugi…"

"Come on, Grandpa, it'll be fun!"

Yugi nearly cringed at his own voice. He sounded stupid, fake, and utterly pathetic that it made his insides twist. Part of him thought to flee into his room once more. The other half told him to remain as he was.

If he went into his room again, Yami was there. If he made his grandpa anymore suspicious, he might tell his mom and ask her to raise the dosage on his medication himself. If he just stood there much longer, he risked Yami coming out of his room for whatever reason.

He didn't want to think he would truly harm them.

But he had killed those two in the woods...

And somehow Yugi himself had wound up killing Bakura to save him...

What if it was something to do with their connection as alpha and beta?

What if Yami had some kind of influence over him because of it? He had said that he had somehow passed the image of his attack to him in the woods so was it possible that they could affect each other further? Could it have been something about Yami that had pushed him to kill like that?

Yugi nearly hit himself in growing panic and oncoming coils of exasperation. He wanted to shake his head at himself. The thought was too easy. And if he could influence him with such little effort, then why had he not done so before?

All he had felt when he had attacked Bakura was a need to protect someone who had done the same for him several times and that intense adrenaline rush.

He faltered. Adrenaline in common people was known for giving superhuman strength and making them act in ways they normally wouldn't. Who was to say it wasn't similar to a werewolf?

He shook his head sharply at himself. He would drive himself nuts thinking about this if he continued…

"I really want to try," he announced, swallowing hard when his grandpa blinked at him with something like incredulousness and suspicion. A deep concern was beginning to show in his old gaze, the plum purple of his eyes a shade darker with worry. Yugi nearly winced. He was such an idiot. Of course he was worrying him. He would be worried if he was watching himself in that moment too. "I'm sorry…I just…I'm really tired. I'm kind of…I was helping Jonouchi study earlier and I don't think I recovered from the headache…"

He nearly flinched. Had he just insinuated his best friend was stupid? Fuck, what kind of friend was he? He lied to them, he kept Anzu's hopes up, he had used his grandpa's health as an alibi, and he was pathetically over the top with taking care of a werewolf whom seconds ago he had considered a possible threat to each of them.

His grandpa chuckled softly. "I'm going to guess that studying did not go well?"

"It…" He hesitated, wondering if his words were serving any purpose anymore. "It was okay. But I… It wasn't what… It wasn't exactly as easy as it usually is… He was more distracted and it was harder to make him pay attention to the math problems…"

Sugoroku snorted. "I'll be amazed if he truly graduates. He's more street smart than he is book."

Yugi felt his cheeks heat slightly, flustered by the idea. Yeah, Jonouchi was far more street smart but it wasn't his fault his attention span was so short and…well…really pathetic. He tended to have issues when it came to studies or class. And it was one of the numerous issues his teachers had with him...

"I think he'll be fine," he mumbled in an effort to save his friend somewhat. "I think, honestly, that he won't have to work nearly as hard to graduate as you're alluding to. He just…tends to be scattered when we do exercises for class studies."

He raised a brow. "And that has nothing to do with him talking to you about magazines and tapes instead, maybe?"

Yugi felt his face turn bright red, horrified by the statement before he looked away quickly. "I'm not going to answer that," he announced, clearing his throat. "I'm not going to answer that at all."

His grandpa guffawed, shaking his head in amusement and smirking. "Your secret is safe with me," he teased, smirking wider when the teenager coughed softly and frowned at him.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Yugi snapped dryly. He rolled his eyes and his gaze flickered towards his bedroom door curiously for a brief second. Had Yami noticed his fear or tension? Was he paying attention to his conversation now?

If he could have seen through the door he would have known that Yami was sitting up, head tilted to the side and listening. But the words were nonsensical to him. He did not know Jonouchi or what the tapes or magazines meant, just that Yugi had grown uncomfortable at their mention. With such gaps in his mind, the conversation was nothing of importance to him. But Yugi's voice sounded strained and tense and that was somewhat unnerving to him.

He had run off upon glancing at him. Yami had no idea what it was that he had done to gain such a reaction but he could not fathom what had shaken the other boy so immensely. He had never known him to be so scared or easily shocked away as he had been.

He blinked and tilted his head further. The elderly Motou—he knew the sound of his footsteps now, they were heavier than both Yugi's and his mother's—was wandering down the stairs. He could hear that the other teenager had not moved from his place. The lack of footsteps or shift of weight said as much. And he could not imagine that Yugi would have followed him so easily.

Yami thought to make his way into the hallway, to check on him and at least see with his own eyes that he was okay, but it had been him to scare him, had it not? Had that not been the reason he had run off as he had? He shook the thought off. He would wait.

Yugi would eventually find his way back. It was his room, after all. There was no reason for him to fear his own safe haven. And, if there was, he was sure he would be told to leave. It was only natural that Yugi lash out if he found his own place to be threatened somehow. Humans did that, wolves did that, and werewolves were notorious for it. So he would react, even if he initially did not mean to.

So Yami sat and waited. He listened to the way the elderly man came back up the stairs and strained his ears to hear him tell Yugi to see if he could list each object he had picked up and which rooms he had gone into twice. He listened to Yugi hum an answer, something like an okay though he was not sure, and then wander off down the stairs after a few seconds. He could feel the hesitation but was also something extremely calm when he left as well.

And so the red-eyed boy remained quiet, closing his eyes and listening as Yugi moved on nearly silent feet. He did not care much to track his every movement; such a thing seemed heavily tedious. He ignored his impulse to get up, however, and perhaps to follow in an effort to sate his boredom. He was ready to leap to his feet and give chase, if only because he was restless.

But he kept his head down and picked at his nails with his teeth, eyes still closed and his mind wandering elsewhere for the smallest of seconds. Whatever had frightened Yugi away had not completely forced him to cower now. He was moving about without the slightest hindrance. And he could hear him picking up objects, metal, small, nothing more than half an ounce in weight.

Had it passed? Or was he simply distracting himself? Was it something more?

Surely if Yugi were to have a problem with him now, it could not be something to have suddenly arisen. If he had an issue with his presence or anything he had done, it would be a growing issue, would it not? Yami could not help but think that the other boy would not be the best to manage a conflict of such magnitude if it had been building up over time.

He supposed that could account for his awkward response to the simple inquiry of how his day had been at school and the way he had fled from him so easily.

But then, he could also simply be over-thinking it all and investing his energy where it was not necessary. It would not be a surprise to him should that be the issue. He had often done that. How many times had he been called out on that formerly?

He nearly cringed at the very thought. It made his stomach clench and his mouth grow dry.

Yami turned his head, glancing at the window. He could go and hunt and perhaps that would force the thoughts out of his head. When he was running he did not think of his troubles. His paws always carried him so swiftly that it was almost as if he could outrun any issue with which life presented him.

But his desire to race off was short-lived if it existed at all.

There was something about the idea of sneaking out of the window into the woods again that made him hesitate. It was somewhat disgusting to think that an issue of such minor magnitude could possibly keep him from doing as he so often wished to. The thought that he might run into the humans again or another wolf that turned their teeth on him was somehow daunting. To deal with that after such a close encounter seemed illogical and easily disdainful. He could not fathom doing such a thing with so short a recovery period in the first place.

He blinked as a noise was welcomed into his ears.

He turned his head towards the door.

Yugi was standing in the entrance of the kitchen and his grandfather was a few feet away, seated at the table, he was sure. Yami could hear his charge as he spoke softly, voice calm and easy as he listed off the things that his grandfather had apparently asked of him.

"You stood at the bottom of the steps for a few seconds, opened the door, then went into the examination room. There you picked up the thermometer, touched one of the paintings on the wall, ran your fingers over the scale, and grabbed a pair of gloves. With the gloves you grabbed a stethoscope, messed with the laptop keys, and played around with a couple of the flea medications." Yugi paused for a moment and Yami leaned forward, listening with his head tilted towards the door, curious and unsure of what more to do with himself. "Then, after that, you went back and circled around the second examination room twice before going towards the kennels. You touched the one that the hybrid was in before, then went back to the desk, circled around it twice, and played with the phone to the right of the computer. Then you adjusted the monitor using the light and contrast buttons. After that you moved the mouse around in several circles, plopped down in the computer chair, discarded the first set of gloves to get new ones, and touched the picture frame, the cookie jar, the phone again, and got back up and dumped the gloves. And then you messed with the kennels again, touched the same cage, and finally made your way back up here."

The red-eyed wolf remained silent, tilting his head in bewilderment. What was the purpose of telling him all of this? Was it a test? He remembered something vaguely like that being said earlier. Yugi had requested a test, had he not? Yami frowned slightly, then shook his head with a baffled sensation in his gut. Why was it important to him to be able to track his grandfather? It was not as if it were an important event to behold.

"Your senses are just getting better and better, aren't they?"

Yami knew very well that Yugi heard the satisfaction and laughter in his voice. It grated instantly on the taller boy's nerves and his shoulders rose briefly into a faint bristle. His eyes narrowed and his lips curled back. He bore his teeth for a moment but did not snarl. Instead he tilted his head, shifted his weight, and settled back more firmly on his haunches on the mattress. He closed his eyes to keep some of his growing frustration at bay. The tone irritated him beyond his own understanding.

And yet, half of him rebelled the thought. He knew why the tone caused such hatred to flare in his bones. But he could not truly bring himself to consider it. So he shook the thought off and listened as Yugi unceremoniously shrugged the comment off with a lazy "I guess so".

The conversation was strained and nonexistent. Yami waited, rewarded only seconds later when the other boy headed for his bedroom again. His elderly grandfather did not say anything in response to his less enthusiastic statement. The small teen slipped into his room nearly silently, frowning slightly and pausing only briefly as he glanced at him.

The taller boy did not open his mouth to say a word. He did not so much as blink up at him. They stared at each other for a moment. Then the other teen offered him a weak smile and closed the door behind him. The telltale click of the lock falling in place made Yami blink. Then his eyes flickered away to the carpet and he rolled his shoulders. The other boy was cautious and yet reckless all the same as he padded towards the bed in lazy strides. When Yugi plopped down beside him, the red-eyed lycanthrope hardly noticed.

They sat in silence for a long minute. Yugi could not think of the words for which he was meant to apologize with. Yami could not think of a subject. Nor could he will himself to speak for what felt like hours. The thought of pushing his voice into the air and forming words made him feel exhausted already. The effort felt momentous. And yet the quiet, as much as he always craved and held it desperately, was nothing more than a stranger which imposed too heavily on his tired frame.

Yami felt his eyes become hooded, lids drooping as he considered this strange tension which existed between them. He still did not know what had caused Yugi to react with such fear and adrenaline. And his musings were doing nothing to help him discover the reason behind it. The air was too icy, biting at his skin, and the lack of a draft of fresh wind from the window made him feel subconscious and somehow smaller than usual. He hesitated, then clenched his right cheek with his teeth, puzzling over it.

When had things become so oppressive and somehow destructive like this?

He narrowed his eyes slightly, then licked his lips. But Yugi beat him to the punch.

"I'm sorry for running off like that."

Yami blinked, startled, then looked at him curiously. If he said it was not a problem, he would be lying. And if he said it had not disturbed him, he was sure Yugi would pick up on his deceit. He blinked, frowning, and then shook his head, deciding with abrupt clarity to push the apology away. It was too sincere for his tastes.

"What were you two doing out there?" he asked slowly, tilting his head and frowning. "You went downstairs and retraced his steps?"

Yugi frowned at the dismissal but the idea of making him further uncomfortable was nothing he cared about. He shook his head slightly, then sat up from where he had fallen backwards to rest on the pillows. His blue-speckled purple eyes bore into his, curious for a moment as he studied his face. He gave him something of a small smile, then murmured, "Grandpa and I like to test my senses every now and then. So, when we do the scent tests, he likes to have me retrace his steps wherever he goes downstairs, tell him where he might have circled around, and what he would have touched or grabbed."

The red eyes peered at him thoughtfully, curiously, and for a moment Yugi could not tell what it was that seemed to make him appear somehow upset. "How is it that your mother does not know that you are infected when your grandfather clearly seems to have some kind of idea of it?" Yami asked slowly, narrowing his eyes.

There was something in his eyes that said he was clearly suspicious and feeling somehow cheated of information. It was not a mystery, however, as Yugi considered it. He did not remember if he had told Yami or not that his mother would never believe he was infected in the first place, but he might have simply picked up on it. It was not hard to tell that, unlike his grandpa, his illnesses to her were something that had to be cured instead of tested and played with. The small boy sighed as he continued with a slightly disdainful tone to trace his words.

"You say that you test them, which is obviously not an uncommon occurrence. And you said it with such normality that it cannot be something new to have begun only recently. So how is that possible?"

Yugi cringed and let out a loud breath, his features falling from friendly into disappointed and smothered with frustration. His voice came out low, crestfallen, but further irate as he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head with an unhappy huff. "I didn't realize before I was infected, but apparently lycanthropy runs in the family? And it seems to come from my mom's side of the family. So Grandpa has been telling me all about wolves growing up and teasing me that they still exist here in Hokkaido. He used to tell me all about the Large-Mouthed God, one of our only real wolf deities when I was growing up. And he was instantly enamored when he realized I had more acute senses than himself or Mom. I never thought much about it until after the first Change."

Yami blinked at him, somewhat baffled, and then with keen interest as he tilted his head and studied him more closely. "Do you believe that you would have changed even without being bitten?" he asked slowly.

Yugi shook his head immediately, with such firmness to the movement that it made the other boy falter slightly. "No," he snapped, voice growing flustered as his eyes flashed with anger, "I don't. I don't think I would have changed at all. Why would I have? My mom and grandpa didn't and it's apparently been dormant for years. Grandpa tells me that he was taught all about wolves when he was growing up, as the rest of his family was for generations. So why would I be the first one in such a long time to end up changing? There's nothing special about it all."

The other teen blinked wide eyes, startled by his ferocity, and then shook his head slightly in shock at the words. Something sharp glinted in his gaze and the shadows of his lashes did nothing to block it from his sight. He curled his lip back, lowering his voice into a purring rumble of a snarl. "You do not think that there is anything special about yourself?"

"I didn't say that." Yugi rolled his eyes and then faltered. Was there anything special about him? He did not think so in the least when it came down to it.

He was not super tall, he was not athletic. He was smart, yes, but anyone could prove themselves to be. He was polite, but that was something that was taught to him. He did not possess more than much of a desire to win at games and show kindness and optimism more than anger and pessimism as others did. When it came down to it, Yugi Motou was simply a sixteen-year-old boy who lived in Domino City.

That made it all simple and useless. Individuality did not appear to him to be something that he possessed in all actuality. Anyone could turn out as he had in life. It was not as if something special had happened to him or he had some intense and powerful gift all to himself.

"I…didn't say that. I just…meant that…the lycanthropy has been dormant for so long that it suddenly becoming active in me for some reason doesn't make any sense, Yami."

The other wolf stared at him. His eyes were glittering and his teeth were still bared. Yet, he did not speak for a moment. Instead he tilted his head, watching Yugi. His expression at first was leering, then became nothing more than a curious and cautious confusion. A thoughtful light entered his gaze, burning into his as well. And then, the smallest touch of skepticism and frustration brushed at the surface. His lids became hooded again and he blinked lazily as his mouth relaxed once more.

"I suppose you could be correct." Yami hummed softly, then smirked faintly, the right side of his mouth tugging smoothly upwards in growing amusement. "Tell me, though, Yugi, is your father infected too?"

He faltered, then shook his head immediately, nearly laughing out loud at the thought. "My dad? Definitely not." He sobered when he saw the way the other peered at him with an incredulous expression. He rolled his eyes. "No, Yami, he's definitely not infected too. He's complacent when mythology is mentioned and discussed, but he doesn't believe in it in any manner."

Yugi smirked in amusement when he saw the way Yami pursed his lips in an effort to keep from interrupting him. He could just imagine that his rebuttal would be that of belief lacking any foundation where lycanthropy was involved. He watched him as he shook his head slightly and raised a brow for him to continue.

"Besides that, his family is far stricter and uptight. I don't tend to see any of them because of the way they sometimes treat my mom and grandpa and act as if they're both lunatics. And all of them refuse to believe anything that is not scientifically logical." Yugi paused, watching him and shaking his head slightly with a frown. "There's no way that someone could completely block out something like their disease and Changes through mere disbelief. Their bodies would be far too taxed and if I can remember even around nearly dying, then there's no way they wouldn't. They would all probably be drunk or doing drugs in order to get the entire events out of their heads all the time. And they hardly touch alcohol aside from business meetings. So, no, I know for a fact that none of them have ever been infected."

Yami frowned at him thoughtfully. "And your mom never wondered why her parents and family lineage was so keen upon telling her and yourself about wolves like they did?"

Yugi faltered, then bit his lip and sighed as he reached up to run a hand through his hair again.

"If this is upsetting to you—"

"No, no, Yami, it's not," he assured him quickly, shaking his head and pulling his hand away. He stared at him for a moment, entire body tense for the briefest of seconds, as if he suspected Yami might flee from his tone. But the other boy merely raised a brow, frowning at him in confusion. His tone was so alarmed and his expression growing with something like shame at his words. The picture before him did not truly match any idea he had to explain the behavior.

Then, abruptly, Yugi relaxed and let out a nervous noise that was almost a snort mixed with laughter. He reached up and rubbed the back of his head, cheeks tinted bright pink beneath his eyes for the smallest of seconds.

"I just…Mom doesn't realize I know, but when she was younger she…apparently really wanted the wolves to still be here. And she wanted to believe in all those fairytales that my grandpa was telling her. She wanted to think that the wolves were helpers and still existed and that kitsune were mischievous guardians. She…she wanted to believe in it, but when she did, it was considered a hindrance. Her teachers would sometimes call my grandparents and tell them that she had her head too high in the clouds and that she seemed obsessed with it."

Yami tilted his head. "Why should that be a problem? From what little I know of humans, you are meant to encourage imagination, is that not true?"

Yugi hesitated, then looked away. "Yes, but most of the time that's just to make you think outside of the box for learning solutions when it comes to problems later in life. See, the way it goes, is that, while they encourage imagination, it's more because it makes you think. And that's what they want from you. But when you truly believe in fairytales and those little daydreams you have, it's considered something of a problem." He paused. "Especially when you are no longer in grade school. When you are in middle school, if you still follow your imagination more than logic, it's considered a pretty big issue. Oftentimes, it is cause for worry and every now and then people think to send their children to psychologists because of it."

Yami blinked, unsure of what he meant to tell him. What was a psychologist? His brain was working in rapid succession to supply him the answer, sorting through a wealth of phrases and knowledge that was not truly his. But he came up short and it was noticeable, he knew, as Yugi looked up at him and paused, a hint of confusion and then soft sympathy lighting his eyes.

"They're meant to help deal with mental illness or disorders in children. Or help them with problems they might have in their lives. See, most of the time, if you would desire to live in a fairytale rather than reality, it's considered that you are either childish or trying to project something into your life in order to suppress a memory of something that would block your development." He drew in a deep breath, sighing and then shaking his head slightly. "My mom was around twelve when she finally gave up on the idea that anything spectacular might happen to her in life. She got tired of waiting and imagining. She got tired of all the stories they told her and began to even resent them for their simplicity. Because, when she kept writing short stories about wolves from mythology or kitsune, they thought that maybe she was not growing up. And then came the suspicion that something was going wrong at home. Outside sources got involved, life got harder, and I guess she just kind of…shed any notion she ever considered childish."

Yami frowned at him in puzzlement, disturbed by the very idea. How could one be faulted for being able to think of things beyond their hideous daily lives? He himself lacked the fundamentals of his imagination for the most part, simply living in the moment and doing as was necessary. It was the way he had adapted to his life as a wolf. It was much easier not to carry human notions into a canine body, while retaining his sense of morals and ability, even with how small it might have been.

"So, she was pulled aside during class at one point, told that she needed to knock off all of her fantastical ideas about life, and move on. Her teachers were worried, her parents considered their concern foolish and wasted, and she was forced to deal with some of her professors even saying that if she would not write about other things, she would fail courses." He paused, tilting his head. "The threat doesn't truly have any leeway but for outside of middle school, where universities are concerned. Everyone passes despite bad grades here in Japan, no matter how many absences they have or how poorly they treat someone. In middle school, we won't let others be left behind, or fail and stay in schools like they do in the states. So, it only truly counts when high schools and colleges are brought into consideration. They both look at absences and grades. And they both require you pass an entrance exam."

Yami nodded at him. He understood most of the statement. Parts of it blurred somewhere in the back of his mind, twisted and jumbled, but then smoothed out again. His thoughts were rapidly filling in blanks again, his attention caught and focus applied wholly. He did not have to think too hard for his mind to fill in every blank which presented itself. School was a subject that he knew for the most part.

He had been told about it before, after all.

"So, eventually, she began to turn her focus on sciences. She would snap and grow scornful when her parents mentioned her short stories or anything of the sort. She would ignore their mentions of mythology. She focused solely on chemistry and biology and worked her way through to become a vet. She loves animals more than she does people, because people are oppressive and animals are not." He shrugged, looking down at the comforter with narrowed eyes. "And she…when I was growing up, she used to try to warn my grandparents away from telling me anything about wolves or kitsune or myths or lore of any kind. She threatened once to take me away and never let them see me again."

Yami frowned. "Why didn't she?"

Yugi blinked, then looked up at him, surprised by the question. It baffled him for a moment that Yami might think the statement serious by any means. But then he remembered, with a faint smile, that the red-eyed boy had never met his mom. So he knew nothing of her.

"She would never do that. She loves her parents and she loves me far too much to do that. It would have broken their hearts if she were to do that. And she knew I would be unhappy if that happened." He shook his head, smiling a little wider. "She just said it because she was upset. And it managed to make them quiet down for a couple of months. Of course, that was more out of respect than seriously considering her capable of doing it."

The other boy nodded slightly, understanding blooming in his eyes.

"Anyways, so, she constantly fought with them over what they were telling me growing up. I…I grew up with night terrors and I would sometimes wake up screaming. Mom would take me to the doctors to get medication to help me sleep and keep the nightmares away. But she thought that perhaps the stories they were telling me were influencing them too. And that scared her a lot more than she would ever admit."

"Did they?"

Yugi shook his head. "No. Not at all." He frowned and furrowed his brows. "My night terrors were mostly about drowning. Or heartbeats that would suddenly begin to stop. They were about death and destruction more than anything else. Once or twice I dreamed of massive wolves, who tore people to pieces. But that was…that was basically it."

Yami stared at him and when the other boy blinked and looked at him, his expression was heavily troubled. His features had grown drawn together, his lips pulled into a slight frown. His brows were drawn together. His eyes were crinkled faintly in the corners, gaze darkened with some kind of jumbled thought process. He frowned at him more fully, then shook his head slightly.

"I am sorry."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Everyone has nightmares at some point. It's not like anyone's mind is completely free of worries and fears and just general discomfort at times. So, I mean, I don't mind them. It makes me feel healthier sometimes when I have them. It's more the way that I react afterwards that scares me," he admitted with a deep frown, blinking and looking away from him entirely. "And the medication helps, but she thinks I should take them every day. But I don't. And I don't think they're necessary for the smaller ones."

"You seem to have grown…almost attached to them."

"No, not really attached. I'm more indifferent to it now. I mean, they freak me out when I wake up and everything is still in my head, bursting at the surface and struggling for my attention, but if that happens, then I'll take it. Besides that, it's not always necessary." Yugi continued peering at the comforter for a long time before shaking his head and sighing softly. "It's kind of complicated, I guess. But whatever, it's not that big a deal. Honestly, they're just kind of there. And I'm here. So…"

Yami tilted his head and then frowned thoughtfully. "You adapted."

"Yeah, I guess so." He shrugged and then looked at him from beneath his lashes with something of a small smile. "It doesn't really matter, though, does it? The point is that I don't see why I would have suddenly been the one person in my family after generations of dormancy to suddenly change."

Yami frowned at him in puzzlement, at first lost as to this direction of conversation and then recalling his former words. He nodded after a moment, studying his face, and offered a phantom-like imitation of a smile as well.

"Yes, it seems almost unbelievable," he said slowly, before reconsidering and sitting up a little straighter. "Unless you consider the night terrors. If your adrenaline was consistently spiked when you awoke, and your body reacted to the fear in your system, then perhaps it could have caused the lycanthropy to stir towards the surface."

"Maybe. But why wouldn't I have changed before now if that was the case?"

"Most natural Changes come with puberty and the full moon. It's usually the full moon right after one is struck by puberty. The body's hormonal changes cause the chemical reactions and the cells begin to mutate and rebuild themselves in other forms. So then, with that process, when the full moon's pull is felt on the body, it triggers it."

Yugi felt his cheeks heat with frustration. "I already hit puberty!" he cried in annoyance, blushing harder when Yami blinked in obvious surprise. "God, it's been two years! Quit looking at me like that!"

He considered him for a moment, then frowned and shook his head with a shrug. "Maybe it was so far in your bloodstream that it just couldn't react fully until you were bitten?" he asked with a confused note to his voice. "Or maybe the experience of coming close to death is what might have spurred it on?"

He shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter. The whole point is, that's what the tests are. You were wondering so that's what it was."

"So, then, did he tell you that you were infected before you changed or…?"

Yugi halted, the color draining from his face entirely. For a moment he looked at him, with a sensation of calm that was swiftly swept away by acute frustration and hatred. He shook his head sharply, face twisting into a hideous scowl. "No," he snapped, "he didn't. And he constantly tested me and then he acted as if he had no idea. And then, to make it even better, he claimed that he 'didn't want to tell me in case I really wasn't going to change'. He hid it completely! I thought I was going insane and he just…"

Yami shook his head slightly and then glanced away. "I don't know if I am meant to express sympathies or offer condolences," he admitted with a frown. "But I do know what it feels like to be abandoned in a similar sense of the word."

He faltered, looking at him with wide eyes. Abandoned? Yugi blinked. He had never considered the word, mostly because he had not thought much of it beyond a vivid betrayal, but it fit. A sense of clarity came over him.

Yes, it had felt like his grandpa had abandoned him to fumble in the dark. He had known and failed to even hint at the knowledge. And then, he had seemingly teased him with that knowledge that he refused to share with him at the time.

The wound opened further, anew with bitter pulsating pain. He grew flustered, unable to think further than his growing anger, and then looked away again. All new, the raw edges of the wound bled and festered. He had not considered that his own family would leave him in the dark as his grandfather had. Not once had he thought that magnitude of betrayal a capability within their household.

"Yugi?"

He blinked and his head snapped up in response to his name. But his features were still twisted and his eyes were darker, a hideous shade of blue-violet that appeared entirely uniform with the emotional distress which beat at his insides.

Yami studied him for a moment, then hesitantly reached forward to touch his arm. The movement made Yugi blink, then turn his head and stare at the long fingers which gripped his bicep so lightly. "I did not mean to upset you," he murmured softly. "If you wish, I won't talk anymore."

He blinked, the words startling him. He raised his head, immediately focused on him again. Yami looked tired but patient, with an extra wariness which made his eyes a little icy in expression. But he was not closed off from him. His body was angled towards him, his gaze searching his, and his face was softer than usual.

"No, no," he muttered, struggling for words for a moment before running a hand through his hair again.

Yugi could feel the other's light touch on his arm and it was somehow invigorating and distressful at the same time. He blinked, swallowing hard, and then allowed his eyes to trace the path of Yami's arm to his small wrist and slender fingers. The nails were that intense dark red shade, glittering with the reflection of the light bulb overhead. His hand was such a warm color, with a gentle heat to be offered, and the combination was somehow irritating and soothing to his frayed mind.

"I was just…I realized that I was trying not to think about it before because it hurt so much but when you mentioned it, I realized how true it was and it's just kind of pathetic that he didn't tell me until afterwards. He knew what was happening to me, even when I was so lost and freaked out, and then he waited despite having all the knowledge necessary to help me."

"I do not think he had all the knowledge necessary."

Yugi blinked and looked up at him as his voice began to falter and taper slightly. It cracked, brittle around the edges, and he could tell soon his voice would fall away completely. If he grabbed the notepad and a pencil, would Yami write for him instead? Or was this conversation coming to an end with his inability to speak any longer?

"He is not a werewolf who can change. And he is not the one who bit you."

Yugi startled slightly at the statement, tilting his head to the side. "What does that have to do with anything? I thought Tomoya had bitten me until you just recently told me. And that's not even your fault that I did," he said with a shake of his head, confused. "He still could have told me that he even suspected it. It—he might not have had any advice to offer me, but it would have helped me all the same! I wouldn't have felt so lost or alone…"

Yami frowned at him for a moment, then shook his head and looked away, eyes darkening with something he could not read. "I am your alpha. I am meant to guide you through this. I did not do so formerly. And so I apologize for that."

Yugi blinked stupidly at the words, then frowned deeply. "Yami, that's not even your fault," he objected, feeling almost sick to his stomach with distress at the very idea. "You didn't need to be here for me before, anyways. I was figuring it out. I…"

Was just as lost then as I was when Grandpa didn't tell me.

So was there really a difference?

"Look, I wish you could have been there earlier, but the point is that you're here now. And that counts more than then."

Yami gave him something of a dubious look but did not argue, instead shrugging and turning away again. He glanced at him sideways when Yugi frowned at him unhappily, his expression somewhat troubled by his lack of response. Impulsively, the taller teen turned to him again, frowning slightly before tilting his head and saying, "I think I might need to go for a run."

He blinked at him, startled by the change of conversation, then looked at him with wide eyes. "A run?"

"I have energy I need to burn off." His voice broke off completely and he shrugged when the other boy studied him with wide eyes once more. His rasping tone trailed away the moment Yami went to breathe another word in further explanation.

"Do you think I could tag along?"

Yugi said it with such eagerness that both of them faltered for a moment in surprise. The small teen felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment, eyes widening with dismay at the tone of his voice. The taller boy raised a brow, surprised more than put off by the idea, and then shrugged at him slowly.

If Yugi wanted to come, why should he deny him the chance? Besides, it might give him a better chance to learn to Change on his own without outside influence such as the moon or wolfsbane. He shuddered at the thought but not even that could put away his necessity. He was growing further restless. The conversation had only heightened such a sense. Betrayal and abandonment were things that he did not wish to dwell on.

The chance to shed his human skin and fall back into his canine form as he so often desired was nothing he was willing to turn away from now. He watched as the smaller boy hesitated, then jumped to his feet as he got up and headed for the window. Yugi paused as he reached the sill, glancing over his shoulder at the door and then turning back to pat his pockets for a moment. Yami could hear the way his fingers tapped something smooth and plastic and he blinked at the sound of it.

"I was just checking to make sure I had my phone. Just in case something goes wrong." He checked the battery life, let out a breath of relief at the sight of the seventy-five percent that greeted him, and then followed as Yami pulled the window open and stepped outside. Yugi faltered slightly, eyes wide, but the other boy was balanced perfectly on the tilted shingles, padding across without a single glance. He turned, twisted to face the ground, and then dropped without a backwards look. Yugi hesitated, glancing over his shoulder and back again. The grass looked so dry and cold, the strands formerly green a hollow milky yellow in color now. He faltered, swallowing hard, and the distance between it and the roof seemed to grow immense as he stared.

Yami came into his line of vision, confusion and concern making itself clear upon his face. He stared up at him, frowning in puzzlement, and tilted his head. The other boy stared down at him, watching the way his red eyes bore into him, and swallowed hard.

What was he supposed to say? That he had forgotten he had a fear of heights before?

Yugi nearly cringed. How foolish and childish would he sound then?

"I, uh…s-sorry." He braced himself, mind circulating with the fact that he was both embarrassing himself needlessly and wasting Yami's time altogether. I've done this before, remember? I've done this before. I did it to sneak out and meet Jonouchi and Honda at that party in eighth grade.

Yugi nearly rolled his eyes at himself. And then, on the way back in, using the drain to climb up the side of the house, he had sprained his wrist and his ankle when he'd lost his grip and tumbled all the way back down. He shook his head at himself, then moved forward and forced his body to spring forward and throw himself off the roof.

Yugi landed beside him, still somewhat shaky even as the world seemed to burst with color before his eyes for a brief moment. The adrenaline, so swift and immediate, swept away just as quickly as it had come. He let out a small breath, relieved. His ankles tingled slightly but not enough to cause more than a slight discomfort. And then the sensation was immediately gone again.

He went to turn to Yami, possibly to speak to him and say something to excuse his behavior, but stopped short. The other boy was leaning forward slightly. His nose was twitching. He was breathing in slow and deeply, drawing in long inhales and holding them.

It occurred to Yugi, with wide eyes, that the way Yami was staring at him in confusion, that he was sniffing him. He was, perhaps, looking for a wound that might have caused him to hesitate. The thought made his cheeks heat once more. He shivered, flustered, and shook his head, grumbling, "Stop sniffing me."

Yami gave him a disdainful look, snorting out loud, and then wrinkled his nose at him.

"What? Don't get mad because I called you out on it," Yugi teased, raising a brow at his indignant expression. A slight blush colored his cheeks as he shot him a dirty look. "Well, I didn't ask you to."

Yami rolled his eyes and shook his head, turning away and starting for the trees without a second glance.

"Thank you for checking on me, though."

Yami paused a step, then glanced at him over his shoulder. The look on his face was a fleeting smile before he turned away again immediately and began to walk faster. Yugi smiled in amusement at the gesture, then followed him just as quickly.

It occurred to him only as Yami picked a small clearing to begin to strip himself of his clothes that he should have brought a change of them. Yugi glanced back over his shoulder, but they were already about a mile into the woods and he didn't really think that it was worth walking back for. But it was awkward to see how little the other boy seemed to care that he had turned back to him. Yami simply threw his jeans off and tossed his boxers down with them without even the slightest hesitation.

Yugi felt his cheeks heat up, embarrassed that he could not seem to pull his eyes away. He was caught in that visual trap that came with not wanting to see something and yet being unable to look away. And so he kept watching, even as Yami got on his hands and knees and braced himself on the ground.

The skin on his back was a glistening golden-bronze, the curve of his spine gentle as he leaned forward, his shoulders sharp and narrow as he gripped at the earth with his long fingers. The other boy did not glance back at him, but his skin rippled gently and his spine jutted for a moment beneath his skin before pushing forward and then stretching outwards.

Yugi could see the knobs shifting and stretching themselves, though not jutting outwards, and they did not burst from beneath his smooth skin. The muscles bunched and rippled, twitching gently, and he could see the pores opening almost effortlessly, so that long black hairs began to push outwards, arching in the air like spikes.

Bones popped and crunched and pushed together before pulling back again and Yugi still could not look away. Yami's skin was beginning to take on a small sheen of sweat, glistening in the weakening sunlight, and the beads of perspiration looked like dewdrops beneath the bright orb.

There was something about seeing the Change that was somehow both calming and terribly invigorating. But even this was not the reason he could not force his eyes away. Something about the entire thing was ensnaring. The way Yami arched his back, coughed, and spat on the ground, the way the bones began to elongate and his legs twisted to take on a new form, all held him there. Something about it all seemed to wish to sweep him away completely. And yet, Yugi's most prominent thought, was that somehow the other wolf was not put off by his staring. And he, as awkward as he felt doing so, found himself relieved to realize such a thing.

Somehow it was all so…beautiful.

It was twisted, in a sense. Yami's body was contorting and shivering and his skin bursting with sweat now, his muscles quivering and shaking. The air had grown stale with the smell of vomit. Large patches of steam, heavy and shimmering in the light, came from his lean body. His bones continue to shift, popping violently and loudly in the stale air so that it sounded like gunfire. He shifted his weight and the air shimmered briefly, painfully, with a shuddering roll of heat, before the other boy was encompassed in the dark black fur of his wolf form.

He shook himself out. Small strands of fur fell away, shed as if he had been brushed vigorously but the hair had not been pulled out completely. Yami looked back at him over his shoulder and tilted his head as he stepped forward several paces and turned around.

The wolf tilted his head and angled his ears. Then he took a seat. Beside him, the air was beginning to cool, the vomit losing its heat rapidly. Red eyes peered at him curiously, then with slight concern.

It had only occurred to Yugi, around watching the other boy, that he had no idea how he was meant to change himself. He had not tried it by his own hand. The full moon had caused it the first time. The second had been the mixture of wolfsbane and silver in his veins. And yet, even this embarrassment of admission did not compel him to hesitate or think before speaking again.

"I don't know how to do that."

Yami blinked wide eyes, then tilted his chin up, startled. His fur shuddered for a moment, his nose twitching. I had forgotten, he admitted. His voice was low, booming in his head, but it sounded smooth, beautiful, with a baritone pitch that possessed such power and passion that it made his mouth fall open. It rolled at the edges of his words, curled beneath each stroke of his breaths taken, and seemed to wrap itself around him with gentle fingers. It was gossamer, gentle, and beautiful.

Yugi could not help but stare at him, wondering at the strength of such a powerful voice which seemed, oddly, to mirror his own in a way. He blinked at the thought, but could not stop himself long enough to focus on it all.

In a gale of wonder and bewilderment and keen excitement, the small teen could do nothing more than stare at him. Encompassed with his confusion, blanketed by his shock, he stumbled for words. He peered at him, mouth still wide open, body wound up tightly with wonder, and felt his heart begin to race in his chest. He took in a deep breath, stared at him some more, and then struggled to come up with anything he could possibly say.

"H-how are you…?"

The wolf blinked at him, ears flickering, as the question trailed off. He opened his jaws, his bottom incisors showing, his lips pulled forward slightly in something of a frown. His eyes glittered and bore into his thoughtfully as he considered the unfinished inquiry, and then shook his neck out slightly.

This is the link between an alpha and beta, Yami explained quietly, voice a soft curl almost like a purr within his skull. It warmed him faintly and made him smile slightly as he looked at him curiously. It allows us to communicate in either form. Since I bit you, I can speak to you like this. Although…from what I remember…most often one can only communicate in pictures…

Yugi licked his lips and then tilted his head in response, curious as they looked at each other. "Only in pictures, huh?"

Yami blinked and moved forward, ears pricking forward. I sent something to you during the first Change, he thought, nodding slightly to them both. When you panicked and almost bled out.

He blinked and startled, then grinned faintly. "Something like the moon or the forest or something, right? The sensation of wind in my fur?" he asked, raising a brow.

It was soothing, the other said indignantly before turning away and glancing around them slowly. Yami tilted his head and looked at him with another curious yet innocent expression which made his eyes bright and beautiful as they peered up at him. They sparkled like rubies, glistening around the edges like pools of fresh blood with the smallest hints of gorgeous yellow and orange splattered upon his pupils. I will talk you through it. But unless you wish to ruin your clothes and walk home naked, you must strip.

Yugi raised a brow, at first with the intention of teasing him, and then stopped short. No, he had been the one to like the sight of the Change as Yami had gone through it. Whether that was because of his curiosity pertaining to almost anything biological or because he was just wondering about the intensity and the pain which would come of it, he did not know. But he had enjoyed watching it. Somehow, in some twisted way, he had liked watching the other boy shed his skin and become a large canine.

And Yugi could not even pretend that he had not watched him as he had removed his clothes and settled to begin the Change. So the joke would have been far too hypocritical for his tastes. He blushed, then looked away and glanced at the tanktop and black jeans he had put on earlier that day.

"Uh, yeah, okay," he muttered, blushing harder before shivering and beginning to pull the shirt up by the hem. He blushed harder when the other did not remove his gaze and then gave him a flustered look. "Could you please maybe turn away?"

Yami snorted so loudly that he jumped in response. The canine peered at him with amused red eyes and flicked an ear as a brow rose in an almost human expression of laughter. Don't even pretend that you did not watch me as well, he scoffed playfully before turning around and stretching himself out on his belly. The massive wolf placed his jaw on his paws, stretching himself out. Just tell me when you are done and then I will instruct you throughout.

"Okay…" He hesitated, licking his lips, and then began to pull his shirt off and undo the buckle of his belt. "Thank you."

Yami ignored him.

Yugi felt the heat in his cheeks increase for a moment. He glanced over but the wolf had not turned back to glance at him. He had not shown any interest beyond a flick of his ear in acknowledgment. And yet, somehow, the entire thing was still so embarrassing that he could not truly fathom it all. He licked his lips, swallowing hard, and pulled at the hem of his jeans to slide them down his legs.

"Um…"

The wolf blinked, tilting his head, and looked over his broad shoulder at him. He pursed his lips, still blushing, and the embarrassment made his insides warmer than usual. But it was obvious that Yami was not going to look below his face and the relief of his realization was somehow liberating to him. The power of such an emotion burst forth and nearly made him tremble.

"So…what now?"

Now, the wolf announced, getting to his feet and shaking himself out, you get on your hands and knees. It helps to keep your spine more level and that makes the elongation process less painful.

Yugi blinked at him and then moved to brace himself on the ground, watching him from the corner of his eye as he shifted away from his clothes and settled comfortably. "Okay, and now what?" he requested softly, biting his lip and watching as the canine moved forward a step.

Now you are going to brace yourself. The first Change when you originally try it yourself is going to be painful. So, you want to make sure that you aren't tense before you begin. Yami paced forward, turned away, then spun back around and took a seat again, watching him. He looked suddenly free, as if the weight of his human skin had been by far too monumental for him to bear any longer. So you will have to make yourself somewhat comfortable.

"I don't honestly think I'm going to get much more comfortable than this," he admitted awkwardly, looking at him sideways and feeling sick for a moment at the obvious frown on the other's face. But the wolf shook it off and merely studied him, eyes taking in his posture and eventually growing complacent with it.

Very well, now what you must do is focus on the sensation you have already had upon changing. You will have to focus entirely on that and immerse yourself in it. Your body will do the rest.

"I couldn't just focus on the damn wolf?"

He didn't want to experience all that pain and terror again…

No, it tends not to work that way. Yami tilted his head in confusion at the question and then frowned at him noticeably once more. If you do not want to change, you do not have to. You can simply follow me. You should be able to keep up with me even in your human form.

Yugi nearly laughed out loud. Humans ran at about five to seven miles per hour. Wolves walked at eight when they were simply patrolling. If he truly thought he could keep up with him like that, he was insane.

And yet…wasn't superhuman speed or something like that supposed to be part of the package?

Hadn't he run unusually fast the moment that he had fled from the arcade not too long ago?

Yugi frowned but then shook his head. "I need to go ahead and learn this." He did. If he didn't learn to do it on his own, what good was the ability? And what if he needed it later? What if he was attacked? He would need to defend himself. And how was he meant to do that in any way if he could not figure out how to control his own disease enough to change?

Yami studied him for a moment, then flicked an ear to the side. All right, so then brace yourself and remember the sensation of the Changes you've already experienced. Your body will go through the Change naturally once it knows what is needed of it.

"Okay." Yugi bit his lip for a moment, then sighed softly and moved his fingers. He stretched the digits outwards to claw at the ground, nails sinking into the hard soil with more strength than he had known them to possess. But his body was growing tense with anticipation and he felt almost weak with dizziness at the very idea. Was he truly meant to conjure up all of that pain and panic he had felt both times he had changed? Neither of them had been pleasant experiences by any means.

He was horrified by the very thought of experiencing that again. But another part of him was bracing itself. It seemed, in some faraway part of his mind, to know what it was that it needed to do. It began to draw inwards, curling in on itself, and from there it began to nestle further into the depths of his mind. It was as if the darkness were nurturing it, pushing inwards and cushioning the very fabric of its existence. The fear that had welled up at the thought began to dissipate slightly.

He swallowed hard, then braced himself further as his nails dug into the packed earth harder. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then thought back to the last Change. It had been terrible, painful, and so disgusting as to nearly make him tremble. But, for a moment, the thoughts would not come to him. The part of his mind bracing itself seemed to grow further encompassed with the darkness. Yugi faltered and pushed harder at his thoughts for a moment. His mind twisted and jerked instinctively, shying away from it as he would have naturally. It was suppressed somewhere, pushed far away in the back of his mind.

The thoughts that met him there came in pulsating waves. His body tensed and ached for a moment. Then, a great heat surged through him. A flash of icy waters surged through him next. His marrow burned and tingled, then began to melt within his bones.

His spine began to twitch beneath his skin, muscles bulging faintly as they writhed. His heart began to race, rocketing in his chest. His skin itched, then seared with pain as if it had split. Pain and heat made his body perspire. His lungs began to grow tight, constricting, and the air was sucked away completely. Wave after wave of the sensation crashed through him now.

He twitched. His arms strained with the burden of his weight. His fingers grew white, painful and aching. He gasped out, then struggled to draw in a breath again. Fire and ice swarmed his bones and then pushed through his organs. His body twitched and convulsed for a moment. His spine arched. His body folded for a moment.

He gasped, choking, and then acid coursed up his throat. Heat and pain slashed through him. He opened his jaws, sputtering. Hot bile slapped against the earth. He arched his back and gasped, feeling as if his bones might splinter with panic.

His stomach clenched painfully. He gasped again, then sputtered, the blood rushing through him. Each nerve ending pulsated and burst with pain. Bright shots of color splashed through his mind. His eyes ached. His spine pulsed and ground together. Bones popped like firecrackers. They must have been splintering and breaking beneath the skin. His thoughts flickered and melted, then crashed forward again. He spat out bile upon the ground once more.

Yugi's vision swam and contorted violently. His eyes began to shake and tremble. He twitched again. His body jerked harder. He spat bile forth, arching and convulsing. Tremors racked his frame. The pain pushed forward and outwards again. His skeleton splintered further, then ached. A spasm caused him to nearly fall forward into the straw. He scrabbled for a grip to keep from collapsing. The straw cut his palms and tore the flesh away. His nails twisted and splintered, snapping in the cold earth.

Where Yami sat feet away, his first instinct was to leap forward and help him further. But he was not bleeding out. There was no visible wound. And thus, there was no reason for his interference. Yugi needed to learn. He had to learn to change for himself and not have it struck upon him by circumstance. So he squeezed his eyes shut and listened, flinching and breathing out deeply in distress several times.

His own emotion was no match for the other's. He knew well enough from the effect of his first few Changes. They were always the most painful. They always caused one to wish for nothing more than death. So he did not pretend otherwise. Instead he kept his eyes shut and his head tilted, listening.

Yugi drew in a breath that threatened to break his ribs. His shoulders arched, then shifted and pulled inwards. The tendons in his hands grew and doubled in size. His fingers broke and splintered. It all shifted and pulled inwards, cutting and breaking through the wounded flesh. He arched, jerking violently, and his legs kicked as they threatened to fall beneath him. The muscles in his thighs quivered. His arms ached and shook beneath him. He opened his mouth and choked harder with pain. A furious gurgle of pain and distress flashed through him even as acid splashed from his jaws once more.

His eyes were wide open as he stared blankly. He could see Yami in his peripheral. Panicked, he turned his head. The black wolf stared back at him, red eyes calm and encouraging. He flicked his ears, then leaned forward and Yugi could only faintly see his tail as it moved in a gentle wag.

Yugi panted, gasping, sputtering vomit from his jaws. He twisted and contorted once more, arching and sputtering. His lungs contracted and expanded in something that was nearly impossible to call a breath by any means. His vision began to blur, the black wolf becoming almost nothing more than a large splash of shadow.

Spirals and stars of bright white and blood red filled his vision. His body burned and ached. He thrashed, puking once more. His eyes vibrated, his heart racing in his chest. His bones were still splintering and bursting beneath his skin. He arched, then puked and panted pathetically. His skin split, every single pore opening as flares of bright fire pushed forward. It felt as if something were cutting through each, thin blades of bright white.

He shuddered and his heart raced harder. His breath came in a desperate gasp. He puked again, then his skin twitched and sputtered. His thumbs shifted inwards, pushed upwards. His wrists lengthened, then grew elongated.

Yugi's bones jutted, then pulsed with pain. The molten sensation came back, then solidified. His nerves were dancing with pain. Every split in his senses coursed with ice. He opened and closed his mouth. Acid pooled inside of his jaws. It sputtered and fell out in a single wave like blood. He coughed and choked. He panted, and the pain began to recede faintly. A boring, tingling numbness, harsh and terrible, began to push through him. He breathed in roughly, then exhaled.

His limbs gave out under him. He hit the ground with a thud. The vomit was harsh and warm under his chin. He gasped and sputtered. He wheezed, eyes closed tightly. The air felt too cold and foreign for him to draw into his lungs. He panted again, skin twitching beneath his pelt. He opened his eyes only moments later. His gaze flickered to the other canine.

Yami stood before him, paws next to his elbow and wrist. The red eyes were kind and gentle as they looked at each other. The large canine leaned forward. His tongue ran over his face gently. It was friendly, concerned, and Yugi shivered. He turned his head slightly, pulling his chin up. The other wolf wagged his tail, then pressed his nose into his cheek and huffed.

Good job.

Yugi shivered. The tone of his voice, intoned with such satisfaction and pride, made his bones feel warm and his body tingle. He peered up at him, his own tail twitching into a wag of happiness. It felt foreign and strange, weighted for a moment, but it passed almost immediately. With satisfaction he stretched his toes, clawing the earth for a moment. Then he attempted to pull himself to his full height on weak limbs. His body quivered, his bones almost breaking beneath his weight. He panted.

Yami licked his shoulder softly. Then he leaned forward to grab at his scruff. Yugi panted harder but allowed him to pull him to his feet. He steadied himself, balancing, and then panted once more. The black wolf backed up a step, watching him with wide, bright red eyes. He licked at his jaw a moment later, just flicking the tip of his nose. The white wolf wrinkled his nose, then turned away.

The dark-furred animal moved forward and paced a few steps. The other wolf followed him, mere inches behind. The natural stride of the wolf was for the back legs to fall into the place of their front with each movement. Yami accomplished this, steady on his feet, used to it. Yugi did not, stumbling to the side on shaky legs like a newborn calf.

Is it always going to leave me this unsteady?

The other wolf turned his head to look at him over his shoulder. No, eventually you will be fine. You just have to learn to adapt to it all later, he stated calmly, nodding gently. It will be fine when you grow used to it.

Yugi nodded slightly, opening and closing his jaws once. Acid still burned his tongue but the taste was growing distant. His throat was tingling, the raw edge of it becoming lessened. He blinked, blue-violet eyes flashing into the red gaze before him for the briefest of seconds. Then they both turned to face other directions. The white wolf blinked and then turned his head to face him for a moment.

It had not occurred to him prior that Yami might be taller than him even in this form. But, as he stepped back and looked at him, realization dawned on him as well. He was not only just taller than him. He was much larger than him. His shoulders, when he turned to face him, were broader than his. His chest was a cross between slender and barrel in design. His paws were larger, his legs long and nimble. His claws were thicker, longer.

His neck was thicker, broader, with immense muscle and longer hair. His cheeks were larger, drooping slightly at the edges. His eyes were the same narrow almond shape, with the black outline which made it look almost like kohl. The nose was about the same size, the jaws only slightly wider and larger than his own. His ears were about the same size, softly rounded at the top of its triangular shape.

Yugi tilted his head. Did he look similar or was he smaller? Was he slimmer than him? He was only pounds smaller than him as a human. Did that count in the wolf form as well?

You're bigger than me, he accused unhappily.

I had not noticed until you pointed this out to me. Yami tilted his head, studying him for a moment. It was only slight, however. And Yugi looked reasonably the same size if he only raised his head more and squared his shoulders somewhat. But his paws were about the same size, his legs thinner and nearly just as long.

His chest was the same build, his ears the same height. His jaw was not as big, but his nose was, and his cheeks looked somehow looser than his. If his cheeks were looser, he could hold more prey than he could himself. The pouches of his jaws made him more capable of holding and devouring more than Yami's own.

But his slimmer build, he was sure, meant he was faster. His weight would do well for a fight, but not for the speed that he was sure Yugi possessed over him. So he tilted his head slightly, studying him, and then turned away again.

You're probably faster, he announced, trotting forward.

The other wolf blinked, then hurried to catch up with him. You think so?

Yes. He paused, licking his lips, and then glanced at him sideways. I wonder if you will manage to catch more food than me.

The smaller wolf hesitated, confused. You were planning on hunting?

He blinked, turning his head, and his red eyes flickered with confusion. Why would you have thought otherwise?

Yugi gave him a somewhat flustered look, bright blue-violet eyes flashing with discomfort. He had only wanted to come because Yami had only mentioned they were going to be running. He had said nothing about hunting. The thought of actually eating wildlife made him sick.

He snorted and looked away but Yami did not falter in the slightest beside him. The red-eyed lycanthrope did not so much as glance at him as he paced forward and began to scent the air in large breaths.

The white wolf hesitated beside him, flattening his ears against his head for a moment. The thought of Yami's face, human, covered in blood that looked like oil spills, made him feel even further uncomfortable. He wanted to puke. The image was terrifying to behold in his memories. His face had been so dark, smeared, his fingers coated in shiny black, his nails long and sharp. His eyes had looked so unnatural, glimmering with shards so intense and dangerous as to make his insides ache.

He shivered. He did not remember being so scared when he had turned the light on. Was it just his discomfort amplifying his dislike of the idea? Was it twisting the image to make it seem worse than it truly had been? Or was his brain noticing details he had not formerly?

Yugi tilted his head, then shook the idea off. It was not a good idea to keep thinking about this. It was hardly worth all of the anxiety he felt at the moment. And he knew Yami detected it—though he was not sure he knew the reason behind it—by the way the hairs on the back of his shoulders began to rise faintly. But his speed did not begin to falter in the slightest as he padded further forward. His pace was consistent and his strides long, his slender legs carrying him with strength that their small frame seemed to belie.

Yugi hurried to match him, his body responding to the desire rather than his conscious mind. He was still racing with his anxiety, confused and frustrated with the image that still burned in his skull behind his eyes. It was singed there, great and terrible to consider. He shivered again, swallowing thickly and wondering at such a thought.

He knew that Yami would get blood on his face again, but perhaps with the dark fur he would not notice it? Yugi shook his head again to scatter the idea but still he could not shake the image.

He imagined his jaws snapping shut violently on the rabbit and his stomach dropped further. Would it scream? He remembered reading one time that every animal screamed when it died. What if it screamed and he reacted or something? It would be like challenging Yami to his kill and he suspected Yami would very quickly put him in his place.

And what if his place was the same as Bakura's, a clearing in the woods where scavengers would feast on his rotting carcass?

Yugi shuddered finely and the other wolf paused as he noticed the movement from the corner of his eye. His head turned and his ears flickered as he blinked at him curiously. But Yugi could not make himself face him and so he looked down at the ground where a fine layer of frost coated strands of pine needle and made the hardened sand beneath his paws look incredibly shiny, as if shimmering like starlight. He concentrated on this even as his paws continued to carry him along, his body still shaken by the consideration of such an idea. Death was nothing he wanted to acquaint himself with again so soon.

The straw was dark red and brown from all the days wasted away in the shade of the trees and the weakened sunlight. The shadows were minimal amongst the immense clumps if undisturbed sheds, and the frost made them appear almost silver and gray, tiny slivers of color against the earthy hues. As he moved, his eyesight gave him finer definition, allowing him sight of each of them with clarity he had never assumed them capable of. They did not allow the mounds of pine to become mere blurs of color, but gave him the entirety of each thin blade, the stems well-defined and the softer silken gray which kept them bundled appearing like downy feathers. The splashes of sunlight made them appear like rivers of mud, thick and deep against the hard-packed earth beneath it.

When he looked up again Yami had long since turned away. In fact, he was far ahead of him now, racing with such power to his muscles that Yugi nearly cringed to think that any other wolf might think to challenge him. He was so immense, and his shoulders rolled beneath his pelt with such fluidity that it looked like water rippling. His long legs were rapidly gaining on the small form of a white rabbit feet ahead of him and the lighter-furred wolf slowed his movements drastically. He did not want to see him end another creature's life like he was so clearly intent upon doing.

But yet, still, he could not look away. It seemed impossible, unfathomable, and his eyes took in his speed and power with the same intense clarity it had the earth under their paws. He watched a couple of strands of straw go flailing in the air, spiraling and dipping to the ground once more, and the way his claws glittered like chips of ice in the direct sunlight.

His pelt looked silky and soft, but the coarseness was pronounced in its uneven design along his back and muscular neck. Even so, his body threw itself forward with such speed Yugi felt that had he not been infected, he would surely have missed it. The paws came to either side of the small animal fleeing him, then his large jaws came down.

The squeal was so sharp but short that it made Yugi quake. He faltered and his body pressed into the ground in despair. It was almost as if the embodiment of pain had burst forth with this single cry. He shivered and looked to bury his nose into the straw in order to rid himself of the queasiness which played upon his insides.

Yami glanced at him sideways, with something of a scornful expression, as if he sensed his disgust and reluctance. But the large wolf did not speak up in recognition or acknowledgment of the emotion. And Yugi did not think that he could ever manage to open his mouth and put such a topic into conversation whatsoever. He felt he could live his entire life without once having such a thing become something two of them might converse about. He felt ill and eerie at even such a thought.

The smaller wolf looked away again, staring at the straw as if it might rise up and swallow him in answer to his unnerved plea to no longer be around such a thing. The other canine gave him no form of attention, merely gulping down large mouthfuls of his catch. Had the other failed to turn his nose up, Yami would have offered him a bite as well. But he would instead allow Yugi to feel exhausted afterwards when he changed back into his natural form. It was not meant to be a punishment, simply a lesson the other would have to learn.

Come, the darker wolf announced moments later, on his feet and starting off further into the trees. Yugi glanced up with uncertainty, not quite sure of whether the other might stop to snatched up another meal. Should he do so the small boy thought himself unable to cope. But Yami merely glanced over his shoulder, licking his large jaws, and flicked an ear with an expectant expression to his darkened eyes. He hesitated for only a moment longer, then sprang to his feet as well.

Yugi was not sure what he saw in the other's gaze as he hurried forward, but he thought it seemed oddly relieved or perhaps cautious. The pressure of it made him glance away and his eyes strayed of their own volition towards where the other had even previously lying in the straw eating. He faltered, nearly gaping in very human disbelief. The entirety of the carcass had been devoured. Somehow Yami had swallowed the entire rabbit in only a handful of what he thought to be seconds.

A shudder ran through him. How had he failed to hear the sound of its small bones snapping?

He swallowed hard. Perhaps he had simply drowned him out somehow?

Yami watched him with that same unreadable quality to his darkened gaze. His eyes were still darker than he had usually seen them, with shadows of which drowned out what he had always considered to be something of his liveliness. The extinguishment of this made his stomach toss painfully and his mouth dry with oncoming confusion of which he had no name to describe. He had not always been able to read the other boy before now but it seemed further announced this very moment.

It was upsetting to him, somehow, that he could not read him any better now. What good was this amazing eyesight when he could not even use it in such a way as to read another's expression? How much good did it do him to simply see the things around him and not what it was that really struck his interest in such a moment?

Yugi shivered again. His paws brought him to the other's side. A sharp metallic scent came to him through the other's rolling exhale, so strong and powerful that he nearly flinched. Yet some part of him, perhaps an instinct formerly buried, thought the smell to be sweetened to perfection, faint along the edges, but with enough strength to make his mouth water.

He wanted to flinch away from this realization, but at once his body reacted to it and he leaned forward the smallest bit, his nose working anxiously to draw more of the beautiful scent into his lungs. All at once he felt as if his feet had been pushed from beneath him, the shift of instinct and desire making his empty stomach jerk.

It was a terrible truth, that he suddenly craved the taste of blood in his mouth. He wanted meat to fill his grumbling belly. He desired bones to snap between his teeth. He wished for nothing more than marrow to splinter and split in his jaws.

He shivered finely again, then jerked his head away. He was not a wild animal! He was a human. He didn't sat raw flesh and chew on bones like a dog. He was sophisticated enough to cook his food and make sure that he would not end up diseased at the end of the day because of the meal he chose. He repeated this declaration, I'm a human, not a dog, in his head like a mantra. It was a sacred whisper of noise in his mind, almost overwhelming.

Because, with it, came an all too familiar questions which wormed its way through these words.

How long had Yami been a wolf instead of a human? How often had he shed his skin in order to race around on four legs? He imagined that hunting animals as he did so often was nothing that developed overnight. And he did it with such ease. He did everything with such ease. As a wolf, there was no trial and error for him, nor any clumsiness.

Which, of course, hinted at the possibility that perhaps Yami was not human any majority of the time.

If he was a canine so much more often, however, then why was it that he even bothered for the guise of human flesh? It occurred to him, watching as the other merely stared back at him patiently, awaiting his placement at his side once more, that it could very easily be because of him.

Was it his own constant position as a human that caused Yami to do the same? He supposed Yami saw the ease that came with communication if they were both in the same form. But perhaps he also saw how nervous Yugi was around him when he appeared like this. He could have taken note of it the moment that he had seen him in the alleyway at the dumpsters behind Burger World.

Yugi was not shy in admitting that seeing another person was much better to him than facing a large canine. With a human there was not an immense jaw covered by fur and long whiskers with a mouth full of sharp and long teeth with the force to snap his bones between them. There was more warning with a human.

If one studied, they tell the exact moment that someone was about to lash out. But with canines, he was not sure there was as much. Sure, sometimes there was growling, but a select few dogs just attacked without any kind of warning.

Where are we going?

Yami did not falter in his steady stare. I promised you a run, did I not?

The smaller wolf hesitated for a brief moment, then moved to get to his side. As long as Yami did not start hunting again, he thought they would be fine.

Yugi yawned as he and Yami climbed through the window a few hours later. The entire run in the woods had exhausted him, destroying any sense of frustration or disgust he might have felt beforehand. It had been a long trek from one end of the forest to the other. He had been several feet behind Yami more often than not, but the black wolf had never allowed himself to truly slip out of his sight. Each time he had turned around, waiting and tilting his head before racing along.

"Thank the gods I don't have school tomorrow," Yugi groaned, grinning at the other boy as the red-eyed teen began to slip his shoes off. He glanced at him sideways, pulling his lips back to give him something of a small, exhausted smile. Yugi grinned at him a little wider and the other boy blinked before offering a larger curve of his lips as well.

"Yes, I suppose it is much better to enjoy a run if you are not expected to wake up earlier than you should," Yami commented in that same rasp, voice no longer thick and full of reverberating power and baritone richness. The sound of it was low and scratchy, cracking under the thin weight of even these words. "Perhaps you will sleep better from it."

Yugi felt his smile falter slightly. The reminder of his erratic sleep patterns was almost enough to make him cringe away from the other boy. But he realized Yami meant nothing by the statement, was just genuinely hopeful that he might sleep well now that his body was so exhausted. He probably had not even truly meant his nightmares, just that werewolves did not always rest properly. But his mouth was still dry as they looked at each other.

"Maybe," he managed to breathe out, though it sounded somehow choked and made his throat flare with pain.

Yami considered him for a moment, then their earlier conversations, and frowned as he tilted his head. "I did not mean to bring that up again."

"I know." But can we stop talking about it? If they kept going he thought he might puke. "Come on, let's go to bed, okay?"

He studied him for a moment, obviously unimpressed with the idea of dismissing such a topic when it clearly upset him so much, and then looked at the mattress. "Yes."

Yugi fell asleep minutes later, rushing off to brush his teeth while Yami merely grabbed his blanket from the seat of the desk chair. When he had returned the other boy had been curled up against the pillows, back to him, cover pulled up to his neck, fast asleep. He had not stirred in the slightest when he crawled under the covers next to him. He was focused on his breathing and the warm, wet rhythmic pulse of his heart when he began to slip into the embrace of a gentle slumber.

But it was a lack of those two noises which caused him to wake. Instead, replacing them, was the sound of a soft and soothing voice saying his name in the moonlit darkness. The other noise was that of clothing rustling. And the loss of body heat was replaced by a hand on his shoulder, thin with long fingers.

Obviously she had woken him with her ascent of the stairs and he had fled and hidden himself away, but where was another question altogether.

He glanced at the window from the corner of his eye but his lashes prevented the full sight of it. And he did not dare glance over at it with her right there to see and wonder at his behavior. Instead he tried to concentrate on whether he thought he felt a breeze from outside or if the room was much colder. But his tired body was too exhausted to truly tell the difference and so he decided against anything beyond clearing his throat and forcing his voice out in another croak.

"Mom?"

She gave him something of a small smile but in it he could see energy which his own fatigued body never thought itself to formerly possess. It was just so abundant and the very concept made his stomach twist as they faced each other for a moment.

"Come downstairs. I need your help with something."

Yugi stared at her, blank in expression as his lungs constricted painfully. A small, aching realization came over him and he swallowed hard. He could not smell it on her, but he knew she meant to have him assist her on an operation that excited her. But the animal in question was something that bothered him.

He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, voice coming out more casual as he muttered, "Dog or cat?"

Kasumi was so excited that she almost left the room without answering but then she spun around. Her first impression upon seeing him lying back as he was, head sunk in the pillows, eyes squeezed shut tightly again, was that he was suffering a headache. It would not have been uncommon. He had often gotten them due to his lack of sleep from his insomnia growing up.

"A German shepherd," she announced with something of a jovial tone. She hoped it would stir him some but her sixteen-year-old merely blinked his eyes into slits and then began to sit up slowly. She was not sure she was seeing things or the light simply hit his eyes in a strange way, but for the briefest of moments, his gaze had seemed almost to glow. It was like seeing headlights in the middle of a rainstorm, a flatter color, and it had seemed the color of a dark blue-violet blur of a shade.

She froze in shock at the sight but her son hardly seemed to notice. He looked exhausted, as if the last few nights had left him haggard or something particularly stressful had happened earlier during the day.

She wondered at this for a small moment but it passed just as quickly. Before her eyes, Yugi seemed to shake the sleep off of himself and the weariness appeared to vacate his smaller frame for a few moments. He yawned, starting off in the direction of his bathroom with a backwards toss of words.

"I'll be out in a minute," he muttered.

He closed and locked the door behind him, turning the lights on and squinting. But his eyes adjusted without any true sense of hesitation. Where he usually would have groaned and the sensitivity would have made him want to bang his head into the counter, he was able to simply glance at himself in the mirror. He looked perfectly fine, just tired, with slightly more pronounced bags beneath his eyes.

Good; he could live with that. And his mother would never be the wiser.

He rubbed his eyes again, then picked at some of the sand that had formed in the corners of his lashes. Yugi paced forward away from the door, just in case Kasumi had wandered there in order to make sure he was okay. Turning back towards the lock he had twisted to keep her out, he bit his lip and whispered as softly as he could, in a breath that he himself could hardly hear.

"Yami?"

He wondered if the other could hear him more effectively than he could himself. So low was his voice that he almost thought it was nonexistent. And yet, as he strained his ears and listened as fervently as he could, Yugi caught the faintest touch of a noise.

It was low, steady, and so leisurely that he almost suspected he might be hearing things. But it was not something that he would have usually considered. It was a soft, melodious growling breath in response to his inquiry. And as soon as it hit his ears, it dissipated quickly once more.

He let out a small breath of relief, flushed the toilet to distract and convince his mother, and then turned on the faucet to wash his hands and wipe them clean on a towel. "I'll be back in a little while, okay?" he whispered in that same nearly inaudible volume. As long as Yami was able to hear him, he would not complain. Yugi flicked the lock and pulled the door open again before closing it behind him.

His mom was waiting in the doorway, frowning at him in a near puzzlement. He wondered for a moment what it was that she saw. But Yugi did not think he truly cared to know in all reality beyond his initial brief idea to question it.

It was not fully worth his attention.

"So, what's going on with the shepherd?" he asked, moving past her and towards the staircase. He heard her pause as if he had somehow shocked her into immobility and silence. He turned his head when he still did not hear her footfalls and frowned curiously at her over his shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

For a moment his mom did not respond, instead looking into his room with a somewhat troubled expression. He wondered, as she stared at the bed, if maybe she could somehow sense Yami within the darkness there. Yugi felt dizzy at the very thought. Perhaps it was something from within her suppressed lycanthropy, some kind of unspoken set of instincts as he'd had whenever he remembered his adrenaline spiking. Or perhaps Yugi was simply thinking too much into something much simpler than that. It was entirely possible that nothing of the sort was going on.

She turned towards him for a moment, frowning a bit deeper, and then shook his head. "Nothing," Kasumi muttered, starting to his side and down the stairs beyond him. "I was just wondering why there was an extra blanket on the bed."

Yugi paused, glancing over his shoulder for a split second. Yami was somewhere in the dark, hidden away, and there would be no issue as long as he remained that way. And he knew well enough that Yami would as he took off after his mother. "I got cold earlier," he lied awkwardly, blinking and straining his eyes. "And I guess I forgot about it when I fell asleep."

"Earlier?"

It felt like a trap when it was said in that tone. His eyes narrowed and he wondered for a moment if the tension he felt within his shoulders was singular, exclusive only to him. It was a strange though, to see her upset physically over something other than his grades or his grandfather telling him stories. But he could not detect any frustration from her in any manner.

"I was studying in my room until around six, so sometime before then," he muttered in response, feeling slightly sick at the lie. Yugi had been running by then, watching Yami eat his rabbit and deer calf and feeling sick as his own mouth watered with desire for meat and blood on his tongue. He shivered, glad that she was ahead of him and could not see him doing so. "I was just a little cold and didn't want to turn the heat up. So I grabbed a blanket instead."

He was almost rambling, he realized, shutting his mouth immediately again before he could say anything further. If he said something stupid, gave away too many details, she would become suspicious at some pint. And Yugi did not need her to become suspicious of him in any manner.

"Okay," Kasumi said in a voice that sounded clearly distracted. "The shepherd is extremely malnourished, has some bruising and internal bleeding, and needs his leg put into a cast."

Yugi nodded, his own mind running miles ahead as he wondered if Yami was going to go back to sleep or remain awake until he returned. He hoped he got more sleep. He really hoped that he had decided to rest again. He had been just as exhausted as Yugi had when they had come back, after all.

The entire procedure took much longer than he had initially thought it might. He was half-asleep on his feet and struggling to keep his eyes open when they managed to stop the bleeding. He was trying his hardest not to fall to the floor as they began on his cast. And Yugi was sure his body had turned to jelly by the time she told him that they were going to put him in the kennel until he woke up.

When the door was locked in place and the dog was steadily waking, he paused for a moment to study the canine. He was small, scrawny even, with fur that seemed fuller than his frail bones, and his face was decorated with long scratches. His ears seemed to be half-torn, the blood crusted around his nose, but for the most part Yugi thought the biggest damage would be simple scarring.

Still, looking at the dog made him remember clearly the conversation Yugi knew he was meant to have with her now. It was nothing he truly wanted to say and yet he knew he still had to.

Yugi drew in a deep breath and then backed away from the cage. "I can't help out in the clinic anymore, Mom," he said softly, plainly, keeping his voice clear and level. He glanced at her as she paused cleaning the scalpel, her eyes beginning to narrow as she stopped short. Yugi did not know what more to say as he allowed his eyes to drift back to the kennel door once more.

The dog was still just starting to wake up.

Maybe if he went upstairs before it woke things would be fine.

But then, his mom would never believe him without proof.

She would simply think that something was going on with him. And he feared the repercussions of her thoughts if that were to happen. She could very easily ruin him in a sense, should she see it necessary to once again raise his medication doses and monitor his intake.

"Why not?"

Kasumi was speaking in a calm tone to mirror his own, but he knew her well enough to recognize the anger in her voice as well. It was minimal, all but nonexistent, and if he had not been her son, he would have never truly recognized it.

"Animals tend to…not like me so much anymore."

This was the easiest way to phrase it.

"What?"

"They tend to react badly to me being around them."

The dog had begun to shift its weight.

Yugi watched it.

"What does that mean?"

"That they get really aggressive towards me."

Kasumi looked up sharply at his words now. The shepherd whined and its eyelids flickered.

"Aggressive towards you? Yugi, you have been helping me with patients since you were ten. What are you even talking about? The animals have never once reacted aggressively towards you."

"They didn't then, but they do now."

The dog whimpered softly, then shifted to move into a more comfortable position. Its lids fluttered, almost parting.

"That's nonsense, Yugi. Why would that change after six years?"

"I don't know. But it did. They have started to become aggressive around me."

"That's not even slightly—"

The dog threw itself against the cage despite the injuries and drugs in its system. Glazed dark brown eyes, pupils blown to nearly swallow away its irises, peered at him furiously. The jaws snapped and the dog collapsed, teeth bared. Despite the pain and glaze of drugs, the canine was almost rabid.

Had he been foaming at the mouth Yugi was sure the idea would have been the exact reason.

His mom was staring blankly. "He shouldn't even be able to stand."

"He's angry because I'm here."

The words made her blink, turning her heard with something bewildered, incredulous and yet entirely horrified in her eyes. Her gaze flickered back and forth. The dog was focused entirely on her son. It was snarling hideously, lips pulled back as far as possible, body trembling in anxiety. It barked angrily but the noise was only a gasp from the stress of the breathing tube formerly in its throat.

"I need to go back upstairs," Yugi muttered. He looked back at the dog with an expression that was both pitying and somewhat flustered. "I'm going back to bed. Give him another dose of medicine. His adrenaline is spiking because of me being here. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yugi…"

"It's okay, Mom. I don't know what happened, but this is the reaction I get all of the time now," he said dismissively, giving her a small smile and then heading out the door. "Good night. I'll see you in the morning."

Yugi waited until he heard her moving around to grab a syringe and then moved up the stairs again. Fatigued, the small teen groaned with each movement. He sighed, at first frustrated, and then relieved as he reached the top of the stairs. He felt himself nearly as liberated as a person finding a body of water within the endless sand of a desert. He paused, drawing in a long and deep breath, and then forced himself to go to his door, open it and close it behind him once more. He was almost so tired that he might use the door as a bed at this rate.

The Change was so painful it was impossible not to be winded by it even hours later.

Yami looked up at him from the mattress. His blanket was pulled over shoulders and encompassed much of his face as well; his red eyes flickered about his form restlessly for a moment. "You smell of blood," he announced quietly, in that same raspy whisper that made his spine feel colder than usual.

Yugi wished desperately that Yami's voice would heal, that he could hear that same rolling tone which had encompassed his senses hours before. "I helped her operate on a dog with internal bleeding. We had to soak up the blood and it's still on my clothes. The smell, not the actual…"

"I can see that. You are exhausted, not wounded." Yami turned away from him to face the window, yawning and pulling the blanket down to rest more comfortably on his shoulders. "I simply did not know."

Yugi smiled faintly but made his way back towards the bed. The other boy's body heat was a delicious sensation against his skin when he fell atop the surface of the comforter. The red-eyed lycanthrope turned his head to glance at him from the corner of his eye but made no comment and instead settled once more for sleep.

Yugi fell asleep to Yami's breathing as he had before. He faced the window as Yami did, curling up as the other had. He woke alone the second time, tired and blinking in the low dawn light. Seated on his windowsill, head angled upwards, eyes wide with innocent and childish wonder, was Yami.

The small teen groaned softly, desiring more than ever to fall back asleep as he closed his eyes tightly. The idea of resting was somehow comforting and yet distracting all at once. He squinted an eye open and peered at the taller boy as Yami continued to watch the window with that same fascination which made his expression childish and simple with his innocence.

"What's up?" he mumbled, tilting his head as he sat up slightly and yawned softly. The other boy glanced at him from the corner of his eye, a sly flicker of his attention, but it was gone again quickly.

"This," Yami stated, flicking his wrist towards the window again and frowning faintly. "I…forget the name for it."

Yugi yawned again, thinking to burrow beneath the comforter and bury himself under it all. But it did nothing more than influence him to close his eyes again tightly and huff out a small breath. "What's it look like, Yami?"

There was a long, pregnant silence.

"…Water crystals," Yugi finally heard him reply, his voice rough and ragged with tired excitement. There was a dubious hint to his tone, something which made it obvious that his own words sounded awkward in his ears.

Yugi opened his eyes again now, sitting up fully. Water crystals? What did he mean by "water crystals" exactly? The phrasing was awkward and unusual and he frowned in puzzlement, moving to lean forward and strain his eyes for a moment. Everything looked perfectly white outside of the window, as if the world had been washed of color and given a clean slate. It looked pristine, like…

"Snow," Yugi muttered, taking in the fine form of several clumps of falling flakes. His eyes widened now, head tilting to the side in growing bewilderment. It was earlier than usual for snow, even for Hokkaido. Winters usually came around the middle of November, not the beginning. Sure, in reality, it was merely a difference of days, but it still rattled him somewhat. He blinked in confusion, then ran a hand through his long goldenrod bangs.

That explained why they had not run into any bears the day before.

"It's snow," he said a bit louder, though he knew that Yami had caught the statement that first time. But the other boy nodded in acknowledgment this time, a silent plea that he not repeat himself yet again. Yami was watching him from the corner of his eye, however, the smaller boy realized thoughtfully. But his expression had turned from wondrous to overjoyed.

His red eyes were bright, shining, and his mouth had parted faintly with his excitement. When he breathed, despite the heat, Yugi was sure that he saw a crystalline mist in front of his lips.