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.

50. Dynamics

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day

Chapter Warnings: Consumption of Blood, Slight Squabbling, MILD Bloodshed, Mention of Medicine, Mentions of Physical Abuse, Mentions of Bloodshed, Mentions of Medical History, Mentions of Drug Use, Mentions/Hints of Depression

So I just realized that I'm pretty sure I've got the timeline for the story kind of screwed up. Like, the actual time of the year and all that, not the story's timeline or anything like that. Kind of upsetting but it's whatever. I think I'll have to come back after I finish and work it out when that's done. I don't want to take anymore time out of editing and posting and fixing things to try to figure out what I might have messed up and obscured in it so far.

But Yugi says he's known Yami "two or three months" which should be right? I think that's actually pretty accurate for the story's timeframe? I could totally be wrong though. Not that it matters. It doesn't truly affect the story that much. The holidays might be mentioned but there's really no outright celebration of them and all that so eh.

Chapter L: Dynamics

Work Log Entry XLVI: February, 2005

February 11

The Pure-Blood has yet to do anything more than exist. He fails to do anything but comply with our demands and eat and drink and sleep. We have ceased experimentation on him as directed by the boss. There are thoughts that perhaps the Pure-Blood is so unresponsive due to constant testing and so the boss is giving him just enough time to breathe again.

February 20

No one has managed to make that wolf speak.

We have begun to fear that perhaps the experiments have mutated his vocals to the point that they are all but nonexistent.

February 28

He spoke! He finally spoke again!

It surprised all of us as we were hardly expecting it.

…But his voice has changed from when he used to ask for food. Now it is terribly high-pitched and awkward and it grates on the ears. It is quite distinctive, especially for a nine-year-old.

We estimate that there is damage due to his disuse of his vocals and the experiments we have performed on him.

Yugi huffed, teeth bared and body heaving with effort. His face was inches from Obelisk's, his body braced above his. The gray wolf panted and huffed in response, then grunted and angled his muzzle away to show his throat. The white canine blinked a few times, agonizingly slow in the task of realizing his victory, and stepped back. His tail rose and wagged and he trotted a few paces away.

He kneaded at the ground a couple of steps away, body quivering with excitement. Then he turned around as Obelisk got up, the gray wolf shaking himself out.

Congratulations, the deity murmured and, for once, Yugi thought his voice sounded full of pride. His eyes were glinting, focused on the smaller canine as he lifted his tail to parallel to his spine and wagged it slightly. You truly managed to pin me.

Yugi wagged his tail faster, a part of him reveling in such a fact. But another part wondered and yet a third was curious.

Could he truly learn to utilize such strength and ability for any fight he encountered? Could he really learn to simply take this ability and apply it as necessary? He'd be one of the most powerful people to exist in the world.

The thought was stunning.

The thought was amazing.

The thought was exhilarating.

The thought was horrifying.

If he could not learn to utilize it, it was a hindrance of which he did not know how to combat. How often had he feared having an adrenaline rush and losing his sense of mind just for the sake of survival?

He felt sick as he considered it, stomach dropping. His tail fell after a moment and he tilted his head, staring blankly at Obelisk. He remembered the first time he'd experienced it, how easy it had been to justify how he'd taken Bakura's head from his body. But if he could control it now…

But it felt again as if he were attempting to play god, as if it were a mere game of whether he had the guts to do such a thing. And the thought made him feel sick as he considered. If it was nothing more than a game of such dire proportions, what did that mean of the winner? If he were to win, did that make him something worse than the gods that so often seem to turn their backs from him? Or did it make him their equal?

And if he were to begin to use such strength…

He flicked an ear. He was already considered a god by the wolves within the pack. If that were true of their visions and ideals of him, then why should he fail to prove them correct?

Yami could use the ability, couldn't he?

He remembered the way Yami would launch himself into a fight. He'd kill within moments if he got the chance. If that were the truth of such a reality, then why shouldn't he come to know the same strength? It would do him well to, wouldn't it? He shivered and stared at the larger, darker wolf. If he were to be so vicious as to kill, did that make a true difference?

If it meant survival, did it really matter?

Yugi nearly snarled with frustration. In truth, perhaps it did not matter in the slightest. If it was something the wolf was gifted with, then he had to trust that perhaps it was meant to be harnessed and utilized and known well enough to call upon. And, as long as he remained alive, why would it matter that he changed some? Everyone had to change at some point.

Whether they truly embraced it or not was another thing to be considered. But for himself, change could not be more negative than the very things he had brought upon himself formerly. And so he looked at Obelisk and he wondered at how much different this wolf was than when he had been in the darkness of the Ice Age.

Had he changed?

Or was he as he had always been?

Was a god capable of such a thing?

He did not know for sure. It was possible that they were set in their ways due to their immortality. Yugi had never heard otherwise of gods within mythology. He did not know of a single instance of such a thing happening. And, if they did not happen in other religions, why should it happen now simply because of a werewolf being a deity?

Is Slifer back with the pack? he asked abruptly, forcing the thought away and considering the gray wolf before him. Obelisk shook himself out again to scatter the heavy snow which had begun to cling to his back in a dense shroud.

I should assume so. She must be hunting with them again, he said dismissively, untroubled by the idea of it. Yugi had seen them both on separate instances rather than together any longer. Slifer would take time to wrestle and hunt with the pack, as if embracing kin that had once been dismissed. And Obelisk would go about helping him to learn battle techniques. Between the two of them, the pack was constantly monitored and guided while Yugi remained the elusive reality of his home life and regularity of school.

He wondered if the gods had come to hate him for such responsibilities. But neither seemed to be angry with him and so he did not bother to speak of the matter. If they should be angry later he would wait to see their wrath. It did not truthfully matter to him.

Yugi flicked an ear. It's nice to see how easily they've accepted you both into the pack, he said, voice slightly distracted with the thought that they should have done the same for Yami and yet hadn't. He bristled slightly at the thought, remembering immediately on the heels of this thought that they had initially, but for the wrong reasons. Their assumption that he was Atem had not done them well… Perhaps they know she's related to them?

Obelisk snorted. It is not that reason which makes them accept us both. It is their views of meaning within their lives. It does not matter what their familial connection with us should mean.

Us? Yugi commented, head snapping up and eyes catching his in surprise. Obelisk did not blink, nor did he speak again before turning away and sniffing at the snow. You and Slifer…?

You did not truly think that Slifer should have mated with a wolf of lesser blood. It was stated as a fact but the look he shot him was one of amusement towards his shock. But where we should have produced another Pure-Blood, of course that was not possible. And then Annie began to breed as well, as Slifer so instructed her. And her bloodline became impure but she was able to keep the pack here and alive. She stopped after Pattie, as she was eventually instructed.

Yugi flicked an ear and then tilted his head, watching him with wide eyes. Did Annie ever tell them that Slifer is related to them?

I'm sure she mentioned they were blessed by a god, but I doubt they would have known her by name or familial bond.

Did they know she was near?

Obelisk considered him for a moment, thinking the question over, and then looked away with something of a simple roll of his shoulders. I do not know. Perhaps they suspected. But they did not ever search for the source of their suspicions and you are here and have brought the gods to them. I do not think they care much for their origins beyond such simplistic knowledge.

Why you and Slifer? Why not Ra?

The gray wolf raised his head. Why not Ra? he repeated in a voice soft and bewildered. Ra did have a single pup with a human, after the war.

His eyes stretched wide, stunned.

And she allowed them to be raised by the human father with human children he bore with another. She let them grow within the human community, within the world of man. And they produced children until, finally, at the end of a long lineage Atem was born. You are the only one in over a century to be able to change. You are the only one capable of doing so, as Code Name Atem was destined.

Why with a human?

Because we all knew there would be something later in need of correction and so we put into motion necessary actions to help stem such disaster as might be produced. Obelisk flicked an ear and considered him for a moment. The wolf tilted his head and watched him with dark eyes. We may be unable to see the future, but it is not without foreknowledge that we make decisions. We knew something would come to eventually happen and so we set things in motion to counteract them.

Yugi tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. So what is it that you all prepared for? he asked softly, staring at him with a hardened expression.

The gray wolf didn't blink. You know well enough.

War, yes. But with what? I still have yet to meet this hellhound I'm meant to fight to the death or whatever. And the humans are running experiments on the wolves as it is. So are they all my enemies? Yugi spat. Because I have far too many enemies to count and now all I know is that for whatever reason I'm expected to die or let Yami die in my place. So tell me, which is the force I am meant to face? Because there seem to be a bunch more than I am capable of fighting.

Obelisk stared at him for what felt a lifetime, then turned away. You have war to wage with several. Do you attempt to tell me you do not sense the traitor amongst the pack as of yet? Or that you cannot predict the consequences of what might come to pass should your human side tamper with your abilities as a leader and a wolf? Tell me you are not so foolish, child. Surely you are not so mistaken.

I wouldn't say I'm foolish, no.

The gray wolf smirked in amusement, eyes cold. But you do not know who I speak of. Nor do you have any remote idea of such reality, do you? And you are lost to the meaning of your own purpose concerning the strength of which you possess. Tell me again, Atem, who are your friends and who are your enemies?

Yugi flicked an ear. The gods are not my friends, he answered in a mild tone. Obelisk blinked, startled by the certainty within his voice. And you are my ally only until the fight begins, are you not? That is why you teach me and distance yourself from the pack even as their acting beta, yes? And then, despite the best efforts I have to offer, I don't know who is my friend or ally or enemy. The most I know is that someone in the pack is playing a game of sacrificing the others for power. Another is attempting to become my best friend and replace my beta. Others refuse my direction unless directly spoken to. And I am being told of the hellhounds and the humans and their purposes upon crossing paths with me.

So what is it that you do not understand? he reprimanded softly, eyes sharp and burning into his. Why should you question it when you can clearly name your own threats?

Because the alpha told me the humans. Another tells me the hellhounds. And how am I as one wolf meant to fight both forces on my own? His voice grew frosty, an octave higher with hate. Have none of you gods ever considered that no one person can take such pressure and fail to crumble?

Crumble? Yet somehow you stand on your paws and look strong enough to remain there. Are you truly to say you cannot handle such responsibilities when clearly it has not bothered you before? You cannot truly tell me otherwise for any reason, child.

Yugi snarled low in his throat, eyes flashing. You don't care what happens, do you? We all go to war. We all die. And you and Slifer and Ra remain. And for what? What purpose do you all serve when we all die? Who will follow you then?

Who will follow us? Obelisk echoed, voice soft and wistful before he shook his head and turned away. Do you truly believe us to need one to follow us? You foolish boy. It is unnecessary that any of you believe in us. We are, and always have existed. We will continue to exist even when your time has come and gone.

Do you believe that, Obelisk? he growled, eyes sharp and glittering. Do you truly think so? That you will surpass the existence of others? You forget that you all have been asleep for years now—

Asleep? the gray wolf snarled. I have not slept since that war. Nor has Slifer. You mistake us for Lupa and Fenrir themselves. They have slumbered. We have not.

Yugi shook his head, flashing his teeth towards his face and then backing up a step as he squared his shoulders furiously.

I suggest you lower your haunches, a new voice commented, interrupting them effectively and making their heads turn in surprise. The red she-wolf had come forward from the shadows, an ember of russet against dark gray and silver. She stopped before them, breath wreathing her nose, and opened her mouth just slightly to show her incisors. It is unsightly to witness such aggression.

Yugi growled softly and flicked his ears disdainful, turning away with a huff of frustration. Is it late? he asked, glancing towards a sky blanketed in white, a new surge of snow coming forth once more. He flicked an ear, shaking his coat out, and turned back with darkened eyes. I hadn't realized…

It is still early for your departure, she dismissed him, shaking herself out in a mimicry of him. She took a seat and looked towards Obelisk. Yugi tilted his head and glanced at her curiously for a moment, drawing his attention away from the pristine sky. He flicked an ear as the she-wolf turned to face him once more. But that is not why I have come here to see you both.

Yugi flicked an ear. Both of us, huh? he commented almost wryly. He glanced towards Obelisk but the gray male ignored him as he studied the she-wolf with his head tilted. The white canine huffed and sniffed lightly at the air as he considered how odd it had been to truly pin him there. It was amazing to him how almost simple it had been despite how hard it would have been formerly. The realization made him wonder and he considered for a moment whether he could truly consider himself a wolf or not.

Was he still more human than canine or had the opposite happened despite his will?

The white wolf tilted his head. If such a thing had happened, it was odd to acknowledge that not only had he failed to notice, but he was almost comfortable with it despite the realization. And he considered how comfortable Yami had always seemed, how easily he went from his human form to his wolf and how not even seconds seemed to pass in his mind. He could stay in one moment for as long as was possible in order to recollect, able to hide about in the shadows of his own thoughts.

Yes, both of you. I mean to speak to you both about the dynamics within this pack.

Yugi flicked an ear in near dismissal of the idea. She wanted to talk about the pack dynamics? What kind of dynamics were there truly? There was himself with Obelisk and Slifer—the three of them considered to be gods—and then there were the rest of them, who played the part of worshippers. And he had no idea how he was meant to categorize them otherwise. It was shocking, disgusting almost, and he could not think straight beyond the idea of this.

I think the line is very clearly drawn between the two packs, even where they have managed to merge together enough to live amongst each other. It is surprising, I believe, to see the way that some of their bickering still continues to escalate. She ignored Yugi's surprised glance. Many of their differences come very simply from their cultures.

The white wolf pressed his ears against his skull and fought the urge to curl his lip back in annoyance. The blue-violet eyes flickered with annoyance, darkening, and he recalled the various times he'd seen Marik picking on Yusei or Echo on Isis. They all began to bite at each other furiously, taking jabs at one another until they would eventually lose their tempers. Their fighting would become nearly physical, until one of the three of them would come to separate it. Oftentimes he would do so, stopping them in their tracks before the first bite could be inflicted. But it was harder to keep on top of them than he cared to admit.

Because he would get distracted.

And he would hardly find it in himself to care any longer.

So Yugi would stop them, linger a moment or two longer than necessary, and then wander off. And, should the fighting break out again, Obelisk or Slifer would come to solve the problem. Because Yugi would not care enough to get to his feet. And so the seconds would pass and none would care to do further.

He had hoped the fighting would not have erupted today at the very least. After all, Slifer had taken to treating them all as a singular pack unit rather than by diversity in the way they seemed to naturally separate. He had been extremely earnest of the idea in and of itself. The deity had been doing this for days now, from basically sun up to sun down in order to keep them closely knit rather than divided as they had formerly seemed.

And, yet, somehow it did not seem to be working well.

Well, that's just great of them, picking fights among their own allies. That's just fucking great, Yugi commented dryly, ignoring the way both deities blinked at him in surprise towards the more vulgar curse. The white wolf moved to take a seat as well, shaking himself out and looking away towards the trees over Slifer's shoulder. So, if they kill themselves before the war starts, can we prevent the war altogether?

Obelisk snorted in amusement. I do not believe that is how it might work out.

Do not worry. There is much strife all about, Slifer stated with an almost human shrug as she turned away. The lycanthropes are not the only shadows that are bleeding.

Yugi stopped short, the words stunning him. His head snapped back to face her, his eyes locking immediately on hers. What? he hissed. How do you even…? Was it you who…?

It was not by my influence that he spoke those words. The goddess pricked her ears forward. Ra did so, rather. She needed to speak to you and your lycanthropy was far too dormant for her to communicate with you. So she picked another infected with lycanthropy and her possession of his body caused his internal organs and muscles and sinews to rot and disintegrate. The possession of a god can cause such things with ease.

Yugi stared at her blankly. She killed someone to speak to me.

She killed a wolf that was already beginning to run rampant. She sniffed disdainfully. Kokurano deserved nothing less than such destruction by a god's will. You were not his friend so why should you be offended on his behalf?

No one deserves to be killed like that. Why—?

It may upset you to learn that sometimes one life truly does mean more than another's. We have done much to ensure you will survive—

But not the same for Yami, he snapped. You haven't done that to—

Yami is alive and we have done much to guide him as well. He could have ceased existence any moment we thought fit, but he still remains, does he not?

You can't kill him. He's a Pure-Blood—

The color of one's coat means nothing.

I've watched him come back to—

Dreams of his death and resurrection mean nothing, Yugi. You are a fool to believe otherwise. Yami lives on the brink of life and death every moment his lungs fail to give out. He recovers in Paradise, but it means nothing as for his identity or definition of blood.

You do not understand that circumstance such as this does not mean for even a moment that you should suspect more of what you are given, Obelisk drawled, flicking an ear and wrinkling his nose faintly. It does not matter that you witnessed his healing in dreams regarding Paradise. It does not warrant your insistence he be a Pure-Blood. Many Half-Bloods have had the ability to survive what was deemed formerly impossible to them. It is a matter of how they might flex their free will and their desire to live which sometimes comes to dictate such dire circumstance.

Yugi flicked an ear, hate stirring in his chest. He bore his teeth and breathed out roughly. A tremble stirred beneath his fur and he shook his head roughly. You told me that I had a secret, Slifer. And that I was meant to protect it with all I had.

Yes. And that still stands, child.

But then you must realize that a secret is only worthy of being kept so closely guarded when it is truthful.

Slifer flicked an ear. Yes.

So then what the hell do you even mean—?

I mean that both of you are subject to our whims. Should we see it fit, there might very well be a day that Yami does not come forth from Paradise healed again. I mean that there is always the chance that Morrigan or Valon should sink their teeth in and destroy much of the DNA and RNA required for such ability to heal.

Yugi remembered vaguely Yami warning him of such a thing, a comment of which he'd cautioned him towards the fact that hellhound saliva was poisonous to the lycanthrope and lycanthrope saliva was then poisonous to the hellhound in turn. And he wondered at the use of such a thing. Was it a torture technique? Could the gods have ever considered it as such before? When they were at war during the Ice Age, had they done similar things as was being suggested? Or had they simply killed each other violently?

But what hellhound would be a threat to him in all actuality? Despite the fact that Slifer had just relayed such information to him, Yugi could not understand these words?

The few hellhounds to have crossed his path had not been too terribly vicious. Valon was mild and clear minded. He was very simplistic and clearly did not care to beat around the bush now that Yugi had announced himself as Atem. And his mother had saved him from the hunter in the woods when he had attempted to look for Yami once more…

She had been sweeter, gentler than he had ever imagined capable of a creature bearing such an unholy name. He remembered only vaguely what her name might translate to, either greatness or terror. And he wondered how her name wrapped rather well to encompass the height of the very identity of the species she existed as the goddess among.

Yami had mentioned that they were relatively unstable. He had said that hellhounds were more than likely to abuse their stance as werewolves, that they were naturally more likely to be unpredictable. Had that meant more along the lines of betrayal or just a generalization of behavior he had seen prior to being released?

He shivered and shook himself out to cover the anxiety that stroked upon his insides now. He barely resisted the instinct to exhale in a loud yawn, the flexing of his jaws just enough to slightly take the pressure from the tumultuous tangle of his thoughts. His ears flicked and his tail bristled faintly before he shook it off once more.

He didn't know what else there was to say about hellhounds. But he did know that Morrigan and Valon had not done anything yet to adhere to the statements Yami had made about them. And so he wondered what it was that they might do, what kind of threat it was they truly posed…

But infection was something he was well-rehearsed in healing by now. He had had quite enough experience in healing Yami's wounds as well as his own. Between the two of them, Yugi was not worried as far as that went.

But then…

Was Slifer being truthful?

Was it possible for their saliva to mutate Yami's genetic makeup enough to destroy his immortality as a Pure-Blood altogether?

Or was she merely bluffing?

Yugi could not tell.

And he was not willing to risk it.

Should something happen, he was gambling with Yami's life rather than his own. And all because he'd claimed the identity of Code Name Atem…

He shook himself again. He would not risk either of their lives simply because of his own outrage towards such an idea. The very thought of Morrigan or Valon biting through the skin of his alpha made him furious and he nearly shook his head furiously. Instead he stared at the two gods, eyes sharp with mounting hatred.

---

"Valon."

The hellhound responded instinctively to his name, but the fact that he turned around was due to only to the realization that he identified the source of the voice calling it. He blinked, golden eyes flickering, and turned with a confused look towards the other boy. He tilted his head and slowed his pace until he was no longer moving at all.

But Yugi still seemed to hesitate for a moment. He did not approach him for what felt an hour. His blue-violet eyes were hardened, sharper than usual, and he blinked slowly as he stepped forward. The realization made Valon shake his head slowly as the lycanthrope finally came within a few feet of him.

"I do tend to have a class to get to during school hours," he drawled softly, raising a brow at the smaller wolf who blinked but oddly did not apologize. The realization made the hellhound bristle and stiffen further before he shrugged it away. "Listen, speak fast—"

"I'm trying to find a way to phrase it."

Valon arched his raised brow even further, curious and almost bewildered. Then he sniffed loudly, shaking it off in a show of scenting the air rather than testing for Yugi's emotional state. The smell which greeted him, thankfully, was not of rotting organs or dying flesh. It was a sharp, bitter twinge of something, with a sweeter and saltier undertone to drift beneath it.

So Yugi was both scared and bewildered and incredibly angry and hateful at the moment. The realization did not bode well with Valon in the slightest. The thought caused his fingers to twitch as he suppressed the urge to snarl under his breath. He could not tell where the emotions were directed.

It was impossible to tell if they were outwardly projected or inwardly. The emotions were too strong to be read easily in such a sense. Normally one could smell it in a far more concentrated sensation like that of a fever should it be self-desecration. Outward projections tended to be sharper, like being stung by the smell as it grew stronger and eventually slowly tapered off on its own.

Beyond that, emotional states could not be measured and read properly.

"Yami told me a while back…"

Valon blinked and looked over in surprise. Yugi could say his name now? Formerly he had choked and looked visibly winded should his name even be spoken. He would seem ill from the very concept of his identity. Sometimes he trembled. Sometimes he simply looked ill. Even when the word was spoken and had no contextual tie to the lycanthrope in question, the smaller boy would cringe in some manner.

He had heard many times of such things happening. Wolves who bonded in some sense with their mate—be it physical or emotional, platonic or romantic—would suffer such things should they be rejected, ignored, abused, or separated for long periods of time. It was a shame that the werewolves felt so terribly powerfully.

Because the ones that found their mates in humans instead of forcing their bond with another wolf often had such issues. Because humans did not feel to the extent that the wolves did. They did not know that lack of attention spent them sometimes caused them to second guess or panic in some manner. They did not realize that fights which they might soon forget were constantly groomed over and meticulously picked apart hours or days or years later. They did not understand that when the wolf devoted themselves to them, they did not plan to lose that affection any time afterward regardless of the time that passed. And they were not capable of the realization that a wolf gave their all and when that failed, their mental state would begin to break.

And the human would be lucky to get out of alive.

Yugi had exhibited some of the primary signs. He had stopped eating. He had begun avoiding his human life. He had rejected his friends. He had turned his back on his grades. He had forgotten himself in the misery. And he'd let himself begin to waste. He'd let the anger consume him…

Something had obviously changed. Valon had not been paying him the attention necessary to know what it was. But he understood it very clearly. Something had changed in some manner…

"Yami told me a while back that hellhound saliva is toxic to lycanthropes." Yugi was watching him with a sideways glance, eyes sharp and shaded. But he was not asking a question in any manner and Valon wondered at the stare he was being given. "And he even told me at one point that most of you are mentally unstable."

"Yes."

Yugi didn't blink. "What I want to know is what is going on with the hellhounds. The pack is convinced I'm to go to war with you if you ask half of them. The other is convinced it is the humans. Now I know that both of them are potentially an enemy to me. The humans are running the experiments. The hellhounds are no doubt angry about it."

Valon shook his head, no longer walking as he turned to face him completely. "You want to know what is going on with the hellhounds? Yugi, why would you assume that I have those connections necessary for such information? I have no idea what's going on with the other hellhounds. I'm not the most popular with them. And I don't care to play at making friends with any of them either."

"So you have no idea then?" the lycanthrope pressed, looking irate and flustered by the very concept. "None at all? Valon, I need to know if you do. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing anymore!"

"And that's what the journey of life is all about," the hellhound drawled sarcastically with a shake of his head. "Yugi, I do not know. I am not a sociable creature. You know that very well. I am very much a solitary creature by nature. Being a sociopath does not make me keen upon making friends. If you were confused about that, try to list how many friends I have even within this building."

Yugi shook his head with a sigh. "I was hopeful, I guess. I just… I really wanted to know if someone had some kind of clue."

Valon would have apologized had he been more human than wolfdog. As it was, however, the exhaustion in Yugi's voice almost made him grin. It almost made him want to laugh, reach out and claw at him. He wanted that tone of his voice to be more vibrant, for his body to be more heavily waited with his tiredness. Physical fatigue meant he was weak.

If Atem was weak—

He shook it off.

He'd need to drink more blood at some point. These thoughts were far too dog-like. They weren't wolf enough. And they weren't human enough either. He'd have to settle his bloodlust just enough to relax for a little while.

"I don't know more than you about the subject," he said simply, shrugging and glancing at the smaller lycanthrope sideways. And just how easy would it be to devastate him further by saying that he knew Yami was dead to smother whatever sense of hope Yugi might have possessed to the contrary?

Yugi sighed and glanced over his shoulder. "Does your mother know?" he asked calmly, stopping and turning to him completely now. "Does Morrigan have any idea?"

"I assure you if she does, she is not telling me. She never has told me more than directly concerns me." Valon sniffed and his eyes glittered as Yugi watched him with that same unnaturally cold expression upon his face. "But that does not mean something is not happening. It would be wise to ensure that you are in fact prepared for whatever it might be to come."

The smaller teen watched him for only a few moments longer. Then he turned and began to make his way in the opposite direction. Valon watched him as the bell rang to announce tardiness and considered the task of going home instead.
It was smarter for him to get control of his bloodlust long before he had to worry about killing someone when he couldn't. He glanced around, turning on his heel to follow Yugi towards the end of the hall. The lycanthrope had stopped, stiffening at the sound of his approach, and turned his head just enough to look at him over his shoulder. Valon ignored this, going straight towards him and stepping aside him at the last second in order to get to his locker.

"You look a little ill."

Valon paused, the door half opened, and then drummed his nails against the metal. Why had Yugi not left yet?

"I try."

Yugi had not moved in his spot at all, those few feet away. Realization came over the brunet a moment later. His back stiffened and his fingers clenched around the metal of his locker door. He hesitated, breathing in a little harder, and then finally turned to look at him pointedly.

Yugi sensed his mounting distress.

And he was caught in it, part of him at war with the idea of attack in order to try to get more answers Valon did not have.

Part of him desired nothing more than to lash out and attack.

And the other was trying its hardest to simply hold himself together and watch him rather than act impulsively…

The fight that could have come about would have been devastating if either of them were truly willing to change. But just biting each other would be deadly. Valon sniffed at the thought, then narrowed his golden eyes into slits and drew himself to his tallest height as his back straightened fully and he stared at him cautiously.

"Did you need something?"

"What do you plan to do?"

Valon blinked. "I'm going back to my adoptive mother's café and I'm going to drink some human blood," he stated simply, running his nails upon the metal until it almost screeched beneath his touch. He wondered how easily he could have lashed out. The metal didn't bleed but Yugi would.

The smaller teen nodded, blue-violet eyes sharpening as he considered him a little more fully. His head tilted and the hellhound might have considered it a predatory action had he not known Yugi's weakness of inexperience.

"Do you have any animal blood left?"

The question made Valon stiffen in surprise. His eyes flickered with shock and then his brows furrowed as he stared at him. Yugi wanted animal blood? Just like he'd given him last time?

"You got money?"

"If you've got the blood."

They stayed quiet for a long moment. Valon blinked, turning away, and finally moved to drop his books back into his locker to grab his backpack. "Let's go then, shall we?" he mumbled, locking the door back and trotting out the building before Yugi could think to answer.

Valon led him to the café without even the slightest hint of conversation. The two of them walked in almost lazy steps, eyes on the street ahead or the scattered trees and deeper forest hidden beyond many of the buildings. The hellhound wondered vaguely if that did well to highlight their differences in species as well. It was almost amazing how estranged it was simply to see that difference in direction of their eyes.

He had never truly considered how much more powerful their draws to separate environments actually was. The lycanthrope wanted the forest, saw it as a beautiful home and shelter and a place of which he could hide end recover. And the hellhound could shelter within the walls of the city, lazy and dangerous and as unstable as desired. They could melt into the shadows and disappear before anyone thought to truly look for them. In the city they could hide away without a second thought, driven to disappear before any might have assumed their existence there.

Yugi slipped into the café right behind him. His eyes were darkened and his stomach was churning. In front of him, the sense of distress from the other wolf had faded. But he looked tired and full of alarm and strength regardless.

"Does this happen to you a lot?" he asked quietly as Valon moved around the counter towards the coffee maker. Yugi had not noticed the small patronage that was gathered around the edges of the small café until he noticed that some of them had tipped their heads up and were considering them at the moment.

"Valon?" a female voice commented in confusion, making Yugi's head snap around once more with a slightly bewildered look. The woman approaching them paused, startled by the sight of him, and then looked back towards the hellhound with a curious and slightly alarmed expression.

"Yes?" he asked dismissively, moving towards the coffee maker again and ducking down to look into one of the cabinets beneath the small machine.

"Um… What are you doing home? School isn't over yet…"

"And your point would be what?" the hellhound drawled in an annoyed voice. He dug through the contents of the cabinet for a moment, rearranged them back to where they had formerly sat, and then closed it and went to the next. His golden eyes flashed as he turned back to glance at her with a slightly dismissive expression. "I'm smart enough to skip a day."

"I know that, but…" Yugi saw her cast an anxious glance around the small building and his stomach twisted faintly as he considered. There were about twenty people in there, most of them paired together rather than singular. "I wasn't expecting you to come back behind the counters…"

Valon had to swallow away the hatred that swelled from beneath his skin. He narrowed his eyes and curled his lip slightly. Then he shook his head and got to his feet, straightening to his full height and looking at her with barely-restrained frustration.

She shouldn't have expected him there to begin with.

He shook his head and shrugged. "I wanted coffee and so did Yugi," he said dismissively, ignoring her expression. "And I don't want to pay for it but he will."

The brunette's cheeks were dusted with a blush, eyes widening as she glanced towards Yugi uncomfortably. "If you're a friend of Valon, you don't have to pay," she mumbled, her sense of manners fighting for the dominant portion of her thoughts rather than the sheer shock she still felt seeing her adopted son at the cafe. He had never had a history of going there. He had only ever come there a few weeks before…

"No, no, that's fine," Yugi rushed to say, trying his hardest not to cringe when Valon looked back at him with dark golden eyes. "It's not a problem. I don't mind paying at all."

"But—"

"It's fine," he insisted, casting her a smile that he hoped was as friendly as he could possibly portray. "It's absolutely fine."

But she looked almost horrified, as if his impromptu appearance there had done more than simply rattle her and he remembered briefly the first time he had seen her. She had been frazzled and stunned by Valon's appearance there, as if she had never seen him so clearly before in her life. He remembered then how Valon had told him that he wished to kill his parents, how should he have ever done something of that magnitude, someone would clearly point their fingers at him. And he wondered at whether she knew of her adopted son's bitterness and hatred.

No doubt she had noticed.

But no doubt she had also tried her hardest to pretend that as long as he did not act out on these impulses that he was capable of suppressing them for much longer. He suppressed a shiver, biting the inside of his cheek until he felt blood soaking his tongue as his stomach tossed violently. Yugi shook the thought off entirely and turned to her as his smile became somewhat more strained with the seconds passing.

"I promise you, it's fine. I would never want to impose on your business that way," he offered a bit more pointedly. His eyes flickered towards Valon, whose eyes had darkened further as he watched the two of them with something almost like suspicion in his gaze. Then the hellhound seemed to shake it off, moving aside to the other end of the counter to dig through another cabinet. "It's not a problem in any way Seiko."

That was her name. He remembered it now, after it seemed too long to have recalled in a proper timely manner. He felt almost sick for the slow pace of his memory, his stomach knotting and his skin almost feverish with disdain towards his own inability. Then he shrugged it off again, rolling his shoulders as he tried to shake away the way that the patrons glanced at them with confused looks.

"How did you…?" The brunette stared at him with something a confused and mildly stunned expression. Yugi flashed her more of a pointed smile and she searched his face, studying the tension around his eyes where he seemed to be struggling with the task of remaining friendly. But his eyes were such a strange, unnatural color. They were not quite as unnerving as Valon's own were but it was there and it made her throat feel a little tighter to regard them. They couldn't be so vibrant naturally, could they? And the very colors of his gaze seemed so estranged…

"I was here before, remember? When Valon came here for the first time." He faltered and looked at the hellhound who had straightened and was grabbing two paper cups for their coffee. He poured the liquid into both and scooted one closer to Yugi. The lycanthrope hesitated, then very cautiously took the cup from him, though, unlike Valon, he glanced about and nibbled his bottom lip almost nervously. "Do you guys have the sleeves back there? For coffee on the go?"

Seiko felt her cheeks heat, a sense of shame coming through her as she swallowed hard. She could not tell if Yugi felt so estranged that he had to leave—it could have been her staring, it could have been the way she and Valon spoke to each other, or her insistence he not pay—or if he had always planned to do so. And the small teen did well not to so much as let it be clear what might have caused his need for departure from the small café.

Valon raised a brow, snorted, and then reached beneath the counter and snatched one. The brown paper was easily fitted as Yugi dug into his pockets for a moment. He pulled out a sleek card that he offered to the hellhound who stared at it almost blankly. Then the brunet raised a brow further and studied him. "We can't process cards," he drawled in a bored tone.

Yugi blinked, startled by the statement, and then nearly cringed. Of course they couldn't. Most smaller businesses and restaurants and cafés did not allow the use of cards. Most of them ran on cash and he'd forgotten all about that kind of thing. But, thankfully, he had some on him, as he'd been planning to meet the others at the arcade and would have surely given Jonouchi his bills to be exchanged for coins.

He dug into his other pocket and counted it out, handing him what he'd requested earlier before they'd made it to the school. Then he nodded at him in farewell, turning to Seiko with a small smile.

"You guys have the best coffee," he announced, although some part of him was unsure Valon had put the blood in it or not. He felt slightly sick at the very idea, but it was easier than convincing himself to hunt and kill again, to actually eat what formerly been a cute animal in the forest… "See you next time, Seiko."

She was still amazed that he knew her name. Her eyes were stretched wide with shock, her face slightly paled with amazement. And then she glanced at Valon, who was watching the smaller teen depart with an expression of someone who had never seen another person before in their life. Seiko shivered and lowered her eyes when those brilliant golden orbs blinked and flickered to her face.

"I need to talk to you about something," she said, voice low and stressed.

"If it's about my copious lovers and caring for my sister," he drawled sarcastically, snickering when she scowled at him fiercely, and then shook his head and downed his cup of coffee. He dropped the paper cup in the trash, almost missing the can on first try before ensuring its placement a second later by tipping the can forward to make sure. Then he turned and trotted off for the door that would lead for the small stock room behind them.

She followed him uneasily, swallowing hard as she glanced out the window again. The blue-violet-eyed boy had stopped outside and was on the phone, taking small sips of his coffee and talking. But he was not looking towards the windows and seemed to make a pointed effort in order to do so. He would not so much as glance over his shoulder and whenever he turned as if he might, he quickly seemed to reverse this position.

"You wanted to speak?" Valon coaxed, ignoring her expression of confusion towards his invitation. He had never done that, he knew for a fact. Whenever she'd spoken to him about wanting to have a conversation with him, Valon would scoff and then look at her impatiently, waiting. Now he leaned against the wall, the racks behind him full of spices for creamers and unique coffee blends.

"I made another appointment for you." She said it in a low voice, unsure of another way to phrase such a statement. She licked her lips and watched as he considered her words. Then he snorted, smirking as he tilted his head and considered her. "It's in a couple of weeks."

"I wasn't aware he'd come back to Domino," he stated in a low, almost sultry tone. The way his eyes had grown brighter with something mocking but darkened with hate made her almost queasy. "I was under the impression he was still in the states."

"He's returning early…"

"Did you request he do that?"

"No, I actually didn't," she snapped, bristling at the sneer in his eyes. Seiko straightened her shoulders and gave him a small glare, ignoring the way she almost wished to throw up upon realizing his dismissive stance as well. "He's headed back for some other reason, from what I understand. Something about a colleague recently passing?"

Valon raised a brow. "Right, a colleague's passing would certainly be a reason to do so." Then he smirked and Seiko swore she was facing a wild animal rather than a seventeen-year-old boy. His eyes looked unholy and more unnatural than she had ever suspected them capable of before. And his lips were pulled too far back, it almost seemed, as if to stretch across the entirety of his face. "Good. I look forward to seeing him again."

---

A good leader is one which strives for just ruling rather than going by the expectations of others, Slifer said as he shook himself out and took a seat amongst them once more. Obelisk glanced at him in near dismissal before turning back to her as she continued. Whether or not he adheres to their idea of who Atem is, as long as he is accepting of his role, he should be capable of winning their loyalty regardless.

He should not have to win it. He should have it regardless of whether he has earned it in their eyes or not.

You know as well as I that it does not always work in that way.

Yes, well, if he were as they had predicted from their lore and beliefs, they would not be so divided as a whole. They would have perhaps even accepted the American pack in with little difficulty, simply because he decreed it so.

You cannot truly think to blame the entirety of this problem upon him. The blame is equally his as it was Annie's as it is ours, the she-wolf snorted in dismissal. We did not properly prepare them for such a union. And it is not as if we spend time equally with the American wolves as well. And they were not raised to believe that they would need outside help within this war.

Then they were foolish to assume that they would be enough to stem the flow of battle such as this.

When we instructed Annie to teach them those things, not once did either of us consider reminding her that wolves beyond her own pups would come to his aid. It is our fault as well, Obelisk.

Yugi flicked an ear. Why are you both even arguing? he asked with a twitch as a snowflake landed near his eye and momentarily blurred his peripheral where it clung to the fur near it. I thought the situation was more or less under control.

Obelisk scoffed and turned to him with a furious expression, skeptical and embittered. You assume that it is under control? You foolish boy. You know very well that it is not. Do not even assume to say otherwise. You know that the wolves do not follow you completely. Aki alone will rid the wolves of their will to follow you. She is powerful and can lead where you seem too ashamed to do so yourself. And what of Marik? He is fully capable of turning their thoughts aside from you as well.

I doubt he would, considering how much he's been stuck to my side these last few days, he said disdainfully. Slifer let out a long breath and the gray wolf shook his head as Yugi continued. He's been following me, fighting the other wolves whenever one doesn't immediately approve of my ideas. He's even begun trying to talk to me over the others.

Yes, and what if he merely does this in order to decide if you are worthy of their worship? Slifer drawled with a sneer. You do not carry the best judge of character in your company. You expect him to be a friend of yours? After all the fighting that you both have done and all of the squabbling, you are willing to let your guard down so simply?

He's not fighting me anymore. I consider it one small step in the right direction. Yugi did not try to justify himself further, instead looking at her closely. And I'm sure if Marik is coming around, then I can eventually convince Aki to do the same. And then I can gain their trust as a whole, yes?

It is not so simply done, Obelisk observed with a dismissive note. As you do not reflect what their beliefs have taught them of you as a figure among them. They expect you to be more powerful, to be less forgiving and to fight when necessary. They expect you to be far more wolf than simply a human attempting to blend in amongst them. You are very forgiving and rather selfless in manner. It is not something they were taught you to possess.

Yugi flicked an ear. Then I'll teach them a new way.

The proclamation made both gods blink at him, both startled and partially stunned. Their eyes flickered towards one another, locking for only a split second. Then they both looked back at him, unblinking but still visibly surprised.

It's not my fault that you kept them in the dark about everything. Or that you told them that Atem could only ever be one way rather than another. That wasn't fair to them or to me when they learned those things and I do not match that description.

You possess such insolence, Obelisk hissed. You should stop yourself now, before things should rise beyond your understanding once more. It is not hard for your human brain to become lost in the midst of change or instinct.

Yugi pricked his ears forward and eyed him coldly for a moment before shaking his head and turning away. It doesn't matter. I'll teach them a new way. They can figure out who I am as I spend time with them. It doesn't truly matter. What they know of me will never actually matter to begin with. He shook his head. They don't even know who it was that they worshipped for so long to begin with. If you ask them, none of them know beyond what they are told. And none of them have any idea what I'm meant to truly do

Slifer flicked an ear. You are not entirely wrong in such a statement. Your purpose is obscured to them.

And to me, the white wolf answered with a shake of his head as he ignored the sense of frustration that came over him. It does not matter. I'm sure all of us will come to figure it out on our own as time passes.

The gray wolf went to respond, but the other canine blinked and his head turned, ears pricking forward as he looked across the clearing of the camp. Some of the wolves had drifted a little closer and Yugi recognized each of them easily. Aki, Marik, Yusei and Serena were moving about restlessly. The four of them were divided between their cultural stances, Yusei and Serena and then Marik and Aki, in which Yusei paced unhappily and Serena was seated with her head lowered and her lips curling angrily as her ears flicked. Marik was circling them as if they were pieces of prey and he meant to lunge out and snap them up in his jaws. And Aki stood there, snarling softly and staring at Serena with a clearly territorial, aggressive expression.

What the hell is going on with those four? Yugi muttered, eyes sharpening. He was on his feet immediately, heading towards them swiftly. Marik was snapping his jaws now and Yusei was bristling as he glared at him. Aki was stepping closer and Serena's shoulders had risen, growing squared as she continued to snarl. She was seconds from attacking, he knew, as her eyes were no longer lowered and had focused entirely on the other she-wolf.

What do you think you're doing right now? he demanded furiously, coming to a stop in front of them. Marik faltered in his step. Yusei lost his bristle, flattening his ears against his skull. Serena straightened, aggression lost. Aki curled her lip back and stepped away several paces with an annoyed expression. Her ears flicked towards him and then flattened as well and she snapped her jaws when he came closer.

Marik spun on her, snarling and snapping his teeth in response. Immediately the two Japanese wolves locked eyes, growling and glaring at one another. Yusei and Serena both moved out of their way without a second glance. And the two of them stepped closer, bristling and snarling as their tails slowly began to rise.

Serena, Yugi demanded, head snapping towards her even as his eyes remained on the other two wolves. What the hell is going on right now?

The she-wolf shuffled her feet awkwardly, then whined low in her throat as she answered, Yusei and I were talking about how their mannerisms of hunting and bringing much of the meat back here is strange because we were human more than wolf. She drew in a deep breath, fur bristling with frustration as she struggled to project the words again. No doubt she had been trying to warn Aki off long before he'd asked the question and now she was having a much harder time. Aki overheard. And then Marik overheard.

Her voice tapered off completely and Yugi doubted she could give him the visual sequence of events. She looked visibly shaken and all but exhausted. And he supposed it did not matter. The explanation was, in all reality, adequate. He did not see that it needed further detail. He'd known well enough that Aki and Marik liked to play the role of bullies.

And now they were even picking at each other. They had not truly snapped at each other as of yet. They had not lunged at each other yet. They had not even lashed out visibly beyond chomping their jaws.

Marik, Aki, he snarled, stalking forward. Both wolves glared at each other and then glanced at him as if in unison. Aki looked back at him disdainfully but Marik peered at him with something he could not quite recognize. He'd never seen such a thing on another's face before, never in their eyes, and the way the gray and tan wolf looked made him almost tremble. Yugi hesitated a step, then hurried forward again. What's going on right now?

Aki snarled quietly, then turned away again. Nothing to concern you, she snapped. Atem does not need to be involved with such a mediocre thing as we're arguing over.

Well, you've just endangered two other pack mates. I think it becomes my problem the moment others become involved, he snarled in response, glaring at her when she flattened her ears against her skull in annoyance. You may either answer me now and explain yourself or I will force you to.

The declaration startled all three of them and even the gods blinked in near amazement at the words. Obelisk and Slifer swapped looks, getting to their feet to move closer, shadowing him. Yusei whined low in his throat and moved to prostate himself before Atem, laying on his belly and pressing his chin to the snow. No doubt he would have thrown himself onto his back with his tail tucked if he'd been more fearful or if Yugi had so much as glanced at him from more than his peripheral. Serena, on the other hand, had turned away with her head lowered and her body slightly tucked towards the ground. She did not seem as if she might roll over and expose her throat, but it was clear she was visibly uncomfortable.

It was only Marik and Aki who did not show immediate submission. Marik instead raised his head, his tail wagging slightly as his head snapped towards his former beta. Aki stared at Yugi with furious eyes, considering him and curling her lips back fiercely.

Yugi went to step closer, tail raised and fur beginning to rise into a bristle.

But it was not his action to make her respond otherwise.

It was Marik's.

The wolf threw himself forward. Aki did not have the chance to react. He barreled into her side. The impact made her spin, snapping her teeth. But the wolf sailed past her. His lips were slightly tinged red. Aki snarled and bore her teeth at him. Yugi blinked. Marik lunged at her heel. Aki snarled and spun to face him. Her teeth nearly snapped upon his muzzle. The gray wolf caught her ear.

Then Marik circled her again.

Yugi stared blankly. His ears flicked. He stepped forward. Enough, he spat, though the gray and tan wolf ignored him. Aki prepared herself for the third attack. Marik slammed into her hip and bit her adjacent heel. Aki yelped and backed up a step before facing him more completely. The fourth hit came for the flank as the first had.

The white wolf snarled, chomping his teeth. Marik, enough! he snarled. Leave her alone—

Aki stepped back. Then she lunged. Marik screeched with pain. He scrambled from her grip. Her teeth were coated red. Her eyes were blazing. The gray wolf shook his head out. The blood fell upon his eye and across his brow. His cheek was caked red and smeared.

Yugi pressed forward, throwing himself between them as she prepared herself for another attack. She had grown past warning nips. She'd gone straight for a punishing wound. And Marik was bleeding badly along his right eye. Yugi flicked his ears and glanced between them. Impulse made him look towards the wounded wolf first. But he could already see the blood clotting. Marik may have still felt pain, but it was clearly leaving.

He turned to Aki. The she-wolf glared at him, breathing heavily. But he could tell instinctively that she would not harm him. She would not turn her teeth on him. He was off limits to her wrath.

Aki, I want an answer, he instructed quietly. He could see Slifer and Obelisk swapping looks now. Yusei was on his back, tail tucked and paws folded upon the slope of his ribcage. Serena had trotted several steps away, pacing about with her tail between her legs. She was visibly panting, eyes wide and the whites showing. She stalked from one spot to the next, a perfectly straight line of tension.

It was over pack rulings, she answered bitterly, though her eyes were on Marik again and her fur was bristling once more. She pressed forward a step. The gray wolf snarled and wagged his tail angrily. Yugi moved to stand between them, facing Aki calmly. She focused on him now, infuriated but willing to pay him enough respect to answer. Yusei and Serena think our methods strange. I said that it was only strange because they lived sheltered human lives. And then Marik escalated it.

Yugi didn't blink, flicking an ear. If Marik pressed any closer, he would turn on him himself. This has to stop. I am not going to have you all feuding over pack differences. Get over it. You were here first, but they are here now. We are all going to work together, regardless of how much you may all dislike each other.

Aki pricked her ears forward, eyes on Marik again. Yugi stepped closer, until they were almost nose-to-nose. Then he snarled low in his throat, voice harsh and cold. Do we understand one another? he demanded.

She stepped back from him, immediately turning her head away. Yes, she answered coolly. I understand your words, Atem. And I apologize for any inconvenience.

He shook himself out. We shall not have any fighting amongst ourselves any longer—any of us. If either of you—he spun on Marik now, chomping his teeth—think to consider otherwise, I will personally show you why you should heed my commands. And, should I see you in another packmate's face once more, I will punish you as I see fit. Do you understand me?

The gray and tan wolf paused for a moment, blinking, and then flattened his ears. His eyes sharpened but he nodded all the same, looking quickly away as he mumbled a dejected, Yes, Atem.

The white wolf almost shivered as he glanced at Yusei and Serena. The she-wolf had stilled her pacing but her panting had grown more hectic. She was shivering where she stood, trembling from fear rather than fear. And Yusei very slowly began to roll over onto his side as Yugi nodded at him. The gray-black yearling got to his feet, glanced at his former beta and then Aki and Marik again.

Are you both all right? he asked quietly, focused more on Yusei than the former beta. The yearling wagged his tail but would not meet his eyes, royal blue gaze glued to the snow. Serena nodded at him respectfully when he raised his head to her once more. Good.

---

Yugi could not help the apprehension that filled his belly as he approached the doorstep. There was a harsh, melted smell which met his nose. The scent made him falter a step, eyes widening. The air was too cold and crisp itself for the hint of burned flesh and hair to be overlooked. But he could not see anything at the moment. There was nothing visible to show him that something had happened. There was no obvious jarring visual sign in front of him. There was only this tiny hint of a smell, something that he recognized all too well and hated more than anything.

He glanced about himself once, then back again. There was no hint of where the scent had been left, nor where it had properly come from. The snow had covered much of any footprints he would have found formerly. There were small grooves in the snow but none of them were definitive anymore. He could not gather a full profile of them any longer. It had been too long since they had walked near the door or the house or the clinic in general.

Perhaps it wasn't human flesh…

But he could smell it still, a lingering touch of a scent, but it was not enough to make him wonder too much more proficiently. And he could feel it wavering. He did not know if it was Fuwa or not as it was. Perhaps it had been a dog or a person who had accidentally gotten hurt cooking or something of that manner.

Yugi didn't truthfully know.

But it was strange to him, how that burned scent seemed to swell and encompass rather than dissipate. He wondered how it was possible that someone could retain that scent. Was it because of how soon it had been? Was it because of the damage retained by the cells? Was there any other way the scent lingered? Was there something else that caused it to remain?

He considered but, seeing as he had no suspect beyond Fuwa, he did not know.

And now he berated himself.

Because he should have taken the time to memorize Fuwa's scent. He should have taken the time to do so, in order to protect himself properly. Had Fuwa not taken to trying to kill them all at that restaurant, he could have easily found his way to Yugi himself without outside help. And, had that happened, what was Yugi meant to do then? If he had done that, Yugi would have been leading him straight to Yami as well, wouldn't he have?

And if he could not tell Fuwa apart from someone else, then he could have mistaken it for anyone. He could have simply overlooked it every single time, gotten trapped so easily, and then been killed even before Yami ever came to know what had happened. He shivered at the thought.

He should have done it.

He should have paid attention.

He should have tried to memorize his scent.

He should have tried his hardest to protect himself and the others.

Yugi reached forward, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it open to step inside. He wondered, bewildered, how it was that Fuwa would have found his home. But then, as he stepped inside, he found himself bristling.

His use of the term "king of games" had said he'd always known. His ability to infiltrate the school he attended had been a test of pushing his buttons to say he knew where Yugi was in Domino. His testing him with the scent of blood was enough to remind him that he knew what he was.

There was no doubt in his mind that Fuwa had researched him and done so well. There was no hinting or playing at the idea. He had had to have done more than just the mild idea of testing him and speaking around. He had not known his friends and how to bond with them or that he had been attracted to Anzu without having dug further and further into his background and history.

How much had he known?

Had he known about his hallucinations?

Had he known about his night terrors?

Had he known about his medication?

Had he known how often he had to go to the hospital for adjustments to the dosages?

Had he known about his mother being a vet?

How much could he have known?

If he had not dug into personal files somehow, he would have had an extremely limited understanding. They would have been things found from what was common knowledge of others who knew of him. He did not have many friends, after all. He had not bothered often to reach out to others when he was afraid of their reactions to begin with.

Tomoya had known a couple of things that Jonouchi had not. The few times he'd come to Yugi's house, he'd seen the medicine once or twice. He'd seen them labeled for him. He'd seen the side effects that were expected of them. He'd seen what they were used for. He'd seen the doses. He'd known how bad it had been.

He must have…

But then, Tomoya had been dead before Fuwa had set foot in Domino.

So it was no matter that the blond had known back there. All that mattered now was that he couldn't have revealed such a thing to them. And, as far as he knew, the rest of that information would have been hard to scrape across on websites.

Fuwa would have had to find his school files or his hospital record. Otherwise there was no way he would have known he was a werewolf, was there? Yugi wished he knew if there was some way to recognize his infliction of lycanthropy or not. But he had not considered too much of what he did too far out of the realm of normal teenage behavior.

He didn't do drugs. He didn't hook up with random people. He didn't bother with getting drunk. He didn't even break out into fights. He played video games for a hobby. He hung out with his friends outside of school.

He shivered.

Then again, he did sneak out of the house using the roof. And he did sneak back in through the window. His neighbors had caught him returning back from the woods—or it was more likely they had seen Yami. They had seen Yami returning from various hunts at odd hours. And they had told his mom simply that they had seen him in the woods. They had not mentioned that he climbed in through the window. And he wondered if they had even come to know about that. Yugi's room being adjacent to the streetlamp put it at an odd angle for them to fully view him and Yami doing such a thing.

Or perhaps they had seen it and had not spoken about it because they were truly worried that he was doing something illegal. Perhaps they were scared that telling his mom that he was crawling in and out of the house by way of the roof would get them in some kind of trouble. Yugi wondered at the idea.

Then he glanced at that house, wondering. He'd never truly seen someone in that side of the house more than a couple of times. He suspected it was the writing room and that they really only looked out the window a few times at the most. Perhaps they had only seen Yami returning and simply assumed that he was Yugi; that meant that he would walk back inside without an issue of any kind.

And they had not mentioned anything about what hours they had been doing so. So it meant they had only seen it those few handful of times that Yami had returned before Yugi had gotten home from school or directly after. So they most likely had never even bothered to verify the time or whether it was truly him, just that he was coming from the direction of the woods.

They didn't have kids either, he remembered. So odds were that they did not even know what hours he was there and when he got out again. Odds were they had no idea when it was he was supposed to be home or not. And that would have helped to cover much of Yami's travels from the woods and back.

It explained why his mom had not said anything more than that she did not want him to go into the woods so often anymore. It explained why she had not called up the school and asked if he had skipped classes and why it was she had not been notified. It explained a lot of what she had avoided in that conversation with him…

"Mom? Grandpa?" he called loudly, closing the door behind him. A technician looked up from behind the counter, her eyes shining where the computer screen reflected on it. He blinked, then glanced beyond her and through the window on the door that would lead further into the examination rooms. Then he turned back to her with a confused look. "Are my mom and grandpa here or…?"

"They're both upstairs, sweetie."

He blinked, bristling with alarm now. "They're upstairs?" he repeated slowly, watching her with darkened eyes. If they were both upstairs and had left a tech out to run the computer system for the time being, then something had definitely happened. He glanced towards the door. "Why?"

"She didn't tell me. She just said that something important had come up and she needed to deal with it. Your grandfather followed her up there."

Yugi hated her for her disinterest, straining his ears for any sound upstairs. But his call of their names must have made them both go quiet. He looked over his shoulder and back before drawing in a deep breath. "Thanks," he mumbled, because at least he didn't have to admit to her that the entire thing made him uncomfortable. The blue-violet-eyed teen opened the downstairs door, locked it behind him, and headed up into the upper level of the house.

He listened at the door, then grabbed the knob and slowly twisted it open once more. When he could only hear a couple of dishes moving about, he hesitated. Then he pushed the door open and shut it behind him, twisting the lock.

"Mom?" he called, voice nearly cracking with tension. "Grandpa?"

What was he to do if it was some kind of trap? What if the technician downstairs wasn't even a technician? What if she was someone looking to fetch money from his pelt when the hunter skinned him? What if he didn't heal and didn't come back? What if—?

"Kitchen."

The simple word sent a wave of relief through him. But it also made him hesitate. His mom did not sound happy. And his grandpa still had not spoken up yet. He hesitated, glancing around for a moment. Then he stepped forward and turned towards his room to put his bag down before making his way into the kitchen.

The moment he entered it his stomach somersaulted.

"Yugi."

His mouth threatened to pull into a grimace. Then he forced his lips to twitch up slightly into a strained smile. "Hello, Officer Mazaki," he greeted cautiously, staring at him as his stomach tossed more violently.

The man was taller, with pale creamy skin and short brown hair. His dark green eyes were a little narrower, his nose a little sharper. His mouth had a constant frown, stress having made a permanent line along the edges of his lips. And Yugi could see more of Anzu in him than he truly cared to admit. He sat straight in the chair Yami had sat in so uncomfortably during their family dinner, and the police uniform looked pristine.

"You're a very busy person," he commented, a dryness entering his eyes at the comment. Yugi raised a brow, wondering where his car must have been parked. He had not put it near the driveway of the house. Perhaps it was further down the street…

"I'm trying to be a more productive person by joining clubs at school," he answered sarcastically. Then he glanced at his mom, wondering what it was she might have told him beforehand. Very quickly he turned back to him, considering. "We all like to spend time at the arcade after school, remember?"

"Anzu's said that you've been busy with personal things for a while now."

The reprimand was more annoyed than anything. Yugi blinked and ignored the way his grandpa awkwardly shuffled his weight in the seat across the table from him. The small teen tilted his head.

"I know. I told her that."

"Did you get those personal things figured out?"

Yugi blinked. "You wanted to ask me about where I was the night of the two fires, isn't that it?" he answered in a somewhat sharper tone, too tired to give enough of a shit to continue with the small talk. He stalked over to the table, plopping down in the seat across from him and watching him.

"It seems odd to me that my daughter, Katsuya and Hiroto were at this restaurant during the time of the arson and you were nowhere to be found." The small teen blinked again, but the realization did not strike him as anything for him to worry about for the time being. If that was all he wanted to know about, then that was hardly something he needed to worry about. "All three of them were questioned and they insisted that you weren't there. But I have to verify. Because, around that time of night, it was said by your neighbors that you had not been spotted coming inside the house that entire day."

He shook his head. "They don't always watch the window. We all know that. And it's not lie they have any reason to actually watch me like that," he commented with a shake of his head. "But, either way, no I wasn't at the restaurant. And they're right. I didn't come home until late that night."

Kasumi dropped the plate she was cleaning. The resulting noise made all three males flinch and look up. But the veterinarian ignored them, rinsing the dish once more and checking it for any cracks before putting it away into the dishwasher.

"So, you truly were not at home that night?"

Yugi shook his head as he turned back to him, though his eyes remained focused on his mom for a moment longer. "No, a friend needed my help with something. He'd gotten himself hurt and he needed me to stitch a wound because he didn't know how to do it by himself. So I met him at his motel room and I helped him clean and stitch it. And he convinced me to stay the night because it was safer than coming back."

"A motel room?" Anzu's father muttered, eyes widening as he sat up a little straighter. "You went to a motel room with another boy?"

"I went to a motel room to help my friend with a wound when he'd accidentally hurt himself, yes," Yugi answered in a somewhat frosty tone, not the least bit amused by his startled deer-in-headlights expression. "He messaged me in one of the school chat-rooms. So I asked him for his address and I went and helped him. By the time I got there it was around eight at night and after I had finished helping him with his wound care, it was almost ten."

"It took two hours for you to help him with his wound?" he asked incredulously, raising a brow now and shaking his head. That was an amazingly long stretch of time just for one wound to be cleaned. That made no sense whatsoever, either.

"No, it took me two hours to help him stifle the bleeding, because he was anemic, to clean it properly when he was drowsy from blood loss, to stitch the wound after having to find someone else in the stupid place that might have some orange juice to help keep him from passing out, and then to make sure that the wound really wasn't going to start bleeding out again."

"What kind of wound was it?"

Yugi had to stop himself from saying it was a head wound. It would have been impossible to do so without having to shave his head. And his mom and grandpa had seen him and he'd had perfectly long hair, none of it shaved or cut in any manner. "He wasn't paying attention to the way the knife was pointed when he was making dinner. He tripped and it cut his side pretty deeply."

Mazaki studied him for a long moment, then nodded slowly as if he could not find the fault in his logic. But Yugi could have pointed it out with glaringly obvious results. "Okay, so you helped him with his side. And you didn't come home for the night." He glanced at Sugoroku and then Kasumi, eyes sharpening. "And neither of you noticed that he was missing?"

"I stayed at the nature preserve to help with a wounded fox," his mother answered in a somewhat irate tone. "And my father goes to bed around seven to seven-thirty. He would have most likely been asleep by the time Yugi left and I was responsible for helping with the broken leg this fox had."

Sugoroku and Yugi both blinked, looking towards her with slightly startled expressions. She was taking up for him? She was actually willing to lie to a police officer like that? Mazaki had been a high school friend of hers, with an unrequited interest in her that had been crushed rather drastically when she'd married Yugi's father. But, when at first she had been pregnant and had not told his dad yet, Mazaki had offered to marry her regardless of Yugi not being his. His father had stepped in the moment she'd told him, however. And the two of them had gotten married a couple of months afterwards, when they'd had more time together and a few more dates around her trying to complete her college work.

And when Yugi had announced one day that he thought Anzu was the girl of his dreams, there had been that awkward moment when his mom had choked on her tea, ducked over the sink, and tried her hardest to regain her composure. He wondered if she would think that history had all but repeated itself in their potential relationship having been destroyed by an outside source.

Yugi turned to Mazaki again. "I don't know the name of the motel anymore. And I don't think the chat-rooms would have kept the message with the address. Too many people frequent it for help with homework and things like that. There's so many messaging cycling through there that I don't think you'd even be able to find a trace of it." He shrugged after a moment. "But, either way, that's the time the restaurant burned down."

"And the forest fire?" he questioned, though a part of him was so stunned by this turn of events that it threw him off slightly. Mazaki watched the small teen blink before shaking his head and sighing quietly.

"I was at the motel room with him again."

He faltered. "Again?"

Yugi nodded and looked away, sighing a little louder and glancing at the pattern on the table. "I helped him with another wound he'd gotten."

"Him? You keep calling him by pronouns instead of by name."

The smaller teen turned to him with sharpened eyes, something disturbingly dark and yet bright in them all the same. He tilted his head, watching him for a moment, then said quietly, "He was here with someone else for vacation. I don't think it was his family, but rather more like an abusive partner. I think he had an altercation with them and he got pretty hurt from it. He had a concussion for days after and he had a broken arm. I don't think it's right to give you his name when you might turn around and try to find him and he's obviously in hiding. Besides that, I think he left Japan recently. I haven't seen him since the night of the restaurant fire. And I haven't heard from him since then either. I think his partner might have found him again and he fled."

Kasumi nearly spat a curse, barely catching the silverware that had threatened to slip from her fingers again. She hesitated, breathing a little hard to calm herself, then turned on the water again to rinse the soap from the utensils. Annoyance coated her insides.

Yugi had just dug himself further into the hole.

"And you were not reported missing that night either—"

"I left my phone at home. My mom checks my GPS on it a lot. So I left it at home. Just like I did the night he messaged me to help him with that knife wound." Yugi paused. "Which, now that I think about it, that probably wasn't accidental at all. His partner probably meant to leave him for dead."

Kasumi shook her head and began to load the dishwasher, trying her hardest to keep moving so that if Mazaki turned around he would not see the rage that was causing her to shake.

"So you think he was on the run from a lover who abused him regularly and that he fled again after being found?" he repeated slowly. "You truly think that?"

"I do. I don't think there's any other reason he would have dropped off the face of the earth like he has." Yugi shook his head and looked down at the tablecloth. "I think after he was found the first time and I spent the night there, he probably took everything and cleaned it down and ran for his life again. I don't think I'll ever see or hear from him again."

That last part was said so certainly that it shook Mazaki to see the clarity in the small teen's eyes. It was horrifying to look into them and know that Yugi believed every word he was saying. And the realization made him feel almost sick as he considered him. There was something haunted in his expression as well, something that perhaps could have been similar to trauma if the story were truthful.

"And his name?"

"I didn't know his surname. I just knew his first name and I don't think you'll find him under that name. I don't think that was his actual name to begin with. He wasn't enrolled in high school either. He was homeschooling himself until the next semester. But he came into our school for a tour and to learn more about Domino High. But after that, he never showed his face again."

"So that's how you both met then?"

"Yeah. He met all four of us that day. But then he never came back after that so I don't even know if they'll remember him." Yugi shook his head and shrugged after a moment. "Either way, though, I met him during his tour of the school. Then I was on the chat when someone asked for help with a wound. Everyone kind of pointed their fingers towards me because of my mom being a vet. And then I got his address and I went to help him."

"No one else offered help?"

"Why embarrass themselves when they had no idea what was going on?" He shrugged again. "But, even with that, I don't think any of them knew what to say or do about it and got kind of nervous because they didn't recognize what was happening with it."

"They didn't recognize a call for help?"

"I think it was more that they were worried it was a prank."

"Then why did you answer and risk that?"

Yugi looked at him. "Because, on the off chance it wasn't then I had to do everything I could to help them." He turned away again, ignoring the way his mom breathed harder at the words, frustration making her exhale far too loud within his ears. "And because I thought I recognized the way he typed the message. He had a really…professional, kind of polite way of talking."

"And he didn't tell you what you suppose was his real name even when you helped him?"

"No, because it was Japanese and I don't think he was Japanese."

Mazaki sat up with something like growing interest. "Really?"

"I don't think he was Japanese at all. But he could speak it fluently. And he was able to understand it in writing. So I didn't question that either."

"You trusted this person blindly?" he spat incredulously, shaking his head. "You know how dangerous that could be!"

Yugi nodded. "I do and I still did it. But it's over and done with. He's gone. I have no idea where he is." He shrugged and pushed his seat back to stand up. "I'm going to bed now. I don't sleep nearly enough anymore so…I guess if you want to verify with my mom and grandpa, you're free to. But I've said everything I plan to."

He was almost surprised that Mazaki did not follow him out of the kitchen. And, when he snatched up his backpack and kicked his shoes off, he was all but amazed. He wasn't sure what he had expected, in truth, but such an easy victory and retreat had not been it. But he wasn't willing to glance back and when the dishwasher finally closed and was locked, Yugi had taken a seat on the bed. He was on the mattress's very edge, curious as he considered the silence from within the kitchen.

But there was still no answer regardless. The small teen strained his ears, keeping his head tilted towards the room outside, but there was no noise for the longest time. Yugi got to his feet, pacing, and wondered at the odds of how badly he had just played this game. If he had faltered where Yami was concerned, it could be buried and rather quickly. As long as his mom and grandpa did not tell Mazaki a name, it was going to be easy for him to all but ignore the fact that he'd ever existed in this story. As far as the motel went, he could always fall back on the fact that he had no idea where it was due to the address being lost from the chat-room. And, if Mazaki were to ask any of his schoolmates, more likely than not they'd say they couldn't remember or that they tried to use the chat-room for other means. It was a lost cause to try to find out through them. And if he wanted to dig through the interface for info, he wouldn't find much due to how often people got onto it in order to find out answers for homework or to all but have cyber sex. And, as far as the blood went, all he would have to say was that Yami had gone over the room with bleach and cleaners in order to keep anyone from calling the police after seeing the bloodbath. And, odds were, if they ever did look into the motels in the area, they would find at least one room with blood that had been stripped clean somehow. He would not have been surprised in the least.

Yugi let out a deep breath, licking his lips and pacing a little faster. He glanced over his shoulder, towards the kitchen again, listening, and finally found himself rewarded with the smallest bit of conversation.

"And you both never met this friend of his?"

"Yugi doesn't bring all of his friends to the house, no," Kasumi stated in a somewhat annoyed tone. "He has friends at school that I've never heard of, I'm sure. And I'm not worried about it if he said that this boy was his friend and needed help. You know Yugi just as well as I do. He was asked for help and he went to do it."

"That's dangerous, Kasumi—"

"It's also over and done with." Yugi blinked, stunned by the ferocity in her tone. He could imagine her giving Mazaki a glare that said she'd likely hit him if he kept admonishing the way her son was or how she had raised him. "You know Yugi would never have tried his hand at arson to begin with."

"I know that he normally would never have considered it. But I also know that he's changed a lot recently. Anzu has told me as much. And the fact that he wasn't with them when they found the restaurant on fire is troublesome, don't you think?"

"I think it sounds like he's gotten busy with other things and you're making it bigger than what it actually is," she snapped, nearing a snarl. The sound he heard next was of Sugoroku's sharp exhale and the way Mazaki sat up in surprise at the tone. "I think it's being blown out of proportion and that Yugi is as he always has been. He's fine. He's okay. He doesn't need to have someone micromanaging every single thing he's ever done—"

"Really? And that's why he nearly overdosed on his medicine that night, right?"

Yugi stopped short, entire body seizing movement. How…?

"What?"

Mazaki sounded oddly pleased, as if he had pulled the rug out from under her and was immensely satisfied with the results. For one horrifying moment, Yugi thought perhaps he had realized he was no longer pacing. And he almost expected that he would draw his gun and aim it and—

And then he remembered that Mazaki was not a hunter. He was just a police officer, a detective for the case…

"You don't really think that I didn't go back and research to find out if there were any oddities in his behavior right now, did you?" the detective asked in a smug tone. "I went as far back as I could with his medical history, his grades and their recent fluctuations, and his behavior as described by his teachers. Are you aware that he recently skipped the second half of the school day with a boy named Takahashi Valon?"

There was a moment of silence. Yugi squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

"In fact, it was just yesterday that this happened."

"And? Did another building catch on fire?" Kasumi sneered in a vicious tone. "Because I don't remember being told of anything of that nature. I don't remember watching any programs with that mentioned either. Am I wrong? Because unless a building caught on fire, his skipping school for the day is hardly a felon."

Yugi nearly trembled with relief, then almost sputtered with laughter. But part of him was so exhausted that all he could do was reach up to run a hand through his hair and take a seat on the edge of the mattress once more. He shook his head, drawing in a deep breath, and nearly panted with relief.

"No, it's not a felon." Mazaki fell quiet for a moment, then said in a more authoritative voice, "But, as I was saying, your son nearly overdosed on his medicine one night when he was twelve, did he not? And then for the next four years he's been asking you to have his medication raised in doses. You've been carting him around asking them to almost prescribe illegally strong medicine for someone his age, stuff that veterans returned from war would take."

"It was his decision to ask for help. And it's not my problem that none of it worked. Obviously some medicines don't work well with him."

"Kasumi—"

"I wouldn't have been asking for them to raise the doses if they were effective to begin with." Yugi bit his lip, beginning to pace again as his mother snapped, "And, oh, gods forbid I try to make sure my son doesn't nearly overdose again, you asshole."

Sugoroku's breathing had escalated, somewhere between excitement and shock.

"Kasumi—"

"Shut up, Mazaki. If it was Anzu in his place, you would have done the same—"

"But thankfully my daughter doesn't have so many health issues—"

"They're night terrors, not some kind of fucking disease—"

"Really? Because your son sure has been acting otherwise."

Yugi blinked. Sugoroku seemed to grow still. His mom's nails were tapping against the dishwasher handle. The lycanthrope stiffened, then got to his feet again, tempted almost to go back and try to diffuse the situation. But then…what was it he was meant to say? His reappearance would hardly do them any well to begin with…

"He skips school now—he went for a whole week and a half without going. Then he reappeared, looking sick and underweight. He was aggressive towards several people. He puked in the middle of class and the teacher said it was worse than anything he'd ever smelled before. Yugi doesn't spend time with his friends anymore on top of it. He's constantly spending more time with someone like Takahashi than he is with anyone else. When the Fuwa boy came, he was overly aggressive towards him and acted extremely possessive when he tried to make friends with Jonouchi and Honda and Anzu. He's spent nights at a motel with a stranger who he only met once before. He allows his grades to go up and down constantly. He's clearly no longer focused on getting into a university or anything of that nature. His grade point average has dropped significantly. He's obsessed with video games. He was the one to find Ushio's body on your front doorstep. The day the Kokurano boy was found dead in the library, Yugi was said to have been paying them unusual attention. Then that same night Tomoya was found dead, his neck torn out—"

"Okay, but that's not—"

"Do you truly think for even a moment that any of that is normal? Kasumi, you are not a stupid woman—"

"You're right. And I'll tell you exactly what the hell you're doing right now," she spat, interrupting him icily. Yugi blinked wide eyes, stunned by the frosty edge to her voice. "You're trying to save your ass right now because all of your conclusions are pointing towards the impossible. A canine can't support a jaw pressure of over three thousand pounds per square inch and that's all you've found, evidence that points towards that very thing. So, now that your daughter is upset because Yugi found someone else, you're pointing the finger at him. Because he wasn't with Anzu and Jonouchi and Honda that night that the damn restaurant burned down even though they claimed to be walking nearby and saw the smoke—"

"They—"

"I don't care." The statement was vicious enough to make Mazaki fall immediately silent once more. Kasumi didn't pause, speaking again without pause. "Now, Yugi found someone else and Anzu is having a little fit because we all know she's the jealous type, just like her mother is. Regardless, you're trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. That's understandable. I still don't care for it but that's your business. So, you are being told that my son has been acting out by several people. I am well aware that he does not always do what he needs to. I know about his grades. I know that he skipped the second half of the day. I know that he skipped that week and a half of school. I know that he's been struggling with maintaining his weight right now. And I'm well aware of the fact that he leaves the house at times without explanation. What he does when he's not here is something I don't know nor do I care for as long as he comes home at the end of the day. One of the many side effects for the various medications he takes for his night terrors is, in fact, depression."

Yugi blinked, stunned, head snapping up and mouth nearly falling open as he continued listening. Was she really going to…?

"In case you aren't aware, my family has a history of depression on my mother's side, Mazaki. I am well acquainted with it. Drugs tend to trigger it more often than not and those night terror medications make Yugi much worse than they do better where that's concerned. There are days where he cannot physically force himself to eat due to it. He struggles with his weight because of it. Then he tends to space out in school and his grades will drop. He has a history of this, which you would know if you had done half as much digging as you've claimed. He's got a habit of skipping school when he's depressed. Because the fresh air makes him feel better, is what he's told me numerous times. He's also got a habit of playing video games for hours on end in the middle of the night and sometimes wandering off into the woods. So your report of that is nonsense as well, because our dear neighbors don't even talk to us or know a damn thing about us or Yugi in general. The fact that you even listened to them is pathetic in and of itself."

The small teen gaped now, eyes wide. He'd never heard his mom speak so nastily to someone before outside of arguments with his grandfather over his medicine and raising the doses or taking him for a checkup one too many times.

"As for his involvement with Kokurano, as I said, Yugi doesn't pay much attention when he starts to become depressed. He probably spaced out and was staring at Kokurano by accident. That in and of itself is not substantial evidence towards anything, especially drug involvement with a dead boy." Yugi flinched at the words, remembering vaguely that Slifer had said Kokurano deserved nothing less than to have his insides incinerated as they were when Ra had taken control of him… "And, as for Ushio, I don't know why he wound up here. I have no idea. But you're a fool if you think for even a moment that Yugi could ever have been involved in that. You've known him almost his whole life, you bastard. You know damn well that he wouldn't lay a hand on someone else, let alone a classmate. And his involvement with Takahashi Valon? You didn't do enough digging, Mazaki, because, should you have, you would have realized that Yugi has met Valon at the hospital before. Valon went for a meeting with a psychiatrist when his adoptive parents thought he was depressed. Yugi and Valon may not have spent much time together at school considering how they met that day, but Valon is hardly the worst person for him to spend time with. He's just a depressed seventeen-year-old who tends to have a smart mouth and doesn't care much for public opinion."

Sugoroku was breathing a little faster, barely suppressing his laughter now, Yugi knew. The small teen grinned a little, amused by his grandfather's antics, and then shook his head.

"So, is there anything else you would like to have clarified before you get the fuck out of my house?" she asked in a deadly calm voice, the ice gone from her tone. He could imagine her giving him a wide, sardonic smile and a furious glare and it made Yugi nearly shiver. The amazement that came through him was harsh and warm in his blood. "No? Then feel free to leave now."

There was a single moment of hesitation. Yugi wondered if he would try to argue again. But Mazaki did not even attempt to defend his inquiries. Nor did he try his hand at justifying his suspicions of Yugi or his daughter's concern. He did not even try to take up for the slander Kasumi had thrown at his wife.

There was only the scraping of the chair legs as the piece of furniture was moved back and he got to his feet. Then his footsteps were soft and hesitant for a moment, as if he might try to argue, but there were no words spoken again. Yugi hesitated, shivering, shifting his weight back and forth uncomfortably. And then, abruptly, he disappeared from the house, the door shut softly behind him.

Yugi was trembling, he found, but he could not tell if it was with amazement or laughter or shock. He sat there, trying to analyze his emotions, when the door was knocked on slightly and he looked up with a puzzled glance. He hadn't heard anyone approaching when he'd been sitting there.

"Yeah?" he called out, hoping that he would not be shaking by the time the door opened. When the knob twisted and his mom poked her head in, he nearly shivered all over again. She looked flustered and exhausted, but not the least bit antagonistic towards him.

"Did you hear any of that?" she asked quietly, eyes flickering about his room for a moment. She glanced at the window and back to him, wondering for a moment if the snow had covered the footprints he must have formerly left those nights he'd been out in the woods rather than in the house. Because she knew he was smart enough to leave his phone there. And he had admitted to as much before…

Yugi paused for a moment, the thoughts flickering about behind his eyes. And then he nodded, perhaps the first truthful thing he'd done in months. Kasumi sighed loudly and came into the room, shutting and locking it behind her. No doubt her father would try to follow her in there if he didn't just put his ear to the door instead.

"Then I don't have to explain to you that Mazaki is probably going to target you more persistently now."

Yugi shook his head. "I kind of think my rejection of Anzu was one of the reasons he did it to begin with," he admitted quietly, tilting his head and looking at her with a slightly uncomfortable expression. "But no, I kind of figured he would come after me with more later…"

Kasumi nodded, exhaustion tugging at her insides. "And I don't have to tell you your cover story either, then," she prompted quietly.

"It's not a…" He fell quiet for a moment, then turned to face her more completely as she took a seat on the edge of the mattress, mimicking him in posture. "Look, Mom, I know that I haven't been entirely truthful these last couple of months, but it's not… I didn't commit arson. And I'm not into drugs. You weren't entirely wrong about the depression thing. I…"

Kasumi shook her head and reached over to pull on one of his bangs lightly, wrapping it around her finger thoughtfully. "No, I recognized the symptoms." She frowned at him, almost puzzled for a moment as she considered him for a long moment. "I recognized them the moment you told me Yami had apparently gone to meet his parents again…"

Her son stared at her for a moment, something in his eyes looking briefly broken before it began to rally itself and pull itself into a more unified front. But there was a brief moment in which his breathing hitched at the other boy's name, confirming a suspicion which she had been trying her hardest to ignore formerly.

"Yeah," he murmured, looking away and narrowing his eyes. "Well…it was kind of sudden…"

She almost rolled her eyes, shaking her head, but suppressed the urge with a long sigh that seemed to fold her in half in her mounting exhaustion. "Yes, it was, and I'm sorry it happened," she said with another small shake of her head. "But the problem is that you've let it impact a lot more than I thought you would."

"I…" He closed his mouth again, chewing the inside of his cheek before nodding slightly and looking away from her again. Something in his eyes was raw and fresh and tired as he shook his head as if to scatter his thoughts. "You're right. And I'm sorry."

"So what do you plan to do about it?"

Yugi didn't look at her again. "What would you do if Yami came back?"

Kasumi blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "Is that a possibility at this point? You said that you haven't seen or heard from him since he ran off that night," she reminded him in a somewhat cold tone. "So why would you think that's going to happen?"

"I just…I have a feeling it will." He blinked, staring at the wall blankly. "But what would you do if Yami came back?"

"I don't know. Why does it…? Why do you assume that I would do something about it?"

Yugi shook his head and looked at her now, blue-specked eyes tired. "I just… Can he stay here again if he comes back?" he asked quietly instead, pleading more than anything. "Is he allowed to?"

Kasumi stayed quiet for a moment, then looked at him for a long minute, staring and searching his face and wondering if perhaps she should never have let it go on for so long… "He was here before I met him, wasn't he?" Yugi blinked wide eyes, a stunned expression crossing his face. "He was…wasn't he?"

Her son opened and closed his mouth, then seemed to bristle for a split second before slowly looking away again. "I…" He ran a hand through his hair, then huffed and shook his head. "No, Mom, he wasn't. I didn't…"

The disappointment that came through her was almost crushing. "You're really going to sit there and lie to me right now?" she muttered, almost amazed by how steady her voice came out despite her exhaustion. "You just…"

Yugi shivered, then turned back to her with wide eyes before opening and closing his mouth once more. The seconds passed, then his eyes dropped away from her again. "How, um…? Did you hear us talking at some point or…?" He opened and closed his mouth again, then shook his head. "How long have you known that he was here?"

Kasumi blinked, stunned. Usually Yugi would stick by his lies if he was brave enough to tell them, just as he had when he'd faced Mazaki minutes ago. She sighed and looked away. "I didn't know for sure," she admitted. "But I had my suspicion. You ordered so much food from that restaurant. And you started spending so much more time at the house in your room instead of with your grandfather, watching movies or playing games. You don't drift out into the living room as often as you used to. You don't spend as much time with him as you used to and it's…I just supposed you had to have had him here to begin with. And then that day you came out of your room saying that you needed a new mattress and you…"

He cringed. "Yami ended up getting really sick that morning. I…he was puking everywhere and I was really freaked out and he had been trying to wake me up but he…" He shrugged. "It seemed simpler to just get a new one than try to clean it and I wasn't going to throw hum under the bus so I just…I said I puked on it."

She glanced at him again. "The way you two looked at each other…" She hesitated. "I just…I knew he had to have been in your life a lot longer than you'd said…"

Yugi shook his head. "It's only been two or three months. I honestly haven't known him for very long. I…" He shrugged unhappily and looked at the ground. "It's insane how quickly I… He's not a terrible person, Mom, and I…I didn't lie about how I met him. He needed help with some wounds. He was bleeding everywhere and I…I brought him into the house without really knowing him at all."

She shook her head, tired but furious. "You brought a stranger into our house without even knowing if he's a serial killer or anything?" she snapped. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The smaller teen watched her for a long minute. "I…I thought it was the best thing to do at the time. He needed help so I gave him help." He paused. "I don't know what happened to get him hurt as badly as he was, but he was passing through and I decided I needed to help him."

"And his parents?"

Yugi stared at her for a long time, then chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. "They're dead. I think he's been alone and taking care of himself for a long time now, Mom. But he got himself hurt pretty badly and he asked for help so I…" He turned away again. "He looked harmless, okay? And I couldn't get a malicious vibe off of him at any rate. I didn't get even the slightest hint of it…"

"So you thought that was okay to do?"

"It's over and done with," he spat, turning on her angrily now. "It's over and done with, okay? He was here, I helped him recover. He was fine for a while, and then he started puking that day and I asked for a new mattress. And now he's gone. I don't know what happened that night. He wandered off. I guess maybe he felt that he had overstepped in staying here or he'd overstayed his welcome. I don't care what it was that caused him to leave. But if he comes back, I'm going to let him stay here again."

She blinked, stunned by the fury in his eyes. The raw determination and power residing there made her nearly gape.

"And, if you say otherwise, I'll go with him this time. I don't care." He shook his head, the anger raw and furious and pulsating. But she could see the panic there as well, something which pushed outwardly in hideous aches. "I don't…I don't care what I have to do, okay? I'm not letting him slip away a second time. Fuck, I shouldn't have let it happen a first time."

She stared at him for a moment, for a split second wishing she could summon up enough anger to snarl at him again. But then it ebbed, fading almost entirely, and she could not afford to do much more than sigh and shake her head. It came to her right then, looking at him as he nearly trembled with adrenaline and stood his ground despite the fear, that to say otherwise would cost her much more than she could bear.

In truth, she was not the most maternal parent. She knew that. She'd often been criticized for it by other women. And she had never cared in the least for all of those judgments. She'd known that Yugi was safe at the end of the day, and most often that had truthfully been just enough to quell her fears. She'd always cared, always loved him despite his mistakes and the various times he'd lost his temper or snarled and screamed.

She was not worried about Yugi's perception of her when it came down to it. Yugi had always known she had not really wanted a kid to begin with. But she'd taken responsibility for him immediately, had decided to go through with the pregnancy to delivery. And she had, oddly, fallen in love with him the moment he was born despite her disdain towards children altogether. But, she had not been a doting mother. And she had not desired another child afterwards.

As Yugi had grown up, she'd paid him rapt attention due to his night terrors and things of that nature. But she'd stepped back as he'd requested, more in line with the idea of allowing him to remain free to do as he'd wanted rather than smother him. Her own parents had had an equal mix between the two ideals of raising her, her own mother somewhat suffocating and her father allowing her to make her own terrible mistakes and recover from them. He'd been the one to tell her stories about things long beyond what she was capable of experiencing, her mother the one to ground her while allowing her to imagine such things as much as she'd desired.

She'd been unable to find it in herself to smother him, however. She could not find it in herself to stay constantly overhead of him, heavy-handed in watching his grades and monitoring his medicine intake. She'd tried her hardest not to nag him about his medicine, to give him room to listen to her parents' stories and gather what he would from them, to let him ask for help with issues rather than thrust herself into the midst of them. She'd tried her hardest to let him grow at his own pace, while giving him something of a direction in life that she'd been sorely without growing up.

And now she stared at him, a boy who she'd raised with gossamer touches rather than an all-consuming force. And she wondered if she'd done the right thing. Kasumi looked at him and she couldn't tell for a moment if she was still looking at the same boy she'd given birth to. And yet she wondered if perhaps she'd given him just enough room to grow into this person before her, this boy who could hold his own despite how often he hid away from the difficulties. And now she considered him as what she'd never truly known him to be beforehand, someone who could and would hold his own for what he wanted and believed in versus what she had always assumed he would consider.

Yugi had grown into someone she didn't recognize.

Because, while she'd tried, she hadn't been there all the time to watch him.

And perhaps much of the growth she saw now, she owed more than ever to this strange red-eyed boy who'd vanished without a trace.

That handful of months Yugi was describing, he'd grown more under his influence than she'd ever thought she'd seen in him formerly.

And, as she looked at him, she knew one truth that she'd never considered before.

Yugi would not take no for an answer now.

When he'd asked her formerly what she would do, it had been to test the waters.

Because he cared, but he would not let her truly influence his decision in any manner.

If he was forced to choice, it wouldn't be her.

Kasumi knew this, because, at one point she'd been very much the same in her stance.

Yugi stared at her a moment longer, then got to his feet and headed for the door. He hesitated, then grabbed the knob, turned the lock, opened the door, and looked at the ground as he mumbled, "You can think on that. But I'm going to tell you this is the only time I'm going to say it. If he comes back and he's not welcome here, then you're never going to see me again when I follow him."

---

The harsh scent of copper burned in his nose. He writhed, pain surging through his side. There was something terrible and great oozing there, a wound that festered and bled. He shivered, then attempted to roll over. But the pain was excruciating. He opened his jaws, gasping for air. The pain ricocheted brilliantly from one muscle to the next. His insides writhed and burned. He gasped and his sides heaved heavily. He writhed again, then choked. For a moment there was only this ache in his side. And then he could feel it spreading. There was something almost poisonous there within his blood.

He tried for his feet. His paws scrabbled. The wound flared. He struggled and his paws slipped. There was something bloody under his feet. It took him a moment to realize the existence of the sharp pain. He panted and choked once more. Then he scrambled for his paws once more. His claws were chipped, broken in half. The blood there was crusted and his toes almost swollen.

His paws were oozing, the pain sharp and terrible. He thought of glass, of broken shards in his skin. He panted again. Then he drew his head up. There was that harsh coppery smell more than ever now. His eyes were drooping, half-closed. The air before him was stuffy and cold. And the harsh scent made his stomach twist.

There was a shuffling noise.

And there was a metallic sound.

He flicked an ear.

His lips curled.

The snarl that left him was strained and exhausted.

He quivered.

His paws nearly slipped.

He gasped and choked again.

Then he shook his head.

His eyes couldn't open further, but they burned where they were exposed to the air.

And then the metallic noise seemed to sound once more. It was loud and screeching. He opened and closed his jaws. He snapped his teeth. He snarled. He quivered again. He paced a step back. He pricked his ears forward. The screeching grew louder. That shuffling became immense.

It sounded almost like footsteps.

And then it became a blinding flash of movement and noise. The pain was vicious and sharp. The scream that left him was aching and booming. The sound bounced off the walls. The wolf lost his footing. He snapped his teeth, struggling for his teeth. Pain came through his throat. It came from his ear. It came from his hips. It came from his sides.

Blood soaked his teeth. He bit and ravaged.

He was bitten and ravaged.

The screaming grew louder, then tapered off.

The pain was immense.

The answering noises were almost squeals of delight and anger.

Blood dripped to the floor.

Blood filled his throat.

His teeth ached.

His tongue was soaked.

He gasped and bit again.

Something sharp and bristling stuck to the roof of his mouth.

His paws collapsed from beneath him.

A sharp hit to the side threw him.

He scrambled, snarling and spitting.

The pain came along his exposed flank.

He kicked.

He flailed.

He screamed again.

"I'm amazed he's still alive this time."

He snapped and snarled.

Jaws closed on something bristling.

There was a hot gust of air and a squeal.

He didn't release.

He was tossed back and forth, shaken violently.

Teeth dug into his side.

He snarled, keeping his grip.

But his vision was growing black around the edges.

His eyes were threatening to roll up in the back of his head.

He couldn't breathe.

The pain was too acute.

And then he writhed. His entire body thrashed and kicked. His mouth spread open wide. He let out a noise crossed between a whimper and a scream. And then he fell as if he'd been dropped. The impact winded him and his eyes snapped open. His first instinct was to kick and lash out. But there was no shuffling. The squeals were fading from his ears. His eyes were opened completely. He could see beyond the space immediately before him. He drew in a long, deep, gulping breath.

Then he trembled and scrambled to get up again.

"Fuck."

Yugi shook his head and gasped for air. He managed to settle back on his haunches, choking as he reached for his lamp. The adrenaline was still crashing through him. The pain pulsed through his body. His blood ached. His marrow bled. He closed his eyes tightly.

What the fuck was that?

He shivered, then glanced at his aching side. Beneath his pajamas, a shallow scratch had formed, beaded with bright red. Along his palms were scrapes like carpet burns. There were little cuts on his throat when he looked in the mirror a few minutes later. His nails had become chipped and flattened in certain parts. And there was a residual sting each time he moved his fingers.

Yugi eyed the marks on his skin for a moment. Then he looked away again, turning the light off once more. It was still so late. He could feel it in his bones. It was only about three in the morning, perhaps a little later. The small teen looked out the window for a moment. A run wouldn't be a bad idea. If he changed, he could lose some of his worries. He could…

He could outrun them.

The blue-violet-eyed teen dressed himself, then grabbed his backpack and dumped its contents on the floor. Quickly he moved over the window sill, got out on the snow caking the roof, shut the window almost completely, and then stepped forward and jumped off the edge. He wondered if his neighbors noticed him now, but it was not enough to make him stop. Yugi hurried for the woods, barely keeping his hold on the bag in his hand.

When he was into the trees and could no longer see either house, he forced the Change once more. The action caused his stomach to empty itself of bright yellow and orange bile. And his belly ached and sloshed painfully as he shook himself out. He opened and closed his jaws, breathing in deeply, and then turned and trotted forward deeper into the trees. The light was almost blinding where it touched the snow and the shadows were deep black like open chasms or a fractured gaping abyss.

Yugi hurried forward, about to look for perhaps something to chase when a noise made him spin around. He snapped his jaws, bristling, and then faltered in shock. Marik? he muttered, eyes wide and bewildered. He blinked and looked around, wondering if perhaps there were others with him. But the gray and tan wolf seemed to be alone as usual. He flicked an ear, turning back when the other remained silent for the moment. What are you doing here?

The other wolf wagged his tail, nearly touching his chin to the snow with how far he lowered his head. I was going to go hunting but then I heard you in the woods and so I came to ask if you wanted to come with, he explained.

The white wolf blinked, startled. Then he glanced over his shoulder and around again. Why would Marik hunt on his own like that? Hadn't he told each of them that they were not allowed to do so without at least one other wolf to join them? They were supposed to have a buddy system, to ensure that no one wound up worse off than Miyiko or Pattie had…

You're alone?

Not anymore.

Yugi blinked, annoyed at the response. Then he glanced about them again with a flick of his ear. What were you looking to hunt? he asked quietly instead of spitting at him in frustration as had been his first instinct.

Anything I can find. I'm hungry.

The white wolf thought to tell him otherwise. It was not his first impulse to hunt. He had wanted simply to run rather than kill. The thought made his fur shudder for a split second. Then he shook it off, flicking an ear again. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to take the time to do so…

All right, let's go.

It did not take long for Yugi to scent a rabbit in which Marik gave chase gleefully across the snow. The white wolf trotted instead of sprinting, not caring in the least if it should be caught or not. Lazily he paced about, ears flicking, eyes moving about the shadows of the forest. Marik was all but gone from his sight before Yugi even bothered to look for him again. There was a small, sharp cry of a rabbit being killed. He didn't slow himself, nor did he speed up.

Marik looked up as he approached, mouth bloodied and eyes full of satisfaction. Do you want any? he asked curiously, watching him with those same proud eyes. Yugi shook his head as he got closer, then took a seat and flicked his ears. Are you sure? Rabbit is so good.

The white wolf remembered the sweet taste in his mouth and almost salivated before shaking his head again. He thought briefly of how much Yami had loved them, how often he had eaten them over others. He thought of the way the black wolf had pinned them that night, just caught them and released them and then allowed them to run free again. He thought of it and his stomach coiled as he turned to Marik.

I do not want any. He watched him more closely. What did you have against Yami?

The gray and tan wolf paused from taking a large bite of his prey, then turned to him with darkened eyes. The very mention of the black wolf's name had made him all but snarl, Yugi noted. Aside from his status as a traitor? he spat. He bristled slightly, then turned away and began to dig into his meal. He was weak.

Yugi considered him for a moment. Why do you say that?

He has no idea how to lead an army. Nor does he have any consideration for others as a pack. He used us and then he ran when our alpha realized he was not who he pretended to be. Marik lay down, ravenously tucking further into his meal. He did not so much as glance at Yugi as he spoke. The white wolf thought momentarily of the way he had formerly spoken to him, threatening his life should he say something derogatory about Yami once more. And I do not believe he could have played the role of the beta very well for any length of time. Obelisk is a much better fit. He knows what war means. And he has the best interests of the pack at heart, does he not? Not only that, but he also cares enough to pay us more attention than the traitor ever did.

Yugi flicked an ear. And what are your grounds for calling him a traitor? he questioned quietly. Just because he pretended to be me?

That and his behavior towards you and us as well. He treats us all as inferior.

He's never treated me in such a way.

He looks at you as if you are unworthy of his presence.

He's never told me any such thing.

He does not have to speak the words. It is very clear when you look at his face.

He flicked an ear. Then Yami must have had two faces, because his mom and Anzu had both claimed he looked at him in a way that spoke more words than even his voice could. And Yugi was not in the least inclined to believe otherwise.

Well, then I am sorry he gives you that impression. Yugi watched him for a moment, eyes cold in the moonlight, and Marik paused to look at him with something almost nervous within his eyes. But you're wrong. And I think it's pitiful of you to pass judgment on him when you know nothing of him to begin with. I did not bite a wolf too arrogant to know his place within a hierarchy.

Marik blinked wide eyes, then flattened his ears against his skull angrily, growling, I know nothing about him? I saw him amongst the pack and he was a lazy, condescending creature that greedily accepted our pack and its offerings and did nothing to aid any of us. And yet I know nothing of him? Perhaps you are under the illusion of his friendship and loyalty, but I saw him and I knew him before now. Perhaps he changed in order to make you think he was worthy of remaining alive and within your graces, but—

Yugi snapped his jaws, nearly catching his throat. Enough, Marik. Leave it alone. He is my beta. And when he returns, I shall have Obelisk step back once more and he will take his place as my second-in-command as he was always meant to.

The gray wolf shook his head, voice bitter and angry. If he should come back, then I'm sure he'll be as useless now as he was then, he snapped, eating the last bite of his rabbit and ignoring Yugi's aggressive expression.

The white wolf blinked. It is not a matter of if, but when.

Marik snorted and looked up at him now, locking eyes with him in his state of anger. And where do you suppose he is right now, Yugi? Do you think he's helping to further you and get more help for the war? Or do you think he is simply in hiding among others? He could be with the hellhounds for all we know, telling them secrets and revealing your identity. And then what shall we do?

The lighter wolf blinked again, then snorted loudly. Yami would never betray me, Marik. And I will not allow you to continue to insinuate such things, he growled, facing him with hardened eyes. Speak of such things to another wolf within my pack and I will rip your throat out, do you understand me?

The other wolf stared at him, eyes furious and burning. For a long minute and a half, their gazes locked and his stomach growling, Marik glared at him before lowering his eyes and facing the snow. He was breathing harder than he had been before, his sides quivering with his anger, and then finally he nodded, snapping, I understand.