Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day

Chapter Warnings: Wound Cleaning, Mentions of Physical Abuse, Mentions of Alcohol, Mentions of Homosexuality, Dead Animal, Attempted Murder, Near Drowning, Hints of Hypothermia

Guys, just going to throw this out there. If there is EVER a time when you have to sterilize something in preparation of using it to remove something from your flesh, PLEASE clean it more than what Yugi does in this chapter.

Hot water from the tap does NOT help sterilize things like that.

Also, what happens at the end of the chapter gets explained later. You'll see what I mean when it gets to around chapter 60 or so I think? It might be later than that so don't quote me.

Chapter LI: Rearrangements

Work Log Entry XLVII: March, 2005

March 11

He rarely speaks but he does sometimes put in an effort. He only says things that he knows will not get him in trouble. He is far smarter than anyone gives him credit for.

March 22

He will not speak in front of the boss. I am unsure of whether to consider this an intelligent decision or the stupidest one he could ever hope to make.

March 28

The boss is losing patience with the wolf's games.

Yugi blinked at the sound of the door being knocked on. He startled, leaning against the dresser he'd been rearranging. He was tired physically but his mind would not stop racing and so he could not fall asleep. It was so late that he'd felt sick doing this very thing at such an hour, but his heart was in his throat and he'd feared changing from the pure stress of the situation. And so he'd begun rearranging his room. But now he paused, shivering.

The noise was soft when it repeated itself. Yugi blinked, hissing under his breath, then shifted the dresser back towards its original spot. He wondered if this unexpected guest was a wolf and it made his mouth water with disbelief and confusion. If they had known where he was, where he lived, why had they never come to all but whisk him away? Yami had warned him that they might potentially reach out to attack and kill his family to manipulate him into the belief that the pack was all he needed.

Yugi glanced towards his window, then shrugged such a thought off. If they were truly a wolf, he would kill them where they stood if they considered for even a moment that he might allow them near his family.

He trotted down the stairs with such speed that he nearly snarled as he reached the last step. The tiles were cold where his socked feet touched them and he wondered at the realization he had not thought to grab his shoes. He should have done so long before he'd come all this way. But he shook this shock off and approached the door.

The window was only slightly obscured by a shadow, but the floor was warped with the shape of it. He considered that for a moment, eyes narrowing, and then shook his head as he approached. He recognized it somewhere vaguely in the back of his mind. His stomach knotted and his eyes widened for a moment as clarity struck him.

He unlocked and opened the door, bewildered. "Jonouchi, what…?" Yugi immediately fell silent when he saw the way his friend was slouched, the cut on his forehead bright red and still bleeding. He considered it for only a moment, then stepped aside to allow him room to come in.

Yugi felt sick as he locked the door behind the blond. "My mom and grandpa are asleep, so you can just sleep in my bed with me instead of having to grab the mat," he muttered, furrowing his brows in consideration. It was abruptly clear to him how foolish changing the layout of his room was now. Had he not done so, he would have had enough room for Jonouchi to sleep on the mat instead. The small teen sighed and shook his head. "I've got a couple of first aid kits in my room, so I'll just…disinfect and then we can talk or just go to sleep if you want."

The small teen hesitated for a moment, then shrugged it off. He bolted the door, chain sliding into place a second later. Then he led the way up the staircase as Jonouchi closed the bottom door behind them and followed quickly. They were almost as quiet as ghosts as the blond kicked his shoes off and put them beside Yugi's.

"Here, come on," he commented softly, holding open the door to his room for Jonouchi to follow. The blond didn't raise his head, acting as ashamed as he had the first time he had done this very thing. Yugi licked his lips and moved to the bed, crouching down to dig for the kit beneath.

"You changed up your room…"

Yugi felt his knuckles straining as he clutched the kit tightly in his hands. He held it close to his chest, a somewhat defensive gesture he always displayed when he was unnerved or bordering a precipice towards depression. This time he drummed his fingers, because thoughts of Yami had pushed forward towards his subconscious and he was terribly aware of just how much Jonouchi looked like him at that moment, helpless and bleeding and hesitant.

"Yeah. I figured I needed a change." He searched bright brown eyes and offered him a weak smile. "I got pretty tired of my old layout."

"Um…" Jonouchi opened his mouth, then shut it again. Something unspoken passed between them, a warning clear in the smaller teen's brilliant eyes when they met his own. He would not ask about Yami and his obvious disappearance and Yugi would not ask for the specifics of what seemed an unusually harsh physical attack from his father. "Well, it looks a lot smaller like this than it did before."

"Yeah, I realized that after I did it." He blinked and then looked the kit over. When he gestured vaguely with a jerk of his head, the blond quickly obeyed and took a seat there to allow him the ability to scrutinize the wound more thoroughly for the sake of clarity of its depth. The small teen watched him for a moment, eyes flickering about his, then snapped the kit open to look through the contents. "I don't know if you'll need stitches or not."

Jonouchi shrugged haphazardly. "It wouldn't be the first time," he dismissed, as Yugi knew he would. "But I don't think it's that bad."

Yugi didn't bother to respond to that. Instead he grabbed a couple thinner piece of gauze and some disinfectant. It was mindless as he peeled it out of the small kit and looked it over, a small sense of needless dread coloring his insides. He pulled lightly on the edges of the gauze, instinctively wondering at the possibility of infection before he forced such thought away again. He had to remind himself yet again that it was not Yami whose wounds he was cleaning.

"What made you, uh…do your room like this?" Jonouchi asked, struggling to find some common ground. Yugi blinked, then raised his head and considered him for a moment. He glanced around the room, more than slightly flustered as he considered. He'd haphazardly all but thrown his furniture around. The nightstand was the only thing still in place beside the bed. But the desk was only inches from the window, in front of it like some kind of metal trap before the sill. The small television had been deposited closer to the bed. The dresser had been moved back towards the entrance of the closet where it had originally been. The chest of drawers was near the wall adjacent the door. They were terrible placements, but Yugi had simply wanted to move rather than truly rearrange things. But Jonouchi was not wrong; the room looked incredibly small and claustrophobic now, as if to mirror the raw pain beneath his skin.

"I was restless," he said dismissively. But there was an edge to his voice now that made Jonouchi stiffen mildly. The small teen shrugged it off and came over to his side. "Anyways, hold still, okay?"

Jonouchi nodded as Yugi pressed closer still, then reached out to turn his chin. The blond watched him with wide eyes, startled by the way the small teen seemed mildly distracted in front of him. For a moment he looked ready to reach out and touch him, then paused.

"Shit, hold on a minute," he mumbled, moving past him altogether and heading for the bathroom. Jonouchi heard the water turn on as he washed his hands and glanced about the room again.

Yugi had said he had gotten restless? This looked more like he'd lost his temper and decided to simply lash out in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone. He glanced around again, wondering at the way the room seemed so incredibly small and empty now. He half-expected, however, to look another direction and find Yami standing there.

The way Yugi had spoken about him had made it rather obvious that Yami had been living within his home with him. The thought was only mildly startling.

Yugi had a heart of gold. If there was any reason to help someone in a manner like that, he would do it without a second thought. He had housed Jonouchi for a few days, after all. He'd argued with his mom and grandpa and persuaded his grandpa to his side before his mom grew too exasperated to fight any longer. He could easily see Yugi doing the same with Yami…

And if he had kept him in the house before, did that mean Yami was possibly still there? Did that mean he was hiding somewhere?

"Yami?" he mumbled under his breath, not sure whether he expected an answer or for the wolf to simply appear or what. But he jumped several feet when Yugi came to his side again.

"I wasn't lying when I said he left," the small teen commented in a voice that was meant to be casual but sounded incredibly dead and lacking. But the phrasing itself made Jonouchi pause, head turning with wide eyes. Yugi was watching him with an exhausted expression, as if the life had been drained from his being at the mention of his name. "I haven't seen him since he…ran off."

The blond blinked and searched his face, watching his expression and taking note for the first time of the darker bags along the bottom of his eyes and the disheveled state of his hair. Yugi looked as if he had not slept properly in days, something he'd noticed at school before but had not pointed out nor focused on entirely.

"I'm, uh, sorry," the blond muttered, unsure of what else to say. He felt stupid even trying to offer condolences like this, but Yugi mere blinked at him. In an instant the smaller teen shook his head and offered him a smile that was pained around the edges.

"It had to happen some day," he said somewhat dismissively. The tone startled the taller teen who blinked in surprise at the casual statement. "Besides, I'm sure he'll be back at some point."

"Did you guys fight or…?"

Yugi was quiet for a moment, as statuesque as Jonouchi had ever seen him. Then his eyes flickered and glinted and he shook his head slowly, mumbling, "You can say that, in a way." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Yami will come back eventually."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

The smaller teen glanced at him around picking at the gauze again. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked instead, though there was a slight bite to his words now. "He, um, contacted me recently to say he'll be coming back soon."

Jonouchi blinked. Yugi looked as if he were struggling just to think straight for a moment there. He shook his head. "Oh, that's good, right?"

"If the circumstances were better, it'd be a lot more reassuring, I guess," he dismissed again. Yugi shook his head and looked at one of the spray bottles, searching the label before nodding and turning back to him. "Keep your head up like this. I'm going to spray the wound with some water and then clean it."

"Okay, sure."

What else was there really to say?

Jonouchi tried to hold still but the cold water startled him and when he flinched, Yugi caught his chin with his hand and held it there. The tired expression had cleared considerably, replaced with concern as he looked the blond over. "It just surprised me," he muttered, feeling small and stupider than ever. But his friend merely blinked, smiling mildly in relief, and sprayed a second time.

"I would have you run your head under the faucet but I don't think it'd fit in my bathroom sink," he commented playfully. Jonouchi rolled his eyes and laughed sardonically as Yugi snickered and wiped at the cut. He flinched, hissing, and almost reached out to push him away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to press too hard."

"You didn't. It's just super sensitive."

Yugi paused in wiping at the wound to look it over for a moment. His movements stilled entirely, however, and he searched Jonouchi's face for a few seconds before shaking his head slowly. The wound was so sensitive because it was incredibly inflamed and smelled of alcohol.

"I didn't notice the glass," the small teen answered in a quiet voice. He shook his head slightly, frowning noticeably, and then considered for a moment using his nails. He wished the lighting wasn't so dim where his lamp cast mild illumination, and he'd blown out the yellow bulb to replace it with a weaker white one. He'd need to invest in better ones… "I need to go get some tweezers."

Jonouchi cringed. "It's that bad?"

Yugi blinked, watching him for a moment before stopping and shaking his head. "I don't think it'd be smart to do it out here," he mumbled. "We'll do this in the bathroom."

The blond followed him faithfully but his stomach was knotted uncomfortably. The smaller teen led him into the smaller room, flipped the light switch, dropped the lid of the toilet, and gestured for him to take a seat there. Jonouchi swallowed hard, glancing at himself in the mirror, and felt mildly sick at the sight to greet him there. He'd have to ask Anzu for makeup to cover the bruises…

Yugi dug through some drawers to pull out another first aid kit, then a pair of tweezers that he set on the counter. "The lighting out there was really bad," he commented quietly.

"I thought you guys could like…see in the dark and all that?"

His friend grinned wryly. "We can, but I'm not willing to use my eyes to substitute for bad lighting and possibly end up making it worse." He paused, searching Jonouchi's face for a few moments. "I didn't even notice the glass before I touched it."

"Well, that's because it looks like it's pretty deep in there."

Yugi nodded and twisted the hot water on, grabbing the tweezers from beside the kit. "It is, but I still should have noticed it beforehand." He shrugged mildly as the water began to heat. "Besides, I guess I wasn't…paying as much attention as I should have."

Jonouchi watched his face for a moment. He looked upset, but not to the point of stopping what he'd planned to do in the first place. And Yugi was not one to be incredibly intimidated, though at times he would become too flustered to continue.

"It's okay."

Yugi blinked, turning to him as the water began to steam. The bite of heat against his fingertips was mildly soothing even as it made his nerves dance with pain. He turned the knob again, then looked back at his tweezers. "Usually I'd clean these better, but I don't want the glass to stay there longer than necessary…"

Jonouchi nodded. He went to reach up for his hair, to run his fingers through the long strands, but stopped himself at the last moment. The blond looked towards Yugi again, clenching his fingers upon his thighs and swallowing hard. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

He turned his head and considered him for a moment. Then he grabbed another piece of gauze and came over to him. "Hold still, okay?" Yugi wasn't worried about the idea of having to hold Jonouchi's face in place. The blond was a lot tougher than most were really willing to admit. But the smaller teen had grown used to such little recoil or refusal from Yami that it was somehow unnerving to face Jonouchi now and attempt to help clean such a wound.

"Sure thing."

Yugi shook the tweezers out to dry them somewhat and looked the wound over. When he reached up with the gauze pad, he pulled his thumb and forefinger apart to allow him room to see more of the glass. It was clear and glittering and the small teen picked at the shards closest to the gauze. The blood was instant as he pulled the first piece away, dropping it away into the waste-bin beside Jonouchi. The smaller teen pressed the gauze lightly into the wound.

The glass was smaller than he'd initially feared, none of it longer than his fingernails. He relaxed as he realized this. The first time Jonouchi had come to his house late at night like this, hurt due to his dad's abusive drinking, he'd had a piece in his arm the length of his own finger. Yugi had been forced to suture it, clean it twice weekly, and redo it for months. The scar was still visible on the inside of his arm, nearest his elbow.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." He hesitated. "But this is definitely going to need stitches…"

"Yeah, I kind of figured."

Yugi nodded slightly and searched his face for a moment. Then he leaned forward and applied a bit more pressure to the gauze in his hand. "Are you all right? Dizzy or anything?" he inquired.

Jonouchi rolled his eyes and grinned wryly. "I lost more blood getting into fights in middle school."

The smaller teen nodded and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Good," he commented softly. He put the tweezers aside and lifted the gauze to look the wound over. It was not bleeding aside from a few pinpricks of red against the gouge of bright pink. "Stay still again."

Jonouchi hummed dismissively as the small teen picked through his kit for suture material. He thought he could hear him mumbling about the sizes but his voice was so low that the blond could not be entirely sure.

Then Yugi began humming quietly, threading and knotting some suture along the needle he'd need. The small teen pulled it taut, then looked the needle over more pointedly. Easily he turned back to the blond even as his other hand moved for another pad of gauze.

It was odd how easily Yugi went to work this time as the small teen was usually at least mildly self-conscious of such things. When he worked with sutures he usually got somewhat nervous, if only because he feared hurting his patient. And so the way Yugi simply hummed again and began to pull the skin together above his eyebrow made Jonouchi blink in surprise.

"Uncomfortable?"

"Should I be?"

"I don't think I've ever had to stitch so close to your eye before," the smaller boy explained, narrowing his eyes slightly with concentration. Then he punctured his skin lightly with the sutures. He pulled the needle taut, stitching along his skin. Jonouchi cringed and flinched only where his hands were involved. He clenched his hands on his thighs and hissed loudly as Yugi continued. "And you're sure you're okay?"

"Okay? Yeah, I'm fine." He resisted the urge to flinch bodily. "It kind of burns though."

Yugi nodded. "I know. I'm sorry." He snipped the suture and knotted the end once more. "But it's over now."

Jonouchi didn't bother to look at himself in the mirror and Yugi ignored this. He dabbed at the former gaping cut with the fresh sheet of gauze and applied the smallest amount of pressure to stifle what little bleeding remained.

"You should be all set for the night." He narrowed his eyes faintly and shook his head before sighing loudly and dropping the gauze and snipped suture away into the trash. Then he ran the tweezers under the hot water again, shaking them out again a moment later and dropping them aside on the counter. Easily he closed the kit and washed his hands once more. "Come on."

Jonouchi got to his feet after a moment, then followed him back to the bed. "Are you sure you don't want to grab the mat—?"

"You plan to molest me in your sleep?" Yugi asked wryly, turning to him with a brow raised. The blond gave him an annoyed, flustered look. "No? Good. Then come on. I'm not worried about it."

"How's your temple?"

Jonouchi blinked wide eyes and rolled over to face the other teen. But Yugi was on his phone, sitting up with his back to him. It reminded him almost of movies that had that morning after scene and it made his stomach roll mildly. But he was relieved to remember that Yugi hardly had feelings for him like that, despite the fact that Jonouchi suspected the he had fallen for Yami. The fact that he was gay did not make Jonouchi nervous, but the idea of being the object of someone's affection when they were kind of unnerved him. It boiled down to the fact that he did not know how to deal with the idea of telling someone else that he didn't like them in turn.

"Uh, I think it's fine. It doesn't hurt." Jonouchi reached up to touch it and hissed, but the pain was mild where it'd been rather excruciating the night before. Yugi turned around at the sound, studying him pointedly, and then relaxed when he saw that it was self-inflicted rather than anything else. "Thanks."

"That's what friends are for," he answered easily. He searched his face and studied his expression for a moment. Then he smiled faintly and turned away again. His phone was slipped into his jeans pocket and he stretched his arms over his head with a yawn. "Think you'll be okay at school?"

"You're not coming?"

Yugi looked at him curiously. "I had something I was planning to do," he admitted quietly, and something about the way his eyes darkened made Jonouchi wonder if it had to do with Yami. "But I can always come in late, I guess."

"If you want." Jonouchi shrugged slightly and Yugi stretched his arms out again lazily. His eyes flickered across the blond's face. "But dude, can I ask you something?"

The small teen blinked, clearly startled by the hesitant question. "Of course. What's up?"

The taller boy opened and closed his mouth twice, then fell immediately quiet once more. He narrowed his eyes faintly, struggling with the task of finding the words necessary to ask, and then shook his head. He reached up and scratched at the nape of his neck as anxiety clawed at his insides.

"It's about Yami."

Yugi was watching him more keenly now. His eyes had grown sharper and his expression was mildly darker than usual. "Go ahead," he urged, curious but somewhat alarmed as well. "What did you want to ask?"

"I just wanted to know something about the whole…" The blond struggled for a moment, then he looked up and his eyes were uncomfortable and confused and curious. "You used to be really into Anzu."

Yugi blinked at the mention of the brunette's name. Then he considered the words Jonouchi couldn't figure out how to say and then narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I'm attracted to him as a person, not because he's a guy," he finally answered, the words odd and sticky in his throat. He drew in a deep breath, then shook his head. "I'm not sure you can call me gay if that's what you were wondering. He's really the only guy that I like. Just like I liked Anzu for her personality instead of because she has big boobs or wider hips. I was caught on her for years, remember? Even when you told me to think about other girls instead. And it's pretty…similar to how I feel about Yami."

Jonouchi tilted his head curiously. "You know, it'd be a lot easier to understand if you just said you liked dick instead."

Yugi burst out laughing. "It would be, wouldn't it?" he snorted, grinning at him with that usual friendly warmth in his eyes. "But it's not that easy. It's a little bit more complicated than that."

"Let me just say I'm really glad I'm not you as far as that goes."

The small teen rolled his eyes. "You should also be glad you're not a werewolf," he answered dismissively. "It's not as much fun as they say it is in books and movies."

The blond snickered. "I'm really kind of glad about that too." He paused and started to get up, stretching as well. He could already tell his pants had cast red marks across his skin where he'd slept on them so heavily. "But seriously, Yugi, I just wanted to say if Yami makes you happy then…"

The small teen blinked. "I didn't truly think it would do much to bother you," he answered with a shrug. "I know it's kind of awkward that I suddenly have feelings for another guy, but I didn't see it being enough of an issue to really upset you."

"No, not at all." The blond paused. "And I'm sure Anzu will eventually move past it too. And Honda will recover from his shock at some point."

Yugi burst out laughing, grinning at him with bright eyes. "Yeah he was pretty nervous at first," he laughed in delight. "But he didn't make a big deal of it or anything. And I think he's been more concerned about if he needs to help support Anzu."

"Well they have always gotten along for the most part." Jonouchi shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if they wound up boning at some point."

Yugi was laughing but the thought shocked him and he wondered at the possibility for a moment. He'd never considered it before. But if that was what they wanted to do, he'd support them a hundred percent.

"I'd never thought of that."

"Yeah, it's kind of gross to think about, isn't it?"

"Oh please," Yugi snorted in amusement, "you're going to go home and jerk off to that thought."

Jonouchi have him a harsh glowering look. "Seriously, Yugi? You little shit."

The small teen grinned at him happily. "It's not my fault that I know your habits so well. You shouldn't have broadcasted them all the time, Jonouchi!"

"You and Honda, I swear."

"You know, normally when two people call you out on your shit, it might mean that you have a problem." He flashed him a cheeky grin, winking, and then turned to face him more completely. "Come by later tonight so I can look at that again. I want to make sure nothing happens to it in the meantime."

Yugi truly wished that the river's thick ice might break away beneath him now as he stood atop it. But, as it had before, it held firm beneath him now. And, just as then, he could not figure out how the ice had ever come to break beneath his and Yami's weight as it had. And Yugi was desperate for a moment, staring down at the snow-laden surface he balanced upon, for it to crack and sweep him away. It was a whimsical idea, but he was hopeful that at some point it might carry him to the same spot Yami had been swept to.

It was exhausting to him how much he could hear the water beneath this large layer of ice under his sneakers. Yet it did not have the slightest weakness beneath his weight and it almost winded him to think such a thing. Because it was that damn bullet that had truly broken the ice, wasn't it? That had been the thing to sweep them both beneath the water. And Yugi had not once truly considered that before.

He wondered if perhaps he should try again to follow the way of the river and see if he could find something—anything—that might truly lead him to understand where Yami might have wound up. The thought of traversing the banks once more was exhausting, however. It was miles upon miles of movement and he was tired to simply consider it altogether.

Yugi shook his head to dispel the thought, then looked turedly towards the trees. He had thought he'd heard a noise of some kind… They had sounded close by, whatever it was that had produced the sound…

He searched the trees directly near him. Some of the wolves had to be nearby, he knew, but he had not considered the idea that some of them might be so close. It seemed foolish, in retrospect, that he had not thought to consider such a thing before. And he knew that they could sense him whenever he was nearby. He knew that they recognized him above anyone else within the woods.

It was bewildering to him that this could be a reality of any kind. But he understood the primary principle. Just as he could potentially know them by their scents, they knew him by whatever sense it was they used to identify him. He had not truthfully tried to learn more about this technique. It made him more nervous than he cared to admit, after all.

And so he'd shunned it for the most part.

But now he wondered and reconsidered. Because perhaps it would be a good idea to know and understand…

But the longer he looked the less likely he seemed to find the source. And, though he was not sure why, something fearful came through him. He shivered, stomach knotting, and turned to make his way from the woods.

He doubted it would be a good idea to remain there, but he would not possibly lead them to his home either. So, without a second thought, he began to backtrack and turn another direction, heading towards where the festival had been held that year. It was a rather safe distance of which he did not have to further backtrack and hide his trail any longer.

He headed out more comfortably knowing this, relieved to have put distance between himself and the house if someone were to be following him. Briefly he thought of burned flesh and it made his skin crawl to consider the vague idea that perhaps Fuwa might still be alive. But he pushed this thought away, stepping around the small cavern he'd once hidden in with the idea that he might perhaps change days prior to the festival.

He shivered.

Yami had been there that day, within the woods and just as startled by him to see the other boy. The thought unnerved him mildly but he shook it off again quickly. Yami had been just as shocked as he was to see another person within the woods. But Yami had fled and Yugi had not seen him again until the night of the festival and then when he'd taken that seat on his doorstep.

He had not known then that he'd been the one there. But he'd come to realize it recently. The truth of it had mildly shocked him, but he had not bothered to speak to Yami about it before…

He was near the arcade before he spun around, realizing now that he recognized the sound of the steps behind him. For the briefest of moments he almost hoped he was wrong, that the person behind him was someone else entirely.

But his instincts had not deceived him. Behind him, appearing almost startled by his sudden reaction, was a familiar platinum blond with lavender purple eyes. Yugi blinked twice, then narrowed his eyes into slits as he considered the other male for a moment.

"And should I ask why you just followed me?"

"Well, you did offer a tour of the city," the other commented in a quiet tone, his eyes slightly wide as he looked Yugi over. He looked somewhat abashed and sheepish as he reached up to scratch at the back of his head. "And I just wanted to ask you if you would give me the tour today or…sometime this week."

"You just followed me through the woods to ask me for a tour of Domino?" he muttered before narrowing his eyes and sighing loudly. There was no harm in doing that. Jonouchi would be meeting up at his house only after he spent time with the others. Then he'd check the sutures and perhaps convince the blond to stay the night. After all, the gods only knew how it was that his dad might react…

"You looked as if you were in a hurry so I… I just didn't want to scare you or anything. I figured when we got here, I would ask." He paused. "But it's fine if you don't want to. I won't hold it against you. You can always give me the tour another time."

Yugi wondered if maybe being wolves so often made the pack so awkward at times. Maybe that was why Marik seemed so incredibly estranged. Yami had been awkward at times as well, so perhaps it was not a faulty conclusion to fall upon.

"No, no, it's fine, Marik," he answered with a shrug. "It doesn't matter. I was just surprised, that's all. But yeah, you're right. I did promise you a tour. And now really wouldn't be a bad time to do it."

"Are you sure? I really don't want you to feel obligated to—"

"I'm sure. It's fine. I don't have anything else to do right now anyways since I decided to skip school today." Yugi shrugged and turned away, glancing around a couple of times and narrowing his eyes. "Where did you want to go first? Anywhere in particular?"

"I'd be honored to go wherever you would like to."

Yugi paused visibly, startled by the statement, and then realization came to him. He turned his head, looking at Marik once more. It had not occurred to him that he might treat him as Atem even in the city rather than the woods…

"Yeah, uh, about that… Don't phrase anything like that in front of other people. I don't go around advertising myself here."

Marik nodded immediately. "Right. I'm sorry."

"No harm no foul." Yugi wondered where they saying came from, but he supposed it didn't truly matter to begin with. The fact remained that as long as Marik understood and didn't say anything to allude to who he really was, it was fine. But he needed to make sure that the other wolf truly wouldn't say anything too foolish to recover from.

"You haven't been anywhere in Domino? I mean, besides that day that you saw us at the school?" he prompted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. His phone was smooth against his fingers. "That's the furthest you've ever ventured?"

"We try not to come out of the mountains for fear of being seen."

"You still came though?"

"The few times I have come it was in relation to you." Marik paused, watching as the small teen continued looking around them. "It was necessary for my appearance here. If not for that I would never have even considered it."

"Right, your mom wouldn't have wanted that."

"My mom?" The way he repeated the phrase made it sound as if it were a sin to suggest even the slightest of a maternal figure in his life. He sounded almost disgusted. "I didn't know my mom."

"I meant the alpha, Annie." Yugi didn't bother to look at him now. Something about the way the blond had reacted was enough to put him on edge. "Sorry. I forgot that she isn't related to everyone in the pack."

"Not for lack of trying, I'm sure."

The small teen ignored the bitter response, starting to walk again. "I don't think I want to go inside anywhere right now. But I'll show you and give you highlights of the buildings. How about that?"

"Whatever you feel is acceptable."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Okay, so come on then."

Marik blinked and immediately followed. The path they walked was rather straightforward, Yugi never quite veering away from what was readily there to see. He would point at the buildings, explaining in mild detail what each was and what purpose they served. He spoke about the arcade with more fondness than he did the others but he got a bitter note in his tone when he explained the library. Then he continued on about the park, where Marik was surprised to find that the entire field of snow smelled more of hellhounds than anything else.

It was only as Yugi mentioned a café and Marik truly caught the scent of hellhound in more abundance that the small teen seemed to grow somewhat distant from him. For the first time he sounded distracted even as he explained what the café was, how they served most drinks and a few small desserts and snacks. Then he fell silent for a moment, voice drifting after the mention of a drink called hot chocolate.

Marik watched him with more interest now as Yugi tried to recover from whatever emotions he'd been formerly swamped beneath. The reaction was odd for the small teen. Or so he supposed it was. Because Yugi seemed oddly ashamed of the way he was unable to continue his words.

"You know what? I think I need to go home," Yugi said abruptly. His voice was tight, strained, and he looked visibly exhausted when he narrowed his eyes into slits. "I'm getting a headache and I don't want to be out here with that."

"Do you get bad headaches?"

"Crippling." But he was definitely more distracted than he was in physical pain. "Listen, Marik, I'll take you on the rest of the tour another time if that's what you want."

"Oh, yeah, that would be great, Atem."

He didn't respond to the name, instead nodding in dismissal. "I will see you another time." He ignored Marik's wide eyes as he glanced at him and then began to trot quickly along the sidewalk. When he got home he would take some medicine and curl up on his side.

He did not believe he would find another chance for sleep outside of medication at the moment. He did not believe for even a moment that he could rest peacefully without outside influence, either. He was exhausted but he would not let that go much further than it already had.

Marik could come up with his own reasons for why Yugi had left earlier than he might have otherwise. He could figure out what he wanted to tell himself he was so upset about on his own time. Yugi had no patience for explanation as it was.

But walking by that café Valon's adoptive parents owned and thinking about hot chocolate had made him want to be sick. And he'd been utterly exhausted the moment he had come to think for even a split second about the stupid drink at Domino Café. It was frustrating to realize that even the damn drink and its name was able to cripple him due to such memories.

But the pain had been immense and acute, surging in great and terrible waves. And it had nearly winded him as he'd stood there and waited for those few moments for his voice to cease explanation. And then he'd grown bitter, that vicious thought of if I hadn't done that which led nowhere for him.

Because he had the feeling that if they had not crossed that river that night it would have only been a matter of time. He was suspicious now that the gods had dictated the occurrence of the event. And should that be correct, it would have only been a matter of time before something else came to happen.

And what if their second resort had been much worse than even the initial one? Yugi had no idea what to say or do where that was concerned. The thought itself was sickening, enough to make him dizzy as he swallowed down a couple of the pills. Lying on his side with the comforter pulled over his shoulders minutes later made him feel somehow mildly safer.

He felt almost childish at the thought, reminding himself now that the fact was he could no longer hide under blankets and stop the worst things in his life by way of ignorance. He couldn't ignore this as he had thunderstorms by way of pillow forts when he was younger. There was no waiting for the noise to die away or the rain to pass.

His entire life had become the storm. And the only way to watch it pass was by way of surrendering it to another. And that would mean he'd have to find the second Pure-Blood meant to play as Atem should he fail…

Yugi clenched his eyes shut to suppress a wave of vomit in the back of his throat. And when he shivered he wondered if it was a convulsion rather than a simple tremor. But the seconds passed and the darkness seemed to grow deeper, until it had drawn him in entirely and swallowed every sense of outward awareness he possessed.

Yugi pulled himself out of such a state only when the waxing moon was at its zenith. The small teen was alerted to the smell of something harsh and coppery and the faintest touch of cold air against his skin. Tiredly he sat up to rub at his eyes, knowing instinctively that the window was wide open. The thought made him bristle but he shrugged it off as he shook his head and tried to focus.

His eyes fell instantly on the window this time when he blinked. The snow was hideously disturbed and the blood was soft in its smears. He could barely see it against the white surface and it made him bristle further as he got to his feet. Even as he yawned, the small lycanthrope got to his feet and narrowed his eyes as he shuffled forward. The sound outside was that of the usual cars passing by further down the street. It did not sound even slightly as if someone were close, however.

Yugi strained his hearing further, listening for as long as he could before curiosity clawed at his insides. He came to the window, hesitated only a moment, and then thrust his head out and looked about himself.

In the dark the snow was a bright shade of cobalt and gentle yellow where the streetlamp's light graced it. The small shadows beneath were pocketed with black and dark gray and the occasional speck of silver. But the blood was dark like oil stains where it had come across the slope of his roof. The small teen considered it and then the ground below. The snow was visibly disturbed there in the yard, but it was also a thousand times more noticeable for the red across its surface.

Someone had tried to climb in through the window. Or they had set this up to look incredibly like such a thing were the initial purpose of this sight before him. Yugi lowered his head, crouching and putting his hands on the window sill. He sniffed loudly, trying his hardest to catch any trace of the blood scent.

But his mind could not trace back the source of it by any means. He had never known that smell before. He had never encountered it even once. And now it made his stomach churn as he looked about the roof again. The snow was incredibly crushed up. And when he glanced over his shoulder he realized easily that no one had been brave enough to truly come inside.

Yugi blinked and narrowed eyes. Perhaps it was a prank? Perhaps it had been a hellhound looking to scare him. Or maybe it had been Valon, thinking to make him reconsider any idea of further contacting him. Or maybe it was one of the wolves. Had they gotten brave and then too scared to continue?

His stomach knotted.

It could have been Fuwa for all he knew.

The redhead had had no qualms with trying to kill him, after all. Being in front of Honda and Jonouchi and Anzu had done nothing to slow him either. He'd been prepared to simply lash out and kill him. He'd stabbed him through the hand with silver and tried to poison them with wolfsbane…

Yugi froze, his stomach coiling and rolling painfully. Jonouchi hadn't gotten to the house… The small teen hurried to grab his phone from his nightstand, surprised that he'd even had the forethought to plug it in before he'd fallen asleep. The screen flashed with a single text that Jonouchi was running a little late from the arcade but he'd be there in about thirty minutes.

That had been over eight hours ago.

Yugi shook his head and quickly hit the phone icon to dial the blond. But the ringing continued for a minute or two, then dropped away to the voicemail message of "You've reached Jonouchi Katsuya. Not who you're looking for? Call elsewhere."

He had always been good about answering his phone. Yugi shook his head and searched through his apps again. He'd registered his own and Jonouchi's phones for a GPS app for tracking. He'd done it in case Jonouchi ever got lost or anything of that nature happened. But it'd been more work getting Jonouchi to agree than it ever had Honda or Anzu, the four of them all registered to track each other should something happen.

He had a location for the three of them in seconds. Honda was at his house. Anzu was at hers. And Jonouchi was…

Jonouchi was in the middle of the woods.

Yugi stared at the GPS signal for a moment, the green pin and the picture of his friend's face. Then he looked at the top of the app's screen where the time was displayed.

It was current.

And that meant Jonouchi was at a standstill in the woods…

Yugi zoomed in, enlarging the picture frantically, and felt his stomach drop as realization came through him. His stomach churned as he recognized the spot, and he hurried to grab his shoes and escape through the window before he could think twice about it. He slid unceremoniously down the slope of the roof, through the blood on the snow, and landed with a thump in the ice crystals. He got up immediately again, dusting himself off, and hurried to move again.

He thought too late about the idea of seeing which direction the prints were pointed in the snow beneath him. But he realized only after that he was running almost exactly within the prints. But they were larger than his own sneakers and the patterns were wrong where he could only mildly decipher them.

These shoes were probably a size larger, maybe even two. But snow didn't make the best cast for prints as it was. The crushed up snow would come up with his steps and further twist and obscure them. The reality of it was well known to him, but he still wished for a moment that he could read those prints fully.

Yugi was all but shoveling through the snow where he reached the trees. The road had been easy to navigate due to the original salting done and the faint tracks left by cars that had moved through them beforehand. But the snow here was so dense that it came to his knees when he stepped too quickly forward. In an instant he'd collapsed forward, winded and shocked by the impact. The ice had rushed up so much more than he'd originally thought to consider. And he nearly fell from the force of it.

Then he looked at the way the branches above his head were so tightly locked together and his stomach ached as he again considered the snow further along the path. He did not know why he'd thought to drift so close to the trees to begin with, but he knew that he would have to make for the smaller clearings between the trunks. The sun would have touched more towards the paths between the trees rather than the shadows even the bare trunks cast. Even those faint spots of darkness had done well to allow the snow resistance to melting.

Yugi glanced up at the moon, the clouds that were gathering. Then he turned and hurried for the snow that he could tell instantly was hardened and crunchier due to freezing again. He hurried a little faster, struggling, but could not move much quicker than he'd originally assumed himself able to begin with.

He jumped a fallen log, then skid across the snow for a moment and barreled head over heels. The impact made his head spin as he landed hard. He was panting, winded, and his legs ached as he scrambled for his feet once more. The movement made him stumble a second time. Something was attached to his jeans, tugging on them.

Yugi blinked, lowering his eyes. And then he froze, stomach knotting. Caught in the fabric of his jeans was a sight he had not expected to find. Long, flat claws that hooked towards the end had caught themselves there. And from there was a large flat paw and legs that were too long and thick to be canine. His head was spinning as he looked at it, at first unable to recognize it.

But the body was mangled so hideously mangled he was amazed he could identify it at all. The face was torn, the head concaved on one side. Blood was in a huge pool across the snow, oily and black like sludge. The fur hung in tatters. The ears were laying feet away. The shoulders were split through. Clumps of meat and flesh and grizzle lay scattered about the snow. And the puddles of blood were immense and terrible where the shadows lightly touched them.

Son of a bitch, he thought, amazed and feeling sick. His head spun again, his throat burning with bile which tore through his system. His eyes were glued to the sight. But his mind was racing with panic.

The muzzle had been crushed and broken, the entire bottom of it dislocated and sloppily held in place. Yugi trembled, but another part of him whispered frantically that he was wasting time. The longer he gaped, the longer a window for something to happen to Jonouchi…

But there was something about the way the bear rested there. It was so utterly broken, but there was something…

Yugi looked towards the gaping, broken maw. Then he glanced at the paw that was hooked to his pants. And finally he snarled in dismay as he recognized it.

Several of those immense teeth had been pulled out. The top right canine had been shattered and broken in half. And in it was a filling of what looked to be metal, silver no doubt. But it was not even this which caused him to tremble.

The bear had a large plastic sheet lying beneath the bulk of its broken body. And Yugi recognized the characters and the coloring and the small pixelated pictures there. It was a menu.

It was a menu from Bonnokazi.

The small teen stared at it in the dark for a moment. And it occurred to him that games were the bulk of the posturing Fuwa had been to play and taunt him endlessly. The extent of it had been to use Anzu as a toy for territorial gain between them. And the further reaches had been that of teasing at him and prodding at the knowledge that had escaped him.

And so Yugi wondered now, if perhaps Fuwa had been there all along. Was it possible that he might have been following him relentlessly since the moment he'd come to hope he'd died in that fire? It was logical. The restaurant menus showing up… And the way this bear had been killed seemed, in the gaping hole which hollowed out the shoulders, almost akin the death of the tigress in the abandoned factory. And the thought made his skin crawl now.

Fuwa had to have been alive. He had to have known that Aileen was planning such a thing. And he must have been waiting, watching, listening and planning. But he did wonder why it was that he would not have tried to help Aileen…

Then again, he had been burned terribly. He had to have been. After he'd had his crotch caught on fire and had screamed and writhed like that…

He shook it off. The memory was too bold and vibrant behind closed eyes. Yugi stumbled to his feet after a moment or two. He needed to find Jonouchi. The GPS signal had said he was close to here. But he'd recognized it more fully because of the bright blue pool that had marked the lake. And he remembered more than ever having to lead those dogs there when Espa and Panik had tried to catch Yami that night. He remembered the way the ice had broken, how those dogs had drowned.

By the gods, he'd never considered that he'd find Jonouchi anywhere near it. And he felt winded to realize such a thing now. The blond should never have been anywhere near…

But by way of deduction towards the blood he'd seen about his yard, he had the feeling that either Fuwa had abducted Jonouchi there and Yugi had not recognized his blood as he had Yami's, or he'd killed the bear there. But then…for Fuwa to have done that… No, Yugi had the abrupt and clear idea that it was a wolf that had helped him to do such a thing. The wolf had killed the bear and Fuwa had taken them elsewhere to plant for him to stumble upon.

Yugi glanced at the dead animal, then hurried forward again. The snow remained hard and crunchy under his feet, slippery at times. He didn't bother to try to scent the air, but each lung did carry with it a much warmer, fresher scent. And he knew the metallic edges which so viciously pressed upon his insides.

He came over the small incline, sliding across the slope of the hardened snow, and nearly tumbled. Then he caught himself, instinctively crouching and splaying his legs just enough to right his sense of balance. He slid into a fluffier layer of snow beneath, shivering at the contact before his body temperature rose and leveled out more comfortably.

"Jonouchi?" he whispered, looking around. If he spoke louder, Fuwa or his pet might be around to ambush him. And that was not a thought he planned to deal with for even a moment. The small teen climbed to his feet again. The loose snow was powdery and soft when he came forward, but the ground beneath him seemed to quake. Yugi teetered, crouching, and realization came over him now.

The window had not been open long.

The bear had been placed recently.

The ice had just been struck to its breaking point.

Yugi looked around himself for a moment, remaining crouched. He reached down to touch the surface of the ice, the hardened and smooth surface grainy towards the bank. And he realized now, looking about the shadows, that they were not nearby. For whatever reason they'd left, assuming to know that he would come here. But what had they put in the lake?

The small teen looked frantically toward where the ice bobbed slightly. Then he turned his head and listened. But he could not hear anything but the water moving slightly, the ice sometimes moving together to chip against itself in its large sheets. Yugi shivered and inched closer only a step or so. The water ate hungrily at the sheet where it dipped so heavily beneath his addition of weight and so Yugi stepped back once more.

"Jonouchi?" he called quietly again. He glanced over his shoulder and back. He straightened his weight only when he was close enough to the bank that the ice did not seem to fall apart beneath him. And then he strained his vision. The ice was shattered towards the center. And the water came up in loud bubbling noises, hisses of which pronounced the weight of the ice around it.

Yugi shivered, then tilted his head. There were small twin smears of blood across the ice. He had not noticed them formerly only because of the direction he himself had come. Now he narrowed his eyes and followed the trail of it, shaking his head slowly as he considered.

The break of the ice in the lake, towards the center of the snow-laden terrain, was covered in smaller trails of blood. And Yugi felt immense fear coming through him.

Those smaller trails were fingers…

The person they'd dumped in the water had tried to claw their way up from the ice and pull themselves out.

And that person…

Yugi was moving before he even truly realized such action was being taken. Immediately he dropped his shirt aside, kicking his sneakers and jeans off seconds later. Then, with only a mild second to consider a more analytical plan, Yugi launched himself forward. The ice was cold and swallowed him when it ducked. The water swelled immediately to cover him and he paddled furiously forward to propel himself through the water.

The small teen felt his organs tightening and rearranging themselves before he'd even considered it. And then he could only mildly hear the sound of bones snapping and fracturing and rearranging themselves beneath the roar of the water around him. He thrust his way upward, head snapping through the sheet of ice that had formed in litters of dusted crystals, and drew in a large breath. His nose worked frantically for a moment, his eyes narrowing with a sense of panic.

Then he heard a new voice in his ears, concerned and puzzled. Yugi? it called, soft and delicate as the wolf dove back beneath the water. He was not sure how he held his breath there. It amazed him that it did not leave him entirely. And he was further amazed that his eyes were working down here as they would have in immense shadows.

Yugi? the voice called again, but the wolf ignored it, searching the blackness frantically. There was a sound like ice chipping and slapping water. The touch made his ears ring but the white canine forced himself to dismiss this as well. He could only see shadows of color that didn't quite have names within his struggling mind.

And then he caught sight of something moving. His head snapped towards it. There were several different movements now. The first, he recognized more so, was that of a shirt folding and rising under the water. The second, he realized a moment later was a bubble of breath. And the third he knew only after struggling to maneuver himself to swim that way was a hand.

Jonouchi was sinking, all of the air lost from his lungs. And he would sink to the bottom, decompose, and float to the top. But the top so covered in ice and thick enough to keep him beneath its surface was enough to hide his body altogether.

Yugi opened his jaws wide, snapping them shut on icy water that threatened to force itself entirely down his throat. He struggled, the breath leaving his lungs entirely as he scrambled for balance again. He shook, thrashing, for only a moment, then forced himself to focus once more.

Yugi? Yugi, what are you doing?

Yugi thought the voice almost sounded like Slifer. The thought made his head spin and the edges of his vision seemed to explode with pressure. He forced himself to ignore it once more, snapping his jaws open further. He pushed forward, then shut them hard enough to expel a bubble forward with the impact of his teeth.

The white wolf caught him around the shirt where it was billowing up. Then he hurried to paddle towards the surface. But the water seemed to cut through him. And his body ached with the force. The lack of air made his entire frame tremble. Yugi forced himself not to think such a thing.

He breached the surface a minute or so later. Then he shook pathetically as he tried to gulp in air. The white wolf tugged his head up desperately, scrambling for the ice. Where he tried to grasp the surface, the sheet swayed beneath him. The weight pressing upon his teeth threatened to rip the enamel from his very gums.

Yugi! The voice came with far more clarity now. And so the white wolf found his head turning now, confused and stunned. The two forms on the banks hurried forward, one of gold and silver and the other of black. A few more shadows breached his vision for a moment and then a smaller wolf sprang forward, dark gray with glowing blue eyes. Steps behind him was a black she-wolf with a tawny and chocolate undercoat, picking her way recklessly towards the ice.

Mai, Echo, he called desperately. Otogi, Yusei—help me!

The four of them came as quickly as they could. But Yugi could feel the weight dragging him down. And he could sense the weariness upon his limbs. And now he did not think Jonouchi could survive the harsh temperatures, not when he himself had only found him after he'd already begun to give up.

Grab him, Yugi spat outward to Mai as the she-wolf managed to come close. She was on one of the largest pieces of ice that was still together. And she was inches from him now. The she-wolf looked at him with darkened eyes, confused before she noticed the clothing he'd been struggling to keep in his mouth.

Otogi came from his side, dipping his head under the water. He snapped his jaws and caught hold just as Mai was able to drift closer. The she-wolf was more deliberately balanced to retain her weight there so that she would not fall forward into the water. The two of them worked in unison, as if they were hunting fish rather than dragging a body out. Yugi only released when Mai had pulled Jonouchi's shirt hard enough to allow his head to tip upwards out of the water.

Echo stood a few inches from Yugi's side, eyes wide and locked on the blond's half-dead form. The white wolf panted, tired and exhausted as he glanced at his friend. He'd need to change bsck…

Yusei was shaking, blue eyes wide as he considered the human form and then Yugi who was scrambling now for a grip on the ice in front of him. Echo blinked, looking towards him with an expression that Yugi could not quite read, and then grasped his scruff. Yusei followed her lead, the two of them hauling him from the water.

The white wolf didn't bother to shake himself out. He was shaking and exhausted as he stumbled to his feet more completely. He trembled and gasped for air before stumbling a few steps forward and flattening his ears to his skull.

Is he alive? Yusei managed to project. Yugi nearly snarled, but did not bother to turn on someone who seemed so much younger than him. The gray wolf glanced at his former alpha, then at Yugi and back. What do we do?

Echo shook her head, a warning clear in her eyes. They did not know the story and so she would not assume to speak for Yugi as it was. Yet, as she did this, the white wolf managed to drag himself forward. Their new alpha opened his jaws wide, as far as they could possibly go, and then bit straight into the human's throat. In the meantime his paws pressed heavily on the frame's chest with enough force to nearly cause the body to fold altogether.

Mai, change back. I need someone to breathe into his mouth, Yugi instructed frantically. He was pressing on his chest again but the touch hardly seemed to do more. And so he nearly snarled with despair.