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.

59. Ranks

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day

Chapter Warnings: Near Panic Attack, Improper Use of Medication, Mention of Night Terrors, Mentions of Bloodshed

So, the information that Yugi thinks about regarding alpha and omega wolves is a very true thing. Wolf biologists have noticed that more often than not the alpha wolf is determined by their strength of character rather than their physical capabilities. Whereas before they were considered only alphas when they were strong enough to beat the rest of the pack into submission. Wolves follow the one they feel has the strongest personality that might lead them to survival rather than the one that might be the physically strongest.

SO SORRY for the late posting. I got distracted by real life and then I got swept up in the madness that is my excitement for Kingdom Hearts III coming out next year~! And then I got caught up in KHUx on my phone and eventually Duel Links after that. Can I just say I'm a sucker for video games right now? I'm SO excited for this game finally coming out, I can't even properly put it into words.

ANYWAYS! BACK TO THE POINT! I didn't get nearly as much editing done as I thought I would (and chapter sixty definitely needs it) but I'm STILL going to try to get back on schedule with updates. If not, the next update I do will have the update schedule changed to once a week because I don't think I'm going to have much time to get things up otherwise now that the holiday season is here.

Thank you all for being so patient with me, by the way! It truly means a lot. Enjoy the chapter~!

Ploy: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I always get kind of nervous when I post updates to any of my stories lmfao Poor Grandpa and Yugi's mom. The two of them are just kind of stuck in this tailspin as bystanders for the most part. As for where Yami went...you'll see~

Chapter LIX: Ranks

Work Log Entry LII: August, 2005

August 1

Atem has begun to act strangely. He has begun staring blankly when his cage is approached. But he will also move away from the door when we are to push his meal through his feeding flap. He has not made any aggressive movements nor has he so much as acknowledged us for the most part.

He has not spoken in over a month now. He will often stare at us when we have to bring him out for testing. And he's even begun to move aside to keep from scaring anyone.

I cannot tell if this is some form of trauma or if he is perhaps simply showing something of his true nature. None of us have any idea how he might have turned out if he was not here. So none of us can accurately gauge this new development.

But he does not seem as if he might attack.

Yugi was dizzy as he sought answers through the darkness. It was causing his head to spin, his focus caught upon it. It made him want to vomit as he stared.

He wanted to blink.

He wanted to cough and gasp.

He tightened his fist on the shirt material. Then he closed his eyes tightly and felt sick as he shook his head slowly. He could feel his hands shaking harder than before. He was sitting up, heart in his throat and stomach full of painful twists. He felt as if the air were too tight in his lungs, the openings to his organs too narrow.

Oh gods.

Oh gods…

How could he have fallen for such a thing—?

And then, abruptly, his head snapped up. In horror, eyes wide and stretched to thrice their size, Yugi watched a small pale light bathe the room. He wondered abruptly in some corner of his mind if this was how death came. He felt dizzy and sick and small. He swallowed hard and choked and sputtered. Then he bunched his limbs up and felt his stomach knot further. He could feel bile crawling in a painful ache towards his mouth. It made his head spin faster. He licked his lips, the sensation making him feel worse.

And then the light faded as there was a gentle click.

Someone was in his room?

Someone had been in his bathroom?

Yugi tried to process this. His hands tightened along his clothes. He swallowed hard and pulled upon his shirt. He licked his lips rapidly. His mouth felt hot, sticky, as if he were about to puke again. He swallowed harder than before. He tried to clench his jaw. Then he frowned and tugged lightly on his pajama shirt once more.

There was a long moment of silence. He could see them against the light of his bathroom door. It made him feel sick and estranged, odd as he looked forward and towards them in the dark. There was a faint glow in the room, one of dark maroon so deep it seemed almost to bleed into the shadows of the room surrounding them.

Yugi blinked again. Then he swallowed hard and his fingers tugged again. His arms were shaking. His shirt was scraping against his throat. He blinked again, rapid in his need to clear vision which seemed to be rapidly leaving him.

"Yugi?"

He blinked. The name was estranged to him, bizarre in every manner. But then he blinked again. Realization was a sharp shard in his side. His head snapped up again. His eyes grew wider than before. His heart skipped and raced within his chest. His mouth was dry, bloodied with his anxious biting. Pain struck both sides of his mouth where his teeth brushed his cheeks.

"Are you all right?" He was so quiet Yugi almost could not hear him. And his voice was cracked and raspy, broken in such a way that his words were uneven and nearly swallowed within the frigid air. But he recognized it, as he had before upon hearing his words formerly. He remembered those words which Yami had spoken in a similarly damaged tone. He remembered the way he had spoken then, voice failing him and dying away into nothingness as the seconds passed.

Yugi opened and closed his mouth. He blinked with disbelief. And then, to Yami's surprise, the small teen abruptly reached his hand out. His fingers were tightly knotted for a moment, then spread out. His arm was shaking, his other hand clenched upon his shirt still. He stared at him with those same wide, alarmed eyes.

And Yami hesitated briefly, thoughts flickering behind his eyes as he considered. He had the impulse to shake his head and move to the other side of the bed altogether. Then he frowned, swallowing hard, and felt sick to his stomach for a moment.

Finally, relenting, unable to think straight for longer than those few seconds, Yami moved forward. He hesitated within reach of the other teen. And Yugi stared back at him with eyes that were vibrating with fear within their sockets. He blinked at him, frowning at the state of distress the small teen had fallen into. He wondered at the reasoning behind it, curious as to how he might have come across such a state. His frown deepened as he tilted his head, and considered him for what felt a long moment.

They stared at one another for what felt a lifetime. Then Yami shifted his weight and reached his own hand out. He touched his palm with his fingertips, tickling himself and Yugi in the process. Then he searched his face as the seconds passed. The distress that grew in the taller teen was impossible to ignore. It smothered him, his heartbeats tearing through his rather lacking thoughts.

Then Yugi moved forward, ignoring his protesting grunt, and drew him into his arms. It was a startling sensation to feel his arms around him, the embrace light and soft and gentle. It was all the things Yami had initially ignored after so many nights alone. The very embodiment of everything he'd formerly lost now encompassed him and he felt sick with this realization.

He did not move away, however. For, Yugi might have been capable of offering such simple comfort but he himself knew better than to ever assume such a thing. He knew well that he was not able to do the same for the small teen. It was nothing that he knew how to receive, let alone to offer. The fact came from years of things he'd suppressed. But he'd always known. He'd always understood this. And so he had never thought to offer such a thing in any manner.

Because he knew.

He understood.

And he had never been willing to harm another in the manner of faking such a thing.

Even when he had hugged Ryou that night in the woods, it had not been to offer him comfort. It had not been to offer him a sense of relief. He had hugged him for the fact that he wished he could take those things from him. He had wanted Ryou to provide those things for him at the time. He'd been desperate and scared. And he'd wanted nothing more than for someone to offer him comfort in some way.

So he'd tried to take it…

But some part of him truly wished he could comfort Yugi in some manner.

Despite his hideous exhaustion and the way his heart ached and his stomach hurt, Yami wished for nothing more. He wished with everything he had that he could do such a thing. He had been hopeful and despaired. But he knew better. And he was not foolish enough to think better of such a thing. He felt sick and dizzy and tired. And the act of trying so hard to embrace the emotion offered him and attempting the mimicry of such feeling was nothing he had ever mastered.

So he simply breathed through tight lungs. He did not want to move within or out of his grip. It was hard to think for even a moment what damage he could cause to the smaller teen. Yugi was more impressionable than he truly liked to admit, as he wished he could believe in the idea of Yugi being too strong emotionally to be manipulated in any way. But he'd seen the way he sometimes seemed to break beneath the pressure. And he had seen the emotional distress he'd fallen into upon his disappearance from the bed. He'd woken only a minute after he'd taken to using the bathroom.

And Yami had not truthfully expected for even a second that the small teen might show such a sense of distress upon doing so.

"Sorry," Yugi mumbled, but he did not release him and he seemed almost to grasp at his shirt in response. Yami was abruptly aware of the way that his bones must have felt like ragged peaks beneath the fabric, the skin pulled too tight to offer any cushion. He had lost what little remained of his muscles in the Change. His body had not been properly prepared and what little fat he'd stored had gone in an instant due to this. It would take him a few more days to get any sense of weight back on his body again, even with the drugs that Yugi could supply to help him do so.

"I just…" Yugi was still talking, but he was speaking so softly that Yami almost could not hear him at the moment. "I was really freaked out. I thought maybe I'd hallucinated it all or something. I…I guess I really shouldn't have reacted like… But I couldn't hear your…"

The alpha remained silent for what felt like an eternity. Then, quietly, voice exhausted and nearly swallowed away by the darkness, he whispered, "I had to pee." He frowned and shook his head when Yugi did not release him nor pull away in any manner. The seconds passed, until finally the smaller teen settled back a few inches and looked him over. His wide eyes flickered across his, then studied his face and the rest of his body before he sighed in contentment and settled back further. He did not release him, however, as his hands hovered upon his shoulder and upper arm.

"I just couldn't hear you moving around," he admitted in a weak tone, looking away from him entirely and towards the carpet for a brief moment. He licked his lips and kept his hands on him, as if the physical presence assured him of everything he truly needed. "I thought maybe you were gone. I never know anymore… My hallucinations have gotten worse and…"

Yami watched him shrug lazily. Then he frowned and tilted his head as Yugi looked over again. His cheeks were faintly dusted with pink, as he could see in the dark from the differentiating shadows there amongst his pale skin. They stared at each other for a long handful of minutes, until finally Yami shifted his weight and reached a hand down to grasp upon the comforter with long fingers. He frowned faintly, tilting his head further, and then considered him more pointedly for a brief moment.

"You seem very distressed."

The four words were enough to make Yugi falter, stiffening for a handful of seconds before he blinked and lowered his gaze again. Dread seemed to make up his expression now, head tilted slightly downward and mouth pulled into a tight line. He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of "It was hard when you left" but something stopped him, a small voice which argued this thought entirely. It said he needed to remember instead that there were things more important than his wallowing. And he had no space to say such a thing when it had been outside of Yami's control in the first place.

"I was just worried," he said instead, offering him a small and slightly overwhelmed smile that was too thin to be anything more than flustered. He licked his lips, searched Yami's face, and then tilted his head and smiled a little more with a mild flicker of amazement upon his features. Yugi felt so incredibly relieved and yet uncomfortable all at once. It seemed so odd that the tall teen could be seated in front of him like this, a bewildering reality that he could be there in the first place.

It had seemed so impossible not too long ago. And now he was there before him comfortably, seated and within his grip in the most literal of ways as he touched his shoulder and arm. He shivered and watched his face for a long minute.

Yami nodded after a deep breath. Then he turned his head away, nodding again. There was a sense of displacement in his features, more exhaustion than anything else. He seemed incredibly undone with this emotion, as if he were too weighed beneath it to bother with the effort of maintaining an illusion of feeling otherwise. And Yugi felt overwhelmed to see this upon his face, as Yami had seemed so alive despite his distance formerly. Now he seemed merely distant, beyond the touch of passion or life or anything to be pressed upon in any way.

"Okay."

The simplicity of his answer made Yugi falter in surprise. His eyes widened and he tilted his head up slightly more, stomach churning with discomfort at the thought. He fought back a frown, swallowed hard, and tilted his head as he and Yami stared at one another. And then Yami shifted his weight, tipping his body slightly closer, and Yugi instinctively squeezed lightly where he was holding him. His skin felt bruised from the gentle force, his bones harsh and noticeable beneath the pulled flesh.

They watched each other for another handful of moments.

Then Yami turned away and lowered his eyes to the carpet as if facing Yugi any longer might burn him somehow. There was another long handful of seconds, Yugi lightly touching and squeezing upon his skin once more. Then he licked his lips and tilted his head, watching his face before murmuring, "You got up for another reason as well."

The taller wolf did not respond but for a simple nod. Then, slowly, he lifted his hand and gestured vaguely towards the bedroom door. Yugi turned as well, at first expecting to find someone there. He bristled immediately at the thought, a snarl threatening to creep through his throat. Then he paused, hesitant, and glanced at Yami sideways with a frown and tilt of his head once more. He sighed softly, blinked, and then shook his head slowly. At first he did not understand in the least what it was that Yami might have desired from outside of the room. But then reality struck at his senses and his mouth dried out briefly before he swallowed hard.

"You're hungry," he realized quietly, frowning as he considered. He strained his hearing for a moment, realizing that his grandpa was still within the kitchen, and turned back to Yami with a momentary frown. Some part of him was desperate not to leave him, to keep him within his sights at all times, but another was steadfast in the need to help him. If Yami was hungry, then he could provide him with some food. It was as simple as that, Yugi knew. "Okay, stay here. I'll go and grab some leftovers from the other night."

Yami blinked at him, nodding in that same somewhat dismayed manner. He seemed more demure than anything, although Yugi had the brief thought that perhaps Yami was uncomfortable now that he had admitted to such a necessity. The small teen frowned, then moved to stand up. He wondered if his neck was red from pulling on his shirt as he had. Then he wondered if it was smarter to put his choker back on, as he'd removed it when he'd seen Yami looking at it with a somewhat suspicious expression, as if he still did not know or understand why he wore it.

Yugi wondered if he had ever explained why.

He realized abruptly that he could not remember ever doing so. And he wondered if Yami had ever thought about it for more than a handful of seconds. He frowned and licked his lips. He would have to explain it to him at some point, he knew. He would have to tell him all about it at some point.

"Give me a minute. I'll grab some of the salmon." He hesitated, then looked at him with a small smile that made Yami blink. "I'll be right back, okay?"

And yet something about the way he said these words made Yami feel almost as if the opposite might happen. But he also realized it was more paranoia than Yugi's tone which made this so stark in his mind. It was bewildering to him, how easily and abruptly he found himself capable of disbelieving his words.

Yami frowned faintly, tilting his head and watching him for a long moment. Then he nodded and lowered his eyes again, not wanting to argue with him or allow Yugi to see the weakness which seemed to weigh him down so powerfully.

"Do you want anything else? I mean, we've got a few fillets as far as the salmon is concerned, and then I can make us pancakes in the morning again." He breathed in, then exhaled rather shakily with an expression that was disbelieving and fearful more than anything else. Yami blinked up at him, confused and startled by the very idea. Then he lowered his eyes again with a small shake of his head. "No? No to something else or no to the pancakes?"

He held up a single finger. The memory it brought back was enough to wind Yugi. The small teen felt as if the air had been knocked painfully from his lungs and his throat was tight and much like a noose in the way it began to ache and burn beneath a pressure that Yugi could not name. He licked his lips and frowned, shaking his head to scatter away the thought, and got to his feet. He only realized then that he had not removed his hands at all and so he hesitated for a brief handful of moments. Then he looked him over thrice and finally nodded as he slowly pulled away.

"Okay, I'll get you some salmon and then you can eat as much as you want." He hesitated. "Do you want any medication when I get back? Or no?"

Yami blinked and raised his eyes to look up from beneath his lashes. He grimaced faintly, tilting his head, and then nodded again. He looked tired and more than a little ashamed, as if something inside of him threatened to fray at the very idea of asking Yugi to do something for him once more. The thought made the small teen hesitate, his mouth dry but for the taste of blood where his cheeks still ached. Then he frowned and looked Yami over once more.

"I'll get you some of them again. You can pick out which ones you want to take, okay?"

The nod was as demure as the last had been. But he did not bother to tilt his head or look over again. And the small teen felt winded once more as he rose to his feet and wandered towards the door. When he got there he hesitated, turning back immediately to see the other boy. Yami was staring at him, watching his departure with a slightly confused, almost bewildered expression. It struck Yugi that perhaps Yami had not truly thought for even a moment that he might do as he'd initially asked.

They considered each other.

Yugi had the impulse to simply go back to his side, to reach out and touch his arm and shoulder and perhaps take a seat and not get up again. It would be so easy to rest and relax rather than worry about it all over again. Yugi pushed such a thought away again, however, instinct telling him rather that he needed to help his packmate, that his alpha was relying on him for food as he once had before. And so he turned away again and headed for the kitchen.

The moment he shut the door behind him and made his way into the kitchen, he spotted the elderly Motou in front of the fridge. He had opened it, the pale light bathing his features in gold and his plum eyes sleepy rather than entirely too tired to see straight. Yugi blinked and then stepped closer to the other Motou, frowning faintly as he licked his lips and watched him for a long moment. His bare feet felt sticky against the tile for a long moment and he swore his footsteps sounded as if he were pulling something from the floor beneath his weight. He blinked and looked over his shoulder, listening briefly for the sound of his alpha within his room.

But the small teen could catch nothing.

He's still there, he fought to remind himself before he said or did anything foolish. He did not want to give the impression that he was there. He did not want his grandpa to realize and ask about how or why or what had happened to bring him back. So he swallowed hard and looked towards his grandpa curiously for a moment.

"What are you doing up right now?"

Yugi blinked and turned back, repeating to himself that Yami was in his room and would remain there until he got back to give him some food. He would stay there, waiting and listening and patient with hunger. "I'm starving," he said simply, fighting the impulse to shrug stupidly as if it might offer some relief to his frustration. "I'm seriously starving."

Sugoroku blinked at him, mind still groggy with dreams that tried to cling to his mind. "Your mom put the leftovers on the bottom shelf," he commented dismissively, still too tired to truly look for the lie that lingered in his tone. He looked Yugi over for a moment and gestured vaguely. "There's enough for a couple of midnight meals and then some."

The small teen nearly grunted with discontent at the statement. He felt sick to his stomach for a brief moment, remembering that his mom had become upset with him and her lack of work that day had resulted in her cooking more than necessary. She'd made almost enough for the three of them to live off the leftovers for handful of days, should it not perish prematurely. He frowned at the thought, looking over the large amount of containers that she had stored them all in. He licked his lips and let out a small sigh.

"Yeah, I know," he mumbled.

Yugi swore that this was one of the many times he wished that the floor might open beneath him and swallow him entirely. He frowned, ignoring the way his grandpa watched him from the corner of his eye, and stared at the containers for a moment longer. Then he reached in, grabbing a couple of them, checked both to make sure that they had only salmon in them, and quickly turned to retreat into his room.

"Don't you want a fork for those?"

He stopped short immediately, swallowing, and then looked over his shoulder curiously. His grandpa had moved to open the drawer for him, eyes curious and amused. He handed him the fork with ease and Yugi plucked it from his palm without a second glance. He did not so much as blink at him before turning away and heading for his room again. Immediately he took to reclaiming a seat near the other wolf in which Yami blinked at him from beneath his long lashes and raised his head curiously. Yugi hesitated, feeling almost overwhelmed by the mere thought of Yami's eyes on him again.

He swallowed hard, blinking, and then put the two containers down in between them, unnerved and feeling incredibly small. He felt, for the smallest of moments, miniscule before the other wolf, as if he were once again a plankton before a mighty kraken. "Okay, so, I just grabbed the first two containers I could find," he admitted after a moment, feeling flushed as Yami peered back at him in the darkness for a brief handful of seconds. "They've both got two fillets in them, so…"

Yami blinked at him, lowered his eyes, and then reached for one of the containers. But he did not open it, nor did he bother to reach for a fork. Instead he drew it into his lap, the cold plastic doing well to calm some of the heat in his blood. He blinked a few times, ran his fingers over the lid, and fidgeted as if he might pull it open before securing it again. He frowned, studying Yugi for a moment, and then repeated the gesture.

It took Yugi a long minute to remember the night he'd brought him salmon before, how he had made him eat first before he'd bothered to take a bite for himself. The thought of the taller boy repeating such behavior once more made him feel to his stomach.

"You can eat. I'm not hungry."

The look Yami shot him spoke of annoyance more than anything else, although something akin frustration made his eyes sharper than before. He seemed visibly undone by the comment, as if he had been hopeful Yugi would not draw attention to it in any way. They stared at one another for a long minute or so and then the small teen looked away to fidget with the remaining container. A handful of seconds passed and then the small teen awkwardly thumbed the plastic off, poked the fork into the fish, shoveled a bite into his mouth, and handed both to the other.

"There, I'm full."

Yami blinked at him. His eyes fell on the fork he'd tried to push into his hand. Then he looked at the open container for a brief moment. The fish was so pretty, a gorgeous fleshy pink color. Yami wished for a moment that he could have caught it in the wild, without having to rely so foolishly on the other male like he did. He felt his mouth watering at the thought, the concept of fresh salmon something that made his stomach gurgle with desire. Then he took the fork, licked his lips, and began to spear away small chunks of fish.

Yugi was relieved when the other teen began to eat, all but swallowing away the entirety of the first container in a few bites. He let out a small breath, ignoring the way Yami blinked and raised his eyes towards him from where he'd initially been staring at his meal, and moved to sit back on his arms to support himself. He watched him, closing his eyes after a few long moments.

When the sound of Yami's meal faded away, Yugi felt almost sick, anxiety clawing at his stomach for a brief second. Should he feed him more? Should he try to get more food for him? Was there anything else that the other boy would want? Would hunting a random piece of prey do him better? Would that be healthier for him? Would that allow him to heal faster?

Yugi felt dizzy for a moment, the thought making him want to reach up and pull at his choker. But he remembered himself at the last second, that he was not wearing it and that Yami would most likely be upset should he witness the reaction. He swallowed hard, clenching his fingers upon the comforter and narrowing his eyes.

"Yugi?" he said softly, voice broken into shards and tone almost lost entirely.

The small teen blinked, spine popping with the force he put behind lowering his chin slightly towards his collarbone, and looked back at him with wide eyes. He searched his face, panicked for a moment, and then relaxed when he saw nothing more than clear concern on the other's countenance. Yugi let out a small sigh, clenched his fingers once more, and offered him a fleeting smile.

"Sorry."

Yami stared at him for a long handful of moments. Then he tilted his head and considered him. They studied each other. And, finally, the taller teen relented and looked away. He tapped his long nails against the container in his lap. The fork rattled against the plastic for a moment. Then he shook his head slightly and frowned at him with a sideways glance.

"For?"

It would have been condescending in any other voice, but Yami sounded merely confused and tired. He seemed more exasperated with his own exhaustion than he did even the slightest hint towards Yugi himself. Yugi blinked and watched him with his head tilted and his eyes slightly widened. The other boy did nothing more than stare back at him from the corner of his eye, from beneath those long black lashes.

"I just… I thought maybe you were…" He hesitated for a long moment. Then he blinked and swallowed hard. "Never mind. I'm just really tired."

Yami stared at him with an expression that was full of disbelief. But he did not speak again, instead turning away with narrowed eyes and a slight grimace on his face. Yugi frowned and bit his lip, leaning forward again to look at him curiously. He licked his lips after a long second, drawing his hands forward and into his lap as he considered Yami for what felt like a lifetime. The action made the taller boy turn his attention to him once more. And so they both stared at each other again.

"Are you okay?"

Yami was quiet for a moment. Then he shook his head slowly. His eyes flickered away and fell to the carpet.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head again, that same slow pace.

"Okay."

The red eyes flickered and caught on his. They stared at each other another handful of minutes, then the other boy turned away and stretched his legs. Yugi watched the way his jeans wrinkled beneath the stretch of the material when he bunched them again. The taller boy narrowed his eyes and moved to cross his legs after a heartbeat.

"Are you still hungry? I can go and grab more food—"

"No." Yami shook his head, eyes narrowing further into slits. His expression was guarded and disturbed as he nearly grimaced with disgust. No, he did not want more food. He did not want to make Yugi feel that he was obligated to find him more food. He did not want him to consider the idea that Yugi might feel such a need to provide him with more like this. He had not considered this beforehand. And he found himself annoyed and hateful that he had overlooked such a thing as that. He should have known. He should have understood that the small teen would come to such a sense of obligation just as he had formerly. "I am fine."

Yugi shook his head, frowning. "Are you sure? I mean, I promise it's not too much to…" He trailed off, then swallowed hard and grimaced. "I forgot your medication. I need to go get some for you."

The taller teen blinked, nodding slightly when Yugi got to his feet. But the medicine was hardly anywhere near his focus and the forefront of his mind was swallowed away by a great many other things far beyond such a thing as drugging himself for the sake of gaining weight once more. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head briefly, ignoring the way that the small teen had wandered off to grab some of the medication.

It didn't matter, truthfully, whether he brought him back medicine or not. Yami was not even sure that it might work on him in the first place. He had no idea whether it would do him good or harm at the moment.

It could have been more harmful than good for him at the moment, as it was. He did not truly know, nor could he say otherwise how it might come to affect him. In all reality he did not know for sure. He was too incredibly unstable at the moment to try to come up with answers. The medicine could stop his heart for all he knew, should he be too exhausted when he took it at an inopportune time. And he had no idea how it was that he might judge the difference now.

Yugi returned with a bottle of cold water and the pills. He put them on the comforter beside him and the small teen seemed nervous when he took a seat again. Yami blinked, then looked the medicine over in the dark, not quite reading the label with the dull yellow of the streetlamp feet away. He did not bother to try to interpret it in the slightest, but rather considered the way the light danced upon its shiny orange surface.

"Do you still have night terrors?"

The words startled them both. For a moment Yami did not recognize who had said them. He blinked, raised his head as if he might answer, and then faltered. Yugi was staring at him, startled and undone, and abruptly the taller teen was incredibly aware of just how powerful such a simple question was. The way Yugi stared at him was as if he had struck him.

The two of them watched one another for a few heartbeats.

Then the smaller teen lowered his eyes, looking at the container as well before grimacing.

His mouth worked for a brief moment, as if he were trying to find the words and the way to move his lips in order to speak them. Then he blinked, swallowed hard, licked his lips, and turned to Yami with a more determined glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, a lot more recently than I usually do," he said in a voice that was soft and vulnerable but somehow powerful all the same. The opposing forces in his tone made Yami tilt his head but the way he looked back at him said that he felt no weakness in telling him such a thing. He seemed more determined, in fact, to have him understand something that he was not willing to consider otherwise.

"I'm sorry."

"You apologize for really stupid things sometimes." Yugi shifted closer to him, almost as if he was attempting to brush against him, but he simply reached forward to place the medicine in his hand where he'd unconsciously opened his palm. The two of them were silent for a moment before Yami rattled the pills as if it might push away the many fears and conflicting thoughts that crossed between both of their minds in unison. Then the taller boy blinked again, clutched the medicine tightly, and tried his hardest not to look back when Yugi stared at him intently. "You shouldn't apologize for things that have nothing to do with you."

But didn't they? Yami had bitten him. He had brought him into this situation. He had made him say he was Atem. He had made him think that things were beyond what they truly were. He had exposed him to the many shapes of nightmares which he should never have known the truth of.

These thoughts alone were enough to wind the taller teen. He swallowed hard, grasped at the bottle even tighter than before, and listened to the soft creak of the plastic as it threatened briefly to cave in. But there was something touching him, warm and soft, and it coaxed the bottle from his grasp in a gentle manner that made him hesitate to look.

Yugi had taken the bottle from him. He was watching him with softened eyes, but there was a sense of knowledge there as well which made him look older than ever, perhaps even ancient. Yami blinked, then closed his eyes tightly and tilted his head to the side.

"Are you warm enough, by the way?" The change of topic made Yami blink and look to him in confusion. Yugi had popped the cap off the bottle and was shaking two of them into his palm. "I mean, I can always turn up the temperature if it ever gets too cold. You just have to tell me."

"I am comfortable."

"Yeah?"

Yami nodded. Yugi held the pills out for him and the other teen blinked as he looked back at him for a long moment. Then he lowered his eyes again, took the pills from him and grabbed at the water bottle without a second glance. He reached up to twist the cap off, turned away, placed the elongated tablets on his tongue, and took a long swallow. He was looking at a point beyond his shoulder, maybe even past his head and somewhere upon the wall.

"Good." The small teen sighed softly and leaned back on his arms again as he watched him. He seemed to be admiring him more than watching him simply for the need of confirmation. His eyes were intent and yet soft all the same, his lips curled into a slight smile of affectionate warmth. Yami wondered briefly if he himself had ever known to create such an expression upon his face before. He wondered if he had ever shown another that same unique softness. And yet he could not, for even the smallest of moments, imagine that look to his own eyes or such a quirk to his lips in any fashion. There was just no way he himself had ever been capable of showing such a thing. "Just tell me if that changes."

He nodded again. It was more in an effort to make him shut up now than it was anything else. He was too tired to want to do more than simply watch him for a moment and then lower his eyes. He frowned and looked back to his bottle, twisting the cap on and narrowing his gaze briefly.

"Do you ever wonder if the two of us are going to make it?"

There were a lot more implications to this question than Yami cared to cast attention towards. He hesitated, raised his eyes towards Yugi for a moment, and then looked away again.

"Frequently." He cleared his throat as a dull throbbing filled it and then curled his fingers tightly. His nails punctured the thin plastic of the bottle in his hand. Water splashed immediately onto his skin but he ignored it as he narrowed his eyes and fought away a grimace of annoyance. "I do worry about such a thing."

Yugi smiled a little more, tilting his head and watching him curiously. "Who do you think is more likely to survive?" he asked quietly, but it was full of something pained and raw and the two of them watched each other for a moment. "I mean…do you ever think about that?"

Yami looked away. He did not have the strength to answer him at the moment. It hurt to even consider the many things that were coming through his mind. He did not have the power to fully explain and consider and try his hardest to further expose the thoughts to him. The lycanthrope blinked and lowered his eyes after a heartbeat, shaking his head.

"I don't know."

"Sorry. I know this is a really depressing…" He faltered. "Or I guess…it's more grim than depressing. I mean, life and death are going to happen either way, right? So I mean, it makes sense that it would be more grim than—"

Yami shook his head. "I do not want to focus on this," he said in a stressed tone, trying his hardest to incorporate the tension that was mounting inside of his belly. "I do not want to think of such depressing things or consider something that upsets me so much."

Yugi was startled by the long string of words, surprised by the way he managed to breathe them out. But Yami seemed far too exhausted to continue any further. Yugi felt by far more than slightly undone by the weight of hearing his voice again. And the fact that it died then and there would not have surprised him in the least had that been what had happened.

But then he frowned.

Because Yami was tired and his voice was raw.

But it was not dead.

And the taller teen seemed incredibly tense and unnerved now.

The realization made Yugi slightly nervous in turn.

"Can I talk to you about something else?" he ventured, licking his lips and frowning faintly. Yami blinked at him curiously, then nodded briefly as they looked at one another. The red-eyed teen peered at him for what felt like hours. Then Yugi tilted his head and considered him more pointedly, watching him and studying and wondering. "When you were…g-gone…"

Yami ignored the stutter, because if he didn't he might have tried to reach out to reassure him. He might have tried to talk again, but his voice was too tired and his throat was too sore for him to wish for such a thing. So he kept his mouth shut and he held his hands in his lap, ignoring the way he felt like a small child that had come to disappoint his parents and was awaiting punishment for his misbehavior.

"I asked Slifer to take your spot as my beta. She did it for a little while, and then I ran into Obelisk." He opened and closed his mouth. Yami blinked at him, remembering the gray wolf as his amber eyes had flashed in the sunlight. He remembered the way his fur had seemed almost to glow for the smallest of seconds, ethereal as the deity he was meant to be. He recalled the way that the gray wolf had fought to save Yugi despite his spiral of madness, how the deity had hidden away his beta. "When I ran into him, I realized that he would be a better beta than she might. I mean, Slifer wasn't very happy with the position to begin with so it was great that he had come around and agreed to it. I, uh… I just… I mean, he's…"

Yami blinked at him, a blank expression crossing his features as they peered at one another.

"I'm just saying that I asked him to take your position in the pack. I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the way the pack was growing so…discontent, I guess would be the best word." He was rambling now, eyes on the comforter rather than the other boy. "I figured that if I could keep the pack together at any rate, it might help keep everything from falling apart as far as they went."

The red-eyed teen nodded. "It was a good choice." He paused. "You would have suffered otherwise."

Yugi wanted to say that his voice was a nice thing to hear regardless of the raw edge it possessed. He swallowed hard and shook his head, looking away again. "I was really worried that you'd hate me for doing that," he admitted in a shaky voice. He laughed awkwardly and reached up to rub at the back of his head uncomfortably. "And I'll make you beta again anytime you want to take the position back…"

Yami shook his head. "It will not be soon." He fell quiet again for a moment, frowning briefly before tilting his head. "You made a good choice in making Obelisk my replacement. Slifer as well. She was a good choice."

Yugi shivered, somewhat undone by the calm note in his voice, the simplistic understanding that he possessed. The small teen bit his lip and tilted his head as he peered at him almost curiously for a split second. Then he tried not to swallow too hard, somewhat dizzy as if he might feel sick by the very idea of what Yami had said. "I was really worried that you wouldn't be too approving of it," he muttered, but now he wondered if maybe he was simply trying to make him speak again rather than listening to his own words. He licked his lips. Yami looked back at him almost expressionlessly. "I was really kind of…I mean, I didn't…I didn't want you to think that I had replaced you or anything."

The words felt as if they held a lot more implications than Yugi wanted to admit to. His cheeks had grown heated, eyes widening drastically in the dark. Yami blinked and stared at him, that same seemingly blank expression covering his features. Then he turned away again, playing with the containers in his lap for a long moment before drumming his fingers as if it might help him to gather his wits.

"The pack is more important."

The statement made Yugi bristle. He had the impulse to snap at him, to lean forward and spit that that was not true in the slightest but then he fell silent as he realized that the other teen was no longer paying him attention. Something had crossed his gaze and he looked incredibly haunted, his long lashes making his red eyes seem almost black for a split second.

Then Yami narrowed his eyes, blinked, and his fingers curled. The nails lightly tapped and punctured the plastic in his grip, but not enough to truly leave holes as Yugi had initially feared. Instead he'd scratched the surface in fine crescent-shaped scars and he looked too tired and angry to care for much else.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why is the pack more important?"

The wolf blinked and raised his eyes from beneath his lashes, peering up at him in near annoyance before he grimaced. "You know why," he said simply. The words were harsh and brittle, more with disdain than anything else. His red eyes flashed and flickered away to the carpet again.

"I don't believe that at all." The argument was weak, softly spoken, and Yami nearly ignored it as he folded his fingers against the smooth surface of plastic again. It was warm now, a disappointment as the former chill had done well to help him think more clearly. "I don't believe that in the slightest, Yami. I don't care if the pack thinks otherwise. I…"

Yami blinked and peered at him from beneath his lashes once more, tilting his head and considering him for a long moment. Then he looked away almost lazily, eyes dulled with a million different thoughts.

Yugi wondered if their conversations before then had been this excruciatingly hard to maintain. It made him want to puke as he watched him. Was it possible that Yami had changed so much? Or was it somehow that Yugi no longer knew him to begin with?

But then, with this thought came another, one that Yugi truly hated to think about—had Yugi ever known Yami to begin with?

"You're too sentimental." The words were harsh and cold. Yugi startled at the ferocity in them, eyes wide in shock at the statement. He blinked and swallowed hard as the other still refused to look towards him. "You are still too childish. If you do not learn to separate yourself from such things, you'll find it impossible to lead the pack properly."

"You're saying that like I haven't learned anything in the time you were gone."

"Have you?" He didn't sound glacial anymore, but rather tired and uncertain now. "I would not know. I do not know much of what happened in that time."

"Not to me, right? But do you remember what happened to you?"

Yami was silent for a long minute. Then, abruptly, he snapped, "I am not going to relive that now."

Yugi blinked wide eyes, startled, and then cleared his throat. "No, I…I don't want you to, Yami. I just…I was worried. And I didn't want you to feel like…" He shrugged awkwardly after a long handful of moments. Then he turned his head away and frowned. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. You know that."

The red-eyed boy considered him, gaze cold and face firmly set in a sneer. Then he blinked, turned away again, and pushed the containers away as he tilted his head and closed his eyes tightly. "I know," he said quietly, bristling at the idea. "I am aware."

But the words felt hollow and the taste they left in his mouth was bitter and disgusting. He wanted to puke again, shaking his head slightly, and tried not to focus on the various images that instantly replayed behind his eyes. He was haunted by the scent of something harsh and thick in nature, of hair and blood and a musky smell strong enough to make him want to snarl furiously.

"Good." Yugi had no words he could say to help him feel better. So he simply lowered his eyes again and narrowed his gaze slightly. "I didn't want you to forget that."

He nearly grunted, but instead ignored the impulse. He narrowed his eyes again, then looked at him more fully than he had for what felt like a lifetime. "I didn't forget that," he stated simply. He moved to sit up straighter, but Yugi noticed that he did not raise his chin nor did he fully straighten his spine, as if he might be fearful of challenging him in any fashion. "Thank you."

The small teen smiled a little, sitting up and nodding at him. "Are you still hungry?" he asked after a moment. "I mean, I know that you probably don't want to stay awake for too much longer. The medicine will probably kick in sooner rather than later, right? So it would probably be a good thing for you to relax instead…"

Yami shook his head. "I don't think I will be resting."

Yugi blinked, startled by the declaration. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am not tired as of yet and I do not think that the medicine will do much to lull me to sleep," he admitted in a rather blunt tone. He grimaced after a moment, narrowed his eyes, and furrowed his brows with a shake of his head. "I do not think that it will have much effect altogether."

"What?" The small teen looked puzzled and incredibly fearful for a moment. He swallowed hard, searching his face rapidly. "Why not? Why wouldn't it work? It worked before, when you first came here. And when you were in the den—"

Yami turned away. "You can't always drug a wolf. It will or it won't work. There's never any guarantee of any kind when it comes to the lycanthropy. I might remain awake entirely or I may pass out at some point later. But for now I am wide awake and I do not think that I shall fall asleep very soon."

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean it's not a guarantee? You fell asleep both times before."

"And now I am not groggy even after taking medicine. You did not drug me when I was in this state before. Even as a wolf, I was not this thin or this exhausted. I do not know that the drugs will help me in the slightest." Nor do I know if this will kill me or something of that matter. I cannot say. And I am well aware that telling you this will only worry you more. So I shall not do that either. "We shall have to wait for the time to pass to see if I will fall asleep or not."

Yugi hesitated for a long moment, then licked his lips. If the medicine was truly so worthless, what was he going to do? "Do you think it will at least slow down your metabolism?" he asked quietly.

His alpha considered him for a moment, then shook his head. "I do not know." He paused. "I suppose it will. I do not know for sure. I don't remember if they ever starved and drugged the wolves in the labs in a situation like this. I don't have the ability to answer that."

"You're supposed to know all about the wolves."

The other werewolf snorted and smirked in amusement with a shake of his head. "I don't think even the gods have all the facts on what happens with our disease. I don't honestly know of any wolf that might know of everything."

"Lupa and Fenrir?"

Yami smirked a little wider, leaning forward. "You say that almost as if you believe in them."

The smaller teen faltered for a moment, then frowned and bit his lip. "Well, I've already met four of them. I figure believing in two more won't really change anything." He paused and sighed loudly, frown deepening when Yami blinked at him in surprise. "I mean, let's be honest about this, okay? In truth, I don't even believe in most religious figures. I think they're interesting, but I'm not about to worship any of them because they don't seem…real to me, you know? But then, I've been smacked in the face with lycanthropy, even shown the three gods that rule over the lycanthropes on top of it. I'm willing to agree to believe in them since I've been exposed to them already."

The other male slowly nodded, eyes considerate as he peered at him for a long moment or so before turning away again. "Yes, I suppose that would make sense."

"What do you think that they're going to do with me when the war is over?"

The abrupt question made Yami turn back, eyes wide and confused.

"I mean, whether I win or lose… I can't imagine that Obelisk and Slifer and Ra would want me to keep existing, right? I don't think they'd actually want me to stay alive after I've already done what I was meant to, right?"

"You mean to ask me if I believe they will kill you."

Yugi nodded even if it wasn't a question, licking his lips. "Yeah, I want to know what you think is going to happen when the war has ended and they don't need me around anymore."

Yami narrowed his eyes again, tilting his head and furrowing his brows with a mockingly thoughtful expression. But they could both sense the disdain that came through his body and the way he peered back at Yugi with a somewhat frustrated look in his eyes. "I do not know what they will plan to do afterwards. They might very well decide to do away with you altogether. Perhaps, however, they might like you enough to allow you to exist a while longer as well. I cannot tell you the future."

The smaller teen watched him for a moment, then sighed softly. "Yeah, that's kind of what I figured too," he admitted quietly with a shake of his head. "But I thought maybe you would be able to tell me. I was just hopeful, I guess. It seemed like a good idea before I actually asked it."

The other boy snorted in amusement before shaking his head. "I am not a god," he stated simply. "I wouldn't know what goes through their minds or why they might lean towards the answers they will gravitate towards eventually."

Yugi grimaced and tilted his head, watching the red-eyed boy curiously for a moment. "Did you have any idea about Marik?" he asked after a long moment, moving to place his hands in his lap and studying him. Yami tilted his head in silent questioning and Yugi felt his grimace grow. "Did you think that he was going to betray me like that?"

"Betray you?"

"He…" The small teen did not know how to explain the many lies that had been implanted in the other boy's brain, the way that even his own sister had told him so many times that he was Code Name Atem. He did not know how to explain that she had chosen to do this in order to save him. And the very thought of trying to explain such a thing to Yami seemed more to destroy its significance than anything. And so he simply shook his head and lowered his eyes to the comforter. "He said that he was the real Atem and he wouldn't let me run around pretending to be him any longer. He was going to kill me because he was so sure of that."

Yami blinked and curled his lip. "I am not surprised." He hesitated, then drew in a long breath that seemed to wheeze within his lungs. When he exhaled again, Yugi was amazed that his voice did not die away entirely as he spoke. "He was very…self-absorbed."

The smaller teen tilted his head again curiously. "You think that's all it was?"

"No, but I do believe that it is one of the many reasons he might have snapped." The red-eyed wolf was silent for a long minute. Then he closed his eyes and leaned back in his spot, his arms propping himself up as he shook his head once more. "I always assumed he thought himself greater than the rest. Or that he might turn his teeth on some of the other wolves. I was never surprised when he began fights amongst them."

Yugi was quiet for a moment. "You didn't warn me."

"Was I meant to?" Yami narrowed his eyes, curling his lip back to show a single sharp canine in the dim light. "You do not truly wish to pretend that you might have listened to me, yes? Because I have seen you interact with those wolves. And I saw the way you tried to give them a clean slate more often than not. And, if that is the truth of such a thing, then why is it that you would have listened to me should I have spoken against him?"

The small teen opened and closed his mouth. Then he lowered his eyes with a grimace. He'd always believed in giving others a second chance, allowing them the opportunity to make a better impression the time after. He felt sick, however, looking at the carpet now. Yami was right. He probably would not have listened to him, if only because of his own naive optimism in others and the thought that anyone could prove themselves better than the initial impression given.

"Sorry."

Yami shrugged and turned away. "It does not matter."

"No, I guess it doesn't." He looked at him sideways. "He had planned to try to kill you at one point."

The red-eyed teen nodded. "I was well aware. He did not often try to hide his thoughts from me. And I saw him watching me at times, with the expression of a hunter scoping out their prey. He often looked at me as if I were nothing more than a peon that he needed to destroy." He shrugged and closed his eyes again. He wished that the darkness behind his lids might grow stronger, deeper than ever, allowing him to regain his strength and slumber as deeply as possible. "But to kill him would have made the pack turn on me entirely."

"They would have killed you for it, wouldn't they?"

"They had become irate with my silence and the way I would simply watch them. So the alpha turned her sights on punishing me for misleading them. And that was when Marik had begun to grow bold. It would have turned into a slaughter had I remained long enough to kill him in turn." He hesitated. "So I attacked the alpha instead, wounded her badly enough that the others stumbled in their pursuit, and outran them without stopping even once."

"That's…horrifying." He paused, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, and then turned away with a shake of his head once more. "I can't believe that they were stupid enough to do that in the first place. I don't understand how any of them ever even thought that it was a smart idea to just roll over and let another wolf they didn't even know just become their leader like that."

Yami shrugged. "I am surprised she gave you the pack."

"Huh?"

"You are far more childish than I. You are much more naive and innocent. It is a surprise to me that she might have ever thought to allow you to take her place like that. She had planned to do so with me but my silence infuriated her." He fell silent for a long handful of minutes before shaking his head and clenching his fingers on the comforter to draw the fabric more pointedly within his palm. "The fact that you had a voice was reassuring to her, I suppose."

"I don't sound like someone with a strong voice."

"You don't need a strong voice. You need a strong personality. Alphas are born by character, not by voice or strength."

Yugi tilted his head. He remembered vaguely that he'd read something similar in a book about the canines. They had said that the thought of alpha and omega wolves was outdated by far, had been incredibly disproved, and that the alpha was chosen by their character rather than anything to do with physical strength. The words had barely made sense to him before and so he'd simply blown them off. Now it made him feel almost sick for a brief moment.

Of course he had forgotten the information beforehand, but now the words were circling in his brain and it made his mouth feel somewhat dry. He sighed softly and shook his head as if it might help him to scatter the words from his mind entirely.

"So you think that's why she believed me when I said I was Atem?"

"I think she would have followed anyone to say it, had someone else been so foolish as to do so." Yami was scornful now, eyes flashing with something akin hatred. "I do not think for even the smallest of seconds that she was capable of doing otherwise. She was very…easily influenced, I suppose. I think it had to do with the constant knowledge of what her…destiny was meant to be."

Yugi blinked. "You think that's what it was? That she was so willing to believe in that because of her being told about what she was meant to do for years after Slifer raised her?" he asked quietly, licking his lips and feeling his mouth grow dry. "You think that's what made her so warped?"

Yami shrugged, no longer willing to answer him as he turned away and scratched lightly at the fabric of the comforter. Perhaps he should simply curl up again with his eyes shut and try his hardest to allow the darkness to swallow him whole. He wondered if that would do him well in the slightest, exhausted as he considered. But he did not think for a moment that slumber would overtake him at any rate. The shadows might wrap themselves around his mind, but he was too awake to fall asleep now. He doubted rest would come to his aid anytime soon.

"Are you tired?"

He wanted to scoff, but instead shrugged. "No, not yet."

Yugi wondered briefly how long it might take the taller teen to truly fall asleep should he keep his eyes shut like that. "Do you want to lay back down? I'll go ahead and put the containers in the sink and wash them out later when I get up." He got to his feet, stretching enough to make his back pop, and then grabbed the plastic off the mattress. He watched Yami's face for a moment, however, pretending to do otherwise as he licked his lips and considered the planes that made up the other's features.

It was amazing to him that he did not see the immense pain of scars that he had been sure would plague his countenance upon remembering the images that had haunted his nightmares formerly. And Yami might have looked stressed, but he did not seem pained in the least nor slightly marred with risen skin or scratched flesh. His skin was that same brilliant golden-bronze shade, soft and much like warm sand beneath sunlight, his brows sharp and thin, his lashes long and spidery, his cheeks high, his jaw firm and angular in shape.

"I'll be right back, okay?"

Yami nodded without opening his eyes. But Yugi saw the muscles twitch in his lids for a moment. And he considered the other boy for a moment before heading for the door. Yami responded only when the door closed behind him. His head turned, eyes sharp and curious as he considered the barrier Yugi had disappeared behind.

Had the small teen even noticed the way that he'd gotten so close?

Had he realized just how near him he'd gotten?

It did not matter, however, he supposed. He had just been curious at the idea. But then he remembered Yugi tended to like to be closer to others, whereas he himself was wary of such a thing. He did not know the affection and warmth that Yugi so clearly did. Close proximity was nothing he was too keen upon, unlike the small teen who so easily embraced such a thing as if it might save him. He wondered if Yugi had always been so codependent or if perhaps somehow triggering his lycanthropy had caused such a thing.

It was not uncommon for a wolf to suffer such symptoms due to their social natures. If they did not embrace such a thing, it was almost overwhelming at times. He himself knew as he had continuously dodged away from such things before. How he had become so close and tightly intertwined with the smaller teen was something that he could not think to explain.

Yugi came back into the room after a long handful of heartbeats. The small teen was quiet and almost hesitant, perhaps hovering by the door as if he expected nothing more than to find that Yami was no longer there. A few seconds passed, until the taller boy blinked darkened eyes open and turned his head to consider him in turn. They peered at one another. Then Yugi offered him a strained smile and shut the door behind him, thumbing the lock upon the knob as if he might hide them within the room and away from prying eyes altogether. Yami wondered what things might have been playing in the other's mind, abruptly feeling unnerved and smaller than ever.

"I'll make pancakes when we get up again, okay?" He paused. "A smoothie wouldn't be a bad idea for you too, right?"

Yami looked back at him for a long minute. Then he furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes into mere slits for a moment. He tipped his head to the side, grimaced, and finally blinked. "You do not need to do that."

"No? You think you can heal without them?"

The taller teen was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that Yugi would not allow him to run off on his own and hunt as he might have beforehand. He was clearly unwilling to let him out of his sight for the time being and the realization made him want to snarl but also scared him all the same. What did Yugi truly have planned? Would he stop him should he try to leave on his own to hunt? And what did he think might happen then? Did he think that someone might be lurking about ready to hunt and kill him?

"I think that I can figure out my own way to regain my strength." He said this cautiously, nervous and growing anxious with the way that Yugi peered back at him almost blankly, as if his words were something that the boy could not understand in the slightest. His blue-violet eyes flashed, then narrowed, and Yami felt his mouth growing dry with tension as he sat up straighter and faced him more defiantly. "I think that I'm more than capable of taking care of myself at a time like this."

Because you did so well with that before, right? Yugi thought spitefully. But he held his tongue, swallowing hard and shaking his head in annoyance. "Yami, I'd really prefer that you didn't leave the house for a little while. I don't want you to get hurt again. You just recovered from that hypothermia scare a few hours ago. And going outside again so soon…"

Yami snorted. "You do not want me to leave the house because then you cannot keep an eye on me."

"Is that such a wrong thing?" Yugi spat before he could stop himself, nearly shouting the words. The other wolf startled visibly, eyes wide and horrified by the snarl in his tone. The smaller teen had punched his hand through the wall, breathing raggedly for a brief moment as he shook his head angrily. "Is it really such a bad thing to want to be able to see you and make sure that you're okay? Please, tell me what's so wrong about doing this, Yami, because I'm at a loss."

The other boy blinked at him, unsure and bewildered and visibly shaken by his anger. Then he lowered his eyes swiftly, alarmed and bristling as his shoulders rose and then fell with a shuddering breath. He could smell shattered plaster, swore he could feel the smallest dusty shards of sky blue paint within his lungs, and the intense metallic tinge in the air made him feel sick and dizzy. He blinked, closed his eyes tightly, and shook his head slowly.

They were both breathing heavily now, the tension making them both freeze in place. Yugi felt a tremor run through him, from head to toe, harsh enough that it nearly made him collapse to his knees. He wanted for a moment to simply sob out loud. But another part of him was desperate to listen beyond himself, to make sure that his voice had not spread past the room they were encased in. Yami himself was simply trying to wait out the growing panic that had nestled itself in his stomach. If they were to go to blows, he was not sure he could stop himself from harming Yugi drastically should things go too far.

He did not know if he could stop himself from ripping his throat out in a state of panic.

But the seconds passed.

Yugi gulped in a loud breath, strangled within his collapsed lungs.

Yami cringed at the noise but drew in a deep breath.

Then they both settled for a few moments longer and finally Yugi found himself looking swiftly away and towards the ground. He drew in a deep, shattered breath again, and whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…to snap at you like… A-are you okay?"

The other wolf remained silent for what felt like eternity. Then, quietly, in a tone that was more exhausted than unsteady, Yami hissed, "I am fine." He did not sound happy in the least, nor the slightest bit friendly either. He did not want anything more than to snarl at the other in dismay, despair cutting through his veins for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes tightly, reaching up and running his hands through his hair rapidly, and shook his head in annoyance. "I will not leave then."

The smaller teen shook for a brief second, gulping again for air. "I didn't… I'm sorry. I just… Just until you're better, I don't want…" He opened and closed his mouth, then lowered his chin to tuck into his collarbone as he pulled his hand away from the wall. The air stung it but there was already a rapid tingling to surround such a sensation as well and he relaxed visibly for a moment. Some part of him recognized that Yami had backed down to keep from hurting him, but the other was in a panic at the thought that he'd perhaps scared him. But the more prominent part of him reminded him that, no, the fact remained instead, that he could not tell Yami what to do nor expect him to follow every little thing he asked of him. "I'm sorry, Yami. I'm so sorry."

The other boy shook his head again, red eyes on the carpet. "It does not matter. I will not leave."

"But I…" He was trembling again. "I didn't mean…"

Yami shook his head more persistently now, rapid in the action as if he might somehow shed the frustration from within his bones. He bore his teeth and tossed his head as he drew in a deep breath and snarled low in his throat. "It does not matter. I told you that I will not leave." He let out a rough breath from behind his teeth. "Take me at my word now. I will not repeat myself again."

"Yami…"

The other got to his feet after a moment, refusing to look at him. He dusted himself off as if he might somehow have gathered debris in those few minutes sitting there, and then bore his teeth once more. His breath came in an uneven burst of annoyance, a snarl that did not quite sound itself. Then he spat softly under his breath, for the first time looking far more vulnerable than Yugi was prepared to acknowledge.

Because, now, as he stood in front of him, the small teen was hideously aware. He was sure of the many things that showed upon his features.

He was aware of the taut skin, the exhaustion that plagued him, how skeletal his body truly was beneath clothes that seemed several sizes too large. He was amazed that his pants did not slip from his waist or his arms tremble with the burden of the cotton shirt upon his skin. He was shocked that the other managed to even hold himself upright, for he looked so thin that a single gust of wind might knock him off his feet in an instant.

"I'm going to try to rest now." The words were spat, frustration making them waver in their dying edges. Yami hissed, his shoulders rising as if to protect his neck, and then turned and strode towards the other side of the bed. Yugi watched him as he climbed up, pulled the fleece blanket over his head, and curled up on his side once more as he had formerly. "Do not disturb me."

The small teen swallowed hard, ignoring the urge to apologize and whisper pathetically that he had not meant to upset him or make him feel so incredibly threatened as he had.

---

It was around the time that his alarm would have normally gone off that Yugi finally moved to crawl out of his bed. His palms reached up immediately to rub at his eyes, lights springing and dancing behind his lids. He yawned softly, shook his head, and huffed under his breath. But, beside him, he could hear the lightest wheezing whistling curl of breath within a pair of tired lungs and the realization was enough to make him relax if only slightly. He licked his lips, pulled his hands away, and looked over.

Yami was still covered entirely but for his long strands of hair. The red tips were like fire against the harsh yellow of his comforter, then against the mild blue of his pillow inches away. Yugi smiled faintly, amused by the sight of the slight twitch in his sleep. The fleece would pull minutely against his shoulders, tugging slightly, and his breaths would become soft and small with each second that passed. It remained even and easy, as much as Yugi had ever known it to be.

Yugi wondered again if anyone had heard his brief lapse of temper that night, if perhaps his mother or grandfather had witnessed it but had not disturbed him. The thought would not have surprised him in the least. Perhaps when he had not continued, they had both assumed it to be a night terror he'd spoken against and woken immediately after. He frowned and nibbled his lip. He would have to hope that it was something as mundane as that which had kept them from investigating. Otherwise it meant that one of them was incredibly suspicious of it all and he was not willing to consider what such a thing might truly entail.

His mom would investigate, though if they were to argue, he would fight her tooth and claw until she backed off the entire subject. Yami was not going to leave and he refused to even further entertain the thought. So he shook his head at the very idea, snorted softly, and resisted the impulse to reach forward and touch the long strands that barely peaked over the edge of the fleece throw resting on his shoulders.

Yugi got up after a few seconds, ignoring the fact that he knew Yami would waken from the shift of the mattress beneath him. As predicted, the red-eyed teen lost his easy breathing pattern and seemed to blink in the darkness of his blanket's shadow. The small teen blinked and looked over his shoulder at the other lycanthrope but Yami did not respond further. He yawned softly, his teeth clicked together loudly, and then he burrowed more tightly beneath his fleece throw again.

He almost said he'd go and make pancakes, then grab a smoothie for him as well. But the thought of the possible argument that might come about between them was enough to exhaust him. And so he simply sighed and lowered his eyes, shaking his head and making his way for the bathroom. The moment the door clicked, Yami moved to sit up, rubbing at his own eyes and feeling as if his tongue were plastered and glued upon the roof of his mouth. It made his stomach curl and churn and he grimaced faintly as he shook his head. His fingers ran through his hair, strands greasy and slick beneath his touch. He'd need a shower when Yugi's family members were gone for the day.

Or at least he hoped they might leave for the rest of the day.

He couldn't know.

There were days when he thought they might depart and they seemed hardly to move at all.

There were many days that he'd thought to venture out of the room for a cup of water but had been forced to crouch and wait for them to leave. And when they had not, he'd simply bid his time until Yugi had come back, asking him when the other had settled into his role as the teenage son hiding away in his room again. Then the small teen would wander out, grab a cup for him and bring it back for him to down within a handful of seconds. He wondered where the rest of the water bottle was. He'd only drunk a quarter of it when he'd taken those two pills, he knew. But he'd also punctured the plastic, he remembered. He'd spilled water all over his fingers and palm and then grimaced in the dull light.

But he could not remember what he had done with the bottle. Yugi had taken it from him, had he not? And, when Yami had begun fidgeting instead with the containers rather than the bottle again, had he moved it? Yami sought to find it, eyes flickering rapidly about the room in search of the plastic bottle. He was thirsty enough that he might have followed the other into the bathroom and turned on the faucet to stick his head under and lap at the tap. But the taste which lingered in it was enough to make him nearly cringe away as his heart thundered his chest at the mere thought.

But, by the gods, he was thirsty. He glanced at the window, the thought crossing his mind to perhaps open the glass and grab a mouthful of snow. It would not be any different, surely. He almost moved to stand, then froze as the bathroom door opened and Yugi stepped out again. The small teen still looked considerably tired but he was unwilling to say anything about the expression on his face for the moment being.

Was he still upset about their earlier argument?

What were the odds?

Yet, Yami could almost sense it. It was a lingering tension between them, something that charged the air almost as brilliantly as electricity. But he chose to ignore it as he yawned and looked at him with a tilt of his head.

"Where did you put the water bottle?"

"Huh?" Yugi blinked, startled by the question. Then he blinked, frowned, and shook his head. "It's on the nightstand, near the lamp. I put it there when I realized you'd punctured it. I'll get you a new bottle in a minute, don't worry."

Yami ignored him, turning around and crawling on his hands and knees to reach for the bottle. It crackled lightly in his grip, the thin plastic weak and sputtering with a soft touch of water from its depths. He unscrewed the cap, unhappy when he noticed that the quarter of water missing from the bottle had doubled during the night. He huffed, tossing his head back and drinking ever last drop he could manage. Yet his mouth was still dry and his tongue felt glued to his palate once more.

"Give me a minute."

Yami almost argued that he did not need to. But then he felt the need to drink more, something which made his belly ache and his stomach curl. Yugi was already out of the room, hurrying off for the fridge he was sure. The taller wolf huffed, frowning, and shook his head in frustration. Why was it that Yugi always felt the need to do such things for him when he himself was perfectly capable? It seemed so foolish, as he knew very well that Yami was capable of doing such things for himself.

He could hunt for his own food.

He could scavenge for his own water.

He could hide if he had need to.

He could survive if hiding did not protect and save him.

He could kill anyone foolish enough to challenge him.

He was capable of murdering and staining the earth red where it was necessary.

Yami did not think for even a moment to say such a thing, however, as he knew that doing so would further upset Yugi. It was nothing he was too terribly proud of, either, and the small teen was not wrong when he said that he was too tired and weak at the moment. Yugi was right, something that Yami did not want to admit in the slightest. Weakness was not something to be boasted but for in a strategic battle. If he were to trick another wolf into thinking that perhaps he was too weak to move when he was ready to spring up and kill them in turn, it was nothing he worried about. It was a play in which he caught the enemy off guard. Now was not one of those times.

Now was one of those few times he felt incredibly weak and incapable of protecting himself altogether. And, should Yugi have been in the equation, Yami was sure he would lose him within seconds as well. He grimaced at the thought, then blinked and raised his head as Yugi brought the water bottle back within the room. He looked slightly uncomfortable, but not so much as to be unable to face him any longer.

"Here you go." Yami took it from him, nearly melting with relief at the way the water was so icy against his warm skin. "I got you two but I figured I'd put this one over here for the moment."

He didn't do more than hum, a noncommittal noise by all means. Then he twisted the cap off, tipped the bottle back, and downed it within a few seconds. Yugi stared at him in surprise, at first startled and then with a small frown. He outstretched his hand again and the taller teen took the second bottle from him, unscrewing the cap and downing the water again.

"Thank you." Yami licked his lips, putting both empty bottles aside, and looked back at him curiously for a moment. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I don't think I've ever seen you that thirsty before."

"No. I think it is a reaction to the medication more than anything else," the taller teen dismissed with a shake of his head and a slight flick of his wrist. Then he got to his feet, feigned the action of dusting himself off just as he had before he'd come to lay back down again the night before, and faced Yugi almost completely once more. "Are you still planning to make pancakes and a smoothie later?"

Yugi hesitated for a moment, shifting his weight. "Yeah," he answered, dismissing immediately the initial idea of saying that he was considering going to school. It had been the briefest thing, a way of hiding from the other boy and his seemingly irate mood. But then he shook his head again and sighed. "I'll make them both in a little while. My mom is going to leave for the main clinic in an hour. And Grandpa will probably go back to sleep or he'll follow her to the clinic."

"Why would he follow her? Is there a reason?"

"Sometimes he helps out on surgeries. Other times he just plays the role of the receptionist while the techs help out or shadow my mom on surgeries." Yugi shrugged dismissively and offered him a small smile that was almost shy around the edges. "Grandpa retired comfortably a while back. So he's not required to do anything with his day anymore. If we could have pets, he'd probably have a dog that would keep him company in his room every day all day unless someone came to visit him. He's not the most exciting person. But he gets bored at home watching nature documentaries and things like that. So he tries to get out of the house as often as possible."

Yami tilted his head. "I see," he mumbled. "That makes sense."

"Yeah, he doesn't have to work anymore and being at home is boring to him." He shrugged and wrapped his arms around himself, swallowing words that threatened to escape him for the moment. "So he tries to help out at the main clinic with my mom and then he comes home and watches a couple of documentaries and goes to sleep again."

"I can understand his need to leave the house at times."

The simplicity of the statement made Yugi want to smile, but the undertone and the unspoken implications of the words made him bristle for a brief second. He drew in a deep, annoyed breath, then shook his head in momentary frustration and then an abundance of guilt. "Yeah," he commented without commitment. "He's probably bored enough to start working again if he had the option."

Yami considered him. "Doesn't he?"

"Not really. He's too old. No one would really want to bring him back on when he's eighty-six years old. I don't think anyone would want to employ him at his age now. If he was younger, yeah, he definitely wouldn't have to worry about it at all. But as he is now? I doubt anyone would even consider hiring him."

"Because of his age," Yami drawled, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. He wished for a moment that he could have said similarly about himself. He wished that he could have said that his own age made him incapable of doing something or other, or prevented the desire of others to do things of which he'd always ignored. He remembered the way the technicians in the lab had been so keen upon trying to breed them all, though he himself was kept away from them rather exclusively. He was not allowed near the females, though he'd never quite minded this either.

None of the wolves had been too keen upon caring for mating. They had mostly done it out of fear. A female would have been bred with by several different males, the thought of hierarchy or passing genes or true pair bonds completely forgotten in the need to simply please the humans and hide away from their scorn. He himself had simply turned his nose up at it, ignoring it all. He'd been too young then. But, should he have been captured now, dragged into the tunnels once more, he'd have been pitted with them as well. They would try to make him breed.

But Yami was abruptly certain of his inability to breed to begin with.

He was sterile.

He knew that very well. It was not in the testing that they had done. Nor was it in any means because he'd tried to produce young either. It was simply in his bones. It was a deep set knowledge of himself, something that pressed upon him and begged his attention at times. He was incapable of producing young.

The experiments had done well to kill whatever chance he might have had formerly.

But he also felt that he had been born this way. He had never felt the need to look at females. Nor had he even consider procreation for more than a few mere seconds when it was mentioned by the humans that had passed by his cage. He had never thought about it more than a heartbeat or two. And then he had been acutely aware once more of things that had never truly been addressed in his time down there.

He was incapable of breeding, and so he would be considered useless should he have been any other wolf within that lab.

But he was horrifyingly aware that they knew him. They knew him very well, no matter how much he wished to deny such a thing. Yami was excruciatingly aware of his connections there. And he knew that they were as well. The thought was a terrifying one by all means. But the truth was something that he had been hidden away from and failed to defend himself against beforehand. This had caused far too much trouble for him recently.

So now he simply considered it and felt sick again.

If he was too young for breeding, it was easier than admitting that he was not sexually active nor even remotely drawn to such a thing due to the fact that he was unable to produce offspring. And the thought of sex altogether made him want to vomit, as he could not push away those images in his head. And more often than not he'd cower away from those little cries the females had let out, somewhere between pained and pleasured and disgruntled.

Yami shook the thought off, breathing a little harder. Yugi was staring at him with an alarmed expression, blue-violet eyes wide and confused. They blinked at each other and Yami realized abruptly now that Yugi had asked him a question, that he'd tried to ask him something and his lack of response must have scared him to the point of nearly gaping at him as if he were nothing more than a fish out of water.

"What?"

"I asked if you were okay."

Yami blinked. "Yes."

"You sound breathless."

"I was thinking about something I should never have considered."

They looked at each other for a long series of seconds. Then Yugi leaned forward with a sense of despair stirring in his gut. "Oh." He licked his lips and awkwardly scratched at the inside of his wrist with a frown. "Well, I… Are you still thirsty? I can go and grab a couple more bottles."

The taller teen was not unaware of the anxious edge in the other's voice. He shook his head. "No, I am all right." He ignored the way that Yugi seemed to deflate slightly at the response. It was almost as if he were desperate to give him something, anything, to help him ease his ache. But the taller teen could not stop himself from wishing more or less that he had another answer for him in some fashion.

But the truth of it was that he was no longer parched and so he did not care for more water to drown his thirst. Some part of him feared the idea of saying no, however, as he remembered the way that the blood had tasted on the stone walls of the cavern, how the red liquid had been so terribly salty and the aftertaste grainy. He wanted to puke at the mere idea of such a situation repeating itself, the reality of it harsh enough in his gut to make him almost dizzy and sick.

"Are you sure?"

Yami ignored the desperation in his tone and nodded. "Yes. But thank you."

But part of him still remembered the salty metal taste, the grainy texture, the way his belly lurched and ached and rolled with pain and hunger. He nearly grimaced at the way the thought crossed his mind, then swallowed hard. He didn't want to have to explain should Yugi ask him what was wrong, and the mere idea of having to speak about it made him want to vomit all over again. He nearly shuddered, unconsciously recalling the way he'd swallowed his own fur in such a desperate bid to fill his belly in some way. It had not been nutritious in any way, but it had beaten licking up small pebbles and swallowing them whole as well.

And his stomach acid had dissolved it, high enough to rot his own organs had he left it unattended. Hunger took on multiple definitions for a starving werewolf, though Yami had been hopeful to never experience them in such a way. The taller teen narrowed his eyes into slits for a brief moment, nearly grimacing at the very idea. The pain had been so terribly acute. And the way it had gurgled before…

But now he knew that the water had done well to settle it as well. It had been just enough to cover the ache in his belly with a soft chill. And he remembered, before running across Yugi and Marik's carcass, that he'd eaten huge gaping mouthfuls of snow in order to help himself. He'd wished for food but had gotten ice instead. And he supposed it was better than nothing when he considered the pain that had come from it a mere month before.

"All right, well, I'm going to start on the pancakes in a little while, okay?" Yami blinked, startled out of his reverie, and raised his head as he saw Yugi fidgeting. The small teen was tugging on his pajama shirt sleeve, watching him with a somewhat frantic expression. His blue-violet eyes darted about his own for a long moment before he turned away again. "I'm just going to…"

He gestured around vaguely and Yami blinked at him again, confused and bewildered. Had they always been so awkward? Perhaps they had simply danced around the matter at hand? Perhaps he had never noticed because he had tried his hardest to ignore it in any way he possibly could. Perhaps he had been too embarrassed to even simply confront the idea, for the fear that Yugi might react in a way that would damage them both. Perhaps their relationship had always been so tentative and he had just simply turned a blind eye towards it.

Yugi was quiet for a long moment. Then he bit his lip, watching the tall teen with darkened eyes for a brief moment before nodding slightly. "Um, I just… Did you want to take a shower or anything?" he commented quietly, reaching down to scratch at his hand awkwardly. He cleared his throat and quickly ran a hand through his hair moments later, flushed with embarrassment. "Not that you smell or look gross or anything. I just…I figured that maybe you would want to take a shower? I mean, I just… Unless you don't want to. If you don't want to, that's fine too…"

Yami blinked at him, surprised and bewildered for a moment before tilting his head and considering him curiously. "Yes, I would like to take a shower," he muttered in a slightly puzzled tone. "But I had planned to wait until they had left before I—"

"You can go ahead and do it now," Yugi interrupted, eyes brightening as if he had just found some kind of relief in his agreement from moments before. "I don't plan to go to school to begin with and I have the dry shampoo bottle under the sink. I can just use that to make my hair look fresher. Although, my hair was—I washed my hair just before I went to see you yesterday. So it shouldn't look too bad even without a little refresher."

The other wolf blinked at him in surprise and then looked away. He was aware of the implications of his statement, that he would not go to school in order to watch over him for a little while longer. He wanted to puke after a moment, stomach curling as he swallowed hard and grimaced. It had not occurred to him that perhaps Yugi would skip school once more. He remembered him doing so formerly, when they'd first met, but he had not thought that he might do so again. It was a shock to him, something that he had not even considered formerly, and now it made him want the floor to open up beneath him and swallow him whole.

"You don't have to stay and watch me. I can…"

Yugi snorted. "I'm going to stay home to keep an eye on you, but I also have a couple of other things that I need to do too. I have some homework and study guides to catch up on. I've been neglecting schoolwork before now, so I…" He shrugged. "It doesn't matter, Yami. I'll go back to school on Monday."

The other teen blinked and raised his head slowly, startled by the idea of the day it might have been. He grimaced and tipped his head towards him, confused as he muttered, "What is today?"

"Friday."

Yami nodded slightly, blinking. "Oh." He hesitated and licked his lips. "What month is it?"

Yugi blinked and furrowed his brows. "December," he said quietly. "Christmas is in two weeks, I think?"

The other wolf nodded again and Yugi was abruptly aware of the fact that Yami had not been able to keep time formerly. He had lost track of it, had stopped trying to count the minutes or seconds or days he'd been gone. He had simply shut it away, probably in order to survive whatever it was that he had been forced to do in that time he had been gone. He looked away, fidgeting and then running his nails over his wrist with an overpowering feeling of sickness in his gut.

"Okay."

He hesitated, voice quiet and uncertain. "Did you, uh…want anything for Christmas, by the way?"

Yami looked over at him, confused and startled. "Christmas?" he repeated. There was something in his eyes that made Yugi feel even further sickened, heart clenching as he considered him for a moment. "No, that is unnecessary. I do not need anything for Christmas."

The small teen nodded and turned away, unsure of what more he should say or do at the moment. He licked his lips and turned away with a shake of his head. "Okay," he agreed reluctantly, uncertain and growing uncomfortable once more. Then he licked his lips, sighed softly, and reached up to awkwardly rub at the back of his head. "If you change your mind, you can go ahead and tell me."

"Yes."

They were quiet for a moment. Then Yugi nodded slightly, turning around and reaching for the doorknob, twisting the lock so that it clicked softly. Yami blinked and looked at him with his head tilted to the side, curious and bewildered for a brief second.

"Go ahead and take a shower, okay? I'll start on my homework. And then, when you get out, I'll wait a little while before I go out there to make breakfast." He didn't wait for Yami to acknowledge the idea any further, taking a seat on the bed and ruffling around underneath for a split second. He pulled his backpack from beneath the furniture and unzipped it, opening and pulling out a couple of binders and textbooks.

Yami frowned and looked at him with slightly bewildered eyes. "I, uh… You didn't bring the bag whenever you were at the den…" He furrowed his brows. "Did you just leave it under the bed or something until now?"

Yugi shook his head and considered him for a long moment. "I had gotten a sick pass from the nurse at my school because I had a panic attack before homeroom so I decided to stay home. I spent the week at home instead of bothering to go and then I started to visit you instead. But I left my bag at school for a while, before Jonouchi contacted me about the new set of study guides that we'd have to do for extra credit for some of our midterms. So I gave him my locker combination and he went ahead and got everything for me."

He wondered briefly if that had been around the time that the nurse, Catherine, had begun to follow him more pointedly. He wondered if she had truly had bugged him as Noah had implied before. The thought made his belly ache for a moment before he shook it off and licked his lips. In an instant he dismissed it, because he'd had the chance to search his clothes and even check his skin for any sense of a pinprick or discoloration in the time that it had taken to fall asleep after Yami had already succumbed to his exhaustion.

Yami was silent for a long moment. "The woman on the ledge," he prompted, studying him with dark eyes. "That was her, the nurse who took care of you that day?"

Yugi nodded slightly, grimacing. "Noah claimed that she had bugged me in order to track me for a while…"

The taller teen shook his head. "If that were the case, the other hunters hired by the labs would have come after you again by now." He snorted. "No, she simply tracked you around for a while. Noah might have been from the labs, but she most likely would not have been considering she came on her own. I'm sure with the fact that you and I have both escaped so often, they would be sending them in pairs or groups rather than lone hunters. I think Panik and Espa were the last two to be contracted from the labs. He was simply trying to make you fearful."

The small teen studied his face for a long time. "Well, he managed it," he grunted before sighing softly and rolling his eyes. Some part of him prickled with discomfort, wondering for only a split second what it was that had happened to those two bodies. But now was not the time for him to ask. "I checked every inch of my skin for any sign of it and I even inspected every little bit of my school uniform when you fell asleep."

"Thorough," Yami snorted with a small smile. "That is a good idea to do whenever someone should say such a thing to you, as you already know. It is always a good thing to check and perform reconnaissance should something like that be brought into discussion."

Yugi nodded, feeling slightly flushed at the compliment before offering a mirroring smile. He couldn't remember the last time the other had praised him and the way it warmed his insides made him feel almost dizzy with satisfaction. He licked his lips and nodded again. "I thought it was better to check and make sure than leave it up to chance," he answered with that same deep warmth filling within his gut. Vaguely he remembered the way that he had once snarled and nearly attacked him, saying he hoped that he would live long enough to grow up. He wondered now if Yami thought of something similarly and was relieved to think that perhaps he was doing just that. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me, so it seemed smart enough to do it as soon as I could."

Yami's eyes were bright and glittering as he nodded his approval towards such a statement. "Yes, you chose well," he answered simply. Then he moved to stand, his jovial approval leaving him as he grimaced faintly and looked down at himself. "I think you're right. I should take a shower."

The smaller teen hesitated. "Okay," he muttered, the warmth in his blood long gone and left with a glacial touch which made his skin crawl. "I'll be out here, so if you need anything just call for me, okay?"

The other boy was quiet for a long minute, blinking at him curiously before nodding slowly. "Yes, I will call if there is an issue of any kind," he answered softly. He paused in the doorway for a moment, then glanced over at the other teen with a slight twitch in his fingers. Yugi considered it for a split second, curious about its meaning, and then turned away again altogether. "Um… Did you…keep the other…?"

The smaller teen blinked, confused and bewildered by the question. He stared at him, eyes wide and darkened briefly for a moment. "Your clothes? Of course!" He scrambled to his feet, cheeks slightly heated as he considered the realization that he had not thought for even a moment to provide him with a change of clothes. "Give me a second. I changed up a couple of things and…"

Yugi flushed now, embarrassed. Of course Yami could have seen that something had changed. He had seen the layout of the room and knew that things had changed and been moved away and items shoved aside in favor of others. And the red-eyed teen had taken note, even if he had not spoken about it to begin with. He most likely would never say a word, though Yugi had been incredibly particular in his need to keep open the corner in which Yami had once sat and hidden away.

Yugi thought briefly of the teal jacket and his head nearly snapped around to regard the other wolf for a split second. Then he shoved the impulse off, opening the drawer of the chest and pulling out several different pairs of clothing for him. Then he hesitated and swallowed hard, leaning against the wood for a moment. "You know, I…" He didn't look over but he could feel Yami's stare on his back as he breathed in roughly and fought away a shiver. "Never mind. I'll tell you after you get back out, okay?"

Yami was silent as he took the clothes from him and Yugi could not bring himself to raise his eyes towards him any longer. The realization made the small teen struggle to keep away a grimace, his stomach tightly coiled and his mouth dry with growing anxiety. Then he offered him a wavering smile, turned quickly away, and made his way back to his former seat on the mattress.

"Thank you."

Yami did not wait to see if Yugi might respond to the simple words, instead turning on his heel and making his way into the bathroom. He shut the door behind himself without a glance back, turning the lock and shivering as he stepped forward to look at himself in the mirror. When had his eyes become so dull and his skin so pale? He looked sickly, ashen, and even his hair had seemingly lost it color and vibrancy altogether.

He frowned and tilted his head, considering the lines of his neck where they corded and seemed to tear through his flesh with claws eager to shred his muscle. He looked at the sharp angle of his collarbones where the clothes sagged and showed the hideous indentation of them. His hair was disgustingly greasy, slick and stringy, yet somehow still upright. But his bangs were separated and clung in little clumps, a dark yellow that almost seemed like urine more than anything else.

He shivered, then moved to pull the shirt over his head. His head felt oddly too heavy, his shoulders too thin and frail. He wondered at the weight of it upon his neck and resisted the urge to simply turn away. If he did not take in the physical damage done, then he could not quite plan to heal himself properly. He could not find the way to make plans and tweaks as necessary in order to fix problems that he knew would plague him later. And so he tipped his head to the side.

The pain was instant, enough to make him nearly spit and lash out in a blind panic. He heard the pop of his neck when he repeated the action on the mirroring side. Then he shivered again and looked down at his pants. His hips were too wide for his frame like this, which would surely cause pressure the next time he changed. It would more than likely make his spine break and reform itself in order to waylay the pain and allow him to survive. And that would more than likely make his legs weaker and his ability to run, his capability to hunt and leap forward, would be put in jeopardy due to it.

Weak ankles meant his hocks would be more likely to buckle beneath his weight. But that only meant that more pressure would be applied to his pelvis to allow him to move steadily. His organs would have to rearrange hideously, bunch upon themselves drastically to truly compensate for the loss of fat and muscle tissue. They would have to curl in on themselves in order to protect themselves from the possibility of fractured bone fragments that might erupt from the pressure of it all. His heart would have to perhaps enlarge itself in order to get the blood through his veins properly. His bones would all have to break and shorten themselves and then regroup and recover in order to prevent rupturing skin and flesh and muscle altogether.

Yami glanced at his ribcage now.

He swore he could almost see his lungs beneath his skin whenever he breathed. It made his skin shudder along his muscle and he felt sick for a moment as he stared at his reflection in the mirror before him. The bones were thin, fractured, too small to be natural, twice as many as should have been—twenty-four on either side. His body was trying to stretch itself too thin, to make it shield further down and encompass more.

But the defense was far weaker than it ever should have been. In the human form, they stretched almost to his hips in the way they fanned downwards, and mirrored what would have been for the wolf form instead. He should have had twelve on either side as a human, thirteen as a wolf, but his body was overcompensating. The bones had broken into thinner layers, stretching beneath his skin to envelope more organs than ever.

Forty-eight ribs was not something he was happy to see.

The metamorphosis was nothing that he had ever desired.

Yami shook his head slowly, closing his eyes tightly, and then turned towards the tub once more. He reached forward to the curtain and pulled it to the opposing side of where it lay formerly. He took a seat on the toilet lid, putting the clothes behind him as he sat there and slowly reached for the knobs. The wolf hesitated for a long minute, feeling sick for a moment as he heard his stomach gurgle and that despairing ache pulsed through him.

The hunger could easily be sated here in the house, he reminded himself before he could become too anxious regarding its presence. He frowned and swallowed hard, eyes narrowing faintly before shaking his head slightly and nearly grimacing seconds later. There was a sense of distress in his marrow, growing and swelling within his bones. He felt sick and dizzy, his stomach rolling and curling as the seconds passed. The acid was burning upon his stomach lining. He could sense this, understanding it as something more akin the simplistic need to satisfy himself at one point or another. He needed more energy. He needed more strength than he could possibly offer himself without outside aid.

Yami turned the knob, the metal grating and screeching beneath his grip. He shivered and narrowed his eyes further into a pair of slits. He grimaced, shaking his head, and leaned forward as steam began to billow forward. He shivered and swallowed hard as the seconds passed. The sound of the water rushing downward made the tub seemingly rattle and dance beneath the constant onslaught of the faucet. It made his mouth twist and pull downward as the pipes groaned softly beneath the weight of the cascade of water. He shivered and shook his head, annoyed, as the heat continued to billow upward into his skin.

He shook his head again and narrowed his eyes further in annoyance. The cold water knob was turned a second later, the two temperatures merging into a more comfortable mixture. He grimaced and almost curled his lip as the humidity within the small room made the mirror fog up as he finally got to his feet and twisted the middle knob to turn on the shower head. The water was heavy with its heat as the teen pulled the curtain shut behind him and stepped into the water.

He remained beneath the spray for over an hour, the water colder than the outside air by the time he finally moved to take a step outside of the tub. He huffed softly, the remaining humidity doing well to make his entire body feel looser, as if the tension of the weight of his own skin was softer and lessened due to this. Yami stepped onto the bath mat, looking towards the floor for a long moment before reaching towards the closest towel upon the rack near him. He pulled the dark blue fibers closer to him, frowning as he wrapped the towel around himself.

He felt almost cautious upon doing so. It was enough to make his stomach knot and his eyes narrow into slits once more. He did not glance at the mirror again, sure of the disapproval he would feel as he had already done moments before. When he got dressed again and moved forward and stepped outside of the bathroom, Yugi blinked and looked up with wide eyes. He looked happy to see him, something that was almost shocking to him, and Yami quickly ignored the way that his stomach curled and threatened to gurgle once more.

"I'm going to make the pancakes in half an hour, okay? That gives me enough time to say that my hair dried before I go out there again," he explained, though Yami could hear the slight discomfort in his tone. The small teen looked away again and grimaced, shaking his head slightly and turning back to the textbook in his lap. He'd moved his legs to hang over the edge of the bed, his textbook across his thighs even as he moved to cross his right leg so that his ankle rested across his knee. He did not speak anymore after that, chewing his cheek and flipping the next page to write down another answer on his study guide. He seemed almost slightly distressed as Yami studied him for a moment longer.

Then the red eyes lowered towards the edge of the footboard, ignoring the urge he had to ask him if he was okay. It did not truly matter, Yami supposed, as he knew that Yugi would not give him much room to say something else. The blue-violet-eyed teen did not move nor say anything else as he frowned and shook his head uncomfortably.

His eyes fell upon the surface of the comforter there, eyes wide and horrified. His mouth opened and closed once, his hands shaking as he spotted it resting there. His heart was in his throat in an instant and his mouth was too dry to allow him to swallow. He blinked, heartbeat racing drastically within his ears. He swallowed, nearly choking, and then narrowed his eyes as he considered the sight there before him. His mouth was too dry to speak again and his head hurt.

The jacket was folded there, resting neatly. It lay with the arms folded, the zipper pulled tight and the collar of it fluffed upwards. The wolf blinked again, stomach knotting at the very idea of coming any closer to it. Then he swallowed hard, tilting his head, and glanced sideways at the small teen for a brief moment. Then his eyes flickered back to it and his mouth opened and closed, the words swallowed within collapsed lungs. He could not think straight long enough to say something or even hint towards such an action. It was bewildering to him, how incapable he was at the moment.

"I…" Yami fell silent again, unable to force more out of his mouth after what seemed to be an entire lifetime of which he could no longer speak. He frowned and tilted his head again, glancing at the boy sideways to find that Yugi was studying him in a similar manner, though his expression was nothing more than curious rather than expectant or anything more. The taller teen swallowed hard, studying his face for a moment longer. Then he lowered his eyes to the jacket again. "Thank you."

Yugi nodded when he looked back at him again. He didn't speak to him for a few long minutes, the seconds passing in a hideous drag of time which made him feel as if the world were too dense and the air far too suffocating to breathe any longer. He licked his lips after a long handful of seconds. Then he turned back to the small teen with a tilt of his head.

"It…means a lot to me."

The other boy blinked, turning his head with widened eyes. He glanced at the jacket and back to him with a small smile, understanding blooming across his face after a long second of confusion. He forced the math equation out of his head as he considered him with bright eyes. "I know," he said in a simplistic tone, watching him and nodding. He didn't want to shorten the moment with anything further, as saying he was welcome seemed more condescending than reassuring. So instead he turned away again, looking over at his homework as warmth filled his gut.

Yami was quiet for a long minute and a half, his stomach feeling emptier than ever as his lips twitched and stretched into a thin line. He licked his lips, then lowered his eyes, and moved forward to gently touch the soft fabric of the jacket in front of him. He looked at the collar, the sharp angle of it, the way the shoulders had been smoothed out with careful patience, the lines of the jacket itself almost ironed to perfection by someone who had no attachment to it but for the boy he shared his room with. He looked at it for a long moment, then pressed his palm into the soft fabric. The smooth texture made his heart feel lodged within his throat, blood on his tongue for the smallest of moments.

"He gave this to me before I escaped the labs," Yami muttered quietly, his voice so soft that Yugi blinked and turned his head in confusion, for a split second believing that the noise had been nothing more than a simple split second whisper of the air conditioner rattling or something of that nature. The small teen blinked at him again, sitting up a little taller, and Yami ignored the idea of looking at him sideways, holding the green jacket within his fingers and shaking his head slightly. "My cage mate, I mean. It made his eyes a million times more beautiful."

Yugi nearly flinched at the description, stomach aching with the thought that perhaps Yami had felt something that was not strictly platonic for the other male. Maybe it had been an easy, instant click for the two of them. Perhaps it would have been the issue more towards the reality that the two of them were both meant to be experimented on so endlessly that had made them so inclined to do more than he and Yami could now. He felt sick for a moment as the two of them stared at one another briefly. Then he blinked and frowned and tilted his head, because Yami looked more distraught than he'd seen him recently.

And the red-eyed teen seemed almost sickly for a brief moment, staring back at him with something akin distress and perhaps a mixture of self-hatred as well. The two of them peered at one another, until Yugi could no longer keep his eyes on him any longer. He lowered his gaze quickly towards the jacket once more, unsure of what more to say to him at the moment.

"He gave it to me because I told him that I really liked it."

Yugi blinked and turned to him again. Yami was staring at him with something blank rather than emotional now. He seemed to narrow his eyes, then to blink and tilt his head curiously. They stared at one another for a few seconds. Then the taller teen shook his head and chewed the inside of his left cheek.

"You remind me a lot of him," Yami finally said quietly, though now his voice had grown scornful as he continued in a sneer. "You were both too willing to give me things and not to take care of yourself."

The words were a punch to the gut for him, startling the smaller teen. His eyes grew wide, horrified, and his mouth opened and closed in shock, but the other boy was staring at the ground now. His red eyes were focused entirely upon the carpet as if the world might be more focused there than it was when he raised his head. For a split second neither of them moved. Then Yugi drew in a deep breath and exhaled softly.

"He must have cared for you a lot."

Yami blinked. His head turned and his jaw set. "Too much."

Yugi studied his face for a moment, realization crawling through his belly as he leaned forward. "Breathe, okay? You're not breathing," he coaxed softly, searching his face and feeling sick to his stomach as the other stared back at him almost blankly. "And I don't want you to end up puking again, okay?"

The taller boy narrowed his eyes into slits and curled his lips back to show off his canine. "I'm not going to puke," he snapped, but Yugi saw a flash of white along his gums and frowned as he studied his face uncomfortably.

"Yami," he stated quietly, his other hand reaching out to touch him. Yami nearly flinched away from his fingers before his mouth opened and closed and his tongue felt plastered to the palate of his mouth. "Please don't stress yourself out so much. I promise it's okay. You don't have to tell me anything else about it. I don't want you to stress yourself out."

Yami curled his lip further back again. "Don't talk to me like I'm a pup."

The statement would have startled him had he not been aware of how shaken Yami looked at the moment. Yugi would have paused and reconsidered, flustered by the reaction, speaking to him in a softer tone or perhaps snapping at him that he was speaking to him like a human instead. But then he frowned and shook and tilted his head. The small teen blinked and searched his face for a moment, then shook his head again.

"Yami, I promise I don't want you to say anything more, okay? I don't want more details if you don't think you want to tell me." He opened his mouth to say something further, but the red-eyed teen abruptly faltered, head snapping around and body jerking back a step. Yugi faltered, head snapping towards the door as well before he remembered the lock in place and his eyes wide with surprise. The small teen raised a finger to his lips when Yami seemed to grow further tense, and Yugi reached out gently to touch the black hoodie he was wearing, tugging softly on the fabric there.

There was a soft knock on the door and he cleared his throat as he murmured, "Yeah?"

Yami looked at him for a moment, using the ease on his face to allow him enough comfort to calm down once more. He was too tense, and if he made even one wrong move there was a very clear indication of doing something vicious and stupid. The two wolves looked back at each other for a split second, watching one another closely.

Yugi searched his face as his mom spoke on the other side of the door, asking him if he was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered in an easy tone, pausing for only a moment longer. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I thought I heard you talking."

"I just finished talking to Jonouchi," he answered simply, ignoring the way that the other teen stared at him for another long minute. Yami stared back at him for a minute, eyes searching his face for what felt like hours. Then he lowered his gaze again and pressed his lips together tightly. "He was asking me what I got for a certain math problem."

His mom was silent for a long moment. "So, considering the time, I'm guessing you're not going to school again today?" she asked in a sharper tone.

Yugi didn't blink. "No." His eyes shot to Yami's again and the other teen peered at him rather pointedly. "I'm staying home. I don't feel all that great."

"Yeah…okay."

The sarcasm was enough to make Yugi roll his eyes. Yami blinked and tilted his head and searched his face curiously. His eyes flickered across his face for a moment longer, his red gaze dark and curious as they stared at each other. The wolf faced him curiously for a long handful of minutes. Then he turned away again, the tension making them both bristle as the seconds passed. The red-eyed teen frowned and looked towards Yugi and narrowed his gaze.

The two wolves were silent for a few minutes longer, until Yugi realized that the tension between them had nothing to do with his mother any longer. The red-eyed teen was staring at him, their eyes locked and their faces mirroring expressions of discomfort. They considered each other for a moment, until Yugi laughed softly and leaned against the bed, lowering and shaking his head with an awkward chuckle. He narrowed his eyes into slits for a split second, huffing, and then shook his head slowly once more.

"Wow, okay," he muttered. "This…is going to take a little while to get used to again, huh?"

Yami didn't answer, as now he seemed far more exhausted than anything else. He wanted for a moment to simply pull away from him entirely and perhaps use the window as a means of escape. But then he fell silent and the most he could do was simply stare at the other teen again. He looked away after a few seconds and Yugi released him, getting up and looking at his textbook for a few moments longer.

"I'm going to go ahead and get started on the pancakes now."

The thirty minutes had passed, Yami realized, but the tension that had existed between them moments before was enough to scare them both into silence and so they had refused to speak again. And, when Yami finally noted the absence of both Yugi's family members, he followed the small teen into the kitchen. Yugi had already finished one of the plates of pancakes and had steadily begun to layer the second. The two wolves hesitated, looking at one another briefly for a split second, and then they considered each other a heartbeat longer.

They didn't speak aside from Yugi offering him the plate and then commenting on making him a smoothie later. The smaller teen went back to his own meal, making the rest of his pancakes and shrugging off the way that Yami stared back at him so blankly. Then the taller wolf seemed to inhale his food altogether, finished by the time that Yugi got to the table as well. The small teen blinked wide eyes, shocked by the sight of his mouth so incredibly full and syrup stuck to his cheek.

He wanted to hand him a napkin but the other ignored him and got to his feet again. Yugi thought for a moment that perhaps the wolf was too frustrated to want to remain near him. But then he saw him stumble a step, cringing when Yami caught himself. It took him only a moment to realize that the wolf was headed as quickly as he could for the couch. Yugi hurried to eat his food as well, feeling almost sick with anxiety as he finished his own plate and went to check on the other lycanthrope.

Yami was curled up on his side, facing the backrest of the couch. He was fast asleep before Yugi could even think straight. His eyes grew wide, his mouth opening and closing before he smiled faintly at the sight. The taller teen did not seem even remotely disturbed as he wandered into his room to grab his books and make his way back to the lounge chair adjacent to the other male. He took the spot as he normally would have otherwise, then began to write a new answer in his study guide.

He sat there for what seemed like hours. And, only when Yami woke again, did the smaller teen bother to look over again and consider him for more than a few brief seconds. The taller boy moved to sit up, blinking groggy eyes, and reached up to rub at them tiredly for a long few minutes. Yugi studied him, then stretched his legs and licked his lips.

"Are you okay?"

Yami looked back at him, groggy as he muttered, "I think…I think the drugs kicked in." He opened and closed his mouth and ran his hands through his long, shiny hair. He'd washed his hair so thoroughly with the shampoo that the strands had actually squeaked from the force of his scrubbing. He'd wanted so much to get rid of the dirt and the feeling of disgust within his own bones. He shook his head and looked back at the other teen with a deep breath. "I wasn't… I hadn't expected it to actually work at any rate. I figured it had metabolized before…"

Yugi studied his face, almost disbelieving before nodding and smiling at him briefly. "You think so?" he asked as he stretched his arms in front of him and searched his expression once more. "Maybe it was that whole slow digestion thing that canines have going for them."

Yami blinked at him, about to ask before he remembered what he was referring to and ran a hand through his hair once more. Yes, he remembered that. Wolves could store meat in their belly for days, slowing their own digestion in order to make it stretch for as long as possible before they might have to hunt again. It was always possible that somehow his body had not responded to the medication properly, keeping him awake for longer than necessary and then it had run out of steam during his meal.

Yugi searched his face for a long minute, tilting his head and studying him for a brief moment or two with a small smile. "You should go rest in my room," he said softly, getting to his feet. The pain in his knees was sharp, the stiffness causing his entire body to feel as if he were being stuck with pins and needles as he watched the taller teen once more. "You can sleep in my bed or on the floor or wherever you'd like, Yami. But I think that would be a better idea for you for the moment. I'm going to go see about the pack for a little while."

Yami did not move for a long moment. His red eyes caught and studied his for a moment. Then he rose to his feet and brushed himself off. He considered the smaller teen, lowering his eyes, and turned away with a shake of his head. "Why are you going to disturb them?"

"I have to talk to Obelisk about something."

The deity's name made his eyes flicker, darkening drastically and turning to him immediately. They caught his once more, burning there briefly. Then he snorted loudly, a scornful noise, and turned to make his way to Yugi's room again.

"I'll see you when you get back."

Yugi hesitated, surprised by the sharp answer. "Okay. I'll see you then."

---

Obelisk, he called immediately, huffing under his breath. He pricked his ears forward and slowed his steps, searching the camp rapidly for the other wolf. There was a long moment of silence as the other canines all looked up curiously but did not say anything to greet him. There was a sense of tension within the camp but he ignored the entirety of it and raced forward once more. Obelisk!

The deity came from his side, a dark shadow trotting across the snow. Yugi blinked and stopped immediately there in front of the other wolf. His head turned and his tail wagged as the gray canine paused there, ears flicking and eyes searching his for a moment. Yes?

I need to talk to you about something.

Obelisk considered him silently for a moment. Are you thinking to speak to me about the rank of which Yami will fall upon now that he is healthy enough to remember? he asked slowly, a curt response that sounded rather distracted as well. Yugi blinked at him, eyes wide and ears flicking about for a moment. The other wolves within the camp did not so much as blink or raise their heads to look towards him.

Many of them were actually pacing about or growling softly. Yugi spotted Echo staring off towards something further within the area, Yusei pacing and bristling faintly before trotting back and forth rapidly. Serena had begun to bristle but was not doing much else. Eurea had her eyes locked on Echo, ready to leap to her paws should something come to happen.

The sight made him turn quickly back to the gray wolf. What's going on? he demanded.

A pack came forth to see you, the deity answered with a simple shrug. His eyes flickered across his own for a moment, his ears flicked about once more. And then he narrowed his gaze briefly and tilted his head more pointedly towards the other canine. The leader is requesting to see you. Echo and Aki have been growing distressed because of how they've been asking to meet you.

He blinked. Oh, he muttered, bewildered by the very concept. Then he huffed again. Right.

Yugi did not pause now to keep from rushing forward. He trotted rapidly, without a single glance back, and headed the direction of which he saw the other wolves looking. Obelisk was at his side in an instance, voice quiet for a moment as he murmured, Do you not want to know more about them?

The white canine glanced at him sideways. Not really.

How brave of you to simply rush into such a thing, no?

I'm not too worried about it. And he wouldn't have called it brave. He would have called it reckless.

They glanced at one another for a moment or two. Then Obelisk snorted and shook his head with a dismissive expression. The deity moved in front of him, almost as if he meant to cut him off. Obelisk stared at him for a moment, his body squared in a way that made him falter in his step. It occurred to him only then that the other meant to impress caution upon him. He wondered at the idea of it, bristling faintly at the thought that perhaps a pack of wolves that had come to aid him might have enough violence to make even Obelisk more cautious. He flicked an ear and then slowed his steps as well.

What took you so long to respond to me anyways? Yugi asked in an effort to make the situation less tense than it was. He flicked his ears again, running his tongue over his nose briefly. Then he tilted his head and glanced at Obelisk sideways for a moment. The gray wolf blinked at him in response, then snorted softly and moved to match his pace. I was almost worried that you weren't here.

I was teaching some battle techniques with a couple of the other wolves. Otogi and Yusei need a lot of practice.

Yugi blinked. Otogi is a lover, not a fighter, huh?

Obelisk snorted and glanced at him sideways again, chuckling, Is that a human expression? There's no such thing as a lover versus a fighter. You have to fight for your affections; otherwise you would give up when the first sign of resistance is shown.

He flicked an ear. It's an expression about someone being more willing to be peaceful than violent when things become stressful, he said simply. It means that they're more likely to find a diplomatic means of solutions rather than fight with someone else like you or Yami would.

I don't think that's a fair assessment. I am sure Yami would be more likely to listen if he found reason to.

Yugi snorted. No defense for yourself?

Not at all. If I am threatened, I will kill my opposition.

The two of them glanced at each other sideways for a brief moment. Then they blinked and hurried forward again. Obelisk slowed after a few minutes and Yugi did the same. It was only then that he noticed that they were further into the woods rather than near the base of the camp. The pack must have forced the wolves to remain hidden there in order to keep them from discovering their stronghold. The wolf was quiet for a long moment, the two of them silent for a few minutes.

So you guys forced the wolves to stay back here…why?

The wolf blinked at him in surprise. He insisted. It had nothing to do with me or the others in the slightest. He seemed to shrug after a moment, then slowed drastically once more. The deity glanced at the white wolf as the other blinked at him again. You would be surprised how easily they settled for remaining here rather than going to the camp. They felt that it was more important to meet you before they were ever to enter the camp.

Yugi flicked an ear and nearly flattened them against his skull uncomfortably. That's…kind of odd, he admitted, but part of him could understand this as well. He knew well enough that wolves were extremely territorial. And he remembered the way that the wolves had turned on Echo and proclaimed that she would be a sacrifice in order to strengthen him. The thought made him want to vomit but he shook it off as he wandered forward slowly.

It was a lot smarter for them to remain where they were. There were two packs all merged into one within the camp as it was, with over thirty wolves to be recognized and fought against should they have turned on him. It was enough to make any alpha with common sense simply pause and back away from the thought of potentially angering them. But then there was the third pack as well, wasn't there? There was the Sapporo pack, the one with the two alphas Yoko and Yusho—though he truly mostly only remembered Yuya more than them. But he had done nothing with them either, avoiding them for as much as he was worth in all reality. He would have to change that soon as well…

The wolf that stood in front of the pack was immense, with a broad head and huge shoulders. His coat was a dark burgundy which soon faded into dark brown like chocolate and the sight of it made Yugi feel almost nervous. The white canine flicked his ears, glancing sideways towards Obelisk as he murmured, He's huge.

He is muscular, yes, but he is still an inch smaller than you. His gray ears flicked. Far more muscular than you yourself seem to be. That is what a true wolf looks like when they fight and hunt and know their abilities as well as they should. He is the example of a lycanthrope that knows himself well enough and has utilized training to realize every possibility that his body might possess.

Yugi tilted his head, looking at him sideways. Yeah, thanks for that, you jackass, he sneered. I am well aware of the standard that you and Yami and Slifer have all set. Thanks for reminding me even more.

Obelisk snorted. You are welcome. He allowed Yugi to pass him as they got closer and the white wolf halted a foot away from this large male. Was Obelisk even right in saying that he was smaller than him? The wolf looked so big it was ridiculous to even attempt to measure himself against it.

So… The white canine flicked his ears back and forth. Many of the other wolves were lean or large just as the alpha himself was. It was bewildering to him to see such a thing. They were not as varied in shape as the American, Domino or Sapporo pack. They all tended to have extremely similar shapes and sizes and it amazed him at the moment.

It is a pleasure to meet you, Code Name Atem. The wolf bowed before him so deeply that his chin touched the snow and his back seemed to pop from the formation, as if he were simply stretching in front of him. His eyes were sparkling, a deep gray color which showed blue only around his enlarged pupils. The wolf only rose a moment or so later when Yugi glanced away towards Obelisk again. The realization came to him that this alpha had been awaiting his approval to stand up again.

Yugi watched him for a moment, then pricked his ears forward. Uh…yes, a pleasure, he muttered, unsure of what more he should or could possibly say. Then he tilted his head and stared at him with darkened eyes. But why are you here?

The deity beside him snorted out a breath so roughly that it almost startled him. But it was the large wolf in front of him which surprised him more. Its head tilted and then laughter boomed through his head, startling him. Yugi bristled faintly, unnerved by the idea, and he nearly snarled in dismay for a brief moment. Then he shook it off and peered at him uncomfortably.

It took a few long minutes for the wolf to stop guffawing at him. And then, as if he'd been struck, the red-and-brown-furred wolf blinked and slowly tilted his head. The gray eyes became startled and bewildered as they looked at each other. And then he pricked his ears forward and stared at him pointedly. For a few seconds the canine peered at him blankly. And then, finally, he flattened his ears and glanced over his shoulder at the other wolves. They all were watching with similarly baffled expressions.

You're…joking, right?

Yugi flicked an ear uncomfortably, uncertain as to what he might say for the moment. Then he looked at the snow for a split second and turned back. Does it seem like I'm joking? he asked rather harshly before he could stop himself. Why are you all coming now anyways?

Obelisk moved forward a step, a slight snarl on his face. Relax, the deity growled at him. He is not even angered that you asked him such a foolish question. You should stop before he shows you what he's capable of as far as his physical strength goes.

The white wolf hesitated for a long time. Then he flicked his ears and tilted his head. Finally he turned away with what he could only guess would be a grimace or perhaps a scowl across his face. Then he shrugged it off and turned to the alpha again. I am sorry. I should not have snapped at you like that. Regardless, you know my name and I do not know yours.

It was an easy enough prompting to get the other to give his name, the red and brown wolf blinking wide gray eyes and then wagging his tail slightly. My apologies, Atem. I am Nistro, he announced, and for the first time Yugi noticed the smallest nick in his right ear. It looked almost as if it had been cut slightly by a cat's claw rather than a wolf's teeth. But he seemed more unnerved as he stared at the white wolf for a long moment.

Yugi nodded slightly. Well then, welcome to Hokkaido, Japan.

Thank you. He hesitated a moment longer, then tilted his head and pricked his ears forward more pointedly. But you must realize that we came as per required of the lycanthropes' pledge to Atem, yes?

The white wolf blinked, long and slow, and then tilted his head slowly and snorted loudly. Pledge? he demanded almost icily, the thought making him nearly snarl. What pledge?

Nistro stared at him as if he could not fathom how it was that Yugi even existed at the moment. He looked at him as if he did not understand how he might be standing in front of him, as if his stupidity were the most amazing aspect about him. The white wolf felt abruptly small and childish as he took in that sharp look in his dark eyes. Surely you remember that all lycanthropes are sworn by blood to come to the aid of Code Name Atem, no matter what the cost? He paused. We are willing to lay our lives down for the sake of your survival the moment it might become necessary.

Yugi stared at him for a moment. Then he glanced at Obelisk sideways for a split second. The two of them considered each other until the white wolf turned away with a flick of his ears. He should have known. He should have known that was what he meant. It was a wonder that he'd forgotten considering all of what had been proclaimed before. Mai and Otogi had told him as much before. Hell, he was almost certain that even Yami had told him such a thing beforehand.

---

"The alpha said that they would always come to help Code Name Atem, no matter the circumstances or anything like that," Yugi commented quietly, feeling sick as he looked at him now. He frowned and licked his lips, searching his face and peering at him uncomfortably. "He said it's because of who I am that they'll always do that. They'll come to my every beck and call."

Yami blinked and tilted his head, looking over at him from his position on the floor watching the small television without any true sense of curiosity. Then he blinked again, furrowing his brows, processed his words once more. His eyes narrowed after a moment, he snorted and turned away, and his voice was scratchy when he muttered, "I told you that once before."

Yugi hesitated for a moment, thinking back for a split second before sighing softly. "Okay, but I want to know more about what makes them think this is worth it, Yami," he answered quietly. "Because, I'm not going to lie. I haven't honestly done much for any of them to make them think that I'm worth following like that. I'm not even sure that I should be able to call myself Atem at this rate."

The wolf blinked at the screen. They were saying something about how Domino City's economy was suffering, though not too terribly. Then Yami blinked again, turning his head and looking over his shoulder with a raised brow and a shrug of his shoulder. "Why do you think such a thing? You could not have done so terribly in the time I was gone."

"Do you honestly think that if you hadn't bitten me that I would be worth your time right now?"

Yami blinked and slowly sat up, turning around with darkened eyes. "I considered you a friend before you asked me that," he said in a calm tone, staring at him with an annoyed expression. "You do understand that I would never have crossed paths with you in any other way, yes? Had you not been bitten when I went into that alley, you would not have survived nor would I have ever cared to befriend you in the slightest."

"But if you found out that my name was Atem?"

He stared at him silently for a few heartbeats. Then he blinked and turned away to stare at the television again. "I do not think for even a second that I would have attempted to cross paths with you, regardless of hearing that you might be Code Name Atem. Atem is nothing that I would want to cross paths with," he stated simply. "Had I not met you by chance that night in the alley, I would never have cared to cross paths with you, regardless of what name you took on later."

Yugi stared at him blankly for a long minute, then found himself moving to Yami's side. He stood there, unable to say anything more, staring back at the red-eyed teen. The other boy refused to look back at him for a long minute. Then, almost as if he were ashamed, he lowered his eyes towards Yugi's sneakers, and finally slowly raised them up to peer at him from beneath his lashes. They stared at one another for a long moment. And then Yugi sighed softly with a shake of his head.

"You wouldn't even be interested at all?"

Yami snorted spitefully and tipped his head up, glaring at him with darkened eyes. "Why would I ever be interested in finding death before it finds me?" he answered in a cold voice. He shifted to sit up and stared at him for a long handful of minutes. "Yugi, I care for you…a lot. But if I had not known you, I would not care for even a moment to find out who Atem is."

Yugi searched his face for a long moment. Then he drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. His blue-violet eyes flickered about his for a moment when he opened them again before, finally, he tilted his head and smiled faintly. "That's…" He paused for a few heartbeats. Then he smiled a little more and shook his head. "That's good."

Yami stared back at him, considering the simple statement. Then he snorted and shook his head. "You believe that to be good?" he asked slowly. "Do you truly?"

"It means that you're not going to run off and get yourself killed anytime soon. So, yeah, I think that's a good thing. Honestly, I think that's amazing." Yugi hesitated for a moment, then licked his lips and bit the inside of his cheek and scratched uncomfortably at his wrist. "It's not at all like all of the wolves in the pack. And I'm happy that you don't have that same mentality."

The other boy stared back at him for a long handful of minutes. Then he shifted to sit up straight and looked back at him with darkened eyes. "I am not weak-minded," he said simply, turning away to look at the television once more. "And I am not one to follow the rest of the sheep when the herd of them tries to do the same."

"Good." Yugi fell silent again, then sighed softly and shook his head after a breath. "But I want to know something, Yami."

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted to know if you ever…? I mean, if you think about it, what do you think happened to make the gods even agree to create Atem in the first place?"

Yami stayed quiet for a moment, then narrowed his eyes into slits and considered him for a few seconds longer. His heartbeat seemed to slow in his chest. He tilted his head, watching him with darkened eyes, and muttered, "I think it happened around the time of the Werewolf Witch Trials. I believe that's around the time that the lycanthropes were almost entirely decimated due to such terrible paranoia. And that caused the gods to come back to tell them that there would always be someone to protect and guide them in some way, even when they were not there for them to see."

"That's not too long ago."

Yami shook his head slowly. "That might have been more when the wolves began to pray for his birth. But maybe I'm wrong. I don't think I truly know. I think that it's more the fact that he was first told to them during around the time of the war that happened during the Ice Age. But I might not be correct in that either. I am not old enough to know when he was first mentioned. All I know is that he has been passed down for generations in story, told to be a beacon of faith or something like that. I'm not sure beyond that."

Yugi looked at the television for a moment. The low volume made him tilt his head slightly. They were talking about the geography now, though it no longer revolved around just Domino. "Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything."

"No, it does not upset me in the slightest."

"No?"

"Not at all."

They fell silent for a moment. The documentary went on, until Yami abruptly reached out and clicked the power button to turn the small screen off, turning to him with darkened eyes. "No, it does not upset me in the slightest. But I want to know something from you now, Yugi."

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to him with a surprised expression.

"Do your mom and grandpa know that I am here?" he asked slowly. "Because I have a feeling that she might be suspicious of that and your grandfather seems to linger a little too long behind that door at times. And I want to know now if that's the case."

Yugi blinked wide eyes, mouth opening and closing before shaking his head rapidly and furrowing his brows. "No, I don't think so. I haven't told either of them that you're back. I mean, I mentioned it to my mom that yeah, you came back and I've seen you. I said that we'd spoken. But I never said that you were back in the house or anything like that."

Yami considered him for a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows, considering the idea. His head tilted, his gaze darkened further, and then he nodded slowly. "Okay. So then they must have heard us at some point. Perhaps she is suspicious because she's heard you speaking to me at some point or another. Like earlier today."

Yugi cringed. "Yeah, she definitely didn't believe me at all when I lied to her before."

The red-eyed teen shook his head as well. "No, she did not."

The smaller boy opened his mouth to speak again, then hesitated. For a brief moment he went to try again. Then he shut his mouth once more. A second passed. He shook his head after a moment, opening and closing his mouth before he shut his eyes. "Do you want to—?"

Yami turned his head but stopped short as his eyes flickered away to the door. He scrambled for his feet and covered Yugi's mouth with his hand before his question could be spoken completely. The smaller teen froze beneath his touch, eyes wide and horrified as the two of them stared at one another. The taller wolf shook his head and jerked his chin towards the door where now Yugi could hear the sound of another heartbeat. Yugi blinked wide eyes, feeling sick to his stomach for a split second.

"Yugi?"

He hesitated for a moment as Yami withdrew his hand and turned his head towards the door once more. "Yeah, Mom, what's up?" he called, ignoring the way that the red-eyed wolf was staring at the slab of wood and its doorknob. If she simply turned the knob, she would be able to come in. And Yami would have to drop and hide as quickly as he could. But part of him doubted that he could move fast enough. And another part of him was spiteful in its sneer that he could perhaps simply turn sideways and become invisible to her, he was so thin and skeletal.

He felt sick at the thought. In an instant he backed away from the other boy, shaking his head when Yugi looked at him in alarm. They stared at one another for a long minute, the two of them seemingly in mirroring states of breathlessness. The wolf blinked at him, red eyes flickering away to the door again, listening for a moment for any words he might have missed.

"I need some help with this."

Yugi blinked and furrowed his brows. "With what?" he asked quietly, confused. "What do you need help with exactly?"

Yami moved back a few more steps, then lowered himself onto the floor again. He backed up to press his shoulder into the mattress and peer up at Yugi with slightly widened eyes. They looked at each other for a few moments, then the small teen blinked and licked his lips. Yami turned away again as quickly as he could, crossing his legs and lowering his eyes to the carpet. His nails scraped through the rough fibers for a few long moments and Yugi looked him over for a heartbeat.

"Just come downstairs. We don't have that much time."

Yugi felt sick, realization creeping over him. She had a surgery. She wanted him to help her with it. He looked to Yami, lowering his voice to a mere whisper. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay?" The wolf blinked up at him, confused but not without a sense of knowledge towards the realization. Yugi nodded at him and turned away quickly to make his way out the room without a second glance. When he got out to the hallway, he heard the second door of the staircase closing and he hurried after her.

Kasumi was in the back by the time he got there as well. He changed quickly into the scrubs, huffing under his breath to expel some of the tension in his muscles, and followed her into the surgery room. He swallowed hard as he saw the large dog and his stomach knotted as he looked at her for a split second. It looked like off-white, almost like a solid silver malamute. He considered it, eyes searching the canine's jagged body. The dog had to have been in a rather bad dog fight. The wounds looked like immense bites to the sides and shoulders rather than an injury from a collision with a car. He wondered at the sight, whether perhaps another wolf had grown as hungry as Yami had when he'd hunted the black-and-white dog and cornered it beneath the Burger World dumpster.

He remembered yelling at him for wanting to eat the dog. He remembered and hated himself fleetingly for ever having done so. And he felt sick to his stomach as he looked at the wounds uncomfortably. Then he moved to help his mother with the anesthetics and the tools, mechanical in his actions rather than giving more care towards the situation altogether. He felt worse than ever now, as he monitored the heart rate and listening to his mother performing the necessary sutures.

"Hey, Mom?"

She hummed in response, not bothering to speak. He watched her continue to snip and stitch the wound, ignoring him in order to keep up with the action. The lycanthrope stared at the dog for a moment, not looking back towards the monitor.

"Uh, I…I wanted to tell you that I…I invited—"

There was a loud beeping noise. His head snapped around. His mom cursed viciously. "You were supposed to be watching him!" she snarled at him, nearly spitting angrily. Yugi startled and looked at the animal and back towards the monitor in a swift toss of his head. He opened and closed his mouth once, then blinked in alarm and grimaced. His mouth opened and closed quickly and he hesitated for a long moment as his stomach curled and gargled with pain.

"Oh gods…"

"Damn it, Yugi," Kasumi snapped, but she had moved fast enough to stabilize him again. The small teen could not have told anyone how she had managed the feat. It seemed almost impossible to him. But he supposed she had to have lowered the anesthesia to help it regain its heart rate. He considered it, then shook his head slowly in open bewilderment. "What the hell?"

She was glaring at him now. Yugi flinched when he spotted the fury in her glare, his mouth drying out as they looked at one another for a split second. Yugi turned away quickly and drew in a deep breath.

"Well?" she spat. "What happened? Why weren't you paying attention like I asked you to?"

Yugi cringed once more, drawing in a deep breath and looking away quickly. "I just…" He shrugged after a moment and refused to look up. "I wanted to talk to you about something that—"

"You want to talk?" she snapped angrily. "You really want to talk, Yugi? How about we go with this then? You're never home. I hardly see you anymore. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I'm getting really tired of it. I'm beyond done with waiting for you to show up in the middle of the night when you think that I'm asleep and waiting around for you to speak up when I know that you never will. I've been trying to let you do whatever you want within reason. And now I don't see you. I don't talk to you. And I don't even have any influence on whether you skip school or not any longer because you refuse to listen to me to begin with."

Yugi blinked, startled by the subject of conversation. Then he bristled faintly, thrown off balance with the idea of the words. He opened and closed his mouth once, then twice, and found his tongue all but glued to the roof of his mouth as he blinked stupidly at his mother. When had she begun to feel like this?

He realized after this thought that she had mentioned something similar only a week or so prior. Had she not told him that she thought she did not know him anymore? Had she not told him that when he'd come in late that night? And what of the concern she showed towards the possibility of his arrest that he himself did not care for?

"Mom—"

She had gone back to stitching the canine's side, her movements expert and fast enough to keep the momentum but slow enough that it would not cause additional pain to the dog later. "You skip school. You don't seem to care about your future anymore. You don't even seem to care about your friends any longer. I haven't heard about them or seen them around in a while now. And what is it all over? Some boy that you have a crush on? Are you serious right now?"

He flinched. "That's not—"

"That's not true?" she spat. "Really? Because you must be confused if you think for even a second that you've shown me anything else recently. Because you clearly do not care. You clearly have no understanding of what is up against you in the first place. You don't listen. Your grades are clearly going downhill. I've gotten numerous calls about the fact that you've been skipping and missing out on school. Good job, by the way, self-sabotaging your own future like that. You sure know how to make a parent proud, huh?"

He recoiled as if she'd struck him, eyes wide with shock at the words. Then he bristled and scowled at her, shaking his head angrily. "That's not…" He shook his head. "I'm not doing this right now."

"So you don't actually want to talk. I didn't think you did. Now make yourself useful and hand me the scissors."

Yugi shook his head slowly, watching her with darkened eyes. But he did reach over and grab the scissors, handing them to her and bristling as they looked at one another for a moment. He huffed and narrowed his eyes but did nothing more as he turned away with a glare. "No, I guess I don't want to talk then," he finally relented. "But don't get pissed at me later when you find out about what's going on for yourself."

"Whatever."

He nearly laughed at the response, startled. She had not truly said that to him before, not without acting out the way she would have said it in high school. It reminded him abruptly of just how young she actually was, of how little distance there truly was in their age. It made him grimace and he fought away the impulse to apologize and try to bury himself in her arms. It hurt to consider how much he had ignored in the last few years that he'd tried his hardest to regain his own sense of self and independence. There had been so many times he'd tried to shield himself and regain what little he could to fight back against the constant need to hide behind his own medication and various night terrors and impulses. He had tried his hardest to find ways around the anxiety, the terrors, the panics, the various hallucinations and problems that had continued to arise.

"I'm sorry, Mom."

She scowled at him when she looked up again. Then she snorted, shaking her head with an expression that was full of bitterness, and turned away. She eventually put the cone around the dog's neck, removing the tube from its throat. And then she looked at him again, snapping, "Why are you still here? You can leave and go upstairs again now."

The small teen opened and closed his mouth. Then he glanced at the dog, her, and nodded and turned away to make his way up the stairs again. Yugi got back to his room with a sinking feeling in his stomach, his heart in his throat and his mouth dried out. He knew he would need to stay home for the next few days; he was sure of it, in fact. There would be no sneaking off to the camp. There would be no more he could do than tell someone within the pack that he was going to be remaining away for that amount of time. With the new pack on top of it, he did not believe that the wolves would be too receptive of the idea in the slightest, either. They would not be happy with him at all. And he doubted that the wolves would be too incredibly enthusiastic to remain under his leadership after that.

He stepped into his room with a feeling of sickness in his stomach, but he did not bother to do more than pull his phone out and dial the number he knew would provide him with the best solution. The other teen answered a few rings later, the smaller boy running a hand through his hair happily at the realization that he might have some kind of connection which he could fall upon.

"Hey, Jonouchi, I need to ask you to do a favor for me," he said, cutting through the friendly salutations in order to get his attention. He hoped to the gods that perhaps this would allow the blond to understand that it was not something to be taken lightly. If he could understand immediately that it had to do with the wolves in this way, then it would help to keep him from having to explain too much.

There was a single second of hesitation. Then the blond nodded and muttered, "Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm staying home for a few days," he announced simply. "So I'm not going to be doing more than going to school and coming back to the house."

It took only a moment for the other to catch his meaning, and he imagined his honey-brown eyes widening and his mouth opening for a brief second into an almost perfect "o" formation. He imagined him nodding slightly as he murmured, "I'll go ahead and tell them then. That's…what you wanted, right?"

"Exactly. Thanks." He hesitated for a moment. "It'll only be a few days, so nothing to worry about."

"Right, okay. I'll tell them." He paused for a long moment. "I'm about to go to bed in a minute, so I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"No, I'm taking tomorrow off again. I'll see you on Monday instead."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Okay. I guess that works then. I'll see you on Monday then, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks again. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye."

Yugi tossed his phone onto the bed. Maybe his curt way of speaking to him had alienated them a little. But it couldn't have been too terrible a thing. It sucked, but at the same time he needed someone to relay the message. He did not have much time to do elsewhere with the statement in question. It was not something that he had considered being more than brief about. It was necessary. And he supposed he would have to apologize to him later.

But Obelisk could handle the rest. If the wolves became discontent, he was sure his beta could handle it. He frowned at the thought, then tilted his head as he looked around the room. He furrowed his brows, a sense of shock and loneliness creeping through him.

Fuck.

"Yami?"

Just as he'd suspected, the wolf was long gone from within his room. The red-eyed teen had vanished almost without a trace. But he looked towards the window and his stomach clenched as he stared at the sight in front of him. The locks had been turned to undo themselves, the window at some point opened. He grimaced and swallowed hard. The snow was visibly disturbed, the clear footprints lying there in front of him. He looked at the shingles there, his eyes on the gray slate design, and narrowed his eyes as he shook his head and swallowed hard again.

Yami had wandered off on his own. He had left the room and was long gone, within the forest or quite possibly hiding away near where the pack remained. Despite having agreed not to just earlier that day, he'd left…and Yugi had no idea where he might have gone.

Had he gone back to the camp? The small teen blinked and furrowed his brows, wondering at the idea, considering why it was that the black wolf might have gone about heading there. He felt sick for a moment, thinking perhaps that the other lycanthrope might have gone for the sake of food. He'd meant to ask him if—

His phone was vibrating. He blinked, pulling it from his pocket and furrowing his brows. When he answered, his voice was puzzled, half-breathless as he muttered, "Jonouchi? What's…what's up?"

"Well, I told Obelisk about what happened. He said it was fine. But the others are pretty confused about what's going on."

Yugi blinked and shook his head. "Wait…you're there?"

"Yeah, I'm spending the night here."

"What? Why would you…?" He faltered, blinking, and bit the inside of his cheek as he shook his head. Mai. He had to have been staying there for the sake of spending time with Mai. It had to be the fact that the she-wolf was going to seduce him or perhaps it was simply because she wanted him to stay there at the camp as a wolf. He wondered if his dad knew that this was happening. "Do I need to cover for you?"

"Huh? Uh, no, no you don't have to. He didn't come home anyways."

Yugi was quiet for a long moment. "He didn't…?" He blinked and narrowed his eyes further. He hadn't come home? Had something happened? He nearly bristled, then felt his stomach knotting with a sense of panic in his gut. "Any idea why not?"

"He probably found someone to sleep with, I don't know." He sounded rather scornful, perhaps even slightly bitter, and Yugi had the idea that perhaps he was hiding out at the camp for an entirely different reason. Had his dad hurt him again? Was that why he was hiding away there for the night? He swallowed hard and shook his head, running a hand through his hair uncomfortably. "It doesn't really matter."

The small teen blinked. "What? Why would you say that? Of course it matters…"

"Not really. I don't think I really care what he does anymore."

Yugi was silent for a moment. So then something had happened. "Are you okay? If you need to come over, I can bandage you up or anything like that." He wondered if it was truly necessary now that he was a lycanthrope. Jonouchi was not a weak person, so it should have been easy for him to heal and—

"Nah, dude, it's fine. It's healed already. Besides, even if it hadn't, it would be good again within a couple of days. So it would kind of be a waste of time to come up here like that."

The small teen tilted his head and frowned. "Okay," he agreed. He didn't want to fight with him, his mind already turning another direction and racing with the idea that perhaps he needed to see whether he could find some clue as to where Yami had gone. "Well, go ahead and tell me if anything happens tonight, okay? Text me or call me if you need to."

"I'll do that, man. Don't worry."

"Okay, good. I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye."

"Talk to you later. Bye."

He didn't look when he hung up, instead peering out the window again. There were clear indentations there to show the footsteps within the snow. He saw the spot that he had landed. He saw where the wolf had begun to move aside and walk along. Yugi hesitated for a moment, feeling almost sick for a split second. The lycanthrope swore he could map his movements throughout the darkness. He must have been in the forest by then, changed and hunting rather than doing anything else.

But he had to wonder if perhaps that had changed. Had Obelisk found him? Had Yami found Obelisk? Had they challenged each other?

Had they fought?

Was Yami wounded?

Was Obelisk wounded?

Were they both lying around in the snow, bleeding and panting for air?

Were they winded and trying to stand up?

Were they fighting and killing each other?

Yugi stared out at the snow, at the footsteps. He shook his head, feeling sick, and swallowed hard. And then he wondered if perhaps the other teen had wounded himself further. Had he hurt himself with that jump? Had he hurt himself during the Change at some point? Had he further hurt himself in challenging Obelisk?

What if he was bleeding there in the snow, Obelisk having left him there to die?