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.

65. Relief

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Hopefully biweekly

Chapter Warnings: GRAPHIC Description of Seizures, Blood, Gore, Death, Slight Anxiety Attack

Ploy: I'm glad you liked the chapter so much. Yeah, Kasumi was kind of just fed up by then. She really doesn't understand when or how Yugi became so attached to Yami like this. But then again, she also doesn't know how long Yami has been around him and living in the house. Anyways, so! Yugi was not as affected by the poison because he was healthier. Yami couldn't push the poison properly out of the body because he was not healthy enough to do it. In fact, if he'd changed in the middle of any of his seizures, he'd probably have all but destroyed himself in the meantime and gone into a much more feral state even though he'd be unable to move or even do much properly, basically reducing him into a vegetable. Technically it would ruin the plot to explain anything to do with Atem, but yes, Yugi is Atem. Yugi is still very much Atem. That's really all I can really say about that. Well! Yugi's whole reason to get his mom involved was to save Yami so, as long as Yami was saved, it means it was a success and a good choice to him! He won't regret anything as long as Yami is okay at the end of it!

Part V

Chapter LXV: Relief

Work Log Entry LVIII: February, 2006

February 1

Being starved for two weeks has done nothing. Atem has become furious and aggressive in turn. He is not healing or showing further signs of illness in any way.

I have decided to give him food again despite the order not to.

In doing so he seemed to recover, if only slightly, by way of allowing him more room to gain mild fat and spur his healing.

February 18

His vital signs have improved now. He seems much stronger mentally than he was before. But beyond this, Atem has not changed.

Yet again he seems to be sick without explanation.

February 28

Atem is showing clear signs of recognition once more.

He has taken to moving out of the way for us when we come to retrieve him from his cage again. He has begun to lead us to the rooms of his experiments as necessary once more. And he seems to recognize me again.

Yugi swore to everything good in his life that he was going to lose it if Yami would not move from his little nest of blankets. The wolf would simply stare at him when he would try to tell him to go elsewhere. Yugi would gesture and tell him. He would even snap his fingers and point. Yami would simply blink at him as if he had been crazy, eyes staring blankly up at him as if he were some foreign and incredibly stupid creature. The wolf would flick his ears, then point them at him when he would snap his fingers again.

But he would not move.

And he would not so much as blink at Yugi if he attempted to startle him into moving a second time when he would snap his fingers again. The small teen would try a third or fourth time, see that it was ineffective, and finally look away again. It was impossible to make the wolf pay attention to him for longer than it took for Yami to consider him and lay his head back down again.

But at least the wolf would eat. And at least he would drink the milk when he would give it to him. He would simply swallow it down without a second look. And then he would gulp the food down and lick the metal bowl clean as he had the first couple of times Yugi had fed him. Sometimes Yami would snarl when the small teen would take the metal bowl away from him. Sometimes he would simply nudge it with his nose as if encouraging him to take it away and refill it. Other times, however, he would simply stare at him as if daring him to reach for them. He would look at him as if he might be able to see through his soul.

The wolf blinked up at him now, raising his head and licking his lips. Yugi rolled his eyes and put the two bowls down for him. In an instant dark-furred canine lunged forward to dig into his meal. He lapped up the milk before Yugi could blink and then swallowed and gulped down the pork he'd put the medication inside of. The wolf flipped them both with his paws again, looking up at Yugi with his ears pricked forward and his eyes burning.

Yugi smiled at him, then moved to grab the bowls again. The wolf tilted his head to the side and licked his lips. The small teen did not bother to do more than simply grab the bowls and put them in the sink. He rinsed them out, cleaned them again, and began to prepare a second meal for him. The canine whined from within the living room, clearly anticipating food and trying to remind him of his hunger.

"Is he still doing okay?"

Yugi blinked as he mixed the goat's milk. It was rather startling to him to realize that his grandfather had snuck up on him like this. He had been so caught up in the task of making Yami's food that he'd forgotten his mother and grandfather were even still in the house with them. He blinked and looked over his shoulder. The elderly Motou was watching him from the doorway with a curious expression.

"Yeah, he's awake and eating without any vomiting or diarrhea. So I think that's probably something to be grateful for," he muttered, but he fought the urge to say that he knew Yami would not do the latter. His body was breaking down every cell in order to heal him. He was eating as much as Yugi was willing to give him at one time. He was taking the medicine with little issue. He was going to be able to heal himself at some point. He would have his wounds pull themselves together completely and heal and then the fur would grow back.

Yugi would be happy to see that Yami was healthy again. No, he would be ecstatic to see that Yami was healthy and comfortable again. He would not argue or fight or anything with him ever again. Yami would be back to what he knew him to be before this entire incident. He would be larger, muscular, with a coat the color of the night sky and shadows deep enough to be ventablack. He would have vibrant and sparkling red eyes with a million different shades scattered within them. His skin would not be pulled so taut over his skeleton.

"Good." Sugoroku sounded incredibly relieved for him. Yugi blinked and turned his head towards him again, then looked away to work on the powdered milk once more. The wolf whined from in the living room again and he could hear his grandpa moving his head to look over as well. But the small teen did not turn his attention to the canine lying there. Instead he continued working on the milk. "I'm glad to hear that, Yugi."

The smaller teen blinked. "It's pretty amazing," he muttered quietly, sighing softly and shaking his head slightly. He had the impulse to reach up and run his hands through his hair, heart in his throat. He was anxious and distressed by the very idea. And then he shrugged it off again. It was okay. Yami would be fine. He didn't need to pull on his hair because he was overwhelmed. He exhaled softly. "Let's hope he keeps doing that."

"I doubt he'll stop."

Yugi nodded dismissively. Then he pushed the goat's milk aside and emptied a new container of raw ground beef into the stainless steel water bowl. He broke the capsule and dusted the meat in the medicine, then turned on the faucet and rolled it up into something of a meatball formation. He rinsed his hands, then reached out and used his wrist to pump the soap out onto his palm.

"It'll be fine."

"How long do you think it'll take for him to grow his hair back?"

Yugi pursed his lips, exhaling loudly and shaking his head. "I have no idea."

"He looks like a huge pomeranian with a bad haircut."

The small teen snickered and shook his head again. He turned the water off and wiped his hands on his jeans with a backwards glance at him. He grinned playfully. "I don't know. Maybe I'll have him keep that cut when he's all healed up."

His grandfather laughed loudly. "I don't think you could talk him into that."

"No, probably not. But I can definitely still try."

Sugoroku snorted softly and watched him as he headed into the living room. As he'd seen prior, Yugi put the two dishes down as close as possible to Yami without encouraging the wolf to lash out. Yami began to lap up the milk, then ate the beef without a second thought. He flipped both bowls, licked them clean, and then turned to the small teen with a tilted head.

"Sorry, aibou, no more. I'll feed you in a couple of hours but I need to grab more food before I give you anymore." He smiled in amusement and grabbed both bowls, heading for the sink and washing them. Yami whined only once and Sugoroku looked towards the living room to see that the wolf was trying in vain to get up and shift his position. It took only a moment for him to settle for the reality that he could not move beyond this and simply put his chin on his paws again. He closed his dark red eyes and Sugoroku slowly glanced over at Yugi curiously.

"Aibou, huh?"

The small teen hesitated for a moment, then shook his head slowly. "I'm not going to call him Yami right now." He hesitated. "If Jonouchi or Honda come, they'll probably recognize him. But I don't want anyone else to have any idea about the situation. And I don't know if Anzu might have told her dad Yami's name at some point."

"I doubt she would have."

"I wouldn't know. I've pissed her off pretty badly recently. It doesn't really matter, though, I guess." Yugi shrugged. "I just…I think, to be on the safe side for him, I'm going to call him by a nickname instead of his actual name. I don't want to have anything stupid or ridiculous happen just because I've been calling him by his name."

"I don't think I can get behind the idea of calling him aibou, Yugi."

The small teen laughed and shook his head. "I don't care if you or Mom call him by his name. But I don't want you to call him that in front of someone else." He tilted his head and glanced towards the living room. Yami was fast asleep, though he hardly looked comfortable. Yugi wondered how long it might have taken him to regain enough strength to move on his own. He wanted to help him again, but to risk letting his mom or grandpa see the effect of his bite to his hand again… He turned back to his grandpa. "Besides, for right now, I get to pretend he's my dog."

Sugoroku snorted loudly. "I don't think many dogs change shape."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Clearly." He paused. "Mine does though."

His grandpa left after a moment, laughing, and wandered off for his room again. It was strange watching him go, though Yugi did not say anything about it. Instead he turned back towards the living room. Yami was still passed out, as he had expected, but worry bubbled up in his gut as he faced him. It was horrifying to consider that the wolf might have harmed himself in his refusal to get to his paws and walk around as he might have needed. He knew that the muscle was atrophied, however, and it made Yugi reluctant to truly try to make him move. But it occurred to him as well that it could cause it to worsen. If Yami recovered well enough, he still might not be capable of moving as was necessary of him.

He wouldn't budge from the blanket and pillow which had been settled for the wolf to lie upon. It was strange to him that the canine would simply lay there and allow himself to become hurt further. But Yugi knew that he would have to do more. He would have to try to get Yami up and move him off the makeshift bed and out to stretch his limbs at some point. He knew that. It was necessary.

It was a couple of hours later that Yugi came back from the market and set up to bring the bowls to the black wolf again. The canine was still fast asleep at first, though he flicked his ears and opened his eye slowly to look at him. Yugi was kind of amazed by the way that the eye rolled back from behind his head slowly focused first on the spot in front of him and then on Yugi. His nose wriggled once. Then he blinked and lifted his head, turning back to him and looking to the bowls once more. He dug in after a moment and Yugi straightened to his full height. He licked his lips and watched Yami.

"Are you going to work with me for this?" he asked. Yami blinked from where he was digging into his meal. He blinked again and then tipped his head up, watching him with red eyes that looked unnaturally bewildered. Yugi tilted his head slightly. "We need to exercise you so are you going to work with me on this or no?"

The wolf blinked and then looked at his food and back. Then he snorted loudly and began to dig in again. The small teen rolled his eyes after a moment or two. Yami did not glance up at him again and the small teen dusted himself off when he straightened to his full height and turned to make his way downstairs. He would go and get the collar and leash combo and then he would try to put it on around the other lycanthrope's neck. Of course, it was far easier said than done.

As he'd gotten closer to Yami, the wolf had slowly raised and turned his head. He'd emptied both bowls and even rolled one aside with his nose to make more room to lay his chin on his paws. But now he stared up at Yugi with darkened eyes. The sight of his red gaze so narrow as they bore into his own made him slightly nervous. And he realized immediately that Yami sensed it. His eyes darkened further. His ears pricked forward. His tongue flashed to flick over his nose. Yugi recognized the ambivalence display immediately, unsure of what more to do or say for a long moment. The wolf blinked up at him, then simply stared.

The small teen hesitated, biting the inside of his left cheek and searching his face for a moment. Then he shook his head slightly and moved to crouch in front of him. Yami lowered his head, but did not snarl. His eyes were boring into his skin. The whites showed there. But his lips did not draw back. And it shocked him when the wolf remained perfectly still. His head was turned slightly away, muzzle facing towards the couch rather than his hands.

And so he mistook it for surrender.

He'd forgotten the warning in his eyes. He shouldn't have been able to see the whites of them when he was looking at him. The thought that Yami would not fight him was such an immense relief to him that he'd forgotten it entirely.

So when Yami spun on him he wasn't prepared.

The wolf's muzzle slammed into his left hand. Then his teeth opened and caught his right wrist. The bite was a simple warning. It was nip more than as violent as he'd displayed upon Yugi's touching him. Now he did not draw blood. But the skin grew red where his incisors had snapped shut. And his eyes were furious as they looked up at him. Yami did not snarl. He did not blink. He did not flick his tongue over his nose again. He stared up at him steadily. And he watched him as if he expected him to lash out at any moment. The realization made Yugi nearly bristle before he shook it off.

"Look, Yami, we need to see if you can walk."

When he undid the collar's clasp, the plastic buckle made the wolf blink. The canine turned his head slowly. And his eyes narrowed briefly. His ears pricked forward again. His eyes were dilated. And his mouth opened slowly. Yugi watched as his tongue, elongated and unnaturally flattened in his stress, came from between his teeth. They were staring at each other then, watching for what felt like hours.

And Yugi realized that, should he lean forward and try to clasp the collar around his neck, Yami would tear his hand open. And that might not have scared him at all. But the realization was that the stress could do far more harm than good. And so Yugi got to his feet and forced himself to step back. The wolf stared at him once more. His eyes darkened with clear suspicion. But when Yugi stepped back again, he flicked his ears and tilted his head slowly to one side.

It was almost predatory but seemed far more curious than anything else.

Yugi shrugged the thought off and moved into the kitchen to put the collar and leash on the table. He had the feeling that Yami would not do well to get up in the first place. Just hours prior he'd pulled his stitches and Yugi had been forced to redo them in the time that Yami had been knocked out from his sleep medication. The wolf had not stirred slightly after Yugi had given him an IV drip.

He wondered briefly if a blood transfusion would do the wolf any good. Would it heal him or somehow make it worse? Yugi considered the idea for a few minutes. Then he took a seat at the table and propped his elbows on the surface with his face in his hands. It seemed impossible to find an actual blood type to match Yami's. He doubted the lycanthropy would allow something so simple as that to happen. And, should it, he imagined it would be far more destructive than do any good. The realization was enough to make him feel sick as he shook his head and lowered his eyes.

It was a stupid idea to even consider otherwise. It made no sense to try to type him if it would simply cause far more problems than he already had. That was not to say that maybe further studying into the idea would not do him well later. But it was a stretch of which Yugi was not sure he wanted to truly confront. It was something that could easily backfire far worse than he could anticipate. And doing that would do him no good.

Yugi shook his head and turned to the doorway when he heard a sound coming from there. His brow rose and his head tilted in confusion as he thought for a moment of what else he might be able to do. Then he shrugged it off as he turned to the two lingering in the doorway. "You know, breathing the same air as me isn't the way to catch my lycanthropy or my stupidity," he said wryly, cocking a brow when his mother snorted and his grandfather awkwardly shuffled into the room.

"I was just thinking about whether it would disrupt Yami if I went to watch TV out in the living room," the elderly Motou explained uncomfortably. He shot a glance over his shoulder towards the wolf. Yami was fast asleep in that same position he'd been for the last handful of hours. Yugi would have to help him roll over into a more comfortable position later. He was well aware of the wolf's limitations, of how much he would need to help him in the time it took him to recover. It was stunning to him in truth, but he was not about to tell either of them that. "I mean, I didn't want to upset him by turning it on and the volume being too loud or anything like that."

"He's going to be knocked out for a while," the teen said dismissively. He waved it off almost lazily, shaking his head slightly. "The drowsiness seems to hit him pretty quickly. It's almost impossible for him to open his eyes until they metabolize completely for him. He'll be asleep for at least three or four hours before he wakes up again and then I'll feed him and you can keep watching your shows or whatever it is you wanted to do."

Sugoroku turned back to him with a somewhat curious expression. "He won't wake up in the middle of one of the programs and try to attack me or something?" He was teasing, but there was a clear bit of concern in his eyes regardless.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "He can't get up from that blanket," he admitted quietly, sighing. "And I don't think he'll risk doing it just for the sake of scaring you off. I don't even think he'll snarl at you if he wakes up at this rate. I'm pretty sure he's too exhausted to care too much about that kind of thing now."

"He's in that bad a state?" his mom asked, glancing over into the living room as well. The small teen tipped his chair back to spot the wolf more fully. Yami was fast asleep regardless of their conversation. His chin was on his paws. His breathing was steady and even. His ears did not flick in the slightest. His eyes did not open. He would occasionally twitch slightly along the muzzle as his nose would shift rather quickly. But he did not stir beyond this and that hardly seemed to truly disturb him in any manner.

"Did you manage to walk him?"

Yugi blinked, confused by the question. Then he turned back to his grandpa, brows furrowed, and glanced at the nylon on the table. His mouth opened and closed once before he shook his head slowly and turned back to him. "No," he admitted unhappily. "Yami wouldn't let me put it on him at all. He was pretty aggressive about it. He muzzle-punched me and then bit me over it. I wasn't even close enough to get it around his neck in the first place, honestly. It was kind of ridiculous."

Kasumi looked at him curiously for a long moment. Then she shook her head slowly before furrowing her brows and considering him more pointedly. "You should have tried to get it around his neck while he was eating."

"Definitely not," Yugi snorted. He knew the technique from doing so with the dogs at the kennel, but he knew better than to even consider doing so with Yami. "Wolves are way too territorial for that. You wouldn't do that with a wolfdog, you definitely wouldn't do it with a real wolf and especially not a werewolf. Although, I wish I could do that. But he's also extremely scared that I'm going to take his food away right now and eats it as fast as he can. So I have zero plans to try to do that to him anytime soon."

"Then I guess he won't be taking any walks anytime soon, huh?"

"Yami probably wouldn't be able to walk very far in the first place," he admitted reluctantly. He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, then looked away again uncomfortably. "I mean, he's pretty weak and emaciated and I can't see him doing well with that at all. He's going to get hurt way before he'll likely be okay to walk in the first place."

"You're probably right," Kasumi answered quietly. She was looking at the wolf again. "What do you plan to do if he uses the bathroom in the house?"

"I'll clean it up like I would anything else." He raised a brow. "He's not going to for a while, though, Mom. He's not able to. Whatever he eats for a while is going to be completely digested. He's not going to have any excess to poop or pee out. There's just no way."

"Your body can't absorb every cell into nutrients like that. He's got to excrete something."

"No, he doesn't. I've watched him when he was in a similar state to this before and he didn't once use the bathroom."

She looked over at him with a raised brow. "He could have eaten it."

The small teen scrunched his nose up, then turned away with the urge to vomit. He'd never considered that but he did not doubt for even a moment that nothing of the sort had happened. He shook his head slowly. "I was there with him a lot of the time and he didn't once look like he even needed to use the bathroom. And besides that, I have no idea how the lycanthropy works when it comes to that kind of thing, Mom. I don't think he used the bathroom at any point though."

"Then what do you think he did in the time that you weren't there?"

"Snarled at the two wolves that were watching him while I was gone," he snorted, turning back to her with a roll of his eyes. "No, he's fine. I don't think he'll use the bathroom anytime soon. And I don't think you'll have to worry about accidents for a while either. He can't even get up and I don't think for a second that he's willing to ruin his bedding like that. He knows it's a limited spot he can roll around on and he doesn't have any space to do that."

"You're saying that like he's still human and can actively think as one."

"I'm saying that like he's one of the smartest animals in the world. Which he is. Because wolves are almost ten times as smart as dogs. So I don't know where you're going with this, but the point is he's fine for now. If he has an accident, though, I'll clean it up like I would any other mess and I'll take it from there."

"What do you plan to do if he's unwilling to let you put him on a leash in the first place?"

"I'll get pee pads or something. I don't know yet. But it won't be an issue. I'll figure something out."

Kasumi considered him for a long minute. Then she rolled her eyes and looked at her father. "It's the dog Yugi always wanted, I suppose." The remark was made in a scathing tone and Yugi felt his cheeks grow hot with indignation as his lips curled briefly. Then he turned away with a near snarl and ignored the urge to snap at her in response. It wasn't as if he had not considered it himself a little while back, but it still frustrated him all the same. She shouldn't have been saying anything like that about Yami to begin with. He had done nothing wrong.

So Yugi simply rolled his eyes and turned away again. "If he wakes up earlier than I come out here to feed him, call me. I'll come running," he mumbled, reaching over to finger the collar sitting in the center of the table. He flipped it over a few times, then dropped it aside and looked away. He had the smallest urge to yawn, and another to simply lay his head down and snuggle into his folded arms.

"Do you need help with him?"

Yugi blinked and glanced at her sideways. "If you'd like to help me, that'd be great. But you don't need to. It's not too terrible doing it for myself. He's just tired and needs to be fed and given his medication every now and then. It's not that bad getting it done."

---

Yugi was tired as he looked at the red-eyed wolf that was lying on the pillow and blanket a few feet away. He was not curled up, nor did he look entirely too tense. He kept his chin on his paws and his eyes half-closed as the seconds passed. The wolf blinked up at him when he shifted his weight and the small teen grimaced as he saw Yami tilt his head slightly. He looked as if he was hungry, but the timing was off. Yugi would need to wait at least half an hour longer. He did not want to give him more food or medicine than necessary and he was unwilling to risk upsetting his stomach.

So he simply turned away and narrowed his eyes slightly. The wolf blinked at him, clearly impatient for food, but the teen did not bother to look over. He knew that the canine was hungry and he was well aware of the way those red eyes peered at him so pointedly. The small teen leaned forward, elbows propped on his knees, and put his chin in his palms.

"You know, Yami, if you weren't hurt I could actually feed you without worrying about overloading you or your stomach or having to drug you," he commented wryly. The wolf's ears flicked and his head tilted further to the side. His eyes grew narrow, almost as if he were bewildered. His nose wriggled twice, then he flexed his paws, stretching his toes out before slowly clenching them again. "If you hadn't taken on those damn hellhounds you wouldn't be waiting on food right about now, you know? You'd be happy and healthy and I'd have fed you by now since I know you're already hungry."

The wolf blinked at him lazily. None of the words seemed to have even the smallest miniscule effect on the animal in front of him. His eyes were dazed and lazy and he blinked at him without much care, tilting his head and staring back at him pointedly. Yugi rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers along his cheeks.

"You should have just run, you stupid asshole."

The wolf blinked again. Then he swallowed and ran his tongue over his nose. Yugi wondered for a moment if he could understand what he was saying, the words making sense in his head. But then he shrugged it off and shook his head. No, Yami did not recognize him or any of the words he was saying as it was. He was unable to understand beyond basic concepts of food and medicine, Yugi was sure. He knew the wolf was able to smell the medicine and understood that it would be what put him to sleep. He knew that the wolf was capable of understanding the word "food" in the very least.

It was harder for him to understand the other things that came from his mouth.

"I could have dealt with them, you know. That's why my name is Atem." He said the last handful of words in a much quieter tone, stomach coiled with frustration. He watched the other male for a moment, startled when Yami's ears flicked and his eyes focused solely on Yugi for what felt like a lifetime. He looked more irate than anything and Yugi could not tell if that was because he kept talking or if it was the fact that he had said that name. Something about the way he'd reacted left him inclined to think it was the latter.

And Yugi was rather surprised by the idea that he might remember a thing of that nature. But then he wondered if the name still meant something simply for his being a lycanthrope as he was. He was not a naturally born wolf. Perhaps that was the only reason he responded to him in the first place. Yugi looked him over for a moment, then wondered if he might need to sedate him again and then redo his stitches along his sides again. They did not look too terrible but Yugi could never be entirely be sure about such things.

Yami tended not to show outwardly that he was in pain. And other animals were similarly difficult like that. You didn't get as big a warning sign as you did with people. And that seemed especially true for the wolf in front of him. The thought was mildly bewildering and Yugi was exhausted even considering it. Yami would grunt occasionally but he would not yelp any longer. He almost seemed irritable whenever he would so much as exhale too loudly. Yugi had the feeling that he did not want to even consider being weaker than the others in the house. He was surely at the top of the food chain and realized that, but his predicament tended to place him towards the bottom.

Yugi shook his head slightly, flustered by the thought. But doing so wouldn't really do much for him to begin with. He might be able to sympathize a little more with the other male but it did nothing to make him calm down in the slightest. Yugi would still need to check on him later. He'd still need to see that the stitches were not loosening in any manner due to his ravenous gulping down of food. It was frustrating to him to consider that feeding him could also do him harm.

He was aware of the fact that he was most likely not feeding him small enough meals at one time. But if he broke them in half and fed him six times a day instead of three, there was no doubt that Yami would grow upset. And, if he was upset, Yugi doubted that he'd be able to so much as look at Yami without nearly being bitten in the face. The wolf would most likely take it as a punishment and try in turn to retaliate against it.

But maybe risking that was better than not…

"I should kick your ass for doing that."

Yami blinked tiredly, ignoring him now.

"It was completely under control."

He thought, had Yami been human, he might have scoffed loudly and looked at him as if he were stupid. Or perhaps he would have teased him that he was kicking ass so well that he almost believed him. The thought was only mildly amusing. They both knew he would have most likely been killed had it not been for the fact that Yami had come to intervene. And then, had it not been for Slifer, Yugi doubted he would have been capable of recovering Yami's body to begin with.

He owed the goddess for that. She was the only reason they'd managed to escape as it was. He had no problem admitting such a thing but it did upset him in the mildest of manners. Why had she not come sooner? Was it actually true what she and Ishizu claimed about being unable to see him or Yami any longer? Was that truly a possibility? But then…how had she known to come to their aid if that was the truth of it?

It didn't make any sense.

"I had it under control."

He hated the fact that Yami simply blinked at him and opened his eyes halfway. He looked exhausted more than anything. And Yugi felt sick as he considered him for a moment. Was Yami ever to the point that he simply did not care to so much as open his eyes and look at him? But when he muttered again that he should have just left it to him, Yami looked at him with that same tired, unfocused expression. Yugi was sick with the thought that maybe the black wolf would have preferred to simply rest there and fail to open his eyes again.

Not for the first time, Yugi wondered if perhaps Yami simply wished he would not come back to life as it was. He wondered if maybe Yami would have liked to lay there and pass away entirely. But, selfishly, Yugi was happy that Yami was not able to do such a thing by his own desire. It was comforting to him to realize such a thing as it was. And it made him feel dizzy and happy to know that this was not an option that the black wolf was able to choose to do on his own. It was exhausting to Yugi to even consider it, as he was sure that the lupine would have chosen otherwise at this rate. He was sure of it.

There was no question, he felt. Yami had to be exhausted. He had to be in that realm of depression and exhaustion, didn't he? He had to be some sense of understanding for him that he could die permanently were he not a lycanthrope. It was depressing to think that Yami did not have the proper freedom to truly give up on life as others did. He couldn't simply close his eyes and slip away as others could. He was not a dog that could be euthanized as a vet might have suggested.

He wondered if his mom would have suggested that had Yugi not been pleading with her so pathetically to help him. It was stunning to him that his mother might have turned away someone else, but had tried so hard to help Yugi as it was. It was overwhelming for a moment, considering that the wolf could have been left to suffer had it not been for him carrying Yami and begging her…

"You would be dead if you weren't a werewolf."

Yami flicked an ear. He did not seem to be upset by the statement, though he did appear to be more tired than ever. He blinked at Yugi again, almost as if he did not recognize the last word that had left his mouth. But then he closed his eyes as if annoyed and the small teen nearly snickered with amusement.

"You almost got yourself killed. You know, if my mom wasn't a vet, I don't think I ever could have helped you," he hissed, nearly spitting at the wolf in frustration. It made his head spin for a moment as the canine shifted just enough to lick at his jaws. "And if you weren't such a stubborn ass, I bet you would have died from the entire thing, wouldn't you have?"

Yami blinked at him. His ears flicked briefly back and forth for a few moments. Then he closed his eyes again and shifted his weight slightly. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled as if he were releasing a heavy sigh. The wolf did not blink again, nor did he shift his weight a second time.

"You piece of shit," Yugi snapped before he could stop himself. He reached up to grab at his choker now, tugging lightly on the leather there and tapping his nails on the buckle there. His eyes sharpened and he wanted, for the briefest of seconds, to simply lash out at him furiously. Then his heart seemed to shatter within his chest and he shook his head angrily for a few long seconds. He closed his eyes and twisted at the material with disdain. "You shouldn't have done this. You shouldn't have fucking interfered like that. You shouldn't have done this."

The wolf blinked slowly and raised his eyes towards the small teen seated on the couch in front of him. He watched the human as his face seemed to grow harder, into a scowl. His choker was being pulled harder and when he spat, "You should have just turned and run, Yami" the wolf blinked and raised his head. His eyes grew wide, his ears pricking forward and his nose tipped towards the lycanthrope in front of him. The canine blinked and tilted his head, startled as the boy slowly opened his eyes into slits.

He did not seem to be focusing on Yami in any fashion. But he was still snarling under his breath, furious about it altogether. The wolf blinked and shifted his weight. He moved to raise his head completely and stretched his legs out slowly. He almost wanted to get to his feet, but the pain in his legs was too much to allow him the courage to brave such a thing. Instead he blinked slowly and raised his head a little more pointedly.

He wished he could have gotten to his paws and stood up. Instinct said that he do so, that he go to either his side or within his line of sight to take a seat and watch him. He tilted his head slightly and another small impulse came through him to perhaps wag his tail. But the thought of doing so made him feel exhausted. And so he simply looked at Yugi and blinked, tired and beyond himself with the feeling. He wanted for a moment to lick his lips and perhaps crane his neck. Some small part of him almost desired to lick at his fingers or the back of his hand.

But he was exhausted and the very thought of movement was enough to wind him entirely. The wolf blinked and tipped his nose towards the teenage boy in front of him again. His eyes were wide as they bore into his skin and Yugi still failed to look back at him. He could smell the bitter edge of despair that came from the small boy. He could catch beneath that the sour underlining of confusion. Under this was the current of anger, harsh and furious in the boy's raised temperature. He recognized these three, a lethal temperament of power and danger, as the very source of the shaking that seemed to ensnare the small teen now.

The wolf blinked as the teen finally pulled his hand away from his choker and reached up to run his fingers through his hair. His eyes narrowed slightly and he peeled his lips back slowly. There was such strength in which Yugi projected his emotions. It was odd, almost estranged, for him to consider this at all. It stunned him to think about and his claws twitched as he tried for a moment to shift his weight and draw himself to his feet. His tail thumped only slightly.

But the action was enough to make Yugi's head snap up. His blue-violet eyes were dilated, wild, and his vision immediately burned into his own. Yami blinked up at him. And the small teen tilted his head, brows furrowing. But the immensity of his emotional state, the spiral towards the pitfall of a panic attack, had faltered. And now Yami sensed nothing more than confusion. The puzzlement did nothing to entice him any longer. And so he snorted and turned away. His chin lowered to his paws again, eyes half-closed.

Yugi stared at him regardless of this. It was almost surprising to Yami to see him doing such a thing. It was bewildering to him as the wolf looked towards him again. His red eyes were burning into Yugi's seconds later. The teen had shifted his weight and tilted his head, leaning forward as if to study him at closer proximity. The wolf bristled slightly—or he would have had he had the fur. Instead now his lips pulled back slightly and his muscles twitched as they braced themselves beneath his skin.

The small teen stared at him for a long moment.

"Is something wrong?" Yugi finally muttered. He looked at him almost as if he were expecting him to respond. It was odd to the wolf to see that expression in his eyes. The boy had not faced him in any such manner before. It was strange to see this now, as if he had somehow sparked something in the teenage boy who stared at him so pointedly now. It was almost enough to alarm him or perhaps to make him fearful instead. Should Yugi expect something of him, doing the opposite of it was not something that he could afford, yes? The wolf flicked his ears and then slowly flattened them against his head. The way the boy continued to stare at him told him that Yugi did, in fact, think such a thing.

He did expect Yami to perhaps tell him what it was that might have been wrong at that moment.

Yugi felt sick to his stomach as the seconds passed. Because Yami was not reacting to him in the slightest. He was simply staring. And his eyes were wide, the whites showing in the very corners where they were set against his lids. The small teen could not bring himself to ask again, as he could feel it in his gut now. He understood it.

Yami had reacted to something he'd been thinking about before. He had expected Yugi to perhaps say or do something which might explain his emotional state. It was not that Yugi had done anything in particular, but that his emotional state had changed and so Yami had become curious. He had wanted to understand the meaning behind it.

Because Yami didn't know what else was going on.

He simply understood that Yugi was upset and so he had become curious.

But he did not know how the wolf had made that noise. And he doubted his initial thought that he'd managed to somehow get to his feet and then collapsed heavily. Instead he thought that he had done something else entirely. And, as he looked down towards him, head tilted, he could only see his tail had moved. The rest of his body seemed to be in the same place it had been before. He had not moved in the slightest. But his tail had certainly moved.

And Yugi wondered if perhaps the wolf had thumped it against the ground.

But it was bewildering to him to even consider it in the slightest.

He had honestly been fearful that perhaps Yami had no control of the appendage any longer or that perhaps—somehow—the wolf had been paralyzed from the attack. He had not truly considered how it was that the wolf might have fallen upon paralysis. But it was exhausting to him all the same. The wolf blinked up at him now, but did nothing more. He did not move beyond this and his even breathing. The relief that gripped Yugi just to know that he was not struggling to simply breathe properly was enough to make him nearly shake.

"You should have just run while you had the chance," he muttered again, voice tired and nearly breaking beneath his thoughts. He shook his head slowly and reached his hands up to run through his hair. His eyes sharpened as he looked down as the wolf again. The pale skin was a bluish shade due to the mild touches of fuzz that he could see beginning to grow there once more. The wolf stared up at him with fluffy triangular ears, curious red eyes, and a face that was riddled with stitches and shaved patches of skin. His skull was almost shaved down as well, though the fur remained just between his ears and along his eyebrows and stops. But, gods, he looked like some kind of terribly abused pomeranian given the most hideous haircut possible. His forelimbs were shaved down to his wrists and his left was shaved almost six inches further due to the IV being placed there. Every other part of him but for his long tail was simply an off-gray shade that was almost bluish due to the strands attempting to grow back.

"You. Should. Have. Just. Run."

The wolf blinked almost lazily.

Yugi got to his feet, too irate to look at her any longer. He wanted to hit him more than he cared to help him in the slightest at that moment. It was too frustrating to think straight about such a thing any longer. He hated the very idea that the wolf had gotten so hurt just to help him as it was. And it horrified him to even consider how much he owed him now. He had saved his life before. He had saved it multiple times. And now Yami was in need of his help. It was far more frustrating now than it had ever been the last few times he'd done to aid him.

It was overwhelming now to consider how much more persistent he was forced to be now in order to help him. The wolf could not simply save himself as he had done so many times before. But it was Yami who needed him now. It was overwhelming to him. The wolf was staring up at him with those same dark eyes. And, as they looked at one another, the canine seemed almost to peer through him for a brief moment.

Yugi dusted himself off, feeling small and weak. And then he turned and strode into the kitchen. He glanced at the microwave to tell the time and hurried to find his way to prepare his food once more. He was tired as he mixed the milk and he was overwhelmed as he cut the package for the boar meat and dropped it into the metal bowl once more. His heart was in his throat and tears pricked at his eyes but did not fall. He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly. Then, finally, he pulled back from the counter and made his way towards the living room once more.

"Here." He put the bowls down in front of the wolf, nudging them closer. The wolf did not so much as blink at him, digging in as he had the other few times he'd fed him. And Yugi watched him with curious eyes, saw the canine quickly gulping his food down. He'd lapped up his goat's milk a few seconds after finishing the meat. And then he tilted his head and looked back up at Yugi. For a moment he did nothing more than blink. Then his mouth opened wide and a loud noise left him, a vibrating rumbling tone. It ended in a single second of a snap. Then he closed his mouth again and his tongue ran over his long muzzle. "Nice belch."

Yami tilted his head again. And Yugi had the feeling that, had he been human, he might have smirked and looked away or apologized. He might have even snorted and shook his head before looking away. The wolf blinked at the small teen again. And then Yugi turned away with a small smirk.

He crouched down to grab the bowls. The teenager snorted and licked his lips, then straightened and started back into the kitchen.

---

Yami blinked up at her. Kasumi frowned and tilted her head. She'd placed the food and milk on the other side of the room. And she'd been assured that the lupine was watching her because his eyes were sharp and dark. His red eyes were caught on her hands. His ears were pricked forward. His head was tilted and his mouth was opened slightly to show his incisors. It was not a pleased expression as she knew larger, sloppier dogs such as labradors or golden retrievers to possess. It was one of a predator scenting the air and wondering at the smell which met his nose and danced on his tongue. The wolf blinked at her curiously for a moment. Then he blinked again and his nose wriggled quickly. Then, slowly, he lowered his head and put his chin upon his long legs. He opened his mouth, flicked his tongue along his nose, and then settled back again.

She blinked. The wolf simply stared back at her. The two of them considered each other. Then Kasumi furrowed her brows and tilted her head, watching him.

"Come on. Your food is over here."

The wolf did not care to look at her for more than a moment. His nose wrinkled and his teeth peeled back. He huffed out a breath and did not try for his paws again. The veterinarian considered him for a long minute. Then she sighed and looked him over. His back legs looked unsteady beneath him, his frame far too bony and thin and his muscles wasted along his hips where the skin was too tightly pulled. The wolf blinked and looked towards Kasumi with a mirroring tilt of his head.

"Well? Aren't you hungry?"

Yami simply flicked his ears and watched her with dark eyes. Then, slowly, the canine turned away and glanced towards the kitchen. She looked over in response, curious as to what might have drawn his attention away from her or the bowls. Yugi was leaning against the counter, expression one of curiosity as he glanced at the two of them.

Kasumi turned back without a second look towards Yugi. "Come on, Yami. It's over here."

The wolf looked at her as if she were nothing more than a fly in front of his face. He snorted and lowered his chin to his paws again, eyes sharp and darkened considerably. But he seemed to be more curious about Yugi at the moment as well. His gaze had fallen on the boy in the kitchen and he was staring with those same dark, curious eyes. The canine's ears had pricked forward and pointed to the boy. And he looked tenser than he had before.

"You need to get up. You're not going to get better if you just lay there and don't try to get up exercise at some point." She put her hands on her hips, cocking them slightly with a shake of her head. When the wolf still did nothing more than blink at her, she moved forward. The step made the wolf raise his head. Yami stared at her as if she had struck him. And then his muscles grew tense. His head lowered slightly and his muzzle tilted away. His ears flattened against his head. His eyes narrowed sharply. She could see the tension in his frame. He was not snarling, but he was not pleased in the slightest either.

When she moved a step closer to him, the wolf remained glaring at the floor. And it was startling to her that the canine refused to move. And then Yugi blurted out, "Shit, Mom, stop! Stop! Don't touch him!"

She startled and looked over her shoulder at him. "What? I'm just trying to get him to move."

"Don't touch him. He's going to bite you."

"And?" she snorted. "I'm used to dogs biting…"

And then she realized it as well. Her eyes widened and her head turned, face rapidly becoming pale with shock for a moment. Her mouth opened and closed twice and then her eyes flickered to her son and away again. The wolf had his head still tilted towards the floor and Yugi was quickly coming forward.

"He'll muzzle-punch one arm and then bite the other," he muttered. "He's not going to just nip you either. He'll bite you hard enough to break skin and you'll be infected too. And I know he's going to be even madder at you than he was at me. You put his food across the floor. I just tried to put a collar on him. He'll probably break your wrist while he's at it."

And, to her shock, the boy stopped in front of Yami and made a small motion of his fingers as if he were reaching for the wolf. In an instant the canine turned on him. His muzzle swung for one of his wrists and then his jaws snapped at the other. His eyes were burning and his body shuddered with the release of tension. His lips pulled back furiously and his ears pricked forward pointedly. The wolf glared at the teen with a hateful expression. Then he drew in a deep breath, huffed, and lowered his head again.

His ears flattened again, and his expression made it clear he was ready to bite at him a second time.

"See?" Yugi shook his head slightly and looked over at his mom. "He's willing to try to bite you. And you can already see that he's exhausted from doing it. He's not strong enough to move yet. You can't try to make him get up and move across the room like that. He's physically incapable of it. And I honestly need to check on his stitches and redo some of them. I think he's pulled them on his other side—"

"Wow, so first you're obsessed with him as a person and now you're also obsessed with him as a dog," his mom murmured in a harsh tone. "I hadn't thought that you would be so caught up in one person like that, Yugi. And considering that he infected you like that—"

"He saved my life."

"Yeah, from another werewolf." She shook her head slowly, blue eyes sharpening. "Because they all apparently really like to try to kill you."

Yugi rolled his eyes and looked at Yami for a moment. He felt flustered as the two of them considered each other. The wolf was staring up at him with his ears pricked now. And he did not seem nearly as tense as he had before. "I'm an easy target, what can I say?" he muttered disdainfully. He drew in a deep breath, then sighed forcefully and turned to her with a slightly annoyed expression. "I don't think that getting up would do him any good anyways. It'd probably be far more damaging, don't you think?"

Kasumi blinked and tilted her head, looking at Yugi closely. "I think that you're making excuses for him. I think that you're just seeing a lot more sympathy than you need to. I think if he's capable of recovering from being euthanized he can certainly get up right now and cross the room to eat his food."

The small teen blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Why would I try to force him to do that when it's clearly painful for him?"

"To help strengthen him," she spat. She rolled her eyes and narrowed her gaze. Her eyes darkened and she shook her head as she glared at him. "He can't get better if he can't even walk later. You can't honestly think that letting him just lay there and bringing him his food back and forth without ever making him exercise is going to help him recover."

"I think that he physically needs to rest and I can help him get up and move around later when he's more capable," Yugi scoffed with a curled lip. He shook his head in annoyance and crossed his arms. "I think that it's smarter to let him try to recover this way than to try to force him prematurely to get up and risk hurting him more."

"And I think that you're worrying about nothing. He's a fucking werewolf. He shouldn't even exist. And he's recovered from his seizures and you euthanizing him as if it they never even happened in the first place. So what would keep him from being okay now?"

"Are you honestly asking me that right now?" the small teen huffed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You can't seriously think that he needs to get up and move across the room without food first, right? He's not going to have the energy to do it as it is. He's tired and he's not powerful enough to bother getting up as it is. He's tired, he's weak, and he doesn't look happy at all. He's miserable. He looks like he'd rather puke than do anything else."

"I think you're exaggerating now."

"And I think you're being petty because you're exasperated with me," he snapped. "I think that you're fighting with me right now because you're exasperated about how I handled the situation. And you aren't really mad at him. You're just mad at me and you want someone to take it out on and he's defenseless. I think that's it entirely, don't you?"

She paused, eyes widening and then narrowing. Her lips pulled downward as she shook her head, annoyed. "You honestly have such little faith in me," she commented coldly. "I think it's ridiculous that you're trying to convince yourself that I'm going after Yami because I'm upset with you."

Yugi snorted and smirked at her snidely. "Mom, I know you. I know you too damn well to think that you're not doing exactly that. You're not sneaky when I know you so well. I'm not even going to pretend otherwise. In your place, I would be just as pissed as you are. But I don't think I would be trying to turn my frustrations on someone who's actually rather innocent in the grand scheme of things involving our anger with each other."

"So…you're mad at me, huh?"

The small teen threw his head back, exasperated. "That's not what I meant," he snapped. "You know what I meant. I mean that you're upset with me and I'm getting annoyed too. So I don't get why we're arguing right now about that of all things. At this rate it's more ridiculous and retarded than anything else."

Yami sniffed loudly and wrinkled his nose slightly. His eyes flickered back and forth between the lycanthrope and his mother. Their fight was enough to make Yugi glare and the way his body seemed to grow hot made the wolf tip his head up slightly. The movement was enough to make Yugi glance at him but it did nothing to stop him from turning to his mother with a flustered expression once more.

"You understand that this is ridiculous, right? He's wounded. He's got stitches lining almost every part of his body. I don't think he can physically even get up at this rate."

"He's been lying around and you've been letting him do that for the last couple of days as it is. I think it's a better idea for him to attempt to exercise in some way. It's not a good idea for him to move too much. It would be painful—"

"Really?" she interrupted him forcefully now. Her voice had risen an octave and she looked furious. Yugi startled at the sight, confused and alarmed by the thought of her lashing out. Had he done something? Had he started to say something? But then he saw that her eyes were not focused on him in the slightest. Her head was turned slightly away from him and her eyes were burning. Yugi blinked and slowly turned his head to look as well. And then he felt weak, his knees nearly shaking and collapsing beneath him.

Yami had gotten up. He was limping and partially dragging his back right leg, but he had gotten to the food bowls. His muzzle was buried in the boar meat. And his nose was wriggling as he scented it and began to dig into it happily. Yugi nearly collapsed, unsure of what more to do. He felt dizzy, relieved and yet overwhelmed and shaken all at once.

"He…" He blinked, then snorted out a laugh. "He's a sneaky little shit."

"Or you're just an idiot," Kasumi spat, turning on him now. "You let a dangerous person into our home when you weren't even sure he wouldn't kill us all in our sleep. You've run around pretending to be someone you're not. You're dashing off into the woods as a dog. You're neglecting school. You're ditching your friends. You're leaving your grandfather and me behind. You're constantly flunking in class. You're under suspicion of the police, Yugi. Do you even understand what that means at this rate?"

The small teen blinked wide eyes, startled by the attack. Then he snorted loudly, scowling at her in annoyance. "I know that it means that he needs more proof before he can say a damn thing about how I put a building or a section of the woods on fire. I know that he's being petty about the fact that I'm not dating his daughter. And I know that's being petty because he still has feelings for you, even after marrying Anzu's mom." He hesitated, then felt his cheeks heat as the words left his mouth. His mom didn't blink, well aware of the situation, and he quickly looked back towards Yami. "I just… I think that you should reconsider it. Yami isn't some terrible creature that's going to turn around and kill everyone, okay? He's not. I promise. He's…Yami."

"Do you even know what that means, Yugi? Do you even know who Yami is? Does that honestly make sense to you? I don't understand why you would think just because you spent some time with him that that means you know him well enough to say that you're in—"

He cringed, eyes growing wide. "Don't," he pleaded desperately. "I haven't…I haven't told him yet."

The words were almost met with deaf ears. And then Kasumi blinked and turned away, eyes flickering towards the wolf and back. Her son looked horrified, desperate as he reached up to pull slightly on his choker. His eyes were on Yami, who seemed oblivious to the tension and happily pushing the bowls around with his nose. He did not look the least bit disturbed by them any longer. But she could see the stitches were half-tugged from his skin along his right flank. And the wolf looked tired in the way that his ears flicked and his head turned briefly towards them.

His red eyes caught hers first. And, at first, she almost thought he might come forward. Instead the canine blinked at them both, turned his head away, and looked at his own flank. There was bright red blood from some pulled skin and it trailed down his flesh in a singular path of crimson. He blinked at it once, turned his head more pointedly, and ran his tongue over the spot of red. Kasumi considered him for a moment longer, then looked at Yugi as the small teen stared at her almost expressionlessly.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Yugi blinked and raised his head. His chin was tipped up slightly and there was a steady power in his eyes that startled her for a brief moment. When he opened his mouth and spoke again, his voice was strong and quiet as he murmured, "Mom, do you honestly think I would have let him stay as long as I have if he was a threat to you or Grandpa or even me?"

---

Yelling did not work on the wolf in the slightest. Yugi had tried doing so for over twenty minutes now. The wolf had simply yawned at him, curled up into a ball on his blanket and pillow. And then he'd raised his head just enough to lick at his wounds and close his eyes. The small teen had tried to yell at him in order to see if it would provoke movement. He and his mother had been seconds from doing so when the wolf had finally gotten to his paws and wandered away to his food. But now Yami yawned and stared at him as if he did not know why Yugi was even there looking at him in the first place. If he had not known any better, he might have assumed that Yami did not know him as it was.

His inability to lead the other wolf and make him think to move was exhausting. Yami had not given a care in the world towards his frustration. At times Yugi even thought perhaps he was laughing at him mentally. He wondered if any small part of him was human enough to recognize such a concept and fall beneath it in that manner. He wondered if Yami was laughing at him and finding only cold amusement in the fact that Yugi was struggling so horribly with the task of trying to make him pay him even the smallest flicker of attention.

He wished that stressing his name in any manner might make him pay attention. He wished that even looking at him would make the wolf think to consider him. "You're so fucking annoying," he grumbled, infuriated with the wolf in front of him. Yami did not so much as flick an ear in acknowledgment of the statement. "I hate you."

The statement was said with such venom that it roused a response. The canine blinked and slowly raised his head. His red eyes peered at him curiously, wide and seemingly bewildered. The concept surprised the small teen who could do nothing more than feel his cheeks heat slightly with embarrassment. And yet, another part of him was overwhelmed with the truth of the statement.

He did hate him.

He hated the fact that Yami was always there to help him when he was unable to help himself. He hated that he was constantly willing to jump in front of him in order to shield him from what pain might come of his own actions. He hated that he protected him from the consequences that might come. And he hated more than ever that Yami had to do those things. But he also loathed the fact that Yami thought it necessary or that he even cared so much to do it in the first place.

They were both selflessly destructive. Yami had saved him multiple times and Yugi was still in the act of repaying him the favor by saving him now. There were so many times that they had traded these things, ensuring the other's safety over their own. He'd done it more times than he cared to admit and he'd allowed Yami to do so thrice over, he felt.

The thought was overwhelming to him. He felt dizzy and small even considering it. His stomach knotted and his belly ached. He looked away swiftly.

"I do," he insisted, voice coated in misery and a tremble rocking his frame. "I hate you."

But it was not enough to want him to suffer. And it was not enough to make him want Yami to simply leave his life. There was no part of him that desired he get hurt or that he turn away from him entirely. But part of him was broken in the reality that they would suffer each other's wounds. Yami would do it to help him just as he knew he himself would always offer in his place.

Yugi looked down for a long moment.

It was destructive, the way that they played this balancing act. He was not sure how long a friendship of that magnitude could exist and survive. And he did not know how long it was that either of them could last beneath the pressure of such selflessness. But he wondered if perhaps it was not truly altruism. He did it to keep Yami safe, which ensured that he stayed alive and with him. And he did not doubt that Yami did it for similar reasons. And he had saved Jonouchi out of blind panic. He'd…

He'd done it because Jonouchi was his best friend. He was the blond who always teased him about stupid things and talked to him about all the wrong porn videos. He was the one who let him borrow explicit videos. He was the one who had taught him rather mild self-defense techniques. He was the one that Yugi had run to when he had issues with Anzu, the one who snorted at him and teased him that Anzu was just his fascination for the moment and he could pick up any girl he wanted. He was the one who was awkward about Yami and his attraction to him but wouldn't judge.

Jonouchi was Jonouchi.

He was as he had always been, though now he could change into a wolf that looked like a golden retriever. The thought brought a small smile to his face and his eyes flickered towards Yami. The black wolf had moved forward to take a seat in front of him, looking much like a German shepherd studying its owner. The ears were pricked forward and his muzzle was tipped towards Yugi as he watched him now. He shifted his weight and it almost seemed as if he were studying him with the need to gain approval rather than simply considering him.

The thought startled him enough to make him freeze in place, stunned for a brief moment. But then he looked away and shrugged it off. Yami was still seated there, at attention, watching him as if he might hold the key to something that Yugi himself could not name. And then Yugi found himself mildly relieved when he looked up again. The intense red eyes were still locked on him but now Yami seemed more disgruntled than anything. He no longer looked as if he might leap to his feet to encourage him in some manner. Now he looked almost disappointed with this new development.

Had saying that he hated him done something to encourage that look on his face? Had something about the tone he'd used when he'd said those words made him get up and come over to him? Had he perhaps meant to disprove the words? Had he meant to come to sit in front of him with that expression in order to remind him that he did not loathe him more than he hated the actions that he took at times?

Yugi was overwhelmed when he thought of the way the wolf had gone through those seizures right before his eyes after that attack in the woods. His breathing became tight and his hands were shaking when he looked over at the black canine. Yami had regained whatever sense of expectation he'd had formerly and now he sat rigid before him. His red eyes were bright and his body seemed to almost quiver for the smallest of moments. He was extremely excited, Yugi found now that he was looking at him.

And something about that expression broke his heart.

Because all he could think about now was that he had made that face upon Yugi saying that they should get hot chocolate. It had stunned him in that sense before. And now it shocked him to see that expression so warm and soft on Yami's face now. He was so excited that it almost made him shiver and the small teen wondered at the expression in his eyes now.

And Yugi wished he could ask him what it was that made him so happy at that moment. Because he himself was incredibly unhappy, crestfallen in that manner. And some part of him hated himself for not being able to identify the small glimmer of exuberance which graced the other's warm eyes. So now Yugi simply looked away and lowered his eyes, feeling almost sick to his stomach as he considered it all.

His heart felt as if it were being shattered and then crushed beneath the wolf's paw. And the way Yami shifted his weight as if expecting him to give him a treat for a trick well done made him want to vomit. Yugi could feel the tension in his veins more than he could even the shaking in his hands. And it made him feel dull and lightheaded to look at him now. His heart was in his throat and his mouth felt dry as he looked at the other lycanthrope for a moment longer. When he could not find it in himself to continue to face him, he looked away and exhaled harshly.

"I hate you," he mumbled, but now he didn't know who it was directed at anymore. And he did not want to face the black wolf for fear that Yami might look at him with that same expression so keen upon his face. Because he felt it might kill him and the destruction he could wreak through him was too much for him to survive. And so Yugi closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair and fight away the urge to simply get up and run for his room again.

And Yugi could not muster up the shield of anger he normally could. He could not find it within himself to simply block away the hurt and the growing anguish with the energy that came from sheer hatred. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, shaking his head harder and feeling almost sick.

---

"So what do you think I should say to her?"

Yami looked up from where he'd been lying on the floor. He'd shifted from his spot on the pillow and blanket to a colder part of the carpet. The blanket had become too warm and he was overheated, he felt. He was panting at times, exhausted, and those instances he'd nearly exhausted himself with task of regaining a cooler temperature. The air was hot and stuffy, he felt, as if the room were just too much like summer time. Had he had fur, he was sure he would have been shaking and collapsing and flailing from the throes of overheating. He flicked his tongue over his lips as Yugi approached.

The boy had the two metal bowls in his hands again. And he paused only long enough to look him over. There was a mumble about something to do with his stitches again, though Yami hardly paid it any attention. The heat was searing through him. He felt dizzy and sickly and, when he peered up at Yugi, he wished with everything in him that he might have been able to tell him such a thing. But he couldn't and Yugi hardly seemed worried about him for the moment.

In fact, startling the wolf, the boy simply put both bowls down with a comment about eating every bite, and turned away to head back into the kitchen. He could not fully understand the conversation going on from within the kitchen. The heat had made his heart skip beats and burst within his ears. And it made his head spin for a moment. So Yami simply lowered his head to take a lap at the water inside of the bowl with the meat. It was frigid cold and, as he took long drinks of it and ignored the food, his body seemed to lose some of its heat. He forced himself to relax slightly, calming himself and slowly lowering his head to continue the task.

Perhaps he should have done something to make the humans realize that he needed something much like cold water. He did not think that the meat or the milk mattered half as much at the moment. And, in his frustration upon finding only the meat at the bottom and the second bowl filled with the cold milk, he angled his nose downward. There was a little floppy tag upon the side of the bowl there. And, when he pressed his nose into the smooth metal and slowly raised his head, the bowl shifted slightly beneath the pressure. He tossed his head violently into the air as if he might howl.

The bowl flew into the air. Milk rained down in heavy droplets and waves, cascading and crashing into the carpet. Yami almost yelped from the violent crashing cold which came over him. His skin was frigid then, a satisfying feeling as he shivered for a brief moment. He looked towards the bowl as it landed. It skittered and the harsh thumping noise of it was a long rattle. He pricked his ears towards it, panting again but relieved now more than anxious.

He was coated in milk, he realized, the better half of his upper body soaked. It was comfortable to him as he looked it over. But it did sting where it graced his cuts. But it was not painful in any other way. And so Yami simply relaxed, licking his lips with satisfaction. Finally, when the heat seemed to soak through this thin layer of protection, Yami moved forward. The carpet squished beneath his weight, squelching and soothing his paw pads if only slightly.

"What the fuck?"

The black wolf looked up to see Yugi gaping at him. Behind him, the elderly Motou was staring with a similarly shocked expression. Both of them watched him with stunned eyes as Yami briefly flicked an ear and quickly moved to a new, fresher patch of soaked carpet. He was instantly relieved, though now he threw himself onto his side and rolled lightly upon it. The carpet was cold and sodden and his skin no longer burned as badly.

But the relief was so slight and he wanted nothing more than to sob with dismay.

"Jesus Christ," Yugi cursed softly, shaking his head slowly. He narrowed and closed his eyes tightly, reaching up to run a hand through his hair and then to tug on his bangs. The small teen huffed loudly and opened his eyes into thin slits. "What the hell is this craziness?"

Sugoroku was snickering. "He looks so happy with himself right now."

"That's cause he's a jackass."

Yami stirred slightly at that last word, a part of him responding to it though he did not quite remember the definition of it. He slowly raised his head and looked over at the lycanthrope for a moment. Then he turned towards the couch again. When he'd brushed against it earlier, it had been cold from the lack of use. It would be that way now as well, would it not?

The wolf ignored it when Yugi let out a startled squawk meant to tell him not to do so. He leaped straight onto the couch, the cushions sinking beneath him before he could think straight. The momentum and his clumsy footing sent him into a collapsed position, however. He landed hard on the cushions and panted from the loss of energy. But then he lowered his head, eyes widening. By the gods…

The couch was so nice!

The mere thought made him almost sob with approval. Yami immediately threw himself sideways to press his back and side against the cold material. The wolf closed his eyes tightly and tipped his head further back. It gave him much more room to crane his neck back and the cold material was slick and soft and he wanted to whine and whimper his approval. By the gods, the cool material was the best thing he'd ever encountered. He would take it over anything and everything at this moment.

He didn't care about food any longer. He'd happily starve if he could simply keep pressed against the cushions like that. He would love nothing more. Eating was a waste of time, anyways. Eating was stupid. His belly could eat itself for all he cared at the moment.

Yugi groaned and shook his head. "Jackass," he muttered under his breath, annoyed as he turned away and narrowed his eyes into slits. That was ridiculous. He could not even consider how foolish he felt just watching the wolf stretched out as he was. It was stunning to him how the wolf looked so incredibly happy. Why had he seemed so enthusiastic? It was so simple that he was lying on the couch and so exuberant. The very idea of that alone was enough to make the small teen tilt his head in bewilderment.

And Yami did not look at him in turn. He was so pleased with himself, with the new arrangements, that he did not so much as glance at Yugi. He did not care in the slightest that the small teen should be staring at him either. And it was almost hilarious to him that he saw this. The wolf was simply lying there, happy beyond anything else. He had not seen him so happy before, he didn't think.

Yet, as he lowered his eyes to the floor and took in the various large puddles of milk-soaked carpet, he wondered at the thought of what the wolf found so pleasing about the couch as it was. And he had seemed so incredibly happy with the carpet as well, as if he were relieved to feel the fibers squelch beneath his paws. He wondered at the thought, bewildered and curious at this thought as well. He couldn't quite find a connection between the two of them. There was no reason that he should have been so relieved…

Yugi could not find a single reason for such excitement.

"What the hell is going on?"

The small teen flinched at the loud cry of disbelief. His head snapped around, eyes wide. And his stomach knotted as he glanced sideways towards the floor and then the couch. She was gaping at the wolf as if she had never seen a four-legged creature before. And it was both comical and horrifying at the same time for him. He wanted to puke as the small teen considered the wolf a moment longer. He had not considered that his mom would be coming home sooner rather than later. He'd assumed that she would want to spend as much time away from him as was physically possible. He had thought his mother would have thought immediately to all but hide away from him entirely.

He himself probably would have done the same in her place.

"What the hell is he doing? Why did you let him on the couch?" She was shrieking, eyes wide and stunned. And then she looked at Yugi furiously. "He's going to tear his stitches and then what? He's going to bleed all over the couch!"

"I'll clean the couch," Yugi huffed, though he felt winded with the ferocity she portrayed and wondered at the very idea of just how exhausting it was to have to even consider it all. She was right. Yami was going to tear his stitches and it would take him at least thirty minutes to get the blood up from the floor. It was no wonder that she was screaming now. He probably would have in her place as well. He had not even considered the cushions as it was. He had not even considered that he might tear his sutures out more prominently, that he might bleed on the couch fibers. Yugi shivered and looked away, feeling dizzy. "It's not a big deal. I'll clean the couch and I'll clean the carpet too."

"The carpet?" she demanded, her tone harsh before she stiffened. The question was measured by a long harsh inhale as her son slowly reached up and began to tug at the long strands of his hair. The small teen looked exhausted and beyond miserable, as if he had been struck by her very appearance. "What the hell did he even do?"

"He flipped the milk bowl into the air. He basically soaked himself and the floor completely." Yugi shook his head, turning away and feeling almost sick to his stomach again. He opened his eyes with a soft sigh, tired. But spotting Yami enjoying himself so pointedly from his spot on the couch made him feel better in the long run. It was adorable that the wolf was so relaxed and happy there. He looked as if he were on cloud nine or perhaps rolling about in the snow as he had before when it had first fallen.

"Great." She was watching Yami as well, Yugi noticed. "That's just…great."

Yami opened his jaws into a wide gaping smile, tongue lolling across the cushions. His tail wagged after a moment, the appendage thumping forcefully against the cushions and armrest where it was draped slightly. The wolf stretched his legs and then tipped his head back and wagged his tail more enthusiastically. His mom was staring at him as if she had never seen a dog before in her life when he glanced back at her. He wanted to laugh but another part of him wanted to sob, so he quickly lowered his eyes to the floor instead. The bowl with the meat was completely drained of water but the steak of boar meat was still in its center.

The small teen startled, then froze in place with widened eyes. Reality cut into his thoughts and he felt his heart skipping beats in his chest. Then he nodded slightly as he remembered it all. His mouth opened and closed twice before he turned on his heel. "I need to get him a water bowl," he muttered quietly. "I think that's why he's doing that."

"What?"

"I think he's overheated from so much raw meat and the goat's milk being his only source of hydration." He didn't turn back to them and they both heard the door shut behind him as he headed down the stairs. Kasumi looked immediately back towards the wolf who remained rolling on the couch in front of them. The wolf blinked and licked his lips, then flicked his ears forward and his mouth closed slowly.

"You think that's really what's going on?" Sugoroku asked curiously. "I've never heard of a dog doing that before."

"I've read studies where a wolf or wolfdog in captivity will find shady spots in the area they're contained and if the water is accessible they'll try to shovel the water out onto the dirt and roll in the mud to keep themselves cooler. They will shovel the water out, soak the dirt, then shovel the dirt so that they get further down in the dirt and then keep going with that until they are able to completely cover themselves in the mud. It helps them keep from getting overheated that way." Kasumi was silent for a long minute. "Wolves are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for. A lot of people just assume that they're big dogs and dogs like labs and retrievers are not always the smartest breeds."

Sugoroku blinked at her. "Well, he's also got a human mind too, so I guess that makes sense."

His daughter rolled her eyes. "The Russians have specially bred a species of wolfdogs in order to work as their border patrol. The wolfdogs make the German shepherd dogs—claimed to be the second smartest breed in the world—look like puppies. They're considered a lot smarter than other dogs according to them." She glanced at him sideways. "And, considering German shepherd dogs are considered wolfdogs, it's no wonder they're used as police dogs. You tell me that wolves aren't extremely smart animals, Dad."

"I never said that. I was trying to—"

Kasumi shook her head and glanced at Yami with curious eyes. "You know, I was trying to figure out what it was that made me so nervous about him when he was sitting next to me at the table," she commented quietly. "And now that I've finally figured it out, I'm wondering why I didn't realize before. He had that look in his eyes that wasn't human at all. He looked more like an animal than anything else and I just… He didn't even blink as often as he should have. He didn't even make direct eye contact."

"It's a challenge if you do that with a wolf," Yugi commented, coming around her with a stainless steel bowl. He put it down and moved to the fridge to grab a cold water bottle that he emptied into the bowl without a second glance at them. As he'd assumed, the wolf rolled over and jumped down on shaky legs. He quickly dug into the bowl of water, drinking as if he had never had water before in his life. Yugi looked over after a moment. "And he'd probably have snapped under the pressure because of how scared he was."

"Scared?"

"He was extremely nervous about meeting you both. And I don't think I made it any better by telling him it would be fine and there wouldn't be a problem when you didn't really…take it very well that he looks so much like me."

"How was I supposed to react to that?"

Yugi shrugged slightly. "I'm not saying that you didn't react the right way. All I'm saying is that it scared him when I had told him it would be easier than it actually was for him," he said quietly. Then he looked at the wolf again. Yami was licking the bowl dry. His head slowly lifted and he looked at the small teen with a bewildered expression. "Let it settle for a minute. I'll give you more after that. I don't want to give you too much at one time."

Yami tilted his head and licked at his muzzle. His ears flicked and he slowly turned and glanced at the other two Motou family members. For a few more moments he watched them. Then he turned back to Yugi. His paw came down hard on the bowl and the metal flipped. The force under his initial kick made it skitter against the carpet, ringing with the noise. And then he glared fiercely at the boy in front of him.

Yugi snorted. "You jackass." He rolled his eyes, smiling faintly. "You still have thirty seconds to go."

Yami peeled his lips back and showed off his teeth. But it was not aggressive. He seemed to be sneering at him, eyes flashing and his ears flattened against his head. His brows pulled downwards and he wrinkled his nose back. The two of them considered each other. Yugi had the urge to reach out and try to ruffle what little fur remained along his skull between his ears. But he shrugged it off again moments later and made his way towards the fridge again. He came back with three more bottles and poured the first into the bowl.

"Here you go. Drink up."