Well, now that the Yullen-lemon is out of the way, time for some Flashback Fluff! *echo... echo... echo...*

I hope you enjoy. =) Please review.

- Love from, HA15

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Chapter 8: These Foolish Things

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~~ FLASHBACK ~~

Allen was dragged back into the cage by a man in white, barely feeling his feet touch the ground. In the cage, Yuu was already resting but he shot up when he noticed Allen in the man's grasp. The Japanese NECO began spitting and cursing that the scientist had better leave before he was 'fucking ripped to shreds'. Yet despite these threats, the man in the white coat paid him no mind.

Allen was tossed into the cell that he and his mate now shared and immediately collapsed onto his knees. He shakily flopped onto his side and whimpered to himself, tail curling weakly around him. He drowned out his mate's yelling behind him and the sound of a door shutting.

The lights were dimmed, leaving the two NECOs in near blackness together. A low-burning set of yellow lights hung overhead, casting shadows across what little else was in the room.

Allen closed his eyes, trying not to cry.

I just want to cry and fall asleep. I'm so tired, in so much pain…so much… please just let me pass out…

"Moyashi."

The voice of Allen's mate – Yuu, he thought tenderly - resounded clear and sharp in Allen's ears, though he couldn't find the energy to reply. He was so sore and tired and… and…

"Moyashi, talk to me. You're hurt, let me see it. I can help. What did they do to you? Tell me!"

Allen struggled to speak, to think of a reply, and to just think of anything at all to say.

Yuu's voice had surprised him, but what was more surprising, was that the sound of the older NECO's voice (despite the fact that it was laced heavily with worry and frustration) calmed him as soon as he heard it.

Yuu's voice was so strong and so firm that Allen found it reassuring. Yuu always knew what he wanted and had all the answers to everything. Allen was so lucky to have such a great mate.

There was a sudden, deep growl and a collection of muttered curses.

"Moyashi? Answer me, Moyashi! So help me if they've knocked you out I'm going to rip those fuckers apart and take you away from here. I'm going to put you in a secret hiding place that only you and I know about, where you'll be safe and warm and you'll have all the shiny things you want. Then I'm gonna run back here and bloody kill all these sick, disgusting creeps for ever touching you–"

A chuckle bubbled out of Allen's lips at how quickly Yuu's thoughts could go from violence to caring for him to being violent again.

God, he was so lucky to have Yuu. He was so cool and strong and protective. Allen felt so safe with him, even when he knew more hurting was bound to come from the men in white coats.

"M'fine, Yuu. M'just sleepy…" Allen panted out, surprised by how calm his own voice sounded compared to how he felt.

He could feel his face throbbing and his eyes watering.

"Let me see you."

"M'fine, Yuu."

"Moyashi, you're my mate and you're in pain. It's my duty to make you better when you're hurt. Now, let me see what those fuckers did."

"Yuu, please –"

"Moyashi." His voice was an order, a fierce plea, and Allen couldn't refuse. He knew that Yuu would not rest until he'd seen him face to face. Allen squeezed his eyes shut, a few tears slipping out.

Yuu was going to think he was ugly once he saw what Allen had gone through. After everything Yuu had done, he was going to leave Allen now…he'd want another mate once he looked at Allen… he was uglier now then ever…

Allen forced his aching, cracking body onto wobbly hands and knees. His vision blurred, but he was unsure if it was the tears or the dizziness he felt.

Behind him, Allen heard a noise behind him yet was unprepared when cold arms slipped around his waist. He froze, instinctually thinking it was a scientist to drag him away again, before he felt a nose burrow into the back of his hair.

Then it hit him – Yuu was hugging him. Yuu wanted to comfort him because he knew Allen was hurt. Allen felt more tears well up in his eyes. Yuu really was too good for someone like him…small and ugly and with scarred limbs…

With his bangs covering his face, he timidly scooted backwards into the other NECO's arms. Allen felt the arms embrace him even tighter and he closed his eyes for a moment as warmth seeped into him. Yuu's chest was so warm and smelled so nice under all the dirt and chemical smells on their clothes.

He heard Yuu mutter something in that strange language he always used, but Allen couldn't understand it. Still, Yuu's voice was low and sounded pretty so Allen guessed it was meant to comfort him. Long fingers tried to tilt the younger boy's head back and Allen froze at this.

Then, fearing the look of horror he'd get, Allen let himself to be turned around in Yuu's arms. He shut his silver eyes as he allowed Yuu get a good look at him.

With his eyes shut, Allen missed the widening of Yuu's eyes. The older boy wanted to curse, but held back in case it startled his lover.

His moyashi's whole face was swollen.

The younger NECO's lips were cracked and what had to be blood was crusted over the full bottom lip that Yuu often starred at when his moyashi pouted. His left eye, already marked with a red scar, was swollen and puffy. His pale cheeks were also inflamed and looked as though he'd stuffed apples in them. All this, plus his silver-haired mate was crying now and had his ears pinned back, as though he was afraid Yuu would make fun of him

"Moyashi, what happ - did they run tests on your eye? And your face…." Realization set into Yuu's mind. He hissed, the midnight fur on his tail going wild. "Argh, those fuckers! They messed around with your fangs didn't they?"

Allen hesitated but gave a jerky nod, his eyes still screwed shut. Tears escaped him, dripping down his cheeks and he sucked his cracked bottom lip into his mouth to stop from making a sound.

Allen heard Yuu scoff above him, but was not expecting a warm set of lips to kiss his eyelids. Platinum eyes flew open in shock and Yuu reeled back, worry taking over his normally scowling features.

"Did that hurt? Me kissing your eyes?" Yuu asked quickly. Allen gently shook his head, seeing his mate's shoulders relax at the gesture.

"Good," Yuu said fiercely, then leaned in to kiss the corner of his mate's eyes again, keeping his blue eyes locked on the stunned ones of his mate. He smirked when he pulled away and the moyashi was still starring at him, blushing a little bit.

He traced the remained tears off Allen's swollen cheeks and muttered to him as he worked at cleaning him off.

"They did this to my fangs too when I was 9, those bastards. You'll be sore for a while and you'll need to eat in small bites. I could rip up your food and feed you? I am your mate after all," he offered.

Yuu's midnight tail, despite being puffy with anger, began swishing at the thought of his mate curled into him while he feed Allen bread pieces. Maybe he'd even lick the crumbs off Allen's fingers and make him blush. God his little moyashi was so beautiful when he blushed. Yuu really liked that about him.

Satisfied with his thoughts, the Japanese boy made his tail loop through Allen's own dirty-silver one, hoping to reassure his mate that everything would be okay. He would make sure Allen was treated with every bit of care he deserved - as much as he possibly could while they were still in this hell-hole.

"They put the needles in your gums, right moyashi? Then held your mouth open and then tugged at your fangs with a metal thing? Actually don't talk anymore, you'll just hurt yourself."

Allen nodded again in response, noticing the dark-haired boy was scowling the more he admitted that the scientists had touched him. Yuu scowled directly at Allen then, cocking his head to the side and shaking it as though Allen was doing something stupid.

"Baka, did you think I was going to laugh at you because your face is puffy?"

Ashamed, Allen looked off to the side and murmured lowly, "… thought you'd want a new mate."

Yuu's eyes widened at this.

"Never," he swore. He harshly kissed Allen's cheek as if to prove it, making Allen yelp in pain. The Japanese-NECO retreated and then kissed his cheek with more care a second time. His gaze stayed firmly on his moyashi, waiting for Allen to look at him. Once silver met blue, he continued.

"Moyashi, I'll make them pay for hurting you," he said firmly. "You're my mate and I promise I'll love you and protect you no matter what. You'll never need to worry about me wanting anyone but you, ever. Not even the end of time, ever. You're mine and I'll always want you. I will always love you, moyashi, and don't you dare forget it."

It was said simply and bluntly, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world and Allen was an idiot for not knowing it.

Deep-blue eyes continued to stare at Allen, unwavering and filled with such sureness that the small, white-haired boy found he couldn't breathe. There was no doubt in Yuu's words or his expression.

"… love me?" the younger boy whispered, hardly believing what he' heard.

"Don't talk, you'll only hurt yourself" Yuu said, silencing his pretty little mate. "But yeah, I do."

Allen smiled then, the first smile he'd felt in so long – since Mana, he thought, he'd never smiled with so much happiness and thanks and love. He ignored the way his cheeks burned, his lips re-cracked, and more tears leaked out of his pained eye. Yuu licked the tears away, and then softly touched Allen's cheeks.

He traced the skin with cool, barely there touches and Allen purred in thanks, his eyes fluttering at the loving gesture. He curled into Yuu's chest, letting a sob escape him as Yuu's fingers curled protectively into his back.

A minute later, after his crying had stopped, Yuu's fingers stilled and Allen felt warm breath on his face again.

Looking up, he was met with a red blush across the older NECOs cheekbones. The younger NECO found himself starring into the same blue eyes that had always mesmerized him.

Yuu cleared his throat and said, "Can I… can I kiss you moyashi?"

"M'cheeks again?"

"No," Yuu coughed awkwardly and then made a serious face. "I mean, can I kiss your lips? Only mates can do that to one another but I want to make sure you want it. You're mine, obviously, but I don't ever want to do something you don't like."

Allen blushed too before he nodded with a shy smile, leaning into Yuu's touch to show he wanted to be kissed.

Yuu seemed to smile then, for the briefest moment, but Allen couldn't be sure. He was too dazed with the thought of kissing Yuu to pay too much attention.

But then, too quickly it seemed, Yuu's face was so very close to his own that Allen closed his eyes in embarrassment, waiting and hoping for his first real kiss on the lips.

My first kiss with Yuu. My first kiss ever. Yuu wants to kiss me. I get to kiss Yuu. We're gonna kiss… we're gonna kiss!…

Then Allen felt cool lips touched his own for a few sweet seconds, before they pulled away as gently as they'd come. He sat there, eyes closed for a second, before a whine built up in his abused mouth before he could stop it.

"Tha's it?" Allen said through swollen cheeks. Yuu scoffed, making Allen's eyes open again just as the Japanese NECO leaned in close again.

"Che. I was trying not to hurt you, baka moyashi. Should I do it again but make it better? Kiss you the way I've really wanted to since I met you?" he teased. His dark tail was caressing it's pale counterpart.

Allen blushed but gave one nod, hoping and praying that Yuu would do it again,

Being kissed by Yuu had felt nice. Now he just wanted it to be, well, longer…

Allen was positive that Yuu smiled this time. His usually scowling mouth became relaxed and pretty with a straight set of white teeth. Allen gasped, stunned at how he could be so handsome and then get even handsome-er.

Then Yuu kissed him again, surprising the younger who still had his silver eyes open. Yet soon platinum-eyes slid shut as those cool lips pressed firmly against him again and again while arms pulled him closer to a warm body. Those cool lips remained close to his own, moulding every part of them yet never once leaving the younger's lips lonely.

Allen had never felt so special.

He sat there, eyes closed and a cool tingling on his lips until he heard Yuu chuckle and playfully nip at his white, fluffy ear. Only then did the white-haired NECO realize Yuu had stopped kissing him a while ago.

"Was that better?" Yuu purred, his chest puffing out when Allen nodded sheepishly. "Glad to hear I can satisfy you then, moyashi. Did that hurt your lips though?"

Allen shook his head. It had been his first kiss and the first time he'd ever seen Yuu smile. Nothing could have hurt him in that moment.

And on top of it all –-

Allen leaned in, hesitated a moment, then kissed Yuu gently on the mouth.

"I-I love you, Yuu."

"Stop talking before you hurt yourself!" Yuu ordered, swiftly arranging the boy so that he was wrapped in his arms. "And I love you too, like I said before. Now shut up and go to sleep."

- Yuu had said 'I love you' to him for the first time ever.

...

The next day, the scientists lounged in their break room and observed the various NECOs as they were fed breakfast in their cages. This was the daily routine they had grown accustomed to and most barely paid attention to the monitors anymore.

Yet on this particular day, one scientist noticed an unusual act.

On one of the camera screens, almost unnoticeable on the wall-to-wall screens displayed, the two cat NECOs in Room 16 caught the eye of Dr. Rene Epstein. She spotted the cage alone in the white room (as it should have been) yet the two boys locked in the cage were acting differently than normal.

One of these NECOs, barely old enough to be more than a kitten, was sitting cross-legged and still in the center of the cage. Dr. Epstein recognized his silver hair and the red scar across his eye as the pet they'd been asked to fix to by Cross Enterprises.

The larger one - the Japanese one, she noted upon leaning in closer – was no doubt the anger-management case they'd been asked to break by Mugen Co.

Upon inspecting the monitor, she noticed the Japanese was taking both trays of breakfast that had been laid on the cell floor. She wondered if he was stealing the little kid's food. The midnight-eared NECO was a brat, so it wouldn't have surprised her if he did.

Instead, what surprised her was that the older NECO pulled the younger boy into his lap. Then, out of nowhere, the Japanese kid who had bitten more employees than she could count, had broken more bonds than he should have been able to, and was the most violent, selfish, rude NECO she'd ever seen….

He pulled the silver-eared boy into his lap and began feeding him with small pieces of bread. The younger boy seemed to squirm at this and – is that him blushing? Or is that just the camera lens? – took the bread from the older boy's fingertips with a smile.

Yuu – Dr. Epstein remembered was his name – held up the small glass of juice each NECO was allotted and titled it gently into the smaller boy's mouth. The younger then seemed to try to make the elder eat and drink, yet he refused with a shake of his head. Instead, he offered more food between his fingertips to the white-haired boy.

It took Dr. Epstein a moment to fully comprehend what was going on:

Yuu was being nice.

"What the fuck?" she muttered, unknowingly voicing her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Dr. Bak Chan quickly asked. Hearing his usually composed colleague swear, he knew something had to be very wrong. "Is there a fight going on? Is anyone injured?"

He moved over to the monitors and quickly scanned for what could have upset Dr. Epstein.

The rabbit NECO in Room 3 looks alright… Shark NECO in Room 8… Dog NECOs in 10, 11, and 12…. Raccoon in Room 14….

"Room 16," Epstein said with a pointed fingernail. "The cat NECOs."

Bak quickly leaned in to investigate, a frown marring his face that quickly slid off when he surveyed the happenings in the room.

"Everything looks fine."

Rene rolled her eyes.

"Look at who the NECOs are! At least who the dark-haired one is…"

Bak leaned in for a closer inspection, his eyes scanning the images, and then he froze. His jaw slipped and a few hives erupted on his face as he got too excited.

"IS THAT YUU FROM MUGEN CO!"

Immediately the rest of the scientists in the room flooded to the monitors to see what was going on.

"Is the kid killing anyone?"

"N-no, he's being so nice!" Bak cried, eyes drinking in the startling sight. "It's a-a miracle or something!"

"Did someone just say Yuu was being nice? Ha, yeah right he's probably just biding his time before he kills the other kid."

"Holy shit! He's actually giving the little one his food!"

"Whoa, what's wrong with him? Did someone here actually beat it into the kid that fighting's not allowed?"

"Nah, Yuu's totally playing the nice card so can fatten the kid up. He probably plans to eat him alter."

"He's not a cannibal!" Bak shouted.

"… Might as well be. The kid is Satan-incarnate so it wouldn't surprise me if he moved from beating people up to ripping them apart."

"I had to do tests with him once. The kid broke straight through the straps we had holding him down and went bloody ballistic."

"He bit right through Dr. Green's hand I heard, that's why Dr. Green is on hospital leave."

"Tell me about it. I was one of the ones who had to bring him into his cage the first day he arrived."

"Seriously? Man, I pity you if that's still your job."

"Ha! You couldn't pay me enough to handle that kid back into his cage again…"

Surrounding the monitors and with dozens of eyes focused on the solitary cell in Room 16, the scientists looked on in curiosity as the scene developed before them.

Then, too sudden for anyone to anticipate, Japanese NECO looked straight into the eyes of the camera– the camera that was supposed to be hidden and the NECOs were supposed to have no knowledge of.

A few scientists jumped back at the sharp gaze the NECO gave through the screen, yet most leaned closer in curiosity.

Yuu's triangular ears flicked back before perking to their full height, and his navy tail curled in the air slowly. The older cat NECO then did something the scientists couldn't believe.

He smirked at the camera before leaning in to kiss the younger boy solidly on the mouth. Pulling away after a moment, he licked crumbs from the boy's lips, turning to smirk into the camera again.

The break room erupted in a wall of noise, cries of disbelief and confusion melding together.

Only Dr. Epstein, Dr. Chan, and a select few were composed enough to stay focused on the screen.

Barely a moment later and missed by most of the scientists, Yuu's attitude changed towards the camera. He pointed to the boy in his lap (who was naively sipping at his glass of juice) and then straight into the camera. The researchers knew he could only be addressing them.

His blue eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth in sinister smile, showing off sharp fangs amongst a row of white teeth. He looked hard into the camera as he smiled, and drew a finger across his neck.

The message was clear:

You hurt him. You're dead.

~*~/ OMAKE! / ~*~

In the blackness of the late night, Lavi opened the front door to the NECOs home, muttering "Whew, I hope Yuu and Allen are okay. We were gone a long time."

A kiss from Tyki, who was stepping in behind his lover, quelled Lavi's worries.

"I'm sure their fine, querido. They probably enjoyed their alone time."

Tyki hung up his coat and flicked on the kitchen lights, banishing the darkness from their house for a short while. He turned to the kitchen and suddenly froze, an eyebrow raised in pure confusion.

"… Querido?"

"Yeah?" Lavi said, in the midst of removing his own jacket.

"… why are there dirty footprints all over the countertops and the table?"

Lavi turned and eyed both with disbelief.

"Whoa. Good question."

Silence reined for a long minute, as both pondered the possibilities. Finally, Tyki broke silence.

"Do you think they had sex in the kitchen?"

"Tyki, no! Allen is far too sweet to do that. Besides, that doesn't explain the footprints!"

Silence again reined.

"… it does if they had sex outside and then did it on the table."

"Tyki!"

"That's just my theory."

Ooh, plot bunnies. Damn you. And I love that, when I started this story, I only planned for the fic to be 6 chapters long.

Hahaha - LIES.