Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Vampire Hunter D.

Halloween gift go brrrr.

Enjoy.

Chapter Sixty-Two: Temporary

Icicles formed and elongated on tree branches with each melt and freeze, marking the passing days. A poor squirrel and its stash of nuts became their first fresh meal until they managed to hunt down a stag on another day. Even D ate well then, and everyone save for the youngest and the injured got to practice their butchering skills. Unsure of how to dry the meat, they cooked the extra gamey flesh and stored it in Amami's bag with snow to preserve it, distributing what other items she had into each of their now overstuffed bags. They kept some cleaned bones for half-plotted ideas and buried the rest far from their campsite. After a small argument, they even tried their hand at drying the hide with what they guessed was the correct process and had D pin it up high in a tree to keep it close enough to watch.

Its flag-like presence did not last long, however. D watched it break off in a gust of wind during one of his night watches and parachute itself yards away into unchecked territory. Covering his mouth at the time, he hardly was able to contain his laughter. It was the first quiet chuckle that he could remember sharing with his symbiont—both finding the loss of the children's pathetic, ill-prepared attempt at being self-reliant to be poetic in its grand failure. The next morning, the trio considered it a lost cause when they found it half-frozen, half-soaked in a patch of mud, although neither Claire nor Amami had found its demise as hilarious as D had.

To bolster warmth, they attempted a pine needle tea—much to Etsu's distaste—until Amami pointed out that the needles could be poisonous. Claire did not think that they had used any from a bad source, but now that it had been mentioned, no one wanted to take the risk and they all dumped the remnant liquid into nearby bushes. Then it was back to drinking melted snow, heating up the water to offer a short respite where the girls could hug their warmed cups close until it was cool enough to drink. Everyone, save for D, stayed in a pile together during their off time, constantly shifting and twisting around under the sheets until they found the temperature unbearable the other way around. They had even managed to set up a proper fire pit that they kept consistently lit throughout the day. Heat was more important; they took the risk of being visible.

Theo regained full consciousness by the third day of their impromptu retreat, still feeling unwell, but strong enough to complain that they should just hack his arm off. D had already done him a partial service the first real day of their reprieve—concerned that the blossoming infection would worsen, he had sliced away the upper layer of the wound until the faint unpleasant heat and scent had gone. Now it was a freshly cauterized wound, and it was up to the man himself to survive. D had refused to shave off muscle, and there were no antibiotics to offer him to chase away either the remnants of the old infection, or the beginnings of a new one. Still, reflecting on their position, they all were better off than they had been before.

Yet, the three most active members knew that this good fortune would not last. Their shelter would not stand a heavy storm—it could barely protect against the blunted winds—and it was hardly more than luck that no one had fallen to hypothermia or gotten frostbite yet. What made matters worse were the unseen enemies; whether such would come in the form of wildlife, natural, or the supernatural remained unclear, but these worries never strayed far from the children's minds.

Thus, the days wore on, and D heard the strange hooting growls inch nearer every night.

A week into their stay, when Theo was finally able to tend to himself and sway on wobbly legs to follow them through the clearest of available paths, D finally broke his silence on the matter.

"We have to move on," the boy remarked, his arms crossed as he leaned against a tree. With the way he tilted the wide brim of his hat down, his emotion was hardly readable.

"Yeah, probably," Claire agreed. She was busying herself with scouring the pan they had used for breakfast. With rapid circles, she fought against soaking or dirtying her gloves as she scratched off burned bits of fat and flesh. "That feeling is gone."

"There are other reasons."

Amami's head perked up and snapped to where he stood. Her hands clung to the stick she had been poking into the fire, and she carelessly swung the small flame that had sparked out as she asked, "What are the other reasons?"

D sighed. "There's something to the north of us. I can't tell if it is a group of animals, or people, or just something strange. I've never heard this sound before. I thought whatever it was might go away, but I don't think it…or they…will."

"Do you think they know that we are here?"

The boy shrugged. "I've seen nothing. So, if they have an idea, it's because they can hear us," he tapped the side of his ear, "or smell us," he finished, tapping the side of his nose.

"Sort of like you?"

"I guess."

"Where to, then?"

"Do I get to weigh in?" Theo asked, looking exhausted from his propped position. The children all silenced themselves to hear what the man had to say—all aside from Etsu, who was still holding some imagined battle with rocks she had taken to be her newest toys. She muttered threats as she clacked two of them together in a one-on-one fight while he said his piece. "I think we should turn around. Sorry, but there's no way that Bakura's group is still where it was. They would have to have left by now. If that's the case, they're going south. We should go south, too."

"Turn around? That's a terrible idea!" Claire crowed, and Amami shook her head at the man's assessment.

"It's like she told me," the dark-haired girl said, thumbing back at the one pinching the bridge of her nose, "there's just no food out there, and it's dangerous everywhere. What if we just move whenever the things get too close? At least until the weather is better? It's cold here, but at least it's harder to find us."

"We need a safer place to stay than a forest we don't know," Theo reasoned. "For everyone's sakes. And we might get caught in a trap if whatever is out there thinks like we do. It could lure us to its base if it keeps us dancing around. We don't know the trails, or if there are any in the first place."

"I agree," D said, surprising his friends, "to a point. First, thank you for letting us debate this topic, and not try to throw your weight around because you're the adult."

"I'm a bit in pain and well…pretty outnumbered."

D offered him a small grin. "Right. As I was saying, however, we can't go back the way we came. There are vampires working on some project over that way, and to top it off, there's a strange creature that we probably angered more than hurt in our last altercation—you were asleep," he took the time to explain to the befuddled man, "so if we go south, we have to take a different route."

"Head Southwest, then. But I can't in good conscience say staying in the forest is the way to go."

"Southwest it is," D said, glancing toward the others, "unless there's anything you guys disagree with?"

"Nope," Claire said shaking her head. "Better than turning around completely."

"I'm…okay with it, if it keeps us away from that thing or things you are hearing," Amami said.

"Mr. Boulder is the winner!" Etsu cried obliviously, holding up a half-beaten stone.

"Then it's settled. We will head southwest."

"There, isn't that much better?" the boy's left hand snarked, surprising them all with its input. "Amazing what can be done when you aren't at each other's throats. It's shocking that the adults managed to teach you kids how to work together properly when they couldn't even do it themselv—"

Just as quickly as it spoke, into a nearby pile of snow it was dipped. D emoted just enough to express his apologies with an upward pursed lip, much to the amusement of his friends before he said—

"Whatever it is, it's moving closer now. We should get going."

South and West they went, passing through smatterings of forest, thickets, and snowy glades. D was certain that they remained on a direct path with no turns (sometimes going more west than south), but there was an instance or two he had questioned his assessment. Both of those times he had heard the strange garbled hooting sound, following them from a distance, but still following them all the same. Both times in dense treescape. So, stressing that point in his update, they all turned course to zigzag through the area. At night, the others rested as D stared into the darkened depths, hearing the howls of wolves as they convened, the soft breaths of burrowed animals they had no time to catch, and that damnable inexplicable hooting growl.

One night that sound changed, and D felt the full chill of the frozen branch beneath him as the noises echoed and warbled through the air. The alteration made him wake the others and drag even the injured Theo to his feet before shoving them all along. Unnatural footsteps crunched through snow, closer than ever before, and the pitching of the expressive calls had shifted. Oh, there were still the same belting tones here and there, but it seemed that such things were less necessary. After listening to the notes for so long, D had finally accepted that there were many more than a singular creature or even two, and now the shuffling and calls sounded side by side. Quieter, pronounced, full of rhythm and coughing sounds. These things were talking.

And, without question, tailing them.

The boy's paranoia grew as they trekked on with no sight of useful buildings, just demolished, rotting, condemned-looking snowed in holes with more scraggly forest. Only the scent of the earth and the change in bark pattern told him they had not traversed through the area before; the sky was useless for navigation with its heavy gray clouds. No out of the ordinary markings or tracks littered the ground, but none dared even backtrack a few steps to see if they could catch sight of what followed. They stayed in their formation and plunged forward without question until they all agreed to stop.

Said lineup consisted with D at the head of the line, Amami, then Theo, and at the back Claire with her rifle prepped the way she had been taught the previous winter. Everyone took turns carrying Etsu when she tired of walking between Amami and Theo, getting to the point that transferring her took little thought. Aside from the agonies they were all facing for traveling in such extreme conditions, the days ran monotonously on. D had considered marking their passage in his journal, but dared not waste any time, or distract himself from what he felt was a duty only he could perform. He was tired, and in a poor mood, albeit not in the terrible position he had found himself in prior—the lack of direct sun did help. Still, he needed a nap.

Once, the boy had caught sight of two people ahead of them on what must have been the remains of a road for the lack of foliage, huddled in heavy robes of some kind, walking in the opposite direction than they were going. Part of him called for caution, while another part lifted with joy. These people could pose a danger; the way they jolted at the sight of his hurrying figure said otherwise. They were afraid.

So afraid that they took off in a diagonal direction when they noticed there were more people behind their dark-haired stranger, and straight for the woodland where the unknown enemy resided.

"Don't go that way!" D called as a warning, but the scurrying people did not heed his words. Taking a step toward them, he was torn once more. He was fast enough; he could try and stop them. It risked the others though, and if he wasted time trying to chase after those who wanted nothing to do with them it meant that those things had a better chance of catching up. If he did nothing, then perhaps…time would be bought.

"If you have to play dirty…" Bakura's voice echoed, and D mused if this was the type of situation he had meant. He glanced toward the others, unaware his face was as cold as the air around them, and when no one spoke up for going after them, he spun back around and kept leading them in their chosen direction. His arms were folded in front of him like one staving off the cold, but in reality, his stomach churned with his choice, and he found what comfort he could in pressing on.

"You're too soft, you know that?" his hand nagged. "Just like that guy…"

"Shut up," the boy grumbled.

Passing roads, trees, guardrails, bushes, on and on their path continued. That was until they found themselves amongst a body of sparse trees. D raised his hand to still them and took in a deep breath to catch all the nearby scents. He had been correct. There were wolves ahead. Perhaps a mile or two away, and the older smells told him these were grounds they liked to patrol as well. He told the others as much.

"Great!" Claire hissed as she glanced behind her. "I'm guessing that includes the front and the sides. What about the things back there? How far are they?"

The sound of the curious speech echoed from behind them, close enough for all to hear this time. Amami stared forward in horror and pressed a fussy Etsu closer, covering her ears. The littlest of their group had yet to catch on to how entrenched in danger they were, but there was no need to make the situation worse by having her panic. Claire readjusted the rifle in her hands and shook her head in resignation.

"Answers my question," she said.

"They're faster than we thought…" Amami whispered.

"Wolves are known to be fast, too," D stated.

"But will they really attack us?"

"Perhaps…if we bother them or if they're hungry."

"With our luck," Claire pointed out, "they're probably starving."

"And we're on their hunting grounds."

Theo cleared his throat. "In so many words, you're telling us that we don't have many options when it comes to where we go next, huh?"

"Yes," D replied.

He shrugged with his good arm. "Okay. Is there a better chance of skirting around the wolves? Maybe they'll take care of the problem for us?"

The boy considered his idea and then gave him a nod. "It depends on who attracts the wolves' attention first, but if we are as quiet as we can be, we may come out of this better than without them."

"Onward we go!" Claire interjected. She pressed a palm against Theo's back and pushed him forward as she began walking. "No use in wasting time if that's the case."

Diverting their course around the pack worked at first. That was until Etsu finally had enough of their traveling for the day and let out an ear-piercing shriek of a tantrum. D spun around to motion at those behind him, containing his internal horror and disgust at their inability to keep her quiet in such treacherous territory. He saw Theo swipe the child up into his arms, ignoring his still healing injury, and pat her back as she kicked painfully at his sides and screamed into his bad shoulder. Etsu's lips, for all her shouting and wriggling, appeared blue, and he had no doubt her fingers would not look much better. Amami looked as pale as the snow beside her, and Claire looked about ready to throw her own brand of an outburst as she held her weapon at the ready, glaring behind them, scouring the trees for the creatures they had yet to see. They all looked ready to fall from exhaustion.

"Keep moving forward," D directed, pointing toward the side of a craggy mountain that could be seen between the trees before them. "And head towards the cliffside. Don't argue."

Soft panting hit his ears and the smell of canine fur soaked in snow filled the air. The strange noises behind them began again in earnest. He urged them all on as best he could without shouting, telling them to keep their eyes forward, hoping that everything he sensed would also be sensed by the animals around them. If he could find his team a place to scale up and rest for just a second, he could collect his thoughts enough that he could think of a way out of this mess.

A howl cut through the air and was returned with another strange grunting hoot. This set off a chorus of snarls, and D heard a few of the nearby wolves shift positions as they darted forward and past the area they had just run through, following the sounds of what must have been their enemy as well. The boy felt the corners of his lips lift in hope that they would be ignored—until Etsu screamed. Loudly. Pitched in fear.

The boy skid to a halt, creating a semi-circle in the snow beneath him, and realized in the second it took him to assess the situation that no matter who grabbed the girl to silence her, she would not stop. Nor would the wolves that had been alerted to their presence, or the thing that had made the girl scream in the first place. Their band was frozen in fear in front of him and completely exposed to a creature that gave his father's height a run for his money. He heard a strange sound of a note being dragged to the lowest of depths, and the boy could not discern if in that millisecond if it were a wheeze from the thing before them, or some sort of rushing of blood in his ears. Rough wooden needles fell into his left palm from their makeshift holdings on his belt, and he unsheathed his sword to do battle with the beast before him.

Panic had set into the boy in a kick of last-ditch adrenaline, every failure of his piling up as nasty reminders until his unfettered sorrow melted into a cutting rage. No more hopeless staring. No more innocent deaths on his hands if he could help it.

No more.

In less than a blink, D saw the entirety of the creature from his leap into the air. The length of its head pulled down like that of a horse, although its mouth ended in an exposed circle of human-like teeth with its canines jutting out slightly in jagged points. Coarse hair coated its muddied flesh, all the way down to the crooks of its elbows and knees, where it ended in the mottled and raised skin of its heavily padded, clawed hands. Sunk just far enough in the snow were its feet, stilting it up high in a perpetual tip toe of fused bone. Its eyes gazed upon those it followed, baleful, crazed, enlarged; pure black circles with silver rims for what remained of its irises. The air rattled in D's ears; the cacophony of questing creatures collecting intel.

The being knocked its saliva-dripping teeth twice in a set up for a return chitter when the first needle pierced its eye.

The hoarse bellow it roared set off a new set of sounds none of the party was familiar with, although it was enough to snap them out of their stupor. The woodland shook with booming squawks and high-pitched keening, which soon was accompanied by howls of the incoming wolves. Claire managed to fire off a shot straight into the beast's gut before running off with the others toward the cliffside they had been told to run to before. D finished the job as he descended, slicing the thing's head clear off its body with a manic but measured strike. As he landed, he whirled and drove the blade into the bullet wound and sliced upwards, sending a spray of thick blood into the air that he rolled to dodge. Hearing incoming footsteps, he bolted toward his friends, letting his reactions fall into a mix of instinct and practice. His body felt lighter than it ever had, and his moves were soundless upon the betraying hardpack. Soon, even weaving through trees, he was able to monitor his friends progress from the side, but he did not allow himself to calm. He felt he had to ride this wave of whatever he was experiencing: to know it, to tap into it again, and to ensure they all made it out of this alive.

Two more of the massive creatures bounded their way, gripping the lower branches of the trees here and there to vault themselves forward quicker. D readied his blade and leapt out of the trees just after Theo tripped into the small clearing. The man pitched forward and almost dropped the still screaming child as he tried to correct his balance. Both Amami and Claire hurried back to level him while D took point; his eyes darted to-and-fro, taking in the sights of many other eyes glaring out at them as if they knew what he had done to one of their kind.

"Climb," D called back to his friends, toeing forward to keep the attention on him.

"It's too steep!" Amami cried out. "We can't!"

"Yes, you can!" he barked back. "To the right, there's a spot. Have Theo hoist you up, and then you can help the others climb up. Leave Theo for last so you can all pull him up."

"They'll get us!"

"Shut up and just do as he says!" Claire shouted in a panic, and D could hear the way she fought back her tears. He could smell terror on all of them, and that the youngest had wet herself in fear. A terrible recipe in weather like this.

"But they can climb!"

"It's for the wolves," D tried again, more calmly this time. "Come on, you guys. Climb."

"But they'll—"

"I won't let them!"

He heard an alarmed squeak but did not turn his attention away from the problem at hand. No doubt, since there was a lack of panicked talking, Theo had gone on to help as the boy had instructed. Which was all well and good. The scent of wolves foretold that most of the pack was nearly upon them, and there were more of those curious monsters creeping up by the second. He readied his blade once more to do battle.

Then paused. A new odor had entered the fray, bleeding from the cliffside itself. A whistle pierced the air, hanging, then lowering before it was abruptly cut off. A signal!

Wolf song punctured the late afternoon in a call to this verbal cue, and D could hear the rushing of a commanded retreat, but it did not stop the creatures in the trees from advancing. He kept his blade at the ready as one jumped out, snapping branches left and right, tearing after its escaping prey. He breathed, planted his foot in position to leap forward when—

BANG!

The blast of the shot rang through the air, followed by two more in quick succession. The great beast before D fell to its knees and then forward, blood oozing from precise shots. Three more shots fired into the newly advancing monstrosities, then two, felling more of the bold creatures, and the boy observed the hasty retreat in relief and gratitude as this rapid-fire wounding seemed to do the trick. The remainder of the towering beings quickly conversed with one another with their slavering mouths, before disappearing back into the woods as fast as they had appeared. All of this transpired without even one taking a parting swipe at the easy target in front of them. A shaky sigh left the boy, but his face did not change immediately, nor did his stance. Only when he was certain they were gone did he turn his head toward the mountainside to face the source of their good fortune.

Standing on a ledge just above where he had told his party to climb, was Bakura.

The man holstered his weapon with an ease D had never seen him possess before, but the calm, cold ice of a stare melted when he recognized just who he had saved. Those who had barely made it to tentative safety let out gasps of surprise and elation when they saw past the heavy coat and tugged down hat obscuring his face—their friend had just manifested out of thin air to rescue them. Astonishment was not one of D emotions, however. The boy had known that the shots could not have come from Claire's gun, and he knew the smell of the man from anywhere, but to see him hop to the ledge below and be swarmed by a plethora of crying people set something off in him he could not describe. Disbelief. Dreamlike. Impossible.

Without much thought, D planted two swift hops against uneven stone and scaled the distance that had taken Theo some effort to pull himself up and over. He now stood before the very man he had been so desperate to see. At that moment, the child felt the very same magnetic tug that had sparked his curiosity enough to make a makeshift lockpick and enter the stranger's room that fateful day. He blinked, staring into a face full of relief, and joy, and guilt…

The others moved aside and Bakura leaned forward to reach for him. An inexplicable pressure pounded in his ears as D took a step forward, not daring to look away. The threat of the man's image fading was all too real given their circumstances. In that instant, their gaze was inseparable, and neither intended to break it. That was, until D raised his hand.

He had thought about it before. He was so happy to see Bakura he could have burst. But…

So many promises. So many broken promises. How many more could he accept?

The slap he delt bit at the ears of everyone present and almost had Bakura reeling off their precarious ledge.

"Never again," D said, watching the red welt on the exposed portion of the man's face manifest with his own growing guilt. "Never leave us again."

A chorus of admonitions rang out almost instantly.

"D!" Amami cried, covering her mouth. All fear had left her face, but a different horror had taken its place.

"No hitting!" Etsu reprimanded in offense with as much as her shivering would allow.

"Woah, whoa! What was that for?" Theo exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me?!" Claire shouted to the point the middle of her statement shrilled into a hiss.

Bakura did not seem to register what they were saying. After shaking off the painful sting that had reverberated in his bones, he faced the boy once more. D had never seen someone so apologetic yet authoritative in his life. It threw him off his moment of righteous anger.

"I won't," the man replied, and the child wished he could have heard something calculative, something that expressed that he was lying. Anything to prove that the choice that had been made had more to it than simple, honest, faith in his friends. 'Be like my father in this,' the boy internally begged, 'have this be a test, so I can properly hate you for it.'

Yet, there was nothing. Just a dear individual whose good intentions paved the way to terrible consequences, waiting now in silence for him to continue.

"I'm sorry," D said after a brief stint of silent stubbornness, his voice cracking. Removing his hat, the child pressed his face against the man and let himself be surrounded in the group hug. What tears that slipped past his stolid attempt were dried by the scarf that crushed up against his cheeks. No one needed to know how he failed to heed his own advice sometimes.

"I know," Bakura said in his soft manner, "and so am I. There's so much we all need to share, but let's get off this ledge first. Then we can continue this conversation while I get you all somewhere warmer."

Filling him in took longer than expected as they followed the overgrown trail that Bakura led them down. Everyone wanted to share their side of the story, no matter how arbitrary the variance—what a difference a friendly face and safety made—and Theo (rightfully) had to share his intel from even further back so that all were up to date on just how random and sudden the ambush had been before Mai's group's fortuitous appearance.

"Being an ambush, though, I suppose that's not a surprise," he had added drily before moving on.

As Bakura listened, D noted how his fingers flexed, and how his jaw sagged before going rigid straight. A terse smile graced the boy's lips. The weight of their terrible circumstance was not lost on the man, then. Perhaps it was not an appropriate emotion to have now, but the jaunty I-told-you-so feeling filled him with more energy than he felt he had had in days.

They tromped on in lighter spirits now that the nagging feeling of being pursued had subsided. D did note a straggling force weaving in a haphazard pattern to the right of them on their path. The sounds of play set the party on edge until Bakura chuckled. He explained that it was part of the pack of wolves they had previously encountered; companions of the woman whom his portion of the party shared a cave with.

"She was a conservationist before all this—I think," he said with a sheepish grin. "Although she has them trained to respond to a few whistles."

"This Marta person taught these signals to you?" Theo asked, nursing his pained side now that Etsu was back in Amami's arms.

"Some," Bakura replied with a nod. "The things I understand. I know the requests for 'come here' and 'go home' and 'in danger'…"

"Requests?"

He side-eyed the other, lip hooked with dry amusement. "You think you can command things like wolves?"

Theo shook his head. "I can barely command my ass to stay alive."

"Barely seems to be working, at least. By the way, I want to properly thank you for keeping what eyes you could on them." Bakura fanned a hand in the direction of the children before ushering them along another hardly noticeable trail, the only thing apparently marking it being an aged nail in a tree.

"Dunno how much you should be thanking me. They saved me more than anything."

"Not true," Claire countered. "Like D said, you were hurt because you helped us first. We were just returning the favor."

"Not to mention that by letting us talk out our options, you ultimately decided where we went," D added. "You're the reason we found Bakura-sama."

"That…" the man rubbed at the back of his neck. "That was pure luck."

"Whatever it was," Bakura said, slowing to offer the man a handshake, "Thank you. Now, if you keep to this trail—it will clear out and become a lot more obvious once you round that bunch of young trees—you'll soon see a little flag that marks where Jounochi is keeping an eye out. Just be sure to wave, and I'm sure that you'll get a warm welcome!"

"You aren't coming?" Amami asked worriedly.

"I am. I just have to finish what I was sent out here to do."

"Do you need any help?" Theo asked. "We could wait for you."

"It's fine. You all are the ones in need of a break. I'll take this one here," Bakura said, clapping a hand on D's shoulder, "but everyone else…you'll be more helpful when you're feeling better. So, get going!"

With a mix of uncertainty and relief, the exhausted travelers heeded the man's advice. Their lingering questions could be answered soon enough, but the promise of warmth and a period of time where they would not be pursued beckoned them better than any will-o-the-wisp. Only one of the departing members had their guard still fully up, and they were not content to be the only one.

"D," Claire muttered low, as she passed by him, "keep an eye on him."

The boy nodded with a stone-like expression. "Already planned on it."

Eventually, D and Bakura were left alone to whatever task he had to carry out.

The man waited until the rest were clearly out of earshot before he spoke again. "I just can't believe…" he mumbled, and began to shake his head with increasing force, face pinched in bitter lines. The words seethed through clenched teeth, little louder than the whisper of fabric scratching fabric. "This whole thing was meant to make it safer for you!"

"With all due respect, Bakura-sama," D said, taking his hand. "I am far safer in your care."

"When I said you, I meant everyone," he said, although the little grin that cut through the shame told the boy the double meaning was a spontaneous addition.

"We are safer, then. I'm coming to realize that more than ever—even if someone else isn't."

"Oh yeah, blame it on me," his left hand pouted. "But your luck has been shit since the day you left that facility with this guy."

"Can it, before I can you," the boy retorted, gripping his fist closed and shoving it into his pocket.

"As pleasant as ever," Bakura mused.

"Whether he wants to admit it or not, he missed you, too," the boy said. "Even if that missing is just to pick on you. But I, for one, am just glad to see you."

"And I am glad to see you, too."

They stood there in silence for a time, grinning at each other. Any past aggression had dispersed as easily as the nearby clump of snow that slipped from a laden branch. It was like the inner warmth the boy experienced had manifested in nature itself.

"…you didn't have anything else to do, did you?"

"No."

"So, you just wanted to talk?" D's rare smile widened.

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Nothing." With that, the boy rested his head against the man once more, hugging his arm with careful intensity. A hazy memory of holding his mother's arm in a similar fashion harassed him, incomplete, but pleasant regardless. He could have fallen asleep on his feet right then and there with how comforted he was by the man's presence.

In fact, he almost did. The one acting as his headrest had different plans, however.

"You've gotten taller," Bakura remarked. D glanced up in confusion and received a pat on the forehead that had been meant for the top of his head. A swift apology began to follow, but before any proper words were uttered the pair burst into laughter at the unexpected contact.

"We weren't separated that long," D razzed in his mild way as he released his hold.

"Huh…maybe I just now noticed?"

"Learn to be more perceptive!"

"I've been hearing that a lot lately…I think," Bakura mused. He placed a hand on D's shoulder to guide him to their temporary residence but did not lift a foot to start walking.

"You think?"

"Not great with understanding what our current landlady is telling me."

"Well, you have your translator right here," D said in half-jest.

"No, no, no! I'm trying wholeheartedly! Let me make my mistakes for now. I've got to let you see I'm not completely useless," Bakura said with a laugh.

"You've never been useless," D murmured.

"By the way," the man said, seeming to not hear the child's response, "I've got a gift from one of the residents of that city we were in. It's meant for you."

"Oh?" the boy raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"No idea," Bakura said. He chose this moment to start following the group he had sent ahead, but his set pace was slow, like one distracted. "But then again, it's your gift. I'm not about to unwrap it."

"Helpful."

"Polite."

"Overly so."

"Dunno," Bakura said, while rubbing his chin. "I think Marta finds me very annoying."

"How so?"

"I'll tell you after you let me know something." Bakura paused on the freshly trodden trail. A gust of wind picked up, but the trees tore at its voracity, leaving it to toy with the exposed strands of white hair. "Aside from Theo, was anyone else hurt? Are you okay?"

D dropped his eyes for a flash, grateful that Bakura was not facing him. No, his eyes were looking into a distance that did not exist. The boy, however, knew that both he and Claire had refrained from telling either adult how bad his interaction with the wind creature had gone.

"I'm fine," he assured.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes?" D cocked his head. Where was this line of questioning coming from?

"What about your hand?"

"My hand?" He pulled his left hand out of his pocket. Holding it closed like it carried some physical secret within his palm, he wondered if he should share how his newest move caused a reoccurring pain. He did not want to worry him—and he also did not want to relinquish the chance to use the trick that had saved three of them previously. If he let him know…

"What you did was necessary—but dangerous," Bakura said as if reading his thoughts. His words sent a shiver down D's spine, and a weight seemed to settle onto his shoulders; like pressure from invisible hands gripping him, leaving him prone and small in that line of sight very unlike the man's usual gaze. His brown eyes were narrowed, harsh, sweeping over D, scanning for any sign of oddities unexplained. "I've done the very thing you have, and unintentionally as well—but D-kun…that was after I had been exposed to such skills for some time. Not to mention having a chance to feel it out for myself after that exposure—but anyway. It may seem odd to say, but your soul has to be ready to carry a great burden if you're going to be using a move like that."

"My soul?"

"Your conviction, your will, the very essence of you." Bakura placed a hand over his own heart, and the boy copied him out of curiosity. He could feel his heart beating beneath the skin, forever wanting what he always lacked. Still, it gave him pause. A question formed within: Is he saying what I did is not a physical action? Slowly unfurling his hand, D looked at its familiar surface with wide eyes. That pain…it had gone past his elbow if he really thought about it. But where to?

"I never wanted this for you."

"Well…I have it," D replied, swallowing hard. The essence of the not-dream toyed at the back of his mind, and he struggled with facing the mysticism that now enshrouded his life, entangling him in its snares by the palm of his hand. Everything "odd" he had once known had been steeped in science, even his own existence. He longed for a proper explanation as to how this type of power existed, manifested. Some type of logic, like his dimensional theory, or how he indirectly mirrored the man's skills…unless…

"And you have its attention."

D did not need him to elaborate on what it was. After all, he had received this "gift" for promising something he did not even know if he could deliver on. 'Hopefully that will not come back to bite me,' he thought to himself.

"You know of my Ka," Bakura continued, "the manifestation that interacts with reality. It draws on my soul, which is as much a part of it as it's a part of me. Don't forget that. That's why I don't use Diabound to answer the call of every problem we have."

"What you can offer is finite."

"Yes, and I'm also not as great at managing this power as I would like to be."

"But you are going to tell me that you have to train me in it now, right?" D asked, unable to hide the shine of excitement in his eyes from the man. The idea of being able to help Bakura and be made privy to more knowledge that had been held from him washed much of his fear to the back of his mind. Of course, he could glean quite a lot from his previous experiences already, and if he allowed himself to entertain the unknown, there was quite a lot he could share with Bakura…if it did not stop the man from training him. He would have to test out what knowledge was "too much" to know.

"I suppose I will have to," Bakura said. He bit his lip, and D noted the displeased twitch in his cheek. "But not in the way you think. I don't know if you can manifest a Ka, or if you can just use what was given to you. Either way, I want to use the time that we can't use traveling to prepare ourselves for what is likely to come. More than what we did before."

"Will it hurt me?"

"You mean, is it religious? I could only guess, but I think this is as balanced a skill as you'll get. It's not inherently pure, but it's also not inherently evil." The man shrugged. "It depends on the person. But if you mean in general, maybe. If you overdo it."

'Like I did,' D mused to himself. Flexing his hand before bundling it back into his pocket, silencing its possible speech, he nodded.

"I won't let you down, Bakura-sama."

Bakura smiled. "You never do."

They hugged one another, then, before Bakura lifted the child bodily from the ground in a sudden fell swoop. "Although, I know you lie to me sometimes. You must be exhausted. Let's get back…we can always continue this conversation later."

"I can walk!" D cried indignantly, although his reactive fussing could hardly have been considered any effort on either of their parts.

"One day you're going to be taller than me," Bakura said with a laugh. "And you'll be doing the carrying. Enjoy your break."

"Fine, I will." With that, the boy rag-dolled in the man's arms and the pair burst into laughter as they ambled onward to safety. Soon enough they would speak of the seriousness of the strange creatures, and the odd fortune of Bakura's appearance, but for now, in that brief instant, D could be a child again.