..•.:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•.○.•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:.•..

Sungmin stayed in his bedroom for about an hour longer before he went to the kitchen. Looking at the clock he saw that it was almost around the time Youngwoon would come back from the yard to prepare his mid morning snack. Sungmin though, got in ahead of the werewolf. When Youngwoon reached the kitchen there was food ready for him on the table.

"You managed to do all this with just one hand?" Youngwoon questioned with a smile. "I guess your wrist is better than I thought."

Sungmin nodded sitting down at the chair that was usually occupied by the werewolf, it felt nice to exchange places like that.

"It's still hurting, but I can do things you can’t even imagine." Sungmin replied all proud.

Youngwoon’s smile diminished at the younger’s reply.

"Then why didn’t you use your skills to do good things?" he questioned and Sungmin got quite surprised with the question.

"What do you mean? You don’t even know what I do." Sungmin laughed awkwardly. He didn't like the question at all.

The werewolf took his chopsticks, studying Sungmin's aura. After he took the first bite of his meal, he hummed approvingly at the taste before he replied to Sungmin’s words.

"It’s true. I don’t know what exactly that you do, but I know it’s not good. When you first arrived here, your aura was darker, your mere presence attracted heaps of evil spirits; you gave me quite a large load of work to do." He said without looking at Sungmin. Sungmin's aura was heavy, in shades of dark blue, purple and black. With passing time, with Youngwoon's cleansing the the darker influence, Sungmin's aura became lighter; acquiring new shades of blue at the dissipation of the dark black. His aura was a much more beautiful blue now.

Getting anxious, the human frowned,  he stiffened and looked seriously at Youngwoon.

"What do you mean? More spirits have been after me?" he asked worriedly.

The werewolf looked back at him seriously. Once again, he  could see how their aura was different, despite being the same soul. His young master Sungmin had a diamond aura, the most beautiful Youngwoon had ever seen. Mainly white with colorful sparks and light patterns changing constantly, reacting to his emotions. This day and age Sungmin's aura was mostly blue, different shades of that color reflecting how he was deeply marked by sadness and loneliness, but with growing hope and a peace of mind.

"When you arrived here, there were lower spirits eating on you already. Spirits that can feed on your emotions, they were not interested in possessing you because you didn’t need incentives to give them what they wanted. And from what you told me, you’ve worked for some really bad people. Why exactly are you here, Sungmin-ssi? Why did you come here to ‘hide’?" Youngwoon questioned leaving Sungmin with a ghost of worry inside of him, because Youngwoon had used past tense. Sungmin assumed Youngwoon had probably gotten rid of them already.

That day seemed to be a day for revelations. Back in Seoul, Sungmin had many odd jobs to cover up the fact that he was a thief, nobody had ever believed he was not your average nice neighbor, even the police officers patrolling his neighborhood never suspected him. Youngwoon was different though. With the werewolf Sungmin felt like exposing everything he was. He would do anything to create clear boundaries on who he was.

"I am a thief. One of the best in Korea, if I can say so myself. I would usually work for drug or weapon dealers; corrupt politicians, people that could afford my services. I am here because a pig hired me to steal something really important, instead of paying me he tried to kill me. In retaliation, I invaded his house and stole his most precious possession, on my way here I left the artifact at a museum’s doorstep. So now he is hunting me. He won’t give up until I am dead." Sungmin didn’t look at Youngwoon as he explained.

Youngwoon didn’t say anything to the revelation, he simply continued eating. Sungmin didn’t know what to do next, so he just waited until he had some sort of reply, any kind of reaction really. Only after putting down his chopsticks did Youngwoon speak.

"I can help you get rid of this threat, but I don’t know if it would be something good for you." his tone was somehow sad.

Sungmin frowned. "What do you mean? I don’t want you to kill anyone for me." He retorted, but his words only made Youngwoon chuckle.

"I didn’t say anything about killing. If a hunter was to come at you now, what would you do, Sungmin-ssi? I’m sure you have money stocked somewhere, would you pay him to be your bodyguard?" Youngwoon questioned setting a small smile on his expression.

Sungmin frowned even more, at first he didn’t get the term used but then it dawned on him.

"Bodyguards would just slow me down." He therefore retorted, expecting Youngwoon to believe he had not noticed the comparison he was trying to make, some part of Sungmin had felt slightly angry at that. Thinking Youngwoon was trying to compare him to the other Sungmin.

"As I thought. Instead of being protected you would probably trick them into teaching you how they acquired their supernatural power. Then once you got your hands on it, you would vanish," Youngwoon replied grinning at how once again Sungmin stiffened. That was exactly what he had thought as he pictured himself in the same situation the other Sungmin had faced. "If you became a hunter, or accept to work with them, they would help you get rid of the man wishing to have your head on a plate." Youngwoon added, averting his eyes that time around.

"Why wouldn’t it be good for me?" Sungmin questioned with a tone laced with curiosity, the prospect was something rather golden to him. Getting that pig off his back would be great.

"Because hunters are the easiest prey for spirits. Their strong drive to destroy supernatural creatures makes them easy prey for the only kind of supernatural creatures they can’t fight with, because they can’t even see them." Youngwoon replied.

Sungmin pondered those words for a while, weighing the pros and cons. At first, he was only considering his situation with his old contractor, but slowly other thoughts build up. If Sungmin was to become a hunter, he could protect Youngwoon. Instead of being protected as he was, he could be of help. Remembering the night Sungmin found Youngwoon hurt made Sungmin's heart ache. If Sungmin was to become a hunter he could make sure Youngwoon would not get hurt again. Just that consideration made Sungmin want the power, he wanted the knowledge so he could protect Youngwoon from his enemies. But then a small detail made him grow cold, his heartbeat increased and he was questioning before Youngwoon could try to understand the sudden rush of adrenaline in the human.

"How the hell would you be able to help me become a hunter?" there was fear laced in his voice, a fear Youngwoon could not comprehend.

"How do you think I survived that day? Only me against three hunters?" Youngwoon questioned, his expression being clouded by the sadness of his memories.

Oh that was a piece of information that was really important and Sungmin had forgotten to seek.

"They could not grasp why he had done that, why he had protected me at the cost of his own life, as they could not really believe my tears, my agony at seeing him die in my arms. I held on to his body completely ignoring them, they had never witnessed such a thing. Because of that they gave me a chance to prove to them he was right. That I was not a monster, that I was actually protecting the human kind." Youngwoon continued and Sungmin felt glad that Youngwoon was not using his name to talk about the other.

"You befriended the hunters that killed him?" Sungmin questioned, simply to say astonished.

Youngwoon nodded slightly.

"If befriending can be the right word." Youngwoon replied. "They were the ones bringing his body back here and coming up with the ambush story, they claimed to be travelers that had found him dying. For the months they stayed here, I kept protecting the town from the woods, never again changing back into my human body. After they left I had their trust. From time to time, one or two members of their guild would come by to check on me and help if I was in need. They were the ones that helped me buy this house and the fields that once belonged to him. I can say that at least one of them I had truly befriended, he is the one that mostly comes to check on me." the werewolf unveiled.

"Wait just a moment there." Sungmin interrupted Youngwoon’s explanation with an alarmed tone and raised hands. "You are seriously implying a human has been checking on you for four hundred years?" Sungmin questioned, hoping that his jealousy had passed off as curiosity.

Youngwoon blinked at Sungmin for the interruption and then nodded.

"Hunter’s are humans that learned how to stand against the supernatural by becoming half supernatural themselves. Vampire and werewolf blood give humans supernatural abilities, among them the ability to stop aging. The problem is that if a human lives longer than the usual life span, if they stop drinking either blood, they age in seconds what they had been supposed to age. Most of the hunters I know would be dust if they ever stop drinking blood." He explained, and it was quite hard for Sungmin to believe, but Youngwoon had not aged in four hundred years so there could really be some truth in that, plus if Sungmin was living with a werewolf, why would there be no vampires in the circus?

"So, you are telling me that you can ask this hunter friend of yours to take me under his wing and get me to become a hunter as well?" After a moment of consideration, Sungmin tried to sum up the conversation.

The werewolf nodded. "It’s a dangerous life, but I can tell you’ve been living in danger most of your life. At least with him you would be using your skills for something good." Youngwoon explained and something inside Sungmin had jumped, had made his heart swoon.

"But I actually love stealing stuff, I’m not very good with the killing stuff." Sungmin retorted in a half joke, but his words made Youngwoon frown worriedly.

"Stop saying things like that. This kind of pride was one of the things that made you easy prey for spirits. Please, stop saying and thinking you are ok with what you do, that you actually love what you do." Youngwoon somehow exploded in a strong reprimanding tone. That damned occasional deep purple color in Sungmin's aura had always irritated the werewolf, even the lavender is a constant source of worry, even though it was quite charming amongst all the blue.

Sungmin was taken aback by those words, the worry also laced in his voice made Sungmin reply almost automatically, Like a child being scolded by his father. "Ok." And he meant it, at least at that very moment.

"Think carefully about this option I am giving you, in two months our biggest festival will be taking place, the hunters will come by because at gatherings like this vampires and spirits also come by to try their luck. If you decide to hear them out and try to take this chance, you can simply stay here and wait for them… that is if you want to stay that long in the same place, if you still want to take the chance but don’t want to stay here after your hand heals, you can just come back for the festival." Youngwoon offered, practically blabbing. It sounded in Sungmin’s ears as a clear wish for him to stay.

He didn’t need an excuse anymore for he had an invitation to stay right where he was and wanted to be. His decision had been taken, but instead he told Youngwoon. "I’ll think about it."

..•.:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•.○.•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:.•..

A few days later Sungmin took off the wrist immobilizer and plotted his way back into town. His story was carefully planned. While Youngwoon was in the back yard, Sungmin picked up the front gate keys and marched with lively steps towards the gate. The moment he got there, he grinned because Youngwoon was also nearing it, with a worried expression on.

"What’s wrong?" he questioned softly, looking back and forth from Sungmin’s face to the keys he was holding.

"I want to eat something sweet so I’m going to town to buy some ingredients to make some desserts." Sungmin answered, easily opening the gate and then, once the task was over, throwing the keys back to Youngwoon. "Lock up if you want, but when I get back come open it up for me." He said before walking away.

"Should I just go with you?" Youngwoon questioned, but Sungmin simply chuckled.

"Youngwoon, I’m not a baby. I can go to town on my own and be back. I’m sure you’ll know if something strange appears and I’m sure you’ll get rid of it in time. I’ll be back shortly." Sungmin replied and somehow Youngwoon could only grin at the human. Sungmin had replied to him in a very cute way despite his words being slightly mean. Sungmin had turned around but he kept walking backwards, once he finished his speech he saluted playfully and then turned around again, with a bounce to his step. Youngwoon didn’t know what exactly had happened for him to wake up so happy but he was glad Sungmin was actually adventuring out of the house.

Yet that particular thought made Youngwoon frown in the following second, if the problem was a spirit or even a vampire sure Youngwoon would be able to deal with it, but if it was the humans that wanted to hurt Sungmin he was not so sure. Against Sungmin’s words, Youngwoon did lock the gate, but he actually went out after Sungmin, making sure not to be noticed as he used his werewolf gifts to stalk the younger male.

But his worry was proved ungrounded as Sungmin went to town and came back safely, he bought the things he wanted and at being recognized by the old cashier who attended him the day he arrived in town, he sold his lie. He told the man that he had gotten lost in the woods and had even hurt his arm. As he found his way out of the woods behind the mansion, Youngwoon had helped him and taken care of him for a few days. Now he had decided to stay longer in town to repay Youngwoon’s kindness, also adding that he would stay at the mansion. Sungmin figured that if someone would ever find him, the mansion would be far enough from town so he could easily escape or get rid of his pursuers with a little wolfie’s help.

Later that day Sungmin served his most praised dessert to Youngwoon as they sat down to finally decently watch a movie together.

..•.:*´¨`*:.•.¸¸.•´¯`•.○.•´¯`•.¸¸.•..:*´¨`*:.•..