Shouts came from my left and I turned to snap orders. I would destroy them all. Turn every last one to dust never to rise again. The acrid smell of smoke filled my nostrils and the thrill of destruction coursed through my veins. With a roar of power, I leapt across the field and began my massacre. My body flew toward my enemy with ferocity and bloodlust.
"Ryu again!" I cracked my eyes open as the female voice shouted near my ears and the fog from my dream faded from my brain. "Get off me you stupid wolf." The angry feminine voice again assaulted my sensitive ears and I felt something squirm out from under my arm. With a yawn I turned my head toward the voice.
On the other side of the bed was the angry face of the woman who was my teacher. My arm was draped over her and she was trying to wriggle her body out from under it. I raised my arm and rolled onto my side. "Morning." I greeted the woman and was greeted with a glare.
"Morning? Why the hell must you insist on sleeping in my bed…naked none the less? You have your own bed, in your own room!" Her indignant voice carried as she sat up and slid her legs over the edge of the bed. I watched as she stood up and brushed her fingers through her long dark locks. Her green eyes flashed angrily as I continued to lounge on her bed. With a sigh she walked to the adjoining bathroom and I watched as her body moved under her night gown. The light blue fabric highlighted the dark markings…tattoos drawn across her back and down her arms.
The door to the bathroom closed and I leaned back on the myriad of pillows strewn across the bed. I traced my fingers down the tattoo drawn across my face and smiled. When I first became human the lack of defining markings was disconcerting and made identifying humans insanely difficult. Tattoos were unique enough they made identification easier. Though, now that I've been human for a while, it's become easier to tell them apart. I heard the sound of the shower start and closed my eyes. I tried to keep my mind from imagining that woman's body as the water from the shower ran across it.
The first time I saw a human woman that was attractive I was surprised that I reacted to her. As a wolf the things I found attractive in females were their tails or maybe a favorite marking on their fur and I figured I'd never see humans with lust, but I was wrong. Some human females held an attraction to this human body that my mind seemed to share. The first encounters I had with human females were in the beginner student dormitories. Naturally we were paraded around to various women that were to take us on as students and teach us to be proper humans.
Shion asked every woman that came to his office which species of animal they wanted, and then we were paraded around before the teacher for them to choose one of us. The teachers that came to examine us were all the same to me at first. Each one of them blushed as they looked at me and were unable to hold eye contact for long. I became human to become a stronger being and as such needed a teacher wielding power of her own. Humans were far stronger than wolves, not in the sense of ferocity, but in their ingenuity. Being able to utilize weapons gives humans a great power over other creatures. I wanted this power.
After several weeks of the monotony, a woman dressed in extravagant clothing like a few of the more prominent teachers that came to choose their students came to the dormitory. Of course they chose cats or rabbits so I wasn't going to bother with her. I was rather surprised when Shion called the wolf group out and instead of us being paraded around, she followed the once student to our dorm. That was unusual as most teachers liked to have us display ourselves for them. Even more surprising was when I caught her eye. She held my gaze and was able to refrain from a blush.
"I'm Xiren." She held her hand out to me and as she extended her arm I saw her markings…tattoos show under the edge of her jacket sleeve. I took her hand and introduced myself. After filling out all of the paper work, she led me around town and to several high end style shops. She bought more clothes than I'd ever wear and most of those cloths still hung unworn in my closet. The way she carried herself as we walked around town reminded me of alpha females in wolf packs and how they carried themselves.
As I dozed reminiscing on the past, I heard the shower stop and not long after the click of the door as Xiren exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around herself. She sighed as she saw I was still lounging in her bed and headed into her walk in closet. Once my teacher hid herself so she could dress, I smiled and sat up from the bed. With a stretch I slid from the bed, walked to the door of the bathroom and got into the shower.
Showers were one of the many things that made becoming human worthwhile. The scent of roses assailed my senses as I closed the shower doors. Xiren loved the scent of these flowers and used several rose scented things. With a sigh I turned on the water and closed my eyes as the rain-like spray washed over my body. Showers were relaxing and an easy way to get clean. At the beginner dormitories many of the students had strong fears of showers and refused to take them. After lathering the fragrant soap across my body and rinsing it off, I stepped out of the shower and could smell the nice scent of bacon cooking.
Grabbing a towel from the rack, I wrapped the towel around my wet hair and wolf ears and shook out my tail as I left the bathroom. Rubbing the towel across my long dark locks to help dry them, I made my way to the kitchen. The smell of breakfast wafted to my nose as I entered the warm kitchen. Xiren was standing at the stove finishing the French toast when I came in. "Finally done using my shower I see." She sighed as she put the toast on two plates. I quickly wrapped the towel around my waist before she turned to me. Humans had a thing for clothing that I don't understand and my teacher was a stickler for keeping at least one part of my body covered in public.
Setting the plates with scrambled eggs and bacon along with the toast, Xiren turned to me and waved for me to sit. I complied and took my place at the head of the table. Food tasted different as a human and it took me some time before I could adjust to having food cooked. The food Xiren made always tasted good and she did try to accommodate my tastes by providing lots of meat and not cooking it too much. Though, she had an annoying habit of forcing me to eat prey foods like carrots. "I have an appointment this morning with a client who wants some help dressing her student so you'll have to study by yourself today. That means stay home and learn something." Xiren informed me as we ate.
My teacher did fashion work for the city and often had to go visit teachers and their students to help them with styles. She was making the world pleasing to the eye as she put it and she even worked closely with some of the shops to help design clothes for teachers to purchase. Her job was lucrative and I've learned I get to reap the spoils of her work. I have a larger closet than many of the students I've meet and the home Xiren owned was large enough for both of us and much more.
"I'll study." I held back a smirk as I committed to my studies. As 'students' we were expected to learn to be human by learning to read, write, speak and so on. Most of that didn't interest me much, but being able to read did have the advantage of being able to learn about the different weapons and wars humans got themselves involved in. Most of what I studied when Xiren was out were books on war and military strategy or criminology and such. If Xiren was watching what I studied I studied mathematics and history and other boring subjects.
The only good thing about studying the boring subjects was Xiren rewarded every correct answer with spoonfulls of the delicious substance known as peanut butter. Nothing beat the taste of that creamy, delicious, smooth substance. The first time I tasted peanut butter was in a sandwich and I practically attacked Xiren for more of it.
With breakfast over Xiren cleared the table as usual and grabbed her things to head out for her appointment. I watched as my teacher left and went up the stairs to the spare rooms and entered the one that was supposed to be mine. This house was custom built with five rooms each with a walk in closet, adjoining bathroom, and what Xiren calls a hobby room. Mine was at the top of the stairs and I only used it to store the enormous amounts of clothing I now owned.
I pulled out a pair of pants to put on, grabbed a large book on war, picked up my pack of cigarettes and headed back down the stairs to the sitting area. Studying sometimes became difficult as other students tended to drop by sometimes with their teachers and sometimes without. Some of these social interactions get annoying and some of them are interesting. I have a few regulars that come by and they can be fun though some of them are irritating.
Opening my book I turned on the stereo and tuned into one of the radio stations that played electronic music. Propping my feet up on the table I lit my cigarette and opened the book. Sure enough I only got a few pages into my chapter before the doorbell rang. With a sigh I closed my book and got up.
As I opened the door an excited rabbit rushed in to hug me. "Hi Ryu! Hugs and sparkles for you." The white haired rabbit student excitedly greeted me as he hugged me tightly. I carefully held my cigarette away from him to keep from setting the fluffy haircut on fire.
"Yo Iori." I greeted st the rabbit let go of me.
"How are you doing Ryu?" The man asked excitedly.
"Good though I'm in the middle of studying."
"Oh then I'll let you get back to it. I have to get going anyway. Teacher wants me to try for the Daily Socializer Ranking today. Bye!" The excitable man skipped off in a flurry of glitter as I shut the door. One socialization down I returned to the couch and returned to my book.
Several minutes later another knock came at the door. With a sigh I closed my book and opened the door. "This time I'll beat yo-" Another wolf student fell flat on his face as he ran to challenge me. 1999 was the name of this student and he was as cumbersome as his name. The man swore he was an alpha wolf before, but for the life of me I couldn't see how such a klutz could ever be in charge of anything.
"And again you fail '99. Is there something you wanted?" I leaned against the door frame and puffed smoke mockingly in his face.
"Ah you have bested me again Ryu. You are indeed a worthy opponent, but I'll be back tomorrow. Mark my words!" The man shouted as he made his hasty retreat. I shook my head and sighed as I once again closed my door. With a stretch I returned to the couch and opened my book. After about an hour or at least a good enough amount of time for me to get a decent amount of my book read, the doorbell rang again. I once more closed my book and looked to see who came to visit.
"Good afternoon Ryu." Another wolf greeted me.
"Yo Jeyyku." I greeted this caller with a smile and put my arm across his shoulders. Jeykku was a shy guy and hated physical contact with others. I made sure to get in his personal bubble every chance I got. "Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?" I teased him and pulled him close to my bare chest.
"No thank you!" Jeyyku made a few strangled noises and shot me one of his ineffective glares as he pushed away from me. "I just stopped by to say hello and I will be leaving now." With that the man turned on his heel and left. I chuckled to myself as I once again shut my door.
The next few hours were quiet and I was able to get a good way through my book before the door opened and my disgruntled teacher came through the door. "Ugh why the fuck to people ask for my help then ignore it? They pay me thousands of K to assist their student and make them look good then turn around and put a ton of stupid shit on them! Every damn time a teacher needs help with a cat it's 'oh I saw this cute guy on TV named Sebastian and I want my cat student to look like him'." She shouted to no one in particular as she vented her frustrations from the day. Xiren's anger always made me smile and I listened halfheartedly as she recanted the endeavors of her day.
"Bad day?" I closed up my book and lit a new cigarette when she plopped down on the couch next to me.
"Just a wasted day." She sighed and leaned against me closing her eyes in mock drama. "I shouldn't complain after all teachers pay me lots of money to show them how to dress their students. It's their business if they want to throw that money away and disregard my suggestions." She turned her eyes up to meet mine. "How was your day? Meet any fun students?"
"Just the regulars." I shrugged and casually wrapped my arm around her body. Some days I had more visitors than others and since there were only a few interruptions to my studies I recounted how the students that did visit me were doing.
"At least your day was productive. Well let's finish up your socializing for the day. Come on I'll go with you to visit a few teachers." She hopped off the couch and headed for the door. With a sigh I set the book on the coffee table, put the lighter and pack of cigarettes in my pocket, turned off the radio, and followed after my teacher.
The two of us spent the remainder of the afternoon knocking on doors and visiting other students. One of our regular stops was at the teacher Wendy's door. Her student Jiji wasn't my favorite of the students out there. We don't really get along and I don't like the suggestive looks he tosses at Xiren, but Wendy and Xiren have a common interest in fashion and the two often talked for hours about various shop items and how said items looked with other items. Jiji and I usually sat in silence and yawned as the two women talked.
Another of our regular stops was at a teacher named Ni's home. Her rabbit student Kurogane was one of the few students I was truly comfortable around. Most rabbits were timid and shy, but Kurogane was strong and would have made a fine wolf. The two of us did most of the talking since we had the common interest of war and destruction. Our conversations often were about the various wars or weapons we'd recently read about.
Xiren and I made our rounds of the various teachers she liked to visit and headed home for the evening. The community of teachers and students was still small and with Xiren's fame the little bit of socializing we do often landed us on in the paper on the ranks of the Daily Socializer. For some reason many teachers pushed their students to socialize with as many people as they could so they could gain the temporary popularity that went along with the ranks.
Once we reached our door there was a note stuck on it from Shion. "Hmm…I wonder what this is about." Xiren muttered as she pulled the note from the door before entering the home. "Hopefully it's not a letter telling me to work harder on shaping up your rudeness or limit your smoking habits." She teased me with a light jab to my ribs.
"So I need to be ruder and smoke more. Got it. I think I'll drink more too." I teased back and put an arm around my teacher's waist as I shut the door behind us.
"You still want that gun don't you?"
"Damn." Xiren had promised that if I could be more polite she'd let me buy a gun. Guns were just one of the many weapons humans had and I really wanted one. I already had a good collection of swords, daggers, and other various small time weapons, but nothing as cool as a gun. Xiren scanned the note as she headed over to the kitchen to start dinner.
"Oh this is interesting." She muttered as she read through the note. I quietly sat the table and let my teach her work her way through the note. I lit the last cigarette in my pack and let her finish reading the note. "It appears we'll be getting a new housemate sooner than I thought. Shion's note states that I can choose a second student in a few days." She set the note on the table and I snatched it up to read for myself.
"Why do you want another student?" I growled slightly at the news. The note didn't make me feel much better. There was some nonsense about students really liking Xiren and possibly adding their voices to Shion's decision. I'd have to find out who these students are and deal with them. Xiren was my woman and I didn't like the idea of other men thinking about her.
"You have been fun to teach despite your penchant for sleeping in my bed and I know you are swindling people out of their money like one of those mafia boys in your books." She glanced at me with one of her 'I know what you've been doing' looks. It's not my fault people think I play fair. "I was telling Shion I'd like to try teaching another boy."
"I say you can't." I tossed the paper back on the table and removed the cigarette from my lips to knock the ashes in the tray as I gave a hard look to the woman who was my teacher. She deftly ignored my comment and pulled a pair of steaks from the fridge. I'd have to think about this new student thing. Xiren was mine that much I'd determined already, but a new male in the house would mean another man to look at her.