So here's the first chapter. The reason I've posted it before I've finished Hero is because the poll on my profile won't work and I really want to know how many people will read this.
Tyki smirked as he walked along an alley wall, his ears perked and his tail arrogantly held high. His black hair was groomed, his fur cleaned and he wore a white shirt and black dress pants. It was a beautiful night and the moon was full and high in the sky for all to see. It was nights like these that made him feel like he could do anything.
Life as a stray was grand, at least for him. He was free to do as he pleased when he pleased. He had no owner to tell him otherwise. He always felt a little disgusted when he saw an owner bossing his pet around.
Tyki was about to jump onto a roof of a house when he spotted something move from behind a bunch of bags of garbage in the alley corner. Curious, Tyki jumped down and sniffed the air cautiously, frowning when he smelt something like burning meat.
With his ears perked up high to listen for any signs of danger, Tyki approached the corner, kicking away the bags of garbage revealing a little humanoid kitten who couldn't have been more than a couple of years old.
The kitten had curiously grey white hair with matching ears and tail. He wasn't wearing much either, just a light shirt and shorts, not proper attire for the early fall weather. The kitten was probably going to freeze to death if he didn't find warmer clothes.
The kitten whimpered and curled into a tighter ball as if to prove Tyki right. The wolf tilted his head when he saw something red against the grey of the kitten's shirt. To Tyki's utter astonishment, it turned out to be the kitten's arm. Somehow the kitten had managed to burn his entire arm and judging from the pink color it had been recent.
Tyki gave the kitten a sympathetic look before he turned away and jumped back onto the wall then onto the roof. It was sad to just leave the kitten but Tyki couldn't help him. There were a dozen strays roaming the streets of the town and he could hardly save every one of them. What made the kitten so special?
Perhaps the kitten would live and teach himself how to survive like Tyki himself had done but with that arm he doubted it.
Suddenly, Tyki's ears tilted back when he heard hissing and yowling. Looked like someone had found the kitten. Many of the strays liked to fight each other, either to get stronger or to let out the frustration of being a stray, and the kitten made the perfect target. Tyki listened, expecting the fight to be over soon, assuming that the kitten would submit or be killed but when the fight continued for several minutes Tyki curiously went back to the alley corner.
Just as he expected a humanoid pet, a rather large one at that, had found the kitten who was only half his size. Much to Tyki's amusement the little one was putting up quite a fight although it was blatantly obvious he was losing but he wasn't going down without giving his opponent several nasty looking scratches and bites.
Tyki looked into the kitten's large grey eyes and was faintly surprised when he didn't see any hint of fear in them, just fierce determination and a hint of resignation. The kitten knew he was going to die but he didn't run. He chose to go down fighting.
Tyki didn't know why he did what he did next. Perhaps it was because the kitten reminded Tyki so much of himself when he first became a stray. Perhaps it was because he admired the kitten's fighting spirit and his will to live. Tyki growled and pounced, landing on the other humanoid pet, realizing much to his chagrin that it was a humanoid bear. They were notoriously big, slow and stupid making a tough opponent.
From the corner of his eye Tyki saw the kitten collapse probably from losing too much blood from his newly acquired wounds. Snarling, Tyki dodged a swipe and lunged, aiming for the bear's throat but he missed by a few inches, instead latching onto the bears shoulder.
'Crap.' Tyki thought just before the bear grabbed him and threw him into the brick wall. Tyki bit back a yelp and dodged a swipe. His ribs hurt but they didn't feel broken, just bruised. He was regretting his decision to interfere but he could hardly back down now, his pride wouldn't allow it.
Growling, Tyki lunged again, this time successfully sinking his teeth into the bear's throat. The bear roared and desperately clawed at Tyki's back but the wolf refused to let go, instead he tightened his hold. Blood rushed into his mouth and the bear fell down, luckily on his back and not on his front where he would've squished Tyki. The wolf let go and spat the foul substance out of his mouth, kicking the stray to make sure it was dead.
He then collapsed on the ground, the wounds on his back from the bear's sharp claws were pretty serious. Nothing fatal but they caused him a lot of pain. After a few minutes of resting, Tyki felt something cold nudge him softly and he opened his eyes, surprised to see that the kitten had dragged himself to him. Scared wide eyes watched him worriedly, mewing his concern.
"I'm fine, shonen," Tyki muttered. "This is nothing."
"Why?" The kitten asked in a beautiful soft voice. "Why did you help me? You could have just left me."
"I felt like it," Tyki replied after a few seconds. He gave the distressed kitten a critical look, taking note of all the kitten's new wounds. "What's your name?"
"Allen, what's yours?"
"Tyki," The wolf replied as he struggled to his feet, the pain in his back having dissipated a little. "Can you stand?"
The kitten, Allen, made a gallant effort to get onto his feet but he was too injured and too weak. He looked up at Tyki with despair, thinking that the wolf would abandon him. Instead, Tyki sighed before he picked up the kitten who meowed in surprised.
"Wait, you're injured!" The kitted cried as he tried to get down but Tyki just tightened his hold.
"So are you. Look, just stay still or you're just going to make it harder on me." Tyki barked and Allen immediately froze, even his tail stilled. The wolf began the tiring journey to his home which was on the outskirts of town. It wasn't very far and Allen was very light but he was still in pain which made the journey difficult.
Finally they reached the edge of town where there was a large field that stretched out to the horizon. Tyki carried Allen to a hole in the ground, which couldn't be easily found if you didn't know where it was, that was the entrance to his den that he had made on his own.
"Okay shonen, you're going to have to get down there by yourself because this hole isn't wide enough for me to carry you through. Be careful it's a bit of a drop." Tyki said as he gently lowered Allen to the ground. The neko, with obvious difficulty, dropped himself into the hole and landed with a thud and a pained yelp. After making sure the kitten was out of the way, Tyki jumped in and landed on his feet.
His den was one of his pride and joys. It had taken him an entire year, perhaps more, of digging to make it as big as it was. Then, after scrounging around town and stealing, he had accumulated a huge pile of blankets, towels and pillows that he used as a bed, several medical equipment like bandages and ointment from the pharmacy, a few cans of non-perishable food in case of emergencies, a bucket of water from a nearby lake and candle and matches which was his only source for light. Just because he was a stray didn't mean he had to live like a savage.
Tyki picked Allen up and laid him on the bed, making sure the kitten was comfortable. He then began the tedious task of cleaning Allen's wounds and dressing them with bandages, making sure to pay special attention to the neko's burnt arm. When he was satisfied with his work, he began to dress his own wounds which proved to be a difficult task since they were on his back and he was forced to bend his arms awkwardly. Finally when that was done, Tyki tiredly laid down on his bed beside Allen.
"So tell me, shonen, how did you burn your arms so badly?" Tyki asked.
"From a fire. Me and my owner, Mana, were staying in this hotel nearby just last night but it caught fire. I thought we were going to die but at the last second, Mana shoved me out the window but it was too small for him to follow. He died." Allen said, tears running down his dirty face which now Tyki realized was dirtied from soot. The wolf hugged the kitten close to him and began licking his soft ears soothingly when Allen began sobbing. He began to bathe Allen very much like a mother would, continuing even after the neko had passed out in exhaustion.
When he was done, which wasn't until at least an hour had passed, what was originally grey was now snow white fur which was an odd color for a humanoid pet. Usually the creators of humanoid pets tried to keep the hair color and eyes as human as possible, the exception being fox humanoids but that was because the fox's DNA was weird.
What Tyki also noticed that struck him odd was a branding mark on Allen's face that had been covered before by dirt and soot. It began as an upside down star above Allen's eyebrow and had a line going down his face, going over his eye and ending just before it reached his chin. Now, usually the marking brands weren't in such a conspicuous place, they were usually placed on a pet's back where it couldn't be seen. Tyki himself had a marking brand in the shape of a butterfly on the lower back of his neck.
The wolf sighed before he sniffed the kitten carefully, memorizing his scent. He was going to take care of this kitten and teach him how to be a stray and survive on the streets although it wasn't going to be easy. Something told him that Allen was a magnet to trouble but there was something that he undoubtedly liked about the kitten and he was curious as to how the kitten would take to the life of a stray.
Allen shivered and Tyki curled himself around the neko, warming the little one up before he closed his eyes and went to sleep, preparing for the long days ahead.
So review please and let me know if this is worth continuing.