Howl Of The Wolf

Prologue: First Encounter

Disclaimer:

Beyblade and all sequels belong to Aoki Takao. I only own the minor Original Characters that will pop out from time to time and the plot idea. This is also an alternate universe story, and for the record non-yaoi/slash/BL. Thank you.

Full Summary:

AU Ten years ago, he was saved by an innocent, young boy. Ten years later, he would meet the same boy again, only to realize that much had changed the boy into an aloof teenager with no recollection of having met, much less saved, a werewolf once. However, trouble is brewing and being connected to a werewolf might be the only thing that could save the teen.

It hurt. It hurt everywhere. His limbs were protesting against his exertions so soon after a full moon and he was bleeding from multiple cuts and scratches. However, the most prominent source of his pain was from the bullet wound in his left arm.

He knew the bullet was lodged deep inside his flesh without even looking at it. The unique burning sensation that could only be caused by silver was searing his nerves. He had lost his hunters, but there was still a very distinct possibility that he could die from the silver bullet that was steadily burning him from the inside out. There was no way he could remove it by himself either. He'd just injure his hand further if he tried to force the bullet out, and it was lodged too deep for him to do anything without proper surgical equipment. Unless he wanted to die afterwards due to infection, of course. He usually was more resilient than this, but…

He collapsed, landing in a thicket of bushes. The bushes cushioned the impact of his body hitting the hard and cold ground but it still caused a blinding pain to shoot through his body from his left arm. He had to bite his lip to prevent a pained whimper from escaping. God, it hurt like hell – everything hurt like hell – but there was nothing he could in his current state – weak, vulnerable and utterly defenseless.

Someone, help me… he thought desperately, despite knowing it was impossible for anyone decent to be wandering around in a forest in the dead of the night. Also, it was becoming far too cold for any sane person to want to be in the forest and not next to the warmth of a burning fireplace. Winter was arriving rapidly. Then, as another wave of pain assaulted him, everything faded to black…

…

When he regained his consciousness, he was met with a pair of bright auburn eyes looking down at him in concern. He blinked, wondering if he was dreaming.

"You're awake!" exclaimed the owner of those eyes.

They were eyes that were full of innocence and honesty. Eyes of those young enough to have yet to experience the harshness of the real world. He wondered how such a young boy had found him in the forest, but his thoughts were interrupted.

"Do you want a drink?"

He was startled by the offer but nodded, as his throat was parched. Didn't the boy fear him? Even if the boy didn't know what he was, most humans still felt a little apprehension whenever they were near him. It was like their senses knew something was different about him, but they just couldn't figure out what. This boy just treated him like he was a normal human being.

"Okay. Wait here!" Then the boy disappeared through a door.

Slowly sitting up on the bed, he took a close look at his surroundings. He seemed to be in a log cabin. Did the cabin belong to the boy's family? Was the cabin in the forest? Why did the boy live in the forest? Could it be that his parents were hunters? Had he fallen into a trap?

With that thought, he became more alert and wary. It was foolish of him to have let his guard down in such circumstances. Even if the boy was of no threat to him even in his current state, once his parents appeared… He quickly focused his senses, once he felt any form of danger, he would bolt. No questions asked.

However, when the boy returned with a glass of water, he still did not sense any danger or anyone else for the matter. It appeared that he was truly alone with this boy. Taking the glass, he took a sniff before drinking just to be on the safe side. Poisons usually couldn't kill him, but in his current weakened state, worsened by the silver… Wait, he didn't feel the distinct burn of silver anymore. Where was the silver bullet?

He glanced at his left shoulder, only to find a bandage around it. Someone had-

"Hataru removed the bullet after I dragged you from the bushes to my cabin," the boy said in a helpful manner.

Hataru? An adult, perhaps? And this young boy who looked no older than seven had dragged him from the forest? He knew he wasn't particularly heavy, especially in this state, but a young boy shouldn't be able to get him far either.

"Where… am I?" he rasped, mentally wincing at the sound of his weak voice.

"My cabin! It's near the edge of the forest I found you in."

He silently took in the information. He was probably in the boy's family cabin, though judging by its size, it wasn't the family's permanent residence. It was much too small. Perhaps he had been closer to civilization – this cabin – than he'd thought. His musings were cut short abruptly, but certainly effectively, as the boy asked him a shocking question.

"Hey… you're a werewolf, aren't you?"

He tensed, eyes darting to lock on the boy's now. How did…?

"Hataru said it was a silver bullet he removed from your shoulder. I read that silver hurt werewolves in some books," continued the boy who appeared to have read his thoughts.

"…Yes, I am," he finally replied haltingly, unsure what to make of the boy's seemingly innocent words. Was that Hataru person a hunter? But if he was, why was he still alive? Why had his wound been tended to? If Hataru knew how dangerous he was, why did he dare leave a young child here? Did the child even realize that he could be in mortal peril?

What he didn't expect though, was how the boy's auburn eyes lit up at his words. Then the boy proclaimed in childlike wonder and enthusiasm, "Wow! How cool! You must tell me what you can do!"

Startled, he blinked twice before replying. "Uh… Okay…"

The next thing he knew, he had an armful of the boy as the boy bounced onto the bed to hug him round the middle. "Yay! Thank you so much! Oh, I'm Kai! What's your name?"

"…Tala."

Ice blue eyes slowly opened as Tala Ivanov awakened from his dream. Or rather, a dream of a memory. It had been awhile since he'd dreamt of that encounter ten years ago, he mused, still lying in bed. He rarely dreamt. When he did, they tended to be nightmares of being hunted instead. Wonder why I'm dreaming of that again…

Normal people didn't care much about their dreams. But Tala wasn't normal, even by werewolf standards. He came from a lineage of werewolves who had the ability to foretell the future through their dreams. But by the time he'd been born, the bloodline had been diluted and consequently, his ability to See had been greatly reduced. More often than not, his dreams were just that. Dreams. Figments of imagination. He also hadn't had the chance to learn much about his ability as the persecution of werewolves began to intensify and he had subsequently been on the run for most of the time.

So perhaps this latest dream had no significant meaning to it too. It was a part of his memory after all. Deciding that he had much more practical things to do, Tala got out of bed to prepare for the day ahead.

My first Beyblade fic in... awhile. Yes. Surprisingly, it's going to be a multi-chaptered AU at that. The prologue is a little short, but the subsequent chapters will become longer. Updates might not be very often as school life is busy and I'm also currently preparing for exams.

Just a note for the subsequent chapters, I will be mostly using the surnames for the characters as it appears in the original Japanese anime. Their names however, can be as per the English dub or the original Japanese one. I'm sort of treating their English dub names like their English names to make life easier for people who do not come from their country. If I'm making sense with this explanation... At any rate, you'll understand when you read the other chapters. So, hope you've enjoyed this introduction!

P.S: Angel, if you're reading this, I hope you're happy. XD

carzla