Hi! It's been so long! I don't remember the editor being such a hardcase. All that time I spend making sure I've indented lines and I have to do it again here. For those who were following my "Bonds of Promise" Fan fiction. I'm sorry, that went south. But this, I think, is even better than where "Bonds of Promise" was going. I wanted to write the first 4-5 chapters before posting. P.S. Italicized quotations are supposed to be in thought.
The morning rain left dew on buildings and railings, and a moist saturation in the air. But the cloudy skies, and gray, wet morning didn't help alleviate the mood of a young man, perhaps in his late teens, which was as damp and gray as the weather. His auburn hair, yellow hooded sweater, and gray sweatpants were just beginning to dry. Luckily the bag of groceries he was carrying was not too wet. He was on his way home, but he chose a bad morning to run out of food. Despite this, something amazing was going to happen to this boy, whose name is Hige.
Hige releases a sigh.
"There. I feel it again. That...emptiness, like something is missing in my life. I know it's not my stomach, because that emptiness feels different."
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of shouting.
"She went that way!"
"Follow her!"
"Wait you brat!"
A young woman races around the corner of an alley, and stops to catch her breath. Hige couldn't help staring at her dark skin, like toffee, and short, black hair. Her attire consisted of a black dress jacket, high, black leather boots, and a fuchsia scarf; but most distinctive were her bright, blue eyes. Her breath was still heavy, but she finally looks over at Hige. Their eyes meet, and they both have a strange sensation from being in each-others' presence. Their moment is interrupted.
"She's over there!"
Three shady-looking men come out of the same alley. They give her a jeering look of annoyance. The woman takes an defensive stance and glares. Then the men notice Hige, who had put down his paper bag and walked between the woman and the men.
"A friend, eh?" the middle, who appeared to be the leader, sneered.
"And what if I am?" Hige retorts rebelliously.
"Hand over the woman." the leader demands, with no change in his voice.
"Why should I?" Hige asks, his glare becoming grim.
"She's already been sold."
"Sold?" Hige wonders. "I suppose more importantly, why am I defending a woman I haven't seen before? However she is lovely." Hige still stands his ground. The leader gets annoyed.
"Hey." he motions the other two men, obviously goons. They approach the pair ready to attack. Hige gently pushes the woman back.
"Wait here." he whispers, then Hige charges at the first goon. The goon swings a crowbar, but Hige ducks, swerves and throws a punch to the side under his ribs. The goon staggers and falls. Hige hears a voice call behind him.
"C'mere you!" but it wasn't for him. The second goon was trying to get to the woman. Hige runs to the side, leans down and slams his body into the goon's side. He falls over, but before he can get up, Hige pounces on him, slamming his head into concrete. He knocks out.
"Yes!" Hige triumphs. All of a sudden he feels steel hit the back of his head. The first goon he attacked had gotten up, and hit Hige with the crowbar. Hige becomes stunned, but before the goon, can inflict a more serious blow, the young woman jumps and knocks the man out with a back-kick to the head. Hige shakes his head trying to wear off the dizziness, then he sees the leader trying himself. Hige smirks, and he charges again, feints a punch then side-kicks him around the abdominal hitting some vitals. As the leader, and goons groan, stretched out on the ground, Hige grabs his bag, and motions to the young woman.
"Follow me." She nods and they both run to another back-alley. A few more turns and they come out in a ramshackle neighborhood of apartments and row-houses. Hige sighs quietly. Then looks to the woman.
"Are you all right?" Hige asks. The woman nods.
"Yeah, thanks for the help."
"Don't thank me yet." He replies modestly. "You still might not be safe in the open, who knows how persistent those guys are?"
"Yeah, they did follow me a long way." she agrees.
"Um," Hige asks awkwardly. "I live around here. Do you- (he clears his throat) Would you like to stay at my place for awhile? At least until you're in the clear." The woman smiles.
"Sure."
"Yes!" Hige exclaims in a hushed glory. Then he blushes and laughs nervously as he rubs the back of his head. When they get into his apartment Hige fumbles with the keys. He opens the door, and then in an awkward, gentlemanly fashion he holds the door.
"Ladies first." The woman smiles, then her expression turns to puzzlement as she walks in.
"You live...here?" Hige walks in and closes the door.
"It is a little messy, I guess."
"Messy? It's cluttered!"
"Temporarily cluttered." Hige explains. "A lot of this will be cleared out by the end of the week.
"You see, I work at a garbage facility, and you wouldn't believe the things people throw away! I'll collect some, refurbish and clean them, and sell it to second-hand stores or salvage collectors." The woman gives a wily smirk.
"So in other words it'll be clear at the end of this week and cluttered again by next week."
"Well" Hige laughs "I guess that depends. Ha-ha!" He clears his throat.
"Um, would you like some tea?"
"I'd like that, thank you."
Hige walks into the kitchen. Then he backs up.
"Actually I never asked your name. I'm Hige. Hige Kizoku." His eager smile suddenly made the woman feel shy.
"I'm...Aoko. Aoko Yaiden."
"Aoko?" Hige asks.
"Yeah." Aoko replies. "'Ao' for 'blue' and 'ko' for 'little'."
"'Little blue', huh." Hige mutters.
"That's kind of cute, and it so suits her with her blue eyes." As Hige makes the tea, Aoko looks around.
"Do you..." she asks looking around the apartment. "Ever clean here?" Hige answers.
"Yeah...um when the floor gets dirty and things look dusty. Please sit down." Aoko rolls her eyes. After finding that there weren't any chairs she reluctantly rests on a cushion near a low coffee table. She strokes it, noticing how nice it looks.
"Is this going too?" She asks.
"The table? Naw I liked that one, so I kept it."
"What did you do use before?"
"The floor." Hige answers matter-of-factually. Aoko sighs.
"You're one weird kid. Sweet, but weird."
"Kid" he mutters bewildered. "How old are you?"
"About 23 years."
"Damn she's four years older than me!" Hige thinks to himself.
"Tea's ready." he announces. Hige puts the platter down, and pours tea for Aoko, then himself.
"Oops! I forgot to ask if you wanted anything with it!" Hige sputters.
"It's okay." Aoko says calmly, seeing how flustered Hige looked. "I like it plain anyway."
"Oh good. So do I." Hige smiles. They drink their tea in silence. Then for the second time they really gaze at one another. Hige sighs and places his cup on the saucer.
"Aoko" he whispers. "How long, are you going to stay here?" Aoko looks concerned and puts her tea down also.
"Am I-?"
"No, it's not that!" Hige interrupts. "It's just...I would like to get to know you better. You see...ever since I first saw you...I felt like...I mean..." Aoko sighs.
"I think I know what you mean." She whispers. "I felt it too. Like..." They speak in unison:
"We've met before."
They stare at each-other. Slowly their hands start to meet one another. The moment their fingers touch, a myriad of visions flash in their heads.
An old world, where they were wolves, who could disguise themselves as humans. A world that was slowly freezing. Their first meeting in a similar occurrence, searching for a girl made from an mystic flower with their misfit pack. Avoiding Jagara's soldiers in the capital, to fighting Darcia, to Hige touching his mate's face as she was dying. Both Hige and Aoko gasp. Aoko looks at Hige and whispers.
"...Hige?" and just as surprised Hige answers back.
"...Blue!" Their fingers, which were touching, fold into a firm embrace. Hige leans in and rests his cheek against Aoko's. After a moment he sighs. "It is you Blue. Isn't it?"
"Yes," Aoko concurs as she places her hand on his other cheek and holds them close. "I remember now." Hige smiles and breathes another contented sigh. Afterward he uses his right hand and slides it under Aoko's chin, and turns her face so their lips meet. Aoko shudders for a moment, then returns the kiss. They kiss one more time before they both move back, and look. Hige notices a softness in Aoko's eyes, and Aoko wonders how Hige's warm gaze could look even more so.
They both look down at their hands, but then Hige turns and leans against the table.
"You know," he says. "All of my life I felt like I was missing something. Sometimes I wondered if it was normality, because of my living situation or my troubled mother and twisted father." Aoko looks sympathetically, wondering what kind of life he lived. "But maybe...maybe all along...It was you." He turns and looks to Aoko. "Maybe I was missing you." Aoko's solemn look curved a little. She added.
"We did make a pact to stay together no matter what. And here all this time we were apart. I too, felt a longing for something, but I never knew what." She laughs. "I guess it was destiny that I ran into the path you were taking."
"What were you doing with those guys anyway?" Hige asks puzzled. "They don't seem to be like the kind of crowd you would hang out with."
"I was trying to find work. You see, my father became sick and has been staying at the hospital for a long time. I was living at home with him, before that.
"His savings won't be enough over time, since he can't work, so I came to those men. It sounded like it would be good money."
"Let me guess, it wasn't what you thought it was?"
"Those pigs said it was private service, like a cleaner, but it was really intended for me to entertain a rich, rotten, old-timer. I need money, but I wouldn't go that low for it." she sighs. "At this rate we're going to lose our home."
Hige looks on in solemn silence. Then he breaks it.
"What about your mother?"
"She died five years ago." Aoko answers sadly.
"I'm sorry." Hige replies sadly.
"It's not your fault." Aoko retorted. She looks up, then back to Hige. "So what about your family?"
Hige makes an unpleasant face.
"Well I don't have a lot of good things to say about them. Neither of them had a real job. My father made his 'living' through cons and blackmail. My mother was always drinking. When I was 15 my father was caught and indicted, and my mother was sent to rehab. They both lost custody of me, and I went to a foster home.
"It didn't work out for me so six months before my 17th birthday I managed to get a job and saved up. When I turned 17 I ran off and I've been on my own ever since."
Aoko had seen Hige's face while he told his story. His eyes went far away, and his face became grim. When he turned his head to look at her, she looked away quickly. She wasn't sure how to face him, or what to say.
"Are you okay?" Hige asks concerned.
"Oh. I'm fine." Aoko whispers. "I...just don't know what to say. It...sounds like you had it rough. You looked so distant and sad just now." Hige straightens up.
"Well I'm okay now. Don't worry about it!" He says, trying to lighten his voice. "We just have to take the cards life gives us and see what plays we can make with them. Sometimes we gamble the wrong cards at the wrong time, and we lose some. Sometimes we get lucky and score big. It's... an endless...something." Hige stumbled over the last bit of his analogy." Aoko chuckled.
"Are you trying to use that 'life is like a game' or 'when life gives you lemons' bit?"
"...Sort of..." Hige answers embarrassed. "But it kind of crumbled at the end."
"Don't worry." Aoko replies, her faint smile growing. "I've heard those sayings before in different ways. But I think I like this one better, than some of the others."
"Really?" Hige asks, a little doubtful.
"Truly." Aoko answers, her growing smile more radiant now. Hige blushes. "What?" asks Aoko.
"God you're so beautiful in that smile." Hige confesses. Now it was Aoko's turn to blush.
"W-what? H-hige..." She looks away. Hige relishes in her reaction.
"Wow. Imagine what she would do if I told her how much she really meant to me?"
"Would I ever lie to you?" Hige asks in a teasing tone. "I said it before, well back then, you're an amazing woman. You still are." Aoko grumbles, and turns to him, an embarrassed fury in her eyes, and smacks Hige at the shoulder.
"Damn you! Stop teasing me!" she pauses. "Why are you acting this way?"
"What way?" Hige asks confused.
"You're...being kind of playful, and romantic. Well you were before, but not this much."
"Well." Hige sighs. "The world was coming to an end. And the nobles were pretty much wreaking havoc. We didn't have much time for romance." Suddenly the thought of Jagara and the nobles disheartened him. "You know, the life I've had in this world. Maybe it is redemption for the sins I committed in the old world. All the wolves I betrayed-"
"Don't even think like that!" Aoko interrupts him angrily. "They were using that collar to influence you, you couldn't help it!"
"I didn't try to resist, when I had the chance. And when I wasn't under their influence, all I did was run away from the truth. I didn't try to prevent it from happening again."
"But you redeemed yourself when you helped stop Jagara from completely opening the nobles' paradise! Your collar was destroyed when you protected me! And then you made the choice to confront Jagara, even if you lost your life in the battle." Aoko's voice started to shake, and she turned her head, in case tears came next. "I know your life was hard. But you said it yourself: we have to use the cards life gives us. It doesn't discriminate. You're not being punished, that's just how it is. Besides, whatever fate we had, the point is we were allowed to meet again. Can't you accept that?"
She choked down a sob, and tried not to shiver. Hige still could not see her face, but he knew she was trying not to cry. He reaches out, and holds her hand. He then pulls her against his shoulder. As he runs his hand over her head, he whispers to her endearing.
"Thank you Blue. I complained like a child, but I needed to hear that." Aoko rested her head against Hige's shoulder contently, then noticed the name.
"...Blue?" she questions. Hige realizes what he said.
"Oops I meant Aoko...right...I have to get used to calling you that." Hige corrects himself. Aoko laughs.
"It's all right if you call me that now and then. It can be your own special nickname for me."
"All right then." Hige replies a little relieved. Still holding Aoko, he leans back against the table, so she could rest on him easier.
"So I guess. Maybe Kiba opened up Paradise, and we are in the new world he opened.." Starts Hige. Aoko nods, but interjects.
"But we're not wolves."
"Who knows?" Hige shrugs, then playfully strokes Aoko's nose. "Hmm doesn't feel like a muzzle." Aoko resists a wily smile, then she playfully ruffles Hige's hair.
"Hmm doesn't feel like fur, although it is course." Hige laughs, but then his face becomes solemn once again. Aoko could tell by now that Hige was going to be serious again. She starts to remove her hand from his head. However, before she pulls her hand away, Hige grabs it, but holds it gently.
"What are we going to do?" He asks blankly.
"What?" replies Aoko. Then Hige answers.
"In our past life, we made a pact to stay together. But we were wolves, it was simpler. But here as people, we just met. Should we start slow, or date...or even get married?" Hige blushes as the last suggestion. "So I'm just asking. What do we do now?"
...To be continued...
AU/N: I know I changed Blue's name! But...they're human now. How many people are named...on second thought, in this day and age that is irrelevant. Even "Buru" didn't sound right so I took some liberties.
So...did you see how I borrowed a little from episode 12? I took some liberties, since it was just Hige, but he did do this cool move where he side-slammed a guy to the ground. Also another little bonus: When I was trying to think of a surname for Hige I used an online Japanese dictionary and typed in "noble". Kizoku was the most satisfying answer. So Hige's surname is a homage/reference to the original anime. ;)
Also I wanted to add that the whole inspiration for this was frustration at the epilogue. When I saw Tsume I thought: "Oh either they are wolves or reincarnated humans!" So I waited. I saw Hige. I saw Toboe. I saw Kiba...and then I never saw Blue. I was crushed. "I must amend this" I said!