Author: here's the next chapter for Wolf's Blood. For those that asked there was a mini chapter that was in Fairy Tail that had the men and women of the guild in rival Stone Age clans. The girls were on one side and the guys on the opposite. It was a funny chapter and I've been plotting a version of that for Ace and Ai.
—
" AIKO!" Elia cried once she saw her daughter's face. " Oh, baby girl! What happened?"
" It would seem a group of male pups ganged up on her and the rest can be surmised." Shanks said calmly, his hand firmly grasping the back of Ace's neck. " Makino came across the group and put a stop to it."
" I'm so sorry, Elia!" Rouge said worriedly, helping her friend tend to the small girl's injuries.
" Where were you when this was going on, Ace?" A tall broad chested man with long shaggy black hair and a large black mustache asked. He glared down at the boy in-front of him in anger, his arms crossed. The power and prominence that exuded from him led all present to believe he was in charge. He was the Alpha.
" I wasn't there." Ace said quietly, not looking the man in the eyes.
" Why were you not present? Your mother informed me that she left you in charge of the girl." The man said his black eyes never wavering from the boy.
" I didn't want to play with her." Ace said sadly. " So I ran off and left her in the village."
" So you disobeyed your mother's wishes and caused our guest to become harmed." The man replied sternly. " How do you believe we should proceed, Ace?"
" I don't know, father." Ace said quietly.
" Should I ask the girl's father if he has any ideas on how you should be punished?" Ace's father turned to Ai's father, Alduin, who seemed to have an angry fire dancing in his eyes. " What say you, Alduin?"
" I want to know who harmed my daughter, Roger. I want them held accountable. What you do with your son is none of my concern." Ai's father replied coldly. The only emotion that Ace could detect was rage and he was amazed at how well the wolf kept it in control.
Ace himself would have wanted the skin of the one who had hurt someone he cared for. He did want the skins of those who hurt Ai. He also was angry with himself for abandoning her. Seeing the concern in both her mother and his own's eyes as they cleaned the dirt off Ai, it felt as if someone had sucker punched him.
Even worse, he saw disappointment in his mother's eyes. That made him feel like someone had stabbed him in the heart. " I-"
SWOOSH!
Ace froze, fear surging through him as a new person entered the tent. He had his back to this person, yet just being in his presence sent chills throughout his body. The individual behind him had a commanding presence.
" What is going on here?" The deep gravely baritone voice asked causing Ace to break out in a cold sweat.
" Father," Alduin said curtly, nodding the man behind Ace.
" What is going on here?" The man repeated his question.
" It would seem that the boy did not wish to spend time with our Aiko, Father." Alduin replied angrily.
" So, he struck her?" The man asked.
" NO!" Ace yelled whirling around to face the newcomer. His eyes widened as he took in the elderly man before him. He was at least three feet taller than both Ace's father and Ai's. He had long white hair and a long white mustache. He wore deer skin pants and was shirtless. A large scar was bore proudly against his muscular chest. He glared down at the freckled boy with cold, calculating black eyes.
" Am I wrong boy?" The man asked.
" I did not hit her!" Ace said firmly.
" So you stood by and allowed someone else to strike her?"
" NO!"
" Then how did my granddaughter come to be harmed?" The elderly man asked blankly.
" I-" Ace paused, thinking his next words carefully.
" You what?"
" I left her alone in the middle of the village and then some kids attacked her."
" I see and why did you leave her there?"
" I didn't want to play with her."
" So you thought it best to leave her in a place unknown to her with no one to protect her." The man said coolly, his dark eyes locked on Ace. Shame once again depended over him as he quickly dropped his gaze. " Look at me, boy. If you are going to become a pack leader some day then you will need to learn that your actions have consequences to them."
" He's still a child." Rouge said protectively.
" Newgate is right." Roger said sternly. " Ace was charged with keeping watch over our little guest and he abandoned her to the wolves, quite literally. He must be held accountable."
" ROGER!"
" Father, he is a child and children make mistakes." Elia said quickly.
" Children need to be taught there are consequences for their actions." Whitebeard said coolly glancing to the blunette before looking back at Ace. " What say you, boy? What shall your punishment be?"
Ace had his fists clenched tightly as he heard the elderly man's question. He didn't know what to think of. He had seen Ai hurt and for some reason he felt like his heart had been ripped out. " I…don't know…" He whispered quietly.
" You don't know?" Whitebeard asked cooly. " What did you think would happen when you left your charge alone in unfamiliar territory?"
" I did not think, sir." Ace said quietly.
" You will be a pack leader some day, a War Chieftain at that. If you abandon your pack in a time of need or a time of war, you kill many wolves. If you abandon your pack you risk the life of your Mate and your pups. They could die because you left them somewhere unsafe or unfamiliar. You need to think before you act."
" Yes sir…" Ace said quietly.
" Leave, boy. Your father and I will discuss your punishment." The elderly man said blankly causing Ace to run from the tent.
—
Hours later Ace sat by himself in a field just outside his village, watching the smoke rising from the campfires fade into the setting sky. His father and Ai's grandfather had been speaking for hours and Ace was convinced that it was about his punishment.
" So you're alive." Ace looked down to see Sabo standing there with a small black haired three year old boy.
" Afe! Whipebeawb if hewe!" The three year old said excitedly.
" I think he already knew that, Luffy." Sabo said calmly. " From what I heard Makino and Shanks talking about, he's Ai's grandpa!"
" Yeah, I got that." Ace groaned, his head flopping backwards against the tree. " I think I'm dead."
" Not currently you aren't." Sabo laughed. " Why do you think you are going to die?"
" That old bastard of mine is gonna kill me, I know it!" Ace groaned. " All because of her."
" Well you shouldn't have left her behind like that." Sabo reminded him. " We still need to find those bastards and kick their teeth in."
" Wow, and here we were trying to convince Ai that you guys weren't assholes." Sabo jumped at the sound of Koala's annoyed voice. The three boys looked up to see Koala, Nami and Ai coming towards them. Nami and Koala looking rather peeved and Ai looking nervous, fiddling with her fingers.
" You idiots! Stop being so thick headed." Nami snapped. " Do you really think that fighting those idiots will make everything better? Make the bruises Ai got disappear? You three are idiots!"
" Me mo ipiop!"
" Yeah Nami, it isn't fair to lump Luffy in with these two morons. He's still a baby!" Koala said calmly ruffling Luffy's messy black hair.
" Me mo baby!" Luffy snapped pouting, his chubby cheeks puffed out cutely.
" Well, someone has to be!" Koala laughed.
" What do you expect us to do, Koala?" Sabo grumbled. " Those jackasses beat up a little girl!"
" Since when are you so concerned about girls?" Koala growled angrily.
" Well, she's little and kinda-"
" Kinda what?" Ace and Koala snapped quickly causing Sabo's face to drain of any and all color.
" F-Fragile! Th-That's what I was about to say! Seriously!"
" I doubt it, you jerk!"
" I swear Koala, that's what I meant!"
" I don't believe you! ASS!"
" YEAH SABO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU EITHER! JUST WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT?
" WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE, ACE?"
" SHUT UP! HE'S MAKES A GOOD POINT!"
" P-Please don't fight." The three arguing pups paused at the sound of a nervous Ai. They turned to see an extremely pale and fearful looking Ai fidgeting awkwardly, as if she was about to dart for cover at a moments notice. She reminded Ace of a frightened fawn.
" Damn it," Ace growled running his hand through his hair. He didn't want to scare her anymore then he had. He wanted to make her feel safe whenever she was with him.
Gods, she must think he's a cruel person. He didn't want her to look at him like that. He wanted her to smile at him. To feel safe when she was with him. " Whatever." He grumbled, looking away in frustration. Glancing behind him he saw her watching him nervously. " What are you looking at!" He snarled before he could stop himself. This caused a frightened squeak to escape from her and instant regret from him.
" I-I'm s-sorry!" She whimpered as giant tears swelling in her eyes.
" ACE!" Koala yelled driving a clenched fist to land square in his face. " STOP BEING MEAN TO HER, YOU ASSHOLE!"
" W-Well, tell her not to stare at me!"
" Or you could just ignore her!"
" Yeah Ace! What's your problem? Why are you so mean to her!"
" I-I-" Ace stammered, suddenly at a lose for words. His face was now as red as an apple. Glancing over at Ai he saw her glancing down at her feet. He saw her take a hesitant step backwards. " Geeze…" He growled before storming over towards her.
Another frightened squeak come from her as he grasped her wrist tightly and dragged her away from the group. " O-Owie!" Ai squeaked fearfully. " Th-That hurts!"
" Just be quiet!" Ace snapped red faced.
" B-But-"
" JUST! BE! QUIET!" Ace growled pulling her towards a small stream. Upon reaching it he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. He felt like a rock had dropped in his stomach when he saw the fear in her eyes. " Look. I'm not gonna hurt you so stop acting like you're gonna cry!"
" I-I'm s-sorry!" Ai squeaked again.
" And stop apologizing!" Ace snapped again causing her to jump. He groaned angrily in frustration. " You're making this really hard, you know!"
" What do you mean?"
" That I'm trying to say that I'm sorry about before!" Ace whispered, trying to saw what he meant without scarring her. " About yelling at you and for running away from you…and for not being there to stop those jerks from hurting you."
" Th-Thank you." Ai stuttered, fiddling with her fingers shyly, trying her best to avoid eye contact with him. Ace watched her as she tried her best not to cry.
" I-I'm really sorry." Ace said again, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. " I-I j-just, ah shit, never mind!" He groaned angrily, looking away from her, red faced again.
" U-Um…a-are you sick?" He heard her ask shyly before he felt a soft hand touch his forehead. He jumped when he noticed just how close they were as she checked his temperature. " I-If you're s-sick th-then y-you should g-go h-home a-and r-rest."
" I'm not sick!" Ace said awkwardly trying not to look at her.
" But your face is all red!"
" That doesn't mean I'm sick!"
" Then why-"
" J-Just because!" Ace snapped causing her to watch him in confusion. 'Damn it!' He thought grumpily, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to look at her. 'Why does she have to be so pretty?'
" Ace? Are you ok?" He heard her soft voice ask, her soft hand cupped his cheek lightly.
" I-"
" LOOK! THERE'S THAT STUPID HUMAN!"
Ace's eyes flew open at the sound of raucous laughter. He looked around and saw a group of dirty boys with unclean haired rushing towards them. He saw the girl next to him begin to tremble and he instantly knew they were the ones who hurt her.
He quickly pulled her behind him protectively as they approached them. " How about we continue where we left off, huh Human?" The biggest boy asked.
" Yeah, Makino isn't here to help you now!" A second said as he and the others began to circle them.
" Leave." Ace said possessively.
" Is that you, Ace?" The first asked laughing. " Why are you protective a stinking human?"
" She smells a lot better then you three mutts." Ace growled.
" Are you insane? Humans are useless!" The second boy snapped striding forward to grab Ai by her hair, jerking her onto her stomach.
" AH!" Ai cried as the boy wrapped her hair around his fist and yanked it so hard Ace thought he would wrench her hair from her head.
WHAM!
Ace plowed his fist hard into the boy's face knocking him backwards. He lifted Ai up as gently as possible and wiped the dirt and tears from her cheeks. " I'm sorry." He whispered stroking her cheek lightly. " I may scare you a little."
Before Ai could reply Ace whirled around and drove his fist into a third boy's face. " You won't touch her." He growled angrily, cracking his knuckles as he strolled towards them.
" Fuck off, Ace!" A fourth yelled as Ace walked towards them, his eyes glowing dangerously. " Why do you even give two shits about some dumb human?"
" Because she isn't yours to torture." Ace said dangerously.
" You bastard!" The first boy snarled stepping towards them. " You want to protect a stupid human, fine then!" And with that the group of boys rushed them and began swinging.
Skillfully Ace dodged the boys and began to give them a royal beating. " You idiots should fuck off! Leave before I kill you for touching her."
" She's just a human!" The first boy growled, his lip bloody and eye blackened.
" She's none of your concern and she's no human. Her father is a War Chief in Whitebeard's pack. You'll do well to remember that." Ace snarled, his words causing panic to run through the boys in-front of him. " That's right, you idiots hurt the daughter of a War Chief…the granddaughter of the Great War Chief…and now I know that you are the ones who hurt her." Even more panic raced through their eyes.
" Ace-"
" Leave now…before I kill all of you." Ace snarled dangerously, interrupting Ai's frightened voice. The aura the boy exuded sent the group running in horror. Turning he saw Ai take a frightened step backwards. " Don't move." He growled, his tone locking her in place.
He strolled stealthily towards her. His eyes glowing gold now as he gazed down at her. He saw panic and fear in her eyes. Reaching out he cupped her cheek again softly. " You are mine." He said possessively before dipping his head down and capturing her lips lightly.
