A/N: Hello, all of my fantastic viewers! :D :D
Recently, I have made the decision that I will make this story of mine into a mini series! I'll be rewriting scenes from the movie and showing how events would've played out if Ookami had been the one to have been present in that scene instead of Hana! However, keep in mind that writing genuinely takes time and I don't have any specific schedule when it comes to updates. Plus, I'm working on a few other projects alongside this. So, please understand that updates might take some time and be patient with me. I would greatly appreciate it. :)
I'll also be trying to do the scenes in chronological order. With that being said, the next scene would be Ookami handling Yuki and Ame on his own in the apartment. Judging by what I have planned for that next chapter, it's going to take me some time to put together. Nonetheless, I'm sure that it'll come together greatly in the end. :)
I would also like to thank Wolfsong6913 and Missnasa for taking the time to review the first chapter! Seriously, there are no words that could possibly describe how much your comments made me smile! It meant a lot and I kept looking back on them while writing this chapter! :D :D *Heart emojis*
Everyone, please keep in mind that reviews make my day! I always look forward to your feedback and I appreciate it greatly! So, don't hold back on sharing your thoughts in the reviews or you can PM them to me at anytime! Thanks again, everyone! Please review! :) :)
Anyway, I believe that I stated everything that I wanted to say. It's time for the second chapter of "Roles Switched," so I hope that you're all ready!
Happy reading, everybody! Enjoy! *Heart emoji*
Wolf Children: Roles Switched Series (2) ~ The Dream & the Promise
Ookami could feel every inch of his body being bathed in sunlight as he looked up at the sky, seeing that it was filled with hundreds of perfect, fluffy, marshmallow-like clouds. He couldn't exactly put his finger on the reason as to why—at least, not at that very moment—but there was something about his surroundings that made him feel almost mesmerized.
A gentle, lukewarm breeze whistled through the clean air. It caressed Ookami's cheeks and whistled through his hair, carrying the wonderful scents of lilacs, bluebells, honeysuckle, and roses. Although, none of those flowers were in sight. Instead, from as far as the Wolf Man's eyes could see, he was completely surrounded by endless stretches of fields that consisted of nothing more than just tall grass. Every inch of the land was a beautiful mixture of bright green and gold, looking almost too healthy and too perfect to possibly be true.
The grass didn't even feel scratchy, nor was it sticky from water or dirt. On the contrary, it felt as soft as feathers and was incredibly warm to the touch—as if the ground was topped with a massive blanket that had just been taken out of the dryer.
Ookami lowered his gaze from the sky, batting his lashes like a child that was in awe. Then, as he slowly traced a piece of the grass between two of his fingers, something else caught his attention.
Without making a sound, the Wolf Man dropped his attention entirely to the ground ... and that's when he saw a vibrant purple flower, growing just a couple of inches away from one of his bare feet. Despite its fragile size, its beauty was immense and it certainly stood out from the rich colors of the grass. However, it didn't take long for Ookami to realize that this wasn't just any flower. On the contrary, it was a Cosmos.
In that moment, upon watching the Cosmos delicately dance around in the wind, the Wolf Man suddenly got the feeling that he wasn't alone. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder, right before he decided to just turn his body around entirely. As soon as he did that ... there were no words that could possibly describe the amount of joy and surprise that had filled Ookami's chest. Indeed, he saw that his instinct was correct and he really wasn't the only person that was standing in the majestic field.
About thirty feet away from where Ookami was standing, there was ... Hana. She was staring directly at him, smiling gracefully with her hair gently swaying in the breeze and her skin practically shimmering from the sunlight. She was wearing the same, knee-length, light blue dress that she had been wearing on the day in which the Wolf Man could've sworn that he had first fallen in love with her. Not only that, but Hana also had a tiara that was constructed entirely out of pink, purple, and white Cosmos flowers placed neatly on top of her head. In all of Ookami's years of knowing her, he couldn't deny that this was the most angelic that he had ever seen her look.
Hana's eyes were filled with love and life, while the Wolf Man's eyes were overflowing with a blend of excitement and elation.
Regardless of how there was no noise, Ookami could still feel his heart thumping for joy as a wide smile of pure delight spread practically ear-to-ear across his face. It was evident that he was about to run across the meadow in order to get to Hana, wanting nothing more than to throw his arms around her, sweep her off her feet, and spin her around like he had done on the day in which they had found out that she was pregnant with Yuki.
However, before Ookami could try taking more than three steps ... he found himself coming to a halt when he noticed the change in Hana's smile. The fondness that was in her eyes never faltered, but her grin had noticeably become much softer and more sympathetic. She softly shook her head at the Wolf Man, not saying a word. As this happened, a strange noise suddenly started filling the air every few seconds—like water that was dripping from a faucet. Nonetheless, Ookami didn't pay hardly any attention—if any at all—to the abrupt noise and kept his gaze locked firmly on his mate.
Drip, drop ... drip, drop...
At first, while staying frozen in his tracks, Ookami couldn't help but grow confused. His smile crumbled away from his face, only to be replaced by an inquisitive stare. He raised his shoulders in a shrugging motion, as if he were asking Hana why she was shaking her head at him. In return, the dark-haired woman folded her hands neatly in front of herself and tilted her head a little to the side. As she did this, the compassion in her expression visibly increased.
Drip, drop ... drip, drop...
It only took a couple of more seconds before the Wolf Man realized what his mate was silently telling him ... and as soon as it did, he could've sworn that it felt like somebody had just slammed him in the chest with a brick. The memories were coming back to him—the freezing downpour, Hana's bloodied body lying in the canal, the paramedics breaking the news to him, him breaking down into a fit of sobs and collapsing to his knees in the middle of the street ... it all made sense now.
Drip, drop ... drip, drop...
Ookami's shoulders sunk quicker than quicksand, his heart filling with dread and lungs feeling like they were being deflated. A heavy frown of both pain and disappointment fell across his face, just as the corners of his eyes started to feel like they were beginning to grow a little wet.
"Hana?"
Despite how no sound left his mouth, the Wolf Man still moved his lips and said his mate's name. All the while, the odd sound of what was like water dripping from a faucet—which only made this whole scenario even more upsetting somehow—continued to fill the air.
Drip, drop ... drip, drop...
Hana's brown irises twinkled like stars as she stared at Ookami for another five or so seconds, giving him the chance to take in the reassurance that was incorporated into her smile. After that, as the breeze continued to brush through her silky hair and make the bottom of her dress flutter ... Hana turned away from the dark-haired man. She then started to walk away, keeping each of her steps nimble and calm. All the while, the grass moved along with her in a manner that was almost magical.
Ookami's entire body immediately tensed up and his eyes grew with panic. He had already had to say goodbye to the love of his life once, having no choice but to watch her corpse get stored away in a body bag before she was taken away from him in an ambulance. He wasn't ready to let her go again, especially after seeing her presented in the manner that she was.
"Hana!" Ookami called out again, his lips still moving and voice still not coming out. "Hana, wait! Please!"
Drip, drop ... drip, drop...
The dark-haired woman kept walking, never looking back. Although, with every move that she made, the more colorful that the Cosmos flowers seemed to appear in her hair.
A single tear escaped from the Wolf Man's left eye and trickled down his cheek, just as he—technically—hollered out one final time, "Hana!"
Ookami's whole body twitched as he woke up out of nowhere. He cracked his eyes open, automatically noticing just how rubbery they felt and how much they stung from the amount of tears that he had been shedding. Within seconds, regardless of how he was still in the process of waking up, it occurred to him that everything that he had just witnessed had been nothing more than a dream—possibly Hana's way of giving him a proper goodbye since the two of them hadn't been provided with a moment like that in the first place.
The Wolf Man slowly lifted his head from the table, where he had fallen asleep shortly after arriving back at the apartment. The look on his face perfectly resembled the look that a lost puppy would have—lips molded into a helpless frown and eyes completely red-rimmed, puffy, and overflowing with sorrow.
The storm had stopped and everything was now unbelievably quiet. However, in Ookami's mind, he could still hear all of the noises from earlier—the rain pouring, the wind screeching, the sirens from the ambulance blaring, and the sound of his own sobs practically tearing through his throat. Surely, he was going to be haunted for the rest of his life by all of the details that were incorporated into him discovering the deceased body of his mate.
"Hana..." Ookami whispered, sounding incredibly drained as all of the details from his dream started bleeding into his mind and mixing with the ones from the hit-and-run scene. "Oh, Hana ... if I had to lose you ... why did it have to be like this?"
Shortly after he finished that question, the Wolf Man felt his bottom lip begin to tremble. He bit down on it a couple of seconds later, only to have his teeth begin to chatter against it from him holding back the urge to begin bawling again. He squeezed his eyes shut, wanting to prevent them from possibly growing watery for the billionth time. As he did this, Ookami winced from how much they stung and he curled his hands into fists—like that would somehow assist him in pulling himself back together. In fact, he was holding his hands into such firm fists to the point where they began to shake and his knuckles became whiter than flour almost instantly.
Ookami couldn't even think of the words to describe just how strong the misery that he was feeling actually was. His whole chest felt completely hollow and sore, as if there was a giant bruise that was located directly beneath his skin. Even when he did as much as draw in a slow and shaky breath, it ached more than anyone could ever imagine. Not only that, but the dark-haired man couldn't ignore just how cold and empty the apartment now felt. Without Hana's presence, this home ... no longer felt like an actual home to the Wolf Man.
"Not once did I ever think that we would go our separate ways..." Ookami murmured as he positioned his elbow against the table and rested his forehead in his hand. "But if we had to, Hana ... I would've much rather have had you leave me. If you had done that ... t-then at least ... you would still be alive..."
The Wolf Man almost choked on that final word, gritting his teeth as he felt his shoulders beginning to shake. At the same time, the agony that was in his heart increased even more, as if it was being squeezed in the palm of a ruthless person's hand. Actually, the pain was so strong to the point where it was beginning to spread upwards into Ookami's throat, making it perfectly resemble the feeling that somebody would have when they were diagnosed with strep. It was difficult for the dark-haired man to even allow himself to swallow. Not once in his entire life—not even when he lost his parents or when he left his other relatives behind in order to move to the city on his own—did Ookami ever experience such an intense amount of despair before. Needless to say, it was absolute torture.
A moment of pure silence went by—a moment that the Wolf Man knew for sure that he and his mate would've been basking in if they actually had the chance to do so. Together, they would've been huddled underneath the warm blanket on the bed that they shared, holding each other close. Hana would've been resting her head on his chest, listening to her beloved's heartbeat, and Ookami would've been running his fingers calmly through her hair. He would've also made sure to trace his nails delicately along Hana's temple, courtesy of how he knew how much she loved that feeling. Smiles would've been decorating both of their faces as they rested, letting the evening claim them until Yuki or Ame woke them up. However, this moment was entirely different.
Ookami continued to hold his head in his hand, keeping his eyes closed and not moving a muscle. A dark shadow was cast over his face, due to how his hair was hanging beside his cheeks in a mostly disheveled manner. He was trying to digest the fact that it had only been a couple of hours since he had been informed by the paramedics that Hana had died, despite how it literally felt like she had actually been gone for centuries.
After about a minute, the Wolf Man sucked in a stuffy breath through his nose and withdrew his hand from his forehead. Then, upon straightening himself up and almost cringing from the discomfort that had built up in his lower back—this being the result of how he had been hunched over in his sleep—Ookami made a move to wipe his nose with the hem of his sleeve. He did just that, about to glance off in another direction of the room ... but before he could, something caught Ookami's attention from the corner of his eye.
"Hm...?"
As if he was going to be looking at someone that was sitting at the opposite side of the table, the Wolf Man turned his head. Almost immediately after he did that, his frown deepened at what his attention had locked on and he could've sworn that he felt his heart—or at least what was left of it—begin to sink down into the deepest part of his gut. There, lying at the other end of the small table ... was Hana's cream-colored purse.
It turns out, the garbage workers that had been working on gathering up all of the ruined groceries from the canal had located Hana's purse floating in the water as well. The ambulance had already taken off and Ookami had still been on his knees, sobbing in the middle of the street with the bespectacled man in the brown suit holding his own umbrella over him, Ame, and Yuki. So, after disposing of what was left of the groceries, one of the garbage workers walked over to the Wolf Man, gave him their deepest condolences, and said that they found something that they believed that he would've wanted to have. That's when the garbage worker handed the purse over to Ookami. Surprisingly, it wasn't covered in any blood and, despite being wet, it didn't look like it had any major damages done to it.
The Wolf Man ended up staying where he was in the street for about another five or so minutes after that, just hugging the purse close to his chest and continuing to cry. Then, he found himself weakly climbing back up onto his feet and trudging all the way back to the apartment in the rain. When he made it back, the first thing that he did was turn the heater on and place Ame and Yuki comfortably on the warm mass of pillows and blankets that covered the floor on one side of the bedroom. Thankfully, neither of them had woken up ... but Ookami still didn't have the slightest clue as to how he was going to explain to them—whether it was now or at some point in the future—that their mother was dead and never coming back.
After tending to his offspring, Ookami removed his drenched sandals, hung up his worn out coat, dried off his mate's purse as much as he possibly could, plopped himself down on the floor, and found himself breaking out into another fit of sobs at the table. It didn't take long before he then ended up falling asleep, considering how he had already been running low on energy—even before he had gone out on his dreary journey to find Hana—and crying so much only resulted in him losing the inadequate amount that he actually had left.
The Wolf Man pushed some of his hair out of his face, his frown and the puppy-like look in his eyes never vanishing. Then, with faint reluctance, he reached his hand out, curled his fingers around the purse, and slowly pulled it over to his side of the table.
"It's so cold..." Ookami grumbled, rubbing his thumb across the material of the purse. "I'm used to it being so warm ... like your heart, Hana..."
There was another brief moment of hesitation, followed by the dark-haired man sucking in another congested sniffle. Then, he slipped his fingers underneath the latch that was located on the front of the bag and carefully undid it, treating it like it was made out of glass.
Upon opening the purse, Ookami crinkled his nose from detecting the scent of murky water. It practically slapped him in the face, due to how he—as a half-wolf individual—had an enhanced sense of smell. The scent also caused a small, sharp sting to shoot through Ookami's heart, this being triggered by the realization that the bag no longer carried the sweet smell of his beloved's perfume. Cherry blossoms mixed with fresh oranges ... that's what Hana's perfume was and that's what the purse used to smell like.
With a sigh of disappointment, Ookami poked his fingers inside of the purse. He rummaged around; but aside from Hana's key to the apartment, the only other item that was within the bag was a small, fuchsia-colored coin purse. So, the Wolf Man pulled it out, sat the larger purse back down onto the table, and then proceeded to open the coin purse. As soon as he did, he saw various amounts of yen—enough yen that would surely last a couple of months, courtesy of how excellent Hana was when it came to saving up her paychecks.
Ookami walked his fingers along the yen, counting it. While doing so, he couldn't help but feel like he was doing something wrong. After all, despite how they both had jobs and they both used their money for similar purposes, this was still Hana's money that he was going through.
"Forgive me for this, Hana..." Ookami muttered apologetically, shortly before he ended up pushing aside the final piece of yen and exposing something else—something that was made out of plastic—that was had also been stored away in the coin purse. "Huh...?"
Confusion flickered through the Wolf Man's dark blue orbs. He pinched the piece of plastic between his fingers and pulled it out, turning it over to look at it.
It was Hana's student ID from Hitotsubashi University—the same ID that she had used to sneak Ookami into the library on numerous occasions. It provided the name of the institution, the name of the person that it belonged to, Hana's date of birth, the date in which the ID was sure to expire, and—of course—a picture of Hana. She was wearing a lavender blouse, along with one of her beaming smiles; and even though it was just an image, her eyes were still shimmering with nothing but pure optimism.
Ookami lightly traced the tip of his thumb along the side of Hana's face in the laminated picture, trying to think back to the last time in which he had stroked her soft skin. However, with everything that had happened just a couple of hours previously with the hit-and-run, it was practically impossible for the dark-haired man to think about anything else. Besides, even if he did, it only made the pain that he was going through grow even stronger.
There was no doubt in the Wolf Man's mind that with every passing second that he stared at that picture of his mate, the more lost and empty he began to feel. Yet, at the same time ... Ookami couldn't help but notice just how similiar Hana's grin was in comparison to the one that she had been wearing in the dream.
Ookami's red-rimmed eyes grew a little as he realized this. He continued to drag his thumbnail delicately along the image of his true love, thinking back to as many of the details as possible that had been incorporated into the dream. As he did this, his gaze never broke away from the pretty smile that Hana was wearing.
"Hana..." Ookami whispered, almost at a loss for words.
The more that the Wolf Man thought about it—the perfect meadow, the reassurance in Hana's eyes, the comfort that was provided by her presence, and so on—the more that he was beginning to understand what he believed his dream truly meant. Hana had no choice but to leave him and their two children behind, yet the smile that was on her face was filled with confidence—like she was telling Ookami that she was more than positive that he would be able to succeed in raising Yuki and Ame on his own. Not only that, but even when she turned away and proceeded to walk off ... she never disappeared. To Ookami, that meant that Hana was promising him that she was going to be watching over him and their children from heaven—the place where, he was convinced, they'd been standing in the dream.
The Wolf Man let out a breath that he hadn't even realized that he'd been holding. Then, after staring at the ID for about another five seconds, he redirected his attention over to the opposite side of the room. There, he locked his gaze on Ame and Yuki, who were both still fast asleep. They were breathing peacefully, their little wolf-like dolls lying close to their sides with their lashes resting against their cheeks and the warm glow of the heater illuminating against their small bodies. In that moment, despite how there was still pain and sadness from the lack of Hana's physical presence ... Ookami felt the inside of his chest beginning to get filled up again. This time, it was by the love that he had for his children, as well as the comfort that came with the message that he believed that his mate had delivered to him in the dream.
Ookami glanced down at the student ID again, just now realizing just how small it was while being held in his much larger hand. He crawled over to window shortly after that, making sure to keep his movements as quiet as a mouse in order to avoid the risk of accidentally waking Yuki or Ame up. Finally, after making it to where he needed to go, the Wolf Man positioned himself on his knees, reached his arm out, and gently placed Hana's student ID against the glass jar that contained the small, white flowers that she had picked just a couple of days previously. All the while, he kept his stare on the beautiful picture of his mate.
"'This is just a goodbye. Until the time comes for us to reunite, let them be your reason to smile. Take good care of our children' ... He thought he heard her say that as she walked away." ~ Yuki
The Wolf Man leaned back, folding his hands on his knees as he continued to look at Hana's student ID. At first, he didn't say anything ... but after a couple of seconds, he whispered in the most sincere voice that anybody could ever speak in.
"You can leave them to me, Hana. I will raise them as properly as possible, to the very best of my abilities ... and they will be my reason to smile—just like they, along with you, have always been..." Ookami sniffled softly, lowering his gaze to the floor with determination beginning to form in his dark blue eyes. "I promise ... that's what I'll do..."
Shortly after that final sentence left his mouth, the Wolf Man noticed his vision beginning to flicker back and forth from blurry to clear. His lips quivered and his eyes burned as hot tears began to fill them again ... but this time, instead of breaking down, Ookami lifted his head again and did what he knew that Hana would want him to do. Even with the tears starting to trickle along his lashes and leak down his cheeks ... he put on the best smile that he could muster.
In that moment, it became official.
No matter what it took, Ookami was going to put in one hundred and ten percent. He was going to be the best single father that he possibly could ... and he was going to do everything that he needed to do in order to raise his part-human, part-wolf children.