I know, I know. It's been forever since I updated... but to be honest, I pretty much lost interest in the story for a while. But! I'm back in the swing of things now! This one starts off not with Kouen, but with Hitsu-chan's reincarnation. And of course with my endless imagination, I decided to let him have the same name. Yay me! And he's 15 cause he was reincarnated a couple months after he was killed. So on to the story!
Chapter 2- Hello Again
"C'mon Toushiro! We're gonna be late at the pace you're going!" yelled Karin, glaring over her shoulder at the boy plodding along casually behind her and her other friends. This boy was, of course, none other than Hitsugaya Toushiro, reincarnated, but without any memories of his past lives.
"Hey. I never asked you to wait for me. If you're in such a big hurry, go on ahead cause this is as fast as you're getting me to go." he replied stoically. Karin huffed and turned back around, continuing on at the pace they had been walking at for a while now.
They plodded up to the soccer field just as the other group, consisting of Alex, Rowan, and Kouen so far, ran up as well. "Hey! Nice timing." called Rowan. She and Alex ran up to Karin and started to speak in hushed voices while Kouen skidded to a halt on the opposite end of the field. He didn't seem to notice Hitsugaya, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, he looked like he was in his own little world.
From Hitsugaya's point of view, he was someone who he would picture in a sports magazine. Perfectly toned, and tanned, body. Unruly auburn hair with a couple silver streaks in it that fell down to about mid way down his neck. He stood with a relaxed stance, leaned back some with one hand in his pocket and the other hanging limply by his side. At the moment, he was wearing blue jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and a black leather biker jacket. The only off-setting thing about him was the black patch over his left eye, making Hitsugaya think that he had gotten into a fight and lost. The eye that wasn't covered was a bright, yet dark, green with flecks of black surrounding his pupil, which, even from as far away as he was, looked slitted slightly.
Just then, Kouen's one-eyed gaze came back into focus and scanned slowly over the soccer field, like he was looking for something. Or someone. When it passed over Hitsugaya, it stopped and his pupil dilated. Alex and Rowan stopped their conversation with Karin and turned to look at Hitsugaya, then glanced at Kouen, who was turning several interesting shades of red, his mouth opened slightly.
"Ohh! Somebody catch him! He's gonna-" just then, Kouen fell backwards, his eye rolled back in his head and landed with a 'thump' on the ground, creating a small dust cloud. Alex winced, having been cut off and shook her head. "Crud." she snorted. "Come on, lets attempt to get him up." she sighed and walked with a grumbling Rowan not far behind her.
"What was that all about?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Honestly? I have no clue." Karin lied. A high pitched yelp came from across the field and they turned to see Kouen clutching his head, which was bleeding on both sides, with Alex and Rowan on either side of him with their feet still raised slightly. "Don't you just love how they deal with him?" she muttered staring at them with a raised eyebrow. Hitsugaya was about to agree but a deep rumbling cut him off.
He stared at the man who had just pulled up in a very creepy looking motorcycle. It was dark dark red, almost black, with yellow and orange flames painted on it. Between the handles was what looked like a dog or wolf skull but with horns, and a dim red glow came from the sockets. The man who was on it stepped off and he could see that he was very tall, taller than Kouen, who was busy cursing at Alex and Rowan, the sides of his head still bleeding. When he took his helmet off, he saw that he had unruly black hair that fell just past his shoulders, piercing red eyes that seemed like they could stab your very soul just by glancing at you. He also had three thick, black, scars on each cheek looking vaguely like whiskers.
Kouen stopped his yelling and glared at him. "About time you showed up you damn putz." he literally snarled. For the first time, for he hadn't been paying attention when he had been yelling at the other two, Hitsugaya noticed that his voice was slightly deep and some what smooth. Very fitting for someone with his looks.
"Hey, I got here as fast as I bloody well could. You know as well as I do that my schedule sucks." replied the black haired man in a very deep voice.
"Right... and I think I speak for everyone when I say that I lost all respect for you when you grew your hair out." Kouen snorted. "Now get down here so we can start this stupid waste of time." he said something else in a language that Hitsugaya didn't recognize, but figured that it was either at threat or a curse. Eventually they quit bantering and started the game, which went quickly, but it was difficult to keep the ball. The opposing team had speed and grace that he wouldn't have thought possible for anyone, and the game remained a tie until Kouen got a hold of the ball and dodged around anyone who tried to take it from him. Hitsugaya, who was the goalie at the moment, gulped. He had seen how hard the man could kick when he was on the field. He had kicked the ball so hard that it had nearly knocked out the other goalie when it plowed into his stomach, then into the net, barely loosing any momentum. Now that he was faced with it, he contemplated actually dodging the ball instead of attempting to stop it.
But just as Kouen drew his foot back to kick it, the air changed and a low moan echoed around them. The man changed his position and punted the ball to the right, sending it skyward, and slamming it into a descending... thing, which looked like a mix between a dog and a moose. And it was skin and bones, literally. It screeched and was enveloped in a red fire, vaporizing in mid air. The ball fell back to the ground on the other side of the field. Karin used the other's distraction to take the ball and kick into their goal, winning the game by one point, but no one noticed.
"Rowan! Call Eclipse and ask him what the hell he's doing sending a hell hound here!" Kouen bellowed, glaring at the dirty blond. She yanked her phone out and rapidly punched a number in, and started yelling into it for a couple minutes before hanging up and stuffing it back in her pocket.
"He said he didn't send it."
"What about Cole? He's the commander." Alex said.
"Nope. Not him either. No one sent anything as far as they know."
"Then who did?" Kouen demanded. "Those things just don't pop up here without having a special portal opened for them." he looked ready to shoot something but took a deep breath and sighed.
"What are you three on about?" Hitsugaya asked, confused.
"Nothing." Kouen snapped, not looking at him. He walked away quickly, saying something to Alex as he passed her, she nodded and said something back, and kept going, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched. Hitsugaya glared at his retreating form and then glanced at his team mates. Alex, Rowan, and Shadow; he had discovered that that was what he was called; were staring sadly at him and then at Kouen.
"I'll go see if I can calm him down." Shadow said calmly, jogging up to Kouen, who had made it to the top of the hill, stopping him and saying something. Kouen snapped something back that they couldn't hear, and when Shadow persisted, the other punched him in the face, nearly knocking him down, but he caught him by his jacket collar and pulled him back up, muttering something to him before dropping him, and walking away.
Shadow skidded down the hill and up to them. "He's a little mad." he said wiping blood from his lip.
"You don't say." Alex snorted. "The only time he ever punches anyone like that is when there's something he knows that he ain't gonna tell anyone. And that normally means its personal or it hurts him to talk about it." she shook her head and sighed, turning to Karin. "We'll see you guys later. Sorry." she said shortly, following Rowan and Shadow, who had already started to walk away.
Karin bid farewell to everyone else, walking back in her own direction, and Hitsugaya left without a word to anyone, deciding to see where Kouen had sulked off to, and why he was so mad. He hadn't walked for ten minutes when a dark chuckle came from behind him and he was jerked back into a wall. A trashy looking man who reeked of pot grinned at him, showing yellowed teeth and chuckled again and started to inch his face closer. Before he could get too close, Hitsugaya kicked him in his soft spot as hard as he could, sending him sprawling back.
"Why you little-" he cut himself off and made a motion with his hand. Several more trashy looking men came out of the shadows, and they all looked like they had a gun on them. As they started to advance on him, a large figure landed in front of Hitsugaya. It was furry like an animal, but had the figure of a man, standing upright. Broad furry shoulders towered above even the tallest man there and a thick furred tail swished slowly behind it. Hitsugaya could see that it had the looks of a wolf, even in the dim light. He could also see a deep 'x' shaped scar across its back. A deep growl rumbled in its throat and before the could even think to be afraid, they were all sprawled on the ground with slashes across their torsos and throats.
The wolf-man turned slightly to regard Hitsugaya, almost looking at him like he was contemplating killing him as well, but turned all the way around and looked him up and down more fully. Over his left eye was another 'x' shaped scar, and it was an icy blue, in contrast to his other eye, which was green. He reached forward with a large, clawed hand and lifted Hitsugaya up by his middle, almost able to clasp his hand around him fully. He tried to struggle free but the wolf-man's grasp was firm, yet gentle. He drew the boy up until he was almost nose to nose with him and let out a soft sigh.
"Its a shame really." it said in a low growl, surprising Hitsugaya. "That you don't remember who I am. But I suppose that even after 15 long years, it doesn't matter anymore." he glanced away, his green eye sad, quickly masking it with disinterest and turning back to him. "Where do you live? Its best if you're not wandering the streets, even this early in the night."
"Who... what... are you?" Hitsugaya choked out. The wolf-man snorted, a sour smile on his face.
"Who I am is for you to figure out yourself. As for what. I'm what you humans refer to as a werewolf. But don't worry, us lycanthropes aren't as vicious and blood thirsty as you make us out to be. Now then. I answered your questions, now answer mine."
"I... I live in the trailer park downtown with my grandmother. She's the only family I have left, and I would have already moved out if she wasn't so sick and weak." he replied. The werewolf nodded and grasped the skyscraper that he had jumped off of, and started to climb his way up, pulling himself up with one arm, for his other hand was occupied with Hitsugaya, who had buried his hands in his arm fur when they got about twenty feet up, not wanting to fall. When they reached the top, the werewolf dropped down to all fours, placing Hitsugaya on his back and started to run and leap from building to building swiftly. "How many werewolves are there in this town?" the boy asked suddenly.
"I'm not sure. At least a dozen mixed in with the demons and underworld creatures that have assumed animal or human form in the past years." the other replied after a couple minutes. "And I can guarantee that none of them are as nice; or forgiving; as me." he continued in a lower voice.
They were silent for a while before Hitsugaya saw that they had two buildings left before they hit the river. "Uh, you're kind of running out of buildings big guy. Slow it down some."
The werewolf just let out a short bark of laughter and sped up waiting until they had a couple meters left to get ready to jump. Grasping the very edge of the building with his hands, he pushed off as hard as he could and flew through the air, and over half of the river before they started losing altitude. Turning on his side slightly, the wolf pushed off of the air, leaving a small cloud of smoke and landed hard on the top of the bridge. "Unlatch the fingernails if you don't mind." he said, glaring up at Hitsugaya who looked like he was going to either be sick or pass out. But his grip did loosen some and the werewolf leaped off of the bridge and to the next building gracefully.
After another five minutes, a very shaken up Hitsugaya almost literally fell off of the werewolf's back and staggered to the door of the trailer that housed him and his grandmother. He glanced back to see that the werewolf had already left, a small ring of dust where he had been standing and he could see a small dot running through the sky in the direction they had come.
The next day, it was pouring outside and Hitsugaya stared out the window of the trailer, almost hoping to see the werewolf from the night before, but not quite. Around noon though, what he did see was Kouen, who was soaked to the bone, running up to the trailer and got to the door before he could pound on it, waking his grandmother.
"How'd you find out where I lived?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm good that way. Come with me, a friend of mine wants to ask you some questions." he snorted, looking everywhere but at him. Before Hitsugaya could protest, Kouen grabbed his arm and dragged him out into the rain and practically sprinting to the rail yard.
"Don't you have a car?" Hitsugaya snapped.
"If I did, don't you think I'd use it?" his voice seemed somewhat strangled, like he was either trying not to scream at him, or trying not to cry. He flung the door of one of the longer train-house things open and shoved him inside, following and slamming the door closed. He motioned for Hitsugaya to step back and stiffened up, nearly making the boy fall backwards when red fire flew up from his feet, enveloping him completely and dieing away as quickly as it had exploded forward. When it vanished, Kouen was completely dry and Hitsugaya was staring at him with huge eyes.
"Kouen I swear! If you set my house on fire I'll kill you!" yelled someone from the back.
"Well sorry for trying to dry off. And I got him by the way so get your ass out here." he said calmly staring down a thin hall way with an eyebrow raised. "And I wouldn't really call this place a house."
"And I wouldn't call you apartment an apartment either. I'd call it a dump." Alex said as she came from the back of the train.
"Rowan asleep?"
"Naw. She's uptown seeing if she can smuggle a new computer out of the Best Buy." she replied, getting a small 'oh' from Kouen. She turned to Hitsugaya, analyzing him with her foggy blue-gray eyes before nodding. "Remove the cat from the couch and sit down, I need to have a quick word with moron here." she said, pointing to the couch, which was occupied by a fluffy black cat.
"Since when is my nickname 'moron?'" Kouen growled.
"Since now. That a problem?"
"No, just wondering." he replied quickly, seeming to shrink under the other's glare. Alex nodded and turned around, whisking into the kitchen leaving Kouen to follow, muttering to himself.
Ok, yet another weird place to leave off I know, but I like to leave a bit of mystery behind the chapters. Review! Ja!