Kensei couldn't understand it. The twerp had been all set to fight him a second ago, but the instant that Kensei had stepped into the moonlight the ferals ears had flown straight up and his dark eyes had widened until Kensei could see the whites.

Now the dark wolf straightened from his crouch and stood in a non-aggressive manner. Kensei stopped out of range and quirked his head in puzzlement. The younger shifter saw this and hesitantly took a step forward. Kensei hesitated for a heartbeat longer then dropped his lips and raised his ears. On closer inspection the kid didn't seem like a feral. He was far too conscious of his own actions.

Shuuhei sighed in relief as the older male's aggressive stance dropped and he stepped forward to meet Shuuhei. They began to introduce themselves in the way of their animal counterparts. A good sniffing.

Kensei's guard was lowered as he sniffed the younger wolf. Pine, earth, blood, water and musk were the usual and they all checked out. Then he came to the right shoulder. A darker heavier musky smell oozed from his shoulder. A familiar musk, a scent he would not forget for as long as he lived. Kaname Tousen.

Hisagi sniffed at his mentor. The smell of the woods and his own deep musky scent were all Kensei kept. All of a sudden Kensei stiffened. Shuuhei glanced at him. In a flash Kensei's lips rose to expose his fangs, his ears fell back and he growled a low blood-curdling growl.

Hisagi heard himself whimper in shock and fear. Kensei was going to kill him and he didn't even know what he had done! As he backed away he tripped over the roots of a large tree and fell on his back. He scrambled up in the same instant, turning to run for Seireitei. Kensei launched himself at the smaller shapeshifter and closed his jaws around his neck.

They tussled in the grass, Hisagi's air slowly being choked out of him. He refused to turn into a panther in front of Kensei, so instead he began to asphyxiate from lack of oxygen.

What saved him was the 69. As he shifted between wolf and human the darker patch of fur on his left cheek became a 69. Again and again Kensei saw his symbol flash before his eyes. In shock and recognition Kensei released his chokehold on the younger shifter.

Coughing and gasping for air Hisagi's human form came to the fore. Kensei stared down at him; the shifter was a young man. Long, bare limbs made of muscle and sinew twitched as oxygen was slowly filtered back into the bloodstream. Kensei's eyes moved up. The alabaster skin flowed over the strong muscles around the young man's hips up his washboard stomach and past his pectorals to the well defined shoulders. Long ragged scars sliced through one side of his face, the other side was covered with a long piece of steel and the 69 tattoo, just like Kensei's.

Kensei released his own animal form. Roughly twisting his fingers in the coal black hair, he yanked hard, hauling the slighter man up to his eye level. Hisagi grunted with pain and tried to get out of the tight hold, scrabbling furiously tearing his knees and palms to bloody ribbons as Kensei jerked him back again and again.

Hisagi snarled and twisted in Kensei's grip shifting to his panther form for an instant, snapping at the restraining hand.

Kensei jerked back and released his hold as the large teeth and shadowy fur flashed too close to his face for comfort. After an initial hop and stagger the young shapeshifter raced away from Kensei, his dark form morphing from that of a wolf to that of a panther in a chaotic jumble.

Kensei shifted with a lunge. He had a hunch that he knew this shapeshifter and with the scent of Kaname Tousen all over him he was sure of it. Kensei chased after him, his long powerful strides eating away at the distance between them, the smell of blood coming back to him on the breeze.

Hisagi wanted to tear off his own skin, for just once to live as a man and not a shapeshifter. Why? Why did this have to happen? Why of all people tonight did it have to be him! Hisagi hated his wolf form because Kaname hated it and he hated his panther form because Kensei would hate it. He wanted more than anything to be a weak human, for once in his life, someone who knew nothing of these sides in this endless war, who would never know this inner turmoil. But he was stuck in these repulsive forms and he would never be rid of the strange mix of pride and shame that he felt for them.

His body reacted faster and faster to his inner turmoil, shifting from wolf to panther to wolf and back again, sometimes shifting all the way sometimes not. He ran in lurches and lunges, his body played tricks on him, slowing him down and closing the distance between him and Kensei.

Shit! Hisagi pounded it over and over in his head like a mantra. Shit! Shit! Shit! He could feel his body beginning to stretch towards his true form, in his eyes, the hideous mongrel of wolf and wildcat. His panic soared to new heights, sending his pulse pounding through his body like some crazed drum, filling his ears with sound and tightening his breath in panic.

No! No! Anything but that!

Kensei grinned showing wicked serrated teeth as he closed in on his quarry. The kid was staggering badly now and Kensei could hear low dry gasps that signaled his panic even more than the scent he left behind.

Kensei snarled and leaped. WHAM!

Hisasgi couldn't even squeak his air was driven out so hard and fast. They went down in a tumble of legs and tails, Kensei straddling his back his powerful jaws already seeking purchase on the back of Hisagi's neck.

As a knee jerk reaction Hisagi used a move Tousen had taught him. He bucked his back and at the same time rolled to his left and snapped at the air that whooshed past his muzzle. Instead of completely freeing himself as he had hoped, Hisagi found himself rolling head over heels with Kensei further and further down the incline.

They smacked into a tree, Hisagi taking the brunt of the blow. His head snapped back with a loud CRACK, as he hit the trunk of the tree his body shuddered, involuntarily shifting back to human form, slumping against its rough pine bark with a whine of pain and shock.

Kensei stared down at his quarry. The young man had just hammered himself and was now as weak as a newborn pup. Just like the day they had first met. Kensei remembered the dark hair and even darker eyes that hid their pain and fear, trying to hide their weakness. He shook his head at the groaning boy beneath him. "Well you've made a good mess of things again haven't you?"

Beneath him a hoarse voice whispered "Oh shut up!"

Shuuhei opened his eyes to glare at Kensei who was staring down at him in disbelief. Kensei smiled mockingly, baring his white teeth, regardless of his current form. He narrowed his eyes and raised his lips, "What did you say?"

Shuuhei could feel the rumble deep in his chest as he growled too low for actual sound. He could feel the fury pounding through his veins as the man he had admired for so long straddled his waist and gloated down at him, rubbing in his weakness, and foolish inexperience. Did he think he didn't know all that? Did he think Shuuhei enjoyed being betrayed, beaten bloody, and thrown to the side? Did he think he hadn't tried to be better?

Shuuhei could feel his eyes prickling hot and wet with his frustration, frustration that had grown and festered since he was a child, too weak to protect himself. Frustration that had swelled within his very bones until it sang in his blood, ripping his spirit to shreds with every heartbeat. Hammering into him again and again the self blame, self disgust, and self hatred that betrayal had taught him.

Kensei continued to perch atop him gloating and cocking his head. "What? Sorry didn't catch that." Shuuhei flinched as he heard and saw the echoing fury in his former captain's face. "Kensei's eyes hardened and began to glow a deep subtle red that grew brighter with every word he ground out. "What I would like to know…" he said his voice a deep rumbling growl that ripped through the air, "Is why, do you smell like THAT BASTARD TOUSEN!"

Something snapped inside Hisagi. He was so sick of it! Of trying to be what they wanted! He was tired of throwing away the pack animal inside him for Kaname! He was tired of pushing out his savage nature to please Kensei! But most of all he was tired of his human heart trying to change its own nature. He was so SICK of trying to be someone he wasn't!

SMACK!

Kensei hadn't seen it coming at all. Hisagi had backhanded him hard enough to send his head whipping to the side like he'd been hit with a baseball bat. As he tried to uncrick his neck he was further startled when Hisagi screamed at him in a ragged sobbing voice.

"Don't you fucking look down on me!" He screamed, coming back around for another swing. Kensei caught it in his fist staring down at Hisagi with wide eyes and open mouth as the young man continued screaming and throwing wild clawing punches. "You weren't fucking there! You were there for one fucking, God damned minute of my life and you fucked it up so bad—!" His faced was scrunched up in pain and fury, the two emotions warring with one another made it seem to Kensei that the only things holding Hisagi together were the scars and metal on his face; acting as dark stitches and staples to hold together the ragged soul beneath.

He kept swinging at Kensei's face, his fingers clawing to reach his eyes until Kensei finally got a firm hold. Hisagi snarled in a half sob, more anger than anything else, as he strained to hurt the man who had abandoned him so many years ago.

Hisagi had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something really stupid like, "I'm sorry". He was sorry, but not for this man! He still did care about Kaname despite everything, damn his naïve idealistic heart! He had nothing to apologize to Kensei for. Except for letting him down, a small defeated voice whispered in the back of his mind.

Beneath him, Shuuhei dropped his gaze and hissed defiantly, "It's none of your business what I've done with Kaname or anyone else!"

Kensei stiffened.

"Kaname...?" Shuuhei yelped as he was hauled up by his hair once again. He flinched as Kensei blew up in his face, "You are on a first name basis, with Kaname!"

Oh shit! Hisagi twisted in Kensei's grip trying to bolt again, He hadn't meant to let that slip but he'd been so upset—.

Kensei slammed the smaller shapeshifter up into the tree.

Shuuhei sighed in relief as he was released only to gasp as Kensei slammed his fist up into his gut, driving the air from his body. As he struggled for breath Kensei got him again. The red was back in his eyes, burning like a wildfire.

"Tell me!" He roared at Shuuhei. Shuuhei felt Kensei hit him again in the jaw as he gritted his teeth and did his best to get out from between Kensei's arms.

Kensei saw what he was trying to do and snarled, slamming his fist into the tree on Hisagi's right side, splintering the bark. He brought his face close to the cringing young man and murmured soft, deep and deadly. "If you won't tell me…"

Shuuhei found himself staring into the coldly furious eyes of his childhood hero. He swallowed the lump of fear in his throat as Kensei finished, "…then you'll have to show me!"

In an instant he slammed his palm against Shuuhei's face, effectively pushing his head back against the tree so that his neck was straight and exposed and lunged forward, sinking his large teeth into the thick muscle between neck and shoulder.

Hisagi screamed as he felt the unsuspecting muscle slide and tear beneath the sharp fangs. He screamed again in despair when he knew what Kensei was doing. Memories began flowing across his mind's eye, crystal clear and as unstoppable as water over stones.