Chapter 9: Pack

Aomine drummed his fingers against the counter and stared out the window. In front of him a pancake heated on the pan, turning a golden brown color. He flipped it over with the spatula and turned around.

"I don't—" He stopped and growled softly. "I don't think this can be fixed with words."

"Neither do I." Takao admitted quietly from his seat at the island. His long, slender fingers played with the keys sitting on the tiled surface. Aomine felt guilt well up inside of him. If he'd just been a better hunter, gotten to the rogue wolf faster, worked harder…but he hadn't. And he'd regret it for the rest of his life. Now, Takao and his two teammates were paying the consequences.

"So what do we do?" Aomine wondered. He wasn't used to asking other people what to do, but knew that he'd asked enough of the other and figured that it was time he let someone else make a decision.
"Like…not talk?" Takao muttered, unsure of what else to say. He rested his chin on the island and frowned. "I honestly…I mean, I don't blame you. I just…" He sighed. "I'm still trying to process this all, you know? I don't know. I just…I don't know."

Fair enough. Aomine couldn't even begin to place himself in the other's shoes. "I'm being unfair, too, you know. To you. I'll…I'm gonna try not to keep things from you guys, but man, it's hard when I don't know if it's for your own good or not. But I'll try." A long, awkward pause. "So…are we good?"

Takao looked up at him tiredly and smiled. "Yeah." He said. "We're good."

"Good." They looked over to see Miyaji standing in the doorway. His phone's screen was absolutely shattered and he looked pissed. Midorima wavered behind him emotionlessly, but there was a swelling bruise just under his chin. "Why does it smell like smoke?" Aomine quickly flipped the pancake off of the grill and grimaced at its charred state.

Miyaji rolled his eyes and settled onto the stool next to Takao, resting his chin on the island and closing his eyes. Takao grinned and poked his upperclassman on the cheek childishly.

"So what now?" Midorima asked his fellow miracle, leaning against the counter. "Regarding the other pack, is there anything we need to worry about? What should we be doing?"

"Well, I mean…I'd say train Takao but we'd need Izuki here for that. Once Kazuki sets up the barrier we can go outside and Momoi and I could help you guys with controlling your turns, but it won't be an immediate thing." Aomine scratched the back of his head and poured out another pancake. "Don't you have a game coming up s—" An annoying, blaring alarm interrupted him. He pulled his phone out from his sweatpants and groaned.

"Kise," He hissed into the receiver, "I told you to stop annoying me, damn it!"

"But Aominecchi~! I have a big job opportunity coming up and I'm nervous! I wanna talk to you~" Midorima winced at Kise's loud whine.

"I said I don't have time!" Aomine snarled.

"But I'm really nervous~! This could be a biiiig thing for me! So let's meet up—"

"Stop calling me!" He hung up on the model with a scowl and a menacing rumble, tossing the phone onto the counter and sighing. Dealing with Kise was tiring. "Anyway, if you guys have a game soon we should probably train you as soon as possible."

"Alright." Midorima nodded. He cocked his head as the sliding glass door opened and Kazuki entered the living room. "Kazuki could train Takao."

"Hell no." Aomine growled, looking over the point guard. "No offense, Takao, but you'd be no match for him."

"He didn't say spar." Kazuki said as he walked into the room, ignoring Aomine's glare and brushing a strand of silver hair behind his ear. His thick chunky scarf sat snugly around his neck. "I would be able to show him the basics, but beyond that there's nothing more I can do."

"Let's go now, then!" Takao perked up eagerly, getting off of his seat and going up to Kazuki with a grin. The teen seemed surprised with his forward attitude and backed up into Midorima by accident, turning with a flush and leaving the room with Takao on his heels. Aomine rolled his eyes again and faced Midorima.

"Go on, say it. I know you want to."

"You and Kise are still quite close."

Miyaji glanced up at them, uncomfortable with being present during the conversation but unwilling to draw attention to himself by leaving. Midorima sensed this and sat next to his beta, putting a calming arm around him.

"Well, yeah." Aomine said, pulling out a waterbottle from the fridge. "He wants to, well, you know…and I want to, but it's just…hard." He started drinking.

"I don't see why. Akashi and I did so frequently throughout middle school."

Aomine did a spit take. "W-Wha—"

"I believe you both did so as well."

"Me and—and Akashi?!"

"You and Kise." Midorima said with a dignified expression. "You made it quite obvious. Everyone knew."

"WHAT?!" Aomine screeched. "Who told you?!"

"No one. If you didn't want us to know you shouldn't have been so public about it."

"But…We never actually—"

"Before you embarrass yourself," Miyaji cut in. The pair turned to the blonde, who was flushed and a little irritated. "He's talking about one-on-ones."

"Of course," Midorima looked confused, "what else would we be…?" He stopped talking when he realized and turned beet red. He turned towards Aomine with a furious expression. "You thought Akashi and I would…would…?!"

"What! You guys were close!" Aomine defended himself.

"He and Kise want to date." Miyaji told Midorima. "That's what he thought you were talking about."

"Oh." Midorima processed this, dark green eyes flickering thoughtfully. "Why aren't you going out then?"

"Because, I just…" Aomine paused and sent an ashamed expression at his shoes. "I don't know, okay! I wouldn't be good for him! How the hell would I even explain why I can't talk to him half the time?!"

Midorima thought about it but couldn't find an answer. However, something else dawned on him. Something that he wasn't quite prepared to think about but was willing to attempt anyway. "Aomine," He murmured, "When exactly did you become a hunter?"

The air became thick with silence. The corner of Aomine's mouth twitched. "Maybe...two years before we graduated middle school."

More silence. Then Miyaji surprised them all.

"Shuzo said he was worried about one of his first string…must've been talking about you." He commented blithely.

"Shuzo?" Aomine raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"Nijimura-senpai." Midorima sounded a little shocked. "You know him?"

Miyaji snorted. "Sure. We used to one-on-one like every day 'til his dad got sick. You know, Aomine, you're a real brat if that's why you won't be with Kise."

"W-what?" Aomine twitched. "What the hell do you know?! I've given up so much because of my goddamned last name!"

"Yeah, and where's that gotten you?"

Silence. Miyaji continued with a subdued expression, leaning away from Midorima and grimacing.

"You Miracles are so childish, forcing yourself to carry weights you don't need to. You think giving up your own happiness will be better? Stupid." He sighed. "Self-sacrifice is overrated. If you want to be with Kise, be with him. If you don't want to then be prepared to say so. He'll get over it. But if you leave things the way they are now, neither of you will be happy."

"You think you're so smart just because you're a little older," Aomine snorted coldly. There was fear and pain written into the lines his face. "What, did Captain do the same to you?"

Miyaji's expression darkened to a hollow state. The look he sent the Ace made the room a little emptier, depressing, and Midorima tightened his arm around his senpai. "No. He did something worse. But that's not for your ears. If you don't listen to that, then hear this: if you don't do something soon, you'll lose Kise forever." Aomine's eyes widened.

"What the fuck do you—"

"You underestimate your effect on him. The way things are now will only leave you depressed and emotionally vacant. You don't want to hurt him but that's just a fucking excuse and a lame one at that. You need him way more than he needs you. So don't ramble on about how you're doing it 'for his sake' or try to blame it on him. I don't know him very well but he's smart, and I know he's stronger than you think he is." Miyaji glared. "What I'm saying is, stop assuming the worst and trust him a little, dumbass, before he decides you're not worth the trouble."

With that, he got up and left. Midorima tried to hold him back by his wrist, wanting to know what exactly Nijimura had done to his Beta, but the blonde just snapped and flipped him off.

"I'm going back to bed." He muttered before hurrying out of the kitchen. Aomine frowned and looked to Midorima for help but the greenette just looked away.

On one hand, Midorima knew that he would do the exact same thing if he were in a similar situation. Why put Kise through the pain that would come with being lovers with a hunter? Why drag him into this crazy, unhuman world that everyone else was safe being ignorant of? It would be much easier—and safer—to simply do nothing.

But on the other...Miyaji was right. Kise was emotional and cared about Aomine a lot. If he somehow got the idea that the blunette didn't like him…it was worrying, even for Midorima. He wasn't sure how exactly Kise would react but he knew that it would be explosive, to say the least. On court and off.

"This is not my decision to make, idiot." He settled with. He opened his mouth to say something else when suddenly a sharp pain came from his side and his vision flickered. With a mere blink it seemed as if his entire world had changed: unwillingly, he'd transformed. Which could only mean Takao was in danger.

Midorima's paws scrabbled clumsily against the glossy floor before he managed to find his footing, and he shot out of the kitchen like a bullet. Jumping through the sliding glass door he jumped off of the railing of the deck and fell twenty feet. His paws indented the muddy grass and sank in.

Another wolf was crouched low to the ground not twenty yards from him, its sandy gray muzzle bloody and yellow-green eyes flickering from left to right. Midorima could hear the crackle of snapping twigs and swiveled his head to his sharp left. A wolf much larger than the first was letting loose a low snarl. It had chestnut hair that seemed to crackle with electricity and dark cerulean eyes that were stuck on Takao.

Said teen was hovering around the beam that kept up the deck with a stricken look, visibly shaking as he cowered. Kazuki was standing roughly five feet in front of him, arms outstretched as a violet sort of energy flickered around his outstretched fingertips. There was a cut on the boy's cheek where blood dripped down, and the wrappings on his wrist were torn and undone. His skin was a dark purple underneath it.

Midorima growled when the brown wolf took a step forward but was halted by Kazuki's right hand. The albino held it out and closed his fist and suddenly it was like Midorima's skin was on fire. He whimpered and backed off, Takao running to his side immediately and running his hands through the thick fur.

"Change back." Kazuki ordered the wolf in front of him. Midorima felt fear chill his veins: the animal was at least three times the size of an average wolf. Kazuki didn't stand a chance. His ears picked up movement as he heard Aomine run up the stairs, presumably to get Momoi and Miyaji.

The grey wolf lunged at Takao the second Kazuki had his attention diverted. Midorima ignored his burning muscles and crashed forward into the creature, his ears flattening against his skull when teeth sunk into his muzzle. Ignoring the blood running down his fur, he snapped his own jaws and made contact with what felt like an ear. It crunched sickeningly under his teeth and the other wolf unhinged his jaws and backed off with a whimper.

Miyaji! Where are you?! He thought in panic. According to Izuki, whenever Takao induced a change it would happen with the entire pack. Miyaji should have already turned.

He looked away from the fallen wolf to stare at Kazuki. The albino had both his hands out, the wrappings on his sprained wrist undone, and some kind of violet light was fluttering in front of him. He closed his fist and the brown wolf attacking him howled in pain, shaking its head side to side before running to the fallen wolf and standing over it protectively.

Midorima held his ground when the brown wolf stepped forward, obviously keen to attack but not wanting to leave it's wounded packmate. It nudged the cowering wolf with a paw and they appeared to be having some sort of internal conversation before the grey wolf stood shakily and pre1ssed itself to the other's side.

The brown wolf let out a low growl and prepared to jump at Takao—and therefore Midorima, who was planted between the two—when a cracked cell phone came sailing through the air. It smacked the wolf right in the head with a resounding clang, having hit its target so hard the glass displaced and the metal sides crunched. The wolf collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, and the grey wolf floundered in panic before retrieving the cell phone in its mouth and scampering off into the woods.

Midorima looked over his shoulder. Miyaji, with fury lighting his eyes, stood at the deck with his arm outstretched. When he saw Kazuki he flipped.

"FUCK YOU!" He snarled loudly, stomping down the steps and walking past his alpha to the teen so he could stick a finger in the other's chest angrily. "Why the fuck didn't the barrier work?! You wanna get us killed?!"

"The barrier's weak against supernatural beings." Kazuki replied calmly, shaking out his bad wrist and flinching. "It's mostly meant for humans. I warded against werewolves and vampires, but if they have a specific target that they are tracking it's near impossible to mask." He sighed and turned to Takao. "Their Beta is dead. You can tell because of the aura around them. It would also explain why they were quick to abandon each other; their pack balance is thrown for a loop. It's strange that they took a cell phone, though."

"Aura?" Miyaji asked. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it over to Midorima as the ace changed back.

"It's what Kazuki-san was showing me." Takao shrugged. "Each person has an aura, if you look at them closely enough. Theirs," He nodded to the wolf, "were a kind of weird blue color."

"The color of a wolf is different than it's human counterpart." Kazuki elaborated. "The wolf shows it's rank and pack stability, and the humans show their personality."

"What color's yours?" Miyaji asked him, stepping back and crossing his arms judgementally.

"I…can't tell." Takao muttered, squinting. "Clear?"

"I'm masking mine." Kazuki replied. "Reading a fully revealed aura is a very private ordeal and you must only do it for people you know well. Reading someone who hasn't given you permission to do so, and does have the ability to mask it, is the equivalent to calling someone by their first name after only meeting them once. So don't do it."

"Can you see our auras?" Miyaji asked, turning to Takao.

"Yeah…? I mean I can't not see them." Takao pressed his hands into Midorima's and they stood up, Miyaji's thin cotton jacket hanging around Midorima's hips. "Can we just go inside or something, please? It's cold and I don't like being out here."

"Of course." Midorima answered, keeping their hands interlinked as they mounted the steps to the deck. Miyaji grabbed Kazuki's good wrist when the teen tried to sidestep him.

"W-wait." Miyaji stuttered.

"Yes?" Kazuki asked nonchalantly.

"Teach me."

"What?" Kazuki seemed surprised. He raised his eyebrows and curiously looked Miyaji up and down through violet-red eyes.

"I have a feeling something bad 's coming our way. And you saw how they," Miyaji gestured to Midorima and Takao, who were talking to Momoi and Aomine just inside the sliding glass door, "handled themselves. They're not ready to take on anything. Nothing on Aomine or Momoi, but this is obviously their first time dealing with this."

"So…you want me to train you." Kazuki said flatly. "Against magic?"

"Just basic defense." Miyaji shrugged. "That was you keeping me from transforming when Takao told us to, right? I want to be able to do that on my own."

"Huh." Kazuki cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.

"What!" Miyaji snapped.

"Well, it might just be me but I'm quite surprised you're not the Alpha." Kazuki admitted in a hushed voice. There was a hint of something that Miyaji couldn't place, but it gave off an eerie feeling. "You seem to be more of a dominant figure than Midorima. It could be that I've misjudged him but I have a feeling if this continues on there could be concequences." He pulled his wrist free and turned his head as he walked away. "Deal with it now so I won't have to later. And if you wouldn't mind, bring Sam up." He nodded to the unconscious wolf. "I would, but my wrist is bad and I'm not up to par for using magic and maintaining the barrier."

Miyaji gritted his teeth and watched Kazuki make his way up the stairwell. He'd call Ootsubo or Kimura to rant about it, but his phone was currently god-knows-where after the other wolf ran off with it. Instead he stooped down and hauled the wolf over his shoulders, bending his spine so his back took most of the weight. Ignoring the pain in his knees as he walked he carried the wolf back inside.

By the time he was sitting down at the table, eating burnt pancakes with Takao and Midorima while the hunters brought the wolf down to the basement, he didn't recall the strange notion that Kazuki had known the wolf's name.