The fighters leaped away from each other, then rushed again. Their attacks were barely visible blurs as they threw punches and kicks at each other with unholy speed.

Yoruichi swung a kick at Lycaon's head, but he caught her leg in his hand. He countered with a punch aiming for her face, but she ducked under it. They grinned at each other as they fought. Lycaon was the only person fast enough to give Yoruichi a challenge, and it was the same vice versa. They leaped away from each other, still smiling.

"You've certainly gotten better," Yoruichi complimented her rival.

The Wolf King chuckled. "I can say the same about you. You've really sped up a bit." he gave her a cocky smirk. "Or is that speed the result of the fear of getting eaten by the Big Bad Wolf?"

The former leader of the Stealth Force laughed at that. "Of course not. You don't really think that I'd be afraid of you, do you?"

Lycaon just watched her. She was still just as carefree and wild as when he had first met her. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?" His voice sounded sad, as though he didn't want to fight her. This made Yoruichi raise an eyebrow at the wolf-man. "It's been about four hundred years since we first met. Since then, for the next century, we challenged each other a total of one hundred times. After that, we lost contact for three hundred years." He went quiet for a moment. "Tell me, did you ever accomplish your dream?"

Yoruichi looked surprised by this, and blushed a little when she realized what he was talking about. Regardless, she answered honestly. "No. Not yet."

Lycaon sighed sadly. "It's a shame then. If I win, you'll never be able to reach that goal." He went into a fighting stance then. "You can still run you know. You'll live long enough to tell that idiot how you feel about him that way."

Yoruichi laughed at him. "Sorry, but you know that I've never been one to run from a fight."

"I know," the Wolf King said sadly. "Prepare yourself, Cat." He charged at her, with her doing the same.

Flashback

Yoruichi Shihoin had finally been made the lieutenant of Squad 2, and was now on a mission to the human world to investigate an abnormal fluctuation in spirit energy somewhere in the Kanto region of Japan. She had been expecting something a little more dynamic than that for her first mission as a lieutenant, but she supposed that beggars couldn't be choosers. She was currently in a small town in the middle of nowhere, looking for any sign of the source of the unusual spiritual pressure.

"Man, I'm bored," she complained out loud. She wasn't worried about other people hearing her. In her spirit form, no human should be able to see or hear her. She looked around at the crowd in town. They were apparently having some kind of festival. She paid special attention the game where people could catch goldfish in those little nets. She quickly shook her head when she discovered she was drooling. "Dammit, Shihoin, focus on the mission!"

She walked past all the attention-grabbing festival attractions, hoping to get out of here soon so that she just go home. She was just about to give up on this town and move on to the next when she felt a sudden wave of spiritual pressure, followed by what sounded like a child's screams. She immediately went in the direction of that scream, hoping that she wouldn't be too late.

-o-

The young boy looked on in fear at the huge wolf in front of him. The beast had just killed off a monster that was about to eat him. When the boy tried to thank the wolf, it snarled at him.

"Don't touch me, brat," the wolf said, making the boy jump in surprise. "And don't thank me either. I didn't save you because I like humans. I just needed to kill something."

"But, you saved me," the boy said with a scared, but grateful smile. "You have to let me thank you somehow."

"I said NO!" the wolf snapped, clamping his jaws together just an inch away from the boy's face. Out of nowhere, there was massive pain in his side, and he was sent skidding on the ground several feet away from his original position.

"You'll stay away from this boy, Fido," said a woman's voice. The wolf looked up to see a dark-skinned woman with short purple hair and yellow, catlike eyes. She had on what looked like a black kimono of sorts that left her back exposed, and had a small sword strapped onto her lower back. "Now, unless you want to get your ass kicked, I suggest you leave."

The wolf glared at her, but quickly left, faster than any other wolf. Yoruichi sighed in relief, and looked at the boy, who was staring at her. She looked down at his chest and saw a Chain of Fate over his heart.

She knelt down in front of him and said, "Don't worry, kid. That wolf can't hurt you now."

The boy shook his, which made Yoruichi's eyebrow rise. "That wolf wasn't trying to hurt me. He saved me from a big monster that was trying to eat me."

Yoruichi's eyes widened at this. "Wait. Did the monster have a big hole in its chest?" The boy nodded, making the Shihoin heiress's mind race. A wolf was able to take down a Hollow on its own? How was that possible? Then a thought occurred to her. She face-palmed at herself. She had probably just chased off the source of that unusual spirit energy that she had searching for.

She sighed to herself. "Well, first thing's first." The boy gave her a curious look. "I'll send you to the afterlife and track down that wolf."

"Hey, lady?" Yoruichi gave the boy her full attention. "When you find that wolf, can you tell him that I said thanks for saving me?"

Yoruichi smiled and nodded. "Of course." She then performed a quick konso on the boy and ran off to find that wolf.

-o-

Lycaon looked at the reflection of his lupine form in the surface of the pond that he had been living by. He had come to Japan because he had heard that it can be a very soothing place to live. But it seemed that no matter where he went, violence would always find him.

He growled when he caught a scent in the air, and turned to see that dark-skinned woman from earlier. "What do you want, cat-eyes?"

She just watched him with a serious look. She seemed somewhat interested in him. "Don't worry, I'm not here to fight. I was sent here to find a source of abnormal spirit energy in this region."

"Abnormal?" Lycaon questioned. When the woman nodded, he chuckled. "Well, that certainly sounds like me. I'm anything but normal."

"Considering the fact that you're a talking wolf, I'll take your word for it," the woman joked with a grin. "Seriously, though, I can't just let you wander around the humans like you've probably been doing. Your spiritual pressure could adversely affect them."

"Don't worry about that," the cursed wolf said quietly. "I don't usually spend a lot of time among humans anyway. Even in my human form they stink of fear of me."

"You have a human form?" she asked curiously. Lycaon nodded, and before she could ask, he morphed into his human appearance.

"My name is Lycaon," he said as he gave her a look that said that he was ticked off about something. "I'm the very first werewolf in existence."

"The first of your kind, huh?" the woman said. She was apparently not surprised that he had gone from a wolf to a man like that. She must have nerves of steel. "Not bad. My name is Yoruichi Shihoin. I'm a Soul Reaper. Specifically, I'm the lieutenant of Squad 2."

"Soul Reaper?" Lycaon parroted. "So why are you here? Are you going to kill me and take my soul?"

"Not unless you try to kill me first." Yoruichi gave the wolf-man a serious look. "You might not be human, but you seem fairly harmless."

"Don't patronize me, cat-stink," Lycaon spat. Before he knew it, a foot was rammed right into his face.

"What did you just call me, dog breath?" Yoruichi demanded.

"You heard me!" Lycaon shouted, covering his bleeding nose. "You stink like a cat that just climbed out of a litter box!" The two glared at each other with lightning in their eyes. They leaped away from each other, watching one another warily. They soon charged each other.

-o-

Yoruichi and Lycaon were both lying on the ground, panting and covered with bruises and scratches. Their fight had been a draw. Right now, they were just staring up at the sky.

"You're not too bad a fighter," Lycaon commented. "You're the only person who's ever been able to keep up with me in a fight."

"I could say the same about you," Yoruichi said with a grin. "You may be annoying, but you don't seem too bad a guy." They just stayed on the ground for a while, until Yoruichi finally got up. "I have an idea."

"That's a shocker," Lycaon said sarcastically.

Yoruichi chuckled at his dry humor. "Why don't you come with me to the Soul Society? If you do, at the very least, you could learn how to keep your spiritual pressure in check so that you don't accidentally influence normal people."

Lycaon thought about that for a moment. It wasn't too bad a suggestion. He hadn't heard of this "Soul Society" before, but Yoruichi seemed pretty adamant about it. "I don't have to die to get there, do I?"

"Of course not," Yoruichi assured him. "All you need my guidance through the Dangai, and you'll be golden. Once we get there though, we'll just have to the Head Captain's approval for this before we do anything else."

Lycaon sat up gave the dark-skinned woman a cocky smirk. "Just so long as I get to fight you again. As a wolf, I've got to assert my dominance."

"You got it," Yoruichi agreed. She didn't mind fighting him again. She opened up a Senkaimon then, and the pair walked through.

-o-

Ten years later…

Lycaon was napping comfortably on a bed of grass. He was having some rather pleasant dreams before he heard voices. He was too tired to do anything about them though. He didn't really care either. That is, until a bucket full of ice-cold water was dumped onto his face. He shot up, sputtering and spitting out water. He could now here people howling with laughter.

"You were right, Yoruichi!" said the voice of Kisuke Urahara between fits of laughter. "His reaction was hilarious!"

"I told you so!" Yoruichi declared proudly. When she saw Lycaon fuming at them, she just laughed and said in a sickeningly cutesy voice, "Oh, what's the mattew, Wycaon? Is the big, bad doggie afwaid of a wittle bit of water?"

"I'm going to kill your sleep, you stupid wannabe cat," Lycaon said dryly. "You realize that, right?"

"That's what you say all the time, Puppy-Dog," Yoruichi pointed. She quickly dodged a punch from the wolf-man.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" he asked with an angry look that made Yoruichi chuckle.

"Counting just now? About fifty-three, give or take." She had a cocky grin on her face that her look like she thought he could never make a comeback at her jokes.

"I'm surprised you can count that high, Kitty-Cat," Lycaon said snidely. Yoruichi glared at him then, making him smile almost arrogantly. Just as he hated being called Puppy-Dog, she hated being called Kitty-Cat. "What's wrong? Did I hit a nerve or two?"

At that point, Kisuke, who felt very left out, could only watch as his two friends started their eleventh fight. I really wish these two would just relax.

-o-

Ninety years later…

Lycaon, Kisuke, and Yoruichi were taking a break after several long hours of training, just lying on the ground, watching the sky as the clouds floated through great, blue realm above them. Lycaon had actually enjoyed his past one hundred years here in the Soul Society. He enjoyed spending days with Yoruichi and Kisuke, whether it was for training, helping them with their missions, or just lounging about as they were now. He couldn't remember a time when he had been happier.

Kisuke stood up and stretched, letting out a loud yawn. He smiled at his friends and said, "I'd better get going, guys. My captain will throw a fit when he finds that I was gone longer than told him I would be. I'll see you tomorrow." And he headed off.

Yoruichi watched him leave. She had actually been hoping that he would stick around longer, but she knew he had a point. When he was gone, she turned her head to Lycaon. "You wanna go for another match, Puppy-Dog?" For a few moments, she got no response. "Are you alright, Lycaon?"

The wolf-man continued staring at the sky. "Yoruichi… have you ever had a dream for your future?"

Yoruichi was a little caught off guard by the question, but she answered. "Of course I have? Who hasn't?"

Lycaon reached a hand into the air and said, "My dream is to someday be free of my wolf half. To be wholly human again." He let his arm fall back to the earth. Yoruichi looked at him with some awe in her eyes. His dream may have seemed just a little bit selfish, but he had gone through hell because of his inhuman side. "What about you? What's your dream?"

"Well," Yoruichi muttered. She seemed a bit hesitant to answer. "There is one thing…" When she trailed off, Lycaon gave her a look that told her to go on. She blushed a little and said, "It's embarrassing, but… I really want to be able to tell a certain someone how I feel about him."

"How you feel?" Lycaon inquired. She gave a nod, and he sighed. "I see." He went into silent thought for a while. "I think I'll leave the Soul Society soon."

"What?" Yoruichi asked in shock.

"I've already learned everything that I need to know here," he explained. "A hundred years in one place is about the most that I can stand to be honest." He gave Yoruichi a comforting smile. "Don't worry, Kitty-Cat. Free spirits like us are always drawn to each other. I'm sure we'll meet again, someday."

"Right," Yoruichi said in a sad tone. She stood up on the ground and went into a fighting stance. "So, are you up for one last match before you leave?"

"Only if you're up for another, ass-kicking," the wolf-man said with a smirk. They stood facing each other, ready to fight. And then they began.

-o-

The next day, Yoruichi discovered that Lycaon had left without even so much as a letter saying goodbye.

End Flashback

These memories flashed through both their minds as they fought, trading blow for blow. Lycaon's hand grew wolf-like claws, which nearly slashed open Yoruichi's face. The catlike woman countered with a series of rapid kicks to her rival's guy, but he managed to block them all. They pushed away from each other again, both watching each other like a pair of hungry predators.

"Before we continue, I want to ask you something," Yoruichi said with an analytical look. When Lycaon nodded, she asked, "Why are you working with the enemy?"

The Wolf King sighed sadly. "Kronos promised to break my curse if I help him overthrow Olympus. How could I turn him down with that offer?"

"I know someone who might be able to break that curse without you having sell your soul to her," Yoruichi pointed out.

Lycaon chuckled. "Even if your friend could break my curse, I've already made a promise to serve Kronos. And you know full-well how I never break a promise."

"I know that," Yoruichi said in a melancholic tone. "But it was worth a shot."

The wolf-man nodded sadly and prepared to attack again. "Get ready, Kitty-Cat."

Yoruichi sighed and said, "Don't hold back, Puppy-Dog."

And the battle between old friends and rivals raged on with blinding speed.

-o-

A/N: Okay. Longest chapter yet. I'm sorry if things seem to be getting slow (and if all these flashback chapters are getting on your nerves), but I really wanted to give you all some insight on Yoruichi and Lycaon's history together. I hope it was to your liking. Now your Lord commands you to leave a review (or not, if you don't feel like it)!