"Such a brave boy" Hisashi praised as he squeezed Izuku tighter. "My strong little wolf in sheep's clothing."
"What!" Izuku asked, incredulous. Just as the Alpha screeched "hah?" Pulling up to a fast halt, as if he had been blocked off by an invisible barrier. Izuku was happy he wasn't the only one this news seemed to catch off guard, though he was the one to speak first.
"I don't need a bodyguard" teeth bared in a very un-Omega kind of way.
The Alpha, whose mouth had been open and ready to snarl his own reply snapped shut as he snorted at Izuku's comment.
Izuku spun on him faster than humanly possible with the charms still shining around his wrists. "Not all Omega's are dependent on an Alpha's overly large ego!" He seethed, "The whole of your gender is all bark and no bite"
Katsuki's face went blank and then it was twisting up into an ugly expression as his pupils slit. "Hah!" He snarled, stepping forward and only pulling up short when a hand was slammed against his chest. Still he leaned around the Nephilim, lip curled as he spat in Izuku's direction "and you think your weak kneed, shit your pants at the slightest whiff of a domineering gender is better? I could command you to strip down, roll belly up and piss on yourself like the bitch you are and you would have no say in it."
"Try me." Izuku hissed back, teeth gnashing as he took a step forward, so all which separated them was one very tired Beta Nephilim.
Izuku wasn't this quick to rile up normally. But the whole being kidnapped - because stripping it all down to the basics, that's what it was - waking with a headache, being accused of knowing shit he didn't know and being informed that the people who may or may not have murdered his parents were part of the supernatural council, had really pushed his already worn buttons. This Alpha was the last straw to break the camel's back, so to say.
Katsuki smirked, stepping back and out of Aizawa's grasp as he crossed his arms over his chest, giving Izuku a look that said he held all the cards and would use them.
"Strip" he commanded.
Izuku took a step back and the Alpha's smile widened, obviously gloating to have won this game of chicken Izuku had been playing with him.
Izuku watched in pure satisfaction as that smile dropped when he crossed his own arms over his chest and said in a voice full of venom "I would say fuck you but I wouldn't wish your vile personality on my worst enemies. And I have a lot." He stage whispered the last part and a bark of laughter came from the table.
Izuku's head snapped in the direction to see the red head nearly doubled over the table. The blond fey had a hand over his mouth and even Mina was giving Izuku the most brilliant smile.
"Oh I like him," the vampire drawled, leaning his chin on his hand. "Can we keep him? We need a few more to help keep the mutt in his place."
When Izuku looked back over his shoulder at Katsuki the Alpha was watching him with lowered lashes, calculating. While he ran a tongue over his canines in obvious annoyance. "How'd you do that?"
Izuku didn't have time to answer as Aizawa clicked his fingers from where he was still standing in between the Alpha and Omega, gaining the attention of the room once again. "That's not important right now. You'll have plenty of time to talk. What we need to do is come up with the best course of action. Izuku how would you suggest getting information on the Looking Glass?"
Izuku sighed, dropping his arms down to his sides as his shoulders slumped. It looked like he was in this now, whether he liked it or not. He also supposed it wouldn't be too bad to be able to move about without constantly looking over his shoulder.
"The Midnight Market would be the best place to start. I have a lot of contacts there who I may be able to gather information from," he paused to look back up at Aizawa "the prices are steep and I expect to be compensated in full for what I'll be paying out for their information."
Katsuki's back straightened, lip curling as if he was about to talk but the Nephilim beat him to the punch. "Of course."
"Great," came another drawl from Hitoshi, "then this meeting is over and I can finally go back to bed. You know I'm nocturnal right?" He addressed the last sentence to Aizawa before slowly rising from his seat. "Guess I'll be seeing you around, Rover." With that he gave a mock salute to Katsuki and turned on his heel to leave.
Aizawa paid the vampire no mind, simply addressing Izuku. "So you will be going to the Midnight Market and then reporting back as soon as you have information -"
"Not so fast" Izuku interrupted. "When you took me I had a bag of supplies?" At Aizawa's nod he continued "I'm going to need them. I was in the middle of a run to a client that I have to finish before going to the Midnight Market"
"This is more important than some stupid client!" Katsuki spat and Izuku just raised a brow at him.
"If you think that then you're more sheltered by the institute then you think. The world is harsh and I'm helping however I can"
"And I suppose the coin involved doesn't whet your appetite"
"If you're good at something don't do it for free"
"Enough!" Aizawa snapped, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes. "We'll take you to your supplies. Do what you must and return as soon as you can. And Izuku" he said, drawing the younger's attention. "Thank you for lending us your help."
"Huh" Izuku muttered as he looked back at the building they had just left while blinking away the glamour. He was still slightly annoyed that the Nephilim was making him take the Alpha along as 'protection' but he bit his tongue. If the mutt could keep up with him then he decided he would let it slide, if not then he finally had something to throw in the angel child's face as to why he didn't need anybody.
Though he could understand why the man wanted someone shadowing Izuku, to keep their eyes on him? Make sure he wasn't double crossing them? As stupid as that might be. He didn't know why it had to be Katsuki or why the Alpha had agreed. Maybe he was just simply following orders or perhaps there was more to it. The man didn't seem like one to do as he was ordered, seemed as though he would argue or do what he thought was best.
Maybe they both had their reasons, either way Izuku wouldn't find out yet, maybe not at all. He didn't know how civil he could be to the Alpha, it was obvious he had been praised all his life for his secondary gender if his useless posturing was anything to go by.
"What?" Katsuki said, his voice was harsh and snappish, as if he was constantly speaking on a low growl.
"I was expecting a creepy old church, not an elegant boarding school"
Katsuki just snorted, storming ahead with his hands deep in his pockets.
Institutes were normally run down old buildings: churches, hospitals and such. With a heaping of glamour on top to keep people away. The insides were always top range but the outsides tended to look a little shabby.
New modern sleek places were more unheard of, and as they were in Omene, one of the busiest capital cities in the world, Izuku was expecting a much more aged headquarters for the supernatural race. Shouldn't they have moved in to carry out the law as soon as the city had started to gather traction?
He hadn't realised he had mumbled the last part out loud until Katsuki was answering.
"Omene's different" Katsuki grumbled, licking his teeth. "Supernaturals go missing all the time here, it's a very unlawful place and the court's not going to risk losing precious members just to hunt down a few rogues or demons to save some human lives."
The law, from what Izuku knew, was very simple. 1: don't reveal the supernatural world to the humans. 2: all supernaturals must follow the laws of their governing body who represented them on the council. 3: do not kill other supernaturals or humans. Izuku knew there was more, many more. But they were the main three. The institutes were set up by the court in each city, to make sure the law was being enforced. They were there to protect the supernaturals who lived in the human world from rogues who killed other supernaturals and the demons that hunted the streets.
They were also meant to put down any supernatural who would hunt a human. Something it seemed Katsuki didn't agree with.
It made Izuku want to point out that Katsuki was, in fact, human. Or at least half human. He still hadn't been able to figure out what the Alpha was yet. It was as if he had glamour around him, but it wasn't hiding something, more like it didn't know what it wanted to be yet.
Glamorous were a tricky business, each supernatural were born with the magic that allowed them to hide their more paranormal traits from human eyes. Each glamour was unique to the owner and some were even strong enough to hind from supernatural eyes also. Izuku could see through that glamour, it was the reason he had the sight. But Katsuki's wasn't a part of him, wasn't something he had mastered to weave yet, to hide what he deemed needed hidden. It was as though he had it but it didn't know what it was meant to be hiding.
It confused Izuku, but he had decided to put it down to very mixed descendants at this point. If Katsuki hadn't been raised in the institute then Izuku would have looked Katsuki over as just another human Alpha living in the world.
Instead Izuku took a different route "Isn't that what the law is for? To keep people safe?"
"It's to keep supernaturals safe, humans have their own damn laws to keep them protected"
Izuku snorted, lifting the bag further on his shoulder as he started walking off "oh yeah, police will be a big help against demons"
"Hah?"
"Just follow me, and keep up" with that Izuku set off at a dead run.
If he was hoping the Alpha would have fallen behind through the twists and turns of the city, up over walls and down narrow alleyways, then he was disappointed. Katsuki kept to his heels like a dog, breathing evenly enough that it set Izuku's teeth on edge.
Izuku took a turning, cursed and backtracked, slamming hurried palms into the Alphas chest to make him back up.
"The fuck?"
"Demons" Izuku hissed, pushing him again back the way they came before Izuku could get around him and start up his brisk pace again.
"How'd y'know" his voice was even as he fell into step beside him. Leading Izuku to believe that either the institute's training had improved - which was unlikely - or this man had better stamina then Izuku had originally given him credit for.
Izuku shook the thought away, it wasn't for now. "I can just tell."
"What-"
"I'll explain later. If we're being tracked the run will take longer and I need to focus."
Katsuki clicked his teeth but looked ahead, eyes hard and jaw set as he kept step with Izuku.
Izuku hoped Katsuki would forget later. He would prefer not to think about the night his parents were murdered, how he would never be able to forget the smell of demons, the sulphur that burned his nostrils, how he could pick up the faintest of scents of it from meters away. How it was as if he could feel their presence.
Izuku took them down backstreets, over rooftops and through bustling avenues filled with tourists before backtracking and working his way back to his client. It seemed Izuku had noticed the demons before they had the chance to notice himself and Katsuki, so it was just a minor inconvenience on changing their course slightly then completely trying to lose the demons.
Which was odd, it was just after noon and demons were known for hunting in darkness, most not surviving during the light of day. Though they had been in the warehouse district, he wouldn't put it past the vial beasts to be hiding away until darkness took over and they could hunt.
Izuku slowed to a jog, breathing deeply as he pulled up in front of a heavily barricaded door tucked away down a dark alcove and squeezed between two other buildings. Only those who knew where the door was, would be able to find it.
Izuku gave three quick knocks and stepped back, hand fisting around the strap of his satchel.
An answering growl could be heard from the other side and Izuku watched Katsuki out the corner of his eye. The Alpha seemed to have perked up at the noise, eyes alight and moving slightly from foot to foot. Izuku swore if he had ears they would be perked forward.
A low rumbling pulled Izuku from the blond as the door slowly creaked open, burning orange eyes surrounded by dirty blond fur peaked out at him.
"You're late" Ryo growled out, eyes flickering from Izuku to Katsuki as a large wet tongue licked at his muzzle. "I don't know him."
"He's with me" Izuku said, vouching for Katsuki as the other Alpha had seemed to be in shock "and I'm sorry Ryo, I was being hunted." Not the truth, but technically not a lie either.
Those strange inhuman eyes flicked back over to Izuku before he huffed a breath through his snout. Opening the door for Izuku and Katsuki as he stepped away to walk through his house. Izuku was quick to follow, guiding Katsuki along after him before slamming and bolting the door in his wake.
Ryo stalked over to his tattered armchair before slumping down into it. The house was a small cramped one room little thing. More like that of a kitchen with a dining table and a chair in the corner then an actual house. There was a set of ladders off to the side which led up to what Izuku knew to be nothing more than a futon on what couldn't really class as a second floor. The bathroom was out back as were the steps to the cellar.
"You're gonna have to make it for me kid" Ryo huffed out as he let his head fall back, eyes closing as his large limbs sprawled out in the too small chair. "Shits hard to do with these" he waved his hands, only they were much more paw-like, thumbs too short to be of any use.
The top part of Ryo was all hulking wolf, large thick pelt, elongated muzzle and teeth that could snap through bone. Eyes not far from the orange glow of a lamp in colour, ears short and sharp atop his furred head. It was as if someone had sawed through the top half of a wolf and the bottom part of a human and stuck them together. It shouldn't have worked but that was magic for you.
Izuku didn't answer, but placed his bag down on the table before routing through cupboards for the pestle and mortar.
"What is he?" Katsuki hissed in a quiet breath next to his ear and when Izuku looked over it was to find the Alpha staring intently at the other man. "Not a Were, he don't smell like one"
Before Izuku could process that, or ask how Katsuki might know what a Were smelt like as they were extinct. Ryo peered an eye open.
"No, not a Were kid, just cursed"
Katsuki's back went rigid at most likely being overheard from the other side of the room and Izuku spoke down to his ingredients as he answered Katsuki's question "Ryo is a shifter. He was cursed to slowly turn into his animal form. Which, if you can't guess, is a wolf"
Katsuki gave him a bland look but Izuku ignored it as he gathered up a bunch of wolfsbane and tore the flowers from the stems, he tossed the petals in the mortar, added a scoop of moon infused salt and handed the whole thing over to Katsuki. "Smash that up until it's a paste"
"Hah?"
"If you didn't hold me up, hounddog wouldn't need me to make his cure for him."
"Hounddog?" Katsuki questioned before his eyes went comically wide. "As in the famous tracker hounddog?"
Roy's laugh was more of a bark as he spoke to the ceiling "The one and only kid."
"You're meant to be dead."
"Nah, just bit off more than I could chew. Ended up on the wrong end of some dark voodoo, if one good thing came from this whole mess my sniffer is better than it used to be. Makes finding what I need and staying hidden a hella lot easier"
"Mash" Izuku commanded. Drawing Katsuki from wherever his mind had gone. The Alpha started grinding up the ingredients on autopilot as he looked at the shifter in awe. Izuku rolled his eyes and worked on finely chopping the stems of the wolfsbabe.
"You were the court's best tracker, why are you hiding?"
Ryo went stiff, eyes snapping open and lip curling to show off gleaming white teeth. "Izuku" the warning was nothing more than a snarled word but Izuku ignored it, working on crushing his chopped stems with the silver edge of his knife. "The fuck is a court member doing in my home?"
"I'm working for them" he answered without missing a beat. Picking up three cloves of garlic and crushing them also. "I was pulled in by their Nephilim. Don't worry they won't report anything back to Adral"
Adral was the capital of the supernatural world, where the council resided. It was hidden from human eyes with a thick glamour. Izuku was sure that even his seer stone wouldn't be able to peel it away. How they hid a whole country Izuku didn't know. Didn't care enough to find out. He wouldn't be welcome within a hundred meters of the place and he was happy to keep it like that.
"Yeah and how the fuck you know that?" Ryo's whole body was tense, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
"Hah! We don't go running to the capital like useless mutts waiting for a command-"
Izuku cut Katsuki off "because they want the Looking Glass." The room went silent at that and Izuku looked over at the other Alpha. "Something big is going on Ryo. You know me, I would have disappeared the first chance I got if I didn't think this concerned me."
Amber eyes held his own before Ryo let out a loud long groan, head falling back once more as he rubbed a pawed hand down his tired face "fuck," he hissed, "top draw, next to the sink. Take the stone."
Izuku did as instructed, pulling out the old wooden draw that jammed if moved a millimetre in any direction that wasn't forward. He frowned down at the assortment of trinkets before plunging a hand in to route around, he found what Ryo described hidden at the back.
It was about the size of a tennis ball, red and sharp where it seemed to have been hacked from whatever rock it had come from. It resembled the red glass found at volcanoes, so close to its cousin obsidian in shape if not colour. There was also a slight heat radiating from it, as if it held a small part of lava within.
"What is it?"
"Protection" Ryo answered, licking a long tongue against his muzzle. "Take it to your Fey, get a charm made out of it. But keep it with you. Its old magic, you know the strength hidden in the old ways"
Izuku nodded, pocketing it before going back to mixing up the ingredients. He took the paste from Katsuki, added the crushed garlic and wolfsbane stems and a teaspoon of oil, gave the whole thing one final mix and then walked over to Ryo.
"Okay open up."
Ryo eyed the paste, nose scrunched. "I hate this stuff."
"Yeah well it doesn't come in peanut flavour unfortunately. Now come on you overgrown mutt, take your medicine."
Ryo grumbled one more time before opening his mouth. Izuku dipped two fingers into the paste and then worked it into the Alphas gums, just above his upper teeth. Once done he went back to the kitchen to wash up, placing the leftover paste in a Tupperware box and leaving the rest of the ingredients out so Ryo could make more when needed.
He turned back at the first scream of pain and caught the look of nausea on Katsuki's face. Hounddog huddled into himself, rocking slightly as the paste started to work its magic, slowly dragging his wolf form back under the surface.
The hair started receding first, paws lengthening until his hands were human once more, muzzle shortening down and ears rounding off until they became human.
Finally Ryo collapsed back on the chair, breath heaving out of him as sweat dotted his brow. He licked at his gums, pulling a face and then slowly blinked open lamp orange eyes. The only part of him still recognisable.
Dirty blond scraggy hair hung down to his shoulders, cheekbones sharp and nose long. Thin lips and deep set bags under his eyes were the features of Ryo in human form. They were all features Izuku was slowly forgetting over time as he saw the wolfish side more and more every day. The curse was setting in faster by the day. At the beginning it had taken Ryo nearly a year before he had got to the stage he had been at before his medicine. Now he was lucky if he could make it a week.
There would come a time when he became a full wolf and they couldn't reverse it.
'You'll have to go to the Market for more ingredients." Izuku said, tone level as he started cleaning what he had used. He didn't have to explain further, Ryo knew just as much as he did that whatever the Institute wanted Izuku to do, that he might not make it back out.
It was a risk, one he was willing to take if it meant he could stop hiding.
"Don't make granny come out here"
Ryo let out a small choked laugh, brittle fingers rubbing at dark skin under eyes. "You tell old lady Chiyo that she doesn't need to worry about me"
"The last time you told her that she came anyway and you were chasing your own tail."
Ryo snorted and shook his head slightly before climbing to unsteady feet. Katsuki shifted an inch to Izuku's right, as if he wanted to help but kept himself back by sheer willpower alone, instead crossing his arms over his large chest.
It must have been hard, Izuku realised. To see someone you respected become brittle and broken before your eyes. Katsuki had been right. Ryo had been one of the best to the court, until he was cursed and they threw him to the wolves. Thankfully granny wasn't above helping anyone, even a bounty hunter and Ryo made sure to repay her gratitude tenfold.
Still, Izuku couldn't imagine what Katsuki was feeling, the handful of people in his life had always been strong, old, and immortal. None showed a single sign of aging, of being defeated by time and Izuku supposed he wouldn't see it in his lifetime, or the next.
It must have also been a shock, to know that the man before them was not dead like Katsuki had been told, just abandoned by his own people. No longer good enough to work, they had turned their backs on him.
"Here," Izuku snatched the bag of coins out of the air that had been aimed his way while Ryo made his way over to the dresser, finding some more form fitting clothing. "Now get out of my house, I want to rest."
Izuku pocketed the money, placing it next to the stone and gesturing for Katsuki to follow as he made his way out. Once back down the alley and into the sunshine Izuku stretched arms above his head, back arching.
"Guess I can take you to the Market now" he hummed, turning around just in time to catch Katsuki's eyes snapping away from him. Izuku shrugged it off, pulling his satchel up further and turning down one of the many winding streets of Omene as he checked his watch. "We'll have to hurry, it's nearly on the hour"
"You're not worried about showing a court member your precious Market?" There was a slight sneer to Katsuki's tone, as though he was trying to fall back into what he wanted Izuku to see. Into the red eyed beast that knocked him unconscious and not some member of the institutes tasked with tagging along.
Izuku decided not to rise to it, he was too tired after watching Ryo, too tired of seeing supernaturals who had abided by the laws of their own people, forgotten by those same people. Left for the Market to pick up the pieces, to help fix where they could.
No the Market was a haven for all supernaturals, no matter where they had come from. Still he couldn't help throwing over his shoulder. "If the Market could be brought down by one little court member then it wouldn't be such a threat to said court."
He ignored whatever Katsuki barked out in reply.