Chapter 3: Hellos, Welcomes, and-I Know You!
"Hurry up, Hitomi! I wanna go already," whined Rin.
"Be patient, Rin. We'll get there eventually," answered Kagome.
"How 'bout now. I'm ready," said Hitomi.
"But it's still early, Hitomi,"defended Kagome.
"There is now such thing as 'still early' when running with the pack,"Hitomi retorted.
"Oh, alright,"moanedKagome, defeated.They all filed out the door accordingly.
Then, theyrealized why Rin was so jittery. The moon was out, and it was full. No werewolf could resist the urge to change on a full moon. It also made it easier to change on a full moon since magic filled the air surrounding them with comfort. Allthree of them changed and waited for their eyes to adjust. Once their had eyes adjusted, they saw their pack, waiting for them, in a more solid form. They now were slightly visible to the naked eye.
Hitomi walked to the front and gave a howl, but this time it wasn't the howl of the hunt. This time it was the howl of mourning. Mourning the death of their pack mates. They all had died when the moon was full. Slowly, Kagome's howl joined Hitomi's, then Rin's. Rin knew what this howl meant, and put all of the strength she had into it. Then the howls of the spirits could be heard. They didn't care if the people of this small town could here it.
The howl slowly died down and Hitomi broke into a trot,in no rush. The pack followed while the pups played at the adults paws. The pups curved this way and that between legs and under bellies. They had reached the front of the pack and were now mimicking Hitomi and Kagome. They mimicked the adults from holding their head high down to graceful pace of their paws. Hitomi had seen this out of the corner of her eye and couldn't help but smile. It's like they aren't even dead. thought Hitomi sadly.
They had already entered the forest and were now nearing their destination. The pups were still mimicking Hitomi and Kagome, including Rin. There was a clearing up ahead, and as they passed it they were met by werewolves. Hitomi knew that they were waiting for them there for a while.
Hitomi stopped right in front of the makeshift pack leader, Aunt Esme. Hitomi looked at Aunt Esme square in the eyes and her gaze never wavered. Being as Aunt Esme could barely see the ghostly pups, like the rest of her pack could, she cracked a small smile. Aunt Esme transformed into her human form, taking her pack by surprise. Only a few of her pack transformed, but the rest did not trust this new found pack all that well yet.
Hitomi, also just as trusting, transformed herself into her human form, but kept her eyes like a wolf's, sharp and forever seeing.
"Welcome, young one,"Aunt Esme greeted.
"Nice to see you again, Aunt Esme.And, as you know, you are the young one in this case," answered Hitomi.
Everyone was confused. How did they know each other? How could Aunt Esme be younger than Hitomi? Whispers could be heard throughout the secluded area. Once Rin transformed, though, the whisper's ended and all eyes fell on her.
"Hitomi-onii-chan, who is 'A-Aunt Ezme,'" was all she asked.
"I know you," said a pups voice from the crowd of the opposite pack.
The owner of the voice andtwo others pushed their way through the crowd towards Rin. Once they were out, Rin exclaimed, "Shippo! Hitomi-onii- chan, this is Shippo from school!"
Before Rin could step forward, a huge animal emerged from the shadows. As itdrew nearer, there were gasps of surprise. There standing before them was a huge white female wolf. It was taller than a human and carried a dead boar in it's jaws.
Upon examining it's huge jaws, they all took a step back. But, Rin, Hitomi , and a now transformed Kagome, did the exact opposite. They took a step forward. As they neared the huge wolf, the wolf neared them. Hitomi reached out and grabbed the boar from the wolf's jaws. Kagome quickly added her help, seeing as the catch was huge enough to feed everyone here. Rin stretched out her arms to help, but couldn't reach, so instead she hugged the huge wolf's nose, and ran to Kagome's side as they walked back toward the others.
The huge wolf followed. Everyone backed away, leaving behind a few stragglers who had dignity and honor. Hitomi could tell thatfive of the stragglers were none other then Sesshomaru, Kouga, Inu-Yasha, Miroku, and Sango. She could smell them. There were others that she already started to dislike, but she paid them no attention, though, as she kneeled down to place the boar at Aunt Esme's feet. She stood and said, "Welcome. We will share our home with you."
"Dear child, I will also be honored if you joined our pack. Would you,"questioned Aunt Esme.
A few whispers of protestrose up again and it grew louder and louder, until Sesshomaru bellowed, "SHUT-UP!"
"Thank you, Sesshomaru. Well, Hitomi," said Aunt Esme.
She looked at Kagome and nodded. Kagome nodded as an answer and they both looked down at Rin.
"Aunt Esme, I don't think I'm the one you should be asking. I think you should ask little Rin here," answered Hitomi.
Aunt Esme kneeled down to Rin's height and asked, "Little One, would you and your pack like to be apart of ours?"
Understanding what was being asked, Rin answered, "YES," then hearing Kagome clearing her throat, Rin added, "We would like to join your pack."
"Then we shall celebrate tonight," said Aunt Esme.
There were a few who disagreed with letting this pup decide and what her decision was, but no one said anything. Instead everyone rushed toward the new pack mates and greeted and patted them.
Everyone was sitting around the campfire, or standing and chatting about their first day. Rin was showing the other pups her spirit pack mates and being the little girl she truly was. The adult werewolves were intrigued by this also, and were included in the discussion. Hitomi sat next to Kagome, both with knees up to their chests. There are more werewolves here now than the howls last night. thought Kagome. Hitomi, reading her mind, answered, "It's because those howls last night were only the moving party. This is the whole pack. And it's a pretty big one."
"Yeah, your tellin' me! I'm going to help Rin, okay," said Kagome.
"Yeah, whatever," answered Hitomi, and Kagome walked off.
An adult female werewolf had just shown up coming from out of the crowd and was walking toward Hitomi. No one seemed to notice...or care. Except for one...
Why do we always have to have celebration parties whenever someone new joined the pack. It's totally pointless! I'll never understand the brain of lowly werewolves. thought Sesshomaru. Everyone else was chatting away, having a few drinks that were brought out. Sesshomaru could have been almost invisible; almost being the key word. His hair was silver and the light from the campfire was bouncing off of the shine of his hair.
Sesshomaru steadily scanned the crowd, looking for no one in particular, until his eyes found trouble and her twin. The twin just so happened to be one of the pack, and trouble was between her and the new pack member, Hitomi. I'll just leave Hitomi and Astrid to their business. thought Sesshomaru. As his eyes had just moved to somewhere else, a slap had echoed throughout the party, then the humming of silence. All eyes fell upon Astrid and Hitomi.
Hitomi looked up at the approaching female werewolf. Well, at least someone noticed me. thought Hitomi. The female werewolf was now standing in front of Hitomi.
"Hi, name's Hitomi," said Hitomi politely.
The other werewolf scrunched her face into a disgusted look and responded, "Astrid."
The other werewolf's expression changed to an evil smirk and she whispered in Hitomi's ear, "Watch your step now. All the guys here are mine. Don't forget it." This was not the kind of attention I wanted. Do the gods hate me or what. thought Hitomi.
"I wasn't thinking about mating yet. Seesh, where'd your logical time line go? Up your crack and around the corner? Mating season's not until-" Hitomi couldn't finish when her cheek was slapped so hard that it forced her head to look over her shoulder. It also made a resounding slap.
Hitomi's expression was not that of shock, but that of blankness and nothing more...
She saw them. They had come home drunk again and the alcohol smell drenched the air. It all happened so quickly and fast that she hardly could see it. Both of them had advanced on her, their disgusting smells getting closer. The first attack had come in a blink of an eye. They hit her in the stomach, then ribs. They hated her for what she was, and tore her up from the inside out. It never bothered her as much as this, though. They had never actually hit her.
After that she had become as cold as the winter season in the North Pole. No one was ever let in to her heart. She could not get anyone else hurt. Her coldness had helped her a little. Pushing everybody as far away from her as possible, and yet there were a few who were brave enough to ask her out, orin her line of species, be her mate. She all turned them down by the only thing that she grew up from, violence. She made them eat dirt as her response. She knew to some of them she was just a toy, a mere game to see if she would accept anyone. They all found out, the hard way, that she didn't.
Then one day that all turned around. A pack had found her and took her in. There she met Rin and Kagome, who changed her to her old self. She got to know everyone and slowly adapted to her new way of life. Then they were all killed. If Kagome and Rin weren't there she probably would have killed herself. To bad that her cold self was only buried under all of her new found feelings because now it was about to be unearthed by a mere werewolf...
A/n: Evil Cliffy! Kikyou doesn't deserve to be including. Astrid is the real pack slut. Sango was just teasing. Don't worry it'll be a Kag/Inu pairing...with other surprises. I'll update soon. See yahz- Hitomi