It wasn't really that long a drive, but it felt like forever. Grace had called in to get the next few days off from work so that she could get things sorted out for her son. The first thing had been to meet Janet's friend and get Daniel's home schooling set up. Her friend, Jim Peterson, had heard all about Daniel's mutations and about the entire situation at the school, so explaining it all hadn't been a problem, and he was more than willing to tutor Daniel.
Now, they were heading downtown to that martial arts school that Janet had suggested. Grace hadn't been able to learn much about the place, save that the owner, whose name she still couldn't remember how to pronounce, was from Japan and was widely recognized as one of the most skilled martial artists in the world. If Janet had spoken so highly of the owner, maybe there was some hope.
It was a short building that sat by itself next to a small parking lot, but the sign made its presence obvious, and the stylized logo that had a pack of wolves behind the name of the studio was also a telltale sign. Grace pulled into the lot and brought the car to a halt before getting out. Daniel didn't hurry as much as he knew he should have been, but, he was nervous, and quiet a bit scared. He'd had those horrible nightmares again last night, kept awake for fear of seeing the frightening images.
"Daniel, hurry up," Grace chimed while walking around to the entrance. He quickly ran over to catch up, but clung close to his mother while they walked through the door. Inside, there wasn't much going on, just some adults who were training, and a few who were practicing what appeared to be yoga. She sighed, not sure who to ask for help.
"Can I help you?" came a calm and slightly rough voice.
Grace turned her head to see the person who has questioned her. He was tall, probably around Ryan's height, with long black hair that came back in a large ponytail of sorts, except that it was tied up at the upper part of his head, and he looked to be around his late-twenties. He had a definite Asian complexion to his skin, but it was a bit more peach colored than normal. There was also a strange shine to his sky blue eyes, almost like the wolf that was his school's mascot. "Yes," she finally said after a moment. "I'm looking for Mister Ohkam...Oko..."
"Oh-kah-mee," he said to give her the proper pronunciation. "Kouga Ookami, which would be me." He grinned, then looked down to notice the little boy who was hiding behind his mother. When his eyes caught sight of his hair and ears, a brow arced up, though it was hard to tell what his internal reactions really were. "So, what brings you down to this neck of the city, Miss..."
"Missus Stevens," she replied. Gently getting Daniel to come out from behind her, Grace nodded to the boy. "I'm looking to get my son signed up for some self-defense lessons." She sighed, then glanced to the owner. "My husband and I had to pull him out of school because of how much he was being beaten up and treated like an animal by the other children. A friend suggested your studio for helping him learn to protect himself when it happens again."
He blinked, then nodded when he recalled having learned of this. "Morgan Faunt told me about that, told me his aunt wanted me to know you'd be coming in." Now returning his attention to Daniel, Kouga knelt down and smiled. "Cute as a puppy, I heard. He'll get along with Shirogane."
"Sheero..."
The man chuckled while standing up. "The dojo mascot, he's a Japanese silver wolf, one of the last of his kind." There was a gesture of his eyes toward where there was a large silvery white furred canine laying at the far corner of the room. It wasn't asleep, Grace could see, but actually watching carefully, very attentive. "I raised him since he was a pup, he wouldn't dream of hurting anyone without a good reason."
Even with those assurances, Grace was obviously a bit nervous. Then, the large wolf got to its feet and walked over. It didn't run, it didn't shuffle, it strode with an almost noble bearing, keeping its head high and straight ahead. As it came over to where the three humans stood, it glanced up at Kouga, then turned its eyes to Daniel, who surprisingly didn't hide behind his mother again. The wolf sniffed him, starting to tickle the boy as it brushed its nose through his hair. And then, it barked in a playful manner, licking Daniel's face and getting him to laugh.
With a grin on his face, Kouga looked up from where the wolf was now playing with Daniel. "Well, they seem to be getting along just fine." He gestured to an office in the back, now walking toward the door. "Why don't we talk about getting him enrolled while they get to know each other?"
Reluctantly, Grace followed, though her eyes kept wandering back to her son and the large wolf. "Are you sure it's all right for him to play with that big dog? I know you say it won't hurt him, but, something that big..."
"Unless your son starts acting like a real threat, Shirogane is going to be just as easy as the pup that kid is." He grinned, closing the door behind Grace and walking around to sit down at his desk. For a moment, he glanced back through the door window, then returned his attention to Grace. "So, Faunt told me how Daniel's had a few problems at school. Seems he doesn't get along to well with some of the older children, but I never heard anything about him being treated like an animal."
Grace hesitated to answer. "I don't think Morgan exactly saw much of what happens to my son. Daniel has been the victim of this kind of torment for about two years now, since we first sent him to preschool. Children would ignore him, call him horrible names, and it's only gotten worse now with him in kindergarten."
"Because of how he looks?"
Surprise was evident on her face. Then it passed. It was, of course, obvious why Daniel was treated so horribly. "Yes, he's got some kind of extreme case of physical mutation, at least as far as the doctors can tell. Mind you, we don't know if it's something he got from his biological parents or if it's random, because no one knows who his parents are."
Kouga's expression changed slightly, almost as if this he had expected. "He's adopted?" he asked, his left brow raised slightly. "I didn't want to assume anything, but I did notice he doesn't look much like you."
Grace nodded while looking back to see Daniel still playing with the wolf. The large canine was now on its back while her son was scratching its belly. They seemed almost like natural friends. "He was left on our doorstep in the middle of the night, five years ago," she said, recalling that odd and fateful night. "I couldn't help but feel so sorry for him when I opened the door and found him laying there, all bundled up. Ever since then, he's been our son, and the fact we adopted him has never mattered to us."
There was a nod, and Kouga sighed. He seemed to be contemplating the situation, processing all the information he knew. "But to everyone else," he whispered. "He's a freak." He saw the shock on Grace's face as she spun back around to look at him. "I knew someone who would know exactly how your son feels, and probably what he's gone through. He was a...friend of mine back when I lived in Japan, had a similar condition." He paused a moment, and his eyes wandered to a small picture frame that sat on his desk. "Very animalistic features, and people treated him like he wasn't human, even called him 'demon-spawn'."
"That's horrible!" Grace exclaimed in shock. "No one deserves that kind of hate just because of how they look!"
Again, he nodded, but it was a pained nod. "Unfortunately, humans are like that, fearing and hating what they don't understand." Kouga paused a moment, then finally pulled back his hair from over his ears to reveal the odd elongated 'elf' look they had. "I got some of that, though it wasn't as bad." He sighed while letting his hair cover his ears again. "But still, I know what your son's gone through."
For a moment, both adults were silent. It was then that Kouga opened a drawer and pulled out some forms before picking up a pen from his desk top. "Missus Stevens," he began. "Your son would do well here, no question about it. I think he'd actually probably do very well at one of the bigger martial arts schools. But the problem is, I don't think they'll look past his condition. They don't have the life experiences I've had and seen. If you are serious about enrolling him, he's more than welcome to become a student here."
Again, Grace looked back through the office door window to where Daniel was with the wolf. She wasn't sure just how well he could adjust to the idea of learning how to fight back. He'd always hated any kind of violence in his life, and it had always led to him taking the beatings without even throwing a punch. But if he didn't learn to defend himself, he'd never be free of those horrible experiences.
And so, knowing that it was the best thing she could do now, Grace nodded and took the forms, looking over the papers while filling them out. She loved her son too much to let him go through life as a victim of the kind of prejudice he'd suffered already. "Thank you so much," she said while signing the enrollment forms. "I'm not sure what I would have done if not for Janet's help, and now you."
The man nodded while taking back the papers and pen, looking everything over. "I have a hunch I know exactly how you feel," he replied, then set the forms on his desk and stood up. "And believe me, if any one of my other students even thinks of giving him a hard time, I will be the one to chew them out personally."
If this man was definitely one thing, it was reassuring and sincere. Not only that, but Daniel already seemed to be feeling much more accepted here, if the way he was playing with that wolf was any indication. It really did seem like things had taken a much better turn.
"I should be able to find a gi for his size sometime tonight," Kouga remarked while standing up from his seat. "You're welcome to stick around so he can see the kind of stuff he'll be learning. It'll also be good so that the other students around his age will learn not to treat him badly."
He opened the door and led her back out, and Grace could see now that Daniel was watching the practicing adult students with great interest, while the large wolf was curled up behind him and acting like cushion for the sitting boy. It struck her as odd, that his attention could be captured like that by what basicly was a style of fighting. Daniel hated to fight, had never thrown a punch in his life. But, it was definitely a sign he'd be able to keep his attention on learning. "We actually have a stop to make soon," she replied once she looked at her watch. "But if it's alright, we'll come back later."
With an accepting grin, Kouga nodded and snapped his fingers. The wolf shifted so that Daniel knew he was going to move, then, once the boy was standing, rose and walked over to his master. "I should have him a gi by then. Oh, I forgot to ask you, how do you want to pay for class fees?"
"I'll bring a check tonight," she said calmly while Daniel walked over to her. Truth be told, Grace was all too thankful for how easy this had been. "I'm sure that my husband will want to thank you as well."
With a grin, Kouga led them out to the main door and knelt down to ruffle Daniel's hair. "Don't worry about anyone who's ever bullied you again," he said. "we're gonn'a make sure they won't think of it the next time they see you."
The boy whispered a good-bye, and then, he and his mother departed. Kouga sighed, his eyes watching those ears as they waggled. Yes, he knew very much what that boy had probably gone through, and had every intention of teaching that boy how to protect himself from future problems. But, he hadn't exactly been completely honest with how he knew about Daniel's problems.
"Hajime!" he called as he walked back into the dojo and onto the main training pad. One of the teachers told his students to keep sparring, then walked over to Kouga. "Go back and see if you can find a gi small enough for the little new kid, preferably red."
The man raised a brow. His own lupine-esque eyes shined while trying to read Kouga's own, but failed to determine what he was thinking. "Red?" he asked quizzingly. "Any particular reason that color?"
There was a spark in those sky blue eyes, one of amusement. "Call it a hunch," came Kouga's reply while he patted his friend on the shoulder. He then shifted out of speaking English and into Japanese. "(He smells like Mutt-Face, except cleaner.)"
There was a knock on the door, and the brunette woman sighed as she set down the phone, having just ordered pizza for dinner. "Coming!" she called as she walked over and opened the door to see Grace and Daniel Stevens standing on the porch. "Grace!" she exclaimed, while gesturing for the two to come in. "I wasn't expect you and little Danny to drop by."
"Sorry about that, Terri." Grace smiled and glanced down at her son. "Is Lily home yet?"
There was a stomping from the second floor, and the little girl in question came bounding down the stairs, chestnut brown hair bouncing while her blue eyes widened as she saw the dog-ears boy. "Danny!" she cried, scampering over and wrapping her tiny arms around his neck.
"Lily!" he whispered. "Choking!"
She quickly apologized, then pull him away by the hand. Both mothers only smiled in amusement at the antics of the two five-year-olds. It was then that Terri Bennett turned to Grace with worried eyes. "I heard about what happened at the school. Did they really throw rocks at him?"
"You should have seen the bruises on his body," came the reply as Grace sighed sadly. "Not a mark on him after he got some sleep though. Of course, Waldman, in grand form, refused to do anything about it after Janet called a meeting. So, I pulled him out of school, and we've got a home tutor for him." Again, that sad sigh of having done far too much in so little time. "We just got back from signing him up for karate lessons, and the owner seems to be really friendly."
The other mother nodded somberly. She knew well the kind of problems Daniel had dealt with at school. She usually got the account from her daughter, in tears no less half of the time. "It's all because of those Harris boys," she hissed venomently. "Devin started it all, and his brother with that little gang of brats haven't stopped since."
A nod. Grace remembered well how it all started with Greg Harris' little brother Devan. That boy was part of his brother's little gang of bullies, and he'd gotten Greg to keep the torment to Daniel up. "Daniel shouldn't have to deal with that anymore," she said. "I hope."
"Mommy!" came the squeeky voice from the living room. "Can Danny stay for dinner!"
That certainly broke the overcast mood between the two women. Terri glanced to Grace, but the latter shook her head. "We have places to be later, sorry." There was a faint smile on her lips though as she looked around the corner and gestured for Daniel that they had to leave. "We'll come back Saturday though."
Terri nodded, though the pouty expression her daughter was giving did not go unnoticed. "He'll be over to play in a few days, you silly girl. It's not like we're going to be going anywhere. He can stay for dinner when I fix roast hot pot."
With nod, Lily again squeezed Daniel until he was begging for her to let go, then waved good-bye as he and his mother left. In her mind, she'd be seeing him again as much as she wanted, and nothing was going to change. However, later that same day, when her father got home from work, they got the news that he was being promoted and transferred to another office. They'd be moving to California within the next week.
And after that weekend, it would be almost a decade before Daniel and Lily saw each other again. She wouldn't forget him, but he wouldn't remember her, and the memories of his most precious friend would be lost until they met again. But, that's a part of the story for later.
