Chi

"Come on Koi!" he laughed and ran faster as she tried to catch up; she may be sneakier than him, but she always lost at tag. "Hurry up or they'll get us!"

"Who!" she complained; he frowned, as her voice was farther than he thought it should, and slowed down a little. "We've been running forever now, and no one's been after us!"

"They are!" he laughed, mystery laced in his voice. He had slowed up enough so that he was running beside her, as they ran the length of the stream he had found her at long, long ago…

With a growl she pounced at him, and he was thrown off balance… only for both of them to land in the cold water. They surfaced laughing, wadding in the deep water; there had been a flood this year, and they had to move farther inland to avoid being taken into its depths; but now it was safe.

"Now will you tell me who was supposedly chasing us?" she asked, sending gentle waves towards him as he swam back to the bank. She followed after a few moments, and they both just basked in the sunlight.

"Responsibility," he answered, a twinkle in his eye as he looked at her. "They're all telling me that I havta take one of the Watanabe girls as a mate, because they're 'suitable', and that I havta take over leadership… that I havta grow up and stop messing around. That you should leave…"

"You should take a mate," she rolled her eyes at him. "And the Watanabe girls are a sensible choice… they're pretty and popular among the pack… and growing up isn't all that bad; look at me, I'm more mature than I was when we first met, and I'm still okay… as for me leaving… the pack isn't really my place. I was thinking about leaving soon anyway-"

"No," he looked up at her, a sharp glare in his eyes. "You're staying here. We share everything, remember?"

"We can't always do that," she chuckled, nudging his shoulder with her own. "I mean, you can't share your leadership with me, or your mate… and we can still be friends and what not; I just… won't be around as much."

They were silent for a long time, both consumed by their own thoughts. It wasn't until the sun started sinking low into the horizon that either of them broke the silence, and 'Koi stood up to leave, only for him to grab her wrist and pull her back down.

"I've decided who I'm taking as my mate," he said proudly; she gave him a sad smile, and sighed as she looked at him.

"Who?" she asked.

Grinning at her ruthlessly, he kissed her.

He felt like a young cub again as he ran through the streets… he pretending hell hounds were chasing after him; and little did he know, they were.

He stopped for a moment as he sniffed the air around him, searching for that scent he had smelt that very same morning, plastered all through his breakfast and sitting in the chair beside him… it was mingled in an old trail between the scents of hundreds of others, along with the heavy smell of oncoming rain.

It was directed towards the park, so that was where he went; but not in time. The rain started to fall around him, and he moved faster, his tail waving behind him as he moved at speeds no normal boy could run… but then again, he wasn't very normal.

He just got to the park when she ran into him, literally. The sudden weight against his chest send him backwards, and she went with him; they crashed into the wet cement, and he looked up at her in a daze...

It was her; the girl who had made their breakfast and had left so abruptly, and now, layered black hair sticking to her face and looking at him with impossibly dark green eyes, she looked more familiar than ever…

"Koi?" he asked, sitting them both up so that she rested in his lap. "Nekoi… it's you, it's really you…"

She blinked at him in confusion, pulling herself up out of his lap. "I don't know who you're talking about… but I've gotta go! I really hate the rain!"

With that, she ran off, leaving him sitting in the park entrance… but he wasn't destined to be alone.

Hotaka and Daiki ran up soon after, looking both ways before they noticed him.

"What are you two doing here?" Akira demanded with a glare, everything slowly setting in. "Wait… don't tell me; Chi has you following Nekoi and scaring her off? Is that it!"

"Please, Akira-dono, understand that we had no-" Daiki tried to finish, but he cut him off as he stood up. He waved them away, and trembling with a fear they shouldn't have, they stepped away from him; for he was the leader of the pack he had left, whether or not he wanted to be. If they disobeyed him, they could be cast out from the pack.

"Akira-dono-" Hotaka started, pointing over his shoulder; but he didn't care.

"Be quiet Hotaka!" he snapped as he started to pace. "I left in the first place to find her, and to find out why she left; to find out why the she looked like she didn't recognize anyone the last time the pack saw her… you knew that, you all knew that… I told none of you to follow me, I even did the thing everyone wanted and put Chi in order while I was gone… and what do you do? You show up at my home! Luna have mercy on your soul, because right now I won't!"

And then, just then, the most terrifying thing in the world happened… two pink-nailed hands covered his eyes, and bright red lips brushed across his ear as a voice whispered… "Calm down Akira… the ones who really love you couldn't just let you go…"

He pulled the hands away, and turned around to see a petite girl with aqua eyes and hair of honey… Chi Watanabe.