I hope you guys have an amazing holiday season! Hopefully I can get a lot of writing done.

*** There is a lot of backstory that led our characters to be where they were at the stories start. Since we are a bit of the way into the story I thought now would be a good time to start explaining it. So this is part one of four or five explaining the character's past. I hope you guys like it!

I don't know if I will get around to it or not in the story so here is some background information on the ASL trio. They are indeed a pack although a very odd one. Ace is the oldest and strongest so he is the alpha. Sabo is not quick to make group decisions and is less of a team player preferring to keep his thoughts and actions to himself so he is the beta. Luffy is the youngest and the weakest and they think of him as the cub of the litter so they are both protective of him. Despite being a tiny group they are very strong and have respect as everyone has learned not to mess with them. Even though they live on the outskirts that area is known as their territory so most creatures avoid it unless they are looking for a fight. This is what kept Marco and Co alive the first time they were lost in the forest.

XXX

Backstory part 1

'Long day,' Rodger thought wearily as he fumbled with his key. He hoped Rouge wouldn't notice the alcohol on his breath. Especially considering that just yesterday she had given him a speech about being a better role model.

He entered the house wearily only to be greeted by the smell of his wife's cooking. She was not talented by any means. In fact when they had first met he thought she was trying to poison him but since then she had improved greatly. Despite her far too liberal use of the salt he wouldn't trade her cooking for the world.

He hung his coat up and crossed the small house to join his wife in the kitchen. She hadn't noticed him yet and was instead humming the familiar tune of 'Let it Be' to herself. He smirked as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder (he had long since learned it was not a good idea to startle her) giving her a hello kiss.

"How's our little monster?"

She cast a glance under the table. "He won't stop destroying the furniture." She told him. "The second I got him to leave the chair leg alone he went after the books and then it was the pillows."

Rodger chuckled at this as he knelt down, lifting the table cloth from one side. "He will grow out of it." He assured her. "He is at that age where his teeth are begging to sharpen… Isn't that right Big Bad?"

The boy under the table perked up at the familiar nickname. Just minutes before his father had walked in he had taken a break from gnawing the table leg.

"Come on, your mother says dinner is ready." He tilted his head at his father before going back to chewing the table leg.

Rodger rolled his eyes. Ace reminded him of himself when he was a kid. Maybe that was the problem. No wonder he took to Rouge so much. It was in the D. bloodline to love that women. Still he had no doubt Ace would grow up into a spunky young lad closely resembling his mother when she was in her teens. And he thought the kid was a handful now.
Oblivious to their stare down Rouge mercifully placed the bowls of stew on the table calling Ace from under the table.

"Your food is up here," she told him gently but firmly.

Unable to resist the promise of food Ace begrudgingly crawled out from under the table to take his place besides his parents. The leg creaked uncertainly under the weight of the stew pot as it's newly sawed leg threatened to cave.

"We ought to give you a chew toy." Rodger mused to himself.

Ace glared up at him. Good to know he had inherited his mother's terrifying look.
Rouge just laughed at this. "How was work?"

Rodger let out an involuntary growl at that, barring his teeth.

…"Not great." He told her after a few moments of silence. "Tensions are getting high between the town's people and the forest folk. They claimed another victim today just a child. Her body was discovered in the forest. They are looking for a scapegoat" So lost in thought he didn't even notice he had veered into unsafe territory. Rouge kicked his leg sharply under the table. "Role model," she reminded him.

Oops! Rodger looked over at Ace. The kid was staring at him intently, his grey eyes were wide.

"But you don't have to worry about stuff like that Big Bad!" Rodger said quickly try to derail the damage. "That's adult stuff."

"If its adult stuff then why did a kid die?" Ace challenged uselessly pushing his soup around, suddenly not hungry. Rodger looked at Rouge for help.

"Ace don't chew on your cutlery," she told him lightly hitting him with a dishrag as he tried to dismember his spoon. "Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed while your father and I finish up here."

Ace knew when he was being dismissed. He held his ground defiantly until his mother threatened to have him do the dishes for them if he stayed any longer. With a scowl he headed up the stairs.

"You too," Rouge told Rodger.

"Huh?"

She pointed to his quivering arm. "Why don't you go, I can finish up here."

"It's fine," he insisted covering his hand with an equally shaky one. She kissed him on his forehead. "Go." She told him firmly.

"Have I ever told you that you are the most wonderful creature I have ever met?"

She smiled. "Yes but I would keep it up if I were you. There might even be some dessert waiting for you when you get back."

He smiled at that as he rose, heading for the back door of their tiny house. The two of them had built it themselves. Finding the perfect place on the outskirts of town but far enough away from the woods not to arouse suspicion.

He slammed the door behind him harder the he meant to, loosening his clothes as he left. As the familiar towering trees of the forest came into view he broke into a run. Patches of fur breaking out across his soft human skin.

It was a dark story really. After a lifelong struggle he had finally acquired the allegiance of the wolves, most of them anyways. He ruled them, he was their king. And he used that power for one thing and one thing alone. To try and bring peace to the species. But there were still some that opposed him, his mind flashed to the grisly image of the little girl. Although he had won over the wolves what was proving a larger problem now were the humans. The number of human casualties were dropping rapidly. Still they didn't seem to take the hint and the bodies of the wolves were piling up one after another. Due to the lack of enemies the hunter ranks were stronger then ever and they used this new found power to kill his fellow kin. And for every dead brother or sister the wolves blamed him. They were growing desperate. And so was he.

And that's where Rouge came in. Just a mere human woman. Yet she had so much pull over him. From the moment he met her he realized he was already in love with her. Never had he met a creature so soft and kind nor as strong and fiery. He fell for her…hard. And by some kind a miracle she returned that love, despite the fact he was a monster. It was her that told him that if he wanted peace he would need to convince the humans as well. Talk to them, get to know them and eventually win them over, like he had done with her. She was his muse, his number one supporter. His plan was laughably bad, impossible even. But somehow she made him feel like he could do anything. So with her help he had gotten himself a small job at the bottom of the humans hierarchy. From there he began working his way up with agonizing slowness. He had managed to catch the eye of hunters and politicians alike for his wisdom and strength. Contacts...all very important, or at least they would be when he secret was revealed and the wrath of human hell rained down on him. Hopefully it would be enough to convince them, show them a better path.

The only problem now was this accursed human body. Maintaining his human form all day was proving to be too great a strain. He didn't have enough human in his DNA for him to comfortably pose as a human. His mind flashed enviously to Ace. The kid didn't even know what he had yet. He was the most perfect hybrid Rodger had ever seen. Despite the slight overbalance of human DNA in Ace's blood he was a flawless mixture. Able to seamlessly shift between either form on a whim. If he desired he could stay in his human or wolf body for the rest of his life without any discomfort. But from what Rodger observed Ace preferred to switch constantly between the two, although Rouge always made him be human at the dinner table. 'To teach him manners,' she claimed. Rodger smiled at the thought.

Ace was all the proof he needed. A physical embodiment of his and Rouge's love and everything they had worked for, their dreams and hopes for the future all rolled up into one mischievous brave and rebellious little child.

Living proof wolves and humans could co-exists. And one day when that little kid grew up he would help flip the world on it's head.

XXX

Miles away on the other end of town a baby slept soundly.

He was born two weeks early and painfully thin and tiny. Still due to the ever constant care of his mother and grandmother he had survived and stabilized. Now barely a month old he was the happiest baby Makino had ever seen. She rocked him as she chatted with her mother pleasantly. The sweet women had come down to help her with the burden of being a mother. Although even she had to admit Makino was a natural at it. She seemed to instinctively know what to do.

"Are you sure about the name?" Her mother asked skeptically.

Maniko nodded. "It suits him don't you think?"

"I guess… but don't you think Howard would have been a good name?"

Makino laughed at that. "Mother I keep telling you we are not naming him after father, rest his soul."

Her mother nodded with a huff as she sunk further into her seat. "Say let his grandmother hold the little tyke."

Makino passed the sleeping bundle over to her mother as she rose to reheat their by now frigid dinner. It was a little after midnight and her husband had yet to make an appearance. She had overheard about the child found in the woods today so she was not surprised by his disappearance.

"Actually mother." She said as she returned to her seat. "We have something to ask you. I was waiting for Dragon but I am sure he will be along shortly."

Her mother looked up intrigued. The little baby fidgeted in her arms slowly waking up, not wanting to miss the action happening around him.

"We wanted to ask you to be Luffy's guardian. Should anything happen to me or Dragon we were hoping he could go live with you…" She trailed off as her mother stood up suddenly. Tears brimming in her eyes as she hugged her daughter tightly, minding the baby.

"Nothing would make happier." She whispered in her daughter's ear.

Makino laughed with delight as she leaned down to kiss her baby's cheek. Two huge dark eyes greeted her as the little kid reached up to try and poke her cheek.

"What about Garp?" The older woman questioned.

A new voice chimed in. "We figure the longer we can delay that meeting the better."

Makino looked up in surprise at her husband. He was taking his coat off in the doorway. He looked weary and tired but nothing a good meal couldn't fix. She handed over the little bundle in her arms with a kiss on his cheek as she went to go get dinner out of the oven.

Immediately after being handed off the tiny baby began to wiggle making unsatisfied noises. When his mother didn't come for him he began to cry unhappily.

"He always cries when I hold him," Dragon mused as he held the kid away from him.

"He just likes his mother." Makino's mother teased. "You always have such a scary face. Maybe if you smiled more." She rose to take the child from Dragon so he could finish unlacing his boots.

"I like your serious face dear," Makino offered kindly. "Now come have some dinner. Before it gets even colder."

"What do you think mom?" Makino mused. "Does he look more like me or Dragon?"

"He will be handsome like his daddy when he grows up." She answered, gently poking his nose earning herself a joyful laugh. "But until then he looks like Makino. Isn't that right little one?" She asked Luffy.

Makino had met Dragon during high school and the two had instantly hit it off. At first glance they seemed like an odd pairing but it soon became clear they were good for each other. Makino grounded Dragon, kept him stable. While Dragon protected and cared for Makino in a way nobody had before. He saw her for her inner beauty and kindness better than anyone. She was his guiding light and he was her faithful companion.

"So Dragon, how's work?"

"Actually mom," Makino laid her hand over her husband's. "He is up for a promotion. He passed the test to become the headhunter a couple of days ago. Any day now the current head will step down and give him the job.

"Wow!" She said thoughtfully. "Impressive for such a young man." That was no easy task. With a job such as that Dragon would have power over the entire town. It was not surprising really. He had been working for it since he was a little kid. With natural talent such as his everyone knew it would be him. The actual test and ceremony was more of a formality.

"It's nothing," Dragon said into his dinner plate, not use to all the attention nor praise.

"What about little Luffy? Will he be a hunter when he grows up?"

"I think one hunter is plenty for a family of three." Makino spoke gently but firmly. "I need someone to stay home with me while I worry over my brave husband."

"Probably for the best." The older woman said. "He has kind eyes. Best to protect something like that."

XXX (Because it was Christmas Sunday and it's cute dammit!)

ASL First Christmas together-

(Luffy has only been living with them for a few weeks)

"Does this look good?" Sabo asked unsurely holding up the cake for the younger boy to see.

"Umm!" Luffy said with a bob of his head. "How did you get so good at baking?"

"I'm really not that good." Sabo promised wiping his hands on his pants unsurely. Maybe he would be better at it when he got a little older but for now it was passible. "I read about it in a book. It's called Christmas cake. It's a human tradition…" he trailed off when he realized who he was talking too. "Have you had it before?"

Luffy only shrugged as he stood on his toes to see it better. "Maybe when I was really little. But not for a while."

Sabo imagined a bunch of hunters hemming and hawing over a stove fretting whether their Christmas fruit cake was too brown or not. He would have laughed out loud if he hadn't remembered Luffy's less than generous description of the men. From what he understood there was absolutely nothing funny about hunters.

Things were a little awkward here too say the least. Sabo was a little unsure how to react to the change. He had grown used to it just being him and Ace sort of doing their own thing. Having grown up alone they quickly learned it was best to only confide in yourself. Even after they had started living together they never forgot the important life lesson. It had been drilled into their heads from such a young age. But ever since this tiny human came to stay with them they couldn't do that anymore.

Sure they had tried. When he had healed enough to move about again they had expected him to go entertain himself...which he had. What they hadn't counted on was him getting totally and completely lost in wolf infested woods. Thankfully they found him in time. That incident had forced them to lay down some ground rules. He could come and go as he pleased as long as he kept the house in sight. Somehow this had caused him to get even more lost. They had found him miles away and sleeping in a tree. So until they figured something out they told him to stay in the yard, which worked until he got into a fight with a deer. Finally after accidentally setting the porch on fire they told him to stay in the house… although Sabo felt he was covering for Ace with that last one. It took another ten accidental incidents for them to realize that maybe he shouldn't be left unattended. He seemed to be a trouble magnet, it was a good thing he was pretty indestructible by human standards at least.

Because of that Ace and Sabo were forced to break their independent little routine and come together to keep this kid alive. That's where the idea of Christmas had come from. Just a good idea to keep the fragile human occupied. Plus Sabo figured it might be good for them. They had precious little to celebrate in their lifetimes. Might as well take advantage of the opportunity. He had hoped something like this would make Ace calm down a bit. Ever since he had saved the human he was acting really odd. He avoided Luffy at every chance he got and when they were forced into a room together he would settle for simply avoiding his gaze. Usually Sabo would categorize the behavior as guilt but in all the years he had known Ace he couldn't remember ever seeing him act guilty. He had tried to confront him about it but for the first time in their relationship Ace refused to tell him.

This resulted more often than not with Sabo being ditched with babysitting duty. And he had absolutely no idea what to do. He had never been in a room with a human child before let alone actually having to look after it. So when Luffy had casually told them about Christmas season Sabo had jumped.

Together he and Luffy had made Christmas decorations, strung together lines of popcorn and nuts and decorated a juvenile pine tree that grew next to the porch. They had occasionally gotten Ace to help as well and for the first time the three of them came together. It was...fun, something Sabo hadn't had for a while.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door thudded. Ace reappeared with an arm full of firewood that he used to feed the oven with.

"What is that?" He asked pointing to the cake.

"Is it really that bad?" Sabo asked inspecting it.

"It smells like salt."

Sabo turned to the human. "Are you sure you didn't mix salt and sugar up?"

"Is there a difference?"

'A disaster in the kitchen as well,' Sabo added it to his mental list of things Luffy wasn't allowed to do. However this time he was able to see the humor in it.

"Guess that answers that question huh?"

Ace's lips twitched but he turned before they could see him grin.

"Well I guess more for me then huh?" Sabo bated as he made a motion as if he was going to swallow it in one bite. He watched in amusement as Ace and Luffy objected together retrieving their salty Christmas cake. Apparently nobody here was very picky. He gathered they had all eaten much worse at one point in their lives.

"Stay there for a second okay?" Luffy said running out of the kitchen towards their shared room.

"Where would we go?" Ace questioned. Sabo just shrugged.

"Hey Ace…"

"Don't ask."

"What?" Taken back by the seriousness in his friend's voice.

"I know what you're going to ask. Trust me you don't want to know."

Sabo bit his lip silently contemplating what to do. "Fine," he said after a long silence. "But you can't keep ignoring him like this, not if he is going to live with us. So either get it off your chest of get over it."

A minute passed and Sabo thought Ace wasn't going to answer but he finally caved.

"Okay."

Sabo smiled at the small victory. That was a start.

Luffy reappeared moments later with what looked like two wads of newspaper. He handed one to Ace and the other to Sabo. "Merry Christmas!"

Sabo threw a questioning glance at Ace who only shrugged uncertainly. He felt something hard beneath the crinkled paper so he began to hesitantly peel it back. Blue...Glass...Goggles?

He looked questioningly over to Luffy.

"Now you can go in the sun without it hurting your eyes." He told him grinning widely. Sabo turned back to the goggles turning them over in his hand oddly touched. They were old and damaged, he could see where the human had tried to patch them up. Whenever he would go outside with Luffy during the day he remembered complaining the sun hurt his eyes. He never imagined he would take it to heart.

"Do you like it?"

He ran his fingers over the smooth glass lenses one last time before fastening it around his hat. "I love it." He said causing Luffy to smile.

Besides him Ace was unsure. He bit his lip, the familiar expression of guilt back on his face as his grip tightened on the newspaper. He tried to give it back to Luffy but the kid wouldn't accept.

"You don't have to keep it." He told him. "But it's for you."

Ace frowned, consigned to his fate, as he removed the newspaper wrapping. Red beads, clumsily tied together to form a necklace.

"Thank...you."

Luffy smiled satisfied before he did something completely unexpected.

He hugged them. For the first time in Sabo's entire life someone hugged him and his mind went blank. He had never so much as seen a hug in real life, vampires certainly did not partake in such 'vulgar displays of affection' as they put it. Up until now he had sort of believed they were only reserved as literary devices for the fairytales he read on occasion. But here they were in the dim light of the kitchen with this very real flesh and blood human who had his thin arms wrapped around the two of them like it was perfectly natural.

Sabo very much doubted the three species had ever had a group hug like this at any point in history. Not only could he sense Luffy's heartbeat but he could feel it as well as the tiny humans chest was pressed against his ribs. He imagined what his parents would say if they could see this. He was sure it would be something along the lines of, "Indecent, inappropriate, and improper." Vampires after all did not embrace their food nor their sworn enemies the wolves who was squished against Sabo's right side and also appeared to be frozen in shock.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you!" Luffy said smiling up at them. "And even though I cause you guys trouble and I always get lost and I mix salt up with sugar you guys never lock me in the closet or abandon me in the woods." He squeezed them tighter, pulling both the deathly still bodies closer towards him. "Shishishi, you guys are the best!" With that he let go of the two shocked kids and headed out of the kitchen.

Ace and Sabo stared stupidly after him for a few moments before Sabo rubbed his hands nervously over his arms, unsure of how to respond. He didn't know how to describe that other than strange...and warm. A good warm though, not like the stinging heat of the sun but a calm warm.

He glanced over at Ace, "So yea….let's…umm"

"Uhhh...yea?" Ace responded back, having no clue to what they were talking about.

The two left the kitchen. Sabo hiding partially behind Ace in case it tried to hug them again.

XXX

***The gifts Luffy gave Ace and Sabo were fished from one of those human junk piles I mentioned in earlier chapters. That's why Luffy got so lost when they told him to stay near the house. Ace's gift you can see in the story picture but the claws he added himself later.

Sorry if you guys thought this chapter ran a little long considering nothing happened. But I was trying to give a picture of the home life before things start to get serious, which they will. I wanted to do little kid Sabo also but it was kind of sad and this chapter is already quite long but more on that later. ASL Christmas took place before the flashback where Luffy was sick (you can tell they are much more used to him then, seeing as they can touch him without freaking out) and after the scene where Luffy and Sabo meet for the first time. Similarly Luffy meeting Garp takes place a few months after Makino asking her mother to be his guardian. Sorry if it's confusing , I think I made it worse by trying to explain it. But I promise there is an order! I hope you guys like it. Please tell me what you thought!

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Lostdog200: I'm really glad you liked it! I never know how they will be received so it is a relief! As for what happened to Luffy they got into it a little bit in this chapter but the worst has yet to come for both Ace and Luffy. Thank you for the review! Your enthusiasm for the story always makes me so happy :)

Izzywing: Me too! I love possessive Ace and protective Ace and Sabo. Especially with tops off! I'm really glad you like the story! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter as well! Thank you for the review :)

Destiny TRodrigu: Yes! Absolutely. As soon as I can. I hope you liked it! Thank you for the review!