Chapter 8: Healing the Burns

(Colby's POV)

It's not every day I wake up like this:

Being in disbelief and blessed to wake up to another day all at the same time.

That's exactly how I felt this morning when I sat up in my bed, stretched for five seconds, and then just buried my face within my hands with consternation for ten more seconds. I knew our first date last night wasn't a dream, but it sure did feel like it as I looked out of my room window towards the sunrise. It instantly gave off a little bit of the positive vibes I needed in order to get my day started before heading to the precinct as usual. Before I officially got up for that, however, my thoughts went back to what went down before the date was over and I had to mentally speak to Midnight about it:

Did you see what happened between Kunimitsu and I last night? I started towards my inner wolf. He made a low growl as a response, telling me that he did and was shocked to be a witness. I chuckled.

Heh, so was I. That kiss came outta nowhere and we both actually enjoyed it. For someone who's never had experience with dating before, she sure did figure it out right then and there almost instantly. Her lips were so soft and succulent. Plus, that tongue action within our mouths was just… wow!

I then heard him make a few subtle barks as his way of talking and I translated everything, making me widen my eyes in realization.

She did?! I mean, I know I grabbed hers with one hand while I had the other around her hips, but…

Midnight made a single bark with confirmation and that made me lean back with a totally flummoxed look on my face.

Huh! She grabbed my butt with both of her hands and gave it some playful squeezes, eh? Nice! I thought I wasn't feeling things. So, that makes it official, right?

Midnight gave me one more bark with consistency and I nodded twice. Yep! It's official alright:

Cutie-Kuni and I are in love, but there's just one thing still keeping me in skeptic mode on the side and I had to share it with someone I knew I could trust. My parents aren't the ones, though.

A few hours later, right at 9 AM on the dot at the police station…

"WHAT?!" Zaituchi exclaimed as I had just clocked in with my usual small paper cup of coffee in my hand and approached his desk as we were both still standing. I was wearing my usual attire of a purple leather vest and matching baggy jeans with white sneakers. "Your childhood best friend, JT, is the mastermind behind your Midnight Wolf?!"

"That's what Kuni II told me last night during our date." I replied casually with a hint of incredulity in my voice before I took a sip of my coffee. "Of course, I find it hard to believe. JT and I have literally been friends since we were in preschool. It doesn't make any sense, but Kuni and I still love each other regardless."

"Humph! Interesting. If I heard something like that about a friend of mine from a potential lover, I would've ended the relationship right then and there. What's making you do the opposite?" It was an excellent question and he made a good point prior to it, but of course, I had to be honest:

"Her strong-willed nature is like a magnet, no matter what happens between us. I'll definitely have a talk with JT about it later on today. I'm sure he would tell me right then, but for now, I need to know more from Kuni. As soon as another call comes in for us, I'll ask her." After that last word, I headed towards my personal office in the very back, opened it, and I was surprised to see my chair had its back turned towards me. I'm pretty sure that's not how I left it yesterday. Ten seconds after I closed my door, I already made a guess as to why it was in this position and I said it with sarcasm: "Someone's got my routine down to a T already."

"And it's only been a few days." Replied that familiar cute female voice I've already grown a loving bond with before the chair was turned around to show Kunimitsu II wide awake and dressed in her totally badass Urban Ninja hoodie outfit colored in all white with some hints of gray this time. The fox-eared hood was on as well and she wasn't wearing the corresponding gas mask, showing her adorable smile of confidence. "I've gotta admit it: Your office is just the right personal space for someone of your caliber. I dared not to touch anything personal you might have in these drawers either. I've just been sitting here waiting for you since 7AM."

"How'd you get in?!" I knew the precinct wasn't opened at that time and Kunimitsu giggled at how shocked I sounded when I asked her this.

"There." She pointed towards a window on my left and it was closed, but the sunshine was still prominent through the blinds. "Also like my beloved Mother, I break in and close the entrance without a trace. The only difference is that I didn't steal anything." I showed a bored look that told her I was unimpressed for a brief moment before I made my way towards my desk between us and, with my open palms on my nearly clean desk, I leaned down towards her with that same aforementioned look in my eyes, which probably made me look regal towards her. She never cowered. "Call it a thanks for accepting everything I shared with you last night, including our first kiss."

"Steer away from that last thing for a second." I spat at her with a smooth impertinence, but she still never turned away from me nor showed any consternation. Instead, she kept her sexy cute face of unadulterated resilience. The hood added serenity to it. "I'm sure there's another part of your famous Mother's genes that you've inherited: The ability to tell me something that could be dubbed as untrue as soon as you say it."

"Colby, I may be a thief, a ninja, and the daughter of someone who was at her prime of those occupations back in her day, but that doesn't mean that I tell lie after lie every day. What I shared with you about JT is 100 percent true. I already love you enough to make it so." Damn! I just couldn't. I got in her face even more and again, she never leaned back to evade me.

"I don't believe you. I can't believe you. Do you know how long we've been friends?"

"Judging by the reaction you gave me last night; I'd say since you two were just learning to walk." She's good! I raised an eyebrow of amazement after she said this and that made her lean back in my chair with buoyancy. "That still doesn't excuse this factor about him. The motive behind it is unclear, though. Don't ask me if I'm sure because I am." I pushed myself away from the desk and just turned towards my small file cabinet tower with crossed arms.

"It's just…(sigh)…so difficult to take in all of this." I admitted this with a grain of salt. "Has he been jealous of me after all these years? I wonder…"

"You've never fought or argued with each other?" Kunimitsu asked me in her most curious tone since meeting her and holy shit! She sounded so cute! I still kept my back turned towards her as I spoke.

"Not any that I know of. We've always agreed with each other on everything… well, except one trivial subject." I chuckled at this part. It always made me laugh every time I thought about it. "We always had a small debate over what goes best on a hot dog. I love both ketchup and mustard on mine, but JT only likes mustard and onions. Even now, we still playfully fight about it when it comes time to have a hot dog and everyone around us gets a good laugh. It doesn't embarrass us one bit and that's what makes our friendship so special." I turned back towards Kuni II after I ended that second to last statement to see that she was smiling with humor, making her look so beautiful towards me, even with the hood still on. "Which is exactly why I just can't believe the fact that JT would want to kill me, but ended up giving me the soul of the Midnight Wolf instead."

"Maybe there's a hidden grudge within him that's undetectable to everyone, including us and your wolf." She made an excellent point there and I bowed my head in deep thought for the next five minutes. During that time, I heard Kunimitsu finally get up from my chair and felt her approach me. That's when I opened my eyes right on time to see her take off her hood and, by the time she was standing right before me, her slender partially fingerless gloved hands made a gentle stroke up my abs and pectorals at an extremely slow speed before she wrapped her arms around my neck with a heavenly passionate glow in her grey eyes. I returned the favor by gently holding on to her love handles with a compassionate smile of my own. "Everyone has at least one."

"Yeah, I know. But our friendship is so strong that holding that one grudge between us should be illegal. If either one of us does have one, it's most likely a case of taking it out on someone else instead of the person who started it. I surely don't have any. Hmm…" I looked down in deep thought again and that made Cutie-Kuni stare at me with utmost concern. "…damn. He's probably become a victim of someone that I don't know and he's decided that taking it out on me is the best way to alleviate it because… well… you know."

"And you accept this, right?" Again, that adorable voice of hers is just orgasmic to my ears. I looked deeply into her shining silver eyes as I led one of my hands towards her right cheek, making her lean towards it for more comfort.

"Now that we've added all of this up with these speculations, yeah. Now that we've cleared that up, you know what I gotta ask ya…" Hearing this made her blush, but still kept her gorgeous eyes on me.

"There's no need for you to waste your breath on it, either. Yes, I did take a gentle hold of your derriere last night during our kiss. My… inner kitsune told me to as we engulfed each other's mouths." I chuckled at that last statement. "I hope I didn't offend you."

"Trust me on this, Kuni: If you did, I would've said so right then. It's safe to say that I enjoyed it, especially since I did give your perfectly shaped butt a squeeze, too. Did you like it?"

"Absolutely! It felt sensational and so did the kiss. It is clearly true that you've been on many dates before, but as for me, I'm as inexperienced as every beginner."

"So, how did you know what to do as we kissed?" Kuni showed no shame as she peered deeper into my eyes. The blushing went away, too.

"I'm a naturally born fast learner." Enough said there. A few seconds later, we slowly leaned in for another round of a delicious kiss and it was just as delectable as the one we shared last night. This time, though, after about two minutes in, my primal instincts kicked in as I picked her up by that soft booty of hers and carried her towards my desk, knocking off most of my stuff along the way and she leaned back as she clawed her hands all over my back, which made my vest slightly slide down. Our desperate moans explained it all as I humbly took off my vest and aimlessly threw it to nowhere in particular as we were just smothering each other's mouths like savage beasts. This went on for what seemed like forever, especially after I felt her legs wrap around my waist with desperation.

We're this close to possibly breaking this desk! So close! Damn, this feels so good! I was starting to forget how it felt and everything, too!

(Kunimitsu II's POV)

Oh, my God! This whole moment just feels so amazing and Colby's a natural! I was completely laid back upon his desk while he was overtopping me with my legs still securely wrapped around his waist, but I felt him trying so hard to grind himself between them and… (GASP!) I felt it! That made me try my best at humping right back in reflexive response and he felt like he was an above average man in those jeans. I also felt something else that I haven't felt since I opened myself up. I felt my shorts getting wet at that exact spot and it wasn't my urge to use the restroom, that's for damn sure! Just like last night, I never wanted this moment to end, even if it's at his workplace. His constant faith in me and my understanding attitude towards him in return is all that sparked it and we were due to enjoy it for as long as we possibly can…

…which was unfortunately for a seemingly long five minutes.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

"COLBY!" Called out Sheriff Zaituchi from the closed office door. We slowly forced ourselves to stop before we got too far. Yeah, it was that close and I was ready to take this hoodie off in another two minutes if it hadn't been for his boss just now. "WE'VE GOT A CALL FROM THE TOKYO NATIONAL BANK! Get out here now!"

"Yes, sir!" Colby replied like a solider ready to go to war. We carefully regained our composure after that was said. I straightened up my hoodie while he cleaned up the clutter upon the floor around his desk and picked up his vest along the way before putting it back on. At this moment, it was as if nothing happened, but Colby's curious eyes saw it as he was adjusting his vest: "You're lucky your shorts are white, but I can clearly see it on your thighs. I turned you on, didn't I?"

"…a little bit." I playfully replied with sarcasm. "Were we about to have sex?"

"We were nearly there, yeah. What got into us, huh?"

"Tee-hee! So many things. Anyway, let's see what this case is all about. Your boss is waiting."

A few seconds later…

"So, the thieves already smashed and grabbed the bank vault, huh?" Zaituchi asked towards his desk phone, which was on speaker. Colby and I were sitting in separate chairs before the man and we were paying very close attention. "Did you see how much money they took?"

"Not with my own eyes, but an employee of mine was a witness and she saw that it was about 500,000 yen stolen." Replied a distraught male voice that sounded like he was in his mid-30s. "It's a group of three men that are all the same age of 20, just as young as your two ninjas on the force." Zaituchi looked at us with a smile of humor after that last statement and we returned it, having Colby shake his head in the same manner as the sheriff continued.

"Well, technically, Colby is 21 while Kunimitsu II is the 20-year-old. Still, they are in the same generation and it should be like fighting fire with fire here. What are the stakes in this mission?"

"If you get all of the money back to my bank safely, I'll be happy to reward Kunimitsu II half of it, if that's acceptable within your line of work." That was towards me and I didn't hesitate to reply:

"It's acceptable, Mr. Kaivi Daikyu." That made it become silent on the phone for about thirty seconds. That's the beautiful sound of a stunned silence. I've never met this man before, but thanks to my sixth sense that I was born with, I was able to get his name immediately upon hearing his voice. "And yes, I do know your name, even though we've never met. You're my next client."

"…I… I sure am! Huh! Sheriff, how did you get this woman?!"

"Long story short: Colby met her on one mission and the rest is history." Zaituchi replied as he kept his eyes on us with a wink and a smile of respect. We nodded back with honor simultaneously. "They're inseparable at this rate, Mr. Daikyu."

"I see. Well, I'll definitely be looking forward to working with them. Can you send them over here to my bank now to discuss this plan further?"

"The rest of my force will be on stand-by, yes. They're on the way."

Fifteen minutes of a ride atop of Colby the Midnight Wolf later…

We arrived at the Tokyo National Bank entrance and, right when I dismounted off of Colby, Mr. Daikyu, dressed in his best blue suit, came out of the main entrance and was almost immediately taken aback by the massive wolf's appearance, especially since he was so calm and sat like an obedient dog next to me on my left.

"Whoa…" He muttered with astonishment as he just stopped before us with wide brown eyes. "…please tell me that's Colby next to you." After that last word, Colby did turn back into his human self to prove it and he was impressed. "Oh, wow! Incredible! How did you get this power?!"

"It's something you don't need to know right now, sir." Colby replied in a deep melancholy tone, making me nod twice in agreement without looking at him. "Your money is more important."

"Indeed, it is. Please do come inside, you two. We have much to discuss."

Seconds later, inside his personal office at the rear of the bank…

"…and that's pretty much what happened." Kaivi concluded, leaving Colby and I in full observation mode upon our faces, even with my fox-eared hood still on. What can I say? I love this hoodie. "Upon further inspection of the three thieves, it turns out that they are fraternal triplet brothers. It was a family affair."

"The word 'family' really hits us both hard under different circumstances." Colby started in that handsome professional tone of his. For some reason, my sixth sense and my inner kitsune are both going insane because of it. I remained calm on the outside, though. "You already know Kunimitsu's reason."

"Yep! So, what about you?"

"My parents and I are the only members of my Johannsson family name that live here in Japan for now while the rest of them are hanging in there back at the United States. They all reside in Maine right now. Everyone there is fine, except both of my grandparents from my mom and dad's side. They're barely hanging on to their lives right now." Oh, no! I had no idea. I only have my parents and my great-great grandfather, but only my Father is the healthiest one out of the three. We do share the same heavy burden! "If all four of them were to die right now, we… probably wouldn't even live the next morning." Colby's eyes were tearing up, but none escaped as I looked over at him. I followed suit, except a single tear slowly emerged from my right eye. "Our family time every day is taken seriously and we need to live it up as best we can until we can get back."

"I feel really bad about it, son. I pray that your grandparents will live long enough for you to finally make it back to your humble home in Maine. In the meantime, let's get back to brass handles. Those triplets are hiding very discreetly for now, but I bet you could track them down after some kind of source from them."

"That's all I need, sir. My sense of smell within the wolf never ceases."

"Excellent! Both of you stay here. I've got just the source." Mr. Daikyu didn't waste a moment getting to the very back of this office within a private door to retrieve it after that was said. This was my golden opportunity to ask Colby while we were alone for a moment:

"Is that really true?" He bowed his head with excruciating shame and I just kept a regal glare of worry within my grey eyes as he spoke to me without eye contact.

"All four of them are within their golden 80s and 70s, but still: They're not the healthiest people at this rate. Despite that, though, they keep their positive energy at 100, making it seem like they don't have diabetes in the first place."

"It's no wonder…" I trailed away after that and that got Colby to finally look over at me with just as much concern, but before he could open his mouth to ask me about it…

"Here ya go!" Kaivi said as he came back with the one source of evidence from the crime, which was several locks of hair within a plastic bag. That's when Colby turned towards the humble bank owner, stood up, and took it for a closer look. "During the theft, the triplets' hair was just getting caught in all that chaos and some it fell out. Just get your wolf to sniff this and I'm sure you'll track 'em down in no time."

"Got it, sir!" Colby replied as he turned towards me, which was my cue to stand up as well, although I was still in deep thought about my realization. "Let's go, Kuni!" We both then walked out of the building, sensing that Mr. Kaivi Daikyu waved goodbye to us on the way out as he concluded with:

"Good luck, you two! I pray that you'll be back safely with the money!"

(Colby's POV)

I don't know why, but every time Kunimitsu II is in deep thought, her grey eyes make her look absolutely beautiful and it just sends chills up and down my spine. Everything she does gives me that sensation, but this was turned up to the max! I kept this to myself, though, as we were at just the right amount of space for me to transform back into my Midnight Wolf, but before I did that, I had to ask her:

"What's on your mind?" My tone was as humanly soothing as I could possibly get for my nearly deep voice. She turned towards me with the hood still on, but her gas mask was on to hide her lips from me. I could only read her eyes and they showed curiosity as she replied with a question of her own:

"I know I'm no expert on dating and relationships, but the way you keep your love for me alive, despite the painful truth about JT… it's no wonder that your will to fight for your family is just as strong as mine. That leaves only one question, then: Why? Why do you still love me?" Mm! She even speaks with wisdom like her legendary badass Mother. I took in that entire statement and the concluding questions with a handful of salt for a full ten seconds before I got closer to her, slowly peeled off the hood, and carefully took off her gas mask with one hand while the other was still holding on tight to the bag of the triplets' hairs. I then used my free hand to gently stroke her left cheek, which had a single tear venture down towards my thumb right on time. I wiped it away as I spoke:

"That's just it, Cutie-Kuni. Even though this is some very heavy baggage we have to carry for a while between us, I still love you for all the right reasons. Besides, you're practically doing the same thing, too. I told you the whole story of how I got this wolf in the first place and, even after those moments where the wolf takes over me and does all the work like a savage beast, you're still staying with me. Now, I ask you: What's keeping you alongside me?"

"…" Goddamn it! Her beauty never ceases, especially when she's speechless and just stares into my eyes like she's trying to peer into my very soul. She didn't really need to answer it anyway because we'd be like a pair of broken records. I got that hint immediately and, without hesitation, we slowly leaned in for another passionate kiss that turned into a small tongue-lashing frenzy after thirty seconds. Ten more seconds later, I couldn't chuckle, but I did it in my head as she aimlessly grabbed my free hand and lead it down towards her soft booty again. I gave it a little squeeze and her moan within my mouth was orgasmic to my ears. It sounded cute! She had her slender, fingerless gloved hands around my neck this time, but the massage upon that part felt professionally comfortable. I tell ya: She impresses me every day, despite not having any experience with this.

It was a very slow minute and a half before we finally parted and I took a couple of steps back before I turned into my Midnight Wolf with the bag in my mouth this time without puncturing it. Kunimitsu II kept her adorable smile in check as she placed her gas mask back on, slipped on the fox-eared hood, and carefully took that fateful bag, stuffing it in one of her hoodie's pockets afterwards. I then sat like a good boy before her as she gave me soothing pats between my pointed ears and I made a low growl of satisfaction upon that touch. I then cuddled against her forehead as she whispered to me in a sultry tone:

"Mother was right. Love is stronger than any God and that's why I'm still here with you. I love you, Colby."

I love you too, Kuni. I replied back through telepathy as we stayed in this position for one more minute with our eyes closed to take it all in, but of course, it seemed like more than that to us.

To be continued…