Chapter 3: Curious Introductions

Aomine Daiki.

Kagami's ears twitched at the name. It was…strange. But Kagami couldn't clearly remember hearing it anywhere.

Aomine's cobalt eyes were still trained on him, but the whimpering of the other vampire tore his attention away.

"A-Aomine…" Beanie's upper lip was beaded with sweat. "Y-you're right! This wolf is on our land! Is his fault!"

"Y-yeah," the young one agreed with a vigorous shake of his head. "No doubt this were saw the signs!"

Aomine's frown deepened, and Kagami was fairly certain that this particular vampire held some sort of authority above the others. "So you decide to attack him? Decades of work, fuck, centuries of work, and you fucking try to ruin it over turf issues?" he snarled.

Kagami took a small step back but Aomine's eyes pinned him to the spot.

"Don't fucking move, werewolf. I'm not done with you either," he snapped. "They aren't completely wrong. You are on vampire territory."

Kagami's ears drooped slightly, and he chewed his lips. Aomine's gaze flicked to his mouth momentarily, seemingly following the movement of his teeth, and then down to his bleeding forearm, lingering for a split second. He suddenly shook his head and stepped past.

"I see your faces again and I will rip off your balls, you fucking hear me? Now go!"

The three stammered and swallowed, shuffling their feet.

"NOW!"

The vampires scrambled away faster than Kagami had ever seen someone run before, leaving only him and Aomine alone under the moonlight.

"So…" Kagami bent down and gathered his things, frowning quietly at the rip in his bag. He could still sling it over his shoulder without letting anything drop, but he'd had to be careful. The wooden box, however, he shoved deep inside. "I guess I'll just…"

A hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. "What are you?" Aomine glared down at him, his fangs bared, but there was a strange light in those slate blue eyes. Questioning, curious, maybe even a little…scared? Kagami could smell the emotions in the air, through that heady spicy-sweet scent.

He wanted to lean in, smell more, lick it off.

Kagami's eyes widened in shock and he grabbed Aomine's hand to get it off him, but the instant his skin touched the others, the vampire let go of him and took a step back. Kagami straightened his jacket, watching Aomine warily. "No need to get all handsy. But you did introduce yourself so…" he held out his hand. "Kagami Taiga. Werewolf. Duh. As you can probably tell, I'm new here."

Aomine didn't shake the offered hand, ignoring it completely. Kagami felt a little affronted, but the guy seemed like an asshole anyway, so he stuffed his fists into his jacket pockets with a shrug.

"I should grab you by your fucking scruff and throw you out," Aomine crossed his arms. "Why are you here? There's a vampire mark on nearly every street corner. Why would you come here and not expect trouble?"

"Vampire mark?" Kagami looked around him, but all he could see was that weird peace sign or whatever, graffiti on walls and lampposts. "You mean that thing?"

Aomine slapped a hand to his forehead. "Yes, dumbass."

"Hey!" Kagami scrunched his nose. "I thought it was a peace sign! Like that punk graffiti back in LA-"

"Peace sign?" Aomine's jaw dropped. "Were you born under a rock? It's the letter 'V', in a circle. V," he held up two fingers, which frankly, looked like a peace sign. "A fucking V, you know, for fucking VAMPIRE!"

Kagami snorted, crossing his arms as well to mirror Aomine. "Well then, is the werewolf area stamped with a 'W'?" He was half-serious when he said it, but Aomine looked like Kagami had just asked him whether the earth was flat.

The vampire pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you actually fucking kidding me right now?" he muttered under his breath.

Kagami bent down to try peeking at Aomine under his hand. "Is that a yes?"

"No, it's not a fucking-" Aomine placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. "Werewolves are…their area is marked by an 'L'. For 'lycanthrope'," he added before Kagami could ask. He shook his head in exasperation. "No, seriously, how do you not know this?"

"I told you, I'm new around here," Kagami huffed, looking away. "I hadn't even seen a real life vampire before today."

Aomine stared at him in shock. "What?"

"I'd heard about them!" Kagami said defensively. "Read about them and stuff! But we never had this back home, I mean…everyone I knew was either human or werewolf. And there was a sorcerer or two too."

Aomine threw his hands up in the air. "Well thank fuck you know about sorcerers, you damn airhead."

By now, Kagami was thoroughly insulted. "Fuck you!" he turned around taking the map out of his bag and opening it up, peering at it and nearby street names to figure out where he was. He didn't need some dickhead vampire's help. "Thanks for earlier, but I could've taken care of it myself. Now goodbye." He started walking forwards but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "What, Aomine?" he growled over his shoulder.

Aomine raised an eyebrow. "That's the wrong direction, Kagami."


Why was he doing this?

Why was he helping some random werewolf find his way to the werewolf headquarters in the middle of the night, during a full moon?

Aomine sighed. "This map is useless."

"Look, it's the only one I had, okay?" Kagami kicked at the ground.

"You're lucky I don't need a map to show you the way," Aomine mumbled, squinting at the cartography. "Is this the Hiromi Theatre?"

Kagami looked over Aomine's shoulder. "Yeah, but I couldn't find it anywhere."

Aomine's eyebrows drew together. "Yeah, because it was demolished around a hundred years ago. I know because they have a stadium there now, named after the theatre." He scoffed, pushing the map against Kagami's chest. "No wonder you were lost. That map is ancient! Where did you even get it? God, can't you use Google Maps like the rest of us?"

Kagami rolled his eyes. "I don't exactly have a cell phone plan here, now do I? I literally landed a few hours ago!"

"Fine, whatever," Aomine's eyes fell to Kagami's arm, which was still covered with blood.

Werewolf blood was poisonous to vampires. It had been drilled into Aomine's head from a very young age, and was one of the werewolves' defences against vampires. It caused severe sickness, and in some cases, even death.

So why did it smell so good?

"You're hurt."

Kagami looked up at him in surprise. Aomine stared into those blood red eyes, the full moon throwing a sliver of silver in pools of crimson. He leaned closer, smelling that sweet smell.

"A-ah…" Kagami pulled at his ripped sleeve. "It's just dried blood. The wound healed quickly, I didn't even have to lick it," he said softly, gazing up at Aomine, and Aomine saw his own face reflected in those striking eyes. "You know, full moon gives…werewolves…accelerated healing…" he swallowed, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Why, getting thirsty?"

Yes.

Kagami's eyes flickered to Aomine's lips, then back up. "But, well, werewolf blood is poisonous, isn't it?"

"So you know that much?" Aomine chuckled, and Kagami's ears flicked at the sound.

"I've read all about it," Kagami licked his lips and Aomine's gaze followed the movement. "I'd just never met a vampire before, that's all. But you…smell different. Not like those other guys."

Aomine realised he was close enough to see every soft crimson hair on Kagami's ears, so soft, close enough to touch… He cleared his throat, looking away and pulling at his collar. When did it get so hot? Kagami picked at his jacket, not meeting Aomine's eyes.

"Don't compare me to those brats," Aomine said aloud. "They're probably not even half vampire. That's why they smell off."

"So, you're what? Pureblood?" Kagami's voice had gone quiet.

"Yeah," Aomine shot him a curious look. "What, problem?"

"Nah," Kagami bit the inside of his cheek. "I'm a halfie."

"Oh." Maybe that's why he smells different from the other werewolves. Aomine pursed his lip.

Even among vampires, there was tension between purebloods and mixed blood. Back in the day, purebloods were the rulers. Nowadays everyone wanted to be equal, and although there was an inherent urge to obey a pureblood's orders, it was no longer law. Didn't mean the prejudices against the mixed were any less, though.

Aomine wasn't sure how it was like with werewolves, but he wasn't expecting much of a difference. They were surprisingly alike, werewolves and vampires. More than they'd like to admit.

Aomine sniffed. Kagami did smell different, but it wasn't exactly human blood Aomine was smelling. The problem was Aomine had no idea what it was. It was sweet and relaxing, but it also made his body tingle with excitement.

"Anyway," Aomine ruffled his hair in agitation, breaking the awkward silence. "Let's get you to the werewolf base."


"We're here."

Kagami looked in confusion at metallic spiked fence in front of his face. "What's this?"

"You guys like to be around nature, don't you?" Aomine shrugged, walking down the length before they came to a cast iron gate. It had what looked like a crest engraved at the top, including a very prominent circle with a large 'L' in the centre. "West Tokyo belongs to the werewolves, including the nature reserves. This is the closest one."

Kagami's fingers wrapped around one of the curling designs on the gate, feeling the cold metal, smelling the rust. Was this where he belonged? He turned around. Aomine stood silently in front of him, and the moonlight outlined his navy hair with specks of silver, like a star studded night sky. His eyes were sapphire orbs that tugged at something in Kagami's chest. "So," Kagami's voice was raspy. "This is goodbye."

"Yeah. I doubt we'll see each other again any time soon," Aomine grinned dryly. "Try to stay out of trouble. Avoid the Vs."

Kagami couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, the Vs-"

The smell hit him like an avalanche, but before he could even tell what was happening, a piercing howl rang through the air, causing his hair to rise.

A rush of air and suddenly, a huge black shape barrelled through, hitting Aomine in the chest and pinning him to the ground.

Other black figures appeared out of the shadows, triangular ears adorning heads and furry tails swishing from behind. The wolf on top of Aomine grumbled lowly, its silver-blue hair shimmering in the light.

"Fuck," Aomine gasped, his chest aching from the blow.

"Aomine!" Kagami took a step forward, but a hand on his chest stopped him. He jumped in shock at the woman who had unexpectedly appeared next to him.

She stepped up to the captured vampire. "What an unpleasant surprise."

"Tetsu," Aomine squirmed. "Get the fuck off me!"

The wolf seemed to grin, before leaning down and licking Aomine's face.

"Oh fuck! EW!"

"Enough, Kuroko-kun," the woman rolled her eyes. "What's a pureblood vampire doing here? And with one of our own, no less."

"Goddamn bitch," Aomine groaned. "I swear if Mai-chan were here…"

"What's going on?" Kagami raised his voice, completely dumbfounded. "Aomine…he helped me get here! I was lost, so he showed me the way."

"Oh," the woman's eyebrows rose in obvious astonishment. "Seriously?"

"Yes, fuck, if you'd let me explain before attacking me!" Aomine's fangs flashed in irritation. "This is why I hate fucking werewolves." Kagami flinched at the words, which Aomine happened to see. "W-well, most werewolves," he added in a mumble, trying to shove the animal away.

The wolf hopped off him, its golden eyes shining with hidden thoughts as it regarded the two newcomers.

The woman smiled at Kagami, her white canines stark against her lips. "New to town? Well, you've come to right place." She held out her hand, her chocolate eyes glimmering. "Aida Riko. I'm the Alpha of this pack. Welcome to Tokyo."