Hoshiko
"Mate."
The boy- no, man- in front of me is beautiful. He is tall and athletic, with a wild look in his dark brown eyes. He has the same striking crimson hair as me, only a few shades darker and held in place by an expensive pair of tinted sunglasses. But his most eye-catching feature, like Shuhei, is his tattoos. Large intricate patterns run down his arms and chest, disappearing under his plain grey T-shirt to only god knows where. He resembles a warrior of the olden days, a titan.
"Shit," he says, his eyes dark and accusing.
"Excuse me?" My voice is higher than expected and I challenge his gaze.
He raises an eyebrow before sniffing the air once again. "You smell like shit."
I hear chuckles from the surrounding customers and god bless this man's soul because words cannot explain the pain and suffering I'm about to put him through.
"Go," he points towards the bathrooms and I glare daggers into his soul.
"You fuc~" He cuts me off by putting his finger on my lips before moving in to kiss the side of my cheek, igniting a fire within me.
"You smell of fear, a witch's fear," His breath is hot against my skin. "Now get rid of it."
When he moves away a feeling of disappointment washes over me and I'm unsure of what my next move should be.
So I slap him. My small hand almost snapping as it comes into contact with his hard defined face. I reject the urge to pull my hand back and whimper in pain, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. And with that I storm off towards the bathroom.
Large Hollywood inspired mirrors line one side of the room, the bright light bulbs making the glossy marble floor sparkle with life. Adjacent is a row of black cubicles, each housing toilets and the last two being showers.
I walk over to the last shower and lock the door before stripping down and cleansing myself of whatever filth the man outside had mentioned.
Mates? A witch's fear? I wonder what drugs the schizoid is taking. I know as irrelevant as this is, I can't help but feel like all the other Disney princesses before me, today is my birthday and I really did hope it would be magical. Butafter someone telling me I smell like shit, I guess not.
I finish up and grab a towel from the rack. Once dry I hop back into my outfit and make my way over to the mirror. Now I look like shit. My wet hair is in tangles and I have mascara running down my face making me look like the psychopaths off horror movies.
"Guess all chances to me being a princess are thrown out the window now!" I say sarcastically aloud. Not even caring that if someone were to walk in now they would surely call the mental hospital to come and take me back.
And satin must be hearing my prayers because a second later I hear the squeaky opening and closing of the bathroom doors.
"You look awful." I hear the husky voice of the man I have quickly come to despise - in the ten minutes of knowing him! Is there such a thing as hate at first sight?
"You're in the wrong bathroom." I shoot back, splashing water on my face in an attempt to wash off the mascara.
There's a long silence as he silently observes my every move- like the pedophile I bet he is. "You took too long." He says after I dry off my now mascara-free face.
"I never told you to wait for me," I say matter-of-factly. "What do you want anyways?"
"Mate," he replies, his voice seems to reek of power. "You're my mate."
Now it's my turn to stay quiet as I slowly process what he is saying. I busy myself with drying off my hair and then tying it up in my usual high ponytail before realizing that my psychic abilities have failed to remove the man from my sight.
"I'm not you're mate," I finally say. "Look I don't know who you are, or who you might think I might be, but I can assure you that we are not friends. Not even a little bit." I add in, trying to paint the picture as clear as possible for this guy.
"That's not what I meant." He looks at me through the mirror and his eyes turn a metallic gold.
"Lady," he says but his lips don't move. "I know you can hear me, now let me show you what it means to have a mate." His lips still remain still but his eyes glow a stronger shade of gold and I feel my world go black as they hypnotize me.
A glowing red ribbon floats aimlessly in the blackness. Images of my friends and family surround me and I can't help but smile as the warm feeling of happiness surrounds me.
All of a sudden the red ribbon wiggles and I go to reach for it but I am too slow and it moves further into the darkness. A familiar feeling takes over as I begin to chase after it, not knowing where it will take me but needing to find something.
Walking in the black abyss it is as if I am inside a tunnel and I make out the tiny ray of light in the distance. By now I have lost the red ribbon and feel as if I have been walking for days, led only by a scent that I cannot seem to put a finger on.
I am at the edge of the tunnel now and there is a classroom on the other side of the round glass-like window. A tall brown-haired professor is giving a speech and the teenagers listen intently as if it is the most important thing in the world.
"Mates," he begins. "Make up a crucial part of our existence. Not only are they a key function in the reproductive process, but in a sense they are our other half." A few of the teens laugh and tease each other at the mention of reproducing. I assume this must have been a class on sexual-education, although personally I would see it strange to call your partner a mate.
"Now remember children, you only ever get one mate and the connection is felt almost immediately. Some describe it as an electric sensation while others beg to differ, from my own experience I feel as if my body is on fire. But everyone is different." I think about how my skin lit up when that freak kissed me.
"So what happens if you're mate dies?" Asks one of the boys.
"Well from what I've been told, it's like loosing half your soul." The professor starts, his eyes turn a shade of dark gold. "Some of them end up taking their own lives and some go crazy. They attack their own pack and in some cases even challenge their Alpha, if this does happen they are no longer a wolf, but a rabid dog. You've all heard of the Bloodhounds?" Everyone seems to nod simultaneously.
The glass window shatters and the darkness engulfs me once again. Images of love, passion and heartache flood my brain.
A mate can ultimately destroy you,
But that doesn't make the moments you spend together any less spectacular.
I gasp for air as the bright light bulbs of the mirror blind me and I pull my weight onto the large glossy sink base to keep myself from falling. I'm back in the bathroom now.
"What was that?" I say in between hoarse breathes.
I turn to look at the now brown eyes of the perpetrator. "You are my mate." I barely hear him over the thudding of my own heartbeat.
"H-how did you do that?" I ask, barely audible.
"I'm a werewolf." He smirks and I have a sudden urge to need to slap him again.
I can't control the sudden pang of hysteria that hits me. "First mates, then witches and now this!" I say in between bouts of laughter. "Renji Abarai! I gotta' give it to ya', you are one helluva' freaky guy!"
"My name," he says as if it's the most bizarre thing in the world. "How do you know my name?"
I stop and think but can't seem to get a grip on anything because my head starts pounding and there is a sudden urge to puke. I clutch my stomach and lean over the sink letting the contents of my dinner spill out in one huge tsunami.
A warm sensation rushes through my body as I feel two large hands curl around my waist and pull me up against a wall of muscle. "You okay?" He asks once I wash my face for the third time this night.
"Yeah," I say once I feel myself starting to calm down. "But~"
"Shh," I can't believe he just shushed me for the second time. "You're suffering from shock, it's a side effect of the visions."
"What?" I try again, hoping he'll give me the answers to what just happened to me.
But all he does is pulls me closer in a tighter embrace and this time I can't help but just relax in the moment.
We make our way out of the bathroom and I see the large yellow 'cleaning in progress' sign he must've placed before coming in after me.
He hands me a couple of breath mints and leads the way towards a small booth in the corner of the coffee shop. As we walk I feel the cold hard glares of the several customers and feel myself becoming jumpy and I walk even closer behind the werewolf man.
We sit down and are served almost immediately by a young brunette waitress. "Hello! Welcome to Arnolds Coffee house! What would the young lady and gentlemen be having tonight?" She asks, her voice definitely too enthusiastic for this time of the night, or morning if I were to say more accurately.
"I'll have a coffee and..." He looks towards me to place my order.
"And a small Latte and double choc cookie please," I say as she scribbles down our order.
"Alrighty! And sir would you like the Cappuccino, Latte, Flat white, Long Black or Espresso?" I can't help the giggle that escapes my mouth, what century did this man come from?
He just stares at her as if she a different species. "I'll have the coffee with the black beans, milk and smiley face thank you." His voice is hard and serious.
"Oh- kay then," the girl scribbles something down on her notepad. "One cappuccino for the man with the attitude. Is that all for tonight?" She asks and we both nod.
"No way!" I say as he once again goes over the finer details of his double life as a werewolf.
We have been sitting here for almost two hours now and I am halfway through my third latte. All this time he has been rambling on about werewolves, mates, packs and alphas, occasionally mentioning witches and other supernatural beings. Honestly all this talk was doing my head in and I still have trouble grasping the fact that any of this could be true, despite his little display of vision transmission.
"Like I was saying, an Alpha is the head of a pack, the highest ranking or the man in charge. I am a Beta, the second highest ranking of our pack the Silver Night Pack. And since you are my mate, you will also inherit the title of Beta." He repeated for the fifth time.
"But how exactly do you, well like, transform. Exactly?" I ask, giving up on actually making any sense of this whole situation.
He takes a moment to think for a second before answering me. "Well there is a certain level of control you need to have over your emotions when you shift," he starts. "When I was a pup I made the mistake of letting my anger control me when I shifted." His voice is quieter now. "I ended up attacking my younger sister, she was in a coma for two weeks." I look up to see his golden orbs.
The air around me is cold and I bring my arms up to hug my small body. Out of nowhere I hear a wolf howl and I instantly spin around.
I am in a forest.
A field of pure whiteness surrounds me, the air so crisp it is like sucking on breath mints. Another loud howl echoes in the distance followed by two more and I have an urge to howl back.
"Get a grip on yourself pup," I snap my head in the direction of the noise and see a little girl and a small red haired wolf pup. "You know for future Beta of this pack you're skills sure as hell suck!" She yells out teasingly.
The pup gets feistier as it charges at the wooden target once again, this time with more strength and fury. But unfortunately to no avail as the target still remains perfectly in tact, as if mocking the poor pup.
The little girl is in a fit of giggles as the small pup glares daggers at her. "Hahaha gee big bro, I think I'll probably end up challenging you for the title, there's no way you're going to be able to protect the Alpha!"
The tiny pup lets out another loud frustrated howl and before I could comprehend he starts running towards the little girl. She lets out a heart-wrenching scream as he knocks her over and starts clawing at her flesh, big chunky bits of meat fly out in every direction.
"Renji!" A booming voice cries out and the tiny wolf pup snaps out of it immediately and runs off into the woods.
And everything goes black once again.
I snap back into reality, my eyes wide with shock. " She survived. But they had to split us apart after that," he doesn't make any eye contact, as if ashamed of his actions. "I haven't talked to her since then. She and mum moved to another pack after mum found her mate and I lived with my uncle."
I take his hand in mine in an attempt to comfort him. "I can't imagine what that would be like," he looks at me weakly. "I've never met my parents before, they left me at an orphanage when I was four, but I don't really remember anything from before then." I say truthfully. "But I guess I was lucky that my step-father adopted me because I had one heck of an awesome childhood because of him!"
He chuckles at that and goes on to tell me more about the werewolf world as the sun soon enough wakes up signaling the dawn of another day.
"Did you know that when we werewolves have these sweet ass healing abilities?" He says enthusiastically, the five cappuccinos from earlier must finally be kicking in.
I look up at the light pink sky as I walk along the clean grey footpath. It's halfway through spring now and the cherry blossoms are just about ready to bloom, soon all the streets will be lit up with bright golden lights for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival- my favorite festival.
The night of the festival itself is magical. Street dancers, poets, school children, choirs and fire dancers alike come from far and wide to partake in a magnificent night of joy and celebration. The food stalls are always packed with cute Cherry Blossom themed sweets and savories and when the firecrackers go off at midnight it really does feel surreal.
I walk down a few more streets and start to wonder if this whole night was just a dream, because it too feels surreal. I take another look at the messily scribbled down numbers the man had given me. I guess the moment of truth would have to come tomorrow morning when I awaken from my long overdue beauty sleep.
Renji
Street signs, traffic lights and just about everything flies past me as I speed down the barren highways. My third, Ikkaku Madarame, had just notified me that our Alpha, Byakuya Kuchiki, needs me present for an important meeting. I could only hope this wouldn't have anything to do with our Luna's declining health.
Our Luna, Hisana Kuchiki, has been bedridden for almost three months now due to an unusual form of poison. The pack doctor along with fifty or so other medical geniuses have admitted that they have no idea how to cure this sickness, and as every day passes her condition only worsens.
On the rare days she seems okay- weak but okay. But occasionally she suffers from a number of animalistic episodes. I was present during her last one and by the end of it she was heavily sedated with a tranquilizer because she had almost ripped out Byakuya's throat.
Ever since she's been having these episodes Byakuya hasn't left her side. Completely neglecting both the pack and his duties as Alpha. Which has left me, the Beta, to pick up the pieces and take temporary control of the pack on his behalf.
I pull up into the large garage of the mansion known as the Pack House. It is the center of our land, serving as our main headquarters and home to the Alpha, Luna and I.
"Welcome back!" Shouts Ikkaku as I exit out of the vehicle, his tall shirtless figure leaning up against the entrance of the mansion. "You took you're sweet prissy ass time didn't ya!"
I smirk at his complete disregard of our Alpha's pet peeve for netiquette language. "How is he?" I ask, 'he' being our Alpha.
We walk down the elegantly furnished hallways. "Ah same old, he's still been cooped up in that room. Doesn't even come out for dinner anymore." He replies, disappointment lingers in his voice.
"Alright I can handle the rest from here," I tell him, seeing no reason to keep him any longer.
His footsteps echo down the halls and come to a stop just before turning the corner. "Oh by the way Beta, where were you last night? You smell... weird." He asks.
I think for a bit, debating whether or not I should tell anyone just yet. "I found my mate," I reply before heading up the stairs towards the Alpha's quarters.
"Congrats man!" I hear him shout after me.
The stench in here is almost unbearable. "Alpha," I say, suddenly feeling unsure of myself. "You called for me?"
His slumped over body snaps out of daze and his bloodshot eyes meet mine. "Yes Renji, I did." His voice is hoarse. "The doctors say that Hisana is dying. That it is only a matter of time now before the poison takes over."
A part of me dies right then. Without a Luna or a future heir to the pack there is no way we will be able to continue the Alpha bloodline, our pack will have no future. "There's got to be a way to save her." I say as the realization sinks in.
"There might be," he looks out the windows towards the large estate gardens. "I'm not entirely sure the information is legitimate, but there are myths about it. Panacea ad magia (cure to magic), Orihime Inoue, the Hecate Witch."
My eyes snap open, there was no way Byakuya would go and ask for the help of a Witch. They are vile creatures, feeding off only the darkest of spirits and the Hecate Witch, well she was in a whole different league of her own. "You know Witch's can't be trusted right?"
He rolls his bloody eyes at me. "Of course I know that. But she's our only hope," I want to argue against him but I know he's right. "Which brings me to my preposition. Renji I want you to take over my position as Alpha."
Dun dun dun...
Sorry for the wait, I pretty much just concentrated on getting this chapter longer than my usual and will hopefully be able to keep that up.
I'm going to try and commit to uploading a new chapter every Friday night or Saturday morning (Aussie time).
But like always, hope you enjoyed and please comment in the comment section below :D