(Rubs hands together evilly) Kukuku... time to start the sequel to Blood and Desire. I've had this idea for a while, but it just now started to take enough form to make me loose interest in finishing the first one. I'm not gonna give you a summary, cause I'm not too sure about the plot myself, but if you haven't finished reading Blood and Desire first, go and read that or you won't get what's happening up until the 3rd chapter. The first chapter or two are gonna be centered around Kouen and what happened to him after he took up permanent residence in the living world (about 15 years after to be exact). So, I hope you like it!
Chapter 1- Guns and Knives
Kouen yawned as he walked slowly down a deserted road, rubbing his eye; for his blind one was covered by a patch; and trying to wake up fully. The thing he hated most about having a real job was that you had to get up early, for him, 4 in the morning to be able to get there in time at the pace he moves that early. When he got a job offer for a permanent job as an assistant band director, then when LeBlanc retired, full time, he couldn't really refuse. He barely had enough money to get by before he died, became a werewolf, and came back, and that was when he was working for the government, so he was up to anything that was thrown at him. As long as it gave him sufficient funds that is.
And seeing as he never really used cars or anything, he had to walk across town to get to the school while trying not to get run over by a truck or something. Life had been surprisingly easy for him since he came back, but he still had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. It had been 15 years since Aizen had been killed, and things had become almost normal. Seireitei had gotten back into the swing of things, the werewolf realm was back in order thanks to a couple werewolves who were willing to work to get it that way, and things had died down in the living world, thanks to his and Kurosaki Ichigo's efforts to keep the Hollow population down. But ever since his lover, Hitsugaya Toushiro had been killed, Kouen felt that; even with Hyourinmaru's presence in his mind; that he was alone.
Who am I kidding? He thought sourly. I am alone. Sure every month or so I go to visit the Shinnigami, but I live alone, my friends are busy else where and I have no family left alive.
"Quit being so depressed wolf." Hyourinmaru growled at him. "You have me, and you know that I'm always willing to talk." ever since Hyourinmaru had taken up residence in his mind, Kouen noticed that the dragon spirit had loosened up quite a bit when compared to the silent, stiff spirit that he had once been.
Well, the fact that I'm talking to a spirit doesn't rest well with me. It feels creepy... no offense.
The only response he got was a growl, followed by a snort. He chuckled and cracked his knuckles to try to wake up more, the popping sound echoing in the alley the was cutting through. "Why do I live so far away from the damn school again?" he muttered to himself. "Oh that's right. Its the only apartment I could afford. And pride be damned if I mooch off of Shadow."
"Oi! Kouen!" yelled a slightly feminine voice behind him. The werewolf turned around to see Kurosaki Karin, now in collage, running up to him, waving an arm in the air. He smirked as she skidded to a halt in front of him.
"What's the rush?" he asked. "Ichigo finally get himself killed?" Karin punched him in the shoulder and grinned.
"No stupid. I just noticed you walking and decided to say hi." she snapped teasingly. Kouen's smirk turned into a grin that was identical to hers as he regarded the girl whom he thought of as a sister. Besides being taller and being a bit more filled out, she hadn't changed much in the past 15 years. She was still a tomboy, still hung out with exclusively boys, and still played soccer in an almost obsessed fashion.
"Right, and force me into playing soccer with you and your friends again." he snorted.
"And that." she squinted at his face and rolled her eyes. "You forgot to shave you chin again." Kouen blinked and felt his chin, groaning mentally when he felt the bit of hair there that seemed insistent of staying present.
"Well, its four in the morning. What do you expect?"
"Good point. And don't you have another two hours worth of staggering through alley ways to get to the middle school?"
"Yes, and I'll just leave you now." he said, his heart leaping into his throat in surprise. I have the appearance of a 16 year old and yet I have facial hair. Well, its better than zits I suppose. He thought as he walked off, leaving Karin to go her own way.
As he walked, he heard a sharp cry from another alley a few meters away and stopped, listening carefully. Inching towards it and peaking into it, he groaned when he saw a large group surrounding two young children, most of the offenders being armed with either a blade or a gun. "Great. Just great." he snorted quietly. Picking up a rock that was laying by his foot, he chucked it at one of their heads and knocked him out, getting surprised yells from the others, who turned to look at the werewolf, who was tossing another rock in one hand.
"Now then. Is this hardly fair?" he sneered. "All of you against those two? Tsk tsk." he closed his only visible eye and shook his head in false dismay. He heard a gun being cocked and pulled out one of his own, thankful that he always carried one. With out even opening his eye, he shot the man in the foot, the other ones taking a step back. A brave; or stupid; one charged forward with a knife, ready to stab the werewolf in the gut, but said wolf moved out of the way at the last second, grabbing the man on the back of the neck and pressing several points on his back, making him go limp. "Any one else?"
The thugs gulped and one shoved another forward, as though putting him on the top of a slaughter list at a slaughter house. The one who was pushed forward cursed at the other and staggered cautiously forward while Kouen watched him carefully, and casually. He was the only one that wasn't armed and the wolf guessed that he was going to try a fist fight, which was exactly what the man did not a second later. Kouen moved and dodged out of the way with deadly grace that only werewolves could posses and struck the man in the neck, knocking him unconscious. Glaring at the two that were left, he uttered a low growl and they scurried away quickly, nearly tripping over their own feet.
"Well if that wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done I don't know what is." he muttered to himself. When he turned to walk away, one of the children ran up to him and pulled on the back of his shirt.
"Wait."
Kouen turned and looked down. The child looked to be no older than 10 years old, had black hair, and brown eyes, and looked oddly familiar in the face. "Yes?"
"Thanks... for saving us I mean." he murmured shyly.
"No problem. What are kids like you two doing out so early anyway?" the child blushed some and muttered a 'nothing' out before turning to his sister and running up to her, pulling her to her feet. "Right. Well, I suggest you head on home before something else happens." pausing for a second he continued, "And what are your names?" when he received no reply, he turned around fully and blinked when there was no one there, and no trace; not even a scent; that they had been there. Ghosts? No... those were mortals that were attacking them. Then... what? Shaking away the disturbing thoughts that were flooding his mind, he continued to tromp to the other side of town and a slightly faster pace than before. He could get there in an instant, but he found that walking woke him up more, and made him less irritable... and didn't scare any onlookers.
About 5 minutes before he reached the school, he heard a familiar cry near by and ran a hand through his unruly hair. "What an active morning." he groaned. Feeling around for Ichigo's riatsu, he snorted. "Typical. The one time I need the strawberry, he's not here." looking around, Kouen vanished from where he was standing and appeared in front of the Hollow that was chasing a ghost around. Clenching his fist and surrounding it in red fire, he smashed hand into the Hollow's mask, shattering it and making the monster vaporize into thin air. Hearing another cry behind him, he turned around to see another Hollow holding the ghost up, about to devour it. Growling, he crushed that one's mask as well. "Where'd that one come from? I didn't sense it." he said in wonder, scratching the side of his head.
Looking down at the ghost, he sighed to see that it was fine. "I'm sorry to say that, until a Shinnigami comes across you, you're on your own. I can't send you to Soul Society." apologized the wolf, a bit sheepish. The ghost whimpered and inched backwards, fear showing through on its pale face as it pointed behind him, trying to say something. Turning around, Kouen didn't have time to register the other Hollow before it knocked him into a brick wall, making blood spurt from his mouth. Sliding to the ground, he glared at the monster and growled, staggering to his feet. "Where'd you come from ugly?" he growled.
The Hollow chuckled moved toward him. "What's the matter wolf? You too weak to handle little old me?" it said, its voice full of malice. Kouen growled again and flung himself at it, shattering its mask like he had the others.
Where are all these coming from? And why can't I sense them?! Hyourinmaru I could use some help here! He called out in his mind. The dragon growled and snorted his consent. Kouen's right hand was surrounded with ice while his left was still covered in fire.
"Combine the two. There's another coming." ordered the ice spirit.
Kouen snorted and made a swirl of fire around his ice covered hand, gaping as a huge portal opened and Hollows poured out. "You call that another one!?" he yelped, his eye wide. His cell phone beeped and he pulled it out, seeing that it was orders from Seireitei, which was strange. He never got orders from them because he wasn't a Shinnigami. It read that there was going to be a Hollow invasion and the wolf growled, shoving the phone in his pocked. "No shit smart ones!" he growled.
"Need some help?" came a familiar voice beside him. Ichigo stood beside him with Zangetsu slung over his shoulder.
"About time you got here strawberry." snapped Kouen, glaring at him before he was forced to dodge away as a couple Hollows flew at him. "What's with the sudden increase of Hollows? Did the 13 taichos move here or something?" he demanded as he proceeded to crush the Hollows' masks.
"Not as far as I know." Ichigo replied, slicing another Hollow in half. "I didn't know they were here until I my Shinnigami badge went nuts."
"That's normal for you." Kouen grunted, having been swatted by one of them. "What's strange is that I didn't sense them, and that I got orders from Soul Society, which never happens. They must be desperate."
"I guess so." came the reply. Soon enough, the Hollows were all destroyed and they could take a breather.
"And there is; or was, depending if it ran off or not; a ghost some where around here. I need to get going or Hooper's gonna pull something for my being late." the werewolf said, brushing some dust off of his shirt and rubbing a sore spot on his arm. The principal (Hooper) of the middle school knew Kouen was a werewolf, as did the other staff members, for some unexplained reason, and also knew that he helped with other things around town, so he was aloud to be a little late sometimes, but he was already 30 minutes late, and didn't want to keep them waiting any longer.
Disappearing to the school, making sure to appear on the roof where no one would see him, Kouen checked himself for any blood or anything he didn't notice before and dropped to the ground cautiously, peaking around the side of the building to see some of the students crowded around the band hall, becoming impatient. Sighing that they hadn't called anyone to come unlock it yet, he waded his way through the crowd and unlocked the door, apologizing for his lateness. Luckily though, there was only a couple weeks left in the school year, and he would be able to get another job for the summer a bit closer to home, or just disappear off the face of the earth for a while. Either one worked.
The day flew by quickly and Kouen spent his time after school submitting grades and being bored, leaning back in the rolling chair, his feet propped on his desk. At about six, there was a knock on the office door and the werewolf was snapped out of a day dream he had been having, more commonly known with his friends as spacing out. "Yeah?" he grunted, sitting up.
He saw that it was an old friend of his, or two of them rather, standing impatiently at the door to his office. None other than Alex and Rowan, a couple of cat demons who had been friends for years, so close that they could read the others thoughts and talk in perfect unison so often that some thought that they were sisters. It was creepy to Kouen.
"Did you forget that we have a soccer match with Kurosaki today?" asked Rowan, glaring at him.
"Well sorry. I've been busy." Kouen snapped a bit more viciously than he meant. "I had a very active morning. First thugs attacking a couple of kids, who disappear soon after without a trace, then a massive Hollow attack. I actually got orders from Seireitei to take care of them. That never happens." he continued, trailing after them as they walked away. Though it had been 15 years since they last came to this school, they both still had the appearance of 14 year olds, thanks to being demons.
"Massive Hollow attack? Like invasion size?" Alex asked curiously. "And you forgot-"
"I know." the wolf interrupted, twitching. "Yes, like invasion size. But it was just regular, weak Hollows. Not anything like Menos or Arrancar." he fell silent for a moment before continuing. "The strange thing is, I didn't sense them before they attacked. It was like something was clogging my senses, or filtering them to keep me from identifying Hollow riatsus from my own and other creatures."
"That is strange." murmured the brunette thoughtfully. "You said that the kids that were being attacked disappeared? Did they say or do anything to make you suspicious? Or were they just regular ghosts?"
"Yes, no, and no. They were being attacked my mortals. So they weren't ghosts, and they just said thank you, then when I asked their names so I could tell their parents what happened, they were gone. Strange, no?"
"Very strange." both said in unison, making Kouen wince.
"If they weren't ghosts, and weren't mortals, than what were they?" Rowan mused.
"They didn't even leave a scent."
"Weird. We'll do some digging later, right now, we have some Kurosaki ass to kick." the dirty blond continued with a grin, making the others chuckle as their leisurely pace became a swift run.
Weird place to leave off I know, but there's a reason for it. You'll see in the next chapter when I get around to writing it. Until then, review!