FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Lykos Chapter 11 (Hour of the Wolf)

Ocean waves crashed upon the shores of O'ahu, reaching up all the way to the Iona household. The sound was comforting and reassuring to Marco, reminding him of a simpler life, a younger time, a time where there had been so few concerns. He dreamed of running around the island barefoot with his friends, feeling safe and happy... but even the dream didn't feel like enough. He tossed and turned in bed, feeling cold and alone. It just wasn't right, it wasn't the same without his pack. As if a response to his thoughts, a distant howl cut through the night air.

Gleaming golden eyes snapped open. Marco inhaled and sat up as his ears pushed into points and his fangs sharpened. Bristling black hair pushed out of his cheeks, his sideburns thickening as the dark stubble crept across his jaw line and his upper lip. He pushed himself out of bed, his lengthening claws catching in the blankets. He flicked his wrist before the blanket came off.

Marco moved to the window and carefully opened it, sliding the panes wide before he took a few steps back, charged and jumped. He slipped through the gap and landed outside the house with minimal effort. A sigh of relief crossed his lips as he looked up at the crescent moon in the night's sky. Marco walked away from his house, his feet sinking in the soft sand as the claws emerged from his toes. The wind whipped across his hairy chest and the baggy boxers he wore, though if they had been board shorts he wouldn't have been dressed strangely for the island at all.

There was silence all around except for the ocean waves. Marco walked down the beach, wondering if he'd just been hearing things... until there was another howl in the distance. It cut through the air, and then it cut through him. Marco's heart sped up. It was the call of a lonely wolf, just like him... a wolf that needed someone. Marco pushed off against the sand, breaking into a sprint. Each stride sent up a spray of sand behind him, his arms falling into perfect form.

The wind against his skin, the sand beneath his feet, it felt amazing to be running again... Maybe even better than ever before. His muscled throbbed, his arms felt tighter, his legs tingled with heat. He could feel his instincts most keenly. Once he had put some distance between himself and his house, Marco lifted his head, parted his lips and let out a deep, resounding howl. As the sound lifted to the heavens, the unknown wolf joined in as well. Marco wasn't sure how, but his ears seemed to tell him right where it was coming from... the slopes of mount Ka?ala. It would be a bit of a climb, but for some reason Marco felt drawn to that howl, to that wolf, to a connection with his present rather than his past. He had to find that wolf.

****

Near perfect silence filled the sanctuary room built onto the back of the museum. The wood and paper walls were hand crafted and carefully maintained and the floor was scrubbed by hand once a day. Light emanated from paper lanterns hung around the room, filling it with a warm cream colored glow. It was perfectly serene for humans, but Jesse had to admit that it had proved to be tranquil for him as well. Christmas had come and gone and in the days following the lessons had continued. Jesse opened his eyes slowly, wondering just how much time had passed.

Jesse stood up slowly onto the red cushion he'd been meditating on, looking back at Raf and Andy. The brothers were still deep within their own minds, their breathing and heart rates in sync. It was a pleasant change from the fights the brothers had started to get into. Ren assured him it was a good sign, that they were gaining their independence back, but he missed the unity they had shared.

The young man crossed the wooden floor, mindful to make as little noise as possible as he slid open the door and left the sanctuary room. He stepped down onto cold stepping stones meandering through a small moss covered garden before coming in the back of the museum. He glanced around, taking it in at night. The main lights were off, but spot lights still illuminated the dioramas, the pictures and the displays. Jesse navigated his way through before turning into the small hallway that led to Ren's office. He paused outside, catching sight of light from under the crack of the door. He debated heading up to bed or not.

"Enter." Ren's voice came from the other side of the door. Jesse cringed a bit before he reached and turned the knob, easing the door open. Ren sat at her desk inside, a stack of paperwork before her. She had apparently been filling out checks, documents, forms, files and requisition requests for several hours. She looked up at Jesse, looking him over carefully. Ren had reviewed his file when she had agreed to take him on for lessons. She had seen him as an incoming freshman with intense purple hair, she'd seen pictures of him with a shaved head, and now his brown hair was growing out again, falling into a messy bowl cut that reminded her of her own children when they were young. Jesse shifted a bit.

"Up late?" He asked a bit nervously. It was rather obvious that she was awake, but he wasn't sure how to start the conversation. Ren gestured to the seat across from her desk and pulled out a spare tea cup, pouring tea from a pot she had sitting on a warmer.

"Are you done with meditation for the night?" Ren asked. Jesse nodded a bit uncertainly.

"What time is it?" He asked. Ren smiled a bit.

"Three oh four." She replied. Jesse's eyebrows shot up.

"We were out there that long?" He whispered. Ren slid his cup over to him before she lifted her own.

"What sleep can offer the body, meditation can offer the mind; rest, healing, tranquility. All three of you could use quite a bit of that." She said. Jesse gave a sheepish grin as he nodded.

"Especially after this morning... We're going to have to figure out a bathroom rotation or something." Jesse said. Ren smirked.

"It is natural, even for human brothers, to try and establish dominance... Though usually it doesn't end up with claws being brandished." Ren said, "But what about you? How are you doing?" Ren asked. Jesse was a bit surprised given how formal Ren had been at first.

"I... I think I'm doing alright. I'm... not as paranoid about what is going to happen as I was before." Jesse said softly. Ren nodded, sipping her tea again.

"I do not believe anyone can blame you for wanting to do what you did... And while it was a terrible decision that took a life, I think... for the most part... There will be balance in the end." Ren said. Jesse nodded softly, reminded of the many reasons he had to feel guilty. Ren looked at his face and then took another breath before she stood and move over to her book shelf. With careful effort she slid it along the track.

"What are you doing now?" Jesse asked. He knew if his tail had been out, it would have undoubtedly been wagging.

"Come with me." Ren said simply. Jesse did as he was told and rose to his feet, following after her. She crossed the secret room to the back wall, heading toward the peculiar photograph of four military officers. Three had their faces crossed over with black ink while the last was left unmarred. She took the picture off the wall, looked at it for a moment and then offered it to Jesse. Confused, Jesse took the photograph, wondering what meaning he was intended to take from it.

Ren lowered her eyes to the floor for a moment before she looked out of the window. There was a glimpse of the woman she was beneath the veil of her formality. She looked vulnerable, concerned, almost scared. Jesse nearly forgot about the photograph, simply looking at his mentor, shocked that he was seeing so deep into her at the moment.

"That photograph is a constant reminder to me about the importance of keeping our secret... Of ensuring that the peace and tranquility that your kind has will continue. It is a reminder of the one time... the secret could not be kept." Ren said. Jesse nearly gasped, looking back at the photograph and then back at Ren.

"I... I didn't think it ever got out." Jesse said. Ren gave a weak smile.

"Keepers have worked hard to smooth it out, to erase all memory, but... nothing can undo that day." Ren said softly, "You are aware of the meaning of this museum, yes?" she asked. Jesse nodded.

"It remembers those Japanese Americans that were kept at the internment camps around the country during the second World War." Jesse said. Again Ren nodded, reaching up to hold the golden pendant on her neck - the ring with four points, the symbol of the moon rise.

"My grandfather was held as an 'enemy alien' at the Kooskia Internment camp in Idaho in 1943. After my father's birth, but before the birth of my uncle, my grandfather had been bitten by an alpha wolf. Before his internment he ran a grocery store, he helped all the people of his town, he was a good man." Ren paused, "But when you lock up a werewolf, when they have no where to go and no one to protect them... There is no way to keep the secret." Ren whispered. Jesse looked shocked, almost horrified. It was as if he had never pictured that sort of fate.

"But... But don't werewolves go to jail sometimes? Or the army?" Jesse asked.

"Sometimes, yes. If they are foolish enough to be caught they may go to jail, but there are Keepers in the criminal justice system. Special prisons, rehab facilities, numerous places to send the prisoner where that will go unnoticed." Ren explained, "But the internment camps were out of our hands. My grandfather was not the only wolf to change before their very eyes."

"He didn't tear them apart? Kill them all? Try to free the captives?" Jesse asked. Ren gave another slight snort.

"He knew as well as any of them did that if the camp collapsed, none of the men there would have lives to return to. The government would hunt them down. They very nearly executed the wolves in the camps... but my grandfather made an agreement. Cooperation rather than death. The werewolves were rounded up and taken to New Mexico. There... the military experimented on them. They tried to learn how lycanthropy worked. My father tried to explain the fang and claw clans, the origin of the curse, but they dismissed it all as superstition." Ren explained. Jesse was dumbfounded.

"But... I mean... You... You guys can shoot force fields out of your hands, and like... induce visions." He whispered. Ren let out a short laugh at that before nodding.

"You have grown up in an age where Keepers balance science and faith, but back then they were all struggling to learn their place in the world." Ren said, taking a moment, "My grandfather was held in captivity with the other wolves for over four years. He watched as the military tried to weaponize the curse, to make soldiers that could heal in an instant, that could tear apart their enemies... and they almost succeeded." Ren whispered.

"What happened? What stopped it?" Jesse asked. Ren looked down at her cup.

"It started with a single keeper, a lieutenant and aide to General Kopland." She said, gesturing to the man on the far right of the picture, "His death was ruled out to be complications from the flu, but they would have never known to look for the sap of the Umdhlebi. The keeper was reassigned to General Leeland." She said, pointing to the second man in the picture, "As his health began to fail, he relied on his aide to convey his orders."

"He put the keeper in charge?" Jesse asked with surprise. Ren nodded.

"Files were destroyed, records altered. Officers had already been sworn to secrecy by the government, but then they were reassigned to posts where they would have no one to talk to about them. General Leeland passed away just before a fire destroyed the laboratory facility and all the samples it held." Ren explained.

"So all of the evidence, it got destroyed?" Jesse asked. Ren shrugged slightly.

"The physical evidence, perhaps... but not my grandfather, not the other wolves... and not the idea. You can never destroy an idea. The generals knew, but they also knew that their research had led to this. General Dallas believed that they had been cursed for dabbling with the occult and took his own life as penance, but general Hader... he had always been the most cautious of the four. He knew it had to be the work of someone inside, someone with intimate knowledge, someone that wanted to bury the secret." Ren said.

"So how did the keeper get him?" Jesse asked. Ren looked out the window for a moment before she looked at Jesse.

"They didn't." Ren said. Jesse looked confused. Ren broke the eye contact, "He disappeared from the military, went AWOL. Everything he had seen, everything he knew, went with him. No keeper has ever found him. He's undoubtedly passed away by now, but there is no way of knowing if he made a video, a book, a document, a letter, a confession... An unavoidable circumstance nearly destroyed the society of the wolves and it took a great many people to build it back together..."

Jesse looked at Ren for a long moment before he closed his eyes and his head drooped. He had been wholly and completely invested in the story, learning everything that Ren had to say, taking it all in... but now he realized the reason why. She wasn't venting, she wasn't getting it off her chest. Ren was teaching him. He took a soft, almost sobbing breath before his eyes opened, glimmering faintly gold.

"And what I did was an avoidable mistake... that could have destroyed our society." He whispered. Ren's expression softened. She moved over and she rested her hand on Jesse's shoulder.

"It could have... but it didn't." Ren said, "And I know you'll be more careful in the future. You will be a protector of your kind, as I am and as my father was." Ren said softly. Jesse looked up at Ren, his eyes glistening with moisture.

"Does it all really hang on such a thin thread though? No matter what I do, that general was out there for all those years..." Jesse whispered. Ren nodded.

"The future is always uncertain. There are werewolves in almost every civilized and uncivilized part of the world. Our entire society could be brought down by a single wolf, by a single direwolf, in a single moment. We can't change that... but we can try to ensure that you aren't the wolf that does it, that the wolves you know don't do it. We can keep the secret as best we can, and that's all we can do." Ren said. Jesse felt a little relieved at that.

"But what happens if it gets out? What happens if the world knows?" Jesse asked.

"Even if the hour of the wolf comes to an end, even if the world turns against us, they have to find us first. We have gotten very good at hiding over the years." Ren grinned softly.

"You say... our kind? I mean, your grandfather was a werewolf, and you know so much..." Jesse whispered. Ren looked at him, one eyebrow raising before she suppressed a smirk.

"No, I am not a werewolf... But is it so hard to imagine us as connected? Wherever there are werewolves, there are keepers. We are unified through experience, family, love and blood... What would a Keeper do without wolves to protect? We are connected and we will work together." Ren said. Jesse looked at her for a long moment before smiling gently.

"Thank you for sharing all that, I know it couldn't have been easy." He admitted. Ren nodded.

"It never is, but if the experiences my grandfather had can serve anyone half as well as the stories have served me, then it needs to be retold." Ren said, glancing at the clock, "And you need to be told to go to bed and get some sleep." She added.

"You're right, we've got more training tomorrow. I just have to go get the boys." Jesse admitted. Ren, however, shook her head.

"They are already asleep. You can leave them to morning." Ren said.

"They are already asleep? How do you know?" He asked.

"They were asleep when I checked on you, and without you there to sync to they would have drifted to an even deeper sleep." Ren said.

"You checked on us? I didn't hear you..." Jesse murmured.

"I wouldn't be a very good keeper if I could let a werewolf catch me." Ren said with a saucy grin.

****

Subway cars zipped beneath the streets of New York, navigating the sprawling city even through the middle of the night. The cars were mostly empty as the sun started to climb into the sky, casting light down into the small terminal stations. Even as the sun rose, the subterranean path was dark... but it wasn't to last. The subway's center of gravity began to shift as it ascended. Used up ball point pens, pieces of lint and a rubber ball began rolling down the floor toward the back as the rapid transit climbed out of the darkness and into the light.

Dawn plunged in through the windows, spilling over Fletcher's body as he slept. The change in light penetrated Fletcher's eye lids, his eyes darting around beneath their shielding before they stopped in place and opened. Light brown eyes searched his surroundings as his brain tried to work out where he was. The last thing he had remembered was playing on the PS4 with his brother, covered in cookie crumbs. Outside the window the city unfolded beyond him, the subway now on an elevated track.

Fletcher blinked rapidly before he fumbled for his phone, though as he pulled it out he found a very large wad of money. Fletcher's face tensed up in even more confusion as he turned, looking around. The car was empty except for him. Longing for company, Fletcher turned to look at his reflection. Even that was a bit of a surprise. He reached up slowly and rubbed the bridge of his nose. His glasses were gone... but his vision wasn't impaired.

"What the hell is going on?" Rayne whispered, blinking a few times until he realized what had happened. There was a slight pressure against his eyes, the presence of contact lenses. He'd always thought about getting them, but had he gotten them in his sleep? Had he traversed New York at night in his sleep? Where had the money come from? Fletcher had a deep, sinking feeling in his stomach that something was wrong, and if his sister found out he'd never hear the end of it. Fletcher took a breath and stood up, hanging on to a ceiling support as he moved to peer out of the window and get his bearings. As he gazed at his reflection, though, his face grew relaxed and the black spilled out of the center of his eyes, dominating the rest.

"Oh Rayne, why did you have to wake up before me?" Demeas murmured, reaching down to start lewdly groping himself, sliding his zipper down before the hand plunged in. Rayne's underwear was still oddly moist from the night's activities, a fact that pleased Demeas to no end. He spent half his concentration on making Fletcher forget what he'd just witnessed and the other on reminiscing... remembering a night that had been the most amazing he had experienced in centuries.

Demeas thought of the gay club he'd wandered into, all the nice and accommodating men that had flirted with him, even given him money. He thought of the fun he'd had in the bathroom, the amazing drinks he'd tasted. Humanity had grown so much from the warring children they had been into the loose and irresponsible adolescence he had always hoped they would become. Demeas knew he had to be careful, but he couldn't help but spoil Fletcher a bit. Ridding him of his pathetic glasses, giving him a few mementos, it was the least he could do after all.

Demeas reached into his pocket and pulled out the sunglasses he'd been wearing to hide his black eyes, slipped them on and sat down on the seat. His hand continued to grope and squeeze Rayne's meat through the fabric as he waited for the appropriate stop to arrive. Without any more hiccups, Rayne would awake in his bed, covered in cookie crumbs, unaware that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Demeas smiled broadly at that.

****

Coarse, harsh rock crumbled beneath Marco's battered feet as he ascended, the werewolf taking respite only on patches of moss and grass that clung to the mountain slopes. Marco was starting to regret not taking shoes, though his healing factor was doing the best it could to compensate for the pumice. He reached out, clawed fingers gripping the stone as he pulled himself upwards. He'd been climbing for over an hour, honing in on the lonely howl. It had felt quite natural, quite right at first... but as the early morning light crept across the sky, Marco worried more about what he was going to find.

After all his effort, all his exertion, he finally felt level ground above him. He hoisted himself up, his muscled shoulders bearing the brunt of the work. Once his torso was up enough he slipped a leg up onto the ledge and sprung up, landing in a three point stance with his fist against the ground. His round chest rose and fell with breath, his amber eyes gazing off ahead... and seeing a naked body.

A twenty five year old man was kneeling, naked, at the other side of the rock ledge, peering out across the ocean at the rising sun. It glittered like a gleaming disc of fire as it ascended. Marco slowly rose to his feet, looking the stranger over. He had the build of a swimmer with golden hints to his skin. His hair was sleek and black, his body mostly hairless. His bare ass was shapely and healthy. Marco decided to risk it a bit and cleared his throat.

The stranger spun around and faced Marco, snarling with sharp fangs and gleaming yellow eyes, a Mongolian beard framing his mouth. The Asian young man looked at Marco, but seeing the pointed ears and fangs of another Lycan, he slowly shrunk back down, looking almost relieved.

"You're the wolf that answered my call?" he asked gently, his word choice a little stilted.

"I am... It sounded so lonely. Are you separated from your pack?" Marco asked, moving to sit down cross legged a short distance from the other wolf. He nodded slowly.

"My parents and I are on vacation, but II am very far from my pack and my keepers." He said. Marco nodded.

"Me too... Spread out across the whole continent. When I was a kid I thought vacations wer e the best time of the year, but now I can't wait to get back to school." Marco said. The man across smiled gently.

"You are in university, yes?" he asked. Marco nodded. The man smiled more brightly at that, "Always good to meet an educated ookami." He smiled. Marco recognized that word and looked the naked man over again.

"You're from Japan?" Marco asked.

"Yes, my name is Aoshi." He said, bowing his head. Marco replied with a bow of his own before raising it.

"I am Marco." He replied, pausing, "I think the head Keeper in our area is Japanese, though a few generations removed." Marco said. Aoshi nodded at that, brushing his black hair back over his shoulder.

"Many keepers are, the shrine is there." Aoshi said. Marco blinked a bit at that. He had been meaning to learn more about the keepers after all, but he hadn't gotten around to it with all he had to learn about being a wolf...

"So do a lot of keepers go there from around the world?" Marco asked.

"Many, or at least the ones that help entire... what is the word... Provinces? Regions?" Aoshi said, obviously a bit frustrated with his language.

"I get the picture, it's alright." Marco said. Aoshi nodded with relief, though he shifted a bit before sighing.

"The worst part is that they are the only ones that could help me sleep. I am so tired here." Aoshi said. Marco shifted his weight a bit at that.

"You can't sleep? Did something happen? Was it a hunter?" Marco asked. Aoshi shook his head.

"No, it... is something that has not happened yet. A dream, a prophecy." Aoshi said. The words struck through Marco like ice, harkening back to the many visions he'd been having. He swallowed a bit nervously.

"What sort of dreams If... if you don't mind me asking." Marco said.

"The streets of Tokyo, darkness spreading out. The balance collapses... Hunters strike, we are unable to turn back, and our own allies betray us. It is a dream I have been having over and over again." Aoshi said weakly.

"I'm in the woods... There's a hunter there with me and my pack mates. We were working together, but then he turns and fires." Marco said gently. Aoshi's almond brown eyes looked at him with soft deference.

"Then it is not only my clan. The wolves of the world are having bad dreams, dreams of something coming." Aoshi whispered.

"But they are just dreams, right? Or... left over Lotus in my blood?" Marco asked weakly.

"We... are a divine creature, born of wrath and redemption... Of hate and love. Our very souls control our fate, the boundaries between man and animal. Our senses are beyond that of normal beings. We smell better, we hear better and we have better intuition. These dreams are an extension of yourself, trying to help you, to warn you." Aoshi said softly.

"But you still have your keepers help you sleep?" Marco asked. Aoshi nodded.

"To see the dream clearer, to know what must me done, to work past the fear." He shrugged, "Otherwise I wake myself up."

"I kept getting woke up." Marco said gently, "I thought it was just me, I thought I was cracking up. But if that stuff actually starts happening, how will I be ready?" Marco asked. Aoshi smiled softly.

"You know this hunter turns and fires. You will be ready when the moment comes." Aoshi replied, though he turned and glanced out to the horizon again, "My parents are going to kill me if I'm not there." He murmured.

"What are you doing for new years?" Marco asked on the spur of the moment. Aoshi turned, looking surprised at that.

****

Awareness began creeping into Rayne's mind as his body started to awaken, though the first sensation was oddly numbness. Fletcher felt cold drool on his cheek, his feet, his legs... But there was an odd pressure beneath his stomach and legs. Rayne opened one eye and glanced down, realizing he'd fallen asleep on his own arms and had cut the circulation off.

Fletcher slid one arm out and began to wiggle his fingers, thankful that his brain could still send signals without getting them in turn. It only took a few moments for an intense tingling to spread up his arm. Fletcher's face contorted into one of discomfort before he fished out his other hand and began reviving his left arm. Rayne crawled out of bed in his boxers and stumbled for the door, swinging his arms from side to side before he grabbed at the door knob and eased it open, peeking his head out. Omri leaned up against the bathroom door, his black hair wrangled into a birds nest of forgotten product, his eyelids heavy. Despite his vertical slumber, he brought his fist against the door.

"Hurry UP Kirstie, some of us don't have all winter break." Omri groaned.

"So that hasn't changed." Rayne contemplated.

"Yeah... When you left for college she felt entitled to take up your time rather than splitting it... Typical ELITIST!" Omri shouted again before banging on the door.

"We should have turned Fletcher's room into another bathroom!" Kirstie shouted back. Fletcher cringed at that.

"But it has such a nice view..." Rayne said.

"Speaking of which, are we gonna do Times Square this year?" Omri asked. Fletcher considered before nodding.

"Yeah, I think we should... Your senior year, pretty big year for me too. We should celebrate it, welcome in 2015 Fletcher style." Rayne beamed.

"It's going to take me months before I stop writing 2014 on my homework..." Omri mused.

"Maybe we should sign some checks, get you used to it." Rayne smirked. Omri rolled his eyes.

"Oh my god, how old are you... Who uses checks anymore?" Omri laughed. The two brothers had always been close, just a little over ten months close. The door finally opened and Kirstie emerged, her hair artfully styled and her outfit precise. What Rayne had mastered in Hipster style, Kirstie had managed in trendy... with her own personal touches.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it? I'll leave you two gorillas to decide who goes next." Kirstie said before sauntering off.

"Joke's on you! We're built like monkeys!" Rayne shouted. Omri grinned and let out a monkey call down the hallway, eliciting a grunt of frustration from their sister.

****

Haku Iona moved down the hallways of his home as he had every morning for the last eighteen years. His bare feet traced along the well worn wood floors, the sunlight spilling down a window at the end of the hallway, bouncing off the floor and the lower portion of the white walls. Haku padded along by instinct and by wrote performance of the acts, reaching for the door knob to the bathroom. He eased it open and took a half step in before stopping, seeing the startled look of his son standing before the mirror.

Marco's hair was still wet from his shower, a towel wrapped around his waist. A can of shaving cream rested in his left hand and a razor in the right, but he had not yet attacked the black sideburns on his cheeks, the start of a black mustache on his upper lip or the fuzz bringing it all together on his chin. Haku was a bit surprised. He could have sworn Marco had been clean shaven the day before and he had never had to shave much growing up either.

"Sorry, didn't mean to intrude..." Haku said.

"It's alright." Marco said a bit awkwardly. Haku turned to leave before pausing.

"It looks good... by the way, maybe you should keep it. It gets pretty cold in Colorado, right?" Haku asked. A soft smile of relief blossomed across Marco's face and he nodded.

"Good idea dad." Marco added. Haku gave a slight nod before he closed the door and padded the rest of the way to the kitchen where he found his wife sitting at the table, leafing through digital pages on her tablet. Three cups of coffee sat on the table, steaming away. Haku gave a sigh of relief at that and moved to sit down, bringing the cup to his lips. He closed his eyes as he savored the flavor for a moment before opening them again.

"I think I know why he's being so aloof... Testosterone, spreading his wings at college, now he's all cramped up here." Haku commented.

"Or it's his father grilling him for information." She replied with a soft smirk.

"I'm being serious Cira..." Haku murmured. Cira looked up with a rather sharp look.

"And so am I. You may be able to get all the answers that you look for working at Futurza, but our son is not some chemical reaction to unravel. When he is ready to tell us whatever he wants to tell us, he will. Until then we have to respect him." Cira said. Haku leaned on his elbows.

"Didn't you tell me your parents were relentless?" Haku asked. Cira smirked at that and nodded.

"Yes, no privacy for me or my brothers... Which is exactly why I ran away to Hawaii and found the most handsome scientist I could." She grinned. Around the corner and down the hall, Marco leaned against the bathroom door frame, feeling another loss so soon after his minor victory. He got to keep his beard, but what was that compared to his parents waiting for him to spill his guts? Marco was right back where he started. Would they understand? Would they love him? Or would they be devastated? Worse, could his father keep such a secret from the company he worked for? Marco lowered his head, wishing the new semester would just hurry up and get there.

****

Time Square was lit up beyond any previous measure to mark the passing of another year. Giant screens rotated through commercials for the new 2015 cars, watches and headphones, but the new Star Wars movie had plastered posters and ads over every available surface. From LCD's to LEDs and conventional flash bulbs, it was all happening in New York. Cameras were everywhere, filming celebrities and the crowds. The number of people that filled into the small space were mind boggling, and in the middle of it all Fletcher was pushing his way through with Omri behind him.

The brothers squeezed past kissing couples, fighting brawlers, police officers and at last they came to a stop right where they always had, on the third white stripe of the cross walk, looking right at the glittering ball that was going to drop. Fletcher looked up at the swirling patterns, smiling a bit.

"This is it bro, the start of a brand new year." Fletcher said. He wondered what the new year would bring, how spring semester would unfold. It was going to be amazing, undoubtedly, but it would change his life so much. As distracted as Fletcher was, though, Omri seemed to be just as conflicted.

"I... I'm gay." Omri said softly. Fletcher turned, looking at his brother, not sure he had heard right.

"What?" Fletcher asked. Omri hesitated, blushing furiously.

"I think I'm gay." Omri said. Fletcher was surprised by the admission, thinking back to when he'd come out to his parents. Omri had been rather quiet the whole time, but now it was starting to make sense. Fletcher gave a lop sided grin.

"Don't believe mom when she starts saying its all her fault again." Fletcher said.

"She's just a drama queen." Omri said, pausing, "And for the record, I don't like queens." He added. Fletcher laughed at that and reached to hug Omri's shoulder.

"Boy this is going to be a different year." Fletcher said, looking back up at the big ball.

****

Heavy, rapid drum beats filled the air, emanating from massive wooden drums and the musicians working on them. The beach had been converted for the new years eve celebrations with no expense spared. Tables were sprawling with ham and pineapple while wind breaks covered with palm fronds zig zagged the beach, leaving only certain areas open to give views of the ocean rippling beneath the moon light. Drinks with little colored umbrellas were being passed around.

Aoshi came walking up the path lit with white Christmas lights, feeling a bit beside himself. He'd pulled his black hair back into a pony tail and he'd cleaned up his beard. It was buzzed short on the sides but the mustache and goatee were full and longer. Bronze earrings hung from each ear, dangling slightly as he moved deeper into the party. The wind rippled against his silver and black Hawaiian shirt, a size too big for him.

Aoshi felt nervous to be alone in a strange place on the whim of some random werewolf, but at the same time it had been a wolf that answered his call. Aoshi came to a stop at the end of the path, looking at all the food around. His stomach started to growl as he thought about it, but he still was a bit nervous... until he smelled a familiar scent. Aoshi turned his head in time to see a broad shouldered, tall and rather hairy young man come from behind one of the walls. Aoshi's jaw dropped gently.

Marco was wearing a purple Malo loincloth, a shark tooth necklace, as well as leather bracelets and anklets and a lei made of vibrant purple orchids. His beard had thickened up a bit more since Aoshi last saw him. Marco flashed a wide grin of human teeth, opening his arms toward the Japanese man.

"You made it!" Marco grinned.

"I thought... Aren't you here on vacation?" Aoshi asked. Marco looked down at his garb before shrugging.

"Well yeah, but I'm from here too... My dad's company throws this celebration every year and I do a dance or two. I hope it isn't too weird though, I - Well, I didn't want to be alone this new years. I figured it'd be good to have a friend around." Marco said. Aoshi gave a meek smile at that, but soon the smile grew.

"I think that's a very good point." Aoshi said. Marco grinned, fishing his iPhone out of his loin cloth.

"Good, can you take a picture of me? I have some friends I want to send it to." Marco said, handing Aoshi the cell phone. Aoshi numbly held the phone, trying not to imagine where the werewolf had just pulled it out of. He lifted it up and thumbed through to take a photo.

"Should you say something?" Aoshi asked. Marco grinned wider.

"Hau'oli Makahiki Hou. Happy New Year." Marco said. With that, Aoshi took the picture.