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Lykos: Darkest Night Co-Written by Leo_Todrius and Trickster_D

Silence, calm, stillness and serenity. It was perplexing to find such a space in such a crowded city, though when that silence was broken by the rushing, rattling, clacking blur of metal and glass. The subway zoomed through the station, leaving behind the calm stillness once more. The station was normally empty this time of night, the vending machines humming along where they were resting against white tile walls. There had been a few homeless individuals sleeping at the Shinjuku station, but this particular stop was devoid of all life, except for one sixteen year old young man.

Nourished by his mother's home cooking, Isamu had grown quite a bit taller over the last few months. He stood an inch taller than six feet, enough to dwarf many of his fellow countrymen. Even with his growth spurt, he was still ravenously hungry at all times - including three in the morning. The teenager munched his way through several sticks of Pocky after having finished two packages of crab shaped sweet bread.

Other than his height, Isamu had slowly been learning how to blend in. He wore a puffy white coat with a fur lined hood and pockets full of food, a knit black beanie that was tugged down over his head and wolf ears, and baggy black pants with too many pockets. His shoes were over-sized to give his clawed toes some room to wiggle. To the outside observer he was merely a tall teenager awake in the middle of the night. Only a select few had any inclination that he was actually a werewolf, let alone one that had lived on his own for several years.

Tucked tight in his beanie cap, one of Isamu's ears twitched. Honey brown colored eyes moved to peer along the subway station. He felt something stirring, his muscles priming. Someone was coming.

Indeed, the platform where until some seconds ago the boy stood alone now hosted someone else. The young man walking towards Isamu was probably in the mid 20s - although, since he was Japanese, it was quite difficult to pinpoint his exact age just by looking at him - and moved with the grace and the confidence of a beast of prey; despite wearing a slick black jacket and a pair of skinny jeans that emphasized the musculature of his legs, his straight and silky black hair tied in a tiny ponytail and the artfully unkempt stubble that decorated his cheeks made him look like a modern ronin, a wandering samurai. The only thing he was missing was a katana hanging from his side.

The young man came closer to Isamu, and lowered his head in a small but clearly respectful bow. "Nice to meet you again, Isamu-kun. Glad you arrived safely," he said in a polite but friendly tone.

"Thank you for meeting me so late, I... wasn't feeling up to so many people during the day." Isamu admitted a bit bashfully. The _ronin_nodded, his black eyes examining the adolescent boy in front of him and finally seeing the strong and proud man he was destined to become in a few years.

"No problem at all," he replied. "Are you alright? Even if the place is quite deserted now, this is still Tokyo, a city that never sleeps. Do you feel comfortable enough in hitting the streets?"

"I think so... I've been reading about the city ever since mom insisted we come here." Isamu said before realizing he was being rude. He reached into his coat and fished around before producing another sweet roll wrapped in colorful foil should Tsukamu have a craving. The man accepted the impromptu gift and started unwrapping it with deliberately slow gestures.

"Thank you. I usually don't eat sweets, but today is a special occasion after all," he confessed, taking a bite from the small cake; it was indeed sweet, almost sickeningly so. "Is there any place you would like to see? I'd be happy to be your guide, Isamu-kun."

"I..." Isamu paused, "Is it true that there are werewolves in the Yakuza?" Isamu asked nearly out of the blue. Even Tsukamu, who usually tried to appear as composed and calm as possible - and normally succeeded - had a brief moment of visible surprise.

"Well, yes," he said. "Werewolves can choose to pursue any kind of path in their lives, after all... even though some are less honorable than others," he added with a somehow sour expression on his face. "Why did you ask?"

"Well, it just seems to be so much against our nature." Isamu admitted, shifting a bit, "Organized crime seems so... human." Isamu shrugged. Tsukamu scratched the stubble on his chin with a knuckle before replying.

"You have to consider that a Yakuza clan has a structure that is very similar to a werewolf pack, though: the clan head is the alpha, and all his henchmen are the betas, with various levels of importance and prestige among them." The man sighed, taking another bite from the rollcake and almost grimacing. "I guess that some members of our species will even partake in criminal activities if they can have the semblance of a pack in return... As sad as this might sound."

"No, I can understand that." Isamu nodded gently, walking toward the steps contemplatively, "Did they ever try to recruit you?" Tsukamu just stood where he was, the remains of the cake clutched in his hand, his eyes filled with an inextricable knot of emotions.

"How did you know?" he asked in a vague tone. "Yeah, they did try. That's not the kind of life I want, though... And I would break my parents' hearts." He indeed looked a bit shocked by the question, as if Isamu's words had found a way right into his very being.

"Some of the younger members came to my school..." Isamu admitted, "They didn't know who the wolf was, but they left hints around. They smelled like fear and misplaced pride." He considered, "But they weren't wolves." Tsukamu looked at him with a quizzical look.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"They left hidden notes, talking about all the good things the Yakuza could offer, and a dark threat that was coming. They're probably scared about the eclipse like mom." Isamu shrugged. Tsukamu, after those words, reacted in quite the drastic way: he bared his now pointed teeth, a guttural growl escaping from his throat.

"Ignorant fools!" he barked, before somehow regaining his usual composure. "Are they trying to use fear to manipulate innocent people? I cannot forgive such a behavior!" He shook his head, his black hair falling over his forehead. "I'm sorry, Isamu-kun, acting like that wasn't my intention. I guess I will have to solve that problem after I delivered you safely at the keeper's shrine," he murmured in a somber tone, an expression of feverish determination on his face.

"It's okay... It really agitated the school officials too. They tried to tell us how bad the Yakuza were, but the kids were so excited." Isamu said, moving up the stairs, ascending into the city proper. His eyes surveyed the lay of the land, from the buildings to the shops, to the many cars moving about. He sniffed the air a bit before his posture changed, "But maybe they won't know we're here."

Tsukamu followed the boy closely, his eyes darting left and right with every step, his nose ready to catch any suspicious smell. Isamu continued walking, though one eyebrow slowly lifted up before he smiled.

"You are a very good protector of your pack, aren't you?" he asked. Tsukamu diverted his stare, but it was easy to see through his impassible face that he was quite pleased by Isamu's words.

"I simply try to do my best," he dismissed the compliment. "There must be a reason why we werewolves have the powers we possess, just like there is a reason why we humans have opposable thumbs... So I want to use my abilities to help others, and... yes, protect them." His nostrils suddenly flared, as they emerged from one of the western gates of Shinjuku's labyrinthine station. "Mmh... Can you smell them too? There are just some faint traces, but..."

Isamu closed his eyes and sniffed at the air, drawing it in, smelling the humidity of the night, the exhaust of the cars, the plastics and the aerosols, but something else as well. Tsukamu nodded.

"You smelled them alright? There were some werewolves here, less than half an hour ago... Or it could be just one, it's difficult to say when it's raining," the young man sighed. "So, do you want to eat something first? There's a McDonalds over there, and even one of those donuts shop... Although I don't know if that's still open. As I said, I'm not usually into sweet stuff." While he talked, he tossed the half-eaten rollcake in the nearest bin, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"There were four... Three boys and a girl." Isamu considered, "They were... confused, but excited. I wonder if they will be at the shrine too." he said, his instincts overpowering his normal thought process for a moment until it caught up, "McDonalds? I'd love some meat, I'm starving!" He said with excitement before bounding ahead. Tsukamu couldn't help but looking admired and confused again, while staring at the back of the boy crossing the street.

"And here I thought my nose was sensitive. I guess living in the wild for so long really helps you hone your senses," he whispered. "Also... I wouldn't go to McDonalds if meat is what I was hoping to eat, but... Yeah, I wouldn't mind a Big Mac right now." Despite Tsukamu's commentary, Isamu already had his heart set and was bolting for the doors ahead.

****

Early morning rays of sunshine began creeping through the hotel windows, casting strips of light across the otherwise dim room. While Tokyo never slept as a whole, many more of its citizens were rising. Cars, busses and motorcycles sped past outside the building. Isamu stirred gently, tangled up in blankets and a pile of pillows on the floor against the far wall. Aina had been working hard to get him used to life as a human, but he still had a long road ahead of him.

The bathroom door opened and Tsukamu stepped back into the room, wearing only a towel wrapped around his sides; he had clearly just taken a shower, and his lucid black hair fell on his shoulder like a humid curtain, his bronzed skin still speckled with droplets of water. As much as he had wanted to fill the bathtub and allow his sore muscles to relax while lying in hot water, he would've felt uneasy in leaving Isamu alone for more than a handful of minutes. The young man looked at the teenage werewolf lying on the floor, and a tiny smile of innocent pride appeared on his lips. I wonder if this is what being an older brother feels like, he wondered. And indeed, it was a pleasurable sensation.

As Tsukamu watched, Isamu's sleep continued peacefully for several more minutes. It was a peace that seemed to be increasingly rare for werewolves. All around the world they were having dreams and visions. Every day it was becoming clearer. The eclipse was only days away and the werewolves were converging on the Keeper shrine hoping for some semblance of protection, but Tsukamu had a dream as well... one that had showed him that it would not be entirely safe there either.

The young man, now almost completely dry, discarded the towel and pulled the curtains of the lone window in the room a bit, staring down at the city getting busier and livelier with every passing second. On the street corner a group of teenagers stood, dressed in school uniforms, though their school apparently had a looser code for hair. Many had bleached their hair to light blond, practically the color of corn silk, while one had pushed it even further and had gone neon orange.

"What are they?" Isamu murmured, surprising Tsukamu as he had gone from a peaceful slumber to standing behind his protector without so much as a sound. The young man couldn't help but blushing slightly in realizing that he was naked, but almost immediately realized that for someone like Isamu - who had lived for years in the wild - that wasn't a source of embarrassment.

"Humans, I'd say," he then answered in a quite aloof tone. "They are probably your age, maybe older. Difficult to say, you have grown so tall..."

"But their hair is so bright..." Isamu said before looking at Tsukamu, cracking a big grin, "Mom says I am the tallest boy in the village..." Tsukamu, in an unexpected gesture, ruffled the boy's hair right between his pointy wolf ears.

"You're almost as tall as I am... And I bet you'll grow even bigger!" His onyx eyes shifted again towards the group of teenagers in the street below. "Well... Human cannot transform like we do, so they use other means to change the color of their hair, or their eyes, or their skin when they want to be noticed, to stick in the crowd... They are quite the ingenious race."

"It looks neat on them, but it wouldn't match my ears." Isamu said, turning away from the window, moving to dutifully make his bed back up onto the mattress, "How far is the shrine from here?" he asked. Tsukamu grabbed his neatly folded clothes and started putting them on.

"Less than seven miles from here, in the northwestern part of Tokyo. If we take the subway, we can be there in less than half an hour," he explained while sliding into his skinny jeans. "Or would you prefer to cross the town by foot and do some sightseeing?"

"Can I? I mean... It's riskier, but there's so much here." Isamu said, betraying some of his excitement. Tsukamu, still shirtless, turned towards the boy and looked at him straight into the eyes.

"Don't worry. I will protect you," he declared in a firm and reassuring tone. "Nothing bad will happen... I promise."

"Then when do we get started?" Isamu asked with glee.

****

The door to the clothing store eased open as Isamu emerged, partially transformed. He had a brand new sleek black and blue backpack full of his old clothes, garbed now in a pair of slimmer jeans and a black shirt with partial mesh showing off his defined shoulders. It certainly wasn't a conventional attire, but it was what Isamu had picked out. The only thing that had remained unchanged was his beanie and shoes, though the attendant had nearly been nipped when trying to get Isamu to try on another hat.

"So... Do you like your new clothes?" Tsukamu asked while putting on his brand new beanie cap; after Isamu's reaction, he had felt compelled to buy the hat for himself in order to divert the saleswoman's attention from the strange teenager that had threatened to bite her. Damn, now we really look like we're brothers... he pondered, staring at the two of them in the reflection of a nearby shop window.

Isamu stiffened suddenly, his back going rigid. Up ahead there were several more young Japanese men, each dressed in impeccable suits with designer sunglasses. Unlike salarymen, however, they still boasted an array of unnatural hair colors, piercings, and tattoos peeked out from the sleeves of their long jackets. Isamu sniffed the air before looking at Tsukamu.

"Two werewolves, three humans." he muttered. Tsukamu grabbed the boy for a shoulder and started to push him towards a nearby alley, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible even if his limbs were clearly as stiff as that of a corpse.

"This way," he murmured to Isamu, doing his best not to stare at the group of Yakuzas. He had tried to choose a travel itinerary through districts that weren't usually visited by the Japanese mafia, but apparently they had been unlucky. Let's hope neither of them had a sense of smell as good as Isamu's, he silently prayed. As they rounded the corner they could hear the sharp inflections of the Yakuza, bragging about motorcycles and cars, but steadily their voices died away. Isamu fave Tsukamu a reassuring smile that everything would be alright. The young man, however, didn't look so sure about that.

"Come on, Isamu-kun, let's hurry," he said in an offhanded tone. "It's dangerous for us to be here. Even wolves can become prey."

"Mom was telling me about that, about the vampires... and the dark ones." Isamu murmured, keeping up with Tsukamu, "Maybe we should take the subway." The young man, however, shook his head.

"That would be pointless, we are almost there. The shrine is literally near the next subway station, and backtracking doesn't seem that safe," Tsukamu stood silent for a handful of seconds, staring at his travelling companion. "As long as we reach Ueno Park, we should be safe."

"Alright." Isamu said simply, trusting Tsukamu's guidance, though every so often he sniffed the air, trying to keep tabs on who might be around.

****

Tsukamu had forgotten a small but quite crucial detail: the end of March and the beginning of April were the period of the year where the sakura trees scattered all around Ueno Park were in full bloom, as fragile and transient as they were beautiful, the perfect metaphor of human existence... So, for that very reason, the park was full of people coming from every corner of the metropolis to admire the gentle pink shower of petals. Well, at least we can blend into the crowd..., he thought while managing to avoid a group of implacable marching obaasan chatting in a thick Tohoku accent, stares of wonder and suspicion on their old wrinkly faces.

Isamu followed closely behind, trying not to draw attention to himself as he drew in the scents of so many flowers and so many people... But what interested him the most was just how many werewolves were around them. As far as he could tell, nearly a third of the visitors were like him. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken method being employed where groups of wolves would occupy the attention of the other visitors and stewards while a few would sneak off to gain entry to the shrine. Isamu watched it all with fascination.

"We should follow the others," Tsukamu whispered. "Once we're inside, we'll be safe," he added, even though he was perfectly aware of the contents of his own dreams; for a moment, he wondered whether or not Isamu had experienced some premonitions too... But before he could ask, a dull-looking, bespectacled salaryman - and a fellow lycan, judging from his scent - stared at him and pointed at the rundown Shinto arch in front of them with a tiny gesture of his head, as if he was inviting them to step through it.

Isamu sniffed the air again, looking at the arch. Unlike the others it had been a bit neglected, set off the beaten path, plants growing up around it a bit. Isamu scanned the crowd carefully, realizing that there was a group of people posing for a group photo, forcing the other visitors back a bit. As eyes were on the cameraman, Isamu stepped forward, gasping as he passed the threshold, feeling as if he'd walked through a wall of water that still left him dry.

As he 'surfaced' on the other side, he looked around, realizing they were somewhere else entirely... While still situated in nature, there was no hint of Tokyo as a whole. Two more arches rested a short distance away and seven werewolves were being escorted through one of them.

"Welcome. I hope your journey was a safe one." Came a soft reassuring voice, though the words were in English. A woman with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail smiled softly, "Safe passage is right this way." she added in Japanese, her accent untested but passable. Tsukamu bowed his head in her direction in a formal and rigid bow.

"Thank you for your concern," he said in English, with just the hint of an accent. He then looked at Isamu. "Let's go and see if your sister is already here, okay?"

"Alright." Isamu said, moving closer to Tsukamu, following him as they stepped through another arch and on to another mystery.

****

The shrine of the Keepers was an amazing, unique place. The hollow pagoda design stretched upwards, allowing a column of sunlight to pierce down the center and reach all the floors. A small garden rested in the space at the very center, tranquil and quiet. It was the only part of the shrine to be such. While normally housing twenty to forty keepers, the shrine was now holding over a hundred werewolves as well. It was the same situation in every keeper sanctuary around the world.

Every floor had people trying to set up just enough space to sleep like refugees from a natural disaster, only the natural disaster was yet to come. The eclipse was only a day away. One day for the werewolves to prepare for being powerless, relying completely and unreservedly on the Keepers. It was a situation that was causing quite a bit of duress, though as Isamu and Tsukamu entered the shrine, the young wolf couldn't help but be excited by all the werewolves around.

"It must be really strange for you, seeing and smelling members of our kind everywhere," Tsukamu noticed, one of his hands on Isamu's shoulder as if he was still feeling a lingering need to protect him even now that the two of them had technically reached a safe haven.

"Growing up, we had to keep our natures a secret, even more than now... We didn't have a pack. It made us feel very alone, enough that sister didn't even want to be a wolf. Seeing them all here together, embracing what we are... it's amazing." Isamu admitted. The older wolf nodded, his intense black eyes darting around restlessly.

"Speaking of packs, I am quite sure mine must be around here somewhere. It's been some time since you've seen Mio-san, right?" His brow furrowed: his nose had caught some strange odors, something that was familiar on an unconscious level... His eyes scanned the crowd, the mish-mash of every walk of life, but something stood out. In the midst of humble street clothes and comfortable keeper garb was one young man in a crisp, stark suit. Black with a silver button up shirt beneath. His hair was pulled back into a short, tight pony tail and the glint of turquoise earrings hung from both ears. He laughed gently at a joke someone had made, nodding, his canine teeth too long in his exposed grin.

"Souten..." Tsukamu growled from the depths of his throat; the young man darted forward, threading his way through the crowd until he reached the sharp dressed guy. "What are you doing here, Souten?" he repeated, in a low, controlled but still clearly menacing tone.

"Tsukamu, it's been too long, eh?" Souten asked with a grin, looking Tsukamu over, "You're looking good my friend. But I'm here because this is where all good wolves are supposed to be during the eclipse, right? When we lose our powers, we are to be protected, right?" He asked. Tsukamu snorted, his tension and annoyance betrayed even though his face was still an impassive mask.

"Yes. The good wolves, as you said. And you are nothing but good, Souten," the young man spelled with deliberate slowness, conferring weight to each and every syllable. "Why don't you go back to your fake, twisted pack? I'm sure they'll protect you well enough."

"You got me all wrong... Times have changed, Tsukamu. I left that pack, I left the whole thing. I'm an omega, a wanderer." Souten said with a shrug. Isamu slowly sniffed the air before one of his eyebrows slowly raised. Tsukamu didn't divert his stare from Souten: he didn't look like he was lying, but still he couldn't trust his words.

"And they just... let you go? Am I supposed to believe something like that?" he whispered, getting a bit closer to the other man, since he didn't want for those around them to hear their private matters. "And anyway, do you really expect me to forgive you just because you turned tail and left that rotten world?"

"Do you think it was easy? Of course they tortured me, for months... But I heal like a wolf, as they say." Souten said, his usually jovial attitude fractured, a wounded young man showing through from beneath, "It never was the same after you turned them down anyway... Some thought I got too close to the recruit, others thought I just wasn't persuasive enough. I wondered if they were all right." Souten muttered. Tsukamu crossed his arms over his chest; his usually stoic attitude, hard as a rock, was now streaked with bitterness.

"You bit more that you could chew, Souten... You could have never defeated me." Tsukamu shifted his eyes towards his younger companion. No point in letting his curiosity unsated, he said to himself. "Isamu, this is Souten. He's the guy I told you about... The one who tried to recruit me, some years ago." A moment of silence. "Do not trust anything he will tell you. He may be a wolf, but his nature is that of a fox."

"I never wanted to defeat you, Tsukamu..." Souten said, looking as if he was about to say more before he flinched, turned and stalked through the crowds, heading towards the stairs to the next level. Isamu sniffed the air again, looking somewhat puzzled; Tsukamu's face, however, was back at being an unfathomable, obstinate mask.

"Promise me you will stay away from him, Isamu," he said, in a tone that made his words sound like an order. "He is a dangerous individual, and you want nothing to do with him. Believe me." His eyes narrowed as he stared at the back of the former Yakuza climbing the stairs.

"I don't understand..." Isamu murmured, "When boys and girls like each other in my class, they have this smell... But he had it for you." Tsukamu shifted his black gaze towards him.

"He wasted that chance long ago," he replied, curtly. "Let's go, Isamu-kun, we still haven't found your sister."

"And we need to set aside a spot for mom, she won't be much longer." Isamu said, though he watched Tsukamu with fascination as they went to prepare.

****

The day of the eclipse had arrived, but with all its pomp and circumstance it began like almost any other day. The shrine was quiet so early in the morning. The upper floors were jam packed with werewolves and keepers and several more populated the area around the shrine. The one place in the building that had not yet been filled was the main room nestled at the base of the pagoda.

The wooden walls were carved with immaculate detail, chronicling the legends and history of the werewolves. There were images stretching back to time immemorial... but beyond all that, there was one particular artifact that drew the eye right away. On the back wall, resting in a place of honor, was an ancient wooden shepherd's staff. Despite its age, the wood looked well cared for. The grain was distinct, the wood itself somewhere between a sandy brown with hints of turquoise, but the crook was the most distinct. Despite being naturally grown, it had very distinct corners making most of the sides of a hexagon, except for the open portion.

With so much activity the night before, the shrine was once more a place for peace and quiet. Nearly every werewolf and keeper was asleep, resting up for the very long night ahead, not sure what would face them or how they would come out the other side.

Tsukamu, however, after a handful of hours of restless dreams, was awake and alert, more than he actually wanted to be: he knew he needed all the energy he could gather to face the upcoming eclipse... but every time he closed his eyes, he saw images against the screen of his eyelids. Images that he really didn't want to see.

His parents had arrived at the keeper's shrine too, the night before, as all the members of his pack had. Aina would've joined them that very morning, with the first train she could catch, and so everyone Tsukamu cared about was there under the same roof... And even another person, someone who he had never thought he would have seen again. His eyes lingered on the turquoise decorating the shepherd's staff - the same turquoise that dangled from Souten's ears - and he sighed, trying to clear his mind. There were more important things to be done than for his mind to linger on past mistakes.

This staff... It's the same of my dreams, he realized. The vision set during the eclipse had visited Tsukamu almost every night since the first time he had seen it, and yet he had never talked about it with anyone, except of course his keepers; none of them, however, had been able to explain to him the significance of that staff, nor why or how Isamu should have been able to use in that way. Whatever mysterious symbolism was hidden inside that dream, it still escaped the young werewolf.

"It's good to see someone else up." Came a voice from across the room. The voice belonged to a twenty four year old. He had on soft gray pajama pants and a white tank top, but pulled on over that was a soft orange long sleeve robe top with a hood like many of the keepers had. The young man's black hair was spiked a bit and the tip of his chin was darkened by stubble, though he was rather unremarkable in any other way. Tsukamu could smell he was a keeper, though the robe gave that detail away as well. The werewolf showed his respect by taking a deep bow, his arms rigid against the sides of his body.

"I hope this place isn't restricted," he murmured in a humble tone. "But this place... In a way, it was calling for me." The young man smiled and bowed back, returning the honor and respect.

"No, it isn't restricted... This is the heart of the shrine, the locus of our beliefs and history. If it is calling to you, then you must be a very special protector." He smiled, "My name is Michio, I am a keeper from the Kyushuu region."

"Nice to meet you, Michio-san," Tsukamu bowed for a second time. "My name is Tsukamu, I'm from one of the Tokyo packs. As for being a protector, well... I guess that is also true, in a way. I brought a young wild wolf back to his mother, some time ago... And from that day, I guess our paths had crossed. He is very important to me, and... I have a recurring dream about him, and this staff."

"You dreamed about this staff?" Michio asked with interest, "Do you know the history of it?" he asked, moving over to the wall where the staff was displayed. Tsukamu shook his head, his small ponytail bouncing against his shoulder.

"I'm afraid I don't," he said with a hint of regret. "Although, considering it's in the heart of the shrine, I'm sure it's quite important." Michio nodded at that and smiled.

"It belonged to the first Keeper, Nyctimus... He was the brother of the first werewolves. He acted as their protector, guardian, their moral compass. He saved many of them from a terrible curse, while others fell back into their old ways and became the direwolves." Michio said, looking at the staff, "They said he could also focus his magic through this, though no Keeper has been able to use it since it was found."

"Nycti...mus?" Tsukamu repeated. Of course, he had heard that name, many and many times... Every werewolf knew that, after all: he had been the first keeper, the first human being who had ever shown compassion towards the werewolves and had sworn to protect them. The man shook his head, confused. "And no one has ever been able to use it, you said? Not even a wolf?" Michio looked a bit surprised at that.

"I don't... think a wolf has ever tried, I mean... No werewolf has shown an affinity for supernatural powers beyond their own ability to change and heal. Was that... part of your dream?" Michio asked in surprise. Tsukamu nodded, slowly.

"That young werewolf I escorted here, Isamu-kun, he... He had lived for years in the wild, by himself, without human contacts. Even now, he still can't revert to his human body completely. He's... one of a kind, I would say. He's probably the closest I've ever seen to an original werewolf, at least from what I have been told by the keepers protecting my pack," he explained in the most succinct way possible. "In my dreams, he... he used this staff. I don't know why or how, but he looked like he perfectly knew what to do with it."

"How long have you been having this dream?" Michio asked, gesturing to a nearby bench where they could sit down, "And why was he using the staff?" Tsukamu sit alongside the young keeper, his eyes still focused on the ancient artifact.

"Since the day I've brought him back to his mother... It was the middle of February. And he was using the staff for..." Tsukamu shook his head again. "I'm sorry, it probably won't make that much sense to you but he was using that staff to protect everyone from the fang clan. He wielded an incredible power, more than I had ever seen displayed by anyone, be them keepers or wolves."

"Well... You are right that it confuses me. The fang clan, wolves of all kind everywhere have lost their ability to change during every eclipse there has ever been... but with the dreaming, with the visions... This eclipse is going to be different, we just don't know how different." Michio murmured. Tsukamu stared at the keeper, staying silent for a long time.

"This place, though... It's supposed to be safe, right? My family, my pack, Isamu-kun's mother... Will you keepers be able to protect them? I don't care what is going to happen to be, but please... Promise me you will keep them safe." The young man had talked with the same controlled and smooth tone of voice as always, but he looked dangerously close to burst into tears.

"The safety of all wolves is our life, our promise, our purpose. We will do everything in our power to protect them... but if your visions are true, it sounds like your protege will be able to help as well... Assuming direwolves find some way to keep their power." Michio said. Tsukamu lowered his head a bit, as if he was bowing towards the shepherd's staff.

"I don't know what to hope for," he confessed. "So I will hope for the best."

"That is a wise choice. Sometimes that is all we can hope for." Michio replied.

****

The afternoon was crawling silently, with a stillness that was both disquieting and suffocating. It was like staring at the slowest avalanche ever without being able to move out of its way: the sense of dread and incumbent doom, despite the clear sky and the warm sun, was overwhelming, and for the most part the werewolves reunited at the keepers' shrine walked around like zombies, their eyes low and dull. In any other moment, the upcoming full moon would've been greeted with happiness, but that day was completely different: almost all of them had had the ominous dreams of despair and destruction, and even though those visions had been burned against the surface of their brains, night after night, the lycanthropes couldn't help asking themselves - and each other, at least those of those feeling brave enough to communicate - what was going to happen in a few hours from there, and if they would've still been alive the morning after. If there was going to be a morning after at all, of course.

As every kid knows perfectly from the very day they leave the safety of their crib and are given a bedroom to sleep into and pass the first few nights staring at the darkness around them, waiting for the monster living inside the closet to come out and attack them any minute... the fear of the unknown is the worst and most powerful of them all.

The keepers, of course, appeared at least to know what they were doing: most of them displayed determined and focused expressions, but Tsukamu knew that even for them - those who had protected his kind for millennia - that single night was a giant, terrifying enigma, something no one knew the solution of.

The werewolf looked around, sniffed around and perked his ears, walking through the pristine gardens around the main pagoda. He had temporarily left Isamu with Mio and Aina, knowing that he was perfectly safe in the company of his mother and older sister, because he had something to do before the eclipse, a mission of sorts he had to bring to an end... An unfinished business, so to speak.

The garden seemed more tranquil than the Pagoda at least. While the wolves paced inside like trapped animals, there were those in the garden that chose instead to meditate as the Keepers moved about from point to point. Some, while not meditating, chose instead to exercise. Ahead on the path Tsukamu saw a familiar form, Souten. He stood in the grass wearing only his pants, his muscled torso executing fluid movements. He moved from position to position, the afternoon sun glinting off of the vivid inks embedded in his flesh.

It was a difficult thing to tattoo a werewolf. The body resisted the foreign substance, using the increased immune system to break down the inks and force it away. It had taken centuries for Keepers to determine what sympathetic herbs and minerals kept the tattoo visible and they had been incorporated into the tattoos of the Yakuza for years. Souten's body was like a mural, showing off a bengal tiger, flames, kanji and a variety of other designs... Normally it was taboo, the Yakuza feared and forbidden from much of Japanese society.

Souten gazed into the horizon, his brown contemplative, reflective. Normally he would feel the draw of the advancing moon, but there was nothing. The keepers had explained to the wolves that it was not so much the moon's reflected light that triggered their transformation. It was a symbol, a reminder, a piece of magic... and as such the eclipse itself would have a much more lasting effect than just the moment of darkness. In many ways it felt to him like his life had changed. The Yakuza was gone, and tonight so too was his lycanthropy.

Tsukamu came closer, his steps barely making any noise; not that he was caring that much about not being detected, it was more a matter of ingrained instincts. "Aren't you afraid those who are gathered here will see who you are?" he asked to Souten. "As far as I can tell, you're the only Yakuza who had chosen to take refuge here."

"Once again my friend, you are mistaken... No Yakuza have taken refuge here." Souten replied, not interrupting his exercise, seeming somewhat more calm despite his quip. Tsukamu diverted his gaze from the ink decorating the other wolf's back, as if looking at those drawing was making him feel nauseous.

"How am I supposed to trust you, Souten?" he asked, and the bitterness in his voice was undeniable. He sat on the grass, his back behind a sakura tree in full bloom showering the place with light pink heart-shaped petals, still keeping some distance between them. "Why should I believe you? Answer me."

"You don't have to trust me, I didn't come here for you. I came here because that is what the wolves are supposed to do... and denying that I have changed is denying the truth." Souten replied. Tsukamu shook his head, a couple of petals falling from his black hair.

"But what if I want to trust you? At least this time." The wolf raised his gaze, and with some difficulty his black eyes shone gold for a moment. "I thought about yesterday's encounter all night, Souten... I have been unjust. I didn't leave you the time to explain, and I jumped to the conclusion that seemed the most convenient to me... My behaviour was dishonorable, and I deeply regret that." Tsukamu bowed his head, a short and tiny bow... but still a token of respect. "I'd be more than happy to listen to what has been of you since the last time we met, if you are willing to share."

"You want the long or the short? If I tell you every detail, we'll see a couple of full moons before we're done." Souten chuckled. The tiniest of smiles broke Tsukamu's usual stoic demeanor, even though for no longer than a split second.

"Just tell me what you think is essential for me to understand," he suggested. "And please, come and sit here with me. There is no better background for the rekindling of an old friendship that a cherry tree in full bloom." Souten stopped at that, looking for Tsukamu for a long moment before he gave a faint grin. He leaned down and grabbed his under shirt and tugged it on, moving over.

"Does impending doom put you in a better mood?" Souten asked, settling himself down next to Tsukamu. The other wolf stood silent for quite a bit before nodding reluctantly.

"I guess so," he admitted. "I didn't want to die with such a burden on my soul... I'm sorry, this is quite selfish on my part."

"You aren't going to die..." Souten said, rolling his eyes, "You're going to outlive me by at least ten years... And I plan to live a very long time." He added with a grin.

"I'm not sure about that," Tsukamu replied in a deadpan voice. "They say stupid people don't even catch a cold... But of course, we are usually pretty resilient to sickness anyway." He lowered his head, staring at the carpet of petals around his feet. "Well, this is just to make sure that I will not leave this world while having regrets... Because otherwise I'd come back as a ghost to haunt you," he said, in a half-joking tone.

"Well, why do you think I want to be the one that goes first?" Souten asked before the mirth in his face seemed to ebb away, "They've been changing, Tsukamu... I mean, it was a gradual evolution for a long time... but it's like one day a few months ago, they changed completely. I'd been pushing myself further and further out for a while, but even then I saw it. It was like all the berserkers, all the fang clan they had... suddenly..." Souten trailed off. Tsukamu stared at the wolf sitting alongside him.

"I am not sure if I am following," he said. "Are you talking about the Yakuza at large? Or about the werewolves in their ranks?"

"You know how they were before, using wolves as tools... Hitmen, special projects. They used to prefer claw clan. Precise, orderly. They'd use fang clan as a last resort, as wild cards... They kept enough around to be useful, but then the... All of the direwolves changed. They started acting with purpose, with harmony. Their tempers settled down, they acted completely different... and the Yakuza loved it. They were stronger, faster, they didn't leave any trace of wounds or identifying marks..." Souten explained.

"And so, all of a sudden, you weren't of any use for them anymore?" Tsukamu summed up. "Is that the only reason why you decided to leave them?" He had been told about the strange behavior of the direwolves in the last couple of months, how they had started to act less like mindless monsters and more like... well, like werewolves; that didn't seem a problem the two of them could try and solve, though, so he didn't focus on it that much.

"Baka..." Souten muttered, "I already told you I was trying to get out before then. Like you said it isn't easy, they don't just let you go." he muttered, "But after that? They thought they could kill me and be done with me. I let them think they succeeded. Took me three weeks to heal up enough to walk again, but I felt so alive... So relieved." Tsukamu cleared his throat, looking a bit embarrassed.

"I... I am sorry, Souten. It must have been hard," he murmured in a soft voice. "Although... You still haven't told me why exactly you chose to leave. If it wasn't because of the fang clan, then why? I mean, I remember how you were years ago, when we last met... You looked so cocky and arrogant and fulfilled, as if the world was yours to catch."

"I thought it was... But when you said no, I was confused... I had to figure out why. I started looking at what my life was, what it was doing, and I realized... you were right." Souten shrugged. Tsukamu stirred a bit, as if he found the sitting position suddenly uncomfortable. He diverted his gaze again, his cheeks a bit flushed.

"So, I guess this... is the reason why you feel attracted to me?" he asked, his tone still perfectly controlled despite his body language saying otherwise. "Because I am the one who made you reconsider your way of life?"

"Well, I liked you even before the reconsideration... But probably. You were a redirecting force in my life." Souten replied. Tsukamu turned around, and gave him a small, but genuine, smile.

"You will probably consider me selfish again, but I am glad I was able to help you change, albeit unknowingly... And I am very happy you are striving to become a better person, Souten." Tsukamu sighed. "I feel deep regret in having said all those bad things to you yesterday. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can..." Souten said, the look of mirth returning to his face, "But it may cost you a hug..." he said mischievously. Tsukamu looked a little confused by the request, but didn't seem to mind.

"Well, alright," he said, getting back on his feet and opening his arms, in still quite the stiffy and hesitant pose. Souten moved in to hug Tsukamu, his arms sliding beneath the other man's, but as their chests touched there was a piercing scream from the entrance to the shrine. Keepers turned and broke into a sprint, heading toward the young girl that had released the sound. Tsukamu turned his head towards the source of the noise, his face alarmed.

"What happened?" he asked, though of course Souten had no means to know that. "I think we should go and see, Souten, maybe we could be of some help." Souten gave a nod and moved towards the front of the pagoda with a quick step.

What could have happened? , Tsukamu asked again, though this time just inside his mind. _There are still a few hours before the eclipse starts, so..._As they approached, they saw a teenage girl clutching her cell phone as if it had been burned to her skin. The keepers were trying to ascertain what had happened, but Souten's eyes went to the phone. The screen depicted a californian news video uploaded to the internet featuring footage of a giant, dark, dripping wet monster tearing apart a storefront before flipping a police car and disappearing into the side streets.

"I-is that... a member of the fang clan?" Tsukamu muttered in disbelief. "That's... that's impossible!"

"I... I've got another video in Moscow..." A seventeen year old muttered from the door to the shrine, holding his phone up.

"They can't be transforming... It's impossible..." One of the keepers whispered.

"And yet, our powers are sealed during the eclipse..." Tsukamu let out a bitter noise. "What can we possibly do against that kind of monsters?"

"We are still keepers... Our powers come from love and dedication, not from a curse. Nothing has changed for our mandate." Michio said as he moved out of the temple and extended his hands. As if directed by will alone, white light began spilling from his palms, landing on the stone path at the edge of the temple before it began building up slowly, spreading outward and upward. Other keepers started to join in, building a barrier together.

Tsukamu stared at the silvery light creating a dome of pure energy surrounding the pagoda and the surrounding gardens, silent in awe and admiration: the keepers, as always, were proving to be vital to the wolves' protection... but that of course didn't mean that he wanted to sit idly and just be a bystander. He looked at Souten and nodded.

"Let's go inside. Maybe there's someone here that could help us," he said, darting towards the pagoda. He felt a bit guilty at the prospect of involving the young Isamu in his plan... but his dreams were the only thing he could cling on in a dire moment like that.

****

The atmosphere in the shrine had changed completely with the revelation of world events. Somehow, worldwide, direwolves had not only retained the ability to transform... but they were causing chaos in the open. The secret of the werewolves was being shattered moment by moment. Even worse, it brought the dreams the wolves had been sharing into focus. The darkness was coming for them when they were at their weakest - but the keepers were not giving up without a fight.

The bridges spanning the lake had been destroyed and the water cursed. A shield of light spanned the outer edge of the lake and another surrounded the pagoda itself. Keepers were stationed on every level of the building and the bulk were in the main room at the doors and around the central shaft.

Aina moved around trying to keep the young wolves calm, stroking their hair and telling them stories. She kept them toward the thickest points of the walls while their family members surrounded them. Mio did the same with the teenagers, using her expertise to relate to them on a more human level. In many ways she had wished for years to get exactly what she had tonight... a full moon without a transformation, to simply be human... but now the price seemed too high.

In a corner of the first floor of the pagoda, right in front of the ancient and sacred staff of Nyctimus, four young men stood: Tsukamu, Souten, Isamu and Michio were having their own small war council, so to speak.

"...and that's how my dreams always end," he looked at Isamu, a worried expression in his eyes. "I'm sorry I haven't told you about those visions sooner, Isamu-kun. Truth is, I didn't want to put such a burden on your shoulder. Could you forgive me?"

"Magic?" Isamu murmured, trying to picture it. He had adapted to so much in such a short time, but even seeing the keepers use magic was not quite enough to convince him that he too had the power. Tsukamu nodded.

"I think it could be related to your upbringing," he speculated. "The fact that you've lived for many years as a true wolf, in direct contact with nature... It is not difficult to see that you're not exactly like every other werewolf, I mean... Just look at your ears." Tsukamu then turned towards Michio. "Have you ever heard about wild werewolves, Michio-san? Do you know if perhaps they can access some ancient powers or something? The first time I met Isamu-kun, he communicated with me in a... very peculiar way. It was like telepathy, albeit not quite... It was like our hearts were talking to each other."

"The stories of Nyctimus tell us that before he was able to redeem his brothers and weaken their curse, that he could hear their hearts and minds in his head... That they could communicate without words, to touch something so primal and rooted in nature that it transcended our normal boundaries." Michio replied. Tsukamu nodded.

"Something that transcends normal boundaries... sounds very much like this very eclipse. It is probably the only thing we can use against it." Tsukamu then looked at Souten. "You are the one who had the closest contact with members of the fang clan in the past months... How did they change, exactly? Do you remember something in their behavior that could be useful to defeat them?"

"Only that the insane, unpredictable monsters started acting unified, like they had some sort of alpha again... I don't think that's going to help us." Souten muttered, sharpening his sword over by the main door. Tsukamu nodded in response, his face a grim mask of desperate concentration.

"That makes them even more dangerous, I would say. Michio-san, do you think the head keepers would let us borrow such a precious and revered artifact?" Tsukamu questioned. Michio seemed to pale.

"Even with your visions, I can't... imagine that they would ever allow it. The staff is the most sacred object we have, and no one... in a thousand years... has ever shown even a trace of an ability to use it." Michio murmured.

"Maybe that's because no one needed to... until today," Tsukamu placed a hand on Isamu's shoulder. "Could you at least let Isamu-kun touch it? See if there is some kind of reaction?" Michio seemed to be considering a response when the ground beneath them all shuddered and quaked. The air above the temple shimmered as the barrier was tested, then tested again. The effect was a terrible reaction shuddering down to the ground itself.

They are here, Tsukamu thought with desperate, absolute certainty. There was no more time to prepare themselves, no time to concoct a plan... no time for anything, except maybe a miracle. "Let's get ready!" he exclaimed in a rare display of emotion; he exchanged a glance with Souten and raised his own sword. He had never looked more like a real old-time samurai. "I'm counting on you, Souten. I would have never thought to say something like this, but... If there is anyone who can help us make it out of here alive, that person is you."

"I won't let you down my friend, I won't let any of our kind down." Souten said with a grin on his lips, readying his sword. Again the building shook, then again. The heavy rumbles came once more, twice more, and then it shattered... The outer barrier crumbled in mere moments of the attack. What came next sounded like the waves of an ocean beating against the shore, but it was the cursed lake being forced by the enemy.

The wolves inside grew scared, trembling and quiet... save for a brave few. Isamu's eyes moved, looking at the staff with consideration, wonder and need - a need for the vision to be true, for that possibility to be real. Tsukamu ruffled the boy's hair again, right between his hair as he had already done quite a few times.

"I know all this is strange and surreal and it seems impossible, Isamu-kun... But I believe in you. I know that you're a warrior, and a protector, and that you are stronger than you can possibly imagine. So please, believe in me." Tsukamu said with deep conviction. Isamu met eyes with him for a long moment before nodding gently. It was only a moment more before the building shuddered with much more intensity than before. Dust began drifting down from the ornate wood carvings. The ancient support beams groaned slightly from the assault, and then the main doors began to vibrate, shaking with inhuman speed as the inner barrier was tested.

That's the part of the dream where they started the invasion, Tsukamu said to himself. "Be careful!" he shouted, trying to warn both his kind and the keepers. "They will come from above, too!" Keepers began scrambling, reinforcing the interior. The door continued to shudder before the wood cracked.

"Above!" Michio exclaimed as a dark form came down the center shaft. Michio brought his hands together and pushed outward, white light filling the space in the midst of the pagoda. The direwolf hit the barrier and was splayed out, but the barrier continued to rise, ejecting the beast from the roof. Michio's victory was short lived as the door behind him exploded into a cloud of splinters and kindling, raining in on the refugees.

Souten lunged forward and slashed, slicing deep into the arms of several direwolves as keepers rushed forward to rebuild a new barrier, forming it in the doorway. In that moment Tsukamu could see how his dream differed from reality, what had been imagery and symbolism. Where his dream had but seven wolves at the door, he could now see dozens climbing out of the waters of the lake, singed and bedraggled but ready to complete their mission.

"How many of them... are here?" Tsukamu growled.

"Too many to survive..." came a deep, guttural voice from the other side of the barrier. An eight foot tall, grizzly black direwolf put blood tinged claws against the barrier. It began to shudder and waver, the pearlescent light dimming slowly, "But I will make you an offer... One your human pets and you should agree on." the beast growled. Tsukamu tightened the grip on the hilt of his katana, more than ready to fight that monstrosity.

"Do you really think we would accept an offer coming from a member of the fang clan? That we could dishonor our kind in such a way?" he replied in a voice tinged in fury. He felt scared and weak, but he couldn't let the direwolf know.

"Actually, I didn't expect it at all... But Alpha Demeas wanted us to make the offer anyhow. Thankfully I have no reason now not to taste your blood rolling down my throat." The direwolf grinned before he slammed into the barrier and his kin did the same. The barrier crackled and fluctuated before it broke and the direwolves began spilling in. Souten moved with conviction and speed, slicing and slashing. A direwolf crumpled abruptly as he was relieved of his life by Souten's blade, but many more were still advancing. The direwolf negotiator was hit with a jolt of lightning from Michio's hands but merely growled and pushed forward.

The werewolves in the shrine began to retreat toward the stairs, pushing up into the higher levels of the building, thinning out as the direwolves pressed on... but Isamu did not retreat. He moved back to the rear wall, looking up at the staff. He had lived in confusion and innocence since he had come down from the lonely mountain, but he felt neither of those things now. It was clear what he had to do.

The largest black wolf slashed at Michio with a growl, missing the keeper with his claws, but managing enough momentum to knock him off his feet and send him sliding across the floor. The wolf knew killing the keeper would be sweet, but he had to keep his eyes on his alpha's prize. He looked up at the wall - and to his terror - saw that the staff was gone from its place. A short distance away, Isamu was breathing quickly. He looked at the crook of the staff and then at the wolf. In that instant bright turquoise began spilling into Isamu's eyes as he bore his fangs and swung the staff.

A rather high pitched yelp came from the invading leader as he was whisked off his feet, the behemoth form dragged right in front of Tsukamu's feet. Isamu wielded the staff, turning, picking up momentum before he lifted the staff up. Once more the building shuddered, but this time as the direwolf was slammed into the wood facade by an invisible force like a puppet on strings.

Tsukamu darted forward towards the huge direwolf, who was still trying to recover from the blow. He knew the act he was going to perform was nothing short of dishonorable, but the behemoth wolf looked like the commander of the feral army attacking the shrine; he brought his deadly, sharp blade behind and then shoved it forward, impaling the direwolf's throat and head right to the hilt.

"Let's see whose blood rolls down, now," he couldn't help but mutter in front of the dying monster. The direwolf tried to reach out at Tsukamu, to slash at him but his arm fell lifeless to the floor.

For every victory, there seemed to be a defeat. Keepers and the braver wolves were clashing with the direwolves. Swords and claws and fangs came together. Blood from both sides was raining down to the floor - and so were bodies. Souten's arms were cut, even his cheek slashed nearly from lip to ear, but he continued on, keeping the direwolves back.

Even Tsukamu, in the seconds needed to dislodge the sword from the corpse of the giant direwolf, had been hit by a sudden swipe on the left side, and was now bleeding copiously, his jacket destroyed and his pants red. He was starting to feel weaker, his vision getting hazier, but he still stood to defend his kin and his keepers and everything that was dear to him. "I-Isamu-kun!" he managed to shout. "You are our only hope!"

Isamu had been doing his best to wield the staff, to slam and throw and beat down the invading forces, but it wasn't enough. There were too many outside, too many on the way, too many in general. Isamu's wolf ears went flat against his head, his teal eyes gleamed. He breathed in deeply and exhaled, then he did it once more before he broke into a sprint for the door. Souten's eyes widened as he watched the young man move with such speed.

Using every bit of instinct he had gained in the forest, Isamu moved more like an animal than a man. He jumped onto the hunched back of a direwolf before jumping again, bounding from point to point. He ducked under the top of the door frame and pushed off higher into the air, bringing the staff up before him. In that moment where his body defied gravity, he thought of his family, his friends, of all those he cared about... and the many more he didn't know. None of them deserved to be hurt, hunted or killed.

"STOP!" Isamu shouted as he came down. The staff impacted the stone around the edge of the temple and his momentum came to a stand still... but all of that kinetic energy and so much more was released. A wall of turquoise light rushed out in every direction. The lake crackled as the water froze solid, trapping the wolves crossing the line of defense. The energy passed through the shrine itself, washing over everyone inside.

Souten and Tsukamu felt a familiar heat returning to their veins, the tingling spreading to their limbs, the hidden moon calling to them despite the barrier in place. Their strength was returning, their natural healing coming back, their wolves waking up... but even as the sensation returned to them, the direwolves began to tremble and shake. Tsukamu could see the life draining out of the monster's eyes, the light going out.

Like wilting husks, the direwolves began to collapse one by one to the ground, going limp and lifeless except for the squirming and shifting inside, the reforming humans being born out of that death.

As Tsukamu felt the skin of his flank knitting back together, a sudden bout of rage invaded his mind as he saw the direwolves collapsing and decomposing, revealing their human alter egos being reborn. Even if they were no longer a threat, their hands were red of the blood of his kin... But then something else in his soul shone bright, a sense of inner calm and peace: he couldn't surrender to the wicked logic of the cycle of revenge, he couldn't kill them just because they had wanted to kill the werewolves... because otherwise, he would've become a monster, exactly like they had been. In a sudden gesture, he let his katana fell at his feet and stepped towards Isamu; and, just like had happened to the young boy, Tsukamu's irises were tinged in a bright and otherworldly shade of turquoise.

Souten was panting and huffing nearby, trying to keep up with the changes to their situation. His ears had stretched into points and gained fur, his cheeks were dominated by thick hair, his fangs were sharp and his claws had extended... but a similar sense of calm and tranquility was spreading through his mind as his eyes turned the brilliant shade of turquoise to match the others.

As the direwolves began pulling themselves out of their other halves, clawing and groping, they emerged to see their enemy very much empowered and very much at an advantage. Tsukamu crossed his arms over his chest looking at the members of the fang clan: they seemed helpless and confused, just like he and the other werewolves had been just a mere handful of minutes ago... and he felt a strange wave of empathy towards them.

"We mean you no harm. Just surrender, and I promise none of you will be hurt nor killed," he declared in a serene yet imposing tone. "We just want this battle to end, and no more blood to be spilled."

"Why would you do that?" One muttered, looking up with wearied eyes from a blood soaked face. As Tsukamu considered his response, Michio moved forward. Untempered by the serenity spreading through the wolves, the Keeper responded too quickly. He opened a satchel from his hip and withdrew a palm full of dust before blowing on it. The dust settled across many of the direwolves before they started convulsing and trembling before finally falling still on the ground. Isamu spun around to face the keeper, his eyes wide.

"What did you do?!" Isamu questioned.

"What are you talking about?" Michio muttered in shock. Michio froze as a sword blade was brought to his throat.

"The kid asked you a question." Souten said curiously. Michio winced, looking somewhat indignant.

"They aren't dead if that's what you are worried about, at least not yet... But we shouldn't have to suffer through their lies, not after they killed us... Wolves, keepers, look at your feet! How can we let them live after all of this?" Michio asked.

"Yes, Michio-san, look at your feet," Tsukamu replied. "Look at them now. They are cursed creatures destined to live with a beast in their hearts they only recently learned to communicate with. They had probably suffered for many years, forced to transform with the full moon in unbearable pain and become mindless killing machines... What do you think we should feel for them, apart from pity and compassion?" The young man turned around, looking at the surviving wolves and keepers. "I speak to you, my fellow wolves, and to you, heirs of Nyctimus: aren't we the descendants of a very single family? We live our lives under constant menace, and our very existences are plagued by a millennia-old curse... So why should we also fight one against each other?"

Tsukamu crouched down and took the body of the direwolf who had talked to him in his arms; he was warm, and strangely light. "We should keep them in a safe place, Michio-san. No more violence, no more death, no more blood spilled."

"Like what, some kind of wolf prison? Tsukamu, you saw how hard they were trying to kill us..." Michio pleaded. Tsukamu's conviction, however, was unwavering.

"I want to talk with them, Michio-san. Ask them why and in the name of what or who they did what they did. And should they become violent again, I'm sure me, Isamu-kun and Souten will be able to fend them off again." The young man turned his brilliant blue eyes towards his two companions, hoping to get their support.

"Tsukamu... His arm..." Isamu murmured. Michio's brows furrowed at that, trying to figure out what distraction the young wolf was trying now... but after a moment he followed Isamu's eyes, looking down and seeing the partial bite wound on his left arm. Michio started to pale at the realization; he swallowed a few times, knowing the possible outcomes were fast approaching.

"The keepers will take the fang clan to the labyrinth... They won't be able to escape without guidance. They will be able to determine what to do in the long run." Michio said softly. Tsukamu nodded, before handing the body in his arms to a muscular keeper who had just stepped towards them with a small group of his peers.

"You did the right thing, Michio-san," he told him, lowering his head in a formal bow. His turquoise eyes lingered on the bite marks on the young man's arm; he perfectly knew what something like that entailed, of course. "Maybe... something can be done for that," he added in a lower, gentler tone of voice.

"What is there? One of us, one of them or not at all..." Michio murmured, "I don't feel toxic shock yet... so I should still have several minutes to help, unless the eclipse is blocking it." Tsukamu, as a reply, grabbed the young keeper gently, placing one of his padded hands over the wounded skin on his arm.

"I cannot force the curse out of your body, Michio-san... But I think I can redirect the outcome, make it bind with your body seamlessly, give you the harmony you need right now. So please, believe in me, and relax. Everything will be alright." Tsukamu didn't know exactly what he was doing: it was like a familiar but strange voice was whispering what to do in the ear of his mind, and he hoped with all himself that the whispers were telling the truth. Michio didn't know what to expect. Everything about the day had surprised him. The direwolves had subverted the curse, Isamu had broken it, Tsukamu had overcome his rage... Michio had no idea what Tsukamu was talking about, but some small part of him was willing to take that leap of faith, to believe it was possible.

****

The sun crept ever higher in the morning sky, taking a languid pace. It seemed hesitant to rise after the events of the night, but nothing could stop time forever. The grounds seemed quite empty now. The fang clan had been taken into the magical labyrinth and the majority of the keepers had gone with them. They would attempt to reform them, to offer help and healing, to do whatever they could. While they worked on that noble purpose, it left the others to cope with the fallout of the night's activities.

"How are you feeling, Michio-san?" Tsukamu asked, from the threshold of the young keeper's small room. He had changed his clothes since the outfit he had been wearing the night before was so torn and bloodied it was unusable, and was now donning a simple black shirt and a pair of pants one of the other keepers had lend him. Even though he looked completely human now, the mystical azure glimmering in his eyes gone for the moment, there was still something different in him, so subtle and yet so noticeable... as if he had somehow transcended his nature and had become something slightly different.

"I feel... as though I failed." Michio murmured, sitting on the end of his bed mat wearing only his pants. He cradled the wound in his arm as he gazed out of the window, "The keepers were unsuccessful in stopping the threat, we failed in keeping the secret... So many died... so many more are at risk now." Tsukamu nodded with gravitas.

"May I come in?" he asked, not wanting to invade the keeper's personal space without his consent.

"Of course..." Michio said softly, the remaining small fragments of his polite prior self. Tsukamu stepped inside, and sit on the tatami floor in front of him.

"We will face those problems soon, Michio-san. Right now, though... I want to know how _you_are feeling. How are you coping with what has happened to you. It must have been really hard, for you." Tsukamu offered the young man a small but sincere smile. "I am here, in case you need anything." Michio turned to face Tsukamu at his offer with a meek smile.

"It actually... wasn't all that unpredictable. Every keeper faces the risk that they'll be turned. We work with the wolves more than anyone else does. The chances of being nipped by a loved one, a friend... That I had been prepared for, but to be bitten by a... a fang clan?" he murmured. Tsukamu didn't divert his gaze from the young man in front of him.

"But you are not one of them, and you are not dead, Michio-san. You can keep helping people and being the good person you have been until today, even though you share the curse of the wolf now. What you had to face in the past night is something no one else in the history of our kind has ever faced, at least according to our lore... So you should not be so hard to yourself. You have been a great keeper, and you still are... well, someway."

Michio slowly lifted his hand and held it out before his fingers spread wider. Tsukamu had seen the gesture many times, usually accompanied by a field of light or wind. Now there was nothing but the play of sunlight on his fingers. Michio let out a soft sigh before he nodded.

"I'll be a protector anyway." He said. Tsukamu, in a sudden and unexpected gesture, raised his own hand and placed it against Michio's, palm against palm; he could feel the warmth of his skin, and the new blood pumping in his veins.

"You are strong, Michio-san. Strong enough to protect everyone," Tsukamu said in a slow but solemn voice. "You just have to learn how to use your new strength."

"A true keeper uses any tools at his disposal... I just have to adapt, right?" Michio said, taking a breath, looking less morose, "How are your friend and his family coping with the shattered secret?" Michio asked.

"Isamu-kun?" Tsukamu repeated. "He is... Stronger than anyone, probably. Even if he's young, he was instrumental in stopping the direwolves. He and Mio-san and Aina-san, well... They can finally be who they are, no more secrets... They can be a real family again after so many years."

"There will always be secrets Tsukamu... The world knows there are werewolves now, and it wasn't just the wolves here that broke through the curse and had control over their abilities. The secrets now have to be who is a wolf, what they can do... The world is going to come looking. But you're still right, they can be a family again... Perhaps even the safest family, out there on that farm." Michio said. Tsukamu nodded again.

"After what happened, they indeed deserve some rest. How about you, Michio-san? What are you going to do from now on? Do you plan to join a pack?" Tsukamu asked. Michio all but laughed.

"All this time with werewolves, I have no idea where to start..." Michio murmured, "I'll need a good teacher, but..." Michio looked at Tsukamu, "The keepers are giving Isamu the staff... to keep it safe."

"He will probably rise to be a very powerful and wise alpha, once he reaches adulthood," Tsukamu observed. "As for a teacher... I am probably not the most qualified person around, and I am not even the alpha of my pack, but... would you accept an invitation, albeit an informal one? I would be more than happy to guide you and help you develop your newfound talents."

"Where does your pack call home?" Michio asked, considering.

"The outskirts of Tokyo... It's less than an hour from here by train. You wouldn't be far from the main shrine," Tsukamu assured him.

"I was further away from it before the eclipse came... I can do that, if your pack will have me." Michio nodded softly. The other wolf smiled again, something that was quite unusual for him to do more than once in a given day.

"I am sure they will be happy to have someone like you as their new pack member... And I certainly am," he added in a gentle tone.

"There's still some cleanup to do around here first, but... I'll join you as soon as I can. They're staggering the return of the guests here... You should make sure Isamu's family is ready to head out around noon." Michio replied with more confidence.

"I will see you soon, then, Michio-san," Tsukamu said before excusing himself.

****

The main pagoda was still chock full of people, be them keepers but mostly wolves, waiting to be able to leave the place and go home. Tsukamu moved through the crowd with hunched shoulders and lowered eyes, trying to look as inconspicuous and anonymous as possible, although he could catch stares of awe and admiration from some of the werewolves gathered here, especially the younger ones. The man looked and smelled around, trying to find some familiar faces and smells: the person he was worried the most about, however, wasn't Isamu. The young werewolf, despite having accomplished a feat that was for lack of a better term a "miracle", had at least a mother and a big sister with him... But there was something else, someone who had fought alongside Tsukamu, that was all alone there... And was probably going to be now that everything was over.

As Tsukamu remained deep in thought, two arms came around his neck and a weight suddenly hit his shoulders. Souten had hugged him around the back with enough of a running start to nearly end up in a piggy back ride.

"Tsukamu! There's the hero of the night. How are you doing?" Souten grinned ear to ear. Tsukamu turned around a bit and smiled for the third time... It was certainly a day of miracles.

"To be honest, I was searching for you, Souten. I wanted to thank you for everything you did yesterday night. You fought like a real wolf, and your courage was outstanding..." Tsukamu lowered his eyes again. "I was mistaken... You deserve to be a werewolf, and, well... I am happy I could see you again, even if in circumstances like these."

"Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was happy to make you proud..." Souten said, slowly climbing down from Tsukamu's shoulders, "But where are you headed now? Back to your pack? To the country with the kid?" Tsukamu cleared his throat, his skin slightly flushed under his beard.

"As I said, I was searching for you... I mean, you don't have a pack right now, am I right, Souten? So, well, I was wondering... would you join mine, should I ask you to? I have already asked the same thing to Michio-san and he agreed, but... You probably need a place to belong even more than he does." Tsukamu sighed. "My alpha is probably going to kill me for having had the gall to ask for two wolves to join us..."

"I don't want you to get in trouble... But I have to admit, I like the idea of being your stray Tsukamu." Souten said with his mischievous smile. Tsukamu shook his head.

"Don't worry, Souten... Everyone here has seen what you did last night, and how noble and strong your spirit is. You would be a great packmate, and... In case some of your former pack members come searching for you for some reason, I swear I will protect you," the young man replied in his trademark dead serious voice.

"I think there's only one thing in this world that could hurt me at this point." Souten said, his smile softening, "So I'll join you and I'll help out and that's that. I'm going to grab my stuff, we're supposed to head out at one." Souten smiled before he turned and headed back into the crowd. As Tsukamu watched him go, he spotted the rather unusual sight of a sixteen year old with a staff resting across his shoulders and his arms draped over the top.

"It seems like our darkest night is turning into a brighter day." Isamu considered. Tsukamu looked at the other wolf, and for the first time as an equal and not as someone to protect.

"Indeed," he agreed. "Even though we do not know what is going to lie ahead, we at least survived this night, and we are stronger as a result." A moment of silence. "As I already said, I am sure everything is going to be alright, Isamu-kun."

"I know it will be... Just be careful, alright Tsukamu?" Isamu asked. Tsukamu lifted his hand and ruffled the younger wolf's hair.

"Are you going back to the countryside with Aina-san? Do you need a bodyguard?" he said, half-joking. "You know, you look like a character out of a videogame with that staff!"

"Are there many shepherding video games Tsukamu-san?" Isamu smiled softly. It was only in that moment that Tsukamu realized a change. In the midst of Isamu's shaggy, unkempt hair there was no trace of wolf ears... for the moment.

"Who knows? I am hardly a video game expert!" Tsukamu mused, before resuming a more serious expression. "Do you still feel that power, Isamu-kun? That... magic you used yesterday against the fang clan?" Isamu bit his lip before nodding gently. He brought the staff down from his shoulders and moved it around just a bit. The air inside the shrine started to cool down, smelling fresh and amazing. Tsukamu looked around, an expression of pure awe on his usually stoic face.

"That's... incredible," he murmured. "You're probably the only wolf in existence who can also use the keeper's magic... I wonder what exactly you are, Isamu-kun..."

"I'm... hope." Isamu said with a soft smile before the staff was returned to his shoulders and he turned, moving to finish gathering up his snacks for the long journey home. Tsukamu stared at the tall, slender back of the young wolf walking away from him and towards his family, his lips slightly parted in surprise.

"Yes," he muttered to himself. "Yes, that was probably the best answer you could give me, Isamu-kun." Then he shook his head a bit, cleared his throat again and navigated again through the crowd, hoping to find his own backpack somewhere around there.

****

Two sets of feet trudged up the steps after their long journey. Once more night had fallen and the moon had risen, but this time there was no eclipse, no curse, no draw to the werewolf instincts... just two men moving down the hallway of an apartment building, reaching their destination.

"Here we are," Tsukamu said, opening the door of his apartment. "Sorry for the mess," he added in an apologetic tone. Said "mess" was most certainly only in his mind, because the small apartment was spotless despite being inhabited by a young bachelor. The only furniture included a kitchenette right next to the door, a small table with a couple of chairs and a jet black laptop, and a couple of simple bookshelves full of volumes. A wall made out of plasterboard divided the dining room from the bedroom: through a doorless frame, the silhouettes of a low queen size Western-style bed and a small flat screen TV could be seen.

"The bathroom is in there," Tsukamu explained, pointing at the only other door in the flat. "It is small but it has everything you could need." The young man looked around, and he seemed almost ashamed. "Sorry, there is not that much space in here... This is all I can afford, I am afraid. But please, feel free to stay as long as you want."

"Are you kidding? This is luxurious... I've been in some pretty run down places the last few months, it's like a palace. You are so very kind my friend." Souten said with a warm smile. Tsukamu shrugged, putting his backpack down next to a table leg.

"Do not mention it. I mean, from today onwards we will be packmates, right? Even though we clashed one against the other in the past, packmates help each other any way they can," he said with his usually serious face. Tsukamu cleared his throat and looked at Souten. "Do you want to take a bath, relax a bit, maybe?"

"I'm pretty tired, but I don't want to be a bad guest. What do you want to do?" Souten asked with a smile. Tsukamu scratched the beard on his chin with a finger.

"Just go and take a bath, I'll get something to eat, okay?" Tsukamu asked. Souten nodded obediently and made his way to the bathroom, a smile on his face. Life was certainly going to be interesting.

****

A peaceful slumber had found Tsukamu and held him in its warm embrace, rejuvenating him and recharging him. After so much traveling, worrying and fighting, the bed had never felt quite so soft or good. Still, time marched on and rays of sunlight crept across the floor of the apartment before they spilled through the doorless frame and across Tsukamu's face. The young man groaned, still half-asleep, and turned around to avoid facing the sun hurting his still tired eyes. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he tried to find the best position to resume his sleeping; even though he was usually an early riser, he had certainly earned at least a day of laziness and peace.

As Tsukamu slumbered, a number of smells started to reach his nose; the fresh, clean smell of steamed rice, the more adventurous zest of miso soup, and the hearty and savory scents of the rolled omelette known as tamagoyaki. The smells filled the apartment and tugged at Tsukamu's senses, kicking his stomach into a fit of hunger pangs. Still struggling between the sleep and the waking, Tsukamu inadvertently started to drool on his pillow; the moment he realized he was doing something that inconvenient and dishonorable he woke up immediately and looked around, trying to find the source of such wonderful scents.

As his eyes peered out of his room, he spotted something that had never taken place in his apartment before. Souten stood in Tsukamu's living area in nothing but boxer shorts, soaking in the morning sunshine on his otherwise naked body. The light played across his intense tattoos and his hair, his face peering out of the window. He was a perfect specimen of fit muscle and flexible form. Tsukamu, who likewise had slept only wearing his underwear and who was similarly muscled and athletic, quickly put on the nearest t-shirt he could find and burst in his dining room. "Souten, what are you doing?" he exclaimed. "This is very inconvenient!"

"What?" Souten asked, he asked, drawing out the japanese syllables as much as possible as he turned around, "I made breakfast so it would be more convenient..." he said, not fully understanding. Tsukamu looked at him sternly, his hands closed into fists.

"Cover yourself!" he blurted out. "What if my neighbors see your tattoos?" The words hit Souten like knives and his muscles tightened. He quickly scrambled to find his clothes and pulled them on hastily, his pony tail coming undone, his hair cascading down around his ears and across his eyes. He tugged the long sleeve black t-shirt on properly before he pulled his pants on. The hasty dressing came to a conclusion and Souten promptly sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and slowly leaned forward over his lap, his eyes distant. He contemplated in silence for a moment before nodding gently to himself.

"Tomorrow I will go to Nagasaki... There are keepers there... They know how to resurface the flesh for wolves." Souten murmured. It was the only way to get rid of the tattoos for a werewolf, to remove the minerals keeping the pigment in place and let the body heal itself over the course of a week. Tsukamu stood in the middle of his apartment, thinking of what he had just said and feeling more and more embarrassed and guilty by the second.

"I... I am so sorry, Souten... I mean, you cooked a breakfast for us both and the first thing I do is shout at you."

"It is alright, my friend, I was foolish. I should have known better, and the first thing I did was put your safety and peace here at risk." Souten said, his eyes still drawn to the floor, "I should have known my past would get in the way again." Tsukamu, however, sat on the floor next to the other werewolf.

"What you did in the past does not count, Souten," he said in a soft voice. "After what we managed... Now the world is a different place. The only thing we should care about now is the future. So please, do not be sad because of me."

"I'm not sad, I'm afraid that I will mess this up, that I won't be good enough for you..." Souten said, looking up into Tsukamu's eyes. The host looked a bit confused.

"Good enough for me? You mean as a packmate?" he asked.

"I'll take what I can get." Souten said with a tiny shred of his usual playful self. Tsukamu, dense as usual, just frowned at that.

"What do you mean, Souten? Is there something you want from me?" Tsukamu asked. Souten bit his lip, struggling with himself for a long moment before he gave up.

"Of course there is... Tsukamu, I've liked you since I first laid eyes on you... I wanted you, I craved you, and then when you turned away I tried to follow you - no matter the cost." Souten said.

"I know. And then I beat you senseless," Tsukamu added; he stood silent for quite a while as his eyes widened a bit. "Wait, when you say you are attracted to me you mean..."

"Oh, come on, Tsukamu... I know you're more devout than most, but you gotta know what beats in the heart, don't you?" Souten asked, reaching up to caress Tsukamu's soft, dark beard, "To know what a man can crave?" This time, it was Tsukamu who averted his gaze.

"I... It's been a long time since I slept with one of my packmates. Full moons not included, of course," he murmured in an embarrassed, almost guilty tone. Souten looked shocked at that.

"How have you stayed sane? You poor guy..." Souten murmured softly. Tsukamu shook his head.

"I just thought... It wasn't that important..." he confessed in a whisper. Again Souten looked confused, but he soon nodded.

"Well, I guess... it is only important if you give it importance." Souten replied in consideration. Tsukamu bit his lip.

"M-maybe..." he muttered. He had looked so brave and honorable the night before, a true contemporary samurai... And now he was nothing but a scared little kid. He was just sitting down on the floor of his tiny apartment, too nervous and afraid to do anything... Even though all he needed was probably the right push.

"What do you want to be important, Tsukamu?" Souten asked softly, continuing to stroke his beard. Tsukamu, finally, rose his eyes again.

"Right now?" he asked in a hopeful tone. "I think... you, Souten."

"Are you sure?" Souten asked, his other hand moving to start rubbing slow circles on Tsukamu's groin. The other wolf let out a small, surprised yelp as he felt the touch of his friend's finger on such an intimate place; nonetheless, he raised a trembling finger and started stroking the side of Souten's face, really gently.

"Y-you are... Everything I am not, Souten. You are wild and outspoken and funny... How can a person like you like someone like me?" he asked.

"Opposites attract my friend. You are strong, brave, noble and true. You make the right decisions, you are a good person." Souten said, leaning in until his lips were barely apart from Tsukamu's, "And I want to fuck you so bad..." he whispered, bringing his groin to Tsukamu's, starting to hump him. Tsukamu's cheeks reddened a bit.

"You are so gross... I should probably shut you up..." he whispered as he leaned over and pressed his mouth against Souten's, his kiss long and tender. Souten returned the kiss with gusto, years of pent up need and hunger released in a moment. His lips were active and ever so slowly he pressed tighter against Tsukamu, a clawed hand sliding up Tsukamu's shirt to tease his nipple. The other wolf moaned and squirmed in pleasure; he lost control over his wolf half, his ears getting pointed, his beard bushier, his muscles a bit bigger and more solid.

"This feels... So liberating..." he murmured when the kiss was over.

"Let it out, Tsukamu, you're a fucking beast... The manliest, strongest man ever..." Souten said pleadingly, moving to nuzzle his cheek against Tsukamu's beard, reaching down to start unzipping Tsukamu's fly. The other man's moans quickly devolved into growls as his hands and feet gained a set of paw pads and deadly claws, and as his mouth readjusted itself to make space for fangs and a longer canine tongue.

"I want you, Souten..." he grunted.

"You have me, oh fuck, you've always had me..." Souten growled, reaching into Tsukamu's pants, wrapping his clawed hand around the hot, pulsing, tapered wolf cock Tsukamu's shaft was turning into. Souten pumped it up and down vigorously, moving to make out with the wolfman, loving how wild he was.

Tsukamu could smell the pheromones pouring out of Souten, the urge to fuck, the need, the lust and even the love. They were smells he had picked up hundreds of times in others, but this time they were all for him - and they had been for years. Souten was his, right there, willing and eager. Of all the biological impulses Tsukamu had, this was the first time it felt so necessary to have another - almost like Souten was a part of himself that had been missing. The act of having sex had never been so intense and intimate before, and they had never even begun.

"C-can you... feel it?" Tsukamu murmured. "This is... different, right?" As he talked, his coal black wolf tail bloomed into existence just above his ass crack, but the changes, apparently, were far from over: his ears, longer and pointed as they always were in his wolfman form, started changing again, migrating at the top of his head nestled among his hair, becoming true and proud wolf ears.

"This is what you were meant to be, what we can be together..." Souten said, salivating, his eyes wide in wonder. He had wanted to be with Tsukamu in the wildest way possible, but his lover was pushing past all known boundaries, becoming more of a wolf by the second... and Souten wanted to see how far this could go. He leaned down and began to nuzzle Tsukamu's red canine shaft. A few brushes of the cheek and Souten then parted his lips, bringing out his hot, soft tongue. The tongue slithered up the shaft before the lips came down. Souten soon was bobbing his head on Tsukamu's rod, his eyes watching the werewolf's changes moment by moment.

Tsukamu growled in pure bliss as his partner was busy sucking his shaft; he could feel something inside his chest, burning quietly of the same silvery light of a full moon. There was no name for something like that: ancestral power, untapped potential, a gift granted to those who had bravely fought the battle between darkness and light... All the definitions would have been incomplete and at least partly wrong. As Tsukamu's face elongated and his nose darkened and dampened, his human features replaced by a majestic wolf muzzle, he realized what he was feeling: it was like he was carrying his own personal full moon around, right in his heart. His big golden eyes shifted towards Souten, staring at him and hoping that he, too, could share that new, exciting, totalizing power with him.

Souten was lost in his own personal bliss, sucking and slurping on the wolf cock, massaging the furry balls beneath the rod, his eyes locked shut. His free hand stroked up and down Tsukamu's leg as the hair thickened and softened into fur, more and more of his human flesh disappearing beneath the fur. Never before had Tsukamu turned so far in the daylight hours, feeling the warmth of the sun on his changing flesh. Neither had he felt the clarity of his waking mind coupled with the animalistic body he was gaining.

Tsukamu's body grew and inflated, his now massive chest too much for the t-shirt he was wearing: the cloth was ripped at the seams, revealing huge slabs of meat covered in jet black fur and a set of solid, rock-hard abs. The werewolf panted with his large and flat tongue, one of his hand-paws caressing the side of Souten's face while the other was busy playing with one of his fat, juicy nipples. Somehow, he was turning into a primal wolf even if he was under direct sunlight... And he couldn't imagine anything more glorious and wonderful. Well, except for sharing that very moment with another handsome wolfman, of course.

Despite his self indulgence, Tsukamu was feeling another strange sensation. Each stroke of his paw against Souten's cheek was seeming to encourage changes in the wolf lapping at his groin... Thick strands of fur were emerging from his cheek, remaining dark at the roots but transitioning into a fiery red at the tips. Souten's ears had grown to points and the primal wolf could feel fangs grazing his sensitive shaft, adding to the exotic pleasure.

Tsukamu squirmed on the kitchen floor, his body now almost completely primal. Everything he was feeling in that moment - from the transformation to Souten sucking him - despite being things he had experienced many times seemed completely new. Being an obedient son and a dutiful member of the Japanese society, he had always kept the human and the wolf side of himself as distinct as possible - while of course trying to find harmony and balance between the two of them - but only in that moment he realized how pointless and silly he had been: there was no need to be afraid of himself, to deny who he truly was; his wolf and human side now were one and the same, and he could shift between the two of them with the ease of changing from a set of clothes to another.

The onyx black wolf panted and growled, his flat tongue spraying fat dollops of frothy drool on the shutters of the kitchen furniture. Souten's sucking and lapping was getting more and more intense as he changed, the more he was able to take more of Tsukamu's wolf dick inside his shifting and elongating mouth. Tsukamu couldn't contain himself, and a copious stream of salty precum started leaking from the tip of his shaft, coating the tongue and the palate of the former Yakuza.

"F-fuck, Souten, I..." in the heat of the moment, Tsukamu didn't even realize that his language had become more coarse and vulgar, and he wouldn't have cared anyway: he was reveling in a pleasure he had never felt before that moment, and once in a while he could allow himself to lose control, to have a relief valve of sorts... And in that moment, he was grateful that Souten was there with him.

Souten guzzled down the precum with a greedy, primal need. He gulped and savored it, let it flow down his throat and nourish him. His bones popped and shifted, his face distended. As Tsukamu watched, Souten's face morphed and changed, growing around his cock. His nose tilted up and darkened, his furry ears began to migrate up the sides of his head. Reddish tinged fur was sprouting all over his body... and his lithe, nimble frame was growing quickest of all. His shirt began to stretch and tear as his shoulders broadened - now supporting much larger pectorals.

His biceps and triceps grew, his legs elongated, and a very fluffy red tail began expanding out from behind him. The movements, the sensations, they were all amazing... but at the edge of it, Tsukamu could feel another difference. Unlike before, despite being so animalistic, his joints remained fairly humanoid... He had the ability to remain standing if he so chose, to have the body of a wolf and a stance of a man. The power coursed through him.

As if the two wolves were connected on a spiritual level, the energy and the arousal they were feeling were somehow shared and enhanced, making the whole experience even more intense. Tsukamu felt his toes contracting and relaxing rhythmically in a blissful spasm as they changed and developed into feet-like paws; the black forest of fur enveloped his swelling legs, submerged his big strong thighs and buried his rock-hard calves. The now almost completely changed werewolf relaxed with a gentle growl, the golden sunlight showering over him making him feel dizzy and playful and supremely horny.

Souten looked up at Tsukamu with deep, soulful golden eyes... and his long wolf muzzle slowly quirked into his typical mischievous grin. A clawed, padded finger moved carefully beneath Tsukamu's fluffy black tail and found his tight pucker - and began to massage. With careful strokes and rubs, Souten tried to stimulate his partner even more. He bobbed his head down, letting the black wolf's cock slide half way down his throat before coming back into a tongue bath and a saliva shower.

The moment Souten started fingering his asshole, something dawned into Tsukamu's mind; normally, he would've been caught dead before doing something like that, but not in that moment. Now only pleasure existed. The huge dark werewolf turned around, exposing his ass to his partner with a huge grin on his muzzle and in his golden eyes.

"Knot me, Souten... I know you want it," he growled in a deep, booming voice. Souten's eyes widened with shock that he was finally getting what he wanted. He scrambled up from his position on the floor like a gangly puppy, nearly tripping over himself before he came up behind Tsukamu. Despite his clumsiness initially, Tsukamu felt no deviation, hesitation or mistake in Souten's aim. His pucker was stretched wide as a hot, wet wolf cock began sliding in. The smaller red wolf slid up Tsukamu's back, mounting him from behind, sliding deep.

"Oh, fuck yes..." Souten exhaled slowly as he felt his cock squeezed into the muscled ass of his lover. He slid up as far as he could go before he pulled back and rammed in again. With a few more strokes Souten fell into a building rhythm of thrusts, moving to nuzzle and lick the back and side of Tsukamu's neck. A clawed hand slid down the samurai's ribs and across his furry stomach, the arm holding on with love and need.

"Indeed..." Tsukamu replied; the rhythm of his breathing was steadily increasing, just like the beating of his enlarged heart in the middle of his chest. The dick buried deeply into his ass was hitting all the right spots, and Tsukamu's mind - usually sharp like a katana and always ready - was enveloped in a fog of lust. One of his hand-paws wrapped around his own meaty cock and started pumping, spurts of dense pre staining the kitchen floor almost immediately.

Almost at once, another clawed hand wrapped around his cock... and a surge of power ripped through Tsukamu. He had changed many times before in his life, and he had gone primal once a month for all of those years... but it felt almost as if something new had been unlocked inside him. Having Souten for a lover, embracing both sides of himself, sinking into the freedom that being liberated from the dark side of the curse brought him... Tsukamu felt his cock beginning to swell anew, growing longer and thicker, throbbing as it stretched in every direction.

The black wolf's balls began to grow as well, expanding in all directions. Deep inside his body, his prostate was growing as well. Everything worked together to intensify the stream of his precum, to make the smells richer, to claim his territory. His fur was getting shaggier, his body growing once more, the power and lust and love and purity of his mind swirling together in a heady mass... but one thing was clear. It would be impossible to turn away from the new virility he was becoming imbued with. He was turning into a new creature, something that was neither a human nor a beast, not even something in the middle... More like something above. And it felt glorious.

"Fuck me harder!" he commanded to his fellow packmate, the rumble in his throat low and yet incredibly powerful. Tsukamu was too much into the moment, into the incredible change that was happening to his body, to care about things like impropriety or etiquette... He just wanted Souten to please him as much as he could, to mate with him, to become one with him. That was the only thing he needed.

Souten knew to fuck his lover harder, he'd need a better grip. His other hand slid around Tsukamu's waist and wrapped around his swollen cock... three hands in all between the two of them, but that was still not enough to encapsulate the engorged wolf meat. Souten rammed his hips in hard, his claws digging into the floor as he rammed in and out with blinding speed. Souten growled in delight, slowly biting Tsukamu's neck possessively with his fangs.

It felt like Souten was riding a bucking bear, the beast so large and so masculine and so fuckable. He felt his heart swell at pride with what Tsukamu had achieved... and as his heart swole, so too did his knot. The thrusts became more ragged, random and uneven before Souten could no longer pull out. His knot tugged at the black wolf's rear before Souten lifted his head and let out a window rattling howl of pleasure.

A blooming wave of thick, sticky wolf cum began spraying into Tsukamu's ass, pumping into him with amazing volume from the red wolf mounted to his back. Souten's cock vibrated and throbbed inside him, scraping his engorged prostate; that, along with the three paws massaging his own dick, proved to be too much for him. His orange-sized balls churned and his towering shaft sprayed what could easily be a pint of yellowish, gooey werewolf cum all over the floor, even coating the fur of his chest and turning it into a sticky mat. Tsukamu let out a ponderous sigh, his huge head lowering and his eyes closing for a bit.

Souten's hands moved from the wolf's cock to the wolf's stomach and slowly, despite his smaller stature, maneuvered Souten onto his side where they laid together in the sunshine on the floor like dogs ready for a nap... but they were so much more. They had fought with honor, they had loved with passion, they felt conviction. It was the birth of a new age, and a very bright tomorrow.