Nightshade 4

[percybum]

TITLE: Nightshade
CHAPTER: Three
PAIRING: Matsumoto x Ohno / Aiba x Sakurai / Matsumoto x Ninomiya x Aiba (Friendship)
RATING: PG13 at the mo
SUMMARY:  I am a guardian of the forest, and a keeper of the forbidden book. In simpler terms, I‘m a werewolf.



I kept running until I found myself nearing the familiar area in the forest where I keep bumping in to Ohno. I skidded to a halt, the fur on my face wet from the tears. I shook my body violently; trying to get the snow from my fur as I slowly shrank down to my stomach, burying my face in my front paws.

I wanted to cry and sob, but to do that I’d have to revert to my other form. In the snow with no clothes I’d probably die, and although I kind of wanted that right now, I decided against it.

Instead, I raised my muzzle to the sky, and howled as loudly as I could, letting out all of my anguish in one long note.

“That was some heartbreaking howl, Mattsun, did something happen?”

I leapt to my feet, a startled yelp torn from my throat. I glanced around at Ohno, who had sat himself down against the tree, brushing snow from his hair.

“You want to talk about it?” He asked, patting the floor next to him, “I’ll listen to you,”

Are you stupid? I grumbled to myself. Obviously, the sound came out as a mixture between a whine and a growl, and Ohno laughed.

“Seriously, I’ll listen. Come here,”

Before I could stop myself, I padded over to him and climbed over his small legs, careful not to step on him with my full wolf weight. He smiled as I sat down next to him, close enough that my fur was brushing against his side. I looked straight into his eyes, before my eyes moved downwards, settling on his lips.

I remembered when I saved him that night, giving him energy through my kiss, and suddenly thought of Aiba.

If only guardians could be healed by another tooI thought sadly.

I felt a tap on my head and glanced up, “You looked sad again, Mattsun,” Ohno said, scratching my ears in a way that made me go all floppy.

Damn it, I’m not a dog I swore to myself as I leant into his hand, before collapsing onto his lap and rolling onto my back.

“Ah! Tummy rub!” He exclaimed, his small hands scratching my stomach. I closed my eyes in pleasure, half hating myself for acting like some common mutt, and half wanting to just stay like this forever.

My eyes snapped open as he scratched a spot on my stomach that made my back leg twitch and jerk. God, this was humiliating. I was an Alpha male wolf, not some spoilt Chihuahua that couldn’t tell the difference between a deer and dog food. I rolled back to my feet and sat in front of him, staring into his eyes. He stared back at me calmly.

“Do you feel better?” He asked softly.

I shook my head and sighed, What I did can’t be forgiven,

“Mattsun… How is it… you can understand me? I mean… it’s not even simple things like ‘sit’ and ‘stay’… you answer my questions…” He said suddenly, leaning away from me.

Shit! I backed away from him, my eyes wide.

“There’s something strange… you… are you Matsumoto Jun? Because I remember both of you from that night I..”

I growled and snapped my teeth at him, before backing further away from him, You can’t find out! It was a mistake to come here!

I turned and ran as fast as I could back towards my home. I didn’t want to see anyone, but it would be safer than being alone with Ohno.

I swore when his scent filled my nostrils. I smelt of him! I took a detour towards the lake and threw myself in, trying to wash his smell from my fur before I got home.

It was only then that I realized that Aiba’s blood had stained the fur on one of my front paws. I whimpered to myself and dragged it across the floor at the edge of the water, trying to wash it off.

After a while, I shook myself (mostly) dry, and headed home. I could tell by the smell that my father’s pack was doing the patrol, and I took the chance to dart home before he returned.

The Alpha female of my father’s pack was waiting for me when I opened the door.

“Jun!” She cried, “You’re soaking! Where have you been, I’ve been worried sick!”

“Mum,” I mumbled, shifting to human form and letting her wrap me up in a dry, warm towel, and then into her arms.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” She said quietly, stroking my hair, “But as an Alpha, you have to stay at the head of your pack. Aiba-kun forgives you, it’s alright,”

I felt myself finally let go, sobbing into my mother’s arms like a little boy.

---

I woke up late the next morning. My father had obviously led the morning patrol; my mother had probably asked him to. She might not be an aggressive wolf, but she did know how to get around my father.

I threw my uniform on and padded downstairs, avoiding the mirror in the hallway, as I knew that my eyes were puffy without even looking.

Nino and Aiba were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. Aiba had a bandage around his neck, and I’m sure he had one around his calf too; he had all his weight on the other leg, and when he hopped up the stairs to say good morning, he was limping heavily.

“Jun!” My father called from the kitchen. I saw Aiba visibly wince at his voice and Nino reached out, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Yes?” I said, going into the kitchen.

“My pack will take over patrols until your second Beta is fully healed,” He said, not looking up from his newspaper, “You can’t patrol very well with your third in command unable to run. Now, go to school,”

I nodded and left the kitchen, grabbing my bag on the way out and going through the front door.

We were halfway to school when Aiba finally grabbed me by my arm and swung me around.

“Alpha!” He yelled, “Jun-tan! Why are you avoiding looking at me?”

“You know why,” I mumbled, looking away from him, “I did… such horrible things to you..”

“Oh come on, Jun-kun!” Nino snapped, “We know you had to do it, and Ma-kun has forgiven you. Stop beating yourself up over it!”

“But-”

“I know it hurt you more than it hurt me,” Aiba said softly, placing his arms around my neck and resting his forehead against my own, “I forgive you. It hurts me more when you’re this upset. Alright?”

I sighed and nodded, pulling away from him and wiping my eyes, “Sorry,”

“Stop saying sorry, you’re the Alpha. You don’t apologize,” Nino said, linking his arm through mine. Aiba took the other side and they almost frog marched me down the road.

Aiba froze as we came out of the alleyway, and he turned around, “I uh.. Dropped something, I’ll be back in a second,” He mumbled, before limping back into the alley.

Nino jerked his head in the direction that we were walking, “Sakurai,”

I didn’t notice Sho walking in front of us. What I did notice, however, was Ohno.

The further they got down the road away from us, the closer Aiba got behind me, until he was once again attached to my arm.

“Sorry,” He said sadly, “I can’t see him… I think.. I think I love him,”

I patted his arm sympathetically and led the pair to school.

---

It happened when I went into the bathroom by myself without Aiba or Nino. I didn’t even realize that he was behind me until he spoke; I was so focused on thinking about Ohno.

“What do you know about wolves, Matsumoto-san?”

I jumped and spun around to face him, my eyes wide.

“Ohno-san, you made me jump,” I said, forcing my lips into a smile.

“What do you know about wolves?” He repeated, moving closer to me.

“Not much. I know there’s a pack up in the forest. Why?”

He narrowed his eyes at me, and my heartbeat increased, “I’m not stupid, Matsumoto-san, I know that there is some kind of connection between you and that wolf,”

shit

“What are you talking about?” I said, opting for the calm option, “Wolf? I have a dog, if that’s what you mea-”

“That’s not what I mean! I don’t know how, but you must be connected to that wolf! And Aiba-san and Ninomiya-san call you Alpha!”

“Just a private joke,” I assured him, feeling myself being backed into a corner, both physically and in this conversation.

“And Aiba-san has bite marks on his leg,” Ohno continued, “I saw it during football in PE, it was bleeding through the bandage so he had to change it!”

What the hell was Aiba doing, playing football when he can’t even walk properly?

“So he got bitten, what’s that got to do with me?”

“I don’t know!” Ohno exclaimed, “But I’ll find out! Also, why is Aiba-san avoiding Sho-kun? Even after they… What happened?”

“Why are you asking me?” I said, narrowing my eyes, “It’s nothing to do with you,”

“You’re going all defensive!” He exclaimed, “Tell me what’s going on with you! You’re that wo-”

I grabbed him and tugged him into a cubicle as people entered the toilets. My heart sank when I realized it was Aiba and Nino. It fell even more when they didn’t realize that we were in there with them.

“Alpha is going to kill you,” Nino stated, “When he finds out you did PE with your leg,”

“But the team needed me!” Aiba whined, “Plus, I needed to play.. To get my mind off of Sho-chan…”

“There are other, less damaging ways to distract yourself,” Nino snapped, “Even the overall Alpha has taken over the patrols so you can heal. You need to be careful, Ma-kun. Next time you break the rules, it won’t be Jun-kun punishing you, it’ll be his father,”

I could almost hear Aiba wince, and Ohno stiffened in my grip, turning around to look at me with wide eyes.

“Come on,” Nino sighed, “Hurry up and clean it up, we have to meet Jun-kun for lunch,”

“I hope Jun-tan doesn’t have rabies,” I heard Aiba mutter, and I tried to hold back a laugh as they went out through the door.

“Explain,” Ohno said, staring at me with his innocent eyes, “I knew you were that wolf! You punished Aiba-san!? For what, exactly?”

I couldn’t help it. I leant forward, gripping the back of his head and pulling him into my lips. I pulled away not long after I pressed them into his, and hissed into his ear.

“Pack life is different to what you might expect. This has nothing to do with you, and I advise that you steer clear of me,” I moved him out of the way as I opened the cubicle door, before moving out of the bathroom.

“Oh, and don’t go back to that clearing in the forest, and don’t ever call me ‘Mattsun’ again, understood?” I added as a second thought, before leaving the bathroom and heading for the cafeteria.

I clipped both Nino and Aiba on the back of their heads before sitting down next to them.

“Ow!”

“What was that for?”

“I was in the bathroom, idiots! I could hear everything you said! If you can’t even sense me, you should at least keep your mouths shut until we’re out of school! What if someone heard you?”

Both of them lowered their eyes to the table in a silent apology and I sighed, looking at Aiba.

“And you, Masaki! I feel bad enough about your leg as it is! Don’t make it worse by doing sports!”

Aiba’s bottom lip trembled and he sniffed, wiping at his eyes, “Sorry,”

I sighed and slapped his head again, “Don’t be sorry. Just don’t do it again, alright?” He nodded and smiled at me.

The smile vanished, however, when someone came up behind me.

“Aiba-kun, can we talk?” Sho said quietly, looking straight into Aiba’s eyes.

“Um.. I’m eating my lunch.. Sorry,” Aiba mumbled, “I think you should just go,”

“But I need to talk to you!” Sho exclaimed, “Why are you avoiding me? Are you gonna use me like that and then just fuck off ? You told me you lo-”

Nino jumped to his feet, his nose crunched up in anger, “He asked you to leave,” He snarled, almost sounding wolf-like.

Sho gulped and took a step backwards, but then frowned and moved closer, “I want to talk to Aiba-kun, not you,” He said. He was taller than Nino, and outweighed him by quite a bit; you could see that his arms were muscled through his uniform. But Nino was a wolf; and a Beta at that.

Instead of backing down, Nino stepped closer to him. He might have looked weedy, but he was just as, if not more, powerful than Sho.

“And I’m telling you to leave,” He repeated.

“Jun-kun,” Aiba whimpered, looking at me for help. Sho wouldn’t be able to take Nino in a fight, whether he was in human form or not.

“Kazu,” I sighed, “Sit down,” Nino continued to glare at Sho, but sank into his chair all the same, without a word of argument.

I could see Ohno standing behind Sho, and he looked at me sharply. I ignored the look and glanced around at Sho.

“You should leave before things kick off,” I said quietly, “We don’t want trouble, but if you’re not willing to go, I’ve got no problem starting something,”

Sho opened his mouth to speak, but Ohno’s hand touched him gently on his arm. However, his eyes were on me.

“Come on, Sho-kun. Maybe you can talk to him later,”

Sho nodded, and I noticed a single tear slip down his cheeks, before he turned and allowed Ohno to take him away.

I glanced at Aiba, who looked like he was struggling with containing his own tears, and sighed.

“What a shitty day,” I mused out loud, “Reminds me of the first time Kazu turned wolf, and every time he moved his tail he fell over,”

“Hey! You said you’d never bring that up!” Nino cried. Aiba smiled and wiped at his eyes.

“Thanks, guys,” He said softly.

“Don’t thank us,” I replied, “You’re our best friend,”

“You’re pack!” Nino added fiercely, “I won’t let anyone upset you!”

********
TO BE CONTINUED...

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