Cold wind rushing through the seemingly empty areas was nothing that disturbed the so-called peaceful atmosphere in the world that they lived in. But it wasn't empty. Instead, there was a big community under the earth that no ordinary human knew of, except for those who were born in the deepest depths of the earth. And those were only little of the people that managed to survive the apocalypse that swept away the majority of humanity in the year 2012 due to an unknown virus and vampires taking over. That was what the humans thought.
But the descendants of the Amemori clan knew better than that. Ever since the first shapeshifter was discovered in their family, they made sure to spread this gene as much as possible. Even though it was hard to find more humans during times like these, the estimated number of shapeshifters was at about 200, maybe a little less due to battles against the vampires that just seemed to take over during the past years.
Everyone that managed to shapeshift into a wolf was more powerful than any normal human, in both human and wolf form since their wolves were a lot stronger than the ones that once used to live in the wild. And the rivalry between werewolves and the vampires was like something out of a book, but it existed. However, only a few vampires had ever seen a werewolf before and survived to spread the message. It was a miracle
whenever a vampire defeated a werewolf, however, the victory mostly didn't last for too long. Victory itself brought the thirst for revenge amongst the remaining werewolves. The werewolves and vampires held an ancient grudge which meant that whenever they crossed paths, bloodshed would follow. Few had survived or escaped these so-called 'massacres' on the vampire side though.
Vampires and shapeshifters had the ability to smell one another. Vampires described a werewolf's smell to be like the one of an animal.
Whenever a werewolf was bleeding, the majority assumed that there was an injured dog around. The werewolves, on the other hand, could smell vampires from afar. Their smell was definitely unpleasant to the point where it even started to sting in their noses when one was around. Humans smelled somewhat normal, but they could still be sensed. Sometimes it depended though, some werewolves jokingly said that the smell of a human depended on their intentions. If they were good, their smell was appealing, if not, then they smelled like shit. Whether that was true or not was unknown.
The main reason for the shapeshifters not to work together with the humans to get rid of the enemies that they had in common was the fact that the current leader of the Amemori clan, a young man named Keiji, knew the humans' real motives. At least those of their leaders. And he refused to work together with those who experimented on their own kind to archieve more power. It was disgusting and only made it seem like the only normal kind in this world was the shapeshifters.
In a sense, they were completely normal, but being a werewolf could be a real disadvantage sometimes. Of course they were capable of killing vampires through a single bite, but that didn't mean that they didn't have their own problems. Because they certainly did. Young werewolves tended to transform randomly whenever they only got a little bit too happy, sad, angry etc and that was honestly tiring to watch. It was like this gene only triggered their emotions to take the upper hand when they were done. And it seemed like a blessing to have the ability to shapeshift from time to time, but sometimes it really turned out to be the opposite, what one would refer to as a curse.
But the werewolves identity had been completely hidden from the humans that were still around, except for those that accidentally ended up finding their secret spot underneath the earth. Finding it was already hard enough because it meant climbing down a hole that really was something else. Most humans that were sensed approaching left immediately when they spotted the ladder, simply because it could lead to who-knew-where. And no one really liked mysteries, right?
Well, the shapeshifters were just about to be proven wrong by the JIDA soldiers that were standing in front of the seemingly boring entrance. Boring but definitely mysterious. It seemed like the nowhere seemed rather appealing to them, because the leader of this unit, a young man with black hair and purple eyes, had soon started climbing down the ladder, quickly followed by their squad mates.
- - - - - -
In the eyes of (F/n) (L/n), it was meant to be a peaceful day, one without training to just relax and calm down for once. These days were rare but they were treasured like a newborn baby. And there was no reason to worry about anything going wrong anyway, right?
Wrong.
"The Shimizu twins" were called the reason for the disturbance of the current peace, because they just didn't know where to stop most of the time. They were pranksters indeed, but tended to take it too far without even noticing that their actions were hurting someone else, physically or not. Of course an apology would follow if they found out that they had hurt someone, but that always took a lot of time.
Humans would describe them as beautiful, but any werewolf had something attractive about them that it was almost captivating for the human eye.
It seemed to be nearly impossible to tell them apart, if it weren't for the fact that their eyes didn't have the same color at all. Ichirou and Jirou were their names, one of them had blue eyes and the other one had brown ones. If they had the same eye color, then no one would be able to know who is who, but that sometimes tended to make things a lot easier. Except for the times when they decided to be even more annoying and one of them wore contact lenses just to see who would still be able to tell them apart. (F/n) was proud to call herself one of them, but in her eyes, it was obvious. Even if Ichirou wore contact lenses to hide his blue eyes, his voice was still a small bit more gently than Jirou's. Plus, Ichirou was always the one that wore the bright clothes and Jirou wore the dark ones. It was a matter of taste, really, but it was kind of the only thing they disagreed on.
But apart from their clothes and eyes, most people weren't able to tell the difference between them. The voice was something others barely paid attention to because twins were already uncommon enough.
One Shimizu twin being around usually meant that the other one was nearby for a prank that was about to follow, but they were never apart, not even on the battlefield. It was always rather amusing to see the confused vampires when they thought that the one wolf was multiplying or running at a speed that was even unusual for a werewolf. Even in their wolf-form, the only aspect that was making it clear who Ichirou and who Jirou was, were the eyes. At least they couldn't wear lenses in their wolf forms, but that didn't mean they weren't working on it.
But convincing (F/n), Keiji or mainly anyone else to help on that part didn't lead anywhere.
Nothing too unusual was (F/n) being around the Shimizu twins either, they shared a bond that was basically impossible to break because they had been putting up with one another since they were tiny. However, being close to them had one disadvantage and that meant for (F/n) to have to look out for any sign of a prank following at any time. Yes, even when they were having a sleepover and were just about to go to bed, because these guys were honestly so unpredictable that even Keiji had problems to identify whether they were joking or serious.
(F/n) had her left side guided by Jirou, while Ichirou was on her right, another aspect that rarely changed and was probably never going to.
And even today, something seemed to be unusual.
"Guys please, all I want is some relaxation!" (F/n) complained and stopped in her tracks.
"What are you talking about?" The twins spoke at the same time and exchanged confused glances, before they both shrugged at the exact same moment. It was amusing to see how they usually thought the same but tended to get into arguments when it came to their favorite color to wear.
If (F/n) wasn't already used to their behaviour, she would definitely be really confused as of now.
"Don't give me that crap, something's about to happen and you know it!" (F/n) didn't give in at all and just continued.
There was no way that the weird feeling in her stomach wasn't the result of the twins messing around, because it was always like this.
Jirou lazily wrapped his arms around (F/n)'s shoulder and poked her cheek.
"You have the 100% Shimizu guarantee that we're not up to anything!" His promise seemed honest and even as (F/n) shot him a sceptical glance, it didn't really seem like he was lying.
"Maybe I've got your guarantee, Jirou-kun, but that doesn't mean that Ichirou-kun isn't up to something," her eyes casted over to the slightly older twin only to find him looking at her with the same look in his eyes, "okay, maybe not. What the hell is it then?"
"What's what?" They asked simultaneously, (F/n) narrowed her eyes.
"I've got the feeling that something's about to happen, okay? I don't know what it is either, so fuck off." (F/n) tried crossing her arms but before she could even move them, the twins had intertwined their arms with hers and grinned at her mischievously.
"So what you're saying is," Ichirou started off and was followed by Jirou who had the same idiotic look on his face, "that you think it's our fault?"
Silence followed. "How rude!" They both exclaimed at the same time once again, pretending to be hurt.
"But really, I can't say that you're not right." Ichirou shrugged.
(F/n) beamed at him. "I know, right?"
"Yeah, we have a day off." Ichirou smirked at the slightly younger girl and watched as she puffed her cheeks in annoyance. Jirou laughed and the twins high-fived, while (F/n) blushed due to embarrassment and tried smacking the both of them. But, as usual, she failed and just ended up laughing with them.
"Really though, I smelled something rather strange earlier but I thought that it was just me," Jirou suddenly piped up and earned a confused glance from his brother, "I guess the fact that it came from the exit isn't making the situation any better."
(F/n) sighed dramatically. "Thank you!" The twins let go of her arms and she lazily threw them up in the air.
"So, what now?" Ichirou asked.
"I think you know what this means," (F/n) stated and rubbed her temples, "we have to tell Keiji."
The twins groaned in annoyance. "No way we're going there, he's still pissed because of yesterday."
"Yeah, but you two really went too far this time", (F/n) rolled her eyes, "maybe we shouldn't act based on our assumptions for now and just go check for ourselves. Maybe it's nothing."
"Right, because 'nothing' always smells like a human." Ichirou and Jirou mumbled, before they exchanged a glance with (F/n) that spoke for itself.
"The last one there has to pay dinner tonight!" The three of them shouted at the same time, a few people that were around shot them annoyed glares while the trio didn't care and just started running.
And that was basically how it always was.
However, the closer they got, the more their assumption that there were human intruders seemed to be right. At first, there had only been the muffled voices but that could have been anyone, before the smell then had said something else. Those were definitely humans, no doubt about it.
The twins didn't know what to do, going to Keiji immediately wasn't an option because there was a chance of them disappearing at any time and no one wanted to see an angry Keiji either. He was calm and gentle most of the time, but that façade was easily brought down by someone tricking him. And that was what the twins were really good at, so there were many cofrontations with him that didn't go as planned and usually ended in some sort of punishment.
The Shimizu twins were standing in front of (F/n), they had previously claimed that they would only let her see if the intruders had their backs turned to them, and poked their heads around the corner in a curious manner, while (F/n) stood behind them, her arms crossed.
As soon as Ichirou made eye contact with someone who oddly reminded him of Keiji due to the eye and hair color, the twins snapped their heads back and exchanged an obviously alarmed look.
"Who's there?"
(F/n) covered her mouth to prevent herself from making any stupid sounds, while the twins took one step back at the time, before they ended up bumping right into the younger girl behind them whose only reaction was to jump back with a loud gasp escaping her lips. Seemed like covering her mouth hadn't worked because that had really been loud enough for anyone to hear, possible even the human intruders.
It didn't take them long enough to find the one and only solution and that was called "running away". Sadly, that didn't work because they were interrupted by a deep voice behind them.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
The three shapeshifters froze in their tracks and the only thing that they could do was hoping that they weren't the ones that the human was talking to.
"You know, just because you're frozen it doesn't mean that you're not here."
(F/n) made eye contact with Jirou who shook his head so slowly that it was barely visible and Ichirou was doing the same. Her eyes then casted over to the six humans and she gulped visibly when she realized that they all seemed to be looking at her.
"Uh," Ichirou cleared his throat to get their attention while his brother had soon moved and pushed (F/n) behind the two of them, obviously not liking the looks they were giving her, "I no speak, uh, Japan. I tourist."
The humans deadpanned, Jirou looked like he was about to break into a huge sweat and if he wasn't standing in front of her, it would have been clear how much (F/n) was trying not to laugh really hard. Maybe the twins were mischievous and all, but they couldn't lie to save their lives and that was definitely amusing. But in this situation, it was clear who had the disadvantage.
(F/n) slightly stood on her tiptoes to glance over their shoulders but she immediately shrunk as soon as she saw that the white-haired stranger had spotted her.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I don't have time for your bullshit, just tell me who you are and what you're doing here." That was the only thing that left the black-haired male's mouth, (F/n) assumed that he was their leader, his eyes were practically glaring daggers at the twins.
"I no speak Japan, what you are telli-"
Before Ichirou made an even bigger fool of himself and Jirou decided to join in, (F/n) had pushed her way through the middle of the twins and shook her head.
"Stop." She weakly mouthed, the twins exchanged a glance and (F/n) could see that they were stressing themselves to come up with a good excuse but they didn't seem to find one anytime soon.
"Uh," (F/n) laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, "I'm sorry, these two don't know where to stop," the twins looked visibly offended but it was obvious that it was as fake as a smiling bird, "We live here?" Her statement came out as more of a question than it was meant to be, but it was obvious that she didn't really know where to start.
"Right. And you are?" Their leader didn't cross his arms like (F/n) had expected him to, however, it seemed like his hand was reaching for a sword which told (F/n) to hurry up if she wanted to leave.
"I'm (F/n) and the twins are Ichirou and Jirou." She quickly added.
Speaking of Ichirou and Jirou, the two of them definitely didn't like the way these intruders were staring at her so they pulled her a bit closer.
"Now if you don't mind," Ichirou started, "we'll be leaving because we've got something to take care of."
And with that, the twins started running, while leaving a dumbstruck (F/n) and pissed off humans behind.
"Are you two serious?" The girl threw her hands up as she looked after them running around a corner. The sound of something ripping was heard and (F/n) didn't have to think twice to know what was happening. They were turning into werewolves, most likely to get to Keiji sooner because this really seemed like an emergency.
The fact that they weren't on the best terms didn't seem to matter to them anymore and (F/n) quietly cursed to herself.
She blinked a couple of times and lowered her arms, before she let out an exasperated sigh. It seemed like there was only one thing that she could do right now to prevent herself from getting into trouble with these humans. If one of them had a sword, no one could really know what else they could possibly have to fight. And even if (F/n) was definitely stronger, even as a simple human, something told her that these guys weren't inexperienced fighters either. And (F/n) couldn't fight with a weapon at all because she was used to relying on her wolf form.
"Uh, well," she turned around to the intruders only to find out that they were already approaching her at an alarmingly fast rate, "I can take you to our leader if that's what you want! I'm just an innocent citizen!" She exclaimed and let out a relieved sigh as soon as they stopped.
"Then do that."
(F/n) could feel a cold shiver running down her spine but she didn't show it and stood there with a calm facial expression. "Alright, will do, just follow me." She shot them a small smile before she then hastily turned her head around and started walking into the direction of the biggest building around. It seemed like the humans wouldn't follow her for a couple of seconds, before she heard them moving behind her.
"So you really live here? Under the earth? Isn't that a bit strange?"
(F/n) flinched slightly as soon as she realized that they had caught up with her sooner than she had expected them to. She looked at the man that held a strange resemblance to Keiji for a couple of seconds, before she shrugged.
"I don't think it's that bad. I've lived outside of here for most of my life and I think it's better here." She replied. "It's all a matter of taste though, you know?"
It was strange to see how this girl was already so talkaktive and seemed to be opening up to them after only having met her a couple of minutes ago, but that probably meant that she wasn't scared of them. Whether that was a mistake or not wasn't really clear either because she gave off a strong and rather animal-like aura. It wasn't bad, just..strange.
"I see. No vampires around here, or am I wrong?" The white-haired male continued.
"Luckily not, I don't think we've ever had anyone from outside coming here," (F/n) said and brushed a strand of her messy locks behind her ears, "It's really peaceful and we rarely leave unless we have to get supplies."
"And why did your brothers run away from us?" Another male cut (F/n) off and she shrugged slightly and turned to face him.
"They're not my brothers," she clarified, "But I guess that they didn't know what to do."
"(F/n)."
Her head snapped to the voice that she had heard so many times before and she, unlike the humans, didn't stare at the two black wolves next to Keiji in shock. It seemed like they had recognized the similarity to the twins from before.
"A-ah, Keiji-san. I see they were faster than me." She blinked for a couple of seconds and walked over to the white-haired leader almost as if she was in a hurry.
Keiji looked at the humans with an emotion that no one could really tell what it was supposed to be, before his eyes met the icy blue ones of one of them and they exchanged a wide-eyed stare, before Keiji cleared his throat.
"Welcome. My name is Keiji and I'm the owner of this place," he turned his head to look at (F/n), "I hope she was treating you well? Unlike these guys." He stared at the wolves in disapproval, the two of them only growled in response.
(F/n) could feel something strange in the air. Something was about to change, she just didn't know what.