It had only been a matter of time until things were starting to get a little bit strange. Really strange. Even though the unknown humans had agreed to keep the existence of the werewolves and this place a secret, Keiji was definitely not the only one who actually doubted that they would keep it. In his eyes, humans were selfish creatures that did not learn anything from their painful past and the only purpose that they had was to remind the vampires that someone could be powerful without any sort of special ability up to a certain degree. Of course one could argue whether that was really true, considering that they had no other chance but to make contracts with demons to archieve the power that they needed, but Keiji was a stubborn young man and certainly did not care about what anyone else was going to tell him about this. He was taking after his parents on that part, even though the rest of him could not be any different.
And demons were not the friendliest creatures that Keiji had ever encountered either, they way they fed on someone's so-called desires was just disgusting. But the white-haired man thought of the desires that the humans posessed as nothing but greed. In his eyes, humans were without a doubt the worst creatures that the world could have ever received. They left chaos whenever they went. If only they weren't all that smart because that way they could still be saved. It was really saddening to see how a young man like Keiji already had enough of the human kind, but there was really nothing that anyone could do about it.
The prejudices that he held against the humans always played a huge part whenever he decided whether he was going to take someone in or not. He did not think that anyone could ever be classified as worthless because everyone was the same in a sense. Whether they died today or tomorrow, there would not be a huge difference. Maybe him thinking that all humans were selfish creatures was what stopped him from giving more of them the ability to shapeshift as well. Werewolves were powerful enough, but combining this with the intelligence that some humans posessed, it could either be a good or a terrible decision. There was no such thing as inbetween on that matter. It was probably a good thing that a human could only be given the ability to shapeshift if consent from both sides was present. If there was only a tiny bit of doubt on one side, the bite would cause nothing but temporary harm.
Keiji was definitely hesitant about letting these strangers stay in his city for a short amount of time, but if it was for them to rest to gain power to destroy the enemy that they had in common, then so be it. Without a doubt, Keiji hated humans, but vampires were even worse. Yet, this surprised no one at all because it was somewhat meant to be that way. Shapeshifters who even dared to keep up healthy relations with vampires were considered to be blood-traitors and that was an absolutely unforgivable sin and could lead to punishment, or even worse, death. So yeah, messing with Keiji was definitely one of the worst things that anyone could ever do.
Still, the Shimizu twins did it without a single care in the world, so there were some exceptions. But they were rare and should not be taken advantage of.
Another person that the owner of this place just could not hate at all was (F/n), not that she had ever given him a reason to do so though. Ever since he had first laid his eyes on her, he had felt a weird kind of craving deep inside of him, something that he just could not put into words, even if he really wanted to. Whatever she did, whatever she said, he found himself in some sort of trance that barely anything could snap him out of, except for maybe one of the pranks coming from Ichirou and Jirou. It was ridiculous, but to make things even worse, Keiji knew very well that (F/n) was not meant to be his mate at all. Hell, did this girl even have one? Sadly, the white-haired man knew that this would never make a difference because he had already been arranged to marry someone else when it was time.
Riko Oshiro was a beautiful young girl and with her fiery red hair and those magnificent blue eyes, Keiji sometimes really asked himself why he was not in love with her at all. But every time she was around and hugged him, or displayed any sort of physical contact in general, he didn't like it at all. He felt guilty, but he couldn't help it. Needless to say that he was without a doubt relieved when she had told him that she didn't love him, but someone else that she did not want to put into unnecessary danger in case her father would find out about it. So in front of Riko's father, the two of them were a lovey-dovey couple that always stuck together. And as soon as the man left the room, that façade dropped and they found themselves thinking of the one they wanted to be with. It was ridiculous, really, but neither one of them wanted to know what would happen if anyone ever saw what they truly felt apart from themselves. That would be dangerous.
And Keiji definitely knew who had an idea of the truth: Manabu Yamamoto, someone who was usually rather quiet and did not stand out at all, but his intelligence and the way he understood actions certainly did. No one could come to such logical conclusions within such a short amount of time except for him. It bugged Keiji greatly, but he did not dare to ever bring this up because he did not have the intention to confirm the other man's theory. And the worst part was that it seemed like the message was slowly spreading throughout the city to the point where even (F/n) knew about it. And everytime she looked at him with a slight amount of pity in her eyes, all that Keiji wanted to do was to embrace her and never let go for as long as he lived.
The twins were another thing that were definitely in the way of him ever being together with (F/n) because it was not a secret that they hated to share their favorite person in the world with anyone else. Maybe that was also why they were constantly around her, to make sure that no one would ever try to hit on her. This sweet gesture was really starting to become more of a burden than anything and it was, without a doubt, one of the most annoying things that Keiji had ever come across. If it weren't for these guys, then maybe he would be a lot closer with (F/n) by now. Ugh. And to think that this place looked like heaven on earth from outside was slowy starting to become one of the most ironic things ever because it certainly wasn't that way.
The humans actually thought that this place was great because of the way that anyone lived together to get rid of the vampires together. Hah, if only they knew what the werewolves' leader thought of them, that would surely make them a lot more sceptic than they should be. Ever since they had arrived, it had gotten obvious how sceptical they all were and most importantly how careful they were when approaching someone new.
And what Keiji hated the most at the time was the fact that these humans really seemed to have taken a liking towards (F/n) and vice versa to the point where Keiji had no choice but to make her one of those to make sure that they would not cause any trouble while they were here. He had assigned (F/n) to 'take care' of Shinya Hīragi, someone who oddly reminded him of himself, regarding their similiar looks. But it seemed like that wasn't going to help the human if he did not keep his hands or eyes off (F/n) for as long as he was around, unless he wanted to face the wrath of actual death and anger. Yeah, no one really wanted that so it was good to stay alert whenever Keiji was around.
Now that he thought about it, how could he have even been so stupid to let (F/n) go with a man, if there were three women around as well? God, sometimes he really felt as if he was lacking a few braincells.
- - - - -
"Say, Miss (L/n), what does it feel like to change into a wolf?"
(F/n) turned her head to face Shinya with a questioning look obvious in her (e/c) eyes.
"I'm not really sure how to answer that question." She answered honestly and let out a dry laugh. "All I know is that you suddenly feel really hot and that's that. But it doesn't hurt."
Shinya shot her a small smile. (F/n) had to admit that she was slightly relieved when she had found out that she would guide him around because he seemed like it would be easier than taking care of one of the women. Not that she knew why, apparently she was just glad that it was such a charming young man instead of someone who would be rude. Rude people were just a big 'No' amongst the werewolves anyways, those people were heavily frowned upon, but rude humans would be enough for Keiji to draw the line and kick them out. Knowing humans, they would not accept it like that and if it came down to it, it could even mean war and that was the last thing that any werewolf needed as of now. The vampires could be a handful to take care of sometimes, so a horde of angry humans was something that no one here needed. Dealing with them wouldn't be a problem at all, but werewolves could be really lazy sometimes. To put it simply: they just didn't have the energy or will to deal with anything apart from vampires on that matter.
"And healing? I'm assuming that it's faster than for someone like me."
Typical. (F/n) had noticed that this human was one of those that could not sit still unless every single question was answered and she was slightly unsure what to do. Of course this didn't make his charm change at all, it was just that it was making the girl think of things that she normally rarely ever thought about. There was just no need to think about how fast her injuries would heal when she wasn't even close to having any, right?
"It depends how big the injury is." She scratched her chin slightly, this gave away that she was thinking. "Broken bones heal in at least six hours, a papercut fades within ten seconds. Sometimes I don't even notice that I accidentally hurt myself because it's already gone before I even realize it." She explained.
Shinya nodded slightly, but it was still obvious that he was going to keep that in the back of his mind if he was ever going to stumble across an injured shapeshifter.
"It's not really something big compared to vampires though. Limbs don't just grow back that quickly and it sometimes takes up to a week for them to grow back." (F/n) shuddered as she remembered the one time a vampire had ripped her left arm off and she was basically taped to the bed for a week. The human quickly noticed the obvious discomfort that had suddenly appeared on the shapeshifter's face and he put one hand on her shoulder.
"Nonsense, that's still pretty incredible compared to us humans." He objected and shook his head, (F/n) shrugged more to herself than anyone as a response.
"Right, once it's gone, it's gone." She reminded herself and scrunched her nose ever so slightly. "That doesn't sound too nice, if you'd ask me."
The male next to her chuckled. "That's what I mean." (F/n) felt herself blushing in embarrassment but he continued talking. It was obvious that he had seen it though. "How do you become a shapeshifter though?"
(F/n) visibly cringed. "I'm not going to turn anyone into a shapeshifter!" She immediately stated and frantically waved her hands as she stepped backwards.
Shinya raised an eyebrow at her sudden change of behaviour, but he quickly realized that his words must have sounded as if he wanted her to turn him into one of them. And well, that had not been his intention at all. Curiousity was just getting the better of him and as long as he had a shapeshifter in front of him, he was going to get all the information that he wanted to know more about. In a sense, this was the smartest thing that he could do to estimate the strength of these werewolves.
And the more he heard, the more he was starting to ask himself how not a single shapeshifter had ever been spotted on the battlefield because it seemed as if there were many people around. Of course Shinya didn't know what exactly changed in the appearance when a human was turned into a werewolf so it was normal that he looked at everyone that they walked past while roaming through these small streets. It was like anyone would ever imagine an underground city minus the bad smell because that didn't exist here at all. Whenever they turned around another corner, there was something new and it felt like entering a whole new world, which was strange yet definitely overwhelming.
Back to the topic.
"I never said that, Miss (L/n), that was a simple question."
And if there was one thing that (F/n) immediately noticed was the teasing gleam in his icy eyes as he spoke. The first instinct that she had was to growl quietly but she stopped right away when she realized that it wasn't going to help her at all due to the never-fading smile on the human's face. (F/n) felt like there was a lot hidden behind that charming smile but she decided not to think of that for now, mainly because she barely knew him and it would be weird to get involved with a stranger's business. So, well, it seemed like she would have to tell Manabu to do that for her as long as they were here. Manabu was quiet and didn't stand out, but he was a loyal friend and definitely one of the smartest people that she had ever met in her short life.
(F/n) found herself huffing slightly as she crossed her arms. "Right." She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Well, you're either born as a shapeshifter, like me, or you get bitte-"
Shinya chuckled all of a sudden and she stopped talking. "That's ironic, considering that vampires are usually ones that people say bite humans to turn them into their own kind."
"You're right, but that's not all." Now that was certainly something that caught Shinya's attention. "Consent needs to be there, too. Without it, it won't do anything but hurt. Believe me, I've seen it."
The human's looked at her with his mouth slightly agape before he swallowed loudly. "So that means that both people have to be okay with it?" (F/n) nodded. "So if I told you to bite me and you did, it wouldn't work, considering that you made it pretty clear that you don't want to bite anyone?" The girl nodded once again.
"Unless someone close to me is in danger and they agree, I won't do it." She shrugged. "So there's no need for me to even prepare myself for that because I don't have a lot of human friends that leave this place. Well, I don't have many friends in general but the ones that I do have are mostly like me."
Shinya sighed, realizing that it was probably a lot lonelier down here than he had thought. "I can't say I can't relate to that last part. Even if I'm around a lot of humans, my only friends are the ones that are here right now."
(F/n) scoffed. "There are probably are lot more humans around for you than there are shapeshifters for me. We're about 200, more or less." She stated.
"We might be more, but humans are really sceptical of one another nowadays, it's honestly tiring." The white-haired male stretched slightly and (F/n) once again had to notice the similiarity to Keiji. Brushing that last thought off, she grabbed the hand that he had placed on her shoulder and squeezed it slightly, as soon as she got his attention, she shot him a reassuring smile.
"Many people here are suspicious of humans, too. Well, it's mostly Keiji but he's the most powerful person around and people look up to him a lot so they mostly agree with him." She shook her head. "I don't know what to think though, because I haven't met too many humans as of now, but he has. So he's not just having loose assumptions but actual experience." (F/n) shuddered.
Even though he felt pity for the young girl to a certain degree, he immediately knew that no other human apart from his friends could ever know anything of these shapeshifters because Shinya didn't trust some of them enough. He was thinking of a few people that would just be delighted to hear of the existence of the werewolves but would end up using them for their own advantage and even go as far as experimenting on them. And he did not like that thought one bit.
(F/n) just proved his theory that the people here were mostly innocent and were just doing what was best for them to keep themselves hidden because they had no choice. At first, he had been really sceptical. Especially as soon as Guren had started climbing down that ladder, he had been hesitant but now he was sure that it wasn't a bad decision at all. Without that happening, he would have never gotten the chance to hear anything about these people and he would have gone home with less experience than he had now.
Ironic how a simple action could change everything like that, but it appeared that the fate of these shapeshifters was still unwritten. Who knew how this encounter would affect them, too?
The silent moment was torn apart by the sound of heavy footsteps behind the two of them and (F/n) immediately smiled widely and turned around.
"What is it, Riko-kun?" She asked and smiled at the big wolf that was slowly approaching them. It had beautiful dark-red fur and the prettiest blue eyes that (F/n) had ever seen on a wolf, that was why she had recognized Keiji's mate immediately. Yes, she knew that they didn't actually love each other, but she wasn't going to ruin everything for them by telling anyone else. Well, except for Manabu but he hadn't looked all surprised when she had told him.
The wolf looked at the two of them, before turning its head towards the biggest building of them all.
"I see." (F/n) said and turned towards Shinya. "Keiji has something to announce, we shouldn't let him wait for too long."
The wolf let out a sound that almost sounded like a laugh and as (F/n) laughed as well, the human shot them a confused glance but decided not to ask any further questions.
Still, (F/n) had a weird feeling in her stomach.
What was it that Keiji had to tell them?