Chapter 01
The Great Divide
Now—
"Where do you think you're going before sunset, Hitsugaya-sama?" A slightly older male asked curiously.
"My whereabouts do not need to be answered, Kusaka." He replied as he padded his clothing that had covered him from neck to toe. "I will return before the others rise, if any seek my attention, stall them."
"Of course… my Lord…" There was no way he could decline a direct order of the leader next in line.
The white-haired male that was vertically challenged had quietly left the mansion without being noticed by anyone due to them being in their slumber. It was not necessary for his kind to sleep, but there was nothing else to do until the sun submitted into the night—not like they would turn to ash. Rays from the sun merely irritated any visible skin that was in its path, but they could walk amongst the living anyway. That was where he was going, to visit the living before they retired; one in particular that he decided to befriend for his own amusement.
Hitsugaya Toushirou knew exactly where she was at every second passing by because his instincts had dubbed her a worthy meal. He did not intend to devour her—yet, at least, but he managed to lock his prey drive on her in order to know where she was. Right now would seem that she was foolishly in the forest where he held no authority due to it being on the outskirts of the town and out of his territory. If he dared to take a step out of the territory of Karakura Town, he could be ambushed by an army or even worse creatures. The thought of her screaming in fear at the top of her lungs forced him to run with his inhuman speed in order to rescue her.
Turquoise hues turned red—she must be bleeding.
With no hesitation, he ran over the boundaries of his territory to find the young female.
"Hinamori!" He yelled, getting closer—faintly hearing snarls and growls.
Their senses were not as acute for multiple purposes like their greatest enemy; they could only use their heightened sense for their food. The enemy, on the other hand, had the capabilities to use their senses for everything in which including staking out his kind. Never had he met the enemy—until now as he saw the gigantic creature standing tall on four legs, baring fangs as if ready to attack. Only ever seeing pictures of these enormous beasts, having to witness one for the first time was something behind his understanding. Its fangs were a shiny pearl hue that was stained with blood, its claws almost as sharp as a cat's if not for the dull tips, but its fur was a reddish-merle with tints of orange.
'Shit!' He thought as the beast began charging after him.
"Wait!" Her voice called out desperately. "He's a friend of mine!"
Toushirou watched as the beast skidded to a stop, not even a yard away with fangs still bared; it was just waiting to rip his throat out. His attention went to the ground to see three of his kind lying on the grassy terrain as ashes—this lowlife creature destroyed them. He turned to yell at the beast, but the damn thing decided to turn away and head towards the human female—that bastard! With fangs bared, he began to rush over to rip off its head off despite it giving him the generosity of keeping his own.
"Wait Shirou-chan!" She called out, this time jumping into the line of fire by hugging the beast. "He saved me from those monsters!" Her face buried into the thick fur of this creature. "Say thank you!"
Toushirou glared at her. "A vampire does not give gratitude to wolves."
"But Shirou-chan, I would've been dead without his help! He came out of nowhere and defeated these three were after me. One even clawed me!" As she tried to show him, the wolf licked the blood away.
'Good,' her blood was starting to get to him. 'But she's right…' He looked to the wolf, reluctantly bowing. "Thank you, for saving Hinamori Momo's life." Toushirou stood straight again, quickly adding to this. "I do hope that you don't expect anything in return, you are still the enemy of my clan." Little brat…
The wolf snorted before nudging his head into Momo's stomach to have her brought up on his back so that he could return her to the town. Immediately she began whining as she claimed that she was trying her best to camp out in the forest for the night by herself. This had the large beast turn around and leap up a high hilltop over rocks and other dangerous objects as she squealed. Not able to trust the creature about where he was taking her, Toushirou followed it to see what its intentions were with her.
After reaching the top of the hill, he saw the poor excuse of a tent that she was attempting to camp in, and wondered how she was going to survive. Although it seemed to be a trap as a dark reddish wolf slowly appeared from the darkness—wait, where was Momo and that other wolf? This one looked as though it were hungry for bloodshed as it stalked forth with its fangs bared and hackles up, maybe this was why he was not supposed to leave the territory. The wolf lunged forth to attack with the vampire frozen in position due to his surprise, and the other wolf returned by jumping in the middle.
He watched the dark red wolf back down instantly as the reddish-merle wolf sized it up.
Momo hopped down from the beast's back. "He showed me the path to take when I want to go down from this hill." She watched as the beast approached Toushirou cautiously, making her giggle. "I think he's curious about you!" Her attention caught his lip twitching—wanting to bare his fangs towards the beast. "Be nice Shirou-chan, a least let him smell you! Maybe he'll make sure not to attack you next time if you two meet again!" The female human was so bubbly and happy… it was almost rather annoying.
The beast that was first introduced continued to sniff at Toushirou with half a yard of distance, but began growling as the other began approaching. Growling alone caused the latter to back up into a sitting position before lying down in wait for its turn if it ever came around. Toushirou was started to feel a little bit insecure about this creature identifying his scent for its future knowledge against him. It was faint, but he made sure to get a whiff of the beast's scent in turn, though, he smelt pretty much like a dog if anything. Howling echoed throughout the forest, most likely calling for a missing member of their pack—sure enough, these two wolves responded to the howling. As they were about to ignore the howls from there on, the amount of returned howls increased, not pleasing the closest wolf.
Both beasts looked at one another before the lighter colored one had to run off.
'Well, that's one gone, at least.' Toushirou thought bitterly, but now the darker one was a problem.
It came over—he came over, now that the night-walker could see the gender of the beast, so that makes two males approach so far. This was probably going to get a bit dangerous if Toushirou stayed around any longer when this forest obviously was ruled by the werewolves. From the stories that were told to him over the years, he knew that the wolves would not harm humans, and it seemed like she would be in their care until she left. If one of the creatures were able to manage themselves against three of the rowdy lowlife class of vampires that used nasty tricks, perhaps Momo would be safe.
The scent of her blood forced his once turquoise hues to continue staying their bloodthirsty red color.
"Hinamori… I have to leave early today." The human looked at him.
She turned to him curiously. "Are you in trouble for leaving home?"
"Sort of, but I have yet to eat since I have awaken from my slumber.
The wolf began growling, Momo defended her friend. "Not me."
"I have no right to ask this of your kind for a favor, but will you watch over her as she stays in your territory?" If he did not ask, she might be subject to more vampires attacking her because of him. "I am sure you're aware of the fact that I'm vampire, but I'm also next in line to maintain order, so, please—"
The beast snorted at him before nudging the girl into the tent, and then casually lied down in front of it.
'D-Did he just blow me off!' Toushirou could not believe this! 'These rude ill-manner… vile beasts!'
With that thought, he turned away to leave the forest to find his victim of the night in order to return home to the mansion. Being the age that he was, he was capable of drinking blood from humans and other creatures for another fifty years. After that, he would be forced to take imitation blood pills or make trades and deals with doctors that have access to the packages of blood. Someone huffed heavily in the brush to his left, catching his attention enough to wonder if the creature would he a worthy meal.
Toushirou jumped up into a tree to watch as the creature turned out to be a human.
What luck he had; this young man only had a pair of pants on with a shirt draped over his broad muscular shoulders. Something within him was telling him that this was not creature to feast on, though his other half was craving for blood ever since he caught scent of Momo's. He gracefully hopped down to ground level so he could quietly approach his victim that he could not afford to be fussy about. Fangs lengthened at the imagination of what his blood would taste like from this male; it was going to be his first teenage male—his first male at all rather. This creature probably would not seem to attractive if it were not obvious that this male had taken a bath of some sort.
"You know, if you were going to rob someone, you'd be better off doing it in town." The victim spoke.
Toushirou flinched due to being found out—or, maybe he was talking to the group of five large wolves that were behind him. He slowly turned around to see the beasts breathing down his neck, these giant creatures obviously did not like his kind in the slightest. His feet were forcing him to back up ever so slowly because strutting his stuff in someone's territory—he cringed as he bumped into the male. The small vampire looked up to see a bright orange-haired male who looked at him curiously with these dark chocolate hues that seemed… caring.
"What are you doing out here Kiddo?"He asked curiously.
'K-Kiddo?' Toushirou twitched. "I was visiting… a friend."
"A friend in the forest?" The wolves were growling now.
His attention went back to the wolves. "Sorry, I must—"
"Will you guys settle down, what has you all worked up, huh?" The teen walked over to the large beasts, scratching all of their heads while looking at the little white-haired male. "These are my friends, they don't really like intruders in the forest." He turned to look at him. "So, you have a friend out here, huh?"
'A human is taming them?' Toushirou was taken aback by the mere thought of it. His head mentally shook to maintain his composure. "Yes, she decided that she would be camping out here for the night."
"For the night?" He mused with interest before offering a hand. "By the way, I am Kurosaki Ichigo."
To touch a human… a male… he did so cautiously; shaking his hand. "I am Hitsugaya Toushirou."
The wolves began to stir restlessly when hearing the name. "Hey, go on, get out of here. This kid is fine!" He waved his hands, trying to have the wolves back away. "The kid isn't going to hurt me, now go on!"
They were unhappy about leaving, but they did so without so much as a flickering tail before turning around to leave in order to stay out of trouble. Toushirou would not admit being in awe to see how a human could have some sort of control over these beastly creatures. Ichigo then eventually turned around to look at the pale one whom still tried his best to keep his stoic expression while he could.
"Hey… are you, busy?" He decided to be friendly.
The small one looked at him. "No, I was just leaving."
"Then maybe you want to go grab a bite to eat, huh?"
'A bite would be nice.' His eye twitched; wanting a taste.
"Unless you have a bedtime, that is." Ichigo provoked him.
"I'll have you know that I can stay out until morning." After all, he would retire sometime near sunrise if anything. "You want to go out then, with a stranger that you just met? Are you a little worried about being seen as a pedophile since you keep announcing that I am a child. A Kiddo as you put it, Kurosaki."
"Don't take offense, I didn't know your name, and so calling you Cutie was out of the question since we just met." He grinned before walking away. "I know a good place to eat at, and then I'll walk you home."
Perhaps on the way, Toushirou can have his meal. "Sure, I would like that."
"You know, I've never seen someone quite as interesting as you." Ichigo mused as he ate his bowl of chicken teriyaki. "I don't think I have ever seen someone with the unique hairstyle that you have, are you right eye dominant by any chance?" He was an all around good person, striking up any conversation.
"I'm very unique, and yes, I am right eye dominant." The questions were always… odd. "And yourself?"
"I don't think I'm as unique as you, but I'm left eye dominant. Are you sure you want nothing to eat?"
'There's only one thing that I'm hungry for, you idiot.' He sighed lightly. "Not at all, I'm on a diet."
"If you keep up on that diet, you might as well be as good as dead. Unless someone donated you blood."
The very last word perked his attention. "Perhaps, but the hospital is so far away, so there's no point."
"Well, if you wouldn't mind drinking it, I suppose I could lend you some of mine since I'm considered as a universal blood type." He smirked, waving a hand at him. "You wouldn't have to bite me though, there's no need to be vampirism or anything—I can make myself bleed with a simple cut or something."
Toushirou stared at him in surprise at the offer; did he know what he was already? "Isn't drinking blood dangerous? Are you carrying diseases?" If he did not sound suspicious, this man would catch on to him.
"No, I am checked monthly, so I know I'm disease free. As for it being dangerous… it depends on how desperate you are. Small amounts should be fine." He grinned cockily. "You seemed interested though."
His eyes widened—had he not kept his stoic expressions well intact? "I-I plan on becoming a doctor when I'm older." He quickly lied. "Something like this is good for me to know in the future, that's all."
Ichigo hummed in amusement to this, wondering if he could catch him off guard while his new friend was attempting to drink some ice-cold water to keep calm. "You look very cute with the moonlighting."
The compliment startled the small one, causing him to choke and have the water so much as escape his nose somehow. He began choking and panting heavily to settle himself down before glaring daggers at the carrot top who only smirked with please. There was something about the man who was beginning to catch his attention in a different manner; this Kurosaki Ichigo was interesting. It was true that he only socialized himself with one human; which was none other than Hinamori Momo—that reminded him.
"So your friends with the wolves in the forest, right?" Ichigo looked up at him curiously while he was trying to finish his meal. "Do you know the one that is slightly bright red and orange? It was a male, I think." The other nodded slowly. "He helped the friend that I was visiting today, so perhaps you can give it my gratitude? I think he said something to the darker red wolf to stay and watch over her. If he did not stay behind, I might not have had the chance to meet you." Somehow, this sounded embarrassing.
"It was a pleasure meeting you too, but you would do best not to cross that first wolf you mentioned if I were you." Ichigo grinned. "He's going to be alpha of the pack soon, and the other that you met is his beta. I even manage to get on his nerves sometimes." He set the bowl down. "Seems like you lived."
"Yes, those wolves do not like m—" if he were to say 'my kind,' he would be caught. "—me, probably since I like cats." Toushirou lied; he hated animals; they were his prey. However, this man growled lightly.
"Cats are such useless creature," he stood up, placing a tip on the counter. "Well then, shall we start to leave?" As Ichigo started to leave, the other quickly followed. "There's a price for my blood though."
'Of course,' nothing could be that easy, this was no fairytale. "If its money that you require, merely name the price and I will have it ready once you have escorted me to my residence, good sir." He mused now.
On the other hand, that was he thought as they went to a secluded little alleyway in the town. "I don't need money—or anything tangible for that matter." He smirked cockily, "I'm thinking, blood for blood?"
"W-What! How dare you suggest that I offer you my blood to you, you insignificant creature!"
Toushirou then suddenly twitched after hearing his self actually yelling aloud at someone, he had never had to actually speak in such a tone. The carrot top looked at him curiously for most likely being called an insignificant creature by someone who looked younger than him. However, he had yet to indulge his thirst for some nice thick blood, so he was becoming just a little impatient with this person's games. A loud noise erupted through the alleyway—his body was not going to be able to handle its urges much longer if he did not get his fix. Why did this human want blood in return though when vampire has a night-walker given their blood to another, to a human even?
Ichigo bit his tongue with a canine, drawing blood instantly that made the other's attention perk.
"You could have bit your wrist or something, why your tongue?" How stupid was this carrot top.
He smirked as he came closer to him. "Why?" It was an interesting question. "If those wolves caught your scent on me during your next visit to your friend, they might kill you." His tongue licked the small one's cheek, leaving a small streak of blood in its wake. "Besides, I might as well force you to make a very hard decision. Kiss a man for blood, or walk away and be taken to the hospital. It's your choice."
His body was pulsing with the scent and sight of fresh warm blood being right in front of his face, why was he being teased with it. He looked up at him with glowing red hues that were not fazing this male in the slightest for some reason that boggled him. Toushirou watched the carrot top stick his tongue out—a drop of blood splattered on his nose teasingly to avoid his now parting his lips. The young vampire did his best to control his urges, but there was no use as he felt his canines lengthening, he needed blood.
"Hey," the giver warned. The receiver was beginning to look lustful—blood had never been offered to him like this. The giver continued. "If you bite me, I'll pull away. You got it, Kiddo?" The receiver nodded.
Ichigo lowered himself slowly until the other greedily wrapped his arms around his strong neck to bring him down faster. It was difficult to drink the blood without having to use his fangs as if he were trying to receive a mother's milk, but he quickly adjusted for a better result. The cut began to heal quickly on its own, having Toushirou tried to be sneaky about reopening the wound for more blood. Having tried to bite him secretively had earned him a growl from the giver, forcing the other to back off as the former slit the other side of his tongue. Toushirou began to adjust to the rules without knowing it; if he was a good boy and did not bite, he was going to receive more blood.
'So, vampires can be tamed, huh? Especially the Little Prince, too.' Ichigo was amused by this; watching as the small one trying to obtain every drop that he could. 'It's a shame that he's cute, for a male—for a vampire too.' He bit his tongue one last time for this little creature. 'Remember who gave you this meal.'
After a few good minutes of drink this different taste of blood, the small one's hold over the other's neck had began to give slack. The red hues faded away to reveal their turquoise color, watching as the other leaned forth to lick the blood off his face teasingly. Something was very different about this particular human, but he could not exactly place it—only that he liked it a lot. As he simmered down from his frenzy for blood, something was placed around his neck that looked to be a necklace with a whistle.
"That friend of yours has been living in the forest for the past week," Ichigo pointed to the whistle. "It's set to a certain pitch. If you enter the forest, give that a five second blow, that way the wolves will know that you are there to see your friend." He patted the small one's head lightly. "I'll see you later then."
"Wait a minute!" This person was leaving so soon? "What about your deal? Blood for blood?"
"I'll collect another time. Your family should be getting worried about you soon." Ichigo waved and left.
"I wasn't finished talking!" He hurried after him around the corner to catch him. "I thought you were—"
No one was there.
Looking around back and forth for the carrot top, he never noticed the reddish-merle wolf watching him from atop of a building. Ear flickered at a dark raven color coated female that approached from behind to tell him to leave the useless vampire alone. They watched the little one give up to turn and leave for home hopefully, allowing the two to leave Karakura Town to return to the forest. Everyone in the pack that was there had given him greetings until smelling death on him, causing the next alpha to laugh.
"We might have a vampire on our side soon."
Author Note: It was actually very hard when it came to not adding any lemon in this chapter, but I survived.