Star Crossed

To have a choice

“Let’s start at the beginning.” Kojiro stated as he placed a plate before each of them. He sank to a seat beside his mate. Putting one arm over the back of Kaoru’s chair, he twirled the pink hair around his finger.
“Langa, if you don’t mind…” Kojiro went on. “… the Sakurayashiki clan has been known to be story tellers and holder of our tales.” He smiled fondly at the man beside him. Langa nodded.
“Go ahead Kaoru.” He offered.
“I wish to know one thing before we begin.” The golden eyes of the beta fixed onto the green ones of the smallest member of their party. “How is it that a human knows so much?” He asked tilting his pink head towards his mate, who had wound the hair tight. Kojiro apologized releasing the others head. His mate patted his knee with a kind smile.
“I am Miya Chinen.” He stated.
“Ah, the watchers.” Kaoru smiled his eyes going distinct for a second. “I recall a young maiden, some years back. She wanted to see if her legends were true.” The golden eyes blinked and he was looking back at the boy. “You have her eyes.” He smirked.
“Hmm. Our tale. It is said that it began several thousand years ago. Some think it was even before the world began. There was an argument between the gods, what would be better for the world, gods man, or the animals that serve them. After a vote was taken, the answer was split evenly. Therefore, one of the gods decided to make a separate creature. One that was both man and beast.” Kaoru’s voice took on the quality of a well rehearsed story teller.
As the others ate, all eyes reverted to the pink haired male. They were engrossed in his tale, as he was easily accomplished in this form of reciting stories.
“Of course, their was a prankster among the group. Someone who wanted to make sure the creation of this God, failed. They created the cold ones.”
“You know them better as…” Miya began.
“Vampires.” Reki gasped. The heads around him nodded.
“They are our sworn enemies. As their life means death. We strive to live with the land. What we take from it, we give back to it.” Kojiro commented.
“It’s the Ying and Yang of the universe. Everything needs to be balanced. As with the cold ones, we mate for life.” Kaoru continued. “Since the cold ones are eternal, once we have accepted the wolf, our life span expands as well. Tell me, Reki, how old do you believe me to be?” He asked.
“Thirty?” Reki offered. Kaoru leaned into his mate’s arm.
“Would you believe I am over seventy?” He asked. Reki’s eyes widened. “It is still young in the eyes of the clan. The prime is nearing his one thousandth birthday. If he lives to reach it, he will officially become the oldest prime.” He stated. Reki turned to Langa.
The azure eyes of the young prime widened slightly. “I’m still only seventeen. In both wolf and human form!” He explained.
A gentle laugh brought their attention back to the storyteller. “Until a wolf becomes of age, eighteen to twenty-one, they will age as a human should. Once they reach the end of their adolescence, their aging process slows. I believe it is a bit reversed of a normal dogs life. Instead of aging seven years in the span of a human year, we age about one year for every decade of a human life.” He explained. A hand hit the table. Everyone jumped.
“Reki only has until HIS eighteenth birthday. After that…” Kojiro eyed the male beside him.
“I was getting there, dear.” Kaoru patted his cheek. “The age thing helps balance out the Vampires, understand?” Kaoru asked. Reki nodded. “A wolf is only as good as its mate. Hence, the fates chose one mate for each of us. Unlike humans, we feel an attraction more akin to a binding of the soul than lust. Although, until our mate crosses our path, we may follow lust, which, I believe is what happened to your ancestor. Jiro fell in love with a human. He tried to give up his wolf side. If we do not transform for years, our wolves may leave us. Then we would revert to a human life.” He examined. “Jiro had fallen in love with a red-haired female from the nearby village. He was an adult whose mate hadn’t crossed his path yet. He married the woman and started a family. Then he’s true mate arrived.” Kaoru fell silent for a while. He toyed with his fork.
“This is only my thoughts on what happened, but, Reki, I think the Prime Alpha was Jiro’s chosen wolf mate. He gave up his life to save her. In the end, he became a wolf once more. Since it had been so long that he had refused the change, the wolf died with him, never going to his children. We know that the prime before Langa’s grandfather was his great grandmother. She never had a true mate.
 In her later years she bedded an alpha whose mate had perished. With this she birthed a male prime. It was the last thing she did. Heartbroken, knowing she had given back all she could to her clan, she faded into the neither.” He stated.
“Wait, so Langa and Reki’s clans were suppose to be united all the way back then?” Miya asked.
“From the stories and tales, I have heard, I believe so.”
“That’s cool.” He smiled at his friend.
“If you turn eighteen without embracing your wolf, Reki, you should never do it.” Kaoru continued. “If you are changed after you turn eighteen in human years, then you do not become a shifter. Instead, you become a creature of the moon.”
“A werewolf?” Miya asked. Kaoru nodded. “A shifter can shift at will, or the will of his prime alpha.” The boy went on, scowling as he recalled his lessons. “With this choice in play, they keep their mind and personality. In wolf form they are still basically their human self. Yet, A werewolf is forced to change by the cycle of the moon. Since it is not by choice, they lose themselves. They become more beast than man.”
“And the clan are forced to take them down. They are an abomination and danger to all we care for.” Kaoru agreed.
“Well, Langa’s six months older than me, so ok.” Reki smirked. “How do I change?” He asked. Kaoru stapled his fingers. Leaning his chin on his thumbs he studied the boys.
“That is a mystery. Only a handful of humans have ever changed into true shifters in our recorded knowledge.”  He explained. “Jiro, an alpha, wasn’t able to change his wife or children. So, what makes the change work?”
“A prime?” Miya asked. Kaoru lowered his hands.
“That could be.” He shrugged. “That knowledge was never given to any of the clans. If Langa knows, then it is a secrete only possessed by the prime’s themselves.” He stated. All eyes went to the teen.
“All I know, is grandfather said it was possible.” Langa informed them. They finished off their food. Kojiro cleaned up the dishes. Naniko, Langa’s mother took them into the kitchen to wash.
“Now, what is expected of a shifter. We already told you about the two most distressing parts of our lives. You will be mated for life. If your mate dies before you, you will be alone within the clan. Since we live longer than humans, it could be decades or even centuries alone.” Kaoru explained. “This bond and all the joys and sorrows that come with it, is a deciding factor. Can you live with giving your life only to Langa, Reki?” He asked. Reki looked sideways at the other boy, he wasn’t sure.
“There is more. I am sorry to say, for you especially, this next part will be very difficult. You will have to give up all human relationships.” Miya gasped.
“I can’t be friends with Miya?” Reki asked. His face pale, Miya shook his head.
“No, Reki, that’s not what he means. He means…” the boy choked on the words as his eyes shimmered. “… your human family.” He gasped out.
“WHAT?” Reki spun to Langa. “You mean I cant… the twins… mom, Langa!” He cried gripping the boy’s arm firmly.
“We can discuss it with the prime. You will not look like you haven’t aged for a few years. Maybe more time…” his voice trailed away.
“You know that is not for the best, Langa.” Kojiro stated softly. Langa reached out to stroke Reki’s hair. Pain filled his blue eyes as he looked to the boy.
“I’m sorry, Reki.” He breathed. “This was why I want to give you the choice.”
“If I don’t decide to change…” Reki gulped trying to breathe.
“Then Langa will never mate. He will rule the clans alone. Another prime may never be born.” Kaoru explained. “He will face his long life, without knowing love in this way.” He added gently.
Reki sat back. His hands fiddled with each other in his lap. “Langa’s mom didn’t change?”  Reki suddenly recalled.
“My mother never received the gift of the wolf. It happens sometimes. As in your family, you still might see one or both of the twins change some day randomly. Or even Koyomi, since she isn’t eighteen yet either. The wolf is still in your blood. Your family could produce a shifter. Our blood, occasionally produces a human. She was still mated as a wolf, which was a little odd. But my father’s family was similar to yours. The wolf over looked his part of their blood line. Yet it was still in his blood. Which was enough to create me.” Langa explained.
“Could they be changed as well?” Reki asked.
“Your mother, no. She would become a werewolf. Your siblings…” Langa turned away. “I’m not sure if you would want this life for them. You would take away some of their freedom.” He explained. “It would be the decision of the Prime Alpha.”
“You wouldn’t give the ok for that?” Reki asked. Langa shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Reki, I couldn’t condemn them to this life. Not knowing if they have a true mate out there or not.” Reki nodded slowly.
“There is the chance that they could change once you do.” Miya stated. “Once the wolf is awoken within you, it might awaken in the girls.”  He said.
“If that becomes the case, I will offer them the protection of the clans. Your mother and any siblings not affected by the change will be given permission to learn about us. They would have to take the oaths of secrecy, but you would be able to be in their lives.” Langa offered.
“I have six months to decide, right?” Reki asked it was a few weeks after his birthday.
“Yes, unless grandfather passes away.” Langa agreed.
“What happens then?” The red-haired human boy asked. He glanced around. Kojiro pulled Kaoru closer, kissing his forehead. The pink haired beta grasped tightly to his muscled arm. Miya looked away, Langa glanced out into the night.
“That bad?” Reki asked.
“One of two things will happen.” Naniko Hasegawa stated. “Either the clan will unanimously vote Langa in ahead of his eighteenth birthday…” She wiped at her eyes.
“Or Langa will have to fight every Alpha who opposes him, to the death to win the right.” Kojiro stated. Reki reached over to take the boy’s hand. Kojiro’s red eyes fixed on them.
“Only his mate will be allowed to fight with him. Otherwise, he stands alone.” Reki swallowed the lump in his throat as he tightened his fingers around the cold hands of his dream friend.