Chapter 1:Prologue -Patrol

The valley was dark and peaceful, only the occasional faint noise of animals disturbed the silence. Shouto was sitting at the edge of a rocky mountain looking down into the valley. His feet were hanging into the darkness. Without using his demon's power he didn't see much but it was not a problem. The darkness was peaceful. The cold wind and a few snowflakes dancing around him were calming, reminding him of his mother’s caring.

Soft sound of footsteps brought Shouto out of his musings.

"Shouto? What are you doing here alone, dude?" Hanta was smiling kindly, standing a few feet away.

Shouto looked back at him with his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on patrol today. Making sure no one is here to attack us. Especially now that Ei is in heat."

"I'm not here to attack anyone."

"Hey, I didn't say that! Chill, dude! I wanted to ask if you are alright. Did Katsuki kick you out?"

Shouto turned his eyes back to the valley. "I'm fine. He didn't kick me out. You can continue your patrol."

Hanta held out his palm upwards and watched the snowflakes fall on his warm hand. They quickly melted. “Is the winter here early? Or is this you?”

“Sorry. Snow helps me calm down.”

“No problem.” Hanta walked closer. “What happened?”

"I would rather not share."

"Sometimes it solves your problem if you just tell someone... Or makes it easier."

"There is nothing I want to talk about. Could you please leave me alone?"

"As you wish, sir." Hanta smiled understandingly and continued his patrol.

***

The next night Shouto was sitting outside again. This time he tried to find a more secluded area where he could surely be alone. However, it turned out to be unsuccessful as his thoughts were disturbed again.

"Oh, you are here again?" Hanta asked surprised and sat down next to Shouto. "Did you have a quarrel with Katsuki? It wouldn't be a surprise if you had."

"No, I didn't. I asked you to leave me alone. What are you doing here again?"

"I want to make sure that you are alright. It is one of my tasks to-"

"Then I give you a pass on that when it comes to me. Now leave!"

"So something is really not alright?"

Shouto looked at the other coldly. "I said you are free to go. You don't have to ask how I feel."

"It is true that it is my task, but I also genuinely want to help."

Shouto took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. After a few moments of staring into the darkness, he turned his eyes back at Hanta. "It's really kind of you that you want to help but I would prefer to just sit here alone. Please leave."

"If there is a problem you can always talk to me." Hanta squeezed Shouto’s shoulder and walked away.

***

The next night Shouto didn't even try to hide. He might have even waited for Hanta to appear.

"Still problems?” Hanta asked while sitting down next to Shouto. “Do you have trouble sleeping?"

The dual haired boy sighed resigned, contemplating if he should respond in any way. After a few minutes of silence he decided to say: “I don’t have trouble sleeping.”

“But you’re still awake...”

“I sleep when it’s daytime.”

Hanta was relieved, hearing Shouto finally open up and share some information. “I can understand that. I also sleep during the day when I’m on patrol at night, but it makes me kinda off balance a little. You might not feel safe enough here? Do you want to join me while patrolling?”

Shouto shook his head. “This is a safe place. I think that especially because it seems Katsuki can let loose here.”

Hanta tried to hold his chuckle and not make any noise or amusement show on his face, but the thought of Katsuki ‘letting loose’ was so unusual that he could not keep his voice down or his expression neutral.

“Is something funny?” Shouto’s tone was cold, his eyes pierced into Hanta.

Hanta instantly corrected his facial expression. “No. I just rarely see Katsuki ‘let loose’ is all. Even here, among us. So it was a little strange for you to say that.”

“I see…” Shouto turned away, his eyes softening from his intense glare.

Hanta was sitting next to Shouto, thinking about ways he might be able to make Shouto talk without making him feel trapped.

"Is it common for Katsuki to just invite people to his room? Especially when Eijirou is in heat?"

Shouto’s words brought Hanta out of his thoughts and smiled at Shouto understandingly. "I think you know Katsuki just as much as I do, if not better. He would kill most people just because they got too close to 'his dragon', especially when Eijirou is in heat."

"But Eijirou can easily change his mind, can't he?"

Hanta narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Change his mind? Has that ever happened? "Oh!” Hanta exclaimed as he remembered an occasion. A quite spectacular one to say the least and a really brutal one. “You should have seen what he did to Tetsutetsu. That man almost got killed by Katsuki. What Eijirou achieved there was just to make Katsuki send Tetsu away instead of killing him…"

“Tetsutetsu?” Shouto half remembered hearing that name somewhere. Was it the man in the other world using iron power?

"He was a really close friend of Eijirou. Eijirou still likes him, I think. They were best bros and everything. But then Katsuki came along and got so jealous he almost killed him. Then Tetsu left the tribe. I heard rumours about him joining another tribe where he became the Lead Alpha."

"The Lead Alpha?”

“Yes. The leader of the tribe like Katsuki is ours.”

“I still don’t understand, though... This just made my head even more confused... "

Hanta laughed. "I understand, dude. Katsuki can be confusing at first. I just wanted to make the point that Katsuki does what he wants to."

"He is confusing and gets even more confusing..."

"What do you mean?"

"Uhm… Well…” Shouto’s eyes became unfocused, seeing some rather unpleasant memories. “It happens sometimes - or rather often - that he gets on my nerves and he looks like he just wants to kill me, but Eijirou comes and tries to make peace... Which somehow works…"

"So you two really had another quarrel again?"

"No. We didn't. Just let me finish talking."

"Sorry, go ahead." Hanta motioned for him to continue.

"Well... Eijirou makes peace which works for a while until Katsuki pisses me off again or until he gets angry for some random reason... But then again Eijirou asked me to stay here with him and he wants to accompany me to my father... And Katsuki agreed... Which absolutely doesn’t make any sense... And now he is just ignoring me."

Hanta looked confused. "What do you mean by 'ignoring' you?"

"He is behaving like I'm not even there... Which is still better than when he is angry... But still... " He sighed tiredly. "And Eijirou is..." He buried his face in his hands. "I told them I don't need them to come with me. We could just meet after I finished the meeting with my father, but Eijirou asked me to stay either way… Then okay, I agreed to stay here. Then they insisted I stay with them... With Eijirou... But..." He growled in exasperation. "But sleeping there is really overwhelming and I’m sure I disturb them. Even though they seem to forget that I'm there… Like it's... I don't know..."

Hanta waited patiently for Shouto to gather his thoughts. He didn't know what to say. The whole thing Shouto shared was confusing and messy.

"I don't know why I'm still here... I should have just left right after Eijirou woke up." A few moments of silence. "And the nights are the worst because Eijirou is awake that time... Don't misunderstand! There is no problem with him being awake! It's just... He doesn't seem to be in control of himself...But at least Katsuki is enjoying his time... Probably that's why he seems to forget that I'm there... During the day, Eijirou is usually asleep because he is so tired after... each night. " He finished the sentence awkwardly. "And waking up at Katsuki and Eijirou... It's just... Disturbing. And awkward. And I wished I could just leave and not be there... So I just decided to sit outside each night after I first woke up at them."

Hanta was listening intently, feeling as if he just missed a half sentence he would miss the chance to ever understand what Shouto was trying to say.

"They didn't say anything about me leaving and I didn't say anything either... Eijirou is usually half asleep by the time I get back. And while Katsuki is off doing whatever he does during the day I stay with Eijirou."

"So... If I understand it correctly then you are out here because Katsuki and Eijirou were having sex next to you and you don't want to be there." Hanta stated bluntly. "Forgive me if I misunderstood something."

"No, it's… right to the point."

Hanta sighed in relief. He really didn't want to offend the other. He was happy he had practice listening to people and their problems. "So you think Katsuki would be angry with you if you tried to join?"

"No…" Shouto’s face heated up, not daring to look into Hanta’s nonchalant eyes, as if it would be an everyday occurrence that someone talked with him about such topics. "I don't want to join… I…"

"Did you try to talk to them about it?" Hanta asked when it was clear Shouto wouldn't finish his sentence.

Shouto shook his head.

“But it seems what they do makes you really uncomfortable.”

Shouto shrugged.

"I think you should try to talk to them." Hanta put a hand on Shouto's shoulder. "It will probably feel awkward but otherwise you will just sit here each night."

"As I can see you are one of Katsuki's trusted men. Isn't it strange for you that he does this?"

Hanta grinned. "Katsuki does what he wants to. I don't know what's in his head either. And you’re a good guy. I don’t mind having you around."

Shouto nodded, showing he had heard what Hanta had said.

"That's why I'm telling you that you should talk to him. He is the only one who can tell you what's in his head."

Shouto nodded again. He wasn't thrilled by the idea to talk to Katsuki about this. He wasn't even sure what 'this' was and what he should tell him.

Hanta patted Shouto's shoulder. "I have to continue my patrol. Would you like to join?"

Shouto shook his head. "I would rather just sit here."

Hanta nodded. "Alright. Try not to worry too much.”

“I’m not worried.”

Hanta waved as he continued walking away.

Shouto stayed there, sitting in the darkness with the uneasy feeling that he had just told his secret to one of Katsuki's men.

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