Ren led the teens to their home, sliding open the door and stepping through with a gesture for the others to follow. “Tadaima, Mami, Rerugen-san!” they called out, tongue nearly tripping over Erich’s name. It had been more than a year since Erich had been Rerugen within the walls of their shared home, but until the man gave the teens his given name, they weren’t going to speak it where the teens could hear. Not when Erich still held back with the other villagers.

“Okaeri, Ren!” Mami called back from the main room.

They stepped into the room and headed for the table where Mami and Erich were seated, telling the teens, “Please, take a seat.” As the teens were sorting themselves out, Ren sat in the spot left open for them, Mami on their right and Erich on their left.

Erich pressed a bit closer, body more tense than Ren had sensed since the time they and Mami had discovered his secret. And when they leaned forward to lift their teacup from the table, the glimpse they managed of his expression was heartbreaking, if understandable; Erich looked calm and at ease, but there was no light, no warmth, in his wolf-brown eyes, no small upwards curl of his lips, nothing to indicate how he truly felt.

It was how he had once faced the two of them in the beginning, when he didn’t believe that they and Mami were being honest about caring for him, or trusting him, or, eventually, loving him.

(When he didn’t trust his luck and his senses.)

“Thank you for having us,” Arisawa said, once the five teens had settled down and Mami had poured tea for everyone. “We appreciate it.”

“Of course!” Mami said with a cheerful smile. “It’s the least we could do after you helped us out like that.”

Kurosaki’s scowl etched a bit deeper at Mami’s words, the boy staring into his teacup for a moment, before he looked up and said, “We didn’t find that damn Hollow, though, and we don’t even know when it’ll attack again. We really didn’t manage anything of what we came here for…”

“It will try again in approximately seven to nine hours,” Erich informed Kurosaki, pulling slightly away from Ren as he straightened his posture and settled both hands on his thighs. “Perhaps a bit longer, since your defense of the village has lost it more of its projections than usual. As for where the Hollow remains hidden, I have a suspicion, but have been unable to confirm it.”

“Wait a second, have you been fighting those things alone?” Kurosaki yelped, eyes wide. He exchanged glances with Ishida, then looked back to Erich. “How many times? Every seven to nine hours is… along with trying to hunt the Hollow itself down… have you been getting any rest?”

Erich tilted his head thoughtfully and gave Kurosaki a curious look. “Who else would defend this village if not me? There are no other spiritually empowered beings here, and Shinigami are often… busy.”

Kurosaki’s gaze turned sharp at Erich’s words and Ren tensed. They were not blind; Kurosaki wore a Shinigami’s uniform, but his wolf-traits and the lack of uniform on the others had… lulled their suspicions. Was that, then, just an act? Were these teens just like the Shinigami?

Kurosaki looked between the three of them, something dark and angry flickering through his expression, then deliberately relaxed his body and said, “Busy with their own messes, yeah. We’re empowered souls from the Living World that help out on occasion. Right now, the Shinigami too busy cleaning up after the newest mess to deal with anything, so we’re out here.”

“From the Living World,” Erich spoke slowly, disbelief in his voice. “And they… allow that?”

Ishida snorted and made an abortive gesture towards the bridge of his nose, before letting his hand drop back to his lap with a grimace. “Like they have any choice,” he said dryly, catching Kurosaki’s elbow before it could hit his side and giving the other teen a dark look. “After everything you’ve been through for them,” he growled low, lips curling back to show the tips of his canines. “Don’t deny it. They owe you, Kurosaki.”

“Us. They owe us,” Kurosaki said firmly, tugging his elbow free and straightening up.

Ren grit their teeth at the implications of these five being Living teens, even as Mami pressed into Ren’s side and threaded her fingers through their’s. Teenaged souls wandering around and fighting Hollows was one thing; who knew how old a soul actually was, and those who appeared young could often be quite old and experienced. But Living teens… if that was the case, then these five were unbearably young.

(Please let them have misjudged ages.)

“If you don’t mind my asking, how long have you been working for the Shinigami like that?” Erich asked gently, voicing none of the tension that Ren could feel through the points where his body was pressed against their’s.

Arisawa gave Erich a brittle smile, likely suspecting his true question, and answered before Kurosaki could, “Since they were about fifteen, so almost two years now. Give or take some months where not much happened.”

“They? Not you, then?” Erich asked.

“I didn’t come into my powers until a few months later,” Arisawa answered.

“I see—”

“Have a problem with that?” Kurosaki interrupted, tilting his chin up and staring at Erich challengingly.

“It would be a bit hypocritical of me if I did,” Erich acknowledged with a casual shrug that Ren knew was entirely feigned. “I was an Imperial officer during the First World War; I gave orders to people younger than you and sent them off to war.” He breathed a sigh and gave himself a small shake, reaching out to lift his teacup to take a sip, then tilted it towards Kurosaki and Ishida. “My issue, however, is in your training. Kurosaki-san, you were quite proficient in your fighting, but you didn’t truly utilize your Change-granted advantages, and you admitted to me that your senses still confuse you at times. Ishida-san, may I suppose that the same applies to you, as well?”

“It’s not like we have anyone to teach us about this,” Ishida muttered unhappily, edging closer to Kurosaki and eyeing Erich warily. “My grandfather never said anything about Quincy becoming werewolves before he died, and Ryuuken won’t even face me anymore, much less help.”

Erich frowned and tapped a claw against the cup, staring down at the table. Before Ren could move to break him out of his thoughts, Erich tilted his head towards them and ducked his chin down a bit, not making eye contact. “Ren-san, would you or Mami mind if they stayed for a time?”

The teens all startled at the question, confusion and curiosity in all of their expressions, along with the tiniest fragment of hope in Ishida’s posture.

Ren looked to Mami in question, already knowing their own answer but wanting to double-check with their lover before saying anything. Mami’s soft smile and nod was all they needed; they gave their lover’s hand a squeeze before turning back to Erich. “Of course they can stay. Things will be a bit tight, but we can certainly manage.”

“Thank you,” Erich said, gaze darting up briefly, his eyes warm, before he straightened and looked to the teens.

“You don’t have to do that,” Kurosaki hastily said, before Erich could get a word in edge-wise. “You don’t have to put yourselves out for us, we can always find somewhere to stay on our own.”

“Ah,” Erich hesitated a moment, then inclined his head. “Forgive me, I know it can be difficult to rest in another pack’s den. It’s easiest to train you if we all share the same space, but I won’t force you—”

“You… want to train us?” Kurosaki grimaced and squared his shoulders, edging closer to the table and tilting his body enough to give the impression of shielding Ishida from view. “Then you should be aware I’m more Shinigami than Quincy.”

Ren kept their breathing slow and even despite the rage that wanted to well up at Kurosaki’s combative tone. No one should feel the need to defend who they were so vehemently, much less while attempting to hide someone else behind them. Ishida wasn’t even fussing about it, just leaning into Kurosaki and watching Erich with wary, hopeful eyes.

(How many times had those two been burned by other Quincy, to react like this to such an offer?)

“Quincy enough to change at all, Quincy enough to be trained,” Erich answered firmly, watching the two teens. “Were you aware that the Wolf came before there were ever Quincy in the world? It is an old, old inheritance, created to give us an edge against all the beasts that hunted humanity before we hunted them to extinction.”

“It… did? But… everything I could find on it implied this was… was a curse of some sort,” Ishida said, shifting forward so he was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Kurosaki again, instead of being a bit behind the other teen. He glanced briefly at Kurosaki, then blurted out, “And I can’t change fully, anyway. This is where mine stopped. So it’s… whatever you want to teach us probably isn’t very useful for me.”

“That…” Erich shook his head, closed his eyes, and rubbed at a temple. “This was never a curse, no matter how it may seem in the more modern era. As for the change… do you want to change fully, or remain as you are?” He let his hand drop back to his side, and Ren carefully took it in their free hand, rubbing soothing circles on his palm. He glanced at them thankfully, then returned his attention to the teens. “Perhaps half of my old pack were partials of different stages, and the rest were like myself and changed completely every moon. There are ways to advance a halted Change, but there is no way to undo what you’ve unlocked. Either way, I am certain I have plenty to teach both of you, in either form.”

Ishida stared at Erich with a faint frown, and Ren suspected the boy was attempting to detect a lie in Erich’s words. “Like… what, exactly?”

“Ways to utilize your senses. Ways to fight. To hunt. To hide.” Erich gave the teens a faint, amused smile. “I’ve been a werewolf for over a century, there is very little I am unfamiliar with or unable to teach.”

“And what do you get out of this?” Arisawa asked sharply.

“The satisfaction of passing on my knowledge,” Erich told her firmly, hand twitching in Ren’s grasp. “Arisawa-san, I was once the Clan Head of my branch of Quincy and, dead or not, it remains my duty and pleasure to pass on my knowledge such that the next generation may grow in strength.”

“Even if they aren’t from your branch?” she pressed.

Erich arched an eyebrow at her, and Ren had to agree with the silent question; even with so little interaction, it was becoming more and more obvious how similar Ishida and Erich were. The likelihood that the two weren’t related somehow was vanishingly small in Ren’s opinion.

Arisawa’s lips twitched into a brief, amused smile, before she turned her head a bit to shoot a pointed look at Kurosaki and then back to Erich.

“Even if they aren’t from my branch,” Erich agreed easily, nodding to Arisawa in acknowledgment of her point. “Since it’s clear none of you have a teacher in any matters related to the Wolf or the Quincy, then it falls to me to make up for the lack.”

Arisawa sat back, satisfaction flickering across her expression at Erich’s response.

“Will you be staying?” Mami asked. “If you don’t wish to, I know several others who would likely be willing to host you for however long.”

The teens held a silent conversation between each other, and Ren was pleased to see the dynamic the group already shared. None of the five were left out of the decision, and when Kurosaki and Arisawa turned back to they both had confident expressions.

“We accept your offer,” Kurosaki said, his attention focused on Ren. “Thank you.” His gaze switched to Erich then, and he spoke, tone almost disbelieving, “We also accept what training you’ll give us. I’m… not certain how long we can stay, however.”

“Then I’ll do my best to convey what I can quickly,” Erich assured the teens. “You all have a right to know everything possible about the Wolf.”

“Even us?” Inoue asked softly, fixing Erich with a look that didn’t quite match her soft words.

There was a history there, Ren felt, even as Erich’s hand flexed in their’s.

“You’re all pack,” Erich started slowly, tone faintly puzzled. “Unless I’m wrong?” When the teens shook their heads, Erich relaxed at Ren’s side and continued, “Then yes, all of you. Pack is pack, whether or not you share the blood. During the war, I had a small unit of men who I counted as pack, none of whom were related to me in the slightest. It was important that they knew what to expect and how to assist.”

Inoue smiled brightly at Erich’s answered. “Thank you, Rerugen-san.”

Erich inclined his head in acknowledgment, tipping his head slightly towards Ren as he did and giving them a look. Ren squeezed Erich’s hand in reassurance and nudged Mami gently.

“How about I show you where you’ll be sleeping?” Mami asked smoothly, a bright smile on her face as she rose from her seat and gestured deeper into their small house. “I apologize for the accommodations being a bit cramped. I hope you won’t mind?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Kurosaki answered her as all the teens rose and began to follow after her. “We’ve slept in worse conditions, trust me. A bed and a roof over our head is good.”

Ren looked up at Ishida as the teen hesitated at the table, his gaze fixed on Erich. Sado stood just behind his shoulder, lingering behind in support of the other.

“You… don’t actually mind?” Ishida asked warily, green-grey eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Any of it? Kurosaki being part Shinigami, me being Gemischt, the others not having any relation at all?”

“None of that matters,” Erich answered immediately, tone firm. “It didn’t when I was alive, and it still doesn’t now. No one should be denied the training they need, no matter their circumstances.”

Ishida looked like he didn’t believe Erich’s words, but he still nodded politely at the two of them before turning and hurrying after the others. Sado lingered for a moment longer, giving both of them a considering look, before he inclined his head, murmured his thanks, and turned to leave as well.

Erich heaved a sighed and slumped against Ren, burying his face in their neck, his body tense. Ren hummed softly and rested their chin atop Erich’s head, letting him take what comfort he could.

The wary, cautious edge all five teens held. The clear reluctance to trust combined with the hope that Erich was being honest about his offer… it all set Ren’s teeth on edge. They didn’t like the history that implied, even less than the knowledge that the teens were this side of untrained in such a major aspect.

They wondered how much of that could be corrected in the short time the teens were likely to remain.

(They wished there was a way to correct it all. But only time and patience would do, and while they had the second, there was a distinct lack of the first.)

(They would have to make due.)