Chapter Text
A female wolf with her lone pup trotting beside her walks through the forest just before dawn, a fresh kill in her jaws as they walk out into a small clearing at the foot of the great mountain pass along the edge of their territory. An old shrine carved out of the face of the cliff, berries and other fruit placed accordingly on the bottom of the three stone steps, bones of past carnivore offerings piled high to the side against the mountainside.
With great reverie, the golden mother wolf sets the kill down on the bottom step, opposite side of the herbivore offerings. Her little golden pup eyes her curiously, sitting down beside her. She sits down, bowing her head, sending out a prayer to the Goddess of the Earth.
"Mom, why did you waste a perfectly good kill?" The pup asks, looking up at her, scarlet eyes confused.
"It's not a waste, Katsuki. This is something we do to show the Gods we are grateful for their bounty this season and to curry favor with them for years to come." Mitsuki says, gazing fondly down at her pup.
She didn't blame him for his naive statement, he was only three months old. Today was his first time visiting the sacred shrine that was carved by their pack leaders of the past.
Just as they were about to leave, the sun coming up over the horizon behind them, a bright light started to emanate from the shrine, blinding the mother-son pair. Mitsuki jumps in front of her pup, shielding him from any harm.
"Look after this blessing, Alpha Mitsuki. Look after my Izuku." A divine voice says before the light vanishes, leaving behind a small, flowered nest with a single green baby rabbit inside, fast asleep, on the top stone step.
Mitsuki cautiously walks over to the small nest, scarlet eyes wide in bewilderment. With a small yawn, the kit wakes up, bright emerald eyes meeting hers. With a scared squeak, Izuku jumps up into the air changing all of a sudden into a small green wolf pup before changing back to his rabbit form, startling the wolf mother.
"Hello, little one. I'm not going to hurt you." She says gently, her nose lightly nudging the trembling green rabbit.
"Mom, Mom what is it?" Katsuki asks, wiggling his way between her legs to see what was in the nest. When the young wolf pup saw the kit, his eyes went wide as they met scared emerald ones. The second their eyes meet, a flash of something passes between them before Mitsuki pushes her nosey pup back with one of her front paws, a warning growl rumbling in her throat.
Once Katsuki finally comes out from under her and goes to stand to the side, still staring at the rabbit, she picks Izuku up gently by his scruff, turns around, and heads back home, her pup hot on her heels.
"Alpha Mitsuki is back!"
"Why is she carrying a green rabbit?"
"Where did it come from?"
"Is it practice prey for Katsuki?"
All questions from their pack mates who were sitting and standing around in the large meadow, a hill along one side that was filled with caves carved out by past pack members, reinforced by thick logs and clay bricks. Large pine trees rang around the clearing as a protective barrier, a river running along one side, slow and gentle, giving much-needed fresh water to the wolf pack. There were a couple of oak trees growing here and there, planted for shade and to shield them from harsh weather.
"My mate, what are you carrying?" The pack leader and head alpha Masaru asks, coming out of their large cave at the top of the hill, and walking out onto a wooden platform made three generations past.
“His name is Izuku. He was given to us to care for by the Goddess.” Mitsuki says, placing the shivering little green bunny at her mate's feel. The brown alpha looks at the little creature bewildered, slowly leaning down to smell him. Brown eyes blow wide when he catches a whiff of his scent.
“I can smell it on him. He’s special. What would you like to do, Mitsuki?” Masaru asks, noticing his pup, staring strangely at the kit, beside his mother. He looks down and notices that Izuku is also staring at his pup strangely, making the alpha raise a curious eyebrow.
“I would like to raise him with Katsuki. Like our own pup. There are those here in our pack and the forest that can train Izuku to use his abilities.” The golden female alpha says, meeting her mate’s eyes.
“Very well. Abilities? What makes you think he was given any from the Goddess?” He asks, lying down on his stomach to get a better look at Izuku. The kit freezes when he sees how close Masaru is, his emerald eyes wide in suspicion.
“When he first saw me, he turned into a wolf pup.” Her answer surprises him, he sits up suddenly, eyes wide in shock. He looks back down to the sheepish kit, who was sneaking glances at Katsuki who was now looking down at some of the other pups playing below.
“We should have his lessons started immediately. The faster he learns to control whatever gifts he has the safer he will be.” Masaru says thoughtfully, smiling down at Izuku. “Izuku. Follow me, please.” Emerald eyes look up, ears standing tall and alert. With a small nod, the little kit hops after the alpha, Mitsuki right behind them before Katsuki tugs on her tail for attention.
“Can I go play?” He asks his mother.
“Go on, but don’t leave the meadow.” She says before he takes off down the walkway towards Eijiro and Sero, two other pups that were waiting at the bottom for him. The golden wolf watches her pup run off before turning and walking into their den.
Over the next week and a half, the pack gets used to having a rabbit live among them, and all of them are very curious about Izuku and what gifts he possesses. Mitsuki’s growing affection for the kit leads to Katsuki growing to resent the little rabbit. Growing and snapping at Izuku every time the kit gets close, making the greenette’s heartbreak piece by piece.
Mitsuki and Masaru entrust Izuku’s training to the oldest and wisest wolf in their pack, alpha Toshinori. He had been the leader of their pack before Masaru’s parents took power after the aging golden alpha refused to take a female mate to reproduce a pup as an heir.
Once Toshinori spent some time with the nervous kit, he sought out rabbit Mirko and mountain lion Yoichi to aid in his training. All animals had their own special connection with the Gods and gifted abilities.
~One Month After ‘Birth’~
“There you go, focus. Hold that.” Toshinori says, coaching Izuku through his change. The kit had been trying to master changing his form for the last couple of weeks. Knowing that if he could do that, it would make life a lot easier, especially around Katsuki and his friends. Eijiro and Sero weren’t too bad, but there were two new pups that were found along with their wounded mother, that just seemed to egg Katsuki's horrible behavior on.
“Picture what you want to become in your mind's eye. See it, feel it, become it.” Mirko says, sitting on a stump in front of him, Yoichi laying on the fallen tree beside her. His green eyes focused and soft.
Izuku could feel his body begin to tingle and spark with life as he pictured the little wolf pup he wanted to become. Green lightning surrounds his body, his limbs slowly growing longer, ears becoming shorter, tail elongating.
“That's it. That’s it, Izuku.” Toshinori says, a bright toothy smile lighting up his furry wolf face.
With one more deep breath and a small whine of pain, Izuku was no longer a rabbit kit, but a curly green haired wolf pup. The lightning begins to lessen, the pup panting in exhaustion.
“Damn, you did it, kid! Congrats! Now I wonder how long you will be able to hold that form?” Mirko says, smiling, hopping around the new pup, inspecting his new form when she noticed something missing. “Umm, Izuku, did the Goddess ever tell you… ah…what sex you are?”
Her words shock everyone, especially Izuku who tenses, eyes blow wide in surprise.
“I… I don’t know… I just always thought I was a male” The greenette says, embarrassed as Mirko and now Yoichi were nosing around under the nervous pup. With a squeak of distress, Izuku suddenly turns back into a little rabbit kit.
Mirko laughs, walking over to stand beside the much smaller animal now, smirking down at him.
“Don’t worry about it kid. It just means that you can control your gender, so you can be Katsuki's mate in the future.” She teases, making the kit tense, his fur having a light red from how hard he was blushing.
“Why should that matter?!” The greenette kit shrieks, covering his flustered face with his long ears.
“Don’t you have a crush on that angry little wolf pup?” Yoichi says confused, sitting down on Izuku’s other side. Toshinori smiles at the sheepish kit, knowing blue eyes not leaving his skittish form.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about Izuku.” The golden wolf says, laying down to look into the still nervous greenette’s eyes.
“But… Kacchan… He hates me…” He suddenly says, a sad tone making the trio look at him concerned.
“You don’t know that. Maybe there’s another reason he’s acting like that… don’t give up on what your heart wants.” Toshinori says softly, a mournful gleaming in his blue eyes, thinking about his lost love.
“He’s right, kid. You never know, maybe he likes you too. Just give him time and don’t give up.” Mirko says, smirking proudly before noticing the setting sun on the horizon. “I think we should call it here for today.”
Yoichi and Toshinori nod and get up. They all start walking back towards the wolf pack’s meadow.
As they walk, Izuku can’t help but think about what they said. Would it be possible for Katsuki to ever love him back? The kit wonders as they make their way back home. Mitsuki was lying on the wooden deck outside their den waiting for him and the trio’s report on Izuku’s progress.
‘Who knows, maybe one day… Kacchan and me…’ The kit thinks before his thoughts get cut off by the sight of one of the female pups rubbing up against the golden pup, his scarlet eyes clinical of the dark black female pup. ‘Or not.’