Chapter Text
Izana didn’t think it was merely a coincidence that he should come across an omega who looked exactly like Shinichiro on the exact day that he died.
It was destiny.
It was destiny that pushed his mouth to crave a cigarette at that very moment. It was destiny that guided his feet to the rooftop of a business partner’s building, one that overlooked a dark and deserted alleyway. It was destiny that compelled his eyes to wander to the scene of a young omega bravely fending off a gang of armed beta thieves with nothing but his fists.
The physical resemblance was striking, even from a distance. Everything, from the structure of the omega’s jaw, his nose, to the furrow of his brows, they all looked so much like Shinichiro’s that Izana thought he really was seeing him again. Even more damning, the steadfast determination of the omega as he swung a poorly formed fist at the nearest beta was completely in character for Shinichiro’s former delinquent phase. It all stirred up the fire in Izana that he thought had long been distinguished.
Of course, there were still some minor differences, like the omega’s blond hair and blue eyes. Which, to be frank, were completely hideous both. Izana could tell the shade of blond he was sporting was the cheap type of home bleach scrounged at a random gas station on the highway, the kind one would acquire if one needed to evade identification quickly. It made the ocean blue eyes stood out even more jarringly, an almost sickening brightness he couldn’t bear to look at for too long. The hair can be dyed back to black easily, but the eyes… Izana supposed he could make him wear dark contacts, but perhaps he would let them stay blue, to commemorate a new beginning.
A new life with Izana.
The thought excited him so much that he dropped his cigarette to the ground, shaking. Izana could see it all play out perfectly: a brief (no more than a month) courting period where he would woo and win over the omega without any trouble; a lavish wedding that would be the talk of the town for days on end, his bride looking beautiful in white veil; a heat-induced honeymoon filled with intense, bed-breaking mating; his mate, belly round and breasts brimming with milk; pups, lots and lots of pups running around the house to spoil. In short, everything that he had wanted to do with Shinichiro but couldn’t.
Fate was giving him a second chance, he decided. Somehow Shinichiro had reincarnated into this omega, just waiting for Izana to come bring him home.
Of course, the only thing that would put a dent in his reincarnation theory was the age. Shinichiro had died when Izana was fifteen and he was now thirty, so a true reincarnation of Shinichiro’s soul should have been fifteen at most. The omega looked much older than fifteen, but he wasn’t worried. Teenagers these days had all sorts of ways to make themselves look different than their actual age anyway.
“Izana?” The door to the rooftop creaked open and his right hand man peeked in, concerned.
“Kakucho,” he said. “Cancel the meeting. We’ve got more important things to do.”
“Such as?” Kakucho blinked.
“Follow that omega down there and bring him to me.”
That whole afternoon, Izana couldn’t contain his giddiness like a schoolgirl in front of her crush. It wasn’t every day that he met the love of his life after all, who could blame him for indulging in a little fantasy? If he played his cards right, which he absolutely would, the fantasies would become reality anyway.
After the formalities and trivial details of the wedding, how should their first meeting play out? Maybe the omega would be shy. A sweet, angelic little virgin who had never spent a heat with a real alpha, only his cheap, tiny toys. A few fingers in his ass later and he would be a puddle in Izana’s arms.
Or maybe the omega would be as feisty as he was when fighting the thugs in the alleyway. He would straddle Izana’s lap and ride him to oblivion, offering his tits for Izana to bite into as he bounced up and down his cock.
Maybe both. Both sounded good, so fucking good. As long as it ended with his teeth sinking into the omega’s neck, he couldn’t care less. His cock was already half hard under the table, straining uncomfortably against the seams of his trousers. Patient, he thought to himself, this current predicament would resolve itself without him ever having to resort to fucking his fist again once the omega was brought to him.
The rustling of paper bags brought him back to reality and reminded him that his brother was sitting just a few paces away from him.
He had decided not to tell Mikey about his discovery yet, but even his brother noticed something was off. Mikey was openly staring at him, abandoning the taiyakis on the table. Very rarely did his brother show an interest in anything he did, so he had to admit he did enjoy this newfound attention, even if it was accompanied still by the bloodless blank gaze perpetually adorning Mikey’s face.
They kept at it for what felt like minutes, a back and forth of silent and questioning glances, until finally Izana was the one to snap first.
“The property near the Sumida River,” he spoke up.
“What about it?”
“I’m thinking, you’ll get the headquarters to yourself soon. After my wedding and honeymoon, my mate and I will move to the penthouse there.”
“You have a mate?”
“Soon, I will.”
Mikey squinted his eyes, as if to question him, but didn’t. How disappointing. He would have loved to bask in the triumphant glory of the knowledge that Shinichiro’s reincarnation was alive, and he was all Izana’s. Not Mikey’s, his and his alone.
“So, what do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Mikey shrugged and went back to his taiyakis. “Do whatever you want.”
It was useless to try and talk to Mikey about love or mating. As far as he knew, Mikey had never had an omega, not even to spend his ruts with. Once, Izana had thought it was whatever left of his brother’s morals that had stopped him from seeking out the omega whores in Black Dragon’s brothels. Now, he just thought maybe Mikey was secretly into alphas or betas. Come to think of it, Mikey had been surrounded by alphas his entire life, or at least since Izana had entered and taken over his life. It wouldn’t surprise him if Mikey turned out to be one of those alphas.
Oh well, more of Shinichiro to himself.
And why was Kakucho taking so goddamn long?
Izana glanced at the clock. An hour or two left until sunset. He still had time to visit Shinichiro’s grave.
Shinichiro’s headstone was clean, shiny even. Judging from the bouquet of flowers laid at the foot of the stone, Mikey must have been here before he came. But why hadn’t he told Izana so, the bastard? He tossed Mikey’s bouquet carelessly to the side and replaced it with his own – Mikey couldn’t do anything right, he didn’t even know Shinichiro’s favourite flowers were orchids, not lilies. Utterly pathetic.
“I wish you could see me now,” he said, sitting down in front of Shinichiro’s grave. “If I’d made it sooner, you’d be my queen, my empress.”
The words came easier to him today than they did any other year. Usually, he would write his omega a letter, but again and again, today had proved the most extraordinary divergence.
“But I know you’re looking over me now,” he continued. “Guiding me to your manifestation. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”
His biggest regret was not claiming Shinichiro as his omega earlier. He couldn’t remember how many nights he had sneaked out of his bedroom to watch Shinichiro shower from behind the bathroom window, imagining it was him who glided his hands all over the omega’s silky skin and gently massaged the cup of his breasts with soap. Afterward, it would be him pounding into Shinichiro’s tight pussy and fill him up with his seed until there was no chance Shin would not be pregnant.
He’d done a lot of imagining in those days all right.
His fantasies stayed hidden from everyone for the most part. After Toman’s absorption into Tenjiku, he suspected that Mikey knew, but if he did, he didn’t make it known.
But once or twice, he thought that Shinichiro caught on to his feelings and were just waiting for Izana to show him what he was capable of.
“I’m proposing to you,” he huffed.
“That’s cute,” Shinichiro laughed and went back to fixing some stupid bike.
This should have been their quality time together, and Shin wasn’t even looking at him! He should have been all dolled up and perfumed like the fussy omegas Izana’s mom used to bring over for dates, but here he was in his greasy work overalls with black oil all over his hands and face. Shinichiro was beautiful regardless of what he wore, but Izana would have appreciated the gesture! If he didn’t have any money-
That was it.
Before a date, shouldn’t any respectable and decent alpha take their omega to go shopping for clothes? That must be why Shin wasn’t dressing nicely now, he’d expected to be taken care of first. This was a test for Izana all along, and he’d failed it without even realizing he was being tested.
With a gnawing worry in his stomach, Izana wondered if Shinichiro had ever been courted properly before. That Wakasa fool who always hung around his brother seemed incapable of whipping up a coherent dating plan, but Benkei was a whole different beast when it came to wooing. He’d seen first hand how Shinichiro seemed to turn bright red whenever Benkei took off his shirt and flexed his pecs. If there was any alpha worth being his rival, it was Benkei.
But Benkei was also dirt poor, so Izana still had a decent chance.
“I’m serious,” Izana continued, trying his best to swallow the lump in his throat. “I’ll make a lot of money and I’ll marry you and you won’t have to do this tedious work ever again.”
“But I like doing this tedious work,” Shinichiro smiled. “Are you going to forbid me from doing what I like?”
Oh, he’d forbid Shin from doing a lot of things. Starting with hanging out with Mikey and Emma more than him, for instance. Those two buffoons already got to live with Shin, how could Shin let them get even greedier by hogging up all his free time and attention too?
“Of course not,” he scoffed. “I’ll buy you a whole factory if you want me to. I’m just saying I’ll provide for you.”
“Alright,” Shinichiro laughed again. “Whatever you say, alpha.”
That was the day he learned of his kink of being called alpha. Even then, he knew it wasn’t simply an older sibling teasing a younger one. Shinichiro had been serious. And Izana had failed at his duties. Maybe if Izana had just mated Shinichiro then and there, the omega wouldn’t have worked in that bike shop anymore and he would have been spared his tragic end. But wishful thinking was useless now. He wasn’t the same kid he was back then, and the new Shinichiro was waiting for him at home.
Home. With Shinichiro. Or at least with his carbon copy, which was good enough.
Home… That had a nice ring to it, didn’t it?
By the time he got back to the headquarters, night had already fallen over the city. He’d lost track of time reminiscing about what could have been.
Where were Wakasa and Benkei now, he wondered? What dingy corner of the Earth had they scurried off to after Shinichiro’s death?
Izana hurried up the elevator and flung open the door to his suite. Kakucho, sweaty and with a nervous glint in his eyes, was standing by the inner door. A sign of good news, he hoped.
“Is he here?”
Kakucho nodded, “He’s waiting for you inside.”
Izana could see him. Curled up on the sofa, wrapped in his blanket, was the omega. Fuck, he looked so beautiful and so much like Shinichiro. He was certainly already acting like him, nesting using Izana’s belongings like that. The calm rising and falling of his chest as he laid sleeping made Izana’s heart explode into a million pieces. Imagine going home after a tiring day at work and be greeted with such a sight.
The bruises on his face was a sorry sight, however. Rage filled Izana’s chest as he eyed the damage those lowly thugs had done to his precious darling. Even a worthless scum beta should know that omegas were fragile little creatures that shouldn’t be harmed in any way? The only good thing that could come out of this was that Izana could lay the omega’s head in his lap as he softly bandaged those wounds. It would be a nice and comforting way for the omega to wake up to.
“Wait,” Kakucho dabbed the sweat on his temple with a handkerchief. “Izana, he’s not-”
He brushed Kakucho aside. Whatever Kakucho wanted to say can wait. This was it – the moment he’d been waiting for.
But the second he stepped foot into the room, Izana could realize something was wrong. The room reeked with an uncouth stench, a fiercely masculine and sharp smell that made every single cell in Izana’s body recoiled in disgust. His alpha instinct flared up in response, almost too strongly.
There was no mistake.
“His omega” was an alpha.