Chapter Text
The air in the alley smelled of dust and adrenaline. Sakura Haruka adjusted her jacket, ignoring the slight ache in her knuckles. She had helped that girl, Kotoha, and now she just wanted to reach her new home. But a sudden chill ran down her spine, making her stop dead in her tracks.
There, at the entrance of the alley, leaning against the wall with practiced indolence, was a boy. His hair was a deep burgundy, and a black leather patch covered his right eye. His left eye, a penetrating brown, watched her with an intensity that went beyond simple curiosity.
He’s an Alpha.
The thought surfaced instantly and viscerally in Sakura's mind.
Suo Hayato felt the world shrink to that single point. The boy with black-and-white hair and an intense gaze of black and gold eyes had just appeared. From his body emanated an absolutely contradictory scent: fierce rain on dry earth and cedar. It was wild, earthy, and potent, but with a clean clarity that promised calm after the storm. He was an Omega, but not just any Omega. Every fiber of Suo, every Alpha instinct he normally ignored, roared in recognition.
Destiny.
Sakura felt a wave of heat so scalding she gasped. Right on her collarbone, beneath the fabric of her shirt, she felt a burning sensation, as if she had been branded with a red-hot iron. At the same time, Suo clenched his jaw; an identical, sharp pain seized his shoulder.
Without a word, almost in a trance, Sakura turned and fled. Her heart pounded fiercely. Not from fear of a fight, but from the unknown territory that brief exchange of glances had opened.
Only when she was safe in her room did she look at herself in the mirror. With a trembling hand, she pulled down the collar of her shirt. There, on her skin, clean, dark lines formed an elegant "H."
On the other side of the city, Suo, now in the privacy of his home, took off his jacket. A grimace of astonishment and something more—fascination?—crossed his face. On his shoulder, impeccably etched, gleamed an "H."
The wind of destiny had blown and had marked them forever.