Hikaru Saito was Maya's first trainee, a fourteen year old boy who had been training under another Hunter, who had been permanently injured on a mission and could no longer train him. He reminded her of Zero, the young, happy boy she knew before the terrible accident involving both of their parents. Dedicated to his studies and his willingness to impress, it motivated her  her to be the Master he would appreciate. 

It didn't seem to bother Hikaru that she was the one to train him given her history; More or less, he didn't care. In fact, he was almost flattered to have her as his Master, being the "badass Hunter". 

It was nearly 2 p.m., and she had just finished lecture and training for the day, having gone over the history and responsibility of the Hunter Association, and weapon handling. He'd been working under her for almost a month, and was showing to be an excellent pupil.

"Hikaru."

His tired hazel eyes looked up at her. "Yes Master?"

"How about a trip into town? I think you've deserved a bit of a break." Maya stated, shouldering her bag. With that statement, his eyes lit up.

"Can we?"

Maya grinned down at him, ruffling the mess of black hair that was on his head. "You've earned it."

The day was cloudy, having just rained. Maya inhaled deeply, the wolf side of her enjoying the smell. She tied her hair up into a ponytail, shoving her hands inside her jacket pockets. She waited outside the Association gates. It had been a long while since Maya had walked down into the lower parts of downtown. It was still old and broken, but lively with people and vendors and great food. 

Hikaru came running out of the front doors of the Association with a smile on his face. She nodded for him to follow and they took to walking to the place she wanted to take him. It was only about a thirty minute walk, during which Maya decided to talk to him a little bit more about the history of how this post-apocalyptical place came to be, although it had been a long time since that occurrence. It eventually petered out, and conversation about what he was going to spend his money on came about. 

They reached town, and she let Hikaru wander around the large town-square. Maya took the opportunity to stand near the center fountain, looking through emails on her phone. Inner anxiety heightened at the thought of overtaking Yagari's position as acting Co-President, and possibly be made into President of the Association. It was only fair, seeing that she wouldn't age. 

That particular topic of discussion had been well... messy. After everything that happened, and her reinstatement as a Hunter, she'd been able to confess everything to Kaien, Yagari, and Zero, who had been present at the time of her confession, and that included Kaname's doing to her lifestyle, her immortality, and the Ancestor that had been awakened. Kaien had taken it a little better than Yagari had, already knowing the lineages at The Beginning. It was common knowledge that the Takamiya line was of Pureblood Direwolf descent. But, given that Kaname had also been an Ancestor with an unfortunate awakening, and the destruction and grief that he had cause was burned into the memories of hunters and vampires alike. She was not like him... at least that's what she liked to believe. But nothing had happened yet to contradict her otherwise.

Maya put her phone away, glancing around the square to look for her student. She spotted him in the window of a dessert shop, happily eating something. Chuckling to herself, she walked around the square, seeing if anything tickled her fancy.  A flower vendor caught her eye, and she remembered a task to which she long had forgotten she did almost religiously following the days after the incident at the Academy for several months. Perhaps it was time to do it again. She made to get a bouquet after her and Hikaru finished their time here in town. Instead, she waited outside the dessert shop for him, making a few needed calls to coworkers. 

Hikaru exited the shop about 15 minutes later, tugging on her jacket sleeve. She gave him a nod, gesturing for him to continue to look around. He did, going from vendor to vendor, and into the occasional shop.

As she was taking another phone call, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and Maya straightened, recognizing that a vampire was near. She could sense that it was one, and that it was close by but was unsure if it was a Level E, or a regular vampire.

"Hikaru!" Maya called after ending the call. He was nowhere to be seen, and an immediate set of panic began to set in. No, she couldn't panic. Taking a deep breath, she let part of her wolf senses take over, expanding her sense of smell. Walking quickly through the square, she followed Hikaru's sense of smell down a narrow street way that led to a residential part  of downtown, where it was pretty much abandoned and empty. 

Maya picked her pace up to a jog, and closed her eyes, willing her body to turn. Skin turned to fur, she dropped to all fours and continued to lope in wolf form. Anyone would be scared shitless at the sight of a larger than average wolf wandering around, which is why she never did it. As refreshing as it felt, her focus was still on finding Hikaru. 

A scared scream could be heard from up ahead in a small square. Maya sprinted forward, using her nails to dig into the brick as she turned, spotting Hikaru pinned down by a Level E. Letting out a loud snarl, Maya jumped on the blood-crazed vampire, clamping down on the back of the neck of it and used the weight of her large body to move it away from her student. The struggle didn't last long, her bite killing the vampire almost immediately. 

She jumped out of the way as two more descended from above, nearly landing on her. Maya cursed herself for not being more vigilant. Perhaps it had been the pure fear that had settled in her gut. Events from the past had resurfaced in her mind, and she didn't want to lose anyone else to these beasts. 

It took at least fifteen minutes, chasing after the remaining Level E's and finally killing them both. Maya returned back to the square where she had saved Hikaru, still in wolf form out of pure adrenaline. Hikaru was nowhere to be seen, except for a few speckles on the ground that smelled of his blood. She followed his scent at a trot, and found him next to a surprisingly well kept section of town. The area made her hackles stand on end, knowing there were a lot of vampires around this area, accept it wasn't Level E's. Hikaru was sitting  against the wall of a clock tower, clutching his shoulder, looking angry and scared.

Maya approached, giving a small whine and a wag of her tail. Hikaru flinched, startled by the small noise in the quiet space. He lifted his gaze to see her, who was just  few feet in front of him. Maya must have been a sight, muzzle covered in blood and dust. She turned back human after a few seconds, walking up to him and crouching down. The scent of blood was evident, and this was not the place to hang around much longer. 

"Why did you run off, Hikaru?" Her voice was not menacing, but soft and concerned. 

"I sensed a vampire, and I saw a young girl. I was going to go after her to warn her but... it turned out to be a vampire too."

She wiped the blood off her mouth with the back of her hand, sighing. "You didn't even have a weapon on you" - Maya reached out and tilted his head up so that they made eye contact- "and you could have died. Don't ever run off like that again, not without me. Understand?"

"I'm sorry, Master. It won't happen again." Hikaru clutched his shoulder, where the source of the bleeding was coming from.

"Did you get bit?" She asked, carefully removing his hand to look at it. The jacket was torn, and blood had soaked into his clothes.

Hikaru nodded. Maya pressed her lips into thin line.

"Well," she stated, "be glad its just a regular bite. It can't do any harm except scar."

Standing, she held out a hand for Hikaru to take, hoisting him to his feet and ruffling his hair. 

Abruptly, the hairs on the back of her neck sprung up, and she whipped around, pulling out her gun, yanking Hikaru behind her. 

The muzzle of Bloody Fang was point blank range to Heisuke's forehead. His older brother Tadao stood behind him, their uncaring expressions matched. Slowly, Maya lowered the gun, but she didn't let go of it.

"What are you doing here," Tadao inquired, "this place is crawling with vampires."

"Saving a kid from abominations that are you purebloods are responsible for." Maya's eyes glowed gold, her pureblood direwolf aura expanding around them as a warning. "Please go about your business vampires, and leave us be."

She could feel Hikaru trembling under the aura that Heisuke and his brother were putting out. They were purebloods after all, and his vampire senses, newly trained, were going haywire. Maya matched the invisible ferocity with her own aura, eyes flashing gold. 

"Master Takamiya, can we go please?" She heard Hikaru whisper. The two vampires heard it to.

"So you're a full-fledged Hunter now?" Heisuke asked, hearing the title Hikaru gave her.

"Yes, I am. Now if you will excuse us, Tanaka-sama."  She spit the words out as if it was poison, but hated doing it. It was out of fear of her student, and the environment they were in. She just wanted to leave. 

Turning around, she pulled Hikaru with her, keeping him in front as she acted like a barrier between him and those two, who had vanished when she looked back.