Christmas gift-fic for ninanna, who commented on Take Me Home, my submission for takaomine's prompt in bps's Special Request Round for AoKise with monsterboy!Kise, saying that she wanted a multi-chapter fic she could worship properly. ;) You were not the only one. Do you know how many people asked me to continue with this fic. So many. Literally every review and comment I got on it asked me why there wasn't more at some point, if it wasn't the entire point of the review/comment. orz

I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone (but especially not you, my dear~).

Merry Christmas.

Kise Ryouta had not always been a werewolf.

He was almost nine years old when he was bitten.

It was, at the time, considered a highly unfortunate accident.

He was a silly kid; an indulged and spoiled youngest child and only son. At eight years old, the explanations for why he wasn't supposed to go outside one evening a month disappeared from his brain almost as fast as they entered it.

His sisters had been fighting all day that day; his parents had been distracted trying to sort out their quarrel, and stop them from hitting and scratching and pulling each others' hair. Ryouta had taken the chance in the confusion, to wander outside.

In all honesty, Ryouta never did remember very much about that night. What was imprinted on him about the whole thing was the morning after, when he'd woken up in the hospital surrounded by the pale faces of his parents, the teary eyes of his sisters, and a dull throbbing in his arm from where the dog he'd tried to pat had bitten him.

His parents and the doctor were still speaking; they hadn't noticed he was awake. Ryouta's sisters were probably supposed to tell them, but it was obvious they were listening into what the doctor was saying to their parents instead.

"...that bit him will probably come looking for him," the doctor said. "They have an honour code like that, if they're the good ones. The packs in this area are quite nice; we've only had a handful of incidents over the years, but they always come to find out if they lived and look after them if they did."

His parents looked over at that point, and that was when they finally noticed he was awake. Ryouta was fussed over, which was always nice, and then his parents and the doctor went outside to keep talking. His sisters were more attentive to him than usual after they'd left.

"Does it hurt?" Satomi, the younger sister, asked.

Ryouta shook his head, and both of them seemed a little relieved. They pulled out some of Ryouta's toys then; the stuffed dog he had named Puppy that he slept with at night was placed in his lap, and his gameboy on the bedside for later. It was a bit embarrassing that they brought Puppy in – he was a big boy! – but he was also glad to have him there, too.

The stranger came in a bit after midday.

First, the doctor called his parents out of the room again. They had been sitting and watching him and his sisters up until then, and it hadn't occurred to Ryouta that this might be strange, or that they should be somewhere else at this time. Instead, he was playing tea parties with his sisters. He didn't usually like playing tea party with them, but there wasn't really anything better to do while he was stuck in bed like this.

He and his sisters looked up when their parents left. Through the glass they could see the person they were talking to was a young woman, though to Ryouta's eyes at the time she was an adult.

His sisters were called out by his parents when the stranger entered.

She stood next to his bed, twisting her fingers together for a moment, then took a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"Why?"

She looked at him. "I bit you. I'll do my best to take care of you."

Ryouta frowned. "A dog bit me."

Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at the floor. "My name is Takahashi Shizuka. I'm a werewolf, and last night I bit you."

Ryouta blinked at her. "Oh." He tried his best to remember what he'd been told about werewolves. That... explained a lot about why he was here. "Am I a werewolf too now?"

"Yes. I'm very sorry. I didn't do it on purpose."

She looked like she was about to cry. When girls cried, people got in trouble – Ryouta saw it happen all the time at school. He didn't want to get into trouble, because he didn't do anything. Adults liked it when he smiled, so he did.

"Don't cry. I'm okay!"

He got up on his knees and patted her hair. His parents and sisters did that when he cried. "Shizu-chan said she's going to take care of me, right? Don't cry."

She took a deep breath and gave him a wavering smile. "I'll... I'll come to fetch you next month okay? And introduce you to our pack."

Ryouta nodded. "Okay."

He sat back down then, and pulled Puppy back into his arms.

For the month following the bite, Ryouta found himself feeling distant from a lot of his classmates.

Part of it was, of course, coming back to school with his arm all wrapped up. His parents had said he was free to say why, but somehow Ryouta had gotten the impression that they didn't want him to, so he didn't. A lot of kids were curious, especially when Ryouta kept the resulting scar covered up too – it would probably be easy for people to figure out, he thought, if they saw the bite shape.

Having a secret as big as I'm a werewolf made him feel different. Even though he didn't really feel like a werewolf. After all, he hadn't actually turned into a werewolf yet. But somehow it seemed like there was an impossible distance between him and all the other kids he used to play with.

More than that, he was a bit worried about this whole werewolf transformation thing. It was coming up surprisingly fast, and he didn't really know how to feel about it.

On the one hand, it sounded kind of awesome and special and magical? On the other hand, it sounded kind of scary and maybe painful. Ryouta didn't like hurting. He didn't want to hurt. He didn't like talking about to his sisters or parents about his fear, though. The first few times they'd adopted a quiet, sad kind of expression, and he hated the way it felt to be looked at that way by them. And then of course he couldn't tell any of the kids at school.

It was a bit lonely.

Shizuka came for him in the late afternoon the day of the full moon after his bite. It had been quiet about the house; Ryouta knew it was because of what was going to happen.

He was going to turn into a full werewolf tonight.

Shizuka had come around a few times during the month, asking if he had any questions or if he felt worried at all. He'd always said no, because he didn't really have any questions, and he hadn't really wanted to tell her he was scared. She was still a stranger, after all.

When they left the house, his hand was curled in hers. Ryouta wasn't sure if it was for his sake or for hers, but he didn't really mind either way, for once.

"Will it hurt?" he asked as they walked down the street.

She squeezed his hand. "Yes."

Ryouta frowned and kicked at the ground. "I don't want to hurt."

Shizuka squeezed his hand again. "I know," she said quietly.

It wasn't until they were approaching the meeting point - a small community hall based within a park - that Ryouta realised there were no other children around.

He started feeling really nervous then. But Shizuka said she would take care of him, right?

They started with introductions. Shizuka kept a firm, comfortable grip on Ryouta's hand – he could pull away if he wanted or needed to, but unlike usual he doesn't quite feel like bouncing around and chattering the ears off of anyone who'll listen to him about what sports he tried today and how far he got in his games and what he learned in school. He found some comfort in Shizuka's relative familiarity while surrounded by all these strangers.

He couldn't remember most of their names, but most of them seemed very nice. Some of them send looks he doesn't understand in Shizuka's direction, but they patted his head and smiled at him when he introduced himself – "My name is Kise Ryouta, I'm almost nine!"

The next closest to him in age is fourteen. He looked bored and kept checking his watch for the time; it's starting to get dark.

The adults started taking off and folding their clothes. Some of the teenagers are shy and embarrassed as they do so, and Ryouta noticed that people respectfully kept their eyes averted. Most still wore underwear of some kind.

"Clothes get ruined in the transformation," Shizuka said to the unasked question. "Here, pass me your things, and I'll put them with mine."

When everyone's done, they all wander outside. It's a little bit cold; someone locked the door.

"Almost time," someone muttered.

Shizuka sat cross-legged on the grass and tugged Ryouta over to sit in her lap. He squirmed a little, starting to feel uncomfortably pinpricks underneath his skin.

The pack huddled around them; any shyness is forgotten, because Ryouta felt hot and the pinpricks are getting worse and it hurts, and the skin on Shizuka's hands was getting rougher as they run through his hair and rub his arm and he didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.

Everything started to get very confused at that point. In all honesty, Ryouta didn't remember a lot of it.

The few things he would later be able to remember later included knowing and sensing and feeling the pack reaching out for him, but not knowing how he could tell through the pain; and he could remember the way that his pack-mother's fur felt against his back as she curled herself around him while his own body struggled to make the first change.

He remembered that first moment after the confused agony began to dissipate and feeling safe and protected and surrounded by Pack.

Shizuka took him to the hospital first thing in the morning.

Honestly, the overriding feeling Ryouta had was mainly that of exhaustion; he hadn't slept last night. He stumbled more than once as they walked, and was greatly relieved when they arrived, even though he still wasn't being allowed to sleep.

"Why?" he complained.

"It's standard procedure, Ryouta-kun," said the doctor checking him out, and he groaned. It was the same doctor as last time. "Especially because of how young you are." The doctor looked at Shizuka. "Are his parents on their way?"

Shizuka nodded. "The plan was to meet here this morning, because we weren't sure..."

The two of them glanced at him, and he sighed heavily.

"I'm tired," Ryouta whined, interrupting whatever was going on between the adults. "I want to go to bed."

"You can sleep after you answer a few questions for me, Ryouta-kun, how about that?" the doctor asked. "Are you sore anywhere?"

"No."

"Everything looks the same?"

Ryouta made a face at him. "Yes."

"You can hear okay?"

"Yes."

"Nowhere is numb or tingling?"

"No." Ryouta flopped back on the bed. "Is this almost over?"

The doctor smiled, but he didn't look very amused. "Yes. Go to sleep, Ryouta-kun. We'll wake you when your parents get here."

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Takahashi-san, what can you tell me about Ryouta's transformation?"

Even though Ryouta remembered thinking that he wanted to listen, he was asleep before he knew it.

He woke up in his own bed, because his sisters were shaking him.

"What is it?" he mumbled.

"Ryouta, what was it like?" Satomi asked. "Ack!"

The eldest of the three of them, Nariko, at the imperious age of thirteen years old, had dropped her fist on Satomi's head. "We're supposed to ask if he feels okay talking about it first, Mama said," she scolded. Satomi, ten and irrepressible, sighed in response. "And we're supposed to wait until after lunch."

This woke Ryouta further, despite still feeling tired. He was hungry. "Lunch is ready?"

The two of them nodded. "Mama said to wake you up because you didn't have breakfast," Nariko said.

"We had to be quiet all morning because you were sleeping," Satomi added, sighing. "Mama kept shushing us."

Ryouta got out of bed. "I'm hungry," he announced. "And I don't really remember a lot about it."

It was a lie; he remembered enough to know he definitely didn't want to talk about it. But his sisters seemed to accept it, though Nariko looked a little sceptical.

"How did I get home?" he asked when they got to the kitchen. His sisters giggled.

"Papa carried you," Satomi said. "He said they couldn't wake you up!"

"Least I can still be carried," Ryouta answered, sticking his tongue out at them. "Not like you."

He was easy catch in his still-just-waking state, but his shrieks as his sisters hit him with pillows was enough to bring their mother over to break up the fight, and he was probably a little bit more pleased than he should have been when they got told off.

Nariko and Satomi would ask what it was like on a number of other occasions, but Ryouta never really knew how to explain how it felt. His memories were very clear, but he didn't have the words, and he didn't think any other wolf did either, to talk about what it was really like to those who could never understand.

It's not until Ryouta is older that he learned how easily he could have died.

He'd been twelve and in his last year of Elementary; one of the most boring parts of the year was the day when a werewolf or two would come in and talk to students about being careful on full moon nights and not going outside, because it's a bit late for him now. He never skipped it, though. Skipping it is a clear sign you're a werewolf, since werewolf kids get a free pass from the lecture. While there's no prejudice in his class, Ryouta liked to reveal his nature at his own deciding, and usually to individuals rather than a full class.

Usually, visiting werewolves come from out of area packs, so they don't compromise any kids' status if they've chosen not to tell anyone. Ryouta gets looks sometimes from visiting wolves that make him bristle, but especially the first year after he'd been bitten, he'd just wanted to growl at them and make them leave, because they looked so shocked.

No one's ever explained to him properly why it is that he can tell who's a wolf and who isn't, but he knows it's something that all of them can just sense.

This year, the wolves eyes flicked to him but they don't give him a look like they have in earlier years. Ryouta learned why after the obligatory lecture is over. He spent most of it staring out the window. Nothing they have to say applies to him – he's on the other side of the werewolf experience these days.

His teacher asked him to stay back after classes finished for the day. A few students giggle; Ryouta is often scolded for his disastrous grades.

For once, it's not about his grades.

The two werewolves from earlier are waiting with a few other kids. None of them are from Ryouta's class, but all of them are around the same age. Ryouta isn't sure why they're all here until the werewolves started speaking about First Transformation.

He raised his hand. The rest of these kids must have werewolf heritage, and that's fine, but he was bitten. He's already gone through first transformation. He doesn't need this.

The one speaking paused, and nodded at him.

"Can I go?" he asked. His eyes are half-closed; it's after school and he's bored and wanted to go home. "I've already been through first transformation. Did you not get close enough to sense it on me?"

"You're not old enough for that," the younger man argued. The woman with him waved her hand and he quieted. She must have a higher rank in their pack.

The rest of the kids are looking at him in surprise too. They're definitely all heritage kids; that explained why he hadn't sensed any of them as wolves yet. They'll transform when puberty really starts to hit in the next few years. Shizuka had explained that to him when he'd asked why there were no other kids for him to play with after his third transformation.

It's different when you're bitten, though Ryouta's never thought much about why.

"I didn't," she agreed. "You're an early bloomer."

He could leave it at that, but for some reason it seems like that would be an embarrassing thing for the other kids to leave thinking about him. "I was bitten," he said. "Can I go now?"

The two wolves had traded looks, but he was reluctantly released. Ryouta wouldn't have thought anything of it until one of the girls from the special lecture pulled him over a few days later after school and, cheeks flushed, had confessed that she had a crush on him because of how strong he must be.

"What?"

Ryouta was more confused than anything.

"Well, kids that get bitten don't survive first transformation very often! And I was in your class back then you know! You came to school with a bandage on your arm, and I figured it out! That's why you didn't show anyone, because it was a werewolf bite!"

He'd narrowed his eyes at her. "That's private," he said, and the girl – he couldn't remember her name – had gone pinker.

"I won't tell!" she promised. "You're really special, Kise-kun!"

Well, yes. He knew that already.

"Thank you," he said. "I'm going to go now? I'm sorry; I don't really like you in that way."

She sighed. "I'll come back when I've transformed!" she promised.

Ryouta rolled his eyes after he'd turned away. What was it with girl wolves and the whole mating thing anyway? That was like the most boring part of being a werewolf. It wasn't even like it worked that way either. Shizuka had taken it upon herself as his pack-mother to explain it when one of the older teenage girls in their pack had moved to a different pack because she thought she'd have a better chance of finding a mate there.

"What about you?" he'd asked. He'd follow her wherever she went, of course; she was his pack-mother, and he wasn't ready to run on his own yet.

She'd smiled patted his head. "I have you to take care of, Ryouta."