Something was beeping right in her ear. She was positive she hadn't set an alarm last night, but the noise persisted. Beep. Beep. Beep. Nico rolled over and covered her head with a pillow.

It was muffled, but still easily audible. Beep. Beep. Beep.

She rolled over again, sticking an arm out of her bed to attempt to punch the offending clockwork, but it wasn't as close as she usually thought it was. Actually, she couldn't feel her nightstand at all –

"That's not an alarm, you know." A clear voice cut through her confusion, and Nico finally gave up on returning to sleep and cracked her eyes open, only to lock them with the source of the voice only seconds later. She had amethyst eyes, as clear as her voice. "That's a heart monitor. Because you're in the hospital."

The black-haired girl jolted up in bed, ignoring the other girl (probably a doctor, if she took a moment to think about it)'s complaints. White sheets, white walls, IV – yes, she was in a hospital alright, but – "How did I get here?!" Why did she have a heart monitor?! After a brief panic she realized it wasn't hers; it was coming from someone else's side of the room.

The doctor (or nurse, maybe? She looked young, Nico noted absently. Not like the old geezer she usually got check-ups with. Would it be possible to switch doctors? Wait, get back on track!) sighed and ran a hand through her dark, red hair. "Yes, that's exactly the question we've all been dying to ask. We think you were hit by a car, but nobody reported you lying in the street until hours after the incident must have occurred. You're lucky you didn't bleed out."

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, like it would help her remember. Yes, she was hit by a car. She remembered that much, it was the whole 'getting to the hospital' part that worried her. Her memories of the night were slowly returning. "I…Yes, I was hit by a car." The dark-haired girl glanced away from the doctor, unwilling to meet her eyes. "I don't blame them though. It was dark, I'm small. They must not have known they hit me."

"W-wait a minute!" The redhead exclaimed, apparently unnerved. "You're just completely okay with being hit by a car?"

Nico flushed, that had sounded strange even to herself when she said it. Time to save face. "I'm not completely okay with it, but I wouldn't have the money to press charges and pay the hospital bill, so I guess whoever it is got off easy, huh?!" She shouted stubbornly, crossing her arms. It wasn't a lie.

Thankfully, she seemed to accept that answer. "O-oh. My apologies, then…If you don't mind, I'd like to check your injuries. You suffered a concussion, minor wounds to the head, and a few breaks in your left leg. Thankfully, nothing will need stitches." She groaned, but let the doctor check. This would all be over by the end of the day anyways. Not to mention, she'd let this particular doctor do whatever she wanted – was it improper patient etiquette to ask for her number?

While she examined her, the redhead was talking. "Since nobody nearby identified you, we don't have any good records. Would you mind giving the hospital your information later?"

"Sure." She said absently. "Need anything right now?"

"Could you give me your name?" The doctor asked, adjusting the blankets and carefully unwrapping the bandage on her head.

The girl winced but kept complying. "Nico Yazawa. Can I have yours?"

"Maki Nishikino – I'm a nurse, but don't worry, an actual doctor is the one that looked you over." Oh, so she was a nurse. In retrospect, she did look a little young to have gotten a bachelor's degree, but she looked so assured of herself that Nico might've believed it if she'd said she was the doctor. The redhead continued with the questions. "Emergency contact?"

Nico shifted a little, maybe interfering with the exam, but she didn't care much, too preoccupied with rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Umm….I have one, but she doesn't have a phone yet."

Maki looked up dubiously. "What do you mean 'yet'? Has your contact's phone been broken for a long time? You should really pick someone else until we can contact her more easily."

"N-no, I mean, she's never had one yet. My sister, um….she's twelve. I don't have anyone else to contact though. You can usually get her or one of my other siblings from the home phone, so I guess all three of them are my emergency contacts..?" She explained, flustered. God, this was such a weak excuse. What could she say? She didn't go to hospitals often. Especially not hospitals with really cute n- she shook her head. This was the last time she'd be seeing her, best not to complete that thought.

That reply somehow struck a nerve with the nurse though. "A twelve year old is your emergency contact!? Miss Yazawa, of all the irresponsible –"

"Hello? I'm here for the patient you couldn't identify. She's Nico Yazawa, and I'm a friend from school."

"..things….to do….." Maki slowed to a stop, looking up curiously at the stranger. "Do you know her, miss?" She asked hesitantly, and Nico looked to the side, trying to figure out just who exactly thought they could barge in on her while she was hospitalized.

Standing patiently at the doorway, as if waiting for an invitation, was a woman with long purple hair pulled into two ponytails. Nico would admit, with some shame, that yes, she knew her, and had not spoken to her since they graduated about three years ago.

She was pretty bad at keeping in touch.

Seeing that Nozomi was still at the doorway, Nico shook her head and looked to the nurse. "Um, yes, I do know her. I'm not sure what she's doing here," She said, casting a side glance to the girl, who was now approaching, "but I know her."

"Good. Maybe you can ask someone your own age to be your emergency contact then." She replied dryly, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"H-hey! I'll have you know my sister is an extremely reliable twelve year old, okay?!"

Nozomi giggled. "If I knew I was replacing her I would have tried a little harder to look responsible."

Nico groaned. "Nobody is replacing anybody! I'm sure Nozomi doesn't have the time to be randomly called over here if I get into an accident, can we just move this along?! I need to get back to the house."

"I don't mind being your emergency contact." She said breezily. "In fact, I feel like you'll be needing someone to drive you home since your leg is all busted up….unless, of course, your extremely reliable ten year old sister can do that. In which case, I'll be out of here in –"

"Quit teasing me and just help me get out of this hospital already, Toujou…and Cocoro is twelve now, thank you very much…." She grumbled.

The taller girl just grinned and started talking with the nurse about it, while Nico tuned them out.

How exactly had she been hit by a car last night? She thought she was being careful. Her sisters were supposed to keep the door locked, and Cotarou was even sleeping in the living room so she couldn't sneak past them.

While she puzzled over that, the other two seemed to have finished their conversation – the nurse was handing her crutches, and Nozomi was looking at her expectantly. She heaved a sigh of relief and gratefully accepted the help, noting that it did, in fact, hurt to put weight on her left leg.

Nozomi helped her out of the building after she filled out the forms they needed to keep record for her.

Once they got into the car, though, she seemed oddly serious. Or at least, more serious than usual, because Nozomi was rarely a serious person - at least, judging from their interactions in high school. She turned around in the front seat to look at Nico, who as in the back. "I came because I saw you get hit last night." She said, a bit abruptly.

"What?" Nico asked, incredulously. "No way you saw me get hit, nobody was there. It was too dark, couldn't have seen it."

"There was a streetlight." She replied, without batting an eyelash. "I was walking around with someone and I saw the car hit something…someone, to be more specific."

The black-haired girl tried not to look worried. She failed. "I swear, I'm sure nobody was around. What street were you on?"

"The same one they found you on, if the woman at the front desk is to be believed." Nozomi shot back. "I would have called it in, but I don't know the number for animal control, and I thought it'd be rude to interrupt your night like that."

"Oh, that explains it! You must have seen a stray dog get hit or something." She laughed nervously. "No, it was later at night than that. You have great intuition, though!"

"A stray dog with the same bright red eyes as cute little Nico? Unlikely." She tapped the shorter girl on the nose. "I win."

Nico grimaced. Okay, shit, this would be a little harder to weasel out of. Especially since she'd already let slip that Nozomi was right about the street. And the werewolf thing. Shit, she was so boned. "S-so what? Who would believe that story? Who could you tell?"

As if all the tension had dissipated, the other girl just settled back into her seat and gave her a cheeky grin. "Nobody! I was just worried that you were in trouble! You did get hit by a car, you know. Clumsy werewolves aren't long for this world."

She blinked. "W-wait, really?"

Nozomi smiled again. "I'm pretty well-versed in the supernatural, Nico, I know that would end poorly for you. But it's dangerous to be alone, too –" She cut herself off, taking on a softer expression. She sounded more concerned than cheeky. "You still haven't told anyone, have you?"

"I'm never really in the mood to be lynched." She muttered. "So it's not your business who I have and haven't told. My family knows, and that's all you need to know. I'll be fine."

"…Suit yourself." The other girl said, after a moment's pause.

And then she started the car.

There was a few minutes of companionable silence before Nico had to break it. "So….now that we've established the whole werewolf thing, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"Why does your car smell so funny?"

She snickered a little, but didn't actually answer. Nico decided she'd rather not know.

When she finally arrived, her younger siblings all rushed to the door as soon as she turned the lock. Nico gave Nozomi a grateful smile for driving her, and the purple-haired girl waved it off and said to call her sometime if she wanted her fortune told, or if she wanted dog treats. She glared at her for the last part, but when Nozomi just laughed it off, it was obvious that no amount of grouchiness was going to kick her out of her life again.

It was hard not to like her for that.

She suppressed a wince when Cocoa ran right into her bad leg, and when Cocoro told her off for it, she decided they'd step inside and settle the matter of who unlocked the door for her so that they would stop arguing about that.

Cocoro claimed it must have been their brother, but when asked, he just pointed back at the second oldest. "Opened it."

"I did not!"

"Opened it."

"Niiiicooooo, tell him I didn't open the door!" She whined.

"Did you?" The eldest sibling pressed.

She looked undecided for a moment. "Well…..yes, but he doesn't need to know that!"

Cocoro ended up getting five minutes worth of tickle torture for unlocking the door, but at least by the end of it everyone was smiling. Things could stay this way for a long time.

Things did not stay that way for a long time. Nico went to bed on the couch that night, forgoing her perfectly respectable bed for staying up and binge watching some awful medical drama TV show. She supposed she must have thought it would be ironic after spending the morning in the hospital? Whatever the case, she recalled finally falling asleep after flicking it off, dissatisfied with the casting. Not to mention her nose was still totally clogged with that smell from Nozomi's car.

Seriously, what the hell did she do in there to cause such a stench? It wasn't necessarily bad, but it clung to everything like incense residue, so she must have gotten some on her clothes or something. She remembered making a mental note to do laundry the next day, then falling asleep on the couch instead anyways.

Instead of waking up with a sore back on the floor or the couch, she woke up with a sore back, no cast, and a loosely tied piece of rope around her neck.

Fuck.

She grimaced, and quickly untied the rope tethering her to what looked to be a fencepost. That was just embarrassing. Was she in someone's backyard? Uuuugghhhhh.

Since the sun had just come up, she was guessing she'd just gone for a little unplanned romp. It happened, but…still. Ugh. Nico began the (painful) process of hefting herself over the fence, broken leg and all. She had just barely gotten halfway over it when something stunned her out of her concentration.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

Double fuck.

Nico yelped as her descent down the fence sped up twofold and she fell face first onto the other side of it, only barely avoiding snapping her neck in the process by angling herself to the side and landing on that instead. The left side, unfortunately. She hissed in pain as her leg punished her for her poor directional sense.

There were footsteps, fast footsteps, running to the gate to catch her. Nico tried to work out where she'd heard the voice before. Last night, it would seem, but also…..

Her eyes widened, and she looked up just in time to see none other than her nurse from the day before running towards her.

Shit, shit shit shit shit –

"Why were you in my backyard?!" She demanded, grabbing the smaller girl by the collar of her shirt.

Nico, recalling the way Nozomi had identified her, kept her eyes shut tight and stammered out an answer. "I-I heard a dog barking, a-and thought it was hurt," she said, gritting her teeth as Maki lifted her further. "It jumped the fence when I tried to look at its' leg, so I was going to chase after it."

"Bull. Shit." Maki growled. Nico whimpered. "I didn't hear any barking. Why were you actually in my backyard? Where did the dog actually go?"

She fought the temptation to open her eyes. "Uh – Umm…..I…ahhh…..I'm looking for my dog and I thought it was the one in your yard! Big, black fur, slight limp? She r-ran away last night and someone told me you had her!"

The nurse seemed incredibly dissatisfied with the answer, but she at least allowed Nico to stand up on her own. "You're the car crash girl from yesterday. Are you stalking me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, princess!" She snapped, finally opening her eyes. It was too tempting. "How would I even know where you live?"

Maki narrowed her eyes. "Really? I'd think the whole mansion thing is pretty hard to miss. My family is pretty high profile, and I did give you my last name."

"For the last time, I was not stalking you! Get over yourself! You're the one that put me in your stupid backyard in the first place!"

"Wait, what the..?"

The black-haired girl cringed at her own lack of tact. She could still save this, she could still save this, she could still - "Uh…don't listen to me, I'm off my meds..?" she tried weakly.

She was so fucked.

Apparently that registered with Maki too, and her own eyes widened when she finally realized the other place she'd seen Nico's. "You're the dog?!"

"I'm not a dog, you were hallucinating. And the term is werewolf. Wolf. Big, scary, totally not something you tie to a fence in your backyard." She said irritably. Nico made a dismissive gesture. "Go back to bed. It was all a dream!" She made jazz hands to go along with the gesture.

Maki frowned.

She huffed. "Just go back to bed already, dammit!"

Five minutes later she was in Maki's house holding an icepack up to her new black eye. "Why does the world hate me…?" She muttered lamely, falling onto her back on the couch dramatically. "Whatever did poor, sweet Nico do to deserve such suffering?"

"How about follow me to my house and let me pity-feed you a bunch of my food?" Maki cut in, and the other girl resisted the urge to throw a pillow at her.

"Ugh. If I had any idea at the time that you were this awful, believe me, I would not have followed you. I was supposed to be nice and cozy in my own bed this morning, not tied to your fence like a misbehaving corgi."

"And yet, there you were." She said flatly. "Look, I'm really skeptical on this whole werewolf business in the first place, and the only reason I believe it right now is because I'm positive that if you were lying, you'd have better excuses."

She crossed her arms. "How do you know I'm not lying? I could be a clinically depressed schizophrenic who forgot to take her medications the night before and deluded myself into thinking –"

Maki flashed a picture on her phone of a rather large, black canine with red eyes. Nico stared at it. "Please get rid of that."

"Why?"

In response, Nico pulled her own phone out and dialed home. After two rings, the older of her two sisters picked up, and Nico put the phone on speaker. "Big sis?"

She sighed dramatically, while Maki rolled her eyes. "Not for much longer, I'm afraid. I got caught last night, and now the scary evil scientists are going to take me apart. Tell Cotarou and Cocoa that I loved them."

It took all of four seconds for the three of them to be wailing on the other end of the phone, and Nico handed it to Maki with a smug grin. "I'd be devastated too if I lost such an incredibly talented, caring older sist-"

"You made your point already." The redhead grumbled. "I was so not going to call some 'evil scientists' on you, this isn't a shitty Halloween special. Calm the kids down already, would you?"

She nodded, and it took around ten minutes, but eventually all three of her siblings had settled down to the point of just sniffling. "Please remember to lock the door next time, or it could happen for real, okay?"

A sniffled response, and then she hung up.

"So, now that we've settled that…..Can I go?" She asked hopefully.

"Not a chance." Maki said flatly.

Nico stiffened. "What the hell, you said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"I never said I was telling, I just want answers. Werewolves didn't exist until this morning, of course I want to know what the hell is going on."

She groaned. "Explaining is so boooooorrriiiiiiing…"

The taller girl deadpanned at her. "What a shame. If it's too much for you to handle, I guess I could always call some of those scary scientists you mentioned to do it for you."

Nico swallowed. "You're cold, you know that?"

She seemed a little put out, but crossed her arms. "I know, but if you don't tell me the curiosity is going to kill me, okay?"

"And me, apparently." Nico grumbled snarkily. Dumb nurse and her dumb science friends and her dumb curiosity and her dumb cute hair –

"Good point, it's a low blow, but could you please just get on with it already?"

"Right." Stirred from her thoughts, she took a deep breath and contemplated where to begin. "Uh, so….werewolves." Great start. "Ummm…I'm pretty awesome, is basically what it sums down to, but that would've been true regardless of any shapeshifting talents." Maki gave her a look that told her she should probably get on with the actual technical parts and stop bragging.

Nervously, she decided to skip over that part of the intro. "Fine, I'll stop. Um, once a month, under the full moon, turn into a wolf, blah blah blah, everyone knows that bit, it's boring. The difference between me and movie werewolves is – um, there's a shitload, but basically it's not restricted to the whole 'once a month, light of the moon blah blah horror movie, you know the drill' type of thing, y'know? That's the one I'd expect you to get all hung up on. It happens….whenever, really. By accident or by choice. Not during the daylight, but I could make that happen if I felt like it." Seeing the look the redhead was giving her, she quickly added: "Which I don't. Ever. So don't ask."

"So you know what you're doing when you're not a human?" She asked skeptically, pretending she wasn't even a little upset with the fact that there would be no demonstrations again.

"Well, if you want to get technical, I'm really never a human –" She shut up. Maki was good at glaring.

"Okay, okay, answer the question…" Nico laughed nervously while she tried to put it into words. "Umm….yes and no? I mean, technically you'd know what you were doing while you're drunk, but you sure as hell wouldn't know why you did it once you were sober again." She huffed. "Most of the time it takes me a bit to remember what I was doing, so that's why I was so confused about being in your yard."

The redhead blinked. "Huh. That…actually makes a lot of sense. So, it's sort of like being under the influence or something? You….you don't attack anyone, right?" Something twisted painfully; she got the idea she knew what Maki was really asking: You're not dangerous, right?

"Of course not! I'm better than that!" She defended quickly. Nico was the hero, and this was a superpower, and anyone who disagreed would be wrong.

Maki seemed to realize she'd struck a nerve. "I'm sorry, I was just asking."

Still mildly offended, but running out of steam, Nico continued a bit more quietly. "I'm never – I don't think I'd ever get violent or anything, or like, run off into the woods and eat stillborn children or whatever – it'd be really strange if I actually did something bad. From what I understand, usually I just run around and eat gross shit?" She shrugged. "The point is, if I thought it was a good idea to poke my nose in your yard last night, I promise it's nothing I'd be thinking about right now. I must've been hungry or something."

"You didn't do anything weird, it was rude of me to ask that." Maki said, and Nico stopped fidgeting, just a little. "Can I ask how it happened? I mean, is it a virus, or just hereditary, or…?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you were a doctor, heheh." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Of course you'd want to know that part. Uh, truthfully, I've got no idea. I can't remember how I got it, but I know that my siblings don't turn into wolves, so that's good. I think something must've happened when I was little, but I'm not sure what, and I really don't think taking a big old chomp out of someone's arm and finding out if they 'turn' is a good idea. Nobody deserves it." She provided a cheeky grin for the next part. "I'm content just leaving it alone and being glad that whatever started it didn't come back and kill me!"

Surprisingly, that got a little laugh out of the redhead too. Nico thought it might be the first time she'd seen the other girl looking amused, but something struck her as familiar about it. Déjà vu, maybe? Maybe she saw it last night…? "Yeah, I think that's a good plan."

"Any other questions? I kinda have to get home soon."

Maki twirled a strand of her hair, looking a bit anxious all of a sudden. "Yes, but, disregarding those, there might be…a slight problem." Oh, joy. Nico looked at her expectantly, raising an eyebrow. It must have something to do with her if she was telling her this, right? The redhead cleared her throat. "Well, I maybe, sort of, scheduled an appointment….with a vet…..because I thought you were a dog?" She said slowly, still twirling her hair and avoiding eye contact.

"You what." Nico cringed at the thought of it. "No way, not going, I am not-"

"I'm sorry, okay? Your leg is still broken and I thought I was helping! Excuse me for not knowing you were a person!" Maki defended.

"Can't you cancel or something?" She asked, incredulously. "I don't want to go to the vet!"

"It's like half an hour from now! It's too late to cancel!"

They went back and forth like that until, very, very reluctantly, Nico gave up. "Whatever. I'm not going to waste their time like that, but I'm still going to hate every second of it, you hear me?!" Maki nodded guiltily. "Give me a second to tell my sister I'll be late…." She grumbled.

Once that was overwith, she skulked over to the bathroom. "Where are you going?"

"To get changed." Secretly, she was actually really glad she got to use that pun. She'd been sitting on it for like, five years.

Unfortunately, Maki didn't even seem to catch it. Damn doctors and their damn dense, thick skulls that can't even realize when an incredible pun had just taken place and – ugh, best to forget it and just get started on the whole werewolf thing.

AN: Happy halloween! Again, haha. I'm gonna continue this later, but I thought halloween might be a good time to publish it. I love spooky AUs. Not that this is particularly spooky, but I at least got to put monsters n' stuff in. Next chapter I'll probably introduce the second years, but it'll be from Maki's perspective because Nico is gonna need some bed rest for that broken leg. Might have a few other ships, but for right now it's just Nicomaki and Nozoeli. I guess if anyone reads this they can suggest the other ones? I might just go to the default popular ships, haha. All that said, thanks for reading! See you soon, hopefully.