Author's note:

To any White Wolf gamers out there: I am a former Werewolf: the Apocalypse gamer myself. I am well aware of the fact that some of the things that will happen from here on out will contradict werewolf (and probably vampire, for that matter) lore as set down by WW. But since this story has absolutely nothing to do with WW, that fact is completely irrelevant, yes? ;)

Naru had managed to get a decent night's sleep. She had not set her alarm the previous night, so by the time she woke up, it was about 10:30. She slowly got up and walked over to the door, sticking her head out of the room to get her bearings. In doing so, she noticed a note stuck to the outside of the door. It read, "Please do not wake these two up. They could use a little extra sleep. Signed, Haruka." Once again, Naru felt gratitude to Haruka for her consideration. Smiling and turning to look at the still-sleeping Keitaro, she softly closed the door again as she went back into his room.

About 45 minutes later the pair emerged together, both looking refreshed. As it turned out, Kitsune had come home just before Naru had stuck her head out the door, about the same time Seta took a quick leave to go retrieve Sara from Haruka's place, and Shinobu and Suu were collected as they walked along the side of the road by Seta on his return trip, and all of them arrived back at the apartments shortly after Keitaro and Naru had meandered downstairs and joined Haruka in making breakfast. Keitaro and Naru felt slightly embarrassed that they had not noticed the absence of the younger residents, but decided that it could probably be excused of them this time given the previous day's events. In any case, as they listened to Shinobu and Suu speak happily about their first slumber party at a friend's house, they could only take pleasure in the fact that Shinobu was continuing to branch out. Kitsune returned home right as they were all sitting down to breakfast and everyone enjoyed a cheerful breakfast together.
After breakfast, everyone went their own way, Keitaro and Naru customarily heading up to her room for another study session. Keitaro seemed strangely cheerful considering what had only happened the night before, but Naru remembered that he was similarly cheerful when she had first seen him in the hospital, and that time he had received the damage rather than having inflicted it. Thus, while she did not think a whole lot of his almost overbearing cheer, this particular study session was like a view into the earliest days of their attempts to study together - Keitaro could not sit still. He could not focus at all, and quite frequently began talking to Naru about nothing in particular. Different from the past was the kind, if not somewhat reserved, reception that his ranting received, but nevertheless Naru found herself unable to concentrate on her studies in the face of such constant distraction, and she surprised even herself by lasting a couple of hours before saying anything.

"Are you sure you're up for studying right now Keitaro?" She asked with lighthearted exasperation in response to him suddenly starting to talk about the differences between the last two movies he'd seen.

"Yeah! Sure! I'm up for just about anything right now!" He answered with a big smile.

Naru regarded him with puzzlement, as she had gotten used to his improved study skills rather quickly, and was once again somewhat at a loss for how handle a Keitaro that needed to be tied down in order to get him to sit still and focus on studying. As if suddenly becoming aware of his own boisterousness, he tried to force a look of seriousness onto his face and sat up straight. "Sorry," he said.

Naru sighed and smiled at the same time. "Don't worry about it," she replied.

The pair managed to continue studying - in some fashion or another - until near sundown, taking of course a break for lunch when the proper time rolled around. Keitaro's high energy held up right until the moment when they decided to call it a day for studying, although he did manage to stay focused at least enough so as not to drive Naru crazy.

As the sun slowly set, Keitaro and Naru emerged from her room to find that everyone was seated around the kitchen table playing a friendly game of cards. A quick glance at one another confirmed that both were thinking that a friendly game of cards sounded like a great way to unwind a bit.

"Why hello there you two. We were beginning to wonder if you were ever coming out," said Kitsune with a wink.

Naru half-yawned and half-smiled. "Why quit while we're ahead?"

"Come play cards with us!" said Suu happily.

Naru and Keitaro looked at each other and nodded. "We'd love to," they said together, and took their seats at the table.

The table full of friends enjoyed several good games of Gin before the sun went completely down. No one particularly noticed the passing of the sun, but it was not long before someone noticed the change in Keitaro. Keitaro had taken his seat across from Seta, and as such Seta was the first to say something.

"You alright there, Keitaro? You're looking a under the weather there all of a sudden," he said. At this everyone's attention shifted to Keitaro and his expression did indeed radiate discomfort. Keitaro shook his head the way one does when their attention has drifted away and they are suddenly snapped out of it.

"Um .. yeah ... sorry .. I'm just feeling a bit ... lightheaded ..." Keitaro said quietly.

"Wanna call it a night, Keitaro?" Asked Naru.

Keitaro visibly considered that for a moment, but in his characteristic way eventually declined. "Nah, I'm OK. Far be it for me to be the party pooper. Let's keep going!" He said, attempting a cheerful smile but what actually appeared on his face was an obvious fake.

And so the game continued for about another half an hour before Keitaro went back on his earlier decision. From the moment Seta had first spoken to him Keitaro had quickly deteriorated. He had become very jittery and his face had become flustered, and by the forth or fifth suggestion from Naru that the two call it a night Keitaro had shortly accepted. There were looks and words of concern coming at him from everyone by then, but again with uncharacteristic shortness he shrugged them off. Equally unusually, Keitaro had not waited for Naru to reach his side before scooting up the stairs, and Naru exchanged a look of uncertainty with the rest of the table, where the calm, festive mood had been somewhat dulled by Keitaro's sudden decline of demeanor. Naru then followed Keitaro up the stairs as the rest of the residents did their best to get back into their game.

Naru was only a few feet from Keitaro's door when it flew open, narrowly missing hitting her. From right behind the door burst Keitaro, his facial expression being a combination of panic and the look she had seen on his face the night before, minus the solid gray eyes and mouthful of sharp teeth. Startled, she stopped in her tracks. He did not leave her to wallow in question for long.

"I have to get out of here," he said urgently.

"Wha ...," began Naru, but she was not allowed to finish her sentence. Something flashed before her eyes and then Keitaro was gone. Having already seen this several times before, Naru was no longer especially surprised by this sort of occurrence in of itself. The look on Keitaro's face before he vanished was the cause for her alarm - she had only seen it that one time before ... and what had happened that time was not an experience that she was hoping to repeat. Nevertheless, she had seen the fear in Keitaro's face as well, and as before, she was not prepared to see him face it alone. She bolted down the hallway after him.

The others were already standing around the front door by the time Naru got there, looks of awe and confusion ripe across their faces as they pondered aloud to one another about what they had just seen - all could have sworn that it was Keitaro who had just flashed past their eyes and out the door, but there was seemingly equal conviction being voiced that there was no way that Keitaro, or anyone for that matter, could have possibly moved that fast. Only Motoko and Kitsune did not seem especially stumped. Motoko had already witnessed Keitaro performing this feat of speed, and her expression was more one of concentration as she again strove to understand the energies she was sensing. Kitsune, on the other hand, wore an expression more akin to semi-surprised fear. She had seen more than anyone else on that unfortunate night one month ago, and in particular she had seen more than one "individual" move with the same lightning speed that she had just seen. Moreover, she was almost as certain as Motoko that that had indeed been Keitaro, and with her unrestrained imagination she had come to her own conclusions about what was going on. However, the more convinced she became that her theory might have some truth to it, the less she felt like sharing it - she was known for her voicing of outlandish theories about the bizarre happenings around the Hinata Apartments, often at rather inappropriate times. Now, when the most unexpected event rolled around where her outlandish theory was seeming more and more like the truth, she found herself in one of those exceedingly rare moods where she was not in the least bit interested in creating a stir. That, and she imagined that Naru would not take kindly to her apparently making light of the situation.
Naru decided that she did not care for the round of questioning that surely awaited her. Hardly slowing from her initial decent from the stairs, she attempted to force her way through the mass of bodies blocking the doorway. She didn't make it. A pair of firm hands caught her arm as she passed, and Naru found herself staring into the face of a very serious Motoko.

"No more games, Naru. What is going on? What's happening to Keitaro?" Said Motoko firmly.

"Umm .. I don't know ..," Naru began, speaking with the same hesitation that she often did when confronted with things that she's rather not talk about, but this time with an aura of urgency rather than delay.

Motoko's face contorted with irritation, if not anger, as she began to reply. "Naru! I said no more games! Now please, tell us what's happening with Kei..."

Naru's face more than matched Motoko's for irritation as she cut her off. "How about we just find him now and talk about it later?" she half-yelled back at Motoko.

Motoko's own anger was somewhat disarmed by the emotion she had drawn out of her friend, but any misdirection Motoko might have felt was quickly redirected. "Forgive me. Yes, finding him should be the first priority."

Keitaro had ran without giving much thought to where he was going, and as such he did not realize that he had ended up in the very same ditch where all this had began until he had been sitting in it for several minutes. Even in his distressed state he could not help but smirk at that small irony. But he did not dwell on the thought for long. His body was alive with sensation - not exactly pain, not exactly pleasure, but very intense. He had been afraid before, when he had ran out of the apartments, but now he was feeling strangely empowered by the sensations. He sat there in the ditch soaking them up like a massage. After a very short time he was in such a state of almost drugged euphoria that the sudden burst he felt within his body drew a startled yelp out of him. He could almost hear more than feel his bones suddenly begin to grow and reshape, and as he clenched his teeth he could feel them growing longer and sharper. He lifted his head as he took in a deep breath, and in doing so, the reflection of the full moon gleamed off his eyes.

At that very moment Keitaro felt the greatest surge of energy sweep over and through him. This produced a loud gasp from him, and as his eyes clouded over gray he surrendered himself to what was about to happen.

"Keitaro!" The sound of his name in a familiar voice once again bringing him partially back to his senses. He turned in the direction of the voice to see Naru standing in front of Haruka and Shinobu. They were still a good 50 feet away from him, and still being on his knees little more than his head showed above the top of the ditch. Thus the changing features of his face were not immediately clear to the trio, but the change in his voice was hard to miss.

"Everyone ... please ... go home," he said, Naru recognizing the deep, primal voice from the previous night but Shinobu's distress increased visibly as she heard it and Haruka's face too bore signs of increased concern.

"Keitaro! Are you OK? Please let us help you!" cried Naru as she began to run towards him, followed quickly by Haruka and Shinobu.

"No! Please, just ... RRRRRGGG!" His words broke down into a suppressed scream and his head disappeared beneath their line of site. At seeing Naru heading towards him, he had tried to resist the change, but attempting to do so only changed the sensations he was feeling from something not too far short of pleasant into genuine pain. Knowing that his sudden drop from sight was only going to bring the others to him even faster, he tried even harder to fight against what was happening to him, but this just made it hurt even more and did nothing to slow the process down. More suppressed screams escaped his mouth as he watched claws extend from the tips of his fingers and his entire arms contorted as their muscle mass increased several times. His clothing burst around him as his whole body well past it's normal size with darker skin that was rapidly being darkened further by the sprouting of hair. His suppressed scream then turned more into a roar as his face began the final change - his snout jutted forward just as his already elongated and sharpened teeth quickly grew out into fangs, his canines not stopping until they were nearly the size of his thumbs. The final twitches and jolts of the change rippled through him for a few moments, and then it was complete.

Naru, being a few strides ahead of Haruka and Shinobu, was only a few more strides from the edge of the ditch when the creature shot back to its feet with a frightening growl. He was not facing them, but almost instantly turned to do so, and Naru had already fallen over backwards at the sight that had suddenly presented itself to her. Now sitting propped up by her arms, she stared at the thing that had been Keitaro up until a moment ago with a combination of horrified disbelief and terrible flashback. Some small tatters of his clothing still clung to him, and that was enough recognition for Shinobu. "Sempai ..." she whimpered quietly, and as the color drained from her face she collapsed at Haruka's feet, out like a light. Had Shinobu been conscious and Naru been attentive, they would have seen for the first time a look of fear on the face of the stoic Haruka. Granted, Haruka's fear was as much for the sake of her nephew as for her own safety, but that sort of difference is hard to translate into a facial expression. For the first time in quite a few years, the elder Urashima was paralyzed into inaction. However long this standoff may have seemed to those involved, the three women and the creature only stared at one another for maybe 20 seconds before it bellowed a roar at them that almost sounded vaguely of frustration and bolted down the ditch with inhuman speed. Though the distance must have been a good 20 yards, it was into the brush and out of sight in just a couple of seconds.
Keitaro's thoughts were an almost inoperable haze of chaos. He was still aware of himself and knew the new form he had taken, but those same visions that he'd been having all month, combined with a sensory overload, all but blinded him in both thought and action. He had spun towards the sound of Naru and company approaching out of instinct, but it took him a moment even to recognize those people he knew so well. He had just stared right back at them for a moment as the hurricane in his head began to wind down. As Shinobu had dropped to the ground his thoughts had collected enough for him to have an appreciation for what was happening, and through his haze he formed a thought of slight anger at his friends for not having turned around as he'd asked and for seeing him like this, and most especially for having allowed Shinobu to see it. He'd wanted to yell out his frustration at them, but as if for a moment forgetting the form he was in, all that came out was a primeval roar. As he heard himself, his subconscious made the choice between "fight or flight" for him. Though his inhibitions were somewhat relaxed and he felt his usual restraint on reacting to the first thoughts or ideas weakened, he was still far too much his old self for him to even think about hurting people he loved, but he could not stand the situation any longer. Tapping into every bit of speed that his new powers enabled him, he turned and fled down the ditch, not having the slightest idea of where he was going to go or what he was going to do, only knowing that he wanted to get away.