"Your parents are nice", Michiru told Haruka quite some time later, after the werewolf couple had taken off to head back to their home, "and I'm glad they didn't freak out about me knowing the family secret."

"Well, we know yours, too", Haruka shrugged in response, getting more comfortable by opening the two top buttons of her shirt and rolling up the sleeves to her elbows, "so it's kind of like a trade. I was worried for a moment though that my mother would blow up at me when I told her that you know."

"Yes, she looked quite angry", Michiru agreed with a small giggle, making the taller woman smile as well, "but I'm really glad it all worked out in the end. I wouldn't want to be the cause of friction in your family."

"No worries there", the blonde reassured her, "it's all fine now…" Michiru yawning quite heartily caused her to trail off, and she glanced at her watch, surprised at how late it had gotten; clearly, the smaller woman hadn't been paying much attention to time passing either, looking equally surprised when Haruka told her what time it was.

"I should get going", she then declared, even though she didn't really feel like making the journey back to her apartment with public transport, "I really didn't pay attention to the time…"

"I can give you a ride", Haruka offered, "then you won't have to take the bus, or a taxi maybe."

For a moment, she almost added an offer for her to spend the night at her home, then bit down on her tongue and remained quiet; after all, they barely knew each other yet, and even if they were supposed to fight together, it still was a bit too early for such offers.

"That's nice of you", Michiru replied, distracting her from thoughts of having her stay over, "but I'd feel bad if I made you drive all this way now, at this time…"

"It's not that far", the blonde shrugged in response, not really surprised about Michiru declining her offer, but figuring she didn't have to accept this right away, "and, honestly, I'd sleep better if I know you got home safely. I mean, this woman is still out there and threatened to kill you, not to mention the other, regular creeps prowling Tokyo at night."

"I can handle those", Michiru reminded her of the fact that she wasn't just a regular human, either, "but you are right about this Kaorinite person still being out there… I'm not sure if she'd try anything, so shortly after her last attempt, but if she does…"

"…in case she does, you better have the big bad wolf by your side", Haruka finished for her, coming to her feet, "so no more discussion. Let me give you a ride."

"But then you'd have to drive back home alone", Michiru pointed out the fatal flaw in her little plan, "which might put you in danger. She did threaten you, too, remember?"

"So what do you suggest", Haruka wanted to know, raising an eyebrow and smirking, "unless you stay here overnight, which I wouldn't mind to be honest, one of us will have to be alone at least for a while out there."

Inwardly, the blonde congratulated herself on how cleverly she had worked an offer for Michiru to spend the night at her home into the discussion; with the way she had said it, she could claim that she hadn't been fully serious, in case Michiru would freak out at this lack of etiquette, and if the smaller woman didn't, but took her up on her offer, it wouldn't have been presumptuous, either, making it a win-win situation for her.

"Perhaps this would be the smartest course of action", Michiru now nodded, to Haruka's amusement blushing slightly as she said those words, "not that bright daylight has kept this woman and her… daimons from attacking before, but there's no need to take any extra risk by running around in the middle of the night. So if it's not too much of an inconvenience…"

"Course not", Haruka reassured her, "you can have the guestroom again, it's not like you'd sleep there for the first time. Only this time, you're thankfully not injured."

"Alright then", Michiru decided, smiling again now while her blush was slowly fading, "if you really don't mind… thank you. I would offer to return the favour and let you stay over at my place some time soon, but unlike you, I don't have a guestroom. Not even a couch big enough for you to sleep on."

"My parents insisted on the guestroom", Haruka shrugged, "in case someone of the pack has to stay in Tokyo on short notice. Bothered me back then, but it's quite lucky now, huh?"

"Indeed", Michiru replied with a small giggle, making the blonde smile back at her; for a few seconds, they just kept smiling at each other, neither of them feeling awkward or uncomfortable, then the blonde made a vague gesture towards the TV, her next words causing Michiru's smile to widen slightly.

"Well, now that's decided you'll stay", she said, hiding well how absurdly gleeful this was making her feel, "why don't we watch a movie or something? Unless you're really tired and want to go to sleep."

"No, a movie's fine", Michiru reassured her, "just nothing all too dramatic, please. Or terrifying, I'm really not big on horror movies."

"I'm sure we'll find something", Haruka smirked, sitting back down now that it had been made sure that she didn't need to drive Michiru anywhere after all; she snatched up the remote and switched the TV on, then spent some time zapping through the channels until they had found a movie they both were willing to watch, sitting in comfortable silence for most of it and enjoying each other's company, both of them glad that Michiru would spend the night at the blonde's home after all.


When Michiru's screams woke Haruka in the middle of the night, her first thought was attack, and without even realizing it, the change started as she hurried from her bedroom to the guestroom; the few steps this took her were enough to let her shift into the form Michiru had seen first from her, her night vision increasing drastically as her eyes changed colour, the familiar twinge of pain from her jaw telling her that her canines had lengthened as well while she pushed the door open and almost stormed into the room.

Thanks to her enhanced vision, she immediately could tell that the room was, apart from Michiru, empty; this took some of her fervour away, and she slowed down, her eyes meeting Michiru's in the dark, the smaller woman letting out a high-pitched squeal at the sudden appearance of two glowing yellow eyes in the darkness, only to remember that it was Haruka a second later, a slight sigh of relief escaping her as she finally realized what had happened and relaxed again.

"I'm sorry", she then mumbled, now feeling awkward and uncomfortable, "I didn't mean to wake you…"

"Never mind", Haruka gave back at once, the yellow fading from her eyes and the "extra hair", as Michiru had called it, retreating, along with her teeth shrinking back to normal, "are you okay? Jeez, you scared me."

"Sorry", Michiru apologized again, "and I'm fine, I just… a nightmare, I've been getting them more and more since I got called… about the end of the world…"

She made herself shut up, not wanting to start rambling about the horrid images which tore her out of her slumber every other night, filled with death and blood and terror, with people being torn apart by monsters and the Silence she was fighting so hard to avoid ending it all; and suddenly, she felt endlessly tired and exhausted, asking herself how much longer she could do this, could fight the daimons Kaorinite sent out in search for the talismans while her bad dreams cost her more and more of her sleep, making it impossible for her to get the rest she needed to be at her best in combat.

"Hey", Haruka said, sounding slightly alarmed now, causing her to numbly wonder if her sudden onrush of extreme tiredness and being more or less fed up with it all perhaps had caused her smell to change and the blonde had picked up on that; before she could ponder this further though, Haruka had moved to the side of the bed and placed a tender hand on her shoulder, neither of them surprised anymore when this brought the faint scent of roses to the room yet again, "you sure you're okay? You can tell me more about that nightmare if you want to, it might help, I don't mind…"

"It's always the same", Michiru sighed after a moment, giving her an unhappy look, her eyes by now having adjusted enough to the dark to let her make out Haruka's face, "I… we fail, and the darkness takes over… people die…"

"This is not going to happen", Haruka reassured her, now giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "we haven't found any of the talismans yet, but neither has this woman, so there's not much she can do… and together, we'll find them before her."

"It is easier now", the smaller woman replied, a small smile now curling her lips, to the blonde's relief, "now that I don't have to do it alone anymore. I'm really glad you accepted this and joined me in this…"

"Well, I have to make use of these werewolf bonuses somehow, right", Haruka smirked, feeling even better when Michiru let out a small giggle in response, "would be a shame to let them go to waste."

"Indeed", the smaller woman agreed, feeling much better despite how short this talk had been; merely having Haruka next to her had helped her to calm down, the werewolf's touch only making this happen faster, and having finally spoken to someone about the images plaguing her night after night had helped tremendously, as well.

"Thank you", she thus said, "that really did help… But I don't want to keep you out of your bed any longer. We should both get some sleep, it's been an exciting day…"

Nodding her agreement, Haruka finally pulled her hand back, even though it made her feel strangely forlorn to end the physical contact; from the way Michiru's eyes briefly darkened, the smaller woman had similar feelings, neither of them saying anything about them out loud though.

"You're right", the blonde now agreed verbally as well, more to distract herself from the sudden urge to touch Michiru again than for the need of it, "sleep well, then… I'll see you in the morning."

She felt rather stupid for saying this, but at least, the smaller woman didn't laugh at her if she found it funny as well; she just nodded in response, this acknowledgement prompting Haruka to get up from her seat on the edge of the bed, the taller woman still taking the time to give her another smile before she moved back to her own bedroom, quickly falling asleep again once she had laid back down, both Michiru and she slumbering through the rest of the night undisturbed.