Ayaka checked her revolver, making sure it was still in good working order. It was, and as if on cue, she heard a knocking at her door. "Ayaka?" She knew the voice. Maybe she'd get a chance to use it after all...

"What do you want?"

"I came to talk with you. To see how you are fairing, how the family is, and about Shinji."

"We're all fine."

"I'm glad to hear that.. About Shinji.. You do know for proper training, he must leave with us, right?"

"Who are you to decide what's proper for him?"

"The chances of finding one of us to train him around here are slim, Ayaka. Who are you to decide what's best for him, for that matter?"

"I had more to do with raising him than you did."

"You raised him for the first part of his life, I must raise him for the second."

"IF he decides to go with you."

"He will. You know he will, even if you don't want to see such."

"Why don't you just crawl back to whatever hole you came out of?"

"I see.. You shouldn't let emotion get in the way of your vision like that, like a veil in front of your eyes. Decisions can't be made with bias.."

"Experience creates bias."

"Perhaps, but that doesn't change the fact Shinji needs his training. He could also help us, in time, make more like himself. Instead of tripping across the world.."

"Shinji can get training somewhere else."

"Oh? Where? By who? I suppose you know of someone."

"No, but I'm pretty damned sure we can find someone better than you."

"Mmm... You and him.. Sure. Tell me, Ayaka.. How many forms does a Werewolf have? How many Tribes are there?"

"Five forms, at least four different tribes."

"Right on the first part. The second though. Very imprecise. You can not help Shinji as one of us can."

"Do you even know how old Shinji is? For that matter, how old is Hiro? And Sakura?"

"What does age matter? Hiro and Sakura's ages don't matter right now, they haven't changed.. Have they? And judging from his body and such, I'd say... around thirteen or fourteen years old."

"He's twelve, and you are an asshole."

"This is no time for name calling, Ayaka."

"This is probably the only chance I'm going to get before you disappear again."

"Oh.. Fine then, call me all the names you want. But you are right. I am leaving again soon.. And will only be back, if one of the children change, probably."

"Because the rest of us are just good for breeding more puppies." she spat.

"No, because I am needed elsewhere. But you should all have children."

"Go to hell."

"I never thought you'd grow up to be so angry."

"Human beings don't like being refereed to like dogs."

"Since when have I refereed to you as a dog? I can't remember doing such."

"Does the term pedigree bring up any memories? I have every reason to be angry at you. You did the single shitties thing any man can ever do. You abandoned your family."

"I had a choice in leaving my family, or letting a whole area of vast terrain fall into the hands of an evil. There was more then my personal concerns to consider.."

"And now you're going to thrust your son into the same bullshit."

"It's not as though I have a lot of choice. To just let him sit around here would be a tragedy."

"Like you really care."

"I do. He could do some great good."

"You don't care about him."

"Yes I do. Though I suppose there's nothing I can do to prove it to you."

"If you cared, you wouldn't have waited until after he changed to show yourself."

"I do care. But, as cold as it may sound, I have more.. Important things that need doing."

"Go back to your more important things, then."

"Have it your way, Ayaka. If that is what you wish I will leave you alone."

'If I ever see you again, I'll shoot you.' she thought, her grip tightening on the gun. Not that she'd probably ever see him again... Or Shinji, when he left. Unless another children changed and he came back to take another person she cared about from her life. It didn't matter to them who got hurt, as long as they got what they wanted.

***

Ayaka locked the shop door and emptied the register. It'd been a couple days since she'd left the Sept and came home.. Without Shinji. He couldn't even look at her as he said goodbye.. Hiro and Sakura were confused as to where he was, and exchanged guesses, and her mother seemed more contemplative then anything else.

Ayaka has spent the last few days debating if she should tell her brother and sister about what had happened. Thus far, she had kept silent... but she wouldn't wait much longer, she knew. Hiro seemed to be taking the loss the hardest out of any of them. He'd gotten noticeably quieter after the first two days.. If it kept up, she might have to sneak an herb or two into his food. Shinji had always been closest to Hiro. They really knew each other better than anyone else. Even if she didn't tell them the truth, she'd have to come up with something.

It was a bit after nightfall now, and it was time for her to finish up in the shop and order dinner.. It'd been a slow day really, and most of the people outside were locking up their own shops, or gone. As she clicked the lock on the door shut and began to turn to go upstairs, she couldn't help but hesitate as she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. It was a ratty old El Camino with a hard cover of metal attached to the cab and bed, cruising down the street. She stopped and turned, watching the car for a few moments.

The old car continued down the block about 15 feet, then turned and began to pull into an alley.. Something about it was making her skin crawl. It wasn't the alley beside her building, but still... She went to the downstairs phone and dialed the police, watching the car. The phone line was dead, completely. This wasn't a good sign at all. And in the night, the shop cast shadows that seemed to leap out at her, trying to grab her, even with the light on.

Ayaka hung up the phone and ran upstairs. Her mother looked up at her and Sakura was in her corner, Hiro was watching the end of a very crappy transformers show. Her mother spoke up in a concerned voice "Ayaka, are you alright?"

"The phone's dead. We paid the phone bill, right?"

"Times may be a little rough, but yes, we paid the bill.." Her mother frowned and got on her feet.

"There's a car downstairs, parked across the street." Ayaka locked the door. "Something about it gives me the creeps."

".. Sakura? Go over by Hiro and watch his cartoons with him.." Hiro didn't even glance as she got on the couch. Her mother walked closer to her, looking a bit more worried then before. "What are we going to do? Could it be them?"

"We can try to get out through the fire escape and leave in the car."

Her mother nodded her head a little bit. "I could give it a try.. I know the kids would have no problem with it.." Then there was a sound like running.. Up stairs. Whoever was coming was coming fast.

"Hiro! Get Sakura and go to the fire escape." She drew her pistol and drew back the hammer. The gun clicked ready, her mother started over to the fire escape as Hiro looked over at her.

"Huh? Why?"

"Just come here, Hiro!"

Ayaka barely managed to hear over it all the rapid 'clang clang clang' of climbing as the door burst open off it's hinges, landing right in front of her as a black furred beast, bleeding, thundered into the room The large creature let out a roar that drowned out the collective screams of everyone else in the room as the round struck it in the face, and stayed there.. She could see some smoke wisp rising and smell flesh burning just barely over the smell of gunpowder. It swung a paw at her gun, trying to disarm her but failing miserably, the large clawed hand wiping past her face. There were more running sounds heard as she heard the window behind her where her mother was going shatter.

Ayaka turned her head to look, backing quickly away from the door. It was a man that got to her mother faster then she thought possible and shifted into another large, black furred beast. Her mother looked surprised as she was as the thing grabbed her like a rag doll, and threw her at Ayaka

Another roar filled the room as the bullet hit the side of it's head, barely striking the beast. Her mother hit the floor soundly near her, and wasn't moving at all.. Yet another beast came blazing into the room, it's fur also a black color, yet with hints of red. Unlike the others, this one was armed. The spear it held had a pair of feathers tied around the base of the blade.. Which Ayaka saw as the weapon was plunged straight through the chest of the first one that had entered

Ayaka looked wildly about for Hiro and Sakura. They were still on the couch, watching, petrified beyond all belief as the scene unfolded. The spear was withdrawn as Watson entered and shot the remaining intruder in the chest, whom clenched the wound and fell to it's knees. In doing so, Ayaka heard a click-clank of something heavy and metal hitting the floor.

Ayaka backed away from them quickly, assessing her priorities. First and foremost was her mother, then Hiro and Sakura. She crouched down next to her mother's limp form and checked her pulse. "Momma?" she whispered.

Everything froze for a moment, her mother's pulse was barely there as she saw Watson shift and yell about something. The black furred wolf man grabbed her and held her close, and the next thing Ayaka knew, she and it were jumping out the window, creating a rather large hole. As the brick and glass were torn from the building she felt none of it hit her. They landed on the ground. That was when she first realized the wolf was bleeding, but thankfully none had gotten on her. There was another sound equal in power to the roar of the werewolf as the window above spit forth a fiery explosion, and flaming things rained down from above.

Ayaka looked around, trying to get loose from the werewolf holding on to her, trying to find where her family was. It held her close for a moment longer then shifted down into the human form, Watson landed nearby the both of them with a passed out child under each arm. He slowly faded back to Homid as well. It took a moment to realize, but the one that had just probably saved her life was the very young man from earlier.

Her eyes went back to the burning remnants of her home. Her mother... her mother was still in there. Her feet started leading her back inside to certain death, her voice catching in her throat. The boy reached out and grabbed her shoulder firmly, trying to stop her as she ran. "Ayaka! Stop!" he called to her. "We have to get out of here, now!" Watson said in a commanding voice

"She-- she's still in there! She was still alive!"

"She's not anymore, you know that!" Watson shouted back. "Just be grateful we got the kids, now go!" He started to move out of the alley towards a minivan that looked more suited to carrying soccer moms then slavoring death beast. That little part of her mind that had staid rational even when she'd been covered from head to toe in spiders told her he was right. She followed.... but the moment this was over, she was taking her siblings, and they were getting the hell out of California.