-Now we're really startin to get some monsters in this chap. frog to monster list is included (sorry i forgot it last chap)-

Giroro- Ganrougel

Keroro- Kurse

Dororo- Aldmora

Please enjoy~!

Natsumi kept her eyes open for months after the confrontation; looking down alleys and glancing out the windows whenever she could. The red creature was now a full-on obsession of her own. He hates humans, and he has friends who might help him take me out. I can't let my guard down knowing he's out there. He might kill me when he realizes I'm just a normal human.

She spent all of her free time thinking about him. Her friends would ask her to hang out or participate in their sports teams but she would always politely decline. Whenever her mother was away at work, Fuyuki would bring up the ghost and beast, asking her anything she could remember about them.

"Do you think they'll come back?" Fuyuki asked as he sipped from his alien cup. Natsumi was cleaning the dishes and kept her back to her brother.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll come back." She didn't like talking about them much.

"Do you know when?" Fuyuki asked quietly, hoping he wouldn't upset her but still too curious to go without an answer.

"I don't know." Natsumi sighed and stared at the dishwater. "It took two years after the first time and then five. I don't know what makes it different each time especially since he knows that I live here; and he always seems to disappear before he wants to but at least before he can hurt me."

"Maybe you're protected or something." Fuyuki suggested.

"If I was protected he shouldn't show up in the first place. Either way it's been a few years and we need to be ready. You have my extra tennis racket right?" Natsumi glanced over her shoulder.

"Of course." Fuyuki smiled nervously. He felt strange having to keep a weapon but did as his sister told him. Even if he didn't feel threatened, he understood that she was targeted and would do anything to fight back.

"Good." Natsumi turned back to the dishes. "Did you find anything in your books?"

"No. I can find plenty on ghosts but nothing on what Ganrougel is." Fuyuki twitched as he watched his sister suddenly tense up.

"What did I say about the names?" Natsumi turned back around and glared at Fuyuki.

"Not to say them..." Fuyuki whimpered.

"Exactly. They're monsters Fuyuki. They don't deserve the common decency to be called by their names." Natsumi finished cleaning up and locked herself into her room. She spent a lot of time to herself, studying fighting styles and still completing her homework so no one would notice her obsession. The only time she really felt normal was when she turned on her radio and listened to popular songs. She collapsed onto her bed and sighed. "I'm almost 16. I'm supposed to have a lot of friends and maybe a boyfriend. But if I spend time with other people he might show up and hurt them all. Then I'd be known as the freaky monster chick."

Natsumi smothered her face into a pillow. She let out small screams until she ran out of breath. She then sat up slowly and looked out the glass doors to her balcony. It was many long moments of silent cursing before Natsumi noticed a young man sitting in a nearby tree. He was slender with long silver hair. He looked hurt and lonely.

Natsumi quickly opened the doors and leaned over to him. "Hey, are you ok?"

The young man turned his face into his shoulder. He pulled his knees up as if to hide. "Please go away."

"What's wrong?" Natsumi spoke calm and gently. She didn't want to scare him any more than he was.

"If ... if you see me you might..." His voice trailed off as quiet sobs filled his silence.

"Please don't be sad." Natsumi felt tears of her own falling down her cheeks. She didn't understand the sudden empty feeling inside her.

"Leave me alone... before I hurt you." The young man turned his face to her, revealing his pale blue eyes. Natsumi was almost lost in them but soon found herself stunned by his missing mouth. There was only smooth skin where a normal human would have a mouth.

"Human." A gruff voice called from inside her room. Natsumi turned to see Ganrougel.

"You." Natsumi wiped her face as anger filled her again. "You finally came back."

"Why are you crying? I thought you weren't a child anymore." Ganrougel smirked.

"There's a guy on that tree and he's just so sad and alone. I started feeling so bad for him." Natsumi pointed to the tree only to see it was empty. "But... he was right there."

"Oh really, what did he look like?" Ganrougel was curious by her reaction. She tried her hardest to fight him but now she was crying for someone else.

"He was thin, like he almost never eats. His clothes were rags and he... he didn't have..." Natsumi trailed off as the image became harder and harder to picture. "Now it's like I can't remember but he was just there."

Ganrougel straightened up and walked closer. Natsumi stepped aside as he looked at each tree. This was the first she had seen of his back. Small bones jutted out from his spine, big enough to be gripped by the entire hand. He sighed before looking back at Natsumi. "I know him. Looks like I came just in time."

"What? How does you being here help anything? You're trying to attack me aren't you? And I just wanted to help that poor guy." Natsumi clenched her fists.

"He's not alive. That guy you saw is like me. Non-human or supernatural if you want to use that term." Ganrougel crossed his arms as he began his explanation. "His name is Aldmora and any human he meets is forced to dwell on their sadness. Pretty soon they're swallowed by their own darkness and vanishes from the world. They just slowly disappear. Nothing is left of them not even a spirit or memory. Everyone that knew and loved them forgets about them. Poor Aldmora doesn't even do it intentionally. He hates what he does to people."

"Why does it happen to him?" Natsumi glanced back at the tree concerned for him.

"It's not my story to tell but it is pretty dark." Ganrougel turned his eye away as he frowned. Natsumi looked to the monster that frightened her as a child and was surprised to see him sad for another being.

After a few awkward and silent moments, Natsumi spoke up. "Aren't you going to attack me?"

"No. It seems like every time I find you I get sent away. It's a mystery I want to figure out even if it is a major pain to have to locate your home each time. You're an interesting human so I've decided to give you a chance." He turned to her and gave his crooked grin, showing off his fangs. "You're the first to fight me and that makes you fun."

"You're just saying that so you won't have your butt whooped." Natsumi smirked with confidence.

"Oh really? You feel so reliant on your basic training?"

"Well I overheard from that ghost friend of yours that you hate humans. Why else would you restrain yourself from taking me out?" Natsumi questioned.

"I only hate most humans. The greedy betrayers most over all others." Ganrougel's eye grew darker the red thread-like pupil almost lost in the foggy color. "I hate them. I'll hunt each one down and strike them out of this world."

"Did I betray someone? When I was little, and you first came after me?" Natsumi looked up at him. She knew that he came after her for something all those years ago.

"No, you were different. You weren't marked like betrayers are." Ganrougel's expression softened as he glanced at her sad eyes.

"Marked?" Natsumi asked.

"Yes. I can find everyone whose done terrible things to good people. It's like a mark, but it's not like a scent or visual mark. I can just sense it. You had something else though, I can't really explain it but it was like I just had to find you but I didn't know what I was supposed to do when I got there. I just did what I normally did with any other mark, but I guess that was the wrong move." Ganrougel exhaled his remaining breath after struggling to explain why he had hunted her when she was little. "When I 'vanished' your mark was gone for two years until it was noticeable again and I could find you. It hasn't come up again since so I had to try and find your house on my own."

"I guess that's why it took you longer." Natsumi took a deep breath as she processed all of the information. "So you won't hunt me anymore?"

"I swear that I won't hurt you anymore. You aren't my target, but I will figure you out. You're definitely interesting." Ganrougel answered easily.

"I doubt that. The only interesting thing about me is that I was attacked by an actual monster." Natsumi walked back inside and sat on her bed. "After all I'm just a girl with no friends and an obsession to fight you off. I guess I better get my racket back from Fuyuki."

"Why?" Ganrougel walked closer.

"I told him to beat you with it the next time he saw you." Natsumi explained with a small wince. Ganrougel laughed.

"You even got you're brother against me? You are full of surprises human." Ganrougel smiled wide.

"You know, calling me human is weird right?" Natsumi chuckled nervously.

"Well you hated it when I called you by your name." Ganrougel teased.

"Well I guess since you aren't going to kill me you can call me Natsumi." Natsumi looked at him sincerely. "And I won't just call you monster, because you're not as heartless as I thought you were. No heartless thing would look as sad as you did when you were talking about your friend."

Ganrougel was stunned. No one ever treated him like she did in that small moment. No human ever gave him permission for anything or even acknowledged his feelings. "Thank you, Natsumi."

"Could you stop looking at me like I'm the seventh wonder of the world? You're the supernatural one here." Natsumi smiled a bit awkwardly with a slight blush over her cheeks.

"Sorry it's just... nevermind." Ganrougel shifted his weight between his hooves.

"So what now?" Natsumi asked after a moment of silence. "I mean it's not like I have to focus on beating your butt."

"I'm not sure. I'm waiting to see what sends me away every time." Ganrougel looked around the room. Scanning each corner.

"You're not going to find anything in here. I've searched my room so many times just to make sure you weren't hiding on me for a surprise attack." Natsumi leaned back on her bed and closed her eyes to think. "Oh but make sure your ghost friend doesn't do anything weird to my brother or I will beat you."

"Who, Kurse? You don't have to worry about him. He's extremely harmless, most ghosts are. He just has a thing with toys." Ganrougel explained with an unamused gruff tone.

"A thing with toys?" Natsumi couldn't figure out what he meant or why a ghost would even care about toys.

"I guess I can at least tell you his story. When he was alive, centuries ago, he was the son of a very successful toymaker. He was learning how to make toys in order to make the business better when he inherited it, but his father had extremely high demands and Kurse wasn't exactly the best at the craft. His shapes were too simple and the figures would often look silly. Back then the best toys were supposed to be extremely realistic. His father was ashamed of him and locked him in the back of the house with only materials to practice making toys. Each toy Kurse made was burned for not being perfect. His father started feeding him less and never let him out of the room as 'motivation' until he could make decent toys. Kurse died not long after from dehydration. Now he haunts people who can't make good toys and will work until it's perfect, to it's intended quality. Sometimes he thinks he's still in that room and every toy he makes from scratch when in that mode is exactly the same poor figurine." Ganrougel's voice was heavy and deeper than usual adding to the effect of the dark story.

Natsumi held her knees to her chin. She felt bad for Kurse knowing he had to die like that. "He seemed so happy and carefree."

"He usually is, like I said he isn't a bad guy." Ganrougel cleared his throat.

"So what's your story?" Natsumi was nervous to ask but her curiosity ate at her.

"You deserve to know mine after I attacked you but I don't even know much about it." Ganrougel answered this easier than explaining his two friends.

"What? You mean you can't remember?" Natsumi leaned closer.

"I'm not even sure if I had a story from before, all I know is I woke up one day and started hunting humans. Terrible humans. My first memory is of a young man betrayed by his comrades and I went and killed them. Their blood is still stained on my arm. I felt liberated." Ganrougel held up his left arm with the longer and slender fingers. "They were sadistic and did more than betray him but I won't scar you with that story. I didn't even have a name when I met Kurse so he named me Ganrougel. He said it seemed right, or at least he said it should start with a G and have an r. He's a bit weird."

"You guys seem less like monsters and more like tortured people." Natsumi whispered as she swallowed a lump in her throat. Her heart was sore and heavy from the new stories. "And I thought I had it bad."

"Natsumi, you should know that the world only get's darker from there. There are terrible things out there and most of them are only human." Ganrougel kneeled down to her. "I'm sorry I hunted you like a heartless betrayer. You're much better than that and I hope I haven't ruined your life completely."

"It'll take a bit, but I think I can forgive you." Natsumi smiled. "Now that I know you're not some bloodthirsty monster."

"Thank you." Ganrougel grinned in return.