"Reading poems in the night,

Sometimes they rise, but sometimes they fall"

xXx

"Wh-what?"

"Yuki has gone into labor" She repeated half out of breath. The woman behind her look equally as baffled as Anna about the situation as it settled in her mind. "C'mon, get in the car we don't have time to waste—" She motioned for her to move, throwing on her rain jacket as she sat and put on her boots.

Anna didn't move at first, part of her was confused at why they, she, wanted her to be there. While she'd gotten along with Yuki, it felt strange trespassing on such an event. However, she wasn't going to argue with Hana now. Quickly she moved, putting on her shoes and jumping into the jeep that Hana rarely drove. They waved to their neighbor as she moved back to her car, shouting good luck as they peeled out of the long driveway.

They sped down the road, rain pounding against the windows as the windshield wipers squeaked back and forth. It was silent, tense between the two women as Anna stared out into the darkening surroundings of the car. "I am going to tell you something, it's very important that you listen and you listen well. You may not believe me but—" Hana glanced at her from the corner of her eyes, as if she were reading the young westerner. "Never mind, forget I said anything"

Anna just tilted her head, confused, intrigued but respectful none the less. It would not be the time to pry but damn, why was she so cryptic? What could possibly so important that she would want to tell? Was she really that shady? Did they really not trust her by now? They remained silent, no words were exchanged as the forests and mountains disappeared to be replaced by bright lights and noise. Hana leaned forward, chin almost to the steering wheel every time they were stopped in traffic. Corner after corner, street after street they drove down passing hospitals and doctors' offices. "Is she not at a hospital?"

"No, she wanted home birth" Hana muttered

"With Midwives?"

"No, there are no midwives"

The car stopped, parking on the street in a most likely illegal fashion. But Hana didn't care; Anna watched her stress make her age before her as she jumped out of the car and rushed up to the rather large apartments stacked side by side in the suburb. Anna slowly stepped out, unsure of what to do.

xXx

He had seen them leave, heard the conversation from the outside as he patrolled around the house like he usually did. He was equally as surprised when he heard his mother utter those words, and angry when he watched the trespasser get in and drive off with her. Would their mother spill their secret? Would he be exposed for what he was—more importantly would Yuki? It was already risky with so many people knowing, how could they trust this newcomer? Not seconds after his mother had driven off did he find himself running along the paths toward the city. His paws bled from the rocky terrain, his lungs ached the farther and farther he got from his home on the mountain. He had to get there; he had to protect his family from themselves, their secret and that woman.

xXx

She sat in the living area of the large room, quietly playing with her hands as she just examined them as if she had never seen them before. Words couldn't express the awkward, uneasy feeling she got in her stomach. In the back room, Yuki cried out in pain in intervals while her supporters—Hana and Souhei—whispered muttered encouragement to help keep her focused. Was this what her own birth was like? Was there this much tension in the room when she was born? Standing slowly, the blond paced back and forth occasionally glancing back to the room. The minutes drew out into hours, the rain stopped and started, back and forth she walked feeling more and more out of place than she would have liked. In her mind, she remembered the anxiety when members of her own family were born, how each individual fought, yelled, and paced in anticipation for the newborns to come. The tension only skyrocketed when the door swung open to reveal a soaked, out of breath Ame. The look in his eyes was enough to tell Anna to take more than a few steps back.

"What are you doing here? Where are my sister and mother?" He demanded, advancing into the room with a purpose.

"They are in the back room" She motioned, arms coming to cross over her chest. "But I don't recommend barging back there at the mome—"

"What have they told you?" He advanced on her, now only a foot from herself and more threatening than ever. "Speak!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about" His face scrunched into a snarl. Only then did she notice how sharp his teeth really were. "Why are you here—you'd only be here if you knew"

"Knew what?" Now she was mad, he was talking nonsense. "You make no sense; you need to calm the hell down Ame"

"Don't talk to me like that"

"Yelling and carrying on like this is not going to help your sister—"It was a sudden wave of pain as the air rushed out of her lungs. She blinked, naturally putting her arms up over her face as she tried to make sense of what was going on. She had been knocked over but by a dog? No this was much bigger than a dog….

xXx

The sound of a baby's cry rose over the panting, the weeping of its mother. Hana held her daughter's hand as tight as she could, remembering every moment when the roles were all reversed and twisted; when she was the one crying out in pain, and Yuki was the one crying in life's first breath. It was all coming full circle, and her heart swelled with an indiscernible mix of emotions. The rain had stopped, the stars beautifully twinkling in the night sky. Souhei held the newborn after tearing the chord, weeping and smiling at the same time, passing the baby boy onto his mother who wept as well.

"I am so proud of you Yuki, Souhei" Hana smiled, taking a step back from the scene. "You father would be too—He is here in spirit"

Souhei smiled, opening his mouth to speak but it was sharply interrupted by the sounds of shattering glass, moving furniture and the growls of a feral animal— animals? He looked at Hana, then to Yuki and their son before to the door. From where they stood, snarls ripped apart the once peaceful silence and the shadowy figures of tangled bodies could be seen through the crack in the bedroom door. Hana darted down the hall, Souhei behind her "No Hana wait!"

She stopped, unsure of what to think of what was in front of her. There on the floor were two massively built wolves; Her son Ame, grabbing at the throat of a snowy white animal staining the hide of the other wolf crimson with blood—but this wolf wasn't going down so easily. In the blink of an eye it had relieved him of his grasp and taken a chunk of his ear clean off. Blood sprayed over the furniture, over the walls, and she found herself moving to pry the mouth of this unfamiliar wolf off of her son.

What she didn't anticipate, was the hot pain from teeth sinking into her forearm.

But as soon as the white beast had bitten Hana, it let go. And in a brief moment of painful transformations, a tattered and torn Anna stood wide eyed at what she had just done. Her clothes were torn to shreds, her skin raised in goose bumps at the cool air. "I-I-"

"Y-You're a—"

"Look what you've done!"

Her heart beat rose, her nose was filled with the smell of Hana's blood and shame washed over her in powerful tides. It had been years since she'd transformed, years since she lost control like this and now, now she hurt someone who she was beginning to become close to. But Ame was?! He was like her! Was his sister also the same? Was the whole family wolves? Would they kick her out? Would they kill her? Her eyes met the yellow of a growling Ame, and she knew if Hana had not intervened one of them would have perished.

She reached out to touch the bleeding wound on Hana's forearm, falling to her knees "Hana I-"

"Step away from her" It came out as yet another ripping growl, his face contorted into a wolfish snarl as he stepped between Anna and his Mother.

"Hana, let's get this cleaned up" Souhei tugged at her sleeve but she only stared at the two, befuddled at the fact that there was another like her children.

With tears welling in her eyes, Anna pushed her body to the side and for the first time in years ran on all fours; She lept out of the busted window from the fight, and down the streets of suburbia Tokyo. She didn't know where she was going, what she was doing but inside she was cursing herself. How could she have been so stupid, so easily swayed by the actions of another? Her front leg she favored, limping around corner after corner hoping her nose would lead her to the forest where she could disappear, maybe even forever. How could she go back after such a display? The clouds had once again covered the diamond spotted skies, and the rain came down in torrential waves of icy water.

xXx

Sorry the past two have been shorter. Hope you liked it!