Hey before I start I just wanna give a huge shout out to YuuyaBridges and aurora0914 you guys have always gave reviews of my stuff and your comments always motivate me to write more. Thanks to everyone else who also posted a review or gave me some encouragement along the way. I know I don't post that often I gotta alotta shit going on with school and track and other junk. I also wanna say thanks to the more than 5,000 views that's a big number, way more than I ever thought I would hit when I first started writing. So thanks guys you've given me allotta support along the way and I really appreciate it.

Haru jolted awake as the car came to a halt in the drive way. "Ugh" he groaned rubbing his stiff neck with the palm of his hand "I'm so tired, what time is it?"

He heard his grandmother's laughter from the front seat "It's not even 6 O'clock yet, I wonder why you and Sora are so tired." Haru attempted to shrug his shoulders in a sign of ignorance but couldn't find the energy to make them behave. The entire trip back he, nor Sora, had been able to stay awake for more than a minute. "Why don't you wake up your sister and head back to your room? You can take a nap while I put dinner on."

Haru inclined his head, something about the way she sounded seemed . . . off. But unable to place his finger on what exactly was wrong he gave up and mumbled an "Okay". He scooted across the back seat to his twin sister who was still dozing peacefully. "Oi, Sora" Haru whispered gently.

"Mmmm what's going on?" she mumbled as her eyes fluttered open.

"Home" was all Haru managed before he slumped over against Sora's shoulder, almost passing out. Sora said something that sounded like an okay and the twins exited the car on Sora's side and wobbled towards the house.

"ugh, why am I so tired?" Sora asked as Haru caught her for the third time in a row.

"no idea" Haru mumbled as he helped Sora back to her feet. They continued forward hardly making any real progress until after several minutes of stumbling and falling they reached the front door. Once inside they pulled off their shoes and tossed them haphazardly to the side.

Haru barely registered their mother's "hello" from across kitchen as he trudged past. He tried to say hello back but couldn't make his body say anything, with a mental shrug he turned towards his room following Sora closely.

He watched as she struggled with the door knob, trying time after time until finally he heard the 'click' and the door swung open. The twins pilled in together, Haru right behind Sora . Both flopped down on the nearest futon, neither caring that they were now sharing a bed. Sora snuggled up against her brother as she struggled to keep her eyes open for the final time before she succumbed to the embrace of sleep.

Change of Perspective

Ms. Kasugano senor anxiously paced back and forth through the kitchen. All the signs were right in front of her and she wasn't the type to turn a blind eye to these types of things. She sighed coming to grips with the reality of the situation; her grandchildren were through the change.

She had noticed the small things at first but she had written those off as mere coincidence. This tiredness though was a different matter, coupled with the other small things that she had noticed it was clear that the twins were entering stage one of the change. The elderly woman recalled when she went through the change in her youth. But she had been nearly eighteen not ten. She shuddered, thinking of the detrimental effects this would have on her beloved grandchildren. They're not ready for this the old woman thought to herself. Their parents never wanted them to go through the change to begin with, they're going into this unprepared and unready for the challenges ahead.

The twins' grandmother bit her thumb. It was rare for their kind to go through the change without someone who had already completed the change to given them the push. Something must have acted as a catalyst to jump start the children's transformation. The elderly woman's mind shot to the night the children had gotten lost in the woods. She had, had her suspicions then. But now that it was clear they were going through the change she was positive that something happened then. Or perhaps it was at the mall today when she was unconscious. No way in hell was she going to believe that lie that her husband was able to pick out their yukatas. The fool couldn't even find the store let alone pick out two yukatas that actually looked nice on both twins.

No, whatever had knocked her out definitely wasn't natural. She didn't even remember blacking out. One second she was riding shotgun in the car, the next she was waking up in the mall with two children lying through their teeth saying that her husband had bought them clothes and it was time to leave.

The grandmother's concentration was shattered as a clap of thunder shook the house. Her husband snorted in his slumber from the couch as if he might awake, but was back to snoring in a matter of moments. The old woman sat down in the chair next to her husband with an audible sigh. If the change had brought anything good it was that Sora was asleep and didn't have to suffer through this terrible storm.

What were they gonna do with that poor girl and her fear of lightning? Counting this one, they were on their third lightning storm this week. The twins' grandmother jumped as another bolt of lightning shook the house. She anxiously glanced out the window half hoping, half expecting to see her son pull up in her old impala. He had insisted on making dinner and had taken her car with him to the super market to get ingredients for dinner over an hour ago. The super market was a ways away but it wasn't more than a fifteen minute drive. The old woman took a deep breath trying to calm herself. Maybe her son and daughter-in-law were just taking their time at the store, or perhaps they had decided to wait out the storm.

Just as her nerves began to settle she hear heard a knock at the door. "Their finally back" she said to herself as she sprung to her feet with surprising limberness of someone her age. She walked to the door and threw it open expecting to see her son. She was instead greeted by two teenagers. One, a girl, was a complete stranger; the other was an old friend. "C-Cai" she stammered unable to believe her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh good, you know me. This'll make things easier. Here take her" he said thrusting the girl with him at the elderly woman.

"Wah- wait Cai what happened to her, why is she unconscious?"

"Poisoned" Cai said.

"By what?"

"Those thingies" Cai said pointing to the tree line.

"Cai I don't see any-" she froze as she heard the creepy sound of insects skittering across the forest floor, it made her think of an army of spiders marching towards her house. But it wasn't insects, or spiders for that matter, it was something entirely different much older and more malevolent than any animal on earth. "Sk-Skoropi" she stammered.

Cai slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand "That's what their called" he said as the noise of the Skoropi doubled as they approached the house.

"Cai, how many are there?" The twin's grandmother shouted over the deafening roar of the monsters' march towards her house.

"Hmm, well let's see, I killed about twelve. So that should leave about . . ." he trailed off counting them on his fingers. Ms. Kasugano breathed a sigh of relief. If Cai had killed twelve that should leave only a handful. "six, seven, eight . . ." Cai said, continuing his counting. "Soooo, that leaves us with the eight from the first pack along with the other 316 from the other packs."

The old woman nearly dropped the girl she was carrying "Thr- three hundred!?" she stammered.

"And sixteen" Cai pointed out "plus the eight from the pack I killed so it's actually three hundred and twenty four."

"Cai what the hell are we gonna do?" the old woman asked frantically.

"We, aren't gonna do anything. You,aregoing to take my friend inside and treat her for skoropi poison while I stay here and fight 324 monsters."

"Cai I can't let you battle that many monsters alone. Let me do something."

Cai looked at her skeptically "Oh, I see how it is. You wanna steal some of my fun!"

"Wha- Cai I'm not gonna-"

"Well you can just back the hell off sister, cus if you think I'mma let u touch one of them damn Skoropi then you are sorely mistaken. Those bitches are mine, you got that?" He snapped four times in a Z shaped formation before turning his back on the old woman and marched away from the house just as the first of the monsters appeared.

Cai hadn't lied about the numbers. They poured from every nook and cranny of the forest that surrounded her house. Some even came from underground burrows beneath the earth, bursting forth like a miniature volcanic eruption.

Looking like a giant white scorpion with massive claws and eight blood red eyes, Skoropi definitely lived up to the name. With each beast just over a meter and a half long, the overwhelming number of monsters that had gathered was an impressive, yet terrifying sight to behold.

Even still, Cai showed no sign of fear. The twins grandmother couldn't be certain, but over the deafening roar of the arachnids' chattering and the other squeals she could've sworn Cai was laughing. He charged the Skoropi head on, scattering a few, but was soon surrounded by the swarm of monsters.

Not wanting to stick around for the blood bath, the old woman readjusted her grip on the unconscious girl and dragged her inside. Before she was even half way to the infirmary the grandmother's arms began to give out. The girl slipped out of her arms and would've struck the floor had her husband not been there to save the day. The old couple exchanged a look, as if reading each other's minds. The old man tossed the girl over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing and headed to the infirmary, his wife hot on his heels. He opened the door with his free hand and placed the girl down on one of the beds while his wife busied herself by gathering the ingredients for the antidote.

As she did that her husband ran off to gather the protective charms to place throughout the house. Under normal circumstances the protective wards around the house would be enough, but with this many monsters they were going to need to reinforce the wards.

Leaving that task to her husband she set to work. The old woman traversed the infirmary with ease, gathering the last of the supplies need for the antidote. She worked at a steady pace, not slow, but also with the rush that came with a sense of urgency. Skoropi poison was deadly, but it moved through the body at a slow rate. Even if the twin's grandmother did nothing the girl still had three more days. She mixed, grinded, melted, and chopped the ingredients, undisturbed by Cai's war cries or the screams of the monster's outside. After about fifteen minutes the elderly physician wiped the sweat from her brow, pleased with the outcome of her endeavor. She poured the draft into a glass cup and brought it over to the girl. Tilting the girl's head back she poured the draft down the girl's throat. She coughed and sputtered as the antidote ran its course, but she didn't stir after that.

The old women collapsed on the bed next to her patient. Her breathing came out ragged and sharp. Damn, she was getting to old for this crap. After a moment or so, the rising and falling of her chest evened out as her heart rate returned to normal.

She stood and reexamined her patient. Her shirt must have been ruined when she was stung because she was wearing one of Cai's now. She lifted the shirt, examining the wound. Cai had done a decent job cleaning and bandaging the wound. It could've been done better but there was no reason to go back and redo it. The old women pulled the shirt back down and went to the kitchen to get some water.

She let her mind wander trying to come to grips with the situation at hand. Cai magically reappears after being gone for years on end, carrying some unconscious girl with him, and they were almost immediately attack by skoropi. No, a person wouldn't pass out from skoropi venom unless it was in their system for several hours. That meant that Cai and the mystery girl had been chased for quite a while. Ms. Kasugano watched as her husband placed the last of the protective charms. She felt safer once they were in place. Under normal circumstances it would be difficult for a monster to break through, with Cai outside they were virtually in an impenetrable fortress.

Still, Ms. Kasugano didn't want to take any chances. "Dear" she said to her husband "Can you grab the twins and move them to the infirmary." The grandfather, knowing better than to argue with his wife, did as he was told and walked down the hall, lacking the limp that was customary with him wherever he went.

The old woman went to the kitchen stumbling and tripping on her own feet, the last of her strength giving out. She knew her frail body was failing her but she had to warn her son not to come home. She grabbed the cordless phone and punched in her son's cellphone number. The seconds felt like minutes as the phone rang over and over. After a minute the phone prompted her to leave a message. She hung up and redialed only to get the same results. This time she left him a voice mail warning him not to come and about the skoropi. She'd try again later but for now she needed to get to the infirmary and comfort her grandchildren who probably had a lot of questions.

However, before she could even take a step, the far window shattered spraying shards of class throughout the entire house. In the middle of the destruction rose a black Skoropi. Ms. Kasugano senor stared in disbelief. There was no way anything could have broken through the barrier and protective charms, and why the hell was this Skoropi black. Skoropis where always white. Perhaps that had something to do with why this one was able to break through the barrier.

Other than the monsters color though, nothing else seemed different about its appearance. Its four red eyes were squinted closed against the ceiling light, it vision practically worthless. Skoropi lived underground and in caves, the smallest of light sources was able to perpetually blind them.

The old woman backed away slow, heading back to the kitchen. As long as she didn't make any noise the beast wouldn't notice her. The old woman scanned the bar hoping to find a knife or some other kitchen utensil she could use to defend herself. Finding nothing she turned her eyes back to the monster. The Skoropi taveled slowly, crawling around on the floor with its eight legs. It kept its head down, sniffing periodically.

That was weird, Skoropi weren't known for their sense of smell. In fact there sense of smell was weaker than that of a human. Whatever it was searching for would have to be extremely potent for it to find it. Wait, Skoropi could smell something, but what was it. Ms. Kasugano wracked her brain trying to remember what it was. She thought she heard something about it not too long ago, was it –

"argh" she cried out in pain as her hip struck the side of the dining table. The Skoropi, spun around, noticing the old woman for the first time as it snapped its claws happily. Ms. Kasugano's eyes darted to the spot right next to the stove where she kept the kitchen knives. It was too far away. The Skoropi would pounce on her the moment she made a move and she was far too tired to even fight against it if she had a weapon. Her legs collapsed underneath her as the monster approached. The old woman began hyperventilating as the beast got closer and closer.

The Skoropi stopped snapping its claws and instead moved them to a ready position. It opened its mouth showing its many rows of bloody teeth. A solution of blood and saliva poured from its maw pooling on the floor. It's tail coiled, ready to strike the poor woman in the heart. Liquid poison oozed from the barb on the skoropi's tail. Whenever the posion got too heavy the liquid would fall from the beast tail and strike the floor, causing a thick steam of poison and would to issue forth from the ground that would leave a small hole in the floor.

The monster let a few more drops fall before it gave a final shout of glee and lunged at the woman's heart.