FOXES AND WOLVES
[3×21]
THE SCROLL DIDN'T EXACTLY GIVE THEM THE ANSWER THEY WANTED. The only way to exorcise the nogitsune that it offered was to change its form. Of course, the only way any of them knew how to do that was turn Stiles into a werewolf. None of them wanted to do that.
It was Stiles. He had had the choice to become one of them in the past, and he had never wanted it. It seemed wrong to snatch the choice from him now.
So everyone once again went off to try to find different solutions. Given that Kira had discovered that her parents had a history with the nogitsune, they had figured talking to her was a good place to start.
"This looks just like me," the kitsune noticed, looking down at a photo she had found. The picture was from 1943, but the woman in it looked almost exactly like her. "This has to be my grandmother."
"You remember I told you about Malia? She's the last one who saw Stiles at Eichen House. This picture and this," Scott told her, picking up an old sword. "They found it with a body buried in a wall. The same backwards five that the oni put on us was on the wall. This sounds like it all goes back to your family. Your grandmother, your mom."
Piper frowned and took the photo from the other girl. She frowned at it. This couldn't just be simple for once.
Kira suddenly grabbed her phone, a look of concern filling her features. "What's wrong?" Piper asked.
"My dad," Kira explained.
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The four teenagers went running into the high school and down the hall to Mr. Yukimura's classroom. The door was already open, while the man sat coughing on the floor. "Kira, did you bring it?" her mother asked as she stood over him.
Kira rushed over to her parents, handing her mother a vial. "You going to tell me what it is?" she asked.
"Reishi," her mother responded, quickly unscrewing the cap.
"You're not seriously giving Dad magic mushrooms?" Kira said.
Her mother sent her a look, before giving the man what was inside the vial. Mr. Yukimura coughed, and grabbed a tissue to spit black goo into. "Are you okay?" his wife asked, helping him up. He leaned back against his desk once he was on his feet, while everyone else watched him in concern.
"Stiles did this?" Scott asked.
"He wanted the last kaiken," Mrs. Yukimura told him, holding up a small, dark blade. "I've kept this near me ever since your friend disappeared."
"Mom," Kira snapped, drawing the woman's attention. "You need to talk to us, about everything."
The mother gave her daughter a nod, but didn't say anything. Piper held out the photo that Malia and Stiles had found and woman quickly took it from her. "Where did you get this?" Mrs. Yukimura asked.
"Was it Grandma?" Kira asked.
"No. It's me," her mother told her.
"That would make you, like ninety?" Piper asked. She glanced at her ex for confirmation that her math had been corrected.
"Or older," Ayla told her.
The woman gave the she-wolf a nod. "Closer to nine hundred," she admitted.
All of the teenagers stared at her in shock. Ayla was fully aware that a lot of supernaturals didn't necessarily age the way they were supposed to, but this was a new one.
"Okay, sure. Why not?" Kira wondered, before turning to her father. "Dad, how old are you?"
"Forty-three, but I've been told I look mid-thirties," Mr. Yukimura told her.
Kira scoffed in disbelief. She slowly turned back to her mother and held the sword they had brought out to the woman. Mrs. Yukimura took it, and opened the sheath. The broken remains of the sword scattered across the desk. "The blade was shattered the last time it was used," she told them.
"When was that?" Kira wondered.
"1943. Against a nogitsune," she admitted.
"Because this isn't your first time fighting this nogitsune, is it?" Ayla asked, arms crossed over her chest.
"It's all happened before, hasn't it?" Scott questioned.
"Yes," Mrs. Yukimura told them.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," Mr. Yukimura added.
"Where did it come from?" Piper wondered.
"It was an internment camp during World War II. In Oak Creek, not too far from here," Mrs. Yukimura explained.
"Hold on. You told Allison and Isaac that there was no internment camp at Oak Creek," Scott reminded his history teacher.
"Allison's family has a certain history of violence. I didn't know if she could be trusted. I'm sure you understand," he said, turning to Ayla.
The she-wolf resisted the urge to glare at him. The way people thought it was okay to casually mention that she was one of the last remaining Hales would never cease to annoy her.
"There was a camp, yes. But all the records were erased," he continued.
"They covered it up," Mrs. Yukimura clarified.
"When I was a grad student, my passion project, actually more like an obsession, was trying to dig up the truth on Oak Creek," Mr. Yukimura told them, pulling a file from his desk. He started pulling out pictures, but stopped to look up at his wife. "It's how I met your mother, Kira," he told his daughter.
Kira frowned at her parents, before picking one of the black and white photos on her father's desk. This one was of a man whose face was burnt beyond recognition. "So, where did the nogitsune come from?" she asked her mother.
"Isn't it obvious yet?" the woman asked, turning away from her daughter. "It came from me."
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The woman began to tell them about how she had been placed in an internment camp during the war. Given that she was quicker and sneakier than the others, she had stolen different supplies for people. Medicine for the sick, a baseball for a young boy, whatever she could get her hands on.
"Kira, I need your help on this. There isn't much time. And this is something that needs to be done in the daylight," Mrs. Yukimura told her daughter as she tried to piece together the shattered sword.
Kira just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. "Not until you tell us everything," she reminded.
Mr. Yukimura sighed, turning to his wife. "Tell them, Noshiko. Tell them what they need to know," he told her.
The woman frowned, turning to the teenagers. "Wolves and foxes tend not to get along. Not just in fables and stories," she told them, turning to the two werewolves.
"But allies, however unlikely, should be welcomed. Especially in times of war," her husband reminded.
Mrs. Yukimura frowned at him, before slamming one of the peices of the sword onto the table.
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She went on with the story, telling them about how she managed to get away with stealing the items. One of the MPs had fallen for her and would help her sneak off with the stuff she needed, and warn her when she was stealing too much.
"Okay, stop! Stop! We don't want to hear your Casablanca story. We wanna know how to save Stiles," Kira snapped at her mother.
"I'm trying to tell you," Mrs. Yukimura argued.
"No, you're stalling us so you're little minions can just take him out tonight," Ayla corrected.
Mrs. Yukimura sent her a look. "When the sun goes down, the oni are gonna come after him again, aren't they?" Scott asked.
"Your friend's gone, Scott," Mr. Yukimura told him.
"I don't think you know that for sure," Scott disagreed. "You brought the oni. Can you call them off?"
"It's not his fault," Kira told her.
"He deserves a chance," Piper agreed. She was the last one anyone expected to speak up. After all, her and Stiles hadn't gotten off to the best start. But he had grown on her over the past few weeks, just like everyone else in the pack.
"Stiles may be your friend. He might be like a brother to you. But he is nogitsune now. He is void," the woman said.
"Can you call them off?" Scott asked again.
"When you hear the rest of the story, you won't want me to," she snapped.
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"Rhys and I found ways to see each other. Sometimes at the barracks. Sometimes in the bunkers where they parked military vehicles. He was being transferred to North Africa in a few weeks. I was teaching him some French," she told them.
Apparently one night when they were in the bunker they had overheard others. "We watched Merrick and Hayes talking with the camp doctor. They were whispering, talking quickly," she continued.
"Noshiko," Mr. Yukimura warned as he noticed his wife's hand. She looked down in surprise, only now seeming to notice that she had been clutching one of the sword shards so hard that she had drawn blood.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Kira asked in concern. But her mother just smiled sadly and dropped the bloody shard onto the table. Mr. Yukimura handed her a towel and she wiped the blood off her palm, but there was no sign of injury. Kira looked at her in surprise. "How did you do that?"
"It's one of our talents. Something you'll learn, Kira. You should've noticed by now that you never get sick. Ever," her mother told her. Kira glanced at her friends, frowning at this information. "You'll never experience something as simple as a common cold. Something as bad as the flu. Or something like pneumonia."
She began to explain how people at her camp all started to come down with pneumonia. The problem was that they didn't have the medication for it, despite her seeing three crates of it only a night before.
"Rhys checked his long, but we already knew what was happening. Dr. Liston was using Merrick and Hayes to sell medicine on the black market," she continued.
People had began dying, but the three of them hadn't cared about anything but the money. The prisoners of the internment camp quickly started to argue over how to respond, and most chose to do so violently.
"I had realized the mistake I had made by speaking too soon. I wasn't helping anyone. I was inciting a riot," Mrs. Yukimura told them.
The crowd of angry people had surrounded the doctor's car when he tried to leave. "I yelled for them to stop. But so many people were sick. And so many were dying. I'd never seen anger like that. It was a living, breathing thing," Mrs. Yukimura went on. Somewhere in the chaos, one of the MPs had hit a woman with his gun.
"Now I knew why Satomi was always trying to keep quiet. Why she got migraines once a month, and why she was always at the game of Go. It kept her calm," Mrs. Yukimura told them.
"Because she was a wolf. Her and my grandmother were allies once upon a time," Ayla said, having recognized the name as soon as Mrs. Yukimura mentioned her.
"You know her?" Scott asked.
Ayla shrugged. "Not well. I tried to send Erica and Boyd to her pack before the alphas arrived," she admitted, frowning at the memory. She still wished she had just taken the two there herself.
"She was a bitten werewolf. They have a harder time suppressing their anger. One unexpected flare-up and they could lose all control," Mrs. Yukimura said. Someone in the crowd had made a fire bomb, and Satomi, in her anger, had thrown it right at Rhys.
After Satomi had set Rhys on fire, the other MPs had fired on the crowd. Kira began helping her mother reassemble the sword as the woman went on with her story.
"The gunfire nearly killed me. I don't know how many bullets made their way into my body, but I fought every one of them. It left my body so weak, my heartbeat so slow it appeared as though I was dead. But even then, I was still better off than Rhys. His screams could be heard throughout Eichen House, echoing through every room, every hallway. He died in agony. The doctor, it seems, had also sold the morphine. Merrick and Hayes were given the task of getting rid of all the bodies, both American and Japanese-American. They were transferring Dr. Liston out as well, stationing him somewhere else. They were covering it up. The doctor, Merrick, Hayes, and all of the others. They were going to get away with murder," Mrs. Yukimura explained.
She turned towards the large windows that allowed the sunlight in. Unfortunately, it was clear that the sun was setting soon.
"By chance, I guess, Rhys' body had been put next to mine. I wanted the soldiers and the administration of the camp to be punished for their crimes. But I knew the clock was ticking. I was going to lose my chance. They were going to burn me with the others. I couldn't fight back with my body weakened and still healing. I could barely move. I was going to die. With time slipping through my fingers, I knew I was making a terrible decision. But I could not die knowing they would get away. So I called out to our ancestors for kitsune-tsuki. Possession by a fox spirit. For a powerful nogitsune, one that feeds off chaos, strife and pain, to take control of my weakened body, imbue it with power and use it as a weapon. But calling on a trickster spirit is a dangerous thing. They can have a very dark sense of humor. Because while the nogitsune did come to possess someone, it wasn't me," she told them.
"It took Rhys' body," Ayla guessed. The woman turned to the she-wolf, giving her a nod.
"What happened?" Scott asked.
"My body was beginning to heal. And I managed to pull myself up from the ground. But it was too late," she told them.
"What did it do?" Scott wondered.
"It brought chaos, strife and more pain than you can imagine," she told them. She explained how she had returned to Eichen House to discover that the nogitsune had already killed everyone there.
"I had to find him. I had to stop him," she said, before glancing out the window. "Kira, hurry. Night is coming."
She had been able to defeat the nogitsune with help from Satomi, but her sword had been shattered in the fight. "Coup de foudre. The literal translation is a bolt of lightning. In French, it can also mean love at first sight. But a bolt of lightning happens to be exactly what we need right now," she continued.
"For what?" Kira asked.
"Excising the nogitsune from Rhys body shattered the katana. But you can put it back together," Mrs. Yukimura told her daughter.
"Why don't you just do it yourself?" Kira wondered.
"Because I'm not a thunder kitsune. Do you trust me?" her motber asked.
"I just found out you're nine hundred years old. I don't think I'm ever gonna trust you again," Kira told her.
"Then trust me on this," her mother said. She reached for Kira's hand, and she let her take it. Kira held her hands out over the sword, and pieces slowly began to glow as they merged back together. An almost blinding light came from Kira's hands and when everyone could see again, the sword was whole. Kira gasped in surprise as she looked at what she had done. Mrs. Yukimura picked up the katana and held it out to her daughter. "Go ahead. It's yours now," she told her.
"What if I don't want it?" Kira wondered.
"You need it," her mother replied, before tossing the sword towards her. Kira snatched it from the air, twirling it around to get the right hold on the handle. "You see? It gives you balance. My power is yours now, Kira. If the oni can't stop Stiles, you have to. The same as I did. And maybe seek out a few wolves to help you," she told her.
"You didn't tell us anything," Scott reminded.
"You want to help Stiles? Kill him. That's the only way," Mrs. Yukimura told him.
"You agree with this?" Scott asked his history teacher.
"Sometimes history does repeat itself, Scott," Mr. Yukimura reminded.
"Only if you don't learn," Scott argued.
"But sometimes even then, fate conspires against you," Mr. Yukimura told him.
"Screw fate, she's been out for me since I was born. We're not killing Stiles just because the bitch has some twisted sense of humor," Ayla snapped.
Both the adults gave her a look that made her feel like she was about to be scolded for her language. But Scott's phone went off before they could say anything. He frowned as he saw the message. "What's wrong?" Piper wondered.
"Allison's at the loft," he told them. All three girls frowned, knowing something had to be up. "There's a way to save him. There has to be," Scott told the two adults, before moving to leave. The other three teenagers followed.
"Kira," her mother called. Mrs. Yukimura held out the sheath to the sword, and Kira walked back over to her to take it.
I know this chapter and the last one were kind of boring. Sorry. We have one of my favorite Scayla scenes coming up in the next chapter, though, so hopefully that will make up for it.
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