Chapter III

"So, werewolves, Kitsune, hunters, vampires, druids, all of it is real?"

Tenko smiled as he walked alongside Lydia on the street. "You're surprisingly taking this all very well," he said.

Lydia smiled at him. "Did you pull your hair out when you learn about all of this?" She asked.

"No. I was raised as a kitsune. If I had grown up with my family, I would have been considered a prodigy." Tenko became sad, thinking about all he had lost.

Lydia noticed this. "You've told me about the supernatural. And I will learn more over time, but what's your story?" she asked.

Tenko put on a half-smile and sighed. "My story," he said. "I've never been asked that before. I don't even think my mother knows my story."

Lydia moved closer and wrapped her arm around his. "I want to hear it," she said.

Tenko looked at their position and asked, "What are we?"

The question stumped Lydia and her brow furrowed. "We're... friends," she said.

"Friends? Is that what you want?" Tenko asked

"I don't know what I want." Lydia sighed.

Tenko was surprised by her unhesitant show of honesty. "Well, when you figure it out, let me know."

"We're going to wait for me to choose?" she asked.

Tenko nodded his head in affirmation. "If I was back home, I would have thrown Jackson's body in the Ravine. But this isn't my territory, yet."

Lydia gave his arm a squeeze as if telling him to not even think the thought. Tenko sighed. "Look even in the wild, foxes talk to their mates and determine feelings through scent. Lydia, your words are as confusing as your scent. Mates have to want to be apart of the family. It makes for a better mate and raises a better child."

Lydia didn't say anything but allowed his words to sink in. She didn't have any plans to be his mate, at least not at the moment. But, she understood that the 'want' to be with someone made a relationship sweeter. She had wanted to be many things and felt that she needed to be with Jackson to reach those ends.

Then she started to feel for Jackson, feelings that went unchallenged. Until she met Tenko, and now new emotions were manifesting in her. These emotions are causing internal conflicts. Jackson or Tenko? The five-year plan or the wild uncertainty? Can she even date a fox and what would that look like?

Lydia's emotions became confusing and began to smell horrid again. "So you still want to hear my story?" Tenko asked to pull Lydia from her thoughts.

"Of course.." she replied.

Tenko told Lydia of how he was born in Japan and lost his father at a young age. The loss had forced his mother to move them to Virginia, it had also changed something in her. His mother had begun to train him to fight and survive. It was grueling and left him barely able to move some nights. When he had turned nine years old his fox had awakened. Like his father, he was born a celestial Kitsune.

"There's different types?" Lydia asked

"Yes. 13 to be exact. Wind, Earth, Fire, River, Celestial, Thunder, Mountain, Void, Space, Time, Forest, Ocean, and Music," he replied.

Tenko then continued his story. At the age of ten, he received his first tail -accelerated healing. Kitsunes manifest their tails based on mastery of their abilities. Tenko has received tails for healing, swordsmanship, and hand to hand combat. The next tails he planned to work on was the abilities of his specific natures.

Tenko then told her of the lonely life of isolation. His mother had thought it best to keep their distance from everyone, in case they needed to run someday.

"Why would you need to run?" Asked Lydia.

"My father was killed by the Yakuza. And if they ever find us, there will be problems." Tenko could feel Lydia stiffen a bit.

"You can still run," he added.

"Just finish the story," she said.

Tenko went on to explain how wolves attacked when he was eleven. It was the first time he had ever killed. He and his mother had ended an entire pick in Virginia. His mother had beheaded the Alpha and together they killed every beta and omega in their territory.

"Alpha? That's what you are, right? Is your mother an alpha too?"

"No. It's rare for a Kitsune to actually steal an alpha's power. Unlike wolves and coyotes, the majority of foxes are solitary only coming together to mate and have a family. The leader is usually a mother or father. If a Kitsune belongs to a clan then the leader is usually the patriarch and is over 500 years old but not an alpha. I'm actually the first Alpha Kitsune in the last 100 years. There's another up in Canada." Tenko explained.

"So what can you do as an alpha?"

"Make the other canid shifters docile, I have an extra boost in speed, strength, and ability. I can form a pack to become stronger. It's given me my mother's attribute of Thunder, I can fully shift into a four-legged fox, and that is all I know for now." Said Tenko.

"Sounds like you're blessed to me," said Lydia.

Tenko chuckled. "My people believe that the Tengoku is blessed by the Shinto Kami, Inari Okami. So who knows, I just might be special."

"I know you are. " Lydia replied.

Tenko continued to tell her about the hunters that were brought to town after annexing the wolf pack. The Calaveras and the Gilberts. A battle that nearly killed his mother, but she was patched up by a man she had fallen in love with, his stepfather. The two had gotten hitched and they moved away as an electrical fire burned the house down. Tenko sent her a wink and she just shook her as she giggled.

"So, we ended up moving to Minnesota. Dad got a job at the hospital and mom went back to teaching. Since she was married, I was allowed to make friends. Until a year and a half ago...

I started another war with a wolf pack. My mom was beyond mad, after Virginia, she said we had no territory. She thought I was fighting to claim land and she didn't want to watch me die like my biological father. So my mom put me out...

A friend of mine was badly injured. But I couldn't smell death. A week later she was dead. Two days later, I smell her flesh in the cooler of some beta, he had made his lunch with her flesh. So I gutted him like an animal...

I did some digging and found out that a lot of people went into the hospital relatively healthy and came out between slices of bread and baked into potpies. A wolf pack led by a feral alpha feasted on human flesh. He bit innocents and turned them into human eating dogs just like him. It made them stronger.

When I took the information to my mom, she cried for a long time, then she decided to help me. My dad eventually was fired from the hospital, we later found out that the feral alpha was a chief surgeon at the hospital. So the year became bloody. Bodies dropped. Humans, wolves, and druids alike. It had gotten so bad that banshees were drawn to the war. They had a network of human meat trafficking, I had no idea what I was getting into. My dad nearly died. A blade missed his heart by a centimeter...

It all ended when I tore the alpha's heart from his chest. My eyes turned red with fox slits that day. And then we relocated again. I spent time on the road, learning about my new abilities, and spent a lot of money cleaning up the mess in Minnesota. When that door was closed, my dad saw an opening in the beacon hills memorial, my mom applied for a job at the high school and they eventually found a house. Now we're all here."

Lydia was slack-jawed. If she hadn't seen a partially shifted Tenko, she would have thought his story was absolute bullshit. "How long ago did it all end?"

"Five...and a half months ago. It was a shit storm. So I made my parents a promise to keep my head low and avoid trouble. But I did that, and it got Aria and Lacy killed. That's on me. Their protection was my job. At the very least, protection against the supernatural." Tenko replied.

Lydia looked around and noticed that they had walked in a giant circle. She could see her car at the end of the street. She then looked at Tenko. "It's happening again, isn't it. You're about to go to war with a Feral alpha? And Scott is in his pack?"

Lydia's eyes were sad with a sprinkle of fear.

"Yes, If I don't kill him. Aria and Lacy can't rest easy. And no, Scott is innocent, he's just a new wolf and he doesn't have a pack. But you have to swear to keep this a secret."

Lydia bit her bottom lip and nodded. She then released Tenko's arm and placed her hands softly on his cheeks. "I can't be in a war, Tenko. Human or supernatural. I'm sorry," she said.

Lydia then rose to the tips of her toes and gifted Tenko an emotional lingering kiss. Tenko didn't miss a beat as he kissed her back. Tenko wrapped his arms around her waist and tried to pull her closer but was he stopped by Lydia when she placed her hands on his shoulders.

When their lips parted, they could still feel the fleeting presence of each other 's lips. "Just lab partners..." Lydia spoke softly with tear glazed eyes.

"Just lab parnters" Tenko repeated.

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Lydia laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. In her mind, she was actively purging memories. The memories of the conversation between Tenko and his mother that she overheard, the moments she had with Tenko, what she had seen in the locker room, the story of his life, and the kiss they shared earlier that day.

But then she touched her lips and smiled before shaking her head to clear her thought. "It was just a kiss. A goodbye kiss. " She muttered.

"It looks like more than that."

Lydia popped up from her bed and saw that her mom was at her bedroom door, smiling at her. "You want to talk about it?" her mother asked.

"Uhh. No. There's nothing to talk about. It's over, and I did it for him so I'm okay with it." Lydia replied with her usual confidence.

Her mother smirked and said. "Oh, to be young again... Should I still expect to see Tenko during the week? You know I like him."

"No, mom. We can do our work in the Library. We don't need to be at each other's house. And I really don't want to talk about my love life with you."

Her mom put on a teasing smile, "Love? hmm. I guess it is none of my business. Anyways, your father called. He wants to see you this weekend. "

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After school had ended, Tenko pulled up at the old Hale House. Parking the truck, Tenko stuck his head out the window and shouted, "Yo Derek! Come on, buddy!"

Derek stepped out of the house. And walked to the passenger side of the truck. "Where are we going?" Derek asked.

"To follow some leads. You still have Laura's body?" Tenko asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you give her wolf's burial?" Tenko asked

"Yeah, what is this about?" Derek asked

"Well, on my way to Beacon Hills, I met a Banshee in Sacramento. Your sister was an alpha when she died. We put her body together and take her claws. As long as her burial isn't disturbed or moved, we can tear the heart out of the Alpha by the end of the week. We both get our revenge, and I get the girl" Tenko said with a beaming smile.

Derek laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "The Banshee can tell us her secrets. Give her a call, and I'll get some money together."

"Yeah, not that easy. Get in. We have to go to talk to her. She doesn't really do the phone thing. Messes with her hearing."

Derek smiled, then hopped into the car. While Tenko was pulling onto the main road to head towards Sacramento, a young beta had arrived at the old Hale house.

Scott was furious. He was worried about Derek harming his girlfriend, Allison. Arriving to tell Derek to back off, Scott had smelled blood on the property. He slowly began to walk to the side of the and found a fresh patch of disturbed ground, and the scent of blood became even stronger. Scott began to sweat and look around. Noticing that Derek wasn't home, he ran to his bike and left in a hurry to preserve his life.

Scott had believed that Derek was murder and he now felt like he had proof. But what Scott wanted wasn't justice for the dead person he thought Derek killed. He wanted Derek in jail so that he could play a lacrosse game that Derek said he couldn't and to keep his girlfriend, who was born with the blood of his natural enemy.

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"Okay, so assuming that all of this works," said Tenko

"Mhm," Derek responded

"We find the identity of the alpha."

"Mhm"

"We hunt him down."

"Of course."

"And just before we kill him, thirteen Betas jump out to tear us apart." Tenko finished.

"Yeah. Wait, no. Thirteen?" Derek asked, confused.

"It's just a random number. But it isn't unrealistic you met packs before. You know how big they can get. All I'm saying is, whoever this alpha is, they're feral. Who knows how many people he's given the bite to."

Derek became a bit more worried when he realized the strong possibility of Tenko's worry. "I only know Scott was bit because I ran into him in the woods."

"Your sister's been dead how long?" Tenko asked, a bit worried as well.

"About two weeks..."

"So at the very least, there's at least one more wolf out there that Alpha has its hands on. " Said Tenko.

"And the worst-case scenario..." Said Derek.

"He has a fucking army," Tenko finished.

The atmosphere in the truck became thick, but then Derek spoke his mind without thinking. "You can turn more people and build a pack."

Tenko side-eyed the wolf. "Really? How many humans turned Kitsune have you heard about? Wait, don't answer that, because I know the answer. None. A werefox, maybe, but that's not a Kitsune. And we both know every Supernatural species is born unless turn by a werewolf. Even then, the human shifting into anything else other than a wolf is rare."

"But you have the power of an Alpha." Derek protested.

"Doesn't Matter. Kitsunes aren't governed by many laws as opposed to other supernaturals. But we still have laws. Being a Kitsune is sacred to the Kami Inari. You have to be born this way. As such, my bite kills, with extreme prejudice." Tenko explained.

"How do you know? Have you tried?"

Tenko sighed. "It's written. And I'm not going to test it. Suppose word got out about a human turning into Kitsunes, even by a freak accident. That Alpha would be the least of our problems. So drop it."