A/N: Thank you dear readers! 3

Ok, you know the drill... TW isn't mine! Also, sorry about the short chapters but I promise that they get longer again. :D Once more betaed by lovely Annebee, thank you honey. 3

And now... enjoy!

*6*

It was easy to persuade the Sheriff that he needed to go out after his curfew, also, it was funny that he, a thousand year old fox spirit, had a curfew of eight pm.

It was also easy to take Stiles' jeep and drive over to Scott's house.

It maybe wasn't so easy to sneak into the garden of said house and find the trinket he was looking for when there were at least three Werewolves, a Kitsune and a Banshee inside. Though, he managed it and after some digging through the flowerbed he found the pendant Melissa had lost a long time ago. She was still mourning it, also he didn't know why, but he'd seen it like he had seen everything that happened in Beacon Hills while he was trapped in the glass jar.

It was also easy to find Melissa's favourite Chinese food restaurant and order her favourite take-out menu and drive to the hospital where she was doing another nightshift.

But then came the hard part.

He stood next to the Jeep and looked up to the building feeling apprehension, sadness, worry and guilt. Soul crushing guilt about what he'd done. He was aware that it was most likely Stiles' part of him because he never had felt guilt before, not when he had brought empires to fall or killed people or played tricks on the innocent.

This was the place he had wreaked havoc upon, were the Oni had killed people on his command, the place where Allison was still recovering from the almost fatale stab wound from the Oni's sword. The place where Melissa was hurt.

Nevertheless she got back and continued doing what she always did, helping people.

He sighed deeply, if a mere human could get over the happenings here, so could he who wasn't affected but the one who did all this.

He grabbed the bag with the take-out and the little box that contained Melissa's pendant and walked towards the entrance. His steps faltered a bit as the door swung open but he took another deep breath and stepped inside.

Everything seemed normal, like nothing had happened a couple of days ago. It smelled of fresh paint and disinfectant and disease but not of more blood than usual.

Melissa was at the front desk, typing on the PC with a look of concentration on her face. Another nurse passed by him and gave him a bright smile, his lips twitched upwards till he was smiling at her too.

"Hey," he said quietly when Melissa didn't react as he'd reached the desk. There was a slight tremor in his voice.

"Hey," she said brightly as she turned her head up. "I'm sorry… I…," she trailed of as her look fell on him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a slight wave of anger in her voice.

"I overheard Scott telling you that he can't bring you food tonight because of a pack meeting," he glanced around again to check if nowhere were dark shadows materializing out of nothing. "Seeing that I'm not invited, I thought that I could bring you something to eat instead."

He put the bag on the desk while Melissa just stared at him.

"It's Pork Chow Main, your favourite, right?" he added as she didn't react. She continued staring at him, making him squirm uncomfortable. Then her mouth started moving but no words came out for a moment.

"You brought me food?" she finally asked still flabbergasted and he sighed in relief that he hadn't broken her.

"Yes," he said and when he noticed the suspicious look she sent to the bag he added, "It's still sealed. I didn't do anything with it, I promise!"

She startled a bit as her name was called and she looked away from the bag. Another nurse came towards them with the brightest smile, Jirou had ever seen, on her face.

"Melissa, your second son is bringing you food today. Well girl, aren't you lucky?" she said brightly. "I wish my children were this thoughtful."

She turned with a laugh to Jirou and looked at him.

"Hello Stiles, how are you doing?" she asked as she took in his appearance with slight concern in her eyes.

"Better, thank you," he said reluctantly and she nodded approvingly before she gave Melissa a half way hug. Then she grabbed a clipboard and was gone again.

Both of them looked after her a bit startled.

"It's really ok," Jirou finally said as he looked back to Melissa again. "If you want I can swear on Inari's ten tails that it isn't tampered with."

Melissa looked at him for a moment before she nodded and took the bag.

"Thank you," she said and he gave a nod in return.

"I'm sorry. For everything I've done," he said quietly before he turned and walked away.

From the outside he could look into the staffroom for the nurses as he kept in the shadows and watched as Melissa walked in, still with a prominent limp from the injury the Oni had caused and unpacked the bag to put the food into the fridge for later.

Of course she didn't miss the small extra box and he had counted on that she was curious enough to open it immediately.

He saw her pressing her lips together fighting with the tears in her eyes that threatened to spill over as she pulled the pendant out and pressed it to her heart. For a moment she just stood there with her eyes closed, breathing heavy.

When she had collected herself again she took the small letter he had added with another lengthier apology and an explanation where he had found her trinket, in case she thought he had stolen it in the first place.

She sat down after she'd read it and just looked at the letter and the pendant in her hand before she pulled out her phone. He could only guess who she was calling; either Scott or the Sheriff, but he couldn't hear it.

With a satisfied and slightly lighter feeling in his chest he turned away from the window and went back to the Jeep.

"Now, you gave Melissa quite a scare tonight," was the first he heard when he'd entered the Stilinski's home and passed by the dining room.

At least he knew now who she had called. He hesitated shortly before he walked in.

The Sheriff was sitting at the table, pictures and files spread in front of him.

"That wasn't my intention," he said as he got closer.

"I know," the Sheriff said and beckoned him to sit down. Jirou tried to sneak a glance at the pictures but all he could see were trees, "and she knows too. She was very moved that you found her pendant. It was a heir loom passed down from her great grandmother." The Sheriff took a sip of coffee and studied Jirou. "How did you find it?"

"I saw when she lost it," he said simple, still eyeing the pictures. "I had a lot of time to pass while I was locked in the jar."

The Sheriff nodded in understanding before he sighed deeply.

"I know I'm probably going to regret this but seeing that you're, even though it's hard to believe, a thousand year old spirit who probably has a lot of knowledge regarding the supernatural I need a bit of input on a case." He gathered some pictures together and handed them to Jirou. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" he asked then while Jirou riffled through the small stack.

At first it seemed like photos of trees, like he had thought at first, but then he noticed more. There was actually a corpse lying beneath the tree. Wrapped up in the roots and tangled with ivy like he'd been lying there already for years even though he looked like he was only dead for a couple of hours.

He frowned a bit as he looked through it again.

"Do you have any idea what could have caused that?" the Sheriff asked then.

"It could be a couple of things from a Forestkitsune to an Erlking or even a Luferlang. Did you find more than one?"

"No, that's the only one. Do I have to expect more?" the Sheriff asked reluctantly but Jirou only shrugged.

"I don't know."

Please let me know what you think. :)