"Mr. Yukimura?"

The man looks up in surprise at the sight of the young music teacher peeking through his door. He pauses from straightening up all the papers on his desk and glances at her quizzically. "Yes Miss Roeswood, can I help you? Kira hasn't done anything, has she?"

"No, not at all, Kira is very polite young lady. Do you mind if we come in? I need to ask a couple of questions, and they are a bit private."

Raising his eyebrows in surprise he simply nods, eyes widening at the man that follows her in, eyes ice blue and calculating. After closing the door behind her, they both walk over and stand in front of his desk, and he can't help but feel a bit worried. As if sensing the mood change, Ashley gives him a comforting smile, eyes warm and welcoming in comparison to the man beside her. "Relax, this isn't a full on interrogation, we just have a couple of questions you can probably answer, like I said. It does have a bit to do with Kira, but not in a bad way, or at least not yet. It will probably save a couple of lives as well." When he doesn't say anything, she sighs and continues. "You do know Kira's a kitsune, right?" The way his face panics for a brief second, hands tightening on his arm rests, answers for him. "That's what I figured. Do you remember how a couple of days ago she started asking weird questions? I asked her to because we were attacked by a trio of demon ninjas."

Mr. Yukimura stares blankly at her for a couple of seconds, still gripping the sides of his chair, before finally releasing it and putting his face in his hands. "This is so much easier with my wife around, she's much more intimidating than I am. How exactly do you know this? And what's with the bodyguard?"

Ashley ignores the snort that comes Chris, fighting a smile of her own. "Chris is here as my partner in crime you might say. As to how we know, I'm constantly around wolf shifters who can who can see her aura, and as an Alpha I can see it as well when I focus on it. And your daughter might be kinda dating a member of my pack. Did I mention the demon ninjas who attacked us?"

"And do you know anything about the nogitsune running around town?" Chris adds in, watching the man squirm.

Said man opens his mouth a couple of times, as if trying to decide what to say, before closing it and pulling out his phone. "This isn't my area of expertise, as much as I wish it was. Do you mind if I call my wife for this little talk? I'm pretty sure she needs to be here if you want to talk Oni and Nogitsune." Ashley and Chris share a quick glance before nodding, letting the man call his wife before he settles back in his chair, tapping his foot as they sit in silence for a couple of minutes. Finally..."So, you said Kira is dating a member of your pack? Does that mean Scott is a werewolf? Not that I care, mind you, I'm just glad she's making friends. Apparantly more than friends."

"Yes, Scott is the werewolf in question, and she's been making friends with entire pack, she just seems a bit shy when you first meet her. And considering your daughter is a fox spirit, it would be kinda hypocritical for you to care Scott is a wolf, no offense."

"None taken, it's just that the fox and the wolf generally don't get along, though there are exceptions. Usually they manage to tolerate each other, but that's about it. For her to be making friends with an entire pack of them is practically unheard of."

"Well, my packs the pretty accepting sort, especially considering they aren't actually all wolves."

He cocks his head to the side in confusion. "How is that possible? Isn't a pack created by an alpha biting others and creating more wolves?"

"In normal circumstances, yes." Chris says, checking his phone before sticking it back in his pocket. "But she's hardly normal." Ashley throws him a glare, and he shrugs, chuckling. "What? I don't mean it as an insult, and you know it's true. Your life is hardly normal, and neither is your pack."

"I would argue with you, but honestly I can't think of any." She says, glare lessoning, and she turns back to Mr. Yukimura. "Yes, there's several wolves in the pack, but there's also a banshee, three humans, myself, which is a whole different can of worms, and a frost giant." That last part causes both men to gape wordlessly at her. "That's kind of a story for another time, but I will tell you later." She says to Chris, and he nods in acceptance.

"I still don't understand how you can have a pack of more than wolves." Mr. Yukimura says, still confused.

"It's because she's a human alpha." Says a cool, feminine voice from behind them, and Ashley turns to see a stern looking woman closing the door and locking it, before walking over to the group and standing beside her husband, placing a hand on his shoulder lightly as she stares down the two in front of them. "I haven't seen one in a very long time, but I remember the aura. His was straight warrior, however…from you I sense both the warrior and protector. Now, I believe you had some questions? I don't promise to answer them all, but considering you came straight to us you must already know a few things."

"Straight to the point then, I can do that." Ashley says, a bit glad for the woman's bluntness. "Ok then. Do the Oni belong to you?"

She doesn't even blink. "Yes."

"Are they searching for a nogitsune?"

She stiffens a bit, but nods. "Yes, they are. How exactly did you know that? "

"When the Oni attacked the first time, I recognized them from an old job with the Yakuza." Chris explains, as alert and rigid as Mrs. Yukimura. "I killed one of them before it could attack the remaining person in their group, and went to question him about why it attacked in the first place. That's how I knew to have them remain calm and let the Oni look them over, get the marking over with. He said they were searching for a nogitsune."

"My pack has already been attacked twice that I know of, and most of them have been marked. What happens when they find this nogitsune?"

"Most of your pack? Why not all?"

Ashley aims a scowl at the woman. "My answer first. I want to know what you plan on doing to it once you find it."

"My Oni will come find me, and bring me to the nogitsune." She answers, not intimidated by the scowl coming from the much younger woman. "I'll then kill it. If it's not stopped, it will cause untold amounts of pain and chaos. I apologize if it has possessed a member of your pack, but I will have to kill it, no matter the host."

Ashley feels like throttling the older woman as her anger rises, and she almost comes to her feet to retort back. How dare she threaten not only her cousin, but member of her pack! Sure, she had done it in the calmest, mildest way possible, but the threat was there none the less and she wouldn't soon forget it. Luckily, Chris was far more experienced with keeping a cool head than her. "And what if the person isn't possessed, per say, but merely connected and sharing a likeness? What would our options be then?"

Mrs. Yukimura looks at him curiously, narrowing her eyes at the question. Her husband stays quiet, probably knowing better than to interrupt unless he had something truly important to add in. "Hypothetically speaking, if the double was killed instead of the host, the bond would be broken and the host would be released no further harm done, except for the need to regain his lost life force that the nogitsune took from him. However, not only would it take more and more life force the longer they stay connected, it is actually harder to kill the nogitsune in that situation. Death of the host is still on the table however for the quickest victory."

"Death of the host is DEFINITELY not on the table!" Ashley growls at the woman, who finally shows a bit of emotion at the reaction, and she curses to herself.

"So it is a member of your pack then. Perhaps a friend of Kira as well? I notice she hasn't been as uncomfortable around here lately."

"Crap." Ashley mutters under her breath, automatically going to pet a furry head that isn't there anymore and stopping herself, gripping her knee instead and squeezing, wishing she had kept her calm. Sighing, she takes a deep breath and tries to relax, reminding herself that she had came for answers after all, and she would have to release some of her own in order the complete picture. "Fine, but know there is no way in hell I'll let you kill any member of my pack, no matter if it's easier, got it? The nogitsune tried to possess my cousin Stiles not too long ago, but my pack mark luckily prevented it from taking over completely, so it separated off into a body double and has apparantly been causing some trouble. We only know because we saw a screenshot of his double in the police station at the same time Stiles was somewhere else surrounded by people. He's also been feeling off since the split, so I know its already taking his life force slowly."

"If you allow us, we'd like to help instead of getting in your way. Between our two groups surely we can find and stop it before it can cause any more damage." Chris adds in, still a pillar of calm. "I will warn you that if you decline our offer and try to kill Stiles anyway, or cause the harm of any of her pack, she can do more harm to you than you might think, and has some very powerful friends who can make your life a very literal hell." Ashley glances over at this, a bit surprised to see a tiny smirk on his face that doesn't quite fit the hard glint in his eyes. "So think hard about your answer, because to continue to share information between us can only be beneficial, and afterwards we could continue to be allies."

This gets another show of emotion from the woman, and Ashley sees her eyes flash gold for a moment, showing a tinge of anger. "Is that a threat?"

"Threat, warning, offer, however you want to take it I mean every word. However, you can't say that having a human alpha as an ally would be a bad thing, especially one who is already on friendly terms with your newly discovered as a kitsune daughter, and has tried to protect her from your Oni who attacked her along with the rest of her friends."

Mrs. Yukimura glares at the two of them as they all stare silently at one another, before her husband startles them all by placing his hand gently over the one gripping his shoulder, his eyes warm and comforting. "Honey, I know you consider this your own personal mission, but a little help certainly can't hurt, right? If anything, they're less likely to hurt civilians that accidently get in the way. I can even see her point, how would you feel if someone told you that Kira had to die, even though there was another way to save her?"

"That's completely different." She snaps at her husband testily.

"Is it? I for one would try any other options I had before sentencing my daughter to death, no matter what the reason, and I cannot blame them for feeling the same. I also have a feeling Kira would fight for them, even if it meant fighting against you. Do you really want that?" When his wife doesn't answer he gives her a gentle smile. "Lets give them a chance. They did come to us, after all, so they're obviously intelligent enough to figure some things out on their own, and considering her family member has been affected in the first place, they deserve answers past what questions they're asking."

"Fine." She finally answers much to Ashley and Chris's relief, who had been watching the exchange curiously. "I might not like it, but I suppose you're right." She pulls a chair up beside her husband and sits, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before opening them back up, staring at the two intensely. "Before I start, you should know I'm much older than I look…I'm actually 900 years old. As a celestial or light kitsune, my lifespan is greatly enhanced, as Kira's likely will be as well, if she so chooses."

"I'm a human by the way." Her husband throws in cheerfully. "Plain and simple. I just happened to catch her eye in college and the rest was history. She loves my brain."

"I love more than that about you, you silly little man." She mutters under her breath, and Ashley can't help but chuckle. "In 1943, I was locked in an internment camp for Japanese Americans called Oak Creek. There I fell in love with a Corporal named Rhys, who would look away while I stole food and medicine for all my fellow prisoners. However, after a riot that ensued from finding out a doctor had been stealing and selling the medicine actually meant for us all, I ended up getting shot several times, which even with my healing abilities left me extremely weak. While I was left healing, Rhys was very badly burned all over his body, then shot at the Eichen House."

Chris breaks in with a frown. "Do you mean the mental institution here? That Eichen House?"

"The very same. I've been trying to find a way inside to check the area out, but no luck so far."

"If you tell me what to look for, I might be able to get inside and look for you." Ashley offers. "I have friends who are experts at sneaking inside places and not getting caught."

"I'm not sure how you could succeed where I failed, but if you insist I will accept the attempt. Back to my tale for now, however. As I was being dragged off with the other corpses to be burnt, hiding the evidence, I prayed to my ancestors to send a nogitsune to take over my body, not caring what would happen to it by that time and simply wanting my revenge. To my infinite regret it took over Rhys's body instead, and proceeded to kill everyone in the camp and Eichen House, bar a spare few supernaturals who managed to get away. I'm still not sure how at the time, but I managed to kill him and trap his spirit into the body of a fly, then further trap him under the Nematon. With everything that happened with the Darach, I assume it escaped its prison and now finds itself free to cause havoc once more. That's why I see it as my duty to finally end its reign, considering I started it in the first place."

There is a terse silence as everyone absorbs the entirety of her story, with Mrs. Yukimura looking down at the floor in shame. "That might have been the case before." Ashley finally says with a frown, glancing over at Chris for a second to gage his reaction, which looked to match hers. "But the moment it tried to possess my cousin it became my problem too. And you may think being a 900 year old kitsune gives you some sort of superior advantage, but my pack's no slouch either, and we can hold our own, even if it is comprised of mainly teenagers."

"Teenagers who aren't trained fighters, who are ruled by their emotions. Who may hesitate in their duty simply because the nogitsune looks like your cousin and their friend."

What the hell is with this woman? "We're working on the training, I have a couple of friends coming in to help out who are experienced in that sort of thing, and Chris here knows his stuff as well. And yes, they will probably hesitate a bit, but that just means they aren't heartless bastards. Does Kira know how to fight?"

Mrs. Yukimura sniffs at her. "I've taught her to use the katana since she was a girl. It's tradition in my family."

"Good, then she's a step ahead of the game." Ashley beams to the kitsunes confusion. "The others are going to start on hand to hand and basic weapons, and Allison's got experience with bows already, she'll just be fine tuned more. We're trying to teach the wolves how to best use their strength and speed, and the humans to defend and fight against opponents stronger and faster than themselves. Luckily I have friends willing to help us out. So do we have a deal?" The change in pace clearly throws the kitsune off, and after a moment she gives a brief, curt nod. "Great! Now that we have that awfulness out of the way, I only have a couple more questions. I know silver works on most supes, as well as your little Oni. Does it work on the nogitsune?"

"It can injure it, and silver chains will keep it in place, but silver cannot kill it." She replies, ignoring the jab at her Oni, though it looks like her husband has to hide a smirk. "The only thing that can kill it is my katana since I summoned it, and only then after it has been weakened."

"Hmmm…ok then, so we only have two weapons capable of killing it." She says thoughtfully to herself, not noticing the way the kitsunes eyes rise up into her forehead.

*******************( )*********************

The rest of the meeting passed quickly after that, Ashley getting the details of what exactly to look for at the Eichen House before getting out of there, worried the tolerance between the two women wouldn't stand too much more strain considering the interactions so far. She actually reminded her a lot of Michael in his high and mighty phase, complete with condescending voice and I know better than you attitude, only without the male vessel. It seriously took most of her willpower not to smack the look off of the kitsunes face when she said matter of factly that it would be easier for everyone just to kill Stiles, yet another sign of the lack of Gwaines calming presence. Chris must have been able to tell, because instead of heading straight home, he drove to the closest Starbucks and got them both a drink, then parked at the forest park close to where the Sanctuary was to be built and sat at a bench with her, both sipping their drinks in silence.

Ashley watched as a young couple pushed their toddler on the swing set, before chasing him around the plastic castle merrily. It brought a smile to her face, and she wondered if Tony would be up for building a tree house fort for the kids along with the actual home. Of course, knowing him it would be less wood and more machine eyesore, unless she talked to the builders herself. Or, better yet, have Pepper make sure it would be kid friendly if still completely awesome, with plenty of escape routes and places to keep their secrets. Every kid needs a fort, as well as a place to keep their treasures, heaven knows she had plenty when she was younger. She had collected pretty stones and bird feathers, her interest peaked when her middle school took a trip to the diamond mines and let them all dig, keeping whatever they found. She had filled her lunchbox to the brim that day, sticking the largest and clearest in her windowsill so that it would reflect when the sun shone through it. The rest she hid away in her treehouse, in a strange nest of stones and colorful feathers that constantly seemed to grow, a nest which was now in a box and stashed away in a storage building.

Anyone who knew her would probably accuse her of collecting strays now, though she honestly didn't see it that way. Strays, misfits, the abandoned and the lost, she would most likely see them all as orphaned kittens that need to be adopted into the family, not taking into account how dangerous they could probably be. Hell, at this point half of her pack was that way, including those not actually in yet but still considered family. Crowley, Lucifer and Loki were three very good examples of this. No matter how dangerous they were, she treated them the same way she did the hellhound puppies, just with less baby talk and cuddling. Well except for Lucifer, and in her defense she had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

That wasn't likely to change anytime soon, however, especially with Tony building the Home and all. Soon she'd be in charge of a whole house full of strays that would need some sort of stable home life, and that's without factoring in their individual needs depending on their situations. Hopefully she would be able to make their lives a little bit better, get them adopted to a good family, and keep all the dumb shit that seems to constantly happen in Beacon Hills away from them. One problem at a time though.

"What are you thinking about? The way you're concentrating it must be pretty important."

Ashley looks over at him, having not realized she was focusing so hard, and gives him a tired little grin. "Not really. I was thinking about treehouses to tell the truth."

"I…what?"

She laughs at his confusion, finally feeling better from the meeting earlier thanks to the combined efforts of coffee and a little quiet outside. "Yea, I know it sounds weird. I was watching that family run around the castle jungle gym, and started thinking about having some sort of treehouse fort built at the Home for the kids to play in, hide little treasures, stuff like that. I had one when I was a kid , and played on it almost everyday until a tornado blew the tree it was connected to down and it wasn't safe anymore." She finishes off her drink and tosses it in the trash, watching the family pick up their son and put him in the car, driving away. "Kids need a place to go, some place they can call their own. Especially if they don't feel they belong anywhere." She gives him a sideways glace. "Do you think it's a good idea?"

Chris takes a sip of his own drink, considering her question. "I never had a treehouse or a fort. Never really had much of a childhood for that matter, too busy learning the family business. I can see how having one would be appealing, though, especially to a child, supernatural or not, with no home. So yes, I think it's a good idea."

She turns to face him fully, contemplating him. "I keep forgetting that not even you had a normal childhood. Did you get to be a kid at all?"

"I did until I was about 7, after that I started my training. And even before then my father wasn't really the affectionate sort. My mother was, but she wasn't allowed to coddle me. I promised myself Allison would be able to have the childhood I never was, which is why she didn't know anything about the hunter life until Kate told her. After all, you saw how Kate turned out…I didn't want that for my daughter."

"You did a good job with her." Ashley tells him gently, patting his leg at seeing his downcast expression. "She's polite, and brave, intelligent, loyal…and a hell of a good shot. Kate and your dad may have tried to mess with her but they seriously failed, and you can tell by talking with her she's had a good life, even if she ended up moving waaay too much. If you worry about it, just…remind her you love every once in a while. Take her out for a father daughter day, something either you know she likes, or that you like to do together."

"I'll do that. I know she misses going out and doing things with her mother though, as well as Kate even though she turned out to be crazy. Things I can't really do with her, like spa days, manicures, that sort of thing. She does like to go shooting though, and I know she enjoyed going on the mission to find Silverfinger with me."

"You don't want to go on a spa day with her? Facials and massages soft cotton robes?" She jokes, wringing a smile out of him. "Because I can see you with cucumbers over your eyes and a mud mask, sipping champagne."

"Peter yes, me no." He jokes right back, regretting it a bit when he sees her smile falter. "What about you though? Think I could convince you to take her out on a day like that? Maybe bring Lydia along? I'm sure all of you could use a good day of relaxation, and I would be willing to pay for it since you'd be doing me a favor."

"I suppose I could sacrifice a day of my time to do you a favor." She says with a loud, exaggerated sigh. "I haven't had one since we helped Sam and Dean out with that Succubus and Incubus, though part of that was kinda awful because of the waxing and tweezing. Everything else was nice though. Crowley definitely has good taste in venues. And clothes." At the mention of that little mission Chris goes red, still feeling guilty over what happened, and this time the sigh is real. "Hey, don't be like that. We're both adults, remember? It's not our fault Dean didn't bother to get all the information from Cas before we signed on, and if we hadn't killed them off, they would have kept sucking the life energy out of all their victims. At least we made sure the room was sealed so the excess lust couldn't escape, can you imagine if it had spread to Sam and Dean? They never would have recovered from something like that."

"It doesn't make me like what happened, how it happened, any more." He says in an angry tone. "It was tantamount to rape, even if we did both feel an attraction to one another. It should have happened on our terms if it happened at all. The Winchesters owe both of us big time and you know it."

"And we'll eventually collect. The point is that it did happen, though, and other than the way it happened I think it did us both some good. Sometimes you just have to let loose, you know? Think of it this way….what did we learn from the mission?"

He finally loosens the grip he had on the table, anger melting from his gaze. "Always make sure you have all the information from everyone before going in, in case someone is an idiot and stopped listening. Always have a backup plan. Trust your partner."

"And trust the demon helping you out as long as his name is Crowley." She says, grinning. "Crowley found out what we missed, stopped the boys from opening the door and releasing the excess lust, and made sure I was properly prepared for the mission looks wise. He even gave us the charm to seal the room. The angel was the clueless one."

"He did seem a bit…off." Chris admitted with a smile, finishing off his drink and tossing it in the trash. "At least compared to your other two friends. Is he always like that?"

"All of them have their little quirks, but yea. Cas is still learning how to act around people and not be a straight soldier, Gabe spent centuries on earth doing his own thing and staying under heavens radar, and Luci was trapped in a cage for who knows how long with only himself as company, he's technically doing really well for someone who at one point wanted all of humanity killed." They sit in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the sky slowly change colors, all sorts of thoughts running through both their minds as they contemplate the conversation so far in a strange type of awkwardness for two people who had been as close as they had been, even if it was for a mission. "So, this Eichen house. Think we should make our way in tomorrow and look for what Yukimura described? Might as well get it out of the way while it's fresh on our minds."

"Might as well." He says, glad to break the silence and move on. "Any ideas?"

"A couple. I thought I might use Stiles and his faux mental problems to our advantage. I say we go in with Stiles, saying we were looking for a place to help him with some of his issues, and ask for a tour to see if it's the right place for us. I'll take the tour with Stiles, distracting them, while you sneak around and get a look at everywhere else. Better you than one of the wolves, they're about as sneaky as a sack full of jingle bells. What do ya think?"

"It's actually a pretty good plan. She mentioned the basement, so I might start there first. I recommend telling Melissa McCall about our plan, so they can call her if we need a reference, as well as the sheriff in case they ask why you're taking Stiles instead of him."

"Good idea, if he's at work all the time he wouldn't be able to make time to take him. I'll talk to Stiles tonight, and as soon as my class in over tomorrow we'll go ahead and go, say he had an episode so we left early. That ok with you?"

"Not like I have anything else to do except for hunt for this nogitsune and figure out what it means by to change it." He pauses for a second, then. "Do you know when Stark and the others will be here?"

"Hmm? Oh, he said this weekend, so they'll probably be here Friday afternoon. He wants to start the construction as soon as possible, which means meeting up with you and Derek as soon as possible to finalize plans. I'm pretty sure he wants to start clearing the land while he's here. I have no idea how long Natasha and Clint plan on staying though, all I know is what you do, that they're helping to train."

Chris gives a wan smile. "It will be nice to have a couple more adults around to help with that, no matter how brief it is. I'm good to train them, but obviously can't give the one on one time they'll most likely need. I'm lucky enough that Allison took to long range weapons as well as she did, so she won't need quite as much, but the others.."

"They need as much help as they can get." She finishes for him, before looking up at the sky and frowning. It was starting to get dark, and even if they knew the Oni wouldn't be coming after them any more now that they were nearly all marked, it was still dangerous to be out. "Better head back to the house, I need to talk to Stiles and Uncle John about tomorrow. Not only that, but he needs to know we'll be having some visitors this weekend, last thing I need is for him to come home and see a couple of strangers beating up on the pack and overreact." Chris agrees and they both get up from the bench and head towards the car, neither noticing Peter watching them from the woods, Arthur in his arms suckling down a meal, keeping him quiet. He continues to watch as they drive away, before walking to the swing set and placing Arthur in the baby seat, taking the bottle from him and pushing him softly in it, eyes glowing an angry blue as he tries to calm down from seeing Argent sit next to the woman that belongs to him, his mate. She may reject it for now, but for that brief time period he was sure that she felt it as well as he did.

Arthur gurgles happily in the swing and Peter gives him another push, eyes narrowing in contemplation. As long as he has the shifter, she would have to come visit eventually, to make sure Arthur was still being treated well. He would just have to turn up the charm and convince her there was a reason the wards reacted as they did, beyond him meaning Scott harm. Not that it was wrong, he would eventually need to kill Scott to get his alpha status back, and once he was an alpha once more she would realize how deserving of it he was. Until then he would just need to bide his time and take care of the shifter.

She would come to her senses eventually. In the meantime, he would need to ensure that she and Argent didn't become any closer.