A/N: Okay, so I messed up. Turns out numbers and I have a hard time getting along. I forgot the day I had first posted the story and then updated the next chapter the week after instead of two weeks later (follow?). Anyway, because I messed up I figured I'd just keep up with the weekly update for the story. Without further ado, onto chapter 3!

"When things are going like clockwork, you find yourself waiting for an alarm to ring"- Anonymous

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Of Impulse and Fey

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A few weeks had passed and the odd family fell into a new routine. It turned out that Natsuki was an early riser, even earlier than Shizuru. Therefore, in accommodation, Shizuru slept with the door open. This was how Natsuki was able to leave the too warm bed without disturbing the female human when the small alarm clock read five o'clock that morning.

As any other day, Natsuki found her way down to the kitchen where Reito would be found making breakfast. They greeted each other silently and Reito served her an early breakfast, cooled off ramen noodles with a healthy dosage of mayo. By six- fifteen, Shizuru moseyed over into the kitchen for her morning meal. She complained about her toast being too burnt or her eggs being too runny just to annoy her butler. He then threatened that he would poison her food the next morning out of agitation, but when she had finished her food, she gave him a big smack on the cheek and a friendly pat on the butt as a thank you as she always did.

The giant beast would stay with Reito until he finished with the dishes and then she would head back to the master bedroom. Shizuru would be fresh out of the shower and half way dressed by then. Natsuki leaped onto the bed to watch the human female choose her outfit for the day.

Natsuki was very impressed by this human female. Her tan tresses fell until almost midway down her back and armed with startling ruby eyes. Shizuru was a tad bit taller than she was, however, nothing that she could not overpower in a physical fight. If there was an occasion to lead to that that is. Today, Shizuru chose a violet dress suit that the wolf secretly enjoyed seeing the other woman wear. The color suited her very well. Natsuki rumbled in appreciation.

"Oh you like it too? Many of the other women I've been with thought that it was a nice color on me as well. I suppose it does look good on me…" Shizuru said absentmindedly while checking for wrinkles in the mirror. Natsuki heard herself growl in irritation before realizing she had. She could not place the feeling in her chest when Shizuru admitted to seeing multiple women and that they thought the same as she did in the human's choice of attire. Shizuru stopped to give her a puzzled look before going back to her buttons. After the taller woman dressed, she collected her work things by the front door, called out to Reito to have a nice day and that to expect her for dinner unless she called otherwise.

Natsuki would pad along beside her until Shizuru got to her car. Shizuru would give her a good scratch behind the ears and tell her to be a good girl for the day and not get into any trouble. The blue wolf watched Shizuru drive away before going back inside to wait at the door. Reito would leave the house soon after, claiming he was only going grocery shopping, although Natsuki's nose knew better. The young butler always came back with a variety of unfamiliar female scents clinging onto his clothing. When the human male's car rumbled speedily away Natsuki let out a huff of relief. Finally, with some time to herself, Natsuki would run hurriedly up the stairs, draw the curtains closed, and transform.

…

Oh yes it felt so good every single time. It was like taking off a stuffy suit and finally being able to breathe and stretch out her long limbs comfortably. To Natsuki, it was one of the best feelings in the world. Completely nude, Natsuki took it upon herself to cover up her body in Shizuru's discarded silk robe. The touch of the fine material caused pleasant goosebumps on her flesh.

Today she crawled back into bed and hummed a little tune her mother used to sing her. It had taken a bit more strength than she anticipated infiltrating Shizuru's mind. The woman had stronger mental walls than gariabiyean steel. It was a mere miracle that Natsuki was able to slip her own name to the human female on her first night here. In fact, it was such a feat that Natsuki was still a bit tired from it. Moreover, it was not as though Natsuki could not just tell these humans her name in canine form, but it was the most unconventional way of doing it. Natsuki had seen and carefully studied the reactions of all the silly little humans she had encountered. None of them gave dogs' proper credit in terms of their intelligence, their loyalty aside.

In general, dogs are relatively smart but observed, as well as she, that playing dumb was much more favorable among humans. However, Natsuki supposed that she was pushing "natural" boundaries by unnaturally responding to everything humans said around her. (Canines do understand much of what humans say, but do not respond to what does not immediately concern them.) Still, she had had a very good reason for doing so.

Natsuki needed to listen to everything. Any scrap of information was a precious as Tererianh's jewels. As far as she knew, there was only one murderer left. She had not been successful in finding the last perpetrator so far, but all she had to do was wait and listen. Suddenly angry at the slow progress, she fisted her hands and grit her teeth before viciously punching a nearby pillow.

If she had waited several years to be this close to finally finish carrying out her revenge, she could live through several more to find and end the queen responsible for the genocide of her people.

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A few hours later Reito returned with the groceries and a plethora of female scents. Oh gods of Earth, this human male smells more and more like a female every day. It was not until today that the butler began to get chatty. "I think I've found her Natsuki, the woman of my dreams." He sighed dreamily. Natsuki secretly rolled her eyes but listened faithfully nonetheless. "Even when I had been flirting with other women, she was always on my mind," he said while pulling out the contents of the brown paper bags onto the polished countertops. Reito had been so starry eyed that he danced and sang all around the kitchen while preparing lunch for them both. The male human had a pretty voice Natsuki concluded. "Oh, Shizuru called to say that she was coming back early today. She sounded a little miffed, if I say so myself. Must have been an awful day at work," he told Natsuki while making another roast beef sandwich.

Natsuki's ears twitched in interest, but gave no other sign of her internal concern. She knew that becoming too attached to these humans was futile since her time was limited. Natsuki knew that worry and misplaced sentiment would only get in the way when it was time to leave, so she was quick too furiously squash away the small gnat of concern. When she finished what she came here to do or had no new leads in finding the queen, Natsuki would up and leave. Never once looking back at the wonderful things she would be leaving behind.

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I had returned home with a metaphorical dark cloud over my head. My mood had been so ugly at work that when I entered my personal office that morning my secretary, Yukino, meekly suggested that I return home while she straightened out the newly tangled mess of my corporation. As CEO of the company, sheer pride forbade me to leave my office and its problems to anyone else, even ones as capable as my secretary's. Pushing all else aside I worked for several hours nonstop (seven to be exact, I was told by my secretary later) until finally everything was set back into place.

It was then that I called Reito, tiredly informing him that I was coming home early. What an awful day. Rolling into the driveway, I was greeted by Natsuki who had been sitting at the foot of the front door. It did lift my spirits a little to see her patiently waiting for me. Slamming my car door shut, I did my best not to stomp my way into our home. I took a deep cleansing breath and pet Natsuki good-naturedly. Taking another deep breath, I strode inside.

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"What happened today, Shizuru? I know that look," Reito asked as he placed a sandwich in front of me. "Someone hacked into both of my mainframes and my teradatabase. They planted a complicated virus that took me hours too even get the damn things to reboot. If it had just been that I suppose I would have been in a brighter mood, but since the idiotic thing was put into action last night, the company spy that planted it stole billions of dollars' worth of information on the new product line I've been working on," I said rubbing my temples, vainly trying to stave off the incoming migraine. "I found the company spy, some child named Nagi, through his IP address. He used one of my computers too, the bastard. Anyway, I fired his ass and managed to squeeze back my data from my backup systems, and then filed a ginormous lawsuit against the Teal Company to bury them in a hole forever. So you can expect a raise within the next few weeks."

My butler gave me his signature I-feel-sorry-for-you look when I took a wicked bite of my sandwich. "I know just the thing to cheer you up… well two things. I'll make sure to sweep up the dojo before you're finished changing," He replied as he turned on the stove to boil a kettle of water while opening my cabinet of assorted teas. "You know me too well," I said feeling the cloud lift a bit more. Natsuki had then walked over to me and rubbed herself against my leg. I had read an article stating that animals were sensitive to emotions and I figured she was trying to make me feel better. She rose to place her two gigantic front paws on my thigh, whining and slowly swaying her tail from side to side in unease. Chuckling, I scratched at her neck and swooped down to give her a quick peck on the mouth.

"Shizuru, that was gross."

"Oh c'mon Reito, I kissed you in my second year of working at Nine Tails, remember? You took a dare from Tate to eat all the worms at the bottom of the tequila bottles that day too."

"SHIZURU! Brew your own damn tea, I'm leaving," huffed the disgruntled butler who was turning an interesting shade of puce.

"Oh Reito you know I'm only teasing…"

We bickered at each other a little longer never noticing that Natsuki stood stunned sometime after in the kitchen.

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After lunch, I quickly changed and went down to the basement where I kept my home dojo. I desperately needed to release all the mounds of tension that weighed heavily on my shoulders. While warming up, Natsuki came curiously to the basement and seated herself in a spare corner of the room. After another half-hour of warm ups to clear my mind, I finally deemed me ready for my precious naginata. Carefully, I tied my hair into a ponytail with the black ribbon that I kept attached with my beloved weapon of choice. It was a necessity turned habit that made me keep that ribbon on my naginata. I always seemed to forget to get something to pull my hair back when I practiced since I usually wore my hair loose.

Natsuki came into high alert, growling in a decidedly unfriendly manner, when she saw the blade. "Don't worry Natsuki, I'm only here to practice. But if you don't like it, you are more than welcome to leave," I said none too kindly. No one ever gets between my naginata-jutsu and me. Turning to position myself, I saw that Natsuki looked completely affronted at my hard tone, but remained in the room nonetheless.

I allowed myself to start slow. My paced breathing and rehearsed forms a familiar dance. Languidly flowing from one position to another, I gradually let the world fall away from my conscious mind. I became one with my instrument of destruction.

Little by little, I allowed everything that I held inside flow out in faster and jerkier motions. The anger and frustration from today went out with a mere whoosh of my blade. The anxiety and anguish when I thought of my parents went out with the stab that I made into the nothingness of air. My naginata made everything proportionate, small and miniscule.

The session must have lasted for a couple hours at least, but I didn't care because I felt so contented. At the end of it all, I laid down in a sweaty heap. As my labored breathing circulated through my chest my spectator padded her way over to me. To be honest, I forgot she was here. Natsuki cautiously rested her head on my stomach and I ran my free hand sluggishly through her thick fur. "I need a shower," I said as my warm body shivered against my cooling sweat. Pushing myself up, I dutifully cleaned off my blade and placed both my ribbon and my naginata in their glass case before marching upstairs.

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Natsuki had never seen such a thing in all her years on Earth. She had never seen a human handle a weapon so proficiently. Natsuki had quickly become entranced at her show of skill and confidence. The blue wolf was currently listening to the water patter on the tiled floor of her human's shower as she washed herself. Wait, her human? The gigantic hound had never referred to any human as hers before. Natsuki shifted uncertainly on the comforter. She was getting much too comfortable these days. She would have to tread these waters more carefully, even if she started to like these pair of humans. Moving to burrow her head under the covers, Natsuki would never admit out aloud that Shizuru's lips were sinfully soft against her muzzle.

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Days had passed and the stupid kiss on her muzzle had yet to cease! Shizuru was quite fond of it, and it was beginning to make Natsuki a bit edgy. Shizuru liked to call it her "staple of love". Really, all Natsuki wanted to do was console the taller woman the way she had seen other dogs do. They never received a kiss from their beautiful human female in return for their efforts. They certainly were not kissed every day.

Reito, clearly disgusted, had tried to scold Shizuru out of it, but to no avail. "She doesn't like it Shizuru. Leave her alone," he said for the umpteenth time. "She does too! Natsuki has yet to wiggle away or snap at me. When she does I will stop," Shizuru would always reply. Truthfully, Natsuki had not done either of those things because Shizuru was too swift and unpredictable. It was irritating to Natsuki to know that she could not calculate the tawny female's movements.

It most definitely had nothing to do with the fact that deep down she liked them.

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The next day had gone like clockwork. Their usual schedule followed to the "T". Natsuki had pulled on Shizuru's robe and crawled back into bed. She had a poor amount of sleep the evening before because she had been prowling the night in search of clues to find the last of the traitorous royal family. No such luck yet, but all in good time.

"Good things come to those who wait," she recited her mother's words before falling into a peaceful sleep.

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It had barely hit eleven o'clock when I returned home this morning. Since the incident with my databases and such grouped most of my meetings together, I was able to get them all done in one fell swoop. I knew Reito was out and about at this time and wouldn't be back until maybe one o'clock. I didn't feel the need to rush him home anyway. I was very happy to have heard of his newest conquest. Maybe he found the lady to tie him down finally.

Natsuki had yet to greet me when I entered the house, so I figured she was frolicking around in the backyard. I entered into the parlor as stealthily as I could. I wanted just a moment of peace and quiet, a rare commodity now.

Feeling centered, I made my way to the back of the house finding no Natsuki in the yard. I strained my ears in hopes of catching the sound of scuffling paws or otherwise in the house to find none. Fearing the worst, I tried to center myself again. "Now let's be reasonable Shizuru," I muttered to myself, "Where could she be?" She had to be asleep if she had not come down to see me.

I had yet to witness the beast sleep and now was the perfect opportunity. I could even take pictures! The devil in me convinced me to creep up the stairs and into my bedroom. What I found lying in my bed was certainly not something I was ready to encounter.

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"Who are you?" I demanded icily.

The woman with long navy blue hair merely cuddled deeper into my comforter as if she was familiarly pleased to hear my voice. It couldn't have been her. Her haired seemed too dark a shade of blue. Quite honestly, it was such a brilliant shade of cobalt my fingers itched to caress the luscious locks. Her body was facing the wall opposite of my direction, which put me under the impression that perhaps it was the person I had been dreading to find in my bed again. By all means, she could have dyed her hair a different color.

Still, if it had been Marguerite, she would have gotten up by now, and by the looks of the steady rise and fall of the stranger's shoulders this woman was fast asleep. And with a touch of uneasy amusement, I noticed that she was also wearing my robe. Looking back at the situation, I realize that many people in my position would have called the police immediately, but the picturesque way she slept kept me from doing so. Ironically, I felt like the intruder nearly giving into the instinct of leaving quietly so as to not to disturb her slumber.

The champagne color of my robe bought out the pinkish hue of her skin and her feet peeked out cutely from underneath the covers. She took in a breathy sigh as she curled in closer to my pillow and, if I were to assume correctly by the tiny raise of her cheek, smiled. Perhaps it was Marguerite after all. I took a bold step further into my room, making the floorboards creak on purpose. "Who are you?" I demanded once more.

She bolted upright which nearly caused her to tumble to the floor. It looked as if she were trying to attempt an escape through the window before realizing it was bolted shut by the way her body tensed toward its direction. Instead, she sat rigidly on the edge of the bed, still not facing me, most likely trying to find a way out of the situation. Heavy silence ensued between us. Neither of us daring to move an inch in case that single movement could help or hinder her escape. "My patience is wearing thin. Who are you?"

"I… I am an intruder," her low voice answered coolly. I would have laughed at that answer if it hadn't been for the unexpected tingles down my spine at the sound of the sultry voice. "I must go," she said, although gave no indication of moving. "Yes, you should, but I'd like to know who you are first," I stated while widening my stance to brace myself against any sudden attacks.

"Why is that?"

"So I have a name and a face to report to the police later."

Another long pause snuck between us, she had yet to move, and I had yet to check my temper. Whoever this stunning woman was, she was the cause of my dog's disappearance and I was not happy about that prospect. Never mind how unnerving it was to think that this stranger broke into my home and was oh so casually lying in my bed. "They call me Kuga," she said as she rose to stand. "Fine. Great. Now let me have a look at your face so I have something to tell the sketch artist. And before you even think about leaving just yet, you had better fucking tell me where my dog is. And maybe I won't kill you instead," I barked. I was so sick of this game. The woman stiffed, insulted, and whipped around to bark back at me when she saw the look on my face.

Those eyes,…it couldn't be.

I stumbled backward as though I had been physically hit, recognition slapping me across the face. I felt my mouth open and close multiple times before it click closed. My teeth were gritting painfully. The only set of unearthly, bright green eyes I had ever seen belonged to my canine. It was then that even the most absurd detail made perfect sense. How Natsuki only consumed human food without getting sick, how her eyes were too ethereal, and how she really understood everything that was said around her. As farfetched as it seemed to me, it felt like it was the only undeniable truth about my wolf. "Kuga" seemed to be at a loss for words as well. She stood still, but for the repeated clenching and unclenching of her hands. It was the only telling sign of her nervousness that I had figured out everything.

My humongous beast was a shape shifter.

A/N: Okay! So I hope this chapter was exciting. Please forgive me if there are any errors, I will do my best to fix them in future chapters. If you want a preview for the next chapter check out my tumblr (link in my bio) :) Have a wonderful weekend! Next chapter will be out next Friday!