The Wayward Daughter
Chapter 3: A Warrior's Past

Alexius was sitting in her mediation pose. Her head was bowed and her hands were folded in her lap. Everything around her had its own scent. Malakai's fading scent was the one she focused on right at that moment. His scent was like a storm. In her minds eye she saw danger lurking in his amber eyes. There was something almost familiar about him beside's the first time they saw each other. It was a comforting familiarity; however, she shook it off knowing that any form of trust might cost her a lot. It wasn't particularly that she was afraid to trust someone else, it was because of what she was. She had to admit to herself that Malakai had not proven to her that she couldn't trust him.
Getting up she figured it wouldn't hurt to explore the area. With a hunter's grace she walked slowly back to the training room. A slight glitter stopped her in her tracks. With a thief's' precision she moved into the small room. Looking around all sorts of things littered the walls. Most of them were skull's of various creatures. The biggest on made her snort and snarl. It was one of those reptile creatures that had chased her so long ago. There were various weapons on the walls as well. The one weapon that caught her attention made her yearn for home. Looking around first as if she was acting like she was about to steal something she moved forward her hand ran along the sheath of a magnificent blade. It was an ancient katana. The cross bands on the hilt were black where the hilt was revealed underneath the cross bands was silver. Engraved on the guard was a fox surrounded by flames. Her hand jerked back once her fingers ran across the blood encrusted crest on the sheath. Picking the old weapon up she used her claws to removed the layer of blood. Once the blood was moved away she looked at it closely. A half smile graced her features. It was the insignia for the silver kitsune clan. Pulling it out of the sheath the blade was still in good condition as if it had never been used.
"Perfect," she growled in approval.
Going back to the dojo she scented around making sure no one was close to where she was. There wasn't anyone close. Going into the middle of the room she threw off her outer long sleeve shirt leaving her in her white tank top and her baggy black pants. The sheathed blade was tied at her waist. Taking out her ponytail she braided her hair quickly. Getting down in a crouch with one hand on the hilt and the other on the sheath she ran over the old lessons in her mind. At first after drawing it the swings and movements were a bit rusty. It had been a long time since she had to rely on a blade such as this. Her claws were her main weapons of choice. She was an ancient warrior so if she never used guns or the like. She was taught with a blade as a child, and she had only honed those types of skills. Of course there had been the dragon youkai that had taught her the fine art of using daggers and fans as weapons. She, however preferred the old fashioned katana. Half way through her exercises the scent of a dangerous storm came into the room. The blade slipped from her fingers while in an upward toss and the blade embedded itself in the ceiling. A nervous laugh escaped her as she looked at Malakai. His face was blank of all emotion, but she figured if he was human his eye brow would be raised in a 'what the hell are you doing' look. Rolling her eyes she changed into her beast form without thinking about the consequences of her actions. Leaping up she yanked the blade out by the hilt with her teeth. The blade glittered dangerously in her mouth. Her body was that of a fox the size of a great Dane. Her fur was silver. At the tip of her ears was a splotch of black. The tip of her tail was black as well. Her belly fur was white.
"Well, it looks like the cat is out of the bag."
"True form?" he asked softly.
She nodded and repeated what he said.
"My true form."
Her form shifted back to her humanoid form. Taking the blade carefully from her mouth she went to her discarded shirt and picked it up and whipped off the spit on the hilt. She re-sheathed the blade and tried to hand it back to him, but he just pushed it back her way.
"Keep it," he ground out. "Work so well with it."
"I was raised using a blade like this. Of course Kumori was a special blade. It was forged from darkness a long time ago and very few could even get near it."
She just shrugged. The blade had been destroyed some two hundred fifty three years ago. It didn't matter to her now. Her claws were her weapons in this day and age.
"Teach me."
"Teach you what?"
"Those blade moves."
"Umm. I don't know I have to brush up on my technique before I can even begin to train anyone else."
"Then we should work on your hand to hand skills. There are those here that think you shouldn't be here."
"Let me guess they think I'm inferior because they think I'm human."
"Something like that."
She snorted darkly.
"It has been a long time since someone even remotely thought I was human. The ears, the markings, the eye color, hell even my hair color give away that I'm not human. Oh well my kind is a dying breed anyway."
For some odd reason the sight of her down and sad struck something in his heart. He wasn't use to these emotions. Shaking it off for the moment he got into a fighting stance. He'd analyze the emotions later. Alexius wasn't taking a fighting stance. Her head was tilted to the side looking at him. Without warning she moved, and he never saw it coming. He was slammed face first into the wall.
"Kitsune youkai rely on speed not brute strength. Though I rely on both, that and my magic."
She let him go. "I'm not being cocky either."
"Then how is it I caught you?"
"There was a part of me that wanted you to catch me. Besides I was fighting baser instincts and you at the same time. If we finish this battle now I'll kill you so that's enough."
She grabbed up her stuff and retreated to her room. Sitting down she let her past control her again.

Flashback

She walked slowly through the woods towards her den where her family resided. The forest was unusually quiet which unsettled the silver kitsune. Upon entering the cave she found her family slaughtered. Moving forward she tried to figure out what had slaughtered her family. What was heart wrenching was the fact that her pregnant sister wasn't even spared. (remember Predators don't kill pregnant women. 2nd movie reference.) Going deeper into the cave. The sound of growling and hissing made her start. Something black moved in the back of the room. What ever it was it was huge. A threatening growl escaped her throat. The creature what ever it was moved forward towards her causing her to back up towards the entrance of the cave. It was better to fight in open ground for her than in a tightly enclosed space. The creature followed her out into broad daylight. The creature was black with a huge crest. It hissed and growled at her. With rage burning within her she leapt for the creature and locked into an epic battle. She was easily swatted away.
Suddenly a distortion in the vegetation made her try to get up. A gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her from getting up. A soothing purr growl escaped the figure that came uncloaked. The silver mask stared back at her menacingly. Three claw marks ran down the length of the mask. The creature patted her and rose. The two strange creatures locked in battle. Finally the big black creature lost its head to the other one. She tried to get up as the other creature moved towards her in panic. The creature placed his hand on her forehead as if trying to tell her to calm down. Breaking a claw off the black creatures body the creature lifted up her shirt revealing her lower back. With the acidic blood he etched something into her skin. She whimpered in pain for a moment. With a last pat on her head the creature picked up the black ones head and walked away.

End Flashback

Alexius shot out of her trance like state. Her hand reached around and felt the scar on her back. The only proof that her encounter that day hadn't been a dream. Part of her had suppressed that day because it was so painful. Something occurred to her just then. The first hunter's scent seemed familiar to her. Pulling through all the scent memories she had from the past she recognized the older hunter's scent and nearly died laughing at the absurdity of it. She had been told once that the mark on her back carried over in her beast form only that the mark was made of black fur. Deciding that she would ask Malakai about it tomorrow she moved to the bed and fell into it. Sleep claimed her quickly.