It takes a couple days, but eventually Sanada figures out a way for him to be able to visit Miyuki and figure out what's wrong with the tanuki shifter.

It comes in the form of Sanada's best friend, Todoroki Raichi.

"...Wait, so you want me to take you to Eijun's house?" Raichi repeats what Sanada said only seconds before.

"Yes," Sanada nods.

"In your cat form?" Raichi asks, confused.

"That's correct," Sanada reaffirms.

"Why?"

Sanada sighs and begins the second part of his explanation. "Let's just say that that tanuki Eijun's been talking about for the last few weeks… Is a shifter. And one of that Narumiya kid's friends. Apparently whatever got the tanuki guy hurt is also preventing him from shifting back into his human form. I need you to bring me there in my cat form so I can see what's wrong. It will probably be easier that way anyway.

It takes a couple seconds for Raichi to fully process what Sanada had just explained, when… "What?!" he exclaims. "If…if… if he's the guy the police have been looking for the past couple weeks, we have to go tell them!"

Sanada is quick to put his hands on Raichi's shoulders and get him to calm down. "Woah there, we can't do that," he explains. "You remember what I told you when I first explained to you why you have to keep the whole shifter thing a secret right?"

"Yeah," Raichi nods. "You said bad things would happen to you guys if people found out."

"So you can;t tell anyone. Including Eijun," Sanada stresses.

"But Eijun's a good guy," Raichi says. "He wouldn't tell anyone."

"Somehow I doubt that," Sanada mumbles. "Just for now… we'll reexamine telling him later. But for now, just try and get me to his place to see the tanuki."

"Okay," Raichi nods, although he looks a little nervous, but then again… he always looks a little nervous when Sanada brings up how important his secret is. "Okay, I can do this."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Eijun leans around the wall and into his living room, staring at the animals on his couch. He doesn't know what to do about them. Well, specifically 'one' of them.

As soon as he thinks the fox has left his house for good and he's in the clear it suddenly returns.

The tanuki he's okay with. He found him when the little guy was injured and nursed him back to health. The tanuki is also surprisingly affectionate at times (those times being when the fox is not around).

The fox on the other hand…

Eijun feels as if the fox hates him. It won't even let him enter the same room as him without growling at Eijun to leave. Which is weird considering the animal willingly enters Eijun's house time and time again, sleeps on his furniture, and eats his food.

Eijun doesn't know what to do… he just wants his peaceful life back and to be able to enjoy spending time in his house again.

He's tried everything, locking the windows and doors, not keeping stock of anything the fox eats, spraying the room in scents he's read foxes can't stand.

But somehow… some way… the fox keeps coming back.

And the worst part is that when this happens… his tanuki just completely ignores Eijun and only gives his attention to the fox.

It's the next day when he's at work, that he seeks out the help of Raichi.

"Hey Raichi, you know a lot about animals right? I mean, you have a pet cat and everything, right?!"

"Umm… I guess so," Raichi mumbles. "Although animals are more of Sanada's thing."

"Sanada?" Eijun repeats the name. "Oh, he's that friend of yours that researches animals right?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Raichi slowly nods.

Eijun then launches into his next question. "So do you think he can help me with an animal problem then?"

"An- animal problem?" Raichi says.

"Yeah! An animal problem," Eijun nods eagerly. "It's that stupid fox, he won't leave me alone."

"Fox?" Raichi says, confused. "I thought you had a raccoon in your house?"

"It's a tanuki, not a raccoon," Eijun is quick to correct. "And that little dude and I get along great! It's the stupud ugly fox that's driving me insane."

"Fox? Since when did you have a fox?"

"That's not the important part," Eijun shakes his head. "The important part is that there's one in my house right now, and no matter what I do it won't leave."

"But… are you sure that's okay?" Raichi asks worriedly. "What if it goes after the tanuki?"

"That's the worst part!" Eijun almost screams. "The tanuki and the fox are apparently best friends. Part of why I can't get it to leave!"

Something in Raichi's mind makes the connection that this fox may not be a fox after all. Could it be that other guy Sanada was talking about the other night? Damn, he should have asked what kind of animal the other guy could shift into.

"So what do you say? Do you think that Sanada guy can figure out what will get the fox out?" Eijun jumps up to ask.

Raichi carefully thinks it over. What should he say?

Sanada did tell him to think of a way to get him into Eijun's place. But he wanted to go in his cat form. He said something about it giving him better access to the tanuki guy, right?

If raichi brings Sanada over in his human form, Eijun might see it as pretty weird if he starts poking around the tanuki instead of the fox. And Eijun already has a vet for the tanuki, right?

That brings up the question on whether a shifter should go to an animal vet for medical help. Do they go to regular human doctors for problems in their human forms? Sanada never mentioned going to the doctor before, Raichi should ask him about that the next time he sees him.

So that means that 1) Raichi can't bring Sanada over in his human form, it has to be his cat form, and 2) Eijun still needs someone to solve his fox problem.

"Sanada can't come over to your place. He's been really busy lately," Raichi tells Eijun. Before Eijun can despair for long though, Raichi adds, "But I can bring my cat over to your place. Maybe that will get the fox to leave?"

Unexpectedly, or maybe very expectedly, Eijun loves that idea. "You'll do that?!" Eijun exclaims. "I mean… it might work, but… but won't that put your cat in danger?"

Oh yeah. That might indeed be dangerous for his cat if they were talking about regular animals. But they're not, so…

"I think my cat will be fine," Raichi says. "If not, well then… My cat's smart. He'll be fine."

Eijun hums, thinking over Raichi's response. He doesn't look that convinced, in fact he looks more worried than before. "I guess if you're fine with this…" he worries his lip. "But, what was your cat's name again?" he asks.

Raichi's cat's name? Raichi hasn't thought that far ahead. "His name is Sanada."

"Sanada?" Eijun repeats. "Your cat has the same name as your roommate?"

Raichi instead glares at Eijun. "You still haven't named your tanuki after what? Two months?"

"I- I haven't had him that long!" EIjun shoots back. "And I've come up with many names! The tanuki just hates all of them!"