Something didn't feel right to Kira, as she settled into her newly made bed at Lorelai's. Her hair on her skin felt on edge and electricity tingled in her fingers as she kept getting shocked, no matter what she touched. She held her fingers in front of her in the darkness of the room, watching as blue sparks emitted from them.

"Breathe," she whispered to herself, desperate to regain control. The fox inside her knew by instinct that something was coming. Now she wished that she had her katana, the one weapon she felt most at ease using. Why hadn't she brought it? The plane wouldn't have allowed it, but she should've at least mailed it to somewhere in Stars Hollow.

No. Her father couldn't risk it being tracked, she realized his reasoning now. Still… it did no good if the nogitsune was on his way to town, regardless.

Kira inhaled deeply and watched, as she exhaled, the power in her fingers die down. That was good. It just needed to stay that way for when Lane came back from the airport. They were sharing the guest room, which had two twin beds, one closet, one dresser and a mirror on the door. It was a good thing that Kira hadn't brought too much with her, though she suspected that soon enough she'd have to go to the store and buy some more things.

With a sigh, she turned on her side and closed her eyes, desperately calling for sleep.

Flies surrounded her, their wings incessant in their buzzing. Kira swatted at them fruitlessly, trying to see through the thick cloud of small black beings. In her right hand, she felt something materialize. Feeling much more confident now, she swung her right hand up and watched as the katana cut through the flies. The power surging through her, swept through the blade of the katana in light blue strands of electricity. At once, the light soared through to each fly, creating a web of light for a second, before darkness emerged once again and all the flies dropped dead in heaps around her.

"Impressive power, really," a voice said behind her. Kira spinned around to see, no surprise, the nogitsune standing in the same spot on the nemeton as he had been in her last dream. With the end of the katana pointing directly at his chest he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"That sword didn't exactly stop me the last time," Void said amused. "What makes you think this time will be any different?"

"I've learned a thing or two since then," Kira retorted and struck forward with the blade, but was greeted with air. The nogitsune was gone.

"I guess we'll see." It's voice echoed from an unknown location.

.

.

The next afternoon, Kira was lacing up her black boots, sitting on the Gilmore's couch while Rory stuck her phone into her purse.

"You ready?" she asked Kira.

"Yep!" Kira rose from the couch.

"Cool. You'll love the inn, my mom and Sookie put so much work into it."

"Your mom seems awesome."

"She is," Rory agreed. "She's my best friend. I guess you could say we don't have a traditional 'mother daughter' relationship. When she had me she was sixteen."

Kira nodded. "Yeah you guys do look closer in age than most." Of course Kira knew that looks were never an accurate read of someone's age. Her own mother, Noshiko, looked to be in her forties, when she was actually somewhere around nine hundred, thanks to her powerful fox spirit. Kira briefly wondered how old she would grow to be. There were so many things about being a kitsune that she wished she had asked her mother about, especially now that she couldn't.

They approached the quaint, Dragonfly Inn and Kira took in the charm. It was certainly aesthetic and had a comforting feel of home. With how quiet the town generally was, Kira wondered just how many visitors Stars Hollow got, other than herself.

Rory led the way up the stairs to the front door, taking the time to explain to Kira how much effort it took Lorelai to convince Taylor to allow them to open the inn in the first place.

"If you come by the town meeting sometime, you'll see how Taylor can be. It's pretty funny actually, especially when Mom is there too."

As Kira took a step inside, her skin crawled suddenly and viciously. Trying to be discreet, she clenched her hands into fists, praying that blue sparks of electricity would not appear.

Was he here? Kira didn't think so, or at least she didn't want to. So she decided it was just her fox spirit, demanding attention and demanding to be used. Maybe after the tour, she'd find a private spot to train her powers. The last thing she needed was all the time spent with the skinwalkers, learning control, to go to waste.

She forced a smile when approaching Lorelai at the front desk with Rory by her side.

"Lorelai this place is so cute! I love it!"

"Aw thanks! I'd show you around, but unfortunately I have an emergency meeting in the kitchen about an unwanted fly problem… Rory can show you around though!" Lorelai gestured behind her and shook her head.

A voice that Kira recognized all too well, spoke behind her, causing her heart to drop and her stomach to bubble in urgency.

"A fly problem? That doesn't sound too good." Rory turned around right away, while Kira took it a little slower. Her breath hitched when she saw him. He really did look like Stiles, but she knew better. Part of her training had taught her how to recognize another fox, kitsune or nogitsune, as the case may be.

"Yeah," Lorelai responded, "I hope you weren't bothered upstairs?"

Void slowly shook his head, "No, no I didn't see any flies." He caught eye contact with Kira and held it as he finished speaking. "I slept soundly. I'm Stiles, by the way." He offered his hand to Kira, still keeping eye contact.

Fire seemed to burn through her veins, making Kira want to yell out what he was, how the real Stiles Stilinski was in Beacon Hills, California, unaware that his evil imposter was back to bring chaos to another part of the country.

The nogitsune's eyes glittered with an unspoken challenge. It said: 'Reveal who I am, here and now, and see how that goes for them.'

So, Kira accepted his handshake and said with a forced almost sickly sweet voice, "Pleasure to meet you, Stiles. I'm Kira."

He shot her a tiny smile of victory, quick enough to go unnoticed by Rory, who introduced herself as well. The whole time, while the three of them made idle chit chat, just enough for the Void to convince the Gilmores of how normal and nice he was, Kira's heart was racing in her chest as thoughts travelled through her mind.

How did he find her? What was his plan? Why didn't he just kill her when he first got to town? What was he waiting for?

.

.

After the tour of the inn, which Kira didn't really pay attention to due to the concerns streaming through her head about the nogitsune's appearance in Stars Hollow, she agreed to meet up with Rory back at the house. She needed some time to herself, to analyze what to do next. There was a small wooden bridge across a river and Kira found herself standing on it, her hands on the edge, emitting sparks, which flew down into the water.

"Well that's a fire hazard," came the voice behind her, she was expecting would once she was alone.

Without a moment's hesitation, Kira spun around and punched the nogitsune square in the jaw. Stumbling back, he laughed, his hand gingerly touching his jaw. When Kira saw him coming toward her, determination struck and she rubbed her hands together. More sparks emitted from them and she outstretched her palms in front of her. Just as his fist collided with her face, she shot bolts of energy directly to his chest. The Void grunted and clutched his chest, but as Kira went to hit his face again, he blocked with his arm and tried for her, she ducked out of the way.

The two went on like this for a few minutes at least, though it felt like forever to Kira. Occasionally she'd get the upper hand, but before she could feel too good about it, the nogitsune would strike back with double the force. Finally, as she went in for a hit, instead of simply blocking it, the nogitsune wrapped his hand around her wrist and jerked her around so that her back was to his chest. He grabbed her other wrist and held her tightly, chuckling as she struggled.

"You forget, Kira," he whispered into her ear. "I have a thousand years to your eighteen. I'm more powerful than you could ever be." Void inhaled deeply. "You're in pain," he stated.

Kira gasped as she felt him feeding off her pain, feeling his power grow as her state of pain heightened to agony.

After a minute, the nogitsune let her go, laughing darkly as she stumbled away from him gasping, and leaned over the bridge trying to overcome the agony she felt.

"Destroying this town will be so much fun," he exclaimed. He leaned over to Kira, who winced at his breath on her cheek. "I'll take it slow. Your concern should be who dies first. Don't worry though, it won't be you. You'll be last, sanda."

With that, the nogitsune vanished. Kira inhaled with relief, as much of her pain left with him, and only the mild soreness of that first fight remained.

.

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Note: "Sanda Kitsune" is the technical name for the English translation, "Thunder Fox" and "Kukan Nogitsune" is the technical name for the English translation, "Void Fox"