A/N: Same chapter, it's just that I managed to get documents to keep italics when copy/pasting, and in doing so I kinda goofed some things up... So! 'Words in between apostrophes are Yasei's internal thoughts.' While, "Statements inside of quotation marks are either quotes from other characters or a telepathic message."

The dozen men gathered by the Williams and my own small army are hopping from one spot to another while preparing for our assault on the Kitsune's Hamlet. I am in the process of trying to talk to some of my people, but after indirectly pushing them away for so long, I find it difficult to bring up a topic to talk about, since the suggestion of 'Hey, how are you doing?' generally gives me a clipped response and they move on. Well, it probably does not help we are marching within thirty minutes, but surely someone would like to chat for a bit? I have been going down a mental list and after the latest two sentences with Beruka, I reluctantly go to Camilla, not that I don't want to talk to her, but I have been trying to save her, Elise, Jakob, then Keaton for last.

"Hey, Camilla! How are you?" I ask as I approach my sister, she is currently slightly out of the camp, her Divine Axe in hand.

She turns and smiles at me, "I am well, what brings you out here?"

'No darling, sweet? Gods, I really have fallen out of favor from everyone.' "I um, was wondering if you had some time to… talk?" I shy away.

"Of course I do!" Her smile doubles and I already feel much better about this.

"Sweet! So…" 'Now what?' . I pause and my mind decides to abandon all rational thought, "I… erm…"

"Yasei? Are you okay? You're not sick are you?" She closes the space and places the back of her hand, armored glove off, on my forehead, positioning herself to where her cleavage is staring me in the face. 'Gods, Camilla.' Satisfied, she nods and puts her glove back on, "Did you need some advice?"

I slowly nod and swallow, "It's kind of a silly thing… I was just trying to make some… conversation." I sheepishly smile, "I, er, Phoenix had me realize I have been… not the best commander for you all, and I was hoping to fix that. She suggested I try to talk to people, but that has not been going well. I didn't realize that nearly everyone else has been avoiding me this badly."

Her smile never fades, "Then you are looking to mend the gap that has been forming over time? Keep trying to talk, stay polite, and I'm sure they will come around to enjoy your company." I nod, "I will admit, I was getting worried for my dear Yasei, but here you are, acting more like the sister I have loved for years!"

"I apologize for worrying you so much."

"Apology accepted. Now! Would you like to do something after this battle? Maybe a massage?" She raises her eyebrow.

"That sounds good… maybe I won't be such a incoherent mess by then."

"It will just take some time, Yasei." She assures me, "So, the largest Kitsune Hamlet? This should be interesting… and with the Williams? I don't think you have heard of them before, right? They are quite well known for their skills."

"I, er… yea, I do actually…" I stumble a bit backwards and she sends me a worried glance, "So… when that William brought up the Third and First not being here…"

She narrows her eyes and for a moment I think she is going to get angry at that, "Let me guess, this is how you met that Wolfskin?" 'Didn't even bother to use his name.'

"Yes, he was being cornered by them, and I saved him." I confirm. "But I wouldn't undo it if I could, Camilla you need to understand, he does make me happy…" I should not be going with this topic again, but…

A frown shows, "And you do understand how much you have changed? And how much those changes affect others?"

"I am… starting to, yes. Like I said, just trying to talk to them is difficult."

"My sweet Yasei, know that I will always love you no matter what." She places a hand on my shoulder, "Now then, let's get this battle over with so you can spend more time with us, okay?"

I smile and nod, "You got it!" We return to the camp, where Phoenix gives me an approving nod. Everyone else is nearly ready, my own weapons already strapped on to me… I just need to check up with that William and we should be good to go. "Hi, William the… First?" 'Gods, they look so alike it is creepy.'

He smirks, "The Second. Don't sweat it, it's a common mistake, the family usually works individually." He crosses his arms, Beast Killer on his back, "I take it your team is ready? Your Tactician has placed some pretty high standards with her stunt earlier, but I'm sure the Royal family wouldn't be any less impressive. Crown Prince Xander is a different beast entirely!"

"We are, yes. You've met Xander?"

He nods, "Yes, Lady Yasei. I have never seen a single soldier who could even hold a candle to him. Princess Camilla is no pushover, either, even though I have only seen her in action once. Might I speak frankly?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Because it is a personal opinion on royalty. I will admit, I did not think the Royal family was so… skilled in combat, I had thought them to be self-indulgent." He laughs and uncrosses his arms, "But you all have proved me wrong so far, and I am grateful! You have no idea how proud it makes me to take up arms in the name of Nohr."

I smile, "Wait, your family isn't a neutral business?"

"No ma'am. We made our name in Nohr and we intend on keeping our services to Nohr. Perhaps I could share the tale that started it all later?"

"That sounds wonderful, but one more thing… are you and the First really the first two? I would think it takes longer than that to build up such a prestigious reputation."

"And you would be correct. To be technical, my brother and I are the Second and First of the fifth generation of Williams. I heard that William the Third has a son, so if his son is the newest one, then he would be considered William the First of the Sixth generation, or some of us would say William the First/Sixth."

"An… interesting naming system. Do all of you look so… similar?"

"Yes ma'am. The Williams sure do, just like the merchant sisters of Anna."

"Huh…" I pause, 'Anna?' , "Well, we should probably move out, the sooner the better, right?"

"Sounds good to me, I'll round up mine, and you yours." He heads off to one side of the camp and I go to the other.

"All right, I hope you all are ready, because we are now going to march up this mountain and clear out the Kitsune Hamlet with the Williams!" 'Gods, even I can tell the difference in my attitude.' "Let's make this happen!" Smiles start showing between my units.

I begin to lead the march and Phoenix jogs a bit to reach my side, "Nice work, Commander." She smiles. "How does it feel?"

"Weird, I honestly still don't want to, but… once I get talking with someone it's easy to hold a conversation." I spare her a glance, "Thanks Phoenix."

The smile is replaced with her now signature smirk, "I told you that you have the potential." We hit the foot of the mountain and start climbing up, "Well, this could be a worse climb."

"After the Notre Sagre one? This is easy." I agree. The march continues in relative silence, I can hear a few people talk every now and again, but other than that, silence.

Keaton walks up to my side just as I catch a scent of another beast, "Scout." He says.

"I have to admit, it is larger than I thought," Phoenix comments, "but we have the resources and I am eager to see the outcome."

"Huh? You can actually already tell the size?" The Wolfskin is caught off-guard. "Even I can't tell right now."

"Combination of enhanced senses and magic." She explains, "It doesn't take much, but it has been invaluable over the years." She turns to him, "Everyone has magical potential, maybe I could share a few tricks with you?"

I hear several weapons being drawn, "This is it men, focus and we got this." I hear one of the Williams say, "Remember, no running off to chase any of them…"

"...unless told otherwise." He and Phoenix finish, William turns to see the Tactician with a smirk, "Smart, I am already starting to like you." She pulls out her Mjolnir tome, "Elise, you still got a tome?"

"Yes! It's an Elfire!" She cheerfully responds.

"Good, you'll be on the defensive. From what I understand, Kitsunes are more resistant to magic, so focus a bit more on healing than casting fireballs."

"Yes Tactician, ma'am." She does a mock-salute with this serious look on her face. 'It looks so cute.'

"Kitsunes are also known for speed and agility, mind your swings so you don't wear yourself out too quickly." She continues, "Keep them quick and light, you'll be better off wearing them down with small cuts before landing anything lethal."

The mountain starts to give way and the Hamlet is in sight. Unlike the verdant green forest at the bottom, the top is covered in orange-yellow leaves… and several dozen Kitsunes staring right at us. Only two remained unshifted. "Yasei, Keaton." Kaden is one, the other is a female, unlike every other shifter, she actually has a fair amount of clothing on. A red sweater, blue pants, a red and white checkered scarf, and even fingerless gloves. "The Williams, too?" His eyes narrow.

"Daddy?" The female asks, "They aren't here to play, are they?"

"No, Selkie. They are here to kill all of us." He shifts… and he looks completely different from last time. Instead of the yellow-orange and white pattern, he is instead now nearly all white with nine tails, three blue spheres circling his body. "And I won't let them." The daughter shifts and she has the same form.

"Nine-tails…" One of the Williams gasps, "We got our work cut out for us."

"Mjolnir…" Phoenix strikes one of the Kitsunes down, before anyone even bothered to charge. "Let's go!" She calls out as she injures another.

Keaton is by my side when we both shift, "We got this!" I say as we stand side-by-side. Within seconds the Kitsunes are on us, they are not exaggerating when people say they are fast. A fox-shifter lands a strike on me before immediately backing off and going for a second, I bide my time and counter him with my tail, he grunts in pain before leaping right back at me and slashing at my upper chest. As he jumps off of me to land, Keaton grabs him, one quick squeeze is all it took and he tosses the beast to the side.

Another two charges, one for me and the other Keaton. I manage to hold off the first few strikes before I slip-up and another cut is made. 'Gods, I can't keep up with these guys.' I deflect one of his strikes before shooting a stream of water, grazing the Kitsune's hind leg, causing a noticeable limp as he attempts another charge. I strike with my horns and impale the beast, then toss him off of my horns. The Kitsune on Keaton gets knocked back by his left hand, then struck down by Camilla's axe. She already has several gashes on her. 'She isn't used to fighting on foot.'

The Malig Knight spares a quick glance before taking to the skies again. I hear a cry of pain to see Caeldori injured, the poor girl still seems shaken as she lands a blow on the Kitsune attacking her. She lands a second, then third, while the fourth kills him. 'Impressive.'

"I need to…" One of the soldiers William hired announce as he gets overwhelmed by a Kitsune, before the beast gets blasted off with a gust of wind, then consumed by a fireball from Elise. "...fall back." He finishes before getting to the Troubadour.

"I got ya!" She quickly pulls out her staff and heals the man. A Kitsune attempts to strike her horse before getting slammed back by another gust of wind, the beast flies back several feet and is struck down by a fireball from Elise. 'Wow, she's getting good at using tomes.'

"It's playtime!" I hear Selkie cheer as she easily starts to overwhelm Selena, I move to help her, but am intercepted by her father.

Kaden growls and leaps at me, his claws easily tearing into my scales, getting a foot hold before biting into my chest, not too far from the Wyrmslayer wound. I manage to shake him off before he gracefully lands and repeats the attempt on Keaton instead. The Wolfskin brings up his left arm to deflect him, but a stray Kitsune lands a slash on his right, grazing into his Beast Killer wound. Keaton howls as he slams the Kitsune into the ground before Kaden lands on his chest, performing the same action as he did on me.

The Nine-tails leaps back and prepares another round, before Beruka's Wyvern cuts him off, the emotionless killer lands a strike on the Kitsune's leader and at the same time I hear Selkie cry out as Camilla's axe bites into her. A quick glance shows that Phoenix is already starting to wear out again, and is holding a lower level tome. Selena is showing her exhaustion, all of those small cuts the daughter Nine-tails left behind is adding up quickly.

"I'll tear off your limbs and burn them into ashes!" Something pulses from Camilla's direction and her axe suddenly catches on fire , then I notice she is putting a Fire tome away. She slams the ground with it, and a fissure of flames spreads from it, instantly roasting no less than three Kitsunes at the same time. She takes a breath afterwards,'Wow…'

Kaden darts around Beruka and I deflect his next pounce with my wings, though I can still feel him clawing into them, I swipe at him with my own hand, but he uses it as a foot hold and jumps off of it and onto my back, he quickly rips into the scales. "Yasei, get down!" I drop and feel Camilla's fire-imbued axe nearly graze me as Kaden is struck with a hampering blow from my big sister.

The nine-tails lands next to Jakob, who lands a dagger wound before jumping back to avoid the counterstrike. Selkie follows up and my Butler is left with a rather large wound. 'Gods, these two are seemingly everywhere! Wait…' I quickly look from Jakob to Selena, who is also dealing with Selkie. "They can duplicate?"

Phoenix just seems to notice that as well, "The two ninetails can duplicate!" A tactic which even she didn't seem to take into account. "...never even heard of that trick before…" She mutters.

A Kaden launches a flurry of attacks alongside a Selkie on Selena, causing the red head to stagger back inch by inch. Beruka swoops in and lands a strike on a Selkie before her Wyvern plucks the beast-copy off of the ground and starts digging his talons into the Nine-tails, the beast slowly stops moving… then disappears in a puff of smoke, not a single drop of blood in sight. "Copies don't bleed!" I hear the emotionless Wyvern Rider announce.

Another Selkie charges me, 'No blood spots, copy.' But that does not make her any less of a threat, I fend off a bite with a swing of my tail, before skewering her with a jet of water, another puff of smoke and she is gone. A quick look-over shows only one Selkie, looking far worse for the wear than any of the other copies. "Killing copies injures the main one." I make the third call-out.

"Daddy…" I hear her cry out, "I can't keep playing for much longer…"

The father Nine-tails growls out and Selkie nods before scurrying out of the Hamlet. "Don't pursue!" I hear Phoenix call out, "Keep our attention on the remaining ones." Less than a dozen remain, and I can see the Williams' group have their Beast Killers soaked in blood.

"Don't get cocky, men!" One of the Williams shout, "A cornered beast is the most dangerous one!" A Kaden leaps towards one of the Williams, before weaving between several Beast Killers and ripping into the poacher's… pants? The Nine-tails snags a glass vial from the cloth and dashes back. "Damn it! That's a full Concoction!"

The copy tosses the vial over to the main, who somehow manages to down it without hands, the wounds heal as do all the copies. "Prioritize using tonics over healing spells!" I hear Phoenix call out as the Kadens start another assault. "Shatter them if you have to. We can't afford this beast to keep healing."

One of the Kadens lands on my side and takes a bite out of me, I shift back out of pure pain and slice into its side with Yato. 'Still way too close to my wound.' It leaps again and I deflect the next, my right arm already protesting its use. I impale the copy with a summoned lance, another puff of smoke. There are just two Kadens left. 'So close…' I think as the last of the Kitsunes die off.

"Die…" Beruka says as she lands another axe strike on a copy, but the beast immediately gets back up and rips into her wyvern's neck with practiced ease. The flying beast collapses as another Kaden leaps from behind and his teeth clamp around her neck. 'Gods, no!' A fireball is sent flying towards him, but the shifter positions himself so that it hits Camilla's retainer… before snapping his maw shut, a crunching sound follows as a huge pool of blood forms.

"Damn it." Selena charges the beast alongside Camilla. The copy throws the corpse aside and dodges a sword strike from the red hair, only to get cleaved in half with Camilla's axe. One more…

The final shifter stands across from the rest, he is panting heavily as blood pours from several gashes. "I… refuse to…" He states as he charges Selena, the woman raises her buckler, but the fox leaps off of it and lands on Elise's horse, bringing it down in a single bite. Keaton is on him the next second, before slamming his head onto the ground.

"We won…" William says, "But what about that other one?"

"Keep watch as you travel, she might try to…" Phoenix drops and falls asleep. I turn to see Elise looking away innocently while trying to not-so-subtly put away a Sleep Staff. Tears are streaming from her eyes as she looks over her horse.

She meets my gaze and smiles while blushing, "Elise says sleep." She giggles, even as her eyes continue to water, then turns to the red-haired retainer of Camilla, "I thought you said Sleep Staves don't work on her?"

She shakes her head, her usual frown doubled, "She must be much more worn out than she is letting on for them to work on her…" She adds, quietly, "...dummy."

Keaton nudges me, he is back to his normal form, "Come." He says as he walks towards the leader's unmoving body, the Nine-tails isn't dead, 'He must have just knocked him out.' My mate hefts the other over his left shoulder, and I follow him towards one of the many caves that litter this place. The Wolfskin sort of gently tosses Kaden to the floor, "Hope you worked up an appetite." He says as he rips the clothes off the shifter.

'Don't think about it.' "Of course." I make my way to the other side. "This will be… different." 'Blood, feast.'

I patiently wait for Keaton to start, then a few moments pass and I see he has not bothered to yet, "...armor." He says. 'Are we eating or…' I dismiss the human side and just do as my mate says. He knows what he is doing. Keaton straightens Kaden out before tapping on his head. "Get up." I eagerly wait for my mate, I push my human away further, a side that has caused me nothing but unneeded problems for several days now. 'Feast, claim.'

Soon enough, the shifter awakens, his eyes widen as his meets Keaton's. He growls, "It took you…" The shifter gasps as Keaton's grip on him became stronger.

"The only sounds you'll be making are your dying breaths." My body warms at my mate's declaration, "I want to hear you whimper and beg… I want to see you weakly thrash for your life." His face gets closer to him, "Because you will make for the best kill yet, Kitsune." Keaton loosens his grip some and parts some of Kaden's fur on his neck with his other hand. Then he looks at me, "Bite, drink his blood until his pulse stops, then rip into him and eat."

I nod and move without a second thought. My mouth approaches the Nine-tails' neck and I bite, a small whimper from him follows. At first, I have trouble keeping up with the amount of blood rushing out of the wound, but as his vocal protests die down with his heartbeat, I am able to lap up the excess and drink the rest. I have never felt so disconnected from my human side than right now, with a Shifter dying from my bite. The life finally fades and I rip into his neck, taking the first bite… and I have never had such a wonderful tasting piece of meat before. A huge heat burns through me from it, 'More.' Keaton follows up in the same area as I have taken from, and it continues as such, I took a bite out of the chest area, and Keaton would do the same, nearly mimicking my movements.

Section by section starts to go away as we continue, I am probably eating more than I ever had before. It isn't until Kaden's entire midsection is nearly gone before I have had enough, all that really remains is his ribcage. I pant as I down the latest bite, I don't even have to look to know that my mouth is dripping with blood, I lick up what I can and look at Keaton, his face too, is covered in blood. I feel a warmth overtake me, and I have never felt this heated around him either. I pounce him from the opposite side and pin him to the ground, my mouth quickly finding his. ' Mine , claim.'

My mate growls before forcing us to switch to where I am now being pinned down. His eyes demanding me I stay in place. I comply as I feel him approach me, the heat of his member not far from my own core. I let out a small whimper, a plead for more. He responds by thrusting into me, making the mark the first time. I cry out, but it does not come out anything like what a human would do, the sound is bestial, wild. It continues as such, anything that comes out of my mouth is primal, no coherency. His tempo increases as I wrap my legs around his back side. 'More.'

I am unsure of how much time has passed since the start of this, but I soon feel a hotter warmth enter me as he lets out a howl. His body falls on mine and I am left panting.'Gods, that was so intense.'

"Mine." He growls, yet I don't even have the energy to respond. He bites into my neck, the opposite side of the first time he did it, even the fresh scent of blood from it isn't enough to get me to move.