I totally lied about waiting a week to post the next chapter, I became way too impatient and also the first one was a little slow so I wanted to give ya'll something better. A little friendly Marrish in this one, as well as some weird bonding and Lydia/Kira feels.

Lydia felt and looked undoubtedly better after a lengthy shower, although her lack of sleep still presented itself on her features. The bags under her eyes were more prominent, despite her little nap, due to the remnants of her make up having been washed off. Her hands shook, just a slight quivering, but enough that she worried someone might notice.

Despite all that, she forgoed her usual routine of hair and makeup, leaving with her hair still damp, Bestiary in hand. As she slid into the driver's seat of her car, she made a silent decision to make just one stop before going to the Sheriff's station.

While Lydia had never formally asked Kira for her address, the know-it-all liked to do just that, know it all. And she had her ways of course.

Pulling up in front of the Yukimura household, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when only Kira's mother's car sat in the driveway. One parent was easier to tackle than two, especially parents as protective as Kira's.

Lydia had barely finished knocking when the front door was opened by the elder Kistune, not the one the redhead had come to see. Ignoring formalities, she blurted out; "Is Kira home?"

Mrs. Yukimura raised one of her quizzical brows, but opened the door further to allow Lydia entry. "No.. She is at school. Where I imagine you are supposed to be, Lydia. What has brought you here?"

Giving the woman a guilty look, she stepped inside. "I.. Overslept. I thought Kira might be home, because, well.. She looked a little- I just wanted to check on her."

"That is very kind of you Lydia. I hope you don't take offense in my saying, but I was not aware the two of you were so close."

That caused Lydia to pause. When had Kira become one of the first people she checked on? Since Allison, that had generally been Scott or Stiles. Her friendship with Kira was complicated, because every time she felt herself get closer to young kitsune, she felt irrationally guilty. She could never replace Allison, not with anyone, and that was obviously not her intention. But it felt like betraying her. It was hard not to like Kira, though. Despite the notorious reputation of the fox, she was a loyal and trustworthy person. "Neither was I."

Mrs. Yukimura didn't seem at all bothered by her response, giving an unexpected and warm smile. Her keen eyes, however, followed Lydia's shaking hand as it moved to tuck a bit of hair behind her ear. "Would you like something to eat, Lydia? I was about to make myself an early lunch."

"Oh, that's fine Mrs. Yukimura, you don't have to-"

"I know I don't. But I wouldn't mind the company, honestly. It can be a little lonely when Kira and her father both run off to school together. And I generally go by Noshiko."

"Thank you."

Several hours later, Lydia was still at the Yukimura's, only now seated on a stool at their fairly large breakfast bar. The ofference of food had been extended into a full on cooking lesson, Lydia's first. They had long since finished with their meal, however, the conversation kept flowing. Noshiko had asked her many questions about her family, her life, and how she had discovered she was a banshee. Lydia had been surprised by her friendliness, and guessed her aversion to other supernaturals was mainly targeted at werewolves. It was surprisingly easy for Lydia to open up to her, far easier than it was to talk to her own mother. Probably because she didn't have to hide anything. Recently, Lydia had turned the conversation around, her eagerness to learn fueling her curiosity.

"You know, in all my years I have only ever met two other wailing women."

Lydia grew quiet at that. Noshiko had seemed to know the question she wanted to ask the most before she'd even had the chance to. "What were they like?"

Noshiko smiled, rotating her mug between her palms. "I didn't know either of them particularly well, the second less than the first." Lydia stilled, hanging on her every word. "The first I met a long, long time ago. Long before even Oak Creek. She was a young girl, younger than yourself. So full of life, she was. Always happy, always willing to help anyone who needed it. Her light faded somewhat, however, after her first scream. From what I understand it hit rather close to home." Lydia pursed her lips, knowing a thing or two about screams hitting close to home. "The second was an older woman. She didn't really know what she was, just that she was.. Something."

Her brown eyes widened. Stiles had said something eerily similar about Lydia, before the Durach had given her a name for what she was.

She was about to ask Noshiko more about the second woman, when they both turned to the sound of the front door opening. "Mom?"

"In here, Kira. You have a visitor."

Lydia smiled as Kira rounded the corner. "Lydia! I thought that was your car. Are you okay? Is everything okay?" Keen eyes, just like her mother's, darted nervously between the pair seated at the breakfast bar. Lydia, felt as though she had been punched in the gut, and her smile faltered. It came with being a harbinger of death, no one was overly pleased to see you.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. We didn't get to talk much last.. The last time I saw you." She glanced nervously at Noshiko, not knowing how well informed her mother was of recent events.

Kira smiled, obviously relieved. "I'm.." Her gaze followed Lydia's. "Okay."

Taking the hint, Noshiko stood. "I'll leave you two girls to talk." Pausing on her way out of the kitchen to plant a small kiss on Kira's forehead, she looked back to Lydia. "It was lovely speaking with you."

"You too. Thank you for lunch!"

Kira looked understandably confused as her mother walked out. "Lunch?"

Lydia gave her a moderately guilty smile. "I've been here a while. Your mom is pretty great, actually."

Kira shrugged, looking mildly uncomfortable. "It's been kind of difficult, since everything came out. I mean, I don't hate her or anything, she's still my mom. I felt like.. Like they were completely different people. Different parents than the ones I had grown up with. But, I mean, it's gotten better. It's just weird, you know? Kitsunes, werewolves, banshees.."

And whatever the hell Parrish is.

"So, about Mexico.. Is there anything you need to talk about?"

Kira bit her lip, a hand moving to rest in the pocket of her jeans. "Like what?"

"Oh I don't know, anything that might have happened while Scott was transformed into a skeleton wearing, crazy, killing machine?" Kira looked down, seeming unwilling to talk about whatever had happened. "Kira." She looked up. "You can talk to me. About anything."

".. Kate made him.. She wanted to test his loyalty, or her hold over him or whatever. She made him.."

As her friend was obviously unable to say it out loud, Lydia took the liberty of assuming Kira had taken a beating at the hands of their resident golden boy. "You know it wasn't really him, right? Scott would never hurt you. Not any of us."

"I know, I know. I'm not mad at him, or afraid.. He's taking it pretty hard though. Like every time he looks at me it's like he's going to be sick. With Liam too, he almost strangled him. I'm just worried.. Things won't be the same anymore."

"He'll need time. Scott always needs time, he's not great at getting over things. And if he hurt you guys, it'll take a little extra. Just be there. Know he can talk to you. Don't tiptoe around him, or he will think you're afraid. You will be fine, Kira. I promise." Lydia wondered if she would feel guilty comforting Kira about Scott if things had been different with him and Allison when she.. Lydia wondered if she should feel guilty. But really, she knew this is what Allison would want. She'd be here, doing it herself, doing her very best to keep them together because Kira made Scott happy. And that's what Allison always wanted, the people she loved to be happy.

"Thank you, Lydia. It's just… I still don't know what to do half the time. I'm knew to all of this. I've never had friends like you guys. I've also never been a Kitsune before- Although, I guess, technically I always was. I just didn't know it. Or, was I sort of awakened like you? See, I don't even know how to explain-"

"Kira, it's okay."

The dark haired girl fidgeted, her hands stuck awkwardly in her pocket before she finally pulled it out, a dark object resting in her palm.

"Is that obsidian?" Kira nodded. "An obsidian.. Throwing star?"

"It's a tail." Brown eyes darted up to meet black. "My first."

"Kira, that's incredible. How?"

"I think it means I'm getting stronger. Or, learning. In Mexico, I.. I finally learned how to heal. It's not easy, or all that fun, but I can do it." Kira practically radiated pride as she spoke, her inner fox showing.

"Your mother must be very proud."

She nodded. "She's the one who made me understand what it was, this morning at school. Moments like those I'm glad she's a nine-hundred year old Kitsune."

Lydia just beamed, not knowing what else to say, and eventually the silence between them grew some what awkward. It grew until it was almost deafening in her ears, and she couldn't take it anymore. "I should go."

"Okay."

More awkward silence. Kira's turn.

"It was nice seeing you. Thanks for checking on me."

"No problem."

Lydia arrived at the station much later than she had intended. She had no way of knowing if Parrish was even there, having no knowledge of his personal vehicle, or if he would have time to talk. She'd never really sought him out before. They always seemed to find one another, and always in the oddest of places.

Like the wendigo house, or the day at the cemetery, when she'd told him about Allison.

Lydia wasn't sure why, or how, she had come to be at the cemetery. It wasn't one of her fugue states, no, but almost like her feet had taken her there without explicitly asking permission first. She did, however, know who they'd brought her to see.

The ground crunched underfoot as the redhead tramped between grave stones. It had been too long since Lydia had come here, and the guilt began to rise in her chest. Just one more way in which she had failed her best friend.

As she drew closer to that particular headstone, she noted a marginally familiar male figure stand with his back to her a little ways off. She wasn't particularly bothered to figure out who it was, since living in the same place her entire life had provided an ounce of familiarity with just about everyone's backs.

She put no effort into identifying them as she fell to her knees, having finally reached the spot her feet had been headed. Her long, pale fingers traced the letters carved into stone, lips pursing before she choked out a single word. "Ally." Most people would say it had been long enough since the death of the young girl that the sharp, cutting pain Lydia felt should have begun to fade to a sort of dull ache. But most people hadn't felt Allison die. Most people hadn't felt the brilliant light that was allison's life leave her body through a deep stab wound in her abdomen. Most people hadn't felt the cut of the Oni's blade, or Allison's terror as blood crept into her lungs. Her grief as she realized everything and everyone she would be leaving behind. And finally, the perverted version of peace she managed to give herself before she took her last breath.

Most people would have also had a proper time to grieve. Whereas Lydia had been shoved into another spiral of mysterious events, being forced to hit the ground running without so much as a brief pause. Every day, every danger made Lydia miss her best friend even more.

The young woman didn't realize she had begun to cry until a soft voice dragged her from her daze.

"Lydia?"

Brown eyes met green as Lydia's head whipped around in the direction of the voice.

"Deputy Parrish?" His civilian clothes would explain why she'd barely recognized him, and even with him standing just a few feet away it had taken a moment for it to register.

"Are you alr- Really, really stupid question to ask someone who's crying in a cemetery." He stepped forward, kneeling down next to her. "I guess it's become somewhat of a habit."

"What, meeting in strange places?"

"Well, that. And checking on you."

She gave a small smile through her tears, and the pair grew quiet for a moment as they simultaneously turned to look at the headstone.

"Argent.. Isn't that the girl who.. Oh." For a skilled Deputy, he wasn't always the brightest. 'I'm worth five dollars?!"came to mind, and she nearly cr-p =acked an inappropriately timed smile. "I should have figured there was more to it, but with all the unusual deaths in Beacon Hills, a carjacking wrong, it.."

"It's okay. That's how it was supposed to be. Swept under the rug.." She could feel the Deputy's eyes on her, but kept her own on Ally's stone.

"You knew her?"

Lydia had almost forgotten exactly how much Parrish didn't know. "She was my best friend. And… I was there." She finally turned to meet his gaze, those green eyes of his so full of concern. "It wasn't a carjacking gone wrong. Allison was… killed, fighting off the Oni. They're sort of like.. Body guards, an extension of a Kitsune created when a Kitsune forms a tail, I think. I don't know exactly how that works, but.." Lydia did her best to explain it all to Parrish as she told him everything that had happened. Trying to find out who the Nogitsune was. Everything that had happened while Stiles was possessed leading up to Ally's death. He listened, fully attentive. She was sure he had to be curious, what with having just discovered he himself was a supernatural being via being burned alive. However, he didn't ask any questions, until she reached the point of Allison's death and became hesitant.

"You know when people are going to die, or are in danger of dying. And… You know when they do die. How do you know, Lydia?"

The girl took a deep breath through her nose, pressing her eyelids and lips together before finding her voice. "I feel it, when they die. I felt her die. Every… Last… Second." She didn't look at him, didn't want to see his reaction. Pity, maybe even disgust were what she expected.

"How do you do it?" She looked to him, and her own confused expression was met with one of… Awe? Admiration? "I don't think I've ever met someone with strength like yours, Lydia." She remained frozen as one of his hands found her shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. "You're extraordinary. I'm sure Allison would be very proud of you." He didn't say it like it was just something that you said. He said it like it was the most honest thing he could think of to say.

"She was amazing. So kind, something I've never been good at." Parrish looked like he wanted to disagree, but didn't interrupt. "She had this extraordinary moral compass. She was just so good, ya know. Kind of like Scott." Pausing, Lydia barely hesitated before adding; "Kind of like you." He looked taken aback at that, but Lydia continued before he could say anything. "Who are you here for?"

"My buddy, from the army. He was how I knew about Beacon Hills. When I got back from my tour, I came by to pay my respects. Then, about a year later I just couldn't get this place out of my head. I had been feeling like I needed a change, so I thought, why not?" At least one good thing had come from the Nemeton.

"How did he die? Was it in action?"

"No, but he probably would have preferred it that way. He was injured, nothing major but enough for an x-ray. They found a tumor, and it turned out to be cancer. They sent him home. It was near the end of the tour, but I still didn't make it back in time."

It was Lydia's turn to comfort, and she placed her hand over his still resting on her arm. "I'm sorry. Were you close?"

His lips formed a thin line as his eyes focused on her hand. "Enough." Blinking several times, he gently slid his hand out from under hers when an appropriate amount of time had passed. "Tell me more about Allison."

So she did, and it gave her an opportunity to talk about Allison in a way she couldn't to someone who had known her. He gave her a chance to grieve, just a sat in the cemetery long enough for the damp grass to stain their clothes, which they laughed about as they walked out together.

Lydia stood in the doorway of the Sheriff's station, staring at the back of Deputy Parrish's head. After watching him for a few minutes, his hunched posture giving away exhaustion, she slowly approached, Bestiary in hand.

"This used to be on a hard drive, but we eventually decided it would be a good idea to have a hard copy around." He turned at the sound of her voice, only looking away to examine the object she had set on his desk. "So we put it in a book."

He looked back to her, curious. "What is it?"

"It's called the Bestiary." She flipped open to the page on Kanimas, a late answer to his question on what they were. "Whatever you are, it might be in here." Sitting next to him now, she gave the Deputy an earnest look. After studying the page for a moment he looked to her, brow knit together in slight confusion. "I'd like to help you figure it out."