Stiles flung the loft door open in a fury and stormed over to one of the couches, crossing his arms before sitting down on it. Scott followed after, stopping in the doorway for a second, and just staring at his fuming best friend. The entire car ride back, there had been an intense atmosphere, where even Lydia had done her best not to talk.

"Stiles," Scott began, taking a step forward. Stiles jumped back up to his feet and started to pace the floor.

"We almost had her, Scott!"

"Who's her? Stiles you have to talk! We only got there at the last second. Any longer and you would've been snake chow!" He argued back, moving closer to Stiles. However, Lydia brushed past him, put her hands on Stiles's shoulders, only for her hands to be angrily pushed off.

"Her? You didn't see that...that...that bitch." Stiles threw his hands up in the air and stomped away from the two into the kitchen, completely ignoring Derek having to side-step, because when the hell did he come into the loft. He grabbed one of the dirty dishes on the counter, turned on the sink, and started scrubbing away at the food grit. Quickly he finished, shoved the plate at the person who came to stand next to him, and grabbed another without looking. "Ow!" Stiles cried out, his finger going to his mouth immediately, blocking the stream of profanities he wanted to say.

"Let me see." The person next to him demanded, taking his hand out of his mouth and inspecting it.

"It's fine…Derek." Stiles gulped and after seeing the worry in Derek's eyes, his resolve broke, not even trying to fight for his hand back. Sighing, Stiles let Derek inspect the cut on his pointer finger. It had gone extremely quiet, but Stiles didn't seem to notice as he just stared into Derek's green eyes, that just seemed to be staring right back. Unconsciously, he licked his lips and parted them a little in a small 'o' shape. He wasn't even paying attention to his bleeding finger anymore and ended up startling himself when he made a small noise when Derek put his finger in his mouth. But for some reason, Stiles couldn't find it disgusting when Derek's tongue trailed over his finger.

When Derek released his grip on Stiles's wrist, Stiles pulled away and forced his eyes down. The cut on his finger had healed, completely and one-hundred percent healed, not even a scar. "Wha-?" The question was on his tongue.

"It's a trick I found out this summer." Derek quickly responded, visibly retreating within himself and backing up a step. "Anyways, are you calm now? We should probably call a pack meeting for tomorrow." Before Stiles could properly think, he found himself nodding.

"Yeah, until tomorrow." He said, stepping away from Derek and rushing past Lydia and Scott, ignoring Scott's open mouth of protest. Practically running down the stairs to his jeep, Stiles quickly sat in the drivers seat, only to sit there. What just happened?

Stiles took note of the desk next to him in English class, which was empty. Normally he wouldn't care, but seeing as it was Isaac's designated spot, Stiles became fidgety at the sight. Part of him wanted to leave right at the moment to go off to find him, yet he knew he couldn't just stand up and leave without his father hearing about it.

Sighing, Stiles crossed his arms and leaned back, tapping his right foot while he was at it.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Stilinski?" The teacher's nasally voice interrupted his thoughts.

"No, no problem." Besides Isaac being missing.

"Then I suggest you uncross your arms and stop your sighing. It's rude and distracting." The teacher shot a look at him before turning around and continue teaching about a computer program called Grammerly, and how much it would help them improve their writing. There was an interruption though, as Isaac came in. Quickly, Stiles took Isaac's appearance in.

He looked a little ashen in colour,with dark circles under his eyes. And Stiles felt absolutely terrible, at the skeleton-like look that was coming off of Isaac. It even looked as if there had been some muscle mass loss. "Rough night?" He questioned, voice full of empathy, when Isaac sat down.

"Kind of." Isaac shrugged at him, pulling out his English notebook., "I might've slept on my neck wrong but other than that, I'm good." He turned away and began talking to Tori, a wide smile on his face. Stiles felt a dark glare appear on his face, with thoughts that both terrified him and pleased him. Forcing himself to pay attention to the words tumbling out of his teacher's mouth, Stiles squirmed around in his chair for a comfortable position that allowed him to keep an eye on Tori.

And for the rest of the day, Stiles kept a keen watch on the...whatever she is, taking careful and detail notes inside his mind about every move she made.

Scott pulled his black and green helmet over his head, leaving the screen up to help him see his phone's keyboard easier.

To Isaac:

Pack meting. B there in 5?

From Isaac:

going to hotel with Tori :) See ya guys Mon.

To Isaac:

Which hotel?

From Isaac:

It's a surprise. She said she's takin me there.

To Isaac:

K. Have fun! I'll let the others no.

Tucking his phone into his backpack, Scott shut the helmet's screen, and revved up his motorcycles engine.

"Where's Isaac?" Derek narrowed his eyes, staring around the room searching for the familiar blonde curls.

"Oh!" Scott exclaimed. "He's with Tori at the moment. I got a text as I was leaving my house." Stiles started to panic, ignoring his heart rate increasing.

"Well." Out of the corner of his eye, Stiles saw Lydia flip her hair over her shoulder. "Let's get to why we came here. Kira?"

"Oh, right!" Kira startled, as if she forgot that she had something to share. "I found this." She held up a book, one that looked extremely old and that had dust on it's evergreen colour cover that appeared to be there permanently. Contrasting everyone else's faces, she appeared to be really excited. Stiles's interests were piqued, however his worry for Isaac was raising as every second went by. "The book is from my great-great-grandmother, who got it from her mother. It's a family book all about the creatures of Japan and anything they've ever met."

"A family book of monsters?" Malia questioned.

"Exactly." Nodding, Kira carefully opened it to a bookmarked page. "I told my mother about what was happening, and she pulled this out. We went through it together, and we had more things bookmarked, but this seemed like the only possibility after the snake scales showed up."

"You know what we're up against?" Derek's voice was full of hope. Everyone in that moment, seemed to lean forward, eager to know more. Stiles himself, leaned on his knees with his chin on the top of his knuckles.

"Kiyohime." Kira repeated, "My mom said it's an ancient creature, and there's only a handful still living."

"I feel a story coming up." Stiles grinned, nodding at her to continue, and snuggling more into the couches arm, with Malia leaning against him. The others did the same and as the shuffling died down, it grew silent in anticipation of the tale.

"It started with a woman loving a rich, married man." Kira began, leaning forward and clasping her hands together on top of her knees, while somehow still holding onto the book." They would have secret meetings together, and after a year of doing so, she asked him to run away with her, believing completely that they were soul mates. But he disagreed, and was angered by her suggestion, and she realized that she was just a pawn to be played with; that he never truly loved her the way she him." She paused for a minute, as if recalling more.

That night, as they were departing for the last time, he stabbed her, not wanting his own reputation as leader of the village to be ruined, and after he left, she lay dying, bleeding out among the moonlit grass. As she was about to die, a witch appeared to her with wild white hair and pale white eyes. The witch talked to the woman and offered her a deal. In exchange for lasting life, the woman would be turned into something terrible, but only at night where the moon shines. The woman agreed, vengeance upon her heart, and the deal was sealed as she drew in a shaky last breath."

"How stupid…" Liam muttered under his breath, receiving several glares and putting his hands up in defense.

"A terrible hissing noise plagued the villagers, that same night, causing a restlessness and turning dreams into nightmares. The next day, the woman was back at her own work as a laundry assistant, the blood on her clothes gone and no mark of where the knife would've penetrated her skin. To the villagers, it was just a normal day but when the man came to town and realized that she had not died, he panicked ordered her to be killed. But she had ran into the Forest of Yami.

With the moon once again rising, the man had set up a guard to protect his wife and home, as well as his two children, an eight-year-old boy and two-year-old daughter. They were no match for when she came, for to complete the curse, the woman had to kill that which caused her suffering. She slayed the guards, and killed the wife, keeping hidden with the children until the man came back home and saw the destruction. In anguish, he came at her with a burning katana, to which she shied away from, for fire was the only weakness she was to have.

In retaliation, she snapped the neck of the son, and after a split second of thought, bit into the daughter's neck. Overwhelmed, the man accepted his fate, and the next day, was stuck on a stick for all to see.

The story isn't over though. The bite to the daughter's neck healed, and in turn, the kitsune was born, a firefox, and she burned down the house, and the bodies in it, and was deemed the protector of the village. As the sun rose up, the snake skin tore away, revealing the human in her again, and she fled. But because she had failed in kill all those responsible, the deal came with a curse that she would forever feed off that which she felt for the man...unrequited love."

After the last word was uttered, they all sat quietly for a minute, thinking and contemplating the idea.

"So how does one become a Kiyo-Kiyohem?" Scott struggled with the word, like it was a terrible taste out of something he just ate.

"Kiyohime." Lydia corrected him.

"I'm not sure. It's in some form of ancient Japanese I can't read." Kira furrowed her eyebrows, and flipped the book over in her hands. "My mom was helping me to translate some of it."

"So how'd you know the story?" The question was voiced from behind them all, near the spiral staircase. In shock, the group watched as Peter emerged from the shadows. "It was a very enticing story, don't even bother denying it. But if you can't read that book," Peter pointed to it, "how on earth could you know the story?" As Kira opened her mouth and Derek stood up, Peter put up both of his hands. "It's just a point, unless…" He trailed off, looking thoughtfully at Kira.

"Unless what?" Stiles bit out.

"Unless you're related to the firefox that was turned, which in case, she's actually after your family, Kira, and that's why you know. The story has been passed down." The air was suddenly filled with such a tenseness that it couldn't be cut with a red hot butter knife.

"Every firefox is." Kira slowly spoke. "And I know the story because, yes, it has been handed down. I didn't know it before yesterday, though."

"Ah, so the daughter was the first kiyohime, the very first of your kind." Peter hummed.

"Yes, but you can become a firefox in different ways." Some of the strained air left the room at Kira's statement.

"I'm sure, but are you a direct descendant?" When Peter took a step forward, Scott gave off a growl.

"Peter," Lydia snapped out at the older man, " at least we know we have a way to kill this thing." Peter shrugged his shoulders, and took a step back into the shadows that, in all irony, showed just how trustworthy the man really was.

"I wish you the best of luck then." Then, he disappeared up the spiral staircase, leaving the rest of them glaring at the spot he was just at.

A long moment of silence passed, before Stiles decided to speak up.

"It's Tori." He said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. "And now she had Isaac all by herself, who knows where."

"Listen, Stiles." Lydia tried, her attention now facing him. "We know you don't like her but-"

"But nothing. I saw her the other night. She was there."

"She's a really lovely girl though." Kira argued.

"No, she's not. Why don't you guys see it?" Stiles's voice softened, and hurt was evident in the question. Scott shifted uncomfortably under Stiles's gaze, and Lydia looked away. Kira's mouth hung open but she closed it and chose to stare at something else. The others didn't look as if they knew where to stand. "Fine." He said in-between his teeth. "I'm going to go save Isaac while you guys sit on your asses. I'm not letting him die." Turning on his heel, Stiles opened the loft door a crack.

"I'll go with you." Stiles quickly looked back to see Derek grabbing his jacket off a nearby chair. "If you think Isaac's in trouble," Derek stared directly at Stiles, "then I'm helping."

"I'll help too." Malia stood up suddenly, and Liam followed. Nodding, Stiles glared at the rest.

"Feel free to follow." And then he left, hearing the footsteps behind him.

See next chapter for Author's comments :)