Kira's lip was torn, and blood was running slowly down her chin. She was huffing as she drew her sword once more. Holding his breath, Stiles brought Lydia's head closer to his chest, willing her not to watch. Scott was stumbling away in the far corner, holding one hand on the wall for balance. Derek was crouching over the unconscious Isaac, a trail of blood on the side of his head, and his shirt torn, revealing healing cuts. He looked beyond tired, but he still knelt there, snarling in the direction of the Kiyohime.
Jackson and Malia, on the other hand, was unconscious, lying on the ground towards the broken desk next to each other. Danny's hand touched his shoulder, causing him to startle, but his eyes never left Kira. Never had he felt more guilt-ridden then he did now. Instead of being able to help out, he was only able to sit on the ground and watch.
She was failing, practically taking an extra beating for all of them. He watched as she fell on her front, the sword bouncing off the ground and out of her hand, stopping a good two feet away from her. The Kiyohime turned around, baring it's teeth and hissing louder than before, as if it were a victorious battle cry. Stiles ducked, holding Lydia closer to him if possible, and turning his body to where he was blocking Lydia.
And then, a disgusting, squishy noise came, accompanied by a loud scream, and the room fell silent. Stiles kept flinching every time he thought something was about to happen. He jumped nearly three feet when a hand tapped him on his back. Danny...his mind supplied him.
Lifting his head up, Stiles blinked a couple of times, not realizing he had shut them in the first place.
Next to him, lying on the floor and staring right at him, was Tori. Her skin was still patterned with snake scales, but other than that, she appeared human. Her hair was an abysmal black, and she was naked, a downside also with werewolf shifting.
Stiles looked away, letting slightly go of Lydia, as Danny stepped over, and laid his worn-out jacked across Tori's body.
"Check." Stiles called out, his eyes trailing back over to where Tori laid dead.
"Here." Lydia said, sitting up and pulling a little away from Stiles's grip.
"Here." Across the room, the word rang out, a coughing fit shortly afterward. Kira sounded completely exhausted, but still she spoke. "Scott?"
"Here, somewhere." Stiles turned to look at his best friend, just as Scott leaned against the battered wall and slid down, spreading his legs out in front of him.
"I have Isaac over here." Derek said next, not letting the silence take over again. "He's unconscious, but his scratches are healing."
"Good, good." Stiles murmured. "Malia? Jackson?"
"They're both unconscious." A voice interrupted. "But they'll be alright by tomorrow." Stiles whipped his head around to see a short, probably 5'3", woman step out of the rooms' shadows and walk to where Malia was lying. The woman bent down and checked her for a pulse. Satisfied she had gotten one, the stood back up. Glancing around the room, Sties noticed the rest were focused in on the woman to, all while moving a little closer to each other.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you guys and more than you already are. My born name is Hotaru, but I now go my Tamotsu. I'm a kitsune, much like your Kira Yukimura here." Tamotsu tapped the sword at her side with her fingers, holding their attention. "I'm not a threat to any of you, but the kiyohime." She had a scowl on her face when she spat out the creature's name.
"It was you?" Derek asked, puzzled.
"It was all of us. I just finished her off. A little more training, Kira, and you would've had her at your mercy. However, you wouldn't have been able to kill her completely. She would've been reborn a few hours after you left." Tamotsu shrugged, standing up and turning to leave.
"Wait!" Kira called out, scrambling to stand up. "I have so many questions, wouldn't you like to come over and eat? I'm sure my mother would love to meet you." As Tamotsu started to turn back around, Derek suddenly cried out in pain, causing a quick shift in attention.
"Derek!" Stiles pulled himself along the floor to his side, trying to get to him as fast as he could. Derek curled up within himself, it looked like he was having a seizure of some sort. A momentous amount of panic and fear flooded Stiles's body. "No, no, no…" He mumbled out, his eyes widening.
"Hold him down." Tamotsu came up behind him and demanded, reaching into a satchel at her side as she did so. "He's been bitten." Stiles tried to keep Derek still, but the strength he had compared to that of Derek's was nothing, and Derek started to thrash even harder. "Quickly now!" Tamotsu shouted at him from behind. In a blurred moment, Kira came up as well as Danny and Jackson, though no one could recall when he had regained consciousness. Lydia grabbed Stiles's arms, and being mindful of his leg, pulled him away.
"No! Lydia, let go of me! Derek!" Stiles struggled, and when he broke out of Lydia's grip, Danny put a hand up and pushed him back.
"I know you want to help at the moment, but get back, Stiles." Danny barked the order at him, before returning his hand to help keep Derek still. Stiles fell down, not noticing the tears running down her face. He felt numb as he watched Derek continue to seize, and he ignored the arms that were pulling him into a hug. His eyes couldn't help but fixate on what was happening.
"He'll be okay. He's going to be fine." Lydia whispered into his ear, putting a hand to his head and doing her best to comfort him.
"What is that?" Stiles managed to choke out when Tomatsu pulled a little red vial from her purse. It wasn't something extraordinary, just a small bottle, like one of the small Danimals bottles, but thinner and a glassy outlook.
"It'll help him." Was all she said as she took out a needle, withdrew some sort of liquid from the vial and plunged the needle into Derek's chest. Stiles cried out as she did so, and some of the others flinched away, but kept holding Derek down. Then time seemed to pause, as a few seconds after, Derek's body stopped moving completely.
"Derek?" Stiles whispered. "Derek, come on. Come on!" His voice was getting progressively louder. Breaking out of Lydia's embrace again, he crawled to his side, the others moving away to let him through. "Derek?" The whispering was back as Stiles cupped Derek's face with hands. In the background, he could hear Kira crying into Scott's shoulder and Danny talking to Jackson about what had happened. "Derek! Don't you do this to me too, you son of a bitch!" He yelled out all of a sudden, his veins lighting on fire from anger. "You said that you'd wait for me, and that you'd do everything for my forgiveness. Don't you remember that?"
"Stiles…" Lydia tried to speak.
"No! He's not dead. He can't be. It's Derek. He doesn't know how to die." Tears blocked Stiles's vision and he blinked them away. A hand touched his shoulder, and Stiles's resolve broke. "He can't-he's not dead. He can't be."
There was a solemn silence in the air, and no one moved.
And then, a gasp for air broke the sullenness, and things were thrown into motion again. Leaning over, Stiles looked Derek up and down, searching for any other major injuries. Behind him, Kira was thanking Tamotsu, who had then informed Kira that she'd very much like to meet a kitsune family. Lydia was hugging Jackson really tight and Danny was laughing at Jackson's flustered attempt to push her off.
"Derek?" Stiles searched Derek's face for a sign of a sort. When his eyes finally opened, Stiles couldn't stop the immediate reaction of bending down and full-out kissing him. Relief had never been such a strong feeling for him as it was now. At one point Derek started kissing back, but Stiles broke away just as quickly as he had begun, and slapped Derek on the face, not risking a punch and damaging his hand. "You jerk!" Wiping away angry tears, Stiles backed away, allowing room for Derek to sit up.
"What happened?"
"You were bit." Tamotsu spoke out. "The venom is lethal to creatures of all kinds, but it just takes longer for it to act in the supernatural." Derek nodded, before a disgusted look appeared on his face.
"What did you give me to drink?"
"Rosemary, cinnamon, ginger and milk thistle. As well as an antivenin."
"How'd you-?"
"Know?" Tamotsu intervened in Jackson's question. "When you live to be four thousand years old, you learn a trick or two. In this case, how to heal wounds from an old friend." She abruptly stood up. "Kira, does tomorrow at six work? I don't want to over-welcome my stay, plus, I have some tricks I would like to show you." Not waiting for Kira's reply, Tamotsu swiftly walked away.
For a second, everyone looked at each other, although Stiles did his best to avoid eye contact with Derek. After the tense atmosphere broke, leaving nothing but relief, they all started helping each other stand up, or try to wake those unconscious. It took a good slap to the jaw to get Isaac to even move, and then a hard packed punch by Danny, finally woke him up. With Malia, it was easier. All Lydia had to do was yank on her hair. Harsh? Yes, but so long as it worked, no one really cared. Liam had woken up from Malia's screech, all confused as to what had happened, but at the time, no one wanted to fill him in.
It took a good half hour for them all to make it back to the cars, Stiles finding out that Lydia had volunteered to drive his Jeep and follow the others, so thankfully, none of them had to go to that terrible motel again.
Derek had instantly gone to his Camaro, which caused Danny to pat Stiles lightly on the shoulder and go take the passenger seat. Liam wasn't too far behind, kind of following Danny like a lost puppy, and in a way, it reminded Stiles of how Isaac use to follow Scott everywhere to get a sense of belonging in Scott's pack.
As Jackson and Lydia were saying goodbye, Malia gave him a tight hug, clinging unto him for a few seconds before releasing and taking a step away. She gave him a soft smile, and nodded to herself, turning away from him and getting into Jackson's car.
"Lydia, I can drive." He protested, turning around to face the redhead and holding his hand out for the keys she had somehow stole out of his pocket.
"Like hell you are." She snatched his keys away from his reach and pointed, with her other hand, towards the jeep's passenger seat. "Isaac, you get in back too." Lydia ordered, not even looking back at the other beaten up teen.
Hey guys. I know I was gone for a while.
But school is out in 2.5 weeks and then I'm back to (hopefully) weekly updates.
What did you guys think about these two chapters? What do you think of Tamotsu? What do you think Lydia and Stiles talked about?
What about that kiss that Stiles and Derek had there for a moment? Any predictions?
Thank you so much for reading guys, and for sticking with this story despite how terrible I am at updating.
See you soon...