Gah, dissertation work makes me not want to do anything.

At first glance Beacon Hills was a normal town. Normal became less normal with the unusually high number of 'animal' attacks and deaths in the last few months. Laura just shrugged it off as coincidence with that smug tone and gave her an address and said she expected them to stay for at least a few months. Neither Shinobi felt like arguing with her, it would be fruitless in the end.

As Max drove into the town, with the music blaring so loud that Itachi didn't even bother trying to talk to her, a feeling settled into her stomach. It had some familiarity but she couldn't place it yet.

Eventually she pulled into the driveway of the house Laura had so kindly bought for them and killed the engine, the sudden silence swamped them. Max glanced at Itachi and saw him about to speak and interrupted by opening her door and getting out. They were not going to have any sort of meaningful conversation in her nice new car. Her Mustang was still with her brother and she was unlikely to need it back unless she returned to DC. Instead she had a nice silver Aston Martin Vanquish which was her new baby and she did not want to mar with arguments inside it.

By the time she'd reached the door with the right key in hand Itachi was by her side. He'd taken the hint that she didn't want to talk to him yet and so was just watching her with the traditional blank look. This was going to be interesting Max thought as she opened the door, briefly turning back to lock her car. Out of habit they both swiftly moved through the house, scoping out the rooms to get an idea of where everything was. It was much bigger than they needed, several bedrooms more that they needed. Max decided she didn't want to look to far into it.

They met up again in the living room where Max looked thoughtful for a second before sniggering a bit. Itachi shot her a questioning look, unsure if she would cut him off again if he vocalised his question.

"Laura gets us a nice 40 inch TV, pulls out all the stops for furnishings but there isn't a drop of alcohol in this house."

"You aren't legally allowed to drink in this country." Itachi commented trying to sound light hearted, they both knew that Max didn't care about legal drinking ages. "She wants us to pretend to be normal for a few months and if you get caught drunk and underage she will be pissed."

"I guess that means no speeding either, or the occasional mission," Max pouted flinging herself onto the sofa. "How are we going to be normal? Nothing about us will ever be normal. We kill people for a living."

"I think killing people is actually one of the more normal things we do." He had a point. "If you want I'll go to the store and get you a drink." Max rolled over to look at him critically. "Just try to be sensible with it." He was holding out a compromise. Max could easily get her own booze but Itachi was showing her wanted to look out for her but wasn't going to stop her. Laura really did give him a good talking to. Max fished out her keys and tossed them over.

"If I'm not here when you get back then I'll be scouting out the area." It was her own compromise, she was letting him know about her plans instead of her just disappearing, but she was still doing it on her own.

The woods reminded Max of Konoha, except with more hills and less sturdy trees. She'd sent out some clones to cover the town but being in the woods was increasing that gut feeling and she wanted to personally find out why.

It felt good to be running amongst the trees again, feeling the local wildlife scattering as she bounded through the undergrowth with barely a sound. If she wanted she could go fully silent but there was not point right now, she wasn't hunting.

There was a shift in the rhythm of the forest that Max had been enjoying. Something was traveling towards her. She could immediately tell it wasn't Itachi. As much as she wouldn't mind leading the pursuer in a merry chase she wanted to get a scope of what was around. She jumped into one of the trees to wait.

Not long later a man slowed to a jog into the area, stopping near the tree Max was lounging in. Now he was closer, and fairly still, Max examined him. She sighed when she realised what he was, knowing he would figure out where she was when he finally bothered to look up. People really didn't bother looking up though. Eyes pierced into her as she gracefully dropped down.

"I thought there were no wolves in California." Max commented with a smirk. It was returned with a scowl and a flash of red eyes. "An Alpha, I'm honoured." Max had really read up after Forks on the supernatural, her education at Hogwarts was mediocre at best. Though she'd found it had been for the best that Forks was destroyed or at least the Cullen house, there was no way of knowing how far their influence had spread what with one of them working at the hospital.

"Who are you?" Max simply laughed, she was so many things to so many people.

"Don't worry about me, I have no bad intentions towards you or your pack. I'm simply here on vacation."

"That didn't answer my question."

"It's the only answer you're going to get." From the way he was growling and tensing Max would have had to be blind to think he wouldn't attack her. She contemplated how badly she should defeat him, what was the right amount so it didn't look too easy but didn't hurt him too badly? She saw claws flick out seconds before he charged at her.

It was laughably easy how she took him down. He was persistent and had healing on his side but Max outclassed him, everything was telegraphed and fancy flips with the Alpha. With training he'd possibly be able to challenge her, in taijustu only though, and only because of werewolf speed and strength. Eventually she got bored and pinned him with a kunai to his throat.

"What's your name Alpha?" She got a defiant glare in response. "Look dude, all I want is your name. Don't make me hunt down your pack to find it." Max hadn't wanted to threaten his pack but it worked.

"Derek."

"Do you come with a last name?"

"Hale."

"How painful was that?" Max asked getting off the guy and offering out a hand. Naturally it was ignored and Max found herself being shoved up against a tree with claws to her throat. She may have pissed him off a bit but she did like to indulge her masochistic side on occasion.

"Very."

"Oh you do have a sense of humour." Max felt the claws press harder against her skin. "Your secret's safe with me."

"I told you my name, now tell me yours." Max debated with herself for a bit, it wouldn't hurt and would hopefully convey cooperation. Laura would not be happy if they had to leave prematurely even if it was due to a werewolf feud.

"Max Hakie."

"Do you have any form of self-preservation Max?" The claws broke skin.

"No, haven't for a while."

"I could kill you now."

"You think so? I spend five minutes toying with you, I could kill you before you could do anything even vaguely fatal. You've never seen anything like me so it would be a good idea not to underestimate me." Max decided to demonstrate her point and kicked the werewolf away, breaking the wrist that had been holding her throat in the process. Having been held by his wrist, Derek didn't get far and was slammed into the ground with Max's assistance. "I suggest you avoid me until I leave. If you attack me again then I will not be as lenient."

For dramatic effect Max shushined away, she would send clones to finish the job. Werewolves explained some of her gut feeling but she suspected there was more to it. Now she was going to fill Itachi in on werewolves, there were something's he would need to know to look out for in case Alpha Hale felt that he was a weak link. That in itself was laughable but she also wanted to make sure Itachi didn't kill him or his pack without a good reason.

"Wasn't one of your teachers a werewolf?" Itachi questioned as they sat watching the ice hockey with a tumbler of whiskey each. There were a few empty pizza boxes balanced on the coffee table. Neither of them wanted to cook yet, not until they checked to food. Max knew that Laura wouldn't but who knew if the others had gotten their hands on it. Interfering kids.

"Magical werewolves are different, they have less control because of the chaotic nature of magic and its interaction with the bite. This kind have more control and different dynamic, magical weres don't have alphas or betas, they all count as alphas because of magic, they can all bite to change." That talk in La Push had been informative and useful after all. They sat in silence for a bit, watching the game.

"Laura knew didn't she? Quiet town my arse," Itachi muttered getting a small laugh from Max.

"I guess she knew one of us would go batshit if it was truly quiet."

"One of us? I'm the normal one."

"True enough. Well as the abnormal one, I am going to nap so I can creep out the friendly neighbourhood weres tomorrow."

Max had reached the top of the stairs before she realised they hadn't discussed sleeping arrangements. Normally while they were on the same side they would sleep in the same bed, but everything was a bit raw and she didn't know if she wanted to yet.

Making her decision she walked towards the second bedroom, that should make it clear what she intended for when Itachi went to bed. Stowing weapons for easy access, she climbed into bed and curled up, waiting for the tension to leave so she could sleep. Maybe they should have had that talk before she went to bed, her mind would not stop thinking about every possible scenario that could happen. She wasn't even entirely sure what the talk would be about, sure they'd messed up but it was from a long line of small things that were one-offs.

Eventually she dropped off into a light sleep, she wasn't sure how well Laura had protected the house, she would call in the morning.

Waking up to the smell of frying bacon was very much a rarity in Max's life. Getting dressed, she headed to the kitchen where there were two plates set out, each with a bacon sandwich. Itachi noticed her enter, turning from the sink and gestured to the plates.

"Eat." He phrased it as a suggestion, obviously taking Laura's comments to heart. Max hesitated, trying to ground the insecurities buzzing around her head. "It's just breakfast, don't over think it."

The bacon sandwich was good, Max wondered why she'd been living off rations and fast food when this was an option, stopping her thoughts before it answered her own rhetorical question.

"I'm heading over to the sheriff's office to make my presence known." Max stated putting the dish into the sink. "You can come with me if you want?"

"I was going to check out the woods for myself, I'll avoid the weres though, keep that element of surprise."

"Be careful, I don't know how big the pack is, their alpha seems a bit clueless though, probably hasn't been an alpha more than about half a year. The rest are unknown, though a normal pack has at least three betas." Itachi nodded. "They also have Naruto like healing powers."

"How come you don't have something like that? Gaara has his sand to defend himself, Naruto heals ridiculously fast. You don't have a survival mechanism." Itachi asked as they left the house.

"We don't exactly know if the others do too, maybe they are the exceptions. Well, Gaara has the sand because the seal is faulty, but Naruto might be the only one to have something that strong." Max explained, she got into her car, making sure Itachi was out of the way before driving off. It felt odd to be driving around, normal speed in a suburban area. Laura was mental when she thought this life was for either of them. At the very least she wanted her bike, but she'd have to engineer the acquisition. Suburbs in the US tended to hold nosy people.

The Sheriffs office was a simple building, Max was resisting the urge to wander off and do anything else, she could tell this would be tedious. Before the urge because action Max entered the building.

"I'm here to see the Sheriff," she told the lady at the front desk.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"I have this, it should count." Max handed over her ID, the one that gave her free reign over most law enforcement, both common and secret. The woman took the ID and eyed it sceptically as she picked up the phone in front of her. Max leant on the desk to wait, staring at the various posters and flyers littering the wall.

"Miss Hakie?" Max automatically turned to the voice, immediately noting that it was the sheriff for future reference. Her ID was put into her hand before she was beckoned to follow the man. "I believe we have something of yours." Max frowned, Itachi had literally not had enough time to get arrested in this town. She was ignoring the Laura sounding laughter in her head.

The laughter only got louder when she was lead to the holding cells. The extra rooms in the house were seeming a bit more deliberate.

"Max." It could have been worse, Max thought as a certain Norse god casually reclined in one of the cells, looking like he had chosen to be there. "Your brother was assigned to a boat and so unless you want custody to pass to undesirable agencies, I was sent here by your friend. Laura is a delightful woman."

Still not the worst situation.

I watched all of Teen Wolf over a few weeks. It reminded me of Buffy The Vampire Slayer but with more high school romance (which I skipped over). The beta forms are actually so bad they're hilarious.

Updates might get more regular after I finish uni, but I'm still splitting my writing time between this and my story on AO3. (This is still my main baby)