...

Chris winces in his seat at his desk as Allison treats a wound on his head. Scott, Y/n, and Isaac sit in front him. The teens had changed clothes from the night before and are listening to Chris as he tells them about his own run in with the oni. "There was something almost ritualistic about it. Like it was looking right into his soul."

"That's the same thing it did to me." Isaac said.

"That's what it did to everyone." Allison corrected.

"Not everyone." Scott pointed out. "They only went after the werewolves."

"And me and Lydia." Y/n added.

"Anyone with a connection to the supernatural." Chris sumarized.

"Then who was the guy they went after in Japan?" Isaac wondered

"A kumicho. A yakuza boss. It was my first gun deal. I was only 18 and it was supposed to be a simple exchange. Except Gerard left out the minor detail of the buyers being yakuza. He wanted to see if I could adapt in the moment. Testing my ability to improvise."

"Or your ability to survive." Allison said.

"The moment the sun went down it was like they just materialized out of the shadows. They had swords, not curved like katanas but straight, black steel. Like ninjatos."

"What did they want?" Scott asked.

"To get to the kumicho. They cut down every living thing in their way."

"Did they mark him like they did us?" Isaac lightly touched the symbol behind his ear.

"Not exactly. They killed him." Chris looked to the silent witch then. "Y/n, you have a connection with spirits and things of that nature. What do you know about them?"

She sighed a bit. "Not much. I only know what's in my grimoire. There's only one or two instances where someone in my line came into contact with them so there's not much. It's only a description really. They're Japanese, they're called oni and they're shadow demons. They're not good or evil, but only follow the will of who controls them. The ones that we saw last night, they were searching for something dark. Something they found in that kumicho apparently."

"What was he?" Scott asked Chris.

"I don't know. But there might be someone who does. There were a few others who survived that night. One of them was a man named Katashi. They called him Silverfinger because of an unusual prosthetic. And it looked like he was getting ready to take them all on himself. I've known for a while that Katashi was in the country. I spent yesterday trying to track him down."

Isaac gestured to the freshly stitched cut on Chris' head. "Didn't look like he wanted to be found."

"Not particularly, no."

"You think he knows what they want?" Scott asked.

"Maybe."

"What if he doesn't want to talk?" Allison wondered.

"What if he doesn't even rememeber you?" Isaac added.

Chris got up and moved to a box at the end of his desk. "He'll remember this." He turned it around and lifted the lid, moving a piece of cloth to reveal an oni's mask that had been broken. He had shot at the oni, shattering the object. "I know I didn't kill it. I'm not sure you can. But I slowed it down long enough for us to get out of there."

Scott picked up a piece and examined it closer. "What was behind the mask?"

"Darkness... Absolute darkness."

...

When Scott and Y/n got to school Stiles found them and immediately started telling them what he had figured out that morning as he led them to the Chemistry classroom. "Y/n mentioned something about phospors and the key having chemicals on it, right? And so that made me think of the Chemistry closest and the fact that someone had to let Barrow in..." He paused in his ramble as he looked at the blackboard that was now wiped clean. "It's gone. Okay, it doesn't matter though." He pulled his keys out and went to the closet. "It doesn't matter. I've still got the key." He fiddled with the keys for a moment, but quickly realized he no longer had the one that went to the closet. "What the hell?" He muttered as he continued to look at them. "I had it... I had it here. I had it here this morning, I swear to God, I had it this morning."

"The key you were talking about last night?"

"Yeah, I showed it to you, right? Didn't I show it to you?"

"No, you just told me about it. I never actually saw it."

Stiles starts to become upset by this information. "Stiles, I saw it. It was there last night." Y/n assured.

He looked at her almost desperately before he went over to the blackboard. "I was here a couple hours ago. And the message left to barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my handwriting. And I had the key to the Chemistry closet."

"So you unlocked the Chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?" Scott repeated to make sure he understood what Stiles was trying to say.

"I know how it sounds... But look at this." He put his keys away and pulled out a crumpled printed article to show them. "This is the news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used. See this? See what he did? He put nuts, bolts, and screws. And then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"

"The joke we played on Coach." Y/n spoke softly as she realized.

"That was my idea. You remember? That was my idea. That's no coincidence. It can't be."

"I don't want it to sound like I'm trying to tell you you're wrong. But I don't think you're trying to kill anyone either." Scott said.

Y/n moved to stand in front of Stiles, moving her head to catch his gaze. "Stiles, whatever is happening, whatever this is, it's not you." Her tone was soft as she looked into his eyes. She spotted the shadow in his eyes again as he frowned and looked at the blackboard again.

"It was here. It was all here."

"Dude, are you feeling okay? You're looking really tired." Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't been... Sleeping really."

Y/n furrowed her brows at that. "Maybe you should go home for the day. Call in sick or something. Maybe see a doctor to help you with sleep?"

Stiles thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah. I think I might do that."

"I'll come with you."

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. I think it'd be better if I went by myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay." She didn't want to leave him alone, but she relented anyways. "Call me later, okay?"

"I will." She pulled him into a hug, giving him a comforting squeeze before they let go and she gave him an assuring smile before he got his stuff and left. Y/n's smile faded as soon as the door closed behind her boyfriend.

Scott put an arm over her shoulder to pull her into a side hug. "He'll be okay." He tried to assure.

"Yeah." But she didn't really believe that. She had a feeling that something more was going on with Stiles, something just under the surface that was hiding from her view. She had a sneaking suspiscion of what it could be, but she wasn't sure. That, and she really didn't want to believe it could be true.

She follows Scott down the halls when the twins flank him again. He was supposed to have told Stiles what happened the night before and they wanted to know how that went. "Did you tell him?" Ethan asked Scott.

"No. He's got enough on his mind right now."

"If they're coming for you in a few hours then so do you." Aiden pointed out.

"I don't think it's Scott they want. They were looking for something... Darker. Scott doesn't have a single dark bone in his body."

He stopped, making the other three stop as well, to look at her slightly offended. "I can be dark." She just raised a brow at him.

"Well, if not Scott, then who else is there?" Ethan asked.

Scott turned forward again and his eyes found Kira, who gave him a little smile, as she turned down another hall. Y/n had followed his gaze seeing the unknowing kitsune. She didn't think the oni were after Kira either, she was like walking sunshine, but Scott will want to make sure she's safe, and so Y/n will follow her Alpha with whatever he wanted to do.

During the rest of the school day Scott formed a plan to get the twins off his tail, which he told Y/n and she passed it to Kira. At the end of the day Scott got on his motorbike with the twins mounting their motorcycles on either side of him. "Guys, I appreciate you wanting to protect me. But I have to be alone for a bit. So... Sorry about this." The smile on his face said he wasn't that sorry as he revved his engine and sped off while the twins couldn't get theirs to start.

He drove over to the waiting girls and Kira hopped onto the back of the bike with a smile as she put the helmet on. "What do I do with these?" She held the spark plugs up for him to see and they smiled. Then Kira turned to Y/n, suddenly realizing that she couldn't ride with them. "Wait, what about you? How are you gonna get there?"

Y/n smirked. "I'll probably be there before you guys are."

She gave Y/n a confused look and Scott glanced back at Kira. "Don't worry. She's got a few tricks up her sleeve." Kira was still confused but nodded nonetheless, and gave Y/n one more smile before Scott drove off, and Kira let the spark plugs clatter to the ground. Y/n made her way off school premises and to an alley. She made sure no one was around before her eyes turned violet and she focused. Using the same spell she had when she needed to get to the Nemeton quickly, she was surrounded by leaves and when they dispersed she was gone.

A speedy gush of wind carried some leaves on the wind, quickly cacthing up with Scott and Kira. Kira looked wide-eyed as the leaves swirled around her almost teasingly, doing the same to a widely grinning Scott, before the wind picked up and carried them way ahead of the pair. When they arrived to Scott's house they found Y/n smiling, waiting for them on his porch. Kira couldn't really ask questions, and she had many, before Scott rushed into the house with the girls right behind him.

"Could you lock the door?" He asked Kira as he and Y/n started to check the locks on everything else.

"Yeah." Kira did as asked. "We're running out of time."

"I know. But Allison, her dad, and Isaac are working on something that could help."

She watched as they checked all of the windows. "I don't want to sound pessimistic or anything, but you really think that's going to keep them out?"

"Actually, we have a kind of security system. Things happened a couple of weeks ago, a lot of things."

"Me and Alan, my legal guardian, helped make a few changes to the house." Y/n informed.

"Your guardian? Does he work for a sceurity company or something?"

"No, he's a veterinarian."

"You had a vet put in your alarm?" She asked Scoot.

"Yeah, sort of. But I can't arm it. Only my mom and Y/n can." He turned to the witch then. "You keep an eye out down here. I'll go check upstairs."

She did a two finger salute. "You got it, boss." Scott hurried up the steps and Kira followed. She stood at the table, leaning against it, and waited. She could vaguely hear Scott and Kira talking upstairs. Like she thought Scott wanted to protect Kira and promised he wouldn't let her get hurt. Then she heard something like a book being opened and Kira telling him about kitsune. It seems the young fox has figured out what she is. A car pulling up to the house caught her attention and a few moments later Rafael walked into the room, sitting his laptop at the table where she stood. "Oh, great, it's Treebeard." She said as she stood up straight.

The man gave her an unamused look, but didn't say anything as Scott and Kira had come into the room. "What are you doing here? And why do you still have a key?" Scott asked his father.

"Funny you mention keys. Because while I have a key to this house, I'm not exactly sure how you got a key to my office." He turned the computer around and opened it. The screen turned on to show a security photo of Scott and Kira when they snuck into the station to delete pictures off her phone. Scott didn't answer. "Let me help you out here. This kind of thing usually begins with something along the lines of, 'it's not what you think'. Or, 'I can explain'."

Scott looked towards the window where the sun was steadily setting. Kira stepped forward, ready to take full blame, when Scott spoke up. "Dad, let me help you out. You need to leave."

"I will. With a satisfactory explnation."

"Go get a warrant."

"I don't need a warrant. I'm your father."

"No, you're a gene donor. I got my hair color from you. And that's all I got. So you're not allowed to play tough dad with me." (I felt that)

Melissa walked in then, finally returning home. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Maybe one of you should explain." Rafael looked to the teens.

Y/n's eyes looked at the window where the sun was now gone. "Scott." She called and he looked over as well.

Rafael looked over, wondering what was so interesting, before spotting someone in the living room. "Who the hell is this?"

Then teens looked back and spotted the oni as the agent walked closer. "Dad, no!" He tried to warn. "Dad, wait." After another step the man was suddenly stabbed in the shoulder from behind. Kira screamed as he went down. "Dad." Melissa and Y/n crouched next to Rafael while Scott bared his fangs at the oni. The front door opened and Y/n helped Melissa move Rafael to safety while Derek slid into the room, shifted and growling. Scott shifted and growled as well as the two wolves began to fight the two oni.

"Can you do anything to help him?" Melissa asked Y/n.

Y/n furrowed her brows and put a hand over the wound. Her eyes glowed as she felt the extent of the injury. "It's pretty bad. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to heal." Minor injuries are an easy fix. Major ones, such as the one Rafael has sustained, require her to absorb the wound so to speak. She takes on the injury as her own and her magic heals her as fast as she takes it, but it's quickly draining and usually very painful.

"Please, just do what you can." Y/n nodded and began to heal what she could.

"Mom, Y/n, the ash!" Scott yelled as he dodged a slash from a sword. Melissa went for the jar. Kira watched with worried eyes before she turned and found an oni staring at her. Before it could touch her, though, the twins jumps through a window and land on the table with a growl. They work together to fight the oni and toss him out a door. Scott throws an oni out of the window. "Mom, now! Do it now!" Melissa waited just a little longer as Derek manhandled the third oni and forced him out the door. She rushed forward and threw the jar on the floor and the ash made a perfect line in the doorway, making a barrier and keeping the oni out as they stood in front of the entrances. Kira walked up to the door next to Aiden where an oni watched her. She reached her hand up and the mountain ash pushed her back.

Derek and Scott stand in front of the front door and the Hale looks at the floor. "All of the baseboards are ash wood?"

"Uh, yeah. It was Deaton's idea. Y/n helped. And where the hell did you come from?"

"I've been following you."

"For how long?"

"All day."

Y/n winced and finally pulled her hands away, unable to fix anymore damage or stint anymore bleeding, and Melissa quickly put her hands over the wound. "I'm sorry. I can't take anymore."

"Scott, this isn't good!" Melissa yelled to her son. He rushed over and helped her carry the agent up to a room and onto a bed while Y/n slumped against a wall, trying to regain some of the energy she spent. After a minute Derek comes around to check on her. She gives him a little nod and he holds a hand out, helping her up once she took it and she went to clean the blood off of her hands.

Rafael is pale, and sweaty, but not as bad as he would have been if Y/n didn't help. "Need to call for backup." He muttered.

Scott handed Melissa a towel to press on the wound. "How bad is it?" He asked her.

"From the way his arm is rotated, the tendon looks torn. He could be on his way to a collapsed lung."

"Mom, those things, they're not going to leave until the sun's up."

"Y/n bought us some time, but he's still not gonna make it that long. We got to get him to a hospital."

"Should we call Stiles' dad?"

"I don't know. Is that going to just get more people hurt?"

"Maybe. I don't think guns work on them."

"Then what does?"

Aiden looks at Kira and tries a friendly smile. "It's Kira, right?" Ethan looks over at his twin. "You going to tell us what you are?"

"What? What do you mean?"

He grabs her wrist. "Aiden." Ethan calls.

"Watch!" He insisted and brought her hand up to the door where the barrier pushed her back again. "See that? She can't go through it either." Ethan walked over to stand next to his brother as they both looked at her. "So, what are you?"

"She's a kitsune, dumbass." Y/n said as she and Derek walked into the room. Kira shouldn't have had to figure it out on her own, or have Y/n confirm it, but the twins (Aiden) were being too hostile.

"Use your eyes." Derek contiued. "You can see it all around her."

"The younger ones give off an aura. She hasn't learned to conceal it yet. She also doesn't know what kind she is yet. Now, back off." She gave the twins a look and, albeit a little reluctantly, they listened. She led Kira away from the wolves, so she could have some space, and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been the one to tell you."

"No, it's okay. Really. I mean, I already kind of guessed, with the whole foxfire thing at the substation. But I appreciate you confirming it." She sighed a bit. "It also confirmed something else for me." At Y/n's questioning look Kira motioned for her to follow as she went to find Scott. Once she made sure they were alone she told them what she had been thinking.

"It's not you. It can't be. What I saw around you, it didn't look evil." Scott denied.

"But isn't that what a shape-shifter does? Isn't that why a kitsune is called a trickster spirit? It's supposed to trick you." Kira argued.

"Kitsune, like almost all things when it comes to spirits, are not as black and white as that." Y/n informed. "Being a trickster doesn't make you bad. Sometimes it just means you're playful."

"How are you so sure?"

"Trust me, I've dealt with a lot of spirits. And, plus, if you were a dark kitsune then your aura would be dark as well. You are a light."

"But how do you know I'm not the bad guy?" She tried once again and Scott answered this time.

"I've seen the bad guys. And you're not one of them." The house started to rumble then, almost like an earthquake, and the three went back into the room with the wolves. The oni were using their ninjatos to hit the barrier. "What are they doing?"

"Testing for weaknesses." Aiden answered. Anything not secured started to fall and break as the house shook with each strike. The two oni in front of the kitchen door seemed to have found something as they pointed the tips of their swords at a single spot, then one of them thrust their hand into it, adding more force. "Guys? We have a problem."

"That's not good." Y/n said as they all watched the oni fight against the ash.

Scott got a call from Allison and he rushed to answer it. "Allison, please tell me that you have something. They're here. They're trying to get in. And it looks like they're gonna be able to."

"Okay, okay, listen. It's like Y/n said. They're looking for someone possessed. Someone with a dark spirit attached to them."

"A nogitsune." Kira gave Scott a look.

"How'd you know that? Scott?"

"Just- tell me what else."

"Okay, they won't hurt you. They know you're supernatural but once they do this check, once they realize that you're not carrying with you this dark spirit, then they won't hurt you, I promise. All they're looking for is the nogitsune."

Scott hung up then. "I'm right, aren't I?" Kira asked. "They're looking for me."

"Kira, I promise you, you are not who they're looking for. You are not the nogitsune. You or Scott." Y/n assured. She has a terrible idea of who they're wanting, and it makes her stomach twist.

"I trust Y/n, and I agree with her. You are not the dark spirit." Scott insisted.

"Scott, we're going to have to do something." Derek called just before the oni finally breach the barrier. The oni step inside as the three Beta's get ready to fight again when Scott stops them.

"Don't do anything."

"Is he serious?" Aiden asks. The oni step further.

"I said don't do anything." Scott turned to Kira and held out his hand. She took it and intertwined thier fingers. "Trust me." She did, and she trusted her new friend. She nodded and they walked together to stand in front of the oni. Two of them stepped forward and placed a hand on the sides of their heads. Their eyes lit up as their search started. The feeling of it brought the teens to their knees but the oni kept searching. Their hands separated as their bodies froze, and Derek held back Aiden who took a step forward. The oni leaned forward, looking even deeper. They tilted their heads. With a quick motion the pair were marked as self and they fell to the ground. The oni stepped back and disappeared back into the shadows.

The four quickly checked on the two and Y/n used her magic to help them recover a bit faster by warming them up. "You're gonna be okay." She assured.

...

Rafael was wheeled into the emergency room as Melissa told them his injuries with Scott and Y/n following. They paused in the hall when they couldn't go further. Scott looked at his mom. "We'll find Stiles." The two supernaturals started to jog down the halls, going to the room Melissa said she left him in to sleep, but he wasn't there. Y/n tried to use her senses to feel him. She thought she had for a moment, but then it was gone. She led Scott in the direction she felt him, walking faster when she could again, and they heard a thud in a side room. They looked through the window and found Stiles with his back to them. "Stiles, you okay?"

He turned around with raised brows. "Yeah, fine. What's been going on?" He walked over and patted Scott's shoulder before giving Y/n a quick hug with a little smile. The three walked out of the room. Y/n took one more glance into the room from behind the boys, and saw a glimpse of a firefly light before it faded to smokey shadow, dead. She frowned and looked at the back of Stiles' head as they walked.

She was hoping it wasn't true. But she knows it is.

...

Alan watched Y/n as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She seemed upset when she got home. He had been sitting on the couch reading when she rushed in, said, "I need to talk to you," and started to pace, which is what she's been doing for the past five minutes. She finally stopped, faced him with her eyebrows pinched together, and took a breath. "You remember what I told you about the oni? How they were looking for something?" He nodded. She had asked him what he knew which was pretty much the same as what was in her grimoire, and told him what had been happening. "Allison, her dad, and Isaac got ahold of someone with information and we figured out what they've been looking for."

"Isn't that good news?"

She nodded. "It is. Depending on who you are, I guess. They're looking for a nogitsune. Someone has been possessed... And I think I know who it is."

He could see the hesitation on her face. It was clear she didn't like her idea. "Who?"

She didn't answer, and instead moved over to the place next to him, sitting down on the cusion in, what he would describe as, defeat. When she finally answered, it was quiet, almost hesitant, like saying it out loud carved it in stone. "I think... I think it's Stiles."

That explains her hesitancy and her anxiousness. Alan put a hand on her back and rubbed soothing circles. He knows the small gesture won't make her suddenly feel better, but he hoped it helped just a bit. "How long have you thought this?"

"Not long, honestly. But there have been signs. For a while there's been this darkness in his eyes, hiding just under the surface, but I still saw it. This morning he told us he was connected to what happened with Barrow at the school. And tonight, when me and Scott went to find him, he was just standing in a room. He didn't acknowledge us until Scott called him. I saw a firefly at his feet, like the eyes of the oni, and it faded to shadow. Stiles seemed normal, like he hadn't seen it, but it was his eyes again. They're getting darker every second it seems. And I don't know how to help him. I've- I've never dealt with anything like this and no one in my line has either. There's nothing in the grimoire about nogitsune. Absolutely nothing." She rubs her hands over her face until her fingers anchored themselves in her hair. "I don't know what to do." The admission was quiet, almost a defeated whisper.

He frowned in concern. Concern for the girl he raised and the boy she loved. He moved his arm to encircle her and pull her into a hug, resting his chin on her head when she turned into him and held onto him as well. "We'll find a way to help him."

"We're running out of time. It gets stronger every day."

"Then we just need to buy some time."

She looked at him confused, but a little hopeful. "How?"

"You said the oni killed someone who was possessed by a nogitsune, yes?"

She nodded. "Over 20 years ago in Japan. Allison's dad saw it happen."

"There might be something there that can help."

~~~
Published: 7/21/21
Edited: 4/12/22

Ooh things are picking up 👀
I wanna thank you all again for being here for the journey that this has been so far! I was just thinking about it today and I realized I started writing this book in November! That was eight months ago! I've been writing this for almost a year and that blows my mind!
I was kinda wanting to do something fun and special once I figured this out, and I thought "what about a Q&A with the characters of Just a Feeling?" Like you get to ask the characters, including Y/n, anything about each other, me, the story (unless it includes possible spoilers), and pretty much anything. Almost like a panel, and I personally think it sounds kinda fun.
Would that be something you all would be interested in participating in?
If not, just ignore this 😅
If so, then it won't be done for a while leaving plenty of time for as many of you to leave whatever questions or comments for them as you'd like ☺️
It would take quite a bit of planning and some time to write but it would be fun I think :)
But, once again, thank you all so much for coming along this amazing ride with me ☺️
I'll see you next week! Bye bye 😘💜💙🖤