Kit and Kin

poetheather

Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of. Just another day in Ravenscrest.

Chapter One

Kit and Kin

January 18

With a start, Takeshi woke eyes scanning the room, looking into the shadows as if something was going to come out of them after him. He swallowed heavily and wiped the slight sheen from his forehead with the sleeve of his pajamas as he panted. The nightmare was fading and he could only remember faint traces of it, only the cold, of running through the dark, through the snow, but he wasn’t sure if it was on two legs or four. And there was something chasing him or several somethings. Whatever it was it scared him.

He shuddered and dropped his forearm across his forehead, covering his eyes. “Ugh… what the hell was that…”

The red numbers of his clock clearly showed that he still had thirty minutes until he usually got up for school. Closing his eyes, he knew he wanted more sleep but his heart was still pounding fast and he was shaken by how intense the nightmare had been. Even though he could not remember the details, he knew that it had been very crisp and sharp, almost real. There was no way that he was going to get any more sleep thanks to it.

Grumbling, he got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, his eyes mere slits. Thankfully he did not have to share a bathroom which made his showering and taking care of his morning ablutions extremely easy and stress free. That made life so much easier. He knew people who shared bathrooms with siblings and complained about it all the time.

Looking into the mirror, it was clear that he had not slept well, with the dark circles under his hazel eyes. It took some work to tame his auburn hair but he managed to get it into some semblance of order before he headed back to his room. Once dressed, he headed downstairs, where he could already smell the rich scent of coffee. Clearly his mother was awake, as she was the only one in the house who drank the bitter stuff.

Entering the kitchen, Takeshi saw that both his parents were there. He went up to his mother and said, “Morning Mom.”

She smiled around her coffee mug, putting down the paper she had been scanning.

From the stove his other mother turned and grinned at him, “Morning baby.”

“Morning kasa.”

“Breakfast will be ready in a little bit. You’re up early.” She poured him a cup of green tea and handed it over.

He bowed slightly in thanks. After taking a sip he replied, “I had a nightmare that woke me and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I figured I might as well get up.”

His mother, a red haired woman of clearly Irish descent, got up and hugged him, kissing the top of his head. “Do you remember it? Sometimes talking about these things can help.”

Takeshi shrugged noncommittally. “All I really remember about it is that I was being chased by something in the snow. It was pretty scary. The weird thing is I think I may have been on all fours for part of it.”

His mothers shared a look and then his kasa, a beautiful Japanese woman with auburn hair a darker shade than his, said, “Well, have a seat. I have breakfast ready.”

After having breakfast he went upstairs, read some online manga for a bit and grabbed his book bag when he noticed the time. Back downstairs his mom was waiting by the door, jingling the car keys. “Come one Takeshi… gotta get you to school.”

He got his coat out of the hall closet, hugged his kasa and went out to the car. As he was buckling up his mom began the morning interrogation, “Ready for that math test today?”

“No, but I can fake it.” tossed back Takeshi with a confident grin.

“You know you have to keep those grades up. If you can get into AP Calculus that would really help you in college.” stated his mother as she focused on the driving. They were passing through the edges of the University and into the town proper.

“Mom, I’m just a Sophomore. I don’t have to worry about that yet.” complained Takeshi.

“It is never too early to think about your future. A good school can open lots of doors for you. Your mom and I have saved up and we are able to send you anywhere you can get into. We just want you to go after your dreams.”

Takeshi smiled, “Thanks Mom. I will try my best.”

“That’s a good boy.” She gave him a smile that was full of love and caring.

The drive through Ravenscrest always seemed to change in how long it took, despite it being the same distance every day. His mom always drove the same route to the school and yet some days it took them only ten minutes to get there and other days twenty and that was with no traffic. Given that they lived out by the University, where his parents worked, it shouldn’t have been that strange but it was. The whole thing was just one of the strange quirks of the town that always seemed to confuse him.

His thought’s turned inwards as he thought about the town and growing up there. Being a boy and living in what had been dubbed the Estrogen Palace by a number of students over the years had been an experience for Takeshi. This was because his mom taught Women’s Studies courses and her Kasa was the women’s Soccer coach and taught as well. That and they were married. The family was a mix of both American and Japanese cultures and he had been teased growing up for being in a strange family. Occasionally Craig Harper would help stop the bullies from doing anything but not always. Sometimes, he wasn’t there, because he was busy with his friends.

Being a mix blood kid in a small, somewhat of conservative town like this was not the easiest of things to deal with. He got left out of things and picked on a lot. There were a few people that actually would hang out with him on a semi regular basis but no one really was there all the time and that was a sad thing. Trevor Locke was a sort of friend but he had vanished in the fall along with Craig. That really sucked, as it sort of left him open to some of the bullies out there. But several of the worst were gone as well. Mike Curtis, one of the football players, was gone, much to his relief and Troy had gotten hurt really bad. It was a strange year school year so far and it was only halfway over.

There were some new kids as well at school, but they were not in his social circles, down near the bottom rung of things. For a quiet town where things rarely changed, things had changed a lot in just the last few months. But the influx of girls was nice on the eyes. Cindy and Tracy were really popular but his eyes were only for one girl, Dana Stiles, the love of his life. Just thinking about her made his heart race.

As the car pulled up to the school, Takeshi scanned the school for any sign of Dana and there was none. The Vice Principal was there standing outside and he did glare for a moment at his mother, who glared right back. Then they both looked away at the same time. Takeshi had no idea what to make of that. Once the car pulled to a stop his mother leaned over and kissed his cheek, “Have a good day at school sweetie.”

“Thanks mom.” He got out and headed inside, sighing about the fact that he had to face yet another day of dealing with this bull. In all honesty there was a lot of this he could learn more efficiently at home on his computer, but he did have to confess that there were a few competent teachers that he would miss. There were even people at the school that he might miss and definitely some he would not.

At his locker he switched out his books and got what he needed for his first few classes. There were more and more people filling the halls as the couple of busses that served the town arrived. Things were just fine until he felt a disturbance in the wa of the hallway. He looked to his left and noticed one of his other usual bullies. David Westerburg, one of the starting hockey players and his cronies were headed his way. They hadn’t spotted him yet but if he did not do something soon they would in a few moments.

Takeshi shut his locker, slid quickly through a few clumps of people and slipped into a small gap between the sets of lockers that was barely big enough for his body. Putting his back into the corner, he slowed and deepened his breathing, pulling in his ki like his kasa had taught him back in second grade. He let the air out in a silent trickle, feeling himself fade away. He kept this up until the trio of thugs walked past, not even noticing him.

Once they moved out of his line of sight and around a corner of the hallway Takeshi started breathing normally, letting himself fade back into the flow of every other teenagers’ ki signatures. He sighed and thought to himself that sometimes coming from a family background where you learn Ninjitsu as soon as you can walk has its benefits. Of course it also has its down sides as well.

Since Ninjitsu is by its very nature a hidden art and his Kasa insisted that he practice it in a traditional manner, Takeshi really couldn’t let people know that he was actually really skilled. This meant that occasionally he had to let Curtis and his goons or Troy or Westerburg and his other hockey goons have their fun. He never got hurt that bad, because after all that training he could move with things and roll with the attacks, but it was embarrassing getting stuck into lockers and dumped into a trash can knowing that he could actually beat down the people doing it to him. And he actually liked sports like lacrosse and swimming and wanted to play but as long as his bullies played such things he had to not let on what he could do. Stupid rules.

Despite how much he hated those rules, he still had to play by them, especially at school. Ravencrest High School had several different social pecking orders and having to hide the fact that he was in excellent shape and stuff was tough. The fact that he was into a number clearly ‘geeky’ things, like anime and manga, fantasy fiction and gaming both tabletop and console as well as certain comic books helped with that a great deal. Those hobbies ensured that he was relegated to the bottom of the social heap, with a number of other people. But even then there was a stratum of losers; you just couldn’t win for losing in this stupid town.

Takeshi looked at his watch and hustled. He had to get to homeroom and one of the three classes that he had with Dana. He knew that there was something seriously wrong with him. There was no way in hell that Dana Stiles would ever deign to go out with him. She was so smoking hot and there is no way that she would ever do anything as ridiculously stupid as go out with a social reject like him. It would ruin her socially. He was beneath her notice.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, thinking that maybe that was a bit harsh. He wasn’t a total reject, but by and large he just did not feel comfortable around some of these kids but that had nothing to do with how attractive Dana Stiles was and how she would never give him the time of day. She knew the Harper’s and the Locke’s and the people who actually seemed to be the movers and shakers in this stupid town and he was just the son of a couple of lesbian teachers at the University. What did he have to offer to a girl like that? He took his seat and slumped into it, depressed yet again by that realization.

Dana came into the room, talking with her friend Cindy, and he straightened right up. He tried to keep from staring but it was difficult. How could one avoid gazing at the sun? He just loved her so much. Why couldn’t he get up the courage to even talk to her? He sighed and opened his book bag, getting out his notebook, trying to keep from making more of a fool of himself than he normally did.

Class passed in peace with him occasionally losing track over what was being said and just watching Dana. Cindy caught him looking once and he busied himself taking notes, looking down and scribbling frantically. His face burned red with embarrassment and he kind of wished a hole would open up and swallow him. Thankfully class ended and he had a while before he had class again with her. The other two classes with her were after lunch.

Making it through until lunchtime with only a few bumps into the lockers by the usual suspects counted as a good day to him. He sat down at the geek table and pulled out his bento, unwrapping it from the cloth that it had been tied up in. He unscrewed his thermos and found the tea still somewhat warm, which was nice. This meant that it had been skin flaying hot when it had been poured in and he was glad he had not had any of it earlier. Getting out his chopsticks from his backpack, he started eating, after he enjoyed the cute art that his Kasa had made out of his lunch.

“Dude, your mom is so awesome with that stuff. It looks like it came right out of a manga.” commented Wallace, as he sat down opposite Takeshi. He was a lanky anime nerd wearing a Deathnote t-shirt and a Full Metal Alchemist satchel with his coat tucked through the straps, who had a tray of whatever the usual school swill was. He grinned huge and tucked into what supposedly passed for beef stroganoff.

Maggie, a rather quiet girl who was into all sorts of fantasy literature and nearly as socially isolated as he was, sat down next to him and smiled at his food. She chuckled as she got her brown paper bag out of her book bag. “You always have the cutest food.”

With a sigh and a long practiced exaggerated roll of the eyes, Takeshi lamented, “That’s exactly what a guy wants with his food… for it to be cute. Oh the eternal shame!”

“I’ll eat it and you can have my tuna salad.” Maggie offered with a hopeful grin.

“No thank you.” countered Takeshi. “I may not want my food to look like Sanrio exploded in it but it is always tasty. And it shows that my Haha cares about me. But you can have a little bit if you want.”

Maggie smiled as she unpacked her lunch and started eating.

Greg, who was one of his friends through Trevor, sat next to him on the other side, saying, “So, Takeshi, I heard that you were mooning over Dana Stiles in class again.”

Takeshi blushed again and looked down at his food, pretending to ignore Greg. “I did not.”

“In Homeroom.”

“Uhm… eating here.”

“Really? Again?” asked Maggie, quite unhelpfully.

“Where did you hear it from?” Takeshi asked.

“From Malice who said she heard it from a friend of Cindy’s who said she saw you.” Greg smiled broadly like he had made a scoring point.

Takeshi lowered his head, his cheeks coloring. His heart was racing some and it felt like something was caught in his throat. “Could you guys just drop it.”

Maggie turned and hugged him briefly. “You just need to get brave enough to ask her out.”

“Oh sure. Like that will happen.”

“Maybe to your party this weekend?” offered Wallace.

“No. For some reason my Great Grandmother wants to have a big to do out at her place. I have no idea what that is all about. So my whole weekend is back to traditional Japanese stuff.” grumbled Takeshi fairly irritated about the whole thing. He just wanted to have a party with his friends but his parents had said this was an important cultural event and could not be excused.

“How cool is that.” said Wallace, otaku stars dancing in his eyes.

“Wallace, it is a lot of formality over nothing. It makes me crazy. I have no idea why my crazy Japanese family is up here in the middle of the effing Catskills to start with. Makes no sense.” Takeshi was warning up to a familiar rant that the others had heard a time or two before.

“Maybe you can ask about it this weekend? Maybe you are the descendant of a group of samurai or something?” mused Greg, trying to make Takeshi feel better over everything. “I mean, it’s possible… right?”

Thinking about the Ninjitsu training he had been given since he could stand, Takeshi thought that last guess was probably not correct. If there was some sort of family secret it was probably not something to do with samurai. He was really hoping that they were not a family of assassins or something, as the idea of killing someone turned his stomach, “I guess.”

“So when are you celebrating your sweet sixteen with the rest of us Takeshi?” asked Wallace, with a smirk.

“I guess we can do something the next weekend. It’s just that my moms have been really saying that this thing with my Great Grandmother is really important and there is no excuse for me to miss it. I have no idea why this is important. It’s weird. The old woman’s a bit strange and flighty.” Takeshi replied with a resigned shrug.

“Dude this sounds like the start of a Miyazaki film.” Wallace seemed really excited by this idea.

Takeshi stood, reached across the table and slapped him in the back of the head, “No it does not. My life is not a fucking Anime. My Great Grandmother is just a weird old lady who has a fixation on being a traditional Japanese crazy lady. We will probably sit around her house having a tea ceremony, talk about what she wants my future to be like and maybe have her plan out who she wants me to marry. I don’t know. She is a cracked old lady who only speaks Japanese and is six tacos short of a combination plate. So, no… my life is not a Miyazaki film.”

There was a voice clearing itself from behind them. The group of them froze and all turned to look behind Takeshi. The Vice Principal was standing there looking down at them with beady eyes, “Mr. Saito, may I have a word.”

Takeshi dropped his head and sighed in resignation, “Yes sir.”

He stood up, closed up his bento and followed along to the Vice Principal’s office. When he got there, he sat down in the chair indicated and looked around as he had never been there before. He noticed that there were a lot of fox objects in the room, more so than he had expected from the Vice Principal. It was almost like the man had a bit of a fixation with the animal. It just made the man even creepier in Takeshi’s eyes.

“You know that you are not supposed to hit your fellow students Mr. Saito.”

“Yes sir.”

“I suppose that your defense is that Mr. Erickson said something that warranted a blow to the back of his head?” asked Mr. McCormick, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes sir… I mean no sir.” said Takeshi.

“I see. So you are having a birthday this weekend?”

“Yes sir.” Takeshi was unsure where this was going and was a bit hesitant about answering. Was this something he did not have to talk about? And what did this have to do with his smacking Wallace?

“Well… seeing as it is your birthday and all, I will let you go this time. Have a good birthday Mr. Saito and do stay out of trouble.” said the Principal, looking down at some paperwork on his desk, clearly dismissing him.

“Uhm… thank you Mr. McCormick.” Takeshi was even more confused than usual. This whole thing seemed completely bonkers to him. The Vice Principal wasn’t giving him detention? What the hell had this been all about?

“Head off to classes.”

Takeshi left the office and was a bit dazed. He blinked a few times trying to sort out what had just happened. It was all so strange. Today was very odd with nothing really going right. He was so focused on how peculiar the day was that he did not notice what was going on around him until he ran right into Dana Stiles.

Kit and Kin

poetheather

Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of. Just another day in Ravenscrest.

Chapter Two

January 18

Both Takeshi and Dana tumbled to the ground, a jumbled mass of arms and legs. Takeshi managed to twist himself around by wrenching his back so that he was the one who hit the ground first, keeping Dana from getting hurt. The end result left her elbow driving into his diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him, and his head bouncing off the floor with a loud thwack, making him see stars. Dana scrambled to her feet and looked down at him, worry clear on her face, “Oh my god! Are you okay?”

“Guh…” was about all that Takeshi was able to get out as he was at a loss for air. It was her. She was here tangled with him. “Gah…”

Dana smiled comfortingly, squeezing his bicep, and then looking a bit confused, “Can you help me up?”

He nodded, still trying to suck in air. Slowly he untangled the two of them and helped Dana get to a standing positing all in one continuous motion. She raised an eyebrow at that physical demonstration and said, “Thanks.”

Takeshi bobbed his head, eyes wide and mouth a bit slack, gasping out. “You Welcome.”

Dana blushed slightly as he released her carefully and said, “Okay. Well, I will see you in class.”

Takeshi watched her walk away from him, his hazel eyes tracking her movement until she was lost in the mess of students, some of whom had watched the whole thing. He shook his head, trying to clear it after that encounter, his heart racing and his palms sweaty. He trembled. They had touched. His skin felt electric. Closing his eyes he stood and shook with the magic of the feeling. She had smelled so nice. Delicate and wild all at once. It seemed to call something in him.

The first bell rung and that snapped him out of his trance. His eyes snapped open and with a yip of surprise he scampered down the hall, racing between people in his attempt to race the second bell. Somehow he made it into his class before his teacher closed the door on him. She was not known for having any sympathy for tardies, sending them to the Vice Principal instead, and after his experience just minutes before he really would rather not repeat his meeting with Mr. McC if he could help it.

His notes were rather disjointed as he kept thinking over and over about running into Dana, about the feel of her body against his, the smell of her hair, how warm and smooth her skin had been under his hands. With all that running through his head, how was he supposed to focus on something as obscure as World History, even if they were covering interesting stuff normally? Besides, he routinely got excellent grades in the class so he would be fine if he were a bit lax in his attention for one day. It’s not like he didn’t have a really good reason.

After that class finally ended and he slowly started to come back to earth, he wound his way through people on his way to gym. He had asked his moms to write him a note or something, as he did not want to have to deal with these Neanderthals and pretend to not be in the shape he was. In all honesty this was a class that was wasted on him and he could use it to take something else… something interesting. The only result he had gotten from his mothers was a group hug while they had snickered at him, with his haha saying, “Consider it a part of training, a ninja must be able to portray many faces to the world. This is one of them.”

His mom had started really laughing at that, earning a glare from kasa. Apparently, there was something to that laugh so Takeshi had asked about it and had only gotten an answer of, “You’ll understand when you are older.”

Sometimes his parents were completely mental.

In the locker room, he moved to his locker that was thankfully back in one of the corners. True it was a perfect place to box him in, which had happened a few times, but it had allowed him to change without people noticing his musculature. Granted, he was only fifteen and a day away from being sixteen, but he did have a fairly solid build that he hid under baggy clothes. And with it being winter, sweats made that particular task even easier to accomplish.

His parents had spent the money to get the maroon and white Ravencrest Rhinos sweats that were solid maroon with broad white stripes running down the arms and legs. On the back it said Rhinos and on the front over the heart it had a Rhino. They looked a bit dorky but they did the job. With it baggy, from being at least a size or two too big he looked rather dorky in it. The excuse he had been giving to the coach is that his moms thought he would grow into them. This did mean that he looked like all the other boys, only a bit more rumpled.

He used to have an ally in the class, since Trevor had been in there with him and they would sit in the back and make snide comments about some of the jocks while they did whatever they did. But now he was alone, stuck in a class with a few of the jocks that did not like him. Sure Mike was gone but that did not really reduce the field of antagonists by a significant amount. Bullying seemed to be more of the great American pastime than Baseball as far as Takeshi could tell. At least that seemed to be true among those who were bigger and stronger than others.

Today the chosen Litany of Pain pronounced upon them by the Coach was dodgeball. Takeshi groaned as others cheered. He loved dodgeball. He was great at dodgeball. His kasa had told him specifically that he was not allowed to be good at dodgeball if he was to succeed at his dorky cover that had been chosen for him. It was all his fault of course. He had been the one who had said proudly ‘I can be a geek!’ without thinking through all the ramifications that such a decision would have on his life. Sure he did have the geek cred but this… this special pain was one of the flaws in his otherwise brilliant plan.

As expected he was one of the last picked. That at least let him know he had been doing a great job in playing the geek boy. But now the fun and games began. In addition to having to barely miss balls that were thrown so pathetically slow in his mind that it was a joke, he had to deal with his own teammates shoving him from behind and the side. He took a carefully placed spill to the floor, looking like he banged his knee that stopped play briefly, but the coach only told him to man up and walk it off. That allowed him a few minutes reprieve but not much more.

The set up there allowed him to get himself in position so that three of the jerks that he had to deal with all threw at him at the same time. He curled up and they all hit, stinging slightly, one of the red balls catching the side of his face, knocking him to the floor where he banged his head slightly. As he lay there, he cursed his mothers several times over and over in his mind. He had to endure all of this bullshit in the name of training.

Seeing as he was now ‘injured’ with a big red mark on half his face, the Coach actually let him go change into his regular clothes and sit in the bleachers, to wait for the end of class. Takeshi pulled out a manga and started reading, happy to be doing anything else rather than sweating with the ignorant muscle heads. At least now he could drown his sorrow in the crazy adventures of Kaguya and that crazy all girls school.

When the bell rang, he moved quickly to his next class, Chemistry. That meant Dana. They weren’t lab partners or anything like that. No, if that were to happen he would probably have a heart attack and die. He realized yet again that he was completely messed up in the head over her. All he could do lately was think about Dana, dream about Dana, and fantasize about Dana in ways that would cause his mothers to be very upset at him for his objectifying of a beautiful woman in what seemed to be a sexual manner or at least partially a sexual manner if his dreams were taken into account. He wasn’t trying to be bad. It was not natural. He was clearly not natural. He was a freak. He was acting a bit insane and he knew it. If only he knew how to stop it.

Dana walked into the room and his thinking stopped with a screech and a crash. She was alone, as none of her usual friends were in this class. She had Chad Hermsdorf as a lab partner, which was a good thing as he was one of the smartest kids in the whole school. Not as smart as she was of course, but that meant that she did not have to work harder to carry him. He sighed, resting his head in his hands, eyes lazily focused on her.

She set her books down on her lab table and then turned, catching him looking at her. She smiled gently at him. His head slipped from his hand in surprise and he narrowly missed slamming it into the thick surface of his lab table. The trained reaction was to snap backwards, which had him overbalancing on his stool and falling backwards to the floor. He barely managed to control his fall enough to keep from hurting himself, avoiding banging his head on the floor for a third time in a little over an hour.

The class erupted with laughter at what he did. “Way to go dumbass!” “Smooth move loser!” “Spaz!” “What a retard!” “What an idiot!”

He lay there on the floor a moment, his face covered with his hands. He hurt, as he had fallen hard on his back yet again but not bad enough to need to go to the nurse. He had somewhat managed to break his fall but only somewhat. There was no way that he had not looked like a complete idiot in front of everybody. And this was going to get spread through the whole school by the end of the day. He only hoped that no one had been recording him with their phones as a YouTube video of that would be too much to bear. At least this would make his cover stronger. He groaned in frustration.

“Saito, are you okay?” asked the teacher from the front of the class.

“Yes sir.” Takeshi got to his feet, grumbling. He stretched some, with his hands bracing his lower back and then picked up his stool, putting it back into place.

The teacher shook his head, smiled and then said, “Well, if Mr. Saito can refrain from giving us any more impromptu physics demonstrations today, then maybe we can get to our actual classwork. Shall we?”

Takeshi just wanted to curl up and die. He put his head down and banged his head lightly on the table. His lab partner just snickered.

He hurried out of class once it was over, unable to even look at Dana in his embarrassment. The burning in his face was getting worse and he still had one more class with her. How was he ever going to manage it? He was busy stuffing his book and notebook into his bag as he was walking into the hall and walked right into David Westerburg. His stuff spilled to the floor.

“Watch it moron!”

“Sorry.” said Takeshi, wanting to avoid any trouble. After everything that had already happened with his day there was no way that he needed to face this sort of grief right now.

“Damn right you’re sorry.” growled Westerburg, leaning in towards him, to intimidate him.

“Hey David… you know you aren’t supposed to make a mess in the halls.” chimed in one of his two ever present testicles, Chip.

“That is a good point Chip. We should throw all this trash away.”

Takeshi groaned in resignation. This was going to suck but what else could he do. According to the rules his kasa had given him he had to go along with this crap. Westerburg grabbed Takeshi’s backpack and dumped it into the trashcan and then tossed him in on top of it all, pushing him down a little. His testicles, Chip and Steve, threw in the rest of his stuff on top of him. Thankfully they were not near the cafeteria and so the trash would mostly be paper and stuff, but that did not make it any better.

You would think it was comedy gold from the reactions of some of the students and from the three douchbags. He waited until Westerburg and his goons were on their way, high fiving each other and bumping chests like they had done something impressive. If only his kasa would let him go, but it was dishonorable to attack someone so unskilled. He would completely devastate Westerburg and his friends at the same time and that was wrong. But the thought did bring some succor as he dug his pens and his thumb drive out of the trash can. His bag had gotten a little wet from a Coke someone had tossed in there that had not been empty.

The second bell rang and he sighed in resignation. He still had to get a few of his books out and then make it to his class. Once he plucked the last of his things free of the trashcan, he headed towards his last class of the day. Thankfully it ended with Dana, so there was on an up note to things. That would help make this day at least be decent or at least end decent. He shook his head. He hated trashcans but seeing Dana would make everything better. He only wished he actually had the courage to talk to her and tell her how he felt, but his voice just seized up and he froze when he was around her. He was comfortable with the opponents his haha brought in for him to fight, doing the crazy missions she sent him on but yet talking to the girl he liked nearly gave him a heart attack. It wasn’t fair.

He entered the classroom and looked a little sheepish as everybody stared at him. The teacher waved him in as she kept taking roll. His seat was in the middle of the class and he had to move past several people who did not like him. He managed to not brush against any of them. Once seated, he got out his book and notebook, as well as his mechanical pencil. Now all he had to do was to at least pretend to pay attention to the class as opposed to what he really wanted to do which was watch Dana.

He knew he was an idiot and he knew he wasn’t fooling anybody. He also knew that he was not even being subtle. He knew from subtle. He was trained in subtle. His kasa had trained him in the art of subtle since he could walk but the problem was when he saw Dana his brains turned to warm tapioca, dribbled out his ears and there was nothing he could do about it except sit there in awe of here. She was just so amazing. Surely everyone saw how incredible she was? How could they not? She was just so cool and beautiful and smart and funny and he could just go on and on about her.

Slowly he began to randomly doodle, his pencil tracing spirals and gentle curves. Words slowly came to mind and he wrote them down, smiling slightly as he watched how the light from outside effected Dana’s hair in a different way than the fluorescent light did. And she always moved so gracefully, almost catlike. She was incredible, and beautiful and her eyes were something else. He drifted through class like this for a while, letting the poetry take him like it had for the last two years.

While he was sighing and focused on her or the page, he never saw one of the jocks next to him reach over and snatch the notebook. Takeshi snapped his head around and shot his hand out, just missing getting it back. The jock, one of the soccer players who he did not know, grinned as he stood, saying, “Hey, listen to this everybody!”

Takeshi shouted in fear, “No!”

“Mr. Edelston, sit down!”

The entire class was now watching this whole situation intently. Takeshi’s face was already burning red and he was contemplating actually just killing the boy in order to take back his notebook before he said anything. However, the odds were that he would get suspended or maybe even expelled for doing that.

“Fire crowns her glorious head
In flame licked tresses that curl
Waving in the wind, dancing red
Free from tangles or burls

Grey eyes gaze Athena wise
Her face clearly Goddess wrought
Yet she is greater than any prize
For a hero with trials unfought

O Dana, Goddess of my heart
I am forever your humble servant
Would that you would deign turn to me
Your great beauty effulgent.”

Most of the class was laughing loudly at him, some even pointing. Takeshi grabbed his backpack, snatched the notebook out of the guys hand and hustled out of the class. As he was trying to edge past two desks he locked eyes briefly with Dana, who was blushing and looked almost as embarrassed as he was. He hurt her. That hurt his heart. Fighting against tears he sped out of the class as the teacher called out, “Mister Saito, stop!”

Freed from the constraints of worry about what other people thought, Takashi did not care if anyone might wonder how a dork like him had gotten into much better shape than he had been in before. He raced to the exit at the end of the hall and slammed out of the door. At that moment, he did not care about the fact that he had none of the books needed for some of his homework or the fact that he could get in trouble. He just had to get out of there, away from the school and away from Dana who he had embarrassed.

Running at his best speed down the sidewalk, dodging icy patches, his thoughts were in turmoil. There was no way he could show his face in school again. After that poem was read his high school career was pretty much ruined. He would be mocked forever and if he showed up the beatings he endured would be worse than ever. In order to protect himself he would actually have to use his training. His mother and kasa would be pissed and his home life would be messed up because of that. Home schooling would be his only option if he wanted to have any sort of life any more. Also, he could never look Dana in the eyes again. Not after that.

There was a screech of tires and a horn honked. He cut his eyes over and jumped over a car that tried to hit him, one hand slamming into the hood. As he cleared things, landing on the other side he realized that maybe getting hit by the car would have relieved his misery but missing his party this weekend would have resulted in his parents killing him and he really did not need that in addition to the death of his social life. Tears burned down his face, the salt freezing a little on his face.

He wiped his face, choking back a sob, shaking his head, still running, barely paying attention to his surroundings. Why did that jock have to grab his notebook? Why couldn’t he do anything to stop people doing things like that to him? Why did that jackass have to read it aloud in class? Why did he have to love Dana so much that he had to write about her? Had he done this to himself? Had he set himself up for failure? This hurt so bad. His heart ached and all he could do was cry.

Why had this happened? He loved her and he could never see her again.

Kit and Kin

poetheather

Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of. Just another day in Ravenscrest.

Chapter Three

January 18

The front door slammed shut with great force, shoes hastily kicked off clattered against the wall, and stocking feet ran up the stairs. From another room, his mother’s voice called out in surprise at the sudden and loud noise, “Takeshi? What are you doing home? Did school let out early?”

There was no answer to her question. Takeshi ran into his room and slammed his door behind him, not caring about the sound. He hurt so bad inside, his heart aching and tears still streaming down his face. He threw himself on the bed and landed face down on a pillow. With a massive scream he vented his frustrations, pounding the bed with his fists. The door opened softly, his mother nervously poking her head into the room, “Takeshi, are you okay sweetie?”

He rolled over and sat up, looking at his mother, who was clearly concerned. The burning salt trails of tears were still trickling down his face red wind chapped face and words failed him as he tried to reply, his mouth opening and closing a few times impotently. There was nothing he could say to explain the enormity of his heart ache. His eyes locked with hers and all of his pain rushed out in a new wave of tears.

She rushed over and hugged him tight, pulling his head to her shoulder, brushing a hand down the back of his head, rocking him ever so slightly. “Ssshhh baby, it will be all right. What ever happened, it will be all right. I’m here and I’ve got you. You’re safe. Mommas got you.”

Relaxing into her arms, Takeshi let himself cry out, the emotion draining out over fifteen minutes of tears and sobs shaking him. He felt safe here at home in a way he could never outside of this house. Outside the world was against them, inside they were a team. His mother was able to gently move him so she could climb onto the bed to better pull him into her lap, making it more comfortable for the both of them. She just made soothing noises, rubbing his back and the back of his head, doing her best to comfort him and to ensure that he knew he was in a safe space while he let out all of his pain and sorrow.

When he finally got himself under control, his breath less gasps and more inhalations, fewer sobs but more sighs, she turned his head up and kissed him on the forehead, saying softly and non-judgmentally, “Feel a little better.”

He nodded weakly. He felt drained. He felt worse than he did on the occasions when his haha worked him for four hours straight at some crazy and nearly impossible martial arts skill that had his body trembling in exhaustion and his body covered in sweat.

“Think you can talk about what upset you?” she asked gently.

He nodded again, not wanting to think about it but knowing that she deserved to know.

His mother just waited, patiently, giving him his time and space to find the words he needed on his own. Takeshi, just lay there in his mother’s arms, comfortable and secure before he sighed. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and turned so he faced her. “I had a really bad day.”

With a grin, she reached out with one finger and tapped his nose playfully, “I kind of figured that one out on my own Take, duh!”

Blushing, Takeshi stuck his tongue out at his mother and continued, “The day was like any other, you know, I got bullied some by some of the jocks and dumped in the trash. Again.”

His mother growled, which was a rather feral sound, before saying, “You know I am not a fan of this side of the damn training regime.”

“I know Mom, and you bring it up all the time something like this goes a little too far. But that isn’t what upset me. It was just the same stupid stuff they pull as usual. No hits, nothing like that.” Takeshi had his hands up trying to calm his mother down. She was really protective of him and had already had words with Mr. McC a few times already this year and it was only the eighteenth. Their… conversations had been audible from outside the room, at least most of them had. The two of them always seemed to snarl at each other like a couple of very irritated dogs or something and there was no way he wanted to be in the room with them. At least Mr. McC treated his politely because of it.

“Okay… so what has you so massively wound up that you clearly ran home from school early this incredibly upset?” she asked, her hackles clearly raised.

“Well, you see… there’s this girl I like…” started Takeshi, sort of hemming and hawing his way around the issue.

“You mean the girl from the movie theater?” asked his mother, as if this was supposed to be some sort of State secret.

“Mom!” Takeshi was rather shocked. He had thought he had been so careful when he had been around Dana, to avoid giving himself away.

“What? Honestly Takeshi… you are always mooning over her when we go to see something, giving her these big soulful eyes. It is clear to everyone that you are in love with her. I mean, how could anyone miss it, with how obvious you have been. Your mom and I have been talking about that.”

“You have?” Takeshi sounded horrified. This was worse than he had thought. He had thought he had been so circumspect, so stealthy, and so smooth. If he had failed this badly then the fallout from the poem was going to be so much worse. He groaned in pain.

“Tadaima!” The voice called out from downstairs.

“Okaeri! We’re up here love!” called out his mother, sounding a bit on the cheerful side. Takeshi groaned a little bit more as he knew that his embarrassment would only deepen as would his shame.

Rather quickly his kasa entered the room looking concerned, taking in the scene with a quick glance. “What’s up?”

“We haven’t gotten there yet. But our son ran home really upset, ran up here crying and I held him as he cried for over fifteen minutes. He was bullied again because of that stupid training thing.” She growled out.

“Mom…” complained Takeshi feebly.

“Alright… I know I told you both I would stay out of it. Sorry love. I just don’t like seeing our boy getting hurt because of a choice.”

His kasa rested a hand on his mother’s arm and it seemed as if his mother’s hackles settled instantly. A new person took over the interrogation. “So, if the bullying was not what upset you what did?”

“It has to do with the girl he likes.” chimed in his mother.

“The girl from the cinema?” asked his kasa.

Takeshi blushed a bright red and buried his face in a pillow. He was hugged from both sides by his mothers, who were making awwww noises which only succeeded in making his face burn brighter but his pain did actually hurt a little less oddly enough.

His kasa then asked, “So what happened with Cinema girl that got you this upset?”

“I… uh… I was watching her in… class and I… I wrote a poem… about her.” It was difficult to admit this to his parents and very embarrassing.

His kasa rubbed his back. “It’s okay Takeshi. We were young once as well. I know I wrote poems about girls I was interested in as well while I was supposed to be paying attention in class. This is not a bad thing.”

“That happened to me more than once. It’s a part of growing up.” commented his mom. “Being a teenager is hard. You have crazy feelings and hormones all tangling up your brain making you just a fountain of madness. That’s puberty for you.”

“Yeah, but did anybody grab your poem and read it out loud in class?” Takeshi sounded really hurt and bitter when he said this. The rawness of his emotions was plain in his words.

Both women flinched and moved as one to hug him, each kissing him on the cheek in comfort. They clearly understood what he was talking about and empathized with him. “I am so sorry baby. That is so terrible. No wonder you ran home. Oh my Goddess! That is just… what a betrayal of trust.”

“My sweet Takeshi… I would never wish for such a thing to have happened to you.” his kasa was tearing up, sniffling.

“It’s okay moms, I just… I can never can go back to school again. The bullies will have a field day with me. After that poem and now, everyone knowing how I feel about Dana… they would just kill me. And Dana… oh Gods Dana… I could never look her in the eye again. She must hate me.” rambled Takeshi, his worries coming out in a torrent, all jangled up with his emotions.

“Sshhh… it’s okay Takeshi. I am sure she doesn’t hate you. She is probably just as embarrassed as you are over this whole misadventure but this is not something you need to abandon school over.” his kasa ran a hand down his back soothingly. “As for abandoning school… do you remember back in sixth grade, when you started the role of geek, I told you that you would have to keep this up until you got older?”

Takeshi looked over at his haha a bit confused as to how this change of topic could help his with his heartbreak and sorrow. He nodded, barely remembering that conversation.

“If you recall, I told you then that everything would change on your sixteenth birthday.”

Takeshi froze and blinked a few dozen times as he tried to process what he had just heard. Things got to change? On his birthday? “Wait… what?”

“Is your birthday not a day away?” she asked patiently, waiting for him to make the connection.

“Uh… uh…”

His mothers began to giggle as their son’s reality clearly spun under this. He kept blinking as his brain was trying to hard reboot, as the stress of too many stressors in one day were taking their toll.

“What does this mean?” Takeshi asked, somewhat unsure of everything as this did not seem to compute with anything that made sense in his world.

With a broad smile, his kasa said as she patted his leg, “This means that you would be able to change roles among other things. We have to talk to your Sousobo to be sure, but after your birthday lots of things get to change. I am hoping that most will be for the better.”

Takeshi smiled weakly, as this was somewhat good news though he was not exactly sure how it could be good news yet. “That might be a good thing. But I don’t know what to do about Dana or anything. It hurts.”

“Why don’t we get something special to eat, watch one of your favorite movies and have some ice cream.” offered his mother.

“God mom… I’m not a girl.” complained Takeshi, but without much heat. This was a somewhat familiar and playful teasing.

“But it sounds good right now, doesn’t it?” she asked knowingly.

With a slight blush Takeshi murmured, “Yes, it does.”

His mothers chuckled, leaned in and hugged him again. “So what did you want to eat?”

“Maybe some Chinese?” he asked shyly, a bit unsure what to say.

“Sure Take, want your usual or something different?” asked his mother.

“Mushu pork please. That sounds better than Moo Goo Gai Pan right now.” He asked in a tiny, almost childlike voice. It was clear that he needed comfort right now.

His kasa hugged him and kissed his forehead, “Of course love, anything for you. You really did have a no good very bad day. We’ll get you anything you want. Want some eggrolls as well or maybe Summer Rolls?”

“Summer Rolls.”

Sliding off the bed, his mother patted his leg and headed downstairs to call in the order. Still hugging him tightly, his haha rested her cheek on the top of his head, “Hopefully things will be better for you after tomorrow love.”

“You think so haha?”

“Absolutely. Turning sixteen is a magical time. You never know what can happen when that occurs. Your whole world can change when that happens, so who knows… maybe this might just fix things with Cinema girl.”

“Her name is Dana.” insisted Takeshi.

“Very well then… Dana. You never know Takeshi what the future brings. Shall we head downstairs and maybe have some tea?” Her smile was soft and it made him feel a little bit better.

His kasa stood and helped pull him from the bed. They headed downstairs where his mom was still talking to the people at Hui Piao Bo the only Chinese restaurant and delivery place in town, making sure that the order was correct. The food was good, but depending on whom you talked to the English skills varied. She smiled at everyone and after she paid, hung up.

Takeshi and kasa were in the kitchen getting things ready for tea. She came up and asked him, “So what do you want to watch as your feel better movie? Miyazaki or something else?”

He nodded his head and said, “Spirited Away. That starts off insane and hopeless and ends up so cheerful. I could use that.”

“Okay. I like that film and it’s not too squeaky.” She went in to get the film started as he got the mugs on the tray. At the same time his kasa was getting the water and the green tea ready in the tea pot. Once he had that task completed his kasa said over her shoulder, “Go on into the other room, I’ll be in once the water’s ready.”

Takeshi did not wait to be told twice and went straight for the family room, where he claimed his usual spot at one end of the couch, folding his legs under him. His mother was cuing up the film, perched in her own spot on the other end while she worked the remote. She cut her eyes over and asked, “So Take, feeling any better?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. This is just so much to deal with. I mean, this really hurts Mom and I think I am going to have a lot of trouble at school because of this, regardless of what sort of cool things might happen at my birthday tomorrow.”

“We’ll see. After this weekend, if we can get that damn geek target off your back maybe we can fix this thing. After all, nothing is impossible.”

“I hope so mom.” Takeshi sighed and sunk a bit deeper into the couch, leaning heavily backwards.

“It will be okay, you’ll see love. Besides, we’re celebrating your birthday tomorrow, so how bad can that be? That means we can start thinking about you getting a car.”

“That would be nice. Oh… Why are we going out to Hiiobbasan’s house for that? I thought I would be able to have a party with my friends.” There was a little bit of a whine to his voice.

She chuckled and said, “Apparently this is a big thing for your kasa’s family. You know my family doesn’t really talk to me much anymore but they also make a big deal out of things. Hell I had a big Sweet Sixteen party at my folks place out in the woods back in the Dark Ages. It’s not too bad and it was a nice party. They still didn’t know that I liked girls back then, so they tried to set me up with someone… gag. He was terrible. You do know we will never do that to you right? That we will never set you up with someone?”

“Yes mom.” Takeshi replied, with the tone of someone who had heard this a few dozen times before.

“We aren’t doing what to him?” asked his kasa as she came in carrying the tray with the tea service nicely arranged on it.

“Selling me down the river to some strange girl.” replied Takeshi tiredly.

“Hmmm… I wonder what Cinema Girl would pay for you? We might make some good money.” mused his haha.

Takeshi blushed and replied in a huff, “Her name is Dana!”

Both his mothers laughed.

Chapter Four

January 19

They were all in his mother’s SUV heading towards the estate of the Saito Matriarch for his birthday celebration. Because of nerves, the three of them were actually quiet for the first few minutes before Takeshi asked, “You know… you never really answered me about why we are going out to Hiiobbasan’s place for this.”

His mothers shared a look and then his kasa turned in her seat to look at him to say, “It has to do with my family’s heritage. Turning sixteen is a sacred time to our Clan. Tonight is not just the night of your sixteenth birthday but also the night where you learn our family’s history and our oldest secrets. There are very special things that happen tonight that really do make a world of difference. Like I said… it is sacred.”

Takeshi looked a bit nervous and glanced worriedly at his mother. “Mom… you know all about this stuff… right?”

“Yes Take, I do. I learned all about this while your kasa and I were dating, when it was clear we were getting very serious about each other. Your kasa asked your Hiiobbasan for permission to tell me and then I was brought out here and told everything. That’s when I shared… secrets of my own, but your mom already knew them, the vixen.”

His kasa snorted in a very unladylike manner and cut her eyes over to her wife, “Vixen, hunh?”

“Did I lie?” was the flat response.

“You’re bad.”

“Why do I feel like I am missing half this conversation?” asked Takeshi, feeling kind of left out of things for a change.

“Don’t worry Take. Just be yourself and everything will be fine tonight. I know that some of this will seem a bit odd, especially some of the Shinto parts, since there is not a lot of Shinto practiced in this area, but trust me, it will be okay. You know that your Hiiobbasan loves you, even if she can be a bit scary.” said her mother.

“My grandmother is not scary.” protested her kasa, pouting a little.

“Try this from my end and we’ll see.” countered her mother.

Takeshi looked out the window and just watched the scenery while his mothers continued to tease each other. It was comforting just listening to them. This was the sounds of happy life and helped make him less nervous and less stressed about his own life. His parents were very much in love and it made him want to be in love so much. They had been together forever and they had gotten married several times, once in a Shinto ceremony when they first brought it up, once in Canada, once in Massachusetts and then here in New York, once it was legal. They had all been fun ceremonies and he had fun as the ring bearer in three of them. This was his family. And now he had some strange Japanese thing to do out at the really nice compound, secluded, out in the woods, away from all other bits of civilization. That didn’t sound creepy at all… nothing at all like the premise of several dozen horror movies.

The trees surrounded them and they wove their way higher up into the mountains that ringed Ravencrest. This wasn’t his first trip up here to his Hiiobbasan’s place but it was certainly his most mysterious, as he knew very little about what was really going to go on. Maybe that did make some sense, being his birthday and all but still.

And what was this about learning about his family’s history? He knew it… right? He knew that the compound was old, built when the first members of the Saito clan arrived in the area in the late 1860’s, right around the founding of the town. The thing was, being Asian, they were kind of snubbed by a lot of the founding families, but money buys well and the Saitos seemed to seep into Ravencrest life silently, like the ninja they apparently were, if this really was a family tradition. This compound was the oldest Saito residence still around, as the family had lost some homes and businesses during the Internment back in the 40’s. The Locke Family had certainly had taken advantage of that situation, not that Takeshi cared, since no one he knew had done those things. The only Locke he had known was actually really nice, despite having Malice for a friend.

So now… now here he was, showing up at this old Japanese style high walled compound with his mothers, for his birthday, to celebrate with a family that seemed almost buried under a mysterious history, as there were artifacts whose stories could be traced back over a thousand years. How was a teenage boy supposed to relax and have fun when presented with that?

Finally, the car pulled up to the tall green and black wall with the slanted caps designed to make it more difficult for entry, but really just required a bit of practice to make it over, and the double wooden doors opened. One of the things the Takeshi was impressed about the place was the fact that the majority of the place, something like 95% was made without the iron nail that was prevalent at the time this was built. It was all wood construction, using natural materials for most everything. It was without any doubt in his mind, the greenest house in Ravencrest and the most unique.

Once inside the walls the orderly gardens were visible. The controlled hand of man was evident in its reproduction of the apparent wildness of nature but with subtle differences. It was a very soothing garden and Takeshi loved it. He remembered playing in it a lot when he was younger. Hide and seek as part of ninja training was an awesome experience and this garden was great for it. And it also had lots of spots that where equally excellent for meditation training. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into the planning of this garden and had been carefully tended over generations.

They rolled down the white gravel drive for several minutes until things opened up and then the house was revealed. It was an amazing multi-level house that looked like it would be far more comfortable in medieval Japan than in some odd little backwoods town in New York. The construction had been improved on over time, but it was still done in as traditional a manner as could be managed to keep the overall aesthetic. It was certainly one of the benefits of having lived in an area a long time and having arrived in a place when it was just getting started. The family had apparently gotten this land cheap and capitalized on it. This was also land that had gone untouched when all the madness in the 40s had happened. It was like this whole huge bit of property had been hidden when the government was seizing everything else.

They pulled into a parking spot next to a number of other cars. Based off the plates it looked like a few the out of state relatives had showed up for his birthday, which kind of surprised Takeshi. He wasn’t anybody important so why would people come from even somewhere as close as Skogshaven to visit let alone,… was that Aunt Chiharu car from Calfornia? Takeshi was not sure what to say as just this alone, just the cars had him stunned.

His mother turned in her seat after she had parked the car and noticed that he seemed a bit out of it, “Are you okay, sweetie?”

“Mom… why is everyone here?”

“It’s your birthday. This is a special event in the clan. Don’t you remember two years ago when there was a big party for your cousin Eri? There was a party for the kids and then there was a sacred Shinto ceremony for the adults. It is a family tradition.” replied his kasa with a smile.

“Well, so long as it’s tradition.” replied Takeshi, rolling his eyes.

They exited the car and got their bags out of the trunk. They turned and saw his great grandmother standing there at the door in a kimono, smiling down at them. The three of them walked up and bowed to her, which she returned formally. Takeshi’s mother started off, saying, “Obaasan, how are you?”

“I am good Amane-chan. And how are you Grace?” The older woman asked, turning to face her
granddaughter’s wife.

His mother bowed again. “I am doing quite well Obaasan. It is good to see you again.”

“Hello Sousobo.” Takeshi bowed, feeling a bit awkward suddenly. Doing things formally was not something he was used to, despite being trained to do it by his haha.

“Happy birthday Takeshi. I hope that you will enjoy the day’s festivities. Come let me take you to your rooms so you can get prepared for lunch. You will need your strength for the ceremony.” She
turned on her heels and they followed her up the steps and into the house. It was clear that she still kept with her training given how smoothly she moved for her age. Ninety year olds seldom moved so gracefully or so strongly.

They had nicer rooms this time then they usually did, as he was the birthday boy. This made him smile as they got a great view out into the gardens and the still unfrozen pool. The flowing water was helping with that, since the circulation kept it from freezing over as the mostly calm pool surrounded by snow was really neat to look at. He hoped that the koi were safe but was sure that the pond was deep enough that they would be fine. Once their stuff was put down in their separate sleeping areas and they had all changed into their yukatas, they headed towards the much larger family room where everyone was gathered.

A short way down the hall, his haha’s older sister Chiharu came up and hugged him tightly. “Oh… happy birthday Takeshi! I’ve missed you guys. Look at you, you’ve gotten so big. You guys need to come out to California. Pearson’s Creek is really nice and it’s just a short drive to Santa Cruz, San Jose or San Francisco. Santa Cruz is a lot of fun.”

“Maybe over the summer Aunt Chiharu. Would that be okay?” replied Takeshi, unsure what else to say. His moms weren’t much help as they were snickering at his discomfort.

“That would be great. Your cousins would love to see you. I didn’t bring them on this trip as between lots of school work and a really bad cold it wouldn’t have worked out. Your Uncle Arashi is watching them and is sorry he can’t make it but they all send their love.”

“So you drove here by yourself?”

“Yeah? So? I like driving. Ask you moms about the time we drove around one summer following Lillith Fair. We are all used to long drives.”

The glares that his mothers gave Aunt Chiharu at that were priceless. He had to wonder at that. His moms had followed Lillith Fair? Really? He turned and looked at them quizzically, clearly wanting more information about that.

His mom stared at him rather flat, giving away nothing. “What? It was a lot of crazy lesbians and hot rock girls… you do the math.”

This got Takeshi to blush rather brightly and examine the intricate wood flooring and the older women to chuckle at him for his clear discomfort at that image. He whined softly, “Mooommmm.”

That earned him a hug and a kiss to the forehead. Takeshi rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. Chiharu chuckled at that, “Awww, are your mommies picking on you again.”

“You have no idea Auntie Chiharu… it is so difficult living in the estrogen palace.”

“I can imagine.” replied his aunt with an overabundance of sympathy.

“I am trapped. surrounded in an ocean of lesbian waves. There really is no escape and I fear for my own safety. I need a man cave where I can retreat and do man things surrounded with the safety of testosterone.”

His kasa snorted at that so hard that it looked like it may have hurt herself, which got them all laughing. Chuckling, his mom just shook her head and said, “Man cave… oh my goddess. That was just wrong Takeshi.”

“Wow Takeshi, I didn’t think you had it in you to get my sister to do that. She is usually so put together and under control. To get her to snort like that… well timed my young padawan, Very well timed.” Chiharu hugged him around the shoulder.

“Thanks. You okay haha?”

His kasa was wiping tears from her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose when she replied as she chuckled, “Yes Take, I am fine. Oh… that hurt. Man cave… don’t do that again… I don’t know if I can survive… oh… my nose… man cave…”

“Sorry kasa.”

“It’s okay sweetie. That was really funny and unexpected. It just caught me off guard is all.” His kasa hugged him and they continued their trek towards the rest of the waiting family.

“So Takeshi, got yourself a girlfriend yet?” The innocent question from his aunt had an immediate response as Takeshi froze in his tracks, shook slightly and sighed deeply.

His mom hugged him and started telling him it was going to be okay as all he could think about was how he was such a screw up and how he was never going to be able to see the girl of his dreams again and how he was a failure and why did he even write that damn poem and oh god he just needed to flee the town and he wasn’t worth anyone’s time as he was a loser and a failure and a fuckup and what was he even doing here celebrating when he was nothing be a complete chump. His kasa sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration.

“Did I say something wrong?” Chiharu seemed a bit worried as she turned towards her younger sister.

His kasa briefly explained and then Chiharu joined in on the hug. Takeshi struggled to pull himself out of the funk, as the amount of hugging was getting a touch smothering but was helping in all honesty. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes mom, I’m sure. It’s just… the question surprised me and made me think of…. Uh… sorry.”

“It’s okay sweetie.” His mom smiled softly and ran her hand down his hair gently, trying to soothe him. “Do you want to still go see everyone or do you want to take a break for a little bit? Everyone will wait. You are the birthday boy after all.”

“No… I think I’m okay. Maybe the party will help take my mind off the ruin that is my life.” Takeshi sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders. The adults shared a somewhat helpless look and then headed back down the hallway towards where everyone else was.

Takeshi took a deep breath and tried to center himself like he had been taught. If he was going to make it through this event then he really needed to be calm and in control of himself. He needed to approach this like he would any other mission, with a clear and focused head. He smiled weakly at his mom and haha and then headed into the large family room.

It looked like a large portion of the family was there. His younger cousin Hideki, who was his aunt Chiharu’s boy, was here playing with his cousins from Skogshaven. Even though they lived closer than any other relatives they didn’t often come down to visit, which was a shame, he liked the twins even though they were younger than him. Apparently, his Uncle, who was his haha’s younger’s brother was always busy doing something up there and almost never had the time to travel away. His aunt was not as bad, but she stayed with the kids most of the time. Takeshi wasn’t sure what his uncle did but was sure it was something governmental or something. Something something liason something? Honestly, that was the best he could remember.

There were several other relatives that he was introduced to that he had never met before from several other places and in all honesty the names began to blur together for him. Why couldn’t there be a Dave or a Teresa in the bunch? That would at least make things different. He bowed and smiled, and said all the right things, playing the dutiful birthday boy. He was however really impressed with the relative who had traveled all the way from Japan for this.

Takeshi had never even heard of this great-aunt Saiyuri, but apparently she and great grandmother were good friends and kept in contact. She had something to do with the family line back in Japan, the Clan they were descended from or something. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things but he may have heard something about that in passing. Whatever it was wasn’t really important as he was basically passed around from person to person to person, meeting everyone there, or seeing them again in a lot of the cases. Things were light until one of his great grandmother’s aides came in, bowed to the room as a whole and said, “Lunch is prepared.”

Everyone quieted and turned, facing him and he swallowed, running things through his mind. If he remembered things correctly he was not going to look like an idiot. He walked up to his Sousobo and bowed. She smiled, returned the bow, rising from where she had been sitting. He followed along behind her as she led the way towards the formal dining room. The rest of the family filed in as well, pretty much in silence, save for the slight sounds of fussing from the younger kids present. They all sat at the low Japanese style table and waited as the first course was served, a mushroom and shallot soup. It was one of Takeshi’s favorite dishes.

His Sousobo nodded and lunch began.

Kit and Kin

poetheather

Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of. Just another day in Ravenscrest.

Five

January 19

After a very tasty but traditional lunch, it was time for the big event. Presents and the party with the kids were scheduled after this as more of a reward for putting up with the old people’s traditions to come. He had fun, and got a lot of nice things, some things that he had even wanted, which was even nice. It was nice to hang out with the cousins he did not see all that often. They had a lot of fun and it was great but all things come to an end. Takeshi sighed and hugged his moms as he had to go and get ready for the ritual with the adults.

There was a shrine at the back of the property that only the adults were allowed to go to and all the kids were looking forward to their sixteenth birthday when they would be able to have their own ritual and get to enter the shrine for the first time. He had been looking forward to this for a while now and his heart was racing. This was really the first sign of him becoming an adult.

Takeshi was lead off into another section of the house that was closer to the shrine. He was really
nervous and not quite sure what to do, as he had just seen Shinto rituals before, not been in them, and was at a bit of a loss over what to do. This was a huge mystery and all the kids had theories about what happened in there and no one had let on what had occurred, so clearly it was a big deal.

One of his great grandmother’s assistants, who also served as a miko and was dressed in the traditional robes at the moment, came along to help him. She smiled and directed him to the bathroom. “Saito-sama, you will want to get clean first. Then, if you will, please put on the fundoshi. The yukata goes on lightly over that. Once you are properly attired, I will guide you to the shrine.”

The girl withdrew from the well-appointed bathroom, leaving him standing in the room a bit confused and unsure what to do at the moment. He knew he had to be purified before any ritual so was that what he was supposed to be doing? The girl had said shower so maybe he should start there?

The hot water felt good and as he relaxed a little, he realized he had been a lot tenser than he had thought he was about everything. Apparently between trying not to think of Dana, trying not to stress over the ceremony and all of that made him stress and tense up. He sighed and lowered his head against the tile, letting his shoulders drop.

Dana… he had majorly screwed that whole thing up and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Sure that poem said what he wanted to say to her but he had never planned on having it read aloud to her in class. This wasn’t some sort of teen romance movie where having a romantic poem read would reveal the heart and change everything. His moms had told him that this ceremony was important, that it changed your life in a major way but honestly, just how much could change? Would it change enough to dig him out of this disaster?

No, he had screwed up his life all on his own when he had lost focus and allowed his notebook to be taken. That inattention cost him everything. And that was not even counting the rumor going around that Dana had been in a relationship with a girl, if you could believe that. There had been no signs of that as far as he had noticed, just this new rumor that everyone was hearing. Takeshi didn’t know what to believe anymore. All he knew was what his heart was telling him and that said he was just lost completely to love.

He shook his head to clear it, water flinging everywhere. This train of thought really was not helping anything. He needed to relax and focus, to get into a proper headspace for the ceremony and not dwell on his heartbreak. That had always been made clear. One did not go into ritual with a cloudy head or bad things could happen. Well, unless he got his act together bad things would certainly happen when he walked into the family shrine where all the adults were gathering. He needed to stop acting like a child and start acting like the adult he was about to become.

Once clean he dressed in the white robes prepared for him. First went on a fundoshi, as regular underwear was forbidden under ritual robes as it supposedly blocked the flow of energy. Then he put on the yukata, lightly belted, as he knew that he would need to remove it. Given what he knew was going to happen before he entered the shrine he wished for two things: one, to have a heavier robe and two, to have been born in the spring or summer.

The miko who was waiting for him outside the room, led him from the house and into the garden. It was beautiful, with the snow hanging on various bushes and trees, lightly outlining the gravel path that had been cleared of snow. She led him down this path, toward the shrine, through some of the thicker foliage of the garden. It was fricking cold outside and the lightweight, mostly indoor robe did little to help him deal with the weather. Thankfully the heavier plants blocked the wind and kept the cold from biting into him too painfully. Takeshi had to use various kuji no in hand positions and mantras to remain somewhat warm as they walked through the snow filled garden. Just before another, smaller tori-i there rested a bucket of lightly steaming water. The miko gestured to the bucket and then held her arms out.

With a sigh at what was inevitable, Takeshi took off the yukata and handed it to the girl. Kneeling into seiza in the snow, Takeshi grasped the bucket and took a deep breath before upending it on himself.

The cold water was a shock, hitting his body like a thousand tiny needles piercing his flesh like daggers. It took all his focus to control his exhalation and not start gasping for air like a fish on dry land. With great single-mindedness, he slowly set the bucket back down in the same spot it had been resting, his muscles complaining the whole time, fighting against cramping, and stood. The miko bowed to him and handed him back the yukata. The slight warmth the silk provided was greatly welcome.

Crossing under the tori-i and into the shrine area proper was a very strange sensation, as it felt a bit like moving through oil or electricity. It wasn’t just the cold, this was something else and Takeshi was not sure what it was that he was feeling. He glanced quizzically behind him at the tori-i and then shrugged. It was too cold right now to stand out here and ponder this stuff. Maybe later he could try and figure this stuff out. Right now he really wanted to get inside where it was warm and not freeze to death in the snow. There were priorities after all.

Takeshi walked up the worn wooden steps of the shrine and sat seiza at the sliding door, knocking softly. The door was slid open, and warmth spilled out. He bowed to the door warden and then entered the room, the door shutting behind him. The room was filled with the adults of the family and they were all wearing Shinto robes, looking at him carefully. It was a bit unnerving.

He bowed to them all and moved deeper into the room and closer to the fire in the center, feeling the heat start to steam his wet skin. It felt really good and he closed his eyes briefly to soak up the heat that pushed away the cold that had smashed into him with the purifying water. One of his uncles came up and took his Yukata and he then stood there, exposed in the fundoshi in front of everyone. With an awkward shift he tried to balance himself a bit better but he was not sure what to do. Had everyone gone through this?

His Sousobo walked up to his, stood there before him calmly, holding a wand with strips of folded paper tied to it, looking like lightning bolts. Her voice held a tone he had never heard before and it commanded instant respect and obedience. “Takeshi, Child of Amane Saito and Grace McCormick,…”

Takeshi cut his eyes over to his mom who was standing by kasa. She was related to the Vice Principal? Why hadn’t she said anything about that before? And was that why they hated each other? There had to be some sort of story there. This he had to hear.

“…you are now sixteen years of age. This is an important time for both our families, both our lineages, as it is a time when you come into your family heritage and obtain your family gifts.”

Wait, what? Heritage? Gifts? What was going on? This wasn’t making any sense and Takeshi was furrowing his brows in confusion.

“It is doubly blessed by the inclusion of McCormick blood and their special traits. While we have little idea of just how those traits will manifest we are sure that they will not cause you undue… difficulty. This is the time when you become a Saito adult and take up our Sacred Charge. Are you prepared?”

Takeshi looked over at his mothers, who appeared a bit worried now for his safety. Undue difficulty? What the hell was going on and what did all this mean to him? He nodded in answer to his Sousobo’s question as words were failing him at the moment. What the hell?

The old woman then stomped on the ground suddenly, staring at him and he found that he could not move, that even breathing was a bit difficult, as his chest was tight. The family began chanting, some sort of repetitive something that was half Japanese and half yips, barks and growls. The scary thing was that it worked and sounded somewhat like language. His mind tried to follow it but it kept sliding off the words, like there was nothing there for him to grab onto, to make sense out of. His eyes widened into panic as he realized that something truly freaky was going on and this ritual was nothing what any of the kids had thought it would be.

Sousobo began to dance, slowly at first, moving the wand in a specific pattern that seemed to mesmerize him, catching his eyes. He could not look away from her, from the strips of paper, from the motion in front of him. She began to chant as well, different words but in that same strange language as the others. It made his ears itch and he kind of wanted to scratch his brain. What was happening? Had his whole family gone insane?

The words of the chanting pressed and rubbed against him. He felt like his skin was getting hotter, warming up from underneath, as if the heat from the fire was actually something cooling him from the outside. And clearly there was something wrong with his eyes because his Sousobo’s form was beginning to waver before him as well as her dancing picked up speed and her hair picked up a strange reddish tint. Was she even getting a bit taller? The words seemed to be itching his skin and he was fighting against the force holding him, trying to claw his own skin off. A scream was trying to bubble its way out of his throat.

His great grandmother changed even more, her face elongating, becoming more muzzle like, more feral, and it began to freak him out even more. What the hell? Was he tripping? He began to struggle even more against the bonds holding him but there was no give, he was being held fast which only fueled his growing panic. There was no way he could scream either as his mouth was not responding to his desperate urges. It felt like tongues of fire were dancing inside his body, eating away at his flesh and he wanted to yip and howl with the pain. The intensity of the sensations grew more and more intense until with an internal scream, he whited out.

Slowly, he realized he could move again, but things felt very different, different in a way that eluded his ability to define because these were sensations that were so unusual. He knew that he had never had these particular feelings before in his life and that disturbed him. His nose wiggled at the new scents it was taking in, so many and so varied that it was hard to categorize them. But it wasn’t just that… there were things about his body that just felt… off. What the hell had happened to him?

“Is he okay?” asked his kasa, her voice heavy with concern.

“Uhm… Amane, does his body look right to you?” asked his mother, confusion clear in her words.

Was there something wrong with his body? It certainly did not feel the same as before but it still felt like his body for the most part, so why was his mom so concerned. There was a moment pause as he opened his eyes and looked up at his mothers, who were in very sharp detail. Why were they so tall? When did he get so short?

“Look closer girls. I do not think that it is his body any longer.” commented his Sousobo calmly.

His mothers’ eyes shifted and focused and he turned his head and looked between his bent, red fur covered legs. He cocked his head in confusion at what he was seeing or rather not seeing. His mind tried to process this new bit of data but it kept failing as other things kept interrupting the processing. There was a loud thump as his mothers fainted, collapsing right next to him and all Takeshi could think as he looked at where his penis should be was, “Hunh… I’m a fox.”

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravenscrest.

 

---

 
January 19

Takeshi got to his four feet rather shakily. It was rather strange, being all furry and short. His balance was off and it adjusted some as he moved his tail. He picked up his feet and looked at them, muttering to himself, “I’ve got paws.”

“Yes you have paws. You are a fox. It happens. Now come, there are other things to deal with before we complete the ritual…” replied his great grandmother, calmly.

“Wait you can hear and understand me?” barked out Takeshi, eyes going wide in surprise.

His Sousobo smiled down at him kindly, “Of course I can Takeshi, we Kitsune can talk in all our forms. We are not limited in our ability to communicate like the Weres because we are not exactly like them. We are not simple shapeshifters, but we will talk more about this later. As I was saying Takeshi… before we complete this ritual, you need to go for a little run, to get used to this form you now wear. The Fox is one of the base forms for a Kitsune as is the human form, without being comfortable in both, the blended form is difficult to hold which will make your magic harder to wield.”

“My What!” Takeshi was even more shocked by the implication that he could have magic than he was by the transformation into a fox.

His mothers were coming to, and were looking over at him with sad and concerned eyes. That made him feel embarrassed, causing him to bring his tail in front of his face. His kasa frowned at this and said, “Oh baby… I am so sorry.”

Takeshi cocked his head, ears perking up clearly trying to figure out what his parents were at fault for. “Sorry for what kasa?”

“You… being a girl… it’s probably our fault.” said his mother, looking at the floor, her cheeks colored with embarrassment.

Takeshi trotted over and rested one forepaw on his mother’s knee and rested another one her chest, trying to look her in the face. “How?”

With a watery smile and eyes that were full of tears, his mother replied, “We… your kasa and I that is, we… I mean, I… that is…”

“We went to the witches to get a spell, a one use spell to turn your mother into a man.”
His mother took over, “You see we didn’t want a donor and there was no way that I would let my brother anywhere near you, so… that kind of left us in a pinch.”

“My magic could do it but not in a way that would ensure that we could get pregnant. So we took this other option.” replied his kasa softly, running a hand down his head.

Takeshi shuddered some as that felt so very good, even better than when his kasa did that when he was human. “So wait, let me get this straight… mom… you’re my dad?”

His mother was silently crying and all she could do was nod, she sucked in a sob and then was able to choke out, “So you see how this is all our fault.”

“Uh… no. I don’t. Maybe I don’t get this whole magic thing yet, but no.” Takeshi was still a bit confused, what with being a fox and a girl fox at that.

“If I hadn’t used magic to turn me into a man, then you wouldn’t have turned into a girl.”

“But if you hadn’t done that then I wouldn’t be here at all, so I fail to see the problem or where you are to blame for this. Sousobo?” he turned his head to look up at his great grandmother for some sort of help. He felt a lot out of his depth in all of this.

She pursed her lips and nodded her head, stepping closer to the family. “There is more at work here than Witches magics balancing out, Grace. This is not your fault or responsibility. There is something else at play. Surely you have noticed the various things going on in the valley, the movement of Dragons, the other changes of this kind amongst the other were, the strange chaos with that new girl among the witches, the power struggle amongst the vampires, the powerful forces at work in this area. The Sacred are moving, that is a truth, and forces on both sides are in motion. Skogshaven has already seen open battle between the courts and I fear that it is not long before the powers in this valley draw such attention to them probably because of the Well. No, there is more to this change than meets the eye. Inari should be consulted but that is not what today is about.”

“So… it is not our fault?” asked Takeshi’s haha in a tiny voice, hoping that it was true.

The smile turned to her was soft and clearly full of love. “No granddaughter, this is not your fault. Your child is merely affected by some force beyond even a nine tails ability to stop. You only have seven tails, this is clearly beyond your power and Grace… weres do not have this power within them. No, there is old power, old magic at work in this. Older than the city itself, tied into the land itself and the power that it hides. But that is neither here nor there. We must finish the ritual before we speak of these things in greater depth. Takeshi, you need to go out into the woods and run a while, to feel your body and get used to being the fox. This is not a bad thing. This is a time to revel in your new form and enjoy all that you have become. When you return we will finish this up and talk more of family and your new place in the world.”

One of his Uncles slid open a door in the back wall of the Shrine that led out into the woods. Takeshi loped over and paused by the tiny door and his Uncle said, “When you return, request entrance. I will open the door back up.”

With a look back at his mothers, who smiled encouragingly at him, he turned into the exit. It led to a passageway with several barriers that he was easily able to bypass due to his intelligence. Simple animals would have found it impossible to get in here. There was even a barrier like he had felt with the second tori-i that he now figured was magic of some sort. That would certainly protect this route from intruders.

Now, with his back to the wall, Takeshi was standing in the white expanse looking out at the tree line a fair distance away given his new size. He ran towards it, having to hop a bit to make it through the deeper snow. Being this tiny seemed rather annoying. There was no way he would have a speed advantage someplace like here. Now in the forest, where he would be able to duck and dodge under things, that would give him an advantage, but for now… not so much. This was something to ponder over.

His ears twitched, as he could hear all sorts of noises, little scurrying feet, and the movement of branches from both the wind and from weight being placed on them. The smells were almost overpowering as there were so many and they seemed to mean so many different things. It was difficult to try and sort everything out but he figured that he needed more experience to get a clue what each thing meant. He started sniffing around the area, tracking down different scents so he could identify them and that was helping him process all this new data in his head.

The sounds that filled the air were easier to figure out even though there were so many more of them, and he was handling those at the same time. The sensations his new body was feeling were amazing. The whiskers were also a trip, how they interacted with the world, especially as he drew close to things and they brushed close. It was a whole new realm of data that he never had access to before. This kind of sensory overload threatened to overwhelm him.

He could smell other animals out there and his mind tried to make sense of those as well. Some made him hungry and have an urge to hunt, which was weird and some made him wary. There were also other sensations, feelings that were closer to the brushes of chi he had learned to pay attention to when he had been training. He sort of stopped in a small clearing, closed his eyes and just drank in the sensations that were swamping his body. Unless he came to terms with all of this data he would be unable to really deal with anything else.

Suddenly there was a presence in front of Takeshi and his eyes snapped open. There was a little floating girl there, with tiny wings fluttering, smiling at the fox head now cocked to one side in confusion. It waved cheerfully at him and said, “Hi!”

This surprised Takeshi and he took a leap backwards, which when bounding with four legs can be pretty spectacular. He landed slightly awkwardly and tried to regain some dignity.

The little flying thing giggled and flew closer, trying to hide her smile behind her hands. “Hi.”

“Uhm… hi?” Takeshi was unsure what one said to a little flying person but figured that hello was a safe place to start.

“You’re new. I can tell.”

“Thanks?” Takeshi was at a loss as to what this was in the air in front of him. It looked a lot like a fairy from one of the kid’s books he had seen years ago but surely that was crazy. But then again he had been turned into a fox girl just a little while ago, so his criteria for crazy and impossible had changed a little.

“Happy birthday!” The little pixie enthused.

“Thank you?” Takeshi was a very confused fox and was sure that the look on his furry face was worthy of a LOLCat picture. What was with this creature and why did he feel like he was the only one that did not know what was going on in this conversation.

“You know, you seem kind of different from the others. Are you different?” asked the fairy, fluttering around him, looking at him closely.

“Uh… yes? My mother is a McCormick and my haha is a Saito.”

“Oh?! Really? I need to tell someone. That’s important! Well, bye!” The little fairy sped off and Takeshi just stared after it, trying to figure out what was going on. Why was he important? Why was it important that his parents were together? What in the hell had just happened and was he having some sort of psychotic break? Becoming a girl was one thing. Turning into a fox was another, but a little flying fairy that was all surreal… that was another matter entirely. That whole thing simply made his head hurt.

Shaking his head, Takeshi wandered farther into the forest, letting the normal sensations of nature soothe him. He startled a deer, which took off running, making him start to laugh. The look on the animal’s face had been priceless. Such surprise when this tiny female fox appeared and then running as if the hounds of hell were on its tail was particularly hysterical. What the hell was he going to do, chase it? He ended up falling over and rolling on the ground. Were animals usually this funny? How had he never noticed? If deer were that hysterical, what about rabbits? This bore further scrutiny.

There was another smell coming closer, something canine, something that held more threat to it and it sounded like it was larger than him. He rolled to his feet and was ready to run, realizing that his size did not make fighting an easy option. Thinking like a ninja would certainly behoove him here and he was already trying to figure out how his training could be incorporated into his new body. The smells he was getting were interesting as they got more refined. They smelled like milk, baby, something undefinable and something that his mind kept insisting was the moon.

Whoever it was entered the small clearing and stopped in surprise, looking at him oddly. Takeshi noticed that it was a female coyote with light colored fur who was looking at him kind of curiously, as if she were trying to figure him out. They just stared at each other and the coyote took a few steps closer, sniffed some, threw him a quick coyote grin and loped off. Takeshi just sat there trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Who the hell was the coyote? Why hadn’t it talked? Could it talk? This whole thing made his head hurt and maybe he should just go back to the compound and finish things up before more strange things happened. It might be safer that way.

If he went back, then he could find out if he was stuck being a girl or if he was a girl only in this fox body. At this point he was almost too dazed by everything to make sense of anything and wanted to sleep. Bed sounded good, but there was more stuff to learn and hear and that made him want to cry. Who had he upset that ended up turning him into a girl and a fox and a Kitsune and who knew what else? He had been a good kid, listened to his mothers, done his homework, did what his teachers asked, never started fights, was very rarely naughty, so why was this happening to him?

He trudged through the snow, dragging his tail, getting snow impacted in his paws and fur, ears flat against his head. He was getting cold and shivering some, since this body had less mass and the fur only held in so much heat. This new body was still going to take some getting used to but he was able to more around comfortably and without too much distress. No, the stress of the day was building and he just wanted to crash.

Making it through the maze of things to the door was easy and he got entrance simply enough. His parents were waiting with a heated towel and they bundled him up in that, warming him up and drying him off which felt magnificent. He sighed and drifted away some at that, basking in the sensations. Once he felt a bit better and more revived they sat him back on his feet and he wobbled a little. His kasa started off, “Takeshi, you know that we love you, right?”

“Yes kasa, I know.” He did his best to smile.

“Well, we figured that you are not going to return to your male body after the second part of the ritual, given everything, so we have come up with a new name for you, if you are okay with that.”
With a cocked head Takeshi seemed curious as to this name.

His mother continued. “After talking about it we decided to go with one of the names we had planned on back before you were born, if you had been a girl. How do you feel about the name Maeko?”

Takeshi rolled the name around in his head a few times, getting a feel for it. It didn’t sound too bad and its meaning was really kind of sweet and said a lot about what his parents thought of him. “So, if I do not return to my own body…?”

“You will become Maeko Saito. We figure that we can come up with some sort of story like you needing to go stay with your cousins in California to help out your Aunt and one of them coming out here to check out the college or something.” replied his haha.

Takeshi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That didn’t sound too bad and it clearly showed that his mothers cared about him. They wanted to find a way to make this work regardless of how this whole thing played out. “Sure. We can do that.”

His sousobo stepped up again and said, “Now that we have finished that up, maybe we can get the rest of this ceremony dealt with.”

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravenscrest.

January 19

Takeshi walked over in front of his Sousobo, curled his tail under him, sat down on his haunches and said in a voice as calm as he could manage, “I am ready.”

The old woman looked down at the little vixen for a moment, as if measuring something and then nodded, satisfied. She looked over the other family members and said in that commanding voice, “Prepare.”

Takeshi’s eyes widened as the forms of her relatives sort of wavered and straightened, their faces pushing out into muzzles, ears pushing straight up from the top of their heads. They looked completely comfortable in the clothes they were wearing even though it was clear they were all this sort of strange fox — human hybrid with a very expressive face. In a way that was difficult to put into words, they looked like people who just happened to be foxes as well. The also had a different number of tails peeking out from under their yukatas or kimonos, from three to nine. His mother on the other hand was an entirely different matter.

She had a half human half fox form as well, but while his kasa’s family looked an easy mix of the two, this form was much more feral, much more beastial than the rest of the Saitos. She looked more powerful than the rest, with clearer muscle definition and bulk and her form seemed much more geared towards combat based on the way her hands looked claw like. His mother was definitely more a monster than the rest of her relatives and Takeshi’s breath caught in his lungs as for the first time in his life he feared his mother. She was even taller than she had been by at least a foot and a half and looked more than capable of tearing him to shreds with little effort, even with all of his training.

The visible differences between these two forms made something abundantly clear to Takeshi, something that had not really penetrated until that very moment, that Kitsune and werefoxes were not the same thing, not even remotely. They even felt different in addition to looking different. There was some sort of subtle energy that Takeshi could feel that was not the same between his mother and the other Saitos. It kind of reminded him of what he had felt off of that coyote in the woods and that worried him.

Once the rest of the family had transformed into their forms, they began to dance, slowly at first, but with growing speed. It was another somewhat traditional Japanese Temple Dance that was part of training and the reason for that was becoming clear now. They were also chanting in that language he had heard before but he could almost make words out now and it was very frustrating that he was still not able to make out any of the words. It was right there, at the edge of his perception, but just unable to connect. There was power there in both the words and the dance and the air was crackling with it, like the air before a summer storm.

Again Takeshi couldn’t move, held fast by some invisible force far stronger than him. Heat rushed through his body then cold, alternating, along with an electric current that seemed to grow in strength as it tore through his body causing his muscles to convulse. The fur on his body stood up, which felt very strange, almost so it prickled, and made him look very bizarre. The effects of the forces on his body made him start panting and the itching feeling crawled on the inside around the inside of his skin, pushing out. He was sick to his stomach and getting light headed, vertigo threatening to toss his meal everywhere. As the sound of the chanting barking growling yapping caterwauling yowling baying snarling crying shrieking grew discordant Takeshi got groggy, eyes barely able to stay open, and felt like he was trembling, ready to pitch over, though the energy held him fast.

Pain wracked his body again, and something within him contorted, shifting, growing taller, stretching, bones elongating with a surreal sensation of pulling taffy. Longer hair was growing from his head and it felt like more tails were growing from his backside. The feeling was very bizarre and his mind almost rebelled at the imput. His limbs did not feel right, as they were not set like a humans. Colors shifted as his eyes transformed again. He blinked a few times, swallowed heavily to keep from vomiting and then the world settled, solidified into place.

Before a new yukata was draped over his now narrower shoulders, he noted that he had a pair of nearly C cup breasts, with small areolae and nipples. He blinked a few times before it registered. He had breasts. They were covered in a mix of fine red fur on the outside and white fur on the inside but they were still clearly breasts. There was no denying the clearly mammalian shape they had and the way they pushed out the Yukata. Then there was also the continuing absence that had to be noted. None of this indicated that he had returned to his old form in any way or shape. Takeshi sighed in resignation as the silk was draped over him. He slid his arms in, belting it tight while saying, “So, I gather by the way I look that this means that my name is going to be Maeko now?”

His mothers rushed over to him and enveloped him in their arms. In a voice thick with emotion, his kasa said, “You are our daughter now. We will miss our son but we are happy that you are still with us.”

Her mom kissed Maeko on the cheek, which was actually more of a soft lick than anything else, and said sadly in a rougher voice than normal, “Welcome to the sisterhood. This isn’t what we wanted for you but we will do what we can to help you fit in.”

Maeko teared up a little at their words and hugged them back tightly, burying her face in their fur. “Thanks moms. This means a lot to me. I love you, both.”

“We love you too.”

As they hugged, Maeko heard his mom mutter something that confused her, “So that’s what she meant.”

Her great grandmother cleared her throat and said formally, “I welcome to the clan Maeko Saito, three tailed Kitsune. Your release from the bonds of childhood shows that you will indeed become a vixen to be reckoned with in time to come. To come forth with three tails at your age is rare. It is a sign of your family’s power and your personal power. This bodes well for your future. Now sit and listen to the history of your clan so that you might learn the ways of your people.”

The old woman gestured and one of her Uncles walked up, bowed to her and then faced Maeko. Seeing a fox face with glasses on it was a bit strange but Maeko was not going to snicker. That would be unseemly and make her look like an idiot. “Maeko Saito, the history of the Kitsune is ancient one. The Kitsune people are an old people, interacting with kami, kami-sama, fae, oni, spellcasters, drinkers of life, were tribes and humans freely. In Asia we were well known for our trickster ways and our power, having respect in all worlds. Our clan, the Saito, mostly lived in Japan, and is one of the clans who pledged their allegiance to the Goddess Inari, saying that we would not hurt humans, as they are at an unfair advantage against the rest of us. This we have done for a long time, both by watching over them and by teaching humans how to defend themselves in various ways.

Maeko was a bit shocked at that. Were the stories that she had learned as a kid, the legends of Japan, of spirits and heroes and demons and such true? Had this been another way the family had sought to teach without making things too obvious?

Her Uncle continued on. “We have also served mortal people and rulers of the country in our role as Ninja, working to provide protection and intelligence at various levels. The most recent ruler we served in Japan was the Tokagawa Shoganate as well as the Emperor. We still have Clan members in Japan but our branch of the family came to America in 1860 attached to the first Japanese Embassy. Our Clan, having fulfilled their obligation to the Shogun and having felt a calling towards a northern point, left Washington DC in 1865 and came here to Ravenscrest a short time later. We built our homes here and made our lives here, keeping to our ways in private while we blended our lives like the others in town. We made friends with many of the locals, including the McCormicks, with whom we felt a kinship, but that changed at the advent of World War Two.

Cutting her eyes over, Maeko noticed her mother grimaced at the mention of her family of origin. Were they really that bad? What had happened that had driven her mother away from her family? Now Maeko really wanted to know, as there seemed to be even more tied up into the family drama than she had previously thought. It made her parents romance seem much more Romeo and Juliet than Girl Gone Wild, which was actually only a little bit better.

“Much of our family was shipped off to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming though a few stayed to protect the compound and uphold our charge, as best as they could. Our businesses and homes in town were split up by the McCormicks and the Lockes and we lost a great deal of wealth. But it was the McCormicks who most abused our trust in this, using this to gain more wealth to put them in even stronger footing than they had been amongst the various Were families. They used our friendship as an excuse to buy short and try to cheat us out of our own. Our family has since regained much that we have lost through various means, to the chagrin to the McCormicks as you do not fight ninja, especially Kitsune ninja. It is folly to try. However, we hold our family’s sacred charge here, in Skogshaven and in California and we shall continue to do so as long as our Goddess Inari wishes us to do so.

Maeko blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to process this last bit. Was that really the short form of her family history? They had a job to do, given to them by a Goddess, the Goddess that this shrine was dedicated to? It kind of made her head spin and she was not quite sure how to react. But first things first, “Uhm Uncle, what job is that?”

The grin he returned to her was a touch unnerving and he winked at her before answering. “We serve as a liaison between the Fae courts and the other Unseen, such as Witchs, Weres, Vampires and the like. At times, we also do this between them and humans. Because Kitsune live comfortably in both worlds and we like both humans, the Unseen and the Fae, we are the natural people to talk to each side.”

“We’re diplomats?” asked a confused Maeko.

“Kind of. That is one way of looking at our job but we do more than just that. We also try to protect people from any of the Fae that decide that the mortals look like easy prey, which can include the Unseen. That part is more difficult, but we Kitsune are powerful, never doubt that.”

Maeko looked at the faces of the adults as if trying to find an answer there and then blinked a few times. She finally just said, “Okay. So kind of like the UN then. Right. Well… outside of the fairytales, what can Kitsune do?”

The adults laughed, clearly amused by this question. His Aunt Chiharu decided to answer that one, saying, “Well, we can naturally turn invisible, reduce our weight, and become incorporeal. We all have a degree of shapeshifting ability, though it varies as to how much you actually have. Some can only change minor things about themselves while others can completely alter their form. And we can all do magic.”

“Magic?” Maeko was clearly incredulous.

“Yes. It is closer to Fae magic than Witches magic to be sure, but it is magic none the less.”

“Wait… what? I don’t get that. Magic is magic right? There’s a difference?”

“Yes Maeko, there is.” replied Chiharu. “There is always a cost with magic, but the cost for Witches is a bit graver than the cost for Fae. Since they are mortal and do not have as easy an access to energy as any of the Fae do, their cost is time off their life. If they are willing to pay the cost they can do most anything, so it does not pay to cross them, because a determined witch will cut off a lot of her life just to ensure you pay. But Fae, they cast their magic off their individual source of power. If they cast too much it can drain and they will die but it can also replenish over time. Very powerful Fae who have built up their magical power can cast some very powerful spells that are difficult to counter. With Kitsune, an indication of magical power is number of tails.”

Maeko’s eyes were a bit wide as she took this all in. “Right, so magic is pretty crazy.”

“Very true. It also takes a while to learn. We will start you on simple things like basic warding, light, things like that, some of it will come naturally, some won’t.” She said with a smile, reaching over to pat her shoulder. “I am sure you will do fine.”

“Am I going to meet some of these witches and other Unseen?” asked Maeko, a little bit worried about where some of this could be leading her. It all sounded so overwhelming right now that she kind of wanted to crawl into bed and cry.

His Sousobo shook her head. “No, not yet. That will happen in due time as you take up the sacred charge of the Goddess. However, we have other introductions to make first.”

Maeko shook her head and asked, “To whom?”

“The Fae.”

She goggled some and replied quietly, “Oh.”

“Remember to be polite.” Her great grandmother teased.

The same Uncle who had opened the small door for her stood and moved to another section of the wall. He undid some latches, waved his hands in a strange pattern a few times and then slid open a different section of wall. Her Sousobo then called out something that did not sound like Japanese at all and it threw Maeko. She called it out a second time and then a third.

The air shimmered like the air above hot asphalt in the summer, wet and almost tangible. Then a man, tall but strongly muscled and dressed for a Rennasaince Faire, with dark black hair and a well groomed goatee and moustache stepped through with a familiar little fairy fluttering next to him. Following behind him was a similarly dressed woman with white blond hair and a gentle smile gracing her lips. The man scanned the room quickly, caught eyes with his Sousobo and spoke with a very deep and warm voice, “Ah, Countess Saito, another of your kin has come of age I see.”

His great grandmother bowed formally and smiled at the man. “Yes your Grace. Allow me to introduce my great granddaughter, Maeko Saito. Maeko, let me introduce his Grace, Duke Corvalis and his lovely wife, Duchess Naethien.”

Maeko was unsure if she should bow or curtsey and so ended up with this awkward mix of the two. The blond Fae laughed lightly, a sound that Maeko was sure she had never heard before, as the laugh was far too light to be regular laughter that humans made. The Duchess commented, saying, “I see she is one of the many in the valley who has changed with their coming of age.”

“Yes your Grace, she is nonetheless adapting fairly well so far. Her mothers were the ones who had the greatest trouble with this change.” commented her Sousobo with a slight chuckle.

The Duchess cut her eyes over to her mothers, who colored under the intense blue eyed gaze that seemed to hold a great deal of humor. “Really now? Your lovely daughter Amane and the fierce Grace McCormick troubled by gaining a daughter? That had to have been a sight to see.”

“We were pleased by our son, your Grace. This change came as a terrible shock.” replied her kasa calmly. Maeko’s mother however seemed to be trembling slightly under the gaze.

The Duchess walked closer to her mother while the little fairy flew over to Maeko. While the Duchess was leaning down and talking softly to her mother, the creature was fluttering in front of her saying, “You’re no longer a fox!”

Maeko frowned, having wanted to listen to what the Duchess was saying, and simply said, “Yes.”

“That’s okay. You look good this way too. You know… your ears still kind of look the same.”

Her mother had stopped shaking and was now smiling softly, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. Maeko was a bit concerned but this little thing was still in the way and clearly wanted all of her attention. “I’m a pixie.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Maeko.”

“I’m Pepper. You’re really pretty.” stated the pixie, embarrassing the teenager.

The Duchess cleared her voice and the pixie started. She then bowed her head and flew over next to her blond haired woman, replying to the unspoken command in a flat tone, “Yes your Grace.”

Shaking his head in obvious amusement at the pixies actions, the Duke chuckled, “So you will be the newest kitsune to attempt to reconnect our two worlds? I would not desire to share in such a task young one as it is quite daunting. While there are some of the Coven who know of us but most in this don’t know of us. Through various mishaps we have become disconnected with the others in the valley and that might prove to be ill. It is only the Well of Orin that we share now and nothing else. Recent actions in the town have worried us and we cannot just let some of these powers move through this valley. That needs to change.”

“Wha… what can I do?” nervously asked Maeko.

The Duchess spoke up, smiling at her in a way that warmed her heart. “Make friends among the other Unseen. There are times coming when the ability to pull together would serve us all well. And when you feel you can trust those friends, let them pierce the glamour and see with clear eyes.”

The Duke nodded and added, “You are not the first Kitsune in this valley to have this task. This is difficult and we acknowledge that. We just ask that you try. So, Maeko, are you willing to try?”

Maeko swallowed heavily as she thought about what was being asked, trying to fix this problem that others had failed to fix, presumably including her haha. What made it likely that she could succeed where the others had not, where her haha had not? She was not any more skilled than them?

But then again, what did she know about all of this? For all she knew conditions might have changed since the others had tried. But how was she going to find these people and when she did, how was she going to make friends with them? She had trouble making friends with the girl she loved now. What the hell chance did she really have with new people?

But then again, could she really say no to this task? It went along with the charge her family was given by Inari only a bit more specific. She really had no choice did she? “Yes your Grace. I am willing to try.”

The Duke grinned broadly, clearly delighted by this answer. “Excellent. We will have Pepper here watch over you and report occasionally on your headway. The Countess will also report on your progress, if you do not mind Lady Saito, so we have a full picture of what is going on.”

“Not at all Duke Corvalis.” Her Sousobo replied in that calm manner of hers. Maeko felt slightly trapped but was aware that there really was nothing that could be done. She smiled and bowed.

“Excellent. Well then, take care. Lady Saito. Maeko. Good Luck!” The two Nobles walked into the shimmering barrier and then vanished.

As the doorway was being closed, Maeko sort blinked as she tried to process everything. This was really heavy. Something light rested on her head and she rolled her eyes upwards, as if they would be able to see what was there. They were not. She asked curiously, “Pepper?”

“Yeah?” came a tiny voice from above.

Maeko didn’t say anything, resigned to having a tiny pixie on her head while she just sort of walked over to her parents who took her into their arms and hugged her. Her haha brushed one hand up and down her back, saying comfortingly, “There, there love, it will all be okay.”

Maeko closed her eyes, unsure how it could ever be okay again.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 20

With a yawn, she awoke, stretching and coming awake quickly to her new body. It felt quite different to move, as her breasts had fairly significant weight and her body was shaped differently, with curves where there hadn’t been. The awareness of body that all martial artists develop made this difference very apparent to her and it sort of shook her deeply as her mind kept throwing up the contrasts. True, by the time she had transformed yet again and walked back to the main building last night, she had found her movement point, but everything was so different. Her movements flowed in a new manner as the musculature, bone structure, and nerves were ever so slightly different in this new body. Even the placement of fat was making things tricky as her new backside showed, changing the way she stood.

Maeko was a whole new girl, who had even needed to be shown how to use the bathroom with her new equipment, to her eternal embarrassment. Her mothers took it all in stride, just another day in parenting, but it was mortifying for the sixteen year old. Teenagers were not supposed to need to be taught how to pee. There were intricacies to this new body that were very different from her old male one. The rules were now different and she realized that she had a lot to learn in a very short time. She had no clue how to be the girl she had become or what to do in order to even become that girl. She felt totally screwed.

What was she going to do now? Was there some sort of plan to help her become a girl? Some sort of program in place to teach her everything she needed to learn? She really was at a loss. She knew that girls were different in the way they talked and acted, but as she had never thought that this particular fate was in her future so she had not paid enough attention to all of that in order to help her build an identity. If only she had known.

Sitting up, she slid her feet into the house slippers and pulled the yukata around her. It would not help her to hide in her room, though there had still been discussion about what they were going to tell the others. This was still a fairly fresh idea and figuring out how to break it to the rest of the family had still been on the table. Would the kids understand?

There was a knock at the door. Maeko turned her head to face that way, brushing the hair from her face. “Come in!”

In walked her kasa, carrying a tray of food. Her mother, who was holding the door, followed her in a second later and closing the door behind her. Maeko looked at her parents questioningly. With a shrug her mother answered the unspoken words, “They decided to not tell the kids just yet what has happened to you and instead have you ‘come out’ in a few weeks.”

Maeko looked a bit surprised at that. “Really? That seems a bit odd.”

“There is no real reason to mess up the kids too much over this. You are fine and coming out will not affect the parents, who can talk the kids around if they balk at all of this. And this way, there is little chance for the kids to realize that you have lost some height.” explained her kasa, after she set down the tray. “Are you hungry?”

“I haven’t really been up that long and so my stomach hasn’t woken up yet.” said Maeko, tucking another errant strand of hair behind her head. Taming her wild hair was going to take some getting used to.

“Okay.” With a gesture from her kasa, the air seemed to thicken around the tray. “There, that will keep everything warm until you are ready to eat.”

Maeko nodded, even though the casual use of magic blew her mind. Just how much was going to change at home now that she knew the truth? “So what is the plan? How are we going to tell others about this? I mean I have friends and stuff. How are we going to tell them about this?”

Her mother shook her head sadly, “Well, since we cannot just say that you are our daughter now, considering how much you have physically changed, they are trying to come up with something that will be believable. I am sure it will be good and it will protect you. It is going to suck some but we can make it work.”

Looking down at her yukata, and realizing that all she had under it was the pjs she had brought to sleep in as Takeshi which were a bit too big, Maeko bit her bottom lip and asked, “So what should I do about clothes right now? I mean I don’t have anything to wear at the moment, including underwear. I shrunk so nothing fits right anymore.”

“We could get you clothes right now but let’s find out what the plan is with your identity. That way you can get dressed as your new identity and start to get used to it.” Her kasa was very calm about all of this. It made her wonder if this had happened before. Did other people transition when they became adults?

“Who is figuring out who I’m going to be?” asked Maeko a bit confused about all of this. It sounded like someone else was deciding her fate.

“Your Uncle Satoshi and Aunt Chiharu are mostly doing this. Satoshi can get you the IDs and stuff made because of his work with the government. That gives him access to the things necessary to make that happen. You will be a ‘real’ person by the time we leave.”

Maeko blinked a few times. “Isn’t that… like very illegal?”

“Not really. Think of it like cover documents for now. It can be a great help in situations like this. Getting the paperwork side dealt with can ensure that the government does not become a problem with all of this. You will still be you, but for now we will have the paperwork to make you be your cover.” Her kasa shrugged. “It is mostly to make life easier.”

Maeko was thoughtful as she began to eat her breakfast. There was a lot about this to think about. Becoming a girl when it was just supposed to be a ceremony to unlock powers and welcome you as an adult was very strange. Being a half Kitsune half Werefox was also something that took some time getting used to. The fact that their family worshiped a Goddess who had actually shown up back in the day was slightly less world shaking. But only slightly. All of this combined to make her world all but collapse in on itself.

What was she going to do? She was a girl now, with all the necessary body parts and everything. That still freaked her out. It implied a lot and those implications really did not reassure her. Looking in the mirror after she had used the bathroom had freaked her out because she clearly looked like the daughter of her mothers. The family resemblance was huge. So how could they possibly convince other people that she was not Takeshi? She looked similar, like a sister, like she would have if she had been born a girl, at least that’s where her thoughts led her. In what way could that fact be spun to make her a different person?

Once she had finished eating, her parents left her alone to get dressed in some temporary clothes her haha had conjured out of a sheet. Maeko struggled with the bra some due to its unfamiliarity but her mothers had explained how to get it on clearly enough that she did not need to add to her mortification by calling her mothers in to help her. This was the only set of clothes that she had and was unsure what to do now that she was dressed. She sat and got into the lotus position with greater ease than ever before. This body was more flexible than her old one by just a little bit but that difference was noticeable because of her body awareness. She settled and began deep breathing, letting her stress and worry fade with each breath. It helped reduce her tension and she dropped into a deep meditative state, letting everything flow away.

After about twenty minutes of Void meditation where she just let everything go, Maeko opened her eyes and sighed. This was a lot better and she felt grounded and able to face whatever needed to happen to move her life forward. A knock sounded and she turned to face the door. “Come in.”

Her parents and her Aunt and Uncle entered. She grinned and asked, “So you have a person I am supposed to be?”

The four looked at each other and the sisters shoved Satoshi forward. He turned his head to glare at them but it had little effect. Clearly this was a normal thing between the siblings. He turned back to her and said, “Yes, we have come up with something that we think can work nicely and be easily managed.”

“Oh?” This did have Maeko intrigued.

“Yes. What we came up with is that you are your own half-sister.” stated Satoshi with a slight grin.

“What? That sounds crazy.”

“We know, but here is what we were thinking. If you and your half sister ‘shared’ a father then you as Maeko could easily be Takeshi’s sister. That would explain why you looked similar to your old form. And if we managed to find you a workable mother, then the familiarity is even better.” explained her Uncle, clearly enjoying this whole situation.

“Okay… so if my ‘father’ was shared, who is my mother?” Maeko was a bit worried about this part as it could be very awkward. Just what was her new history going to be?

“Me.” replied her Aunt. “People in the town know who I am, since I grew up here and I did move out to California around that time. It could be close enough that people’s own faulty memories could fill in the details, making sure that things work out. The only person who would not be fooled by that would be the Lore Keeper, but since she is not known for blabbing any of these secrets, you would be covered with a plausible reason for birth.”

Maeko nodded slowly as this idea filtered into her head. She was going to be her own half-sister and cousin? What the hell? Was this a Springer show? “Okay… and so I am your daughter, why the hell would I be in Ravencrest? That part does not make any sense.”

Aunt Chiharu smiled weakly, looking a bit sad. “Well, as sometimes happens with teenagers, you and I have been fighting, really badly. Because of this we arranged for you to move in with your Aunt for a while, as we worked things out. Takeshi is going to leave with me and move to California in order to help me with the store.”

Maeko looked at her parents who had been quiet this whole time while the facts of her new identity were being explained. “And you are good with this?”

Her mother shook her head, “Not really, as we are proud of you and to hell with other people, but this would ensure that we could get you covered with the needed paperwork to explain your existence without having to answer some really awkward questions. And you get to live with us and we really like that. Besides, it makes Chiharu look like a trollop.”

Maeko smiled and hugged her mom. Her kasa came over and joined in. “So do you think you can do this sweetie? Do you think you can be this girl?”

She paused and thought about this for a few moments. The whole thing was kind of crazy but since her father was still her father that meant that there was not even an illusion of her being anyone but her mother’s daughter. While other people would never know about that particular part of her life it still made her happy. To know that she was the child of her mothers really did make her happy. “I think so. I mean, do you think I can pull off being a girl? I don’t know anything about how to do that.”

Chiharu smiled, “And that’s where being ‘angry’ at me comes into play. You can be a bit upset, somewhat down and all of that, while you are learning how to be a girl, which is not that difficult. I am sure you will be able to figure out a good bit in a few days of paying attention. Besides, girls are pretty much like guys, with a few differences you will be able to pull off because of your body. The extra hormones and stuff will make you cry easier and all of that. Just living in your body and trying to get along will help you become a girl. That’s what every girl does anyway.”

Maeko looked a bit skeptical. “Are you sure that it will be that easy? I mean it really doesn’t feel that way.”

“It should be. Being the new kid at a school will be tough but if you are a bit down and angry still at me then people will give you space to become yourself. At least they should. That’s the way most people react.”

“We are also going to have me pretend to be you, while we get you moved into your house.” added Satoshi. “That way people can see the switch happening and the two of you will be seen at the same place at the same time. That will allay any suspicion and convince people that you are two separate individuals.”

“Can I call my friends and let them know that this is happening?” asked Maeko a bit worriedly.

The adults looked at each other, silently conversing. Satoshi answered for them all. “I guess we can get your voice masked by spell as that’s easy enough, so you can say things. And that way we might be able to have more witnesses to the switch, witnesses your own age. But we will have to have a good reason that you aren’t sending them any updates from CA.”

“Poor net connection?” offered Maeko, trying to help with this whole mess. “Also, I don’t really know anything about California, or Pearson’s Creek.”

“So we start cramming. I can tell you a lot and let you know how people talk there and everything. You can do this if you focus. Pretend this is a belt exam or something.” replied Chiharu. “I also guess we need to shift your wardrobe to something more Californian and more Pearson’s Creek. I can get my daughter on Skype to show me her clothes.”

“How?” asked Maeko, somewhat confused how wardrobe alterations could be managed from here. There were no California stores in town, so how could they buy California fashions?

“Magic, of course. I know what my eldest daughters clothes look like and what the teen girls in town wear. If I get reminders of things over Skype we can really get the look right. We can work this out and get you all set. We can make you look really good and fit with the personality you come up with. This whole process is going to take all day, so shall we get to work?” Chiharu grinned at Maeko, seeming to be somewhat excited by all of this.

“I guess. This whole thing is just crazy. No one will ever believe that I am from California and the only reason they will think I am a girl is because I have a girl’s body. Really, I’m going to get caught my first day, I’m sure of it.” protested Maeko. Thoughts were spinning in her head and there was no way that she could see pulling this whole thing off. It was clearly too complex.

Her kasa ran a hand down her long auburn hair and smiled softly, “Well, if you are a bit of a tomboy that covers you some, so you won’t have to act all that ‘girly’. And you can finally be an athlete. You have wanted to join the swim team for a while now and there would be no reason not to. Now could be your chance. I mean, everything can change now and you can make your life into anything you want it to be. This is a brand new start.”

Maeko frowned slightly. Was it really going to be that easy?

Her mother hugged her saying, “And yes, if you want to chase girls we won’t mind. You know how to be safe and if anyone comes after you there is no reason not to defend yourself with all of your skills. You don’t have to play a part anymore. You are an adult now, with the expectation that you can live your life wisely. You can break from that role and become someone new, someone more you. Living a girl’s life will make you a girl; you will only have to act at the start. But be yourself, honestly and truly yourself and be happy. Please? That is all your haha and I want. We want our little girl to be happy.”

With a slowly growing smile, Maeko leaned into her mother’s comforting embrace. “Okay mom, I think I can do that. It sounds crazy. I’m just nervous about all of this. My whole world changed a lot last night and I am still trying to make sense out of it. But I will try. I promise.”

“I know baby. You know, when I was sixteen and found out that I was a Werefox it took me a while to deal with it. Sure it explained some things that I had noticed and I found the amped up senses were really cool, but it really does take some getting used to. Finding out that you are something right out of a monster story or fairytales is pretty world shaking. I am just glad that I already knew I was into girls before that or things might have gone poorly, with the family blaming my change with that. As it was, that got its own kind of ugly.” Her mother kissed her temple. “You have us and we are up for anything. There is nothing that could happen that could change how much we love you.”

Maeko looked a little embarrassed by that and a bit unsure what to say, “Okay. Well then, I guess we should try to find a way to make this work out then.”

“Alright. Well, let’s change your clothes, luggage and everything and get you started on learning how to be a girl and how to be a Californian girl on top of that. Think you are ready for all of this?”

Maeko took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, reaching for her center. “Yeah, I think I can manage to make this work out. It’s not like I really have a better option.”

Her kasa grinned, “Don’t worry baby. We’re not going to let you fail.”

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 20

Talking to her friends, telling them about her having to move to California with a voice that was no longer her own was really very odd and more than a touch disturbing. Her mind was having some trouble connecting to that voice anymore and she felt off as she spoke, as if she was dealing with some odd disconnect. Her friend Maggie noticed something was off. “Are you okay?”

“Uh… not really. This sucks but I really do need to help my Aunt. This situation with my half-sister is going to put her in a bit of a bind.”

“Are you sure… it sounds like it could be something else.” pressed Maggie.

“Like what?” asked Maeko, a bit worried that somehow the magic was not working, that Maggie was hearing through the glamour.

“I don’t know. You just don’t sound right.” Her words were a bit hesitant, as she was still clearly trying to process all of this.

“Probably because I am not feeling good about this move.” grumbled Maeko, trying to distract Maggie, not wanting to give her any chance of figuring this out. That would be a total disaster.

“When are you leaving?” she asked.

“Tomorrow. Aunt Chiharu drove out here instead of flying, which had to be miserable. So now I get scenery on the way back. I told Wallace I was leaving already and he said he was going to let Greg know.”

“Will we be able to see you before you leave?” asked Maggie. She was clearly full of questions today.

“I guess. I am leaving sometime after lunch. My half-sister is moving in and I am packing out.”

“Is she nice?”

“Yeah, she has been having serious problems with her mom and they have had some arguments that turned into some pretty serious knock down and drag out fights, so the plan is for her to cool off here for who knows how long, at least the school year, maybe the summer as well and for me to be a helping hand out there. At least I am going from one Podunk town to another. Pearson’s Creek is actually smaller than this town if you can believe it, basically just a big tourist stop prior to hitting the parks out there for camping and hiking. I guess I will be outside a lot.” grumbled Maeko, trying to let that nerd flag fly high despite actually liking the outdoors.

“I’ll see if I can get over to your house early, okay?”

“That would be really great.”

Once the phone was dead, Maeko sighed in resignation. How the hell was she going to fool her friends with this farce? It really was an asshole move and that was not cool. But if she told Wallace or Maggie who knows what hell would break loose. The Unseen and the Sacred were supposed to remain invisible from the Norms and basically stating what had happened to her would ruin that. It would not end well for anyone. No, she had to work her ass off in order to make sure that they would be completely fooled by her new identity.

While she was learning from Aunt Chiharu everything it took to be a California girl from the Santa Cruz area, Uncle Satoshi was getting a crash course on how to be him. He would wear Takeshi’s form and introduce Maeko to her friends. The more she thought about it, the more the level of potential awkward involved in that one simple act simply defied understanding.

After discussing it all, it was figured that Maeko would be a bit tomboy-esque to cover things and that meant that she wouldn’t wear a nightgown but rather a cute sleep set that did look good on her nor would she wear skirts and dresses except for special occasions. And not all of her clothes got transformed by the magic that Chiharu used just most. It was a sufficient amount that filled a couple of suitcases with clothes that looked a bit different, since no one else in town would be wearing similar things, except for maybe that girl Ashley, who had also come from somewhere in California and had a kind of California fashion sense.

Now that the calls were done, she was able to sit back and let all the information she had learned all day flood into her head. The brain dump of information, about how to talk and what Pearson’s Creek was like. It made her head spin. She had to review all of this to ensure that she was ready to play the part of her own half-sister.

She had also spent some time learning a little bit of Kitsune magic, being able to summon a ball of foxfire and play with it. That had taken a good bit of concentration and felt really strange, as it was cool and tingly in her hand. Being invisible was also cool, but try as she might going incorporeal just didn’t happen. It was very frustrating as she could see so many possible uses for that skill. As for shapeshifting, she could only do a little of it, being unable to change her gender but able to shift her look to a degree. She was able to go Valley Girl with her look but unable to shift to look like she had as Takeshi. And now she was exhausted, having worn out her magic.

She wanted to get another read through of her new history done before she slept as well as listen to the California language track she had been given, in order to remember how to talk correctly. Trying to make sure words like ‘hella’ and ‘like’ as well as simple things such as calling San Francisco ‘the City’ was going to be a bit of a trick. And talking a bit faster would be somewhat of a challenge. She did get a nice smartphone out of this mess though, as no girl her age would be without one in Cali, especially if her parents could afford it, which her Aunt Chiharu could. This was going to be a neat trick if she could pull it off.

Having her kasa and mother laugh at her when she first tried to sound all Cali girl had been irritating. They had been enjoying things until Chiharu threw them out and made them talk to Sousobo about what needed to happen to ensure her training for the role as liaison. But now all that madness was over and she could rest. She changed into the warm sleep set Aunt Chiharu had conjured, with the fleece bottoms that were a purple plaid and the t-shirt like top also in purple. Shorts came with the set as well but she doubted that she would be wearing them any time soon. They kept her warm, and that was the most important factor in her mind.

She finished her reading and set the papers down with a sigh. This whole thing was going to make her insane, or at the very least more insane than she already was. Of course, Pepper had tried to be helpful all day, chiming in with helpful advice, carrying papers, failing more often than not but it was hella endearing. The little pixie had honestly tried to make things less crazy for Maeko even though her efforts had the opposite effect. Maeko smiled down at the little woman who was already asleep on an adjacent pillow and shook her head. This had been quite a day and maybe tomorrow would be better. At least she could hope.

* * * * *

The next day it was time to pile into the car for the drive back home so that this whole new life could really get started. Sousobo had said goodbye to them in the house and hugged Maeko warmly. Seeing her Uncle Satoshi shift his features so that he looked like Takeshi was a trip. He was even wearing some of her old clothes, which helped sell the truth of things. It did not make it any less creepy. Aunt Chiharu hugged her, kissing her on the cheek. “You’ll be fine Maeko. I am sure your parents will take care of you and you have my number in the phone as well. If you need anything, give me a call.”

“Thanks Aunt Chiharu.”

“No problem. You are a great fake kid, just so you know.”

Maeko stuck her tongue out in response, which earned her a big hug.

“Be safe.”

Maeko rolled her eyes and said in a fairly bored tone, “Yes Mom.”

The adults started laughing at that. “Well, be good baby and don’t give your Aunts any grief, you hear me?”

With a deep sigh of filled with the long suffering that all teenagers must endure, Maeko groaned out, “Yes Mom.”

With a final hug and a kiss on the forehead, Maeko entered the car. As they drove off back towards Ravencrest she turned and waved at Aunt Chiharu. Turning back forward she settled into her seat making sure her seat belt was secure. Her Uncle turned to her and asked, “So, your friends are going to be there, right?”

“Some of them are. At least they said that they were going to make it.”

“Okay, so Wallace is your best friend and Maggie is just a friend of yours.” clarified Satoshi yet again.

“Yes.”

“I am going to introduce you to them but you need to remember to try and be different around them. Don’t fall into any old habits. Try to be Maeko, not Takeshi in a different body. The longer you can remember to make that a difference then it won’t be an issue in a few weeks and it will become the way you are and the way everyone acts around you. This is easy.”

“Yes Uncle Satoshi, I remember my training in this kind of activity.”

“Good. It will make a lot of things easier for you if you do. This is going to be a lot more complex than some of those things though, as this is a longer time to hold this identity.”

“I just don’t feel right lying to my friends.” complained Maeko.

“You are doing that so the Coven does not think it has to go around ‘fixing’ people’s memories. You are doing them a favor by lying to them. You are providing them with some safety by taking this route and that is a good thing.” explained Satoshi in her old voice. “I know it is difficult but you can make new friendships with them if you do this carefully. They will be different friendships but that might be an okay thing as well. Just see how things are. The only people who might even be remotely safe to know the truth are any Unseen or Sacred, but be careful about that. Once that secret is out, it is out of your control.”

Pondering this point, Maeko absently nodded and tried to think about what she was going to do and how she was going to live her life now that she was someone new. It was a fairly huge issue and talking with everyone yesterday did set things in motion, giving her a base identity that she could live with to start. She kept running the data over in her mind, working on becoming this new girl she had become, Maeko Saito, half-sister to Takeshi, who was having issues with her mom and coming to live with her Aunt for a while, but it did not really solve the problem. The whole thing felt so surreal but it was what she had to work with.

The rest of the ride was completed mostly in silence, as they were all going over their roles in this little drama they had to play for a small audience. Chiharu was following behind in her car so she could pick up ‘Takeshi’ and drive him back up to the house with a slight delay, to give Maeko time to meet her friends again without the pressure of the evil mom. Then this whole farce would fall into her lap for her to juggle. This whole mess rested on her ability to play her part and convince this whole damn town that she was someone else. There was no telling what was going to occur if she flubbed something and that worried her.

As they drove up to the house, Satoshi tapped her leg and gestured slightly with his chin out the window. Both Maggie and Wallace were there, waiting for their arrival shifting awkwardly in the cold. Maeko took a deep and nervous breath, trying to calm down her now rapidly beating heart. Satoshi grinned so only she could see, “Showtime.”

Thankfully Pepper was aware that she should not say anything in case she exposed herself to the people, so that was one major worry down but that did not really make anything any easier all things considered. Satoshi exited the car and headed for her friends, looking kind of depressed and out of it. Maeko was a bit disgruntled by the act. Had she really acted that way when she had arrived at the compound? She drifted that way and heard Wallace say, “…still talking about your poem.”

Takeshi/Satoshi grumbled and said, “Damn! Maybe it’s a good thing I’m going to California. Then everyone can forget me and forget it without making my life hell.”

Maggie glanced over and noticed Maeko heading over towards them and asked, “Who’s this?”

“Oh, sorry guys. Wallace, Maggie, this is my half-sister Maeko from California. She’s having some issues with her mom so she’s coming to stay here and that’s why I get to go out there. Maeko, these are my friends Wallace and Maggie.”

Wallace looked her up and down, as if appraising her. He grinned in a slightly cheesy manner that Maeko was sure Wallace thought was dashing. It made her feel a little dirty and a touch sick to her stomach. Was he getting ready to hit on her? “Pleased to meet you. Any relative of my best friend is a friend of mine.”

Maggie didn’t quite do the same, rather taking in her whole appearance in a glance and smiling in a very friendly manner, waving. “Nice to meet you.”

“Could you guys show her around? I need to get going and pack as Aunt Chiharu will be here soon to pick me up.” said Takeshi/Satoshi.

Maeko frowned, trying to make sure that it was clear that she was not pleased with her ‘Mom’.

Wallace grinned and chimed in, “No problem man. I would be happy to show Maeko around our fine little town.”

Maggie rolled her eyes and shook her head, catching eyes with Maeko and smirking. Maeko tried to hold in a laugh and it came out in a slight giggle. Wallace frowned slightly turning back towards the girls. “What?”

Maeko looked up, trying for all sweetness and light, “Uhm… nothing. I am sure you and Maggie will do a hella good job showing me around Crowspeak or whatever you call it.”

Maggie snickered and asked, “It’s Ravencrest, which you had to know in order to make that joke. So Maeko, what grade are you in?”

“Sophomore. Had my sixteenth birthday a couple of months ago. What about you? You guys in the same grade as Take here?”

“Yes.” replied Maggie. “We’re in the 10th grade.”

“Cool. I guess you can maybe show me around the school then?” Maeko asked somewhat politely

“I’ll leave you guys to get acquainted. I gotta pack. Play nice Mae.” Takeshi/Satoshi said and headed off to the house.

Wallace looked a bit glum as Satoshi headed towards the house and Maeko wanted to say something but knew that there really wasn’t anything that she could say. “So, what is life like here?”

“Not too bad. It’s a bit strange but what are you going to do? It’s a small town and they have their own rules. When I graduate, I am so out of here. I want to head to a big city and actually have a taste of real civilization.”

Maggie shrugged and said, “I don’t know, I like it here. I am probably going to stay and go to college in town. The school is good, my family is all here and I love being around my family. It’s nice.”

Maeko already knew about Wallace’s plans but these plans of Maggie’s were new. This was an interesting side of her that he kind of liked. “Ugh… I’m glad you are happy with your family but right now I could just about strangle my mom.”

Maggie looked like she commiserated. “I’m sorry. What’s going on?”

“She’s being all controlling, won’t let me be who I am, trying to tell me what to do, who I can see. It’s just so damn infuriating!” growled out Maeko.

Wallace asked, as if trying to smoothly insert himself into her life, “Who was it she wouldn’t let you see?”

Maeko knew she had to shut this down because the very idea of being even a little romantically linked with Wallace made her sick to her stomach. No she had to go with something that was different enough that would stop them from prying and would buy her some time. While she was wasn’t sure how she felt about guys she was still fairly sure that she was still into girls. “The girl I liked. I really don’t want to talk about it. It just, like really hurts, you know. That’s why I got sent here to the other fucking coast, hella far from Cali.”

The silence that followed was awkward. Maeko was content with that. Mission success. Then Maggie hugged her, obviously trying to provide her with some comfort. “I am so sorry that happened to you. Why did your mom separate you? Does she hate lesbians or something?”

Maeko was a bit stunned, unsure how to respond. That was not something she wanted anybody to think about Aunt Chiharu. Thinking fast she said, “Sinika is a bit of a punk, a skater rat. Her family moved up from Santa Cruz to try and get her away from that crowd but she like so totally hot. She has the total bad girl thing going on with the hair kind of like Pink and unh…. But my Mom…” Maeko almost spat the word, “she doesn’t want me to hang out with a girl like that, thinks it will lead me to drink and do drugs and stuff. I mean, it’s only pot so it’s not like it’s really drugs. Thomas Jefferson smoked pot but no… she’s not happy with me so off she sent me to fucking Siberia.”

Wallace clearly looked uncomfortable with this revelation and Maggie looked a bit discomforted as well but she was clearly trying to make Maeko feel welcome despite all of that. The result of that made Maeko feel even closer to Maggie than she ever had before. It looked like the generally shy girl was actively trying to befriend her. Maeko smiled a bit apologetically and said, “Sorry, I’m more mad at my mom.”

“I get it.”

Wallace still looked a bit shell shocked after that barrage of information. Apparently a girl he was into being a cussing lesbian who smoked pot blew his mind or something; she was a bit unsure and really did not want to delve into the inner workings of Wallace’s mind in all honesty. That he had already seemed into her bothered her. This fascination with her really had to end before she had to hurt him in a way that really wouldn’t heal with a good night’s sleep. And she would, him or any one tried to touch her without her permission would find themselves in a world of hurt.

She was about to say something else when she heard a car pulling closer. She turned her head and saw her Aunt Chiharu’s car coming down the block. Remembering her role, she frowned and spat out, “ Fuck, it’s my mom. Look I gotta go. Can I talk to you tomorrow Mags? Wally?”

Maggie smiled, “Sure, I guess you will be going to school here?”

Maeko nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“Then we will see you there. And maybe we can give you a quick tour of the town after school. There are a lot of cool places like Mario’s, which is the local pizza place and then there is the comic book shop. It’ll be fun, honest.” She grinned at Maeko, gave her a quick hug and headed towards her bike. “Bye.”

Wallace shuffled a bit like a penguin on display and said somewhat less enthusiastically, “See you tomorrow Maeko. Tell Takeshi I’m waiting out here to say bye.”

She waved and headed towards the house before her Aunt pulled in to the driveway. It certainly looked like school was going to be interesting. She only hoped it wasn’t too interesting.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 21

Making it inside, Maeko shook her head. Maggie was really something else. She had not expected that kind of reaction from the girl who had bloomed last fall, but then again they had had a different dynamic before with the whole guy/ girl thing so that could account for everything. It was kind of weird when she thought about it. Maybe this was a taste of what her parents meant by the whole ‘living a girl’s life’ business. The way she had to relate to Wallace was different and the way she was relating to Maggie was different and that had nothing to do with who she was but with the body she was wearing. That required some consideration and a bit of reframing as to how she saw reality.

She spotted Uncle Satoshi standing in the living room. “Oh hey, Aunt Chiharu is here.”

He grinned and hefted the suitcase that was part of his cover for the next part of this deception. “Okay. Well gotta go. You take care of yourself Maeko. And if you need any help with the local Fae or anything, give me a call. I can talk to the Princess and she can overrule them in nothing flat.”

She blinked a few times. That was a strange notion. “Really?”

“Well, if Morgan thinks it’s a good idea and not really overstepping her bounds then yeah. She likes me. I’m helpful.” He gathered her up in a big hug. “You take care, no joke. Play your part. Be smart. Saitos are smart, that’s why we live so long.”

With a smile, she kissed him on the cheek and said, “Thanks Uncle Satoshi. Talk to you later.”

He took his suitcase and put on a hangdog expression, heading outside, calling out, “Bye haha! Bye mom!”

The door closed behind him and the little family was finally truly alone for the first time since this whole thing began at the family’s compound up in the hills. Her mothers moved over to her and enveloped her in a big hug, enveloping her in warmth and love. After a few moments, they released her and Maeko said, “So, I suppose I should see to my room?”

“That sounds good.” replied her mom. “There is probably some tinkering to be done.”

Heading upstairs, her kasa casually asked, “So do you have any idea what you want your room to look like now that you are no longer a guy?”

“Not really? I figure I should try and make it look California and teen girl and maybe… uhm… a bit lesbian.” She ended her sentence a bit hesitantly, wondering if they were going to catch that last part.

“Wait what? Did we miss something?” asked her kasa, surprised by this new wrinkle in the situation. Two pairs of eyes turned onto Maeko, demanding clarification.

“Uhm… well… you see… it’s like this, Maggie asked for a reason why “MOM” and I were fighting and Wallace was sort of flirting with me and I really needed something on the serious side that got me here and managed to shut down Wallace at the same time because that is a world of ewww, so I sort of told them that I had been dating or rather seeing someone against “MOM”s wishes and she is a punkskatergirlwhowasintodrugs.” Maeko ended in a rush, blushing furiously and looking down at the very fascinating carpet in the hallway.

There was a moment of quiet as that whole tirade got translated and then her parents started laughing. Maeko frowned as her mothers sort of fell against each other in their evident enjoyment of this whole thing. Between gasps, her mother said, “That’s beautiful. You being all googly eyed over some punk girl into drugs. Oh my God… that… so damn funny.”

Her kasa wiped tears from her eyes and reached out, drawing Maeko into a hug, kissing her temple. “I adore you baby. You do know that right?”

Maeko cocked her head and tried to make sense out of the two adults. “What’s so funny?”

Wiping tears from their eyes, the two adults were shaking their heads, still trying to bring themselves under some sort of control after that revelation. “It is a perfect story baby.” commented her haha, trying to control her snickering. “It has outrage, indignation and all the things that fit for sending your child across the country to relatives. Let me guess, because you are such a sweet kid, you made it a bit clear that it was the drugs that got you sent here and not the fact that you were a lesbian?”

“Well, yeah… I mean what’s wrong with being a lesbian?” Maeko was clearly confused again at this point.
Her mothers were being weird again and that was not helping with her ability to understand all of this.

Her mothers hugged her again, kissing her lovingly. “Nothing baby, nothing at all.”

The trio of vixens opened the door to her room and went inside. Looking around they all tried to figure out what needed to change to best reflect the change in tenants. There were a variety of posters on the wall that did clearly did not go with the personality that they had created and she had modified but she was still at a loss for what to do with everything. Looking at all of this she was hit with the enormity of the task of how one rebuilt their life to actually reflect who they were once they had changed genders. Her mind threatened to Blue Screen of Death and she needed to think of some way to deal with this. “Uhm… help?”

“Why don’t we start with getting your old clothes out and your posters down? That sounds easy, right? Don’t try to go too far ahead or you will panic.” suggested her haha gently, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Maeko nodded, clearly overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before her. There was no way that she could do this. After a few deep cleansing breaths, she started taking things out of her drawers and tossing them onto the bed, things she would never wear again. Some of it made her sad; as she liked some of the t-shirts and hoodies she had collected that had geeky sayings. The geek persona had not been a complete act, it had just been pushed a bit farther than it would have normally been. She did like the comics and the like just not to the extreme that she had felt she had needed to take things for the role. She even liked the girl who was working at the comic store as she really knew her stuff and was friendly. She was even nice to look at.

Things got divided, with a few of her posters and figurines making the cut, as a few things were determined to work for Maeko that had worked for Takeshi, mostly some of the cuter figurines and the Mia Hamm poster. There was another US Women’s Soccer poster as well that would probably work. A poster for The Avengers that focused on Black Widow was also kept because no one could think of a good reason not to keep it.

Once that was done, Maeko looked at the mostly bare walls and the mound of clothes that were not hers, not anymore. The weight of everything seemed to close in on her and she sat heavily on her bed as her knees threatened to give out. Tears started to fall and with some effort she managed to choke out, “Why did this happen…” before the sobs took over.

Her parents sat on either side of her on the bed and leaned in comfortingly, arms tight around her. Her mother said, “Let it out baby. You have been so brave facing this and I know it really sucks. We didn’t expect this to happen to you and we have been worried about you ever since. But boy or girl, you are still our baby and always will be. And despite everything, you still would be a werefox/ Kitsune mix at the end of the day.”

Her kasa leaned in and said, “I know this whole thing has to be rough on you baby. You are losing so much of who you are and it has to feel like you got nothing out of it.”

Pepper appeared and flew over, hugging Maeko’s head, burrowing into the girl’s auburn hair. “Don’t cry Foxgirl. I am really happy that I got to meet you and I get to follow you around and everything. You are the nicest foxgirl I have met!”

That got Maeko to snicker and helped slowly to work her out of the funk she had found herself in. Her haha nudged her and said, “Come on. We need to get the California Kid some sheets that fit her and other stuff for her room and a good coat. Grace, can you finish things in here?”

Her mother looked over everything and nodded with a slight smile. “Sure, I can take care of that. When you come back it will be ready for Maeko to move in and put her new mark on the world.”

Being helped up by both her parents, Maeko sighed very theatrically. “So I gotta go shopping?”

“Just relax and try to think of it this way. Like your cover you are going in to new stores to see mostly new things. This can be an adventure. Enjoy it.”

“Yes kasa. I will try.”

“Good. Now grab your purse and let’s get going. See you love.” Her parents kissed as Maeko grabbed her purse.

Once downstairs, she grabbed the coat that had been summoned for her by her Aunt and headed outside to the car so she could get it warmed up. Shortly her kasa came out and they headed into downtown to some of the shops that sold household goods. Getting a nice sheet set and comforter was one of the first purchases, as well as a long mirror and a few other items that her kasa said would come in useful. Then they hit one of the other stores, one that her mothers often shopped at, to pick up the coat and a couple of other pieces of clothing that were more fitting for the weather than the clothes that filled the suitcases. The long coat would help cover more of her while she headed to school and the slightly lighter California clothes would be fine once she got inside.

She remained aloof, not really engaging with anyone, like the plan meant for her to do, playing with her cell phone instead of interacting with a bunch of the sales people who were trying to meet the new girl. She did note that the store’s owner seemed to sniff a bit deeper as she was close by. That was a bit odd and instead of thinking about that she texted Maggie, ‘Sorry about earlier.’

A few minutes later her phone buzzed and she looked at it. It was Maggie. She smiled and read the text, ‘K Welcome 2 town.’

‘Thanks’

‘busy tomorrow?’

‘getting settled’

‘I will show you around town Monday’

‘Sounds great’

Maeko smiled happily. This was a nice development. Maybe Maggie and she would be able to become friends again. That would make this whole thing easier if she managed to make ‘new’ friends out of at least one of her old ones. Of course, there was no telling what and who she would be meeting Monday. As long as she was not bothered by the usual idiots it should all be good. Any day without bullying would be a good day in her opinion.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes Aunt Amane.” said Maeko in her best indignant teen tone.

They headed out to the car with their purchases and once safely in the car her kasa asked, “Is everything okay?”

“For the most part. It looks like I am becoming better friends with Maggie, which is cool but I think that Wallace was flirting with me.” admitted Maeko.

“That has to be hard. What about the whole guy code thing that says that you aren’t supposed to hit on their sister.”

Maeko rolled her eyes. Guy code? This wasn’t a TV sitcom. “I don’t know. I guess half-sister that didn’t grow up with me and that I never mentioned before doesn’t really count in his book. But ugh… kasa, it’s Wallace! I can’t possibly do that. That’s like incest or something.”

“He doesn’t know that baby. All he sees is a beautiful girl.”

“But I do.”

“Okay, but can you try to break it to him gently. You don’t want to hurt your friend. Even with telling him you are a lesbian does not mean that he’s going to stop hitting on you. And with you only being a sophomore that makes it even more likely that people will question you. Guys seem to think that it just means you haven’t had the right guy cure you. ” Her kasa shook her head in disgust at that last part.

Maeko looked a bit shocked at that and swallowed heavily. “Was… was I ever that bad?”

Her kasa reached over and rested a hand comfortingly on her leg, “No baby, you were never like that. You were always proud of us and never seemed to see women that way. However, a lot of guys do, but not all guys. Your mother knows more about all of that through her Women’s Studies stuff, about rape culture, male privilege and all of that. You can ask her about it if you want. It is actually really interesting and kind of scary. But what do I know; I’m just a dumb jock.”

“Kasa, you’re not just a dumb jock.” chided Maeko.

“Well, okay, not just a jock. But I am a jock as well as being pretty smart. But the thing that you have to remember is, guys have a hard time seeing girls as being at the same level as them, of being equal. Because girls are not as big or as strong, on the whole, they are of course lesser. You haven’t had to grow up seeing this, how boys take this idea as a matter of course, how they just assume girls are into them as a default. Sure there are variations, and guys with depression and gays and such but a lot of guys don’t even think of the privilege that they have in our culture just by being male. And don’t even get me started on wereguys, some of them are just terrible, with some of the wolves are possibly the worst of the bunch. So learning to be careful around guys and to take care of them gently is probably in your best interest, mainly to give you a tactical and strategic skill to deal with them. It sucks that women have to deal with them in such a way, but that’s kind of life if you’re a woman.”

Maeko blinked as she took that in. It was a lot and she was familiar with some of the ideas, having heard bits of this before in her parents conversations. But to realize that a lot of this now applied to her… it was like getting dunked into ice water. “So, what you are suggesting is that I should be nice to Wallace about this, kind of apologize for being bitchy and just say he isn’t my type?”

“That should work, to make sure that there are no misunderstandings. Think of it like fighting with either wind or water. You need to dance around their issues, lead them, letting their own power cause them to lose. That is how women fight. Earth and fire are more of a man’s approach. Try thinking of it that way.”

With a nod, Maeko agreed with her haha. That did make sense though it was a bit overwhelming. So much about her life had to change because of this transformation she had undergone, and not the one into the supernatural creature. It was mind boggling. All of this change was even spilling into fighting styles? How was she ever going to be able to keep all of this straight? Sure everyone told her that just living her life would make a lot of this second nature that simply living a girl’s life would make her a girl, but that didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to her at this point. She figured this was one of those things where she just had to trust that her parents knew what they were talking about.

Once they got home, her bedroom had been quite changed, with things moved around, and in slightly different positions. The bed was in a different position, giving the room a completely different look. The dresser and credenza were also moved to different places. The bookshelf was against another wall near her small desk and there was a new piece of furniture with an oval mirror attached. Maeko blinked as she took all of this in, “You did this yourself?”

“Oh yeah.” replied her mother, quite proudly. “I shifted forms and that made me plenty strong.”

Her kasa sighed, rubbing her temples and said, “Did you at least remember to pull the drapes this time?”

“Yep. No free shows for the neighbors. And all the old clothes are boxed up and in the garage so we can take them to Goodwill or something. I brought up my old vanity so you had something to use to help you put on makeup or what have you. Do you like it?” Her mother was grinning broadly, as she gestured at the room.

Maeko looked over things and smiled, “It looks good. Thanks mom.”

“Anytime. Now let’s get these things put up or away and we can spend the rest of the weekend goofing off. I don’t know about you, but these last few days have been really crazy.”

Maeko giggled as her haha smacked her mom lightly in the back of her head.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 23

Walking down the familiar halls of the high school, Maeko had to admit that it was a little strange to be back. Sure being a girl was a bit on the odd side, what with the new way her body moved and the different clothes and all, but there was also the added fact that she was also seeing things just a little bit differently. The first thing that she noticed was that she was a little bit colder than she had been before. Maybe having a sweater or something would be a good plan for tomorrow. She did remember that a number of the other girls had lightweight sweaters or heaver tops on in school, because the heating varied in places in the building. Occasionally it seemed that she could see her breath fogging up the air.

There were a lot of people moving about, and she made her way down the hall towards her homeroom trying not to get jostled too much. Something else was distracting her and that was somewhat troubling. Her gaze lingered on the bodies of some of the male athletes, drifting across their strong backs, flat abs and muscular thighs. Just looking at a group of them and their taut bodies made her lick her lips unconsciously. There was just something about the sight of them that seemed downright… edible and that shook her.

The walls of the hall glistened with the fluorescent light, catching the slight flickers, slick with a smooth sheen on them. Her breath fogged a bit more. She was really going to need a sweater or maybe she should just keep wearing her coat if it was going to continue being this cold. Sensitivity to the cold was one of the biggest downsides she had discovered so far in this new body.

And then she saw him, walking down the hall towards her, with his confident swagger, people moving out of his way, David. His body was strong in all the right ways and it sang out to her. She felt a bit of a need rise up in her, a want, an urge to be filled and a warmth begin to spread from inside her. She bit her lower lip as she let her eyes travel up his body, while other students passed. Westerberg came up to her with a cocky grin, “Hey, new here?”

“You could say that.” She grinned and trailed her eyes over the breadth of his shoulders before recapturing his. Her smile turned softer.

“I guess you like what you see?” He chuffed.

“I don’t dislike it.” she replied coyly.

“Well, maybe we should do something about that.” Her eyes watched his lips and how they faintly blued, his cheeks a bright red.

“Oh?” she cocked an eyebrow, intrigued by his suggestion.

“Oh yeah. I think you and me need to spend some quality time together.” His bright eyes sparkled with rime covered lashes.

As he pulled her into his arms and lowered his bluish lips to hers, her eyes caught on the icicles that dropped from the ceiling, other students frozen in place, coated in hoarfrost. She could feel the warmth of his breath chill as she sucked the air from his lungs, the ice covering everything.

* * * * *

Maeko awoke screaming, thrashing in her bed, eyes wildly scanning the room and a ball of foxfire conjured in one hand. She was panting frantically, and was looking to see if there was ice, any trace of ice in her room or if her breath fogged at all, the ball of flame still held at the ready to fight back against the invading life stealing cold. The door was flung open and she yelped, flinging the foxfire at the unknown enemy.

Her mother cursed and dove for the floor, with more speed than grace. Her kasa simply lifted a hand and the flames vanished as they reached her.

Maeko registered that it was them and in a shaky voice akin to a frightened toddler, asked worriedly, “Mama? Kasa?”

Her parents rushed to her side and embraced her. Pepper flew over from the other side of the bed where she had been hiding, a bit scared herself. Maeko clung to them and shook, the warmth of their bodies making her feel more alive. Her mother asked, “Are you okay baby?”

In a tiny voice that she scarce believed was her own, Maeko weakly replied, “No.”

Her kasa patted her shoulder and said, “That’s okay baby, it’s just a nightmare. Come on, we would be waking up in an hour anyway. I doubt any of us will sleep again after all of that. Let me make us some tea and you can tell us about your nightmare.”

Soon they were all drinking warm beverages as Maeko finished the recollection of her nightmare. She was sort of huddled over her mug, pulling in warmth from the cup as well as the liquid, still somewhat chilled. Her parents looked quite concerned at what they heard. “So which part was worse for you, the ice or the boy?”

“I don’t know? Yes. They were both so… wrong. The way I felt towards those guys was kind of unnatural and didn’t feel normal to me. And the ice and the way it slowly covered and devoured everything… ugh… both scary for different reasons.”

“Fair enough.” replied her kasa. “After hearing this, I have to wonder if this is related to that other nightmare you had?”

Maeko shuddered at the memory. “I don’t know. This one was really creepy. I just hope that wasn’t me. I just… ugh…”

“Afraid that you may actually be into guys?” asked her mother, clearly reading her daughter’s concern.
With a hard swallow, Maeko could only nod.

Her mother sat up and hugged her daughter tight, trying to comfort her some more. “Listen, this is important and I want you to really get this through that thick Saito skull of yours. You will be what you will be. That’s it. When you see someone who you are attracted to your body will react differently now than when you were a boy. Your heart will react the same but what your body will do… just be aware of any interesting and unusual sensations. And if it happens to be a guy that does that for you… don’t fight against it too hard, it’ll only hurt you in the long run. Both your mom and I fought against our desires and all we got out of it was years of needless unhappiness. We won’t think you are a freak or anything because of it. That just means that your body now has desires different from your body then. You know that right.”

“Yes. I know that. It still scares me because I really, really don’t want to be into guys, because it just… well even thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. But I get what you are saying. Thanks mom.”

“No problem sweetie. No why don’t you go and start getting ready. Drying your hair is a bitch and you’ll want it dry before you leave the house. Freezing hair is no fun.”

Maeko nodded and headed upstairs to get ready. She already had an idea what she was going to wear and all she had to do was make sure she was ready early enough. It did take her a while to dry her hair, longer than she had expected, which had her bitching about being a girl again. Pepper was watching this all and trying to cheer her up, attempting to make her feel better about everything.

Soon enough she was dressed in some cute jeans and a warm and cute Santa Cruz sweatshirt with leaves and monarch butterflies on it, and then made her way back downstairs, ready for her first day of school, or at least as ready as she thought she could be. She had followed her Aunt’s advice and she looked nothing like any of the other girls in town. So mission accomplished.

Her mother had made breakfast, which made Maeko smile, as generally her haha cooked, being the better of the two in the kitchen. Her mom took one look at her and said, “Wow… someone looks cute.”

“Thanks mom.” She ate the food up, some eggs and bacon, looked up at the clock worriedly and then calmed down as her haha came downstairs, dressed for the day. “Ready to go Maeko. We have our part to play in the next stage of the deception.”

“Yes haha. Now Pepper, you know to stay here right?”

“Yes. I know. Some people might be able to see me and that might make things odd for you.” replied the pixie full of cheer.

Maeko rolled her eyes. There really was nothing she could say to that. She gathered up her purse, and the backpack that they had bought Saturday which had all her new school supplies in it. Once she had her new winter coat on, as well as hat, gloves and scarf, she was ready to go. She really did not want to feel all that cold after her nightmare. It still was making her feel chilly despite the weather outside.

When they were almost to the school, her kasa reached over and rested a hand on Maeko’s forearm, trying to comfort the obviously nervous teen. “You know it is going to be alright, right?”

“Really? I am not sure how. If I screw this all up I will get caught and then what is going to happen? How bad will it all be then?” Maeko said a bit frantically, her mind spinning all sorts of doomsday scenarios with the Coven coming in and mind wiping everyone, including her.

“Relax baby, it will all be fine. You just concentrate on being your cover and your schoolwork and let your mom and I worry about everything else. And if you slip, you slip, just keep going and don’t stress.”

“Okay kasa, I’ll try.”

They pulled into the parking lot a good bit earlier than they would have arrived normally and Maeko got fully into character, using one of the meditative focusing techniques to center her mind. They exited the car and her kasa was carrying her briefcase looking very in control. Maeko was sure that was going to have all the documentation needed to prove her existence to the school inside of it plus anything else her kasa thought might be useful to make this happen. Maeko was at her annoyed teen best, following behind and clearly not wanting to be there.

They reached the office pretty quickly and when her kasa opened the door, she insisted that Maeko went through first. Maeko balked and her kasa quirked an eyebrow at her. With a slight frown, Maeko complied, standing a few feet away from the counter with her arms crossed. Once her kasa reached the counter the secretary looked up and asked, “Can I help you?”

“Yes, I need to register my niece for classes. She is coming from California and will be staying with me for a while. I have all her records here. And I also need to make sure you have my son pulled out of classes as well, as he is not going to be attending classes here for the time being.”

“Certainly, Mrs…?”

“Saito. My son is Takeshi Saito, a sophomore. He should already be in your system. This is my niece Maeko Saito. She was going to school in Santa Cruz county, California. What do you need?”

The secretary got out some forms and said, “You need to fill those out and the needed documents are listed on that sheet there. If you have all of that I can get this started right away. Let me see if the Vice Principal is in, he will want to talk to you as well. I will work on making sure that your son is marked as being out of the system for the time being.”

“Thank you.” Maeko’s kasa rapidly filled out the forms, putting in everything that was asked as if this information was actually real instead of simply a cover that had been provided by her Aunt and Uncle. Once that was done, her kasa handed over all the documentation that was asked for after she pulled it out of her briefcase.

Mr. McCormick exited his office and his eyes narrowed when he saw her kasa and Maeko. He walked up to the counter and asked, “What seems to be going on?”

“New student. From California.” replied the secretary as she kept entering in the data, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

“I see. Could you come into my office Miss Saito?” It was phrased as a question but was clearly more of an order.

“It’s Mrs. And you know that.” countered her kasa.

“Sorry, if you and your…” He did not sound in the least bit contrite.

“Niece.”

“Niece, could follow me I am sure that by the time we are done everything will be in order.” His smile held no warmth to it and that bothered Maeko.

Once the door closed behind them and he was behind his desk, he asked as he sat down, “Am I to assume that your niece here is the result of some sort of… transformation during the birthday celebration?”

Her kasa narrowed her eyes at the accusation and said, “When I said this was my niece I did not stutter. This is my sister’s daughter who was having problems back home in California. Chiharu shipped her off to me to watch for a while to see if I can help her get past some of these problems and get better. And because her store still gets people coming in to go hiking in all seasons and she was counting on Maeko’s help to handle the customers we agreed that Takeshi could go out to California for the time being to help out. Given how his last week went here at school, he was rather eager to go.”

“Then you surely have a Parent’s Affidavit allowing you temporary custody of your niece. We cannot enroll her without it. Legal requirements and all.” Mr. McC asked smoothly.

Maeko watched a bit stunned as her haha plucked out a piece of paper from her briefcase and handed it over, practically snapping the paper. Mr. McC frowned when he saw it and looked as if he were going to say something more and then thought better of it. His brows furrowed some and his voice was a bit flat when he said, “I see. And all of her other paperwork is in order?”

“I have shot records, her health form, school records, all of that is out there with your secretary. Maeko, do you want to show the Vice Principal your driver’s license?” Maeko had never heard her kasa sound like this. It was quite clear that there was a lot of bad blood between her parents and Mr. McC. She had never known that but now it was painfully obvious, just like the family relationship between her mother and the Vice Principal.

“No, no… that should be fine. She won’t be driving will she?”

“Doubtful. She hasn’t earned that privilege and we only have the one car.”

“Good, good.” He seemed a bit distracted and maybe a touch worried but Maeko was not sure. After shuffling a few papers on his desk, he finally turned his attention onto her. “Miss Saito, I am not aware of what problems you had back at home, but there are a lot of things we do not tolerate here at this school. See that you behave and your time here will go along just fine.”

Maeko was about to reply when she heard a voice she had never heard before, a very gentle feminine voice say, “Tell him.”

She froze when she heard that and she was not quite sure what to do with that. Tell him? Mr McC? The guy her parents clearly hated? Let him in on the big secret she was worried about letting slip? Maybe she was going a bit crazy and needed to just relax some. Or it could be a memory from the nightmare? She wasn’t sure.

“Miss Saito?”

“Yes sir? I mean, yes sir, like no problem sir. I won’t cause any problems sir.”

Mr. McCormick frowned at that, clearly irritated with that response. “Very well. If there are any problems you are going to be seeing a lot more of me. Also be aware that there are guidance counselors available if you need them. Do not hesitate to use them if you need to.”

“Yes sir.” replied Maeko.

“Well, thank you for your time Mrs. Saito, Miss Saito. If your son is planning on returning to Ravencrest anytime soon please let me know. I have… certain matters to discuss with him.”

Once they were out of his office the door closed. Her kasa rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Come on. Excuse me, is my niece’s schedule ready?”

“Yes. Will she be eating in the cafeteria?” asked the secretary.

“Yes. Could you send me the bill for that?”

“Certainly. Here is a ticket for today’s meal. We will get you a meal card and you can pick that up tomorrow, okay?”

Maeko nodded.

Once she got her new schedule she looked at it. She still had Homeroom and English with Dana which made her happy but nervous at the same time. A lot of her other classes were changed around and that was going to be nice and different. It looked like she would need to learn a whole new schedule and new classrooms and even a few new faces. Sure a lot of them were in the same general area as the others but still. It was just another pain that she was going to have to deal with. Great.

Her kasa looked at her and smiled, “Listen Maeko, I know this wasn’t how you wanted things to go, and there were lots of other things you had planned for your life, but you are here now. Please try to make the best of this. Do I or your Aunt Grace need to pick you up after school?”

“No. Maggie is going to show me around town with Wallace. I figure she has some way to get around or something. If I need a ride like I’ll call you guys.” said Maeko, with what she was hoping was appropriate attitude.

“Take care, be safe and don’t do anything stupid Maeko. Your mom gave your Aunt Grace and me full control. Capiche?” Her kasa’s Italian was kind of terrible.

“Yes Aunt Amane.” She replied with some actual warmth, just so her haha would know she cared..

“See you.”

Once her haha left, Maeko was left standing in the office, looking around kind of wondering what to do. Sure she could head off to her classes just fine but that would completely ruin the whole idea of her being a new student. What the hell was she going to do? Just stand there and wait like an idiot?

The secretary cleared her throat, getting Maeko’s attention. “Honey? Here are your books to tell you the school rules and everything. Here is your locker and combination. And here is a map. The office is this red star. I have highlighted all of your classrooms. This is your homeroom. It is not that far from here. Do you think you can make it or do you want to wait for one of the runners to show so I can have them guide you there?”

Maeko looked at the clock and then at the sheet. She had about ten minutes until the first bell rang, plenty of time for her to stumble her way over there. “I think I can do this. Let me double check this, I go down this hall, like turn here and here and there I am?”

“Yep. That’s it. Good luck and welcome to Ravencrest High.”

She left the office and hustled down the hall before a wave of school pride induced nausea overwhelmed her. Once out of the office the familiar sounds of the hallway filled her ears. There were the same crowds, talking to the same people about the same sorts of stupid things they had been talking about a week before. So much had changed for her and nothing seemed to change for any of them. She shook her head in consternation and felt really alone. Maybe having Pepper stay at home was a bad idea. She could really use a friend right now and she wasn’t sure if she would see Maggie until lunch. This was a stupid idea.

Once at the classroom, after doing her best to follow the map like a somewhat awkwardly confused new student, she paused at the door, took a deep and stepped into her new school life.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 23

Her homeroom looked just like it had. After everything she had been through she had kind of expected some things to have changed, but nothing had. With an internal sigh, she walked up to the teacher and handed over her paperwork. The woman looked up at her expectantly and all Maeko offered was, “I’m new.”

The teacher looked at the paperwork and then cocked her head at what she was reading, “Any relation to Takeshi Saito, by any chance?”

“Half-brother. He’s in California now. The office will probably be sending you something about that soon.” Maeko shrugged noncommittally. Fixing the paperwork of who she had been was someone else’s problem now, not hers.

The woman nodded and then gestured across the desks, “Okay. That’s fine. Take a seat. I don’t have assigned seating in here so feel free to take any seat you want.”

There were already a few other students in there watching her with some interest, students who never had really given Takeshi the time of day. It was kind of funny how things had changed with the aura of newness she had acquired with this whole transformation. People were really looking at her differently and it was pretty strange. She moved towards the back of the classroom and took a seat different from the one she had usually sat in. This was going to be interesting. She just sat there and waited, listening to the conversations going on around her, just sort of being, and remaining calm and almost in a meditative state. And then all the air was punched from her lungs.

Cindy Harper walked in first looking like she always looked, saying something to the person behind her and then Dana entered the room. Maeko’s eyes widened a little when Dana walked through the door, her breathing stopped, her heart racing as it was still clearly tied to her gray eyed goddess. Dana had her long red hair up in a French braid and it looked really cute, with her teal sweater and knee length heather gray skirt, with warm looking teal tights on underneath. The whole look was really cute and looked a bit nicer than she normally wore to school which made Maeko wonder what the occasion was, why she was dressed so nice. Maeko then notice that Dana’s friend, Cindy caught her looking, raising one of her eyebrows at her. She wrenched her eyes away from the girl she desperately wanted and started looking for something in her book bag.

Maeko was cursing herself, internally. Of all the stupid beginner idiotic mistakes she could have done to give herself away, she had to go with mooning over the girl that everyone knew that Takeshi had been in love with because of that damn poem. How the hell would she be able to explain her actions? There really was no way to brush that off. Sure Dana was gorgeous and all, but the similarities between her and Takeshi would be too close for some people to miss unless she managed to make it clear that they were different people. Stupid mistakes like this could ruin the whole plan. This grumbling caused her to miss the appraising glance from Cindy and the somewhat confused and questioning glance from Dana.

Homeroom passed, school announcements were made and Maeko mostly spent the time going over the school rules in the booklets, ‘finding’ her next class on the map and answering some of the questions that other kids had about where she was from and what California was like. Aunt Chiharu had prepared her for all of those sorts of questions and the answers she was able to rattle off were really easy to say without needing to think about them, lending credence to the whole not from around there theory she was trying to establish. She did notice that both Dana and Cindy did not join in on the question game but were listening in.

When the bell rang, Maeko swallowed hard, hoping that Cindy would not come over and say anything or ask her about herself. That was all she would need to completely ruin her day. She knew the girl was clever and might be able to figure things out if she had a few clues to work with. This was not something she wanted to mess with and really wanted to deny Cindy the clues necessary to figure all of this out. Thankfully, Cindy left with Dana right as the bell rang, but not before giving her a bit of an appraising look over her shoulder which made her swallow hard.

Maeko made it to her next class, Algebra 2, with some time to spare and went through the same rigmarole of telling them who she was and stuff. This class was a bit farther in the book than her class had been, so she was busy playing catch up, so she would not be screwed over in the next test. Spanish 2 was easy, as she had been familiar with the language before, though she had been taking French as Takeshi. That familiarity was the only thing saving her now, as it seemed like everyone else was a lot more skilled than she was, which kind of stood to reason. This was clearly another class she was going to have to work at to make sure she was caught up and moving ahead in. Art was the biggest break she had gotten and she cruised through things, thankful for such a relaxing pause in her day.

When Lunch rolled around she was quite grateful for it. This might mean that she could do something in peace for a change or maybe just relax, if she were lucky. Following the map, trying to keep up the ruse that she did not know where everything was, she paused at the entrance to the cafeteria and looked over the usual lunchtime chaos. That was where Maggie found her, gazing at the madness with new eyes. “Hey there Maeko, if you don’t have a bag lunch come on before the line gets too long.”

She let herself get dragged along by Maggie, not resisting in the slightest. The day had already been crazy enough that she just didn’t want to think at the moment and was glad that Maggie was taking care of that. She just kept talking as they moved. “So how are your classes going?”

With a shrug that said little, Maeko replied, “Not bad. Seems like some of them are farther than I was back home, so I got a bit of catching up to do. I just hope it’s not like that in all my classes as that would completely suck.”

“That’s not too bad. Could be worse. They could be a lot farther and then where would you be?.” teased Maggie with a faint smile.

“Ugh… that would suck so hard.” grumbled Maeko, realizing that the scenario that Maggie had presented was indeed a possibility that she could still face with a few of her classes.

“Meeting anyone nice?”

“Not really. People are kind of keeping their distance. I think they are trying to get a feel for who I am before they do anything else. It seems to be the usual new person tango.”

“I’m sorry. You know, there are some really nice people here at the school. Well, you are welcome to come sit with me and my friends until you make friends of your own.”

Maeko rolled her eyes at that. Of all the damn times for the girl’s self-esteem issues to crop back up. There were times she wanted to shake some sense into Maggie and this was one of them. How could someone so cool be so clueless as to how awesome she really was? Even before she had hung out with Kelly and really seemed to open up. No she needed to say something to make it clear what she thought and hopefully make her friend feel better. “Maggie, I hope you can be one of my friends while I am here. I mean, like I know you were one of Takeshi’s friends but you were nice to me when I got here and you did not freak when you heard my story and just so you know, that means a lot to me. So, I’m not going to dump you if I end up making a few more friends, okay?”

The grin that Maggie gave her was worth saying all of that. “Okay.”

The food available once the line reached that far looked about as bad as it usually did, which did very little for Maeko’s appetite. Trying to find a balance of nutritious and edible, she picked food that didn’t look too fundamentally wrong and followed Maggie to the table where a bunch of others sat. She knew them all but she had to act like she was meeting them all for the first time so as to not blow her cover. This was going to be somewhat awkward and she had to play it that way. Introductions were made and the guys continued to talk about comic books, mostly leaving her alone to talk to Maggie.

Seeing Wallace reminded her of what her kasa had told her the other day and she nodded, making her mind up about what to do. “Hey Wallace, sorry about being you know, kind of a bitch the other day. I was like having a hella bad day and I guess I took it out on you. Sorry.”

He waved it off as if it were of no matter, “Nah, don’t worry about it Maeko. It’s no big deal.”

“Thanks. I just wanted to make sure things were cool between us.”

“It’s fine.” Even though he was saying that it was no big deal, Maeko could tell in his body language that it did have an effect on him and made him relax around her more. She would have to thank her kasa for the advice, it was proving useful. Maybe things did make sense. Wallace certainly did seem to feel better for all of that. She wasn’t sure how it would work in a tenser situation but she was sure that her kasa would know. Fighting using wind and water was a good bit about misdirection and redirection and that was kind of what this was, redirecting Wallace’s upset into something else, not even her but rather the day she had had. She was still working to fully switch gears with that combat philosophy change and it was still making her a bit crazy. Sparring with her kasa yesterday had helped but she was still a work in progress.

Casting her eyes casually over the lunch room, she noticed that Cindy Harper was talking to Tracy Locke, with the two of them occasionally looking her way. She narrowed her eyes in thought, trying to suss out what the girls were up to. The way they were sitting was keeping her from reading their lips and that was kind of annoying. She knew that the girls knew each other and had become friends in early fall, but what did that have to do with her. Why was she so interesting all of a sudden? She also knew that their families were two of the more powerful Unseen clans in town. The same was true with Dana’s family, which tied her stomach in knots when she thought about it, which she really tried not to. So, despite all of that, what would a coyote and a wolf want with her?”

Lunch did not last long enough for her to work that out. World History was behind where she had been in her other class, so she had been able to try and work things out then, not needing to pay attention nearly as close. Was the coyote she met in the woods the night she had transformed Cindy? If it was, then her ruse with her identity was probably already in tatters before it really got going. She felt a headache coming on the more she thought of this. She used one of the pressure points in the web of her hand to try and soften the dull throbbing. The pain faded after the third round of ten she had pressed it. It did not make her feel good to know that she was that stressed.

Walking into the girl’s locker room was a new and slightly embarrassing experience. Since she had known that she had to change out for gym, she had brought gym clothes with her. She found an open spot and concentrated on changing and not looking at the other girls in their underwear. It was not easy for her to do that as she had literally been dreaming of some of these young women for a few years and what their lingerie looked like. She only managed to not bask in the truly lovely sight around her with a good bit of meditative focus and deliberate single-mindedness on her getting changed out.

When she walked out of the locker room and into the gym itself she started a little when she was bracketed by the two people she had been pondering about over lunch, both already changed out. She had not noticed them because of her own issues with wanting to not be noticed perving on the girls in there. She searched for an out but there really was none short of actually attacking the girls. What the hell was she going to do now?

“Hi Maeko. My name is Cindy Harper and this is my good friend Tracy Locke. We just wanted to come over and get to know you, you know, since you are New here and all.”

Maeko tried to not wince at the way that Cindy had emphasized the word new. It certainly implied something other than welcome to our school. “Uh… hi. Nice to meet you.”

The two girls maneuvered Maeko away from the others so they could not be overheard and Cindy said kind of quietly, in a very confident voice, “Nice to meet you too Takeshi.”

This time Maeko did wince and searched for an exit. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Maeko, it’s okay. We’re not planning on outing you to everyone.” commented Tracy. “As for how we know… well…”

Cindy took over and said calmly, “We know because we have been there.”

Maeko snapped her head over and peered at both Cindy and Tracy rather intently, letting her mind work rapidly. The answer that came to her kind of scared her but it was the only thing that made sense based off what they were implying. She then said quietly, with a bit of trepidation in her voice, “Trevor? Craig?”

Cindy smirked at Tracy, “Told you she would figure it out.”

Tracy rolled her eyes at brunette.

“Wait… so you both changed? Wow… so that’s what he meant.” mumbled Maeko.

“What who meant?” asked Tracy rather pointedly.

“Uhm… no one. Forget about that. Nothing to see here, just a hedge. So wait… that coyote I saw out in the woods… that was you?”

Cindy nodded and grinned. “Yep. So you were that fox. Pretty cute.”

Tracy said, “I thought the McCormicks were foxes?”

“Uhm… yes that’s true, but uhm… well, it’s complicated. So how did you figure out that it was me?”
asked Maeko, wanting to know what holes she could close in her performance. She really did not want to get herself found out by everybody and their brother. That would just be embarrassing.

“Well, for me it was seeing your face when Dana and I entered Homeroom. It was exactly the same. Add that to the fact that I ran into a new were, and a new girl arrived, how hesitant you were in the locker room… plus my own history. It was pretty easy.” answered Cindy.

Tracy nodded. “Cindy asked me at lunch if I thought there was something about you and I figured it out by watching you talk to people over lunch, plus the locker room. You have similar mannerisms. That and you smell like Takeshi, so there is that.”

Maeko hung her head and shook it, distressed that she had been discovered so easily. “And I thought I was doing so well.”

“You are.” protested Tracy, clearly trying to help Maeko feel better about this. “The thing is, we have an unfair advantage of having been through this whole thing ourselves, so we know it exists. I doubt any others would figure it out.”

Nodding her head in acceptance, Maeko said, “Thanks for that. It is some consolation.”

“Girls! Get over here and start stretching!” yelled the coach.

The trio complied, two of them clearly amused at how lost in thought the third was. The activity itself was dodgeball and Maeko had such pent up energy that there was no way she was going to play like she had been. She did reign in her skills, so as to avoid giving away her martial training but she certainly was not the easy target that Takeshi had been. She let herself get hit near the end when there were only a few people left because she wanted a seat rather than anything else. It was kind of nice to let loose for a change.

Sitting next to Cindy, who had seemed to have done the same as her, the girl grinned at her happily. “So, you seem to have some skills.”

“Uhm… one or two.” Maeko was not sure what to say. She knew the Harpers ran a dojo in town and taught a fairly wide range of arts but telling people that you were a lifetime student of Ninjitsu was not done. People tended to look at you funny when you said that.

“I guess you wanted a break?” astutely asked Cindy.

“Basically.”

“You should come by the dojo. It might be nice. We have all sorts of classes there. Could be fun.” Cindy suggested as an aside.

“I might just do that. You never know when a girl might have to protect herself.” Threw back Maeko with a slightly mischievous grin.

Cindy quirked an eyebrow at that and Maeko only grinned. Cindy then smirked, “Oh yes, we will see.”

Tracy came over and sat on the other side of Maeko. “So, have you been adapting well to our fair town?”

“Yeah, my Aunts have been helping and Maggie is going to show me around town today. I have to say that this place is damn cold compared to Cali.”

“So your only clue how to do this has been your moms?” asked Tracy, leaning in and whispering.

“Yeah.” whispered Maeko back.

“We have got to fix that.” pronounced Tracy in a normal tone of voice. “What are you doing after school tomorrow?”

“Uhm… I guess you’ll tell me?” nervously replied Maeko, her head slightly cocked.

Cindy chuckled and said, “Good answer. We’ll do something to help get you more used to being well… where you are. And it will be a teen thing and not something your parents thought up. You know all of this fabulous stuff!”

Maeko grinned at that. These two were not all that bad at the whole double talk thing. If you knew what the actual topic was it was easy to follow and if you didn’t it sounded completely different. She liked that. “I think I can manage that.”

“Cool.”

Before anything else could be said, it was time for another round of school sponsored punishment. Plans were made once they were back on the sideline and soon class was over. Since she really had not gotten sweaty from the game, Maeko did not need a shower and changed back into her regular clothes. She closed her lock, said bye to Cindy and Tracy and headed off for Chemistry.

This was another class that was behind where her class had been, so she was not getting swamped with things which made her quite happy. But then came the class she had been kind of dreading, English. When she arrived, still following her map, some of the kids were still bagging on Takeshi and his poem. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down after that, not wanting to blow up at any of them over something she was not supposed to know about. It was a bit tricky but she managed to not kill anyone, especially the kid who had caused the most embarrassing moment of her life.

When Dana walked into the room, she was mostly prepared for the event. There was no real visible reaction to her except for a slight tightening of her nipples which was hidden by her clothes, but Maeko felt her heart pounding away as her eyes took in the sight of her love. A warmth started burning inside her lower abdomen, similar to the sensation she had felt during the nightmare only less creepy. In a way it felt like a part of her was melting, which was rather odd, and a bit pleasant. But she didn’t care, she was mostly focused on Dana.

She listened to class with half an ear; the other half of her focus was spent writing lines of poetry, as nothing complete came to her just snippets. There was just something about Dana that made her feel that way, like she could do anything, that nothing was impossible, first as a guy and now as a girl. None of the guys she had seen that day made her feel much of anything except revulsion in a few cases and Dana, Dana seemed to be her whole world.

When class was almost over she looked down at her notebook and blushed when she realized that she had written Maeko Stiles and Mrs. Maeko Stiles a few times. She had even dotted the i’s in the last name with a heart a few times. This made her cheeks burn she was blushing so hard, swallow heavily and close her notebook as a wave of embarrassment washed over her. She prayed that no one had seen what she had done. Could the day get any worse?

Thankfully class ended shortly thereafter. Dana did look over at her as the class was packing up and Maeko was not sure what to do, being caught watching her. She smiled in what she hoped was a friendly smile and less as a creepy stalker chick. Goddess she hoped it looked more that way. Dana smiled back, a friendly smile that seemed to touch the girl’s grey eyes and melted her heart. Maeko went back to getting all of her stuff put into her bag, her heart all a flutter.

Cindy and Tracy found her before she was able locate Maggie so they could head downtown for the big tour of Ravencrest. Cindy grinned in a manner that made Maeko want to check her wallet as she sidled up to her, “So… Maeko, just thought you should know, now that you are a girl, you know that your odds of getting Dana just went up, right?”

“What?” Maeko started eyes wide. She had heard the rumor but this was the first time she had gotten major confirmation about it.

“Oh yeah. And she is single right now as well. So you just might be able to end up dating her, if you play your cards right.”

Maeko opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to frame something to say and words failed to do anything except sit there stunned. Tracy snickered and shook her head, waving a hand in front of Maeko’s face, “I think you broke her.”

“Oh good. I still have my touch.” snarked Cindy.

“Say what? She what? Uhm what?” Maeko was still not firing on all cylinders as she babbled but it was a little bit better than before.

The two girls chuckled to themselves as they walked off waving at her. Cindy called out playfully, “Bye Maeko!”

When her brain stopped seizing and began working again, she started to grin happily. Was this really the truth? Was Dana possibly a lesbian? Cindy, being one of her friends would know. So, did that mean she had a chance to actually, maybe, possibly, go out with her? Dana spotted her and gave her a quick wave from the parking lot. Maeko waved back, her heart swelling in her chest and her grin shifting to more of a goofy love struck one. That settled things. It was the best day ever.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 23

Maggie walked up to her, cocked her head in confusion and asked, “Hey are you okay?”

Maeko blinked a few times at the voice, a bit startled and she struggled to try to get the smile off her face, “Like, yeah… I’m totally fine.”

Maggie looked at her, clearly not believing her. Maeko looked back challengingly and said, “What?!”

Maggie shrugged and spread her hands, “I don’t know. You were acting all funny and now your acting all funny in trying to cover it all up. That seems kind of suspicious is all.”

“I just feel good right now is all.” said Maeko, trying to make it seem less interesting than it really was.

“Even with your girlfriend being back in California?” asked Maggie, being a bit more perceptive than Maeko wanted to deal with.

“I guess. There were some good moments.” She replied trying to change the topic before Maggie figured things out. That’s just what she needed today, someone else figuring things out.

“Okay. So, just to let you know Wallace wimped out. He said he had something to do, but I know he doesn’t have anything planned because the game he’s in only meets on the weekend. And his online gaming is later in the evening. So, I think he needed some space.” reasoned Maggie.

“Uhm… okay.” Maeko wasn’t sure what to say to that. She was aware of all of that as well, but to say it all like that… harsh. Was this how girls talked? Was this the big secret of how girls talked, that they were so brutal? It was still too early to tell.

“So since lunch was so disappointing, as usual, I figured that we could start with Mario’s. That’s this great pizza place downtown, that has other Italian food as well, but their pizza is really tasty. A lot of us go there after school to hang out and stuff. Its pretty popular.” said Maggie.

“I could go for some ‘za. That lunch was pretty sad.” admitted Maeko, who had to concede that her new taste buds were a bit too sensitive to be overly fond of the cafeteria’s food.

“And all you had was the chef salad. That is better than some of the stuff. Some of the other stuff is way worse. Though, rib day is usually pretty good, if you can get any. There are some people you have to fight off with a stick. Some of the guys and girls in that school are like wild animals when it comes to rib day.” Maggie laughed.

Maeko joined in on the laughing but she was kind of worried. Did Maggie know about the Unseen? How? Should she ask her Haha about her? That sounded remarkably like she meant one thing while she had said another. “That’s crazy. Really? Are the ribs that good?”

“I have to admit they are pretty tasty. It’s like the only decent food that the cafeteria makes so I guess their real quality is masked by how bad the food is the rest of the time.” The two girls laughed over that. “So what were Cindy and Tracy talking to you about?”

Maeko shrugged, trying to play it off in order to make sure that Maggie could not figure out the real reason. “We sort of hit it off in gym. They invited me to do something this afternoon but I said I was busy.” Maggie blushed slightly at this. “So we made some plans for tomorrow. I hope that’s not a problem.”

“No, that’s fine. There both pretty nice girls. They aren’t any of the ‘real’ trouble makers in town. Now let’s hurry. I hope Misty is at Mario’s, she’s really nice and I think you’ll like her.”

Maeko vaguely recalled Misty, the school slut who had been getting better thanks to Kelly and Maggie taking the time to be her friend. She had never dealt with Misty as Takeshi, one of the benefits of being a nerd was that the sluts never had an interest in you. So maybe the girl wasn’t as bad as she had heard. It’s not like that was much of a stretch and was worth checking out. “Sounds fine. I can’t wait to meet her.”

The two of them made their way downtown and headed towards the restaurant, barely taking time to window shop at a couple of stores, most notably the shoe store. The warmth inside was nice and they stomped the snow off their shoes, taking off their coats. A girl waved at Maggie and Maggie waved back grinning, “Come on.”

In one of the corner booths sat Misty, all by herself, drinking a soda, clearly trying to not be seen by some of the other people in the place. When she saw Maeko, she put on a friendly smile, saying, “Hey Maggie. Who’s this?”

“Misty, this is Maeko. Maeko this is Misty.” introduced Maggie with a slight flourish.

They said their helloes as the two girls sat down, with Maggie on the inside. Maggie looked at the two of them and then snickered. Maeko looked over with one eyebrow raised, and asked pointedly, “What?”

Maggie was trying to contain her giggles as she answered, “We’re 3M. Get it?”

Misty started snickering over that and Maeko groaned, dropping her face into her hands. “That was hella bad.”

“Good one Maggie.” said Misty, clearly entertained with the bad joke.

Maggie had a very satisfied grin on her face and casually plucked up one of the menus. Maeko looked up and sighed. “Okay. So what’s good here?”

“The pizzas are excellent as are the calzones. The hoagies are pretty good as well. Their pasta isn’t bad but not as good as their pizza. Basically, it’s all good.” answered Misty happily. “Oh, their White Pizza is really good and their all meat is excellent. But again, you can’t go wrong with any of their pizza.”

Maeko nodded, as if she didn’t already know this. While she did kind of want a slice of the All Meat like Takeshi used to get she needed to help her cover more, especially after getting caught so clearly by Cindy and Tracy. It made her a bit skittish with regards to her cover. She looked over the menu and decided to go with the Tangy Italian, which had Italian sausage, green peppers, green olives and capers. She’d had it before and had enjoyed it, so maybe her new taste buds would as well.

Misty decided on a White, which came as no surprise, and Maggie got a Pesto Supreme, which had tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, green peppers, feta and mozzarella with pesto on it. Maeko, who had never tried that one before said, “Hey is there any way I can try some of that one?”

“Sure. I’ll trade you a slice. Misty, want to get in on this deal?”

The girl thought this over and then grinned. “Oh yeah, that sounds like a great plan. Lots of tasty pizza without having to explode. Sounds like a deal to me. Our own little buffet.”

The other girls laughed. When the waitress came over, they ordered their pizza and sodas and sat back. Misty asked, “So you are new in town, hunh?”

“Yeah. I am staying with my half-brother’s family because my Mom is making me batshit insane right now.”

Maggie shook her head. “To be fair, if what you told me Saturday is the reason, she has a bit of a point.”

“That’s a crap reason. There was nothing wrong with my girlfriend!” protested Maeko, purposefully misleading the issue to get a read on Misty.

“I meant the drugs.” sharply whispered Maggie. “That was dumb and you know it.”

“Well… yeah, but that doesn’t mean my Mom was right. I hate her so much right now I could just scream.” Maeko clenched her fists and they trembled with simulated anger.

Misty reached out and rested a hand against Maeko’s closed fist gently. “Maeko, I know I don’t know you and we just met and all, but holding on to anger doesn’t help. Just let it go and move on with your life. You’ll feel better in the long run.”

There was something in Misty’s eyes that told Maeko that Misty knew what she was talking about. She kind of wanted to know what that was all about but was also a lot hesitant to find out. Anything that could give a girl that kind of slightly sad, slightly haunted look could not be a good thing. Perhaps it was best to not poke her nose in a potential hornet’s nest. “I… thanks. I’ll think about that.”

“Anyway,” dragged out Maggie, obviously trying to get the subject back on track yet again, “why don’t we tell you stuff about the town? Do you have any questions to start with or should we just talk?”

“Well, I know there is the college, so this town is not as hella far from civilization as my home. But what else is here?”

“Well, we have all sorts of nice cute shops, some decent things to do by and large, and other things are not too far away if you need something that the town doesn’t have.” stated Maggie. She then added, “The Library is really nice.”

“Library?” scoffed Maeko.

“Yes Library. It is actually really nice and pretty modern for a town of our size. It has lots new stuff and a collection of older stuff. They even have a good collection of online resources available. So, that is really cool. They have nice classes as well that they offer. So, no the Library does not suck.” said Maggie, clearly working herself up in her defense.

“Well okay. Sorry to have doubted you.” replied Maeko, raising her hands in surrender.

“Good.” Their sodas arrived. “Now I thought about heading over to the comic shop once we're done here. They also have some cool collectables, some games and other neat stuff. It isn’t that geeky. There is also a kind of weird metaphysic New Agey shop as well but let’s skip that.”

“Sounds good.” said Maeko, before taking a sip of her soda through her straw. She had noticed that a lot of girls seemed to use straws and decided to use one, as she hadn’t when she had been Takeshi creating another difference. True, it was kind of a superficial difference, but even little things like that helped cement things in people’s minds and in her own.

Soon enough the pizzas arrived. The girls dove into their food, sharing slices and talking about all sorts of things. Maeko found it interesting and fairly familiar with the conversations he had had with the guys. That commonality was relaxing her quite a bit with them, and making her feel more connected to the two of them. This was kind of nice, to hang out with these two. She had known that Maggie was nice before but had not really hung out with her, but the girl really was very cool in her opinion. She absolutely needed to correct that friendship oversight on her part. And Misty was not bad either. She was still trying to get a feel for the girl, as Misty was still clearly hurt by the earlier rumors about her and the way some of the kids still treated her. Maeko acted like she didn’t know those things and that seemed to help, that she was taking the girl at face value with no preconceived ideas.

Maeko did like that she was also being taken that way as well, without the weight of Takeshi’s geekdom hanging around her neck dragging her into a set of actions. She was able to just relax and kind of just be herself and not have to worry if she was coming across as geeky enough or weak enough or if she was masking her strength enough to sell the role she had chosen to play. No, all she had to worry about was if she was Californian enough, which all in all was not too bad comparatively. And pretending to be mad at Aunt Chiharu… that was actually kind of fun. Her haha thought it was hysterical, as the idea that Chiharu had slept with Grace was funny. Chiharu had even played up that fact which had made her mother a touch uncomfortable with the play flirting and everything.

No, there were good and bad things about all of this and she was by and large with the tradeoffs. Sure being a girl was different, but at least she hadn’t fainted like her mothers. That had been funny. In gaining these interesting abilities it had come at a cost, one that she was ultimately okay with. She hadn’t wanted to be a girl, but if her parents had taught her anything it was that girls were just as capable as guys. One unexpected good from all of this was the fact that she would be able to get closer to Dana. That she was a lesbian was unexpected and now Maeko was even more pleased with the transformation due to the possibilities. The thought made her smile.

“Who you thinking about?” asked Misty coyly, breaking into Maeko’s drifting thoughts of her and Dana on a picnic on a warm spring day.

“Uhm… no one.” Maeko replied with a blush that quickly filled her face.

Maggie giggled at the sight, “Thinking about your punk girlfriend?”

“What? No. I don’t… Shut Up!” Maeko buried her face in her hands as the girls laughed happily over that, clearly amused with her. Her face burned with embarrassment. “I hate you guys.”

“Right, I totally buy that. Where would you be in this town without us? Besides us, you only know Wallace and The Terrible Twosome.”

Misty looked a bit stunned, “Wait, she knows Cindy and Tracy?”

Maeko looked up, a bit surprised at the tone Misty used, “Yeah, I met them today. Why?”

The girl groaned, rubbed her closed eyes and then asked quietly, “You haven’t met Malice have you?”

“Misty.” chided Maggie.

Maeko knew who Misty was talking about but acted clueless. This might be a way to get some intel that helped fill out more about Misty. “Who’s this Malice?”

Maggie shot Misty a look. “She’s a girl that Tracy knows and her real name is Mary. Has a pretty big attitude and is kind of mean to some people, hence the nickname. She and Misty really don’t get along and she picks on Misty a good bit. Misty is a bit tired of dealing with her. That and Misty and Tracy don’t get along that well either. I don’t know what it’s all about, but it started this fall. No one is really talking about it.”

Misty looked down at the table, clearly uncomfortable with all of this. Maeko reached over and rested a hand on the girl’s arm. “Hey, I just met you and I think you’re nice. I don’t care what some witch with a B thinks about you, your cool with me.”

Misty and Maggie both reacted to her calling Malice a bitch pretty severely. Misty leaned forward and hissed out, “Quiet, someone might hear.”

Maeko played confused, as she tried to process this. Then it hit. The girl’s last name. Crap, that wasn’t what she had meant. But wait how did Misty and Maggie know? Did they know? “What, all I did was call her a bitch? Is that a crime or something? Is she going to come over here and fuck me up?”

Maggie scanned the room really quick and sighed in relief, “Ah… maybe. Malice has a hell of a temper and can be kind of vindictive. She has started a lot of fights with people over things and never really seems to lose. She is not an enemy you want to have.”

“Right. Don’t poke the psycho. Got it.”

Misty took a big drink of her soda and sighed, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Maeko needed to change the topic, “So once we’re done here, were to?”

“I think the comic store would be a good place. You want to join us Misty?” asked Maggie.

“Nah. I think I’ll just head home. I’m still getting bothered by guys who think I’m easy and I’ll put out just ‘cause they ask. Ugh! If I’m home they can’t do that and I can relax. You would think that they would have gotten the damn message after this long that I’m not that girl.” Misty grumbled the last part.

Maggie grabbed her hand and held it tight, smiling at the girl. Misty looked a bit teary eyed but smiled back. “We can chat later, kay.”

“Kay. Thanks.”

“What are friends for. Now let’s finish up. There are a few pieces left.”

Maeko had the last of her pizza and Misty had the last of Maggie’s and Maggie had the last of hers. Once that was done they went up and paid, hugged each other and headed off their separate ways. Maggie and Maeko did some window shopping, looking at the nice clothes at several stores and commenting what they thought would look good on each other. Maeko was convinced that Maggie could dress a bit hotter and maybe start to take over socially, as she was a lot cooler than she had remembered.

There were a couple of stores with art and decorative tchotchkes that were worth commenting on, some with interest, and some with laughter. They walked past the dojo and Maeko remembered Cindy’s poke about wanting to spar her. Maybe she should ask her haha if that would be okay. It might give away the family secret of their Art, but if she fought Cindy alone with no one else watching it should be okay, because then telling someone would not be the same as experiencing it. She kind of felt a connection to Cindy, as the first non-family person to have seen her and Maeko sort of trusted her. Of course, that was a bit of a technicality, but still the idea held.

A bit further on they reached the comic shop. Maggie walked in first and as Maeko entered she noticed that they were almost the only people in the store. That was a bit out of the ordinary for some time after school, but occasionally happened, especially as it was two days before the new releases came in. Mikaela, smiled at them, but then seemed to notice something and stared at Maeko in an odd way. It was like she was suspicious of her or something. But why?

They looked at things and she played her part, slightly bored and not too interested in all of these things. She drifted away from Maggie, heading over to look at some of the action and anime figures, ignoring the sounds of Mikaela fiddling around behind the counter. There were some new ones since the last time she had been in and that was cool. She had wondered about getting some but was now wondering if Maeko would be interested in owning things like this or not. That was a pretty irritating place to be, standing there unsure of your own wants and desires.

“Can I help you?”

Maeko spun around and there was Mikaela, standing just a few feet behind her, with a toothy half-grin. She had not heard the young woman approach and that bothered her a little. That was almost never an issue as she was always aware of her surroundings. Either the girl was really good or she was really distracted. She wasn’t sure which was worse. “Uhm… yeah, sure… like, so my friend Maggie,” She gestured towards the girl. “Said that I might like to get some stuff here but I’m not sure what. I mean, like, I trust her but I don’t know, you know?”

Mikaela sniffed and then smiled knowingly at her, “Yeah, I know. So let me see if I can help you pick some things out that I think you just might enjoy.”

“Sure.” Maeko was feeling a little uneasy about the way this conversation was turning. Mikaela was looking a bit too happy and sure for her comfort. Besides she wasn’t asking her anything about her interests or anything as she was heading over to the racks. Once she stopped there, she turned to face Maeko and said, “You strike me as someone who might really enjoy these. I think this new episode of Season Nine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is really enjoyable and then there is this Star Wars comic. I haven’t read it but the write up says the story is pretty decent.”

Maeko cut her eyes over to the woman. Those were things that she had been planning on picking up and should have been in her box. But it wasn’t as if Takeshi could come and pick them up. That was a bit too specific a choice. Buffy she could kind of follow, but Star Wars?

“Also here is The Defenders: Tournament of Heroes. The premise is also really fun and a touch odd. And if you like the Halo series, the Halo comic is pretty good as well but if you have never played the game don’t bother.”

Now Maeko really knew something was up. That was two more of the comics Takeshi had on his draw list and were likely in his box. Mikaela was four for four and that was practically impossible for just random guesses. She had to know it was him. That was the only way she could know any of this. What the hell?

“Catwoman and Wonder Woman are also fun reads you might enjoy, so you might want to check them out. That is just what comes off the top of my head right now. There are also some fun manga as well. Wednesday Usagi Yojimbo comes out, which is a lot of fun as well. So what do you think?” Mikaela looked her right in the eyes when she asked that.

Maeko swallowed heavily. He had been thinking of getting Catwoman but wasn’t sure and wasn’t sure if reading Wonder Woman was worth it. As Takeshi she had asked Mikaela her opinion of the titles. And Takeshi had been collecting Usagi Yojimbo forever, so that could have been an easy one to remember. What the hell was going on? How did Mikaela know that? “Uhm… that sounds good to me.”

“Are you good with those titles? There are a couple of others that might be fun as well.” There was a gleam in Mikaela’s eyes that was a bit friendlier and less aggressive, like the girl was relaxing more.

“Sure. If you think I will enjoy them I am willing to try them.” Maeko tried to spin her words to come across as a little ditzy but wasn’t sure how successful that was going to be. This whole situation was making her more and more nervous.

“Great! Think you might want one of the action figures?”

“You mean the dolls?” Maeko knew that was usually a big trigger terms with some of the people who collected them, which is why she used it. Takeshi would never had made that mistake.

Mikaela started laughing. “Don’t let some of the guys here you say that but yes.”

“Uhm… not right now. I think I’m gonna look at the posters right now.” finished Maeko awkwardly.

“Sure. I hope you find something you like.”

Maeko all but scampered over to the poster rack and began flipping through them, trying to avoid the piercing gaze that kept watching her. How? How in the hell? She had not done anything to give herself away. She knew that with complete surety, so how had Mikaela done it? There was no doubt in Maeko’s mind that somehow the woman at the comic store had figured out that she had been Takeshi with no clues. What the hell was she supposed to do against something like that? If someone could just, guess with no clues, there was no defense. Maybe she could get her haha to help her learn a better masking glamour that could better protect her? She needed to do something. This whole situation was getting ridiculous.

There were a couple of posters she liked that fit the new her and the interests she actually had outside of covers and roles, so she definitely wanted to get those. She looked in her purse and she did have enough cash to get them, thanks to the money that he haha had given her that morning, knowing that she was going to be hitting Mario’s and then probably here. Needing nothing else at the moment, she went over to Maggie and said, “Hey, I’m gonna call my Aunts and have them pick me up. Okay?”

“Okay. Did you get anything?”

“Some comics and some posters for my room. Thanks for bringing me here.” said Maeko warmly.

“No problem. I look forward to seeing you in school tomorrow.”

“Me too.” Maeko reached out and hugged Maggie. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Maeko headed over with some trepidation to the counter and put her poster tubes down and the comics. Mikaela’s smile was quite friendly at this point and asked, “Find everything you need?”

Maeko nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Great. Well, I look forward to seeing you later. Maybe we can talk a bit or something, so I can get to know you a bit better. I like to get to know my new customers. Makes my job easier.”

Maeko was pretty certain that was not what she meant at all but the shift in attitude from aggressive to friendly was confusing her. “Thanks. I guess I’ll see you later then? Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too Maeko. You take care.” This was the friendly Mikela that she had been used to as Takeshi. This whole situation was making her crazy. All she seemed to know was who she was and confirmed it by offering her certain titles, which she took. Maybe Mikaela had been looking up the draw list before she came over to talk to him? Maybe? She really was terrible at this whole secret identity thing.

Maeko headed outside, happy that she was all alone on the street and called her parents. The day had been a little too crazy for her and she kind of wanted to go home, bundle up in blankets and drink coco. To hell with this day! Sure she got great news about Dana, but was the rest of it worth that one bit of good? She shook her head, fighting of the stress driven tears that were trying to come out now that she was alone. All of this was just so overwhelming that she wanted to huddle up somewhere safe and the cold street was not it. The phone rang and her mother answered, “Hello?”

“Mommy, can I come home?”

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 24

Maeko heard hoof beats in the distance. Up ahead, maybe a hundred and fifty yards from where she was, she saw a beautiful girl with a long mane of hair walk into a watery puddle of yellow light, heading to a young man. This felt wrong to her somehow and she knew that this was bad, very bad. She screamed out, “Look out!”

The young man looked her way and waved, smiling at her. He didn’t look familiar to her but also looked older, like one of the college guys. He then turned and looked back at the girl, who smiled at him in a way that was both alluring and predatory. Maeko started running, wanting to get to the young man to try and save him from this fate before it was too late and afraid that it already was.

The girl reached up and began kissing the young man, arms going around his neck, fingers weaving through his hair. The young man grabbed the girl’s waist and held her, comfortably. That moment between the two seemed tender but the feelings of danger Maeko felt grew higher and higher. She was getting closer to them however she realized there was no way she could make it in time. She cried out again hoping to stop it.

The wet snap carried clear across to her and the girl smirked at her, chuckling some at the distress clear on Maeko’s face. She then took the young man, still alive, who was making pained noises, but not loud enough for anyone very far away to hear. If she could get there fast enough she might be able to save him. Maybe?

The water was everywhere and the boy was thrashing weakly as he fought to hold his breath against the ever growing depth. She swam as best she could but the body dropped farther and farther into the watery deep, always just out of her reach. It faded away into the darkness. Then an unseen hand grabbed her ankle and began to drag her down as well. She shrieked in surprise, precious air leaving her in a torrent of bubbles.

* * * * *

Maeko again woke screaming, fighting against the warm embrace of her covers. She fell to the floor still thrashing against the covers which held her, barely awake enough to know that she was no longer in the dream. Hands grasped her, pulling her free and she clutched them, holding tight to the lifeline they presented, panting desperately needed air. Slowly she began to register the words murmured into her hair, “It’s okay baby, it’s okay. It was just a nightmare.”

Maeko opened her eyes, saw her parents holding her and started bawling from relief and fear. She was shaking from the lingering effects of the nightmare and the cold she felt despite the warm house. Her mother rocked her gently, trying to soothe her as she trembled like a frightened mouse. “It’s okay… it’s going to be okay.”

“It was terrible…” mumbled Maeko weakly when she finally found her voice. “I… I couldn’t save him.”

“Save who?” asked her haha, somewhat confused.

“I don’t know but she took him and when I tried to save him she dragged me down into the water as well.” Maeko shuddered and her tears started flowing more freely again. Her voice sounded so small and childlike as she spoke, clinging to her mother. “I was so scared mama. She was so strong and my lungs were burning and I knew I was going to die.”

“Shhh… it’s going to be okay baby.” murmured her mother, running a hand down her hair, trying to gentle her. The trembling slowed some as she did so. “It was just a nightmare.”

“It felt so real. I could feel it where she grabbed me.” Maeko pointed to her leg and the group of them all stared at the slight red mark in the shape of a hand around her ankle. Maeko turned her face into her mother’s neck and shook, crying with renewed strength, her parents sharing a concerned look.

Pepper fluttered up and looked at her ankle, cocking her head this way and that, trying to make sense of what she was looking at. “Do dreams normally do that?”

“No they don’t.” tersely replied Amane. “Grace, do you have Maeko? I have to make a phone call.”

“Go.” She hugged their daughter tighter, watching her wife leave, worry plain on her face.

Her haha left the room, leaving the pixie unsure what to do. Pepper landed close and patted Maeko gently and said, “There there.”

Maeko gave a brief laugh at that and shook some more in her mother’s arms. Her breathing slowed as her fear faded and the soothing that her mother was doing was having a stronger and stronger effect on her. With a big sigh, Maeko let a lot of the tension go and sort of slumped against her mother. Grace kissed her daughter on top of her head, “Feel a little better now sweetie?”

“Yes. That was really scary. It really felt like I was dying.”

Her mother tightened her hug, wanting to make sure her daughter could feel what she was saying, “But you are safe and secure here in my arms.”

Maeko smiled faintly at that and snuggled closer into her mother’s grasp. It was nice to be cuddled like this. She really did feel safe, because she knew, without any doubt, that her mothers would fight off anything that tried to hurt her.

Her haha came back into the room looking a bit perplexed. Her mother asked, “What is it?”

“I talked to Chiharu and she said that she has heard of lore where this sort of thing has happened, which is news to me, but she studies more of that sort of thing than I ever did. Her advice was that we need to strengthen our wards and if it keeps happening maybe get Grandmother involved and if it keeps getting bad maybe talk to the Coven.” answered her haha as she knelt down and kissed Maeko on top of her head.

“Can you do that?” worriedly asked Maeko.

“Yes. I can make some prayer sheets, especially for this room, to make it even safer. I’ll be right back. Just rest baby, we’ve got this.”

Once things were taken care of and the prayer sheets placed around the room, Maeko went back to sleep, clutching her old stuffed raccoon that Takeshi had insisted that his parents buy after he had seen it.

* * * * *

Her mother showed her how to use concealer to hide the dark circles under her eyes, so it wasn’t as obvious to everyone just how badly she had slept. She felt wore out and her mind felt a little fuzzy and this was not going to be helpful for a day of classes. Once downstairs, she went for coffee instead of tea, despite not liking the flavor, because she needed the greater caffeine boost it provided. Her mothers laughed at the faces she made while drinking the bitter beverage, telling her that she was cute. Her haha handed over a plate filled with food and said, “Eat up baby, food equals sleep.”

“What?” Maeko was cofused by this as it made no sense to her.

“It’s an old Arabic saying, food equals sleep. It’s pretty true. If you’re tired and you eat something, it gives you the energy you need in order to keep going. Between the coffee and the food you should be okay until lunch. Now eat up. Need to go fairly soon.”

Maeko nodded and turned to her food. It was good, as the food pretty much always was, but she didn’t feel any more awake yet. She had some more coffee and shuddered.

Her mother laughed and said, “Man that is so adorable. You are just so cute. I know I shouldn’t take a picture of that but it’s beautiful.”

Maeko glared at her mother with such a typical teenage girl glare that her mother chuckled and shook her head, happily drinking her own coffee. Her haha chose not to comment, choosing to turn her back to the events and sip her tea.

Soon enough it was time to go. She grabbed her book bag and headed out to the car. The drive was fairly quick this time and Maeko reminded her mother that she was going to hang out with some people after school again.

“Look at you, becoming a social butterfly now.” teased her mom.

“Mom!”

“What? It’s my job. I have to give you grief or they take away my mom card. It’s true and someday you’ll find that out for yourself.”

Maeko blanched. “What? Oh god!”

Her mother patted her on the leg, “You’re a woman now honey, it comes with the territory.”

Maeko shuddered as that thought played itself through her head in far to graphic a fashion. “I… just… I… no.”

“You say that now… but just wait. At some point you will look at the person you are in love with and want to have children with them. It is perfectly natural.” Grace smiled happily as she said that, clearly remembering her own experiences.

“Mom… I’m sixteen and have no intention of getting that close to a guy if I can help it. As far as I know celibacy and lesbian sex are excellent birth control methods.”

Her mother started laughing and Maeko soon joined in once what she had said fully registered. They were still laughing as she got out of the car. As she headed towards the school she was shaking her head and snickering. She felt someone heading towards her and she looked up, spotting Cindy and Tracy moving towards her with clear purpose. Cindy smiled at her and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Birth control methods.” said Maeko and started snickering again.

Cindy and Tracy looked at each other, not following. That kind of amused Maeko a little bit more. Tracy said, “Ookay… that’s a bit random.”

After managing to regain just a little bit of her composure, she asked, “What’s up?”

“Are you still good to hang out this afternoon?” asked Cindy.

“Absolutely. That sounds like fun and I could use some fun. It’s been cleared with my folks and I have not had a good couple of days.” admitted Maeko, knowing that she could trust these two. They did know who she had been after all.

“Oh? What’s going on?” Tracy drew closer, to try and keep others from hearing what the girl would say.

“I don’t really want to get into it now but maybe later, when there is less chance of getting overheard.” replied Maeko, frowning slightly.

“Sure. We can do that.” said Cindy. She then glanced up, smiled at someone and then waved them over, “Warning, incoming.”

“What?” was all that Maeko was able to get out before Dana came up to the group.

“Morning Cindy, Tracy. And you’re Maeko right? You’re in my homeroom and English class right?”

Maeko’s brain wanted to shut down as her eyes widened a little taking in the sight. Dana was right there. In front of her. Talking to her. Her grey eyes looked happy and filled with the smile that she was sharing with all of them. She was dressed warmly but still cute and Maeko’s heart was melting. She knew she had to force herself to speak before things got weird. She managed to get something out without her voice squeaking. “Hi.”

Cindy and Tracy both smirked at that, with Tracy rolling her eyes. Dana did not seem to notice.

“So from California right?”

“Uhm… yeah. From California. That’s where I lived.” Maeko wanted to slap herself for sounding like an idiot just then. This whole situation was embarrassing and was only getting worse. She was dearly hoping that she wasn’t blushing. Maybe it would be hidden by rosy cheeks from the wind? She was going to kill Cindy. She was just going to murder her. That bitch did this to her.

“Cool. Where in California?”

Maeko’s heart was racing and she could feel her palms begin to grow slick. This was an actual conversation. She was having an actual conversation with Dana Stiles. They were exchanging words and everything. True she sounded like she was spewing word salad but talking was actually happening. “Pearson’s Creek. It’s near Santa Cruz and San Francisco.”

The group of them started heading towards class and out of the cold. Tracy peeled off with a wave and headed towards her own homeroom while the three girls moved together down the hall. Maeko was kind of impressed that people were moving out of the way of Dana, like she was important, like the tide of humanity parted for her. Maeko knew she was awesome but this was just another sign in her mind. Cindy kept her engaged in the conversation even though she had nothing really to say as her brain kept seizing up. What she was struggling most to do was not stare lovingly at Dana, so her desire was not telegraphed to everyone in the hallway and maybe beyond. Didn’t Cindy realize just how difficult of a task that was?

Once in the classroom, the girls sat all together finding a chair near where Dana and Cindy usually sat. Cindy and Dana were still talking about all sorts of things, about people that Maeko only knew vaguely, with Maeko occasionally being dragged in to comment on something or other. She felt completely lost and unsure of what to do right now. This whole situation was overwhelming her and her mind wanted to shut down. What could she do? What should she say? Oh man Dana smelled good. Fuck, this was making her crazy. Clearly Cindy was just doing this to torture her.

Cindy glanced at her quickly and then smiled at Dana. “Oh hey Dana, what are you doing this afternoon?”

“Nothing, why?” Dana looked slightly confused, as if she couldn’t exactly follow this tangent.

“Tracy and I were going to hang out with Maeko here and get to know her a little better. Want to tag along?” Cindy looked like the cat that ate the canary after she had asked that. If Maeko were armed she would have killed the girl dead on the spot. Hand to hand would take too long. No, this death had to be quick.

“Sure, that sounds fun.” replied Dana. “It would be nice to get to know you more.”

Dana wanted to come along and get to know her? She wanted to know her? His Goddess wanted to hang out and get to know her? Was this for real? Her heart felt like it skipped a beat and she smiled, “That would be fun. Maggie showed me around downtown some but it would be nice to get to know more people.”

“After school then.” When the bell rang everyone split apart to head to their next classes, with Maeko in a little bit of a daze over how surreal that had been. Was this really happening? It felt a little like she was in some sort of dream.

As she was walking down the hall towards her Math class, she saw Mr. McC talking with one of the school monitors. Before she glanced away, a voice sounded in her, louder than it had been before, saying, “Tell him.”

Maeko was a bit disturbed, as she remembered the last time she had heard that voice and was sure that there was no way it could be the Vice Principal doing this to her, as his back was to her and he had not noticed her yet. Should she listen to the voice? Should she do what it was asking? And why in the name of all that was holy was a random disembodied voice talking to her anyhow?

She bit her bottom lip in thought, she knew she had to get to class but this voice had twice told her to tell him, presumably about herself as she did not really have anything else of note to say except that she was a ninja. Should she believe what her family has told her and that her magical protection made most forms of intrusion like this nearly impossible without it being obvious or should she go with her simply being crazy and that this voice was a manifestation of some sort of mental illness? Her rational mind was telling her that crazy was clearly the more obvious choice, but then again rational had been thrown out the window into a passing bus when she had discovered that she was a half Kitsune half werefox that sort of worked for faeries. What the hell was she going to do?

The bell rang and all of a sudden it was go time. She swallowed hard and was about to move forward when Mr. McC turned and spotted her standing there, preparing to move. He raised an eyebrow in question and asked, “Miss Saito, shouldn’t you be getting to class?”

“Uhm… Mr. McCormick… can I speak to you for a moment?” Maeko shifted uncomfortably. This was not how she had planned to do this. Now she felt like she was in trouble rather than being in control of things. How was this helpful?

He nodded and walked over to her, waiting for her to talk. Maeko looked around, spotting the monitor standing somewhat nearby and said, “In private.”

He narrowed his eyes some, as if trying to discern what she planned to say and then nodded. “Let’s go to my office.”

The two of them walked down the hall towards the front office and Maeko’s mind was awhirl. Was this really what she wanted to do? Was she seriously taking a strange, disembodied voice’s advice in this situation? And how could she hear it anyway as she was sure it was not even remotely an audible sound. Telepathy? There was just no way that could be the case, right? If so, that’s just what she needed, psychics on top of everything else. Were there aliens as well? Was the crash at Roswell real? Maeko took a deep breath and let it out slowly, realizing that she was starting to freak out. She could do this. It felt right to listen to the voice so that’s what she was doing. Her mothers might be mad, especially given her haha’s display of aggression only yesterday when she was getting registered for classes. But she felt certain that she had to do this.

Mr. McC opened the door to his office and let her through first, before coming in and shutting the door behind him. He went over to his side of the desk and sat down, looking at Maeko curiously, his hands clasped on the blotter. “So what is it that I can do to help you, Miss Saito?”

Maeko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opened them and looked Mr. McCormick right in the eyes. “I just wanted to let you know that I am, or rather was, Takeshi Saito.”

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 24

Mr. McCormick stared at Maeko for a second, disbelief clearly written on his face and then he blurted out, “What?”

Maeko sighed, realizing that she needed to make herself clear, sat down and calmly said, “I am or was Takeshi Saito. You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about.”

His stunned face closed down and he nervously played with the gold band on his left hand. “Yes, we do need to talk but not here at school. It would not be… appropriate.”

Maeko looked at him and tried to measure things. Her instinct told her that this was on the crazy side of things and she kind of had to agree. What was going on and where was the best place to talk about this. “Well where do you suggest?”

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It looked like this was making him physically ill to a degree. “As much as I am almost positive that I am going to seriously regret this, due to the nature of what needs to be discussed we should probably have this conversation at your house, this evening. It is very important. I would do it now but I know that my sister and your mother are both at work and if we had this without them they would kill me.”

“This evening, after dinner. That would work. Can I use my phone to text my mom, to let her know?” Maeko watched him closely.

Mr. McC did not seem to like that idea either, given the look on his face, but he nodded and replied, “Certainly. Please do it now, in here, so no one gets the wrong idea and takes your phone.”

Maeko pulled out her phone and turned it on, trying to figure out the best way to say this that would ensure she lived through this. Whatever she said was sure to cause an explosion. And who should she tell, her haha or her mother? Who would be less pissed off? There was no denying that however this played out she would be in some sort of trouble. Maybe she could simply throw herself on the mercy of the court and try to look cute? Maybe that would save her from death and destruction? With a sigh she decided.

Once done she turned off her phone and returned it to her purse she said, “All taken care of.”

“Right. Go off to class. Have the Secretary give you a note.” The phone on his desk rang and he sighed as he glanced at the number on the Caller ID. “Right on time.”

Maeko fled the office before she heard her mother’s voice. She got her note and made it to Math class in record time just to avoid any possible fallout. The morning went as usual and she just concentrated on doing her work and trying not to think about how her mothers were going to kill her when she got home. She was half expecting to be called to the office at any moment so she could be strangled or beaten or something and every moment that did not happen only made things worse as she figured they were plotting. The not knowing was somehow worse but it wasn’t like she was going to call her parents and willingly throw herself on that grenade. She wasn’t a complete idiot. Most of the time at any rate.

Lunch was a welcome distraction from all of the worrying. Maggie met her at the doors with a smile. “Hi Maeko.”

“Maggie, oh thank you! You are a godsend. Help me! I need help to remain sane. Please, Maggie, you are my only hope.” begged Maeko, clutching at the girl’s arm in mock desperation.

Maggie smirked at the girl and quipped, “If I’m your only hope you are so screwed.”

With a groan, Maeko lowered her face to her hands. “My life is made up of madness and it seems to be all of my making. You must help me, you must. And to make matters worse, I think Cindy Harper has a personal quest to drive me insane.”

The girl pursed her lips as she appraised Maeko thoughtfully. “Well, A) it’s clearly a short drive, so not to difficult there and B) if you are making your own madness then only you can fix it.”

“That is almost like helpful.” said Maeko sarcastically.

“Oh, you wanted helpful?” teased Maggie. “I suppose I could go with helpful if I really wanted to.”

“Why me?” complained Maeko, gazing up to the heavens, looking desperately for some sort of answer.

“Because your mom caught you with your punk girlfriend.” quipped Maggie.

“Maggie!” said Maeko, somewhat shocked.

“What? Are you embarrassed by that?”

Maeko closed her eyes and remembered that this was her cover story and that she needed to be this person at the moment. “Well, no not really but it’s not like I wanted all of that to be spread around the school either. My life isn’t for everyone’s consumption.”

“Sorry Mae, I was just teasing you.” Maggie sounded honestly contrite and Maeko had never been able to stay upset with the girl for long, even before this transformation.

“That’s okay. I know you weren’t trying to be mean. It’s just that, being the new kid in town isn’t easy. Having any sort of difference is not a good thing.”

Maggie rested a hand on Maeko’s arm in comfort. “I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

“Buy me an ice cream and we can call it even?” asked Maeko with a smile.

“Sure.”

Once they had their food, the two girls headed over to their tables and took a seat. The food was about the same level of swill that it normally was, though the meat was fairly good. The other stuff was cooked either too much or too little but that was the usual situation with institutional food. They kept up the small talk, about classes and some of the other students, all the casual things that help grease the way for friendship to proceed. It was nice. More and more she was chiding herself for not becoming closer friends with her sooner.

Far too soon for her liking, lunch was over and it was time for her to go from lunch back to the thrill a moment action that was world history. The class wasn’t really that challenging, especially if you did the reading, and since the change she was able to read and learn material a bit faster than she could before, which she was happy about. It was a bearable perk. Maeko played the attentive student while she actually spent her time trying to think about her life and what she needed to do in order to get it back under her control.

She was already doing her best to change things for herself socially, and hanging out with some of the more popular girls in school would certainly help her on that front as well as her deepening friendship with Maggie. As for schoolwork, Maeko was still determined to do the same level of excellent work as always, as she did want to get into a good college once she had a chance to escape this dinky town. Even though she would be able to get a deal she was not keen to go to college here. Job or no job, it was her life and she wanted to be the one to live it. She did want to do something athletic but not something that was common. Track kind of bored her as being too simplistic. Field Hockey had looked fun but that season was over. They did not have a free running team, though she would be on that in a heartbeat, as Maeko had a lot of training that would really come in to play there. The only other sport she might even consider was swimming.

That sounded like a fun option. She remembered seeing the flyer and signup sheet on the board by the gym. She knew they practiced at the pool at the University, and that pool did not suck. It was great exercise and it was something Maeko had been good at in her old body. Since it seemed that her training and skills had carried over to this new body, then she probably had similar skills in swimming. That would be a lot of fun even with the screwed up nightmares about drowning.

Once class ended she headed over to gym so she could sign up, take a copy of the flyer with date and time of try outs and then get changed out. Cindy and Tracy were already there, getting into their uniforms. “Hi Maeko.”

“Hi Tracy, Cindy. How have your classes been?”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “A thrill a minute, let me tell you. What’s up with you?”

“Not much.” She replied, casually as she pulled off her blouse. “I am planning on joining the swim team.”

“Really? Man, if I had known you were looking for a sport I would have totally tried to get you for cheerleading.” grumbled Cindy as they headed out into the gym.

“Wouldn’t have happened. There is no way I would ever wear a skirt that short for anything.” stated Maeko definitively.

Tracy groaned and face palmed as Cindy got this slightly maniacal look on her face before she exclaimed. “Challenge Accepted.”

“You are not Barney Stinson.” protested Maeko.

“You have set forth a protest and a challenge, so I accepted. It is now a formal challenge between you and me. The bet is to get you into a skirt the same length or shorter than the cheerleading skirt.”

“I am so going to regret this aren’t I?”

Tracy looked over with a smirk, “You think?”

They were starting to learn the section on volleyball, and so today was spent mostly going over the flyer that was handed out covering the rules and positions. Towards the end of class there was even a few brief games to familiarize everyone with things. Things did not go too badly, as there were only a few crashes as people misunderstood directions. Maeko felt like she was going to enjoy herself for this section.

The guys had gone off to spend time weightlifting, which would have made her life even more miserable, as she would have had to fake what she could and could not lift. It had been very frustrating but now, as a girl, a lot of the constraints were off. That was quite pleasing. She could be the athlete she really was and it would not be a problem. If only she had chosen a bit better when she was younger, but no she had gone with the social role that had things that were interesting to her then like sci-fi and fantasy books, comics and games but the tradeoffs were actually quite terrible. There had been a lot of downsides to being Takeshi, things that she did not even have to consider now as Maeko.

There were enough girls in the class that she, Cindy and Tracy were able to sit out a game. Cindy of course wasted no time diving into the conversation. “Right, so we need to get you over this whole shy thing you have going on with Dana. I understand the why and everything but it is not helpful. She is just like the rest of us and puts her bra on one tit at a time.”

Tracy and Maeko both groaned at that, with Tracy saying, “Really? Did you really have to take it that far?”

“Okay, that probably was a bit much but you get what I am saying, right?” When both girls nodded she continued. “Maeko, if you want to end up with Dana you need to relax around her. Freezing up and squeaking makes you prey and that never goes over well with some of the local families. Do you get what I’m saying?” Cindy looked directly in her eyes as if she could psychically pass on the message to her.

Maeko did recall from her briefing that the Stiles family were werecougars so she was actually tracking that image quite well and nodded. “I got it.”

“If you relax and just act like the nice person that Tracy and I met yesterday then you will be able to woo the girl with our help.”

Tracy groaned. “I’ve seen this movie. It didn’t end well for anyone.”

“Don’t you want Maeko here to have her happily ever after like we did?” said Cindy, semi accusingly.

“I would rather do that in a way that did not resemble a plot right out of Scooby-doo.” grouched Tracy, who clearly knew more about this plan then Maeko did.

“Uhm… how about we stick with getting me over being shy and then go from there. I might be able to handle it from there, without the assistance of the Wile E. Coyote School of Love.” said Maeko, rubbing her forehead. It felt like she was starting to develop a tension headache.

Tracy snickered and Cindy shot her a look. “Well, okay then. We will go from there. But you, little miss, need to get better with being around her. You act like a gibbering idiot.”

“I’m trying. Give me some time. Sheesh. Can we just wait and see how things go before you jump on me with your plan?”

“Next team up!”

Once gym was over, and they were changed, Maeko fled from the chaos twins and headed off to Chemistry. Once that was over with no destruction she headed off to English. Dana had gotten there before her and smiled when she walked in, “Maeko, I saved you a seat.”

“Th-thanks. How was your day?” She was trying her hardest to keep her cool and not freak out like so much of herself wanted to. Dana was instigating conversation.

“Pretty good. I am looking forward to hanging out with you this afternoon, with Cindy and Tracy. It sounds like it will be lots of fun.” She smiled her thousand watt smile and Maeko fought to keep from being dazzled by it. It was not easy.

“Me to. I could use some more friends here in town.” She smiled back, happy that she was able to think that coherently.

Dana reached over and put her hand on Maeko’s forearm. “Well, I think we are off to a great start so far.”

The teacher started class and it took a few minutes for Maeko to free herself from her blissed out daze long enough to even know what they were working on. Dana caught her eye, clearly having noticed this and Maeko turned to her notebook with a blush.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 24

Once class was over, Dana and Maeko collected their stuff, stood and started to head to their lockers. Dana called out before she left, saying, “See you out front Maeko.”

“You too Dana.” Maeko turned and headed off. She could gather up her other books and meet Cindy and Tracy fairly quickly if she did not run into anyone. And now with the restrictions gone, she was able to use a good bit more of her grace and training to weave a bit more between people on her way to her locker. That made her a lot happier and did speed up the process a good bit.

She reached her locker in record time, having startled only a few freshmen boys with one of her shifts through the crowd. Once there she got the books she would need for homework and left the rest. Looking at them she did wonder if she would even have any time for homework tonight what with Mr. McC coming over and then her parents killing her and disposing her body. It would probably be a full night because of that and she might not be able to get to math. She better bring the book just in case. Her parents might torture her first.

When she reached the front of the school, she saw that Cindy and Tracy were already there. Cindy waved and Maeko smiled in response. It did kind of boggle her mind about how she had gone from one of the lowest rungs of the school’s social ladder to now hanging out with two of the people who were practically at the highest points. True Cindy was higher than Tracy but they were both a good bit higher than Takeshi had been. The whole thing was crazy but she could live with this as it was a nice change of pace. She had to admit that hanging with pretty girls was worlds better than being dumped into garbage cans by psychotic gorillas that was for sure.

“So are you ready for a fun day hanging with the girls?” asked Cindy.

“You know I’m only here under duress, right?” added Tracy.

Cindy sighed and shook her head, “Yes, I know, I blackmailed you into doing this. We have to show solidarity to our new sister in this, her time of need. Don’t you want to help her?”

“Maybe help her get away from you, you crazy coyote.” grumbled Tracy as she looked down at the ground.

“I am looking forward to it. You two don’t have anything planned do you?” asked Maeko, a bit worriedly, looking back and forth between the girls. What was with them? They were not this snippy in class.

Tracy rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief while Cindy lifted a hand to her chest, saying, “Us? Have a plan? You wound us Maeko.”

“Oh gods!” groaned Maeko. “Please don’t embarrass me.”

Cindy just smiled mischievously as Dana was walking up. “Hey! So, I could do with a snack as lunch was a while ago and not very good. Want to go to grab some pizza or something?”

After a brief discussion conducted only with glances and shrugs, the girls all agreed that it sounded like a fine idea and so Maeko was back at the same place twice in two days. Not that she really minded, as the food was good and all, but it was unusual for her. She was looking at the menu, trying to figure out what she wanted to have this time because in all honesty pizza didn’t sound all that good today. With what was going to be coming up later she wanted something that sat in her stomach a little bit lighter.

“Have you figured out what you want?” asked Dana, glancing over from her menu.

Maeko blanked for a moment, unsure how to respond and then looked up from the menu. Maybe she should just talk normally, like she was talking to Maggie? She could do that… right? “I was trying to decide between something pasta or something else. I don’t want anything all that heavy, like pizza.”

“Well, they do have some good pasta dishes. Their bolognaise is really good but if you want different, the puttanesca is also excellent. It’s not the classic version but a bit tricked out with roasted red peppers and a few other things. It’s pretty tasty. Their alfredo is not bad, kind of standard really, but their carbonara is excellent. Does that help?” Maeko tried to not get lost in that smile, so she turned to look at the menu to reference the things that Dana was talking about.

“What are you getting?” she asked, more to keep the conversation going than anything else. She could listen to Dana read the phone book in all honesty. True that might be a bit weird, but she would do it anyway.

“I was thinking of getting the Supreme Calzone. The vegetables really set off the sausage and beef.” replied Dana.

“That does sound good.” Maeko did have to admit that it did sound good but the pasta dishes were really tempting.

“Well, you get what you want and we can share, because I really do like their pasta as well.” Dana’s offer sounded really nice.

Maeko nodded, not sure if this was really happening. “That sounds good. I think I’ll try the puttanesca. That sounds interesting. I’ve never had anything like that before. What are you guys getting?”

“Were splitting a pizza.” replied Tracy.

Maeko realized that girls having this sort of appetite might be considered a bit on the strange side, but then again there was the fact that they were all weres of one type or another that really made things a bit different. All of them had to have larger than normal appetites. Thankfully, her eating habits would not stand out much with this crowd but maybe it would when around other people. She would have to watch it a bit more when she was around Maggie.

“So what are we going to do today?” asked Dana curiously.

“Same thing we do every day, try to take over the world!” snarked Cindy with a slight giggle.

Tracy and Maeko both rolled their eyes at that. Was Cindy actually for real? Maeko asked, “No really, what’s the plan?”

Cindy shrugged. “I don’t know. I figure we can just kind of wander around, window shop, and talk.”

Dana smiled. “That sounds good.”

Tracy seemed a bit resigned to that, clearly not pleased with that option. “I almost invited Mary to come with us but she said she didn’t want to go shopping with Ravencrest Barbie.”

Cindy snickered at that as Maeko nodded her head. “I’m good with that, though I can’t be out for too long. I figure when I turn my phone back on my Aunt’s going to scream at me.”

“Why?” Tracy asked before anyone else could.

Maeko was well aware that she couldn’t explain the real story to any of them, because she was not really sure they would understand. And besides, did she actually want Dana to know she had been a guy? “Something with the Vice Principal.”

The three girls all nodded their heads in understanding. Clearly they had all had moments with the Vice Principal. Cindy said, “Yeah, Mr. McC is a bit… well creepifying at times. I’m not really comfortable around him.”

Tracy shrugged. “He really seems to hate me. But that’s nothing new.”

Dana sighed. “That’s true. He’s not very approachable for an administrator is he.”

The other three snickered at that.

Maeko smiled. “Yeah, so he ended up talking to my Aunt today so I’m gonna be in trouble when I check in. I don’t want to do it now but I can’t make it too late or I’m gonna catch even more hell.”

Cindy gave her a speculative look, as if trying to work out a potential deeper level to the whole thing. “I think I’m following you. Let me think about it before we do too much.”

The food did not take too long to get there. It was still as good as it had always had been but the new dish she tried was a lot better than she had expected. She was certainly not disappointed with her meal. Dana had really made a great suggestion. As the conversation was going well and Maeko was relaxing more and more around Dana, Cindy looked up and said, “Oh hey, there’s Carson. Come on Tracy, come help me go bother him.”

The other girl rolled her eyes but went along with her, scooting out of the booth before following Cindy towards her cousin. Maeko was a bit panicked by this. She was being left alone with Dana, without either of the other two to help keep her brain from stalling out because Dana might smile or something. What was she supposed to do now? She wasn’t exactly sure if she would be able to keep the conversation going between the two of them. It was taking real effort not to go into a full blown panic attack over this.

Dana smiled at her and asked, “So did you still want some of my calzone?”

Maeko smiled back, glad that she was off the hook for keeping the conversation going on this one. “Sure. That did sound good and it smells really tasty. Want a bite of the puttanesca?”

“Please. That sounds really good.”

The girls each got bite sized portions on their forks and there was a little bit of hand shuffling as if they were unsure if they were going to feed each other or just hand the forks over. That got them laughing over the whole thing and then moaning appreciatively over the taste of the food. “That is a really good calzone.”

“I know. Didn’t I tell you?”

“You did. I also really like this pasta. Thank you for the suggestion. It is really wonderful. The interplay of flavors is great.” gushed Maeko.

Dana smiled and looked down at her plate, suddenly seeming a touch shy, “So I never did hear why you are stuck here in our little slice of tundra.”

Maeko groaned and banged her head against the padded cushion of the seat. “Oh man… it’s hella stupid… you probably don’t want to hear it.”

“No please, tell me.” Dana looked at her so sincerely that Maeko felt her resolve begin to slip. How could she say no to Dana about anything?

So Maeko shared with her the cover story, the whole ridiculous drama of it all, though she did add in that she and her ‘girlfriend’ were pretty much broken up over this due to the distance and the drama of the getting caught.

“Were you the only lesbians in town?” asked Dana curiously.

“In our age group? Yeah. There were some adults, but it’s not like they really counted.” commented Maeko.

Dana looked out the window, at the street and the sparse traffic of the town. “That has to be rough, being one of the only lesbians in town.”

Maeko could hear something in her tone. There was more there than just commiseration. “Speaking from experience?”

Dana smirked a bit ruefully. “Yeah. I was hiding this from a lot of people but I got tired of it. You know how it is; trying to keep a secret from the people you care about. But I just couldn’t take it anymore so I pretty much came out. A little while after that the girl I had been seeing and I broke up. Since then, no dates, nothing. I guess the few girls that I know who are interested are a bit too scared of public opinion.”

“People are anti-gay here?” asked Maeko worriedly. This was not a trend she had seen as Takeshi but Dana would have had a more intimate knowledge of the subject since this was her life.

“Some of the families are not exactly big on anything that is not… well by the book normal, whatever the hell that is. They don’t want people to stand out. So of course if anything like two girls or two guys kissing or heavens forbid a transperson were here, that would attract attention and they think that is bad. It’s all such bullshit.” grumbled Dana, as she stabbed her calzone, cutting off another piece with barely restrained anger. “But no, no one in town is actively anti-gay. They’re just disapproving and give you those looks.”

Maeko nodded her head. The more she heard about it from Dana the more that sort of explained things between her mother and her family. If her mother had been coming out and stuff and they told her that she had to look and act ‘normal’… yeah, that would have gone over well. She could not imagine her mother taking that even remotely well. That would surely drive a wedge between her mother and any other family members. And with the Saitos not really caring about that sort of thing… yeah, things were beginning to make more and more sense, pieces falling into place. This was definitely something that would need to be talked about tonight.

“That has to suck.” said Maeko, rather deadpanned.

“Was it not like that in California?” asked Dana.

“No. California is really a different world. Pearson’s Creek is pretty small but it has a good sized GLBT community. Thing is, they’re all older, so no one is really in my age bracket to hang around with. So you have an accepting community there for all the good it does you.” Maeko rolled her eyes, working to help sell the story. She wanted to make sure that this whole cover held together better today, especially since she knew her mothers were going to kill her over Mr. McC.

“That almost sounds better than here.” Dana sighed kind of wistfully. “There are times where I really love this town and times where I really don’t.”

“Isn’t that the way everyone feels about where they growup?” asked Maeko, pointing out something she thought was rather obvious.

“Oh sure… get all logical on me. You know Maeko, it’s been really nice getting to know you.”

“It’s been nice getting to know you too Dana.” Maeko smiled happily. Even if she was going to die when she got home at least she was going to die happy.

Cindy came back over and said, “Hey Chatty Cathy… it is getting kind of late. You guys have talked longer than you probably should have. Maybe you should call your Aunts?”

Maeko pulled out her phone and turned it back on. She noted the time with some dismay and winced at the fifteen missed calls, four of which that were in the last fifteen minutes. This was really not going to be good. “Yeah, thanks Cindy. Bye Dana, see you tomorrow if my Aunts don’t kill me and bury me in the backyard.”

“Bye Maeko. Have a good night! Good luck!”

Maeko got on her coat and headed outside, waving bye. This was not going to be fun but it had to be done. That voice had been insistent and she had felt like she could trust it. All her training had told her that she should follow her instincts and she had and now she was going to pay the price for that. At least she got to sit and talk to Dana before she died. Maybe, just maybe Cindy wasn’t a total pain in the ass.

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravencrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Just another day in Ravencrest.

January 24

Maeko was quiet for most of the ride home as she was being yelled at by her mother. In a lot of ways she was actually okay with that because she knew that was going to be her mother’s response to what she had done. Given everything that she already knew about the relationship between her mother and her newly discovered Uncle of course her mother would lose her mind at this request. So now here she was getting yelled at for a perfectly logical reason. That damn voice got her into this and hopefully she would be able to get herself out as it didn’t seem to be offering up any suggestions.

The overall idea made a perfect kind of sense, trying to fix this rift between the siblings, as if it worked it could make the family stronger and she wanted her family to be there for her as she not only continued to deal with this change but also to take on her new role as Liaison between the Faeries and the Unseen. True it would be weird to have some new members in her family but that would be good. Her parents had talked to her about how important family was her whole life and this just made that even clearer. Was it any wonder that she just might want to get something as basic as normal family drama out of the way when she had mystical craziness on the horizon?

“You are in so much damn trouble! You have no idea. How could you?” asked her mother, her voice tight with anger.

With a sigh Maeko finally said, “Can you at least wait until we get home for me to explain?”

“You mean you actually have a reason for this stupid act?” her mother asked incredulously. “You have got to be shitting me.”

“There really is. Just let me explain it once. Please Mom.” pleaded Maeko.

“Fine. And there better be a damn good explanation.” Her mother gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the plastic was creaking under her hands.

The two of them were silent for the rest of the drive. Maeko kept looking out the window as the trees and houses passed by, thinking about the conversations to come, and hoping that the mysterious voice would help her with these. It had gotten her into this mess and hopefully it would help her get out of it. It didn’t have to give her the words but to at least give her some ideas would be nice. The silence in the car was painfully uncomfortable. Once they reached the house she was marched inside and forced to sit on the couch. She was left to stew briefly and she could her whispered voices from the kitchen. Her parents came in and stared at her. “You said to wait until we got here. So now we’re here. Explain.”

“Okay, so when kasa and I were talking to your brother…” That earned her a very feral growl which made her start slightly. “…I heard a voice in my head say ‘Tell him’. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I didn’t say anything. I’ve heard it a few more times since then but it told me again to tell him, so I did. He wanted to talk to me about something and I told him that I wouldn’t listen to anything unless he fixed things with you.” She tried to explain but was getting more emotional the more upset her mother was getting. It hurt to see her mother so angry. She had never been this angry as far as Maeko had known and to know that she was the cause of this anger coming out was tearing her up. It was taking everything she had to not cry.

Her mother glared at her and she could sort of see the fox inside of her waiting to come out. It was disconcerting. Never had her mother looked so dangerous, so inhuman as she did right then. Maeko actually shook a little and shrunk back some away from her and her mother spat out, “Do you know what that bastard did to me, Maeko? What my family did to me? Do you have any fucking idea?”

“No, because no one’s told me! But apparently your brother ‘Needs’ to talk to me about something and so that’s what matters. I don’t care about what that is about because I am not listening to anything he says unless he comes here and apologizes to you. I don’t know what he did but I know he hurt you mom and unless he fixes that first he can just fuck off for all I care! I’m just trying to fix things mommy, that’s it, can’t you see?” Maeko just couldn’t take it anymore and broke down, starting to bawl as she spoke. Sobs almost choked off her words as the fear and worry and everything that had been building ever since she had told Mr. McC about herself burst through her control. Seeing her mother that livid and her kasa that upset and disappointed, two looks that she had never seen directed her way, was crushing her. It was like her damn cover identity was coming true. She curled in on herself, arms clutching knees and face down in them.

There was a pause, where the only sound was Maeko’s crying and then her parents moved, almost as one, to sit on the couch and embrace her. Her mother started apologizing over and over, trying to get through to her. Her kasa was busy rubbing her back and simply trying to provide a comforting presence. Maeko had no idea how long they were like that, as even with the comforting and apologies it took her a while to stop crying, as more than just this event came out in her tears. All her fears and grief over her transformation spilled out as well and she eventually was hiccoughing softly, while her mother was trying to wipe the tears from her face.

“I am so sorry baby.”

“I know mom. I had a reason for doing what I did but I am sorry I didn’t tell you about it first. I know I should have but there really wasn’t time.” They hugged tightly and her mother kissed her on the cheek.

Her kasa said, “Maeko, why don’t you go upstairs and splash some cold water on your face, center yourself and get ready. Your mom and I will get everything down here ready for your vice principal to arrive. It’ll be okay. We’re not mad at you.”

She nodded and stood, giving her parents a wry smile, her mother squeezing her hand before letting it go. The stairs were a serious trudge as her legs felt heavy as if encased in cement, probably because she felt so emotionally drained due to everything that had happened. The normally short walk felt so much longer thanks to that. How the hell was she going to handle the meeting if she was already this wrung out? It was going to be a nightmare with her being this tired.

In the bathroom she got a good look at herself and could see that her face was all blotchy and her eyes were red and swollen. With a sigh she turned on the water and got out a washcloth. This would take more than just a splash to try and freshen herself up. This would practically take a damn miracle so she wouldn’t look like she had been punched in the face.

Once she got the cold compress she went into her room and lay down on her bed, covering her eyes. The cold cloth felt good on her puffy eyes and she sighed in relief. Maybe this would cool them off and reduce the swelling. While she lay there and let her thoughts drift off to something very different and less stressful, she felt a very light touch land on her knee and a voice ask, “Are you alright?”

“Yes Pepper I am. Thank you for asking. I just had a really bad afternoon so far.” replied Maeko, wanting to assure the pixie that things were fine. Who knew what the little troublemaker might do if it felt motivated to try and fix things. Her imagination supplied things right out of disaster movies.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” The pixie’s voice was very sincere and it was really tough not to confide in the young sounding fae.

“Not right now. If I think of something I will ask, okay?” promised Maeko, wanting to do nothing of the sort, positive that to do so would result in some serious destruction.

“Sure. I just want to make sure you’re okay. You have an important job to do and I have to make sure you are taken care of.” said Pepper quite definitively.

Maeko took the washcloth off of her eyes and smiled at the pixie faintly, “Thank you Pepper.”

The pixie flew up and gave her a quick hug. Maeko closed her eyes and accepted it, enjoying the feeling of comfort that it gave her. Pepper really put her whole self into things and this hug was no exception. Even though she was small the hug felt huge and was greatly appreciated.

She lay there, staring at the ceiling and pondered all of this. Just exactly what was that voice she had been hearing and why did she trust it? It felt so true and so honest, everything in her said to listen to it and so she did. Look where that led her. She had never been so scared of her parents in her life. Clearly there were some issues with the voice but it felt so true. But there were also more important questions, like who exactly was the voice in the first place. It really did not feel like any internal voice she had ever had, in this body or her prior one, so that only left an outside source.

That idea was extremely disturbing. What in the name of all that was holy could have gotten into her mind and done this? She practiced her meditation and the mental exercises that were supposed to protect against mental intrusion, not that she had believed in it until now. But if she had done them routinely and had been doing the exercises wouldn’t that mean she would have something resembling defenses against that sort of intrusion? That should mean that any outside voice would trigger some sort of defense, create some sort of response in her… right? She really hoped it wasn’t some sort of magic because if so, it was the one thing she didn’t know and thus was the one thing she didn’t know if she could actually defend herself against.

Her mind kept rolling over this information over and over, getting nowhere as she really had no data to work with before she heard her mother call up, “Maeko, could you come down here please!”

She stood up, straightened her clothes and thought to herself, “Okay, you can do this. Just relax and remember what you said you were going to do. It’s show time.”

The tension in the living room was almost so thick that it was nearly impossible to enter the room. Maeko stepped into the room and stared at the three adults seated there. Her mothers were seated on the couch, seated so close to each other it was as if making a statement about their couplehood glaring at his mother’s brother. Mr. McC was seated in a chair across from them, looking awkward and irritated, which was not a good combination for him. She stood there a few seconds and realized that they had not registered her presence. It was rather interesting to realize that in this instance she was being the adult. “He-hem.”

They didn’t quite start at her voice but it certainly broke the stare off they were indulging in. They turned to face her, and at least her kasa looked pleased for the disturbance. Maeko crossed the room and had a seat, sitting apart from her parents, “So, you wanted to talk to me?”

Mr. McC took a deep breath, clearly trying to reign in his temper. It was clear that he only partially succeeded. “Yes, thank you Maeko. I wanted to talk to you before… this occurred to you on your birthday, but honestly, given the recent spate of such events in town and the events in our clan, I frankly don’t see how this particular… variation matters anymore.”

The three Saito’s all shared a look. It was clear that he had been trying to talk purposefully obtuse. “What?”

Mr. McC pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed and looked over and her mother, “Look Grace, you have been out of the loop for a while and frankly it’s not like you really cared much about any of the family business to start with so this might take a little while to explain. Ever since the early Fourties, the McCormick family has been losing power both economically and in land. We have also been losing a great deal of influence around town. Then there is the issue we have been having in terms of numbers.”

Her mother narrowed her eyes, this was clearly news to her, “What do you mean?”

“While the earliest issues began in the Fourties, since the Fifties the family has slowly been losing companies and even some of our land, even influence in town. We used to have some respect on the Werecouncil and now were almost a damn joke, because at this point almost any of them can basically buy our Clan without hurting themselves. The biggest holding the Clan has anymore is the Airport and that isn’t even held by the main line anymore. No, we are not doing well.” explained Mr. McC, looking unhappy with airing this sort of family laundry.

“So the family is going broke and sucking hind teat, why should we care Duncan?” countered Grace, challenging him.

“We are a founder’s family Grace and our family is fading and not just that way. If it were just money it would be no big deal as we could survive that. No, since the Fourties not a lot of kids have been born to anyone in the clan and we seem to have a high mortality rate as well. It is pretty bad Grace, but you may not have paid attention to that. As for the main line in the current generation… I’m it for the males and you’re it for the females Grace. We’re all that’s left. And since Maeko here is the only child…” Mr. McC trailed off, leaving his statement unsaid but it was painfully clear what he was implying.

“No! Fuck no! Just fucking no! To hell with you Duncan! I am not going to help any of you assholes. You and the other bastards threw me out because I was ‘unnatural’ and now you want my child to become a part of that Clan? To become the Heir? Fuck you!” Grace leapt to her feet and was angrily pointing at her brother to emphasize her words.

Maeko felt a nudge from that presence, prodding her to speak, to turn the conversation from where it was going. “Wait, so what exactly does that entail? Being the Heir?”

Everything in the room stopped and all faces turned to face her, most etched deeply with disbelief. She didn’t grin but she did sigh a little, “Look, I am not saying I will do it, but what would that entail?”

The Vice Principal blinked at her a few times, clearly thrown as he had been building up to a fight with his sister. “Uh… well, there is a ritual that would need to be done at the Clan’s compound. There would be some training in how you do the job as Clan Leader. Talking to the Lorekeeper. Introduction to the Werecouncil. Things like that.”

Maeko thought about this. Some of the things that were listed were things that she had already been planning to do already in her job as Liaison so that would be easy, the rest… well, some of that might take some work. “And what are the benefits? What will this give me?”

“Well, you will eventually be the head of the Werefox clan and in charge of all of our resources. That’s power in several different areas.” stated Mr. McCormick.

“Well, you already admitted to me that your power in that arena is fading, so how is that an enticement?” countered Maeko.

“Look, I know things need to be fixed and nothing that has been tried before or that I have tried has worked so far. Yes, coming to you is an act of desperation but I do not want this Clan to die. So please, help us.” Mr. McC did not look comfortable pleading, even the little bit that he was.

“So you just want me because I used to be a guy and I was a part of the main line?” asked Maeko, getting a feel for where Mr. McC’s thoughts were going. It was just like someone like him to only choose her because of that particular fact.

There were several awkward moments before, with a sigh of defeat, Duncan McCormick lowered his head and admitted, “Yes.”

Maeko thought about this option. Her mothers were staring at her as if she had a chicken on her head and she had to resist a grin of victory. She was tempted to check given how intense the look was but managed to resist the urge. Could she actually do this? Could she be the heir to some Clan she had never really interacted with before and whose members who had treated her mother like shit for most of her life? “Okay I will do this, but before I do you have to do something for me first.”

He narrowed his eyes, worried about this. “What?”

“First off these are non-negotiable. If you won’t do both of these I won’t play along. That is a deal breaker. Got it?”

Everyone was still staring at her. The nudges from the presence within continued and she was unsure where exactly this was heading. “One, you will formally apologize to the Head of the Saito family for the actions of the McCormick family during the 30’s and 40’s. There was no call for the way they were treated and it must be fixed.”

“What do you want me to say? Mistakes were made? People paid for it? The ones who did it, they’re all dead. I’m not one of the ones who can be blamed. Look, I just want to save my family.” countered Mr. McC.

“Then you can do this. If you want my cooperation with the one thing then you will do these things. No arguing. Now to the second, we have discussed it before so it shouldn’t be a surprise. You apologize to my mother for everything that was done and said to her. You want my help then that’s the cost.”

Mr. McC just glowered at her for a bit as he thought about those conditions. It was quite clear that he had not thought that he would need to make concessions in order to elicit her aid in this. She figured that he was sure that once the severity of the situation was made clear that she would have just given in and gone along with what he wanted. Maeko just smiled at him as she waited, ignoring the stares from her parents. Locking eyes with them would not be helpful right now.

“Fine. Let me think about it. I’ll give you my answer within the next few days. Thank you for at least listening to me.” He stood and nodded his head towards them.

She saw him out the door and sagged when it was closed, thankful for the voice that had nudged her conversation, giving her some very casual and gentle guidance. There was no way she would have made it through that without that voices support. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to listen to it after all.

“Maeko… could you come in here please.” asked her mother, her voice brooking no dissent.

She winced at the tone. Crap.