Chapter Text
The doorbell rang.
Stiles jerked his head up from his computer and furrowed his brow. He was so used to people either just walking through the front door, or coming in through his window, that it had taken him a second to even process the sound. They didn't get a lot of "normal" visitors.
His eyes widened when he suddenly remembered who it might be, and he leapt from his chair. His dad was still at work, so either he was going to open the door, or nobody was. Scrambling down the stairs, he lunged for the doorknob and swung the door open, revealing a short Asian girl with midnight hair that came down to her waist like a curtain. She had big dark brown eyes, a cute button nose and pink gloss on her small lips.
"Hi!" Stiles blurted out. "You must be our new foreign exchange student! Mori Tanaka, right?"
Startled by Stiles' sudden appearance, Mori took a half step back, but then quickly bowed in greeting, and stood up straight again. When she smiled, she heard Stiles' heart skip a beat. "Hello. You must be Stiles Stilinski."
"Yes, yes!" Stiles replied, nodding enthusiastically. "So, is this all your stuff?" he asked, waving at her suitcases. "Here, let me give you a hand," he said, grabbing a suitcase in each hand and then trying to use them to ineffectually pick up a third.
"Oh, that's okay," Mori said, laughing, "I can get that one."
She grabbed the third suitcase, rescuing Stiles from his spastic imitation of a claw machine.
"Your room is this way," Stiles said enthusiastically, leading her up the stairs. "I thought you weren't gonna get here until this afternoon? My dad and I were supposed to pick you up from the airport."
"I got moved to an earlier flight," Mori replied. "I did not want to bother you, so I took a taxi. Anyway, I do not have a phone yet, so I was not able to call."
"So, are you excited?" Stiles asked, "Is this your first time in America?"
"Oh yes!" Mori said with a big smile. "This is my first time leaving Japan. I cannot wait to see what American school is like! Is it like in the movies?"
Stiles snorted. "No, it's gonna be way more boring than that! But, I think you'll like it. There's a whole club for foreign exchange students. By the way, your English is amazing!"
Mori dipped her head down, blushing. "Thank you. I studied English for a long time, and my family hosted an American exchange student a few years ago, so I was able to practice."
"Well, here it is," said Stiles as he shouldered open a door. "Bathroom's right there, and all of these drawers are empty. My dad should be home in a few hours."
They stood smiling awkwardly at each other for a moment before Stiles finally said, "You're probably tired. I'll just let you get settled in." He set her luggage down at the foot of the bed. "I'm just down the hall, so let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you, Stiles," Mori said, bowing again.
Not knowing what else to do, Stiles bowed back, barely missing knocking their heads together, then backed out of the door, waving awkwardly. Mori eased the door closed, and pressed her ear to it. When the hallway was silent, she reached into her purse and pulled out a flat piece of jade, ornately carved into the shape of a flower, circled by vines and leaves. Flipping it over, she revealed a mirror on the other side. She set her purse on the nightstand, and sat on the bed, cradling the mirror in her hands like a baby bird. With practiced ease, she stared into the mirror and allowed her breathing to slow. The jade began to glow faintly, and she could feel its gentle warmth as she fell into a trance.
"Father," she said, her voice like the whisper of moths' wings in the night. "I am in the Stilinski home."
"Very good, daughter," she heard her father's voice say. "What are you doing now?"
"I met the son, Stiles, and he brought me to my room. I am going to unpack my things."
"Good, good," her father replied. "I trust you are prepared for tonight?"
"Yes, father," she said. "I have trained a long time for this."
"Do not underestimate the wolves," he warned. "You have never dealt with their kind before."
"Yes, father," she said. "They will not even know that I am there."
"Contact me as soon as you return."
"Yes, father."
"May the shadows keep you."
"May the shadows keep you," she echoed back.
The glow faded from the mirror, and she slipped it back into her purse. She took a deep breath, not because she needed to settle her nerves, but because it was good discipline. After spending the next hour settling in and filling the drawers and closet with her clothes, she heard the front door open.
"Stiles! I'm home!" she heard Sherrif Stilinski say. "We need to get to the airport to pick up Mori!"
Stiles bolted from his room and yelled from the top of the steps, "She's already here, dad! She took a taxi!"
"She's already here?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, as Mori stepped from her room. She stood next to Stiles as the Sheriff walked up the stairs.
"Oh, hello," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Mr. Stilinski. Nice to meet you."
"Dad, this is Mori Tanaka," Stiles said, smiling and gesturing to Mori. "Mori, this is my dad."
Mori grabbed Mr. Stilinski's hand with both of hers, and bowed over it. "It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Stilinski."
"You, too," he replied with a smile. "Are you getting settled in okay?"
"Yes, thank you," Mori said. "The room is very nice."
"All right," he said. "Welcome, and let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you, Mr. Stilinski," Mori said, bowing again.
The Sheriff smiled and walked back down the stairs. Mori turned to Stiles, smiled shyly, and then went back to her room.
* * *
Mori lay on her bed with her eyes closed, trying to steady her breathing. Her family had belonged to the Clan of the Night Flowers for as long as anyone could remember, so her training had begun early. As a child, she was given small doses of poison on a regular basis so that she eventually became immune to all but the most lethal of toxins. Since the time of her first steps, her parents trained her to walk without noise, to climb, leap, and swing her body in ways that an Olympic gymnast could only dream of. They taught her to fight. Her body was a weapon, capable of dispatching almost any human foe, and most inhuman ones. Like the werewolves, she was mostly human, but also something more.
The legend was that the Clan of the Night Flowers were the descendants of the spirits that Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, sent out into the world as protectors while she had sequestered herself inside of a cave. Some claimed it was just a story, but Mori knew that she was not like other people. She had been taught how to pull her sense of being within herself, so that she could become invisible. As long as she was able to maintain control, even a person standing directly in front of her would not know that she was there. To her knowledge, this ability had never been tested on a werewolf before, and her father was eager to find out just how much these creatures were capable of.
She stood up and opened the box she had placed on the dresser. Inside was the uniform of the Night Flowers: black soft-soled shoes and black pants, a short sleeveless dark purple robe tied over a black long-sleeved shirt, and a dark purple hood that left only her eyes and the bridge of her nose exposed. Each member of the clan was trained in the use of all weapons, and she was more than proficient in the use of swords, bows, and staves, even firearms. But, each family had a specialty, and for the Tanakas, that meant knives. She lifted her brace of four throwing knives, perhaps her most cherished possessions, and tied it around her waist. She then began to secret knives about her person, about fifteen in all. Getting through security at the airport would have been all but impossible if not for the mystical preparations her mother had done the week before.
With the lights off in her room, she was little more than a shadow in the mirror, and between one breath and another, the window was open and she was gone, the barest whisper of a noise to mark her passing. She leapt onto rooftops, running across them without the occupants of the houses any the wiser, jumped over cars and fences, and swung herself through the branches of trees, all the while keeping herself centered and calm. This was just like every other night. This was just like any other hunt.
She found the wolves easily enough, alighting on a tree to watch them. The moon was full, and they were running, frenzied by the pull of their pale god. Even at the Stilinski house, she could feel their presence drawing her, like calling to like, all creatures of the night.
There were four of them, and she watched as they ran under her tree, none of them pausing for even a second in suspicion that anything might be amiss. Her intel suggested that the one in front was the Alpha, Derek Hale. There were three others behind him. One was female; that had to be Erica. Another was tall and dark-skinned; that one was probably Boyd. The last one took her a second to figure out, as there were several werewolves in Beacon Hills, but the lankiness, height and hair-color made her think he must be the one called Isaac.
She jumped down and began to follow them. They were traveling at speed, but it was not difficult for her to keep pace. In fact, she thought, she could probably overtake them if she needed to. But, all she was supposed to do that night was observe them and report back to her father. She was not there to confront them, at least not yet.
The pack circled a deer and killed it almost before it knew what was happening. Mori watched as the four descended upon the carcass, devouring the flesh raw. Afterwards, to wash off the blood, they jumped into a nearby stream, and began play fighting in the water. Mori almost felt herself smiling at the scene.
They gave no indication that they knew she might be there, which was good, but she had yet to really test herself. While they pulled and tugged at each other in the water, she began to walk closer. She kept her breathing steady, and was careful to make her footsteps absolutely silent. Soon, she was standing at the water's edge, and the wolves continued to behave as if she were not there. Even though she could not stop her heart from beating, she was able to slow it enough that the wolves might not recognize it as a human heartbeat. And, even though anyone else standing at the edge of that stream might begin to panic, Mori was more than capable of defending herself, and if need be, evading them, so her heartbeat remained calm.
Suddenly, Derek's hand shot up, and he snarled at the others to silence them.
"What is it?" asked Boyd, letting go of Erica's arm.
"Something's not right," Derek answered, sniffing the air. "Something smells off."
Mori realized that the breeze had shifted, and her scent was being blown directly towards them. Derek's gaze took in the surrounding area, and for one moment, he was looking directly at her, but he continued turning his head, unaware of her presence. The muscles in Mori's legs were coiled like springs, tense and ready. The other werewolves were following Derek's gaze, and the moment he was looking away from her, she leapt into the air, gracefully somersaulting into a tree with no more noise than a moth would make settling on a branch. Derek turned his head back to where she had been previously standing, but other than that, gave no indication that he had noticed anything.
"Come on," he said to the others. "Let's get back to base."
Mori watched them leave, and not wanting to press her luck, decided not to follow. The scent thing was going to be a problem, but she hoped her parents would have a solution for that.
When she got back to her room, Mori pulled the jade mirror out of her purse. Holding it in her hands, she stilled her breathing until the mirror began to glow and she could sense her father's presence on the other side.
"Daughter, you have returned from observing the wolves, yes? What have you learned?"
"Our ability to hide within ourselves works even against the wolves, father," she said. "But, the wolves see with more than their eyes."
"Oh?"
"It is their sense of smell, father," she replied. "Even though we cannot be seen, they are still able to detect our presence by our scent. Perhaps there is a method we can use to counteract this?"
"Anything we do to conceal your scent will only provide them with a different scent to smell," he responded. "This is a quandary. Perhaps your mother can devise a plan for you."
There was a brief period of silence as her father left to find her mother.
"Hello, my daughter," she heard her mother say. "It seems you were successful tonight, as you are speaking with us now?"
"Yes, mother." Mori answered. "The wolves were unable to see me. However, their leader was able to detect me by scent. He may not have known what the scent was, but he knew it did not belong in the forest. Father was hopeful that you might know a way to prevent this."
Her mother was silent for a moment. "We have no way to eliminate scent. We have not had to contend with an ability such as this, before. The boy you are staying with, he is a friend to the wolves, is he not?"
"That is what our intelligence tells us, yes," Mori answered.
"Perhaps the answer then is for you to smell like him, and for him to smell like you."
Mori thought about what her mother said before answering. "Yes, mother. I will see what I can do. Good night, mother."
"Good night, daughter. May the shadows keep you."
"May the shadows keep you."
Mori put the mirror away and pondered the situation, and she was soon stripping off her clothes. After removing the fitted sheet from her bed, she wrapped it around her naked body. The exertions of the night had left a light sheen of sweat on her skin, which she was hoping would be sufficient to impart her scent onto the thin material. She rolled around on the bed with the sheet for a few seconds, then dressed herself in her sleeping clothes. Grabbing a pair of scissors from the nightstand, she picked up the shirt she had been wearing earlier and began cutting it into thin strips. She shoved these into her pocket, and walked out of her room and into the hallway with the bed sheet in her hands.
The inside of Stiles' bedroom was quiet, and determining that he was not inside of it, she let herself in. She removed the fitted sheet from his bed, replacing it with the one from her bed, and then began distributing the strips of cloth around his room: one at the back of each of his drawers, a few in his closet, and one at the bottom of his backpack. Afterwards, she dug into his laundry pile and pulled out one of his undershirts. When she got back to her own room, she cut his undershirt into thin strips, distributing them about her room in the same manner that she had done to his, and pulled his sheet over her bed. Come Monday, they would smell like they had been living together for years.
* * *
"Scott, this is Mori Tanaka," Stiles said, gesturing at her. "She's the foreign exchange student that's gonna be living with us this year. Mori, this is my best friend, Scott."
"Nice to meet you," Mori said, sticking out her hand. She had quickly realized that bowing all the time was making the Americans uncomfortable, so she had taken up their practice of greeting each other with a handshake.
"Nice to meet you, too," Scott said, flashing her a lopsided grin.
She would have known that he was one of the werewolves, even if her dossier had not included the information. There was just something about them that was different. But, Scott seemed so normal standing there in the middle of the school hallway, so nice. She found herself hoping that she wouldn't have to kill him.
Later that day, she found herself sitting with Stiles' friends: Scott, Allison, Lydia and Danny. Scott she already knew about, but there was something about Lydia that she couldn't quite figure out. She wasn't a werewolf, of that she was certain, but Lydia wasn't a typical human either. There was just something about her that was familiar, familial even. Mori began to wonder if she might be the descendant of a Night Flower; she was certainly pretty enough. She decided it couldn't hurt to ask some questions.
"Lydia?' she asked, "Do you have any Japanese ancestry?"
Lydia turned to her, shock and suspicion plain on her face. "Yes, actually," she replied. "One of my great grandmothers is Japanese. Why?"
"I just got this sense that we had a kind of bond, is all," Mori answered with a smile.
Lydia smiled back dismissively. "Well, I don't know very much about that part of my family, so…"
Mori nodded and let the matter drop. She would have to tell her parents about Lydia later.
After school, Stiles dropped her off at the house and then took off in his jeep. Mori went back to Stiles' room, grabbed another one of his used undershirts, and put it on under her uniform. She left the house only minutes behind Stiles, and even though he was in his Jeep, she had no doubt that she would not be very far behind when he eventually got to where he was going.
The abandoned subway station the wolves were using as their base was ridiculously easy to find, and she was able to sneak in without attracting any attention. Surprisingly, the only people inside were Stiles and Derek, who were apparently engaged in an argument.
"You have a foreign exchange student living with you, now?!" Derek was yelling. "And, I have to learn about it by the way you smell, which I might add is the same scent from when I was out running with the others on Saturday night!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Stiles, sounding a bit panicked. "Did something happen on Saturday?"
"No," Derek answered, "but I smelled what's her name…"
"Mori," Stiles interjected. "Mori Tanaka."
"I smelled Mori that night while we were running."
"That's not possible," Stiles argued. "She just got here on Saturday! What, you think some new foreign exchange student is gonna get here and just start running around the woods at night before she's even unpacked her bags?"
Derek put his hands on his hips. He had murder in his eyes. "I know what I smelled, Stiles," he said, biting off the end of each word. "I know she was out there, and now her scent is all over you. She just got here Saturday? How is it that you smell that much like her already? Are you sleeping with her?!"
Stiles' eyes went wide, "What?! No! What?! She just got here! I don't even know her! Are you listening to yourself? Oh my God!"
Mori swallowed nervously. Maybe she had gone a little overboard with the scenting.
"You need to get rid of her!" Derek said, jabbing his finger at Stiles.
"What do you mean, 'get rid of her?' I can't 'get rid of her!' You can't just 'get rid' of someone!" Stiles replied, arms flailing.
"I don't like it!" Derek pressed. "For all you know, she could be a hunter, and she could be using you to get to us."
Wow, Mori thought, he hit that nail on the head. This Alpha was turning out to be a lot smarter than most of the other monsters she'd dealt with. His memory of her scent was a problem. Fortunately, she had something back in her room that she might be able to use to deal with it. She left Stiles and Derek to their argument and made her way back to the Stilinski house.
Lifting up the false bottom of her suitcase, she found the rows of vials that she had prepared with her mother for various scenarios. She picked up a vial filled with grey powder with tiny flecks of pale blue that glinted in the light. Her mother called it "Thief of Night's Veil." It was used to see into people's dreams. She had only used it one other time, on an herbalist, completely human, when she had suspected him of keeping information from her. In her experience, mystical creatures were more resistant to these sorts of things, so she would need to use something else to lower his defenses. Knowing what her daughter was going there to do, her mother had also provided her with a substantial amount of wolfsbane. Mori poured a bit of the dream powder into an empty vial, and added just a pinch of the wolfsbane. She wasn't trying to hurt him, after all. She poured a little bit more of the dream powder into a small incense bowl and set it on her nightstand.
Having put the vials away, she waited for Stiles to come home. After hearing him settle in for the night, she was out the window again, leaping through the shadows towards the wolf's den. When she got there, she was confronted with a pile of sleeping bodies consisting of Derek, Boyd, Erica and Isaac. She took a deep breath, and snuck closer to them. She poured the dream powder into her hand, and reached out towards Derek's face, freezing when Isaac suddenly moved, setting off a chain reaction that caused each member of the pile to readjust their position. When they finally settled, she sprinkled the powder onto Derek's face, and snuck back out, making it back to her room before too much time had passed.
She lit the powder in the incense bowl, and lay on her bed, not bothering to change her clothes. As she breathed in the smoke, she felt herself slipping into a familiar trance. Although the sensation of joining her conscious mind to Derek's unconscious one was disconcerting, it was far from the strangest thing she had ever done. She would have to take a form other than her own when inside of his dreams. If he were to ever recognize her because of his dreams, that could cause even more problems than him remembering her scent. Choosing Stiles because he was the one she was most familiar with, she began walking on the pebbled path that had appeared in front of her.
Suddenly, Derek was approaching her with his arms open wide and a huge grin on his face. From what little she knew of him, it was an expression that he had not made for a very long time.
"Stiles!" he exclaimed. "You're here! I'm so happy to see you."
Mori could not allow herself to get caught up in one of Derek's dreams. Quickly, she shifted forms and became Lydia, stepping to the side. Derek walked right past her to embrace another Stiles who had materialized in her place. Mori watched as they hugged each other, Derek looking so happy he could cry. He grabbed Stiles' hand and began leading him down the path.
"I have a surprise for you," Derek said, giving Stiles a look that was at once shy and mischievous.
"Oh yeah?" Stiles replied, grinning back at him.
Derek nodded, and led Stiles off the path. Mori followed them to a blanket and picnic basket that Derek had set-up in a small clearing.
"Oh! How sweet!" Stiles exclaimed, pulling Derek close to him. He put his hand behind Derek's head, and pulled him even closer, pressing their lips together as Derek moaned eagerly. Derek crushed Stiles against himself, his hands at Stiles' back, passionate and desperate. When they showed no sign of stopping, Mori decided she needed to move on.
She made her way back to the path and found herself inside of an ornate library. Stiles was lounging on a red velvet fainting couch, his shirt unbuttoned revealing the creamy skin of his lean torso. Derek was teasing him with a handful of red grapes, lowering them to Stiles lips, and laughing as he pulled them away. Occasionally, Stiles would manage to snag a grape with his teeth, causing Derek to gasp with delight. Stiles' eyes were bright and happy, enjoying Derek's playfulness. Mori found herself entranced by the scene. The first scene with the picnic was easy enough to dismiss, dreams are, after all, sometimes only dreams. But, a second one? And, the Derek she saw here in his subconscious with Stiles was nothing like the Derek she had observed over the last few days. Remembering that she still had a job to do, she left the library.
Opening a door in the hallway beyond, she found herself watching Derek and Stiles writhing together on a huge feather bed. Tiny feathers were drifting by in slow motion as they could only do in a person's dreams, while the two men moaned and grunted, grinding their naked bodies against each other. Everything was hazy, the room hot and steamy, the scent of sex heavy in the air. Derek gasped as Stiles bit down on his shoulder, and Mori quickly closed the door before she could witness anything more, finding herself oddly aroused at the werewolf's passion. Though he could not possibly know what he was doing, he was effectively distracting her from her quest to purge the memory of her scent from his mind.
Running down the hallway, Mori found herself in the woods at night. She was getting closer. As she ran, she caught flashes of Stiles' face, glimpses of his blue jeep, and occasionally, an image of Scott, Isaac or one of the other wolves. The moon in the sky was full, and much closer than it would have been in the real night sky, and she found herself following Derek and his pack, just as she had a few nights ago. They howled and ran and killed the deer, just like they had done on that night, and then they all jumped into the stream. Mori approached the water, not bothering to hide herself as this was only a memory and they would not be able to see her or hurt her.
She saw the moment when Derek smelled her, when his head jerked up and he raised his hand for silence. This was the moment she had to kill. She had to destroy the heart of the memory, and in this instance, she reasoned that meant killing Derek. Lunging into the water, one of her knives materialized in her hand. It was only the thought of a knife, the impression of a knife, but that did not make it any less lethal. She landed behind Derek, swung her arm around his body, and plunged the knife into his heart.
There was no time for a reaction. The scene went black, and Mori opened her eyes to find herself in her room, the last of the dream powder rising up out of incense bowl as the tiny ember winked out. Her breathing was heavy, and her forehead glistened with sweat. There was no way to tell if what she did worked, which meant she would just have to keep an eye on Derek over the next few days to see if he mentioned smelling her in the woods again. Exhausted, she rolled to her side, pulled the covers over herself and fell asleep.
* * *
The next night, Mori followed Stiles to the subway station. She watched the werewolves nod their heads in greeting, none of them aware of her presence. They now associated her scent with Stiles, and so long as Stiles was there, they would have no reason to suspect someone else was in the room watching and listening to them.
"Jeez, Stiles!" Erica complained loudly. "You reek of that Mori chick! What did you do, make out with her all day at school?"
"No!" Stiles exclaimed, smelling his shirt with his ineffectually human nose.
Mori smiled to herself. Her current plan was to alternate their bed sheets every night, just to make sure her scent would stay fresh on him.
"I don't know what it is," Stiles continued. "I just live with her. How come you don't give Scott a hard time about smelling like his mom?"
"Scott's always smelled like his mom," Derek replied, like he was answering a five year old. "Of course he's gonna smell like her, he's always smelled like her. You've only been living with Mori for four days."
If Derek was going to say anything about smelling Mori in the woods, this would be the time, but he didn't, which Mori took as a good sign.
"Dude!" Stiles said, throwing his arms wide. "I don't get it! We don't even hang out that much."
"Do you use the same towels in the bathroom?" Erica asked, half-laughing.
"Ew, gross, no!" Stiles replied, giving her a look like half of her brain just fell out of her nose.
"Come here," Derek demanded, with his hands on his hips.
"What? Why?" Stiles asked, looking suddenly alarmed.
Derek sighed loudly. "Just come here," he insisted.
"Okay!" Stiles said, annoyed and exasperated.
When he got close enough, Derek reached out, and pulled him the rest of the way by his arms.
"Hey!" Stiles yelled. "Watch it, grabby!"
Derek ignored him and started sniffing Stiles face, neck, shoulders and arms.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"God, she's all over you!" Derek said, wrinkling his nose.
Derek placed his hands on the side of Stiles' face and began rubbing just above Stiles' eyebrows with the pads of his thumbs.
"What are you doing?" Stiles repeated, trying to look up at his own forehead.
"Quiet," Derek said. "I'm trying to get her scent off of you."
Derek moved his thumbs down and began rubbing them on Stiles' cheekbones, then the area under his nostrils and his chin. He went slow, like a mother cat grooming one of her kittens. Mori noticed that Stiles' blinking began to get slower, as his eyelids began to droop. His breathing slowed, and if she was hearing right, his heartbeat was starting to sync up with Derek's. Derek was focused, his mouth half-open, and his pupils dilated. He moved his right hand behind Stiles head, and his left to the middle of Stiles back, pulling Stiles close to him so that the full length of their bodies were pressed up against each other.
Derek started to rub his cheek against Stiles' when Stiles lifted up his hands as if to push Derek away, "Whoa, buddy!" he said, laughing nervously, "this is getting a little intimate."
"Quiet," Derek repeated, only softer this time as he started rubbing his nose along Stiles' jaw line, neck and the soft spot behind his ear.
Seemingly resigned to his fate, Stiles let his arms drop, and sighed, but Mori was not fooled. She could hear his heart starting to race, and his breathing become heavy. He had a pinched expression on his face, like he was worried about getting caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.
"Hey, you two wanna get a room?" asked Boyd from the sofa.
By the time Derek turned to look at him, Boyd had returned his attention to the video game he was playing with Isaac and Erica. He let Stiles go.
"Are you done?" Stiles asked Derek.
"Yes."
* * *
"Using 'Thief of Night's Veil' that way was very clever, an excellent display of ingenuity," Mori heard her mother say from the jade mirror. "Your father will be proud."
"Thank you, mother," Mori replied. "Without the memory to guide him, the Alpha now associates my scent with the Stilinski boy. I can now observe them unimpeded as long as the boy is with them."
"Yes," her mother affirmed, "but this may prove too limiting."
"True," Mori agreed, "but the boy is with them much of the time. There has been an interesting development in the relationship between Stiles and the Alpha."
"Oh?"
"Yes," Mori continued. "Nothing definite yet. I will tell you more if there is anything to tell. Also, mother, there is a girl here named Lydia Martin. Do you know of her?"
"I am not familiar with that name. Why do you ask?"
"There is a possibility she may be the descendent of a Night Flower."
"I will look into this right away. Thank you, daughter. May the shadows keep you."
"May the shadows keep you."
Mori put her uniform on and was once again running through the night air. Now, when she followed the wolves, she made sure to stay high up in the trees, minimizing the chance that any of them might smell her. She had also begun taking walks in the woods during the day so that her scent being there would not be an altogether unusual thing.
As she perched on a branch, watching Erica, Boyd and Isaac wrestle on the ground, she heard a rustle and then the soft whistle of a flying arrow. Her hand was halfway to one of her knives before she realized what she was doing. She could have knocked the arrow out of the air if she wanted to, but she decided instead to let it fly so she could see what would happen. It landed with a thunk in Boyd's shoulder and he grunted in pain. Erica and Isaac growled and turned in the direction that the arrow had come from. Immediately, there were two more arrows flying, and the two werewolves quickly lifted Boyd from the ground, half-pulling, half-dragging him to get away from what seemed to be hunters attacking them.
Mori squinted into the darkness, unable to see anything as the werewolves ran away. She wanted to see who had attacked them, but opted to follow the wolves instead. Even injured, Boyd was able to outrun the hunters and make it back to their base. Once there, Boyd dropped to the floor.
"What happened?!" exclaimed Derek, dropping to Boyd's side.
"Hunters," Erica snarled. "They attacked us for no reason!"
"Yeah," Isaac said, sounding worried. "Aren't they supposed to have a code or something? We didn't do anything."
"Boyd," Derek said, one hand on the arrow, and the other on Boyd's shoulder. "We're gonna have to push the arrowhead through so we can get it out of you."
Boyd grimaced and nodded. Derek grabbed the shaft of the arrow and pushed it through in a single movement, causing Boyd to buck and roar. Derek held on to him until he settled down.
"That was the hard part, okay?" Derek said, looking Boyd in the eyes as Boyd breathed heavily. "Help him sit up," he instructed the others.
Isaac and Erica got Boyd into a sitting position and Derek snapped of the arrowhead off, with Boyd hardly making a noise. He pulled the shaft of the arrow out, and patted Boyd on the other shoulder.
"There," he said. "You'll be all healed up in a few hours."
"Thanks," Boyd replied, his voice ragged.
"Isaac, stay here with Boyd," Derek said, and then turned to Erica. "You're coming with me. We need to find out who these people are."
Isaac looked hurt, but didn't argue. Mori followed Derek and Erica back out into the woods, surprised that none of the wolves seemed to notice her in the subway station, though to be fair, they were currently preoccupied. Perhaps they were getting used to her scent. Stiles was over at the base an awful lot.
Erica and Derek quickly found the two arrows that had missed their marks, and also the spot where the hunters had shot from, but the trial went cold at the road where they must have left their car. Derek roared in frustration. Mori watched them run back to their base, but did not follow. There was little else she was going to learn tonight.
* * *
The next day, Mori was in the woods again. She enjoyed the crinkling that the dry leaves made under her feet when she decided to walk like a normal person. But, once she was deep enough in the forest that she was sure no one would see her, she was off, leaping through trees, silent as a feather drifting to the ground, as invisible as a breeze coursing through the branches. Mori reveled in this, the freedom, the speed, the power. There were many times that she wished she had been born a normal girl, but when she ran through the trees like this, that thought hardly ever crossed her mind.
Suddenly, there was a twig snap; she was not alone in the forest. Settling onto the high branch of an old oak, she paused to listen. There were footsteps in the distance, and the murmuring of voices. They weren't even trying to be quiet. She leapt through the trees towards the sounds, careful to make no sounds of her own. Though her sense of smell was not much better than a typical teenage girl's, her sense of hearing was at least as good as the wolves, and probably a bit better as she had been trained to listen from birth.
As she moved through the trees, she listened to the footsteps, realizing they were drawing her closer to where Boyd had been shot the night before. She was able to determine by the way that they walked that there were three of them, two men and a woman. As she continued to listen, she realized they were the same footsteps from the night before. These were the hunters that shot Boyd.
She came to a stop directly overhead.
"This is where we shot one of them," she heard the woman say. She had short dark brown hair and was wearing a form-fitting black leather jacket and khaki pants. "Can you track them, Simon?" she asked the shorter man wearing the black knit cap.
"Looks like they headed off in that direction," he said, pointing.
The woman looked where he indicated, nodded and turned back to the others. "All right. Jim, you go back to the car and track us with the GPS. Simon and I are gonna see how far this trail leads. You can meet up with us at the other end."
Jim nodded and headed back the way they came.
"Molly," Simon said, a concerned look on his face. "Are you sure you wanna do this? We're kinda out-gunned here, don't you think?"
Molly scoffed. "Don't think, Simon! Track! That's why you're here! I'm not worried about a bunch of hormonally challenged adolescent wolves and their inept, no experience leader. Getting rid of them will be a piece of cake, and then we can get out of this piece of crap town."
Mori followed them as they picked out the trail that Erica, Isaac and Body had left in their haste to escape. They were much slower than the werewolves, not having the sense of smell to guide them, nor the speed. Still, Mori was surprised at how quickly they came to the edge of town. This was where the pack tended to enter the forest. Their various comings and goings were evidenced by the large number of footprints and the disturbed vegetation in the area. The trail went dead as it was all but impossible to track anyone walking on concrete and asphalt.
Molly pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Jim. "Yeah, we're here," she said when he answered. "Come pick us up, and then we can get set-up for tonight."
"What are we gonna do?" Simon asked.
"Ambush," Molly answered with a knowing smirk. "This is obviously the spot where they come into the forest. If we're lucky, we can be done with this town by morning."
Mori chewed on her bottom lip and thought. Normally, it was her job to dispose of creatures like Derek and his pack, but as far as she could tell, none of them had done anything to deserve that. Unlike some Night Flowers, her family lived by a strict code, and they did not simply kill every supernatural being they came across. Killing the hunters was out of the question; humans were basically off-limits, no matter who they were, but perhaps there was something else she could do. Her parents, and the Night Flowers as a whole, might not be pleased, but she hoped they would understand.
Mori leapt down from her hiding place and ran to the pack's base. Questioning her motives as she went, she almost stopped several times, wondering if she should let the events play out as they would. But, she found herself continually moving closer to the subway station. The wolves, after all, were not so different from her.
She entered the subway station quietly and discovered what she assumed to be the entire pack sitting there watching TV. Erica and Boyd were on the couch next to Derek, who had Stiles on his lap. Derek's arms were wrapped possessively around the boy's waist, and his chin was on Stiles' shoulder. Isaac was sitting on the floor with his back against Boyd and Erica's legs.
"This is so ridiculous!" Stiles was complaining. "I can't believe you're making such a big deal about this. She's just some girl I live with that apparently has some kind of magical ability to completely cover me with her scent!"
The other three wolves snickered, Boyd covering the bottom half of his face with his hand.
"Did her smell just get stronger?!" Derek asked, sounding very annoyed.
Erica just shook her head. "You're really obsessed with this girl," she commented, turning her head towards Derek. "You haven't even met her."
Stiles nodded. "See! Erica and I agree on something! You have totally lost your mind, Derek."
Derek shook his head and lifted his nose into the air. "No, her smell is definitely stronger now. There's something weird going on."
Isaac sniffed the air and made a face. "He's right; I smell it too."
Mori let out a breath and released the part of herself that she had been holding at her center, becoming visible again. Her sudden appearance sent the wolves scrambling, Derek unceremoniously dumping Stiles onto the couch.
"That's the girl!" Derek yelled. "That's the smell! Get her!"
Stiles' eyes went wide with shock. "What?! What's going on? Mori?!"
Erica, Boyd and Isaac leapt at her, but she easily jumped out of the way. This was not going at all how she planned. "Wait!" she yelled.
The three betas quickly recovered and were chasing after her again. She could see Derek out of the corner of her eye trying to cut her off as she ran. "Hold on! Just listen to me!" she screamed.
"Look at how she moves!" Derek yelled, ignoring what she was trying to say. "I knew there was something not right about her!"
Mori jumped on top of a subway car, and the three Betas immediately followed. She had gone straight there without bothering to put on her uniform or pick up her knives, not thinking she would need them. But, she always had one or two knives on her, no matter where she went. The Betas were advancing cautiously, Erica and Boyd in front, and Isaac approaching from behind.
All right, she thought, if they want a fight, then I will fight.
She turned around and charged towards Isaac, spinning in the air and kicking him in the chest. He went flying off the car as Erica and Boyd lunged at her. Mori shot straight up, flipping as she went so that she landed feet first on the ceiling. Before gravity had a chance to pull her back down, she pushed against the ceiling with her legs, shooting towards the two Betas almost faster than their eyes could follow. The wolves might have her beat in terms of sheer strength, but she was faster than them by far. Almost by instinct, her knife was in her hand, and she plunged it into Erica's shoulder, kicking Boyd in the face, and knocking him off the car. Erica screamed and grabbed Mori's wrist, pulling back as hard as she could. Mori gasped, let go of the knife and found herself flying through the air.
She hit the wall with a loud thud, and crumpled to the ground. The next thing she knew, someone was picking her up by the front of her jacket and slamming her back against the wall. She squinted at the face of their Alpha, mere inches from her own.
"So, you're the one that's been covering Stiles with her scent," he growled. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Mori figured she could escape if she really wanted to, but for the moment it seemed like they were prepared to listen, so she remained still. Stiles scrambled over to where Derek had her pinned against the wall.
"Oh my God! Mori!" he said, looking at her, mouth gaping with confusion and shock. "What are you doing here? What are you? How…what…?"
"I didn't come here to hurt you," Mori began evenly. "You're the ones that attacked me."
"You're the one that snuck into our base!" Erica yelled, pulling the knife from her shoulder with a grunt and throwing it to the floor. "What was that ninja shit anyway? Who are you?"
Mori narrowed her eyes. "I am a member of the Clan of the Night Flowers. We protect people from… well… we protect people from creatures like you."
Derek slammed her against the wall again, but Mori did not give him the satisfaction of wincing. "So you did come here for us!" he insisted, jabbing the pointer finger of his free hand at her face.
"I only came to observe," Mori argued. "The Night Flowers operate mostly in Japan, and we've never encountered werewolves before. My parents came across some information about your pack, and we thought it prudent to learn more about you."
"Are you even an exchange student?" Stiles asked.
Mori sighed. "Technically yes, but we hacked into the system to make sure that I would be staying with you, since we knew how important you were to the pack."
"Me?" Stiles asked. "Important to the pack?" He smiled and nodded at that, even puffing out his chest a little. Derek rolled his eyes.
"So, your clan just goes around killing things?" Boyd asked.
"No," Mori said, shaking her head. "We have a code."
"Oh, we know all about hunters and their codes!" Erica spat out.
"Why are you here?" Derek repeated.
"I came here to warn you," she answered. "The hunters from last night, they're setting up an ambush for you at the edge of town where you enter the woods."
"Why are you telling us this?" asked Isaac. "Shouldn't you be working with them, or something?"
"I told you," Mori said, narrowing her eyes again. "We do not kill indiscriminately. We have a code. Part of that code means that I also cannot hurt the hunters, because they are human. Poor excuses for humans, but still human. But, that does not mean I have to let them do whatever they want, so I came here to warn you."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Derek asked.
"You can't," Mori replied. "But, trust this." She hid her sense of being inside of herself once again and slipped out of Derek's grasp, disappearing before their eyes and leaving Derek standing with an empty jacket in his hand. She smiled with satisfaction at their collective gasp of surprise.
"I had multiple opportunities to kill each of you over the last week, but you are all still alive."
They all spun around, looking for the source of her disembodied voice.
"I am not your enemy."
And with that, she left the station so that they could figure out how to deal with the hunters on their own. She found out later that an anonymous tip to Stiles' dad got the hunters shipped off to the county jail to await trial for illegal possession of firearms.
Once she got back to her room, Mori pulled out the jade mirror. When the jade began to glow, she spoke.
"Father, I have tested the wolves," she began. "They are not a threat to the people of Beacon Hills."
"Are you certain?" he asked.
"Yes, father," she replied. "I presented them with an opportunity to destroy their enemies, human enemies, and they instead had them sent away."
"Are all werewolves like this?" he pressed.
"Assuredly not, father," she answered. "The wolves share many similarities with the Night Flowers. They are human for the most part, and partly not. Some are good, and we must assume some are not, but more importantly, they are capable of love."
"Love?"
"Yes, father," she said. "The Alpha here is in love with the boy that I am staying with, though he does not yet realize it."
"You have found yourself in an interesting situation indeed, daughter," he said. "How would you propose we proceed?"
"I propose we form an alliance with the wolves, father," she replied. "In return for protecting the people here, we agree to send them help should they ever need it."
"Agreed. We will begin preparations for your next assignment. Contact us once you have made arrangements with the pack."
"Yes, father. May the shadows keep you."
"May the shadows keep you."
There was a knock at her door, as she was putting the mirror away.
"Come in," she called out.
The door opened and Stiles walked into her room. "Hey, Mori," he said waving awkwardly.
"Hello, Stiles," she replied, smiling at him. She patted the bed next to her so that he would sit down.
He sat down next to her and dropped his head, letting out a huff of air. "So, thanks for not killing my friends," he started, smiling when he noticed her smirk. "I should have known you wouldn't just be a normal exchange student."
Mori laughed. "What do you mean?"
Stiles scrunched up his face. "I don't know; it just seems like everyone around me has some kind of secret superpower, like no one is normal anymore." His face grew melancholy. "Normal like me."
Mori smiled. "Do not worry Stiles, there are still plenty of normal people in the world, although it does seem like you have a way of attracting the stranger ones to yourself."
Stiles shrugged and lifted his arms. "It's a gift!" He lowered his arms and looked her in the eyes. "So, ninja, huh? That's like totally awesome!"
"I suppose."
"And, the whole turning invisible thing! I've never seen a werewolf look so confused!" he said laughing. "And, what about the smell thing? What was that?"
Mori felt her face grow red. "That is not a special ability.”
"So, how did you do it?" Stiles asked.
"A girl cannot give away all of her secrets, can she?" she said with a coy smile.
"I guess not. So, you're leaving now?" he asked. "You made sure the werewolves weren't gonna kill anybody, and now you have to go?"
She nodded, then sighed sadly. “There are a lot of strange things in the world, Stiles, and not enough Night Flowers. But, before I go, I must speak with your Alpha."
"He's not my Alpha," Stiles protested.
Mori's only response to that was a knowing smile. "Can you take me with you when you go to visit them tomorrow?"
"Sure," he said, getting up from the bed. "I kind of wish you were staying. I was starting to like having you around."
"I liked being here, too," she said, her voiced laced with melancholy, heavy with the years of constantly moving from one place to another, never getting to really know anyone. Never really having the chance to make any friends. She smiled sadly, then looked into Stiles' eyes. "Good night, Stiles."
"Good night, Mori."
* * *
Mori followed Stiles into the subway station. He had chatted incessantly on the car ride over, but now that they had arrived, he had become strangely silent. They entered the space that the wolves were using as a living room, and they all stood up at her appearance. Erica eyed her suspiciously, but other than that, there were no outward signs of aggression from the wolves.
"What are you doing here?" Derek asked.
"I have come to offer an alliance," she said.
"An alliance?" Derek asked, clearly confused. "An alliance for what?"
"An alliance with the Clan of the Night Flowers. In exchange for protecting the people of Beacon Hills, we will not hunt you, and we will send you aid if you ever need it."
"Why would we do that?" asked Boyd.
"There are many things in this world, a lot of them much more powerful than werewolves. The Night Flowers, for instance," she said smiling in playful challenge. "Some are good, some are bad. We have decided that the werewolf pack of Beacon Hills is good, but you may find yourselves outnumbered or outmatched someday, and we would only be a phone call away."
"What do you get out of this?" Derek asked.
"The Night Flowers have dedicated themselves to protecting the world's human population from supernatural threats. Unfortunately, ours is not a large clan, and we cannot be everywhere. By allying ourselves with you, we would know that Beacon Hills and the surrounding areas would be relatively safe for the people that live here."
"But, we would protect them anyway," Derek said.
"I know," she said, "that is why this alliance should be an easy one for you to make."
Derek thought about it for a while, then nodded. "Fine. We'll be your allies."
"Good," Mori said, dipping her head. "I will let my father know." She considered Derek for a moment before continuing. "I will be leaving for my next assignment, soon. I wish you all the best of luck." She turned to go, but Derek called out to her.
"What made you decide this?" he asked. "Why an alliance instead of killing us?"
"It was because of Stiles," she said, looking at the gangly teenager standing next to her. "And, you," she continued, looking at Derek. "The creatures we deal with are for the most part not human, or they used to be human but are not anymore. Werewolves are still human, at least as much as the Night Flowers are. You are still capable of love, and we do not see that a lot with what we do. It must be protected."
"What is she talking about?" asked Isaac.
"Pfft! Like you don't know!" Erica scoffed. "She's talking about how Derek is totally in love with Stiles."
"I'm what?!?" Derek blurted out.
Stiles was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, but no sounds were coming out. Mori gave him a thoughtful look before withdrawing into herself and becoming invisible. As she walked away, she could hear the sounds of the pack arguing, about who knew what and who was in love with whom, but Stiles had yet to add his voice to the fray before they were beyond the range of her hearing.
When Stiles got back to his house, all of Mori's things were gone. He didn't know how he was going to explain that to his dad, but it seemed like he had more important things to think about, like Derek's apparent crush on him. In his room, on a neatly folded piece of paper, he found the note that Mori had left on his desk.
Dear Stiles,
I apologize that I had to leave
without saying goodbye, but there is a
situation in San Francisco that requires my
immediate attention.
I have a feeling we will be seeing more of each
other in the not so distant future. In the meantime,
I pray you and your pack stay safe.
- Mori
Stiles bit his bottom lip, crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. Ever since Scott had been bitten, things had just gotten crazier and crazier. What was next? Vampires? His utter nonchalance at Mori’s note was testament to the fact that his life was beyond weird now, and he was getting so used to it that a ninja leaving a note on his desk would probably end up being one of the less weird things that would happen to him that week.
He scrunched up his face and scrubbed the back of his head with his fingertips. Picking up his phone, he fired off a text to Scott. He needed a dose of normal right now, and nothing was better for that than kicking Scott’s ass at video games and gorging on some pizza.