"Hello, sir." Rachel greeted the man stationed behind a table as soon as they entered the building. The room was large & void of anything other than the table, the man and what she assumed was his car. They were in what seemed to be a large garage; it didn't have the appearance of that outside. The man was intimidatingly tall, and looked as though he could probably crush her, but he didn't compare to the twins' voltron wolf. On a scale of one to ten, this was a seven. Sevens weren't bad. Seven may have eaten nine in the age old joke that really wasn't funny anymore, but Rachel sincerely hoped seven would be good to her. "Mr. Katashi is expecting us."

"I'm expecting you." The man responded in a monotone, his voice as deep as the ocean. "One of you."

"I handle all of Mr. Argent's finances." Rachel spoke quickly, before Isaac had the chance to say something stupid— in turn, she ended up saying something stupid as well. Isaac was very obviously not an Argent, and could never pass as one being a werewolf. "I'm here on his behalf to oversee the deal."

Isaac placed the briefcase he'd been carrying onto the table in front of them & opened it, revealing the pistol. They had switched cases just before entering; he took the gun, and Rachel was now carrying whatever he had. She hoped it pertained to accounting. "What we're looking at here is a mint condition French Flintlock Turnover Pistol crafted in the mid 17th century. It was a gift from Louis XIV to a prominent French family. It's only ever been fired once."

"During a duel between brothers on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles." Katashi's henchman finished.

"You're familiar with it, I see." Rachel commented, glancing over at Isaac for a split second. He looked proud of himself for remembering all the information he'd recited; Rachel was just happy she wasn't getting shot at. Yet.

"Oh, Mr. Katashi knows what he wants. We'll take it." The werewolf placed a case full of cash on the table. "$150,000."

"She's gonna need to count it." Isaac spoke, nudging Rachel's shoulder lightly. She was momentarily stunned by the fact that someone would pay 150,000 dollars for a freaking gun— she wouldn't even pay 150 for it. The chimera quickly snapped out of her daze & knelt down to open up the case she'd been carrying; which she now found contained an automatic counter.

"Oh, really?"

Rachel placed the counter on the table. "Yeah."

She did not know how to use an automatic counter, but after about a moment of searching for the switch to turn it on she manage to figure it out without looking completely idiotic. Her reputation as an actual accountant was rapidly dwindling, as was their ability to continue stalling with each stack of money she counted, but giving up the act wasn't exactly an option. Rachel was a shitty actor at best, Isaac was even worse, and it was really starting to show.

"You don't know the whole story behind this gun, do you?" Katashi's henchman sparked a conversation as Rachel continued counting. "There was no duel between brothers, that was the cover story. The real one involved an encounter in the woods with a vicious animal. Its bite caused one of the men to change into something monstrous. By his family's code, the brother of this man killed him with this very gun."

Both Isaac & Rachel were rendered speechless by the true story. It was a hunter's gun. Did Argent know that? Did he conveniently fail to mention it? She hoped for his sake the answer was no. Rachel was able to keep her calm through anger, but Isaac was now noticeably nervous. She took that as the chance to speak up. "That story is certainly better than the version we were told. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the brother, to have to kill his own flesh & blood solely because of a cureless curse bestowed upon him against his will. We live in a cruel world."

The henchman knew they were supernatural; they knew he was supernatural. What was the point of sugar coating it? Surely he could sympathize, being a werewolf who was also hunted— maybe they'd even go get lattes later & discuss the hardships of being supernatural? Or in Rachel's case, a slightly supernatural science experiment. It was extremely doubtful, but she really couldn't afford to be the pessimist in this situation.

"We're gonna trust you guys with the money, and uh—" Isaac stopped Rachel's counting, but fell silent when Katashi's henchman grabbed his arm.

"Personally, I'd like to hear your story." The man now had a smug look. Isaac now had yellow eyes. Oh dear.

Focus. Focus before your boyfriend gets murdered by the Japanese mafia. Rachel had absolutely no clue what the hell she was focusing on turning herself into, but anything other than a banshee would work for her. Preferably something significantly terrifying, a demon wolf would be fantastic, but anything capable of kicking ass would suffice. Unfortunately for her, she was far from mastering the art of spontaneously transforming into a random supernatural creature with her weird chimera abilities. Instead, Rachel was left with one option: to tell the not so nice man their story, and hope he didn't murder them.

"I'll tell you our story, just put away the claws." Rachel cut in before a fight could begin. The henchman didn't let go of Isaac's arm, but the teen wolf refrained from attacking; it was enough for her. "We're here because we need help. Answers. I mean, answers. We need answers. We think Katashi has those answers, so we were hoping to speak with him directly— we're not here for a fight, we just want to talk.

"Does Mr. Katashi know you personally?" The man questioned her suspiciously. He didn't believe her.

"No, but he knows Argent." Please don't kill us. "Chris Argent saved his life years ago, and if you just take us to him he'll be able to tell you that." No he won't, because the paranoid little shit probably can't even remember his henchman's name let alone Argent— unless of course the former hunter & his daughter had successfully made it to Katashi. Rachel really hoped for their sake they wouldn't be meeting the Yakuza alone.

"Very well."

Instead of letting Isaac go, he yanked him over the table & continued dragging him towards a doorway. The teen wolf looked as though he were two seconds away from making an attempt at tearing the man to shreds, but Rachel kept shaking her head as she continued along with them. He was taking them to Katashi, so she assumed, and the last thing they needed was him deciding to just kill them himself.

She was also just thankful she wasn't the one being dragged for once.

The henchman opened a door that led down a long hallway spotted with several other doors, all presumably locked aside from one that was ajar. He turned into the open doorway, dragging Isaac along with him— the curly haired werewolf looked unimpressed, to say the least. No doubt he believed they could easily overpower the henchman, but Rachel wasn't willing to try it & he trusted her judgement.

She was the professional when it came to high risk situations, and he was still relatively scared shitless. Only now, it was mixed with a dash of anger. That didn't do much to dilute the fear. The sight of the Argents, however, did; the former hunters had managed to make it to Katashi's office & were both currently standing in front of the table he was stationed behind. On the table in front of him was the box Rachel recognized to be the one containing a broken Oni mask.

There was a man lying unconscious on the ground near the door, presumably one of Katashi's guards that either Allison or her father had taken out & a gun was lying on the floor in the corner of the room. Katashi appeared to be unarmed as well.

"Uh, Mr. Henchman?" Rachel tapped the werewolf's shoulder. "I know he growled at you, and that was totally uncool, but could I have my boyfriend back? I'd really appreciate it. He won't do it again."

Rachel looked from the werewolf to Katashi, a faint nod from the latter catching her attention. Now that he was in the clear, he released the teen wolf & exited the room without another word. He sure doesn't have a lot of concern for his boss, leaving him alone in a room with four unfamiliar people; two of whom had hell knows how many weapons. She supposed if Argent had already shown him the mask, then he knew exactly who he was meeting with & that they only killed selective supernatural creatures.

"So.. did we interrupt something important or was the conversation just starting?" It was awkwardly silent, and Rachel trying to break the awkward silence while simultaneously helping her giant boyfriend off the floor only made it more awkward because she was not the least bit helpful. "Please tell me he has a magic sword or something we can use to stop the Oni."

Both Argents had grim expressions as Katashi shook his head. "The Oni are a force of nature. You can't stop a tsunami, nor can you fight it; the only thing you can do is endure it. And hope you are not destroyed in its path."

"How exactly would one go about enduring a supernatural tsunami of demons?" Rachel inquired, her voice lacking any traces of hope. At this rate, the chimera would've preferred an actual tsunami rather than a demonic one— hell, she would've preferred a freaking sharknado. At least sharks were killable.

"One of you already has." The Yakuza turned his attention to Isaac, gesturing to the mark slightly visible behind his ear. "That is a Japanese kanji for "self." It means he is still himself. The Oni are looking for one who is no longer themselves."

Rachel's mind immediately went into panic mode whilst Argent questioned further. "What do you mean no longer themselves?"

"Possessed." Katashi clarified. "By a dark spirit."

Rachel's level of panic had gone from a 9.5 to a 5 after hearing that. They weren't looking for a man made weapon, or a science experiment gone wrong— the demons were looking for another demon. That made sense. That made so much sense it made Rachel start to question her sanity for the thousandth time this year. Demons hunting for another demon; this is what her life had become. Gone are the days when she lived an ordinary life with her werewolf family.

"Dark spirit meaning something we can get rid of with a bucket of holy water?" Please let our problems be easily solved for once.

"No." Katashi shook his head. "There are 13 kinds of kitsune."

"Wind, earth, fire, river, music, ocean, heaven, thunder, forest, time, spirit, mountain & void." Rachel interrupted, listing them all off. Although foxes & wolves had a tendency to not get along very well, Rachel had met a kitsune before in her years of travel. It was brief, but it was enough to spark up a conversation between her & Derek where he explained how to identify them from others.

The young ones had an aura surrounding them when viewed through the eyes of a supernatural. Rachel didn't get the chance to test that for herself, but she took her brother's word on it. He told her all thirteen types, which of course the young girl had already known but she kept quiet because she was only eleven at the time & Derek seemed to like teaching his little sister something new. He may not have been able to teach her math as well as school could've, but her questions regarding the supernatural never went unanswered. If they did, she answered them for herself.

"Or nogitsune." The man interrupted Rachel just as she'd done to him moments ago, although neither seemed particularly bothered by it. "It is a dark one. A kumicho. That's right, he was possessed by a nogitsune. It's what helped him rise through the ranks of our Yakuza family. Nogitsune draws its power from pain and tragedy, strife and chaos."

So that was the missing piece of the story; the kumicho had been possessed by a nogitsune. That's why the Oni were after him, and killing anything in their way. That's why they were in Beacon Hills, cutting their way through everyone. Because someone new was now possessed by a nogitsune.

The thought of it being in one of her friends was enough to bring Rachel's panic far beyond the earlier 9.5. Everyone the Oni had yet to mark was a possibility; meaning it could be anyone aside from Lydia, Isaac, Derek, Ethan & Aiden. Knowing both her brother & boyfriend weren't possessed brought her little comfort as the possibility of either Scott, Stiles or Allison being possessed still remained.

For all she knew, it could be her. How would she know if she was possessed? Rachel couldn't remember nearly killing an Oni. She had a freaking heart attack. Her eyes turned black. That was the single most demonic thing someone could possibly do. Black outs, black eyes; if anyone in Beacon Hills was possessed, it was definitely her. It had to be. As bad at it sounded, Rachel hoped it was her rather than anyone she cared about. It was better than way. She was going to die anyway, if she could drag a dark kitsune to hell with her and save the lives of her friends then her death would mean more than just a failure on behalf of some psychotic scientists.

"Do you know why I'm missing this finger?" Katashi gestured to his silver prosthetic, interrupting the momentary silence that had overtaken the room. "Penance. There's a ritual called yubitsume. Removing the joints of the little finger weakens your grip on a sword. When a katana is gripped properly, the little finger is the strongest."

"Why did they take your finger?"

"They didn't take it." The man confessed. "A Yakuza performs the ritual himself and offers it to his superior. It was penance for a mistake. And it wasn't my only one. I don't know what it was about the way I moved or stood that suggested to them that I was going to take them on. Because actually, I was preparing to run for my life. That shot you fired saved me from looking like a coward before the survivors. For that humiliation, I wouldn't have given up my finger. I would've had to give up my head. I wish I could give you the answer you need, Mr. Argent. I owe you more than my life. I owe you my honour. I will tell you one thing, however. If there is a nogitsune among you, let the Oni destroy it. Even if it is your own daughter."

—

UNEDITED.

short chapter, long wait. dick move, i know— but riddled is up next & i wanted to start the episode on a new chapter so here we are. I wish I could've just skipped this episode, because the majority of this chapter is a filler & the only relevant information is in the conversation with katashi.

ps. i haven't updated in a month because i'm currently working on an original story titled Sivan, i have five chapters prewritten so far & i'm insanely excited to post it. i'm also insanely nervous, and failing miserably at making a decent cover for it (i've gone through approximately five so far) so it may be a little while before it gets published. it's a supernatural story focusing on a girl long thought to be human who's suddenly burdened with immense power & responsibility after the death of her biological father she'd never met. I'm not going to give away much of the plot yet, so this shameless self promo is rather pointless but I just thought I'd let you guys know what has been keeping me so distracted lately (-:

shifting my focus back to this story, because i'm one episode away from letharia vulpina & y'all know what that means