CHAPTER 189

Kira sat on her bed facing her mother after Tristan and Malia had left, wondering what it was that had her mother wearing such a taut face. Well she had an idea but with the big reveals today it might as well be anything.

"Mom, you're starting to scare me with the silent stare."

Her mother sighed wondering how she was supposed to go about this. The wars and loss she has experienced in long life, especially after the death of Rhys, have thoroughly drained every trace of the mischievous fox she once was.

Her husband had made it perfectly clear that sternly explaining this to Kira would only generate more negative feelings for her from her daughter.

Her mistakes were just as long as her life and trying to force Kira to understand that was not the ideal way, so she only had one way to start the conversation.

"I'm sorry, Kira." She apologized earnestly startling Kira as this was a very rare thing for her rather stern mother to do.

"M-mom, why are you suddenly apologizing?"

"Because the due of my mistakes might very well end up being your burden. In my defense, I strongly agree with the fact that knowing the truth about the supernatural ultimately leads to great pain from loss."

Kira wanted to strongly argue that she had a right to know given that she was very well a kitsune but could not form the words when she remembered her mother's story and how old she really was.

Even from the little she had been made privy to today, she could tell that even Allison's friends, her father and Derek Hale, somehow would agree with her mother's view.

Noshiko's countenance fell to a bitter smile when she saw the emotions that flitted across Kira's face.

"Because of my own mistakes and negligence, I no longer have the strength to safely say I can protect my family should the Nogitsune come after us like I know it will. The least I can do is make sure you can protect yourself in the event that I cannot."

"Mom, what are you saying?"

She felt her mother grab her hands in hers and squeezed it hard affectionately.

"I will teach you as much as I can to protect yourself which means I'll be helping you to access your powers as a kitsune."

All she could see in her mother's eyes were the reemergence of her usual sternness mixed with a smoldering resolution that she could only stare wordlessly.

"Unfortunately, the sword I used to exorcize it decades ago was destroyed and it would've acted as the perfect channel for your powers." Noshiko swiftly took this chance to tell her what being a kitsune meant now that she had her undivided attention.

"Unlike most supernaturals, kitsunes rarely have a problem when it comes to learning their abilities or absorbing knowledge in general. Conversely, our experience in relation to our age are represented in tails – physical and spiritual crystallization of the life of a kitsune." She tried as much as she could to explain it slowly so it could easily sink into Kira's head, which was why Kira's first question took her from the left side.

"Wait! Am I going to grow actual tails?" Kira all but hysterically screamed upon hearing that particular bit.

"Not in the way you imagine. This," She reached inside her jacket and brought out what looked like a bare black blade with no handles, "–is one of my tails in the form I choose to physically manifest it."

Kira flushed in embarrassment at the foxy image of herself with big fluffy tails swaying behind her was destroyed when her mother brought out one of her tails. It was a tail, right?

"Oh– right." She awkwardly parted her bangs on seeing her mother's deadpan look telling her that her thoughts were seen through.

She coughed twice into her hands and asked a question just to escape the look she was being peppered with. "So um, yeah, how do you summon those Oni you guys were talking about?"

"That should not be your concern for the foreseeable future because not only are you too young, but you lack the power to summon and direct them."

"Well, that's a bummer. It would have been cool to have a few guards of shadow samurais. Anyway, what about my own abilities as a Thunder Kitsune? How are you going to help me access it?"

If this had been their day, Noshiko would have chastised Kira for how flippant she was with the serious nature of this discussion but didn't as she knew that this was probably the best way to ease Kira into all this instead of a serious tension-filled room.

To Kira's question, the older woman held up her tail. "With this."

"…"

"…"

It was now Kira's turn to deadpan at her mom. "Seriously, mom? No context, no explanation, nothing? Are you insinuating that you're going to stab me with that?"

She tried, she really did, but Noriko still ended up sighing exasperatedly at her daughter's quirkiness at such delicate times.

"This is called a kaiken," she said before snapping it in two causing it to release greenish wisps of smoke for a brief moment. "A kitsune weakens with the loss of every tail, sometimes even dying from said loss."

"But–" Kira wanted to say something but Noshiko didn't let her.

"To kill the Nogitsune, I am prepared to sacrifice all my powers and even my life. In this case however, I am using the tails to strengthen the Oni in hopes that they kill him in his weakened state." She held one part of the broken tail and opened her hands towards Kira. "You just have to trust me, Kira."

Not missing a bit, she cut her palms and looked at Kira who looked a bit frightful at the thought of having a blade cutting through her hand.

Seeing Kira's reluctance, her stern look came back to show Kira how serious she was at this point. "This is only the first part, Kira. Without something to channel your fox spirt through, you will be lacking in some of your natural capabilities as a Thunder Kitsune and the utilization of your fox spirit, but before we get to that bridge we have to unlock your powers first. And for that…"

She made a decision at that moment and threw away the piece of the tail she held and brought out another one from her inner jacket. Her sixth tail.

Though she didn't understand what would happen, the importance of her mother sacrificing one of her tails for her was not lost on Kira. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Kira presented her hands.

"This is not the traditional way a kitsune awakens and while I can train you to awaken it, it might take some time and more for you to get used to it." Noshiko said as she brought the tip of the blade to Kira's palm, both watching as her blood slowly trickled down the blade.

"But I'm guessing whatever you're doing is to speed up the process by a bit?" Kira questioned in a statement-like manner.

"So to speak." She explained further when she saw the look Kira was giving her. "You remember when I said our tails are a physical representation of our knowledge and power?"

Kira nodded.

However instead of answering, as soon as Noshiko's blood on the blade touched Kira's palms, she pushed her blade down so forcefully that it pierced right through Kira's hand.

Kira was about to scream when she seized up as her body went numb on the sensation of something warm mixed with jolts of electricity running through her nerve endings.

Her eyes turned flaming gold and an orange aura enveloped her body.

Noshiko on the other hand watched intently as Kira's aura grew and slowly started taking shape and releasing small sparks of electricity. She felt the sensation of losing something vital but unlike the cutoff feeling she got when she broke them to strengthen the Onis, what she felt this time was a gentle flow as the power and knowledge in that tail flowed into Kira's body causing the blade to slowly crumble to dust.

By the time the blade disappeared into dust, a clear lifelike aura of a fox now enveloped Kira whose body was cascading with streams of electricity.

It took a few seconds before Kira opened her eyes to stare in awe of the orange aura over her and the sparks of electricity that jumped up from her body in response to her excitement. When it finally receded, she looked at her mother and saw how weak her countenance was with the loss of another tail.

"Mom…"

"You don't have to say anything, Kira. This is the best compensation I can give you as recompense for my mistakes." She leaned forward and kissed her teary-eyed daughter's forehead and affectionately rubbed her cheeks. "Sleep well for now, my dear Kira. We'll continue in the morn."

She closed the room's door and turned to her husband who was leaning against the wall and looking at her with concern and pride in his eyes.

"You did great, Noshiko."

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