Chapter Two

Anyone who walked behind the old gym of Ashfield School would be granted with an interesting sight. A smallish, blonde girl in a ratty, short school uniform was facing three guys in front of her, all wearing their uniform as well. One would think that such a brazen, open act would be foolish, but since the school had mostly migrated to the new buildings, the old part of school was patrolled only sporadically, making it a breeding ground for all manner of delinquents. Another reaction would be the feeling of immense pity for the girl, as she was outnumbered by larger, more physically robust men, each easily able to overpower her.

Sticking around for any length of time would have them proven wrong, as the young blonde girl was Kiko, the most delinquent of the lot. The teen furthest on her left would charge in, at the same time as the one in the centre, clearly with no co-ordination or forth-planning. A strong kick to the side, carried though with formidable leg muscles would knock the left-charging teen off his feet, and send him crashing into the second boy, introducing them both to the ground in a painful manner. The largest of the three then let out a growl of vexation and rushed her, only to have a fist sunk firmly into his gut, and his nose broken across her knee as his body doubled over and allowed her to grab his head.

“It’s always the same with you lot” Kiko commented as the third man saw how badly it was going and decided just to stay down. “Chat shit, get hit. Are you notr bored of this already?” she asked rhetorically. A fourth man, a slimy and insidious git, tried to come round the back of her with a makeshift garrote out of his tie, but never made it to his target as he let out a convulsing gurgle and collapsed to the ground.

"Give me your lightning fingers. You cannot measure the level of jealous I am" Kiko exclaimed, turning round to see a much, much better dressed woman of similar age.

"Mmm, most people do seem to like them. Except when they are turned on those people, then I lose popularity fast" The savior replied, stepping up and checking the physical state of the four. "But still, you got in a fight, and really did a whammy on two of them, the third pretending to be hurt so he doesn’t have to face the music" She quipped, a strangled cry of surprise coming from below them. The Lightning Girl then pushed the unconscious teen off the pretender, and dragged him up roughly.

"Ease up Remmy! Man's threads are precious, ya get me?" He exclaimed, and looked like he was going to carry on, but quickly shut up after some static danced between Remmy's fingers.

"Remokr. You are not my friend" she replied, staring intently.

"Hell, she is my friend and even I don't call her Remmy. Something about her nature as a walking Taser makes me want to be polite" Kiko put in, with a coy half-smile.

"Friend or not, I have my duty. Now come on" She ordered, dragging the man along and trusting Kiko to move on her own volition as they headed to the Head Teacher’s office.

Tall, fanged, and hairier than the average man, the Head Teacher was clearly not one to hide his Lupus nature. And this overt showing of his nature just added to the intimidating nature. Even Kiko’s thuggish assailant was cowed in the Head Teacher’s presence. He did not seem very happy to see Kiko, indicating that she was a repeat-offender to his office.

“So. Why has Remokr dragged you here this time” He growled, staring down the two of them. The teen boy just muttered incomprehensibly, but Kiko had clearly been planning a speech on the way here.

“Well. This one and his friends stole a girl’s schoolbag, and told her that if she wanted it back, she was to go to the old gym and get it back from them. I, happened to be passing by at the time, and took it upon myself to go get her bag back personally” She explained.

“Knowing your opinion on my staff, I can see why you did not go to them. But this is the third time this month you have been brought here for acts of violence” The Head replied, sighing softly.

“You have a crap anti-bullying problem. Half the time it’s done in front of the teachers, and one of them actively joins in” Kiko retorted. Not that it elected too negative of a response, however.

“I am aware of that. I cannot simply maul the offenders into obedience, so I must take subtle steps that do nothing. Really, any anti-bullying campaign is for publicity more than any practical outcome. It relies on the entire staff being upright people unafraid of conflict, and no school has that. But, this does not change the fact that you are a menace to the school, and the people in it. Everyone is on my back about you and the state their ‘darling children’ return home in. You have to stop this one-woman war against every asshole in the school, or will be expelled. Do you understand?” He asked, staring down the blond teen.

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“You know that’s never going to happen, right?” Kiko replied, her eyebrow cocked.

“I do, but it sounds good” he sank back into his chair and brooded some about what to do. “The number of incidents with you are growing, and I know there are three others behind my back for each one. I may…” he’d stare into the distance for a moment and then glanced to Kiko. “If you can keep yourself from assailing anyone for the next week or so, I shall contact your father and start a plan of action. This has honestly gone on far too long, and it is time to start a crackdown”

The giant wolf man would nod to himself, and then look at all three gathered before him.

“You can go now. Finish your classes and return home without causing any more trouble, ok?” He did not receive a reply, just another nod before Kiko left, leaving Remokr and the teen boy in the office.

She did as she was told, and did not start any more trouble, as difficult as that was to accomplish. There was always more trouble to start around this place. On the way home she expected the little brat and his band of dickish dooshbags to try something, but they did not. So she got home pretty easily. Opening the door, she saw a person in the kitchen, but didn’t pay any mind to it, purple hair aside. She lived with her dad, so having someone around wasn’t strange. Of course, she got as far as half way up the stairs before realizing that her dad was off at work, and wasn’t a woman besides. So she slowly walked back down the stairs and stared at the apparently random person in the kitchen.

“So, do you often break into people’s houses like this, or am I just special?” Kiko asked. The woman seemed to be standing there like she owned the place, which she didn’t because it was their house, not hers.

“On occasion. But, in this instance, you are special” The woman replied, slowly walking over to Kiko. As she moved, Kiko’s eyes were drawn to her body, and could make out the uniform she was wearing. It was very militant, and she recognized it immediately, the black base and red trim was famous worldwide these days. And the recognition made her slightly embarrassed to be so rude. But then, the woman did just break in without invitation.

“You are a SIR agent? Now I’m both confused and curious. Why did you break in here, and why am I special?” Kiko asked. She tempered her tone so it wasn’t quite as pointed as it was, but she was still rather annoyed.

“I broke in here to get to you. And you are special because your father was special. He worked for us for quite a long time. Almost everyone in the ODD knew him” She has a soft tone to her voice now, as if trying to avoid her voice breaking.

“Why are you speaking in past tense..? It's kind of ominous, you know” Kiko said, looking at her with eyes that didn’t want to think about the reason why and suppressing the stutter that came with her nerves. Suddenly, the woman came forward and embraced her in a hug. It was surprising, and made her even more filled with dread.

“He died. We don’t know how; it was far too precise for what he was hunting to have done it. But he’s just…dead” the woman’s voice did not hold out, and cracked at the end, her sorrow clearly evident. However, Kiko just stared, frowning softly. Like she was trying to comprehend, to understand. And it wasn’t really happening.

“I….” she started, but didn’t know how to continue, so just didn’t. The woman eventually stopped hugging her, and pulled back, wiping her eyes.

“You don’t know how you feel, right? You don’t really feel anything at all?” She inquired, regaining her professionalism as Kiko nodded. “Your father told me it’s a Kitsune thing. Basically, any strong emotion is suppressed, and fed to your psyche over time. A holdover from The Great War. It can be overwhelmed, in which case its activation is delayed, but for the most part it helps keep you sane” she explained. Then when Kiko cocked her head softly, she continued.

“Wha…?” Kiko was not in a mind to think properly, just looked up. And the woman took it as a prompt to continue.

“It’s not taught in schools anymore, it’s held for higher learning. There was a time when the creatures that SIR hunt roamed this land like any other animal. You’ve no doubt heard about them, seen news broadcasts. It was a bad time, I am told. But then, the history books tell of a many tailed man who rose up, wielding a crystalline sword of the deepest blue, he led his people into battle against the creatures.

And after victories began to mount up, he gathered support from both the humans and the quasi-humans. With the human’s ingenuity and determination, combined with the quasi-human’s versatility and raw power, the creatures were hunted down and killed in their millions, with a few escaping somewhere unreachable. Apparently it was decided that such a upsetting concept should be kept out of the schools and reserved for those who take a higher course of history. But, several of the quasi-humans have kept traits from that war. The Kitsune most of all, But the Lupians and the Dragons as well, to name a few” She looked to continue, but Kiko buried her head in her hands before she could.

“Why are you telling me all this? I didn’t need to know any of it. And now you are telling me all of it, and just…why?” The cold, slightly dead eyes were unnerving, but the woman was a member of SIR, she had seen much more unnerving things in her life, and brought them to heel.

“You, as your father, are a Kitsune. Kitsunes rarely interact with humanity these days, and so we really have a shortage of them on our staff. With the passing of your father, there is a space we need to fill drastically. Which is why we have come to you” She said, before straightening her uniform, and holding out her hand.

“So, to do this formally. I am Colonel Lysaida Mizia. On behalf of ODD, I would offer you a place within the specialist squadrons of SIR” Lysaida almost barked, in a very military fashion. As a response, Kiko could only stand, somewhere between awestruck, and confused.