𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒕𝒉, 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘬𝘪

𝟓𝟓

𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄

"Here, it'll calm you." Noshiko insisted, after pouring the liquid into a small teacup. She gently lifted the saucer and handed it to Stiles. Taking it in between his trembling hands, Stiles inhaled the sweet smell and sighed gratefully. Not to be rude, as he wasn't feeling the most trusting of the woman before him, he asked her what it was. "Tea."

With a glance to Kira, he stumbled over his words. "What? Like magic tea?"

"No, chamomile tea." Noshiko corrected, gently. "Drink it." The woman insisted, sitting back into her chair as she watched the teen drink the golden, yellow liquid.

Watching through the window, Mr Yukimura glanced over at the couch before he returned his gaze to the street. "He's not safe here." Noshiko responded to her husband, expressing her concern for his safety anywhere. He was a target, that was for sure. But Stiles could barely consider his own safety was Aurelia hadn't been answering her phone. They didn't even know where she was.

"But Allison killed one of them." Kira cut in, leaning over the back of the couch as she spoke with her mother. "Doesn't that mean something? She killed an Oni." Nobody in the pack, knew the death of an Oni was even possible.

"I'm not sure how. But she did it." Noshiko spoke, quietly, moving back to the couch to sit down. "She killed one of them."

"Yeah, and then they killed her."

Silence.

Stiles rubbed his hands together anxiously as his mind wandered back to the image of Allison laid limp in his best friends arms. His cries breaking the Stilinski boy's heart. He remembered seeing Chris Argent as he walked around the corner and saw his teenage daughter stabbed in the stomach. He recalled the panic that struck him when he didn't see Aurelia and the increase in that feeling when Roman told him what had happened.

"Allison's dead." He repeated. "Now I guess the only good thing is it looks like I'm dying, too."

Stiles bowed his head, knowing that he was dying. The paleness of his hands only confirmed it for him. "He made a powerful move by splitting the two of you." Noshiko spoke firmly.

From the corner of the room, Mr Yukimura's focus stayed attached to the front of the house. Anxious that their safety was due to be compromised. "At this point, you need a divine move."

Stiles raised his head, royally confused. It took a lot of energy to even think about anything else. Aurelia was stuck on the forefront of his mind. Stiles wasn't religious, but he prayed and prayed throughout the night for her to contact him. But she never did.

Stiles knew the mindset she was in. From everything Roman and Ivy had told him. She looked numb. From the moment Allison's hand slipped from hers, pale, life less and cold. Barring the one primary feeling. She was infuriated. That only worried Stiles more. He knew what she was doing.

She was trying to find him.

"In the game of Go, it's what we call a truly inspired, or out-of-the-box move." Noshiko explained, pouring herself a cup of tea before stirring around the contents slowly as she spoke. "The Nogitsune has had sente, the advantage, until this point. What you need is a divine move in order to turn the game around." She further explained, raising the cup to her lips.

"Okay, so is anyone feeling divinely inspired?" Stiles said, his head now lifted as he looked between the members of the Yukimura family.

"Mom, you said you trapped it in a glass jar, right?" Kira asked, her eyes flitting between the weakened boy to her left and her mother who sat in front of her.