kai yukimara [rewriting]

9: Oak Creek pt.2

"Mom, don't do this to him" I said as I looked to Stiles. "It's already done" She replied. The Oni appear in the McCall's living room. One grabs Stiles behind the ear and holds him for a minute. As soon as it's over, Stiles drops to the floor and the Oni disappear, just as they did to me, Kira, and Scott. "Look behind his ear" My mother orders Kira. Kira bends down to see the kanji mark behind Stiles's ear. "This means he's more himself than the nogitsune" She says. "Can the Oni find the nogitsune?" Stiles asks. "It will have to be tomorrow night" Mom says. "Will they be able to kill him?" He asks. "I'm not sure. It depends on how strong he is" She answers. "What could the nogitsune want with Lydia?" Scott asks.

"He only wants her for her banshee powers" Mom says. We all disperse from the McCall house. Kira and I went back home. As we start to go up the stairs to go to bed, our mother calls us. "Come here" She said. We went into the living room, sitting down on either side of my mother. "How are the Oni gonna find the nogitsune? What are we suppose to do until then?" Kira asks. "Sit and learn" Mom says. She holds up a Go game board. "You want us to learn how to play a board game?" I ask in disbelief. "Scott said he saw Stiles and the Nogitsune playing the game of Go. That's a very important detail. Perhaps, even crucial.The play starts with an empty board. Black is always placed first. Then white. You place stones to create territories. And you capture your opponent's stones by completely surrounding" She explains.

"This is life and death, mom! It isn't a game!" Kira yells. "It is to the nogitsune. And he's winning. You want to save your friends? You want them to survive? Learn to play" Mom instructs. So we played. We played all night. Kira against me with my mom coaching us. She eventually let us go to sleep after Kira began to drool on the board. The next day, I couldn't find my mother anywhere in the house. "Where is mom?" I asked Dad. "I don't know where Noshiko is. She's trying to keep you and Kira out of the fight for as long as possible" He said.
"She should have thought about that before she had us forge a samurai sword" I said, sitting on the kitchen counter. "You are both going to have to learn a lot very quickly" Dad said.

"Like the Go board" Kira says as she enters the room. "We had the same game in Korea. There are many different styles of play: aggressive, passive, orthodox" He explains. "Can you tell who is who based on the board?" Kira asks. "I know that Kira is black because the novice player always go first" Dad says. "Novice?Aren't I a novice player too?" I ask. "No, you've been playing this game since you were a toddler. The only reason we made you stop is because Kira kept trying to eat the stones" He said. "Why don't I remember?" I ask. "It was a long time ago" Dad responded. "Does that mean that the white is the nogitsune?" Kira asks. "Yes, but there placed in Kai's style" He says. "Yeah, but she put them down to represent the nogitsune" Kira said.

"Are you sure about that?" Dad asked. Kira looked to me. I shrugged. I was just playing the moves that I thought I should. After receiving a text from Scott, we left to go to Oak Creek. The nogitsune was apparently holding Lydia there. We arrived just as everyone else was pulling up. "We've done something like this before" Scott said. "I'm here to save my best friend" Allison says. "I'm here to save mine," Scott says, glancing at Stiles. "I just didn't feel like doing any homework" Isaac shrugged. "Me neither" I agreed. We all headed inside. As we walk, we caught sight of my mother with the Oni. "You two need to go home and take your friends with you" Our mother instructs. "I can't. When I looked at the game, I realized who I was actually playing. You" Kira said.

Allison aims an arrow at my mother. "Call off the oni" She says. "You think you could take him alive? You think you can save him?" Mom asks. "What if we can?" Allison retorted. "I tried something like it 70 years ago. Your friend is gone" She says. "Are you sure? Or if Stiles doesn't have to die, maybe Rhys didn't have to die either?" I ask. "I see I'm no longer the Fox now, Kai. You are. You both are. But the Nogitsune is still my demon to bury" Mom says as the demons disappear. She opened her hand and the firefly she was gripping disappears. "Mom? What is that? What does that mean?" Kira asks. The nogitsune appears with the Oni standing behind him. "It means there's been a change in ownership. Now they belong to me" He says.

That was all he had to say for everyone to begin fighting. Kira and I took on two at a time. Isaac keeps clawing at whichever comes closest. Allison fires arrows at the Oni but they slice the arrows right out of the air. An Oni throws Isaac against a barrel. Allison stops the demon from slashing him with her bow. She hits him across the face and helps Isaac get to his feet. "How do we stop them?" Isaac asks. "You can't!" Mom yells from the side. An Oni gets Isaac on his knees and cuts his stomach.

They continue to slice Isaac's stomach as I try to get the demons off of me so I could help him. Allison pulls her last arrow. The Oni goes to cut off Isaac's head when Allison lets the arrow fly into its chest. The Oni drops its sword and the firefly light explodes out of its chest. When I look back,the Oni has parished. I smile at Allison and she smiles back. We start walking to each other to hug when an Oni appears next to Allison. "Watch out!" I scream.

The Oni stabs Allison through the stomach and blood splatters on the wall. I grab Allison before she falls to the ground and hold her. "I'm so sorry, Allison. I didn't see it in time" I say. "It's not your fault" She responds. "It's alright. Scott's gonna save you. Scott saves everyone" I say. She silently nods and smiles. "Scott!" I begin yelling his name over and over while tears run down my face. When he finally comes, I look at Allison one last time before giving her to him. Her hand is still gripping mine. I rub my thumb over her freezing hand and let go. "Goodbye Allison" I say, smiling sadly. "Bye Kai" she says, blood beginning to tint her lips. And with that, I walked away without another word. Away from this place. Away from everyone. Scott tried to save her, but she didn't want to be saved.