A Few Needed Adjustments

An Obstacle and an Ally

"HELL FUCKING YEAH! Time to celebrate with some wining and maybe dining!"

Jibanyan pulled a fancy looking bottle of wine from his haramaki and began to swig the alcohol down while moonwalking. The rest of the group didn't share his enthusiasm.

Touma, Whisper and Akinori stared at the results with eyes as wide as dinner plates. It didn't seem real what the machine spat out, but it was. Proteins don't lie.

Natsume didn't even glance at the screen, though. She looked at the wooden floorboards beneath her and her knees above it. She wanted to deny everything she had just seen, say it was a mess up. But after all those tests, there couldn't be another answer. Now, Natsume was wrapping her mind around the situation and what she was going to do.

But, the silence was interrupted by a buzzing from her phone. Turning it on, she almost had a hernia from what she saw.

28 missed calls and 33 text messages. All from her mom and dad, her father having a few more calls than her mom. They all had the same subject of "where are you", but the single text she got from Keisuke scared her the most.

"Mom and Dad are REALLY pissed. I think you should come now before they come looking for you and drag you by the hair."

She got the message that it was time to skeedadle and threw her phone into her pocket before getting up to run home.

"Wait, Natsume!"

She turned around to Touma.

"What is it?"

"...Sorry for beating up your dad."

"...Ok, see ya." she ran out the door faster than any sprinter.

"Hhhhheeeey, *hic* wait up for me!" Jibanyan slurred out while running/staggering towards Natsume.

"Where have you been, young lady!"

Not even a foot away from the front door, Natsume was bombarded by her parent's angry glares and tone. Her mom had her hands on her hips and her father's arms were crossed. She definitely should have checked her phone.

"I was, uh...at Touma's house so I could hang out with him." She didn't feel like she was lying as it was a half truth, but it wasn't the whole deal.

"Natsume," her mother began, "Your father and I have no problem with your friends doing your little agency, but not at the crack of dawn AND not telling us where you are? We thought you were hurt or kidnapped!"

"But-"

"No buts, young lady," her father, ironically, butted in, "you're grounded for two weeks. No going to your club, just go to school and come home."

Natsume's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. Her mouth opened to say something, but shut itself before she even could spit out a word. What could she say to defend herself? Her parents had a strong point and divulging more information would risk them finding out about her metamorphosis that even she didn't know would happen.

Her head hung low, she walked up to upstairs, her mother pointing to her room. Her steps were heavy like lead, a combination of her transformation, revelation, and punishment. Thoughts from today swam in her head as she came halfway up.

It had to be an affair or some kind of hookup, it just had to be. She couldn't imagine her, HER MOM, bumping uglies with that fox man. Her mom, the one who packed her lunches as a kid, helped with subjects she struggled with, listened to her days ups and downs, to cheat on her dad.

She passed a few photos in the hall, mostly of her and Keisuke doing different activities and different stages of life, but one made her do a double take.

It was a family photo, her at seven and Keisuke at five, sitting on their parents laps, Keisuke on Mom and her on Dad, all smiling, sans Keisuke who just looked annoyed. For a second, she swore her dad was replaced with Kyubi's lightside form.

Whenever Natsume got in trouble, Keisuke preferred to stay out of his parents heat. It was only afterwards when his sister had to go through with her punishment did he go to comfort her. Was it the cowards tactics? Yes. Did it ever move the heat to him? No.

So after he heard his sister getting verbally thrashed, he put down his giant mechanic manga to be there for her. He tiptoed out out while slowly closing his door. He saw her looking at a family photo, almost enraptured by its contents. She looked at it for a few moments before stuffing her hands in her pockets and slogging to her room. Keisuke frowned and he slowly made his way to her room as she slammed the door behind her.

Creaking it open a little and poking his head in, he was greeted by the sight of his big sister staring at one of her arks. Squinting, he surmised that it Kyubi's as he could see the shadowside design. He raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was related to her getting in trouble. Taking a deep breath, Keisuke stepped into her room.

"Heeeeeeeey, sis," he drawled, "how come Mom and Dad have beef with you?"

She slowly turned her head before taking a deep breath.

"Keisuke, pull up a chair for this one."

"Woah woah woah, so I was right about you being adopted?"

Natsume facepalmed.

"Why you-no, I'm not. I just know that one, I'm not human, and two... Dad isn't my dad."

She looked away as she said the last. It made her feel weird that all that time, she had a father that wasn't even related to her. Keisuke could see it in her eyes and decided to keep the conversation going.

"Hey, I get why you feel down, with all that Maury shit going on this morning, but-why didn't you even tell me, your brother, about the tail thing?"

"Keisuke, you know that whenever I give you secrets about myself, your fat flopping lip runs up to Mom and Dad. The only reason you haven't told them about the Agency it because you're intimidated by Micchy."

"That is not true!"

"Oh, hi Micchy, nice of you to show up."

"Augh!" Keisuke flipped around only to be greeted by a beautiful view from his sister's window. He whipped to her, a scowl on his face and a smirk on her's.

"Told ya."

"Aww, shut it. Anyways, what are you going to do with this information?"

Natsume's brow furrowed. She had a very loose plan of summoning him and breaking the news, but it seemed sorta...impersonal and in bad taste. But she had no idea where this guy lived and any other way to contact him. There was also her brother. Touma mentioned how traits either appeared at birth or at puberty, so it was possible he was a hybrid too. Maybe she should bring him too just in case. After a minute of ruminating, she pulled Keisuke closer and whispered that night's plan into his ear.

Tonight was going to be more drama filled, that was for sure.

A/N: Next chapter is the actual meeting, so stay tuned.