What the Fuck Is Wrong With You?

“You know I never understood why he chose you.”

“Excuse me?”

Hikari turned to face the elderly, balding grey haired man slouching in the suit next to her. The expression on his face as he stared at the oak coffin was sunken and muted.

“But he must have had a good reason. Thanks for being there for her.” He turned to walk away, and she reached to grab his shoulder but years of restraint held her back. And those years of restraint turned into anger that throthed over.

Hikari did not tolerate bullshit, and she was certainly not going to tolerate bullshit at her wife’s funeral.’

“Hey asshole, I am fucking talk to you.” He turned to look at her, and she stepped back as if preparing for a fight. For all she knew she was. Anger and resentment simmered in his eyes. He looked her over with a haughty scanning gaze that seemed to say ‘I knew it.’

“I just buried a child. I don’t have time for this.”

“You just, you just buried a child?” She clenched her fists together, feeling her fingers start to lengthen into claws.

“You just buried a fucking child? Oh that’s rich. This is about you now? About you? Are you serious? I just buried my wife.”

“Ex wife.”

“Ex father” she spat.

“Hecari, I don’t know why you would disrespect me like this. All I’ve ever done is been kind to you.” He was glaring at her now. “I’m not doing this in public. Goodbye.” He turned around and started to walk away again. There were people watching, funeral goers who had stayed,friends and family, but she didn’t care.

“Hey, fucker. It’s pronounced Hikari.”

He continued to walk away, shaking his head as he did, not even giving her the courtesy of looking in her direction, and that’s when she decided she had had enough. Reaching out her hand, she pulled him backwards. His black shoes dragged through the grass so hard they left a track of mud in the wake as they pulled the green up. She turned her head and he rotated in the middle of the air, she dropped him rudely, not enough force to bowl him over but enough to plant his shoes in the grass in a way that meant he couldn’t easily get out of it without either removing them or falling into the muddy grass. She heard gasps from onlookers.

He glared at her, looking for all the world like he hadn’t just been telekinetically dragged and turned around at her whim. She heard gasps from the crowd and a sharp groan from her daughter, who was at her side in an instant.

“Mom. He’s not worth it.” She hissed. Annoyance contorted her face and her three white tails swayed freely from a tailhole in her slacks. “Let him go, mom.”

“Oh Rin. I really wish I could.” She shot her daughter a glare, “Stay out of this.” She looked to the wider crowd, over to where the Summers and Melbournes were. And then over to O’ Sullivan. “All of you, stay out of this. This is a family matter. The ceremonies are still concluded, the funeral is still over.”

O’ Sullivan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His wife was puzzled, anxious. Holding the kids a bit too close. Hikari imaged that Rachel was kept as far away from his former life as possible. And she was counting on that, as well as other things, right now. Finally, he spoke up, voice tired and weary. But very much on her side. “She’s not going to hurt him. Much as he deserves it. Go home folks. All of you. She’s right. It’s a family matter… and he’s not family.” (She practically felt the Old Man’s brow narrow in anger, she took great glee in that) Several people she imagined were formerly agents took their hands off of their sides. She had to laugh at that. Humans. She had just lost her wife and they were already ready to shoot her or hurl magic at her.

She saw Ross whisper something to Ryke, who nodded. They turned to leave, and O’Sullivan did the same, turning where he stood with Rachel giving a last glance over her shoulder as she shooed the kids ahead. And with that, most of the crowd resumed leaving, though a few remained or awkwardly stepped around in order to visit the grave where Alexis’ body lay. The funeral staff awkwardly watched. If there were magic users among them, they knew better thank to fuck with her when she was like this. Good.

Anastasia stayed. That, she had not expected.

She had also not expected to turn back to find Alexis’, what was the word she used, Sire? Yes. That was the word. She had not expected to find Alexis’ sire trying to remove his left from one of his shoes. What was his plan, she wondered, Step on top of it and wrench his right leg free? She snorted and held up her paw again, “Mom” Hikari pleaded from besides her, and she sighed as she turned to face her daughter’s concerned amber eyes. “Hikari, do you know who this man is?”

“I…” She paused. “Is he, grandpa?” The last word, a few octaves below the others, fell out of her mouth and onto the ground and got stuck in the mud. Hikari stared at it for a few moments; then crushed it like a bug.

“He doesn’t deserve that title.”

Her daughter just stared at the man for a second. Hikari imagined it must have been like seeing a boogie man. “Don’t worry dear, he’s only human. Watch.” She held up her paw again, the words running through her mind. Her daughter instead stepped in front of her and grabbed her arm instead; with alarm, Hikari frantically absorbed the magic she was holding, letting the shockwave of it resonate throughout her body as she planted her own feet in a bracing position.

“Mom. You dragged him through the air. That’s assault.” Her daughter whispered. And she was right. It was technically assault. Even worse, it was magically aided assault. Technically, this wasn’t illegal; but the legal system was still mostly dominated by white humans whose definition of Kitsune came in three forms: 1.) Ka’Vi but worse 2.) That thing from Naruto or most commonly 3.) Some weird racist mixture of Huli Jing and Gumiho

She took a few seconds to glare at the Old Man as she gathered her composure from almost force pushing her daughter, who still mostly blocked her view of him, but she could tell he was glaring at her.

“Did I now?” She said with a pregnant pause. “I only meant to drag his feet through the mud.” She closed her eyes and steeled herself, before staring back into her daughter’s face of fear and worry. “Move along, O’ Daughter Mine.” She said, and then cursed herself silently. Her daughter’s face broke, shattered into a thousand pieces and dropped to the ground. All of a sudden, the terror turned to irreparable sadness. The reminder that her mother, all, of her mother, lay buried in the ground behind Hikari. She stood there, and Hikari put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise.” She gave her daughter a brief and awkward hug before leaning in and whispering “and thank you for stopping me.” Her daughter looked up at her and the two exchanged a knowing mother-daughter look, and then stepped aside.

And there they stood, Hikari, and the man responsible for putting the love of her life into an early grave, trying to unstick his shoes from the mud. For a brief second she really did consider breaking her promise to her daughter and going full magneto. Blocking off her daughter and everyone else with a barrier, silencing her daughter’s cries of “Mom! No!” with her resolve, and hurling the fucking bastard straight through the air until he was impaled on the wiry bent metal fence.

They were, after all, already in a graveyard.

She could even bury him herself, save the funeral home staff the trouble.

But she wasn’t about to deprive her daughter of another mother. Especially not over someone who mattered as little to her as he did.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” The question snapped her out of her violent fantasy, which she supposed was a good thing. She blinked. The words had definitely come from his wretched mouth. “Excuse me?” She said, tilting her head in genuine confusion. “What the fuck is wrong with you? What have I ever done to you to deserve this treatment. At my own child’s funeral.” He shook his head. “I value family, but it’s obvious that you don’t.” He said, words as sharp as a knife. Her daughter’s words stuck in her mind like Na’Vi; “Hey! Did you know that slapping the motherfucker would be assault? Please don’t go to jail after mom just died, mom!” She shook her head some, trying to make sense of it. He had never sworn at her in public-. The lightbulb clicked, and she once again felt her stomach flip in disgust. She scrunched up her face into a grimace.

“What, the fuck is wrong, with me?” She asked, then laughed.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” She laughed again, no longer caring how she sounded. She had lost that a long time earlier in this conversation.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” She spat, feeling the venom in her voice. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Michael? You sold out your own goddamn child. You sold out your own goddamn child.” She shook with fury, years of playing the nice wife, years of playing the respectable wife, years of playing the wife of the Controversial Public Figure coming to bore. Years of comforting Alexis after a flashback, years of awkward birthday calls and continuous misgendering. Years of firmly holding her ground that Rin was never going to meet this man. Years of her wife clawing for the barest scraps of acknowledgement from a man who didn’t even understand the word love. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MICHAEL!?” She shouted, she was snarling in his face now. Teeth were fangs, her muzzle might be out, she didn’t know, she didn’t care. He flinched, visibly and wrenched his foot out, mud splattering everywhere but somehow not falling over, he backed away, shoes and pants covered in mud, glancing down with obvious discomfort and more emotion than she had seen him show ever. Incredible. His daughter had just died and the thing he was showing emotion over were his fucking shoes. Backwards he retreated, and forward she went, taking ground with every word. “WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. WRONG. WITH. YOU. MICHAEL?!”

Their eyes locked, hers in hatred, his in hatred and fear and, something else. Calmness. Pure, icy, calmness. That made her pause, she stopped walking, stopped yelling, and the moment she did, she saw him reach for his side, saw the glint of the barrel, and roared in fury unable to believe the nerve of him, ready to rip the gun from his hand. Somehow, impossibly, there was a flash. Her world went white, and then there was a crash, she was on the ground, she got ready to kick, to bite, to claw, but the second she did the muscle memory of the form in front of her, the unmistakableness, hit home and she clutched at her daughter. Then, she realized. Oh god. The bullet, the bullet. She desperately clutched at her daughter, feeling for the wound, feeling for the blood. Oh god. Oh god no. Oh no. Rin hugged her. “I stopped it mom. It’s okay. I stopped it.” She tried to parse words, tried to parse, and out of the corner of her eye she saw it lying there on the ground. No blood. Just a single silver and red speckled arrow, tinging with danger, religious symbols carved in. She held her daughter close. She could feel the danger of the thing from here. In the distance, she could see O’ Sullivan holding him down while Michael feebly struggled against him, kicking at his blue dress uniform. Anastasia was holding his arms down, wrenching the gun from his grasp.

Michael turned his head towards her, glaring in her direction, pure unclouded hatred in his eyes. What she had known deep down was there all along. She held her daughter close, so close, and tears streamed down her cheek. Michael was still glaring at her but she had looked away. She couldn’t deal with that right now. Couldn’t focus on him. She had almost, no, she wouldn’t entertain the thought. She held her tight, and Rin looked into the eyes of the man she had never seen before this day. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” She heard her daughter ask, in the same voice she had used a minute or two earlier.

There was no response, only a dawning look of new hatred from the Old Man, and the breaking of Hikari’s heart all over again at the realizations her daughter was having. But they were safe, her Rin was safe. They would live. They would both live. “It doesn’t matter.” She said, shaking her head as Rin looked back at her in confusion. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s not wrong with us.” She said, cradling her daughter’s head to her chest and lying in the green grass as sirens blared in the distance.