The internet was the closest thing she had to a place where she could actually express herself. Talking about the shows she's watched, whether SasuNaru was canon or not, what kind of animal she would be (wolf, obviously). The forums felt more like home than her actual house. She tried multiple aliases on for herself, even coming up with fake "real" names and identities. "Saito Amadeus" (she was 14, give her a break) for the chatrooms she deemed "boy stuff", action anime and the like; "Selena Lupez" (again, 14) for... well, everything else.
Funny how she felt so much more public with the latter name. Like she barely had to try to pretend.
It happened on the full moon of January - a "wolf moon", fittingly enough. Grounded for bad test grades. She couldn't sleep, so she just got under the covers and seethed. She didn't know why, but in the darkness underneath her blanket, she just... pretended she didn't exist. But in that moment, she heard a voice; "It's just a nightmare. You're ready to wake up, Shinobu." Visible from her window, a shadow darted among trees. It spoke to her, voice clear as crystal across all that distance - "Follow me."
Running through the woods, freezing from snow, she found it... or maybe it was waiting for her. A black void in the shape of a wolf. "It's not enough," it said, words echoing in her mind. "You won't survive the cold. Not like this." She begged for an explanation. "What is there to explain," it said. "Shinobu, you're alone. You're talking to yourself in the middle of the woods. You know something needs to change. Everything needs to change. And we're both tired of waiting around for it to happen." Before she could react, the shadow rushed towards her, vision going black.
She opened her new eyes, moon directly overhead as she lay face-up in a forest clearing. Fur lined her body, insulating against the snow. She reached up towards the moon, light glistening through sharp claws. Her entire body was radically changed, and yet, more familiar than her own reflection in the mirror. Somehow, she felt more alive than she had in her entire life. And not a soul could ever know.
She was willing to dismiss it as a stress hallucination at first... then it kept happening. Not just even under the full moon, any moon at all. Even a picture of it. She was forced to be hypervigilant, to quickly avert her gaze at the merest hint of a white circle or crescent, just in case. Even her human body started to change after every shift - the fangs were one thing, the second puberty was something else entirely. (At least she wouldn't need hormones.) Her parents found out. Grey fur in the shower drain, claw marks on the windowsill, going "out for a walk" a bit too often at night. Stupid stuff. Stupid, stupid stuff. She's just thankful that they still don't know what she actually looks like while shifted; a faint hope of anonymity still holding.
Of course, the only thing her parents wanted was the best for her. The best for their version of her, anyways. If she was to be a werewolf, it needed to be under perfect control; domesticated, proper, not an embarrassment to the family name. They were practically chomping at the bit to ship Shinobu off, all the way from Toronto to Halcyon City. Eclipse Academy was not their first choice - that distinction belongs to "Doctor Helsing's School for Troubled Youths", which, uh. Did not sound like a happy name. Thankfully, that school just thought Shinobu's parents were exaggerating, and that they just had a weird furry for a kid. (Which... they definitely did, but that's unrelated.)
Eclipse represents the best chance Shinobu has at a new life. A chance to become something that would scare the shit out of her parents: someone with autonomy. She's going to be the best damn thing that's ever come out of this school! She's gonna be a GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING MAGICAL GIRL!
...assuming she can get the energy up. Lycanthropy really ruins sleep schedules.
After some talks with counseling, Shinobu has opted into an Eclipse program provided to students who wish to keep their heroic and civilian lives separate. Shinobu and Selinaut are effectively considered two separate heroes in public rosters; she attends more general-ed classes in human form, and more specialty classes in wolf form. (That being said, she sure likes to mumble about "limiting her power" and "fighting off the beast" a lot as a human. Fortunately, almost no one seriously considers these ramblings, because she acts like a total weeaboo about it.)
Subconsciously, Shinobu puts on the masks that she made all those years ago. Her human form is "Saito", exuding (what she believes is) a cool, stoic face; perfect for making her parents believe that no funny business is happening. As Selinaut, though, she's... well, herself. Brash, excitable, reckless, all the things that the Shirai family's "proper little girl" shouldn't be: and she loves it.
