Work Text:
He is a fox and, that he knows, also something more.
As night bleeds into dawn and day bleeds into dusk, he hunts.
The forest is his home and his entire world, so vast there cannot be a place beyond.
There are creatures stalking on two feet. Humans, as they call themselves.
He does not know why he understands them.
He is still young.
He was a fox but, that he knows, he has become something else.
With limbs so long and a head so round, how could he still be a fox?
His tail swishes, warm and familiar when his body feels so fresh and cold.
Lost and fearful, he calls to the mist, may it hide him, may it shield him.
The mist answers.
And he grows.
He is a spirit and, every day, the creatures of the forest come to worship.
They see what he has become, something beyond them, something divine.
He tires quickly of their company.
The humans bore him just as much. None of them know him, none understand.
He is a nightmare, he is a dream, he is a yokai without compare.
He is alone.
He signs a contract, paid in blood, but what he gains is worth the pain.
Power, knowledge, all that is well and good.
He takes it and plays with it, as is his nature.
True joy he finds with something else, with someone who claims his heart.
His presence feels like the mist, cool and familiar on his skin.
He knows him, he understands.
A kiss on his eye, he forgets what he once was.
He stalks the forest and sometimes he wonders, when has it become so small?
He knows every leaf and every tree, every star in the sky and the wind.
He torments the humans that stumble about, he captures the creatures that adore him.
If they leave him, too, will he waste away? Will this bitter taste subside?
Will he die or be born anew, like on that fateful day so long ago?
He thought he had forgotten.
Why does it come to him now?
He is something more, something powerful, something revered, something divine.
He is alone.
And then he is not.
And within him jumps and shrieks and bites.
An animal.
The heart of a fox.