Chapter Text
It's been some time since the fox returned to the mountain.
When a fox is old enough, it is summoned to the clan nearest to its home territory for raucous celebration and to join that clan, and there are to be no arguments to the contrary because one does not refuse the hospitality of elder foxes. And so, this one had been whisked away to endure what felt like an unnecessary amount of noise and music and especially alcohol, which to her was all quite embarrassing given that she is now one hundred years old – finally a full kitsune and adult in the eyes of Inari! – but has yet to grow a second tail.
Still just a kit! the elders had crowed, deep in their cups. Must be a late bloomer!
When she wasn't trying to hide in a corner somewhere, the poor fox had been subjected to plenty of drink and forced social interactions with fellow kitsune who called her cousin (she'd never seen any of them before in her life) and asked all sorts of invasive questions about her personal life ("No thank you, I'm too young to settle down with a nice fox boy. Also, we're still not cousins."), and it was all just an exhausting blur after a while. Frankly, the one good thing to come out of it was being gifted her tama no hoshi, a little round jewel to contain her magic; she has to admit, it did feel good when everyone cheered over her first attempt at shapeshifting into human form. Now she truly is one of the fox spirits, even if she only has the one tail. Hopefully that whole fiasco doesn't come with any clan-related obligations she has to deal with...
Suffice to say, she is very glad to be back home in the peace and quiet of Mt. Hikami, especially now that she doesn't have a hangover, and can nap to her hearts' content without getting pestered by man or beast. Among humans, hunting and fishing is prohibited on the mountain, allowing creatures like her to live as they ought to. Something to do with the local religion.
There used to be a time when ordinary folk had to "donate" the fruits of their labors to the priesthood, or so the elders say. Back then, you couldn't do anything without risking the damnation of your soul, for everything was alive and anything anyone did, from hunting and fishing to chopping trees to even farming, would surely send them to Hell; but these innumerable transgressions could be forgiven by donating the very things you needed to survive to the clergy. Because of course that's how it works.
Something similar is practiced in the villages surrounding Mt. Hikami, but not as a form of social control – the fox has recently overheard from villagers explaining to their children that it is done out of gratitude for the Flamekeepers and the Maidens of Black Water. This makes a certain amount of sense to the fox, having lived long enough to be familiar with the mountain's particular air, the richness of its soil, even the taste of its river waters; at a distance, the mountain appears to be a gorgeous ocean of green, teeming with life. Perhaps there really is something special about it.
She has yet to see any black water, however.
She's never gone close to the shrines scattered throughout the mountain and by proxy has only ever seen the maidens attending them at a distance, occasionally accompanying an outsider. The fox doesn't know the finer details of their practices because it's never been any of her business, only gleaning that when someone walks with a maiden, that someone is going to die very soon. But those deaths never come with an air or fear or pain, and the maiden tends to the body with respect. Very odd, but all that aside the fox is content to regard the maidens as simply people who live on the mountain and wear fancier clothes than usual... and she only gets close to people when she feels like sneaking off with a bite to eat.
Which is why she is currently following a farmer as he ventures towards a shrine nearer to the mountain's base (one with a hot spring), keeping low in the foliage to stay out of sight. He's carrying a bamboo basket on his back, full of freshly harvested crops – rice grains and root vegetables, and the fox does so enjoy the crunch of a carrot. In fact, the basket is in need of upkeep, and the tip of one such carrot is sticking tantalizingly out of a hole in the corner...
She slips stealthily out of the bushes and shadows the man, waiting for an opportunity. Eventually the man stops before a wooden bridge leading to a shrine at the lake, this one having a bell hanging from a post. Taking a chance, the fox lunges, sinking her fangs into the carrot and yanks... but the carrot stays put. The fox blinks, yanks again. The carrot refuses to budge.
Grunting in puzzlement, the man angles himself around to see where the extra weight on his basket came from, hollering when he spots her. Right away she releases the carrot and lands back on the path.
"Damn thief!" the man curses, unsheathing a small knife from his belt.
Ordinarily the fox is confident in her own agility, but the man is faster than his advanced age implies and if she hadn't been quick enough the wound would be more severe. His knife lands, a small trail of blood arcing from where it catches on her foreleg, the fox yelping in pain and making a swift retreat. No carrots are worth bleeding over. She limps around the lake's edge, watching the man put his knife away and adjust his basket, stopping before the bridge and ringing the mounted bell before setting the basket down.
Ah. She could've grabbed something by that point if impulsivity hadn't taken her. Why doesn't he just cross the bridge, though?
Out of the shrine comes one of those maidens, somewhat intimidating with her height and posture, and as expected, her face is veiled with something like black silk hanging from an intricate headdress. The man stays where he is and bows deeply, as if he's unworthy of looking upon her, but the shrine maiden returns his gesture graciously. They seem to exchange words. The man turns and heads back down the path towards home, the shrine maiden hefting up the bamboo basket – and seems puzzled by bite marks on a carrot sticking out of that hole in the corner.
The fox decides now would be a very good time to make herself scarce, lick her wound. She'll have to avoid the village for a while. Still, she's never been this close to a shrine before and curiosity overtakes her. Impulse is a bat habit and might just be her undoing one day, but any fate she can walk into because she's not dead is a better one than the potential alternative. Peering out of the green to scan for anything amiss, she limps behind the shrine.
She finds a tall wooden fence connected to the shrine and barring her from the onsen, and nearby is a smaller fenced area full of herbs and flowers, well maintained and seemingly chosen to give the plants optimal sunlight. This seems a nice spot to rest in some shade, but the fox spots another shrine maiden walking out the shrine's rear entrance and into the garden. Evidently there isn't going to be a safe spot to relax here, but the fox notices something odd. Unlike the ones she's already seen from a safe distance, this maiden goes unveiled. She settles down to sit on a bench, and the fox catches a whiff of something delectable in the air. Curious, she slinks closer.
She doesn't know why, maybe it's out of wonder why the other maidens cover their eyes while this one doesn't, but the fox won't be satisfied until she sees this maiden's face. Taking slower steps than when she attempted snagging a carrot from that man, the fox approaches until...
...oh.
The maiden catches movement in her peripheral. Her eyes lock onto the fox, who freezes in place.
Such lovely blue eyes.
Her face is fully visible, and the fox dimly recalls exquisite paintings from that otherwise atrocious clan induction ceremony, thinks the artist may have invoked the kind of beauty she now beholds, such that stills the breath in her chest and sends her heart in a tumble. She's transfixed by the elegance of her face, a beauty mark under her lip, how her features are framed with silky black hair that carries a faint rainbow sheen, like the soaked feathers of a raven. The fox is so taken by this young woman, this lady, that she forgets her injury and puts too much weight on her wounded leg, startled back to reality with a whimper.
The maiden winces at the bloody cut on the fox's foreleg, and then her eyebrows lift in a realization.
"Ah, so you're the little thief I heard about," she says, and the fox's heart gives a tremendous thump. She'd give anything to hear that voice again, that low yet soft register and indescribably warm tone... and then her brain processes what the maiden just said. She hikes up her injured leg, somewhat embarrassed. That pretty face falls in sympathy. "I'm sorry you got hurt over it. Still, it serves as a lesson, doesn't it? Don't get caught next time." The maiden wags a finger at the fox, ostensibly to be scolding but it comes off as teasing. "Naughty."
The fox's ears flatten against her head, annoyed. She's not naughty, she's just hungry. The maiden titters, causing the fox's ears to shoot back up at the sweet sound, and she reaches into a little tray at her side to pull out something that really gets the mouth watering: inarizushi...
"We don't see foxes often in this part of the mountain, and on the off chance you might be an emissary of Inari..." The maiden lays her inarizushi beside her on the bench in offering, fights back another giggle when the fox's eyes grow huge at the sight of it. She waits patiently while the fox limps closer step by step, props herself up against the bench with her good paw, sniffs at it, then takes a lick. The fox happily takes the inarizushi into her mouth, not at all concerned when the maiden looms in close.
"Aaaaand... gotcha!" she softly cheers to herself, snatching up the fox, and almost immediately coos over the sheer plush quality of that auburn fur. She's also delighted by how the critter now in her arms seems perfectly content with this new development, all too happy to snack on its food, and from the fox's perspective there is absolutely no way this can go wrong.
Getting plucked out of a cozy sleep at home by a pack of drunk old beasts, thrown into an obnoxious party, and then chucked back home with a raging hangover? Never again, not even Inari himself can convince her to come visit her "cousins" again. Damn that.
Getting picked up by a stunningly beautiful lady who just lured her in with delicious food, which in any folktale is bound to not end well for anyone involved? Worth it.
The fox squirms around trying to get comfortable, and the maiden holds back a snort when she finds herself cradling a fluffy wild animal like a baby. She stands, leaving her lunch temporarily to enter the shrine proper, hoping that if anyone sees her they won't bat an eye.
"Let's get that wound cleaned and dressed, little one," she says softly. "Might be able to scare up a roll of bandages I can use..."
The fox cranes her neck around to watch the surroundings, licking her chops. She's never been inside a human building before, but the shrine gives an unexpectedly homey feeling, as if this is just as much a place of dwelling as it is a place of spiritual practice. Everything from the color of the wood to the particular scents within, to the gentle warmth of lanterns, it all gives her a sensation of comfort. She reclines her head against the maiden's chest, feeling safe. The maiden steps into a storage room and rifles through some drawers, soon showing the fox a clean roll of bandages, and returns outside, towards a pail by the lake. She seems pleased by how calm the fox is, based on the smile adorning her lips as she retrieves some water.
"Will you be good for this step?" she asks.
The fox wags her tail.
The maiden takes that as a yes.
She lowers down into a kneel, dabbing a cloth into the clear water, wringing it out a little and slowly presses it against the wound. The fox holds her breath, feeling in awe of how careful this lady is, how tenderly she applies pressure and cleans the injury. Not knowing what to do, she simply lays there and lets the maiden's touch flow through her. Satisfied, the maiden swaps to a dry side of the cloth and dabs the foreleg dry, and once that's finished she unravels a bit of the bandage roll.
The fox is so relaxed by the gentle care that she's startled when a new voice rings out.
"Hisoka, there you are!"
The maiden – Hisoka – stiffens immediately, looking down at the fox in her lap and back up at an invisible point right in front of her. "Oh, eh, Inori. What is it?"
"Emi is busy taking some supplies to the Flamekeepers, so... what are you doing over there?"
"Nothing," Hisoka answers a little too quickly.
Clearly not believing her, the one called Inori steps right behind Hisoka and bends over to peek at what she's hiding. This is one of the veiled maidens, just as tall as Hisoka and bearing an air of calm dignity or pride, her headdress more ornate than Hisoka's. The fox blinks up at Inori, seems to glance at Hisoka, and tilts her head like a puppy. Hisoka cranes her head back to face the senior shrine maiden with a smile that's altogether apologetic, not apologetic at all, and an effort to look innocent, ready for a scolding.
Inori melts. "A baby!" she gushes.
Hisoka and the fox blink. Inori sits beside Hisoka and leans in to offer a finger for the fox to sniff; the fox does so while trying not to look offended because she is an actual and accounted for adult, thank you very much. The fact that she is quite small by comparison and is being cradled like a human infant notwithstanding...
"Hisoka, it's adorable. Where did it come from?"
"Outside."
"Yes, clearly. How exactly did we receive such an impeccably fluffy guest?"
"This is the nefarious carrot thief we've heard so much about," Hisoka admits, carefully adjusting a hand to show the cleaned wound.
The fox makes a grumbling whine. Word spreads fast here, it seems. Inori's lips purse, her face seeming... actually, the fox can't tell through the veil. She's rather curious as to how this one and the others can do much of anything while essentially blindfolded.
"I see... naughty little thing." Her lips curve when the fox's ears flatten again in annoyance, as if she can glean such a reaction. "Don't you look at me in that tone of voice. Are you planning to keep this bandit as a pet, Hisoka?"
"No," Hisoka says, a bit reluctantly. "She's a wild creature after all, it's only right that she returns to the forest."
Inori nods agreeably. "Rather well behaved for a wild animal, though, isn't she?"
"Maybe she likes it here."
"Unfortunately, as you just said..."
"I know..."
The fox understands the wisdom in what Hisoka says – because a kitsune is still a creature of the wild – but right now would like nothing more than to stay here in the shrine with her, do something to turn the frown on Hisoka's face into a smile. But she'd been asked to be good while her wound is dressed and be good she will. Hisoka is careful not to wrap the bandage too tightly, and before long the treatment is over far more quicky than the fox would like. Hisoka lifts her up again, carefully adjusting so that she's standing on all fours (or three, for now) right side up on solid ground.
"Good?"
The fox's tail wags again.
Hisoka laughs, and oh, what a sound it is...
"Run along home, little one. Don't go making any trouble until it heals, understand?" Though Hisoka chuckles at herself for talking to an animal as if it can understand her, she still gives the creature a soft brush of her hand down the length of her body in a petting motion, and when bright amber eyes meet blue again Hisoka gives her an affectionate boop on the nose.
And just like that, the entire trajectory of this fox's life is forever altered.
Initially she staggers as if drunk, nearly losing her footing. Inori makes a noise like she's trying not to laugh. The fox shakes off her flustered reaction as best she can and puffs her fur in an effort to restore some measure of dignity, which doesn't last too long with her slight limp. She scampers off into the forest – but not before taking one last good look at Hisoka.
Hisoka and Inori exchange looks, the senior maiden's painted lips spreading into a grin.
"I have a feeling that won't be the last we see of our little bandit..."
Truthfully, Hisoka hopes that will be the case. She's already quite taken with the fluffy troublemaker and anticipates a future visit, even if it's just to get pets or to mooch a bit of inarizushi again.
I have to see her again, the fox decides on the following nights, dreamily reclining on her back to watch the starry sky. She never knew a human could be born with eyes like the clear night.
Ever since that chance encounter, the fox has felt as if a spell has been cast upon her. Anything that reminds her of Hisoka, she just flops down with a smitten little sigh, not caring where she falls or when. It could even happen during a hunt. In fact, a wild rabbit she'd been stalking now curiously and confusedly sniffs at the prone form of its expected predator. She wouldn't even care if a bear or dog springs upon her.
...actually, she would care in the case of a bear or dog, because dying while mooning around like a lovesick fool would mean she can't see Hisoka again.
For some reason, she thinks back to those rambunctious elder foxes who called her cousin (which she isn't), how some asked about her romantic prospects. Some of them approved of her new shapeshifting abilities thanks to the tama no hoshi, and that train of thought leads to old stories of foxes taking on attractive forms to seduce human men or women. Of course, she has no intention of seducing Hisoka like some scoundrel – she is a lady! – but maybe she could do something along those lines? Take on the appearance of a handsome, dashing young man to properly court the fair maiden? But she squashes the notion, remembering how that farmer refused to set one foot on the bridge leading to the shrine path. Clearly there's some taboo elements afoot that she's not privy to.
For the first time, the fox feels an odd feeling in her gut. She frets for a long while, thinking, and by the time that rabbit has decided to use her as a spot to sit on realizes it's something like dissatisfaction with her body. She wishes she hadn't been born a fox, but as a human. A person. As they are now, they are bound to two different realms. If she had been born human, then she and Hisoka could meet on even ground and possibly form a true friendship. Though, meeting her as a man might only cause problems, and heaven forbid the clan finds out about it. She doesn't want that kind of trouble foisted upon Hisoka.
...but wait, if disguising herself as a man won't work... perhaps she can see Hisoka again as a maiden herself?
The fox scrambles to sit up, scaring off the rabbit, and rushes to look at her reflection in the stream, having made up her mind. Yes, that she can do. The fox needs, must do something to see Hisoka again, at least repay her kindness, whether it's tracking down some material thing, or something more esoteric, or... or... just saying thank you doesn't feel enough, though it should be. She growls at her reflection, chastising herself for overthinking. How difficult can it be to thank someone, or even just say hello?
Start with taking a new shape, then work things out from there.
She left that shrine a fox but will return to it as a young woman, slender and athletic, clad in a white and orange yukata (short in the legs for greater freedom of movement), the only physical hints of her true form being auburn colored hair and amber eyes. She feels more confident in this guise and isn't worried that Hisoka might be able to see the ghostly echo of her tail. After all, it would take a powerful sixth sense to recognize the signs of a fox spirit.