This suddenly popped up this morning and I had to write it :)
Walking through the hallway with curious but shy eyes. A small red haired child with red ears and tail looked round as his tail flicked from side to side. Where was he? He didn't remember, for his memory was a blur. All he did remember was waking up and being alone in an area filled with trees and a lake. It was scary waking up to find that he was alone and he was sure that he was forgetting someone. So he went to look around for help, only to be scared and injured by people who shrieked in fear calling him demon as they threw stones as he ran away. His black right sleeved short kimono covered the top part of his head, tears fell down his face as he ran. Why was this happening?
All he wanted was to find out where he was, so why must they be so mean?
The little boy tripped on a tree root and yelped as he landed on the floor, he whimpered as tears welled up in his eyes. His ankle had a cut from the trip and he wanted to cower in fear as there was nothing that he could do.
He looked behind him now to see a lifeless mountain and whimpered again, tears now falling in two waterfalls as he was driven to a barren land with nothing in sight for miles. Maybe that's what he deserved for waking up alone. he touched his head as felt his ears sting from the pain of the stones, only he was shocked to find that his ears were not where they should be. They had moved up leaving him to panic.
What happened to him?!
He looked to the side and yelped as he saw a red fluffy tail, he was sure that he did not have one before so why was it there now? Now feeling the top of his ears he could feel his ears had gotten furry and felt his mood drop even more.
Scared and confused while sporting an injury with his ankle, the scared five year old whimpered and laid on the ground while hugging himself. His black pants ruffled as he tucked his legs in to retain some warmth.
This was horrible, what did he do to deserve this?
The small child winced as screams filled his head, his red ears pinned themselves trying to ignore the pain as it continued to hit his delicate ears.
Whilst he battled with the pain footsteps approached him, this made him open his eyes and revealed petrified eyes that made the blur in front of him pause. The person's eyes softened at how scared the small boy was. It was horrible to see him like this and just because the reputation of other yōkai as well.
"What happened? Did you trip?" the voice was soft and gentle to the boy's surprise but he did not trust the man in front of him. Before him was a blond haired man wearing glasses. He wore a teal blue yukata with green butterflies on them, his reddish brown eyes that were filled with pity to the boy's anger and tried to ignore him. Seeing the boy act like this filled the man with heart wrenching sorrow, at that moment he wanted to hug the poor child and take him away from this dreary place. But right now this child was too scared to trust anyone after his experience.
"What's your name dear child?" asked the male who's voice remained soft as he approached a small injured red haired boy, the small boy looked up once more now realizing that the man was watching him and would not go away anytime soon. At that moment the boy wanted to hide his ears and tail, the child didn't want this and he didn't even know what was going on. Why did things go black after he had woken up? All he remembered was complete and utter darkness filled with deafening silence, until the next thing the child knew was that he had these ears and a tail that were never there before.
The child wanted to go home-but where was home? To his dismay he could not remember, but he could feel that someone was missing and to his dismay he did not know who it was.
"Leave me alone!" the child cried before turning his head the moment the man tried to draw near.
"Why bother since I'm no good anyways? They don't like me and threw rocks at me for no reason!" he was scared and didn't want to be harmed or touched after what the villagers did to him. Who knew what this man would do to him! He was not taking a chance anytime soon. The urge to leave was on the child's mind despite his injury.
The thought remained there until the man stroked his head were his ear was. The boy stiffened from the touch, it was gentle and the hand was warm to his surprise. It reminded him of someone who had filled the boy with joy but who was the question. He looked at the man with owlish eyes; still stunned by what this man was doing after all they didn't know each other right?
"Why are you here? Surely this is not where a young child must be" the man said softly as he gestured to the area around them, the boy frowned at the area now taking in the lifeless black trees, the empty long hole that would have had something in it rocks looking withered like the earth. Meanwhile the man's glasses twinkled from the light as he watched the boy look around, intrigued by this boy's innocence but kept silent as the boy continued to observe.
"…" The child's ears pinned themselves to his skull as he looked away now feeling like he was being told off, he didn't like it one bit for it left him feeling like he was incapable of doing anything right. Like it was his fault for turning up in such a place, not that he had a choice in a matter.
"How about I take you to a place where no one will ever hurt you again?" the boy almost gasps from hearing this man speak to him in such a kind and fatherly manner. It left a weird ache in his chest. Without knowing why the child felt tears run down his face and started to cry from the pain that continued to hurt his chest. The man then embraced him as he tried to ease the sorrowful child's cries, feeling the boy shake as he continued to release broken sobs which continued to hurt the man. It really pained the man to even hear such broken sobs that were filled with grief and loss. What had happened to make such a small child be forced into such a heart wrenching situation was leaving the man more worried.
"I want my mummy! But daddy locked me in a room. It was dark and I wanted to go out, the last thing I saw when I tried to escape was my father. I don't know where I am!" the child cried as he clung onto the man's yukata tightly, not knowing or caring if he made holes or injured the man with his sharp nails. He just wanted this pain to go away. This was all he could remember but it was slowly fading away to his dismay. Why was he forgetting his parents? It didn't make any sense what so ever?
"It's alright now, your safe. Your father cannot hurt you anymore" the small child looked up with meek sorrow filled eyes that left the man wanting to hug the boy ever more, the boy dared not hope for anything could happen.
"What happened child is that you had slipped through a time stream and ended up in the past" The boy's eyes widened in shock and horror as the man stroked his head. He was in the past?! But why? Why so far from home? Who did this and why? What was the purpose of sending him to the past? Seeing his reaction made the man sigh softly as he continued to comfort the boy.
"Do you want me to take you to my house so you can rest?" the man asked as he stroke the boy's cheek. Not knowing what to do, the child didn't have much a choice since it was either sanctuary or being out there alone with no help.
"Okay" the boy nodded meekly while hiding his face in the man's yukata.
What he didn't see was that the man was smiling in a kind fatherly manner.
"What is your name child?" the man asked as he tilted the shy boy's head up so their eyes could meet. The young boy was in awe from seeing such a kind warm smile that it left the boy feeling warm as well.
"Silver" Silver said tearfully eyes filled with innocence as he looked back, he saw the man smiling at him.
"My name is Mikage, it is lovely to meet you Silver" was all Mikage said before the man carried the young boy to his home. Despite being far from home the man still continued to walk, allowing Silver to look round and see various things. He shivered and winced from seeing the villagers looking at him with utter disgust and anger. But the man's smile left him feeling safe and wanted allowing the boy to relax as the man carried him though the village. The walk was long but the man minded not, very soon they were greeted by a long set of stairs. Silver frowned at how high it was and tried to get out of the man's hold. This made the man chuckle.
"It's alright Silver, I don't mind carrying you as I walk up the stairs but don't forget your ankle is still injured. The boy looked down weakly as he saw that the cut on his ankle was scabbed over but it still hurt to move his foot. Seeing Silver relax allowed the man to continue his walk up the steps until he arrived at his home.
There the pair were greeted by two children with masks on their heads.
"Master Mikage where have you been?" Oishi asks as he looks up.
"You've been gone a long time" Dai agreed as he looks up as well to see to his surprise a child fox in Mikage's arms.
"Oishi, Dai I need some medicine, a cloth and a bucket of water if you please" Mikage said with a smile, knowing that Silver did not like having attention given how he buried his face in the man's yukata the whole time they were in the village.
Once inside Mikage took his shoes off while Silver remained bare footed to the man's worry, after all who knows what other injuries were on the poor child's foot.
Mikage led the boy to the bathroom and allowed Silver to sit on a small stool so he could look at the boy's feet. His eyes saddened by the cuts and welts on the boy's bottom feet, as suspected Silver had been running while his feet had been injured and it left Mikage angry to know that the villagers had partly been responsible. The blond haired man took something that looked like tweezers and held Silver's foot gently.
"This will hurt I'm afraid" the man said to a worried Silver who was starting to panic on what this man was up to, he didn't have to wonder long as he yelped from something being moved out of the bottom heel of his left foot. He clenched his eyes shut while his tail wagged so quickly, that any dust that had been in the bathroom would have been swept by the quick movements of his tail. Very soon Mikage was able to extract a small splinter leaving Silver whining from the pain. Mikage smiled and patted the small boy's head for being brave.
"I'm sorry but this was in your foot, were you in a wood area?" Mikage asks softly leaving Silver shocked to see such a thing on had actually been on his foot. That did explain why he would wince from the pain on his left foot. Within seconds the children entered the bathroom with the bucket, medicine and cloth. Mikage thanked the children who watched as Mikage took the bandages from beside them, he began to wash the child's feet; he had then applied medicine before wrapping Silver's feet with bandages before picking Silver up so they could go to the main room. There greeted was water and tea to Silver's confusion.
It was the first day he had met Mikage and was awed by such kindness. He was even surprised that he was allowed to live there and was greeted from weird people from time to time. Seeing the pink haired man acting too friendly made Silver cry out in fear and had ran towards Mikage who was working in his office. The shocked man placed his work down and hugged the shaking child tightly before looking up. A chuckle escaped his lips from seeing his friend Otohiko frowning at the boy.
"What a weird child Mikage, you do have odd tastes in children" This made Silver turn and glare sharply at the man who blinked at how hostile the young kitsune was.
"Stranger meanie!" Silver yelled leaving Mikage smiling at how smart he was, but at the same felt bad for his friend.
"Who is this brat anyways?" The Wind God asks coldly as he observed how the pair interacted, Mikage to his surprise turned Silver's attention away from Otohiko and allowed the boy to draw on an empty piece of parchment. He saw the doting look on Mikage's eyes that left him even more surprised.
"Ehem!" Otohiko coughed catching Mikage's attention and made the man laugh.
"Oh I'm sorry, this is Silver and he'll be living here from now on" Otohiko's mouth dropped as he gawked at the little boy whose tail wagged with glee as he continued to draw, Silver's eyes glinted now being distracted by what he was doing while Mikage chuckled softly at the little one.
"I…I don't know what to say about that! Surely you even told me that you had no time for family so why the need to take in such a runt?" Silver's mood dropped from the insult and sank leaving Mikage to panic. Mikage gave his friend a stern look taking Otohiko by surprise.
"He doesn't mean that Silver, he's just surprised so don't take that lightly okay?" Mikage said while patting Silver's head, to the Wind God's surprise he could see tears welling up in Silver's eyes leaving him to panic and almost went towards the child, the young kitsune looked too cute in his eyes leaving him shocked.
"Because this little boy has no one" this took Otohiko by surprise as he watched Mikage pick Silver's small form up and hugged him while stroking the back of his head. "I may not have time for a family, but I'll definitely make time for this little one" Silver looked up quickly while tears now ran down his face. Mikage used his sleeve to wipe away the tears.
Otohiko was still shocked before a softs mile graced his features from seeing how innocent and vulnerable the boy was. Before he knew it he was going towards Silver and sat down near him and Mikage.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you little one. I didn't know" was all that Otohiko had said, Silver on the other hand still didn't trust him but Mikage didn't mind for it was only the first visit and it didn't mean that they would still be tense for very long.
Weeks now flew by before Silver and Mikage had even knew, the young fox was surprised that the spirit children had taking a liking to him and saw him as a brother. At times they would play with him and allow Silver to help with cleaning the shrine to the best of his abilities, seeing this made Mikage beam with pride knowing that Silver was already settling in and was not having any problems what so ever. At times the poor man had to run around the shrine just to find Silver only to find him climbing the bathroom sink just to clean the mirror, the blond haired man then had to tell Silver to wait until he was older or wait until Mikage had finished with work. This made Silver pout but said nothing. The man smiled at Silver's enthusiasm to try and fit in, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't try to teach Silver a thing or two.
"Aaah ap-ple!" Silver at that moment was being taught how to read and write, the poor kit was annoyed since he was sure that he knew how to read only now it was proving difficult for some reason. However Mikage proved to be very patient and allowed Silver to practice, at times the man worked while helping Silver and not once did Mikage complain about the newfound extra work. For seeing Silver's smiling with happiness for accomplishing something left the man never wanting it any other way.
This young boy was a son to him, and he would be more than happy to adopt him. At that moment Mikage was surrounded by the shrine twins and Silver who to him were all the family he could ever ask for.
Looking at the sun he smiled feeling content at how the children also tried to help, while at the same time laughed at Silver who continued to pout when he got something wrong.
By the time it was night time Mikage was helping Silver get ready for bed. It proved surprisingly easy given how docile Silver was to the whole thing, but Mikage did not once complain as he went through getting him ready for routine. Now dressed in a creamy white yukata Silver snuggled into his futon after hugging his father figure while a smile was etched onto the kit's face. Mikage had then began to read the young boy a story until Silver's eyes began to close, very soon slow breaths left the small kit's mouth leaving him smiling. He leaned down and pecked Silver's head before stroking his forehead as he moved some stray hairs from his eyes.
"Good night Silver" Mikage said before getting up and turning out the light in the room, before long the man went straight to his room to get some sleep of his own. The smile never once left his face as he continued to walk.
.
.
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"Thank you… Serena"