The village bell tolled loudly, as the man ringing it yelled, "The thief! The thief!" Men poured out of their houses, weapons at the ready, and rallied to the headman's house.
As they reached the main gate, a black figure appeared in one of the top windows. Grabbing the top of the window, the thief flipped over the top, and onto the roof, then ran across and leapt off the roof. Men viewing this spectacle gaped at the sight of a sure suicide, but were amazed when the thief landed on a large black bird, and started flying over to the forest. A man cried, "That's fox magic for sure!" and all the men ran towards the forest, in hope to pursue the thief.
On top of the bird, the thief leaned to the head of the bird, and whispered something, and the bird and thief disappeared. Slowing to a walk all the men cursed to the skies, and walked slowly back to village in defeat. But above their heads, two pairs of eyes still watched them, invisible but always watching. Soaring over the forest fringe, the bird and its rider came back into view. Swooping down into the treetops, the bird disappeared, and the thief fell the ground, leaping from branch to branch to reach the ground.
Hitting the ground with a solid thud, the thief looked over the clearing, and soon a laughing voice filled it. "We sure got them tonight didn't we Rayne?" The speaker popped into view revealing itself to be a small female kitsune fox.
The thief reached to its head and untied the binding that served as a mask. As the bindings fell, so did long, brown locks of hair, and as the thief straighted, green and purple eyes stared back at the kitsune. Laughing, the thief answered, "Yup, we sure did." Bending down the reach the sack on the waist of the thief, it became obvious; the thief was a human, and even more, a woman.
