No amount of royal etiquette training could have ever prepared her for the scene unfolding before her. Sakura smoothed out wrinkles that gathered beneath her obi as Kaden's voice steadily raised in volume from the behind the rice paper screen. She hadn't needed to say a word yet, and wondered if she ever would during this visit. She already wasn't the best at interjecting herself into conversations (or just talking at all), but kitsunes were, quite literally, different beasts than what she was used to in royal courts.
Like Kaden, they were loud, enthusiastic, and plowed over each other in both conversation and real life. Also like Kaden, they had been overly friendly with her (to the point that Kaden had already snarled twice at other kitsunes, male and female, who he'd deemed to be too 'friendly) and draped themselves over her affectionately before bouncing off to the next thing. At least, that was what had seemed to be happening until Kaden had retreated into the next room with several older members of his tribe. Now, it just seemed like they were fighting.
Not even formally engaged and my future family already despises me, she thought as she traced the patterns in the bamboo beneath her. She and Kaden had taken time after the dust from the war settled to finally travel back to his village. Before moving any farther in their engagement, he'd wanted to introduce her to his family, though now it seemed to be backfiring terribly.
The worst and most nerve wracking part of this entire situation was she wasn't sure what was expected of her. At least in Shirasagi, most interactions with strangers were dictated by rules and expectations she knew ahead of time, even though she failed at conversing back. Was she supposed to just stay and wait for Kaden to come back out? Should she be at his side? Or doing something else entirely?
Sakura had just heaved out another soft sigh when a kitsune popped into the room again. She was female, with long black hair that shined in only the way a vain kitsune's hair could. However, a few strands seemed to be out of place, a strange thing to see on a kitsune unless she had directly come from battle. Sakura trained her eyes on her face immediately and saw dark shadows under her eyes. She had learned upon entering the village that kitsune were remarkably different in what constituted as appropriate every-day wear from Shirasagi. Sakura's cheeks still heated up as she caught sight of what the kitsune was wearing, and idly wondered if perhaps Orochi had some kitsune blood in her after all. She certainly dressed like them, and not like most of the court.
The kitsune immediately perked up when she realized Sakura was in the room (she'd learned to not be offended by the general self-absorbed natures of kitsune by this point).
"Oh, thank all of my lucky stars!," the kitsune cried. "You're just who I need! I swear everyone else has disappeared!"
The kitsune thrust something at her and Sakura flinched before taking it. It seemed at first to be something like a large yellow dandelion fluff, until it wiggled and unfurled itself in her lap. A small whine permeated the air. The disarray in the kitsune's appearance now made sense.
"He's so sick and feverish," the kitsune explained. "I've been trying to find someone to take him while I go look for something to help him feel better, but everyone seems to busy doing, well, something! I should only be a while, but please? Could you watch him?"
Sakura nodded without thinking, and the kitsune immediately transformed into her fox form, a sleek black creature with at least two fully formed tails.
"Thank you!," the fox called over her shoulder as one of the screens snapped back from magic and shut after her.
Sakura sat in silence for a moment before the kit stirred in her lap. She ran one of her knuckles from nose to tail and considered the small fox. On top of now potentially being in trouble the elders, she had a very small, very sick baby to look after until his mother got back.
The kit whined again and Sakura frowned. What could she do for this kit? Surely it wasn't so different from any other child she'd taken care of at the infirmary. Thinking quickly, she took the pitcher of water that had been left on the table she had been waiting at along with a napkin. Dipping the napkin in the ice cold water, she wrung it out and stroked the kit from head to tail with the napkin, hoping to help it feel at least some relief.
It shuddered and leaned into her touch in response and she smiled. No matter what species, it seemed that everyone enjoyed the relief of a wet cloth during a fever. As she continued to wipe down the kit, she caught herself thinking that one day, she might be doing this with a child of her own. A thought that probably would have occurred to anyone else earlier on in a technically interspecies relationship, but Sakura had found that her relationship with Kaden so far had been anything but 'typical', as much as any part of their relationship could be considered that. The kit's fur quickly became darker from the water, turning from a straw-like color to a deep gold. If her child turned out to be like Kaden, would it have orange fur like him? Or would it have her own hair color as its own? She hoped it would take after Kaden, but knowing kitsunes, it would probably be envied if it turned out to have blossom colored fur.
The thought of a small pink fluff sprinting after Kaden made her giggle as she reached for the festal she'd brought with her. She had barely started to try to relieve the kit's pain when the screen Kaden had disappeared behind had snapped open. Sakura froze and looked up.
Kaden stood in the doorway with the elders peering around him at her. His eyes, though, were trained on the small kit in her lap, which had begun to whine as the magic from the festal faded away.
"Is that Kuroko's kit?" one of them asked. Sakura nervously babbled something about the kitsune mother being back soon, but none of the elders seemed bothered.
"We apologize for keeping you waiting so long, Sakura," the same elder said, "and if we made you misconstrue the events from earlier. We are pleased to welcome you to our family. We some matters to discuss with young Kaden here about the succession in the village."
Kaden said nothing, but his ears had flattened back slightly before flicking up again. He was annoyed, but Sakura couldn't quite tell at what in particular he was annoyed with. He knelt next to Sakura on the tatami and directed a glare back at the elders. This was perhaps the most serious she'd ever seen him. After brief farewells, the kitsune elders left her and Kaden alone in the room with the small kit.
Sakura started to channel from the festal once more, soothing the whining kit in her lap. She knew Kaden would speak on his own time. He watched her rock the kit into slumber as the festal soothed away the pain that came with his fever.
"As the son of the head in the village, the elders saw it fit to remind me that there are certain...expectations that I'm to fulfill, especially if I marry."
He reached out his arms and Sakura carefully placed the kit in them. Other than a grumble, the kit slumbered on.
"I don't want you to feel pressured by them. We haven't really talked about it, but-"
"They're asking about children, right?" Sakura quietly interrupted, face starting to turn red. Kaden nodded and sighed.
"It's one thing to ask you to have children with me, Sakura. It's another to ask you to have children that aren't even going to be your own species in the end. A child with a kitsune parent will always be a kitsune. It's a whole other experience than raising a human child. Besides, you might not even want children in the first place. I don't want to ask you to have one just out of duty."
"It wouldn't be out of duty," Sakura told him. "As long as you don't feel it is, either, I would say that children are probably in our future some day."
Kaden's face flushed a slight pink, and he nodded.
"I think I might like that, too. I still don't think you know what you're getting yourself into with a kit."
Sakura gave him a small, sly smile.
"I'm marrying you, aren't I? It can't be much worse."
Kaden laughed softly. Transferring the kit to one arm, he reached out to touch Sakura's hand but both jumped when the screen suddenly slammed open.
"Don't worry, baby, Momma's back!" cried the kitsune, Kuroko, from earlier as she flounced in with a basket of what appeared to be herbs. She snatched the now fussing kit from Kaden's arms without acknowledging him and turned to Sakura. "Thank you so much for watching him! I should have been more prepared since pretty much all kits get this fever, but it slipped my mind!"
She gave Sakura a one-armed hug, treating her to a much more detailed view of her chest than Sakura would have ever liked to experience, before flouncing back out of the room with the whining kit. Sakura sat stunned for a second before covering her red face with her hands. Kaden barked out a laugh.
"You'll get used to it, I think," he said. "I would like to think I'm much milder than most of the clan you'll meet here. Our kit will be the same way."
Sakura nodded behind her hands as her husband continued to laugh. Eventually, he was able to coax out of the room and into the head house of the village, where more of Kaden's family and the elders waited for them with a small feast, including the kitsune mother and her now bright-eyed kit.
Before they departed back into the Astral Plane that night, Kuroko caught Sakura's elbow and pressed a small cloth bag into her hands.
"You probably don't know this, but most kits go through an awful fever in the first year of their life," she explained as Sakura peered inside the bag curiously. "This will help your kit get through it much easier. Feel free to come to me if you need any advice. Kits can be a handful even for kitsune mothers."
For the first time, she met Kaden's eyes and gave him a wicked grin. Sakura could see his hackles start to raise. Kuroko drew her to her chest again suddenly, and Sakura's face burned.
"If you were my wife, though, you'd certainly have at least one by now," she purred as she ran a hand through Sakura's hair. Kaden let out a full on growl as Kuroko released Sakura and skipped back towards the head house. "See you later, brother!"
"Brother?" Sakura questioned after she had calmed down slightly. Kaden sighed.
"Kuroko is, unfortunately, my sister. She's an awful tease, but if she ever touches you-"
"It'll be fine, Kaden." Sakura laid a hand on her fiance's arm and he deflated with a huff. "One kitsune husband is enough for me."
Together, they stepped through the spacial rip into the Astral Plane where the rest of their (untraditional) family awaited…
...but not before Sakura slipped the small bag of herbs into her yukata with a wistful smile.