Makoto's Resolution
By Laura Schiller
Series: Kanon
Disclaimer: This fictional universe does not belong to me.
The young vixen sat in the middle of the clearing, staring fixedly in the direction of the road. When an older fox walked up behind her, she barely moved; only her small tufted tail twitched in acknowledgement.
How many times have I told you, said the other fox. He's not coming back!
He will come back, Mother, the young one replied. He has to.
Sunshine –
My name is Makoto.
Fine then, Makoto. Listen to reason, will you? He's a human. We're kitsune. Humans cause nothing but trouble – every time one of us got mixed up with them, disasters followed. Don't you remember what happened to Lightfoot when she met that redheaded female – just a few months ago? (Note: the "redheaded female" is Amano Mishio). She became so infatuated with that creature that she gave up her life just to become human! I don't want to lose another child. The mother gave her daughter an affectionate lick on the nose; Makoto turned away and ran back into the den.
Of course she remembered. How strange it had been, for those few weeks, to smell her sister's familiar scent on an enormous human stranger. Her death had come as a terrible shock; it seemed the family had forgotten about the true cost of a Miracle. Lightfoot had gone and prayed to the spirit of the city, spent a few happy weeks with her human friend, and finally faded away – first her mind, then her body, until she literally vanished into the air. Makoto shivered in spite of the summer warmth; it was a desperate measure to take.
But nevertheless, take it she would. And not even Mother was going to stop her.
Yuichi had abandoned her. Right there, on this hill, seven years ago. She had waited and waited for him to come back, the ache in her heart building until it threatened to choke her. Now, finally after so many years, she could sense his presence once again. She had even tracked him to his house, staring at him through the window for several long nights. Her decision had been made long ago, and only fear had kept her back. She knew perfectly well what would happen to her. But when she thought of him – his voice, his smile, his strong reassuring scent, the way he used to stroke her fur...she knew that just the chance to be with him as a human girl was too precious to pass up. To speak to him in his own language, to shout out all her anger and hurt so he would understand – and then to hear his apology and forgive him. To laugh and talk with him the way he had with his family. To perhaps, if only for a short time, be his human mate...all this, to her, truly was more important than a long, dull, animal life without him.
The next day, the mother fox woke up to find Makoto missing. Her other sons and daughters had no idea what could have happened, but she knew...and she fervently wished that the green-eyed human boy had been killed at birth instead of causing all the trouble he had.