The Kitsune Diaries

By

Youko Naoko

My name is Naoko, and I am a kitsune. You may be thinking, 'what the hell is this girl talking about? How can a fox write an autobiography?' If you are, in fact, one of the narrow-minded baka ningens thinking that, allow me to rephrase my opening line:

My name is Naoko, and I am a fox spirit. I take a humanlike form and live among other humans in Mushiyori City. You won't know me when I walk past you on a crowded street, but I will know you. In addition to my powers of illusion that come with the kitsune's blood, I am an earth demon. I focus the chakras of earth in my crystal pendant to use as I wish, and I'm damn good at it. I've had over six hundred thirty years of practice. Scared yet? Perhaps you're feeling threatened knowing you have a demon in your midst? I can't help but laugh at you from my human home in a human city with a cappuccino by my left hand, typing this at my computer. Me, threatening? Ridiculous. I have the appearance of a five-foot tall sixteen-year-old girl, and a slender one at that. How could I possibly be threatening?

She, on the other hand, is another story.

My full kitsune form…the true Youko Naoko. She is a cold, calculating, merciless killer, who would tear out a ningen's throat sooner than look at him. She resides in a special part of my conscious mind, but when she comes out, I have no control. My appearance completely changes. I gain at least ten inches in height, along with fox ears and tail a shade of green to match my hair. My light brown eyes become catlike, and an ice cold scarlet. Then there's her favorite part of the transformation: half-inch long vampiric fangs. Youko is the only one I am afraid of, and she knows it. I can feel her eyes on me now, burning through my soul as I type my story unsuspectingly. That's enough about us. Now I can begin the full story of my…rather, our life…or at least most of it, (my printer lacks six hundred thirty seven years' worth of paper) just the way it happened.

Chapter 1: Kuronue

I spent most of the earlier years of my life in Makai (demon world) with no real distinction between Youko and myself. I had the ability to change into the form I have now, but I didn't use it unless I had to. The only one I trusted was my elder brother, Youko Kurama. What do you mean by elder, you may ask? I am by no means the oldest youkai on earth, and I'm somewhat hurt that you think so. Kurama is at least seven hundred. Anyway, Kurama and I were both bandits, and we were indescribably good at what we did. But we weren't well known…yet. One evening, he was teaching me the finer arts of subtlety, and our target was a bat youkai sitting on a rock and reading a map. Clearly some lost idiot, he told me. I remember that moment more than I remember any other second in my whole life. His leathery wings were folded as his indigo blue eyes scanned that little piece of paper from under a torn wide-brimmed hat. Sure, he was wearing the most unusual outfit I had ever seen, but there was something about how he twisted a few strands of his jet-black ponytail around his hand in concentration… something almost…cute. My onii-sama didn't see that, however. He did see the sapphire right next to this unknown youkai, though. Well…that's Kura-sama for you…narrow-minded as always. Anyway, he wanted me to steal that sapphire. We both thought it would be easy, with the half-wit not even looking, but (and please excuse me as I use extreme sarcasm) oh, how wrong we were. Slowly and silently, I walked forward, sneaking up on him as he looked the other way. /Almost too easy…/ I thought. I had my ebony-nailed hand on the dark blue gemstone when my assumed hapless victim grabbed my wrist without even looking away from the map.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked me in a calm, toneless voice. I was too stunned to respond for a moment.

"How…how did you…?" Finally, he looked over at me.

"Tch. Just a kid, and an amateur." I felt my pale face get very warm with sudden rage. I pulled my hand away (looking back, I should've taken the sapphire…) and snapped,

"Amateur! What're you talking about!" He answered in the same calm voice.

"Just because you're a kitsune doesn't make you an expert thief."

"Oh? And…you are…" He stood up, revealing himself to be almost six inches taller than me. All too late, I saw a scythe glittering in his other hand. I thought he was going to kill me, I really did, but he gave me a friendly smile.

"My name's Kuronue."
end of chapter one