I do not own Fire Emblem.


Affection

Kaden had a habit of rubbing against Orochi in his kitsune form. It had started after she had helped him out with his little cat problem, and since then it was a recurring ritual for him. He would start low, running the side of his nose and head by her exposed ankles before dragging his body up past her thighs. And the top of his hind legs would always brush past the side of her stomach. Finally, it would end with his body curling just a tiny bit around hers and his nose gently poking her palm.

When it happened for the first time, Orochi was a little surprised, but didn't pay much heed to it. Kaden was a kitsune, after all - he wasn't a human and therefore wasn't exactly subject to the same context and culture that she had grown accustomed to. And it never went anything beyond that. Just a simple brush up against her. It didn't happen all of the time either - just every now and then.

She later joked with him, "If you didn't have nine tails, sharp teeth, and could barrel me over, you'd be no different than a big silly animal that's gotten too fond of humans."

"Aww, thanks!" That only seemed to encourage Kaden, judging by the light swishing of his tails.

It's not like she didn't technically return the favor, either. More than once had she stumbled upon him laying on the edges of the strange castle Corrin's companion Lilith had introduced them all to. And when she did, it was quite easy to give him a simple belly rub that he gladly accepted.

After some time, however, she realized that she never saw Kaden emulate the same movement with someone else. He never really wrapped himself around another person, not to the extent that he did around her. He might duck to their side and come around the other half, but there was no brushing. At least not from their ankle to stomach. Maybe just a bit of their leg, but that was it. That got her thinking.

And so she began to try to ask the others. However, all of them replied with a negative. He never seemed particularly touchy in such a manner, though he wasn't deterred from invading personal space. Kaden was particularly good at pushing himself through a crowd, especially as a fox. His nose would poke in between shoulders and hips, forcing the people to the side like a wedge widening a crack.

That got her thinking again. And then after maybe a night or two at the mess hall where she thoughtfully stared at the pickled radish grasped in her chopsticks, Orochi realized she never saw him do that with another person because Kaden only ever seemed to do that when they were alone.

Finally, she figured that it was just best to ask. The opportunity arose when she spotted him lazing in the shade of his favorite tree in his human form. Carefully walking over, she watched as his ear flicked at her approach. Turning towards her, he gave her a bright smile, his ears twitching again just a little bit.

"Hi Orochi! You here to nap under this tree too?"

She didn't give him an immediate yes, nor did she reply with a no. Instead, she returned his happy gaze with a smile she didn't expect to produce. "I guess," she replied unsurely.

"Well, I got a spot right here with your name on it!" he patted the grass next to him. "Take a seat!" He said it so easily, letting the words roll off his tongue, and yet she was apprehensive, as if taking a seat would suddenly change things.

But she shook the thought away. What she was planning to ask was going to change things on its own. But she struggled to speak. Her found her gaze stuck on her fingers, wishing that she had her cards to tell fortunes with. But that would only be a distraction from her end goal, and she refocused on the task at hand.

Whatever Kaden was thinking, he seemed to pick up on her nervousness and remained still, allowing Orochi to put herself back together. And finally, her lips parted to speak.

"Kaden," she trailed off a little, brushing her hair back a tiny bit to take her mind off of the mild beating in her chest, "do you like me?"

He gave a small laugh. "Is that what you were trying to say all this time?" His grin threatened to split his face in two. "Of course I do! I like you lots!"

"No, I mean…" she gave a frustrated exhale to mask her nerves. "Do you... ugh…"

Why was this so hard? Shaking her head, she tried to speak again, but suddenly Kaden stiffened, snapping to attention and she stopped whatever she was trying to do.

"Ohhh," he let his voice drop off. It was a far off tone, as if a sudden realization had dawned upon him. Orochi would have been concerned if it wasn't for the fact that his tails were moving excitedly back and forth. As he stood up, at first she thought that he finally understood what she was really asking him. But she soon found that it was not quite the case.

"Hey, stand up! Oh, and stay still." he cheerfully said. A little confused, she rose to her feet and let him take the lead of the conversation. With a small flash, he was in his other form, tails still swishing. But with a quick blink they stopped and he looked her in the eye.

It was like there was a different level of intent and she felt her skin tingle. Watching him carefully, he broke his gaze and lowered his snout to the ground. With slow steps, he brought his nose to her ankle, running the skin against his face, following the same ritual that he did all the time with her.

But as slowly as it began, he just as slowly performed his ritual. Where previously it was was more of a warm greeting, now she could feel the rippling muscles with each deliberate motion and the thousands of hairs tickling the side of her stomach. She swore that she could hear his claws against the soft grass, no matter how impossible that actually seemed.

It was intense - Kaden was a killing machine, and here he was, showing off how graceful he was with this one motion. She let out a deep shaky exhale, one she didn't know she was holding onto.

When she felt his nose finally poke against her palm, instead of ending there he ducked his head a little lower and pushed forward, letting her hand rest against on top of him. And as if to add to the flourish, his nine tails rose to cover her front and pull her close against him, completing the wraparound.

"K-Kaden…" she almost couldn't speak, finally beginning to understand that this movement, this ritual, it was all just for her.

As if sensing the weakness in her knees with his predator intuition, he gave a quick bump to the back of them and she felt her legs buckle, putting her against his strong frame. Using his body he gently lowered her to ground, letting his tails swish over her legs and placing his head upon her lap. She blushed sharply at the sudden intimacy, and she glanced around to see if anyone saw them.

Again, like all the other times, no one was present.

He gave a low chuckle, and she could feel him shake all around her. "Looks like you've finally caught on."

It was warm, comfortable, and different. But most importantly, it felt protective, like a ring to ward off the dangers of nature. Later, as she lay against him scratching his ears and watching the shadows grow longer, he explained that when a kitsune rubbed up against one another in such a way, it was a sign, an official ritual of interest. It turns out Kaden had liked her for a long time.


A/N: Welcome to what appears to be the first actual KadenxOrochi fic on this site.

Or, for some of us, one of the few stories that feature these two characters at this time. Despite all the hype that went into this game, unfortunately we can tell that some parts were overlooked for others. I can appreciate what they were trying to do and how it was completed on an execution level, but they unfortunately had to sacrifice time for other things. In spite of it all though, to me this just means to me that it's an open canvas to put in what I would like to see in regards to relationships.

I'm starting to believe that these two are my Birthright OTP, despite how much their support conversation is actually lackluster. All they do is talk about cats, and there could have been opportunity for more. But that's okay - Kaden has dat smug look all day and Orochi's smile is best smile. Seriously, have you seen how bright her face looks when she does it? Winner faces for both of them.

Anyway, you can treat this as the support conversation that I would have liked to have seen, since it actually goes more into the context of what it means to be a kitsune. The game sorta just treated him like a human who had fox ears and a tail as opposed to a fox or mythical beast in a world surrounded by humans. This means that while they are able to provide some cultural background, there's a lot of missed opportunity to really develop Kaden as a character. I have two more chapters written out at this time. This one was fluff, the next is not-as-fluff, and the third is a bit more serious. Then I'll add onto it as I find more contextual or cultural things to explore. So it'll be a work in progress, though I don't expect it to go more than ten chapters in total.

I can also almost guarantee that this is all going to be in Orochi's point of view. We're human, she's human, Kaden isn't. It's a little thematic in that there are going to be some things that we're just not going to understand because of the context Kaden enters with as a kitsune and what we enter with as a human.

But enough rambling. I hope you enjoyed this as well as the upcoming chapter ideas I have in mind. You can kinda treat this like those thirty-theme OTP stories, except it's not thirty themes and I follow no standard.

PS: I'm still working on Conquest and have not gotten to Revelations yet, so no spoilers please~ But in terms of story, this should be vague enough to allow it to fit into the Revelations path since I don't intend to touch on any in-game story yet.

PPS: And yes, I know this gets in the way of everything else I'm doing. Patience, patience...

Have fun, and I'll see you all soon.