notes:

+ no shipping or anything, i just felt like fiddling around with what happened after tomoe woke up from mikage's sealing off his curse

+ let me know if you find either story or grammar errors~

+ edited 3/13, for some fixes around the mikage side story...

+ & enjoy ^_^)

Fox & First Day

He realized sometime later that he was awake, and that the ceiling was made of pale wood striped with sunlight, much different than the crimson-tinted beams of the red light district. Neither was there the laughter and bustle of the tanuki women — instead, he heard birds chirping, wind rustling leaves, and (his ears flicked and swiveled behind him) something shuffling around nearby.

"Hey," he called out, and a pair of gasps answered.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Tomoe said up. The instant he did, his head swam, and he pressed a palm to his brow, squinched his eyes shut. His eyes felt sore. His clothing was gathered around his waist.

"Tomoe-dono — how are you feeling?" asked one of the voices in a chirp near his ear. Tomoe wrapped his claws in the speaker's collar and yanked its face close.

"Where —" Tomoe's voice was hoarse; he turned away to cough, then continued. "Where the hell am I?"

"And," he added, narrowing his eyes, "what the hell are you?"

The whatever-it-was trembled in his grip and began to whimper from its one huge eye. "I — I —"

"That's enough. Leave my shrine spirits alone, Tomoe."

Tomoe's ears twitched as someone else approached. He relaxed his grip and the thing dropped out and scrambled away, joining another spirit taking sniffling refuse behind a pillar. They peeked out at him fearfully and Tomoe turned towards the entrant. A humble kimono — a strange fan made of petal shapes — short bright hair — a man.

No, not a man. Tomoe looked around, his surroundings slowly coming to clarity.

"So," he said finally. "How did I get to the shrine of a land god?"

"You were wounded," the god told him, cheerfully. He sat down beside Tomoe, followed by the shrine spirits and a butterfly that rested, picturesque, on his shoulder.

"Wounded," Tomoe echoed. His brow furrowed as he searched his mind. Wounded...by what? He touched his hand to his chest. That would explain the dull ache there, as if he had been stabbed.

"You wouldn't see the injury," the god told him, seeing Tomoe search for a scar. Tomoe scowled.

"Why not?"

The god thought for a moment, then smiled, faintly. "Let's just say it was a human woman's powerful magic."

A human woman? How could a human woman do anything to him? Tomoe flattened his ears. What had happened? What...

"By the way," the god interrupted, "my name is Mikage."

Tomoe didn't respond. He continued staring at his hands. Something felt wrong. Something...felt...missing.

"Are you feeling well?" the god asked. Tomoe frowned.

"Yeah..." He trailed off. Mikage watched him carefully, and adjusted his glasses. Though Mikage was sure that his memories of the human were gone, the fox's eyes still looked hazy and listless, dark with a shadow of grief.

He blinked and straightened when Tomoe turned to him.

"What do I owe you, god?" he asked, and Mikage gave him again the warm smile.

"Nothing."

"Nothing," Tomoe echoed. He looked away bewildered, both by this senseless altruism and the strange ache suddenly, a pressure from nowhere, at the sight of that easy smile, at the shine of kindness that Tomoe had done nothing to deserve. It reminded him of...

"Absolutely nothing," Mikage agreed. "And if you're feeling well, you're free to go."

Free to go. He stared away again across the room. He could go...where? To the tanuki women? It exhausted him just to think of the effort he'd have to expend to keep up with their flutter and cheer. He didn't want to see them. He didn't want to see anything.

"I don't have anywhere to go." It slipped out of his mouth, and he realized that it was true as he said it. He looked past the tattered screen doors, unable to come up with a single place or face that he might be happy to see.

"Well," the god said, "if there's nowhere for you to go, why don't you stay at my shrine?"

"Stay…?" The word in his mouth felt bitter. Was there even truly even such a thing as staying — being somewhere, sharing someone's company, for longer than a blink of an eye? What did it matter when even a single day could set and never be had again?

"Yes, stay here, with me. I can be with you always," Mikage told him, and Tomoe looked at him, not hearing the strangeness of the statement but only always.

That's right. This was a god he was talking to. Gods didn't just fade from sight or wilt from cold. He rubbed his chest.

"That's it," Mikage decided, rapping his fan against his hand decisively. "From now on, you should stay here as a familiar of the shrine. The shrine spirits would be happy to have you, I'm sure."

Tomoe glanced at the spirit, who certainly didn't look that happy. He scowled at the god. "A familiar, me? A powerful demon, reduced to a god's servant?"

"An honor not many demons have, I agree," Mikage said brightly. "But I think you would be sufficient. "

"As if a demon like me could stay in such a stifling place," he muttered. There was the smell of humans everywhere, oppressive.

"It will be fine," Mikage told him. "Once you become a familiar, you can live here in ease."

In ease. Always. He looked back outside, tail drumming against the tatami. The world there seemed to reach toward him, vast, and chill, and empty. He had a vision of himself suddenly, wandering, no destination or direction, gathering burrs and mud on his robes and tail.

"Well? What do you think?"

If he left the shrine, he would be alone.

"Alright," Tomoe murmured, rubbing his chest. "I'll do it."

There was a sudden clap and cheering. Tomoe's ears pressed against his skull as the spirits began parading around the room with excited noises and flapping fans.

"Hurray! Our empty, falling-apart shrine finally has a familiar!" cried the big-eyed spirit. The other one pressed her hands to her eyes and appeared to weep.

"Oh, Mikage-sama, this is perfect! Finally the shrine has a proper familiar! Surely a fox can stand in for the dogs that Mikage-sama is so afraid of —"

Mikage laughed nervously. "It's not — that I'm not afraid of them — but, ah, I digress. Look here, Tomoe," he said, kneeling, and when Tomoe turned the god took his chin and kissed him lightly. Tomoe frowned and then looked down as two bright rings appeared over his wrists. When the light faded he felt its warmth sinking into his skin and dispersing across his veins. Suddenly the shrine around him changed — felt closer, warmer, as if it were leaning in to get a good look at him.

"Welcome, Tomoe!" Mikage exclaimed, waving his fan. "I'm glad you're here! Heavens know this shrine had been needing cleaning for decades. And finally," he said with a happy sigh, "the other gods will get off my back for not having a familiar."

"Great," Tomoe muttered dryly, taking in the ashy cobwebs and fraying tatami and prancing spirits. It may not be in utter ease, he thought, but at least this god could promise him his company for always. As one of the spirits tripped with a shriek and flutter of fans, he smirked, and didn't notice the pressure in his chest subside.