Chapter Three:

Prison of Obligation

"Kasumi, you can't sit on me like this all day." Ishikawa huffed. It had probably been only a few weeks since the meltdown between the two of them, and his daughter had yet to break out of her trance. She was sitting in the center of his crossed legs, her legs swung over one of the folded limbs, her arms wrapped around his neck, and her nose nuzzled into his neck. Her ears are flat against her hair, her tail down, which told him she was still sullen, and when he tried to move a little she instantly moved with him, not allowing there to be space at all between them. Here he was just trying to sign off on a few documents in private, since because of her suddenly clingy nature he could not allow people to see her behaved in this way... or her looks, and yet she was making the simple task too difficult. She used to sit on his lap like this when she was two, up until she was four.
She would sit in his lap and mostly did as she pleased there. She would nap there while he worked, played with one of the many toys he got her. On more than one occasion she had successfully distracted him enough for him to play with her, typically for hours on end. He held the memory fondly, despite that that was a time where her ears and tail were still oh so visible. But she had been sweet, and pure, and innocent. She still remained that, he supposed. But she was hurt. Emotionally and physically. She had hurt herself severely when he threw her off him, which explained why she behaved mostly like a four year old that latched to him. Except she was now too big to sit in his lap the same way, and him too old to play with her or keep up with her energy. He figured that it would pass once she had healed, but he wondered how long it would take her before it would happen.
Eventually, he gave up on the work and focused on rubbing the base of her fluffy, laid back ears. She whimpered lightly from the pain of contact but he continued the slow and gentle massage until she had relaxed. Once she had, Ishikawa then stroked her ears, down her back and over her head and then up again to her head and down once more. He petted her, the not at all kit, kit, settling into his lap with a satisfied sigh.
"Such a spoiled fox you turned out to be." He said softly, comforting her in the way Kyah had shown him. "Kasumi, do you want to hear a story... about your mother?" He asked her gently. Silence.
She was breathing softly, her hold on him had slacked some, and her ears didn't flicker or move when he spoke. When he was about to get back to work, assuming she fell asleep, he felt her nod against his shoulder.
"Alright," he said, placing the brush down and resuming the attempt to soothe her. "You know that I loved her very much, yes?" When he felt her small nod again, he continued. "I always wanted to believe she loved me too. I knew she didn't when I asked her to marry me, but my time was running short. I had to bring back a bride or one would be picked for me. I was surprised when she agreed, but knew that she could grow to love me the way I did her." The petting stopped now that she was calmer and had less of a death grip on him. "I was very wrong about that. I grew jealous, and angry with her. She had met a different lord, a kind man, who showed her tricks, and told her jokes that made her laugh in ways I could never have accomplished. She loved him so deeply, and I hated him so much for him taking her heart from me. The man she had met and loved, was a fox demon. I don't know much but I assumed he loved her too. He had to have, Yuri was a woman worth loving no matter status or race."
Kasumi listened quietly to the story, wondering how much of what he spoke of as true, but continued to remain quiet as he went on. "I can only assume that fox was the one that impregnated her. I doubt she would have let any male get so close to her she didn't love. Nine months later, she gave birth to a beautiful kit. Your mother did die after childbirth but only because I wouldn't allow anyone to help her during it. Her death was avoidable but I let her die in my anger. I would have killed you too... but you... you were just a babe. Innocent to the world, pure and sweet. I couldn't bring myself to kill you. I have regretted letting Yuriko die many times, yet I fear what would have happened if she hadn't. Would she leave me for the fox? Would she send you away to be with him? I can only say that I... am grateful to have had the chance to have such a wonderful daughter. Whether you are biologically mine or not I love you like my own. I... my anger with you that has left you bruised and wounded... I cannot apologize for my actions, as it won't change anything that happened. But understand, my blossom, I do not hate you. I forget myself sometimes... with my old age it becomes harder for me to separate a bit. But I love you. My child, my daughter, forever. Even if you do not wish to keep me as your father, and wish to seek out the fox father, you will always be my daughter."
They laid in content silent for a while, his hand on her back, rubbing it gently. He wondered if she understood anything he had said, until he felt her hug him in a tender manner.
"I love you too, father. Despite everything. You... you are my father. And I can't stay angry with you. I am hurt by what you have said and done, but I can't hate you." She sat back from the hug, to see a tender smile on her old man's face, causing her to smile a little bit.

Slender fingers slid into cool water, reaching down to grab a cloth at the bottom of a small pail. Kasumi pulled the white material out and carefully twisted it, wringing the water free from the absorbent material before she folded it and pressed it gently around the face of her father. She did the task several times until the moisture on his face was from the cool water alone and not from his pores. She pushed back his thinning hair with her damp hand, soothing him like he did her in several occasions over the past year and a half. His forehead wrinkled together, and his eye lids parted to view the girl attending to him.
He took her hand from his head, surprising Kasumi but she simmered down when she saw the joy wash over his features.
"My Yuriko..." he said softly, reaching up a withered hand to touch Kasumi's cheek. "My precious Yuriko."
"My lord," Kasumi said, a sullen look crossing her features at her fathers confusion.
"My Yuriko, why do you look so sad?" He asked, gently gliding his thumb over her rosy cheeks.
"My lord, I am not Yuriko. I am her daughter, Kasumi." She said, wrapping her hands around his.
His brow furrowed further in his confusion. "My Yuriko, where is my Yuriko?" He questioned, sitting up and suddenly gripping Kasumi's shoulders roughly. "My Yuriko, what have you done to my wife?!" He shouted at her. He shook her, and rattled her, and Kasumi desperately tried to keep her anger in check at her father.
"Papa! Momma died." She said, which succeeded enough in him ceasing his rough actions against her. Kasumi touched the old mans face, rubbing her thumb on his wrinkled cheek. "Momma died years ago, papa. She's gone. I'm her daughter. I am your daughter, papa. Remember? I am Kasumi. You named me pure blossom. You love me. I look like momma right?" Confused still, Lord Ishikawa nodded slowly. "That means I'm her daughter. Momma died." At the last bit, the old man broke down and collapsed into the lap of the young girl claiming to be his wife's daughter.
"My Yuriko..." he whispered through his cries. He felt small slender fingers glide down his back, over his trembling spine, another hand petting his receding hairline. He wrapped his arms around the girl and sobbed quietly for several long minutes.
After a while, he had cried himself to sleep again, and Kasumi eased him back into his futon, tucking him in. She placed the cool rag over his brow before she stood up with the pail in her hands.
She strolled through the quiet halls of the manor, out into the courtyard where she slipped on her sandals, before stepping onto the gravel. She took the water from within the pail and flung it towards the trees and its flowered neighbors before she began the process of refilling it with clean water.
She tied back the sleeves of her yukata as she worked the crank with her small arms to pump out the water. Just as the water began to pour from the spigot, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around quickly, to see the smug smirk of Takami. She glared at him, yanking her arm from his hold.
It was in the middle of the night, the air warm and humid even now, everyone inside the manor was likely sound asleep. There would be no one around to witness anything in the courtyard.
"Do not touch me." She stated, keeping her words clipped. She grabbed the half full pail and quickly turn away from Takami.
"Now now, my maiden." He said, quickly strolling right up behind her and placing a hand at the small of her back, fingers sliding up her obi sash. "Don't be that way. You should be grateful that I have still agreed to marry you despite your witchy powers."
Kasumi gritted her teeth and pulled Takami's hand out from her obi sash. "Do. Not. Touch. Me." She said again, saying each word individually and sternly.
"Heh, I like my women feisty like you, my lady." He walked up to her again, a hand tipping her chin up to look at him, the other sliding right back up her obi sash at her back.
"I am not your woman." She said taking the pail and flinging it towards him, covering the young lord in the cold water. Takami stood there, drenched, his long brown hair clinging to his face and neck, his expensive looking haori soaked through.
He was stunned of course, and Kasumi took the chance to slip away from his grasp. She turned to run away but Takami had recovered too quickly and grabbed her wrists.
"You damn wench!" He yelled at her, roughly yanking her back, pulling her into his sopping wet clothes. His grip on her wrist was painful, and he pulled her towards the castle walls that kept it safe from the outside world, and right into the trees that lined along it. He shoved her against the trunk of one of the larger trees, and pushed himself between her legs, forcibly parting her yukata.
"No!" She yelled at him, shoving at his chest and pushing him back as much as she could. He grabbed both her hands and pinned them above her head with only one of his. With his free one he slid his it through the top of her yukata, opening it up slightly before he roughly yanked it open. The sleeves fell down her shoulders, revealing her collar bone and the space between it and her breasts. She shuddered in disgust when she felt his tongue slither across her neck and his hand slid underneath her yukata, sliding up her leg and opening the material up further.
Kasumi had sworn to her father she would not use her magic, and give this man a chance, since he was the only suitor willing to still marry her. Since her father had started to loose his mind, she agreed only because she knew the lands would need a lord and she didn't like this man, but he had a use. With his presence here, she had time now to focus on her father and to help heal him, care for him... while lord Takami learned the ropes from the advisors. The past eight months had been a nightmare with him here but she had shoved it all down. And she continued to shove it down when she felt the cold breeze against her exposed flesh, tears in her closed eyes.
She could feel his fingers scrapping across her body, and she bit back her cries as he finally decided he would untie her sash. She felt his fingers gripping the material from behind, likely intending to untie the bow in the back, when she suddenly felt herself yanked backwards, which was odd, because she knew she was pinned to a tree. She opened up her eyes, just as she felt a light, smooth material draped over her form, covering her head, right down to her ankles. The robe was large on her, and it covered her from the outside world, even the moisture of humidity couldn't reach her in the cool material. The fabric was a light shade of blue, almost completely covered in it, the edges of the it a darker shade, with little fox like faces etched into it in white. She looked up, the light of the half-moon illuminating the owner of the robe. He was a tall man, slender, and he wore a dark blue hakama that matched the color on the robe, and a light blue haori.
She marveled at him. He had golden locks, pulled straight back into a high and tight pony tail, and still it hung to his mid back, but what she noted even more was the large golden ears atop his head, and the matching tail that he had wrapped around her, in safety. The fox man looked down at her from over his shoulder, and she gasped at the sight of the gem colored eyes she had only ever seen when looking in a mirror. She could see the smile in them, and she instantly felt at ease. She drew the robe around her, covering her completely and allowed the fox to keep her concealed in the large tail.
Takami came out from the tree line, glaring at the fox demon who had interrupted him. She hadn't realized before, but he had loosened his own robes at one point, and now was struggling to keep them up as he tried to face off against the demon. "You!" He tried but anything he tried to say was cut short when glowing blue orbs of fire began to float around the demon. He bit back his words and turned to Kasumi. "You and your lands will fall, you will never find a man to marry a wench like you." He hissed. He didn't hesitate to walk off towards the manor, trying to keep his hakama around his waist.
Kasumi's heart sank. She was doomed. Her people were doomed. Her father... if he was aware of reality, he would be ashamed and would die knowing his land would fall. She swirled and moped about in her mind, when she saw a shift in the demon, and she looked up to see him handing her something.
In his palm were berries. Strange in color, they gleamed in the moonlight an almost iridescence purple. She looked up at the man, whose smile was so warm and affectionate, she found herself taking the offered berries.
"What..." she started to ask him what they were for but stopped. "Who are you?" She asked him, softly.
"Don't you worry about that answer, my little kit." He said softly, rubbing the top of her head, right in the middle of where her ears would be, and she practically melted at the warm sensation. He just felt so safe and comforting. She wanted to wrap herself up in his fur and warmth and never leave it. "Give those to your father. They will help him." He said, stroking her hair and then her cheek. Before she could question him again, the warmth of his hand and fur were gone, and he had vanished from her sight. She blinked, pulling his robes around her shoulders, inhaling the deep scent of woods and peaches.