Chapter Three

Midnight meeting.

Axl slept through most of the next thirty hours, Zero and Alia visiting now and then to check on him as he healed. Now, close to one in the morning, he dozed fitfully despite having the uncomfortable medical equipment removed.

Tossing and turning in his twisted sheets, body overheated and limbs crawling with a pins and needles sensation, he tried in vain to return to sleep and banish the feeling that he was forgetting something important. He never noticed the sound of his door opening, or that of feet padding across the carpet until he felt a cool hand on his shoulder.

Axl sat bolt upright in shock, startling the person kneeling next to him on his bed.

It was Sunako.

In the moonlight coming from the unshuttered windows she looked almost ethereal, skin a glowing white and hair shining pale gold. She was wearing a short, silky nightgown in a shade of purple that made the violet of her eyes all the more prominent.

It was those eyes that made Axl remember what had happened with a jolt of guilt, he had forgotten all about her!

"S-suanko...w-why are you...?" he knew he didn't have to ask, but seeing this girl in a nightdress that showed a lot of leg and far more cleavage then he was used to or comfortable with on his bed made him stutter, blushing. Sometimes he cursed being so anatomically close to humans, at least other reploids couldn't blush when embarrassed!

The girl said nothing, only locking her violet gaze to Axl's green, then snaked her arms around his shoulders in an embrace.

"W-w-what the...?"

"You were crying." she whispered in his ear. "I heard you..."

"That's impossible, the fourteenth wing is on the other side of the base."

He felt moisture on his shoulder.

"Are...are you crying?" he asked, putting a hand on her back.

"I was scared, so many human scents, too many people."

It hit him like a bullet. She was scared of humans.

"Why?" he dared to ask, and yelped as he was knocked onto his back.

Sunako had shoved him over, and snuggled up to his side resting her head on his chest. "You're warm."

He giggled nervously. "Uh, yeah, I try to stay that way..."

She shivered, the animal ears that had lain hidden against her head now quavering slightly, and the fluffy tail was tickling Axl's bare knees.

"Let me stay with you?" she asked, voice full of a fear he recognized all too well, like a child woken from a nightmare.

His metaphorical heart all about melted. "No problem, but I am warning you, I talk in my sleep."

"Arigatogozaimasu Axl-kun."

"Hold the phone...is that old Japanese?"

"Hai."

He blinked. Odd, he'd knew a good amount of the old Japanese language but was not exactly fluent, and yet he understood Sunako with no problems.

"The Mother's graces Axl, I asked her to give you her blessings." she now said in standard. "She must have heard me."

"The...Mother?"

She smiled. "Our ever loving guide and guardian, Hahu-e Amaterasu-sama, the great goddess of the sun and mother of all life."

"Ama...te...rasu?"

"Do you believe in the gods?"

Axl frowned. Most reploids disregarded the possible existence of a god, and he himself never thought about it before. Even X considered himself Atheist.

"The gods are real Axl." Sunako murmured, nuzzling his neck. "I would know, Amaterasu-sama was my master."

"Excuse me?" Axl squeaked.

"I wasn't born on Earth, not being human or reploid."

"Then what does that make you?" he asked, trying desperately to keep his voice even. He was not used to this kind of contact.

"There is a plane of existence called the Celestial Realm, where most of the mythical beings of the human's legends live. It's like a floating island with no end to the land, the only ways to get to the human's world is either by portals or accident."

"And?"

"I tripped."

"Tripped...?"

Sunako buried her face deeper into his hair. "Yes." she muttered. "Tripped into the deepest canyon in the Realm, fell through the barrier."

"Sounds...painful."

"Embarrassing's more like it." she huffed. "Goes with the bad luck of being the ninth child of a Kitsune."

Axl was puzzled by the statement. He knew there was something numbers the Pre-Light era Asia had conceptions about, but for the life of him he couldn't place it.

"Nine is commonly thought to be a very unlucky number, as the word for nine, Kyuu, is the same spoken word as 'misfortune'. To be the ninth child, especially of a nine-tailed kitsune, usually means you're very unlucky." Sunako told him bitterly. "Even worse that both my mother and father are Kyuubi, nine tailed kitsune. I never got the family talent with plants, fell into the human plane only a day after I finished my apprenticeship, then got caught by human scientists. I've been running from them ever since."

"Is that why...you said not to bring you to a hospital?"

"Yes."

"Was it really that bad?"

Silence.

"Sunako?" Axl queried, nudging her.

"I...I don't want to talk about it right now." she whispered, shaking.

"Ok, I understand. Just try to sleep."

"Domo."

Axl smiled.

"Doitachimashite Sunako-chan."

The redhead had the satisfaction of feeling the fox girl stiffen in surprise before settling in closer to sleep.

-xXx

Language notes

arigatogozaimasu- formal thank you

domo- informal thank you

doitachimashite- you're welcome