~Day one~

In the evening of the next day, still so heavy with death that she alternatively cried while curled up into a fetal position and additionally while not, her decision had been made.

"We all know that ghosts exist, and so do the demons. Why doubt the gods?"

Her only encouragement was the fact a dead person told it to her, a dead person possibly created by some sort of dementia she underwent throughout all of her life. She could have been in a different place altogether anyway, all of the world around her just an infinite, brutal nightmare.

But if it was all a dream, she might have just found the perfect moment to start controlling it.

The moment sun must had likely begun setting, and the dark clouds tinted with crimson, she resolutely tipped the jar with rice bottom-up, stacked the tofu cubes one atop another in a pyramid-like construct, and spend ten minutes straight just lighting up all of the candles she could dispose of, making the shrine clearly visible from the distance of the eighth torii, as she later checked herself. The fox statues stared at her with something akin to lazy curiosity as she finally knelt at the steps of the shrine, but instead of feverish prayers, a clear voice rang out for them to hear.

"Inari-sama," Levy spoke with power, though she felt her entire being striving to furl back onto itself at the brutal forwardness. "I am so sorry, but I can't wait anymore. We have nothing to lose now. The lives of our sixteen measly selves are nothing compared to the mass it murdered and devoured. Our rice has almost never grew, and now, with such limited amount of working hands, it definitely won't. I prayed every day. I don't know what have I done wrong; if it's my clothing, I'll just do it naked. Just help us. Fighting is not your domain, but now we'll try to transform the pathways around the abandoned streets into improvised rice fields. It's going to be an incredibly difficult undertaking. So make it possible for the rice to grow, I plead you. Save us. A-And… If it's possible, give us a savior."

The world seemed to tilt as she bowed her head to the floor, eyes heavy with emotion.

"Just… Just give us a sign, at least. Send someone… anyone. In exchange, I'll serve him and the shrine for the rest of my life. Unconditionally. I promise."

Wiping up the wayward tears the best she could, the bluenette blinked a bit to clear her vision, staying frozen for a minute or two, expecting something sudden to happen at any possible moment. When it didn't, she released a drawn-out sigh and slowly climbed back onto her feet, shaky steps leading her to her shack, retreating for the night. The candles burned freely behind her, oddly undisturbed. She landed on her knees on the bedding, door opened halfway and left that way because it didn't even matter anymore, and smashed face first into her pillow, wakeful yet numb-minded for the first time since the terrible thought of unavoidable doom occurred to her.

Leaving the denial behind was a start.


Something fell right on top of her face and Levy startled into wakefulness, sitting upright and taking into her surroundings with wide eyes and a beating heart, before heaving a sigh and slumping her shoulders. She had the foulest dreams of being ripped into shreds, yet she seemed to still be in the cottage, tangled up in her futon. And the door was still open too, filling the interior with the orange candlelight. There was no need to worry.

However, as she was about to return into the state of slumber, she caught herself feeling a little bit different - something she couldn't pinpoint until her weight lurched inside of her body in a positively uncomfortable manner, the ground proceeding to give a shake on its own.

'Eh?' She mouthed, frowning - and then sat back up in a sudden fit of coughs as her throat and eyes started tingling unpleasantly. Wiping the latter with the back of her wrist and carefully blinking open, the bluenette realized why- and it deepened the sudden, nervous feeling sizzling somewhere around her stomach.

There was dust everywhere – swirling about in the air like a shimmering curtain, tickling the eternity of her respiratory system unpleasantly and making more tears well up at the corners of her eyes as she itched. Items of all sorts trembled on their spots as well, every few seconds filling the room with faint rattling and ringing that somehow escaped her attention. Every unstable object inside the cluttered space was leaning on the things accompanying it – boxes, crates, pots or some of the larger oddments. Others fell on their sides or the floor and damaged themselves.

Looking up above her head and squinting, she spotted such a bottle on the shelf right above her head and frowned.

What was going on?

There was a growl then, right behind the paper-thin walls of her shelter, answering all of her silent questions and driving into a state of panic. The bluenette whipped her head to look at the paper screen proceeding the open Shōji, freezing for a second in fear as a large and menacing shadow rushed to spill across it. She jumped back at that, scrambling against the wall behind her back, kicking the objects in her path away save for the gray kimono she'd quickly covered her naked body with. Her eyes were wide, gaze leaping from the attacker to the open doors and back as she mulled over her chances of survival and an escape plan, thanking god that the creature was stalling with it's advances.

But then, as her wide eyes lingered on the outline of the chimera for a bit longer, a trembling crease started forming on her forehead. The monster… did not quite look like she was used to. It wasn't bulky – having more of feline grace in it than the usual mass. It didn't seem like itself. What meant…

Her pulse slowed, leaving her thoroughly confused and blinking owlishly at the dark mark of its presence before her, who, after a minute confirmation, did not look quite like the chimera she'd rightfully expected. Her hands were shaking as she stuffed them in the sleeves of the kimono like a pair of heavy lugs and clumsily fastened the ties, but as the moment between the creature's arrival and her demise stretched into a full minute, her breathing evened out and the gears in her brain ground together, hinting at something obvious and logical that frolicked just out of her reach until the thick log of its tail separated into a five distinctive lines and swiped at the air.

And if recognizing a Yōkai whose statues she spend her entire life tending to was still beyond her capabilities, then she would be an idiot.

On the other side of the screen stood a Kitsune. Not the chimera eating away at the villagers as she'd feared, but an enormous, two meter tall, tricky fox. The thick appendages coiled around its frame in a leisure peace, attached to a thin midsection and standing strong on four thin legs. The head, shaped like a pen nub and pricking up its ears was turned in her direction, but when she finally jolted back into motion and moved to stand up - it turned, snout scrunching up in a growl.

Suddenly, the five appendages stiffened and shot in the air with a deafening crackle, sending the cottage rattling with a wave of spiritual power. Levy bristled, before covering her head with a scream as objects of all sorts went crashing down into the clutter on the floor, breaking into pieces with dry cracks and spilling around everything they contained, effectively transforming the entire floor into a prickly mess.

Choking inside cloud of rice flour that hung low above the floor, she waited for a moment and then dared open her eyes – squinting and seeking out the shadow of the strange being as powder resettled on the floor.

It was gone. Instead, there were three horizontal lines painted on the paper in crimson, leading all the way to the corner and probably further away.

Levy paused, hands braced on the wall, and her eyes widened, before she wordlessly stood up and quickly guided her steps into the debris to break out outside of her cottage. Almost immediately her bare foot found its way into a shallow puddle of blood trailing all the way from the staircase and the Torii to the shrine, making a detour to stand by her door. Turning into the direction the fox had gone for with a growing sensation of worry, the bluenette immediately passed the corner of her cottage, breath catching in her throat as she spotted the Yōkai nestled in front of the shrine construction and curling its great tails around… what appeared to be a bloodied side. The dark red trails of blood trickled down the inky fur in a bright and morbid contrast, seeping through it and dripping generously on the trodden soil. What in the world?, the shrine keeper thought, jolting as the Kokko opened two crimson eyes and jerked it's head up to glare at her. It hadn't answered in any way, though, slowly turning its head back to analyzing the wound, before unclenching it's jaws and taking a slow, tentative lick at the torn flesh. She saw the black fur bristle straight up from across the yard before the thought it could be painful even occurred in her head. Reaching a small hand to press at her chest and hammering heart, she regarded the creature with mixed feelings for few more seconds before ducking back behind the corner in search of wrappings. When she returned, the fox curled in on itself, snout pressed into the ground and little ragged breaths passing quickly through its teeth as it laid there, unconscious.


She hadn't gone to the village that morning.

She should have had; the people depended on her. But for the first time, her job as a priestess and shrine keeper overwrote the civic duties.

And it made her feel both odd and uneasy.

She should've been half a mountain away from here, mourning, gathering prayers and trying to calm everyone down. Doing everything she always had, maybe think about some new approach to the situation or wonder about the details of survival plans. Not wasting the day on the futon she'd dragged over to her 'patient', laying on her side and staring into its closed eyes. Definitely not, but Levy would be damned if she'd let anything happen to the one thing, that she'd found made some sort of a difference.

Even if it was only existing. Solely existing. Living though a tear in the side so terrifying it made her wonder how it was even alive.

The sun at this time was only beginning to peek above the jagged horizon, and the clouds caught whatever rays it could've given. That gave the sky a dark hue the large fox seemed to melt into, as still and resting as he was. Not entirely – there was a white, tight bandage around its entire midsection – but as far as her night worth's work wasn't concerned, he was the epitome of stealth.

Levy's eyes slowly slid shut as her thoughts muddled, weariness catching up with her in a dreamless slumber.


She hadn't known exactly for how long she was out in the darkness, but it was apparently longer than it felt - because when she grimaced and opened her eyes, she was immediately drawn into a pair of narrowed crimson ones.

Vey spiteful and pupil-shrunken to boot.

The growl she remembered fuzzily from last night reverberated deep within the throat of the Yōkai – and dazed as she was, she unwittingly caught a glimpse of sharp teeth as it's snout trembled with the force of it.

The glare it sent her then could've probably made her combust, and it worked about as efficiently as a bucket of ice-cold water.

A shiver running up her spine, Levy quickly gathered up from the bedding on her knees, hands in her lap. A particular sort of uncomfortable silence followed as she tried to remember or understand why it looked so upset, while simultaneously trying to avoid the hard gaze of the creature. Licking her lips, she took a deep breath and looked the fox in the eyes – only to shrink away as it scrunched it's snout briefly.

What was going on? Had she done something? Levy felt a bit lost as she gathered up her thoughts.

Eventually, without making eye contact, she swallowed and said,

"…H-Hello?"

And her voice sounded incredibly meek even for her own ears - partially deafened by the irrated rumble the fox emanated as it already were.

Blushing self-consciously, she wrung her hands and waited for an answer. It hasn't come. After twenty seconds, she became a bit uneasy, mustering up the courage to look the fox in the eyes and getting an eyeful of scorn, send just for her.

The next minute of silence discouraged her.

The Kokko was ignoring her, and she had no idea why. Brows furrowing as she raised her head a little, she mulled whether to, in the light of the situation, try asking any of the questions bubbling up at the back of her throat or not, but eventually decided against it, completely dejected. She had her own suspicions concerning the Yōkai's mysterious arrival but voiced none. She just sat there, having no idea what to do, before the insistent noise forced her to excuse herself to think and quickly disappear on the road to the river.

The Yōkai rumbled on throughout the day, the sound dark and intense and so low that sometimes she wasn't sure if it was her imagination or it really let the time pass while needlessly wearying it's throat. Under normal circumstances she would probably find herself liking the sound – it had the quality that made the hairs at the back of her head stand up - however, coupled with the scorning meaning and the fact she was trying to focus on her work and think of a new approach strategy, it became rather irksome.

Her frown deepening, she wondered if it was doing it on purpose, all the while trying to keep calm - but around afternoon her patience broke and she huffed, setting down the basin with herbal suds with an audible clank. Walking out of the devastated interior of her cottage, she stopped before the crippled fox with hands on her hips, frowning when it laid its ears close to its head and looked up at her. Meeting it's gaze and trying not to shudder, she demanded, not without a bite to her tone,

"Could you please stop it?!"

The growling stopped abruptly, the eyes of the fox narrowing into a glare and the pupils shrinking further until only small slits remained. The inky fur on the eternity of its body bristled up in a warning – a hundred thousand tiny black pins raising up slightly to make it look even more intimidating - and Levy frowned softly at the change, wondering if she'd just pushed her luck, but discarded the thought a second later. Surely, she'd done nothing wrong?

Her hands balled into fists where they rested and she refused to break the eye contact - but the doubt must've reflected on her face somehow because all of its tails twitched at once and it's gaze seemed to become more inquiring. At least for a second.

Then it gave a humorless snort and looked away from her - and despite not knowing what was going on, Levy suddenly felt hurt, like she'd just failed a test.

The bluenette backed away a few steps and turned around while mumbling something along the lines of 'I'll get you some water'. Already halfway across the yard and intent on disappearing back in the half-cleaned interior of her cottage, she stopped suddenly, feeling the need at least say something.

So, turning around, she'd already begun,

"I'm glad you're-"

Before the short speech degenerated into a startled gasp.

The Kitsune was gone, like it never had been there in the first place. The only indication were the tree branches and shrubs near the staircase leading to the village, slowly bobbing up and down like something just sped through.

Before she really thought about it, Levy was already running toward them, stomach clenching tightly with the same sensations she'd felt when she saw the Yōkai wounded before the shrine - but with some additional anger and exasperation to spike her temper.


From the amount of dancing branches before her, Levy easily concluded it was advancing much more rapidly than she did – and immediately thought about the wound on its side. What a brilliant way to further breach the internals, she huffed, worried and angry as she ventured into the more inhospitable parts of the mountainside. Though she was sturdier than most after years of mountain climbing, she was running out of breath and not giving herself any breaks. The thick foliage obscured her view from mid-calf down so she occasionally stumbled in her step, branches pulling at her kimono and twigs catching in her hair. If she hadn't known that no predator lived here anymore – except for the one she was trying to chase down – she'd also would've had to watch out for snakes and the likes. Probably turned back, too.

Or not.

A tinge of red flashed in the corner of her eye and she turned her head to examine a line of cooling lifeblood stretching across the leaves of a short shrub. Despite the fury, her breath hitched and she slowed down, searching hurriedly for the traces of the crimson liquid and following them as the thicket started to loosen up. The mist, usually rolling over the valley in the rain season, begun to obscure her vision. She chose the wrong way to follow twice and had to backtrack, and her stomach tightened at the increasing amounts of gore on her path.

Unexpectedly, the shrubbery ended and Levy broke out into the vast, fern covered cathedral of mossy, ancient trees. Almost falling when the constant pull on her clothes suddenly just let go, she stumbled to a halt, feet squelching as they descended into a hidden puddle and making her yelp.

The sound echoed about in the enveloping silence, and then all she heard was a little stream, splashing happily in her vicinity. The bluenette glanced around in a daze, stepping out of the water and trying to catch her breath. Examining the area restlessly, she searched for any more blood tracks, but much to her anxiety, there were none. She walked in circles for good five minutes before she stopped, and admitted to herself that she'd lost them.

Then she lumbered toward a large root sticking out from the ground and sat down.

The fox was gone.

Drawing her knees to her chest and hiding her face from the outside, the bluenette shivered from the cold and tried to gather her thoughts, rims of her eyes slowly welling up with tears. There was no way. She couldn't.

Oh God, she was a failure. An Inari priestess that made an almost vitally wounded Kitsune escape from the shrine where it was supposed to be safe and tended to, and she hadn't even understood why. Fisting her hands into her wet kimono – courtesy of the liquefying mist – the girl felt her lip tremble, tears falling down her cheeks as she wept silently. It was really gone. And was probably going to die, sooner or later, just like her villagers.

So much for a difference.

The next minutes were spent on silent crying as she hid away in shame, not even a choked sob escaping past her lips as she bit them until the skin broke and the stab of pain roused her from her stupor. Trembling like a leaf and feeling her lip, she wondered what would happen once the chimera felt hunger again, and the possibilities made her stomach clench with fear and straighten abruptly.

Right on cue to catch a fern clump tremble a good two dozen meters away and almost startle out of her skin at the unexpected occurrence – the cry echoing about long after she'd released it and making her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

Her eyes instantly focused on the blurry outline, moving in a way that compelled her to follow it. One foot reaching out carefully to settle amidst the pistachio colored leaves, she jumped as the cluster froze, and the one placed further sprung to life instead - before she moved to follow it, trying to wipe the tears and snot off her face as she quickened her pace.

Whatever was leading her into the forest soon became suspiciously clear with its motives and she wasn't about to judge it because of it. When she reached a crossing of flows, acting like rapid barrier to the plants behind her and the mud and rocks on the other side, Levy slowed down and frowned, searching for the best way to the other side. Looking around for the trembling bush, she saw it appear near a small dam of rocks, giving a firm shake before it returned to its original state. Moving in the proposed direction, the keeper climbed on the first chunk of stone and leapt at the one following it, leaving another mossy rock behind as she carefully made it to the other side. As she advanced, she saw a red spot on the mud with some imprints in the mud, and confirmed with relief that she was indeed pushed back on track, soon disappearing amidst the wide trunks as she ran.

As the steps echoed farther and farther away, a black cat jumped gracefully from its hiding amidst the dam, fixing it's eyes on the same crimson mark before its two tails twitched with barely hidden irration.

Idiots, the lot of them.


When she finally found the Yōkai – curled up in the centre of a cluster of small, broken trees - it was laying on the ground and seemingly just as out of breath as she was, the wrappings on its chest either loosened up, torn or caught between the long tails. It was licking at the wound again, and she winced at the blood-stained flesh peeking out behind the ruined bindings.

It's ears were perked up in her direction and she knew it knew she'd finally caught up. Still catching her breath, she wasted no time in taking a step forward, stopping briefly as he let out a sharp growl from where he worked.

However, the hostility wouldn't stop her this time.

So, brushing off the 'leave me the hell alone' themed protest or the angered swipe of its tails, she closed in on it until she reached the sheen of blood covering the eternity of the space around him- clasping her hands in front of herself and asking seriously,

"Can I help?"

"What do you think?" replied a deep, haughty- and at the moment incredibly irate voice and she startled, before realizing that yes, the Kitsune spoke back, and that it was most definitely a male Kitsune, too.

The rough baritone immediately made her tremble, and she had to swallow before stilling herself and smiling mirthlessly. Twisting her words back at him, she answered calmly, "I think that if I tried being nice out of my own volition, you'd just end up running again."

There was a sharp growl then, and the entire black fur on him bristled, head cocking to the side so one livid eye could glare daggers at her.

"Do you have any idea what you just said to me, girl?!"

"I am being honest," Levy responded, taking a quick step back as his muscles flexed, ready to pounce.

"No!" the fox snarled, "You are being a cocky little bitch!"

The keepers mouth fell open at the insult, cheeks coloring and a scowl marring her features. "How dare you!"

"So you claim you don't even know what you said?!"

"No!" She raised her voice back at him, "I have been nice to you! You were the one who stared at me like I was- some sort- some sort of an insect!"

"DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU SAID WHEN YOU MADE THE BLOODY PROMISE?!"

"I said- What?!" Levy paused, taken aback and mulling over the few statements she made to him, before scowling. "I haven't promised anything!"

"Not now!" There was a tone of exasperation in his voice now, like she was a particularly stupid case of a human being. "Listen, little fool. During the offering you gambled your entire measly life. You offered to serve me. It's the same of making yourself a servant! And little servants like you don't go treating their masters like equals."

"This is ridiculous," Levy huffed, stomach tightening as she caught on. The Kokko snorted loudly, bloodied snout scrunching up to show his teeth.

"Well, it's your fault for betting your life on it!"

"Well, if you're so precise about it, it would be nice for you to know that I'm becoming your personal doormat after you kill the demon plaguing the village, and not a second earlier!" she screamed at him.

He lunged at her, then – an actual bark of all things escaping the bloodied mouth – but then he jerked mid leap and lost the momentum, falling in a heap at her feet and hissing lowly. The bluenette gasped, the hands covering her face from his attack moving to untie and salvage the bindings as his side started bleeding uncontrollably, and the silence that occurred was an awkward one – as she tried to tug her entire collection of wrappings off him and maybe, just maybe stop the bleeding so he wouldn't die on her and dash her hopes of defeating the chimera, while he - contrary to his earlier haughtiness, mind you - was submissive like a trained dog, panting and shaking softly from the loss of blood.

Eventually, he managed to wheeze out, a rakish smile slowly stretching across his snout:

"She told me… to take the quest and do the job, but… hadn't told me when. So you'd better get me back in shape, shrimp… or we're in for a hard time."

An odd sort of a laugh escaped him then, and he added,

"My name is Gajeel, and you will refer to me as your master, Gajeel-sama."

Levy nodded, working at his side with a steadily increasing amount of annoyance, until she had enough and dug her fingers into the surprisingly soft fur at the rim of his wound, finding some sort of perverse pleasure in hearing him curse.

"I'm Levy, the keeper of the Inari shrine. Pleased to meet you, Gajeel!"

He was livid.


First day over! :D And yes, the chapters of this are going to be LONG, heheh. I would like Ulcaasi to help me with his awesome grammar nazi just like he had earlier if I've got any mistakes in here.

Well, writing this was hard but fun! And Gajeel is a bastard. I love it when he's a bastard, but in TDP I hadn't given him time to be so.

Speaking of witch, I should probably get to writing the next chapter. Sorry folks – after the Spanish test! (I got -3 and passed! :D)

Also, I'd rewritten the first chapters of FotR, you might want to see that. They're much more enjoyable now, am I right or am I right.

AND I HAVE LILY IN THIS FIC TOO! :D AND HE'S AN AWESOME BAKENEKO!

Review, I worked haaard for it!

~HeartGold12

EDIT: Fixed the mistakes!

Terms:

Yōkai - a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese culture. Not quite demons or spirits.

Kokko - Black fox. There are also Byakko(white), Ginko(silver), Kinko(gold) foxes, and others. (Google translate gave me Kuroko for some reason, so don't trust this piece so much)

Bakeneko - Two tailed cats who can talk, create ghostly fireballs, bring dead back to live and control them by leaping over their bodies.