Familiar Issues

"I love you, beloved. I love you so much you can't imagine," She hugged me tight to her. "I must go for a time. There are things I need to do, question I desire answered. I am unsure how long this trip will take, but… If I take too long, please do not hesitate to avail yourself of your sister's help."

"Y- You're l- leaving," My voice shook, and the view of my lap blurred.

"I must, beloved. I wish I didn't have to. I will speak with your sister before I go, make sure she takes care of you. And we shall speak when I return. Your father wanted to go to the Ministry Yule Ball as a family. Hopefully"

She kissed one of my ears and rocked me against her.

"Please forgive me, beloved. Please."

That had been last week.

I hadn't reacted well. I was just glad Tipsy was there to make me eat and take my potions. I'd moped around for a few days before I'd finally managed to pull myself somewhat together.

I'd done my best not to think about it after that. Worked hard on my Halloween costume until it was almost done. I'd seen a picture of Other Big Sis Yamashiro, and I found the way she was dressed to be most appealing. She was beautiful, of course, like all of us. Red eyes in a stunning face framed by short black hair in a bob. Her dress was an indecently short elaborate kimono. She kind of looked like someone's idea of a sexy miko.

Knowing us, it was probably her idea of what an actual miko should look like.

I had to admit though. She did look pretty cute. So of course, I had to do my own version.

I'd dug out a kimono Mother had given me as a welcome back gift when St. Mungo's had released me home. It was a beautiful thing, but I'd had to ask Tipsy to help me modify some things to fit the style in the photo. Tipsy being an excellent elf had no trouble making my wishes come true.

Unfortunately I was not yet of an age where I could fully bring all of the kimono's charms to bear, but I felt I could make up my lack of, ah, curves, with cuteness.

And actual charmwork.

Don't judge me!

So far, I'd made it probably bulletproof, completely silent, and probably somewhat spell resistant, though I'd rather never need to test the last one. The fox mask was also bulletproof and had a bunch of cool charms for extra information on everything I saw. It'd been as I was examining my memory of the picture that I'd realized a fatal mistake in my own everyday wardrobe.

A true disaster.

But at least it was an easily fixed disaster. Tipsy had several pairs of thigh high socks ready for me before the day was over. I'd charmed those too when they kept sliding down. The whole thing was really comfortable, and I finished the whole thing in time for Halloween.

I flooed to the Leaky Cauldron already dressed in it, and I got off the Knight Bus in the early morning. It was cloudy, and slightly windy. The flag of the Fluffy Pirates flapped in the wind, the white fox head slashed through by rust red fingers. It brought a smile to my lips. That had been a good day, and the scar I got from it looked super cool.

I walked into the kitchen to find my beloved M- Big Sis sitting at the kitchen bar in the middle of a wake and bake. She looked like she really needed it. Like she hadn't slept much for a few days. And sad. She seemed really sad.

That wouldn't do.

I climbed up into her lap, startling her pretty badly in the process. She actually let out a smoky squeak before hurriedly putting out her joint.

"Baby, you're here!" She hugged me tight, filling my sense of smell with a heady mixture of her own personal scent and burnt cannabis. "I was so worried. I… Mom came by. We had words and I explained some of my concerns regarding her. She left anyway."

"I don't want to talk about this."

She hugged my tighter and pulled me back to kiss my forehead.

"I know, Baby, but I want you to be prepared. I don't want you to be surprised if- if things go the way they did for me. I love our mother, but sometimes… sometimes I think I hate her just a little."

"She left me again."

"I'm so sorry, Baby. Please know that as long as I live, I will never, ever, leave you. Understand?"

I nodded against her chest.

"I wish you were my mother."

"Oh, my Baby. I would have loved to be your mother. You are an amazing girl, and our mother… Our mother knows this, but-"

She tried to hold back a sob and shook against me.

"That- That's just how our mother is. She settles down for a bit, but eventually the urge to wander becomes too strong and she has to travel again," said Big Sis, hugging me tighter. "When she left to find our sisters so they could meet you after your accident… Sometimes it happens like that and the wanderlust wakes up faster than normal. It's why she tries so hard not to travel when she settles down and has a daughter. She left me with Yamashiro and Kongo when I was sixteen because she couldn't hold off any longer."

She kissed the top of my head.

"And you know what? As much as it hurts, as much as the pain of being abandoned by our mother hurt, I'm glad she did. You know why?"

I shook my head.

"Because her leaving made it possible for you and Rachel and Dawn to exist, and you're worth more than any time with mom could ever have been. You three are gifts and worth any pain I had to go through."

She took a shaky breath and I felt tears fall on top of my head.

"I love you, Izzy, and if you want me to be your mother, I will do my best."

"I love you too, M- Mama."

It wasn't until a few hours later that she finally realized what I was wearing.

The facepalm followed by giggling was exactly as expected. We'd finally disentangled from our cuddling when she felt the need to make some lemonade. Elias was bringing takeout. He'd taken one look at the pile of sad kitsune girls and known no cooking would get done today.

"You and Yamashiro are so alike. Sometimes it's hard to remember that ditsy girl is older than me. Kongo too, for that matter."

"Is Big Sis Kongo still off in America getting white girl wasted?"

New Mama snorted into her drink.

"I see you remember that. Yes. She's off in MIT studying how to make better computers. And getting white girl wasted. Do me a favor and ask her that next time we talk to her."

Being used to prank my older sisters was truly a noble calling.

We went out Trick or Treating at five, and by eight I could honestly say I had never seen so much candy in my life. Also people. Like, sure, I suppose I'd probably seen more in Diagon Alley, but something about the ambiance of Halloween made thing different. I knew this was probably more down to my rather sheltered life than my candy haul being that impressive or there being truly that many people, but I still managed to be pretty happy. I didn't have to talk to others, after all. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the candy, but hey, it was loot, and as a pirate I was obligated to take all loot regardless of usefulness.

Elias had stayed home to hand out candy, and said he'd join us once he ran out.

We were at the outer edge of the neighborhood, where suburbs started blending into city. We'd joined a group of other Trick or Treaters and Big S- Mama was talking with other parents while their children played around. I was staring at a Fluffy Pirates flag projected onto an alley wall. Both because that was completely puzzling, I hadn't put it there after all, and because interacting with other people was scary.

So I investigated. Which was probably a mistake, because two people started following me as soon as I was far enough from others. Well, at least they chose the worst child possible to mess with. Not many others were two tailed kitsune hybrids who knew how to use a wand.

I walked down the alleyway and wrapped myself in illusion. I wasn't very good at it, but hell would freeze over before two non magicals managed to pierce through the illusions of a two tails unaided. Combined with how dark the night was, even my patchy job would be more than good enough for those two.

I thanked Elias for being a paranoid bastard and instilling good instincts into my head.

The two men following me walked into the alleyway seconds after me, one of them speaking into what I assumed to be an earwig hooked up to a radio.

"Control, this is Tag One, target walked into trap two. We'll have her at the rendezvous and ready for transport in ten," He listened to a response, before answering. "Tag One and Tag Two copy, Tag Actual. We'll handle the target with care."

Well. Fuck.

That wasn't good.

I could just walk out, but then that would just leave them free to try again. Couldn't have that. I could stun them and get them to Elias and I was very, very certain he'd take great care in making sure they could never try again. He had a very particular set of skills, and he was definitely the perfect man to find them all and deal with the problem.

The men had stopped short of the wall at the end of the alley, clearly confused as to where exactly a seven year old could be hiding in an empty alleyway devoid of actual places to hide. Perfect. I snuck up behind them, wrapped a tail around their legs, and pulled. They went down hard, the guns in their hands going flying away from them.

I pulled my wand from the currently invisible thigh holster and sent a stunning charm at one of them. Their reactions were instantaneous. Both went for their sidearms, and the one I hadn't stunned put a three round burst center mass before I could even start casting a second stunner. Next thing I knew, I was on my back and my chest hurt so bad I couldn't breathe. Everything hurt.

"Anders, wake up! Fucking hell, wake the fuck up. Damnit. What kind of fucking stun gun was that?"

I snapped back into full consciousness and wove illusions around me again. I limped away from where I'd fallen and left an illusion of me bleeding out in my place. Good thing my kimono really was bulletproof. The man left his partner on the ground and crouched next to my illusory dead body. He was as distracted as he was going to get.

"Stupefy," I did my best to be as quiet as possible, and made a note to perfect silent casting as soon as possible. It wasn't quiet enough and he rolled away from the spell in a blur of movement while also shooting another three round burst at me that almost completely missed. The burning pain in my right arm told me I was out of bulletproofing and this had become a lot more dangerous.

"Reducto!"

I didn't miss this time. The blue bolt of my Reductor Curse flew through the air and into his left shoulder, blasting him into a wall with the snap of broken bones ringing through the air. I didn't see or hear any of that, though. My head was ringing, and my mask wasn't on my face anymore.

The stars were beautiful tonight.

The ringing faded and I sat up where I'd fallen the second time. I could smell blood in the air, and if the wet feeling on my forehead was any indication, I was the one bleeding. I had a feeling I was in trouble.

"Izumi. Are you okay?"

I jumped and squeaked at Elias' voice. He was suddenly beside me, picking me up and hugging me close to him.

"Oh, Tiny Fox. I'm so glad you're okay. When I heard the shots and we couldn't find you…"

"T- T- They w- were after m- me. H- He called me t- target."

"They did, did they?"

And just like that I wasn't talking to my loveable father figure, but to a black ops veteran who was very interested in finding out who was after one of his. I nodded into his chest.

"Come on, your mother's back there. Go with her. I'll take care of things here."

I clung to her all the way back home, and I clung to her through Ducky's examination. Mama had called him as soon as we'd gotten home, and he'd arrived twenty minutes later.

"Well, young lady. You're going to be fine. Whatever you did to your costume kept the bullets from doing any serious damage. I'm afraid you'll have two new scars though. The one on your forehead will most likely be very faint, but the one on your arm will be a tad more noticeable.

He'd given me a bunch of stitches, and a long set of directives on what not to do to them.

I should have remembered to tell Mama we could go to St. Mungo's and have it healed faster. Hell, I should learn how to cast Episkey. Stitches sucked.