Chapter 10

I went to visit Maka while she was in the hospital. I could smell – far more strongly than I feel like I should have been able to – that she'd gotten tagged by something spider-witch related, and she now couldn't move. Soul was trying to feed her, though she was protesting she could feed herself.

Then Black Star jumped over and was ready to sign her face, declaring that his autograph would help her recover faster than any food. Good grief.

Actually, it might help her snap out of whatever was keeping her from moving, if only to give him one of her famous Maka Chops.

She didn't manage to move, and he put his signature on her forehead along with giving her a mustache. "As soon as I'm able to move, you're going to pay for that, Black Star!"

I reached over and dragged the laughing self-proclaimed ninja off the bed. "You're annoying, mister."

I wanted to tell them. But I didn't want to be looked at by a nurse, because I didn't think there was anything anyone could do about it.

And Kid had just organized the medicine bottles symmetrically. I sighed and rolled my eyes, though I was smiling all the same. He looked so happy that I just couldn't help but smile.

Then Sid came in asking to speak with the nurse – Naigus, I think her name was. Black Star and Tsubaki followed them out into the hall.

I sighed; the nurse was gone. "Well, now that they're gone, there's something I really ought to tell you lot." It had been a few days, so…I'd mostly come to terms with it.

Mostly, see, because it had spread.

Well, I had all of their attention. "What is it, Emiko?" Soul asked.

"My…bad reaction to being called a witch…really needs an explanation."

Kid walked up behind me and set his hand against my shoulder. "No explanation is required. You'd probably gotten that reaction for years, and it's likely gotten extremely old..."

I flinched away, causing him to trail off. "No, Kid; even though that's true, I do need to explain this. See…my father…I never knew him personally. My mother wasn't married to him, and, ah…" I glanced at Maka. "Let's just say it wasn't a love match."

Ragnarok straightened up a bit over Crona's head. "Well," his high voice rang out. "Your story just got interesting! Let's hear the rest of it!"

I sighed again. "My mother was attacked and raped. She'd been separated from her meister at the time, and she never said what had caused that separation, though I got the sense that it had been an argument. She'd have been killed if her meister hadn't come back and driven off the attacker."

"That's awful!" Maka exclaimed. "My dad might be a jerk, but at least he's never been that bad!"

"The attack set her back a long ways in becoming a Death Scythe, in no small part because she wound up pregnant with me. She never blamed me for it, and she told me she had no regrets in keeping me, as long as…well. My birth father went underground, so Mother never got the chance to kill him. She has very high hopes that I'll avenge the indignity she'd been put through."

After a few seconds of silence, Crona spoke. "But…what's this have to do with you being called a witch?"

I closed my eyes. "My birth father's name is Rakhishu. Does that name ring any bells to anyone?"

Maka and Kid both gasped, while Crona shivered and Ragnarok set a ball-fist at a spot on his face that was about approximate to a mouth.

Kid was the one to say it. "Rakhishu's a sorcerer! He gains power from his victims, and if his soul were ever to be obtained, it would be equivalent of a weapon capturing the soul of a witch!"

"Hence the reason I can become a skunk as well as a weapon. Mother's not sure why my animal form's a skunk, when that wasn't what he could become, but her theory is that an animal form can only be shared across families, and then only under very specific circumstances that I hadn't matched. As it is, my animal's at least in the same family group as his: I remember something about his escaping in the form of a weasel."

Liz touched her chin. "So the reason you're so sensitive to being called a witch…"

"…Is because the statement is half right. I'm a half-witch." I sighed. "Being able to turn into a skunk is fun, don't get me wrong, but it has its issues. One of the first things I learned was that I'm way slower as a skunk. The second thing I'd learned was a far more unpleasant surprise, and the first thing I found I'd need to control: an attraction to…dead things." I shuddered. "Let me correct that phrasing: a hunger for dead things. The first time I went exploring as a skunk, I came across a dead snake and swallowed the thing whole."

That got a room full of recoils, except for Maka who couldn't move although her face suggested that she wished she could.

"As soon as that happened, I morphed back and got my second nasty surprise. I got an upset stomach from what I'd done."

Suddenly, Patty pointed at me. "When you showed up at the party as a skunk and said you couldn't turn back yet!"

"Bingo: I'd encountered something the skunk couldn't resist. And that leads me to a new revelation that I actually had at the party. Lately, every time I come across a dead animal, I'm compelled to eat the stupid thing, which is why I've excused myself from all of Professor Stein's dissections. I never had that problem before that first one, and after we'd run past Medusa and chased the black blood, I'd drawn a conclusion." I looked around at the lot. "I think two things regarding that first snake. First of all…" I shuddered. "…that first snake wasn't dead…"

That alone got a grimace from Liz, and possibly from someone else who wasn't in my line of vision.

"And second…it was one of Medusa's."

With that declaration, I walked over to a corner and just stood there with my back to them. This is strategic, readers.

Ragnarok was the next to speak. "Well, Skunky, that was certainly an interesting tale, and just as a side note of information, I do remember hearing Lady Medusa saying something to that effect once."

I sighed. "Not that you'd actually tell me, but did she say how many she'd, ah, arranged for me to eat? When she was about to hurt me before Stein engaged her in combat, she'd mentioned 'all' the snakes I'd eaten, and that implies more than two."

"Mmmm…" I didn't turn around, but I figured he was faking tapping his chin. "She might have mentioned it, but I certainly don't remember."

I shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. At any rate, not beyond the fact that the mixed blood I have, plus the witch spells that have been force-fed to me, are reacting to the madness wavelengths to a certain extent."

"Wait, what?" That was Soul.

I decided now was the best time to drop my bombshell. I yanked my shirt off, keeping my back to them.

I heard Maka's voice start to say my name angrily, but it died before she got the last syllable out. I could feel everyone's eyes on my fur, with the line only broken by the strap of my bra.

"I don't know if the process can be reversed. My only theory is that if I become a Death Scythe, I can manage to cough up the snakes Medusa gave me and return to normal." I pulled my shirt back on and turned around, my expression hard. "And the witch soul I shall claim to do that will be Rakhishu's, thereby finishing what he'd started when he targeted my mother." With that last shot, I walked out the door. There. I did it. I gave them every secret I've ever had. And the only opinion I'm worried about is Kid's.

I heard the door open and close behind me. I didn't stop, but I was walking slowly. I took a deep breath. Kid.

"Emiko…"

"Hm?" That was when I stopped.

He didn't say anything else. He just walked up behind me and stopped.

After a second, the silence got to me. "Was there something you wanted to say?" I turned around, hoping that his expression wouldn't be one of revulsion or pity; I didn't think I could handle either of those.

It wasn't. In fact, I didn't really get a good look at his expression before he hugged me, just as suddenly as the first time I'd hugged him.

I froze. Of all the stuff I'd been expecting, that wasn't it.

"I don't condemn you for your blood, Emiko." Kid spoke over my shoulder, practically right into my ear. "None of that was your fault. I also don't condemn you for ending up with some spells of Medusa's within you, even though it means I won't…" his voice got lower. "…I won't kiss you again until you've managed to rid yourself of them; the risk would be rather greater than it's worth, even though Medusa's gone. That you ended up with her spells was just some bad luck."

I felt one of his hands slide down my back. "And as for…" Before I could truly react, his hand was under my shirt and against the fur on my back. "…as for your new fur, it's perfect. I can't hate it."

"Perf…" my voice trailed off. Of course. The stripes. They're symmetrical, aren't they?

Having made his point, Kid let go and removed his hand from under my shirt, stepping back. Weirdly enough, I hadn't minded having his hand there.

"If it should disappear, I…will probably be disappointed."

At least he's honest.

"However, I accept whatever will happen."

"Kid…" I reached forward and caught his hands. "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that."

He smiled back at me, giving my hands a gentle squeeze. Then he suddenly dragged me down the hallway. "Come on, let's find you as many kishin-egg missions as possible to get you ready to take on Rakhishu!"