Alright, this is a little embarrassing. I decided not to add this scene at first because the last chapter was already so long, but then I realized this is the scene that has the most symbolic impact and actually brings closure to Kita's character arc. So, here it is. This happens just after Kita gets the family heirloom koto.

Kita held the instrument in her hands, feeling the familiar curve of the back, and the surprising weight. It had been in her family for generations, sitting in the corner of her hut since long before her birth, and perhaps before the birth of her father. She ran her fingers along the middle strings, and plucked once. She plucked several more times after the twang of the first faded away, fidgeting with the instrument rather than truly playing it.

"Kita, what is the matter?" the huntress's father inquired. "You appear distressed."

Kita sighed, and set the Koto down on the wooden table next to her, behind Alexandra. She then produced her mask, split down the middle and rendered unwearable by White Death. "In the fight I was injured, this happened," she admitted. "After everything, with me abandoning the tribe, and loving another woman, I was sure this meant I was no longer watched over by the Great Shrouded Fox."

"Kita..." her mother began. "The Great Shrouded Fox continues to watch over you, wherever you go. Though you may stray from our path, She knows your heart is true."

"We must go to the Shaman, we will have your path blessed, and a new mask will be bestowed upon you," her father added.

Kita nodded once. "We must be quick," she reminded. "An entire nation demands we return."

Kita and Alexandra, along with the Kurayami family, left the hut, and entered the one across the street. It was built permanently into the center of the Shrouded Fox village, constructed of light wood planks all around the outside. On the interior, an array of support beams made a second floor possible; an architectural feat not replicated anywhere in the village.

Kita's father knocked three times at the door, hearing the tone echo deeply throughout the building. After a couple seconds' shuffling inside, the door was opened by a towering form, shoulders twice as broad as Kita's, and over a head taller. He was clad in robes of red, black flames stitched into the silky fabric. Hair traced across his chin and onto his upper lip, lending his sharply defined face a touch of hair. A scar ran down his right cheek, just below his piercing red eyes, which carried a permanently stoic gaze.

"Aka," Kita's father greeted. He bowed low, and the rest of his family followed suit. Alexandra looked to the man, then to Kita. She started with surprise, and bowed clumsily.

"You have brought an outsider. Why?" Aka questioned. "You know this is grounds for banishment."

"She has been brought in by Kita, who is visiting for a short time," Kita's mother explained. She turned to her daughter, who showed her broken mask. "Our daughter lost her mask in a fight for her life. We had hoped to receive a new one, and bless her transition to adulthood."

"...Very well," Aka agreed, in his usual gruff voice. "Outsider. We will be watching your every movement."

"Uh, g-got it!" Alexandra replied uneasily.

As the group began to follow Aka toward the back of the hut, Alexandra flinched with surprise. From each side of the door, a Shrouded Guard peeled themself from the wall, where they stood still as a statue, not warranting notice. One was clad in yellow, the other in blue. They said nothing, and Alexandra's mind began to race, pondering what sat behind their masks.

The hut began to darken as the group walked to the back, where a woman sat eerily still in front of a fire that sent dancing orange lights and dark shadows across a tapestry of a white fox. Above the Shaman's head hung several small wooden planks, bushels of what looked like grain, and preserved animal parts; all grouped together on their own drooping string. Like the guards, the Shaman wore her Shrouded Fox mask.

"Kita," an elderly woman's voice called from behind the painted face of a fox. "I was told you would return. And, I was told your mask had broken."

"Wow, she's good..." Alexandra noted aside, gaining the gaze of the two Shrouded Guards. Through their masks, she could feel the looks of disapproval. She decided it was best to stay quiet.

"Yes. I lost my mask in a fight for my life," Kita confirmed. "I had hoped to visit not only to see my family, but to ensure the Great Shrouded Fox still watches over me. These have been my final moons before becoming an adult, and yet I have strayed far from the traditional path of the Shrouded Fox."

The Shaman sat eerily still for an uncomfortable amount of time, her increasingly audible breaths the only hint Alexandra had to be sure she was human. "...You have strayed far, this is true. But your path is still that of the Shrouded Fox," a voice said from inside the mask. This time, a different voice. Younger sounding, more powerful and of a deeper tone. Alexandra noticed a slight twinge of distortion, as if the woman spoke from behind a wall, from inside an echoing room. "I see all you do, and I am pleased with you, my daughter."

Kita said nothing, and merely bowed.

"You have lost my mask, and many of your most trying battles lie ahead," the voice continued. "You must receive a new mask. With it, you receive my blessing."

With the final words, the Shaman jolted back to animation. She caught her breath for a brief moment, then stood wordlessly, and walked to the darkest corner of the hut, where a shelf made of dark wood held a single mask. Kita stepped forward from her family, and knelt in front of the fire.

"With this, we mark your full maturity," the Shaman declared. "Kurayami Kita, daughter of the Great Shrouded Fox. With this mask, you take on the spirit of our Goddess and ancestors. Do you accept this mask as your own?"

"I accept."

Kita closed her eyes as the mask covered her face, and the string tightened behind her head. As her eyes opened, the light of the fire danced across her mask, rendering it's usual white an eerie shade of orange.