Hey everyone,
WOW, these upcoming chapters are going to be MASSIVE! Lea's going to return, it's going to be obvious that Jess is being affected by her inner Kitsune, there's going to be a fight between Riku and Lea, the groups will arrive, the Chasers, Lea, Axel and Jessica will have their performance and we're going to cover the last two worlds of the KH1 game/movie. Also, due to how massive Hollow Bastion is, I'm cutting that up.
The first part will be up to the point of Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy fleeing Hollow Bastion, the second will cover their temporary stay in Traverse Town and I might put their return to Hollow Bastion in a separate chapter or add it to the second. I know that it's not much, but there is that big conversation between the Hollow Bastion Crew and Sora and I want to do that and the battle with the Behemoth justice.
All cool? Good,

Venquine1990
PS. WOW, I can't believe I put almost 60 chapters worth of content in less than a week's time, story-wise that is.

Chapter 57
A Kitsune's Pride

1st of February 1996
Destiny's Haven
Jessica's POV

When I went to bed last night, I was very worried that I might not be able to fall asleep, due to my anxiety over seeing my betrothed again. Yet then I remembered the ring that Lea had given me at the end of his last visit and I had played with it for a few minutes. The same sensations as the other day had calmed my nerves and I had fallen into a peaceful slumber. Yet as I wake up, I both feel content – and as if something's missing.
I turn my body a little to the left and my hand falls off of my side and lands on a bit of the mattress that seems almost as warm as the bit of bedding I'm lying on. Instantly I get what's wrong and open my eyes. And indeed, on the side of the bed, I see Lea seated on the chair that is usually set in front of my vanity table. The fact that he is wearing my favorite outfit brings a smile to my face, yet I can't help but ask why he left the bed.

Lea asks me how I knew and I answer that the mattress is still warm on his side. Lea grimaces and then comes over to lean across the bed. He softly pecks me on the forehead and the sensation brings a purr from my throat. "I deeply enjoy our relationship and understand why we're, sort of and slightly, rushing into things. But sorry, love, I consider sharing a bed a step too soon." I grumble at this as my inner Kitsune heartedly disagrees.
Lea softly lets a hand run through my hair and this action calms the inner being down. My frown leaves my face and a grin takes its place instead. Lea smiles back and suggests that I should get out of bed as well. My inner Kitsune purrs at this notion and the fact that it might inspire Lea to cuddle with me again. And because my inner Kitsune and I are on the same page on this desire, I happily comply with the suggestion.

Lea makes me grin as he turns around as soon as I push the cover off of me, even though I put on a thin set of sleepwear the other night. At the same time I feel deeply touched at his sign of respect for my privacy. I head into my walk-in closet and once I'm inside, I hear the voice of Lady Destiny speak. "Just wear whatever you want, darling. I enchanted your wardrobe the other night. Nothing will tear once your tails appear."
I sigh in relieved gratitude over this and yet at the same time, because I know that the growing of the tails is going to hurt me something fierce, I decide to just wear something that is comfortable first and lovely second. I rummage through my new collection of cloths for a moment and finally pick out a nice pink dress with a purple skirt with golden accents, pink and purple puff sleeves to cover the shoulders and light pink sleeves. (Rapunzel's dress)

I smile at the dress as I hold it up in front of me for a moment before I change into it. To my relief, the bodice and the corset within the body ends just above my hips. This makes me feel hopeful that neither will cause me to feel any kind of discomfort when my tails start growing, Lady Destiny's magic not taken into account. I hear her softly whispering in my ear that I should head for my vanity table and put my hair into a braid.
I grin in agreement to this, even though my inner Kitsune is starting to feel desperate to just return to my mate and cuddle with him. I mentally tell this side of me to be patient a little bit longer and leave the closet. Lea's eyes widen slightly and the grin on his face expands slightly as he sees me enter. I grin back at him, yet then I use my new wand to summon the chair over to my table. I take my seat and again let Lady Destiny guide me.
My hands work my hair masterfully, as if I have been doing this for years, and at the same time the sensation of Lady Destiny's magic coursing through my muscles and skin feels inexplicable. It almost feels as if someone is standing behind me and as if the front of their hands is covering the back of mine. It feels as if I am doing this, yet at the same time as if someone else is doing it for me. All in all, it feels intriguingly special.

After another minute or so, my hair is perfectly braided and my hands had reached out to various boxes on my vanity table a few times. Thanks to this there are now beautiful little flowers, made of gold, silver and other precious metals, set in my hair at various points. I tuck a gorgeous ruby red amaryllis securely behind my right ear and turn around. I ask Lea how I look, yet I don't need to really. The look of love and adoration on his face says it all.
He walks over to me and I stand up from my seat. He gently puts both of his hands on my cheeks and whispers one word. Ethereal. I grin at him and kiss him soundly on the lips, something that makes my inner Kitsune purr in impatient delight. I wrap my arms around Lea's neck and deeply desire to just stay here, with Lea and Lea alone. But because I know what's on today's schedule, I know that that's not possible, no matter how much I might want it.

Lea parts from me and I sigh as I tell him about the half hour he will have after breakfast to fight with Riku. My mate looks deeply confused at this and I growl: "Because, like my ancestors, I am more Lion-Kitsune than Fox-Kitsune, I seem to have formed a bit of a pride with Riku as the alpha, dad as the Omega and Sora and me as the Betas. But because they're family and you're not, Riku's inner alpha considers you a threat to his pride.
He's been cranky and obtuse about this whole thing about you being here with me ever since it was decided that you'd watch the finale with us. He doesn't want to, he does trust you, but his instincts contradict him." Lea nods and mumbles that his fight with Sora probably didn't help matters. I wince as I remember that event and agree with him.

Lea shrugs and says: "Well, let's not aggravate those instincts of his any further." And like a true gentleman he offers me his arm. I beam at him and happily accept the gesture. We head downstairs and just the sight of Riku trying his hardest to suppress a grimace proves both of us to have been right. Yet Lea ignores this obvious discomfort and just jovially greets the rest of my family, who all return the gesture with a smile of their own.
I feel deeply relieved that Riku's smile is indeed genuine and also deeply grateful that, despite his inner alpha clearly displeased with the whole situation, there is a loveseat for two at the table. Lea and I take said seat and while we prepare our breakfast, Lea speaks up. "I'm not the only one invited, by the by. Lady Destiny invited four other groups as well. Though she was debating between two groups for the last of the four groups last I spoke to her."
Sora asks who else is coming and Lea answers: "One group is your mum, your aunt Lily and Remus. Another group is the Chasers, the twins and Lee Jordan. The third group is Roxas, Xion and Axel. And finally, she was debating between Mickey, Donald and Goofy or Terra, Aqua and Terra. Though my personal preference goes out to the latter group, to be honest." Sora and Riku nod in agreement to this, yet I grimace.

"I won't share. He's mine. They can't have him." A voice deep within me hisses and snarls quietly, one that I recognize as my inner Kitsune, even though it's never sounded like this before now. Then Riku sighs and calls out Lea's name. Lea nods, stands up and summons his fiery blade. Dad raises his wand and the numbers of a stopwatch appear above his head. The number 30:00 is shown and dad reminds them both that they have 30 minutes.
The timer starts and instantly the two men jump away from the table, rush over to an empty bit of space and rush for each other. Instantly several emotions deeply overwhelm me. Fear that my beloved might get hurt. Confidence that my mate can take my alpha. Pride that my alpha takes my role as the female of the pride so seriously. And annoyance that my mate is no longer seated next to me, cuddling with me as I eat.

Lea and Riku clash again and again and several things are very obvious. Riku has more experience with the Keyblade than Lea. But Lea has more battle experience, possibly several years more than Riku. And both Riku and Lea know each other's battle techniques, skills, abilities and spell work inside out. Yet after about ten minutes of me trying to ignore all of my emotions and just focus on the fight, I notice something else.
While Lea is obviously more durable and has better endurance and defensive skills, Riku is able to be more unpredictable. Yet what worries me is that, the longer the fight takes, the more a wild gleam seems to appear and disappear from Riku's gaze. And each time this gleam shines in his crystal-colored orbs, he makes a move or uses a technique that Lea didn't expect him to. Yet Lea manages to either evade or block most of them.

But then it goes wrong. Riku and Lea rush at each other for another physical clash, yet suddenly, halfway across the dash, Riku disappears in a cloud of dark smoke. Lea stumbles in shock and then Riku, who appears out of nowhere, attacks him in the back. And because Lea stumbled, he gets shot halfway across the room. Instantly I am out of my seat and rush for my mate, regardless of the fact that Riku is doing the same.
I notice the gleam in his eyes and realize what he's planning. Because of this, while Lea turns himself on his back and hisses in pain, I jump inbetween the two and turn to face my Alpha with my arms spread wide and a frown of desperation on my face. "No more, Alpha." My stance silently tells my Alpha as Riku halts his rushing ascend in front of me. The older boy glares at me and growls, as if trying to intimidate me into stepping aside.
But I keep strong and snap: "Alpha, enough! You're not testing my mate, you're about to kill him. You're overreacting. Look deep within yourself, alpha. Look deep and think back to all the times that my mate aided you. All the times that he stood by your side. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for me. How he has been courting me as a true mate should. You know him, alpha. You know, deep down, that there is no better for me.

Now, accept him. Accept him as I do." Strong desperation rings through my voice in the end as I try to fight back tears. Alpha stares at me for a minute longer and slowly the gleam fades from his eyes. Riku groans and shakes his head. He blinks a few times and looks up at me, and at Lea who is still crouched on the floor behind me. I bite my lip for a moment and then decide to take one last desperate chance before things go wrong.
"Riku, you might be alpha and I am more than willing to accept that, as is Lea. But I am still who I am and Lea is the only one for me. I accept him and I know you want to do so as well. Please, Alpha Riku, please." Riku blinks and stares at me for a moment longer. Slowly a content smile forms on his face and he raises his free hand. A sigh of relief escapes me as he softly pets my hair. This is my alpha's way of saying that he accepts my plea.
"Thanks, Jess. I don't know why my inner Alpha was so against Lea, but – it almost felt as if he felt challenged by Lea. I – I don't know why, but it was almost as if the Alpha didn't consider Lea a potential mate for you – but a stranger who wanted to usurp his position as alpha." I wince at this and Lea groans as he says that his own need throughout the battle to really prove himself worthy probably didn't help in this.

Riku shakes his head and I notice dad rubbing the back of his head as he says: "I should have seen that coming. We should have tried to have your inner alpha accept Lily as part of the pack. That would have evened out the odds, even if only by a little. The pride only having one female is never a good thing, regardless of the bond between the alpha and the female." Instantly I realize what he means and my eyes widen in shock.
But then Lea is suddenly all over me from behind and he growls at Riku. Mine. My mate. Tend to your own. Leave mine." Riku frowns at the words for a moment and the gleam returns to his gaze. Thankfully it's only for a short moment and afterwards he nods. The two men seem to stare each other down for a little while longer and then both nod at each other, as if they came to a silent agreement. I shift my gaze between them.
Yet the grin that adorns both faces after their joined nod settles the last of my nerves and makes my inner Kitsune hum in delight, just like it did when Lea embraced me from behind. Lea rubs his face against mine and the feeling of his skin against my own has me giggle softly. Yet then suddenly, as if the sensation sparks the magic within me, I feel something happen. Something that is sincerely painful as it rushes through me.

From my cheek down to my hips it feels as if my blood has been turned into molten lava as it courses through a few of my arteries and veins. It reaches my hips and my hipbone feels as if it cracks in two right at the center. I cry out at this sensation and even more as it feels as if the hipbone tries to reattach itself back together, but then with a bit of the bone sticking out to my rear. This point feels as if it grows further and further back.
I cry and whimper and tears run down my face as I feel this furiously hot, painful and sharp bit of magical bone push against and through the muscle tissue above my rear, but just underneath my appendix. Then it tears through my skin, which feels more fragile than wet paper and yet this does nothing to lessen the pain. Thankfully the sensation of this magic shooting through my skin is the last thing that causes me pain.
I still feel something growing, something that is much softer and made only of fur and skin, but the sensation is thankfully painless and only feels strangely alien to my form. When it felt as if my hipbone broke in half, I slumped down on hands and knees. But now I am lying on my side on the floor, my whole form cuddled up in a ball, as if instinctively trying to lessen the pain this way, and I am still crying tears of pain.

I hear Sora call out to me and gently instruct me to tell him if I can feel this. The sensation of the magical leaves and petals of his Cura has me sigh in relieved bliss as they gently and tentatively push the painful sensation from my system. "Okay, bad news. No version of the cure spell is strong enough to break through Jess' form when she grows her tail. Good news, the spell does work once her tail has forced her through this painful experience."
I clearly hear Sora's forced optimism and his annoyed concern sound through his voice and wince as I whimper that I'm going to experience it another four times. The others stare at me horrified and I nod as I say: "This was just my first tail. I can feel my inner Kitsune now stronger than ever. She's yet to be done growing. I don't know how I know that I have five tails, I just – I just do." And instantly the others react.

All of them move me into a seated position on the ground and embrace me from all side. Lea seats me in his lap and pulls me lovingly close against his front. Sora and Riku embrace both Lea and myself from both sides. And dad, even though I am practically covered on all sides, managed to wrap his arms around my neck and embraces me from the front. I can feel my tail move, a sensation that is as weird as my breasts were that first morning.
It tentatively flicks across both Sora and Riku one at a time and runs its tip over dad's face. Then it moves back and lovingly wraps itself around Lea's midriff. The whole sensation feels almost foreign to me as it feels as if muscles I have never known about are suddenly starting to move of their own free will. Yet at the same time I can't help but smile. The tail, while fox-shaped, has a lion-like tip and is brown-colored with hints of grey – and flecks of fire red.
And while the sensation of the appendage moving like it was felt very strange and foreign, I instinctively know what it was doing. I grin widely. My tail was familiarizing itself with those that my inner Kitsune has already recognized as those closest to me. It had given both Sora and Riku a playful and loving little swirl across their side. And the way that it caressed dad's face and now wraps around Lea speaks for itself. My tail recognizes my Kitsune Pride.

How sweet,
Now, does the tail have a mind of its own? Not really. It's just much more tied to Jess' inner instincts and emotions than to her brain. Therefore it will react more so on her feelings and her surroundings than her thoughts and ideas. And even that will only be temporary as Jess will learn to control her appendage, one all five of them have grown out, that is. Though to be honest, the number five was just a random choice.
Next chapter: the groups arrive, the readers get to see who got picked, the song gets played and Jessica grows a few more of her five tails. Also, I want to thank Anubis Of The Highway Thieves. He reminded me that, while I had things in mind for a certain character, I haven't really mentioned said person. Namely Naminé. I promise to fix this in the upcoming chapter, though she won't be with Roxas and the others.
Thanks again,

Venquine1990
PS. At the moment of posting this, I am halfway done with Chapter 58. I might post that tomorrow.