The Forgotten Child
Chapter 15
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Kitsuryuu slowly became aware of the sights
and smells around her as the sharp edge of her
delirium wore off. The light, musky scent of the
deep forest she had lived in all her life was
replaced by a strange, heavy smell that burned the
back of her throat. Even the water she sat by
smelled funny, though she could see that it was
crystal clear. Kitsuryuu could see every crevasse
of the shallow pool by the light that was provided
by orbs under the water. Kitsuryuu wasn't sure if
she liked this water, or this place she had found
herself in, but she had no where else to go and no
inclination to find a another spot.
She turned and examined the many tiered stone
structure that was in the exact center of the
stone pool as she dragged her slender fingers
through the water. She tilted her head to the
side and watched the water cascade down the levels
of stone. Kitsuryuu became fascinated with the
top rock that was shaped to look like a woman with
a child nestled in her arms on the upper most
level . It made her think of her fire friend and
his baby and Kitsuryuu wished that she had someone
to hold her like that when she had been a little
kit. She tried to imagine what it would feel like
to be loved like that by someone, but other than
Koori, no one had ever tried.
Kitsuryuu had no idea how long she had been
sitting here with her feet in the water, but she
really didn't care. She took the ends of her ice
blue hair in her hand and fanned them apart as the
blood hummed warmly in her veins. She studied
them carefully under the strange light above her
that was neither the sun nor the moon with heavy,
drugged eyes. The light illuminated the area
around her as if it was day, but outside the
sphere of light it was black as a moonless night.
Kitsuryuu had never taken her youko form long
enough to see what her hair looked like before.
She noticed that it was very different than either
Fuyu's or Koori's blue locks. Kitsuryuu had
brushed both of the girls' hair before and had a
chance to examine it closely. For them each
strand had been identical to the one next to it.
There was no play of shadow and light like in
Mechiko's hair, or in Maryoku's. When the two
girls sat next to each other Kitsuryuu saw no
difference in color from Koori's to Fuyu's hair.
Kitsuryuu continued to study her own and
found some strands were a dark blue like the
girls', but the others ranged from a silvery blue
to a silver that was almost translucent in the
light. She knew that her fur as a kitsune was
even lighter and held more of the silver in the
tips of her ears and tail.
Kitsuryuu dropped her hair back to her chest,
bored with it now, and splashed her bare feet in
the water. It made her left leg ached terribly
when she did this, so she continued using her
right foot to smack the water. She didn't close
her eyes when the water hit her in the face and
clung to her eyelashes, but she did blink the
drops away. Kitsuryuu found that it was very hard
to think clearly so she just watched each little
droplet that was flung in the air from her play
reflect the light overhead like bright, faceted
stones. Kitsuryuu tried to follow each one as it
fell back into the water, but lost them as they
merged together into one conglomeration of
twinkling light that reminded her of her star.
She looked up into the sky and the quick
motion made her light headed. Once she regained
her balance Kitsuryuu searched the inky black
curtain for the bright, heavenly gem that was
hers. With the light over her head washing out
the specks of light from the sky, Kitsuryuu could
barely make out the star that twinkled blue and
red. That was her star. She had found it a long
time ago before she even knew humans existed and
named it as her own. She didn't know why she
always looked for this tiny speck of light when
she was lonely, or scared, but every time she did
she felt better.
Suddenly Kitsuryuu realized that she had been
in her ice shape for far longer than she ever had
been before. Her delicate blue eyebrows came
together in concentration as she tried to remember
exactly how long she had been like this. She gave
up trying and thought about the fact that she had
been sitting here for quite some time and her
collar had not yet tried to force her into another
shape.
Kitsuryuu reached for her throat and
hesitantly touched the smooth leather strap around
her neck. It was warm from her skin and she could
feel the designs etched into the surface.
Suddenly there was a bolt of crackling energy that
danced along the edges of each shape under her
fingers. She felt a jolt of electricity race up
her hand and arm, and her body instinctually
responded by releasing its own power. The collar
instantly quieted and Kitsuryuu was struck by the
realization that the exchange between the collar
and her skin had almost been pleasurable.
She closed her eyes and focused on the
electrifying feeling of the blood pounding fast in
her veins. Kitsuryuu could feel every part of her
body tingling with sensation. It almost felt like
the pleasure she felt when she would lay out in
the bright sun and curl up in a ball to sleep. It
felt like someone running strong fingers through
her fur, scratching and rubbing all the spots that
made her tail twitch. It felt like the fever that
came over her when she and Mechiko really let
loose and fought, pushing each other to the limits
of their abilities.
Right now Kitsuryuu wanted to do all of those
things, and more. She wanted to run, she wanted
to fight, she wanted to scream, she wanted to lay
down in the grass and roll in the sun, she wanted
to claw something, bite something. She wanted to
feel and taste sweet blood well up under her lips
as she bit into soft flesh. She wanted to kill
something. She wanted to kill a human.
Kitsuryuu's head snapped up at the thought.
Now that she was aware of these feelings, she
could sense the slow heartbeats of a couple dozen
different humans close to her. They were of all
ages and both sexes, most of them sleeping, but
some were awake. She knew which would be the best
for her need, which would give her the most power.
Kitsuryuu didn't like the turn her thought
had taken. The hunger for power and dominance she
was feeling made her remember when she had
slaughtered the humans that had hurt her so badly.
She could remember clearly how she enjoyed killing
them. Kitsuryuu had never felt pleasure in
killing anything before. She had killed to
survive, to eat, but that time had been different.
It scared her to think that she wanted to have
those feelings again.
She did not mourn those humans' deaths, and
she wasn't sorry that she had ended their
misbegotten lives, but the things she had done
after she regretted. She had blindly killed
everything that had come in her path. She didn't
care that there had been no need for all those
animals to die, all she had cared about was
recapturing the feeling killing the humans and
feeding off of the one that had taken her ears had
given her.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what had started these
feelings inside her. She couldn't remember even
seeing a human except for Arashi for many years,
let alone killing one. She tried harder to
remember the events that had led her to be where
she was now, but all she came up with was a blank.
The more she tried to focus her thoughts, the more
chaotic they became.
She couldn't get the images of what those
long dead humans had done to her out of her
thoughts. She could almost smell the stench of
the room, the feel of the sharp pain of each blow
that they had given her. Kitsuryuu had always
been able to feel the ghost pain of her ears after
*that* human had removed them. It was a faint
burning sensation that made her want to claw and
scratch at her healed wounds. She recalled how in
the days following that the stumps that had once
been long furry ears had gotten infected. Day by
day Kitsuryuu could hear less and less, until
finally all was silent.
Kitsuryuu raised her hand and traced the
scared edges of her functionless ears though her
long hair. Her slender finger followed each
semi-circle and she was consumed by rage and hate
as strong as the day she had killed the ones that
had done this to her. Kitsuryuu wanted to see her
ruined ears, she needed to see what they had done
to her.
She reached into the back of her hair and
pulled out a perfect rose made from transparent
ice. Even though it was devoid of color itself,
the flower caught and separated the light from
overhead into its many colors, streaking the
petals with rainbows. She clutched it tightly in
her fingers and one of the many, needle-like
thorns pierced her skin. One drop of bright red
blood flowed along the stem until it pinched off
at the end and fell into the water below.
Kitsuryuu threw the rose without looking at her
target. It went completing though the circle of
light over head, extinguishing it.
The light level lowered considerably but the
lights at the bottom of the pool still made it
impossible for her to see her reflection in the
water. Kitsuryuu reached down and crushed the two
closest orbs on either side of her. They
collapsed easily in her hands and soon she was
able to see her dark mirror image.
She studied the stumps that had been left
behind in the reflection closely. She found them
to be extremely grotesque and wished that even
they were gone. Kitsuryuu glared at her hideous
face and it glared back. She was so engrossed
with her own thoughts that she almost didn't feel
Maryoku approaching until he was almost standing
next to her.
She became furious that he had seen her like
this. Damaged, ugly and incomplete. She swiftly
shifted to her more familiar fire form and was hit
by a increase in power so strong she thought she
might explode.
========
Maryoku had watched Kitsuryuu sitting on the
edge of the park fountain from the shadows ever
since she had settled on it's edge. He found it
charming the way she would tilt her head slightly
to the side to watch the water flow down the
levels of the statue in the center. She seemed so
much like a child sometimes with her constant
questions about the world and her child-like
innocence about human things. Because of that
naive outlook he had thought of her a pet instead
of a intelligent person for far too long.
Maryoku couldn't decide what had changed his
view of Kitsuryuu from a charming pet to the
intelligent and talented woman he knew now. It
could have been the first time he realized that
Kitsuryuu and Koori were having meaningful
discussions in the primitive signing they used.
It could have been the first time he caught her
trying to read one of Koori reading primers when
the little girl was asleep. It could have been
when he saw her place Arashi under the shade of a
tree away from the harsh sun that had already
turned the red head's skin a bright pink. Maryoku
smiled to himself and realized that it had been
her drawings that had made the difference.
Kitsuryuu's talent with a pencil was
something that none of them had taught her. She
just picked up one of his pencils and his notebook
and started drawing one day. Before he knew it
she had filled up his chemistry notebook and
started on his literature notes. The first
pictures had been rough, but soon she learned how
to hold the pencil correctly and the drawings
almost began to breathe with a life of their own.
He had transferred his notes to other
notebooks and hid Kitsuryuu's first pictures under
his mattress. The next day he came home with all
the books he could find on sign language and
started to teach her. It had been slow at first,
because Kitsuryuu really didn't see the need to
use anything new, but soon she realized that she
could say more with what he was teaching her. She
had a small vocabulary and her sentence structure
was horrible, but she started to talk more to them
instead of signing everything to Koori so that the
little girl could translate.
Kitsuryuu could be as loving and loyal as any
pet, or she could be as deadly a female protecting
her cubs. Her temper was always intense and
fleeting. Her resolve was always rock solid and
nothing could change her mind once it was set.
She had learned to survive on her own probably
before he had been born and she acted on instinct
almost exclusively. There was no doubt in his
mind that she could be as dangerous as his father
feared, but he knew that if it came down to the
wire that he couldn't rely on a better friend.
As he watched her play he did not miss the
painful grimace that flashed across her face just
before she stopped moving her left leg. Maryoku
didn't know how he knew she'd be here when every
other time he tried to second guess the youko he
had been wrong. He was so mesmerized by seeing
Kitsuryuu in her youko form that he almost missed
the quicksilver emotions that were easily seen in
her unguarded eyes. He decided that the best
course of action would be to get her out of the
city as soon as possible. He didn't want his
father and the other adults to be the ones to
confront Kitsuryuu.
What was she thinking? What was she feeling?
He wondered that as he slowly approached her. He
had no clue, but it didn't look like she was
enjoying herself anymore. He had watched her
reach up and run her fingers over her ear stubs
and the bitter and hateful look on her beautiful
face made him halt. Maryoku knew that the loss of
Kitsuryuu's ears and tail was a very sore subject
with the youko. If any of them ever brought it up
Kitsuryuu would immediately clam up and became
reclusive.
He watched her suddenly reach for her collar
and was fascinated by the exchange of the
leather's white crackling energy with the
turquoise blue glow that enveloped Kitsuryuu's
entire body. He was surprised when she didn't cry
out in pain or start gasping for air as she
normally did when the collar tried to control her.
He started to worry that something was very
wrong with her when he could feel the hate and the
regret that took over her emotions. They were
chaotic and partially self directed. Maryoku was
startled when Kitsuryuu reached into her hair and
pulled out a rose that cast tiny rainbows on her
face. She moved faster than his eyes could
register and the light above her head went out in
a gentle shower of tinkling glass. Next he
watched her reach into the water and the muffled
pops of two light fixtures under the surface could
barely be heard in the quite night.
The remaining lights cast flickering shadows
on her face as she gazed into the water. He
wasted no time in closing the remaining distance.
Kitsuryuu shifted forms and her ghostly blue hair
changed to black and her near six foot height
decreased. He heard her gasp in surprise and pain
as she folded her arms across her stomach.
Maryoku subconsciously took in Kitsuryuu's
battered appearance. Her hair was tangled and
encrusted with blood. The left sleeve had been
cut from her shirt and her left jeans' leg was
ripped and cut away also. Maryoku saw black
bruises on her arm and leg and the water around
her feet started to turn an ugly shade of rust as
the dried blood washed off.
Kitsuryuu held her middle and rocked back and
forth moaning. Maryoku started for her again,
then froze when she suddenly threw her head back
and let loose a howl that sent chills down his
spine. It was a long, mournful cry that echoed
hollowly in the sparse trees of the park. To
Maryoku it sounded like the wind of a hurricane;
low, deep and frightening.
Kitsuryuu's head dropped back down to her
chest and she fell on her hands and knees in the
shallow fountain. The howl continued, however,
and became increasingly louder until it was a roar
that shook the ground and made waves in the water.
Suddenly the sound seemed to focus on a point and
exploded in a vortex of deep red flames. From the
center of the eldrich fire stepped a fox made
completely of youki fire.
It looked lazily over at him and then turned
its attention to Kitsuryuu. The water around her
boiled and turned to steam and in seconds she was
crouched in an empty pool. Kitsuryuu sat up and
arched her back with her arms high over her head.
She gave a slow smile as she stretched, her red
eyes opening just a crack to look at him.
Maryoku had seen that playful look before and
was a little nervous that it was directed solely
at him. Kitsuryuu uncoiled and approached him
slowly, the fire kitsune following obediently at
her feet, trying very hard not to limp on her
healing leg. He watched as she started to circle
him, her gait graceless and halting. He stood
still trying to decide if he should move as she
disappeared out of his sight behind him.
He waited nervously for Kitsuryuu to come
back around so that he could see her. The park
was now completely silent without the running
water of the fountain as a backdrop. The seconds
ticked by and Maryoku felt a single bead of sweat
roll down the side of his face. He jumped when
Kitsuryuu laid her head against the back of his
shoulder and placed her hands on his lower back.
Their heights were nearly identical so it was easy
for Kitsuryuu to nuzzle the back of his neck with
her nose.
Maryoku leaped forward like he had been
struck with a white hot poker and whirled to look
at Kitsuryuu. The kitsune was sitting at her feet
with its head tilted to the side in confusion.
Kitsuryuu had a similar look, as if *he* was the
one that was acting strangely.
"Kitsuryuu, what are you...."
He never got to finish as Kitsuryuu came
forward and leaned her head against his chest. He
placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to
push her away, but she just wrapped her arms
around his waist. He tried to back up but
Kitsuryuu followed, the kitsune in perfect step.
His calves hit the low stone wall of the fountain
and it unbalanced him enough that he was forced to
sit or fall.
Maryoku was frightened by Kitsuryuu's strange
behavior and it only got weirder. Since she was
still standing while he was sitting, she
maneuvered herself so that she sat in his lap with
her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Maryoku
grabbed Kitsuryuu's arms and forced her hands down
to her lap. He tried to give her a scowl and a
quelling look but she just grinned and stared
blankly back with too bright, glazed eyes.
She leaned forward and he retreated as far as
he could and still keep his balance. When he
finally couldn't lean back any farther Kitsuryuu
rested her face in the crook of his neck.
Kitsuryuu nuzzled his neck again and Maryoku knew
that he was blushing a very dark and deep shade of
red. He tried again to push her away but before
he could even get his hands to her shoulders he
felt her hot tongue trace over his skin once and
then her sharp fangs bit into his neck.
He gasped in pain and the hands that he had
been holding snaked around his chest to hold him
tightly. Maryoku's head was spinning at a million
miles an hour and he was sure he was going to pass
out. He was thinking that nothing else could
happen to make this night any weirder, but that's
when all hell broke loose.
============
end chapter 15
Here you go another chapter. I suggest reading it
very slowly because this will be the last one for
a while. Windlily is on vacation for the next
three weeks. I guess that means I'll be working
on Broken Mask for a while!^_^
Kat
Chapter 15
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Kitsuryuu slowly became aware of the sights
and smells around her as the sharp edge of her
delirium wore off. The light, musky scent of the
deep forest she had lived in all her life was
replaced by a strange, heavy smell that burned the
back of her throat. Even the water she sat by
smelled funny, though she could see that it was
crystal clear. Kitsuryuu could see every crevasse
of the shallow pool by the light that was provided
by orbs under the water. Kitsuryuu wasn't sure if
she liked this water, or this place she had found
herself in, but she had no where else to go and no
inclination to find a another spot.
She turned and examined the many tiered stone
structure that was in the exact center of the
stone pool as she dragged her slender fingers
through the water. She tilted her head to the
side and watched the water cascade down the levels
of stone. Kitsuryuu became fascinated with the
top rock that was shaped to look like a woman with
a child nestled in her arms on the upper most
level . It made her think of her fire friend and
his baby and Kitsuryuu wished that she had someone
to hold her like that when she had been a little
kit. She tried to imagine what it would feel like
to be loved like that by someone, but other than
Koori, no one had ever tried.
Kitsuryuu had no idea how long she had been
sitting here with her feet in the water, but she
really didn't care. She took the ends of her ice
blue hair in her hand and fanned them apart as the
blood hummed warmly in her veins. She studied
them carefully under the strange light above her
that was neither the sun nor the moon with heavy,
drugged eyes. The light illuminated the area
around her as if it was day, but outside the
sphere of light it was black as a moonless night.
Kitsuryuu had never taken her youko form long
enough to see what her hair looked like before.
She noticed that it was very different than either
Fuyu's or Koori's blue locks. Kitsuryuu had
brushed both of the girls' hair before and had a
chance to examine it closely. For them each
strand had been identical to the one next to it.
There was no play of shadow and light like in
Mechiko's hair, or in Maryoku's. When the two
girls sat next to each other Kitsuryuu saw no
difference in color from Koori's to Fuyu's hair.
Kitsuryuu continued to study her own and
found some strands were a dark blue like the
girls', but the others ranged from a silvery blue
to a silver that was almost translucent in the
light. She knew that her fur as a kitsune was
even lighter and held more of the silver in the
tips of her ears and tail.
Kitsuryuu dropped her hair back to her chest,
bored with it now, and splashed her bare feet in
the water. It made her left leg ached terribly
when she did this, so she continued using her
right foot to smack the water. She didn't close
her eyes when the water hit her in the face and
clung to her eyelashes, but she did blink the
drops away. Kitsuryuu found that it was very hard
to think clearly so she just watched each little
droplet that was flung in the air from her play
reflect the light overhead like bright, faceted
stones. Kitsuryuu tried to follow each one as it
fell back into the water, but lost them as they
merged together into one conglomeration of
twinkling light that reminded her of her star.
She looked up into the sky and the quick
motion made her light headed. Once she regained
her balance Kitsuryuu searched the inky black
curtain for the bright, heavenly gem that was
hers. With the light over her head washing out
the specks of light from the sky, Kitsuryuu could
barely make out the star that twinkled blue and
red. That was her star. She had found it a long
time ago before she even knew humans existed and
named it as her own. She didn't know why she
always looked for this tiny speck of light when
she was lonely, or scared, but every time she did
she felt better.
Suddenly Kitsuryuu realized that she had been
in her ice shape for far longer than she ever had
been before. Her delicate blue eyebrows came
together in concentration as she tried to remember
exactly how long she had been like this. She gave
up trying and thought about the fact that she had
been sitting here for quite some time and her
collar had not yet tried to force her into another
shape.
Kitsuryuu reached for her throat and
hesitantly touched the smooth leather strap around
her neck. It was warm from her skin and she could
feel the designs etched into the surface.
Suddenly there was a bolt of crackling energy that
danced along the edges of each shape under her
fingers. She felt a jolt of electricity race up
her hand and arm, and her body instinctually
responded by releasing its own power. The collar
instantly quieted and Kitsuryuu was struck by the
realization that the exchange between the collar
and her skin had almost been pleasurable.
She closed her eyes and focused on the
electrifying feeling of the blood pounding fast in
her veins. Kitsuryuu could feel every part of her
body tingling with sensation. It almost felt like
the pleasure she felt when she would lay out in
the bright sun and curl up in a ball to sleep. It
felt like someone running strong fingers through
her fur, scratching and rubbing all the spots that
made her tail twitch. It felt like the fever that
came over her when she and Mechiko really let
loose and fought, pushing each other to the limits
of their abilities.
Right now Kitsuryuu wanted to do all of those
things, and more. She wanted to run, she wanted
to fight, she wanted to scream, she wanted to lay
down in the grass and roll in the sun, she wanted
to claw something, bite something. She wanted to
feel and taste sweet blood well up under her lips
as she bit into soft flesh. She wanted to kill
something. She wanted to kill a human.
Kitsuryuu's head snapped up at the thought.
Now that she was aware of these feelings, she
could sense the slow heartbeats of a couple dozen
different humans close to her. They were of all
ages and both sexes, most of them sleeping, but
some were awake. She knew which would be the best
for her need, which would give her the most power.
Kitsuryuu didn't like the turn her thought
had taken. The hunger for power and dominance she
was feeling made her remember when she had
slaughtered the humans that had hurt her so badly.
She could remember clearly how she enjoyed killing
them. Kitsuryuu had never felt pleasure in
killing anything before. She had killed to
survive, to eat, but that time had been different.
It scared her to think that she wanted to have
those feelings again.
She did not mourn those humans' deaths, and
she wasn't sorry that she had ended their
misbegotten lives, but the things she had done
after she regretted. She had blindly killed
everything that had come in her path. She didn't
care that there had been no need for all those
animals to die, all she had cared about was
recapturing the feeling killing the humans and
feeding off of the one that had taken her ears had
given her.
Kitsuryuu didn't know what had started these
feelings inside her. She couldn't remember even
seeing a human except for Arashi for many years,
let alone killing one. She tried harder to
remember the events that had led her to be where
she was now, but all she came up with was a blank.
The more she tried to focus her thoughts, the more
chaotic they became.
She couldn't get the images of what those
long dead humans had done to her out of her
thoughts. She could almost smell the stench of
the room, the feel of the sharp pain of each blow
that they had given her. Kitsuryuu had always
been able to feel the ghost pain of her ears after
*that* human had removed them. It was a faint
burning sensation that made her want to claw and
scratch at her healed wounds. She recalled how in
the days following that the stumps that had once
been long furry ears had gotten infected. Day by
day Kitsuryuu could hear less and less, until
finally all was silent.
Kitsuryuu raised her hand and traced the
scared edges of her functionless ears though her
long hair. Her slender finger followed each
semi-circle and she was consumed by rage and hate
as strong as the day she had killed the ones that
had done this to her. Kitsuryuu wanted to see her
ruined ears, she needed to see what they had done
to her.
She reached into the back of her hair and
pulled out a perfect rose made from transparent
ice. Even though it was devoid of color itself,
the flower caught and separated the light from
overhead into its many colors, streaking the
petals with rainbows. She clutched it tightly in
her fingers and one of the many, needle-like
thorns pierced her skin. One drop of bright red
blood flowed along the stem until it pinched off
at the end and fell into the water below.
Kitsuryuu threw the rose without looking at her
target. It went completing though the circle of
light over head, extinguishing it.
The light level lowered considerably but the
lights at the bottom of the pool still made it
impossible for her to see her reflection in the
water. Kitsuryuu reached down and crushed the two
closest orbs on either side of her. They
collapsed easily in her hands and soon she was
able to see her dark mirror image.
She studied the stumps that had been left
behind in the reflection closely. She found them
to be extremely grotesque and wished that even
they were gone. Kitsuryuu glared at her hideous
face and it glared back. She was so engrossed
with her own thoughts that she almost didn't feel
Maryoku approaching until he was almost standing
next to her.
She became furious that he had seen her like
this. Damaged, ugly and incomplete. She swiftly
shifted to her more familiar fire form and was hit
by a increase in power so strong she thought she
might explode.
========
Maryoku had watched Kitsuryuu sitting on the
edge of the park fountain from the shadows ever
since she had settled on it's edge. He found it
charming the way she would tilt her head slightly
to the side to watch the water flow down the
levels of the statue in the center. She seemed so
much like a child sometimes with her constant
questions about the world and her child-like
innocence about human things. Because of that
naive outlook he had thought of her a pet instead
of a intelligent person for far too long.
Maryoku couldn't decide what had changed his
view of Kitsuryuu from a charming pet to the
intelligent and talented woman he knew now. It
could have been the first time he realized that
Kitsuryuu and Koori were having meaningful
discussions in the primitive signing they used.
It could have been the first time he caught her
trying to read one of Koori reading primers when
the little girl was asleep. It could have been
when he saw her place Arashi under the shade of a
tree away from the harsh sun that had already
turned the red head's skin a bright pink. Maryoku
smiled to himself and realized that it had been
her drawings that had made the difference.
Kitsuryuu's talent with a pencil was
something that none of them had taught her. She
just picked up one of his pencils and his notebook
and started drawing one day. Before he knew it
she had filled up his chemistry notebook and
started on his literature notes. The first
pictures had been rough, but soon she learned how
to hold the pencil correctly and the drawings
almost began to breathe with a life of their own.
He had transferred his notes to other
notebooks and hid Kitsuryuu's first pictures under
his mattress. The next day he came home with all
the books he could find on sign language and
started to teach her. It had been slow at first,
because Kitsuryuu really didn't see the need to
use anything new, but soon she realized that she
could say more with what he was teaching her. She
had a small vocabulary and her sentence structure
was horrible, but she started to talk more to them
instead of signing everything to Koori so that the
little girl could translate.
Kitsuryuu could be as loving and loyal as any
pet, or she could be as deadly a female protecting
her cubs. Her temper was always intense and
fleeting. Her resolve was always rock solid and
nothing could change her mind once it was set.
She had learned to survive on her own probably
before he had been born and she acted on instinct
almost exclusively. There was no doubt in his
mind that she could be as dangerous as his father
feared, but he knew that if it came down to the
wire that he couldn't rely on a better friend.
As he watched her play he did not miss the
painful grimace that flashed across her face just
before she stopped moving her left leg. Maryoku
didn't know how he knew she'd be here when every
other time he tried to second guess the youko he
had been wrong. He was so mesmerized by seeing
Kitsuryuu in her youko form that he almost missed
the quicksilver emotions that were easily seen in
her unguarded eyes. He decided that the best
course of action would be to get her out of the
city as soon as possible. He didn't want his
father and the other adults to be the ones to
confront Kitsuryuu.
What was she thinking? What was she feeling?
He wondered that as he slowly approached her. He
had no clue, but it didn't look like she was
enjoying herself anymore. He had watched her
reach up and run her fingers over her ear stubs
and the bitter and hateful look on her beautiful
face made him halt. Maryoku knew that the loss of
Kitsuryuu's ears and tail was a very sore subject
with the youko. If any of them ever brought it up
Kitsuryuu would immediately clam up and became
reclusive.
He watched her suddenly reach for her collar
and was fascinated by the exchange of the
leather's white crackling energy with the
turquoise blue glow that enveloped Kitsuryuu's
entire body. He was surprised when she didn't cry
out in pain or start gasping for air as she
normally did when the collar tried to control her.
He started to worry that something was very
wrong with her when he could feel the hate and the
regret that took over her emotions. They were
chaotic and partially self directed. Maryoku was
startled when Kitsuryuu reached into her hair and
pulled out a rose that cast tiny rainbows on her
face. She moved faster than his eyes could
register and the light above her head went out in
a gentle shower of tinkling glass. Next he
watched her reach into the water and the muffled
pops of two light fixtures under the surface could
barely be heard in the quite night.
The remaining lights cast flickering shadows
on her face as she gazed into the water. He
wasted no time in closing the remaining distance.
Kitsuryuu shifted forms and her ghostly blue hair
changed to black and her near six foot height
decreased. He heard her gasp in surprise and pain
as she folded her arms across her stomach.
Maryoku subconsciously took in Kitsuryuu's
battered appearance. Her hair was tangled and
encrusted with blood. The left sleeve had been
cut from her shirt and her left jeans' leg was
ripped and cut away also. Maryoku saw black
bruises on her arm and leg and the water around
her feet started to turn an ugly shade of rust as
the dried blood washed off.
Kitsuryuu held her middle and rocked back and
forth moaning. Maryoku started for her again,
then froze when she suddenly threw her head back
and let loose a howl that sent chills down his
spine. It was a long, mournful cry that echoed
hollowly in the sparse trees of the park. To
Maryoku it sounded like the wind of a hurricane;
low, deep and frightening.
Kitsuryuu's head dropped back down to her
chest and she fell on her hands and knees in the
shallow fountain. The howl continued, however,
and became increasingly louder until it was a roar
that shook the ground and made waves in the water.
Suddenly the sound seemed to focus on a point and
exploded in a vortex of deep red flames. From the
center of the eldrich fire stepped a fox made
completely of youki fire.
It looked lazily over at him and then turned
its attention to Kitsuryuu. The water around her
boiled and turned to steam and in seconds she was
crouched in an empty pool. Kitsuryuu sat up and
arched her back with her arms high over her head.
She gave a slow smile as she stretched, her red
eyes opening just a crack to look at him.
Maryoku had seen that playful look before and
was a little nervous that it was directed solely
at him. Kitsuryuu uncoiled and approached him
slowly, the fire kitsune following obediently at
her feet, trying very hard not to limp on her
healing leg. He watched as she started to circle
him, her gait graceless and halting. He stood
still trying to decide if he should move as she
disappeared out of his sight behind him.
He waited nervously for Kitsuryuu to come
back around so that he could see her. The park
was now completely silent without the running
water of the fountain as a backdrop. The seconds
ticked by and Maryoku felt a single bead of sweat
roll down the side of his face. He jumped when
Kitsuryuu laid her head against the back of his
shoulder and placed her hands on his lower back.
Their heights were nearly identical so it was easy
for Kitsuryuu to nuzzle the back of his neck with
her nose.
Maryoku leaped forward like he had been
struck with a white hot poker and whirled to look
at Kitsuryuu. The kitsune was sitting at her feet
with its head tilted to the side in confusion.
Kitsuryuu had a similar look, as if *he* was the
one that was acting strangely.
"Kitsuryuu, what are you...."
He never got to finish as Kitsuryuu came
forward and leaned her head against his chest. He
placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to
push her away, but she just wrapped her arms
around his waist. He tried to back up but
Kitsuryuu followed, the kitsune in perfect step.
His calves hit the low stone wall of the fountain
and it unbalanced him enough that he was forced to
sit or fall.
Maryoku was frightened by Kitsuryuu's strange
behavior and it only got weirder. Since she was
still standing while he was sitting, she
maneuvered herself so that she sat in his lap with
her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Maryoku
grabbed Kitsuryuu's arms and forced her hands down
to her lap. He tried to give her a scowl and a
quelling look but she just grinned and stared
blankly back with too bright, glazed eyes.
She leaned forward and he retreated as far as
he could and still keep his balance. When he
finally couldn't lean back any farther Kitsuryuu
rested her face in the crook of his neck.
Kitsuryuu nuzzled his neck again and Maryoku knew
that he was blushing a very dark and deep shade of
red. He tried again to push her away but before
he could even get his hands to her shoulders he
felt her hot tongue trace over his skin once and
then her sharp fangs bit into his neck.
He gasped in pain and the hands that he had
been holding snaked around his chest to hold him
tightly. Maryoku's head was spinning at a million
miles an hour and he was sure he was going to pass
out. He was thinking that nothing else could
happen to make this night any weirder, but that's
when all hell broke loose.
============
end chapter 15
Here you go another chapter. I suggest reading it
very slowly because this will be the last one for
a while. Windlily is on vacation for the next
three weeks. I guess that means I'll be working
on Broken Mask for a while!^_^
Kat