The Forgotten Child
Chapter 20
Written by Kat Mayes
One of Kitsuryuu's clear, wine red eyes slide
open when a warm, gentle hand touched her
forehead. She tried to turn her face into the
inviting touch, but she was just too drained to
move. Kitsuryuu fought unsuccessfully to focus
her blurred vision and make out the figure
back-lighted in bright morning light. For some
reason she thought she knew him... from a dream
she used to have when she was little.
Kitsuryuu felt a curtain of fresh smelling,
silky hair slide against her cheek as the unknown
person kissed the top of her head. His hair
smelled of roses and sweet fire, a strange
combination but comforting all the same.
Kitsuryuu could feel the vibrations of his voice
as he spoke softly to her within moments she was
lulled asleep.
The room was dark the next time Kitsuryuu
awaken, and the only light was from the high full
moon. She tried stretching her limps and found
that she was in her fire form and very
uncomfortable. Unaccustomed to sleeping in this
fashion had caused a painful cramp to start biting
into her lower back and neck. Wanting to ease her
discomfort Kitsuryuu changed to her more
comfortable fox body. Once she was in her more
common choice of sleeping bodies, Kitsuryuu so
exhausted that she almost didn't feel the presence
of someone else in the room as she started to
drift back into her dreams.
Panicking for a moment, Kitsuryuu tried to
rise, but with her system drain from her earlier
transformation all she could do was left her head.
Her heart started to pound painfully in her chest
with fright knowing that she was helpless to
defend herself. Kitsuryuu caught a movement in
the moonlight of the window and her fear began to
literally choke her. When she saw the figure
fully in the light, her fear turned to joy.
The 'fire friend' that she had meet in her
cave walked in hesitant half steps over to her
like he didn't know if he wanted to run or stay.
Kitsuryuu summoned just enough energy to thump her
tail twice on the bedding. She was hoping that
her friend would understand her invitation. He
finally made it to the bed and awkwardly sat down
next to her. He didn't look at her or speak, just
sat there with his hands in his lap as if he was
afraid of touching her.
Kitsuryuu could feel the tension in the man
next to her like an over-tightened spring. With
an ungraceful flop she tossed her head into her
friend's lap. Fuyu had always told her that
petting an animal's fur calmed people and
Kitsuryuu hoped it would do the same for her
friend. She could feel the muscles in his thighs
jerk as if he was going to jump to his feet and
Kitsuryuu wondered if she had over stepped her
bounds.
He hesitantly started to stoke her fur and
she assisted him by turning her head slightly so
that he petted her in just the right spot.
Kitsuryuu could feel herself purring loudly, and
had it of been anyone else she would have been
embarrassed at her lack of control. She was
lulled into a deep, healing sleep by the gentle
scratching behind her ears and the peace her
friend's quiet presence gave her.
Late afternoon of the fourth day Kitsuryuu
awakened fully, feeling just as tired as she had
the other times. Kitsuryuu knew that she should
get up and move around a bit, but she was too
content to lay on the soft bedding in the warm
sunlight that cascaded in through the window. The
covers that smelled faintly of Maryoku were all
bunched up into a messy pile that made an ideal
nest. Kitsuryuu buried her head farther into the
covers so that she could escape the beam of
sunlight that had awakened her.
Kitsuryuu felt a movement on her belly and
had to squint into the light to see that Koori had
made herself at home as she always did. The two
of them had their limbs twisted around each other,
resembling a furry, silver-blue pretzel. Knowing
that the young child was taking her customary
daily nap, Kitsuryuu let her sleep until she
herself became restless.
Kitsuryuu started to wake Koori in her usual
fashion by licking the child's face and tugging on
her clothes with her teeth. When the little girl
finally did awaken, rubbing her big red eyes with
her balled up fist as she sat up, she gave
Kitsuryuu probably the biggest smile ever. The
little girl then proceeded to choke the life out
of her with a hug and toppled both of them to the
bed. Koori started signing furiously, something
about 'finally awake' and 'being scared' but
before Kitsuryuu had a chance to understand what
the child was trying to say, Koori rushed out the
door leaving her abandoned on the bed.
Kitsuryuu rubbed her own eyes with the wrist
of her paw and then treated herself to a full body
stretch that made the fur on her back and tail
fluff out with pleasure. A deep aching throb in
Kitsuryuu's back left leg keep her from moving too
quickly, but she managed to stretch out fully.
She realized that her fur was a total wreak and
began to lick it into a semblance of order. Once
satisfied that her friends would not laugh at her
spiky fur Kitsuryuu took stock of her surroundings
and realized that she defiantly was not in the
forest.
She looked around the huge box-like room with
unease. The room was almost empty except for the
nest she laid in and three large wooden boxes with
handles along their front. Kitsuryuu never liked
to be in enclosed areas, it reminded her too much
of the time she was with the humans. She only
slept in caves out of necessity and tried to spend
as little time in them as possible. The only
thing that kept her from fully panicking in the
small room was the window.
Kitsuryuu knew that the window led to the
outside, but she also knew that the glass could
seriously wound her if she broke it getting out.
Right now she was too weak and didn't know what
was wrong with her leg so trying to leave the room
in that manner was not her first choose.
Kitsuryuu was also painfully aware of the open
door Koori had left from. It was a way out of the
room, but she didn't know where it led.
Trying out all her options, Kitsuryuu slowly
trotted her way to the doorway, favoring her left
hind leg, and poked her nose out. Dozens of
familiar and unfamiliar smells assaulted her at
once. Some were faint, like the roses she could
barely detect, but some were very strong. The
aroma of burning meat wafting down the hall almost
over powered the scent of humans in the house.
Not knowing whether to go back or proceed,
Kitsuryuu waited nervously in the hall. Before
too long she saw Koori come running around the
corner towards her with a tall human following her
closely.
Reacting by instinct, Kitsuryuu ignored the
pain in her leg and ran down the hall past the
young girl and lunged herself at the orange haired
man, teeth bared. The human male held her
snarling and snapping teeth from his face and
throat by holding on firmly to the loose scuff of
her neck. As she stood on the curly haired
human's chest trying to be as threatening as she
could (even though she felt like a rabbit could
knock her over) she noticed the resemblance he had
with Arashi.
Her panic inched up a notch when she realized
that she almost ripped the throat out of one of
Koori's parents. Even though all of her friends
had warned her not to have any contact with their
parents it was obvious that they loved them very
much, painfully obvious. Despite the knowledge
that this was Koori's father and the little girl
trusted him unconditionally Kitsuryuu was still
frighten of him because he was human.
Kitsuryuu suddenly felt another presence in
the room and realized too late her mistake. She
had focused all her attention on the human under
her and had not seen the human woman standing a
little ways away until she was too close.
Kitsuryuu did not want to divide her attention
between the two humans, that was how she got
captured when she was little. Right now, all she
wanted to do was to get out of here with Koori,
then she realized that the woman had her fire
friend's baby. Kitsuryuu didn't know what was
going on, all she knew was that she was not in
control and that was dangerous. She had to come
up with a different strategy.
Kitsuryuu suddenly started to struggle in the
human male's tight grasp hoping the drastic change
in movement would make him let her go. She needed
distance to try and force an advantage, but the
man had too good of a hold on her fur and skin.
Kitsuryuu increased her vocalizations hoping that
she could intimidate the human into letting her
go.
Kitsuryuu knew that she was getting no where,
the human was just too strong for her in her
weakened condition. She started to panic and
began to thrash so wildly that Kitsuryuu thought
she would either get loose or brake her neck. She
could tell that the human male was trying to hold
on to her with out hurting her, but she had to get
away. Kitsuryuu saw the human woman out of the
corner of her eye kneel on the floor and placed
the infant kit on its furless, round belly. The
woman backed away slowly and by the movement of
her lips Kitsuryuu saw her give the male a command
to let her go.
The orange haired man gave her a slight shove
back when he released her and quickly scrambled to
his feet. Kitsuryuu made the long hairs on the
back of her neck stand on end attempting to make
herself appear bigger. Sweet earth, she was tired
but she couldn't drop her guard. She didn't trust
the humans to keep their distance so keeping Koori
to her back, and the humans in front, Kitsuryuu
circled the room wary of any movement.
She slowly made her way to the kit as it
nosed around looking for a warm body. Using an
unknown instinct Kitsuryuu picked the baby up in
her razor sharp teeth and began to back away from
the humans. She continued backwards down the
hall, shepherding Koori into the room she had come
from.
The humans did not follow, but the large male
seemed to want to. Kitsuryuu did not take her
eyes off the them until she had to turn the corner
to enter the room. Once inside she kicked the
door closed with her front paw.
Koori was signing at a mile a minute, but
Kitsuryuu was too distracted and tired to
understand her. Not stopping to decipher her
young friend's words, Kitsuryuu pushed Koori onto
the bed with her head. When the girl finally sat
down, Kitsuryuu placed the youko kit into Koori's
lap. Now that both of her wards were reasonably
safe, Kitsuryuu turned her attention to the door.
For what felt like and agonizingly long time
Kitsuryuu watched the door. Koori had attempted
to communicate with her many times but Kitsuryuu
ignored the young girl. She didn't want to be
taken off guard again. After a while Koori
stopped trying to get her attention and laid down
for another nap.
Kitsuryuu felt Koori snuggle close to her
side, but she didn't move or take her eyes from
the door. It wasn't until she noticed a movement
to her left that Kitsuryuu looked away from wooden
surface. The youko kit was dragging his way over
to her but making almost no progress. Kitsuryuu
once again grasped the infant gently in her teeth
and placed him between her front legs close to her
chest. When the little pup didn't settle down
right away, Kitsuryuu gave him two long, quick
licks down his tiny back and he stopped squirming.
Kitsuryuu tried to keep herself from falling
asleep, but with Koori's gentle breathing rhythm
at her side and the kit's tiny purr at her chest
it was hard. She didn't know what she was going
to do. Kitsuryuu felt trapped. There was only
one way out, through the window, but she wasn't
even sure that she could make it out safely
herself let alone make it with two little ones in
tow. Suddenly the door started to move and
Kitsuryuu came to her feet, making both the baby
and Koori tumble.
Before the intruder had a chance to get the
door fully open Kitsuryuu lunged. Mechiko caught
her in mid flight and wrestled her to the ground.
Kitsuryuu was so relieved to see her friend that
she collapsed on top of Mechiko and started
licking the stunned girl's face while her tail
wagged with gale force behind her.
Mechiko was soon followed by Maryoku, the
twins and Kiseki. Kitsuryuu watched them come in
one by one, but when the orange haired human tried
to follow them she became defensive again.
Mechiko kept a lock on Kitsuryuu's body by
practically sitting on top of her and wrapped her
arms around the fox's neck. Kitsuryuu snapped and
snarled and tried desperately to look deadly.
The human stopped in the doorway and
continued no farther. Other people began to crowd
at the door around the male human, but her friends
would not allow them to enter. Kitsuryuu started
to pull against Mechiko's hold feeling very
nervous with so many people around. She didn't
know if she wanted to run or stay, but she knew
that she didn't want them here.
Kitsuryuu watched as the only person that
made it pass the large human was the man that
looked like Maryoku. The two of them talked to
each other, but Kitsuryuu could not see their
words. The orange haired human must have won the
argument because Mechiko's father didn't look
pleased as one of his eyes started twitching. The
human gave a funny looking smile that only made
the other man madder and pulled Mechiko's father
from the room.
As soon as the door was closed all of
Kitsuryuu's friends started to pass her around,
giving her strong hugs and scratched behind her
ears. Except for Arashi of course, who whacked
the back of her head when she wasn't looking at
him. Kitsuryuu soon became dizzy being tossed
around and having her attention pulled in so many
directions at once. Thankfully Maryoku stopped
them before she got sick.
/Stop dragging Kitsuryuu around like that!
She's been in a coma for four days!/ he angrily
signed, shaming the group.
Kitsuryuu wondered what a 'coma' was as
Maryoku knelt down in front of her and took her
head in his hands. He looked into each of her
eyes individually and then started poking at the
rest of her. Before long Kitsuryuu got tried of
being poked at and when Maryoku started to mess
with her hurt leg she knock him to the ground.
/Kitsuryuu! I need to see how much you've
recovered./
Kitsuryuu rolled her eyes and turned her back
to him as an answer. She saw the others try and
keep from laughing . Kitsuryuu knew from
experience that Maryoku was mad because she turned
away from him and his face was probably dark red
with anger.
/He is right Kitsuryuu. We have to see if
you're still hurt,/ Kiseki said when he gained her
attention.
Kitsuryuu looked from face to face looking
for an ally but it seemed that they were all
against her. Recognizing defeat, Kitsuryuu hung
her head in silent compliance. When no one came
forward to poke at her, Kitsuryuu lifted her head
to see what was holding them up.
Kiseki and Maryoku were talking with each
other and Kitsuryuu was unable to see what they
were saying. After they were done they both
looked at Mechiko. The girl's eyes grew wide
suddenly and she started to shake her head,
repeating the words 'Not me'. Then both Maryoku
and Kiseki grabbed a shoulder and pushed Mechiko
towards Kitsuryuu saying 'Yes, you'.
Kitsuryuu knew right away by the silly grin
and the way Mechiko shifted her feet nervously
that what ever the girl was going to say to her
she wouldn't like.
/Kitsuryuu, they,/ Mechiko signed and then
pointed accusingly to the two boys, /want Kiseki's
mother to look at you./
Kitsuryuu *defiantly* didn't like that idea!
She had always been told that she could never have
contact with the children's parents because it was
dangerous. Kitsuryuu shook her head furiously and
closed her eyes so that she couldn't see any
protests from her friends. Two tiny arms slipped
around Kitsuryuu's neck and the kitsune knew
exactly who it was. Kitsuryuu cracked an eye open
and saw Koori's eyes brimming with cold tears.
/Please let momma look at you Kitsuryuu. I'm
scared that you might go to sleep and not wake up
again,/ the little girl pleaded.
Kitsuryuu gave a sigh and then pushed her
nose against Koori's. With a barely discernible
nod Kitsuryuu agreed. Koori's eyes were instantly
clear of any tears and a big smile formed on her
face. The little girl gave Kitsuryuu a big hug
and kiss, then raced to the door.
Kitsuryuu sat in her place stunned. She had
been tricked! Her little girl had played her for
a fool. Kitsuryuu saw her friends laughing at her
and she gave them her best glare. Unfortunately
it only made them laugh harder.
Soon the laughing stopped and Kitsuryuu
became aware that Koori's mother had entered the
room. The pretty woman stood at the door with
Koori standing in front of her. When Koori tried
to pull her mother closer she refused. Kitsuryuu
saw the woman tell Koori that Kitsuryuu would come
to her when she was ready.
==========
end part a
Chapter 20
Written by Kat Mayes
One of Kitsuryuu's clear, wine red eyes slide
open when a warm, gentle hand touched her
forehead. She tried to turn her face into the
inviting touch, but she was just too drained to
move. Kitsuryuu fought unsuccessfully to focus
her blurred vision and make out the figure
back-lighted in bright morning light. For some
reason she thought she knew him... from a dream
she used to have when she was little.
Kitsuryuu felt a curtain of fresh smelling,
silky hair slide against her cheek as the unknown
person kissed the top of her head. His hair
smelled of roses and sweet fire, a strange
combination but comforting all the same.
Kitsuryuu could feel the vibrations of his voice
as he spoke softly to her within moments she was
lulled asleep.
The room was dark the next time Kitsuryuu
awaken, and the only light was from the high full
moon. She tried stretching her limps and found
that she was in her fire form and very
uncomfortable. Unaccustomed to sleeping in this
fashion had caused a painful cramp to start biting
into her lower back and neck. Wanting to ease her
discomfort Kitsuryuu changed to her more
comfortable fox body. Once she was in her more
common choice of sleeping bodies, Kitsuryuu so
exhausted that she almost didn't feel the presence
of someone else in the room as she started to
drift back into her dreams.
Panicking for a moment, Kitsuryuu tried to
rise, but with her system drain from her earlier
transformation all she could do was left her head.
Her heart started to pound painfully in her chest
with fright knowing that she was helpless to
defend herself. Kitsuryuu caught a movement in
the moonlight of the window and her fear began to
literally choke her. When she saw the figure
fully in the light, her fear turned to joy.
The 'fire friend' that she had meet in her
cave walked in hesitant half steps over to her
like he didn't know if he wanted to run or stay.
Kitsuryuu summoned just enough energy to thump her
tail twice on the bedding. She was hoping that
her friend would understand her invitation. He
finally made it to the bed and awkwardly sat down
next to her. He didn't look at her or speak, just
sat there with his hands in his lap as if he was
afraid of touching her.
Kitsuryuu could feel the tension in the man
next to her like an over-tightened spring. With
an ungraceful flop she tossed her head into her
friend's lap. Fuyu had always told her that
petting an animal's fur calmed people and
Kitsuryuu hoped it would do the same for her
friend. She could feel the muscles in his thighs
jerk as if he was going to jump to his feet and
Kitsuryuu wondered if she had over stepped her
bounds.
He hesitantly started to stoke her fur and
she assisted him by turning her head slightly so
that he petted her in just the right spot.
Kitsuryuu could feel herself purring loudly, and
had it of been anyone else she would have been
embarrassed at her lack of control. She was
lulled into a deep, healing sleep by the gentle
scratching behind her ears and the peace her
friend's quiet presence gave her.
Late afternoon of the fourth day Kitsuryuu
awakened fully, feeling just as tired as she had
the other times. Kitsuryuu knew that she should
get up and move around a bit, but she was too
content to lay on the soft bedding in the warm
sunlight that cascaded in through the window. The
covers that smelled faintly of Maryoku were all
bunched up into a messy pile that made an ideal
nest. Kitsuryuu buried her head farther into the
covers so that she could escape the beam of
sunlight that had awakened her.
Kitsuryuu felt a movement on her belly and
had to squint into the light to see that Koori had
made herself at home as she always did. The two
of them had their limbs twisted around each other,
resembling a furry, silver-blue pretzel. Knowing
that the young child was taking her customary
daily nap, Kitsuryuu let her sleep until she
herself became restless.
Kitsuryuu started to wake Koori in her usual
fashion by licking the child's face and tugging on
her clothes with her teeth. When the little girl
finally did awaken, rubbing her big red eyes with
her balled up fist as she sat up, she gave
Kitsuryuu probably the biggest smile ever. The
little girl then proceeded to choke the life out
of her with a hug and toppled both of them to the
bed. Koori started signing furiously, something
about 'finally awake' and 'being scared' but
before Kitsuryuu had a chance to understand what
the child was trying to say, Koori rushed out the
door leaving her abandoned on the bed.
Kitsuryuu rubbed her own eyes with the wrist
of her paw and then treated herself to a full body
stretch that made the fur on her back and tail
fluff out with pleasure. A deep aching throb in
Kitsuryuu's back left leg keep her from moving too
quickly, but she managed to stretch out fully.
She realized that her fur was a total wreak and
began to lick it into a semblance of order. Once
satisfied that her friends would not laugh at her
spiky fur Kitsuryuu took stock of her surroundings
and realized that she defiantly was not in the
forest.
She looked around the huge box-like room with
unease. The room was almost empty except for the
nest she laid in and three large wooden boxes with
handles along their front. Kitsuryuu never liked
to be in enclosed areas, it reminded her too much
of the time she was with the humans. She only
slept in caves out of necessity and tried to spend
as little time in them as possible. The only
thing that kept her from fully panicking in the
small room was the window.
Kitsuryuu knew that the window led to the
outside, but she also knew that the glass could
seriously wound her if she broke it getting out.
Right now she was too weak and didn't know what
was wrong with her leg so trying to leave the room
in that manner was not her first choose.
Kitsuryuu was also painfully aware of the open
door Koori had left from. It was a way out of the
room, but she didn't know where it led.
Trying out all her options, Kitsuryuu slowly
trotted her way to the doorway, favoring her left
hind leg, and poked her nose out. Dozens of
familiar and unfamiliar smells assaulted her at
once. Some were faint, like the roses she could
barely detect, but some were very strong. The
aroma of burning meat wafting down the hall almost
over powered the scent of humans in the house.
Not knowing whether to go back or proceed,
Kitsuryuu waited nervously in the hall. Before
too long she saw Koori come running around the
corner towards her with a tall human following her
closely.
Reacting by instinct, Kitsuryuu ignored the
pain in her leg and ran down the hall past the
young girl and lunged herself at the orange haired
man, teeth bared. The human male held her
snarling and snapping teeth from his face and
throat by holding on firmly to the loose scuff of
her neck. As she stood on the curly haired
human's chest trying to be as threatening as she
could (even though she felt like a rabbit could
knock her over) she noticed the resemblance he had
with Arashi.
Her panic inched up a notch when she realized
that she almost ripped the throat out of one of
Koori's parents. Even though all of her friends
had warned her not to have any contact with their
parents it was obvious that they loved them very
much, painfully obvious. Despite the knowledge
that this was Koori's father and the little girl
trusted him unconditionally Kitsuryuu was still
frighten of him because he was human.
Kitsuryuu suddenly felt another presence in
the room and realized too late her mistake. She
had focused all her attention on the human under
her and had not seen the human woman standing a
little ways away until she was too close.
Kitsuryuu did not want to divide her attention
between the two humans, that was how she got
captured when she was little. Right now, all she
wanted to do was to get out of here with Koori,
then she realized that the woman had her fire
friend's baby. Kitsuryuu didn't know what was
going on, all she knew was that she was not in
control and that was dangerous. She had to come
up with a different strategy.
Kitsuryuu suddenly started to struggle in the
human male's tight grasp hoping the drastic change
in movement would make him let her go. She needed
distance to try and force an advantage, but the
man had too good of a hold on her fur and skin.
Kitsuryuu increased her vocalizations hoping that
she could intimidate the human into letting her
go.
Kitsuryuu knew that she was getting no where,
the human was just too strong for her in her
weakened condition. She started to panic and
began to thrash so wildly that Kitsuryuu thought
she would either get loose or brake her neck. She
could tell that the human male was trying to hold
on to her with out hurting her, but she had to get
away. Kitsuryuu saw the human woman out of the
corner of her eye kneel on the floor and placed
the infant kit on its furless, round belly. The
woman backed away slowly and by the movement of
her lips Kitsuryuu saw her give the male a command
to let her go.
The orange haired man gave her a slight shove
back when he released her and quickly scrambled to
his feet. Kitsuryuu made the long hairs on the
back of her neck stand on end attempting to make
herself appear bigger. Sweet earth, she was tired
but she couldn't drop her guard. She didn't trust
the humans to keep their distance so keeping Koori
to her back, and the humans in front, Kitsuryuu
circled the room wary of any movement.
She slowly made her way to the kit as it
nosed around looking for a warm body. Using an
unknown instinct Kitsuryuu picked the baby up in
her razor sharp teeth and began to back away from
the humans. She continued backwards down the
hall, shepherding Koori into the room she had come
from.
The humans did not follow, but the large male
seemed to want to. Kitsuryuu did not take her
eyes off the them until she had to turn the corner
to enter the room. Once inside she kicked the
door closed with her front paw.
Koori was signing at a mile a minute, but
Kitsuryuu was too distracted and tired to
understand her. Not stopping to decipher her
young friend's words, Kitsuryuu pushed Koori onto
the bed with her head. When the girl finally sat
down, Kitsuryuu placed the youko kit into Koori's
lap. Now that both of her wards were reasonably
safe, Kitsuryuu turned her attention to the door.
For what felt like and agonizingly long time
Kitsuryuu watched the door. Koori had attempted
to communicate with her many times but Kitsuryuu
ignored the young girl. She didn't want to be
taken off guard again. After a while Koori
stopped trying to get her attention and laid down
for another nap.
Kitsuryuu felt Koori snuggle close to her
side, but she didn't move or take her eyes from
the door. It wasn't until she noticed a movement
to her left that Kitsuryuu looked away from wooden
surface. The youko kit was dragging his way over
to her but making almost no progress. Kitsuryuu
once again grasped the infant gently in her teeth
and placed him between her front legs close to her
chest. When the little pup didn't settle down
right away, Kitsuryuu gave him two long, quick
licks down his tiny back and he stopped squirming.
Kitsuryuu tried to keep herself from falling
asleep, but with Koori's gentle breathing rhythm
at her side and the kit's tiny purr at her chest
it was hard. She didn't know what she was going
to do. Kitsuryuu felt trapped. There was only
one way out, through the window, but she wasn't
even sure that she could make it out safely
herself let alone make it with two little ones in
tow. Suddenly the door started to move and
Kitsuryuu came to her feet, making both the baby
and Koori tumble.
Before the intruder had a chance to get the
door fully open Kitsuryuu lunged. Mechiko caught
her in mid flight and wrestled her to the ground.
Kitsuryuu was so relieved to see her friend that
she collapsed on top of Mechiko and started
licking the stunned girl's face while her tail
wagged with gale force behind her.
Mechiko was soon followed by Maryoku, the
twins and Kiseki. Kitsuryuu watched them come in
one by one, but when the orange haired human tried
to follow them she became defensive again.
Mechiko kept a lock on Kitsuryuu's body by
practically sitting on top of her and wrapped her
arms around the fox's neck. Kitsuryuu snapped and
snarled and tried desperately to look deadly.
The human stopped in the doorway and
continued no farther. Other people began to crowd
at the door around the male human, but her friends
would not allow them to enter. Kitsuryuu started
to pull against Mechiko's hold feeling very
nervous with so many people around. She didn't
know if she wanted to run or stay, but she knew
that she didn't want them here.
Kitsuryuu watched as the only person that
made it pass the large human was the man that
looked like Maryoku. The two of them talked to
each other, but Kitsuryuu could not see their
words. The orange haired human must have won the
argument because Mechiko's father didn't look
pleased as one of his eyes started twitching. The
human gave a funny looking smile that only made
the other man madder and pulled Mechiko's father
from the room.
As soon as the door was closed all of
Kitsuryuu's friends started to pass her around,
giving her strong hugs and scratched behind her
ears. Except for Arashi of course, who whacked
the back of her head when she wasn't looking at
him. Kitsuryuu soon became dizzy being tossed
around and having her attention pulled in so many
directions at once. Thankfully Maryoku stopped
them before she got sick.
/Stop dragging Kitsuryuu around like that!
She's been in a coma for four days!/ he angrily
signed, shaming the group.
Kitsuryuu wondered what a 'coma' was as
Maryoku knelt down in front of her and took her
head in his hands. He looked into each of her
eyes individually and then started poking at the
rest of her. Before long Kitsuryuu got tried of
being poked at and when Maryoku started to mess
with her hurt leg she knock him to the ground.
/Kitsuryuu! I need to see how much you've
recovered./
Kitsuryuu rolled her eyes and turned her back
to him as an answer. She saw the others try and
keep from laughing . Kitsuryuu knew from
experience that Maryoku was mad because she turned
away from him and his face was probably dark red
with anger.
/He is right Kitsuryuu. We have to see if
you're still hurt,/ Kiseki said when he gained her
attention.
Kitsuryuu looked from face to face looking
for an ally but it seemed that they were all
against her. Recognizing defeat, Kitsuryuu hung
her head in silent compliance. When no one came
forward to poke at her, Kitsuryuu lifted her head
to see what was holding them up.
Kiseki and Maryoku were talking with each
other and Kitsuryuu was unable to see what they
were saying. After they were done they both
looked at Mechiko. The girl's eyes grew wide
suddenly and she started to shake her head,
repeating the words 'Not me'. Then both Maryoku
and Kiseki grabbed a shoulder and pushed Mechiko
towards Kitsuryuu saying 'Yes, you'.
Kitsuryuu knew right away by the silly grin
and the way Mechiko shifted her feet nervously
that what ever the girl was going to say to her
she wouldn't like.
/Kitsuryuu, they,/ Mechiko signed and then
pointed accusingly to the two boys, /want Kiseki's
mother to look at you./
Kitsuryuu *defiantly* didn't like that idea!
She had always been told that she could never have
contact with the children's parents because it was
dangerous. Kitsuryuu shook her head furiously and
closed her eyes so that she couldn't see any
protests from her friends. Two tiny arms slipped
around Kitsuryuu's neck and the kitsune knew
exactly who it was. Kitsuryuu cracked an eye open
and saw Koori's eyes brimming with cold tears.
/Please let momma look at you Kitsuryuu. I'm
scared that you might go to sleep and not wake up
again,/ the little girl pleaded.
Kitsuryuu gave a sigh and then pushed her
nose against Koori's. With a barely discernible
nod Kitsuryuu agreed. Koori's eyes were instantly
clear of any tears and a big smile formed on her
face. The little girl gave Kitsuryuu a big hug
and kiss, then raced to the door.
Kitsuryuu sat in her place stunned. She had
been tricked! Her little girl had played her for
a fool. Kitsuryuu saw her friends laughing at her
and she gave them her best glare. Unfortunately
it only made them laugh harder.
Soon the laughing stopped and Kitsuryuu
became aware that Koori's mother had entered the
room. The pretty woman stood at the door with
Koori standing in front of her. When Koori tried
to pull her mother closer she refused. Kitsuryuu
saw the woman tell Koori that Kitsuryuu would come
to her when she was ready.
==========
end part a