Chapter 23

The Transformation

The darkness seemed calm, and the shaft of light was a happy shade of yellow. "Well, done little one!" Her guardian embraced her. "You did it! I knew you could!" his dark eyes shining proudly.

"You told me you would reveal your identity after this ordeal was finished," she said, smirking. The man nodded, smiling softly. He stepped back, looking regal and dramatic in the yellow light. "I am your father." He said. Gabriel's eyes went wide, "You? You're my real father?"

"Yes," a pair of bronze colored ears popped out from beneath his hair, and she noticed a tail behind him, wagging happily. "You are…"she murmured.

"A fox." He finished her sentence. "Your mother is…was a fox too." His voice became sad. "She passed away when you were very small. Her name was Rachel; you got your beautiful hair and eyes from her."

"And you? How are you communicating with me in my dreams?"

"You see, I am dead too. I was murdered by a demon who wanted to get to you after I had sent you away to Ningenkai as a small child." He stated matter-of-factly. "But my spirit is uneasy so I am a ghost, unable to communicate with the living except through dreams or possession. Having been a shaman instead of a fighter in the living world, I have been able to posses a few people across Makai and Reikai, trying to finish my tasks in the living world and putting my affairs in order; I met Youko and Koronue the very day before they met you, I saved them from a Graveyard Guardian. I even possessed your friend Toko for a while."

"Then you made him-!"

"No, he made the choice to die for you by himself." A strange voice said. A young lady riding an oar floated down to the ground. She wore her sky blue hair up, letting her fluffy bangs frame her violet eyes. "Toko did not die in vain." She continued. She pulled a book out of her pink kimono sleeve an opened it to a certain page. "You are Mr. Seidou-seidou, correct? Your name means 'bronze-bronze', or 'path of righteousness-path of righteousness', or even 'bronze path of righteousness'." she asked the man. He nodded, "You must be Botan, pilot of the river Styx!" he said cheerfully.

"Bingo!" she laughed. Gabriel looked sad, "The River Styx? Is she going to take you away?"

"Yes, little one, I am at peace now, I have to go. I can no longer help you in your dreams."

"But I barely know you, I can't lose my real father now," tears spilled down her cheeks. The fox man hugged her tightly. "I know this is hard," he said, "more troubles will come in your life, just like every body else has. But you have grown into a strong young lady; you are very smart, and you have another man you can lean on when you are sad…"

She looked up at him, "Youko…?"

"That's right. When your mother and I were still alive and together, we hid you in a human form to protect you; now that you are a fox again, you are much stronger. You will not need this any more," he took the bell pendant from around her neck.

"Seidou-Siedou, its time." Botan said softly. He nodded to her again. Gabriel clung tight in a hug, "I love you, dad!"

"I love you too, Gabriel. Maybe you inherited some shamaan prowess from me.Good bye." He stepped backwards, toward Botan, never taking his eyes off his daughter. "Don't worry about me, Botan will tell you all about my trip to heaven when you meet her in the living world."

"Shh! You can't reveal the future!!" Botan tried to silence him. Gabriel laughed, waving to her father. The shaft of light grew brighter, almost blinding her. She woke up.

She sat up quickly, disturbing the fox next to her. He rolled off the couch and fell to the floor with a clunk. Youko sat up, "What's wrong-?" he stared at her with his mouth agape. She gave a sleepy moan as a tingling feeling engulfed her.

Her ears began to grow pointed and shift on her head; they disappeared behind her fluffy rose-gold hair. She could feel her teeth grow sharper and poke the inside of her lips. An indescribable feeling came to her backside, a majestic golden tail cleanly sprouted and waved at her. She blushed furiously at it, touching the new limb with one hand. Her tail tickled, making her giggle. Youko climbed back onto the couch, watching in awe. His eyes drifted back up to her head as a set of gorgeous ears unfolded. They were a lighter shade of gold, and pointed smoothly into the air. They twitched and moved back and forth, rapidly. "Oh, my…!" she began to laugh for the first time in ages.

Youko slowly reached up, and then pulled his hand back shyly. "You want to see them?" she teased him with his own line from long ago. He smiled and touched her soft ears; Gabriel closed her eyes, happily leaning her head on his hand. Youko blushed, rubbing her ears gently. She flicked her ear out of his hand, and she opened her eyes. "I can hear your heart beating." She said, when in fact, he could feel his heart pounding quickly as if he were running a marathon.

The fox blushed even deeper. Her tail brushed his arm, he jerked. "Sorry," she laughed. "I can't control it very well yet." Both of their ears twitched, listening. Footsteps were in the hall. Gabriel hugged Youko for protection, making his face blush so red it was almost purple. Koronue appeared in the doorway, "Good to see you awake again- oh! Am I interrupting?" a wicked smile crossed his lips.

"N-no!!" the fox stuttered. The bat noticed her ears, and he stared. "Where did those come from?" for the next few minutes, she explained about her dreams and the story her father had told her. Koronue nodded, "That makes a great deal of sense. Especially the part about the rogue in the graveyard, that's the very person who started this adventure."

"I'm a fox, too!" she cried excitedly.

"A vixen to be more accurate." He corrected. Youko seemed incapable of intelligent speech, so he remained quiet. Gabriel released Youko from her incapacitating grasp, "What do we do today?" she asked.

"Well, we could continue to train you-"

"Yay! The stick-of-death returns!"

"Actually, because your body has changed so much, we have to start over from square one."

"WHAT?!"

heh its good to be home, yall. stay tuned for more