Convention Attention

Much like the first day, the next two days were spent being chased by a silver fox, or being the fox, chasing the gold vixen. Needless to say, Gabriel's legs started to hurt. The wooded valley, in which the convention was taking place in, was near a large flowing river. Being near a source of water, and under the insulation of trees, the temperatures were not nearly as cold as any area outside the valley. "The valley shouldn't be more than an hour's walk away," Youko said, remaining in his two-legged form. "There are a lot of things I haven't taught you about being a fox that I really should have. It's an entirely different culture than the one we live in with Koronue."

"What kind of things?" she asked, pulling her short cloak tighter around her. "Well, silver foxes, like myself, are very rare and sort of revered. They're stronger than other foxes, but gold foxes, like you, are as rare as hen's teeth. They're the strongest kind of fox anywhere, and highly revered; though because they are so rare, there are not many foxes who take them seriously because some try to impersonate gold foxes."

"How could I prove to someone that I'm real?"

"Don't you worry about that; if some one tries to say you're a liar, you don't have to listen to them, but if they try to fight you, come to me." he said protectively. She nodded, "Any other things I should know about?"

"Oh, tons of stuff," she blanched, "but most of it has to do with how you move and where you put your tail around others of a certain rank, but you only have to learn all that rot if you live around a lot of other foxes."

"Oh," she loosened her hold on the green cloak around her. A rustle was heard to the right of the path. Youko twitched his ear in an annoyed manner, "Who ever you are, you're doing a horrible job of hiding." A person stomped out from behind a tree grumpily. "Kurama, you're no fun at all," the man said. He was a black haired youko with bright, attractive blue eyes. He cut his hair almost to his chin and wore almost all baby blue.

Covering her head with her hood, Gabriel walked a little closer to Youko than was necessary. "Hey, Blu," (a/n: Pronounced 'blue') he said. Blu wagged his tail, "You remembered my name! I'm flattered. Who's this lovely vixen you have behind you, hm? Another conquest?" Blu took her hand in his, "Hello, my lady, my name is Bluno, or Blu for short. By what name have the eternals graced you with, my dear?" he kissed her hand, making her blush and shied away from him. "What? So shy?"

"She's kind of new," Youko put in.

"New? Oh, I bet she's really pretty under that hood; don't think I couldn't see you." He waved; she slinked further away from him. "Just leave her be, she's really shy. You have to let her get used to you before she even speaks to you."

"Ah." Blu stated, swaying his tail calmly. The valley was within view, several other youkos of various colors and ages congregated toward a series of youkos at small tables. "They're making us log in again? That's no fun. Every one knows where you are." Blu pouted. Gabriel looked confused at Youko, "Log in?" she asked quietly.

"They keep track of how many of each kind of youko come and how many families are here. Then they announce which families are here so they can find each other. Hey Blu, lets wait until the end to sign up, its more dramatic when they announce us last."

"Sounds good, anything to delay meeting my pesky sister." The black youko scratched his ear lazily. Gabriel stifled a giggle; if his sister was anything like him, Blu's family must be quite a deck. A few hours dragged by as Youko caught up on family news with his long distance friend. Apparently, Blu had a lot of family members; Gabriel didn't recall him taking a single breath. The sun made its way over the horizon, casting long shadows, telling people to find a seat if they wanted to see the sunset. "There! They're closing the sign-in tables, lets go!" Blu darted over to the table and signed his name in a logbook. Youko led the timid vixen to the tables. A brown haired fox with a gold ring through one ear sat behind the table. "Name and family name please." He said in a bored tone. Youko signed his name, the brown fox looked down at his signature, "The fox thief returns, eh?" he grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. Nice to see you too." He grumbled. He started to walk away when the brown fox stopped him. "Excuse me miss, you have to sign in, other wise you wont be able to find your family." He gestured to Gabriel. Holding her cloak tightly again, she approached him, "I'm not sure if I have any family left." She said, signing in. He looked down at her signature. She had written her name with flowing pretty letters, and somehow, the ink had turned gold when she wrote. The page glittered in the impatient sunlight. She darted back to Youko's side, where he rumpled her hood, "How will anyone from your family recognize you if you have your hood on the whole time we're here?"

"I'm a little afraid. Part of me doesn't want to be seen." She said, suddenly interested in her fingernails.

"You have to be seen sometime, someone might think you're another demon sneaking into the convention." She nodded but still held her head low. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close enough so Blu could not hear. "I understand why you're shy, but I don't understand why you wouldn't be shy. You are a golden youko! You are the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter, quite literally. You should be proud, show off!"

"I don't know…"

"All right, suit your self; but keep it as an open option. Observe and learn." He walked over to a group of gossiping vixens with a dignified swagger; each vixen clung to a fox that had bored expressions on their faces. "Excuse me," Youko purred, "Can you tell me which way to the main meeting circle?" the males slightly paled and clung tighter to their mates. The females batted their eyes at him each trying their best to speak before the others. "Thank very much," he laughed, waving to them. "See? I scare people and I can bend others to my will."

"As appealing as that sounds, I prefer to be anonymous."

"Yeah, you say that now, but have you ever tasted fame?"

"Shh!" Blu shushed their bickering, "They're announcing the families!" Hurrying into a grassy circle of large boulders, they sat down and listened. The ring was twenty meters across, and packed to the edges with people. A few of the youkos were in their beast forms, stretched lazily on the grass to catch the last rays of the sun. The largest boulder was right in front of the sun as it set, and on it sat the brown fox with the gold earring. "Hello! And welcome to the seven hundred and twelfth annual youko convention!" he said standing up tall; several youkos clapped, even more barked or howled in cheer.

"I know you are all very tired, so I will try and get the naming of families over with as soon as possible. You can all help me by keeping the applause and or barking to a minimum." Several disappointed groans were heard. The announcer pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and read from it. "Three hundred brown youkos have arrived, including yours truly, and the families of Fa, Shang, Maruko, Donwan, Farore, and Darmani. You can all meet near the sandstone to the east in the meeting circle." A short roar of applause was heard until the announcer raised his hands to silence them.

"One hundred and seventy nine red youkos have come from the Nayru, Caro, Dolli, and Eera families. They shall meet by the white stones in the north." A slightly smaller roar of applause was heard. "From the families of Din, Carodia, Icis, and Gantu, come ninety eight black youkos; who shall meet at the black stones in the west." Blu stood up and gave a short whoop before sitting again; somewhere farther off, a female voice shouted, "There you are, Blu!" the announcer held up his hand for silence.

"From the corners of Reikai, only five silver youkos have gathered, all but one from the Reijei family, the last being the famous," he paused for effect, "Youko Kurama!" Several hundred female voices cheered loudly for several seconds before Youko had to stand up and shush them himself; he waved in each direction, giving a playful wink, and nearly half of them fainted. "The silver youkos may meet to the south by the boulder marked with an ancient spiral." Every one assumed the announcements were over and began to stand up and gather their things, when the announcer did a double take at the parchment. "Hold every thing!" he shouted frantically, the people groaned, confused and tired. "It seems a legend has descended among us; if it were not in black and white, I would not believe it but, there is a single golden youko among us for the first time in decades; a lone vixen, none other than the famed, Gabriel Purenard. She who was turned into a human and back into a fox again" A wave of murmurs spread across the field. Gabriel clung tightly to her cloak and scrunched down as small as she could beside Youko. "Where is she, then?" some one yelled. "Prove she's here!" said another, "Yeah!" several angry cries broke out and soon turned into a roar of voices. The announcer made frantic attempts to silence the crowd, but failed. Youko knelt down to the cowering vixen's level and touched her shoulder, pleading without words. She looked up at him, with tears in her eyes, "I can't." he leaned his head on hers, "Please? Just this once, some one will find out sooner or later." He petted her head soothingly. She looked around at the raging crowds and then back to him. She nodded.

He stood up and held his rose in the air, the petals soared across the sky, falling over the whole circle; the cacophony hushed and turned to look at him. Lowering his rose, he knelt to the figure near him and brought her to stand. He grasped the hands clinging to the fastener of the cloak, loosened them, and let the cloak fall to the ground. In the dieing sunlight, an ethereal glow reflected off of the single blonde head, shining gloriously near her silver partner. She held her ears high with dignity and grace. The crowds drew a collective gasp and fell deathly silent. The fox's left hand, while standing beside her, took the vixen's right hand, and his other arm went around her waist protectively. "This is she," he said.

"Wow," said Blu, "You're not just pretty, you're gorgeous!" he stood up smiling. Almost as soon as he stood up, several other youkos rose and came forward to inspect the golden vixen. They smelled her, touched her hair, and gave her tail an upsetting tug. She yelped and jumped into the air, several yards away she landed, only to be swarmed again by many curious foxes. "Youko!" she yelled, her arm was waving the air as she was practically tackled. Youko forced his way through the throng of foxes and seized her. He was able to jump several meters more than she and fled with her to the large boulder where the ear ringed fox stood. "Leave it to Kurama to steal the gold," one fox mused out loud. The hordes snickered and turned themselves toward the announcer's rock. Youko set her down, "You alright?"

"I think I'll live." The announcer studied the two for a moment. "Are you two a couple?" he asked. "No!" they shook their heads furiously. "Well, my good foxes, " he addressed the crowds, "She is here and she is real; a golden youko." silence echoed at first, then Blu started to clap. A few others joined in and the rest were won over. They cheered and barked. When it had all died down, a cacophony of casual talking ensued; they headed off to their respective areas to get some visiting in before shuteye. Youko hopped down from the rock and helped Gabriel to dismount. A group of red and black vixens approached them. Each was dressed in a slinky out fit of black or red leather. A black youko, obviously the leader stepped to the front of the group; she was dressed in red leather to accent her black hair in a ponytail and her black high heel boots. "So, you're a golden youko, huh?" she asked in a disapproving tone. The group of vixens was one of several fan clubs and tried whenever they could to get his attention.

"It is as you say," Gabriel responded neutrally. The black vixen put her hand on her hip and stuck out her leg, as her ice blue eyes looked her up and down. "She hardly looks strong enough to carry such a heavy title." She said to no one in particular. "Doesn't she bother you hanging around you like that, Kurama?" she flicked her eyelashes at Youko as she spoke. He was utterly unimpressed but decided to play with her for a while. He responded to her comment by draping his arm across Gabe's shoulders and said in his charming voice, "No, Carina, not at all; in fact, it's the other way around, I hang around her all the time."

"Why ever would you waste your time with a scrawny little thing like her? She's got no meat on her bones at all, if you know what I mean." She leaned forward to give him a 'good view.' He gave a chuckle, "Dearest Carina, don't you know it's not the size, but how you use it?"

"If you're as worth while as Kurama says," Carina narrowed her eyes at Gabriel, emphasizing how much eye makeup she wore, " I would like to see 'how you use it.'" Carina had challenged her. Smiling sweetly, the golden vixen turned to Youko, "Sensei?" she asked for his approval. Carina's eyes went from dangerously narrow to insanely wide, "You teach her to fight?!" Carina had a history of pleading with Youko to teach her to fight. (And teach her many other things.)

The fox nodded, obviously amused. "Of course! She is my number one (and only) pupil." He turned his attention back to Gabriel, "I believe you have earned the chance to prove yourself, as timid as you are, you could use some confidence."

"Please, Youko, you speak as if I already defeated her!" she blushed, lowering her face.

"I have confidence in you, even if you don't have confidence in yourself. Go on, have some fun!"

Carina was livid, "How dare you presume this scrawny little whelp is strong enough to challenge and defeat me!"

"I dare because it's the truth and because I outrank you!" he gave a menacing growl, causing her to step back.

"We'll see about that, Youko. You wait and you will find that there are other fish in the see, better fish than some small fry." She hissed.

"Yes, Carina, there are better fish. Good day ladies." He said calmly, though his eyes flashed with a storm-like anger, and his tail had bristled uncomfortably. Putting his arms around Gabriel's shoulders, he led her away with out giving the group of vixens a second glance. Carina balled her hands into fists, "You'll see, Youko Kurama, you'll see." Signaling to the rest of the group to follow, she stalked angrily away.

Heh heh, Her first real fight! Go Gabe-chan!