A/N:
Akane: Hi I hope everyone enjoys our story!
Kitsuko: Yep! And we finally got some reviews! Thanx ;
Okay…Chapter Six. Here we have a little bit of kitsune legend, as in the two tails thing. Yep, Kitsuko has two tails now…
By the way, Kitsuko's name comes from the words "kitsune" (fox) and "kuko" (fox of air, including wind, mist, and fog).
Akane's name means something like center of the island; a deeper meaning…
Alright, we'll have more notes later. Story Time!
6 – Another Stranger
Akane, Aiko, and Kieon continued to wait for Kitsuko to awaken as they wondered about her two tails. Kitsuko's breathing seemed to be returning to normal.
Aiko handed her first aid kit to Akane who put it back into her pack.
"So it's natural for her to have two tails?" Aiko asked. "Are there any certain circumstances for them to appear?"
Kieon sat next to Kitsuko. "I don't think there are any specific circumstances. But according to lore, to get another tail, a fox must earn it, so something important probably happened…The number of tails a fox has is related to its power - the more tails she has, the more powerful she is. Maybe the fight with the stranger caused Kitsuko to achieve a greater level of power, even though she lost…?"
"Oh, I see, so she earned the tail.. I wonder what she could have been doing to gain a new level of power.." Akane wondered aloud.
"She must have learned something new, trying to win," Aiko guessed.
"Exactly," Kieon said, as Kitsuko's eyes began to quiver and open. Kitsuko sat up quickly and looked around. Her ears shifted around to try to pick up the sound of the stranger. But he had gone. Kitsuko had a bummed look on her face. "Damnit...He got away again..."
Kieon hopped on her shoulder and asked, "What happened?" and pointed to her two tails with her paw. Kitsuko looked down with a surprised look on her face.
"Who was it that you were fighting, did you know them?" Akane asked.
"Is your head okay?" Aiko asked, picking up the ice pack that seemed to have fallen when Kitsuko sat up.
"Um...I think I'm fine. That guy was the one who I had seen before...I sensed his dark energy and ran here, and it was like he was expecting me. I don't know what he wants with me - it's like he's testing my power. And in this last fight...I felt so desperate, I was sure that I was a goner. Then, I don't know what happened, but this incredible power was unleashed - by me. That's when I passed out..."
Aiko put the ice pack back into the first aid kit. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were just hit in the head.. So, by the sound of that, it would be reckless to go after him again, not for a while, at least. So what should we do now?" Aiko asked.
"I was hit in the head, but that didn't knock me out…" Kitsuko felt over the bump near her forehead. but I'm fine...demon foxes are good at recovering. I want to go after him again, but I'm not sure what good that would do." She looked around and sighed. "I don't know what to do. Akane, didn't you want to find out more about yourself, and about the things you can't remember?"
"Yes, I do," Akane replied silently, "But what is there, do you think, that we can do to find that out?"
"Maybe that book could help?" Aiko wondered aloud.
"Book? Oh, you mean the books in the library. Most of them are just junk, I've looked through them before..." Kitsuko replied distantly.
Kieon spoke up, "We found one book that seems to be useful. Akane, did you bring it with you?"
"No, actually.. We were in such a hurry that I left it.." Akane replied.
"I could go get it!" Aiko said.
"Well, you never know what could be down there, so I'll go too.." Akane said.
"I'll come with you," said Kitsuko, with Kieon still on her shoulder. "We don't need to stay here anyway."
While walking back to the library, Kitsuko asked, " What did you find in that book?"
Kieon explained, "It was written by Ansem, and he seems to be explaining the observations that he is making to experiment with new kinds of Heartless..."
As they entered the library, Akane noticed someone walking out of the door.. She decided it didn't matter.. They just needed that book, and it wasn't strange for someone else to be here, was it?
Akane went to where the book was, but it wasn't on the shelf, but on the floor, open to a random page.
"That's strange.. I remember putting this back on the shelf.. Do you think it was that person, that just left the room?" Akane asked.
"Huh?" Kitsuko didn't expect to see anyone else here, thinking that this place was abandoned other than the Heartless and the mysterious figure she had fought.
Kieon looked down at the book, "It seems that he was interested in this book as well..." Kitsuko picked up the book slowly and looked at the page which it had been left on, with Kieon looking at it as well.
"So, what exactly is on that page?" Akane asked.
Aiko got on Kitsuko's other shoulder to read it. "This page is about new heartless, isn't it?" Aiko asked, reading a bit of the page. "I wonder what that person would want to know about supposed new heartless…" Aiko wondered aloud.
"Hm..." Kitsuko read carefully with a stern look on her face. She looked back at the door, tempted to run out after the stranger.
Then Kieon began to read a few parts aloud, "...These new Heartless will be better suited for more complicated operations. The other Heartless are completely empty, but these refined Heartless have superior potential, as they are created from people. The Heartless lives inside the person, so in heart, the person is truly a Heartless, but on the outside, they are more powerful and have more capabilities. After being infected with my new breed of Parasite Heartless, the victim will slowly become more and more like a Heartless, until they are perfect..."
Akane and Aiko looked a bit shocked. Aiko read on, "Once they are perfect, they will become a part of a new, and improved army for a complete invasion! There are still more worlds yet that my heartless have not gotten too, and this time around, all of the people from the worlds will become more of my perfect heartless, until everything is taken by the Parasites."
Aiko stopped reading. "This could be a fictional work of a lunatic, right, I mean…How could something this recent be in here? Most of the books in here are very old…Do you think someone wants us to read this for some reason?"
Kitsuko looked at Aiko and said, "Maybe he is a lunatic, but he is also a genius, to be able to create Heartless. I thought he was destroyed...But who was that person and why was he trying to read about this?"
Kieon looked worried. "Maybe he is also infected with the Heartless, or something of the sort. We should go find him!"
"Okay, sounds like a good idea, but this time.." Aiko gave the book to Akane, who put it in her backpack. "We should keep this just in case." Aiko finished, as she and Akane went the way they saw the person leave, only to find them long gone..
end of chapter six – another stranger