Sapphire Vixen
--By SunFireVixen--
Chapter 6: Promises and Puppy Faces
"I'm not eating it. Leave my room now," Kai said, glaring at Hilary, who was trying to feed him some kind of chicken soup.
It was morning, and Sapphire had been there the whole night, accompanying the red-faced Kai.
He had been coughing and sneezing the whole night, Sapphire was staying in the guest room, and she had woken up, and curled up at the foot of his bed.
He had woken up that morning with a fever.
In addition, something strange had happened in the middle of the night...
Kai's throat felt sore, and had woken up somewhere around midnight, and then left to the kitchen for a glass of water. He glanced at the digital clock.
'11:52 ' flashed back at him.
He took a small cup of glass from the cupboard...the sound of water hit the bottom of the glass...two lips drank slowly...
He washed the glass cup in the sink, and then put it away.
He yawned, and glanced at the clock once more.
11:59...
He walked back to his room, and noticed Sapphire at the foot of his bed.
'Stupid...uhh...girl?' he thought.
He examined the fos ears on her head as she slept soundlessly.
Kai grabbed one of his extra covers, and gently covered her. He glanced back at her scarlet ears again, and rubbed one of them gently.
It twitched. A small smile formed on his face, and then he crawled back into bed.
He started to close his eyes when Sapphire shot up, and ran outside. She closed the door behind her, and he could see a bright light coming from the small opening between the floor and the door.
After a few seconds, the bright light vanished, and Sapphire came back in. She looked entirely different now.
She looked like the first time she had seen her, when Rei and Kai saw her sitting in the tree.
She still had the same scarlet ears with black tips, and same colored eyes. However, the shape of them changed. They were circular, and the girl's eyes were an almond-like shape.
This fox-like creature... was this the same female that had given Kai that towel to dry his hair?
And if it was, why did she change appearance?
She walked towards the window next to his bed.
He had not noticed the night before, but her ankle seemed perfectly fine...
'Wasn't she hurt? Was not her ankle broken? It is impossible to heal that fast.' Kai thought.
He saw her left paw curl into a fist, and she glared at the bright moon outside in the dark blue sky.
Only three fingers were visible, the other two fingers hid behind her black, long glove's sleeve.
"Once this is all over, I'll keep my promise to Mother- you…nor anybody else, will be able to stop me. You can keep playing this pathetic game, and keep changing the rules, but I'll win in the end, you'll see," she whispered.
He had barely heard her whisper, but he heard everything she had said.
She curled up at the foot of Kai's bed again and fell asleep. He closed his eyes too, wondering what she meant…
In the morning, Hilary found the curled up Sapphire, and the red-faced Kai, sleeping. She woke up Sapphire and Kai, and stuffed a thermometer in his mouth. Then she had left to the kitchen muttering about making her 'special-chicken-soup-for-the-tomato-faced-Kai' soup. A few snickers were heard as she left.
Now she was helping Hilary put wet and cold towels on his forehead so his fever could cool down. Sapphire gently took the thermometer out of Kai's mouth, and read 95 degrees.
She sighed with relief. Last night he had been in the hundreds.
He stared at the fox-like creature. She had a more serious face.
Was this really the same girl?
Then, Sapphire took the now sweat-covered cloth from his forehead and ran off to the bathroom to wet it again. Some time later, she came back with the wet towel in her paws, and she was about to place it on his forehead when a clock somewhere in the house chimed, signaling it was noon. She stopped midway, and a bright, white light surrounded her.
Hilary and Kai stared at her.
Sapphire dropped the towel on his face, covering his eyes. She ran outside, closing the door behind her. He lifted the towel a few inches from his eyes, and he could see the light that had surrounded her coming from the space between the floor and the door.
She came back in, but she was human-like again.
What was going on?
She had the same sapphire-blue eyes, and scarlet ears. She had hair the same color as the fur of the other form, scarlet. She had a scarlet tank top that ended at her midriff, and a necklace that held the same silvery-white mane as the fox-like creature.
She had a scarlet, fur skirt that had a dark, black line that ran vertically on her clothes. She was wearing two long, black gloves that extended from her paws to her shoulders. Instead of finger-gloves, there were paws, the same as her other form.
He knew that there were human hands and fingers under those gloves- he had seen them when he had pulled them away from her arms when she tried covering them the day before.
She had scarlet fur boots covering her feet, and he knew there were human feet and toes under there too. A deep red triangle cut in half were on each side of her stomach. However, they did not seem like if they were painted.
She easily could have passed as her other form if only she had had a tail, and her face pointed like a fox.
She lifted the towel from his eyes. Then she placed it gently on his forehead. She looked at him with sad, sapphire-blue eyes. He felt his face redden even more, and he was thankful that he did not have the thermometer in his mouth, because it probably would have popped with the heat radiating from his face.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"It's okay." he grunted, staring at the ceiling, avoiding her light-blue eyes.
"Uhh...well, anyways, Kai, please, eat the soup already! You'll feel better!" Hilary whined.
She pushed the spoon into his mouth, but he refused to eat it.
"What part of 'I'm not eating it' did you not understand? Leave my room…now," he said. He was feeling annoyed now. He glared at her, and turned away.
"Please eat the soup, Kai... I don't want you to be sick anymore."
He started to turn towards Sapphire, to glare at her, but when he saw her face, he almost choked.
She had her hands clasped together, like pleading. The two scarlet ears on her head were drooped, and she seemed on the verge of tears.
It was like seeing a kitten in the middle of a thunderstorm- you just cannot avoid it, let alone ignore it.
'I'm not falling for that.'
Some time later, the soup was gone.
'I feel even more sick.'
He glared at the Hilary, and Sapphire remained silent, with a curious look on her face.
He only saw a small smile when he was almost done with the soup, but when he blinked, the smile was gone, and she was staring out the window with a stern face.
'I have never seen her smile before.'
She was not like Hilary, who liked to giggle and laugh, and have fun. Sapphire remained quiet, only responding when talked to. Someone who was just too sad to manage a small smile, and had grown serious…
'What happened to this girl?'
He felt drowsy and started to close his eyes. Hilary left to get another wet cloth.
Kai felt someone pull up the covers to his neck, and he opened my eyes. Two sapphire-blue eyes stared back at silver with concern.
She put her right paw-gloved hand on his forehead, and he felt her glove's black claws. They were cold, and he felt he probably could sleep the whole day like that if she had not taken her paw-glove away. Hilary came back in with the wet cloth and gave it to Sapphire, and then left.
Sapphire carefully placed it on Kai's forehead, and he closed his eyes.
He breathed deeply, and closed his eyes.
'He must be really tired.'
'So? He's just another human.'
He went to sleep...
'I guess, but I still feel bad for him.'
'You make me sick.'
'You can leave now.'
'You don't give me orders. And you do know I am stronger than you will ever be...right?'
Sapphireconcentrated back to Kai.
The blue marks on his face had faded with the rain from yesterday, and she rubbed one of the triangles on his left cheek. He did not look so serious or angry now.
She saw herself caressing his cheek, and her face reddened. She quickly pulled her hand away.
His eyebrows furrowed together for a moment, and then he turned over the other way.
'Idiot. I thought I told you not to make contact with any human. Did I not?'
'Do me a favor and shut up.'
'I'm the one who decides what we're both going to do.'
Shegrabbed the door handle on the door and looked back at the sleeping Kai. He had turned over soshe could not see his face, only his back.
'You say something?'
' I hate you.'
'Is there someone who doesn't?'
Sapphire leaned against the door, and then she slowly sat. She hugged her legs, and placed her head on her knees. She looked at the wooden floor miserably.
"If something bad happens to Kai, it will be my fault," she muttered.
"No, it won't. His sickness has nothing to do with you."
Apparently, she was not alone. She looked up.
That boy that had accompanied Kai…Rei.
"Kai likes to be alone and think. He doesn't like talking much." he said.
He offered his hand to help her up, but she stood up by herself.
'His ears…'
'How odd. I smell...a difference.'
Sapphireglanced at his pointy ears. He smiled.
'Can we trust him? He seems nice…'
'I'm not sure. However, I will keep on eye on him. Just play along with him.'
"I'm still worried,"she said, looking down at the floor.
"Don't worry- he'll get better. Hey, do you remember me? Rei?" he asked, slowly grabbing her hand.
"Yes..."
He was easy to remember…
"Well, are you okay? Where are your wounds? I thought you had hurt your ankle. There's no way you can heal that fast," he said, staring at the scarlet ears on top ofher head.
'Maybe he is human, because he's as stupid as one…'
She smiled secretly.
"I'm not fully human...either, Rei. My body heals quicker than a human's." she said, looking away, avoiding his amber eyes. She took her paw-glove hand away from his hand.
"Please, just call me Rei. And it's okay if you don't want to say." He said, with a warm smile. Then he said, "Come with me. I would like to introduce you to everybody. They're in the kitchen."
He took her hand again and gently pulled her towards the kitchen. There were four people there. Two were Hilary and Max, which she had met the night before. But she had not noticed the other two boys.
One boy with dark blue hair and red and blue cap was sitting at a wooden table, wolfing down rice and noodles. The other, a much smaller boy, had mousy brown hair and glasses, and he was typing furiously on his laptop, his nose only two inches away from the computer screen. Everybody looked up as they entered the room.
"Hey everybody! I want you to meet- err..." he looked at me. Then he whispered in my ear, "You never told me your name…"
Everybody in the room turned to her.
"Sapphire," she said, looking away.
She wanted to cover the scarlet ears on top of my head, but then she discovered she could not.
Rei was still holding her right hand... Her face reddened, and she looked away, confused on what she should do.
"Everyone, meet Sapphire." He gently pulled Sapphire towards the others.
Everybody stood up, except Tyson, and walked towards Sapphire. Tyson looked up from his bowl of food, his mouth stuffed with rice. He managed to give a rice-stuffed smile at Sapphire. Kenny came closer to Sapphire, and extended his hand towards her.
"I'm Kenny- Nice to meet you."
She hesitated at first, but shook his hand. He smiled at her.
He went back to his seat, and continued typing.
"My memf's Mymnf!"
Sapphire stared at Tyson, who had tried to speak with his mouth full. After gulping down his food, he said, "Gomen- I'm Tyson." He smiled again, and then continued with his fourth bowl.
"I'm Max- Remember?" Max said, smiling too. Sapphire nodded
"Remember me too?" Hilary said, pointing at herself. She smiled, and Sapphire nodded again.
Everything was quiet, until Tyson started to snicker and Hilary giggled.
Sapphire was looking away, too, hiding a red face. Her right scarlet ear kept twitching every few seconds. She was panicky, and her left foot tapped on the floor nervously.
Rei wanted to scratch his head in confusion, but found out he could not- he was still holding Sapphire's hand.
Rei quickly let go of her hand, and backed in to the wall, his raven bangs hiding most of his red face.
Sapphire hid her shaky and sweaty hand behind her. Her face was still red.
There was an awkward silence. Hilary sneezed, trying to break the silence. She was unsuccessful.
"I-I...I'm going to check on Kai..." Sapphire said stiffly. She then quickly walked towards Kai's room.
As soon as she disappeared behind the door, Hilary started to giggle loudly again.
"Oh, Rei- You've got to admit she is cute!" Max said a smile on his puppy-like face.
Tyson and Kenny agreed. Kenny became red in the face and then hid behind his laptop again.
---
Sapphire sat in a chair sideways to Kai's bed, next to the window.
In her mind, she saw dark clouds and raindrops hit the concrete floor outside. Tiny droplets of rainwater crashed against the window she was looking through.
She smiled. She loved the rain.
The image swirled in her head. She is close to nature, so weather predictions would come easily for her.
She crossed her arms, placed them on Kai's bed, next to him. She rested her head on her crossed arms. Kai's back was facing her.
"I wish you'd get better..." she muttered.
She closed her eyes, and took a nap.
She soon awakened with a hand grasping on her neck tightly. She could not breathe...