Since when is snow iso/i cold? Miyuki wonders as Eijun sets him on the ground. Even almost a week after that monster of a snow storm, there was still snow blanketing Eijun's backyard.
"Go on little guy," Eijun says, placing Miyuki on the snow. "Kuramochi says that if you want to heal faster you need more exercise, so go on… run around."
Miyuki looks at him. He can't be serious right? Just run around? What does he think Miyuki is? A dog? He's a tanuki dammit, they're completely different.
Miyuki looks around the yard, trying to see if there is anywhere he can hope to escape through. In the light of day, he can see much better, even though his tanuki sight was already better than the average human's in regards to night vision. But what he finds is disappointing. Other than high wooden fences, there's not much to see in this 'yard' if that's even the correct term for it. It's more like just a grassy patch of land. Miyuki has seen bathrooms larger than this.
But just so Miyuki can finally get this guy to stop giving him such an intense stare, he hops around in the lawn. Moving a couple feet to the left and then running around in a couple small circles.
The sudden smile on the human's face is… way more blinding than it should be for the simple action Miyuki performed.
But never mind that, this is Miyuki's chance. He didn't get a good lay of the land the last time he was out here, what with the night sky, cold, and his injuries. He might not be able to run away with how closely this guy is watching him, but he can scope out all the places he can sneak out of for the next time he gets out here.
"Oh wait!" the guy yells out to him. "Before you get bored out here, I brought a ball! We can play fetch!"
This guy really thinks that Miyuki is a dog, doesn't he?!
"Here you go," the guy rolls a small red ball on the ground in front of Miyuki. Miyuki simply stares at the object and watches it roll by. Eventually it stops rolling right to the left of him and Miyuki gets an idea.
He picks the ball up with his small hands, planning on taking it further away from the man when-
Suddenly they both hear a scratching sound from the other side of the fence. Miyuki sniffs the air a little, and he instantly recognizes the scent of what's scratching the wood. It's a familiar scent, one of a very familiar annoyance in his life. But an annoyance that he needs the help of right now.
"Hey, don't go over there," Eijun says when Miyuki drops the ball and begins to make his way over to the noise. Eijun jumps over and tries to catch the tanuki before he can make it to the fenceline. "Hey! You don't know what that is! Don't you have any sense of self-preservation!"
Of course Miyuki does, that sense of self-preservation has been telling him to get out of this man's hold for the past two weeks.
As the scratching at the fence continues, the ground beneath the wood begins to be disturbed. Whoever or whatever it is must be trying to get under the fence.
Eijun again tries to pick up the tanuki as said tanuki makes another attempt to get closer to the fence. Eijun is probably going to wind up with a ton of scratches on his arms later tonight, but if it helps save the tanuki from whatever is trying to invade his yard, so be it.
Just as an animal crawls through the opening between the ground and the fence and pushes the remaining snow out of the way, Eijun jumps back, landing his butt hard on the icy ground.
But before he can focus on the rapidly developing bruise that will be sure to hurt whenever he sits down tomorrow, Eijun looks up to see- is that a fox?!
And the tanuki is going towards the fox! He has to stop this !
Eijun quickly stands up, and before he lets his feet slip on the ice again, he jumps forward to wrap his arms around the tanuki's body and stands up, rushing back towards his back door and inside his house.
Closing the door behind him, Eijun lets out a long breath and releases the tanuki from his arms, relieved that he's finally in the clear.
Only for him to look down and see the fox standing right next to his fridge.
Oh, shit.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Eijun doesn't know how or when he became a pet owner of wild animals, but if anyone were to find out he has ianother /i wild animal living in his house, he will never hear the end of it.
He looks over at the couch in his living room and still can't believe what he is seeing.
On his couch are two wild animals curled up and sleeping together. Not just any wild animals though, a wild tanuki he found injured in the forest a couple weeks ago, and a wild fox who appears to be "long lost friends" with the tanuki.
Maybe Kuramochi has a point, he really shouldn't be bringing wild animals into his house.
But in his defense, he didn't bring the fox into his house. If anything, he was trying to run away from the fox.
He's completely stuck though, as he stands in his kitchen. Should he try and get them out of his house?
No, he can't do that. The tanuki is still too injured to be on his own in the wild, and if he tried to get the fox to leave without the tanuki, he'll probably end up bitten. He doesn't know what kind of diseases the fox has been subjected to, so that option is a no-go.
Should he go over to Kuramochi and ask what he should do?
No, Kuramochi already doesn't want him keeping the tanuki around much longer. If he saw the fox he'd probably take both animals away from him.
So that leaves him one other option… let the fox stay in his house.
Eijun then hears a knock on the front door and sees both of the animals lift their heads and look at him. Shit, who can that be at his front door at this hour? And he really hopes the animals don't get up and run at the door, he doesn't need anyone seeing his new addition.
Eijun slowly makes his way over to his front door while watching the two animals to make sure they don't move from where they are sitting. Arriving at the door, he thinks he's in the clear for now as the animals have both curled up into balls and gone back to sleep.
So Eijun opens the door and positions his body in the doorway so that whoever is there can't see the two animals on his couch. Eijun is surprised when he sees Haruichi at his door at this late hour though.
"Harucchi? What are you doing here so late?" Eijun asks.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Mei has no idea what he got himself into or how to get himself out of here. That's his main thought as he realizes he really should have thought through the hastily made plan to free Miyuki that he came up with that morning.
His plan was simple and foolproof really.
First, shift into his fox form and somehow get into the stupid police officer's house. He didn't think it would be that hard, after all the man took in Miyuki in his tanuki form, so he must have some fetish for taking wild animals as pets.
Second, once inside the house, figure out a way to break both of them out. He figured Miyuki was injured somehow, and that was why he hadn't escaped this guy's house so far. It turned out that assumption is correct.
But how exactly will he make a break out of this house? Mei has no idea, for the man has been staring at him as soon as he realized there was a fox in the building.
But it appears whoever is at the door has given Mei the distraction he needs.
i"Hey, Miyuki,"/i Mei whispers to the tanuki curled up in a ball beside him. When he lifts his head, Mei motions over his shoulder. i"The guy's distracted, let's get out of here."/i
Miyuki's eyes widen. i"Get out of here?"/i Miyuki asks. He looks over at the door, and can hear the human talking to the guy that he's left with everyday. i"Yeah, but-"/i
i"Come on,"/i Mei says as he nudges Miyuki's body. i"Before he comes back."/i
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
It's just as their conversation starts wrapping up that Haruichi sees something move from behind Eijun.
"Eijun, what's that?" Haruichi asks as he tries to lean over to see around Eijun's shoulder.
Eijun in turn moves off the door jam so Haruichi can't see around him. "What are you talking about? It's just my living room, same as it's always been."
"Yeah, but," Haruichi raises to his tiptoes to try and see over Eijun. It has little effect. The two then hear a crash sound out from Eijun's kitchen. "What was that?" Haruichi asks.
Eijun quickly turns around and runs to his kitchen, Haruichi follows after him, curious to find out what caused the noise. Standing in the middle of the kitchen floor with a bowl between them, are the tanuki and the fox.
"Eijun," Haruichi starts with a low voice.
"Yes?"
"Is that a fox?"
"Maybe?"
Haruichi sighs, then turns to leave the house. Over his shoulder he says,"Remember what Youichi said about taking in wild animals…. And I am definitely going to tell him about this."