Over the week and a half that Miyuki has been under the care of this strange and frankly idiotic human, Miyuki has come to a horrifying realization,
He doesn't want to leave.
And that's crazy, right?
He's a freaking human, he has a life outside of here. A life that, at this point, has probably gone completely off the rails and who knows what story Mei has created to cover his disappearance, but he knows he shouldn't iwant/i to stay here.
But in the past couple days… he feels like he does want to stay here.
Honestly, He's almost stopped looking for escape routes and ways out of this situation. He's sort of just started watching things from the background. Like a ipet/i would, he shudders.
But at the same time… acting like a pet is… surprisingly relaxing. Miyuki doesn't exactly know how to explain it in a way that people wouldn't think he's going insane but… just think about it… the man gives him all the food he wants (although it's taken some trial and error for the man to realize Miyuki's favorite foods), he gets to spend just about all day lazing around and not worrying about anything (although it would be better if he didn't have to spend the day with all those other animals), and the human, Eijun, Miyuki finally figures out his name, gives surprisingly good massages.
Miyuki hopes that Mei doesn't stay around long enough for him to see his and Eijun's nightly ritual of the human giving the tanuki nice back scratches and tummy rubs. Now that Miyuki thinks about it, he probably should be trying harder to show that a tanuki isn't the same thing as a dog.
It wasn't until Mei broke through the bottom of the fence that he realizes that he should be doing something about this whole situation. He has a life outside of here, a life that is probably, no definitely, a shit show right now.
Miyuki was wondering how long it would take for Mei to realize he would need to come in his fox form if he wanted Eijun to let him anywhere near Miyuki. Because Mei definitely did not make a good impression with the police officer.
But it seems that Mei figured it out, faster than he was expecting too, but now that he's here… and now that they are both inside Eijun's house, Miyuki realizes he's still stuck at step one.
Well maybe not… with the way Eijun is eyeing Mei from the kitchen… Miyuki doesn't think that the human really wants the fox in here at all. Maybe Eijun only likes to help hurt animals? Or maybe he doesn't like foxes?
Whatever the case, Miyuki doubts that Eijun knows that Mei can shift into a fox.
Everyone in the room is knocked out of their thoughts by the knock at Eijun's front door. Miyuki sniffs the air. Oh, it's that guy Eijun leaves Miyuki with everyday. Miyuki really can't stand going there, he feels like he's being treated like a kid in daycare. That might be the worst thing about being stuck in this tanuki form, besides the… you know… not being a human.
As Eijun moves across the room to answer the door, he keeps an eye on Mei. He really must not trust the fox here. Eventually though he has to turn his attention away from the two animals to the man at the door.
Strange, Eijun is using his body to block the pink head's view of the animals. He must not want Haruichi to see the fox.
While the two humans are distracted, Mei decides to make his move- to help Miyuki escape this place.
"Miyuki, let's go," Mei says as he jumps off the couch and walks to the kitchen.
"Go?" Miyuki asks, but jumps off the couch to follow after Mei.
"Yeah, I'm breaking you out of this place. You've been away too long if you think I'm just gonna let you stay here."
It's only now that Mei is trying to make Miyuki leave with him that Miyuki has to tell Mei something about this situation. Something important.
"I can't just go," Miyuki hisses in Mei's ear.
"What? Why not?" Mei asks, confused.
"Because," Miyuki stresses. "It wouldn't change anything. Something happened from when I was injured to when I woke up here! I can't… can't shift back into my human form."
"You can't change back?" Mei asks. "I knew that human did something to you ." Mei glares at the man's back.
"I really don't think this man did anything to put me in this situation," Miyuki says, defending the human. "You've seen him for at least fifteen minutes now. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body. If anything he saved my life by being an idiot and bringing an injured wild animal into his house."
"So what are you saying?" Mei asks. "Are you just going to stay here until we figure out how to change you back into a human?"
"... I mean," Miyuki starts. "I'm sure it won't take you too long to figure out a way to fix this. And besides, if the cops decide to stop over at your place and see me there, it might not work out for the best with you."
What Miyuki didn't want to say was that he really didn't mind being here. And if he was still going to be stuck in his tanuki form, he would like to be spoiled as a pet while he does it.
"Okay. Fine then," Mei says. "But you're going to have to help me sneak out of this place."
It's safe to say that they're attempt to 'sneak out of this place' was not that successful, if the crashed bowls one the floor and two humans running in to find them was any indication. But Eijun was all to happy to let the fox leave at the end of the night.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Years ago, Mei's father introduced him to a friend of his who was very knowledgeable and a researcher in shifter biology. The man had apparently been a doctor and after marrying a shifter and realizing his son was one as well, he wanted to figure out and know just about everything about them and how shifter biology worked.
At the time Mei cared very little about the meeting, but he did enjoy spending time with the man's son. And when the dude decided to attend the same university as him and Miyuki, well, even though Mei wouldn't exactly say they were 'friends', Mei did keep in contact with him enough to be able to go ask him for a favor.
"Yo! Shunpei!" Mei yells as he bangs on the guy's apartment door. "I need your help!"
"What?!" Sanada says as he opens the door. "Dude it's like… 10pm? What are you doing here? Can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm about to go to bed."
"Nevermind that," Mei shakes his head. "It's an emergency, it can't wait. I need your help and only you can help me."
"Oh yeah," Sanada shrugs and crosses his arms in the doorway. "What is this 'emergency' this time?
"What?! No!" Mei shakes his head. "It's about Miyuki!"
"Miyuki? Your friend who went missing a couple weeks ago?"
"Yeah him!" Mei nods. "Although he didn't exactly go missing…"
"What do you mean he didn't exactly go missing?" Sanada asks. "Do you know where he is? Haven't the police been talking to you multiple times about him? If you know where he is and aren't telling them-"
"That's what I need your help with!" Mei interrupts him.
Sanada sighs, realizing getting Mei to leave him alone for the night is going to take longer than he realized… that and the other man actually needs his help for once. Sanada swears, not even hanging out with Raichi is this annoying… or this complicated.
"Fine then come inside," he says as he leans back from the doorway to let the blonde inside. "Tell me just exactly what happened."
So Mei follows the man into his apartment and then collapses on the couch of his living room. "So, come on," Sanda pokes him in the leg with his foot. "Tell me what happened, so I can decide if I want to help you guys or not."
Mei lets out a long sigh, before launching into an explanation. "When Miyuki went missing two weeks ago, he was running through the forest when apparently he got caught in some type of bear trap out in the forest, and hurt his leg super badly. He said he passed out then the next morning some guy found him and took him back to his place to get all fixed up. He was eventually taken to a vet, but by the next time he tried to escape he found out it was impossible to change back into his human form, and-"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Sanada says, cutting Mei off. "I think I get it now. Miyuki got hurt and can't change back into his human form and that's why he's not here right?"
AT Mei's answering nod, Sanada hums, thinking about what to do. "I guess I can help you. First things first though, I'll need to see him. Why don't you bring him by?'
"Well, that might be harder than it sounds…" Mei deflates.
"How so?" Sanada asks.