High-Fantasy in a modern AU.

Calypso
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6. The Fox

Life took on a strange edge of waiting.

Sasuke couldn't help but watch the west wall – for a raven or his brother, he couldn't say – but there was an unfamiliar impatience under his breast that ached if he breathed too deep or sat still too long.

His magic was slow in returning, but the inevitability of his recovery glinted on the horizon, and the number of sunrises left to journey were clearly marked and dwindling. As eager as he was to have his powers restored, there was a curious reluctance that accompanied every small victory, tinging success bittersweet.

For her part, Hinata still helped in her quiet, unobtrusive sort of way, but the sense of impending farewells drifted in the air like the scent of storm over a calm sea.

It was a maddening sort of broken that Sasuke had no idea how to fix.

He readied himself for sleep that night as Hex sat lazily on the end of the bed, watching him with disinterest.

"No one came," he said aloud, as much to the cat as to himself. "But she watches the wall, too, doesn't she?"

Hex blinked one eye and then the other, and he nodded.

He stroked the cat's head and ears, smiling gently when she butted her gray head into his hand. "It hurts her, doesn't it?" he asked quietly. "All of this. My being here. Knowing I will leave…It's all happened before, hasn't it?"

Hex dipped her head, eyes squinted as she purred and he scratched the back of her neck.

"What is to be done," he murmured. "Do you know?"

Hex leaned into his hand again, before meeting his eyes. He leaned closer half expecting her to speak, but she merely touched her forehead to his own, and he closed his eyes. That night, Hex curled up to sleep next to him, and as he drifted into dreams he heard: "Ask her about the fox. Have her tell you the story."

The words echoed in his ears when he woke the next morning, wondering if he had dreamt the whole thing. Oddly enough, a storm rolled over the village, and they decided to take their evening cup of tea in front of the fire place.

She picked up a book and was quietly turning through pages when he happened to glance at the cover. The fanciful illustration made it look like a children's book, but one image in particular caught his eye.

"What are you reading?"

A hint of a smile pulled at her lips. "An old collection of fairy tales," she glanced at him over the book. "I haven't read it for some time – I nearly forgot about it, in fact."

"Oh?"

"Yes," she pulled adjusted the blanket over her tucked legs. "I must have misshelved it – I found it while looking for a completely different book."

"Which story are you reading now?"

"Let's see," she looked down. "The next story is about… a fox."

He watched her face carefully, and ventured. "Will you read it to me?"

She studied the page a moment and swallowed before saying, "Alright."

"Once upon a time," she cleared her throat, "there was a handsome fox. He often wandered into a princess' private garden, and he so delighted her, that she told the gardeners to leave food for him, and that he should be allowed to come and go as he pleased."

"One day, while the princess as walking around the garden, she found the fox gravely injured and dangerously weak. She immediately had the animal brought to her own quarters and would hear of no one else undertaking his care. Night and day, she watched over the fox, using her knowledge of healing and her own magic to coax him back to life. To her great surprise, and in the light of the first full moon, the fox transformed into a handsome young man. He did not wake, but still she tended him, falling in love even as he slept. The petals began coming then, a small few coughed into her hand, and she ignored them. More waited for her on her pillow when she woke the next morning, and still more the morning after that. On the day he finally awoke, his eyes a snapping azure, and his smile a blinding light, she knew her heart was lost to him. And although he had magic in his veins as surely as she did in hers, it was not enchantment that bound her heart to him."

"You see, the princess knew what the petals blooming in her chest meant. She had fallen deeply into an unrequited love that had grown and taken root in her soul. Should he now return her love - the love of one capable of loving so deeply and so well - the magic would bind them together in eternal happiness."

"Sadly, it was not to be. He thanked her profusely, revealing he was a young fox god and that he had been on a quest when he managed to get cursed to be trapped in his fox form. 'I should have been more careful,' he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. 'But thanks to you, I can end my quest, return to my kingdom, and save our princess.'"

"She asked him about his own princess then, and very quickly realized that he loved her to distraction. She saw this young god would soon be a king as surely as she felt his lips against her hand when he thanked her and spoke of leaving in the morning. The princess swallowed the blossom in her throat, and accepted his thanks. When she made his tea that night, unbeknownst to her, one of the petals – deep crimson and indigo- fell into the teapot. The next morning, he woke, professing his love for her and how he wished to stay, and at first she was elated – but then she paused. She knew such a strong heart could not turn so quickly, and upon washing the teapot, realized he had been enchanted by her love."

"The princess was faced with a choice. Her magic was powerful; should she let the fox god remain enamored, they would be bound eternally - he would be hers. The other choice was to end the enchantment at its source; to strangle her love at the root, and therefore remove any feelings she could have for the fox god in this life or the next. And although he filled her heart with an indescribable joy, she could not bring herself to nurture a love in the field of a heart readied for another."

"That night, in the light of the still-full moon, she drank a potion of her own making and retched until every last petal and with it her love for him fell to the ground and withered in the dawn. He arose that day with no memory of any love other than the one he had carried with him on his journey, and repeated his thanks to the princess for all she had done to aid him on his quest. Before the sun reached its zenith, the castle gates closed behind him, and she watched his departure with a wistful sort of indifference. Her heart could be saddened at the leaving of a friend, but no longer could she love him as she once did. Instead, the princess whispered her blessing to the wind, which rode at his back until he arrived safely to the people and place he called home. His quest was successful, and he saved and married his princess, who had loved him as deeply as he did her. They ruled the kingdom wisely and well, and the fox god turned King served his people with cunning and devotion for the rest of his days."

"And …. The princess in the garden?" Sasuke asked, his voice barely a murmur over the crackling fire and the droning rain.

"Hard to say," she shrugged. "I never heard any more of her story. Only that the prince returned to his beloved and all was well."

"What do you think happened to her?"

"I imagine she remained in her garden, content with her flowers and strays."

"Is that a happy ending?"

"I don't see why not," she smiled wistfully. "She was fine before she met the fox, wasn't she? She loved him well enough to set him free, and could feel no heartache once her love was gone."

"Heartache has many forms," he mused. "Do you not agree?"

"I suppose," her eyes drifted over his shoulder to the rain running down the window. "But some are more bearable than others."

Sasuke waited a moment, the silence heavy between them.

Finally, Sasuke said, "Tell me another story," and Hinata agreed with a small smile a the tension between them slid away like rain on the glass, disappearing into the night.

Still, the story of the fox stuck in his craw, and he could not eject it from his mind.

The rain let up two days later, and he wandered into the garden determined to clear his mind of fairy tales and foxes. When Hex brushed past him, he was so deep in thought, he hadn't realized he had followed until he watched her hop onto a low, curved wall, and then disappear on the other side.

The path followed the wall before curving into a gate that creaked on its hinges in protest. He wandered in the quiet and the lush, finally spotting the familiar form of Hex waiting for him, looking up into the branches of a tree.

A pair of intelligent black eyes stared back at him, for there, sitting in the branches of a slender tree with leaves of crimson and indigo, was his brother's raven.

Sasuke's heart lurched, shattering the thick of his distraction as reality fell around him with sharp, startling clarity.

Nothing escaped his notice - not the powerful, ancient magic flowing from the tree's root to tip, nor the echoes of sorrow and a magical signature he knew by heart.

"This is her magic," he murmured, tentatively putting his hand to the trunk, feeling magic pulse under his fingers. "No," he breathed. "This is her curse."

The wind rustled the branches above him and he strained to hear whispers in the air not meant to be detected by ear.

"Please," he raised his other hand to the trunk. "Tell me how to help her."

With that, he bowed his head, closed his eyes, and listened, while the raven and Hex kept patient watch in knowing silence.