Dawn broke at the Katsuki camp and so did a certain young archer's fever. The young man's eyes slowly opened, gunky and sticky after being closed for such a long time. When he attempted to lift his hands to rub at them, he groaned as he struggled to raise this arms. They seemed as if they were weighed down by rocks and he cursed how weak he felt. Pushing past the weakness, he managed to finally bring one solitary hand to his face and semi-remove the crusty goop. He blinked a few times, bringing some much-needed moisture to his eyes, before taking in his surroundings. He was in a strange place, not inside a building…but perhaps some kind of tent. He closed his eyes and moaned pitifully. His head was pounding and his mouth felt drier than a desert. What the hell happened? Where the hell am I? A sudden stab of pain in his leg brought everything flooding back. Ugghhhh, right. The demons…the poison dagger. Shit, I thought I had died. How am I NOT dead right now? His memory was a bit hazy, but he remembered having some really weird hallucinations in what he thought were his last moments on Earth. His right eyebrow twitched as the image of a talking fox woman came back to him. Shit, that demon poison is powerful stuff. I couldn't make that kind of stuff up on my own.

The young archer took a deep breath and raised a hand to lift the blanket off his body. After grappling with some awkwardness and taking a short break to build up some more strength, he was able to push it off his body. Once he was able to catch his breath, he pushed himself up on his elbows. Another short pause later and he was able to fully sit up. He looked around, noticing that he had been sleeping at ground level. Do they not have any beds around here? When he examined his bedding, he noticed that he had been sleeping on some kind of mat. It didn't look very thick, but it had been surprisingly comfortable. Taking in his environs, he surmised that he was definitely in some kind of tent. Did Sara and Michele find me and take me back to the camp? This tent's really weird though, it doesn't seem like one of our own. When his eyes drifted down toward the ground, they landed on a tiny orange fox. It was just sitting there, staring at him silently with its emerald-green eyes. His eyes grew big and he raised his hand to point at it.

"YOU! You're real?"

The fox barked happily before sitting up on its hind legs and waving its front paws at him.

"I'm NOT insane! You actually understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

The little fox put his front legs back down and ran right up to him, launching itself into his lap.

The young archer was stunned beyond belief. He thought that he had imagined the young fox, yet here it was in front of him. He tentatively reached down and patted its little head. Oh-my-god-it's-so-soft! As he was petting the little fox kit, he heard a woman's voice calling out in a foreign language. She sounded close, like she was just outside the tent. That doesn't sound like Sara, who is it? The tent flap opened and a young woman stepped in. She was wearing really baggy red pants and a white shirt with ridiculously long sleeves. What the hell? Those look impractical as fuck. His eyes traveled further up and met with her eyes. They were this russet color and there was something really familiar about them. The woman opened her mouth and spoke to him, her words coming out in the familiar yet heavily accented Anglicus.

"Ah, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

A sudden bit of movement then caught his attention and his gaze traveled higher up still. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when they spotted the orange fox ears at the top of the woman's head. He looked down at the fox in his lap and then back at the woman currently standing in the tent. His mouth dropped open, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fainted.

Yuuko cursed inwardly as she darted toward the falling young archer. She managed to catch him before he hit the ground and lay him back down gently onto the tatami. What in the world has gotten into him? He seemed fine just a second ago! Yuuko grabbed a fan from a nearby table and knelt down next to the youngling. She used it to try and cool the young man down. After a few minutes, the he opened his eyes again and sat back up. He did not speak, but just sat there…gawking silently at her. Not really sure about what to do next, Yuuko smiled warmly at him.

"Good, you're back. Ahh...let me get you some water."

Yuuko had turned her body to reach for the pitcher of water and so she did not see that the young man had raised his hands. By the time she heard the rustling noises, it was too late. A pair of hands had taken her ears into their grasp.

"Kyyyyaaaaaaa!"

The pitcher of water went flying into the air in a high arc before falling back down and shattering upon contact with the ground, water and shards of glass flying in all directions.

*SLAP*!

"変態! 性獣!"

Yuuko leapt to her feet and grabbed the biggest shard of glass she could find, pointing it directly at the young archer's heart.

"I knew it! I knew you were no good! The ice dragon shows its true colors!"

Nishigori and Minako came bursting into the tent at the sound of Yuuko's scream. They barely managed to avoid the broken glass and puddles of water as they ran in. As they looked up, they saw a very strange scene. Yuuko's face was almost the same color as her pants and she looked absolutely enraged. She was holding a shard of glass in her hand and had it pointed at the young archer, who seemed to have finally woken. The young man had a red hand-print on the side of his face and currently held his hands up in surrender as his eyes darted wildly about the tent.

["…"] – Japanese speech

["Heavenly kami, what the hell happened here, Yuuko?"]

["This…this…immoral deviant TOUCHED MY EARS!"]

No sooner had the words left Yuuko's mouth that a suddenly very rabid-looking Nishigori launched himself at the young man. Minako just barely reacted in time, grabbing just enough of Nishigori's robes to hold him back and keep him from mauling the young archer.

["Calm down, Nishigori! You too, Yuuko! Everybody calm down!"]

Minako pushed Nishigori out of the tent and told him to wait outside while she handled things with Yuuko. Minako waved to an approaching guard and asked him to make sure Nishigori didn't enter the tent. She turned on her heel and went back inside the tent. The standoff between Yuuko and the young archer was still very much in effect and she approached her hanyou kitsune friend carefully.

["Yuuko, put the shard down. Your hand is bleeding, you need to take care of it."]

Yuuko's eyes darted downward as she stole a quick glance at her hand. She cursed under her breath as she realized that she was indeed bleeding.

["I want to cut his grubby little hands off. Momiji was definitely wrong about this one."]

At the mention of her name, the little fox walked up to Yuuko and sat herself right in front of her. A few yips and barks later, Yuuko lowered her hand and released the shard of glass.

["Momiji says he didn't do it to be malicious. She seems to think that he's never seen a hanyou kitsune before. Pfft. Can you believe that? Hanyou kitsune have been around for centuries, Momiji must have made a mistake."]

Minako reached into her obi and took out a kerchief. She picked up Yuuko's injured hand and carefully checked it for any embedded pieces of glass. Having found none, she then wrapped the hand with it and tied it off in a neat little knot.

["Yuuko dear, there are no hanyou kitsune outside Orientalis. Momiji speaks the truth. It's almost certain that you are the first one he has ever seen."]

Yuuko was incredulous. Hanyou kitsune were everywhere. It had never occurred to her that someone would have ever not seen one. Her anger came back to her though when she remembered the earlier indignity she had suffered.

["Curiosity is one thing…but he assaulted me! Takeshi didn't even get to touch my ears until after we were married! I feel so…violated!"]

["You're right. I'm sorry you had to go through with that. He should know enough to not touch any female inappropriately, regardless of her species or race. Go take care of your hand. I know it'll probably be healed before the hour is up, but it never hurts to be extra cautious when it comes to injuries. Nishigori should be just outside. I'm sure he's anxious to see if you're alright. Go, I'll speak with the whelp."]

Yuuko nodded and turned to glare angrily at the young archer before turning on her heel and stomping out of the tent, Momiji in tow.

Minako turned to the young man and switched to Anglicus.

"Well young man, you have really made a mess of things."

The young archer lowered his hands and released the breath that he had been holding.

"What the hell was that about? One minute she was all smiles and the next she was threatening to stab me with a shard of glass!"

Minako frowned. This was not the kind of reaction she had been expecting.

"Are you not sorry at all?"

"Sorry for what? I've never seen ears on a person before and I wanted to check to make sure that they were real. I didn't know she was going to react like that!"

"So the young men in Occidentis may touch any female wherever and whenever they please?"

"Of course not, don't be stupid! They were just ears, why is she so upset?"

Minako liked the young archer less and less with each callous word that spilled from his mouth. She stepped in close and leaned in till their noses were almost touching. She placed a hand on the young man's knee and slowly began running it up his inner thigh.

"You see, Nishigori Yuuko is half-human and half-fox…a 'hanyou kitsune'. A rather populous race here in Orientalis…but not found anywhere else. So I can see why you'd never seen one before."

Minako ran her hand higher up the young man's thigh and he flinched.

"What the hell are you doing? Get your filthy hand off me!"

"Does it make you uncomfortable…being touched without your consent?"

The young archer nodded eagerly and tried to back away from Minako's touch, but was still too weak from the poison attack to effectively distance himself from her.

"You see, a hanyou kitsune's ears are considered very private, much like this lump of flesh between your thighs. And as such, they should never EVER be touched without explicit consent from the one they belong to."

Minako's hand moved further up the young archer's thigh, stopping briefly to dig her nails into the tender flesh of the inner thigh. The young archer squeaked painfully and winced as he made futile efforts to escape her.

"That male who was in here earlier, another hanyou kitsune, is Nishigori Yuuko's husband. As you can imagine, he's rather displeased that you violated his wife...especially after she saved your apparently worthless life yesterday."

The young archer gasped. He suddenly remembered the bitter medicine the fox-woman had given him and how she had comforted him. A huge wave of regret and remorse crashed over him. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

"I-I-I'm sorry! I couldn't remember until now!"

Minako ran her her hand up even higher, digging her nails even harder into the young archer's flesh. He screamed.

"Stop! Please stop. I said I was sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Apologizing to ME won't do you any good. I'm not the one you violated."

Minako grabbed the young man's chin with her free hand and squeezed it hard as she looked into his eyes.

"The next time you see Nishigori Yuuko, you will kneel down before her and throw yourself down at her feet. You will beg for her forgiveness and pray to the gods of Occidentis that she forgives you. Our Emperor is VERY protective of his subjects, and if he feels that she has been 'damaged' in ANY way, he will end your miserable life. Slowly and painfully."

Minako gave the young man's chin and thigh one last simultaneous squeeze, drawing pinpricks of blood at both locations and tears from his eyes.

"If I hear that you have touched another female...any female...inappropriately again, I will come after you myself. I will cut off this thing that defines you as man, because you won't deserve to be called one. Understood?"

The young archer gulped audibly and nodded the best that could, given that his chin was still in the woman's vice-like grip.

Minako released the man's chin and thigh. She patted him gingerly on the cheek that had been slapped and he flinched.

"Rest well, young one."

Minako stood up, straightened out her kimono and walked out of the tent without so much as a backward glance. And for the second time that morning, the young archer fainted.

_terminology_

変態 (hentai) - pervert

性獣 (sei-jū) - sex beast