Author's Note: As a Birthday present to myself, I have decided to post the first chapter of this story (okay, so it's technically the day after my birthday, but it still counts!). I hope you enjoy it too! :) Also, I really wanted some sexy fox-man love, gosh darn it!
Manga summary: the protectors of a certain fox deity shrine happen to be Unka, an overly-serious red fox with a low social status, and Aura, a delinquent, pure-bred white fox. Can Unka, who is unable to express himself honestly, and Aura, who always goes all-out to get what he wants, really fall in love!?
'It was just supposed to be a routine patrol, damn it!' was the only thought that ran through Unka's mind, repeating over and over again like some sort of mantra as the red fox ran through the woods, a mere flash of crimson to the naked eye. His paws thudding against the ground as he ran, he panted harshly as his lungs struggled to pull in enough air to maintain his frantic pace as he darted through the underbrush.
His ears were pinned back as tightly as possible against his head, and his heart was pounding so hard that it felt as though the organ was trying to beat its' way out of his chest. All he could hear was the thundering of his heartbeat, and yet he somehow managed to be aware of every twig that snapped behind him, every whistle of wind as it went through the trees above him. And most of all, of every distant snarl as the creatures that made them drew ever closer to him.
It hadn't been his fault, honestly! He had just been doing one last patrol for the night when he had stumbled onto the first of the creatures, a scout if he'd had to guess. He had picked up the smell of blood at the halfway point on his patrol and he had dutifully gone to investigate, expecting to find an injured deer or something along those lines. Instead, he had found something that made his blood run cold and his instincts, the ones rooted deep in the most animalistic part of his brain, scream at him to run away. And that was exactly what he had done, turning and sprinting back towards the shrine as fast as he could.
He had only looked at the creature for a moment, yet the image of it was burned into his mind. At first glance it had appeared to be a very large dog, but that impression was quickly destroyed on the second glance, as regular dogs certainly didn't have solid, glowing red eyes. Its' fur coat consisted of thick, shaggy black fur that glistened with some sort of liquid (Unka shied away from examining that thought too deeply) and its' black claws had gleamed even in the minimal light of the sickle-shaped moon that filtered through the trees. And the fangs that had been revealed when the dog-like thing had opened its' maw to snarl at him…
And it hadn't been alone, letting out a bone-chilling howl to summon its' fellow creatures before chasing after the fleeing red fox.
A shudder ran down Unka's spine at the thought and caused his fur to stand on end, especially when he recalled what had happened next. He didn't know how, but the other creatures – thirteen, maybe more, he'd thought – had gotten in front of him and cut off his path to the fox deity shrine, forcing him to run in a different direction in order to avoid running right into their midst. It had happened several times, whenever he would find a way around them so he could head back to the shrine, one or more of the dog-creatures would cut him off and force him to go in a different direction.
It was only when he suddenly found himself halfway down the mountain that he realized, with an icy cold feeling in his chest that doused his previous feeling of panic, that he was being herded. In a sort of twisted parody of a fox-hunt, the dog-creatures were trying to drive him somewhere – and they were succeeding.
There wasn't even enough light filtering through the tree branches for a human to see a foot in front of their faces, but to Unka's eyes there was light equal to that of an extremely overcast day. And that scared him to death, because if he could see so clearly, then the ones pursuing him could see just as well.
The fog caused by his harsh breaths in the night air was quickly whipped away by the speed at which he ran, but something inside of him still said he wasn't going fast enough. The echoing snarls behind him seemed to second that notion, and Unka tried vainly to push himself faster even as his lungs burned for air and his legs threatened to give out. He gave a moments' thought to stopping in order to fight the creature that caught up to him first, and if he did that and killed enough of them maybe the others would give up and leave, but a scarce second later he knew that he had already been running too long. He had used up too much energy for the idea to work, and maybe if he had thought of it sooner he might have stood a chance, but it was too late. Early on in the chase, before he had figured out that the dogs (demons? It was possible…) had been driving him down the mountain, he had attempted to use some illusions to confuse the creatures and buy some time for him to gain a greater lead on them.
Unfortunately, the illusions had barely even slowed them down, and now he was on the verge of collapse from the long sprint down the mountain. Unka thought he was somewhere around the base, but he didn't have time to try and figure out where. Right now his only thought was to try and keep just one step ahead of the creatures, just that one bite away from their jaws…
They were gaining on him, ran through Unka's mind, and he thought wildly that he felt a slight breeze near his tail that might have been a bite just barely missing its' mark…He pushed himself faster, somehow finding the energy to push himself further ahead of his pursuers.
A blur of darkness appeared out of the corner of his eye, and the twin glowing red orbs identified it as one of the dog-creatures.
What happened next appeared to be in slow motion, Unka was so aware of it, even though it was really only an instant. The dog-creature had pulled ahead of the pack, and now it leapt, jaws open and fangs gleaming with saliva towards the red fox's flank. Unka tried to jump and avoid the lunge, but his luck finally gave out: his footsteps faltered, legs giving for just that moment, a tree root in exactly the right place to trip him, and the red fox went down under the weight of the monster.
Unka hit the ground with a loud, pained yelp, and both fox guardian and dog-creature went tumbling head over heels down a sharp incline that had been hidden in the bushes off to the side. Sharps rocks and whipping branches struck his body as he fell through an assortment of plants, an unpleasant experience to be sure, but it also had the benefit of slowing his fall. He hit the bottom of the incline barely a minute after the dog-creature, though with a softer impact.
He didn't have time to recover either his wits or his footing before he felt sharp fangs pierce the skin on his right hind-leg and he acted on instinct when he felt the pain. Whirling around, the red fox sank his own fangs into the fur of the dog-creature's shoulder, diving in until he felt flesh, and then bit down with all his might. The blood that filled his mouth was rancid, the foulest thing he had ever tasted, and before he had even thought about it he released his bite, even as the dog-creature also released its' grip on his leg with a pained yelp.
Searing pain shot up from the wound in his leg, made even worse by the dog-creature's saliva which felt like acid on the bite mark. With an effort, Unka rolled back onto his feet, facing the dog-creature even as he favored his right hind-leg. No matter what, he thought as he narrowed his eyes at the creature, he wasn't about to go down without a fight, even if it was a fight he was destined to lose. His ears pinned back aggressively, he showed his fangs in a wordless snarl, his spiritual powers appearing in the form of flames flickering across his fur and hovering around him.
Unka knew he couldn't afford to hold back in this fight, and with a savage snarl he lunged at the dog-creature, surprising it with his sudden move and causing it to hesitate for just a moment. That moment was all he needed to sink his teeth into the dog-creature's throat, and though he gagged on the foul liquid that passed as the monster's blood he held on. He had gone straight for a fatal blow, knowing there was no time to draw things out or allow the monster to launch an attack of its' own, because he knew there was no way he could have dodged it.
The dog-creature yowled in pain, lashing out as it struggled and succeeding in grazing Unka's chest with its claws, though thankfully the scratches were shallow and the creature paid for the wounds with savagely burned paws from the fox's spiritual power. For what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only a few minutes the dog-creature struggled to get free and the red fox fought to maintain his grip. Finally, the monster stilled, its' body going limp as the fatal bite Unka had landed did its' job.
When the dog-creature died, the fox guardian dropped the corpse like he'd been scalded, hacking to try and cough up the few drops of foul blood that had gotten down his throat. Over his pulsing heartbeat and loud hacking, the sounds of the other creatures circling around him reached Unka, and with a final cough he lunged towards the one opening that the dog-creatures hadn't managed to close off yet. It was awkward running on three legs, but adrenaline gave the red fox the speed boost he needed to break through the circling monsters and start running again.
It was a futile effort, he knew that, but he wasn't just going to lie down and let the creatures make a meal of him, not after he had managed to kill one of them.
Evidently his speed despite the fact that one of his legs was injured surprised his pursuers, and he was able to gain a second's head-start on them. His lead didn't last long, just long enough for him to pull a length ahead, and he didn't even bother to try and trick the things again, simply because his illusions had already proven useless against them. His spiritual powers still flickered across his fur and around him as he ran; he wasn't foolish enough to dismiss them after his brief skirmish with that one creature had proved they could injure the monsters.
He was only a common fox, a red one at that – the lowest kind in the fox hierarchy - so his powers weren't the strongest, though he was far from weak. He knew that if he'd been able to take the time to focus his powers he would have been able to kill the dog-creatures one at a time, but with the creatures working in tandem like they had been that simply hadn't been an option.
Unka didn't know where he was running to, and he didn't have time to figure it out as the terrifying howls of his pursuers sounded behind him. The scratches on his chest stung fiercely, and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a dark grimace of pain.
The dog-creatures caught up to him barely a minute later, and he felt sharp stings on both of his haunches as two of the creatures nipped at him to try and slow him down. It worked, the new pain combined with his wounded leg and chest caused him to slow minutely, and that was all the opportunity the creatures needed. Three dog-creatures leapt forward, grabbing his tail and one working back leg in their mouths and dragging the fleeing fox to the ground.
His spiritual power seared the monsters' mouths and paws, but that didn't stop them from biting and clawing at him. His pained scream, a shockingly human sound coming from a vulpine throat, rang through the trees, echoing through the forest at the base of mountain. One of the dog-creatures latched onto his throat, cutting off the sound at the source, and Unka thrashed, clawing and biting at anything he could reach even as his movements caused the dog-creatures' teeth to sink deeper into his body.
Pain overwhelmed him, and his body went limp, all his energy spent on that last bout of struggling. The flames of his spiritual power flickered and faded away, and then there was nothing to stop the monsters from tearing him apart.
As his vision faded and the deep blackness of unconsciousness swept over him, his last thought was for Aura. He hoped the white fox would be alright, and that he wouldn't do something stupid when Unka didn't come back from the patrol…
Hisoka Kurosaki, Guardian of Death and one half of the team that made up the leadership of Kyushu, shivered as a cold gust caused him to huddle deeper into his thick jacket. He trudged up the overgrown deer trail that comprised the so-called path that circled the grounds of the inn/hot springs he was staying at, silently wondering what had possessed him to come out in the middle of the night. There was barely enough light from the sickle-moon above for him to avoid tripping and falling flat on his face, but he had been too restless back at the inn to sleep and he hadn't been in the mood for yet another soak in the hot springs. With how long his last soak had lasted, he had been in very real danger of falling asleep and sliding down under the water, so he thought it best to stay away from the hot springs for a night.
The inn he was staying at was located at the base of a mountain and sported some very nice hot springs and some beautiful grounds. The reason Hisoka was there in the first place was to check out the source of some odd energy that had been detected in the area, but he was starting to suspect that the department had just wanted to get him out of the way by sending him on this solo assignment-slash-vacation. With Tsuzuki still in the infirmary from their last mission (a rather nasty poltergeist who'd been disinclined to move on; Tsuzuki had taken a table to the head and three steak knives to the chest) he honestly hadn't expected to be sent out into the field so soon.
Imagine his surprise when he went into the office after visiting Tsuzuki to be greeted by Tatsumi bearing a mission file and then told that he was supposed to leave immediately after packing enough clothes and necessities to last a week or two. He had accepted, mostly because he didn't really have a choice since the assignment had been approved by the Chief. In retrospect, he might have been a bit in shock after Tatsumi had told him that he was going on a solo-assignment, because he didn't remember going home and packing his bags, though he had been vaguely aware of teleporting to the inn.
A quick scan of the – suspiciously thin – mission folder had revealed that all he had to go on was that some odd energy had been detected around that particular mountain. He was apparently supposed to stay there for a few weeks and see if he could get a fix on the source of the energy, and the fact that the inn was apparently a highly regarded relaxation spot was just a coincidence…yeah, right. Barely even a week after he'd gotten there, and Hisoka was pretty much certain that his suspicion about being sent on a wild goose chase was right on the money. So far he'd felt neither hide nor hair of any 'odd energy', and he was starting to get pretty tired of haunting the hot springs every day.
While he was certain that most of the other guardians in the Summons Department would be jumping for joy at being sent on a vacation poorly disguised as a mission, Hisoka was bored almost to death (undeath? He was already dead, so how would that work? He managed to pass a couple of hours thinking about that before he gave up). The inn had a bunch of the same activities as that hotel he and the rest of the group had stayed at during the Hokkaido vacation, but he still managed to get bored stiff of them within the first week. He had been reduced to lounging about in the hot springs almost all day, and that was what really galled him.
Noticing his restlessness, one of the hostesses told him about a path around the grounds, little more than a deer trail really, that some guests used to take a walk and get some exercise and fresh air. He had been bored enough that he had decided it was worth a shot, if only so that he would have a chance of detecting any odd energy if he got a bit further from the inn. Despite his poor night-vision, he had been walking along the trail long enough for his eyes to adjust enough for him to make out the trees and bushes and the roots sticking up from the ground. If he didn't detect anything by the next day, he decided as he brushed a particularly stubborn twig off his pants' leg from where it had been poking him through the denim material, he was going to head back to Meifu no matter what Tatsumi said.
The minute that thought crossed his mind, a sharp chill stabbed the base of his spine, and he stiffened as he felt a tingle of the dark, savage emotions that signaled the presence of demons. Anger, hatred, bloodlust, all those negative emotions and others he couldn't even begin to describe slammed into his mind, catching him so off guard that he stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face.
Breathing heavily, he squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to work through the thick cloud of dark emotions that had bombarded him. If he had to think of a comparison, he would have likened the sensation to his mind wading through thick, dark syrup that stung something awful and left you feeling dirty for awhile after you got through it. It wasn't easy, and by the time he was done sweat dotted along his brow and he was struggling to get his breath back. He had to wonder how the report had failed to mention that the so-called 'odd energy' had belonged to demons (from what he could sense, there was definitely more than one) of all things!
Of course, since he was pretty sure that the assignment had actually been meant as a way to get him out of the way, maybe the Judgment Bureau hadn't known about any demons in the area when they had sent him…Yeah, that seemed a bit more likely than whoever compiled the report forgetting to mention more than one demonic creature.
Hisoka grit his teeth, taking a deep breath as he picked up his pace, and even before the wave of painfeardesperationpaindespairregretohgodsithurtsp leasehelp slammed into him he was already heading towards where he sensed the demons. From the surge of emotions, it was clear that they had caught someone who had had to misfortune to stumble across them, and he increased his speed until he was sprinting towards the demons. He had to move off the deer trail and the myriad of plants slowed his progress, but he didn't let that stop him from trying to get to the person the demons had caught before it was too late for them.
To speed up his progress, the eternal sixteen year-old shifted into his spirit form, becoming invisible to those without high spiritual power. Now the foliage that had slowed him before passed through his body like mist as he ran, wondering if he should try flying in order to go even faster, but barely a second after the thought ran through his mind, a harsh, pain-filled scream (that sounded much too human for him to be comfortable with) reached his ears. He was getting closer to the pack of demons as well, and he instinctively withdrew an ofuda from his jacket pocket and held it tightly between his fingers as he came onto the source of the dark, malicious energy that was characteristic of demons.
He wasn't prepared for the sight that awaited him, not by a long shot.
A pack of hellhounds – demons that looked like dogs except for their glowing red eyes - were snarling, roaring, and shoving at each other to get at whoever they had caught, a rolling mass of thick black fur paired with the veritable storm of dark emotions coming off of the demons. What made the young Guardian of Death's blood run cold was the bright red liquid that he could see staining many of their muzzles. And with a jolt, he realized that he could no longer feel the lighter, more human emotions that had let him know that the hounds had captured a victim in the first place.
Hisoka scowled, the expression surprisingly severe on his sixteen year-old face, and fiercely began to chant as he moved the fuda in the appropriate motions, "By virtue of Hades…!"
The hellhounds sensed his gathering spiritual energy and ceased tearing at their prey to look over at the Shinigami, and that pause was all the time Hisoka needed to launch his spell. Golden bolts of energy flew out of the talisman in his hand, striking the demon dogs and sending them flying with high-pitched yelps and yowls. He hadn't managed to hit all of them with the attack, but those he had missed retreated from the torn body that had been in the middle of the pack with warning snarls and tails stuck straight out behind them.
Emerald green eyes narrowed into a glare as he moved his hands into a prayer position like Chief Konoe had taught him, the ofuda held between his hands, and the hellhounds must have recognized his pose as one that meant he was preparing for another attack, because they retreated even further from the body of their victim. He began another chant, this one an exorcism meant to banish and/or destroy demons, but the hellhounds didn't give him the chance to use the power he had gathered. With a final snarl in his direction, the pack of demonic hounds turned tail and ran back into the dark forest surrounding them left the old-young man watching warily to see if they were trying to circle around for an ambush.
They weren't; the night air stilled as though holding its' breath, then seemed to release it in a sigh as a soft breeze rustled through the tree branches. After another minute, Hisoka dropped his hands from their ready position and silently allowed the energy he had gathered to dissipate, choosing instead to turn his attention to the most important matter at hand, namely checking to see if the hellhounds' victim was still alive. Quickly approaching the edge of the alarmingly large pool of blood, the emerald-eyed teen had to stop and swallow thickly, trying to breathe as shallowly as possible to avoid having the smell and taste of the blood stuck in his throat. Ignoring the fact that he was probably going to have to buy a new pair of shoes after this and determinedly not paying attention to the splashes his footsteps made in the pool of blood, he hurried over to the surprisingly small (oh Hades please don't let the demons have attacked a child, Hisoka thought fervently) body in the center of the carnage.
As Hisoka got closer to the still form, he noticed several things, the first being that the body was covered in blood-stained fur, and the second that the body had paws instead of hands and feet. He was pretty sure those weren't normal things for humans, let alone children, to have. As he knelt carefully in the blood pool, shuddering lightly at the feel of the still-warm liquid soaking into the legs of his jeans, a closer inspection revealed that the hellhounds' victim had been a fox, albeit a larger than usual one…It was impossible for him to tell what color the animal's fur had been due to all of the blood and injuries covering the fox's body.
He winced, because he could now clearly see that the hellhounds had only been a few bites away from literally ripping the poor creature to shreds. There were deep bite and claw marks all over the animal's body, the most severe looking to have been concentrated on the fox's legs and its' body, though there was a large amount of blood staining the fur at the animal's throat. He cringed at the sorry state that the poor creature's body had been left in, and with a sigh he decided that the least he could do was bury the fox so it didn't become food for scavengers.
Reaching out to touch one of the few spaces on the fox's body that wasn't covered with wounds, Hisoka was stunned speechless when he actually felt the faintest thrum of emotion from the animal. It was faint, almost completely gone, but there were definitely traces of pain coming from the animal. Now that he was closer to the fox, he could see the blood-soaked fur of its sides lift and lower with its faint – and getting fainter, he noticed with alarm – breathing. As stunned as he was about the fact that the animal was still alive after an attack by a pack of hellhounds, he wasted no time in shrugging off his light jacket and gently wrapping it around the fox, trying to avoid causing the poor creature anymore pain.
The eternal teenager winced in sympathy as he tucked as much of the material of the jacket (already stained red, he noted) around the animal as he could, moving the fox's paws close to its' injured body so he could pick up the vulpine without its' paws dangling in the air and possibly causing the creature any more discomfort. He probably didn't succeed, but it was the thought that counted, right?
Hisoka grimaced as he stood up, jacket-wrapped injured fox cradled against his chest, feeling the drying blood he had been kneeling it pull slightly on his jeans as he moved. He hesitated in turning around, however, as the thought that moving the injured animal might make things worse, and his brow furrowed as he tried to think up a solution. The answer to his dilemma was obvious, and he closed his eyes in concentration as he prepared to teleport back to his room at the inn. Guardians of Death could take people with them when they teleported, it was a proven fact, and the fox he was holding was smaller than a person, so there should be no problem in taking the animal along with him.
It would certainly be easier on the animal's injuries, he thought, and that decided it for him. A minute later, and the small clearing was empty save for the large amount of blood staining the ground and the wind whistling through the trees.
Author's Note: I was kind of conflicted about whether or not to end it with Unka blacking out or not, but then decided that that was too cruel and decided to include that bit with Hisoka. I don't really know when this will be updated, but I hope you'll all be patient! Please review and tell me what you thought! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!