Summary: Tails finally gets to face the man who ordered him kidnapped to another country. In the meanwhile, Sonic and the team begin to do their own research into the mystery.

Canon Characters in this chapter: Tails, Sally, Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, Nicole.
Non Canon Characters in this chapter: Azami, Miyuki, and many Kitsune!

Note1: Deutscha is my Germany analog. Note2: In Asia, the elements are not Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire, but rather Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal. Note3: ALL kitsune can make foxfire to some degree, it's just nowhere near Azami's capabilities. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Kitsune

by Winged Hippocampus
Chapter 3: Azami

Sally paid a little more than she had to for the meal to make up for the spectacle she had caused, then she took to the task of asking around about Tails. She got results quicker than she could possibly have hoped. The first person she asked, an old sow, would point unhappily off towards a near mountain.

"What did she say, Sal?" Sonic asked, concerned by the princess's silence.

"She...she says if we are looking for a fox, we will find many of them on that mountain. She says Tails must now belong to the Demon Foxes of the Kitsune no Kami shrine."

"D-d-demons?" Antoine stammered.

"They're kiddin', right?" Bunnie gasped.

"Well, she says that it was one of the Demon Foxes who wrecked the village like this," Sally frowned. "Now I don't know about there actually being demons, but something did all this damage, so we need to stay on our toes. Nicole, bring up what information you can on 'Kitsune no Kami Shrine'."

"Kitsune no Kami means 'God of Foxes' or alternatively 'Divine Fox'", Nicole began. "While there is no linguistic distinction, there are two distinct types of 'kitsune'. One is a quite ordinary fox. The other type is said to be magical, demonized, a creature of the underworld or spirit realm. Kitsune of this type are said to have mystical powers, high intelligence, and a propensity for deception. Some have been known to torment and harm people purely for their own amusement, resulting in many unflattering legends about them. However, there are also many positive legends, and it is difficult to ascertain exactly which side of the kitsune mythos is closer to truth. It is of note that a striking feature of these kitsune is that they possess multiple tails."

"Just like Tails!" Sally gasped. "They may have mistook him for one of their own!"

"Kitsune form a very insular and reticent society that is very difficult for outsiders to penetrate," Nicole continued, but this time she was interrupted by Sonic.

"They do what now?"

"They keep to themselves and aren't very friendly," Sally replied absently.

"May I continue, Sonic?" Nicole asked a bit too sweetly.

"Yeah sure, just stop breaking off into other languages!"

"The Kitsune no Kami shrine itself has an unknown power. It is said that each side of the shrine has its own perpetual season. That is, regardless of the actual season outside the shrine's grounds, on one side, it is always spring, on another, it is always fall, etcetera. Rites are performed within the shrine each year to preserve this oddity."

"Whoah, really?" Sonic grinned. "So I could like, go snowboarding down one side of the mountain and then catch a tan on the other?"

"That is correct."

"How do we get inside to rescue Tails?" Sally asked.

"Carefully," Nicole replied with just a bit of Sonic-esque attitude.

"If these people aren't much fer company, Sally-girl, an' they're known ta be dangerous an' nasty, they're prolly not gonna let us just have poor lil Tails back without a fight."

"Oui, much as eet wounds mah swordsman's pride, pairhaps we had best take to ze, how do you say, sneakering." Antoine said, ignoring Sonic as he began to chortle.

"Sneakering, eh? Is that anything like 'bootsing' or maybe 'sandaling' or even 'penny loafering?"

"Ah think ya mean 'sneaking', Sugar-Ant."

"Oui zat ees what I said," Antoine nodded, not missing a beat.

"Well in that case, we have some serious hiking to do, guys," Sally sighed. "Let's get started."

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Tails stepped nervously into the darkened room, pausing to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim candle light. He wasn't used to wearing clothes, and the kimono he had been put into suddenly felt very heavy and confining.

"Please, come in," came a soft, pleasant voice, "there is nothing to fear, little one."

"Who are you?" the kit asked, cautiously coming forward a bit, each step creaking ever so softly on the tatami. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"Oh, forgive me. I had been meditating, and the darkness helps me to relax." There came a flash of blue along either side of the room, leaving what had to have been hundreds of candles lit in its wake, washing the room with warmth and light.

The adult fox kneeling before him was clad in a white kimono with blue trim, his fur a beautiful silvery white color and his eyes a molten gold. His features, Tails noted, were somewhat finer, his limbs lengthier, than the foxes he saw back home. What caught his attention most, however, was the fact that the stranger had not one, not two, but three long, beautiful tails.

"My name is Azami Kitsunebi. I am the master of the house and the appointed keeper of the Kitsune no Kami shrine."

"You…your tails!" Tails stared, almost dizzy with disbelief, "you…you're like me!" Like him. He never thought anyone could be like him. All his life, he'd been considered a freak, a mutant, an outcast. He had never seen or heard of any other fox with more than one tail, but here was one right before him! To think that he may actually belong somewhere, that he was more than a mere oddity, filled him with elation.

"Oh?" the fox smiled, gently swishing his triple tails once across the floor, "I am kitsune, as I suspect you are. We kitsune often have many tails. I am but a humble three-tail. There are many more kitsune with many more tails than that, all the way up to nine, though there may only be one ninetails in existence at one time."

"There are…there are lots of us?" Tails sat down a bit harder than he had meant to, blue eyes wide.

"I would not call our kind common, little kit, but with the exception of the ninetails there are usually several of each tail-number living here in Enjou."

"But…but I'm not Enjouan," Tails wilted a bit, his excitement ebbing. "I mean, I don't think I am. I never knew my parents, but I don't look anything like you…"

"It is rare," Azami smiled, his eyes crescenting pleasantly, "but on occasion, a kitsune will be born to otherwise normal parents who live outside Enjou," Azami explained, raising Tails's hope once more."In fact, there is a six-tails with us now who was originally from Deutscha."

"I had no idea there were so many people just like me!" Tails's hopes rose anew.

"Well," Azami tilted his head slightly, studying the little fox, "I would not say quite like you. You see, not all kitsune share the same power. Of the three-tails, for instance, I am the only one with power over fire." Azami lifted a clawed hand, a sphere of blue flame sputtering to brilliant life just over his fingers. Utterly fascinated, Tails found himself moving closer to see, azure light casting over his face. "I have the power of fire. Within other kitsune there lies the power of wind, water, earth, dark, light, wood, and metal. The ninetails, leader of the clan, commands all of these elements at once."

"I wish I could do something like that!" he breathed in awe. Azami then gave him a rather bemused look.

"You obviously do have your own kitsune magic, little one," he said. "You are the only kitsune, even among the two-tails, who can fly. As no other two-tails that we have found has exhibited any real elemental power, it is quite obvious that you are the only existing Kitsune of Wind. Ever since rumors of a flying two-tails reached us from abroad, we have been searching for you…"

"But I don't!" Tails protested weakly. "I'm not, I just…I mean, I don't know why I can do these things but I-" Why was he protesting? He didn't know why. Hadn't he wanted to find his origins, a place to belong, a home? Didn't he have that in Knothole? But the others in Knothole weren't like him, were they? "I'm not who you think I am! There's been a mistake!"

"I am sorry that you see things that way," Azami replied serenely. "I do feel, however, that you may benefit from giving the idea a chance." With that he stood, the fine fabric of his kimono rustling gently. "Will you at least meet the others? They have been waiting to formally meet you."

"I guess so," Tails replied, rising as well. Azami moved past him, sliding the door open and moving after him. Miyuki was still waiting just outside, kneeling on the tatami, though she would wordlessly trail after them once the two had passed. "How many are in this place?"

"Myself and six others, one of each tail-number, and each empowered with an element. You will make the eighth kitsune." Azami paused before an ornate double door carved with twisting dragons. A light push would send them creaking inward to reveal six foxes of both genders, sedately knelt on embroidered cushions. All of then turned their heads, ears pricked, to observe the newcomers.

Tails found all eyes on him, and he was suddenly shy, nearly hiding behind Azami's three luxurious plumes.

"Please forgive me, small one," Azami said softly, "But my manners seem to have left me. What are you called by?"

"Um, my name is Miles. Miles Prower. My friends call me Tails," he replied almost inaudibly.

"This is an outrage!" Tails jumped as one of the females, a slightly built five-tails with a pale gold cast, angrily rose from her seat. "Anyone with eyes can see this child is not one of us!"

"Hikari!" a muscular, dark gray fox with only one tail hissed. "You are out of line!"

"Iwamaru, you are hardly my superior, kindly hold your tongue."

"He does posess the correct physical traits," stated a calmer, deep black fox with red eyes and seven tails.

"Hardly, I feel no power from him whatsoever," Hikari tossed her head proudly, giving Tails such a glare that he retreated fearfully back behind Azami, who obligingly stepped closer, arms slightly spread.

"He does hold power, Hikari," Azami stated calmly. "If you will take your seat and remain civil, you may even get to see it."

"Please forgive the uncouth naysayer, Prower-san," smiled a truly silver fox burdened with eight shimmering tails. "The rest of us welcome you. Please, show us what you can do."

Tails swallowed, stepping out from Azami's shadow with a little nod. A twirl of his plumes, and he was airborne, setting the gathered kitsune to whispering amongst themselves. Even Hikari seemed to be grudgingly impressed.

"He may very well be the one we have been looking for, Azami," said a six-tails with strange eyes. It took Tails a moment to realize she was blind. "And not a moment too soon."

That phrasing set off little alarm bells in the back of the kit's mind and he frowned, landing to gaze about the room.

"What have I been brought here for? Why are you so desperate to find a two-tailed fox who can fly? One who you think has an elemental power?"

The room's silence was not particularly heartening. Azami cleared his throat, ears wilting a bit.

"Forgive us, little brother," he began, "but you are most certainly here for a reason. We need the power of all eight elemental spirits to create the ultimate kiyome ishi."

"What's a 'kiyome ishi'?"

"It is a potent purification tool," a gentle-looking four tails explained.

Azami nodded, ears wilting a bit further. "You see, our land is currently being ravaged by a merciless monster. Crops are being burned, rivers flooded, homes razed, many lives are being lost. If we create the kiyome ishi, we can stop the beast."

"By purifying it?" Tails was a bit baffled. He didn't feel it was appropriate to simply ask why they didn't just kill it, but Azami seemed to have read his mind.

"Yes. We do not want to slay the monster," he sighed, and the other kitsune suddenly seemed very uncomfortable, going very quiet and still. "You see, the monster…the monster is our ninetails. He's gone mad."

To be continued…