Summary: Sonic confronts Tails about the possibility of the fox remaining in Enjou with the Kitsune Clan, and Sally has charged herself with finding a way to save both the ninetails and the innocent lives he may take, what solution will she come up with?
Canon Characters in this chapter: Bunnie, Antoine, Sonic, Tails, Sally, Nicole
Non-Canon Characters in this chapter: Azami, Miyuki
Note1: Kamishimo is samurai wear. Sonic is referring to the hakama, which can puff out quite a bit. Note2: The aodai is a Vietnamese garment.
Kitsune
by WingedHippocampus
Chapter Six: Rift
Roiling sheets of steam painted droplet patterns on Bunnie's metal limbs as she lowered herself into the mineral-rich waters of the hot spring. The natural spring nestled up to one side of the Kitsunebi residence, and it was guarded by several flowering plum trees, their petals occasionally fluttering into the vaporous water.
"Oh, Great Mobius yes!" she exclaimed breathily as she all but melted onto the stone that was supporting her, blissfully sinking in up to her chin. Partly robotic or not, the day had left her just as sore and exhausted as the rest of them, and her back was killing her. "Sally-girl, we gotta get one a' these back home."
"I think there's a natural hot spring somewhere around the wolf's canyon, actually," Sally replied absently, her eyes locked on Nicole.
"Well'n first thing when we get back, I'm payin' Lupe a visit. Arentcha scared ya might drop her in?" Bunnie asked.
"Nicole is waterproof, fireproof, and shock-resistant," she murmured.
"How d'ya know?"
"After all we've been put through? Believe me, I know by now."
"Mmm," Bunnie closed her eyes, going quiet for a few relaxing minutes. A sound from behind the wooden privacy partition had one ear pricking a bit.
"I'm not getting in there!" Bunnie could hear Sonic protesting. "What is it with me and you ending up in the water together lately?"
"Soneek, you are steenking of sweat and filth and I will not 'ave you near me at ze dinnair table in such a state!"
"If I have to look at your face and keep my appetite, then you can be treated to a little manly musk, you fruit! Hey, what are you doing? Get away from me! AUGH!" The cry was followed by a great commotion of splashing and spluttering and half-unintelligible threats.
"Boys," Bunnie smirked, opening one eye to look at Sally, who seemed not at all disturbed by the commotion coming from the men's side.
Soon enough, the hot spring soak would be over, and the guests would begin emerging for dinner.
"That cat lady tried to steal my shoes!" Sonic, now dressed in a green kimono, complained. Antoine stepped out into the hall with him, and the hedgehog burst into laughter. "They put you in a skirt? Oh man, do they know a fruit when they see one!"
"The time for shuteeng up would be now, Soneek," Antoine grumbled with all the dignity he could muster. "Eet is not a skirt, eet is very pleated trousers, you fuel. And ze cat is tryeeng to save ze floor."
"Oh y'all look great!" Bunnie exclaimed as she joined them in a nearly skin tight, long dress with semi-transparent sleeves and deep splits up the sides. It was quite tight around the top, causing Antoine to have to look away.
"Hey, how come you two get different clothes?" Sonic asked, puzzled.
"Well, I hear your Mercian friend held his own quite well against Azami-sama's sword, so I had a kamishimo brought in for him in honor of that," Miyuki would answer as she popped up. "I just took liberties in giving Bunnie-san here an aodai, because it seemed to suit her. The aodai is actually not Enjouan, but she is unique, so unique clothes seemed to fit!"
"Then where's Sal?"
"I'm coming," Sally's disgruntled voice came from behind a closed door. "Miyuki-san, I can barely move!"
"Oh but Sally-hime, you look so spectacular! Come out!" the cat pleaded.
"This is ridiculous, I don't like to make my royalty an issue." Sally would, however, open the door and emerge. Her body was all but swallowed in layer upon layer of precious fabrics, cloth trailing well onto the floor. Her head was adorned with a golden ornament that bore a suspicious resemblance to the official crown of the Kingdom of Acorn, something that had made Sally wonder if her family had been here before in the past.
"What in all a' Mobius is that contraption?" Bunnie asked, wide-eyed.
"It's called a junihitoe, or 'twelve-layer robe'," Sally sighed miserably in answer. "One really can't get much more royal than this."
Sonic, of course, could not help himself, and burst into gales of laughter.
"You look like an undercooked technicolor pancake stack on a stick!" he howled, holding his sides while Sally gave him a look that spoke of impending death. Miyuki, for one, seemed unaffected, and headed down the hall, waving for them to follow.
"Nyao! Dinner should nearly be ready, come now, everyone is waiting!"
"Eee hee, huu…" Sonic wiped away a tear, moving to follow the others. His back spines were making the clothing uncomfortable. He was considering just taking it off, custom or no, when he caught sight of Tails and Azami passing from further down the hall.
"Hey!" He called before zipping up to them, startling the older fox. "Tails, I need to talk to you."
"Um, okay," Tails nodded. Sonic frowned and glared almost challengingly up at Azami.
"Alone?"
"Of course." The kitsune smiled and gave them both a little bow before moving serenely away, seemingly unruffled by Sonic.
"I hate that guy." Sonic muttered before seizing the kit's wrist and bolting off for a more private area, running deep into the Summer side of the grounds. Tails was quite used to being hauled off at incredible speed, and he simply smoothed his blue kimono and sat on the grass, stirring up a sleepy cloud of fireflies as he did.
"I dunno, I think Azami's neat!" Tails piped cheerfully. "While you were getting ready for dinner, he started teaching me Enjouan! Did you know 'natsu', means summer? And that –"
"Yeah that's great," Sonic interrupted, folding his arms. "I don't know how wonderful this guy is, seeing as he and his friends almost got you killed."
"That wasn't their fault!" Tails protested.
"Sure looked like it to me!" Sonic snapped back. "Do you have any idea what it would have done to us, to….to me, if you'd died back there? I already thought…I mean, when we couldn't find you when we came back from the mission, I thought you…that maybe you were…" Dead. Roboticized. Injured and suffering somewhere, where Sonic couldn't reach him. The possibilities had terrified Sonic then.
"But I didn't! I'm fine, see?"
"Right, you just nearly lost an ear, and oh, your ilife/i but you're just fine," Sonic said sarcastically, his voice raising. "These people don't care about you, Tails, they're not your family!"
"How do you know? You don't know where I might have come from, no one does. My parents or grandparents might have been from Enjou, they might have been part of the Kitsune Clan, and that means I might be, too!"
"Are you really that desperate for somewhere to belong?! Isn't it enough to be around people who care about you? Who cares if you don't look like the rest of us, or any fox in the kingdom? Just because these people happen to be foxes and most of them have more tails than you do doesn't mean you belong with them. You belong with your family. You belong with us, Tails."
"Maybe I don't," Tails stated softly, looking away. "Maybe I never have."
Sonic was silent a moment, wounded. How could Tails possibly feel as though he had never belonged with them? None of them had ever treated Tails any differently from anyone else, and they defended him from those who had. More so, Tails wasn't the only one who was different. He wasn't the only one to have ever been called a freak. Sonic knew exactly how the little fox felt.
"So that's it then, right?" he whispered, fists clenching. "Well, maybe you're right. Do what you want, Tails. I don't care anymore."
"Sonic, I-" But before Tails could say any more, Sonic was gone.
Sally was worried. Neither Sonic or Tails had returned in time for dinner, and she'd rarely seen either of them miss a meal. She was worried and exhausted, but she did not sleep. Instead, she shed all but the last few layers of her robes, took Nicole, and made her way towards the shrine proper. In her weariness, that long flight of stone steps seemed even longer than it should have, but she made it to the top without incident. Enormous stone foxes sat perched on either side of the large, fortunately open doors, and she could almost feel them watching her as she entered. The interior was vast but relatively simple, bearing an offering table and banks of candles, with calligraphy scrolls bearing what must have been the names of particular kitsune. Upon approaching, she discovered a large, freshly laid circle of rope on the floor, with eight clay discs laid at regular intervals along its outer edge. She realized the Enjouan characters for elements were etched deeply upon them, one for each disc. This must be where the kitsune were to have attempted the creation of the purification stone.
Slowly, she began to walk around the circle, pausing at Fire, Water, Light, and Metal. Azami, Danica, and Hikari were too injured to give themselves to the spell, and Kinzoku was dead. Replacement kitsune of their high-powered caliber obviously couldn't be found in time, or perhaps did not even yet exist. She realized there were four open places, and four of her own team, not counting Tails.
"I wish we could just take their places," she sighed to herself. To her surprise, Nicole actually answered her unbidden.
"It is not an impossibility, Sally," the mobile mega computer said.
"But I thought only empowered kitsune could perform the ceremony," Sally protested. Nicole knew this, surely.
"Kitsune must be involved, but anyone with a strong force of will and an elementally aligned mind can successfully participate provided there is enough power involved."
Sally began to feel the stirrings of hope. She and the others certainly had a strong force of will. They had proven this since childhood, ever since that fateful day when their lives had been forever changed, and their hardships had only made them stronger. She had no doubts about her friends' true spirit.
"When limited to Fire, Water, Light, and Metal, who would be ideal to fit each element?"
"Bunnie is strong yet giving, supportive of others while retaining herself, grounded in sensibility. Bunnie would therefore be an ideal Metal."
"The fact that she's partially made of it doesn't hurt, right?"
"It helps," Nicole replied, breaking into something close to humor. "Antoine is mercurial, his mind and emotions flow from one thing to another. He will often become whatever a situation requires him to be, in the manner than a stream will allow itself to be split by stones, but always comes back together. Antoine is Water."
"That leaves Light and Fire," Sally murmured. "Continue."
"You are illuminated by your knowledge and pursuit of it. You bring the dawn of hope to hearts darkened by adversity. You are quick and decisive. You, Sally, are Light."
"Then Sonic must be Fire," Sally nodded.
"Yes. Sonic is passionate and sometimes quick tempered, but he gives warmth to those he cares for. Sonic is Fire."
"Alright, so we have alignments and will. What about power?"
"That, Sally, is the problem. The kitsune naturally have a certain degree of power. You and the others do not have this. If the rite is attempted, and there is a deficit, the rite will fail, you will be drained entirely of life force, and you will die."
"It's certainly not something I would enter into lightly," she sighed. "Where would we find power that we could actually access?"
"I do not know, Sally," Nicole admitted.
"Well, it was a good idea there for a minute," Sally smiled and shook her head. "I guess I should just sleep on it for now."
Sally entered her well-appointed guest room, shedding the borrowed robes as she went. It took her a moment to realize that Miyuki was in the room, dropping off Sally's newly cleaned boots and vest.
"Ah, Sally-hime!" the cat greeted her with a bow. "Everything is cleaned and folded for you. Oh, and this fell out of the vest and into the washing water, I fished it out and kept it for you."
Sally stared in sudden epiphany at the object Miyuki was holding out to her. Of course. It had been so obvious. So obvious, in fact, that she'd somehow managed to overlook it until now. The poor cat gave a startled mew as Sally swept her up into a rather undignified hug.
"That's it!" she cried happily. "That's how I can make this work!"
To be continued…