"Naozumi," Hotaka called.
"I apologize, we didn't mean to disturb your slumber," Naozumi apologized.
"I don't, get down here so we can talk!" Yusuke almost yelled. Naozumi clapped down on his mouth.
"We are terribly sorry," Naozumi bowed.
"We have some questions," Hiei didn't even look at him.
Hotaka jumped down to speak with them. "Let's talk somewhere else."
"We want answers now!" Yusuke raised his voice again. Hotaka grabbed a fruit from the plant and shoved into Yusuke's mouth. Yusuke mumbled before taking a bite. It was a tasty fruit. He kept eating.
"He doesn't speak for all of us," Hiei spoke up. "Those are Starlight Coakums, but I've never seen them this size."
"They only get this size with some help," Naozumi explained.
Yusuke ate all the fruit, he felt energy coursing through him. He felt stronger. "Wow, what happened?" The markings of his demon heritage started to show.
"You're using your powers to grow these plants," Hiei smirked. "I use to eat these plants whenever I came across them to help build my strength. They were so rare and hard to come by."
"Yes, but under the cultivation and proper care, we have abundant," Naozumi looked to the plants.
"These plants will help all of you get stronger and stay that way," Hotaka put the pollen in one pile.
"You're not using humans?" Yusuke asked the obvious.
"Harm humans?" Hotaka raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that going against rule number one? Why do that when there are alternatives, plus we haven't established a way to eat humans that is agreed upon with the two other worlds."
"Then why were you trying to sell Hoshimi for humans?" Yusuke was trying to sort this out.
"You are creating an army, but you're going against whoever is taking those humans," Hiei guessed.
"Yes, it's not just for revenge but for the sake of all of demon world, and possibly the rest of the worlds," Hotaka gave in. "I'm after those who killed my family and slaughtered the rest of my kind. Have you noticed how few foxes there are? We aren't ascending."
"Ascending?" Yusuke asked.
"When a fox gets nine tails, we can then ascend to become gods," Hotaka explained. "Allowing us to enter heaven freely. Koenma can access heaven freely now but I doubt he has looked to see if there were any foxes. We're dwindling."
"Then you were not involved with Kurama going missing," Hiei knew he didn't.
"He's missing?" Hotaka blinked. "When was the last time you saw him?"
"He was following your contacts," Yusuke informed him. "That was about a week ago."
"What contacts?" Hotaka narrowed his eyes. "The host club in the human world?" Yusuke nodded. "This isn't good."
"Tell us about it," Yusuke scoffed.
"I can't do anything now," Hotaka thought about it. "It will jeopardize all the work that has been leading up until now."
"You know where he is, we can rescue him, tell us where he is," Hiei didn't care what Hotaka could do. They could do it themselves.
"I can't allow that," Hotaka stood his ground.
"You know what kind of danger he is in," Yusuke huffed. "Let us save our friend."
"If you go now, our army will not be ready to fight against him," Hotaka argued. "We will lose this battle. I did not spend all my time waiting for you to do what you think is necessary."
"Maybe if you would have ascended you might have a chance," Yusuke sneered.
"That was a possibility," Hotaka did think of that route. "I was going to attack whoever won out of the Three Kings and then create my army there, but if I ascended I wouldn't be able to rule over the demons. Its thanks to you, Yusuke, that made my vision possible. However, I am not letting some hot-headed youth who doesn't think about the consequences from his actions destroy everything."
"Damn you!" Yusuke yelled.
"If you yell anymore," Hotaka started to growl.
"Too late," Naozumi sighed in defeat. The group could hear another bud opening. "She's awake." Hotaka sighed along with him.
"Mmm," Hoshimi stretched while the pollen drifted off her. "Brother, what is the commotion? Is it morning already? The wicked never get any rest, one mission after another." She looked down to see the group. "Oh? Yusuke and Hiei, what are you doing here?" The two were silent. "Something must be going on or else you two would never want to meet with my brother." No one answered her. She jumped from the bud to land next to Naozumi. She shook off her pollen into a pile as well. "Brother?" He couldn't meet her gaze. Hoshimi walked to Hiei. "Tell me everything."
He smirked. "Kurama's missing, possibly taken by the enemy your brother is fighting against."
Her tails fluttered straight up. Her ears twitched. Fog rolled off her as her eyes narrowed. This perked everyone's interest. "When did he get taken?"
"A week ago," Hiei saw the hostility in her eyes. He was amused.
"I'm headed off," Hoshimi turned to walk away. "Prepare and watch for my signal, brother."
Naozumi hung his head. "I didn't want her to leave just yet."
"Huh?" Yusuke looked between them. "You let her go, but not us!?"
"Let her handle it," Hotaka looked to Yusuke. "Now that she knows, she is moving up her mission. We have to move up our schedule." He let out a sigh. "Naozumi, get Hitoro and Sora to help you harvest. Yusuke, Hiei, come with me. I'll let you know my battle plans."
Hoshimi headed back to the human world. She hid herself to get to the portal. There was another batch of humans being tossed in. She changed into the child demon form and headed in with them. Hoshimi hid behind some rocks as the demons sorted the humans and took them away. She spied the wall of portraits. When the demons turned their backs to her, she read all the names of the foxes. They were famous and infamous. Kurama was near the top. The two top were her and her brother. She gulped before rushing away to scope out the hideout. She saw the army from a balcony. Hoshimi could smell the rotting flesh of humans. It disgusted her. She headed away, stumbling upon a room of white. Her eyes widened in surprise before they became brimmed with tears. The nostalgic scent of home and familiarity blurred her vision. This was the trophy room of the Master; the tails of her family were hung by a string like fancy streamers around the room. She wiped her tears on her sleeves before seeing an elaborate throne made up from eighteen tails. She stumbled to the chair. This scent that wafted from it was that of her parents. There were other scents that she did not know but she knew they were foxes as well.
Hoshimi ran from the room, she didn't care where. She heard footsteps. Hoshimi had to hide. She searched for a place before finding a secret door. She ducked inside the room to land on a slanted glass. There she cried in a huddle position. Her soft sobs echoing the room.
"Who is crying?" The five-tailed fox woke up.
"I thought it was you," the seven-tailed fox answered.
"We have a visitor," the eight-tailed fox spoke to wake the rest. They were intrigued.
"Stop getting my glass dirty," Kurama didn't even open his eyes. "Go cry somewhere else." She still sobbed. "Your family must be worried, head back to them before something bad happens." This made Hoshimi cry even more. "You're lucky that I can't escape for the moment." He opened his eyes to see who it was. He saw the curled ball of a familiar demon child. His sinister sneer turned to comforting smirk. He used his strength to move one arm to stroke the glass that was near her head. "You stumbled upon the trophy room."
Whispers amongst the other foxes drowned out her sobs. She stopped to take in her surroundings.
"Are you one of the offspring from the army?" The eight-tailed asked.
Hoshimi shook her head. She saw the tubes hooked into them. They were in interesting devices.
"Then what are you doing here child?" The five-tailed spoke next. "Leave while you can."
"Send for help child," another fox exclaimed.
"You'll end up dead if you stay," another warned.
"Leave while you still can!" The seven-tailed started to tear up.
"Unlock us!" The eight-tailed pleaded.
"Quiet!" Kurama growled. The voices ceased. Hoshimi knew that voice. Her hair stood on end. She straightened her back. Kurama tilted his head to the side. "You're still afraid of me." He let out a chuckle. "I'm sorry I can't be in my human form. It must be more pleasing."
"It is not!" Hoshimi turned around with fury. She was met with the hardened gaze. She gulped.
"You sure?" Kurama smirked. "Now, why is the little child here instead of being safely hidden away in her castle?"
"You had to go snooping around," Hoshimi crossed her arms. She saw that he had two more tails. "What happened?"
"I guess I had more tails," Kurama chuckled. "Come to rescue me?"
"I should just leave you here, you got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out," Hoshimi looked away. "This time you can't hide yourself in a human body."
"You hid yourself in a human?" The eight-tailed fox asked. "I thought you were more skilled. We were surprised that you only gained two more tails."
"Well, you made a faulty vault," Kurama closed his eyes waiting for her to take the bait. "I got injured and had to keep my soul safe."
"I did not!" Hoshimi stuck out her tongue. "They ruined my vault. That's why you got caught."
"And I guess you don't feel guilty anymore?" Kurama let out a sigh. "And it was fun to tease you."
"I'm sorry that you got caught," Hoshimi's voice was almost faint as she touched the glass with her hand.
"Hmph," Kurama gazed at her. "Don't be. It's my own fault. I guess I'm not that great of a thief. I can't even escape from here."
"Vault?" The seven-tailed blinked. "You mean Hoshimi, the great fox locksmith, Hoshimi? You were caught by her vault."
"That mean's, you're Hoshimi in disguise," the eight-tailed was in awe. Hoshimi looked to them and nodded.
"Don't transform," Kurama warned. "Besides, it's not a true Hoshimi vault if it can be broken into."
"Are you here to save us?" They all asked.
"Yes," Hoshimi stared at all of them. "I'm here to save everyone." She glanced at Kurama before looking back to the rest. "There are more of you in this type of device aren't there. How many more?"
"Hundreds," the eight-tailed fox answered her first. "Maybe thousands. Kits stay with their mothers until they can transform into a biped form. They get separated and trained from older foxes. The mothers get rest in the terrariums. Once you receive your ninth tail, you get selected to become a breeding pair, the mother stays with her kits, while us males train and fight against one another. We get to rest after finding out our rank. We aren't allowed to ascend."
Hoshimi was thinking. "No more killings?"
"No, we can double his progeny while living," he explained.
"You're all in a mechanism that connects to one another," Hoshimi was analyzing the machinery. "I'll need to scope out the rest of this place before creating a plan to get all of you at of here." There were footsteps coming. Hoshimi threw a seed into the ground. It grew into a plant in seconds. A flower bud opened. Hoshimi jumped into the flower bud. It closed around her before sinking into the ground as if it never was there. The group watched her leave before focusing their attention on the secret door.