Shi: Waking Up The Next Morning

Tadashi laid on the ground, unconscious. The moon was still high and the guards were still on the move, looking for the person who took the fox from the painting. There seemed to be no hope for Tadashi in his situation, until the same boy trapped inside the temple appeared, wearing his ears and tails. He approached Tadashi and got down on his knees.

"Hey, you there."

He tried to get his attention, but the human between the two wouldn't come to. The fox boy started poking Tadashi's head, hoping to get something out of him. "Hey, uh, are you dead, or, what?"

When the unconscious one still wouldn't stir, the fox boy had to take a second to think. "Well, since you did save me from the temple, I guess it's only fair that I save you."

He looked up at the full moon and he could hear the sound of dogs barking in the distance. He looked back down at Tadashi and sighed. "Okay then, it's decided."

The fox boy moved over a bit, to where he was able to rest his head on Tadashi's chest. A glowing blue light appeared between the two and it lasted for about a minute. Once the glowing faded, the boy slowly lifted his head and watched the human for any signs of life.

He was relieved to see his chest rise and fall and seeing him breath. The fox boy smiled slightly at the sight, but soon his nose caught something. He sniffed around the area, trying to pinpoint the cause and location of the scent.

"There's a wild boar near here." He determined.

He looked back down at Tadashi. "I don't think I'm strong enough to fight it off yet. I'll have to move him somewhere safe."

He looked back up at the moon one last time and proceeded to work.

Tadashi's eyes opened the next morning after the events of last night. The last thing he remembered was staying at the hotel overnight. He needed to get back to Aunt Cass so she wouldn't worry so much. He stretched out his arm and yawned, but immediately pulled his arms back in as he felt that keeping them out any longer would cause him to fall out of bed, which he tought was weird since he didn't remember his bed being so thin.

He opened his eyes and was surprised at the fact that he wasn't sleeping in his bed. He had to keep his balance and hold on tight to keep from falling out of the tree he had mysteriously wound up in. He took deep breaths as the events from the night before came back to him. That mysterious voice inside the temple told him to draw two tails on the fox, and now he was probably going to get arrested if he was caught.

"Hey, you up there!"

Tadashi's attention turned to the ground where the boy who had saved him, stood. He looked to be a teenager around the age of fourteen or fifteen. Tadashi had leaned too far over on one side and ended up falling out of the tree.

The fox boy came over and assisted him. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Tadashi nodded, still confused. "Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

The boy smiled slightly. "I had to put you up there because of the boar running around."

Tadashi blinked and ran a hand through his hair, surprised that he managed to keep his hat though the entire thing. "What happened? Where am I?"

The boy took a second to think. "We're somewhere in the countryside, near a small town, I think."

Tadashi sighed and put his face inside his hands. "Hey, uh, are you okay?"

Tadashi removed his hands to see the boy in front of him, waiting for an answer to his question. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself."

He held out a hand. "My name's Tadashi Hamada. What's yours?"

It took a second for the boy to figure out what the gesture meant, then he smiled slightly and held it with his own hand. "Nice to meet you Tadashi, and I don't exactly have a name."

Tadashi frowned at this. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Kitsune don't tend to name their offspring unlike humans, so most of us tend to go nameless."

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'us'?"

"Well, I am a Kitsune after all."

Tadashi was pretty convinced that this was the real world, but now he was starting to wonder whether or not this was some weird dream, or if he was just hearing things. "You're a Kitsune?"

The boy nodded, while Tadashi was even more confused than before. "That's, um...fantastic."

The fox boy's look turned from concerned to incredulous. "Cut the act. I can tell you don't believe me."

Tadashi was surprised at how fast this kid's demeanor changed. He may have been a bit strange, but he definitely wasn't stupid. "Let me ask you something. Did it hurt when you fell from that tree?"

Tadashi didn't really think about that up until now. "Well, now that I think about it, no, it didn't."

Tadashi thought that was strange, but he figured that there was a chance that this might possibly be real life and not a dream. The fox boy had a small smirk on his features. "That's because my Tama is keeping you alive and preventing you from experiencing any form of pain."

Tadashi found himself in his thoughts. "Tama?"

"Don't you know the legends? Every Kitsune carries a Hoshi no Tama, or Star Ball, with them. If they're away from it for too long, they'll end up dead."

Tadashi remembered hearing stories about Kitsune when he was younger, but with all his confusion, he couldn't seem to remember the details. "Well, I think I'd better get going. I have to catch a bus back to San Fransokyo. It was nice meeting you and thanks for everything."

With that said, Tadashi walked off in some random direction. The fox boy still had on his incredulous look, but then his nose picked up something and he immediately recognized the scent. A smirk formed on his face. "Heh, this guy is stupider than I thought. The boar is in that direction."

Meanwhile, on Tadashi's end, he was wandering the forest in search of a clearing that led back to the city, or something to help him out. He couldn't see anything but trees and some occasional birds. He was starting to regret not asking the boy for directions and just wandering off. Tadashi stopped for a second and decided to catch his breath.

He sighed at the crazy day he was having so far. He figured that his aunt and the gang would just love to hear about this one. He could have sworn he was alone, until he heard some sort of rustling among the bushes. He wasn't really aware of any wild animals running around in that forest. His memory then flashed back to his conversation with the fox boy.

"Didn't he say something about a wild boar?"

As if on cue, the boar jumped out of the bushes and Tadashi noticed that with its tusks going every which way and its cruel glare, it did not look like something he wanted to mess with. "Oh come on!"

Tadashi immediately started running with the angry boar chasing after him. Back on the fox boy's end, he was casually admiring his nails, lying in wait. His nose picked up Tadashi's scent and it caused him to smirk.

"Right on time."

Within the next minute, he saw Tadashi running straight towards him with the boar following right behind him. Tadashi saw the boy in front of him, and in the heat of the moment, he grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him along. The fox boy didn't expect to be running from a boar, but it was so much better than being locked up inside a temple for so long. He got to run again, and he was actually enjoying it.

He hadn't felt this adrenaline rush since before the temple. He looked back at Tadashi, who was only focused on evading the boar. Since his Tama was inside Tadashi, that meant that he would have to stay with Tadashi until he got better, so he wouldn't die before he got it back, but as he thought about it, he was starting to think, that maybe, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe.