And here's chapter the second!

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to hear from you guys!

A note on this chapter:

This is a fairly slow chapter, but it has some the groundwork for some bigger changes and plot points coming up in later chapters that I really can't wait to get to (yay!) So I appologize if this is a little slower than you would like but I do promise it will be picking up here pretty soon.

Another quick note on the Kitsune V.S Nogitsune stuff in this chapter. Kitsune refers to all fox yokai, though in particular Kitsune refers to foxes and fox spirits that serve the god Inari. Kitsune that do not serve Inari are called Nogitsune. Other than this, there is literally no difference between a Kitsune and Nogitsune.

And with that, here is Chapter 2!

Reviews are loved and ConCrit cherished dearly!

"What the hell were you thinking Mikage?" Nanami sighed into the night, watching as her Kitsunebi drifted back up the mountain side to the Shrine, the dullness of the fire telling her already that they had not succeeded in finding the Marriage god.

The boy - Tomoe - was asleep in the futon she'd made up for him. The fright she and the Shrine Spirits had given him alone would have been enough to exhaust him, but she'd seen the shoddy map Mikage had given the human and new just how far he must have walked in order to get there. And that was ignoring the kind of toll a Divine Mark carelessly bestowed could have on an unprepared human body. Likely the young man would sleep well into the next day, and would be able to do little else for a few days after.

"Nanami-Dono?" Onikiri asked, her voice wavering beneath her mask. Nanami glanced down at the child spirit to find her clinging to her twin worriedly. "Do you think Tomoe-Sama will be up to the task of Tochigami?"

"We're afraid that the divine powers bestowed on him will cause his human body harm." Kotetsu added, his grip perhaps too tight on his sister's arms. Nanami felt her heart twist at the sight of the two looking so unsure. She had not been the only one Mikage had abandoned when he'd left, and while she had been able to use her anger at the god to get her through some of the worst of it, the Shrine Spirits had only the fear that she too would leave and they would be abandoned completely.

She moved to kneel before them, gathering the two up in her arms to try and offer some kind of comfort to them. The two spirits moved to cling to the fabric of her kimono, ancient Spirits caught perpetually in the mindsets of children. "I don't know." She sighed, unable to lie to them even as she wished she could. "It's too soon to tell, and I've no experience with a human made a Kami. I don't know what we should expect."

They all set together, watching as her Kitsunebi danced their way up the mountain and returned, reporting what she'd expected before dissipating into the night air. Leaving her to wonder once more at the events of the night.

Would Mikage have actually returned if he hadn't run into Tomoe? The human had said that Mikage had said he was on his way home before being chased up a tree by a dog. Nanami wondered if that was the truth, it was certainly the first that she'd heard anything of Mikage in the first twenty years. That he'd seemingly immediately dumped his responsibility on the first person he'd come across rather than return home and act like an actual Tochigami left her feeling hollowed out and raw. The wound of his abandonment years ago ripped open afresh, leaving her to fall back on the seething rage that had gotten her through when all she'd wanted to do was curl up and let the Shrine turn to dust around her.

From what she could tell Mikage had bestowed the Divine Mark upon Tomoe after all of fifteen minutes of conversation. Nanami had spent longer deliberating on what she should have as a meal, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what had been going through the idiot god's head in making the decision of who would take over his responsibilities.

And now she had an entirely new Kami to contend with. A human Kami at that.

Nanami gave a gusty sigh a nudged the children in her arms to move. "Come on. Our new Tochigami was too tired to grab his bags before he went to bed and we'll need to do some preparing for when he gets up tomorrow."

She sent Onikiri and Kotetsu to gather up Tomoe's scattered belongings as she moved to do some touch ups on the shrine. Restocking the pantry would be a necessity, as well as adjusting the inner sanctum of the Shrine to accommodate a human resident. She would need to speak to Tomoe when he woke and get a handle on what exactly his situation was. Mikage had found the boy in a park in the middle of the night, from what she'd understood of the white haired human's story. If the human had run away from a family and lucked out in finding an affable - if completely idiotic and irresponsible - Tochigami looking to pawn his responsibilities off, she would need to know and prepare for the potential for fall out. The last thing the Shrine needed was to lose another Kami due to something as ridiculous as the human's angry parents showing up and dragging him home.

A rough plan decided she smoothed the wrinkles out of her kimono, stood and started on her tasks, wondering idly how Tomoe would feel about Sasamochi for breakfast.

It was well into the afternoon by the time Tomoe finally swam up from the depths of his murky slumber.

He was awoken by his head pounding and the faint sound of cooking in the distance. The housekeeper his father employed? She usually didn't cook when she knew Tomoe was home, understanding - if only just - his preference to cook for himself. Perhaps his father was working from home then. It wasn't common, but occasionally the man tried to connect with his son. Usually only to frown at Tomoe's faltering grades in English and urge him to follow the family tradition of becoming a brutally efficient businessman.

Grumbling Tomoe gave up to the fact that the headache pounding behind his eyes wasn't likely to let him fall asleep any time soon - had he been drinking last night? - he begrudgingly pushed himself up to face the day.

Except.

He wasn't in his room.

Tomoe blinked at his surroundings, dread freezing his veins as his gaze went from the unfamiliar polished wood floors to the traditional shoji that very much was not in his home to his two bags set against a nearby wall. He had a brief moment to panic over the fact that he had no idea where he was before the memories of the day before finally pushed their way through the haze of exhaustion and the pain in his head and the absurdity of it all settled down in it's place.

The note from his father. The men from the bank. The idiot man in the park who gave him a fatherly pat on the head and in the process bestowed upon the responsibilities of a god.

Tomoe buried his aching head in his hands and dropped back into the pillow behind him. He'd been made a Tochigami the night before. Or so the pretty Kitsune woman had told him. Considering she was a kitsune - and considering that two pint sized flying Shrine Spirits had enthusiastically backed her claim - he was inclined to believe her. Which meant...he wasn't entirely certain he was sure what it meant. He'd gathered that he had a place to stay at least, though the full spectrum of what exactly was expected of him as a kami was beyond him. Could humans even be Kami?

He groaned into his pillow, wondering idly if he could smother himself with it enough that he could sink back into sleep and not have to worry about anything. The idea that he could quietly grab his things and sneak out of the Shrine before the Shrine Spirits or Nanami noticed drifted through his head for a half a moment before he viciously squashed it. Insane supernatural bullshit aside, he had nowhere else to go, and - initial threat of attack aside - Nanami had been welcoming enough.

That there was an ugly twisting sensation at his heart at the thought of leaving the place didn't help matters either. The sensation pounded in his chest in time with a sudden surge of pain in his head that didn't ease until his thoughts turned away from plans of leaving and settled down somewhere else. Vaguely he was aware that such a visceral reaction wasn't normal. It was as if the land itself had put barbed hooks into his heart, and that even the thought of leaving had sent the hooks diving in deep and making the pain in his head skyrocket. The twin pains twisted together, a punishment in a way for the vague threat of abandoning the place he'd just come to stay. It bite viciously at him, a steady, bone deep ache that burned in the center of his forehead and the depth of his heart and spread outward towards the rest of his body. Pounding like a drum in time with his pulse, threatening to overwhelm him completely and yank him from the conscious world at any moment.

"Tomoe-Sama?"

"Are you well Tomoe-Sama?"

He groaned in response to the sound Onikiri and Kotetsu outside his room, distant and muffled though their voices were. The pain was too much to ignore to properly focus on the world around him. He clutched at his head and squeezed his eyes closed, trying to force his way through the pounding in his head. The pain ignored such attempts, spreading further, stretching out and out and out. Down his neck and across his shoulders, making a path like jagged lightening down his arms towards his fingertips and down his torso. Steady and terrible.

Outside the cocoon he'd wound around himself he could make out - in a distant, clear part of his mind - the sound of hurried footsteps down the hall followed by Nanami's voice. "Tomoe? Are you alright?" He grunted, not trusting his voice to work for the way his entire body was starting to burn. Nanami, when she answered, sounded concerned. "I'm coming in."

He heard the shushing of the shoji sliding open and the soft tread of the Kitsune woman on the floorboards. He felt her presence as she settled beside him, a blessedly cool and clawed hand pushing away the hands cradling his head so she could press her palm against his forehead. He opened his eyes blearily to see her studying him with amber bright eyes and a serious expression. "You're burning up. We need to get your temperature down." She turned to set sharp eyes on the two Shrine Spirits just out of his view. "Onikiri, please get me some cool water and a cloth. Kotetsu, can you go to the kitchen and bring me the mixture I was working on earlier?"

The Spirits responded with a chorus of,"Yes Nanami-Dono!" and "Right away!" before skittering off in blatant disregard for the laws of gravity. Before Tomoe could even fully process their leaving through the haze of pain burning out from his forehead they had returned with the requested items in hand. Nanami thanked them and sent them off to get pillows to prop him up. The process of being pushed and prodded into an upright position was hardly comfortable, but the two Shrine Spirits looked more relieved to see him not curled up in his futon like a small, feverish child and Nanami's face looked a little pinched.

Nanami dampened the cloth in the water and settled it on his head to try and lower his fever. Placing his own hand on the cloth he sighed in relief. It didn't help with the pain exactly, but it was a small comfort nonetheless. Looking at Nanami he saw that her attention had shifted to the bowl that Kotetsu had brought her, stirring the contents steadily. With the cloth cooling his head Tomoe finally managed to find his voice, "Thanks." Wincing at a lightning sharp pang down his back he asked, "What's happening to me?" He'd never really been sick before, not like that. And he'd never had an illness appear so suddenly and so brutally before.

The kitsune woman sighed and looked up from the bowl she sat before as she explained, "It's the mark Mikage gave you. You're body is trying to adjust to the power that comes with it, and since you're human it's taking a toll." She pushed the bowl she'd been working on into his hands. "Here, it looks terrible, and doesn't smell much better but it actually doesn't taste too bad it'll help with the pain."

Tomoe peered down at the contents of the bowl scowling at the brown and green mash, his nose wrinkling at the smell of unfamiliar herbs and spices. He poked at the mush with the spoon Nanami had used to mix it, mildly afraid that it would come to life and take the utensil from him. "The hell is this?"

Nanami looked far too amused for his liking. "Fox medicine, an old, old recipe." She poked at him encouraging him to eat. "I promise it really doesn't' taste that bad. A little bitter, but the honey should help with that."

He gave a distrustful look at the slop in the bowl and, grumbling, took as small a bite as he could, fully expecting to be spitting it back out again as soon as the mash hit his tongue. When he found instead a faint sweetness and an unfamiliar blend of flavors he was hard pressed to identify. Something like mint, something like pepper, strange and not entirely unpleasant. He blinked down at the mush and, bewildered, took another bite, electing a small chuckle from the woman seated beside him. He jabbed the spoon at her, irritated at the small victory she'd claimed. "Alright. You won, it's not completely awful. Though I'm not convinced you're not using some kind of trick on me to think it's better than it is. I've heard stories about you Kitsune."

He watched, surprised, as her expression cooled some, one of her ears flicking in irritation. Tugging at one of her billowing white sleeves - he realized, suddenly, that she had traded the kimono of the night before for the traditional garb of a Miko, all white and red and surprisingly lovely on her frame - she prodded him to continue eating before saying. "I'm not a Kitsune."

At that proclamation Tomoe gave her a bewildered stare, his eyes pointedly turning to the ears atop her head and the tail curled around her knees. She sighed and tried to explainm "I am a fox ayakashi, yes, but not a Kitsune." She pushed at the bowl in his hands again, and reluctantly he shoveled another spoonful of the mash in his mouth as she went on. "Kitsune are fox yokai that serve Inari, and there's no love lost between he and I." He watched those ears of hers twitch again, saw the amber glow in her eyes, and absently noted that he should keep tabs on what each could mean for her moods. It would only be useful if he was going to be staying at the Shrine with her.

"So…" He ate some more of the mash, noticing that the pounding in his head had eased some since he'd started on it. "What are you then?"

Onikiri and Kotetsu, having been sent off to get tea, returned just in time for the exchange with a tray heavy with kettle and cups and a collection of Sasamochi that made Tomoe want to throw the bowl in his hands to the side completely and devour them up whole. The two Shrine Spirits set their load down beside Nanami and flitted over to Tomoe, eager to answer their new master's query. Onikiri was the first to speak, her mask seeming to grin wider than it had before as she said, "Nanami-Dono is a Nogitsune Tomoe-Sama." Adding on, headless of the irritated look of said Nogitsune behind her, "She was a wild fox before Mikage took her as his Shinshi."

Kotetsu, joining his twin added, "Mikage-Sama has a dislike of dogs so he chose her as his Shinshi rather than the usual Lion-Dogs." Tomoe thought of the man he'd met, clinging to the bare limbs of a tree, openly weeping in fear of the small dog cheerfully yapping at him from the ground. He thought that "dislike" was perhaps the wrong word for the feelings the blond Kami seemed to have for canines. Kotetsu continued on cheerful, "The fact that Nanami-Dono is a Nogitsune meant that she was free to be his Shinshi unburdened by a bond to another Kami."

"Shinshi?" Tomoe asked, eyeing the Sasamochi on the nearby tray. The pain in his head and heart was down to something far more manageable levels - now a dull ache just in the center of his forehead where the Mark lay - and the idea of something more familiar and delicious to eat outside the medicinal mash was tempting. He reached for one of the treats as he asked, "What's a Shinshi?"

Nanami slapped his hand away with a glower, "Finish what you have first." She ordered, before answering him, casting a vaguely suspicious look to the twin spirits floating around Tomoe's head as she did. "A Shinshi is a servant to a Kami. More to the point, a Shinshi is the main servant of a Kami." She poured each of them some tea and, as Tomoe put down the finally emptied bowl, handed both a cup and one of the Sasamochi over to him. "The Kami binds the beast they want to be their Shinshi with a contract, and from that moment on the Shinshi's duty is to protect and provide for the Kami in every way they are able."

"And you're Mikage's Shinshi?" Tomoe asked, gleefully unwrapping the treat before taking a large, delighted bite out of it. Though he preferred to cook for himself - his standards of food were far higher than most he'd found over the years - he had to admit that the Sasamochi he'd been given by the Spirit children was some of the best he'd ever had.

"I was." Nanami said, looking a little far away as she sipped her tea. There was something...sad, almost, in the words. Tomoe realized that, for all that she was his servant, Mikage had likely been a friend of some kind too before his departure. He was about to ask how she'd come to be Mikage's Shinshi, when the twins spoke up excitedly.

"But now Nanami-Dono will be your Shinshi Tomoe-Sama!" Kotetsu chimed. "All you need to do is complete the Contract and you will be bonded!"

Onikiri flitted up around the Kitsune - or, Nogitsune, rather - in question, motioning to the fox woman's face as she said, "All you need to do is kiss Nanami-Dono on the mouth while willing the Contract to be formed and it shall be done!"

Tomoe, unprepared, sputtered on the tea he'd taken a sip of. Bewildered that the Spirit Children would even suggest such a thing - Shinshi binding or no, he was not going to being kissing the pretty fox woman. Nanami, for her part, looked even more incensed than he was. A crackling of golden amber came to life in her suddenly slitted eyes, and a her sharp fangs were clearly visible as she snapped at them, "Absolutely not."

The two children skittered back, darting behind Tomoe as if to use him as a human shield against the infuriated fox. Not that they would be getting any sympathy from him on the matter. "But Nanami-Dono!" The twins cried in unison, tiny hands clinging to Tomoe's shoulders and tiny voices ringing shrilly in the white haired boy's aching head. Tomoe shoved them off, sending the two tumbling through the air behind him in a mess of small kimonos and masked faces. In the midst of trying to right themselves one of them - Tomoe wasn't even sure which - tried a quick, "But Mikage-Sama recommended him!"

Had Tomoe been inclined to actually make her his Shinshi - and ignoring that he would have to kiss her, kiss her - he would have told the little spirits that bringing Mikage into the discussion would be the last thing they'd want to do. Nanami had been Mikage's Shinshi, and Mikage had abandoned her. Bringing up the former master of the Shrine would only make her angrier. The fox in question threw a pillow in the direction of the Shrine Spirits. They, in perhaps their brightest move yet, dashed towards the door to make a quick exit.

"But nothing! I can't believe you two would even suggest it!" Tomoe ducked to avoid the next pillow thrown towards their retreating forms and in the process earned a sharp, accusing look from the kitsune as her attention landed on him. "And don't you think that just because you're the Tochigami of this Shrine now that you get to have any stupid ideas of me becoming your Shinshi! I don't care who you were recommended by, you try and force a Contract on me and scratch your eyes out!" A dangerous, clawed finger jabbed at Tomoe's face as if to emphasize her point, making him flinch back into the pillows propping him up. Nanami's eyes were still flashing amber but the deadly crackle of as yet unsummoned kitsunebi settled to a low threat of heat as she seemed to try to rein her temper in. "You seem nice enough, but I don't know you and I will not be bound to the whims of a sadistic Kami."

Tomoe held his hands up in surrender, his own anger flashing even as he did "What the hell do you think I'm going to do? Sneak into your room an accost you in the middle of the night? I don't want a Shinshi - I don't even want to be a Tochigami!" He saw the flash of hurt, and a nearly concealed gleam of panic at the announcement and, feeling his heart squirm unexpectedly, forced himself to take a breath and calm down.

"Look." He sighed, "I didn't ask to be the Tochigami of this shrine. I didn't ask for this Mark on my head or the both literal and figurative headaches that came with it. But I'm going to try not to fuck it up, alright? I don't exactly have anywhere else to go."

Nanami's tense frame relaxed some at his words, a long, slow breath leaving her as she looked at him. At length she gave a slow nod, accepting his words.

"Alright." She said, "We need to sort some things out though." She met his eye and Tomoe nodded, waiting to hear her out. "I'm not going to be your Shinshi," She met his gaze steadily, almost daring him to argue, though he didn't. Not yet. Not unless she planned on feeding him more of that mash at least. "It's nothing against you. I don't know you well enough to make a decision either way. But I'm not going to leave you running around blind either. This Shrine is my home, and has been a long time. No offense but I'm not just going to turn it over to some idiot to run into the ground."

Tomoe frowned at the jab, but didn't argue her point. "Fine. So how about we make a deal? You show me the ropes of this Tochigami business and help me keep this place in one piece, and I'll do my best not to fuck it up."

"You better be doing that anyway." She snapped, and he saw one of her ears flick back in warning.

He frowned, but conceded. "Fine, I'll do my best not to fuck it all up, and I promise to never force you into a Shinshi contract." She looked more appeased at that, and wanting to try and making the potential awkwardness of the situation they were in a little more bearable for the both of them, he offered the best olive branch he could. It wasn't much, but it was the best he had, considering that he was recently broke, homeless and embarrassingly dependant on the woman sitting in front of him in regards to the life he had unceremoniously been dropped in the middle of. "I'll even cook all the meals, as long as you can supply the food at least."

Nanami's ears perked at that, "You can cook?" She asked, and Tomoe knew he had at least found something to endear himself to her.

He nodded, "I did all the cooking at home before I got booted." Seeing the frown of concern begin at the corners of her lips he hastily pushed forward to try and avoid the inevitable conversion of just what the events leading up to his meeting Mikage were. He would have to tell her eventually, especially if they would be living on the same grounds, but he needed time to come to terms with it all himself before laying it all bare for anyone else to see. "So do we have a deal?"

Nanami gave him a look that said he wasn't fooling anyone in the avoidance, but nodded all the same. "A deal then." She picked up his tea, tepid from sitting for so long during all the chaos. "Drink. Bargains shouldn't be made without some kind of honoring, and right now tea and Sasamochi are the best I can do." She sipped at her own tea, frowning at the temperature and swiftly summoning her blue flames to life to warm both their cups. He nearly dropped his tea in fear of having the flesh roasted from his hands but was only surprised when - despite the brew in his hand getting warmer - the fire itself where it touched his skin only tingled pleasantly.

When he looked up at Nanami in wonder she offered him a small smile and he was struck by the realization that it was the first real, full smile she'd given him since he'd met her. It was lovely, fitting on her face in a way that made him realize that she hadn't looked fully complete without it, and making him feel a sense of pride at having been able to - however unintentionally - cause it to exist. He smiled back, probably a little stupidly, and settled back into the pillows to enjoy his tea and sweets.

Life at the Shrine, as crazed as it was undoubtedly going to be, might very well be worth it after all.