Chapter 52

"So, the question is. Now what?" Ouka asked, "I mean..."

Mikoto nodded, "I agree. We can't just sit and do nothing."

"If they have been found out by Ikelos Familia, then they are in serious danger. Mr. Lido is strong, and many of the others look strong too, but..." Bell worried, scratching his head.

"I don't want my new friends to be in danger..." Wiene agreed, her limited understanding of how big the problem was, not hindering her willingness to help.

"But... Can we really help at all?" Chigusa asked, "Kodori-dono passed on the message, do we need to do more?"

Asuka, standing beside her, nodded, "I feel bad saying it, but do we even know how to help?"

"Lilly only knows what we've been told. We left the same way we entered, so..."

"Even if we knew another way," Marius started, "The trip down is harsh, and we have no real idea about our enemy."

"Jumping into it would be foolish." Welf said, thumping fist into his palm, "And we haven't recovered from our last trip either."

"Potions, weapon maintenance, armour repair, a good night's sleep..." It was back to Ouka again, though he was looking at me when he said the last one.

"I'd..." I started, almost flinching as everyone looked at me. "Yeah... I could do with another day." I shook my head, "Rushing in as we are, with no information, poor supply, and little rest would just get us in trouble. We don't have to be idle, but no dungeon today, unless we do get some information." I looked to Lilly, "Think you can chat with our watcher from Hermes?"

"Lilly will ask if something was found." She replied, one of Haruhime's tails visiting her. "Ack! Tickles!"

"Sorry..." Haruhime replied, taking the tail in hand and hugging it, then the other as it tried to visit as well. "Ko-san still has a mess to clean up too." She gave me a sideways look, "You left your clothes on the floor."

"Sorry, I'll clean that up." I replied, "Welf? Would you like a hand in the shop?"

"Yeah, I have to work on paying off Lord Ganesha." He sighed, "At least I know He's a decent God."

"Sorry." I replied.

"Don't worry about it." He waved it off.

"Actually." I sighed, "I have to apologize to all of you." I looked around the circle, "I pretty much did exactly what I've been telling you all not to do, and if had been anyone else, I'd be dead."

Mikoto spoke up after a moment of grim silence, "Second time is shame."

"Mikoto is wise." I said to her, getting a chuckle from everyone. "Be safe Lilly, and anyone who wants to go with you." I hinted.

"I'll go." Marius said, "Just in case we have to carry all the things."

"Lady Hestia might have a shopping list." Bell suggested.

For the most part, everyone started to disperse, though Bell, Haruhime and Wiene stayed behind. "Questions?" I asked.

The three shared a look, came to a silent agreement, and Bell spoke first, "Miss Eina wanted a memory stone."

"Come by the shop a little later."

"Are you coming to clean up first?" Haruhime asked.

"Yes."

"Can I have a hug?" Wiene asked.

"Just one?" I asked.

I wanted to get to the shop. Every second I spent cleaning up my room reminded me of what had happened. But, since Haruhime would either pout, or make me groom my own tails if I didn't... "Um, where did you get this?" I asked.

"Miss Lilly got it a little while ago..." She said with a shy smile, "She thought we would look good as a... Matched set?"

I sighed, but played along, standing in front of the mirror and looking at myself from a few different angles. "Nope. I'm wearing my boxers." I said finally.

"But its a maid uniform!" Haruhime pouted, "Your usual underwear wouldn't work."

I tried to resist, but couldn't, "Fine. I will wear this, just for today, because you are the best girl." I reached out and pet her ears, getting that room brightening smile from her, "But I draw the line at the bonnet."

"Deal. But you have to smile!"

"I'll try."

I had finally put all my equipment away, and was sorting through the pouches from the last Amazon's belt. It was nice to have a clean room, with all my gear properly put away. It was like... Another piece of 'getting home from work' had fallen into place.

"Is that..." Haruhime started, looking over my shoulder as I set things into little piles.

"The leader's belongings." I said, "Sword, probably sharp, but if I tested it and cut myself, it would break." I put that aside carefully. "Potions, two." I sniffed the red potions, "Good quality."

"We need more of those." Haruhime said, "Bell-san mentioned it was a hard fight to the twentieth floor."

"I'd imagine." I replied, "Chalk, bit of paper... personal item..." I hoped she washed that, "And... strange thing." The last item was a small four sided pyramid. Felt like stone, maybe a light metal, and had a carved rune on each side. Tracing the runes, I could feel the tiniest hint of magic.

"What's that?" She held her hand out, and I handed it to her, "Feels a little magical?"

I scratched my ears carefully, thinking back to the chase. "It was important enough to keep while being chased." I said, "If you see a black owl, wave at it. Maybe we can get Fels to visit. Tell the others too."

"Okay." She passed it back to me, and I put it in my sock drawer, "I'll tuck it away here, just in case, and mention it to everyone at tonight's meeting." I slid the drawer closed and sighed, "Lets get to the infirmary."

She gave me a hug as we walked, our collection of tails offering comfort.

"Finally here sis... What are you wearing?" Welf asked as he looked up from the workbench.

"Lilly got a maid outfit for me. Though, I suspect Haruhime had something to do with it."

I could tell he felt conflicted as he looked at me. I didn't blame him really. Even I thought I looked good in it. "Yeah... Um... So, what do you want to work on?"

"A few things, actually. I'm going to need your help for something personal, and I had an idea for the Magic Sword you were going to make."

"I'm all ears sister." He grinned.

"Miss Kodoooooo..."

"You owe me ten Valis." I said as Bell broke.

"Damn it." Welf said, fishing in one of his pouches and flicking a coin at me.

Letting Bell take a moment to reset, I adjusted the maid outfit a little. Work near the forge had made the white bits a little see through, and I'd moved the shoulders of the blouse down for a little more ventilation. The effect was apparently too much for the poor boy.

"Um... Yeah." Bell started, "You needed me for the stone?"

"Yeah." I said, "Tiny bit of hair, and a couple drops of blood into that glass vial there." I also fished around in a pocket, pulling out the scale I'd found, "Think Lady Hestia would want one for Wiene? I found it down where you found her, while I was looking for my tails."

"Would that be enough?" He asked, carefully prodding himself on the thumb with his dagger.

"More than enough." I replied, "And it would be a nice reminder, don't you think?"

Both Welf and Bell smiled, "Yeah, good thinking sister." Welf chuckled, "I am so glad I risked you wrecking one of my hammers."

"Feels like a life time ago." I mumbled, tapping knuckles with the smith, then Bell. "Oh. Bell?"

"Yes, Miss Kodori?"

"I would like you to help Haruhime with what ever she is doing. Probably making lunch, I think? But yes. Keep her out of the shop, and away from me, for the next few hours."

He considered my request, then nodded, "I can do that."

"And if she insists on visiting, you have my permission to give her a hug, and say its important." I continued.

"I can... Can I do that?"

"You can." I said firmly. "As well, good job taking over while I was down. See you all at dinner, no breaking, shoo shoo."

I sighed and sat down again, "Secret project?" Welf asked me with a sideways glance, pulling out a bar of metal from the fire.

I listened for the door of the workshop to close, and timed my reply just right, "I'm going to ask Haruhime to marry me."

Welf missed his next swing completely, overshooting the metal bar, hitting the outward corner of the anvil, and losing his grip on the hammer. It spun twice in the air, before bouncing off the far wall with a 'thump', falling into a pile of metal scrap, scattering the semi-neat stack of metal bits all over the floor.

"That wasn't fair!" He complained after the stack of metal had stopped clattering apart.

My stomach was telling me it was around dinner time when there was a knock on the main workshop door. Quickly hiding my 'secret' project under a box and sliding it to the back of my jeweller's table, I put the small silver rabbit in front of me and said, "Come in?"

"Kodori-dono." Mikoto said as she entered and greeted me, pausing, "That looks... Surprisingly good on you. Though, your legs..."

I sighed and moved my legs closer together, "It gets hot in here, and Ha-chan wouldn't let me wear my usual..." I waved her over, putting the little hammer and chisel down, "Can you test this for me?" I asked, motioning to the rabbit, "I want to make sure it works."

"Of course." She said, brushing one of my tails once, then ignoring them as they hovered near her, just in case she wanted to pet them. She placed her hand over the little rabbit, and closed her eyes, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Hm, yes, I would say it is done."

"Excellent." I replied, "You needed something?"

"Ah, yes, dinner is soon, and the owl was spotted an hour ago. Asuka managed to get its attention, and it flew off soon after."

"Good. I think. I mean, I hope?" I sighed, "Also, good job, getting to the twentieth. I know I said this to Bell, but you all did well, so I'm going to tell you all, one at a time." She held up a hand to stop me.

"It was our duty." She said, "So it was done."

"It was difficult. And you managed. So, good job." I smiled at her, "Welf and I will be there for dinner soon."

"You may want to clean up a little first." She said, "It would be unbecoming of a woman to attend dinner in such a state."

"I'm sure Ha-chan will forgive me if I don't wear this for dinner." I replied, "Especially if I told her you would have disapproved."

We both shared a smile, and she gave another one of my tails a pat before leaving again.

To say I was distracted during dinner would be an understatement. I was certain the others knew it too, as the conversation was never directed at me. I could understand why, and was both thankful and irritated about it. Even Haruhime, who forgave me my changing into something more practical after a quick shower, didn't speak to me. She did however, have one of her new tails curled around one of my own, just out of sight of the others, and her smile was just as brilliant as always when I had sat down.

Eating on automatic, and trying not to think about anything was hard. I knew they weren't avoiding me, or taking pity on me, but the silence around the table as dinner wound down was slowly becoming crushing.

So I tried to do something about it. "Is there much left for the pool, before we lay the pipes?"

A pause, then Bell spoke, "The change room needs... What did you call it? Sealing?"

I nodded, "I'll mix a little of that before bed." I replied, thankful for something to do, "Did someone check the pool itself?"

"Yes, we looked at all the slabs, and there are no cracks where you put that paste." Asuka said, "Welf-san? We need some mesh covers for the pipes leading into the pool."

"Yeah, I'll get to those soon. Simple stuff." The smith waved it off, "We almost have everything set to start on the magic sword too." He said, looking at me.

"Good." The tail that had been wrapped around Haruhime's tail gave a gentle tug, "Love? We'll need to put a little extra time into brushing tonight."

Her free tail flopped over the top of her shoulder for attention, "Yes that means you too." She said to it, before smiling at me.

"I'm not sure how much of 'me' is still in your tails. So maybe we can keep our fur separate for now." I said, "Anything else to report, since we are all here?"

"Lilly and Mr. Marius did all the shopping." Lilly said with a grin. "It's nice to not have to carry all the things some times."

"And once again, I have a job. Life is good." Marius said, "But the watcher from Hermes Familia didn't have any new information yet, save one thing." He turned to Lilly and said a quiet 'ladies first'.

"Lilly was told they found a few entrances, and thanks to Miss Kodori figuring out who to ask, have leads on a few more." She smiled at me.

"Asuka? You're closest, could you ruffle her hair for me?" I said, "Best Supporter."

Asuka reached over and gave Lilly a pat on the head, while Ouka said, "I wonder how many of these entrances they have?"

It was rare that Takemikazuchi spoke during our little meetings. Both of our Gods tended to let us Children be Children. But, "Each one found, cuts a potential line of escape, and supply. Now would be the time for your enemy to show their true colours, backed into a corner like this."

There were nods, but Marius spoke up, "I disagree, My Lord." He said, "I am new, but this makes me think of an ant hill. Block one, they dig another. It takes time, but from the information we gathered, they are used to living underground. And even we know, that aside from raw building material, refined metals and the like, you can live down there for a long while."

There were a few nods, when a new voice broke the silence. "The foreign prince speaks truth." It was the sand over tile voice of Fels. "I ask forgiveness, for my intrusion, may I join you?"

Looking across the room, we all spotted the inky black cloak that contained Fels, his gloved hands palm up to show that he was unarmed. He was standing at the entrance to the main hall, making me guess he had come in through my room again or something. Some of us were half out of our chairs, hands gripping dinner knives, but we relaxed as Bell spoke up, "Mr. Fels, come in, but um, surprising us..."

"I am sorry, I have been dealing with your information, and been helping our friends as best I can, while dealing with Hermes and his information as well. This is the first bit of time I've had." Fels explained, passing on an offer of tea from Chigusa. "My owl passed on your need to meet."

I took a deep breath, I wanted this meeting to be a little more private. "Yeah, I found something interesting, after cleaning up from my hunt." I looked to Haruhime, who nodded, stood and exited the room. Not before her tails could give me one last brush. "While she gets that..."

"More questions, I presume?" Fels said with a dry chuckle, "I will do my best to answer."

"How do you talk with them?" I asked.

"Oh! Wiene knows! I mean... I know!" Wiene said, shrinking a little from Mikoto's stare, "Lido showed me, its a green stone, that's all shiny on one side."

Fels nodded, "She's right. It's something I made to talk with them. A little past your current skill I think, but again, when I can, I'd be happy to teach you." I nodded back to him.

"Here." Haruhime said as she entered the room again. I smiled, thinking she covered the distance quite fast, and she hadn't broken a sweat. "Fels-san." She handed him the little pyramid, and sat down next to me.

We all waited while the hood of his robe lowered itself to his open palm, the little stone resting in the centre. Finally, he said, "I see. I would not want to call anything to do with your recent trial 'lucky', but this is quite the find." His empty hood looked towards me.

I tried not to blink, as I looked into that darkness, "She was making a straight run towards one of the edges of the eighteenth." I said, turning away and spotting a dinner roll left in a basket. I occupied my hands with cutting and buttering it.

"If you will permit me to hold on to this?" Fels asked.

"What is it?" Ouka asked, this being the first time anyone had seen it.

"If my guess is correct, I think this is a kind of key." Fels made his leather bound notebook appear from his sleeve, "I will be busy for a couple of days. They will need help finding a new home, and it will require all my attention until they are safe again." He scribbled something down with a quill that appeared from the other sleeve, "I will leave this stone here, in case you need it." He looked to Hestia, "I can't exactly travel freely, as you know."

Hestia shivered, but nodded.

"Mr. Fels." Wiene started, "Will they be okay? My... Um, cousins?"

"I hope so child. Would you like me to send them a message?" He readied his quill again.

"Actually..." She surprised me by reaching into a pocket. I had no idea that inky robe she was wearing even had them. She pulled out a little bit of paper, a sheet I remember buying with Lilly, before...

I shook my head.

It had a bright yellow circle on it, and a crude collection of coloured stick figures. I only caught a glimpse of it, but it had a wide collection of figures, not all of them humanoid. She handed it to Fels, and stepped away.

"I see." Fels said, his voice sounding pleased, "I will do my best." He looked to our two Gods, nodded, then looked to the rest of us, "I must be going, if there is dire need, write a note, and give it to my owl, I will do my best to help."

We all nodded, and watched him as he backed out of the room, vanishing like mist as he crossed the room's threshold.

"Well. I suppose that's it for the meeting?" I asked, using a napkin to clean crushed dinner roll from my hand.

Everyone nodded, and as one, we stood and started clearing the table.

I was trying to focus. On the work bench in front of me, was the beginnings of the memory stone that would represent Wiene. Her childlike innocence, optimism, curiosity, and seemingly insatiable thirst for knowledge. But, that wasn't all there was to her, was it?

Even Bell, with his hard working, honest to a fault nature, could get angry or frustrated.

Welf, with his passion for the forge could sometimes be buried under one too many drinks.

"Hey sis...ter?" Speaking of Welf, he had poked his head around the doorway to the 'hot' section of the workshop. "Problem?"

I waved a hand at the 'magically charged' block of 'ko-steel' that also contained Wiene's cast off scale. I'd already given it the rough shape of a tiny dragon. Curled around itself as if sleeping. "I'm not sure I know her well enough." I replied.

"Ah, well, can you put it down for the moment? I'm gonna need a hand with Ganesha's blade." He replied, "Doesn't help you suggested a scimitar. Considering his height, its a little awkward without the hilt."

"Sure." Carefully, as per Asfi's instruction, I put the little figurine inside an iron circle. This would keep stray magic from ruining my half done work. After her lesson, Welf and I had made a few of these, for various sized projects. Being rookie enchanters, we didn't want something we made to say, blow up in our face, because we had to take a potty break in the middle.

"I'm sorry I made you do this." I said as I followed him into the second room, "I let myself be led like an bloodthirsty animal into a trap." Like a fox, though I didn't say that.

"Yeah, it was stupid." He said, though his straightforward tone didn't have any bite to it, "But, I'd have done the same thing." He sat down next to a blade shaped length of steel, still black from the forge, "We might bicker like a cat and dog, but I really like the little runt. All of you guys are more of a Familia than Hephaestus Familia."

He held the blade while I turned the sharpening stone, grinding off the excess metal and giving it the 'first polish' before sharpening. "Sure, you know I've got my eyes on Her, but as a Woman, not a God."

I smiled slightly, watching him pass the blade over the stone a few times in nice even motions. "No secret there." I said, "But still, I should have just let her get away and make sure Lilly was alright."

"And miss a chance at getting information? No, that's not you." He lifted the blade, examined his work, and went back to grinding it, "One thing I've noticed about you, is you hate being in the dark about something."

Did I? His words made me think on all that had gone on since I'd known him. He had to nudge my foot with his boot to get my attention back as I got lost in my thoughts. "Yeah, sorry, I guess I am a little..."

"Obsessive." He offered, "But it's helped us out. A lot. I mean, you can make potions, because you wanted to learn how. We survived the war game, because you came up with a plan. Heck, I'm making this thing, because it isn't really a magic sword." He chuckled, examining his work, then showing me the mostly smooth flat of the blade.

This would be his second version of the 'Oblivion Cup' blade, hanging on the shop wall. The black surface of the blade still swirled with the red traces of power, absorbed from the relic Crozzo blade his father had. This one, instead of being mostly 'ko-steel', was instead mostly Welf's special alloy that he used in almost all our Familia weapons. The metal my fur had helped make, was instead swirled in from the spine of the blade. Three spirals of the black metal curled into the surface, seeming to drink in the light of the room.

"That's..." I started, "Wait, it's not a magic sword?"

"Well... Not yet?" He grinned, "Instead of a blade meant for destruction, I figured, Ganesha must have enemies right? God like him, should have something to protect himself with. Or who ever he lends this out to." He started smoothing out the other side of the blade now, the partially finished surface now face up and shining in the light of the room, "This, instead of starting out as a magic sword, will eat them instead."

I caught on, smiling, "So it can be used later, like a magic sword."

"Make the power fit the blade, not the blade fit the power." He replied, "Just like you taught me."

"I'll be sure to correct Lilly next time she calls you an 'anvil head'."

Welf had turned in for the night, the blade for Ganesha just needing final assembly. This left me alone to work, but...

It left me alone.

I had no idea how long I'd been curled up in the corner of the workshop, when Hestia sort of appeared in front of me. My eyes felt like I'd been crying. My body felt like the first day of 'training' with Ryuu. Both my fists were bloody, and there were several small piles of dust along the walls. Probably where I'd thrown things. Worst of it was, I didn't remember doing any of it. I'd watched Welf leave, made to pick up my jeweller's hammer, and then...

My Goddess was standing in front of me.

It might have been the lighting behind Her making Her body glow, but the sight of her made my already sore eyes hurt even more. For the first time, the sight of my Goddess brought me pain.

She knelt, dressed in her night gown, and hugged me tightly as I started to cry again. Even if I was a wreck, my arms around my knees, my tails at least knew what to do, returning the embrace. She even took the time to run a hand over each one, as if greeting them in turn, before putting a hand on my back again.

"I don't know what to do." I said between sniffles, "I can only distract myself for so long." She said nothing, but She leaned on me a little more, Her tiny body generating so much warmth, "I can't sleep, and almost every time I blink I see..." I looked at the alchemy bench, "And I can't bring myself to..."

Now She spoke, "I know." She said quietly, Her own voice tinted with sadness. "Just as your status echos what you've done, I feel an echo of what you do. All of you. You are my Children, and I can feel everything you do. When you fight, when you feel joy, pain, sadness, when you have a happy dream or the fear of a nightmare."

It was my turn to be silent. Her warmth was creeping into my body, the banked fire of the forge and cool night air had chilled me without my noticing it.

"Would you like to come to bed with me? I'm sure Haruhime won't mind, just for tonight."

"yes please." I mumbled to her.

Even with Her by my side, my dreams were dark. Nothing chased me, or hurt me, but it was like there was a dark formless chaos, just outside my field of view. Several times, I'd woken, covered in sweat and panting for air, but each time, Hestia calmed me back down, wiped my face with a cool cloth, and hugged me close again. It wasn't a restful sleep, but it was better than being curled up in a ball in the workshop until someone else found me.

Morning was just hinting at is arrival when I woke again, this time with Hestia behind me, hugging all my tails. She was snoring quietly too, but thankfully not drooling. Even with my mind clouded by sleep and darkness, I had to smile at just how familiar this feeling was. But, nature was calling, and I had work to do.

After business, I returned to my own room, to find Haruhime curled up with Wiene, the dragon girl tucked into my love's middle, much like she did with me. My first happy thought in four days brought on a little inspiration, and after very quietly getting dressed, I headed to the kitchen to find something quick for breakfast.

"There you..." Welf paused as he entered the workshop, looking around the room, "are... what happened?"

I hadn't bothered cleaning up yet. I had held on to that single happy thought and was currently wrestling with it, tapping my backup jeweller's hammer against my spare chisel, adding detail into Wiene's memory stone.

"I'll just watch." Welf said as I flicked an ear towards his voice, "You're really going all out on this one."

"I had a bad night." I said as I very carefully added individual scales to the little figurine, I'd already done well over a hundred, and had many more to go, each tap of the hammer filled with a thought about our newest Familia member. "But, Lady Hestia found me before it could get worse."

Wiene was many things. Her young age but rapidly growing mind notwithstanding. The last thing I needed to complete the picture of her in my mind, was an seemingly infinite wellspring of kindness. The picture she had given Fels, representing her hope for her 'cousins' joining her up on the surface, and filling in for me, to keep Haruhime from worrying about my absence. I'd have bet almost anything Wiene had even volunteered.

"Found Wiene and Ha-chan sleeping in my bed, after returning to my room. Their smiles were all I needed." I explained, tapping a little more, finally getting to the end of the tail.

I could see he wanted to make a joke about it, but he just smiled at me, "Good." He leaned a little closer to my work, but was mindful of not blocking my light, "I'm actually starting to get a little jealous, looking at this. Every scale, the claws, eyes, teeth... And all I got was a little hammer." He chuckled.

"Two little hammers." I said, a smile creeping onto my face. "I think, after morning practise, I'll work on..." I made a meaningful gesture towards the little hiding spot for the ring I was making.

"If you can keep this pace, you could finish it before practise." Welf said, "I'll work on my half before I get to finishing up the sword. Want to come with me to deliver it?"

I considered, giving my work one last look before putting my tools down, "Yes. I have to thank Him."

"That too, but I'll need some one to demonstrate this thing." He pointed his chin at the black blade on the wall. "I'll be happy to empty the magic out of that one."

"I'll have a request as well, for Ganesha. But that's something else entirely."

Haruhime didn't say anything about my absence, simply greeting me as if I had returned from shopping or something, giving me a hug and stepping to the side, waiting to fall in step beside me.

"Ready for some magic training?" I asked, our tails swishing against each other.

"You aren't going to spar with the others today?" She asked, following me as I turned towards the spare room Lilly and her did their stretching in.

"No..." When Fels had arrived, I had actually backed up, ready to flee. I didn't say it, but I knew I'd need something a little gentler than our usual sparring, to see if I could still fight. "Besides, not exploding when using magic is important too."

She giggled quietly, smiling up at me, "Exploding makes your tails hard to brush."

"We can do that later too."

After some stretching and light exercise, we stood facing each other. I was pleased to note that even with the weighted clothing Welf and I had made for Haruhime, she wasn't even sweating.

"So... How to start..." I thought out loud, "I mean... just as you taught me, magic is a personal thing. Would my way work for you?"

She thought about it a moment, then looked behind her at the two black tails, "Well... Our tails are personal too. Maybe it will work?"

She had a point, so I took the lead, "Well, the way I start, is with a deep breath. My magic is a little fire, always lit, always burning, but like Welf's forge, air makes it hotter."

She closed her eyes, and after a moment, she took a deep breath. Aside from doing wonderful things with her figure, her posture became more relaxed. She paused, and shifted her feet, getting into a basic stance.

"Here." I said, stepping just a little closer, taking her hand and putting it against my ribs just under my breasts, "I turn my magic into strength. Try and move me."

She shuffled her feet again, and we leaned against each other properly. Both her hands were braced against me, and I was matching her strength. She took another deep breath, and tried to push me.

The pressure against my ribs increased a little, then a little more. A third breath, and another posture change, and her face started to crinkle up with effort.

"I don't... think this is working." She said, letting out her breath and relaxing. "It doesn't feel quite right."

"You're stronger than I thought, though." I smiled, "Any ideas?"

She considered, smiling back at me, "Yes, I think so." She nodded, getting back into her stance, "Brace again?"

We arranged ourselves, and I waited. Once again, she started with a deep breath, and I could feel my tails tingle as a gentle, almost electric current went through her palms. "I feel something." I said, hoping to encourage her.

"For you, its a fire. For me, its a shape." She said, and I could feel the pressure against my ribs increase as she pushed. "It feels... Different, but..." The pressure increased again, much more than before she stopped the first time. I had to tense up a little more, my hands on her forearms to keep us steady. "If I make that shape look like me... then..."

She was glowing now. Again, not like the pure white of her own magic, but something a little darker. I was was sure that if it wasn't for my gift of being 'immovable' I'd be slowly sliding backwards across the floor. After a moment, the glow ceased, and she let out a long sigh.

"It was like I was holding in the energy I give to others with my spell." She said, shaking out her arms, "Its a little hard on my body though."

"You just need to work out more." I said rubbing my ribs, "You were doing well though. Maybe twice the strength you had before you tried again. She smiled up at me as I gave her ears a gentle pet, "So, your turn."

"Well, for me, it's a spell. I can't do anything without it really, except maybe... warm it up?"

When Lilly came to find us for lunch, I was laying down in the middle of the room, resting my head in Haruhime's lap. Following up on yesterdays experiment with Takemikazuchi, I tried to push my magic past my skin again.

But then I was at a loss on what to do. I was able to keep the effect up with my eyes open, so I could make myself glow. Radiate an aura. But I wasn't able to do anything with it. It tingled when Haruhime brushed her fingers through it, but I couldn't give her any of it, like her spell did.

So, I tried something else.

"Lilly is... not food?" She said as she looked at the two of us.

Around Haruhime and I, was a ghostly fox. Black with gold edges, its single tale connected to my five, it was at least four meters long, from nose to tail tip, and almost two meters tall at the shoulder. It was looking at Lilly like she was delicious, though it made no noise as it circled us. Almost all my concentration was maintaining the apparition, but since it was idle, it wasn't eating away at my magic like when I'd summoned a pack of them to attack the drake.

"Friend." I said, the fox looking down at me with its huge golden eyes, then back to Lilly. It stopped pacing and laid down, curling its body around the two of us.

"Everyone is wondering if you two went back to bed." Our supporter 'heehee'ed' behind her hand as Haruhime blushed. "But when Lilly didn't see you in your room, Lord Takemikazuchi said you'd be in here."

"Best supporter." I said slowly, the effort of thinking about the words making the fox surrounding us flicker slightly.

"Ko-san, you should relax, or you'll be tired later." Instead of petting my head, she reached out and pushed her hand into the ghostly fur of the fox, "If you don't get up I'll tickle you."

"Miss Kodori is ticklish?" Lilly asked.

"But... Lap pillow." I complained, the fox flickering again, then fading as I relaxed my effort and sat up. "And you already talked about my secret cookie boxes..." I pouted.

"Miss Kodori would make a good mom some day." Lilly said, "She makes the best cookies."

Both Haruhime and I blushed, giving each other a hug as we stood up. "Speaking of ticklish..." I said, my tails waving behind me.

"Uh oh..." Lilly said, backing up a step.

Notes!

Still more to write, but I'm started to get all kinds of ideas about the crossover to highschool DxD. I'm hoping that many of you (you wonderful readers you) will read that one, and maybe I'll get more readers for this one, when they get curious about Kodori's origins.

I've also got some side stories to do, before the crossing as well. Once I read the next book, and maybe wrap up things, I'll do those. :)

Until next time.