What she was traveling along was no natural formation. It gave the illusion of an old, dried-up riverbed. But it was a perfect channel with edges that gleamed obsidian black. The railgun's signature was unmistakable. She had been using it to follow Mikoto Misaka as she made her way to Bahamut City. She was cleaning up anything that she considered a little troublesome. She was getting reacquainted with old allies, and today, she was returning to a special place.
She returned home. Mizuchi, an ancient water dragon, flowed deliberately and navigated the channel like slow-moving water, with signs of life floating behind her, reeds, seeds, aquatic life, and other debris. The water's edge suddenly halted, rising like a three-foot-high wall, poised and waiting. Beneath the crystalline surface, something shifted – the suggestion of scales, a sinuous form that belonged to no ordinary creature. Life continued while her water form waited elsewhere in the compound, unaware of what approached.
The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the western gardens where three figures played along the lake's edge.
Ronan tossed the wooden ball high into the air. Minako's solid gray fur darted after it with single-minded focus, her small body a blur of motion. Her single tail held proudly aloft as she rushed back after getting the ball. She barely reached Ronan's thigh as she scampered around him. "Again! Again!" she yipped, dropping the ball at his feet and dancing backward in anticipation.
Aikko was leaning against a tree, watching them with undisguised amusement. "You're spoiling her," she called, but the fondness in her voice contradicted any real criticism. Three of her tails were visible, swaying gently behind her as she watched their game.
"Isn't that what fathers are supposed to do?" Ronan grinned, scooping up the ball and throwing it toward the lake. "I remember a certain kitsune who would keep the ball," he added with a knowing glance in Aikko's direction, "and running away."
Aikko's ears flattened slightly in embarrassment, but her smile remained. Minako sprang after the ball, her small paws barely touching the ground as she raced ahead.
"You realize she'll never tire of this," folding her arms across her chest.
Ronan shrugged, watching the small kitsune's determined pursuit. "That's fine. I've got time."
The ball bounced once near the water's edge, and Minako pounced, catching it deftly in her mouth. The wooden toy muffled her triumphant growl as she pranced along the shoreline, tail held high in victory.
At that same moment, in the sacred tea room,
Kuro sat motionless, her nine tails perfectly still as she stared down into the small porcelain cup cradled in her hands. The chamber was exactly as it had been when she met with Mikoto – low tables, cushions arranged in careful harmony, screens pushed back to reveal the gardens. The white cloth embroidered with intricate golden patterns still covered the table where the cherry blossom teapot rested beside the glowing spirit lamp. Steam rose from the untouched tea, and the scent of jasmine and other more ancient herbs that had no name in human tongues rose with it.
She never blinked as she gazed into the pale liquid, seeing beyond its surface. The tea had become a window, a mirror that reflected not her face but events unfolding far away. Within its depths, ripples formed images. The intruder stood in the middle of the large lake, still and unmoving, her form glistening like sunshine bouncing off the water's surface as if waiting for the game to start.
The air shifted at the lake, growing heavy with an unseen presence. The hairs on Ronan's arms stood on end as he felt the change – something powerful had come. Like a silent alarm, the magic around them resonated. But before he could say anything.
The warning gong sounded across the garden. Its first strike rolled like distant thunder. The second strike vibrated through stone and wood. The third strike seemed to hang in the air, stretching time itself. Across the compound, kitsune dropped what they were doing, their ears swiveling toward the sound. Yet Kuro didn't stir or acknowledge the sound that had set her daughters into motion. Her concentration remained unbroken, her gaze fixed on the visions swirling in her cup as if she had been expecting this moment all along.
"Shit!" Ronan growled, his playful demeanor vanishing instantly. "Minako! Get away from the water now!"
Hearing her father's voice call out, more in warning, the young kitsune froze. The ball dropped from her mouth and rolled into the lake's shallows. She turned towards him, confusion replacing her earlier joy.
Behind her, the lake's surface rippled, though no wind disturbed it. The water rose in the center, formless at first but gradually taking shape—distinctly female, glistening like sunshine bouncing off the water's surface.
"Home! Now!" Ronan yelled.
But Minako, being like her sisters, didn't listen. Instead, she whirled to face the water, dropping into an aggressive posture. Her small body lowered, hackles raised along her spine as she growled at the intruder, her single tail rigid and quivering with challenge.
"Minako!" Aikko's sharp command cut through the air as she moved swiftly to the water's edge. With a practiced flick of her wrist, blue foxfire danced around her fingers.
The air around the lake trembled, filling with swirling fox fires that became portals one after another. And out stepped a kitsune sister, their multiple tails fanning behind them as they took positions around the lake.
While the kitsune gathered for battle at the lake, in the portal room beyond the tea room's archway came the unmistakable sound of liquid cascading into bronze bowls. First one, then another, a rhythmic pouring that echoed against stone and metal. The sounds grew louder as though water was finding its way through channels. Then came the soft padding of wet feet against the stone floor, approaching with measured steps through the circular chamber and into the tea room. Kuro spoke without lifting her head and keeping her gaze fixed on the tea cup's pale depths. "Will my daughters be alright?" She sighed, the question breaking her connection with the divination. "Mizuchi?"
At the lake, the woman purposely turned her head and looked only at him. A smile appeared. She winked at him and burst forward, running down the lake's center, her feet never breaking the surface.
The kitsune opened fire. Foxfire crackled like lightning. Each blast hit the lake with a thunderous boom. Water exploded upward. Steam hissed as plumes rose high. Chaos fills the air around them. Then, something impossible happened. The plumes hung above them, solidified, and quickly changed direction. They flew toward the kitsune. Several sisters cried out as the hardened water struck them. The change seemed to rattle the sisters momentarily as their confidence turned to disbelief. But just as quickly, the others adjusted positions, eyes narrowed and determined. Blue flames reflected in their gaze as they fired again. Again, the water turned against them, moving with deliberate precision as if learning from each exchange.
Aikko stood in front of her father, rapidly firing, her shots coming back, but she used her other hand to cast barrier spells. Blocking each return. She cast other barrier spells closer to the woman, interrupting the return shots. Causing her sisters to follow her change and then some of the shots were hitting only to leave a gaping hole in the woman, which was quickly filled with water. Even Minako was doing her best. Still in her fox form, she ran along the water's edge, opening her mouth and releasing her fox fire, which often fell short.
Back in the tea room, Mizuchi's eyes shimmered like sunlight on water as she gazed at Kuro. "The pure waters of creation," she answered, gesturing toward the sounds coming from the portal room. "Waters of the beginning." As she spoke, the liquid in the bronze bowls pulsed with internal light, responding to her voice. "They remember everything they once were, everything they touched." The tea in Kuro's cup trembled, tiny waves forming perfect concentric circles, responding to the growing energy building around them.
She moved to stand beside Kuro, "Water remembers. It remembers the path home." Her eyes shone, but she said no more.
At the lake,
Ronan tracked the water woman's movements, something nagging at the edge of his mind. The way she moved, the way she had looked directly at him, the coincidence of water in both the lake and... His eyes widened as the pieces suddenly aligned. "Aikko," he said, his voice tight as he gripped her shoulder.
"What?" she asked, letting off another blast of foxfire, her focus still on the battle.
"We need to get to your mother now!" Urgency roughened his words. "This isn't the real threat—it's a distraction."
Aikko turned her head, visibly shaking at the thought that her mother might be the target. "You think this is a ruse?"
Ronan didn't answer. "Portal now. She or it is heading to the shrine."
Aikko quickly opened a portal to the edge of the shrine without a word. She couldn't enter the shrine itself because of a protective barrier created a very long time ago.
Ronan rushed into the portal, and Aikko followed, yelling to her sisters, "To the shrine!" The portal slowed, pulsing with blue energy as it began to contract. At the last possible moment, Minako leaped through it, her small form silhouetted against the shimmering light before disappearing as the portal shut behind them.
In the tea room, Mizuchi continued. "The mechanism you discovered requires the blood of a goddess to activate. Each channel carved into its surface was meant to carry that power, a sacrifice of sorts." Mizuchi's eyes softened as she looked at the fox goddess. A gentle smile spread across her face as she recognized the hesitation in Kuro's eyes. "I see your reluctance to take a life, even for your freedom. It speaks well of what you have become in this place." She extended her hand, palm up, where water gathered and swirled into a small sphere. "For a water deity like myself, blood and water are one. Here in my palm is the answer to your prayers and fears," she said, the sphere in her palm shimmering with an inner light.
The luminous sphere pulsed in rhythm with Kuro's heartbeat. The offer was everything she had sought, yet accepting meant decisions she wasn't ready to make. Her tails twitched involuntarily, betraying her turmoil. Should she return to their world, face the brewing war they had left behind many centuries ago, a homeland torn by those who insisted on blood purity, and reunite with her sisters and help them drive the same forces that had driven her through the portal after Ronan... or remain here, where time flowed differently? Where Ronan slept safely beside her each night. Where Mikoto's blood-soaked prophecy might never find him. Her claws extended slightly, then retracted. The weight of choice pressed down on her shoulders. Just as she opened her mouth, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway.
She turned, a sense of relief spreading through her at the interruption. Ronan burst through the doorway, immediately moving to her side. His arms encircled her in a protective embrace that she sank into, grateful for his warmth.
Aikko followed a heartbeat later, her gaze finding Mizuchi. Her expression transformed instantly – teeth bared, eyes narrowed, and blue foxfire engulfing her hands as she readied herself for battle.
Mizuchi merely tilted her head, amusement playing across her liquid features. Aikko's fire suddenly sputtered and vanished, leaving her staring at her own hands in confusion.
"What the—" She glared at her mother. "Why?"
Kuro sighed, leaning back against Ronan's chest. His arms tightened around her, his eyes never leaving Mizuchi.
"This is Mizuchi," Kuro said, her voice steady despite the decision still hanging between them. "And she has come back home,"
A moment of tense silence filled the room. Then Kuro gestured to the empty chair across from her. "Please, join us," she said with the formal courtesy of a queen.
The water deity inclined her head and gracefully folded herself onto the chair. The sphere of water in her palm vanished as she settled at the table.
"Would you care for tea?" Kuro asked, maintaining the rituals of hospitality despite the extraordinary circumstances.
"I would be honored," Mizuchi replied.
Kuro took the cherry blossom teapot and poured the tea into a waiting cup. Aikko stared, still unsure of what had happened. Ronan still held her close. Minako slipped unnoticed into the room, hiding herself in the pillows.
Mizuchi took the cup into her hand and took a delicate sip before meeting Kuro's eyes. "Shall we talk?"