Chapter III.XV (3.15) - Bamboo Kitsune

  “I can’t believe you’re here too!” Mae said, hopping foot to foot in her human form.

  Anata beamed at her.

  Kizu had decided to seize control of the situation as quickly as possible and bring Anata to the bamboo forest before Mae decided to do something rash like try breaking into the palace to find Anata.

  Ditching Kiiroi had been tricky. The girl stuck to Anata like sap. She never said anything particularly nice to Anata, but she also clung to her and gave unfiltered opinions about everything around her. Thankfully, after a bit of wandering, Kizu had bumped into Shiroi and managed to dump his little sister on him.

  Mort had remained in the forest, watching the Kitsune children and directed Kizu to them. A young girl and a fox, both of which looked very out of place among all the bamboo.

  “Where’s your mother?” Kizu asked. “You didn’t come here alone, right?”

  Kon, still in his arctic fox form, growled at Kizu. Kizu translated the noise as him protesting the idea that Mae was alone.

  “A child can’t reliably watch over another child.”

  “You’re barely not a child,” Mae pointed out. “You’re only a few years older than us.”

  Kizu rolled his eyes.

  “Anyway, my mother is down in the city right now. She asked us to wait in the forest until she finished setting up our accommodations.”

  “Why did you come here? Were you looking for Anata?”

  “No. We came for the cherry blossoms!” Mae replied excitedly, then she turned back to Anata and pointed at the bamboo. “Have you seen these trees? They go straight up like a pole! And they have these unreal notch segments. There’s nothing like them in the tundra.”

  Anata nodded along enthusiastically. The two girls then went out, looking for the straightest bamboo tree.

  Kon and Kizu followed them, both of them eyeing one another.

  “I…don’t like,” Kon snarled.

  “Yes, I’m well aware you don’t like me.”

  “No. Yes.” Kon bit at the air, looking frustrated. “Smell. Bad.”

  “I smell bad?” Kizu asked, confused. He’d taken a bath in the hotspring. Maybe he smelled a little like sulfur, but it shouldn’t be anything too strong.

  “Like you. But not.” Kon looked away, towards the city. “Someone new.”

  “There’s someone who smells like me but smells new and bad?”

  Kon nodded his canine head succinctly and said no more, as if satisfied to have gotten the message across so clearly.

  Kizu had no idea what the Kitsune was getting at, but he decided not to poke him anymore. Kon was significantly less personable than his bubbly sister.

  They continued to wander the bamboo forest. Mae stumbled frequently, obviously clunky in her humanoid form. But Anata wasn’t much better either. At one point, Anata accidentally stepped on Mae’s tail and they both ended up in a heap, giggling.

  “You’re able to keep in that form for a lot longer now,” Kizu said. “I thought before you mentioned only being able to maintain it for a few minutes.”

  “I’ve been practicing! Mother said I wouldn’t be able to come to Hon unless I could blend in for at least an hour at a time. She’s been coaching me on how to hold it better. Now I can almost go for an entire two hours before reverting!”

  “And Kon?”

  The Kitsune snarled at him.

  “He can hold form for about a minute and a half. But Mother said as long as he stuck close to me, it would be fine. I’m supposed to say some lie about him being a pet.”

  If Kon minded, he showed no sign of it. Despite his faults, Kon was utterly loyal to his sister. Kizu couldn’t help feeling a bit envious when considering his own brother.

  “Tomorrow is the start of the festival, do you think Anata can join us? I really want to see the floats. And Mother said the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in town. I haven’t seen them yet, but I’m so excited. It’s supposed to be all pinks, reds, and whites throughout the town for the entire next few weeks!”

  “I’ll have to talk to Kumiho about it first. I think I’m being roped into something by the Emperor’s family, but Anata might be able to join you. And yes, the white blossoms have started to bloom. Not many of the red or pink trees yet.”

  “The Emperor’s family?” Mae’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “You get to be with real princes and princesses! Can I meet them too?”

  “You’re princess,” Kon growled.

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  “I’m like a monster princess, that’s totally different. These are like in the fairy tales!”

  “You might be over-romanticizing them,” Kizu said. “They’re just people.”

  “No way.” Mae shook her head. “They’re not just people, right Anata?”

  Mae looked over to Anata expectantly. Anata frowned, then she tilted her head, stuck her tongue out, and walked a few paces with her arms outstretched.

  “There’s a zombie princess!”

  Kizu sighed. “She’s a necromancer. Not a zombie.”

  That, of course, only excited Mae even more. The girl was in love with the idea of Aoi and wouldn’t stop asking him questions about her until they reached the location where the two small Kitsune were meant to rendezvous with Kumiho. It was a boulder with a small shrine at its base and knee high statue. Someone had knit the little statue a red cap, giving the gray sculpture a splash of color.

  Kizu sat on the boulder to wait while Anata and Mae chased Mort around. He couldn’t quite hold back a smile when the monkey leaped onto Kon’s back then sprang off his head, causing the arctic fox to join in the chase.

  “Kaga Kizu,” Kumiho said, approaching in her fox form. “A pleasant surprise.”

  Despite being structurally the same as any other fox, unlike her children, the Kitsune’s fully grown size dwarfed wolves.

  “Kumiho. Nice to see you again,” Kizu greeted. Honestly, he wasn’t super stoked by the idea of them being here, but he saw no reason to stir up trouble by being rude.

  “I am always glad to see my cousin and her guardian.” She arched her back then transformed into a beautiful woman wearing a kimono with orange flowers that matched her daughter’s.

  “Basil is up at the palace as well,” Kizu told her.

  “Oh? So you’re familiar with the Ooze Harbinger? What brings him here?”

  “He’s dating one of Hon’s Princesses.”

  Kumiho chuckled. “Of course he is. He mentioned an alluring woman when we met during his school trip. I should have suspected that she would be a princess. My cousin doesn’t seem the type to settle for much less than the best.”

  Kumiho took a seat beside him on the boulder. The Kitsune Harbinger watched her children playing with Mort and Anata.

  “There are magical creatures in this forest,” she said. “Anata draws them innately as part of her inheritance from Otochi. They disguise themselves as bamboo branches. They’re harmless, but they do talk, so watch your words while you’re here.”

  Kizu glanced up at the bamboo, scanning for any sign of a creature above him. He didn’t spot anything with his eyes or his spellsense.

  “They’re not here now. They scattered upon seeing me approach, otherwise I would not have spoken so openly. But I want you to be warned.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The Kitsune are messengers. It was once our duty to connect the two worlds of humanity and monster. We have an ingrained perception to detect magical creatures, even while they hide from other senses.”

  She paused and eyed Kizu.

  “Speaking of,” she continued. “There is something different about you since we last met. It’s subtle, but you feel a tad bit less human and more like a magical creature.”

  “What are you implying?” Kizu asked. His mind immediately went to Anata’s blood. He held back a fear that using it to rejuvenate his blood supplies was slowly changing him.

  “I’m not sure. Did you perhaps use a lotion with monster ingredients? Something reptilian?”

  “Reptilian?” Then it clicked. “Oh!”

  Kizu rolled up his pant leg and showed her his newly grafted leg. The scales glittered green as he rolled his ankle.

  “You replaced your leg?” Kumiho’s brow furrowed and she stared at the limb. “Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought that possible. You must have had a powerful soul mage on hand to stabilize yourself for the surgery.”

  “Both a necromancer and Basil helped. But they said Anata did most of the heavy lifting. She was able to keep my soul in place and replant me in the body.”

  “Your soul exited your body?”

  “I think so.”

  Kumiho’s attention flickered back to her daughter and Anata. The girls had begun gathering up fallen bamboo leaves into a pile

  “So you died. And she managed to keep you from passing long enough to reinsert you. That’s a powerful ability. And not one innate to Blood Lords.”

  “My sister was a diviner,” Kizu said.

  “Interesting.” Kumiho considered the explanation. “I suppose if your souls resonated as a result of your blood being related, it wouldn’t be beyond possibility that she might be able to hold yours in place for a few minutes. Especially if your familiar was nearby to use as a bridge. Still, it would take incredible skill.” She stared at Anata.

  “Why did you come here?” Kizu asked.

  “Oh. Mae is very invested in the festival starting tomorrow. I told her stories of my time as a girl experiencing the Kyonaka Cherry Blossom Festival as a girl and she’s been obsessed with it since. It’s only a happy coincidence we bumped into family here.”

  Kizu nodded. Mae had spoken ad nauseam about the flower blossoms when he met her in the World Dungeon beneath Tross.

  “However,” Kumiho continued. “I don’t remember there being so many tourists when I visited as a girl. The entire city is swarmed with people from across the nation. I had to fight to get a room in an inn. And even still, it’s the three of us on one futon in a cramped room.”

  “I noticed more people arriving over the last two days. You should have come last week if you wanted something more.”

  “And you’re staying at the palace?” Kumiho asked.

  “Unfortunately. Which means more eyes on me and Anata.” He paused. “Actually, tomorrow could you do me a favor?”

  Kumiho arched an eyebrow, inviting the request.

  “I’m supposed to be with the Royal Family tomorrow, riding on their float. I’d rather not bring Anata along. The less attention she receives, the better.”

  “And so you want to know if I would watch over the girl,” Kumiho finished. She smiled. “That’s a perfectly fine idea. I’ll watch over the girls tomorrow. Bring her to the Fallen Petal tomorrow at noon and I’ll make sure she’s entertained. Mae will be ecstatic.”

  “Thank you,” Kizu said. “I’ll leave Mort with her and join up after the parade finishes. It should only take a couple hours.”

  “Very well. Also, I’ll see what I can do about teaching her to better reign in her ability to attract monsters.” She paused. “Kaga Kizu. Be careful tomorrow.”

  “Why? Will there be some sort of trouble at the festival?”

  “Not that I know of. But from what I’ve seen and heard, you’re the favorite prey of trouble.”

  That was true enough.

  Ten chapters (5 weeks) ahead of Royal Road.