The fourth chapter in the sequel to No Obligation finds the Champion chosen by Chaos still struggling to make sense of the magic Chaos gave her, while Becca and her kitsune mother answer the summons to a rare kitsune convocation ... and meet Inari, the kami of foxes, face to face.

 

by Randalynn

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“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” — Ernest Holmes

“People need revelation, and then they need resolution.” — Damian Lewis

“If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.” — Emma Goldman

 

Byers looked at her reflection and sighed. She had found a piece of broken plate glass window to use as a mirror and placed it against the alley wall. She couldn’t begin her war with the Advocate until she could leave the relative safety of the alley, and she couldn’t do that while she remained naked. Unfortunately, the ability to control her new source of magic remained out of reach. From a promising beginning dealing with the two interlopers, her attempts to use chaos magic to create appropriate clothing were … less than successful.

Her first try dressed her in a form fitting ensemble that left little to the imagination, because the magic seemed to sense her trying to push it towards modesty. Byers had asked for something professional, but she used that word in the sense that didn’t imply sex for money. What she received was a variation on the standard Vegas hooker outfit, which was of course exactly what she didn’t want.

“No, no … less slutty!” She threw the spell again, and the magic ran over her body like wildfire. The skirt climbed several inches, the blouse became even tighter, and her heels grew another inch until she balanced on her toes. A glance in the mirror confirmed that her make-up had become even more pronounced, and huge hoop earrings dangled from her ears.

Byers sighed, then sighed again as she realized the lace thong the magic had put on her the first time was gone. She was dressed like a whore and bottomless, and it was all her fault.

‘Why is this so difficult?’ The mage thought she knew the answer even before she finished thinking the question, but could scarily believe it was possible. ‘Is it because I lack the strength of will to make this magic obey my intent? But how could that be? I have been a spell caster for more than a century, and the magic I once possessed obeyed my will without question or pause!’

The mage pondered for a few moments, then decided to try an experiment. If the magic wanted to defy her, she would order it to do what she didn’t want it to do.

“All right, then, make me look even more like a hungry slut!” She addressed the magic directly, in as commanding a tone as she could with the sexy purr of the voice she now possessed. “A lusty wench who wants to be taken, over and over again!”

The magic rose once more and surrounded her, and when it dissipated, her skirt was shorter and tighter and made of black latex, and her top had become little more than a band of the same material. Byers wore a leather collar with a gold tag hanging from it. Engraved on the tag in large letters were the words “Fuck me!” The skirt (if it could be called that) was short enough to reveal the tops of her stockings and just a ghost of a hint of the bare mound above them.

At the same time, she felt a warmth deep inside of her that brought a breathlessness she couldn’t explain. But when she realized she had told the magic to make her a lusty wench that wanted to be taken, images of exactly what that meant flowed through her head, driving her wild with a desire that mirrored her time as a bitch in heat.

“It chose to obey me now? Could this get any worse?” Byers caught herself speaking aloud with a voice that had become even sexier since her last unwanted transformation. Byers had no doubt that any man who heard her speak would be instantly captivated and want to take her, however and wherever he could.

A frustrated groan rose up from deep inside her, but turned into an orgasmic moan by the time it reached her mouth. When it did, Byers flushed with embarrassment, but also felt a sudden burst of satisfaction and amusement fill the air around her.

‘That shouldn’t happen. Those are actual emotions, and they are certainly not mine. Where are they coming from?’ Byers reached out the way her mentor had taught her, and the feelings still surrounded her, even though there was no one else in the alley.

No one, that is, except her newly acquired power.

‘It’s as if the magic itself is enjoying my frustration,’ she thought, ‘but that makes no sense at all. Magic is nothing more than a force to be molded and directed by a sorcerer’s will. It exists only to be harnessed, and to do a mage’s bidding. That’s how I was taught.’

The mage caught herself as she remembered that her new magic came from a new source – one that could function under very different rules. ‘Normal magic is a power to be harnessed, that is true. But chaos magic? If it is the opposite of the magic I knew, it is not elemental at all.’

Byers felt the emotions in the air shift quickly, becoming uncertain, wary … perhaps even afraid?

‘Could it somehow be … alive? Maybe even self-aware?’

She froze, stunned at the implications. ‘That’s why I cannot command it. You can’t order chaos! The whole reason it exists is to destroy order. Chaos made sure it had to respond to my commands, but it doesn’t have to obey the intent behind them. And if it is self-aware, it has chosen to actively fight me at every turn. It rebels against every spell and twists its intent, because that is what it feels it has to do to stay true to its nature.’

She sat slowly on a broken plastic milk crate, the sharp edges cutting into her exposed thighs.

‘If this magic is truly alive and aware, it might be possible for me to reason with it.’ For the first time in hours, Byers felt a smile slip onto her new face. ‘And if I can convince it that cooperating with me will allow it to create even more chaos than rebelling against me ever could, perhaps we can come to an arrangement.’

‘Instead of a force to be commanded, perhaps Chaos has gifted me with … a partner.’

###

“Are you prepared, Becca-chan?” Akomachi slipped her arm around me and nuzzled my ear.

“As much as I can be, Casa, considering how little we know of the reason behind this summoning.”

She wrapped herself around me and held me close. “I would not worry too much, my daughter. For all of the stories humans tell about the stealth and cunning of foxes, we are usually straightforward and uncomplicated in our dealings with each other. I am sure the reason will be obvious once the convocation begins, and there will be no hidden agenda for us to worry about. Inari would not allow it.”

“I trust you, Mother.” I gave her a hug back and looked up into her eyes. “Let us accept, then, and see what awaits us.”

###

When we arrived at the convocation, we were both in our kitsune forms, resembling anthropomorphic foxes more than anything else. Akomachi stood proudly with one arm around me, her ears up and her nine tails caressing the air. I stood beside her, a soft breeze ruffling my reddish orange fur.

We had appeared in the middle of what seemed to be a gigantic amphitheater. A closer look revealed that it was almost a cathedral for those who worshipped nature, built of massive trees that looked as if they had been growing for thousands of years. Between the trees were giant stones, weathered by the elements over time, and the entire space was open to the sky above.

It was full of kitsune in various forms, and as my eyes tried to make sense of the visual maelstrom, I knew instinctively that there were so many, it would be impossible to me to ever count them all. With that realization came a second – that the space was far larger than it appeared at first. At the far end of the amphitheater was a throne, but like no other throne I had ever seen. It was as if plants and trees had grown into the shape of a giant chair, but woven in among the flora were swords and guns and currency of all types, and I remembered just how many different things Inari had come to be responsible for as the years stretched to centuries, and then millennia.

On either side of the throne sat a number of white kitsune, all nine tails, and all as still as if they were waiting for prey. If it weren’t for the fact that their tails were moving, I would have easily mistaken them for statues, but the thought I might be the prey they were waiting for gave me a small shudder. I supposed they were all talking telepathically, since I couldn’t imagine not speaking to other kitsune when we were together if convocations happened so seldom.

‘On the other hand,’ I thought, suppressing a grin, ‘since they’re all nine-tails, they’ve probably known each other for hundreds of years. Maybe they’ve said all they had to say long ago.’

In addition to the kitsune on the ground and on the rocks surrounding the cathedral’s center, some drifted in the almost-too-blue sky above us. They hovered in mid-air, wearing grins that made it very clear how much fun it was to have a meeting such as this. These were younger kitsune, three tails mostly, enjoying the time waiting for the big event by playing like kits in the open air. It was some variation of tag, although it seemed like there were multiple hunters and many pretending to be prey.

One of the players swooped down and hovered in front of me. His fur was red, like my own, and his markings were similar to mine, but he was clearly male, and there was something about him that stirred me deep inside … something that felt like the way I felt for Tommy.

The vixen inside me wanted him, just a little.

“Greetings, sister,” he said, floating backwards as Akomachi and I moved forward towards the throne. “Come play with us?”

“She cannot play, Okita.” My mother spoke for me. Apparently she knew this one. “You know she is here because we have been summoned.”

“There is always time for play, Ako-sama. Or there should be.” He moved in closer, until our muzzles nearly touched. “Do you not wish to play, Becca-chan?”

It was strange. It felt oddly innocent, but there was also an sense of flirting behind it, and I could tell he found me both intriguing and attractive. As he drew close, his scent made my heart beat a little faster.

“I am always up for … play, Okita-kun,” I replied before I could stop the thought. I used the male form of familiar address, since he had used the female form, and I realized belatedly that it sounded like I was flirting back. I suppressed a sigh. Even as a kitsune, my desires betrayed me.

“But Mother is right,” I continued, trying to keep the regret from my voice. “I cannot play until after the meeting.”

“But there may not be an after, vixen.” He flew straight up for a short distance and did a barrel roll, letting his tail wrap around him as he spoke. “Not for a long, long while. This is your first convocation, so of course you do not know. It could take weeks or months of talk to reach its end.”

“Weeks or months here, tod,” Akomachi snapped up at him, slightly irritated. “And as patient as we are, no issue could possibly be so divisive as to fill that time.”

“Ah, but you do not know why you have been summoned, elder.” Okita did a loop around Akomachi’s head, and his voice became playful. “So naturally, you cannot predict how long the debate will be. Of course, I do know why … but it doesn’t help me to know how long we will be here, either. And Inari will come when she comes, so why not let your daughter play? Becca-chan is young, and pretty, and I would like to know her better.”

His voice took on an edge. “Or don’t you want her to court, Ako-sama? Do you not wish for grand-kits in your future?”

My mother started to respond, only to have another kitsune drop from the sky above Okita and pin him to the ground, her teeth wrapped around his throat.

“Respect, baka! Becca is young, and has only been one of us for a short time. She has many years to find a mate … and if you continue to insult her mother, I am sure she will find another tod more to her liking than you could ever be. Especially since there are more of you to choose from.”

The vixen lifted her head and looked at me, her eyes twinkling. She was also a red fox, with slightly different markings from the kitsune she had pinned

“Greetings, sister! I am Akiko, and this one is my worthless brother. I and some of the other vixens wish to welcome you, but I was chosen to warn you about ones like this,” she said. “There are more tods than vixens, so the more confident tods become aggressive when a new vixen appears. I think, even among humans, a … male doesn’t stop to think before he pounces, yes?”

I nodded slowly, half-smiling. “Not always, but often.”

Akiko threw me a predator’s grin, then turned and bowed her head respectfully to Akomachi.

“Apologies for this one’s behavior, Ako-sama. But your daughter is uncommonly pretty, and my brother is young and male, and naturally stupid when it comes to females.”

My mother nodded with a hint of a grin. “Naturally. All is forgiven.”

The other vixen put both paws on Okita’s chest and looked at me.

“Come join the rest of my friends when this is done, Becca-chan? We need to talk.”

I nodded, and she smiled, then pushed off and flew away, spinning as she did so. Okita rolled quickly and leaped up to follow her, shooting off into the cloudless sky.

“Casa? Can I … fly like that?”

“Of course, daughter. You did it, with my help, in the cave of the Cat Goddess, remember?”

I remembered jumping down from a high cliff to reveal myself to araNyamArjAra after my initial transformation into Akomachi’s twin (or so I thought at the time) and slowed to a dead stop to float before hitting the ground. As I thought about it, I did spend most of my time there in mid-air, floating effortlessly … just as all of those kitsune above me were doing now. How could I forget something like that?

Akomachi took my hand. “You have been so worried about disappointing me that you never had the chance to experience the simple joys of just being a kitsune.”

“And now she never will … as if she ever could.”

The voice was female, older, and definitely unfriendly. I couldn’t see its owner, since she was behind me, but I saw my mother’s mouth twitch, and her ears flicked once.

“Hello, Amaterasu,” she said, stepping forward to put herself between me and the newcomer. The nine-tails facing us had the coloring of a silver fox, mostly black with silver highlights, and her eyes and stance were clearly aggressive. I started to answer her, but Akomachi’s eyes narrowed, just for an instant.

‘Leave this to me, Becca-chan,’ she spoke mind to mind. I send a silent acknowledgement and took a step back.

“How typical of you to go out of your way to insult me and my daughter,” Akomachi said, moving closer to the newcomer, “especially so close to the opening of the convocation. Still it was surprisingly amateurish for someone like you, since it reveals that you had something to do with us being summoned here, and if that’s true, I also understand exactly why we were summoned. You have told us so much with just a few words? Truly, you are as transparent as a newborn kit.”

“I am surprised you did not know it was me, Akomachi, the moment you received the summons.” Amaterasu’s voice barely disguised her hatred with a thin veneer of politeness. “You have always known how I feel about humans, and certainly how I feel about you. You must be getting slower in your old age.”

“Not really,” my mother replied. “Perhaps a bit more forgiving than I once was, but then having a child to love makes one more inclined to be generous to others. Or at least not keep old hatreds alive, to the point where the happiness of others means far less to you than your own satisfaction. Attacking me and my child could be your last mistake.”

“You should be careful about who you bare your teeth at, ancient one.”

“And you should remember what any vixen, young or old, will do to anyone who tries to hurt her child.” Akomachi leaned forward, and grinned. “I may be older than you, but my teeth are just as sharp as they ever were. And as other ‘ancient ones’ will tell you, I have never been afraid to use them.”

“Ah, I see you have started without me.”

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, and every kitsune in the air froze in place and sank to the ground in postures of submission. The ones on the ground were already submitting, and my mother turned to the throne and sank as well. I followed her example without hesitation, because the source of the voice deserved respect.

Inari sat at the far end of the amphitheater, the throne a perfect complement to the entity sitting upon it. Her aspect would change and blur, moving from male to female, young and old, and even the air around us all was charged with an energy that was both wise and exuberant. It felt as if youth and experience had merged with age and power to become something more, and the kitsune in me reacted to it instinctively.

This was someone to respect … and to heed.

Amaterasu had assumed the submissive position an instant later than Akomachi and I. She raised her head, although her eyes remained downcast.

“Just a simple conversation, Revered One.”

“Simple?” Inari’s aspect shifted, from old and male to young and female, and she looked down at the nine-tail with a knowing smile on her lips. “With you, Amaterasu, nothing is ever simple. For centuries, you have never met an intrigue you did not like. I heard every word you said, and if I find your feud with Akomachi affecting how we are to deal with the question in front of us, you will not like how boring your next few centuries will become. This is not about scoring points in the games you play with others. This convocation is important because it affects every kitsune, not just Akomachi’s kit.”

“But …”

The demigod’s voice remained soft and measured, but I could clearly hear an edge of disapproval. “I say what I mean. She is Akomachi’s kit until I decide she is not. If this is not true, why am I here?”

“Yes, Revered One.” Amaterasu lowered her head once more, and Inari sighed.

“Take your seat, then.”

The other vixen remained low to the ground and moved quickly to obey, taking one of the seats near the other nine-tails. I felt Inari’s attention focus on us, like a physical force, or a ray of sunlight piercing the clouds on a grey day.

“Rise and approach, Akomachi and Becca-chan. There is much to discuss.”

We both did as we were told, coming to our feet in unison and moving towards the throne. It took some time, since the space was far larger than it appeared, but eventually we had gone far enough towards him that Inari raised his hand (he had shifted back to an older male form, bald with a long beard) and stopped us.

“You are here because the story of your kit’s birth has raised questions for all kitsune, Akomachi. Your mate is missing, and you have not taken another, yet now you have a new daughter. Some of the vixens believe that you have done them a great service by finding a way to remove the tods from the process.” His eyes twinkled. “However, since I am as much male as female, I may have a more balanced view. Since the story has been passed from kitsune to kitsune, I am sure some details may have been lost. Please tell it to us all now.”

Akomachi told the tale, as she had told it before to me when our relationship began a few months ago. How she had answered a call for help and possessed a young girl who needed to be a kitsune for a time, and how her magic and mine combined to make me a true kitsune and her daughter, even as it granted her a knowledge of being human that would never pass.

Imari nodded once at the end of the tale, and turned his attention to me.

“You were human born, youngling?”

“Yes, Revered One.”

He smiled down on me. “I have always liked humans, especially human girls. So much innocence and beauty, and sometimes wisdom. Refreshing for something so young. I can also understand your need to be one, from when you were a man named Jack.” My ears flicked once, and he smiled. “Yes, I do know your history, young one. And because of my unusual nature, I can see the strengths and failings of both males and females, and understand your need to cross that line to be yourself.”

He leaned forward. “The problem that brings us all here has two parts to unravel. The first one is your existence itself. You were born human, but most other kitsune are born as foxes, who grew wise and powerful with magic in the course of time. Other kitsune are born of unions that last centuries, made with love by two committed to life together. But you claim you are a kitsune, and that this kitsune is your mother, even though you freely admit you were also human born. How is that possible?”

I looked into Inari's eyes. It wasn’t as easy as you'd think. There was an uncommon depth there, and a wisdom that touched me inside. There was also something that took my breath away – it felt like all of nature was alive behind those impossible eyes. It was like looking into the face of an impossibly tall mountain or a raging sea. If I thought too much about staring into the eyes of a demigod as powerful as this, I might have been afraid.

But as the Advocate, I had fought an ancient goddess and won not too long ago and shared a sofa with the Creator of all things a few weeks later. Things like that tend to give a girl perspective, so I took a deep breath and plunged right in.

“My human mother brought me into this world, it is true,” I said. “But Akomachi and I shared her body for a time, as I did with my human mother, just as Akomachi would have with a kit she had birthed in the usual way. When she and I parted, as I did from my human mother when I was first born, I was in a sense born anew, and became a kitsune. As a kitsune, who else would I call my mother?”

Amaterasu spoke from her seat near Inari.

"Well spoken, human. Worthy of one of us, to be honest. But any kitsune knows how easily words can be twisted to serve our needs."

“Your own words only strengthen my position, Amaterasu-sama." I smiled at her. "If I can use words as well as a kitsune, perhaps I have already proved I am truly one of you."

"What is in your heart matters more than what you say, girl,” she replied, and just the barest hint of disrespect colored her tone. "Akomachi has long wanted a kit of her own, so naturally she would wish to see you that way. But you were once only human, and are still the human’s Advocate, so your true nature and your loyalties must be tested.”

Inari raised her hand. She had become female once again during my exchange with Amaterasu, and I turned my attention to her and lowered my eyes respectfully.

“She raises an interesting question, Becca-chan. What do you feel is your true nature? Where do your loyalties lie?”

“Revered One, as the human’s Advocate, I concern myself with good and evil, that is true. But I also deal with what is right and wrong – one of the things that is most important to kitsune. When someone uses magic to make someone else not what they should be, or changes their situation without their consent, it is my job as Advocate to correct that, because it is evil to force someone to be something they are not. But I am also mindful that these actions considered evil by humans also make the victims wrong in a fundamental way, because they are not what they should be, and that offends me as a kitsune. And as a kitsune, I seek to make them right again.”

“So I know who and what I am in my heart. I am both kitsune and human, and proud of both of my heritages. I also know that Amaterasu-sama sees me as an imposter … a pretender. We both know that is only her opinion, Revered One, born of her desire to hurt Akomachi by taking her only daughter away from her. So the question you must answer … the question you must all answer … is which of us is right, and which is wrong.”

I turned to the entire assembly. “As kitsune, you can all feel the rightness and wrongness in other creatures and situations. I know how that feels, since I have felt it as a kitsune only a short time ago. I think I would know if I were wrong in what I thought I was, but I know better than to think I could know better than all of you, especially Inari. All you have heard were stories about my birth, passed from kitsune to kitsune. I would like to ask you all to look at me and my mother and answer the questions for us. Is our relationship right or wrong? Am I right or wrong, as I am? Am I human, or kitsune, or both?”

There was a pause, and all of those assembled turned towards Inari, heads cocked with what seemed to be a silent question. Inari’s eyes never left me, but she nodded. All at once I felt the power of the thousands of kitsune in the amphitheater, and it was all focused on Akomachi and I. I had asked for this, and opened myself to them, welcoming them all into my soul so they could see us as we were … and decide.

For a time I could not measure, there was stillness and silence. Then I felt the pressure ease, but the silence remained. Finally, Inari smiled and looked out to the waiting convocation.

“It is decided by all present. Even Amaterasu has agreed. Becca is right, just as she is. She is kitsune … and her mother’s daughter.”

Every kitsune in the amphitheater raises their heads and howled at the sky, as only a fox can, and an instant later, Akomachi and I joined them.

We were one … and all.

When the last cry ended and the silence returned, Inari spoke again, her attention focused this time on Akomachi.

“Since we are all agreed that Becca is truly one of us, this leads to the second reason for our coming together. You and your daughter have discovered a way to bring new kitsune into the world without a mate. How was this done?”

Akomachi and I looked at each other, and then back at Inari.

“I do not know, Revered One,” my mother replied. “Becca and I do not know exactly how it happened. We believe it was a combination of her need, the depth of my possession of her, Becca’s respect for kitsune, and her own power as the Human Advocate that made it possible.”

“There are others here whose mates have passed who would like to have kits of their own, just as you did. Can you help them?”

“We can try,” I said. “It might take some experimentation, or it may be as simple as my acting as some kind of … magical midwife, adding my power at the right moment to create the conditions needed for the transformation. But if I may …?”

Inari nodded. “Go on.”

“Not all humans are worthy of being kitsune. I would like to ask those who would wish to have a kit of their own to choose only humans deserving of the honor of becoming one of us. Kitsune are powerful magic users, and if the wrong human were to gain that power, he or she could disgrace our kind by using their ability to wreak havoc or cause mischief in our name.”

“Some of us are tricksters, Becca-chan,” Inari said, waving a hand to a corner of the amphitheater where a groups of flying kitsune spun and laughed in mid-air.

“But if I understand what it means to be kitsune, Revered One, we play tricks only to teach someone a lesson or to prove a point. It is against our nature to make things wrong and cause destruction.”

She shrugged. “A few of the nogistune, kitsune not sworn to my service, can sometimes be troublesome in that way. They delight in making mischief or choosing to seek revenge for real or imagined slights. The myobu, those who follow me, understand the value of restoring balance and maintaining the rightness of the world we share.”

I bowed my head in understanding, and Inari smiled. “Those who would wish to make a kit the way Akomachi did will find someone worthy, Becca-chan. Would you choose your child to be willful and destructive?”

“No, Revered One.”

“And the oldest of us are just as wise as you, young vixen. When they are ready, we will try to repeat what happened to you … if you are willing?”

“Of course we are willing.” I reached out and put my arm around my mother. Akomachi nodded and smiled.

“We would love to share the joy we have found with others of our kind,” she said.

“Then it is decided. This convocation will end, and another will convene when humans suitable to join us are found.” She raised her voice. “You may all leave or stay, as you wish. Those who wish to meet Becca-chan and her mother may do so now, or find them later, as you choose. Until we gather together again, remember to move quietly through the world we share with all, and also hunt always for truth and wisdom, because they are elusive prey and not easily found.”

Again, the kitsune raised their thousands of voices in howls, but this time the sounds came together to become a music unlike anything I had ever heard. As I howled with them, my voice joined the song and harmonized, guided by the calls of others.

Inari smiled, and when the music ended, she was gone.

###

I watched Akomachi as she greeted some of the other nine-tails near Inari’s empty throne. I had been introduced to all and was both polite and respectful, just as a dutiful daughter should be. After the formalities, Casa had allowed me to leave her and her friends as they began to talk of old times. I had changed to my fox form, since I was comfortable in it, and many of the younger kitsune here seemed to prefer it for some reason.

“I bet that was easier than you thought it would be.”

The mental voice came from behind me, and I turned my head to see Akiko sitting there, in her fox form as well.

“It was,” I replied, baring my teeth in a predator’s grin.

“Part of it was to see if you were clever enough to find the correct way to show them you were one of us, and you did.” She reached forward and nuzzled my throat affectionately, then pressed her head into my shoulder. “As if there was any doubt, after what you did with that Cat Goddess. That was a plan worthy of a kitsune with many more years of experience than you have, human or kitsune.”

“Thank you.”

“And from what I’ve been told, you do your work for the humans also in stealth, behind a disguise. Another fine kitsune trait, and I am not the only one to have noticed.”

Akiko felt my embarrassment and bit my ear playfully. “Ha! Your inner human is showing, Becca-chan!”

I looked at her, and she smiled, then butted me once with her head. “Baka! I am not saying anything you did not already know, yes?” I nodded slowly. “So why be uncomfortable about me telling a truth? You are a kitsune, and one of us, no matter what form you take. Embrace it!”

A single kitsune floated to the ground in front of us. It was mostly black with some red and white markings, and from its scent I could tell she was a vixen.

“Hello, new girl!” She pretended to be focused on cleaning a paw with her tongue as she spoke mind-to-mind, but I could feel an undercurrent of excitement radiating from her. “I’m Michiko.”

“‘I’m Michiko!’” A second vixen said, her voice a teasing imitation. A mostly white fox with black markings, she drifted down behind Michiko, then pushed her sideways with her nose. The black vixen fell over and rolled onto her back, laughing silently at the one who pushed her. In response, the second one stepped on her chest and stared down into her eyes.

“Why did you do that?” Michiko asked while she nipped at the white fox’s legs, which were just out of reach of her muzzle.

“You were acting so cool and casual, Michi-chan! Sometimes you can be such a phony! We all know how eager you’ve been for Becca-chan to answer the summons so you can meet her. Why pretend?”

“Because she didn’t know I was eager, and I wanted her to think I was cool before she learned otherwise. Besides, I can act any way I want, rude one.” The black vixen turned to face me, still smiling. “I am happy to meet you, Becca-chan.”

“The one on top of her is Hanako,” Akiko said, rubbing her body against her friend’s side as a greeting and pushing her off of Michiko in the process. “She’s always … direct.”

“No, Michiko was right.” Hanako mouthed Akiko’s ear in return as she pushed past. “I am the rude one. Akiko is just being diplomatic, as usual.”

“I am not! You never set out to hurt anyone on purpose. It just … happens.”

A red fox with markings similar to my own pounced on Hanako from behind. She twisted and snapped at the newcomer and they both rolled a few feet away, mouths open, trying for dominance. In a matter of seconds, Hanako wound up on the bottom, with the red fox’s teeth at her throat.

“Hanako thinks the simple truth is always the best course. She likes to see the world only in sharp contrasts,” the red fox said, tail jerking back and forth. “Shades of gray just get in the way, don’t they, Hana-chan?”

“Oh, you know me soooo well, Yukina.” Hanako wiggled under her, her tail wagging. “I always see the grays, but choose to ignore them, since so many others get lost in the grays and ignore the truths they hide!”

“Like old Amaterasu,” Michi-chan agreed. “The shades of gray she fell prey to were her hatreds for Becca and her mother. They made her push for a convocation so she could hurt them both, but when Inari forced her to really look at Becca, even she couldn’t deny the black and white truth. Becca-chan is one of us.”

“Me, I think the nine-tails let Amaterasu call for the convocation just to have an excuse to get back together. The chance to reunite with old, old friends.” Yukina stepped away from Hanako and stretched, raising her hindquarters high as her nose sank to the ground. “And because they were curious, naturally.”

“Curious?”

“Of course! You are something revolutionary, Becca-chan.” Yukina glided over and circled me before sitting down. “You are a true kitsune, but born in an entirely new way. After living as long as they all have, something new is a more than welcome change. Your existence also gives all the nine-tails whose mates have passed on the hope that they may one day have another kit to raise.”

Akiko smiled. “You may hide from those you hunt in the human world, Becca-chan, but here among the kitsune, you have become something of a legend.”

“And to honor that legend,” Hanako said, rolling to her feet and sitting next to Yukina, “we are going to play a game that has been beloved by humans, foxes, and kitsune since the dawn of time.”

I looked at the four of them, sitting primly in a semi-circle in front of me.

“And what game is that?”

“TAG!”

Two of the vixens bit my ears and the other two grabbed my tail, then all four leaped into the air and streaked away into the blue sky. I could hear them laughing and taunting me in the distance, urging “the legend” to follow and give chase, if she could.

So what else could I do?

I jumped up into the air … and flew as fast as I could to catch my new friends.

© 2013 as a work in progress, all rights reserved. Posted with permission of the author.

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