Hunting the Kitsune

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キツネ

A few years earlier.

The man was sitting on a bench in front of the red temple of Inari, the red making the day sunnier than it was. His demeanor collapsed, very different from the stately, self-assured and authoritarian demeanor he normally projected.

He was a businessman, a Japanese through and through, middle-aged, dressed in a suit, but his haircut, always so neat, looked as if he had ruffled through, so not characteristic. Powerless. He let out a deep sigh. Mentally, he beat himself up. He had nothing to complain about, really. Again he ruffled his hair and leaned back, his gaze on the beautiful temple.

A man approached, a fox spirit, a Yako, although there was nothing to indicate that and was very masculine, slender, muscular, like a samurai and very purposeful. The businessman leaned forward again, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, dismissive, hoping the man didn’t come his way. When he felt someone sit down next to him, he had to make an effort to bring out his polite nature, sit up and nod politely.

“Excuse me.” The businessman was startled. He didn’t feel like talking at all. “I’m sorry to impose myself, but I’ve been watching you from the other side for a while. I haven’t seen you here before, but I can clearly see that you’re stressed. Can I help?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m employed by Inari.” He nodded his head to the temple of the God of rice, good harvest and prosperity.

“Oh.” The man lowered his head again.

“Would you like to talk?” He shook his head. “Shared sorrow...?” The businessman smiled briefly, his old humor resurfaced for a moment.

“It’s not a tragedy, we’re healthy, but it’s time to hand over the business to my son. The problem is that he doesn’t have the brains for it. He’s a good man, but not exactly a light. So I’m worried. Not only for the future of our company, but for the staff.” The Yako nodded.

“Are you familiar with the Pearl of Wisdom?”

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Present.

It ran the fingers, with the dark brown nails, through the flamed orange, brown and red hair with the twenty inches of white tips and shook it loose. The woman spun around in front of the mirror of the cozy bedroom in the little cottage, hidden from people and super natural eyes. It would be wise to dye it, with this hair it stood out too much as a woman. If it did, it was because there was no other way. It had always been happy with the healthy coat and as a human the hair was only more beautiful. It felt very strange to walk around in human form again. It was a long time ago, but necessary. This time to go into hiding and to be able to do research.

Their Pearl of Wisdom had been stolen, but the one who had taken it could not use it without the nine-tailed Kitsune. The wisest of Kitsune. They needed that Kitsune to take the wisdom from the Pearl. The task of the female human form now was to find out where the Pearl was, but at the same time to remain unnoticed because they wanted to force the Kitsune to extract that wisdom. Didn’t they understand that they themselves already carried all the wisdom through the spark of God that everyone had received from God? That the Pearl helped to gain faster access was a fact, but with some patience and dedication they were able to reach that deep peace where truth and wisdom resided. But of course those people didn’t have the patience for that.

The Kitsune sighed. It had been searching for years as a fox. At the time as a woman, but that was dangerous. For example, the woman-person had encountered two dragon lords, yet another danger, but fortunately it managed to escape those menacing dragon shifters. Then it was forced to search like Kitsune, which is what it felt most comfortable in, but it couldn’t search near people as a fox. Although people didn’t know it could understand them, like that it could eavesdrop on some information. But those nine tails didn’t make it any easier for the Kitsune. So now another attempt as a woman.

The woman sighed deeply. A loss crept into her heart that only bothered her in the form of a woman. Because of the increased wisdom and enlightenment she had received in receiving the ninth tail, there had also been a longing for Love. Inari was only concerned about the task that the Kitsune had to accomplish so that the people found Inari a fantastic God. Until recently, it was also good enough for the nine-tailed Kitsune.

But her increased wisdom and the irritation it felt more and more for Inari - it was strange that she had feelings, had opinions - had caused her to look beyond Shinto kami Inari and reach out to God. It had filled her heart with Love. It had felt that that God-spark was present not only in the hearts of the people, where the task of the Kitsune lay where it was to educate them, pointing to the wisdom within them and sharing a little from the Pearl for quicker access, but also in the Kitsune itself.

This Kitsune now wallowed in that Love. It wanted to leave Inari, to leave for the spirit world, for the Love, Truth, Wisdom and Light that was contained in the all-encompassing word of God. But It stopped her. It let it be known that the Kitsune’s job was not yet done.

No, of course not, Inari was already shouting again. And we don’t want to disappoint the Shinto kami. De Kitsune looked angrily at the woman in the mirror.

The Pearl of Wisdom was lost. What the Kitsune Anais did not know was that Love, Truth, Wisdom and Light contained in the word of God, had arranged earthly Love for this Kitsune.

The Kitsune took another conscious look at the woman in the mirror. It chuckled. It would take some getting used to seeing this figure in the mirror. She was a woman through and through. Quite different from the neuter fox spirit that occasionally saw itself when it wanted to play in the water. It would take some getting used to, just like the other times, although it often took far too short a time not to be surprised every time she saw herself reflected. Or if she had to use chopsticks to eat, Anaïs thought with a grin. It looked surprised at the smiling face of the beauty in the mirror. Maybe she didn’t have to get used to it if she found the Pearl very soon...

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About a year and a half before

The sound of what looked like twenty or more swans flying overhead rang out over the temple of Inari. The strong displacement of the air caused the roof of the temple to be blown clean and the dust to cover the streets around it. It was shining in the late afternoon sun and let the red color of the temple blaze. Moments later, two double dull thumps sounded on the roof. Inari decided to take a look.

Two gigantic dragons had landed at the temple of Inari, shaking out their massive bodies, causing a strange musical rattle and a set of clothes falling out from between the scales of each. At the speed of light, there were two beautiful, impressive men who quickly got dressed. Shiny blue-black hair, sunny skin and very muscular. Both had beautiful full lips and high cheekbones.

Other than that, they didn’t look alike. One had close-shaven hair with a messy lock on his forehead, a skinny face and bright gray eyes. The other had his long hair hanging loose this time, but now tied it in a Japanese bun on the back of his head, a narrow face with a square jaw, the underside of the chin covered with a small, well-trimmed beard and a small mustache and dark green eyes. “Good afternoon, what are the two beautiful dragonlords doing on my roof?” In the meantime, Inari had arrived on the roof and tried to placate them with flattery. Drago stepped forward, his dark green eyes fixated on the Shinto kami. “We want Anaïs,” he said briefly.

“Why?”

“She’s our soulmate.” Inari spread the eyes open.

“Impossible. It’s a Kitsune, a fox spirit in service to me. It can’t have a soulmate. Plus, I can’t miss any. It’s a nine-tail Kitsune, I don’t have a lot of those.”

“Not a lot is still more than one,” Ragon said, his stormy gray eyes almost literally shooting fire at the blunt rejection. And the fact that the beautiful fox shifter was called a utensil didn’t sit well with him, even though he and his friend weren’t any better.

“I said NO,” Inari thundered, turning around abruptly. Before the Shinto kami could disappear through the door, Drago shouted, “What’s your price?”

The only thing they could tell Inari had heard him, was the stiffening of the back and continued without further response. “Shit, what now?“, Ragon asked his friend. He shook his head in despair.

“I don’t know. Let’s go home, then we can strategize while flying.” They undressed, folded it, and shifted in their dragon. With their teeth, they picked up the pile of clothing and tucked it under a scale. With a heavy sound to show their displeasure, they spread their wings.

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About a month earlier

“My men found the place. I now send coordinations...”

“Good, I’ll come to you with the Pearl as soon as possible. It’s safe there. All we have to do now is lure a nine-tailed Kitsune and take your son to it.” With a short ‘see you soon’ and a ‘success’ they said goodbye.

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Present

After a few days of walking around the nearest town where it had picked up some information as Kitsune, which seemed like a clue, Anaïs was invited by her friend, a Yako, a not so friendly fox spirit, to come to Tokyo.

Yackey was one of the less friendly fox spirits. The Yako are misleading and evil, but Anaïs and Yackey had met when Yackey was young and had only two tails. Yackey was young, lonely and still had a lot to learn. Anaïs had then taken it upon herself to turn the evil in the Yako into what it had become now: cheerful and full of naughty jokes without hurting people, but to make them laugh. They had been friends ever since, and now Yackey had called Anaïs telepathically. Yackey had helped Anaïs, with four tails now it was less conspicuous to search and move among the people than with nine.

Yackey, had a distinct masculine energy, had his tails tied together into one and had a discovery to report to her. Hence his question if Anaïs wanted to come to Tokyo. It was the third of May, the last day of the Meiji Shrine festival, so it was pleasantly busy. The blossoms were still beautiful and the atmosphere was therefore fairy-like and somewhat mystical.

He was waiting for her in a shady part of the deep forest. He felt a shift of energy and knew it had arrived. Yackey turned to his dear friend. His eyes almost fell out of his sockets when he saw her appearance. “Anaïs?” She grinned at him. In front of her stood a tall muscular man, his hair in a traditional Japanese bun on the back of his head, but dressed in a neat dark gray-blue shirt with a Mao collar, gold buttons and a neat sand-colored chino. “Wow, Yackey?” He grinned at her.

“Yep, we’ve never seen each other like this before, haven’t we?“

“No, we’ve always met as Kitsune. You’re handsome!” She chuckled.

“Pff and you too. Hot.” She wore a chocolate brown long figure-hugging shirt dress down to her calves, the color complimenting her hair, paired with a pair of chunky ankle boots. She wanted to be able to walk easily in the woods. After taking each other in for a while, they gave each other a hug with a chuckle.

“I’ve been looking at myself that way this morning,” Yackey admitted. Anaïs burst out laughing, pushing her shoulder against his, and whispering, “Me too.” Chuckling, Yackey put his arm through hers. Let’s walk around. I love it here,” he said, with his head in his neck, looking at the pink blossom of the Sakura. Then he pointed to the ground where there were already many blossom leaves. “When everyone is a about gone, I’m going to roll in there like Kitsune, will you join me?” Anais nodded longingly.

“Oh, yes, of course. Hasn’t everyone left yet?“, she laughed almost impatiently. They laughed merrily again. Then she leaned over to him and whispered, “You had news?”

“Yes indeed, I’ve heard that a lot of foxes disappeared near the Hossawa Falls.” He was one of the many fox spirits sent to the various parts of Japan to keep their eyes and ears open for the thief of the Pearl.

“You think they’re catching those foxes in the hope they’ll catch a Kitsune?” Anaïs chuckled in surprise. “Don’t those idiots understand that you can’t catch a fox ghost?” Yackey squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. They were now walking under a roof of fragrant cherry blossoms and he was distracted, enjoying the splendor above his head. It was a warm day that made the blossom seem even more intoxicating. For Yackey, it’s almost like catnip for a cat.

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