26 Underestimation

Hina met up with the dark-haired fox girl in no time at all, and then she was away from whatever complex she and her friends had woken up inside of, being led through a lush forest that somehow didn't suit her mental image of heaven in the least. This girl had short, jet hair, tan skin, and fox ears, a tail to match, both a muddy brown color that twitched and flicked about endlessly. Her eyes were a deep, lustrous amber, and the girl who could have been sixteen, thirty five or four hundred introduced herself as Ayame.

"My master... he's waiting in a temple dedicated to him, not far off. I assure you again, this is for nothing other than friendly reasons, and you have no cause to fear for the life of yourself or anybody else."

"I don't doubt you, but... is there anything beyond that you can tell me?"

"What would you like to know?" Ayame's voice was calm and serene, yet it held a lethal edge as well, as if to imply that this girl was an enormous and immediate threat to Hina's health.

"I assume that this master you're taking me to is Inari, everything about this screams of him or her... is that correct?"

"Indeed it is, Hina-chan," Ayame agreed, confirming Hina's suspicion that she was Japanese and so too was her master, although the name Ayame should, perhaps, have been enough of a giveaway on its own. Maybe it could have been Chinese... Hina wasn't stupid, right...?

"Then, why exactly does he want to see me?"

"My lord wishes to form an alliance with you, Hina-chan. Give and take, symbiosis; he has something to offer you, and you have something to offer him. Do not worry, it is not your body, for kami-sama has no fondness of angels."

"My, my, I'm almost offended," Hina answered with a quiet laugh. Slowly, as Aerendyl had taught her, she melded her wings into her back and banished her halo, pulling her shirt back on, which she'd tied around her waist as she began to walk. Hopefully she didn't look too lewd walking around in shorts and a bra; this thought crossed her mind suddenly, and she found herself laughing again, harder.

"May I ask what it is that's so funny, Hina-chan?" Ayame bowed slightly and faced Hina, her footsteps stopping, every inch of her dripping with earnest respect in spite of the fact that she used a friendly honorific.

"Ah, I couldn't really tell you," Hina spoke truthfully, arching her back a bit. "I just... I... no, I really don't know. I'm actually beginning to think I'm going a bit crazy, maybe I'll become some deranged lunatic one day~" The words... they weren't right, were they? Yet they made sense, and came forth easily as one could imagine.

"Oh, I see now, Hina-chan. That's the kitsune's influence on you; all who step foot in our domain have little choice but to give in to the pleasure and carnal wants of the mortal worlds~ after all, for every honorable warrior among us, there is another prostitute and party goer..."

"So, you serve a god, Ayame, and your race is... well, that's interesting, I suppose. I mean, it would be fun work, certainly, so I can't say it's a bad thing." Later, Hina would come to hate herself for uttering these words, but now, she was not herself.

"Indeed, Hina-chan. My resistance to such pleasures is strong not because I am a boring girl, but because I have far too much experience and time alive for my self to fall prey to such basic urges." With a flourish of her wrist, the single, ruddy fox tail under her red skirt was suddenly joined by four more, making for a total of five tails waving, swaying, almost dancing... somehow, Hina wanted to grab them and do unspeakable things to them- wait, no, Hina, too far. Down, girl.

"You should calm yourself, Hina," Ayame spoke with a sly grin as they two of them arrived at the foot of a staircase. These steps, which looked to be made of polished cherry wood, rose up about twenty levels before leveling off at... well, Hina couldn't see yet. Curious, she bounded up the stairs ahead of Ayame, her badger's tail flicking around, and peered into what was... a massive courtyard, walled off on three sides by a temple something like a feudal japanese mansion. In the center of this courtyard was a simple Torii Gate, and standing there with his back to her was a man. Tall, slim, yet lean, strong, powerful muscles rippling along under his clothing... Long waves of white hair flowed to the small of his back as he turned, his fox's ears and nine great, wispy tails fanning in a glorious dance. Hina felt... she didn't know what she felt, but a large part of her wanted to fight this man for nothing more than dominance against that Torii Gate. He was pretty, but would he have a cliché feminine attitude as well as she pinned him down and-?

"Hina," he spoke as Ayame arrived behind her. "It is a pleasure to meet you, truly, but I can see in your eyes that the atmosphere here is ruining your morals, perhaps your very mind. For this, I will give you a gift... or rather, Ayame will."

Hina was confused, but when Ayame walked before her, grabbed the back of her neck and yanked Hina into a forceful kiss, all that the badger girl could do was step forward, ready to turn this fox girl into a piece of furniture for her pleasure... but, then, the fog over her mind slowly cleared, and Hina found herself calming, relaxing, coming back to herself... had she really just been considering shoving down and riding a guy, who was probably a god?! Like hell!!! Finally, Ayame pulled away, nodding without emotion in her eyes and with a faint red in her cheeks.

"What...?" Hina was confused.

"Of course, I will explain," the elegant white-haired man assured her. "This is Inari's Judgment, gifted only to the highest ranking of my kitsune. I give it to you now as a show of faith, Hina- with it, you will be immune to spells designed to alter your state of mind, such as the ones affecting you as you simply stand in my presence. Using it voluntarily in the future, however... you will become as one of my beloved foxes, conniving, mischievous... you will lose your morals, and one day, abandoning honor just may save your life."

"I... understand," Hina spoke softly, bowing her head respectfully. "Thank you... kami-sama..." She was a bit confused and more than a bit lost... but for now, she thought she was keeping up with what was happening and where this was going. Still, how could she consider for even a moment riding him...?!

"I ask that you use my name, as I will use yours Hina. Inari and nothing more is that which I prefer, if you would do me such a kindness. Now, you and I... we have business."

"Business to discuss... I'm ready," Hina affirmed, nodding.

"Excellent. You see, I wish to make you an ally, to call on you should I need you, for whatever it is that I may need you for... however, I would, of course, make the danger presented well worth your time. Five of my most powerful kitsune, at your back and call... should you prove your worth, here and now in my temple."

"Prove my worth?"

"I will have you duel with Ayame, until one of you cannot stand without my healing abilities. Should you claim victory, Hina, I will grant you a squad of my finest to serve you at any time, no questions asked; all of them with five, six or seven tails, approaching even my level of power. In return, you will be at my beck and call, should I need you in the future."

"Say I lose to Ayame, what happens then?"

"You walk free, no obligations, and you keep the gift I've already given you. We may meet again, perhaps on friendly terms, but we will not be allies. I ask you to put up nothing on this bet except your time, for much gain and nothing to lose. Think of it as... an audition."

"I accept," Hina answered boldly, unwaveringly.

"Excellent, Hina. Now, you'll need to tap into the skill I've given you... but aside from that, I leave this entirely to you." A pause, then, and Inari backed away, standing against the Torii Gate with a slow, wicked grin. Hina focused, thinking... Inari's Judgment, to win this fight... and as if her body moved of its own accord, in the next half second she'd whipped Tanuki's Claw from its sheath and swiped it at Ayame's head. The fox girl neatly ducked back, flipping over and to her feet... but her cheek was bloodied, cut wide, and there was a snarl on her lips, fire in her eyes. Hina didn't wait; wings snapping out, she started forward, slowly as if to feint when she lunged forward and to the side. This time, though, Ayame was ready.

Side stepping the jab, Ayame ducked and leapt, cracking her heel against the back of Hina's head and sending the angelic mutt rolling. Before she was able to stand up, Ayame was hacking down toward her head with a pair of jagged tanto knives, and Hina threw her wing up as Aerendyl had shown her, absorbing the blow of the knives without taking any damage. Snapping her wings out as if to fold them down, she forced Ayame back and sprang to her feet with that force she'd accidentally used before... flipping neatly over Ayame's head and leveling a blow with the back of her head. The fox girl, though, took this blow... and vanished in a puff of smoke just as something rammed into Hina's back, sending her staggering. Badger girl whirled and barely parried the blade just an inch from her throat... only for that knife, too, to vanish and another to come from behind Ayame's back, sinking into her shoulder and eliciting a pained curse from the Fell Hero. At the same time, something seemed to snap within her... and a pleasure so intense that one could almost call it orgasmic flooded her veins, brought a happy snarl to her striking lips.

"Think like us, Hina... think like a demon. What's real, what isn't?" Ayame was playful, conniving... but not enough so, not now.

Dextrous Tentacles...

Suddenly, a black, inky tentacle shot from the cobble, gripping Ayame's neck and ripping her to the ground with bloodying force. Hina ripped the tanto out of her shoulder, ignoring the spill of blood that wasn't red, and fell, slamming it into Ayame's shoulder with force enough to shatter the bone, watched the fox girl's eyes bulge as another tentacle wrapped around her free arm, holding her down more tightly, and then her thighs, calves... soon, the fox girl was entirely bound to the ground while Hina's starmetal blood dripped onto the wrapped, semi-erotic mess.

"Don't get cocky, badger!" Ayame arched her back, and flames began to burn through the tentacles... in seconds, she'd be free, unless...

"Don't underestimate me~ I'm much, much more than a badger after all, you know~?" Hina spoke with a truly depraved giggle, grinning, planting her hand against Ayame's flaming, sweat-glistening belly... in the space of another moment, the fox girl had frozen solid- but that wasn't enough. Standing, Hina whirled, bringing Tanuki's Claw down and, as the ice spread through Ayame inside and out, she cleaved the fox girl into two icy chunks, one of which with a barely visible yelp of pain paused in time. Can a kitsune regenerate? Best be safe, Hina thought, giving her sword a a twirl, tossing it into the opposite hand and slamming it through Ayame's frozen forehead and her tentacles alike, twisting, feeling the angelic weapon sink into the cobblestones themselves like a hot knife through butter.

"Alright, Hina, I think you've made your point," Inari spoke on a quiet laugh, blinking slowly. Raising his hand, a warm, blue-white light began to overtake Ayame's mess of a condition, and within a moment it had faded as well, leaving the kitsune lying, sitting up on the mildly damaged cobblestone with a dazed look on her face, Tanuki's Claw buried in the stones beside her head.

"I see, I see... and this, before you've fully mastered your angelic or demonic abilities... Hina, I must say that within a few months even I may be afraid to cross blades with you, so to speak." Inari chuckled warmly, entirely ignoring Ayame's condition as the young woman moved onto her knees, bowing her head. "Ours will be a fruitful relationship, Hina, I am most confident to say. One day, should I need you for war, you will have an army of some of the wildest, dirtiest demons... but for now, you will have five, whenever you desire." Drawing something from the inside of his robe, he tossed it in a long arc to Hina; she flicked the blood off of Tanuki's Claw, sheathed it, and caught what turned out to be a flute before it reached her.

"How do you feel, Hina?" Ayame was the one who spoke.

"Light, bubbly..." Hina shook her head, trying to drag herself back to her senses, cancel out Inari's Judgment. "I know I've had some brutal moments, but I don't think I'd go that far..." In fact, she felt mildly ill, not with what she'd done but with how entirely natural it had felt. Come to think of it, she'd had no problem controlling those tentacles... was it a skill so innate that she needed no practice? Aerendyl claimed to think her demon and mortal halves had bonded entirely and naturally, hadn't he said such a thing...?

"Indeed, you likely wouldn't, but a kitsune would, and sometimes a kitsune stands a better chance at surviving than a human, leaving strength and abilities out of the question. Now, you need not learn to play the flute, only blow, and the kitsune will come forth- not now, please, as I haven't assigned anybody to you just yet. In total, there are three of these flutes..." Inari paused for a moment, then nodded slowly to Ayame. "Please, take Hina back to her angel friends, I've said my piece. Oh, and Hina!" As the badger girl was preparing to utter a goodbye, he tossed her something else. Stowing her flute into a pocket, Hina caught it... a tanto knife, like the sort that old samurai carried along with their swords. Hina drew the blade halfway and found her reflection peering back at her in a mirror of steel, the strange part being that the metal was a brilliant yet ruddy orange in color, like a fox's spring pelt.

"A completely ordinary knife aside from the fact that I forged it," Inari commented, somehow as elegant as the snow over a forest without a sound for miles. "It is simply a sign of your status as my friend, so wear it proudly. Good day, Hina, and until next time." Hina nodded, closing the hilt and noticing the fox mask embossed in the small sheath.

"Thank you, Inari."

"You'll repay me. Now go, enjoy life for a time before the time comes to suffer yet again... as it must, inevitably."