3 The Fiery Fox

"What was that for?!"

I cried out while rubbing my bruised head. The mean fox girl didn't budge from her stance, her eyes staring daggers into me and ready to exterminate the "pervert" in front of her. Her thick hair hung down slightly past her shoulders and she wore a sort of overlapping black robes held together by a rope at the waist with no sleeves showing her well-toned arms. Her tail low and long pointy ears back as she snarled at me baring her fang-like teeth.

"That's no way to treat your little sister!"

Misses Ohari rushed in front of me and wrapped her hands around me defensively. Her motherly scent enveloping me protectively and calmed me down a little bit.

"Little sister?!"

The fox girl's fluffy tail stood on stiff ends at those words and her previous growling pose dissipated like thin air. With a face contorted in utter confusion and distressing shock, she then questionably looked at me with a mixture of disgust and rising rage.

"What did you do! How did you bewitch my mother!"

Refusing to believe the situation or maybe she now has a little sister… what's wrong with having a little sister?! I reflexively shrunk away and hid behind Misses Ohari's fluffy tail, using it to hide my self, only poking my head out to proclaim my innocence.

"I didn't do anything! Misses Ohari took me in and cared for me! I am not a temptress or a pervert! I'm normal!"

"Like hell you are! What kind of person goes into someone's house nude! A pervert is what you are!"

"Calm down Kyui. You're scaring your little sister."

Misses Ohari tried to calm Kyui down with her sweet voice. At this, Kyui's face smeared bright red as she directed her attention to her mother. Her blushing even reached her twitching ears with a slight shade of pink.

"Mom! Don't call me Kyui in front of strangers! You know it's embarrassing for me!"

"But Kyui sounds so cute and endearing right?"

Misses Ohari nudged me lightly asking me the question. Before I could answer, Kyui's murderous gaze was aimed at me, silencing what courage I had as I shrunk away next to Misses Ohari. If she wasn't here I have little doubt she would have killed me!

Said Misses Ohari as she bent down slightly to more properly match my stature and gently put her soft hands on my shoulders, pushing the reluctant me a bit forward to introduce me. Ahhh! Misses Ohari you're pushing closer to the demon! I immediately hid behind Misses Ohari again. Seeing me being scared, Misses Ohari tries again to reassure Kyuu-chan with her mellow voice.

"This is your little sister! She doesn't have a name yet but I found her at the village gates and she looked really lost so I brought her home since she didn't have any parents nor a home to return to."

Kyuu-chan still held a look of disbelief on her face though her stance is a bit loosened now.

"Then why is she nude? What is she? An exhibitionist!?"

"She is foreign to everything here and… she hasn't properly learned common social etiquette around people so give her some time Kyuu-chan. Just recently she met people for the first time."

Misses Ohari patted my head as if to show my innocence. Her motherly aura really has a soothing effect because now Kyuu-chan unstiffened her shoulders and relaxed a bit, returning to a normal stance. But she still looked at me with suspicion and a bit of annoyance. She then asked.

"And what's this about a little sister? Don't tell me you decided to take her in on the fly!? What if she is lying or trying to lure you using your stubborn kindness against yourself?"

Misses Ohari looked almost hurt at the word stubborn. I wonder if she heard that word often.

"Oh, Kyuu-chan how many times have you called me stubborn! You're hurting my pride you know even if I'm a bit clumsy. But trust me about her… trust my mother's intuition. Plus, you know Goddess Myriam watches over us too. She has nowhere to go and how could I leave such an innocent and cute girl alone?"

Misses Ohari pouted and wagged her tail at Kyuu-chan while hugging me behind my back trying to make us look cute and I put on my best act of pouting as well to enhance the effect. Cheeks puffed out, eyes big and sparkling, and hands together to hit it home. The scene makes you wonder if Kyuu-chan is the adult and Misses Ohari the irresponsible child. Our ultimate pairing won out and seeing this display of shamelessness and stubborn conviction by her mother, Kyuu-chan finally relents and breathes out a sigh of defeat, her orange fluffy ears drooped down in disappointment. Holding her hand to her hand rubbing her temples Kyuu-chan looked like a mother getting a headache with her mischievous kid.

"Fine… fine! We'll take her in, great… now we have a pervert leeching off us…"

Kyuu-chan scowled at me. I honestly wondered how she was Misses Ohari's daughter considering their stark differences in personality. To her still unwavering persistence in labeling me as a pervert I said:

"I'm not a pervert and as your little sister I will prove it to you!"

I puffed my chest out with a burst of confidence. Though Kyuu-chan's attitude did scare me… a lot, I wasn't going to back down, definitely not when someone falsely accuses me of being a lecherous villain. Kyuu-chan at this blushed and turned away before shouting:

"Put on some clothes first then pervert! And take a shower first. I don't want your dirty body staining this household! You left dirty footprints on the floor!"

I looked at the floor and indeed, there were footprints left by me. Both Misses Ohari had been wearing paw-shaped shoes outside and Kyuu-chan too. Still...

"I don't want to wear clothes, it's uncomfortable. I don't think my body is dirty either, I think it smells quite nice actually."

I pouted again looking at Kyuu-chan with my arms crossed in defense, though I could only do it so confidently with the angel, Misses Ohari next to me. At this sign of rebellion, Kyui had enough and her eyes flared dangerously with fire and walked towards me, the atmosphere growing more oppressive with every step. Oh no… I'm in trouble. At the sight of this, my once faithful guardian angel even left my side looking at me apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I can't even stop Kyui at this point."

Ah…

"Big sister Kyui?"

I whimpered trying to appease her. However, perhaps calling her Kyui had the opposite effect. To my dismay, she growled baring her sharp teeth. She immediately pulled me by my sensitive ears and dragged me into the bathroom. I looked desperately at Misses Ohari before the door to the bathroom closed before my eyes.

*Misses Ohari's POV*

Oh jeez… I hope Kyui isn't too hard on her. But I can't say for sure as I hear shouts of pleading and screams as I can only imagine Kyui aggressively scrubbing the poor child off in the shower. Kyui asked me to bring some clothes to the bathroom so I picked out a casual white cotton dress and some cotton bloomers Kyui wore when she was younger. Hopefully, it wouldn't irritate the little girl that much. I handed it to Kyui through the door quickly.

When Kyui came out her head gleamed with victorious drops of sweat as she wiped it off with her sleeves triumphantly. And next to her was the little maiden, practically sparkling… oh she looks so adorable in that one-piece dress! It compliments so well with her tan skin and her black hair. Her rather fit shoulders and arms didn't subtract from her cuteness and added an odd charm to her appearance. Though cute couldn't be said to her face, a look of pure daze and trauma plastered on her face… I'm sorry! Mom couldn't protect you from your sister's wrath. Her hair poofed in all directions presumably due to Kyui aggressively wiping her hair with a towel.

During her... torture, I cleaned up the footprints she left on the wooden floor. It's good to be clean and we usually go barefooted at our home. It's going to be a bit more exciting with a new daughter in our family, Oh I am so happy! I always wanted another young daughter and she was the energetic bundle of joy I was looking for. Maybe she can help ease that strict attitude of Kyui's. My little daughter I'm counting on you to melt that ice hot exterior of my young Kyui.

*Flower maiden's POV*

I… never want to experience that again. I didn't mind the shower as the water felt rather nice… but that couldn't be said for the way Kyui treated me. She covered me in this weird, slick liquid of soap and rubbed a different one all over my hair making bubbles covering my entire body at one point. She then used a supposedly soft cleaning utensil which she maliciously told me was a scrub, and attacked me with it. The agony I felt made me cower in fear at the mere sight of a scrub. At one point I thought the symbols on my body and even my skin color were going to be scrapped off. When she was done, I can no longer smell the natural scent of lilies on my body but instead was replaced by whatever smell the soap was… I hope the lily smell comes back.

The white dress Misses Ohari prepared for me… was surprisingly not too itchy and rather soft. But I definitely still prefer not wearing anything. Especially with the tight "bloomer," as Ohari called it, sticking to my lower area. It's so irritating as the garment rubbed against my skin! I also had to wear a "bra." I spent some moment scratching my body trying to ease the itchiness but in the end, I had to endure the suffocating garments... bloomers was it? I sat in the living room while Misses Ohari gently combed my hair, trying multiple times to comb down my two licks of hair sticking from the top of my head with no success.

"Thank you Misses Ohari."

"Oh, no need to be so formal. You can just call me Ohari or even mom."

She said this enthusiastically. She must've really liked the idea of having another daughter. I, of course, was happy to oblige.

"Thank you then, mom!"

Ohari shuddered with glee at the exclamation. Though Kyui looked at us with an indescribable expression.

"Hey pervert, my name is Kyuu Kitsune, Kitsune is our family house name and you shall only refer to me as Kyuu-san. Got it?"

I nodded quickly not wanting to incite her wrath once more.

I sat on the couch facing a flat crystalline tablet attached to the wall above the fireplace.

"Oh? You don't know what that is, do you? Here let me show you."

Ohari moved over to me with a table in front of us. The table was seemingly made of wood except the top was an ornately designed crystalline surface. Ohari made a circular arc with her finger on the center of the table and streams of various colored light radiated throughout the table followed by a chirping sound. The crystalline tablet on the wall suddenly began to light up with images of people talking.

"Greetings everyone. On tonight's news, there has been a revolutionary breakthrough in Xalta city~"

On the screen depicted a cat lady dressed in black clothes talking to me with a smile. Woah! What is this? She is staring right at me! What do I do?

"Hi… how are you doing? Can you hear me?"

I waved at the cat lady but she didn't do anything and continued to talk about stuff I don't know about. Is she ignoring me?! Rude!

Ohari was holding back tears laughing at my bewilderment and even Kyuu-san snickered at me. What? The screen lady isn't even talking to me… I jumped up from the couch and went to the screen touching the surface… and still, the screen lady didn't do anything... weird.

"Hahaha… she isn't actually here and she can't see us. This is a crythoscreen, it displays lots of shows and news done by people from places around the world and other worlds that are transferred into the screen before you."

I turned my head towards Ohari… what does that mean? Is the person on the screen real?

"Shows?"

Ohari spent a lot of time explaining the crythoscreen to me and showed how I can change 'channels' using the table. I swiped clumsy to the left and on the screen now showed a girl in pretty and bright clothing twirling in the air with what seems to be a stick that shot beams of energy. She didn't look real though and her movements were exaggerated but it looked really cool. 'Cartoon' or 'Anime' is what it's called huh. Ohari let out an infectiously warm chuckle every time I stared at her in confusion. I think I get the general idea now… why couldn't I be born with some of this knowledge already? I spent the rest of my time glued to the crythoscreen in pure wonder at the splashes of color and a 'magical girl' show. The other ones were too confusing with so many words on the screen. It made me dizzy as I tried to understand what they were saying only to end up dazed while Kyuu-san continued to snicker at my attempts.

After some time, I looked out the window and saw the light fading from the sky. Night was approaching and with a flick of the fingers, Ohari lit the lanterns in the house with a soft flame and the room was gently illuminated.

"Woah! What was that mom? Magic?"

Ohari chuckled at my bewilderment.

"It isn't really magic but you could say it was similar to it… some sort of energy in this universe. that can do many different things like magic if you can use it well. The crythoscreen uses some of that energy too. Perhaps Kyui could explain how this world works for you tomorrow. She knows much more about this than I do and it would be some sister bonding too."

Kyuu-san scoffed at the idea. At the moment both of them were in the kitchen preparing dinner. Kyuu-san expertly cut the vegetables I have never seen before into fine slices and Ohari was making some kind of soup on stoves lit by some kind of blue fire magic. There was also some meat they were preparing as well. I sat in wonder peering over the kitchen table at their work with my face rested in my arms.

"Mom, you're gonna push her onto me? Fine, I have some errands to run tomorrow in town so come with me, pervert. And wear proper clothes and don't act improperly ok. Don't get in my way and everything will be fine."

She said this in a matter of fact tone. Meanie, couldn't you be a little nicer to your little sister? Right then she flicked me in the forehead.

"Your emotions are showing on your face, pervert. I don't intend to be nice to you, just cause my mom and you get along fine doesn't mean you are fine under my eyes."

"Don't call me a pervert!"

"Oh? Then what do I call you then? Oh right, you don't have a name."

As if to emphasize this she squinted at me with her fiery eyes with a slight smirk. Realizing she was right, I could only stick out my tongue at her in response. Even though she has been nothing but mean to me today... still, I don't get the sense she is a bad person though.

Laid on the wooden table was a set of aroma rich plates of vegetables and some meat with a thick sauce poured over it.

"Here is dinner. This is your first official meal, right? We don't eat meat usually but today is a special occasion. Did you pay respect to the oxom Kyui?"

"Of course I did."

I didn't want to tell them I wasn't hungry... actually I wasn't hungry nor thirsty this whole time... it made me wonder if my body was slightly different from theirs. But I didn't want to upset their effort in making such dishes… mostly afraid of upsetting Kyuu-san. However, it was unnecessary since as soon as I took a bite, the flavors burst in my mouth and I was immediately absorbed in eating my food. The meat was so soft and tender and the juices flowed into your mouth while the vegetables provided a crisp flavor that went well with the bowl of sticky, white, grains. The white grains didn't have any flavor but Ohari told me to eat it along with the meat and vegetables which only somehow made the food more delicious! I almost forgot to swallow a couple of times and my cheeks were stuffed with food. Ohari was absolutely delighted and beaming with pride at my eagerness to eat her food while Kyuu-san was annoyed... again.

"You could use some table manners you know? I seriously wonder if you'll choke to death and don't you dare make a mess."

I gulped down my bowl of soup and I smiled at Kyuu-san.

"I'm sorry but your food was so good! And you guys even made it for me on the occasion! The vegetables you cooked are delicious!!"

At the sudden compliment, Kyuu-san suddenly blushed and quickly turned away from me.

"What's wrong?"

"You have some rice stuck to your face, pervert. And clean up your damn mess!"

Rice? I touched my face and felt some sticky white grains and brushed it off. So this is rice huh? Before we started eating, Ohari tried to teach me to use two wooden sticks to pick up the food but it was too hard as I constantly dropped my food. The table was evident with my mistakes. Splotches of food and sauce spread on the table. Kyuu-san was getting increasingly frustrated so Ohari gave me some kind of pointy utensil to use instead which was much easier as I stabbed into the food I wanted.

"Don't be so hard on her Kyui, this is the first meal of her life. I think it's fine to enjoy it to the fullest. You must be hungry, here, have some more of the meat I prepared. I poured unconditional love into it."

Ohari was still admiring my appetite with a smile on her face and picked some pieces of meat for me and put on my plate for which I gratefully accepted. Afterward, I helped wipe the table and helped clean the plates with Ohari helping me. She grabbed a small pink crystal from a container. She told me to first rinse them with water, then gently crush the crystal and spread the crushed bits over the dishes. As soon as the pink little specks of dust made contact with the dishes, pink bubbles started forming all over the dishes and Ohari then guided me to start washing the plates with a sponge… I slightly trembled at the sponge as it reminded me of a scrub. I had to tip-toe a bit as the washing area or sink was a bit too high for me. During the whole time, I felt occasional stares that bored into my head from Kyuu-san. Fearing she would scold me again I doubled down on the plates, careful not to break them with my strength. In the end, they were so clean I could see my own reflection.

"You did a very good job."

Ohari ruffled my hair a little bit.

"Thanks, mom!"

Ohari ruffled my hair a little harder as if her maternal instincts rose even higher hearing me say the word, mom. At last, it was time to sleep. We cleaned our mouths as Kyuu-san commanded me. She told me to put a crystal, blue this time, from the bathroom cabinet into a cup of water. The crystal quickly dissolved in the water turning it a shade of light blue. Kyuu-san then told me to swish the water in my mouth for 30 seconds and with strong emphasis said:

"Do not swallow it, alright pervert? Not that I care if you get the case of horrible stomach pain."

While I swished the water in my mouth, a fizzy sensation erupts in my mouth. After I spit it out, the breaths I took felt like refreshing icy air. I waited outside laying on the couch while they took their showers.

After the cleaning was done, Kyuu-san was about to enter her room before stopping in her tracks.

"Wait… I just realized there are only two bedrooms with one bed each."

"What's wrong with that?"

I asked out of innocent curiosity, only to be met with a pointed glance by Kyuu-san.

"Mom, we don't have any futons do we?"

"Oh I don't think so, why don't we have your little sister sleep wit~"

Before Ohari could finish her proposal Kyuu-san forcibly interjected with her hands sarcastically in the air.

"Well! I guess you're sleeping on the couch then until we get a futon."

Shooing me away with her hands without hesitation. She grabbed some warm blankets and a pillow from her room and tossed it onto me.

"Kyui, how could you do that to your little sister? Here, you can sleep with mommy tonight."

Upon hearing this Kyuu-chan immediately blocked my view from my saint and savior.

"No way! I'm not letting this pervert stay with you, Mom who knows what she might do!?"

"I'm not going to do anything! Except maybe hug mom and her super fluffy tail."

I defended myself against her claim… although it had some truth to it. I imagined what sleeping in the warm and soft embrace of Ohari would feel like and a smile crept on my face.

"See mom!"

Kyuu-san turned to Ohari as if to show her my "pervertness." Who doesn't want to feel super fluffy tails and ears?! I would have wanted to hug and feel up Kyuu-san if it weren't for her intimidating aura and scary personality.

"Well Kyui, I don't wanna leave her out on the couch all by herself. Doesn't it make you feel so lonely and sad?"

She looked at my sympathetically and I sadly nodded back.

"It would break my heart to see such a good child not loved properly."

Ohari put her hands to her head as if fainting from that thought with exaggeration. Ohari really likes to use her innocence and put up cute acts despite being a mother huh? Knowing there was no way to stop her mother, Kyuu-san reluctantly turns to me in defeat.

"Uhh… pervert, I won't let you sleep with my mom so go to my room."

"Awww… look at you two getting along. Good night and sweet dreams dear."

Teased Ohari. With another of her signature sighs, Kyuu-san entered her room while bidding good night to Ohari as I followed behind, still hugging the pillow and blanket she gave me. The lanterns inside were alright lit and her room was quite decorated. Books lined the shelf next to the bed and pictures of martial arts and training techniques plastered the walls. Above the bed on the wall, the ironic words "To protect others with great kindness and virtue, you must have an equally strong will" were engraved.

A couple of cabinets and storage boxes were in the room as well. There was a window looking out towards the village where I saw many floating particles of light illuminating the beautiful village during the nighttime. I wonder what those orbs of light are? Some kind of magic or not so magic thing Ohari talked about? A couple of healthy Prometheus flowers were on the windowsill. In the corner of the room, there was also a table with a smooth grey cube on a stand… it looks really exotic but I have no idea what it is. Maybe I could ask tomorrow morning. I placed my pillow and blanket down on the bed.

"Alright, start changing into sleepwear."

She grabbed another set of clothes and handed them to me.

"Sleepwear?"

"Sigh… damn… it's like raising a clueless kid… well she really is isn't she… "

She whispered to herself with underlying tiredness in her tone. I could hear it due to my ears. Perhaps she couldn't find the energy to be angry anymore.

"Yes, sleepwear. A lot of people change into more comfortable clothes when they sleep and don't you dare try to sleep nude next to me."

Uhh… more layers of garment for even sleeping? Why are clothes so complicated? I quickly threw off my white dress and this really itchy bloomer and bra wrapped around my chest… why is there even such small clothing!? I tossed them aside, freeing my body from the torture of clothes.

"Don't just strip in front of me you pervert!"

Kyuu-san exclaimed with piping hot steam from her face. She hurriedly dragged me outside her room. The clothes she gave me were chucked into my face… oof… before she closed the door still blushing.

"Change outside and Put. On. The. Clothes. Got it?! I'm changing in here and knock when you are done changing, then I'll let you in."

I knocked after struggling to put on my confining clothes… whimper. Kyuu-san opened a crevice to peak at me, making sure I had my clothes on. She let me in hesitantly.

"How the hell did you put on your clothes? It's all wrinkly and unbuttoned!"

Kyuu-san straightened out my clothes and put the little buttons on my clothes together. I was a bit tired after the long day so I didn't attempt to resist anymore.

"You stay on one side far, far from me okay?"

We laid on the bed that was just big enough to fit the two of us with some wiggle room left due to my small stature. Now that I compared, Kyuu-san was a lot taller than me by about a forearm. The bed was really comfortable as it cradled my entire body, enveloped in its silky touch and softness. Though Kyuu-san said to stay far away from her, she still took space with enough left for me to sleep comfortably. She laid facing me, not looking me in the eyes, most likely not wanting to turn her back towards me and risk me playing with her precious tail… which was fair. I looked at her and said softly:

"I'm sorry I caused a lot of trouble for you Kyuu-san, and… I'm really happy you still took me in despite being so angry… so… thank you."

Her large furry ears twitched upon hearing me… so fluffy. She then finally looked at me… and pinched my cheeks.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get for being a pervert… and don't even think of anything weird with me in this bed. I will throw you out if I see you attempt anything… here."

Her bed had several pillows so she took one larger pillow and shoved it to me. It had a cute cartoon picture of a chubby fox on it.

"You want to hug something then use this."

Faced with her kind-hearted coldness I couldn't help but grin as I snuggled into the pillow arms and legs wrapped around it in a tight hug.

"It looks very cute and feels very squishy and soft… thank you Kyuu-san."

Her eyes widened in surprise and her face was a rosy mess of red. Kyuu-san sure blushes easily for unknown reasons it seems. She turned her back against me and huffed out:

"I just don't want you touching me at all, now hurry and go to sleep… pervert."

She then flicked her fingers and the lanterns went out. I could still see somewhat due to the glow of my golden eyes and stared at her extremely fluffy, fire orange tail. I really wanted to touch and rub my face in it but I held back, satisfied by the pillow she gave me to hug. One day… one day I'll be able to feel that tail and ears… just you wait big sister.