Chapter 4

Kyuu cursed at herself in her head as she noticed the dagger was on her desk, behind her. It felt like somebody was there, but she knew there wasn't anybody. She turned slightly and glared at her seemingly empty room. 

A figure slowly materialised by her desk. He had pale skin and thick, fluffy grey hair with a striking orange ahoge. He had an outfit reminiscent of a shozoku, the garments often worn by priests. His hands were crossed in a friendly way, his orange eyeliner highlighting a smile. 

And kitsune ears. Kyuu almost snarled. Three fluffy kitsune tails peeked behind him and he had two grey kitsune ears resting atop his head which he flicked, the fluff inside them pale white. No human ears in sight, as if the ears stretched from the sides of his head to the top.

Kyuu grabbed the dagger and dashed to him, kneeing him in the stomach and then kicking him to the floor, putting the dagger at his neck as she kept his body down with her foot. 

"Give me any amount of reason I shouldn't slit your little kitsune throat open."

The figure, a guy by the looks, squealed and squirmed when he saw the dagger, "I can't die like this! I have stuff to do! I have to leave, oh god, ahh!"

Kyuu raised an eyebrow as the guy's eyes watered. She loosened. For some kitsune, this guy was rather pathetic. She knew children who could put up a better fight. She tightened her grip on her dagger, this was a threat she had not dealt with before. She would not be dropping her guard like this.

"Aw man … I'm going to die like this … I should have stayed at the LightKeeper dojo…when you find her, tell my sister I love her…"

Kyuu rolled her eyes as the kitsune's tears dramatically fell from his eyes as he decided to accept death, going limp and closing his eyes, "Just make it fast … please-"

"God, you are pathetic. Just–get out of here! What is a kitsune doing here in a human's room?! How did you get through the wall?! Why are you here?!"

Kyuu hissed, letting him go. She had a grip on his dagger, but considering how easily he was beaten she didn't think it would be hard to do it again. She glared daggers as the kitsune wiped the tears from his eyes and sat down, breathing a sigh of relief. 

"Man … I thought it was over for me. And I know you know that I know you aren't a human. Y'know?"

Kyuu flipped the dagger in the air, growing increasingly irritated with this kitsune. She hated the fact this guy thought he knew all about her just because he knew she was a kitsune. 

"Yeah? So what? I have no interest in being one, I don't even use magic. So walk your little kitsune ass out of here before I kick it. I have no interest in whatever kitsune politics or whatever shenanigans you want me to deal with."

The kitsune fluffed his hair sheepishly, "Well…you can't really stay here. Not if the Kishura Empire decides to invade the humans, and she figures out you aren't one. That would suck for you. How'd you stay under the radar all this time? We only caught wind of you a month ago. You have skills to hide from us. I'm Zururi if you're wondering."

Invade … the humans. 

Some kitsune gang called the "Kishura Empire" were going to invade the humans.

Kyuu grabbed Zururi by the collar of the shozoku, pulling him to her face, "What?! Who the hell are the Kishura?! How do you know when they are coming?! And I haven't been hiding from you, I just refuse to acknowledge kitsune exist! Either way, I cannot and will not join you or interact with any other kitsune!"

Kyuu had to withhold herself from yelling at Zururi, who was now badly shaken. She didn't need people knocking on her door when a kitsune with fluffy grey hair was in here. She shook him, as if attempting to shake the answers out of him. 

"Gods! Lemme' down! Look, the Kishura Empire is an Empire of kitsune who would very much like control of all of Ansenkuu, which includes the human's measly territory. Look, we got knowledge a kitsune disguised as a human had been residing in the Hunter's Corps or whatever you call it. I got sent to check it out and bring you back because you obviously don't belong here!"

Kyuu, frustrated as hell, dropped Zururi, turning around to pace in her room, ignoring Daichi who chirped as he snored. She stopped her pacing and glared for a moment at Zururi, who dusted himself off. 

"Well thanks for the warning, get out."

"Huh? I said you had to rejoin the kitsune clans-"

"You just gave me a warning so now I can warn my friends and the corps and we can get ready, how nice, alrighty please get the hell out of my room through the window or however kitsune like to do their things."

Kyuu pointed to her window and waited. Tomorrow she'd file some report and somehow explain what had happened to the Corp's officials. Then they would have to spend ages until they got attacked. 

"Woah. No, you cannot tell anyone about this. Look, kitsune and humans have been separated for ages, and we aren't warning you from the goodness of our hearts, we're warning you because we aren't letting the Empress get her hands on any FireKeepers. Don't tell anyone, and I'm not stopping until you get out of here and to the kitsune, and away from the humans."

Zururi looked concerned, and he stood up again, hesitant on his next actions. He nervously picked at his fingers, "Really, please don't. Do not tell any human I am here. Look either way, you will have to join the kitsune eventually, and if you don't do it soon, you'll have to join in a much worse way. Look, if I don't convince you in the next week to join, go ahead and tell anyone. Until then I can convince you and all that. Deal?"

Kyuu rolled her eyes, she was sick of this. But it almost humoured her that Zururi thought he'd convince her. And she would need some time thinking of a way to explain how she had knowledge of the invasion…

"Sure. But get out because I'm going to go to bed."

Zururi relaxed, wiping the sweat off his brow, "S-sure. One week. Or I'm screwed. Alright, I'll make my leave."

Kyuu watched Zururi walk over to her window and wave as he jumped out. She ran over to look down the window as she heard a thump and an ow.

She peeked below her. The fall wouldn't be too bad, she was only on the second level of the building. She watched as Zururi lay on his back for a moment before promptly waving, getting back up, and vanishing. 

Kyuu watched for a moment more before closing the window, undressing, and then laying on her futon, her hair splayed out as she lay haphazardly on her back. She squeezed her eyes shut and growled even as Daichi sat and slept on her stomach. 

Gods. Hmph. How could she even trust some kitsune called 'Zururi' who showed up to stalk her. Maybe he was making stuff up so she'd join the clans of something. And she also needed an explanation on what FireKeeping was, and if it was any important.

Kyuu sighed once more, going limp on the bed. No hope for it now. If she had been just a human maybe this all wouldn't have happened, and she could enjoy her life killing demons while not being stalked by kitsune who had the fashion sense of a 50-year-old priest.

Kyuu drifted off to sleep, petting Daichi as she did. Maybe she would think about it in the morning. Sure. She could tell herself that. Why not, she had nothing better to tell herself.

****

Kyuu awoke to the sound of Kai and Hitashi lock-picking the door. She sat up, using the duvet to cover her chest, ignoring Daichi getting thrown off. 

"Don't!"

Kai and Hitashi fell on top of each other as they stumbled into Kyuu's room. Kyuu was wearing a grey tank-top and shorts, but she hated it when the two boys walked in on her. 

"Get out!"

"NOW!"

Kai and Hitashi scrambled back and closed the door just in time as Kyuu threw Daichi, her duvet, the futon, and a few pencils at the door. Daichi huffed and stomped after he rolled off the door. 

"Oops."

Kyuu glared at the door but took the futon, folded the blanket, and replaced the pencils. She brushed and tied back her hair once more, and actually put a shirt on. The shirt was a dark blue, and she put some shin-length dark blue, almost black hakama with a black haori, the shoulders a white that faded to black. She dressed herself, and noticed the sutra-beaded charm with the quartz on it. She wrapped it around her bandaged arms. 

"Can we come in now?"

"Fine."

Kai and Hitashi slowly opened their eyes and expertly dodged as Kyuu threw a pillow at them. Kyuu rolled her eyes, this happened so often the two learned where and when to dodge whatever she threw at them. Ten years earlier and they would have been bruised from the stuff she threw. 

Now in the clear, Hitashi and Kai happily entered her room, "Good morning Kyuu~" Hitashi greeted, petting Daichi(who was very unhappy after being thrown that much in the morning), "Fine day isn't it?"

Kyuu shrugged, "What should we do today? Another Yokai Board commission? Hopefully nothing like the kanibozu happens again. Probably."

Hitashi put his hand to his chin, "We have nothing better to do. There's no examination for a while, and I don't want to be hacking at straw dummies so yokai board it is."

Kai was playing with Daichi, and really didn't mind any outcome, "Sure. I heard we get red bean buns for breakfast. Finally, because I would rather eat Kyuu's straight vinegar salad than have miso soup everyday."

Hitashi snicked, "That's a bit far don't you think? Miso soup can't be that bad."

"Make fun of my cooking one more time and you'll be the next dish."

Hitashi jumped away as Kyuu put a hand on his shoulder "Fine! Okay, sure, let's get out of here."

"Kero, kero. Kero, kero."

Kyuu pulled out her tele-tad and answered the call, "Kyuu speaking."

"Hey Kyuu, so I have a bit of a dilemma here…I don't want to take Yoen to the duelling room because I know there's an army of guys ready to drool over her, but we need breakfast."

Kyuu thought for a moment, "I don't want to go down either. Get some of your boys to get the food for us and we can have it in your room or something. Okay?"

After a bit of clamouring, she got an answer from Fukai, "Yeah okay. The Corps also said Yoen is staying with me until she gets a place either in another village or until something better happens to Bubo so she can go back."

"Okay. You guys can come in once you have the food."

Kai peeked outside as he heard three figures clamour down the stairs to the Dueling Room. Five minutes later they clamoured back up with bags of red-bean buns, and then Fukai and Yoen arrived. 

"Hi~thanks for having us!"

Yoen and Fukai held the bags in their hands and entered the room, smiling. Today, Yoen had her long black hair in a low ponytail and wore a grey hakama and a navy blue shirt, with a white haori. The boys in the room eyed each other. The top could clearly be a bit bigger, but Yoen seemed like she didn't notice.

Kyuu flushed a little, pulling Yoen over and into the smaller, separate room. Kyuu grabbed a jacket and forced Yoen into it, "Goddammit! I can see why Fukai wasn't going to take you to the duelling room! Have some decency put a jacket on! Gods, if you want a change of clothes take some of mine, not Fukai's, who mind you is like five sizes smaller! I don't even know if mine fit you either!"

Kyuu hastily dressed Yoen up, covering her in something that fit a bit better. Kyuu sighed when she was done. She didn't know Fukai was so lecherous. She opened the door and walked out. She grabbed the red-bean bun Hitashi was going to dig into and sat down onto her futon. 

She glared at Fukai who tried not to make eye contact as he ate his food. Yoen giggled a bit, wiping a few crumbs off her face, "Hey Kyuu, would you like to do some Yokai Commissions, and let me hop along? I figured we could go doing whatever together, like a girls night. Let the guys do whatever."

Kyuu shrugged, getting up and reaching into her closet for a jacket, "Sure. But just a small commission today, because I don't want to do anything major. Or anything about kanibozu this time."

Fukai looked a bit disappointed but Hitashi merrily swung his arm around his neck, "Come on! Just let them do whatever women do on days like these and we can all go hang out! Let's do something stupid!"

Kyuu rolled her eyes, opening the door to let herself and Yoen out, hesitating before deciding that the three couldn't mess up her dorm worse than they did the one night on Kyuu's 21st.

She shook her head as she headed out, Yoen beside her.

"Oh well, they'll probably be fine. Anyways, to the Yokai board I guess. Hopefully nothing that needs me to go back to get my sword, I only have my dagger. I probably should have brought that with me…"

Kyuu sighed, and Yoen smiled, fanning herself, "You Corp folk worry too much. You do at least. I suppose your intellect has to make up for the other three. Come on, let's choose something easy."

Yoen scanned the various notes and scraps of paper with words scribbled down on it. Kyuu followed her lead and looked through the notes all randomly placed onto the upright board. 

Ice beings or something have been making occasional appearances around the nursery and scaring the young children. Southwest Kusho. 

A child caught stealing with his younger sister has been roaming around farms, stealing. Catch him and his sibling. Northeast Kusho .

Kyuu pursed her lips. Villages these days. 

"Kyuu! I found one we should do!"

Kyuu turned to the note Yoen directed her to. 

Past the border of Kyuden, northwest, there is a shrine I own. It has been a long time since it has been cleaned, and I am a priest hoping to revive this shrine. Just help me clean this up, and I can reward you with a meal and a few charms!

Kyuu looked at it for another moment. She was a bit hesitant to jump into something with a priest, the last one was a crab, but Yoen wanted to do it, and what were the chances that this priest was a kanibozu? None. So it was probably safe. 

Kyuu nodded, taking the note off where it glowed for a moment before dissolving into blue particles that vanished in the air, "Sounds good. Let's get a hosoi and start up. Northwest of Kyuden…shouldn't be too hard."

 ****

Kyuu galloped on the hosoi, Yoen clutching onto her waist as the creature blitzed through the forest, at least 60 kilometres per hour. Kyuu held her body closer to the warm body of the hosoi, and tried not to feel awkward and uncomfortable as Yoen clung to her torso. 

Kyuu straightened up and Yoen's grip on her chest loosened as they entered a clearing, finally away from the smell of Kyuden and the thick wood around it. The hosoi whinnied, trotting at a slower pace. 

Oh wow…

Yoen and Kyuu were surprised at the building that loomed before them. The shrine was large, and even in its dilapidated state, it held a serene beauty within it. The hosoi huffed and Kyuu and Yoen quickly hopped off, Kyuu petting its flank as it bent down to chew on the dull grass. 

"Hi!"

Kyuu and Yoen jumped as a figure emerged from the shrine. They relaxed as they realised he wore a shozoku, and was probably the guy who needed the help fixing the place up. 

A shozoku. A shozoku with fluffy grey hair, a smug smirk, and red eyeliner. 

Kyuu tried to stay perfectly still as she glared katanas at Zururi. He obviously didn't bear his kitsune ears and tails, Yoen was here, but his smug smirk and mere presence made Kyuu want to bash his skull into the well and hold it in there until he drowned. 

"Hihi~ you guys must be the people from the Corps right? Glad you're here, I've been wanting to get this place a bit more fixed up. My name is Zururi, how about you, fine people?"

Kyuu's left eye twitched as Yoen happily introduced herself, introducing Kyuu as if Kyuu and Zururi didn't know each other. Kyuu looked down to her side, slowly placing a hand on her dagger. 

She shook her head, that was too rash. She had promised Zururi one week. God, she hoped she could be done with this commission fast so she could get out of here. Gods, this was getting worse by the second. 

"So what should we help with first?"

Yoen and Zururi happily engaged in a conversation as Kyuu sat down next to the hosoi, examining her dagger as she waited for them to finish so she could do whatever task there was to do and get the hell out of here.

Yoen, finished and happy with the conversation, walked over to Kyuu, a list in her hand. 

"I have the list! So…let's see…"

Fix/clean the torii gates

Fix/clean the well

Dust the inside of the temple

Fix/clean the small shrine

Clean the little fox statues

Water the trees

Check on the various plants

Shine the bells

Replace the incense

"Did…he just give us chores to do? Oi, Zururi, what are you going to be doing?"

Kyuu looked behind, over to where Zururi was. Zururi smiled, sitting down on a small stone stool with a table and another stool facing it, a game of Go in front of him. 

"I will be…meditating and supervising. And drinking tea…"

Yoen smiled, pulling Kyuu over, "Come on! We can split it up between the two of us! It'll be fun I promise!"

 ****

For the record, Kyuu did not think cleaning the temple was fun. At all. She glared at Zururi as she repaired the torri gate. She needed to clean it, and to repaint the spots that had worn away with time. 

She furrowed her brows at the strange gate. She had seen torri gates before, plenty, but this one felt off. As if there was some sort of energy buzzing around it. She jumped as she touched it with her left hand, and the sutra bead and the amulet suddenly reacted with the wood of the gate. 

She unwrapped it from her arms and frowned. The quartz was glowing a bit brighter, just a little. She squinted at it before shrugging and wrapping it back around her wrapped arms. One less job to do either way. 

"Fufufufu~ you notice anything different?"

Kyuu jumped and nearly punched Zururi who had appeared behind her, smiling with his arms crossed in his shozoku. He snickered and Kyuu glared at him, looking behind, hoping Yoen wouldn't overhear the conversation. 

"This isn't a normal tori! It's a kitsune gate. Of course it's run down and broken, but with a bit of LightningKeeping and LightKeeping, we can get it working again. This one should connect to the Clan of Clashing Waves. You go through it, you end up at the other portal wherever that is!"

Kyuu rolled her eyes but had to admit she was a bit intrigued by this. Some tori-gate portal that lets you travel almost instantly…interesting. Kitsune were interesting, but she'd rather stay a 'human', anyways. 

"Whatever. I'm just getting this stupid job done so I can leave."

"What's the sutra bead charm?"

Kyuu was a bit surprised by the question but rolled up her sleeve, revealing the wrapped arms and showed him the charm at the end of the sutra beads. He seemed surprised, but tried to hide his shock.

"O-oh wow. You have one of these…whoever put the seal on you must have been pretty strong that it's kept up through this…"

Kyuu raised an eyebrow as Zururi glamored and tried to hold back his wonder at the petal-shaped quartz. Kyuu then unrolled her sleeve, turning away from Zururi. Even being around him felt like throwing the past 20 years of her life off, and she despised it. 

The combined efforts of Kyuu and Yoen had taken them quite a few hours, but as the sun prepared to rest, they were almost done. The tori gate had taken Kyuu almost 2 hours, because it was definitely in poor condition. 

The only thing they had left were…replacing the incense that Yoen would do, and watering the big purple-sakura tree that loomed over them. 

"Yoen! Are you finishing up?"

Kyuu called out, waiting for the response from inside the temple. 

"Yes! Just do your last job or whatever!"

Kyuu hastily made her way to the well, lowering the bucket down until she could tell it was full of water. She grew more and more irritated as Zururi just observed her as she took the bucket of water, walked over to the tree, watered it, and put the bucket back. 

She noticed some rusted sword sticking out of the dirt in front of the tree, a cloth rippling in the wind. It was almost majestic, and gave off the energy as if the tree had been planted for that sword, not vice versa. 

She took out her own dagger, planting it in the ground in front of the sword. She wasn't totally sure why, but she felt like she needed to. To pay respects to whatever warrior had planted their sword there. She would pick it up later, but wanted to keep it there just for a little while. Her serenity was disturbed as she heard Zururi behind her.

"What is it?!"

She hissed at him, ready to punch him in the face, this kitsune must have mastered the art of personally pissing Kyuu off. 

"Nothing. Anyways, I guess you'll have to go back now. Care for some tea? I've already asked Yoen. And the commission I posted did promise a reward, so you have to stay a little bit longer."

Kyuu rolled her eyes, of course Yoen said yes. She followed Zururi back to the stone table, now with three little stone stools total. Kyuu took a seat next to Yoen, who had finished her incense-replacing, and now had a sweet smoky smell on her. 

"Thank you two so much! Well, I can't offer much, but I have a few things for you. First, earrings! Made from Tear Silver!"

Zururi passed Yoen a tiny bag, within it two circle-earrings as he had stated. They were made from Tear Silver, silver that had the properties of gold. Called tear silver because miners thought they had got their hands on silver, when in reality they got themselves a mineral that wasn't. It was usually used for jewellery. 

Yoen's eyes shined as she squealed happily, hurriedly sticking in the small circle earrings, running her dainty fingers over the curved metal. She was so happy, and the tinge of blush from her face showed it. She smiled happily, content already from her prize.

"And here are some special herbs! They can be put into smoking pipes, or simply burned as incense. Dried mourning flowers, serenity plants, and burning tongues."

He slid the small tea-bag looking parcel to Kyuu, and she picked it up, sniffing it curiously. It burnt her nostrils a bit, and she wrinkled her nose. It would be pretty hard to believe someone would burn this, in their house or to smoke. She wouldn't be impolite though, even if it was some scummy kitsune.

She nodded, "Thank you."

Zururi gave her a sad smile, and she knew he hoped she would stay. She wouldn't. She exchanged glares with Zururi, her amber eyes steady as they met his golden eyes. 

"Night will be falling soon. Let's go."

Kyuu abruptly stood up, walking over to wherever the hosoi had taken a nap, tied loosely by the neck to some random tree. She petted its brown flank, waking it up. She refused to look back behind her where Zururi looked on, disappointed. 

Yoen also stood up, but more reluctantly, "Yes, it's getting dark soon, so I will have to make my leave. It was very nice meeting you, and perhaps I will return here, even soon!"

Zururi smiled, waving them off as Yoen hopped onto the hosoi, once again clutching onto Kyuu's torso. Kyuu pursed her lips, gently kicking the hosoi's flanks to get it running. The wind whipped her scarlet hair in the wind as she pressed low to the neck of the horse-like creature. 

She hoped she wouldn't do anything she regretted. 

**** 

"Finally!"

Kyuu and Yoen were greeted by Fukai, Kai, and Hitashi as she opened the door to her dorm. Kai had a few leaves in his hair and the three looked a tiny bit worse for wear. 

"What happened here?"

Hitashi sighed, "We broke a few too many training dummies and had to run away from the guy who had been training with them. Pretty boring overall. You guys were out for ages! Must have been some commission! We're about to go to bed."

 Kyuu nodded, "Yeah, it took a while. Glad to be back!"

Fukai began making his way towards the door, "Come on Yoen. See you guys tomorrow!"

Kyuu smiled and waved, looking at Kai and Hitashi expectantly as they prepared to leave. They had just stood up when Kyuu began checking her sides in a panic. Her dagger wasn't there. 

"Crap!"

"What happened?"

Kyuu began putting her boots back on, grabbing her jacket, "I forgot my dagger! It's fine, I'll just get a hosoi there."

"Are you sure?" said Kai, "It's pretty dark."

Kyuu began leaving, "It's fine. Just in-and-out, half an hour if I'm lucky. Won't take too long, I should be back by eleven."

Hitashi shrugged, "Sure. Just be fast okay? Don't be out that long. You're sure it's worth it?"

"Yeah, okay bye!"

Kyuu sped out, leaving Kai to return to his dorm, and Hitashi to sigh. Kyuu could handle herself and whatever was out there, but the kanibozu attack had set off too many alarms for him to let loose so fast. 

"Be safe!"