1

He opened his eyes, wincing in anticipation of the pain and discomfort he usually experienced. It never came. His blurry surroundings slowly came into focus.

He didn't recognize anything he saw. He was in a room. The walls were immaculately white. The lights were bright and sterile. The air was uncomfortably cold. The only warmth in the room came from the shockingly familiar embrace he found himself in.

The arms around him fought off the chill, and he realized his body was smaller than it should have been. Like, a lot smaller. So small that he was completely enveloped in the arms that held him.

He looked up to see an impossibly beautiful woman smiling down at him. Her beauty defied description. She wouldn't have lost against even the world-famous beauties of the Veiled Heart Sect.

Her hair was spun gold, and her skin was flawless clear jade. Her facial features were delicate, yet sultry and seductive. The way her smile shone with joy, fulfillment, and pride warmed his heart. He couldn't stop himself from reaching his small hands toward her.

The woman's smile grew brighter. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her finger met his extended hand. A realization struck him as his tiny hand wrapped around her finger.

He was a baby. This woman was his mother. But… how? The last thing he remembered was eating in a restaurant with his younger brother. They had been drinking lightly, commiserating the lack of success in his latest healing session. His brother had raised a toast to future successes.

Someone… Someone had taken offense to that. To the idea that a cripple like him deserved to live at all. His younger brother had defended him, but tensions quickly escalated. The offended cultivator and their sworn brothers outnumbered the two of them.

He had hidden under the table when the fighting started, cursing his inability to help his younger brother. His brother may have been the clan's heir since he had been diagnosed with crippled meridians and written off as a lost cause, but he still wished he could help him. His brother was fighting on his behalf after all, and that left a bitter, ash-like taste in his mouth.

The offended cultivator eventually peeled off from the fighting, and quickly found his hiding place. The cultivator had laughed, holding him up for his younger brother to see. The last thing he saw as the cultivator's hand speared through his heart was the horrified and destroyed look on his younger brother's face.

"My precious boy," his mother said, interrupting his brooding thoughts. "I already love you so much. Welcome to the world, Onari."

Fire appeared above Onari's eyes, drawing a character that he could only assume was his new name. He noticed two fox-like ears atop his mother's head for the first time. Fluffy tails appeared from behind her to stroke his cheeks. Onari felt his own fox ears twitch at the sensation.

Apparently, he had been reincarnated as some kind of Spirit Beast. Onari found that he didn't really mind that fact. What was most important to him was that he wasn't crippled anymore. He could faintly feel the energy of the world flowing in and out of his body with every tiny breath.

He grasped vaguely at the metaphysical thread connecting him to his mother. She gasped and smiled at the feeling. His mother's soul felt warm and spicy through the link. Like a meal that would warm you up on a chilly day.

She giggled, wiggling the finger that was still within Onari's grip, "I knew you would be a smart boy. Mommy is so happy to finally meet you face to face."

Onari let out an involuntary 'blurbling' giggle. He had the mind of a young master, even if he was a crippled one, but his newborn body was affecting him more than he had realized. He couldn't bring himself to hate it though. After the news of his handicap came out, he could count the number of times his old mother had held him on one hand.

He could feel the immediate trauma of his death melting away in the face of his new mother's joyous smile. The lack of suffocating pain certainly helped his mood as well. Onari finally felt like he could breathe.

'This is how everyone else lived their lives? This is what I was missing out on?' Onari thought.

His mother seemed to pick up on his distress, but not the reason why. She soothed him with her tails--yes, tails, as in multiple, Onari noticed-- allowing him to inhale her comforting scent.

"Shh, little Onari. Everything will be okay. Mommy Yasaka is here now," his mother cooed.

Yasaka's soothing did wonders on the newborn Onari. He soon found his eyelids growing heavy. His breathing steadied. And just before he fell asleep, he heard someone enter the room.

"Congratulations, Lady Yasaka. He will make a suitable heir. It is a shame about his lack of tails though," said the mystery voice.

Onari could hear and feel Yasaka's angry hiss. He couldn't help but giggle a bit at her protectiveness as sleep finally claimed him. He was more than used to a bit of discrimination, and it would take more than that to get to him now that his cultivation was no longer crippled.