there be humans.

mainly Kiras perspective mixed with shino.

After spending a while juggling her foxfire in different ways having been instructed to increase or lower the heat, increase or decrease the size and many other things by Shino did Kira start to feel she had a decent grasp at the core concepts, she was by no means perfect and not being used to it did she find herself getting exhausted.

Turning around to Shino, Kira smiled and said "Thank you so much for your time Shino, I definitely see why this was better done out here, I kind of feel I have enough of a grasp of the core concepts to continue this on my own, would you mind if I spend some time learning the environment and interact with those who happen to live here?"

Shino couldn't help but feel extremely happy for the praise, while Kira couldn't have done any harm to her personally was the environment quite a different matter and the sheer initial volume of foxfire had ended up concerning her slightly, it had come just a bit too close to both the shrine and a nearby forest, she couldn't help but feel extremely relieved that Kira had been extremely quick on the uptake in regards to control or it would have been quite a nightmare scenario and further made a note to herself to make sure nobody truly angers Kira in populated areas, even though Kira had shown an amazing amount of self control, was it a risk Shino was not willing to take, and she would rather not have to explain to Inari why her own daughter had burned down her shrine.

Shino shaked her head for a bit clearly feeling herself getting distracted.

"Sorry just had a bit on my mind, you did great Kira, keep up practicing and remember to not let your emotions get out of control as Foxfire is often intrinsically linked, and I would rather not see any accidents if possible" Shino said.

Kira immediately scuffed internally and couldn't help but think "yee of little faith", a majority of her former life had been spent on keeping her emotions under tight control, there was no way she would remotely had been able to refrain from not ripping most of the parents of the kids who frequented her library into tiny shreds upon given the chance if she hadn't been exercising a near Saint level amounts of self control, that said she did start to second guess herself a tiny bit, if her little encounter with her own ego had taught her anything, it was that her newfound instincts might not be as easy to ignore comparing it to her ability of being able to outright dismiss many of the core instincts of humanity in the past, it was honestly a bitter pill to swallow, as she had effectively learned that her ability to dismiss many of the virtues associated with humanity had more to do with her soul having deviated from what she considered humanity rather than her own willpower.

Kira was interrupted in her thoughts as Shino continued

"Learning about the environment you reside in and exploring the grounds of your mother's shrine is your right, and neither will or can I prevent you from doing so, but please consider bringing Yin or I with you as a guide, also if you should decide on Yin would I please request you allow me a moment with her alone to discuss some things" Shino Finished, she was hoping Kira would allow her to escort her around, but unfortunately had Kira given a clear response earlier as why Shino spending too much time with her was a bad idea, even though it was a logically sound reason did not mean Shino felt it was any less frustrating, glancing towards Yin standing with a slightly smug expression did she relent and lead her far enough away from Kira to have her talk, she further added some magic to prevent sound from escaping as she honestly had no clue how good Kiras hearing truly was, if her Foxfire has shown anything was it that she was most definitely her moms daughter, even ascended Kitsune would never achieve true foxfire, this information was something only she was privileged to as the head of Inaris main shrine, and had decided to not bring it up as it might cause unnecessary complications, not many yet understood the true origin of their race.

#####

Kiras perspective

Kira was watching as Shino was leading Yin away and after noticing the air shimmering did she realise she was completely unable to hear anything from that spot, it was quite fascinating, Kira hadn't really focused too much on her new senses, quite frankly she hadn't had time but trying to focus on her hearing did she find herself quite astonished, much like her smell could she hear even the smallest things in the far distance if she decided to focus, it was a bit odd because the spot where Shino and Yin was located was it almost like there simply was a hole, Kira found it incredibly hard to put it into words and decided to just move on, in an attempt to continue her practise had Kira come up with her own little idea which hopefully wouldn't hurt anyone, she has essentially created a small fire the size of a marbel without with the smallest amount of heat she could manage and the idea was to simply control it to follow her around as a pet, it did mean she would need to constantly put a tiny bit of her attention aside to managing the ball, but practise makes perfect and this way it became more a exercise in simple control without much risk.

After a while did Yin return, in a very good mood, Shino looked a bit frustrated but gave both of them a smile and headed towards the direction of the shrine house thingie with all the younger cubs.

turning towards Yin who was quite literally beaming at her

"would you mind leading me to the main shrine first, I assume that Shino won't mind if I start with that" Kira said.

Yins smile faltered slightly, but picked up again quickly "Ofcourse but please understand that I'll need to remain outside, the energy inside is a bit too much for someone like me, even Shino can barely handle it as the Shrine itself functions as a barrier and gateway to Inaris realm, it doesn't mean the gateway is open but it would leak a lot of energy from the higher realm, the room is built to absorb and contain that energy so it doesn't leak outside, but it's too strong for someone like me as it overpower and disturb the flow of my internal energy, this is why humans are often tasked with helping cleaning the shrine as they aren't spiritual beings like us." Yin finished

upon hearing Yin said Kira was suddenly reminded of what the little Kid who had woken her up had said, and it made more sense why she had been so urgent of getting Kira out of the shrine, she couldn't help but find it sweet, and in context it made a lot of sense, the kid had likely assumed Kira had been attracted by the energy and then collapsed unable to handle it, she made herself a mental note to figure out where the kid was and thank her, even if the act in and of itself hadn't impacted Kira much is it very much the thought that matter and the kid could easily just have ignored Kira pretending she didn't see anything.

Yin started leading Kira towards the main shrine. While walking did Kira spend a lot of time taking in her surroundings, it was an interesting sight, she saw foxes interact with humans with the foxes bringing trays of food towards where Shino and the cubs were residing, they did look rather young not as young as the cubs but definitely didn't look like adults, but then again Shino looked like she had barely turned 20, so she decided to just give up in regards of even guessing, the humans was heading a different direction with the same types of trays, the humans did however look anywhere in the age range from 16 to late 40ies.

however something about it struck Kira as odd and couldn't help but ask Yin.

"Yin would you mind answering a question I have on my mind?" Kira said, Yin slowed down and turned around in response and said

"Ofcouese please go ahead"

"So I'm seeing both foxes, sorry Kitsune and humans interacting without a problem, yet I'm seeing clear separation between them at the same time, you don't have humans going into the foxes quarters or the other way around" Kira said.

Yin stopped her tracks completely in response and showed mixed emotions, before answering.

"The humans here are not normal humans, the humans outside are evil selfish and mean, many of the kids here in the shrine have been saved by Shino and a few of the other older Kitsune who does their best to track down and help lost cubs, I've come to accept that while the humans here are still humans are they not the same as the humans on the outside, but not all of the younger cubs understand that, so we do our best to allow for an area where the cubs can feel safe, we have mixed areas where everyone is free to go and technically does the human quarters not ban us from going there, but only the older Kitsune who works in the kitchen and such visits the human quarters, and its often only due to needing something or someone, the cubs wouldn't willingly go anywhere near humans, and honestly neither would I, even though I understand that these humans are different, and have their own problems with other humans are they still humans and who knows when they will turn against the shrine no matter how much we have done for them." Yin almost spat the last part out

Kira nodded to herself, humans trough history have managed to make many of the same assumptions based on something as silly as skin color, or slight differences in accent, it's easy to paint everyone over with the same brush once you've been burnt before, be it gender, skin color or something else, and now imagine it being an entire different race to you which would only further confirm that they are different, Further mix that with humanity's history from earth where the bad eggs are all that will ever be seen from the outside especially as they are often the vocal minorities with many of the other humans likely only bandwagoning because they had to, it wasn't hard for Kira to imagine why Yin had the impression of humans as every single one of them being the literal incarnation of evil.