Nogitsune

Baka, he thought irritably, Doesn't she know anything about soul-balls? Well, there really wasn't any reason why she should, but… Rakuri made up his mind. He reached down and yanked Mayoke up through the branches, sitting her on a limb near his.

"I have a plan…But first, I want my soul-ball."

"Ack! What are you doing? Rakuri! You won't-"
"Babble later! And give that to me!"
"Nani? Oh, fine!"



Aisu frowned. This shrine was very small indeed, and the girl should not have been able to elude her so. Granted, Aisu was cautious about entering the actual shrine part of the building, but that part was locked anyway. No, the girl had to be around somewhere. She was too stubborn to run away.

The Void Kitsune entered the girl's bedroom again, the only room that had another door to the outside. A fall of dark hair framed a form in a corner, shivering.

"Ah," Aisu whispered, "I have found you." The Nogitsune drew on her powers, and the shadows l engthened. "Now, you shall die." There was a step from behind her.

"No he won't!" A girl's voice yelled, and Aisu had time only to recoil at the thought of having been bested by two fools before she had a close encounter with a sacred badger statue, a combination of force and holy talisman enough to put even a seven-tailed Void Kitsune out for the count.

The Mayoke in the corner shimmered back into that of Rakuri's human form, and grimaced.

"Remind me why I had to play decoy?" He griped.

Mayoke glared. "Because I'm the only one that could carry around the sacred statue, remember! It would have had the same effect on your that it had on whassername." Sacred stuff always did. But, he could have been a gentleman and offered to do it to spare her the danger, but no, not Rakuri! Jerk. Mayoke sighed and toed the form on the ground with a foot. "What do we do with her now?"

Rakuri gave the other Kitsune a disgusted look. "Saa. I guess I'll take her to one of I nari's kind." He rolled his eyes. "They'll give her a stern talking to, but she'll probably leave… you… alone now." They stared for a while.

"What did she want?" Mayoke asked finally.

Rakuri shrugged. "Void Kitsune are really territorial. Maybe she saw you as a threat."

"Huh," The girl thought about that. "Me as a threat." Rakuri snickered. Mayoke glared at him. "Well?" She asked. "Don't you have a delivery to make?"

The Kitsune tossed Aisu over his shoulder like so much grain. "I'm going, I'm going!"



Mayoke thought that would be the last time she ever saw the three-tailed Thunder Kitsune Rakuri. She was wrong. He came back the next day, just before Tifu and Mayoke's oji-san returned from Osaka. Mayoke was sweeping, no easy task in her temple robes.

"I just thought I'd tell you…" Came the voice that interrupted her from her chores. Mayoke turned.

"Nani?" She asked, surprised. "Tell me what?"

Rakuri looked away. "My goal was to catch Ai su from the beginning. I knew she was around. So don't think I'm that stupid all the time."

Mayoke watched him for a moment, and began to laugh. "Oh no!" She agreed. "I'm sure that was a special occasion!"

Rakuri bristled. "It wa-" Then he got the joke, and turned red. "Baka!" He told her, turning his back to her.

"Baka yourself!" Mayoke returned, also spinning around.



All right, so the two end up with their backs to each other, but when you really think about it, these two wouldn't leave their back open to just anybody…

So maybe it's a start.