A Clockwork Kitsune
Reiko kneeled next to the fox, her hand tracing designs in his red fur, muttering softly to herself. The fox, for his part, lay on the floor, only the occasional thump of one or the other of his two tails betraying any impatience. They were in a room in one of the Dragon residences; Panda had expressed doubts about the wisdom of finishing unbinding the male kitsune on the ship, just in case he turned out to be wanting to kill them all. The samurai was stationed outside the door, and a pair of mantids were pacing restlessly just beyond her.
With that fur, he was almost certainly nogistune. Of course, there are probably no myobu left in the world. The Celestials were all tied to their temples, which means that they were probably the first to die. Poor things. Reiko's heart ached for her distant kin. Even though nogistune and myobu gave each other a wide berth, they still acknowledged the other as part of the way of things. Their loss diminished the race as a whole.
Her spirits looked on, Tsuyoshi crouching next to her, exclaiming over the complexity of the bindings. Setto stood, his arms crossed. She'd gotten the impression that he didn't quite approve of something as odd as a male kitsune existing, but as usual he'd said nothing and she hadn't wanted to tease the answer out of him quite yet. She turned her attention fully to the bindings, her silver fire consuming the dull green of the mantid's magical energy. Demonbane had taught them well, had taught them how to bind them as she had been bound. Without a Water shugenja available to wash the bindings away, she'd had to do it the hard way, using her own energy to burn out the sigils.
Finally, the last of the bindings came undone, with a snap and a shower of sparks. The red fox sprang to his feet, tails brushing out with electric energy. His form shimmered and softened, unfolding upwards until it reformed into his human form.
Reiko's first thought was, my goodness, he's pretty. Her next thought, as her eye took in his whole body, was, Oh, my. The kitsune was of middling height, his unruly hair the same russet as his fox fur, vivid green eyes set in a face that was kept from being too feminine only by the strength of his cheekbones and chin. His body, however, would never be mistaken for female--he was muscled like an acrobat, only a few scars marring his skin, and those were fading as scars on kitsune tended to. He was entirely naked, and as her gaze swept his body, she noted that he was very definitely male.
Down, girl. Talk first. Eye candy later. She returned her gaze to his eyes and said, "Hello. I'm Reiko. Would you like a robe?"
The red-haired boy blinked. "Please." She handed him one, and he said, "Thanks. I'm Ito." He looked around. "Are you going to invite anyone else in?"
She shrugged. "I asked for the chance to talk to you alone for a while. They'll wait till I ask them to come in. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them were listening, but they won't interrupt." She lowered herself gracefully to a nearby cushion. "Have a seat, and tell me how you came to be a captive of the mantids."
He nodded and sat, folding his legs underneath of him with the discipline of long practice. Ito surveyed the kitsune who had freed him. She looked to be about his age, delicately boned, in a scarlet kimono that lit her up like a flame in the afternoon light. Like all of the other kitsune he'd met, she was achingly beautiful, but...there was something different about her. There was an unworldliness in her wide amber eyes, as if she saw things in the room that he could not. He couldn't decide whether or not he liked it, yet. "I was hiding with a group of other kitsune. We were found by a group of warriors, mostly samurai, and they attacked us. Seven of us and myself were taken captive. Six refused to be captured and were killed." His voice was tinged with sorrow. "I had only been with them a week. I didn't even know all of their names."
"And you were then...rescued by the mantids?"
"I didn't know it was rescue at first. Jeron, the one with the sun-hair, arrived just as they were about to kill me. They had no use for a male, they said. He took me from them and bound me. I thought he was going to kill me, but then he said he was going to take me to his new master, Tadaki. Then he put me in a bag and that's the last thing I knew until he pulled me out in front of the wu jen. I'm going to have to bite him, I think. Being carried by my tails was *not* comfortable."
Reiko shook her head in confusion. "What could they possibly want with us? We are not weapons of any sort, and we follow no human's commands except out of love."
Ito shrugged. "They spoke of breeding us. The name General Rokuro, they spoke with reverence, the kind that humans seem to reserve for their leaders. The northbound group was going to Sapporo, and they were going for research. The southbound group was going to Tokyo, and they were going to be delivered to someone called Arenro."
The shaman hissed, her eyes for a moment going flat with anger. "That kami-forgotten sorcerer. He has ways of controlling people--"
"They said something about crystals, to make us docile and cooperative."
She shook her head. "It makes no sense. Why breed us as if we were nothing more than animals? What possible use could we be to them? Other than the fact that we are especially lovely to be around. Mostly, if humans know what we are, they fear us. As well they should."
The other kitsune shrugged eloquently. "They want us to kill for them. They fear the Black Hand, and wanted something to counter that."
"That's...twisted. We may kill for sport, or for revenge, but at the command of a human? They call us evil, but I think they are blacker-hearted by far than us." She shook herself, and the anger faded from her eyes. "I'm sorry. Ever since I found out about what the Demonbane's been doing to our kind..." She sighed. "So. I've never heard of a male kitsune, not even in the legends. How did one such as yourself come to exist?"
"Twenty-two years ago, Emperor Nobunga captured a kitsune and then found a male human whose mother had been a kitsune. He starved my mother and then introduced the human to her, and as it turned out they were fertile together. Every day, Nobunga's wu jen and shugenja came and cast spells at my mother, changing her--and changing me, in her womb. By the time I was born, she was only human and I was kitsune." Ito stared down at the floor. "She died soon after I was born. I don't remember anything about her."
Reiko watched the other kitsune. She recognized what he was doing, pulling at her heartstrings. Yet his words had the ring of truth about them, even her finely tuned sense for liars unquivering at his presence. He is either very good or he is being honest. Perhaps both.
Ito took a breath and continued. "I was raised by Nobunga, until he was killed by Akechi. When Nobunga died, all of his prisoners went free. Including me. I was on my own for the first time in my life, and I didn't really know what to do. I managed to find the small group of kitsune only a week ago, and we were on the run. And then, the samurai came." The russet-haired kitsune looked up at her, the look on his face open and lost.
She resisted the urge to reassure him. "I wonder how many of us they have. We are very small in number, after Demonbane's slaughter of us."
"They said that those of us they captured were the last, other than Akechi's pet."
Reiko snarled, "Pet? Pet? Hmph. I dislike these people already, and I've never met them. Pet. Can you imagine? I'm no man's pet. But if they have all of us...that is very bad news."
"Yes, very bad, indeed. Thank you for the rescue, by the way. How is it you can stand to travel with those...things?" Ito gestured at the door, beyond which paced a pair of the Thrykeen.
She shrugged. "It's...difficult. Though they are amusing to tease. I like the mortals more than I fear the mantids, so on the balance, I stay around. And you should probably thank Tadaki for the rescue, more than me. He's not a bad sort, for a bird."
"You trust the shapeshifter?" His green eyes were puzzled. "Lady Reiko, you are very odd, for a kitsune."
She laughed without mirth. "You have no idea. And it's just Reiko. I have a title but I haven't used it in five centuries. To make a very long story short, I'm seven hundred years old at least, but I remember very little of my life. And kitsune and hengeyokai are more alike than different, both shapeshifters of different sorts."
He blinked, startled. "That makes you thirty times my age. We live that long?"
"We are immortal, Ito. Didn't you know? We can be killed, but we don't age and die."
He looked down at the floor again, long fingers playing with the hem of his robe. "No, they didn't tell me much. Just brought me victims."
Her voice was quiet, with a decided edge to it. Ito couldn't decide if the kitsune facing him was angry with him or with his captors. "They brought you people to kill. And you cooperated with them?"
"I could kill them kindly, or they could kill them brutally in front of me. I...couldn't stand to watch them suffer. So I did as they told me." The young kitsune's heart quailed at the look on Reiko's face. I really don't want her mad at me.
The older kitsune finally looked away from him, trying to compose herself. "Twisted, very twisted. Though I've done worse things, and with less provocation, but...how did you stand it?"
Ito shrugged. "As best I could. And if I killed them kindly, they didn't bother me. In the morning they would come and take the body away, and then they would teach me things."
"What sorts of things did they teach you? Not much kitsune lore, I gather."
"No, reading, writing, history and then after that, they taught me weapons, daggers, shuriken, poisons. Ambassador's names and those of their wives, political structure, clan membership and clan structure. Lineages of all clans and whose lines were small and vulnerable."
Reiko stared at him. "They were teaching you to be an assassin. Even if they never told you that's what they were doing." He nodded, acknowledging the truth of what she'd said. "Did they actually send you out on assignments?"
"No, never made it that far. I was about to go and be assigned to a person named Minaku but I was released before that happened."
"The leader of the Black Hand. They're sort of part of the Scorpion clan, if I'm reading the situation right. Oh!" A thought had startled the kitsune. "You shouldn't mention your profession in front of the samurai. She's sort of touchy about the subject, for some reason. Humans and their silly honor. In front of Panda, you're a librarian."
"Samurai can be annoying, can't they? Really. So inflexible."
"You have no idea how right you are. I have a weakness for the silly things, though. I married one, way back when. Frustrating but fascinating creatures, they are."
Ito gave her an odd look but didn't ask. "I was to disrupt the leadership of the Scorpion clan, so the Black Hand makes sense."
She nodded. "It does. So, Ito, what are your plans now? It's a dangerous world out there for foxes at the moment."
"I'm not sure, really. I wasn't expecting to live this long." He looked at her and for a moment Reiko caught a flash of cunning behind the general air of lostness he projected.
I'm not sure what you're planning, boy, but I can't really leave you behind. She sighed silently. "We currently have two of the leaders of the Hand with us. If you wanted, you could join them. I think I can talk Yukiko--that's the pregnant Lady--into letting you travel with us."
"I...I think that might be the best for me. If you'd be willing to have me along."
She eyed him, the model of innocence. I can't tell if he's just lonely and lost, or if he's got something else going on. I'd best keep him busy. "I, at least, would be delighted. Oh! One more question. Do you know how to feed without killing your prey?"
His surprise was immediate and genuine. "You can do that?"
She blinked at him. "Oh, dear. Yes. It's the preferred method of feeding among us, actually. You leave the humans alive and let them recover so they can come in useful, later. I've more or less had my run of the sailors here, and I haven't killed any of them yet. The humans get upset when you kill them. It's better all round to not kill unless you need to. It means you have to feed more often, but...I'm not complaining, really."
"How very odd." He grinned at her, looking more recognizably kitsune than he had since he'd changed. "Time with you might be exciting. In more ways than one." At that last, he let his eyes rove her body, letting her know exactly what he'd meant.
Reiko laughed at him. "I've got a lot to teach you before I can in good conscience let you loose among the general population, I can tell. I'd better teach you the trick of not killing your prey first of all." She eyed him speculatively, remembering exactly how attractive he'd been unclothed. "I fear that control while feeding is best taught, ah, by experimenting on someone who you can't kill accidentally."
"Who might that be?"
"Oh, right, I forgot, you've never been taught the lore. Kitsune can't drain each other to death. We just swap energy back and forth, like two vessels connected by a reed. Most of us have some instinctive control, but if you've only ever drained people to death, you may need a while to get a firmer grip on your abilities." She licked her lips, thinking. "If you're willing, I can be your teacher. I can sense when you're pulling from me, and I can teach you how to stop. We'll have to find someone who likes both genders and have you feed on the, as a sort of graduation exercise. As long as you're not too hungry."
"I fed well--oh, make it thirteen days ago, more or less. It'll be a bit before I'm in a bad way again." He tilted his head and looked at her with an intense gaze. "As for your offer, I would be...honored." Reiko thought that he'd been thinking another word before that last, but he probably didn't want to run the risk of offending her. Yet.
She frowned a little. "It is odd that you're male, you know. Not unpleasant, but odd."
His grin was swift. "Sorry. Born that way."
"I know, you can't help it. Anyway, excitement around here has mostly come in the form of people trying to kill us, lately. Your odds of survival are probably better with us, though. The others come in handy. Several of them have big swords, and the gryphon can fly."
"Nice. No wonder they are having trouble finding you."
"We keep moving. One step ahead of them. We cross and recross our trail to confuse them, but I think they may be starting to catch up." She shrugged. "Ah, well. I won't abandon my family."
Ito's voice was unexpectedly soft. "It's good to know a kitsune that is doing something, rather than hiding in the dark with the rest of us."
"The rest don't have human families to guard. We aren't meant to be hunted, Ito. We're meant to be feared, to be worshiped, to be sacrificed to. We are immortals, after all. We are kami. I can't stand the fact that our entire race could be killed like this, hunted down like...like mortals. The Thousand Tailed Lady weeps for us, at what we've become. Even if I can't do anything to set this right, I have to try."
The boy was silent before her passionate outburst. She smiled and recovered herself. "Sorry. It's been a long and frustrating few weeks. So many human politics, the reappearance of a very old blood enemy, being betrayed by my granddaughter, and so on. I'm a bit on edge. I suppose I should tell you about the rules I'm bound by. If you're going to travel with us, you'll need to honor them, as well.
"The first thing is the humans who travel with me are friends, not prey. Bedsport is fine, feeding on them is not. The sailors are fair game, though. Just don't kill them. Second is that I'm not to play any tricks that might harm those I'm traveling with. That's just common sense, since my--and, incidentally, your--survival depends on them liking me well enough to defend me when we're attacked. However, the Thrykeen are going to hate us no matter what, so I've been indulging myself by teasing them. And third, my loyalties lie with the Lady, and she comes first in anything I do. If you stay with us, we'll need you to swear yourself to her. I think that's about it."
He considered. "I can live with those, I think. Are you sure they'll let me stay?" Again that vulnerability, the uncertainty of his welcome.
Reiko smiled at him. Poor cub. He's never been loved, doesn't know what it's like. If he's telling the truth--and I don't have any reason to believe he's not, right now--he's never been around people who appreciated him for what he was. He's never tasted the power of being kitsune, he's only known slavery. He's young yet, though. There's time. "I'll find a way. After all, how much more trouble can two foxes be than one?"
His vulpine grin answered her own. Oh, this is going to be fun. "I suppose I should tell you about our companions before we meet them. The Lady Yukiko, the pregnant one, she's the leader. She's Akechi's wife, and we were assigned to guard her. Don't mess with her, she's smarter than she looks, and she's very cranky right about now. I remember what the last couple of months of pregnancy are like. The child she carries is my many-times-great-grandson. Jira's the midwife, she's a peasant woman we picked up in Akita. Yukiko's lady-in-waiting is Soshi Karasuko, she's one with the pretty mask.
"Panda's the white-haired samurai. I find her fascinating, but she went and got married last month and is insisting on being faithful, silly person. Anyway, she's assigned to Yukiko as her bodyguard, along with Haku, who's the one with the funny-looking armor who likes to throw people around. Funitsu's the pretty boy with the long hair, the one who looks like a noble. He's sort of an arrogant bastard, but I'm working on that. Anyway, he's a Clan Scorpion leader, and he owns the Black Hand. The one who always wears black kimono is Hiroshi, and he's in the upper reaches of the Black Hand. Those are the ones you'll need to talk to about joining the Hand. Hiroshi's an...archivist. At least, in front of the samurai, he is. One of those polite fictions that we keep up for the samurai's sake."
Ito, watching her, saw her flush a little at the mention of Hiroshi's name. Possibly nobody other than another kitsune would have seen it, but he did, and surmised that she liked this archivist, perhaps a little too well.
"Tomika's the pretty auburn-haired woman who's always complaining about something. Don't know what she's got to be so cranky about, she's married to Funitsu. Actually, on second thought, she's got every right to be irritated. Tadaki you've met, he's the hengeyokai. Nervous fellow. He controls the Thrykeen, so keeping on his good side is important. And Kittycat's the gryphon. He's very sweet, and flying is so much fun. The old wrinkled mortal is Winter. Nice fellow. Stronger than he looks."
She looked at Ito, and her eyes narrowed. "They are my mortals. Harm any one of them, and I will have the mantids bind you, deliver you to the Demonbane myself, and tell him to kill you very, very slowly." Ito didn't doubt she would do exactly that. Suddenly, the cloud over her features cleared, and she smiled brightly at him once more. "Shall we go introduce you and see if I can get the Lady to agree to having you come along?"
He nodded, and as they went out the door, Reiko found herself wondering, if males with kitsune blood were more fertile with kitsune than normal mortals, if an actual male kitsune would breed true. If we stop being killed by the Demonbane, he might be instrumental in getting our numbers back. If he turns out to be cooperative...we'll see.
She led him out into the courtyard, where the others waited for them.