Kitsune Chronicles chapter 8

In most warrior cultures
the men go to war and the women stay at home and tend to the
children. This isn't quite the case for Majeckidors. Males are
tasked with the combat but in that regard most other creatures are
just better armed or trained harder than the average Village Fox.
The real advantage comes in confusing and scaring opponents with
magic which is a skill that is inherent in Rabbits alone. After many
centuries of mixed breeding the power is shared to all creatures born
in the village but even to this day the Rabbits have the strongest
grasp of magic.

It's
not uncommon for most female rabbits to become mages or archers when
they felt needed on the field of battle. There are many skills a
rabbit is expected to take on to be an excellent member of the
village but one that is awarded the most highly is the mastery of the
magic. The more acute the mother is the easier it is for the
children to pick up on it. An unskilled female rabbit is a nightmare
that any parent would go to great lengths to avoid and even more so
would strive to have the best possible result one can have.

Kitsune
Chronicles

Chapter
eight act one

Shadow
in the Mirror

Jourton
Young was busy sparring alone. Trying to come up with new ways to
fight and use his powers but he was coming up short. Some wind based
attacks to knock down far away objects, the ability to strike
something and set it on fire, and being able to spray water at a
speed that would knock down the unprepared. It was nice but he was
running short on ideas and it didn't always win him his sparring
matches.

“Hmm,
what can I do now?” He says finally getting tired of hitting trees
and stones and everything else in his path. He drops to the ground
and crosses his legs putting his paw to his face as he tries his
hardest to tap an idea out of his noggin. “Think, think, think,
maybe, if I gave my abilities a cool name they would be more
effective! But I don't know what to name them.” Jourton said with
a shrug. “I'm too dumb for this; I need to find someone smart to
give me their ideas. I know who to talk too! But I don't know where
they live. I'll just follow them after school then, perfect idea!”
Jourton said ecstatically.

The
next day Jourton arrived to class on time very excited and amused.
He sat with a smile on his face looking attentive but actually lost
in his own thoughts. “Master Young?” Zheng said. “Huh?”
Jourton replied. “Do you know where the foreigners of Junko Beach
from?” She asked politely. “Uh, I wasn't listening. You should
ask Cammy instead.” Jourton said casually. Cammy was completely
struck by the suggestion and actually stalled to follow through.
“Ms. Koo, do you not know?” Zheng asked incredulously. She
snaps out of the confusion and quickly attends to the answer. “They
are migrants from the Northern Sea.” Cammy blurted. Zheng nodded
and continued the lecture.

Lunch
came on and Jourton phased past it more interested in sitting at the
table with Onin who was sitting there quietly as usual. “Onin!”
Jourton said loudly to draw her attention to him. She looked at him
with no particular expression on her face. Jourton slams the apple
in front of her and she looks at it and looks back at him. “I'm
gonna drop by your house after school.” He said with a big grin on
his face. Onin's stoic face broke as she clearly reacted to the
idea. Her paws fiddled and her eyes focused intentionally on
Jourton. “What purpose would you have in doing that?” She asked
her nervousness clearly heard to all but the one she was talking too.

“You
helped me out before. I figure you know this stuff better than
anyone. So you and I are going to hang out after class. Don't
worry. I'll make it worth your while. I'm bringing a bunch of
apples for you to eat!” Jourton said eagerly. “Jourton, I-I-”
Onin stutters. “I can't wait to see you there!” Jourton said as
he bounds away to his class. Onin sits quietly again just as before
but now with a different expression on her face, fear.

Dread
filled her as she silently walked home after school. She looked
around to see was if Jourton was indeed trailing her and she saw no
one. As she walked she expected him to show up at any time and yet
he did not. She arrived at her home. Every house in Sakura village
has lush plant life. A garden of varying levels of quality and of
course a dwelling where the creatures sleep and gather with its
appearance being thoughtfully maintained throughout the seasons.
This was not the case for Onin's house. Weeds have overtaken the
garden and stripped the life from the grass surrounding it. The
trees and shrubbery were warped and petrified. Their days of growing
leaves were far behind them. The house itself from the outside was
basically a shell. Holes and tears even more foliage covering it.

She
takes another look around. She doesn't see or hear anyone else. She
walks inside and closes the door behind her. She sits on a pile of
ripped and worn out cloth and lies down as she attempts to take her
mind off of things.

She
suddenly hears a rapping on the door. Her eyes open and she gets on
her feet. The rhythmic knocking happens again. The door is then
pushed open before she could react. It's Jourton with a sack of
apples on his back. “Sorry I’m late! I had to get directions,
and more apples.” Jourton said. He threw the sack of apples onto
the ground and stretched his back out. He looked around the area
with interest. “I've never been to your house before. It's even
dirtier than my place! That's pretty impressive for a girl!”
Jourton said as he touched the layer of dust on the furniture. Onin
looks at the sack of apples and looks back at him. “You should not
have come here. I have nothing of worth for you.” Onin said.
“Sure you do! You know Kitsune stuff! Remember? Awhile back you
told me some stuff about Kitsunes and I was like. Pretty impressed,
I totally came here to ask for your help. I need to learn more about
Kitsune stuff.” Jourton said. Onin searched inside her head for a
moment for an answer. “I don't know much more than the average
creature in this village. Surely you know of someone smarter than I
on the subject matter yes?” Onin said. “Nope, Siggy doesn't
really know anything.” Jourton said nonchalantly.

“There
is no else you can ask?” Onin said. “I know you. You're my
friend. You go to friend's first when one needs help. You'd come to
me if you needed my help right?” Jourton said with a bright smile.

Onin
slumped onto the floor and thought for a moment. “What would you
have of me Master Young?” Onin asked. “Please. It's Jourton,
and I told you already. I just want to know how I can get better at
using the Kitsune powers. I know a few moves but like. How many
moves do they know?” Jourton asked. Jourton sat on the ground and
scoot close to Onin's face. Onin was visibly uncomfortable but
didn't back away at the same time to regain space. “They were
elementals really. They weren't real creatures with blood; they
weren't born from the womb of a mother. They fell and rose to the
will of Freesia.” She said.

“Freesia,
I thought the Goddess was named Sakura?” Jourton said confused.
“The Kitsune were many and covered the land for every mile and in
every acre. Sakura's words could never be heard by all of them at
once but spoken to Freesia she could tell them everything Sakura had
said. Freesia was the mind of every Kitsune on Dea Dimora. Freesia
Begonia was the Kitsune conduit.” Onin said. “Really, I don't
actually remember ever hearing of her.” Jourton said as he tried
to think of the few things he remembered hearing in class. “Am I
Freesia?” Jourton asked. Onin looked at him quizzically.
“No...There is no definite Freesia.” Onin said. “Hm, I don't
know what that means. Do I have her powers? Can I command the
Kitsune?” Jourton asked. Onin shook her head. “That was
something only Freesia could do. You do what most other Kitsunes can
do.” Onin said. Jourton starts rubbing his head frantically.
“I'm getting nowhere! Onin! Stop messing around! Tell me what
you know!” Jourton yelled. Onin was visibly shaken by Jourton's
command. For once Jourton actually acknowledges the look on Onin's
face and rackets back a bit. “Um, I'm sorry. I just don't want to
fail my class. The others are starting to like me and stuff. I
don't want to let anyone down.” Jourton said sheepishly. Onin
looked at Jourton for a moment. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
“I. I will read up on it.” Onin said. Her eyes pointed to a
large book sitting on the remains of a book case. Among all the
books on the shelf this one seemed the only object in the house that
wasn't frozen in time or overwhelmed by decay.

Jourton
noticed the book and lit up. “Hey! I've seen one of those things
before!” Jourton said. Before Onin could comment he jumped over
to the books location. “This is the book right? Let's give it a
quick read I don't need to know too much.” Jourton said as he
reached out for it. “DON'T TOUCH THAT!” Onin yelled. The sound
of her voice at such a loud note was baffling and completely stunned
Jourton. Onin stood up and walked over to the shelf and grabbed the
book with Jourton still frozen in position. “I will read it for
you.” Onin said.

“That's
good. I don't know how to read.” Jourton said as he pulled
himself together. The book was large and seemed like it would weigh
quite a bit but Onin held it like it was a pile of feathers in her
grasp. “I guess that book's really important to you huh?”
Jourton asked. Onin looked at the book with a blank expression.
She then nodded in confirmation. Jourton sighed. “I guess that's
how it is for guys like us.” Jourton said. Onin looked at him
with a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?” Onin
asked. “When parents go off to parts unknown they only leave their
stuff behind. Taking care of all the boring stuff is boring but the
nice stuff that they shared with us is cool.” Jourton said. He
pulled out his stone dagger from his pants pocket. “My father has
a dagger just like this. It's much nicer looking though. He got it
from his father and there's another dagger from that guy's father and
so on. We have a ton of daggers. This one is mine. I'll pass this
down to my kid too one day. I only have one dagger though so if I
have two kids I'll have to give the second one something else.”
Jourton said.

Onin
looked at Jourton and looked back at the book. “I do not think we
quite share those things in common. My parents gave me this book as
a gift. We do not own a library of books of this kind.” Onin said
as she finally opened the pages of the tome and started thumbing
through it. “Really, could have fooled me. I mean sure that one
isn't all dusty looking but that's the case at my house too. The
only dagger that isn't dusty is my father's dagger as he's still
using it.” Jourton said as he looked at the bookcase. He picks a
book out of the shelf and starts making faces in the dust with his
paws.

After
a minute or so of playing with the dusty books and the dust itself he
looks over at Onin. She's mumbling to herself in an odd and frenetic
manner. The pages practically turned themselves as she doesn't move
a single paw to do so.

“Did
you find what we're looking for? We don't need to read the whole
book like I said. Just look for the cool Kitsune stuff.” He said
as he walked over to her. He kneels down to her side. She acts as
if he isn't even there. Jourton whistles into Onin's ear to get her
attention. She doesn't respond. “Ah I get it, Very funny Onin.”
Jourton said with a smirk. He motions his paw over the book to
block Onin's vision and in a blink of an eye she grabs his wrist.
Jourton jumps at the sudden grab and tries to pull his arm free only
to have Onin tighten it on him. She looks at him. Her eyes glowing
red her breathes, audible and coarse.

Jourton
struggles as he feels like hand getting harshly squeezed. “Onin,
let go! Please, Onin!” Jourton pleaded. Onin's deadly gaze and
grip loosen where upon Jourton flings himself away. He grabs his
wrist which is now causing him great pain. Jourton darts out of the
house leaving Onin alone.

The
next day Jourton was not seen in his morning class and most of lunch
went by without him being seen. Onin sat alone. Sullen and quiet,
she looked at the ground where upon an apple rolled into her vision.
She looked up and saw Jourton with his wrist in a brace. He picked
the apple up and tried rubbing it with his still hurt wrist.
“Jourton I-” Onin said. “I'm sorry about what I did to ya
there. I stressed you out. That was wrong of me. I was desperate
and put you in a weird place. That's not what friends do to each
other, if we are still friends.” Jourton said with a sad look on
his face as he hands her the apple. She held it in her hand and
looked at Jourton. She then took a bite from the apple, skin and
apple and chewed it and upon swallowing she smiled and said. “Let
me tell you what I learned about the Kitsunes.” She said to
Jourton whose face was brightened by Onin's display.