Kitsune Kiyo

Chapter One: Gun Point

“Kiyo ... I wish this meeting were under different circumstances... really, I do” She said as she held him at gunpoint. The tears were rolling off her face now and it was obvious that, under any other circumstance, she would not be doing what she was about to.

“Please...please, don’t make me do this...” She was no longer speaking to the scrawny boy that stood only twenty yards from the barrel of her pistol, “Father, dammit, please don’t make me kill him. He doesn’t deserve this cruel treatment!” Her father, Emperor Neimu, was standing behind her, surrounded by three burly guards.

“Kenmu, I will not ask you again, I’m telling you, under penalty of lashings, kill him now!”Her father was becoming angered ever more-so at the thought of his daughter feeling anything other than disgust and disdain for the pathetic creature that stood before them. Kenmu was a fine looking young lady of about fifteen, she had grown up in the Emperor’s palace in Japan, the Emperor, of course, being her father. Her mother had raised her to be kind and compassionate behind the Emperor’s back, for he was a cruel and vicious man. Now she was being forced to kill the only true friend she had ever had, all the others had only liked her for her power and wealth. The Emperor was becoming infuriated now and was pushing ever harder and ever more violently that she kill the boy. She decided then, when her father said he would announce her a national enemy if she did not kill him that she would, indeed, pull the trigger. And so she did, the pistol’s barrel, however, was not pointing at the boy when she did. It was pointing at herself, and as her last bit of life faded from her body she told the boy: “Now would be a good time to run...” And so he did ... for the next fifty years.

Chapter Two: Shadows of a fox’s past

“Kazuma!” The girl yelled “Hey, Kazuma! Wake up already, will ‘ya?” Finally she gave up on yelling and began her hunt for the mini fog horn that she kept handy for when Kazuma fell into one of her notorious deep sleeps. “Aha! There you are you little bd.” she exclaimed as she seized it off the desk that was situated beside the bedroom door. She plugged up her good ear with her left hand and pressed the little button on top of the tiny contraption. It made a horribly loud noise, much like that of a banshee when you drop a book on it’s foot. Needless to say, Kazuma woke with a start. In fact, she right fell out of her bed. Zoshi could not help but laugh.

“What the hell is so funny, huh?!” Kazuma was not a morning person.

“Ha-ha. Sorry sis, but you were in one of those ‘moods’ again” A ‘mood’ was what they called it when Kazuma would have a deep sleeping spell.

“Oh. That’s unusual.”said she

“How do you figure?” Asked her sister inquisitively as she sat down beside her.

“Well,” started Kazuma “This is the third time this week, usually my ‘moods’ only happen about once a month. Don’t you think that to be strange?”

“Yeah, I guess so,but...” she paused

“But?” Kazuma inquired

“It’s time for school now, so get dressed will ‘ya?” Zoshi smiled and got up to leave the room while Kazuma glared after her.

Fifteen minutes later Kazuma was downstairs bolting her breakfast in order to catch the bus on time. With a mouthful of pop-tart she waved goodbye to her older sister and, by some miracle, made to the bus on time. She was wearing a black and grey double-sleeve ocean pacific shirt that had pentacle in the middle and khaki JeanCo. mock army pants and her signature dragon necklace. She’d had the necklace since before she could remember, her sister said their mother had given it to her before she disappeared. So, sporting this attire, she boarded the bus, number one sixty-eight.

“Good morning, Kazuma.” Her bus-driver, Mrs. Koreen, always greeted Kazuma with a smile and a ‘good morning’.

“Good Morning ma’am.” This was Kazuma’s automated response, despite how upset or unsettled she was. Kazuma then preceded to take her seat by Rei, one of her good friends.

“Something troubles you” Rei was highly perceptive, if that’s what you wanted to call it.

“Good morning to you, too, Rei-sama.” responded Kazuma. Rei’s response was to stare unblinkingly into Kazuma’s forehead until Kazuma was convinced Rei had actually bored a hole right through it.

“Okay, Kazuma, what’s up?” When Rei said ‘what’s up’ it was not a common slang phrase, she was referring to the burden on Kazuma’s mind.

“Up? N-nothing is up. I mean, Ha, what could possibly be up with me? Heh heh.” Not very convincing, she knew, but nothing convinced Rei ... ever. Just as Rei was about to retort, the bus door opened at an unusual corner. The bus had never stopped here before, and it was thought that it never would. A young boy boarded the bus and handed the driver his bus-slip. He seemed accustomed to this sort of action. Kazuma could tell that the driver was going over her ‘we have assigned seats on this bus’ speech with him. At this rate they would never make it to the high school on time. She knew what she had to do, so, she did it.

“Mrs. Koreen?” she said as she stood up.

“Why, yes, Kazzy?” Kazuma’s eye twitched, she hated that nickname. Kazuma cleared her throat.

“Mrs. Koreen, why don’t you give him the seat next to Rei and myself and I can explain all the rules to him myself? That way we could all get to school on time.” She made sure to put the emphasis on the on time part, though it would have been an act of god if Mrs. Koreen had picked up on it.

“Why, Kazzy! That would be a wonderful idea!” Kazuma hated Americans. They always felt like they had to treat the foreign kids different, better. Like they weren’t well off. “All right son,you can just mozy on back there to where is and park your pretty little Jappy honey right there beside her an’ Rei-rei. Okay Sweety?”The way she talked made Kazuma want to hurl. Then she thought how the poor guy must have felt, being talked down to and belittled like that on his first day of school. Eeesh.

The boy started his way back towards Kazuma and Rei. He stopped before Kazuma and said: “Ohayo Gozaimasu, Kazuma-kan, watakushi desu Satoki, Kiyo.” This at least concluded for Kazuma that she really did look as Japanese as she was. Luckily, her sister had taken the liberty of teaching her the she replied: “Ohayo Gozaimasu, Kiyo-sama. Ogenki desu ka?” Kiyo smiled. It was a sweet smile, the smile of a man who is kind a gentle, but also that of one who has seen so much sadness and tragedy in his life, that he cannot be anything but patient and forgiving. This is how she came to the conclusion of his magnanimousness.

‘I’m fine, thank-you. Kazuma, was it? Have we ... met before?” His eyes glinted and were as beautiful as the shining sun.

Chapter Three: School

“Well, shit”Akuyei said, looking at her new schedule. They had just come back from the Christmas holiday, even though very few people in the school celebrated Christmas.” This semester is going to be freaking Hell.” She flipped the paper over so Rei and I could see. It was definitely going to be the semester from Hell for her. I’d had some those teachers before the Christmas holiday, the others I knew by reputation. It was after Akuyei and Rei and I had compared schedules and found that we all had forth period together that I noticed Kiyo standing by the staircase looking rather lost and confused. He reminded me, somewhat, of the character Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin. He was cute, in an idiotic sort of way, and incredibly thin and bony. His body almost didn’t look strong enough to support itself he was so frail in appearance. I wondered how long it had been since He last ate something. So, being the inquisitive fool that I am, I decided to ask him.

“Hey, Kiyo!” He turned to see who had called, “Kiyo, hey, um, do you need any help finding your classes, ‘cause, y’know, I can help you ... if you want.” Wow. I hadn’t really gotten to see how tall he was on the bus, but now that I was standing close to him, and him towering over me a good three inches ( and myself being six feet tall), I was getting a pretty good idea. I could feel Rei’s mind prodding my own, trying to figure what I was doing, damned psychic. So I sent her a mind surge, and considering the fact that I heard her yell out in pain, I sent a pretty strong one.

“Arigato. That would be very nice of you, but” His smile changed to a look of concern “would it not be difficult for you if our classes do correlate?” I hadn’t thought about that. Our highschool was huge. It had two campuses that were two stories each.

“Hmm. Let me see your schedule” He handed it to me, and I looked at it and compared it to my own (which also had Rei and Akuyei’s written on it now). It was almost a perfect match! ... The schedule, I mean. In our school district we have seven classes with no block scheduling. Kiyo and I shared five of these seven classes, and in the classes He and I did not, He was with either Rei or Akuyei. This was perfect! Especially because at the beginning of every semester we get to choose where we want to sit.

“Ha! Doesn’t look like our classes having to correlate will be much of a problem.” I think this confused Kiyo “Um... Here, look at my schedule... We have five out of seven classes together, and the classes we don’t, your with one of two of my friends, Rei or Akuyei.” This bit of information made his smile come back.

“Rei, she is the girl who was sitting next to you on the bus, correct?” His grammar was awesome.

“Yes, she is.” Okay, so mine wasn’t that bad either

“But, I don’t believe I have met your friend Akuyei.” Nope, he hadn’t, but he was about to.

“Well then, allow me to introduce you... Follow me.” So he did and we soon came upon my friends, who were still waiting for me by the art room. Akuyei was the first to notice Kiyo and myself.

“Wow, Kazuma. First day back from break and your already racking in the hotties.” I hoped that was sarcasm.

“I’m not ‘racking in’ anything, Akuyei. This is Kiyo, He’s new here and he needs someone to show him where all his classes are.”

“Hola, Kiyo.” Akuyei was the only Spanish-speaking Japanese person I knew. Okay so I take that back, there was also Mihara, who’s father was Cuban and who’s mother was Japanese. Hence, she was half Japanese and she spoke Spanish... sort of. A voice called out from the Crowd.

“Heya guys! Wait for me, don’t forget the midget!” It was Frankie. Frankie was another one of my friends. He was about four-foot-eleven, hence the title ‘midget’. He had a reputation for being prankster and a practical joker. He was also incredibly sarcastic.

“Eee-yeew! It’s Akuyei! Hey kid,” He was referring to Kiyo, “Run away before you catch her disease, it’s highly contagious!” Akuyei’s face was turning red with fury and one could see the veins in her forehead.

“And, what disease is that, may I ask?” Kiyo was using a bit of his own sarcasm, He even seemed to be somewhat amused.

“Stupidity! Ha!” Frankie exclaimed as he took off running, Akuyei close on his heels. I could hear her shouting at him all the way down the hall:

“Get back here you stupid little monkey!”

Our little group of friends broke to go to class and later met up for lunch. Most of us had the same lunch. It was Myself, Kiyo, Rei, Akuyei, Mihara, Frankie, and Sesshou (A.K.A. Yami) and her boyfriend, Seth. Shao-shao, Sindairu, Lade, Alycia, and her boyfriend Sam, and Sammy all had second lunch. After lunch we all went back to our various classes and got through the rest of the day without any bomb threats or bathroom fires or even any fights, which was really quite surprising, since something like that happens almost every week at our school, and being that we just got back from break, it was almost sure that something would happen today. But, alas, it did not. Since we went back to school after Christmas break on a Friday, We didn’t have to worry much about homework. The bus ride home was quiet, and I was glad that Mihara had not tried to kill herself that day.

Chapter Four: Saturday night (two weeks later)

I was on my way to pick up Kiyo for the movie my friends and I had planned for that night. We were going to go see ‘The Grudge’. It was supposed to be really scary, perfect for the girls who had boyfriends. Not like I was in that group, I mean, Kiyo was just a friend ... right? What was I thinking, of course Kiyo was just a friend, I’d only known the guy for like two weeks! Oy. Sometimes I scare myself. I stopped my truck where the bus had done so when picking up Kiyo. No one was there. That was odd, Kiyo had said he would wait there for me. I put my truck in park, turn it off and put on the parking break. I then preceded to get out of the truck and stood before the large rusted iron gate that led, I hoped, to Kiyo’s house. I pushed on the gate and it opened, I guessed that was my cue to come in, so I did. The whole property was severely overgrown with every sort of vegetation imaginable. As I started up the dirt road that was used maybe twenty years ago, I noticed a figure coming towards me. There was a fog covering the place, so I just assumed it was Kiyo. I ran towards the figure, and when I was only twenty yards away called Kiyo’s name. The figure startled.

“What th’...” He didn’t get to finish on account of my misjudging the distance and running straight into him. Only the ‘him’ wasn’t Kiyo. He was about six-foot-six and had jet back hair that went to his lower back. Though his eyes and body frame were much like that of Kiyo’s, all except for the color. Kiyo’s skin was light tan and his hair and eyes were a sandy orange color. This man’s skin was a medium dark tan and his eyes were purple/black. Everything about him seemed darker than Kiyo. He looked to be about twenty, and he wasn’t quite as bony as Kiyo ( I know because I smacked into him). I turned to run, but he grabbed my arm and demanded I tell him what I was doing there.

“Who are you?! How the HELL did you get in here?! Tell me!” He was infuriated that I had gotten in.

“Sir, I just came through the front gate, I’m here to pick up Kiyo so we can go see a movie with my friends.” I tried to keep my cool, but I knew I sounded a little panicked. His expression turned to fright.

“ The... front gate, you say... Impossible! There is no possible way you could have come through that gate.” He was in complete disbelief, though I had no idea why.

“ I’m sorry, sir, but it’s true. See? That’s my truck parked in front.” The fog had cleared now and he looked to where I had pointed. When he saw the open gate his grip loosened on me. I took the opportunity to get loose, He didn’t seem to notice, or even if he did he didn’t care. A voice came from behind.

“ Kazuma? Is that you?” I turned, it was Kiyo, “Kazuma ... how did you get in here?” His expression was not much different than the other man’s. It was an expression of shock and disbelief.

“Through the front gate.” How many times was I going to have to repeat myself? “Then this creep showed up.” I said, referring to he other man. This made him chortle.

“Ha-ha. Here that Mira? Now you’re a creep. What was it the last person you grabbed called you? A perverted cross-dressing freak of nature? Ha-ha.”They obviously knew each other.

“You needn’t remind me, little brother. And just so we are clear, she ran into me.” The man retorted. I had no idea Kiyo had a brother, but then again, he probably had no idea I had a sister.

“Um... Kiyo? We kind of have to go if we want to catch the others before the movie.” I’m not one for being late, and we had already wasted enough time here.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I had to ...” he paused, “take care of something. We can go now. Later Mira.”.

And with that He began leading me away. Once we were out of earshot (which was practically at my truck) I asked him:

“Kiyo, who was that?” I still wasn’t quite sure ‘Mira’ was really Kiyo’s brother. Kiyo smiled.

“Hm? Mira?” I nodded “That was just my older brother. His full name is Satoki Mirashai. But anyone who knows him calls him Mira. It’s short and simple.” He explained. “He doesn’t like it much when people enter our home without him knowing.” This did not make sense to me. I had not entered their home, I had only traveled about a hundred yards up their road. Heck, I didn’t even know if there was a house in that overgrown jungle of a place. But I decided I had better apologize anyway. We got into the truck and began to drive off.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize it was that big a deal, I mean,” I was getting a little down-hearted now. “I was only coming to pick you up. It’s not like I was going to vandalize your house or anything like that.” And I wasn’t either. I looked over at Kiyo. He looked as if he had just seen the love of his life murdered before his eyes. “...Kiyo, are you okay...”

“I’m sorry... It’s not your fault. Mira, my brother, is just, well, paranoid, I guess. I’ll explain it later. Right now we should be glad, for we are going to the movies with our friends. By the way, what are we going to see?” Hoo boy. Time to work that god-given gift of mine called sarcasm.

“Well first we’re going to go ‘see’ Rei and Alycia, since we have to pick them up. But if your referring to the theater, we’re going to see ‘the grudge’” Not my best work, but it was okay. At least it made him laugh ... sort of.

“Ha-ha. Do I detect sarcasm?” Damn he was perceptive. It was almost like having a guy version of Rei, minus a hundred I.Q. points or so. Kiyo was just too happy-go-lucky to be a psychic, like Rei was. As this stream of thoughts came to close we pulled up into Alycia’s driveway. Unlike Kiyo or myself, Alycia lived in a neighborhood. Kiyo and myself both lived on separate acre lots. Mine in particular was a seven acre block, containing one house (mine), a barn, my sister and myself, and (on occasion) our father who was always away on business (or so he said), and our livestock. I parked the truck and started towards Alycia’s door, and (as always) she came running out before I was even halfway there.

“Hiya guys!” said she, beginning with her usual greeting, “Guess what?” Kiyo, who had obviously never heard her incredibly old joke before, asked in his naiveness:

“What?” And, as per usual, Alycia answered:

“Chicken butt!” Kiyo obviously didn’t get it. I came to this conclusion based on him wrinkling up his pretty face into a confused sort of glare. All this while Alycia was cracking up at her own joke. She was the only one who ever did when it came to ‘chicken butt’. But we didn’t have time for this.

“Alycia, get in the truck.” She hated it when I was serious. She always said:

“Oh! Your such a party pooper, Kazuma!” and I always stuck my tongue out at her. Okay so it was kind of childish, but what else could I do? If I told her to shut it, she’d get all sad and mopey. So, by now I had managed to get both Kiyo and Alycia back in the car without getting a ticket for ‘disturbing the peace’, which I thought was a significant accomplishment, and we were on our way to pick up Rei. I knew not to pull into Rei’s drive, since she have known the exact time we would show up anyway and would be on the drive waiting. Therefore, I pulled the truck up in front of the drive and Alycia opened the door for Rei to climb in. Finally, we made our way toward the movie theater. When we arrived, after the most disturbing discussion I have ever heard about hotdogs, I could make out the figures of Mihara and Sesshou waiting for us (w/ their boyfriends - Sam was there too). I parked the truck (yet again) and we went to meet up with them. Mihara was the first to speak.

“ Ah! So you didn’t crash and die. Damn, looks like I loose that bet.” Joy, more sarcasm.

“Ha-ha! Yay, money for me!” Now it was Sesshou’s turn. “Guess I forgot to tell you that Rei called to tell me they would be a little late. Oops.” This was getting just a little annoying.

“Why, you little...” Mihara play punched Sesshou and they both began cracking up. Another voice came from behind Seth.

“Heya guys.” It was Akuyei “Sorry I’m late, did I miss much?” Akuyei, being relatively more responsible than the rest of us, was official keeper of the tickets. “Here are all of your tickets...” She handed out our tickets too us. “... now would be a nice time to, y’know, pay me back.” We all laughed and gave her the money to reimburse her for the tickets. After everyone had chatted for a good ten minutes or so (we had agreed to meet twenty minutes before the movie started) we went inside to get food and watch ‘the grudge’. Everyone except for Mihara, Sesshou, and Alycia bought food. They didn’t have to buy anything since their boyfriends bought it for them. Kiyo offered to get me something, but, being as self-conscious as I am, I declined. Though I was kind of sorry for it afterward ‘cause it made Kiyo look as though he felt a little downhearted.

“C’mon you guys!” Alycia urged “The movies about to star- aaarh!” Sam was tickling her hand again. It was supposed to be one of those ‘lovey’ gestures, but to me, it was just annoying. Maybe that’s why I didn’t have a boyfriend, ‘cause ‘lovey’ gestures annoyed me and, believe me, I wasn’t shy about stating this. Of course, I have a bit of a reputation for breaking up with my boyfriends, instead of them breaking up with me. Men don’t seem to like it much when women perform a dominant act. Damned machoistic, chauvinistic pigs. Ah well, guess you can’t fix nature, can you? So, after being severely annoyed by Sam’s disgusting habits, we found our seats in the theater and waited for the movie to begin.

Our group took up nearly an entire row in the tiny theater. We were situated as close to the middle as we could get (less people are likely to try and sit by you that way), but there was still only one or two seats left on either side of us. Mateo was the farthest to the right with Mihara sitting to the left of him; after Mihara was Sesshou and next to her was Seth. Kiyo was sitting next to Seth, and I was next to Kiyo. After me was Akuyei, then Rei, Alycia, and lastly, Sam. Somehow Kiyo and myself had managed to get into the middle of our little group in the madness of finding a seat. From experience I can tell you, it’s not a good thing to be in the center of a group (especially your friends) with a boy (especially when your not going out with him ... but want to). I can honestly say I have never wanted to go out with a boy before. When they offer, I just say yes for the hell of it. But that was not the case with Kiyo, he was hot and kind. Neither of which any of the guys are at our school. Your damned lucky if you can find a decent looking one with a conscience. So, anyway, there we were, the bunch of us sitting in the movie theater. The lights - which were dim in the first place - began to dim and the ‘feature presentation’ slide flickered upon the screen. The movie began.

‘The grudge’ was about half over by this time and, I must say, I was getting pretty freaked by it. ... Okay so I was scared witless. What can I say, I don’t do well with scary movies. Kiyo, on the other hand didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. Either he really liked scary movies, or he was one hell of a cold person. Though it did seem to concern him that I was so freaked about it. The only other people who got freaked by scary movies were Alycia, Sam, and Sesshou. But Sam and Alycia could huggle and be scared out of their wits together, and Sesshou had Seth to be there with her. Akuyei and Rei were cold people in general, so nothing much bothered them, while Seth and Mateo liked horror flicks. On account of Mihara’s life itself being a horror story, she was pretty indifferent about the whole thing. Eventually, I could feel the arm rest separating me and Kiyo rising and his arm snaking itself around me. Luckily we were the dark theater when he did this, as opposed to somewhere light, so no one could see my cheeks turn beet red. Despite the now ruddy complexion my face was wearing, I was comfortable - in an awkward kind of way - Kiyo was incredibly bony, even through his shirt and jacket. By the end of the movie we were held tight together, half by our arms, and half by the letterman jacket hooked over one of each of our shoulders.

Chapter Five: A Discovery

It was Sunday, the day after the movie excursion. My sad excuse for a life was actually taking a change for the better. Today was the day I would ask out Kiyo! I know it’s generally guys who ask out girls, but then again, ask me if I care. I got out of bed and put on my indigo blue jeans and ‘varsity team’ double sleeve shirt and went down stairs. Zoshi was at the table eating her morning bowl of Kashi cereal. When I passed by her without even snagging a muffin off the plate in the center of the table, she knew something was up.

“And just where, might I ask, does my little sister think she is going this early in the morning?” She asked, turning in her chair. I stopped and faced her.

“Okay, one: it’s eight thirty-four - that’s not early; and two: Where I’m going is none of your business.” I really wanted to go see Kiyo, and she was slowing me down - hence, I was pissed.

“Ooh. Scary, little sis caught an attitude.” out of everyone I knew, no one could match my sister when it came to sarcasm. “So, where exactly are you going? Just for the sake of being a nosey, badgering elder sister.”

“ If you simply must know, I’m going to Kiyo’s.” I hoped the emphasis on must would get her off my case. No such luck.

“Kiyo?” Zoshi scrunched up her face at the mention of his name. “That scruffy little kid?” She took a moment to look me over from head to toe. “Aren’t you going to wear something nicer than that? Unless, of course, your going riding.” When she said riding, she was referring to our horses, which would not be a bad idea. Considering the fact that we lived in southeast Texas (fifteen miles south of Houston) it wasn’t that uncommon to see couples, ur...people riding down the side of the highway. I smirked.

“Not a bad idea.” and with that, I was gone. I saddled two of the horses and loaded up the saddle bags with some lunch foods and horse feed. I decided to take Shiloh and allow Merle for Kiyo. Shiloh was essentially my horse, seeing as how he was the first horse our family had ever gotten. I had brought out Merle for Kiyo because she was the most gentle horse in our herd, and I had no idea how much he had ridden before, if at all. I tied Merle’s rein to the roping loop on the back of Shiloh’s saddle and headed down the road.

Kiyo’s house was only about a mile or so away from mine, about a half a mile the way the crow flies. It took us (me and the horses) about ten minutes to get there. Once there, I tied the horses to the gate post and went through the front gate. Halfway down the road I ran into Mira. I think by now he had gotten used to my coming through that gate, though it obviously still deeply disturbed him.

“Front gate again?” He asked as I walked by. It was actually more like a growl the way he said, but none the less.

“How ever did you guess.” was my reply. Instead of making him laugh, the way it would have with Kiyo, it only made him growl all the more. For all his growling I managed to pick up little tid-bits such as:

“...Repair the ward...” and “...damned little demon bitch...” if he was referring to me, I wanted to know on what grounds he was speaking.

I finally came to the door of Kiyo’s house after what seemed like an eternity. It was a large house, but it was made to look small by the mass of forest that surrounded it. I knocked on the door using the huge iron knocker in the form of a nine-tailed fox that hung on the oak wood door. Six seconds passed. Twelve seconds. Thirty. My heart was pounding. The door opened. I held my breath and closed my eyes.

“Who’re you?” I opened my eyes and took in a sharp gasp of breath, thus causing me to gag. When I had recovered, I searched for the voice that had inquired my name. Seemingly, there was no one there.

“Hoya! Lady! Down here!” I looked down at the whiney child’s voice, and found what looked like a young boy with a goats lower extremities. Luckily, the child had on a tunic-like outfit on with an Irish-style sash. My eyes got uber wide and for a moment I felt like I was going to faint.

“Uh... I’m uh, Ka ..” I swallowed “Kazuma. My name is Kazuma.” I said this last bit with finality. The goat-kid seemed to understand this and his face lightened into a wide grin. He turned on his left heel and yelled into the depths of the house.

“Hoy! Kiiiiii-yoooo!” The goat-kids call echoed for a minute or so, and then - somewhere from the right another call came.

“Honya? What is it Yagiru?” Kiyo came from around the corner. My heart stopped and my face turned beet red. I hid my eyes with the ends of my bangs to avoid having to make eye contact with the might-as-well-be-naked Kiyo who had on only a short white terry-cloth towel that covered only his ‘special parts’. Yagiru smiled ever-more broadly.

“Kiyo-san your girlfriend’s here. You don’t plan on going out with her like that do you?” Yagiru snickered. Kiyo was so embarrassed that he actually became genuinely mad. I could even see the veins in his forehead.

“Dammit, Shuddap Yagiru!” With that he marched away to some odd corner of his home. After Kiyo had disappeared into his home Yagiru invited me in, and I accepted. Kiyo’s home was beautifully decorated with wood craft pieces. I sat down on a woven branch sofa that was covered with a thatch cushion. All of the furniture in his home appeared to be hand made. After several minutes of admiring Kiyo’s home and furniture, he entered the room from a sliding door near the back underneath a great boar’s head. He was wearing tan loose-fitting jeans and a brown ocean pacific long-sleeve shirt. But there was something different about him that left me in a frozen gawking stare. He looked at first to see if there was something behind him and then to see if something was on his shirt. After doing these two things he looked to Yagiru for an answer to my puzzling stare. Yagiru, being the loudmouth that I was quickly learning he was answered his look.

“You forgot to put your ‘ears’ away.” He was referring to the fox ears poking out of either side of Kiyo’s head through his sandy-orange hair.

“Oh shit.” Said Kiyo, a look of terror spreading across his sly features.

Chapter six: What to do? A chapter from Kiyo’s point of view.

She fainted. Just like that she fainted. Though I do not suppose I could have expected much else. After all, Yagiru was probably the first demon she had ever seen, then she had to see me in a towel, and now she finds out that I am, as well, a demon. I really could not blame her for passing out, not really. All the while the thoughts were going through my mind Yagiru was making suggestive comments that I do not believe he wholly understood. Eventually I could no longer take his perverted adolescent taunting.

“Yagiru, will you please shut-up?!” I said to him firmly, but without yelling or raising my voice “otherwise, I will have to tell Mira about you-know-what.” To be honest, I did not know-what, but as long as Yagiru thought I knew-what I could bribe him. In reaction to my threat Yagiru’s face turned a sickly yellow-white and he promised to cease with his rude commentary.

After several minutes of arguing incessantly with Yagiru, Kazuma began to regain consciousness. Both Yagiru and myself fell silent when she sat up.

“What the hell happened?” I was not entirely sure if I should laugh at this statement that was ever so boldly put forth by Kazuma or to take it seriously. Before I was decided she continued in her speaking. “Ha-ha. Must’ve been a weird dream. Kiyo couldn’t be a ...” It was then that I believe Kazuma realized Yagiru and myself were standing beside her. She looked at me in an awkward fashion. The silence was unbearable, I had to break it.

“So what do you think of all of this ... he-heh.” I gave the most innocent smile i could muster while scratching the back of my head like a fool.

“Well...damn. You really are a demon... that’s cool ... in it’s own awkward little way.” Yes. It was true, I really was a demon. She just did not have any idea how much of a demon I was, but I thought she had already had enough trauma to last her for a while - at least the rest of the day.

“So, demon-boy...” We stared at each other for a moment or two, and then... “wanna go fishing?” The abrupt bluntness of her statement caused me to fall flat on my face. We all laughed. The goat, the fox, and the girl, all three of us laughing together, like nothing about any one of us was at all different. Oh, how I wished it could stay like that forever, but- knowing from experience- it could not. For people do not change.