It seemed that the Usagi had lived in happiness forever. They always smiled; always laughed. For them, life seemed perfect. Maybe because, it was perfect. All of them were beautiful creatures with perfect, ashen gray coats, small, long, perfect, velvety ears, and perfect, twitching, pink, button noses. They even had wonderful feathered wings that they could use to fly with. The Usagi had everything they could ever want, and they lived a life of simplicity that had lasted for generations.

Not too far away, the Kitsunes lived in happiness as well. Their kingdom was lush and rich, and due to the ages of Kitsune knowledge, they lived in a unique harmony of their own. They were noble creatures, with a doggish face, wise slanted eyes, pointed ears, and flawless white fur. The Kitsunes lived in prosperity, and it was not unusual for them to be decorated with jewels that, in other cultures, only royalty would have worn.

All the Kitsunes and the Usagi were very happy, and although they both had a lot of rules for the way they had to live their lives, they didn’t mind. Peace reigned throughout the ages, and in order for both of the civilizations to continue to live in happiness forever, an eternal law had been made. No Kitsune or Usagi could ever meet.

The morning of one of the greatest days in Kitsune history had finally arrived – the eleventh generation of the eleventh deity. The eleventh offspring of the eleventh ruler was to be born on this very morning. In the streets, vendors were simply giving out wares. The whole town seemed to be in celebration. Confetti flew through the air, and glitter decorated the ground. Music wavered wondrous tunes in gallant arrays of stylizations. Today, people seemed to be happier than ever. Knowing that soon the prophecy would be fulfilled, the Kitsunes could spread their great happiness to all in the world. It was destined, that through his hands, the entire world would be brought to light and contentment. And, the name of their prodigy to be? Yukio.

However, in the Usagi realm, still not too far away, they were also celebrating the birth of a very important child; one that had been born late that very night. Long had it been foretold that a kindle would be born of a strange coloration. Not gray like every other, but of the purest ebony with white ears and paws. It was presaged that this child would bring luck and grace to all who came after. Finally the day had arrived. And her name was Kin.

As the two grew up they knew nothing of each other, after all, who would care about a Usagi or a Kitsune, if they never had to deal with one? But as they both continued to grow, the adventurous bits of their personalities began to cultivate. Soon, it wasn’t enough for them just to know what lay outside their walled-in realms. They wanted to see it for themselves. This curiosity was left to fester, due to the laws binding and dividing the kingdoms. The first thing that led to the downfall of them both, was done only four years after Kin had appeared. The law was broken, by a very inquisitive, cream-colored Kitsune.

Yukio looked back at the walls that surrounded his only home for four years. It was almost a relief to leave it. He loved his mother and father, yes, but he had always wondered what lay out there, and now that he was standing in it, he knew. Even though he always had known that the trees that brushed against the walls were part of a large forest, Yukio wanted to know what lay beyond them, and even what lay beyond that.

He had always dreamed of being able to do many things like, being able to play with other kids his own age, rather than doing combat training. He wanted to know what it was like to fly like the birds that his father made sing him to sleep every night. He was desperate to know what else was out there. He had heard of far off lands, but he had never been able to see them. How was he to know that they were really real?

There was no turning back now. It had been hard enough for the prince to slip away in the dead of night, with all the people celebrating his fourth year of birth. He stepped forward, placing a small, shaky paw uncertainly on the ground, almost as if he imagined the very ground was about to swallow him up. He took another small step, gained more confidence, and leapt from the ground, bolting forward to wherever his feet would take him.

Kin stared out her window. She had everything a Usagi could ever want, but still, she yearned for something more. She had no clue for what, but she knew exactly for what not. She did not want to be bound to Kane, her betrothed. It wasn’t as if she had a choice. Her mother and father never listened to her, even when she was right.

She turned, looking into the mirror shard that was propped up against her wall, before licking her paw and rubbing down the sloppy, black fur in between her ears. She pouted at the mirror, turning her spite onto her own reflection. They told her she couldn’t yell at Kane, and she couldn’t yell at her parents, but they never said she couldn’t yell at herself.

“KIN! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO FULFILL THE PROPHECY? WHO ASKED YOU, IF YOU WANTED TO, ANYWAY?”

She flicked her wings in annoyance, and then she was overcome with an epiphany; a wonderful, wonderful, epiphany. She didn’t have to stay here. They couldn’t keep her, and they wouldn’t, because she was leaving, right now. She could fly!

She peered about her room, looking for items she felt she just couldn’t live without, but she found nothing except her old stuffed animal form, from when she had been a child, two years ago. It had been purple, her favorite color, and shaped in the form of a rather unusual animal. She thought that they had once been called, bears.

Off went Kin’s collar, and all of the bracelets and other things that marked her as royalty. Then, with her bear tucked under her arm, she finally climbed out of the window and took flight, heading towards the forest to the south.

Kin had started to regret leaving the other Usagi. It turned out that the trees were not only very tall, but also not very fun to fly into. Things had become dark, and the forest just didn’t feel quite safe. With only her, now violet, stuffed bear to help her, she was a little more than afraid. The wind seemed colder now, and there was no light at all. She couldn’t even see either of the two double moons. Kin was lost. She was cold, and very, very hungry.

Then, she heard something. It was an odd sound, almost like footsteps, but not exactly like any she had ever heard before. There wasn’t the distinct, “Thud! Thud!” that Usagi made when they tried to cover ground. It was made clear to her, however, that whatever was coming towards her, was coming very fast. There was a scratching sound, and then nothing.

“Hello?” Kin whimpered, extremely alarmed at this.

There was no answer, but within moments, Kin found herself face-first into the ground with someone lying on top of her. A somewhat disappointed, yet very excited voice filled Kin’s, rather long, ears.

“Oh, man, I fell again! That tree must not be high enough. That’s why I can’t fly, yet. Hey, what did I land on?” little Yukio poked at Kin’s ears.

“Don’t you mean, who?” Kin said with an unappreciative tone.

“What?” Yukio jumped away in surprise, frozen stiff with fear.

“What are you?” he whimpered.

“Arg… I thought I already told you. I’m not a what, I’m a who, and my name is Kin. I thought that all Usagi could fly.”

“I’m not a Usagi!” Yukio said, slightly offended. “I’m Yukio, the eleventh of the eleventh, and I’ll have you know that I’m a Kitsune!”

“What are, Kitsunes?” Kin asked, rather baffled. She had never heard of one before.

“I’m a Kitsune! See? Me! That’s what a Kitsune is!”

“You have a whole clan name to yourself?” Kit said. “That must make you really special.”

Yukio sighed heavily. “I’m starting to get the feeling that Usagi don’t know about anything, but Karrots.”

“Hey! I know a lot more than you do about flying,” Kin defended. You have to have wings, you know? And you should be thanking me for saving your neck. Do you know what would have happened if you hadn’t fallen on me? S-P-L-A-T. That’s what!”

“I don’t need wings! Wings are for the untalented.”

“Look,” Kin stated. “If you’re really as smart as you think you are, you would know that, to fly, you need wings.”

“Just go home! This is my forest” Yukio ordered.

“IS NOT!”

“IS TOO!”

Both of them seemed to quarrel for a very long time, until Yukio began to climb up a taller tree, just to prove to that annoying Usagi that he really could fly, if he really tried. Just then, he heard her scream.

Looking down to see why Kin was making such a raucous, he saw the shaggy hide of an Ookami, with its long hair, gleaming red eyes, and snarling white fangs. Yukio knew only one thing to do, jump. He leapt off the tree, diving onto the Ookami’s back, and scaring it away. Kin ran to him, wrapping her arms around him in a giant hug.

“THANK YOU! …My…bear. Where is it?” she whimpered, looking about frantically, in attempt to locate the lilac toy, but all in vain. The bear had gone into the void that the Ookami disappeared through.

“Don’t worry. At least you’re still alive.”

Kin looked at Yukio, rather surprised, “You make it seem like you actually care.”

“Hey! I didn’t risk my neck for someone I didn’t care for.”

“So, you…do…care?”

“I care for all living things.”

Yukio found himself being hugged yet again, but this time it was a lot harder and slightly less annoying.

“Hey, just because I care for you… I’d still like you to give me my ribs back. Thanks.”

Kin didn’t have time to let go of him, because at that very moment six Kitsunes in black armor surrounded them; the imperial guards.

“Let go of Prince Yukio at once!” The head guard boomed at Kin.

Kin found herself rather lost for words, and seconds later removed by force.

“Prince, we have orders to escort you back home, where you are to await punishment for breaking The Eternal Law.”

Two guards stepped forward, placing a black collar around Yukio’s neck, and before Kin knew what had happened, they all were gone. She couldn’t believe it. It all happened so fast.

With all her courage gone, and nowhere else to go, Kin returned home. Her parents scolded her for going off on her own without telling them, only because she left out the fact that she had gone into the forest. She spent the next several days looking out her window in the direction that the guards had taken Yukio.

“Oh Yukio,” she sighed, “where are you now?”

The more she thought about him, the more Kin had come to realize that she had feelings for the Kitsune. She knew she wasn’t supposed to even know him, and yet, she couldn’t get him out of her head. He was all she thought about; all she wondered about; all she even dreamed about. Kin found herself pondering over conversations that she had never had with him, and ones that she would have liked to have had. Why did he have to be so far away? Why, for the first time in her life, did Kin feel for someone she knew she wasn’t allowed to love?

All her possessions, even her favorite ones; all seemed so empty and meaningless, now.

She couldn’t even bear to look at Kane anymore, and it scared her to know that, within the week, she would be eternally bound to him. Why couldn’t it be Yukio that she had to be with forever? Why did she care for him so much, when he had been so mean to her? One question repeated itself over and over again. Why?

She sighed heavily. It was starting to seem that love didn’t come as easily for her, as it did for every other Usagi. Then again, they had always been paired at birth. She had been the only exception. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair!

Yukio bowed to his parents, as he was thrust into their chambers.

“What have we told you of the outside world?”

“That it isn’t safe, and that any Kitsune who ever leaves the realm, is alone to fend for themselves.”

“And about affiliating with Usagi?”

“It’s taboo. The Eternal Law forbids it.”

“And yet, you left, on the anniversary of your birth, no less, and were found with a Usagi clinging to you!”

“Excuse Kin, I had just saved her from an Ookami.”

“That’s not what the guards say! They say, that they heard you say, you cared for her. Is this true?”

Yukio dug his fangs into his tongue for a moment, cursing himself for being so honest.

“Yes, Mother.”

“From this moment forth, you are not to leave your room unless you are at meal, or with an escort!”

Yukio nodded, not being able to send his parents another glance. He dipped his head to them one last time, then turned and left, heading up to his room in the tower.

He threw himself on top of his bed’s pillowed top, tossing his head under the pillows.

Why had he said it? It wasn’t like he had lied to her, but she was a Usagi, and he wasn’t supposed to even meet one, let alone care for one. So, why had he said it? Kin. Her name meant, golden, valued. Was it possible that she was royalty too? If that was true, then she would already be paired with someone else. Then, why had she run away?

“Kin, you silly Usagi, why did you run away from your betrothed?” he wondered.

He could only reach one answer. She was unhappy. But, that made no sense, because the pairings in Usagi society were forever, and always accurate. Why was hers different?

He didn’t know, not any more, at least. There was no sense to be found in it.

It was two days until Kin would be Kane’s forever, and yet, although everyone around her seemed happy for her, Kin didn’t feel happy for herself. She knew what she was getting into, and she knew that it wasn’t something that she wanted; not now; not ever.

There was only one way she was going to get out of this; find Yukio. Yet again, Kin soared out her window. This time, the light of the moons gracing her shimmering, white, feathered wings. She flew to the Southwest, and she was sure that if she flew that way long enough, that she would find Yukio. She was going to find him, or die trying.

Yukio took to staring out his window again that night. It had become a newfound hobby. After all, there really wasn’t all that much to do. He was just about in shock when he saw a rather oddly shaped bird flying towards his window. Before long, he realized that it wasn’t a bird at all. It was, in fact, Kin.

“Yukio! Yukio!”

The white Kitsune backed away from his window as she came in through it.

“Kin, why are you here? And why do you seem to be so happy to see me?”

Kin answered him with another hug.

“I want you to fly away with me.”

“You want me to what?” Yukio sputtered.

“Come with me. You’ve always wanted to fly, and I want to get away from all the other Usagi. Not to mention…”

“I love you.”

“Sure, now you’re the one who’s blunt,” Yukio sighed. “You’ll regret that later, I assure you.”

“No I won’t. And neither will you, because you’re coming with me.”

“I am? Err… I mean, yeah, I am!”

Kin smiled.

“Now, just go jump out the window.”

“WHAT?”

“Just do it. I’ll catch you long before you ever hit the ground.”

The Kitsune looked back at her, searching for trust in her eyes, and making sure that she was right behind him before running at the window and following her advice. Sure enough, she was. Yukio felt the air rush past him as he plummeted towards the ground, but it wasn’t long before he felt Kin’s small paws wrap around him, and felt her wings hoist them both. He couldn’t believe it. He was actually flying. Flying!

Kin gave him that reassuring Usagi smile and continued to fly to the South.

“Where are we going?” Yukio asked, curious.

“Wherever the wind takes us.”