Kitsune Dreams

Seamus Brown stopped walking at the sound of leaves rustling – a gentle sound, almost inaudible, as if a small forest creature were passing through. Looking around, he saw nothing except a few tendrils of fog leaking though the branches. Bored, he continued trudging forward, the dried leaves crunching under his black Hi-Top Converses and his breath rising slowly before his blank face.

Seamus had been trudging a lot lately: through school, though work, through his parents’ imminent divorce. Now he trudged though the forest on the edge of town, searching for… something. He hoped to find a bear, or a boar, or even some fantastical creature. Anything, he told himself, to distract him from his dad’s voice screaming in his head.

Seamus’ feet dragged though the dried leaves, wafting up the smell of damp earth. He heard the rustling; and again, he noticed nothing. Maybe walking so deeply into the woods was not a good idea. Maybe he should head back. Maybe he should… Seamus shook his head and caught something vaguely red flash through the trees. A fox, maybe? Do foxes scurry so fast? Are they that red?

There was another flash of red. It seemed to be circling him.

Seamus turned around, senses peaking, trying to identify what he saw. It zoomed to the trees behind him and before he could turn around, a voice sounded.

“Seamus! I thought you looked familiar.”

Seamus jumped and snapped his head around. Christina Kitts grinned at him with her auburn hair pulled into a long ponytail. Maybe that flash of red was her hair, but no one moves that fast.

“So, what are you up to?” She walked up to him. Her feet gently landed on the leaves; her steps silent.

“Just walking.”

She arched her left eye brow. “No one just walks around here.”

“I am. Honestly.”

“Of course. And I’m not cutting class to go hunting.”

“You hunt?”

“No. Didn’t you hear me say I’m not hunting?” There was that grin again, but this time he knew she was hiding something.

“That was sarcasm.”

She laughed. “So, what are you really doing here?” Her dark green eyes fixed onto him.

Seamus quickly averted his gaze and prayed he was not transparent.

“Oh. I see.” She paused. Silence reigned.

Seamus cursed himself for being so obvious.

Christina took a keep breath. “Wanna know a secret?”

He shrugged, avoiding further eye contact.

“Don’t you want to know what I’m doing wandering the woods?”

“It doesn’t matter what I say, you’ll do whatever you decide.”

“Fair enough.”

She stood in place, mentally weighing her options. Finally she turned to him and said, “You’d better be able to keep a secret. The truth is, well, I’m hunting unicorns.”

His eyes met hers. Did she think he was stupid? “Unicorns don’t exist. I stopped believing in them when I was five.”

“They do and they grant wishes. If you hunt them and catch them without killing them, they’ll grant you three wishes in exchange for their lives, even if you request people to die, they’ll grant it. They value their freedom above all else.”

“How do the wishes work?” Seamus’ voice was barely audible. He had so much to wish for. Maybe Christina wasn’t joking. She sounded honest enough.

“How else? The person who catches it gets their wishes granted.”

“What if there are two people?”

“They split the three wishes as they see fit.”

“What do you plan to get them with?”

“These.” She held out some sugar cubes and handed them to Seamus. “And these.” She opened her hands, palms up. “Unicorns are suckers for sugar.”

“Do you have wishes?” Seamus asked, his hopes rising.

“Don’t we all?” Christina asked back.

Seamus stared at the leaf-covered ground. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I need some help. So, if you wanna help me, then we can each have one and the person who actually catches it can have the other.” She spat into her hand and held it out: long, slender, graceful. He spat into his hands and, reaching out, noticed how stubby his fingers were. When their hands touched, he was surprised to find hers dry as sandpaper because he knew his was soft and smooth.

He heard screaming and a gunshot. He saw flashes of red, broken glass, and Christina holding a woman with hair just like hers. Quickly he let go. She wasn’t looking at him.

“What was that? I know I didn’t do it.” His eyes narrowed at her. Was she some sort of witch?

“You did. You just don’t know why or how you did.” She clutched her hands tightly, nervously.

“Who was that lady?”

“Someone close to me. I… I need to save her.” Those words seemed to wake her up. She ducked under a tree branch and moved away, blending into the fall foliage. “Come on.”

They moved in silence. She wove through the terrain, moving as if she belonged in the forest. He scrambled clumsily behind.

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“Don’t worry. We’re almost there.”

A few minutes later, she ran up a mossy boulder twice her height and stopped. Seamus looked at the rock, trying to find a way to grip onto the slippery moss. He slowly scrambled to stand beside her. They stood on one of five large boulders spread evenly amongst fifteen trees to form a round clearing occupied by two magnificent creatures with white shimmering horns.

“Be careful of their teeth. They’re sharp.”

“I thought they’re herbivores.”

“Omnivores.” She stooped down and rolled up her pants, revealing a set of quarter inch scars arranged in a U.

“You’ve come before?”

“I wanted to help Mom. I still do.”

“That’s what I saw?”

“I didn’t think you would. I’m sorry.”

“So your parents had marriage problems.”

“To put it lightly.” She laughed.

“Yeah, at least there hasn’t been any bloodshed between my parents yet. They just argue all the time.” Over my grades, my future, and me. The words were left unspoken. Seamus paused and looked over at Christina. “So, um, is your mom ok?”

“She will be.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re helping me, right?” Christina smiled at him.

“Do you believe in magic?” He asked. She must to be doing this.

“I don’t answer stupid questions.”

They watched the two creatures fight until one bowed down to the other.

“It’s an alpha male. I should’ve known. We weren’t that weak.”

“They live in packs?”

“Herds.” She watched the stronger unicorn leave. “Let’s go.”

Before Seamus could react, Christina propelled herself from the boulder. The unicorn snapped its head and stared at Christina through ice-blue eyes. She calmly walked towards it, holding out her hand. The animal slowly moved forward and nibbled at the sugar.

Seamus scrambled down and took out the sugar cubes Christina had given him earlier. He mimicked her and the unicorn came over to eat from his hands as well. Its tongue felt rough, like a cat’s, lapping up every molecule of sugar it could find. Then it licked Seamus’ face, making him laugh.

Christina took the opportunity to jump onto the unicorn’s back. It reared and screamed; the sound knocked betrayal and anger into Seamus.

“Stay away!” Christina clung to the unicorn’s mane. Her eyes were closed, her knuckles white, her hair a mess. She clung onto the unicorn until the unicorn stopped screaming, she clung until it stopped rearing, until she was master. Then, plucking a hair from its tail, she looped it on its horn.

The animal’s eyes changed: becoming more sentient, more human. A deep rumbling voice rose from its throat. “Wishes, you have three.”

“My mother, return her,” Christina answered.

The unicorn bowed and Christina climbed off its back. A large red fox trot up to the girl and nuzzled at her ankles, occasionally nipping playfully. It strangely had nine tails which whipped around the girl’s legs, seemingly caressing them.

Seamus watched, bemused by the creature. What would cause a fox to do that? Where was the woman he saw in the flashes?

“Wishes, you have two,” the unicorn said.

Seamus looked at Christina. “It’s still your turn.” He needed time to think.

“Our powers, return them.”

The unicorn moved to stab Christina but the red fox jumped into its way. Seamus moved up to help, but as the horn pierced both bodies, no blood flowed out. He stopped and watched instead. The horn grew steadily pink then red. When it became the color of pomegranate juice, it flashed back to white. The unicorn stepped back and Christina and the fox were both unharmed.

“Kitts’s short for Kitsune,” Christina looked over and told Seamus.

“Kitsu-what?”

“It’s a Japanese word for fox fairy or fox demon. That’s what mom and I are.”

Before Seamus could respond, the nine-tailed fox stood on its hind legs and melted into the form of a woman wearing a red velvet cloak with white trimmings that cascaded to the forest ground – the woman Seamus knew as Christina’s mother. She had deep red hair and dark green eyes, both identical to Christina’s. Christina fell into the woman’s embrace and clung there for a few minutes.

“Wishes, you have one,” the unicorn said.

Seamus looked at the unicorn, dumbstruck.

“Make your wish.” Christina urged.

“I… I…” Seamus stuttered. He thought about his life, about how his mom always protected him when he couldn’t be the perfect son. He thought about his morals, his dreams, and his virtues. Should he wish his parents would not divorce? Should he wish he could be the perfect son? Should he wish for success in life? Maybe world peace? End world hunger? Eradicate all illness?

“It doesn’t matter. Take you’re time. I’ll see you around Seamus.” Christina said. Then, she and her mother held hands and shifted into nearly identical foxes. Christina only had three tails. They playfully blew floating flames at each other and disappeared together into the trees, their fire guiding their path like lanterns. Seamus watched them leave, slightly jealous.

The unicorn’s horn loomed over him. His father’s screams sounded in his mind again. He was never good enough. Seamus wanted to be good enough. His mother cried in his mind. Seamus wanted to stop the divorce. Arguments wouldn’t stop propping up. Seamus wanted them to cease. None of those wishes would solve anything though.

Seamus patted the unicorn’s nose, feeling its warm wet breath on his hand. He just wanted to be happy. Everything he tried to do was to make his parents happy and proud; if only they could be happy. He took a deep breath and responded in Christina’s precedent form. “Happiness, come naturally.”

The unicorn looked at him with unclouded eyes. “No wish could be better than this.”

It bowed its head and Seamus removed the ceremonious silver thread. “You are free. Do as you like. Be happy too.” He watched as the unicorn retreated into the trees, silver body shimmering.

Seamus walked back home. His parents would work out their problems. He would defend himself against his father. He would get into college.

Years later, Seamus would return and take walks through the woods, stopping still at sounds of rustling. He would never again find the grove of trees and in time he would even begin doubting his adventures. However, every time he truly doubted, he would see flashes of red like two agile foxes darting through trees.