Kiera studied Haku. His face mildly creased in concentration. He was close, and the chest she had been admiring was very close. With her good hand, she reached up and rubbed her thumb over the smear of blood slashed over his chest. His eyes caught her own briefly before he dropped his gaze. Embarrassed, she pulled her hand back, but he caught it with his own and kept it pressed against his skin. Warm under her palm, she felt heat touch her cheeks.
The sister, playing with bottles of peroxide, said, “Told you he liked you.”
Haku glared at his sister, but he didn’t let go of Kiera’s hand. He bowed his long body and brought Kiera’s hand up to his lips. His breath feathered over her knuckles before he pressed his lips to her fingers. Twining his fingers through hers, he closed his eyes. Haku’s voice was rough as he said, “Don’t tease her, Akari.”
Akari brought her face closer to Kiera, so she paid attention to her words. “You shouldn’t distract him. I don’t know if he has the power to stop the pain a second time, and we have a lot of work to do.”
Kiera didn’t want to point out that he was the one who had kissed her and was now holding her hand like they were long-time lovers. Though she didn’t admit she was fine with the hand holding. His palm sent warmth that seeped through her.
Akari tugged Kiera’s arm across her body to get better access to the wound. With a squeezy bottle of some clear liquid, she cleaned out the bite on her forearm. Kiera felt nothing. Not even the cool wetness of what was probably saline solution or peroxide. The remnants of Kiera’s jacket lay in her lap and was getting soaked, the pencils still stuck out of the pockets.
Kiera dreaded to ask as she knew the injury was bad. “What about the cut? Won’t that need surgery?”
Akari didn’t look up from her ministrations as she spoke. “Normally, yes. I have something for that. I’m not worried about that wound. These are bite marks, and I want to make sure they are cleaned out. Bite wounds tend to fester.” Her arm was looking less like minced meat and more like a pale fish with puncture wounds.
Akari finished cleaning it as blood oozed out in a half-hearted attempt to escape the wounds. She put a gauze pad over it and wrapped it lightly with a bandage to keep the gauze in place. Akari then moved to the wound on her shoulder, close to Kiera’s throat. If the fox had bitten a few inches over, she would have bled out within seconds.
Akari repeated the cleaning. This time, she taped the gauze into place. The next was trickier as Akari needed Kiera on her side. Haku had to keep his touch on her cheek, so it was a slow and awkward manoeuvre. Twisting and inching her way, she shifted so Akari could fix her shoulder. He let go of her hand, and she could tell by the hesitation he didn’t want to relinquish it.
Kiera looked determinedly away from the flap of skin. She pressed her forehead against the cool side of the bath. Only opening her eyes when Haku smoothed a hand through her hair, carefully moving strands away from her face. She didn’t tell him to stop; instead, she glanced at her medic to see what her thoughts were on Haku’s gesture.
Akari was no good as she concentrated on treating Kiera’s shoulder. Akari stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth as she shifted into place. Concentration made creases in her young face. It seemed she wasn’t fazed by her brother’s attention.
Kiera closed her eyes again. She didn’t want to see whatever Akari planned to do with the flap of flesh. “I have some surgical glue and some butterfly stitches. Plus, a little extra, and it will be all good,” Akari reassured her. There was a slight tug on her shoulder as Akari shifted the flesh into place. That wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be.
Kiera looked at Haku. His concentration wasn’t on her so she could study his face without him noticing. He was clean shaven though that was common amongst the Japanese men she knew. His hair cut short at the sides but a little longer on top. Unimaginative and probably more for convenience than style.
Her eyes dropped to his chest. She quickly shifted her eyes back up to his face, but they landed on his lips. Opened slightly as he concentrated on keeping the pain away. She wanted to ask how all of that worked. When he had started, she was still in pain and not thinking about the logistics of pain management in a suburban home. Now she didn’t want to distract him or Akari who had moved closer as her face hovered over Kiera’s arm.
When Kiera looked back at Haku, he was studying her. She flushed and, taking a chance he wouldn’t be distracted with a question or two, she asked, “How are you doing that?”
“You’re no longer in shock.” True but not the answer she wanted. The arm under her was numb from being crushed by the rest of her against the side of the cast-iron bath. She didn’t dare move even slightly to ease the numbness in case Akari made a critical movement putting her arm back together like a meaty jigsaw puzzle. Kiera wriggled her fingers of her numb arm, or she hoped she was wriggling them. She couldn’t feel them anymore.
The powers he had made her wonder if she was dreaming this all. That she was actually bleeding to death on the boardwalk, and Haku had not found her at all. She could be hallucinating. “I’ve never heard of someone who could stop pain with a touch,” she said with confusion and awe.
His eyes flickered towards Akari. Kiera didn’t catch Akari’s look, but it must have been filled with meaning as he said to his sister, “It’s complicated.”
Akari snorted but didn’t stop him as he explained, “I have some power over time. You’re still in pain but I have stopped the signal going to your brain. When I let go, you’ll get one jolt as all the information that should have gone over all this time goes in one moment.” Time?
“How? I mean, what are you that you can do that?” Probably crazy, except she was living the proof he could truly stop her pain.
“I am kitsune.” She remembered he had mentioned the yokai. Now that she wasn’t in shock, she could really contemplate it. She had assumed he was teasing her. Yokai were magic, and there was no magic in the world. At least his story was consistent. Kitsune could change from foxes to human. Kitsune were also magic. She wasn’t sure what their powers were but in a manga she had read, she had seen kitsune with powers over things like fire and even time.
“Pull the other one, mate. There isn’t any such thing as a kitsune. They are just a story.” She gave the start of a weak laugh but when the others didn’t join in, she knew this was no joke.
“I’m not your mate or pulling anything,” Haku stated.
Kiera narrowed her eyes, unsure whether he was teasing her or not. “Are you smoking something? I know the whacky stuff can make you think all sorts of things. You really shouldn’t be using that stuff when you seem to be all put together.” Her eyes on his chest as she said the last wistfully. “That is for losers using a surfboard as a chair.”
Haku frowned. Akari interrupted the conversation, “I’m done. You can release the pain.”
His fingers twitched on her cheek before he said, “You ready?”
“Is this going to hurt?” She knew it would, but she couldn’t help herself asking.
“Yes. But you can handle it.” He didn’t know her, but he said it with confidence. She narrowed her eyes as she took him in. What did he know that she didn’t know about herself? It was a question for another day. Besides, she liked the confidence. Her own family had never been confident in her ability to handle anything.
“Hit me then.” He slowly slid his hand out from under her cheek. The pain was sharp and flashed through her fast, leaving her gasping. White spots floated behind her eyes as she panted.
Akari was speaking, but Kiera couldn’t make out all the words. When she looked up, Haku was gone, and Akari plucked her ruined clothes off her.
Kiera said, “Check the pockets. I keep almost everything in there.” Akari unzipped the pockets and rummaged through them while Kiera gathered herself to stand. She could get up a few inches before her arms shuddered so much, she had to lower herself again. Pride stiffened her spine but didn’t get her out of the bath.
Akari shoved the blue naginata pencil in Kiera’s face and asked, “Where did you get this?” her tone full of accusation.
“Some lady sold it to me.” Kiera really needed to have a closer look at that pencil to see what made Haku and Akari so interested in it while it kept its pencil form. Did it glow some magical light she couldn’t see because she was normal? Kiera tried again to rise, only for her arms to give out, and she slumped back into the bath.
Akari swore and slipped an arm around Kiera’s waist and manoeuvred her to a sitting position. From there, Kiera could get rid of the rest of her shirt and take off her bra. This was a feat that left her shaking and weak. Akari turned on the shower and assisted her out of the rest of her clothes and into the cubicle.
There, Kiera propped herself up against the wall and let the water sluice over her head. Hoping they had a large water cylinder as she planned to stay there till it went cold. She trembled from the pain and the blood loss, but she didn’t feel nauseous anymore. The heat turned her pale skin pink and made her feel lightheaded. The bloody water turned clear. Still she didn’t move. Trying twice, she turned off the water and stood dripping for a moment before she gathered herself enough to step out of the cubicle.
Akari looked up from stuffing her ruined clothes into a rubbish bag and swore. “You got everything wet. You could have at least angled yourself to avoid the shoulder.”
Kiera swayed on the spot while Akari set aside the rubbish bags and flicked out a large towel sitting on the counter. She approached Kiera with censure on her face.
Kiera didn’t care about the ruined dressings as Akari wrapped her up in a towel that made her feel like a two-year-old in her mother’s towel. Tucking the towel under her chin, she sat on the closed lid of the toilet. Akari, who had already put away her supplies while Kiera had showered, retrieved them again. She picked the soggy gauze off and replaced all of it. She even put one over the katana wound. The pressure of the bandage numbed the pain briefly. She missed Haku’s power as she gritted her teeth at Akari’s somewhat rough ministering.
Haku returned to the bathroom and hesitated at the door. “I thought you were done.” He eyed Kiera’s towel fashion.
Akari snapped the lid closed on the first aid kit. “She is,” Akari stated. “Just put her to bed after she has had some fruit juice and medication.”
“I can walk,” Kiera grumbled only half-heartedly and definitely not with any confidence. Standing upright in the shower had used up all her spoons.
A smile barely touched his lips before it disappeared. He kept his eyes determinedly away from her as he approached, which amused Kiera. A gentleman. They were rare but always appreciated. Akari gave her some pills, and Kiera knocked them back and took the glass of fruit juice offered. She could do with the pain pills and the sugar.
Haku was unconvinced by her tone as he said, “Probably, but you will injure yourself if you fall flat on your face.” He slipped his arms under her and lifted her up against his chest. She still held the towel close to her chin. Her legs dangled out the bottom of the towel, occasionally dripping water onto the hardwood floors. Smiling, amused with the childlike image she must portray, she laid her head against his chest, revelling in the chance to be that child again.
He politely kept his eyes on navigating the house rather than on her form. Though that also disappointed Kiera. Few looked at her the way he had looked at her in the bathroom. Mostly men thought she would be desperate because she wasn’t whisper thin. They looked at her like a wolf at sheep and not with any true desire.
Haku had changed, but now her wet hair left a soggy patch on his shoulder. She muttered an apology, but she could already feel sleep taking her. Exhaustion weighed on her, and there was no way she would stay awake long enough to dress, eat or dry her hair. Those would all have to wait.
Chapter Three
The drawn curtains kept the room dark. Though Kiera could see light filtering in through the edges of the heavy curtains, turning the dark furniture into lumps of shadows. She lay in bed contemplating her situation. The pain had woken her and made it difficult to return to sleep.
Her phone buzzing had her fumbling for it. She answered after checking the name, “Hey, Uncle Abner.”
“It’s Jake. Why do you call me Abner?” his confused tone sincere even over the distance.
Kiera rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t explain to her uncle, who was married to his second cousin, what the reference meant if he wouldn’t educate himself. This was hardly the first time she had called him that. And despite their hometown being small, it still had the internet and Google, and a distinct lack of others who had married close relations.
“Just get to the point, Jake.” She wondered what reason it would be this time for her to return home. It couldn’t be a sick relative as that was last week’s ploy.
“Okay, if you’re going to be like that. The family wants to know when you’re coming back.” Strange, he usually used some form of emotional blackmail. This was almost honest.
“Why? No one to do the laundry?” She wasn’t about to forgive them anytime soon for how they had manipulated her to stay with her father in his last year. When she had stumbled across some legal papers that had stated her father had to live on the land for a certain amount of time and that it hadn’t transpired yet. It wasn’t because of lack of funds or because of her father’s wishes but rather her family’s greed that had trapped her and her father on their farm for the last year of his life.
Jake defended his decision to make an eighteen-year-old look after a sick man. “He was your father.” Not in that last year. The person he had been, the caring and loving father who had taught her how to ride a horse, had been long gone.
“And I was a kid.” A kid they should have protected rather than making her face that alone. “I’m not coming back.” Her jaw jumped as she heard the bitterness in her voice.
“You don’t have to be so hostile.” Oh, she knew that tone. He was about to try some guilt trip on her, and it would leave her feeling like she was betraying her family and her heritage by travelling. Thankfully, it didn’t have nearly as much power over the phone as it did in person.
“I’m hanging up now. You have my email. It is cheaper than these international calls.” She hung up before her uncle could work on her.
The phone went on the side table as she gathered herself to face the day. Sitting up drew a long groan from her. Dizzy, she sat there for a moment before getting to her feet. Someone had brought her bag to the room, so she could dress.
Shaking from hunger, she checked on all her injuries. The gauze on all her wounds looked clean. The tape on her collarbone had lifted a little, so she had a better look at the bite mark underneath.
Instead, she was pleased by what it wasn’t. They weren’t red or pus-filled. Kiera, concerned about contamination, pressed at the wound as she knew bites from animals were prone to infection. A dog had bitten her once, and she knew cleaning it and protecting it was pretty much all you could do unless it was stitches worthy. She was tempted to have a closer look at the slice into her shoulder, but the gauze over that was intact and it would mean pulling up the tape and ripping out some hairs just to be nosy. Besides, if the fox bite hadn’t turned nasty, there was little chance the clean slice in her shoulder was in worse shape.
The bite ached deep, but it was the shoulder that hurt even more. That had been through muscle, and it left a blanket ache that made her tired thinking about it. She stumbled to the door. She needed food and fast as she felt lightheaded. She went in search of the kitchen and hopefully, she could also find pain killers.
She ran her hand along the wall as she made her way through the double-storey house. Most of the bedrooms were on the first floor in an L shape around a courtyard. She wasn’t sure what was upstairs as her room was on the first floor. The house was centred around an inner courtyard with a fountain in the middle, decorated with bamboo in a raised garden. She could see the kitchen on the other side of the courtya
rd, so she followed the inner corridor around. The bedrooms were on the other side of the lounge and the front door.
Haku, at the breakfast bar, flicked through his tablet. He scrambled to his feet when she entered the room.
“Hey,” she greeted him. A little nervous when she realised she was in a stranger’s house, but that was only fleeting. Her stomach grumbled and insisted on sustenance.
He bowed his head in a bit of a formal greeting and asked, “Hungry?”
“Starving.” There was no denying it. He went to the fridge while she dragged herself up onto the high stool next to his own at the breakfast bar. He put a plate of toast and cream cheese in front of her, along with some fruit scattered in a flower shape on top of yoghurt. She scoffed down one slice of toast before she thought it a little rude to eat so fast, but Haku didn’t seem to mind and returned to reading on his tablet.
She studied him as she ate. He was dressed in the same outfit he wore the day before. A neat suit and a white shirt. It was definitely a different white shirt from the night before as that would be totally ruined. She winced as she thought about how much it probably cost. The button-up top suited him and only hinted at the muscles he had underneath.
She licked cream cheese off one of her fingers as she reminisced over his muscles.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she gathered her wits. “Thanks, by the way. I mean for saving me,” she muttered this around a mouthful. Too hungry to worry about manners.
He winced. “Don’t thank me for that.”
“Why?” She brushed the crumbs from the toast off her shirt.
He put his tablet away into a wooden stand nestled by the cabinets. The counters were clear of everything. Not even crumbs from making the toast. He glanced at her but didn’t try to catch her eye. “Because I should have found out what the situation was before I attacked.”
Except she had been attacked by a fox and a crazy man with a katana, not him. She looked at her arm where the bandage covered the bite mark. “That’s right. You think you are a kitsune…” Her words faded as she said this. She had seen the bite marks. She had seen the fox. It could have possibly run off, but she also knew foxes didn’t attack people. They were small compared to most hunting dogs. And even hunting dogs wouldn’t take on an adult unless pushed. Wild animals rarely attacked people and certainly not without provocation.
Zero Foxes Given Page 3