Zero Foxes Given

by Nix Whittaker

  “Is that all you’re going to say?”

  Inari’s eyes returned to their normal colour slowly, and she rubbed her cheek as if trying to ground herself. “Yes, not much use to worry about unfortunate events that have already happened.”

  Kiera ground her teeth. She turned when a man said, “I’ll take it if it is such a hassle.”

  She turned to the tall man with sharp cheekbones. His Japanese heritage was subtle. Making her wonder if he had been in Canada for a few generations.

  Inari hissed, “I know what you want it for.” Clearly, Inari didn’t want this man to have the weapon as her stance had turned rigid with the man’s presence.

  The tengu flashed his teeth, but there was no humour in the expression. Kiyoshi tapped a wooden staff against a root at his feet, and people turned to him. He stabbed the end of the staff into the ground and gestured widely with his hands. The others in the clearing watched her encounter with the tengu leader. They were grouped into small clusters in a circle around the clearing. About seven groups in total. If the Yokai game was any indication, there were possibly hundreds of different yokai, so this was a mere sampling. Most were in their human forms and wore human styles. Some though were in their yokai forms. There was even a kitsune, but this one only had one tail.

  Kiera flushed. She hated being in social situations where she didn’t understand all the rules.

  Haku caught her elbow and tugged her over to one side of the clearing. A man with golden flecks in his dark-brown eyes observed her like a splatter on the bottom of his red bands. His lips twitched, and she wondered if he was about to say something, but decorum got the better of him, and he kept his mouth shut. Kiera couldn’t help but flash him a smirk at his haughty look.

  She glanced down at the kitsune in fox form. This one was more orange than Haku, and she wondered if that meant anything.

  Across the clearing, she spotted Sho, the man who had attacked her on the bridge. Dressed in another leather jacket, he glared in her direction.

  Kiyoshi called out, “Tengu you have called us here. Speak, Katsu.” Katsu went to the middle of the clearing where there was a natural hollow in the ground. Or they had been having these meetings here for so long that their feet had worn a path. Kiera preferred to think it was nature.

  Katsu waved his hand to indicate her. “This human here stole a holy weapon and when one of my men tried to retrieve it, she attacked him and threw him into the gorge.”

  Inari snorted. “She didn’t steal it.” Kiyoshi motioned to her to speak. Inari stepped forward a few steps to indicate she had the floor. “I gave her the naginata, so she is no thief.” She stepped back.

  Kiera glared at her. There was no explanation for why she had given her the naginata in the first place. Nothing. The tengu shrugged. “Then that is easy. The girl can give me the naginata.”

  Inari hissed. Kiera was curious why Inari was so against the tengu not to have the naginata. Haku cleared his throat, and everyone looked his way. Kiera looked at him questioningly. He stepped forward. “The naginata has bonded to her. There is no way the tengu could have taken it from her or will take it from her now.”

  There were whispers amongst the yokai, and Kiyoshi had to call for attention. Haku motioned for her to step forward. Just to her, he said, “Show them.”

  She took the naginata out of her pocket and placed it in his hand. Haku walked to the other side of the clearing. She closed her eyes for a moment. When it had just been them trying to figure this out, it had seemed smaller. Showing all these people what she could do meant she wasn’t dreaming, and this was all real. It would also be admitting to herself they weren’t human, and all of them were from tales she had heard in her travels.

  She lifted her hand, and the naginata zipped through the air like a kid on a zip line. It slapped into her palm and expanded into its full size. The silver lettering flashed, and electricity crackled over the edge of the blade. It hadn’t done that at the house.

  The yokai all then wanted to be heard, and Kiyoshi flashed some of his own power, and the whole clearing went still as all sound stopped. Everyone pursed lips together and glared at Kiyoshi.

  Kiera had the naginata shrink and slipped it back into her pocket. She stepped back next to the haughty kitsune in human form and tucked her hands into her pockets. Kiyoshi lifted the silence and said, “Before we get to the delightful stage of discussing this, we still need to hear the human’s side of the story.”

  Another yokai halfway around the circle snorted and asked, “Why? She is human. She will lie.” Kiyoshi tilted his head, not denying the accusation. Kiera flashed a glare toward the yokai who had asked and then squaring her shoulders, moved to the centre of the clearing. She used the sharpness in her eyes, and Katsu in the middle took a few steps before he steeled himself and held his ground.

  She didn’t hesitate and walked into the middle, forcing him to either to take a step back or be knocked over. He didn’t back up far, and her skin crawled as he took up a position just to the side of her and just outside of her peripheral vision.

  She didn’t point this time; instead, she motioned with her head towards Sho who stared daggers in her direction. “That jerk over there attacked me. Tried to kill me and then when I fought back, he accused me of stealing the naginata. I fought back and dumped him in the gorge. That is my part. But I almost died. I don’t know if you guys have some super healing powers, but I don’t. If Haku hadn’t come across me, I would have died.” Probably not, but she wanted to rub in just how serious she viewed the whole attack.

  She didn’t mention Haku had also attacked her and that she had several silvered crescent shapes along her arm and her shoulder to prove he had made his mark on her.

  The tengu snorted. “She is human, she doesn’t deserve the naginata. It is one of our weapons.”

  Inari didn’t add anything even though Kiera glared at the woman to settle this whole thing. Haku stepped into the centre of the clearing with her. He placed his hand on her shoulder in silent support that filled her with warmth.

  Katsu said, “Let’s first break the bond. We can decide afterward who should have the naginata.” No one disagreed with him that she shouldn’t have it. Kiera, through all her travel, had never felt more like the outsider as in that moment. Her hand drifted to the pocket with the naginata. She didn’t want the naginata, but she also didn’t want to hand it over to the tengu. Inari watched all of this with blandness. There was no chance she would take it back.

  Haku said, “We have tried to break the bond.”

  The tengu sneered. “Her bond will be ended when she dies.” Hands went to where she assumed they had weapons.

  Haku shifted slightly so he was now between her and the tengu. “No one is hurting her.”

  Kiyoshi raised a hand to direct attention to himself. “If the only objection to her having the naginata is that she is human, there is a solution for that.” She pictured them biting her and turning her into some vampire slash werewolf, except these were yokai. They were all born that way. There were stories of them breeding with humans, but they had started as something different. She hadn’t heard of them being able to change humans into one of them.

  The tengu snorted. “Who would marry her?” Oh. She felt foolish. Like humans, the yokai made connections through marriage as well. She had been thinking of them being different to her when they had more in common than she had expected.

  Haku surprised her when he said, “I will.” She glanced at him. He looked serious, but there was no way he could be. When it finally sank in that this plan was a viable one for the yokai, she thought she would put her two cents in. “Hey, wait a minute. There is no way I will marry one of you guys. No offense, Haku, you seem like a nice enough guy, but I’m only here for a visit. I’m leaving in a month.” No one paid attention to her. Instead, they all looked at Haku.

  Kiyoshi tucked his hands away in his sleeves and tipped his shoulders back as he rocked on his heels. “You married her.” It was
n’t a question.

  Kiera felt the blood rush out of her head. “What? No. I haven’t married anyone. Tell them, Haku.”

  He didn’t move his gaze from Kiyoshi. He nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Then it is already decided. She is one of us. The naginata is in yokai hands.” Kiyoshi shifted his gaze to the tengu. “Understood?”

  The tengu huffed. “Understood.”

  Kiera also understood there was no way the tengu were satisfied with this outcome. Kiyoshi flicked his hands free of his sleeves and wrapped his hands around the staff standing in the dirt while he had overseen the trial. He tapped the ground, and the lights in the clearing faded. A clear sign the meeting was over. The yokai stepped back into the darkness.

  Kiera didn’t want Inari to disappear yet as she had some questions. When she stepped forward to confront her, Haku caught her arm. When she turned to argue, he pre-empted her and said, “I know where she stays. You can talk to her later.” When she turned to see if she could catch Inari anyway, the goddess had already disappeared.

  Katsu’s lips curled up in a villainous smile as he said, “Later.” The threat implied. Haku, still in the way, blocked her view of the tengu as he also left the clearing. Now alone, she turned on Haku. If she couldn’t confront Inari, at least she could confront him.

  “You married me?” There was more confusion than anger inside her.

  “It was the bond that worked only partly. I’m sorry it didn’t work completely.”

  “That is what you are sorry for? What about the not telling me? What were you going to do when I left?”

  He turned to leave and said with his back to her, “Nothing.” That deflated her. He hadn’t intended to tell her. She skipped to catch up with him, but his legs were longer than her own, and he didn’t amble through the darkened wood.

  They were almost to the car when she caught up. “Stop, Haku. Talk to me.”

  He stopped and waited for her to come around to face him. “So, what does this mean?”

  “Nothing. The yokai are satisfied. You’ll stay until you are recovered, and we are sure the tengu won’t pursue you, then you can go on your way. Hopefully, that is all within the month you plan to be here. At least we don’t have to worry about the rest of the yokai. They will be satisfied with our marriage.”

  “So, you didn’t do it to trick me or anything.”

  “No.”

  She believed him. She was still angry at him that he hadn’t told her, but she also believed he had never intended to keep her trapped. That pressure on her chest eased, and she let out the breath she had been holding.

  “Fine.”

  “Alright then.” He stepped around her to approach the car. He was already buckling himself in when she shook herself and settled her emotions enough to get into the car. She didn’t look forward to the awkward silence likely to reign on the trip back to the house.

  Before they could drive off though, the aloof kitsune tapped on the window. Haku lowered the window and it whined a little at the last before it slid inside the door. The kitsune leaned in. “You know it isn’t done.”

  Haku nodded his head sharply. “But it is done, Eiji.” The silence was palpable. Kiera could see the kitsune’s knuckles turn white as he held the door. It was the only sign of his anger as his face and voice remained placid. “We do not marry their kind.”

  Haku said, “The women do all the time.”

  Eiji’s voice was fierce as he countered, “Yes, the women but not us.”

  Haku started the engine. A clear sign he wanted the conversation to be over. “This is now between her and me.”

  The kitsune removed his hand and said, “She will not accept you.” He stepped back as Haku reversed the car out of the carpark. So, this was the mysterious leader of the kitsune who seemed like the bogey man when the two of them had spoken about them at the house. He didn’t seem very scary but certainly authoritative.

  Kiera waited for them to be further down the road before she asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Kitsune males are rare. Mostly we have females. Over three females to the males.”

  “Wow, those are terrible statistics. Why aren’t you guys drowning in pups then?” She assumed it was pups. He had explained that they started as foxes if they were born from two kitsune parents.

  He glanced at her, but she couldn’t read his expression. “The men usually choose their mates. A single mate as we mate for life though if a mate dies, there are some who will take another mate, but it’s rare. It has always been so, but it’s never with humans.”

  “I gathered that you guys get to pick, but why don’t you marry outside of the kitsune?” He frowned, and she could see the conversation bothered him. She was about to let it drop because she knew this evening was emotional enough without pushing him too far.

  “We are different.”

  “What kind of different?” She had been living with him for a couple of days and besides him being pedantic about his routine, she’d seen nothing that set him apart from others. “We don’t fit in as well as the women do.”

  She could have guessed that. He was certainly an odd duck. But he also wasn’t malicious or mean so she could see past the oddness. If she could, why couldn’t other women?

  “We say the wrong thing at the wrong time. We don’t notice when people are trying to manipulate us. The other kitsune women understand this and protect us.”

  “Do you think I won’t?” She was hurt by the implication that human women couldn’t care enough about their mate to overlook strange behaviour.

  “I don’t know yet.”

  She sighed. She didn’t know either, but that was more to do with her feelings than because she didn’t think she could be a decent person. She looked out the window as they wound their way out of the forested area and back into the light-filled streets of Victoria City.

  She asked, “Can we be straight with each other at least?”

  “I would prefer that.”

  “I don’t want to be trapped.” That was her only fear. She had thought one day she might marry, but it hadn’t been high on her list of priorities. She never thought marriage would be used to trap her though.

  “That is acceptable. You can leave whenever you wish.”

  “Would you chase after me?” His behaviour did trigger some red flags, and she wanted to make sure kitsune weren’t the stalkery type.

  “No, but the other tengu would. They still want the naginata. If you are with me, I can protect you.”

  She sighed. “Is there really no way to break the bond with the naginata?” Unless they could convince Inari to take it back, she didn’t think anyone else had the power to take it without killing her, and that option was certainly off the table. She was tempted to break some vow, but the only vow she had made was in marriage to him, and she didn’t think sleeping with someone random was something she could do.

  “No. But we can ask Inari to make sure we have tried everything.” She had forgotten he knew where the goddess lived. That comforted her. At least it was an option. There was only one more concern she had. “So, are you expecting sex?”

  He almost ran the car off the road. She bit her lip to prevent the hysterical laughter that burst against her chest. She should have eased into this conversation. But she had gathered that being subtle with him would be useless. He tightened his hands around the steering wheel, and the car returned to its course.

  As he answered, his voice strained, “No.”

  “But you like me. I mean that is what your sister said. Was she wrong?” There was a long silence, and she wondered if he would answer. She let the silence hold. She thought about changing the subject but realised the answer was the only thing she wanted to know at that moment.

  “I don’t expect sex.”

  Kiera’s disappointment surprised her. “What about the kisses while I was being fixed up?” She raised an eyebrow in query despite his inability to see it as his eyes were trained to the road.

&n
bsp; “I won’t force you.”

  She finally heard his words. He liked her. But he had married her under false pretences. Satisfied with his answer, she settled into the seat and readjusted her seatbelt, so it didn’t dig into her throat. She could do with the time to think.

  When they returned to the house, Akari was waiting for them outside. “So what happened? I know it can’t be too bad. You aren’t dead.”

  Haku hesitated then said, “Can I tell you later?”

  Akari eyed him for a moment and said, “I’ll grill Kiera instead.” Haku took that as permission to disappear, and he escaped further into the house. Kiera watched his retreating back with a small frown. Haku had somehow given Akari a signal to drop the conversation, but Kiera had missed it. Was that what he had meant when he said the female kitsune protected them?

  Akari gazed at Haku with concern then turned to Kiera. “So?” Kiera ignored her and walked into the house. She poured herself a drink of fruit juice.

  After she had settled herself, she said, “I’m married, apparently.”

  “Oh, he told you.”

  “You knew?” So, she was the last to find out. It explained the heated argument before the last ritual.

  “That is what we argued about.” Akari flushed. Probably realising the whole argument had been in Japanese. Kiera had known at the time it had been on purpose to keep her out. If she had known they were discussing her marital status, she would have objected more. She had thought they had only been arguing over what ritual to try next.

  “Yeah, sorry. We should have told you. It’s complicated.” Kiera shrugged. She was numb rather than angry. She finished her drink and rinsed it under the tap. The mundane grounding her when she was surrounded by new concepts and reality.

  Akari leaned on the counter in the kitchen. “So, they are letting you keep the naginata?”

  “Yeah, because apparently, I’m family, and that is good enough. I still think the tengu aren’t pleased, but they didn’t argue it very hard.”