A Matter of Pride

by Kaye Draper

  Hisashi had stepped out of line and look where that had landed him.

  Though, the last couple of months with Gesa and the pride made all the shit that came before worth it. He'd never felt like he belonged before them. Never felt truly loved for who he was.

  Hisashi felt eyes on him as they passed the other cottages that dotted the hillside. He wasn't surprised when several attendants met them at their destination. He recognized two of them, attendants that he'd had as a child.

  They were overly polite and didn't question his return, or his inappropriate clothing. They just efficiently went about restoring order. He was stripped and bathed with blessed water. He was powdered and perfumed and clothed in the finest, heaviest silk and jewels. He was smudged with smoky incense to drive away evil spirits.

  Then, the damned treasure of the kitsune was led to his doom.

  Hisashi hated how the traditional clothing felt right and wrong at the same time. Like a familiar routine, but one he had hoped to never experience again. It was bullshit.

  But he really didn't have any other choice. If he had to tie himself to a place, to a shrine, it was better if it was in a place surrounded by clan members who knew what he needed and how to care for him. And on clan land, where he didn't need to worry that his shrine would fall to disuse or be forgotten and paved over, leaving him tied to an industrial waste dump or something.

  He entered the temple and strode up to the place where the elders sat in all their honored splendor. His parents stood nearby, watching him with tense expressions that conveyed to him both their disappointment at his failed attempt at freedom and their relief that their place in the clan was about to be restored.

  He had forgotten how small they were. His parents had seemed larger than life when he was a child, like their opinions moved the world. Funny how that wasn't the case anymore. He'd grown.

  He knew he was supposed to bow low and act with grace and beauty, bring honor to his family by showing the elders his respect. But he just couldn't do it. "Hey guys, what's up?" he said instead, crossing his arms and wrinkling his expensive kimono. "Long time no see."

  The elder in front of him narrowed her eyes. "Miyamoto Hisashi," she said in a voice like dry leaves. "The clan welcomes back its nine-tail. We assume you are here to establish your shrine and strengthen your clan, as you should have done years ago"

  He drew in a deep breath, wanting to turn around and walk out. He'd done it once. He could do it again. And this time he wouldn't have to worry about them stopping him—he was too powerful for any of them to restrain him.

  But if he pulled on his power, the whole village might go up in flames. There were actually some good people here. They didn't all deserve to be…ghostsploded.

  "Yes, oh great and powerful Grannie, I've come slinking back with my tails between my legs. Aren't you just thrilled?" he said in a sweet voice.

  The elder to his right huffed. "You will not speak to your elders with such disrespect, kit. Nine-tail you might be, but you are still a child. And one who has displeased us all."

  He engaged in a staring contest with the elders. He wanted to make sure to push every one of their uptight buttons before he finally rolled over and showed his belly, like they all knew he would eventually. He needed the binding ceremony only they knew how to perform. Otherwise, he was fucked.

  "I apologize, venerable elder," he said, pitching his deep voice to be higher, gentler, softer. The way they all preferred. Male nine-tail were very rare. The powerful white foxes were usually female—graceful, feminine, restrained. It grated against the old traditions to have a nine-tail among them who was masculine, crass and predatory.

  He knew this. He'd had it beaten into him enough times as a child. He bowed his head, arranged his kimono, and dropped into a deep, graceful bow that brought his head nearly to the ground. "Forgive me. I've been away too long and forget our traditions."

  The elder to his left clapped her hands sharply. "Rise."

  He stood, tucking his hands away and trying to look small as he towered over everyone in the room. "Thank you, elder."

  The elder in the middle, their leader, gripped the arms of the chair she sat in and leaned forward, her wrinkled skin piling up as she smiled at him. "We welcome you back, Hisashi. You do your family an honor by returning to your rightful place. We will perform the binding ritual tomorrow. This will give you ample time to be purified and to allow us to…refresh your memory of how a nine-tail should behave, before we present you to the rest of the village."

  He nodded, suppressing his disappointment. He wanted the binding done now, so he didn't have a chance to turn tail and run. But instead they would punish him, in their petty way. With lots of isolation and reminders of who he should be while they did their level best to stamp out who he was.

  "There's no place like home," he muttered as he followed his parents and attendants out of the temple and to the cottage where he would be isolated until his binding. "There's no place like home."

  Chapter 10

  So, California was nice. Less suburban and crawling with people than I'd expected, in this area at least. But it had taken us way too long to get here. I was well aware of the ticking clocks in my head—one for Hisashi, and one for Halstad. But we still had two days. We could do this.

  I stared up at the steep steps built into the side of the mountain where the cab driver had left us. It looked like something out of a Japanese painting. Mist rolled across the top of the gaily painted arch and paper chain thingies rustled in the breeze.

  Oisin shuddered beside me. "It feels like rituals and tradition here."

  I glanced at him, wanting to laugh at that stupid statement, but at the same time, I completely understood what he meant. This whole area just had a feeling about it. Like grave things happened here, like old people and chanting…like, oh, I don't know, binding people to one place for hundreds of years.

  "Come on," I said, throwing the duffel that held me and Oisin's things over my shoulder. "We've got a nine-tail to yell at."

  We trudged up the stairs. Why so many fucking stairs? Con and Kai following along behind us with their backpacks like a couple of tourists. I hated that we'd left Halstad behind. Besides the fact that I kind of missed the asshole, we could really use the comfort of his scary-ass magical abilities right about now.

  But seriously, it was a bunch of kitsune. Foxes. Hisashi was the most powerful prodigy they'd produced in hundreds of years. The rest were just shape shifters. No big deal.

  I was surprised no one had come rushing out to question us yet. They had to have wards in place to sense a bunch of supes approaching. It wasn't until we made it to the top of the stairs that we were met by a tiny dark-haired, dark-eyed kitsune woman. "Welcome visitors," she said in a voice that was soft and cultured, but somehow still managed to say, "what the fuck are you doing here?"

  Her eyes flicked to each of us, then returned to me. "How may I assist you?"

  I glanced at Oisin, who was studying the paper chain things with interest. Weirdo. "Uh, we came here looking for a friend of ours. Tall guy. White hair."

  She narrowed her eyes at me. "I'm afraid Hisashi isn't allowed visitors right now. He's being cleansed and prepared for his binding ceremony."

  I let out a breath. If he was being prepared that meant we weren't too late to drag him home by his tails.

  "Perhaps we could speak whoever is in charge," Oisin said, coming to stand next to me and have a stare down with the little fox woman.

  She huffed, but really, no one does haughty staring and demands like Oisin. He was a king now, after all. I snorted at the thought.

  The woman blinked at us innocently. "I'm afraid the elders are all busy preparing for the ritual. It's a very momentous occasion, you must understand. Perhaps you can come back some other time."

  "We don't have time for this shit," I said, pushing past her and heading toward the little village up ahead.

  Kai smirked at her and followed me. Oisin rolled his eyes and
sighed before he did the same.

  "Excuse me," I heard Con say before he passed by, ever the polite one in the pride.

  "Wait!" The girl rushed to get in front of us again. Her eyes landed on Con and her lips twisted in distaste. "He's human. We don't let unvetted humans into the village." She rolled her eyes. "Or other supernaturals, for that matter."

  I dropped the duffel bag and crossed my arms to glare down at her. "The human goes where we go," I said firmly. "And we go where Hisashi goes."

  Con put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "And I'm not completely human, ma'am. If that helps."

  She shook her head, glancing at Con's hand like it was a really ugly bug. "I will take you all to the elders. But they will only tell you to leave. My brother belongs here. If you've come to talk him out of binding himself to his shrine, you are all imbeciles. This is too important to the clan. We won't let him leave."

  I smiled at her, showing lots of teeth. "Hisashi is my mate," I told her evenly. "If you're his sister, then you should know he'll be happier with his new family."

  She smiled right back. "Foxes don't mate with other supes. That's abhorrent. And even if my brother was so vile as to do so, he can't have been that happy. Since he came back."

  Ouch.

  "Are we going to talk to the old people?" Kai called, already most of the way to the center of the village, and the towering structure in the center. I grinned and followed her.

  When I glanced back behind us, the fox girl had just…vanished. Creepy.

  We reached the tall structure in the center of the village and I realized it was a temple of some sort. A few people were inside, kneeling in prayer and burning incense. A dull hum of power pushed against my aura. This was a place like the monoliths in Montana. A place of power and ritual.

  Oisin was right. It was creepy as fuck. Even if none of us had been tied down here and drained.

  A couple more foxes met us at the door to the temple, another diminutive woman, this one older than the other girl, and a man who looked too tired and worn-out for his age. Their eyes were sad as they met mine.

  "Kira tells us you've come for Hisashi," the man said softly. I glanced behind him and saw the younger fox woman bustling about the temple with a broom. What the hell? How did she get in there so fast? Sneaky foxes.

  "Yes," I said to the man. I recognized the curve of his lips and his high cheekbones, though he was much darker in coloring than Hisashi. "You're his parents?"

  The man nodded. The woman watched me with fathomless dark eyes, no expression on her face. "We were honored he came back home," the man continued. "It is important to the clan to have him with us."

  I raised a brow at him. "Oh, I'm sure it is. But he isn't staying here. He's coming home. He's my mate."

  The woman clucked in disbelief. "A fox doesn't call a gryphon mate," she hissed. "Go away."

  I stared down at her in surprise. Wow. Hisashi's family made mine look all warm and fuzzy by comparison. "Um, how about no?" I said, just to see her puff up with offense.

  Oisin pulled himself ramrod straight and adjusted his sleeves as if he was bored. "We were told we need to speak with your elders. Please take us to them. The leader of the Lionheart clan hardly has time to stand about chatting with the townsfolk."

  I suppressed a laugh. He'd just called them peasants.

  The woman got red in the face, her slippered feet moving delicately across the floor like a fox picking its way through the forest as she faced off with Oisin. Easier with him, since they were nearly the same height. Heh. He was such a midget. I was going to have to pick on him about this later.

  "Just who do you think you are, to demand the attention of the elders?"

  Oisin looked down his nose at her in that judgey way only he could. My heart sang to see this glimpse of my old fae. "I don't think you truly understand your position at the moment madam. So, I will forgive your ignorance. This once. I am the ruler of the Silverleaf fae. My companion is the ruler of the Lionheart gryphons. If I told you who the others were, we would need to execute you to keep your muzzle shut." He flicked a wrist and a wave of fae magic pulsed out from his being as he wrapped them in compulsion. "Get out of the way."

  Hisashi's parents moved aside, then dropped to their knees, bowing to us against their will. Ooh, Oisin was mad.

  I smiled happily at Hisashi's family as we passed them, moving into the temple proper. Once we were out of sight for a minute, Oisin let go of the compulsion. I studied him, noted the way the corners of his pretty mouth were pinched, and his hands shook.

  "Okay, there fae?"

  He nodded, not looking at me. "I want my fox back. Now. I have no patience for their games. My clan would hunt them down like the animals they are for speaking to me that way. They're lucky they are still alive."

  I raised my eyebrows at him. Boy he was on edge. "Yes, your Majesty," I said, giving him a salute.

  He looked at me. "I still don't understand why I ever decided I needed you in my bed so badly. For the life of me, I just don't get it."

  I shoved him. "Shut up."

  "Guys," Con muttered. "Get it together. Creepy old women at twelve o'clock."

  I schooled my face into seriousness as we approached three old broads sitting up on a raised stage at the front of the temple. "Good afternoon," I said calmly, as if we were just here on vacation. "I'm Gesa Lionheart. This is my pride," I gestured at the others. "We seem to have misplaced one of our members," I almost laughed at that, nerves getting the best of me. Because, members. Technically we'd misplaced two members. One fox. I cleared my throat. "We would like to speak to Hisashi."

  They all stared at us for an uncomfortably long time. I'm all about respecting your elders—being around that long should earn you some respect for putting up with people's shit, after all. But this whole charade was starting to piss me off. Now they were just staring like I hadn't spoken. I hitched the duffle bag over my shoulder a little higher. "Or, we could just go find him ourselves," I growled.

  The middle woman spoke, her wrinkled face crinkling and changing with the movements. "Hisashi is not seeing visitors now. He is in seclusion."

  I was about to lose my shit and yell at an old lady. But I snapped my mouth shut when deep voice beat me to it. "For fox sake, grandma, just let the damned kid have some visitors. It's bad enough you're making him sign his life away, you could at least let him say goodbye."

  I turned to find a really weird sight. Marching up the long aisle toward us was a man who looked so much like Hisashi they could have been twins. Except this guy had black hair and olive skin. His dark brown eyes met mine and he nodded as he came to stand beside me. I realized I was looking at what Hisashi would have looked like…if he wasn't a nine-tail.

  "Hero," the old woman said in a warning voice. "Your family has only just returned to the good graces of this clan. Tread lightly."

  This guy—Hisashi's brother? —didn't seem to care about his family's disgrace. "Let him have his visitors. I know you've been angry with him, and he'll never admit it, but he's alone and he's terrified. This is his life we are talking about. Maybe having some friends around will make him less likely to wig out when the time comes."

  I didn't know how I felt about any of that. But if it got us in to see Hisashi, then fine.

  Three sets of old, powerful eyes bored into me. "Hisashi belongs to the Miyamoto clan, gryphon. We won't tolerate any interference. You may speak with him for one hour. That is all."

  The guy beside me rolled his eyes and turned, gesturing for us to follow. "Come on. I'll show you where they've got him locked up."

  Chapter 11

  Outside, Hero led us to another gravel path. This one took us around the back of the temple, to a little cottage that was practically humming with magic. Warded. Heavily. He hadn't been joking when he said they had Hisashi locked away.

  Hero stopped on the walkway leading up to the perfectly manicured ornamental garden in the front yard. He turned to me and the others and ran a hand t
hrough his hair. "I overheard my sister telling my parents all about the people who'd come to spring Hisashi," he said with a glance at the cottage. "Do you know anything about this binding?"

  I heaved a sigh. "Not much. I'm Gesa, by the way," I said, holding out a hand. He shook it, a wry smile twitching up one corner of his mouth.

  "I was worried about him, when he left," he said softly. "It's good to know he has friends out there, in the real world."

  Oisin tilted his head and studied the man before us. "You don't seem to share your clan's joy at Hisashi's return."

  Hero ran a hand over the back of his neck, and I didn't miss the odd look he gave Oisin, but he answered the question. "I'm the oldest," he said, glancing at the cottage and away. "It should have been me." He pressed his lips together for a moment, then carried on. "I know my parents were hoping I'd be strong. We have some powerful ancestors. And there was a divination before they had kids. It said their child would be the savior of the clan and bring us great prosperity."

  He scoffed. "But me? I was a boy. And nine-tails are always female. Turns out I'm just a kitsune, and a pretty weak one at that. Couldn't even shift until I was a teenager. Pathetic really." He shrugged. "Then they had Kira and their expectations rose higher. And fell farther. My sister is strong, but she's not a nine-tail. Hisashi came along a couple years after Kira. And it was like all the expectations the clan had for so long were magnified and placed on him."

  He shook his head. "I've always felt so bad for the idiot. He might be stubborn and crazy, but he never asked for this. He just wasn't made for the role they have always tried to shove him into, you know? Not only is he a male, which is a huge failing. But he's not the type to do as he's told without a fight. I've never seen a kid take so many beatings as Hisashi did growing up."