Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 72 – A Bundle of Feathers and Fluff

[Ovia POV]

What am I supposed to do?!

I-I had a plan.

We were just going to sit down together.

I-I would have Kierra in my lap for the whole day!

But…

I couldn’t take my eyes away from the bundle of feathers and fluff laid in front of me.

T-This wasn’t supposed to happen!

Is this e-even allowed?!

Thankfully, they were asleep at the moment… I had even picked them up off the floor and put them onto a bed, but…

“W-What are we supposed to d-do?” I asked, “I-I wasn’t expecting another…”

“Calm down Sister. If you’re too loud, you’ll wake them up,” Ellaria responded as she moved a strand of hair out of the girls’ faces, “Nothing has happened yet, so you don’t have to worry so much.”

“B-But-”

Y-You did tell me yesterday that K-Kierra would be here today. B-But not about anyone else coming with her!

“The timing was really unfortunate,” She said, “I just wanted to surprise her by bringing her here with the necklace, but I didn’t realise that she would be asleep once midnight came along. At this rate, she might be sent back before she wakes up.”

That’s the biggest problem?!

W-What about-?

“Maybe I should talk to the Goddess of the Moon about this… I’m sure she could allow the little kitsune a bit of leeway when coming over, at least on the day…”

“That’s not the p-problem!” I blurted out.

“Shh,” Ellaria brought her finger to her lips, “I just told you that we need to be quiet, or we’ll wake them up.”

“…”

“Now, Sister, I know what you’re worried about, but we’re here now, and it’s already happened. No one has come to intervene, so it’s… probably fine.”

Probably?!

W-What if they just haven’t noticed yet?!

“If you’re really that scared, do you want me to ask John about it later?…” She paused for a moment, “Even if he probably already expects me to…”

…

I-Is that a good idea?

What if he r-really doesn’t know? W-What would he do when he f-finds out?

B-but then wouldn’t it be better t-to tell him? I-If he finds out by himself later…

W-What’s the right answer? I-Is there a right answer?

“P-Please,” I eventually responded.

“Then, once these two leave, I’ll go and ask him for you,” She then started walking away from the bed, “But for now, you should continue preparing to greet your guests… You can think of it this way; since they’re sleeping, you have been given some extra time to make up for the added surprise.”

“B-But how?”

“Just be yourself. That little crow has already heard your voice before; all you’re doing is giving her a face to match it to. So how bad can it really go?” Ellaria smiled, “And remember, I’m still going to be here, as is the little kitsune; there is only one person you have to introduce yourself to.”

Ellaria’s words brought a single memory to the surface. The moment Kierra was first brought into my domain… When I tried to speak to her… When the first thing she did was to try and run away from me…

…

W-What am I supposed to do?

I’m the Goddess of Darkness I-I need to act l-like it…

B-But what if I scare Kierra’s sister?

What if I scare Kierra again?!

…

What’s the correct answer?

The thoughts raced through my head, going around and around, never stopping for even a moment.

W-What if I just dress the part?

S-Should I get my claws out?

But then what do I say? H-How do I introduce myself to her?!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t given enough time to finish thinking everything through as one of the two people on the bed began to stir.

“You’ve got this,” Ellaria said as she took another step back, “I know it.”

W-What do you mean?!

My question was forced to remain inside my head as Kierra’s sister propped herself up and started looking around the room.

D-Do I look okay?! I-I didn’t have time to check!

“Is it still night out?” Kierra’s sister asked, “I can’t see a thing… How am I supposed to find a candle like this?… Should I just go back to sleep?…”

S-She can’t see?

Maybe that’s a good thing!

It’s easier if she can’t see me!

As I was about to try and say something, there was a low yet loud rumbling.

“Ha… guess I’m being told to make breakfast instead…” She said as she started feeling around the bed until her hand eventually found Kierra’s shoulder, “There you are… I’m glad you’re finally getting the sleep you need…”

…

…

C-Can I speak now?

…

Kierra’s sister then started to shuffle herself off the side of the bed.

“W-Welcome,” I said in a panic, wanting to stop her before she started blindly wandering around my domain.

She instantly froze up.

Why did you s-stutter?! It was only one word!

W-What is she thinking now? What does she think of me?!

Was that a b-bad first impression?! It must have been! It’s just like the last time!

She suddenly lifted both of her hands and her wings up into the air and held them there.

What does that mean?!

“Was I touching her necklace again?” She asked out loud.

“…” I didn’t know what to say.

“… I guess I must’ve been… Although… I do wonder if she can hear it in her sleep… would it wake her up then?…” She let out a sigh, “Anyway… I should go ask that lady downstairs if I can use the kitchen here… if she’s awake at least…”

W-What do I do now?

D-Do I just say it again?

…

“Welcome to my domain,” I said again, trying my best not to stutter this time, yet I immediately regretted what I had just said.

Isn’t it strange to say it again?

W-Why did I do that?!

“… Am I just hearing things now?”

…

Nothing I’m trying is working!

Then, without warning, a number of light spirits spread themselves out across my domain, brightening it up significantly. Off in the distance, I saw Ellaria standing there with her finger up against her lips.

W-What are you doing?!

You need to-

As I looked back over at the bed, my thoughts stopped.

…

Looking back at me were two bright purple eyes. They slowly traced their way up and down my body as I did nothing but stare back at them.

She… can see me…

…

She can see me!

In a hurry, I folded my arms and puffed out my chest.

“Are you-” She started to speak.

“You may call me Ovia,” I accidentally interrupted her as I tried to guess her question, “The Goddess of Darkness, Dreams and… You may tell me your name.”

“…”

Silence filled the room.

D-Did I do it wrong again?!

“So that’s who…” She muttered under her breath before looking into my eyes, making me flinch a little, “Hello, my name is Ava, Kierra’s one and only sister, but you probably already knew that… I think.”

…

S-She isn’t scared?

What do I say now?! I-I wasn’t expecting to get this far!

“I think I’ll have to step in and help out a little,” Ellaria came up next to me, “I’m Ellaria, Ovia’s sister, also known as the Goddess of Light, Transformation and Titles, but I would really like it if you would just call me Aria.”

“Another one?!” Ava blurted out, “If I turn away, is a third kitsune Goddess going to appear in front of me? I had guessed that Kierra was talking to someone important at that temple… but this… this is just…”

The tension in the room was broken by Ava’s stomach rumbling once again.

“… I’m so sorry,” She said as her face turned just a little pink, “But… do you have a kitchen around here that I could use? Or maybe just something to eat?”

A Kitchen?!

Um… I… I don’t think I do… b-but maybe I could ask Um-

“I’m afraid we don’t,” Ellaria answered for me, “The two of us admittedly don’t eat very much, so we have no need for either a kitchen or food.”

“Is that right?…” Ava said as she seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.

“Wait!” I blurted out as I got a little closer to the bed, “U-Umbra, c-can you bring out something for A-Ava to eat?”

It was an impulsive decision, but as soon as I came up with the idea, I just couldn’t stop myself. I knew that Ava was important to Kierra, so if Ava was unhappy, it might make Kierra unhappy as well… and I didn’t want to do that to her.

…

It took a little over a minute, but eventually, Umbra showed themselves with some jerky in their mouth, which they quickly handed to me.

Wait! W-Why are you giving this to me?!

S-She needs it! Not me!

Umbra disappeared before I could actually bring myself to say anything to them… leaving me standing there with a few strips of jerky in my hand.

“You c-can eat this!” I said as I immediately swivelled my body around to face Ava.

She took the jerky out of my hand with a slight giggle, “Thank you very much, Ovia.”

My ears twitched as she said my name. It just felt strange to hear it from someone who wasn’t Ellaria or Kierra.

She quickly got to work, eating through the jerky at a surprising speed.

“So,” She started to speak as she finished off the last bite, “I just want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding this, but… has my sister been speaking to two Goddesses?”

“Yes,” Ellaria responded, “We’ve been looking out for the little kitsune for some time now, although we were planning on keeping it a secret.”

“That… I just don’t know…” Ava leaned back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, “In all honesty… it’s hard to say if that explains a lot or a little… I guess I can at least put a face to the voice I heard… and a name to the sketch I saw all that time ago now… But if that’s really the case… what am I doing here?”

“W-Well… um…” I tried to answer her but just couldn’t figure out how to put the words in the right order.

“That was an accident on our part,” Ellaria took over, “When the pendant on her necklace was made, I had asked for it to allow the little kitsune to come to visit on the day of a new moon… and you just happened to be touching it when it happened.”

There was a brief pause as Ava seemed to sort through everything in her head.

“So… I guess I’m supposed to keep this secret now…” She turned to look at Kierra.

“We would much prefer it if you did,” Ellaria got a little closer to me, “But then again, I’m pretty sure we’ve been overstepping our bounds for a long time now.”

Ava let out a short laugh, “Then I have just one more question for the two of you… I know that you said that you don’t normally eat, but could you eat if you wanted to?”

“Yes, that isn’t a-”

“Great!” Ava cut Ellaria off, “Then next time I’m up here… if there is a next time anyway… I need to cook a meal for the two of you. As my way of saying thank you for whatever you’ve been doing for my sister.”

…

What?! Is that it?

T-That’s all your questions?

N-Not about what we did?

Not about the… m-mistakes I’ve made…

…

“I-Is that really e-everything?” I asked, “Y-You really don’t have any other questions.”

“Oh no, I have lots of questions. I mean, who wouldn’t in this situation?” She ran her hand through Kierra’s hair, “But it already feels like I’m going behind someone’s back just being here right now… and anyway… whatever you’ve done for her seems to make her happy… and that’s all I need to know… at least until she wants to tell me more, then I’ll ask all the questions in the world until I’m satisfied.”

Before I even had the chance to say anything else, Kierra started to stir in the bed, and the room fell silent once again.

Her hands seemed to wake up first as they started searching around the bed. After a short while, they happened upon her tail, immediately grabbing onto it and bringing it around in front of her, where she gracefully buried her face inside.

She’s just too cute sometimes.

I started to reach out to run my fingers through her fluffy tail but quickly stopped once I remembered that there were other people in the room.

It took a few more minutes after that, but eventually, she opened her eyes and looked directly into my own.