Megitsune

Kuai groaned, the voice that had spoken seemed so near and yet distant at the same time. He felt something damp at his cheek, he grunted at the strange feeling. Then something long and wet trailed across his cheek. He whined and moved his head trying to avoid it.

“He is alive,” a second voice confirmed, feminine and ethereal. “His injuries are severe. I can heal him, but it will take some time.”

There was a soft shout from somewhere. He tried to open his eyes to see what was happening but the light burned far too much and he immediately shut them.

“They are coming for him,” the first voice summarised, Kuai now able to identify it as masculine.

“Help him onto my back, I will carry him to safety my love,” the female voice replied.

The next thing he felt was a pair of hands roughly grabbing him and moving his limp body. The action caused his body to ache, and he gave a horse cry as his bones protested the rough treatment. The male voice muttered something in what sounded like Japanese, and now the hands were a lot softer, taking much more care to not cause Kuai any more pain.

He found himself placed face down onto something soft. It felt like fur but he couldn't be sure. Something with a similar texture wrapped around his waist, as if to hold him still.

“Go. I will hold them off,” the male voice spoke. “I will catch up to you.”

Without another word, whatever Kuai was on started moving. He felt himself rocking back and forth. It would have almost been soothing if the occasional jerky motion didn't cause him pain. As sudden as the movement had started, it seemed whatever he was riding had come to a stop. The appendage wrapped around his waist released him, and he gently slid down, propped up against what felt like a tree.

He felt a warm sensation crawl through his veins, a soothing feeling that slowly removed his agony. He opened his eyes slightly, blinking a few times trying to get his vision to focus. The warmth dissipated and while he was still in a significant amount of pain, it was a lot duller now than it had been.

“You should feel better now,” the female voice informed him. “There are still injuries I need to treat, but I require more specialised magic to deal with them.”

His vision was now clear, as he looked around to where the voice was coming from. Sat not far from his was a very large black fox with multiple tails. He gasped, feeling himself scramble backwards slightly. A kitsune. She was what he'd been riding on the back of. He felt his fists clench, ice snaking out from his fingers, and involuntary response to his unease.

The kitsune seemed to notice this, her head tilting slightly as she observed Kuai's attempt to get his powers back under control. “Curious,” she said, her ears flattening against her head. “I see now why they were hunting you.”

The kitsune stood, taking a step towards Kuai. Not trusting the creatures intentions, he shuffled backwards in an attempt to get away. She paused and looked at him, he could feel more of his ice starting to freeze the ground below.

“You are scared, that is understandable,” the kitsune spoke gently. “Maybe my human form will put you more at ease?”

A white light emerged from the kitsune's chest and Kuai used an arm to shield his eyes from it. Seconds later, he felt a hand reach for his wrist and lower his arm. Now looking back at him was a woman, beautiful if he was being honest, the long black hair cascading down her shoulders and her body covered in a delicate kimono. She smiled at him, gently tracing his jaw with her hand.

“Hello there,” she whispered, Kuai shivered, his hand digging into the ground and hearing the crack of more ice snaking it's way from him. “My name is Harumi, what is yours?”

He hesitated. It seemed Harumi wanted to help him, but how could he be sure? This could be a trick or a trap set by the men who were trying to capture him. So he chose not to reply. She frowned slightly at this, but it didn't seem she was angry at the lack of response, more confused.

There was a rustle from across the clearly and Kuai yelped and hauled himself back when a man wearing what looked to be a samurai armour emerged. His breathe came out in sharp bursts, mist escaping his mouth with every outtake. Harumi reached for his face to cradled it.

“No, it's okay, he is safe,” she tried to reassure him, taking a hand and stroking his hair. He still wasn't sure he trusted this, but he tried to calm down regardless. “It is okay, he is Hanzo, my husband.”

“H... He i-is kit-kitsune too?” Kuai questioned, causing Harumi to chuckle slightly.

“No, unlike us, he is completely human,” she explained, seemingly pleased by the fact Kuai had finally spoken. Still his mind was trying to wrap what a Kitsune would ever see in a human, even one as handsome as Hanzo was.

“Us?” Hanzo questioned, and Kuai was now able to place him as the male voice he had heard earlier. Harumi's gaze lowered to the frozen ground under Kuai's hands, and Hanzo's eyes widen as he caught sight of it. He approached, before getting down on one knee and observing the man in front of him. He turned to Harumi to ask, “A Yuki-Onna?”

“Or at least something of that nature,” Harumi affirmed. Kuai wasn't sure what a “Yuki-Onna” was, he knew “yuki” meant snow, so he could take a wild guess as to what they were suggesting. “He is still weak, we need to get him to the safety of our home before I can finish healing him.”

Hanzo nodded, “I will carry him then.”

Kuai made a strangled noise of protest, but it hardly mattered when Hanzo effortlessly managed to hook his arms under Kuai and lifted him off the ground. He hissed slightly as he experienced a stabbing sensation in his left shoulder from the sudden movement. He felt his panic starting to rise again as Hanzo began to follow his wife through the forest.

“N-No,” Kuai tried to voice is objection. They had been so kind to him, but so had the hunters, until they had suddenly turned on him. He couldn't trust him. “No.”

“You're safe,” Hanzo tried to assure him. “We won't hurt you.”

That is what the hunters had said. It is what they had said as they were hurting him. Still Kuai was in no state to fight, even with Harumi's previous healing. He screwed his eyes shut, buried his face into Hanzo's chest, and tried to calm himself.

Somehow, the gentle rock of Hanzo's arms did a lot to help, as did Hanzo's gentle assurance that Kuai was safe he gave every once in a while. With his eyes closed, his sense of smell heightened, and he came to the realisation that Hanzo smelt quite nice.

“Cinnamon,” he muttered to himself, confirming what the scent he was picking up was.

“What?” He heard Hanzo question sounding extremely confused by Kuai suddenly just blurting a seemingly random word out.

“You smell like cinnamon,” he explained. Somewhere in front of him, he heard soft laughter. Kuai opened his eyes to see Harumi walking ahead, but her head was turned to look over her shoulder.

“I have been telling him that for years,” she giggled, glancing up at her husband with a smug look. Kuai glanced up at the face of the man carrying him, feeling weirdly self-satisfied about the blush now over Hanzo's face.

Maybe they were right. Maybe they really were trying to help him. They were telling the truth when they told him he was safe. They had been careful with him, gentle even. It was tentative, and Kuai felt like the slightest misstep could trigger a fight or flight response, but he was willing to give them the chance to prove him wrong.

He shut his eyes again, his exhaustion finally catching up with him as he felt himself slowly loosing himself to sleep.

“Kuai Liang,” He whispered, hoping it was loud enough for them to hear, but too tired to check. “My name is Kuai Liang.”

It took seconds for sleep to claim him, and when he finally awoke from his slumber, he was in the forest no longer.

⊰ Last Fic ≛ Song Inspired Shorts ≛ Next Fic ⊱
⏎Return To Song Inspired Shorts Masterlist⏎