A Fox in the Works
Chapter 2 - The Way of Things
Seven days after he arrived, Kitsune Renshin slipped out of the Academy's open gates in the dead of night. No fault to the guards; they were not trained to catch a fox who did not wish to be seen. He moved on light feet down to the edge of the forest. If a forest it could be called. Nothing wild lived within sight of the heart of Doji's dream; the trees themselves were just a part of the greater whole.
When he was safely beyond the guards sight he knelt in the soft loam. From a closed bag he drew a bowl of fragrant cooked rice, a brazier, oil, and fresh-made tofu. Lighting a small fire took only moments; frying the tofu took longer. The smell made his stomach growl but he set his own hunger aside.
Renshin poured the fried tofu and hot oil over the rice. Carefully he picked up the bowl and placed it in the shadows of an ancient tree, it's gnarled roots wrapping around what might once have been a fox's den. "I wish to speak to the Nine-tailed Elders."
Moments passed, stretching in silence. Then a hand reached from the shadows at the roots of the tree, the skin young but the nails thick and yellowed like an old man's. A body emerged, pulling itself effortlessly from the ground. The figure tucked greedily into the oiled rice and fried tofu, eating with his fingers.
The man (for a man's form it wore) set aside the bowl once he polished it clean with his long tongue. Nine white fox-tails spread out around him, along the ground, up over his shoulders, one standing proudly above his head like a plum. Despite the manner of his arrival, his blue and silver brocade robe showed no sign of dirt; nor did the shoulder-length fox-red hair which graced his brow.
Renshin bowed low. "Elder."
"Pup." The Elder answered.
"I beg a boon."
"Hai?"
"This form is not the right one. I thought Kaori was a humble samurai assigned to guard the Academy, her brother a disgraced painter. I was wrong. They are of the line of Doji, blood of the Kami. They are of the line of Kakita, bringer of life."
The Elder's sharp-toothed smile did nothing to mask the belly-deep laughter which nearly choked him as he said "Hai. This was known, had you asked."
Renshin ground his teeth behind his smile. "I need a new form".
The Elder plucked a white pearl shaped like a grain of rice from a pouch on his belt. He considered it for a moment. "No."
"Elder…"
The Elder's voice grew sharp. "You choose the rules of the game, the form, and the time. This was allowed as a favor given by the Lady herself. That you find your choices displeasing is not our concern."
"I…"
"Are you not fox enough for this task you chose?"
"No, Elder. I will succeed."
"Hai, you will. And we will watch with great amusement as you do."
---
Kaori considered the elaborately folded letter laying on her pillow. It had not been there when she got up. Which meant that, sometime between when she turned to wash with water and salt and turned back, someone had entered the room, deposited the object, and left.
For the third time this week.
Like the other two, this one was folded into a puzzle box. If she tried too hard to open it, it would tear and she'd lose the letter. If it was like the other two there might be something inside as well. She picked it up with the tips of her fingers.
Yes, a little weight pressed the bottom down. The first one contained three acorns made of copper, silver, and gold tied with a ribbon. The second, a piece of sea glass pierced in some unknown manner with a fine red silk thread. This one was a mystery to her.
A polite scratching at her shoji broke Kaori's focus. "Enter," she called, still looking at the folded box. She heard Misao moving into the room, setting things aright as she approached and began to work on the samurai-ko's hair. The servant had slept outside Toshiki's door for six days before relocating to Kaori's six days ago.
"Very good. Do you know where my brother is?"
"Hai, Kakita-sama. He stayed up last night painting."
Of course Misao knew where he was. And probably what inks the baka was out of, and when he last drank tea.
The maidservant stepped back as Kaori rose, a tiny tinkling coming from near samurai-ko's ear almost startling her. "The acorns are bells?"
Misao's voice held repressed laughter. "Hai, Kakita-ue."
Kaori made her way to her way to her brother's study with a dancer's grace, occasionally shaking her head a little to hear the acorn's chime.
---
She's coming.
Toshiki raised his head from the doodle in front of him. It looked like it would probably be a lark, like the one he saw when Renshin arrived. Or maybe a fish. It was hard to tell at this stage.
A moment later, his beautiful twin stormed through the open shoji. Not that she would ever think of herself in any of those ways. She was to her eyes plain, though men stared at her openly when they thought she could not see. She walked with purpose, never with a cloud of anger and determination rising around her like thunder over the mountains.
Her grey eyes swept the disordered room, the origami flowers opening and closing in the half-light, the paintings and partial paintings scattered about like leaves in a storm. She barely glanced at the huge, rough kanji "Jade" hanging on the wall - she knew what it was for and why he kept it, even here in the heart of Doji's Dream. In her hands was another letter folded into an intricate puzzle box.
She could not ask, so he took it from her, turning the box over in his hands. Whoever folded these needed to study a bit more; the folds were intricate but like the first two simple to undo once the central line came free. Just a bit of gentle teasing and the third proved as simple as the first, opening into a beautifully written letter. Within it, an origami gardenia with a flush of life on it, not unlike one he had folded last night.
Toshiki looked over at the vase where he had set the flower aside in the early morning hours. It was no longer there.
Clever fox, he thought, that should get her attention.
The letter read:
The sunlight filters
Slants through the forest branches
Come and run with me
Kaori eagerly picked up the flower. "This is one of yours?"
"Hai, from last night," he answered.
"Did you give it to the writer?" Her tone was mild but the anger underlying it was not.
"Iie. I did no such thing. I made it to ease my fingers and put it there." He pointed to the now empty vase.
"You know the Masters do not think…"
"And they do not know. Officially. Unofficially I am who I am, and if they object to the old arts they may take it up with the Lady."
He handed her the letter. "Go. See the letter writer tonight. He clearly wants to speak to you, and his message is clear enough. If he can get into the Academy, steal a flower from my study while I am in it without being seen, then he would have already caused mischief if that was his aim."
She withdrew, the acorns in her hair chiming as she went. I know, sister. You are not allowed to be happy. But you want to be.
With a shaking hand he picked up his brush to start again. Maybe this time the Lady would think he got it right.
---
Yoriko watched from Toshiki's room as Kaori slipped into the garden. The young woman walked with light feet but eyes accustomed to watching the comings and goings in the Court of the Emperor were not fooled by foliage and shadows.
A rendezvous, Kaori-chan? Good for you.
She looked around the empty chamber. A tastefully done scroll in formal style, ink and a bit of color carelessly creating a perfect autumn landscape hanging on one wall. Kimono carefully folded and stowed in a honeycomb shelf, cherry wood stained dark red. A table, a futon, an ikebana replaced every day with something from the garden outside.
All of it perfect. None of it real.
Your heart isn't here, is it Toshi-kun? Is it anywhere someone can touch?
The wife picked up the blanket off his futon. She pressed it to her nose, inhaling the scent of him, the feel of the cloth a poor substitute for the warmth of his smile.
Enough of this, I'm being silly.
The princess turned back to the table and went to work on her letters. Her left hand drifted to rest just below her navel when not busy with papers, pots, and ink. Many matters demanded her attention and she did not have time to let silly things get in the way.
---
Kaori slipped without a lantern into the gardens she grew up in, walking well-worn paths that outsiders would never find. This was her place, her home, and she was not going to let some outsider just wander around in it. Sneaking into her room to leave presents was one thing. Stealing from her brother's was something else entirely.
Even if she did it herself sometimes. The look on his face when he couldn't find the right brush was worth it.
Standing by a lantern post, not anywhere near as concealed as he thought, was Renshin. Kaori studied him in the half-light; the angles of his face, the bushy business of his hair, the emerald green of his eyes glowing back at her from the darkness…
Blushing a little, she came closer. "Good evening, Renshin-san. I got your note. Notes."
Green eyes stared into grey and she felt herself flush. "Would you like to walk in the gardens?"
He pressed a finger to his lips, turned, and ran towards the wall. He raced up it like a squirrel, finding fingerholds it had taken her years to master as a child. She saw a flash of white teeth from the top as he went over.
Alright then.
A ribbon from her waist bound back her sleeves, and a quick hitch tucked the long kimono under her obi. Her run took her most of the way up the wall before her weight tried to drag her back down; a quick in-draw of breath into her hara and an explosion of strength down her legs solved that problem. By the time she got to the top of the wall Renshin was already half-way to the forest, running as fast as his legs could carry him.
She dropped down and raced after him. Grasses grown long in the summer heat whipped at her legs, leaving marks which would be hard to hide tomorrow.
Renshin had stopped just inside the woods, next to a lit brazier. He handed her a bowl of oiled rice and fresh, fried tofu with a smile. Silently they ate together, under the trees, away from the masters and the guards and her duties. For however long the bowl lasted, she could just be a woman on a little adventure with a man. A man who, from the looks he kept sending her way, was more than just a little interested in her.
Too soon the rice and tofu ran out, leaving just emptiness within the bowl and a slowly gathering chill in the air. She looked at the Kitsune, put her finger to her lips, and shook her head. He closed his bright green eyes, letting his hair hide his face from her gaze. With nothing to say, Kaori untucked her kimono, unwrapped the ribbon tying her sleeves, and walked back to the Academy alone.
---
Miaso lit two sticks of incense and placed them in the bowl before the statue of Lady Doji. She bowed low, pressing her face to the silk pillows in front of the shrine.
His Lady, he calls you, Lady Doji o'wise and fair. Please don't push him so hard. Please don't break him.
Lady, please, make the Princess see…
Misao heard the rustle of silk and felt the warmth of a body setting next to her. "Make the Princess see what, servant of my brother's children?"
The young woman kept her forehead pressed against the pillow. "Make her see that she loves him, and he her," her voice came out in a whisper.
"And what of Kaori? Have you no care for the twin?", the Lady's voice was as hard as Misao had dreaded, cold and beautiful like the statue given life.
"She deserves to be happy, Lady."
"Hai. Toshi-kun has a soft heart. He plays the game, but in trying to keep all of you safe, he has frozen the world. This will not end well."
Miaso felt her tears falling but kept her sobs inside.
"What would you dare, servant of my brother's children? What would you give to see him happy again? "
Misao drew in her breath, hands held to shield her belly below her navel. "Everything."
"Good. Here is what you must do."
Chapter 2 - The Way of Things
Seven days after he arrived, Kitsune Renshin slipped out of the Academy's open gates in the dead of night. No fault to the guards; they were not trained to catch a fox who did not wish to be seen. He moved on light feet down to the edge of the forest. If a forest it could be called. Nothing wild lived within sight of the heart of Doji's dream; the trees themselves were just a part of the greater whole.
When he was safely beyond the guards sight he knelt in the soft loam. From a closed bag he drew a bowl of fragrant cooked rice, a brazier, oil, and fresh-made tofu. Lighting a small fire took only moments; frying the tofu took longer. The smell made his stomach growl but he set his own hunger aside.
Renshin poured the fried tofu and hot oil over the rice. Carefully he picked up the bowl and placed it in the shadows of an ancient tree, it's gnarled roots wrapping around what might once have been a fox's den. "I wish to speak to the Nine-tailed Elders."
Moments passed, stretching in silence. Then a hand reached from the shadows at the roots of the tree, the skin young but the nails thick and yellowed like an old man's. A body emerged, pulling itself effortlessly from the ground. The figure tucked greedily into the oiled rice and fried tofu, eating with his fingers.
The man (for a man's form it wore) set aside the bowl once he polished it clean with his long tongue. Nine white fox-tails spread out around him, along the ground, up over his shoulders, one standing proudly above his head like a plum. Despite the manner of his arrival, his blue and silver brocade robe showed no sign of dirt; nor did the shoulder-length fox-red hair which graced his brow.
Renshin bowed low. "Elder."
"Pup." The Elder answered.
"I beg a boon."
"Hai?"
"This form is not the right one. I thought Kaori was a humble samurai assigned to guard the Academy, her brother a disgraced painter. I was wrong. They are of the line of Doji, blood of the Kami. They are of the line of Kakita, bringer of life."
The Elder's sharp-toothed smile did nothing to mask the belly-deep laughter which nearly choked him as he said "Hai. This was known, had you asked."
Renshin ground his teeth behind his smile. "I need a new form".
The Elder plucked a white pearl shaped like a grain of rice from a pouch on his belt. He considered it for a moment. "No."
"Elder…"
The Elder's voice grew sharp. "You choose the rules of the game, the form, and the time. This was allowed as a favor given by the Lady herself. That you find your choices displeasing is not our concern."
"I…"
"Are you not fox enough for this task you chose?"
"No, Elder. I will succeed."
"Hai, you will. And we will watch with great amusement as you do."
---
Kaori considered the elaborately folded letter laying on her pillow. It had not been there when she got up. Which meant that, sometime between when she turned to wash with water and salt and turned back, someone had entered the room, deposited the object, and left.
For the third time this week.
Like the other two, this one was folded into a puzzle box. If she tried too hard to open it, it would tear and she'd lose the letter. If it was like the other two there might be something inside as well. She picked it up with the tips of her fingers.
Yes, a little weight pressed the bottom down. The first one contained three acorns made of copper, silver, and gold tied with a ribbon. The second, a piece of sea glass pierced in some unknown manner with a fine red silk thread. This one was a mystery to her.
A polite scratching at her shoji broke Kaori's focus. "Enter," she called, still looking at the folded box. She heard Misao moving into the room, setting things aright as she approached and began to work on the samurai-ko's hair. The servant had slept outside Toshiki's door for six days before relocating to Kaori's six days ago.
"Very good. Do you know where my brother is?"
"Hai, Kakita-sama. He stayed up last night painting."
Of course Misao knew where he was. And probably what inks the baka was out of, and when he last drank tea.
The maidservant stepped back as Kaori rose, a tiny tinkling coming from near samurai-ko's ear almost startling her. "The acorns are bells?"
Misao's voice held repressed laughter. "Hai, Kakita-ue."
Kaori made her way to her way to her brother's study with a dancer's grace, occasionally shaking her head a little to hear the acorn's chime.
---
She's coming.
Toshiki raised his head from the doodle in front of him. It looked like it would probably be a lark, like the one he saw when Renshin arrived. Or maybe a fish. It was hard to tell at this stage.
A moment later, his beautiful twin stormed through the open shoji. Not that she would ever think of herself in any of those ways. She was to her eyes plain, though men stared at her openly when they thought she could not see. She walked with purpose, never with a cloud of anger and determination rising around her like thunder over the mountains.
Her grey eyes swept the disordered room, the origami flowers opening and closing in the half-light, the paintings and partial paintings scattered about like leaves in a storm. She barely glanced at the huge, rough kanji "Jade" hanging on the wall - she knew what it was for and why he kept it, even here in the heart of Doji's Dream. In her hands was another letter folded into an intricate puzzle box.
She could not ask, so he took it from her, turning the box over in his hands. Whoever folded these needed to study a bit more; the folds were intricate but like the first two simple to undo once the central line came free. Just a bit of gentle teasing and the third proved as simple as the first, opening into a beautifully written letter. Within it, an origami gardenia with a flush of life on it, not unlike one he had folded last night.
Toshiki looked over at the vase where he had set the flower aside in the early morning hours. It was no longer there.
Clever fox, he thought, that should get her attention.
The letter read:
The sunlight filters
Slants through the forest branches
Come and run with me
Kaori eagerly picked up the flower. "This is one of yours?"
"Hai, from last night," he answered.
"Did you give it to the writer?" Her tone was mild but the anger underlying it was not.
"Iie. I did no such thing. I made it to ease my fingers and put it there." He pointed to the now empty vase.
"You know the Masters do not think…"
"And they do not know. Officially. Unofficially I am who I am, and if they object to the old arts they may take it up with the Lady."
He handed her the letter. "Go. See the letter writer tonight. He clearly wants to speak to you, and his message is clear enough. If he can get into the Academy, steal a flower from my study while I am in it without being seen, then he would have already caused mischief if that was his aim."
She withdrew, the acorns in her hair chiming as she went. I know, sister. You are not allowed to be happy. But you want to be.
With a shaking hand he picked up his brush to start again. Maybe this time the Lady would think he got it right.
---
Yoriko watched from Toshiki's room as Kaori slipped into the garden. The young woman walked with light feet but eyes accustomed to watching the comings and goings in the Court of the Emperor were not fooled by foliage and shadows.
A rendezvous, Kaori-chan? Good for you.
She looked around the empty chamber. A tastefully done scroll in formal style, ink and a bit of color carelessly creating a perfect autumn landscape hanging on one wall. Kimono carefully folded and stowed in a honeycomb shelf, cherry wood stained dark red. A table, a futon, an ikebana replaced every day with something from the garden outside.
All of it perfect. None of it real.
Your heart isn't here, is it Toshi-kun? Is it anywhere someone can touch?
The wife picked up the blanket off his futon. She pressed it to her nose, inhaling the scent of him, the feel of the cloth a poor substitute for the warmth of his smile.
Enough of this, I'm being silly.
The princess turned back to the table and went to work on her letters. Her left hand drifted to rest just below her navel when not busy with papers, pots, and ink. Many matters demanded her attention and she did not have time to let silly things get in the way.
---
Kaori slipped without a lantern into the gardens she grew up in, walking well-worn paths that outsiders would never find. This was her place, her home, and she was not going to let some outsider just wander around in it. Sneaking into her room to leave presents was one thing. Stealing from her brother's was something else entirely.
Even if she did it herself sometimes. The look on his face when he couldn't find the right brush was worth it.
Standing by a lantern post, not anywhere near as concealed as he thought, was Renshin. Kaori studied him in the half-light; the angles of his face, the bushy business of his hair, the emerald green of his eyes glowing back at her from the darkness…
Blushing a little, she came closer. "Good evening, Renshin-san. I got your note. Notes."
Green eyes stared into grey and she felt herself flush. "Would you like to walk in the gardens?"
He pressed a finger to his lips, turned, and ran towards the wall. He raced up it like a squirrel, finding fingerholds it had taken her years to master as a child. She saw a flash of white teeth from the top as he went over.
Alright then.
A ribbon from her waist bound back her sleeves, and a quick hitch tucked the long kimono under her obi. Her run took her most of the way up the wall before her weight tried to drag her back down; a quick in-draw of breath into her hara and an explosion of strength down her legs solved that problem. By the time she got to the top of the wall Renshin was already half-way to the forest, running as fast as his legs could carry him.
She dropped down and raced after him. Grasses grown long in the summer heat whipped at her legs, leaving marks which would be hard to hide tomorrow.
Renshin had stopped just inside the woods, next to a lit brazier. He handed her a bowl of oiled rice and fresh, fried tofu with a smile. Silently they ate together, under the trees, away from the masters and the guards and her duties. For however long the bowl lasted, she could just be a woman on a little adventure with a man. A man who, from the looks he kept sending her way, was more than just a little interested in her.
Too soon the rice and tofu ran out, leaving just emptiness within the bowl and a slowly gathering chill in the air. She looked at the Kitsune, put her finger to her lips, and shook her head. He closed his bright green eyes, letting his hair hide his face from her gaze. With nothing to say, Kaori untucked her kimono, unwrapped the ribbon tying her sleeves, and walked back to the Academy alone.
---
Miaso lit two sticks of incense and placed them in the bowl before the statue of Lady Doji. She bowed low, pressing her face to the silk pillows in front of the shrine.
His Lady, he calls you, Lady Doji o'wise and fair. Please don't push him so hard. Please don't break him.
Lady, please, make the Princess see…
Misao heard the rustle of silk and felt the warmth of a body setting next to her. "Make the Princess see what, servant of my brother's children?"
The young woman kept her forehead pressed against the pillow. "Make her see that she loves him, and he her," her voice came out in a whisper.
"And what of Kaori? Have you no care for the twin?", the Lady's voice was as hard as Misao had dreaded, cold and beautiful like the statue given life.
"She deserves to be happy, Lady."
"Hai. Toshi-kun has a soft heart. He plays the game, but in trying to keep all of you safe, he has frozen the world. This will not end well."
Miaso felt her tears falling but kept her sobs inside.
"What would you dare, servant of my brother's children? What would you give to see him happy again? "
Misao drew in her breath, hands held to shield her belly below her navel. "Everything."
"Good. Here is what you must do."