Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 33 – A Crow’s Restless Morning

[Ava POV]

Last night was a little bit rough, to say the least. I spent most of it with Mom continuously pestering me for answers I didn’t even know.

Like, come on, it’s not like I know everything about Kit. I’ve just been guessing, and it’s been working out most of the time; that doesn’t make me some kind of Kit connoisseur.

But that wasn’t even the worst part. When I was taking our plates to the kitchen last night, I realised I had forgotten a knife in Kit’s room, so I turned back to quickly go get it and…

Why did I have to hear that?…

…

Just those few words she said kept me up all night as they spiralled around in my mind, constantly gnawing at me.

I didn’t even do anything to comfort her…

I just… ran… or rather, flew away.

…

“I want to say it will just work itself out eventually, and I don’t need to worry so much, but look at me… I’m already losing sleep over it.”

I cracked an egg into the pan in front of me, and then I just stood there, watching it cook slowly.

…

“Just… focus on breakfast for now,” I said to myself, sliding the egg out of the pan and onto one of the plates, “It’s hard to do anything on an empty stomach after all.”

After carefully picking up two of the plates while balancing the third on my forearm, I made my way over to Kit’s room, gently knocking my foot against the door to see if she was awake.

No response.

Guess yesterday tired her out more than I thought.

I awkwardly opened the door, using my free elbow to push the door handle down while doing my best to keep the plates balanced. Fortunately, I managed it without dropping anything.

“Hey, good morning, breakfast’s he-”

The words got caught in my throat as I laid eyes on the bed.

…

That’s… adorable!

After quickly placing the plates down on the table, I went and crouched down next to the bed to get a better view of the spectacle in front of me.

On top of the pillow were two baby foxes, one pure white and the other a dark grey, curled up together, sleeping peacefully. My hand instinctively reached out towards the bundle of fluff, but I quickly pulled it back.

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She probably wouldn’t like me touching her in her sleep like this.

…

If I can’t pet her.

I reached my hand out towards the grey fox.

What about?…

But that’s when a realisation hit me, causing my arm to lock up.

“Wait… where did the other fox come from?”

I couldn’t remember her picking up a fox at all. You don’t really see wild foxes in human territories. Saying that they might not even be a wild fox; they could be another kitsune.

…

Then again, you don’t normally see kitsune around here either.

I should probably separate the two of them at least…

…

I continued staring at the two of them for a little while, not doing anything.

“Maybe not…”

They both seem pretty happy…

Well, they look as happy as a pair of sleeping foxes can look at least.

“I’ll just ask her about it when she wakes up,” I mumbled to myself as I started to get up from the floor, trying my best not to make too much noise.

Unfortunately, Mom happened to throw the door to the room open at the exact same time, making sure to announce her presence.

“Breakfast smells good today.”

“…”

Really?! Right now?

“What? It’s true,” She made a show of shrugging her shoulders with her arms outstretched.

“Keep it down. I’m letting her sleep in a bit longer.”

Mom’s eyes glanced over at the bed, and I saw her start to open her mouth.

“Shh!” I put my finger up to my lips, “Just… sit down first.”

She started opening her mouth to say something again, so I put my finger up to my lips, although with a bit more vigour this time, while also pointing at the table with my other hand.

Thankfully, this time, she listened to me and sat herself down at the table before I went and sat down next to her.

“Where did that fox come from?” Mom asked, now whispering.

“I don’t know; they were just there when I came in.”

“What?” She almost jumped out of her seat but I stopped her, “What if it’s dangerous? She could get hurt.”

“If it was dangerous, do you think it would be sleeping so peacefully with Kit?”

“I… I don’t know. This isn’t a situation I’ve been in before…” She looked over at the bed, “We should at least separate them so nothing happens when they wake up.”

“Just leave them alone,” I said, pushing Mom’s plate closer to her, “I’m sure we’ll get an answer when they wake up… well… probably… you know how she is.”

“…But-” She paused for a moment,  “No… It’s fine, I’ll listen to you this time… But if something goes wrong… No… I shouldn’t be thinking like that.”

She stuck her head down and started eating, though I could see her glance to the side after every few bites to check on Kit.

When we were about halfway through our meal, some shuffling could be heard coming from the bed. Mom immediately tried to get out of her seat and run over, but I grabbed her sleeve, stopping her.

The first of the foxes to get up was Kit, who, while half asleep, tried to stretch while still on top of the pillow, knocking the poor grey fox onto the bed and waking them up as well.

If we had separated them we wouldn’t have gotten to see this.

I knew I made the right choice.

“Mom, maybe we should buy a bigger pillow for the two of them,” I whispered.

“We still don’t even know if keeping that fox here is safe,” She responded, quickly putting a damper on my mood.

“Come on, just look at that,” I pointed at the two foxes, “How can you not want to keep them here.”

She didn’t respond and just kept her eyes glued on Kit.

After a few more stretches from the two foxes, they finally seemed to be fully awake. However Kit, in particular, looked a little shocked, quickly glancing between me, Mom and the grey fox over and over again.

“So,” I got up from my chair but didn’t get any closer, “Are you going to introduce us to your… friend?”

Kit didn’t do anything; she just turned and stared at the grey fox.

…

Y’know what… I think we’re fine.

She seems to know who that grey fox is.

…

I mean if something were going to happen, it would have already happened.

…

Kit didn’t seem to be calming down at all, and seeing that just caused me to recall what I heard last night.

Now that I know how hard you’re trying…

I… I’ll do something…

…

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot,” I clapped my hands together to get everyone’s attention, “Mom, we should probably step out for a moment so she can get changed, right?”

This should help give her some space to sort her thoughts out.

“What? But-”

“We should give her some privacy,” I said, placing my hand on Mom’s shoulder, “We’ll just be waiting outside the door, so knock when you’re ready for us to come back in.”

This time, Mom didn’t argue with me and just followed me outside, but once we got out of the room, she stopped being so quiet.

“What are you doing?” She asked, “We still don’t know if leaving her with that fox is safe.”

“It’s fine. Come on, you saw how she looked at that fox. There’s no way she doesn’t know them.”

“What do you mean, ‘how she looked at that fox’?” She rested her head against her knuckles, “Just give me straight answers.”

“There aren’t straight answers for this kind of thing,” I pulled her hand down, “You just… get a feeling for it.”

“…” She glared at me.

“You’ll get there eventually,” I said, patting her on the back.

“Should you really be saying that kind of thing to your mother? I mean… It’s not like I know nothing about this stuff. I think you forget what you were like just two years ago, and I was able to help you… Wasn’t I?”

Come on, Mom, where exactly do you think I learned all of this from?

It didn’t come from nowhere.

She brought her fist up to her forehead again.

“I told you yesterday; just calm down, and you’ll get it,” I pulled her hand down once again.

“… Y’know… Sometimes… I wish you would stop growing so fast,” She turned to face me, “It’s only been two years, and I already feel like I’m losing my cute little daughter.”

“Come on, you don’t have to worry about that,” I said, unable to keep a smug grin from spreading across my face, “No matter how big I get, I’ll still be your cute daughter.”

Mom responded simply by letting out a small chuckle.

Now that’s more like the Mom I know.

I continued talking to Mom for a while, hoping to distract her from Kit, even if just for a little bit.

Kit, I know you’re trying your best in there.

I just hope I’ve given you enough time to psych yourself up…

Cause I think Mom might end up being a bit of a handful today.