Coyote Tricks: Fox Child

This chapter is rated PG-13 for violent action.

The Fall

Shippo set up a large flip pad of sketch paper in his studio as Yuki and Toshiro watched. He then set a stool across from the pad and sat on it.
Shippo gestured toward the pad.
“Please do a quick sketch for me of what you see when you look at me.”
“Ok,” Yuki said, stepping up to the pad and staring at Shippo for a moment. Then, taking up a pencil she started drawing quickly and assuredly on the pad.

After the initial good impression, Shippo had invited her back for ‘training’ he had said. She had thought he meant art training and his work was good enough that she felt obliged to take him up on the offer. But when she arrived he had spent an hour discussing her ability to see through Toshiro’s illusions and other supernatural things before bringing her back to his studio.

She finished her sketch and motioned Shippo over. The drawing was how Shippo looked without his illusions; fox feet, tail, pointed ears and all. Shippo smiled.
“Very good,” he said. “Particularly, since I have one of my best illusions of human appearance cast. You truly are talented in spiritual powers. Now we need to help you move to the next step. Can you see auras?”
“You mean that glow that surrounds people?”
“Yes,” Shippo said.
“Yes, if I concentrate.”

“Good,” Shippo said, sitting back down on the stool. “Can you see an aura around me?”
Yuki stared at him a moment.
“Yes. It’s different than the auras I see around people, though.”
“That’s a demonic aura,” Shippo explained. “Remember it. Some demons will appear human, even to your senses. The aura will tell the difference, as will their true appearance.”
“True appearance?”
“Yes. Use the same concentration to see the aura and look deeper. Don’t see just what your eyes tell you but look at the real me.”

Yuki stared intently at the Kitsune, her hand moving to her temple in the strain. Then suddenly she straightened with a startled gasp.
“Yes,” Shippo said. “Now draw what you see.”
Yuki quickly flipped the pad over and started drawing. After she finished, Shippo and Toshiro looked over her work. The drawing was of a large fox, large enough to fill the room, with five tails streaming around it.
“Very good,” Shippo said. “Even the most talented spirit mediums don’t often get it right their first try.”

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Toshiro drove Yuki home in the darkened streets.
“Toshiro,” Yuki said. “I tried to see your true form, like I saw your father’s but all I see is you.”
Toshiro laughed, “That is because I’m a hanyou. This is my true form.”
At her look of confusion he continued. “Hanyous are sort of stuck half way between the forms of the two parents. I have some of the fox magic powers of my Father and some of the spiritual powers of my Mother but, no matter how powerful I become, I will always look like this.”

They pulled up in front of Yuki’s apartment building.
“I like the way you look,” Yuki said. “In fact, I was wondering if you would pose for me.”
“A portrait?” Toshiro said, looking thoughtful. “Why?”
“Well, I’d like to do a comparison between a good drawing of you and Kit…my Kit, I mean,” she said as they entered her apartment doorway.
“Is that all?” Toshiro said, leaning close to her in the crowded doorway.

Yuki suddenly found herself intensely aware of the heat radiating off his body as he looked into her eyes.
“Well, I…” she stammered, suddenly losing track of what she intended to say, as Toshiro leaned down and kissed her.
“Just how much of a comparison did you want to do?” He asked. “Considering how much you’ve shown in the book, did you want to compare all the details?”
Yuki blushed as she wondered where all the oxygen in the doorway had gone.
Toshiro let her off the hook, backing away a step.
“I would be happy to pose for you. Just let me know when.” He said and left with a little wave. He strode off down to the street, a little lighter in step and cheerful whistle on his lips.

Yuki took a moment to catch her breath and then grinned.
“Yes!” She said quietly, as she dug out her keys and entered her apartment.
She sensed it almost immediately. The shadowy figure of a man stood near the apartment window. Without even thinking, she used her new talents to see clearly into the shadow and make out the figure’s true form. And then she screamed.

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Warring States Era

Screams intermingled with flames as the massed forces of the Mountain Oni Tribe attacked the town from all sides. Inuyasha, Kit, Miroku, Sango and Kagome rushed to help, while Yuriko remained in the house with Hanako and Shippo. Shippo protested at first until Kagome told him as the oldest Kitsune male, he needed to stay to protect the Kitsune women.

In the open market area, the temple guard had assembled to fend off the giant monster.
“Stand your ground men!” The guard captain yelled, trying to rally his troops.
“Ready Archers!”
The ranks of samurai raised their bows and aimed at the Oni Lord.
“Fire!”
A swarm of missiles whistled through the air and struck the giant Oni. Yamanasu brushed the barbs off indifferently.
“Foolish mortals. You cannot harm me!” Yamanasu sneered.
The guard captain turned back to his men.
“Ready another volley…urk,” his command cut off as his lieutenant pulled his sword and ran the guard captain through.
“Sume, why?” The Captain whispered and then collapsed at Sume’s feet.
The other samurai stood in confusion as Sume turned, a maniacal grin on his face, and attacked his fellows. Panic set in as, all down the line, others pulled their swords and attacked their brethren as well. The guard scattered in dismay.

Above it all, Yamanasu laughed, “Puny mortals, the evil in men’s hearts are mine to control and devour! Go forth my Oni! Ravage and destroy to your heart’s content, but bring me the fox child alive!”

Inuyasha and the others arrived on the edge of the square just as Yamanasu finished his command.
“Fox child?” Kit said, suddenly piecing together events. “They’re after Hanako!”
“Go protect her,” Inuyasha said, drawing the Tetseiga. “We will take care of big, loud and ugly.”
Kit nodded, and turning, raced back to find his family. The rest of the group strode out into the square.

“Hey, Windbag!” Inuyasha yelled. “Are you so pathetic that all you can do is pick on humans and fox kits?”
“Lowly Hanyou! I am Yamanasu, the Mountain King! Stand before me and tremble in fear!”
“Yeah right!” Inuyasha yelled. “I’ll give you something to fear. Windscar!”
The power of Tetseiga struck out against the monster in a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Yamanasu still stood. Massive wounds covered his chest but, as the group watched, they began to close.

Yamanasu laughed, “Now do you understand, boy? I feed on evil, fear and suffering.”
The monster gestured to the burning town around him.
“There is plenty here to give me all the power I need to defeat you.”

“If you feed on evil then I should be able to exorcise you” Miroku said, stepping forward as he reached into his robe for a handful of spell scrolls.
“The famed Monkey Monk. These foolish humans think you can protect them from me?” Yamanasu laughed even louder, but there was twinkle of uncertainty in his eyes. “Do your worst.”

“Sacred Sutra!” Miroku yelled, throwing the spell scrolls at Yamanasu. Where they touched the monster, they glowed and Yamanasu writhed in pain but after a moment the scrolls burst into flames and disintegrated.
“Your sutras are strong, monk, but not strong enough! All that is dark and evil in the human heart is mine to command, even the heart of a half human” Yamanasu said.

“Half-human?” Kagome said and looked at Inuyasha.
The hanyou suddenly stiffened and dropped the Tetseiga. He jerked suddenly and turned to his companions with a growl in his throat. His eyes had turned all red and the jagged marks of full-blooded dog demon appeared on his cheeks.
“Yamanasu has unleashed his demon blood. He is in a blood rage!” Sango said.

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Modern Era

Toshiro heard Yuki scream and looked up to see shadowy figure leap from her window, Yuki flung over its shoulder, onto a nearby roof. He quickly popped the car trunk with his remote, and grabbing his Katana, leapt after the fleeing figure. His hanyou strength let him follow the demon across the roof tops easily enough. The figure appeared to be making no attempt to evade and Toshiro suspected it wasn’t aware he was behind it.

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Shippo came out of his studio to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Father!” Toshiro’s voice came from the other end. “I’m at pier 27 at the harbor. A demon has taken Yuki and just went into warehouse C.”
“Wait there. I’ll call Kurama and be right there.”
“I can’t wait, Father. They might…”
Shippo heard a loud grunt, followed by sound of the cell phone dropping, and then the line went dead.
“Toshiro!”

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Warring States Era

Kit arrived at the house as a figure came crashing through the doorway and down the steps.
“Yuriko!” Kit cried, rushing to the blood stained figure. She clutched his shirt desperately.
“He has Hanako!”
Kit started to rise.
“Stay where you are, foreign mongrel, or she dies.” A tall warrior with black eyes called from the doorway where he held a knife to the throat of struggling Hanako.
“Kit!” the child screamed in panic.
“Momoru, you bastard!” Kit yelled, anger shaking his frame.
Momoru laughed as an Oni came up behind him holding a large sack. The movements and rather rude noises coming from the sack indicated it held Shippo.
“We have what we came for. You will have to wait for me to kill you later,” Momoru said as he and the Oni backed to the edge of the porch.
“What’s the matter, you fucking bastard? Too scared to fight when your opponent isn’t defenseless old men and children!”
“Very well,” Momoru said, handing the struggling Hanako to the Oni. “If you would like to die now, I can oblige you.”
“Die!” Kit yelled, lowering Silver Fang and charging Momoru. Momoru’s sword lashed out, knocking the spear aside and slashing across Kit’s side. Kit came back at him again, more cautiously this time. The two fenced back and forth and, while his practicing spear against sword with Toshiro had prepared him for this combat, he found he couldn’t land a hit on Momoru, while the warrior regularly slipped past the longer reach of his spear to land a cut.
“You fool! You cannot possibly hope to defeat me. I am the First Master of the Koutaiyoku,” Momoru said, circling him. “Companion to Inutashio and the Goddess Akari.”
Kit didn’t answer but continued to circle, hoping for a chance. His vision was graying. Even if Momoru hadn’t gotten in a killing blow, he was bleeding Kit to death with a thousand cuts. He couldn’t even get a blast of spirit energy off, as Momoru seemed to manage to keep Yuriko or Hanako in the line of fire. Kit stumbled; he was going to collapse any second. Gathering himself up, he made a final charge. Momoru brushed his spear aside easily.
“Urk,” Kit grunted, as he felt the sword slide into his stomach. He collapsed at the warrior’s feet. Rolling onto his back, he looked up at the man standing over him with Kit’s blood on his sword blade.

Momoru looked up as a group of temple guards appeared, running toward the house. He turned and summoned the Oni to him.
A black cloud of miasma formed around them and lifted them into the air.

“No!” Kit cried as he struggled to his feet and his clothes disappeared. There was a shimmering of shadow and the raven that stood in his place took flight after them. Looking back, Momoru laughed and, raising a hand, a ball of miasma formed which he flung at the pursuing bird. It struck Kit cleanly and the raven fell limply from the skies into the burning streets below.

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Foxfur: “WHAT! You’re just going to leave it there!”
Stardreamer: “Yeah, I thought it was a rather dramatic…” (WHAM).
Foxfur hitting Stardreamer with large mallet: “EVIL, EVIL, EVIL!”
Stardreamer: “Ow, Ow, Ow! It’s just for a week.” (WHAM)