Kitsunebi 狐火 || Kemono Jihen

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Kabane (part 2)

❃

It wasn't long before nightfall and the new moon arrived. Inugami told Dorotabo to wait for them outside the inn. Then you would all start the investigation together immediately.

You went outside first when you saw the argument between Yataro and Dorotabo. You stood watch and froze as Dorotabo lost control. You quickly ran back to Inugami. 'This might be dangerous..!'

By the time the two of you went out, Dorotabo was nowhere to be found. You used your keen sense of smell to find him and there he was behind the inn, curled up with his arms hugging his knees tight, and him facing the ground.

You and Inugami didn't say anything. "Stay away from me, " Dorotabo whimpers.  "It was me. I'm the culprit. I'm the monster!"

"Dorotabo, you may wonder why I would suddenly say I'm about to say..." Inugami starts. "...but let me show you my rear end." Dorotabo looked confused and you mentally facepalm. "But just this once, because these are special circumstances." Inugami turns around and unbuckled his belt. He pulled down his pants just a bit to reveal "A tail..?" Dorotabo asks.

"From times of yore," Inugami starts to explain as he pulls his pants back up. "There have been beings who lurk in the world's shadow, involved with humans, but undetected by them, known as Kemono. Kemono don't usually involve themselves with people directly. But recently, there have been some who have become more deeply involved than necessary. Like, say, having kids with them. There have been multiple cases like that reported.

And Dorotabo, you are a hanyo, the child of a human and a ghoul, a bloodless demon."

Dorotabo looked very confused and scared by this point. "Demon...?"

"Take it easy. I'm not a human either." He makes a gun figure with his fingers and a pistol appears from the smoke into his hand. "I'm a bake-danuki."

"This isn't how I imagined things would go, " you say. Your ears morph into pointy fox ears with (h/c) coloured fur. "I'm a bake-kitsune." You changed your ears back to normal and so did Inugami with the gun.

"As for the lifestone your parents left you, it prevents your monster-specific 'thirst' from manifesting. To put it more simply, it keeps you from impulsively attacking people, " Inugami clarifies. "As long as you have that stone, you can remain a person."

"That stone's pretty neat, " You comment.

"A person?" Dorotabo says.

"You aren't the one who killed those animals. There's something else." Inugami proclaims.

"Yataro..., " Dorotabo whispers. "Yataro is outside. He doesn't know about these incidents." He takes up an axe and runs. You and Inugami follow closely behind him. You instantly catch up with Yataro just when two dog-like creatures jump at him.

Inugami shoots one of them right on its neck, detaching the head from the body. "Yataro!" The other one lunges at Dorotabo to which he quickly reacts by blocking it with the axe. You and Inugami take this chance to go next to Yataro and checkup on him.

"Hold on a minute. Ghouls don't die when you kill them, but if you cut off their heads, they stop moving around," Inugami shouts out. "I'll see to Yataro first, and–"

In a flash, Dorotabo spins the axe with so much force that the creature's neck breaks and he chops it off with the axe. "Oh...not bad, " Inugami just says while you were too speechless to say anything.