Eitsu's Nine Lives (永津の九生) [yuri/GL yokai reincarnation story]

7 - Kitsune

CW: NSFW. Ambiguous consent.

***

When the show was over, Tsubaki returned to the preparation room to be bathed and adorned in a new outfit. The young assistants chattered and draped her with expensive clothes, their voices bird-like with excitement.

"Tsubaki-dono, your clothing is so pretty!"

"I hope I earn as much money as you when I grow up!"

Tsubaki blinked coldly. "Money isn't everything, little ones."

"That's what a rich person would say!"

"I have to go and entertain some of the important patrons now, Kuro-chan," she said aloud for Eitsu's benefit. The cat stretched, and with a single leap, perched on Tsubaki's shoulder, to everyone's surprise.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Once she was dressed, made up, and her long hair carefully brushed smooth, Tsubaki thanked the assistants and made her way towards the entertaining rooms. She took her time, allowing Eitsu to whisper in her ear.

"So what's going on?"

"There were some important people in the audience today. My manager wants me to meet them."

"If you have so much money, why do you still keep doing this? Just quit and retire."

Tsubaki simply shook her head.

"Want my help?"

"You're already doing a great job helping me keep my sanity right now, Eitsu-sama."

"Hm?"

"We're about to go into a room full of people who have more kin than they are ken. I'd rather stab my eyes out. I won't because you're here."

"You could think about stabbing their eyes out instead."

"That sounds entertaining. But if I get blood on these clothes, my manager will definitely kill me."

They stopped at the door.

"How about I do it? Then I can turn back into a cat and no one will know it was me."

"That's very lovely of you, but..." Tsubaki drew a deep breath, then adopted a polite expression. "They pay my bills. I can't kill my money providers."

"Pity."

"It is."

The faint sweet fragrance of the oil brushed through her hair swaddled Eitsu softly, and then Tsubaki slid open the door. A burst of noise greeted her.

"Tsubaki-dono, come and sit next to me!"

"No, me, me! She sat next to you last time!"

"Come and have a drink, you have to drink!"

Tsubaki bowed and successfully soothed everyone's egos without agreeing to a single thing. She took a seat between two older ladies who immediately formed a protective guard around her. They cooed over Eitsu and apparently monopolised Tsubaki's attention, although she was actually internally amused by at the aggrieved looks from the other patrons.

The door slid open again.

The man in the doorway was handsome and well-dressed. His dark grey-blue hair fell over his left eye, hiding it from view. His other eye, that strange light brown, roamed the room lazily. Light glinted from the emerald dangling from his ear.

Eitsu froze.

Tsubaki froze.

Why...?