A Kitsune Story

Chapter 15

"What did you see?" Sasuke asked after passing through the entrance to the estate.

Katsuro touched down a little ahead of him. "Cowards," he sneered. His wings disappeared into his body and then he fell into step with Sasuke. "They say a lot when you're not around, but when you walk by they don't take their chance."

"You sound disappointed," Sasuke observed.

"Even if I'm not a yokai of mindless violence, I would rather fight than engage in a pointless dance like this."

"I would agree with you, but I was trying to rebuild my clan as part of the village, rather than an enemy of it."

"It's not you who is acting like an enemy."

"I don't need your reassurance. I know exactly how things stand," Sasuke responded sharply. He paused to slip off his geta and mounted the steps. "Hokage-sama claims she is watching them from her side and will intervene if she must. That is better than if we are forced to act."

"Uchiha-san will let the Senju fight for him?" Katsuro teased. He moved to continue talking to Sasuke, walking outside the flower beds.

Sasuke shot a glare at him and then looked back to where he was walking. "You know better than most. The side that fights with yokai is always demonized." He pulled up his hakama to step over the naked woman stretched out on the porch. "Besides, with this one napping instead of guarding, I'm not sure we would win."

Katsuro laughed.

The nekomata twitched her nose and opened one eye to look at him. "I am guarding," she yawned widely. Even in her human form, her teeth were sharp.

"You seem to be napping."

"Both," she gave a feline grin.

Neither insecure nor prideful, Saren never seemed bothered to prove anything. Her natural form was a giant mountain cat and in her human form she was highly skilled at hand-to-hand combat. Sasuke made the mistake of asking to see her strength by sparring with her. She dislocated his shoulder and knocked the wind out of him in three seconds. When Katsuro offered to take his place for the demonstration, he realized she had been going easy on him.

Her human form had black eyes and long, black hair that flowed wildly. She had a small nose and mouth and an angular, clever face, but many scars over her lithe, rough-lived body. However, she dressed up well enough to act the part of an attendant to Naruto/Miyo. If her speech tended to be brusque, well, she was fine with not speaking unless necessary.

Unlike Katsuro, Sasuke was not employing her. Instead, she said it was her turn to impose on Naruto. Years ago, not long after Naruto had left Uchiha land, he had gotten into a fight and been seriously wounded. She found him and took him to her lair to let him heal. And then he kept coming back, she said: she couldn't get rid of him.

Sasuke walked through the open sliding door beyond the napping Saren to find Naruto and Shiori folding laundry. He started pulling off his haori immediately. Although the summer heat was beginning to ease, the many layers of formal dress were uncomfortable.

"Welcome home," Naruto smiled.

Sasuke started as his haori was taken from him. The zashiki-warashi moved with almost no sound. Sasuke found him far more unnerving than the tengu or nekomata. Naruto knew this and did not cover his laugh very well.

After all, zashiki-warashi were spirits of good fortune and shouldn't unsettle anyone but intruders to their homes. Of course, Shiori had a history. He was unusually strong for a zashiki-warashi and had survived the ruin of the house where he had lived, died and become a yokai. The experience, however, had twisted him into a mononoke. He was sent to them by the priest who had cleansed his spirit, an associate of Katsuro.