Stranded in the Future

Chapter Forty: Woman to Woman

"What in Izanami's name? Did you just defeat Mr. Tanimura?"

Kumiko looked up at the face of the young woman who'd been accompanying Hideo and noticed the resemblance that she bore to Ichiro. They both had eyes that appeared warm and radiant in any sort of natural light, and because of this, the kitsune had to fight to prevent herself from being distracted.

She's practically a female version of Ichiro, so of course she's beautiful. Kumiko stood up, difficult as it was, and found in disappointment that her alleged sister-in-law was of roughly the same height as her. Damn it. Have I finally met my match?

"Don't just stand there. Answer my question," the young woman urged, clasping both hands demurely in front of her. "What have you done to him?"

Kumiko glanced down at the crumpled bodies of Hideo and Futoshi. "Nothing much, I hope. You should know that he attacked first, and I was just acting in self-defence."

The young woman's expression soured. "I don't believe you. Mr. Tanimura may be violent, but he'd know better than to challenge a kitsune without thinking of a strategy first."

"Well, he wasn't in his right mind. He was being manipulated by an amanojaku."

The young woman, or perhaps more aptly, Lady Misaki, rushed forward and fell to her knees by Hideo's side. She reached out to stroke the unconscious man's hair with such tenderness that Kumiko wondered if there was some kind of romantic relationship between the two. She shook her head. No, that would be ridiculous. She looks even younger than Yukari.

Kumiko turned her attention to Futoshi and approached him as he began to stir and open his eyes. He pulled himself up with a groan, then rubbed at his scalp. "Why do you always have to hit me so hard? You know I'm no threat."

"Easy to forget when you were spouting such hateful words at me."

Futoshi lowered his head in guilt. "Oh, of course. I'm sorry."

"No, the fault is mine. I've been saddling you with too many burdens lately."

"Yes, but it's like you said. The amanojaku just magnified the darkness that was already inside of me."

Kumiko understood and left Futoshi's side. She didn't want to accept that her landlord still held some discrimination towards her kind, but the shallow bite marks on her right hand were evidence enough. Perhaps, it would be best if she kept her distance until the tension from today died down.

She returned to where Lady Misaki was trying to coax Hideo awake. To Kumiko's relief, the charred and gaping hole in the shinigami's chest had already closed up, which meant it would only be a matter of time before he regained consciousness. She cleared her throat to get Lady Misaki's attention. "Your presence here is a huge deal, so you and I will have to talk later."

Lady Misaki nodded without making eye contact. "Understood. It's only fair that I get to know my brother's wife."

******

An hour passed in which Kumiko dressed the wound on her hand, Hideo woke up and chose to open yet another swirling portal so that he could fetch some clean clothes, and Futoshi excused himself from the apartment to set out on a search for Tsutomu.

Kumiko made a pot of tea and joined Lady Misaki on the living room floor in the hope they would find some common ground. Unfortunately, the way Lady Misaki's face wrinkled when she took a sip from her cup left Kumiko fearing what was to come.

"This tea hasn't been brewed for long enough. The flavor is lacking."

"Oh. Would you like me to fix it?"