Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Chapter Twenty-Four (Part 3)

He awoke with the first rays of sunlight pressing against his eyelids. He did not open them at first. He wanted to savor this moment, just Rin and him blissfully tangled together. She is going to be my wife. He reached out blindly for her, trying to pull her closer. What he found was empty space. He opened his eyes; Rin knelt next to the futon, a knife in her hand.

"Rin, what are you doing?" His eyes flickered to the knife and then to the desperate expression on her face. Her hands trembled.

She threw the knife aside and tears rolled down her cheeks. He took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. Her entire body shook; there was a wild desperate energy in her. She was not doing what I think she was...

"Let's talk. Why did you have a dagger? Did someone threaten you?"

She shook her head and then she glanced through the open door. Sunlight crept across the room, inching towards her.

Before he could question her, she leaned forward and kissed him. It was hard, fierce, and sad all at the same time. She pulled away from him too suddenly for him to process what was happening. She strode across the room and stood in the sunlight. The beams of light illuminated her as if she were set ablaze. Her body glowed amber, gold, and red. Her hair fell in a coppery cascade over her shoulders, her head topped with red fox ears, and a foxtail swished back and forth behind her.

She smiled. "I'm sorry, Hikaru, this is goodbye."

It was her voice, sweet and sad. He realized then what she was doing, she was leaving him. He jumped up just as her body contorted and she transformed into a fox. The sun had risen and filled the one-room cottage with light. The fox looked around as if in a daze. When her eyes fell on Hikaru, she skittered backwards and headed out into the courtyard. He chased after her, calling out her name. Her ears did not even twitch in his direction. She darted behind trees and rocks to keep from being seen. She's acting like a real fox. Then the truth came crashing down upon him. The reason she had said goodbye wasn't because she was leaving him willingly, it was because whatever curse she had been under had turned her into a fox. She was gone. The fox hid in the crawlspace beneath the shrine. She stared out at him with golden eyes that glimmered in the dark. Hikaru fell to his knees, his head in his hands. I lost her.

"What have you done?" came a growl from behind him.

Hikaru stood up. The man, the wolf creature who had killed the soldier, stood at the edge of the courtyard. His clothes were torn and bloody and his hands were half formed into claws. Hikaru recognized the threat in his voice and looked for a weapon with which to defend himself. A piece of splintered wood lay on the ground; he darted for it. The wolf rushed towards him, and Hikaru snatched up the board just before the wolf's jaws could clamp down on his arm. He swung it upward, striking him hard across the skull. The wood shattered into a hundred pieces. Hikaru stumbled backwards. The wolf approached him, teeth bared as he loomed over Hikaru, but before he could attack, the fox jumped in front of him and landed on Hikaru's lap. She growled at the wolf.

He glowered at her with golden eyes but slowly backed away. Hikaru's heart pounded in his chest, hard enough to drown out the low rumble of the wolf.

"It was the curse, it turned her into a fox," Hikaru said. The fox was curled up in his lap now, her head facing the wolf.

The wolf's claws retracted and he crossed human arms over his chest. But there remained a dangerous light in his eye. Hikaru was not out of harm's way just yet. The wolf looked down at Hikaru, his eyebrows raised.