Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hikaru paced the length of the chamber they had allotted him. He had not slept the night through, he was too busy thinking about Rin. He kept going back and forth on his answer. He wanted to believe she would choose him, but a lifetime of self-doubt left him questioning his worth. Could he really be worthy of her? He stopped pacing when the door at the far end of the room slid open. The half-deer woman stood just outside.

"My master will see you now," she said.

He stared at her a moment before registering her words. From her feet to her neck she looked human, only her head was that of a deer. Her clothes were not dissimilar to what he would expect from a servant in his own house. Plain and easy to move in. She stared at him with large black eyes, blinking and waiting patiently for a response. He clamped his mouth shut, realizing too late he had been staring. He nodded to let her know he had heard. He could not force words out of his mouth. This is Rin's world, he realized. The things that are strange to me are probably common fare for her. How could he bridge this gap between their two realities? Was she willing to leave her life behind? Was he willing to leave his life behind? But this was his world too. His mother's world. No matter her answer, it was time he learned more about it.

He followed the servant through the twisting corridors of the palace. The doors popped up at random and some pathways seemed to end at blank walls. And when he turned around to look where he had been, the pathways changed, and where there had been rooms, now a garden appeared, with butterflies flitting among the jasmine bushes.

He hurried to keep up with the servant, fearing what would happen if he fell behind. The servant led him to a chamber, different than the one he had been to before. This one reminded him of the morning room back at the palace. It was a large open space that faced out onto a garden. The guardian sat behind a table that looked miniature in comparison to the guardian. He held a large bowl in his hooves and he used a pair of chopsticks to sloppily shovel rice into his mouth. A few stray white granules clung to the coarse hairs on his snout. When they entered the room, he did not stop or acknowledge their presence but continued making loud slurping noises. Hikaru fidgeted with the hem of his robe as he waited for the boar to finish his meal. The guardian finally set his bowl aside and smacked his mouth. Then he finally turned beady black eyes on Hikaru.

"Do you have an answer?" the guardian said.

Hikaru bowed, as he deemed appropriate. If he read this beast right, and he thought he was, he appreciated the respect. "My lord, before I answer, I would ask you a favor in return."

Akio sputtered and laughed, shaking the ground beneath him. The vibrations reached all the way to Hikaru, but he did not break for a moment. He had done enough negotiating for his father and the clan to know when someone was trying to intimidate him. Hikaru was not one to back down so easily.

"Well, I underestimated you. I am hoping you answer incorrectly so I can better utilize you," he said.

"But if I am correct, you will hold to our deal?" he asked.

The boar narrowed his eyes at Hikaru. "I never go back on my word."

Hikaru shrugged. The guardian liked to play with words and manipulate to his own ends. But he was partially true, he had not gone against any of his promises, not in word anyway. "Then I would add this to our deal, if I win, you will pardon Rin and allow us to live near your forest."

The boar laughed again. "Why would you stay here? Your brother will be out for your head, and Rin will never find friends here."

He was shocked it had been this easy. Perhaps the guardian was in a good mood, or perhaps he had his own motives for hearing him out.