Come by Night

Chapter Twenty - To Lose the Battle and Win the War

*kitsune-mochi - a fox witch, one who binds and commands a fox spirit

I sit on the engawa of my home, my favorite place to be. We live not too far from a small village near the mountain shrine. No one troubles me here. I keep to myself. My life is mostly pleasant and quiet, the view of the mountain and our meadow is breathtaking. There is a gentle rise with an old tree standing sentinel behind our home. It is so beautiful here.

I sew kimono for the village and the shrine: making, cleaning, and repairing. I work very hard every day. I do not mind. No one talks to me, and I don't mind that, either. I am an outsider, and somehow people sense I am tainted. If it wasn't true, I might be offended. That doesn't stop them from bringing their kimono to me.

It is the beginning of autumn. The first touch of crimson blazes on the maples in the last light of the dying sun. It is nearly time to go inside, but not yet. I have always loved to be outside in the evenings. Tsukiko is the same. My daughter is now six and looks just like her father. I must darken her hair often lest anyone discover the truth, but she appears human enough. As I watch her play, I wonder if that will change.

I was never barren as it turns out. That fault belonged to my husband, not me, whatever Shouta's family claimed in order to reject me. I honestly could not be more grateful. I would never have met him otherwise. All the events of my life, good and bad, led me to the fox who stole my heart.

"Mother!" My child calls out enthusiastically.

"What is it, Tsukiko?"

She points.

I gaze up the hill as he emerges from the shadows of that lone tree. My heart leaps with joy to see him. My Isamu is as beautiful as I remember, at least in this form. I know his truth. It does not matter to me. In the long shadows framed by the setting orange sun stands the only man I have ever loved.

"Your father has finally come home." I cannot stop smiling. Tears of joy sting my eyes.

He told me he would return to me. Perhaps that should frighten me, but it never has. I've been waiting for him. For the past three years my fox lover visited me almost nightly in my dreams. Isamu-sama has worked relentlessly to break through. His mark and my love are his cracks back into this world, but our daughter is his anchor. Now at last the Seal is fully breached. My love is free.

His smile is wicked and triumphant. He strides down the hill toward us, my proud demon lord. His nine tails sway and writhe behind him. I set the kimono I am sewing aside and stand to greet my lover. The sky is a thousand shades when he stops before me, glowing radiantly in the dimming light.

We are almost of a height because of the deck. Without a word, his tails wrap around my waist and lift me to him, crushing me against his chest. His arms hold me close and he inhales my scent.

"Hotaru."

I pet his ear, marveling at how so ferocious a beast can also be warm and soft. I know every nuance of this man, how to touch him and where, which words to use to console his wounded heart. A savage he might be, but he is mine as much as I am his.

"Isamu-sama." He likes it when I call him this. For the cheap price of calling him my master, he belongs entirely to me, a fox caught in his own trap. I have become his kitsune-mochi, and there is nothing he will not do for me.

My nogitsune kisses me lustily and I return it with unrestrained joy, my hands burying into his silky hair. For the first time in years this is no longer a dream. In my heart I know we were always made to be together.