Under The Fox's Tail ⁷

Sympathy

You heard the door of your room opening and you opened your eyes, which you had kept closed despite the fact that your consciousness was awake while you were laying in bed. You had felt tired keeping them open after a while as Hoseok was floating in the air commanding the objects that kept circling around you, which along with him, seemed to not be around you anymore.

"Hey Y/N, how are you feeling? Hoseok told me that he took you home 'cause you weren't feeling well and I rushed back as soon as I could." Your friend came inside the room, clearly worried about you as well as visibly exhausted, probably because of the rush and hurry she went through to arrive from the university home as soon as she was done with her classes.

"I am better, you don't have to worry. However, I think I will stay put for tonight."You gave her a weak smile, informing her that you weren't planning on moving from your bed as your body felt quite heavy still.

"It's okay, I will cook and bring you something to eat here. You just rest." She Told you as she fixed bit the covers over you and you smiled at her, feeling loved at that moment.

"Say, Yukio..can you tell me everything you happen to know about the fox spirit? I mean if there is something that you know that you haven't told me yet about." You requested of her as she took a seat at the side of your bed.

"Sure I wouldn't mind but I don't think I have anything plus to say. My grandmother was really passionate about his tale and had the habit of sayings his story to me and my cousins often. Every time I was to question why does she keep speaking of that spirit, she used to say that it was an honour given to our family to keep the tale going no matter for how long or no matter how much of a myth it will sound to the ears of the next generation."Yukio didn't hesitate to start speaking and you lifted your body up a bit, wanting to pay full attention, unlike all the other times that tended to not believe anything related to such much and nor it interested you.

"Her mother used to tell her about it and she had learned from her grand grandmother and so on. However, in that village, most people do believe in his existence in that forest and dreaded becoming the target of his seal, since the last outcome of it, in that spirit's history, had ended badly. And so, no matter if they fully believed it or not out of fear they kept a rule. They generally avoided stepping in his forest even though once a year they would go to the borders and celebrate on his honour."

"The rule of silence, right? The one I broke." You asked just to make sure and she nodded her head.

"What about that bad outcome? What happened with the last person that had a seal by him?" 

"Oh..that.."Yukio seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden, a thing that made you understand that you may not like the answer to that.

"I didn't want to bring it up, since you are involved and I didn't want to scare you, however, you passed the time frame she died so I guess what happened won't be the case for you." She spoke, her words making you even more curious.

"What do you mean?"

"The judgment of the seal. She died on that day. It happened in front of many people some hundreds of years ago, so somehow they had kept the memory alive, mouth by mouth, generation by generation, adding up to the tales about the fox spirit. After some years imprisoned in his forest, he tried that loophole he had found and made a seal with a girl that had invaded his territory back at the time. However, that seal proved to have been placed wrong and the Goddess cut the connection."Yukio's facial expression grew a bit uneasy as she looked at you, not even wanting to imagine how that would have felt.

"Did she lose her life because of that?" You questioned as you weren't quite getting why would that cost someone's life from the moment that they were living just fine, even before they happen to be connected to Hoseok.

"There is said that a seal, is basically like a small cut between the realms of the spirits and the human one so if incorrect, it can not be left open cause things shouldn't slip from that crack. Now, as the threat that links the two individuals is to be broken, one side needs to retrieve that threat so there are to be left no traces. Think is that a scar- even if it's that thin as a line- can't be completely erased except if one of the souls that were connected to, vanishes. Because someone may use that path to find their own way to create an opening and not all spirits have the capacity of creating one as the foxtail spirit did." She explained as her gaze travelled to the ceiling, trying her best to recall the words coming from her childhood.

"Was that the reason that you said this morning that he may die? Cause if it's so I believe you should have worried about my soul first!" You exclaimed as you gave her a dumbfounded expression, considering the fact that her reflex was to worry about him and not you first, which according to you, was absurd.

"Y/N, that's not it." She replied as she laughed a bit, finding you funny however her smile and lightness faded quickly as she cleared her thought and went back to her serious self.

"The first to take the blame for a seal placed wrong is of course the one that initiated it. His soul was the one that should have been taken back then, but for some reason, the girl which he was linked to volunteered to be sacrificed, instead and the Goddess complied with the human's wish, as if she, herself wanted that to happen instead of the other way around. From that day on, many had considered the heavens on the spirit's side and that was why they preferred distance from him while they grew fearful of their fates, if ever caught up in an encounter with him."

"Somehow, he doesn't sound as loved by your people as I first used to imagine." You admitted as the way she was expressing her words, left you with a feeling of terror that people may have had towards him, and forced politeness out of fear.

"He is respected by all, out of fear or not. However, I guess not all can see things from a perspective like my grandmother's, which talks about him with admiration and praise, for as she says, who would have lived through such and still have love for humans." she quoted her grandmother, while she tried to imitate her voice, a thing that made you laugh a bit, even though, her words were not funny.

"Okay, I am going to prepare something for dinner now. See you in a bit." She stood up happily and exited the room, looking at you for an instant before closing your door, while you still had a smile on your face. A smile which was kept for a few seconds after the door was closed and then faded, as your mind, repeated the last words Yukio had shared with you, of her grandmother.

Indeed, who would think of humans kindly and care for them, when all he might have seen in their eyes would have been fear towards him, despite anything good that he may have previously done for them? One mistake, it shouldn't undo everything right her ever did, after all, yet that's how it looked at you at that moment, that had occurred.

How could they not think, even for a moment, how that event might have made him feel? How could they just see that as something that was to his benefit just because he didn't lose his soul? He obviously had lost something either way. He obviously had not been pleased, nor lived happily after that.

If life isn't unexpecting...Cause I never thought, I will sympathize with the most troublesome creature that ever entered my life, to this extent.

You thought as you stood in your now silent room and gazed at the ceiling, imagining his face there, even though he was not appearing out of any odd place, this time.

---To be continued...