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    Tsukihana
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Do vaporwave kitsune count technicolor sheep? - 8. Chapter 8

Cog and Boom are characters belonging to @Yeoldebard and these alternate versions are used with their permission

 

We must have spent longer inside of the office than I first realized. As the wood door slides shut behind us I see that the sky has brightened to a once more blushing shade of cherry pink, illuminating the shimmering drops of dew that has as yet to evaporate from the neon boughs of the trees.

The streets have become more active and a variety of gleaming automobiles lazily parade back and forth along the curving thoroughfare. One of the boutiques we passed on the way in now has the doors thrown open wide, and a well dressed cyan toned woman with four arms is cleaning the entranceway. While one hand sprays, another squeegees the glass panes clean and yet she still has two free hands to smile and wave as we pass.

“What were you thinking, Moon? Does it really kill you to not be the center of attention?”

His steps are hurried and he speaks in a tone low enough for my ears to catch but not loud enough to be overheard by anyone else passing us.

“What kind of idiot accepts an offer in a language he doesn’t even read? Oh sure...gee mister mind ‘telling’ me what this contract that requires a blood signature says. You wouldn’t even look at me and yet we’re supposed to be in this together. I don’t see why you drug me with you if you don’t care what I think...even when it affects us both.”

“In a setting like this there are tactical decisions that have to be made on the spot. Despite the greasy demeanor, based on where his storefront is located and other evidence, there is more to this guy that first appears.”

“That’s exactly what I don’t like.”

“Well good thing it’s not on your head now is it? I asked you to trust me and you just couldn’t wait to do exactly as you please just as soon as things were out of your hands.”

I stop in my tracks in front of some posh apartment building with a large marble fountain bubbling away. Stubborn rage overtakes my good sense and my tails become alight with indignant flame.

“Is that what you really think? Then I guess you don’t need me now do you…”

Right there on the sidewalk I let the change come over my body, growing taller to stand on equal footing with my ‘dear’ cousin. The fur disappears giving way to sun kissed golden skin and it is then that I notice the black crescent moon arcing from my right hip to slash up my stomach.

Where did that come from?

We’ll figure that out later, Moon.

Bare to the world except for my draconic horns and my seven tails I reach up to unfasten his leather collar from my neck, throwing it at his feet with a loud clang of steel spikes hitting stone.

“Best of luck. Keep your fucking deal with the devil, as you said ‘it’s not on my head’. Big boy can take care of himself.”

Middle finger in his face, I flip my curtain of ultraviolet hair over my shoulder before walking away to leave him gaping in the street. I’m so incensed that I don’t care who has stopped to stare at our very public display. Choosing the nearest alleyway I snake my way away from Kemuri as far and fast as I can. My cheeks blushing the same shade as the sky above me, I return to my natural form of a kitsune after gaining adequate distance.

What the fuck are you doing, Moon. Such a smart girl...pushing 800 with the temper of a four year old.

I realize immediately that I’ve made an utter spectacle for all the world to see all in the name of injured pride, but damn it I also know that I’m right. What a child to act so high handedly.

Aimlessly I let myself wander, the mental map I so painstakingly made earlier doing me absolutely zero good. I want to be far away from the upper echelons of the city and the shining eyes of the greasy loan shark.

‘I trust you with my life, you idiot...do you really think I’m that shallow? Hmph.’

Forcing my mind to attention I pause in my steps to take stock of exactly where I’ve ended up. High above my head the buildings rise like concrete sentinels, reflections of pink sky shining back like eternal sunset. The two moons are out of sight behind the crush of apartments here.

I must have made a decent distance away in my angry escape. From my general surroundings I think I’m closer to the industrial areas. Darting out into the street to the left, my nose is entranced by the scent of fresh baked pastries. Brakes screech and I freeze like a deer in headlights for a moment. A tanned man in a chauffeur's hat leans out the window to yell at me and my feet hurry me along out of the way.

Looking over my shoulder I watch as the shining stretch automobile passes behind me, through the panes of glass I see a man with piercing glacier blue eyes watching me. Silvery white hair falls past his shoulders as he turns in his seat to keep me in his vision. Again my dream returns to haunt my memories before being waylaid by the now stronger smell of baked goods.

Gods but I’m starving.

Stubbornly, I shove aside the knowledge that I have left Kemuri and ‘our’ three thousand Koil somewhere far behind me in the streets...after nakedly flipping him off….sigh. That’s just fine. I’m a big girl. I’ll show him that I have my own survival skills.

It’s a relatively simple thing to follow my nose closer to the intoxicating scents. Careful to remain out of sight I duck behind a waste bin beside a red brick storefront. Peeking my head around I take stock of the transformation before me. Littered all over the sidewalk are street stands hawking foodstuffs varying from meat kabobs to freshly baked pastries.

The chorus of voices trying to push their wares over those of their nearest competitors had risen to an almost overwhelming cacophony. My mouth began to water from being exposed to these odd and exotic smells assailing my senses.

My stomach begins again with the violent growling and I know it’s time to prove myself. First scope out the situation, don’t rush in headlong. All of the vendors face back to back, making it easier to cater to passersby on the sidewalks and every now and then one would run out to a car window.

If I timed it correctly, it would be a simple thing to grab hold of one of the pre-packaged ones that stood in a neat little row at the front of the cart closest to where I hid. What was dangerous to me was the extra sets of eyes that invariably watched a fellow vendor's cart when they dart out to service the passing cars.

Patience, Moon.

Strike and run.

Lowering myself into position to launch at a moment’s notice, I watch raptly for my chance. A long shining car the crimson of Frau’s scales slows down and finally I spy my best chance. Stopping alongside my vendor, he rolls down the window and waves him over with two fingers. Smelling an easy sale, he hurriedly grabs up two of the packages and leaves his station unguarded. As soon as his feet turn to head towards the car, I strike forth from the shadows.

Claws scratching against the bright lacquered paint of the stall, I hurriedly grab one of the packages between my teeth. As I vault myself away to make my escape, my violet eyes meet those of the vendor directly across from my victim

“You! Stop there!”

Twisting in the air like a cat, I land on my feet and take off at a run in the opposite direction and follow the sidewalk beside the main road.

“Hey! Hey!”

I can hear one vendor or the other valiantly attempting to keep up with me, and as hungry as I am, it is definitely a gamble to keep up this pace. My teeth have punctured the wrapper and the intoxicating smell of some sort of meat pie is escaping into my mouth, driving me wild. I will have my prize.

Ahead of me a green gentleman with a devilishly pointed goatee throws his arm out just in the nick of time to stop a poor lavender lady with four arms from stepping directly into my path.

Just a little further.

Just a little more…

Head bearing down, I barrel up the sloping curve that leads back into the beginnings of the posh parts of town. Just ahead of me I see the limousine that almost struck me earlier parked at the curbside before a large white stone house. The sunkissed chauffeur who’d yelled at me to ‘move my ass’ was in the process of opening the door.

Out into the sunlight he stepped, almost as though in slow motion, at least 6’5 with hair like snow and silver falling about him as he rose from the automobile. Almost stag like horns, frequently seen on Eastern Dragons back home, sprouted elegantly from above his temples.

“Stop! Do not let it get away!”

The vendor behind screams out to the gentleman as I am almost to him.

“I’m sorry!”

I mumble this around my clenched prize as I weave my way between his legs and those of his chauffeur. Just as I’m almost past them, a couple of my tails reach out in what I can only say as longing and wrap around the gentleman’s legs.

“Whooa..”

This pulls him off balance and he teeters into the path of the oncoming vendor. With the barest of glances over my shoulder I peek back to see the chauffeur catching his master before harm can befall him...and glaring mightily in my direction.

At the next available left I duck back into the burrow of alleyways branching off of the main road. Dashing in and out of sight I make a successful escape with my delicious ill gotten gains. Heading back towards the lower climes of the towering city of Gatsby, I watch as the towering apartments give way to more sparse smokestacks that plume trails of white smoke against the blushing sky.

Overhead the sea of pink is darkening to an angry bruised color and I hasten my pace in hopes of finding some out of the way cover to eat my ill gotten gains. Down here the streets are surprisingly quiet in comparison to the rest of the city. Long behind her are the vendors hawking lunchtime meals, and less often I hear the rub of tires passing on the streets.

Ahead of me I spy a covered alcove tucked away beneath the eaves of a factory with a pair or wrought iron benches and ash trays. Likely a break spot for the workers, it looked like the perfect place to tuck in and have a bite myself.

Sure enough, the moment I take cover the angry heavens rend themselves asunder and a deluge begins to fall. I can feel the warmth slowly fading from what was a fresh meal, but the smell is intoxicating. Not bothering to change my form, I tear into the wrapper like the hungry fox I am. Seasoned meat explodes with flavor against my tongue and I can hear myself moaning as I eat.

I’m three quarters of the way through my meat pie when I hear the slamming of a metal door slamming open with a bang. Abandoning my prize, I look around for the nearest place to hide. Ducking out into the pouring rain I flatten myself against the opposite side of a waste bin.

Behind me I hear a grunt and someone being pushed to the wet ground, followed by a deep menacing growl.

“I am very disappointed in these results. You had two weeks to complete it and I think that is quite a generous offer on my part.”

“Please, Master Cog. I answered your summons directly, and I swear that I am ‘this’ close. Just a few more days.”

Breath held in my throat, I peek around the bin in an effort to see what is going on behind me. A man with grey tabby cat ears and tail is prostrate in the gravel, head bowed low in the rain. Towering over him is a lop eared rabbit with caramel colored fur and where his left eye should be there is a cog wheel endlessly ‘click click clicking’ away. The rabbit is dressed from head to toe in a kimono of the finest embroidered silks. With absolute zero care for the torrents of rain falling down upon their heads, the rabbit flicks open a tessen and waves away the raindrops pattering his fur with the practiced motions of the finest courtesan.

“Boom.”

From somewhere behind the sumptuously appointed bunny a blur of sopping wet mint green fur with dark chocolate patches leaps to the fore. An absolute beast of a dog of indeterminate breed, he clutches the nape of the prostrate neko’s neck tightly in it’s growling grasp.

“One word from me and he will snap your neck like a twig, now...The Queen’s Sight. Answers. Now.”

The neko’s claws scrabble into the gravel as he struggles to breathe.

“T..two days. Shipment delayed. My contact swears...please let me go. They are expecting me in two days.”

“Release, Boom.”

Step by step, Master Cog advances towards where the neko is choking for air on the ground. Flicking the steel tessen shut, he uses the fan to lift up the neko’s grey striped fur chin till he has no choice but to stare up at the eerily clicking cogwheel eye.

“You will do what has been asked of you or you will bear the consequences of my displeasure.”

Turning on his heel, the wet folds of his dragging kimono smack the tabby in the face as he makes ready to leave.

“Come, Boom. Two days, Nelson. Do not come to me with excuses again.”

“Yes, Master Cog.”

His words are scratchy from his abused throat as Nelson bows deeply once more.

“Thank you, Master Cog.”

Nodding, Cog begins to return to the interior of the factory.

Boom’s hulking form follows all too happily at his master’s heels...until he sees the remains of a meat pie haphazardly eaten upon the ground. Freezing in place, his dark void-like eyes cut uncomfortably close to where I’m hiding. Black nose in the air, he takes a few tentative steps in my direction.

“Boom?”

Cog is out of sight, waiting by the door for the hound to come.

There is a low rumbling growl coming from deep within the belly of the beast as he stalks closer and closer to me. A wave of panic threatens to overtake me as my eyes hurriedly look for some route of escape.

The neko takes the opportunity to get to his feet and beat a hasty retreat towards the exit arch of the factory grounds. This split second of distraction is enough to pull his gaze away from my hiding place.

Body low to the ground, I push myself to the limits because I can practically smell the bloodlust oozing from the hound. The dog gives immediate chase, and he’s frighteningly quick as I dart right before him in hopes of joining the bedraggled neko in making an expeditious exit.

“Boom!”

The authority in the tone cuts through the air and there is a moment’s hesitation in the beast’s gait.

“It is no more than some creature rifling through the trash, now I said ‘Come’.”

With obvious reluctance the mint chocolate furred brute calls off the chase and jogs back to stand at Cog’s side.

I’m not stupid enough to let the chance to get away go to waste. More than done with the city of Gatsby for one day, I let myself head for the exit to the wilds beyond. I’ll go back to the kobolds, at least they know how to treat a lady.

Copyright © 2021 Tsukihana; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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