Following a stranger home wasn’t typically at the top of my to-do list, but considering my situation, I found that I was sorely lacking in hesitation today. I readily accepted Kaoru’s offer for a piggyback ride when it became clear I was going to have difficulty walking on my own. I had no idea who she was, why she was here, and how she wasn’t freaking out about the fact that she had just basically roundhouse-kicked a mythical creature, but I trusted her implicitly. She seemed to know what she was doing, striding with complete confidence. It even took away my worries about the fox-man. After all, she had just saved me from a supernatural beast—a creature that shouldn’t exist. Shivers ran up and down my spine whenever I remembered the scorching hunger in the kappa’s eyes, and I couldn’t help glancing around into the bushes we passed in case I saw its red eyes peeking out at us.

Exhausted as I was, not much else got through to me aside from the ongoing throbbing in my head, my wounded arm and my feet, and the question of how I had managed to get to the middle of a folklore-infested forest in the mountains the previous night. I had discarded the idea of a nightmare—the pain was simply too real. But looking around at the vegetation, I was beginning to wonder if I was even still in Japan.

I didn’t pay too much attention to where we were going until Kaoru set me down on the wooden hallway of the very mansion I had fled from. The moment I took note of where I was, I flinched and jerked back, my body ready for another running escape. Kaoru’s hand clamped down on my uninjured arm before I had a chance to move.

“Don’t worry,” she said, her grey-green eyes gazing at me intensely. “You’re safe here.”

Her deep, soothing voice calmed me down a little, but it didn’t ease my apprehension. She wouldn’t have just saved me just to put me in danger again, right? I kept glancing over my shoulder as Kaoru pulled me along the house, expecting to see the fox-man, but to my relief, I caught no sight of him. In the living room Kaoru gently pushed me on some pillows on the tatami mats.

“Stay,” she ordered gently. “I can’t protect you if you’re running wildly through the forest.”

When I nodded, she walked over to the kitchen, only separated from the room by a counter at belly height and put some water in a kettle on the stove.

Every one of my muscles was tense as I waited, expecting the fox-man to appear in the room at any moment. While, unlike the kappa, he hadn’t actually done anything to me yet, he’d felt quite threatening in his anger and I really didn’t want to find out what he could do.

No more supernatural fights for me today, thank you very much.

“Green tea okay?” Kaoru asked.

I could barely nod. In truth, I expected I needed something significantly stronger to calm my nerves, but asking for anything more would be impolite, and I already hadn’t been exactly a model guest. I was only glad my blood had mostly dried up, so I didn’t stain her floors.

I cleared my throat, determined to make up for my lacking manners. “Excuse me, Kaoru-san?”

“Just Kaoru is fine. We don’t really work with honorifics here.” She came back over to me carrying a first aid kit and a bowl of water and began cleaning out the wound on my arm.

“Oh.”

Her words startled me. What kind of place in Japan didn’t use honorifics when meeting people for the first time? Where exactly was I? Dozens of questions whirled through my mind, and I could barely decide which one to ask first. So I went with none of them.

“Thank you for saving me back there.” I turned my gaze down to the ground, hoping it would strengthen my words and appreciation. When I looked up again, I thought I saw a small, bitter smile on Kaoru’s lips, but it was gone before I could be certain. She used a spray to disinfect the kappa’s bite and began to wrap it in bandages.

“No problem.”

The kettle whistled, but she finished wrapping my arm before she returned to the kitchen where she prepared the tea, allowing fruity sweet smells to blossom.

I used this opportunity to clean and disinfect the shallow cuts on my feet, while periodically glancing at my savior to get a proper look at her without appearing rude.

She was a tall woman, lean and muscular with graceful, yet sharp movements. Her straight hair, bleached to the point of almost appearing white, was tied into a high ponytail, reaching down as far as her hips. Her clothes looked too baggy on her—as if she were wearing a man’s t-shirt and jeans. She had grayish green eyes, full lips, and flawless skin, and I would have expected to find a woman like that in a magazine, or on TV, but never in real life.

Kaoru came back around and set the tea and two cups on the table, before settling down relaxed and comfortably, one arm casually resting on a propped-up knee.

“There’s something I need to discuss with you,” she said. “But I’m guessing you have a question or two first.”

I nodded, hesitantly.

Where to start? The beginning seemed like as good a place as any. And I really wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about what had happened in the forest just yet.

“Um, what happened last night? How did I get here?”

A strange look crossed Kaoru’s face but I couldn’t pinpoint its meaning. “Let’s just say that some idiot dropped something on your head and knocked you unconscious. He felt bad, so he brought you here to keep you safe and dress your wound.”

“To keep me safe?” I echoed incredulously. Yeah, right. It would have been significantly safer for me to have been brought to a hospital. At least there I wouldn’t be in mortal danger from fictional creatures.

The cat from before prowled into the room and, upon seeing me, bounced toward me and took a seat in my lap, happily purring.

“You’ve got a very protective friend there,” Kaoru noted with a glance at the feline, smoothly passing over my comment.

Something clicked in my mind. “He’s not yours?”

Kaoru shook her head. “He followed you last night. Wouldn’t leave your side and kept yelling at me.”

I looked down at the cat. I guessed he really was the same cat, then. At this point, I wasn’t even surprised. I just hoped that it was really just a cat, and not a nekomata or something of the sort. Considering my day so far, it wouldn’t even surprise me.

“So then, you looked after me?” I attempted to reconcile the newly gained information in my head. A brief memory of a bright orb finally returned to me along with shadows moving in the dark above me. My hand rose to the bandage on my head which still held firm, despite the rush earlier. “Thank you.”

Kaoru shrugged uncomfortably, refusing to make eye contact. “I didn’t have much of a choice.”

Gazing out at the garden, she pressed her lips into a grim line, the furrowing of her brows somehow making me feel as though I ought to be apologizing. I didn’t know what to say in the ensuing silence, only disturbed by the cat’s persistent purring, but questions kept tumbling around in my head. Eventually, the burning need for answers became too great to withstand.

“There was a fox,” I said. “This morning. And then it was a man.”

The memory made me choke up. I sounded crazy; I knew I did. I felt crazy. And yet, I had just been attacked by a kappa. And I’d also watched Kaoru defend me from it. If anyone would believe my story of a shapeshifting fox, it would be her. Right?

Kaoru finally returned her intense gaze to me, her brows furrowed ever so slightly, as she studied my expression. “Did it frighten you?”

Instead of replying, I sought to find the answer by staring down into my tea. The idea of a shapeshifter wasn’t scary. It was interesting, mysterious, even. But not scary in itself. And yet, I couldn’t deny that the man had scared me. But now, the more I thought about it, I came to realize that it had been less because of his fox-nature, and more because he’d looked so angry. Like he’d been ready to do anything.

“It was unexpected,” I settled. “I didn’t know where I was, how I got here and how I got injured. Then he changed his shape and…” I remembered his glaring eyes, the green almost aflame. “He just looked so angry.”

“Angry?” The notion evidently surprised Kaoru. She stared at me for a moment, before starting to chuckle.

“I’m guessing you know him?” I could see the connections between the way they looked now that I was calmer—the same snowy hair, the same eye color. My heartbeat sped up once again. “Are you… related?”

Kaoru gave me another strange look and sighed. “I guess you could say that.”

Her words had barely reached my ears, when a large silver fox with silky-looking fur was sitting in her stead. Its green eyes observed me curiously, warily, while its two tails were politely tucked around its base. Its elegant features were only enhanced by the proximity from which I could observe them.

“Are you scared?” Kaoru asked from the fox’s mouth.

I shook my head and smiled. Inside, I felt only calm now, awed at how beautiful her fox shape was. And finally, the pieces I hadn’t allowed myself to think about before clicked into place. “You’re a kitsune then. A fox spirit.”

“That’s right.”

I blinked, and instead of the fox or Kaoru, I found myself sitting across from the man I had run from in the morning, except that silvery white fox ears were still peeking through his hair, wiggling slightly.

“And this is also me. Hi. Let’s start over,” he said with a crooked, almost apologetic grin and stretched out a hand to me.

I gulped, and then threw myself into a bow. “I’m so sorry!”

I stayed low; my eyes squeezed shut by embarrassment. Clearly, I had misconstrued the situation earlier. He wouldn’t have saved me and then carried me back here and treat my wounds just hurt me instead.

“Um, sit up. Please?” His voice was even darker than it had been before, and when I looked up, he was uncomfortably scratching stubble on his chin. He didn’t look like he was much older than me, but being a kitsune, for all I knew he might have centuries or even millennia under his belt. But if my father’s stories were to be believed, he must still be young for a kitsune, having only two tails.

“What are you even apologizing for? I should be the one apologizing here,” he said, a little exasperated.

I straightened myself quickly, though my gaze remained fixed on my clasped hands. “Well, you took me here to make sure I was okay, and but when I ran away, you still came after me to save me from the kappa, and then tried to calm me down, and you obviously didn’t want me to find out about your secret, and you didn’t really have to do anything, since you don’t even know me, and I just feel so bad for it all, so I’m really, really sorry.”

My outburst was met with silence, and I glanced up at him, finally.

Kaoru was staring at me, conflicting emotions battling in his green eyes. One side eventually won, because he leaned back in his seat, and covered his face in one hand, groaning.

I flinched at the sound. Had I said something wrong?

He fell forward again, glowering at me, and I felt fear rise once more. This time, I stayed put. If he was angry, I was sure that I had done something to cause it. Besides. Even if I did try to run again, he could catch up with me in no time.

“First of all, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he growled. “Second of all, it was my carelessness that made you see my shift. And finally, you’re in a world of trouble. And it’s my fault.”