“Y- yes, I'm a kitsune. A fox girl, if you will.”  The young fox girl flushed over that fact.

Elliot has his hands on his head, still blown away at what he's looking at. His camera is now in the backpack he put aside. His pockets were turned inside out to show he had nothing inside, and they weren't put back together very well. “There's no way.”

At this point, the fox girl has seen enough to know that this man is not a threat. “Then let me show you something.”

In the blink of an eye, a small puff of smoke appears where the girl is, and only at her place is a bright orange fox. The young man is speechless:  blown away by what he is seeing. This is a kitsune, in the flesh. And possibly one of the last.

She transforms back to her human form, smiling widely at the young man. “See?” The young man still can't believe what he said, and then tries to compose himself.

“Listen, I'm sorry for scaring you,” the man said to the girl. “No, no, it's alright,” the girl said as she sat down. “It's just, ever since the hunters came in here…”

Clearly, she doesn't have good memories of it. She starts to cry as the man gestures to his shoulder. She leans on him, and he is unsure as to how to comfort her.

“It's okay, you're safe now,” the young man reassured her. The fox girl looks up to Elliot and says, “Hey, can we make a promise?” “What is it?” he replies.

“Promise that you'll keep me a secret,” the fox girl says, still crying. “Please, I'll do any-”

“I promise.”

The fox girl looks up. “Really? You swear?” And the young man nodded, saying, “I swear. I'll keep you safe from the hunters.”

The fox girl seems to burst into tears even further, mouthing out “thank you” whenever possible.

After a while, the two sit up. The girl asks, “By the way, what's your name? Do humans give each other names?”

The man nodded. “I'm Elliot.”

The girl nods. “Elliot? Sounds like a rare name.” The man nods politely, knowing that it's not a rare name at all.

“I'm Kume. It's nice to meet you, Elliot.” Elliot looks up with a warm smile on his young face. “You too, Kume.” He holds out his hand to Kume. “What?” Kume asks.

“It's called shaking hands. Usually, we do this whenever we meet someone for the first time, and we're not that close to each other.” Elliot knows he may have butchered that explanation. “Ah, I see!” Kume responds. She holds out her hand and holds Elliot's hand. Elliot shakes it, and Kume seems a little surprised.

“What's wrong?” he asks. “Ah, nothing, it's just that I haven't held a human in so long…” Kume responds, almost wistfully. Elliot nods understandingly.

Then he tries to lighten the mood. “So, how do you live? Anything we should know?”

“Oh, that's a good question! You see that tree up there? That's actually where I live. Harder for the hunters to get to me.” Kume’s eyes are sparkling now, excited to show a human her way of living.

“Woah, that's so cool!” Now it's time for Elliot's eyes to shine. “So, what do you usually eat?”

Kume takes a while to think. “Mostly squirrels and birds these days. Gotta get off the ground, you know?”

“Yeah, I can understand.” Surely she's got to be hungry, right? Elliot thinks. Then Kume continues, mentioning, “It's getting harder to find food these days, and I do have to go to the ground more. Just to get any berries or nuts that have fallen.”

“Would you like some of my food?” Elliot asks her. Kume seems taken aback. “What?” Elliot nods as he reaches into his backpack and brings out a quickly made steak sandwich. “This was for me, but seeing that you seem to be hungry…”

“What? No, no, I can't just do that!” Kume protests as Elliot is trying to break the sandwich into two. Naturally, without a knife, it doesn't go too well. “But I want to do it,” Elliot says, as he finally breaks the sandwich into two uneven pieces. He gives her one side of it. “Eat. Please.”

Kume takes her sandwich as Elliot starts eating his side. She sees that the sandwich is perfectly fine and decides to take her bite. After a pause, a big smile appears on her face. The sandwich’s second bite is met with a big smile, the third bite with an even bigger bite, and by the time Kume finishes her sandwich, Elliot has only eaten a third of his sandwich. He sees her and smiles. “You seemed pretty hungry there. You can have mine,” Elliot comments as he holds out his sandwich to her.

Kume is taken aback. “Huh?! No, I can't possibly-”

“Eat. You haven't had a proper meal in a long time. I don't know about how you foxes work on the inside, but I don't think that sounds good. Please, you need to eat. Get your energy back,” Elliot says, ripping out the part where he was eating from. “I still have some here, you know?” he says, waving his smaller piece.

“Th… thank you,” Kume says, as she takes Elliot's sandwich. Elliot starts eating his little pieces, then gestures for Kume to do the same. She ends up devouring it so quickly, happy and satisfied. Elliot is, too.

“Thank you for giving me such good food after so long…” Kume manages to say. Elliot places her hand on her cheek and says, “Well, how can I say no to such a cute fox girl like you?” Kume giggles a bit.

“Hey, Elliot, can you do me a favor?” Kume asks, clearly more tired now. “Sure, what is it?” Elliot responds.

“You see, for a long time, I couldn't have a peaceful moment to sleep, because of all the hunters that came through here, looking for any more of my kind… can you keep watch on me while I sleep?” Kume says, her big blue eyes meeting Elliot's.

How can I say no to such a cute fox girl like her? “Sure! I'll keep watch for you.” He straightens out his legs for Kume to sleep on, and Kume rests her head there.

“By the way, you promised. Keep me a secret, alright?” Kume says, her eyes starting to close. Elliot chuckles. “I promise,” as he holds out his pinky finger. “What does that mean?” Kume asked.

“It means if I break this promise, I'll cut off my pinky finger. Just put yours with mine.” Kume giggles as their pinky fingers interlock. “Then you better… keep… your… promise…”

Elliot holds on to Kume tightly on his lap as he keeps watch over the forest and its setting sun. By the time he glanced back at her, Kume had fallen into a deep sleep.