Yuki sets the ladder against the top of her house. After making sure it was settled in the ground, she climbs up it. She gets to the top of the roof and sees what she was searching for.
“Yes?”
Yuki blinks at Jen’s seemingly sleeping form.
“You’re awake?”
Jen sits up and nods at her.
“Yeah.”
She gets off the ladder and onto the roof, moving to sit next to him.
“Is this where you always disappear to?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she seems him shake his head.
“Not all the time, but quite a bit, yes.”
She looks out at the housetops around her.
“It’s been about thirty minutes.”
He takes a glance at her.
“Since I left your room?”
She nods and continues looking around.
“I haven’t really seen this before. When I did, you were carrying me away, and I barely got a look before we passed it all.”
Jen looks back at the sea of houses and nods.
“So why did you really come up here?”
She makes a light chuckle.
“I knew you would know better.”
She looks at him, trying to see his eyes.
“Just why exactly did that creature attack?”
Jen smiles slightly.
“Gorun? He’s just angry because I’ve been playing a game with him for centuries. He was in the mountains, and I leapt out and tagged him, saying ‘You’re oni!’. He ended up falling down until he got to a ledge. As he was getting up, it broke and he fell the rest of the way down. Wasn’t too happy, I’d say, but I was amused.”
Yuki tilts her head to the side.
“Why did you do that?”
Jen shrugs lightly.
“I was watching some children play a game of Tag, so I decided to play it with a real oni for amusement.”
She smiles.
“And has he ever tagged you back?”
Jen smirks.
“Nope. He’s too preoccupied trying to get back at me to realize it’s a game. As with most onis, he isn’t all that bright, though he is a brighter bulb than others that I’ve run across.”
Her eyebrow arches.
“So he wants to kill you, but you aren’t going to do anything about it?”
He shakes his head and lies back down onto the roof.
“Nah. He may have a great deal more brute force, but he lacks the creativity to develop new ways to take me on. Besides, I limited myself so there wasn’t a chance you’d be in danger.”
“You take it very seriously, don’t you.”
He nods, knowing she was talking about protecting her. He remains quiet, and Yuki leans over to check whether or not he’s asleep. She peeks behind his sunglasses and sees him looking at her.
“Yes, I am awake, thank you.”
She makes a face and lies down on the roof as well.
“You’re not going to tell your father, are you.”
Yuki looks at him.
“No.”
Jen doesn’t respond, knowing her well.
Yuki watches as the sun peeks out from behind a large puffy cloud. She covers her eyes with a hand and smiles.
“It’s a real pretty day.”
Jen shrugs lightly.
“It’s too bright. The wind needs to blow some more clouds in the way.”
She smirks and taps his sunglasses.
“Like you would know, you practically never take them off.”
Jen glares at her.
“It’s always too bright, even at night.”
He yawns lightly and closes his eyes.
“You’re going to sleep?”
He responds, though leaving his eyes closed.
“I’m resting my eyes, not drifting off to sleep.”
She shakes her head and crawls back towards the ladder.
“Right. Enjoy your nap.”
She doesn’t get a response, so she gets to the ladder and goes down back to the ground. Leaving the ladder where it was, she goes into the house and to the kitchen.
May as well eat, it’s after noon all ready.
She goes to the cabinet and pulls out a cup of noodles.
Not the best, but it’s better than nothing.
She partially opens the top and places it in the microwave. Setting the timer, she goes to the refrigerator and looks inside.
“Where is it.. Oh, right here.”
She takes out a can of apple juice. Opening it, she looks around the kitchen, feeling something was missing.
“I think what’s missing, is me.”
Yuki turns and sees Jen entering the kitchen. She glares at him.
“Quit being conceited.”
He merely smirks at her and goes to the table.
“Say what you will, but it doesn’t mean you’re right.”
Glaring more, she stops when the timer goes off.
“Oh.”
She takes the cup out of the microwave and opens it all the way, letting the built up steam to exit.
She takes the cup to the table, then goes back to get her juice and some chopsticks. Walking back, she sits down at the table on the other side of Jen. She quietly eats the cup of noodles while Jen stares at the ceiling in thought. Wiping a little bit of noodle juice off her lips, she glances at him.
“What are you thinking about now?”
He looks over at her.
“Nothing really. Just… going back into my thoughts.”
She smirks slightly.
“Well, that would be what you’re thinking of.”
He rolls his eyes at her sarcasm.
“It’s about the past, thank you. A great deal has occurred, for me, and this nation as a whole.”
Yuki nods slightly, knowing that things would have changed with the passing of time.
“Anything you’d like to discuss?”
He shakes his head and gets up from the table. She blinks and sets the chopsticks in the cup.
“Was it something I said?”
Jen shakes his head.
“No, it’s something else. Something else entirely…”
His voice drifts off and he leaves the kitchen. Yuki watches the empty space he left when he exited through the kitchen door.
“What’s going on?”
She leaves the cup of noodles and her juice behind to try and follow him.
As she gets to the other side of the door, she finds there’s no trace of him.
“He really is quick…”
Exiting the house, she goes to the ladder still propped against the house. Going up it, she doesn’t find him on the roof. A look around doesn’t reveal his location either. She sighs and goes back down the ladder to the ground. She moves the ladder back to its place beside the house and goes back in.
Arriving in the kitchen, she goes to the table to return to her lunch. She finishes the food and throws away the cup and juice can. She washes the silver chopsticks and puts them away. Seeing Jen had not returned, she went to her room.
When she gets there, she finds everything exactly where it was, which meant he hadn’t been in there. She goes to the desk and looks at the pile of papers and notes scattered on it.
“I should get everything together…”
She starts getting the desk organized, and placing some of the papers into her school bag. Looking out the window, she sighs at the loneliness.
“Where did he go?”
Yuki goes to the small boom box sitting on the top of her bookcase. Popping in a CD, she turns the boom box on and plays the CD. The sound of the pop music begins to fill the room. She closes her eyes and begins to sing along, slightly off key. Her body sways with the beat of the music and her mind begins to drift away into the song.
The tracks continue, and she begins to get tired, only mouthing the words and swaying very slightly. A light chuckle startles her and she opens her eyes, coming back to the real world.
“Your stamina is decent, though that’s way better than the sound of your singing.”
Yuki grinds her teeth and picks up a pen. She throws it at Jen, who was leaning on the door frame.
“Why did you sneak up on me again?”
He doesn’t move, as the pen misses him completely and hits the wall.
“You were busy. A crowd could have came into your room and you’d miss them if they didn’t say a word.”
Yuki glowers further.
“Oh stop making fun of me.”
Jen smiles slightly as he walks into the room.
“Bah, it wouldn’t be any fun then.”
She looks away and sits at her chair in front of the desk.
“Why don’t you go do whatever you left to do earlier?”
She tenses as his arms wrap themselves around her. She feels his breath on the back of left ear.
“Because, I’ve all ready finished with it.”
His voice was soft and made goose bumps down her neck and back.
“A..and what did you do?”
He softly smiles.
“It’s nothing of concern to you. I simply did what I must to continue to exist.”
She turns to look into his eyes.
There was a gleam of pleasure within his eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
He lightly chuckles.
“That’s all right. You don’t need to know about it, and trust me, you don’t want to know about it.”
A grin of malice appears on his lips. Yuki looks away at the few notes still on her desk. She tries to reach out to them, but finds her arms wouldn’t move.
“Can you let me go? I need to study.”
Jen realizes his hold of her, but moves his arms to encircle her waist.
“What are you doing?!”
She panics and pulls backwards, into the back of the chair. The kitsune in human flesh lightly chuckles.
“Nothing, really.”
He takes in a whiff of her and smiles.
“You really are beginning to smell like me.”
She looks up at him, her eyes wide in surprise and confusion.
“What do you mean?”
He steps back and pats her head.
“Forget about it.”
Without another word, he goes to the window and opens it up.
“The clouds are coming, and it’s getting darker. I love it when it rains. Such a wonderful scent it has.”
Yuki watches him as he sits on the window sill.
“It’s going to rain, huh?”
He nods in reply, not looking back at her.
“I’d say within an hour and a half.”
Yuki looks at the time, seeing it was almost three pm.
“Wonderful timing for the rush hour.”
He smiles at her sarcasm.
“Yes. So much like ants, people are. It’s just not as easy to crush them.”
She makes a face at his disdain for humans.
“You love to point that out, yet you’re in human form.”
Jen nods and looks back at her.
“Of course. As I am protecting you, it’d be far easier to just blend in, then it’d be for a nine tailed fox wandering with you.”
She frowns lightly, fully aware of that truth. Sighing, she turns back to her notes and studies.
The time passes, and the rain does indeed come, very close to the time Jen had stated. He closes the window so the rain wouldn’t enter the house. Yuki turns on the lamp on the desk and continues to study, stretching her stiff muscles. She lightly yells as she feels hands on her shoulders.
“Just sit still.”
She hesitates, then relaxes a little as he begins to massage her neck and shoulders.
“Sitting in one spot isn’t a good thing for your body. Even the Japanese government has realized that.”
He continues, working out the stiffness and relaxing her muscles.
“You’ve got to take better care of yourself, if you wish to live longer, anyways.”
She doesn’t say anything, except a semi conscious, incoherent muttering. He smiles to himself and keeps going, knowing how tense her body really was.
She slowly drifts into a light nap from his massage. Seeing this effect, he lightly chuckles and bends over, gently kissing the top of her head.
He whispers, “Get some rest. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”
He goes to her bed and lies on it, lost in his thoughts.
