Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 41 – That’s What I Can Help You With

It’s almost perfect…

But…

…

I just… can’t figure it out!

The hair clip just didn’t look right. There was nothing wrong with it, just… it felt like something was missing. The problem was that no matter how long I stared at the hair clip, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

It needs to be perfect.

Nothing less.

I picked up a paintbrush, just hoping that as soon as I started painting again, the answer would just come to me. But before I had the chance to actually dip the brush into any paint, Ava came into the room.

“Oh, have you moved on to painting now?” She asked, quickly making her way behind me.

Instinctively, I hid the hair clip with my hands, being careful not to smudge any of the wet paint. Unfortunately for me, all that seemed to do was make Ava even more curious about it.

“Hmm, is it something special?” She put her hands on my shoulders, lightly jostling me as she looked around at everything else on the floor, “Ahh, I see… is that what you’re busy painting?”

She reached for the notebook with all my practice drawings completely exposed. Not wanting to take my hands away from the hair clip, I used my tail to cover it, hoping it would stop her from trying to pick it up. Thankfully, she stopped almost immediately.

“Y’know, you’re just making me more curious now,” She let go of my shoulders, “Hmm… I wonder what it could be… What would little Kierra want to hide from me?…”

Nothing you need to worry about.

…

It’s…

“…N-n-nothing,” I squeaked out.

She didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead, she got up before sitting down with her legs crossed in front of me.

“Well, I already know it’s not nothing…” She said, pointing at my tail, “… Now, when was the last time you acted like this?…”

What do you mean ‘acted like this’?

…

I don’t understand.

“Oh, I know,” She abruptly leaned forward and made eye contact with me, “Is this something to do with your friend at the temple?”

…

How did she know?

Did she see the notebook?

But I thought I was fast enough.

I nodded.

“Hmm… then… Is it another drawing of her? Wait, no, is it a painting of her this time?”

I was about to shake my head, but Ava responded to herself before I could.

“No, that can’t be it. You were more than happy to show me your last drawing of her… Then… maybe it’s… a gift… Is it a gift for your friend?!”

…

She must be able to read my mind.

There is no other explanation.

…

She wasn’t even with me yesterday…

She can’t even know about the hair clip…

…

Once again, I nodded.

“So you’re going to give her a homemade gift…” She let out a light chuckle, “You really are just adorable, aren’t you?”

Her comment caught me by surprise, making me tense up a little. However, Ava just continued laughing.

“It’s almost hard to believe you are the same little girl who would run to the other side of the room as soon as I got just a little too close.”

“…”

I… I haven’t changed that much…

Just…

…

“Well, there is no sense dwelling in the past though,” She pointed at the hair clip inside my hands, “Right now, I think there is something I can help you with.”

What? Help me?

…

Ava… has helped before… and… it did work…

…

I want this to be a good gift… a perfect gift… but…

What could she even help with?

I looked up at her but didn’t say anything.

“So I take it you’re interested? Good. So, here’s what I’m thinking, I’m sure you’ve picked out the perfect gift for your friend, but… have you thought about how exactly you are going to give it to her? Are you going to put it in a box? Are you going to wrap it up? Are you going to include a card? Maybe you don’t need one, but then you need to think about what you’re going to say… if… you talk to her… But never mind that, that’s what I can help you with.”

That’s… a lot…

…

A lot… that I didn’t think about…

…

“Come on, you don’t need to look so down about it,” She reached out towards me but abruptly pulled back halfway through for seemingly no reason, “Of course, I won’t help you for free… but if I must say, I do have pretty good rates. In fact I doubt you could find cheaper anywhere else.”

…

That… makes sense…

…

I already knew what she was going to ask for, so I immediately turned around and moved my tail over towards her lap. While at the same time picking up the notebook that it had been covering.

“You know me so well,” She pulled a brush out from behind her back, almost as if she already knew that this was going to happen.

As she started brushing, I handed both the notebook and hair clip off to Umbra, who had poked only their head out from my shadow so they could store them for later.

“So that’s where they were hiding,” Ava caught me by surprise, causing me to yank my tail away from her, though this just made her laugh, “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to surprise you like that.”

…

I gently placed my tail back down in her lap without saying anything.

“I had just been wondering about where they were hiding, as the little fox seemed to just disappear yesterday, then just showed back up like they had always been there.”

That’s what surprised her?

Not that they just came out of my shadow?

…

Is that a normal thing?

No, it can’t be…

“Now, now, just relax. I’ll be finished soon,” She ran the brush through my tail, “It’s so much easier to just do this regularly than just waiting for it to become a problem, don’t you think?”

I immediately thought back to the pain I felt the first time I tried brushing my tail…

“… mhm…”

“Then… does that mean I get to do this again tomorrow?”

“…”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Even though I wasn’t facing her, I could almost hear her smiling.

As Ava said, she finished brushing my tail pretty quickly before getting up and pulling out two cloaks, one for her and one for me.

“We should probably ask Mom before we go out… but I’m sure it will be fine… she has things she needs to do,” Ava said as she fastened one of the cloaks around my neck, “She’ll probably appreciate having some time to herself.”

However, as if on cue, Raynelle came into the room, “What’s this about you two girls trying to sneak out?!”

She scared me just a little.

“I’m just wanting to take her shopping with me. It’ll be fine,” Ava responded, completely unfazed.

“No… No, sending you shopping is one thing, but with Kierra… What if something happens?”

“Nothing is going to happen… even if something does, I can take care of it. You even told me yourself that you think I underestimate my own strength,” Ava punched the air a few times, trying to prove her point.

“I still… can’t… I trust you, but… I can’t… I can’t just let you go by yourselves.”

“It’ll be fine, I’ve already thought things through,” Ava put her hands behind her head, mimicking my ears, “Everyone is looking for a kitsune with black or white hair right… well, our little Kierra isn’t a kitsune, she’s a… a wolf! Since you don’t normally see beastkin around here, I’m sure they won’t know the difference.”

“Do you really think they will believe you?! As soon as they see those fluffy ears, it doesn’t matter if she’s a kitsune, wolf beastkin, cat beastkin, or anything else. They’ll take her anyway. Come on, you already know this.”

“That’s not all. I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now, but,” She turned to me, “You can make your hair black, with… whatever you use… but what if you made it…. um… less dark. Kinda like the other little fox, the grey one.”

Less dark?

I let my shadow cover my hair, and just like every other time before, it became a deep, pitch-black.

How do I make it… less?

…

Then, seemingly as a response to me simply thinking about it, my hair very slowly started to brighten until it was a similar colour to Umbra, though a little darker.

“See!” Ava shouted while pointing at me, “Now she’s a grey wolf! The people here have probably heard about the grey wolves out in the forests. Which means it’s a perfect disguise, they’d never suspect a thing.”

“But-”

“And you have something that you wanted to do…” Ava interrupted, “Y’know, there was something you were wanting to take a look at…”

“I-I can just do that myself… while you two wait here, safe-”

“It will be fine!” Ava shouted, interrupting Raynelle again, “How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing will happen. I’m just taking her with me to buy some food cause we’ve run out, it’ll just be a quick trip, there and back.”

“I-”

“Come on. I understand you’re worried, but at this point you’re just being overprotective. I’ve been making this trip since we got here, and as for Kierra, I mean, she managed to take care of herself even without us being there. With me there, it would be impossible for what you’re imagining to happen.”

The room fell silent after that. It wasn’t the first time that Ava and Raynelle had argued, but it was the first time that I had felt that level of pressure in the room. It had gotten to the point where I was contemplating climbing out the window just to escape. However, before I did, Raynelle spoke up.

“Fine… but just buy food, then come back. If anything happens… anything… please… run back here… don’t worry about anything else, just run,” Raynelle pleaded.

“I’ve got it,” A smile spread across Ava’s face as she turned to me, “Alright, pull your hood up, and we’ll head out straight away.”

I immediately did as she said, pulling the hood over my ears and following her out of the inn, afraid that if I didn’t, the two of them would just start arguing again.

“So, what do you want to do first?” She asked, putting her arm around me before pulling me close, “I’ll have to get the food last, but otherwise what we do today is entirely up to you.”

“… Mhm…” I responded.

“Good, then let’s get moving,” she said, starting to walk, still holding onto me, “It’s my turn to have fun with you, and I don’t want to waste any of it just standing around doing nothing.”