The first thing Laura noticed when she came back to consciousness was the soft pile of pillows she was laying in. Although their shape felt a bit strange, long and somewhat cylindrical, not to mention the short, soft fur the covers were made out of. Even so she wiggled into them more, wondering where the cushions had come from, and how she had been moved to them.
That question was immediately pushed to the back of her mind though, as she tried to fold one in half to put under her head. When this caused a spike of pain to run up her spine, her eyes fluttered open in surprise, revealing the 'pillows' to actually be a set of orange furred fox tails.
Slowly standing up, careful not to step on any of the, what turned out to be nine, tails, Laura looked around and found herself alone in a small room. A tingling at the base of her spine, similar to when you sat on your leg wrong for a while and then stood up, confirmed her suspicions that these tails were, somehow, her own. She did notice her backpack sitting in a corner, with most of her clothes lying next to it.
Looking down Laura realized she was wearing a simple red and white Yukata, reminiscent of the one Onyu had been wearing, which brought the events before she passed out back to the forefront of Laura's thoughts. 'What did they do to me?', She wondered as her anger began to rise. At the same time, she heard a loud crackle of fire coming from behind her. But when she did turn around, there was only a small ball of flickering blue flames dancing in tune with her anger.
"This day is getting weirder by the minute" the young Woman whispered to herself, or tried to at least, as her voice was still sounded as loud as always. Deciding to see if she could find someone to demand an explanation from, or at least a mirror to see what else had been changed about her, the student began to move once more.
While the tails dragging on the floor were putting of her balance quite a bit, Laura quickly reached the door and slid it open. This caused Takeko to tumble into the room backwards, little lines of salt coating the fur beneath his strange eyes.
"Oh you are a wake again." the little Tanuki began rambling as he turned around and kneeled down before Laura. "I am sorry I brought you here, if if I had known what Onyu would do to you I I -"
"It's, well not alright, but not your fault." Laura replied as she pet his head, both to calm herself and reassure him, her voice still louder than she was expecting.
"If if you say so." Takeko said as he looked up again. "But your new look suits you, you will make a fine Kitsune once you get used to it all I am sure."
"Thank you?" Laura replies unsure how to respond or react to that. "Do you know anything about the why and how of this all? Or at least let me know where I can find a mirror to see what changed?"
"No, I followed the guard that brought you here immediately. But I do know where the closest bathroom is, Onyu does have mirrors in those." The brown furred spirit proclaimed before leading the way, the tripling of its paws on the floor surprisingly loud to Laura.
After a short bit, in which Laura stumbled twice, Takeko turned back around.
"Still not used to the tails? try having them swing from side to side instead of dragging on the ground."
Nodding unsurely, Laura tried her best to move muscles she hadn't even had a few hours before. Slowly she got all the tails, all at least as long as her torso is tall, to stay in the air at the same time, and as they continued to walk, she slowly noticed them all swishing from side to side on their own, which immediately made her balance feel more natural, despite being distinctly different to how she remembered walking to feel like.
"thanks for the tip." She told the smaller spirit as the two of them continued down the narrow corridor, her tails brushing against either wall at times.
A few moments later, Takeko stopped in front of a door and tried his best to slide it open, which was met with mediocre success until Laura helped out. Inside was a rather simple room, containing little more than what looked like a giant bucket of hot, or at least warm, water and a small table with a mirror above it.
Walking over to the mirror, the first thing Laura noticed about herself were the orange furred ears sitting atop her head, and the subsequent lack of normal ears at the side of it. With her gaze traveling down, she took in the fact that her hair, while still in the same ponytail drooping over her shoulder, had turned the same orange as the fur on her ears and tails. The only other change Laura noticed in the mirror were her new eyes. Like those of every other spirit she had met they were orbs of just one solid color broken up by a white pupil. For her this color was a dark, nearly brown, orange, seemingly a blend of her original brown eyes and the orange color all her hair had taken on.
All said she could easily recognize herself in the mirror despite all the changes, when Takeko spoke up next, she could see her ears flick towards his position, and with a bit of concentration, could even feel which muscles made them move like this.
"See you make quite a fetching spirit." the little Tanuki said from the door.
"I guess, But I am more worried of how much I will stand out back at University." Laura commented, her tails stiffening as she began to dwell on her worries. "If I can even get back home."
"Well I don't know how to get you back home, but as a Kitsune you should have little problem disguising yourself." the tanuki commented. "After all, every one of those I know can use illusions however they wish."
"How would that even work?" Laura inquires, turning too look at the little spirit next to her, a couple of her tails wagging excitedly, while the rest still were sticking down stiffly.
"They always explained it as 'thinking really hard about what people should see' but that's not really helpful I guess."
"It's better than what I had a moment ago." the Kitsune responded before closing her eyes. A moment later the air around her ears began to shimmer, until they seemed to take on the color of what was behind them, similar to a Chameleon's skin. Looking up to the mirror, Laura gave a thin smile, despite her tails movement calming down noticeably. "Well it's a start I guess, definitely need more practice though." She commented, with the first flick of her ears making the illusion appear even more ridiculous, as the changed appearance stretched across it like a bad texture in a video game. Blinking a couple more times, her eyes returned to their original look, but as she moved them around, the illusion stayed in place, making it look as though she was looking straight ahead.
"Well I am sure there will be more than enough time to practice until we figure out how to get back to Yamatanuki." Laura said as she looked down at Takeko, the illusion across her eyes dissipating.
"Ah yes." the Tanuki said nervously. "How about we talk with Sumi first, he was arguing about this whole thing with Onyu when you were carried to your guest room after all."
"I guess, better than having to see Onyu again." Laura responded grumpily, one of her tails smacking against the wall, causing her to wince in pain for a moment.
As the two of them left, neither noticed the small burn mark where her tail had touched the wall.