" You can see them ?" , he asked me suspiciously.
First, he looked at me as if I was someone out of the world and then he became serious. My mind tried to process everything because I was too overwhelmed and confused. Even though he just confirmed that I wasn't crazy at all for actually seeing his animal parts, his question made it seem like I was rather the unusual one here instead. Was seeing these traits so abnormal ? Yeah, normally, but in this case you had to admit that me seeing them should be actually right. Immersed in thought, I totally forgot the boy with two tails and fox ears before me.
"HELLO ? … So do you see them or not ?"
But this immediately broke me free from my thoughts and I finally looked at him. As if he reached the limit with his patience, he screamed so loud that I thought I would get deaf because of it. For his question I just said absentmindedly, still feeling dazed from before, " Yeah, I see them. … Am I the only one who could see them ? "
He hesitated at first, but soon answered straight, " …Yeah, you are the only one till now, so who are you ? How can you see them, when nobody else could see them ? "
To his question I couldn't give an answer and instead just gave, " My name is Rosie Ainsworth. I'm just a normal aristocrat. Nothing more and less. " An introduction should okay, I thought. Since my after name should already be world known .
It explained that I was just a normal human being. This was my intention. But although I answered truthfully, he didn't seem to be satisfied. He finally looked away from me and he began to contemplate on his own with a frown on his face, now being the one to ignore me. While doing so, I took the chance to observe his appearance more. My eyes first roamed around his big silver fox-like ears, then his small face and my focus moved to the two fox tails. The more I looked at them, the more it felt like they were unreal, for me at least. It wasn't like I denied their existence, it was more like that I wasn't used seeing them with my own eyes. Lots of people said that " They believed the unbelievable only with their own eyes " , but even if you did see them you would need time to accept something which shouldn't or couldn't exist in the first place. A variety of species were yet discovered, therefore I could understand and even believed such new creatures to exist, as long as this was an animal, plants, fungus and whatever. Even mutation was for me reasonable, however we weren't on the way to evolution and such or felt the necessity to change our bodies to survive in this world. On top of that, a century or more was needed for this to happen, so this couldn't apply here. My head shook ton my theory. I knew you should accept it when seeing them before your eyes, but this totally destroyed my normal human sense and mind.
For a human suddenly having animal-like appearance was something almost impossible from my perspective. " The fitting of the strongest" surely held truth if looking through the history of animals, plants and humans evolving, yet when I looked at this small child with special traits who had to endure such hardships, harassment and loneliness alone, did it really apply to it ? Not like I doubted that he was stronger than us humans, since I found out about his tragic life and he must have great endurance till now, it still saddened me to see him living like this as if this was just a natural thing to do. Everyone would be happy being stronger and different than others, but here I would rather living like a grey mouse than being an elephant, who was noticeable everywhere you went. Others must be no different than me, who thought he being a descendant of the old king. In addition to this , if other had seen his animals parts as well, they would probably try to catch him for attraction or even destroy him, just afraid of the unknown.
Even though Zeus had told us not to kill each other, it only applied to "our" people , meaning humans with unusual appearance weren't included. Anybody who didn't look similar to their god, also human-like, or was a nature creature such as animals, was seen as broken product and possible danger for the world when they should't exist here. Like witches, monsters and such were feared and detested for their appearance and abilities. Because of this it excused them to practically kill these unknown beings to protect their " perfect harmony". And surprisingly, nothing happened to them as punishment, so it made them think they were in the right. The discrimination only strengthened even more after the Shadows appeared. Just thinking about it saddened me even more, while I watched this boy contemplating. If you looked at this child, would you really think that this could be broken product or even danger ?
Sure enough, I shouldn't completely trust him since I didn't know him enough. Who knew if he hid his true face behind a mask. However his reaction and speaking seemed from the beginning to the end honest and sincere, thus made it even harder to suspect him which I had to admit. But considering his circumstances it would be also plausible if he learnt one or two tricks through surviving.
To sum it up, I couldn't help but sympathy with him., even though I should be careful.
Normal children shouldn't live this way. Unbeknown to me, I balled my fists tightly. To calm my nerves, I tried to set this issue aside and now I focused on his animal parts again.
If someone asking me why I didn't consider it too when this world had magic, then I could only answer " Yeah, I remembered." Like in different fantasy stories too, this should me the normal case. But though this whole century there didn't even exist something like beast man, which I was 100% sure of. Should someone know of it, they had long hunt them down because of their mindset. Perhaps some missing information in the history could also happen, however then the next question could be : Why was I the only one seeing them, when he was always around people ? They saw him more times than me in my whole life till now. In addition to that, in the novel there weren't any beast-men at all.
Actually, I had to admit that when I first saw him, I thought he was probably a girl, now after seeing him without the hood or hat he was more beautiful than expected looking even more like a girl and in combination with his silver fox ears and two tails he also looked abnormally cute to the point I wanted to immediately cuddle him at once. No wonder that my face heated up upon his appearance before. His ears looked so soft, that I wanted to caress them, his tails seemed so fluffy, that I wanted them to be around my waist, so I could lean on it and his big eyes with a mixture of blue - amethyst colours were so clear and mesmerising, that I wanted to see my reflection on it. Just the fact that I tried so hard to resist the urge to touch and stare at him made me sadly admit that I could understand a few perverts for now. I became slightly disturbed at myself for thinking like this , but who could stop my thoughts even when I even couldn't stop them myself.
"Hey !", he cried out suddenly, taking my attention back. "Stop looking at me ! I have already goosebumps", he reminded me with a disgusted face, while rubbing his arms. Again, I probably disturbed him just the way I was also disturbed of myself. But just no matter how many times I looked at him, I couldn't stop staring at him. So fairy tale like, that you became curious.
As you knew from fairy tales they were creatures drawn and written from the human mind, but who should I kidding as I myself practically lived in a book ? Nonetheless seeing them before me in reality made me more curious about this world now. Perhaps because of my short live in the past here I missed a lot of things.
I deeply thought about the storyline itself again. I already understood that by just seeing the history and gods you could already guess that this world was based on the greek mythology at some point, so I wouldn't be surprised if I someday saw sirens in the ocean singing for sailors to their own deaths, not like that I saw one before in the past. Yet I didn't expect someone with fox animal appearance. Sorry, I was still shocked. As far as I knew there weren't probably any foxes in mythology, but how should I know everything about mythology anyway ?
Coming back to reality, I soon gave my late apology. Even though I knew this was unmannered of me, but at this moment my mind was already blown away by the number of information. You know, I was only just three days in this world and already had to consider and think so much! No, I had a rest of 6 days of journey. But it didn't change the fact.
I hoped it that this will soon improve. Suddenly I noticed that he suspiciously observed me from the top to toe, obviously showing his hostility. Wait, why did he became hostile all of the sudden ? Oh yeah, I just shamelessly starred at him just seconds ago.
To correct my mistake, I strongly waved his suspicion off by saying , " Please don't be afraid. I was just intrigued with your appearance, nothing more. Sorry, please be forgive. I try to stop it. " I gave sincerest face to him.
However doubt was still there, as he didn't change his attitude and continued to watch my every move cautiously. He still said nothing to my statement. Some time flew by, yet he didn't open his mouth. Not enduring this strange silence anymore, I broke the ice by asking nervously, " Mhm… you know, I really don't know why I was the only one seeing it. Believe me. … Do you have any idea why, perhaps ?"
Changing the topic was the best idea that came through my mind. As if he also couldn't stand this atmosphere anymore, he finally spoke up slowly, " …I also have no idea why you could see them."
My eye brows raised and I asked him, " Neither of us know. But more importantly, if nobody could see them, how could you hide them perfectly when you ran away from me before? As I remembered correctly, I couldn't see your tails behind your back at all. Like the tails came… cough*… from behind connected your body… on your bottom …you know what I meant…", I blushed a bit while saying, " Like if it was physically I should have seen it on your trousers." I had hard time to explain it, but I hoped he understood me, so I looked at him nervously. What I saw now was this boy becoming astonished at first, later his face changed to annoyance, but slowly and steadily blush came to his cheeks. Next I could hear " Pervert !!!" from him while holding his arms and taking a step. Yes , it seemed he understood me, but in a bad way. Now this made me look more suspicious at this rate. I blamed my curiosity now.
Trying to save the last bit of hope, I waved my hands strongly trying to deny:
" I didn't think something bad. … No, I didn't mean it like this. I just wanted to know if you had a hole on the …. No, this also didn't hear good… Ah, what I meant was, shouldn't somebody see your physically tails, the hole …where your tails come through, right ? But I didn't see it, then did it mean that your tails are transparent ? "
After some thoughts from his side, he soon responded:
" … you meant that ? Yeah, ... I also don't know… I don't .. know… why. It was like this since that day… It was connected with me, …but was also nowhere. " I noticed that he tried to suppress his quivering voice. But holding back was no use, as I could clearly see his struggle. Why did he become so emotional now ?
" When I woke up these things came. … It just happened. I … don't know., " he continued. Tears were about to break out, so he looked down, afraid letting me to see them. Even though he tried so hard to hide them, his voice still shook slightly. " I was so shocked at first….hic… I asked everyone about it. But nobody… hic… believed me.… Instead they all looked… at me as if I … hic…crazy… hic …" It seemed like he couldn't tell his complete story, but the fact that he just gave me some inside meant that he felt my sincerity a bit. It must be nerve-wrecking to have nobody while staying strong.
"At …some point… I also t..thought I'm crazy….", he concluded. Yeah, me too, boy. Me too. I knew reading stuff such as people looking similar to animals or aliens were more unbelievable than anything.
Time passed again. I just looked at him his small hands wiping his tears one by one. How I wished to comfort him, but I didn't know how, so I just waited for him to calm down. When it happened I finally asked cautiously and slowly, " Are you okay now ?" A small nod came from him and I was relieved. To hold on this somehow good atmosphere, I soon asked, " Where should bring home ? I'm sure you want to go home now, right ?"
He just looked at me with shocked eyes wordlessly and silence filled between us again. This was so suffocating, I know that had a hard time understanding emotion and I was also not a social butterfly, but what came from this mouth mad eye want to slap myself real hard
" Everywhere …I live…everywhere ", he answered. Did this mean he lived in the streets ? At once I now understand what I did do I unconsciously held my face and made a strange noise. The boy just looked at me very confused. I was so frustrated with myself, not even considering that he lived on the streets. He knew the human traffic stones and his clothes were more then obviously. His oversized dirtied shirt and trouser which were held by braces and his smell which I tried to strongly ignore. At first you would think that he probably had bad parents for not caring him properly, but the way he found me through the streets without any issue and considering his circumstances too, his parents would surely abandon him. Mindset were pretty hard to change.
Again I felt pity, but for sure he wouldn't like it. I didn't know why, but ain't most people like this ? If I was the one receiving pity in the past, I would be happy that someone actually cared a bit for me. For sure, I would prefer someone would do something against my situation back then, however nobody thought anything good of me. At first you would be angry for them not doing anything, but over time I understood that in their stead I would do it the same. When even my family couldn't achieve, how could they make it ? Sure, guilt would form at first, but as you had your own life too, you just must close your eyes and try to look away. Besides they didn't know me enough to care for me. Anybody would and should care for his own life first of all. But if someone who actually felt sympathy for me existed, just meant they still had some heart and common sense perhaps as they not believed in the rumours.
Suddenly he asked, " Why are you alway in the daze ? " " Oh, sorry. I had this habit to think and dream a lot. ", I responded while averting his gaze.
I knew that he lived here, he must be always careful of other people now. This should be really exhausting. Why he must live he would surely tell as soon as I trusted me enough. But right now I really wanted to help. Then this thought came, an idea came and I asked slightly enthusiastically:
"Do you want to come to the Ainsworth ?"
After that, he looked at me with widen eyes, as if I was crazy. Again I was insulted and again I would ignore it as if nothing. I didn't like to speak around the bush so I just went straight, which seemed to overwhelm him a bit.
So I ensured him, " You know the Ainsworth, right ? We aren't the sword and shield for no reason ? I will protect you as a thank you for protecting me from possible human traffic. "
I made this deal in hope he could accept it as a somehow good reason
However he just stood there with astonished face.
Desperately, I tried to further made more reasons, "You know, after knowing a bit about your life, I can't just let you go. … No, I mean that I also would like to know why I was the only one seeing them. Also I can't stand seeing you suffer anymore. You're just a child."
" Who do you call a child ? I did live like this since I was born, so don't underestimate me, yeah ?! ", he now angrily exclaimed.
Feeling insulted he tried to go away. " Now he misunderstood me. Why are relationships so hard to understand", I angrily thought. But I still tried to find another reason: "You know I need some help …" To this, he stood still to my surprise.
It seemed like no matter what I said he would not believe me, so I should interact with him as if he was a grown- up. He wanted to show off as a strong person. I also strongly believed that he lost his trust in humans. With that in mind, he wouldn't think I would do out of good will anyway, which I actually do:
" How about this ? ", I began, " You get protection from my family and live under our roof? And I wish you to just collect information from the commoners and streets ?"
He strongly thought about it and soon asked, " Why the sudden change of attitude ? Are that manipulative?"
I sighed exhausted how to convince the boy. I really had a hard time to convey my good will like some heroine. These female leads had mental strength hard as steel for real. I wished I could say something cliche or threat him like these clever heroines. But this wasn't in my blood, so I just said:
" For real, really really believe me. Believe when I said that I wanted to protect you. I never meant any harm here. I thought that since you don't believe in humans, so I just give you a deal for you don't have to give anything back. I hoped you could just accept this. "
He looked at me for while and soon a small murmurs came from him. I couldn't hear him at first, thus I asked him to become louder, please. He said again slightly louder but I still couldn't hear him anything. With his head down made it even more difficult to understand him. It seemed my confusion showed on my face, so he finally screamed angrily: " Yes, I accept it. I will collect information but you had to promise it , yeah ?!"
He showed his pinky finger while saying so." Cute …", I said unconsciously quietly. My hope that he didn't hear me saying was crushed as he heard me with his fox ears. His face heated up and took finger away. He now cried, " Fine then I go ."
Shocked by this, I stood baffled there. This went too fast for me, but I just followed him and caught his hand with regard to his fear of touch. I forcefully took his hand with my left hand and linked his pinky finger with my right.
" Sure deal ! " , I said smiling from ear to ear. The boy before me suddenly became redder and just gazed at our linked fingers dazedly. Suddenly just remembering his fear I immediately took my hand away, took a step back and said ," Sorry ! "
He just looked down on the ground with heated cheeks.
and answered quietly , "It's alright…"
I just smiled upon hearing it. Perhaps he wasn't that against my touch.
" Since our deal was finished, could you tell me how to get out of here ?", I asked slowly. With still slightly reddened cheeks and he said quietly , " Follow me. "
So I followed him. Should I trust him or not , didn't matter for me anymore. After some time we got out of this place and finally saw the familiar lights of the plaza, filled with people again. The boy next to me had his hood on and stood slightly behind me, hiding from the mass. From the corner of my eyes I could see that his eyes widened and his mouth agape. Curiously, he looked to his right and left while his transparent ears which flew outside his hood moved and twitched. Didn't he come here before ?
Later on I said , " We had to got the old book store I was before, you remember perhaps ? " As an answer he just nodded and showed with his finger in the direction. After knowing our destination, we now walked. While going he still stayed behind me with his head down trying to be inconspicuous. The distance was large enough to think that others would think that we didn't know each other. Whenever Was confused where to move now, I directed my eyes to him and would show the path with his fingers. Knew that he was scared, but it was also unmissable to see that he was also curious too. Sometimes I noticed his eyes followed the stalls, where people bought food and kids running around the street with pretty masks. Now and then I saw such small expression from him. Sometimes I could see how he looked at the food so strongly while swallowing . He must be very hungry. But I never failed to see his envied eyes upon seeing happy people walking with their family members and friends. This shook my heart. Averting gaze as I soon couldn't take this anymore.
To district this lonely boy, I soon noted, " Are you always like this whenever you appear before more people ? You're so quiet and shy suddenly, so different than from before " I laughed upon my remark. He looked up at me and he asked what I meant. I said with a soft voice," You know , when you met me you were so loud and confident, now you seemed like a mouse. I could understand that you don't want any attention, but we are. How about having some fun while searching ?" His eyes widened and saw some shaken in his eyes. I continued, " You are now with me, so don't be afraid." I smile softly.
Upon hearing that, he turned his head away and I could see his ears twitching, his transparent tails moving right to left enthusiastically and a small small formed on his small cherry coloured lips.
When seeing him like this, I also heated at bit up and unconsciously smiled. We walked and walked till I finally saw it, so I unconsciously walked faster. As soon as I reached the book store, I said happily to the boy, " We found it. "
Confusion filled me and I looked around desperately. I couldn't find him, so I panicked and walked past the people back to the plaza again. I screamed, " Hey, where are you ? " When I was about to cry his name out, I remembered that I didn't ask for his name yet. How stupid could I be to not have asked before, thus I just continued to scream. I ran past the stalls but still couldn't find him. Suddenly his familiar drifty hood came into my sight while I ran around like a madwoman.
He sat on the ground and held his head with his hands. As I tried to immediately reach him, I saw some spectators trying to help him. At first thy closed their nose because of his smell, but soon reached out to him. Yet he strongly shook his head avoiding their outstretched hands. From afar I could see bit of his eyes shaking and his face paled slightly. Before they came nearer to him, he stood up fast while hiding his face . However as soon as he moved, he unknowingly let a slight glimpse of face show to some onlookers. Surprised by his beauty, they now tried to look more closely at him. When I was only one meter away from him, I could see his legs slightly shaken too, but still rooted on spot.
Suddenly I heard them saying, " We just want to help you. Could we see your face, please? With such pretty face we are sure to find your mum. She must be as pretty as you as well. " With a smile, they tried it again. Even though this could be out of good will, I was sure from the perspective of this boy, it felt like they wanted to catch him or harass. Had I not known of his story, I would have thought that they were good people, but now I only see them as perverts and evil.
How one's story could change your own perspective was really surprising sometimes. As soon I finally arrived, I blocked their outstretched hands by hugging him tightly, so that his face was on my stomach. "Sorry, I left my brother and tried finding him." I lied. Then I told my thanks with a fake smile. The people became confused at first, but soon accepted it and just walked away peacefully. As it was over, I sighed relieved, but this ease didn't last long when I noticed his shaken body on my stomach and arms.
I never had a child or had relatives who were just as young as him, so I didn't know how to comfort him. At first I thought I should let him go now, since he was afraid of touch but at the same time I suspected that a few people would surely get to see a fast glimpse of his face like before again. So I just continued to hug him.
All of the sudden I felt that something touched my back. When looking around I saw his arms circling my waist hesitantly, with a bit of distance. Only the surface of my dress he touched with his small fingers, gripping it tightly.
It seemed like he was very scared before, was my thought. I unconsciously drew circle on his back with my hand, comforting him like a baby. On television normally moms hug their children like this, when they felt anxious, right ? I hoped it worked, so I looked down for his reaction.
To my surprise I saw his sunken tails twitched and then they stood in the air, like a statue. Not knowing what to encipher from it, I stopped with what I had done and realised my arms from him. Suddenly his tails dropped. With raised eye brows, I just accepted and was about to ask, if we should continue to walk, as suddenly felt a strong power on my back.
I already knew without looking back, what it was so I just gazed at this small child softly. He now hold me more tightly, closing the distance between his hands and my back. His body stopped shaken, his face moved right and left on my stomach as if smelling of my scent and suddenly his tails suddenly moving up and down. Even without words, I knew that he wanted me to hug him back, so I happily did it without protest. While he just cuddle up to me, I just felt like dying.
OMG Cute. Will I die again in this life ? I'm not against to die because of this …,I thought.
Suddenly our warm moment was disturbed by a scream from the mass. From afar I saw my personal guard Max, mom, Marie and the other guards running towards us. As if he also noticed their presence , the boy immediately freed himself from my hug and I saw his blushing face. Now he immediately hid behind me with a lowered face while holding on my back with his fists.
I heard my mum crying, "Are you alright ? How could you run away like this? Don't you know how dangerous it was !" Scolded by mom, I just hoped that this would end and I could sleep now. While she sternly reminded of my actions, she suddenly noticed the small boy behind me and asked , " Who is the cute little boy ?"
" Ah he is …, " I forgot that I still didn't know his name. As if he read my thoughts, he continued speaking for me only hesitantly ,
"… Kitsune ", surprised by this name , I turned to him and just smiled.
" Yeah, he is my new friend and I want to protect him, so I thought about adopting him. " , I said casually.
Upon my words the groups screamed , " WHAT ?!" Small birds flew out from the bushes and trees. WOAH… that was loud.