"Welcome. Place your order here!" a monotoned voice replied to the ringing of the doorbell, while trying to sound energetic. However, his eyes lit up as it was none other than his dearest sister who came to visit him!
"Miko! What are you doing here?! You should leave! The boss-"
"Ahem... you shouldn't talk bad about me while I'm here y'know?" A voice sounded from the kitchen. A beautiful, slender figure strolled out, her slightly greasy apron fluttering in the breeze, most probably from working in the kitchen. She had wavy, jet black hair, complemented by her dark, angular, amber eyes, that seemed to be black unless you observed them closely. Her lips curled into a smile when she spotted Miko, standing innocently beside Ryo. Ryo knew that coming here was a bad decision now, but unfortunately, there was no turning back. He didn't even expect her here! Why today of all days?! If he brought her back now, his boss would punish him. If he let her stay, he will be punished by her brother! He was really in a pickle, dammed he does, dammed if he don't.
"Aren't you gonna introduce us Miru? You know her, and I can smell she isn't human..." The woman said, leaning forward on the counter.
"Huh?" Miko asked in confusion.
"Uhhh..." Miru hesitated. Then, he cleared his throat, gathered his confidence and started, "Miko, this is Arayi Yasuko. Boss, this is Azuki Kamiko." Miru slammed his palm to his face, not wanting to continue. However, Yasuko continued putting him in a spot.
"Anddd?"
"Huh? what?" Miru played dumb.
"Your relationship???"
Seeing there was no way to evade this, Miru answered, "She's my sister." Miko was unsure of the complicated relationship between them, but could feel her brother's uneasiness.
"Hi?" Miko replied awkardly. However, the boss immediately grabbed her hand and started shaking them violently, saying,"Oh my gosh hi hi hi hi I have been dying to meet you since I don't know when but anyway its such a pleasure to meet you okay i need you to answer this question really quick first do you have your fox marble?"
Being bombarded by a bunch of sentences with seemingly no full stop, Miko could only hear and remember the last sentence, which actually was a question.
"No?" She replied.
"Awhhh" Yatsuko replied. She had wanted to see a fox marble, since it was impossible to obtain it without killing a fox. She was also not into violence, and didn't see the need to murder them for something she could not take. Fox marbles were precious items each kitsune only had one of, which was usually exchanged during a kiss. It was also unobtainable, as it dissipates almost soon after the fox dies. Only one method could be used to harvest them, which included a special bottle only the fox god, Inari, had. Sometimes, she blessed it unto others, but no one would be willing to trade it due to how precious it was. The marble also served almost no purpose, being only able to serve as decoration as it was pretty, or as an ingredient in some rare, ancient dark pill recipes, which were mostly unheard of and forbidden to learn.
Suddenly, realisation dawned on Yatsuko. She grabbed Miko and yelled, "Wait, how?! Are you only half fox?! Is that why?!"
"For god's sake... she's my sister." Miru responded. Sometimes, his boss really didn't think her thoughts through, spewing them out as she thought about them.
"Then are you also a half fox?" Yatsuko asked again. She didn't expect a halfling to be working in her shop!
"How about it, since you two are special, double pay to make you stay. How about that?" Yatsuko offered. Halflings are rare, as they are not hybrids, a mix between beasts. Usually, when beasts bloodlines are mixed, hybrids are born. However, due to genetics or the disruption of the balance of energy this baby is often miscarried or stillborn, rendering the different beast parents unable to have children. On the rare occassion they make it past birth, they do not live very long, the longest living to only a few thousand years. However then, they are more powerful than the average beast, more powerful then their parents even, if they could learn and control their magic. However, they could never achieve immortality. This is because every beast kind has a different criteria to achieve immortality. Affinity to elements and innate magic are only two of the criteria. The third differs from species. For the kitsune fox, they needed to develop nine tails and reach the maximum level of innate and elemental magic within ten thousand years. So, they are racing against time to cultivate before they die.
Another example, being the yatargasu, has to guide ten thousand souls on the right path with their god, Amaterasu's words of enlightenment. Easier said then done as these days, since humans don't listen to advice.
For hybrids however, this path is not clear to them, as neither might apply. Hence, they simply try their best to look for a way, only to end up in failure and arrive at the end of their lives, searching for answers that can never be found.
Halflings on the other hand, are slightly more common then hybrids, though still extremely rare. They are a mix between a beast and human, sometimes their path deriving from which parent they take after more. If a kitsune and human got together, for example, if they arrive in between, they would lose certain features such as the ability to cultivate nine tails, their fox marble, and the ability to turn into a full fox. They would be an ordinary halfling, as this is how most halflings turn out. If they got more of the fox side, they could cultivate up to nine tails if they absorbed enough of that parent's bloodline, but lack a fox marble, which isn't particularly neccessary, persay. They could still achieve immortality, but would have a much harder cultivation route, as their human side could only keep up with their fox side so much, slowing them down. On the other hand, if a halfling took more of the human side, cultivation would be near impossible. They would be almost like an ordinary human, but possibly with enhanced abilities such as more sensitive sense of smell, eyesight and hearing. They might also live longer than the average human being, but that was as close as they got to being a fox. Of course, each pairing is different. Throwing in different beast mixes with different human beings would lead to different variants. Sometimes, rarer nowadays, some humans possessed certain constitutions, the rarest being able to cultivate and achieve immortality, which is unheard of as he died before then, or being able to let the child take more of the beast bloodline. It also worked the opposite, with some constitutions forcing more of the human bloodline down.
However, some humans were able to cultivate, but just not achieve immortality and ascend to godhood. A common example would be the royal families, where every single decendant could cultivate. On the rare occassions they possessed ordinary constitutions, they were abandoned to normal families, aborted, or just given the tittle of prince or princess as grace if they were born to high ranking consorts.
Miru faced palm again.
"We are full foxes, kitsunes. as for why she dosen't have a fox marble- wait... She dosen't?!"
Miko glanced at the people staring at her expectantly nervously. She kept this secret for so long, and it has finally surfaced.
"Explain. Now." Miru commanded, his voice domineering. He was no longer joking around. His sister's safety and happiness was his priority. Sometimes, he had to dicipline her hard, for her own good. Seeing how she has touched something Miko was trying to keep under wraps, Yasuko felt bad.
"How about I treat you for free everytime you come here from now on?" She offered.
"Sure! In fact... I am rather hungry now..." Miko replied. Thankfully, she was able to change the topic.
"No. Answer first. Where did your fox marble go?"