"Hermaphrodite"
Kyuu scowled breifly at her Hunter's Corps ID, frustrated at the awfully long word that stared at her. Like a constant reminder she wasn't femenine enough to be a woman, but not masculine enough to be a man.
She looked back on her teenage years. Watching the other girls grow into their curves, pride in the fullness of their body. Its not like Kyuu was jealous of the boys that flocked them, she never felt like she needed a husband. But she envied the fluid curves that brought all the other girls pride.
But that group of curvy pride, all those feminine body types, excluded her. She never grew into any curves. Her body stayed as blocky as ever, she gained sleek muscles, but it simply drove open the chasm that already existed between her, and every other girl.
A divide that forced her to cringe at every stare, hesitate before joining anything specifically for 'girls'. Kyuu and her friends had all joined the corps at 16, the youngest age you were allowed to join.
Before that, during the very small schooling sessions in each regions, she was always made to join the 'boy' side, and if she objected, and actually got her way, she didn't feel like she belonged anyways.
She gave a wistful sigh, patting her bandaged side for a moment before stretching, wincing at the blossom of pain in her side, an icy gust of wind against her side.
"Kyuu?"
Yoen poked her head in through the door and smiled, hopping gracefully into the room, her ebony hair at her back like a cape. Her hopeful eyes glimmed as she neatly sat herself down next to Kyuu's medical bed.
Before she could say anything, Kyuu raised an eyebrow, "Is…that my clothes?"
Yoen looked down in suprise and gave her a sheepish expression, "Yeah…I had a single dirty pair of a priestess uniform, so Fukai said I could borrow your stuff.
Kyuu rolled her eyes, "Of course he did. Why were you two in my room anyways?"
Yoen shrugged, "Fukai said we could, so we had a bit and slept"
"In my room?"
"Yeah..?"
Kyuu glowered at her and Yoen silently realized she accidentally ratted Fukai out.
"N-not in that way, I-"
Kyuu waved her hand dismissively, "Its fine, not exactly the first time it happened."
Yoen relaxed, but glanced over at Kyuu's chest, not sure if she could ask the question that was clearly in her eyes. She understood Kyuu probably got this question a lot. It wasn't everyday you saw a woman's face on such a masculine body.
"Go ahead." Kyuu grumbled.
"Are you a man or a woman?"
Yoen bit her tongue and tensed as she waited for Kyuu's answer. Curiosity gnawed at her brain, but hesitation also drew it back.
"I am a woman. I don't know why I look somewhat like a man, but I am a woman, always have been, and always will be, got it?"
Yoen just gave a cute nod, relaxing now that Kyuu didn't reach over and strangle her, because she could probably do it with one hand.
"I…guess I'll leave you alone for a little bit?"
Kyuu nodded, already glancing out the window as Yoen left, a sparkle in the air now gone with the wind. A splitting headache rumbled at her head, lightning buzzing inside her brain.
She squeezed her eyes shut, reaching for the pillow again. What happened at the fight again? She thought she had been knocked out of the water or something, but apparently decided to kill a kanibozu while she was at it.
She suddenly sat up, like a clap of thunder resonating in her head. Kyuu remembered it now, the voice! The one who had spoken to her!
Who knew about-
She shook her head violently, her right arm grabbing her left as she tried to steady herself by digging her nails into her own skin. She bit her tongue, trying to calm the tornado that threatened to spill from her eyes.
Her deepest darkest secret that compromised her very existence. When she arrived in this place, she knew nothing and nobody. All she knew was that she was a kitsune that should not have existed, and no one could know that on the verdict; they'd kill her the moment they found out.
She wasn't particularly worried about somehow slipping, though. She had found out there was a seal on her magic, so if someone spooked her she wouldn't grow kitsune ears or something. In fact, she'd only seen her magic once before, and it was a faint memory.
Just her hand producing flame, and smoke rising up, up, up, until someone took her away. In fact, she remembered more of nothing, her memories of before her life in this simple human village shattered.
It felt like walking through a misty graveyard, and trying to read the land of broken gravestones in an attempt to read a novel. She'd lose her mind if she kept trying to figure it out.
To humans, kitsune had perhaps devolved into more of a mix between myth and demon. It was said they used to be much more common, however they hadn't been seen in ages.
Maybe they existed beyond the cliffs that bordered the chunk the villages and all humans lived in. Humans had plenty of land, a nation's worth. And they were busy enough keeping themselves safe and demons away. But the question of what was outside that natural wall was imminent.
And you couldn't scale down the cliff either, mask or not. The reason was that beneath the seeming abyss, a gas resided. You'd be knocked out the moment you made contact with it.
And if you were trying to get down, you'd fall to your death. Or at least no one would ever see you again. No one knew how far down it went. But then again, humans had enough things to do. And even as much as she was concerned, Kyuu was pretty much a human. She wasn't trying to blend in to find some secret. She was Kyuu, and she rarely thought about her being anything else.
Kyuu finally relaxed, and the pain of her entire body had subsided, leaving just a faint whisper of the pain, a soft breeze that occasionally reminded her it was still there.
She got up and changed, putting on a pair of random white hakama, and hat put on a black muscle shirt on when there was a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes, assuming it was Kai and Hitashi, or just one of her friends.
Knock, knock
Grumbling for a moment, Kyuu yanked open the door, and straightened up for a moment after realizing, no, it wasnt her buds. A ripple of respect passed through her spine as two high-ranking members of the corps stood befor her, all black haori and charp jawlines.
"Hey…"
The two men nodded at her, "Greetings Kyuu Jiatsu. We've come to talk about the happenings at Bubo Village."
"Uh…some other time?"
"Afraid not, come with us for an interview."
Kyuu sighed, "Sure, let me get a haori."
****
The walk was much more awkward than Kyuu would have preferred. It was a bit colder now, but she wore her usual with a small scarf. She was as tall as these two men, and they walked in silence.
"So…how long is this going to take?"
The two men nodded, "Not very long. We also have something to give you."
The three entered a lit room with a tele-phrog or two and some file cabinets. They invited her to sit, the three all kneeling down on the mats in front of a low table. The first man nodded, "I'm glad you could come. We've come to talk about the Bubo Village happenings."
"Oh. That. Yeah…what about?"
"First we'd like to congratulate you. It's almost unbelievable, after being dragged down by shachihoko getting back up and demolishing a kanibozu in a matter of seconds. That's a Yin rank achievement."
Kyuu waved her hand in dismissal, "Yeah, I don't even remember what it really was, so I can't take too much credit. Must have been adrenaline at the last second. So…I'm not sure what to say about that considering I passed out right after."
The second man with brown hair and black tips nodded, taking out something…gold. One a medal, engraved on it the swooping eagle, the crest of the corps. Second, a sheathed dagger, made with part of the kanibozu's claw. It gleamed in the light for just a moment.
Kyuu took the dagger and examined it, running her finger along the sharp curve of the now silver-coloured claw. Her eyes gleamed.
He slipped the medal - dull in comparison to her new dagger - and a small pin across the table. Kyuu forced herself to sheath the blade, raising an eyebrow at the offered pin and medal.
"I think you know the pin. For slaying the kanibozu in such circumstances, we've decided you deserve to be moved two ranks. Zhin. As for the medal, it's the least we could offer for saving the village and others there. Slaying a kanibozu is no easy feat, and we've given part of its claw as a dagger you can keep for fighting and for proof of your battle."
Kyuu's eyes widened and she struggled not to look too surprised as to not embarrass herself. She flushed a bit, taking off her current Kure pin. She slid it towards the two men, and they stood up to get to the door.
Kyuu watched intently as her dagger was wrapped and tied in beige coloured wrapping paper. She stood still and watched as the first officer pinned both the medal and new pin into her left-hand chest. The two men bowed as Kyuu took the parcel. The men watched her leave.
With her heart beating fast and the sun at its highest, Kyuu pulled out her tele-tad, watching it glow for a moment as she called Hitashi. She put the tele-tad in a spot behind her ear where it connected naturally.
She entered her room again, this time happily petting and greeting Daichi, once again throwing him treats. She instinctively put her hand to her ears as Hitashi picked up, "Did ya cool off?"
"Even better. Meet me at Kyuden. At five."
****
Kyuu didn't go out to the bar very often. She was more of a down-to-earth person, so it was a rare occasion when they all went out together. She didn't really have anything nice to wear either. The fashion hits around her were the few coloured clothes most members of the corps had. She had nothing really, except a black haori with a few red designs on the back.
Putting her pin and medal onto the haori, she happily put her long hair back in her high ponytail and stared at herself in the mirror.
Either way, she set the parcel of her new dagger in her bag and headed out, jogging under the fading light to Kyuden. Kyuden was one village away, but only a fifteen minute walk that you could get to even faster if you hopped on a ride with someone else's hosoi. Kyuu decided she would walk.
Kyuu walked in silence, letting the cool breeze wave her hair back just a bit. Goosebumps rose on her skin as the sun began laying down in the sky. Hokyaidu, the place where the main base of Hunter's Corps stayed. It was large and sat right up against the 'wall' it had reached all around the humans.
Kyuden was like the heart of the human's land. It was full of dances, festivals, food and drinks. You want to go to a party, you go to Kyuden. It was common for women to wear lavish dresses at dances, but Kyuu would rather face the kanibozu again.
She walked in silence…a bit sombre. Kitsune. Being a kitsune. Would she live the rest of her life like this? She tried not to think about it too much…but the kanibozu attack had made her rethink it. Could she live her whole life, secretly a kitsune? Don't kitsune live much longer than humans? Would she outlive her friends? Would she have to run away?
Kyuu shuddered. She hated thinking too hard about these sorts of things, and would have a headache until she forgot about this. At least she hoped she'd forget about this. She didn't need her thoughts scrambling like chickens, running around in her head and pecking on the walls of her skull.
And suddenly she was at Kyuden. She looked up at the bar. It had the symbols for 'Kyuden' made of gold light quartz. There was the smell of booze, drinks, even wines. Kyuu wrinkled her nose. She wasn't a big fan of drinking or smoking. She once told Hitashi and Kai if they found her drinking or smoking, it clearly wasn't human Kyuu, and they should run.
"Oi! Kyuu!"
Kyuu turned and smiled as Fukai and Kai ran in her direction. Yoen was behind them, talking with Hitashi. Hitashi was wearing some grey hakama with sandals, and a black haori directly on top of a white muscle shirt. And Kai was wearing the exact same thing, but with a white shirt instead of a muscle shirt. The two were often matching for some strange reason, they never planned it either, it just happened for some reason.
"What did you want to show us Kyuu?! C'mon! I've been so hyped the whole day!"
Kai was buzzing, unaware of the tension between Kyuu, Fukai, and Yoen. Kyuu sighed, and began heading inside, "Come on. I'll tell you once we settle down."
They entered the bar, the five of them sitting in a booth. They were regulars enough that the bartenders knew they never ordered alcohol. In fact, over the twenty years, they had come so often the moment they walked through the doors, their orders were already taken.
Kyuu closed the booth and they pushed their food a bit to the side to see what Kyuu was going to show them. Kyuu took the parcel and put it onto the table, slowly revealing the dagger.
All their eyes widened and they gasped as the dagger was revealed. The dark wood handle accented the silver, slightly curved, blade. The blade glinted in the light, and everyone could see how sharp the blade was.
"It's from the kanibozu that I fought. I haven't tried it yet. And I've also been promoted to Zhin! After this, I figured we can see what this thing can slice through."
"WOOOAHHHH!"
Kai's eyes shined as he looked at the dagger, running his finger over the cool blade. "Dude! You're a Zhin now! That's way ahead of us! Not fair! Hey, you can't leave us all behind! We still gotta do missions together! Please?"
Kyuu laughed, sheathing the blade, "Sure I will! It's pretty jarring. At least I'm not moving dorms or something like that. That would be pretty bad. Hey don't worry, I'm still not that much stronger. I'll deck you anytime though. Let's finish this food before we go outside to test this!"
Kyuu hid the blade away and took her miso soup(without all the salt dumped in it this time), smoked salmon and egg fried rice. The others followed suit with their own dishes. Yoen had a fruity salad and red-bean buns, Kai had beef rice and pork buns, Hitashi had ordered a wealthy helping of egg fried rice and pork floss, and Fukai got himself some ramen. "Fukai, I would like to say miso soup tastes much better when it hasn't been mostly filled with salt. Take some cooking advice will you?"
Kyuu commented, gladly sipping the warm soup. It tasted good. Kyuden knew how all of them, other than Yoen, liked their foods. They were practically friends with those who worked there. It was nice having connections in Kyuden. The lines could get comically long.
"Concerningly good advice for someone who messes up the one time they cooked."
Fukai smirked, eating his own food. Yoen hid her smile with a hand as Kyuu glowered at him. She batted away Hitashi's chopsticks as they aimed for her salmon, and snatched up some pork floss to Hitashi's dismay.
They rang a bell signalling their finishing, and left. Behind Kyuden was a forest, so the group decided to test the new dagger there. The forest led to the wall, but it was common sense not to go that far.
"Kyuu! Just cut something! Hurry up I gotta see how effective it is! Aww man…it's gonna be so cool…"
Hitashi and Kai hopped around like children, jumping to grab tree branches as Kyuu, Fukai, and Yoen walked at a slower pace behind them. Kyuu side-eyed Fukai, the dagger attached to her belt, "Care to explain what I walked in on this morning?"
Fukai blushed a bit, and he scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah…about that. We decided to stay the night at your place and we kinda just had to share a futon. Nothing really happened between us, it was a little embarrassing. We fed Daichi and ate some amethyst melons and that's it. I swear."
Kyuu sighed, lightly elbowing Fukai, "What am I going to do with such a poor Kure ranked lost boy as you? I guess since I'm up two ranks I'll simply have to treat you as my children!"
"Don't get so full of yourself! You wait, I'll catch up and beat your ass! Man, still kinda unbelievable you got to Zhin y'know. That's pretty high up. Most people are lucky to get where we are."
Yoen smiled at the two, hiding her smile as she often did with her golden fan. She was wearing much simpler clothes, dull red hakama with a dull yellow obi and a black shirt, white haori, very similar to her old miko outfit, of course with the geta.
"Kyuu! Test it on this tree! Come on!"
Yoen, Kyuu, and Fukai caught up to the excited boys. Kyuu unsheathed the dagger. She stood in front of a large thick oak tree. It already had many scars and tears all over its bark. Thick dark leaves blocked most of the moonlight from the stars above.
Kyuu held the dagger in her right hand so that the back edge of the blade was almost touching the tree, the curve of the blade was pointing to her arm, and her fist with the dagger in its grasp was right around her face.
In a single, swift move, Kyuu carved a new elegant slice into the tree's surface. Kyuu herself was even surprised at how smooth the blade had cut through the thick bark. It was so fast, and so clean.
Kyuu straightened up from her fighting stance once more to examine the blade. No scratches, no nothing. In fact it looked new, even though she had just slashed with it. They all stared, wide-eyed.
Even Yoen seemed surprised.
"Woah! That so cool! Dammit, I want one as well!"
Kai and Hitashi swarmed her, both of them wanting to get their hands on the blade. Kyuu pushed them away and threw it in the air, catching the hilt perfectly. She narrowed her eyes at the tree once more. This time, she'd throw it.
Shk.
The dagger embedded itself into the tree's bark again, and Kyuu could hear a small crack as part of the bark splintered where the blade had dug in.
"This thing is pretty good, " she said, reaching to retrieve the dagger, "It's useful to have instead of lugging a katana around for easy missions-"
Kyuu jumped back as a grey fox somehow just appeared in front of her. It grasped the dagger's hilt in its jaws and took off running to the shouts and yells of the whole group.
"Come back here! What the hell?!"
Kyuu leaped up and after the stupid fox. After a couple seconds, she could hear her friends following behind her. But in the darkness, it was horribly hard to see the damn thing. Its silver pelt flashed in and out of view, so everytime Kyuu had the thing in her grasp, it would just disappear.
"Gods! Damn you…"
Kyuu ran past the others who also chased after the fox in panic. She had the thing's tail in her view and she grabbed it. Well, the fox clearly didn't think she would catch up this fast. It yelped, and dropped the dagger, scrambling to escape from Kyuu who had face-planted onto the ground, the tail still in her hand.
She held the grey-pelted fox to the ground as she resheathed the dagger. She glared at the fox, who whimpered. Kai poked its face, "Dude, foxes are way too fast for their own good. This guy almost escaped with the dagger you got today."
"God-!"
Kyuu shook the fox off and clenched her right fist, gripping her wrist. The fox had bit into her hand, and blood now dripped from the wound. She bit the inside of her cheek for the pain, now annoyed and disgruntled.
"I think that's enough for tonight. Kyuu, I can patch you up once we get back to the rooms alright? I can do minimal healing spells and charms. I didn't spend all that time being a priestess for nothing didn't I?"
****
"At least you got the dagger back. It would suck pretty bad if a fox stole it the first night you got it. You'd have to explain a lot why it's already gone," Hitashi murmured. Kai, Fukai, and Kyuu were listening to him as Yoen wrapped up Kyuu's hand and part of her arm in bandages. Kyuu often had both her arms wrapped, and simply used now as a good chance to wrap them.
Kyuu brushed her fingers against the wrap and eyes the dagger sitting on her desk. Annoying. And suspicious. Foxes could be somewhat grey. She knew that. But this fox was such a striking grey, no hints of orange or any other colour at all.
Yoen pressed a small white charm into Kyuu's hands. Kyuu stiffened and looked at the strange quartz-like stone. The charm was on a rope of sutra beads, its faintly glowing energy making her a bit uneasy.
"It's for luck. I don't need it anymore, but I thought I'd give it to you." Yoen's face was bright and hopeful. Kyuu shrugged it off, roping the charm's sutra beads around her wrists where she could wear it easily.
"Kyuu! Who's taller, Fukai, or Kai?" Hitashi narrated the argument between Fukai and Kai dramatically. The two shorties were engaged in an act of measuring each other's height and declaring the other one was shorter.
Kyuu's eyes glinted smugly as she walked over. The two guys straightened up against the wall and prayed Kyuu announced they were taller. Kyuu put her hand on both of their heads, measuring them against the wall.
"You…are…," she pushed their heads and therefore the two guys into the floor. "Both short as hell!"
"Hey!"
Another argument arose as Kyuu teased and bickered with the two friends. It couldn't have been much of a fight because both Fukai and Kai were at least a head shorter, giving Kyuu the ability to stare down at them smugly, furthering their frustration.
"Genetics! Just because we're shorter than you and Hitashi-"
"And everyone else."
"Doesn't mean that we're any less effective against demons!"
Kyuu scruffed up both their heads, winding them up even more, she looked in bliss at them. She enjoyed this.
"Okay, okay. I'll stop bothering you all about it. You guys better head to sleep. Yoen, Fukai, you mind sharing someone else's dorm tonight? I'm going to have a good night's sleep, by myself."
"Sure! I can call some of my friends and clear some room for Yoen and I. See you tomorrow!"
Yoen and Fukai left, and soon Kai and Hitashi would.
"Don't barge into my room tomorrow morning!"
Kai and Hitashi laughed as they ran down the hall, ignoring Kyuu's sigh. No matter what lock she put, Kai must have learned lockpicking.
Kyuu closed and locked her room door, listening as the building became quiet. Too quiet. She stood with her back facing the rest of her room where Daichi slept soundly.
"Now. You. Get the fuck out."