I want to be your Koi Fish... - Nine Tails

~43~

~ TAIL NO. 9 - Child

She happily accepted the last ball connecting her to the last Bearer she would possess to obtain the last, ninth tail. Time in the Inari Palace ran very differently than among people, she did not distinguish day from night ... she did not even know if such a thing existed in this dimension, but when she slept, rested, lay with her eyes closed - he appeared as soon as she closed her eyes. She saw him again, so wonderfully smiling only at her, reaching out to embrace. She could almost smell the scent of men's perfume, combined with the scent of a soft purple shirt and the light fumes of Wild Turkey wafting around his face. This time, the Lord himself appeared before her with the package, even more serious than usual.

- Remember that no matter what your feelings are, you have to complete the task. - he reminded, handing her a glass bead. - You won't come back otherwise.

- Of course, Lord Inari, I remember. - she replied, trying to be calm.

- You must be very happy to see your husband soon? - he asked.

- Very! - she admitted enthusiastically. - I miss Kaoru! I wish I could be home already.

- You matured surprisingly fast, my child. - He thought, looking at her and her eight wagging merrily tails. - Hope you make the right choice.

- May I go now, Master? - she asked, trying not to sound rude.

The last thing she wanted at the moment was the offended fox god who would tell her that she wasn't going back anywhere because her tongue was too long! Inari hid his hands in the wide sleeves, and his ears twitched a bit nervously.

- Yes you can. - he replied. - Once you complete the task, you will return to your human body, so this is our last meeting. Unless you fail.

- Lord Inari ... will I remember my Spirit left on Earth? - she asked hastily, taking the ball.

- You will remember both of these "lives" in parallel, although the astral will blur with time, it was like a dream. - he explained, placing his hand on the black hair. - Experience will stay with you forever.

- Thank you, Lord Inari. - she replied calmly. - And, please don't be offended, but ... not-see you later.

- Not-see you later, Byakko.

It was the last time she was opening someone's eyes. The next time he wakes up, he'll open his own real one, and he'll be there. She was bursting with joy and euphoria that she would be able to see Kaoru's face again and that wonderfully hazel eye! Meanwhile ... she looked around the room in which she was located. The size of the Host definitely changed from the previous one, so she had to find a child again, but younger than Koji. Much younger. The room where I slept looked surprisingly familiar. She knew the color of the paint on the walls, the toys around her. Do the children have so similar room decorations?

-BREAKFAST! - She heard a not very sonorous voice coming from somewhere on the lower floor.

The wearer got up from the bed and almost collided with an adult who was apparently planning to approach the toddler.

- Oh, Fubuki, still so sleepy? - the melodious voice she knew for sure.

- I think so, mom. - The toddler replied, rubbing his eyes.

She looked at the woman in front of her and froze. Not. It couldn't be true. If the astral bodies could have had a heart attack, Hanabi would just have experienced several at once, very extensive. And a stroke. And goddamn Inari knows what else! Stupid joke ... very stupid, very untrue. He will open his eyes again, it will turn out to be just a mistake and he will go to the right place. For sure! DEFINITELY! She kept telling herself, while the little girl, in whose body she was locked, was taking clothes out of the wardrobe, quickly getting dressed, to join the woman in the bathroom in a moment. She stood on the step, saw her face adorned with pale blue eyes and an unbridled storm of red hair that made her look incredibly like her mother. Her last Carrier was SOGA FUBUKI, her own niece. The youngest of all. Hanabi counted the tails hurriedly. The last, and the most dangerous, of all she had remained. Affect. The one who was forced on her most brutally, and which the Kitsune on Earth would never be achieved again. At least that was what she read in the extensive library of scrolls at the Palace. The last tail was to be an attribute of only those foxes who were born with Inari. As the only one capable of free transformation. She was supposed to get it using a four-year-old!