A TAIL OF NINE

CHAPTER THREE: Predator and Prey

We move along the coast, changing houses about two to three times a day. Then we find another rental tucked between two condos. Hours turn into days. And then a week is gone. But we take no beach walks. Instead we play about every board game in this place. Fourteen times.

And yeah, they have Scrabble. Quite quixotic to quietly play a kitsune with no qualms at all ... I've learned some new q words.

It's the start of a new week in the same old place, and I dream of how great it'll be when Kon and I go back to Belle Lake. That place will always be home, no matter how far we travel. No matter how long we've been gone, they'll always welcome us back. There's no other place like it in the world!

When I wake up, Kon's still curled up next to me. Her face jerks while her paws move like she's running.

What is she dreaming about? Maybe about walking on the beach with me? Or about the war? She doesn't talk about that very much. Did we ever come close to something killing us? She must have seen people and monsters die. How many of her friends were killed?

Kon makes a little squeaking sound and swats at something with her right paw.

Maybe she's dreaming of when she only had one tail. Is it rabbits darting through a thicket? Or dogs chasing her?

After another squeak, the fur on Kon's back ripples and then her eyes open.

"Are we going out today?" I ask, hopeful. We can't stay here forever. If we do, I'm gonna end up burning all those board games.

She sneezes.

YES!

After getting dressed (we use a little bit of her magic to alter things and make them fit right), we get some warm soup from one of the local restaurants. Whatever she was dreaming about must have made her hungry.

When we head off to a secluded spot, Kon turns into a fox and does this cool thing she's never done before. After summoning her tails, she slips the canopic jar into one and somehow manages to tuck my fiddle case into another.

<<Fox tails serve many purposes, Koto,>> Kon tells me. <<It will be good to keep these objects close to us, so they don't need to be summoned.>>

"Why?"

<<Just a feeling, Koto.>>

Noticing that the tails she hid our stuff in are much paler now, I ask, "But doesn't it tie up some of your magic to do that?"

<<Yes, but should we need them quickly, it will be well worth it.>>

We've had to dodge bullets before. Literally. That was in the woods and not in a town like this. And it wasn't so much dodging as ducking behind trees, but you get the idea. Kon can handle anything.

With nothing bad in sight, some pelicans glide through the air above us as they head for the water.

<<Ichi-fuji, Ni-taka.>>

It takes me a bit because this is something she hasn't said before, but I translate, "First is the mountain. Second is the hawk."

<<They are omens of good luck,>> Kon explains. I guess with the stupid crows after us, she thinks we need all the luck we can get. <<Hawks are brave creatures, ones that connect to the earth and the sky, Koto. I met one many ages ago named Taka and call him friend. We traveled together for many years and he is still connected to my kitsunebi.>>

"Like I am?" I admit it. The possibility of that bugs me a little.

<<No, Koto. I can borrow his sight, though I cannot do such things with you.>>