The Music is in Me

Chapter 2: Uhhh, So She's Not, Like, Evil or Anything, Right?

"Uhhh... Hey, Atsuko? Do you know where this little doll thing came from?" 

Nora asked her wife, as they caught notice of Kitsune in her doll form, right next to Paris. Darn it, Paris and Yumi hadn't considered that yet. They hadn't seen her until this morning, questions were bound to be asked.

If Kitsune was able to in this form, she was sure she'd be sweating... Assuming she can sweat at all to begin with, which she doubted.

Atsuko walked over, examining her for a second. She hummed in thought for a moment, before shrugging. "I'm not sure... Might be a gift from Lily or Iris." She suggested.

"That could be it." Nora nodded, turning back to Kitsune as she appraised her. She couldn't help but smile slightly at her elegant appearance. "It's definitely cute, though! Look at those pretty eyes!" 

Atsuko chuckled at her wife's compliments to the doll. "Won't argue there... It's adorable." She nodded in agreement.

Kitsune couldn't help but feel slightly proud that she was considered 'cute' by humans. Things Ivan created almost never ended up as cute- so she lucked out, she supposed. Paris, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. It wasn't jealousy -he would never feel something like that, especially not about her- it was just annoyance.

Before much longer, Nora and Atsuko left the room. Paris sighed, returning to his more normal form- Kitsune following suit. "Well, I suppose I know what we're doing... It's a good thing Lily's coming over later." He stated.

Kitsune looked over at him. "Who's this 'Lily' person?" She asked.

Paris looked back at him, with his usual expressionless gaze. "Yumi's babysitter. She's also annoying- possibly more so than you sometimes."

"Oh, shut up.." Kitsune rolled her eyes.

"No matter..." Paris got up, looking back at her. "We'll have to introduce you to Lily so we have some sort of alibi as to why you're here. You're very lucky Lily gets here after Yumi's guardians leave." 

"I'll keep that in mind." Kitsune got up as well, glancing over at Yumi. "Now we wait for the little one to wake up... Poor thing must've been worn out."

"It's been a hectic week, to say the least..." Paris confessed with a sigh, shaking his head. "Nothing to be concerned with, of course... Just Ivan's creations getting free again... Somehow."

"Oh, well that's just lovely..." Kitsune sighed. 

Even though she hadn't said it out loud, Kitsune was hoping she could be of more use this time around. Part of her held some regret that she didn't help all that much before- especially after the clown was created... She shook her head. No time to worry about that- not now at least.

For now, she'd wait until Yumi was awake. 

---

An hour or so later, Kitsune was sat with Paris and Yumi in the living room. The former two said nothing, simply just giving each other side-eyes on occasion. Yumi had quickly noticed the odd tension between the two of then, but before she could finally bring herself to ask them if there was something wrong, she heard a knock at the door. That had to have been Lily.

She quickly excused herself from the two toys, getting up and running to the front door to let in her friend and babysitter. "H-Hi Lily!" She happily greeted, her smile slightly sheepish from the fact that she'd have to introduce her to yet another 'weird thing', as she would put it.

Lily grinned at the girl, patting her head. "Hey Yumi! How are you doing this morning?"

"I-I'm good." Yumi responded. "There's, um... Someone Paris and I want you to meet. S-She's in the living room with him right now."

The older girl paused for a second, raising an eyebrow. There were a few oddities in that sentence. There was someone that wanted to meet her? That was here this early? And even Paris had known about them? If that was the case, then that could only mean...

"Oh god, is it another evil toy or whatever...?" She asked.

"N-No, no! Not really... She's... Um, r-really nice, and Paris says she's harmless." Yumi assured, before muttering under her breath: "But they don't really get along for some reason..."

Lily sighed, relenting. She supposed there was no way around it. "Alright... Let's meet this mystery toy." She said, following Yumi into the living room.

Kitsune spotted them almost immediately, her eyes lighting up. "Oh! Hello there! Yumi, is this Lily?" She asked as she got up and walked over to them. Yumi nodded in response, glancing up at Lily to prompt her to say something.

"Uhh, yeah, that's me. And your name is..?" Lily held a hand for her to shake. 

"Kitsune. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Kitsune chirped, shaking her hand with a small smile.

'Well, she certainly doesn't act like Paris...' Lily thought. "So uh, you and Paris are created by the same guy, yeah? What's your thing? You're not, like, evil at all?"

"Oh! No, no, no." Kitsune chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm essentially a therapist, as Paris would word it. I help people confront their emotions- even if they may not want to."

"Especially if they don't want to..." Paris muttered, letting out a sigh. "Don't worry, Lily, she's perfectly harmless. As far as I'm aware, she's not much of a fighter- I've only seen her bare her teeth at most."

"And that was typically only during petty squabbles." Kitsune confirmed, mumbling quiet enough so only she could hear. "Ones that Paris started more often than not.."

"What was that?" Paris asked, narrowing his eyes. "Do speak up, darling."

"Nothing, I said nothing. Just thinking about the past again." Kitsune brushed him off.

'So that's what Yumi meant when she said they don't get along...' Lily thought, but kept it to herself. She gave a small smile. "Well, Kitsune, it's nice to officially meet you. We'll have to introduce you to Iris too."

Paris soon chimed in. "Ah, right. Lily, if you wouldn't mind, if Yumi's guardians ask, could you tell them that you gave Kitsune here to Yumi as a gift? We didn't consider that until just this morning, and they had seen her."

"Oh, yeah, sure. I can do that." Lily nodded.

Kitsune breathed out a sigh of relief, thanking Lily. The last thing she'd want was to create an awkward situation for the girl and her family. With that resolved, she took some time getting to know Lily better. And in return, Lily was curious about her- especially seeing as she didn't fully understand what the opposite of her purpose was. Kitsune was more than happy to explain it to her, and was just happy in general.

Of course though, as luck would have it, yet another petty argument would soon break out between her and Paris.