A Love Beyond Time

What the Heart Knows

Trigger warning: some mentions of physical violence

The cruelest illusion is not a lie that resembles truth, but a wound that learns to speak in the voice of love.

[最殘酷的幻象，不是貌似真實的謊言，而是學會以愛之聲說話的傷口。]

" Is this truly what you seek, knowing the consequences and repercussions?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he is still crying. Because those the likes of you choose to turn away. Because the Universe blasphemed him. Because true justice was never served. So I will serve it, for him."

"What kind?"

"My kind."

===

The Current Times—The Valley, Central Region

Harumi stretched sensually and sighed. It was the sigh of a female pampered within an inch of her existence and basking in the aftermath of that pampering. Her body felt loose, soft, and utterly relaxed. Even her babies, unusually active the past few days, had calmed. Resting a hand upon her belly, she closed her eyes, linked with them. And smiled at the way they nestled into one another.

So sweet, so precious, these little jewels of hers and Asahi.

A wave of love surged in her—fiery, intense, and completely maternal. The love poured from her heart, flowed through her, then spilt out to turn the air around her a soft warm gold and make her little gremlins masseurs gawk.

Then a dainty cup of steaming tea appeared before her, held by a long bony arm of grey-green.

"Tea. Drink. Good for babies."

Cinnamon eyes glided to the grinning owner of that arm, noted those wicked teeth like little daggers. Knifey, Harumi recalled his name. She smiled and accepted the beverage.

"Who is this creature smiling at the little gremlins like a beatific Goddess of Abundance? It can't be my sister who was whining about them barely an hour ago."

Keiko strode in and laid a tray of fresh fruits on the bedside cabinet. Winking at her twin, she gestured to Mei to place the vase of camellia beside the fruits. "Look at you, won't you, Harumi? You look radiant and well-rested." She sat on the bed, curled her long legs under her gracefully, and leaned her head on Harumi's shoulder.

"I feel radiant and rested." The older vixen affirmed as Keiko fed her a jujube. Inclining her head at the five little doughballs busying around her, she lowered her voice.

"Let everything that I am going to say be strictly between us, my Keiko. Should Yu-Hu get wind of it, I will deny that it came from my mouth for the rest of my existence."

Keiko giggled and fed her sister a plump grape the rich colour of garnet. "Spilling secrets at this hour? I'm all ears."

"Never in eighty and eight hundred years would I imagine myself saying this, but these little gremlins are rather enchanting. Especially that chubby one, the one they call Sealy." Harumi lifted her chin at Sealy, who was diligently massaging her legs. As if sensing her eyes on him, he looked up. Beamed.

"Protect boo-ful baby Mama." And went back to work. Keiko googled and turned to her sister.

"You are saying that only because they are now at your beck and call and treating you like the Fox Empress Dowager of the Green Valley Clan." She paused. "Also, did you teach them to say what Sealy just said?"

"No, I didn't." Placidly, Harumi drank her tea. "And for your information, in case you were unaware, Asahi was at my beck and call since we were all babies, and I said none of the same about him."