A Few Needed Adjustments

A Story or Two

Natsume didn't really to bother those around her with her problems. She thought that this was just dumping your garbage on others, which was a shitty thing to do, and telling them to clean it up. If her house was dirty, she would do it by hand, even if someone offered to help. She just couldn't let others help her with her problems.

But, everyone had a limit. And Natsume's limit was Keisuke asking her for the thirty-ninth and half (she counted down to his unintentional implication) time if she had her fire powers yet.

It a benign question, but compounded with everything else, it was just too much.

On that agreeable Saturday afternoon, Natsume decided she wasn't having any more of this annoying stuff. She was going to fix this today.

Kyubi looked up from his book as the three heavy knocks rang from his front door. He was bit confused as he wasn't expecting anyone at this time. Not even a package.

Suspicion kicked in as he pussyfooted across the room and into the hallway. The door was at the end of the hall, connecting the small room that was supposed to hold everyone's shoes. Three more raps, this time more aggressive. The kitsune snapped his fingers and a little flame sprang from the pores on his pads. If any hostile person tried to break in, they'd be blasted back to the hell they crawled out of.

Kyubi made his way quickly, his free hand resting on the knob. He took in a deep breath and let it out before opening quite fast.

Instead of some thug or the IRS, he was instead greeted by the face of his daughter, face emanating deep annoyance.

"O-oh, hi Natsume, didn't expect you," he chuckled nervously before snuffing out the flame, "what brings you around here?"

"Look, I need som-may I come in?"

"Of course." He stepped out of the way so she could walk in.

"Thank you. Anyways, I need your help, bad."

Kyubi's ears again perked up high with worry. Worst case scenarios trickled through his brain.

"What's going on? Are you being bullied? Did your house burn down? Did Micchy-"

The brunette sighed softly as she removed her first shoe.

"No no, it's not any of those. Plus, still haven't see Micchy around. It's weird; Jibanyan and Whisper came back, but not even summoning can bring Micchy back. Hmm."

She shrugged her shoulders as she ended the sentence.

"It's actually...a few reasons. You might wanna sit down for this one. Also, bring some coffee, but no decaf. It's going to be pretty long."

"Ok, lay it me."

The duo was sitting at the redwood table. Natsume thought that a house that resided in the fourth dimension looked weirdly normal. It looked very nondescript, with your average White Walls and wooden floor, polished to perfection. Even the tiles looked hand polished. She guessed that yokai, or kitsune at least, had a lot of free time.

Kyubi himself was dressed more casually. Gone was the purple kimono and wooden sandals; he instead wore a pressed black shirt with a set of jeans white socks. His clothes looked like they were molded from some stiff material as no wrinkles could be seen even as he moved. Then again, fourth dimension. Some rules of gravity and physics didn't apply here.

There were observations to make, but Natsume needed to do something about these things now. Small talk could wait.

"Oh gosh, where do I even start?"