8 The Thief and the Fox

  [Player: Kazuki Arata]

  [Level: 2]

  [Waza: Black Hand, Thread Cutter, Aura Sense, Dark Rider]

  [Kegare: 10%]

  ---

  The last silver sigil faded from Kazuki’s skin as Suzume sat back, her robes damp with sweat. The shrine lanterns flickered, casting shadows across her exhausted face.

  “The ritual should hold for now,” she murmured. “I hope.”

  Before Kazuki could reply, the deep, resonant boom of a nearby taiko great drum shook the shrine’s foundations. The hanging mirror above the purification basin rattled, its surface rippling like disturbed water.

  Suzume shot to her feet, gohei wand in hand, knuckles white with tension. “The alarm - corrupted yokai are breaching the village wards!” She hesitated, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her features as she glanced at Kazuki. “Stay here. The boundary talismans will protect you.”

  Kazuki reached out, voice strained. “Wait….”

  But she was already gone, the door sliding shut. Shouts erupted outside - more distant, the clash of weapons and snarls clear in the night.

  Kazuki’s fists clenched, his Aura Sense flickering instinctively. He glimpsed ghostly outlines—villagers fighting desperately, shadows pouring through breached wards. He felt powerless, useless.

  His eyes shifted slowly toward the altar, drawn to the Shirayuki Knife. Its pearl handle gleamed.

  Memories of home flooded him - the loneliness, the emptiness of his apartment, the helplessness he’d felt when his mother left, and now here, where he felt equally powerless. Desperation surged, drowning out hesitation.

  Kazuki snatched the blade.

  As his fingers closed around the pearl handle, cold energy surged upward. He gasped, stumbling backward. The dark patterns beneath his skin writhed, veins pulsing with icy pain.

  [Item Acquired: Shirayuki Blade]

  ---

  Kazuki slid the door open and slipped into the shadows. The village streets were empty, lit only by torches whose flames flickered in the night wind. He hurried toward the edge of the settlement passing through the shrine's grove of trees. He moved through the streets of the larger houses of the village until he was walking by the poorer shacks.

  Ahead, at the edge of a large garden next to a rundown farmhouse, a figure swung a wooden staff viciously at a boy curled up on the ground.

  “Filthy thief!” the man shouted, striking again. “Those persimmons were for the festival!”

  At first Kazuki thought the victim was a child or maybe a twelve year old boy. But looking closer he saw a fluffy orange tail - it was a kitsune-yokai. His eyes were wide and he was trying to scramble away from the farmer while protecting his head from the blows and pleading “I didn't steal anything! Don’t hurt me!”

  Kazuki intercepted the heavy staff with his body. He staggered, nearly dropping the stolen knife.

  For a moment the farmer snarled at the interruption before getting a better look at Kazuki in the torchlight. “You’re corrupted!” The farmer gasped, his eyes widening in horror seeing the dark veins pulsing beneath the yukata that Suzuma had given him before the purification ritual.

  Kazuki’s gaze darkened. “And you’re beating a kid over fruit.”

  The farmer stumbled back in fear, then ran.

  Kazuki turned to the kitsune, wincing as he rubbed where the heavy staff had hit him on his shoulder. The fox-boy's tail wagged nervously. “Th-thanks, scary man. Uh… want a persimmon? I definitely didn’t steal them!”

  Despite himself, Kazuki laughed. “Sure, kid. What's your name?”

  The kitsune grinned sheepishly. “Today it's Taro! Tomorrow might be Jiro. I don't have a name. I'm just a fleet fox, at your service!”

  "Fleet fox? Okay, Fleet. I'll take one of those persimmons." Kazuki said, holding out his hand.

  They moved quietly into the forest beyond the vigilance of the village's Shinto wards. Fleet began to talk about how the farmer misunderstood, and how he wasn’t really stealing the persimmons; he was just running an errand for the spirit of….

  Somehow listening to Fleet helped Kazuki put his pain aside.

  Hidden by the branches of nearby trees, Suzume watched silently, gohei wand in her hand and a long kyudo bow on her back. Anger battled confusion within her heart. He took the Shirayuki Knife, yet he risked himself for a yokai child?

  She heard her father’s voice in her mind: Kegare twists even the kindest hearts. The blade was vital - stealing it was unforgivable - but seeing him step under the blows from that farmer just to protect a boy he didn't even know, all while he was visibly staggering under kegare corruption...

  He’s fighting corruption, Suzume realized. For now.

  ---

  Ahead, deeper into the forest, Fleet stopped talking and Kazuki heard the groans of thick tree trunks and the rustling leaves whispering warnings. Kazuki had taken the Shirayuki Knife to find his way home but now he felt as if he were going somewhere else. Somewhere darker.

  “Why’d you save me back there, anyway?" Fleet asked, breaking the silence.

  Kazuki hesitated, “I don't know...”

  Fleet grinned “You tell the truth too much. You should lie instead. Tell everyone you’re a cursed prince!”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Kazuki smiled faintly, the weight of kegare easing momentarily.

  ---

  At the forest edge, Suzume’s fingers tightened on the gohei wand. She had seen Kazuki’s faint smile and it hurt her more than she had imagined. Duty demanded that he must be stopped, yet her heart whispered that there was still hope.

  Suzume followed after Kazuki and Fleet, nimble as a deer in the shadows of the forest.

  Kazuki Arata, she thought grimly, What are you?

  Kazuki gripped the Shirayuki Knife, its pearl handle oddly cold in his sweating palm. Fleet looked like a slight twelve year old redheaded boy with fox ears and a fluffy tail. He shuffled anxiously beside Kazuki, glancing back at the path they’d just traveled, ears flattened against his head.

  "Are you sure we're going the right way, Cursed Prince?" Fleet said, nose twitching nervously. "It smells... wrong."

  Kazuki didn't answer. His pulse thrummed in his temples, and he felt something pressing on his chest from the inside. That familiar despair returned - heavier this time, whispering memories of abandonment. His mother’s absence, his father’s disappearance before her.

  Kazuki reached inward for reassurance. His Aura Sense flared to life, blue-silver threads spinning through his vision. Perhaps, he hoped irrationally, his own energy would appear clean, pure - comforting proof he wasn’t too far gone.

  Instead, he saw himself clearly for the first time. Veins of ink-black kegare like a parasitic vine, pulsed and twisted through his aura, darkly beautiful.

  [Warning: Aura Sense detecting severe spiritual corruption.]

  [Kegare: 11%]

  "No..." Kazuki whispered, the blade trembling in his hand. Was this how Suzume saw him? Was this why she'd looked at him with such horror and suspicion? The thought sickened him. Kuro had said that it could happen but am I turning into a monster already?

  Behind him, the sudden whistle of an arrow tore through his thoughts. It thudded into the ground inches from Fleet’s paws. Fleet yelped, leaping back.

  Kazuki spun, heart racing, Shirayuki knife raised defensively. At the clearing’s edge stood Suzume, her bowstring still vibrating.

  "Drop the knife, Kazuki!" she called, voice sharp.

  Fleet scrambled behind Kazuki's legs. "Who is that? Friend? Girlfriend ? Angry girlfriend?"

  Kazuki's eyes locked onto Suzume. A painful tightness gripped his chest. Slowly, he raised the Shirayuki Knife, ready to return it. He wasn't a bad person and he wasn't a thief...

  ...but then, in the fading daylight, he saw his own dried blood on the shrine, stark and accusing.

  A memory: that failed attempt to open the shrine, his blood useless and insignificant. The same sensation of utter hopelessness clawed back at him, sharper than before.

  It felt as if the color was drained from the world, like this was all just a bad dream...

  "A dream? Of course. It has to be... If this isn't real..." Kazuki whispered, voice cracking. His grip tightened around the knife's pearl handle. "Then maybe… maybe dying wakes me up."

  Without thinking, he pressed the cold blade against his throat. Suzume's eyes widened in horror.

  "Kazuki, stop!"

  Fleet's voice trembled, as he tugged at Kazuki's sleeve. "No! Don’t!"

  Kazuki didn't hear him, the words drowned out by the agony of loss. Kazuki said quietly to himself, "If this is just a dream... I'll wake up at home. My mother might still be there… maybe she never left... maybe it'll be her and me and dad, just like when I was little..."

  Suzume slowly lowered her bow, taking careful steps closer, voice quivering. "Kazuki, please. This isn't a dream. This is real, and you're here."

  "I’m a monster, Suzume!" Kazuki shouted, despair tearing at his voice. "I saw it - my aura, it's twisted. I'm becoming one of them!"

  Suzume gently reached out, fingertips brushing his trembling wrist. Her eyes softened, pain mingled with understanding. "Kegare isn’t you. It’s corruption, yes - but it doesn't define you. Not unless you let it."

  Kazuki hesitated, chest heaving. "But I’ve already…."

  "You saved a fox-child," Suzume whispered. "Even tainted by kegare, your heart hasn't changed. It’s still you."

  Her words were a tiny light of hope. Kazuki desperately wanted to believe her.

  Suzume lowered her voice, an emotion slipping into her tone he hadn’t heard from her before - raw, personal pain. "I know how you feel, Kazuki. Losing someone you love - I understand it too well. But this isn’t how you get them back."

  His hand trembled. With effort, he pulled the knife away, feeling blood trickle down his throat from the shallow self-inflicted cut. Fleet released his sleeve, finally breathing again.

  Kazuki met Suzume's gaze, eyes burning. "Then help me find another way."

  She nodded firmly. "I will. I promise."

  Before they could say more, growls echoed through the shadows. Yellow eyes gleamed, circling the clearing.

  "Inugami," Suzume hissed, bow at the ready. "They found us."

  The mastiff leader stepped forward, a bandaged stump where his arm had once been. His voice dripped with poison. "There's no escape this time, vessel. The Eye of Izanami sees all crossings. There is nowhere you can hide."

  At the mention of the Eye, Suzume's breath caught, her face going pale. Kazuki felt a cold dread coil in his gut. The Eye was a power that would follow him wherever he fled.

  Kazuki and Suzume moved back-to-back, readying their stance. Fleet bared his tiny fangs bravely.

  "Kazuki, we fight together," Suzume murmured urgently, drawing a glowing talisman. "We have one chance. Trust me."

  The Inugami rushed forward, their leader - the one-armed mastiff - at the forefront, snarling hatred through broad wet jaws. "The Eye sees your fate clearly, vessel!"

  But as Kazuki and Suzume’s backs pressed together, confidence filled Kazuki. The closest Inugami, a lean shirtless warrior with the head of a German shepherd, faltered for just a fraction of a second - long enough for Kazuki to launch forward, landing his first strike with Shirayuki. His blade sliced through the creature's collarbone effortlessly. It howled as blood erupted and thrashed backwards falling to the ground..

  The mastiff leader growled deeper now, circling. "You only delay the inevitable!"

  Suzume weaved a barrier of protection around them. Another Inugami lunged for her blind spot, blade swinging down. Kazuki barely intercepted, knife clashing against the yokai's weapon inches from Suzume's neck.

  "Thanks," she gasped, eyes wide.

  Fleet, hiding behind Kazuki's legs, suddenly darted forward, sharp teeth sinking into another Inugami's ankle. The yokai roared, distracted long enough for Kazuki to deliver a decisive strike. Fleet scrambled back, tail puffed triumphantly.

  "I helped!" Fleet declared, eyes bright.

  Kazuki grinned despite the chaos. "You did good, Fleet."

  The mastiff suddenly lunged, a tricky feint - but Kazuki's senses, sharpened by Suzume’s presence, caught the misdirection. He pivoted, barely deflecting a slash aimed at Suzume’s exposed back. She gasped, narrowly dodging a fatal blow.

  "Enough!" Suzume shouted, drawing her bow taut.

  She let white and red arrow go and it shone like a falling star - piercing the mastiff's chest. The blessed arrow did more than kill him - Kazuki could see a black shockwave erupt from the dog-man's body, a message of defeat traveling back to who or what had sent him.

  Suzume dropped to one knee, panting heavily. Kazuki stood over her protectively, heart pounding from exertion but finally feeling hope rather than despair.

  Fleet hopped excitedly around them. "We did it! Cursed prince and angry girlfriend saved the day!"

  Kazuki laughed weakly, relief flooding through him even as lingering dread gnawed at his heart. The Eye of Izanami was out there, watching. He couldn’t hide from it - but he wasn't alone anymore.

  Suzume straightened, gazing at Kazuki, respect and wariness mingled with newfound trust. "I think you might not be so bad," she said quietly. For now, they'd won together. Whatever darkness lay ahead, he wouldn’t face it alone.

  [Kegare: 8%]

  But then Suzume went rigid - "The Village! If the Eye has been following you all along, they'll have sent someone to the village - or something..."

  ---

  [New Achievement: Got Yer Back]

  [Next Chapter: The Parasite and the Blade]

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