Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 60 – The Next Morning

Good…  night…

Ovia…

…

…

*Thud*

…

What… just-?…

My eyelids slowly forced themselves open, only to be greeted with an up-close view of the floorboards.

…

“Mmnn,” I groaned as I struggled to lift myself up off the floor, ultimately only managing to barely sit myself up with the help of the bed behind me.

What… happened last night?…

Looking myself over, I saw that I was still wearing my dress, albeit a lot more creased than how I last remembered it.

…

I… went to the temple… then…

…

No matter how much effort I put into trying to remember, I just couldn’t figure it out. I felt that the memories were definitely there, just… foggy.

We… ate food… somewhere…

I know that… Ovia asked me about the food…

But…

What… happened after that?…

…

I got home… somehow…

…

As I was lost in thought, I felt myself start falling forward, but thankfully, I managed to catch myself just before hitting the floor again.

“Little fox?! Are you okay?!” As if on cue, I heard Ava shouting from behind the door. The panic in her voice was clear.

“Mmm,” I tried to respond to her but couldn’t manage anything more than a weak groan.

“Since I didn’t hear anything I’m coming in, alright?!”

Without missing a beat, the door swung open, revealing Ava standing there in her apron, her wings spread open behind her as if she were ready to take flight at any moment.

“What happened?!” She shouted as she rushed towards me, placing a hand on the side of my head as soon as she was close enough.

As she caressed my head with her cool hand, I felt a wave of discomfort I hadn’t even noticed leave my body, and my mind gradually started to clear, even if only slightly.

“Did you fall off the bed?” She asked as she quickly examined me, carefully checking each limb one by one, “Do you feel okay now? Does anything else hurt? That was quite a large bump on your head… Do I need to take you to Celica? Did you injure something on the inside that I can’t see?”

I could barely process the words she was saying as they flew out of her mouth seemingly all at once. My mind was not helped by the way she was jostling me around as she tried to inspect my back.

“I… I’m… fine…” I managed to squeeze out a few words despite the dryness in my throat.

“Are you sure?” Ava asked immediately, “Wait, do you need water? I’ll go get you water. Just… stay still. I don’t know if you’ve hurt anything else.”

She rushed out the door before even giving me the chance to answer, though that didn’t end up mattering all that much. It seemed that in the time it took for me to blink, she was already back, holding a cup of water up to my mouth.

“Drink slowly, alright? I don’t want you to choke on the water.”

I did exactly as she asked… for just a moment. As soon as I felt the refreshing liquid touch my tongue, I instinctively started gulping down the water as fast as I could, desperate for the relief it brought.

I need… more…

Please…

“Hold on, I said slowly!” She pulled the glass away a little too late as I had already finished drinking all the water she had brought, “Alright…. Do you feel sick at all? Maybe I should try heal you anyway, just to be safe.”

“I’m alright,” I said, stopping her hand before it reached me, “I’m fine… just… feeling a little…slow…”

Ava let out a sigh of relief as she sat down next to me, “Good… That’s good… I just heard this loud thud out of nowhere… then I saw that bump on your head and…”

She abruptly put her arm over my shoulder and pulled me close.

“Now that I’ve calmed down a little and have gotten a better look at you… What were you doing last night? You didn’t get changed out of your dress, and you have dark rings under your eyes… Just how long did you stay up?”

Dark rings?

I gently ran my fingers under my eyes, though I couldn’t actually feel anything different.

“I… can’t remember…” I responded.

“Well, that’s probably because you didn’t get enough sleep. In fact, if I had to guess what happened, you fell off your bed because you ended up collapsing in a weird position when your mind and body finally gave up and forced you to sleep,” She unexpectedly let out a slight chuckle, “You do know that you’re not going to grow very much if you don’t get enough sleep? Not that I’m complaining. I’m quite fond of my little fox.”

…

“I’m not a little fox…” I grumbled under my breath.

“Oh, you aren’t now. Then… how about… being my little sister instead?”

“…”

No words came out of my mouth.

Sister… I…

…

“Why not?” Ava asked, pulling me in even closer, “I think we’re close enough to consider each other sisters.”

“…”

I don’t… dislike… it…

But…

Can I-?…

…

“Just to be clear, I’m not trying to force you or anything. It’s just…” She paused, “I think we need a proper word to describe our relationship, and no matter how I twisted it, I think we’re at least a step above friends, right? So sisters!”

…

Sisters… family… I…

…

“Mhm,” I eventually responded, even though I wasn’t sure if it was the right answer.

“Is that a yes?”

“… Mhm… though… only because it’s better than being called little fox… nothing else…”

…

I’m… at least allowed to… pretend to be family…

That much… is enough for me…

“Oh, come on!” Ava suddenly shouted, “Haven’t you grown tired of putting so much distance between us yet? Sure, I’m just using it to be endearing right now, but all you’d have to do is ask Mom, and we could be real sisters. I know she’d agree to take you in as her daughter in a heartbeat.”

“Mm.” I hummed, hoping that Ava would move on from this topic.

I…

No…

Not… yet…

I don’t des-

I didn’t finish that thought, not for any grand reason… I just… didn’t want to.

…

‘G-Good morning K-Kierra’

Without warning, I heard Ovia’s voice inside my head, yet that wasn’t what surprised me the most. As Ovia’s words rang inside my head, I saw Ava’s eyes widen, followed by what looked to be some kind of realisation. All of a sudden, the weight of Ava’s arm on my shoulders felt that much heavier.

No! I-!

What do I do?! I- I-

Right as I tried to push Ava’s arm away, she pulled it back herself.

“I-!” I shouted, trying to say something, anything, to explain what had just happened.

However, Ava immediately interrupted me by putting her hand over my mouth. With her free hand, she put a finger up to her own lips before leaning in close.

“Just calm down,” She whispered into my ear, “Nothing is going to happen. I’m not going to ask you anything… well… much… You can tell me about all this when you want to. If you want to, alright?”

“Y-yes,” I said as soon as she pulled her hand away, still panicking.

“The only thing I’m going to ask is-”

My heart felt like it was trying to creep up my throat as I anticipated her question.

“-are they a bad person? You can nod or shake your head if you must,” She smiled, “I just want to make sure, Y’know? As your big sister.”

“They’re nice!” I immediately responded, not wanting Ava to get the wrong impression about Ovia.

“Then that’s enough for me,” Ava said, relaxing again, “Then, I’ll keep quiet for a bit. I guess you don’t want to leave them waiting for too long.”

“Mm.” I hummed, still feeling butterflies in my stomach.

‘Morning’

‘…’

Nothing?!

Am I in trouble now?!

Aria told me to be careful!

‘Ovia I-’

‘I’m sorry!’ In an instant, Ovia’s voice overwhelmed everything else in my head, ‘I s-should have looked before trying to t-talk to you… Ellaria already said she might t-take the necklace away from me!’

‘What?!’

Those few words sent my mind into even more of a panic than before.

‘Why?! What happened?!’

‘She… said that I was taking up too much of your attention… and that I shouldn’t have kept you up all night…’

…

So that’s what happened last night…

‘B-but I’ll try do better! S-so it won’t happen!’

‘No… it’s not all your fault… I probably should have said something… I was the one who was tired…’

‘Ah… um… Ellaria t-told me to expect you to say that… um… I-I… forgot what she t-told me to say back… Why d-didn’t I write it down?…’

I pulled the necklace out from under my dress to stroke the fox on the pendant, hoping that maybe Ovia would be able to feel it.

‘But! She did tell me to remind you about the n-note… though she said t-to do it after you slept… Wait! I’m doing it again! Ah, um-’

It sounded like her voice was forcefully cut off.

‘Ovia…’

No response.

‘Ovia!’

What happened to her?!

‘Hello? Little kitsune?’ This time, a different voice rang inside my head.

‘Aria?’

‘Yes, it’s me. I’m just telling you that there’s no need to panic. I just took the necklace away from Sister for a bit. Now, go and get some sleep. I’ll give it back to her by the time you wake up again, alright?’

‘… Alright,’ I responded, knowing that if I didn’t agree, Ovia probably wouldn’t be given the necklace back for a while.

‘Good. We’ll give you some peace and quiet.’

With those last few words, the voices inside my head fell completely silent, leaving me with only my own thoughts.

…

The note…

Leaving here…

JD…

…

As I continued to think about the note, my eyes finally started to focus on my surroundings again.

“Are you done now?” Ava asked, making me jump a little, “You really do zone out completely, hey?”

Looking at her again, sitting next to me with a bright smile on her face, I couldn’t help but start to think about how she might react if I decided to follow the advice in the note.

Ava…

If I left… I… You…

…

At that moment, while my mind was still a little fuzzy from my lack of sleep, I decided to ask something… Something which I didn’t know if I really wanted to know the answer to.

“Ava… What if… I wanted to… leave someday?…”

Silence filled the room for what felt like a small eternity. I couldn’t even hear my own heartbeat as my mind started racing.

I shouldn’t have asked that…

I… What if she-?

“Well… that depends,” Ava spoke slowly, “What do you mean by leave?”

“If I… wanted to leave this city… to go somewhere far away…” I responded immediately despite my reservations.

“Hmm… I can’t speak for Mom, but I know what I would do,” She stood up, stretching her legs and wings, “As your big sister, I would have to follow you. How else am I supposed to help you tie ribbons in your hair? or help brush your tail? Even without talking about any of that, I’m sure you would have a very hard time getting by without my cooking.”

“Mm,” I responded with a quiet hum, not being able to fully process what she had said at that moment.

“On that note, you should go and change out of that dress and get back into bed for a bit,” She lifted my off the floor and set me down on the bed, “By the time you wake up, I’ll have breakfast ready. Does that sound nice to you?”

“Mhm,” I tried to nod but almost fell off the bed again.

“Alright,” Ava caught me before tucking me securely into bed,  “Maybe you can skip changing out of your dress for now. Just make sure you have a good nap… my little sister.”

“Sister…” I mumbled as sleep finally overtook me.