To Save A Fox

Chapter 11 -- Sakai

16 Years Old

Today I finally reached the milestone of 'sweet-16' in this primitive world that existed long before modern recorded time. During one of our hunts, I discovered imperial prints from Emperor Gao, though also spelled Liu Bang. I found that one of my divine gifts was infinite wisdom, a kitsune trait of the nine-tails, that I was supposedly fated to become. I learned that I was sometime stuck in the Han Dynasty, in what the ancient world called the Nation of Wa.

It was comforting to know 'when' I was, though uncomforting to know that I went almost two thousand years into the past! I lived in a Japan long before the reign of emperors and kings. During this Iron Age, great strife would soon lead to a century-long peace.

'The threat from the west...' I thought, remembering hearing that over and over from the ancient gods that the Ainu called 'kami'. Could it be possibly be the introduction of Buddhism? Wa was a nation without a religion, but commanded by the celestial gods of Takamagahara.

Even with all of this wisdom, it proved useless facts in the north. Here, wisdom meant nothing! Survival was key, and for almost eleven years, I worked extra hard to become an idealistic Beta.

About a year ago, mother and I stopped doing our mother-daughter hunts as she wanted me to start learning to hunt with other members of the clan. One day I would no longer just be the Beta, and mother made it clear that to be a great leader, you needed the confidence of your people.

So, I was allowed to pick anyone from the clan, besides mother, to be my hunting partner...and I knew the perfect candidate that I wanted by my side.

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Running through the forest in our fox forms, Soro called out to me "Kita! Take the lead, I want to try those ambush techniques that you showed me last time." He was so eager to show off, delighted the day that I picked him to join me as my personal hunting partner.

It was a risky move, picking someone so low on the hierarchy-scale. But I made a promise to him and I was the type of girl who kept her promises.

"Acknowledged, and please be careful this time!" I told him, dashing through the snow so fast that only a trail of powder flew in the air. I had become so swift that I was running just below 1100 feet per second. I'd go faster, but I didn't want to collide with anything like trees or rocks!

I had been working on running through the canopy's, bouncing off of trees where nothing could stand in my way except the sky. It was like flying, moving so fast that gravity could not force me down.

The only part that I was still trying to figure out was the moment of acceleration and deceleration. It usually ended with me falling through the trees to the snowy earth below.

I would glace back, seeing my two tails flapping behind me like waves upon the sea. They helped to stabilize my running so I did not end up in a terrifying head-roll. Every part of my being was designed for hunting.

I worked so hard to be perfect that the clan had to take me aside and tell me to slow down. I was working myself into stress cycles that usually had me chasing my tails for about thirty minutes.

I found my delight in learning something new. It helped me to slow down a bit and appreciate this world for what it was. Mother would laugh at me, telling me that I didn't need to learn all of the secrets of the universe in my first cycle. The greatest thing about being a kitsune was that we were as close as being immortal beings as the kami; though being immortal didn't mean that you did not die!

In fact, every tail that a kitsune receives is like a death of the previous life. The old appearance of the kitsune is burned away and the fox is reborn back in its youth. That was why nine-tail kitsunes who should have looked over one thousand years old, actually looked as if they were in their twenties and thirties. We are the embodiment of the figurative fountain of youth!