Chapter Three

Totally unaware of how, exactly, it happened, Kiko found herself outside the building of the Supernatural Incursion Response division of the Otherworld Divination and Defence. It was an impressive place, but that wasn’t the point. One moment she was in her kitchen, talking to Colonel Lysaida, she was crying, Kiko was feeling nothing, and then…. she was here. Maybe she just wasn’t paying attention and agreed to all of it…that would probably be the clearest explanation. Her mind had gone on vacation, it seemed.

“Thank you for accepting my offer. We need all the Kitsunes we can get to fend off the threats, and your race are among the best to do it” Lysaida told Kiko, reinforcing the idea that she had agreed, but not sparking any memories. SIR and ODD in general were not the true military, but rather an extragovermental attachment born out of the circumstances. Just because the Beasts were about didn’t obviate the need for a conventional military, after all. But their special positioning meant that they had differing rules on recruitment and joining, so despite the fact that Kiko had yet to finish school - last year, sure, but still - there was nothing stopping her from joining. And as such, it was pretty easy for her to imagine having joined, unlike the army proper. But, she couldn’t remember having done it. And so, Kiko just nodded and stepped in. The world was numb right now, and concentrating was hard. So she didn’t realize Lysaida taking her by the hand until she had been led off in another direction. Kiko stared, but said nothing and allowed herself to be led. Up, and down halls, it felt like forever, but eventually she was led to a small wing with half a dozen people milling around.

“I’ve got a fair bit of work to be getting on with, your transfer and all. These will help you, Kiko. They know a lot more than I do” she told the young Kitsune, and then just, vanished, the air where she was making a sucking sound as it filled the suddenly vacant spot.

So, that happened. And now she was surrounded by people. Tails swished, ears perked, and then someone stepped forward. Four tails could be seen, bushy and looking so amazingly fluffy. She almost wanted to hug it. But before she could do that she was dragged into the girl’s amble bosom, and embraced.

“We see your pain, little one. We will sooth it, so you may hunt again” The woman who was quite obviously the leader exclaimed, in a tone that sounded more like a quote than anything. Then the tone changed, to be more conversational, more directed at Kiko than simply a phrase.

“We are sorry you had to experience that so young. Your father, was a father to us all. His greatness shone like a beacon, and was the strongest leadership we have had in so many years. The burden now falls to me, and I fear I will never match him, even in part. But enough of this horridness. I am Asha. I am a Kitsune of Four Tails, and I lead this skulk of Kitsunes. I provide assistance to them when they are sent out to battle the Great Beasts, and comfort when they return” Asha’s words had a reverence for Kiko, and for the rest as well, it seemed. They all hung off her words with religious-like fervour. Unknowing why, or where it came from, Kiko felt like she was so secure in this woman’s presence, like nothing could ever go wrong. “Now, you may release your tails, young Kitsune” Asha continued, like she was giving permission. Totally out of her depth here, she just stared for a few moments, and then managed to speak.

“I…. don’t have any…” it was a revelation that was met with soft gasps of shock. But Asha just stared for a few seconds.

“All Kitsunes have one...He did not bring you into the fold. Did not make you aware of your heritage, nor inform you of your culture. It is understandable, Kitsunes are called upon to fight the Great Beasts and he wished to save you from this fate. He was great enough that he could do this, but now, he is gone, stripped untimely from this world. And his legacy falls, to you” Asha put two hands on Kiko’s shoulders, and they felt tremendously heavy, more so than any hands had the right to feel. Her eyes burned so intensely, and her words again turned to ritual and ceremony. “There is fire in you, child, and it is our duty to kindle it, so it may grow” As Asha finished speaking, Kiko felt something in her. It filled her, like a balloon, the deep breath of the ritual inflating her as it did. This feeling, this connection with people who were both total strangers, and close kin, was one that she would never be able to get used to, but would not want to see it go for the life in her.

And then it was all over. Asha took her hands away, and just nodded before turning and walking through one of the nearby doors. The connection with the others surrounding her remained, but there were no more breaths filling her up, and for that she was glad. Felt like she was going to blow up if it continued. The whole thing was intense, she wasn’t sure she could handle it any more than she had. Luckily, she didn’t need to worry about that, because, after swaying on the spot for a few seconds in the wake of Asha’s departure, she collapsed onto the floor, and quickly passed out.

Waking up some hours later, she seemed to be in what looked to be a hospital, or at least a hospital-based wing. It had a half dozen beds and some medical equipment around, but nothing she could recognize, since she kind of avoided hospitals in general. They creeped her out and she hated the smell. She was alone, for the moment, and so decided to lay back on the rather comfortable bed, and use the time to try and clear her mind. Her dad was a SIR agent, she was apparently a Kitsune, her dad was dead, she had a tail, she’d been recruited into the employment of ODD, and whatever happened to that crystalline sword from the story? It seemed like the sort of thing that one would keep track of, if it had enough prominence in his slaying of the beasts to warrant an addition to the story.

A few minutes into this, a man in a white coat walked through the doors to her left, and smiled as he saw Kiko was awake, and conscious.

“Ahh, you are up. That’s good. While you were out we ran some tests on your vitals and whatnot, just to make sure you were healthy, beyond the sudden passing out from Kitsune rituals and all. We were told that was a common reaction from Belonging, but wanted to check anyway. Science can stand alongside mojo after all. It’s all in the green, so if you feel up to walking around, Queenie wants to give you a check-up. She says she trusts our medical stuff to see what is wrong, but now it is her job to see what is right. It makes sense, when you get to know her” he then grinned, and scrawled something on her clipboard. Everyone in a hospital seemed to have a clipboard for some reason. But, putting that out of her head for the moment – she had enough to worry about without pondering the all-encompassing nature of clipboards – she got out of bed, and nodded to the doctor man.

“Alright. I’m ready…ish. Take me to this Queenie”

As it turned out, this Queenie was the Overseer of Physical Prowess within SIR. Basically making her the boss of the gym, but the woman was imposing and so Kiko didn’t give her that title, worried that it might be taken the wrong way. She was not overly tall, but had an aura of superiority that made Kiko feel like an ant, all of a sudden. It was this oppressive feeling of power that distracted Kiko from the woman’s appearance. Horns on her head, glowing red eyes, and hooved feet, on the end of what looked to be some sort of goat legs. She was quite clearly a Demon, which made Kiko suddenly let out a noise between a shriek and a yelp and stumble backwards, nearly losing her balance as she did so. Queenie, for her part, looked to the doctor, and held out her hand. Which was filled with a bit of money, to much eye rolling from the doctor.

“To be honest that was a terrible bet from what I heard, but had to make it anyway. You get the shit end of the stick Queenie. Again” He then cocked his head softly, as if listening to something nobody else could hear. “gotta get back, team just got back from a Rakasha nest. One of them made sweet love to the business end of their claws. Try not to break her, aye?” He then left Kiko with this Demon, who just stared for a few seconds. Then walking up close and while roughly the same size, towering over Kiko.

“Boo” Queenie said. Kiko recoiled, expecting something totally different, and was rewarded with surprisingly light laughter. “The benefit of all this hate has to be how much fun I can get out of practically every recruit that comes by” Her voice was pleasant and soft, and even the tone shift from humour to seriousness didn’t hurt its auditable beauty. “But seriously. Take off your clothes. All of them” Queenie ordered. Kiko just gave a look between confusion and wonder, if this was a joke or an actual order. The smouldering red in her eyes was a hell of a thing to stare into though and so after a few seconds, began to strip out of her clothes until she was naked. As soon as that that had happened, Queenie’s fingers ran across her abdomen. They were surprisingly gentle, and they felt very good, making Kiko blush rather deeply only a few seconds into the contact. The touch traced it’s way upwards, and her mind braced herself for when the woman did what she thought was going to happen and molested her breasts. However, she went right past them with barely a glancing touch, sliding her hands down Kiko’s arms, and then moving on to her back, giving her ass more attention than her boobs ever got, and then finishing off with a swift but seemingly sensuous stroke to Kiko’s thighs and calves.

Once it was all done, Queenie stood up, and returned to Kiko’s front. Kiko was distinctly heated and embarrassed from the experience, but Queenie either didn’t see it, or didn’t really care and carried on regardless.

“You have a good muscular structure. Quite a few of the recruits who come here have to be built from the ground up. Now, little Kitsune. No tails I am guessing?” Queenie’s eyes seemed to be staring very intently at Kiko, as if to avoid looking anywhere else.

“I…no. Didn’t, know, I was, a Kitsune” Kiko stammered, broken sentences as she tried to cover herself from the gaze of Queenie. It was a hard thing to do, the woman’s eyes felt like they could penetrate right through her to the very soul of her underneath. And souls never wore clothes.

“Ahh, that’s fine. Don’t wanna step on Asha’s toes too much, but don’t overthink it. Kitsunes are born with a tail in their soul, but they have a Belonging before they can call it. A Belonging is generally done with your family, but Drax wanted to keep you out of that life so he didn’t. Asha did last night, so your tail will be coming along soon” She counselled, before nodding to Kiko’s pile of clothes. “You can put them back by the way” Queenie told her. Kiko did so with alacrity, thankful to have some kind of barrier between her and the woman. Everything had been going so fast! When would life slow down for a second and let her catch her breath?

“Let’s get started with this show on the road” Queenie exclaimed, seemingly mixing her words as she led Kiko to a ring, and then turned to her. “I’m going to hit you, you are going to try to stop me, and we will see where it goes from there” as plans went, Kiko had heard worse, but she had certainly heard better as well. “Ohh, also” Queenie then squirted something in Kiko’s face. It tasted like perfume and made her hack and cough. “There. Now we can begin”