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<--Main <-Fan Art Bao Hadir: A story by Project_Demise Part 1 My name is Bao-Hadir. Bao my clan, Hadir my birthright. I am a Nogitsune, one of those who does not follow Inari. I am oft called "The Deal-Maker", for I, obviously, make Deals with those of the mortal persuasion. My color is black, whilst my tail count is seven. Fortune smiles upon me, for I have much power and am near my ascension. Two hundred more years, each passing in the blink of an eye. Then I shall become one of the Nine and leave this world forever. But for now...I must feed. I am in a nice park. Nowhere near as nice as the realm of spirits, but nice enough. There are many humans here, each more desperate than the last. I spy a dirty, ragged looking human. He is digging in a garbage can for something to eat. I like the homeless ones. They are the most willing to Deal with me and give up the most energy to achieve their ends. I walk up to him, invisible as always. He is muttering to himself like one of the madmen. However, he is in full possession of his sanity. I can hear his mutterings and they are not the ramblings of the mad. He is searching for more food than what he has in his hands. I smell him and, after filtering out the scents of dirt, garbage, and blood, I smell many humans on him. He has a family. Whether it be by blood or by circumstance, they are united. He searches for food to feed them. "More food..." he whispers. "More food or everyone'll sleep hungry..." I take pity on him. He hungers, his people hunger...Just as I hunger. He sighs and turns away from the can after putting back all the inedible garbage. He is environmentally concious. How odd. He walks down the path and, curious, I follow behind. He seems to realize he is being watched, for he stops and looks around in all directions, then shrugs, continuing on his way. I have to be more careful. This one must be of monk descent. He crosses the street, wary of the human's horseless carts, and enters a dark alley between a Chinese restaurant and a convenience store. He is still wary, but doesn't realize that I am beside him now. I can now smell the reek of the homeless humans. It is sickening. And yet...it is so intoxicating. I find myself drawn to the homeless. Perhaps it is because I am homeless as well. And there they are. I was indeed right with my first assumption. He does indeed have a family. There is a young woman, not quite as dirty as he but her beauty is still marred by dirt and grime. There is what seems to be a sort of house in this alley. It is made entirely out of throw-away materials, but it is ingenious in its design. Once again I am awed by human ingenuity. The building's walls are constructed out of cardboard and some kind of crude papier-mache. The roof is made of aluminum, with different brand names showing on the top. The colors are tastefully arranged, making a dazzling effect. The door is made of more cardboard, but reinforced by the papier-mache. This slides open, revealing two small children, huddled together on the newspaper floor. They look up at the man hopefully. He smiles and holds out his find: a half-eaten sandwich and, a beautiful prize, three only slightly browned apples. Obviously they had been filched from a vendor, but the man must not have minded. After all, the only apples that sell are the ones that haven't browned. He hands the food to the children and woman. She tries to press the apple back to him, but he shakes his head. "Take it..." he says softly. "You need it more than I do. I can scrounge easily. You're new here." Tears well up in the woman's eyes as she accepts the gifts. So...this man is not her husband, not these children's father. A selfless human being...How strange. I've never seen that happen before. A human who had a good soul. And here I was under the impression humans barely had anything that could qualify as souls. Before I make myself visible, I must decide. Shall I offer him money? Power? Fame? A lifetime of carefree exploits? I grin a little fox grin as I wonder what his deepest desire is. My tongue slips from my mouth and I lick all along my muzzle. A pure soul's energy is the sweetest. I move between him and the woman and slide into visibility. To them it seems as though I had been hiding beneath a sheet, and the sheet was slowly sliding off. In a moment I am revealed. The four of them draw back in fright. The woman leaps in front of her children and the man, who has yet to cease amazing me, leaps over me and shuts the door, blocking the entrance with his own body. I look up at his as he stares down at me. My seven tails lash behind me, bolts of energy playing along each and between them all. "I greet you, human," I say softly, masking my power with comforting words. He kneels down, looking me over. "W-what are you?" he asks in fear. "I am Bao-Hadir," I say simply. "I am a Kitsune and I am here to grant you a wish. Make a wish and I shall grant it." My eyes register his momentary shock before he becomes calm again. It seems he has heard of Kitsune before. "You can grant me a wish?" he asks. Typical human. They always repeat what I saw when I make an offer. Like a parrot. "Indeed," I say politely. "Any wish you want, I shall grant if it is within the limit of my power." The man sat down on the damp tar. It had rained recently, but the house still held. If this man built the place, he must be an architect of some kind. Or at least, he had been at one time. He thinks for several minutes, staring into my icy blue eyes as he considers the possibilities. Finally he speaks. "Can you help these people?" he asks. Though I am surprised, I do not let it show. "That depends on what you want done," I reply, tails flicking. He really does possess a purity that I thought humanity had lost. Will wonders never cease? "I want you to create them a house in the country. It must have food and running water, and money for them to live comfortably. If you do this, I will do anything." I stand, for I had been sitting until this point. I look up into his eyes, the window to his soul, and see a darkness there. This human had done bad things in his life. Now he sought to atone for it. That's as good a reason as any to Deal with him. My tails wave and fan out behind me. I build my power to complete the request when suddenly the door is ripped away by the woman inside. "WAIT!" she cries. I hold back the storm of my powers and feel it strain against my will. It is...very painful. It feels as though my power is ricocheting against my insides, trying to force itself out. I go down on my chest, gasping in pain. They look at me, unsure if they should help me or run from me. If I could speak at this moment, I would have said there was no help for it, save to release the power. "Speak," I growl through my pain. She looks frightened as stares at me. "I want him to be with me!" she cries. Before then man can protest, I release my spell while simultaneously draining a large portion of their life force. In an instant, all four people in the alley are gone. My pain is gone, replaced with a feeling of intense power. I didn't drain off all their energy. Enough to make up for that which was lost in the spell, as well as extra so I made a kind of profit. They'd be unconscious for a few hours, but no harm done. I feel much better now. Time to return to the park and find another who is worthy of my attention. I become invisible and return to the park, leaping a speeding car along the way. I sniff my way around, looking for another human to provide me with another meal. Suddenly, my nose picks up the scent of another Kitsune! The park is my territory and it is heavily marked. If another of my kind is here, it is my duty to eject him. If the scent had been female, she would've been more than welcome in my territory. Alas, such is the life of a lonely male. I follow the scent through the park and see a strange sight. There is a male Kitsune in my territory all right. However, he seems to be tied to the ground by some sort of mystic bonds. There is a young woman with some sort of weapon charging at him, obviously intending to end his life. I am about to aid him when a young human male throws himself in the way. The blade on the end pierces his flesh and the girl looks stunned. They exchange words and she runs away weeping. The Kitsune, released from his bonds, uses his own magic to heal the human's arm. Interesting. I sneak up beside them and sniff the human. Oddly enough, he smells of two Kitsune. Heavily in fact. One is the male beside him. The other...the scent of a female is intoxicating. This human is interesting... The male of my kind scents the air. He knows I am there. Or at least, he can sense that this is my territory. He tells the human as much and they leave. I follow behind, careful not to arouse suspicion. They chat back and forth, though he doesn't seem pleased to have a Kitsune servant. Any other human would have found this to be a benefit that is worth reaping. I allow my eyes to tune in to the second sight, that of magic. I can the ties that bind the male to the human. These are colored orange and shimmer softly. However, there is a second bond around the human. This one is white and shines brightly. While the orange one is wrapped round both human and male Kitsune, the white one wraps round the human then trails off in the direction we are walking. I'm intrigued. We wind our way through the city, keeping an eye out for dangers. The Kitsune probably realizes I'm there, but he gives no sign. The human, like all humans, is completely oblivious to me, except for a vague feeling of being watched. I know this because all humans seem to feel they are being watched when I follow them. However, they usually pass it off as some form of human malady, like nervousness. Finally, though, we reach what I assume is his home. The white bond we followed to this place is much thick now. The scent of female kitsune is also thicker. It makes my tails lash harder, my power flowing between each of my tails. As the door opens, I am suddenly struck by a very familiar odor. It is not just the scent of female. It is also the scent of a Kitsune I knew long ago...but she was...Standing in the doorway of the house! "MASTER KEEN!" she cried, leaping at him and entangling him in a hug. Master? How did that happen? And why wasn't she trying to kill him? I decide to watch and to wait. This looks like it could be interesting... To be continued...
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