Keeping a Kitsune Ch. 01

"Chiyo honey? I can understand if you're scared right now, but I need you to chime in here, kid. Is Cowboy telling the truth?"

Chiyo frowned. "Before I answer, what will you do if I say he's lying?"

"Shock his creepy, kidnapping, ass. Then kick him in the balls really hard, disable his bike, leave an anonymous tip with the cops, and take you someplace safe where he'll never find you. If you have family I can take you to them, or if you don't I have some friends who can help you start over."

"And if I say he's telling the truth?"

"Ummm . . . I honestly don't know. Nonhumans haven't really come up much in my life. I kind of think maybe I'd shock him anyway if he really did break your leg in a bear trap, but I don't know what I would do with you. And, honey, the fact that you're asking me this makes me kind of think he's telling the truth?"

"Don't shock him yet, okay? I have some more questions first."

"Jesus fucking Buddha. I really wish I could convince myself this was all a nice hallucination and I was still floating in bed, after accidentally mixing something stronger into my weed. You're a fucking fox spirit?!"

"Yeah, I am. Do you want to see my tails?"

"Yes, but not right now." Kylie was pointing the gun at Chiyo now. The fear of the inhuman is a powerful thing. I decided I might as well try to chime in again.

"Kylie! Shock gun pointed at me, please, not the girl with the broken leg who's cuffed to a giant battery!"

"She's not human!"

"That's right, but right this minute she's as weak as any human. A Kitsune's magic comes from their pearl, and I stole it from her when I captured her. You know they keep a Kitsune in the Tokyo Zoo, right? You think they'd let kids watch her through the glass if she was dangerous? The zoo keeps her pearl. Right now, Chiyo's exactly as dangerous as any normal human girl would be with a broken leg and handcuffed. I'm a 6'1" guy with muscles, keep the gun pointed at me."

"You're a really weird guy, Cowboy" Kylie said as she shifted the gun back towards me.

"Yeah, I hear that from a lot of people once they get to know me."

"Excuse me, can I ask you some questions Kylie?" Chiyo was as calm as I'd ever seen her.

Kylie twitched as her eyes focused back towards Chiyo. She was getting jumpy. Kidnappers apparently didn't make her nervous, but she was finding herself rapidly out of her depth here. Like most people, she knew non-humans existed, but they didn't matter in normal everyday life. The last time a non-human had really drastically upended everyday human life had been Hiroshima, and that was three generations ago. At least she kept the gun pointed at me this time.

"Cowboy, she's a trickster spirit, right? Is she casting a spell on me by talking?"

"I don't know what exactly she's doing, but it's definitely not a spell. They can't use any magic without permission from whoever holds their pearl. I will say that she's been pretty meek and straightforward with me so far, though that might be a long con. Just talk to her like you'd talk to anyone who you figure might be running an angle on you."

"Like, say, you? Alright, I can work with that. Hit me with your question, Chiyo."

"How do humans usually treat captured Kitsune?"

"Ah, I don't honestly know, Chiyo. Pretty much all I know about Kitsune comes from movies, to be honest. Half the time they're helping ancient woodcutters thwart an evil samurai, and half the time they're running around in sexy black outfits tricking dumb idiots into killing their husbands in some modern crime thriller."

I coughed. "Um, I can answer that question, Chiyo. I did some research before I went hunting for you. Almost all captured Kitsune in this country are basically like high end private geishas. They're kept by rich men as symbols of power and sex. There are a handful of exceptions, like the one at the zoo, and there's probably some that the army uses for some sort of shadowy black ops purposes because of course the army would be doing that, but mostly they get fucked, a lot. There're some more details that explain why that is, that I can show you later if you want, but that's the short answer."

"Is that what you're planning on doing with me?" Chiyo still sounded eerily calm.

"Um, yeah, pretty much." I felt kind of embarrassed admitting it out loud.

"Fuck, Cowboy, you sick piece of shit. Sex slavery? I can't believe I was thinking about sleeping with you." Kylie wasn't having any trouble keeping the gun pointed at me right then. I figured my odds of being laid out twitching on the ground were rising again.

"I mean, it's not like she's human. And Kitsune are all female, they only reproduce by having sex with humans. They originated to prey on us sexually; keeping control of them lets them survive as a species but keeps them from hurting us." Somehow that didn't sound quite as good as it had in my head.

Kylie frowned for a minute then her face cleared. She'd made a decision. "Give me the kid's pearl, Cowboy."

"What? No way."

"Toss it to me, or I shock you and then search you and take it."

I took a long look at Kylie's eyes. She'd find the pearl easily enough in my pockets, and I believed she'd shock me. On the other hand, Chiyo still made her nervous. Maybe I could stall for time, try to think of something.

"Cops will track you down and return her to me. Paperwork's filed; she's my possession by right of law. You'd be looking at felony assault and theft." Not technically true yet, but I think I did a good job of selling it.

"Not actually a concern for me, Cowboy. Stop stalling and toss me the pearl."

"It's on the cycle; left saddle-bag, inside zipper pocket."

"So you left it within reach of the Kitsune while you checked out of the motel, and didn't cuff both her hands? Not buying it. Last chance if you don't want to get shocked."

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Nice and slow. And make sure you only reach into one pocket; no pocket dialing a friend or the cops and then remembering that the pearl is somewhere else."

Well, there went that plan. I slowly and carefully reached down and unzipped my pants pocket, pulling out the pearl. At Kylie's nod, I tossed it to her underhanded. I aimed a little off, so that she'd have to lower the gun to make the grab. She didn't fall for that one either. She just stepped to the side and blocked the pearl with her body, letting it drop to the ground. No chance to make a move.

"You're really testing my patience, Cowboy. Stay really still for just a second."

Fuck me, who was this girl? I followed orders, not having any other ideas at the moment. Kylie glanced down long enough to locate the pearl, then focused on me again while she bent down and felt around with her free hand to pick it up.

"Chiyo, can you tell if this is your pearl or a fake?" Kylie said.

"I'd have to touch it to be sure."

"Sorry kid, not taking that chance."

"Why are you so scared of me? Even if I had my pearl, I wouldn't be any danger to you, especially with my leg. I'm just a two-tails."

"Can't take your word for it, kid."

"Yes Mistress." Chiyo sighed.

"I'm not your Mistress, Chiyo. You're staying with Cowboy."

"Huh?" She wasn't stealing my Kitsune? I had no idea what was going on now.

"Listen closely, both of you, because this is how it's going to go. I don't know anything about Kitsune. At the moment I'm making this decision mostly based on what Cowboy's telling me about them and my read that he wasn't bullshitting me. So Chiyo, I'm not taking you with me; I don't need the cops chasing me while I'm watching my back around you every second, and I don't know enough about what kind of risk you are to let you roam free. After I leave here, I'm going to be doing a lot of research on Kitsune so I can make a more informed decision later."

"And I do need to leave soon, because the longer we're in a stand-off here, the higher the odds are that the motel clerk glances outside, sees me holding a gun on Cowboy, and calls the cops. So I'm out of here as soon as I'm done talking."

"Cowboy, you get to hang onto Chiyo for right now. I am highly uncomfortable with leaving a girl in your captivity, even a non-human one, but I'm even less comfortable with the cops or some other random asshole having control of her. As long as she's legally yours, you can protect her better than I can right now. And you are going to protect her, Cowboy. I'm going to be checking in on both of you while I do my research, and if I find out that you're treating her badly, I'm either taking control of her or setting her free, based on my research. So, play very, very nice. You got me?"

"Understood. I'll be a paragon of virtue. Get my membership card in PETN."

"Very funny. Just be a decent human being, if you can figure out how to do that." Kylie switched her attention to Chiyo. "Honey, I know this isn't ideal, but can you deal with this for now?"

"He actually has been pretty decent so far I think, except for the capturing me part."

"I don't know whether you saying that should make me feel better or worse about my decision. I'm going to choose to believe you're telling the truth and not just suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, just so I can sleep better at night. Alright, it's time for me to get out of here."

"Kylie?"

"Yeah, Chiyo?"

"Can you shock him just once before you go? Just for the bear trap."

"No problem, fox sister."

"Wait, wait . . ." I'd barely had enough time to start protesting when my world went white with pain.