Kit and Kin   by poetheather

 
Takeshi Saito was a quiet student who kept his head down in Ravenscrest High School trying to get along. But strange things happen in this small town and the spotlight finds those who would rather hide. So Takeshi finds himself pulled from his happy geek corner to somewhere else, somewhere he is not sure of.

Takeshi got to his four feet rather shakily. It was rather strange, being all furry and short. His balance was off and it adjusted some as he moved his tail. He picked up his feet and looked at them, muttering to himself, “I’ve got paws.”

“Yes you have paws. You are a fox. It happens. Now come, there are other things to deal with before we complete the ritual…” replied his great grandmother, calmly.

“Wait you can hear and understand me?” barked out Takeshi, eyes going wide in surprise.

His Sousobo smiled down at him kindly, “Of course I can Takeshi, we Kitsune can talk in all our forms. We are not limited in our ability to communicate like the Weres because we are not exactly like them. We are not simple shapeshifters, but we will talk more about this later. As I was saying Takeshi… before we complete this ritual, you need to go for a little run, to get used to this form you now wear. The Fox is one of the base forms for a Kitsune as is the human form, without being comfortable in both, the blended form is difficult to hold which will make your magic harder to wield.”

“My What!” Takeshi was even more shocked by the implication that he could have magic than he was by the transformation into a fox.

His mothers were coming to, and were looking over at him with sad and concerned eyes. That made him feel embarrassed, causing him to bring his tail in front of his face. His kasa frowned at this and said, “Oh baby… I am so sorry.”

Takeshi cocked his head, ears perking up clearly trying to figure out what his parents were at fault for. “Sorry for what kasa?”

“You… being a girl… it’s probably our fault.” said his mother, looking at the floor, her cheeks colored with embarrassment.

Takeshi trotted over and rested one forepaw on his mother’s knee and rested another one her chest, trying to look her in the face. “How?”

With a watery smile and eyes that were full of tears, his mother replied, “We… your kasa and I that is, we… I mean, I… that is…”

“We went to the witches to get a spell, a one use spell to turn your mother into a man.”
His mother took over, “You see we didn’t want a donor and there was no way that I would let my brother anywhere near you, so… that kind of left us in a pinch.”

“My magic could do it but not in a way that would ensure that we could get pregnant. So we took this other option.” replied his kasa softly, running a hand down his head.

Takeshi shuddered some as that felt so very good, even better than when his kasa did that when he was human. “So wait, let me get this straight… mom… you’re my dad?”

His mother was silently crying and all she could do was nod, she sucked in a sob and then was able to choke out, “So you see how this is all our fault.”

“Uh… no. I don’t. Maybe I don’t get this whole magic thing yet, but no.” Takeshi was still a bit confused, what with being a fox and a girl fox at that.

“If I hadn’t used magic to turn me into a man, then you wouldn’t have turned into a girl.”

“But if you hadn’t done that then I wouldn’t be here at all, so I fail to see the problem or where you are to blame for this. Sousobo?” he turned his head to look up at his great grandmother for some sort of help. He felt a lot out of his depth in all of this.

She pursed her lips and nodded her head, stepping closer to the family. “There is more at work here than Witches magics balancing out, Grace. This is not your fault or responsibility. There is something else at play. Surely you have noticed the various things going on in the valley, the movement of Dragons, the other changes of this kind amongst the other were, the strange chaos with that new girl among the witches, the power struggle amongst the vampires, the powerful forces at work in this area. The Sacred are moving, that is a truth, and forces on both sides are in motion. Skogshaven has already seen open battle between the courts and I fear that it is not long before the powers in this valley draw such attention to them probably because of the Well. No, there is more to this change than meets the eye. Inari should be consulted but that is not what today is about.”

“So… it is not our fault?” asked Takeshi’s haha in a tiny voice, hoping that it was true.

The smile turned to her was soft and clearly full of love. “No granddaughter, this is not your fault. Your child is merely affected by some force beyond even a nine tails ability to stop. You only have seven tails, this is clearly beyond your power and Grace… weres do not have this power within them. No, there is old power, old magic at work in this. Older than the city itself, tied into the land itself and the power that it hides. But that is neither here nor there. We must finish the ritual before we speak of these things in greater depth. Takeshi, you need to go out into the woods and run a while, to feel your body and get used to being the fox. This is not a bad thing. This is a time to revel in your new form and enjoy all that you have become. When you return we will finish this up and talk more of family and your new place in the world.”

One of his Uncles slid open a door in the back wall of the Shrine that led out into the woods. Takeshi loped over and paused by the tiny door and his Uncle said, “When you return, request entrance. I will open the door back up.”

With a look back at his mothers, who smiled encouragingly at him, he turned into the exit. It led to a passageway with several barriers that he was easily able to bypass due to his intelligence. Simple animals would have found it impossible to get in here. There was even a barrier like he had felt with the second tori-i that he now figured was magic of some sort. That would certainly protect this route from intruders.

Now, with his back to the wall, Takeshi was standing in the white expanse looking out at the tree line a fair distance away given his new size. He ran towards it, having to hop a bit to make it through the deeper snow. Being this tiny seemed rather annoying. There was no way he would have a speed advantage someplace like here. Now in the forest, where he would be able to duck and dodge under things, that would give him an advantage, but for now… not so much. This was something to ponder over.

His ears twitched, as he could hear all sorts of noises, little scurrying feet, and the movement of branches from both the wind and from weight being placed on them. The smells were almost overpowering as there were so many and they seemed to mean so many different things. It was difficult to try and sort everything out but he figured that he needed more experience to get a clue what each thing meant. He started sniffing around the area, tracking down different scents so he could identify them and that was helping him process all this new data in his head.

The sounds that filled the air were easier to figure out even though there were so many more of them, and he was handling those at the same time. The sensations his new body was feeling were amazing. The whiskers were also a trip, how they interacted with the world, especially as he drew close to things and they brushed close. It was a whole new realm of data that he never had access to before. This kind of sensory overload threatened to overwhelm him.

He could smell other animals out there and his mind tried to make sense of those as well. Some made him hungry and have an urge to hunt, which was weird and some made him wary. There were also other sensations, feelings that were closer to the brushes of chi he had learned to pay attention to when he had been training. He sort of stopped in a small clearing, closed his eyes and just drank in the sensations that were swamping his body. Unless he came to terms with all of this data he would be unable to really deal with anything else.

Suddenly there was a presence in front of Takeshi and his eyes snapped open. There was a little floating girl there, with tiny wings fluttering, smiling at the fox head now cocked to one side in confusion. It waved cheerfully at him and said, “Hi!”

This surprised Takeshi and he took a leap backwards, which when bounding with four legs can be pretty spectacular. He landed slightly awkwardly and tried to regain some dignity.

The little flying thing giggled and flew closer, trying to hide her smile behind her hands. “Hi.”

“Uhm… hi?” Takeshi was unsure what one said to a little flying person but figured that hello was a safe place to start.

“You’re new. I can tell.”

“Thanks?” Takeshi was at a loss as to what this was in the air in front of him. It looked a lot like a fairy from one of the kid’s books he had seen years ago but surely that was crazy. But then again he had been turned into a fox girl just a little while ago, so his criteria for crazy and impossible had changed a little.

“Happy birthday!” The little pixie enthused.

“Thank you?” Takeshi was a very confused fox and was sure that the look on his furry face was worthy of a LOLCat picture. What was with this creature and why did he feel like he was the only one that did not know what was going on in this conversation.

“You know, you seem kind of different from the others. Are you different?” asked the fairy, fluttering around him, looking at him closely.

“Uh… yes? My mother is a McCormick and my haha is a Saito.”

“Oh?! Really? I need to tell someone. That’s important! Well, bye!” The little fairy sped off and Takeshi just stared after it, trying to figure out what was going on. Why was he important? Why was it important that his parents were together? What in the hell had just happened and was he having some sort of psychotic break? Becoming a girl was one thing. Turning into a fox was another, but a little flying fairy that was all surreal… that was another matter entirely. That whole thing simply made his head hurt.

Shaking his head, Takeshi wandered farther into the forest, letting the normal sensations of nature soothe him. He startled a deer, which took off running, making him start to laugh. The look on the animal’s face had been priceless. Such surprise when this tiny female fox appeared and then running as if the hounds of hell were on its tail was particularly hysterical. What the hell was he going to do, chase it? He ended up falling over and rolling on the ground. Were animals usually this funny? How had he never noticed? If deer were that hysterical, what about rabbits? This bore further scrutiny.

There was another smell coming closer, something canine, something that held more threat to it and it sounded like it was larger than him. He rolled to his feet and was ready to run, realizing that his size did not make fighting an easy option. Thinking like a ninja would certainly behoove him here and he was already trying to figure out how his training could be incorporated into his new body. The smells he was getting were interesting as they got more refined. They smelled like milk, baby, something undefinable and something that his mind kept insisting was the moon.

Whoever it was entered the small clearing and stopped in surprise, looking at him oddly. Takeshi noticed that it was a female coyote with light colored fur who was looking at him kind of curiously, as if she were trying to figure him out. They just stared at each other and the coyote took a few steps closer, sniffed some, threw him a quick coyote grin and loped off. Takeshi just sat there trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Who the hell was the coyote? Why hadn’t it talked? Could it talk? This whole thing made his head hurt and maybe he should just go back to the compound and finish things up before more strange things happened. It might be safer that way.

If he went back, then he could find out if he was stuck being a girl or if he was a girl only in this fox body. At this point he was almost too dazed by everything to make sense of anything and wanted to sleep. Bed sounded good, but there was more stuff to learn and hear and that made him want to cry. Who had he upset that ended up turning him into a girl and a fox and a Kitsune and who knew what else? He had been a good kid, listened to his mothers, done his homework, did what his teachers asked, never started fights, was very rarely naughty, so why was this happening to him?

He trudged through the snow, dragging his tail, getting snow impacted in his paws and fur, ears flat against his head. He was getting cold and shivering some, since this body had less mass and the fur only held in so much heat. This new body was still going to take some getting used to but he was able to more around comfortably and without too much distress. No, the stress of the day was building and he just wanted to crash.

Making it through the maze of things to the door was easy and he got entrance simply enough. His parents were waiting with a heated towel and they bundled him up in that, warming him up and drying him off which felt magnificent. He sighed and drifted away some at that, basking in the sensations. Once he felt a bit better and more revived they sat him back on his feet and he wobbled a little. His kasa started off, “Takeshi, you know that we love you, right?”

“Yes kasa, I know.” He did his best to smile.

“Well, we figured that you are not going to return to your male body after the second part of the ritual, given everything, so we have come up with a new name for you, if you are okay with that.”
With a cocked head Takeshi seemed curious as to this name.

His mother continued. “After talking about it we decided to go with one of the names we had planned on back before you were born, if you had been a girl. How do you feel about the name Maeko?”

Takeshi rolled the name around in his head a few times, getting a feel for it. It didn’t sound too bad and its meaning was really kind of sweet and said a lot about what his parents thought of him. “So, if I do not return to my own body…?”

“You will become Maeko Saito. We figure that we can come up with some sort of story like you needing to go stay with your cousins in California to help out your Aunt and one of them coming out here to check out the college or something.” replied his haha.

Takeshi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That didn’t sound too bad and it clearly showed that his mothers cared about him. They wanted to find a way to make this work regardless of how this whole thing played out. “Sure. We can do that.”

His sousobo stepped up again and said, “Now that we have finished that up, maybe we can get the rest of this ceremony dealt with.”