Atmos

The dawn was starting to break through the trees, weak light attempting to brighten a dense forest canopy. The mercenary in black trudged through the leaves, pushing away at low branches. He had been moving away from the village for almost the entire night, stopping to rest only once he was well beyond the barrier where he was almost certain they wouldn't follow. Even then though, he had rested for only a few hours at most, and though it was far from the worse he had ever spent on a mission, he was still on high alert, not trusting the many shadows that could potentially conceal danger. A slight movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention before he threw a card in that direction. A person jumped out, rolled on the ground before aiming an arrow at him, as he drew another card.

"You!"

Both recognized each other, and stared each other down. "So, it has come to this… you have finally decided to hunt me down," the bow-wielding person said. "But I will not go down so easily! Prepare yourself!"

"For the last, fucking time Luna, I am not an assassin. I am a mercenary." With that he put away his card, turning his back to Luna. "I have no business here with you. The fact we meet again is pure chance. I'm on another mission."

"Tch. I have not forgotten the fact that I foiled you once! I know you want revenge for it!"

"I don't really care about that, Luna," he said walking away. "Business is business you know. I don't blame you and really, I see no way to profit off of fighting you now."

"Snidne," Luna said calmly causing the man to stop. "I could use your help you know. I lost a fellow adventurer somewhere in this forest… I have been searching for him. Have you seen any other humans lately?"

Snidne turned around, studying Luna as he glared back. He could see the hilt of a sword on his back. So, he was Luna's friend… how interesting… You just keep intriguing me, don't you? "You're in luck Luna, I think I have seen your little friend. He's perfectly fine. In fact, I think I'll even do you a favor." He held out his hand and smiled. "That sword on your back… I know for a fact you never use swords, so it must belong to your friend. I'll return it to him. I'll even be nice and do it free of charge."

Luna and Snidne looked each other over, judging each other. Finally Luna grabbed the sword and threw it over to him, which he caught easily. "I'll hold your word to it then. And trust me, as an adventurer, I will know what happened." Snidne was half-paying attention looking over the blade almost disapprovingly. "Snidne," Luna said drawing attention back to him. "You don't have to keep doing this. I can tell, you aren't happy with the path you've chosen. You can still change."

Snidne only smiled and began to walk away. "I have no idea what you're talking about…"



Raijin awoke with the dawn, looking around. At first he seemed to be confused, then remembered he wasn't in his house but in a village of the Kitsune Race. He could hardly believe that what had happened yesterday wasn't some dream. But as he lifted himself up from the mat that was his bed and looked into an unfamiliar room that wasn't his, he couldn't deny that his experience had been very real. Pulling himself out of bed, he made his way to a nearby chair where his clothing that had been tossed about haphazardly the night before was now folded and smelled fresh, as though they were freshly washed. Deciding not to question when such a possibility might have occurred he clothed himself. As he finished putting on his boots, a Kitsune with a spear came in, a guard who watched over the room.

"If you are ready, human, the Elder is waiting for you at the gate. You are to meet with Kishi-sama there before you head out. I have orders to accompany you there as well." Raijin nodded and left the room with the guard, following him out of the grand building and back into the open air. A few Kitsune were out and about this early in the morning, all of them wearing similar robes and none of them paying any attention to Raijin as he was escorted to the village's gates. They did, however, whisper to each other as soon as he passed and was out of earshot.

When Raijin saw the gate, he could make out a few number of figures there. He recognized both Kishi and the Elder Kitsune, but the two other guards watching the gate were different than the ones he saw when Kishi snuck him in. The escorting guard bowed before the two Kitsune before leaving, leaving them to their business. Raijin once again noticed that Kishi was naked, a fact he was slowly starting to get used to, though it didn't stop his cheeks from turning red and trying his best to divert his attention elsewhere. "Very good. Now that you are both here, your journey begins." The Elder pulled out a scroll from the inner lining of his robe and handed it to Raijin. "Take this to present to the Neko King. I wish you luck on your journey."

Raijin took the scroll and looked over it. The scroll had some writing on the outside that he couldn't read. He turned to ask Kishi what could be on it to find she was asleep on her feet, her head tilted down and eyes closed. The Elder raised a tail and struck her head, a quick but sharp strike that woke her up and put her at attention. "Yes! Right! Got it!" She made a hasty bow to the Elder and grabbed Raijin's hand. "Come on, let's go!" Once more Raijin felt himself being pulled away and struggled to keep pace. The Elder gave a long sigh as they left before heading back into the village.

It wasn't until after Raijin had once more felt the tingle of passing through the barrier with Kishi did they end up slowing down. Kishi seemed to be bouncing with energy, all signs of tiredness soon forgotten as she began to hum. Raijin himself was something close to a nervous wreck as he walked with her, uncertain of what to say, if he should say anything at all. He wasn't exactly the best person to play tour guide with a seemingly overly-hyper Kitsune who could give him an unintentional boner at any given time. He was having a hard enough time not being distracted by the way her breasts bounced with each skip she took during their walk.

"Um, Kishi… you mind if you cooled it down when we get near the Human Lands? It might be easier if people didn't know you were a Kitsune you know…" Kishi looked at him quizzically as he tried to explain further. "I mean, humans don't know a lot about your race and I don't know if they would be as accommodating about it as I am… although, I mean, you did kind of take me against my will and all…" Kishi seemed to nod at this and focused, causing Raijin to walk ahead of her a bit before realizing that she stopped. When he turned around, he could see that her fox ears and tails had all vanished, giving her a completely human appearance… even if it was a naked one.

"Is this better," she asked turning about to give him a full view of her body, to which Raijin was now fighting a nosebleed. Mutely he nodded, fearing of saying something both stupid and something he might later regret.

"That's good but… humans wear clothes you know…"

"Oh… right, I thought I was forgetting something…" but just as quickly she dismissed the notion. "It's ok though! I can just use an illusion to hide it until I get something to wear. So let's go!" Hardly able to understand where this seemingly unwavering positive attitude came from, Raijin kept close, looking out for the trail that he took with Luna before they had split up. Briefly he thought of what could have happened to him, but he wasn't that worried. Luna had said it himself that he was a experienced adventurer and Raijin had nothing to worry about concerning him. It would soon become apparent though that he needed to worry about himself.

Kishi grabbed Raijin by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back just as a large shape lounged into their path, a claw swiping at air where moments previously Raijin had been, sinking into a nearby tree. Raijin gave out a cry of fear at the large humanoid shaped wolf that loomed over the two, hungry yellow eyes seeking out prey, as a thick drool escaped from its muzzle. Kishi stared it down without fear, even as it bared it's fangs at her, sharp teeth that could rip apart flesh easily. Her tails and ears reemerged as she stared down the wolf. "What the fuck is that!?"

"Wolf-Beast," Kishi replied calmly, even as it lunged for her. She twisted herself around, her tails rising up and striking the creature in its face, knocking it aside. Without waiting or warning, she grabbed Raijin's hand and ran, intent on escaping from the forest where the beast would hopefully not follow. The Wolf-Beast, she knew, had incredible amounts of stamina and ruthlessness, often chasing down their prey until they became too weak to fight back. The crashing sounds of something tearing its way through the forest, caused them to stop and Kishi to turn, her tails lighting aflame. She threw them out just as the wolf creature emerged, striking it in the face and sending it howling in pain, claws trying to put out the hair that caught aflame.

It lunged out blindly, claws seeking to have its revenge as Kishi pushed her and Raijin to the ground to dodge. It's eyes were shut tight after that burning sensation but it's other senses were still strong. It sniffed the air for them and growled out intending on ripping apart them both in one strike when a strong gale seemed to appear from nowhere. The force of the wind lifted the creature off its feet, sending it hurdling into a tree. Accepting its defeat now, it fled in hopes of finding easier prey. Raijin could feel his breathing finally slow down as the creature left them before turning to Kishi. "Did you do that?"

Kishi merely shook her head before a shout of 'Kishi-chan!' broke through the trees. It was only then that Raijin took notice of the position they were in, Kishi with her naked body pressed against him, her thigh against his groin and her breasts pressed against his stomach. He hurried to pick himself up and at least get his clothing presentable before a two-tailed Kitsune made her appearance. "Kishi-chan," Tsune shouted before throwing a hug around her friend. "I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Tsune-chan," she asked, uncertain why her friend was here now, even as she was hugged. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the village?"

"I was really worried about you, Kishi-chan… and you too Raijin. So I thought I would tag along, to keep you company," Tsune said.

"It's a good thing too," Raijin added, noticing that Tsune at least had the foresight to wear one of the robe-like garments that the Kitsune seemed to wear for the journey. "But what the hell was that? I mean, this is Kitsune Lands, right? What's something like that doing here?"

"Before this whole land belonged to just the Kitsune, there was a clan of wolves that lived in this forest too," Tsune said. "They were kind of violent, but they kept to themselves and their 'territory' more or less. But then one day they all started to turn on each other, growing more savage until the clan broke apart. What remains now are the descendents of that clan, though they are now feral beasts rather than the cunning fighters of old."

"Blah, blah, blah," Kishi said dismissively. "The important thing is you’re here Tsune, and we can all go on our adventure together!" Raijin had to chuckle to himself. It certainly seemed like this trip wouldn't be boring.



The sun was already high in the sky, once more raining heat down onto the world when Raijin, Kishi, and Tsune could finally see the edges of town. Raijin was leading them to his home, which was nearest the forest. As he approached the front door, it opened up before him revealing his friend Greg. "Raijin! Your alive!" He reached out and gave him a hug, smiling. "You never came back, I thought you might have died!"

"Um, please stop hugging me Greg," he asked starting to feel uncomfortable, especially in the presence of the two Kitsune. As they parted he turned to the two. "Um… these are my… friends. Kishi and Tsune."

Greg looked over the two who waved to him. Apparently Kishi had already used her illusion to disguise herself as Greg was not staring unabashed at her naked form. Instead he gave a sly look to Raijin. "Oh, I see how this is… why didn't you tell me?"

"I think your taking this the wrong way…" Raijin said as Greg moved aside and the three entered the house. There gleaming as though brand new was Raijin's sword, polished to a shine. "Hey! Why's my sword here?"

"Yeah see… that's the thing. Some guy came by the village not too long ago… was asking about who owned that sword. He said he found it in the forest and that's when I told him you lived here." Raijin frowned as he picked it up, examining it. "Weird guy though. Had blue hair. Not something you see everyday huh?"

"What," Raijin looked surprised, as Kishi also stiffened. They had both seen a man with blue hair make his escape back in the Kitsune village. Greg stepped back a bit as Raijin asked feverishly, "Where did he go!? Is he still here?"

"No, sorry… He left town as soon as he dropped off the sword." Raijin looked over the sword. It had been dirty and been nicked in random places, but the sword now shined free of dirt and looked recently sharpened. He wasn't sure who had done this, though the thought of the blue-haired man doing it seemed surreal at best. Still, it was his blade, passed down by his father who once was in the Kingdom's Royal Army.

"Anyway, we got to get a drink together ok? Tell me about it," Greg said excitedly before leaving, winking to the two girls and closing the door behind him.

"He seemed nice…" Tsune responded to Greg's leaving.

"But why was the trespasser here," Kishi demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "It seems really weird…"

"I don't know," Raijin said, moving deeper into the house to prepare packing things. "But give me a minute to pack some things for the trip." He wasn't sure what it could mean, but something told him that he would find the answer, one day.



Sitting in his throne, surrounded by both guards and nobles alike, was King Foz, ruler of all the Human lands. His dark hair was falling lightly around his face, a crown of gold and precious gems adorned on his head. He wore a gold and red tunic, pants of a dark blue as he gazed over the many guests of this royal attendance. To his left, standing up and wearing a light shirt with a dark green vest and similar dark pants was the king's Royal Advisor, Macross. Standing to his left, wearing silver armor and carrying a large axe over his shoulder was Captain of the Royal Guards, Forte.

"This is quite a turnout, wouldn't you agree Macross?"

"So it seems, my lord," he replied. Macross was assigned, as the Royal Advisor, to provide insight on situations that effected the kingdom as a whole. And while the king ultimately had the final say on what laws were passed, King Foz had shown that he valued Macross's opinion highly. Even he would not admit to being perfect, no matter what the people spoke about him.

"No need for that, 'My Lord' here. This is a party after all. And you have been my advisor for a great deal of time."

"Forgive me, but you are still the king, my lord. I must keep appearances, you know."

"Macross," Forte finally spoke, smiling. "You must learn to relax. If you don't mind, my lord, I will gather some refreshments for us." He left the king's side, keeping his weapon with him as he moved past chatting nobles.

"Forte has come far, hasn't he," Macross said, to which Foz nodded. "I remember when he first came into this castle… A harsh life had been dealt to him, but he had proven himself time and again." As Forte returned with the glasses of wine, both Macross and Foz accepted their own glasses and drank. "My lord, I would like permission to leave the Capital. I have some… errands to attend to."

"You know that you may. You worry so much, Macross. For now, enjoy yourself," the king smiled as he drained his glass. Macross nodded and drank again, thinking to himself. He knew he had to be at the meeting point in a few days. He only hoped that Snidne wouldn't mind the wait. All his plans would begin once the mercenary had helped him.

With a small smirk, unknown to the two he was with, he drained his glass.