Old Promises, New Mysteries: Book 2 of The Kinstone series

On one of my many, near daily, excursions into the village I wandered around the streets, hoping to find my friends for our usual hookups. The village was bustling with its typical activity.

Smoke billowed from both of the local bakeries, with their owners shuffling in and out with fresh rolls and breads for the fishermen. My ears flickered to the sounds of the Chinjaro-san, the town’s blacksmith. His son Taro was among Kenji’s group the first day I visited the village.

The man would smile whenever I passed by his shop, of which I was a frequent visitor. I could easy spend an hour just watching him work in his forge, hammering out whatever he was working on. There’s just something…spiritual in watching sparks fly from red hot metal. I gave him a quick bow and moved on.

Shadows flew overhead as a pair of karasu-tengu flew past me. I recognized them as Mayori’s parents, who sat on the village council. Really nice people. I spent the night over at her house a couple days ago and had to sit through a long, drawn-out lecture from her father to his daughter about the some of the mischief she had been causing in town.

I stayed quiet, as I too was the source of a couple small pranks. A kitsune will always find a way to get into trouble, if they get caught that is.

I walked passed an elderly nekomata, Hashiba-basan. She acted like one of the village’s many “grandmothers”. She would often sit together and watch over the youngest of the children while their parents were busy. She too had become like my grandmother, with having more or less adopted me into the village itself.

I walked up to her, bowing softly, “Ohayo Hashibaba.”

She smiled to me, “Ohayo Aria-chan. How are you today?”

I smiled to her, swishing my tail, “Doing well. Was hoping to find Saya and the others but can’t seem to find any of them.”

The old woman smiled to me, beckoning me over. I quickly hopped over to her. “The older children have all left town for the day. I’m surprised you didn’t go with them.”

My right ear lowered as my head tilted the side, “No one said anything to me.”

She leaned back into her chair and took sip from her tea, “In any case, none shall be home until after dark.”

I sighed, lowering both ears, “Well…great.”

She smiled, patting her knee, “Why don’t you come keep your grandmother some company?”

I grinned softly. Yeah you’re definitely missing the attention of the others.

I bowed to her, “Maybe later Hashibaba.”

Her smile never dimmed, “Do come by soon though.”

I nodded, “I will,” then turned and headed off.

The sun hovered softly in the sky and with it brought the mid-morning sea breeze. A smile rose on my face, feeling it blow into my ears, causing the fur inside to flutter. The spacing the buildings was actually pretty close and I had seen many of the kids running along the rooftops.

I giggled; leaping up onto a few crates and did the same. My feet lightly tapped along the spine of the roofs as I raced down them. I easily leapt from building to building, not noticing the gap between the streets.

My goal was to head to the docks and see if the boats had returned. Maybe I could score some fresh fish for dinner. That’d be a nice surprise for Yukari. I giggled once more, making another leap across the street.

“Hey…watch out!”

My ears flicked, causing me to turn my head just in time to see someone come barreling at me. I lowered my body mid-stride, and watched as the person sailed over me.

I stopped at the fork of the roof, seeing that whoever it was had crashed into a pond. I giggled, as they popped up from under a lily pad.

My eyes then went wide as I saw that it was Kenji, his amber fur floated and was soaked in the water. I wobbled slightly on the roof tile, staring at drenched boy.

A grin stretched across my face as I slid down the roof and hopped onto the stone walls of the pond, crouching onto it, “Now…what are you doing here? I thought everyone had left.”

His ears flicked away water, staring up at me, “Well sorry to burst your bubble but not everyone got to go at the same time,” he said, standing up out of the pond.

His tails then shook the water free from the fur. Some flicked onto me, causing me to throw up my hands to shield myself. His wet shirt clung to his body, showing that it was a lot more buff than I thought. His arms were much more bulked as well, obviously from hauling in fishing nets.

My cheeks flushed a soft pink as I stared at him.

He smirked, folding his arms, “What’s your excuse? Shouldn’t you have gone with?”

Snapping out myself from my trance, I looked up into his eyes, “For starters, I didn’t know that everyone had left, nor I do know why.”

He smiled, “They’ve all gone to get registered for school.”

I looked at him, “Okay…that makes sense. And I don’t think I am attending school, at least no one’s told me that I was.”

Kenji stepped out of the pond, water dripping onto the rocks beneath him. “Well, let’s hope the prefectural authorities don’t come snooping around looking for you. They tend to love snatching up truants.”

The left side of my mouth curled into a smirk, “Look who’s talking.”

The boy grinned, leaning down onto the rocks, staring at me, “Well…since you can’t find anyone to hang out with, why not come with me?”

My shoulders shrugged, “Might as well. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”

He smirked, standing up and hold his hand. I smiled, taking it and we both stepped off of the pond and out of courtyard we were in.

We resumed a path for the docks. The morning was slowly growing warmer with the air saltier and humid. I knew when I got home I’d probably would have to wash out the fur if the salt started to build up too much.

“So where’s your wolf? Isn’t he always with you?”

I smiled, folding my arms behind my back, making my steps slightly exaggerated, “I left him back at home for today. Kinda wanted to spend some time without him.”

He smirked, “Did you two have a fight?”

My head shook, “Nope, more like I slipped out without him noticing me.”

Kenji grinned, “I think he’s going to come looking for you.”

I giggled, “Probably. He does like to worry.”

This is nice and starting to be fun. Very few people were around and all there weren’t as many eyes on peering in on me. Not that I was worried about anyone judging me.

I was just a young girl walking around with a boy. Okay…someone would think that we were on a date or something.

My heart then thumped in my chest…Am I on a date with Kenji? The hair on the back of my neck stood up. To be honest, this really wasn’t a date. It was just the two of us strolling down the street.

Nothing was happening or going to happen. I started to slap myself repeatedly in my mind, trying to drag myself back into reality. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

He looked over to me, “You know…it’s funny how it took having nearly everyone leaving just to get some alone time with you.”

I giggled, feeling my tail swishing happily, “I agree,” glancing up at him, “gotta ask why you were running like that. What were you in such a hurry for?”

His hand scratched his head, wincing, “Well…it’s complicated. Let’s just say I had somewhere important to get to.”

I smirked, “Weren’t running from your father for any particular reason?”

His face remained somewhat unresponsive. But his ears shot up straight at the mentioning of his father.

I giggled, “What did you do?”

He sighed, “To be honest I overslept. My dad wanted me to meet him to go fishing and I was supposed to be there an hour ago. So I was trying to hurry to the docks before he and my uncle headed out.”

I nodded, “Well you could always make the excuse that a pretty girl held you up.”

He smirked, “Yeah…like he would believe that.”

I shrugged, “You never know.”

For a brief moment he glanced at me. His soft brown eyes looked happy that I was there with him. I was too, but wasn’t sure if I could come out and tell him that.

I had taken the stance of trying to play the aloof, elusive girl, hoping to see how he would respond. I could never pull the same act with Drakon or Savero, both men would be quick to catch it. I for one am glad that neither had discovered where I was. Just hoped it stayed that way.

We spoke lightly to each other the closer we got the docks. I didn’t tell him much, not wanting to gloat the fact that I was from America and about anything that might turn him away from me. But I did give enough to answer a few of his questions. A few boats had indeed returned.

Now something else I should mention about the fishermen here. They don’t use old wooden boats. Many own some rather decent, modern ones. Nothing huge mind you, just big enough to handle for a small village.

Even the docks reminded me of the marinas back in Texas, modern and up-to-date. Complete with a two-boat dry-dock for repairs.

I eyed his family’s boat, with his uncle at the stern, fixing a crane. I could see that three of his six tails each held a tool, while the man smoked a cigarette.

He glanced over to Kenji as we came up onto the boat, “Well took you long enough kid. Your father was starting to wonder if you were ever going to show up.”

Kenji bowed his head, “Gomen Touma-ojisan, I overslept and then ran into this girl while trying to get here.”

His uncle looked at me, stopping his repairs and leaned over the railing, “So this is the young girl that everyone’s been talking,” smiling, “she’s quite the looker. When I was your age, a girl like that would only be found amongst the nobility. You should probably claim her before someone else does.” My face blushed deeply.

Kenji sighed, “Uncle, people don’t act like that these days.”

The man shrugged, “Just saying. Anyway, you should get on board. We’re about to ship out, and my Harumi-chan doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He then disappeared into the boat.

I looked up at Kenji, “Who’s Harumi?”

He looked back to me, “An umi osho my uncle is quite fond of. It was nice to finally getting to talk to you.”

I smiled, trying not to blush as I stared up at him, “I agree.” We stood there for a moment, with me staring up at him. Our eyes met and became locked within each other’s gaze.

I quickly turned and started to head off. I could hear him happily sigh, “I’ll see you later Aria-chan.”

I shot my hand up into a soft wave as I hopped up the stairs. I then leapt behind a tree, peeking out for a moment to watch as his boat then headed out past the cape.

I spun and dropped to the ground, resting against its trunk. My heart wouldn’t stop beating in my chest. I hugged my legs tightly into my chest, laying my head onto my knees. My tails unfurled and wrapped around my body.

A hand then rest on top of my head. I looked up to see Yukari standing there.

“Looks like I finally found you.” I blushed softly, looking away for a moment.

My aunt grinned, “Come on. I’ll make you some lunch.” I didn’t immediately respond, but soon nodded and stood up, furling my tails back into one. The two of us then quietly left the marina.

The next morning I was out in the front yard practicing my katas when I felt the wind breezing around me. My ears perked up the trees howled.

Normally this wouldn’t be anything to cause me to jump into alarm, but then a familiar scent fell upon the air. It smelled of flowing water, and it drew a smile on my face. I panned up to see Asha flying in from the northwest.

I smiled, waving to her, “Hey Asha.”

She smiled softly as she landed, slithering over to me, quickly pulling my body into hers in a tight embrace, “I am so very sorry that I haven’t come by to see you Aria-chan. I’ve been rather busy lately and I just simply didn’t have the time to visit or even take you away for training.”

I clung to her, nuzzling her chest, “I’m just happy that you here,” lifting my head up and resting my chin onto her chest, “so where have you been?”

Asha smiled softly, caressing my hair as she coiled her serpentine body, placing me onto it. “Well, a week ago I had to deal with a rather nasty raiju that wanted to cause a little mischief for the region, which also happened to be accompanied by a ryujin, her husband. Both were nearly at the borders of the prefecture and I had to make sure they didn’t do anything reckless. Which turned into a minor skirmish that lasted for a few days.”

My tails curled around her, “Are you okay? Didn’t you have Natsuki and the others with you?”

She chuckled, gently caressing my cheek, “I’m fine Aria-chan. And yes, I did have the others with me. The bout took a lot out of me so I have to lie low for a few days while I recovered.” I nodded, resting my chin back onto her chest.

That would possibly explain why the weather has been kinda nuts. For a few days we had torrential rains and some pretty nasty windstorms. It forced me to stay inside and meant I couldn’t go and hang out with my friends. Even Yukari remarked on the oddity of how bad the weather had gotten.

Asha smiled to me, “I’ve been hearing about how much you’ve acclimated to life here in the village. You really have become a part of the daily lives of everyone here. One might say that you really are from the region.” I blushed softly, nodding.

The ryujin poked the top of my nose with the tip of her claw, “Even Saya has been happy with you being here. But I’m going to have to get used to her and a few of the others being away at school again. Not that I can’t be on my own without them, just not having them around constantly will be a challenge.”

I smiled, “So when will I start my training with you?”

“Soon, just have to lick my wounds a little before I can ever hope to tackle you.”

I giggled, laying my head onto her chest. “Really did miss you.”

Asha wrapped her arms around me tightly, “As did I Aria-chan.” She then placed a kiss onto the top of my head.

“Welcome back Asharyume.”

I looked up to see Yukari leaning against a post, arms folded, and tails swishing softly. The ryujin nodded, “Thank you Yukari. I wished that I could have come sooner.”

My aunt nodded, “I am fully aware of what happened. If you were ever in need of assistance I would gladly offered my aid.”

Asha smiled, “And I would have happily accepted it. But I had things well under control.”

Asha then gently lowered me onto the ground, with me uncoiling my tails from her. She smiled softly, “Now that Yukari has appeared it probably means that breakfast has been prepared.”

I grinned, “Looks that way.” She nodded, ruffling the hair between my ears. I giggled loudly, spreading my ears out.

The ryujin smiled, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had been a kitsune since birth.”

I grinned up at her, “I’ve been told that a lot lately.” She smiled as we then headed inside to eat.