Echoes of Time (Secondary Training - Private: Miyuki/Itori)

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[/size]<div style="padding:15px;"><div style="width:80px;background-color:#cc0000;padding:5px;font:8px georgia;color:#f8f8f8;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px;margin-left:30px;float:left;">[size=13]WC: 866[/size]</div><div style="width:180px;background-color:#cc0000;padding:5px;font:8px georgia;color:#f8f8f8;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px;float:left;">[size=13]TAG[/size]</div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="width:400px;text-align:center;font:10px georgia;">credit to <a href="http://adoxographyv2.boards.net/user/15">nat</a> of adoxography and <a href="http://gangnam-style.proboards.com/user/4292">gangnam style</a>.</div></div></div>

If she wasn't on a job or practising Itori could usually be found inside Sabertooth's kitchen, preparing way too much food and then still somehow eating it all by herself. It was strange, but after the first couple of times the sight of the fox girl skilfully making several dishes at the same time and afterwards neatly eating them all became less puzzling and more something that just happened. The fact that Itori could prepare food that belonged in heaven in terms of taste also helped. Nobody wanted to discourage the fox girl from making that kind of food, especially since she was completely willing to let others take their share as well. The trickiest part was getting enough ingredients all the time, but throughout her long life the Kumiho had figured out ways to ensure that she would always have a solid line of supplies.

However today she wasn't in the kitchen. She wasn't in the guild hall at all, even though she wasn't on a job. She wasn't in the city called Ace of Spades either, which was located on the ground far below the floating Sabertooth guild hall. Anybody who wanted to find Itori would eventually have to conclude that she was somewhere else, and far away enough that unless they used specific searching magic they wouldn't be able to find her. Too much ground to cover with no clue where she might be. Unless they asked Itori's sisters, who might be able to help them. After all, even though the triplets had been separated for so long they still remembered their time together in the past, and Itori actually hadn't changed much in behaviour from back then. She had become more ruthless and cunning, but other than that for Iniki and Izayoi guessing Itori's location shouldn't be too much of a problem. However one would first have to remember to ask them. If they didn't, then... Well, they would be better off waiting for Itori to come back, which could take a while.

The fox girl was out in the wilds, wandering through a forest with no specific aim in mind. It was early in the morning, so life was still waking up in this place. It wasn't even completely light yet, the sun struggling to climb into the sky where it could illuminate the world below. The fox girl was enjoying the peace and silence. Her life hadn't exactly been luxurious or easy for a long time, and she had spent most of her life searching endlessly. But now she knew where her sisters were. Now she could finally allow herself to relax. She had always liked forests, which wasn't too surprising for a girl with both physical and mental traits which belonged to a fox. There weren't any humans in a forest like this to disturb the peace. There were only the plants and the 'lesser' animals. It was quiet, it was peaceful... It was quite a lot better than any human settlement could ever hope to be. Itori wished she and her sisters could just live somewhere far away from the humans, but she guessed that was no longer an option. By joining a legal guild they had revealed themselves to the human world at large. They might not be famous, but they were now known. And Izayoi looked like she actually wanted to interact with the humans. Or at least the females. It was somewhat embarrassing how Izayoi got so easily flustered around an attractive female. Itori understood the allure, but her sister should learn how to control herself better. As a Kumiho being so easily affected was a major weakness, and Izayoi had mostly survived so far because she had those Legions to help her. That and the humans which had captured her had decided that rather than killing her they would do far worst, even if it kept her alive.

Itori's mood soured somewhat when she thought about that, but before she could get worked up about it something happened that demanded her immediate attention. And in this case demanded meant that her magic sensory basically screamed in her ear and gave her no choice in the matter. The fox girl immediately jumped up into a tree, partially as a reaction to being startled like that and partially because it gave her a better vantage point, as suddenly a giant blast of magic surged forth. According to the Kumiho's judgement that thing was powerful enough that it was affecting its surroundings for miles around, even though it didn't appear to be a destructive wave. It caused a lot of havoc, but with that amount of magic power a large area could have been turned into a wasteland. Instead trees shook, animals fled, and the air howled. All together it was very intimidating, but it could have done so much more. Which just begged the question what the magic surge actually did. Itori did a quick calculation and estimated that the magic surge travelled far enough that at least some people back at the guild would pick up on it, but the point of origin was still too far away from any human settlement for it to do any good. If they wanted to affected Sabertooth and the Ace of Spades they could have concentrated their magic power a lot more and activated the effect a lot closer. So what was the surge for? It felt familiar. The fox girl frowned as she tried to figure out why it felt familiar. It had been so overwhelming that she hadn't really been able to discern all the specific details, but she had the feeling that she knew where this magic came from, even though at the same time she didn't.

Not one to leave such a mystery be Itori moved towards the source, travelling quickly, a lot faster than one might expect from her. She was blessed with both surprising vitality and speed, and beyond that she was used to covering a lot of ground at a high pace. It didn't take long before she reached what she guessed was the source of the magic source. Unfortunately she couldn't really see anything there. Either the source had been hidden or whatever had released the surge had already gone away. Itori frowned, then noticed something odd. She was standing on top of a tree, scanning the area, which is why she noticed that a certain area seemed...off. It was pretty large, so if she was standing on the ground she might not have noticed, but a large circular radius around the very middle of the magic surge (at least, if Itori's calculations were correct) didn't seem to be entirely part of this world. For one thing she didn't hear anything from that area. All animals had been thrown into a heavy fright by the surge, but even so she could hear them around herself. But from that direction there were no sounds. No animals were in that area. Which didn't make sense. The fox girl stared at that space for a bit longer, then jumped forwards and ran into the area, hand on her sword. This was too strange for her to just leave it be.

Itori blinked as her surroundings rapidly changed once she entered the silent area. Suddenly she seemed to be in an entirely different world entirely. It had been forested before, but now she was standing in the middle of what looked like a giant plain, with a large circular lake in the middle. That actually looked a bit strange: lakes didn't become perfectly circular without some external influence. Was this an illusion, or had Itori actually triggered a magic effect that moved her to another world, most likely controlled by the same person who had created that magic surge? More likely the latter, since that would explain why so much magic was used. An illusion of this size would also take a lot of magic, but nothing like the magnitude that Itori had sensed.

The fox girl blinked and looked around when she noticed that she wasn't alone. What was Miyuki doing here, and why was she wearing a shrine maiden's outfit? It looked similar to Itori's own, although hers was customized whereas Miyuki's outfit seemed to be the standard version. She was also wielding a katana, which was of average quality to Itori's eyes, which had become used to studying and judging blades.

The Kumiho silently stared at Miyuki with her eyebrows raised, her own white Shitenka still in one hand as she tried to figure out what was going on. It was probably better if she first watched how this Miyuki would act to see if it was really Miyuki, an imitation, or some kind of apparition. After that she could try to figure out the rest of this strange place.

Itori wasn't given a lot of time to study this Miyuki, as the human female suddenly bursts into action. The fox girl immediately enters a stance where she can deflect the attack that Miyuki is quite obviously preparing, only to notice that she's also surrounded by countless blades. While that wasn't impossible to deal with, it wasn't exactly a nice sight, especially since it meant that either Miyuki or the one in control of this world had a lot more tricks in here than Itori knew of. She didn't like dealing with an enemy of which she didn't know what they could do. Of course, every enemy could theoretically have something hidden, but there is a very clear difference between knowing that an enemy might have abilities you don't know of, and knowing that your enemy has abilities you don't know of. The latter was decidedly less pleasant since it meant you were in a much more precarious position. However the most immediate thread was still Miyuki herself, so Itori kept her white katana at the ready as she glared at Miyuki with clear focus, preparing to deflect the girl's strike and counter.

However then suddenly Miyuki froze, the fox girl also halting her movements as she noticed that the floating swords also weren't attacking. She still was keeping her blade ready to deflect and cut, but she wouldn't be the first one to attack. Miyuki appeared to be shocked. The Kumiho had recognized the killing intent clearly. Miyuki had been planning to kill her. But now she was hesitating. Her expression made it clear that she was utterly shocked and horrified. Itori frowned at that, although her expression didn't lose any of its focus. Miyuki was prepared to cut down the intruder, but why would she react like that to Itori specifically? Was she not expecting somebody she actually knew to enter this world?

Another curiosity was the fact that suddenly Miyuki clearly possessed magic power. Itori had sharp senses, even the magical ones, and before it had been clear that both Kaede and Miyuki didn't have much magic to speak of. But this Miyuki had more magic power than Itori herself or any of the other mages the fox girl had met who weren't in the upper ranks of power. Was that enough proof that this wasn't actually Miyuki? Humans couldn't suddenly go from possessing next to no magic to suddenly bursting with it. The only way that could happen was if there was some kind of trick involved, or possibly a ritual... There had been that surge of magic. The sheer power and size had been unnatural. That couldn't have been random. It had to be done on purpose by somebody trying to achieve something huge. Creating this place might qualify, but was it also related to the fact that Miyuki was suddenly showing a lot more abilities than before?

Itori internally blinked when she remembered that during the fight against the thugs Miyuki suddenly was wielding weapons she had not been holding when she went through the portal, and the weapons were also completely different from anything wielded by the thugs. That did match with all these weapons suddenly floating in the air... Itori was starting to get a minor headache. This entire thing was ridiculous. Miyuki was a human girl with a surprising amount of speed. But now Itori was standing in this strange world which was quite obviously not natural, which could only be detected from the outside because animals wouldn't enter the area, and Miyuki was standing in front of her with an expression of absolute bafflement and fear while showing off magic power she wasn't supposed to have. It was all just strange. It didn't make sense. It wasn't an illusion either: illusions didn't behave like this. The Kumiho kept her focus on the girl, trying to figure out what was going on.

And then the weapons disappeared, including the one in Miyuki's hand, and the sky, which before was bright and blue, turned into that of a storm and it began to rain, even as Miyuki collapsed and began to cry. The fox girl stared down at the crying girl, slowly lowering her sword and relaxing her stance as instead she tried to figure out what was going on. The sky was also changing too quickly for it to be natural. This entire world was being controlled. And it seemed to be linked to how Miyuki felt? Although even when she was ready to kill the sky had been clear and bright. However that didn't remove the fact that right now Miyuki was crying, and the sky was also crying, even if somehow the rain absolutely failed to drench Itori. The fox girl stared for a bit longer, then slowly sheathed her sword and knelt in front of Miyuki. She would have called out, but as Miyuki already knew Itori couldn't just start talking. Instead she carefully placed a hand on Miyuki's shoulder, the other beginning to write words in the air so that when Miyuki looked up she would see them. At first the hand on Miyuki's shoulder was just an attempt at comforting the girl, but slowly Itori tried to gently pull Miyuki upwards so she would see the words written in the air in front of her.

'Can you explain what is going on?'

That one question basically summed up Itori's entire reaction to all of this right now. She couldn't figure it out by herself, so she hoped that Miyuki, who seemed to have some kind of connection to this place, could explain something. There was still the chance that this Miyuki wasn't the real one, but Itori was beginning to doubt it: from this distance Miyuki's soul was as clear to her as a beacon, and even if somebody tried to create a fake Miyuki they wouldn't be able to make such a perfect replica. If only because they shouldn't know that Itori can see souls and discern between them. That wasn't exactly a normal ability. In fact so far as Itori knew she was the only one in this land who could do that. Even her sisters had never really got the hang of that, as they were more focused in developing their own talents.

Itori isn't sure why Miyuki would flinch purely because she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Is Miyuki afraid of her? The Kumiho thought she had done a better job than that to hide her more ruthless side when it came to this girl. Kaede and Mashyuu had already seen it, but if Miyuki was also showing signs of fear... Or maybe it was something different. Miyuki's reaction to Itori in this world was nothing like what the fox girl was expecting of her. Miyuki had given the impression of being both straightforward and confident. There was no reason for her to be afraid of her teammate even if that teammate was possibly stronger than her. In fact Miyuki would most likely take that as a challenge. At least, Itori thought that was what Miyuki was like. But the Miyuki before her was completely different. This Miyuki seemed to be afraid of her, and ashamed of something as well. She even flinched when Itori touched her. It was quite puzzling. If it wasn't for the fact that she could recognize Miyuki's soul she would have thought this was a badly made imitation of Miyuki, by somebody who didn't know the real Miyuki at all.

Then Miyuki recovered enough to speak, although her voice sounded strangely devoid of actual emotion. Itori raised her eyebrows when the world rippled around them as response to Miyuki's words. From what the girl had said and how the world had reacted she had just made it impossible to either influence this world or enter it. Which reinforced the idea that this was Miyuki's world, and apparently she had quite some control over it if she could affect it to such an extent by merely saying those things. Itori knew that creating your own world was possible. She herself could do it, although it took so much energy that she had never actually done it before. To compensate for her lack of mana she would have to take months before she could even create a small world. But Miyuki had what looked like quite a large and complex world, and complete control over it as well. Just what had Miyuki been doing that she had managed to hide this?

The fox girl's internal pondering was interrupted when suddenly the human female hugged her. Itori had still been kneeling, so they were basically at the same height now. The fox girl hesitated before slowly returning the hug, wondering whether this was the best of ideas. This could still be a trap...but if it was a trap, it was one of the strangest Itori had ever encountered. And why would Miyuki first flinch away from Itori's touch, and then out of her own volition embrace her? The girl just kept acting in ways that didn't make sense. Itori had the feeling that it would take a while before she could properly understand everything that was going on here. But at least Miyuki was no longer flinching away, which meant she could most likely get the girl to actually help her understand.

Seeing how she had already been moved once Itori wasn't too surprised at being relocated, although she did look around once they were on the tall hill. Just like with that circular lake, this world Miyuki was in control of was by far too regular and balanced for it to be natural. A circular lake with a circular plain, surrounded by a forest, after which the rest of the world was rather evenly divided between completely different environments. Although she was surprised that there was a bamboo forest. Actually, now that she thought about it, it was strange that Miyuki was wearing a shrine maiden's outfit as well. Neither bamboo nor those clothes were something you would encounter in Fiore. Well, maybe a foreigner might be wearing that style of clothes, but Fiore itself didn't grow bamboo or make those clothes except in special exotic stores. They both belonged to Itori's home and the small country known as Midi. How did Miyuki know about these things? The shrine maiden's outfit looked good on her, but still. That didn't answer the actual question. Yet another thing Itori would have to ask the girl about.

Speaking of Miyuki, she was still not looking Itori in the eyes. And sounded scared when she spoke next. So she embraced Itori even though she was still afraid. Afraid of something concerning Itori. But if she was willing to embrace the Kumiho it might not exactly be fear about what Itori might do to her. That left a whole lot of things that she could theoretically be afraid of, but Itori wasn't sure which one was the most likely. She blinked as Miyuki made a tree grow as if it was nothing, especially when the tree then produced a branch low and thick enough to function as a bench. And that all was done with only one word. That suggested a really deep link with the world, unless Miyuki had put that word as a specific command for that, which was strange seeing how much could be done with that word. Well, it looked like Miyuki wouldn't help unless she went along with the girl's wishes, so Itori sat down next to Miyuki and looked at her.

Miyuki's first words basically confirmed what Itori had already been thinking. This world was Miyuki's, not merely something she happened to possess. Although even if the girl stated that she didn't want others to know about it, that didn't really explain the why. There were lots of possible reasons, but which one was the correct one? The Kumiho looked at the pendant. She had seen Miyuki wear it, but she hadn't realized it had been holding back and hiding such a scary amount of magic power. There weren't many items that could do that.

Itori looked at Miyuki when the girl began to plead for her not to tell anybody, tilting her head to the side as her vermilion and vulpine eyes were unreadable. This girl was utterly terrified of her secret being exposed. But that couldn't be why she was afraid of Itori specifically. Those two things were unrelated, even if both fears were real. But the why still eluded Itori. The fox girl stayed silent (she always did) as the rain once again started and Miyuki pleaded. Of course, with Miyuki holding both her hands she would have to use one of her tails to write her answer, and she'd have to push Miyuki's head out of her chest so she could read it. Both of these things were done, so Miyuki could read Itori's message.

'I have no reason to betray your secret to others. But I still do not know why you are so scared of others knowing, or why my appearance is so frightening to you. You looked ready to kill the intruder, but the moment that you saw that it was me all your killing intent was replaced by fear and shame.'

Itori was genuinely surprised when her tail failed to make the trail of vermilion that she would use to write the words she couldn't speak. She had heard Miyuki's words when the girl had told the world around them to accept no other influences, but she didn't realize that worked on her illusions as well. Or was it all magic? If it was the latter that meant that Miyuki was even more powerful in this world than Itori had thought. Of course it was entirely possible to create a world in which you had total dominion over everything, including the magic of others: it was just extremely different, since you basically had to create your personal pocket dimension which was completely separated from all other dimensions. If you didn't then even if you made the rules of the world consist of what you told them to be the influence from the other dimensions would still allow creatures with more power and skill than you to overcome your control. And as could be expected, making a world which was actually disconnected from the world you arrived from was not an easy task in the slightest. That Miyuki could do it was an honest surprise to Itori. Seeing how suddenly the girl had displayed a level of sheer magic power that was more often seen in legendary entities than everyday mages she hadn't taken long to realize that if Miyuki had been hiding so much magic power it wasn't too far-fetched to consider she had been hiding other things as well, such as skill at using magic.

Granted, this was only if Miyuki had disabled all magic, and not just illusions or other types of magic which attempted to directly influence the world. Although there were very few types of magic which could be counted as not attempting to influence the world around you. Either way, it looked like the fox would have to do this without being able to use her illusions, something which she wasn't too happy about. Miyuki being able to read what she wrote in the air had been a big help in ensuring the girl could understand her since she couldn't use her actual voice. That and there were a lot of other things she would usually use illusions for that she'd now have to think of an alternative for. Although it looked like Miyuki was able to read what Itori had been intending to write anyway, so that was one problem less. Not that Itori didn't prefer being able to use her illusions over having to rely on Miyuki's ability to read words written out of thin air, but she hadn't much of a choice here. She actually wondered whether there was any way to get out of this world that didn't include asking Miyuki to do it for her. Not that she didn't trust Miyuki to let her go if she actually asked, but Itori liked being able to decide where to go herself. She wasn't one of those nutjobs who would stake everything on their personal freedom, since she knew very well that sometimes it was just a lot better to move along someone else's wishes rather than oppose them for the sake of opposing them. She was afraid that there wasn't such a convenient way out though. Miyuki had been able to disable her illusions. Beyond that she had also spoken of making anybody else unable to enter this world. If she could both disable magic and make entry impossible combining those two to make escape impossible as well shouldn't be too hard. Itori would have to make sure Miyuki felt safe releasing her before she could go.

Luckily it appeared that Miyuki held her in high regard, even though right now she was in a state of emotional duress. Itori couldn't do much but wrap one of her tails around the girl's waist and pull her close to share her warmth and provide some emotional comfort. From the way that Miyuki was behaving around her that should help her feel at ease. Which was in itself also interesting. Miyuki had been behaving entirely different from usual. In particular, she was treating Itori with far more care and nervousness than she seemed to show to anybody in the outside world. Was this a direct reaction to being inside her own world? Was she always putting up a brave front in the outside world, and did she treat this world as a place where she could be more honest about her feelings? That wouldn't be too surprising. In this world it appeared she had total control. Therefore she would be used to being completely honest with herself in here, because she didn't have to be afraid of anybody using those feelings against her. Even if she were to encounter an intelligent inhabitant of this world they were still completely at her mercy. Which would only make Itori's sudden incursion even more startling to her, which would explain why she had been so willing to kill the intruder at the moment of detection rather than talking to them beforehand. And it would also explain why she fell in such despair when she realized the intruder was somebody she couldn't afford to kill and leave here to ensure the secret of Miyuki's world would be kept safe. Although she still felt some of that reaction was also for Itori personally, although she couldn't tell why she thought that or why Miyuki would react to her specifically. She hadn't even interacted with the girl that much so far. Miyuki had a tendency to run ahead during jobs, whereas Itori was more inclined towards supporting the rest of the team and letting them do most of the work, with her dealing with the fine details and cleaning up after them if needed. The two completely separate roles led to the Kumiho spending significantly more time with both Mashyuu and Kaede. Although she didn't care much for either one. Mashyuu was one of those people who let his masculinity take priority over his intelligence, so he would treat the females around him as fragile and in needing of his protection even though Itori was pretty sure she could dispose of him without breaking a sweat. As for Kaede, it seemed he just didn't like her and she didn't feel the need to try and like him if that was the case. That and he kept muttering bitch when he thought she couldn't hear him.

Well, at least Miyuki was consistent enough that even in this world she was the type that would try to kill that what she feared rather than staying her blade or even running away. As for the rest of her explanation, it reinforced the fact that Miyuki seemed to consider Itori special, especially when she admitted that she felt shame for attacking the fox girl. The fox girl in question raised a hand and gently patted Miyuki on the head, stroking her long pale hair in another soothing and comforting gesture. Although the worry about being used for evil didn't sound quite right to Itori. The girl sitting next to her (and leaning against her right now) might believe it, but from what Itoi had seen of Miyuki's secret so far it wasn't exactly the kind which would get all the evil people in the world to hunt you down. The problem with that line of reasoning was the fact that Miyuki's ability was too absolute. Even if her friends were held hostage, even if she was tortured, even if they did all kinds of awful things, the fact that Miyuki appeared to be the god of this world which she could create herself (at least, Itori presumed she created it herself. Although maybe if she couldn't create it herself that would have it make more sense. Maybe the actual world required some kind of external influence on Miyuki which could be used against her as well?). You couldn't really use a power for evil if the one wielding the power could not be opposed as long as the power was active and didn't want to help you.

Admittedly the Kumiho had already thought of at least two ways of using the girl's immense power for evil purpose even if she didn't want to, but she wouldn't use either in practice on grounds of them being too complicated and likely to backfire. In short, she was pretty sure Miyuki was being more afraid of this than was actually justified. The only reason she wouldn't say this to Miyuki was because everybody always had things they were afraid of, even more than could be justified, and telling them that rarely helped. If you were lucky they would agree but say they couldn't do anything about it. If you were unlucky they'd get mad and your ability to influence their decisions would decrease as their trust and opinion of you decreased. The fox girl considered the next step for a bit more before deciding to keep playing the role of helpful but confused team member, purposefully not pursuing the fact that Miyuki seemed to think a lot of her any further, as if willing to give her the space she needed. Raising the same tail she once again wrote in the air in front of Miyuki, expecting her to read it again even with the vermilion tracing.

'I understand. I will keep your secret. And you don't have to feel shame. You stopped before you actually struck, and even in this world I hope you do not think of me as that easily disposed of.' Itori's gentle smile became slightly mischievous and knowing at that part before returning to gentle and motherly again. 'I do admit to having become curious, however. You always gave the very convincing impression that you possessed no more magic than a human peasant, but then I find you here at the centre of one of the largest expressions of magic I have observed in a very long time. And then when I look for the source I learn that you have been hiding this world from everybody, a large world with a lot of different areas in it, much different than what would be created by a human who had only just recently learned how to create their own world. Furthermore, your control over it indicates you are like the deity of this world. There aren't many humans who can gather or contain so much magic power, much less hide it as successfully as you did. There are even less who can use it to create their own world where they can act like a god would. And of those even less who could create a world as complex as this." Itori was pretty sure she could create a more interesting world than this, but shaping a world and crafting illusions shared some similarities so she had gone through very extensive training which helped with that. She doubted Miyuki had gone through the same training, or any at all besides what she had done by herself in here. 'I will not ask of any more information than you are willing to dispense. Still, if you are willing I would appreciate it greatly if you were to explain to me more about you, this world, and how this came to be." That would do, at least for a start.

Itori was somewhat confused at Miyuki's answer regarding the Kumiho's claim that she wasn't easily defeated either inside this world or outside of it. The girl looked like she was completely serious, but it sounded like she was mocking her. Then again, Itori knew she had a tendency towards being distrustful, so maybe she should just take what was said at face value. Although even then she wondered why Miyuki would call her the strongest. The fox girl had plenty of pride in her abilities, but she could never really say that she was the strongest. She was skilful, clever and deceptive, but there was a certain level of power which couldn't be surpassed with sheer skill and intelligence, especially since there wasn't a rule about being both strong and skilled and intelligent.

The more that the Miyuki inside this world talked the more that the Kumiho got the feeling that Miyuki had a certain opinion of her. She wasn't going to ask what it was, since she doubted that the girl would give her a strange answer, but the suspicion was still there. Miyuki said that she wasn't afraid of Itori, but instead she never wanted anybody to know of this world. And if they did, she had been planning to make sure they would never be able to tell anybody of it. Which was actually pretty sensible. The best way to keep a secret was to make sure that nobody knew of it. If Itori was in a similar situation she would have done the same without a second thought. She might be able to create illusions and deceive people, but she couldn't alter memories so if a secret was actually found out the only choice left was to kill the witness.

Except that Miyuki didn't kill. Itori distinctly remembered that part. The girl sitting next to her didn't kill. It wasn't part of her style. Her brother, Kaede, had killed before, but Miyuki had shown the ability to incapacitate enemy humans by stabbing a very precise point in the back of their neck which paralysed them. A technique which she had developed so she would not have to try and take a life. Itori didn't really agree with the idea, since sometimes killing was just the best answer (like when keeping a secret. Itori wasn't too fond of murder, since it was messy and could cause psychological issues in the long run, but she would kill if necessary), but she had memorized Miyuki as being somebody who did not kill, having even gone so far as to train herself in the arts of defeating an opponent without ending their life. Itori didn't agree with it, but she acknowledged it and wasn't going to berate Miyuki about it. That was the girl's own decision.

Yet still she was willing to kill any intruders to this world. Which was a pretty big clash with her behaviour outside. Did Miyuki not feel the burden of killing in here? Or was she just so afraid of what might happen if her secret was found out, that she was willing to break her code when it came to that? She seemed honestly, strongly, purely terrified about the idea of her secret becoming known to the outside world. Every part of Miyuki was in agreement that she couldn't let anybody know about this, that even her code of not killing would not make her hesitate in protecting herself. She believed that if the secret became known, that if people learned about the girl who at such a young age could already produce an entire alternate world to govern over like a god, that there would be people who would harm the people dear to her to force her to do what they wanted from her, to turn her into a weapon for their own uses.

And at the same time her blade stopped moving the same time that she saw Itori. As afraid as Miyuki was it seemed she still found Itori too important to kill. Even though she didn't know the fox girl that well. Even though the Kumiho could easily wait for her to let her out and then deliver the information to others to make use of. Even though she had no way of ensuring that Itori would help her keep her secret and help keep her safe from those who might harm her. Itori could make all her efforts at hiding her ability worthless by selling the information to the highest bidder. There was nothing stopping her, since she hadn't interacted enough with Miyuki to feel the kind of bond that would make her agree to helping the girl here. And yet she still wouldn't kill Itori. Was it a thing she decided on the spur of the moment? That didn't work, since in that case Miyuki should only have hesitated at first, and afterwards attacked again after she realized that there was no guarantee that Itori would keep the secret for her. Consistently, persistently, Miyuki found Itori too important to kill, even though what was clearly her biggest secret was at stake.

Just what did Miyuki think of her?

Itori didn't resist when Miyuki climbed on top of her lap, instead allowing the girl to direct her arms and wrapping them around the smaller girl, smelling Miyuki's scent from really up close now. In fact Itori went further and also wrapped two of her tails around Miyuki, the third swaying behind her as she warmly embraced Miyuki from behind. It was still more beneficial to herself to act kind and caring towards Miyuki. Especially since it seemed Miyuki was going to tell her something of importance, at least to the girl herself. The fox girl was getting curious.

Taking the crystal Itori studied it, but didn't recognize it. It was most likely something unique to this world. They contained parts of what made Miyuki Miyuki, and allowed people to see those parts if they held onto the crystals. An interesting concept, although Itori wondered why they existed. Miyuki was not willing to share her world with anybody else. That much was clear. Itori only got in and was accepted by accident and because of whatever reasons Miyuki might have that made the Kumiho so important to her. Why would she need crystals that contained parts of her own thoughts and memories? Some kind of filing system? But that would be an extremely inefficient filing system. Strange... Maybe Miyuki hadn't created these crystals herself. Maybe they had just shown up when the world was created. Either way, it was time to see what Miyuki wanted her to see.

When they entered the memory Itori stared at everything that happened rather impassively. She still kept her tails and arms wrapped around Miyuki, trying to comfort the girl and make her feel safe even as the two of them watched Miyuki's past self get brutalized. It was a very strange, and disturbing, sight. Itori knew that things like this happened. It actually reminded her of what she had learned that her own sister had gone through at some point, the very thought of which made Itori's killing intent suddenly spike before she managed to make herself calm down again. This wasn't Izayoi, what happened had happened long ago, and her sister was safe now. As for Miyuki, she was also safe inside the Kumiho's arms, and she was willingly letting Itori see this. The fox girl watched, suppressing any emotional reactions she might have had, seeing how Miyuki was showing enough emotion for the both of them.

She wondered if the man who beat up Miyuki suffered from heavy mental deficiencies. Mistreating your own possessions was rarely a good idea.

After the illusion ended Itori embraced Miyuki more tightly, her tails encompassing the girl with their soft and fuzzy warmth. The Kumiho moved slightly forwards and backwards, cradling Miyuki and basically doing everything to help the girl feel better aside from actually saying something or humming a soothing tune. Her tails were warm and soft, her embrace was gentle and comforting, and the slight movement should have a similar calming effect as it would have on an even smaller child. Nothing to be done but keep helping Miyuki feel at ease until she was calm again.

Itori shook her head when Miyuki tried to recover that quickly from going through that ordeal. It might be more in line with the Miyuki that Itori is used to, but she also knows that it isn't that easy. Miyuki had yet willingly made herself watch what was most likely one of her worst memories, and showed it to somebody else for the first time as well. At least, the Kumiho had the strong suspicion that this was the first time. After all, she had been so hesitant to let anybody into her world at all, so it was quite likely that the fox girl was the first one to actually be allowed in, and even if somebody else had gone before Miyuki would still have felt hesitant about showing every single thing. Miyuki might want to be strong, a desire that Itori could completely understand (for she herself had also gone through situations where she wished she had what was necessary to change that which in her eyes was wrong), but showing such a memory for the first time to somebody isn't something you can just do and then dismiss as unimportant. There are people who could do that, but those were...well, extraordinary. It either required a level of self-control that could be considered abnormal, or they did not care for their own self at all. Neither of these things were necessarily a good thing in Itori's eyes. She might be able to hide her emotions and feelings very well, but in such a situation she herself would most likely also feel very troubled...

Actually, Miyuki was wrong about one thing. Itori did have bad memories, but the rain reason that she wasn't crying about them was because they were just that, memories. She did not focus on them on a regular basis. And the exam that Itori had taken to strengthen her mind before she could be accepted as a C-Rank mage had been one which proved that there were in fact things in Itori's past that could make her collapse onto the floor crying and shaking. It had not been a pleasant experience, as much as it had been necessary for her to face those memories and the fears that came with them. It had been unpleasant, actually horrifying, but Itori had allowed herself to shudder and cry, if only because she couldn't stop herself. And even when it was over she didn't try to immediately return to an emotional equilibrium. The reaction to cry was one developed to help a person cope. Dismissing it as weakness was not something that Itori agreed with. You had to keep up a front of control and calm in front of others, but if you were in a safe situation Miyuki should be able to let herself cry.

Not that Itori was going to tell her that right now. Instead she just shook her head and kept embracing Miyuki and softly rocking her, her soft tails acting as a warm blanket that also protected the human girl against the outside world. They were inside Miyuki's own world, where nobody else could find or hinder them. There was no need for either of them to act reserved or put up a front. Miyuki had already pretty much given away that she found Itori a bit more important than just an acquaintance or even a friend. As for Itori, she didn't really have any reason to act distant from Miyuki right now. In fact she had some good reasons to act as caring and kind towards the human as she can manage. Well, too much and Miyuki might get suspicious, so within certain bounds. For one thing Itori was very much aware of what it was like to hold secrets which were painful, and even more to look back on certain parts of your life where you experienced nothing much but sorrow or anguish. Granted, Itori had never really been abused or anything like that, but an experience which spans thousands of years, most of it spent searching for those that you lost and of which you don't know whether they're still alive or not, is one which almost always would develop at least some moments of despair, loneliness, and other negative feelings you'd rather not think about. If Miyuki found Itori important enough to share these things with her then she deserved to be given enough kindness and compassion to feel safe and comfortable even as she makes herself remember those dark times.

The other reason is that Itori would rather not be stuck in this world forever because Miyuki decided she couldn't risk Itori betraying her secret. It was a very real possibility, considering the way that Miyuki had been acting so far. The fox girl was important to her, but her secret was something extremely important to her as well. She might be willing to show the Kumiho her memories which caused this world to be created, but nothing gave Itori the idea that Miyuki might not decide afterwards that it was easier to keep the fox girl trapped in her own world. Well, with some luck Miyuki realized that would be a rather strange and unhinged thing to do, but that had not stopped humans in the past from making really bad decisions. Either way, Itori had plenty of reason to treat Miyuki with kindness right now. That was also partially why she ignored the fact that her hands were bleeding thanks to Miyuki's nails. The other reason was that Itori has a much stronger vitality than humans and those wounds would heal up quickly anyway.

The second memory had Itori frowning. In some ways it was a better memory than the other, since it seemed to be the start of Miyuki's suffering at the hand of those brutes being brought to an end, but she found what happened difficult to believe and hard to accept. Miyuki's story was a sad one, but she wasn't unique. Itori didn't encounter it a lot, but there were quite clearly a lot more innocent people who were put in horrible situations they didn't deserve, who honestly wished to be able to change the world for the better. Why had Miyuki specifically attracted the attention of a being which claimed to be the goddess of creation. There was also the fact that Itori's mythology doesn't include a goddess of creation called Eone. And since it was a memory she couldn't easily tell if this Eone was a demon in disguise or not. Either way, she was suspicious. She wouldn't immediately tell Miyuki that though. It was clear that this was a turning point in Miyuki's life, for the better, so she wouldn't immediately go and warn her that she might have been tricked by a demon. Instead she just kept her arms and tails around Miyuki and softly rocked her back and forth, watching the memories together with the girl in her arms.

Itori didn't react to Miyuki stroking her tail. At least, not in any negative way. Usually she was quite protective of her tails, but since she was trying to make the human girl feel comfortable she couldn't really go and tell her not to do that. Not that she would simply let Miyuki do whatever she wanted, but stroking the tail wasn't that bad. As long as she avoided touching the base, but that should be out of her reach in their current position anyway, with Itori having wrapped both her arms and her tails around the other female. If Miyuki tried to reach around all of that to the place where Itori's three tails sprouted from her lower back the Kumiho could quickly notice and stop her. Until then she would let Miyuki stroke her tails. Not as if it didn't feel good anyway. She usually took care of her tails herself, but having somebody else show affection for them also had its benefits. On Miyuki's side she would be able to enjoy the feel of such soft and smooth texture, Itori's tails feeling like their fur was made out of actual silk, if not even better. Itori might not be as outstanding as her two sisters, but she still was a Kumiho of an outstanding bloodline who made sure that her tails were always in perfect condition.

The fox girl watched as the two last memories were shown, wondering what exactly happened to Miyuki during the training that she didn't want to show it. Guessing from her behaviour the girl had gone through some pains to get the hang of things. Most likely she was just embarrassed at the thought of showing anybody her initial attempts. Itori wouldn't like it if somebody saw her blundering about either. Showing yourself get beaten up when you were weak and helpless was one thing. While it might have been very painful only stupid people would think less of you. After all, Miyuki was only a kid back then, and obviously in no state to do anything beyond trying her best to survive. Resisting or struggling would just have made things worse. Showing that might reopen old wounds, but in itself it wasn't that embarrassing. Much different from if you were training something as complex and strange as altering your surroundings, where people would get to see you mess up and make things worse for yourself.

Once both the memories had been shown Itori listened to Miyuki, nodding as the girl explained that Eone actually wasn't the real goddess of creation, but that she had been given that name by humans who had seen her powers, found themselves incapable of explaining them, and decided that she had to be some kind of deity of creation to be able to do that. That did make more sense, since Itori had never heard of anybody like Eone before, and she had lived for long enough that if Eone was a real deity she would most likely have encountered more of her in the past. Instead she just was a very powerful entity who had been revered as a divine being by a group of humans, even if those humans had long since passed away. That did somewhat make Itori feel better, since it meant that Eone wasn't deceiving Miyuki. Although the girl's next question made all those thoughts disappear as the fox girl appeared to become rather stiff for a moment before she relaxes again.

Inside Itori's mind a conflict arises, one where she tries to figure out whether telling Miyuki about why she doesn't speak would be a good idea or not. On one hand, the less people know the better, and not because she feared her power being used for evil purposes. It was just that the power of her voice was a disastrous one. Almost never did anything good come from it, so the Kumiho had decided to just not use it at all. And she has no reason to believe that Miyuki is trustworthy enough. The girl won't just blab her mouth at random, but the fox girl has no reason to believe that she couldn't be convinced to talk, either through payment or torture. Granted, since she didn't fear her ability being abused maybe that wasn't so much a problem...the real issue was very simply that Itori would rather not think about it. And she didn't want others to know either. It was better if she was known as a mute, or just a very silent person. Talking about it wouldn't do anybody any good.

On the other hand, Miyuki had just shown her some very personal memories about how she got the power which allowed her to create and control this world the two of them were residing in. That wasn't something she would just do for anybody, of that Itori was sure. Furthermore, it meant that the human had first given her a sign of trust, and she was basically asking for Itori to return that trust (although Miyuki might not realize that she had set up the situation like that, and that she was putting the pressure on the Kumiho by first revealing her own secret and then asking for hers, even if she asked quite politely). Could Itori afford to refuse to talk? And then there was the fact that she still had to make sure that she could get out of this world later on... Maybe revealing her secret would make Miyuki feel safer about her own being known by the fox girl, making her feel more inclined to trust Itori when it came to keeping her secret. Eventually Itori held up one hand, and began to write in the air in front of Miyuki's eyes, which lasted quite a while seeing what she had to say:

'In the past there was a village. There was nothing remarkable about this village. Like many small human villages they struggled to survive, but they weren't worse off than other villages of that size. The villagers got along quite nicely, and they were also friendly towards travellers. It was the kind of village that many a human warrior would have dreamt of settling down in after having become too old to fight.

This village no longer exists. It was not taken by war, nor by bandits, nor by earthquakes. No disaster, human or natural, claimed the inhabitants and left the buildings to decay and fade away.

One day the village was visited by an outsider. The villagers accepted the outsider as willingly as all other travellers had been welcomed up until that point. The outsider was one who did not speak. While that was an abnormality the villagers did not press the issue, believing that it was not their business. And they were correct in that assumption.'

Itori's expression was completely neutral as she kept writing in the air. If talking about this made her feel anything she wasn't showing it. Then again, her neutral expression could be considered a confession in itself.

'The outsider stayed for several days, for she had found a place where she could rest without having to worry about being harassed about her more outlandish traits. The village was small enough that even if somebody were to bother her the other villagers would stand up for her and make sure she didn't actually feel attacked. It was a nice place, even though she couldn't stay for long.

Then on the last day, when she had already made it clear that she was planning to leave soon, the villagers were having a day of celebration, where nobody worked and they would instead spend their time together. It wasn't anything big. The harvest had been a good one that year, no disasters had struck, so they could afford to have a day off, and apparently they wanted to include the outsider before she left, because she had been helpful and cooperative in her own way.

They asked her if she was willing to sing. It had already become clear that she was silent because she wished to, not because she could not speak. In fact she had told them that herself, seeing no harm in it. However she had neglected to tell them why she preferred to stay silent. On the day itself this resulted in her being unable to say no to the villagers. They had been very tolerant and polite, even kind, and even when asking they were still well aware of protocol and etiquette, even if they were perhaps a bit more insistent than usual. Eventually the outsider relented, hoping that she could satisfy their desire to hear her sing, joining in with the others, without causing a disaster.

This was a mistake.'

Itori's face remained completely passive as her finger kept moving, not a single tremor to betray her.

'When they heard her song the villagers were overjoyed. They heard a voice which sounded like it came from the heavens itself instead of from a mortal. A voice which could not possibly belong to a normal person. And they were right. It was not a normal voice, and not a normal person. The song filled them with energy and enthusiasm. The celebrations became more and more exuberant. To this day the outsider does not know when the first man died. All she knows is that when she looked at the villagers they were killing each other without any hesitation or mercy, all grinning like they were having the greatest time in their lives. They would use whatever they could get their hands on, they would use their nails and teeth if nothing else was available. It was as if every single one of them had been consumed by bloodthirst and insanity.

The song had instilled sheer cheerfulness and enthusiasm in them. The song was one of celebration and energy. The outsider had been wishing for the opportunity to sing without having to fear the results, but now she saw that her song had made that cheerfulness and enthusiasm fill the minds of the villagers completely. They had lost sight of anything else, including restraint and morality. They were only enjoying themselves, and because they were no longer restrained they found joy in ripping each other to pieces, brought to insanity by that voice which controlled their minds and their bodies, a voice so heavenly that any mortal who heard it would lose sight of themselves.

The outsider immediately fled the town. And from that point on she tried to make people believe that she was utterly mute. And she would never sing again, knowing what would happen if she did. She was the only one who could resist her own voice, so the only time she could ever sing was if she knew that there was nothing in the vicinity which had the ears to hear her. Even though she loved to sing, and even though she dearly wished she could speak. Her voice was a blessing and a curse, so beautiful as to lead to nothing but disaster.'

Itori stopped writing at that point, watching Miyuki as she waited for the girl to acknowledge the story. Would she be frightened? Or would she pity her? The Kumiho did not like being pitied, even though she was pretty sure that if she heard of this story as belonging to someone else she would be pitying them as well.

Itori didn't react to Miyuki's first reaction, still calmly staring at her. Miyuki is correct in her assumption that the fox girl did not like undue sympathy, and pity was even worse. Yes, it was a horrible story, one that could bring the more sensitive person to tears. However for the Kumiho it was already long ago, and she wouldn't let it turn her into a sobbing wreck. The fact that it had served as a source of trauma was already bad enough, but she would not make it the source of her lack of pride and control as well. That was a bridge too far, a bridge that she wasn't going to cross. Although it was good to know that Miyuki understood that she didn't not tell the story to gain sympathy. What she had done was return the favour of telling a painful story about the past, so Miyuki would feel more connected and because of that more likely to trust the Kumiho to keep her secret and let her go once Itori wanted to leave. It seemed to be working, seeing how the next action from the girl was to tackle and embrace her.

Keeping her arms wrapped around the girl Itori winced slightly when she fell onto the ground with Miyuki lying on top of her. It didn't hurt, but the impact was still a bit of a shock, especially since she was facing the girl and couldn't see it coming. The only thing she had been able to do was let herself go limp and brace for impact. They didn't even fall that far, but falling on your back because of a surprise tackle could be damned painful if you didn't react to it fast enough. Luckily she did react fast enough, so Itori could just look at Miyuki as the girl hugged her tightly, Itori's tails once again wrapping around her as she returned the tight embrace. Listening to the girl's words her large fox ears twitched and swivelled, the fox girl taking Miyuki's words as assurance that at least Miyuki was willing to let her go afterwards. Although the thought of them being family made the Kumiho raise her eyebrows mentally. She wasn't going to argue against it, but her sisters, the two people in the world for which she had gone through so much, were both still alive, thankfully. It wasn't like she was completely alone on the world, even though one of her sisters had left for another guild for some reason and the other was pretty hard to actually catch (she had no idea what was going on with Iniki). Still, having Miyuki actually feel genuine affection for her had more benefits than downsides.

Although it looked like Miyuki hadn't completely understood when Itori told her the tale of what happened the last time she used her voice out loud in public (not counting the illusion in the cave). Itori did feel bad about that day, yes, but Miyuki would not be able to get rid of that by saying that it was not her fault. Because it had been. Miyuki said that she didn't think that would happen. She had thought of it, she had just let their urgings overcome her fear and had sung, hoping that this time it would not end in tragedy. Miyuki was doing her best to make her feel good, but the truth was that there was nothing good to be salvaged from this story, and the subject itself. Itori had begun to sing, knowing very well that it could go badly very easily, for no other reason than that the villagers had been nice and had been insistent on hearing her sing. She had known it could happen, but she had caved in to the pressure and had sung all those people to their deaths. It was so long ago, but thanks to her intensive training as an illusionist she could still remember every detail (illusionists like Itori were trained to remember everything they saw, because everything could help with creating a better illusion, and becoming used to remembering all sorts of scenes in perfect detail would make it easier for the mind to create entirely new and fully detailed scenes). She wasn't one whose every night would be tormented with the memory, but it did pop up from time to time.

She would have to explain to Miyuki that she couldn't make Itori feel any better than this. The Kumiho had already gone through all the mental stages of the grief that followed, and then some seeing how long ago it was. It was so long ago that the village would appear on no map, except maybe a dusty and half-rotten map stored away in some library for no other reason than that librarians are always reluctant to truly throw something away. It was very, very long ago.

The fox girl began to write in the air again, making sure that Miyuki was watching and reading. She wanted to make sure that the girl understood this, so she would not try any longer to achieve something which was beyond her reach.

'It wasn't the first time I saw it. It was the last one because I stopped speaking after that, and possibly one of the most horrible ones, but it was not an isolated incident. For as long as I can remember, and according to parents even when I was born, my voice would overwhelm others and affect their minds. It wasn't as strong when I was little, but it didn't take long before I became very hesitant to speak under all circumstances, simply because someone might be listening. I had already seen the results of my singing countless of times when I came to that village. I already knew what kind of things might happen if I let them hear my voice. They were generous and kind people, but they weren't strong of mind. Few humans truly are. It is a very rare trait. When they asked me to sing I knew what might happen but I refused. When they finally convinced me I was still thinking of what might happen. I knew it could go wrong, and what could go wrong. The only thing I did was sing and hope that what I knew would happen would not happen. Unfortunately it did. I am neither innocent nor forgiven. I killed them, knowing very well that they would die. Only because I was unable to refuse them.'

Itori stared at Miyuki, seeing that the girl was genuinely trying to help, and could not help but feel a stab of annoyance. Well, also gratefulness, but a part of her wanted to know what Miyuki thought she could do that would help Itori deal with the fact that her voice was a bringer of disaster.

'If you can help I do not know of it. My voice appears to be a combination of divine beauty and magic, powerful enough that even the strongest of beasts and mages have proven themselves incapable of being unaffected. Willpower and might make it easier to retain a modicum of self, but even you aren't safe. Countless attempts have been made to study my voice and figure out how to let me control it, but none ever made any process. Your magic is a very intriguing and promising one, but I do not believe that the power to create and change worlds includes the ability to grant me control over my voice.'

Itori raised her eyebrows slightly when Miyuki suddenly released the block which made affecting this world impossible for anybody but herself. She was glad because she disliked her illusions being blocked, but she wondered why. Maybe the girl was showing that she didn't feel the need to protect herself against her? Was it a sign of trust? The Kumiho wasn't so stupid as to try anything with the one who acted as the ruler of this world. For one thing it didn't really give her anything even if she did manage to overwhelm her, and for the other she still needed Miyuki to get out of this place. Honestly she didn't get why anybody would try to force Miyuki to do what they wanted her to do after hearing about her ability. An ability which allowed the wielder to quickly put herself and everybody in a hundred meter radius inside a world where the wielder was a deity was not something that you could just turn against them and use for your own benefit when the wielder didn't want you to. There were ways for that but the Kumiho dismissed them all as crude and unwieldy. Better to just not give Miyuki reason to trap you inside her world. Although Itori had mostly ended up in this world by accident...well, something of an accident. She had accidentally found the place where Miyuki had released her magic, but she had willingly stepped forward to find out what was going on.

With Miyuki off of her the fox girl changed her position, sitting upright with crossed legs, her tails swaying gently behind her. She wasn't sure whether to immediately ask Miyuki whether she could return to their own world, now that they had both shared something of their past, or if she should wait a bit more. Miyuki seemed to be somewhat disturbed and sad by Itori's tale. Itori herself had long since come to terms with had happened and moved on. Well, to some extent. If she had completely moved on she wouldn't have been given that vision when entering that cave where you had to face your fears. And she wouldn't be so traumatized about her own voice (although her voice had a large amount of incidents that helped her be traumatized about it). But she had at least come to terms with it enough that she didn't break down or feel particularly depressed while thinking about that day. It was a sad turn of events, but she had already beaten herself up plenty enough about it. No need to spend the rest of her long, long life constantly feeling guilt about that day. That would just dull her edge and make her doubt every part of her if she kept it up for too long.

Itori's attention was pulled back to Miyuki when her large fox ears picked up something new. Singing. Miyuki had begun to sing, the Kumiho silently listening. Her large ears weren't just for show: the range of sounds she could hear was far wider than what the deaf humans could pick up on, and she could also hear sounds much softer, much farther away, much more delicate. Itori had sharp eyes, but her strongest senses were her nose and her ears, as befitting of an intelligent fox. This meant that for Itori to hear music was an even greater joy than pretty much any human, since the sound had a much greater meaning and influence on her. Of course that also meant that bad sounds were much more horrible, but that was dwelling on the negative. Humans were pretty much deaf from Itori's perspective, and while they could hear in a very limited range it was only a secondary thing for them. For Itori the information from her ears was a lot more important, and thus she could appreciate the music a lot better as well. The fox silently listened to Miyuki singing, silently judging the performance. Miyuki certainly had a good voice for a human, good harmonics and steady. She also knew how to sing, so she had obviously done it before. That or she was a genius.

The Kumiho kept listening as her ears stayed aimed at Miyuki, the fox girl quickly remembering the lyrics of this song. It was a beautiful one, but also very sad. It spoke of happier times in the past, and the willingness to keep going and find new moments and happiness. Friends lost, but a determination to find new friends, new people to share your happiness and love with. Happy and sad at the same time, the kind of song which made you cry but also smile. A song which could only be created by somebody who had gone through such things themselves, who had composed the song while silently crying tears for those happy memories. It was a song which actually spoke to Itori quite closely. She wouldn't call her life that dramatic, but she did remember the days that she and her sisters were still able to play freely and without worries, letting the adult Kumihos take care of all the problems and watch over them. Something which could never happen again. Itori, Iniki and Izayoi were the only ones to survive from that time, and each one of them qualified as an adult now. Even if they managed to revive the Kumiho species it would not bring back the times from those memories. That happiness had ended. Instead they would have to find happiness in watching the young Kumiho grow up. A new kind of happiness.

Miyuki would find that her voice was suddenly joined by another, one that couldn't be ignored. It was a voice which did not belong to this world or any other mortal realm. It was a voice which ignored all reservations and enthralled your very being. A voice so beautiful that it could only belong to a divine entity, sent to the mortal realm to bless the insignificant souls living there with a miraculous sound beyond anything they could ever hope to produce themselves. A voice which would drive one to madness, its beauty so grand as to dominate the minds of those that hear it and make them forget their own selves. A voice which was so close to perfection as to be as terrifying as it was enchanting and alluring. The Vulpine Siren had begun to sing, having been pulled in by Miyuki's song. She had felt the apprehension, to keep silent because her voice never brought anything but misfortune. But the song had hit too close to her actual feelings, and because she was a Kumiho she was a lot more easily caught up in the beauty of music. She didn't know what would happen, but for now she would sing, once again releasing her voice, this time in a world where there was only one person who might hear it, a person who could be considered a goddess.

However instead of capturing and enthralling Miyuki the voice would entangle with Miyuki's own, matching it and enhancing the voice. Even though she never spoke Itori's curse had also come with an innate unmatched musical talent. Beyond that her voice would never break or become hoarse even though she had spent entire human lifetimes without saying a single thing. It would always be in pristine condition, ready to be unleashed. Rather than a mute whose voice became weaker by the day Itori's blessing, curse and talent were more like a treasure, stored away but never fading or losing its value. Which Miyuki was now witness to as Itori smoothly joined her song, and instead of completely overwhelming the girl's own voice enhanced it and raised it to new heights with her own, supporting and guiding it. Nobody who heard this could doubt that there was some form of magic, or even divine guidance, was involved in Itori's song.

And Miyuki stayed in control of herself. She might feel the sadness, the happiness and the hopeful determination which belonged to that song and which were made real by Itori's voice, but rather than being overwhelmed it was more like Itori's voice made her mind light up, made her reach a new state of mental clarity and profoundness. The music would dance through her head, guiding all her thoughts to become organized and in harmony as they all obeyed the rhythm of the song. It could be called a state of ecstasy, even though it did not actually hinder Miyuki's ability to act.

If the girl were to look around she would realize that she was no longer sitting on that hill in her world. Her entire world was out of her sight. Actually, no, she was still there, but her mind was somewhere else. She could still control her body, but yet she could feel that her mind and body were in different places as her body continued singing. An experience that would most likely lead to a lot of confusion, if it weren't for the effects that Itori's song had on Miyuki's mind, helping her avoid feeling anything like confusion or panic. She was still inside her own world, safe and in control. It was just that at the same time her mind had found another place, a place of supreme beauty.

She was sitting on a plain with many blades of grass, expanding far and wide. However in the distance in one direction there were mountains, old and gentle mountains which were more like oversized hills than those sharp peaks which would stab the sky. Beyond those mountains the sun was touching the horizon, throwing rays or orange and yellow across the sky even as the twilight fought to claim the land. The clouds that drifted through the sky were in the middle of the conflict, one side orange and the other blue. A scene of the day slowly giving way to night, a scene of a wondrous but sad moment where something precious was disappearing. The blades of grass waved as a soft breeze travelled across the landscape, not enough to do much beyond causing the grass to wave and Miyuki's hair to drift. It was a perfect image, or at least an image which could be considered perfect by many. A place and time which would cause any artist who saw it to weep even as they tried their best to paint a likeliness, even though they knew that this beauty of nature could not be fully captured on canvas.

And next to Miyuki sat the one who was causing this, the Kumiho also known as the Vulpine Siren. Itori herself looked somewhat puzzled, however she also looked joyous at this new state and location, watching the sun ever so slowly disappear behind the mountains. She was smiling with joy, even though tears were also streaming down her face. Even though she was the one who had caused the both of them to reach this mental state together it was clear that she hadn't been planning for it and hadn't realized it would happen. Nobody had ever sung together with her, or even played an instrument while she sang. When she was still young the others were curious about her voice but once they learned that its effects couldn't be avoided they would not dare to give her reason to sing. And after that she had become so silent that it simply never happened. This was the first time that she had ever been given the opportunity to sing together with somebody else, and now that she saw the results she was weeping with both joy and sadness, joy at finding this mental state and sadness for having never found it earlier.

A wonderful thing had befallen both of them, entirely by accident. Their bodies were still singing together in Miyuki's world, and their combined song filled the air of this mental realm, softly and ever so fitting of the sight before them.

(The mental realm the both of them reached. Well, without the piano.)

Fortunately for Miyuki Itori was a bit too focused on the landscape that surrounded the two of them to notice that the girl had possibly insulted her illusions, only to then immediately backpedal and explain that she only meant that she found this place to be absolutely amazing. If the Kumiho had been paying attention to Miyuki she probably would have chuckled at the fact that Kaede appeared to be afraid of her. Although it wouldn't be very surprising news to her. Kaede had expressed a severe dislike and disgust for her, but disgust was usually based on a lack of understanding and fear when it came to something other than just, you know, messy stuff. It wasn't the first time that Itori had been disliked and hated by somebody because they feared her. Not by a long shot. True, she tried to avoid situations like that because it was better not to be noticed, but in her long life there had been one or two times where she had revealed herself to a couple of humans in an abandoned location, and their reactions also tended to be a combination of disgust and fear, because they couldn't understand this strange fox-like person who deceived them with apparent ease and used illusions beyond anything they had experienced before. If Kaede was one of those humans who couldn't handle that and became fearful and hateful of her she would tolerate it, although she would have to resist the urge to mess with his head.

Instead the fox girl was still staring at the sun hidden behind the mountains, confused and amazed by this new place. She could still hear herself singing down there, in Miyuki's world, but instead of being afraid of what might happen she felt at peace. She and Miyuki were singing, but for some reason there was no cause for alarm. Instead she just watched this beautiful yet sad landscape, a landscape which suited the song that the two of them were singing. A landscape which spoke of many things, of happiness, sadness and hopefulness. It was the kind of landscape Itori would rarely if ever use for an illusion, because it was too surreal. She had placed people in illusions which made them believe that they had been trapped in one of the many hells that existed in this reality, but even that was a lot more believable than this place. It was just too...perfect. The world was always filled with imperfections. Part of why being an illusionist was so extremely difficult if you wanted to actually master it was that the world was packed immensely tight with details, many of which counted as imperfections. To be able to create something with as much detail as reality, with enough imperfections to make it real but not enough to make it look excessively flawed, required a special mind. A mind which could memorize every single bit of detail, which could imagine entire worlds, which could sustain those things for extended periods of time. It had taken Itori a lot of time before she could be considered a master at illusions, if only because it took practice to be able to memorize and use so much detail.

But this world appeared to actually be perfect. It was obviously not a real place. There were no flaws to be found. The ground, the grass, the air, the skies, the clouds, the mountains, the sun, the rays of light... Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be, looking exactly as it was supposed to look like. It would take your breath away, but at the same time if Itori were to use it against an unwilling target they would quickly realize that it wasn't a real place. The Kumiho didn't know exactly where she was, but it was beautiful, and she was having trouble regaining her composure. She didn't know the how, why, or what, but she knew that she wanted to stay and stare at that sunset forever.

Unfortunately that wasn't possible, as her brains reminded her that Miyuki had said something. Turning her head to look at the girl Itori looked puzzled before she remembered, at which point she silently shook her head. It took several more seconds before she opened her mouth and spoke, once again letting that divine voice fill the air around it. How she could be speaking in this realm even though she could still feel herself singing in Miyuki's world she didn't know, but she had trouble focusing on that issue. In this realm it didn't seem like common sense or logic worked as they should. It was a place with its own rules, and the fox didn't know them.

"I...didn't create this."

Apparently the Kumiho wasn't worried about what her voice might do to Miyuki right now. And Miyuki would feel that while the voice was still so beautiful as to be enchanting it wasn't actually flooding and overwhelming her mind. Still a supernatural voice, but no longer the siren's call which would lure you into madness and disaster. The Kumiho was speaking truth: she had never seen this world before, and she hadn't created it. She didn't know where it had appeared from, how it had been created, or why they were in it. She was as completely unaware of what was going on as Miyuki was, although the Kumiho's brilliant mind was already preparing several possibilities. She wondered if finding out what was going on was that important, however. Maybe she should forget about learning what was happening and just enjoy this strange world, this gift from seemingly nowhere with no cause or origin? She wished her sisters could see this. She would have to do her best to memorize every detail of this world so she could recreate it for her sisters so they could see what the Vulpine Siren had seen, a landscape so perfect that it could never be real, but also could never be an illusion. A landscape which defied reason and the rules of the world in favour of being the most beautiful thing Itori had ever seen.

Itori raised her eyebrows and stared at Miyuki as the girl began to giggle, wondering what she was so amused by. She couldn't get angry or even annoyed in this world: it was to beautiful and surreal, too perfect and too soothing. Feeling anything negative seemed to be beyond her as long as she was in this scenery painted by the rays of a sun about to disappear, allowing the night to take its place and fill the world with another type of beauty. Instead of being irritated she instead waited for Miyuki to explain why she was giggling. She imagined that the girl had some kind of reason, since she didn't seem like the type to just start giggling out of nowhere. Which was a good thing, because the Kumiho didn't appreciate airheads. She herself had an incredibly sharp mind, one which she was constantly putting to good use, which meant that somebody who neither had an impressive mind nor tried to use what little they had properly was in her eyes a failure. Well, maybe not necessarily a failure, but not somebody she had any inclination to hang out with unless their personality was one which appealed to Itori immensely.

At Miyuki's explanation the fox girl slowly nodded, although she was clearly still doubtful about the idea of this being her doing. She had never heard about this idea that the world itself had a frequency, and that one could find who the world belonged to by sensing the resonance. It was surprising to encounter a piece of knowledge that she hadn't at least heard of before, but in this case it also made sense since the magic of creation wasn't one that you would encounter often, and even then Miyuki was the first human she had encountered whose magic appeared to be focused on the actual creating and changing of worlds. Every magic had its secrets, and she guessed the fact that worlds had a frequencies was one of those. Maybe she should explain to Miyuki that it was better for her not to be too free in explaining her magic. The one about frequencies wasn't that harmful, since Itori couldn't sense it and thus most likely nobody but Miyuki could (and people whose magic was similar to Miyuki). And even if she could, unless she learned more about it the most she could do with it was figure out whose world they were in. While that was useful it wasn't exactly something that would grant certain success under normal circumstances. However Itori was pretty sure that even if this particular secret wasn't that dangerous Miyuki must have others that she shouldn't ever share, and it was better to get used to not revealing secrets by also keeping the more innocent ones to yourself.

Itori looked back towards the sunset, once more revelling in the beauty of this place. However after the original shock and awe she also began to think of what was going on. This had never happened before, but Miyuki was sure that it wasn't her. The only thing that she could think of was the fact that Miyuki was the first person the Kumiho had an opportunity to sing together with, but that didn't explain everything, or even a lot. She could create a world like this using her illusions. Unlike humans, who usually could only manage to create illusions which fooled your eyes and possibly even your ears, Itori's illusions were on a whole other level, and could do a lot more. She wasn't as good as older Kumiho had been back home, but she was talented enough, dedicated enough, and experienced enough that her illusions could fool all the senses, and possibly even the world itself. It was something which humans usually couldn't even imagine. For them illusions were something which gave you an image which was not real. They did not realize that the idea behind an illusion was that you created something which was not real, which made people believe that something which did exist didn't exist, something which didn't exist did exist, which made something appear to be something else entirely. There was nothing which bound illusions to the two senses of sight and hearing. That was what humans believed because they themselves were barely incapable of creating those kind of illusions. They didn't have the innate talent nor knowledge for anything else. Itori was sure that they could be taught, but it would most likely be very hard for them to let go of this idea of theirs that an illusion was only a thing of light and sound.

She could create a world like this, although this level required some time and effort, not to mention a fair deal of energy. However she hadn't. And one little fact that she had noticed was enough proof for her to be certain that she hadn't created this, consciously or subconsciously.

"This world was not created using my energy. I do not feel my energy being drained or affected. I might simply be unaware of it, but due to my control over my magic I find it unlikely that I would not notice if I was subconsciously sustaining a creation such as this one."

Itori looked around, inspecting the world some more. She was sure that there was nobody else here, so it wasn't like they were trapped (unless this unseen person was incredibly good at staying undetected, enough to feel both Miyuki and herself, the goddess and the master of deception respectively), but that didn't answer the question how this world had been created. Concentrating further she could sense that this world was somehow supported by the song created by both herself and Miyuki, but the exact details managed to elude her and didn't leave her any more confused. She turned back to Miyuki, the fox girl looking rather confused although this place was still keeping her from actually being worried or alarmed.

"It appears the combination of our voices in song was what created this world and is sustaining it, even if I can not tell how or where the energy would be coming from. I can not feel my magic being drained, and you would have noticed if it was yours, especially since you said that this world's frequency did not match you. Do you know for certain that the frequency of this place belongs to me, or was that an assumption based on the fact that it did not belong to you?"

Her three tails swirled behind her as the fox girl thought some further about their situation, now switching her attention to another strange aspect of the situation. Here she was, sitting in a perfect scenery of beauty, sadness, hopefulness and nostalgia, together with Miyuki, a world which appeared to be formed from their song using some source of power that Itori was unaware of. And she was talking, and while she could see from the way Miyuki was acting that she liked her voice, she wasn't behaving as if the voice was filling her being and controlling her thoughts and emotions. She stared at Miyuki, actually leaning forward as she studied the girl more intensely.

"Another strange occurrence is that you are talking to me, and I am talking to you, yet somehow my voice is not affecting you like it has affected everybody else in the past. If this was your world where you had made it impossible for anything but you to influence the world I could understand this, yet you have claimed that this place did not belong to you. Seeing how my voice was rather absolute in its effects at all times this is most curious."

Itori didn't reject Miyuki when the girl approached her and lay down with her head on the Kumiho's lap. Normally she might have objected to this but in their current situation that just felt like a silly thing to do. She wondered just how much of how she was feeling right now was a direct reaction to being in this world and how much she would have felt regardless. This location of a dying sun was one which made her feel very calm and comfortable, even if it made her joyous and sad as well. In such a place being rude to Miyuki was not something she could really get herself to be. Besides, it was a rather comfortable position. Miyuki wasn't particularly heavy or large, so it wasn't really a burden on the healthy Itori anyway, and the rather intimate position felt good in a way. Itori did refrain from actually stroking Miyuki's hair though. Especially when that hair began to glow together with Miyuki and drifted as if the girl had been submerged into water. Itori gave Miyuki her hand silently, wondering what her companion was planning to do. She blinked when suddenly she was experiencing some strange form of vibration, one which didn't appear to have any real source other than Miyuki's hand. However it was spreading out together with the glow until the Kumiho herself was also glowing and she was feeling the vibration with her entire body. Her ears were quivering, matching the frequency of the vibration so they actually looked somewhat blurred.

Miyuki's explanation was a curious one. According to the girl everything that existed had a frequency which distinguished it from everything else. Itori knew about the story that you could make glass break using your voice but she didn't think that counted for basically everything. She had never heard of anybody using their voice to break a rock, for example. Actually that wasn't completely true: she was aware that there were mages who used sound as their medium, and some of those were rather offensively inclined and basically attacked their targets with blasts of sound, and since sound was basically vibrations in the air if those vibrations were strong enough they could actually deal a fair amount of damage with that. But she hadn't imagined that meant anything other than that those sound mages were using lots of magic to unleash destructive waves through the air. It seemed creation magic contained yet another secret. Itori was wondering if Miyuki really should be telling her these things so freely. The idea that worlds had a frequency wasn't too dangerous since there was little that anybody could do with it, but the fact that basically everything had a frequency they resonated to and that this could be used to destroy said object was a bit more dangerous. However she would keep that warning for until Miyuki was done explaining.

Itori closed her eyes as she did as Miyuki requested and placed her free hand on her own chest, seizing up her own frequency and that of the world they had suddenly been located in. She did have to admit that she couldn't find a difference in the frequency. Which actually felt kind of weird. Now that Miyuki was allowing her to feel these frequencies encountering something which matched her own frequency perfectly for some reason felt rather odd, even if the Kumiho couldn't figure out why.

When Miyuki released her hand Itori felt the glow and the ability to sense the frequencies slip away from her. Then she blinked, looking rather puzzled as she held up her now free hand to signal for Miyuki to wait with the rest of her explanation. Itori's ears were still quivering, and delivering some really strange information to her mind. At first it was rather unclear, but then it seemed to sharpen as her mind got used to the new information and figured out how to translate it. The Kumiho looked around as she tried to figure out why she was now all of a sudden constantly hearing music. It wasn't very complex music, but it didn't seem like it was going to stop any time soon. Itori forced her ears to stop quivering, which caused the music to become softer, even if it didn't completely go away. Frowning the Kumiho swivelled her ears, cocking her head as she tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually she figured out that at least part of the song that was now in the background of her mind originated from Miyuki, whereas the rest seemed to be from the world around them. What's more she could hear another song, which came from down below in Miyuki's world where she and the girl was still singing. Hearing three different song should make for a rather bad result, but for some reason Itori didn't mind it, as if she was able to listen to all three at the same time without them getting in each other's way.

"Do you normally hear these frequencies as a song in your head?"

The rest of Miyuki's explanation Itori listened to even though this new song was somewhat distracting her. It was more of a background melody than something which demanded her full attention, but it was still making it difficult for her to focus on what Miyuki was saying. Especially since Miyuki's voice sounded slightly odd for some reason. The Kumiho was somewhat worried, since normally her ears were far better than those of anybody she had encountered. It wasn't like she couldn't hear Miyuki properly, but it was like she was suddenly hearing new undertones and overtones. It was rather disconcerting. Itori shook her head but her ears didn't change back to how they were. The Kumiho was still listening to Miyuki but it was clear that she wasn't completely there, until she eventually sighed and gave up. She could still hear Miyuki properly so she'd just have to get used to the fact that there now seemed to be music everywhere.

As for Miyuki's explanation, Itori had the feeling that while the girl was in fact making sense she was at the same time approaching the question from the wrong direction. She did know that there was a distinct difference between an illusion, no matter how high level and complicated, and creating an actual physical object. Itori was good enough with illusions that she could make something which felt and behaved as if it was real, but in the end it was still a temporary construct of magic. This allowed the Kumiho to control it and alter it as needed but it also meant that it only lasted for as long as the magic she poured into it lasted. But as she had noted before she didn't feel her energy being drained to support this new place the two of them had been placed in, which supported the idea that it wasn't an illusion and instead an actual place...but it still felt off to her.

Miyuki's suggestions for why Itori's voice didn't affect her also didn't manage to satisfy the Kumiho. Once the girl was done talking Itori mentioned for her to stay silent for a while as she considered the situation. Miyuki herself had asked for Itori's opinion so the human female could wait for a bit as the fox thought about all the possibilities. She'd have to look at all the facts and see if they carried a hint towards figuring out what was going on.

First of all, the fact that suddenly there was a background melody which never stopped and which seemed to originate from the world itself. Itori mulled this over for a while, looking at her surroundings. Swivelling her ears she figured out that each part of the world was contributing to the melody, although most of her surroundings gave basically the same melody. Miyuki was the great difference, even though her contribution also weaved in neatly with that of the rest of the world and only served to make the music a bit more complicated. The music she could hear from Miyuki's world was different. It took her several seconds to realize that the main difference was that the entirety of Miyuki's world gave the same melody as Miyuki herself, although there were some minor variations depending on the location. Seeing how she began to hear this after Miyuki explained those vibrations and frequencies the Kumiho formed the hypothesis that she was somehow hearing those frequencies, which her mind turned into music for her to easier understand.

Second, the additions to Miyuki's voice. They seemed to be more enhancements than anything else. Itori couldn't really figure those out right now, and they didn't seem to be of any use to her while she was trying to figure out what this world was about.

As for this world... The Kumiho shook her head. It didn't feel real. Well, it felt real, but it felt so real that it was hard to believe that it actually was. This place didn't seem to be an actual physical location. Rather it was a perfect representation of something. Itori went over all the information she had, including the fact that they were placed here after she joined Miyuki's voice and that even though they were here she could also feel herself singing together with Miyuki back down in Miyuki's own world. Why would they be in two locations at the same time if she had merely created this place? That didn't really make sense. And then there was the fact that the melody of this place felt really familiar...even more familiar than it should have been if it was something she herself had created... The Kumiho touched the grass. Every single detail was there, every single blade of grass possessing just as much information as any grass she had ever encountered before. But this place was not normal...

Itori cocked her head, her ears once again twitching. The melody in her mind had altered slightly. It was largely the same, but now there was a hint of...confusion? Her mind was translating the music, and then translating that music into meaning. The melody of this world was the same as the feelings Itori had gotten from hearing Miyuki's song: happy and sad, nostalgic and hopeful. But now there was a hint of confusion in there, of puzzlement, as if the world itself was wondering about a puzzle which had shown itself.

The Kumiho placed her hand flat against the ground, concentrating. There was only one puzzle here and that was the world itself, and she was trying to solve it. Combining all the information gave her an idea that she felt deserved testing. Miyuki would see Itori close her eyes in concentration before slowly raising her hand. However instead of parting from the ground the ground rose up with the fox's hand, forming a pillar of earth covered in grass until Itori stopped her hand at chest height. Opening her eyes Itori studied the small pillar she had just created, which was mere inches in diameter. Now using both hands the Kumiho began to shape the pillar, the grassy earth flowing underneath her fingers as if wet clay. Itori continued until the pillar had been turned into a rather extravagant tower, of a design which wouldn't be found strange at all in the foreign country of Midi. Itori looked at the pillar, then back down at Miyuki.

"I don't think we're in a physical place. I've been going over everything we've learned so far and I feel like this place may be a mental realm rather than a physical world like the one you created. It seems to respond to my thoughts, and quite honestly it's too perfect a location for it to exist in the physical world."