EndlessChase/Kitsune
Contents
Kitsune's History
The Early Years
Kitsune was born into the name "Blossoming Lotus". Her father was a Dynastic Noble, both of his parrents were Dragon-Bloded, though he faced alot of dissapointment when he did not Exalt like most of his siblings. Her early childhood was riddled with tutors and lessons. She was to take her father's place as prefect to a small village a few days north of the imperial city. Though a life of relitive ease was laid before her, Lotus was not content with such an indoor life. Her first instincts were to climb, run, explore, wander, dream... Needless to say, this type of behavior did not please her father. Lotus was punished for nearly everything she did, and punished even more harshly for what she did not do. Going for a walk on an open afternoon usually met with a lecture about wasted time, while missing a lesson usually met with a punishment leaving her hands and backside sore. It was when Lotus was eight years old that she finally ammased the courage to leave. Before she did, however, she stole a pair of claws make frome a mercurial metal that belonged to a merchant staying with her father.
Lotus walked for several months, eating berries and fruit as she followed trade caravans to the west. Eventually she came to the Prefecture of Chanos. She lived there as a street rat, living off the discarded refuse that the chronic throng of soldiers left to rot in the streets and alleyways. It was here that Lotus met the first person in her life that she could call a friend. Just before her ninth birthday, Lotus met a girl named Loud Whispers, a runnaway like herself. Whispers was older, almost fourteen years old, and showed Lotus the basics of Martial Arts to help her defend herself. Whispers herself had been training in the immaculate arts, though conflict between her and the order arose, so she left, fleeing quickly. Lotus took what she was taught and adapted a style of her own using the claws that she had stolen. They were akward at first, and always heavy, but their wicked edge and Lotus' skill were enough to scare away most of the thugs and ruffians that would try to harm her or take advantage of her in her very exposed lifestyle.
Despite the often hunger and ever-present filth of living on the streets, Lotus was happy. She had a friend that she trusted, and a lifestyle without harsh rules or forced behavior. As she grew older, her lifestyle got better. She and Loud Whispers had managed to find the entrance to a root celler that was used for storing purified Iron mined in the nearby mountains, and, above that, a corner that no one seemed to ever look in, even when they had need to use the celler. It was here that Lotus and Whispers resided durring the cold, and it was here that they kept what minor valuables they could find.
Life seemed to be good for Lotus for a long time. It was in the summer that she entered her twelfth year that she finally met with a new dissapointment. Loud Whispers had brought her to a brothel one night, as she sought employment there herself. She had tried to convince Lotus that an income aside from petty theft would let them finally life a life of relitive comfort, but Lotus declined. She was content with the way things were, though she did not see any proble with Whispers selling herself.
The Time of The Change
So things had lasted for a while. One night, several months later, Lotus could not sleep, though she pretended to none the less, allowing her friend the peace she needed. As she lay there, she heard a faint crying come from the pallet that Loud Whispers slept on. She did not know what it meant, but she let it pass, and soon her friend fell asleep. Another month passed without much event. Lotus would prowl the city stealing food, and Whispers would go off to the brothel every afternoon, and come back late at night. One day Whispers did not go to the brothel, however, and, instead, she stayed in the celler, looking distant. In the night the doors opened, and Lotus hid behind the crates that she normally did when people came to extange things kept there, and Whispers did the same. Instead of the normal sounds of shifting merchandise, the sound of two sets of steady strides came instead. They strode to the very place where Lotus had been hiding, and paused. She herd a quiet "I'm sorry, Lotus. It's the only way the brothel would let me go..."
Two large hands came from above her and grabbed her shoulders. She was lifted by two obese men that worked as bouncers at the brothel that Whispers worked. It was in her panic that the calm came.
The entire scenerio around her faded away, everything replaced by a silver mist. The pressure on her shoulders was lifted, and she saw, striding from the mist around her, a boy with silver hair and the most beutiful face she had ever seen. He wore a black robe, and from it he pulled out something that looked like a jar of jade. From it he pulled...something...she could not make out its shape, but it was such a brilliant silver-white that her eyes watered as he brought it closer. With a smirk, the young man set the thing at her brow, and she felt a great, gentile pressure there for a moment. When his hand backed off, she felt a comfortable coolness flow through her like never before. She laughed for a moment, reveling in the feeling that came with this special touch. She was about to speak when he pent down, and met her lips with his own. The kiss lasted for what felt like a long time, until it broke off suddenly. The mist began to fade, and along with it the boy that had given her her fist intimate contact. As everything returend to normal, she heard a melodious voice say, "Welcome back..."
The pressure was on her shoulders again, and Whispers was in the corner cowering. The two men looked down at her, then at each other, and fled, running as quicly as their legs could take them, screaming "Anathema" as they ran. Lotus crouched, and walked over to her cowering once-friend. "You would sell me to free yourself? You've allready lost yourself, Loud Whispers." Lotus lifted her hand, the claws tied to them strangely light, and with it, she slached once across the neck of Loud Whispers.
Blossoming Lotus gathered her belongings, and made to leave, tears streaking her face. Before she left, however, something made her stop. She moved to where her friend lay, and from the puddle of blood on the ground she lapped for a moment. The image of Loud Whispers settled in her mind, and it felt as though it now belonged to her. She left the celler then and stalked the city from other places. In the following weeks, she found that she could now take the form of a fox at will, and make herself silent as the night. This was how she lived, sneaking, stealing food and hiding in holes.
The Hunt
It was not long before the Wuld Hunt came to Chanos. Being a place of soldiery allready, people had been chasing the Fox for some time, and, once the Dragon-Blooded took up the chase, she had little choice but to run. From town to town, village to village, the same five Dragon-Blooded followed. Regardless of how long or how far she ran, they managed to find her again. Lotus was good at hiding, and even better at sneaking. She rarely had trouble escaping them, for at least a time. The Hunt chased her for many months, and she grew to know them almost like they were once her companions. She may not have ever known their names, but she had an image of each. The Fire Aspect was the blade, the one that attacked first. The water was the speaker, the one that did the questioning of people near her hiding places. The Earth was the tracker, the one that led them to her every time. The Air was the sorcerer, the one that sent the messages of their progress. The wood was the climber, the one that usually got the closest, the one that made her have to run.
They tracked her everywhere, from Chanos to the western shores of the Blessed Isle. Along the way they had hired mercenaries and aquired the service of many soldiers. Through genius planning and misdirection, they managed to trap Lotus on a pier that led one way to the dozens of waiting soldiers, and to the wast western ocean the other. With little other choice, Lotus dove off the edge of the pier and swam as fast as she could towards the western horizon. She managed to make it almost half a mile before a harpoon pierced her leg, right into her calf. She looked behind her to see the Water Aspect of the qroup swimming just behind her.
In a panic, she clawed at him with the Moonsilver Talons strapped to her hands. The struggle was brutal, her blood clouding the water, his arms flailing about her, beating her to near unconsciousness. It was mere luck that saved her. Attracted by her blood, a shark struck, its teeth piercing the side of the Dragon-Blood's torso. In the confusion of the shark attack, Lotus managed to slash the throat of the Dragon-Blood and claw through the cartilege of the shark's head. It was too late though, too much time spent under the water, too much time away from the surface. She choked, and gulped, and began to drown. In the craze, she felt something settle into her mind, much like when she lapped at the blood of Loud Whispers. The form of the Dragon-Blood was there, as was something else. Just when she thought she was finished, her vision fading to black, she changed. The form of the shark that she had killed came to her, and she breated water like air. Oxygen coursed through her viens, and she recovered. She was still wounded, a hole in her flesh near her tail, but it was minor, and now she could swim with ease.
She rested for a day near the Isle, partially to recover, partially to become used to this new form, before she swam west, intending to go as far from the Isle as the world went.
The Journey South
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