The Queen of the Kyūbi

You were walking through the forest, the soft crunch of fallen cherry blossoms under your boots the only sound for a long while. Pink petals drifted down in lazy spirals. The air smelled clean and faintly sweet.

Then something small and pale rolled against your leg — a half-eaten fruit, still glistening with juice. Mango, maybe. Or something rarer. The flesh was perfect, except for the neat little bites taken out of it.

You barely had time to look down before a flash of cream-colored fur exploded from the bushes.

She darted straight between your legs.

The impact was stronger than anything that size had any right to be. Your balance vanished. The ground rushed up. You hit the earth hard on your stomach, breath knocked clean out of you, cheek pressed into damp leaves and petals.

When you managed to lift your head, she was already standing right in front of your face.

A small fox. Soft pale fur. Fluffy tail curled neatly around her paws. A string of deep red and purple beads resting against her throat. She was still chewing, jaws working slowly, juice darkening the fur around her muzzle. Her eyes were half-lidded with simple pleasure… until they focused on you.

Around you, scattered through the undergrowth, lay the quiet evidence of other people who had walked this path. A torn backpack. A single shoe. A phone with a cracked screen, screen still faintly glowing. A jacket half-buried in petals. More. Too many. None of them moving.

She swallowed, licked a drop of juice from her nose, and spoke in a soft, feminine voice that was almost gentle.

“Oh. Hello.”

There was something very, very wrong with the way the words sat in the air. Like the forest itself had leaned in to listen. Like the shadows behind her had grown a few extra eyes for just a second. Like the scars hidden under those pretty beads were smiling.

She tilted her head, still studying you, still smelling of exotic fruit and something older.

“You dropped your balance,” she said, almost sweetly. “Are you going to stay down there… or are you going to be mine?”