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Fox-neko mystery *rose*
I'd never really found out much about red fox-nekos in my studies of my heritage. There had just seemed to be so much more... important things to focus on. Like what powers demons had, what powers angels had, and, well, I pretty much knew a lot about fairies. But the fox-neko in me? No clue, really. I mean, Dad managed to hide his tail and ears. And I only ever had a tail, no ears. So, I... really didn't know what to think about this prisoner in my basement.
I had cried for a few hours after coming down off my adrenaline high from... taking care of the house's intruders. I did not like killing. It almost seemed against my nature. ANTIE tried to explain to me that it was against my nature- half of it, at least.
However, I had not gone in yet to talk this our prisoner. I let ANTIE-droid ask a few questions. He gave no name to her, and mumbled unintelligible answers to her questions, before finally stating,
"I refuse to answer to a non-living being! You are against all that is right in the world!"
I was... surprised. And part of me understood what he meant. ANTIE-droid left the cell, and she walked over to me. I wanted to apologize. Or sympathize... or something. Instead, I just shrugged.
"Well, shall I?" Is all I ended up saying.
ANTIE nodded, and I got up, taking my mug of coffee with me. I changed, once, just to try to look... like a human, maybe? Even though I was, of all things, not a tiny part human. I almost laughed, since I had grown up thinking that I was human. Then I opened the door and walked into the interrogation room.
Closing the door behind me, I sat across from the man... neko...fox. And got annoyed.
"Do you have a name?" I asked. "Because I hate talking to people when I can't even call them by their name."
"Sure. Pathin." He answered casually. Then he looked up at me. "At least you aren't that... robot thing." His nose twitched wildly, and he lowered his eyebrows.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, curious myself.
"You... you're part fox-neko. But you... have no ears or tail."
I pressed my lips together, and wondered how he could tell. Just by sense of smell?
"Ya. And? What does that have to do with you invading this house?" I responded, taking a drink of my coffee to cover my anxiety.
"Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot." He answered. Though it wasn't an answer at all. "So... part fox neko, but not a lot... " he paused, sniffing again. "Half? No, I've smelled half before. Maybe a quarter? Yes. That might explain it if it were the stronger male half. Your father must have been half, then." he finished.
I tried to stare into my coffe mug. It didn't work.
"This still has nothing to do with the break-in." I stated, using mental excercises to keep my face and voice calm.
"Actually, it might." He stated. "We have come here in search of a half-fox neko and his family. If you are part of his family, then our search was not in vain."
"But why?" I asked, before I realized that my rebuttal question was almost an admission of my heritage.
He grinned. "Ah. Well, the why, dear girl, I was not told. Nor shall you be." His eyes flashed, and I caught a strong scent from him- of sadness and fury, of all things. Then I noticed his arms struggling at his handcuffs.
"No!" I yelled, and practically jumped out of my chair. I raced around the table at him, and called for ANTIE, as I saw him turn to look at me and smile a big, sharp-toothed smile. "Too late." he said, and the light left his eyes, just as I grabbed him.
I unlocked his handcuffs as ANTIE dashed in, and found... nothing, really. I checked for a pulse, and found none. He... was gone. ANTIE looked at his hands and wrists closer, as I sat back and looked at the dead fox-neko in front of me.
"Look at this." ANTIE said, and I knelt closer. On the inside of his right wrist was a small puncture. Not very deep, but the red blood glistened, and there was a black liquid around the wound. ANTIE turned over his left hand, and on his thumb-claw there was more of the black liquid.
"So... he killed himself." I stated, almost in shock for the second time this day.
ANTIE just nodded, and began instructing the holoroom to close he program. I grabbed my coffee cup just in time, as the table vanished from existance. My coffee mug was not part of the simulation. And looking back, ANTIE easily hefted the dead fox-neko, Pathin, over her shoulders. I left the room, feeling chased out by the smell of death and technology.
I left the coffee mug on the counter and left the bunker entirely. I went outside, past the garden, and into the forest. I walked for hours, and it seemed to calm me. Finally, I climbed a low tree, and stared out at the silent woods. It was early night, and I just looked out at the wild world around me.
How can I continue to deny that a wildness lives in me?
I listened intently to the world around me. I smelled small animals before their movements or sounds reached my ears. Something about that... Pathin... reminded me of the beast hiding in my own self. I sat there for some time, resisting the urge to hunt, and ignoring the tears that occasionally slid down my cheeks.
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