| [Dec. 17th, 2017|02:57 am] |
Two voices, getting closer, filtered in. Kikyou’s familiar voice was raised and a little strained. The other voice was noticeably louder and sharper, heavy with the kind of authority that came naturally to parents, commanders, and schoolteachers.
Their conversation became audible, “—yes,” Kikyou was saying. “Kaori and Hideki were very well behaved. Everything was normal, Mom.”
“Really,” said the heavier voice. “Well, then, where are they?”
The entryway door slid open, and a broad swath of afternoon sunlight spilled across the tatami. The tanuki who came in with Kikyou was a full head taller — easily a meter and a half — and broader in a way that spoke of muscle hidden under her round belly. She was dressed in a bright teal kimono patterned with a cascade of parasols falling around the hem, and a pink and gold obi that made Genma wonder if tanuki might be a little color blind.
Kikyou danced in at her side, not quite meeting her mother’s eyes. Her ears twitched and swiveled, and her tail lashed nervously behind her.
“Hi, Mom! You’re back early!” Kaori said, with a bounce in her voice.
When Hideki remained silent, she elbowed him in the side until he added a hesitant, “Hi, Mom.”
“Kaori. Hideki.” The mother’s voice was flat and ominous. She graced them with a look that reminded Genma of his Academy sensei’s disapproval of unfinished homework. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing!” Kaori said. Her voice climbed a little higher. “Just… cleaning the bedding!” She thumped her tail against the futon several times for authenticity, raising little puffs of dust.
“See?” said Kikyou. “So well behaved. Mom, you must be tired, let me get you a cup of tea.” She tugged at her mother’s sleeve to draw her towards the dining table, but her mother was having none of that.
With her feet planted and her arms crossed, the mother pierced her son with an uncompromising look. “Hideki, what are you hiding behind your back?”
Hideki’s ears slicked back, and his head dropped. His tail hung flat behind him, with just the tip in shivering motion. Kikyou, standing behind her mother, made a fearsome face at Hideki. Kaori reached out surreptitiously and pinched his arm.
Evidently lying to a parent was a fraught thing no matter the species.
The mother waited Hideki out, as the atmosphere grew tenser, and Hideki’s grip on Genma grew tighter. “......nothing,” he mumbled at last.
Genma breathed shallowly, and shrugged his shoulders to try to get Hideki to loosen up again, but the poor kid was clearly terrified.
Evidently terror made your balls shrink tight no matter the species, too.
She waited a moment longer, while the tension grew like a thunderhead, before she said, “I see,” in that I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed tone that every parent seemed to master by the time their children were four.
“Well, something very interesting happened while your father and I were out today.” Her voice took on the cadence of a storyteller. “A group of humans appeared. They said that we had stolen one of them — a ‘lieutenant.’”
Oh thank every god and buddha and blessed bodhisattva who had ever walked the earth; his team — or at least a team — knew he was here.
The big tanuki turned her terrifying mom gaze on the crack in the door, as though she could see Genma through the paper and wood. “I don’t suppose any of my good, obedient, well-behaved children came across this lieutenant while they were playing…?”
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