a tale of two vixens [kyuubi]

[Anonymous]

"Here, mousie, mousie, mousie..."

A grey creature slinked along the low branch, step by step, placing each light-colored paw silently on the bark. Its bushy tail was dragged behind it, flicking with anticipation, as cruel olive eyes almost seemed to glow in the shadows. The fox continued to crawl along the wood, pausing from time to time to prick its large ears toward a scrabbling in the undergrowth. A small rodent darted through the leaf litter, pausing to scratch its ear with a small hind leg. It was unaware of the predator's silent taunts.

The vixen grinned slyly and bunched her slender limbs underneath her small body, balancing on the branch and judging the most efficient angle to reach her prey. She licked her chops, curled her white-tipped tail, and then pounced.

The tiny brown rodent squealed as the lean predator landed on top of it. After the manner of a cat, she sent it flying up in the air with a paw, snapped her teeth at its small body, and then cornered it when it went scurrying for a hole dug into a tree trunk. Selene growled fiercely at it, though laughter was bubbling up through the kitsune. Oh, she could definitely look sweet, but deep down she was a sadist.

She continued to torture the small animal, snapping every which way, and presently slapped her paw down on its long tail to restrain it. "This is getting redundant," she said lazily, lowering her muzzle ever closer to the frantically struggling mouse. "Want to call this game wrapped up?" She grinned and released it, letting it run about a foot before she got ready for another pounce.

Crack!

Selene missed the mouse, and she swore profusely as she watched it disappear into that hole from earlier. Some twig or crackling leaves had distracted her, and now she angrily lifted her head, looking behind her for the source of the damn sound. "You cost me a meal!" she snapped. The fox momentarily rose onto her hind legs, and then a slender young woman stood where it had been, hands on hips and scowling darkly.

[Anonymous]

Ugh.

Today had been a bad day for Amber. She had found no trace of her sister, not even a teasing clue. As usual. She scowled, making her way through the bushes. She narrowed her eyes, glaring at the ground with not much purpose. She was going to find her sister, kill her, even if she had to die along with her. They couldn't both exist in the same world. She started running fast, zipping through the trees and wishing that she didn't even have to find her sister in the first place. Why couldn't she have been a normal person? Why?

She stopped and angrily kicked at the ground before her, cracking a twig and sending it flying somewhere. She heard swear words, obviously directed at what she had just done, and first asumed the stick must have hit someone. She peered over some bushes, to see a fox-like young woman looking rather pissed off, grumbling about something. Oh, she thought she had problems. Ha. Funny.

Amber walked into the veiw of the other woman, her fire-red hair swept back some by the wind. She flicked her fox-ears foreward, her three tails behind her. She stood in front of the woman, still a distance away. She crossed her arms, being able to look down at the other woman. She was a tad surprised there was someone like her, fox-like. She said, "So, you lost your mouse, huh? Perhaps you should stop playing with your food." Voice laced with sarcasm, she knew that would make the woman angrier. But, who cared? She had no reason to complain. She didn't think this lady had much right to complain. Ha, a mouse. Her life was rough. And, frankly, she just wanted someone to stop complaining without a very valid reason in her oppinion.

[Anonymous]

Finally the idiot showed her face.

And Selene had to admit she was slightly taken aback when it turned out to be a vulpine one. While Selene's fox traits in her human form were subtle—slightly narrow pupils, a way of movement, and the fact that her shadow was a freaking fox's—these attributes made the newcomer's species far too easy to guess. Peeking out of the other young woman's fiery hair were fox ears perked toward her, and a trio of red tails waved behind her. But, though they were similar to each other, it was evident from the first moment that this wasn't going to be a friendly meeting.

The taller fox-lady pointed out dryly that Selene should stop playing with her food, folding her arms as her amber eyes scrutinized the other.

Selene curled her lip back in a sneer to show teeth far too sharp for a normal human. Her shadow bared its own teeth and flattened its ears as she backed up a step, sizing the other woman up in case this came to a fight. Just about anyone could out power her, she knew, but hopefully it wouldn't come to a test of strength. "How do you know I wasn't struggling to catch it?" she shot back. "It's a mouse, but it's still food." And even if she didn't like to bring up that weakness, a constant supply of food was more important to her than to some. What looked like slenderness in the right light could be seen as a slightly haggard skinniness in another, but Selene brought life and light to her weak frame when she moved, shifting her weight to her other foot.

"What are you doing out here, three-tail?" Selene asked. Her expression was one that told she could care less, but asking a question was better than a tense, silent face-off. "You aren't hunting?"

[Anonymous]

Amber almost rolled her eyes. She realized that, even though they were similar in species, that they weren't going to get along too well. She did not reply to her comment about the mouse being food. Ha, food, a mouse. It was like eating a potato chip and calling it an exquisite cuisine. By no means was she stuck-up and rich, but how would that fill a stomach?

She shrugged. "What does it matter? To be honest, I was hunting, but not for food. For the purpose of killing a certain someone that I find unworthy of living on this earth, scum. How about you? Just finding a bite to eat?" She wasn't sarcastic at all this time, all the annoyance rather seeping off into the air around her. She sighed, her eyes almost bored.

[Anonymous]

The red-haired woman shrugged, no longer displaying as much irritation or aggression, much to Selene's disappointment. She liked baiting people to an extent. It was like playing with a mouse—or perhaps a snake would be a better metaphor. Entertaining, but a tad dangerous. However, the grey kitsune had little worry about being attacked by this one. Something about seeing another of her species made her feel superior, although judging by the two extra tails, this one might be older than her.

Oh well. Older didn't mean more capable.

"Well, that sounds interesting," Selene remarked, in a quirky, bordering on obnoxious tone. "What'd this certain someone do to you, babe?"

She glanced over her shoulder—just a flick of her head, not keeping her eyes off the other vixen for more than a moment—to see if the mouse had come out yet. "And yes, I am. Some foxes hunt, you know. I don't know if the concept of working for a meal means anything to you." She flashed her sharp teeth in a grin.

[Anonymous]

Amber sighed again. "Well, what does it matter to you? You wouldn't understand anyway." She didn't think that this woman could really wrap her mind around the concept of having your family killed by your 'sister.' After all, that obnoxious tone of hers....ugh. She didn't think that she really would want to hang around with this lady.

Amber chuckled dryly at the woman's comment. "Working for a meal...hell, I work for a lot more than meals. I have to keep an eye out 24-7 so I don't get cut up into tiny, little pieces by a certain someone's sword. How about that." She looked over into the bushes at a sound she heard, lazily, as if she found nothing at all threatening about this other girl.

[Anonymous]

Another melodramatic sigh.

Selene bristled—or her shadow visibly did; she simply clenched her fists at her sides—when the other woman responded offhandedly. "You're the one who brought it up, babe," she pointed out. Didn't she have the right to be curious about someone this chick obviously felt so strongly about?

"And I have to keep an eye out for anything bigger than me," she spat back. "I work for everything I do. I have to hunt constantly, and who knows if a bear will decide it's his turn to eat?"

Realizing what came out of her mouth, she snorted and shifted back into her fox form. She leaped at the nearest tree and scrabbled with difficulty up onto that branch. However, she didn't flee just yet. "Is this going to turn into some vague pity war, or are you gonna let me know about this dangerous swordsperson? The rest of the forest might want to know a thing about them, too." She swished her silky grey tail.

[Anonymous]

Amber's eyes lazily followed her movements. She shugged at the retort. "Fair enough." She watched a bird fly by, not really caring about this whole little pity thing going on. She kind of wanted to slap the other woman, but did not show it. She said, her tone sounding uncaring and indifferent, "If you're so curious about my sister, why don't you waltz up to her yourself and say, 'Hey, how's your little sister? Are you still plotting to kill her and drive her insane?'" She looked up at the sky now, then stared straight at the other woman, not with any threat though. "And I don't need your pity, but if you choose to give my pity, you'll be the first."

[Anonymous]

Curiosity and apathy are two sensations that often don't go together, but they were battling in the young kitsune. She crouched on the branch and watched the careless gestures of the other woman, her ears twitching. She became distracted by the flight of the bird and hopped up onto a higher branch out of instinct. However, she ended up hanging by her forepaws, and while she scrabbled for purchase she listened to the indifferent tone as far from indifferent words were uttered.

"That sounds fucked up," the fox said simply. She had managed to sit on the branch, her tail dangling and twitching while she listened for the bird. "What happened? What'd you ever do to her?"

Deciding that the tree could support her pathetic weight, she allowed herself to become a human again, now swinging her legs instead of her tail. She shrugged slightly. Her attention had definitely been grabbed by this woman's apparently insane sibling, but until she heard it fully she couldn't offer much pity. "You might have my sympathies; you might not," she decided to say. Her grin, while it was still taunting and annoying, had softened slightly at the corners.

Not that she was being friendly. Pssh.

[Anonymous]

Amber watched her struggle to find her footing with as much laziness as she had watched the bird with. She said, "I never did anything to her, she just hates me." She looked off into the bushes, a sharper eye than before. It was almost as if she would see someone burst out any moment, attacking. She said, "Eh, I would guess your sympathy is not with me. After all, who likes the lady that runs after her sister with a sword?" She looked back at the other woman, almost smiling at the scrabbling about on the branches. "So, do you live here?"

[Anonymous]

"She just hates you?" Selene tilted her head to the side. "Come on. Everyone has to have some sort of motive. Even if it's just boredom. I'm cruel when I'm bored." She flashed her sharp teeth again. However, deep down she knew that pushing this woman too much might upset her, and she was ready to leave if she pressed the wrong button. Some people were very sensitive to the traumas in their lives. While the red-haired vixen seemed cold and composed, there was no telling the turmoil that might be within.

She snorted at the rather pessimistic remark. "No one will like you if you focus on the bad stuff." She frowned as she considered the next question and then offered a small shrug. "As cliché as that term is, I would consider myself a wanderer. I like this forest, sure. Nice pickings." She licked her lips and laughed softly. "Most of the time, I'm trying to find prey elsewhere. Or I found a traveling companion for a few days."

Maybe not traveling companion so much as victim of her mooching, but the stranger didn't need to know that.

[Anonymous]

Amber wondered how much she should tell this woman. She apparently wanted to know a lot. Oh well. She flicked her eyes to meet the other's, saying, "Well, personally, I don't know why she hates me. I don't really care." She looked a bit thoughtful. "Wanderer, hm? I guess that's what I am. Well, I've never had a travel companion, really." She absently flicked her ears towards a sound. "I don't meet many people."

[Anonymous]

Selene kicked her legs as she sat on the branch then met the woman's amber eyes. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't care if a bear is pissed or hungry when it's shredding me," she laughed. She failed to compare this to the feeling of her prey, such as the mouse she'd tortured, but it wasn't important—just a mouse. And it had run off anyways.

"You've really not found many people?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you really focused on hiding all that time? People might help you find your sister." She carelessly combed her fingers through her pale, silvery-grey hair. "It's not that hard if you stick to the roads. Traders with wagons and even just pickpockets head along those routes. I prefer the wilderness, but there's not always enough food around."

She noticed the other vixen's ears flick again then peered off into the foliage. "What's out there?" she asked, half to herself. Maybe it was just another bird. Whatever it was, it was certainly more interesting than this girl and her short, apathetic answers.

[Anonymous]

Amber said, "Revenge is a lonely business." She looked in the direction her ears went, laziness dissapearing and looking more alert. She scanned the bushes. She could have sworn she saw someone there. She said, in almost a whisper, "And before you seek revenge, you must dig two graves..." She stood, looking into the bushes. She wondered what was out there. As she walked over and scanned the bushes, she saw nothing within. That could either be a good sign or a bad sign, considering that her sister had the power to dissapear in an instant and come out of your own shadows. She walked back to where she stood earlier and said, "I hope she isn't around here anywhere, because, sometimes, people just need a break." She looked nervously at her shadow briefly, as if it would jump out any second and strangle her.

[Anonymous]

The other vixen was obviously wary; perhaps she was not used to standing in one place and chatting. At any rate, it was beginning to rub off on Selene. Had her tail been exposed, it would be puffed out, and indeed the shadow of her tail was. She felt like she had fleas crawling up through her pelt, like she just wanted to jump and get rid of them, rather than sitting and watching this nervous girl stare into the vegetation.

Stressed as she was, she didn't feel the need for more idle chitchat and enigmatic answers. If this chick couldn't talk straight there wasn't any point in listening to her. She was about to—quite rudely—point this out, but instead her olive eyes flicked to the bushes. "Damn. I'm about ready to leap in there, even if it is a rabid bear." She said this in a very foxlike growl and dropped down from the branch, landing with vulpine grace even in her human form. She sighed and regarded the red-headed one.

"What's your name? In case I need to scream for help." She smirked.

ooc; sorry for the shortness and the lack of real content. =/ (okay, maybe not short, but it always feels like it when i write.) maybe we can make this interesting with what's in the woods. xD

[Anonymous]

Amber replied, her eyes still on the bushes. "My name is Amber. What's yours?" She slowly drew her sword as she heard a rustling in the vegetation. "Sorry if this person if after me and drags you into this mess." She smirked a little herself. "And, I don't think you'll need to scream for help; I'll kick their ass before they can so much as blink." It was her turn to be the antagonist. Too bad for whoever/whatever was in those bushes. If it was her sister, fine, that would be inconvinient and rather annoying to fight her. If it was anyone else or anything else, she hoped they would surrender before she let her sword fly freely. There was another rustle in the bushes, and out came a raging... squirrel? Amber stared at it for a moment, then chuckled. "Wow. Well then." She sighed, shaking her head. That was....unexpected. She turned away, about to walk away from the bushes.

Suddenly, a dark figure lunged from the bushes, and all that was seen was a glint of steel and Amber's sword was almost flung out of her hands, barely hanging onto it. The figure wasn't humanoid; more a mist in the shape of a human, dark, like a living silhouette. Amber grunted, scowling. "Long time no see."

[Anonymous]

"I'm Selene," the kitsune offered, though her reply was distracted as the other woman unsheathed a sword and looked to the bushes.

Amber confidently said that she could beat whatever was out there, which left Selene to quietly scoff though she kept her remarks to herself. She hadn't witnessed this girl's power yet. So far, she had seen a paranoid vixen that had called her out on hunting then proceeded to waste her time with vague answers.

The leaves rustled, and Selene scowled apprehensively. However, only a squirrel leaped out, chattering and scolding them. She licked her lips and morphed, casting off her human shade to chase after it. "This works out fine," she remarked as she darted toward the rodent. She likely didn't have a chance of catching it, but it'd give her an excuse to get away from Amber. She'd starve if she hung around much longer, anyway.

Sharp metal swung above her head, and she uttered a yelp of surprise. "Wh—" she started to protest, but when her pale paws had settled on the ground, she could see that a dark form had risen like mist to surround the other vixen.

Selene's bushy grey tail was gone in a heartbeat. She curled it close to her body and crouched in the foliage, olive eyes huge and pupils like slits as she stared at the odd shadow. In the case of fight or flight, flight definitely won out, but her fear and shock had overtaken any feeling in her legs to let her run.

[Anonymous]

Amber bared her teeth, her eyes glinting coldly. The shadowy figure lunged out again, but didn't make contact this time. She turned to her new 'friend' and said, "Stay back, I won't let her hurt you." Amber was ready now. "Come on, you bitch, make yourself into normal form and stop fighting like coward." The figure suddenly turned into a young woman who looked much like Amber, attacking swiftly. Twice the woman's sword came towards Selene, but it was blocked. Amber and this woman fought for a minute, then Amber made a sound, almost a roar, and plunged her sword into the other woman. The other woman dissapeared, oddly with a smile on her face. Amber made a disgusted noise and wiped off her sword, muttering to herself, then saying without turning her head, "Are you alright, Selene?"

[Anonymous]

She looked on with wide eyes, in horror, as the red-haired fox demon and the shadow battled each other, with swords flashing like silver lightning. Fast, short slashes cut through the air as the women's bodies moved in combat. The motions and countermotions flicked in quick succession in front of Selene's almost unseeing eyes. She registered hardly any of it, her body locked up, though she winced and tensed further when the chink of two blades making contact rang out too close to her whiskers.

And then, with a roar and a stab, the chaos was over.

The small silvery-grey fox did not respond to the question at first, instead simply staring out into space. It took a few moments before she registered the lack of the second vulpine woman. Quickly shaking her head, growling at herself in hurt pride, she crept out from her shelter and lifted her tail.

"The fuck was that?" Selene blurted. "You were damn worried about your sister, and all it took was that to defeat her." She shifted shape and reached out, hesitantly, to touch Amber's shoulder. Her voice wavered slightly as her sharpness left her, more out of exhaustion than concern. "Are you all right?"

[Anonymous]

Amber shifted, rubbing her arm slightly and glancing at the hand on her shoulder. She thought it was interesting that someone was a tiny bit concerned about her well-being. She nodded. "I'm fine..." She placed a hand on Selene's shoulder, and said, "Hey, don't worry about me. It was my fault I got you into that situation. You shouldn't of had to be dragged into my problems." She sighed, her hand slipping off Selene's shoulder. "And, I did not defeat her. She's just gone for now. She'll come back until I die, I think." She looked at Selene, a tired smile faintly on her lips. "I'm sorry for being so pessimistic. It's just...hard now a days. Really...hard not to be." She met her eyes with the other's. Her gaze was strong, but tired and with feigned happiness there, to cover the scars beneath.