~*FOXFIRE*~

Part 2

***
Two metal bullets lay on the tray that was now stained with red blood. Kaoru held up some sort of beaded bracelet in a hand as the other placed down the tweezers on the tray.

" Eh? What's this?" Die eyed the object. It was made of brown and clear beads. A fang-like ornament hung from it.

" I found it on the fox." He shrugged as he twirled the accessory around his index finger. " You have your pet. Better get a cage for it before it runs out." The fox lay on a piece of cloth with his leg bandaged up carefully. Kaoru inspected the ears, surprised by the silky feel of its fur, and patted the fox gentle. It purred like a cat.

" Okay okay!" Die shooed Kaoru out.

He gave a pat on its head. The fur felt so soft and for a second, Die regretted shooting the fox. Glancing at the sleeping animal, he decided that he'd better ask the butler for a cage like Kaoru said. So he slipped out of the room quietly. The cage was a bit rusty, Die noted as the butler handed the item over to him. Sighing, he headed up the two flights of steps. Clutching the chrome handle of his room, he pushed open the wooden door. Automatically, his eyes spotted the broken shards that lay beneath his destroyed window.

" What the-!!!"

Die's hair fluttered as he whipped his head about, looking for the black furball. But he didn't see the fox, not in the bathroom or on the ledge or in any the closet or under the bed or anywhere. Then he noticed that his blanket was missing.

Huh? Blanket??? Hm...

Die poked his head out the broken window, squinting in the darkness as he tried to see below. The fox stole his blanket and escaped?? Doesn't make sense...Angrily, he stormed downstairs and went outside into the garden(in the dark), looking for a black color fox and blanket. And his garden was -big-. But he saw dark green cloth creeping out from the grapevine. Silently, he sneaked over and peered behind the fencing.

"......"

He couldn't see a thing. Frustrated, he pounced on the grapevine and was surprised when he didn't encounter a furry beast clutching his blanket but a human clutching his blanket. Startled, he backed away. The other person looked at him with tearful eyes, still holding the blanket around himself.

" Who-???" Die mouthed but stopped when he caught the sight of the bandaged left leg. Toshiya retreated as far as he could against the wall from the man.

'Shinya!!!' He called out mentally, hoping that his friend was near enough to hear him.

***
Shinya was fumbling with the clothes he had acquired somehow when he heard Toshiya's cry ringing in his ears. Deciding that the small size clothes would do, he rushed to the source of the voice.

***
Die couldn't see properly in the dark so he reached a hand out to the young frightened man in his vine garden, ignoring the ridiculous instinct that this man was the same being he had caught in his hunt. He never believed in these supernatural stuff and was sure there was some logical answer as to why this man was having his blanket and the bandaged leg.

Toshiya whimpered as if Die had pointed a weapon at him and started to cry. Seeing this, Die stopped. Then he moved closer and crouched so that he could see the man's face. But a hard object hit his head, sending sparks of pain in his head, and he fainted into oblivion.

***
Toshiya squeezed his eyes shut in fear. When he opened them, he was all too relieved to see Shinya, in his human form, standing in front of him, a huge boulder in his hands. He dumped the rock down beside the unconscious red-head on the grass.

" Shin-chan!" Toshiya hugged Shinya; he thought he would die without seeing him ever again.

" Stupid Toshiya!" But the dark-haired man did nothing but cry with joy.

" Let's go home," Shinya said. But then Toshiya frowned.

" My leg...I can't walk." So Shinya had to piggy-back Toshiya back to the forest. The latter who was wrapped up in blanket, leaned his head against Shinya's back comfortably. By the time they reached their cave-like home, he was already asleep.

***
" Kyo! What happened to you??" Kaoru stared agape at him.

The maids shrieked and dropped the plates on the floor as a naked Kyo came stomping in. Almost instantly, the butler covered his young master with a cloak.

" I got robbed! Somebody stole my clothes!"

" Your clothes?"

" Yes, clothes! I was out in the woods looking for my lost watch when suddenly some jerk grabbed me from behind and blindfolded me! I though he was going to do something terrible when he began undressing me but then he left me there, naked!" Kyo waved his hands about vigorously as he explained.

" Huh??"

***
" Where did you get those weird looking clothes?" Toshiya asked, pointing at the heap on the ground.

" Some kid got lost in the woods..." Shinya poked at the strange-looking items he found in the pockets. His fox-friend still had the blanket around him as he sat down next to him, looking at the interesting...things.

" Hey, where's the charm?" Shinya pointed at Toshiya's ankle.

Alarmed, Toshiya groped at his ankle for what was obviously not there.

" Ahhh!!! It must be with that human!" he exclaimed. Shinya felt like tearing Toshiya's head off at that very second.

" How could you have lost it?!" he screamed in frustration, pulling his hair by the ends.

" I was unconscious and I panicked when I woke up! I forgot about it!"

Shinya's shoulders slumped down. " Now, what are we going to do? We have to get it back...if not...if not..." his voice cracked and began to sob.

" I'm sorry, Shin-chan. I'm so sorry. But I promise I'll get it back even if it kills me!" Toshiya hugged Shinya close.

" Toshiya-chan...-we- will get it back. And don't you ever frighten me by getting shot ever again!" His long hair flowed to his waist as he nuzzled against Toshiya's neck. Toshiya comforted him even as he wondered how he would get the bracelet back.

***

End of Part 2