Shoko stared at the pair of older girls that had entered the changing rooms, as they looked at her and Chihiro. For moment no-one said anything as everyone except Shoko blushed tomato red. Finally the blonde haired one with dark tan makeup blurted out.

“Sorry, we’ll go somewhere else!”

Shoko shrugged.

“It’s ok. You can come in, I’m not bothered.”

The other girl with dark blue hair and black lipstick contrasting with her whitened face squeaked, her eyes widening to the point where they looked like they might fall out her mascara ringed sockets. The ‘gyaru’ or heavily made-up ‘gal’ of the pair giggled nervously. She shook her head, sending her permed ringlets tossing like brass-wire springs.

“Ohhh.. noo.. we couldn’t! We’re… exclusive. We’ll find somewhere else private. But you two carry on, have fun now!”

The pair exited, the more outgoing gyaru of the pair still laughing as the gothy one buried her face in her companions shoulder.

Shoko blinked, then looked at Chihiro.

“Well…. That was weird!”

Chihiro finally found her voice.

“Shoko! I..you...we..I mean they…Oh Shoko!!”

Shoko tilted her head, one hand on her hip looking at the furiously blushing Chihiro in puzzlement.

“What? What did I do?”

“Ohh.. nothing much! You were just standing there, in front of me, half naked…”

Shoko frowned.

“I don’t get it...”

“They thought we..we..were On'nanoko aikō-ka ah girl lovers… Yuri love.. you know?”

“So?”

“So! You.. you invited them to stay and watch!”

Shoko blinked, Chirhiro’s voice had descended to a pained whisper she was so upset…

“That… wasn’t what I meant. I should go after them and explain?”

Chihiro shook her head violently, almost toppling over sideways with the force of it. Instinctively Shoko put her hand on the sitting girls shoulder to steady her. Chihiro swallowed, and then spoke.

“Don’t! I’m pretty sure that’s why they came in here, because they are! I mean, that was Emiko and Yua… Emiko is the Goth one and everyone knows she’s yuri.. but um,m.. Yua and Emiko are enemies…”

Shoko laughed slightly.

“I guess they’re not now! Uh, why were they? Enemies I mean...”

Chihiro shrugged.

“Emiko’s a goth, Yua is gyaru… they’re kind of opposites. But they’re in the same class and sit near to one another. They spent all last year ignoring each other or glaring.”

Shoko grinned.

“Well… love and hate are yin and yang. Maybe they didn’t talk because they’d fallen for each other but didn’t think the other one would?”

Chihiro giggled.

“Yeah, maybe, or maybe they thought people would make fun of them?”

Shoko shrugged.

“Why would they? I mean, why would people make fun of them? Isn’t it normal to have high school crushes?”

Chihiro didn’t answer right away, turning her attention back to her sewing as Shoko sat back down next to her. After a moment of strained silence, Shoko nudged Chihiro’s hip with hers, knowing better than to jog her elbow.

“Chihiro… did I say something wrong?”

“N..no.. Um… how do you feel about girls? Do you like them?”

“Huh? I guess I like them more than boys. I mean, they’re soft and pretty and they smell nice. Boys are kind of.. stinky, sometimes. They’re rough too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that from time to time.”

Chihiro stared at Shoko for second, her hands stilled in surprise. Then she blinked.

“No, I mean… do you like, like girls?

Shoko flashed a grin at her, there and gone again, fox swift and sly.

“I knew what you meant...and I meant what I said. Why, do you?”

Chihiro gulped, and jerked her head in the smallest possible nod. Shoko grinned and leaned against Chihiro, startling a small squeak out of her.

“Hey, Chihiro… do you maybe like me?”

“M..m..maybe! But I hardly know you!”

Shoko smiled broadly, and flung an arm around Chihiro’s shoulders, heedless of the sewing as she rested her head on her shoulder, strawberry blonde hair mingling with darker russet red.

“Hey Chihiro… you how you fix that problem?”

“N..no!”

“We become friends!”

“F.. friends? Oh.. yes.. friends.. definitely!”

Shoko grinned mischievously, the tip of her nose fractions of an inch away from Chihiro’s.

“Yeah, friends. Then after we’ve gotten to know each other, maybe gone on a few dates, then we can fuck!”

Chihiro’s eyes widened, then just as she drew breath to exclaim in shock, Shoko licked the tip of Chihiro’s nose and darted away giggling, leaving Chihiro spluttering in a mix of scandalised outrage and baffled amusement.

The rest of the day passed remarkably without incident, aside from Shoko lifting her skirt at the slightest provocation and showing everyone the briefs that Chihiro had modified. Jiao had to admit though, that the modified waistband was ingenious, with a double row of hook and eye fastenings and the little tab of elastic, so Shoko could pull the briefs up fitting her tail in the opening at the back, and do it up with minimal difficultly.

Their home-room teacher had to stop Shoko in the end, although mostly because one of the bolder girls had asked to stoke Shoko’s tail and had then exclaimed how soft and fluffy it was. This had led to everyone wanting a stroke, which Shoko had been only to happy to oblige, chattering away to everyone. Haruko-chan had even gone so far as to bury her face in the luxuriant fur, sighing happily.

The end result was by the end of the day, Jiao and Shoko were surrounded by a small crowd of their peers as they waited at the school gate. It had been previously agreed that they would be met and walked home, at least for the first day. Just in case Inari had said, and nobody had dared ask in case of what.

As the other children streamed past them, making their individual ways home, Jiao and Shoko stood happily talking with their new friends. Mostly Shoko though, Jiao couldn’t help reflecting that was probably always going to happen with the more outgoing kitsune.

Still, she reflected glancing over at Aoi, Shoko wasn’t the only one who’d made friends.

Jiao was just about to say something to Aoi, when she spotted her older brother Tatsuo making his way down the street, next to him walked Kiko, resplendent in Miko robes and surrounded by a subtle glow.

Jiao sighed slightly, she’d been hoping Paul-san would be the one to meet Shoko, but apparently being a living goddess was no excuse not to, even if it was somehow embarrassing. Still, she could understand Tatsuo’s scowl as the children bowed at Kiko on their way past. Jiao squinted a bit, and again sighed. Kiko was floating again.. her feet an inch off the ground as she walked. She’d been doing that a lot lately. Inari had remarked it wasn’t unusual for newly minted Kami, it took them a few years or so to get their feet back on the ground after ascending.

“Hey Shoko!” Jiao called, “Kiko’s here!”

Shoko stood on tiptoes, peering over the crowd, and spotting Kiko, took off at a run, flinging herself into Kiko’s eagerly open arms with a glad cry. Jiao couldn’t hear what they were saying, although the tone was happy enough. Then Shoko let go, and tugging on the sleeves of Kiko’s robes Jiao heard her saying; “Come on! You have to meet everyone!”

Jiao sighed, and glanced at Aoi; “You want to meet my brother?”

Aoi nodded, not taking her eyes of the imposing figure making his way over to them. Tatsuo was dressed in his usual kimono and matching hakama, with the haori Jiao had made him over winter. Jiao walked swiftly over to him, and bowed slightly, which Tatsuo returned.

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“Oniisan, this is Aoi. She’s a friend. Aoi, this is my Oniisan, Tatsuo.”

Aoi blinked, and bowed at the tall Oni, taking in his brick red skin and silver white hair with the obsidian-like horns jutting through his bangs.

“Tatsuo-sama, it’s an honour to meet you!”

Tatsuo made a wordless sound of ascent, and bent his head fractionally in return. He then looked at Jiao with a raised eyebrow. Jiao grinned.

“She’s president of the climbing club, at least for the moment. The club’s being disbanded because the father of one of the girls leant them a climbing wall, but he’s a bigot and withdrew his offer along with his daughter when it became known that yokai would be attending the same school.”

Tatsuo grunted, his scowl deepening.

“And this affects us how, Imouto-san?”

Jiao smiled up at her brother, not at all put off by his expression… which in truth was more or less his normal resting face.

“I like climbing! It’s a sport I can do.”

Tatsuo raised an eyebrow. Jiao was well known among their tribe for preferring quieter activities like reading, over any sort of sport. He turned his attention to Aoi.

“This… man, who donated equipment. His name?”

“Mr Gyfoko, sir!”

Tatsuo nodded.

“I’ll talk to him. If he isn’t reasonable, something else will be arranged.”

Jiao hugged her brother around his waist.

“Thank you Oniisan! You’re the best! Where’s Yuri and Yuko? I thought they’d be here?”

Tatsuo shook his head.

“There was a problem. Yuko is in the hospital, her sister and Paul-san are with her. She’ll be well, but they want to keep her in over-night to be sure.”

Jiao frowned minutely, at what hadn’t been said.

“What happened?”

“Yuko went too far up the mountain, she was struck with what Paul-san called altitude sickness.”

Jiao’s eyes widened.

“That’s what..”

Tatsuo cut her off, nodding.

“Just so. That is why he is with her, he fears history repeating itself, although Yuko is stronger.”

Aoi interjected.

“Excuse me.. you did say altitude sickness? Just… I didn’t think there were any mountains near here high enough for that?”

Tatsuo glanced at Aoi, but Jiao jumped in and explained.

“Oni are different from humans. We can suffer from it at lower altitudes than you would. Although not I or anyone from my clan. We have almost human levels of tolerance because we’re from a mountain clan… but Yuko and her sister Yuri are adopted. Honestly though, until now we didn’t know, but they must be from one of the lowland clans, right Oniisan?”

Tatsuo nodded.

“That is so. Although I would have thought their heritage should have helped.”

It was Jiao’s turn to look at her brother surprised.

“Heritage? Oniisan?”

Tatsuo sighed.

“When it was agreed to make them part of our clan, it was agreed by all that nothing would be said further on this matter, and you were too young at the time anyway. But the truth is, they are half oni, half human.”

Jiao blinked, then shook her head.

“Well… it would have been nice if someone had said something to me earlier!”

Tatsuo shrugged.

“It was unimportant. They are oni in all ways that matter, but I thought their half-human blood would protect them better from the mountain sickness, making them like us. It would seem not.”

Jiao sighed.

“We’ll have to find a way to accommodate them. It’s not good building our village near to their limit.”

Tatsuo frowned.

“It’s too late to move it Jiao..”

Jiao nodded.

“I know.. but they’re part of our clan, and we look after our own.”

Tatsuo grunted, nodding once.

“We will talk of this further. But you are right. We will seek a way.”

Aoi, who’d been listening wide-eyed, hesitatingly raised a hand, causing Jiao to giggle slightly.

“Um.. Lord Tatsuo?”

Tatsuo snorted slightly, amused.

“No need to call me lord. Oni don’t do titles.”

Jiao interjected.

“Well, I do. I like being a princess!”

Tatsuo didn’t say anything, but Aoi saw him roll his eyes and had to stifle a giggle. Swallowing that, but still emboldened, she spoke.

“Um.. I’m a bit familiar with altitude sickness, I’ve been rock climbing in high country a couple of times… one of the things that helps with it is having a supply of oxygen while you sleep or during the day if you need it. You can buy oxygen concentrators for that reason..”

Tatsuo frowned at Aoi. Jiao knew he was just thinking, but also knew how that looked to those not familiar with him. Worriedly she glanced at Aoi, and then relaxed. Her new friend was standing her ground, hands behind her back. After a moment, Tatsuo nodded.

“That is a worthy idea. We will have difficulty finding funds for it, but it’s necessary. I shall talk with Katsu when she returns.”

Jiao glanced at Tatsuo, finding a clue for his grumpiness.

“Katsu’s not back yet?”

Tatsuo shook his head slowly.

“No. Katsui and Katsumi are still playing war games with the navy.”

Jiao smiled. It had been Katsumi’s idea at first, challenging the Japanese Maritime Self-defence Force to a series of exercises, in order to familiarise herself with modern naval warfare. The navy, understandably, had been a bit reluctant to go up against a yokai ghost-ship, or living battleship… especially the reborn Battleship Yamato! Jiao suspected some of them regarded it as being close to sacrilegious, while some she rather thought were secretly scared of the idea, but officially the JMSDF had argued that a living battleship was an unknown quantity, potentially undisciplined, and would need human supervision.

So in the end, Katsu had agreed to accompany her ‘little sister’ or Herald along with some JMSDF officers to act as observers. Tatsuo had offered to go with her as well, but Katsu had pointed out that someone needed to keep the dojo running. Much to his not-so-secret relief. Oni couldn’t even float, much less swim. Tatsuo having experienced drowning once, was understandably reluctant to even go near the water. Which Katsu of course knew but allowed Tatsuo to save face by pretending she didn’t while offering a reasonable excuse not to.

Privately, Jiao suspected that both Katsu and Katsumi were almost certainly thoroughly enjoying themselves somewhere out at sea, and had completely lost track of time. With the Yamato family being so engaged in shipping and sea trade, it was hardly surprising that Katsu was as much at home on deck, as she was in a kendo dojo. Being out on the battleship she was linked with, pitting her wits in simulated combat against much more experienced officers, would be like catnip to her.

Kiko glanced over at where the pair of oni and a young girl stood talking earnestly, glad that Jiao had found herself a friend outside of her clan. Laughing Kiko allowed Shoko to drag her over to the gaggle of children that the young kitsune had evidently impressed. Excitedly Shoko called out.

“Everyone! This is Kiko, Inari’s.. um… special friend!”

Inwardly Kiko sighed, blushing slightly… they would have to have another talk about appropriate sharing it would seem. But for now, she regarded the awestruck children. Of course they knew who, or rather more importantly, what she was. Kiko by now was fairly sure that everyone had heard of her, and the fact that she kept floating an inch above the ground was something of a rather annoying clue. ‘Still…’ she thought.. ‘given Shoko’s lack of tact, that could have been worse. At least she didn’t call me Inari’s Love Goddess like last time!”

Kneeling down in front of the children Kiko smiled.

“I see Shoko has been making friends… come and say hello and introduce yourselves. I promise, I don’t bite.”

The small voice in her head couldn’t help mentally adding ‘well, only Inari that is.’ Causing her to smile slightly at herself. Goddess of healing and compassion the reporters had dubbed her, but under that, she was just as human as they were… perhaps more so in some cases!

Kiko listened as the children excitedly chattered away, noting that more than a few of them were yokai themselves, just not open about it, and apparently fans of yokai metal. It also became apparent from the half-finished sentences, that Shoko had had an adventuresome first day at school, mostly centred around pantsu or lack of and the acquisition thereof… Shoko proudly showing off her modified briefs...much to the amused dismay of her friends, again.

Kiko laughed at the way one of the older girls scolded the unrepentant Shoko for flashing her briefs, once again!

While the girl that had affectionately scolded Shoko, introduced herself as Chihiro and explained how she’d modified the briefs to fit, Kiko noticed a young boy hanging around some distance away. He looked like he wanted to join in, but didn’t quite dare.

Shoko catching the direction of Kiko’s glance, darted over to the lad, and dragging him by the tie, pulled him over. Kiko couldn’t help noticing how the group went silent and a few of the larger ones, moved to stand between him and some of the smaller or younger children, while directing looks at him that by all rights, should have reduced him to a smoking grease stain on the floor

For his own part, the young boy looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else but there, and yet seemed helpless to being led around by Shoko.

Shoko grabbed the young lad by the shoulders, like he’d bolt and run, and pushed him front of Kiko. Then loudly she announced.

“Kiko, this is my new friend Tomiso, he was an enemy, but we made friends!”

For a moment there was shocked silence… and then a tsunami of protest burst forth from the group. Kiko gathered that Tomiso was, or had been, the local school-yard bully and the others were just a touch less than forgiving about it.

Kiko could see the anger mounting in the young boy, as well as the pain welling up in his eyes. Abruptly she stood and clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention, accidentality causing a rain of golden, heatless sparks of light to burst forth from her and shower everyone near by.

Hiding her embarrassment at her slip, Kiko spoke adopting the ‘gentle but firm’ tone she’d had practised rather a lot lately.

“Now then, I understand how you must feel, but Shoko says Tomiso is her friend now, so.. Tomiso, do you have anything to say?”

Kiko pretended not to notice Shoko elbow Tomiso in the ribs, and mouth ‘like we practised’ to him. Tomiso nodded, and turned to face the group.

“I… I’m sorry! Shoko explained what I was doing was bad...I knew that anyway!...and..and I shan’t do it again, but if I do she said you were to tell her and she’d beat me up for it to reminded me! I’d let her do it too!” The lad paused, then heaved a sigh. “Not that I could stop her anyway.”

Kiko resisted the urge to cover her face with her hand. Although she had to admit, for all it’s graceless awkwardness, that did sound like a heart-felt apology, albeit one drafted by Shoko. The group of children stared truculently at Tomiso, until the young rabbit eared yokai that Shoko had introduced as Usagi-chan, and then corrected herself and called her Haruko, stepped forward and held out her hand.

“Peace?” she asked.

Tomiso nodded. “Ok, peace… sorry for what I called you.. I… I like Yokai metal too. Just… I didn’t want to admit it.”

The others followed Haruko-chan’s lead, and clustered around Tomiso, who seemed a bit bewildered and overwhelmed by it all. Kiko felt a tug at her sleeve, and looking down saw Shoko looking up at her. Wordlessly she beckoned Kiko to lean down, and then whispered in her ear.

“Tomiso’s one of those… not all boy not entirely a girl. Their aura’s all the colours! But they don’t understand what they are, so can you talk to them.. please?!”

Kiko blinked, parsing what Shoko had said, then nodded.

“You think he, um it’s best to stick to calling Tomiso by male pronouns for now until he says otherwise… Oh that’s a point, do you think his family might not be supportive?”

Shoko shook her head.

“Nuh-uh… his dad beats his mom and sometimes Tomiso, when he’s drunk. He doesn’t like yokai either, Tomiso was copying him but I set him right. He’s not a good person. Tomiso is, once he stops being stupid.”

Kiko sighed. Officially there wasn’t anything she could do. But as Inari had been showing her lately, Kami could safely ignore official channels quite often, although Kiko shuddered to think what Inari would do if she found out about this. She had some decidedly archaic views regarding retribution and punishment.

“Leave it to me Shoko, we’ll make sure Tomiso is safe and then I will take care of his father. Do you think Tomiso might like to come home with you?”

Shoko bit her bottom lip..

“Chihiro’s invited me home with her… her family is Huuuge! They’re all fox-haired like her, and they’re artisans like her too! Bu.. but I guess there’s tomorrow…”

Kiko shook her head.

“No, it might be an idea to show Tomiso what a happy family is like.. ah, Chihiro’s is, isn’t it?”

Shoko nodded emphatically.

“Oh yes, very much so! Ok, I’ll ask her if it’s alright.”

Shoko zipped away to where Chihiro stood, grabbing her and talking excitedly. Kiko could see the bemused look on her face, but the russet-haired girl nodded, glancing at where Tomiso stood with a look of faint concern. Shoko stood on her tip-toes and shouted, waving her hand above her head, even though she wasn’t more than a handful of yards away.

“Kiko! Chihiro says it’s ok! Her family are used to her inviting friends over!”

Kiko nodded, and watched as Shoko dragged Chihiro over to Tomiso to tell him he was going to be visiting…

She couldn’t help thinking that there was lot of Inari in Shoko, unrefined as yet, but still just as meddlesome. All for the sake of goodness of course. Shoko did her best to be helpful, even if she wasn’t asked to.

She couldn’t help wondering if Shoko’s friends knew what they were in for..