"What is it?" A confused Xie Wen asked. Which, to be fair, she had all the right to since to her, I was about to fight a supposedly dangerous creature only to suddenly bend down and start cooing when the fox stopped growling. It staring at me with those big, round eyes was simply too cute for me to ignore so I just had to start petting the little guy.

"An oasis in this harsh desert." I said, picking up the little guy and showing it to Xie Wen. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow, it quickly moved to me, "What? I've been fighting Ninjas and Parasites for some time now! Petting this thing is the least I can do to take a break!" I said defensively, pulling the fox close and away from her, "And besides, I like dogs."

"That- what is a dog?"

"You don't know what that is? What about all the old monsters yelling out shit like- "BOW BEFORE ME LIKE A DOG AND I WILL SPARE YOUR LIFE!!!!"?" Whaaaaa? How can she not know what a dog is? Obviously, dogs exist on this era and day, where selective breeding is probably boggled down to cultivating a cow or something. I don't know.

"Old monsters? What?" she looked at me incredulously, "What are you talking about?"

"Well- not that it matters, but a dog is basically an inbred wolf that's been inhumanely made so that the rich can profit off of defective animals. Some of which, can't breathe." I explained calmly. And yep, even when I snuggled close to warm puppies when I was young, knowing just exactly how those different breeds of puppies came to be pisses me off.

"That..." her brow furrowed, "I can't imagine something like that." she said and I nodded in agreement, "What kind of monster would do that to animals?"

"Hey, it isn't all bad-" I defended, "But yeah, the people who do that sort of thing are pretty much monsters." The ones who actively breed dogs via incest at least.

"So, back to the fox-" I held the guy on his armpits and waved her around, "-Like him?"

"Him? She's a girl Yu Song."

"Her then." I reiterated, "Like her?"

Xie Wen and the fox got into a staring contest for a few seconds, both of them not sparing a second to look away or even blink, they locked onto each other's eyes, Xie Wen gazing at a brown abyss and the fox observing the deep obsidian orbs that is Xie Wen's eye, magnetically entranced by them and unable to look away- I spectated them, treating their little contest as if it was the greatest sport known to man, all the while describing it like I would an author from the mid 90s-

"No."

I flinched, "What?" Was all I asked Xie Wen before her words reached the center of my brain and I perfectly understood them. "What do you mean No? She's literally so cute!" The fox nodded, agreeing with me. "See?!"

"Yu Song," Xie Wen said slowly and calmly, as if she's trying to get through a particularly retarded kid, "Do you see her tails?"

I stared at the two, wagging fluffy tails, "Yes? What's so bad about them?"

"That, means, that, she's, a, Spirit, Beast," she explained, again, saying the words slowly and carefully.

"Yeah, so? Isn't that better? Who doesn't want a Spirit Beast pet?" I crossed my arms, pulling the little fox closer in the process.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Does she look old Yu Song?"

"Well- no? Obviously, she's young and that's the point! We can take care of her-"

"Yu Song. Listen to me." Xie Wen walked closer and cupped my cheeks, "Listen to me when I say that this little thing has a mother and father out there, waiting for her to come back. You do not see a young Spirit Beast this powerful. Kitsune's especially."

"Exactly." Xie Wen frowned at my excitement and her expression morphed to convey her confusion, "What if she got smuggled? Huh? That means we can return her to her family."

Xie Wen laughed, "What?!" she turned away and just. Laughed.

"Are you okay?"

"No. Yu Song." She got near and pressed a finger on my chest because the little fox, her original target, got out of the way. "You do not try to be courteous with a Kitsune nor can you expect them to feel grateful. They're mischievous and deadly. They'll kill us on sight if we go back with her in tow!" I tried to reply but she spoke over me, "I know you're doing this because of your past but Yu Song, understand that some things aren't meant to be helped!"

"What?" I took a step back, the fox still in my arms.

Xie Wen's demeanor softened, "Yu Song- I'm sorry but you understand right? We're outside and no longer under the safety of a Sect, we need to let some things go, we need to be better than this." She hugged me, squishing the fox in the process. "To survive."

"Okay,-" I exhaled, "Okay, this is also about you isn't it?" She bit her lip and reluctantly nodded, "We can't decide like this then." I started. A bit more calmer now, I put the fox down on the ground and ignored its pleas to get carried again, scratching at my legs and tearing apart my pants but doing nothing against my skin. "My ideals and your... experience with the outside world won't really mix that well together so how about this? A compromise," she nodded to say that she's listening, "We gather information and if we have enough, we decide."

"Okay. But how do we do that?" She also sounded calm and collected. Good.

"The fox." I replied and Xie Wen took it seriously, gesturing for me to continue, "We ask if its parents are alive, where it lives, and how it ended up here, stalking us." Looking down, the spirit beast looked clean enough that if someone were to ask me where I think it came from, I'd say that she's a stray from some rich family. Her fur looked too good. Chances are though, it's probably because she's a spirit beast.

"Fine," Xie Wen bent down and pushed her face closer to the Fox's snout, "Are your parents alive?" Her eyes widened when the fox shook her head while I had a smug grin. Which soured her mood after she looked up at me, "Are you trying to trick us?" She interrogated but the fox again shook her head, "Oh by the 18 Heavens, you're lying!" She grabbed the animal by the throat.

And that's when I had to step in, "Wait, Xie Wen hear her out okay? Remember what you said about her having powerful Spirit Beasts parents?" I placated, which worked because Xie Wen let go and only glared at the Fox. Good, at least she's not trying to strangle it to death.

It was my turn to bend down and talk to the little gal, "Hey," I rubbed her by the ear and she leaned into it, "You know that you can kill us if you go to us while your parents are alive right?" I explained like I would to a child, "Do you want that?" The Fox shook her head, "So, are they alive?" Again, she shook her head.

I looked at Xie Wen, who nodded, "Okay, second question, what happened to them?" The Fox started to shiver and I held her face with both hands, I started rubbing her cheeks with my thumb, "It's okay. It's okay." I said twice, "You don't need to remember anything bad. I know that your parents are dead now though." I turned to Xie Wen for confirmation and again, she nodded. "What about you going this far out of the woods? What happened to you?"

The Fox whined, which didn't say much, "Okay, so uh, I don't know what she just said-"

Xie Wen rolled her eyes, "Just adopt her. Fine."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. Yu Song. But whatever happens to us because you decided to take care of a Spirit Beast is on you." I nodded and smiled at her, she returned it reluctantly and held my hand, "Make sure that you take responsibility okay?"

"I will." I've done this a thousand times before and I've only really given up a few times.

"Okay." Xie Wen nodded as if to tell herself that it's all gonna be fine, "Then what about her name?"

"Foxy." I said in English.

"Fooxy?" I laughed.

"No- no- not Fook-si. Foxy."

"Fooxy." I laughed again.

"Why are you saying it so seriously?" I wiped the corners of my eye.

She shrugged and gave out a teasing smile, "Who knows?"

If I were paying attention just then, I would've been able to see Foxy turn back to the bushes, and if I looked, I would've been able to see two pairs of Nine Tails waving around encouragingly.