Kenshin sat inside behind the porch door, waiting patiently for Dr. Gensai, Suzume, or Ayame to come by. The others were sitting around, trying to figure out how to get Kitsui to change them back. They only paused when they noticed Kenshin twitch his ears and peek out the door.
"Who is it?" Kaoru asked.
"It's Dr. Gensai, that it is." Kenshin replied. "And Suzume and Ayame are with him."
"What do we do?" Yahiko stood up quickly.
"Keep quiet, that's what!" Sanosuke tapped the wolf with his feathers. He quickly regretted doing so when he remembered just how vulnerable he was.
The kindly old doctor approached the steps casually. The little girls ran off to play elsewhere.
"Gensai-sensei," Kenshin called through the shogi door.
"Kenshin-san," the doctor reached to slide the door open, but Kenshin held it shut with the sheathed sakabatou.
"Wait!" the swordsman warned. "I need to talk to you first, that I do."
"Whatever is the matter?" Dr. Gensai said, perplexed.
Kenshin explained the situation as best he could through the rice paper door of the dojo. The poor doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing and laughed.
"This sounds like a rather amusing joke, Kenshin-san" the doctor chuckled. "Well, if you and the others want to show your costumes, let me get Suzume and Ayame first."
"No!" cried Kaoru. "Dr. Gensai, what Kenshin said is true! A fox really did turn us into animals!"
"She turned me into a rooster!" Sanosuke added.
"And I think I've got fleas!" Yahiko scratched his ear repeatedly as best he could. "Megumi-san is probably next."
"Not from way over here I'm not!" Megumi replied from the other side of the room replied.
"Gensai-sensei," Kenshin pleaded. "Please, you have to believe us, that you do!"
"Oh, very well." the doctor agreed. "Let me have a look at you all then."
"Please, don't be afraid…" Kaoru uttered.
The good doctor slid the shogi door aside and looked into the room. For several minutes, he was completely speechless. A fox, a wolf, a rooster and a raccoon were staring back at him, looking rather worried. Dr. Gensai dropped to his knees, utterly dumbfounded. The poor doctor could not believe what he was seeing.
"Are you all right, Gensai-sensei?" said the raccoon.
Weakly, Dr. Gensai stepped into the dojo, approaching the raccoon that sounded like Kaoru Kamiya. When none of the animals seemed to flinch away, he reached out and carefully picked the raccoon up.
"Kaoru?" he asked in a disbelieving whisper.
"Hai, Dr. Gensai." the tanuki replied.
He set her down gently, afraid of dropping her with the intense trembling in his hands. The doctor looked as though he was going to faint, but Kenshin caught him from behind.
"W--," the frightened old man stuttered. "What has happened here??!"
"Like we said, Gensai-san." Sanosuke stepped forward. "That fox Kitsui did this to us."
Dr. Gensai looked back at Kenshin, who still stood behind him, but had his eyes shut. He could easily see the wild hair and pointed ears, but not the eyes that had scared everyone else half to death.
"K-Kaoru-chan is a raccoon…" Dr. Gensai shook his head. "Sanosuke is…a rooster…" He looked around the room at the other animals and pointed to each one as he continued. "Megumi-san… and… and… Yahiko-chan?"
"Oi!" the wolf scratched his ears again. "Why does everyone call me 'little?'"
"You… you weren't joking!" the doctor panicked.
"It's alright, Gensai-sensei." Kenshin sat down beside him, still keeping his eyes closed. "Aside from a few… changes, all of us are safe, that we are. But we are going to need your help, sensei."
"As long as we are like this," Megumi approached, but still kept her distance from the infested Yahiko. "we cannot run the dojo. We need your help to close and watch it until we figure a way to get back to normal."
"I-I see…" Dr. Gensai stuttered. He was slowly coming down from the initial shock, but it was still apparent that it was still very much there.
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Passerby on the streets were utterly puzzled by the unusual closing of the normally active Kamiya Dojo. Some suspected that there was trouble again while others shrugged their shoulders and speculated that it was probably because the company there had gone on vacation or the like.
With the help of Dr. Gensai, the dojo was closed down, allowing the transformed bunch to search the premises for the fox, Kitsui. They were all seated in the dojo, planning how to go about their search.
"It would be wise to split up into groups and check out the area, that it would." said Kenshin.
"How will we do that?" asked Sanosuke.
"With our keener senses, we should pair off and look everywhere for any sign of Kitsui, that we should." Kenshin replied. "This is how I think it should go: Megumi and Sano will check out the shed and roof. Yahiko, you and Dr. Gensai look around dojo and front yard. That leaves me and Kaoru-dono to check out the remainder of the grounds."
"Oi! Kenshin!" Sano squawked angrily. "Why do I get stuck with the fox? And how the hell are we going to check the roof like this??"
"Watch it, rooster!" Megumi growled.
"Oro?" Kenshin sweatdropped.
"Sano, you're a bird, and if you need help, Megumi will be glad to help you get up to the roof."
Megumi glared at Sano, licking her lips hungrily. Sanosuke gulped.
"But Kenshin!" Sano protested. "SHE'S GONNA EAT ME!"
"Now, now," Kenshin gestured for rooster to calm down. "I'm sure Megumi-san is just joking, ne?"
Megumi just responded by laughing warmly and gently backhanding Sano. The feathered former Sekihoutai member clucked irritatedly, but otherwise kept quiet. He wasn't about to take any chances that the fox beside him was going to change her mind, no matter how long they had been friends.
They split up into their groups and searched the premises. Strangely enough, even with their heightened senses, none of them noticed the shadowy figure that crept over the roof of the dojo and slipped inside.
Megumi and Sanosuke were snooping around the shed. They poked through the various things Kaoru often kept there, searching for any sign of the troublesome fox girl. There were some shelves that neither could reach, and having already checked most of the structure already, it was time to look higher.
"How are we going to check up there?" Sanosuke clucked. "Even if I stood on your head, I still couldn't reach those top shelves."
"Then I'll just have to toss you up there somehow." Megumi replied.
"You are NOT throwing me!" the rooster squawked.
"It's the only way to get up there!" Megumi barked. "Look, we have got to work together on this, so give me a hand and find something I can stand on!"
Glancing about the room, they spotted a footstool in the corner. Megumi got an idea and dragged Sano by the tail feathers over to the stool.
"Aye!! Fox!" he flapped wildly. "What do you think you're doing??"
"Just trust me, rooster-head," she grinned. "Or should I say, just plain rooster?"
"Shaddap!" Sano loosed himself from her grasp. "What are you doing?"
"I need you to help me drag this stool over to the other side of the room." she nudged the stool with her head. "Would you please give me a hand, or… uh… I mean, a wing?"
Despite the fact that the joke had been aimed at his current form, Sano joined her in warm laughter. He managed to nudge the stool slightly, which kept it from turning while Megumi was pushing it. Together, they successfully got it to the corner.
*********************
In the dojo, Kitsui secretly made an appearance. Glancing around, she crouched low to the floor and began carving something into it with her claws.
"I will give Kenshin that which is due to him." she grinned smugly. "My methods may not be what a human would call logical, but the outcome is the goal, not the means to it."
Approaching footsteps alerted the fox to Yahiko and Dr. Gensai's presence. Fortunately, she slipped away, unnoticed by anyone. As she watched the dojo from a distance, Kitsui snickered softly before disappearing once again into the bushes.
Accompanied by the lupine Yahiko, Dr. Gensai slid the shogi door to the dojo aside, only to see Yahiko growl uneasily.
"What is it?" the doctor asked.
"Kitsui was here!" Yahiko looked wildly around the room. "And just a few minutes ago too! I can smell it!"
"What's that in the middle of the floor?" Dr. Gensai pointed to the markings Kitsui had engraved into the floorboards.
They approached the marks wearily, cautious of any would-be traps. But none were to be had, and they inspected the writing more carefully.
"I can't read all of it." the wolf glanced up at the elderly man. "Can you read it, Dr. Gensai?"
The old man adjusted his glasses and squinted at the carvings in the dojo floor. After a few moments, he sighed wearily.
"This is very curious." Dr. Gensai shook his head.
"What does it say?" Yahiko asked.
"It says that 'when the illusions stop, the truth will come to be.'" the doctor read.
"What is that supposed to mean?" the wolf blinked confusedly.
"I wonder if it's the cure to the fox magic." said Dr. Gensai.
"How do you figure?"
"Look at it like this: to look human, the fox had to use an illusion to fool us. An illusion is meant to keep something a secret."
"So what you're saying is that when secrets come out, there's no need for an illusion and it goes away?"
"Exactly," said Dr. Gensai. "But before we jump to any hasty conclusions, we should consult the others first."
"Right." barked Yahiko. "And what if Kitsui left any other little hints around the dojo? We have to make sure we've checked everywhere, so let's get going!"
Dr. Gensai laughed as he and Yahiko continued to look the dojo over.
*******************
Out in the courtyard, Kenshin and Kaoru were putting their heightened senses to good work in the bushes. As she looked around, Kaoru noticed that Kenshin was keeping his eyes closed.
"Kenshin," she paused. "What are you doing? How are you going to see with your eyes closed?"
"I can almost see with my nose, Kaoru-dono." the swordsman sniffed carefully around the bushes. "I don't need to see with my eyes to find what we're looking for, that I don't."
"Kenshin…" the raccoon gazed at him sadly. "Is this about your eyes?"
Kenshin paused, but didn't say anything. He cracked his eyes open just enough to see, but turned his gaze away from Kaoru. The raccoon could see that she was dead-on with her guess and proceeded to scold him.
"Baka!" she yelled, eliciting a frightened 'ORO' from him. "It doesn't matter what your eyes are like right now! What matters is that we find that fox and get back to normal!"
Kenshin looked at her silently, his Battosai-like eyes suggesting anger, but his face betraying worry. Kaoru found herself at a loss for words, somewhat startled that he had opened his eyes. Her reaction made him turn away again and sigh.
"You have already seen Battosai, Kaoru-dono, that you have." he said softly and seriously. "I did not want you see it because I knew it would frighten you, but that day that you saw it I was too furious to care, that I was. I don't want to frighten you again, so I don't want you or the others to see it."
"But Kenshin…" Kaoru pleaded. "You are Kenshin now, not Battosai. I'm not afraid, and I'm sure the others know that too."
"Your eyes told me otherwise a moment ago, that they did." The swordsman said plainly. "You are afraid that Battosai will come out and you will not be able to tell because of the way I am right now, that you are."
"Baka!" Kaoru growled. "You think I can't tell?"
Kenshin glanced at her through cracked-open eyelids and sighed.
"Gomen nasai, Kaoru-dono." He said. "We should keep looking for Kitsui, that we should."
With that said, Kenshin returned to searching the bushes meticulously, this time with his eyes only partially open. Kaoru looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead resumed helping Kenshin look for the fox.
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This is Chapter 4. Where would you like to go next?
