Ayame and Suzume were playing around the shed when they suddenly caught the sound of wings beating furiously. Being the curious little girls that they were, they decided to investigate. Suzume carefully peeked around the corner and into the shed with her little sister in tow. They gasped at the sight inside.
Megumi was standing up on the footstool on her hind legs with her front paws up against the wall. Sanosuke was clumsily flapping his up onto her head in hopes of getting closer to the shelf above them. The two animals were so busy trying search the shelf that they failed to notice the two little girls that were spying on them.
“Oi, Sano!” Megumi complained as the rooster on her head repeatedly stepped on her snout. “Just jump up there already! I can’t take much more of this!”
“Quiet, fox!” Sanosuke clucked. “This isn’t as easy as it looks!”
Megumi attempted to lift him up a little higher in hopes that he would get up there and stop complaining. Both were beyond startled belief when two pairs of small hands reached out and picked them up.
“WAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGG!!!!!!” Sanosuke flapped his wings so furiously that it almost appeared to be snowing in the small room.
“Look what I got, Suzume-oneechan!” Ayame giggled as she held up a very panicked rooster by the legs.
“Yeah!” her sister answered, cuddling the fox closer in her arms. “I got this one!”
“Hey!” the younger girl got a better grip on Sanosuke. “Let’s go show Ken-ni what we found!”
“Good idea!” Suzume nodded as she and her sister ran out the door with their captives.
“Suzume-chan!” Megumi barked. “Put us down! It’s me! Megumi! And the rooster is Sanosuke!”
“Put us down this instant!” Sanosuke squawked loudly.
“Wow! These animals can talk!” Ayame waddled along.
“Just like in Grandpa’s stories!” the other young girl added.
The noise from the two little girls and their new ‘pets’ could be heard all over the dojo grounds. Sensing trouble, Kenshin scooped up Kaoru and leapt out of sight. A moment or so later, they saw Ayame and Suzume laughing as they dragged a fox and a rooster along with them.
“Oh no…” sighed Kenshin. “Looks like the little ones found Sano and Megumi-san, that it does.”
“Kenshin,” Kaoru tugged at his sleeve. “What are we going to do about them? What if Kitsui does something to them too?”
“I don’t think the fox is going to touch them, that I don’t.” said Kenshin. “If Kitsui was going to do something to Ayame-chan or Suzume-chan, she would have done it by now, that she would.”
“But Kenshin,” Kaoru continued. “They weren’t here when Kitsui transformed us. What if she comes back to change them too?”
“Then we’ll have to confront her, that we must” he replied. “Enough is enough with these tricks.”
Much to the relief of Kenshin and Kaoru, Dr. Gensai came out of the dojo and approached his granddaughters. They stopped and lifted Sano and Megumi up as high as they possibly could.
“Look, Grandpa!” the girls giggled. “We found them in the shed!”
“Ayame-chan! Suzume-chan!” Dr. Gensai carefully took the squeezed-out animals from the little girls' grasp. “You must not do that! Some animals will bite you if you pick them up!”
“They didn’t bite us.” Suzume explained.
“But they like to talk to us!” Ayame grinned broadly.
At this, the poor doctor was at a loss for words. What could he tell his grandchildren and that they wouldn’t say anything to anyone outside of the dojo. Well, he figured, since I’m going to be here until this whole mess is over with, my granddaughters will stay here as well.
“Children,…” Dr. Gensai began. “There’s something you should know.”
“Is it a story?” asked Suzume.
“About animals?” added Ayame.
“Well, uh…” the doctor scratched his head. “…sort of…”
The fox and the rooster could only glance at one another nervously and gulp. How was the doctor going to explain this to the children?
“Can we go find Ken-ni first?” Suzume asked. “Maybe he wants to hear the story too!”
“Er… Kenshin already knows this story, children.” Dr. Gensai gestured for them to calm down. “Now, let me start from the beginning.”
Hiding in the doorway of the dojo was Yahiko. He had nearly given himself away with laughter at Sano and Megumi’s predicament with the little girls. He sniffed at the air and knew that Kenshin and Kaoru were also hiding and watching the whole scene nearby.
“You girls know how foxes like to play tricks, right?” began Dr. Gensai.
The children nodded.
“Well, a fox came by here a while ago and played some mean tricks on Kenshin and the others.” he continued.
“What did it do?” asked Suzume.
“Was it that one?” Ayame pointed to Megumi.
“No, no.” the doctor laughed as he gently pulled the fox onto his lap. “You’ll know who this is soon enough. As I was saying, the fox played some very mean tricks on Ken-san, Kaoru-chan, Sano-san, Megumi-san, and Yahiko-chan. Do you know what she did?”
Ayame and Suzume both shook their heads. From his hiding spot in the dojo, Yahiko grumbled silently about how he hated being referred to as 'little.'
“The fox turned everyone into animals!” Dr. Gensai tried his hardest to keep a straight, but pleasant face on.
The little girls laughed and giggled merrily. Ayame was pointing to the fox on Grandpa's lap. Sano tried hiding behind the old man to keep out of the little girls' sight, but his bright tail feathers were always in view.
"Who's that on your lap then, Grandpa?" the younger girl smiled.
"It's me, Megumi." the fox answered.
Suzume came forward and pet her on the head gently. Ayame scooted around behind Dr. Gensai and scooped up a rather disgruntled rooster.
"Who's this, Grandpa?" the toddler held the wildly-flapping Sanosuke as high up as she possibly could.
"Isn't it obvious!?" Sano complained and struggled. "It's me! Sanosuke! Now put me DOWN!!"
"Take it easy, Sano-san!" Megumi laughed. "They're just kids! They just want to have a good time."
"Easy for you to say, fox!" Sano squawked. "You're not the one being held the wrong way!"
From their respective hiding places, a demon, a raccoon, and a wolf were rolling all over the ground, laughing heartily. Eventually, they came out into the open. Ayame and Suzume stared and laughed in awe of their friends' new appearances. They 'reintroduced' themselves to the children and brought them as up to date as they possibly could.
In the midst of their discussion, Ayame crawled onto Kenshin's lap, snuggled against him, then looked up at his face. Despite her age, it dawned on her that Ken-ni had had his eyes closed the entire time.
"Ken-ni?" she pipped.
"Hai, Ayame-chan?" Kenshin smiled down at her.
"How come you've got you're eyes closed?" she asked curiously.
Everyone fell silent. Kaoru looked as though she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. The others looked to one another in hopes that someone would be able to explain this to the child.
"Because the sun is shining on them, that it is," Kenshin muttered a quick answer. "You do not want me to go blind now, do you not?"
Both girls looked upwards at the sky. Sure, the sun was out, but it wasn't shining directly in Kenshin's eyes. They questioned him further.
"It is not something that you would want to see, that it is not." Kenshin explained plainly.
"Why not?" asked Suzume, her curiosity joining that of her younger sister's.
Kenshin remained silent. In fact, everyone did. The kids were obviously determined to get to the bottom of why Ken-ni was keeping his eyes closed, and a child's quest for knowlege is very persistant.
"Very well," Kenshin muttered quietly at last. "If you want to see, then I will show you."
The demon swordsman opened his Battosai-colored eyes and stared down at the child on his lap. Ayame likewise stared back at him, a mixture of curiosity and puzzlement in her expression. She blinked and leaned closer to get a better look.
"Did the fox do that to you, Ken-ni?" she asked plainly.
"She is not afraid...?" Kenshin observed. "She is too little to understand, that she is... They have never seen Battosai... they don't know what this means..."
"Hai, that she did." the swordsman laughed. "They are strange to you, are they not?"
"Hai." both girls smiled.
Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. Kenshin always had a way with words, even with children and, thankfully, that had saved them a lot of complicated explanations.
"Before I forget," Dr. Gensai broke the silence. "Kitsui managed to sneak into the dojo while we were searching elsewhere."
"And she left a weird message carved in the floor!" Yahiko scratched his ear furiously. "Something about illusions...?"
They returned to the dojo and inspected Kitsui's mark. After much speculation, the mutual agreement was that it was definitely a clue to breaking the spell.
"So what do we do now?" Sanosuke clucked.
"The deepest and most carefully guarded secrets of our souls..." Kenshin replied in a low and serious tone. "they must come out into the open, that they must."
"Wha...?" uttered Yahiko.
"Secrets?" Kaoru twitched her nose.
"Hai." the swordsman breathed. "Things that even the closest of friends do not tell one another."
"But what if it doesn't work, Ken-san?" Megumi twitched her ears nervously.
"It is a risk that we must take to return to our proper forms, that it is." he replied. "Even I will do it, that I will."
"So..." Dr. Gensai looked around worriedly. "Who will be the first to go?"
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This is Chapter 5. Where would you like to go next?
