exotique. // Snake x m!Kitsune!Reader

III. The Cunning

Still, I've been having to complete his paperwork more frequently recently. The time he went undercover at Noah's Ark Circus as well as the time he went on a cruise with Michaelis and Snake for another investigation (something about a hospital), he left me with the documents regarding Funtom Company. Now he was off to some boarding school for another investigation with Michaelis once again, and I was stuck with the company of paper, paper, and more paper.

"You're good at what you do, Kitsune-san," the Earl retorted slyly with a smirk on his lips. It was not quite befitting of a child in my opinion, but those big blue eyes no longer belonged to a child. "You're the only one who is cunning enough to develop business plans that are perfect copies of my own and the only one capable of forging my signature. I trust you to make the appropriate decisions in my absence since, after all, you will make the Phantomhive household flourish."

"You are literally an entire millennia too early to be telling me what to do," I mused, "but you're interesting. That's why I'll play along for now and won't leave as long as you give me shelter and food and a few toys."

"Is the temporary management of the Funtom Company and its sister branches not enough for you, you greedy fox?" the Earl griped exasperatedly as he rolled his single visible eye at me.

I could only laugh and shake my head in amusement before responding, "A dog can only take after his master, Earl Phantomhive. At any rate, I expect some aburage by the time I am done, Earl Phantomhive."

Unfamiliar with the term, he arched an eyebrow in scepticism, and his butler shortly explained to him, "Aburage is a type of Japanese food made from soy beans, My Lord. The tofu is cut into thin slices and deep fried sometimes to be later used in soup or to be made into inari-zushi."

"You're quite knowledgeable, crow," I remarked.

"Why, of course I am, kitsune. If I do not know this much, I cannot be called a Phantomhive butler," he responded.

"Ahh," I sighed, rubbing my stomach at the thought of my favourite food*. "Enough talk. I'm getting hungry. I really do expect a reward after all of this is done."

"Only if you can finish all of this," the Earl teased lightly with an impish smile on his lips.

"Why, of course I can, Earl," I responded, mocking the butler's previous statement. "If I cannot even do this much, I cannot be called the Earl Phantomhive's valet, can I?" Michaelis only scowled at me, but I easily ignored it. "I suppose I will be cooped up in the library while you and Michaelis are gone. Michaelis better start learning how to prepare aburage. I want kitsune udon, kitsune soba, inari-zushi, aburage stuffed with natto, and miso soup with aburage!"

"You'll get fat," the Earl pointed out.

"I'm a shape-shifter. What does it matter?" I retorted cheekily, making the boy noble chuckle slightly at my mischief. With that, I set my fingers underneath the bottom of the pile and hauled it away from the desk. Michaelis politely opened the door out of the Earl's study for me and my three foxes just to be courteous and just to get rid of me while I was singing, "Aburage! Aburage!" quietly under my breath.

Absorbed in the mere thought of my delicious fried tofu, I had forgotten that my hands were full and there was no way I could possibly open the doors to the library without dropping the stack of paperwork in my arms. My chant died down into a quiet curse as I tried turning the door knobs with my elbows, only to give up—a bit frustrated.

Pouting, I stood outside of the library and considered bending over to drop the stack of papers to the side until I saw a blur of movement off to the side. The doors to the library opened wide enough for my foxes and me to step through the frame, and I smiled in approval at the action. Peering around the mound of papers, my eyes laid upon Snake's shy form, fidgeting nervously as he questioned if this was what I had wanted. His golden eyes rested on the floor as he shifted his weight between his legs.

"Thanks, Snake," I assured him with an encouraging smile on my lips which only made him blush and nod silently. That was all I could ever offer him ever since his coming here—an encouraging smile. He was a capable young man who learnt his duties and responsibilities quickly within the Phantomhive household so that he no longer needed me to be his mentor by the time that he was to accompany the Earl and his butler on their cruise. When he returned, the white haired young man seemed to be more confident with himself—probably something the Earl had said to him—except, for some reason, when he was around me. My presence seemed to make him hesitate, and I could only assume that it was because I had threatened him on his first day.

He waited until my foxes and I made it safely past the doors and to a study table, dropping off the paperwork on the wooden surface, before closing the door behind him. He reluctantly approached the four of us and helped Amaterasu with the stack of papers and the Earl's stamp on her back by lifting both items onto the table while I did the same with Tsukiyomi and Susano'o. Once everything was on the table, he asked me, "'What are you doing?' Says Webster."

I reached into my breast pocket and pulled out a fountain pen I kept there with my plain handkerchief before pulling out a chair and collapsing in it. "Well, Earl Phantomhive is going away to private school, so I am to handle his financial affairs while he is gone," I explained shortly. "While Michaelis is off helping him, Tanaka is in charge of the household, so you'll be taking orders from him for a while."

"'School?'" Snake repeated dubiously. "'But Smile is already so smart!' Says Goethe."

"School is a place for children to socialise and make connections," I explained to him shortly as I reached out for the first set of documents, skimming over the contents before stamping a rejection notice on it. "When people pursue further education, it is to network and establish those connections—not just to learn... although that may be different for other people."

"'Did you also go to school?'" Snake inquired curiously. "Says Goethe."

"I did not," I answered him curtly. "I've learnt from other people and through observations." As a yōkai, it was unfathomable for me to attend a school in the guise of a human. We are in every way superior to such fragile beings. However, on the other hand, humans were always advancing, so I did my best to learn about them and to learn from them, to figure out how they think, if not for the sake of ensnaring them within my claws. "Why do you ask?"

"'Because you can do Smile's work,'" Snake answered blatantly. "'That's impressive.' Says Webster."

"What about you?" I retorted. "All of your snakes are named after authors and poets, are they not? Oscar Wilde, Emily Bronte, William Wordsworth, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Keats, and John Donne. Webster is a common surname. I can count at least three writers with that name. Do you like reading?"

Snake was silent while I was skimming through another document. When he didn't answer me by the time I reached the bottom of the page, I lifted my eyes and saw that he was trying to decipher some of the documents for himself. "'I can't read,'" Snake replied hesitantly with a tinge of shame dripping from his words. "'But I can recognise some words since I remember what they look like and what they mean. I've never gone to school. I've always been an outcast... But I've always liked stories. I remember hearing stories from those authors, so that's why...' Says Goethe."

There was a moment of silence where the two of us basked in our individual thoughts. I was balancing numbers and contemplating all sorts of possibilities at the same as Snake running over his previous words through his mind, wondering if he had said the right thing. Finally, I decided to break the silence by offering to the white haired young man, "Shall I teach you?"

He lifted his head, blinking at me curiously and questioningly. When he didn't seem to know how to answer me, I mentioned to him, "English is actually my fourth language. I am familiar with Chinese and Korean. My native language is Japanese. I learnt English from a gang of pirates, so granted it was not that fantastic in the beginning. However, the captain made sure that I learnt from the best they could offer."

"'It's perfect; it sounds perfect—your English,'" Snake complimented. "Says Webster."

I smiled at him and thanked him for his compliments, making him flush in embarrassment. "English has very little in common from Eastern languages. I couldn't speak it, and I couldn't understand it. It felt strange to my ears and strange on my tongue, but if I could learn it, then you definitely can. You're already speaking it," I encouraged him. "Since the Earl and his butler would be gone, you'll have free time from not tending to the Earl. Whenever you're free from your housekeeping duties, come see me."

"'What about your work?'" Snake protested. "Says Goethe."

"Don't worry about it," I assured him. "This kind of thing is mundane. I'll be done with it in a few days so that it won't impede our lessons. We'll start tomorrow, okay?"

Snake's frantic expression suggested that wasn't quite what he had meant when he asked about my workload, but he wasn't able to make any more arguments given that I was already stamping rejections, scribbling initials, signing Ciel Phantomhive's name, and sealing envelopes. I was lost in calculations, planning, and business and economical terminology, and Snake was simply sitting beside me quietly, watching as I worked tirelessly, until he left to attend to his tasks for today.

The next day after breakfast, he came to me in the library with a tray of pastries Michaelis had prepared for us before he left and a tea set. "'Finny and I brewed it,'" Snake informed me, "'using the flower seeds and the book you bought for him a few weeks ago.' Says Donne."

"The day you learnt how to drive a carriage?" I inquired curiously, watching as he poured a rose coloured liquid into a glass of ice. Snake nodded stiffly, embarrassed at the recollection of how nervous he was back then, as I recalled which flower seeds I had bought exactly. "Ah, the hibiscus flowers! You two made roselle? Thank you!" Snake shook his head furiously as though to say that he didn't deserve my praise.

"'You didn't come back to the room last night,'" Snake explained. "Says Keats." He looked as though he wanted to say something more, but he held his tongue.

"I stayed in the library," I informed him tersely. His eyes widened briefly when he noticed the shadows under my eyes. "There was more than I thought. It'll be harder to rush through this than I had anticipated. Are you here for your first lesson?"

"'No, it's fine, really. You're already so tired.' Says—"

"I don't care who said what. Just sit down in a chair and recite your alphabet. We're working on phonetics today. Trace the letters on this parchment with this pen and work on sounding your vowels and consonants out loud so that both of us can hear what you're doing. Then we'll start with smaller words and then build your grammar and vocabulary."

I reached for a cinnamon roll and tore off the sweetened dough with my teeth, quickly devouring the pastry and licking my digits clean of the sugar, before I returned to the document on which I was working. Snake's cheeks flushed a deep scarlet, burning into a dark crimson, at the sight of my tongue darting past my pink lips to wipe away the white glaze. He forced his golden eyes to the fresh parchment and shakily took the pen I had offered him, dipping the tip in the jar of ink, before tracing the alphabet in capital and lower-case letters. Glancing over at him, I reached out to his hand and fixed the positioning of his fingers, making him blush yet again at the touch, before telling him to continue until his handwriting was completely legible.

Eventually, after Snake's jaw had loosened after reciting his phonetics and after our jar of ink had depleted, the teapot was empty and the tray was barren of all pastries. Letting our hands rest from writing for hours, I pulled a children's book hidden within the shelves of the library and told him to read to me. I relaxed to the sound of his voice and just allowed him to get used to seeing the letters, the words, the sentences, and the syntax. Once he was done, my foxes brought in our lunch, and we ate silently while working on our respective tasks. Snake was learning his vocabulary while I was approving and rejecting propositions.

This continued for days. Eventually, Snake's seat had gotten closer to mine, and I found myself scooting a little closer to him as well. With every little millimetre, we gradually closed the gap between us until there was hardly even ten centimetres separating us.

This was how Mey-Rin had found us in the library one peaceful day.

"Mr. Fox! Snake! Come help us! Old Sam's sheep are loose now that his fences broke; oh yes, they are!" she cried frantically as she barged into the library. A loud gasp resounded throughout the vast library, bouncing off the walls and against my eardrums as I moaned slightly at the disturbance.

I lifted my head off its perch, only to feel a weight keeping it down. My eyes flickered open to notice that the gap between Snake and me had been bridged closed when there was hardly any space between the two of us and our chairs at one of the study desks in the library. The snacks on the tray had gone cold as well as the drinks, watered down by the melted ice, suggesting that we had been asleep for at least a good hour—my head on Snake's shoulder, Snake's head atop mine. My heart fluttered in my chest at Snake's warm hand atop my own, and I squeezed his fingers lightly. "Hey, Snake..." I whispered in his ear. "Wake up."

His golden eyes snapped open, and the very moment when he was suddenly aware of his position, he leapt away from me, knocking over his chair in the process, and stumbled over his own two feet in embarrassment. I couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction and at the pink blush coating his cheeks. "Mey-Rin, you said something about sheep?"

"Y-Yes! Old Sam's sheep have escaped; yes, they did!"

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" the boy noble asked of me with an inquisitive glance of his azure eyes. "The others have all gotten something."

"I've mentioned it before I left, haven't I?" I retorted cheekily. "All I want is aburage after all I've done for you... yet you still had the gall to use that unappealing unicorn as a form of advertisement." He huffed indignantly at the mention of his unsuccessful marketing plot that only managed to be saved by celebrity endorsement because of Michaelis' interference. Smiling at the boy, I nudged him lightly and remarked, "I won't bite the hand that feeds me."

"I'll have Sebastian prepare all of your favourite foods tonight," the Earl promised. "Thanks for all of your hard work."

"It's the least I can do to repay you for the shelter and food," I replied coolly. From the corner of my eyes, I glanced at Snake and his new bag, unaware that a subtle smile had crossed my lips until the Earl had pointed it out. "He looks happy."

"I ought to be saying that about you," the Earl Phantomhive retorted smoothly. "You're smiling. Be careful or you'll attract unwanted attention—again."

"You shan't worry, My Lord," I responded just as amusedly as he was exasperated. "This fox companion of yours is no longer inclined to sneaking out at night to visit flowers that only bloom in the dark. My teeth and my claws serve as your sword, and my flesh and body shall be your shield."

He scoffed lightly and grumbled, "You're quite good at sucking people into your own pace," when he noticed that I had easily diverted his attention away from my smile. "The two of you have gotten rather close."

"Do you think so? We are roommates and colleagues, Earl," I insisted, not exactly comfortable with the direction this conversation was heading. The last time he had brought up this kind of topic was regarding the Pirate King who had swept me away from my island and my dominion, who had brought me and abandoned me in a new, alien world. "It should not be strange for us to be close."

"I did not say that it was strange," the Earl retorted. "Trust me when I say I do not care for your preferences—or lack thereof. It only matters when it starts to affect your work—yours and his."

"Has he..." I faltered, unsure of how else to finish that question. I wanted to ask him if Snake had been slacking off in his duties, but that seemed uncharacteristic of the white haired young man. If anything, he was a fast and capable learner. He wasn't quite like me, whom Michaelis came to call a lazy canine, and he was quite enthusiastic to be of help—as shown when he and Finnian combined forces to round up Old Sam's loose sheep. "No, never mind me," I dismissed my previous words easily. "It was silly of me even to think of that possibility."

"It is not because his work has been lacking," the Earl assured me. "It is because sometimes he is distracted, and sometimes you are distracted. I would rather not have either of you distracted—you especially."

I'm sure that was his way of saying that I was a valued pawn. It would help him to have another element of the supernatural on his side, for—unlike the crow with whom he had a contract—I was only a monster he had yet to tame thoroughly. If that meant spoiling me, then so be it. If that meant having to wait three years for me to become attached to him, then so be it. If that meant I wanted to play with my food, then so be it. If that meant I wanted to seek a companion, then so be it. He would tame me so that he could use me eventually in the future for my cunning wit, my keen nose, my sharp ears, my pointed canines, and my sharpened claws.

If Michaelis was his ace, then I would be his joker. I would be the trump card he had kept hidden up his sleeve. I would be the monster nobody wanted to see.

"I know you've become attached to him," the Earl noted. The underlying words he meant to say through that single statement was that he would also use this to his benefit. To tame a monster, one had to grasp all of his strengths and weaknesses. Ciel Phantomhive had me by the neck ever since we had first met. He was the watchdog who had sunk his fangs into the Pirate King's neck, and the watchdog who had trapped the snake in his yard, waving the reptilian beast right in front of my jaws. However, he was also the watchdog who had offered me his home and his food, so I couldn't do anything to him because he already knows my name.

I had to repay the favour in full.

That night, as promised, right after the Earl's dinner, Michaelis had prepared kitsune udon and inari-zushi for me with the assurance that I would get miso soup with aburage tomorrow morning and kitsune soba the following night. Making myself comfortable at the kitchen island, Bard, Finnian, Mey-Rin, and Snake watched in fascination as I hungrily slurped and devoured the thick noodles, taking my time to savour the slightly sweetened fried tofu. After sipping all of the remaining soup in the bowl, I set down the ceramic bowl atop the counter with a loud thud and sighed in satisfaction.

"It's not as good as Youko-chan's, but it's still pretty delicious," I chimed before picking up a piece of inari-zushi with my bare hands and devouring it whole.

Bard merely raised his eyebrows and blinked at me, wondering where all of the food goes in my body, before remarking, "I'm counting on you to clean up, Fox!"

"Okay! Goodnight!"

With that, Mey-Rin, Finnian, and Bard exited the kitchen to return to their rooms, leaving me alone with Snake. I munched on my food quietly while Snake occupied the seat across from me, watching me eat just as quietly. "You don't have to wait for me," I assured him. He only shook his head in response, and just as another silence fell upon us, I pushed the plate in front of him as well. "If you're here, you might as well eat some, too," I told him. When he was about to protest, I narrowed my eyes and glared pointedly at him, daring him to defy me.

Snake was a lanky young man whose build seemed to be made of skin and bones. He hardly seemed to weigh anything, and sometimes it worried me when I could see the contours of his ribs through his tailored uniform. Keeping my eyes trained on him, I waited until he picked up one of the pouches of fried tofu stuffed with sushi rice. Watching as he bit into it tentatively and as he chewed and swallowed, I finally retracted my attention and ate another piece of inari-zushi, letting the faintly salty yet somewhat sweet taste fill my mouth.

"Is it good?" I asked him. Glancing over his way, I saw that the younger man had nodded soundlessly. "Then help me finish the plate. I'm rather stuffed from the udon." Getting up, I prepared a pot of chamomile tea for the two of us by brewing the different leaves and herbs and then poured it into two cups. Snake thanked me quietly, and I only hummed in response.

"'Who's Youko Chan?'" Snake suddenly asked me out of the blue. "Says Emily."

"Mmm, Youko?" I repeated as I thought of the adorable field fox with a penchant for mischief I had left back in Japan. "She's like my little sister, I suppose. Why?"

Snake seemed hesitant to respond. "'No reason,'" he finally replied. "Says Emily." He pulled his eyes away and then asked, "'Would you ever return to Japan?' Says Bronte."

I considered this as I gathered the empty plate and cups. "Eventually," I answered him honestly, "but not now. Why are you asking?"

"'No reason,'" Snake answered. "Says Bronte."

I chuckled lowly as I scrubbed the dishes clean. "Don't worry about it, Snake. The day I return to Japan will be the day when there is nothing left for me here in England," I assured him. Feeling rather mischievous, I asked him teasingly, "Would you be lonely without me?"

It surprised me when he answered brusquely, "Yes." Without missing a beat, he got up from his chair and glided out of the kitchen as though he was never there in the first place. It was a shame that he didn't know how much lonelier I would be when he would be gone. I couldn't help but scold myself at the thought.

Every single time, why did they have to be a human?

Why did I always have to fall for a human?

What right did I have to love them? I was only a monster, one without even a name.

Even in the xxxHolic anime, Mugetsu, the pipe fox that belongs to Watanuki (MC), absolutely loves fried tofu. However, in xxxHolic, it is considered to be "junk food," and too much of it is bad for him.