exotique. // Snake x m!Kitsune!Reader

V. The Dancer

When Snake was in the middle of peeling potatoes with the others inside the kitchen, there was suddenly the sound of furiously rustling leaves outside as though something was caught within the bushes and was desperate to escape free. Snake lifted his head to glance out the window only to be told by Bard just to leave the matter be. "It's probably just the wind," the chef insisted as he continued peeling off the potato skins.

Snake's brows furrowed together in contemplation as he considered the possibility of Bard's suggestion. If it was just the wind, then wouldn't it sound in the trees as well? It only sounded as though the noise came from the bushes. "'I think,'" he spoke up just as one of his snakes began to hiss, "'I will check it out, after all.' Says Donne." Without further ado, he took to his feet, much to everyone else's surprise, and unabashedly opened the door to steal a glimpse of what was outside. Within a second, I felt a brush of fur against his ankles and nearly recoiled at the touch until his eyes set sight on a familiar red coat. "'Amaterasu?' Says Keats."

"Fox's pet?" Bard inquired sceptically as he peered over the footman's shoulder. "What's it doing here alone?"

The red fox leapt forward and climbed atop Snake's arm before barking frantically to the snake wrapped around his neck. Keats hissed in return and coiled towards Snake's ear, relaying the message the fox had presented to him. At the news, Snake's golden eyes had widened, and he nearly bolted out the door until a firm hand caught him by the arm. He glanced over his shoulder and found himself staring into glowering red eyes. "And where do you think you're going, Snake?" Sebastian inquired of the young man. "What did that fox tell you?"

Snake's eyes glanced from the fox to the butler apprehensively as he tried gathering his wits. "'Amaterasu says that guy was held up and can't return earlier,'" he informed the butler shortly. "Says Keats."

"By whom?" Sebastian questioned further, narrowing his eyes in contemplation at the sudden information.

"'By...'" Snake faltered, the words caught in his throat as he didn't want to admit it himself. "'By his fiancée, it seems. She wants him to return to Japan.' Says Keats."

"Then we can't do anything about that," Sebastian stated firmly. "It's his personal matter to sort out for himself. Now, come back inside and bring that fox with you. It seems that it can communicate with its brethren, so keep it here just in case something happens. Your snakes can act as an intermediary."

Snake pulled his eyes away from Sebastian just as the butler had pivoted on his heel to redirect the other servants. They fell upon the wooden floorboards though they really saw nothing at all. His thoughts plagued with worry, anxiety, and concern, he could only mutter, "I'm sorry..." before sprinting out of the kitchen, into the courtyard, and beyond the forest in search of the exotic beauty who had enchanted and captivated him. After all that's happened, he would be damned to let the older man slip through his fingers so easily.

Meanwhile, Sebastian didn't make a show of Snake's haste at all. He merely chortled lowly in amusement, running a hand through his raven hair, and watched as the young man slipped into the forest. "My, my," he mused aloud, "I doubted this is what the Young Master had in mind when he said that his new 'pet' would come in handy." Nevertheless, it would be a shame to have to release their collared fox after the pains they've undergone to keep him shackled to the Phantomhive household. Even if it meant have to restrain him by the neck with the tight grip of a snake, then it would have to be done. It's what he's deserved for playing around with his prey for far too long, after all.

The kitsune would be brought back here, and his home in Japan would be forgotten. Whether he would admit it or not, that fox has already been domesticated and is now in captivity of the hands of a phantom.

---

"I'm surprised that you chased me all the way out here even though my father sent Tora-kun and Tsubasa already."

"Unlike that idiot Toranosuke, I asked the guardian of the heavens for a favour. The fool forgot what his real purpose in finding you was over the few months he's been drifting at sea, and Tsubasa didn't bother telling you a few weeks ago since he was to make sure Toranosuke was safe and sound. Had the Oni Clan lost their precious youngest son, there's no telling what would happen—just like how the Kitsune Clan is actually scrambling to bring their own one and only heir back home."

Ignoring her blatant jab in my side, I retorted, "Don't tell me you actually bothered a dragon to take you half way across the world just to do the same thing Tora-kun was supposed to have done a few weeks ago."

"I did ask a dragon for a favour, and he'll take me back after I'm done with my business here."

"You stand out too much," I told the raven haired vixen as she clung onto my arm with a relenting sigh. "Your kimono and your beauty makes London look dull and dreary against your vibrancy."

"England was already dull and dreary before I even arrived." Raising her head, her chestnut brown eyes glared at me pointedly, and she snapped, "Besides, aren't you the one who stands out too much? After all, you're more beautiful than most women anyway. Your face ensnares men and women all the same, you heartless playboy."

I sighed and patted her head, "Youko, I didn't ask to be born with this face."

"When blending in with the humans, you could have chosen to take the form of an old man or something that reflects your nine hundred years of life," she accused. "Instead, you decide to venture with your natural appearance—minus the nine tails and the ears—yet you still try to defend yourself. What on earth is it that you want if it's not attention? You good-for-nothing womaniser and man eater. You suit the role of a kitsune more than any other."

Laughing, I retorted, "You wound me with your words. I thought we were family."

"Family?" she huffed, her pale cheeks flushing with a deep red at the mere notion. "We're engaged for heaven's sake!"

"I plan to dissolve our engagement," I responded shortly. Turning to her with a soft smile on my lips, just shy of guilt and sorrow, I mused, "You've known all along, haven't you?"

A scowl crept onto her lips, and she averted her eyes from mine. "I thought that one day you would have felt the same for me. Instead, you seem to enjoy playing with humans more than me. First, there was a Shinto priestess of all the damned humans! Second was the Yoshiwara courtesan, and then there was a foreign pirate! Now it's some other human, isn't it? Tell me about it. What kind of human did you stumble upon this time? An artist? A doctor?"

"A dancer," I replied with a teasing smile on my lips. "A beautiful, exotic dancer at that. He's a snake charmer, you know?"

Huffing, she hissed, "How disgusting! Priestesses, courtesans, pirates, and dancers? You have terrible taste." Her eyes narrowed the more she gave more consideration regarding humans, especially those whom I had favoured and favour now, muttering bitterly, "Honestly, what's so good about humans anyway? They live, learn to behave cruelly, and then die, yet they have the gall to call us gods or demons whenever the situation demands it. It's too much!" Finding turning her eyes to mine, she cried, clinging onto the fabric of my tailcoat, "It's too much! It's always the same thing every single time! You leave home, you enchant humans, you become fascinated with their strangeness, then they die, and you have this terrible, terrible face like a child who's lost their favourite toy! Why can't you learn from your mistakes? Why do you have to befriend humans? This time won't be any different! This human that fascinates you will leave one day and depart, and you can't follow him to be reborn or to be destroyed!"

Reaching out towards her, I cupped the side of her face and stroked away her tears with my thumb. "Don't cry, Youko," I assuaged her calmly. "You'll ruin your pretty face. It's not befitting of you." I pulled her aside to avoid an oncoming carriage, consequently pushing her into my arms. She clung even tighter to the fabric of my clothes as she hid her crying face away from public eyes. "They weren't mistakes. I befriended them to learn more of the humans we watch, yes, but I don't regret meeting them—not now, not ever. Rather, I... Well, it seems as though I've finally fallen in love after nine hundred years of living."

"With that exotic dancer?" she griped.

Laughing, I nodded my head in confirmation and replied, "With that exotic dancer." Stroking my fingers through her long strands of black silken hair, I told her, "I've always thought of dissolving our engagement, Youko. I care for you as a sister, so I could never love you as anything more than that. I'm sorry for delaying my decision for so long. It would have been better to have ended this farce long ago."

"Idiot!" she exclaimed, banging her tiny fist against my chest. "You're such an idiot, you damned kyuubi!" Even as she cried, she whispered so softly that only I could hear her although I was sure that I was the only one around who could even understand Japanese, "Thank you for letting me love you for the past two hundred years."

Smiling fondly at the young woman whom I considered my dear and only sister, I replied, "Thank you for loving me for the past two hundred years. You deserve someone better."

"Idiot," she repeated, "there's nobody as beautiful as you are."

"You'll be surprised," I retorted, "at how beautiful the world looks when you find that one person who makes everything better."

The raven haired vixen laughed at me and pulled herself away from my arms to wipe at her tears. "I would have never imagined you saying such romantic words," she mused aloud. Only a moment later, her smile faded from her lips, and a grave expression took over her eyes. "It almost makes me regret having to tell you this."

"What could possibly be so important that it couldn't wait a few more years?" I asked her lightly, trying to enlighten her mood.

When her visage only grew even more sombre, I redirected her by the shoulders and suggested going into a café for some tea and cakes, sensing that it would be a long discussion. After settling down at a table near the wide glass window, I ordered two slices of today's special cake and two cups of jasmine tea, hot and unsweetened, knowing they would be unable to serve green tea the way Youko and I were accustomed to drinking. Right when the tea was served, Youko was fast to hold it in her hands, holding the porcelain teacup like the Japanese ceramic cup that she was familiar with using. Her eyes stared into the clear liquid as she spoke, "Rather than forgetting, Toranosuke—and even that bastard tengu Tsubasa—might have had too much pride to admit that we are in trouble."

"Trouble?" I repeated uncertainly. "What kind of trouble?" It must have been a mess to get Youko this flustered, but it surely shouldn't be anything too tremendous since both Toranosuke and Tsubasa were confident that they did not need my help or my return. After all, the two of them together were sufficient enough to break the barrier I had arranged around the Phantomhive estate.

"You're aware that the people are becoming more and more exposed to Western culture, correct?" Youko inquired of me before she took a sip of her tea. Finding nothing at fault, she drank it more tentatively, taking care not to burn her tongue, and then continued to speak after I nodded my affirmation, "Well, the country is becoming more industrialised. They're even cutting down sacred trees for timbre and, unfortunately, invoking the angry gods' wrath or the vengeance of the ayakashi if they hadn't purified those trees first.

"Of course, that's only one example. Shrines are becoming less and less common, and some are even demolished to make room for civilian to advance... or so these humans claim." Her eyes darkened with a sort of vengeance that could only be common in fox spirits, but she tried to quell that bitterness so that she could continue to explain the situation to me. "The trees that they're cutting down are making the forests dwindle, and... it shouldn't be long until some of the animals have no homes to return. Of course, this includes the lesser ayakashi.

"Some of the ayakashi have decided to take matters into their own hands and have attempted to enact vengeance. I cannot name how many houses have been burnt to the ground and how many humans have been slaughtered. The lesser ayakashi, in turn, have been exorcised by monks and priestesses who've been called by humans who think of us as demons and monsters even though they once worshipped us and gave us food and offerings... Well, I guess that they're not completely wrong, I suppose. For yōkai like you and me, it's a simple matter to crush them within the palms of our hands."

Youko never once lifted her eyes from the cup, too overwhelmed with emotions to demonstrate to me the storm raging within her tiny frame, until she had finally finished with the last of her tea. Her fingers moved over to play with the cake the waitress had set in front of her using the fork. Within moments, she had figured out how the Westerners ate with the silver utensil and stabbed a piece of the pastry to slip past her red lips.

"The balance is being destroyed, Kyuubi," she concluded shortly. "If nothing is resolved, then I fear that it will either be us or the humans." With that finishing statement, she stabbed the rest of her cake with her fork and frowned in distaste at the cake. "It's too sweet. They don't serve red bean paste here?"

"Unfortunately not, Youko-chan," I replied shortly with a wry smile that vanished as quickly as it came. Processing all of what she had told me, I then sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "It is quite a predicament. Tora-kun might be in over his head thinking that he can handle this alone—even with the help he doesn't want from Tsubasa."

She rolled her eyes at me. "That's exactly why we came to fetch you, idiot!" she grumbled with a pout on her lips. She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly and glared at me pointedly, expectantly. "You can't stay here any longer."

"What makes you say that?" I retorted in my own defence, trying to preserve my own home here. "I'm sure that Tora-kun and Tsubasa can handle this problem together with my father and the other yōkai. What do you need me for? I'm not even the head of the Kitsune Clan yet."

The pout on her lips deepened into a scowl, and she raised her head defiantly at me. "Again with this conversation?" she growled, hurt much too evident in her voice.

If I hadn't known better, it sounded as though she was close to giving up running her points across to me. However, with my position and status among the yōkai, that itself was impossible. They would never give up trying to drag me back to Japan during my stay here in England. "You don't belong here with the humans!" she protested, staring at me with tears in her eyes. "You're a yōkai! They live in a different world than you do! It's time you accepted that! Stop chasing after them! In a few decades—hardly even a blink of an eye to us—they'll either die or forget all about you! Just stop this foolishness, Kyuubi! You're only going to hurt yourself in the end!

"Why can't you ever give a damn about the yōkai world like you do about learning more about these... these fascinating humans? Just... please, please just quit with this whimsical selfishness of yours! Right now, you're only hurting others... like your own clan, your comrades, and even that human you love."

The bells above the door chimed and jingled, and a few customers exclaimed in surprise as a small red fox hardly even the size of a weasel bolted into the establishment and onto my shoulder. "Amaterasu?" I questioned softly, stroking her between the ears. "I thought I told you to stay with Snake?" The moment that inquiry left my lips, realisation struck me from behind, and I immediately turned towards the window to find a paralysed young man with white hair and golden, snake-like eyes staring directly at me in surprise. His eyes dropped to the ground, and his feet clumsily lurched forward in a light jog before gradually increasing their pace into a sprint away from the café.

I immediately leapt from my chair and reached into my purse to leave an appropriate payment on the table's surface, but before I could leave, Youko snatched my wrist within her smaller hands. She gave me a weary smile and asked, "Are you going to keep running away from your responsibilities, kyuubi? We can keep pursuing you, too. We have centuries ahead of us, after all."

My eyes darkened at her insinuation. Snake wouldn't be around for longer than six or seven more decades when he would be aged and weary, but I would be eternally youthful if not immortal. We had all the time in the world, but Snake didn't. It would be cruel to keep him together with me and when we were already worlds apart... yet I couldn't bring myself to separate from him. Gently prying off her hand, I offered her a weak smile in return and replied, "I'm even more foolish than Tora-kun and Tsubasa, Youko-chan. I'm sorry that I'm the only heir my father has and that, even after nine hundred years of living, I don't seem to have changed at all. I'm just as selfish as I was two hundred, five hundred, years ago."

She glanced out the window and muttered, "Well, you seem to be getting a little better this time." Standing up, she brushed off the invisible dust on her silk kimono and added, "Go after him. I'll allow it this one time, but next time you won't get off so easily. I will have you take proper responsibility as the future head of the Kitsune Clan."

After saying our goodbyes, I burst out the door of the café and sent Amaterasu forth to track down Snake by his scent. Concentrating my abilities on the aura with which I had become familiar, I tried to single out his soul among the throngs of people on the busy London streets before settling on a single direction. Focusing solely on that kind, warm soul, I followed its trace into a darkened alleyway. Amaterasu met me there, climbing back onto my shoulder and whispering into my ear of Snake's whereabouts. I approached the end of the back alley and adjusted my eyesight to see within the dark shadows.

Holing himself in a slight crack between the brick wall and the block of flats, he kept his golden eyes trained on the ground even with my presence in front of him. His legs were pulled to his chest, and his arms were wrapped around his knees. It was a defensive position that I've seen him take a few times before.

I crouched down to reach his eye level and addressed him quietly by his name, "Snake, what are you doing here?"

Despite my gentle tone, he flinched as though my inquiry was accusing. His eyes were fixated on the ground, picking at the pebbles lodged within tiny, minuscule holes. I reached out for his hand, hesitating when I felt it tremble in my hold, before lacing our fingers together. Softening my eyes, I told him, "That was my fiancée, Youko. She came from Japan to bring me back to my family." When he stiffened at my words, I pressed my lips against his thin fingers. "I won't return. I have you here, after all. I won't leave you; I refuse to do so."

"The two of you suit each other," Snake mumbled as he kept his face turned away from mine. Quickly, he added, "Says Keats." It was already too late for him to cover up his words though considering that he had "forgotten" to use the accent, dialect, and demeanour of the character he associated with Keats.

I smiled at his little mistake and pulled him closer to me by the hand so that he tumbled into my chest. He flushed, both embarrassed and flustered, at the sudden action. I held his head pressed against my breast and stroked his hair softly and gently, assuaging him. "I broke off my engagement with Youko after two hundred years. The only question now is children. As the future heir, one of my duties is to continue the line."

Discomfort built in my chest at the thought. I couldn't possibly lay with anyone else now that Snake occupied my mind and my heart. I didn't want to do such a thing. I only wanted to be with this snake charmer for as long as he willed it. "If only I was born with a body to bear your children, then... well..." I faltered, unsure of where to carry the conversation or how to continue it. If only I was born a woman, then I could have carried his children and be bound to him for the rest of eternity, but that was impossible even for a shape-shifter such as myself. I was a fool for even considering the possibility. I couldn't change what the gods have given me, so I laughed, uncertain of myself for the first time in several hundred years, and brought a hand to run through my hair, distressed, before feeling something warm trickle down my cheek. "Eh?"

A lukewarm droplet fell upon Snake's cheek after dripping down my chin. He stared at me, wide-eyed, before reaching out for my cheeks, cupping my face in his hands, before I could wipe hastily at the tears. He pressed his lips right below my eye, kissing away the tears before they could form, before pulling away, embarrassed at having done such a thing. My heart could only flutter at the sight, and I smiled sheepishly at him, holding firmly onto his hand, never wanting to let go.

"Your heart..." Snake muttered. "It's... it's pounding really fast."

Dropping my head onto his shoulder, I whispered, "I know. It really hurts, too, but I'm... I'm really happy right now."

Snake lifted our intertwined hands and placed my palm above his chest, blushing an even deeper red as he did so. "Mine is, too," Snake muttered so lowly that even I could barely pick up his words.

I smiled when I felt his pulsating heart beneath my hand, and it only widened when the younger man leant closer towards me. I couldn't suppress my smile when our lips brushed together in a brief kiss, full of innocence and affection and adoration, that Snake shied away from me momentarily at my expression, uncertain of himself. Leaning against him completely, I sought for his lips again, swallowing them whole.

"Really, Snake, you'll be the death of me."

He pressed a shy kiss against my forehead and averted his eyes meekly, taking my hand within his yet again. "'You can go back to Japan, you know?'" he told me assuringly. "Says Keats." My eyes widened at his statement, and he gave me a wry smile. "'The time I've spent with you is already like a dream. If... If I need you, then I just have to call your name, right?' Says Donne."

"If you call my name, then the wind will carry me to you... but..." His free arm, the one not occupied with holding my hand, wrapped around my shoulders and he pulled me against his chest firmly. "Why?" I asked him, my voice completely losing the confidence of one who has seen nine hundred years.

"'They need you there, don't they?'" Snake pointed out. "Says Keats." He pressed a gentle kiss against my head, and I nearly melted from all the love in his actions. "'I can't keep you to myself. It's too selfish. I don't have that right.' Says—"

"No, you have that right," I assured him. "You're... You're my lover, right? You can keep me to yourself. You can lock me up in a cage, restrain my actions, and keep me to yourself!"

His eyes softened, and I could only feel his hold tightening around my shoulders and on my hand. "You should go," he insisted. "I... I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of having destroyed so many lives by keeping you here. It will crush you later on as well."

I pulled his face closer to mine and kissed away the tears brimming at his eyes. "I'll return for you in this life and your next and the one after that. No matter how many times you are reborn, I will never let you go," I vowed to him. "I love you—more than anything else in this world."

"And I, you," he swore to me. "I love you dearly."

---

In the middle of an ashen field at the charred grounds of where it seemed the Gates of Hell had opened, a lone fox pulled into his arms the body of one he called a lover. Crystalline tears rolled down his porcelain cheeks like drops of diamond dust and onto the pale skin of his dearly beloved. His fingers stroked the side of the man's peaceful visage as dimming golden eyes stared lovingly at him.

"Don't cry..." he whispered softly. "You came back..."

"You should have called for me earlier!" the fox spirit protested as he tried to cling onto the life that slipped through his fingers like the sands of time. "You could have called for me at any time, but..." Time flows differently for yōkai, for beasts, and for humans. One of us would have gotten hurt. Youko has been trying to tell me this time after time, but I didn't listen to her. I should have listened to her—before either of us had gotten hurt. I shouldn't have left Japan in the beginning. I shouldn't have left your side in the end. I should have stayed with you. I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you to abandon me. I don't want you to go some place where I can't reach you, a place I can't see, a place I don't know. "Why didn't you?"

"I... really wanted to see you. I've always... always wanted to see you. You were the first person I've ever loved. I'm really glad... that I got to see you one more time. I'm sorry I... I couldn't do anything for you... but, right now... I'm really, really happy."

His golden eyes fluttered shut, and the hand holding onto his lover's warmth fell to his side. The tears that had been gently rolling down porcelain cheeks couldn't seem to stop, and they fell atop the burst of red surrounding the two of them. From the red petals bloomed a single white carnation*, and the wind whispered to the fox spirit, "Take it. For every death, there is a birth. Nurture it, care for it, and a new beginning will welcome you."

---

*White carnations symbolise sweetness, innocence, and pure love as well as good luck