My Friend Youkai

Shiho scuttled along kicking up splashes of water with her bright yellow rain boots. A matching umbrella was held above her head, large enough to shield her small body against the downpour.

When she had left the apartment to go to the department store, it had been little more than sprinkling. Now, however, it was raining cats and dogs.

In the hand currently not occupied by an umbrella was a plastic bag looped onto her arm, the weight of its contents causing it to sway back and forth with each bound.

As she passed by the park, a glimpse of white caught her eye. For a minute, she had almost passed it off as a bag or another piece of rubbish but it was far too white, like pure snow. Further inspection found it to be a living creature. She cautiously made her way to it's side and bent down over, shielding it from the rain with her umbrella.

Shiho let out a small gasp of both excitement and worry. It was a fox. A baby white fox about the size of a house cat. There were a few scraps along its legs and torso as well as on its nose but other than that, it appeared fine.

Weighing her desires against their consequences, she switched her umbrella into her other hand and scooped up the muddy little creature. It twitched but made no further signs of regaining conscienceness.

Now returning to the apartment complex, she entered the one occupied by her sister and her taking off her muddy boots at the front door. Her sister's shoes weren't there which was a good sign, because she'd rather not have to explain why she had brought yet another wild animal home. That argument never ended good, hence her being petless.

She dropped off the bag in the kitchen area and hurried back to her room where she lay the fox on her pillow. It was panting heavily and one of its front paws was tucked up against its chest.

"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked rhetorically reaching out to gentle stroke the paw in question. Instinctively, it was drawn back. Her face scrunched up in thought and she quickly rushed out into the hallway before returning with a first aid box.

Dressing the cuts with bandages as well as the injured paw, she leaned back to observe her work. Her sister had taught her simple firstaid a while back and she was proud to finally be able to put it to good use.

The small fox began to stir as it's breathing grew more natural and controlled.

"Oh, I bet you'll be hungry when you wake up." she chimed merrily. "But I don't know what foxes like... I guess I'll just bring you a bunch of things, 'kay? Stay right there." And with that she hopped off her bed and rushed into the kitchen.

She threw a few things onto a plate such as ham slices, cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs, and even a few fruits and vegetables. Upon returning to her room, however, she nearly dropped the plate. Eyes wide with a kind of surprised excitement, she stared at her pillow where the fox had been.

Sitting in a heap of formal white and light blue robes was a boy, about her age from the looks of it. Apart from his apparel being unusual, so was his hair color. It was that of a brilliant white which almost seemed to glow like a fluorescent light and sticking out on either side were long pointed ears, identical to the ones on the rescued fox. Behind him swished a fluffy white tail to match.

When he opened his eyes to stare at her with the gentlest of expressions, her heart did a flip. His eyes were a baby blue and showed signs of pure innocence behind them. His voice had quite the same effect when he spoke.

"Are you the one who saved me?" he cooed smiling softly.

Shiho nodded slowly. "Are you... fox-san?" Shiho tipped her head to the side childishly.

He nodded flashing another smile at her. "Yes, I'm a kitsune youkai."

Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't believe it! She was talking to an actual youkai like the ones Akemi had told her about in those stories!

Shiho hopped up on her bed, his gaze following her every movement. "What's your name?" She beamed. His ears and tail drooped down wearily and he glanced away.

"My name is Shinichi. Mama called me Shin-chan, but she's not here anymore..." faint traces of tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.

It dawned on her as she realised. They were in the same situation. Both parent-less. Heart strings drawn taught, she straightened herself up ready to say something before he continued.

"They won't get me here, right? The bad Tengu..." He covered his face in his over-sized sleeves and rubbed against them, most likely drying his tears.

"No way!" Shiho shouted surprising the young youkai as well as herself, but she continued. "No one's going to hurt you. I promise!" She stuck out her pinkie and he stared at her confused.

"It's called a 'pinkie promise'. You shake with your pinkies to make a promise with someone." This seemed to clarify it for him and he reached out with his uninjured hand locking her pinkie in his.

"I promise not to let anyone hurt you. Kay?" He nodded, a sad smile creeping onto his face.

"Can we be friends?" he asked unsure of himself. Shiho giggled.

"Of course."

That was the last audible sentence either of them spoke before they began laughing merrily as children do.

-Fin-

8D ... yeah. Because I can, and I just did. If you didn't like it, sucks to be you. I accomplished my goal of waiting your life.

Anyways, this was a random idea I spawned and was like 'I'm gonna write it, but I'm too lazy to make a story out of it' and thus, I got this. Oh, and I also wrote it in a weird fashion where it's pretty much straight forward and too the point. Not over the top with adjectives and such :P

*thinking* Ya know, some fan art of this would be pretty cute, don'cha think? X3