toy

Kyouya appears in a small forest clearing, the grass soft under his feet and the thin trees scattered about with overarching branches high overhead. The atmosphere is cool and slightly damp, but not promising rain since the small bits of sky he can see through the treetops are a clear blue.

There's a fox a few meters away, watching him with its head slightly tilted to the side. It's fluffy and pure white, odd since an arctic fox would usually live in the snow, and not a speck of dirty is on its fur despite apparently living in a forest. Its head would come up to Kyouya's hip, surprisingly large for a fox.

Kyouya can't help himself.

He slowly moves over, quiet even on the twigs and dry leaves that would normally crunch with the barest weight on them. It doesn't run, or look hesitant, it just sits there and lets Kyouya slide closer. Maybe he should be cautious, because despite his talent with animals they are never this calm on a first meeting.

However, it's really fluffy and Kyouya has bad impulse control.

He lowers himself to his knees and sits back on his calves about a meter away before holding out an upraised hand low to the ground so it can scent him. The fox leans forward and rumbles with a purr, sounding amused, before it opens its mouth, lips pulling back over teeth in a strangely human like smile. Its tail flicks up into the air behind it. Or, more accurately, all nine tails.

Kyouya is throwing himself back as it transforms into a man with pure white hair and lavender eyes, an odd purple marking under the man's left eye. He's dressed in all white like a uniform, and his ears are still there -perked up and angled to catch every sound Kyouya makes- as well as all nine tails that sway lazily.

Tonfas slot into Kyouya's hands and he waits but the man does nothing more than smile.

"You look very much like that Arcobaleno and that Vongola," the kitsune murmurs. "Could it be that you're a Hibari hunter?"

"No," Kyouya replies, voice even and unconcerned despite his ready stance. "I'm not a hunter."

"Not a hunter? Is that why you're so afraid?" Byakuran questions, his eyes completely focused on Kyouya in an unsettling way.

"Does this look like fear?" Kyouya asks instead, a small smile creeping over his face. "I'm sorry if I'm giving the wrong impression. I've just really wanted to meet you, Alpha."

"Oh?" Byakuran hums. "An admirer?"

"Only of stories," Kyouya readily admits. "Everyone knows about the kitsune leader." Kyouya tilts his head to the side. "If I win, can I keep your fox form for the rest of the day?"

Byakuran laughs. "If you win, little human, I'll give you a coat of my tails."

Kyouya rolls his eyes at the theatrics. Cutting a kitsune tail was said to take its power and give it to the mutilator, but it's not actually true. Even after people realised this, they still took tails of hunted kitsune and it turned into a huge insult to have a tail cut off because it means that the kitsune is weak.

Kyouya's eyes narrow when Byakuran weaves his first illusion.

...

The stars are visible through the breaks in tree leaves, the light pollution of civilisation not reaching this far into the forest. A cool breeze makes the trees rustle and the wind glides over exposed skin, leaving goosebumps where it touches.

Kyouya's clothes are ruined again. His injuries from before have opened and new ones have formed, making his entire body hurt. He doesn't know how long it has been since the fight ended, but from the dried in blood that covers his clothes and skin and quite a large radius around him, more than an hour.

He's hungry and thirsty, but he can't get up. Not because he physically can't, but because the fox is just so ridiculously fluffy. Kyouya is curled around it on his side, his face buried into red splattered fur. The nine tails are wrapped around him in a mimicry of a hug, acting as a soft blanket.

Due to its fast healing, it had stopped coughing out blood a long time ago and its breaths have become even. The white fur is clumped with dirt and dried blood and some parts are sheared off unevenly but it still feels so good to pet, and when Kyouya gets the right spot behind the kitsune's ears it starts purring involuntarily.

Kyouya falls asleep to the deep, slow breaths of the kitsune.

...

Byakuran waits until the boy is asleep and then slowly uses his tails to move him off so the kitsune can wriggle out of the teenager's hold. He transforms back, only able to stand thanks to his regeneration.

He stays there for a moment, hovering over the sleeping form, before crouching to lift the human into his arms and slipping away into the forest.

This boy is the one the demons and fallen and angels are after. This one took down four Varia, freed the estranged Vongola brother, and then fought Byakuran only to win, all in one day.

If Byakuran has to be in fox form constantly, so be it, but he is not letting such a prize go.

...

Morning comes and Kyouya finds himself completely healed, in a black yukata and being watched. He must have been incredibly exhausted to not only fall asleep wrapped with the kitsune but also not wake up when he was being moved or healed.

Kyouya turns to the side, the large and comfortable pillow dipping with his movement, and takes a moment to stare at the Alpha kitsune.

"Good morning, human!" Byakuran greets in a pleased voice from his place on the bed beside Kyouya. He's propped up with help from an elbow, and on his side to better watch the teenager sleep.

"It's Hibari Kyouya, and the deal is over," Kyouya says slowly. "Why did you not just leave me in the forest?"

"Because that would have been rude," Byakuran says with a pout. "Do you not want to be with me?"

Kyouya is about to answer a definite yes when the man shifts and leaves a fluffy pile of fur with wriggling tails sticking out of it. Kyouya can't stop his body from rolling over and hugging the animal to his chest, nuzzling in between the two perked up ears.

The tails hug him back and he falls into a half trance from the comfort.

Kyouya understands Byakuran better than he does most Alphas. He learned about all of them back when he was still in hunter training, but none of the others caught his interest like Byakuran did, and Kyouya soon forgot about the rest.

Byakuran is an Alpha that everyone knows as powerful. It's not that he's a warmonger or that he gets involved in Otherside affairs regularly – in fact he is rarely seen like most Alphas. The reason supernatural fear him is because when he does get involved, he leaves utter destruction in his wake.

Every time Byakuran is present, it's large scale and bloody, and even the angels have developed a healthy caution with regards to the kitsune. The feathered supernatural are bigots with egos too big to see over most of the time but they're also warriors and they can tell when someone is a serious danger to them.

Byakuran is not the fastest Alpha, nor the strongest, and quite frankly his command over the kitsune race could use some work. However, his mind is a thing to be feared.

A good example is the previous Alpha kitsune.

When Byakuran rose to power, it was a sudden change. The kitsune are not sociable creatures, and often the largest stable group amassed is only twenty, so it's understandable that their politics aren't as complex as a race like the angels and thus they wouldn't make a big deal out of the shift in leadership because it wouldn't effect most of them at all.

However, Byakuran was a complete unknown before his rise to Alpha. He was eighteen, in human years, when he beat the previous Alpha at a game of Byakuran's choice. Unlike the demons, the position of Alpha kitsune is determined through intelligence instead of pure strength, so of course the kitsune battle often has cheating – it's pretty much tradition.

Before the challenge was declared, Byakuran was often seen around the previous Alpha, not interacting with the woman in anyway, but lingering with other kitsune who were more props for Byakuran than anything.

It's called priming.

Byakuran would have simple, everyday conversations with people within the previous Alpha's hearing, and always speak of writing or reading or just paper as a whole. The Alpha at the time wasn't even focused on the young kit who would babble away off to the side, but the information was still absorbed in bite sized pieces.

After four weeks of constant preparation, Byakuran proposed a challenge for the title of Alpha. People laughed, and laughed even harder until they cried when Byakuran suggested a game of rock, paper, scissors.

The previous Alpha was far more experienced with challenges and was far quicker than her opponent, so with her keen eyes she could determine the shape his hand formed and then act fast enough to play the winning move. They played three games. Byakuran won at first with scissors, then again with scissors, and then again with scissors.

It wasn't anything synonymous with power, completely insignificant to the battles of mages who can break apart the very Earth with a few well-chosen words, but kitsune admire intelligence - not dramatic flair. The thousands of kitsune watching dropped to a knee with awe and respect for the child who took less than ten seconds to win the title.

Byakuran became Alpha at eighteen and as the previous leader stared at her hands in shock, not quite understanding why she could only play paper, he slit her throat.

To be honest, she never stood a chance.

The Alpha kitsune title went to Byakuran and he went down in history as a creature to be avoided at all costs because his attention only brought misery.

Kyouya really does admire Byakuran, he wasn't lying when he told the Alpha kitsune just that before they fought. In fact Kyouya is a little bit giddy, because he can't wait until the Alpha actually fights Kyouya properly instead of just a physical battle. He wants to see how badly Byakuran can twist Kyouya's mind, because he's going to enjoy every second of the challenge.

The door to the bedroom is slammed open then and a panicked fire elemental rushes in, red hair literally on fire yet without smoke.

"Byakuran, the Alpha spirit is here!" Zakuro cries. Then he pauses when he actually registers the scene before shaking the stunned look off. "By Alpha spirit, I mean all of the top tier Vindice have congregated in the living room."

The fox rolls its eyes and nudges Kyouya with a nose. The teenager untangles himself from the tails unwillingly and sits up, sliding off the bed. He moves to the table nearby holding his wallet with the armband tucked inside and the three separate holsters, two for tonfa and one for the rune dagger.

Kyouya takes the simple black tote bag on one edge of the table and places all of his things inside. His clothes aren't here, most likely irreparable from the fight. He slings the bag over a shoulder and moves to leave. The fox lets out a yip and when Kyouya turns to look, its standing at the edge of the bed and looking at him with expectant eyes.

Kyouya is rather confused at the behaviour but steps back near the bed and lifts the fox into his arms. The fluffy appendages immediately wrap around him like a fur cloak, and Kyouya starts walking. Byakuran uses one tail to point the way and they both arrive at the guest room easily enough.

When Kyouya enters, he finds tall adults with top hats. All but one line the walls, bandages covering every centimetre of skin, and long coats with fur lined edges. Kyouya sees the distinct shimmer of kitsune fur mixed in with werewolf hide and a mash of other supernatural skins.

"A Hibari?" the one standing in the middle of the room murmurs, stepping closer. "I was not aware the kitsune clan dealt with hunters."

"I am not a hunter," Kyouya disagrees when Byakuran does nothing but tuck his nose into the teenager's neck.

"You certainly get involved like one," the Alpha spirit drawls. "First the fallen then messing with the angels' prisoner and now rolling about with the fox."

"Do you have something to say to me, or are you going to continue pointing out the obvious?" Kyouya hums, petting Byakuran like a clichéd villain. "I have better things to be doing."

There's silence at his reply and then the spirit steps even closer until his coat brushes against Kyouya's arms, half bowed over the teen's smaller height.

"Do you know who I am, child?" the Alpha hisses. "I am Bermuda Von Veckenschtein, and you dare to talk back to me?"

"And I am-" Kyouya's mocking speech is cut off by the fox in his arms.

Byakuran shifts as he drops out of Kyouya's hands and transforms back to human, the change making Bermuda step back to give more room. Byakuran straightens, standing in between the boy and Bermuda protectively, one tail wrapping around Kyouya's mouth to keep the younger from speaking.

"Now, now, Bermuda," Byakuran tsks, his voice a mocking drawl. "Do you really want to be known as the fearsome Alpha spirit, fond of threatening little human boys?"

Kyouya grips the tail and shifts it away from his mouth but stays quiet, instead stroking the fur.

Bermuda steps back from the widely grinning fox. "Tell me, Byakuran, why do you have the child? Is it a grab for power like the pesky feathers or the horrid underworld beasts?"

Byakuran shrugs carelessly. "Who knows why I do anything, really? You, on the other hand, rarely ever leave your prison. To what do I owe this incredible honour?" The fox's smile widens further, the human teeth an insult, showing that Bermuda wasn't enough of a threat for him to shift. "Perhaps you are the one chasing the boy?"

Bermuda's bandages shift as he scowls but he drops the oblivious act. "What do you want for him, kitsune?"

Byakuran laughs, but his tails flick to encircle Kyouya. "He is not for sale, Bermuda. Get your own."

"I'd much rather take this one," Bermuda snarls and chains whip out from under his coat as the other spirits step forwards with intent.

Byakuran shifts teeth and claws to razor sharp points, his eyes flaring gold as his fur snaps to hard metal.

"Is it my birthday?" Kyouya wonders idly, calmly reaching inside the bag for his tonfa. "So many good fights…"