Kitsune: Bride Of The Nine Tailed Fox, page 1
Prologue
"STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"
I yell running towards the couple with the staff of Haku. I broke the contact between them shocking the fox. He hisses and hops back while Margo falls to the floor. I desperately help her to her feet as I lean her body on a chair. She was warm and still had coloring in her face. I step to the stage. The book casting a soft white glow as I stared down at its crisp white pages. I take a deep breath and place my hands gently on the marriage page. Its glow became unbearable as a blinding light shocked my eyes sending me backward onto the ground.
I can't remember when I passed out but I came to shortly after to see I was in my sister's wedding kimono and the fox was glaring me down.
"What have you done!" He barked and I narrow my brows.
What had I done?
I look down at my outfit and see the golden bracelets around my tiny wrist.
I did it. ... it actually worked...
I'm married to the fox?
I smiled to myself in success as I finally freed my sister.
"I'm married to the fox!" I said excitedly until that is, my mind was able to process the events more slowly. Along with my words I was saying. I frowned grimly as my face drained quickly.
"Shit I'm married to the fox."
Chapter One
"Oh, Chi stop it." Margo crosses her legs in protest as I clean the tables and stack dishes on racks to take back to the kitchen.
"What, I'm just saying aren't you moving just a little too fast? I mean you practically just met the guy and besides he's creepy as hell." I say continuing to move around her small table.
"How is he creepy Chi honestly?" She folds her arms and gives a disapproving glare with her brow.
"He's too perfect" as I say this, she laughs but I don't.
I was being one hundred percent serious; no human can be so perfect.
I tried for months and months to find something on him. Anything! Any past records, minor fines, ex-wives, baby mamas, babies, girlfriends anything! But I found absolutely nothing!
"Relax Chicky, I'll be fine. Let me be the big sister for once, I have a good feeling about this one." She squeezed my shoulders and placed a twenty on the table.
"Keep the change, and this" She pecks me softly on the cheek while slipping two folded bills in my side pocket.
"Please get a real job someday huh?" She pinches my jaw and shakes her head.
"Yes mother" I roll my eyes and she smiled a perfect toothed and wide one.
Her heels click as she waves herself out and I continue my run.
I worked at a restaurant serving tables. It wasn't bad but wasn't the best either.
**
At the end of the day, I took a peek at the "tip" She had left. And just as I figured two clean cut hundred-dollar bills shined in the street light. "Gee thanks sis" I stand up from my spot and start for home.
The walk wasn't a short one but it was manageable.
From the sidewalk I could see my shadows cast indicating that a car was passing. Or so I thought.
A sleek black car stops beside me as I turn to face it. Of course, it was none other than Quinn Renard. Margos fiancé. He was a handsome devil with raven black hair and a perfect jaw line and skin that could make a Calvin Klein model cry.
He rolls down his window and smiles his teeth white and wide.
"Haya! Chiya!" He smiles, his voice sounding like a commercial for car insurance or toothpaste. The thought of this makes me uneasy.
"Need a ride?" He says happily and I look towards the direction of home.
Five more blocks and a busy intersect to go. I look back at his smile, I know Margo is going to want me to play nice so I bite the bullet and nod as I slip in the back.
Chapter Two
As I sat there, I could feel his eyes on me and it was making me shift uncomfortably.
"So, Chico?" I raise my head to look at him in the rear-view mirror. To my dismay his dark eyes were staring back watching my every facial expression. I give a light hum as response as I to stare back and his eyes narrow almost suspiciously.
"So, I heard you've had a concern with me marrying your sister huh?" His voice wasn't soft and in fact had a deep underlay that sent goosebumps up my bare arms.
I slid back in the seat "please don't say that, it makes me dread the thought that you're actually marrying my sister." I say low. Low enough for it to be impossible for him to have heard me. But for some reason he did.
His eyes raise a little and his cheeks raise almost in a smile.
"You don't like me to well, do you?" His voice was kinder now and my shoulders loosen.
"Well, I-" I began but he cuts me off
"I know it must be hard being the youngest in all. But you'll just have to face facts. I'm marrying your sister in a handful of weeks." His voice held an arrogance to it as we arrive at my apartment.
"Gee because that makes me feel a whole lot better thanks" I mumble getting out of the car, this time I made sure he heard me.
I was walking up the front step until he stops me.
"Oh, and Chico?" I turn slowly to face the car. Because it was dark out the car almost blended into the chilling night and his face was hard to make out. "If you need anything I want you to think of me as a big brother from now on, okay?" He continued his voice was back to its deep base and I shiver. "Because I love your sister and I want to get to love you as well."
"Okeydokey" I say giving him a thumbs up before turning around and heading inside.
Once I was inside, I lock the door and went upstairs to draw a bath. But surprisingly I didn't feel like getting in it. Even though I was with him for two seconds it drained me completely as though I had just fought in a war.
I knew in my soul that something just wasn't right about that man but maybe it was just me.
Once the water was half full, I stopped it and for a moment I forgot I was alone. The echo of my own thoughts bounced around as I stared into the clear gray water. I look up and into my black bed room. The light from the bathroom lit my king-sized bed and I sighed. No one.
And maybe that was my problem. Maybe it wasn't him but the fact that Margo had someone and that was strange. Margo and I always had each other and now Quinn shook that.
Maybe that harbored my bad feelings for him.
I didn't get in but instead laid down on my bed. Pondering everything.
Chapter three
The next day at work Quinn came to visit. He ordered two sandwiches one for him and one special for Marg. Margo always liked her sandwiches a weird way even when she was a kid. Mayo with Salome, black forest and regular ham, that sandwich sauce, with a single piece of turkey, two thick tomatoes, no lattice, on Italian, not toasted and a side salad of lattice and pineapple. Quinn got it down to a T. Quinn only got ham on just regular wheat but I never seen him eat it. In fact, I've never seen him eat much of anything really.
While I checked him out, I asked "Quinn? Why don't you ever eat?" He looked up at me, his eyes a firing oak brown. He smiled as he pulled out his card.
"Well... I do, it just takes me a while since I tend to eat in small portions." this answer was a lie but I just shrugged and gave him back his card with a receipt and he unwraps his sandwich from its plastic and takes a big confident bite. This takes me back a little as he smiles and winks. He waves as the sandwich hangs from his mouth and I watch him leave.
It happened that way for about two weeks. Quinn would buy her lunch and we would small talk. I found out from Margo that Quinn was an only child and that his mother passed at a very young age and his father was MIA. This info however did not change the way I felt it just made me feel bad. If it was true that is. Marg informed me however, that he hates talking about his personal life. One weekend they both came in together. Her smile was so wide when she was with him it honestly made me smile seeing her happiness. I loved Margo's smile; it was honestly the best thing about her. Well beside her herself. Margo was always the lovable one. Loved and liked by all she encountered. It's not surprising that she got married before me. Mother, grandmother and our aunt predicted so. Me on the other hand was an outcast since birth and not my family's golden child, no matter how much they protested otherwise. I was the one that was stubborn and silly. While Marg was serious and determined. Mother often said I picked up my habits from dad which is more of an insult then a complement. I'd never met him but the way mom would always rant and carry on about him that he wasn't so nice. Or serious about anything. Which isn't me.
"Is it your lunch break yet" I was pulled out of my thoughts by Quinn who eyed me quizzically. I looked at them both and then at the time. He was right. Like dead on right.
"Oh Chi, come sit with us pleeease" Marg smiled and I melted giving in and sitting across from Quinn. I eyed him as his hands laced with hers lovingly. He playfully danced with her fingers and she giggled sweetly trying to hide her enjoyment.
After they were done, she looked up at me. Resting one hand underneath her head as her hair fell perfectly in her face. She smiled at me as she moved strands of hair from my face back to my ear.
"How are you chi?" She spoke her voice sweet and full of love.
I choke a little on the words but I smile despite my discomfort.
"I'm okay... okay" She smiles at the response I was not so confident about and looks to Quinn and smiles even wider as she turns back to me.
"So" She begins holding back a smile as she bit the bottom half
What? A private wedding!? Maid of honor? No guest!? Oh, mother's going to have a fit.
"Chi?" I look up to see her face gone of life. She wasn't smiling and looked concerned for me. "Are you okay?" She says cautiously as she lays a hand on my shoulder. The only thing I managed was something we both didn't want to hear.
"Mom's gonna’ kill you"
Chapter Four
Even though we're both adults mother loves treating us as though we're still four and need her on our every call.
Mother hates to be the last for anything so when she's the last to hear about the sudden wedding changes from her favorite, she has no problem giving me the ear about it.
"What do you mean she's eloping! Who said she could do dat' huh!?" She screams on the phone and at that moment I hate Margo.
"Mommy I don't know! You'll have to ask her" I whine as I want painfully for this conversation to end.
"Your sista' is being selfish! Did you have something to do with this Chicorie June!?"
I hate when she does that.
"No mom it's just as a surprise to me as it is to you so calm down and please don't use my name like that."
She began speaking in mandarin and I lightly set the phone down and get dressed out of my night clothes and grab breakfast. The only times she speaks in mandarin is when she's flustered or with family. At a young age mother taught us to be trilingual between Korean, American and Chinese. Since our dad was Korean and she was Chinese. I only know a little Korean but am fluent in the other two. Since Margo is older, she lived in south Korea at the age of seventeen while I stayed back home in China the rest of my life until I turned nineteen to join her. Mom isn't horrible at English but It could use a little help. While I was learning I taught her along with me. But we're both stubborn and she gets frustrated easily.
After I grab a handful of chips and pizza, I finally rejoin her on the phone.
"Where did you go!" I roll my eyes as I cross my legs and take a bite of pizza.
"Ugh to the bathroom mommy calm down." I say my cheek full of the cheesy goodness.
"Talk her out of it now!" Mother demands.
"Mom Margo is twenty-eight years old, I can't tell her how to get married mom." I protest and I could hear her annoyance. She hung up the phone and I was honestly glad to hang up as well. I sigh and grab the book on my nightstand followed by the dress book Margo gave me.
The book I was reading was about a girl living in the 1800s. She was a pretty girl as far as a book description goes. She ends up meeting a man and finds out that he's a vampire, of course. But the book itself was interesting though. The vampire was so close and yet she never noticed until it was too late. The description of these events were horrible as it seems they have no chemistry at all and in a way it was terrifying. Who could love someone so heartless and still remain a whole person themselves. I shivered at the thought as I read through the chapters. I was really dreading the dress book laying under me as I try to focus my energies elsewhere. But eventually always glancing right back at it. I finally build the courage and toss through its pages. I began to tear up, this was my sister's big day, the one we planned as children. And the dresses were beautiful. I couldn't make her change. She was happy.
..
Because it was weeks before the wedding, we decided to plan a Bachelorette party with Lorali Lunix Marg's friend that was a big designer for the stars and Louise Bouchelle and Ruby Stone. All big-time people in the industry. The party was going to be held at a luxurious five-star hotel with a night life secret nobody knew about, only if you were in the 'know.' On the night we were told to wear our best 'onsen' outfit which is her slang for hot I suppose but comparing me to a Japanese hot spring is something I don't find very attractive. But I still tried my best and put on something sparkling and something red. Because I was the one not getting married, they wanted to snatch me a hot date but I drank so much over the limit that if I did find someone then they'd find me more of a limp noodle than an actual breathing being. However, I wise up enough to meet a nice solider just returning home which was nice but after about twenty minutes of me blabbing nonsense I must've scared him because he retreated to the restroom.
"Wheeerres the grooooom huh? Does this cramp his styyle?? Hum??" I tossed my hair back away from my face as I rest my head on Margo's shoulders.
"Not here," she whispered soothingly.
"He really didn't want me going in the first place." She continued and ending it there. When she did this that meant leave it alone. But I couldn't, who didn't want a party? It's tradition?
Chapter Five
The soldier eventually came back and exclaimed his apologies. His name was Brian Kim and that he had a long history of a weak stomach and after having surgery for it, it seems he can't keep things down for very long before it coming out the other end.
"But I assumed that was the last thing you wanted to hear." He chuckles and took a light sip of the alcohol. The alcohol barely touching his lips.
"Suppose so?" I say taking a hardy gulp of the substance I was drinking.
He leans forward, enough for me to see him fully but not smell him.
"Do I get your name?" He said and I waved him off passively.
"If I told you my name it would make you runaway again."
"I never ran the first time. I'm a big boy, I think I can handle it."
I hesitated, I didn't know him and surely wasn't going home with him. So why was he bothering to know something he probably won't remember anyways?
"Umm" I stopped to think, maybe to think about my name? To think about the situation? That I did not know but I finally pushed it out with boldness.
"Chi-Chicorie, but they call me Chico."
"They?" He questioned raising an eyebrow.
"The mafia" I say seriously but he takes none of it.
"Which is?"
"Mom and sis" I admit and he smiles charmingly.
"Well, I think it's beautiful Can I call you by your full name? I think it's an injustice not to use something so lovely?"
I shrug "if you can remember" I add, we both knew what that meant and I honestly felt cruel saying so. But it was true, we'd probably never see each other again after this.
"Well, it's a challenge then miss Chicorie, it's safe to call you miss right? I mean someone as beautiful and part of the mob must have like seven kids and just as many husbands?" I smile at his boldness to play along and I lean forward this time I know he can smell me.
"Nope, just a single working bee." He backs away and takes me in.
"Well, if I ever see you again, which I will, I will bite the bate. I will ask you out on dinner." There was a command in his voice as though it was truth and it had to happen that way. I bit my lip but frantically became sweaty.
"So cheeky? If you can even catch it and besides, how do I know you're not married? I'm no concubine." I pretend to act offended but I was smiling so bright it made that almost impossible.
"I never want to offend, but if I did have one, wouldn't I be leaving right about now? I'm currently unemployed so where would I have said I'd gone?" I thought for a moment. Was he right? But he could have said anything right?
I was going to say something when Margo lightly tapped my shoulder.
"I have to go. Now. Quinn is mad and wants me home." I frown glancing at the clock above the bar. It was past twelve and my eyes widen. I had been here five hours? It felt only like two.
She pulled me off the stool and during that conversation with Mr Kim I had forgotten I was drunk. My head wasn't connecting to my feet below me as I buckle under Margo and she catches me firmly.
"Oh Chico! You're so bad! She scolds lifting me only to prop my arm across her shoulders.
"Imma’ be sick" I said hanging my head down low as I slowly comeback down to earth. Margo nods at Brian and drags me away to the car.
We all clatter in the back and I throw up out the window and rest my head on her shoulders.
"He's really mad." She says worriedly.
