I. prologue

A red fox with five tails sat on the tree panting, his bright fur was dull with exhaustion and his eyes were dilated with fear. His name was Luren of the Fire Clan kitsune and he had been running from his kind for four months straight to save his newborn son from immediate execution.

Men or more accurately several of his folk that shape-shifted to man-form were scouring the park with seeming casualness. He sensed them as they walked, ghosting through the park like many shadows. He almost whined of desperation, the precious bundle that he carried for so long was hidden in the hollow of one of the trees in this park.

If they find him, they'll kill him. I really shouldn't have left him to find some food. I should have found a way to come back earlier… I should have… Don't, don't panic, if you do, you doom yourself and the kit.

It seemed an eternity but searchers finally went away. The fox dashed out of the tree and into one of the others. He emerged a moment later, with a cloth covered bundle in his mouth and dashed away.

That was just too close…So tired…and they will never stop until…why dwell on it, must keep on going…

***

Luren changed to his human form and cradled a small bundle of red fur tenderly. He was gaunt from months of inadequate rest and food. The red fox kit looked at him with fevered purple eyes, eyes still full of trust and love despite all they've gone through. This made him sigh as he placed it gently in a basket he had stolen for the purpose. He had concluded that there was no way to escape the hunters that pursued them, not with the newborn kit.

"Little one, you don't even have a name in all these months of running…but damned if you're going to die nameless without a chance to live a semblance of life." Luren said in a peculiar language composed of growls, whines and yelps. The fox kit whimpered. The kitsune knew that the baby didn't know what was happening though the latter sensed the impending change in the air, the separation.

I have to leave you little one. I have to lead the hunters away as far as I can. You have to understand that…maybe someday… Hmm, a name, a good Japanese name for you to hide your heritage…purple eyes…

Luren took out a pen and wrote something hastily on a piece of paper then he drew the last of his magical reserves to shapechange the youngster into a human baby. The kit looked at him with amazed eyes but didn't make a sound.

A good kit, not afraid of magic, what a warrior you would make! If you survive…no, when you survive…

Luren carried the basket and its contents to the apartment five doors down. It belonged to a well-to-do couple who was childless. Luren had gone through their thoughts and knew that they were kindly and wanted to have children. He knocked on the door then shifted forms and snuck into a dark corner as he felt the woman come to answer.

Luren saw the woman look about and exclaimed as she read the contents of the little note. She called her husband and took the baby up with such care that he knew he had been right to choose this family.

But just to be sure…

He lurked in the shadows waiting for the man to emerge from the dwelling…half in anticipation and dread…then sighed.

"Be well. Little Ran." Luren said finally as he saw the human man look tenderly upon his kit as if it was the latter's own. He ran back into the shadows.

~tbc~

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