Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 2 – It’s Raining Food

Back in the alleys of the shopping street, I waited.

It has been about a month of doing this, and it’s safe to say that it isn’t just a nightmare. If anything, a nightmare would be better than this because, at least then, there is a way out.

Fortunately, there wasn’t another encounter quite as bad as that first meeting with that bulbous pig. But that isn’t to say the other people treat me much better.

I peeked out from the alley a bit further down the street than where I was when I first woke up. This section of the street focused much more on food; in particular, there was a fruit stall and a bakery here, which were both quite popular.

It was almost time for the regular lunch rush, and a few people had already started to crowd around the stalls.

“Tsk, not enough people yet,” I muttered to myself out of frustration.

After many attempts of trying to talk to the people on this street, I managed to learn why everybody hated me so much.

It’s my hair.

For some reason, everyone here thinks that pure white hair is a sign of a heretic.

That’s it.

I don’t know why, but just having white hair is enough to be branded a heretic. The only saving grace is that nobody seems to be willing to go any further than physical abuse. Even that bulbous pig complained about not being able to kill me.

Well, there is one other thing that this hair lets me do, but it’s not exactly pleasant.

…

Just go and get it over with.

The crowd had finally grown to a decent size, which meant it was time for me to make my appearance.

I cautiously made my way out into the street, and nobody took notice. They were too busy trying to fight their way through the crowd so they could buy their lunch.

Using this to my advantage, I approached a man who was busy inspecting an apple from the fruit stall and gently tugged on the hem of his shirt.

“Ahh, and what do you want?” the man said as he slowly turned around to look at me. However, as soon as his eyes fell on me, his tone quickly changed from annoyed to overtly hostile. “Oi, that little heretic is back again!”

Everyone within earshot of the man immediately turned to see what he was shouting about. As soon as they also noticed my hair, they started to join in the shouting, which prompted the few people who ignored the man’s shouting at first to join in.

“When will you learn?!”

“How many times are you going to come back?!”

“We don’t want your kind here!!”

The crowd didn’t hold back their hatred. I want to say that I’ve gotten used to it, but it always stings at least a little.

The first man had now backed up, along with everyone else who was even remotely close to me. He stood with his arm pulled back, apple gripped tightly.

Knowing what was about to happen, I started to raise my arms, but I was a bit too late. The man had already thrown the apple, and it hit me square in my forehead.

A single drop of blood fell to the floor just in front of me. The crimson liquid slowly mixing with the mud was, unfortunately, no longer an unfamiliar sight.

Seeing that someone else had drawn first blood, the rest of the crowd decided that it was time for them to join in.

I fell to my hands and knees in preparation for what was coming. Not soon after, a flurry of various fruits and stale bread was thrown at me.

It hurts.

But it doesn’t matter; I just need to hold on a little longer. While taking the abuse from the crowd, I would peek out every so often to grab whatever was close to me and stuff it into the rags I was wearing.

If I just make it through this, then I should be able to hide away for at least a few days.

Luckily for me, it doesn’t take too long for people to lose interest, probably because they don’t want to waste too much money buying food just to waste by throwing it at me. Not that I’m complaining.

Once everyone had stopped throwing their lunch at me, I quickly got up and scurried back into the alley, trying to ignore the lingering pain.

Looking over what I managed to grab, I discarded anything that was too dirty to be eaten.

Once I was left with only the edible food, I started to count what I had. It seemed like the haul would last me for at least a few days.

Hopefully, that is enough time for my injuries to heal up enough to do this again.

I pulled out an apple with a red stain on it and brushed it against my clothing to try and get as much of the blood off it as possible before biting into it.

It’s sweet

Savouring the apple, things started to seem a little better, but the fleeting bliss disappeared along with the apple as I was abruptly brought back to reality.

I let out a heavy sigh before getting up and limping towards the only safe place I know.

After about a week of staying in the ally where I first woke up, one of the shop owners came and chased me out, yelling about how I was affecting his business. Fortunately for me, it led me to find a better place.

The shopping street led to a large square, although saying that it was shaped more like a rectangle. On one of the short sides, there was a temple. It was a large building surrounded by pillars engraved with various murals, although by far, the most striking thing about the building was the pure black stone it was made from.

On the opposite side of the square, there was an almost identical building, although rather than black stone, it was made entirely from white stone.

The white stone temple was always busy, but everyone seemed to avoid the black stone temple. For some reason, not a single person has visited since I found the place, but that made it the perfect place for me to hide.

After I arrived at the temple and did what I could to tend to my wounds, the sun started to fall below the horizon.

Is this ever going to end?

There’s nothing I can do to stop people from hating me, so does that mean I just have to keep surviving like this?

“If someone is watching, please give me something… Just a way to hide my hair… Maybe then things can change…”

I know that there probably isn’t anyone listening, but just maybe…

Finishing those last thoughts, my tail moved in front of me instinctively.

“Guess it’s time to sleep”