Years passed and her routine had stayed the same, Obelix considered her a blessing as student, but was still concerned that her detachment from her nature would ruin her dream of becoming a celestial fox at her lord's side.

Illerion had grown to respect her quite deeply though, she wasn't what she would call proud or strong, but she had come to see her devotion to her lord as an unyielding resolve. She still tried to corrupt her in every way, shape and form she could think of, but she no longer grew angry with the inevitable rejection and they had become something akin to friends.

"You two, I'm stepping out for a moment, behave yourselves." The final part of that sentence alone would have been enough to tantalise any normal fox's lust for chaos, but Kyubi simply sat and restudied some of the material they had been taught that day.

Illerion's latest attempts to corrupt had mostly been romantic advances and Kyubi wondered if perhaps it was simply that Illerion had genuinely developed a crush on her. They had been taught about Elf nature and society, so they knew Elves of all kinds had a penchant for hedonism and whilst it was usually to bolster birth rate, same-sex partnerships were also normal.

"Have you fallen in love with me Illerion?"

"Love?..." Illerion stood up and flipped her table over so the legs pointed into the air, then sat in the middle of them and gripped the two in front, all seemingly just for the sake of doing it. "...No, I wouldn't say that. More like lust, the idea of being with you to start you down the path of corruption..." Illerion shuddered, a smile as far from seductive as possible spreading across her face.

"So you want my body? Why though? What about my body makes you want it?"

"You're a terrible fox, you know that?"

"Yes, you've told me eight-thousand four-hundred and twenty-one times now."

"Ugh. You should just go serve the Elves, I'll gladly serve that boring old Tsukuyomi instead, I'm more like a fox anyway."

Of all the things she had said, done and tried, that had been the most casual, unplanned and unintentionally provoking thing to Kyubi. The threat of being sent beyond Tsukuyomi's reach, the threat of taking her place at his side and worst of all the insult aimed at him.

Something snapped, immediately, completely and then twisted itself into knots for good measure and she lunged at Illerion with utter savagery in her eyes. Illerion saw it, considered stopping it, but was too intrigued about what might be unleashed along with the misfit fox's fury.

In the end she welcomed whatever was coming, she wasn't expecting Kyubi to go right for the kill, of course she was immortal so it didn't bother her either. All she did as Kyubi grabbed her by the face and twisted and lifted her was smile, a smile which endured even as Kyubi drove her onto the table leg.

She didn't stop there either, tearing at Illerion's back with her claws until they had come off. Her white fur had grown out in rough patches all over her body and even her tail looked somewhat ragged, in short she had gone completely feral with no control over the rage that was burning away in her.

Illerion took it all, she felt every scratch and blow, but she remained still. 'This isn't as fun as I thought it would be...' The thought came to an abrupt end however when she felt tears dripping into her open wounds. '...So that's why I find this unpleasant, it's not chaos, it's defeat. So disappointing little fox.'

Illerion pushed herself off of the table leg and restored her damaged body and clothes, then grabbed the little fox and hugged her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

After that, Illerion petted her until she calmed down and that was the last thing she did or said to her for years.

Obelix asked never said a word about it, but Illerion simply refused to engage with Kyubi. Whenever Kyubi spoke she was ignored and if she persisted, Illerion would simply sigh and leave.

At first Kyubi was actually a little glad, but as time went on and she thought more about the situation, she realised that it meant that Illerion considered engaging with her as a waste of time.

It hadn't slipped Kyubi's mind that she was charged by her lord to calm Illerion down a bit and she had considered the possibility that he actually intended for her to broker a relationship between them as a mutual party.

"Mum, you know I told you about my altercation with Illerion?"

"If by "altercation" you mean attempted murder, then yes I do know, are you desperate to be punished again?" Ginrei had punished her quite severely after she returned home and admitted what had happened, it was a serious matter and even Tsukuyomi had to be involved due to the potential political repercussions.

"Kind of, but I want Illerion to punish me, it was her I hurt."

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself, my adorable little fox. You didn't hurt her in the slightest, she wasn't simply born a gifted flayer, she practiced on herself before she had even achieved immortality."

Kyubi realised more and more every day how monumental a task being friends with her would be, let alone helping her to find some kind of order in her life.

"Still though, she snapped when I challenged her, but she didn't react at all to me trying to kill her. To make it worse, she even comforted me after and healed us both and cleaned up the mess."

Ginrei smiled, then slapped her gently over the back of the head and told her that the discussion was not necessary in the production of her latest kimono.

It was certainly the best one yet, but then Kyubi tore it to pieces in a sudden and blind rage, Ginrei had been about to intervene but the sight of her ragged patches of fur growing through made her freeze.

"Kyubi, look at me." It wasn't a request, but a command and one that Kyubi tried to refuse before Ginrei forced her to follow it.

As she looked into Kyubi's eyes, the reality of the situation became obvious and she flicked Kyubi's forehead and lifted her up by one of her ears. "You are truly self-destructive to the core aren't you, my foolish little girl."

As Kyubi kick, swiped and growled, Ginrei opened a portal and threw her through it before following.

"Lord Tsukuyomi, I apologise for the intrusion but I required advice." Ginrei had her eyes closed when she entered and only opened them when she was finished speaking. Greeted by the sight of Kyubi sat on his lap growling at both Amaterasu and her consort, Tenko.

"Advice? There is no cure for rabies Ginrei, it is the affliction born of Hysteria and she doesn't make curable conditions." Tenko joked, earning a glare from not only Ginrei and Tsukuyomi, but also his queen and Matron, Amaterasu.

"Tenko, your mouth is your biggest flaw, now cease you prattle..." Amaterasu looked away as he made a half-hearted gesture of apology. "...What's wrong with her? She seems more bestial than I remember, Inversion or perhaps she possessed herself with her own soul-form?"

"Neither, she fought through the unconsciousness the night she became a Kitsune and I think it stopped her minds merging properly during the evolution."

"A good guess, it is more similar to inversion, but merely seems to be a manifestation of her division from her nature. Since they were separated by the means Ginrei described, she hasn't been overcoming her nature, but rejecting it."

"I see, we all know how foxes deal with rejection..." Amaterasu said casting her eyes back to Tenko. "...How do we help the poor dear?"

"We don't. She did this to herself and only she can undo it. Ginrei, ask Obelix to teach her about variants, I have faith she will figure it out."

"Would a variant really be so bad? I mean it worked out for me."

A chill ran up Kyubi's spine and brought her out of her state of savagery, becoming flustered when she realised where she was and who she was sitting on. It ended quickly when she realised the chill was coming from her lord though and she ran over to Ginrei.

"Sister, please keep your pet on a leash."

"Brother, please don't be so disrespectful."

"Can both of you do me a favour and focus on a mutual enemy a second?"

The mood changed again in an instant as the new voice joined the conversation before the one speaking even arrived, then a massive black gate erupted from the ground and through it stepped a man.

He was tall and powerfully built, his arms were covered in leather sleeves but some kind of affliction was visible on his shoulders and wrists where they ended.

"Nergal!? What the hell brings the kin-slayer here!?" Tsukuyomi's voice was so twisted with rage, it was barely recognisable.

As he stepped away from the gate, he looked back and Kyubi could see what seemed like a lion pelt head covering was actually the upper part of his head and not an accessory.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting with your lord little one, I know you fox-spirits treasure every second you get with him..." He cocked his head to one side. "...Apologies, you seem familiar, are yo-"

"Nergal! Do not taint her with your vileness! Speak your piece and leave!"

"Right, your mother asked me to pass on a message, she won't be attending the next meeting to discuss the humans. She didn't want to further upset my sister, nor either of you or her other children."

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