Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

The day began bright and early for the young Resonator known as Taika. Hard, dry pellets clattering into a metal bowl was the alarm clock that colored her mornings. “Mangia, C'è neve da pulire,” an older female voice spoke before leaving the Resonator in her tiny room. In all reality, it wasn’t even a room, but a crawlspace under one of the stairwells. There was only enough room for her bed, food bowls, and the few books she could store in a small cut-out portion of the wall.

With a sigh, the girl sat up. There must not have been any leftovers from breakfast, as it was back to the kibble again as usual. Either way, she didn’t want to have to shovel snow while hungry. She grabbed the bowl and sat up. Clicking on the light bulb that hung over her head she picked out one of her books and resumed reading while slowly eating her breakfast. As she turned a page, she grabbed a second metal bowl filled with water and brought it up to drink like one would a regular cup.

After some time had passed, she was retrieved by the older woman from before. A bi-pedal fox creature with dark-red fur and two tails behind her. Taika herself bore a tail and fox ears like the woman she was following; however, the younger girl lacked the fur, snout, or other animalistic anatomy of the woman she followed. No, without the fox tail or ears, Taika would just be a normal human girl. She was left by the front door with explicit instructions to have it cleared in the next thirty minutes.

Taika put on her shoes and gloves and quickly rushed outside, grabbing her trusty shovel along the way. The driveway to clear in question was quite long, and asking a normal person to clear this in thirty minutes would be impossible, especially alone. However, this young fox-eared girl was an expert. She got to work clearing the pathway only at a pace a bit slower than a snowplow could do it.

One would think having someone work at such a breakneck pace and achieving the task set forth for them would earn them a break, but not in this household. No, that’s just the chore for the morning. Taika rushed back inside to address the remaining chores that needed to be attended to. Most people wouldn’t be able to achieve such feats all by themselves without falling to exhaustion, but once again, she was a professional. Not by choice mind you, but by raw experience.

First, she had to make all the beds and pick up all the bedrooms. Of which there were six bedrooms currently in use in the manor. The remaining unused bedrooms needed a good dusting to make sure they looked spick and span. Then she had to attend to the floors. Thanks to her daily efforts the floors just needed a light polishing daily. Thankfully her guardians (if you could call them that), provided her with a floor buffer to achieve the task at hand.

The hallways and bedrooms took roughly an hour, as she found that rushing left the floors in a sorry state and ended up earning the ire of the home’s masters. Then was the kitchen. She sighed heavily. As usual, it was an absolute disaster. The chefs employed by the home’s masters didn’t seem to care what they did since they knew they didn’t have to clean it. No, poor Taika was saddled with the task of washing all of the dishes and cleaning the surfaces before lunchtime. She still had at least an hour before the kitchen staff showed back up to begin lunch preparations, so there was no rest for the weary it seemed.

She began washing the dishes, of which there were a ludicrous amount (despite the lack of leftovers this morning). The girl was a touch bit irritated since she had been given kibble this morning. She had been hoping since there wasn’t anything left after the initial meal of the day that the chefs had gone light on breakfast, but that just wasn’t the case. With the dishes properly attended to, she took out several cleaning agents and began work on the countertops and appliances, which despite her cleaning three times a day always ended up with a new layer of grime after the kitchen workers got through with them.

Then there was the floor. No care was taken by any of the cooks in the kitchen to avoid spilling food on the floor, so it was always a full process to clean: sweeping up the dust and crumbs, then mopping. This morning was especially irritating because there was syrup caked on the floor. Another hearty sigh from the young fox-girl as she busted out some of the heavy-duty cleaners and got on her hands and knees to start scrubbing the stained floor.

Meanwhile, a fox boy with yellow fur and twin tails walked down the hallway of the mansion he called home. He was on his way to the kitchen where their housemaid/pet was working away. It seemed she was diligently scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees. He walked up to her and stood over her as she worked, she paid him no mind and continued working on the stubborn stain. “Taika, basta così. Vorrei dei biscotti,” the boy spoke up.

She looked up at him, obviously exhausted from the work she was doing. “Non pensi che tuo padre si arrabbierà, Kenya?” she replied.

The fox-boy chuckled. “Se le cose si mettono male darò la colpa a te.” The boy extended his foot out and kicked Taika over. He then spat on the floor for good measure. “Fa davvero schifo. Posso avere biscotti adesso?” the boy demanded. This wasn’t anything outside the usual for Taika. This was just another day in her life. Her horrible, miserable life.

This was slightly better treatment than usual. Normally Kenya wouldn’t have exerted the effort to lift his foot. No, it seemed Kenya must have been feeling charitable today. At least he didn’t use his lightning on her. That was his usual go-to.

Taika stood up, notably being taller than the yellow fox before her. Even with her element, she would be treated better than this outside of these walls, if only marginally so. Their clan took a depraved joy in tormenting her. They took the time to teach her to read and write, for the express purpose of letting her know exactly what kind of situation she was in. To know that there was a better world out there and that she would never enjoy the luxuries of life. To never know the joy of love.

The girl exhaled sharply, staring down at the boy with tired blue eyes. “Va bene,” she acquiesced. Perhaps in another life that would have been her breaking point, but not this one.

“Questo è lo spirito giusto!” The boy grinned back, pleased with the outcome. Taika led Kenya over to the pantry where the sugary treats in question were kept. She was always the one forced to organize the kitchen after every shopping trip, so naturally, this was an easy task. Opening the doors to the sacred realm revealed tons of different choices of food, all high-class, fancy brands. It was almost as if the person responsible for stocking the shelves specifically picked the most expensive variations available.

“Voglio uno con le gocce di cioccolato,” the boy demanded impatiently, bouncing in place.

“Queste?” Taika reached up and grabbed a box labeled chocolate chip cookies.

“Si, aprilo!” The boy jumped a bit in excitement.

Taika did as instructed and opened it up, extracting an individually wrapped cookie. It seemed each cookie was individually wrapped and even the packaging seemed to shimmer in the light. No expense was spared - This was the most expensive brand money could buy. A specialty import.

Opening the package, the servant extracted the cookie for her young master. “Ecco qua.” She handed it over with no further fanfare. The excited fox-boy quickly snapped up the sugary treat within his maw.

“TAIKA! COSA CREDE DI FARE?!” a booming voice startled the two teens who loitered in the kitchen.

Taika’s eyes immediately snapped shut, not wanting to face the owner of that voice.

“…”

“…ka”

“Tai…”

“Taika!”

Eyelids slowly rose but rapidly fell as the sudden light from above stung the sensitive retinas. Thankfully, shadows were cast over them, allowing her to take in her surroundings. Starting with the cause of the shadows, two of Taika’s traveling companions: Pacifica and Rebecca.

“Che..?” The lunar fox slowly shook her head. It pounded with a dull pain as if she had slept for far too long.

“Thank goodness you’re awake!” Pacifica tackled the girl, winding her in the process.

“Paci! You’re killing me…” Taika managed to get out.

The otter loosened her grip over her fellow Resonator, allowing her to breathe.

“Are you okay? You went kinda crazy at the airport,” Rebecca asked, standing off to the side.

It all came back in an instant and her face darkened. “Where… are we?” the lunar vixen asked, her voice low.

“Lyreann MA Office,” Rebecca replied curtly.

“U-u-unis-Résonne?” Taika tensed up, earning the same from both Pacifica and Rebecca.

Moving her hands up to Taika’s shoulders, Pacifica tried to impart some serenity into the other Resonator via etude. “Yes, we’re in Unis-Résonne. Mom managed to beat those guys after us. They don’t know where we are. We’re safe,” the otter informed the fox, keeping her tone slow and steady as she spoke.

Taika’s heart began to race again – they had taken her back! But how? The flight from Nevepunto to Riva Solare before was a twelve-hour long flight, there was no way she had forgotten a second flight across the ocean.

“Taika.” She whipped her head towards the foot of the bed. Shouri stood there, head down. “Can we talk? Alone?” he requested.

The weight of his words hit her like a sack of bricks. Even though every fiber of her being wanted to run to the nearest coast to swim to any other continent, she found herself at least wanting to hear him out.

“Si.”

Despite the protests of Pacifica and Rebecca, Shouri took Taika from the room, just the two of them. Obediently she followed, her mind racing. Lyreann sounded so desperately familiar. It must be close to Nevepunto. It’s the only reason she was familiar with the name.

They left the main building of the MA Office and out into the cool July night. It was probably around midnight or so based on the moon’s position in the sky. The pair continued to walk finding a secluded spot away from any prying eyes.

When they came to a stop Shouri unclipped her tuner from his side and presented it to her. “Why?” she asked, gaze now locked on the device.

“I don’t want to interfere with anything I’m about to say,” his voice was low, barely a whisper, but thanks to her superior hearing, it was loud and clear. “I want us on even ground when we talk.”

Hesitantly the Resonator accepted her tuner, keeping it in hand. This didn’t feel good.

Shouri took in a deep breath. “I’m so sorry,” he began, his voice cracking. Taking a moment to compose himself, he elaborated: “I violated your free will, which I promised myself I'd never do. I spent the whole flight thinking of how I could make it up to you, and I decided there's only one way to do it: an eye for an eye."

Taika stood there, confused. Her eyes drifted down to the midnight black tuner in her hand. He had used the red button on her. He had made her go to sleep. That’s how desperate he was in that situation.

“Tell me any one thing to do. I'll hurt myself, or you can hit me, or even let you go. Anything I can physically do, I will do it, right here, right now."

And suddenly, she was staring at him, mouth agape. To say he felt terrible was an understatement. He was actively being tortured about this whole thing that transpired. It wasn’t anything he had wanted, and she had forced his hand. She was wracked with guilt about putting him in that sort of predicament. A scenario where the only option was that awful override switch installed into all Maestro-bound Resonators.

Her mouth opened to decline the offer, however…

She was back in Unis-Résonne, against her will. Was he about to give her up? Was this all part of his plan?

No, not again, she could not go back there again. Not back to those people… those creatures. She needed something to prove that Shouri was loyal to her. An action or gesture she could give in one command. This offer was purely symbolic after all. He wasn’t bound or compelled to obey her like she was to him.

“Kiss me,” passed her lips.

Shouri blinked, unsure if he had heard her right. “Excuse me?” he uttered.

“I want you to kiss me,” she repeated her demand. The deep blue rhythm glowing within the iris of her eyes told him how serious she was.

“Taika, I… are you-?”

“Is that it then?” Taika cut him off. “You weren’t serious?” she contended his earlier apology and offer.

“No, that’s not it, I just-”

“It’s what I want. There shouldn’t be a problem.” She paused. “Unless you weren’t serious,” she repeated her taunt, goading him into action.

“Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll kiss you.” He barely managed to find his conviction. The only thing pushing him forward was making amends for his cruelty to her. Checking their surroundings, there was not a soul around; even so, they were in such a dark corner of the campus that nobody would see them anyway.

Stepping forward, he wrapped an arm around the small of her back, and pulled her close. They stared at one another for some time, hearts racing. “Okay, here I go.” Shouri swallowed hard before lowering himself towards her awaiting lips. They bumped foreheads on accident, both unfamiliar with the nuance. Finally, after another pass, their lips met.

Taika’s eyes widened; this was really happening! And it felt amazing! A smack of their lips completed the act. However, she hadn’t had her fill, wrapping her hands around the back of his head and pulling him back down for a second round, holding him tighter. A soft moan escaped as she locked lips with him. Another smack of the lips, and yet a third meeting. Her tail wrapped around him possessively – in this moment he was entirely hers, body and mind.

“Mmrr…” Shouri was released, and immediately stepped back, wiping away the wetness from his lips, leaving his arm over his mouth, whilst trying to catch his breath.

Taika licked her lips, though her confidence had completely burned away, leaving the girl staring at her Maestro in shock at what they had just done.

“Y-you’re forgiven,” Taika muttered trying to regain her cool.

Silence as the two remained rooted in place.

Shouri broke the silence: “W-we should head back; Pacifica and Rebecca are probably worried,” he spoke through his arm, line of sight darting away from Taika.

She nodded her mind in overdrive.

As they walked back Taika couldn’t help but replay what they had just done on repeat. It felt, tasted, and smelled so good, a feast for the senses. She was giddy but was desperately trying to reign in the storm raging in her head. It was just like that scene out of ‘Fluffy Tail and Frisky’ though they stopped with the kiss rather than more physical affairs.

Just as they had cleared the door to the MA office, Taika’s tuner began to beep. “Hm?” Taika pulled the device from her pocket, having slipped it away and promptly forgetting to return it to him after their face time.

They stopped in the middle of the lobby, with Taika returning her tuner to its proper owner. “Oh?” Shouri raised a brow as he silenced the alert.

“What is it?” Taika questioned.

“You got a new spell.”