Shade had refused to leave her sister's side ever since that night. We don't blame her at all cause that was traumatic. In all honesty, those two scare us with what happened. Especially Shade.

But, those two mean well. They aren't bad, just. Lost.

Gab and I had taken the two away from the forest and took them to some random sheep farm far west from the forest. We took liberty in watching the owner of the place to make sure we holed up in a spot that is easily overlooked. And that was in the haystacks in the barn. Uncomfortable, yes. However, none of us cared.

Gab and I took turns sneaking off to get food and medical stuff. We snagged clothes as well just to soften up our fur when laying against the prickly hay. It was the farming clothes the owner had here, but they were too big for Gab and I. We eventually found someone down the road the farm is on hanging laundry out and they had kids around. Which meant clothes that do fit. Gab settled for another hoodie, this one was blue with some fuzz in the sleeves. She seemed to enjoy it a lot. Me on the other hand. I settled for simple blue jeans and a red t-shirt. No point taking anything else when we may ditch these later.

Though, Gab and I are the only ones who wore the clothes. Shade wasn't keen on putting anything on yet and Kitsuno was still unconcious. We grabbed some for them just in case Shade manages to snap out of it.

We had to watch how far we journey too, just so we don't stray too far from the kitsunes as we fear what would happen to them. Many of the cultists were killed that night if not by Shade, but possibly from the fire that went out of control. The fire had grown too much where it took several fire fighters from different brigades in the city to show up and attempt stopping the spread. Very little was saved unfortunately. Just what was close to the city and that was it. The rest was burnt to ash.

My gaze looks lover at the twins as Shade stirs in her sleep. Her arms were wrapped around Kitsuno as she had a pained look on her face. "Must be another nightmare..." Getting up from the haypile I was sitting on, I moved closer to the two and got close to Shade before I felt warmth radiating from her. "Oh boy... please don't let it happen again." Tears were starting to drip down the side of her face as it seems the nightmare was getting worse. My ears flatten as I wasn't sure what else to do.

Thinking quickly, I reached a hand over to Shade and placed it behind her ears. Her tail shot up in response, but started lowering when my hand moved around slowly in circles. This seemed to calm her down a little bit. "What I would give to know what else this is about you two."

"They can say the same bro." My ears perk up as Gab spoke. Turning my head towards the window she was climbing in, she had a bag filled with some food. The food however looked questionable for its origin. "Gab... where did you find these at?"

She digs up a box filled with rice and fish to crack it open. "They are something called bento boxes. Found it in someone's car a few miles away. It's a bit warm from hiking back over here, but should still be palatable." She then looks over at the other two. "Still refuses to leave her huh?"

I nod as my hand pulls away from Shade. Her breathing had calmed down a bit and her grip loosened up from holding Kitsuno. "Well, she is her only sibling." Gab shakes her head before pulling out some some of tendril. "I'm not even gonna question what this is. Food is food." She takes a nibble of it before swallowing. "Eh... not bad. Anyways, Shade needs to leave her sister at some point. When was the last time she ate?"

"The last time she ate..." my mind racks over the food we had stolen and brought back here. "Was probably the steaks we stole two days ago." We both focused our attention on them both when Shade let out a yawn and rose up slowly. She took a hand and rubbed her eyes gently as her vision focuses on her surroundings.

Gab waves her hand and Shade stared back at her. Fear still seemed to cloud her mind a bit from the sacrifice attempt as she twitches a bit. Gab lowers her hand into the bag with bento boxes in it. "Gotcha some food Shade. Want some?" She looks at the bento box my sis handed and her hand extended out to grab it. Shakily she took it back and placed it on the bed of the hay.

All of our attention was grabbed when we heard Kitsuno moan. Shade immediately looked down to see her sister open her eyes slowly. Kitsuno blinks a few times as her vision returns to her and she slowly lifts her body up. "W-where... am I?" Shade quickly hugs her sister. "Shade? What..."

Kitsuno looks around to take in her surroundings and then looks at Gab and I. "You... what happened? Where are we?" Shade lets go of her and takes ahold of one of her hands. "Away from those bastards." Shade's face was awash with relief to see her sister alive and moving again.

Kitsuno sniffs the air a bit before looking down at the bento boxes. "Bento?" Gab nods before digging out another box. "It's honestly not bad. Take some Kitsuno, you need to eat cause it's been days." Kitsuno stares at the bento box before Shade grabs it for her and pops it open.

With some assistance from her sister, Kitsuno managed to eat some of the bento box. She wasn't fully back to speed at the moment, but at least she is awake again. Kitsuno had several questions going on and we did all we could to answer them.

Time passes as it did and it was soon night again. Kitsuno and Shade had gone back to sleep again, but this time we felt we both could linger about for once. Gab and I hung around the roof of the barn as we watched over the distance as lights shone from the city. Gab then pokes at me in my sides. "So, what now brother?"

Sighing, "Well. Because of the fire, everything and anything we stole and hide among the forest is gone. So much for that car I was gonna get for us." Gab pouts a bit before laying her body over my lap. I look down at her as she gets comfy. "I know you wanted that car, but let's face it. Gas would have been our next problem. Or worse, keeping it maintained."

Her head then turns to look at the direction where the forest use to be. What use to be a lush green in the distance, now an empty space of burnt trees hanging around. "We need to head north Jake. I know you don't want to because of the tensions. However." Her head turns back to look up at me. "Maybe we should use this as an opportunity."

This is where I grew confused. "What do you mean sis? What opportunity are you referring to?" Her hand points down on the roof, indicating where Shade and Kitsuno were. "Those two have zero clue what is going on. What if we do some digging around up north to see if we can find anything involving them?"

"Like... historians?" She nods her head. "Something like that. I say it's fair we do this. Shade saved us back there despite what happened to herself. You saw how scared she was both during and after her rampage." My memories flash back to the look of the beast that attacked Horace for a moment and then to Shade crying above her sister.

Gab was on to something there as something else clicked in my head. Horace said something about Kitsuno being an ancient one. And then the moment he realized the mistakes he had about Shade. "So, what we will do is find any knowledge about these ancient kitsunes and help them understand their powers?"

"Why not? They seem nice and I want to make sure to stay on their good side. Feels like it will pay off in the end." I never thought of myself to be a scholar type, let alone Gab. However, with something this big for two random strangers we met barely a week ago, maybe putting our skills to good use will be nice.

"Alright then. When should we leave?" She lifts herself up and stretches her arms out. "Well, let's wait until both of them are ready to get back on their feet. Kitsuno still looks a little pale after all." Gab then wiggles her tail around my face. With a smile on my face, I open my mouth and moved forward to playfully bite onto her tail.

"Gyah!" She quickly turns around starts bapping me on the head. "Cut it out you jerk! You know I hate that." I kept biting down more for a bit before surrendering and spitting her tail out. Gab glares at me a bit as she wipes off her saliva soaked part of her tail, but the feeling is washed away with happiness. "Jake..."

"Yeah Gab?" A smile washes over her face as she hugs me. "Thanks for being the best brother I could have ever asked for." I return the hug back. Up until she started nibbling on my ear. "Nyah.... stop that you goof. You know I don't like that." Despite that, for once. It felt good to be this silly.