The young kitsune woke up to a loud knocking on her bedroom door. The fox covered her face with her bedroom comforters. The knocking was persistent. Finally, she growled. “What?”
A servant opened the door slowly, fearing LeeAnn might bite her head off. She was a small, skittish girl with brown hair and blue eyes in a maid’s uniform. In her hands, she held a small letter. The kitsune let out a small sigh and motioned for the girl to come in. “Sorry if I snapped, I am just crabby. What is it” she said, apologizing. The girl looked nervous, quietly handing her boss the letter. “A letter came in the mail via carrier pigeon. It’s from your father. I thought to deliver this to you urgently” she whispered. She held her hands close to her chest, looking down at her feet submissively. LeeAnn’s mixed matched eyes looked down at the crisp envelope then at her servant. LeeAnn was dressed in a crop-top tank and panties. “Take the day off” she said.
The servant perked up, a little shocked. “Day off? Why” she asked. LeeAnn got up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Just cause, why not? You’ve been working hard. Treat yourself to something, take this money as a thank you. I am not totally heartless” she smiled. The servant hesitated to take her money, but she did not question. A little bow and a gracious smile. “Thank you, milady. I will work even hard when I come back” she whispered and left without a sound. LeeAnn really didn’t pay much attention to her servants that much since she wasn’t home at all. The manor lied in her name, yet she never used it. She sat on her childhood bed, staring at the envelope with the Nakamura seal on it. It had been a very long time since she had spoken to her father at all. The young kitsune opened the letter carefully. Inside read the following:

To my dearest daughter:
I am sorry for being so quiet these past few weeks. These past events have been getting to me. I do not blame you or any our family for what happened to your Aunt or being kicked out of the Rune Knights. As you have heard from your mother, you are now head of the family. This is a big deal! I had to go through the same thing when I was around your age. Do not fret, that is nothing to being worried about now. Focus on yourself. Make friends. Join a guild. Become something of yourself before coming to us. The family can wait, you can’t!
Although, I know you are much like your mother and Hikaru. You cannot rest! I know you will work yourself to your grave figuring things out for the family and learning how to be head of the family. Head my warning, take this easy. One day at a time, Sophie. I do have a job for you. To maintain peace with our family friends, Vermillion clan, I promised you would guard their house for the next two days while they’re away. Since it’s in Era, I think you should take a guard post there for two days. Its good pay and something a clan leader would do. It will help the family and the people put at rest with all these demons. I hope to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Your father!
P.S: I know about that boy! White wolf, was it?

LeeAnn burst out laughing at the letter, more so at the last part. Her father was always so overprotective of her. She was his only girl and being daddy’s favorite in all. She closed the letter and set it on her ivory dresser. Leeann looked at her reflection. She stood there staring at herself for a minute, studying what she saw. Curves were the best way to describe it. She had a wide hips, but a fit figure. She was not exactly husky, but you could tell she was solid with broad shoulders. Her bust was large, but not too ridiculous. Maybe Manzo was right about this after all? She would turn and look at herself from different angles to get a better view. “Perhaps, this isn’t so bad” she thought. It was going to take some time to get used to this body.
She put on her normal outfit with a red cloak, purple shirt with gold trim, white pants, and black boots. The kistune combed her hair and her tails, which took forever to do. When she was ready, she came down stairs. Waiting for her was the recipe Manzo had left for her to make, Leeann personally wasn’t a good chef. One of the servants followed the recipe and matched to almost to the perfect degree. There were a few tastes off, but it was still delicious. The taste still melted in her mouth. The servant’s faces said otherwise with how horrible the smell was. She was careful to not have them smell her food, but sometimes it was unavoidable. She finished her plate, the only servant that was able to stand the smell took her plate. The kitsune got up and made her way to Zalor to fly to their next destination. The gryphon as happily eating his meal. Her heavy footsteps gave away her position causing him to get a little excited to see his companion. She stroked his head and hugged him. “Good morning, bud. Ready for your morning flight? We’re going somewhere rather special” she smiled. He grinned and hopped up and down. She was glad he was ready to go on an adventure. She calmed him down and saddled the creature up efficiently. Mounting on his back and giving him a kick, he gave a hard flap of his wings.
It didn’t take long to get the Vermillion estate. It was rather large, just as big as her home in Hargeon. It was lushious and showed the family’s wealth. She had Zalor land at the front gate where two guards stood. She showed them her letter from her father as the read it, checking her tattoo of the Nakamura family symbol of a wolf. They let her in. The one guard guided her and her gryphon to the front of the estate. A man that was very stocky and covered in the finest clothing she had ever seen stepped out. This was the friend of the family? Oh well, this was the kind of work the family had to do to maintain their connections with nobles and wealthy families in Fiore. “You must be Leeann Nakamura! Welcome to my humble home, your father has told me a lot about you. He said you would be coming by soon before we leave for Crocus on business. Please come on in, your…thing stays out here though” he spoke, eyeing Zalor. The gryphon rolled his eyes and LeeAnn nodded. She patted his beak gently assuring she won’t be long. The man was named Romeo, a classic lovestory name. He told her everything she had to do and what to protect. It was simple and a free place to stay. With the extra guards he hired anyways, she would have no problem defending the place. She could see how this was a much bigger target than the one she owned.

1227/4000

Tail 8: 27/100

LeeAnn followed in him inside. The inside itself was a bit more lavish than her home, but he was a rich man that showed it off than her family ever did. He seemed keen on telling her that his special air looms should not be touched by anyone. He was more fearful that a thief would take those than damage any of his property. It was something she expected him to say. She saw a golden dagger than she once saw her father owned. Leeann stopped and pointed to that. “Where did you get that sir” she asked. The fat man gave a hardy laugh and smile. “Why, it was from your father. It was a present to show our family’s loyalty to each other. Your father has a good eye for treasure” he smiled. Her father was a great man and knew what presents to give to people considering how nobles were or people of hirer status. She was lucky her family was never like that and growing up to work hard for things. She knew how hard times were on some level but never financially. That was one luxury she had above most people. Many never knew what being wealthy was like. Whatever the case maybe, even if she was now head of the family. Her father was sending here on these kinds of jobs to have her know what kinds of things they needed to do. What a clan leader was supposed to be like.
The fat man called one of his servants over and ordered his bags to be ready. “I want them to be carried out to the carriage, pronto! Don’t miss any bag and make sure the rest of my family’s bags are in there too. Pricillia is very… precise on how we pack them” he ordered. LeeAnn watch the servant bow his head and rush away to go gather the rich man’s things. The man adjusted his shirt that barely fit him and looked her up and down. “For a girl, you’re very…clean cut. Usually, your father would send one of your brothers, but I guess this will do” he said. She tilted her head a little, was this man complimenting her or insulting her. She gave a nervous smile. “Thank you. Hikaru is away and Gala is no where to be seen. Plus, I am the family head now, remember? I am supposed to help you whatever way I can” she said. He wrinkled his nose and gave a shrug. “Oh well, just watch over my things and property. If done well, the pay will be plenty. Ta ta” she said. He rushed out the door already barking orders to his servants and guards. LeeAnn gave a sigh of relief.
“How does dad do this? Clean cut? For a girl? Was that supposed to be a compliment? That was so fucking rude. Oh well, he is a family friend and has treated the family well” he spoke. LeeAnn decided to walk around to make sure everything was in order. The windows in the living room stood from ground to celling. There were at least fifty feet tall or so. She had to crane her neck all the way back in order to see all of it. Her eyes squinted a little due to the sunlight. LeeAnn sighed and wanted to explore more of this man’s house. Maybe it held some clue to what happened. Was this the family that knew more about her aunt’s death or had connections to the Rune Knights? Considering he was fond of her father, they probably for the government and loved the Rune Knights more than the guilds. She felt a disgusting taste in her mouth just from thinking of such a thought. LeeAnn looked at different pictures along the walls. This family was from Joya and established their name here a few generations ago. They bred only with Joyan people. It was no wonder he thought so little of females. Though, she could be wrong about the Joyan culture. Maybe he just expected Hikaru or one of her cousins such as Miles or Tadashi to fill in his request. Skimming along the walls to see what else she could find, she paused. LeeAnn noticed a picture of a small girl that looked like her Aunt Paisley. She was about seven years old. Face as soft and round with beautiful eyes. Her hair was straight and formed around her face. It was long and shiny, soft looking. LeeAnn gripped the picture and bit her lip to keep herself from crying.
Leeann hung the picture back up and walked to the sofa. Silently, she weeped into her hands. This was the first time she allowed herself to cry. She missed her Aunt. The past eight years her mother was missing, her Aunt Paisley took it upon herself to fill that role until her mother, Elizabeth, would return. She would make the best meals involving Joyan spices, traditional Firoian cooking and the special ingredient. Her dishes taste like the there wasn’t any human meat in them. Manzo was the only other person who could accomplish that. When LeeAnn would cry, she would comfort her when she had nightmares. When Hans would act up, she would offer set him back in line. Time was the only answer to deal with death. She had gone through something like this before with Asteral yet she still missed her. LeeAnn had to keep living on since she now had someone else to live for. Manzo had made a very good impression on her and was slowly becoming someone, she considered a close friend. Right now, they were just friends. After a while, LeeAnn got up and decided to focus more on the task at hand. LeeAnn decided to walk outside to her gryphon. Zalor could tell she was hiding something but decided to not bother her about the subject. She patted her companion on the beak. “You wanna patrol the area a few times, get some exercise in” she smiled. Zalor bobbed his head up and down a few times with happy squawks. She could laugh.
He lowered himself toward the ground, waiting for her to mount him. She sat on his back and kicked his sides to take off. She held onto his neck feathers tightly since he was a risky flyer than loved speed. She would lean forward to help him gain speed into the air. “Remember, we want to go slow. We must patrol the whole estate. We will be able to catch a better view up here than down on the ground. Squawk if you see anything unusual” she ordered. He looked back and nodded without a word. Flying was a better method for patrolling in her opinion. A bird’s eye view was a better idea to gain a bigger picture of what she was working with and to see any suspicious activity. The silver soldiers stood guard and did not move. She knew who the guards were and what color their uniforms were. That was no issue. The only issue would have be the servants. She knew the Vermillion family was a huge lover for landscaping. She did not know who they were or if there were even out currently of day. It was still light out and rather early in the afternoon. She would have plenty of time to figure that one out. LeeAnn would lean over to her left to spot anything herself to see if things were alright. So far, so good. Thing were the clear. It took about two hours before they landed on the ground again. This time in the courtyard of the whole estate. Polished shrubs lied all over the place. Bushes that looked like boars and crocodiles. A few lions and tigers were made from solid rock for garden ornaments. The landscapers knew what they were doing to keep this place looking in style. It reminded her for something she would see in the gardens of the Magic Council courtyard in the past. That was a long time ago when she was still a little girl. The sight of dragon statues scared her to the point of hiding behind her father’s pant leg. It would always make him laugh when she would hide from the big and scary frozen creatures. Honestly, she thought they would hurt her if she stared at them for long enough. Of course, she gotten over than now knowing statues don’t come to life without a spell of some sort. A lot of earth mages tend to do make those statues and place a spell on them sometimes. Those spells would have them come to life with a certain activation such as an intruder or sounds of different voices. It was a good defense mechanism. She paused, wondering if the Vermillion family would ever do such a thing. There was only one way to find out… ask.
Silently, she stared at the tiger and lion statues. One posed noblely as another lion statue stood roaring. The tiger statue really took interest, it was staring right at her. She felt a little creeped out this time since it felt like following her with every move she made. Quickly, she just scratched that thought and headed away from the courtyard to patrol some of the area on foot. She stayed along the outer part of the property, more so near the fence to make sure no one had any funny ideas. Zalor flew above to make sure there were no others wandering more of the center part of the yard. IT was a large area to cover, but they were down for the task. After a while, LeeAnn took a break and whistled. She placed two fingers in her mouth to call Zalor. The mount listened. Immedaitely, the creature flew to her with a rough landing like usually. No surprise there. He always listened to her beck and call, no matter what the order was unlike her previous mount. She sold that stupid horse to someone who could actually, use him. She despised that more much like how the Rune Knights left a bad taste in her mouth. The gryphon lied down in the shade under a tree taking a small nap while she was eating her lunch. She packed a simple pultnary glands that weren’t cooked. It was gross, but it was food. Not many people knew about how she needed human meat in order to survive. The less that knew, the better. She preferred it to be that way. It seemed in the Rune Knights everyone knew. When she would walk through the halls, all eyes were staring right at her, judging her for the fact of something she could not control. She hated that about human nature. Why would you judge something for something that was beyond hteir control? What gain would you get from that? Satisfaction of putting another being down cause your life is more miserable than theirs? She gritted her teeth at the thought. The Pages were always so immature towards her back in the day when she was just starting out. Man, how much she wanted to kill them and watch them burn. That was probably a little harsh, but not far from what she wanted to do with them. Would be rid of the problem. Now, she would just slowly ignore them and let life torture them. Better yet, get someone who could and teach them a lesson. She was too lazy and could careless what they thought of her now. Manzo had been doing a good job to make her slowly ignore her past problems. IT was still there and bothered her, but she learned that not everyone was going to like you even if you were powerful.
LeeAnn patrolled someone more the next few hours. It was time to call it a night since it was starting to get dark. She went back inside while Zalor was going to sleep for the night. There was nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed all of this was going to be a piece of cake and she could sit around and do nothing. Though, servants do talk and watch. So, she would still have to patrol the area. LeeAnn slept for a few hours and woke up in the middle of the night to make sure there was no one in the house. It would be a great time to snoop for answers about her Aunt’s death or connections to the Rune Knights. There had to be something about her somewhere. LeeAnn made sure there was no one around to see her and all he doors and windows were shut tightly and locked. Quickly, she wandered over to a small drawer she had seen earlier. The end table where the drawer was located held a picture of her Uncle Simon and Aunt Pasiley. Her aunt and uncle looked young, around her age. It was their wedding photo. Next to her uncle was her father and mother, with young Hikaru and Ryu. Her grandparents, Hikari and Shin, stood next to her mother. There stood a young male with her aunt, a man that looked to be her father in Joyan clothing and a Joyan looking woman around the man’s age. This must be her Aunt’s family. Then who was the dude she met earlier? This must be a relative of the family then. She wanted to know more about this photo. Leeann placed the picture frame back down on the table. She opened the drawer slowly. There were notes and parchment that were untouched. Writing tools and ink packaged nicely for a time they would be used. LeeAnn snooped around and found a very old envelope with something inside of it. It was more photos of the Vermillion family. Some were of places in Fiore while they were on vacation, some of other members of the family, and some of the fat man she had met earlier and his family. There were a few of her Aunt and Uncle. One in particular had her Uncle smiling holding her while they were in front of the Rune Knight headquarters. LeeAnn was in this picture. So was her father. This was after she was kidnapped and joined the Rune Kngihts. She had the disgusting marking and the mixed matched eyes. In the picture she looked pale and sickly, death itself. She didn’t smile. Though something caught her eye, a small figure staring at her in the background. A man with a symbol of something she had seen in her past when she was kidnapped with her mother. A cold drift phased through her. LeeAnn’s blood ran cold. This person was not only eyeing her, but the whole family. Though, particulary her. His tattoo gave her visions that only partly came into view. She had seen that tattoo before. LeeAnn pocketed the photo. They weren’t going to miss it. The man in charge of this place had a connection with her family and Aunt in particular. She had to ask him when he returned. She went back to bed. The next day was no better than the last. She patrolled the whole area again. Zalor was bored and too busy daydreaming to really pay attention. LeeAnn had to knock him back into reality so they could finish the job like she had promised. Personally, she kept thinking about the photo and what she had saw. Manzo had to see this. Maybe he could help her. He was knowledgeable about mnay things, more so than she was. Perhaps, he could shed some light on the subject. The man in charge would arrive tomorrow morning, early. She would ask him about her aunt then.
LeeAnn slept soundingly for the first half of the night. Though, she started having nightmares. Visions of her Aunt on the ground, bleeding. Shadows surrounding LeeAnn saying it was all her fault. That she deserved to die and the family was going to be gone one by one. The kitsune woke up in the cold sweat and shook. She sat in the bed, holding her head. It took some time to collect herself again. Her eyes shifted to the clock, 2 AM in the morning. LeeAnn could obviously not sleep now. Not with that nightmare haunting her. Dawn arrived soon enough as so did the fat man and his family. LeeAnn awaited them by the door. He looked around and smiled. “Seems you did a fine job. Was there any trouble” he asked.
“No, sir. All was quiet and calm” she replied. The fat man tilted his head. “You seem sleep deprived. Something wrong” he asked. LeeAnn hestitated but sighed. “Nah, just rough night sleep. Though, something does bother me. I kept seeing pictures of my Aunt Paisley and my family, how does she have a connection to you’ she asked. The fat man’s face gave a heavy smile as his rosy cheeks glowed with happiness. “Why, she is my niece. She is the most beautiful thing that has come to Joya and Fiore ever. Obviously, your Uncle Simon and I are good friends. So we have a lot of pictures of you and your family. Gosh, I have not heard from him and my niece in a while” he spoke. LeeAnn’s eyes grew grim. The expression on her face darkened. The atmosphere grew uneasy for everyone around her. “Paisley is dead. A Rune Knight killed her while she was on a mission for no reason” she spoke. She was vague about the details for good reasons. “My family has been suffering greatly. I thought they would tell you since you are family” she spoke. The fat man’s eyes widen. “I see. This is most terrible news. Anyways, you did a fine job and take the money as a reward. I will send your family my regards and tell my brother. This is most shameful” he spoke. Leeann took the payment, said her goodbyes and went home to think through her thoughts agin and hopefully drown her sorrows in
pleasure.

-Exit-

4244/4000

Tail 8: 28/100