Mama Fox

<Zuri>

One week.

That was all it took to convince Zuri.

His sister needed to leave immediately!

“Put those down.” (N)

“Huh?” (Z)

“You shouldn’t be carrying heavy things around.” (N)

Zuri paused, blankly stared at the clothes neatly folded in his arms and then looked up.

…Was she seriously talking about the clothes?

“These aren’t—” (Z)

“Give me those.” (N)

With a bright smile and short laugh, she grabbed the clothes before he was the wiser.

A behaviour that would progressively get worse the longer the week ran.

“You’re pregnant, remember?” (N)

‘Tch’

After Nori dismissed her attendants that had come behind her, she promised to help in their stead.

A promise she kept well.

Too well.

“What do you think you are doing with that knife?” (N)

“…Cooking?” (Z)

“Don’t you know that’s dangerous!” (N)

“H-Hey!” (Z)

The knife was promptly taken away, and Zuri was thrown out of the kitchen.

“I better not catch you here again.” (N)

Her tone was light.

She petted his head.

“You’re pregnant, remember?” (N)

The entire week proceeded in a similar fashion.

“And where do you think you’re going?” (N)

Zuri stared at the guard in front of the door.

“…Just going for a walk.” (Z)

A quick and easy way to relieve boredom.

Her answer had been swift.

“No.” (N)

“No?” (Z)

She took his hand firmly and gingerly led him back to the living room.

“I-I need to see the healer as well.” (Z)

“I see. Then I shall inform her to come.” (N)

She turned back and smiled at him.

“You’re pregnant, remember?” (N)

Time after time after time.

Again and again.

She was there.

Waiting to stop him from doing anything that required the slightest effort.

Always with that little reminder that he was, in fact, pregnant.

‘As if I don’t know!’

It had been a little while since Zuri felt this annoyed. After things had more or less settled down with Cleodora, his days had turned peaceful. A routine had formed, which, although simple and objectively worse than back at the Palace, was still good enough to be bearable. Frankly, it was shocking how quickly Nori was able to destroy all that. With the aid of her nonsense rules and a certain person, she was able to completely wreck any normalcy Zuri built.

‘…That idiot’

Any semblance of a spine had disappeared from that fool.

She bowed all too easily to the demands of his sister.

‘Ha…’

Yet, Zuri found it hard to fault Cleodora for that.

Winning a verbal exchange against Nori was a task that bordered on the impossible. He knew better than anyone from direct experience. It wasn’t like Zuri had just been taking everything she said as law. He had tried to argue back. Counter her rules with logic and straight reasoning, but it was never successful. Nori may play the fool, but she certainly wasn’t one. She was clever, quick and sharp with her tongue. Any argument Zuri brought to the table was systematically dismantled before his very eyes.

Zuri hated to admit it, but she was the undisputed Queen of debate.

His losses were predictable, as they were inevitable.

There were many reasons for this—such as the demands of her occupation, yet if Zuri were to pinpoint the main one, he would instantly blame age.

With age comes wisdom and experience.

That saying couldn’t ring truer.

It was no secret Kitsune lived long. In Zuri’s case, the age disparity between him and Nori was so massive it bordered on comical, at least by human standards. If he were to add his age plus that from his last life and then multiply by 2, he wouldn’t even be close to half the age of Nori. She was centuries older than him. A truth on open display by her two tails. It may be hard to notice for the undiscerning, but her big plushie white tail was indeed made up of two. Every 500 years that passes, a Kitsune’s tail splits itself apart and develops a new fragment.

“~Zuzu~” (N)

Zuri flinched as soon as he heard his name being called from outside the room.

Broken from his thoughts, panic swiftly took his mind.

Taking a good look at his painting supplies, he quickly got up and hid any tool that could be considered even remotely dangerous.

“~Whatcha doing?~” (N)

Sitting in front of his canvas, Zuri quietly tried to calm his breath.

He didn’t look up when answering.

“Work.” (Z)

Nori skipped into the room with a playful step.

She hugged him from behind, intertwining their tails together.

A brief silence took them.

Broken much sooner than Zuri would’ve liked.

“Hmm… Where did you get these paints from? They could be very unsafe.” (N)

Nori picked the blue and green paints resting on a stool by the canvas.

Inspecting them by way of smell.

“T-They’re not unsafe, okay?” (Z)

“I’ll decide that.” (N)

Zuri tried to grab for them but failed.

Using her longer reach, Nori placed the paints down on the stool she had subtly moved out of grasping range.

“That’s enough painting for today. You shouldn’t be inhaling this cheap human stuff so much.” (N)

“Just leave me alone, damn it…” (Z)

A soft mumble escaped Zuri’s lips.

“What was that?” (N)

“N-Nothing….” (Z)

There was something terribly ironic about refusing to head back to the Palace just to end up in the same situation.

Life was so unnecessarily cruel at times.

“So!” (N)

‘Leave me alone!!’

Nori pulled Zuri to his feet and escorted him to the bed.

There would be no escaping this, it would seem.

“What’s this weird thing going on between you and Cleo?" (N)

She rested her chin on her palm.

“…What weird thing?” (Z)

“Why do you guys sleep in separate rooms?” (N)

‘Ugh’

Zuri figured such a question was bound to be asked sooner or later the moment she declared her desire to live with them. It was a bit strange she had taken this long actually. For a married couple, they were hardly intimate like the others. The truth to which was due to the rather horrid start of the ‘relationship’. Zuri had debated long with himself on what to say regarding this particular issue.

“That’s none of your concern.” (Z)

Ultimately, he chose to keep everything under wraps.

Doing anything else could so easily backfire on him. Given his and Cleodora’s reputation in the family, the likelihood they would believe him was already tremendously low. And after Nori walked in on them, that made it zero. He would be lowering his family’s opinion of him (again) for nothing.

“Look, I know I went a little bit… overboard, but it wasn't my intention for you guys to completely stop.” (N)

Nori nuzzled close to him.

“Kissing is fine. Same to hugging and that sort of thing." (N)

Zuri looked away.

“Why are we talking about this?” (Z)

“No reason. Merely looking to sate my curiosity.” (N)

Zuri sighed, hard.

“Enough is enough.” (Z)

He got up.

“Sister, I am not going to the Palace. End of story.” (Z)

He may not be as wise as his sister, but even he could see what was going on.

“I would advise you to cease with your games and be on your way.” (Z)

Nori tilted her head and posed an innocent question.

“Games? What games?” (N)

“If you think you can irritate me enough to leave, you will soon find yourself sorely mistaken.” (Z)

She got up and reached out to pinch his cheeks.

The small smile she wore widening.

“Is that what you think? Ah, you’re just so adorable!” (N)

“Stop that!” (Z)

Zuri swatted her hand away.

“Stop what?” (N)

“Treating me like a—ah! Never mind!” (Z)

Inhaling sharply, Zuri turned to leave.

Nori’s soft laughter accompanied him out.