The Snow Garden
In the snow-covered garden of the temple stood two small vixens.
Soft snowflakes drifted slowly from the sky, settling on their hair and tails.
Kaguya moved gracefully through the motions of her Fate Dancer technique.
Beside her, Airi practiced with her small training swords.
Deep inside, however, she wasn't happy.
She still wasn't allowed to use her real swords.
Sol and Luna.
The reason was simple.
She was still too small.
She could lift them, but each blade was nearly as long as she was tall.
When the two finally stood facing each other, Kaguya hesitated.
"Big sister..."
Her voice was quiet.
"I don't want to fight you... even if it's just training."
In the light snowfall, small tears ran down her cheeks.
On her head rested a small red flower that could never wither.
Akio had given it to her that morning.
Airi wore a flower as well.
A yellow one, also eternal.
Airi sighed.
"Why are you afraid, my little crybaby?"
She took her fighting stance.
But before she could attack...
both of them were suddenly forced to the ground.
A massive aura spread across the garden.
Kaguya fell face-first into the snow.
Airi was pressed down as well.
"What... is going on...?"
Kaguya nearly lost consciousness under the pressure.
Then they saw the source of the aura.
Their mother.
Tamamo.
She walked slowly and elegantly toward them.
With every step, her aura grew stronger.
Her gaze showed something...
something the sisters had never seen before.
Kaguya whispered weakly:
"Big sister..."
"I think... this time we won't just get house arrest..."
Those were her final words before she fainted.
Airi swallowed hard.
Damn...
Mom is strong...
But that she can almost knock us out just by walking...
And the way she moves so elegantly...
I think I really overdid it this time.
Then Airi heard a soft voice right beside her ear.
A voice that sent chills down her spine.
"Today..."
Tamamo stopped in front of her.
"...I will teach both of you the combat techniques of the Kitsune."
All color drained from Airi's face.
"Yes... Mother."
"We will listen carefully."
Tamamo gently lifted Airi's chin with her fan.
So Airi had to look directly into her eyes.
"Do not think I will be gentle with you."
Her voice remained calm.
"I will not hold back simply because you are my daughters."
A brief smile appeared on her face.
"I will train you especially harshly because of that."
"So you understand the dangers that exist in this world."
A few meters away, Akio watched the scene.
A quiet laugh escaped her.
"Almost exactly..."
she murmured.
"...like Lady Tsukiko and I back then."
Her eyes briefly grew nostalgic.
"When our mother showed us the limits of this world at the age of ten."
Akio looked up at the sky.
"Thank you... Lady Inari."
Tamamo's Private Training Ground
After those words, Tamamo let the pressure of her aura fade almost completely.
Then she slowly walked to her daughters.
She placed one hand on each of their backs.
In the next moment, they vanished.
A brief flash of light—and they appeared on Tamamo's private training ground deep within the temple.
The ground there was made of black stone.
The air was perfectly still.
A place where only a few Kitsune were ever allowed to train.
Tamamo turned toward them.
"Alright."
"You two, get up."
Her voice was calm.
"You are not so weak that this much pressure should break you."
Her eyes grew slightly colder.
"That would be a disgrace for my daughters."
Airi grimaced in pain.
It felt as if every bone in her body was burning at once.
Slowly she forced herself to stand.
Beside her, Kaguya also struggled to her feet.
But her face was full of tears.
"Mommy..."
Her voice trembled.
"Why...?"
"I don't want this... everything hurts."
For a moment, Tamamo felt a sharp pain in her heart.
Normally, this training began only when a Kitsune reached ten years of age.
But Airi had crossed the line too many times recently.
When one daughter was punished, the other was not spared. Not in this ritual.
Every Kitsune had to go through this training one day.
A training that left the body bruised and aching... but strengthened the spirit.
Tamamo looked calmly at Kaguya.
"Every Kitsune has gone through this training."
"Even me."
She stepped closer.
"And my mother before me."
Her voice became firmer.
"But your big sister crossed the line yesterday."
Airi swallowed.
"And I only perform this training once."
"So you must take part as well."
Tamamo slowly opened her fan.
"Prepare yourselves..."
Her eyes gleamed faintly.
"...to never forget this day."
She took a fighting stance.
Elegant.
Calm.
Dangerous.
"I went through the same training with my mother."
The wind gently moved her nine tails.
"And now..."
She looked at her daughters.
"Attack me."
A small smile appeared on her face.
"I want to see what you are truly capable of."
The First Clash
When Airi heard her mother's words, something suddenly stirred inside her.
Something began boiling within her body.
A battle instinct she had never felt before.
Without hesitation, she charged at her mother with her swords.
"Hyaa!"
Airi leapt lightly from the ground.
In the next moment, she vanished.
Using short teleportation bursts, she circled Tamamo.
Star Fox Storm.
Her swords flashed as she struck from multiple directions.
Fast strikes.
One attack after another.
But every time—
clack
clack
clack
Tamamo blocked each strike.
With nothing but her fan.
She barely moved.
A few meters away, Kaguya's tearful eyes widened.
"How...?"
she whispered.
"Big sister can't even hit Mother..."
Tamamo's voice remained calm.
"Kaguya."
"What are you waiting for?"
In the next moment, her fan moved.
WHAM
A strike hit Airi directly.
The little Kitsune was launched through the air and slammed into the training barrier.
"Ugh!"
Tamamo slowly began walking toward Kaguya.
Step by step.
Kaguya kept backing away.
"M-Mommy..."
Her voice trembled.
"I don't want this..."
"Can't I just watch?"
"Please... Mommy..."
Tamamo slowly shook her head.
"You need more courage in your bones."
"Like Airi."
Suddenly Tamamo vanished.
Kaguya blinked.
Then she heard a voice behind her.
"First lesson."
BAM
A strike hit her from behind.
"Illusion clones."
Kaguya was thrown forward and landed directly on Airi, who had just begun getting up.
"Hmph!"
Airi tried to push Kaguya off her.
But then she saw something.
Nine spheres of foxfire appeared above Tamamo's tails.
Tamamo slowly approached them.
Airi swallowed audibly.
Kaguya heard it immediately.
"Sister..."
Tamamo raised her fan slightly.
"Second lesson."
The nine fire orbs burned brighter.
"How to properly use foxfire."
The spheres shot toward them.
But they exploded just above them.
The heat made the air vibrate.
Tamamo looked down at her daughters.
"And now..."
Her eyes gleamed slightly.
"Attack me again."
The Combined Attack
Airi helped Kaguya slowly to her feet.
"Sister..."
She breathed heavily.
"You distract Mother."
Airi gripped her training sword tightly.
"I'll gather all my strength during that time... and then strike."
Kaguya nodded nervously.
Slowly she opened her two fans.
The fans were decorated with dragon motifs—a dragon dominating a Kitsune.
Every time Tamamo saw those fans, anger rose inside her.
An old pain.
How their father once held power over me...
Why would he place such symbols in their hands...
as if I needed to remember that humiliation...
Kaguya moved her fans.
Two flaming slashes shot toward Tamamo.
Tamamo calmly raised her own fan.
BAM
She blocked both attacks.
But cracks appeared in her fan.
Because unlike Kaguya's weapons, her fan was just an ordinary fan.
Not a combat fan.
Behind Kaguya stood Airi.
She didn't move.
She had taken the stance of the single-sword style of Hoshiko no Ken.
Red energy gathered along the blade.
It grew stronger.
With every breath, tiny cracks formed along the sword.
Airi clenched her teeth.
"Now!"
She released the attack.
The energy wave shot forward.
But at the same moment, the sword shattered in her hand.
The power was too great.
Tamamo tried to block the strike.
Her fan shattered instantly.
The attack even tore part of her kimono.
The energy faded.
Tamamo immediately looked toward Airi.
But Airi had already collapsed.
Motionless.
Tamamo ran to her immediately.
Then she saw something that froze her blood.
Red scales appeared along Airi's neck.
"No..."
Her voice became serious.
"No... this is not good."
Kaguya ran to her mother.
Her voice panicked.
"Mom!"
"What happened to my sister?!"
Airi's Condition
In the chambers of Airi and Kaguya, Airi lay unconscious in her bed.
Her chest rose and fell slowly.
More and more red scales spread across her body.
Akio sat beside her, cooling her body with gentle magic.
Next to the bed, Kaguya held her sister's hand tightly.
Her eyes were full of fear.
"Please, sister..."
Her voice trembled.
"Stay here... I'm scared."
At that moment, the door opened.
Tamamo entered the room.
In her hands she held a small golden chest.
She slowly opened it.
Inside lay a small sphere glowing with warm golden light.
Tamamo carefully took it out.
Without hesitation, she placed the sphere on Airi's chest.
The light immediately reacted.
The sphere slowly sank into Airi's body.
The red scales stopped spreading.
Akio watched everything closely.
"Tamamo..."
Her voice was calm but worried.
"Do you think it will help her?"
Tamamo looked down at her daughter.
"Her father said..."
Her voice grew quieter.
"...that it would calm his blood."
Kaguya looked at her mother in confusion.
"Father?"
"Why does my sister have these problems?"
Tamamo sat down beside the bed.
"Normally..."
"When Kitsune twins are born..."
"One daughter inherits the same number of tails as her mother."
"And the other slightly fewer."
Kaguya frowned.
"But Mother..."
"We both have nine tails."
Tamamo nodded slowly.
"Yes."
She gently stroked Airi's hair.
"But the dragon essence of your father was extraordinarily strong."
Her eyes turned thoughtful.
"I believe... Airi inherited almost all of it."
"And you received only what a Kitsune daughter would normally inherit from her father."
Kaguya looked back at her sister.
The fear in her eyes slowly faded.
Tamamo finally stood up.
"Let her sleep."
"Her body needs to calm down."
Slowly they left the room.
Akio quietly closed the door.
Leaving little Airi to sleep in peace.