When I Met Yukkuri - Ch3: Conflicts, Clans, Foxes, and... a body?
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Hitosura
Jan 7, 2016, 8:54:11 PM1/7/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
[Right-o. Getting closer to the more-complex stuff. Can't wait.]
[Still, more foundation to lay.]
[Pouring concrete can be interesting, but watching it dry isn't.]
[However, once the foundation dries, the house can be built.]
[Hope you get the idea. <3]
[BTW, this is the second draft. :P I had to restart halfway because something happened and it eradicated it all. Not that I miss it. I like this version better.]
Konitori was adjusting well. When I got home, she was the loudest of the group. She mostly rode around on Marisa's hat. I kept tabs on all of them, keeping in touch with their opinions of one-another. If I caught them alone, I'd ask for their opinions. Reimu and her family were doing fine. They liked Marisa, as well. Vice-versa was also the case. It was the case of Nitori that stories got different. Nitori loved all of them. They treated her nicely. She didn't like Komarisa as much as Koreimu, though. With her limited knowledge of vocabulary, I could only assume Nitori didn't like Komarisa because she wasn't as energetic -- she was more laid-back, though a bit shy. I just wanted to make sure everyone was getting along, I told her. As for Reimu, it was a different story. She didn't complain too desperately, but I could tell there was a bit of stress. Since I was out most of the day, I relied on them to keep track of her, and help teach her the ways of living as a house yukkuri, and Nitori had no idea about it.
"Reimu is thankful for all of Mister Kei's easiness, but Konitori is making Reimu uneasy!"
It took a bit of talking to slow down Reimu. I got the idea of it -- she was too much of a firecracker, and Marisa wasn't helping her clean up after Nitori much. She was still a baby, and bowel controls weren't easy. I did my part to clean-up. Eventually, I started to pick up yu diapers. It made Reimu's job a bit easier. Nitori told me how Koreimu was showing her how to use mister toilet, and how that's what big yu's do. Good. Nitori seemed to admire Koreimu. It may have been her narcissism she was attracted to -- Koreimu was still pretty full of herself, but even still, it never truly got in the way of anything. I let her keep her ego, as long as she didn't get rude. If she did, we all took care of it. We all ate as a family, though we had to take turns chewing Nitori's food for her. Marisa and I shared the burden -- it was a little trickier for me. I had to dry off the food. Human saliva could be dangerous to a yukkuri, due to it's acidic quality. Afterwards, it was necessary to add a pinch of sugar -- yukkuri saliva was fairly sweet, and mixed with the food, made it taste better for koyukkuri. I held the handful of food down to Nitori, who crawled up into my hand and nibbled away at the chewed food.
"Habbiness!"
Never ceased to make me smile. Another fun new tradition seemed to be the little ones comparing their mommies.
"My mowmy ish eashiest!"
"Nuh-uh!" replied Koreimu.
"Ours is!" replied Komarisa.
None of us really minded. We settled the matter.
"We're all one big easy family. Your mommy is my mommy, and I'm your easy mommy as well, so it's all easy!"
Wasn't sure if they got the idea of a collective family. I read about yukkuri clans. Maybe we were starting to become that. Speaking of the whole mommy thing, that seemed interesting. So, her first instinct was to view Marisa as her mother. Was that because the stalk came from a Marisa? Then, there was the fact that Marisa took the title of father. Was that because she was a father in her previous family role? Was that why she let it slip that I was her wife? I read that yukkuri don't traditionally hold gender roles -- they're all hermaphrodites. They only take gender roles when it comes to family and breeding. Then there was the fact that Nitori viewed me as her mother without a second thought. Was that because I mixed my saliva in? Would other marks of my DNA begin to show themselves in her personality? Further observation would be required. When night time came rolling around, we, unfortunately, could not let Nitori sleep with us. The slightest movement, and I could accidentally squish her. Marisa had size -- it was easy for me to not squish her. I could roll over Nitori and not even notice. She stayed with Reimu and her family. Partly why I agreed to the requests of Reimu to assist her in raising Nitori for me, at least until she got a little bigger. I even threw in a sweet-sweet for her now and again, as payment.
"Since Reimu is a Miss Babysitter for Mister Kei, I don't mind giving you a mister sweet-sweet as payment for your help."
She was a little reluctant, but gladly accepted. I didn't keep sweets in my house -- wasn't a big sweet tooth person. Wasn't even sure if they noticed. Wasn't even a huge snacker. But, for her? For family? Fine.
I spent a few nights prepping Nitori's easy place. I had an old aquarium. I didn't want to purchase a yukkurium -- those things were price-gouged halfway to hell. Yukkuri were rather popular as pets. Most things were marked up. Even the food I bought them to munch on during the day saw a slight price increase. I washed out the aquarium, then set all the little fake plants back into place. Once I knew it was ready, I had to make a quick stop at a pet store to pick up a few additions. First was a plastic cave -- that would actually be her sleeping area. The other would be a sunken treasure chest with an accompanying diver. I'd tell her that would be a spot where she could hide her treasures. Third...
"Welcome home, mister Kei!" they all yelled in unison.
"Hey, Komarisa, found something of yours," I said, reached into my pocket, and took it out.
She bounced over to me and looked up at me with a curious gaze. I dropped the small black hat onto her head. The rest of them gasped.
"M... Madisa's speshul misder hat! Misder Kei found it!" she bawled.
I let her think that, along with the rest of them. As long as they believed I found her hat, she'd be easy again. Her adjustment to not having a hat wasn't too bad -- we just had to make sure we addressed her as Marisa, and no one was to mention uneasiness and accessories in the same sentence. Easy conversation to steer clear of. I still had to fix up Marisa's hat some time. It still had that little hole in it. I digress, returning her hat bought me a lot of brownie points with Reimu. Also, I picked up one last little trinket. Something I picked out special for someone who wasn't present. It was on the way home from work that I'd deliver it... her face was priceless.
"Treasure..." I heard her whisper, as I pinned that sunflower brooch to Yuuka's hair.
It was plastic, but it still looked nice. The flowers were looking especially beautiful. It gave the small area a nice little scent. Seemed the landscaping guys didn't mind her -- she seemed to keep the whole area in check. They just steered clear of it. Apparently, one of them liked yukkuri, so he simply directed his associates away. I offered her to come home with me. Seems she still didn't really want to. She did make it known to me that she liked me. A rub-rub now and then. She even offered me one of her flowers. I took it as a courtesy. I didn't have much appeal to flowers, but for Yuuka? I'd keep it. I could plant it in my yard somewhere, see if it takes.
Once the aquarium was ready, I took Nitori around the house and showed her the various spots we could place it. I figured the best spot would be next to the sofa, where I was originally going to set up Marisa's easy place. That gap was ideal -- surrounded, easy access from the sofa's arm rest, close to the ground to prevent long falls in or out, and can be with the family while in her easy place. She took a good look at it, her eyes nearly ready to pop out of her head. Before I could even lower her in, she dove in and swam around. I watched her as she moved about, about as close to the gracefulness of a fish as a pastry could get. She moved around in it as natural as anything. I pointed to her little 'cave' in the back. She turned, swam down, and shifted in. I heard a noise, followed by some bubbles. I think she just made her home declaration. She popped out and swam to the surface.
"This is Nitori's easy place!"
"Yep. It's all yours."
Now, I had to come up with a means for her to get out. I had a towel in front of the aquarium for her to land and dry off in. I set up a rope ladder for her to climb down, in case she didn't feel like jumping, or someone else wanted to visit. That didn't last long -- within a day, she built a stairwell and, apparently, a balcony around the aquarium out of the building bricks I left for them to play with. Wasa Reimu liked to hang out on the small seat she made. Oddly enough, I one time found KoMarisa in there... she was sitting in her hat, floating on the surface. This surprised her mother -- apparently, she was an aquatic Marisa! After that point, her and Nitori started to get along better. Good. Still. I read that Nitori were naturally inclined to building and engineering. At this age, however, I felt perhaps that little bit of saliva I mixed in had something to do with it.
On my next day off, I told them we'd visit the park. For one of them, it was their first time out of my house. For the others, it was the first time out of my house since I took them in. The park was nothing too fancy -- some picnic tables, a basketball court, some swings, and a playground for children. Towards the back was a small concrete building. Inside were the controls for the park sprinklers. Never saw the inside, myself, but I had a feeling that's what they had holed up in there. When we crossed the street, I stepped out in front of them. Our neighborhood was, essentially, a giant cul-de-sac. It was surrounded on three sides by a canal, and only had two roads that lead out to the same main road. It was convenient, since no one used it for thru-traffic, which kept things quiet. Still, there was almost always someone coming or going. Nitori rode on Marisa's hat. Reimu lead her children, or should I say, Wasa Reimu lead them. When I was sure it was okay, I signaled for them to cross. We moved over the small parking lot, and over to the park. All of them cringed slightly once they rolled onto the sand at the park. They weren't sure of the material -- they'd never seen a beach, which made me consider a visit there next. Nitori seemed to be having a blast, and rolled around in the sand. At one point, her hat fell of, but her hero, Wasa Reimu, returned it to her.
"Reimu will never let her number one fan be uneasy!"
Narcissism, but balanced. Still intriguing. I sat at a picnic table and watched them play around. Marisa noticed and came to me. Reimu sat on the sidelines and said her motherly words about not playing rough, careful not to get sand on your accessories, blah blah blah... I eventually scooped her up and placed her on the table with me.
"Let them be kids for a little while, you," I said, with a gentle poke to her forehead.
"But--"
I poked her forehead again. She closed her eyes and winced slightly.
"It's fine. I'll clean them up when we get home. They haven't had a bath in a while, anyway."
Which reminded me... I'd have to show Reimu and Marisa how to clean and groom their kids... My thoughts were shattered at the sudden cry. I looked towards the trio in the sand. A sudden crying sound rose up. Unfamiliar. It wasn't Nitori, but it sounded close to a Marisa. Reimu and Marisa panicked for a moment. I lifted my hand to calm them. They hopped off and followed me to the sand. The trio stood around a rather small Komarisa, who was crying. I blinked a bit and lowered myself to my knees. Investigation time!
"M-misder Kei..." started Komarisa.
"She-she came out of nowhere and scared little sister!" replied Wasa Reimu.
Nitori was angrily bouncing, repeatedly demanding the little Komarisa apologize to her big sister.
"Enough, all of you!"
The little one continued to cry. I leaned down.
"Hey, little Komarisa. Take it easy! We're all easy, here."
Her crying slowed. She sniffled.
"I-ish misder easy misder hooman da ze?" she said and sniffled again.
Odd that she could sniffle without a nose. I nodded.
"All of us are easy! You just scared Komarisa there!"
Komarisa moved towards the little one and gently brushed some of the sand off of her with her braid. The little one looked up to her.
"W-why did Madisa push widdle Madisa away da ze?" she asked.
"Marisa scared Marisa!" she replied
"Bud... Madisa jus wanded wub-wub da ze..."
"Just wanted rub-rub?" I asked.
She turned to me and nodded.
"Well, did you ask first? Did you even introduce yourself?"
She shook her head at the first question, then looked confused at the second.
"In... intwo..."
"Introduced. Like, you know... Komarisa, show her," I said and pointed to her.
She nodded and turned to the smaller Marisa.
"Take it easy, Marisa! Marisa is Marisa! Are you an easy yukkuri?" she asked.
In my spare time, I made sure they knew how to greet one-another, and other yukkuri, just in case I decided to maybe take in a few more. To be honest, these four were becoming a bit of a handful for me. The little one smiled and bounced slightly. She flapped her braid.
"Tage id eady, Madisa! Madisa ish Madisa! Madisa is easy yukkuri, too da ze!"
"Alright! Now that you two have introduced one-another, now ask for rub-rub."
She looked to me, then back to Marisa.
"Madisa, can Madisa rub-rub herd newb easy fwend da ze?"
Marisa smiled and nodded. Much rub-rub was exchanged.
A good little interaction with a stray. I did a little prodding into her. A few questions. Was curious. Was she an only child? Apparently, yes. Was she orphaned? No. Her family lived here with other yukkuri. Other yukkuri? Apparently, according to her, there was a clan of yukkuri that lived here. Odd. Never noticed them. Either that, or they hid so well, they could live unnoticed. Probably did their hunt-hunting at night. I'd have to see if I could meet an adult. Information from her was small and little -- she was still very young, but gave me a lead -- their leader. 'Padoli.' Padoli? Why does that seem famil...--
"Put down my child now, understand easy?!"
The demand pulled me from my thoughts. The little one was in my hand, rub-rubbing away at my index finger. My eyes quickly surveyed. There was the source -- a Marisa. An older one, probably older than mine. She had some surface cuts on her, and her lower half was cracked. She must have been living as a wild one for a while. However, my eyes were more focused on her mouth, and the knife she had in it.
"Wanna die, ze?! Let Marisa's precious child go now, easy!"
"H-hey!" said Wasa Reimu, who quickly bounced in front of me.
"Be easy!" shouted KoMarisa, who bounced next to her sister. Never thought I'd see her stand up for anything.
"Mister Kei is a kind, easy human! Marisa should apologize!" Reimu demanded, as she moved next to me.
"You better not, or Marisa will never forgive you!" replied my Marisa, who moved to my other side.
They shouted at her, until I moved my hand up for them to stop.
"Enough! Let me speak for myself," I commanded.
I had this way with animals -- I learned it from having so many of them. If you wanted them to listen, you had to say it a certain way. Carry a certain look. It made them know how you feel. I simply lowered my hand and looked to the small Marisa.
"Go to your daddy," I said.
"B-bud... misder.."
"It's okay. Your daddy is just scared. Scared because he doesn't want his baby getting hurt. Go ahead. It'll be easy."
With tears in her eyes, she slid from my hand, and gently moved to her father. That's when I heard another sound... 'mukyu'?
"That's enough, Marisa! Mukyu!"
My ears caught the direction this time. There she was, bouncing over rather hastily. She looked exhausted as she stopped near us. She had long, lavender hair, a gold crescent moon brooch, several multi-colored ribbons, and a lavender-stripped hat on. Yep. It was a Patchouli. I read they were typically the clan leaders -- they were smart. Not just smart -- book smart, and capable of self-learning at a phenomenal rate. This could get real interesting. I observed as Patchouli argued with the Marisa.
"You shouldn't do such uneasy things, Marisa! Mukyu! You could bring Factory people! Do you want a Mass Extermination? Do you want all of us to die?"
Marisa growled, then slid the knife under her hat. I looked to Marisa and Patchouli.
"It's easy. Marisa was just trying to defend her child. She thought mister was an uneasy mister."
Patchouli turned to face us. She gave us a smile, greeted, and introduced herself. She sounded more human that yukkuri. The youngest Marisa bounced back over to Nitori and Wasa Reimu, and continued playing. Older Marisa kept her eyes on me and them. Patchouli and I kept a conversation. I didn't pry -- just inquired about her clan. Seems she was a former pet, as well. Her human was a nice guy, from how she describes him, but his job forced him to move away. Before he moved, though, he apparently spent a bunch of money on books about surviving in the wild.
"I am very happy with my mister human, and am glad he gave Patchouli so many easy books. With that easy knowledge, Patchouli made an easy clan. Plenty of munch-munch happiness for all our children, easy places that mister humans don't notice, and protection from mister animals."
Seemed he intended for her to survive. He couldn't take her, she mentioned, because the place he was going didn't allow pets, even of the pastry kind. It was rather interesting meeting a creature who's intellect could develop so close to a human's. She told me about how she learned how to camouflage their doors to keep them from being noticed easily. Very smart. While we talked, I noticed other yukkuri were slowly peeking out from around some of the trees. I counted at least ten sets of eyes. The sun was starting to set. The kids were getting hungry, as was I. We bid our farewells. That older Marisa still had a begrudging look in her eyes. I didn't think she'd be so stupid as to actually challenge me. That would be her last mistake, for sure. Or one of. Dunno what I'd do if she actually came after me with a knife. Interesting, though, to see a yukkuri learn of tools -- I knew they could be taught, but to know of more-advanced weapons than sticks? Hm.
Before dinner came hygiene. I got an add-on for the shower head that was in there -- a smaller nozzle. I attached a long hose to it, then attached a small spray head to it. Something I found online -- it was a pet sprayer, but for small animals. If it was good for small dogs, I was fairly sure it'd be gentle on a yukkuri. It was trigger-activated, which made it simple for them to use. I showed Marisa how to use it, first. I made sure to collect their main accessories, but left the smaller ribbons. They needed their piu-pius in order to be able to use the shower head. Nitori would be the simplest to clean -- she was already waterproof. An odd feature for a pastry -- she was waterproof, unlike the rest of the family. They knew their limits for water exposure, so I figured if I let them handle it, it'd be less of a problem for me. It was rather interesting watching Marisa manipulate the shower head with her mouth. The first brave volunteer was Wasa Reimu, who was profusely sprayed. Luckily, the shower head was designed to be a soft flow, so she simply giggled as she rolled about. She even shook her fanny at, then bounced over to the front. I got some generic pump spray bottles, and moved the shampoo into it. I pointed out how to use it to Marisa and Wasa Reimu. For Marisa, it was tricky, since she had one piu-piu. I left it to her to figure out what to do -- she simply had Wasa stand under the spicket, pressed it a bit, and dropped a glop onto her head.
"Coldcoldcoldcold!" she yelled, and bounced in place.
Marisa moved over and kneaded it into her hair. She seemed to calm down. The familiar yu cooing came from her as her scalp was massaged. Another quick spray of the water to rinse her off. I pointed to the towel rack. Reimu stretch-stretched up and pulled it down. Wasa hopped out of the shower, while KoMarisa hopped in. Reimu laid out the towel, and Wasa hopped on to it. Reimu gently dried her baby with the towel.
"In the wild, you would simply lick-lick to clean. It's not the most-pleasant tasting thing, I'm sure, but it's best to always keep your kids clean and dry. An unclean yukkuri is Mister Mold's easiest friend...~"
That seemed to resonate with them. I'd have to remember that one. Grooming came next, which was a much simpler task, especially since they were already kept pretty well-groomed. They went one-by-one, removing their accessories, grooming the hair, then replacing them. Since they were smaller, much like washing, it was far easier for them to handle themselves.
Once the hygene was completed, I showed them how to clean their ribbons without taking them off. It was hard enough retying the braids the first time... Small toothbrush-like brushes, a little soap, scrubscrubscrub, done... just as nice and clean as their accessories.
Accessories returned, dinner served, we were all off to bed.
"Mister Kei?"
I looked to Marisa, who was sitting on her pillow on my bed.
"Yes, Marisa?"
"You're not going to... adopt all of them, are you?"
I let out a small laugh.
"Ah -- no. I don't think I could take care of that many yukkuri. Pretty sure if I offered, they'd decline anyway."
I rolled onto my back.
"That Patchouli, though... if I could..."
I felt Marisa hop onto my stomach. My stomach flexed in response. I grinned as I looked down at her.
"Yes, Marisa? You're not getting jealous of having to share your easy mister human, are you?"
She blushed, and quickly darted back to her pillow.
"No! Mar -- I'm just worried that, well, Mister Kei gives Ma-- me, Reimu, Nitori, Reimu, and Marisa so much easiness... mister can't have much more easiness to give!"
Oh? She was concerned for me? How interesting. Though, the reason I was teaching them how to do it themselves was precisely for that reason -- take the burden off of me. Hygiene wasn't that imperative -- they didn't go out that often to begin with. If I could have them do other things, that would be great, but that would be difficult due to their very limited stature...
The next few days went pretty normal. I heard a lot of chatter from the little ones about wanting to see the yukkuri at the park again. Made me wonder if there was some kind of innate collective consciousness function in their pastry, and that's why they seemed inclined to come together. Or it could just be the simple logic that there's strength in numbers. Right, what was I doing? Oh, yeah. I just finished closing up shop and was taking the trash out. Years of video games made my instincts pretty honed, no matter how tired I was. That's how I knew I was being watched. I could just feel those eyes on me. I made no motion to alert my observer, but simply brought the trash to the compactor. It was then I glanced in the direction my instincts told me to. In an instant, something darted around the corner of the dumpster. I waited, and saw it -- a white bonnet with a point on one side, an amber eye, and -- well, this was the weird part, the location of such features was at least up to my chest. The moment the eye caught mine, it immediately ducked behind the corner again. I smirked.
"Well, I guess I just have to throw away this whole bag of sweet-sweets. I mean, it's a shame, since I don't really have any one I can share it with, and I'm just so full right now..."
I heard a light growl. In an instant, it came darting around the corner, and tackled my bag.
"Noooooooooo! Please, mister human! Please share them with Ran!"
I took in her visage. She was at least three foot eight, maybe taller. Her head was round, though slightly ovular, similar to any yukkuri. She had on a hat, and had, what appeared to be, fox tails coming from just above her rear. Her body looked like any human's would -- I counted five fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulders, hips, feet... I couldn't see her toes. A white bonnet was on her head, and seemed to be weaved up for two points, like animal ears. Her face and body were fairly dirty. Her hands and feet were extremely dirty. She was littered with small cuts. Seems she didn't have it too easy. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
"Ran is soooooooo hungry... Ran hasn't eaten in days... please share with Ran, kind and easy mister human?"
Polite. I think I crossed something about that -- Ran-type yukkuri. Looked oddly like foxes. Were very polite in almost all cases. Also very nurturing, maternal, and strong motherly instincts. Very similar to Reimus in that fashion. However, this one had a body... and she was naked. She sobbed a bit as she clung to the trash bag. Better take care of this first.
"Okay, okay... come on. Off of the bag now, you," I said, and gently clapped my hands. I made gentle pushing motions at the air, "I have to be able to get in their first."
She stared at me in disbelief. She slid off, but stayed hunched over. Her arms were up and fists were clenched in anticipation. She watched as I untied the bag, then reached in and pulled out a handful. We didn't throw out a lot of it, but most of it was still good when we disposed of it. I had some in here to spare, right at the top, too. I held out my closed hand.
"Now, offer both hands."
Drool was already rolling down her face. She bounced up and down slightly from her knees. I dropped some of it into her hands. She immediately threw it into her mouth and chewed happily. She had the mannerisms of a child... but it could also be because she really hadn't had anything in a while. Speaking of which...
"Happiness!"
I wiped a few pieces off of my face. She inhaled it in seconds. She looked to me again with the same teary-eyes.
"C-can Ran have some more, please?"
I couldn't tell if she was intentionally trying to get more out of me because she was faking, or if she really was just hungry. I preferred to stay on the nice side of things.
"Well, you should only have a little of that. That stuff isn't good for a yukkuri like you -- you need more diverse foods if you're gonna grow up big and strong like a mister human," No, no, Marisa will get mad if you, "Why don't you come with Mister Human to his easy place, and he can share a real mister meal with Ran?"
As if I didn't know the answer to th -- her face lit up.
"Really?!"
She quickly dove at me and threw her arms around my neck.
"Mister human is going to share his easy place with Ran?! Ran can have an easy place with a mister soft-soft and lots of munch-munch?!"
"And other yukkuri friends for you to meet!"
The mood almost instantly shifted. She slid off my neck and stared at me. It was a look of sadness.
"M-mister human... has other yukkuri?"
Oh dear. Investigation time. Seems she was born a bodied yukkuri, and because of that, her parents were fearful of her. They didn't trust her, so they never let her take it easy with them. I could see how that could make her so... clingy to someone nice. She survived on her own by digging through trash. She learned the secrets of 'mister compactor,' and how to sneak food out of it without being noticed. Since I was so late getting out, I must have caught her while she was prowling.
"Another mister human around here was helping bring Ran much easy munch-munch!"
Apparently, there was another person who worked in the mall who was sneaking her food. I wouldn't want to be so rude as to snatch up his friend -- after I disposed of the trash, I had her bring me to her easy place. It was the usual box, but she had newspapers she kept down as sheets. She told me how she would just turn the box over, curl up, and be (almost) invisible to any humans during the day. The spot was shady, too, so she wouldn't feel the direct sun while she slept. I moved her to the side, reached in, and wrote my phone number on the inside of the box and left a note, 'Adopting her. If you miss her and want to talk to her, just call.' She spoke highly of him. Maybe they were friends, and he was going to adopt her himself. Who knows? Anyway, you snooze, you lose. Rather fortuitous, as well, as this night, I had forgotten to take off my work shirt. I usually wore a white shirt in to work, took it off, and swapped to my work shirt. Today, for some odd reason, I was having chills (or poor blood circulation) and my body temperature was lower than normal, so I put my work shirt on over my white shirt. I swapped off my white shirt and gave it to Ran to wear. Yeah, her body was incredibly similar to a female human's, minus the tails and head shape. Don't want any awkward stares as I traveled home. Yuuka was probably already long-asleep, so I could just go directly home. She walked a lot of it, but started getting tired about 10 minutes into the walk, so I gave her a piggy-back ride the rest of the way.
I got home late, and it appeared they all went to sleep. Marisa was sleeping near the door in the usual way I'd sometimes find her if I ran extremely late. Nitori was quietly sleeping on the rim of her hat. Well, no need to wake any of them. I'd move Marisa to my room later. I lowered Ran off my back and placed my finger to my lips. She nodded, hunched forward, and put both fingers to her lips.
"Wait over there on the sofa," I said and pointed.
She obediently crept over there, accompanied by the usual yu speak.
"Slowly... slowly... slowly.." she whispered.
I moved to the kitchen. No time to cook. I warmed up some leftovers I was gonna serve to them today. I brought it to Ran, who's eyes lit up at the offering. She took it from me and almost instantly drooled. She reached with her hand, then withdrew at the heat. She looked to me with teary eyes. I offered the fork, then demonstrated. I then gave it to her. She began to eat with her utensil. I saw the look on her face and immediately slapped my hand over her mouth.
"mmmshsss!"
I looked around. Nope. No one woke up. I shushed her again. She nodded and continued. Once done, I took the plate, cleaned it, then explained to her her 'temporary' bedding. I had a spare pillow in the other half of the closet. Luckily, the side Reimu and her family slept on was on the inner-side of the two sliding doors. I quietly removed a pillow and a sheet, then brought them to Ran. She took them from my hands, and I motioned for her to follow. I had a futon in the closet of the master bedroom -- it'd come in handy now. I took it out, rolled it onto the floor, and motioned to it. She looked down at it, then back to me, and nodded. She laid down, and looked as if she were about to have a fit of happiness. I reached down and gently placed my hand on her head, then brought my free hand to her lips. She closed her eyes for a moment, then stared at me again with a light blush.
"Thank you, mister human..."
"Understand easy! When you wake up tomorrow, please wait for me in here. I don't want you to meet them before I have time to ready your introduction," I whispered to her.
She nodded. I could already see her blinks were getting heavy. She may have been nocturnal, but a soft bed can sure knock you out. I'd take care of hygiene in the morning. It was far too late for that now. For now, I gently picked up Marisa and Nitori from their spot and brought them to my room. A bodied yukkuri. I read stories about them. Some were born, others simply grew it. Her body seemed to be in all the proper portions for a female human body -- she looked adolescent/early teen for a human. What an interesting case study this could be -- monitor her growth, personality, or even contemplate how exactly a creature like that can retain its shape with no skeletal structure. That, I found, was the biggest mystery. Couldn't move into stuff like that yet -- it'd spook her. I'd rather wait a bit, let her get settled in and cozy, before I'd start snooping into what she was. Anxious as I was, I still drifted off to sleep, Marisa in her spot on the pillow, and Nitori gently placed under her hat. It was tricky for me to fall asleep -- I was an insomniac to begin with. Now I had a full-bodied yukkuri in the next room. According to her, she always had trouble making friends, because most yukkuri didn't trust bodied yukkuri -- no matter how easy they were. Maybe I could change that in this household. If not, well, they'd have to learn to live with it anyway. She was mine, now. All yukkuri seemed to have 'special traits.' Reimus tended to be motherly. Marisas tended to be adventurous. Nitori tended to be engineers. What would Ran be?
The next morning, I was woken up by Marisa. The whole family was here, but it was Marisa in particular who was saying something. My mind wasn't picking it up at the moment, but slowly became apparent as my mind started to wake up. I gave a few hard blinks and focused myself. I looked to Marisa.
"What is it?"
"Mister Kei! Mister Kei! There's some uneasy noises coming from the other room!"
Crap. Ran must have made some noise, and they were on to her. I looked to the direction she pointed with her braid, then back to her. I nodded.
"I'll check it out."
Reimu, her kids, and Nitori were outside the door, each chirping about a different noise they heard. I silenced them all and nodded. I creaked the door open, passed through, and shut it behind me. Apparently, Ran had set to work in here. She arranged all the clothes that were left in the closet by my mom, folded others, folded up the futon and sheets, and had left the pillow neatly on top. She appeared to be in a sort of meditation position, legs crossed, and eyes shut. When I entered and approached, she looked up to me with a smile.
"Good morning, Mister Kei! I stayed in here just like you told me to!"
I shushed her.
"Keep it down," I whispered, "There's others that are listening."
She looked to me, nodded, and stood up. She gave a gentle bow. I placed my hands on my hips.
"I see you went to work in here a little..." I said, and motioned to the clothes in the closet. She stood up with a blush. Her hand went to her face.
"Well, uh, Ran thought it would be okay if..."
I placed my hand on her head.
"Let me know next time. I don't mind the arrangement, but let me know so I can direct you. Now, come. We have to do clean-clean."
She looked to to me and nodded. She looked as if she clean-cleaned herself a little already. Did she just... like, lick it up? Like a cat or something? I'd inquire later. I led her to the adjacent bathroom. For her, I simply told her what to do. I sat from the side. I wasn't exactly sure if her body had any greater consistency than that of normal yukkuri, so I simply instructed herself to dampen herself with water, then apply the shampoo to her hair, then simply rinse. She actually had arms and hands. I didn't have to do it for her. Hell, maybe I could have her take care of the others for me... Pin in that idea. While she cleaned herself, I told her about the other yukkuri in the house, and how to act around them. To always be polite, because they're my family, and if she gets along with them, that she can stay with us as long as she likes. She made mention of her other human friend whom took care of her. Once she was done, I tossed her a towel and instructed her how to dry off. Dab, but don't rub. Again, I wasn't exactly sure the consistency of her epidermal layer -- if it was bread, and it was damp, she could very-well rub off a layer or two and possibly breach her own form. Then again, she knew what would hurt and what wouldn't. On to grooming! I stood her in front of the mirror and took care of her hair, showing her how to comb it. I told her we'd take care of the tails later.
Once done, it was presentation time. I could still hear them outside chatting about what they thought was going on. I led her to the closet and picked out a long shirt for her to wear. My mom was shorter than I was, but even still, her clothes were long for Ran.
"Lift your arms for me, please."
She did as instructed. I pulled the shirt over her, and instructed her how to dress herself. With that done, it was time to introduce her to the family.
"Wait here for a moment, and when I call you, come out, easy?"
She nodded with a large smile. I opened the door and stepped through. A light gasp filled the space in front of me. They all looked to me with their various inquiries.
"Well, I have a big surprise for you all..."
Another light gasp. A hush fell over them. Various questions began to spring forth. I silenced them with my hand.
"Well, I know I was late last night, and I apologize for that. Work took me a little longer than it was supposed to. However, I suppose that was a happy coincidence! After all, if I wasn't running late, I wouldn't have met our newest guest..."
I stepped to the side of the door's path.
"Let me introduce you all to... Ran!"
She sheepishly opened the door. Her amber eyes immediately darted to me, but stopped suddenly when she saw the yukkuri. She seemed to panic a little. I placed my hand on her shoulder and looked to the other yukkuri. Marisa and Reimu's mouths were hung to the floor. Wasa Reimu and Nitori had astonished looks in their eyes. Small Marisa had a slightly confused look.
"U-um... nice to meet you..." she said, then gave a light bow.
"Bodied yukkuri are..." started Reimu.
"SO COOL!" finished Wasa Reimu, who immediately bounced over to her.
Nitori followed. They both chatted with one-another as they examined her from their spots. Ran was beginning to feel awkward around all of them. I gave a loud clap.
"Now, I know you will all treat her with the utmost respect and easiness that any guest of this house deserves, right?"
They looked to me, a bit of uncertainty in their faces. They gave slight nods. I'd be keeping tabs on them anyway.
"Good! Now, let's get some breakfast..."
They weren't good at hiding it. I could tell Marisa was a little upset at the coming of our new guest. Reimu seemed a bit unnerved, but Marisa was definitely jealous. While I cooked, I felt eyes upon me. It wasn't who I expected -- it was Ran. She was watching me. I invited her in to watch. Maybe I could even teach her how to cook? Would be great, to be honest. While I showed her the ins and outs, I felt another set of eyes watching us. In the corner of my eye, I saw her -- it was Marisa this time. She had the look of jealousy on her. I tried to invite her in, but she became flustered and hopped away. A good coincidence this all happened on my day off -- I could keep an eye on things. Marisa always seemed to give Ran a glare when she passed by. I wasn't sure if Ran was too stupid to notice, or too focused on other things. I believe I identified her specialty --
"Mister Kei's easy place is so huuuuuge! But!" she said, and turned to me. She lifted her arm and pointed it at me, "This easy place is too uneasy with mister dirt! Mister Kei deserves a much easier place! Ran will help!"
Homestead. Seemed this one liked to take care of the homestead. I thought that was only a Sakyua's specialty? Of course my home was a bit dusty -- I was the only one living in a full-sized house. After my mom passed away, I just never really took much care of it. It wasn't too bad, I just wasn't overly-strenuous with the cleaning. Seems I had my own little friend here who wanted to do that for me. I wasn't exactly sure how much she'd be able to accomplish at her current stature -- I'd have to dig out my step ladder for her for high places, and find my stepping stool for mid. I still had some full latex cleaning gloves in the kitchen. She knew what she wanted to clean, but... well, a yukkuri's first instinct to clean is, well... to lick it. I had to course-correct that immediately -- and I handed her a feather duster instead. I'd slowly introduce her into the various cleaning that the house could use. If she identified it, I'd show her how. All the while, I felt that jealous one quietly watching from afar. During lunch, there was a sour look to our new house guest. Ran helped me a bit -- just with the simple parts of the food. I didn't want to overload that pasty core yet. She took to it pretty easily. I let her bring out the plates, utensils, and serve the food. Reimu seemed a bit more friendly with her. Wasa Reimu, Little Marisa, and Nitori would constantly chatter with her about me, the house, and other yukkuri things -- I think at one point, she promised to be their biggest sister. Good. Glad to see they were making bonds. I didn't get the feeling Ran liked me in the same way Marisa did -- to Ran, I was like her hero, or her big brother. That was the sense I got. If I spoke, she listened, full-heart. Anything I told her to do, she did with gusto. The quality of her work was decent -- I worked in a food retail place, and was a stickler for details in cleaning. Of course, that only applies outside of my domicile.
The day went by pretty smooth -- and the house looked a little better. I told Ran I'd swing by and get her the proper set of tools and cleaners for herself later on. Already had a few fun ideas of some specialty stuff -- like maybe getting some embroidering done on an apron for a fox head, a paw, or just her name. I'll just stick a pin in that. While Ran was cooking dinner, my phone rang. Didn't know the caller, but I had a feeling who it was.
"Yo," I answered.
"Hey, uh... I found this number inside a box, and I was wondering, um..."
I looked to Ran, then stepped out of the kitchen. She already finished and was simply filling plates. Good. Wouldn't have to worry about injury.
"Ah, yes. You're the mister human Ran always talks about."
I could hear a sigh of relief. Ran looked over at me as she exited the kitchen. I leaned over and looked at the stove. I tilted my head away from the phone.
"You left it on. Turn it off or you'll burn the food."
She yelped and darted back in. I tilted my head to my phone again.
"Sorry about that. Got her cooking already. Boy, she's a great one."
Our conversation went on for a few minutes. I told them to start eating without me. I already knew the guy -- he worked a few stores down from me. He was just happy to hear someone adopted her. He said he'd have adopted her, but he wasn't sure how she would be around his kids, or how they would be around her. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. More-than-likely, it was more of a financial issue. I kept him on the line, and offered Ran the phone. I took her utensils and placed them down. She broke out into excitement as she got into a conversation with him. They talked for a bit. Sounded like he was catching up with her, and she was telling him how nice I was. Good. Set his mind at ease. After it appeared they were done, I took the phone and simply told him,
"Any time you want to see her, feel free to drop by. I'm sure she'd love having you as a visitor."
She let out a cheer and flailed her arms. Energetic. We ended our call, and I started eating. Marisa already ate her portion. Ran split her plate with Reimu. The kids split their own plate. Ran and I cleaned up the dishes. It was pretty nice having an assistant. There was Marisa, again, in the doorway to the kitchen, watching us. I didn't want to make a scene, so I kept it quiet. I'd speak to her about it tonight. After hygiene, it was off to bed. Marisa was in her usual spot, but her back was to me. Unusual. Not that it wasn't sorely obvious why. Still, I could play coy. I nudged her with my toe.
"Hey," Poke, "Heeeey..." Poke poke, "Take it easy, Marisa?"
I heard her whimper a bit.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?"
She turned slightly, but not enough to look at me.
"It's not fair..."
"Hmmmm?" I made sure she could hear me.
"It's not fair...", she repeated, and turned a little more, "Mister Kei was mine first..."
I smiled and sat up. I leaned forward and looked at her.
"Marisa. You told me you wouldn't get jealous if I adopted a few more yukkuri."
Tears were welling in her eyes.
"B-but... Ran can help Kei cook, and clean, and is bodied! It's not fair! Marisa wants to be bodied so she can be Mister Kei's husband!"
... one of these days, I was going to have to explain all of this to her... but not today. I picked her up. She turned away from me. I laid her in my lap and gave her cheek a light rub.
"You are my first. And you will always be special to me."
No cheese with that ham, please.
She cooed slightly and turned to look at me.
"D-does mister Kei want to take it easy forever with Marisa?"
Well. It's not like I was planning on getting rid of her. What could go wrong?"
"Sure. I like you enough. Besides, I hear yukkuri can do anything if they really believe in it. If you want to be bodied, just keep wishing for it. Who knows? I've seen stories about yukkuri who grow their own bodies..."
Her eyes lit up as her mouth opened slightly.
"Really?! So if Marisa gets a body, Mister Kei will be her bride for sure?!"
I felt my eye twitch on that one.
"Well, we'd have to see how the arrangement goes first, but if it works out..."
She bounced up and down and cheered. I shushed her down. She could wake up Ran. I shifted back into my bed and motioned to her.
"Well, you always crawl into my arms after I go to sleep, so come on over."
She blushed. Guess she didn't know I knew. She sheepishly made her way over and rolled up against me.
"Good night, Marisa."
"Good night, Mister Kei."
Well, I asked for it. Yep. I knew if I foreshadowed it, and prodded her on it, this would happen. She was still sleeping, her body under the sheets. I wasn't exactly sure how I slept through the changes -- maybe it was some kind of effect she was having on me. I was a bit of an insomniac by blood, but since I let her into my bed, I was sleeping better. But, this? I sat up and she rolled onto her back. Her face... that's what probably bothered me the most. Her eyes opened slightly. She smiled as she saw me, then shifted. She wiggled a bit in place. I think it was settling now.
"M-mister Kei! I can't move!"
She squirmed around and began to flail her arms. I quickly tackled her down and held her in place. The shock was starting to set in to her face. I looked up at her and nodded.
"Marisa? You've got a body."
Her face flushed. I sat up again. I pointed to her stomach.
"Bend there and sit up. Use your hands to help you," I said, and showed her my hand.
She pressed her hands against the bed and sat up slowly. Her hat was on the floor -- must have fallen off while she slept. She looked at herself and gave a few pokes and prods. She slapped her cheeks with her hands, and gave a smile to me.
"Mister Kei! Look!" She threw her hands up, "Marisa has a body now! Now we can get married!"
Oh, jeeze, already on that... Speaking of cheeks, that's what I thought looked so different about her -- her face. It had a shape. It wasn't round any more, like a yukkuri. It was actually sculpted -- cheek bones, chin, nose, ears... she looked, well... human! To what extent her physiology had changed, however...
"Look!" she exclaimed again, and twisted her body around. She slid out of bed and onto her feet. The moment I saw her arms flail, I dove forward and pulled her back onto the bed. I smiled to her.
"Walking isn't as easy as it looks, Marisa. One step at a time."
I'd have to start setting up coordination tests with her -- having a body doesn't mean knowing how to use it... and it could be interesting. Could she learn how to work like Ran? I'd have to stick a pin in that for the time being -- she had to first learn how to walk. It only took a few minutes of having her take a few steps. She was about a few inches shorter than me. She watched me for so long, I was sure she'd pick it up fast. While we were training, a knock came at my door. I grabbed a shirt from my closet and tossed it to Marisa. I opened the door. It was Ran, whom was holding the rest of the family. She lead them in their cheer.
"Good morning, Mister Kei!" they exclaimed together.
A gasp settled over them as they saw Marisa behind me.
It took time for Marisa to get used to walking. Man, I was gonna have to go shopping with all of them later to get them clothes, but at least once I got Marisa and Ran settled in, everything would start to get a bit easier for me. With my supervision, Ran was happy to show Marisa how to cook. I didn't let them near the sharp utensils. I took care of any cutting and chopping. I didn't trust the short Ran just yet. She watched, but I wouldn't let her. Marisa took all of what Ran did as a challenge -- I think Ran was oblivious to it. She was just happy to have a helper? I think she was too young to understand why Marisa did what she did, but maybe one day she'd get it. Ran dusted the window sills, Marisa cleaned them. Ran wiped the windows, Marisa polished them. Counters were wiped. Floors were swept. It was kind of crazy. I lived so many years by myself. Yeah, I kind of neglected the cleaning. I usually only cleaned when it felt like it was getting real bad. My room, I told BOTH of them, was totally off-limits to cleaning. They came to me while I watched TV with the various trinkets I kept from my family. I told them where to put it. They arranged them. A woman's touch, I suppose. A knock interrupted my thoughts. I looked to the door, stood up, and opened the door. It was my neighbor, who had a slightly panicked look on his face.
"What's up?"
He held a flier out to me. It was an advisory for neighbors to not go to the playground -- officials from the factory were coming to spray the playground due to a rise in yukkuri populations there, and threat of violence posed by them.
I stopped when I saw the picture. It was me and the Tough Marisa. With her knife in her mouth. I looked to my friend and turned the flier to him.
"That's me she's pointing the knife at. She's not a threat!"
"That's not what everyone's gonna think if they see her with a knife!"
Well, shit. This was my fault. Well, collectively our fault, but still. I needed to do something.
"Alright, well, thanks for the heads-up."
"What're you gonna do?"
"... working on it."
We said goodbye. I closed the door. The two already navigated to me to see what I was reading. Ran was clueless.
"Uneasy yukkuri should drop dead easy!" she said.
Marisa and I looked to her. She jumped back at the sudden stares. She sheepishly fingered her mouth. Her tails drooped. Marisa and I exchanged glances. We looked to her.
"It's not what you think it is, Ran," I explained. "She was just trying to defend her child. She thought I was going to hurt her little KoMarisa."
Her hand moved to her mouth, then pointed to the human.
"So that's Mister Kei?"
I nodded.
"We gotta do something."
But what, exactly? The only thing that came to mind...
I immediately went to the park. After a few visits, Patchy showed me where all the different nests were. Some of the families were clumped into the same holes. I knocked gently on the trunk over Patchy's home.
"Mukyu.. who is it?"
She opened the door that covered her burrow.
"Mister Kei! Take it easy, mukyu~!"
"Take it easy, Patchy! Hey, um..."
I wasn't sure how to explain it, so I simply showed her it. She took it, and started to read it.
"What is this, mukyu...?"
I could hear her mumbling as she read it... then came a gasp. She lowered the paper. Her face looked a little paler.
"B-but... exterminate... us?" She looked up at me. I could almost see tears in her eyes, "But we... we..."
"We'll discuss the rights and wrongs of it later. For now, we have to get everyone out of here."
"But... but! Where will we...?"
I grinned. She stared up at me.
"Mister Kei... you have an idea?"
Of course I did.
"Gather the clan. I'll explain it to everyone."
It only took a few minutes for her to gather them up. I made sure no one else was watching at the time. Patchy explained what happened. I could see Tough Marisa looked a little ostracized. A few other yukkuri were giving her mean glares. I broke it up.
"Stop blaming her for this. She was only trying to defend her family."
"But Marisa shouldn't be using something like a mister sharp-sharp!"
"It's her fault!" "Uneasy yukkuri should drop dead!" "Marisa should go die easy!"
I drew in a breath.
"Enough!" I yelled. A few of the yukkuri fell over.
"Scary!" I heard a few of them say.
"Now is not the time for blame. Now is the time for planning. If we don't do this correctly, all of you are going to wind up dead."
The plan was simple: I was going to move them into my back yard. Yes, maybe it wasn't that big, but I didn't need all that much room. For now, at least, it could be their base of operations until the toxins were washed away.
"Gather up all your mister treasures and your children. I'll be coming tomorrow night to take you all to my easy place, so be ready! Collect extra food when you go hunt-hunting!"
Tomorrow after work. Would give me time to move stuff around on my porch to make room for a shanty town of boxes. I could collect some boxes from work and bring them home. Also, I'd collect some buttons to help identify families. I knew it wasn't necessary for them, but maybe for me. If people saw the buttons, maybe they'd leave them alone. It'd also help me organize. All in all, there were five families, excluding three singles. About a dozen children, though. That'd be the issue. We parted and they returned to their homes. I went to mine and explained to the family what I offered them. There was a few gasps.
"Mister Kei is gonna save a whole clan of yukkuri?!" Ran shouted. She gave me a hug, "That's so cool!"
Marisa seemed to be worried. I knew her worries.
"How will Mister Kei take care of them all?"
"Well..."
Hadn't really worked that out yet...
"... I'll just, for now, be providing them a place to stay. They'll still have to take care of themselves. I mean, they are a clan. They should be able to take care of hunt-hunting."
Marisa seemed to be a bit more relieved. We exchanged nods.
"When I get home tomorrow, I'm gonna need you two to help me bring them around back. I'll bring some boxes and stuff home so they can have residence and help us move their stuff."
An exchange of nods. It was time for dinner, anyway.
Things were starting to get complex.
I better start writing down my observations somewhere... I have a feeling things are about to become even more interesting.
[Aaand that'll do for now. Had a hard time deciding on how to end this one. I'll begin writing the next one post-haste.]
[Sorry for the delay. Holidays + Retail = no free time. But I'm back now, and can have energy for this.]
[So, look forward for what's coming. x3 I'm just as excited~]
[Still, more foundation to lay.]
[Pouring concrete can be interesting, but watching it dry isn't.]
[However, once the foundation dries, the house can be built.]
[Hope you get the idea. <3]
[BTW, this is the second draft. :P I had to restart halfway because something happened and it eradicated it all. Not that I miss it. I like this version better.]
Konitori was adjusting well. When I got home, she was the loudest of the group. She mostly rode around on Marisa's hat. I kept tabs on all of them, keeping in touch with their opinions of one-another. If I caught them alone, I'd ask for their opinions. Reimu and her family were doing fine. They liked Marisa, as well. Vice-versa was also the case. It was the case of Nitori that stories got different. Nitori loved all of them. They treated her nicely. She didn't like Komarisa as much as Koreimu, though. With her limited knowledge of vocabulary, I could only assume Nitori didn't like Komarisa because she wasn't as energetic -- she was more laid-back, though a bit shy. I just wanted to make sure everyone was getting along, I told her. As for Reimu, it was a different story. She didn't complain too desperately, but I could tell there was a bit of stress. Since I was out most of the day, I relied on them to keep track of her, and help teach her the ways of living as a house yukkuri, and Nitori had no idea about it.
"Reimu is thankful for all of Mister Kei's easiness, but Konitori is making Reimu uneasy!"
It took a bit of talking to slow down Reimu. I got the idea of it -- she was too much of a firecracker, and Marisa wasn't helping her clean up after Nitori much. She was still a baby, and bowel controls weren't easy. I did my part to clean-up. Eventually, I started to pick up yu diapers. It made Reimu's job a bit easier. Nitori told me how Koreimu was showing her how to use mister toilet, and how that's what big yu's do. Good. Nitori seemed to admire Koreimu. It may have been her narcissism she was attracted to -- Koreimu was still pretty full of herself, but even still, it never truly got in the way of anything. I let her keep her ego, as long as she didn't get rude. If she did, we all took care of it. We all ate as a family, though we had to take turns chewing Nitori's food for her. Marisa and I shared the burden -- it was a little trickier for me. I had to dry off the food. Human saliva could be dangerous to a yukkuri, due to it's acidic quality. Afterwards, it was necessary to add a pinch of sugar -- yukkuri saliva was fairly sweet, and mixed with the food, made it taste better for koyukkuri. I held the handful of food down to Nitori, who crawled up into my hand and nibbled away at the chewed food.
"Habbiness!"
Never ceased to make me smile. Another fun new tradition seemed to be the little ones comparing their mommies.
"My mowmy ish eashiest!"
"Nuh-uh!" replied Koreimu.
"Ours is!" replied Komarisa.
None of us really minded. We settled the matter.
"We're all one big easy family. Your mommy is my mommy, and I'm your easy mommy as well, so it's all easy!"
Wasn't sure if they got the idea of a collective family. I read about yukkuri clans. Maybe we were starting to become that. Speaking of the whole mommy thing, that seemed interesting. So, her first instinct was to view Marisa as her mother. Was that because the stalk came from a Marisa? Then, there was the fact that Marisa took the title of father. Was that because she was a father in her previous family role? Was that why she let it slip that I was her wife? I read that yukkuri don't traditionally hold gender roles -- they're all hermaphrodites. They only take gender roles when it comes to family and breeding. Then there was the fact that Nitori viewed me as her mother without a second thought. Was that because I mixed my saliva in? Would other marks of my DNA begin to show themselves in her personality? Further observation would be required. When night time came rolling around, we, unfortunately, could not let Nitori sleep with us. The slightest movement, and I could accidentally squish her. Marisa had size -- it was easy for me to not squish her. I could roll over Nitori and not even notice. She stayed with Reimu and her family. Partly why I agreed to the requests of Reimu to assist her in raising Nitori for me, at least until she got a little bigger. I even threw in a sweet-sweet for her now and again, as payment.
"Since Reimu is a Miss Babysitter for Mister Kei, I don't mind giving you a mister sweet-sweet as payment for your help."
She was a little reluctant, but gladly accepted. I didn't keep sweets in my house -- wasn't a big sweet tooth person. Wasn't even sure if they noticed. Wasn't even a huge snacker. But, for her? For family? Fine.
I spent a few nights prepping Nitori's easy place. I had an old aquarium. I didn't want to purchase a yukkurium -- those things were price-gouged halfway to hell. Yukkuri were rather popular as pets. Most things were marked up. Even the food I bought them to munch on during the day saw a slight price increase. I washed out the aquarium, then set all the little fake plants back into place. Once I knew it was ready, I had to make a quick stop at a pet store to pick up a few additions. First was a plastic cave -- that would actually be her sleeping area. The other would be a sunken treasure chest with an accompanying diver. I'd tell her that would be a spot where she could hide her treasures. Third...
"Welcome home, mister Kei!" they all yelled in unison.
"Hey, Komarisa, found something of yours," I said, reached into my pocket, and took it out.
She bounced over to me and looked up at me with a curious gaze. I dropped the small black hat onto her head. The rest of them gasped.
"M... Madisa's speshul misder hat! Misder Kei found it!" she bawled.
I let her think that, along with the rest of them. As long as they believed I found her hat, she'd be easy again. Her adjustment to not having a hat wasn't too bad -- we just had to make sure we addressed her as Marisa, and no one was to mention uneasiness and accessories in the same sentence. Easy conversation to steer clear of. I still had to fix up Marisa's hat some time. It still had that little hole in it. I digress, returning her hat bought me a lot of brownie points with Reimu. Also, I picked up one last little trinket. Something I picked out special for someone who wasn't present. It was on the way home from work that I'd deliver it... her face was priceless.
"Treasure..." I heard her whisper, as I pinned that sunflower brooch to Yuuka's hair.
It was plastic, but it still looked nice. The flowers were looking especially beautiful. It gave the small area a nice little scent. Seemed the landscaping guys didn't mind her -- she seemed to keep the whole area in check. They just steered clear of it. Apparently, one of them liked yukkuri, so he simply directed his associates away. I offered her to come home with me. Seems she still didn't really want to. She did make it known to me that she liked me. A rub-rub now and then. She even offered me one of her flowers. I took it as a courtesy. I didn't have much appeal to flowers, but for Yuuka? I'd keep it. I could plant it in my yard somewhere, see if it takes.
Once the aquarium was ready, I took Nitori around the house and showed her the various spots we could place it. I figured the best spot would be next to the sofa, where I was originally going to set up Marisa's easy place. That gap was ideal -- surrounded, easy access from the sofa's arm rest, close to the ground to prevent long falls in or out, and can be with the family while in her easy place. She took a good look at it, her eyes nearly ready to pop out of her head. Before I could even lower her in, she dove in and swam around. I watched her as she moved about, about as close to the gracefulness of a fish as a pastry could get. She moved around in it as natural as anything. I pointed to her little 'cave' in the back. She turned, swam down, and shifted in. I heard a noise, followed by some bubbles. I think she just made her home declaration. She popped out and swam to the surface.
"This is Nitori's easy place!"
"Yep. It's all yours."
Now, I had to come up with a means for her to get out. I had a towel in front of the aquarium for her to land and dry off in. I set up a rope ladder for her to climb down, in case she didn't feel like jumping, or someone else wanted to visit. That didn't last long -- within a day, she built a stairwell and, apparently, a balcony around the aquarium out of the building bricks I left for them to play with. Wasa Reimu liked to hang out on the small seat she made. Oddly enough, I one time found KoMarisa in there... she was sitting in her hat, floating on the surface. This surprised her mother -- apparently, she was an aquatic Marisa! After that point, her and Nitori started to get along better. Good. Still. I read that Nitori were naturally inclined to building and engineering. At this age, however, I felt perhaps that little bit of saliva I mixed in had something to do with it.
On my next day off, I told them we'd visit the park. For one of them, it was their first time out of my house. For the others, it was the first time out of my house since I took them in. The park was nothing too fancy -- some picnic tables, a basketball court, some swings, and a playground for children. Towards the back was a small concrete building. Inside were the controls for the park sprinklers. Never saw the inside, myself, but I had a feeling that's what they had holed up in there. When we crossed the street, I stepped out in front of them. Our neighborhood was, essentially, a giant cul-de-sac. It was surrounded on three sides by a canal, and only had two roads that lead out to the same main road. It was convenient, since no one used it for thru-traffic, which kept things quiet. Still, there was almost always someone coming or going. Nitori rode on Marisa's hat. Reimu lead her children, or should I say, Wasa Reimu lead them. When I was sure it was okay, I signaled for them to cross. We moved over the small parking lot, and over to the park. All of them cringed slightly once they rolled onto the sand at the park. They weren't sure of the material -- they'd never seen a beach, which made me consider a visit there next. Nitori seemed to be having a blast, and rolled around in the sand. At one point, her hat fell of, but her hero, Wasa Reimu, returned it to her.
"Reimu will never let her number one fan be uneasy!"
Narcissism, but balanced. Still intriguing. I sat at a picnic table and watched them play around. Marisa noticed and came to me. Reimu sat on the sidelines and said her motherly words about not playing rough, careful not to get sand on your accessories, blah blah blah... I eventually scooped her up and placed her on the table with me.
"Let them be kids for a little while, you," I said, with a gentle poke to her forehead.
"But--"
I poked her forehead again. She closed her eyes and winced slightly.
"It's fine. I'll clean them up when we get home. They haven't had a bath in a while, anyway."
Which reminded me... I'd have to show Reimu and Marisa how to clean and groom their kids... My thoughts were shattered at the sudden cry. I looked towards the trio in the sand. A sudden crying sound rose up. Unfamiliar. It wasn't Nitori, but it sounded close to a Marisa. Reimu and Marisa panicked for a moment. I lifted my hand to calm them. They hopped off and followed me to the sand. The trio stood around a rather small Komarisa, who was crying. I blinked a bit and lowered myself to my knees. Investigation time!
"M-misder Kei..." started Komarisa.
"She-she came out of nowhere and scared little sister!" replied Wasa Reimu.
Nitori was angrily bouncing, repeatedly demanding the little Komarisa apologize to her big sister.
"Enough, all of you!"
The little one continued to cry. I leaned down.
"Hey, little Komarisa. Take it easy! We're all easy, here."
Her crying slowed. She sniffled.
"I-ish misder easy misder hooman da ze?" she said and sniffled again.
Odd that she could sniffle without a nose. I nodded.
"All of us are easy! You just scared Komarisa there!"
Komarisa moved towards the little one and gently brushed some of the sand off of her with her braid. The little one looked up to her.
"W-why did Madisa push widdle Madisa away da ze?" she asked.
"Marisa scared Marisa!" she replied
"Bud... Madisa jus wanded wub-wub da ze..."
"Just wanted rub-rub?" I asked.
She turned to me and nodded.
"Well, did you ask first? Did you even introduce yourself?"
She shook her head at the first question, then looked confused at the second.
"In... intwo..."
"Introduced. Like, you know... Komarisa, show her," I said and pointed to her.
She nodded and turned to the smaller Marisa.
"Take it easy, Marisa! Marisa is Marisa! Are you an easy yukkuri?" she asked.
In my spare time, I made sure they knew how to greet one-another, and other yukkuri, just in case I decided to maybe take in a few more. To be honest, these four were becoming a bit of a handful for me. The little one smiled and bounced slightly. She flapped her braid.
"Tage id eady, Madisa! Madisa ish Madisa! Madisa is easy yukkuri, too da ze!"
"Alright! Now that you two have introduced one-another, now ask for rub-rub."
She looked to me, then back to Marisa.
"Madisa, can Madisa rub-rub herd newb easy fwend da ze?"
Marisa smiled and nodded. Much rub-rub was exchanged.
A good little interaction with a stray. I did a little prodding into her. A few questions. Was curious. Was she an only child? Apparently, yes. Was she orphaned? No. Her family lived here with other yukkuri. Other yukkuri? Apparently, according to her, there was a clan of yukkuri that lived here. Odd. Never noticed them. Either that, or they hid so well, they could live unnoticed. Probably did their hunt-hunting at night. I'd have to see if I could meet an adult. Information from her was small and little -- she was still very young, but gave me a lead -- their leader. 'Padoli.' Padoli? Why does that seem famil...--
"Put down my child now, understand easy?!"
The demand pulled me from my thoughts. The little one was in my hand, rub-rubbing away at my index finger. My eyes quickly surveyed. There was the source -- a Marisa. An older one, probably older than mine. She had some surface cuts on her, and her lower half was cracked. She must have been living as a wild one for a while. However, my eyes were more focused on her mouth, and the knife she had in it.
"Wanna die, ze?! Let Marisa's precious child go now, easy!"
"H-hey!" said Wasa Reimu, who quickly bounced in front of me.
"Be easy!" shouted KoMarisa, who bounced next to her sister. Never thought I'd see her stand up for anything.
"Mister Kei is a kind, easy human! Marisa should apologize!" Reimu demanded, as she moved next to me.
"You better not, or Marisa will never forgive you!" replied my Marisa, who moved to my other side.
They shouted at her, until I moved my hand up for them to stop.
"Enough! Let me speak for myself," I commanded.
I had this way with animals -- I learned it from having so many of them. If you wanted them to listen, you had to say it a certain way. Carry a certain look. It made them know how you feel. I simply lowered my hand and looked to the small Marisa.
"Go to your daddy," I said.
"B-bud... misder.."
"It's okay. Your daddy is just scared. Scared because he doesn't want his baby getting hurt. Go ahead. It'll be easy."
With tears in her eyes, she slid from my hand, and gently moved to her father. That's when I heard another sound... 'mukyu'?
"That's enough, Marisa! Mukyu!"
My ears caught the direction this time. There she was, bouncing over rather hastily. She looked exhausted as she stopped near us. She had long, lavender hair, a gold crescent moon brooch, several multi-colored ribbons, and a lavender-stripped hat on. Yep. It was a Patchouli. I read they were typically the clan leaders -- they were smart. Not just smart -- book smart, and capable of self-learning at a phenomenal rate. This could get real interesting. I observed as Patchouli argued with the Marisa.
"You shouldn't do such uneasy things, Marisa! Mukyu! You could bring Factory people! Do you want a Mass Extermination? Do you want all of us to die?"
Marisa growled, then slid the knife under her hat. I looked to Marisa and Patchouli.
"It's easy. Marisa was just trying to defend her child. She thought mister was an uneasy mister."
Patchouli turned to face us. She gave us a smile, greeted, and introduced herself. She sounded more human that yukkuri. The youngest Marisa bounced back over to Nitori and Wasa Reimu, and continued playing. Older Marisa kept her eyes on me and them. Patchouli and I kept a conversation. I didn't pry -- just inquired about her clan. Seems she was a former pet, as well. Her human was a nice guy, from how she describes him, but his job forced him to move away. Before he moved, though, he apparently spent a bunch of money on books about surviving in the wild.
"I am very happy with my mister human, and am glad he gave Patchouli so many easy books. With that easy knowledge, Patchouli made an easy clan. Plenty of munch-munch happiness for all our children, easy places that mister humans don't notice, and protection from mister animals."
Seemed he intended for her to survive. He couldn't take her, she mentioned, because the place he was going didn't allow pets, even of the pastry kind. It was rather interesting meeting a creature who's intellect could develop so close to a human's. She told me about how she learned how to camouflage their doors to keep them from being noticed easily. Very smart. While we talked, I noticed other yukkuri were slowly peeking out from around some of the trees. I counted at least ten sets of eyes. The sun was starting to set. The kids were getting hungry, as was I. We bid our farewells. That older Marisa still had a begrudging look in her eyes. I didn't think she'd be so stupid as to actually challenge me. That would be her last mistake, for sure. Or one of. Dunno what I'd do if she actually came after me with a knife. Interesting, though, to see a yukkuri learn of tools -- I knew they could be taught, but to know of more-advanced weapons than sticks? Hm.
Before dinner came hygiene. I got an add-on for the shower head that was in there -- a smaller nozzle. I attached a long hose to it, then attached a small spray head to it. Something I found online -- it was a pet sprayer, but for small animals. If it was good for small dogs, I was fairly sure it'd be gentle on a yukkuri. It was trigger-activated, which made it simple for them to use. I showed Marisa how to use it, first. I made sure to collect their main accessories, but left the smaller ribbons. They needed their piu-pius in order to be able to use the shower head. Nitori would be the simplest to clean -- she was already waterproof. An odd feature for a pastry -- she was waterproof, unlike the rest of the family. They knew their limits for water exposure, so I figured if I let them handle it, it'd be less of a problem for me. It was rather interesting watching Marisa manipulate the shower head with her mouth. The first brave volunteer was Wasa Reimu, who was profusely sprayed. Luckily, the shower head was designed to be a soft flow, so she simply giggled as she rolled about. She even shook her fanny at, then bounced over to the front. I got some generic pump spray bottles, and moved the shampoo into it. I pointed out how to use it to Marisa and Wasa Reimu. For Marisa, it was tricky, since she had one piu-piu. I left it to her to figure out what to do -- she simply had Wasa stand under the spicket, pressed it a bit, and dropped a glop onto her head.
"Coldcoldcoldcold!" she yelled, and bounced in place.
Marisa moved over and kneaded it into her hair. She seemed to calm down. The familiar yu cooing came from her as her scalp was massaged. Another quick spray of the water to rinse her off. I pointed to the towel rack. Reimu stretch-stretched up and pulled it down. Wasa hopped out of the shower, while KoMarisa hopped in. Reimu laid out the towel, and Wasa hopped on to it. Reimu gently dried her baby with the towel.
"In the wild, you would simply lick-lick to clean. It's not the most-pleasant tasting thing, I'm sure, but it's best to always keep your kids clean and dry. An unclean yukkuri is Mister Mold's easiest friend...~"
That seemed to resonate with them. I'd have to remember that one. Grooming came next, which was a much simpler task, especially since they were already kept pretty well-groomed. They went one-by-one, removing their accessories, grooming the hair, then replacing them. Since they were smaller, much like washing, it was far easier for them to handle themselves.
Once the hygene was completed, I showed them how to clean their ribbons without taking them off. It was hard enough retying the braids the first time... Small toothbrush-like brushes, a little soap, scrubscrubscrub, done... just as nice and clean as their accessories.
Accessories returned, dinner served, we were all off to bed.
"Mister Kei?"
I looked to Marisa, who was sitting on her pillow on my bed.
"Yes, Marisa?"
"You're not going to... adopt all of them, are you?"
I let out a small laugh.
"Ah -- no. I don't think I could take care of that many yukkuri. Pretty sure if I offered, they'd decline anyway."
I rolled onto my back.
"That Patchouli, though... if I could..."
I felt Marisa hop onto my stomach. My stomach flexed in response. I grinned as I looked down at her.
"Yes, Marisa? You're not getting jealous of having to share your easy mister human, are you?"
She blushed, and quickly darted back to her pillow.
"No! Mar -- I'm just worried that, well, Mister Kei gives Ma-- me, Reimu, Nitori, Reimu, and Marisa so much easiness... mister can't have much more easiness to give!"
Oh? She was concerned for me? How interesting. Though, the reason I was teaching them how to do it themselves was precisely for that reason -- take the burden off of me. Hygiene wasn't that imperative -- they didn't go out that often to begin with. If I could have them do other things, that would be great, but that would be difficult due to their very limited stature...
The next few days went pretty normal. I heard a lot of chatter from the little ones about wanting to see the yukkuri at the park again. Made me wonder if there was some kind of innate collective consciousness function in their pastry, and that's why they seemed inclined to come together. Or it could just be the simple logic that there's strength in numbers. Right, what was I doing? Oh, yeah. I just finished closing up shop and was taking the trash out. Years of video games made my instincts pretty honed, no matter how tired I was. That's how I knew I was being watched. I could just feel those eyes on me. I made no motion to alert my observer, but simply brought the trash to the compactor. It was then I glanced in the direction my instincts told me to. In an instant, something darted around the corner of the dumpster. I waited, and saw it -- a white bonnet with a point on one side, an amber eye, and -- well, this was the weird part, the location of such features was at least up to my chest. The moment the eye caught mine, it immediately ducked behind the corner again. I smirked.
"Well, I guess I just have to throw away this whole bag of sweet-sweets. I mean, it's a shame, since I don't really have any one I can share it with, and I'm just so full right now..."
I heard a light growl. In an instant, it came darting around the corner, and tackled my bag.
"Noooooooooo! Please, mister human! Please share them with Ran!"
I took in her visage. She was at least three foot eight, maybe taller. Her head was round, though slightly ovular, similar to any yukkuri. She had on a hat, and had, what appeared to be, fox tails coming from just above her rear. Her body looked like any human's would -- I counted five fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulders, hips, feet... I couldn't see her toes. A white bonnet was on her head, and seemed to be weaved up for two points, like animal ears. Her face and body were fairly dirty. Her hands and feet were extremely dirty. She was littered with small cuts. Seems she didn't have it too easy. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
"Ran is soooooooo hungry... Ran hasn't eaten in days... please share with Ran, kind and easy mister human?"
Polite. I think I crossed something about that -- Ran-type yukkuri. Looked oddly like foxes. Were very polite in almost all cases. Also very nurturing, maternal, and strong motherly instincts. Very similar to Reimus in that fashion. However, this one had a body... and she was naked. She sobbed a bit as she clung to the trash bag. Better take care of this first.
"Okay, okay... come on. Off of the bag now, you," I said, and gently clapped my hands. I made gentle pushing motions at the air, "I have to be able to get in their first."
She stared at me in disbelief. She slid off, but stayed hunched over. Her arms were up and fists were clenched in anticipation. She watched as I untied the bag, then reached in and pulled out a handful. We didn't throw out a lot of it, but most of it was still good when we disposed of it. I had some in here to spare, right at the top, too. I held out my closed hand.
"Now, offer both hands."
Drool was already rolling down her face. She bounced up and down slightly from her knees. I dropped some of it into her hands. She immediately threw it into her mouth and chewed happily. She had the mannerisms of a child... but it could also be because she really hadn't had anything in a while. Speaking of which...
"Happiness!"
I wiped a few pieces off of my face. She inhaled it in seconds. She looked to me again with the same teary-eyes.
"C-can Ran have some more, please?"
I couldn't tell if she was intentionally trying to get more out of me because she was faking, or if she really was just hungry. I preferred to stay on the nice side of things.
"Well, you should only have a little of that. That stuff isn't good for a yukkuri like you -- you need more diverse foods if you're gonna grow up big and strong like a mister human," No, no, Marisa will get mad if you, "Why don't you come with Mister Human to his easy place, and he can share a real mister meal with Ran?"
As if I didn't know the answer to th -- her face lit up.
"Really?!"
She quickly dove at me and threw her arms around my neck.
"Mister human is going to share his easy place with Ran?! Ran can have an easy place with a mister soft-soft and lots of munch-munch?!"
"And other yukkuri friends for you to meet!"
The mood almost instantly shifted. She slid off my neck and stared at me. It was a look of sadness.
"M-mister human... has other yukkuri?"
Oh dear. Investigation time. Seems she was born a bodied yukkuri, and because of that, her parents were fearful of her. They didn't trust her, so they never let her take it easy with them. I could see how that could make her so... clingy to someone nice. She survived on her own by digging through trash. She learned the secrets of 'mister compactor,' and how to sneak food out of it without being noticed. Since I was so late getting out, I must have caught her while she was prowling.
"Another mister human around here was helping bring Ran much easy munch-munch!"
Apparently, there was another person who worked in the mall who was sneaking her food. I wouldn't want to be so rude as to snatch up his friend -- after I disposed of the trash, I had her bring me to her easy place. It was the usual box, but she had newspapers she kept down as sheets. She told me how she would just turn the box over, curl up, and be (almost) invisible to any humans during the day. The spot was shady, too, so she wouldn't feel the direct sun while she slept. I moved her to the side, reached in, and wrote my phone number on the inside of the box and left a note, 'Adopting her. If you miss her and want to talk to her, just call.' She spoke highly of him. Maybe they were friends, and he was going to adopt her himself. Who knows? Anyway, you snooze, you lose. Rather fortuitous, as well, as this night, I had forgotten to take off my work shirt. I usually wore a white shirt in to work, took it off, and swapped to my work shirt. Today, for some odd reason, I was having chills (or poor blood circulation) and my body temperature was lower than normal, so I put my work shirt on over my white shirt. I swapped off my white shirt and gave it to Ran to wear. Yeah, her body was incredibly similar to a female human's, minus the tails and head shape. Don't want any awkward stares as I traveled home. Yuuka was probably already long-asleep, so I could just go directly home. She walked a lot of it, but started getting tired about 10 minutes into the walk, so I gave her a piggy-back ride the rest of the way.
I got home late, and it appeared they all went to sleep. Marisa was sleeping near the door in the usual way I'd sometimes find her if I ran extremely late. Nitori was quietly sleeping on the rim of her hat. Well, no need to wake any of them. I'd move Marisa to my room later. I lowered Ran off my back and placed my finger to my lips. She nodded, hunched forward, and put both fingers to her lips.
"Wait over there on the sofa," I said and pointed.
She obediently crept over there, accompanied by the usual yu speak.
"Slowly... slowly... slowly.." she whispered.
I moved to the kitchen. No time to cook. I warmed up some leftovers I was gonna serve to them today. I brought it to Ran, who's eyes lit up at the offering. She took it from me and almost instantly drooled. She reached with her hand, then withdrew at the heat. She looked to me with teary eyes. I offered the fork, then demonstrated. I then gave it to her. She began to eat with her utensil. I saw the look on her face and immediately slapped my hand over her mouth.
"mmmshsss!"
I looked around. Nope. No one woke up. I shushed her again. She nodded and continued. Once done, I took the plate, cleaned it, then explained to her her 'temporary' bedding. I had a spare pillow in the other half of the closet. Luckily, the side Reimu and her family slept on was on the inner-side of the two sliding doors. I quietly removed a pillow and a sheet, then brought them to Ran. She took them from my hands, and I motioned for her to follow. I had a futon in the closet of the master bedroom -- it'd come in handy now. I took it out, rolled it onto the floor, and motioned to it. She looked down at it, then back to me, and nodded. She laid down, and looked as if she were about to have a fit of happiness. I reached down and gently placed my hand on her head, then brought my free hand to her lips. She closed her eyes for a moment, then stared at me again with a light blush.
"Thank you, mister human..."
"Understand easy! When you wake up tomorrow, please wait for me in here. I don't want you to meet them before I have time to ready your introduction," I whispered to her.
She nodded. I could already see her blinks were getting heavy. She may have been nocturnal, but a soft bed can sure knock you out. I'd take care of hygiene in the morning. It was far too late for that now. For now, I gently picked up Marisa and Nitori from their spot and brought them to my room. A bodied yukkuri. I read stories about them. Some were born, others simply grew it. Her body seemed to be in all the proper portions for a female human body -- she looked adolescent/early teen for a human. What an interesting case study this could be -- monitor her growth, personality, or even contemplate how exactly a creature like that can retain its shape with no skeletal structure. That, I found, was the biggest mystery. Couldn't move into stuff like that yet -- it'd spook her. I'd rather wait a bit, let her get settled in and cozy, before I'd start snooping into what she was. Anxious as I was, I still drifted off to sleep, Marisa in her spot on the pillow, and Nitori gently placed under her hat. It was tricky for me to fall asleep -- I was an insomniac to begin with. Now I had a full-bodied yukkuri in the next room. According to her, she always had trouble making friends, because most yukkuri didn't trust bodied yukkuri -- no matter how easy they were. Maybe I could change that in this household. If not, well, they'd have to learn to live with it anyway. She was mine, now. All yukkuri seemed to have 'special traits.' Reimus tended to be motherly. Marisas tended to be adventurous. Nitori tended to be engineers. What would Ran be?
The next morning, I was woken up by Marisa. The whole family was here, but it was Marisa in particular who was saying something. My mind wasn't picking it up at the moment, but slowly became apparent as my mind started to wake up. I gave a few hard blinks and focused myself. I looked to Marisa.
"What is it?"
"Mister Kei! Mister Kei! There's some uneasy noises coming from the other room!"
Crap. Ran must have made some noise, and they were on to her. I looked to the direction she pointed with her braid, then back to her. I nodded.
"I'll check it out."
Reimu, her kids, and Nitori were outside the door, each chirping about a different noise they heard. I silenced them all and nodded. I creaked the door open, passed through, and shut it behind me. Apparently, Ran had set to work in here. She arranged all the clothes that were left in the closet by my mom, folded others, folded up the futon and sheets, and had left the pillow neatly on top. She appeared to be in a sort of meditation position, legs crossed, and eyes shut. When I entered and approached, she looked up to me with a smile.
"Good morning, Mister Kei! I stayed in here just like you told me to!"
I shushed her.
"Keep it down," I whispered, "There's others that are listening."
She looked to me, nodded, and stood up. She gave a gentle bow. I placed my hands on my hips.
"I see you went to work in here a little..." I said, and motioned to the clothes in the closet. She stood up with a blush. Her hand went to her face.
"Well, uh, Ran thought it would be okay if..."
I placed my hand on her head.
"Let me know next time. I don't mind the arrangement, but let me know so I can direct you. Now, come. We have to do clean-clean."
She looked to to me and nodded. She looked as if she clean-cleaned herself a little already. Did she just... like, lick it up? Like a cat or something? I'd inquire later. I led her to the adjacent bathroom. For her, I simply told her what to do. I sat from the side. I wasn't exactly sure if her body had any greater consistency than that of normal yukkuri, so I simply instructed herself to dampen herself with water, then apply the shampoo to her hair, then simply rinse. She actually had arms and hands. I didn't have to do it for her. Hell, maybe I could have her take care of the others for me... Pin in that idea. While she cleaned herself, I told her about the other yukkuri in the house, and how to act around them. To always be polite, because they're my family, and if she gets along with them, that she can stay with us as long as she likes. She made mention of her other human friend whom took care of her. Once she was done, I tossed her a towel and instructed her how to dry off. Dab, but don't rub. Again, I wasn't exactly sure the consistency of her epidermal layer -- if it was bread, and it was damp, she could very-well rub off a layer or two and possibly breach her own form. Then again, she knew what would hurt and what wouldn't. On to grooming! I stood her in front of the mirror and took care of her hair, showing her how to comb it. I told her we'd take care of the tails later.
Once done, it was presentation time. I could still hear them outside chatting about what they thought was going on. I led her to the closet and picked out a long shirt for her to wear. My mom was shorter than I was, but even still, her clothes were long for Ran.
"Lift your arms for me, please."
She did as instructed. I pulled the shirt over her, and instructed her how to dress herself. With that done, it was time to introduce her to the family.
"Wait here for a moment, and when I call you, come out, easy?"
She nodded with a large smile. I opened the door and stepped through. A light gasp filled the space in front of me. They all looked to me with their various inquiries.
"Well, I have a big surprise for you all..."
Another light gasp. A hush fell over them. Various questions began to spring forth. I silenced them with my hand.
"Well, I know I was late last night, and I apologize for that. Work took me a little longer than it was supposed to. However, I suppose that was a happy coincidence! After all, if I wasn't running late, I wouldn't have met our newest guest..."
I stepped to the side of the door's path.
"Let me introduce you all to... Ran!"
She sheepishly opened the door. Her amber eyes immediately darted to me, but stopped suddenly when she saw the yukkuri. She seemed to panic a little. I placed my hand on her shoulder and looked to the other yukkuri. Marisa and Reimu's mouths were hung to the floor. Wasa Reimu and Nitori had astonished looks in their eyes. Small Marisa had a slightly confused look.
"U-um... nice to meet you..." she said, then gave a light bow.
"Bodied yukkuri are..." started Reimu.
"SO COOL!" finished Wasa Reimu, who immediately bounced over to her.
Nitori followed. They both chatted with one-another as they examined her from their spots. Ran was beginning to feel awkward around all of them. I gave a loud clap.
"Now, I know you will all treat her with the utmost respect and easiness that any guest of this house deserves, right?"
They looked to me, a bit of uncertainty in their faces. They gave slight nods. I'd be keeping tabs on them anyway.
"Good! Now, let's get some breakfast..."
They weren't good at hiding it. I could tell Marisa was a little upset at the coming of our new guest. Reimu seemed a bit unnerved, but Marisa was definitely jealous. While I cooked, I felt eyes upon me. It wasn't who I expected -- it was Ran. She was watching me. I invited her in to watch. Maybe I could even teach her how to cook? Would be great, to be honest. While I showed her the ins and outs, I felt another set of eyes watching us. In the corner of my eye, I saw her -- it was Marisa this time. She had the look of jealousy on her. I tried to invite her in, but she became flustered and hopped away. A good coincidence this all happened on my day off -- I could keep an eye on things. Marisa always seemed to give Ran a glare when she passed by. I wasn't sure if Ran was too stupid to notice, or too focused on other things. I believe I identified her specialty --
"Mister Kei's easy place is so huuuuuge! But!" she said, and turned to me. She lifted her arm and pointed it at me, "This easy place is too uneasy with mister dirt! Mister Kei deserves a much easier place! Ran will help!"
Homestead. Seemed this one liked to take care of the homestead. I thought that was only a Sakyua's specialty? Of course my home was a bit dusty -- I was the only one living in a full-sized house. After my mom passed away, I just never really took much care of it. It wasn't too bad, I just wasn't overly-strenuous with the cleaning. Seems I had my own little friend here who wanted to do that for me. I wasn't exactly sure how much she'd be able to accomplish at her current stature -- I'd have to dig out my step ladder for her for high places, and find my stepping stool for mid. I still had some full latex cleaning gloves in the kitchen. She knew what she wanted to clean, but... well, a yukkuri's first instinct to clean is, well... to lick it. I had to course-correct that immediately -- and I handed her a feather duster instead. I'd slowly introduce her into the various cleaning that the house could use. If she identified it, I'd show her how. All the while, I felt that jealous one quietly watching from afar. During lunch, there was a sour look to our new house guest. Ran helped me a bit -- just with the simple parts of the food. I didn't want to overload that pasty core yet. She took to it pretty easily. I let her bring out the plates, utensils, and serve the food. Reimu seemed a bit more friendly with her. Wasa Reimu, Little Marisa, and Nitori would constantly chatter with her about me, the house, and other yukkuri things -- I think at one point, she promised to be their biggest sister. Good. Glad to see they were making bonds. I didn't get the feeling Ran liked me in the same way Marisa did -- to Ran, I was like her hero, or her big brother. That was the sense I got. If I spoke, she listened, full-heart. Anything I told her to do, she did with gusto. The quality of her work was decent -- I worked in a food retail place, and was a stickler for details in cleaning. Of course, that only applies outside of my domicile.
The day went by pretty smooth -- and the house looked a little better. I told Ran I'd swing by and get her the proper set of tools and cleaners for herself later on. Already had a few fun ideas of some specialty stuff -- like maybe getting some embroidering done on an apron for a fox head, a paw, or just her name. I'll just stick a pin in that. While Ran was cooking dinner, my phone rang. Didn't know the caller, but I had a feeling who it was.
"Yo," I answered.
"Hey, uh... I found this number inside a box, and I was wondering, um..."
I looked to Ran, then stepped out of the kitchen. She already finished and was simply filling plates. Good. Wouldn't have to worry about injury.
"Ah, yes. You're the mister human Ran always talks about."
I could hear a sigh of relief. Ran looked over at me as she exited the kitchen. I leaned over and looked at the stove. I tilted my head away from the phone.
"You left it on. Turn it off or you'll burn the food."
She yelped and darted back in. I tilted my head to my phone again.
"Sorry about that. Got her cooking already. Boy, she's a great one."
Our conversation went on for a few minutes. I told them to start eating without me. I already knew the guy -- he worked a few stores down from me. He was just happy to hear someone adopted her. He said he'd have adopted her, but he wasn't sure how she would be around his kids, or how they would be around her. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. More-than-likely, it was more of a financial issue. I kept him on the line, and offered Ran the phone. I took her utensils and placed them down. She broke out into excitement as she got into a conversation with him. They talked for a bit. Sounded like he was catching up with her, and she was telling him how nice I was. Good. Set his mind at ease. After it appeared they were done, I took the phone and simply told him,
"Any time you want to see her, feel free to drop by. I'm sure she'd love having you as a visitor."
She let out a cheer and flailed her arms. Energetic. We ended our call, and I started eating. Marisa already ate her portion. Ran split her plate with Reimu. The kids split their own plate. Ran and I cleaned up the dishes. It was pretty nice having an assistant. There was Marisa, again, in the doorway to the kitchen, watching us. I didn't want to make a scene, so I kept it quiet. I'd speak to her about it tonight. After hygiene, it was off to bed. Marisa was in her usual spot, but her back was to me. Unusual. Not that it wasn't sorely obvious why. Still, I could play coy. I nudged her with my toe.
"Hey," Poke, "Heeeey..." Poke poke, "Take it easy, Marisa?"
I heard her whimper a bit.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?"
She turned slightly, but not enough to look at me.
"It's not fair..."
"Hmmmm?" I made sure she could hear me.
"It's not fair...", she repeated, and turned a little more, "Mister Kei was mine first..."
I smiled and sat up. I leaned forward and looked at her.
"Marisa. You told me you wouldn't get jealous if I adopted a few more yukkuri."
Tears were welling in her eyes.
"B-but... Ran can help Kei cook, and clean, and is bodied! It's not fair! Marisa wants to be bodied so she can be Mister Kei's husband!"
... one of these days, I was going to have to explain all of this to her... but not today. I picked her up. She turned away from me. I laid her in my lap and gave her cheek a light rub.
"You are my first. And you will always be special to me."
No cheese with that ham, please.
She cooed slightly and turned to look at me.
"D-does mister Kei want to take it easy forever with Marisa?"
Well. It's not like I was planning on getting rid of her. What could go wrong?"
"Sure. I like you enough. Besides, I hear yukkuri can do anything if they really believe in it. If you want to be bodied, just keep wishing for it. Who knows? I've seen stories about yukkuri who grow their own bodies..."
Her eyes lit up as her mouth opened slightly.
"Really?! So if Marisa gets a body, Mister Kei will be her bride for sure?!"
I felt my eye twitch on that one.
"Well, we'd have to see how the arrangement goes first, but if it works out..."
She bounced up and down and cheered. I shushed her down. She could wake up Ran. I shifted back into my bed and motioned to her.
"Well, you always crawl into my arms after I go to sleep, so come on over."
She blushed. Guess she didn't know I knew. She sheepishly made her way over and rolled up against me.
"Good night, Marisa."
"Good night, Mister Kei."
Well, I asked for it. Yep. I knew if I foreshadowed it, and prodded her on it, this would happen. She was still sleeping, her body under the sheets. I wasn't exactly sure how I slept through the changes -- maybe it was some kind of effect she was having on me. I was a bit of an insomniac by blood, but since I let her into my bed, I was sleeping better. But, this? I sat up and she rolled onto her back. Her face... that's what probably bothered me the most. Her eyes opened slightly. She smiled as she saw me, then shifted. She wiggled a bit in place. I think it was settling now.
"M-mister Kei! I can't move!"
She squirmed around and began to flail her arms. I quickly tackled her down and held her in place. The shock was starting to set in to her face. I looked up at her and nodded.
"Marisa? You've got a body."
Her face flushed. I sat up again. I pointed to her stomach.
"Bend there and sit up. Use your hands to help you," I said, and showed her my hand.
She pressed her hands against the bed and sat up slowly. Her hat was on the floor -- must have fallen off while she slept. She looked at herself and gave a few pokes and prods. She slapped her cheeks with her hands, and gave a smile to me.
"Mister Kei! Look!" She threw her hands up, "Marisa has a body now! Now we can get married!"
Oh, jeeze, already on that... Speaking of cheeks, that's what I thought looked so different about her -- her face. It had a shape. It wasn't round any more, like a yukkuri. It was actually sculpted -- cheek bones, chin, nose, ears... she looked, well... human! To what extent her physiology had changed, however...
"Look!" she exclaimed again, and twisted her body around. She slid out of bed and onto her feet. The moment I saw her arms flail, I dove forward and pulled her back onto the bed. I smiled to her.
"Walking isn't as easy as it looks, Marisa. One step at a time."
I'd have to start setting up coordination tests with her -- having a body doesn't mean knowing how to use it... and it could be interesting. Could she learn how to work like Ran? I'd have to stick a pin in that for the time being -- she had to first learn how to walk. It only took a few minutes of having her take a few steps. She was about a few inches shorter than me. She watched me for so long, I was sure she'd pick it up fast. While we were training, a knock came at my door. I grabbed a shirt from my closet and tossed it to Marisa. I opened the door. It was Ran, whom was holding the rest of the family. She lead them in their cheer.
"Good morning, Mister Kei!" they exclaimed together.
A gasp settled over them as they saw Marisa behind me.
It took time for Marisa to get used to walking. Man, I was gonna have to go shopping with all of them later to get them clothes, but at least once I got Marisa and Ran settled in, everything would start to get a bit easier for me. With my supervision, Ran was happy to show Marisa how to cook. I didn't let them near the sharp utensils. I took care of any cutting and chopping. I didn't trust the short Ran just yet. She watched, but I wouldn't let her. Marisa took all of what Ran did as a challenge -- I think Ran was oblivious to it. She was just happy to have a helper? I think she was too young to understand why Marisa did what she did, but maybe one day she'd get it. Ran dusted the window sills, Marisa cleaned them. Ran wiped the windows, Marisa polished them. Counters were wiped. Floors were swept. It was kind of crazy. I lived so many years by myself. Yeah, I kind of neglected the cleaning. I usually only cleaned when it felt like it was getting real bad. My room, I told BOTH of them, was totally off-limits to cleaning. They came to me while I watched TV with the various trinkets I kept from my family. I told them where to put it. They arranged them. A woman's touch, I suppose. A knock interrupted my thoughts. I looked to the door, stood up, and opened the door. It was my neighbor, who had a slightly panicked look on his face.
"What's up?"
He held a flier out to me. It was an advisory for neighbors to not go to the playground -- officials from the factory were coming to spray the playground due to a rise in yukkuri populations there, and threat of violence posed by them.
I stopped when I saw the picture. It was me and the Tough Marisa. With her knife in her mouth. I looked to my friend and turned the flier to him.
"That's me she's pointing the knife at. She's not a threat!"
"That's not what everyone's gonna think if they see her with a knife!"
Well, shit. This was my fault. Well, collectively our fault, but still. I needed to do something.
"Alright, well, thanks for the heads-up."
"What're you gonna do?"
"... working on it."
We said goodbye. I closed the door. The two already navigated to me to see what I was reading. Ran was clueless.
"Uneasy yukkuri should drop dead easy!" she said.
Marisa and I looked to her. She jumped back at the sudden stares. She sheepishly fingered her mouth. Her tails drooped. Marisa and I exchanged glances. We looked to her.
"It's not what you think it is, Ran," I explained. "She was just trying to defend her child. She thought I was going to hurt her little KoMarisa."
Her hand moved to her mouth, then pointed to the human.
"So that's Mister Kei?"
I nodded.
"We gotta do something."
But what, exactly? The only thing that came to mind...
I immediately went to the park. After a few visits, Patchy showed me where all the different nests were. Some of the families were clumped into the same holes. I knocked gently on the trunk over Patchy's home.
"Mukyu.. who is it?"
She opened the door that covered her burrow.
"Mister Kei! Take it easy, mukyu~!"
"Take it easy, Patchy! Hey, um..."
I wasn't sure how to explain it, so I simply showed her it. She took it, and started to read it.
"What is this, mukyu...?"
I could hear her mumbling as she read it... then came a gasp. She lowered the paper. Her face looked a little paler.
"B-but... exterminate... us?" She looked up at me. I could almost see tears in her eyes, "But we... we..."
"We'll discuss the rights and wrongs of it later. For now, we have to get everyone out of here."
"But... but! Where will we...?"
I grinned. She stared up at me.
"Mister Kei... you have an idea?"
Of course I did.
"Gather the clan. I'll explain it to everyone."
It only took a few minutes for her to gather them up. I made sure no one else was watching at the time. Patchy explained what happened. I could see Tough Marisa looked a little ostracized. A few other yukkuri were giving her mean glares. I broke it up.
"Stop blaming her for this. She was only trying to defend her family."
"But Marisa shouldn't be using something like a mister sharp-sharp!"
"It's her fault!" "Uneasy yukkuri should drop dead!" "Marisa should go die easy!"
I drew in a breath.
"Enough!" I yelled. A few of the yukkuri fell over.
"Scary!" I heard a few of them say.
"Now is not the time for blame. Now is the time for planning. If we don't do this correctly, all of you are going to wind up dead."
The plan was simple: I was going to move them into my back yard. Yes, maybe it wasn't that big, but I didn't need all that much room. For now, at least, it could be their base of operations until the toxins were washed away.
"Gather up all your mister treasures and your children. I'll be coming tomorrow night to take you all to my easy place, so be ready! Collect extra food when you go hunt-hunting!"
Tomorrow after work. Would give me time to move stuff around on my porch to make room for a shanty town of boxes. I could collect some boxes from work and bring them home. Also, I'd collect some buttons to help identify families. I knew it wasn't necessary for them, but maybe for me. If people saw the buttons, maybe they'd leave them alone. It'd also help me organize. All in all, there were five families, excluding three singles. About a dozen children, though. That'd be the issue. We parted and they returned to their homes. I went to mine and explained to the family what I offered them. There was a few gasps.
"Mister Kei is gonna save a whole clan of yukkuri?!" Ran shouted. She gave me a hug, "That's so cool!"
Marisa seemed to be worried. I knew her worries.
"How will Mister Kei take care of them all?"
"Well..."
Hadn't really worked that out yet...
"... I'll just, for now, be providing them a place to stay. They'll still have to take care of themselves. I mean, they are a clan. They should be able to take care of hunt-hunting."
Marisa seemed to be a bit more relieved. We exchanged nods.
"When I get home tomorrow, I'm gonna need you two to help me bring them around back. I'll bring some boxes and stuff home so they can have residence and help us move their stuff."
An exchange of nods. It was time for dinner, anyway.
Things were starting to get complex.
I better start writing down my observations somewhere... I have a feeling things are about to become even more interesting.
[Aaand that'll do for now. Had a hard time deciding on how to end this one. I'll begin writing the next one post-haste.]
[Sorry for the delay. Holidays + Retail = no free time. But I'm back now, and can have energy for this.]
[So, look forward for what's coming. x3 I'm just as excited~]
Baron Mind
Jan 8, 2016, 8:47:30 PM1/8/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
Too many yukkuri! Can't take it easy! Cirno is a mister hypocrite okayyyyyyyyy
Jasper Androva
Jan 8, 2016, 9:20:49 PM1/8/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
Noooo~ Tis be the uneasy mister cliffhanger!
I love your story though, so keep it comin'!
I love your story though, so keep it comin'!
Hitosura
Jan 9, 2016, 8:54:57 PM1/9/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
<3 But if I don't cliffhanger it, you won't have anything to look forward to.
Hitosura
Jan 9, 2016, 8:54:57 PM1/9/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
-snickers-
Oh, there's STILL MORE to be added, both to the family, and to the clan. x3 I can't believe how much I tore into this chapter.
Maybe because the ideas are still fresh in my mind, and I didn't have to scrape it all together over a month and a half. x_x
Oh, there's STILL MORE to be added, both to the family, and to the clan. x3 I can't believe how much I tore into this chapter.
Maybe because the ideas are still fresh in my mind, and I didn't have to scrape it all together over a month and a half. x_x
Саша
Jan 9, 2016, 8:54:57 PM1/9/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
keep it up
Thomas the Dank Engine
Jan 9, 2016, 10:01:56 PM1/9/16
to Yukkuri Fanfic Translations
I want to huggles Ran.
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