BOOM.

Jihye jumped at the sound of a tornado storming into her clinic (nearly breaking everything in the process). She glared at the disrespectful werewolf.

“Hoya, have you no manners?” she scolded in irritation as she picked up a few of the things that he knocked over. She was surprised when the wolf suddenly pulled her into a hug. “…Hoya?”

“Noona…she left me. She’s gone. What do I do?” he mumbled as he buried his face into her shoulder.

Jihye raised an eyebrow at him, but patted his back to comfort. “Hoya, what are you talking about?”

“She really became a familiar…and she even protected him…I-I…I promised I would take care of her. What do I do now…?” He pulled back and stared at the older demon helplessly. It had been awhile since she had seen the werewolf so lost and unconfident. She could easily assume the “she” Hoya was referring to was Kira but all the other details were still fuzzy.

“Protected him from what? And who is ‘him’?” she asked softly as she sat him down.

“The ing mage,” Hoya growled in anger. From just that, Jihye could figure what probably went down and sighed.

“Hoya, did you attack the mage?”

“Of course he-”

“Well then of course Kira protected him. Do you have any idea the repercussion we’d get from the humans if you killed one of their precious mages? It could be the start of another war. The treaty was a necessary evil that both sides are just itching to break. I’m glad at least someone has their head on their shoulder correctly,” Jihye shook her head as Hoya lowered his head, flattening his ears against his head, in shame.

“I even called her a traitor! She hates me now!” he cried in regret as he morphed into his full demon form to sulk in the corner.

“Hoya…oh god…of all the things you could have-I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, but seriously, think before you act! The that poor fox has put up with because of your reckless attitude…” Jihye mumbled under her breath.

“I need to find her.”

“Wait, Hoya!” Before Jihye could stop him, the restless werewolf had gone. “…does he ever think before acting?”

“Most of the time. But whenever it comes to Kira, all thinking goes out the door,” Sunggyu answered the somewhat rhetorical question as he limped over to the kappa. Jihye raised a disapproving eyebrow at Sunggyu. “Hey, I can’t afford to be immobilize for this long. As the leader of Infinite, I need to-”

“Rest properly so you don’t reinjure yourself. Go sit your down, Sunggyu. You’re not doing anyone any favors by getting up,” Jihye commanded bravely without batting an eyelash at possibly one of the most powerful demons in all of the forest.

“But-”

“Go back to bed.”

With a disapproving grunt, he made his way back to bed, earning a victorious smirk from Jihye. She looked through her stock of equipment.

“Looks like it’s time to go collect more herbs…” she sighed.

~

“Kira…Kira!”

“What?!”

“Slow down! Why are you in such a rush?”

“Because I want to find that good for nothing punk leader of yours and beat the living out of him,” she growled angrily.

“You’re dripping blood everywhere! You’re gonna attract predators! And we’re currently in no shape to take on any opponent! Could you at least let me bandage your w-”

“I DON’T need your help! I know what I’m doing!”

YoungJae glared at the fox’s back. God, she was so stubborn! He was losing his patience. The mage ran behind his familiar, prepared to start a fight but stopped short as he watched small drops of blood falling from the tip of her finger despite her holding her injury tightly with her hand. He winced at the sight of the scratches left by the werewolf. They definitely weren’t superficial scratches and must have lacerated deep into the skin. It was going to get infected if she didn’t get it treated.

Clenching his fist, he sighed deeply before commanding, “Sit.”

With a yelp, the weight of collar forced her to sit on the ground. “YAH!”

“I’m sorry. I realize this doesn’t help me win any points but you’re posing a danger for yourself as well as me by leaving a delicious trail of blood for everyone to find,” YoungJae reasoned as he reached for her wound.

“Don’t touch me,” Kira snarled defensively. He stopped, but didn’t retract his hand.

“Look, this isn’t for your benefit. I’m the selfish bastard that doesn’t want to be attacked by other demons, alright?” he glared, saying whatever he needed to get the fox to stop being so guarded. “…could you be so kind as to lend me some of your energy, you hoarder?”

Kira turned away with a scoff, “Whatever.”

With a grin, YoungJae lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. His hand glowed a soft yellow as the area on Kira’s shoulder began feel the warmth of his energy. He held in the victory cheer when he felt and saw her relax a little. The mage took a glance out of the corner of his eye from the wound to her face. He had never been this close to the demon before since she was always bolting off and leaving him behind. He was really curious about the encounter that just happened, but he felt that it probably was for the best not to ask considering the sad look in her eyes.

“You want to know about the wolf that just came by, don’t you?”

YoungJae jumped in shock, turning his eyes back onto healing her wound. Had he been so obvious?

“A lone fox could never survive on its own without a mutualistic relationship for protection. You could say I got lucky and work for Infinite thanks to a childhood relationship with Hoya, the one that just attacked me. I’m no use to them now. You could also say I just got fired,” Kira shrugged her good shoulder. She felt a sudden shift from behind her. Looking behind her, she jumped a little at the shocked expression on YoungJae’s face, staring at her in awe.

“YOU were the fox Hyung was talking about!”

Kira raised her eyebrow at him. He cleared his throat and clarified, “My hyung was in the War and he said there was a fox working as a spy for the werewolves…Hyung was so impressed by how sneaky you were that he wasn't even mad. You have to meet him!”

“You like your hyung a lot, huh?”

YoungJae chuckled, “Most of the time. We used to come out into the forest and observe all the benign demons together before the Wall was put up. Hyung has always been the pride of our family, so it's really hard to compare...oh! There was that one fox that we saved from drowning. Hyung managed to freeze the surface of the water long enough for me to grab it from the waters and pull it to safety. We used to do that all the time, watching demons…I forgot how much I enjoyed just learning about demons when I became so obsessed with getting a familiar…”

The mage stared apologetically at Kira, who looked a bit shocked for some reason. YoungJae was about to ask what was wrong but Kira spoke first.

“What did the fox look like?”

“What?”

“The fox you saved, what did it look like?”

“It…um…I don’t really remember…except that it was missing most of its tail…” YoungJae mumbled, trying to recall the vague memory.

“Rey! Are you okay?!”

“H-Hyung, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you-”

“I-I’m okay…a couple of…mages saved me,” he coughed up some water as Kira and Hoya exchanged glances.

“Mages…saved you?” Hoya questioned, disbelief evident in his voice.

Kira hugged Rey tightly, not caring that he was still soaking wet, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“They’re not all bad, Kira…” Rey smiled as he hugged her back as he wiggled his stubby tail back and forth.

“Kira?”

She snapped out of her brief daydream at YoungJae’s concerned voice. He was just about to ask if the fox he had saved was perhaps someone she knew, but didn’t get a chance to as a voice interrupted their conversation.

“Well, well, well, it seems the fox has returned to the forest.”

Kira stood up between the voice and YoungJae. Her ears turned every which way to pick up the direction of the sound while her eyes scanned for movements in their surrounding areas.

“There was a rumor going around that our little, lonely fox had gotten herself captured by a mage and no longer under the protection of her wolves…”

“No more wolves to save their little pet?”

“Does that mean a nice snack for us?”

Shifting from her full demon form back to her humanoid form, Kira smirked at the voices now that she recognized them, “Daeryong, Soryong, I see you’re doing well in exile.”

With a loud, resonating hiss, two large serpents came out of hiding and circled Kira and YoungJae.

“Why?! Why do you provoke things?!” YoungJae groaned as he backed up against her so they were standing back to back.

She merely smiled while flicking her tail in excitement, “We’re about to find out if we sink or swim~”

~

Jieun checked the perimeter to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. When she was sure the coast was clear, Jieun flew back to YongGuk and frowned at him.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered reproachfully.

“I needed to ask you about the Stymphalian birds,” YongGuk asked seriously as he looked at the wary fae. Su’s ears perked up at the mention of her kind. “What did you mean by spy?”

“Yah! You aren’t insinuating that I’m a spy, are you?!” Su exclaimed in outrage. YongGuk immediately shook his head as Jieun merely cocked her head at the exchange.

“They must have a spy within the human civilization in order for them to believe they even have a chance to get through the Wall,” Jieun clarified. “But I don’t believe it’s one of their own kind. Most Stymphalian birds are much too belligerent and man-hungry to conceal themselves amongst the humans.”

Jieun circled Su suspiciously. The Stymphalian bird was much too terrified of the fae to tell her off.

“Stymphalian birds are ruthless within their own flocks as well,” Jieun continued explaining to YongGuk. “Runts get kicked to the curb and would never be accepted back into their flocks as they’re quickly forgotten. If you’re worried about this one being a spy, you shouldn’t be.”

Jieun’s words cut into Su’s heart deeply. She knew her flock wasn’t going to come back for her, but to hear it being said out loud was ripping open old wounds that hadn’t quite healed yet. The bird’s eyes stared at the floor in downcast.

“Jieun…” YongGuk frowned in disapproval, not understanding why the fae was being so harsh. He had never seen Jieun act like that before.

“What? She’s just a runt…why do you care how she feels?” The last bit came out as a bitter mumble. YongGuk blinked in surprise.

“…are you…jealous?” he asked quite bluntly. The straightforward question caused Jieun to blush in shock.

“N-No! I just-why are you hanging out with this demon…?” Jieun shot back instead of answering his question.

YongGuk chuckled, “Su was kind enough to help me find you. So would you be so kind and apologize to her for your harsh words?”

Jieun stared up at YongGuk in disbelief, but her gaze quickly shifted into a look of guilty at Su. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s…it’s okay…” Su quickly responded, completely mesmerized by just the thought that this mage got this fae to apologize to her. What in the actual was going on right now?

“So you’re saying the spy they have probably isn’t a Stymphalian bird?” YongGuk jumped back on topic. Jieun nodded.

“Great, so essentially I have no idea what I’m looking for…” YongGuk grunted in frustration. With a sigh, YongGuk looked at his hands as he said, “I also…have a confession to make.”

Jieun blinked, not quite liking where this was going on.

“Umm…the fox you were with…she…might not have made it out like I promised.”

Silence.

“YongGuk! What happened to Kira?!” Jieun gasped.

“YoungJae caught her as his familiar,” YongGuk sighed.

“I’m surprised Kira hasn’t murdered YoungJae yet…”

“You and me both…anyways…I wanted to ask…how exactly did I manage to take the collar off of you? I’m…unable to recall and I want to help Kira out somehow,” YongGuk explained, earning him an understanding nod from Jieun.

“To be honest, YongGuk…I really don’t remember either…” she smiled warmly at him. “But something tells me it’s because you really wanted to save me. Besides, who knows? Maybe it’ll end up being something worthwhile for the two of them like it was for us.”

He shot her a shy smile.

Su shook her head at their exchange. They better be going home soon or she was going to end up barfing at the ridiculous amount of fluff happening here. The spy they had been talking about before made her curious though.

“Wonder who it could be?”

~

“Ailee! You’re on in 5 minutes!”

She sighed in irritation but smiled at the manager. “Oppa…can’t I just get a little bit more time? We’ve had so many things scheduled today that my legs are killing me…”

“We can’t really control when the show starts though…”

“Oppa~! Please~?” she whispered while battling her eyelashes. Her normally black eyes turned bright red. “It would mean a lot to me~”

“Well…okay…”

As if in a trance, the manager went off to get Ailee some more time. With a grin, her eyes turned back to black as she relaxed back into her chair to examine her schedule for the next few weeks.

“Global concert, huh? That should be fun~” she smiled brightly as she sipped her fruit juice.

=====================================================================

So many things~

Sleep time~

It’s funny how I update more when it’s during my exams…

~Kira :3