“Sungmin!!” By the time Leeteuk and the rest reached the bunny’s burrow, they were nowhere to be found. Sungmin wasn’t in his burrow, nor the fox. The wooden tables in the burrow were overturned and the soil outside the burrow was a bit loose.

“Hyung! Look at that!” Jongwoon quickly pointed at the tree bark near the burrow. There was a dash mark on it.

“Sungmin must have left it. Let’s follow it.” Everyone agreed with Heechul and they followed the marks on the tree barks before they notice where all the marks were directed to.

“This is the way to our river hyung!” Donghae pointed out, remembering the familiar way.

“Sungmin must have led the fox to the place where it will remember most vividly.” Leeteuk reasoned.

“There!” Jongwoon shouted when he noticed the fox with nine golden tails swishing slowly behind him. It was conscious.

“Sungmin!” The four arrived at the riverbank and saw Sungmin facing off with the fox. The brown bunny didn’t have serious injuries but only a nasty bite on the arm.

“Hyung!” Sungmin acknowledges the presence of the founders and breathed a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” Leeteuk asked, keeping his eyes at the panting fox.

“As soon as he woke up, that fox was looking at me with hungry eyes! Like I am food!” Sungmin complained, rubbing at his injured arm.

“Technically, you are.” Heechul snickered, earning a bunny kick to his shin.

“And then?” Leeteuk asked.

“I ran, of course! And it chased me! I thought he wouldn’t listen to any of my explanation, so I led him here, where you guys first saw him.” Sungmin explained.

“Fox, calm down.” Leeteuk’s firm tone seemed to have no effect on the fox. The golden fox was panting from his injuries and his eyes were hazy. It was clearly not in its right state of mind.

“Grrr…” The fox growled, bending its upper body down into a pouncing position.

“Worst come to worst, we have to use force,” Heechul said in a low voice.

“Rawr!” The fox growled and pounced upon instinct, landing right on top of Jongwoon. The turtle fell onto the ground with a thud, his head a dizzy mess for a few seconds before registering the fox was pinning him down. However, Jongwoon did not show fear and stared straight into the golden slits. The fox bared his teeth and snarled, his saliva dripping onto the turtle’s face.

“I’m sorry.” With a swift hit to the head, the fox fell onto Jongwoon.

“Hyung, that was harsh.” Donghae eyed the unconscious fox and pitied it getting hit by Leeteuk’s wrist.

“It was necessary.” Leeteuk shrugged as Jongwoon heaved both himself and the fox up into a sitting position.

“Where should we keep him now? I don’t think Sungmin’s place would be a good place to let him stay anymore.” Donghae asked.

“How about mine? It’s at the border of the town, so it wouldn’t alarm the other residents so much.” Jongwoon offered, still holding onto the fox.

“What? Hyung! That’s too dangerous!” Donghae rejected the idea.

“It’s actually quite a good idea. Jongwoon’s place is under the water. He would have an advantage over the fox when he wakes up.” Leeteuk nodded, thinking deeply.

“I’ll stay over with you for the meantime, Jongwoon.” Heechul said.

“Okay.” Jongwoon nodded.

“Donghae, carry Sungmin back to his house. I’ll need to deal with some issues back at the headquarters. Heechul, inform me immediately when the fox wakes up.” Leeteuk pointed at the bunny who had fallen asleep on the ground after stopping his own bleeding.

“Roger that.” Heechul saluted with a cheshire grin and helped Jongwoon to support the fox. Donghae hauled the light bunny over his shoulder and followed Leeteuk back to the town.

As soon as Jongwoon walked to the edge of the river, the once calm river rippled and parted in the middle. Stairs leading down to the turtle’s chambers appeared. Heechul and Jongwoon grabbed an arm each and started to drag the fox down the stairs.

“He’s heavy.” The cat complained.

“Compared to a normal fox, he got 8 more tails hyung. Of course, he is going to be heavier.” Jongwoon reasoned, shrugging.

“Oh, hey hyung! You’re back! Heechul hyungnim?” A man with similar looks as Jongwoon met them halfway inside the chamber. He had hair as dark as the night sky. The only thing differentiating him and Jongwoon are his facial features and the brown and green robes he is adorning.

“Jongjin-ah! Give us a hand!” Heechul called the younger turtle over and shoved him the fox’s arm.

“What is this hyung?!?!?” Jongjin screeched when he noticed what he was carrying in his arms.

“Don’t you dare drop it Jongjin,” Jongwoon warned his brother when his arms were already aching from the sheer weight of the fox’s arm.

“Where are we bringing it?” Jongjin asked, shifting his position so that the fox was leaning more onto himself than his older brother.

“Lay it there.” Jongwoon let go of one arm and spread his palm outwards. In a shimmer of turquoise light, a shellfish shaped bed was conjured up at the edge of the chamber.

“Wow, he gets to have a new bed. Where am I going to sleep today, Woon?” Heechul slurred, taking his place on a conch couch.

“Right where you’re sitting now hyung.” Jongwoon chuckled. Jongjin then left to get some tea for their guest.

“That’s so unfair.” The cat grumbled although the conch couch had more than enough space and pillows for his cat form to sleep through the night.

“ it up.” Jongwoon stuck his turtle tongue out and skipped away, getting ready to serve the cat seaweed and algae.

*.*

The cat and the two turtles had their dinner together with the cat complaining about the lack of fish. The turtles purposely served seaweed, algae, and jellyfish, forcing the cat to scarf down the food without looking at it.

They were preparing to sleep and left Heechul to look after the fox. It was a wise choice because the cat was a light sleeper. Any sounds or movement would wake the cat up like it never slept before.

That night, the sound of a deep groan woke up Heechul completely.

“Jongwoon-ah! Wake up!” Heechul shouted, alerting the older of the two turtles. Jongwoon was right next to the cat in a blink of an eye. Jongjin tiptoed and hid behind Jongwoon, glancing at the rousing fox suspiciously.

“Jongjin, I need you to inform Leeteuk immediately.” Heechul glanced at the younger turtle briefly and received a firm nod. Without words, Jongjin jumped up into the waters and left the chambers.

“Fox, fox…” Heechul called out tentatively, both moving closer to the fox slowly.

“WOAH!” Heechul and Jongwoon jumped and screeched when the fox suddenly bolted up into a sitting position and the slits widened.

“Hey…” Jongwoon breathed.

“Grrr…!” The fox spun his head towards them and bared its teeth in full glory.

“Woah! Stop, stop! We have no intention to hurt you! Look! Your bandage! We extracted the arrow for you!” Jongwoon quickly explains, gesturing wildly and animatedly at the bandage on the fox’s leg and tail.

The fox seemingly understood and gave a brief look at the bandage. All of a sudden, the fox crossed his legs and sat straight, hands positioning in a meditating position.

“What’s he doing hyung?” Jongwoon asked.

“What does it look like? He’s turning into human form.” Heechul replied, eyes never leaving the fox even while replying to the turtle. True enough, the fox was turning into a human. The wide fox ears slowly disappear and fold into the head, rose blond hair bloomed as a fleshy nose and cherry lips replaced the long snout and whiskers of the fox. Nine long tails hid behind the human form. The man with rose blond hair was wearing a lavender robe with golden ts, tied with a thin black sash in the middle. He had white cotton pants along with white boots covering his lower part of his body. The fox slowly opened his eyes and revealed chocolate brown orbs.

“Yo.” The fox’s lips curved up to a smirk.

*.*

“Heechul!” Jongjin brought the head of the town to his house the fastest a turtle and duck can move. The moment when the turtle and duck scrambled down the stairs of the river, they were dumbstruck.

“So, can you really control our minds? Why do you have nine tails? How are you different from a normal fox?” The alarms in Jongjin’s mind started ringing so loudly that his ears start to hurt. HIS OLDER BROTHER WAS CHATTING WITH THE MYSTERIOUS NINE TAILED FOX?

“Oh, Teuk-ah. Come here.” Heechul who was back on the couch patted the space next to him and gestured the confused duck to come over. The younger turtle had never moved so fast before and appeared next to his brother and the fox.

“What are you doing hyung?!” Jongjin pulled Jongwoon up from his sitting position on the bed. The fox shrugged and stood up.

“Jongjin? Oh! The fox is awake!” Jongwoon stated the obvious.

“I can obviously see that! I mean, why are you sitting on the same bed as him? And even chatting with him? He’s dangerous!” Jongjin pulled and squeezed his brother’s arm. He glanced at the fox once and saw the predator stare on him but quickly changed to an amicable one when Jongwoon turned to him. YIKES!

“What’s going on?!” Leeteuk shrieked from beside Heechul.

“The fox woke up and pounc-”

“WHAT? POUNCED? YOU POUNCED ON MY BROTHER?” Jongjin shrieked, moving him and his brother away from the fox.

“No, no, no. Slip of tongue, I’m sorry. I meant, Jongwoon pounced on him and started bombarding him with questions.” Heechul said.

“Obviously, I stiffened and prepared for the worst, but the fox did not do anything, nor he said anything. So, I’m still monitoring him now.” Heechul shrugged. Leeteuk nodded in understanding after composing himself. The duck stood up from the couch and moved over to the fox, who stood in the same position.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Leeteuk. I’m a duck and the founder of SMTown, which is the name of this town.” Leeteuk introduced himself and reached out a hand. It was not reciprocated. Leeteuk breathed deeply before continuing.

“This turtle here found you at the riverbank, which is right above. You were hurt and unconscious. Jongwoon here saved you and I decided to let Sungmin, which is the bunny you almost mauled, to nurse you back to health.” The duck explained to the fox. The kitsune listened and only had an eyebrow raised when Jongwoon saving him was mentioned.

“I am obliged to find out if you have any malicious intent on harming any one of the animals living in my town. You are required to leave the town then. Otherwise, you can stay here if you wish.” Leeteuk stated seriously, staring straight at the bored brown orbs of the fox.

Both parties stayed silent for a moment, the tension strong enough to suffocate any weak animal.

“Alright. I’ll stay.” The fox answered after a long stretching minute.

“Are you sure that you will not hurt any one of our residents? You will pay if you do not keep your promise.” A white and aqua aura surrounded Leeteuk, rippling the surrounding water, making sure that the fox knew what his stand was.

“I promise, Leeteuk-ssi.” The fox was unfazed by the duck and nodded, smirking.

“I will be watching you along with Leeteuk.” Heechul stood by the duck and scrutinized the kitsune.

“Fine by me.” He shrugged.

“Hey, so what’s your name?” Curious Jongwoon poked his head out behind Heechul.

In a flash, the fox disappeared from their eyes. Leeteuk and Heechul reacted immediately and spun their heads to where they sensed the fox’s energy. It was diagonally behind Heechul, where Jongwoon was.

“It’s Kyuhyun. Remember that, Jongwoonie.” The fox appeared right beside the turtle, catching the reptile by surprise. Jongwoon turned his head so fast it almost snapped. The fox leaned forward and whispered right beside his ear, sending shivers down the turtle’s spine. When Kyuhyun disappeared again in a whirl of autumn leaves, he did not miss the cherry blossom pinkish hue coloured on Jongwoon’s cheeks.

“So, what’s his name, hyung?” Jongjin shook his brother out of his trance, and Jongwoon stuttered out.

“I-It’s Kyuhyun.”