Chapter 5
Kitsune was disheartened. The old bear was more helpful than the dog or the mouse, but he still did not know the answer to Kitsune's question.
Why was her tail so fluffy?
Perhaps the bear's age did make him wise, Kitsune thought—at least, wiser than the younger creatures of the forest. Perhaps the problem was that even the bear was not old enough to know the answer to her question.
And so Kitsune decided to look for the oldest creature in the forest that she knew about: Kyubei, the great celestial fox.
It was said that the celestial fox was an ordinary fox who lived so long that he became a god.
It was also said that the celestial fox dwelled in a vast and beautiful meadow, and that the only entrance to this meadow was through the arch of a rainbow.
Luckily for Kitsune, it was the rainy season. In fact, a fresh storm was brewing from the western sky. She could see it through the treetops.
Kitsune crawled into the hollow of a tree and wrapped herself in the fur of her tail. The wind howled against the trunk and made the branches whirl and scream.
The downpour began.
A mist of rain forced its way into the tree's hollow and licked against Kitsune's fur. Kitsune closed her eyes tightly. She did not like getting wet.
The storm passed. The rain and wind abated.
Kitsune lept out of the tree's hollow. She ran as fast as she could towards the western edge of the forest.
In a burst of speed, Kitsune flew out of the foliage onto a hilly meadow. The sky behind her was dark with clouds. But the sky ahead of him was clear and bright blue.
Kitsune lept over hilltops and dove into valleys. Her furry tail swept through and divided the fields of tall grass. She ran faster and faster and faster.
Then Kitsune saw it—the biggest, brightest, clearest rainbow she had ever seen. It loomed over the next hill. It formed a perfect arch.
Kitsune didn't slow down. She pushed herself as hard as she could to catch the rainbow. Her little padded feet and claws tore up the heath and caused a shower of dirt clods to fly out in her wake.
She was almost there. The rainbow was above her. She could see more grassy hills ahead of her, through the rainbow's arch.
But then, as Kitsune passed underneath the rainbow's arch, the hilly landscape dissolved away, as if it were merely a reflection in a clear puddle that some beast had just splashed. It became a perfectly flat plain of blue-green grass.
The half-blue sky dissolved away too. It turned entirely black and starry. Darkness surrounded Kitsune on every horizon.
Kitsune skidded to a stop, panting. The grassy ground under Kitsune's feet was the softest ground she had ever felt.
Even though the sky was black, every blade of blue-green grass in the meadow shown brightly, as if lit by an inner flame.
Kitsune looked around her. The horizons of the mystical meadow were endless, and the black sky was filled with glowing constellations that were far brighter than any Kitsune had ever seen.
Mysterious Voice
Who has wandered into my realm?
The voice seemed to come from all around Kitsune. And yet it came from nowhere and nothing.
The brightest constellation in the sky flickered. It coelesced into a figure and floated down to the soft meadow.
The figure was a nine-tailed fox.
Its long, soft fur shone blinding white flecked with gold, like light from the sun and the moon fused together.
Its nine tails were long and luxurious. They flowed and curved like serpents moving through water. As Kitsune looked at the fox's nine tails, they seemed to encompass the entire night sky.
But none of the nine-tailed fox's tails were as fluffy as Kitsune's tail.
Kitsune
My name is Kitsune. I am a fox of the forest, and I have travelled here to ask you a question, o great celestial fox.
Great Celestial Fox
Ask it.
Kitsune
Why is my tail so fluffy?
Great Celestial Fox
Why is your tail so fluffy ... a strange question for a fox to ask. Why does it matter?
Kitsune
I—I am curious. I've always wondered. I asked a mouse, a dog, and an old bear, but none could give me a satisfactory answer. Perhaps they were not intelligent enough. But it is such a simple question, surely someone must be wise enough to know—
Great Celestial Fox
Your fox tricks will not work on me, Kitsune.
Kitsune stepped backwards, and lowered her head. Although the great celestial fox made no motion and sounded no growl, she felt a threatening force in the air all around her.
Great Celestial Fox
You try now to appeal to my vanity and trick me into answering, as you no doubt did with the other beasts of the forests. But one cannot outfox a celestial fox.
Kitsune
I apologize, o great celestial fox.
Great Celestial Fox
The answer is that you were born that way.
Kitsune looked up at the glowing fox. She perked up her pointed ears.
Kitsune
That is the answer?
Great Celestial Fox
Many beasts are born with strange traits. Is this answer not satisfactory?
Kitsune
But why was I born with such a fluffy tail?
The great celestial fox sighed, and as it sighed its tails all lowered at once, and the stars dimmed.
Great Celestial Fox
I can see where this is going. You are a fox, but you ask questions like a human. You have receieved the fox answer to your question, and yet this answer only provokes more questions from you. When will it end? It never will.
Kitsune
But—
Great Celestial Fox
I have answered your question, young fox. You rudely awoke me from my slumber among the stars, and now I shall return.
Kitsune
But—!
But there was no arguing with the great celestial fox. Even as Kitsune protested, the nine-tailed fox's form drifted back up into the black sky and transformed back into a shining constellation.
As Kitsune watched the constellation drift up into the black sky, she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She wrapped her tail around herself in a ball and lay down on the soft, soft grass.