Author's Notes: And here we have another "first meeting" type of snippet. No, it's not adult x child...The love interest is introduced towards the end. (Yes, Kitsu's name comes from "kitsune" - I'm lazy.)

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The hounds had definitely caught the trail of something. Aaron, the lord of the region, nodded to his huntmaster as a signal to release the finely-bred beasts. As they dashed off through long grass and shrubbery, he tightened his hold on his hunting spear and pressed his heels to his horse's flanks to spur him on to the chase.

At first he thought it might be a few birds, as deer or boars rarely left the forest and bigger herd animals didn't live this close to human dwellings. But nothing took flight. A rabbit? A fox?

He urged also his steed to slow down as he caught up to the hounds. They had cornered their prey in what remained of the old riverbed, dried up now that the water had been redirected to flow through the fields and the town. Quickly he dismounted, the spear still in hand, and stepped closer.

He stopped in surprise. It was a little child, naked and covered in mud. But he had black ears on top of his head and black, bushy tail he hugged in the way that it covered his belly and chest. He was trembling and whimpering in terror.

"Leash the dogs," Aaron commanded his servants without even looking at them.

"Yes, my lord!" the huntmaster quickly replied.

Aaron carefully descended down to the riverbed. It was slippery and muddy, no doubt from last night's rain. "It's alright," he spoke soothingly as he knelt down and held out his hand. "Don't be afraid."

The little creature just kept whimpering, tears glimmering in his big, orange-hued eyes.

Aaron slowly moved closer. "I won't hurt you."

Suddenly the child stopped hugging his own tail and launched himself at the young lord completely out of the blue.

Aaron didn't have any time to think rationally of the situation. On instinct his arms closed around the shaking bundle now bawling into his overcoat. "Hush, hush. It's alright. You're safe now."

"My lord!" the huntmaster exclaimed as he turned back towards his hunting party. "Surely you are not..."

Aaron leveled a steely stare at him. "Surely I am not what?"

"Ah...nothing, my lord!"

He knew very well that black foxes were considered beasts of ill omen. Wherever they came, misfortune followed. But he couldn't slay a child like this. He just couldn't.

"Nobody harms him," he stated loudly. "I forbid it."

"Your lady mother will never accept this," the huntmaster tried one more time.

"My mother is far away, no doubt looking for a new fiancé for me again. I will deal with her when she returns."

The woman he had married had died two years ago giving birth to their child. A fragile little daughter. Too fragile, as she had passed away in her sleep not a month later. Since then his mother had insisted that he should remarry as soon as possible, that at past twenty-five years old he should already have an heir. He didn't want to get attached to another person this soon. It would be too painful to lose her.

After the ride back to the castle – the little black fox had stopped crying, but still wouldn't let go of him – he retreated to his own quarters. The servants had already prepared a bath for him in a large wooden tube.

"Alright, you go with this lady here and get washed too," he told the child as he held him out to the woman in charge of the practical household keeping. "No harm comes to him, do you understand?"

But instead of going quietly, the child started screaming from the top of his lungs and grabbed Aaron's arms in a vicelike grip.

"Alright, alright! Stop crying!" Aaron quickly soothed him and brought him back close to his own body. "You can bathe with me."

The woman gave him – or rather the child, most likely – a scornful look, curtsied and left the room.

Aaron placed the child on the floor next to him and removed his own clothes. "You really got fond of me quickly, didn't you? Say..." He knelt down next to him. "What's your name? I'm Aaron."

"Aaron?" the child asked, tilting his head to one side.

"No, I'm Aaron. What's –your- name?"

The child looked at him thoughtfully for a long while. Then he smiled. "Taki."

Aaron smiled in return. "Taki. Let's get your cleaned up, Taki."

A good scrubbing later Aaron was dressed in a soft robe and was drying Taki's short black hair and ears, then his tail with a white towel. It had started raining heavily outside, and sometimes a flash of lightning threw its light into the room through the shutter propped slightly open to let fresh air in.

"Pretty good we're not out there, right, Taki?" Aaron asked. The boy – a fact he had really only figured out after removing all the mud – hadn't said a word after his name, but he seemed to understand perfectly well what he was saying. "Hey...don't run!"

Taki dashed to his other side as he tried to catch him in the towel, laughing.

"You can't- Hold it! Aha! Got you!"

The boy only laughed louder as he was captured in the large towel.

"Got you, you little rascal!" Aaron growled playfully and rubbed him dry.

Suddenly he became aware of another pair of orange eyes looking straight at him. Slowly his gaze moved from the child to the intruder he hadn't noticed come in at all. The light from the lamps on the walls cast soft shadows around the human-like form the like of which he had never seen. An adult black fox, male judging by the facial features. With long, loose black hair and striking eyes.

Taki seemed to recognize him as he smiled widely. "Dada!"

For a moment they just stared at each other. The fox's eyes had held hostility at first, but now they just looked at him with hard-to-discern emotions.

Not really knowing what he was doing, Aaron slowly held out the towel. This one was dripping wet, no doubt sneaked in from the storm.

Taki looked first at Aaron, then at the adult fox, then at Aaron again. "Mama?" he asked curiously.

The adult's cheeks flushed and he quickly snatched the boy up. "Absolutely not!"

"Hey, wait! Please." Aaron got to his feet. "I have no wish to harm either of you." He held out the towel again. "You will catch a cold like that."

He looked at the child on his arms, reaching out back to the human. Taki didn't usually take a liking to anyone this fast. And there was no way he could sneak back out with the willful boy protesting every step of the way. "I am yet to meet a human who does not."

"You have my word. Nobody will harm you in this castle. Please stay at least until the storm blows over."

He reluctantly took the towel and let Taki back down to the floor. The child instantly ran to Aaron and around and around his legs.

"I'm Aaron," he offered.

"Kitsu. And this little one is my son, Taki." He stopped, one of his hands clenching into a fist around the towel. "Humans like you killed his mother."

"Oh. I...I'm sorry to hear that. I lost my wife two years ago too."

Kitsu gave him a doubtful look. "That will not make me trust you any more than before." He dropped his soaked tunic on the floor. "Only until the storm blows over. And if anything – anything at all – happens to my son, I will kill you with my own hands."