Orders

"Good morning Fox-san." the child called smiling, as she entered the main room.

The man turned around and smiled. "You seem unusually happy this morning, why is that?"

Red eyes beamed, "Because my mother didn't hate me, she was scared of what I was, since she didn't understand."

The old fox's eyes widened slightly before narrowing, "When did you get so smart."

"Aisu-sempai told me."

Tekeshi, who had been standing behind the his student for a moment, now spoke, "How did you talk to Aisu?"

 

"Good morning sensei." she thought for a moment before answering, "It was like a dream, but it wasn't a dream."

"Silver, let's not tell anyone else about Aisu for now. Okay?" the child looked confused, but nodded. "Alright then. What would you like for breakfast?"

"I've already eaten." Tekeshi's eyes narrowed at Fox, who merely shook his head, before the girl continued, "I went hunting."

Both sets of eyes widened as their heads turned quickly to stare at her, "For what?" her sensei quickly asked.

"Rabbits. Ari told me I have to eat them every few weeks. She also said that if I eat them more than that, I'll become mean and I don't want to do that."

Tekeshi turned to Fox who was already heading out the door, "I just remembered I told Mihi I would pick something up for her."

"Bye Fox-san!" the girl called after him.

"Good bye Silver."

*********

A loud banging was distrubing her sleep and the medic wasn't happy about it. "Go away!" she yelled.

"Ari! Open this door!" a male voice demanded.

She grudgingly rolled out of bed, before going to the door. "What do you want?"

"Why does Silver have to eat rabbits every few weeks?" the man, she now knew as Fox, asked.

The girl sighed, as she opened the door, "Come in." Walking in he raised an eyebrow at her current attire, of loose black pants and a red sleeveless shirt. "What? I do sleep, even if you don't." he rolled his eyes before walking to her table and sitting as she followed suit. "As you know Silver is only half-ninetails." the man nodded, "Well, as we can survive for years on human food, she can not. The combination of human and fox anatomy creates a very delicate digestive system for her. I'm simply going to stick with the digestive system as it would be too complicated to explain every detail of her anatomy as you are not a trained medic." The smirk he gave her made her glare, "Moving on! put simply, it's like she has two stomachs, human and fox. Her human stomach needs food as much as the average human does, but her fox stomach also has to be fed, though it will do fine on raw rabbits every two weeks."

"Why didn't you tell us about this."

The vixen grinned, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that? How silly of me. Though I do find it hard to believe she's only been there two weeks."

He smiled, "And in two weeks with us, she's already stopped blaming herself for the deaths."

This made the girl glare. "If there's nothing else, I would appreciate if you left."

Fox smiled, "Good day Ms. Kayou." he stated politely as he walked out the door. The loud growl he heard though the door just made him laugh. The girl would probably always blame them for "stealing" her cousin.

********

The door to the Red Opps opened casualty as a figure stepped in, not sensing anyone near by it headed up the stairs, "Fox-san!" a young female voice called happily, before something grabbed his hand and two bright orbs stared at him excitedly. Slowly putting the weapon, he had grabbed upon receiving the 'attack', away the man raised an eyebrow. "Tekeshi-sensei said that he had to do paperwork and told me that you would train me today."

"Let me go ask Tekeshi what he wants you to learn first Silver, then I'll be back down okay?" The child nodded and skipped away as the fox retreated up stairs. Reaching the door at the end of the hall, he knocked, a muffled sound came from the other side. Fox opened the door slowly, before laughing.

Tekeshi was sitting in his chair clutching his hand with a look of defeat on his face. "What do you want?"

"Silver told us the truth earlier, apparently the combination of fox and human anatomy creates a very delicate system. Infact after doing some research, many half fox children die by age nine if they don't choose one side or the other."

"What do you mean die if they don't choose?" The captain had forgotten about his earlier head ache.

"The growth after age nine, causes sever physical injuries, which tend to lead to death. This is of course if they don't choose to become fully ninetails or human."

"That's only a few years away." Fox nodded, "Keep this quiet for now. In the mean time, I need you to prepare her for her first assassination." This made the ninja's eyes widen, "The council has given her a mission, she has a week to complete it. I plan to send Takai with her, for safety sake."

"I'll do what I can, but killing a human, don't you think that's a little too soon?"

"Mihi and I have already tried to get this mission reassigned, but the council won't have it." Tekeshi looked down and Fox sighed before leaving.

Fox found his temporary trainee in one of the training rooms, "Silver, what do you know about killing?"

The child looked confused by the question, "It's better to kill quickly and silently, to avoid detection."

"Do you know how to do this?" The girl nodded, "Will you show me?" She nodded again as she walked to the door, while the man followed silently behind her.

*******

Once they were a reasonable distance from the village, Silver leapt into the trees, taking off at breakneck speeds. Fox was surprised to have such a difficult time keeping up, but did none the less. She stopped for a moment as she waited for her companion to catch up. "Do you really want me to kill one of them without reason?" the girl asked as she pointed to the rabbits below. Fox nodded.

He barely noticed to movement, but with one twitch of her fingers, she had a rabbit frozen, with a single white needle through it's neck. "I don't remember you having any weapons when we left."

"I don't carry any." Fox raised an eyebrow, "The weapons Kali got me, are too heavy for me to carry long distances and they slow me down. So I use these." She held up her hand to show the claws, he knew she had, but watched carefully as they grew longer and straighter, before she gently twitched her hand to the side. The row of claws sat embedded into the tree.

Wide eyes stared at the girl, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"I didn't learn to do that, it's just something I can do."

"Hm..." the man thought for a second, "Killing the rabbits doesn't bother you?" the child shook her head. "What would you say if I asked you to kill a human?"

Her eyes widened with fear, "Why..."

"For a mission." he replied calmly.

Silver shook her head and started trembling, "I can't! I can't do that!"

Fox hugged her, "It's alright." She slowly calmed down and he let her go. "Do you know why we kill humans?" she just looked at him, "it's for our protection. When someone appears, who would have the ability to rival us, we kill them before they can cause harm."

"They would hurt us because they're scared." her voice was soft. The man nodded. "Can go back now Fox-san?"

He gave her a soft smile, "Yes Silver." Then she was gone. He sighed, "Well, that went better than I thought."