Kitsuna sighed and just for a moment all the play left her, even her smile which was normally a permanent fixture had temporarily slipped. His past was clearly something he could never escape not even for a moment but she understood that he had lived with that torture for far longer than she had been in his life and in all honestly she had no hold over him. Yet he stayed with her out of some lingering sense of honour or affection, possibly he just saw her as another pup.

Laying herself down properly on the ground Kitsuna placed her head onto her paws and looked up at Ren who sat upright beside her. So she lay for a few minutes her thoughts buzzing while she gazed silently into the forest and back towards the human land. They stayed together, still as statues; the wind that ruffled their thick coats was the only movement in the clearing. One thought kept nagging in Kitsuna’s mind, one she had long been ignoring as she really didn’t wish to know the answer to it. However it seemed that the time had come when the question must be asked and the answer heard.

“Ren, why did you stay with me? From the beginning I mean. That night by the river, you were absolved of all responsibility to me having saved me and left a kill. Why did you choose to stay with me?” Although her body had not moved Kitsuna’s bright eyes found Ren’s as she waited for his reply.