When the first day of training ended all Lila wanted to do was to skip the rest of the day and go to sleep. Instead, Kon came by and dragged her to a hot spring to relax. She used the excuse that the hot springs would help her recover and alleviate the soreness.

  Since the Kyubi clan had a tori gate that connected to a hidden hot spring it didn’t take much time to get there, yet Kon heard enough complaints about Haruaki to last decades. It gave her flashbacks to when Haruaki trained Kon herself.

  “Seriously one second he is being serious and the next he is the biggest prankster.”

  She laughed off the complaints imagining the childish pranks he was pulling during the breaks.

  “Let him have those moments. If not for him there wouldn’t even be a Kyubi clan anymore. Besides many yokai still talk bad about him for only being half kitsune.”

  This surprised Lila so much that she stopped walking just outside of the woman's entrance.

  “Wait he’s only half kitsune?”

  “Yes. He doesn’t show tails or ears because he doesn’t have any. His human heritage overshadows his kitsune heritage. Now let’s hurry along inside. I can use a good soak myself.”

  Kon walked in ahead of Lila, who followed in wanting to hear more about Haruaki’s past, but all she would get from Kon is that it wasn’t her story to tell.

  When Lila noticed Kon was stripping down to nothing, she immediately looked away embarrassed. Before she might have stared longer to enjoy the sight but now something told her it wasn’t right to stare at her that way. To help adjust to this she just tuned everything out and went to autopilot and did as Kon did.

  When Lila began to take her clothes off Kon turned to see her and was appalled by what she saw.

  Bite scars on her neck and shoulder, across her sides were the scars of someone digging their nails into her flesh, and on various parts of her body were the signs of glass and metal shards that dug their way into her body with large clusters on her abdomen.

  She truly wished that Lila hadn’t done what she did for revenge. Not just because she thought it damaged her psyche even more than it was, but because she now truly wished the bastard was alive so she could torture him for this sight.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Lila, sweety. Can you come here for a second?” Kon asked as sweetly as she could, barely able to hide her anger with a softness born from concern.

  “What’s up?” She inquired as she hopped over to Kon.

  Kon watched the way Lila moved and usually, when people, especially women, have scars they would be ashamed and try to hide them if not proudly display them as a badge of honor. Yet Lila didn’t even care whether the scars were seen or not.

  ‘Poor child.’ She thought as she realized this about Lila.

  “Have a seat for a moment. I’m going to heal you a bit.”

  “Isn’t that why we are here at the hot springs?” Lila asked as she sat down.

  Kon began a different kind of healing spell and Lila watched the ambient spirit mana move over her scars. Ever since her name was taken, Lila stopped caring about many things, including the scars on her body. Yet a part of her was happy to see the scars begin to fade away.

  “Thank you Kon.” Lila had a sincere smile when saying those words and when Kon stared into her pinkish green eyes she leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

  “You deserve a fresh start. Now let’s go enjoy the bath.”

  *

  Lila’s mind had found peace bathing in the hot spring. She could feel the stress and fatigue fall off her. While Kon was just as relaxed she enjoyed watching Lila floating in the water without a care in the galaxy.

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

  “To be honest, I miss the heat.”

  Kon was confused by that statement until she remembered that she was trained as a blacksmith.

  “I am sorry that I’m not letting you back in the forge. I-“

  “I get it. I’m still mentally unstable and you don’t want me to decide on a murder spree because I have a knife and a bad day or a relapse.”

  Lila’s words caught Kon off guard.

  “Can I ask you something personal?”

  “If you’re supposed to be my new mom then why ask for permission? Worse I will do is not answer”

  Lila’s response made it a little harder for Kon to ask and instead, she chose her words even more carefully. Kon had spent so much time in politics that free spirits like her, Haruaki, and Shuten-Doji were enigmas to her. She had little idea of how to speak to them. Distracted or entertained sure, but speaking to them was hard.

  “What do you know about your birth mother?”

  This question caught Lila off guard. She wasn’t used to talking about her biological parents as her adoptive family never left her wondering what she was missing.

  “I don’t know anything about my father, but I was told that my mother was a fierce warrior. Some berserker who was unrivaled on whatever battlefield she was on. Sometimes I have vague memories of a woman humming to me. I often wonder if that’s her.”

  Hearing this put Kon a bit at ease.

  “Wait. I thought that this Pops was your father?”

  “Nope. My mom left me in his care before she died. He only ever talks about her on the anniversary of her death. He seems to beat himself up over it like he believes he could have prevented it or something.”

  As Lila explained this she watched as she spoke about this so solemnly. Her blue eyes revealed a deep sorrow that would otherwise have been hidden behind a nonchalant smile as if she was trying to convince herself more than Kon that she was okay.

  Kon swam closer to Lila as she pulled her into a gentle hug.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Even if you don’t join Spiritus, you will always be welcome here.”