The staff at the royal palace had certainly gone above and beyond, as per Shizen's instructions, she wanted the royal palace to look beautiful and extravagant not just for all the visitors attending, Vlad and Lisa included, but more so for her own family. Mika and Claudia along with their kids would all be there and would be the talk of the night.
Paper lanterns were hung up lighting the way to the capital where there were there were tables that had decorated paper cranes that had been done by the young kitsune children from the school. Streamers were hung aloft alongside tanzaku and kadomatsu were placed on the ground.
"Wow, Shizen really went all out on the decorations, didn't she?" Mika said to her wife as citizens came in and admired all the decorations that hung up.
"You think the decorations are something, just look what she had the kitchen staff prepare for the food." Claudia said as she and her wife walked over to the tables of food where their kids were looking around astonished at all the food that Shizen and Tatsu had the kitchen staff make for everyone.
They saw yakisoba, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, ramen, sushi, yakitori, and many more delicious looking foods that Nyx thought looked too good to even try eating. There were also drinks there like amazake, yuzu, and ramune, as well as wine.
"Guys, look, over there." Aaron said as they all looked to where the desserts were and the Harris siblings mouths dropped when their eyes beheld the sweetest looking sight.
"Baby Castella Cakes." Nearly all the Harris siblings said at the same time as Mason reached out for one and was smacked on the hand by Shizen.
"Mason, kids, shame on you all for trying to eat dessert before you even have the food first and before you talk to the guests." Shizen said waving her finger at the Harris siblings.
"But grandma, the baby castella cakes are the best." Haley groaned.
"Grandmother, may we please have some of the baby castella cakes?" Kari asked in her sweetest tone.
"Nice try Kari, that tone may have worked when you all were children, but not now." Shizen said crossing her arms.
"But...." Haley began to say before Shizen looked at them all very strictly and they all thought they could see fire in her eyes at this.
"Yes grandma." All the Harris siblings said.
"Wow, you guys must really love those things." Nyx said to Aaron.
"Oh, we do indeed. Whenever we visited the capital when we came here as little kids, our grandma would usually have a plateful of those ready for us." Aaron explained to Nyx as they all grabbed plates and food.
Claudia stood by Mason making sure her son picked out the dinner food choices first and that he stayed away from the desserts first. Meanwhile Mika was helping Nyx choose which of the food choices was the best to try out first. Haley and Kari had gotten their own plates and sat down by themselves first when a few kitsune girls their own age came over to them.
"Excuse us, may we....sit next to you? We've heard so many rumors about the heroes of the civil war and we didn't know that you'd also were Lord Tatsu and Lady Shizen's grandchildren." One of the kitsune girls said as Kari politely nodded.
"Go ahead take a seat, we don't mind telling you our tales on the battlefield, or about our gram and gramps." Haley said a little boastfully while Kari smiled shaking her head at her sister.
Mason sat near Aaron who was also sitting near Nyx as well as Fenrir who sat properly nearby awaiting any scraps of food that were offered to him.
A couple of young kitsune girls, who looked to be in appearance Mason's age came over to the three of them as they were dressed in fancy kimonos like many of the women and young ladies there.
"May we sit near you? We wanted to meet and hear from the grandson of Lady Shizen who's also a wolf. Is it true, you are a wolf as well as a kitsune?" One of the young kitsune girls asked as she fluttered her eyes at Mason.
"Uh....yeah, I mean, I'm kitsune by blood, but I couldn't turn into a kitsune. It was only when I met Fenrir on my travels in the kitsune realm during the war that I found out that he and I could fuse into a hybrid wolf form." Mason explained.
"Is that your wolf? He looks so cute, may we pet him?" The other kitsune girl asked.
"Sure, he doesn't mind, he likes getting some love." Mason said as he ate more of his meal.
"I don't mind some scratching and rubbing, but I do wish to be taken seriously as a warrior hero of.....oh....yeah, that feels good right behind the ear." Fenrir said as he felt the kitsune girl scratch him behind the ears.
"So, what was your name again brave wolf knight?" The first kitsune girl asked Mason.
"Oh, my name's Mason. But I'm not exactly a knight, I mean I am a bit of a warrior since I was in the war. But really I only got so much training from my uncle Fukushu that..." Mason said as the kitsune girls now looked astonished.
"Your uncle is the great Fukushu?" The first kitusne girl asked astonished.
"You must be quite the warrior if you trained under him." The second kitsune girl admired.
"Well like I said, I only had so much time to train, but I did learn a lot and it helped saved my friends, as well as my girlfriend on the battlefield." Mason further explained.
"Oh....you have a girlfriend already?" The second kitsune girl asked as both kitsune girls now looked a little disappointed.
"Yeah, she's an amazing magic user and saved many of the lives out on the battlefield, if not for her and her sister, many more lives might have been lost." Mason explained. "I also saved my girlfriend on the battlefield too, it was the first time I changed into my hybrid form, I rushed over and saved her from an enemy soldier and held her in my arms." Mason further detailed as the kitsune girls now imagined Mason in his muscular form holding one of them.
Nyx hid her mouth from chuckling as Aaron nudged her, although the three of them didn't notice the young couple hiding their laughter.
"Hey come on, it's the first time in a long time he's actually getting some praise from other kitsune outside of the family." Aaron whispered to Nyx.
"I know, I'm sorry. But I wonder if he notices that those two are totally crushing on him?" Nyx whispered back.
"I hope not. Anjelica would not be happy if she knew those girls were crushing on him." Aaron replied to his girlfriend.
Back over with Haley and Kari, Kari had her hand on her face as she listened to her sister exaggerate what had actually happened on the battlefield.
"Yeah, admittedly my sister is more of the magic user on the battlefield, but really, I think a war hammer and the like are a little more useful tools in battle. Especially when you're surrounded on all fronts and magic can help from a distance, but when you have enemies just a few feet away from you, you really gotta get your upper body strength in gear." Haley said as Kari shook her head with a smile.
"Your sister sounds like she likes to talk a lot?" A male voice said as Kari turned to see a handsome looking kitsune boy her age wearing glasses.
"Oh, yeah, well....she uh....she is more of the talker in the family. I'm more of the do-er in the family, you know I'm like....the mom because I want to be...a mom....someday." Kari shyly said as she gave an embarrassing smile.
"That's cool, not every kitsune women like yourself say they want to be a mother at your age, they prefer to just party. But you seem very prudent to me, I understand that there also might be some dancing after the meal, would you perhaps save a dance for me?" The handsome kitsune boy asked.
"I...I....I'd love to, that sounds like fun." Kari said while trying not to blush.
"Wonderful, my name's Genki, by the way."
"I'm Kari, it was nice to meet you." Kari said as the boy nodded and walked away. As he walked away, Kari gave a loving sigh and she happily waved her tails behind Haley and didn't seem to notice that she was bumping her sister.
"Kari, hey, Kari, knock it off, you're interrupting my storytelling." Haley said as Kari seemed lost in her own world.
Mika and Claudia had watched the scenes play out from a distance and thought just like Aaron that Mason getting a few girls crushing on him was a little humorous as was seeing their oldest daughter talking to a rather handsome kitsune boy and obviously crushing on him.
"It's so nice to see the kids getting a little celebrity worship." Mika said as she ate some of her food.
"Yeah, but let's just hope that the celebrity worship doesn't go to their heads." Claudia said eating some of her own meal.
"It seems like it's already gone to Haley's head. I think it's because she takes too much after you." Mika joked to her wife who nudged her arm back jokingly.
Just as they were speaking, a woman who looked to be of high nobility came over to them and sat down across from them.
"So I take it you two are the mothers of the so-called heroes of the civil war?" The very opulent looking kitsune woman asked.
"Uh...yep, that would be us. Proud mothers of four and three of those four are the awesome heroes of battle." Claudia admitted proudly.
"Three of your four children are heroes? I suppose he was too busy chasing succubus tail as it seems. I honestly don't know what he sees in that demon girl." The opulent woman said shaking her head as Claudia started to stand up to say something but Mika held her wife back down.
"Well....she is a princess to a very powerful vampire lord, I don't think you want to offend her, especially when she has very good hearing." Mika said as her eye twitched a little bit.
"Hmph, I suppose not. But how did you manage with those two? You know the tiger one and the one who....has that beast with him?" The opulent woman said pointing to Haley and Mason.
"I'm sorry, how did we manage?" Claudia asked drumming her fingers along the table.
"Yes, your oldest son and your oldest daughter, aren't they? They seem to have true kitsune blood in them while your other daughter changes into a tiger of all creatures, they're such lesser beings. Then there's also your youngest son, he has to fuse with a...filthy mongrel just to pass as an anthro? He should really count himself lucky that he was born into a family with a respectable lineage. It is surprising to me how they turned out with your miscegenation." The opulent woman said shaking her head as that was the final breaking point for both Mika and Claudia as they both stood up in anger.
Mika suddenly shifted into her jade kitsune form with her five tails, while her wife shifted into her anthro flame tigress form.
"Here's a thought: why don't you get off your high horse and appreciate that my son saved your furry prissy ass during a civil war!" Mika says growling at the offensive rich woman.
"Yeah, and if you ever indirectly insult my son or any of my children then I'll shave the fur off your stuffy rich ass and set it on fire!" Claudia added.
"Well! I never! I didn't think lord Tatsu and lady Shizen had such rude offspring, they'll hear of this, mark my words." The rich woman said stomping her foot.
Claudia was about to say something, when Mika put her hand in front of her wife with a smirk on her face.
"You know what? Go ahead, go tell lady Shizen how rude we were to you, I'm sure she'll have some strong words to say." Mika said with a smirk.
"I'll do just that." The rich woman said in a huff as she left the two of them.
"Honey, what are you doing?" Claudia asked her wife raising her eyebrow.
"Let's just watch and see how this plays out." Mika suggested to her wife as Claudia eyed Mika up and down.
"You know, it's been quite a while since I saw you in your kitsune form, I forgot how perfectly gorgeous you are." Claudia complimented.
"Right back at you." Mika winked.
Meanwhile the snobby rich kitsune woman walked furiously over to lord Tatsu and lady Shizen's table where they were having a little laugh of their own.
"Lady Shizen, I must express my displeasure at the mothers of your grandchildren. They are two of the rudest women I have ever met." The rich woman said in a huff.
"Oh? So tell me then, what did you say to have them come off as rude to you?" Lady Shizen asked keeping calm as Tatsu scooted a little ways away from his wife, understanding his wife's calm demeanor was in danger of slipping.
"I only said that they should count themselves lucky that their tiger daughter should be thought of as a kitsune when she's clearly not as important as her true blooded kitsune sister or brother. Then there's also that one who has to fuse with that cur of his, I suppose it should come as no surprise considering he seems to take after that hillbilly mother of his." The rich woman said as she crossed her arms.
"I see. Give me a moment please?" Shizen said as she drank from her cup which had sake in it, and drank it entirely down within a moment.
"Okay, now, let's have a nice chat, you and I?" Shizen said as Tatsu watched his wife curiously as she got up from her chair and took the woman aside as all the other party goers continued talking while the Harris family watched Shizen curiously as she walked the woman towards the front.
"I've got to tell you lady Shizen, I'm so glad you understand how difficult it can be to have grandchildren who aren't full blooded kitsune, they must seem like a black stain on your perfect family legacy. I don't even understand how one of them is your daughter, when she looks nothing like you...Yoi tengoku!" The rich woman shouted as she was suddenly grabbed by her backside by lady Shizen as she turned the woman to face her and Shizen took a very deep breath.
"I would advise you to never dare coming back into my home or insult my family again, especially not my own grandchildren." Shizen said sternly to the woman. The rude kitsune balking as she gazed into the celestial eyes. Although Shizen maintained a serene expression within her dark iris she witnessed a storm of cosmic power that could transform her to atoms.
"Now, please excuse yourself from my home." Shizen smiled as the rich woman nodded and terrified as she was, exited from the building.
Everyone was staring in shock at Shizen for this action.
"Woo! Way to go Shizen!" Mika shouted victoriously as the other guests clapped, although they weren't entirely sure why, but they did know from then on not to ever piss off lady Shizen and not to ever insult her grandchildren.