We walked quietly through the forest after our encounter with the one-tail who was searching for ghosts. A lot of it made me nervous, as I could remember ghost stories as a kid. When friends and I had gone camping in Middle School and in High School, we all got a hobby of telling spooky ghost stories around the campfire, doing our best to scare the pants off each other. The fact that it seemed to have us in the midst of something bigger than anything we had initially thought of. When we'd started, it was merely to figure out why Keru's parents and my parents had engaged us, but the mention of ghosts had made Keru certain something bigger was going on.
"Is there anyone we can report some of this stuff to, other than your folks?" I asked, nervously looking into the darkness of the woods around us.
"No one that would believe us without proof," Keru answered, "Kitsune society is governed by the Council of Nine Tails... the most powerful of our kind. Once one grows their ninth tail, they are automatically on the Council and they work in much the same way as most of your city councils and other democratic governments."
"Not a bad idea... we could reason with them," I commented.
"Yes, but that also means we need proof," Keru answered, "All we have right now is that something odd is going on that could be big. It doesn't prove anything and could easily be written off as being spooked by something. It's not like we can run around like Chicken Little..."
I nodded in acknowledgement. Though then I caught on to some of the terms that Keru used.
"You seem to know a lot about American... or western metaphors," I commented off hand.
Keru actually gave a relaxed laugh, as though I'd made her feel better with the comment. "I'm a bit of a rebel within Kitsune society... not breaking the rules regarding what tricks can be played or not... but more with all the respect given to the hierarchy that my parents seemed focused on when I was growing up. Life shouldn't be about the number of tails you have, you know?" Being as that I had no tails to speak of, I nodded in agreement. "And so I came to America and lived in the mortal realm... then a few days ago I got the summons from my focus to marry you..."
"And you came thinking I was a nine-tail?" I wondered.
"I figured it'd get my folks to leave me a lone," Keru admitted, and then sighed heavily as the reality of the situation sank in again, "and now they're potentially doing something serious or are involved in something serious..."
"Ghosts," I gave a shiver, and one that I couldn't hide from her.
"It's okay," Keru assured me, "ghosts can't do magic and have no immunity to magic. So long as you stay near me, they won't risk trying to grab you."
"Suppose they have enough numbers to grab you?" I asked.
"I can't see that happening," Keru answered, "ghosts are good at haunting and scaring people... and can take it to the point where someone would commit suicide to get away from them, but they wouldn't be used to attack a Kitsune... even a Kitsune that hasn't grown their first tail yet."
We kept moving along the path nervously. It was dark, and I thought I saw what looked like eyes out in the darkness. When I did, I did my best to hurry after Keru. Only after I felt her arm reassuringly go around my back did I relax a little. After a while we came up to a wider path that could probably serve as a road that went up the steep mountain. We went along it and made steady progress going up the mountain.
"So... do you know what your parents would be doing with ghosts?" I asked.
Keru gave a heavy sigh, "I don't even know if they have hired these ghosts... for all we know they could be working for someone else. We can't be sure which until we can talk with them and see what they say..."
I looked to her as she continued, though given how her eyebrows were raised near where her eyes were closest together and closest to her muzzle.
"And then see as to whether or not they're telling the truth," Keru finished. "I might be able to sense some use of magic on their part, which would enable us to put together what are truthful answers later... but even that can be fooled with the right language or the right spell..."
"It sounds like there isn't much that can be done in either direction," I commented nervously.
"It'll be difficult, but not impossible," Keru answered, "we just need to be careful... and will need to play some deception as well..."
"Deception?" I wondered.
"That we're visiting them as a way to introduce you to my family and that we are in a sense still getting to know each other," Keru spoke.
I blinked and then nodded. I mentally kicked myself for not understanding what Keru had been talking about. It wasn't entirely a bad idea, Kitsune or not, unaging or not, I did find Keru beautiful and we did share common interests. If we had met on the street, and Keru actually gave me the time of day to allow me to talk to her, I probably would have asked her out and been friendly to her. Our specific situation might be different from that, but that didn't change Keru's beauty or our common interests.
"I can do that," I told her.
"Good," Keru answered as the sun's light began to rise in the East behind us, "because we're here."
I then looked out to see a large building sitting on the top of the mountain. Trees had been cut away and the ground was cleared enough that there was a lot of open space around the the base of the outer walls. The walls were wooden and painted white, with grayish green tiles angled down. Directly in front of us was a gate with two floors and a pagoda-like structure. The beams and trim on the gate were painted red. That in and off itself was rather impressive, but behind it, I could see an even larger pagoda-like structure behind it. All I could do was give a very impressed whistle.