The feeling of Keru's fur against mine felt rather soft and comforting and I found myself giving a soft smile. On many levels our relationship was odd. We had been arranged to marry by two wizards who had likely done something to give Keru the impression that her birth parents were involved. A part of me wondered if Salma and Dawg while they had been human pretended to be Keru's parents at our wedding, but then, Keru surely would have sensed whatever illusion spell they had cast. Or... maybe she did, but like Salma and Dawg as wizards not knowing what Keru's spell on my mind was, maybe she couldn't tell what the spell was. They had certainly brainwashed my parents as they tried to do with me. It enabled them to set us up to marry without either of us knowing the each other. And yet... we came to love each other in the course of trying to figure out why we'd been set up to marry. And thinking on what we'd learned about each other, I had to admit that Keru was the best thing to ever happen to me.
"And outside of de-brainwashing my folks... we won't have too many problems than simple adjustment," I commented and hugged Keru back, "You are the best thing to ever happen to me."
"Outside of becoming a Nine Tail?" she asked, her voice sounding slightly playful.
"No... becoming a Kitsune is at best second place to you," I told her, "I've come to love you for who you are. Not what you are."
I felt Keru's muzzle rub softly against mine. It tickled a little as my whiskers touched hers.
"I've felt the same way," Keru smiled at me, "granted for much of it I was concerned I'd have to be constantly protecting your butt..."
"Which I probably needed," I told her.
"... but you were still wanting to help and you did help," Keru continued, "and you responded to my being a Kitsune in a way that is better than any one I'd ever tried to date..."
"I can't believe I was the only human who ever treated you with respect," I answered, "what about the human who raised you? Victoria, you said her name was."
"She was kind and sweet, but I saw her as a mother and I am not a lesbian," Keru answered, "though in many ways... she was like you... or you are like she was... Many men that I met weren't like you or her..."
I then felt one hand run down the robes that the Nine Tails had given me to wear in the Magical Realm after my transformation.
"And I must also say... you became a very handsome Nine Tail," Keru said to me.
I saw a flash in her mind of the two of us in bed and doing very adult things and all nine of my tails glowing. Keru's tails were also glowing, as if Kitsune magic "spiked" when Kitsune made love with each other. I only blinked in surprise.
"Oh come on... you've found me beautiful," Keru chuckled, "you've had a hard time disguising those thoughts..."
"Did you find me handsome as a human?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You were rather cute," Keru gave a smile, "Though at the time... we were more focused on finding out who set us up and not being a couple..."
"And now we have time for that," I commented, "after thwarting two wizards and six weeks of intensive magic training for me."
I then thought back to the past six weeks that had gone on since my marriage to Keru and my transformation into a nine tailed Kitsune. We had agreed to come back to my apartment in the mortal realm and would ultimately bring Keru's parent's palace... or rather our palace to where it would be next to the garden that existed in the Magical Realm where my apartment was in the Mortal Realm. What then followed was six months of intensive training with my magic. A lot of it I knew thanks to my link with Keru, at least with regard to actually casting spells. Much of my training had actually been mental focus so that I could control the near god-like powers I now wielded. A lot of it made sense. After all, Keru was only a two tail and since she was two hundred twelve, and given the rate it took Kitsune to grow additional tails, it would take Keru six hundred eighty eight years before she would feel the power I now had. Thus she wouldn't naturally know how to wield such high levels of power... prior to my training and our link. With our link and my training, she probably also knew all the lessons of control that I had had to cram in.
"And you did well," Keru commented, "many humans don't learn as quickly as you did with regard to their magic after they become Kitsune..."
"They probably aren't mentally linked to their loves," I commented.
"True... but even still, you've done quite well." Keru answered.
"So how does that normally work? How might it have worked with us?" I wondered, sounding a little curious.
"Well... normally when a Kitsune falls in love with a human... we ask if they wish to become Kitsune as well, which among those that have married humans is usually preferred by the Kitsune as we know that we don't age and we don't want to lose those we love any more than humans do... transforming the human partner grants them the same immortality we have," Keru explained, "If the human accepts, a request to the Council is made and a Nine Tail performs the transformation spell... pouring their own immense levels of power into the human until the human cells begin to produce Kitsune magic. Though this only turns the human into a One Tail... even you, as a Nine Tail, Rick couldn't turn a human into anything more than a One Tail..."
"Well... I don't think I'll be doing much of that," I commented.
"As a member of the Council of Nine Tails, it is possible," Keru reminded me, "and if you're worried about that... don't worry. So long as you remain true to who you are... you'll do fine."
I was silent for a moment gazed off toward the front door to my apartment. Keru seemed to catch on.
"You'll do fine," Keru insisted, "You were a good man and you'll be a wonderful Kitsune... it'll take time to fully adapt..."
"You're sure?" I asked.
"Yes," Keru gave a smile, only to be interrupted by a pair of barks.
Keru and I both looked down to see Salma and Dawg sitting on a small table in front of the couch. Both barked again, and looked rather hungry.
"I suppose it's time to feed these to," I commented, "and then we'll get started on our own dinner..."
Keru only gave a knowing smile, "and then our last night of our honeymoon will be magical."
I saw the image of Keru's fantasy play through my mind again through our link.