A Day Off (Emma!)

It was slow, for once in Jump City. Even the criminals needed a day off. Suzuki was happy to allow them the courtesy. She too found herself enjoying it, but she wouldn't leave the public. She would need to remain diligent to protect them if she had to...

So she settled for reading in the park. That was how she often relaxed. She was dancing between two books, but finally settled on a religious one. She was afraid that leaving home might cost her her blessings, but it was a risk she was willing to take. To compensate, she brought many Shinto books. That's what she was reading now on her day off.

The book was about Inari, one of the Shinto Gods of foxes, fertility, and all sorts of fun stuff. Suzuki remember one time she'd met a Kitsune, proving the existence of such a God in her eyes. They were slippery devils.

Nina would walk into the park, listening to her ipod from her pocket, wearing her usual jeans and converse and a black t-shirt with a dark blue jacket loosely on her body. Her five tails came out from a hole in the back of her jeans and her ears were visible in the open, she would walk over to the hotdog stand and get a ketchup and mustard hotdog before walking over to Suzuki to sit under the tree to the left of her, leaning against the tree and eating the hotdog calmly.

Suzuki noticed the tails and ears before she even made it to the hot dog stand. Her eyes activated immediately, squinting at the fox. She wouldn't want to fall victim to any illusions. She'd dealt with kitsune before, but Jump City was different than Japan. Perhaps even their foxes were different. The lady walked towards Suzuki, and she thought that the Kitsune might know who Suzuki was, but the thought was dispelled when the fox sat at the tree to eat her hot dog.

"Kitsune..." She said, loud enough for the fox to hear. "Aren't you a little far from home?"

Suzuki said, but gave a sly smile. It was relaxing to see something that actually made sense to her. Clown gangs and French aliens had her all turned around.

Nina blinked and looked to Suzuki "England? Yeah I guess America is pretty far from England..." she said wistfully before taking a bite of her hotdog and licking her lips "but the food is pretty good here, and my store is probably doing better here than it would be in England" she added with half a mouthful of food.

This only made Suzuki more interested. The girl was from England? Not Japan? She thought that kitsune nests were in Japan, around the hidden temples. That's what she was taught, at least. Learning every day was a good thing, though.

"My name is Suzuki Uchiha." She said, offering the girl a handshake. "I follow Shinto very closely. I'm a member of Susano'o, Amaterasu, and Tsukuyomi temples. The Gods have been kind to me."

She wondered if the kitsune even knew of the Gods, if she was from England.

She smiled and nodded "ah that's pretty cool!" she said before reaching down her shirt and taking out her necklace with a Shinto shrine archway with 稲荷大神 written on the top bar and Inari Ōkami written on the lower bar "my mum taught me everything about Japan and about what I am, everything I should know about Japan and where I come from, my mum moved to England before I was born in hopes of a better life for me...turns out England doesn't revere foxes as much as Japan, my friends and I had many encounters between hunting dogs and the sound of horns" she explained "but we managed to use tricks to escape them, the looks on their faces when we seemingly vanished into thin air" she said with a chuckle.

Suzuki recognized the necklace, knowing the shrine. She'd visited there herself before, to be completely honest. She stood up, only to sit next to the Kitsune. "It's nice to see something that makes sense. This city doesn't make much sense. Kitsune are tricky, but they're something I know at lease."

Suzuki said with a half smile, starting to read again. "Can I ask your name?"

Nina nodded happily "yeah, the city can be a little bewildering at times, that's why once I got to this city I stayed in my fox form for two years to observe human activity, I hate to admit it in human form but some people do throw away perfectly good food, but it did make my life on the streets a lot easier" she explained "b-but don't worry, I don't go rummaging through bins now that I can pay for actual food!" she exclaimed quickly before she gave a little sigh at her own quick outburst, she'd probably said too much already now "my name is Nina, Nina Vulpes, but you can call me whatever you like, some friends call me Tails which I find funny" she said with a chuckle "I also own and sleep in a comic book store called Comics For Fans, but it sells manga and anime and various other things too, I also have a room where my customers can sit and play card games or D&D too" she added, now she just felt like she was ranting too much about herself so she decided to stop talking now, but someone actually from Japan, that excited her a little, she'd always wanted to visit Japan and see her grandmother.

The fox was a curious one. Suzuki never thought she'd find a kitsune endearing, but this one was almost there. Assuming that what she was saying was true. It'd be annoying to doubt everything she said though, so Suzuki settled on believing everything at face value. If they were disproved, they were disproved.

"I can agree. I've never lived in a big city, I'm new here. It can all be... much, to be honest. Takes adjusting." She said, sighing a bit at the thoughts. She still hadn't found a permanent place to stay. She was getting tired of motels. "Though, I'll admit I've never played any card games, I have read some manga. In Japan, it was all the rage. It's nice to meet you, Nina. A creature that makes sense to me is always pleasant in this world of uncertainty."

Nina would smile with a nod "hey urm...do you want to come over and check out my store? I've never met someone other than my mother and den cousins who come from Japan, it'll be fun, maybe we can have conversations in Japanese and stuff like that" she said with an excited grin as her five tails swished from side to side like a happy dog, she would then stand up and offer Suzuki her hand "I even have my own Japanese room with tatami mats and a kotatsu" she said happily.

Suzuki took the hand that Nina offered, getting up with a smile. The idea of hanging out in a familiar environment was a good one. "I would love that, it sounds great." She didn't deactivate her eyes, that would be too trusting, but she was letting herself become nostalgic with the Kitsune. She waited for Nina to lead the way.

Nina would hold Suzuki's hand happily and lead her to her store, walking down a few streets, crossing a few roads, along the way Nina would get a few "hey"s and "hello"s to which she would just explain to Suzuki "I'm pretty popular with the nerdy types, I've got my own army ready to protect me" she said jokingly, although it was true a few of her customers had asked her out a few times, she had gently let them down and told them that their princess was in another castle, although they still remained loyal to her, she would still encourage them and give tips on finding cute girls.

Once they arrived at her store, Nina would take out her key and closed it behind them, there was a sign on the door that said "Out to Lunch" so they wouldn't be disturbed by customers, but the door still had a bell above it, letting her know when the door did open "alright, it's just behind the counter" she explained as she opened the counter's latch and walked to the door that said "Staff Only" behind the counter, it led to a long hallway which on the left had a normal looking door, and on the right it had a Japanese style sliding paper door, at the end of the hallway there were two large double doors that led to the storage and delivery area and just beside those in a corner was a spiral staircase leading up and down to different levels "come in, make yourself at home, I'll make us some tea, anything specific you fancy?" she asked as she took her shoes off outside the sliding door and opened it to reveal a completely Japanese inspired room, down to the lacquer chests and drawers "I've got a bunch of kimonos if you want to play dress-up too" she said with a chuckle a she went over to a small and basic looking kitchen area and started on the tea, there was also a modestly sized TV with anime DVDs in the stand underneath it, ontop of the drawers would be a cute collection of colourful kokeshi dolls on a stand with a small scenery screen around them and around the kokatsu were four pillows positioned towards the TV, the kokatsu had a cute fox pattern on it. There was no sliding door to reveal a koi pond but the walls were decorated in beautiful Japanese prints, one of which was the well known Great Wave at Kanagawa.

When Nina led them into the room, Suzuki's eyes scanned everything quickly. She got a little antsy, wanting to look at her anime collection. She kicked her shoes to the side, sitting herself politely at the kokatsu. "I like white tea." She answered, but her eyes were glued on the anime section. She was a big fan of manga when she was in Japan, and found it hard to keep up with current manga in America.

A slight gasp escaped her lips when she saw her favorite manga in anime form resting on her shelf. Tokyo Ghoul. "C-could we put on a show? Maybe?" She asked, shyly.

Nina would make them their tea then bring them their cups and place them on the kokatsu, she nodded with a smile "which one do you fancy? Take your pick~" she said as she walked over to the anime and would let Suzuki get a good look at the selection of anime, turning on the TV and switching on the DVD player, she would get ready to insert whichever disk Suzuki asked for.

Despite Nina opening the cabinet more so that Suzuki could see it more than before, she pounced on the Tokyo Ghoul DVD. She was very excited to see her favorite characters animated. It had been a very long time since Suzuki really treated herself. Her quest to find the Titans was hard work. Their attention was elusive.

"Arigato, Nina-san." She said, bowing her head low, then sipping on the tea. It reminded her of home, and by proxy family. She wondered what her brother was up to. The man was harder to keep up with than the Titans.