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The Incident

A Perfect Spell story about Mori having to pick Chris up from school for getting into a fight! You’ve heard of mama bear, now get ready for papa kitsune.

Word count: 1598. PG: implied violence, implied animal cruelty.

Other Perfect Spell stories: https://vol-ia.tumblr.com/post/164697611963/philomela

https://vol-ia.tumblr.com/post/166005091008/write-tober-2

Mori walked up to the administration desk. Nobody seemed to notice.

In a way, it was kind of nice. After so many centuries of upheaval and effort, to have a kitsune be gently ignored in a busy office was something of a milestone. In another, much more present way, it was deeply inconvenient and needed to stop right now.

He gently cleared his throat, leaning in through the window and glancing around for the least busy looking person.

“Yes, hello! I am sorry to interrupt you but I was instructed to come and collect my son?”

***

Mori found Chris sitting in the waiting room outside the principal’s office. He looked sullen and withdrawn, and was clutching a cardboard box. He was dirty, his hands and uniform both stained, and he had dried blood on his fur around his nose.

He heard Mori come in, and looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.

Elise was much better at this sort of thing, but they’d called him, so he would have to do.

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

“Okay. I will speak to the principal and then we will go home.”

“Okay.”

Mori took a deep breath, wishing that none of this was happening. “I understand there was another boy involved?”

“It was Lewis.”

Ah. The Bennet family.

“I take it that Mrs. Bennet is currently speaking with the principal, then.”

“She wants them to expel me.”

“I expect she wants a great many things. I will be back shortly.”

Mori practiced his long trained sense of self control, forcing his tail to not swish back and forth as he straightened up. He could hear two voices on the other side of the door, now that he noticed it, one exercising a soothing, practiced calm, and the other, shrill. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward to open the door.

***

“We were all offered, assurances, that the little animal would not be dangerous!” She glanced at Mori when she spat the word, a poisonous look.

“This ‘little animal’ you are referring to would be my son, yes?” Mori interjected, trying not to growl. It made humans nervous when he growled.

“Yes! Lewis has a black eye, a sprained wrist, and bruises all over, and photos day is next week! And it’s all because your feral brat attacked him, unprovoked!”

“Mrs. Bennet,” The principal interrupted, “According to everyone involved but your son, that is clearly not the case.”

“...Are you suggesting that my precious boy is a liar?! I’ll have you fired for defending that animal, you and the whole faculty!”

“Please refrain from shouting, or using slurs. We’re all adults, madam.” The principal had interjected on his behalf, but Mori could feel his eye starting to twitch.

“I’ll say whatever I damn well like! You and this school and this whole damn town are in the pocket of this fox family and don’t think for a minute that I’ll let you get away with sweeping this incident under the rug!”

“The school has a series of rules and procedures for dealing with schoolyard violence. Unfortunately, it is a thing that comes up from time to time when you keep a thousand teenagers in the same building every day. We will be following those procedures to the letter with regards to this incident, and if you are dissatisfied with our conduct, you are of course more, than welcome to raise a complaint with the board of education.”

“Don’t think that I won’t! Lewis could have been killed! That freak out there needs to learn self control, or he should be made to be leashed and muzzled like the rabid dog he is!”

The principal’s mouth tightened. Mori understood that he and Chris were on very friendly terms. Chris had a solid rapport with most adults. Mori spoke first, saving him the hassle of trying to reason with the woman.

“Mrs… Bennet. Just to be sure, you are accusing my son of losing control and attacking your son in something like a blind, ‘feral’ rage, correct?”

“Yes!” She opened her mouth to complain more, but Mori continued.

“Did you know?” Mori clicked his fingers, causing a small flame to spark up at the tips. The woman gasped. “Kitsune are born into a knowing of fire.”

“F-... D-don’t you threaten me!”

“I am not threatening you, I am just teaching you about my species, in an attempt to clarify a miscommunication. Do you agree?” Mori motioned to the principal, who had leant back slightly in his chair.

“...Of course.”

“But-!”

The flame on Mori’s fingertips flared, causing the woman to gasp and fall silent. After a moment, Mori continued.

“Often, my kind cast our first spell of fire before we can see properly. Long before we can talk. We learn the language of fire first, and see our own light before we ever see the light of the sun. For many of my kind, fire comes easier than speech, easier than thought. Maybe too easily.”

Mori juggled the flame from fingertip to fingertip, playing with it as he had so often in his youth.

“It is, perhaps, a failing of my species that we tend to solve so many of our problems with fire. But, you probably understand, when it’s what you know best… Well, they say here, that when all that you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, yes?”

The flame grew, engulfing Mori’s hand. It was cool against his fur, although he knew the heat it was projecting would be singeing the eyebrows of the woman sitting next to him.

“And you mean to suggest that my son lacks self control? If he was truly the wild beast that you delight in suggesting he is, well…”

Mori snuffed the flame out.

“Your son would be dead.”

There was complete silence in the room. Mori clapped his hands together, popping the bubble, making an effort to force some cheer into his voice.

“It is fortunate for us all that you are as wrong as you are unpleasant to talk to. Now, if there’s nothing else, I understand that my son is to be sent home early today?”

***

“Omae wa hontou ni taido ga warui na…” Mori muttered to himself as he pulled the door shut behind him. Some people, honestly.

Not so long ago, dealing with belligerent people had much less civil and a lot more straightforward. Clearly, the present was better than the past and its violence, but sometimes, Mori found himself wistfully reminiscing about the good old days, back in the 1600’s when he’d been young and strong and nobody in their right mind dared to talk back at him about whatever inane garbage was polluting their minds.

Sometimes, the weight of centuries was very heavy indeed.

Still, there were reasons to remain here, in the present. Mori crouched down, touching Chris gently on the shoulder, startling him out of whatever trance he had been in.

“Ready to go?”

“I… Will they let me back?”

“Based off of the accounts of everyone involved, it has been determined that you will not be expelled. You and Lewis both will be punished for getting into a fight, although if it’s any consolation, he has been suspended for a week and you have only been suspended for the rest of today and tomorrow.”

Chris whined, cringing down in his chair, clearly more focused on the suspension than the leniency. Mori could barely stand to see his son so upset. There would be plenty of time for holding him later, once he was home and away from this place.

“D-do you think the witches’ association will want me still if I’ve got a record?”

“That is what y-?” Mori stopped himself. “...From what I’ve gleaned, they consider multiple childhood misdemeanors to be a requirement for entry.”

“Oh.” Chris looked back down at the box he was cradling. Right. The box.

“This… This would be the bird that was mentioned, yes?”

“Yeah. They were gonna just… Throw it out, like it was trash. It was alive, this morning.”

He sounded so small and fragile as he said it.

“We can give it rites and lay it to rest in the garden. I’m sure that will appease the bird’s soul.”

Mori heard a tiny sound. There was a small wet spot on the box.

“If I’d… If I’d done something sooner, t-then maybe it might still be alive.” Chris’s voice cracked, raw with sadness. “Why can’t I fix it? I-I messed up and I wanna fix it.”

“There’s no spell that will heal death, son.” The words sounded a lot calmer than Mori felt.

Remaining calm and being strong for him was important, now. He could feel it. Mori considered his next words as best he could, mindful of the potential negative repercussions.

“...As a… A witch. You will sometimes be called upon to act, that we might not lose something we can never get back. Magic can be dangerous, yes, but also powerful, and as caretakers of that power, we must be responsible. Do not act in haste, but also... Do not be afraid to act.”

Mori gently took the box from Chris. Inside, the weight of the bird shifted slightly. It was surprisingly heavy.

“I won’t let it happen again.”

Mori could have wept. He was so young, and tender, and caring. Too young for such anguish. Instead, he smiled.

“Come on, let us get you home and cleaned up. Your mother will mur- ...Uh, yell, at me, if she comes home and finds you scruffy like this.”

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