Kitsune Watching
A pair of Kitsunes gab about the lives -- and the tails -- of people they know.
This story was originally a submission to FurAffinity's [url=https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thursdayprompt/Thursday Prompt[/url] writing group.
Kitsune Watching
By: DankeDonuts
https://dankedonuts.sofurry.com/
A small mezzanine off the mall's second-story food court provided a fine space for two Kitsunes -- one of brown and orange fur wearing a sand-brown kimono, the other muted shades of lavender in a brighter, leaf-print kimono -- to stop and rest their feet while enjoying icy cups of overpriced melon soda. As well as the sights of the many men, women, and children going about their travels from one store to the next.
On the floor below them, a bright collection of blue and white fur, bundled in a cherry-blossom print kimono, passed from left to right. Nine long tails swaying behind a bundle of bags.
Aki, the darker of the pair, set her drink down on her lap. Green eyes narrowed. "There goes Himari Tanaka. Ever since her ninth came in, she thinks she's Queen Shit."
"Mmm, I hear that." Yua took another sip, in order to hide an impolite frown. "Wasn't it her that had that big row with the staff of that sushi bar on Botan Street?"
"The reservation that didn't exist? Pretty sure it was. Must be nice, though. Having that much fur to throw around when you're stomping your feet at someone." Aki's four tails swished in agitation. All of them off to the left side of the bench, out of the way.
Her companion's were trailing over the right side. Yua smoothed down the fur on one them. "Then again, maybe we're the lucky ones."
"Oh?" Aki asked. "How's that."
"I can barely handle the five I have now. Thank goodness for automatic doors, or I might have snagged the 'new girl' again on the way in here. And the way I heard it, when Mitsuko Joyner got her sixth, she had to swap out half the chairs in her house. Not enough room in them for her to sit down comfortably."
Aki had to set her cup down again to laugh. "Please! Half of hers are fake."
Yua leaned away to get a better look at the friend's face. "Really? No! Not Mitsuko!"
"Uh-huh. Really. Whoever built them for her did a good job, I'll give her that." Aki leaned over to close some of the distance, and whispered, "But keep your eyes on her tips, deary. The ones on the falsies all twitch in unison. Different directions, but all at the same time and the same angle. It's subtle, but it's there."
Yua tapped her lip. "Yeah. Yeah. Now you mention it, I think I caught that back at Ichika's Solstice party. And I thought it was the booze."
"That's a whole other conversation," Aki grunted.
Yua rolled her baby-blue eyes. "One her husband isn't having, that's for sure. Oh! Isn't that Sakane Kato? Niko's Sister? Down there by the jewelry store?" She pointed without pointing; a quick jab of her muzzle. Below and to the far left. The figure almost hidden behind a clear-walled elevator.
After moment of observing the golden-furred shopper, Aki confirmed, "It is. Who else do you know that wears that much brick-a-brack clipped to her obi? How a woman her age can only have two tails, I'll never know."
"Must've had a reduction before she moved here. I keep getting ads for those on my phone."
"Too many tails. Not enough tails. Some Furs are never satisfied." Aki tuned to her friend for confirmation, and found her staring at something behind them. At first, she though Yua's attention to have been drawn by sound made by the atypically tall geta worn by the silver-haired woman who was walking past her them.
It was Yua's softly whispered "It can't be..." that drew her eyes upward to the silver and white assemble of limbs that trailed behind modestly moving hips.
Aki confirmed the count. "Ten?!?!"
The word, spoken far too loudly, was an alarm bell. Their bodies shot to proper posture, faces and eyes forward. They said not a word for the next several moments. Instead focusing their mouths on several long sips of their sodas.
It was Yua who broke the silence. "Falsies."
Aki nodded. "Gotta be falsies."