Hidden Within

Chapter 1

Everything was discombobulated, pain and cold bit everywhere, her lungs burning as ice cold water hits them. She was being tossed around by water, but she could not see anything. She gasps for air any time her head breached the surface, but the current was so fast there was not much time. Coughing and spitting while also trying to get air made everything spin even more. She was hitting small sharps rocks, and she could feel her legs, arms and torso being scrapped and cut as she went. If she didn’t do something different, she was going to die. Fighting against the current, she starts to look for things to grab on to. The water smashed her back into a rock, and pain screamed threw her body, but it’s big and she does her best to turn her body to hold onto the rock. The water drags her across the smooth side of this large rock in the middle of the river, and with some luck she manages to grab on.

She sputtered and gasped for air, spitting out some water and some bile. The river pulled on her cold body, trying to continue dragging her downstream. She held strong and did her best to pull herself out of the water and further onto the rock. Her arms burned and resisted any kind of movement. She was angry her body was reluctant to listen to her commands. Something shiny cough her attention, and it was then she realized she had something tied around her wrist, a rope cord with 2 rings looped threw. Why was that there? She couldn’t remember anything, and the water was pulling harder on her, or so it seemed. Without thinking, she grabbed the rings and keeps them in her balled-up fist. Something in her said they were important, but her grip on the rock was starting to give. She looked around, but it was too dark to tell what was there. Trees? Mountains? Lots of rocks. She gave out a small desperate cry as her fingers gave way and she slipped back down the river.

Now using one hand to keep her head above water, she desperately felt around for something else to grab onto. It felt like an eternity, the current pulling her under occasionally dragging her under. Finally, her fingers grabbed onto another rock, and she was able to catch her breath again. She knew she was in trouble, whatever strength she had was fading fast, and she wasn’t sure she could keep this up. Something told her that once she let go of this rock, she wasn’t going to get another shot. With all her might, she pulled her body out of the water and onto the rock with her legs still in the water. This rock wasn’t as big as the last, and her arms were starting to give out and her vision started to fade. “HOLD ON” she heard a voice shout, but she couldn’t see anyone. Her grip loosened and she knew she was about to lose her grip. Water washer her away and down the river she went again.

There was less fighting this time, as the water carried her downstream, dragging her under again. The cold water flooded her lungs pain seared threw her whole body and she began to black out. She felt her body begin pulled up, the biting of the cold-water subsiding. Everything was swirling, and a distorted voice was calling to her.

“Can you hear me?! “. The man called to her, but her head was spinning. She could feel her body on land, it seamed as though who ever this person was, he was cradling her shoulders using his other hand to cup her cheek. She could feel his thumb glide over her cheek bone, it was warm. Her stomach sank, and she spun her face away from him and threw up, coughing and gasping for air. A warm hand on her back made things better, it was soothing and comforting. After it seemed like the context of her stomach was out, she turned to look at her rescuer. His eyes were glowing yellow, and she swore she could see fangs in his mouth. Behind him, she thought she saw “Fox tails” she said meekly before everything went black.

               “The gala wasn’t that bad Yuki, there is no need to be so glum” Amari poked at him from the drivers’ seat. They were on their way bad from an event where he was to convince people to donate to his non-profit halfway house for those in need. It wasn’t the asking people for money thing that bothered him. He was quite good at it, the magic that coursed through his veins probably gave him an advantage but that was besides the point. It was the people. It felt like walking threw a ballroom full of mucky garbage bags all over the place. Their slime leaking into the floor and into the soil. It made him sick. “You know why I don’t like them” He griped at his friend.

               She gave a toothy smile at him, showing off her larger than average fangs. Amari was looking impeccable with her sleek green gown that complimented her ebony skin. Her warm almost glowing honey brown eyes fixed on the road as the drove them. “Well, at least you won’t have to go to another one any time soon. I’m here for you anytime you need another dater. They always have such great food.” Her accent was soft now that she had been in the states for some time, but occasionally her African roots can be heard. In the 20 years he has known this amazing woman, she hadn’t given him very much information about her life. Only that she came from the eastern Africa. She was about 6-foot-tall, just shy of his own 6’3”, with her natural curly hair bouncing around her face.

               They had been driving in silence for some time, and Yukito spent most of his time gazing out the window. He had enjoyed watching the son go down behind the mountains and seeing the wash of color on the backdrop of the sky. His bow-tie hung untied on his neck; his tailored suit not as pressed as when he left. Leaning on his hand looking out, he watched the river as they went. His vision was impeccable, and he liked watching the rapids rush down.

               The hair on the back of his neck started to rise, a tingling sensation starting to well up inside him. Danger. This caught his attention fast. Rarely was his inner voice wrong about things like this. Just as quickly as his attention was peaked, he saw down stream in the river, a person. He couldn’t tell anything other than that, and they passed them just as fast as he saw them.

“Stop the car.”

“What?” Amari questions

“STOP THE CAR NOW.” Yukito shouted. Amari slammed on the breaks and the 2019 Mercedes came to a sudden stop. Yukito unbuckled himself and got out as quick as he could. He ran back up stream, trying to get back to where he saw them. He could see they were struggling. “HOLD ON!” He shouted, only to watch as they lost their grip and started flowing downstream.

 Shivers ran down his spine as he watched them get pulled under by the current. Taking off his jacket, he started down to the bank of the river, moving along with the flow to fallow the poor sole who was stuck in it. The breached the surface further downstream, giving him a good look at the woman. He knew what he had to do. His fox came forth, shifting him into a large 9 tailed fox. Jumping onto the surface of the water, he dashes to the woman. Just as she lost her grip, Yukito dove under the water. When he surfaced, the girl was on his back and unconscious.

               Rushing to the bank, he found a sandy soft spot to set her down and shift back. Thanks to his magic, his cloths were as they were before the shift. Though now they were soaked. He knelt beside her holding her up by her shoulders. “Can you hear me?!” He said to her. She had nothing on but a thin white spaghetti strap tank top and white panties. Who ever she was, she was in bad shape. She looked emaciated, her body covered in bruises that he couldn’t tell were from being thrashed by the river or maybe something else. The fresh cuts were clearly from the river, but the scars. They were older. Where did this woman come from? Her hair seamed to be a reddish brown, but it was hard to tell while it was wet. Freckles covered the bridge of her nose and onto her cheeks. He held her head in his hand, cupping her cheek. She was cold, and unresponsive. Yukito didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop himself from wiping water off her cheek with the hand that held her face.

Keep. His fox whispered to him. He waved the mental note away as the lady seamed to be coming to. She rolled away from him and vomited on the bank. Water and bile spewed from her, as quick as it started, it had ended. Turning back to look at him, he saw her hazel green eyes. They were dull and she looked dazed. “Fox tails” is all she said before she passed out again.

That was…odd. “YUKITO!! WHATS GOING ON?!!” Amari had caught up with him from up on the road. For a second, he forgot about her. “SOMEONE WAS IN THE RIVER. SHE NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION!” with that, he picked her up bridal style and makes his way back up to the rode. Amari had the back door open for him and he lay her down in the back seat. He noticed his jacket in the front seat. Amari must have picked it up. Grabbing it, he draped it over the freezing woman to not only cover her up, but to warm her as well.

“How the hell did she end up in the river?” Amari asked him as he closed the door.

“I’m not sure, but we need to get her to the doctor.” And with that, they jumped into the car and speed off.