Kitsune: The Flip Side

Lou only realizes how drugged up he is when he starts trying to get dressed. His fingers barely obey him. That bloody medicine—it’ll knock him out completely soon… But before that, he’ll have to listen to another “request set” from Mr. Simmons, singing in Sailor Moon’s voice… Colored glints are already crawling across the walls. Kit has to help him—zip his jeans, tie his laces. He’d thought he was nearly crushing his love in his embrace, but in reality, he could barely move. He’d spent too much energy fighting—swearing, spitting, and wriggling like an eel to stop the nurse from giving him the jab. Eventually, a male orderly just sat on him to keep him still. Seeing him naked, Kitty starts crying again, saying that if it weren’t for the tattoos, he’d be practically transparent. “Don’t cry, sweetness, it’s all going to be fine…” Louis says, trying to sound stronger than he feels. Louis has to lean on her shoulder to stay upright. Noise is coming from the corridor; something is definitely going off out there. Kit cracks the door, peeks out—Let’s go! Tom and his gang, “The Galaxy,” friends and friends of friends, total strangers—they are literally storming the ward. Tom is throwing a proper tantrum at the duty nurse to distract her, and that’s how Kit managed to slip into the room. Baffled orderlies are trying to hold back the surging crowd. The nurse is screaming into the phone, calling security, the police, and God knows who else. That harridan… the same one whose finger Lou bit. Seeing them in the corridor, Jeff gives the signal. The crowd, chanting loudly like football fans, lunges forward. Kit and Lou simply blend in and slip towards the exit, shielded from the staff by tattooed shoulders, colorful t-shirts, and messy hair. Moving as fast as Lou can manage, they head down the back stairs to the ground floor, duck through the staff exit, and cross the hospital yard. Lou’s head is ringing now, heavy as lead; the colored spots have started taking the shapes of yesterday’s visitors. What a persistent hallucination… His legs give way; he’s practically hanging his entire weight on Kitty. She flings open the car door, helps him onto the back seat, and calls Tom. “Yes, we’re out… that’s it, get out of there…” Louis can no longer see who’s driving. In fact, he’s starting to doubt: is this rescue mission, is Kitty—is it real, or just a figment of his imagination? The last thing he mumbles before blacking out is: "Mr. Simmons, you can fuck right off with your Japan..." Sheets… colorful ones, not the hospital kind. A soft pillow under his cheek. His hands… not tied, of course—he’s lying on his stomach. Hands tucked under the pillow. And it doesn’t smell like medicine; it smells like something pleasant… something… what… Kit’s perfume! Kitsune! Lou lunges up in bed so sharply his head spins and the room goes dark. Once the “vertigo” passes, he looks around. Yes, he’s in his own flat, in his own bed! So it wasn’t a glitch or a dream—Kit, Tom, and the lads actually nicked him from the hospital! Holding his breath, he peeks into the living room. Empty. He reaches the kitchen and freezes in the doorway: Kit and Tom are peacefully drinking beer, chatting, and looking at something on her tablet. The most beautiful sight in the world. His favorite little brother and the woman he loves. Breathe! Shit, he almost forgot. Louis takes a noisy breath and leans his shoulder against the doorframe because his head is spinning again. They look up from the tablet and smile at him. “Where is everyone else?” he asks, unable to think of anything smarter. “Bloody hell, they’re packing their gear. You’re flying to Australia tomorrow,” Tom replies. “Already?!” “Yeah. You spent three weeks rotting in that hospital.” “Fucking hell… Cheers for getting me out, guys…” Lou walks toward them, trying not to look at the spot where, three weeks ago, his life had spilled across the floor like raspberry syrup. They sit together, and hugging them both at once is the biggest high he could ever imagine. “As soon as I heard you were spitting and fighting, I knew you were okay. Time to get you out. That moron doctor had the parents terrified, told them you’d completely lost your marbles! They’d agreed to move you to the psych ward.” “Thank you, thank you, thank you…” “Don’t mention it… Saving Private Ryan was actually quite a laugh.” “Did the police nick anyone?” “Nah, it was fine… we cleared out in time. Matt got a shiner from a security guard. He’s the fiercest of us, after all, the nutter…” They laugh, because Matt is a head shorter than Tom and Lou and weighs twenty pounds less, but he really is a pitbull. He gets into every fight, starts them with glee, and always gets battered. Louis ruffles his brother’s hair, using his other arm to pull Kit tighter to his chest. Tom snorts, ducks out from under his hand, and says: “Right, you two get all lovey-dovey, I’m off… I’ve still got the job of calming Mum and Dad down. Austin’s at my place, by the way. Don’t worry… And Kit, give this prat a proper hiding for me…” Tom leaves, making meaningful faces, leaving Louis—dizzy with happiness and the sense of freedom—alone with his personal demon. Perhaps because of the damn drugs, for the first time in their relationship, he doesn’t want to immediately rip Kit’s clothes off and drive into her… Instead, just laying his head on her lap and feeling her fingers comb through his hair is celestial bliss. What a relief—she isn’t even doing his head in. He’s ready for whatever bollocking she wants to give him… but not right now. She hardly speaks at all, just purrs sweet, silly things and strokes him, strokes him, strokes him like a stray cat that finally came home after she’d already given him up for dead on the ramparts of love. From these gentle touches, a desire awakens in him… something new, not like that fierce urge to possess or surrender, with skin scratched raw and bitten lips. This is something tender, warm… he wants to merge with her, to dissolve. They don’t make it to the bedroom—they collapse onto the sofa in the living room. He just lies on his back, accepting everything she does. Kit is so gentle… beyond words. He never imagined she could be like this. She touches his skin with the tips of her lashes. A “butterfly kiss"—he thinks that’s what it’s called. She strokes him with her fingertips as if afraid to cause pain. Her lips don’t kiss; they glide like silk petals. The sea… oh yes, she is the sea… gentle, warm, and boundless… Later, afterwards, she lies in his arms, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder, and says: “My poor boy… even your sperm smells like medicine. I’ll kill them all.” Lou’s happiness knows no bounds. In the morning, he catches it full force. They are having breakfast in the kitchen when Kit accidentally finds a drop of blood Tom missed on the edge of the table. Her brow furrows… and she gives him a bollocking that makes his mother’s lamentations look like a Christmas card. First off, she gives his forehead a sharp flick with her palm. It doesn’t hurt (he knows what hurt feels like now), but it stings his pride. Like a naughty little brother. And then she lets out everything she thinks about his cowardice, ego, being a tosser, and all his other “delightful” character traits. If he ever does it again… she’ll finish him off herself, dismember him, and mail his bones to fans across the world. A beast, a prick, a loser… She has all the scars on her heart now that he has on his arms! Her green eyes are throwing lightning bolts. Dishes clatter into the sink. Louis listens with admiration to how skillfully she combines Russian and English epithets, thinking that any minute now, he’ll regret not being in his cozy ward under the “happy” medicine. The raging Kitsune hurricane is only stopped by his timid: “Kitten, we’re going to miss the plane…” “Kitty-kitten, come here… look at the fish…” “I’ll look at them in an aquarium!” “Come on, don’t be scared… You love swimming, don’t you?” “I love it! Where there are no sharks!” “There are no sharks here. See—look at the lifeguards on the tower. Look at the buoys—there’s a metal net. The beach is fenced off. Come on, get in…” “No sharks means there are saltwater crocodiles or venomous… jellies! It’s Australia—every venomous piece of shit in the world lives here. Spiders! Ahhhh! Why did I agree to come here? Brrr.” “Kit, your book-learning is working against you, I swear… For fuck’s sake, Ike, tell her—there are no sharks here.” “There are… look, a fin’s sticking out, and Jeff’s gone… both Jeffs…” “Kitty, don’t listen to that tosser—he’s just getting back at you for the eyebrows! Come here, kitty-cat… pspsps… don’t be a coward… I’ll protect you from all the sharks… Here, take the mask, look—isn’t it cool? There we go. And you were worried… Let’s swim over there, past the headland… there’s nobody there… Mmm… I love you, Kit… I love you…” The End :)