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Mother, what is evil?

Evil. That was a word I'd been told of.

It wasn't one you brought up in conversation much. You just knew.

It's strange though. I don't recall anyone ever being called evil... not until after the fact, at least. In fact, evil is the kind of thing people don't 'try' to be. Up until someone has decried you as an example of evil, do you even know it's something you're being--without ulterior motivation?

It's so spontaneous... when a person wants something--when they have to have something, in order to survive. Sometimes, and for some people... the line is so clear. We all have a conscience, sure--but is a conscience the same for all people--or do we just expect it to be?

Who drew the line? When? Does that line change? And how far does it extend?

*squelch*

When you're born... no--long after that point--someone often tells you that you were born into evil--born in a world full of pain, suffering, and loss. At that age, you take it for given...

*pop*

...and yet... pain and suffering are necessities--things that keep us from losing our life--things that teach us to not hurt ourselves. Loss too, is an inevitability, and each loss is another's gain.

Can it be said that those things are evil?

What if life itself was this... 'evil'? What if 'evil' came second-nature to living things?

Was I... learning to be evil?

*shriiiiiiiiiiiip*

I think... I think "evil" is a wall--one that we erect. A blanket word, so that we don't have to think about the price of existing. The things we must do, the hunger we feed... all those things require taking from somewhere. That... that to some, is evil. It's comfortable to just... just wish it away.

And yet it lingers, unwanted, unrespected, and begrudged--our need. So we fight our nature.

Sometimes I even think we were meant to be... evil. The whole world, too. What room is there for an alternative when I feel so...

So... very hungry...

*CRACK!*

"Arrghh!"

* * *

Who was I?

"Shichi?!" I called, waking to the sharp pain in my neck, and the emptiness in my belly--feeling confused--deluded... and... feverish.

It... it wasn't my voice, though.

"Shichi, what am I?!" I asked, my pitch raspy, almost a hiss. I reached my clawed fingers up to my face in horror. They were... they were perfected; captured by Shichi at last. Hardly hands at all--my fingers had webbed, distended into thick digits... and the claws were thick black-brown, capturing my vision with their shine... their curl in the moonlight... my... thumbs twitched slightly when I tried to move them, slid down my wrists in a mudslide of skin... into... into...

Your kind call them 'dewclaws'. he whispered, taking in my reaction quietly.

...when they reached my face, I stroked them through the hot fur that bushed from my cheeks. Jowls might be the better term--there was barely any fat in my face now--morevover, I felt my...

My snout.

"What's happening to us?!" I whispered, terrified.

Something amazing, Shin.

I groaned, feeling the wave of mutations wrack my body, as my tail distended an inch longer beneath my underwear, pushing up against the stretching cotton.

Mmm... that felt nice...

"You can feel this?!" I cried, tears welling up in my eyes.

For the last few hours, I've begun feeling a lot more. Your body... is giving way.

"To you?! I thought that was..."

Only supposed to happen when you 'die'. This is 'not' the same.

"That... that's not right! I want to stay... stay..."

I felt it--my nose compressing, stretching further and further away. I watched the tip roll up before my eyes, nostrils flared. No longer a point, it had rounded.

"No..."

I watched as the skin darkened, degree by degree, wrinkling, and growing cool and brown. My nostrils twitched, and I could feel the... fine droplets of moisture collecting over my nose.

I stared down between my legs, realizing the moisture that had spread in my lap at last, between the pain of waking and the shock of my new realization.

"I had a..."

Wet dream...

Was it a good dream? I didn't... know. I... pulled myself up out of the sticky, cold, wetness of my sheets and blankets, and pulled off my underwear over my spine... my... naked tail.

"I stink." I whispered, sniffing my armpits with my snout.

We smell like us. A good smell.

"It... it is!" I agreed, surprised... and then brought my hands to my face.

"What's wrong with me? I smelled like a dead skunk and piss, the last I remember... it..."

I took another whiff of myself, snuffling like a dog through my cold nostrils.

It hadn't changed--it was a stronger odor even, than ever before, especially on the backs of my hands... and...

I knelt and bent in a way that no human being should ever be able to, feeling my spine softly stretch, grow another inch or two, as my muscles and skin worked like putty.

I sniffed my groin... and my tail, with a snout that was now nearly half a foot long. The stench was overwhelming--but my brain registered no displeasure.

It just... there was something in my head--some kind of wiring that hadn't existed before. Suddenly it didn't bother me, anymore than the color blue bothers someone who prefers red.

And there was a certain pride there, too. The fox purred.

Yes... in this new sense of identity. My own smell. All mine!

I pulled my head down to the mattress, and took a whiff of the blankets. They stunk of semen... That was a bad thing, or embarassing, right? I couldn't... bring myself to feel it. What if my sense of smell got even stronger? Would it continue like this? Would I no longer distinguish good or bad smells?

I took several steps away... could still smell the sheets--could smell the scent of spunk that had stuck to my hands and the bare skin of my legs... could smell it on my discarded underpants... and dripping from the tip of my...

I nearly fainted at what 'it' was fast turning into.

_ Let's go someplace._ he said. Someplace safe for you to change.

* * *

Leaving the suburbs at night... naked... was the sort of thing no sane person does. But was I really sane anymore? The fox was talking in my head... I was talking back to it.

I was turning into the fox.

From the moment I stepped out into the cool night air--I knew; Shichi was consuming my being. It became faster, easier to slough off my human identity as the night pressed on--and my vulnerable, naked form gradually melted under his influence.

You will be safe there, I promise. I have friends who will look after you.

I wasn't sure what to think anymore. He was an old fox--snarky, petty, and selfish--but he had experienced a lot. Something about his every word made me want to listen--like a parent. And now that my form had begun to mutate to such a drastic degree--I almost felt like I was his--

My thoughts were cut off. It'd been a long walk, and my legs--which still, amazingly, retained their human shape--had grown sore. How many hours had it been now since I'd left my room? I almost felt ensorcelled... sleepwalking under the fox's guidance, as he moved my body, directed me where to go.

We stood at a vast river. I couldn't remember if it was part of the Maumee, or the Portage, or what--my grasp on geography had never been great--and it probably mattered a lot less still to a wild animal. I don't even remember what direction I walked from my home--and it was a bit scary... but...

That house. Across the river. We must swim.

I obeyed. Cautiously, I inched down about the rocks, to the shore. I knew there were all sorts of snakes that could bite me--Moccasins particularly--but I could smell them now--in fact, I knew to stay away from their dwelling places--and they were there.

No human being would ever take the risk--I'd have been terrified to walk a beach like this during the daytime...

I was numb. Deadened in the aspect of humanity that complains of how treacherous everything is.

Instead, I followed Shichi's direction, like a beacon of light. In fact, it became even easier just to drift into a dreamlike state--let him control my body, navigate the dangers for me. Once I stopped resisting, it became his own body, just as much as my own.

The cool muddy water slipped up over my waist, chilling my balls. Wait--no. That wasn't right.

I was swimming? In Ohio? In WINTER?!

"Shichi...!"

_ Quiet._

How... how... the water bubbled around me... warmed... no, no... it was hot! The heat--my body heat was not being lost to the water, but instead...

Cooking it...

Within minutes, I had dog paddled across--reached the other side, and shaken myself off.

The blue aura of flames sweltered around me... and gently died down. What would have been freezing water dripped off of me in steamy droplets.

Do not cause us to lose composure, when doing something that dangerous.

"It would have helped if you'd explained what you were going to make me do!"

I'm sorry, that's right--you're new to this still. Remember, you can adjust the temperature of your environment to the point of combustion, with enough willpower and concentration. That means the air... or water, around you, as well.

"I hadn't thought of using your power that way... Thank you for showing me..."

If you had panicked, like you often do, we may have drowned.

"Y-yeah."

I let him take my body, after that. It was strange. Since the last change, I felt like my position in my mind was different--like I was closer to Shichi's role, than I had been before.

I could just... drift into a pleasant slumber...

* * *

Water was rushing into my lungs, as snakes bit at my ankles. i kept trying to climb up out of a deep, deep lake--but my feet were heavy, sunk to the bottom.

I couldn't breathe, couldn't see in the darkness--I walked along like I had an iron ball chained around my ankle. The poison bites burned, and my head exploded, as I strode slower and slower, the shore seeming to curve up and away... far, far away from the dark place I was in...

AIR. I needed AIR!

"Wake up!"

A slap across my face broke my nightmare.

"What... where am I?" I refocused my vision.

It was a bedroom, with hardwood walls. There was a white lifesaver hanging on one side of the room, and the warm red glow of a lava lamp filled the atmosphere.

A red-headed girl sat on my feet--she must have been the the one who'd slapped me.

"Wake up!" she cried, and slapped me again.

"Ow! You didn't have to do it twice!" I cried.

"Master Shichi says you need focus. So I made sure to wake you up, so you can get focused!" she said innocently.

I shook my head, eyes crossed, and blinked. "Master... what? Shichi. Hey, Shichi!"

_ *Yawwwwwn*_

"Shichi!"

_ Good morning, Shin._

"Stop calling me that, I'm Terry!" I squeeked. "Who is this girl?!"

The efervescent creature bounced on the bed, excitedly. Her eyes gleamed emerald green--and her loose red hair fell to her shoulders--the color of lost virginity.

Oh. That would be Ichi. She's... special.

"Master, you found a body! Congratulations!" she squeeled, hugging me suffocatingly tight.

"Urgh... Shichi, why don't you TELL me things?!"

I didn't think she would be here. She has the attention span of a small child. It was one less thing for you to argue about, to just omit as much as possible until necessary.

"You're starting to pick up on how that ends up with me, right?!" I grumbled, as the girl finally released me and curled up, nestling in the blankets.

It's... complicated, Shin.

"Well, why don't you start explaining, then?!"

"No. That won't be necessary." a new voice interjected from the door to the room.

I turned to catch the face of its owner--another girl--a woman, really. She was taller than the red-head, and had very short, round-cut brown hair. Her eyes were... yellow, and slitted like a cat's.

Well, hello there, Ni. I see you and Ichi are still hanging around together.

"Yes, Shichi. We heard about your new body. Word does get around among the animals--even in a country like this. There are many wild and unleashed dogs around here, and the cats are quite loose-lipped as well. It's easy to get them to talk about you--you have a tendency to stand out, no matter how hard you try to hide."

"Shichi..." I nagged.

Ichi and Ni are my... admirers, Shin.

"Worshippers is probably more appropriate, wouldn't you say, Shichi?"

Yes... well... I haven't explained any of this to Shin yet... this is Shin, by the way.

"Hello, Shin." the woman whispered, siting down next to me, and leaning her head on my shoulder. I tensed. She was wearing clothes--men's jeans, and a button-up white dress shirt--but clothes or not, it was clearly an act of affection.

"Shichi is right--my name is Ni." He hasn't told you about either of us, has he?

"No." I said firmly, giving up on complaining about my name to this strangely serene woman.

"Shichi... do you know why Shichi wants to be with you, Shin?" she whispered, wrapping her arms around me.

"He says he wants to eat. No, that's probably not right. He's probably trying to become a 'god' or something right? Like, inhabit me and devour peoples souls? Rule the world, maybe?"

The woman laughed... her younger, wilder counterpart had fallen asleep by my side.

"Don't make Shichi out to be such a big-shot, Shin. It's really much simpler than that. You see..."

She ran a finger gently down my long, hard nose, to the cold tip.

"Shichi wants to mate, Shin. Just like every animal. He misses having feelings--a physical body. Most of all, he wants offspring--and a successor."

"A successor?" I asked, puzzled.

She nodded softly, and I felt her weight on my side, beckoning me to lie down next to her.

So I did.

She brushed my hair with her fingertips, and let out a soft, warm breath that smelled of alcohol.

"A long time ago, there were places where people and animals went to find guidance--purpose. Some of them were stories, myths passed along by humans in reverence of the world we live in."

"And... others?" I whispered, looking at her face. There was a mole underneath her right eye--just a small, flat one--but it was kind of sexy.

"Others were places where creatures really could go--to become in tune with the otherworldly, and divine. One of these places was a special spring, deep in the mountains of a distant land. One you've probably never been to--nor have I."

"Japan." I said.

"Shichi has been to that place..." Ni continued. "Was there when he was nothing more than a simple fox, Shin."

She brushed my hair aside, and held my ears, which had grown pointed.

"Just a rat-catching, ear-scratching fox. But he was different from other foxes."

"Different... different how?" I asked.

I was... curious about humans. a voice answered, from inside my head.

"Yes." the woman answered, fervently, shaking my shoulders slightly. "Yes, Shichi wanted to understand the life of a human--but moreover, he wanted to understand what seperates humans from other creatures."

And... in time, I learned. And I wasn't happy with the answer. But something had changed by then.

"Shichi knew love for a human being. Forbidden love. Wanting to fulfill that love, you know what Shichi did?"

"He tried to... be a human?" I asked, puzzled.

"No. He couldn't be a human. In fact, that was just the problem. Shichi spent years trying to become human--truly human. In time, by living in that special, sacred place, and observing humans who came to be there--by observing their determination, and desires... he learned to appear human.

_ You will find that even looking human does not stop me from knowing the ways of a fox, and practicing them. But to 'understand' as a human does, and think as they do, is alien to me--something I have studied as an outsider for centuries._

"Shichi... well, perhaps that's a better story for him to tell you, when he's ready." the woman whispered. "The point is that--Shichi used to be an ordinary fox. One day, he learned that he wanted to interact with humans. He underwent a change--that preserved his being. And then one day..."

"He died." I said, realization beginning to dawn.

I died many times. the fox concurred. Each time, I was evaporated, decomposed--the 'me' from then destroyed. But life is an unusual thing. Through determination, I retained awareness of those lives. Each time, I lost 'me'. But I found a way to preserve my identity, even to a minute degree--not falling apart completely--just instilling properties of myself into a new being--to grow... to be distilled into a 'new' fox.

"The spiritual possession of human beings." Ni said, admiringly.

"Like me." I whispered between thickening, hanging black lips.

"Yes, you beautiful baby. Just like you." she whispered, kissing my snout as my eyes widened.

"I...I..." I stammered.

"Shichi possessed you so that you can be the next Shichi. Do you understand?"

"I... don't... I..."

I felt something warm running up my leg. Her hand.

"You're going to turn into a fox, Shin."

"N-no...!" I squeeled.