Time Changes Everything [Private]

Instead of focusing on the store itself, Akane started watching the cars go by instead. People walked by, some alone, some with others. Groups of people even, and while some took notice of the unusually young girl sitting on a street bench by herself, none of them bothered to ask her if she was lost or needed help. It was probably because she didn’t appear to be worried or actually lost. She knew exactly where she wanted to go, the only problem was how to actually get there from where she was currently. She watched a dark green sedan pass by but lifted her head in curiosity when she noticed it was slowing down… and stopping? Upon closer inspection it seemed like all the cars were doing something similar almost as if following a pattern but the most interesting part about the whole thing was that the people walking on the sidewalk would wait for the cars to stop and then pass in front of them to the other side! She was about to hop down and make her way across that same section of the road when she noticed the cars start moving again. Pouting, Akane pulled herself back up onto the bench but kept her eyes glued to the spot where the cars seemed to be stopping regularly.

The one main concern was the person behind the counter. Akane recognized him to be the one who used to always chase her out whenever she’d previously tried to get inside out of the cold or the rain or other types of dreadful weather. He was smiling at a lady customer while putting whatever it was she was purchasing into a bag. Instinctively lowered herself to all fours, though by now it was more of a dying impulse as Mitsuoki had ingrained into her the fact that humans could run faster on two legs. Akane released her human powers. It wasn’t an explosive release like Shiro’s, rather it merely consisted of a simple pop and swish as her foxlike ears and tail appeared. Spiritual extensions of her soul and something normal humans couldn’t even see. Akane scurried into the shop, keeping low and on all fours. It was fairly awkward to move like she used to with her now human body but she wanted to stay as low to the ground as possible to avoid being seen by the counter-man. It didn’t occur to the girl that her odd method of entry didn’t just guarantee that the store owner saw her enter the store but also made him wonder why the kid was acting so ridiculously silly.

Dipping around to another set of shelves, Akane held her head low to the ground trying to locate her lost item. “I swear, kids these days…” A woman voiced her snooty opinion, having observed Akane’s less than delicate ground hugging behavior.

”Bleh!” Akane looked up at the woman and stuck out her tongue.

“Well I never!” The woman squeaked in annoyance, turning her back to Akane before walking away.

”Funny lady…” Akane stared after the woman until she turned and disappeared down another aisle. “Where is it?” she then whined, returning to her search of the floor under the shelves in an effort to spot the missing item. She was starting to worry that maybe the store owner had found it. If that was the case she dreaded to think he might have thrown it away. All of the floors under these shelves were spotless Akane noticed… cleaner than she remembered them being.

“Can I help you find something?” Akane heard the voice and froze. She knew that voice! Who it belonged to. The girl’s face left the floor as she sat back on her feet and looked to the one who’d spoken to her. The owner stared down at her, a less than humored expression plastered across his face. His arms were crossed over his chest, but despite his posturing he didn’t appear to have any air of impatience about him. ”I lost something and I’m looking for it.” Akane stated matter of fact when he didn’t immediately reach down and try to grab her. It felt really odd to be talking to him. The first time she’d spoken to the man, she hadn’t even been able to form human words. She remembered trying to utter the best growl she could muster the first time he’d caught her sneaking around and hiding under the shelving.

”Thank you mister!” Akane gave the man a big toothy grin before returning to her floor search once again.

The man sighed. He liked kids, honestly he did but… “Something round and bumpy…?” Some balls were round and bumpy but he hadn’t seen anything like that laying around when he’d taken the time to thoroughly clean the store the other day. Wracking his brain he couldn’t think of anything he might have picked up that even remotely fit that description…

Akane made her way to the furthest shelves and eventually bumped into a second door at the back of the store. Standing she looked up at it. She could open doors now but she’d never gone in there even in her previous form so the likelihood of what she’d lost being in there was virtually impossible. ”Em… plo… ees. Ohn lee…?” Akane read the words, her head tilting to the side out of confusion and a lack of proper understanding. Her reading was coming along ever since Mitsuoki’s lessons for her had started… Slowly but she was definitely developing an ability to read words. ”What is employees only?” She asked no one in particular. The owner obviously hadn’t heard her and she simply shrugged. It wasn’t a place she expected to find her lost item in anyway.

Giving the pants another good tug at the waist, Akane put them back in as disorderly a fashion as the first things she’d taken off the shelves. She understood the basic merits of wearing the stuff but blankets were by far her favorite. Browsing around the shelves for a while she eventually found one isle that did in fact have blankets. Some were coarse, some were fluffy and downy. Come to think of it she had found this isle before. She’d enjoyed the warmth of the blankets one night after hiding away inside the store long enough to avoid detection. It’d been the most comfortable night she’d ever spent in the store but the resulting and all too immediate discharge in the morning very quickly taught her that it was not a good spot to sleep if she wanted to remain in the store during the mornings… Akane looked around the shelf towards the front of the store and pouted. The man said he would help but he was back behind his counter with another person. Whatever, she didn’t need help looking for her missing item anyway. She’d been surprised at his offer to help but it made more sense this way. The man had never been particularly warm towards her as a fox, she hardly expected him to treat her any different now that she was human.

Maybe it really had become lost forever. Either way Akane didn’t have forever to spend looking. Mitsuoki would be off duty sooner or later and she didn’t want to get in trouble for making an unauthorized visit to the human world without his knowledge or permission. She pouted, kicking the counter and turned to leave but something at the door caught her eye. It was a large clear box with several rows of slender colored objects perfectly lined up next to each other. Rushing over to it she placed her hands on the glass and stared inside with surprise. Though the glass was cold to the touch, Akane immediately recognized the object she’d been looking for. ”It’s there! It’s right there!” Akane shouted to the store owner, excitement filling her voice as she quickly figured out how to open the glass box. Pulling one of the orange bottles down Akane juggled the unusually cold glass between her hands and ran back to the counter where the man waited with a now pleasantly amused expression on his face. ”This is what I’ve been looking for! I found it!” She held up the glass bottle of Orange soda, clearly showing the man its bright orange metal cap.