Hikaru paused with a mouthful of rice halfway to his lips as he heard rustling coming from his right. Bracing himself, he watched and waited, when two foxes, large foxes at that came out of hiding. But these were no ordinary foxes, these were the kitsunes he'd seen old paintings off, heard terrifying stories about. It was a wonder why he wasn't running away pissing himself, yet he could only stare despite their frightening display, especially as they circled him like hungry vultures. To his surprise he wasn't scared of them, not truly anyway. He was trying to process the whole, foxes can talk thing, but even then he wasn't really surprised.<br/><br/>No instead he watched them as he tried to grasp at his childhood memories. He'd seen these foxes before, he knew it deep in his gut. Why did he feel he knew these foxes?<i> <br/>
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Kill?</i><br/><br/>"W-Wait... I-" He nearly dropped his food as the one man he didn't think he'd ever get the chance to see again appeared before him. Catching himself and his food, he was quick to set the bento down and stand up. He knew this man, clear as day, or this kitsune should he say. He hadn't changed a bit, he didn't think he'd even aged from when he'd last laid eyes on him at the tender age of 10. He looked between the three foxes, trying to grasp what he was seeing. Never did he think he'd be standing in the Kage no Shinzo staring at three kitsunes.<br/><br/>More to the point was that he wasn't mad or insane. For years he'd been convinced by his therapist that his memories of his time in this forest was nothing but dreams, or a childhood construct, a story he'd made up via his imagination to help him cope with the trauma of the crash and survive long enough to find help. And for a long while he almost believed it too, yet he'd always felt deep down that it had felt too real. Even then his ten year old self didn't think he could have made something that vivid, that detailed, that fantastic and precious up. After all they never could explain to him why if it was his just imagination that a fox-man had healed him, how on earth he'd managed to come out almost completely uninjured from a clearly devastating crash. Especially when he had scars and burn marks to prove he'd been injured. They'd brushed it off as a miracle.<br/><br/>But two years ago he'd checked his medical records, even in the doctors notes they were baffled by the clear signs of healing where life threatening injuries had been. Like how his MRI scan showed scar tissue on his lungs, bladder, prostrate and intestines, or how he had a CT scan that showed where muscle damage had taken place but had scarred over, clearly made by broken ribs, crushed pelvic bones, or broken arm and splintered leg. Yet he'd had none of it when he'd been in hospital. Just puncture scars and small 3rd degree burn scars from when the plane had crashed and hot metal and glass had gone flying. That wasn't even counting the ones they didn't know about. They'd written him down as a medical mystery.<br/><br/>So to be standing in front of the fox now... he didn't know what to think or to do. Running his hand through his hair in shock he could only stare. He pinched himself just to be sure he was awake. It took him a good few minutes before he could move. He finally came down off the boulder to land on the fallen leaves bellow, leaving his stuff where it was. Tentatively he took a step forward and reached out until his fingers brushed Seirei's chest. With a gasp  he withdrew his hand, still able to feel his warmth. "F-Fox-chan...?" he breathed as the memory came back to him, giving a quiet little laugh, eyes wet with unshed tears. "Y-You are real, you're real, you are really here..." Looking down at the large foxes he frowned as if trying desperately to grasp the memory. "Then are you.... Tat-chan? Nat-chan?" Using the nicknames he'd given them as a little boy and they had played together. "I didn't think I'd find you... I..."<br/><br/>Seirei's question broken through his swirl of thoughts. "I had to. I had to find you again. I had to come back and prove to myself I'm not insane, to answer the questions I've had all these years, to see for myself where..." pain and guilt flashed across his features a second before he looked away. "I just had to... No one else would, and I can't take-" He grit his teeth, shaking his head. "Please, I won't stay in your forest long I promise." He finally looked at him again, offering him a deep bow of respect. "I wanted to thank you, for all those years ago, thank you for saving my life and doing the impossible." Standing tall once more. "I-" He put up a hand in a gesture for him to stay where he was, almost afraid he would disappear on him.<br/><br/>He clambered up the boulder again to his backpack. Sealing his bento and grabbing his gift he shoved them back into his backpack before coming back down. "I-I did some research and... I know it will never be enough to thank you, but I wanted to give you these as a token of my thanks in person for the all the healing you provided and food you gave me, or I wouldn't be here now." Putting the bag down by his feet he pulled out a bag of rice, a bag of tea and special medical wrapped herbs and seeds. "I couldn't remember all of the plants you used back then, these were the only ones I could find. Some of them people had never heard of so I had to give up looking," he said rubbing the back of his neck. Maybe he really was insane.