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Chapter Thirteen: Nobu II:

No one suspects him; he was the quiet brother in the Kimoto family. Yasuo could be described as violent and a kiss-up while Shichiro was the tool of the family. Nobu just hid in the background. He could be compared to Tom Hagan in /The Godfather/. Nobu kept the peace among brothers. In fact, his kills were merciful compared to his mother and brothers'.

Today, he had to stop this madness. The “Kill Anna Mission” took on a new development.

She has the mother kitsune? Nobu thought on a train ride from Kobe and Tokyo. That can't be possible. This all started back in August.

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Haruka flew into a rage at Shichiro's failure to kill Anna. "You let her go?" she snapped. "Why? Why?" Shichiro trembled on the kitchen floor. He looked over at his brothers for help. They didn't dare do so. Haruka took in another heavy breath.

"Look at me!" she snapped. Shichiro jerked his head forward. He tightly shut his eyes.

"Kohaku called her mother!" he cried. Haruka gave him an odd look.

"What?" she asked. Her middle son sat up.

"I sent Kohaku to kill her through that young shinigami," he explained. "But…"

"But what?"

Shichiro breathed out. "It believes Anna has their mother in her soul." Haruka drew back as she took a moment to think.

"Their mother, huh?" she asked. Her son nodded as his mother sat back.

"Well," she said. "This is unexpected." Shichiro blinked at her.

"Now what?" he asked. Haruka glanced up at him.

"We'll have to check this out, of course!" she said. Shichiro nodded. Haruka sneered at her boys.

"What?" she barked. "I'm done with you shits! Get out of here!" Her sons did just that.

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So now fast forward to November. Nobu looked out the window at the moving scenery. Daisuke…/, he thought. /What were you thinking? You can't protect Anna from our curse. She will fall like the rest of us. Our family is like the weeping demon in the fable. She will suffer just like our ancestors. There is no point in fighting back. You tried to cheat fate and look what happened. You left her an orphan for ten years. Nobu shook his head. /You couldn't escape and neither can she. We are all chained to our fate./

The train went further into Tokyo.

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Meixiang tried to stay calm. "What?" she cried. Anna smiled to herself.

"My, my, my," she said. "Where to begin? What have you gotten yourself into?"

"What do you mean? Why do you have a kitsune in your soul?"

"Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"Does it matter? It's freaking me out!"

Anna sighed as she dropped her shoulders. "Well, the long version is rather complicated. Don't know how to shorten it."

"I don't care! What the hell?"

"Okay, okay. Just calm down, will ya?"

"Calm down? Calm down? How the hell…"

"Shhh! Just breathe in."

"But…"

"Breathe, and I'll tell you the best way that I can," Anna told her. Meixiang went quiet as she took in slow breaths.

The hostage waited before speaking. "Calmer now?"

"Barely, now what the hell is this kitsune thing you have here?"

"Okay, it's a curse."

"A curse? You don't mean…"

Anna pressed her lips together. "Afraid so."

"So you are…"

"That's right."

Meixiang closed her mouth, shocked. "Wow…"

"Yeah."

"From which branch?"

"I am Daisuke's daughter."

"Ah…" Meixiang said in a low voice. The conversation got cut off by footsteps. Both women looked up. Fan stood in the doorway.

"Everything okay in here?" he asked.

"Yes," Anna lied.

"She's a Kimoto!" Meixiang cried. Fan gave her a stranger look.

"Say what?" he asked.

"She is one of the kitsune tsukai!" Meixiang shouted. The leader glanced over at Anna.

"This true?" he asked.

"As much as I wish it wasn't, yeah. It is," she replied. Fan thought about the current situation.

"Well," he said. "This is a rather interesting turn of events."

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Outside, Nobu trailed the kitsune to an abandoned warehouse. He peeked in through the back window. He could sense exactly what her captors were. He shook his head to himself.

"Oh my, my, my," the old man muttered to himself. "Anna-chan, what you gotten yourself into now?"