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Shichi shifted again, trying to keep the precious egg inside his robe as best he could. “Keeping the egg warm is more important than youOW! Chiyo!” The Tengu reached up to rub at the stinging spot on his neck. “You know, I don’t have to carry you around… You could walk.”

"This is far more comfortable." After spitting out a downy feather and grimaced at the taste, the Kitsune suddenly tensed up and began sniffing at the air.

"What? What is it?" Shichi glanced back at his companion anxiously.

Chiyo was slow to respond. “Someone’s coming. Smells… Odd.”

The monk brightened immediately. “Maybe they’ll be able to direct us to the nearest village!” Before she could reply again, the mists seemed to part and the silhouette of another traveler resolved its self. Shichi froze in his tracks, unsure if he should attempt to hide or not… After all, if Tengu villages were under attack, a lone Youkai walking down the road would probably be free game.

Before he decided, the stranger stopped, and a familiar voice challenged, “… Shichi?”

The monk-turned-Kitsune-furniture was prepared for many things in that moment; danger, a friendly hello, gruff indifference, but her voice? He was lucky to get a stuttered, “M-master?” out before his brain locked up.

"I hard heard that a Tengu doctor was working in Osaka, and then vanished, leaving a disaster," Sagiri replied as her form resolved its self from the early morning fog. "Hopefully, this one wasn’t your doing, was it?"

"I… But… No! Er…" he stammered eloquently. "Not… Entirely."

Chiyo was less impressed, but every bit as polite as she normally was. “Who’re you?”

"I am Sagiri, Shichi’s former teacher."

"Good job." The Kitsune didn’t even have the decency to wither beneath the Karasu woman’s glare. Instead, she curled up into a ball and closed her eyes, seemingly bored of the conversation already.

"Chiyo!" Shichi turned back to his former teacher and bowed, but the motion was awkward as he tried to keep the egg in place. "Master, what are you doing out this way?"

Sagiri waved his question aside and narrowed her eyes. “What is that you’re carrying?”

The monk was slightly more susceptible to his master’s glaring, and his face flushed hot before he responded. “Ah, um… It’s an egg, master.”

"… What." Not an interrogative, as the word usually implies, but blend of incredulous disbelief and stern disapproval unique to the best monk to ever live.

Shichi blanched. “No… Er, master! It’s-“

"It’s ours," the fox mumbled through her fluffy tail. "Shichi and I are married."

“CHIYO!"