Ran was still crying, even all the way to the house. Apparently whatever Chihiro had said to her had quite an impact, because she was now covering her face with one arm to hide the tears while her tails waved joyously behind her. It was a bit strange to see, incidentally, a person showing signs of happiness and sadness simultaneously.

As they continued to walk, Ran's tails spread out once, before curling back around her body and keeping her warm in the fur. It was one of the greatest parts of being a kitsune, the fact that you had nine large tails to keep you warm in the winter. Of course there were times that the tails could hinder her movement, and the summertime was always hard for her, and most notably it was a nightmare to even try to keep them all well-groomed, but they were hardly noticeable as long as the necessary precautions were made.

At last they made it to her house, and Ran stepped in quickly, looking all about her as she did so. Her ears gave a light twitch as she heard the door shut behind her, and she knew somehow she would be safe. "It's nice to be home, Chihiro-sama..." she replied.

Chihiro smiled as Ran embraced her, returning the embrace. Ran's cries were understandable, this was likely something that she had not expected, and was an overwhelming feeling for her. As Ran stated that she wanted to be with her, Chihiro was taken aback, however in a pleasant way.

"I promise, I will not do anything to hurt you." CHihiro said to Ran. "Come now, we're almost at my house."

Chihiro continued to lead Ran towards where she lived, which was roughly a ten minute walk from where they were. Chihiro climbed the stone steps to her house, now shivvering slightly from the cold, though it was nothing serious. She opened the door, and motioned for Ran to enter first. She followed the foxgirl inside and shut the door behind her, the warmth of the air a soft and soothing feeling against her cold skin.

"Welcome to your new home." she said with a smile, before removing her shoes.

ooc: done a little ahead of schedule. Thank you for waiting ^^

(It's all right, and thank you.)

For two whole minutes Ran stood there in shock, unable to believe what Chihiro was doing. She had just bought Ran, now she was immediately letting her free?

When she finally moved, she looked down, and her hand came up to her neck, stroking the scar that had been left behind by the tight collar around her throat. "I'm... no longer... a possession..." she stated quietly, almost to herself, before looking back at Chihiro, slowly walking up to her... then hugging her, crying all the time.

"I want to be with you..." she sobbed out, no longer caring who was watching. "No matter how you treat me, I want to remain at your side!"

Maybe she was being greedy, asking for this of the person who had bought her. After all, for a slave there were no wants, except for those of her master. She didn't care anymore, not after this. An old legend said that the kitsune race was known for loyalty. Well, turns out that at least one old legend was 100% true.

ooc: I've got a little bit of bad news. I've got mid-terms and assignments due over the next 2 weeks, which I have to really focus on. I write my last one on the 19th, so, I won't be able to roleplay again till then. But, when I'm done, I'll come right back to this RP. Just thought I'd give you a heads up rather than just disappearing. Sorry for this.

Chihiro nodded and smiled as Ran had complimented her kindness. Maybe that was why she had stopped by the slave shop. Not in a desire to promote slavery, but to extend a helping hand to one of its victims, seeing as she now had the fortune to provide. As she looked at Ran, she didn't view her as a slave, rather as a person who she was bringing home with her.

"I understand." Chihiro said, as she reached over to Ran, and removed the leash from her. "You are now fully free. If you want, you can leave, and go wherever you want. But, I think it would be wise for you to return to my house. If you leave, as a foxgirl such as yourself, you are a valuable target. But if you come with me, you will be labeled as my own property, which means if someone goes after you, they would be stealing you. I can provide you with a bed, shelter, and good food. That is all guaranteed. I urge you to think wisely... I don't have any intention of using you as a slave." Chihiro explained. Whether or not Ran decided to return home with her was her own decision, and Chihiro knew that it wouldn't be right to force her into staying with her if she didn't want to.

Ran froze in place as Chihiro undid her own jacket and placed it around the fox's body. Never before had she imagined that she would be sold to someone so... nice. So her appearance wasn't just a lie after all; she really was as nice a person as she looked. A light tint of red appeared on her face, as she hugged the jacket closer to herself. "Y-yes, please... and thank you..." she replied, walking quickly to be closer to Chihiro's side.

Her ears perked up as Chihiro asked her about the leash. "You're a kind-hearted person, Chihiro-sama... because of that this doesn't feel like a restraint. Even so... you're absolutely right I want the leash off..." she admitted, her tails wrapping around her body to further warm her.

Chihiro smiled at Ran as she introduced herself, however her voice was weak, likely impacted by the cold. The foxgirl was barely wearing anything, which made it quite evident that she would be far more impcated by the chilly weather than Chihiro was.

"Here, I think you need this a little more than I do." she said as she removed her jacket and nplaced it around Chihiro for warmth. The cold swept over her, and she shivered, however she didn't mind. "Come on now, I'll take you back home and we can get you some good food. You look like you're starving." Chihiro stated as she lead Ran in the direction towards where her house was.

It was only as they begun walking again that Chihiro really took notice of the leash that bound Ran to her. "I can assume that you want to be free of this leash as soon as possible, am I correct?" she asked.

Ran watched with sadness as Chihiro walked into the slave shop. So once again, she was being made to promote slavery, by standing right at the window where everyone could see her. She didn't want this kind of life, just promoting bondage like this, but what could she do? The collar around her neck prevented her from lashing out, and maybe every 20 minutes a small dart struck out of the wall to give her a very light sedative that she simply could not anticipate coming.

She heard the owner say "Deal!" and expected that Chihiro would be walking out, leading a new pet by a collar. What she didn't expect was that the door behind the manager's desk - the only way in or out of her cell - to be opened, as a guard attached a leash to her collar, undid her shackles, and pulled Ran toward the girl that was standing at the very edge of the door.

As Ran's body touched the cold front for the first time in three days, her body gave a spasm from the cold, and she immediately crossed her arms, attempting to keep warm. "R-Ran... Yakumo..." she stuttered out, partly out of shivering, partly out of residual fear. She didn't look like a bad person, but then again, if most of the men that came in there were as nice as they looked, then slavery never would have occured.

Chihiro walked through the back city streets on the crisp and chilly autumn day. She wore a coat to conceal her from the wind. What had brought her to the back streets was beyond her. Normally she never ventured to this area of the city, knowing it was of a darker nature than what she was accustomed to.

Chihiro was a 23 year old woman. Her parents had passed away, leaving her a comfortable sum of money, allowing her to live a comfortable life with some luxuries. She shiverred slightly as a brisk wind rose, a chill running down her spine. She continued her walk before catching a glimpse of a sign that piqued her interest. A slave shop. Normally she would have never ventured near such a place, yet, for some reason, she felt something pulling her towards it today.

She opened the door and stepped inside, the warmth of the building an inviting feature opposed to the chill outside. She began looking around, examining the various slaves for sale, however there was one who stood out amongst the rest. A fox girl, young in age, yet not too young. Chihiro was immediately attracted to her body and the outfit. SHe could tell just by looking at her that the girl was in her own personal hell at the moment. Understandably so, considering it was a slave shop after all.

Chihiro approached the slave dealer. "How much for that one?" she asked. As she negotiated and bartered a price for the fox girl, many thoughts ran through her mind. Why was she promoting such an industry as slavery? What was compelling her to buy this girl? Why had she even stepped into this building in the first place?

"Deal!" the slave trader said, as he lead Chihiro towards her newly purchased 'slave'. The foxgirl was unshackled, however her shackles were given to Chihiro, to allow her to ensure her slave didn't run away from her.

Chihiro lead the foxgirl outside, the cold air sweeping over both their bodies.

"My name is Chihiro, Chihiro Miyagushi. What's yours?" she asked.

As the sun rose for the third time ever since the young foxgirl had been brought here, Ran felt the warm light of the sun strike her sensitive ears, and uncurled her body, waking up in the process. She gave a small yawn, as she remembered the dream she had last night. It had been a great dream, of forests and meadows, and she could have sworn she saw a small village hidden within the forest, surrounded by foxes with multiple tails - the kitsune. She knew nothing of her mother, but had always imagined her to be kind, loving, and able to handle about anything. All her father ever told her was that she was a fox and thus deserved her death, a harsh eulogy that saddened her every time she heard it. His hatred didn't stop there; in fact he almost seemed to hate Ran even more than her mother, because her mother at least had been pure fox. A single tear glistened down her right cheek as she remembered how badly she had been treated by her own father.

Drifting out of her reverie, Ran looked down at the clothes that had been placed on her three days earlier, when her father had first sold her away. It was pretty skimpy, little more than a simple dress, but even that was revealing in its own ways. The top of the dress came up to just barely above her nipples, while the hem of the uniform fell down just to the top of her thighs. The uniform was extremely tight on her, and it placed a certain emphasis on her curves, which, while not quite as large as some of the other girls in the shop, were still large enough to cause people to stare, yet small enough to have some sort of substance. The only other thing she wore was a small white collar. Smooth to the touch, Ran had tried multiple times to take it off, but could not even get a reasonably decent grip on the stupid thing.

She was the only girl on display, mainly because the window stand was too small to contain two slaves. The door to her left was locked from the outside, the window was made of fiberglass, and there was a small shackle around her left leg which kept her within three feet of the wall, just enough to sleep, move around a bit, and stretch. She gave one more yawn. Another day of this hell, here it comes... she thought to herself.

If she only knew how close to the edge of the proverbial frying pan she was...