Two years ago. . . 

Damion walked through his front door and instantly tried to get his shoes off as quickly and quietly as possible. Once they were off he peeked his head out of the small mud room and glanced around nervously. Clutching his backpack he made his way cautiously through the living room, focusing on reaching the stairs before-

"Hello Damion. How was school today?" His mom asked as she poked her head out from the kitchen, her sharp brown eyes pinning him to the spot.

"It was g-great. I'm just going up to study." He replied as evenly as he could, hoping she would let him go without giving him some kind of lecture about something he did (or didn't) do.

"Alright; I'll call you down when dinner is ready." She said slowly as she ducked back into the kitchen. He waited until he was sure she was busy in the kitchen before he raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He rushed into his room and locked the door, resting against it with a relieved sigh as his heart still hammered loudly in his chest.

"Time to get to work." He muttered as he set his backpack down on a pile of dirty clothes. Shuffling through the junk in his room he reached his sloppy bed and retrieved a large pillowcase hidden beneath it. He withdrew a presentation board from it and cleared a spot on his nearly hidden wood floor for it.

"Where is it. . . Aha!" Damion exclaimed after he rooted around in his backpack for a while until he finally found a small book hidden within. His eyes lit up in excitement as he examined the ancient book. Its bind was crinkled with age and the pages were brittle and yellow and smelled deliciously like an old book. 

"Diary of Lady Mori Ongaku." He whispered under his breath as he read the title and delicately opened the book, breathing in the scent of the old paper. 

"Oops; I almost forgot." He said to himself as he set the book down and dug another book out of his backpack. He hugged the book to his chest as he stumbled over his clutter to one of the four bookcases in his small bedroom. He laughed at himself as he realized this one was full.

"I'm going to have to get another bookcase soon." He muttered to himself as he checked the other bookcases and finally found room for it on the fourth one. He maneuvered his way back to the presentation board and the diary and sat down cross-legged. With gnawing anticipation, he picked the diary up and turned to the first page.

7-21-XX

Finally, the day has come; my beloved Felix and I are going to welcome 500,000 Humans and Kitsune to our island paradise, Tengoku. At last, there will be a place for Kitsune and Humans to live happily together. We will all be equals.

Damion stopped reading and glanced up at his board. Several newspaper clippings were pinned to it with red threads going between several of them. He pulled a sharpie from the pillowcase and pulled off the cap with his teeth as he held the board with one hand and used the other to write.

Another lie from the government. He thought as he looked over the news clipping. The clipping had a black and white image of a man with fox ears and three tails whipping a young boy with shackles and tattered clothes. Above it was the headline, "Kitsune Enslave Boy: Will They Rule Over us Again?" The story around it went into great detail as to how the Kitsune were vile beings that only thought of humans as mindless servants that existed to do their bidding.

"What a bunch of baloney," Damion muttered as he put a red slash through the clipping and put the sharpie away. He studied the different sections of his board, hoping the diary would help him uncover more truth on the Kitsune. He picked the diary up again and opened to a random page.

10-04-XX

It has been a little over four years since Tengoku welcomed 500,000 residents to its shores and the government we've established has been successful. Felix is the perfect leader for the Island and is constantly making sure everyone is happy and is treated fairly. It's all I could have ever dreamed of, yet, I have a feeling that not everyone is as happy as they appear to be. I hope that it is just a bit of paranoia.

Damion flipped eagerly ahead, thirsty for more. He stopped as a page fell out of the book, landing in his lap. "Crud, I need to be more careful." He murmured as he picked it up and began reading it.

7-16-XX

Today is a sad day. Just one week from the nineteenth anniversary of Tengoku being founded one of our head governors passed away. He was a young man so it saddens me to see him leave us so soon. I pray that he is happy watching over us as we celebrate our paradise. It will be a subdued crowd this year but I hope that everyone will enjoy it the best they can.

"I wonder who that governor was," Damion said as he tucked the page carefully back in and slowly flipped ahead to see what would happen next. He stopped at a page that was written in deep blue ink.

7-24-XX

I am deep in grief with the loss of Felix. My beloved was giving a speech, on the day of the twentieth anniversary of Tengoku when he was shot. I had been in the crowd and could not believe what happened until the crowd broke into chaos. The funeral was yesterday and it felt like it went by in a blur. I am deeply saddened that our child has to live in this paradise without his father. But I have decided that I need to do something before all is lost. I have heard the people muttering, spreading rumors that I was the one that shot him. Of all the horrid things to accuse one of! I know I will not be able to prove my innocence. When I am gone my people will need a new leader; a kitsune of my blood. However, my son is not ready for that responsibility. Therefore, I have a mask, gifted to me from my beloved, that will be a vessel to contain my power. I wish I could help them win this fight but I am afraid the humans will win and take the island for themselves; just like everywhere else. If anyone reads this I hope-

Damion jumped as a loud slam echoed downstairs. He quickly wiped his face, now realizing he had been crying as he read. He tried to stuff everything back in as quickly as he could when he heard thumping and shouting coming from downstairs and now echoing down the hallway. He yelped in shock when someone crashed into his door and tried to open it.

"Break it down." A muffled voice ordered from outside Damion's room. Damion felt terrified as he tried to get his board to fit into the pillowcase, screaming in fear when his door was knocked down and people in black suits flooded into his room.

"What are you doing in here? This is my room!" Damion shouted, fear and confusion fighting with rage inside him. A single man stepped forward and whipped off his shades to reveal a pair of triumphant brown eyes.

"Hello brother. I'm afraid you've been sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." The man replied, snapping his fingers. Immediately two of the more burly men picked up Damion and gripped him firmly by his arms. Damion tried not to focus on the pain from their powerful grips and turned a furious glare on his brother.

"Hale people need to know this! This isn't right! Both Humans and Kitsune are living in fear of one another when we're supposed to be living peacefully all together. But we messed up! It's our fault, not the Kitsune. I've done all the research just look at it and you'll have to believe me!" Damion shouted at his brother, hot tears springing into his eyes.

"Actually brother, we can't allow for stuff like this to get out. I mean, if people actually believed any of this they wouldn't be too happy with us governors, now would they?" Hale leaned down until he was face to face with Damion. "Besides, Kitsune have no place in this world. We are the only ones that deserve to be here."

"They have just as much right as we do! Even more than we do!" Damion yelled in his brother's face, wishing his brother understood. He strained against the men holding him, panting heavily as he stared at his brother. "We could all be happy." Hale scowled at his brother as he stood up straight and snapped his fingers again.

"Not everyone gets to be happy. Just because you think they deserve a place doesn't mean everyone agrees. Those dusty books are full of lies. They try to get people like you who are soft and try to trick you into thinking that they are pitiful and helpless, but in reality, they manipulate anyone they can and they got you. It's time for it to end little brother." Hale explained coldly as the men around him pulled out garbage bags.

"What are you doing?" Damion asked, feeling dread fill him as he saw the garbage bags.

"Take all the books," Hale ordered as he turned toward the door. Immediately they started ripping books off the bookshelves, snatching them off the floor, and out of his backpack.

"Stop it! The only ones on Kitsune are in the pillow case and in my backpack! None of the others are even related!" Damion screamed, feeling enraged and horrified at the same time. He felt a lump form in his throat as they shoved book after book into the bags. "Please stop it!"

"We can't take any chances with you. This is just a reassurance that you won't get curious in the future." Hale replied as he strode out of the destroyed doorway, flicking his sunglasses back open and slipping them back on.

"Please stop it, Hale!" Damion cried, his voice ragged from yelling. His whole body was shaking as he stared helplessly at his brother; his heart clawing at his throat. Hale stopped in the doorway, and without turning around replied.

"You should have listened to me, Damion. I wouldn't have had to do this if you had listened."

"I hate you! I wish you weren't my brother!" Damion screamed at his brother's back, hoping something he said would make him turn around and stop. His voice died as he watched in despair as his brother left with the other men filing after him with bulging garbage bags.

Why are you doing this Hale? He thought forlornly as the burly men holding him finally let him go and stormed out his door, leaving Damion alone. He didn't bother wiping the tears off his face as he gazed around his room in shock. He finally stood up and went to each of his bookcases, not believing the empty rows before him.

"Dinner's ready!" His mother called but Damion didn't hear it. He snapped out of his daze and started scouring his room, hoping he could find at least one book that they had overlooked. He felt hollow as he looked; like something had broke inside of him.

With a ragged sigh, he crawled into his bed, ignoring his mother's calls to dinner. He knew his parents approved of everything Hale did and wouldn't have a bit of sympathy for him. He laid his head on his pillow with a shuddering breath when he-

"Hey, Damion. We're done shopping." Damion opened his eyes, seeing Miyuki in front of him with a bright pink bag. "Are you okay?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

He rubbed his eyes as he recovered from the vivid memory. "I'm fine; just tired." He replied standing up. He frowned, trying to remember the last part of the memory but finding he couldn't.

It's probably not important anyway.