I finally got around to this one!

Squirrel
[(Not) Chapter 6]

Akako was well aware that the vast majority of the population of the planet did not believe in magic. Usually this did not bother her. One might go so far as to say she often enjoyed being the only person lacking that ignorance—but there were a few notable exceptions to her general preference in regards to people and naiveté.

She had never had friends before joining Ekoda High School's Class 2B. She'd had casual acquaintances—people she could place names to the faces of, that was—admirers, the occasional vague and weak rival, worshipers, and devotees. Not friends. Never friends.

Then the contracted spirit that claimed the name 'Lucifer' (she let it claim that name and referred to it as the 'the Devil' even though she knew full well it was not. Red Magic was not Black, and certainly wasn't the branch of Black that was Demonology, and even a warlock* would never try to bind one of the Fallen, much less the Christian's Devil himself. Its actual name was in the library's records, but she had no intention of even attempting it on a casual basis, because it was some weird cross between Scandinavian and Arabic in pronunciation. Just no.) had said, loosely interpreted, that Kaitou KID was the only male immune to her 'allure'.

Her mother had woven that spell on her when she had been a newborn babe, as was tradition in her family. It was meant to be a protection, for her line had originated in northern Europe, and magic was ill-viewed there after the Romans brought in their religions.

The spell was not a lust spell but a devotion spell. It manifested differently in different people, but was directed towards males because when the spell had first been designed, males had been the threat. Inciting lust would have been outright idiocy, as lustful males were often dangerous, and so the spell had instead inspired devotion. Some were affected more than others—but even the coldest murderer would seek to protect her under the influence of the spell. The kinder the heart, the less it was affected—for if there was no threat, why should the spell change the feelings?

It had taken her a sickeningly long time to understand why Kuroba didn't even notice the spell her mother had woven. He would never willfully harm an innocent and even those trying to kill him had only earned a desire to stop them, not harm them. Even the one she knew full well that Kuroba knew had killed his father.

The fact that he was resistant to mental influence in general was completely irrelevant in the case of her mother's magic—that spell simply ignored him because there was no cause for it to change his feelings. Most teenagers were selfish things, and so the spell had most of them all but worshiping her, aside from a few who were less so, though even Hakuba was a little dazed in her presence.

And, yes. Hakuba. The current subject of her ire.

Kuroba didn't deny her power, and Aoko-chan certainly believed in magic. Momoi-chan mostly did, though denied it, but Momoi-chan hadn't quite managed to rank as anything more than 'friendly acquaintance'. Hakuba, Akako had genuinely grown some regard towards, and his adamant denial of her magic simply irritated her.

Usually, it was only irritating. The past night, however, had been long, frustrating, and involved a major ward-failure that had required a complete reworking of the back forest's runestones which had denied her the chance to sleep before school and when Hakuba had offered to walk her home, she'd been too tired to refuse him.

When he asked her why she was so tired, she'd simply told him as they passed through the park on the way to the train station. When his response was an offended, "You could just tell me you don't want to talk about it instead of making things up," her temper had snapped.

Hakuba was small, fuzzy, and bearing a very fluffy tail before she realized what she was doing.

The blond squirrel (the same color as his normal head of hair, she noted in the back of her mind) gaped up at her in something between confusion and shock.

Not one to let a chance go to waste, she bent down and caught him by his scruff, lifting him to hold in front of her eyes with a scowl (and checking the spell matrix to make sure it would wear off after twelve hours as per the default breaking condition), "Hakuba-kun," she said evenly, "I do not appreciate being accused of lying. Now be a good little squirrel and I might let you be human again in time for school tomorrow."

Clearly too overwhelmed to even consider fighting, Hakuba hung limply in her grasp, staring through terrified eyes.

She sighed. She couldn't very well leave him outside like this; he'd be eaten before the spell broke—but she was not taking him home with her. Aoko believed in magic, but this would just be cruel to drop on her—but Kuroba had personal experience with her transformative magics, and so she had a squirrel-sitter.

She located him easily enough, and dropped the blond squirrel (now trembling instead of frozen in shock) into his hands while he blinked at her, then looked at the fuzzy creature he'd found himself holding. She didn't have to explain.

"What'd Hakuba do to deserve the critter treatment?" Kuroba asked in what sounded like genuine confusion.

The squirrel in his hands whipped its head around to stare up at him in shock and Akako merely offered a satisfied smile and turned away, calling "Twelve hours, Kuroba-kun," over her shoulder as she left.

Behind her, she heard Kuroba address the fluffy rodent in his hands, "You really shouldn't annoy Akako, Hakuba. Bad things happen."

xxxx

*'Warlock' is a term that a lot of fantasy-style stories use as a term for 'male magic user' in some sense. This annoys me, especially in the BC 'Merlin' series as labeling Merlin as such, because the actual term comes from the old Saxon wǣrloga, which means 'oath-breaker'. It was used to describe someone who had broken the tenants to a degree that often ended in exile—a term for the faithless, feckless (without courage/honor) and disgraced. Not something that anyone who actually practices Paganism or Wicca would want applied to them, and I'm deeming Akako as 'real magic means knowing what these terms are for and using them appropriately' group. On that note, Black isn't necessarily evil in color-rankings, though the general belief is that it's the easiest to turn to such.