10 years ago

The two of you first met 10 years ago. She was really bossy and always took control when you would play together. The language barrier made it difficult. You knew some numbers and a few foods in Japanese, and Hinako was only slightly better. Despite this, you two had fun together and she enjoyed trying to teach you new words, always laughing when you mispronounced something.

One day, you both slipped away from your parents and went exploring the nearby woods when she darted off squealing something you couldn’t understand.  You panicked when you lost sight of her but she came back a second later cradling something in her arms.  It was squirming and making weird sounds.  She held it out to you saying the one English word you managed to teach, “puppy.”  What she held out however was a fox cub.  You tried to tell her to put it back and tried to take it from her.  Confused, she held it close to herself and kept it away from you.  She squeezed it too hard and it yelped.

Naturally this brought the mother fox running.  Amidst the struggle you noticed the mother bounding towards Hinako, but she didn’t notice.  Thinking fast you jumped between her and the momma.  The fox dove at you and you did your best to protect yourself.  It was a small fox but for a ten year old it was like a bear.  It clawed and bit you all over.  Hinako saw what you did and screamed when she saw the momma fox, alerting your parents and bringing them running.  By the time they got there, the mother had run off with her cub and you were a bloody mess on the ground.  The doctors gave you a 30% chance of survival.  You were **** and in critical condition for a week.  Hinako visited as often as her parents would allow and she spent every minute at your bedside.  She was the first thing you saw when you opened your eyes.  She was shedding tears of joy and almost jumped into bed trying to hug you.  Before the doctors managed to drag her off of you she leaned in and kissed you, saying what you later learned to be “I love you.”

You spent a month bedridden and Hinako visited every day.  You learned a lot of Japanese in that time, and could almost hold a conversation with her then.  She apologized for what she put you through and swore to take care of you for the rest of her life.  When you it finally came time for you to return home she gave you a little keychain of a cartoony fox to remind you of the day you saved her life.  To this day, you still have it on your key ring.