Chapter 140 - Bathing

".. Maybe we should start by cleaning her..."

Having just finished preparing the water, Ethan decided it was better to avoid saying anything about this situation for the time being while Ais could only nod in understanding.

"So..you will bathe her..?"

This was another one of the things Ethan had never done before, but he was ready to learn...

"Yes, I will"

Without adding anything more, Ais got up while Maple, now on the floor after Ais decided to let her go, she returned to Ethan unaware of their conversation.

It wasn't a strange thing that a fox capable of using the Arts to have the appearance of a human could help to wash another fox, but the gesture itself was nevertheless considered intimate, something you would only do in your family.

And of course Maple, with all her access to information, knew very well the connection between her and the person who saved her was already flowing into something much bigger, but as she had already thought over and over again in such a short time, she found herself thinking about the few words Ethan had written for her, as they decided to make her look beyond all the cultural issues they had.

While in her mind many thoughts kept her busy, Ethan noticed she was now next to him and, without hesitation, decided to try to gently take her into the bathtub.

Feeling him wrap his arms around her to take her again, Maple didn't get embarrassed, but now at a height that allowed her to see the inside of the tub, she concentrated on watching the water and could only dwell on the clarity of the latter as her tail started wagging in curiosity.

This because from an early age, it was one of the things Maple always liked to see. Inari in fact, as well as being the most prosperous city of old times, was also known for being built in the extreme south of the continent, which gave it access to a rather balanced climate, thanks to the presence of the sea.

Although the latter was quite far from the city, so Maple was only able to visit it once, but from that one moment she was immediately fascinated by the beauty of the sea itself.

The latter was also the destination of humans and demons, who were willing to hunt as many animals as possible, since the sea was much richer of them than every single land surrounding Inari.

These happy memories caused her the same feeling of happiness she felt before, since the water reminded her of this experience at the sea, but it also brought her sadness, since that was one of the few moments her parents dedicated to her completely.

While Maple was focused on these conflicting feelings, Ethan this time couldn't clearly guess what was happening to her.

'Maybe she doesn't like baths..?'

It was hard for him to trust his thoughts every time because of the lack of communication, precisely because he didn't want to cause misunderstandings between him and Maple, but he knew that while the two could understand each other very well at some time, there could also be moments where one was simply not able to understand the other's intentions, so Ethan decided to start washing her directly, and then carefully observe her reactions.

As he gently lowered Maple into the tub, the water rose up to her knees, and this was something that made her realize everything seemed to be different, even the small things, that would normally be the same between different cultures...

But even though Maple was now more curious as to how Ethan would wash her, also because she had already realized those were his intentions, she decided to start by sitting in the tub before she was stopped half-thought as he carried his hands into the water, as if to gather a little of it, before he took them out.

After that, Maple saw Ethan running his hands up and down her fur. Although at first this caused some strange chills, a second later she could feel as if it never existed while a feeling of warmth spread over all the places where he passed his hands.

He was trying to use his technique to rise the temperature since he had noticed the water seemed to be a bit cold, which might have bothered Maple, but instead of warming the water right away, he was warming it slowly from the moment he put his hands inside the water.

This is because, Ethan didn't have a complete control over the technique, so he was afraid to use it wrongly, causing the evaporation of water, but also to keep Maple from feeling uncomfortable with too hot water.

What he didn't know was, the water Maple washed with was actually much warmer. That's because her heat resistance was so high, that even the temperature at which the water evaporated was not considered so hot for her.

All the heirs of the Moonflame family, in fact, were born with the particular ability to be resistant to heat, some were born with the ability to withstand even the most intense flames, others were able to resist only below certain temperature and others even lower in the hierarchical line, were able to withstand only the temperatures closest to what was considered 'normal'.

But Maple, who was the 'eldest', had a great resistance against flames, even if the maximum temperature she could bear hadn't been confirmed yet, Maple was still accustomed to temperatures above 100 °C.

But as if it was a sort of balance, the higher the resistance of a fox against flames, the greater the weakness against the cold was. So Ethan's choice to keep the water at an ideal temperature was not entirely right, but certainly not wrong.

Once he finished 'wetting' Maple's fur properly, Ethan could see how she was staring at him without saying or doing anything, while simply letting herself be washed. Although this was very similar to how her mother initially took care of her, Maple didn't refuse the 'kindness' as being treated just like a child wasn't so bad after all..

But, her thoughts were stopped the moment she saw him making some strange liquid appear in his hands.

Surprised by the strange colour, but also by the shape and texture of it, Maple saw how Ethan gently brought his hands on her back before spreading the soap, and this action, led her to sense the smell emitted by the liquid was rather pleasant, even if she had no idea what kind of smell it was.

As she tried to understand something, Ethan could see how foam was already forming in large quantities and this, led him to sigh in his mind while Ais, who had observed the scene from the beginning, noticed that Maple had her eyes closed, as if to express what Ethan was doing was very pleasant.

"I want you to do this to me..next time.."

She was curious as to why the fox seemed so relaxed by the addition of a simple liquid as she knew what that same liquid was and there shouldn't be much difference from bathing normally, so, she was curious to let him wash her in that same way as Ethan, hearing Ais whisper this, could only swallow while his hands stopped for a second.

This is because she was already very close to him, but if she whispered that kind of thing in his ear, he knew his imagination would do the rest...

"..All right"

That was all he said before thinking about it for a moment while Ais, satisfied with the answer, decided to not add anything more.

Returning to Maple, she was a bit worried after feeling his hands stop all of a sudden, but after he had recovered as if nothing had happened, Maple decided not to notice the little things she would not be able to understand.

Now that Ethan had finished running the soap with the water through all of Maple's fur, Ethan dipped his hands in the water to spread the soap even in the water itself. However, he was insecure if he had to clean specific areas, so for the time being, he only decided to let all the dirt still attached to Maple's fur disappear.

Trying to take the water with his hands, Ethan managed to do so and then proceeded to wash away all the soap and the bubbles that had been created while Maple remained still, to facilitate the process.

Repeating this process a couple of times, Maple's fur was now clean, but Ethan didn't stop at the fur, in fact he repeated the whole process for her head, previously only wet by the water because he didn't want the liquid soap to end up in her eyes by mistake - being the first time he actually bathes a fox - only to pass to the abdomen, until it was time to wash the tail as well.

But Ethan decided to touch Maple's tail first. This is because even though his knowledge of the animals was not thorough, he had had experiences in which, after touching the tail of a dog, the latter had proved to be annoyed by his gesture.

While he thought of other ways not to annoy her, Maple felt he had touched her tail, and this led her to turn her head to look at him, more as a result of instinct than of real concern, since the tail was considered one of the weakest points of any fox, And the fact Ethan had touched it like nothing, still triggered her instincts.

If her trust in him wasn't enough, a normal fox would surely have reacted, but Maple had no intention of doing so. By totally ignoring her instincts, she turned again as if to tell him to do as he pleased while Ethan, had more or less understood what had just happened, even if he hadn't fully understood the meaning of his actions.

'Maybe..I pressed my hand too hard on it?'

Although his thought was wrong, Ethan had nevertheless realized Maple had decided to not listen to her instincts out of trust in him, and this immediately led him to decide to be even more delicate..

Slightly taking Maple's tail in his hands, Ethan could feel how it kept its softness even when it was soaked in water, but this was not important at the time, in fact he decided to take another small amount of liquid soap before starting gently to spread it along her tail...

After finishing washing it completely, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief before realizing from the time showed on the System that 30 minutes had passed...

'I've been expecting to be washing her for a much shorter time, but it's okay. Now I'd say I should dry her, but using my technique...'

Recalling the way he had become accustomed to drying, Ethan mistakenly thought it was best to dry her the usual way...

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(Alternate Titles: "Yes, but her name's Yowaka now, why still Maple?", "Ais do be sneaky doe", "That tail must be brushed in detail now.")