*rustle, rustle*
The raccoon was drinking from a bowl of milk left by the humans in a small village. Food had become scarcer since the Calamity, but there were always generous humans looking out for the species less capable of fending for themselves.
'Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa'
The raccoon had been spotted, as the song came from a nearby window. Looking up cautiously, the raccoon saw a small girl at the window looking at him. She seemed happy, but the raccoon would be ready to run if anyone came any closer. It carefully carried on drinking from the bowl.
'Kaze mo nai no ni'
The raccoon suddenly perked up. Something felt wrong, like a wave of energy was heading towards it from the west. As it turned to face whatever it was, the force of magic hit it, and it started transforming.
'but still they swing, swing, swi-'
The girl gasped, as now in front of her there was a naked rather chubby man with slightly brown striped skin turned away from her. The man heard her, shocked at being able to understand her song for the first time since the humans started singing it, and turned to face her in wide-eyed surprise. The girl's mother appeared at the window, and on seeing the man quickly covered her daughter's eyes as she shrieked at seeing how the Tanuki swings. The raccoon-man quickly ran off, taking the bowl of milk with him though splashing the contents everywhere.
As he hurried back to his burrow, the raccoon's mind was racing.
'What will they think? Why am I human? How do I convince them that I'm actually a raccoon? Will they run from me?'
He reached his burrow, and quickly clawed his way in, completely oblivious to the fact that he had in fact turned back into raccoon shape on his way back. Inside, there was another human with strange markings that filled the entire burrow, unable to move, with no sign of the rest of his family. The raccoon's first instinct was 'human- run!' completely forgetting he was a human not a moment before. He got outside, not listening to the muffled cries for help from the human inside, but was approached by his father who attempted to calm him down. He directed him to the rest of his family, some of whom were in humanoid form with the others looking at them carefully. He also noticed his brothers digging at the entrance to the burrow, presumably trying to make the opening big enough for the human inside to escape, who he now realised was his nephew. All were clueless as to what had happened, as the raccoon told the others of how he was drinking at the human village and could suddenly understand the human child when he transformed. It was decided they would try to get more information the next day.
The night passed relatively uneventfully, though there were unusual shouts from the nearby fields that sounded like cries for help but the raccoons would not be able to help them, so didn't bother trying. They had all managed to return to their raccoon forms that they were more comfortable with, but were strangely aware of how to turn human if needed.
On waking, they had their usual several hour waking up and eating session, using their human forms to help reach some berries and fruits. Afterwards they held a family meeting to decide what to do next. It didn't go well, as they were constantly getting distracted, but eventually they came to the consensus that the raccoon that was most comfortable around humans would go to the village pretending to be one of them to get more information, which he reluctantly agreed to.
On arriving at the human village, he saw it was much busier than usual, with many humans he didn't recognise. He was wearing an old sheet the raccoons had been using as bedding that barely covered his whole body, and a straw hat to cover his face that they had found in a nearby field- probably dropped by a human in their panic. He was a bundle of nerves, and having seen what humans do when they look nervous he did what they would- head to the bar. Sure enough, the bar was busier than anywhere else in the village, though he still managed to pick up a bottle of rice wine, which he took a gulp of and already felt more confident. He walked out, still carrying the sake which he didn't realise he had to pay for, but luckily in the chaos then no-one was paying particular attention. He headed to the largest gathering of people, some he recognised though many he didn't who had longer and thinner faces than most humans he had seen. The elder of the village noticed him and seemed slightly taken aback by the raccoon's appearance. He looked to one of the long-faced humans who smiled and nodded back.
'Remarkable...' said the elder, 'I'm guessing you're here representing the raccoons?'
The raccoon was suddenly terrified again, and took another swig of his stolen sake.
'Wh-wh-wh-how do you mean?' he said trying to calm himself. 'How do you know I'm a raccoon?'
'Hm, the attire gives it away somewhat,' said the long-faced man as the raccoon looked down at his sheet. The man gracefully stepped towards the raccoon, shaking his hand. 'Of course, we are firm friends are we not? I, Hikaru of the Kitsune, and you, Taichi of the Tanuki. I was just telling our dear human friend here that we had agreed to announce our transforming skill to them, now that all animals are getting in on the act.' The fox-man spread his arm, indicating much of the rest of the crowd who had strange markings similar to other animals. The raccoon was thoroughly perplexed, having no idea what this strange person was going on about. Hikaru turned to the human again, though keeping his arm wrapped around the raccoon's shoulder. 'Please, if you do not mind I would like to discuss some things with my raccoon friend. Please excuse us.' And with that, the fox led the raccoon away to the library building. The raccoon followed in a trance, hoping someone would tell him what was going on and why he had suddenly been named as 'Taichi'.
As the pair entered the library, the fox shut the door behind them so they would have some privacy. 'Taichi' noticed a bulge on the back of Hikaru, evidence of a tail being covered over by clothing. The fox did his strange gleeful leap again as he came to the side of the raccoon.
'I give you raccoons less credit than you're due, it seems! Dressing like those folk drawings, they probably think you're a prophet now!' Hikaru looked carefully at Taichi as the raccoon still looked utterly perplexed. 'On the other hand... you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?' the raccoon shook his head, and the fox sighed as he reached for a nearby book. 'Look at this. Here is a drawing of us- the kitsune and the tanuki. The humans seem to have believed that we could transform for thousands of years, though obviously we couldn't- but they don't need to know that.' He turned the page. 'This is you, the tanuki- see? The shawl, the straw hat, even the bottle of sake and the, er, lack of modesty.' Taichi looked down. Hikaru turned the page again. 'And this is me- a kitsune. Apparently we're intensely magical, and could probably get the humans to do whatever we want if we keep up the illusion- as far as the humans are concerned, we've always been able to do this, right? Follow my lead, and we'll go far. We just need to do something about the other animals that can transform now...'
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