FROM afar, a woman observed Kaede Kikui’s odd behavior. She watched Yoru—an adult man—lick Kaede’s cheek. She saw Kaede respond by patting his head.
But Kaede didn’t notice the woman’s attention.
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A shapeshifting fox raced across Chikushino.
His master had once belonged to a group of wandering miko, until the war in Hakata left the shrine maiden orphaned. Let us call her Priestess Kitsune.
Dōsetsu Bekki—castellan of Tachibanayama Castle, which safeguarded Chikuzen—adopted Priestess Kitsune for her prodigious spiritual energy. As an ardent worshipper of Inari Ōkami and Dakiniten, Dōsetsu excelled at commanding kitsune on the battlefield. He trained Priestess Kitsune to protect his only daughter, Lady Ginchiyo, as a fox handler and handmaiden.
Priestess Kitsune, who was a little older than Ginchiyo, became a magnificent fox handler. When Ginchiyo inherited Tachibanayama Castle, Priestess Kitsune vowed to serve the lady castellan for the rest of her life.
And so, the shapeshifting fox raced across Chikushino. He was the sole kitsune who’d formed a master-servant relationship with Priestess Kitsune during her youth. The two of them had grown up as close as siblings, transcending their contractual bond.
Numerous kitsune attended Ginchiyo. In time, they would become the fabled messengers of Inari Ōkami. Yet no tales of Priestess Kitsune or her fox persisted in the Tachibana clan’s legends of the deity.
Why? But for a simple fact: the fox was a young male.
During the Tenshō era, Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Kyushu. As a result, the Tachibana clan was forcibly relocated to the far south. After Ginchiyo conceded the position of castellan to her husband, Muneshige, the couple moved to Yanagawa Castle near the city of Chikugo. At first, they lived under the same roof. Yet the immense spiritual energy that Ginchiyo had additionally inherited from her father gave rise to new problems.
The famously impregnable Yanagawa Castle had been built by the storied Kamachi clan. Bolstering its unassailable architecture was an ancient barrier of spiritual energy. When the castle’s governorship passed from the Kamachi to the Ryūzōji clan, Ryūzōji sorcerers reinforced the barrier for battle.
How impenetrable, precisely? Not even Ginchiyo’s father, the warlord Dōsetsu Bekki, had successfully captured the stronghold. In fact, a barricade specifically intended to thwart Dōsetsu had been erected around the castle. That it could affect his daughter should have been clear to anyone.
After moving into Yanagawa Castle, Ginchiyo grew increasingly fatigued. Her appetite waned with each passing day, and anxiety over Muneshige’s participation in the Imjin War gnawed at her further. Eventually, she moved to Miyanaga Village south of the castle in hopes of improving her health.
A handsome, male kitsune lived on the same estate as Ginchiyo. Aside from him, only women resided in the manor, so his presence raised more than a few eyebrows. The fox cherished Ginchiyo, but his feelings were no more than a fierce loyalty to and deep respect for the lady castellan he’d served since his youth.
Ginchiyo had borne no children with Muneshige, who, along with his retinue, had joined the Tachibana clan when they married. She needed an heir to unite the old retainers from her father’s generation and the newcomers accompanying Muneshige. Yet, inexplicably, she never conceived.
Muneshige had been born to loving parents and was passionate nearly to a fault. No one could imagine that he and Ginchiyo struggled. Unfortunately, however, Muneshige was frequently absent due to his role in the Imjin War, and the prospect of their long-awaited child grew more and more dire.
What’s more, Ginchiyo had left the castle and moved into a newly built manor. She also retained an attractive male fox as a close servant. Under such circumstances, what else could the people whisper about Ginchiyo and Muneshige?
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GOLD-BROWN ears of rice swayed in the autumn wind beneath the azure sky. The kitsune had finally decided to leave Yanagawa Castle to protect his lady’s reputation. As he admired the rice, the grains the same radiant color as his ears and tail, a lone woman approached him.
The woman, dressed in a plain yet neat short-sleeved kimono, was Priestess Kitsune—the fox’s master and Ginchiyo’s handmaiden, in other words.
“Thank you for coming,” the fox said.
“Shino…” the priestess replied. She already knew what he would say. Pain seeped from her eyes and furrowed brow.
“I’m going back to Chikuzen…to Hakata,” the fox said.
The priestess’s voice caught in her throat.
“I don’t want to cause Lady Ginchiyo any more trouble,” continued the kitsune.
“No, of course you don’t…”
“If I asked…” the fox began, his gaze boring into her, “would you come with me?”
The priestess’s eyes widened, glistening with tears.
“If you ask Her Ladyship for permission to resign, we can return to Hakata together,” the fox said. “We can start a business and live as a human couple…” His lips drew into a tight line as he finished speaking. Clenching his sweaty hands into fists, he waited motionlessly for the woman he loved to respond.
The pair were lovers as well as master and servant. Everyone who knew them praised them as the perfect couple. They had long since transcended the roles of priestess and her kitsune. By then, even Ginchiyo had given their relationship her tacit approval, watching over them fondly.
“I’m sorry, Shino.” The priestess didn’t answer until the setting sun had slightly dimmed. “I don’t want us to go our separate ways. I want to be a couple. But I also want to stay with Lady Ginchiyo until she can laugh again. I must repay my debt to the Tachibana clan for taking me in and raising me.”
“I can no longer live with you here,” the fox said. “Yet you’re choosing to remain?”
“I know how that sounds,” the priestess replied, biting her lip and pressing a hand to her chest in anguish. “I know how that sounds, but…”
The fox deeply regretted his words upon seeing her agony. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. “I understand,” he said. “Lady Ginchiyo is in a delicate position. She was forced to abandon the castle filled with memories of her father. Now her husband has gone to war. I can’t steal Her Ladyship’s handmaiden and childhood friend on top of everything else.”
“I’m sorry,” the priestess said. “I’m truly sorry, Shino.”
“Don’t apologize. I shouldn’t have asked you to leave in the first place.” He wagged his tail with a gracious smile, ignoring the ache in his chest. “Regardless, I’m going home. War has left deep scars on Hakata. There are countless people there undergoing the same suffering you experienced as a child. I want to make a new life rescuing and taking care of them.”
“Shino…”
“If you continue to watch over Lady Ginchiyo, I can return to Hakata free of worry. Please don’t cry.” The fox forced himself to keep smiling, resisting the urge to wipe the tears from his beloved’s eyes. He burned the image of her face, illuminated by the last rays of sunset, into his mind.
“So, Shino,” the priestess said eventually, “how about this?”
“Yes?”
“Hypothetically, if Lady Ginchiyo recovers, has a child, regains the ability to smile like she used to…I’d like to visit you in Hakata. I don’t know how much older I’ll be by then, but… Even if we can’t be a couple, will you still want to see me?”
“Of course,” the kitsune said, every hair on his body standing on end with joy. “Did you even have to ask?” He would wait for decades if they could be together again someday.
“But I’m human,” the priestess said. “I’ll get old and wrinkly…”
“Don’t be stupid. I’m a fox who can distinguish people based on their souls. You’ll always look like yourself to me, no matter how ancient or hunched you become.”
The priestess lifted her head, a smile lighting up her adorable face. “Thank you.”
Unable to stop himself, the fox darted to her side and embraced her with all his might. She smelled like fresh laundry drying in the sun after a hard day of labor. Starting that night, everything about her would become a thing of the past. Her soft body. Her dusty cheeks. Her splintered fingernails stained the color of grass. The strong scent of medicinal herbs that had bled into her hair.
Shino closed his eyes and hugged her tighter, etching the shape of her soul into his body. He seared it deeper into his memory than the sigil of their master-servant bond. He would find refuge there for however many years they were apart.
“When this is all over,” he said, “let’s become husband and wife.”
He felt the priestess nod, her face still pressed against his chest. Warmth trickled into the sleeves of his kimono, her deluge of tears staining the fabric.
Nonetheless, Shino was happy. “I’ll wait for you forever,” he vowed. “No matter how old you become, I’ll wait for you until the day you come home with a joyful smile.”