Rengoku x Reader: Smut, Bullshit, and So Much More

The Fox Bride -Part 1

𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 1664

If there was anything she'd taken from life, it's that the good magic in the world died a long time ago.

She didn't know what had happened to it. Maybe people had just stopped believing as science developed and explained the strange phenomenons away. Maybe people had stopped sharing the stories enough and forgotten. They didn't forget the bad magic. That still abounded in every day life. Demons couldn't really be forgotten, after all. People had an easier time focusing on all the bad. She had seen plenty of that in college until her sister had gotten sick and couldn't take care of the small family shop in their old village.

This had resulted in her moving back to the childhood home along the forest edge, a topic of discussion in the stories of her youth.

She didn't know if travelers still saw lights among the trees or if the elders still believed leaving a bowl of rice wine on the cat rock (named so because the village cats would sun themselves there during the winter) would bring good fortune. However, she'd still hear talk about demons when livestock would wind up strewn across the fields or when someone who'd gone out the night before showed up in the road as an unidentifiable, bloody pulp.

She didn't want to take her chances even if the good magic was dead, still going out to leave rice wine and treats on the rock for any lingering animal spirit in the area.

About two months after she had arrived back to her little village, she was bringing the usual offering to the usual rock as dictated by the usual routine.

Today the rock was different. Today the usual grey had a splotch of orange on it that she assumed was a cat. She was wrong. That was not a cat. That was a fox.

The fox lay as the cats often did, sunning himself on the rock as she brought over the wine and treats. She paused about five feet away from him. He looked up at her lazily and, upon deciding she wasn't a threat, yawned.

"You sure have sharp teeth there, Mr. Fox." She moved back a respectable distance once she had put her burdens down before plunking onto the ground to stare at the creature. "You have little eyebrows, too. They look very good on you, Mr. Fox."

He did indeed have eyebrows. Two little tufts of black sat a ways up on his forehead, making the animal look like he was in a constant state of surprise. It looked slightly like the little eyebrow markings on a Shiba-inu.

The fox stared back at her with eyes like a thousand setting suns before getting up to sniff at the bowl of rice wine and treats. She watched as he began his little feast. "Since I brought you some food, can you make a little noise for me? Please, Mr. Fox?"

He sneezed at her and she assumed that was about as good a noise as any, though she'd hoped more for a little bark or a whine.

They both stared at each other for a while more until she began getting up, the fox cocking it's head. "It's getting dark," she explained. "I'd best be going. My family might get upset. Your family might worry, too, if you stay out too long, Mr. Fox."

He rose to his feet as if in understanding, still staring at her intently before grabbing the little wooden cup she'd brought for the rice wine and running off.

"Thief!" She shrieked, immediately running after him.

He was a slow runner, only being able to out-pace her by a few feet. Once in a while, he'd get a little farther ahead before stopping and waiting for her to catch up. He was playing a game with her, leading her every which way before finally running through a load of brambles and disappearing.

She cursed herself for even bringing the little, precisely carved cup as it was a part of her mother's tea set, knowing she'd get pricked and scratched half to death before she could get it back. Regardless, she pushed on.