The Gods Know We're Miserable

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰."

The kitsune vanished from the twin islands Oroshijima and Arashijima four hundred years ago, and all that remains are the legends of their cunning and tricks.

Unassuming ronin-for-hire, Ryu, has no inclination for the brutal task of killing yokai anymore, an occupation all honorable samurai are expected to fulfill, and one he has now abandoned.

Thus, Ryu is in for the surprise of a lifetime when he encounters a kitsune girl, Okami Inari. Inari claims her star ball, her life force, has been stolen and she must get it back, else her immortality and fox magic will be lost forever. Ryu is forced to make the decision between aiding Inari and risking his life or abandoning her to her own devices in order to keep the peaceful lifestyle he has come to love.

Torn between doing what he knows to be right and staying hidden from the ghosts of his past and family, Ryu embarks on a perilous journey rife with vengeful yokai and uneasy alliances. As many used to say, you can never trust a kitsune, and there is more to Inari than she lets on.

And there is another participant in the thread of Inari's mysterious life, one who is hell-bent on ensuring she never retrieves her star ball, and that the kitsune die for good, one who has a vendetta against the gods and has been hiding in plain sight for centuries, who has not made himself known...until now.

(An original story re-write of A Fox's Whisper)