Chapter Text
A young woman sat alone looking out over a small pond behind her home wondering why the villagers kept her locked up in an isolated house alone. A rustle of leaves by the pond caught her attention and she slowly walked over to the small shrubbery by the pond to see what it was. She was surprised to find a silver fox with a pale purple tint to its fur. When she looked closer she saw it was injured. She leaned over and carefully picked it up to bring it inside. She laid it down and began to clean the wound on its side, she then drew upon her powers to stop the bleeding. Then she carefully applied an herbal solution to the wound and wrapped it. Once she was done she got a dish of water and carefully prepared a plate of meat for the fox. After a couple weeks of tending to the fox and nursing it back to health it began to study her as it recovered. On the night of the full moon the fox studied her sleeping form for several long moments in the moonlight before gathering its power and changing into its human form. Where the fox had been now stood a young man with violet eyes and silver hair tinted light purple. She awakened having felt his youki and looked at him in surprise but without fear. He noticed this and was mildly surprised. He watched her for a moment before saying quietly,” Thank you, woman.”
She frowned slightly and replied softly,” Toshiko. My name is Toshiko. Are you alright now?”
The ayakashi blinked in surprise before stating, “Worried for an ayakashi? How odd. I’m fine now thanks to you, Princess. My name is Toichiro.”
She smiled softly and said,” I’m glad you are alright now, Toichiro.”
After a few moments she spoke again with a saddened tone and said,” Are you leaving now?
He cocked his head and studied her dejected features for a moment before teasingly saying, “Careful, Princess. If look so sad I may just have to spirit you away.”
She looked up at him in surprise before murmuring, “That wouldn’t be so bad if it meant I wasn’t alone anymore.”
He frowned slightly and said,” I’ll see you again, Princess.”
She watched him leave and wondered sorrowfully if she would always be alone and if she really would see him again. Several weeks passed and she was sitting in the garden alone by the pond where she had found the injured fox when a voice teasingly called out, “Did you miss me, Princess?”
She gasped and stood swiftly turning towards his voice and said, “Toichiro! You came back!”
Toichiro smirked and held his hand out to her as he said, “I said I would see you again, didn’t I?”
She took his hand after a moment and he quickly pulled her closer and picked her up bridal style, startling her, and carried her away into the woods on the mountain. After several minutes they arrived in a clearing with a sakura tree, a beautiful clear stream, and a field of moonflowers. He set her gently on her feet and watched with a soft smile on his face as she looked around in awe.
“What is this place? It’s so beautiful here,” she said.
“It is a clearing I like to come and relax in,” replied Toichiro.
She smiled brightly at him and said, “I love it here. I’ve never seen anything like it! Thank you for showing me this place!”
Toichiro studied her for a moment before saying. “Have you never been outside before?”
She shook her head and said quietly, “No. I’ve been kept locked up in that house for as long as I can remember. “
“Why?” he questioned.
“My mother was the daughter of Tsukuyomi and my father was a toushin by the name of Raizen. I was born with immense spiritual powers and am half toushin. My mother disappeared several years ago when I was four and my father disappeared before I was born. The villagers fear my powers and keep me locked away because of them. I’ve never left that place,” she replied sadly.
He frowned and found that he didn’t like it when she looked so sad. After a moment he said,” If you’d like I can show you other places whenever I visit, Princess.”
She beamed at and happily agreed. They passed several hours in the clearing just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company and the night air around them. As dawn broke he picked her carefully and carried her back to the house that was her prison promising to visit as often as he could before he left. Months passed with him visiting her nearly every night and sneaking her away to show her more of the mountain and forest outside of her prison. Eventually the villagers caught on to her nightly visitor and their escapades. She was sitting in her garden one day when she overheard the head of the village talking to the guards around her home about hunting down and capturing the kitsune. She froze in shock and thought desperately, /”No! I won’t let them hurt Toichiro! I have to warn him! He must not come back here. Please let me reach him in time!”/
As the sun began to set she waited for the shift change for her guards and in the brief moments there were no guards near her she fled through an opening in the fence around the garden where a loose board was an ran to the clearing he had first showed her praying desperately that he would be there. She spotted him sitting against the sakura tree and called out, “Toichiro!”
He looked up in surprise and immediately noticed her panicked expression. He quickly went to her and said, “What’s wrong, Princess?”
Looking into the violet eyes of the kitsune she had come to love she said, “You need to leave! The villagers figured out about your visits and sneaking me away. They are coming to hunt you down and capture you. Please, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Toichiro’s eyes widened in surprise and he said, “You are certain?”
She nodded frantically. He grabbed her hand and said, “Come with me.”
As she went to reply she heard the village head call out, “There they are! Get them!”
As the mob of villagers invaded the clearing she realized that they wouldn’t be able to escape easily. She slowly turned to face the mob, her eyes flashing red, as fear and anger burned through her. As the mob released their arrows she began to radiate silver light and swiftly pulled her fan from her obi, opening it she swung her fan causing an arc of wind enhanced with her spiritual powers to destroy the arrows. The light covered her fan making it glow as she growled, “You will not touch him.”
As they prepared for another volley she swung her fan again causing a small windstorm to obliterate part of the mob. The mob went into a frenzy of rage and fear and cries of kill the monster were heard as they released their arrows and the village head threw a spear aimed for Toichiro. Realizing that he had aimed for the kitsune she moved swiftly creating a barrier that stopped the spear and released another wave of wind with her fan. Toichiro began to summon his fire to attack as well. Her wind strengthened his fire causing a large part of the mob to become engulfed in an inferno. As they fought against the villagers the head managed to sneak up behind them as he swung a katana towards the kitsune she turned and pulled him out of the way placing herself in the path of the blade unintentionally. As the blade came down it sliced deeply down her chest to her left hip. As she stumbled back Toichiro caught her and in a rage sent a wave of fire at the head killing him instantly. Seeing this the few surviving villagers fled for their lives. He held her gently and caught her hand as she reached out to him.
“Toichiro….. I….” she started only for him to shush her gently and say, “Don’t speak, Princess. I know. It’s alright. I’ll find you again in our next lives. I promise I will always find you, Toshiko.”
She smiled despite the tears that fell and said weakly,” I’ll be waiting, Toichiro.”
As she breathed her last Toichiro laid her down gently and dug her a grave at the base of the sakura tree before picking her up and laying her down in it gently. He covered her and shifted into his full fox form before laying down beside her grave in sorrow. As the years passed he visited her grave even after his father forced him into an arranged marriage with a female kitsune and his children grew up. Eventually he passed lying next to her grave. One thousand years passed as they were reincarnated endlessly. In every lifetime they would find each other and fall in love, even though they did not remember their previous incarnations or the promise that was made. Every time they were reincarnated they would be separated tragically. Eventually she would be reincarnated into Raizen’s human bloodline as the twin sister of Yuusuke Urameshi. Neither of them knew that this incarnation would be very different from all of their previous reincarnations.