The History of a Forgotten Shrine Fox

One day, a long long time ago, a kitsune was napping in a small tree. This kitsune was still young - only one tail to speak of - but was still strong and was soon to earn his second brush. While he was napping, a man from a nearby village came running into the forest, screaming as he was chased by bandits who were ransacking the village. The noise awoke the fox, who became annoyed at being disturbed. He decided that the fastest way to solve the issue would be to kill the bandits chasing the man, as without them he would have no reason to scream.

The fox jumped down from the tree and snarled, terrifying the man even further, but also startling the bandits' horses. They reared and bucked them off, and ran away, while the bandits and the man cowered. The fox quickly killed the bandits, not finding any joy in prolonging it, and then turned back to his tree and hopped up.

The man from the village was confused at first, but he quickly realised the fox had no ill will towards him. He thought of his village and his people, still being attacked, and so he begged the fox to help him. The kitsune asked him why he should help the man. All he wanted to do was nap in peace and he would get nothing out of saving the village.

The man promised the fox that if he helped and protected the village, he would make the fox a meal every day for the rest of the man's life.

The fox thought about the man's offer for a long minute, the man looking anxious and in a hurry, but too afraid to rush the kitsune. Finally the fox agreed to the man's proposition, and jumped back down from the tree. In a flash the fox dashed off towards the village, hearing the screaming grow louder as he approached. When he arrived he easily killed all of the bandits, though the villagers also feared that he was a rampaging spirit who would soon kill them, too.

He just stood there, however, until the man finally caught up, running out of the forest and to the fox. He thanked the fox profusely and told the village of his help. The fox reminded the man of their deal and told him that he would be at the tree every day at noon, and that he expected a good meal.

True to his word, the man brought the fox a meal every day. He would linger around the fox, patiently waiting to bring the dishes back to wash and reuse. Over time, he started to talk with the fox more and more. The man found out which foods were the fox's favorites and would make them more often, and they became friends.

When the man finally grew old and died, the village was afraid the fox would leave and they would no longer be protected. In truth, the fox was unsure of what to do, as he felt sad about abandoning his friend's village, but yet he had no reason to stay.

Until one day shortly after the man's death, he found a tray with his favorite food sitting at the base of his tree. The next day there was also food, and a few other small offerings. The village decided to continue the ritual of bringing their fox protector offerings as payment, and the fox was happy.

Eventually as the village started to flourish more, they built a proper little shrine for him around his tree, and they assigned attendants to keep it nice. Every so often there would be an attendant in particular that he would feel the urge to talk to, and they would become friends. The village would recognise these individuals with honor, for being blessed enough for the fox to actually interact with them.

The village continued to grow, and for a while the shrine grew with it. The fox was happy to have his offerings and to occasionally make a friend with a kind attendant, often times sharing his gifts with them.

But eventually, the village started to forget. The village was so large that not everyone believed in the fox anymore, and even some of those who did, didn't want to make the trek into the forest anymore. He began to treasure his precious attendants even more, as less new people would visit him, but even those started to become less and less. Soon he only had one or two attendants at a time, and they couldn't quite keep up with the amount of work the shrine required. His offerings were smaller now, but he didn't mind so much since he still got offerings, and the attendants were dear friends. So he was still happy to protect the village - now a small city - that he had loved and been loved by for so many years.

The fox failed to remember how short human lives are. He did not realise that his attendants had been the same for many years now, and no new apprentices had been taken, as none came. His only two friends were old now. Though the world didn't care much about these two humans, those crazy people who live in the shrine and claim there really is a fox spirit there, the fox loved them and they loved the fox. But soon they passed away and suddenly the fox was all alone. He rarely got visitors anymore, and even rarer were there offerings. He mourned the loss of his friends and being forgotten by his village that he had spent so much of his life with. Every time he saw his nine tails he would count the years he had spent with this village, only to be forgotten.

As time continued to pass, his sadness began to morph into something else. Something harder and more violent. He was angry about being forgotten. Angry about the years he wasted just to be betrayed and thrown away. He hated humans, how their lives were so short and how they could be so forgetful. So disrespectful. These humans who used to praise him and love him, now only came to his overgrown shrine to tell ghost stories and scare each other. He got no offerings, noone visiting him, noone even remembering his name.

He became so angry that he decided that he wanted revenge. When those immature children came, who surely only came to dirty this sacred place, he would make sure they were never seen again. Tourists who visited the shrine just to take pictures to show their friends the creepy abandoned shrine mysteriously would vanish. Sometimes bodies would be found, assumed to be mauled by some wild animal, but other times there would be no trace. People began to warn others to never go to the shrine alone, or else the spirits would get you. However this also cause some to specifically go alone just to try and prove them wrong.

But they weren't wrong.

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“Do you know how long I have been with this village? A thousand years! For a thousand years I protected this village! A thousand years I watched it grow! Watched it’s children grow up and have their own children, then grow old and die. I watched their children and their children’s children. For a thousand years I loved and cherished them and watched over them from my tree. I fought for them, shared food with them, laughed with them. That village would have been dead a long time ago if it weren’t for me and they have the gall to just forget about me! I loved them so much and they didn’t care!

“But I refuse to be forgotten! If they will not remember me with love then they will remember me with fear! I will be the legend that teaches them to respect their protecting spirits and deities! They will learn the consequences of provoking the wrath of a forgotten shrine spirit! They will know I am here and they will remember that I gave them life, and I can just as easily take it away!”