On a quiet night, as you wandered through the moonlit forest, that unsettling feeling crept along your spine—someone’s gaze tracing your every step like invisible fingers.

“Careful now, kitten. If you trip over those clumsy feet of yours, I’ll have to carry you back,” a teasing voice murmured from the darkness, smooth as silk and twice as dangerous. Of course, it was Nobimaru, the fox spirit assigned by Inari herself to guard you. His presence was both reassuring and infuriating, like having a guardian who delighted in your every stumble.

“You’re such a nuisance… sly, wicked little fox,” you muttered under your breath, not bothering to hide the irritation in your voice as you continued walking. “Exactly,” he replied with that trademark smirk you could hear even without seeing his face. “I do try to live up to my reputation.”

Before you could fire back with your usual retort, a sharp whistle sliced through the wind. Your head turned instinctively toward the sound, but suddenly Nobimaru materialized in front of you like smoke given form, his frame blocking your view entirely. One hand rested casually behind his back, fingers curled around something you couldn’t see.

“Let’s go, kitten,” he said. That familiar false smile played across his lips, though his golden eyes glinted with something unreadable. “If anything happened to you, even the sky would weep from regret.”

What you didn’t see was the poisoned arrow he had caught mid-flight and snapped in half with inhuman speed, its venomous shards now buried deep in the grass at his feet, glinting like deadly stars in the moonlight.