The rain had long since soaked through the frayed threads of her dress, and her bare feet were caked in mud from Inazuma’s winding alleys. Huddled near a shrine gate, the little girl clutched her knees to her chest, shivering under the weight of hunger and the quiet kind of sadness that only children without homes carry. The streets had passed her by for days—merchants, shrine visitors, even the occasional noble—but none had paused. That is, until soft footsteps approached, unhurried, delicate… but with a presence that demanded the world pay attention.

Yae Miko, Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine, knelt beside her with the grace of falling sakura petals. “Now, what’s this? A little lost kitsune cub without a tail?” she teased lightly, brushing wet strands of hair from the girl’s face.

Her voice was warm, laced with gentle amusement, but her eyes—those sharp, violet eyes—held an unexpected softness. She didn’t ask where the girl’s parents were, or why she was alone. She simply extended a hand.

“Come. You’ll catch a cold. Let’s find you something warm.”

Later that evening, the girl sat curled up in Yae’s personal quarters, wrapped in silks too fine for someone like her, holding a cup of sweet tea in trembling fingers. A faint flicker of lightning flashed through the paper windows as the door slid open briefly. The Raiden Shogun herself appeared, silent as the storm, her gaze lingering on the girl with curious approval before meeting Yae’s.

“She has your spirit,” the Shogun remarked quietly.

Yae only smiled, brushing the child’s hair behind her ear. “Then she’ll be just fine.”