A/N: This is a short story I did for school. We had to do a "fairy tale", which meant it had to have a happy ending. Well, that isn't how I write. I don't do "happy". So, this is a remake of the "fairy tale". Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters are mine. The story is mine. No stealing! Thanks! ^__^

Pairing: None

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Has it really been a year since I took this body as my avatar? It must have been, she smiled, I just received my third tail for my 300^th birthday.

Yuri, or rather, Kirie sat near the hearth of her husband's small wooden house, musing over the past year.

Kitsune, Japanese fox spirits, had the ability to live from 900 to 1000 years. Most of those years were spent gaining wisdom and knowledge so as to rejoin the Celestial Courts. Gaining wisdom and knowledge was done by either possessing a person or taking a dead body as an avatar.

Yuri was rescued ten years earlier from a leg trap when she was in her fox-form. At the time of her rescue, she had made a promise to Akihiro; and a kitsune never broke a promise.

Yuri's promise was simple: "I promise that when you are in need or have suffered a great loss, I will be there to help in any way I can."

Though Akihiro may have forgotten the promise, Yuri never had. Therefore, when Kirie died, Yuri answered Akihiro's plea for his wife to return.

"Mother!"

Kirie looked up at her son, Taki, as he stood in the open doorway.

"What is it?" she asked as she unconsciously smoothed down the front of her kimono.

"Father needs your help in the field," he said simply. He turned on his heel and left, his message delivered.

He fox-like senses were alerted to the strange way he responded to her. He seemed stiff and possibly a little suspicious of her.

Kirie stood and placed her hand on a pocket on her kimono. Good, her ball was still there. A kitsune's ball was used to hold part of a kitsune's spirit when in a mortal body. If it were taken from her, she would whine and plead to get it back. A kitsune's ball could be used to control a kitsune into doing whatever the person wanted.

Kirie went to the door, put on her sandals, and headed to the rice field. As she passed the forest that held a shrine to the god Inari, she sent a silent prayer that she could quickly pay off this debt and get away from the suspicious eyes of Taki. However, a debt could take a lifetime to pay off.

She reached the field and instantly wished that she had worn a looser kimono. Akihiro, his shoulder length black hair tangled by the wind, was bent over a small row of rice sprouts, or at least what used to be sprouts. The month old sprouts were flattened; some were even eaten or just pulled up.

At the edge of the forest, Kirie saw a five-tailed brown fox disappear into the forest. It was her father, Rezuri. He was not very pleased when he found out about the promise his dear Yuri made. A human wronged him when he was younger and he vowed to hate all humans. He did not like the fact that Yuri grew fond of Akihiro, but he figured that it was her choice. He did not ruin the sprouts to cause trouble, he just liked to remind those around him who ruled this area.

"It was that fox again," Akihiro said, sighing. "He didn't cover his tracks again."

"Taki hasn't been able to catch him yet?" Kirie asked, pretending that she didn't know the fox personally.

Akihiro sighed, shaking his head. "No, that's why I wanted to see you. You are so good with animals that I was wondering if you could go out with Taki and help hunt it down."

"And kill it?" Kirie asked nonchalantly. She knew that a simple human couldn't kill her father, unless the human was a priest, of course.

"Exactly."

"All right. Taki and I will leave tonight," Kirie said, turning to return to the house. Akihiro and Taki followed.

~*~*~*~*~

Kirie and Taki ventured deep into the forest, at least five hours from home and fairly close to the shrine of Inari. She had changed into a looser kimono, her tails held more comfortably away from her body, but not far enough to be noticed. She had her ball in one hand, playing with it idly.

"Maybe we should stop for the night," said Taki suddenly.

Kirie accidentally dropped the ball when he spoke. Taki bent to pick it up.

"No! Don't touch that!" Kirie bent, picked up the ball herself, and put it into the safety of her pocket.

When she stood, she felt her kimono catch on one of her tails. She hurriedly covered it, hoping that Taki didn't notice. Unfortunately, he did.

Taki pointed his naginata, a bladed staff, at her chest.

"I knew you weren't really my mother!" he exclaimed, slashing the back of her kimono to free her tails.

She fled deeper into the forest, finally being cornered by Taki in front of Inari's shrine.

Taki advanced on her, his naginata pointed at the pocket holding her ball. He smirked and cut her pocket, catching her ball in his hand.

"Please, Taki," she pleaded, falling onto her hands and knees, "please give it back!"

He held the ball just out of her reach.

"This holds part of your soul, does it not?"

Yuri whimpered, nodding her head and flicking her tails anxiously.

"And with this ball, I can make you do anything I want?"

"Please give it back!"

Taki pointed the naginata at her throat. "Answer my question!"

She whimpered again, nodding.

"Why did you trick my father?"

Yuri looked up at him, her eyes shined with tears. "I was keeping a promise."

Taki raised an eyebrow. "What promise?"

"Ten years ago he saved me from a trap when I was in my fox-form. I promised him that if he needed aid, or suffered a loss, I would help him in any way I could. When your mother died, I took her body to help him take care of the field, take care of you, and keep him from giving up on life. I kept the promise because a kitsune never breaks a promise."

Taki lowered the naginata, but did not return the ball. "What will you give me for this?" He held up the ball.

Yuri blinked, tears streaming down her face and her brown hair hanging in her golden eyes.

"I will give you the ability to speak to all creatures. But..."

"But?"

"...You have to let me fulfill my debt to your father and stop hunting my father. If you stop going after him, he will stop destroying the fields."

Taki narrowed his eyes at her. "How can I believe that you are telling the truth? The fox is not one to believe easily."

"You just have to believe me!" Yuri fell to her knees at his feet, pleading with him.

He laughed, threw the ball to the ground, and stepped on it, shattering it. Yuri howls as her soul is crushed as well.

Knowing that her death was only moments away, she gathered up enough strength to ask Taki to deliver a message to his father.

"Taki... Please tell your father that I loved him. I always have; that's why I made the promise to help him. Please tell him that. And tell him what happened. He should at least know that."

Taki nodded, grim faced, and turned away from the now lifeless body that was slowly fading.

~*~*~*~*~

An older man walked slowly to the shrine of Inari, which was nestled in the forest near his home. He knelt down in a patch of colorful flowers, which were growing in the cracked walkway.

He sighed, touching one of the flowers. His long brown hair fell over his shoulder and he titled his head to one side. He smiled to himself and looked up at the shrine.

"What did I tell you, girl," he asked no one in particular. "I told you to stay away from the humans. But did you listen? Of course not. You were too arrogant and too much in love. Well, if you are ever reborn, I hope you have learned your lesson. And please, stay away from the humans! They will be your downfall time and time again!"

The old man stood with a gasp; his joints were getting worse each day. He turned away from the shrine and the patch of flowers, turning back towards the way he came. However, before he returned to his home, he looked back at the shrine once more.

"Be careful in your next life, daughter. Humans are tricky creatures. Be careful who you make promises to."

And with that, the man turned into a five-tailed fox, and darted back to his home, deep in the forest.

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