There was blood surrounding a young girl's bare feet. There was so much. Why was there so much? The smell was horrible, it consumed her senses. The knife trembled in her hand, as she looked down at what she had done. There was so much blood pooling around her. She was scared. She had lost control in that one moment and was blinded by rage. She never meant for this to happen though.

There was a sharp ringing in her ears. She felt sick like she was going to throw up. This was awful. This was maddening. Why did time seem to stop in that one moment? Was she even breathing? How? How could this have happened?

She didn't mean it. No, no she did mean it.This blood shed was on purpose. That unforgettable feeling of rage that swallowed the young girl whole. Such an emotion was burned into her. Yes, she could never forget it. The small child wanted more.

All she saw was red.

Naofumi's eye's shot open, as she suddenly sprang to life from her deep slumper. Heavy pants left her lips, as she cradled her head in one hand as the other clutched her sheets. Her ears perked to take in the tiniest of sounds. Once she took in her surroundings, she felt her heartbeat calm down. Naofumi immediately fell back into her futon. She moved her sheets to cover her head as she curled her body into a ball.

It was just a dream. A terrible dream that happened a long time a go. There was nothing to worry about. All of that happened centuries a go for the kitsune. It was unlikely to repeat it's self. The past was the past. It already happened, and there's no changing that.

She was safe here.

It was a bright morning at the temple, a lovely spring day in Japan. Unfortunately, a certain fox thought otherwise. It was too bright for a certain fox trying to go back to sleep. Her ears twitched at the sound of those pesky birds chirping too loud for this time in the day. She was already awake, no point in staying in bed for nothing.

Naofumi lifted herself up. She stretched her back, hearing a satisfying crack of her bones. Its been decades since she slept this well after a very fufilling night of eating. Usually, the poor fox was nocturnal and opted to watch over her territory at night. This was one of the rare occasions she woke up during the day.

Naofumi looked around her room. Same tatami flooring that was littered with various human literature called 'light novels' and picture books dubbed 'manga. Yes, this kitsune was an otaku. He found himself deeply invested in the world of anime that humans have created, much to her brother's dismay. It wasn't surprising. Naofumi has always been invested in the world of mortals. She found them so interesting, mostly to mess with. It's not his fault humans were so easy to trick and play his own games with. She found the species entertaining to say the least.

Speaking of which, the fox should return the books she borrowed from the one of the city's library. Yes, humans liked things to be returned to them on time. It was an odd ritual. Humans should know by now that time didn't much but being immortal, Naofumi couldn't say much.

Finally the fox stood up from her futon, deciding it was now that he would start her day. Her multiple tails swirled, sweeping a bit of the floor as he stretched once more. She knew he had duties to perform for the day like listening to prayers, sweeping the floors, and other things but those could wait. The fox really wanted to go to the human city just for a little bit to check out new arrivals of any light novels.

Naofumi began to get dressed for her outing in a white kimono robe and a pair of red hakama pants. It was typically an outfit for shrine maidens, but kitsunes also wore it from time to time. It was comfortable to wear and didn't seem to age in more recent years. It was designed to have all nine tails fit through. She also placed an open white yukata over his outfit, hiding the upper part of her tails. It was considered rude for a kitsune to show the base of their tail to strangers in their human form.

She took herself in through the mirror that stood in the corner of her room. She looked like a standard kitsune. Black fox ears perched ontop of her head and her nine white tails slightly peaking out from under her open yukata. Three red triangled on each of her cheeks that pointed inwards to give the impression of whiskers. As well as a bit of red around her eyes. Naofumi neatly pressed her outfit before considering herself worthy of going out.

Naofumi slid open the sliding shoji door to the hallway. The fox let out a yawn. She should take a nap when she gets home. Naofumi proceeded to find the exit, passing some shrine maidens who respectfully bowed at the sight of the kitsune. They were performing their daily tasks of cleaning the shrine in case Inari decided to visit unannounced like the goddess usually does.

Naofumi was nearly at the exit when a hand slammed against the wall by her face. It didn't shock Naofumi, she was used to this. She turned her face slightly to the offender. It was Rika. A shrine maiden who had been serving much longer than she should have. Despite being human, Rika had sworn her undying loyalty to Inari and was granted immortality. In return, Rika would watch over this shrine until the end of days. She wore her miko outfit with pride. Her dark hair up in a tight bun, and her eyes showing a bit of age. She looked no more than maybe thirty years of age. Actually, Rika was only two centuries older than Naofumi and acted the part of a mother. She constently scolded the kitsunes of this shrine for their actions. In fact, the human was possibly the only one who spoke to any kitsune as equals.

Naofumi let out a sigh, "Good morning, Rika. How are you today?"

Rika stood tall with an air of pride, "Naofumi-sama, where are you going this fine day? Surely, you don't plan on skipping your duties for today?"

The fox let out a nervous laugh, "Maybe..."

"Naofumi-sama, this is the third time this month you've been denying your tasks as a servant of Inari. Perhaps, I need to take away your fried tofu for this week." The older woman pondered. Naofumi felt her tails puff up. The woman was denying Naofumi her favorite food. How could she? Rika should know by now that a kitsune's favorite thing in this world is fried tofu!

"Come on, Rika. I promise I'll do all of my tasks by the end of tomorrow." The fox pleaded.

"And why can't you do them today?" Rika questioned.

"Well, I was planning on going to the city to do some reading..." Naofumi trailed off.

Rika quirked her eyebrow, "By reading, do you mean reading those 'light novels' that you're so fond of?"

Judging by Naofumi's embarrassed expression, Rika was right. Rika rubbed her forehead. Inari doesn't give her enough credit for dealing with her children.

"Fine," Rika muttered out. "You may go, but as soon as you come back you must perform your duties. Am I clear, young lady?"

Naofumi let out a small chuckle, "I'm only two centuries younger than you, Rika. In kitsune time, that's nothing."

Rika let out a slight, barely visible smile, "But in human years, it as at most two or more lifetimes. Now go!" Rika started to push Naofumi towards the exit, "Before I change my mind."

Naofumi laughed, "Okay, okay, I'll be back soon."

"One more thing, Naofumi-sama. Your ears and tails put them away, you know the rules." Rika scolded.

It was a rule that if a kitsune were to go out in a very crowded place to hide their tails and ears. It was a way to not attract attention and prevent bystanders from stepping on one of their many tails.

With a quick snap of her fingers, Naofumi's tails and ears were gone, even the markings on her face. Naofumi gave a small wave to Rika, before heading out.

It wasn't a long walk to the library, but Naofumi liked to take her time. It was part of her job to observe humans in her shared territory, making sure everything was fine. Just to make sure no evil spirit was terrorizing the human population too much. Honestly, she wanted a peaceful day. It's been too long since she could just relax.

When she arrived to the library, she went straight to the light novel section. That was her heaven in the mortal realm. Naofumi never knew why humans wereso fascinated with going to another world, but she wasn't complaining. These stories were so entertaining and immersive, slightly predictable though. What wouldn't be predictable to her? She had lived for about four centuries maybe? Naofumi may have lost count. She was never good with numbers.

Naofumi let her fingers gently brush against each one of the books. The fox scanned ever title to see what would spark some interest. She was humming a gentle tone giddily like a child about to receive candy. Her finger stopped at one book in particular.

"The four cardinal heroes," Naofumi mumbled out the book's title, before plucking it out of the shelf. "I never heard of this before."

Naofumi let opened and flipped over numerous pages. It was just a quick scan over to get a summary of the book she was holding. There are four weapons wielded by four hero; the spear hero, the sword hero, the bow hero, and the shield hero. All the heroes fight against the waves of catastrophe to protect their world from chaos and destruction.

A shield as a weapon? Naofumi tilted her head in confusion. Well, she suppose anything could be a weapon if a human really tried. They were so creative like that. The heroes in the book seemed very noble to risk their lives for the protection of their world.

Naofumi continued to flip through the chapters until she got to the shield hero's chapter. The pages were surprisingly blank in this chapter. How odd.

The pages as a gust of wind came, started to flip wildy and glow and vibrant gold. The fox let the book go in shock. Was this another prank by another kitsune? She could have sworn this decade's prank war was over.

When the glowing book fell to the floor with a thud, it seemed like time itself had stopped. A glowing circle encompassed her surrounding radius, and just like that it felt like she was falling. The light overcame every one of her senses as if trying to drown her. The next thing she felt was a stone floor underneath her.

Naofumi opened her eyes as the bright, golden light diminished. She was laying on the floor in what looked to be a magic circle. She picked herself off from the stone floor. Where exactly was she? Her right arm felt slightly heavy. Naofumi let her gaze wander to it, and strapped to her sleeved arm was a silver shield with what looked to be a smooth emerald green stone lying in the middle.

"Oh, brave heroes! Please save our world!" A male's voice desperately pleaded. Naofumi looked up at a group of humans, all wearing similar dark colored robes. Naofumi pondered for a moment. She had never seen such clothing in her world. Maybe it was a new fashion statement? Human fashion evolved very frequently from her understanding.

"Aren't you a cutie? Why are you still on the floor?" Another voice said in a flirty tone. Naofumi directed her attention to the source. A young man had his hand held out towards her. His blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail as a smirk layed on his lips. Ah, he was a womanizer. Naofumi dealt with plenty of those during her centuries of life. They never amused her much, but it was fun to play with them for a bit.

Naofumi smiled and gently pushed away his hand, much to the young man's dismay. She stood up on her own, brushing whatever dirt was on her off. Now fully taking in her surrounding, she wasn't in the library anymore. Instead, she stood in a stranger dark room with people she had never seen before. The architecture was unfamiliar as well. It looked to beeastern European, but she couldn't really tell. She had never left Japan before.

She let her gaze shift over to the side to see two other young men. One with slightly wavy hair holding a bow in one hand, the other with straight black hair holding a sword. Naofumi recounted the events that had happened. She was in a strange room with odd people. She didn't know where she was. Judging by the magic circle she was summoned to another world maybe? Oh! It was just like those isekai she reads, but only this world felt very real. Naofumi was lost in her own thoughts, before she let out a slight grin.

This was going to be fun.