Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or anything else you recognize in this story. This is an AU and has nothing to do with my previous fic, Moments in Time. This is a strictly non-yaoi fic, by the way.
Providence of the Divine
By: wolf demoness
Prologue
Once upon a time in the world of demons nearly a thousand years ago there lived a young maiden in her father's home. She was lovely in both body and mind; generous and kind and above all things she was very happy. For you see her mother was the high priestess of the God Inari and her father was the architect that built and maintained His shrine. The God was pleased with the family's toil and favored them in all things. In the fall their harvest was always plentiful. In the spring beautiful flowers bloomed in the gardens surrounding the small cabin the family lived in and perfumed the lands about them with sweet fragrances. Neither injury nor sickness touched them. And throughout the years the family rose in wealth and respect amongst their fellows in the community.
After some years the young maiden's mother brought her to the temple to present her to the God and enter her into His service. As she approached the altar the God greeted her warmly. Inari appeared as a handsome young Kitsune with long silver hair, ears, and tail. He appears no older than twenty human years and has limpid gold eyes, which appear lit by an inner fire or a warm glow that attracts others as moths to a flame. The maiden blushed as He took her hand and asked her name. She bowed her head and gave her name, Sakura, the cherry blossom.
That day the young maiden entered her novitiate in the Temple of the God, Inari. After some time it became common to see the two, the God and the maiden sitting in the gardens surrounding the Temple deep in conversation. The young woman had a quick mind to the utter delight of the God, who often came to her with His troubles and worries over His people. For Inari was a sociable God. He did not sit apart from His people and listen to their prayers from afar as some Gods chose to do, but rather He chose to coexist with them. He took meals in the company of His favorite followers, He engaged in conversation with Kitsune on the streets, and He often came to visit the homes where new kits had been born. He was beloved by His people who had utter faith in Him. Yet Inari was a young God. The faith and love that His people gave unto Him overwhelmed Him. At times, when everything became too much for the fledgling God, He would pull the maiden aside and ask her to sit with Him. They discussed matters of theology, botany, biology, sociology, and myriad other topics that occupied the long hours of the day.
After the maiden's second hundredth birthday, Inari began to notice a change in Himself. For reasons He couldn't fathom He began to ask the maiden to accompany Him on His long walks through the forest at day break, He would watch her at work in the gardens, and ask her to dine with Him within the inner sanctum walls. When out of her company He was agitated and restless. He had an odd tightening in His chest when He chanced upon her in the halls. When He made her smile His immortal heart skipped a beat and He tried ceaselessly to make her smile as often as He could. Eventually He became so distressed that He sought the advice of one of His wisest priests. The knowledgeable priest gently laughed at the young God. He smiled and touched the God's brow telling Him to think it over Himself and to follow where His heart led Him.
Inari watched the maiden tending the gardens and ministering to the people who came to her for advice and for healing both spiritual and physical. She was a wonder and the God could barely bare to be out of her sight. Slowly He came to realize the love that existed between the two of them. He came to notice that her smiles, her true smiles, were for Him alone. The brightest flowers from her garden she'd bring to His altar and she'd sometimes lurk outside the doors of His inner chamber in the early morning desiring a dawn lit walk to begin the day. In time they came to share their love with one another. There was never a happier couple in any of the three worlds. Never one pair of souls who expressed such a pure and abiding love for each other, but alas it was not to be.
In time the maiden brought forth a male child, born of the love that existed between the two. The innocent babe was their greatest expression of devotion to each other and all unwittingly he was also their undoing. The King of the Gods called Inari into His presence on the eve of the babe's birth. He gave a warning unto the Fox-God. Telling Him that to accept this child as His own would be to endow that babe with the divine power of the Gods. Should the child grow wicked he would have the power to destroy the worlds. A war amongst the Gods could erupt if the child was unable or unwilling to follow the strictures of the ethical code the Gods adhered to. Therefore, Inari could not accept this child, He must send him away all unknowing of his parentage and send the mother with him. He must never know the circumstances of his birth and therefor he and his mother must travel to the farthest regions of the Makai where the worship of his father did not extend.
Inari begged the King of the Gods to allow Him to raise His son. He would be noble and courageous, a credit to all the Gods in the three worlds, Inari promised the King. But His pleas feel on deaf ears. And so the maiden was banished from the lands of the God Inari. She took with her the son she had borne the God and never returned to the lands of her birth. Having lost the son that He'd never even been allowed to hold and the love of His immortal life Inari retreated from His people. The God sank into a great depression. Often He could be seen walking in the forest surrounding His temple with tears clinging to His eyelashes and salty tracks staining His cheeks. Friends brought Him into their homes and young mothers brought their children to Him and placed them on His lap. The God always loved the children of His followers, but now His joy was tainted with the pain of His loss.
When they failed to prevail upon the mind of the God the leaders of the Kitsune entreated the King of the Gods to aid their beloved divinity. The King of the Gods was deeply moved by the love the Kitsune had for Inari and for the suffering that the young Deity was forced to endure. He was not heartless. He grieved for the loss that the young one suffered and though He could not relent and reverse His decree He gave unto the followers of Inari an enchanted mirror and a promise. When Inari took the mirror into His hand it would reflect the image of His son and King Enma promised that should the child prove to be honorable in all things then, at the appropriate time, he may rejoin his father. The grateful followers returned to their God bearing these gifts, which He received from them with great delight.
As time wore on Inari watched the image in the mirror grow from that of a cherubic infant to the dashing good looks of a young man. At all times the God wore the mirror on a chain around His throat and He eagerly awaited the day His son would be returned to Him. And so the Fox God Inari returned to His people with an even greater vigor. And the love the Kitsune had for their God grew by leaps and bounds as He blessed them with His divine passion, His ardor for life and gaiety and happiness in all things. And above all they were imbued with His hope for the future and His abiding love for love itself.