A little something I wrote for English class.

As a side note: This has two of my yokai characters. Junichi is a celestial Inari kitsune and Yumihiko is a tenko kitsune. In this, they are technically in human form. Jun has always lived at the shrine. Yumi is a benevolent tenko that was given a place to stay at the shrine.

"Why am I always the one stuck with cleaning this place?" Junichi said to himself as he continued to clean the bedroom. "Just because he has a room doesn't mean he has to treat it like a pigsty!" As a kitsune, he could have easily used an illusion to make the room look clean, but that wouldn't be right. Besides, the owner of this room would probably be able to see through the illusion with a glance.

When he was finally able to clear the floor enough, he opened the closet. "Oh?" In the corner was a pile was books that were collecting dust. They appeared old, most likely not from this century. He picked up one. It was handwritten with "Part 9" on the cover. "Could it be a diary?" He was not one to snoop around, but he couldn't resist looking through it.

It was approaching nightfall as the young man was heading back to his hometown from a trip to the city. At a rest stop, he met a woman. He should have been more cautious, as there were stories of bad things happening to those who encounter lone women past dusk. Although he did believe in such tales, he fell for her. She was quite attractive—having a narrow face with close-set eyes, thin eyebrows, and high cheekbones—and had a lovely demeanor.

After that encounter, they continued to see each other, becoming lovers. One day, he asked her to marry him, to which she agreed. She proved to a devoted wife and soon enough, they had a son.

The people of the town grew more suspicious of her as time went by. It was odd enough that she suddenly appeared from nowhere one day and moved to the town, but they would often see her talking to herself or to animals as if having a conversation with them. Not only that, but she would never drink with people around, had both a fear and hatred of dogs, and took extra care to cover herself entirely from the neck down. The townspeople warned the man that his wife might actually be a supernatural beast in disguise. The man still held his suspicions from the day he met her, but wanted to have faith in his wife.

Usually, the man would return home from work at a late hour and the woman would be asleep by then. One day, he returned home earlier than usual. His wife was still awake. She was reading by a lamp and he saw it on the wall. Her shadow was not human; it was an animal's. He did not bring up the subject to her.

It was not for a while until he confronted her about her secret. He woke her up in the middle of the night.

"You are not human, are you?"

"If not human, then what do you think I am?" she replied calmly.

He thought for a moment. "A kitsune."

"You are correct." She did not hesitate. "You knew for quite some time, did you not?"

"Yes."

The silence hung in the air. In the next room, their son was sleeping peacefully. He had grown into a handsome young boy.

The man broke the silence, "Just leave. Please."

"I know."

"You were a very charming wife. Good bye."

"Thank you. You took this more calmly than some of my past lovers."

The woman took her true form of a fox and left.

"Junichi, what are you doing?" a voice from outside the room startled the white kitsune.

"Hey there, Yumihiko! Uh…how are you?" Of course he had to be caught by the tenko.

A smirk formed on the older kitsune's face. "Just fine. Now, why are you going through my things?"

"I was cleaning this mess you call a room!"

"It seemed more like you were reading my old records. How very unlike a killjoy like you."

He knew the golden kitsune was baiting him.

"Did you like anything?"

"What are they records of: your love life?"

"Not all of them! But it was fun to see how far I could take my shape shifting abilities when it came to humans."

"I think we should stop this conversation now."

"Oh, come on! I'm pretty sure that every magical fox – including you – has shape shifted into the opposite sex at least once."

"…Just clean your room for once."