Stumbling up the steps of the temple, Suna was somehow unsurprised to see the two strange foxes sitting on either side of the temple's entryway. A smarter man would have taken the warning for what it was and turned right back around; a smarter man would have thought twice about entering a temple during the night hours. Suna was not a smart man, not in his state of panic and sleep deprivation. Desperate for reprieve from the voices, he offered the foxes but a nod before he strode into the heart of the temple. The animals followed him, watched silently as he clambered upon the altar, and sighed in relief at the silence that enveloped him. Were Rintarou a smarter man, he would have had the wherewithal to remember and follow his own self-imposed rules regarding the temple. But he was not a smarter man, and against all reason, Suna fell asleep under the watchful eyes of the foxes.
When Rintarou woke, it was still dark. Usually, the temple was pitch black inside at night, there were no lights and no people to keep them dutifully lit, but it was different when Suna woke. It was still dark outside, the moon and stars still hung high in the sky, but the temple's insides were awash with the glow of light. Candles, the old ones that Suna had set up but never lit, flickered with gentle flame, bathing the temple in a soft but flickering glow. Were the human more aware, not still groggy with unspent sleep, he would have noticed that many of the candles were floating, would have registered that occurrence as strange. As it were, Rintarou sat dumbly in place and gawked at the light around him, taking no note of any strangeness beyond the flames.
From either side of the temple, two figures approached. Their steps made no noise, and they moved with an unnatural and fluid grace. They were men, and they shared the same face, the same body, the same expression. Each wore a delicate porcelain mask of a fox to the side of their faces, and each wore traditional robes and shoes. They were carbon copies of each other, identical in all but colour. The man to the left wore fabric spun of the brightest gold Suna had ever seen; it was as if the cloth had been made of pure sunlight and coin. His hair was the same golden blond of the first strange fox. The man on the right looked much like his foil, only in silver, draped in the flowing calm of materialized moonlight. The man on the right had the same dark to silver hair as the second fox.
It was not, however, the foxes that Suna first thought of when he saw the men but rather the carved figures that adorned the temple. Two men, identical in body, silver, and gold. This was their temple, their domain, and Rintarou was stupidly sat upon the offering altar. Suna had never believed in the magic of the gods before, no matter how often it showed itself to him, but here he started to believe.
The two men, or were they gods, turned to look at each other from their vantage points. They spoke no words, and their faces betrayed no expression, but they seemed to communicate nonetheless. Slowly, almost begrudgingly, the deity dressed in old turned and made to exit the temple, still maintaining his fluid movements. As the golden one left, Suna could swear he heard the chitter of a fox and the caw of a bird from outside the temple. Animals dared not to go near the temple, but Rintarou got the feeling that the rules he once knew no longer applied here.
The silvered one, once the golden one was no longer in sight, turned fully to face Suna and approached the altar upon which he rested. The man smiled kindly, inadvertently flashing his exceptionally sharp canines, or perhaps it was intentional; a threat. His steps were measured and slow, a silent metronome ticking down to Suna's impending doom. Rintarou himself sat frozen in place and stared desperately into the cold slate eyes of an approaching god.
Instead of death, however, Suna was faced with an outstretched hand and an onigiri. "You have finally made your choice." The silvered god spoke softly but with ill-masked glee.
"I- what? I have chosen nothing." Suna insisted, trying and failing to hide his confusion and panic.
"Oh, but you have. You have come here, have you not? You have come here and sought shelter, you have come here and sought me."
"I suppose I have, yes." Suna saw no point in lying to the man in front of him, he doubted it would work anyway.
"You belong to the forest, human. It calls to you as it does to all the creatures of the wild, domesticated as they may be." Rintarou gave no response; he had none, so he simply listened. "You belong to the forest, and the forest has come to claim you. I have come to retrieve you, to bring you to where you belong."
Suna frowned and opened his mouth to object, he belonged to no one, and this had started to sound like a cult obduction. "I-"
"Ah ah ah," The man cut him off, wagging a finger in the air like a disappointed grandmother, "You have no room to object here, human." Rintarou supposed that, in the grand scheme of things, this was true, and he remained silent. "Come and join me, affirm your place and eat." The man offered forward the food in his hand insistently.
The problem was, Suna didn't want to eat. He was more than a little confused, yes, but he still knew better than to accept a deal from a stranger, a deal with no parameters, no less.
The deity in silver took his hesitation and gave him a strained smile in return, "Come, eat, the forest will reward you. This is where you belong; you can be mine, human." The deity placed the food in Suna's hands and pushed them up to his mouth. "There is nothing for you back in the world of your birth, human. The forest, I, can offer you everything. You will want for nothing, pretty human."
Rintarou wouldn't lie and say the offer wasn't tempting; it would indeed be nice to no longer worry about his safety and next meal.
"I can give you all that you desire, pretty thing. Do you not tire of being alone, do you not wish for companionry, for love? Tell me truly, human. What is out there that I cannot give you here? Anything you ask of me is yours, love." The deity spoke slowly in a voice of honey and starlight.
He had drawn closer to Suna as he spoke, and the human could not help but to notice the being's handsome appearance. Clear, bright eyes, a strong figure, full lips, rigid nose, well-built jaw and cheekbones, the deity had not a flaw on him. There was only one thing from the man that Suna desired, "Can I have your name then, stranger?"
The deity smiled as his eyes twinkled with mischief, "Eat, my pretty human, eat and find out."
Eat Rintarou did. He bit down into the onigiri and reveled in its well-crafted flavour. The deity grinned, wide and satisfied, before extending his hand to Suna once again, "Call me Osamu, and you, might I have your name in return?"
Suna spoke before he could even register the question, mind slowed and eager to please Osamu, "Suna, I am Suna Rintarou."
Osamu let out a pleased, low hum and lifted Suna up by the hand, "Well then, Rintarou, come with me."
Hazy and peaceful warmth filled Rintarou's mind as he did as Osamu asked, walking hand in hand to the back of the temple. There, he exited through a door he had never seen before, a door from which he had never entered.
The forest had called to Suna all his life; it offered him the love and safety he would never find amidst his hometown. The forest called to Suna in dulcet tones and a honeyed voice, and Suna answered.
