Weeks must have passed, and my mood never improved, nor did I have the desire to return to my old habits. My routine changed, however. Instead of visiting the main road every night and looking for unsuspecting travelers, I spent my night with the tengu, talking about yokai, humans, and everything else that happened in this world. During the day, I would go to that hill over the town and watch the busy market street. Tojiro didn't visit every day; he probably showed up once every few weeks, and there was that, but every day I spent there, I was hoping for a glimpse of him. I knew how silly it was. I had to let it go, it was all over, but I was in this state of having nothing better to do or more like being unwilling to do anything else.

It was winter already, and snow covered the paths in the woods leading to the town and the castle. Even if I passed her every day, sometimes my tracks would be there from the previous day, but other times they would be gone if fresh snow had fallen.

Today I couldn't see my steps, but I had learned the path so well I could follow it even with my eyes closed. I was halfway through when an unfamiliar sound caught my attention. I stopped and listened carefully, and it was not hard to recognize the metal rings against metal and human screams. I hesitated. Whatever it was, it surely wasn't my business, but the smell of blood suddenly hit my nostrils.

The hesitation turned into a sprint, and I was moving in my fox shape toward the sounds. It was the opposite direction of the village and further away from where I was, but rushed through snow and stones. I froze when I finally reached my destination. There had been a battle, it had ended shortly. I may have heard the final clashes or the two parties separating from their skirmishes.

The field below me was a mess of human bodies, banners, horses, and abandoned weapons. One side had a crane on their banners and that somehow seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember from where. Perhaps someone I had seen in Tojiro's court. The other flag I quickly recognized, the round white dragon on black fabric, was unmistakenly his.

I started running again, not even thinking what sort of sight would be a fox running through the battlefield. I didn't think of the danger or what could happen to me. Those were just humans, most of them dying. I didn't even bother to count soldiers who might have been with Tojiro or his enemies, who had more casualties. I didn't try to guess or focus; I had one goal: to reach his camp.

The smell of blood was becoming more intense, and the moans of pain coming from soldiers' mouths were even louder than before. Priests and healthier men were gathering the wounded and helping as best as they could. Some gave me curious looks, but most were too busy looking after the injured. I must have looked like a vision or a dream, running through the chaos and ignoring everything,

Even if I wasn't a human, it wasn't hard to locate where the leader might be.

"What the..." One of the men looked at me as I dashed between them, slowly turning into a human.

I probably should have been more thoughtful and approached this situation differently, but I didn't care. My heart had been pounding in my chest, sensing something was wrong, and here I was.

"Leave us..." Tojiro groaned.

He was lying on the ground. Someone had removed his armor and pulled the top part of his kimono down. There was a deep wound on his right side, and the blood was still pouring out of there, even if one of his retainers was pressing hard against his skin. I could see other more minor injuries across his skin, none as serious as his one. The dragon on his body looked like it was drawing in a sea of red.

"My lord..." the man holding the wound protested. I recognized him quickly; his name was Kagetsuna, and he was the first man we met in the castle, the one that tried to stop Tojiro from bringing me in, but eventually followed his lord's orders.

"I'm dying, not dead, and while I still breathe, you need to do as I say." Tojiro pushed himself up as if to prove a point. "Leave us."

The men left the space one by one, walking further, but I knew they could still see us. Tojiro was lying on his cloak, but the snow around was soaked in his blood.

"They say spirits show before someone dies. If I had known that's the case, I would have done something as stupid as that sooner." He laughed as he reached with his hand for my face. There was no warmth left on his skin.

"That's different sort of spirits, I believe...." I moved my hands over his wound and pressed as hard as possible, but the blood was still gushing. "What happened?" I finally asked.

"Doesn't matter now." His hand was shaking, but he still held it against my face.

"If you wanted to summon a yokai, you could have just visited the road." I joked, but I could feel tears running down my face. If he died, I would never see him again. Not even on the hill overseeing his town. He would be gone, unless he turned into an evil spirit, and...well, not much of him would be left then. He might not even remember me at that point. I blamed myself for not being smarter. Instead of sitting on that hill daily, maybe I should have been here when the battle started and protected him.

"Who is lying now?" It was his turn to laugh. "I was there. You never came again."

His words shocked me. I didn't expect that. I didn't even think he thought about me in any way, shape, or form. I thought he had moved on with his life and was going to marry his betrothed once she became of age. My feelings had not changed, but somehow I had managed to convince that he never had any for me and I was just another shiny and rare object in his castle.

"I..didn't think you cared." I finally said.

"No, I only started a war because of you." He laughed but stopped when he saw my confused look. "What do you think that is? I broke the agreement, I could have waited for years, but I broke the agreement. I didn't believe the fools would attack me in the middle of the winter. They are all dead now."

I felt a terrible sense of guilt. If I had listened to Tojiro, trusted him, and was not too focused on what I had projected, we wouldn't be here today. I should have known that whatever I might have felt for him wasn't just a purpose of my existence, the need to trick and trap because here I was, the contract was broken, he was on the verge of death, and my heart still ached like the first day I ever saw him.

"I'm sorry." I was sobbing at that point, something I had never done. Tears were not new to me these days, but the rivers coming out of my eyes were something new I couldn't control.

"Can you imagine the history books? Lord started a war for his yokai mistress instead of killing her." He laughed again, but none of that was funny.

I realized I'd do anything to improve things and fix my stupidity and selfishness. I had been wrong to follow a human, but I should have listened and not given in anger.

"Arrogant human." A new voice came to my ears, and I suddenly looked up. Above us, a cloud had formed, slowly taking the shape of a dragon.

I froze, even though my hand was no longer pressing on Tojiro's chest. Dragons were gods, and they were rare. They rarely showed up in front of my kind and even less in front of humans. Even the very elaborate story Tojiro's grandfather told him turned out not to be a dragon.

"I'm not hallucinating...." Tojiro groaned, trying to move himself up, but his arms gave up under his weight.

"My lord, please. It is my arrogance that brought us here. My action led to the death of this human and many others." Months ago, this would have never come out of my mouth. I wouldn't have cared about a handful of humans killing each other over whatever humans usually fought.

It was different now. I had glimpsed into the human world, and beyond, I loved one of them, and while I still found some of their fascinations strange, there was a small dose of respect.

"Your arrogance, his arrogance...there is a lesson here for both of you." He had taken a proper shape now, I looked back, but I didn't think any other humans could see him: just Tojiro and I.

"My lord, it has been months since I have not fulfilled my purpose. I am no longer good or willing to do what I was created to do. He has a future. I don't. I'm not going back to my old life." This much had become clear to me. I couldn't do it. Even when I was convinced Tojiro wanted nothing to do with me, I had lost the willingness to fulfill even the simplest of tasks. "I would do anything to save his life."

The dragon moved, a giant claw neared Tojiro's body, and I wanted to throw myself to protect him, but I couldn't move. I was frozen like a statue, and neither words nor a sound could get out of me. The claw followed his chest where the dragon tattoo was, but he didn't scratch or hurt.

"Your arrogance is killing you, human, not a sword. So focused on being the one who saw a legend and seeks a legend yourself." The dragon turned toward me then. "And you...going against what the gods made you be, for a mortal. Do you see what you two did?" The dragon closed his eyes and exhaled a thick mist covering the whole field. "So be it. He will live, and so you will you, but a price will be paid. You, dear fox, will lose your immortality. Like the humans so much? Fine, the shape you have now is the shape you will have for the rest of your life. You will not age, and you will not get sick, but you wouldn't have any special powers either. You will see the world through their eyes, truly see it, and you will watch him one day die of age or wound, only faith will know, but you will witness that. For you, lordship, her immortality will save you now, but I want a souvenir. Your right eye will serve me well, not a bad bargain, I would assume."

"No wait, I don't care about the eye, but...." Tojiro started, but I interrupted.

"Yes. Do it." The words came out of my mouth, realizing what that would mean, but he would live, and I would fix the mess I had started.