Happily Ever After

At the foot of Mount Fuji, long before the Tokugawa's bought Edo to the foothills there was a small village. It was not a grand village, and was known to few beyond the horizon, yet still the smell of cherry blossom filled the air in spring and the inhabitants lived out their lives, heedless of the march of progress, unaware of the litany of violence that surrounded them.
    Among the villagers was a silent young Samurai, his close friend was a demure maid some years younger.
    On her he spent his affections.
    All about the village the families talked, assumed a licentious nature to their friendship. And because it was assumed by all to be true, it became the truth, despite the reality.
    For the two were rarely apart it came to pass, on one of their many walks through the foothills, the came upon a vixen, her fore leg trapped amid a tangle of brambles. Kindly, for that was their very nature, they freed her from this fate.
    This was in the time where the Bakfu still roamed and played in dreams and Fox magic still held power. In a thrice, before the two stood a beautiful woman. Her skin as though painted by the fullest moons light, the thin trace of her lips; a half sardonic smile; so thin as to be more noticeable and sensual for the fact; her kimono a silk a brilliant burning sunset in autumn. 
    "Thank you, for you have truly saved me from death, today,' said the fox, I would repay you each with a single wish."
    The maid, heart overfull with love and filial duty wished only for the prosperity of her family and ancestors. The fox, smiling said, "It will be so. When you return home you will find your family's rice and grain stores overflowing- they will never know want." And indeed, when the maid returned, she found the fox had been true to her word.
    After the fox granted the maids wish she looked to Takuan, the young Samurai, and asked, "What is it you wish for?" Takuan leaned in to whisper in the fox's ear, and then straightened. The fox looked at him and said, "It will be so."
    Again in a thrice, the pair saw the fox's red brush dancing as she bound across the slope, chasing down the sunset. The maid looked to her companion and said, "What is it you wished for?" to which he said nothing.
    The years passed, the maid's family becoming more prosperous and known and held in higher regard. Takuan's fortunes remained unchanged. Still the maid remained curious about his wish, yet whenever she raised the subject he fell to silence.
    As the years passed, their youth fell away. Wars came and went yet in the main, the village remained untouched. The hand of flood and drought found reason to stay away- the plagues never made it that far. Life ran its course, unimpeded by the terrors of the wider world.
    Then one day, as happens, Takuan, the once young Samurai passed away.
    People are born and people die. Yet still the sun rises and sets.
    The maid though, her once rose kissed cheeks now faded and tear etched, was broken hearted. The only reply to her words now an echo and cold comfort. At last, her despair took her to the ragged rocky bluffs and she stood there, the drop and the fall calling her tenderly.
    Then suddenly behind her, a soft voice said, "What is it you do?" and there stood the fox, breaking her reverie.
The maid told her of her woe and heartache as the wicked chill wind whipped tears from her eyes. The fox sighed.
    "Takuan asked for one thing, that you have a happily ever after. Has not your life been perfect?"
    The maid, smiled sadly, looked to the fox and said,
    "Make it so," and dashed herself on the rocks below.