Inari's Bucket List

1. Earn Master's highest praise

2. Learn to tolerate water

3. Learn to swim

4. Learn how to prepare inari-zushi

5. Have a tea party with Dessie and Witchie in which no one gets injured

6. Marry M

"What's that?" a voice yipped close by, startling Inari as he stood, pencil resting on the page at the last unfinished word, undecided if he should cross out that entry or complete it. Jumping in surprise, he turned to see a pair of young foxes sitting behind him, watching him curiously.

"Oh, t-this? It's nothing. Nothing at all!" Hastily, he snapped the little book shut and tucked it into the folds of his formal robes.

Feeling the heat rising in his cheeks, he forced himself to calm down as he turned to face his friends with a smile. "The other day I saw Miss Megan sitting in the newly renovated park, looking very serious and making notes in a little notebook. So I approached her and asked if all was well, because she looked so very serious, you see. She laughed and showed me the book, and I saw she had been making lists in it. 'I'm working on my New Year's resolutions', she explained, pointing to the first list. 'One of my resolutions is to make a bucket list and to start checking things off on it.' 'What is a... a bucket list?' I asked her. She showed me the second list, and there were oh so many things on it, of no apparent relation to each other."

The second fox yipped enquiringly, and Inari nodded. "Well, things like, oh, to visit many different places I'd never even heard of, though I'm so many decades older than she. And to swim in the ocean, that was another. And to go mountain climbing, and to learn to sail, and to... and to...." He stopped, his cheeks once again on fire as he recalled the final item on her list: to marry and have a family of her own.

Before his foxy friends could probe further, though, they heard footsteps, soft leather soles padding pit-pat-pit-pat along the pavement of the narrow lane leading past the small school to the shrine. The foxes leaped to their feet and darted away into the cover of the surrounding woods, and Inari held his breath, recognizing the combined strength and softness of the approaching steps.

"Inari?" a lilting voice called softly.

"I am here," he replied solemnly, willing his heart to slow, to cease this wild beating against the walls of his chest, like a nightingale desperate to escape its cage.

Then she stepped through the gates into the shrine, his home, his realm, and he nearly gasped out loud. "You... you've cut your hair?" he murmured, reaching out to touch the wisps of pale gold shimmering in the early spring sunlight before he knew what he was doing.

"Yes," she replied with a self-conscious laugh, nervously tucking a stray lock behind her ear. "It was getting to be so bothersome, you know, as long as it was...."

"It fell to your waist," he murmured.

Nodding, she went on. "Exactly. I couldn't just leave it loose anymore, it was always getting in the way while I was doing my chores on the farm. I tried braids for a while, but that took too much time every morning. I tried just pulling it back into a ponytail, too, but it was almost as much in the way as when it was loose. So finally I decided to cut it shorter. I just came from Sharaku's. Do... do you like it? Does it look all right?" she asked anxiously.

"It looks..." he sighed, "exquisite."

Her cheeks flushed with pleasure, her sky blue eyes shone. "Really? I'm so glad you think so," she laughed in relief.

They stood staring at each other for a brief moment, no more than two or three quick heartbeats, before she blushed and looked away and he cleared his throat, both painfully conscious of the awkwardness of their silence.

As if on cue, one of the two foxes, who had been spying on the pair from the bushes close by, darted out and zipped past, nearly knocking Megan over in her surprise. She staggered backwards and would have fallen had Inari not lunged forward to grab her by her arms.

"Hey, you okay?" a voice shouted from a little distance.

Flustered, Inari and Megan sprang apart and turned towards the voice, even though they both knew no one could see him—no one but Megan.

Running up, Hinata gasped breathlessly, "Are you okay? It looked like that fox just about knocked ya over!"

"I-I'm fine, thanks," Megan replied, smiling with as much composure as she could summon. "I was just... visiting the shrine.... Praying for good crops, you know. And it just came out of nowhere and caught me by surprise."

"I bet! Hey, I was on my way to meet Yuzuki at Ginjiro's for a snack. You know how Yu-kun loves his sweets! Why don't you join us? You look like you could use a cup of tea after that shock. C'mon, my treat!" And then he was pulling her away, chatting virtually nonstop, as she glanced back over her shoulder at Inari with an apologetic look of regret in her eyes.

"Well, THAT was depressing," a voice huffed close behind Inari, and he jumped in surprise to find a pair of little girls emerging from the shadows of the shrine. Except that they weren't little girls, not really—they were at least as old as he himself was.

"I know, if only Mr. Foxy Ears hadn't played that prank!" Dessie cried mournfully as she followed, shaking her head dolorously.

"H-hey! Were you two spying on us?" Inari exclaimed, his hackles rising as he bared his teeth.

Witchie laughed and patted his head. "Down, boy! Don't you go an' growl at me. You remember our last fight, don'tcha?" Nodding sagely, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she thought. "What you need is some guidance," she announced a moment later.

"G-guidance?" Inari echoed dubiously, inching slightly away. In his experience, these things never ended well for him.

"Looooooove guidance!" Witchie clarified, grinning deviously at him.

"Oooooh, can I help?" Dessie cried, clapping her hands and bouncing, her eyes shining with delight.

"W-well, I suppose so," the little witch replied dubiously, weighing the threat of Dessie's tears on the one hand and the certainty of her incompetence on the other. But hey, she wouldn't be the target of the spell, so.... "Yeah, sure, you can help!" she exclaimed with more enthusiasm.

"Yaay!" Dessie pirouetted around the altar with joy.

"W-wait just one second here! Don't I have any say in this?" Inari protested, torn between anger and sheer terror.

"Nope!" both girls replied in unison, then they spirited themselves away, leaving Inari alone in the shrine.

Leaning heavily against one of the fox statues flanking the altar for support, he muttered, "I... I have a very bad feeling about this."