It was a cold afternoon and winter had just begun. ${name} was tired after following the desperate pleas of aid from a maiden that always remained out of sight. From the sounds ${name} heard the woman was being chased by a fox, or a wolf even; being driven ever deeper into the woods and towards a nearby mountain range. ${name} had called for the woman, told her to try and run towards him, but she never replied in the affirmative, only screaming for help and crying out in fear. ${name}'s heart was beating like crazy. Time was of the essence, so trying to take shortcuts to cut off the woman and whatever was chasing her was a must - after all, these were ${name}'s woods a place nobody would know better. Three times ${name} tried to cut the woman off by anticipating the direction she was being chased in. And three times the woman called out from a direction ${name} hadn't expected. It was a maddening and exhausting affair, but abandoning a woman in need was not something ${name} could do.
So the chase continued, ever onward towards the mountain range until, at the foot of the mountain ${name} could hear the cries of the woman echo from within a cave. Just her luck to run into a cave ${name} knew was abandoned, safe for an old shrine.
The cries of the woman turned into whimpers, interspersed with the sound of a growling beast. Though exhaustion tugged at every muscle, ${name} had to press on or else the beast may have the maiden at its mercy.
With a sword in one hand a freshly lit torch in the other ${name} creeped into the cave, only to be greeted by a sudden bout of silence, which turned into giggling, followed by a roar that shook the walls of the cave. A new roar could be heard from outside, but nothing to be seen. At least for a few moments. It almost sounded like rushing water. The whole circumstance was so strange that ${name} hesitated too long and could only watch as an avalanche, set off by the strange roar, engulfed the cave's only entrance in an icy wall of snow. The giggling returned. Thankful for the torch's light a figure approached. Long, slender legs and a traditional robe walked into the light, revealing a beautiful young woman with the widest, most self-satisfied smirk ${name} had ever seen. The brilliance of her eyes were so distracting it took a few moments longer for ${name} to notice the woman's head bore the ears of a fox, and a long, bushy paint-brushy tail was swaying behind her.
"You've such a heart of gold, dear Ranger," the fox woman said, greeting ${name}, who was still standing by the snowed in entrance of the cave by way of a courtsey, "My name is Mirai and you will be my plaything. Oh, and worry not about the dame you thought was chased into this cavern by a ferocious beast. That was I. Come now. Enter my cavern proper so that we may speak."
Knowing the cave entrance was blocked by vast amounts of snow ${name} followed the kitsune into the cave proper. A small fire burnt in the center of the cave, surrounded by pillows with a small kettle brewing atop the flames.