It was a dreary, overcast morning like many others when Harutame began his usual rounds through the woods. At that point, the weather made little difference to him as long as it wasn't downright pouring, he would go out foraging just the same, which was another factor in why the people of the nearby village thought him to be strange at best and dangerous at worst. Not that he cared much for their opinions either. He lived in a house they said was cursed and curated his own vegetable garden for self-sufficiency, not for the sake of reliability, but rather simply for the sake of not having to deal with other people. He respected the forest a lot more than anybody he knew, and in return, the forest respected him as well, blessing him with fruit and berries galore.

However, it was not just nourishment that Harutame was keeping a look out for on his trip. His respect for the forest extended to its denizens as well, and so he would keep an eye open for any traps set by the villagers—which he would disable out of sheer spite—and injured animals in need of care. Being a somewhat lonesome man, he dabbled in medicine as well, at least enough to dress wounds and such. And after the first leg of his rounds, it seemed that he would require those skills once more, as he spotted a fox lying motionless by the side of the path, a small pool of blood building up beneath it and a wound clearly noticeable, probably caused by one of those traps. Getting closer, he noticed that it was still breathing, if faintly, so if he moved fast, he might have a shot at saving it.

Rushing back to his home with the fox after performing only the most rudimentary patching up he was capable of right then and there, the outsider got to work, producing a quick poultice and bandaging the wound up, then laying the injured fox down on a blanket. It seemed like it would make it, and Harutame breathed a sigh of relief. Content that he had done a good job, he then went over to the small storage room of the house to put away the foraged food he found that morning, wondering what those villagers would have thought of this. Surely, they would have left the fox to die, thinking it to be a malevolent spirit out to trick them or something. As if kitsune and such were real, he scoffed to himself. What a ludicrous concept.

So of course, when he finished up his business there and returned to the place where he left the fox, the fox was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a woman significantly taller than him, with muscles that made her look like she could squish Harutame's head like a bug as well as some, well, rather pronounced assets in her chest area. Once he managed to tear his eyes away from that, he then noticed that she had fox ears and a fox tail swaying behind her, to boot. If Harutame were less surprised by this, he might have been able to see the humor in the irony of this whole situation, but instead, all he could do was scream in terror, causing the woman to walk up to him, grab him and slap him across the face. "Quit yer yelpin'! Gawds, yer annoyin' me and I ain't even met ya yet," she said, clearly annoyed.

A slap to the face, surprisingly enough, managed to snap him out of it. "Wh-Who are you?" he stammered out.

The woman indignantly rolled her eyes, as if this question was self-evident. "Ya ain't ever heard a' kitsune? Y'know, fox goddess, magic powers, human 'n animal forms, any a' this ringin' yer bell? Anyway, name's Keiko, git it memorized, yer gonna need it, since I'm stuck with ya now," she said, this only throwing up more questions in his mind. "Now tell me yer name already so I know what to call ya when I get mad at ya."

Either someone was playing a very elaborate and impressively convincing prank on him, or Harutame was going to have to reevaluate his image of the world and supernatural things right quick, and it seemed to him that the latter was the more likely. "H-Harutame..." he muttered in reply, still awestruck at the sheer size of this kitsune. Even if he paid them no heed, the image he had of kitsune was that they were seductive and sensual in their human forms, not this... brutish.

A sigh then escaped Keiko's lips, and her expression turned almost pitying. "Look, Harutame... I 'preciate what ya did. I ain't been 'round the block too long yet in this here kitsune business, and I'll be right honest with ya, if ya know what's good fer ya, ya ain't bringin' that fox encounter up with me. Ever. I ain't proud a' how I got myself in that situation. And now that I've gotten my ass saved by some human, I got a debt to settle. The big shots always tell the runts, don't ya ever get yerself so screwed up ya get rescued by a human, cause if ya do, yer stuck with 'em, servin' 'em 'till they kick the bucket. 'N guess what? Ya got yerself a kitsune servant. Whatever ya got that needs doin', I'm yer gal now," she explained, the situation slowly sinking in for him.

Looking Keiko over, it was quite easy to imagine various scenarios he could use someone like her. Work around the house, in the fields, out in the forest... just based on her size and strength, that were the obvious choices. But the more he thought about it, the more he found her muscular appearance to be strangely appealing. And if she was truly his servant, to do whatever he wished...