A Tanuki's love

>A Tanuki approached you one day as you were busy tending to your vegetable stand. Just a meager, but satisfying extension of the family farm that had existed for generations.
>Flanked by several Oni bodyguards, she puffed idly at her smoking pipe. Not normal tobacco, it smelled expensive. It smelled like roses.
>"Hello."
>"Yes, ma'am, would you like to b-"
>"I like you. Spend some time with me."
>You blinked suddenly. "N-...no thank you."
>She pouted, cocked her head. "Hmm...I don't like that."
>"I-"
>"No, see, I always get what I want. I own this place. I'm not used to being rejected. So...say again?"
>"...No thank you."
>"I'll buy your stand. Every vegetable you have. I'll pay double. Spend time with me." She spoke with smooth confidence. Her placid, unsettling smile never faded.
>"I already have someone. Leave."
>"What's her name?"
>"Leave."
>"How much is she worth?"
>"Go away!"
>"Your farm? I'll buy your farm. You have one, don't you? Triple...no, quadruple what it's worth. You'll live in bless for the rest of your l-"
>"I don't like you."
>Her smile never faded. She shrugged, puffed extra long on her pipe. "I'll see in a few months." And she left.

>A few days later a sudden and unexplainable disease wiped out your crops. Your farm was ruined.
>And soon after that you found that all of your closest friends either had to leave the country for unexplained reasons or had been arrested for crimes they swore they didn't commit.
>And that the woman you loved had run off with another suitor who had suddenly and inexplicably gained a ridiculous amount of wealth.
>Every restaurant in town refused to serve you. Your home suddenly came under a plague of rats and termites. Every single person you knew began avoiding you.
>Just two months later you were completely homeless, broke, and desperate. And she came back, still smoking something that smelled like roses.
>"...So? How would you like it? Spend some time with me? I'll give you a place to stay. Three meals a day? Pay your debts? All you have to day is say-"
>"Yes! Y-yes...please."
>"...Hmm...I'll think about it."
>"Wh-"
>"I'll see you in a few months. Take some time to really consider the decision you're about to make, hm? It'll do you good. Make you appreciate what you get from me."

>Five months
>Five awful, unbearable, horrific months
>Couldn't stay in your town. Had to travel. Beg for coin, beg for lodging. You had nothing. There wasn't a second of any day in which you weren't hungry or cold or miserable.
>And after five months, after you'd decided that she'd just left you to rot, you smelled it. Smelled like roses.
>She treated it casually. Calmly puffed at her pipe while she surveyed you, inspected her nails. "So...how've you been?"
>"..."
>"...Good? Staying out of trouble?"
>"Please help."
>"Hm?"
>"...I'm sorry. Please help me."
>"Why?"
>You looked her in confusion. "Wh-"
>She didn't smile. She smirked. It was a big, toothy, nasty grin as she held her pipe in between her tooth. "What makes you so special that I should help you?"
>"Y-...you came to me and you-"
>"Maybe I was bored. Maybe I was just playing around. Why should I care about you? What can you give me, huh? Can you give me money? Can you give me security? Can you give me anything that any other man couldn't give me?"
>"..."
>"What if I said 'I just picked you at complete random'? Just to see what would happen? Huh? What then? Then you told me to leave. I offer you everything and you tell me to leave. Good job. Brilliant. You're a smart one, huh?"
>You actually started to cry. You did it. You threw the last bit of dignity you had away and got on your knees. Pressed her hands into the dirt. Put your forehead on the ground. "Please. Please, please forgive me. I'll do anything."
>She licked at her teeth. You couldn't see it, but you could hear it. You could feel it.
>"I could make you eat dirt, you know that? I could have you beaten. I could make you cut off your toes. Do you mean it?"
>"...yes..."
>"Four words. Just say four. Right now." She whispered them to you.
>You didn't hesitate at all as you grabbed her by the hand and planted a grateful kiss to her knuckles.
>"Will you marry me?"




>I'll let you know my answer in a few months.




>It was quicker this time. Thank God, it was quicker. She was away for two months before you smelled roses again. It was like a blessing, to smell something sweet and floral other than dirt or rotten, salvaged food.
>"Let's make a deal."
>She extinguished her pipe, put it away. No calm smile or maniacal grin, just a stone-faced unreadable expression.
>"I've been honest, haven't I? I keep my word, huh? I say I'll be back? I come back. I don't have to. But I come back because...honest is important. Your word's one of the only things you have in the world. You have your mind, your body, you soul, your dignity, and your word. Then everything else is beyond you. Even money."
>She ruffled your hair a bit. It felt weird. It was the first time she touched you.
>"Now...I'm going to give you...two options, alright? I can make everythiiiiing how it was before. I can buy you a new farm. I can buy back your lover. I can buy back everyone who turned their back on you. That's sad, right? Is that what you want? They aren't loyal to you. They're loyal to money. I threatened no one, you know? I just paid them. I paid people to ignore you. I paid your would-be-wife to betray you. I paid your friends into jail and then paid their way out and then paid them to never tell you they'd been released. They care more about money than they care about you...BUT, if you want, you can have them allll back and we can all pretend like this never happened. Or..."
>She let the sentence hang. Cupped your face in her hands. Got too close for someone who didn't have romantic intent. Touched your nose with hers. "You can forget them. You can come with me. I like you. That's never stopped. You're an honest man, a hardworking man, a loyal man. I like you...and...if you allow it? I'll be loyal to you too. All I want? Loyalty in return. I can have anyone, you know that? I can pay people for love. I can get anything...but I decided I wanted you. And absolutely no amount of money could ever change that. I can be loyal to you...as long as you're loyal to me. I know you can, right? You've turned down money before. You turned down a lot of money...so I know you can be loyal to people instead of wealth. That's why I like you."
>She played with your ears and droned on. "One-hundred and twelve men and you are the absolute first who didn't take my first offer...who I couldn't just buy right-out. That's what I want. That's all I've been looking for. Maybe you don't love me now...but in time? That can change."
>"So, choose! Me, who went through all this for you? Or the others, who sold you up the river for money. I won't bear a grudge. Promise."

>Recently, you heard that your former lover and her new husband entered a string of bad luck shortly after your marriage. A few nasty coincidences later and they were both penniless.

You considered asking your wife about it but thought against it. "They're probably just bad with money", you concluded.