The motherly guardian
 

Ren Suzuki was a a fourteen year old heading to a family shrine before he had his first mission as a samurai to protect a merchant from bandits. He was nervous hearing about their skills

The shrine was a statue of a kitsune.

He left some mochi at the shine and started to bow to the statue

The statue's spirit started to listen to his prayer.

Please I’m new to this and know my mission will be dangerous I prepared this for you to eat. He said before standing up with a crinkle

The spirit seemed to notice the noise and the statue started to move.

He fell back and landed on his poofy butt

The statue came to life, the stone material cracking away until a woman with bright orange hair and fox ears appeared.

He quickly bowed once again

"Greetings, little warrior." The spirit said.