Chapter Eight: Surprises
#9 of Tales of Ippon
Lost legacies have a way of popping up in unlikely places...
"What's your Name, girl?" the Kyujin Smith grumbled, eyeing the heavily cast
gold pieces that lay between her and Natsumi.
"Sum... I mean, it's Natsumi." She bowed low.
The Smith nodded, "Shiji Hasatri. A Pleasure to do business... So you need a
spear..." She smiled and pulled the gold over, stuffing it into a pouch and nodding. "I need
some items of consequence before I can complete it, but when it is finished, it will be a
weapon without equal." Shiji looked up to the lapine girl and saw the confusion in her face.
She snorted and sighed, "Bring me five of Rokkotsu's Scales; I will procure the rest of the
items. It will take a week."
Natsumi nodded, "Okay." She bowed and left, puzzling on how she would gather
five of Shuji's scales; and even more, what in the world they would be used for.
Dried leaves crunched and flew as the figures dashed through the forest. One of
them was running several paces ahead of the others. The hooded figure in the lead panted
and ran hard, the dark footfalls sending up a storm of leaves that gave the pursuers a clear
trail to follow through the mountainous forest. The ten men in pursuit panted just as hard as
their quarry, but they were motivated by the one who paced himself behind them, shouting
as he ran, "Run you piss-eating whorebred weaklings! Don't' let that little brat get away!"
The men in closer chase of the hooded one snarled as their leader 'encouraged'
them. Then the hooded one did something unthinkable. As they all cleared a section of the
forest the hooded figure ahead of them charged faster ahead, toe claws digging in as they
leapt out across the large valley ahead of them. Grabbing the edges of his cloak, the wild
updrafts that the ravine was known for carried him almost completely across, as his fingers
caught the edge of the cliff, and he scurried up and started running again.
The pursuit team skidded to a halt, one of them slipping on the cool morning grass as sliding
feet-first off the edge of the cliff, plummeting into the mist-filled crevasse below. His final
impact was never heard over the cursing of the man that lead the chase, "you Cowards! Go
after him! He's only a boy!"
One of the samurai who was in the chase spat, "You go after him. I'm not
jumping into or across that ravine." His head left his body in the next instant as the powerful
jirajin samurai that led the chase ripped the smaller kibajin's head off and tossed it into the
ravine.
"Get after him you scaverous louts! Or your heads will be joining his!" the other s
struggled to muster the motivation to run again as they had to side track around to the
bridge. The Leader frowned and looked at where the hooded one had left, "Rihatsu..."
"Five of my Scales?" Shuji blinked as he paused in his stretches, "whatever for?"
Natsumi hung her head a bit, "I thinking, Shuji-sama scales make... uhhh..." She
realized she didn't know the right word, but she nodded to him and gestured around her
neck. "So Shuji-sama always with me."
He blinked and puzzled, but decided to indulge her, "Okay, okay... But just so you
know, it's not easy." He sat down and unfastened the dressing on his shoulder where he'd
been shot. Natsumi winced, seeing the hole there and then looked away. She turned back as
he gave a grunt, plucking one of the thicker scales from around the healing injury, then
another, and another. Wincing each time he removed one. When it was all done, five scales,
each one half the size of the lapine's palm, rest in his large hand, outstretched to her. "There
you are. Not sure what everyone will think, seeing you with a necklace of scales."
She took them gently, almost as if her touch would hurt them, and bowed, "Thank
you, Shuji-sama!" she smiles and kissed him quickly, then dashed off.
He chuckled and resumed his stretches, "she certainly is unique."
Usuyami sat in the garden, at peace with the world, as her father had trained her
to become. With her eyes unopened, she could feel her surroundings, the ants working hard
along the tree to her left, the mouse in the wall behind her. Everything entered the range of
her focus, including the young jirajin male that landed just in front of her after leaping over
the wall, his anger and killing intent radiating like a cooking fire in the snowy places of the
world. She leapt up and her eyes snapped open, her short blade snicking out of the scabbard
as she lunged for the capture. But the young boy ducked at the last instant, and all she got
was his heavy black cloak. He stood then, out of reach, glaring daggers with his golden eyes,
the ninja-to in his hand glimmering in the morning light as he held his ground. Red scales
with a gold underbelly, and... ears? Usuyami blinked at that and looked his features over
again. He was definitely Jirajin, Most likely ten or twelve years old. But, near the back of his
head, just below his short horns were what looked like a scaled pair of small Kibajin ears,
folded back in anger. She was brought out of her musings as the boy lunged. The stroke was
well driven by his fury, but his footing was slipshod and his posture weak. She slid past the
stroke with almost no effort and brought her blade in to capture the zealous boy, but again
he slithered away.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her tail picking up a length of stick slowly, while
the boy was focused on her body.
"I am nobody, let me pass." He hissed.
She smirked, "I already knew that, since nobody would be let loose by their
master with such sloppy technique."
He bristled and snarled, "Woman!" another lunge, this one less-focused and more
furious, just as she had expected. Instead of dodging, she parried the stroke with her short
blade and her tail whistled overhead as she brought the stick down onto the top of the boy's
skull, right between the horns. He sat, stunned from the blow and dropped his sword
quivering in stunned silence as he stared off. Usuyami dropped the stick and quickly
retrieved the blade with her tail, looking at the boy when he suddenly burst into tears and
bawled, "You hit me!"
She blinked.
"I can't believe you actually hit me!" he sobbed, eyes watering as he held the top
of his head.
Aoi stepped out of the room, "what's going on out here?"
Usuyami stammered, stunned by the sudden crying of the young boy, "I... he...
killer.... Stick."
Aoi blinked and shook her head in confusion, "What?"
Usuyami nodded and pointed at the crying boy, "He came over the wall, ready to
kill someone, and when I confronted him, he came at me. I smacked him on the head with a
stick to stun him, and then he... he just started crying."
Aoi rolled her eyes and stepped over, kneeling down to the boy, "There now, It's
okay... you don't have to cry." She reached out to him and petted the side of his face, "what
are you doing here?"
He nodded and sniffled, "these... men were chasing me... and I came here to hide
from them."
Usuyami folded her arms, "Probably chasing you because you killed someone."
He shook his head.
"Then how come there's blood on this blade?" she held the ninja-to out to the boy
and waited.
"I only cut his hand off because he was hurting the lady," the boy nodded.
Usuyami blinked and then shrugged, "Okay, I give up." She set the blade down
and sheathed her own sword, stepping toward the room, when Aoi gasped. As she whirled to
see why, the boy impacted against her, almost knocking her over. But instead of an attack,
she found him clinging to her tightly, nuzzling against the flat of her robed tummy. "h-hey!"
The boy churred and smiled contently, "you smell like my mama..."
Aoi blinked and Usuyami blushed, "WHAT?!"
"Explain that again?" Usuyami frowned, rubbing her temples as the boy snuggled
her side.
"My mama was taken away when I was five. She said I should find my father and
he would take care of me. So I learned how to fight from some of the patrons at the inn, and
then I Left for my father's town." The boy nodded.
"Which town?" Aoi said, her face a perfect mask of kindness though the
resentment of the boy was clear in her voice.
The boy nodded, "Eizu."
Both females looked up and at each other in shock.
"Who is your Father?" A voice said as the maid opened the door, Shuji bowing
and stepping in as he looked the boy over.
"My Father is Aritseru Kajikuro, lord of Eizu." The boy nodded proudly, clinging to
Usuyami's side almost possessively.
Usuyami sighed, "Your father died."
"What?!" the boy was on his feet, "you're lying! Mother said he was a great
swordsman that nobody could defeat him."
The atmosphere in the room dropped, and Usuyami sighed, "He was not defeated
by sword... but through poison."
"You're Lying!" the boy wailed and lashed out at her. She caught the fits in her
hand and pulled the boy down slowly, gently cradling him and speaking softly.
"I'm not lying... He has died. He died honorably though. Defending his city to the
last moment, with every breath. His death is a great loss." She spoke true, for as much as
she loathed the advances of the Lord of Eizu. She respected him as a samurai.
The boy sniffled and whimpered, "Then... what do I do now?"
"Well that's an easy answer," Shuji spoke up, sounding a bit less depressed than
the rest of the room. They all looked at him as he reached back and produced Aritseru's
sword, the Itsuka Blade. The boy blinked at him, and Shuji nodded, "Become a man worthy
to take up your Father's honorable place, young Lord of Eizu."
Aoi blinked, "But... Eizu burnt to the ground."
"The City was burned, but the Land is still there. And it seems there is yet one
who can claim lineage to Eizu's blood," Shuji smiled and offered the sword to the boy, "What
is your name, boy?"
"R-Rihatsu," he nodded, eyeing the sword from his place on Usuyami's lap.
"Rihatsu Kajikuro," Shuji spoke firmly, though his expression was not
unkind, "Rokkotsu recognizes you as the Lord of Eizu, and I will do whatever is in my power
to help." He looked to Usuyami and smirked, "what say you, Akanti?"
She blushed at the stare and shook her head, "I... cannot speak for the Lord of
my clan... but..." she looked at the boy who looked at her with such a look that even her
battle-hardened heart give a heavy thump of caring, "... you will have the aid of Tetsumo."
The boy looked to Shuji again as the older jirajin smiled, "Ten, come and take
your father's sword, Rihatsu-dono."
Rihatsu reluctantly extricated himself from Usuyami's lap, shuffling over and
bowing as he lifted the sword from Shuji's hands. Or rather, tried to lift it. As soon as Shuji
let go, the blade brought the boy to the floor with its weight. He gasped, "It's so heavy."
Usuyami nodded, "The Lord of a clan must bear the weight of his people."
Rihatsu steeled himself and stood, hefting the sword that was as long as he was
tall and holding it in front of himself, straining slightly, "I... I will. Thank you for helping me."
Shuji smiled and nodded, "Well, with that, I'm going to take a bath. It's a nice
morning, and a good hot bath will work wonders for this hole in my shoulder."
Usuyami blushed again and nodded, when Rihatsu glommed onto her again and
looked up at her, "Are you taking a bath too? Can I come?" he smiled eagerly and wiggled
his tail, a definite Kibajin trait.
She spluttered and looked at him, "wh-what? I..."
Aoi bowed and mumbled her excuses, leaving the room quickly, before Usuyami
could look to her for an assist.
Usuyami growled at her maid and best friend and sighed at the boy, blushing, "I
really don't think..."
He looked at her with the sort of eyes Kibajin children were famous for, and
pouted.
Despite all her training, and all her discipline... she caved, "Okay, We can go take
a bath."
"Yay!"
Shuji smiled as he leaned against the warm stone, "Ah, always nice to have
company to talk to."
Usuyami blushed a little as Rihatsu held her hand tugging her to the wash
stools, "y-yes."
Rihatsu smiled and nodded, "I'll wash your back for you...." He blinked, realizing
he had never asked her name.
"Usuyami Shidomori," she educated him, sitting down and picking up her
scrubbing cloth, "And my back is-"
Rihatsu cut her words off as he snatched the cloth up and go the soap,
proceeding to scrub at her back scales with almost practiced skill. She gave a blink and then
an involuntary sigh, as the smaller fingers polished and massaged her back.
Shuji smiled and chuckled, "Looks like he's not taking 'no' for an answer,
Shidomori-san."
She blushed and fidgeted.
"Mama used to let me wash her all the time," Rihatsu said plainly, "she said I was
good at it like Father was."
Shuji leaned forward, "Who was your mother, Rihatsu-dono?"
He nodded, "mama's name was Hirika."
Both the adults froze.
Usuyami turned and looked at the boy, "Hi-Hirika... Kajikuro?"
Rihatsu looked up at her and nodded.
Shuji went pale and leaned back, "Well... that's a twist..."
Usuyami stood and bolted for the entryway, not caring that her back was covered
in soap; she had to get out of the bath. She ignored the shouts of 'Shidomori-san!' and 'Usu-
mama!" behind her. As she tripped over the flagstones in the dressing area, she toppled and
slid, scraping her belly scales on the floor a bit and laying there, shocked and appalled.
"Usu-mama!" Rihatsu called as she came after her, gasping as he saw her on the
floor and he rushed to her side, worrying over her, "Are you hurt? What did I do?"
"Shidomori!" Shuji dashed in as well, kneeling down, "Shidomori... what
happened...
"... His mother..." She choked, the vile feeling in the pit of her stomach soaking
the words in a foul taste that made her not want to speak.
Shuji sighed and nodded, "I know..."
Rihatsu blinked.
Usuyami righted herself a bit and looked to Shuji in shock, "but... with his own
mother?"
"We cannot fault Aritseru-dono for his decisions... or their results." He looked at
Rihatsu and sighed at the boy, "I'm sure there was a valid reason for it."
Usuyami snarled and snapped, "There's no valid reason for siring a child with
your own mother!" she snarled and seethed, fists clenched as Rihatsu backed away, scared
of her anger. He dashed away, leaping over the wall that contained the baths and vanishing
into the woods. Usuyami gasped and growled, angry with herself now, "DeMint!"
Rihatsu tripped on a rock and hit the leafy ground of the clearing. She hated him,
he knew it. Because of something about his mother, she hated him. He sat there, sniffling in
the forest as the four males approached out of the trees, chuckling at him.
"There you are you little brat. We've been scouring this damned forest for a
whole day looking for you, and we find you here, naked as the day you was born."
Rihatsu gasped and looked up at the four males. He had no weapons, no clothes,
no way of defending himself. He quailed in terror.
"Ain't so big and bad now, are ya?" one growled, reaching down to grab him, but
he was stopped short as a shriek of air sounded and a violet-fletched arrow sprouted from
the man's throat, toppling him backwards.
The three turned and looked at the source. Standing at the edge of the clearing
was Usuyami, bow in hand with another arrow nocked and aimed, glaring at the males as the
winds licked at her hastily tied black kimono. She spoke flatly, "the next one to move at him
loses an eye before they lose their life. I'm gong to give you to the count of three, and then
I'm going to kill each and every one of you... slowly."
"C'mon boys, let's get us some samurai tail..."
"But boss..."
"There's three of us, and one of her! Don't be chickenin out on me!"
"One..." Usuyami growled, unflinching.
The leader of the trio smirked, "Can't kill all three of us before we get to you,
missy. Now why don't ya just put the bow down, and nobody gets hurt." He approached her
slowly, the other two spreading out to flank her.
"Two...." She hissed, still keeping her aim locked on its target.
"Get her!!" the leader shouted as he lunged, only to get an arrow through his
forehead. The other two males had already charged, and by the time they could have
stopped, it was too late. The bow was dropped and both swords came out, the katana sinking
through the chest of the male on her right, and her wakizashi piercing the roof of the other
male's mouth. She snarled and twisted both blades, before turning in place and ripping both
free, blood splattering the trees around them and some getting on Rihatsu's chest. He
backed away from her as she cleaned and sheathed the blades. She turned and looked at
him and sighed, hanging her head.
"Rihatsu... listen... I'm... sorry."
He still kept his distance, terrified of the ferocity she'd shown.
"Your father... he did something he shouldn't have done... I knew your father...
quite well... and," she sighed, "well... I didn't know he did this thing... and finding out that he
did it... it was upsetting." She knelt down, sighing and bowing her head. "I wasn't angry at
you. I was angry... at him."
Rihatsu blinked and calmed, approaching slowly, cautiously...
Usuyami stayed still, trembling with anger at herself, but even more so, she was
upset that she'd frightened the boy so much.
He spoke softly as he sat before her, "what... what did my father do that was so
bad?"
She twitched and clenched her eyes, straining to explain, "He... you..." she
swallowed and looks up at the boy, "He sired you... with his own mother."
Rihatsu blinked.
"Aritseru Kajikuro... is your father, and your brother."
Again, Rihatsu blinked.
Usuyami almost shouted, "He took his own mother to bed and mated her, giving
you life."
Rihatsu recoiled and looked down, "But... why is that so bad?"
Usuyami blinked that time.
"I mean... Mama taught me about things like that," he nodded and looked
away, "she said I was special... that my father had made me special."
Usuyami blinked, and then she looked at the boy before her, "your mother... she
taught you?"
He nodded and smiled, "Yes. All the other ladies at the Inn taught me too."
The shock could not have been more apparent on Usuyami's face as she blushed
brightly, "you mean..."
Rihatsu nodded, "I'll show you!"
"W-Wait, what?!" she yelped as the smaller boy suddenly pounced and tackled
her to the leafy ground, licking at her neck as small fingers parted her lower robe and
rubbed at her vent deftly. She moaned out at the touch, but then her wits came back to her
and she squirmed a bit, "R--Rihatsu, you can't..." she gasped as his small finger found her
button and circled it, making her arch her back and moan again.
He licked his way down, using his teeth and tongue to move the upper robe apart
a bit, but when it would move any more, he quickly pulled his fingers from her slit and
tugged the sash at her waist open.
She made to sit up once his attentions on her paused, vocalizing a complaint as
his amorous assault, but he silenced her with a fierce, disarming kiss. She moaned in protest
as his tongue lanced into her mouth, wrestling her tongue into submission with such skill that
she couldn't even pull away. As she tried to regain her leverage, a finger slid down her vent
and plunged into her bath-wet depths, making her moan again into the kiss, not truly a moan
of pleasure, but the pleasure was there regardless. She lost her momentum and fell back to
the leaves again, squirming as the boy slipped his tongue from her lips, licking down to her
now bared breasts and suckling the softly scaled flesh there, working his finger inside her as
his thumb teased her clit.
"Ahh... r-Rihatsu.... S-stop..." she panted, squirming in an attempt to get away
from the building pressure in her body the boy was bringing out.
But he didn't stop. Without missing a beat, the younger boy shuffled between her
slowly spreading legs and then as he pulled his fingers out of her now thoroughly wet slit, he
slid his hips forward.
Usuyami gasped and nearly sat up, "Rihatsu!! Don't you da-aaaahhh...." She fell
back again as the boy's shaft plunged into her quivering vent, obliterating the impetus to get
up and end the little tryst on the forest floor. Despite his youth, he was still enough to bring
the fire in her loins to a roaring inferno of passion as he started to pound away at her.
"Uhnnf, Usu-mama... you're t-tight..." he grunted as he thrust his hips eagerly,
drenching his cock in her juices as he plowed through her over and over again. Each thrust
of his hips came with a little grunt from him, and a gasp from the lady beneath him, her
clenched legs parting a little more with each stab of his young manhood.
"Ahh... Ahhnn..." she crooned struggles forgotten as her mind floated in the fields
of sensual bliss. 'if he's this big now, imagine what he'll be like when he's fully grown into a
man...' her passions whispered to her as she clenched around the throbbing boycock, a
groan of strained effort leaking out between her teeth like the nectar of her sex that coated
the boy's pole.
As they panted and yelped and bucked, the pair of rutting bodies tensed with the
building sensations. Again, Rihatsu's youth was overcome by his 'training' as Usuyami
shuddered and clenched around the stabbing, leaking shaft, hissing her release as her hands
clamped down on the boy's shoulders, her thighs gripping his driving hips tightly.
"Agh... U-Usu-mamaaaa..." he groaned out and thrust deeply, giving a strange
bark of pleasure as his shaft leapt inside her, eagerly squirting his young cream as deep as
he could muster, the Kibajin in his heritage giving him a load that took nearly a full two
minutes to release inside the squirming, panting woman under him.
After the heavy spurts died off to a single, last flex of his cock that yielded only a
dribble, Rihatsu slumped down and nuzzles Usuyami's breasts, catching his breath. "Did I...
do well?" he panted, looking up at her for approval.
Usuyami was still breathing heavy, but she had recovered much faster, "I can't
believe what just happened..."
Rihatsu sucked in a breath, and his half-hard shaft seemed to shrivel like a leaf in
a fire, "I... I was bad?" he whimpered and backed away a little.
She gasped slightly as his limp length fell out of her cum-glazed vent, and she sat
up slightly, seeing the hurt and terrified look in his eyes she sighed and shook her
head, "no... it's... It's okay. I just... wasn't ready for that."
He blinked and blushed, "I did something bad, didn't I?"
She sat up a bit more and stretched her arms upward, the stain causing her belly
to tighten which in turn resulted in a lewd squelching sound from between her legs as the
boy's copious load was squeezes out a bit. She blushed and rubbed her face slightly, "I...
No." she shook her head and sighed, knowing that she had actually enjoyed it in the
end. "You did nothing bad..."
He yipped and pounced at her again, but she caught him this time and lay back,
snuggling a little with the smaller boy, "but next time you want to do that... ask me first."
He nodded and smiled sheepishly, "Yes, Usu-mama."
She stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes; musing on how she could have despised
one Lord of Eizu, but found the next to be slightly more endearing... even if just as lascivious.