{"sf1_id":109836,"sf2_id":"pnG4DvM1","title":"Chapter Seventeen: Destruction","author":"The Roseblack Dragon","words":4220,"posted_at":"2009-11-24T06:11:00.000Z","tags":["Bathing","Character Development","Feudal Japan","Fox","Human","Kissing","Lizard","Plot Development","Violence (Not In Yiff)"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/109836-chapter-seventeen-destruction","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/pnG4DvM1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/7f/e3/7fe34703-4f71-473d-8ae7-0fdf4be3701f","description":"#18 of Tales of Ippon","content":"  \n_Death comes for all. On swift wings. But some... the meeting is on their terms_  \n  \n  \n=============================================  \n  \n\"How many are there?\" Usuyami asked, standing in the cover of a parapet on the  \nWalls of Tetsumo. Thick black smoke blotted out the midday sun, and the accompanying  \nstench was horrifying. The scouts knelt as they reported.  \n  \n\"We couldn't tell, Milady. There's hundreds...\"  \n  \n\"And Thousands...\"  \n  \nShe hissed and looked at the army spread out before her. The Gasaran forces  \nhad moved. Reports were filtering in from all over Ippon that they were expanding outward  \nfrom the Black lands, in numbers unimaginable. Aoi looked on from her chair and looked to  \nUsuyami, \"We must evacuate the city.\"  \n  \n\"It's too late for that,\" Usuyami nodded grimly, \"Anyone leaving would be hunted  \ndown anyway.\" She set her jaw and nodded. \"Tsukino, you will go to the Vault... Bring me  \nThree.\"  \n  \n\"THREE?!\" Aoi gasped, \"You know what happened the last time you used ONE!\"  \n  \n\"Aoi, there's no choice,\" Usuyami replied stiffly.  \n  \nAoi swung at her, beating against her love's arm with upset paws, \"No! I won't  \nwatch you kill yourself that way!\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Usuyami turned and gripped Aoi's wrist firmly, staring her down, \"The return to  \nyour quarters.\" She turned and barked, \"Tsukino!\"  \n  \nTsukino gave a frightened squeak at the command and hurried off, tail tucked  \nclose to her legs. Aoi stared At Usuyami in shock and fear, but she could not say what she  \nwanted to... with a nod and a wave, the porters picked up her palanquin and carefully brought  \nher back to her room, where she wept.  \n  \nUsuyami took a deep breath, ignoring the foulness in the air as she focused her  \nthoughts and eyesight... \"This will end... one way, or another.\"  \n\n* * *\n  \n\"Look at all of them!\" Rihatsu gawked, crouched low next to Shuji, with Kasumi on  \nthe other side of the larger jirajin.  \n  \nShuji nodded tensely, \"Easily in the hundreds-of-thousands... There's no way to  \nsneak past a force that large.\"  \n  \n\"What about your army?\" Rihatsu blinked.  \n  \n\"Defending my clan's cities. This attack was well planned, to attack all the clans  \nat once so that they can't lend assistance to each other...\" Shuji frowned and  \npointed, \"There. That large area there, that's where the leaders gather.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Are you planning to take them down?\" Kasumi whispered.  \n  \n\"No... We'd never leave alive,\" Shuji sighed...  \n  \nShe frowned and nodded, \"So, what do we do?\"  \n  \nShuji hissed in frustration, \"We wait. Wait for the right time to get to Tetsumo.\"  \n  \n\"I hate waiting,\" Rihatsu grumped and sat down heavily.  \n\n* * *\n  \nTsukino knelt as she set the long, lacquered case down, bowing her head, \"Three, Usuyami-  \nsan.\"  \n  \nUsuyami nodded, tight-lipped and silent until she spoke flatly, \"thank you,  \nTsukino, you may go.\" She took a breath, \"the same for the rest of you... get behind cover  \nand stay away from here, even if I fall.\"  \n  \nThe lookouts all blinked and backed away, leaving the tower. Tsukino didn't move.  \n  \n\"Tsukino, go on.\"  \n  \n\"No, Ma'am,\" the cobalt female shook her head, not daring to look up, \"I promised  \nAoi-san I would look after you. I will not leave you in danger, even if you command me to.\"  \n  \nUsuyami hissed, \"You'll die.\"  \n  \nTsukino reaffirmed her kneel and pressed tight fists to the ground, \"Even if you  \nthreaten me yourself, Ma'am... I will not leave you.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Usuyami sighed and nodded, \"Fine... But you were warned.\" She turned and  \nopened the case, pulling up her bow and taking a single arrow from the case. The arrow was  \nlarge and decorative, carved with sigils and spells all along the shaft and head. Twice as  \nlarge as her normal arrows it was incredibly unwieldy on her bow as she nocked the arrow.  \nTsukino lowered her ears as she bit her lip, watching.  \n  \n\"Come, Vanquisher. Breathe thy destruction into my strike, that my foes may  \nknow no greater fury than that which we shall deliver now,\" Usuyami recited the spell, the  \nsigils on the arrow smoldering to life as she slowly drew back. \"Bear your sword upon the  \nwind, Split the Heavens with our strength and rain the stars from the sky as we, the  \nrighteous, bring ruin to those who threaten our peace.\"  \n  \nTsukino covered her ears as the arrow began to shriek, an incomparable wailing of  \ncacophonous screams. Had she not covered her ears she feared she would have died from  \nthe sheer violence of the sound. It almost felt enough to make her ears bleed as the arrow  \nburst into white flames.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Go Forth, Sekaikiri!\" Usuyami shouted over the unholy scream as her bowstring  \ngave an almost equal scream, the Arrow tearing from the bow with a force that it shouldn't  \nhave had. Tiles from the tower's roof flew after the searing projectile as it blistered through  \nthe air, leaving a blinding trail across the vision of those unfortunate souls foolish enough to  \nlook.  \n  \nUsuyami looked on unblinking, the scales on her fingers smoldering as the  \nbowstring evaporated. She wavered, but forced herself to stay upright, following the arrow's  \npath with her eyes, right to the intended target...  \n\n* * *\n  \n\"What is that?!\" Kasumi yelped, covering her ears. Shuji and Rihatsu did the  \nsame, all of them shaking their heads in confusion at the sudden screaming that echoed  \nacross the fields.  \n  \n\"Look!\" Rihatsu pointed for a moment as the searing line of white light lanced  \ndirectly into the center of the Gasaran army. There was a breath's pause, and then the World  \nbarked. A solid wall of air flattened the trio to the ground, followed by a deafening crash. Light  \ncame from all directions, and then all was silent, the singular mote of fury spent. They all sat  \nup, blinking, and Shuji was the first to gasp.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Rasaga's Breath...\" He hissed in shock. The other two looked, and were equally  \nawed by the sight. A whole section of the dark mass of Gasaran forces was gone, replaced  \nby a massively flat crater. Even the forces at the edge of the detonation were reeling from the  \ndestruction; hundreds were on fire, some still flailing as they burned to death.  \n  \nThe three gawked, but not for long as the screaming began again, making them  \nall wince and duck, Shuji looked on as another line of blinding light shot from one of the  \nlookout towers in Tetsumo's walls. The second blast was farther away, but only slightly less  \nviolent to them.  \n  \n\"What IS that?!\" Kasumi wailed, clinging to Shuji's side in fright.  \n  \nHe shook his head, \"I don't know... I've never seen anything like it.\"  \n\n* * *\n  \n\"Usuyami-san, Please! You can't do it again!\" Tsukino was at the smoking  \nfemale's side, kneeling next to her as she tried to stop her.  \n  \nUsuyami was struggling to stand, or even to move. Her opal scales were charred,  \nsmoldering along the edges, with extensive burns on her right fingers and hand. Her hair was  \nsinged and smoking, Tsukino having to extinguish a few flames there. The Lady of Tetsumo  \ncoughed, smoke leaving her mouth as she strained, pulling a fresh bowstring from her  \nkit, \"There's still... more of them... I must... protect... my home.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Tsukino sobbed, shaking the woman as she tried to stop her, \"No, you've done  \nenough... we can handle the rest! Look, they're starting to flee, even! Please! For me... For  \nAoi! Your City needs you alive!\"  \n  \nUsuyami paused and blinked, then blinked again, realizing how dry her eyes had  \ngotten from the effects of the weapons... she strained to breathe, lungs and mouth singed a  \nbit as she coughed up more smoke, \"I... you... you are right...\" she dropped her bow,  \nslumping back into Tsukino's arms, smoke curling out of her nostrils. She coughed again  \nand looked up at the blue Kyujin, suddenly saddened, \"f-forgive me...\" she whispered  \nhoarsely and then slipped into unconsciousness...  \n  \n\"Usuyami-san!\"  \n  \n  \n===========================================  \n  \n  \n\"How is she?\"  \n  \n\"She'll live, thankfully,\" Aoi sighed, looking at the sleeping Usuyami.  \n  \nShuji nodded and sighed in relief, \"What WAS that, anyway?\"  \n  \nAoi frowned, \"the Sekaikiri, ‘World-slayer'... Only ten were made, we do not know  \nby whom. Out of those ten, there have now been five used. Two, ages ago, back during the  \nForgotten War.\" Aoi wrinkled her nose as if the words tasted rancid on her tongue, \"she used  \none shortly after her Father's death, stopping an attack by the Gasaran clan that was here.  \nShe was far too young, and the weapon nearly killed her then. They are designed to harm  \nwhoever uses them, the price for such power... She was lucky this time with using two. I fear  \nthe third might have turned her to ash...\" Aoi sniffled and squeezed Usuyami's hand.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Shuji nodded, giving a sigh as he frowned a bit at the implications of such  \nweapons, \"It was reckless of her, indeed, though she has gained us a foothold with the  \nAkanti clan, if the Akanti forces can move north to assist my Clan, we can push these  \narmies back.\"  \n  \nTsukino nodded, \"We have already sent a messenger to Lord Futsuyomi.\"  \n  \nThe gathered comrades all jumped as Usuyami coughed and opened her eyes  \nblearily, \"Wh-where...?\"  \n  \nAoi and Tsukino rushed to her side, each taking a hand and comforting her. Aoi  \nspoke, \"you're in your room, the doctor tended your burns, but he said you shouldn't move  \nfor a few days...\"  \n  \nShe hacked and coughed more, her voice a hoarse wheeze, \"S-safe...? Tetsumo  \nis... safe?\"  \n  \nShuji spoke that time, \"Your archers put the rest of the forces to rout, and  \napparently a force of Akanti footmen were arriving to support and they finished them off.\" He  \nnodded, \"you may have saved Ippon.\"  \n  \nShe nodded giving a weak smile and another cough, \"s-someone had to...\"  \n  \nRihatsu bit his lip and leaned over Aoi's shoulder, \"Usu-mama...\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Usuyami looked, groaning a bit at having to move her head, \"Rihatsu... you made  \nit back...\"  \n  \nHe nodded proudly and smiled a bit, though he was still distraught over her, \"The  \nnorth clans are fighting too....\"  \n  \nShe smiled a bit, \"That's good...\" another hacking cough and she noticed the girl  \nby Shuji's side, \"W-who?\"  \n  \nKasumi was concerned too, though only because Usuyami's burns looked very  \npainful. She blushed a bit and nodded, bowing politely, \"Kasumi Hikamori... Lord Shuji's  \nretainer.\"  \n  \nUsuyami blinked slowly and nodded weakly, \"He always... Picks the cute ones.\"  \n  \nShuji smirked a bit and nodded, \"I think she'll be fine.\"  \n  \nAoi and Tsukino smiled too, nodding in agreement.  \n  \n\"Of course,\" Usuyami wheezed, \"It takes... more than this to... Kill... me...\" she  \ntrailed off, slipping back to unconsciousness, but her soft breathing reassured them all.  \n  \n  \n==========================================  \n  \n  \nKasumi rubbed her face with the washrag, giving a shudder as the spots in her  \nvision from the flashes before still hadn't completely gone away. The Gasaran fires had been  \nsnuffed and the accompanying stink had been taken away with the breeze overnight. She  \nstraightened up and adjusted her sash, setting the rag back on the edge of the basin and  \nlooking out of the window. The smell of the forges was something she was not used to yet,  \nand she sneezed. Giving a sigh and a shake of her head, she set about finding Shuji. She  \nopened her room and stepped into the hallway, heading down to the courtyard. But she was  \nstopped when she came around a corner and ran into someone, literally.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Oww,\" the pearl-scaled wall whined.  \n  \nKasumi checked herself and bowed, \"Ah, So sorry, Shidomori-sama. I should  \nwatch where I'm going.\"  \n  \nThe reply was not as she expected, the English spoken slow and a bit louder  \nthan normal, but she hadn't heard any of the words before. She puzzled over when Usuyami  \nhad learned English.  \n  \n\"Ahh... uhhh? What?\" Kasumi blinked confused, but the English-speaking-  \nUsuyami said something softer and faster, possibly an apology from the tone, and then  \nbowed quickly and hurried on. When she walked past however, Kasumi nearly choked on  \nwhat assaulted her nose. Clearly that woman had not been the Lady of Tetsumo, because  \nshe reeked in a way that only someone who hadn't seen a good scrubbing in months could.  \n\n* * *\n  \nShuji yawned and stretched. He had accompanied a small group to go and  \nsearch through the night for survivors. Across both massive craters, they found two survivors,  \nboth Gasaran, and both blinded from the light and burned furless from the heat. He rounded  \nthe corner heading into the guest's quarters and ran into Usuyami.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Ah, hey. You shouldn't be up and about yet,\" he chuckled, admiring her  \nstubbornness.  \n  \nHer reply in English made him blink, and he caught part of it. She had mentioned  \nleaving, and something about being sick.  \n  \nHe blinked and narrowed his eyes at her, \"You're not Usuyami, are you?\"  \n  \nShe paused at the name and shook her head, which made him blink and back up  \nhalf a step as her scent was wafted at him.  \n  \n\"Huegh... Y-yes, you're not... First, a bath.\"  \n\n* * *\n  \nRosaline blinked. What was with these people and bathing? Had they no idea that  \nbathwater was some of the foulest stuff ever, and the number of sicknesses one could  \ncatch?! She had been shown to the bath, or ‘furo', by one of the serving maids, but she knew  \nbetter and escaped them. Now this larger male stood in her path and said that horrible word.  \n  \n\"Like hell!\" she fussed and pushed at him, but he moved oddly and suddenly  \npressed a finger to the back and side of her neck, right where it connected to her shoulder. It  \nwasn't a lot of pressure, but the resulting sensation sent her to her knees, whimpering like a  \nwhipped child, \"Sweet mother of Jesus!\" Again he commandingly growled that word at her,  \nalong with another term she'd taken to mean something like ‘immediately'. She nodded  \nweakly, trying to escape his grip and that burning finger, but he released the pressure and  \nshe gasped in relief, humbled and nodding, \"A-all right...\" He nodded and gently led her back  \nto the bath house, where the two maids were waiting. They bowed to the larger male and he  \nsmiled, patting Rosaline's shoulder and nodding. She grumbled and followed the maids in,  \npraying silently for her safety and health.  \n\n* * *\n  \nShuji sighed and shuddered, turning around and jumping at the sudden  \nappearance of Kasumi. \"Gha! You could have warned me you were there.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; She blinked and smiled, \"Oh? I thought you always knew where I was.\"  \n  \nHe snorted a bit and eyed her, \"True, but that's because I can find you by smell.\"  \n  \nKasumi nodded, \"Mmm, hard to smell much of anything with that woman there,  \nisn't it?\" She rubbed under her nose and made a face.  \n  \n\"Mmm, that much is certain.. I wonder who she is,\" He mused, \"she's a perfect  \nmatch for Shidomori...\"  \n  \nKasumi nodded a bit, \"I thought she was her for a moment, and then she walked  \npast me...\" Another wrinkled face brought a laugh from the larger male. She looked up to him  \nand blinked, \"what's so funny?\"  \n  \nHe nodded, \"Nothing, just the way your nose crinkles.\"  \n  \n\"And you have a problem with my crinkly nose?\" she huffed.  \n  \nHe smiled, \"I might.\"  \n  \nShe blinked and perked an eyebrow, \"what's that mean?\"  \n  \nHe nodded and stretched, \"It means I think I need a bath.\" She blinked, still  \nconfused as she stepped up and patted her shoulder, \"Go out into the courtyard and work on  \nyour Kata. I will be along shortly.\"  \n  \nShe paused and watched him a bit, but he smiled and nodded, \"Go on. I'm just  \ngoing to check on Shidomori.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Kasumi shrugged and continued on.  \n  \n========================================  \n  \n\"Yes, she's some kind of foreigner,\" Usuyami spoke hoarsely, her strength  \nreturned, but still not fully healed according to the doctors. \"She was found among the  \nwreckage of some kind of boat. My people brought her here to recover, and they found she  \nlooked like me. I can't explain it either.\"  \n  \nShuji nodded and poured her some more tea, which was gratefully accepted. \"So  \nshe is stranded then?\"  \n  \nShe nodded, \"It would seem so. I was going to send for a teacher to help her learn  \nthe language, but with all this fighting...\"  \n  \n\"Yes, it would be rather difficult,\" he mused, \"Well, in any case, get some rest.\"  \n  \n\"Bah!\" she hissed, \"I've been resting all night. I need to â€\"do- something.\"  \n  \nShuji frowned at her, \"you need to rest. You'll be of no use to the city dead, and  \nyou know that.\"  \n  \nShe sighed, defeated, \"Very well. I will rest.\" She paused and jabbed his  \nchest, \"After you tell me the story of your new retainer...\"  \n  \nShuji rolled his eyes and laughed a bit, \"fine, fine... I knew you'd ask soon enough  \nanyway.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; =========================================  \n  \nRosaline purred. She hadn't purred in a long time, once she gave it some thought,  \nbut the bath was indescribable for her. She didn't much enjoy the first part, being doused  \nwith slightly warmed water and then scrubbed head to toe by a pair of girls half her age. They  \nhad used bristly blushes that seemed to scour even the creases under her scales. They had  \napplied soap to the brushes that made a heavy lather after a few passes, and they even ran  \nthe brushes through her hair. Another several dousings with more buckets of slightly colder  \nwater, and then they led her to the tub. She had screamed at the heat of it at first, but after  \nsitting for several minutes that intense heat had soaked through to her insides, and she felt  \nso blissfully warm. She lifted her leg from the tub and examined her scales. She had been  \ntaunted in her younger years about her white scales, called a ghost and other ill things. After  \nthe work of those two little imps, she noticed how she almost sparkled. Her coloring was  \nlighter, her hair seemed lighter in color and weight, and she even â€\"felt- as if she was lighter.  \nShe giggled a little and stood, water cascading down her scales and curves as she looked  \nherself over.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Life at sea was hard. Doubly so for a woman, who according to any sailor; ‘had no  \nplace being on a ship at sea'. Rosaline had proven herself time and again, working harder  \nand longer than the rest of the sailors she served with. The captain of her last ship had made  \nher first mate, and when he retired, the ship passed to her command. Without the majority of  \nthe crew standing behind her, knowing her hard-earned skill, she would not have been able to  \nkeep sailing. But the men were gone now, the ship was nothing but shattered timbers strewn  \nabout the rocky coastline... and she was stranded.  \n  \nShe sighed and stepped out of the tub, gathering up the thick cloth towel and  \ndabbing herself dry. She was halfway done when the door slid open and she gasped,  \ncovering what she could. \"Who's there?!\" she hissed.  \n  \n\"Ahhh, g-gomennasai,\" the elderly male spoke hoarsely, leaning on his cane a  \nbit, \"Atashi wa, Tokko desu.\" He bowed and when he stood again she saw the heavy scar  \nacross his eyes. The old man was blind. She blinked and tilted her head.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"W-what do you want?\" she queried  \n  \nHe held still a moment, looking a little confused himself as he motioned to his  \nleft, a large flat table about as high as his waist, with a thin cushion on the surface of it. She  \nwatched as he motioned again, his gestures and nods indicating he wished for her to lie  \ndown. She pondered a bit and wondered on the indecency of such a thing... but the people of  \nthis land hat not harmed her at all, in any way, so she reluctantly did as asked. She lay on  \nher back, head craned up as she watched the old man approach. He reached out and  \ntouched her thigh, pausing a bit and then laughing at her.  \n  \n\"Iiya, iiya...\" he shook his head. And then said something odd, motioning that she  \nshould turn over. She blushed and did so, still looking back to him and keeping her tail tight  \nagainst her backside out of modesty. He touched her again and she shuddered, as no man  \nhad touched her without permission and in most cases a few coins on her part.  \n  \nHe mumbled something and then reached over to a jar, gathering a waxy  \nsubstance and spreading it on his hands as he moved closer, pressing his hands and fingers  \nagainst eh small of her back. She perked an eye ridge and watched, but then her head and  \nneck straightened as he pushed and moved his hands, fingertips jabbing into her muscles  \nand almost making her shriek in pain, but then the pressure was gone and in the wake of his  \ntouch she felt only calming pleasure. Another press of those old hands along her scales and  \nshe hissed, arching a little, though he did not relent, and did not let her move, in fact. He  \nchuckled something soft and then kept massaging her back, drawing all sorts of sounds from  \nher as she chirped and groaned and hissed under his expertise.  \n\n* * *\n  \n\"What should we do with the brushes?\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"I don't know,\" the other girl whined, \"I've never seen someone so dirty! There's no  \nway we can use these again...\"  \n  \n\"Maybe we can get new ones?\"  \n  \n\"I hope so, or the Lady will tan our hides!\"  \n  \nThe other girl laughed, \"You say that, but I heard you the last time you got  \npunished.\"  \n  \n\"What?!\"  \n  \n\"Don't' look so shocked! ‘Please, please, Shidomori-sama! Punish me harder! I've  \nbeen so naughty!\"  \n  \n\"I NEVER!\" The two girls scampered through the halls, one chasing the other,  \npausing to bow as they went past the Lord of Rokkotsu and his retainer.  \n  \nShuji blinked and laughed a bit, as he had always found the antics of children  \namusing.  \n  \n\"What was that about?\" Kasumi wondered aloud.  \n  \nHe shrugged, \"I'd rather not ask.\"  \n  \nShe nodded and looked up to him, \"I still won, you know.\"  \n  \n\"You got lucky,\" he corrected stiffly.  \n  \n\"You're just a sore loser,\" she chided and folded her arms.  \n  \nHe grumbled and leaned down, \"Very well, you did win, fair and square.\"  \n  \nShe nodded and kept her face smug and waiting, \"and?\"  \n  \nHe sighed, \"And I accept that you have feelings for me, and I will not forbid you  \nfrom showing them.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; She blinked and then eyed him, \"but it's just one-sided, isn't it?\"  \n  \nHe looked at her confused, and then doubly so when he saw her eyes saddening.  \n  \n\"I can feel this way toward you... but nothing will ever come of it, will it?\" she  \nsighed and leaned against the wall, eyes downcast.  \n  \n\"What?\" he shook his head in confusion, \"I never said that.\"  \n  \n\"You didn't have to,\" she muttered icily, \"it was in your tone.\"  \n  \nShuji grumbled and hefted the smaller girl clean off the floor, making her shriek in  \nthe shock of being picked up. She blinked, seeing his eyes up close as he rumbled, \"I am  \nnot that dishonorable, to say one thing while meaning another. If you think that there is no  \nfeeling on my part... you are wrong. I worry because I do not want to see you ridiculed or  \ninsulted.\"  \n  \nShe blushed and nodded a bit, then leaned against him and smiled, \"Let me worry  \nabout my own face?\"  \n  \n\"I cannot... you are my retainer... if you are to lose face, than so shall I...\" he  \nnodded firmly and then whispered, \"but... I've never cared much for what others think of me.\"  \nA grin passed his lips as he pushed the door to his room open with his tail and carried her  \ninside.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Kasumi blushed and squirmed, \"I... I didn't think you would...\" he protested softly,  \nbut he silenced her with a soft kiss, the feel of his softly scaled lips making her quiver with  \nthe newness of the sensation.  \n  \n\"Hmmm, so, when you don't have me tied down, you lose that confidence you  \nhad?\" he grinned teasingly, kissing down to her soft neck.  \n  \nShe shuddered and squirmed under him a bit as he lay her down on the spread  \nfuton, \"nnhh, y-you were... that is, I was... Ahh...\"  \n  \n\"Hmm? ‘you were' what?\" he smirked, hooking his finger in the knot of her sash  \nand pulling slowly, her hands trying to catch his, but it was too late as she made efforts to  \nkeep her top closed.  \n  \n\"I was t-teasing then too...\" she blushed, biting her lip.  \n  \nHe nodded and smirked, \"So... you don't want to be this way?\" he perked an  \neyebrow and watched her. She gave a whine as her eyes wandered down the opening of his  \ndogi, across what she could see of his sculpted chest, and she swallowed hard.  \n  \n\"I...\" she batted at him, \"you're being mean.\"  \n  \nHe nodded, \"Stop fussing and giving me reason to, then.\" A smile and another  \nkiss had her arms draping around his neck, fingers exploring the harder plated scales along  \nthe back of his shoulders as her tiny tongue tasted his lips, the tip of his own tongue  \nmeeting hers as she shivered and clung to him closely, her top forgotten as they explored  \ntheir feelings fully.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp;  \n==========================================  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Tales of Ippon","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/109197-chapter-sixteen-bonding.json"}}