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Celestial Reunion

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis Commissioned by Tamati the Nine-Tailed Fox

Note: Characters are copyright © Capcom, Tamati the Nine-Tailed Fox, or Gideon Kalve Jarvis.

There is a pulse to the city. A living, vital presence that permeates everything and everyone within its bounds. This pulse is neither good nor evil in itself; it is merely a force, which can be easily turned to anything that those with the will and desire to use it might wish.

Tamati was a part of that living essence, that vital soul of the city. It had been years now since he had last been in Japan. Many long years, each so lonely, each lacking something vital, something important. Each of those years lacked the person that Tamati had grown to love, and had grown to love all the more with absence. This longing had grown until, finally, Tamati had returned to the great Japanese city on whose outskirts he had found the small shrine where the goddess Amaterasu had called him from this hectic time and place to another time, another world.

When he had been called by the sun goddess into the past, Tamati had met one of her previous incarnations: Ammy, a white wolf with red markings like the strokes of a brush, and the dusk of the sun above her back, granting her celestial powers. Together, they had faced and defeated a terrible demon, which would surely have slain Ammy had she been along. Tamati's presence had been sorely needed, because his mixed heritage, the demon's blood that flowed in his own veins, gave him immense power against other demons, power that he had shared with Ammy in their battle. But that wasn't all that Tamati and Ammy had shared; they had also fallen in love with each other, and shared the deepest possible intimacy.

Of course the dark-furred fox with nine tails had tried to find a way back to that time and place, many times. All had failed. Now he simply stood at the brink of a small hill, listening half-heartedly to the bustle of the city around him, heedless of his inner pain, his red eyes out of focus as he remained lost in his thoughts, pedestrians passing around him with a wide berth, his innate powers keeping them from noticing him, yet causing them to keep their distance all the same. He would never give up - never! One day, he would find Ammy, and they would be happy together.

It was as this thought passed through his mind, with force and conviction enough to shatter, if it were possible, the boundaries of time and space themselves, that a brief splash of white and red caught the corner of Tamati's eye. Had he seen something go down that alley? Never one to hesitate, Tamati's tails swirled around his hips in a dark cloud as he spun and rapidly strode forward, following the sound of soft-pattering paws. There was another glimpse of red and white, another half-imagined sighting of a four-legged wolf with eyes as dark as a moonless night sky. Hoping not to frighten away whoever this figure might be with his two-legged appearance - for he had met Ammy in the past as a four-legged creature, shifting to a form that suited her own - Tamati dropped to all-fours, his body shifting like shadows on water, until soon it was a large foxlike form that raced through the alleys, his tails streaming behind him like smoke. He had to know!

That thought came up short as Tamati suddenly rounded a final corner in the seemingly endless maze of alleyways that now surrounded him. Before him was a tall arch of white marble, glittering like gemstones in the rays of the sun that somehow peeked their way through the buildings all around. And just before the arch were two figures. One was tall, seemingly human in appearance, and wore a strange, hawklike helmet, complete with wings that seemed to move slightly on their own. In this humanlike figure's hands was a long metal flute, on which he played, though no sound came from the end. The other figure was a small, white wolf cub, with streaks of red along his body like the strokes of a brush, and bright, dark eyes like the moonless night sky.

As Tamati stood there, facing the two figures, unsure of what to do next, the white wolf cub started towards him, tail wagging, tongue lolling out. The little one extended his nose, touching it against Tamati's in a polite greeting, before suddenly giving the fox demon's nose a lick, making Tamati scrunch up his face a bit in surprise and amusement.

"Come back, Chibiterasu," said the tall human figure, lowering the flute from his mouth, waiting until the fluffy cub had returned to his side before fixing Tamati in his steady, deep gaze. "You cannot hear the music of the gods, Tamati. Not yet. But you may yet learn." For the briefest of moments, a look of annoyance showed on the flute player's face, but it was gone in a flash. "The land of the gods, the Celestial Plane, is a land of endless happiness, endless joy. It is where the gods have collected all the good things of ages past, and ages yet to come. But there is one in that realm that finds herself unhappy, and no wonder of any age can change her feelings." He lightly blew over the lip of the flute, like a boy blowing over a glass bottle, and Tamati felt something pass over him, something strange and powerful, imparted by those simple few notes from the metal flute. "There is one in that realm that misses her mate," the figure finished, before turning and starting towards the white marble arch.

"Come, Chibiterasu," the figure said at the boundary of the arch. "There is danger beyond this arch, danger in paradise itself, but we must face it all the same. Perhaps we will face it alone. Perhaps with help. But those who do give their help to the heavens will be surely rewarded with their heart's truest desire."

The white-furred cub gave a solemn nod at the flute-playing figure's words, and gave Tamati a polite bow, quite formal and well-mannered, before turning and stepping ahead of the tall man, past the arch. In an instant, Tamati lost sight of the white cub with red markings and endlessly dark eyes, even though the arch appeared to be simply a straight passage. The flute player lifted his flute once more to his lips, and then stepped past the archway as well, instantly lost to Tamati's sight.

Perhaps if Tamati had thought it through, he would not have gone forward. He didn't know either of these beings that had greeted him, despite how familiar the young one had seemed. For all he knew, this could have been some sort of trap, set for him by one of the many enemies that he had made through his life. It could all have simply been a way to cause him to walk to his doom. But Tamati didn't think about these things. They never once crossed his mind. All that mattered was what had been said about the one who was unhappy in paradise, the one who missed her mate. That, and the promise of his heart's desire should he give whatever services might be desired by these strange beings who said they lived in the realm of the gods. Tamati had only one desire in his heart, and if there was any chance that this gambit might give him what he desired more than anything else in this world or any other, then there was no risk too great.

His mind made up, Tamati stepped through the archway. The instant he had done so, the world around him changed.

*

The figure had lied to him. That much Tamati immediately knew as he opened his eyes, reorienting himself to the new realm of reality into which he had stepped. He had been promised paradise. A paradise in peril, perhaps, but paradise nonetheless. This, however, was anything but paradise.

The ground beneath the nine-tailed kitsune's feet was sand, steaming hot and stinking of sulfur. If Tamati had been anything but what he was, his four paws would likely have been seared from the sheer heat of the terrain. All around him were high cliffs, red and dripping with what appeared to be boiling blood. Leaning forward a bit to take the scent of it, Tamati confirmed his suspicions: it was indeed blood, and most of it the blood of humans. This was a low valley, a jagged archway just behind him leading into swirling mists of color. Before him lay a long passage, bounded on either side by the high red cliffs, and above him by a sky that churned like the sea in a tsunami, boiling with purple and red and black. This was no sky of Earth, that was certain. At least, that was what Tamati hoped.

Shifting his shoulders slightly, the nine-tailed fox demon felt the comforting weight of Lightning Strike on his back. The mystic sword was invisible much of the time, but it could sense when it was needed, and came at Tamati's whim. If ever it was needed, this was certainly one of those times. Even with his significant abilities, a trip through Hell was not something that Tamati wanted to take alone.

"I am sorry for having lied to you, kitsune," said the voice of the hawk-helmed man, causing Tamati to wheel, facing the tall and pale-skinned being, looking straight into his aristocratic face, which showed no sense of true remorse for his actions. "I only hope that Chibiterasu grows to trust me again in time for having deceived him as well; he thought I was going to bring his father to replace the mother he has lost. But my betrayal is not a complete one. I just did not know how deep your feelings for her truly go, and did not wish to risk a thing of such importance on the petty weight of a near-mortal's love."

Tamati lifted his lip in a snarl, grateful that he had a harder time speaking in his four-legged shape. If he'd had full command of his voice right then, he was sure he would have said some things that he might regret later. Mostly sure. This haughty person probably deserved whatever Tamati could dish out.

"Your love is here," said the man, pointing down the length of the valley. "On that I did not lie. I have tried to bring her back to her son several times, but each time I have been driven back. There is a terrible creature at the end of this valley, a creature strong enough to capture the goddess of the sun herself, to tear her from the bosom of paradise and chain her. This creature is called Doronagi, a three-headed devil dragon of immense power. None of the gods dare to face this beast in the depths of Hell. Here we have no access to our divine powers, while Doronagi can call upon all of his to battle us. He has Amaterasu chained in his lair. I don't know what he has planned for her," the figure shook his head, "but whatever it may be, it cannot possibly be good. Since he has kept her alive, it must be vile indeed."

The figure then turned, walking towards the swirling portal behind Tamati, not once looking back. He did, however, pause just before stepping through.

"This is the only way out of this valley," said the figure. "If you lack the courage or the ability to accomplish this task, step through, and you will be returned to whence I brought you. Should you manage, through some miracle, to succeed where gods have failed, then bring your Okami back here, and the portal will bring her to paradise, where she belongs. Tell her that Waka sent you as her champion. It is sure to reassure her."

So saying, Waka stepped into the portal, which flared brightly for a moment, showing a vista of a world of clouds and light, before it suddenly became a swirling vortex again, its destination beyond obscured from sight.

Were Tamati anyone else, he might have simply turned down a call to any such fool's errand. Were it anyone else at the far end of this valley, he would definitely have turned it down. Dragons, after all, were dangerous beyond description. Demonic dragons were empowered with the essence of Hell itself, making them more dangerous still. For almost anyone else, to face Doronagi would end in death. For Tamati, it would be a near thing under the best of circumstances. But what choice did he have? Ammy was at the far end of this valley, held tight in the clutches of this vile monster. That was no choice at all.

There was no more time for thought. No more space for it, either. His mind set, Tamati set off, his nose pointed forward as he ran with all his might down the long red valley, towards the conflict ahead.

*

With a sideways jerk of his body and a snap of his jaws, Tamati sent the Lightning Strike's blade lunging out from its hilt, away from where it rested on his back just at the same moment he closed his mighty jaws around the iron-collared red throat of his foe. These oni were everywhere! The tall, blue or red-skinned demons were an infestation in the rocky places of this valley, making their lairs in the many caves and fissures that lined the path. The Lightning Strike sank straight into the heart of the oni's companion, ending its miserable life with a gurgle of black blood on its blue lips. Swinging his body around, Tamati guided the Lightning Strike with the motions of his body and the influence of his mind combined, wresting the blade from its fleshy sheath, and then sending it hurtling like a divine steel missile into the weak point just below where the iron collar of the oni protected him. The moment the blade sank true, the smaller blades around the hilt of the Lightning Strike also leapt out in an arc of death, rending flesh from bone.

Panting, Tamati released his hold on the oni just in time to leap clear of its toppling body. As he landed lightly, the many parts of his loosely-connected magical blade sword back into place on his back. He'd been fighting oni for what seemed like hours, the constant string of fights against these powerful foes starting to wear down even his demonic-imbued stamina. There wasn't even time in this place to assume his bipedal form, even if Tamati could have done so in the realm of the demonic dragon. Doronagi's presence was a heavy, palpable weight everywhere along the long, low valley, sapping Tamati's ability to call upon the most powerful of his magic, including that which would allow him to change his shape. No wonder the gods themselves, even that pansy sap Waka, had been unable to face and defeat the dragon: in this realm, Doronagi was as much a power as any deity.

Pausing only long enough to catch his breath, doing his best to ignore the vile stench of the dead oni now clogging the pathway, Tamati steeled himself, and then took off once more. His pace was a steady dogtrot, fast enough to eat the miles, but slow enough to conserve his energy for the next conflict. Besides the tall, burly oni, Tamati had also faced swarms of gremlins that came tearing out of cracks in the rocks, eager to skin him alive and steal whatever they could take that might have some value. These nuisances were only notable for the sheer numbers of them that came, but they fell all the same to the many spinning sword attacks that Tamati had mastered for just such occasions, clearing out large numbers of close-packed enemies. There had also been giant devil bats, horrible creatures that had little in common with real bats besides their wings, and a rare few terror worms, eyeless monstrosities that were made of vast, all-engulfing maws and long bodies that tore through the rock around them in their hunt for prey.

Despite their skill and ferocity and natural abilities, all of these foes, and more, had fallen before Tamati's blade. But they had not fallen without leaving their mark upon him. Tamati's body was covered in a crimson tracery of wounds from countless near-misses and fairly painful lucky shots. If he had been a lesser fighter, the nine-tailed fox would surely have been killed a dozen times over by now. If he had been simply mortal, even all his skill would have availed him nothing for the sheer number of injuries that had accumulated. But he was skilled, and he was not mortal, and so he had beaten every battle, and his wounds were healing at a remarkable rate, even in the shadow of Doronagi's lair. This was just as well; Tamati would need all his strength for the coming conflict.

Just past the rocky outcropping, which had made a sort of natural guard post, where the two oni, red and blue, had been standing watch for passersby, Tamati looked up, seeing at last the far end of the long valley, and the goal that he had long sought. There before him, looking like some broad, squat stone toad, was the rough-hewn fortress of Doronagi, its edifice carved out of the solid red rock of the valley's far end.

Tamati's glowing red eyes noted movement along its walls, the guards that served their vile draconic master with unsleeping vigilance, and knew that his battles were far from over. Undaunted, the fox demon rolled his shoulders, settling Lightning Strike into a more comfortable position, and then started forward slowly, sticking close to the shadows along the side of the canyon's wall. The longer he could stay out of sight, the better chance he had.

*

"Chibi!"

The small white wolf turned his head to watch the approach of the small grey cat that had called out to him. His tail immediately began to wag at the sight of his dear friend, Kabe, the daughter of Kabegami, the goddess of all felines. It was said that Kabe's fur would turn white, the black streaks along her fur turning red, as she matured, though that remained to be seen. As it was, the developing kitten had grown fond of her more muted coloration; it made it easier for her to sneak up on people. That she had called out to Chibiterasu, rather than pouncing him from ambush, indicated her present state of concern. Her eyes flicked to the large pouch on the small cub's back with curiosity.

"Where are you going, Chibi?" asked the goddess kitten as she neared, and then drew alongside the little wolf cub, who slowed his pace towards his destination to let her catch up, but did not stop. "And with such a big pack, too. You know what Waka said about coming this way. C'mon, why don't you come back with me to the others? We're going to be playing hide-and-go-seek."

Kabe, obviously, loved any game that involved a lot of hiding and sneaking around. She was constantly at odds with Nanami, Chibi's young mermaid friend, who also naturally much preferred anything that had to do with the water. Manpuku, the pudgy, fiery child tended to side with Kabe as often as not, simply because he didn't like water much either, and Kuro, Kuni, and Kagu, human children that had ascended to the celestial sphere with Chibiterasu at the completion of his own quest, were regularly neutral, though Kagu often sided with the mermaid, the two having become good friends in time, while Kabe's catty nature tended to clash with that of the child actress. But Chibi, even knowing the desires of his friend, and always wanting so badly to make her happy, continued walking towards his destination.

"Waka didn't tell me that I had a father," Chibi said to the silent stare of the maturing kitten. "Mother did, but she didn't tell me much. Now Waka says that I can't see my father, not ever again." For one of the very few times in his life, Chibi frowned, his expression unhappy and even slightly angry. This alone as enough to make Kabe realize the seriousness of the situation.

"Why not?" the kitten asked, moving slightly ahead of the taller lupine to rub herself between his forelegs. "Why would Waka do something like that? For us cats, knowing our father isn't that important, really, but I've heard how everybody else, especially our human friends, idolize their fathers, how they're such a big part of their lives."

"He doesn't like my father," Chibi replied as he stepped around a building in the smooth grassy plains of the realm of the gods, his eyes wide in wonder as the rainbow lights of the portal arch became visible, their radiance reflecting in his dark eyes, so much like those of his mother. "He says that the fox I saw, the one who must be my father, is a demon, a dangerous enemy of the gods. He says that mother made a mistake in having anything to do with such a terrible person." Then Chibi stopped at last, and looked down at Kabe, who had stepped in front of him and was sitting there, looking up expectantly.

"My father was a little scary," Chibi said, a light flush showing behind the red swirls near his cheeks, "but he didn't seem bad. Waka wouldn't let me talk to him, but...he loves my mother. He really, really does. I know it, because he was willing to go into the demon world to save her from Doronagi. Even though Waka would never let my father into this world, no matter what, my father was still willing to risk everything, even his soul, to bring my mother back to me."

"That doesn't sound right," said Kabe, standing now and giving a slow, casual feline stretch before she started to stroll along towards the portal gate, prompting Chibi to do the same. "For Waka to do such a thing, I mean." Her tail twitched once, then twice, and her normal feline smile spread a little further, a clear warning to everyone that knew her that mischief was in the making. "Well, I suppose that Waka doesn't need to have his way all the time," the kitten added, pausing before the unguarded portal gate (for only the gods could pass through such a portal to other worlds, or their chosen guests). "Shall we?"

Together, cub and kitten stepped through the swirling rainbow vortex, and into a far worse place than the paradise of the gods.

*

"Ah!"

It was the first human sound that had ever come from her animal-like throat. The cry was an expression of so many things in one, as befit the complicated nature of a goddess, even one trapped between forms. In that single cry, Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, spoke worlds of pain, of passion, of unwanted pleasure, and of frustration.

"This would be so much simpler if you simply gave in to me willingly," said the left head of the vile dragon, Doronagi, his scales glimmering like banked embers in the midst of charcoal in the dim lighting of his inner lair. "Stop resisting, stop holding back your heat. You know that it only brings you more pain, and in the end is a futile effort."

The head punctuated this sinuous, slightly sibilant statement by bending down on its long neck, and flicking a forked tongue over Ammy's naked nipple, making the half-wolf goddess jerk, her back arching slightly. One of the first things that Doronagi had done when he'd captured Amaterasu had been too slowly, erotically sink the fangs of all three of his heads into her naked body. The venom of a dragon is a powerful aphrodisiac, so powerful that the bite of a single head could cause a mortal to instantly die from the sheer intensity of pleasure that it causes. And Doronagi had bitten Amaterasu many, many times since then, leaving more than a dozen tiny pinpricks of red alongside the red swirls on her sleek, beautiful, white-furred body.

"You will come into heat anyway," said the right head, slowly running its tongue along the underside of the spread-eagled anthropomorphic she-wolf's armpit, making the oversensitive goddess shiver despite herself. "Not even a goddess can hold of such a thing forever in your present form. And so long as you are here, you will remain in that form."

Ammy was stretched out, her wrists and ankles bound behind a tall, dark stone pillar, leaving her body painfully and utterly exposed to the whims of the wicked dragon. Left and right heads now wrapped their astonishingly agile lips around the helpless she-wolf's breasts, starting in a slow swirl as they teased their forked tongues over the surface of her lovely mounds of womanly flesh, before their lips closed on her painfully erect nipples, twisting and tugging on them until even the goddess' immense courage and will began to fail her.

"Think of the powerful spawn we will breed together," said the middle head, causing Doronagi's massive, muscular, somewhat humanoid body to rise until his pelvis was at head level with the pleasure-poisoned wolf goddess. "Look at this beautiful organ, the shaft that will quench your desperate fires, and admit to yourself that our children will have the right to rule not just this world, but the mortal realm, and the realm of gods besides."

Despite herself, Ammy's large, dark eyes opened, and she stared at the mighty shaft standing straight and proud before her, thrust invitingly towards her muzzle. Doronagi had a more bestial form, certainly, being as much a shapechanger as any dragon. But in his present, more humanoid shape, he sported a mighty penis that pulsed with the same inner fires that could be seen beneath his charcoal-and-fire scales all over his body, a heavy sac hanging full and pendulous beneath, weighty with virile dragonsperm waiting for a womb in which to be spent.

Trying to turn her head to the side, Ammy was too weak in her present state to resist as the cruel dragon seized her jaw with one mighty talon, forcing it open, before cramming his throbbing, scaled glans past her resisting lips. She'd tried several times to bite him, to sever this obscene organ with her strong lupine jaws. But each time, this time no less than before, Ammy's teeth were turned away by the stronger-than steel scales that covered the prominent girth of the dragon's prick. As she gagged on its length as it forced into her throat, all three of Doronagi's heads writhed in serpentine ecstasy, teeth gnashing at the air. Then, a moment later, all three of those wicked, hungry mouths were moving over Ammy's white-furred body agile, strong tongues following the lines of her red streaks, making her whimper for the first time, despite all her former, herculean efforts, around the immense draconic length plugging her throat as the three diabolic heads of the dragon made their way slowly down her body, making the muscular she-wolf writhe against the pillar to which she was bound. Any other goddess - or god for that matter - would have had their will shattered by now. But it was only now, as her vision started to be tinged with red from lack of air, as the left and right heads slowly stroked her labia open with their agile tongues and lips, nipping her once again with their sharp fangs, giving her another dose of venom just for good measure, that Ammy's will finally started to waver. It had been hours, after all - or was it days? It was impossible to tell in this hellish place - over which the goddess had been tortured like this. The precum dripping down her throat was only slightly less potent than the venom coursing through her veins, and Ammy squeezed her eyes tightly shut in her shame, feeling her womb start to flutter, knowing that she couldn't hold out much longer, couldn't resist what this vile monster was doing to her.

It was at that moment that the center head's fangtips ever-so-lightly pierced Ammy's clitoris, sending pleasure-causing venom coursing into her most sensitive of places. The dragon's cock popping backwards with a jerk of Doronagi's hips, Amaterasu was allowed to finally give full voice to her long, drawn out scream of unwanted orgasm, her entire body wracked with coursing pleasure, shaken to the core, jerking and thrashing as though she'd been struck by lightning. His three tongues now digging in, thrusting deep inside of her as they cruelly ravished her mind as well as her body, Ammy was given no respite, no escape, and in moments she felt the eggs of not just a single potential life begin to finally release from her ovaries, making their gentle way down her fallopian tubes, but those of an entire litter. If she couldn't somehow escape, she would be bearing this horrible demon's spawn!

His heads withdrawing, Doronagi grinned down at the panting, limply-dangling she-wolf with all three mouths. Gripping his hefty penis in one talon, the wicked dragon slowly drew the heavy head of his leaking organ down Ammy's chin, over her throat, and down between her beautiful, heaving breasts, each drop of precum tingling wherever it touched. Tears welled up in Ammy's dark eyes as she watched, helpless even to move in this state, as the dragon left a shining, steaming trail of his leaking juices down her belly, which she knew would soon be swollen with the conquerors of heaven, and then over the mound of her pubis, before finally, finally, nudging at the very gates of her womanhood.

"Prepare yourself, Amaterasu," said the vile Doronagi with all three voices at once, his talons moving to peel Ammy's labia apart, spreading them to make his final dominating thrust all the most straight and true. "Prepare to witness the spawning of a new era of darkneAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The trio of screams were loud enough to shake the rough-hewn cavern to its roots, sending stalactites and chunks of rock falling in a deadly shower. Ammy dared to look down, and saw that where Doronagi's penis and hanging sac had been, now was only a blood-spurting mass of red. Her dark eyes swung upward, filled with new hope, and she stared straight into the red-eyed gaze of the male she loved. It was Tamati!

Paying such total attention to the breaking of Amaterasu's will had taken far more out of Doronagi than he had thought. At the final moment, as he had exerted himself to stretch her will to the point of no return, and beyond, his hold over his realm had wavered, just to the slightest degree. Certainly not enough to be a change that most would even notice, certainly not the many minions that protected his realm and his lair. But it was enough for Tamati, eager for any advantage he could find, his fur matted in the blood of over a hundred foes, to cast off the limitations of his four-legged shape, and rise to two legs at last. All the better to wield the Lightning Strike, blade blessed by the goddess Amaterasu herself!

"You will die a thousand deaths for this!" snarled one of Doronagi's head as he fell back, one talon clutching his maimed male parts.

"Suffering such as yours will be spoken of in hushed legends for eons," the second head added, jerking one talon downward to tear against the solid rock of the floor, leaving a deep gouge. It was enough, however, to haul the dragon downward, onto all-fours, the center head rearing up as all six of Doronagi's eyes began to blaze with hellfire, his form enlarging, reshaping into something more horrific, more deadly, great wings of shadow and fire spreading out from his back, looming over the tiny form of Tamati, standing ready and defiant in the shadow of the beast.

"If we don't just devour you first, and use your vital energies to regrow what you've taken from us," the middle head said with a contemptuous snort, before lunging downward, jaws snapping with lightning speed.

Even without weapons, Tamati was a formidable opponent, able to battle his way through many foes with only the powers given to him through his demonic heritage and his extensive training in the arts of combat. But with the Lightning Strike in his hands, hastening his reflexes, enhancing his senses to a razor's edge, driving his strength to untold, nearly divine levels, Tamati was nearly a force of nature embodied in a nine-tailed, vulpine form. But would it be enough to face a demonic dragon, an actual embodiment of the forces of nature in its corrupted fury?

It would be left to Skill and Fate to decide.

Doronagi's first head plowed into the stone of the floor as Tamati leapt upward, cutting off one of the dragon's ears with the force of his swing, smoking blood spurting out, eating into the floor as though it were acid. In midair, Doronagi's other heads swept inward, eager to catch Tamati between them and tear him in two. Extending a foot, Tamati stomped his pads against the upper lip of the left head, using a little bend in his knee to lift himself still further into the air, giving him just enough momentum to rise above the clash of the right head's jaws, lifting and then spreading his legs into a full split to just barely raise himself above that deadly bite. His tails lifted as well, fanning out behind him, each tip blazing with dark fire.

Searing eyes turning upward, Tamati looked down just as Doronagi was bunching himself up just below the flying fox, prepped to lunge like a boxer on his guard, save with heads instead of fists. His own red eyes burning bright, the dark kitsune let gravity take its toll, and dropped, meteoric, towards the waiting jaws of his enemy, Lightning Strike crackling with eager energy.

SNAP!

A quick flick of the massive sword, more light and mobile than any mortal sword of its size could be, left a spurting cut across the nostril of Doronagi's upthrust central head's cheek. At the same time, it also gave Tamati some sideways momentum, enough to keep him from being right between the dragon's massive jaws as they tore the air.

CRACK!

Spinning in midair with the momentum he'd built up, Tamati swung the blazing white goddess blade with skill as well as might, coming to a sudden stop as the edge sank with a loud impact of sundered bone into the occipital lobe of Doronagi's right head, instantly blotting out the searing fire's of that head's left eye. Tamati found himself now stopped, clinging to the hilt of Lightning Strike, lifting his legs to press his feet against the maimed head's skull, so as to pull the blade free and regain the momentum he'd lost.

CRUNCH!

It was too late, however, for that single, fatal pause was enough for the leftmost head to plow straight into the middle of where Tamati stood. The nine-tailed kitsune had just barely pulled his blade free of the thrashing, roaring rightmost head when his whole world was suddenly engulfed by a pair of gaping jaws, followed an instant later by the sound of shearing teeth clashing the air behind him, and the sensation of great heat as he was seized by powerful throat muscles, and drawn inexorably down, towards the stomach of his foe.

"Bested!" laughed the central head, rearing up in triumph and glaring down at Ammy, who looked up with shock and dawning despair on her pretty face. "Where is your hero now, bitch of the gods?"

"Not a bad hero, though," the right head, commented, lowering itself with a slight shake, to clear the blood from its now-dead eye. "It will take some time to heal what he did to us." Then it turned upward slightly, and extended outward, before letting its tongue flick against Ammy's cheek. "Not that this will save you, of course, dear goddess."

"HUUUURRRRK!" said the leftmost head.

Both middle and right heads instantly turned at this unexpected outburst.

"GRRRRUUUHHHK!" the leftmost head bellowed once more, the sound like that made by a passenger jet being sent, in large chunks, through a blender.

"What-?" the other two heads started to say, turning to look at each other...only a moment before the lift head's neck suddenly exploded in a spray of gore, spewing a thick, bloody hunk of undefined matter onto the floor from the gaping exit wound. With a final shudder, the left head collapsed to the ground, limp and dead, sending a shudder of transferred final pain to the remaining two heads.

"How did a mere hero do such a thing?" the right head asked, still in shock from the blow, though not as badly affected as the central head, which bore the great weight of controlling the main body. The right head lowered itself, peering with its single remaining eye at the bloody lump of matter that had fallen from the spurting hole in Doronagi's leftmost neck. "And what manner of thing is...?"

The question was once again left unanswered, as the bloody mass suddenly jerked, like a newborn fresh and still spattered with the gore of afterbirth, and a gleaming blade, crackling with divine energy, thrust upward from it, straight into the empty socket of the right head's ruined eye. The right head reared up, screaming in pain unlike anything it had ever felt before in all its ageless life. It was the pain of a blow that struck straight to its essence, to the only parts of its being that could be killed. And Tamati held on as the right head rose up, thrashing from side to side, beating itself against the walls, spraying the blood covering Tamati on all sides in the process. It was all that the fox demon could do to keep from being crushed in these lethal death throes, and even with all his efforts, he couldn't keep his leg from being caught against the side of the cave on one especially violent jerk of Doronagi's head.

The spark of pain that this final strike caused to shudder up Tamati's spine was the final impetus he needed to draw on the power of the Lightning Strike one more time. Riding the lightning, Tamati's whole body was lit up with sudden blue fire as he thrust the blade of the goddess even deeper into the brain of the dragon, and then called down divine power! Searing rays of light began to burst out through the dragon's skull, the smell of roasting flesh filling Tamati's nostrils as he literally cooked Doronagi's brains inside his brainpan.

The crash of the right head to the ground was something that Tamati didn't have the strength to resist. On top of the dragon's jaws, the dark, muscular fox was able to avoid the full brunt of that terrible fall. It was enough to keep him from being killed. That was about it.

Lightning Strike was wrested from Tamati's hands at last as he was hit with the impact of the right head against the floor, like the crack of a bullwhip. It took all his skill to roll with the force of the fall, to keep from having every bone in his body shattered in that instant. As it was, he still felt several bones give, and knew that he was hurt, badly. He had defeated two-thirds of a dragon, and that was more than most could say. But as Tamati lay on the ground, hearing his breath come in rasping gasps, he knew with despair and sorrow that it wasn't enough. His red eyes sought out the black-eyed gaze of the one he loved more than life itself, and he felt himself wishing, and wishing that she could hear his silent wish, that he had another life, just so that he could give it to her.

The middle and final head of Doronagi wavered in the air, blood seeping heavily from its left head, the right head cauterized by the heat of the Lightning Strike. The dragon was weak now, hovering on the edge of death. Tamati knew, looking up at the massive, looming monster, that though he had died in the effort, he had saved Amaterasu. This creature would not be able to accomplish its designs, not now. His beloved's time of heat would pass, and as the dragon was weakened, with his forces in disarray from the slaughter that Tamati had wrought, the gods would rally, and they would come to save her before the dragon could heal sufficiently to stop them.

"It's over," Tamati spat out with a gobbet of blood, grinning through the pain. "You've lost, Doronagi."

"Maybe," the dragon's final head said slowly, its eyes meeting Tamati's for a moment, their searing gaze belying their shared infernal heritage. And then those eyes turned, focusing instead on Ammy! "But your victory will be pyrrhic."

Jaws gaped slowly wide, and Ammy began to fight against her bonds with all her might, not for herself, for she knew no fear of death, but for Tamati, and for her son. All looked hopeless, for the chains that bound Amaterasu were made to imprison a goddess.

Then, beyond all reason and all possibility, those chains simply fell away, and Ammy was free! And not a moment too soon, as the great jaws of the demon dragon came crushing down around the empty pillar only an instant later. Almost unseen, a light, lithe grey figure came darting out from behind the pillar at the last second, just narrowly out of the span of those terrible teeth.

"Mother!" came a sudden, boyish cry from the entrance to the lair of Doronagi. "Mother, catch!"

It was Chibiterasu! In her two-legged form, though still wearing the aspect of a wolf, Ammy raised her hand as Chibi flung the large pack he'd been lugging with him for so very long, as he and Kabe had made their way through the valley of the dragon, creeping past all its many dangers (thankfully reduced somewhat with the bloody passing of Tamati, else it might not have been possible for them at all). The pack landed lightly in the lupine goddess' hand, while her other hand thrust into it. A smile of hope filled her face as Ammy realized what was within the pack, and suddenly swept out the Thunder Edge, twin to the Lightning Strike!

"Now, wyrm," she said, turning to face the dragon, even as Doronagi turned to face her, his eyes blazing with hatred, "you will face justice for all your weight of crimes."

With a scream of fury like the hatred of a thousand devoured, damned souls, Doronagi lunged at the shining form of the goddess, armed with her divine weapon. The Thunder Edge swept out and up in counterpoint as Ammy ducked lightly beneath the bite of the dragon, the blade sinking into one side of Doronagi's neck and coming cleanly out the other.

The cave shook with the titanic impact of the dragon's body against the floor, jerking in its last attempts to maintain the process of a life that had gone on for thousands of years too long. And then the massive, scaled body grew still, steam rising from where its blood continued to ooze out onto the cave's floor.

Wasting no time for the slain monster, Amaterasu instead turned towards where Tamati lay, feeling his life ebbing from his many internal injuries, his leg a bloody pulp from being crushed against the side of the cave.

"To all conflicts, there must be a time of healing," said Amaterasu, the goddess, her fur shining with the radiance of the sun, the blazing disc that was the emblem of her power rising like a halo behind her head. She stretched out the sword to Tamati, and touched his chest, right above his heart.

As this was happening, as light flowed from the goddess into the demon, Chibiterasu scampered forward, Kabe right beside him, to stand and watch wide-eyed as Tamati's body was made whole in the glory of the sun's white rays.

His breathing coming more easily, Tamati looked down his body, his face wondering at how his goddess had saved his life. He looked up into her smiling face, into the radiance of her form as her divinity was restored with the death of the dragon, and lifted his face to hers, even as she lowered her lips to his. Their kiss was deep and passionate, their naked bodies pressing tightly together as their auras, light and dark, mingled freely.

"That's so romantic," sighed Kabe as she snuggled up against Chibiterasu's side.

"Uh, sure," said Chibi, looking down a little uncomfortably at the little grey kitten, before he looked back to the person he'd never met before today, and yet to whom he felt a sense of binding and kinship. "Father?"

Tamati broke the kiss, and the two beings turned to look at Chibi, before extending their arms, beckoning him forward. Chibi immediately ran to the arms that were outstretched for him, laughing as he was caught up by the strong, dark-furred arms of his father. As Tamati's hands touched Chibi's white fur, however, a strange, dark patch almost immediately began to flow outward from where their furs interconnected, Looking down, Chibi wiggled his legs in the air as he was held up, his eyes wide, his face still wearing a large, happy grin, his tail wagging as his fur became a color even darker than that of his father's, his streaks and whorls of red standing out against the dark background of fur as dark as the black moon, his eyes as bright and white as stars.

"I'm like you, Dad," said Chibi, licking his father's face. "You really are my father, aren't you?"

The cub's eyes looked between both his parents eagerly, his smile only growing wider, his whole body unable to wiggle enough to show his pleasure at the smiles and slow, affirming nods that came from both parents.

"Yay!" exclaimed Kabe, suddenly scurrying forward to hop into Ammy's arms, rubbing against the furry goddess in her happiness and desire to join in this moment. "But we'd better all hurry home," she added, looking up into the goddess' eyes. "Waka won't be happy at all when he finds out that we came here. He'll be even less happy if you bring Chibi's dad with us."

Amaterasu looked at Tamati, and Tamati looked at Amaterasu. That look communicated far more than words possibly could. Tamati carefully set his son down, and the dark-furred cub quickly started off, back towards the entrance to the lair of Doronagi.

"C'mon, Dad!" he called back eagerly. "Race me!"

Grinning, Tamati dropped down into his four-legged shape, and began to do just that. Amaterasu and Kabe, of course, followed behind at a far more dignified pace.

"So boys are always like that?" Kabe asked the sun goddess, watching the large, wolfish fox with the nine tails hurry after the frantically-scrabbling paws of the dark wolf cub.

"As far as I am aware," answered Amaterasu with a subtle smile. "I would not have it any other way.

*

"Did you really have to hit him so hard?"

Locking the door to the small house where Amaterasu had led him at the end of their trip, Tamati looked back at the wolf-skinned goddess as she reclined on the large bed that took up most of the bedroom. Light streamed in from the open window behind the bed, and the sounds of Chibiterasu and Kabe playing with their friends could be heard as joyous sounds from the bright world outside.

"Before I answer," Tamati said, his red eyes flicking up and down the sleek figure of his goddess, before slowly licking his chops in eagerness, his sheath quickly starting to fill out, "I want to mention that you are incredibly sexy."

"I am a goddess, silly," Ammy replied with a giggle. "My goodness - we never got much time to talk before, did we? It's...refreshing, actually."

"Growls and grunts have a certain appeal of their own," Tamati quipped back as he approached the bed, and then set his hands on it, before crawling up, grinning wide enough to show his many sharp teeth.

"Mmm, very true," Ammy admitted, reaching upward with one gentle hand as Tamati covered her body with his own, almost drooling as he looked down at her, and she up at him with a smoldering pair of bedroom eyes. "But you're not getting out of answering my question." To emphasize this, the she-wolf gripped Tamati's balls, stroking them gently, but being sure to keep enough of a hold on them that he knew she meant business. At this simple contact, the contents of Tamati's sheath immediately thrust out into the open air, hard and proud and erect.

"Waka had it coming," Tamati answered, before reaching down, resting most of his weight on his knees, and cupping Ammy's beautiful, white-furred breasts. "Besides, I only knocked him out when he tried to expel me from heaven...or wherever this is. I'm sure he'll agree that was pretty light, considering he was trying to separate me from you again."

"You aren't ever going to leave again, are you?" Ammy said, smiling as she looked down at the hands that were so expertly handling her breasts, fingers teasing her sensitive pink nipples in ways that made her almost want to howl in pleasure, her legs squeezing tightly together as she started to squirm on the bed. Her belly was already starting to grow flushed, as were her cheeks.

"Not for as long as I'm allowed to stay," Tamati replied, before he kissed Ammy. The kiss was sweet, almost chaste, lips against lips. But as they parted, it was soon followed by another, this one more passionate, more primal, their tongues meeting and twining in slow, smooth embrace, as smooth and tight as the entwining of their bodies against each other.

Tamati shivered lightly as he felt Ammy stroking his hardened shaft with her soft hands, treating him with the utmost care and consideration. Could he do anything else in return? His thigh lifted up, pressing into the space between her legs, and in moments, Ammy was eagerly grinding her juicy, flushed little sex against Tamati's muscled leg, soaking his fur with her eagerness. This surprised them both, as they broke their kiss to look into each others' eyes, before Ammy started to giggle, and Tamati rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

"I, um, guess I really need this," said Ammy, hugging her arms together just beneath her plump breasts.

"So do I," said Tamati with a wolfish grin on his vulpine face. "How about we handle both our needs at the same time?"

Raising himself, with Ammy watching, wide-eyed and panting in eagerness, Tamati lifted one leg, and rolled his body smoothly over the she-wolf beneath him, turning at the same time so that he was facing downward, towards Ammy's snowy nether parts. Gulping for a moment, Ammy stared up at Tamati's hard penis as it pointed straight down at her pretty muzzle. But then she felt Tamati's hands on her inner thighs, his thumbs peeling her labia open, his hot breath giving her all the warning she needed of what to expect next before his tongue...oh ye gods of creation! That tongue! Feeling her drenched cunny being so thoroughly lapped, and then invaded by that exquisite oral attention from her dear mate, Ammy let her hesitation vanish in an instant, and eagerly wrapped her muzzle around Tamati's cock, gulping it down, while one delicate hand wrapped around the base, squeezing and milking it. The other hand stroked Tamati's trim, solid belly and chest, feeling the firm muscle beneath the soft fur, exploring every bump and ridge. This was a new shape, after all, and it needed to be investigated fully, so as to find what pleasures it could bring all the better.

His tongue plunging forward and back, Tamati worked his head downward with rough, almost brutal thrusts, then hauled his muzzle back with an effort - Tamati's slick inner walls kept trying to suck and hold him in! On each outward pull, the kitsune rolled his tongue backward slightly, enough to let him arch the smooth, firm length over Ammy's throbbing clitty, each of these efforts making her whole body tense and arch, before she would suckle all the more greedily on his heavily-leaking cock. Her tongue squeezed into the slight pouch of his uncircumcised penis, peeling it back, and Tamati felt himself starting to tense up all over at the feeling of his divine mate's perfect lips starting to pop and then to wetly slurp on his throbbing cockhead. She seemed to be loving how different his body was in this humanoid form, at least as much as Tamati was enjoying Ammy's new body.

It was too much! With a jerk of his head, Tamati risked a glance back at Ammy.

"Ammy, I'm gonna..." he started, but stopped, seeing her answering nod - she was just as close. Gritting his teeth for a moment, his tight, toned rump tensing beneath his lashing nine tails, Tamati didn't resist as Ammy reached up, grabbing his buns in her hands, and pulled him downward, taking him as deeply into her muzzle and throat as she possible could. Panting, Tamati looked down at Ammy's copiously leaking cunny, and then down at the tightly-tensing tailhole beneath, before he stroked one finger down the surface of her sex, down the sensitive region of her perineum, and then right up against her pink little tailhole. With a light nudge, just as his muzzle descended once more, his finger screwed its way into that tight, hot little hole, right as his tongue plunged right up to its depths inside Ammy's cunny. This added point of forbidden stimulation made Ammy howl around Tamati's cock, a howl that was suddenly cut off into a happy gurgling sound as Tamati couldn't hold himself back any longer either, and Ammy began to gulp eagerly on a flood of his rich, thick foxcream.

Held in this position for so long, finally, with a soft gasp, Tamati rolled onto his side once more, lightly stroking Ammy's legs as they basked in their afterglow, still facing north and south of each other. It was Ammy, however, who recovered first, her cheeks still flushed with intense arousal.

"Tamati," she said, sitting up and reaching down to stroke Tamati's cheek, and then down his chest. "I need more, Tamati."

Tamati answered with a toothy grin, before he motioned with his muzzle down to his rapidly-stiffening dark penis. Licking her lips, Ammy gripped the hard, dark length and began to stroke it until Tamati was fully hard once more.

"It's so hot," she said with a giggle, before lifting a leg, and straddling Tamati's hips. As Tamati leaned back, folding his arms behind his head to prop himself up a little, giving himself a better view of the fun, Ammy held his hard shaft steady with her hands, setting its swollen head against her even more swollen cunny lips, rubbing it back and forth for several long moments, whimpering like a puppy at the pleasure this brought, and at the anticipation of even greater pleasures to come. Then, with a long, low, drawn-out moan, Ammy began to sink herself down, slow, so slow, onto Tamati's shaft, her inner walls clenching around him, milking him, gripping him so tightly at times that it was almost impossible for Ammy to push herself down, even with gravity on her side. She was just too keyed up, her body too ready for its next orgasm, its next addictive fix of raw pleasure.

Losing patience at the efforts of the wriggling wolfgirl straddling him, Tamati reached up, seizing Ammy's hips in his strong hands. With a loud grunt of exertion, his hips thrusting upward with powerful force, his hands dragging her down, Tamati buried himself to the hilt in that sweet, tight, juicy little wolfcunny, His efforts were repaid in full by the sweet, ecstatic wail of a wolfgirl starting the first of a series of hard, multiple orgasms, from which there would be no escape, except right through the middle. Her tight, white-furred buns tensing as Tamati grabbed them firmly, Ammy set her hands on Tamati's chest and began to bounce on his lap, her bounteous breasts bouncing at the same time, giving the nine-tailed fox something to watch while he ground his hips upward into that sweet heat of Ammy's tightness. Soon his hands slid up her body, stroking through her soft, white fur, to cup and then squeeze those beautiful breasts some more, his muzzle lifting to lash his tongue over their full, firm surfaces eagerly. Her back arched at this treatment, and Ammy squealed like a puppy as her sex gushed copiously, soon matting Tamati's bellyfur down flat against his tight-muscled body. This sent the she-wolf into overdrive, and in moments she was humping Tamati's hips as fast as she could go, taking every inch of his thick vulpine member, his balls slapping loudly against her tight furry buns on each hard downthrust.

Bending full over Tamati, Ammy's lips met his own in a desperate, passionate kiss. Their tongues wrestled as Ammy ground her body against that of her kitsune mate, her fingers finding and then tweaking his dark nipples beneath his fur. Both their bodies matted in their juices, Ammy felt her whole body starting to fill with something powerful, something greater than she'd ever felt before.

"Ah! Tamati!" she cried out, breaking the kiss, her back arching as she rose up over him, her body starting to beam in radiant light. "It's too much! It's too good! TAMATIIIIIIIII!"

His balls bubbling over at last, Tamati punctuated Ammy's orgasmic cry with a powerful thrust of his hips, planting his cock nice and deep within her, just before he came once more, potent, virile foxsperm splashing within her sex, eagerly starting its quest to discover the divine eggs that waited within her body. Gripping her hips in this position, Tamati had to squint against the light of the sun goddess, his jaw dropping as her fur melted away, leaving only exquisite, flawless pale skin beneath. Amaterasu had assumed her human goddess form in the moment of her ultimate ecstasy!

Falling backwards onto the bed, Ammy moaned as Tamati followed her, making sure that his penis didn't pop free of her clenching little cunny, covering her body with his own. Her smooth skin felt so very good against his fur, and from the way she wriggled up against and into him, Tamati knew that the same must be true from her perspective. Holding himself firmly in place, Tamati kept thrusting his hips, kept coaxing the last dregs of his orgasm out into Ammy's quivering quim, until he had spent every last drop.

They lay there for a long time in afterglow, bodies stroking against each other, soft whispered words of sweet comfort and love passing between them. Their pure animal selves shed now, their love had taken on the potential for a deeper, more nuanced quality that neither had realized before. This was more than just about their needs. Now it was something greater. Perhaps it was love.

"Tamati?" Ammy ventured after some time, shifting herself against him as they lay on their sides, then pulling back slightly, just enough that his still-hard cock popped free of her slick sex, only a light trickle of his cum flowing out - most of it was safely on its way into her womb. "I...I had a notion, when you were licking me earlier. Would it be all right if we tried something else?"

Tamati raised himself up on his elbow, grinning as he watched Ammy roll over, and then lift her smooth, pale bottom high, presenting to him like a she-wolf in heat. Her hands reached back, and she spread her buns wide, making it quite clear where she wanted him to put himself next.

"Something...dirty?" Amaterasu continued, blushing deeply.

Tamati's strong hands on Ammy's firm, presented rump was enough of an answer.

*

"What's he doing now?"

"He's...he's licking her butt!"

"Ewww!"

"Let me see! Let me see!"

There were a good number of ways to get an education in the finer points of lovemaking. Chibiterasu and his friends had chosen the most direct route to their education, their eager faces pressed to the glass of the small house where Amaterasu and Tamati had retreated to catch up on lost time.

To the side, making sure to take his turn, Chibi's silver eyes were wide as he watched his father press his stiff penis to his mother's tight anal nub, their position at a perfect angle to give the growing cub a fine view as Tamati sank himself ever-so-slowly and so very gently into Ammy's smooth, moon-pale rear.

Moving with slow, deliberate motions, Tamati grit his teeth all the more tightly for each inch of throbbing foxcock that slid into his mate's perfect bottom. Looking down, he could see clearly where Ammy's anal muscles were clenching, fluttering in tension as they squeezed tightly down on him, then relaxed, allowing him another short thrust forward, then clenched up once more. Tamati was determined, however, not to hurt Ammy, no matter how powerful the instinct to simply thrust himself forward all the way in, all at once. Panting, he leaned over the trembling goddess, his smooth tongue lapping along the even smoother curve of the beautiful woman's back, from the base of her spine, all the way up to the base of her neck. This drew a long, pleasured moan from Ammy, her eyes closing, head lowering in submission to the pleasure that was filling her with such warmth, even as she felt Tamati's swollen, furry balls bump against her dripping womanhood. He was all the way in at last.

Both lovers closing their eyes, Tamati exulted in the soft, pleasured whimper of his lover, so much like that of a she-wolf tied with her mate, even in this new, human-like form. His hands roamed her body without reserve, fingertips exulting in the caress of deliciously smooth skin, nose and tongue savoring the tang of sweet beads of pleasuresweat. The nine-tailed fox's hips pulled back, Ammy's sphincter clutching tightly to the retreating organ on the withdrawal, and then clenching even more tightly on the inevitable thrust back into her depths. In mere minutes, Ammy was thrusting back against her muscled vulpine lover, her own sleek muscles, so clearly defined now without any fur to obscure the view, tensing with the ecstatic exertion. What started as slow, gentle lovemaking soon turned to something more primal, more desperate as the pale-skinned woman begged without words, and her kitsune lover answered in kind. His snarls and growls and grunts of savage lust filled the room, filled her ears, even as his ears were filled with her answering cries of passion and rising pleasure. Suddenly both lovers felt something snap within them both, and for a moment two faces were lifted to the ceiling, wild howls of pleasure rising from two eager throats. Then Tamati's face turned down, his lips meeting the upturned ones of Amaterasu, his mate and love, muffling their further outcries of orgasm as Ammy's juices gushed out of her swollen lower lips, drenching Tamati's thighs, even as a thin trickle of cum managed to escape from Ammy's wide-stretched rear passage, most of Tamati's orgasm remaining inside of her as his body convulsed against her own writhing form.

Finally, the two lovers basked languorously in their afterglow, savoring the sweet warmth of each others' presence, naked bodies pressed against each other in sweet acceptance. As the other children slipped quietly away, so as to avoid detection, next to Chibi, Kabe pressed herself against his warm side, snuggling there, her feline smile wider than ever.

"They look so happy," she said in a soft whisper that only Chibi could hear. Chibi smiled at this, giving his best friend a slight nod.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I think they really are."

"Yes," said Tamati, looking up at the window, and then lightly flipping the latch, letting it swing open before the startled cubs could react. "We are."

At first Chibi thought about running, knowing instinctively that he'd been watching his parents at one of the most private, intimate times that could be shared between a couple. But the eyes of his mother and his father weren't angry at all. They were soft, gentle, sweet. Tentatively, the wolf cub took a step over the threshold of the window, and into the bedroom, Kabe following cautiously behind. Instead of scolding, however, Chibi and Kabe were stroked and drawn into a gentle embrace, Chibi against Tamati's chest, and Kabe against Amaterasu's warm side. The goddess had shifted back into her lupine form, all the better to feel less self-conscious, and certainly a great deal less naked.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any for the Talk, don't you think?" said Tamati with a grin at his son.

Chibi giggled as his father rubbed the cub's sides, and listened to his parents' explanation of their love, and of the love that he would likely find himself in times to come. They were both patient, and happy to answer both his and Kabe's questions. The subject had been frightening at first, embarrassing as well. But cuddled there on the large bed, feeling warm and safe and secure, Chibi soon felt himself starting to grow tired with the excitement of the day. It wasn't too long before he had asked his last question, not because he had no more, but because he simply couldn't stay awake. So the day ended, with the family and the little goddess kitten snuggled closely together, their troubles finally ended, at least for now.