Chapter Twelve: Family
#13 of Tales of Ippon
You may not choose your family, but sometimes they choose you.
The northlands of Rakari were known for only having three seasons; autumn,
winter, and spring. With spring turning to autumn in the rest of Ippon, Rakari was already
heading toward winter. What made the air colder were the constant biting winds that tugged
and tore at the clothing of travelers. Just outside the port city of Gomoran, one such traveler
walked perpendicular to the wind, having to hold his hat on his head and keep the fur over
cloak on his shoulders pulled tight. The steps leading up to the great Fuzhun citadel were
long and immense, carved into the mountain just like the citadel itself. The traveler had been
climbing for nearly two hours, and his legs were aching.
"HALT!" the guards commanded. The traveler looked up from under his hat. He
was still twenty steps from the guards, two massive Kibajin males, their thick fur and bulk
keeping them steady against the screaming winds. One shouted down. "The Citadel is
closed to all outsiders! Return from whence you came!"
The traveler sighed and stepped up, shouting back, "I bring word from the south! A
message for Lord Garasu!"
"Then give your message and be gone!"
"The message is not for you!" The traveler shouted and kept climbing slowly.
The guards readied their spears and shouted in unison, "Stop right there!! One
more step and your die!"
The traveler stepped up two steps, right into the range of their spears, and indeed
they thrust at him. At that same moment the wind blasted across the mountain and took the
traveler's hat off his head, a flash of steel and a clash lost in the scream of the wind, the two
guards were shocked as the traveler had sliced their spearheads off, his massive blade held
tight in his hand, yellow eyes smirking from under frosted, red-scaled eye ridges, "I am
Rihatsu Kajikuro, Brother of Aiko Garasu, and Lord of Eizu. You �will- let me pass."
The guards blinked...
"Aritseru Kajikuro is lord of Eizu, boy!" Tenma Garasu growled, rubbing his long
whiskers. He was an old wolf, easily in his sixties, but by no means was he elderly. Still clad
in his battle armor as he always was when he had an audience, the old wolf was glaring
down from his seat at Rihatsu, who had taken the time to swap his traveling clothes for a
more appropriate outfit, the formal colors and pattern of Eizu, in fact, he wore the same top
that his father had worn the night Eizu fell. He stared back at the Lord of Fuzhun, but without
anger or malice.
"Aritseru Kajikuro is dead. The Gasaran army brought ruin to Eizu and he was
injured and poisoned. The poison took him, and now as his only living son, I am the Lord of
Eizu." He hefted the Itsuka Blade and showed it to Lord Garasu.
The old wolf's left eye widened as he growled a little, "the Gasaran are scattered.
They have no army."
"With your pardon, Lord, The distance of your Citadel would seem to isolate you
from the rest of Ippon. The fragments of the Gasaran forces have been united somehow. And
even now they begin their assault on all of Ippon. I have come this far to ask that you bring
the might of your forces against these foul villains." Rihatsu bowed his head, as Shuji had
suggested. The old wolf huffed and sighed.
"Boy... no... Rihatsu-san. Ippon is not my concern. These Gasaran will beak on
this mountain like waves on the shore. Go home and tend to your own people. Mine are safe,
and I will keep them as such by leaving these rats to their own doom."
That was not what Shuji had said to expect, and for a moment, Rihatsu was
crestfallen, but then his dismay turned to rage at the old wolf's disdain for the country's
fate. "Lord Garasu... I had been informed that you were a wise and valorous spirit; A Man
among men. I find now that I have been misled. All I see before me is an elderly man afraid to
lend his waning strength to those who need his experience. It shames me to think that a
man like you claims my sister as your wife."
"Mind your tongue!" the old wolf stamped and roared, "you come to my halls and
seek my aid, and then insult me?! Even your father was not such a fool!"
Rihatsu stood and matched the old wolf's fury, "you're right! He was more the fool
for allowing his daughter to marry an unworthy coward like you!"
The old wolf was on his feet, grabbing his sword and stepping forward, the blade
coming out and lashing right for Rihatsu's neck, "I'll have your loudmouthed head as a trophy!"
A clash echoed through the hall as Rihatsu blocked efficiently, pulling the Itsuka
blade from its sheath halfway to interrupt the strike. His other hand latched onto the wolf's
wrist and he stared at him. "That is the fury I need to avenge my father. That is the strength I
would ask you to lend, so that your wife may know that her father has not died without
retribution. That is the reason I have approached you... so that your children, my children,
and everyone's children can live without fear of these vile rats."
Tenma Garasu growled, but the young man's grip was firm, and the block had
been excellent, "who taught you the way of the sword?"
Rihatsu nodded, "I have learned from all of my opponents... but most recently I
have learned much from Shuji Yarimoto."
The wolf's growl broke into a laugh as he eased off and pulled back, laughing
uproariously, "Ha! I should have expected that young fool to send another young fool to me.
Fine. In four days, Fuzhun marches for war."
Rihastu bowed and smiled, "thank you, Lord Garasu."
The old wolf nodded, "Make yourself comfortable, Rihatsu-dono. The trip here is
far, and those steps are meant to sap the strength of those who come to this place." He
gestured to the doors, and two maids waited to lead Rihatsu to the guest rooms. The young
jirajin eyes the woman and smiled, bowing to the lord and walking after the women, his tail
swaying happily.
Rihatsu leaned back against the warm stone of the bath, sighing. He'd spent
several hours enduring a rigorous massage by the widest old Kibajin woman he'd ever seen.
She wasn't so fat as to be immobile, but she walked with a significant waddle, but her
personality was jovial and smiling, even though she was blind. Oh how she'd made his
muscles scream in agony and then pleasure as she pounded and rubbed his body sore and
then numb. The bath's heat was soothing to his loosened muscles, though he wished greatly
that he'd had one of those maids to bathe with.
"I heard from one of the maids," a woman's voice spoke softly, making him
jump, "that the Lord of Eizu was here."
Rihatsu spun his head almost completely around, looking for the source... and he
found it. Walking into the bath from the washing area was the most stunning woman he'd
ever seen. White fur with deep red accents on her cheeks, ear tips, feet and tail. Easily as
tall as Shidomori-sama, but the softness and fluff of her fur gave her a much more ethereal
quality, as if she wasn't really there. Her tail seemed overly long, and her golden eyes smiled
at the bright red young man.
"Ah... y-yesss..." Rihatsu slurred, forgetting to not let his eyes wander over her
form as she walked into the water. Ample breasts and shapely hips gave her a bit more �real'
to her qualities, but she still seemed to be some kind of a ghost, in the way she moved
without effort or pause, floating, even as she slowly sat into the bath.
She giggled, a light musical laugh as she noticed the young many eyeing
her, "you're just like him. He never could keep his eyes off me."
"Rehhh?" Rihatsu blinked and snapped his eyes back up to her smiling face. Her
eyes met his and he blinked... he knew those eyes.
"Father," she smiled and looked at the boy, much more discreet in her giving him
the once-over, "was always watching me when I was in the room... his tail would wag so hard
sometimes."
He blinked again and then it clicked. "You are... Aiko?"
She nodded and smiled, "I never thought I had a brother... but seeing you, I'm
glad I did."
He felt a surge of pride at the compliment and smiled inadvertently, "Ah... It's nice
to... meet you.... Too."
She giggled again, the sound sending a thrill up the boy's spine, "Though you
certainly don't have Father's confidence..."
He lowered his head in shame.
"Oh... oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it as an insult!" she slid over and put her arms
around his shoulders, nudging his head up, "I should have said �arrogance'... Father always
was the one to flaunt what he had... even if sometimes it wasn't what people wanted to see."
She giggled and nodded; "you have his color..." she smiled, tracing her finger over his red
scales.
"Ah... A-Aiko-s-san?"
"Shhh... you can call me �sister'... it's all right." She murred and smiled.
Rihatsu shivered again from her touch, "S-Sister... I... uhhh... you're..."
She smiled and watched him, "Hmm?"
He nodded, "are you sure... you should be this close...?"
She blinked and laughed, "Goodness! You �are- so different!" she laughed more
than a giggle and scooted back, "all the times Father and I bathed, he'd pull me to him..."
Rihatsu's mind went into overdrive as he pictured the beauty before him and what
he imagined his father to look like... something like an older version of himself in his mind.
The father in his mind would pull the woman before him to his side, and then after a moment
of cuddling, that same father would soon have the lovely Kibajin woman over the side of the
bath, plunging his hips eagerly against her upturned bottom...
"Well, that's something that you �do- have in common with him," she giggled and
Rihatsu blinked, then gasped realizing his manhood had take the distraction of his mental
images to emerge and greet the beautiful sister he now bathed with.
"Ah... I'm s-sorry..." he backed up, covering himself as he half expected her to
have the same reaction as Shidomori-sama had that last time when he'd surprised her.
Aiko blinked and tilted her head, "Hm? It's quite alright. I don't mind at all."
Rihatsu's mind screeched to a halt. She didn't mind his eagerness in front of her?
She didn't mind that thinking of her got him aroused? If that was true, then what else didn't
she mind? He blinked and looked at her, "Y-you... don't mind?"
She shrugged, "Tenma gets like that every time we bathe..."
He blinked and nodded numbly, trying to refocus on something else.
"So... is it true? Father died?"
He nodded and that subject got his mind off his throbbing erection, "Ah... yes...
when Eizu fell to the enemy..."
"I see," she said plainly, a slight look of quiet satisfaction on her face, "I can't say
I'm sad...."
"Even though he was our father?"
"Did you know him?" she asked.
Rihatsu shook his head, "No... I was taken from home by my mother's maid. I've
never actually been to Eizu."
Aiko nodded, "Father was a great leader... but to be a woman in his house was
as pleasant as it was intolerable."
Rihatsu blinked.
"Do you know why I'm married to Tenma?" She looked at him and the blank stare
answered her question before he could speak, "It's not for love... Or even for alliances...
Tenma was the only man who would marry a woman who had known another man."
Again Rihatsu blinked cluelessly.
Aiko sighed, "When I was your age... actually, a little younger. Father had me
brought to his room one night... and he explained what a woman's place was in the house of
powerful men." She scoffed a little and shook her head, "he said that: �a woman who belongs
to a powerful man is the sole source of his happiness. And powerful men are happy with their
women, and the sons they bear him.' After he said that, he claimed me as he did my
mother, and it was not until dawn that he was sated enough to sleep."
Rihatsu's mind and thoughts shifted into a direction that brought his erection back
to full strength.
Aiko sighed and continued, "As virile as he was, Father had forgotten I was a bit
too young for bearing children. So after a year, he offered my hand to the local lords... none
of them wanted me, as he'd already attempted to sire a child from me. Tenma was visiting,
and he was offended that he had not been given the chance to have my hand... so he forced
Father to let him marry me. And now here I am."
Rihatsu nodded, listening, but still throbbing under the water.
"Tenma apparently thought that his lack of a son was his wife's fault. All four of
his former wives carried the blame for not bearing him even a daughter. Even now he loses
interest in me after these six years... but he is a fool who cannot see that the blame of his
childlessness falls on his own hips."
Rihatsu peered, "so... he cannot?"
She nodded and shrugged, "not for more than a few minutes... and even then,
there is nothing behind his release."
Rihatsu shook his head and sighed.
Aiko sighed too, "And none of the guards or others here dare even think of
touching me... even though I would love nothing more than a younger man to give me what
Tenma can't."
Rihatsu nodded a bit, his erection surging mightily as he heard those words.
"Well I should be getting back," she smiled and nodded, "I hope to see you again
before you leave, little brother."
Rihatsu didn't nod, he just watched her as she stood and turned, and as she
leaned forward to step up out of the bath, he saw her tail swish upward, and the deep pink of
her pouting sex graced his vision for a split second. All the fear, all the reprimands, all the
disappointed faces that had been keeping him in check were forgotten in that instant. He
stood and stepped over, making Aiko blink and pause just long enough for him to get his
arms around her waist, one hand on her hip and the other cupping a breast. She gasped and
blushed, wobbling as she readjusted her footing.
"R-Rihatsu??" she blushed and looked back, but he only gave her a nip on the
neck as his hand on her breast squeezed. A light moan left her lips as she squirmed a little
and then gasped as his other hand slid inward to cup her mons, a single scaled finger
rubbing against her bath-wet folds.
He responded to her question with a playful growl, rubbing at her sex more as she
adjusted his own feet, arching his hips up as the tip of his throbbing member touched her
folds along with his fingers. Between the moisture of the bath, and her own growing
excitement, he found her folds wet and warm, and he gave a lunge of his hips, pushing
himself upward as his tip found her entry easily enough, sliding up into her slightly and
making her toes curl as she moaned out.
"Ohhh... brother..." a soft moan followed again as Rihatsu pushed again, feeding
more of his cock into his sibling's snatch. She teetered, and fell forward, but easily caught
herself on the edge off the tub, now bent at eh waist and at a much easier-to-reach angle for
Rihatsu. He needed no prompting, and with a gentle but firm grip on her hips, he pushed
forward and sank in to the hilt. Groaning at the quivering heat of the cunny wrapped around
his shaft. Nothing as tight as Usuyami's sex, likely from the repeated matings from her
husband, but the cunny of his kibajin sister was pleasant in a whole different way. He
pumped at her upturned rear eagerly, each push making her moan in delight as he stuffed his
heated, throbbing manhood into her over and over again.
Rihatsu groaned as she squeezed his shaft with her body, a naughty squishing
sound escaping as his pace increased. Her wet fur was still soft against his scales and he
relished the feel of her body in his hands rubbing her lower back and rump as he continued
his amorous assault. Instead of his usual fare of working himself into a frenzy of lust right off
the bat, he took his time, determined to give his sister the pleasures that such a wonderful
beauty was worthy of. He thrust himself in deep, and then pulled back only to thrust half as
deep twice. A grip at her hip accompanied two full, deep thrusts that made her gasp, and
then three half-thrusts were accented by a hand grasping her swaying breast as her younger
sibling leaned over her and nipped at her neck.
"Ahh... Rihatsuuuu... Gods..." she cooed and gripped the rim of the bath, rocking
her hips back against her brother's as eh plowed her under-pleasured pussy. The changing
depth and frequency of his strokes kept her guessing as to what was coming at her next,
and the near-constant smack of scaled hips against wet-furred buttocks seemed to echo in
her ears as she panted and let her tongue loll out of her mouth in delight.
Again he growled, this time from the tightness in his own loins, caused by the
tight squeezing of her sex around him. "Nnnfff... Sister..." he hissed and picked up the pace,
forgetting his careful thrusting in favor of driving, purposeful poundings of his hips against her
toned rear. After a few of those thrusts she clamped around him extra tight and let out a
sweet, keening howl as she tossed her head back and came wetly around her brother's
throbbing cock. Rihatsu for his part was not to be outdone. A snarl and a firm bite on the
scruff of his sister's neck as he thrust deep into her one last time, holding there as his body
clenched and shot a thick load of his seed deep into her passage.
Aiko murred as she felt him spurt his life-giving essence into her depths, a smile
on her lips as she relaxed and leaned on the side of the bath, her legs giving out, causing
Rihatsu's shaft to pop from her well-bred slit, the very last of his orgasm getting shot into the
fur between her shoulder blades. Rihatsu gasped and fell back into bath, scooting up to get
above water as he panted and recovered from the incestuous coupling.
"Mmmm... best to... Ah... keep that to yourself... right, dear brother?" she smiled
sleepily and murred, wagging her tail.
He merely nodded and sighed, his erection finally slinking back into his body as
he was spent. It didn't take her much longer to slip out of the tub, wrap herself in her robes
and head back to wherever she had come from without another word.
Far to the South, a much less passionate encounter was in progress.
Standing in the center of the road, four bandits had surrounded the traveler and were jabbing
at him with sticks and the back ends of spears. "This road's ours, wanderer, you want to
pass you have to pay the toll."
The traveler sighed and set his pack down, using his canvas-wrapped walking
stick to get back upright, "I'm just passing through, why not just let me get back on my way,
and nobody has to get hurt?"
The Kyujin bandits all laughed and one of them poked him harder, making the
wanderer stager a bit and rub his chest, "you don't get it, do you? If you don't give us all the
money you have, we're going to kill you."
"That hurt." The traveler sighed, "How many people have you hurt this way?"
Another spoke up, "you idiot, quit fooling around and give us the money! We've
killed plenty of people who wouldn't pay and just TOOK their money."
The traveler sighed, "I see... Well that won't do at all... now it looks like
someone's going to have to get hurt."
"AGH! I've had it! Kill this fool!" the four charged, and one swung his sword at the
traveler's head, but his target dropped out from under the wide hat, and he missed. There
was a heavy crunch as the jirajin's covered staff slapped into the first one's midsection
doubling him over and picking him clean up off the ground with the force of the impact.
Another spun his spear and stabbed downward, but the traveler evaded, the point of the
spear skipping off his hardened shoulder scales as he rammed his palm into the spearman's
chest. A lash of his tail struck the third across the face, sending him spinning and screaming
as four teeth fell away into the road. A she stood he heard a familiar �click'. The jirajin turned
slowly and glared at the fourth, who held a gun in his hand, the hammer cocked and ready.
"I'll kill you!" he roared, jabbing the just at the wandering jirajin that has just
flattened his friends.
"Kill me? I don't think so." Before the Kyujin knew what had happened the gun
was flying into the bushes and his hand was broken, the wanderer spinning his covered staff
and standing again. "Take your companions and go. And if there is ever rumor of you four
attacking �anyone-... I will bring the fullest force of pain upon your heads that I cam gather."
He leaned forward and growled, "And there are many samurai who listen to me."
The Kyujin quailed and kicked his downed, and recovering, accomplices. Once on
their feet they all staggered and ran away. The wanderer sighed and picked up his hat,
dusting it off as he gathered his bag. "At least I'll be there tomorrow." He kept walking, the
road leading through the light forest toward the city of Kyudo, the center of the Masari clan's
territory.