Sushi, Sake, and Tanuki: Shinto

Location: Japan



The sea air breathed life into my human nose. I was in human form except for my raven wing-arms. Hijunaki, the snake demon, was tasting the air with his tongue. While I was getting a feeling of love, the kind I allowed myself, he didn't seem to be feeling anything. Though it seemed he was calming down.


Thousand of years had passed, but we still weren't friends. There are some things that time can't change. Not even after eternities have passed.


"Yomosa." Hijunaki finally said. "Yomosa."


"What is Yomosa, Master Hijunaki?" I asked, deciding it was best to address him with a respected title.


"Yomosa is a person, not a thing." He hissed angrily. "Yomosa is a lovely woman that the Sun himself is jealous of. For she provides more light than him."


"I don't recall seeing her." A horrifying idea suddenly occurred to me. "And if I have already bedded her, I ask your forgiveness."


As I started to bow, Hijunaki laughed. I didn't know what it meant so I finished my bow and held it.


"As much as I love to see you bowing, Rig, it is impossible for you to have bedded her." He said. "I haven't allowed you to leave my palace, unless it was with me."


I remembered finding Yamaka's body. Eaten by some creature or creatures.


I stood up and laughed out of relief. "Do you realize it's been thousands of years since you went after a woman? That you felt love for a woman?"


"It's not love." Hijunaki hissed. Though I knew that Hijunaki could love. He had loved Yamaka and he would probably love Yomosa the same. "But now is not the time to get her. I must think some more."


With that I flew, while Hijunaki slithered, back to Hijunaki's Palace. Once there I went to my room. After getting to my room I felt myself go back in time.


I was running after a woman through a forest. She was naked and I was naked. She was saying something but I couldn't understand it. Finally I caught up to her and she turned around. I saw the stab wound through her heart and knew who she was.


"You killed me!" She said and laughed.


I finally woke myself up and saw a drawing on my wall of the woman. I had drawn it during one of my many lonely nights. And why wouldn't I get nostalgic about her? Sajoki had been my first love. Someone who I had loved naively. Who had betrayed me.


I suddenly realized what I was doing and started painting over the picture with my own blood.

* * *

Meditation was something I wasn't good at. I really didn't care if I was good at it or not. But now I needed my mind to rest to think of how I could get Yomosa here. Seduction was something I could use. Humans were stupid and easy to lure. It was a shame, then, that I wasn't created an incubus.


Of course, life had made me want to become an incubus. Not my nature. Or at least Jirou told me. I didn't believe that shit. What I believed was seduction could open all kind of doors with humans. If Hijunaki wanted Yomosa, it meant that she was a looker.


As I hissed with the anger that I couldn't ever touch her, Jirou came in. There was a fear in his eyes. Like the kind when we found Yamaka dead.


"What is it?" I asked.


"Yomosa is going to be married soon." He replied.


"How long until that happens?" I asked.


"A week. Two weeks at most." He paused. "So your seduction tactic is useless? Let me feign shock."


"Just because that tactic is useless doesn't mean I don't have another plan." I said and smirked.


"Ruin a perfectly good wedding?" Jirou asked. Though it sounded like a statement more than a question.


"Of course."


"Hijunaki won't be happy."


"Now he won't have a choice."


When we told Hijunaki he didn't like my idea.


"You can be there before the wedding day, Rig." He argued.


"But not without drawing attention to ourselves."


"You will draw even more attention to yourselves." Hijunaki sighed. "But, as this is your first real mission in a long time, I will agree to it. You deserve to delve into your baser nature, as long as the mission is completed successfully. Besides, Jirou is the only one to be able to control you."


Jirou and I bowed. Then left on our mission.

* * *


The day was lovely. The wind blew through the trees, grass, and anything else it could blow through. I looked at my lovely wife, Yomosa, who looked into my eyes. We were both very happy. Luckily enough I had gotten rid of the blood, with the help of Jirou, so she didn't even question that I wasn't her beloved.


Since the main ceremony was done with, there was food and drink. I had only ever had food from Sajoki's tribe and Hijunaki's Palace. This food smelt different but not bad.


"I didn't think you'd be so interested in that food today." Yomosa said and smiled at me. I could tell that she couldn't be unhappy today. Which would have been sad if I had cared. Or if she had been my wife. Or if the universe had been reborn and I could fall in love again.


"I am interested in all foods today." I replied and kissed her. I had to practice with Jirou to get a loving kiss instead of my lustful kisses.


We pulled away at the same time, both smiling. Good, I hadn't mess that shit up. After a few more minutes the drinking and eating began. Hijunaki had never given me alcohol before. He had said that it would make me even more unreliable. I gasped as it felt like fresh blood was going down my throat. It made my heart race.


If this hadn't been a wedding, the humans wouldn't have laughed. Yomosa, with her goddess eyes, laughed the loudest.


The drinking and eating continued on for hours. It seemed like it would never end. For those hours, I felt like I was free from Hijunaki. Free from all the demons of my past. It was paradise.


After those hours we went into the tent and I decided to go for seduction. Not for physical release, but to subdue her. I heard a wolf growl and decided that it would be best to change my plans. Damn Jirou.


"What was that?" Yomosa asked and pretended to grab me in fear. She was pushing up against me, begging me to consummate the marriage. But I couldn't. Jirou would tell Hijunaki and then I would see what happens after death.


Yomosa noticed my pause and pushed away. "Who are you? What did you do with my husband?" She then raised her hand to hit me.


I easily blocked her fist and grabbed her. "I am your husband. The man you were going to marry is dead." I said with a smile.


She kicked me in my human balls and that distracted me enough for her to run for freedom. Away from the fate I was doomed to. I shifted into a wolf and leapt at her. She tried to dodge me but failed.


As I held her down she yelled at me, "Obake!"


My wolf form smiled and then stopped as we struggled. I to subdue her. She to run away. As the struggled went on, I felt growing respect for Yomosa. She was fighting something not human, an obake, and she wouldn't stop. I didn't know why, but it got me hard. Hard in a metaphorical sense as I made sure my forms didn't have such a vulnerable area again.


After what seemed like hours, but was only five minutes at most, I had knocked Yomosa out. Jirou then walked in.


"Injured." He said. "But she's still alive."


With that we went back to Hijunaki's Palace. I was glad I had completed a mission and that I would, hopefully, regain Hijunaki's favor.

* * *

While the room I was in now outdid the wedding in every way, it seemed uglier. It seemed more like a cage than any form of beauty. But there was only one ray of light. And she was asleep on the couch.


Yomosa would be taken by Hijunaki very soon and then I would finally gain his favor. She started to stir and her eyes slowly opened. I knew what she was thinking, because I had felt the same way many times. She'd open her eyes and realize she was in a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.


What I hadn't counted on was the scream. I rushed over to her and covered her mouth. I saw her eyes widen as she saw me in one of my non-shapes. I now tended to go to those when I was nervous. The non-shapes were a combination of many different forms. For her sanity I shifted to my usual human male form.


Yomosa calmed down slightly, I removed my hand from her mouth, but I could feel the hate radiating from her eyes.


"I'm not the enemy here." I finally said to her.


"You killed my husband and kidnapped me." She spat. "Tell me how you're not my enemy."


"I was following orders." I tried to explain to her. Though, with her spunk, she deserved a better explanation. "For my continued existence I have to serve Hijunaki."


"How did you get into such a debt?" Yomosa asked. She seemed to be calming down, if only because she realized she couldn't win.


I hissed. The memories of my creation made my blood burn. "He created me." I explained. "I have no choice but to follow his orders. I can only disobey so much. Because I angered the weather goddess Akumie I wasn't allowed to leave the Palace for thousands of years."


"He didn't kill you?"


"Why would he? I am too valuable." I said and we both looked down. Even though sadness and pity were on her face, things hadn't changed between us. I knew this because fear and hate radiated more strongly from her expression.


The doors opened on their own and Hijunaki stuck his head through. Though the room could fit him comfortably, he chose not to enter. And I was glad he didn't.


I bowed and said, "Hijunaki, here is Yomosa. The woman you have longed for."


Hijunaki turned to look at Yomosa and flicked his tongue in and out quickly.


"Come, Yomosa, we have much to do together." He said with tenderness in his voice. If I didn't know how he had felt about Yamaka, I would've thought he was faking it.


Yomosa stood up and walked slowly towards him. When she had left the room, Hijunaki winked at me and went to guide Yomosa to his chambers.


Waiting for something to end is always the hardest part. Such as when I had been tortured after I had angered Akumie. Waiting for Hijunaki to finish with Yomosa was like that. But there was some other feeling, too.


I thought about it for awhile and finally agreed what it was. Jealousy. I hated that Hijunaki got Yomosa and not me. She was the peak of physical perfection and her bravery was remarkable. My jailer did not deserve such a wonder. Maybe he wouldn't like her and give the gem to me.


The sun set and rose before Hijunaki came back. I stood up in one of my non-shapes and bowed to him. I stood back up and looked at Hijunaki's angry face.


"Was there a problem, Hijunaki?" I asked him.


"Of course there was a problem!" Hijunaki yelled. "She was not submissive, nor did she obey my orders."


"How did you bed Yamaka?"


"I stole her as I did Yomosa." He replied. "She did offer her body to me upon our first night, unlike Yomosa."


I wondered why Hijunaki expected Yomosa to be submissive. He knew that she had fought back upon capture.


"What will you do with her now?" I asked.


"She has no use for me now!" He hissed. "Kill her and I will find a more suitable mate for myself."


With that he slithered away. Probably back to his chambers.


I walked to where Yomosa was. Upon reaching a special holding chamber in front of Hijunaki's chambers, I paused. She was a wonderful female human. She could fight and it was extremely saddening that she would be killed. By me. She would die hating me.


I entered the chambers and looked Yomosa in the eyes. My next thought was of how Yomosa would react to me capturing and then killing her.
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Sushi, Sake, and Tanuki Blog aka Companion to Rig's World