A New Leaf

Rig Katashi forms a relationship with the weather goddess Akumie.

Location: Japan


I dodged the katana and shifted my arm into a tentacle. I used that to make the slave lose grip of his sword. As soon as that happened, another slave, who had previously dropped his katana, came to punch me in the neck. Without a second's thought I spun around and kicked him. When he was down the other slave bowed to me.


I shifted my tentacle back into a human arm and looked at the slaves that I had fought. They were poor practice but they did take my mind off of anything important. They allowed me to calm down.


"You may leave, slaves, I am through with you for today." I said and the injured got up weakly to bow to me. Then I left them and breathed in the fresh air by myself.


Walking through the main garden in Hijunaki's Palace, in my human form, I felt like I was home. What had happened before had passed, or at least I liked to think that it had. Every day I could do what I wanted except when Hijunaki called me to do something. I didn't try to resist him like I had done in the past.


While walking I saw two female slaves come near me.  They were carrying food for Hijunaki or one of his creations. They came close enough for me to hear them. The two slaves didn't seem to care that I was there. One said, "Akumie is coming here. It will be interesting to see how Hijunaki handles a goddess being in his palace."


"Yes," The other one replied. "It will be nice to see Hijunaki put in his place for once."


I thought about reprimanding the slaves for disrespecting Hijunaki, but I remembered my own dislike of him. Though it was not as great as it had been before, it was still there. I let them pass and sat by a fountain.


After a few minutes I thought that today would be a good day to fly. Just as I was thinking about following through the thought with action, a slave came.


"Rig, Hijunaki orders you to come to him now." The slave said. I was momentarily angry that my second name, Katashi, was not formerly recognized.


I nodded to the slave and he lead me to Hijunaki.


I walked into Hijunaki's Throne Room and stood in front of him. Then I bowed very low. His presence filled the room with what felt like greatness. And, of course, his giant snake form.


"Yes, Hijunaki, what is it you wish of me?" I asked as politely as I could.


"Rig, you have certainly heard the rumors of the weather goddess Akumie coming to visit here?" Hijunaki asked me.


"Yes, I have."


"You have proven yourself to be someone I should not put my faith in." He paused. "However, I think this is a simple enough task to prove me wrong in that matter. I give you the task of guiding Akumie around my palace. If you do this task well you will become greater in my eyes. I might even let you take a journey outside of this palace."


I thought about it and decided that it was a simple enough task. Hijunaki would not want to mess up a meeting with a goddess so I doubted he'd be playing any tricks with me at this point.


"I am honored to be given this task and promise to show her only the best hospitality." I told him.


"I am sure of it." Hijunaki replied. "Before you go, I have heard your request from a few days ago. You seem to go through them pretty quickly."


When he finished speaking he signaled to someone standing in the shadows. Then a naked human woman came out. She wasn't one of the greatest ones that Hijunaki had made, but she did seem to be very pleasing to me.


"Thank you, Hijunaki." I bowed to my master and the woman followed me to my room.


When we entered I didn't dive in first thing. I found one of the most pleasing things to do was drag the moment on. Besides, I had something on my mind.


"I am going to guide a goddess around." I said and moved closer to the woman that Hijunaki probably hadn't put enough intelligence in to understand any type of speech. "I am going to rise up from my non-position and maybe get free of this place. Maybe the goddess will even reward me for a good job. And a goddess' backing will be a very good thing."


After that there were no words but only motions. The carnal motions of hungry bodies. She made the right sounds to show pleasure but that was something an animal could do.


Afterwards the woman disappeared and I went in the bath and washed up. As I cleaned up I thought about the carnal joy that I had opened up to, thanks to Katashi. But the human women that were given to me by Hijunaki weren't real enough. They did their job but they weren't truly real.


What would a goddess feel like? A goddess, if she felt the carnal joy I felt, would surely feel real in the act. Even if I displeased her I felt that true sex would be worth it. The thought formed uneasily in my mind but I let the memory of Katashi fill me.


When Katashi filled me I made my decision: I would pleasure Akumie in every way possible.
*             *                *

The loud music played as I tried to grow comfortable to my clothes. But, after many hours, I doubted I would. I didn't mind formality if it meant my w****s would like me better. Standing beside Hijunaki as Akumie's worshippers came towards us wasn't my idea of fun. I couldn't imagine Hijunaki was enjoying it since he was staying more still than normal.


Reassuring myself that I would be out of my clothing soon, I focused on the festival. Hijunaki had outdone himself by creating special creatures and having most of his creations play music. Luckily he had chosen only his creations that could sing well to do the vocals to the music.


After what seemed like hours, Akumie finally came forward and I knew I wouldn't find another creature like her. Her beauty filled me with emotions I couldn't remember feeling before. Fortunately a lot of the feelings could be passed off as physical urges.


"Akumie, I welcome you to Japan." Hijunaki said and bowed deeply and I followed suit. "And I have instructed my loyal servant Rig to show you the jewels of my palace."


Akumie looked at me and seemed to study me intensely. "Yes, this one does look like he can do his job." She said with a straight face and hardly any emotion.


"I have done other jobs very well in the past." I said and bowed to her and smiled. I tried to give an aura of charm for Akumie.


Akumie leaned close to my ear and I could smell what a good afterlife smelt like. "If you get to me like Asalie has you will be in pain very quickly." She said and went in front of me. With that, Hijunaki lead all the creatures there to a feast.


After we were all well fed, Akumie stood up and looked at me. "You can take me to my room now." She said.


I stood up. "Yes, your grace." I replied. When those words came out of my mouth I thought of other things I could take her to.


The walk to her room was more quiet than I would've wanted it to be. The reason for the long silence was probably that she didn't trust me. But as we got closer to her room I could see her becoming calmer.


I bowed to her when we came to the entrance of her room. "I am in the room next door if you need anything." I told her.


Akumie nodded and I saw a slight smile come onto her face. "I will hold you to that." She said and went inside.
*            *            *
"Thank you, Rig Katashi." Akumie said and I smiled as she had used my full name. Hardly anyone addressed me by my full name since I had taken it. The table was full of meats and exotic fruits that had been grown with the manure from Hijunaki's creations.


I breathed in the smell of the dinner that I had made and watched as Akumie ate a small piece of meat. I was briefly worried that she would not like it. How could I ever hope to win over a goddess by cooking? It wasn't even like my lovemaking could bring her closer to me. Which was a big hole in my plan.


Akumie's smile made relief rush through me as a sense of accomplishment overtook me. "You are a very good cook." She paused for a second. "At least for an obake."


"Thank you, your grace." I said and took her compliment as best I could. I was making progress at least.


She looked at me as I started to eat. "You can call me Akumie, Rig." She said. "You have earned it. For the past week you have attended me well. I am used to others bowing to my every whim, but you do it better than most."


"Thank you, Akumie." I said and felt the beauty of her name roll off of my tongue. No, it was the sensuality inherent in the name. It had everything to do with Akumie's body and nothing to do with her soul.


It took an hour to finish dinner with Akumie. The hour was full with pleasant conversation that made her like me more. When it was done I helped her out of her seat. As we left the room slaves came in to clean up.


"I'd like to walk around tonight." Akumie said and I smiled. Now I could finally go further in my plan to have sex with her.


I walked Akumie to the main gardens which looked lovely in the starlight. A small smile started to form on her face and I walked to a rose bush. Picking a red rose it started to turn from red to yellow to blue and back again. I smiled as Akumie's smile widened.


"This is for you." I said and handed the rose to her.


For a moment her face reflected that she didn't know what to do. I couldn't blame her as she was a goddess and this was an obvious invitation. After a few minutes of breathless silence she took the rose. I breathed in relief.


"I think it's time to go back, Rig." Akumie said and smiled. I nodded and took her back to her room. As she started going inside, she turned back t look at me.


Taking this rare chance, I started shifting quickly. I didn't do a complete shift of any animal but always put them as a combination. Near the end she was clapping. Shortly after she started clapping, I returned to my human male form.


"You are talented, Rig Katashi." Akumie said and went inside her room.
*          *           *
As soon as the sun rose, I walked into Akumie's room. As soon as one of my feet went through the door way she was awake. Looking at me she gave a slight smile my way after she realized who had entered her room.


"Rig Katashi." Akumie said as I walked over to her bed. I tried to remain calm as I walked over to her. I tried to avoid the feeling in my heart that I felt when she looked at me. All I was after was sex. Nothing more and nothing less. If I were to give in to the feelings of love, I would be breaking the teachings of Katashi.


"Akumie." I replied as I showed her the food that I had prepared. Akumie seemed to enjoy the smell of the steamed rice, miso soup, and nori.


"I see that you didn't do anything special." She said, a little annoyed.


"Maybe I was thinking of something special after breakfast." I said and blushed a little. Though there was no embarrassment behind my blush.


This sent Akumie into a fit of laughter for a few minutes. "You do a horrible job at trying to pick up a goddess, Rig. But, I must admit, you do have a thing for theatrics when you aren't talking."


She got out of bed and I realized just how truly beautiful she was. The way all her features complimented the others made me think I should reconsider my plan.


"What's your story?" Akumie asked me. "Everyone has a story when they're after someone."


Sajoki suddenly came into my mind. The memory of our times together, of her betrayal, and what I had to do made me certain of Katashi's Teachings.


"I had a love named Sajoki. She was the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen. I risked everything for her and, in the end, she betrayed me." I bowed my head as I remembered Sajoki's blood on me.


"I won't betray you, Rig." Akumie said and put a hand on my shoulder.


"I know you won't." I replied and looked into her eyes.


In a swift motion Akumie kissed me and I lost all sense of where I was. All I was aware of was her body and the sound of her breakfast hitting the floor.
*                  *            *
After carefully washing myself, I lay still in the pool. It was made out of rock and everyday it was filled with new water. Always fresh and never salt. During the daytime it was lovely and every night it was lit up with star light. Also, it was very close to Akumie's room. Meaning that after we had made love it had been a short walk here.


Of course I hadn't gone to the pool directly afterwards. Directly afterwards we had just enjoyed the comfort of each other. I wouldn't have done that if I had wanted to anger her. Getting on the bad side of a goddess never ended well.


I would have to go back to her soon. For some reason that thought frightened me. Was it because I was afraid of being caught or actually having feelings for her? Had to be the fear of being caught since I hadn't let any feelings for Akumie go deep into my mind. And if they hadn't gone deep into my mind then there was no chance that they would've reached my heart. A heart that I had protected from those kind of feelings since Sajoki's death. Or at least that's what I told myself.


Realizing that I couldn't wait any longer, I got out. I walked to Akumie's room and entered dripping wet. When I saw her smile at me from the bed, I remembered the wetness I had felt earlier. With that thought I smiled back at her.


"You're good." Akumie said. "I'm amazed that you dared to fight a goddess that way."


"I have no fear." I told her and dried myself with a rug on the floor. She laughed. "It's one of the only dry things in this room now."


"That's all your fault."


"And I'm not sorry for that at all."


After I dried off I went back in bed and lay down with Akumie for awhile. We talked to each other but the conversation wasn't important. I was pretending through most of it. Akumie liked it so it didn't matter anyways. I don't know if I liked her believing the lies or her smile more.


Finally I got up. "I'm boring you?" Akumie asked jokingly.


"No, I just need to talk to Jirou." I replied.


"Who is he?"


"A sparring buddy of mine. Haven't talked to him in a long time."


"You going to brag about me to him?" She smiled as she said that.

"How could I not tell a friend of mine about you? About our love?" I said and headed to Jirou. Of course I wasn't going to be talking about love to him. That part wasn't true.
*                  *            *
As I walked toward the main sparing arena, I breathed in the air. It had a special smell to it now. Almost like Akumie was in my lungs. I looked around and spotted Jirou walking towards the main sparing arena too. Unlike me, he was neither an obake or able to hide among humans. He appeared to be a wolf that walked on its hind legs. Ruining this image was his head that had the same shape as a human's and had human teeth. Jirou's hands were also human, but had fur on the back of them.


"Jirou!" I yelled to him and he walked to me. "Haven't seen you in a long time."


"And you never greet me unless you want to brag about something." Jirou replied and crossed his arms. The only thing reassuring me he wasn't annoyed was the slight grin on his face.


"You're the only one who cares."


"No, I'm the only one who just lets you blabber on." He replied and smirked. "So what is it this time?"


"Oh, it's a big one." I said and paused. Did I really want to tell him? He would probably tell Akumie that I had just used her. And then she'd get angry. On the other hand, Jirou was the only one who would let me brag anymore. "I slept with Akumie."


Jirou stared at me. For a few minutes he didn't even speak. It seemed as though his expression was trying to cage his rage but was not succeeding. "Please say you did it out of love and not out of lust. Do you realize what would happen to us if you used a goddess?"


"What does it matter? She doesn't have to know."


"Rig Katashi, she's a goddess."


"And goddesses can be fooled."


"Do you really want to take that chance? What if someone tells her the truth?"


I walked up to Jirou and stood inches away from his face. "You wouldn't dare."


Jirou said nothing and walked away. I didn't know where he was going, but I guessed it was to talk to Akumie.


When he was out of sight I looked at the sky. Flying had always calmed me down before. Nearly as much as sex, really. As I concentrated, I became a miniature Western Dragon with black scales. I had heard about them from traveling obake and I thought today was a good day to try the form out.


I spread my wings out, ran, and took off. The feeling of flight in this form was fun but nothing special. I really preferred any Eastern Dragon form over this one. The one thing that was exceptional, though, was how the scales picked up the sunlight. Because of that I got lost in the joy of the form for hours. When I remembered who I was, the sun was about to set.


Shifting into the form of an eagle I started to look for Akumie. It had been awhile and I doubted she had stayed in her room. I finally found her at the edge of the pool I had been bathing in before. I landed on a rock and noticed that she was crying.


Had she found out?
*                *                 *
"What you did, Rig Katashi, was not becoming of someone of your station in life." Hijunaki said. I bowed my head in shame. Especially because he had put a very harsh emphasis on the word Katashi. What I had done to Akumie had been found out. She hadn't been happy and the news had gotten to Hijunaki.


"Instead of showing her how great my palace is you showed her that I can only create slime." He continued. "If Akumie hadn't ordered me to keep you alive I would kill you now. I would think that she would be much madder considering the circumstances."


I was confused and frightened. If an angry goddess had let me live that only meant that she wanted time to think about how she would kill me. What confused me was that there could be a circumstance that would make being used worse than another circumstance. "What circumstances, Hijunaki?" I asked.


"The fact that her old lover has recently died." He hissed. "The fact that you are the first lover she has taken since his death."


I was taken aback. I didn't know whether it was because I felt insulted or that I felt ashamed. It felt like an insult because it made the deed too easy. A mourning widow is easier to comfort than a happy wife. It felt like I was ashamed because I had cut her deep and probably would never be forgiven. I couldn't decide which emotion or reasoning was stronger.


For the next hour Hijunaki used words to do what arrows could only hope to do. He was finally cut off when Akumie came in. She was beautiful, as always, but an anger could be sensed coming out of her. It consumed her and seemed to make her a different being.


Hijunaki bowed to her and I could only stand up straight. This wasn't because I was trying to anger her more, but it was because her gaze had frozen me in fear. As she walked closer to us I was afraid I was going to die. That Akumie hadn't needed that long to figure out how she wanted to kill me.


"Hijunaki, I thank you for your hospitality. Your kindness is not something I will ever forget." Then Akumie turned to me and I could see that her face showed no emotion, but I still felt anger coming from her. "But some of your creations do not have that same hospitality."


Hijunaki, still bowed, asked, "But the actions of my creations will not make you forget your favor of me?"


"Of course not." She replied and then left. Not by walking, but by turning into lightning and shooting off into the distance. With her absence gone, I felt fear. Now that she was gone I knew what would happen to me would be painful. And that would be putting it lightly.


Hijunaki turned his head to me and looked me straight in the eyes. Within the blink of an eye I was tied and floating above the pool I had bathed in earlier. The one that I had washed all of the wetness from Akumie off. But now it smelled extremely salty. I heard, and then felt, a lash on my back. Every time it came down I was pushed down into the water.


The lash had spikes like dragon's fangs and the salt felt like claws digging in deeper. It didn't help that I felt like I was going to drown. Each time I tried to yell I couldn't hear myself. After what must have been years I lost consciousness.