Jason and Chiyo try to find a new balance, but run into complications. A bit of world building, and some other characters are introduced. Thanks to Coolkitty93 for editing this chapter!
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The rest of Tuesday passed pretty quietly after Chiyo snapped me out of my guilt-induced funk. We were eventually driven out of bed by hunger. I ordered a pizza for delivery since I didn't feel like cooking, and I got Chiyo settled in the recliner with a new batch of photos from the crawler.
I informed her that she wasn't allowed to wear clothes around the apartment anymore without my express permission. Chiyo was fine with that - she didn't have any issues with nudity, and she seemed to like having rules to follow. She'd said she needed my 'Master' side to deal with the problems facing us, and she'd told me she liked having sex. She seemed to have a submissive personality, so a little dominance on my part would be good for her. At least, that's what I told myself.
It was possible that this was just my inner sleaze ball making justifications for me to dominate her. If that was the case, I decided I could live with it. She needed to be free, which meant she needed me to quit feeling guilty and find her pearl while I figured out how to keep her safe from human society. If me indulging in some BDSM play made me more effective at solving the problems I'd created for her, that was better in the long run than me being a pansy and not fixing things.
When the door buzzer went off, I tossed a blanket over Chiyo's lap to make sure her tails were hidden, but I let the pizza delivery guy get a nice long look at her tits. Chiyo grinned and waved at him when she caught him staring. It didn't bother her or set off any kinks to have a random stranger see her naked, but it made me feel powerful, flaunting her beauty to the poor kid with the pizza.
Chiyo liked pizza, matching me slice for slice. I'd ordered a meat lover's, of course. I didn't make her use a knife and fork, but I did force her to take small bites and chew her food before swallowing. I turned the TV on while we ate. My Yomiuri Giants were hosting the Chicago Cubs, and we got our asses beat. 2017 was looking like a down year for my Giants - Kobe Bryant was on his retirement tour, and our bullpen stunk. Meanwhile the damn Cubs were playing like they were ready to go to the World Series again, and maybe actually win it this time and open the first of the seven seals of the apocalypse. I tried to explain baseball to Chiyo while we ate. She didn't get the appeal.
After we ate, Chiyo went back to crossing off photos, while I left the game on in the background and started on the case file for the last stolen Heterdyne. I couldn't cross this one off as easily as the first two - it had belonged to a minor celebrity named Hamada Yamedara, a game show host from Hiroshima. He was a major car nut; his Het had been imported in 2014, and had a full Daimler overhaul under the hood, just like Kylie's. It had been reported stolen three months ago. The cops had basically given up, though they seemed to think the theft had been an inside job.
I went through Yamedara's social media profiles and the gossip columns on him, looking for women in his life. Divorced in 2010, no children, no female relatives that matched Kylie's face. A long succession of girlfriends after the divorce, none staying too long; he seemed to prefer blondes, but none of them were Kylie. Still, not every girlfriend gets found by the paparazzi. This guy wasn't an A- or B-list celebrity, so he could manage some privacy. In the end I couldn't confirm or deny that his stolen car was Kylie's, at least with only the internet at my disposal.
I closed the file. If we didn't get any better leads off the Hets that weren't stolen or the ND4 licenses, maybe an in-person visit to Yamedara would turn something up. I checked Chiyo's progress - two maybes, everything else negative. By the time I'd cleared the two maybes Chiyo had finished all of the photos from the 126 Hets and confirmed a total lack of Kylie.
So, our first day of the hunt for Kylie was officially a bust. The one bright spot was that Ken had confirmed his friend was available the next morning for the legal advice conference call I'd requested.
By this point the fact that I hadn't slept the night before was catching up to me. Chiyo was feeling pretty tired too - her new Kitsune-specific pain pills were working to keep her pain down, but they made her a little groggy. I made us a quick light supper then I killed the lights and helped her climb the ladder up to my bed. We kissed and snuggled a bit, but we were both too tired to do anything else before we drifted off.
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing that occurred to me was that I'd gone to sleep next to Chiyo without restraining her. The fear of her ripping my throat open with her teeth while I slept sprang back to life, but I told the paranoid part of my brain to shut up. Clearly I'd been fine, she hadn't done anything. I reminded myself that Chiyo and I were going to trust each other and work together. Yeah, there would probably be issues on the way - I still had to bear the guilt of what I'd done, and she'd promised me she wouldn't forgive me as long as she wasn't free, but we'd work through it. I repeated that to myself until I was at least partly convinced I believed it.
Once I had myself sort of under control, I turned my attention to the naked girl snuggled into my side. Chiyo was still sound asleep; one arm over my chest, her head on my shoulder. She was snoring, and I found it ridiculously cute. She was also naked, of course, since I'd forbidden her from wearing clothes around the apartment. My libido noticed this fact and announced that if we were done panicking, maybe we could explore some of that naked female flesh.
I carefully shifted to lie on my side facing her. Chiyo frowned in her sleep as I slipped her head off my shoulder onto the pillow, but made small happy sounds as I began to gently stroke my fingers over her body. I kept my touch feather light, exploring the planes of her face, the slim column of her neck, running my fingers down her side from shoulder to hip. I held my hand over her ribs lightly, feeling them contract and expand as she breathed. I traced her breasts, feeling the soft curve and swell where they rose from her chest, explored the planes of her stomach, the smooth lines of her hips.
Chiyo's body responded to my touch in her sleep. Her breathing quickened slightly and a soft flush rose in her cheeks and on her chest. Her nipples slowly began to stiffen, her thighs rubbed together as she squirmed in her sleep. I bent over and softly kissed her lips. Her eyes opened slowly as she woke in fuzzy state of arousal, still half asleep. I traced my finger along her slit as I kissed her again, slipping my tongue past her lips. Chiyo moaned as I broke the kiss.
"Good morning, little fox. How does this feel?"
"Mmm, good morning, Master. It feels nice. Are we going to fuck?"
"Only if you want to."
"Mmhmm." She kissed me back and slid her arms around me, tugging my shirt up and over my shoulders.
We took it slow, taking time to learn each other's bodies with touch and taste. We laughed when we found ticklish spots or got our limbs awkwardly tangled. When I slid inside her it wasn't anything different from what we'd been doing a minute before, just a natural progression and joining. I belonged inside her, her body belonged above me, her weight pressing down on my chest as we kissed and slowly moved our hips. I came before Chiyo did, so I slipped my hand down to where we were joined and teased her clit until she had a small orgasm.
I offered to work on her until she had a bigger one, but she said it was fine. She slipped off me and licked my crotch clean; I didn't really feel it was necessary, but it was one of her rules and she didn't feel like we were done until she'd performed her duty.
Chiyo had a little glow about her as we started the day. I'd slipped on my pajama pants and was making coffee and waffles shirtless. Whenever I turned to look at her as she sat naked at the table waiting for me to finish cooking, I'd catch her eyes on me, then she would blush and lower her gaze submissively. I realized that our morning coupling was the first time we'd really made love, instead of just fucking. It was the first time in her life that she'd ever experienced that. I was feeling pretty good about introducing her to the concept, when I suddenly heard Amy's voice in my mind. "She's not your girlfriend, Jason."
Fuck, my subconscious was right. I couldn't fall in love with Chiyo, couldn't let her fall in love with me. She didn't belong here. She needed to be back in the wilderness, far away from dangerous humans. And I wasn't boyfriend material - I'd tried it enough times to know - once the first blush of romance faded, I'd get restless and start looking for something new. Making love to Chiyo felt great, but it wasn't good for her or for me.
I frowned as I prepared Chiyo's cup of sugary abomination coffee. I couldn't rely on Chiyo to maintain emotional distance just because I'd kidnapped and raped her. She didn't seem to assign the same emotional value to the rapes that my conscience did; fucking was just something fun you did with your body in her mind.
While she was somewhere between six and eleven years older than me physically, emotionally she was more like a teenager. She'd never been in a relationship - from what she'd told me, the only connection she'd ever had was with her mother and litter mates, and her mother had driven her out to live on her own at an early age. She'd spent years and years in complete isolation, probably spending most of her life in her fox form. She wouldn't understand what she was feeling, wouldn't keep me at a distance like she needed to do if we were going to succeed in freeing her.
A part of me wanted to take advantage of that. I could charm her like I'd done with my past girlfriends. She'd fall in love with me, I'd offer to free her once we figured out how, but she'd realize she didn't want to be free, she wanted to be with me. I'd never have to give up the feel of that raspy tongue on my skin, that musky scent, the way she trembled and shook as my cock filled her. I stamped that part of myself down hard. I had to be strong for both of us - I owed it to her to let her go free. No, I wasn't going to give up having sex with her, but I had to maintain some distance. Keep that Master wall up, not slip into boyfriend mode.
By the time I served breakfast, I'd gotten my defenses in place. I wasn't mean to her, I couldn't be, but I took every opportunity to correct her table manners as we ate. When she complained about not having any meat to eat, I snapped at her and told her whining was something bad foxes did. Chiyo instantly apologized, shrinking back. I wanted to stroke her and reassure her, but I just calmly told her that it was fine, just don't do it again.
It seemed to work. The happy glow slowly faded from her face. My heart broke a little seeing it, but I told myself it was better for her in the long run.
After breakfast, I introduced Chiyo to showering. With her new waterproof cast, I wasn't restricted to sponge bathing her anymore. Of course, I did still insist on being the one to clean her. Chiyo yelped in surprise when the hot water sprayed down on us, but quickly decided it was fun. I made sure she enjoyed it, teasing her breasts and sex as I scrubbed her down. I was in full Master mode, not boyfriend mode, but I was the kind, pampering Master, making her sigh with pleasure. I even got her to relax and enjoy it when I shampooed her hair.
When I went to shampoo her tails, she resisted. When I tried to insist, she threw a tantrum. I decided this was a good opportunity to clarify some things. I killed the water and leaned back against the wall. Chiyo stood facing me, arms crossed in front of her, balancing her weight on one leg. Water dripped off our naked bodies as we stared each other down.
"Chiyo. You said you needed me to be Master, not Jason. You said until I actually had a plan to free you, I didn't get to pretend that I wasn't your owner. Now, you need to decide where you want to draw the line. I know where my line is drawn - you always get to say yes or no before we fuck, and you get to have input on all major decisions we make when it comes to trying to get your pearl back and set you free. The rest of the time, I'm in charge. Now you need to let me know where your line is. It's up to you how much you want me to be Master."
I took a breath then continued. "We've been kind of playing it by ear so far; you're still following all the rules I gave you before things changed, and I think you kind of like that. I even gave you a new rule yesterday about clothes and you seem happy with it. But now you're being bratty about me washing your tails, even though your fur is getting matted and isn't shiny anymore. So, I need you to decide. Do you want to be free and equal partners and we just pretend I own you to fool other humans, or do you want me to be Master?"
"Why can't it be both? Why can't you be Master when I like it, but not make me do things I don't like to do? You stopped making me choke with your cock because I didn't like it."
