The Rising Sun & the Morning Calm

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Noboru frantically scanned the shoreline for the source of the voices and found his brother leading a pack of soldiers along the beach. Though he was grateful beyond measure that Saburo was still alive, he was afraid for Ji Eun. From experience, he knew that the soldiers tended to behave more like animals towards the people of Chosun and he hoped that they would not discover her presence. It sent a chill through him to even consider what they would do to her in such an isolated place.

"Brother! You survived!" Saburo shouted happily, rushing to his side.

"I am glad to see that you have as well." Sword in hand, Noboru attempted to keep his appearance relaxed and neutral.

Nodding, he squatted down on his haunches and cracked his neck. "Hell of a storm wasn't it? It's a small miracle that any of us made it out alive."

"Indeed." He inwardly winced as he considered how stilted his reply sounded.

Sensing something was off, Saburo looked at him curiously but continued, "Well, we've done enough scouting. We have all the information we need and the shogun will be pleased to know that the stupid unsuspecting vermin of Chosun will pose no threat to his invasion." Standing up again, he grinned. "I guess we'll head for home."

Out of the corner of his eye, Noboru spotted one of the soldiers approaching the cottage. "Oi! [Hey!]" he warned.

Glancing over at the hut, Saburo noted, "Guess you found some shelter from the storm, huh? Lucky you. Got anything to eat in there? I'm starved."

"I can smell some food inside," one of the men called.

Shit! Their breakfast! Before he could find an excuse to distract him, they had already opened the door. "Ora, ora, [Well, well, well] what do we have here?" another man drawled. His grip tightened on his katana when they dragged Ji Eun out screaming. "Hey, not bad!" he remarked appreciatively."

Saburo peered inside and saw the bloodstains on the bed. Smirking over his shoulder, he leered, "So, I see you had a bit of fun last night, Brother. What -- you didn't feel like sharing?" Strolling over to Ji Eun he sniffed her hair, causing her to squirm in the soldier's grip.

"Saburo, let her go."

At the severe tone of his older brother's voice, Saburo looked back at him and realization began to spread across his face. "Oh, you like this one, is that it? She's beneath you." Her screams pierced his ears as the soldiers began fondling her.

Trying to reign in his mounting rage, Noboru slowly replied, "It is dishonorable for you to treat a woman like this. This behavior is unbecoming of a samurai, Saburo."

"It might be dishonorable if she was a person, but these Chosun are less than dogs." Waving dismissively, he added, "Let them have the bitch." At his words, the men began tearing at her clothing, and Noboru couldn't understand the words she was screaming, but he knew how she felt and unable to contain his fury any longer, he vaulted over his brother and the morning sun flashed off the blade of his sword before it sliced off the arm of one of her captors and a leg off the other. Shouting, the other soldiers rushed Noboru all at once and though he fought admirably, he was caught off guard by his brother who knocked him at the base of his skull with his own sword. Falling onto the sand in a daze, he felt his arms twisted behind his back and someone grabbed his sword out of his reach. Clucking his tongue in disapproval, Saburo walked in front of his brother and regarded him with disappointment. "Brother, you would lay a hand on your own countrymen in order to save an animal? I expected more from you. Where is your sense of loyalty and national pride? The shogun would be very upset."

Straining to free himself, Noboru glared at his sibling. "I am ordering you as your older brother to release her!"

"Gomen, ni-san, [Apologies, Brother]" he said lazily. "My obligation to my shogun supercedes my filial obligation to you." Casting a look over his shoulder he added, "And I think after what you did to them, my men are entitled to some compensation. What do you say, men?"

"Yamiro! [Stop!]" Noboru watched, immobilized as the remaining soldiers assaulted Ji Eun. Every time she cried out, it wrenched at his guts and he couldn't bring himself to watch as they violated her.

Saburo's voice was in his ear. "You know, it's a good thing you're my brother, otherwise I would have had to kill you right here. Anyways, once they're done amusing themselves, we'll head back for the capital and the shogun can decide what to do with you."

Noboru fought the urge to vomit as her cries turned into sobs that eventually died away. Unwillingly opening his eyes, he saw her lying limp in the sand, her body fouled by the soldiers. Tears welled in his eyes as he whispered, "Forgive me. I did not wish to repay you thus."

As if hearing his words, she opened one of her bruised eyes and looked directly at him. Noboru felt his heart jump to his throat as she removed a small object from inside her sleeve and with her last ounce of strength moved something against her neck. He cried out when he realized that she had slit her own throat. Her eye glazed over as her blood pooled in the sand. "Ji Eun," he wailed. His chin sank to his chest and he sagged forward in his grief.

"Well, so much for that," Saburo commented. "Oi [Hey], what's keeping that boat?"

Still kneeling, Noboru stared at the ground as a deep, burning hatred for his brother surged within him. "Saburo, you will pay dearly for this," he vowed.

"Over a common bitch like that? Please." He continued to scan the horizon for their ship.

"Don't you dare speak of her that way!" he snarled. "If I were free, I would kill you where you stand! Filial obligation be damned!"

Saburo gave him a bored look. "If you're going to keep being so noisy, I have no choice but to shut you up." Taking his sword, he backhanded his brother's face with it and a black curtain swept over Noboru's thoughts.

A few days later, Noboru knelt before his shogun on the floor of his favorite stronghold, his eyes cast downwards. Toyotomi Hideyoshi paced a circle around him, not saying a word, surrounding by the daimyos [feudal lords] he commanded. In one corner, a young Tokugawa Ieyasu watched him keenly through cat-like eyes. After a few minutes, he stopped pacing and put his hands behind his back. "I am greatly distressed by this news, Nagamori. It shocks me that a samurai from a family as esteemed as yours would kill his own in order to save some urchin on the shores of a land that will be ours in a matter of years." Noboru said nothing in response and continued to stare mutely at the floor. "You may speak freely," Toyotomi conceded.

"I am disappointed as well, my lord," he said softly. "Bushido [the way of the samurai] demands that the warriors who abide by its code live a life of honor and service. There is no honor in invading Chosun and there is only self-service to be achieved."

Toyotomi's eyes flashed with momentary anger before he regained his composure. "You disagree with my plan to invade the mainland then," he noted evenly.

"I do, my lord."

The samurai's quiet defiance grated on his nerves. "And what, pray tell, am I to do with you, Nagamori?"

"I will commit hara-kiri [ritual suicide by disembowelment] and then I will cease to be a thorn in your side."

Trying his utmost to keep his voice steady, Toyotomi spat, "You do not deserve such an honor. I have better punishment in mind for you and it involves living -- for a long, long time." At this, Noboru looked up with horror at his shogun and was slapped back to the ground. "Know your place, Nagamori. You dare look me in the eye without being granted permission to do so?" Calling to the guards outside, he ordered the stricken man out of the room and resumed his seat at the head of the room behind a small lacquered table. He stroked his beard thoughtfully as all the daimyos turned their eyes to him, waiting to see what he would do next. Not bothering to look at any of them, he blithely said, "Begin the conscriptions immediately. If I am to make the Ming Emperor my loyal vassal, I will require a great many soldiers."

When night had fallen, Noboru was led into the mountains and when the party had reached their destination, the soldiers guarding him pushed him unceremoniously onto his knees. In the light of the moon, he could make out that they were in some sort of clearing dotted with stone statues of dogs. No, not dogs -- foxes.

A rustling and the snapping of dry twigs diverted his attention to the woman approaching him. Her body was taut and her skin glowed an almost alabaster sheen in the clean white light. A kimono was wrapped loosely around her, and though tied at the waist, he could see the inviting movement of her ample, firm breasts as they bounced enticingly as she walked. As she sauntered towards him, swaying her full hips, he saw that she wore an animal mask and Noboru realized then what she was. The woman was a kitsune-sukai - a fox witch.

Standing in front of his kneeling form, his face was slightly lower than her waist and a sultry voice greeted him from behind the mask's empty eyes. "Nagamori Noboru Takeo Tsuneo, welcome." Noboru tried to ignore her and looked instead at the gleaming mother of pearl surface of the moon above him. Following his gaze, she looked into the sky and laughed -- a low muffled sound. "How fitting. Auspicious almost, the meaning of your name. The eternal ascending warrior of the immortal forest." She knelt down before him and his eyes were drawn to the creamy skin of her breast as she bent down. He tried to keep his manhood still when he saw the stiff nipples that studded each perfect globe.

As if sensing his reluctant arousal, she bent over further, giving him an even better view of her. "In punishment for your lack of loyalty, our shogun has decided that you are to remain in perfect health and denied the reprieve of death. Shall we begin?"

"What do you plan to do to me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nagamori-sama [sir]," she whispered in his ear, "I will not do anything that you do not desire." Her hand slipped under his clothes with remarkable speed and she expertly stroked his half erect cock to its full length. Removing her hand, she laughed at the fluid that glistened on her fingers. With her other hand, she removed her mask and looked at him.

She was blindingly beautiful, almost too perfect in her appearance. The eyes that looked at him from under lowered lashes were green, like moss. Two full lips curved into a vermillion smile as she watched his reaction to her. Licking her fingers slowly, she let the silk kimono slip from her shoulder and she heard all the men, Noboru included, moan at the sight. Again, she was eerily perfect, with sculpted thighs that met a voluptuous rear and a flat belly that curved into a mound that was devoid of any hair.

Smiling wickedly, she stood and his face was level with the smooth skin of her sex. "Nagamori-sama," she sighed lasciviously, "I will give you this one opportunity to leave." She loosened the bonds on his wrists. "But I do not think that you will." Sliding her fingers into herself, she pulled them out trailing pearly strands of her own lubrication. Bending down, she wiped her hand along his mouth, coating his lips with her and without even thinking, he tasted her.

She tasted like nothing he'd ever known on earth and though the ropes that had bound his wrists fell ineffectually to the ground, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Lying on her back, she splayed her lips with her fingers and began sliding the slippery fluid over her sex. "Come, Nagamori-sama. If you desire me, you may take me."

In the back of his mind he knew it was a trap but his legs refused to obey him as they carried him to her. Lowering himself to the ground, he hungrily began feasting on her slit. The more he licked her, the more he needed to continue and he drank the sweet moisture that streamed from her pussy. Arching her back, her nipples stiffened even more as she thrust her breasts into the air as she announced her release. Giving him a satisfied smile, she crawled to him and licked his straining cock. His body betrayed him further as he pushed his hips out to make contact with her lips.

Opening her mouth, she sealed her lips over his shaft and began running her tongue along the underside of his cock. When she felt it jerk, she moaned and Noboru hissed at the sensation. Sliding her wet pout back and forth over his length, she felt him swell dangerously and knew he was almost ready.

Lying again on her back, she guided him into her ready passage and felt him flex his buttocks as he drove himself desperately inside of her. She leaned her head back as he alternately sucked each nipple as he rutted above her. Running her nails down his back, she bucked under him as she climaxed again. From the way that his cock pulsed inside her, she knew he was ready and began whispering all manner of obscenities in his ear about how he had sated her and her words proved to be too much for him as a loud cry of pain and ecstasy was torn out of his throat.

As he splashed her womb with torrent after torrent of his seed, he looked down to see that her eyes glowed an iridescent shade of blue and as he stared at them, he felt a chill invade his body. "Nanda? [What?]" Before he could assemble another thought, he pitched forward in agony and screamed as a blinding pain seared his nerves. Afraid, his guards took a few steps back as he writhed on the ground. A sick, cracking noise filled the night air and he tried to raise himself on his hands and knees when he saw that his skin was sprouting fine white fur and claws had sprung from his nail beds. The witch observed in fascination as his teeth elongated, enjoying the sound of splintering bone and tearing flesh as he begged for the pain to stop.

When he had collapsed to the ground unmoving, she cautiously walked towards him and inspected her handiwork. The thing lying at her feet was not completely a man, nor was it completely animal. Noboru blinked feebly a few times at her and she noted with satisfaction the icy blue color of his eyes as the anthropomorphic wolf watched her with weary vigilance. Though he was unable to rise, she could see that he had grown in stature and was inwardly relieved that he was so weakened from his transformation or doubtless they would be dead in mere seconds. Bending over him, she caressed his silver muzzle before sharply raking her long fingernails across it. A low growl emanated from behind his bared teeth, but he was too exhausted to strike back. The guards gasped audibly when they saw the bloody tracks close and disappear within seconds, leaving a perfect, velvet surface. "He is ready," she murmured. "Take him."

In his debilitated state, Noboru could barely stand and his bulk had to be carried from the clearing by the guards. The last thought that passed through his head before he lost consciousness was to wonder what had happened to him.