Epilogue 1 - Dressing Down (Patreon)

“Thank you for the timely warning, Sensei,” Kuzahana Kaede said into the phone. It looked like an exquisitely crafted device from fifty years ago, but the lack of an annoying cable gave it away. “Yes, we are having an event this weekend. Why don’t I have Umi-chan send you an invitation? I look forward to seeing you there.”

She replaced the handset in its cradle without letting any sign of irritation cross her perfect features. Academic types were just too easy. The smallest smile was enough to make them lose all reason—it was no wonder that they were always getting in trouble with their students.

Just the slightest hint of seduction in her voice was enough to have     Professor Tetsuo panting for the chance of helping her in some way. Not that he hadn’t proved useful, she just wished that he had a bit more self-respect.

Ah, she chided herself. I’m being contrary again, aren’t I?

It was important to keep aware of when her nature was leading her astray. She made a note to have Kagero-chan host the man. She often liked it when they begged.

While every other seismologist in Japan had been poring over the signals they were getting from the erupting volcano in Hokkaido, Tetsuo-sensei had been watching carefully for certain movements in a different part of Japan’s deep interior. It was time for Kaede to take action.

But first, she needed to take some precautions. She brought out a sealed box and placed it on her desk. The magic on it should take a few days for her sisters to break open. It contained a few tips for a potential successor. A few secrets, a few clues that led to more. Nothing that would be immediately fatal if Kaede were only temporarily incapacitated, but enough to give the fox who opened it a head start.

It wasn’t that Kaede expected her life to end here, but she always took precautions. She waited a heartbeat for the appropriate moment, then rose gracefully to her feet.

Her progress through the temple was noted by every fox within it. Gentle air currents wafted through every corridor, and which currents carried the scent of her unique perfume was something that every one of her sisters learned to be aware of.

The activity in the Inner Sanctum had reached a natural lull when Kaede arrived. Hachiman-kamisama was lying on his back, apparently asleep. The two naked fox-girls attending were nestled against him, one on each side, murmuring endearments and placing soft kisses on his divine flesh.

No one else would have entered the Inner Saction without invitation, but Kaede didn’t hesitate, sliding the screen door open without ceremony and stepping inside.

The two girls had known she was coming, of course. No one was ever surprised in the Hamamatsu Hachiman Shrine. They quickly and quietly detached themselves from the supine god, bowed low, and backed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Kuzahana Kaede prostrated herself before her master. She pressed her head to the floor in supplication, letting her tails stretch out in a furry fan behind her. She waited for permission to proceed. Not a word had been said, not a sound had been made, but she knew he was aware of her.

He had his own set of senses, but he had come to appreciate the illusion of ignorance.

She kept her head down as she waited patiently for him to respond. The room was perfectly silent, shielded from outside intrusions. Kaede didn’t need to breathe, not when she was making a point.

Finally, her god let out a soft sigh. Her ears flicked at the sound. It was permission enough. She stayed kneeling on the floor, but she raised her head high enough to meet his gaze.

He had rolled onto his side to face her, supporting himself on one elbow. The bed was low, in the Japanese style, and Kaede could see every part of him.

He was naked, and he was magnificent, as only a god can be. Kaede took in the sight greedily, letting her eyes linger on the part that was most important to her. Her lips opened slightly, drawing in her first breath since entering the room. Her eyes widened, the pupils dilating.

“Are you angry at me, Master?” she asked. It was not a question that she should have asked. Her shrine existed to placate the god, lest his anger shake the earth and burst forth from the tops of mountains to burn the land below. But she wouldn’t be a fox if she didn’t push it.

“Is there some reason I should be angry with you?” her Master asked lazily.

“It is possible that I… may… have interfered with your Divine Plan, Master.”

Her master sighed again. “There is no plan, Kaede. I swore off interference a long time ago.”

“Mhm-hmm,” she agreed, smiling with delight. There were so few that would play the lying game with a fox. “That’s why it was a complete coincidence when one of your descendants turned up at the school you were teaching at.”

“I have a lot of descendants. It has been so long that I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in the world could trace their lineage back to me.”

“Mhm-hmm. That’s not what the Jade Path thinks, though. They think he’s special.”

“I am aware of what the Jade Path thinks.”

“And I sent the boy off to Tenra to face Oru-Kael Vaash without his giant armour! Oopsie! Tee hee!”

She pulled down her lower lip with her little finger while making a cute, ditzy face. It was a cheap trick, an expression unworthy of her skills, but sometimes the surprise of resorting to amateur moves made them more effective.

If that was true this time, Hachiman-kamisama didn’t let it show on his face. He was a worthy opponent, after all.

“I should never have told you that name,” he grumbled. “Are you asking me if you’ve ruined my plans, or are you asking if I predicted your ploy—making it a part of my plan?”

“I thought you didn’t have plans?” Kaede tittered, turning his own words back on him. She loosened her robe, revealing a wider expanse of pale flesh. She was pleased to see that, even after all this time, she could still provoke a reaction.

“I have only one concern, my Master. All of my sisters have only one purpose: to calm the storm of your emotions, to assuage your temper, to smooth the furrow of your brow.”

Ah, such a delight. Not only were her words false, but they were provoking the very emotions she claimed she was here to disperse.

“So this humble servant asks you again. Master, are you angry with me?”

“If I were, that would imply that I had plans for you to spoil.”

Kaede smiled and leaned forward enticingly.

“Not at all, Master. It might be that you felt guilt at allowing me to toy with young James, even though he had your blessing. It might simply be that this unworthy slave has overstepped the mark and needs to be punished.”

“Punished?” Hachiman sat up, and Kaede flew forward, into his arms.

She wasn’t dragged or lifted. Her muscles didn’t move her. She was just there, where he wanted her to be. She gasped, a sudden intake of breath flooding her nose with his scent, inflating her chest to push more strongly against him. His face was very close.

“Has there ever been a moment, Kaede, when you didn’t need to be punished?”

She let her face assume something like her natural, impish expression. She licked her lips in anticipation.

“No,” she admitted.

He kissed her. Violently. Passionately.

Kaede had spent a long time building up layer after layer of artifice and deceit. Natural scents and carefully crafted perfumes, exquisitely embroidered silk robes, illusions and magic all worked to entice, delight and conceal.

Many a lucky—or unlucky, depending on how you saw it—human had spent a lifetime trying to find their way through her maze of misdirection. Some of those lifetimes were very short, but you couldn’t have everything. They died happy, or at least with a smile on their face.

Spirits had an easier time of it, or at least a greater survival rate, but they all fell for her wiles as well. They desired her, but she only gave them glimpses, tastes of what might be possible. In the meantime, she left them with sights that they did not see and experiences that did not happen. They left with a deeper yearning for her than they had arrived with. They left knowing that there were ever deeper, ever more delightful possibilities to be pursued. If they dared.

Her master tore all that away with a single gesture. His touch went deeper than the flesh she wore to mask her spirit. He grasped her very core, and all she could do was scream in ecstasy and despair.

The golden light of his divine power suffused through every part of her. As it should, for hadn’t he sustained her for all this time? She was his, body and soul, but not in the cheap way that the humans meant it. Her soul was his plaything, and her body, sweet and luscious as it was, was merely a decoration that came with it.

Her very being was stretched out on an endless plane of agony and pleasure, and she felt herself start to fray at the edges. Each time she did this, she wondered if she had gone too far. It was taking an active effort from her Master to keep her together at this point. While there was no question that he could save her, there was always a doubt that, this time, he would.

There wasn’t a hint of it ending. She came back to herself, physical again, cradled in his arms. She was safe, satiated and comforted.

Alive.

She looked up into his eyes, eyes that captivated her beyond any notion of what humans knew of love. She forced herself to breathe, found that she was already wearing a suitable smile. It was very hard to stop smiling for a few days after one of these sessions.

“Feeling better, my Master?” she asked with a flirtatious giggle.

He smiled down at her, which was all the answer she needed. Kyushu would stay above the waves, for now.