Chapter 6: Locking Horns

Satou boiled with conflicting emotions. He was elated, his heart still racing after his encounter with Higa. He couldn’t keep his mind off her even for a moment as his family chatted around the table. Whenever he closed his eyes, all that he could see was her red skin and her white hair. He could still taste her lips, feel the smoothness of her body, like an afterimage that lingered in his mind.

But at the same time, his gut was twisted with dread. Like a charging ox headed towards a cliff, he knew that he would soon plunge over the precipice. Conflict with his family was inevitable. There was a heat inside him now, rising up from his belly, a sort of reckless and urgent need to get it over with. Like amputating a gangrenous limb, it was better to do it fast, before the rot spread.

He knew now that he could never marry Lady Sasaki. It was not uncommon, it was even expected for those of the upper classes to seek pleasure outside of their marriage, especially when it had been arranged with someone that they didn’t get along with. Wives were for reproducing with, concubines and prostitutes were for pleasure. Satou could probably get away with sneaking off to see Higa even after his marriage to Sasaki and nobody would question it.

But that wasn’t what he wanted. His sense of honor commanded him to marry the Oni if she would have him, nothing less would do. If she refused his hand, then he would accept the consequences willingly, as his life would have lost all meaning. He could not pursue two women, however. Nor could he have two wives, even if one of them was in name only. It was all or nothing, he would either have what he most desired, or he would lose everything.

He had thought long and hard about it. In the worst case scenario, the marriage would have to be delayed until his brother came of age, and he would have to marry the girl in Satou’s stead. The practice was known as gyauenkon, and it was common in circumstances where the older brother was killed or otherwise rendered unable to fulfill his marital obligations. The shoen would not suffer because of him.

It was time.

Satou stood, clearing his throat, his family setting down their cups and chopsticks as he got their attention.

“Mother, father, I have something to announce.”

They shared surprised glances, his younger brother watching curiously. The words were so hard to find, sticking in his throat like honey, but he mustered all of his willpower. It was just like the kiss, he had to take charge, he could do this...

“What is it, Satou?” his mother asked.

“I do not intend to marry the Lady Sasaki.”

There was a moment of shocked silence, and then his mother bowed her head, covering her mouth with the long sleeve of her kimono. His father’s face began to redden, his brow furrowing as he glared across the table.

“What!?” his father spat, as much disbelief in his voice as there was anger. “What are you saying!?”

“I do not love the Lady Sasaki,” Satou explained, struggling to keep his voice from wavering. If his years of social conditioning had imbued him with any kind of skill, it was the ability to go through the motions, to speak clearly and concisely when he needed to. The more he tried to think of this as some kind of formal function, the easier it became.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” his father replied. “We’ve raised you for nearly two decades to respect this family, to understand your place in society, to put the honor and the needs of your shoen above your own desires. And this is the result? You reject everything that we have taught you, all of our values!?”

His mother was still covering her mouth, shocked by his declaration, looking away as if she didn’t want any part in the argument that was beginning. His brother glanced between Satou and his father with frightened eyes.

“You will marry the Matsuyo girl,” his father ordered, slamming his fist on the table and shaking their bowls of soup. “I will not allow you to tarnish this family’s good name, the name that your grandfather toiled to elevate. We have made agreements, plans, I can’t believe that you would act so ... so selfishly!”

“Selfish!” Satou exclaimed, his father recoiling as if he had been struck by a blow. “I was never asked, you just planned out the rest of my life without even consulting me. Have I not been a good son? Have I not been obedient? Have I not done everything that you have asked of me up to this point? Now I ask one thing in return, the right to choose my own wife, and you won’t even consider it?”

“This isn’t about what you want, Satou. This is about our family, our shoen. The future of our community depends on this union, you told me that you understood that.”

“You keep telling me that family must come first, even if it makes me miserable. I can’t marry Sasaki, I’m in love with someone else. I will leave if that’s what you want, you can pretend that I never existed or that I was killed if it will preserve your status, but I cannot go through with this marriage.”

“And where does that leave you?” his father asked. “Do you think that come together in passion and stay together in tears was a joke? Something that I tried to instill in you for fun? Look what your passion has brought you,” he said as he gestured towards Satou’s mother, who was now sobbing quietly into her sleeve. “Marriage is not about love. Reckless romances tear apart families and end noble lineages. You will do your duty, or so help me...”

“What?” Satou asked with a shrug, “what can you take from me that I would not give up willingly? I will renounce my name and my inheritance if necessary, you still have a male heir in my brother Nishio. I will give it up gladly if it means that I can’t marry Sasaki.”

“That would make you an outcast, a barukamin,” his father snapped. “You’d be no better than someone who carries away corpses or collects the night soil from privies.”

“What will we tell the Matsuyos?” his mother wailed. Her words stung, not because of how upset she was, but because her primary concern was for their family’s relationship with the Matsuyos rather than for the welfare of her son. He had hoped that she might support him, she had always seemed more sensitive than his father, but it seemed that his hopes had been misplaced.

“Tell me who this girl is,” his father snapped, standing so hastily that he almost knocked the table over. “Tell me who she is, and I’ll have her family exiled into the wilderness.”

“You can’t exile her,” Satou laughed, growing bolder the longer their confrontation went on. “She doesn’t live in the village, she is an Oni who came down from the mountain.”

His father hesitated, confused, his mother looking up from her sleeve.

“Oni ... aren’t real,” his father insisted. “Do you dare to lie to me Satou? Is there no dishonor that you won’t stoop to?”

“She’s as real as you or I,” Satou said, “I met her when I was tasked with opening the sluice gate.”

“It must be true,” his mother said, choking back her tears. “It’s a yokai, a demon has bewitched our son and turned him against us!” She resumed her sobbing, covering her face, his father not knowing how to respond.

As bad as Satou felt, there was also a kind of elation, a relief now that he had finally come clean and his secret was out in the open. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He was now free to do as he pleased, for the first time in his life he could go where he wanted and do what he wanted. Nobody would be able to stop him, he no longer had anything to lose, and thus there was nothing more to fear.

“I have never felt such shame,” his father spat, Satou staring him down across the table. It was as though nothing that Satou had done up to this point had counted for anything. A lifetime of obedience and respect, and all that his family could focus on was a single incident of rebellion. Rebellion which could not be more justified from Satou’s perspective.

He turned around, storming out of the house and making for the sluice gate. His father followed after him, but his mother fell to her knees, clinging to her husband’s leg and preventing him from pursuing their son.

“Let him go,” she begged, “he may yet come to his senses!”

A few of the villagers who were still working the fields nearby or carrying sundries to and fro paused to watch the commotion, Satou keeping his eyes fixed on the forest as he marched away from the village. He vanished between the trees, the shadow of the mountain looming over him.

The sun had dipped behind the mountain, casting the valley into darkness as Satou stumbled through the dense forest. He had followed the stream up to the sluice gate and then he had tried to retrace his steps back to Higa’s campsite, but he was starting to think that he was lost. He just kept walking, he was giddy, full of nervous energy. He had really done it, he had really stood up to his parents. He had no clue what was going to happen now. He dared not turn back, at least not until his father had been given enough time to cool off. Would they even take him back after what he had done? It was impossible to know.

The snowy peak of the mountain was visible through the canopy here and there, so it was impossible to get completely turned around. It would be best to just keep heading in the same direction.

Satou froze, listening intently. Something large was moving around nearby, he could hear it crushing fallen sticks and rustling the undergrowth. He felt a pang of fear. Could it be a bear? He looked around for a nearby tree to climb, but before he could make his move, a large furry mass burst out from between the trees a short distance ahead of him. It charged towards him, impossibly fast for a beast of that size.

He turned to flee, but it was too fast, and he felt something wrap around his body and lift him off the ground.

“Looks like I caught me a little lord,” Higa said, throwing her fur cloak back to reveal her red skin and laughing as he kicked his feet in the air. “I wondered what kind of animal could be making that much noise.”

“Damn it, Higa, you scared the life out of me!”

She set him back on the ground, and he turned to glare up at her, brushing himself off.

“So what brings you back to the mountain so soon? I wasn’t expecting to see you for a while yet, I was going to do some more hunting before you came back. Did something happen?”

“I told them,” he declared. Higa’s yellow eyes widened, reflecting what little light was available like those of a cat, and she planted her hands on her wide hips as she looked him up and down.

“I knew you had it in you, but I’m impressed, Satou. How did they react?”

“Uh ... not well,” he replied, wringing his hands. “They didn’t kick me out, I left on my own, but I don’t know if I can go back. At least not right now. My father was furious, my mother wept...”

Higa cocked her head, her expression sympathetic.

“All of this upset on my account,” she muttered, “I’m not sure that I’m worth it.”

“Of course you’re worth it,” he insisted, “and this isn’t your fault. I never wanted to marry the Lady Sasaki,” he added bitterly, his brow furrowing. “Meeting you didn’t change that, it just gave me the confidence to stand up for myself.”

She smiled and reached down a massive hand to mess up his hair.

“Let’s get you back to my camp, I’ll make you some tea. You’ll feel better with something warm in your belly. You can tell me all of the juicy details on the way.”

He nodded, following behind her as she turned and headed back into the dark forest.

Satou lifted the steaming cup to his lips and took a draw from it. The tea was brewed with wild herbs, and its flavor was mild, calming him as the warmth spread through his stomach. The cup was too large for him, more the size of a bowl, but Higa didn’t have anything that was more appropriate for someone of his stature.

“Human family dynamics are ... confusing,” she said, sitting beside him as the fire pit in front of them crackled. She took a sip from a saucer of sake, the alcohol warming her in a different way, looking up at the moon as it cast them in its pale light.

“What are Oni parents like?” Satou asked, setting down his beverage on the grass and looking up at her.

“My parents wouldn’t care who I married,” she replied with a shrug, “Oni don’t have complex lineages and political unions like your kind do.”

“It’s only really the upper classes who do that,” Satou added, “the peasants can marry who they want most of the time. Like my friend Nagao said, there’s balance in all things. They might not enjoy the luxuries and privileges that a Shogun does, but at least they’re free to love whoever they want.”

“So are you now,” she chuckled, nudging him with her elbow. “You gave up your name and inheritance. Assuming that they take you seriously, you’re as free as a peasant as of tonight.”

“I guess you’re right,” he mused, taking another drink from his bowl as he stared into the dancing flames.

“Aren’t you going to miss your silk pillows and your servants?”

“I don’t think you have a very clear picture of what my family does,” Satou laughed, “we’re just farmers. I never had silk pillows or servants, or anything like that. But even if I did, that life doesn’t suit me. I want to be out here under the stars, I want to wander the forests and scale the peaks, like you.”

“Are you sure that one of your parents wasn’t unfaithful?” Higa asked, messing with his hair again as he batted her hand away. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re hiding some stubby little horns under this mop.”

“No, or I’d be taller.”

She laughed at him, taking another drink from her saucer. She upended it, shaking it as if the motion might somehow produce more sake.

“Damn, I’m out. I guess the fates have decided that I’ve had enough for tonight.” She reached across and caught him in a headlock, pressing his face into the furry sling that concealed her bosom as Satou struggled to keep his drink from spilling. “And why don’t you drink, little Oni? My mother always told me never to trust someone who won’t share a cup of sake with me.”

“I don’t like the taste,” he mumbled, his voice muffled by her bust.

“It’s not supposed to taste good, it’s supposed to get you drunk! It might help you to loosen up a bit, you’re so stiff.” She released him, smirking at him as he took a defiant sip from his mug. “How’s the tea?”

“Good,” he replied.

Higa stretched her arms over her head and yawned widely, her sharp tusks flashing in the moonlight.

“We should probably turn in soon.”

Satou eyed her tall tent, a blend of excitement and anxiety rising in his chest. Were they really going to share such a cramped and private space together? Well, cramped by Oni standards at least. When they had kissed in the pool, she had teased that there was more to come, that she had more to show him.

The Oni noticed him staring, suppressing a hiccup as she grinned at him.

“There’s nowhere else for you to sleep kid, not unless you want to sleep outside on my cloak. Besides, I want to ... show you something. I think you’ll like it.”

She caught his face in her hands and leaned down to plant a kiss on his forehead, leaving him sitting on the grass with reddening cheeks as she rose to her feet, making her way over to the tent. He watched her as she walked away, shedding her cloak as she went. She reached behind her back and unfastened her furry top, letting it fall away, then she reached down and slipped off her loincloth. She was facing away from him, but the moonlight reflected off her red body wonderfully, accentuating the developed muscles of her back where they were visible beneath her long hair. Her spine carved a deep dimple that ran down to her rump, her ample cheeks rolling enticingly as she moved.

She crouched and opened the flap of her tent, closing it behind her as she vanished into its dark interior.

Satou snapped his head back around, staring into the fire with wide eyes, unblinking as he nervously chugged his tea. He discarded the empty bowl beside him, swallowing and wiping his mouth with his sleeve as she steeled himself. Somehow this was almost as difficult as announcing his intentions to his parents. Part of him wanted to flee into the forest, the beating of his heart and the fluttering sensation in his belly making him feel like he was standing on the edge of a cliff and looking down at the long drop.

He leapt to his feet then took in a deep breath, turning and following after Higa. With every step his heart seemed to beat faster, apprehension and anticipation making his head spin. Before he knew it, he was opening the animal skin flap that led to her tent.

He ducked inside, then stood, the tent large enough that it wasn’t a hindrance to him. As his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, he saw Higa, watching him with her yellow eyes as she lay on her bed of furry pelts. She was covered by furs, her red body only visible above the chest, her mass of white hair spreading beneath her head like a giant cotton pillow. She watched him with those reflective eyes, Satou unable to meet her gaze as he looked away, wringing his hands again as he so often did when he was nervous.

“Will you stop that?” Higa cooed, beckoning to him with her finger. “Come over here, there’s no need to be so shy.” He inched forwards until he was standing beside her, the Oni wetting her lips, propping herself up on her elbow as she waited. “Take off your clothes. Let me see you.”

His hands trembling, he did as she asked, untying the belt on his yukata and letting the garment fall about his feet. He stood before her wearing only his loincloth, but he didn’t feel self-conscious any longer. The way that her eyes played over his youthful body, hardened by years of working the paddies, made him feel ... good. He wanted her to see him, he wanted to be desired. Nobody had ever looked at him that way before, there was hunger in her eyes.

“That too,” she said, gesturing to his loincloth.

He untied it and let it fall to join his yukata on the floor, the fabric catching briefly on his erection. Despite his fear and uncertainty, he had never been so aroused in his life. It was enough to make his head spin. He was as hard as a rock, and Higa’s yellow eyes turned downwards, a smile curling her lips.

Satou wondered what she thought of him, but he was too afraid to ask her, standing there as he waited for further instructions. There was a rush of air and a loud rustling as Higa threw her covering back, exposing herself to him. It was impossible to keep his eyes off her. Just like when he had first happened upon her beside the pool, his gaze was drawn to her with an almost magnetic power.

There was just enough light spilling into the tent through the many breaks in the mismatched pelts that her body shone, glistening like she was coated in morning dew, the hot and moist climate making her skin wet.

Her breasts were so full and heavy, gravity pressing them together as she lay slightly on her side, the delicate fat spreading on the fur beneath her. Her pink nipples stood out against her crimson skin, Satou finally able to drink in her figure with nothing concealing it. His eyes roamed lower, his breathing growing heavier as he admired her toned stomach. The muscles were so defined and prominent, the shafts of moonlight reflecting off them, droplets of moisture clinging to their firm surfaces. The curve of her hip was like a mountain in its own right, so feminine despite her brawn, her smooth and rounded contours starting a fire inside him. Her thighs were as thick as tree trunks, the hard muscle that could propel her heavy body through the forest at such incredible speed sheathed in a layer of soft flesh, her skin so smooth that it looked polished.

Why did it feel so right? Why did he ache for her like this? It was as if a sickness had overcome him, a fever, burning him up from the inside.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” Higa asked, patting the pelt beside her in invitation. He knelt and lay down next to her, shuffling up so that his face was level with hers. She reached out and cupped his cheek, pulling him closer and subjecting him to a slow, teasing kiss. The measured strokes of her smooth tongue calmed him, her lips soothing, his tense muscles starting to relax as he sank into the soft fur beneath him.

She released him with a smack, her amber eyes seeming to glow in the dark as she watched him. She was so intense, unblinking, and yet there was a gentleness in her eyes that drew him in like a moth to a flame.

“What ... do we do now?” Satou stammered, Higa stroking his cheek with her fingers.

“Just follow my lead. It will come naturally, you’ll see.”

She slid her fingers down to his neck, her merest touch electrifying. Satou had never imagined that being touched could make him feel this way, his nerves were on fire, like she had awakened in him an entirely new sense. Her hand roamed down to his chest, then she drew slow circles on his belly with her pointed nails, her gaze too sliding lower as she explored his body.

“I thought you’d be all soft,” she whispered, “a pampered little lord. But you’re hard, strong for your size. I guess you weren’t exaggerating when you told me that your family were farmers...”

She liked him, and the thought filled him with warmth. He watched with bated breath as those red fingers crawled down towards his loins, Higa brushing his member so lightly that she barely touched him.

His spine arched involuntarily, his member surging as a jolt of raw pleasure coursed through his body like a bolt of lightning. It was nothing like when he touched himself, nothing like he had expected, the sensation so powerful that it made his eyelids flutter. Higa chuckled to herself as he slowly relaxed again, his fingers digging into the pelt that they were lying on.

“So sensitive,” she crooned, “I’ll have to take things slow.”

She reached up and took his wrist, guiding his hand towards her bosom, Satou watching with wide eyes as she pressed it into one of her breasts. His fingers sank up to the knuckle, her flesh so malleable and yielding. It was like nothing that he had ever felt before. He squeezed, feeling the delicate fat spill between his fingers, filling his palm. It was like taking a handful of melting butter. Her red skin was akin to the most exquisite silk, softer than any material that he had ever felt before.

“I want you to touch me,” Higa whispered, his head spinning as she breathed warm air on his ear. She paused for a moment, sucking his earlobe into her mouth and chewing it gently, the lurid sound filling his head.

He lay on his back beside her, bringing his second hand to bear, exploring the copious mounds of her breasts as she grinned at him. She closed her eyes, her long lashes the same shade of white as her hair, her abdominal muscles twisting and flexing beautifully as she began to slowly writhe. They bulged from beneath her crimson skin, the sheen of moisture making them shine. Satou couldn’t take his eyes off them.

She was enjoying his attentions. As large and as powerful as she was, she was not untouchable, the idea that he might be able to please her imbuing Satou with a new determination.

He gasped as her fingers found his erection again, wrapping them around him, her warmth permeating him to the core. She squeezed gently, and another burst of pleasure made him its plaything, his toes curling. He would never have imagined that a hand could make him feel this way, her palm brushing against his glans like wet satin as she began to stroke him slowly and deliberately.

Unlike when he did it to himself, her goal was not to finish him quickly but to prolong his pleasure. She wasn’t giving him enough to send him over the edge, she was teasing him, making sure that he had time to enjoy every stroke and squeeze. He shivered, his body starting to slip out of his control, his hips thrusting into her fist as if they had taken on a life of their own.

She hooked her other hand behind his head, drawing him closer and pushing his face between her breasts, her cleavage so deep that he was quickly buried in her warm flesh. Her scent filled his nose, exciting him in new and unexpected ways. She smelled like exertion, sweat, but there was also a feminine scent beneath it that drove him crazy. It was primal, instinctual. She smelled like a woman should smell, and it aroused him on a base level. Her skin glided against his cheeks, his hands delving into her breasts as she continued her stroking, his excitement mounting.

Higa let him thrust into her hand as he rolled onto his side, setting his own pace as she ran her fingers through his hair, keeping his face between her breasts. It was overwhelming. He had admired her beautiful body from afar, and now he was as close to her as he could get, the taste of her sweat on his lips as she pressed the heavy globes of fat around his face. He could feel her breathing, hear the beating of her massive heart, she was so alive. He slid a hand lower, her skin slick and damp, his fingers finding the firm bunches of her six-pack. He could finally touch them without reservation, he could trace their sculpted contours, feel them flex and move beneath his hand. They were as hard as rock, yet cloaked in her velvet skin, like someone had wrapped a box of apples in a silk kimono.

It was all becoming too much for him, he couldn’t hold out any longer. He moaned into her bust, his voice muffled by her flesh, his body contorting as a sudden and powerful orgasm tore through him. He trembled in her arms as she hugged him against her body, milking him with slow strokes of her hand as he sprayed thick ropes of his emission onto her belly. White light flashed in his mind, stars swimming before his eyes as he closed them tightly, his muscles spasming. It was ecstasy like he had never felt it before, as if his nerves were extending beyond the bounds of his skin, invisible fingers running up and down his spine as the waves of euphoria washed over him.

He couldn’t even think, reduced to a rutting beast as he thrust hopelessly into her hand, clawing at the cushion of her breasts as her warm breath blew his hair. It seemed to go on forever, his concept of time warping until his awareness finally seemed to resurface.

Satou emerged from between her boobs, his face beet red, breathing hard and swaying drunkenly as he looked up at Higa. She was smiling at him adoringly, her hungry stare betraying her arousal. She slowly released his member, still swollen and hard, an aftershock rippling through him as he loosed another wad of semen into her palm.

“S-Sorry,” he mumbled, “I couldn’t...”

“Don’t apologize,” she said as she laughed heartily, the motion making her boobs wobble and bump against his face. “Better to let one out quick and easy, that way you’ll last longer next time...”

She drew him in and kissed him again, Satou’s eyes rolling back into his head as he melted into her embrace, every glance of her tongue piercing through the haze of his afterglow like a hot knife. She released him, Satou panting as he lay on the furs, his member still almost painfully erect despite his recent climax. He glanced down, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the pearly strands of his semen clinging to her belly. He hadn’t known that he could produce so much...

Higa reached down and wiped them away with her hand, the gelatinous strands smearing on her crimson skin, coating her abdominal muscles in a sticky sheen.

“Not bad for someone so small,” she muttered. She cleaned her hand and then her belly with the fur blanket, then cast it aside. It was far too hot and humid to justify using it anyway. When she was done, she reached down and made slow circles on his glans with the tip of her finger, still wet with his emission.

“You’re still so hard,” she whispered, biting her lower lip. “I didn’t expect a human to have so much stamina.” Satou twitched and writhed as her digits brushed against his tender head, the residual slime making her touch slippery, Higa watching him intently with her yellow eyes. “You’re too cute,” she added, “I want to eat you up...”

She leaned closer and planted a sucking kiss on his throat, her sharp tusks grazing his skin, his spine arching reflexively as she mouthed at his neck and shoulder. It was so warm and wet, something about having her touching such a vulnerable part of his body making his legs go weak. He took the opportunity to push his face into her mass of white, silky hair, feeling the soft strands brush his cheeks. It smelled so good, she must have used some kind of soap or plant to treat it when she bathed in the pool. It was so fluffy, like pushing his face into a cloud. They stayed like that for a little while, Satou simply enjoying her, his lingering euphoria making him feel like he was in some kind of wonderful dream.

“Want to do something for me?” Higa whispered, Satou withdrawing from her mass of puffy hair and nodding. She smirked at him, rolling over onto her back and placing a hand on the top of his head, guiding him downwards. “Down there,” she said as he began to crawl lower. Higa lay back on the furs, her massive thighs parting as Satou came to kneel between her legs. She looked divine from this angle, her heavy breasts spilling over her chest under their own weight, the twin mounds obscuring her face from view until she propped herself up on her elbows to look down at him. Her abdominal muscles tensed as they lifted her, standing out from her flat stomach even more, casting deep shadows that gave them even more definition.