Chapter 42: Ninjas

BATHING IS STILL a social activity in parts of Japan and I was invited to join the men of the various companies at a spa where we would spend a few hours being heated, cooled, massaged, and oiled. And given great amounts of liquor and long harangues about why one company was better than another. Peninnah insisted she wanted the experience as well, and since there was a women’s wing of the spa, she joined a few of the other wives who had accompanied their husbands. I had no misgivings.

We had been several hours in the spa when the women burst into the outer chamber of the men’s area. The attendants, who were all naked women, scattered and ran for cover as it was not common to have women bathing and massaging the men. My name was called frequently. I was nearly dressed, so I grabbed the satchel and went out to meet the women.

“Bob-san. Men burst into the salon while we were having our hair done. They quickly throw bag over Peninnah-san’s head and carry her out of the spa. She is kidnapped!”

I was furious and marched out to the outer area demanding to know which direction. A frightened attendant simply pointed up the street.

Back in the fourth century, I had been kidnapped and then my people searched for Lakshmi all night before he was found. After that, I equipped every person I brought into the infinity room and anyone I thought might spend time in the natural world with a tracking spell, so I would know where to find him or her. It had once been important when one of the first rescues from the pirates had attempted suicide by jumping overboard. I’d been able to find her in the ocean under a moonless sky because I was drawn to her.

It took only a moment to determine that Peninnah was being transported away in a car.

Ever since they were invented, I have been almost as fascinated with driving automobiles fast as I am with flight. I was not gentle with the driver of the car that happened to pull up to the curb in front of the spa. I pulled him out of the car, got in it, and drove off. I figured I’d leave a few million yen in the car when I got out.

I drove fast.

In a few minutes, I saw the gates closing on a huge estate where the kidnappers had disappeared. I parked the car I’d borrowed by the side of the road, left ten million yen on the seat, and went on the prowl. There were many guards around the wall of the estate. I was going to need help. I leapt a wall where there were no guards at the moment and followed my senses toward the house where Peninnah had been taken. Once I was near, I called for warriors to help me rescue my wife.

I was surprised when fifty black-clad ninjas emerged from the gateway to the infinity room. I enhanced their stealth with a look-away spell and set them loose to clear the way.

I slowly made my way to the house, occasionally stumbling over a body with its head at an odd angle. I wasn’t sure who my ninjas were, but they were ruthless. I cast about to see who I had loosed on the unsuspecting kidnappers and smiled when I found who was there. I went boldly into the house and up the stairs with no resistance.

The house and grounds, I discovered, belonged to the chairman of one of the competitors who had openly admired my wife and had made some lewd comments in Japanese to one of his men, assuming I could not understand. Since I did not depend on knowing the language to understand what was being said, I had marked him as mine to punish.

I transformed myself into the full demon and stalked through the house as if I owned it. Which, I contemplated, I soon would.

When I located the room in which Peninnah was held captive, I found she was free and not much the worse for wear. The chairman was surrounded by the bodies of his bodyguards and was held between two ninja girls, while a third held a knife—not at his throat, but at his balls. I approved.

It was hard to tell if the chairman was more frightened by the demon before him or by the prospect of losing his balls.

Peninnah rushed to me and I wrapped her in my arms.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“Only my pride and a few bruises,” she answered. She was wrapped in a kimono that looked far too big for her. “They ripped my clothes. That was one of my favorite Vera Wang ensembles. And I can’t find my shoes. Bob, it was terrible.”

I thought she seemed shorter than usual. She was barefoot. I also thought her concern for her clothes with the number of bodies lying around was perfectly illustrative of Peninnah’s sense of confidence in me and whoever I sent for her.

“Do not worry, dear. You can buy an entire new wardrobe with what Mr. Yakisoba is going to pay you.” I turned to the frightened Chairman. “Let us go to your office so you can sign over the ownership of your company to Peninnah,” I said.

“What? You can’t take my entire company!”

“No, of course not. Only your stake in it. In fact, no one will even be aware that things have changed, because you will never say anything about it. Peninnah will keep you as the chairman. You will make a good junior partner to Fukishina. Oh, and I’ll leave you your little estate and your income. I’m not a heartless demon. However, you will need to clean up the grounds. I’m afraid many in your little security army did not survive the night.”

We left the chairman, babbling at his desk, after he signed over his shares to Peninnah. His trousers had been slit open and his junk was hanging out. But at least it was still attached.

As soon as we left him, I summoned all my ninjas to me and they returned, with Peninnah, to the infinity room. I leapt the wall, leaving the bodies strewn behind me. It was too bad, but there are certain people you do not want to cross your path if you have abducted and mistreated a woman.

My priestesses were among them.

“Bob,” sniffed Peninnah when I had returned to our hotel and locked the door so I could open the infinity room. She rushed into my arms. “I’m terrible and selfish and caused you so much grief,” she began.

“Shh shh shh,” I admonished. “Being kidnapped was not your fault. We let our guard down and I bear as much responsibility as you. I need to ask Zhi to step up your self-defense training.”

“I don’t mean for that,” she sobbed. “I’ve been jealous and disdaining of your priestesses. In fact, of the idea of your divinity. But it was the priestesses of Bob who came to my rescue. When we returned to the infinity room, they took me to the temple and bathed me in the pool. They anointed me with oil and brought me here to our marriage bed. They are the most precious and wonderful and frightening women in all of two worlds.”

“Have I told you the story about how they came to be here and to be my priestesses?” I asked. She shook her head. “Those women endured kidnapping, beating, and serial rape at the hands of pirates in the Pacific. When I rescued them, they were so beaten down, we were unable to reach them at all. Then Zhi overheard them praying to Bob to save them. I had already rescued them from the pirates, but to their eyes, I was just another man. One of the girls threw herself overboard and I jumped in to save her. We were out in the middle of the Pacific and I had to use my full demon form and strength to rescue her. At that point, I was truly their savior Bob. No man is ever allowed to touch them, and they won’t even see me if I am not in my full demon form. The first dozen girls were the ones who rescued and helped the next ones. Thankfully, their number never exceeded the fifty-two who are still serving in the temple. I wonder how many poor innocents were out there in the Pacific that we didn’t find. But if a woman is in need, has been abused, or is threatened, they are like the ancient furies we named our ship after. They will mete out punishment and save that woman at all cost.”

“I will go to the temple tomorrow and make whatever sacrifices they demand. I will praise their god Bob, my husband, and thank them for rescuing me. And I promise, I will never again be jealous of the priestesses of Bob, nor will I despise them.”

“Amen,” I said.

She looked at me in surprise and we both started laughing. And laughter turned to loving.

Have I mentioned how much I love sex with Peninnah? She keeps herself flawlessly made up and attired (or unattired) entirely for my pleasure. She explores my body, discovering anew every detail of whatever form I have taken. She seeks out my erogenous zones and titillates them in any way she can. Her shape is exquisite and I thank Aphrodite for this treasure of a woman each time my hardened cock slides into her inner passage. She receives me excitedly and works the muscles in her vagina as much as we both work our hips. If she had been created entirely for the purpose of pleasing me, I would call her creator and prostrate myself before her. She is, I have decided, the last of my wives and possessions. I will treasure her forever.

We stayed joined together in loving all night long.

When Mr. Yakisoba offered to become a subsidiary partner to Fukishina in the development of the resort, the offer was quickly accepted and things began to move forward rapidly. Once the plan was approved and the full team was put together, the political machinery moved rapidly. Construction began with surveys and infrastructure the following week. Many of the competitors were further enlisted, following Yakisoba’s lead in becoming subcontractors and suppliers. When the foundations were poured, I was relatively certain there were bodies in the concrete footings.

A rumor flew around Japan that ninjas had appeared to take revenge on traffickers and those who would harm women. I might have encouraged that rumor by tracking down a couple of instances where kidnappings had occurred and loosing the priestesses on them. Bodies nailed to a wall were always a warning others paid heed to. And the rescued women and children, returning to their homes, told stories of ninja warriors who were faster than light and silent as death.