CHAPTER#103

Yuki laughed. "Down to South America? That was a lot of fun."

"It was. We struck out hard, but I'm talking about that night we got spotted by that group of men. Remember, the ones that chased us into that alley?"

"I do. There were five of them, and they pulled knives on us. They wanted us to come with them."

"And do you remember what you did?"

Yuki grinned. "I do. I fought them off." Centuries of living had taught her many things, but one of the most important had been the various martial arts she had picked up while traveling through Japan and China.

"You did. But you did it without magic. That impressed me, your ability to show such restraint. Even more so, when you were done, you asked if I was okay. During those tense few moments, watching you knock those men around as if they were children, I felt something that I hadn't felt in a while." Emily smiled, stirring the bathwater with one finger. "I felt safe."

"I think I understand that. When the japanese decided they wanted to expand their empire, there were rumors of an elite unit of men and women who were capturing magical creatures and attempting to strip away their abilities. It was a technology that Germany had been working on for years. So I fled to China, bouncing from village to village to stay a few steps ahead of the japanese occupation. I couldn't let them get their hands on me, not when so many of my kin had already been captured."

Emily nodded, her breasts bobbing in the water. "I found one of their facilities once, not too long after I inherited the house. It was based out of Hiroshima. I seduced an intelligence officer who then took me on a tour of his military base, hoping to get a blowjob when we were done. When he showed me the building, I could feel the magic radiating off of it and knew it for what it was. A storage area for magical creatures. Knowing I couldn't do anything, I ran away that very night, not even bothering to go back to my hotel. I found out some years later that he was executed for showing me, and that the japanese military tried to track me down, thinking I was a spy. Luckily I had stowed away on a commercial fishing vessel and found a way home from South Korea. I didn't leave home until after the war was over."

Yuki sighed. "Yes, the war. It was a terrifying time for everybody. Magical creatures are typically territorial, and being from Japan made it even worse. I rarely stayed anywhere longer than a couple of months, because eventually something would sniff me out and a fight would ensue. Rumors of a magical fox that could grant wishes began to dog me everywhere I went. I gave up on living among mortals, and that's why you found me hiding in a cave. When you brought me here, I was just waiting for the trap to be sprung, but I was okay with it, because you brought me to America. The U.S. is a much safer place for creatures like me. But when you showed me genuine kindness and let me come and go as I please, I felt safe for the first time in a long time as well."

The smile that crossed Emily's face lit up the room. Small bubbles floated up from the surface of the bath "Maybe that's why we mesh so well. We both know what it's like to be terrified and then find solace." She slid closer to Yuki, placing her hand on Yuki's knee. "But it's become more than that for me."

Yuki swallowed, staring at the hand on her knee. It was warm from the bath, but it was somehow more than that. The rest of the room had suddenly fallen away, her focus entirely on that patch of skin that now connected them. Her heart was beating fast now, her thoughts sliding away before she could contemplate them.

"I first noticed it after our trip into Canada. I was checking on something as a favor to a friend and you and I came across that witch. We tried to let her be, it didn't seem like she was hurting anything, but then she got upset because her cover had been blown. I was completely out of my depth, and we got separated."

Yuki remembered it well. The woman could turn herself into a large bear, and had made them lose each other in a snowstorm. "It took me hours, but I was able to find you. The witch had taken you back to her home and put you in that cage made of whale bones."

"That's right. When you burst through her front door and tore into her, I realized that I wasn't just happy that you had come to save me, but I was happy to see you again, to know that you were safe. It was a feeling I hadn't felt in some time, and I didn't know how to put it into words." Emily's other hand landed on Yuki's other knee. "You're good at hiding your emotions, but that makes sense. You're a kitsune. I didn't think you felt the same way that I did, so kept my thoughts to myself."

"Emily." Yuki spoke her name as if it were a prayer. With a hand on each knee, she was all too aware of the position they were now in. Heat flowed back and forth between her knees, passing through her groin with every heartbeat. She was breathing hard now, staring into Emily's golden flecked eyes.

"I can feel you now. I couldn't before, but now that we're being honest with each other, your arousal is like a perfume to me." Emily parted Yuki's legs, moving forward until their mouths were only a few inches apart. Yuki gasped at the sheer smell of her. It was like standing in a field of blooming wildflowers.