Festival of Seasons Ch. 04

"Why didn't you ever tell us about 'er~? Holding all the good girls for yerself~?" The red oni, Yua, had a vice-grip over the other shoulder, holding the bound nuki tight and unable to remove herself. Even if she was shorter and bit pudgier than most red oni are known for, her grip was no less intimidating and no less capable of bruising and cracking bones if she got serious.

"No...h...-she is not! She's a new inn maiden over at Tsuki's, and it's my hide if I can't-"

"Then we'll just grab some drinks along the way while we look!!! You don't have a problem with that, riiiiight~? Who knooooooows...maybe she'll let us blow off some steam in 'er when we find 'er!!!"

"Let go of me, you...you booze-addicted idiots!!!"

The brutish-looking oni started to tug a complaining Itsuki toward the South street...opposite of Bell's direction. The better booze was over at a frequent hangout in that direction. And to the West...the looming sun continued to glow from behind the clouds. And would disappear over the horizon in the next hour or so.

***

The arranged time was nearly here, and Bell had at last made his way in front of Dara's smithery. The family crest on a banner outside the doorway matched the one on the manifest the young helper had swiped and brought with him. It was a pretty big and well-maintained place, a plume of smoke rising from the rear of the building along with the smell of wood and coal burning, and smelting the oars.

Taking a deep breath, Bell gave a courteous knock before opening the door, then closing it behind him. The foyer didn't have much lateral room to move his arms around, but the ceilings and doorways had to have been about 15 feet tall. But at the desk...no one was there. Clearing his throat...Bell gave a vocal, but polite call into the depths of the shop.

"Hello!!! Can anyone please help me? I'm...I'm from Tsuki's inn...and here about an appointment..."

...

...........

"Give a sec, kid."

A guttural, deep, but feminine voice reverberated from far within. It was a loud voice, but not raised in a yell. Bell had stood there, waiting for about a minute until the hardwood planks underneath started to shake repeatedly from heavy footsteps emerging from the shop. A door from behind the desk casted an odd silhouette in the shadow of the lantern light...a very, VERY big shadow.

Rrrrrrrrr.......rrrrrrrr....KLUNK!!!

Bell took a nervous step back as a 12-foot, grey-skinned, but clearly feminine giant had emerged from the door. "Behemoth," was the word he used to mentally describe the towering, sculpted figure approaching him. Two pairs of mighty arms, an 8-pack set of bundled, raw ab muscle, mounds of pectoral mass hefting her proportionate, but covered breasts up, thighs as thick as trunks with veins like branches, and nearly one long, interconnected blood red tattoo imprinted over the skin that reached from her thigh up her torso, and swirled over her shoulders. And above the shoulders...a piercing gaze beneath a horn-studded head...if you could call those tiny, round nubs on the sides of her cranium "horns." And down the center of her head...a single, intricate braid of silvery-white hair, trailing down her back before ending at a knot.

And...not to mention...the way all of her body glistened in a day's worth of sweat. Maybe two days. A lot of it pooling down, sliding like tiny trickles through the valley of her abs...before slipping into the waistband of her lower garments.

"You..."

"Umm...yes???" Bell looked up into her eyes...trying to be as polite and courteous as possible."

"..."

"........."

"...Your name?" After looking Bell up and down, as if to silently judge his appearance, she finally responded in a stoic voice, and in tones as loud as hammers beating down metals.

"Umm...it's Bell. I am Bell..."

"Hmm...came here on Tsuki's behalf? About advance order?"

"Yyyyy...yes ma'am."

Upon being addressed with the honoring tone and title of respect, the giant's facial, piercing features softened, as if pleasantly surprised with Bell's courteous behavior. Maybe she had been more used to troublemakers and grumpy bargain-hunters on a normal basis.

"...You...You I like."

!!!

Bell blushed at the rather blunt, but well-meaning compliment. Though the giant never smiled, there was an almost cheerful glint in her eyes, as if she received a breath of fresh air from his presence and behavior.

"Umm...thank you very much...Miss...???"

"Dara. Just Dara. Is fine."

Rrrrrrr...

Opening the door, and waving her arms in an "after you" gesture, Dara had beckoned Bell inside. He promptly followed, then waited for her to shut the door and lead them farther inside. He followed behind, clearly the guest here. In a brief matter of time, the two had ended up in a small, cozy room with one table on the floor. Bell sat on the smaller cushion on one side, while Dara sat on the other side. The gray giantess held her hand out, palm open to receive something. Figuring she must have silently referred to the rolled-up manifest, he handed it over to her, to which she nodded gratuitously. Unfurling it...she looked it over...the expression-less amazonian examining its contents.

Meanwhile, Bell was scanning the room, in particular interested in an illustrated scroll on the wall, a giant naginata polearm ornamenting a stand beneath the scroll. It depicted three, gray, hulking figures, not dissimilar in appearance to Dara. One had its palms pressed together as if praying. The other proudly held its fist up high. And the other kneeling down with the back of its hand pressed to the earth, as if to offer something.

"Are you...one of them?" Bell curiously let that slip from his lips, almost thinking to apologize for it being a rude question. Dara just looked at him with those soft eyes from before, calming him down.

"Me? Not. Ancestors of my blood. Mighty daidarabotchi. Legendary land carvers. Sculptor of mountains. Gods of the soil."

Daidarabotchi? That rung some bells when Bell had looked through the Japanese folklore section of his library back home. Dara...very aptly named, was descended from these mighty creatures?

"I see...that's amazing...that you carry their blood in you."

"You. Sweet. But blood not make the measure of life. Only legacy in what you do."

Bell nodded in acceptance of this answer, silently pondering how philosophical a blacksmith giant Dara really was. She had finished looking over the scroll, then laid it down over the table beneath her.

"Tsuki. No want changes? Any else other than listed?"

"I think this is good...thank you."

"Then...business confirmed." Dara took a pad of red powder, pressed a stamp into it, then pressed it to the scroll. She rolled it up, pocketed it, then handed Bell another scroll.

"Confirmation. Deal receipt."

"Oh...thank you~. But umm..."

"Something needed? Young Bell."

"I was going to ask...if you needed anything else." Bell was almost stunned that was everything needed at this meeting. He figured with how seriously everyone was talking about this, there'd be more procedure involved. But...it must have just been a gesture of professional courtesy.

"No. Your visit. Much appreciated...mmm...mmm..." Dara started to uncharacteristically hum and mumble to herself, a display that Bell almost couldn't believe of the stoic giant. But...something was clearly weighing on her mind.

"Are...are you sure you don't need anything else?"

Bell looked up into her with those shiny, cute, enrapturing eyes. Something in them seemed to draw the cold-toned giantess in. Making her uneasy...and then calm soon after.

"........."

"........?"

"...Request. Free to reject. No penalty if reject."

"...That...is...?"

Dara, having brought herself this far, rolled her massive, statuesque body onto the floor, getting on her side, before holding her four arms out in an offer of an embrace.

"...Me...Me. Hold you. Just a little...?"

Bell's face turned rosy in another blush. He was inclined to say no, knowing he was losing daylight. And even if he was oblivious to Hedonism's Eve...walking the streets at night was still risky. Who knows if a drunkard or someone crazy like that monkey girl would have caught him unaware?

But...but looking into the giantess's eyes...Bell saw something almost melancholic...something earnestly pleading in them. And the way he stared into them only for Dara to shift her gaze away suggested she was nervous about putting herself in this position.

Bell sighed...knowing he was probably making a mistake. But his good heart couldn't just walk away from this. And she didn't look like she meant any harm. So, slowly getting up from his cushion, he went over, rolled onto his side in front of her torso, and put himself in the reach of her muscular arms. The eyes in the daidarabotchi descendant shifted in surprise...then softened into a blissful expression as the cage of her arms pulled Bell in, smothering him against the thick, marble-smooth, but sweaty skin drenching her body. The smell was ripe...but not unpleasant. It was quite possible she had been holed up in her smithery all week, so it was only natural.

She sighed...a few deep breaths...closing her eyes to think of a distant memory that this reminded her of. Almost a little too vividly. Just when Bell was starting to relax his tense body in her powerful arms, he felt her arm down below pawing at his butt, her palm nearly as wide as his plumpy, soft hindquarters. She gave it a soft squeeze, her breath shortening into almost gasps. And beneath Bell...a hard-as-iron rod curved up in Dara's lower garments.

Bell's mind in danger mode again, he spoke up.

"D-Dara...Dara??? Ah...Dara!"

!!!!!!

Bell's beckoning finally reached her, as she backed off, and then continued to hold him close.

"Apologies. Carried away."

Bell sighed in relief, but still wondering what was going through Dara's mind when she unannouncedly started to fondle him all over like that. But he didn't want to press for answers after that awkward moment, so he continued to lie there...oblivious to the way her eyes subtly changed from their pale hue to a bright rosy color.

Deidarabotchis cannot blush through their thick skin...so all that color goes into their gleaming eyes.

***

About half an hour later...

Bell had finally been released from Dara's embrace, who had displayed a stoic, but deeply expressive sense of gratitude. She left Bell with a message for Tsuki saying that the next order she places is on the house...provided Bell is the one to come and deliver the order. And the way she mentioned that was...almost adorably nervous, in spite of her unchanging face. Dara may have appeared intimidating...but she was evidently a gentle giant, something that reassured Bell.

Well, except the brief lewd advancements she had made on him.

Anyways, he was on his way back with the receipt of confirmation tucked away inside his yukata. Much to his worry, the sun had started to set over the horizon, the orange glow briefly blinding his eyes when he turned to look. While he had the lamps to guide his way, the far reaches of this street was well enough away from the central plaza that it was quiet. Too quiet for Bell's comfort. So he hurried along on his geta clogs, crunching against the fallen snow and occasionally clopping against the stone-tiled road.

"Huff...huff...huff...whoa-oop!!!"

!!!!!!

Except with this only being like, what, his third day on clogs, he had not gotten used to running with them over the slippery snow. One mis-step sent him to the ground, just barely giving enough time for his reflexes to kick in and hold his arms out to break his fall. It helped saved his face...except for a coating of snow he shook off with a few turns of his neck back and forth. And getting the wind knocked out of him wasn't any fun either.

"OH! Well well...if it ain't da cutie nuki virgin!!!"

Bell's eyes snapped open, and he looked up to see a giant pair of familiarly-pierced breasts, and a matronly face peering down over them.

"Y-You again...?"

"Come now, dat's a little rude, yeh 'oney peach! Come'on...let's get yeh up on yer feet again."

She effortlessly knelt down on one knee, grabbed him by the back of his yukata, then lifted him like a feather into the air, briefly bringing him up to eye-level before puckering up and giving him an air smooch to get him blushing. And back to the ground he goes.

"Thanks...and s-sorry about being rude there. I just...I don't think I got your name back at the square."

"AWWWWW...o'course yah didn't!!! Silly me! I'm Chigusa. And I buh-lieve I already got yer name, Bell."

"Ah...right..." Bell nervously scratched the back of his head...before he turned it and saw the sun going down.

"Crap! I have to move!!! Thanks a lot, Miss Chigus-"

GRIP!!!

"......?"

"Uh...Miss Chigusa???"

And in the opposite direction, a pale blue, nearly-full moon had started to rise, its glimmer becoming like a glaze over Bell's and Chigusa's eyes. Bell briefly noted how pretty it was...but Chigusa, on the other hand...started to act as if she was in a trance of sorts, her grip tightening into a lock on Bell's shoulder, and her breath growing raspy and uncontrolled. Drool had poured from her lips, and her mindless eyes fell on Bell with a zombie-like turn of her neck. The whole world escaped her vision, honing in on just how adorable Bell was. Those adorable eyelashes...those dainty kissing rubies...and a rosy tint to his cheeks that seemed to spread and emanate a glow all over him.

"Huff...huff...grnf...grnf...grrrrrrrngh..."

"?????"

"GRGH!!!"

In the blink of an eye, one hand on his shoulder soon turned into two hands shoving him off to the side of the street, pressing him against the wall...and rather strongly, considering his feet left the ground to wiggle around while her hands practically pressed his shoulder blades to the wall behind him. His face laid right in front of her bodacious, bosom.

And above that...was a terrifying look of a predator licking her lips. And her eyes reminded Bell of some yandere characters he saw in manga books before. The kind that loudly said "YOUUUU AREEEEEE MINNNNNNE."

"Belllllll...yeh naughty, naughty girl.♥ Didn't yeh ever learn that these streets aren't safe for virgins this late at night? They are liable to...lose their cherries."

"M-Miss Chigusa...let me go...please?"

"But I have the perrrrrfect solution to that problem of yours..."

"EEYYYYYPPP?!"

Bell made an adorable, slightly-distressed sound when the cow woman had snuck her hand into the fold of his yukata, firmly keeping him pinned with the other hand as her fingers brushed over his "tits," for lack of a better way to describe the way Chigusa fondled them and pinched at his nipples.

"Yessss...I'm just going to haul yah back home...toss you onto my nice, soft, warm bed..."

She leaned in...Bell wanting to flail and run away...but his body failing to obey his commands. In fact...it was betraying his desires by a warm, hungry feeling blooming in the depths of his ass. He was almost tempted to just utterly surrender himself.

Then Chigusa whispered hotly into his ear...

"AND THEN I'M GUNNA PLUCK AND EAT YER CHERRY. SO NO MORE STREET THUGS WILL COME LOOKING TO STEAL IT. NOR WILL THEY EVER HAVE YER JUICY PUSSY. BECAUSE IT, AND ALL OF YOU...WILL BE ALL MINE."

"FOREVER."

♥?!♥?!♥????♥!!!!!!

Crap...Bell was in trouble. Remembering Tsuki's words from earlier in the middle of his mental haze...only now did they fully weigh on him. He could literally never end up returning to the inn. Chigusa was talking like all those yandere leads right before they tie you up by your wrists, have their way with you, and then lock you away in their bedroom before returning at the end of the day to further break you.

"DON'T WORRY, PEACHY GIRL♥. YEH WILL NEVER, NEVER GROW HUNGRY IF YEH BELONG TO ME. MY MILK...AND MY BULL CREAM...WILL BE ALL YERS...12 SQUARE MEALS A DAY OF MY MILK. STRAIGHT FROM THE TAPS."

Help!!! Help!!!!!!! Is what Bell's common sense urged him to yell out into the streets, but still none of his body moved. Not as she lowered him onto an obvious, torso-thick erection bulge so veiny and muscular enough to hold him. Giving the deranged Chigusa the room to bring her hands to his face, leaning in with licking lips to kiss and utterly devour him.

Move...move...

...

But his body did nothing, only puckering his lips and barely brushing the tongue she lolled out, much to the cow matron's euphoria.

"ALL...MINNNNNNE..."

...

CRICK!!! Bones creaked as a strong grip behind Chigusa pinched her over a nerve bundle in her shoulder.

?!?!?!

"AGH?!?!?! Ungh...ughhhhhhhhuuuuu..."

Bell's slack body slid against the wall, as Chigusa's arms went limp and let go of him, letting him fall like a ragdoll...but his body did not hit snow. A huge, mighty palm cupped him on his plush hindquarters before rewrapping his messed up kimono...and then pressing his half-lidded eyes against two warm, soft mounds of motherly tenderness.

The last thing he saw before the sex-fed whiplash forced his mind into unconsciousness was a gentle smile on a blue-skinned face.

"Sleep...dearie..."

***

Now someplace warm, Bell's untouched body stirred and groaned...a feeling similar to refusing to get out of a warm bed on a winter day.

"HUFF...woooooo..."

"Sniff sniff...wuh-ah!!!" A deep inhale and exhale later...an overwhelming aroma of sweet-smelling powder shocked Bell's muscles awake, almost snapping him out of bed. Well...not a bed as much as it was a blue, towering oni that sat criss-cross and had held him tenderly with one arm, with the other arm held out from blowing something onto his face. Quickly recalling Chigusa's predatory advances on him just moments earlier, Bell wiggled and tried to get away from whatever figure was holding him. But in spite of holding him tenderly to her body, it felt like struggling against a mix of warm dough and a brick wall holding him still.

"Shhh...relax, Bell. You're here...under my watch. My protection." A voice like a mother's whispered into his ears, slowly getting him to calm down and relax his head underneath a heavy pair of mammaries stacked atop him. It definitely helped that her voice was distinctly different from Chigusa to recognize it was someone different. Not to mention...the gentle inflection in her words reminded him a lot of Tsuki.

"What...what happened?"

"The powder you just took a big whiff of was honey-blossom incense. It should clear up the effects of a celestial cow's milk. But...I honestly don't know enough about a human to tell for certain."

"W-Wait...human? You...you know? And...you said my name earlier too..."

"Of course I do, dearie. I even know you're not really a girl. I've smelled enough tanuki women to know a real from a fake. After all...Tsuki is my favorite drinking buddy~. And goddess does she like to talk about you when she's wasted."

Sara was the one cradling Bell atop her lap. Blue, plump legs stuck out from the bottom of her kimono, silver bands strapped just right above her ankles.

"But damn her for making you come out all alone and helpless like that. Just what in hell were you thinking, cutie?"

"S-Sorry...I didn't mean to cause you any trouble, miss-?"