Nakahi’s Tales #2: Sunshine through the Rain

Akasaka, Minato District Tokyo 12:35pm

It had been raining for over half an hour now. It had been a mild, sunny day when the rain had begun suddenly, and in fact it was still mild and sunny. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, but the rain kept coming down at a steady pace. Not heavy enough to be a downpour, but far to much to be a simple sprinkle. And it seemed to be ruining everyone’s plans.

Nakahi had been hoping to walk through the district and check out Tokyo Tower. She’d even worn a cute yellow sundress and hidden her tails and such so she could be just another innocuous tourist going about. With Jeffrey napping back at the hotel, she had some time all to herself. But the rain was putting a damper on those plans.

At least she had been near a food cart when the rain started coming down in earnest. And it was one of the ones that sold o den year round as well! She hadn’t eaten that since she was a little kit back in her mother’s realm. So at least she would get a decent snack out of her trip. She’d never had it with mushrooms before, but the older gentleman running the cart seemed to know his stuff, so she would give it a try.

She didn’t have the stall to herself long though. A middle aged and somewhat soaked businessman hurried under the awning of the cart as well, shaking his coat off and taking one of the empty stools. He and the owner seemed to know each other, starting up a conversation as Nakahi wiped the splashes of rain off her arm , doing her best to look like she wasn’t eavesdropping as she ate.

The owner finished preparing the newcomers bowl, handing it to him with a grin,“Some crazy weather we’re having today eh Kenshiro? Aughta keep those hotheads indoors.”

“More like ruin things for everyone else. You know as well as I do what’s behind all this rain on a day like this. It’s them again, it has to be.” The businessman said, turning to his meal.

“Not this again Kenshiro. You blame everything on them folks, like the time you said they stole your keys. When you left them in the office.” The proprietor said, giving Nakahi a worried look as he spoke. She met his gaze and spared Kenshiro a glance from the corner of her eye but said nothing to indicate she knew what was going on.

“You know the stories as well as I do by now Ichinose.” Kenshiro said, pointing his chopsticks accusatorially. “Even if I did SOMEHOW manage to lock my keys in an office that I can’t lock without said keys, you know as well as I do that sun showers like these have been said to be caused by kitsune for as long as there’s been stories about them.”

Now that got her attention alright. She certainly couldn’t make it rain on command. And she’d never heard of or seen any other kitsune that so much as claimed to be able to do the same. She hurriedly swallowed the hunk of daikon radish she had been chewing on and cleared her throat, getting the attention of both men as she spoke.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but why would kitsune make it rain? I didn’t think even the Inari-Sama was said to have any control over the weather at all.”

Kenshiro gave her a surprised look, clearly not having thought she knew what they were talking about. He shot Ichinose a quick glare, as if blaming the older man for not warning him that the clearly foreign woman who had been sitting here eating food she would have had to of ordered on her own could speak Japanese.

Ichinose just smirked and went back to cooking.

“Well miss, it’s always been known here that when it rains while sunny like this, it’s not normal. It’s because of a kitsune wedding.”

She blinked, never having heard that before. She’d also never heard of kitsune having an actual wedding. They always just seemed to end up together. So she decided to play up the naivety some more.

“Really? How does a wedding make it rain , just by it being a fox wedding ?”

“Well…I don’t know I’ve never seen one. Anyone who ever stumbled upon such a sight never made it back.” he said somewhat haughtily.

Now that made sense to her at least. She couldn’t imagine anyone who stumbled upon a gathering of kitsune, even as a result of a completely innocent circumstance, simply wandering away. And if they stumbled upon a wedding they probably ended up padding the bride’s hips, or stuffed between the grooms’ legs for a little extra fun when the honeymoon started. She knew for a fact that there were some that rather enjoyed doing that.

“Oh…so if no one ever saw one and returned, then how would anyone ever know they’re a real thing. And aren’t the kitsune only just coming back? What about the sun showers that happened while they were gone? Or the ones that happen in other countries, there’s a lot of holes in this theory.”

It was clear at this point that the salary man was fairly annoyed at her questioning, “Look I don’t expect some gaijin to know the how or whys of the way things work here. My family had been hunters in the old days, back to the days of the Ashikaga shogunate. Knowing about those things runs in my bleed, it was my ancestor’s duties to hunt them down.”

“Oh I see…so you’re ancestors were murderers then.” She said with a decidedly icy tone to her voice now. Her mother had told her tales when she was young and misbehaving, about how bad little kits would get snatched up by samurai and have their tails cut off as trophies. It wasn’t until she was older that she had learned that those childhood warnings had basis in truth.

Kenshiro opened his mouth to tell her off, but it came out a startled gasp as she let her ta ils sprout back in one by one, t he seven of them swishing back and forth in irritation as the bells on their ends tinkling in a mocking way. As her ears sprouted up she heard Ichinose gasp and drop the food he was preparing, muttering a quick prayer under his breath. For the moment she ignored him, focusing on the younger man.

“You’re right, I am just a gaijin, but my mothe r is a native born and raised. S o I do know a thing or too myself.” She stood up, causing him to hurriedly lean back and topple off his stool onto the wet pavement, staring up at her in surprise. “Now then, Kenshiro was it? I can’t very well punish your ancestors for what they did. But I’m a firm believer in karma. And I’ll be letting you off far easier than your ancestors would have let me.”

She knelt down and took hold of his ankles, holding on tight as he tried to kick himself free futilely. With a casual ease she pulled him in, mouth opening wide as she somehow managed to shove both his feet down her throat at the same time, shoes and all.

He yelled and scrabbled at the pavement to try and get away. But there was no one else outside on this little strip of road as the rain came down to come to his rescue.

Nakahi swallowed again, throat bulging as his damp legs were pulled down into it. Not exactly tasty, but this wasn’t for pleasure, she mused to herself as she swallowed again. Well not solely anyway.

When her lips finally met his hips, she reached forward, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up into the air almost vertically. He flailed his arms about, trying to grab onto the edge of the food cart, yelling for his friend to help him.

Nakahi swallowed, and swallowed again, her lips creeping up over his chest and neck, trapping his arms over his head, leaving them waving in the air. She took her time with the last of him, letting her throat work his head down into her mouth on its own. Her hand pushed the bulge it made down her throat, allowing her to simply slurp his arms down like noodles, till his fingers vanished down her throat at last.

She took a moment to rub over her distended belly, fingers stroking over the shifting mass of flesh as he squirmed beneath them. Her skin vibrating each time he yelled from within her. She stifled a small belch with her hand that all his struggles caused, finally standing back up to see to her other companion.

Ichinose had warily leant over the edge of the cart when he had seen his regular customers arms disappear over the edge, but he lurched back when Nakahi stood back up. Eyes glued to the shifting dome of her stomach as she casually wiped her hands clean on a napkin.

“He….you….is…” the old man stammered, finally looking into her eyes.

“Yeah, he’s definitely in there alright, boots and all. ” She chuckled, giving her tail a flick. The bells jingling merrily as all of the ingested mans struggles could barely seem to shift her from side to side, much less free him.

Ichinose worriedly licked his lips and looked down, “My lady, I do not know what he and I did to offend your kami-sama, but I beg you to have mercy upon me. I am just a simple noodle chef and-“

A laugh from Nakahi cut him off, chuckling as she shook her head. “No no no, I’m not here on any business. I was hungry and wanted noodles, and he was a stuck up jerk with a chip on his shoulder from before he was born. So I just took care of him. I’m not here for any god or spirits bidding.”

He nodded, with a little more surety, at least confident enough to stand up straight again. “And….will he…?” Letting the rest of it go unasked as he stared at her stomach again, looking away hurriedly as the shape of Kenshiro ’s head, then one of his hands were clearly visible through her skin.

“Digest? Oh yeah, that’s going to happen. Die? No, at least not in the way you think of it. His spirit will just be….piggybacking off mine for a little bit. Like in the old stories when a god would change a mortal into an object for a time. You certainly aren’t alive as a comb….but you’re not dead either. Not for good anyway.” She rubbed her stomach again, feeling the digestive juices starting to fill it. “Give it a few years maybe and he’ll wander back, with a much better perspective of kitsune.”

As Kenshiro began to dissolve, Nakahi said her goodbye and thanks for the delicious noodles. The rain had stopped to the merest of drops, and with the sun high in the sky there wouldn’t be as much as a puddle left on the sidewalks in no time.

“I’ll have to ask mother if kitsune weddings make it rain next time I see her. But first I should check in at the hotel. Maybe Jeffrey wants to see the tower too … ”

               TO BE CONTINUED