Amateratsu and the Nine-Tailed Demon
Amateratsu and the Nine-Tailed Demon
By Gideon Kalve Jarvis
Commissioned by Tamati the Nine-Tailed Fox
The silence was unbroken, save by the twittering of birds as they went about their cheerful lives. Blossoms drifted down past the shrine of Amateratsu, far off the beaten path, and settled on the shoulder of the solitary figure seated before the shrine, his legs folded in the lotus position as he meditated, his nine full, fluffy foxtails curling around his body like the petals of a lotus blossom. It was no longer the season for tourists, and the single blossom was obviously out of its normal season as well. This solitary vulpine figure had come to this distant Shinto shrine in quest of the solitude of nature, close to the spirits with whom he sought to commune.
His name was Tamati, a nine-tailed black fox. The nine tails slowly twitching in time with the breeze were a sign of his demonic blood. It was a constant struggle to keep his powers under control, to keep the darkness inside of him from growing too great, from springing forth and devouring his soul, and the souls of those around him. Meditation helped. So did the presence of the gleaming, jeweled sword on his back. But meditation could also be a distraction. As the blossom resting on Tamati's shoulder began to glow with a soft radiance, rising once more, lifted on a heavenly gust, he almost didn't notice, so deep within himself had he gone. But when those soft rays touched his dark-furred body, his red-pupilled eyes opened, and he looked up into the heart of what seemed to be a small star.
Wonder on his face, Tamati the nine-tailed fox watched as the shining glory before him slowly coalesced, taking on a shape that was familiar to him from the many books on Shinto he'd read, but not one that he'd ever thought he would see outside of his dreams. It was Amateratsu, the sun goddess of Japan.
"Tamati-san," the glorious, white-visaged woman addressed him, more beautiful before the fox demon than any mortal woman he had seen before, his soul soaring with awe before the goddess of the sun. "Tamati-san, I have need of you."
"Speak, Amateratsu-domo," Tamati said, lowering himself in a respectful bow to the ground. "However your servant can serve you, he will."
"It is a danger in the past, Tamati-san," said the glowing goddess, each word speaking past any barrier of language. It was the language of the soul. "My past. My mind is fading even now, losing itself to the form of the wolf. You must save me, Tamati-san."
She stretched forth her smooth white hand to the nine-tailed fox, and Tamati reached up, his hands closing on the hand of the goddess.
But he never made actual contact. One moment Tamati was kneeling before Amateratsu as she hovered above her shrine, in one of the most remote parts of the Japan, and the next, he was lying sprawled on the green grass. For several minutes he lay there, dazed, disoriented, his limbs not working quite the way they were supposed to. What was wrong? His eyes moved down his body, and suddenly Tamati started up in shock - he was transformed into a large four-legged fox! Fortunately, Tamati soon found that he had lost none of his former poise, and after a little bit of walking around for practice, soon found that he was as skilled on four legs as he had been on two. As a biped, Tamati had been tall, broad-shouldered and muscular, rather out of character for a typical fox. He was also pleased to find that he was similarly enlarged in size in his new shape. Most importantly, his blade still rested on his back, the Lightning Strike, the blade of Amateratsu herself, or so it was said.
The thought of Amateratsu was suddenly punctuated by the sounds of battle taking place not far off!
Without thinking of how he might use his new body, and especially the gleaming blade resting on his back, cleaving to his fur and the skin beneath, Tamati turned and launched himself forward, racing like smoke on the wind. It was because he didn't think about it that his motions were so smooth, so rapid, as he let himself fade into the concentration of a warrior, his body and his will becoming one.
Just beyond a slight ridge in the green landscape, Tamati's sharp red eyes caught sight of a stately white wolf with streaks and whorls of red on her body, as though painted. She was a feral like he was, a blade on her back that was the mirror of his own. H knew instantly that she was a female by her sweet scent, strong and pure in her wild beauty, and to his supernatural sight, he could see a swirling circle of colors on her back, the sunbeam emblem of Amateratsu, the sun goddess of Japan. Was it she? Such thoughts had to wait however, for this lone wolf was surrounded by hunched, dark shapes, hideous creatures wearing masks, baskets and face-covering amulets to conceal their features. It was as though they were such abominations that they were ashamed to show their faces to the light of day, or even to their victims. They were everywhere! A quick sweep of his eyes brought Tamati a count of at least fourteen of the vicious creatures, each wielding implements of death and torture that looked more suited to the Devil's kitchen or a farm in the Hells than to a battlefield. He got the impression from the smoke filling parts of the battlefield that there had been many more, but the mighty white wolf goddess had acquitted herself mightily indeed. But she was in a mortal form now, despite all her powers, and her divine might was lessened by the new shape. She could die like this, the sun emblem above her back snuffed out forever.
No! With a loud snarl of fury, Tamati leapt into the fray, his jaws snapping again and again, tearing through the body of the monstrosity nearest to the outer circle of the fray. At first his jaws met foul-tasting flesh and cracked bone with sickening sound. A moment later, however, the vile substance that made up the demon lost its consistency, and it vanished in a puff of vile smoke.
Accosted by an unexpected ally to their foe, the darkling beasts spun, whipping out their blades and clubs and other implements of lethal force to defend themselves as well as to wreak terrible death on the pair of canids, dark and light, now facing them. His jaws working without thought, a natural extension of his warrior's body, Tamati crunched down on the leg of one of these creatures, bringing him down, before leaping straight at its face, wide vulpine jaws crunching down as the creature screamed hideously before vanishing in black-purple smoke as the first had. Not far off, Tamati sensed more than saw as the wolf, who he was already thinking of as Amateratsu, the same being who had brought him here, jerked her head violently to the side, tossing the limp body of one of the monsters into the air, its form breaking apart in midair to vanish into smoke. A moment later she completed the motion, her jaws closing around the hilt of the shining blade on her back, the Thunder Edge, the weapon of the goddess. Amateratsu's whole body jerking now in the opposite direction, using the momentum she had built up before to add strength to her swing, the beautiful and mighty white wolf spun, the red markings of her body flaring with divine fire as she tore through a swath of the monsters, their screams the stuff of nightmares as they were flung back into whatever pit had first spawned them.
So distracted was Tamati as he was watching the beautiful and bloody goddess of the sun, his jaw dropped open as he was stunned by her feral majesty, his heart seeming to stop for a time, so powerful were the feelings she inspired in him, that he let his guard drop, a heavy spiked iron club coming down on his back, tearing into his supernatural flesh. If he hadn't been wearing the Lightning Strike on his back, the unbreakable metal turning some of the blow to the side, such a strike would surely have broken his spine! With a sideways jerk up and forward, Tamati tore out the throat of the vile thing, letting his jaws continue their motion just as he'd seen the wolf goddess do a moment before. His jaws closed on the hilt of his Lightning Strike - a Thunder Edge that would exist in the time and place from which Tamati had been taken, he realized - and spun himself with such force and vigor, that he ended up facing exactly where he'd been before he swung. All around him he heard the sounds of dark smoke bursting from the bodies of the fallen demons, victims of his strike.
Several heartbeats passed, Tamati and Amateratsu standing rump-to-rump, their eyes wary, watchful. But no further enemies presented themselves, no more signs of the vile blighted creatures remained to be seen. Tamati began to turn, then, his head tilting to let the Lightning Strike slide smoothly onto his back once more. But as he turned to face the she-wolf he'd helped to protect, his red eyes widened as he found himself staring down the point and blade of her version of the blade he had just sheathed.
"It's the Ninetailed Kitsune, Ammy!" called out a high-pitched voice, as a tiny figure jumped up and down on the white-furred wolf's back. "He's come back!"
Then Tamati's red eyes met those dark orbs of the goddess, so deep and clear, like bright stars. He couldn't look away, couldn't move under their piercing intensity. She saw him, more fully and completely than any mortal could. The fox demon's nine flowing tails dipped respectfully to the goddess, their black inner fire lessening to show his reverence to her presence, and Tamati lowered his forelegs in a vulpine kneeling position, as he felt was proper before a deity of such beauty. For a long moment he held himself like this, his head lowered, leaving himself exposed to her choice, whether to deal out life or death. Finally, her eyes softened, and the Thunder Edge slid back into place on 'Ammy's' back.
"Ammy, why don't you strike him?" demanded the tiny figure. "Oh, I see. You think he's not an enemy? Well...I suppose he did help us. And he's not half-bad for looks, either. Not at all like that nasty Kitsune, now that I really look at him." The tiny figure hopped up and down several times, now addressing Tamati directly. "I'm very sorry I thought you were the Kitsune. That nasty creature tried to kill us before, you see. We're very grateful for your help."
What a strange little man. How did he know the thoughts of the goddess, anyway? These thoughts had just crossed Tamati's mind, when he felt, rather than heard, the will of the goddess Amateratsu in his mind. This came in the form of impressions rather than words, and Tamati suddenly understood the situation. Before, Amateratsu had been able to speak because she was a complete being, filled with her divine powers. But now she was only a creature of instinct, an essential part of her divinity stolen from her, torn away by a monster known as Maoh-Daimyo, a terrible demon lord who sought to become a god by stealing half the soul of Amateratsu herself. For now, then, she was just "Ammy," as Issun, the flea-sized artist on her back, had called her. Ammy's head dipped slightly, the sun emblem on her back rising above her head in its radiance, and immediately Tamati felt his body, sore from the blow he'd taken, be healed of its every hurt.
"I don't know why you trust this guy, Ammy," Issun said with an almost indignant hop. "I mean, we could do this stuff on our own, probably. It's just one demon lord, after all." Then the little man with the overlarge hat paused on Ammy's ear, apparently conversing in a way that only he could sense. Tamati could almost swear, though, that he saw the little man turn pink with a powerful blush. "Oh," Issun then said, sounding rather embarrassed. "Oh, I see. Um, well, I suppose that we'd better get moving again, huh?" He hopped up and down once more, turning to speak directly to Tamati. "Didn't you hear? Maoh-Daimyo is making a poor village give him a virgin sacrifice! He thinks it'll give him the power to become a god at last. Not only do we have to get Ammy's goddess half back, we have to save the girl! Come on!"
He'd no sooner said this than Ammy turned her shapely feral rump to Tamati, and raced off with an almost teasing flick of her red-ringed white tail. This motion left the nine-tailed fox demon stunned for several beats, his jaw dropping once more. Did...did the sun goddess of Japan just flirt with him?
Such thoughts, however, had to be set aside. There was a maiden to save!
Launching himself forward, finding his four-legged body strong, powerful, the equal of any like-sized wolf - and he was the size of a very large wolf, despite his vulpine ancestry - Tamati soon caught up with Ammy, who seemed to have been waiting for him. As he came equal with her neck, she started to run faster, harder, her mouth opening in a lupine grin that was part tease and part challenge. Could he keep up with her? She was daring him to try, even as the outline of her body started to blur with her rush of supernatural speed. Tamati would have only a glimpse of pink as the divine wolf Ammy flicked her tail upward, taunting Tamati to try and catch what he'd seen, before she was off faster almost than his eyes could follow.
Incentive like that didn't happen too often! Tamati's nine tails streaming behind him like a black-fire bonfire, the demon-blooded fox jerked himself forward, his paws pounding the ground with desperate strength, the ground and landscape blurring around him as he sought to keep up. Keep up with a goddess? Impossible! But he had to try, felt the need to do so deeply in his bones. He had to follow the goddess. Had to serve her. This desperate need drew his head equal with Ammy's flank, his tongue lolling out as he panted with his efforts to keep pace. She was fueled by the powers of her divinity, and for him to even manage to keep this speed, enough to almost keep up, was a feat in itself. But for all the strength of his powerfully-muscled body, Tamati couldn't keep up this pace forever. He was demon-blooded, while she was a goddess.
This thought on the power of a goddess then struck Tamati's mind, and he let his will flow into the Lightning Strike. The blade shifted on his back, rising upward from his shoulders and lower spine, the blade receding, the intricate hilt extending, until soon, a pair of gleaming metal wings extended from Tamati's back. It was the weapon forged with the power of the very goddess he was pursuing. With such power, instantly Tamati rushed forward, equaling the pace of Ammy in a thrice. She looked at him with a silently laughing mouth, pink tongue lolling out in her good humor. He returned the look with a smile curling the edges of his own muzzle, and moved closer to her, daring to let his hips brush against her own. This close to the divine wolf, Tamati realized that, despite everything, she was smaller than his more muscular, masculine frame, her body dainty and delightfully feminine. Her smell was sweet, and his red eyes closed slightly as he savored it.
Of course, that was when Ammy bumped him back with her hips, making the fox demon's flight-driven run stumble slightly. With a final teasing flick of her tail, sending her delicious scent straight to his brain, even as it rewarded him with another tantalizing glimpse of the precious pink treasure beneath her tail. Given such incentive, it was all that Tamati could do to keep following, legs and metal wings pounding the ground, his tails streaming lines of dark fire behind.
*
The feeling of the village was somber indeed as the two canids, wolf and fox, walked through the streets. Even Issun, the flealike man who never seemed to shut up, was silent. It was oppressive, the only signs of life in the entire village coming from its bar, where several men as well as women could be seen, mournfully drowning their sorrows in round after round of alcohol.
"I can't take this feeling, Ammy," said Issun finally, hopping up once on her back. "I don't think you need me, do you? Not for this fight. Not when you've got your new foxfriend to help you. I need to drown my sorrows in sake right now. Sake and sweet, sweet love." The little man hopped up and down once more, his tiny head motioning slightly towards a sad-eyed young woman who was sitting, sighing as she gazed longingly towards the hill on the far side of the village, where an open-air shrine could be seen, likely the site where the maiden to be sacrificed had been chained. "I think I see a lovely woman in need of similar comfort, don't you agree?"
Ammy gave her head a toss, her muzzle curling up in a grin, and Issun hopped off, bouncing away towards the bar, humming the tune to a bawdy bar song.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Ammy!" he called back, and somehow Tamati got a strong feeling of suggestiveness in the tone of the flea-man's voice. Had the little man understood the body language he and Ammy had traded on the way to this place? He'd certainly seen it, close as he'd been to them both. Oh my, how embarrassing.
Thankful that his dark fur hid his blush, Tamati walked a short distance behind Ammy, letting her confident stride lead the way towards the base of the hill. It was steep, but there was a stone-paved path leading up its side, and they both took this way, Tamati noting that Ammy didn't seem to care for subtlety. Her method of approach was straightforward and simple, like the radiant beams of the sun. It made sense, of course, Tamati mused. Ammy, even as a wolf, wasn't a creature of shadows and furtive motions. What she wanted, she got, and while she might be coy and teasing, like the gentle fingers of rosy dawn on the cheek of a sleeper, or indirect and complex like sunlight reflected on rippling water, she never wavered in her purpose, never turned away from the evil. She was a creature of Light just as he was one of Dark, and she strode forthright into the face of danger, fearless and proud as a goddess should be.
As they ascended the hill, drawing ever closer to the shrine at the top, Tamati could hear soft sobbing, and knew that it came from the poor girl bound there, awaiting her time to be sacrificed. What a horrible fate! More than sound, however, Tamati could feel something vile, oppressive in the air. There was something coming. Something terrible.
His ears poking up over the top of the hill as they reached the top, Tamati joined Ammy as they both peeked over a rock near the shrine, crouching side-by-side as they took sight of the place and its dangers. Chained beneath the broad roof of the open-air shrine to a pair of stone pillars was the maiden, slender and beautiful, her dark hair fallen about her sweet face, round as the moon, as she cried softly, arms extended as they were held apart by the chains binding her. She was dressed in a silk kimono of blue the color of the sky after a storm has passed. Tamati instantly felt his heart go out to this unfortunate, beautiful creature. He had to help her, had to save her, whatever the cost to himself.
It was at this moment that the terrible, heavy weight of oppression grew even stronger. Tamati's eyes rose upward, following a further trail from the green hill that ran up, up, and still up a long, winding rocky path, all the way to a great and terrible mountain, its sides devoid of the greenery that graced the hill at its base. Of course, Tamati knew that such a mountain didn't exist in the Japan that he knew. While this little shrine looked just like the one from which he had been called by the goddess before arriving here in this time and place, the mountain certainly had not. It was a place of evil, radiating outward with vile, malicious intent. The mountain was part of the landscape of the Hells, transported to this world as a home for the vile creatures that now populated it.
His eyes following that trail, Tamati could see those vile creatures clearly as they descended the wide, winding path leading up to the darkness that shrouded the mountain. They were hideous beasts, some with masks or baskets and walking on two legs, like the monsters that he and Ammy had fought before. Others walked on four legs, or six, or eight, or none at all. Some slithered, some walks, some scuttled, and others flew. It was a small demonic army! This realization came following fast on the realization that only he and Ammy stood between this army and the sobbing maiden chained before them, her sweet, pure scent a tantalizing impression on Tamati's sensitive nostrils.
At the fore of the vile band now almost at the shrine was a huge creature, as much a boar as a wolf or a bear or a man. He rippled with muscle as well as fat, hideously bloated, his stench sickening, like brimstone. This terrible creature, who had to be Maoh-Daimyo himself, set foot on the sacred ground of the shrine, and then gave a hearty, bellowing laugh.
"So those weaklings gave up their precious shrine maiden after all!" he said, stepping forward to cup the chin of the young woman, lifting her head, making her look him in the eyes, and at the same time letting Tamati see that she was gagged as well as bound. "You're a pretty one after all," Maoh-Daimyo said in approval. "What, you thought I'd kill you? Silly girl! There's far better ways to dine on virgin blood, you know, than to drink it from a girl's neck." He laughed, and the ghastly hordes behind him laughed as well, the sound hideous coming from so many misshapen throats at once. The slip of a woman shuddered at the touch of the horrible demon king, and then cried out as he suddenly tore her kimono's folds apart, baring her smooth, upturned breasts to his vile gaze. "Mmm, nice tits," he chortled, reaching up to grab them, mauling them in his vast palms, before he bent to close his huge muzzle around one, almost engulfing it completely with his immense size. "Tasty, too," he said with a grin, before starting to messily lather the squirming, crying girl's beautiful, perfect breasts with his ugly muzzle and tongue.
It was too much! Trading a brief glance with Ammy, the she-wolf giving the least of nods, the pair of canids leapt to the top of the stone overlooking the shrine. Ammy's head tilted back, and she gave a long, lingering howl that carried like sweet silver in the air. Instantly, the vile stench of the demon horde was driven away by a pure, rushing wind, and all the faces and eyes of the creatures assembled there, as well as the eyes of the sacrificial maiden and Maoh-Daimyo himself turned toward the majestic white wolf, her sun disk shining behind her in radiant glory, visible to all assembled there.
"It's the other half of the goddess!" Maoh-Daimyo suddenly bellowed, releasing his hold on the maiden to stomp forward, gesticulating wildly towards Ammy and her dark vulpine shadow, crouched in front of her, ready to strike. "Get her, you fools! Take her alive if you can, but her corpse will serve almost as well!"
With a scream of many voices as one, the demon horde came on, pouring over the green grass like a black tide, limbs and bodies scrabbling like a host of sickly spiders. Lumbering, brutish creatures took up the rear, some taller and broader even than Maoh-Daimyo, though none with his aura of sheer, malevolent power. The brutish demon lord, meanwhile, held back, content to watch as his enemies were crushed, the lupine half of the goddess he'd imprisoned taken as well to seal his desires for divinity.
But the headlong charge of the demon army did not go unchecked. Suddenly, as his hackles raised, his limbs tensing in preparation to lunge forward in the defense of Ammy, willing to sell his own life to save her own, Tamati suddenly felt a bright, overwhelming warmth that engulfed his body. It was Ammy! Her sun disk rose still higher, light pouring down from it onto the dark demon fox's body, filling him with her divine spark of energy. The demons paused at the rush of divine fire, their charge breaking as they stared at Tamati, whose muzzle split in a demoniac roar more like that of a lion than any sound a fox could make, even one of his size and musculature. His eyes opened wide, red light streaming out, as his body expanded, growing larger, more powerful still. Then, with a jerk, Tamati rose up onto two legs, snatching the Lightning Strike from his back as he took his humanoid shape once more, his body burning with a terrible black fire, no longer just his tails, but every strand of his fur inundated with searing dark light. The brightness of Amateratsu was feeding his darkness, fueling his power with divine might. It was more power than he had ever felt before, more than either he or Ammy could have mustered alone. But combined, her powers acting to bolster his own, the whole was now greater than the sum of its parts. Vastly greater.
Hardly noticing the howl of Amateratsu as she lifted her head once more to the heavens, calling down righteous fire into the middle of the demon horde, scattering their numbers like sticks, Tamati charged forward, right into the heart of the vile band, his tails spread out in a halo of dark, vengeful fire. The Lightning Strike crackled with heaven's fury as he swung it again and again, heedless of bites or stings or cuts or blows. Demons screamed and died on all sides before him, the demon fox wading into their midst like the hand of Judgment come at last for their guilty souls.
Vaguely aware of Ammy as she darted forward as well, a shining point of light in the horde of darkness surrounding him, tearing into their midst only a short distance away, Tamati's arms moved, swinging the blade through a line of creatures, severing the humanoid waists, leaving them to flop in halves onto the ground, screaming in their deaths before they dissolved into dark smoke, just like the ones he'd fought before. The air was thick with this smoke as he plowed forward, the clash of divine steel ringing in his ears with each mighty thrust, lunge, or swing.
A divine wind blowing over the grounds of the shrine-turned-battlefield, Tamati paused, breathing hard as he looked around for more foes to fight. None presented themselves however. None, that is, save the brutish figure of Maoh-Daimyo, standing not far off with an obscenely huge battle axe in one hand.
"You're pretty good," the demon king laughed, hefting the axe up into both his hands. "Let's see how you die."
Ignoring the countless multitude of wounds niggling his body, his blood streaming down his fur like beads of living fire, Tamati roared again as he raised the Lightning Strike, catching the devil-made axe on the blade with a shower of sparks that rained down on both their arms, his might pitted against that of the demon king. Both pulled back, then, and swung once more, this time low, sword and axe crashing against each other with a flash of purple flames, then blue, then green as they swung and clashed time and again. Maoh-Daimyo jerked as Tamati lunged forward, the Lightning Strike tearing along the brutish monster's side, spraying black blood onto the green grass in sizzling drops, while Tamati only narrowly tilted his head back to avoid having it taken off by an upward swing of that heavy chopping blade. Maoh-Daimyo was stronger than Tamati, each of his heavy blows making the straight edge of Lightning Strike sting in the demon fox's hands, some almost tearing the blade from Tamati's grip. But Tamati was faster, his greater agility letting him stay a good half-step ahead of the terrible demon lord, leaving many cuts upon the body of the monstrous brute, while only every so often Tamati took a slash across his chest, or a cut on his arms or legs.
Still, Maoh-Daimyo didn't tire, while Tamati's endurance had its certain limits. Those limits were starting to be reached as their battle stretched on, the nine-tailed fox's movements slowing, his hands starting to grow sweaty on the hilt of the Lightning Strike, his grip less sure as he turned each blow of the demon king aside. The battle was turning more defensive for Tamati now, and he began to give way. Another strike hammered down onto the sparking Lightning Strike, sending Tamati to one knee, blade lifted up to halt the next blow, and the next, as Maoh-Daimyo gave up any pretense of subtlety, and sought now to just hammer through the demon fox's dwindling defenses.
His concentration complete, Maoh-Daimyo was utterly focused on one object: killing the demon fox kneeling on the grass before him, sword uplifted to receive the next blow. This single-minded focus did not allow him to divert attention to anything else. This was his downfall, as suddenly, the Thunder Edge of Amateratsu thrust sharply from the center of Maoh-Daimyo's body, blue fire crackling along its length. Ammy herself was behind the demon, her paws planted firmly on his back as she drove the blade home with her powerful jaws.
"No!" howled the demon king, raising his arms to the heavens, his axe held upward in defiance of the sun itself. "This cannot be! I am immortal!"
Tamati didn't waste time with a retort as he rose up, his own Lightning Strike swinging in a searing arc, passing between head and shoulders of Maoh-Daimyo, sending his head toppling to the ground, followed a minute later by the body of the demon king himself. His body rapidly decayed where it fell, plumes of black smoke gushing from his neck like a high-pressure oil well, until there was nothing left on the green hillside save for the grass and the soft twitter of the birds as they began to return.
"Thank you!" exclaimed the sacrificial shrine maiden, her kimono back in place, as she flung her arms around the broad, well-muscled chest of Tamati, burying her head in his fur. "I cannot thank you enough!"
Tamati glanced at Ammy, now sitting nearby, her Thunder Edge thrust point-first into the ground as she watched this, a light smirk on the edges of her muzzle. Her tail wagged a bit as she just watched, seeming to be greatly amused as the beautiful young woman leaned up and kissed Tamati right on the lips of his muzzle.
"I am yours," said the maiden, taking a coy step backwards, her cheeks blushing as she looked down shyly. "You have saved my life, and so...if you wish it, I offer you my virginity. My time as a shrine maiden is past, I think. I don't want to face anything like that ordeal ever again."
Driving the point of his Lightning Strike into the ground, mirroring Ammy's action, Tamati smiled gently at the girl before him, and reached out, stroking her cheek.
"I thank you," he said, finding his voice having returned with the return of his humanoid shape. "But I must decline. It is not that you are not beautiful and desirable. You are both. But...my heart belongs to another, and I cannot bring myself to betray her."
The shrine maiden's smile was sweet as well as sad, and she nodded, leaning up to kiss Tamati one more time.
"Then she is a very lucky woman, whoever she is," the young woman said softly, before she turned, and hurried down the hill, towards the village.
Alone on the hilltop save for Ammy, Tamati slumped in tiredness, the aches and injuries of the recent battle finally taking their toll. Instinct taking its due, he slipped to his hands and knees, feeling his feral shape returning again with a slow creak of muscle and sinew. The change in shape renewed him somewhat, made his body shrug off the worst of his wounds in the same way that it shrugged off his former form. His red-eyed gaze lifted, and he came muzzle-to-muzzle with Ammy's dark, all-seeing eyes.
The kiss was unexpected, but Tamati returned it with all the passion he possessed. When Ammy broke it, he was panting, feeling his sheath painfully swollen between his legs. The rush of victory was on him, as well as the powerful lusts of his demonic body, and he felt in his heart that Ammy was offering him a proper prize for his heroism. He had turned down a mortal lover only moments before. Then perhaps he would prefer an immortal one.
Taking a few steps away from him, Ammy turned, smirking teasingly over her shoulder, and hiked her tail to the side, revealing the pink parts that he had only caught tantalizing glimpses of before. Now he could see and inspect the sun wolf's beautiful, triangular vulva fully exposed, no mere dream or vision, but a desirable reality. Her triangular vulva was swollen, puffy, and Tamati would realize that Ammy had chosen to drive her near-mortal body into a state of heat. She was offering herself as a sheath where he could quench the desperate heat of his aching shaft, which spilled forth in full readiness, the tip already dripping copiously. Knowing what he was, how his dark nature was almost diametrically opposed to her own brightness, Ammy was still giving herself to Tamati, trusting him completely, letting him claim her very womb with his virile seed with their union of opposites.
Who was Tamati to refuse such an offer from a goddess? His muzzle thrust forward, tongue lashing out as he began to lap at the delicious juices flowing from Ammy's sopping sex. She was so wet! It tasted heavenly, just like the juices of a goddess should taste, and Tamati thrust his muzzle forward even more, his tongue penetrating Ammy's quim, driving deep into her slick folds. Yelping at this sudden intrusion into the exquisite tightness of her divine body, the furry goddess carefully turned herself around, making sure not to lose contact between her cunny and Tamati's thrusting tongue, before she dipped her head beneath his hips. Suddenly Tamati felt his achingly hard shaft engulfed by lips far more agile than those of a mere wolf, Ammy's long muzzle taking him right up to the knot. With a whine of pleasure, Tamati started to pump his head with feverish energy, even as he felt Ammy doing the same, working her deliciously smooth tongue along the underside of his heavy foxcock, flicking and then circling the tip as she pulled back, before she took him once more right to the roots, his plump, charcoal-furred balls bumping against her chin.
It was too much, and Tamati knew he wouldn't last long like this, even as he tensed his belly, doing all he could to hold off as long as possible. With a shudder, Tamati pulled away from Ammy, his shaft falling free of her muzzle with a messy slurp as she gave his tip a parting lick. His eyes met Ammy's, and she knew what he wanted, how he wanted this encounter to end. Smiling invitingly, she turned to face away from him, lowering her head to the ground, wagging her sleek-furred back end towards him invitingly, tail turned to the side, exposing her slick, painfully swollen cunny for his use.
Moving with smooth assurance, Tamati lifted himself up, gripping Ammy's hips tightly, his own hips jerking a little with his eagerness. It was only with an effort of will that the nine-tailed fox kept himself from humping the air like an overeager dog mounting his bitch. Instead, he carefully stepped forward, holding his breath as the dripping tip of his cock jutted forward like a lance, taking his time, not rushing this. This was the sort of opportunity that only came once in a lifetime, if that. Tamati had no intention of ruining it by being too eager.
Then the very tip of his shaft touched Ammy's steaming little cunny, and Tamati lost his resolve to self-control in an instant. His hips hunched, and he gave a long, drawn-out moan as he sank inch after inch after inch deep, deep into the she-wolf's quivering depths. She was so tight! So slick and wet. With an almost puppyish whine, quite out-of-character for the muscular fox demon, he buried his muzzle in the fur of Ammy's neck, panting hard as he just held himself there, buried balls-deep in the clenching, quivering quim of a goddess in mortal shape.
Tamati didn't have long to hold himself in that position, savoring the exquisite sensations of Ammy's channel gripping him, before Ammy herself began to move, hunching herself back against him with needy eagerness. She whined plaintively, and Tamati realized that he was being selfish. She was just as needy as him, needed it just as badly, and he was denying her what she needed by his inaction.
Immediately Tamati started to move his hips, panting as his balls impacted with Ammy's, slowly at first, but then gradually picking up his pace. She thrust back in time with his own thrusts, letting him build up speed at his own rate, not rushing him, but not letting him neglect her again either. Ammy wanted this to last as much as Tamati did.
Minutes passed, their slow lovemaking a tender, beautiful sight on the sun-dappled green hill before the shrine, so unlike anything between mere animals. Both canids, demonic and divine, panted in passion as they exulted in the sweet sensations washing over them, just basking in the sheer joy of being alive at that moment.
But then something changed. Ammy looked over her shoulder at Tamati, grinning her wolfish smile, before she clenched down on him, so firm and so tight that Tamati couldn't keep up his gentle, loving pace any more. His glowing red eyes met her dark, endless orbs, and he realized what she was doing. Ammy was challenging him, daring him to use her, a glorious, divine goddess, like a true she-wolf! Was he male enough for such a challenge? Tamati grinned toothily as he considered the question for only a moment. Oooh yeah!
Thrust!
"Hoooooowl!" wailed Ammy in pleasure, her head snapping back, only to have the back of her neck seized tightly by Tamati's powerful jaws, his hips starting to pound her now, loud, wet squelching and meaty thumps filling the air as his balls slapped her inner thighs, the fur of his testicles getting soaked by the she-wolf's copious juices. Tamati didn't hold back the deep, masculine growls and grunts that escaped his throat as he plundered Ammy's sweet treasure for his own pleasures, holding nothing back as his hips became a blur, his black-fire tails lashing behind and all around them both, trailed streamers of dark light like will-o-wisps. Without warning, suddenly Ammy was cumming, screaming in a voice that was at once wolf and human, and Tamati was crying out as well, releasing Ammy's neck to lift his head upward, joining her now in a wild, feral howl to the sun above as he filled her with his copious, fertile seed, his whole body jerking in hard spasms as he was overwhelmed with pleasure.
His cock still spurting, gushing within Ammy, Tamati felt his knot lock into place, and his instincts took over as he lifted his leg, turning so that his rump and hers were pressed together. Ammy whined in pleasure, tugging against Tamati's cock as he held her by his mighty demon shaft, clenching her inner muscles in waves in a combination of willful eagerness to coax more cum from him, and the spasms of orgasm-induced pleasure.
It was almost sunset when Tamati's knot softened enough to let him pop free of Ammy's well-stretched, deeply flushed and thoroughly bred cunny, their time until that point spent in rubbing their bodies against each other, sharing the pleasure that each new sensation brought. As he did so, he stood there, panting, his shaft slowly retreating back into his sheath. He turned when he had recovered enough, facing her with a smile, which she returned. But Ammy wasn't finished yet it seemed, for as Tamati took a step towards her, eager to stroke his muzzle against hers, perhaps to share as close to a kiss as they could manage in their present shapes, she turned away from him, and then rolled over onto her back. Her legs splayed out, baring her cunny to him once more, and Tamati couldn't help but rise to the occasion yet again, his cock hardening instantly with supernatural virility. He mounted her like a human, face-to-face, feeling Ammy lick the underside of his neck and chest as he thrust deep, deep into her pulsing pussy, moaning deeply at the sensation of filling her up once more.
His hips were moving, paws set against the ground, and the feelings were more than Tamati could bear, losing himself in the moment as he worked his shaft, pounding her as Ammy yelped in pleasure, her legs splayed out on either side of Tamati's body. He almost didn't notice how he was resting hands on the grass on either side of Ammy's head rather than paws, proper plantigrade knees nudging her pert rump as he thrust downward into her, the change having happened so smoothly, so completely, that it had nearly passed his notice.
Tamati wasn't the only one who was changing. As he looked down at Ammy, he pressed his muzzle against hers, sharing a wild, needy kiss, their tongues meeting, dueling, her white-furred legs and arms wrapping around his body, clasping him to her as she squealed in delight, the sound muffled by their kiss. Feeling her body tightening down on him, losing its stretched state with her change in the same way that Tamati's body had healed after the battle, Tamati arched his back, his head lifting as he cried out in pleasure, his hips starting to thrust even harder into that perfect, virgin tightness. It was too much! His muzzle swung down at the last, just as his orgasm hit, blasting all his senses, and his lips met the smooth-skinned ones of Amateratsu, the goddess, who cried out in divine pleasure, her smooth white body shining with the light of the sun itself, engulfing Tamati in its rays.
When Tamati came to himself, he was lying on the same hillside, not far from the shrine where he'd been meditating. His position was only a few feet from where he'd been when he'd begun his spiritual journey through time and space. The nine-tailed fox demon's body was naked, of course, with the Lightning Strike driven into the ground only a short distance away. He stood slowly, stretching his back at the soreness that lingered from his recent exertions, and grinned at a passing tour group of Japanese schoolgirls, making them blush and giggle before he stepped into some bushes to dress himself.
Amateratsu was whole once more, Tamati knew. When her power had been restored, she had sent him back to his time, setting all things back into their proper order. As he walked down the path from the shrine, heading back towards the city that had once been a village, however, Tamati had to wonder about something that teased at the back of his mind: he had cum into Amateratsu while she had been fully fertile. What had become of the children of their union?
Perhaps he would never know.
Letting his thoughts of the past slide into memory, Tamati made his way back into the city, his tails swaying around him, their tips shining with dark fire in the fading light of dusk.