The Shirohebi and the Hunter- Chapter 3: A Day Out With The Ryu

After my fourth or fifth glass of sake at the tavern, I felt a slender pair of arms slide around my shoulders and the warm swell of a large pair of breasts pressing into my back. Right away I could tell the arms were too dark to belong to the cute shirohebi who had been occupying my mind lately. Yukihebi also didn’t have a colorful dragon tattoo wrapping around her upper arm, either.

“Hanta-kun….are you feeling OK? You haven’t tried fondling me all week.” a husky but still feminine voice asked loud enough for the other patrons to hear.

“Is that an invitation, Burei?” I ask.

Suddenly, the buxom human barmaid rediscovers her modesty and backs away from me as though I had just burst into flame. Burei was easily one of the longest-serving barmaids at this particular izakaya. While not as pretty as some of the newer hires, her brash, straightforward nature somehow endeared herself to alot of the regulars. Every once in awhile, drunkards needed to hear the hard truth, something the demure and prettier new hires were less than capable of.

The Shirohebi and the Hunter- Chapter 2: Snake Charmed

Even though there was a little curtain that hung partway down between the yakitori stall and the street, it was pretty easy to tell that a shirohebi was dining there by virtue of the large white serpent’s tail jutting out into the footpath.

The weeks leading up to the wedding went by in a blur. The kindly Ryu formally introduced herself to me as Hisui, and allowed me to stay at the temple a little longer. Under the pretense of helping out with running some errands, I also had a few more lunch dates with the beautiful and shy Yukihebi.

The Shirohebi and the Hunter- Chapter 1

“You’re awake.” I heard a voice call out.

The last thing I remember was traipsing around the woods, trying to cut a path through the forest and foothills that would circumvent the emperor’s Customs house for a Gyoubu Danuki client who was interested in smuggling in foreign contraband. She had given me an advance paid in gold the week before, but none of that mattered as I fell down an embankment and slammed my head against a rock on the way down.

I seemed to remember fleeting visions of a beautiful, pale angelic figure watching over me at times. But then again, I did fall from a considerable height and hit my head in the process, so that could also have been explained away as the byproduct of head trauma.

Recluse’s Cove

To say I’m not much to look at would be understating things considerably. I grew up in a nice home with loving parents and a big sister before a raging fire took all of that away one winter night. I was the sole survivor, but the right side of my face was badly burned and I no longer had a roof over my head. I was taken to an orphanage run by the Order where my burns were treated, but never fully healed. The clergy at the orphanage were kind, but that did little to change the fact that nobody was interested in adopting me. Perhaps the one bright spot was Sister Vermalis, a nun slightly older than my sister who would often take me out picking berries and mushrooms. It was thanks to her, I learned which ones were edible and which ones to stay away from- invaluable skills for my rather solitary existence.

Currently living alone in a ramshackle seaside cabin, I was used to the sea depositing an occasional gift on the stretch of beach that doubled as my front yard. Despite never venturing out into the briny deep any further than

Active Ingredient- Chapter 1

I stood on the porch of the nondescript bungalow, my finger hovering above the doorbell. Even though it was hardly even noon yet, the whole rainy, miserable day seemed to be leading up to this moment.

Answering an online ad. This is how people ended up murdered, their corpse hidden in a garbage-strewn culvert by the side of the road for weeks at a time, only to be discovered by a DOT highway crew cleaning up garbage or cutting vegetation. Murdered over a cellphone, or sneakers or the change in my pocket after replying to some vague and shady internet ad. Looking down at my phone for the eleventh time since I arrived at the address, I re-read the ad that brought me here.

Have Yourself A Tsundere Little Christmas- Home For the Holidays With Anubis: Part 2

When I woke up the following morning, it almost looked as though the cabin had been ransacked before it occurred to me that Sakaali and I did this with our carnal hijinks.

The enchanting Anubis looked positively spent as she continued dozing in the cabin’s bed with me. Spent, but otherwise happy.

Taking care not to wake her, I gingerly got up and tidied up the place a little bit, uprighting some of the furniture we knocked over while she was riding me like

Have Yourself A Tsundere Little Christmas- Home For the Holidays With Anubis

Off in the distance, old-time Bing Crosby Christmas Carols were playing on a CD in another room. The four of us had gathered around the table, but as soon as the pot roast was served, there was noticably little conversation. For the longest time, the only sound is the occasional *tink* of silverware and cutlery against the plates.

“So….” my mother asks, breaking the silence at our Christmas eve dinner. “How did you two meet?”

I can’t help but chuckle as my girlfriend’s ears twitch a little.