The Azure Dragon’s Devotion: An Offering of Three Centuries to You, page 12
So, without thinking, Kohaku said, “You can’t possibly be trying to ride out your rut in that form. Do you want to crush me? If you insist on getting in my personal space, then revert to your normal body.”
To his surprise, Seiryu tilted his head to the side and instantly returned to a humanoid shape without any fuss.
“What the hell?!” Kohaku exclaimed. “You could always turn back? Then why are you bothering to sleep— Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
Seiryu was staring right at Kohaku. He clearly hadn’t regained full control over his faculties. Much like he had been doing as a dragon, he rubbed his cheek against Kohaku’s and then pressed him down onto the ground. His movements reminded Kohaku of a child who had grown attached to someone, so he remained limp, letting Seiryu do as he pleased.
But then, Seiryu dragged his rough tongue along Kohaku’s cheek and placed a hand on Kohaku’s waist sash.
“What are you doing?” Kohaku asked.
Seiryu pulled at one end of the waist sash, untying it, and Kohaku’s shenyi fell open. Seiryu brushed his chilly hand against Kohaku’s bare chest and made a soft rumbling noise.
Kohaku glanced down at himself and realized why Seiryu was reacting this way. “Oh, this? It’s not a serious injury; it’ll heal in no time.”
Seiryu had been staring at the wound Kohaku’s father had left on him before coming to the Dragon Clan’s village. Thanks to the clean air, he was recovering faster than normal. The scab was already in the final stages of healing. Seiryu narrowed his eyes before he suddenly leaned down and dragged his tongue across it.
“What do you think you’re doing? Who in their right mind licks an—” Kohaku cut himself off. He noticed that with every pass of Seiryu’s tongue, the wound was closing, bit by bit. “You...can do that?”
Kohaku didn’t know the details of Seiryu’s powers. Granted, that went for all beastfolk. Though the relations between the various clans were a lot friendlier now, no one knew when things would change for the worse. Many clans treated their magic and abilities as confidential information.
Without answering, Seiryu continued to lap passionately at Kohaku’s injury. At first, he focused his efforts on the middle of Kohaku’s chest, but he slowly migrated leftward. At one point, he accidentally brushed his tongue against a part of Kohaku’s chest that made him suck in a breath.
All this time, Kohaku had thought of those parts of himself as nothing more than physical accessories. He’d never touched them before—they’d been things that simply existed on him. But as soon as Seiryu rasped his tongue over Kohaku’s nipple, the stimulation sent a strange, itchy feeling rippling through his body.
Kohaku gasped. “W-Wait, why are you licking there?”
Seiryu was relentless—he lapped at that spot with loud, wet flicks of his tongue. Kohaku couldn’t understand his body’s strange response to this unfamiliar sensation, and he rubbed his thighs together. The thing between his legs hurt. This has never happened before. Panicking, Kohaku tried to push Seiryu away and slide out from under him, but at some point, Seiryu had straddled him. There was no escape.
“Hey...wait!” Kohaku tried before his words devolved into quiet cries.
Every time Seiryu licked his chest, noises flowed from Kohaku’s mouth—they hardly sounded like they’d come from his own throat. What was going on? What was happening to him? Unable to keep up with everything, Kohaku could only tremble in the face of all these new stimuli.
Seiryu undid his own waist sash and opened his shenyi. Kohaku froze when he saw what Seiryu had revealed to him—he was unable to tear his eyes away from the sight.
“Wh-What is that?”
The long fabric around Seiryu’s waist was tented, hiding something beneath. Seiryu tilted his head to the side and parted the fabric, revealing something Kohaku had never seen before. Well, to be more precise, he had seen something similar to it on his own body. However, his was soft. It wasn’t so hard and intrusive in his daily life.
It was baffling. Something so firm protruding from Seiryu’s lower body would surely get in the way during fights, right? But Kohaku was in for an even bigger surprise. When Seiryu reached his hand into Kohaku’s robes, Kohaku noticed that the same part of his body was hard too—just like Seiryu’s.
“Wh-Why is this—” Would he have to live the rest of his life like this?
Then, Seiryu touched it. Kohaku tensed up in shock, and in the next instant, his body twitched and shook. That same itchy sensation from earlier dominated his senses.
“W-Wait, something weird is... Ah... J-Just a moment! You shouldn’t be...! This is...” Seiryu was holding his length and Kohaku’s in one hand, pressing them together, and every time Seiryu pistoned his hips, that itchy feeling grew more and more intense. Between the high-pitched noises involuntarily spilling from Kohaku’s mouth, he managed to cry out, “Wait, hold on! Something weird is—no, ahh, I feel—”
Seiryu let out a breath, and the air tickled Kohaku’s ear. Immediately after, Kohaku was overcome with the sensation of being sent adrift, like someone had lifted him into the air. It wasn’t the same comfort as floating in a tub full of warm water. No, it was so intense that it bordered on pain. So this was the pleasure he’d read about in the book.
Seiryu sighed. “Ah, Kohaku, you’re so cute. That felt incredible.”
“Are you...finally back to yourself?” Kohaku panted out.
Seiryu rubbed his nose against Kohaku’s before kissing his forehead. Kohaku stayed still, thinking this was their usual morning greeting. But then, Seiryu pressed their mouths together.
“I’m so happy you’re letting me go this far,” Seiryu murmured against his lips.
“Quit it,” Kohaku mumbled. “It’s impossible to talk like this.”
Did the people of that faraway country also exchange kisses on the mouth whenever they wanted to say hello to others? Kohaku wondered how they could do something this embarrassing every day.
Seiryu once again began to rub that part of Kohaku’s lower body, which had returned to its usual soft state.
“H-Hey, what are you doing?! Wai—I’m telling you to wait.” Kohaku tried to speak more, but he had to cut himself off with an embarrassingly high-pitched whine.
“It’s pleasurable, isn’t it? Instead of saying ‘wait,’ you should say ‘it feels good.’ That’ll make it feel even better.”
“I-It feels good? So, th-this is...ah...pleasure?”
“That’s right. It feels nice...so nice...for me too. Ahh, you’re adorable! You’re driving me crazy.”
“A-Again?” Kohaku gasped in between the involuntary moans. “You want to do it again? Ah, it...it feels so good.”
“Yes, again. Let’s drown in pleasure. I’m not doing anything painful right now, am I?”
Seiryu wasn’t wrong. Though it left an intensely buzzing sensation in Kohaku’s body, he didn’t hate it. In fact, it felt so good that Kohaku feared he would develop a craving for it.
“B-But if our skin touches, we’ll—ah—make a baby!”
“It’s all right—our bodies aren’t connected, so there’s no risk of pregnancy. Just leave everything to me and relax. Will you help me with my rut?”
“I-It’s all right? I-I won’t get pregnant?”
“That’s right. You’ll be fine.”
In that case, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to play along with Seiryu and ease his rut. He wouldn’t want Seiryu to go on a rampage again, and all of this closeness felt pleasurable.
“Please. Help me,” Seiryu whispered. Gripping Kohaku’s length, he swiped his thumb over the sensitive head. Mind blank, Kohaku could only nod. “Thank you, Kohaku.”
Seiryu pressed their mouths together again, and this time, he slid his tongue inside and wrapped it around Kohaku’s. Immediately, Kohaku tensed, fearing that Seiryu planned on biting him, but he never did. Before Kohaku even realized what he was doing, he was enthusiastically pressing his tongue against Seiryu’s. After all, it just felt so good.
Kohaku spent all night lost in the pleasure Seiryu wrung from his body; he didn’t even realize that time was passing until the sun rose outside. In fact, Kohaku couldn’t leave the cave until a few days later, when Seiryu’s rut finally ended.
***
“I’m heading out, Kohaku.”
“See you.”
Now that Seiryu’s rut was over, the pair would return to their usual daily life. At least, that was what Kohaku had thought would happen, but something had drastically changed between them. For starters, their morning greeting was different. Instead of kissing him on the forehead, Seiryu pressed their mouths together and slipped his tongue in. Quiet gasps escaped Kohaku throughout the kiss, and their tongues tangled together. Once Seiryu got his fill, he would pull back, peck Kohaku’s forehead, and only then would the greeting finally end.
“I’ll return at noon, so be a good boy for me until then,” Seiryu said. He used his finger to swipe saliva from Kohaku’s wet lips before he left.
As soon as the door shut behind Seiryu, Mashiro, who had been watching in silence the entire time, opened his mouth. “I wish he would tone things down when other people are around.”
“Do you seriously care about others watching you exchange greetings?”
“I don’t want Lord Seiryu glaring at me for saying too much, so I won’t even reply to that. Lord Kohaku, you’re so innocent... I worry about you sometimes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. I don’t want to accidentally incur the dragon’s wrath, so I’ll just head off to my lessons for the day.”
Lately, Kohaku had seen Mashiro pulling a face like he had just bitten into a lemon, but he didn’t know the reason behind the expression. He tilted his head to the side as Mashiro bid him farewell and left. Alone in the room, Kohaku’s body felt strangely itchy, and he couldn’t sit still.
Not again... Ever since the night he’d spent with Seiryu in the cave, his body had changed. He now experienced strange hot flashes. Something was clearly off. It reminded him of the buzzing sensation he’d gotten when he and Seiryu had pressed their bare skin together, but it wasn’t as intense. It must be because Seiryu keeps doing strange things to me. Surely this odd feeling would stop after the matchmaking session was over and he could leave the village.
Leave the village? It was something he had always expected would happen, but the second the thought crossed his mind, something in Kohaku’s chest squeezed painfully. Get a hold of yourself! He couldn’t become accustomed to comfort. This village was indeed an enjoyable place to live. He didn’t have to fear his father’s scolding or worry about Mashiro’s safety. Every day, Kohaku got to eat delicious food. Every night, he could sleep in a nice bed with Seiryu’s warmth at his side.
None of this was permanent, though. Soon, he would have to return to his previous life. My previous life... He would go back to the White Tiger Clan’s village and live with Mashiro in that old, dilapidated manor. For years, he had thought of that house as the happiest place he could carve out for himself. But now, he felt like his life up to this point had been a sad and lonely one.
“I don’t want to go back,” Kohaku murmured before he gasped and hurriedly slapped his hand over his mouth. What did I just say? He hadn’t expected to blurt out the words, but he couldn’t deny the truth in them.
He had to leave, though—it was impossible for him to escape his destiny. The crow currently perched on the windowsill, cawing at him for attention, drove that point home. This crow was the one his father used during emergencies. Kohaku approached the bird, removed the scroll tied to its leg, and unfurled it to reveal a letter from his father.
“Demon appeared within territory. Exterminate it at once.”
The simply worded letter contained a map as well. Kohaku couldn’t disobey this order. His only choice was to go. After rushing through his morning preparations, he picked up his sword; he felt like it had been ages since the last time he’d held it.
Then, without telling anyone, he snuck out of the Dragon Clan’s village. If he exterminated the demon quickly enough, he could return without anyone noticing.
He had no idea that he would come to regret this impulsive decision.
***
“What the hell is this thing?!” Kohaku exclaimed at the sight of his quarry.
When he reached the place on the map, he encountered the largest demon he had ever seen. It was three times Kohaku’s height and had a fat physique. Hair covered its entire body, and it reeked—the stench was so awful that it left Kohaku feeling sick. The most troublesome feature of this demon was its corrosive saliva. Even the briefest, slightest contact with Kohaku’s skin had left behind a terrible burn.
Kohaku clicked his tongue. The tingling on his skin wasn’t just from the burn; his instincts were screaming a warning at him. This demon was different. It was the worst out of all the demons he’d faced throughout his career.
“Bastard!” he spat.
The one stroke of luck was that the demon couldn’t move very fast. If it had been quick, then Kohaku wouldn’t have been able to lift a finger against it. The demon raised both fists and slammed them down toward Kohaku, but he easily dodged the attack. He jumped onto the demon’s arm and used it as a ramp, sprinting up the limb and stabbing his sword into the monster’s eye.
The demon bellowed out a deafening roar, but Kohaku could tell that he’d inflicted some damage. If he used his speed to his advantage, he could defeat it.
Right as the thought passed through his mind, something flew at the demon from behind him. It hit and ricocheted off its gargantuan body with a light thud.
“Don’t scream and moan from such a pathetic attack!” someone shouted.
Kohaku spun around to see who it was. “Karin?!”
Karin was just standing there, holding some round objects in his hands.
“Get out of here!” Kohaku yelled as quickly as he could. “What do you think you’re doing?! Do you want to get involved in this fight?!”
But Karin’s response was to laugh and clutch his belly. “You still haven’t figured things out?! You’re as stupid as I knew you were!”
“What are you talking about?!”
“I was the one who unsealed that thing! Its job was to lure you here so that I could kill you!”
Kohaku’s breath caught in his throat—he was unable to say anything in response to Karin’s mocking words. Did he just say he unsealed this? That means this demon is so powerful that its previous combatant had no choice but to seal it away!
“You dumbass!” Kohaku snapped. “No sane person would’ve done such a thing! How do you plan on taking responsibility if this demon hurts or kills someone?!”
“You think I give a crap about that?!” Karin retorted. “If the demon could be sealed once, I’m sure someone can do it again!”
“Are you incapable of any forward thinking? Do you really think things will just work out for you like that?!”
Unbelievable! Did Karin even know how much damage this demon could cause if no one stepped in to do something about it?!
“Enough! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Karin screamed. “You don’t know the first thing about me! I grew up with everyone telling me that I was born to become Lord Seiryu’s mate! That I was the only one who deserved to stand at that beautiful dragon’s side! And then you showed up! Someone as pathetic as you showed up and seduced him!”
“Did you seriously unseal this demon for such a ridiculous reason?!”
“‘Ridiculous’? Did you seriously just say it was ridiculous?!” Karin furiously shook his head, uncaring of the mess it made of his hair. “My entire life, I’ve worked hard to become Lord Seiryu’s mate. And yet, of all the beastfolk, someone as inept as you was the one he... Even the people of the Dragon Clan, who were supposed to support me, started accepting you among them! If you marry him, then all my efforts will have been in vain! If only...if only you would just go away, then Lord Seiryu would accept me at his side!”
Karin punctuated his tirade with a stomp on the ground, and then he began throwing those round objects at the demon again.
“What are you doing?!” Kohaku demanded.
“They’re special vitamins I made from demons I’ve caught! Consuming them will bring out a demon’s full power!”
“Are you nuts?! It’ll be next to impossible to stop this thing!”
“It’s all your fault! If you had never existed, I wouldn’t have had to do this! Because of you, the Dragon Clan banned me from their village! All I wanted to do was help Lord Seiryu through his rut!”
So, when I saw Karin enter the cave, he was sneaking in there without permission? Now wasn’t the time to ruminate on this, but Kohaku still felt a sense of relief at the revelation. He couldn’t understand why he felt that way.
“I even wore your clothes to put him in the mood!” Karin continued.
“My clothes?” Where did Karin even get my clothes?
Seeing the confusion on Kohaku’s face, Karin laughed, cruel and derisive. “Wow, you happy-go-lucky fool! Haven’t you noticed yet?! I knew you would be the one to show up for the demon extermination—now, how could I possibly know that?!”
“Huh?”
For the first time, Kohaku realized how odd this situation was. If Karin had unsealed this demon to kill Kohaku, how had he been able to wait here for Kohaku to arrive? But before a hypothesis could take proper shape in Kohaku’s mind, the demon let out a guttural growl, interrupting his thoughts.
“Graaagh!” the demon roared.
Things happened so fast that Kohaku’s mind couldn’t keep up. It took everything he had to dodge the demon’s attack—he didn’t have time to push Karin out of the way.
“A-Aaaahhh! I-It burns!” Karin screamed. He’d taken the brunt of the corrosive attack after Kohaku had jumped out of the way.
“Karin!”
Kohaku could see Karin rolling on the ground clutching at his face, but there was nothing he could do for him now. A sizzling noise and an awful stench rose in the air as Karin, voice trembling in pain, wailed, “My...! My face! This wasn’t how things were supposed to go! This wasn’t how he said everything would play out! Why isn’t he here to save me?! Liar! He said that he would do something about the demon!”
