Chapter 23 Servitude, Insanity and Sensuality (revised)
In the end, Ron missed most of the furor that Yamanouchi experienced in the wake of Kobayashi Senior's defeat and subsequent imprisonment... During the storm of gossip that flew through the halls of the school, and the wildly mixed emotions that everybody felt in response, Ron was otherwise occupied getting his ass handed to him by Reo in the Apprentice class's gym.
Reo was pleased as punch with Ron's handling of Kobayashi earlier in the day, but since the man was a legitimate sadist, his goodwill and good cheer ended up manifesting as a particularly brutal sparring session that left Ron bruised all over and rush healing a fractured rib. Add these injuries to the kunai slash wounds that were currently making Ron's right hand, left forearm and right thigh a source of itchy discomfort, and the boy was quite eager to shut it down for the day.
But first, dinner, which meant it was time for Ron to brave the public eye within the most stressful location imaginable for many a high school student…
It was time to go to the Mess Hall during the Five Pm dinner rush.
Moving silently through a series of hallways that were tinted a nostalgic feeling orange and yellow, Ron exchanged messages with the girls hanging out in his soul, before emerging into a vast open room that was full to bursting with ninja trainees of every shade to black.
And movement all around the room immediately froze into a silent and oppressive stillness, in which every eye at every single table stared in Ron's direction as if he was a zoo exhibit with a bad case of rabies.
The girls present in Ron's soul reacted quickly, whispering encouragement into his mind while hurling insults at his detractors, but by then, he was already moving. He never paused in place, he didn't scan the room, and he didn't expect a red carpet welcome, because he wasn't new to this kind of situation. Instead, he walked towards the servery area of the Mess, where he selected a vast array of food, and by the time he was finished amassing a frankly obscene amount of calories, conversations were restarting all around the room. Then he was sitting at a table as close to one of the four walls as he could find, and he was exercising his peripheral vision to keep an eye out as he ate.
Ron was well-aware that he was growing famous within the school, that his increased notoriety wasn't making him a popular man, and that he was a legitimate upstart now, worthy of their frustration. He was climbing the ranks, he was defying the odds, and he was showing many undeniable signs of being an uncommonly gifted spiritualist. In just a little over a month, he grew over half a foot, his skin was smoother, his hair was softer, his physique and carriage was streamlined and perfected, and he was noticeably more intelligent, both in memory retention, and more fluid extrapolation. He'd visibly, noticeably EVOLVED during his tenure at the school, down to the genetic level (with Kim's help), to the point he was a Stoppable only as a technicality.
Taking all of these things into consideration… Ron was making the locals that prepared to attend Yamanouchi since birth and were struggling to keep up with the school's demands look like total chumps in comparison…
It wasn't a good image, and it wasn't garnering Ron a warm welcome, but it also wasn't something that he could do anything about, and in the end it wasn't all that important. Ron wasn't present at the school to run for homecoming king. He was approaching his training like a gamer would play a speedrun, skipping both dialogue and cutscenes, honing the game's more advanced mechanics, and playing the system with the objective to get the most out of every single second…
And it was working, but at a cost... A cost that presented itself just as Ron was wrapping up his dinner, in the form of the foursome of charcoal gray clad trainees that approached his table, and lined up in a row.
Fukushima looked both low-key pissed off… and pleased, which likely meant that the man was NOT happy that Ron was climbing the ranks so quickly, but he WAS happy that Ron was now fair game within his sparring rings. A fact that the boy made very clear a few moments later, when he stepped up directly in front of Ron, stared down at him as if he was a bug, and then made his feelings exceedingly clear. "I'll admit, I thought I would never get the chance to make good my promise to you, so I'm quite grateful to you, Stoppable san… Thank you for skipping so many vital steps and fundamentals in your training. Thank you for disgracing this school so thoroughly. Thank you for climbing to my level, so that I can knock you back down..."
"You and Kobayashi san say some very similar things, Fukushima san," Ron pointed out after chewing and swallowing the chicken in his mouth.
"That's quite the infuriating comparison, because I have no intention of ambushing you in such a disgusting fashion," Fukushima all but whispered back, his eyes cold, his nose flaring. "I do not need to subvert my honor to show insignificant wretches such as yourself their true place in this world… I only need to do what is expected of me. Meet my adversaries out in the rings, and then fight to the very best of my abilities…"
At that, Ron slowly nodded his head and then drew the last of his dinner up towards his lips, as in a way, Fukushima couldn't actually be compared to Kobayashi, and his earlier accusation was unfair. At the same time, apologizing would be a ridiculous waste of time, because the man really WAS a gigantic asshole, and he really WAS intending to break Ron's body at the very first opportunity…
And yet, when a HUD messenger prompt from Kim popped up in Ron's vision, it wasn't to warn him about Fukushima, but to point out a man sitting about five meters behind Fukushima's back… Sato, the boy that attacked Ron outside of Master Sensei's office when he first arrived at the school, was staring in his direction with murder in his eyes… That man, at the very least, was NOT going to fight fair despite his bad intentions. No. Sato's bad intentions were much more purposeful and versatile, much more likely to spill into empty spaces or dimly lit hallways.
Even as Ron scanned the men that were standing directly in front of him, noting their appearances just in case he ever encountered them in the sparring rings, he recognized that these bullies were just that… bullies… On the other hand, the dejected and isolated looking man that was sitting all alone in the distance had become the so-called 'quiet kid in class', thus, he was a far more worrisome type of existence…
Quietly but uncharacteristically, Fukushima suddenly leaned in over the table to place his palms down upon its surface, as apparently the man was pissed that Ron was dismissing his presence… At which point, his moment of weakness was witnessed by the one person he was trying to impress…
All of the sudden, the most famous and beautiful kunoichi in the whole entire school walked up to Ron's table, shot Fukushima a completely disgusted look, graced Ron with a showstopping smile, and then insistently gestured for the blond boy to join her outside in the hall. The gesture was so demanding, so familiar, so informal, it froze the entire Mess Hall in its tracks.
Even as Ron guessed that Yori was about to show him the way to his new Journeyman living quarters, he found himself shocked that the woman was being so… demonstrative, and so were the various women that were watching from within his mindscape. While Ron and Yori spent several hours together every single morning, training and talking and goofing around with their spiritual powers, and he definitely wouldn't hesitate to call the woman a close friend and sensei, the kunoichi never approached him in public forums and she wouldn't smile at him in such a provocative fashion…
Which left Ron wondering exactly what nature of psy-op Yori was trying to pull off right now…
Was the kunoichi trying to convey that Ron was in the good graces of the school? Was she trying to prevent him from being targeted outside of the sparring rings? Was she trying to lessen the impact of the Kobayashi debacle in the eyes of the student body by introducing herself to the rumor mill?
If so, Ron feared Yori's actions would have decidedly mixed results, especially given the poorly concealed outrage burning in Fukushima's eyes, or the dozens of muttered conversations that were beginning around the room.
Nevertheless, Ron rose from his seat with his empty tray in hand, deposited it in the bin for the staff to clean, and then joined his female friend as she walked out of the hall.
For the next few minutes, as Yori silently ushered him through the halls, Ron's entire focus was on trying to figure the Kunoichi out, because her demeanor was a little… off. She was a little too close, a little too happy, a little too A LOT of things, but nothing too out of the ordinary to actually point out. One thing that WAS blatantly out of the ordinary was where they were, as they were quite far off the beaten path, in far less trafficked areas of the school, which made sense if Ron's room was supposed to remain a secret.
Still… The girls in Ron's mind were beginning to mutter very unlikely suspicions to each other, and Ron couldn't really dismiss their concerns…
"Yori san… I have a few questions," Ron quietly conveyed, his words seeming to echo off the walls in the old and empty area.
"In a moment please," Yori absently breathed out, her focus on unlocking a large, heavily fortified, iron door that they just reached. Then the old, scarred wood of the door was swinging open on surprisingly well oiled hinges, and Yori was gesturing Ron into the room.
"You're not usually this cloak and dagger," Ron pointed out, even as he preceded Yori into the dimly lit room, cast about for a light switch, and then gasped in surprise when Yori pressed him further into the room with the curves of her body, the door closing shut behind them, a deadbolt dropping into place.
"Yori, what are…" Ron choked out, only to freeze in place with his mouth hanging open when the lights turned on, and he found himself standing in a set of living quarters that were decorated with very traditional Japanese aesthetics… for women.
These were Yori's living quarters… of that Ron had no doubt whatsoever, and the women within his mindscape agreed, which is why they were calling for him to make his escape, to unleash all of his spiritual power and fight his way free from this location… but he didn't. He couldn't, not with Yori's hands rubbing at his waist and stomach, two rather large, soft and perky breasts pressing in between his shoulder-blades, and her cheek pressing flush to the side of his jaw… This situation definitely called for some tact… and Gods help him, tact REALLY wasn't Ron's strong suit.
In the end, Ron froze in place as Yori very slowly, very sensually waltzed around his body to reveal the fact that her pitch black gi was loosened at the waist, the collar was riding low enough to drape off both of her shoulders, and was pulling further apart with every single movement that she made... Cleavage… a metric fuckton of it... Two shockingly full and perfect globes of pale white titflesh were all but spilling out of Yori's increasingly open gi, as the woman moved to within just a foot from Ron's chest and slid her hands up his chest to clutch at his collar. The kunoichi's ethereally beautiful face was flushed red, her pale pink lips were slightly parted, her lustrous black eyes were moist with irrepressible emotions…
Ron's mouth hung open in shock.
"I… watched you today… while you fought… while you bled off that cliff," Yori breathed out, her voice breathy, insubstantial, but containing notes of something unfathomably deep and intense, something… predatory.
"I…" Ron began, only for Yori's expression to halt him in his tracks. The ravenette's expression was… naughty… slutty even… and it was completely foreign to the kunoichi that he'd come to know so far…
"I often watch you train, with Reo, or without him, in the rain or not in the rain, whether I'm asked to… or not…" Yori continued, her hands slowly drawing apart Ron's collar, her trim little tummy rolling against the bulge in his pants in a way that made it stir. "I like the contradictions that you embody. You're so clumsy, so strong, so inexperienced, so brave, so cute, so well-hung…"
By this point, the girls within Ron's soul were going completely freaking berserk, whisper-screaming in his ear to push the slut away and make a run for it… but he didn't, not yet, because something about this situation was all kinds of wrong… and what's more… spiritual senses that he couldn't even begin to describe were informing him that something… else… was currently interfering with his friend.
A friend that could fold him in half without even breaking a sweat…
Instead of moving, Ron's hands slowly rose up to curl around Yori's grip on his collar, and he drew in a very deep breath… "Here's the thing, Yori san… The Yori that I've grown so close to, she holds traditional values VERY close to her chest. She LIVES those values, she does not bend, and she knows that I HAVE A HAREM in my soul… While, yes, it's possible that you enjoy me exactly like you're describing, and Gods help me I really do enjoy your breasts… I still don't think your actions are your own…"
As if a curse was dispelled by Ron's words, the feverish and manic quality to Yori's eyes swiftly dulled away, her hands slowly released his collar, and her features slackened into an emotionless mask… "I… suppose we do understand each other, Stoppable san, and I suppose it's true I'm not myself. If you would look away for but a single moment, I will compose myself and then I'll show you to your rooms."
After catching the red-faced flush to Yori's cheeks, the way that her right nipple was peaking out of her gi, and the out of sorts way that she was clutching at her belt, Ron nodded his agreement, turned away, and then dashed towards the door at a speed that left him just a blur in the air. He took a much more proactive approach because he still felt that jarring… wrongness… coming off of Yori's body, he curled his hand around the deadbolt, he started sliding it free… and he felt a rubber oxygen mask suddenly cover both his mouth and his nose, forcing a light gray stream of compressed gas hard into his windpipe.
With a start of surprise and alarm, Ron inhaled more than a little bit of the gas, at which point Clare immediately informed him that he was just administered a VERY powerful sedative, and the world started turning irrespective of his body...
Within the next three seconds, Ron spastically flailed Yori up and away from his body, started falling in the direction of the door, was caught up in Yori's slim but sturdy arms, and then he stared up at the woman's increasingly distant face as his vision tunneled down into a swirling inky black.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gasp!
As if a light switch was flipped, Ron went from dead to the world unconscious to wide awake and alert in a dimly lit room, his heart rate wild, his naked body soaked with sweat, and his lungs demanding air… Ron heaved and gasped for life-saving oxygen as he attempted to curl his body up into a seated position from his back… and then he failed, because something was holding him down.
A pair of thick, padded, metal manacles were locked around his wrists, a thin but wide metal band connected those two cuffs behind his back, and yet another band trailed down between his legs to the cuffs cinched around his ankles… but that wasn't all. All of these manacles were connected by thick metal wires to a metal frame underneath the futon that he was laying on…
Ron was drugged, he was stripped naked, and then he was restrained to Yori's bed with enough metal to trap the Fearless Ferret, during which time the girls in his Mindscape did everything they could to expel the sedative from his bloodstream, which explained the racing heart rate that he woke up with, along with the sweating and other signs of an increased metabolism.
Now all Ron needed to figure out was… why? Yori's body was giving off a subtle foreign mojo that Ron could just barely feel with recently attained spiritual senses, and he had a growing certainty that he knew exactly what was happening to her, but the question remained… Why?
Even as the girls within his soul scream-whispered both threats and insults at Yori, and Kim prepared to fly to Japan, Ron mentally shook his head, and conveyed his suspicions through the HUD. This wasn't Yori. Someone else was using his friend in a fashion that was becoming increasingly common…
And off in another room, the sounds of someone turning off a shower and toweling off could be heard, as apparently, Yori was finished 'freshening up'.
Ron attempted to access his spiritual power, but it was sluggish, slow, hard to recruit.
"You're so impressive, Stoppable san, waking up so fast, despite having your power dampened by my herbs," Yori called out as she returned to the room and moved to the foot of her bed, where she performed a slow and sensual little pirouette, displaying her naked body for 'Ron's viewing pleasure'…
And despite absolutely everything, Ron's cock really did start to stir down between his thighs, for the following reasons:
-Yori's straight and soft raven-black hair extended down past her shoulder-blades in a shiny, lustrous mass.
-Her face was small, heart-shaped, and heart-breakingly adorable.
-Her eyes were big, her eyelashes were long and pretty, and her irises were a complex and soulful smokey black.
-Her vaguely olive toned skin was both tan and glowing golden from her recent shower.
-She was tall for an Asian woman at approximately five-foot-nine, and her limbs were lean like a model's.
-Her tummy was tiny, trim and fit, but not overly muscular, and her narrow waist stood in direct contrast to her dramatically flared out hips.
-Her breasts were about the same size as Tara and Kim's, around a full C-cup, and her cute pink nipples peaked up towards the ceiling.
-Her ass was much bigger than expected, much rounder than expected, and was so outstanding it made the woman look like she might possibly have Latin ancestry (which she didn't).
Yori was a nineteen-year-old, fully trained spiritualist with access to a mindscape, so her body glowed with perfect health, her face was flawless, and what fat her body contained she kept on purpose, and used to great effect…
The woman's tits, hips, ass and thighs were the kind of chubby that made dicks leak precum without ever even touching them.
Suffice it to say, Ron's cock lurched dramatically as he took in Yori's body… at which point, he groaned, because all of the women in his mindscape were hurling abuse at him...
"Am I so ugly, you groan in response to my naked body," Yori asked, as she finished her pirouette and then eased down onto the futon in between Ron's feet.
"No… You're gorgeous… and now my women are completely furious at me," Ron sighed out, watching helplessly, as his cock grew increasingly solid.
"Oh… well… If it's any consolation, my sex has been both hot and wet for you for quite a while now," Yori assured, as her face loomed over Ron's slowly thickening dick, watching it grow little by little with every beat of his heart.
"Yori, I want you to know this in advance," Ron grunted out, when Yori reached out, curled her hands around the base of his semi-erect dick, and then started pumping it reverently just inches from her face… "I know this isn't you. I know that something's compelling you."
"Your faith in me makes me so, so happy, and you're even correct… to an extent," Yori slurred out in reply, her tongue dragging wet circles around Ron's increasingly swollen cockhead. "I never would've made advances on you, knowing how inextricably 'involved' you are with several other women, but I - am - a - ninja, I follow orders, and now that I've been ordered to infiltrate your mindscape, I'm so relieved, so overjoyed… Or rather… I feel as if I've gone into heat... Needless to say, I'm so, so very HONORED to give you my body, to give you my virginity… GLUCK!"
Yori just barely managed to enunciate the word 'virginity' as she wiggled and squished her sexy little lips down around Ron's cockhead, squeezing his dick into her mouth with a doe-eyed expression on her hyper-innocent face that had Ron's cock rock-hard in one second flat. Then the ravenette was moaning her excitement upon the bulbous cockhead in her mouth, her tongue was licking and laving at his sensitive glans and tip, and her hands were massaging his heavy hanging balls.
"Jesus fuck," Ron gasped out, as the MMP power that he was trying so hard to channel suddenly slipped from his grasp again, and Yori started gagging her stretched wide gullet further and further down his shaft. "Yori, listen (gasp)... Some unknown villain has been influencing people's minds lately, altering their perceptions, leaning on the things that are important to them to warp the way they act (groan)… The Yori that I know would NEVER rape a friend, EVER, under any circumstances…"
Pop!
"But I'm not just willing… I'm so, so very GRATEFUL," Yori gurgled out through a thick bolt of precum that just slapped across her tongue. "My morals and sensibilities are no longer relevant in the face of my duty, so I get to have what I REALLY want in my heart of hearts…"
Gluck glork POP!
"I get to serve your body with my mouth and my hands,"Yori continued, her lips rubbing Ron's cocktip, her tongue probing his pre. "I get to take your sex deep into my own, to make you seed me, to join your ranks, to be your woman."
Gluck gluckgluck gluck slurp POP!
"If I am indeed under a thrall by some nefarious third party," Yori moaned out with Ron's cock laying across her pretty little mouth. "Then I can only thank them for their evil, awful deed…"
"Hohoolly fucking shit," Ron groaned out, as Yori's words hit him right in the testicles, precum started dripping from his cock as if he'd sprung a leak, and even the girls in his soul were taken aback…
Even Tara… Even Kim…
But that was the moment that Ron remembered. He remembered the state of Kim's mind in the hours after she returned to her senses, and how she was crushed under the weight of her actions during the months they were impaired… and he realized something that couldn't be ignored.
Yori, quite simply, wouldn't survive the knowledge that she raped him, even if he forgave her, even if he begged.
He needed to stop this… He needed it to end.
And yet, with their conversation stalled, Yori was back to choking her airway with the first third of Ron's cock, her stacked hands worshipfully pumping up and down the length of shaft that she couldn't swallow, her hanging breasts bouncing and sliding atop his thighs, her eyes locked on his face, genuine affection glowing in their depths.
Ron's hands curled into the bedsheets below his ass, his balls throbbing, his shaft bucking, his sexual stamina being stripped away by Yori's earnest devotion.
Pop!
"While I really do like pleasuring you with my mouth, my orders are to have sex with you… and I'm really quite eager to drain the sperm from your testicles," Yori described while climbing up onto Ron's thighs, straddling his waist, and then holding his cock flush to her tummy. "Look at how deep you're about to go inside of me," she panted out, her hands jerking Ron's spit-slathered cock up past her belly button. "This giant penis is more than long enough to directly inseminate my uterus, so I imagine I'll be pregnant by the end of the evening... I haven't been ordered to take birth control, after all…"
With that much said, Yori's hips flexed, she rose up to her knees above Ron's waist, she aimed his cock towards her pussylips, she nestled them down around his tip, and then she seemed to take a moment to simply enjoy the visual.
"You're REALLY going to do this," Ron called out, his teeth clenched, his right arm bulging against its manacle. "You're really going to lose your virginity to a man tied to a bed!"
"It - would - be - my - HONOR," Yori slowly and clearly called back, a manic, husky intensity to her voice… and a glowing series of Kanji present on the left side of her neck.
Now. It had to happen NOW!
With every scrap of will that his spirit had to offer, Ron violently ripped open the valve connecting the SPCS (spirit control system) core to his right arm, tore his newly blue-glowing arm free of its manacle as of it was made of aluminum foil, grabbed Yori around the neck as if he was trying to throttle her and then started POURING MMP power directly into the kanji that was affecting her mental state, tearing it from her body within a surge of burning will, shredding the foreign influence into a million trillion pieces and then burning away what remained within metaphysical flames.
"You don't need orders to help you make decisions," Ron screamed out, even as Yori choked and bodily spasmed, her hips sank down half an inch, her pussylips started stretching around his cockhead, and then she was torn free from his dick with a violent sideways jerk of his arm. "And honor isn't the same as unthinking obedience," Ron continued at the top of his lungs as he tore apart the manacle on his left hand side and then returned to Yori's side. "Honor is also being strong enough to make hard decisions, even when no one supports you, even when it hurts!"
"Gasp! Wheeze… Nooooooowaaahhhh," Yori scream/moan/whimpered towards the ceiling from where she lay on her back, as her hands crashed down atop her wildly rolling eyes and she started pressing her palms inwards against her temples. "I'm a, I'm a rapist! I'm a rapist, and you tried to warn me, and I was so blinded by lust and I…. Oh Gods… There's only one thing I can do…"
When Yori started crawling away from the futon towards a nearby drawer, pulling out a segment of rope and a tanto style knife, Ron instantly hurled his right arm down towards his feet because he recognized what she was doing, and he knew what would happen next. Yori was a straight-laced and traditional Japanese martial artist who believed she'd committed an unforgivable crime…
Yori needed to be stopped before she cut her own throat!
The skin of Ron's right arm was burning pink at this point but that hardly mattered as he used it to shatter the manacles on his feet, ripped himself free, and then he ORDERED the girls in his mindscape to get his core sorted out while he focused on the more immediate problem. Frog leaping across the room, Ron crashed into Yori from the side, knocking the tanto blade from her hand just before she could thrust it into her neck.
"YORI NO! I forbid it," Ron screamed, even as Yori bucked and turned underneath his crushing body, judo throwing him into the nearby wall hard enough to leave a Ron shaped crater in the plaster. "YOU WILL DO AS I SAY NOW, YORI! You owe me a debt, and I'll make you deliver!"
"You're kind, you're so sohoo kind, but I.. I'm just so… Gods… I'm so AWFUL," Yori cried into her knees, her tears blinding her for the moment, her hands spastically patting across the floor in search of the blade that she dropped. "I can't do it, I can't be this, I can't face myself in the mirror!"
"YOU'LL DO MORE THAN THAT," Ron barked out just as he slid into Yori's body, ripped the ropes from her legs, kicked away the blade, and then collected her up into his lap… "I demand that you take this incident to the shrine of self, I DEMAND that you not take the easy way out, that you see this event the way that it really is, that you free yourself from your self-imposed servitude."
Yori didn't respond with words, but she didn't struggle to get away anymore, and she cried, hard, painful, body-curling, muscle-straining sobs. And Ron started crying too, because Yori was so broken, so tortured, and she really was such a wonderful person, and it hurt so much to see it, to feel her wracking wails shake her entire body, so he drew in a deep breath, and he said what needed saying. "Yori, please. I care, I care about you so much, so much, so please, just listen."
For the next ten minutes, in an unbroken string of words, Ron repeated the fact that Yori was a gentle, kind, giving, compassionate, self-sacrificing, wonderful woman that he cared about deeply, and that he needed her to pull through because he would miss her and mourn her and would never be the same…
Over time, Yori's body stopped clenching as if she was being wracked by seizures, her puffy, snot-covered face burrowed into his neck in a much more natural comfort seeking posture, and then she was hugging him with both her arms and her legs as if he would otherwise fly away… and Ron finally drew in a full lungful of air for the first time since he power-slid across the room. "Thank you, Yori… Thank you for staying with me…"
"This… is my room… You're staying with me," Yori slowly, croakily whimpered out, the absolutely terrible joke clearly her newest attempt at a so-called American sense of humor… causing Ron to laugh so hard his eyes grew wet again, before moving to make them more comfortable.
Shuffling up to his knees, Ron carried Yori towards her bed, where he kicked free the metal rig that failed to hold him down, kicked the futon a few meters away from the metal wire covered box-spring, grabbed up a nearby blanket, and then he lay down atop the futon's newly bondage free surface. He had little choice in the matter, truth be told, as Yori was still wrapped around his waist and ribs with her face buried in his neck, and he knew she'd stay that way for quite a while. Settling in without a word, he held Yori close because he recognized that they were in it for the long haul…
Slowly, haltingly, in little snippets over time, Yori spoke about her recent mind altering experience, during which time she whispered about someone with authority, someone that she wouldn't even consider disobeying, someone both powerful and respected within Yamanouchi... Unfortunately, now that she was free from the kanji's influence, Yori couldn't remember the person's characteristics, just that the authority was real, and that she definitely would've followed the person's orders (normal ones) under normal circumstances. She also explained that the metal restraints attached to her bed were designed to safely restrain ninjas that were driven insane by particularly horrible and frightening 'unseen', and that, no, she wasn't actually a bondage fetishist.
The things that Yori explained came hard, and they hurt her in the telling, so Ron didn't push. Yori was one of the few practitioners who did visit the Shrine of Self, and while he expected that the woman would suffer quite a bit in the process, he fully expected her to visit that cave, and sort herself out… He would order it if he had to… but he hoped it wouldn't come to that. Yori was in rough shape, was slipping in and out of consciousness, and she needed his support more than anything at all...
Over two hours passed by and the moon emerged outside the nearby window, but Ron didn't sleep because his body felt hot, edgy and out of sorts, his arm ached… and he was scared. Not of the Middleton girls, although… yeah, that was pretty scary, because they weren't responding to his messages, but Yori was slipping in and out of unconsciousness atop his stomach now, and he didn't want to miss her when she awoke. He was scared for her, he cared for her, far more than he'd allowed himself to realize until now, so he committed to being awake and alert when she finally came around, and he gently smoothed his fingers through her silky-soft hair…
It was getting late, around eight Pm, when Ron realized that Yori was watching him worry about her, when he saw one of her eyes peering up at him through a wall of her hair, and he gently combed his fingers against her scalp.
"I am… laid bare…," Yori slowly breathed out, before pressing her forehead down into Ron's stomach, her face burning hot against his skin in the intensity of her shame. "I am…"
"The most recent victim of a villain who manipulates people's actions by altering their perceptions," Ron interrupted, his hands cupping around Yori's cheeks to force her to look into his eyes. "You aren't guilt free in this event, no, but you're not the irredeemable monster that you've decided you are either. You're my sensei, and you're my friend…"
"What I am… is in your debt, for several different reasons," Yori whispered, even as she slowly rolled off of Ron's stomach and then leaned her back against his side in a not so subtle desire for continued contact. "I've wronged you, Stoppable sama… to an unforgivable extent, and yet… you want me to survive, to come to terms with my weakness and… live."
Wordlessly, Ron turned to snake an arm around Yori's tummy, spooning the woman back into his body with his chin resting lightly against the crown of her head, and he felt her body tense up for just a single moment, before it relaxed again and she melted back into his body… "None of that sama stuff, Yori san. We only just broke you free of a man who used his so-called authority to manipulate you. I don't want to take that role in your life…"
"No… You are my savior and you deserve the respect… and what's more… my feelings for you are… complex, so I wish to make my position very, very clear," Yori slowly, haltingly expressed with her face pressed down into the mattress. "I… I love you… very much, and yet I will never, ever have you… not even if you decide you want me in return… To do so would be to give my attacker whatever advantage he's seeking over you, and I will NOT allow that to happen."
In the wake of Yori's tortured sounding words, a surprisingly intense pang of regret caused Ron to squeeze Yori's body tighter against his own, even as he felt all four women in his mindscape feel a complex cocktail of both relief and sadness on Yori's behalf.
At exactly the same time, Ron recognized the truth in Yori's words...
Whoever set up this entire clusterfuck did so with the express purpose of having Yori become one of his soulmates, which briefly made Ron think that she was supposed to act as a spy. Except that objective didn't make any sense… Back when Ron pointed out to Yori that she was likely being manipulated, she quite happily admitted that she was acting under orders, which could only mean that her unknown Master never ordered her to remain silent on the matter… What this meant to Ron was that simple reconnaissance wasn't this manipulator's actual objective, which made everything else quite a bit more complicated.
Complicated. Yeah… That was the word.
In the end, Ronald Stoppable found himself hugging one of the most beautiful, graceful, clever, capable and innately sensual women that he'd ever met in his life, they were both as naked as the day they were born and she was legitimately in love with him… and yet he was forcing himself to care about her PLATONICALLY, because it was all that he could do…
A moment later when Yori silently started crying again, he felt the hitch in her breathing vibrate back through her shoulders, he combed his fingers through her ultra-long, ultra-soft, jet-black hair, he rubbed her stomach in slow and gentle sweeps, and he whispered what he could into the dark and silent room… "You are lovable, Yori… You will be loved."
Slowly, over time, Yori stilled into what felt like an exhausted state of semi-consciousness, during which time Ron reached the limits of his stamina after a VERY long day, and he fell asleep using the woman's back as a body pillow.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wreckage…
Ron's soul was scorch-marked and soot covered, huge swatches of grass were burned to dust, several areas of the pavilion were missing sections of wall, a section of roof from the memory theater was missing, and lounging in the couch area, looking hard done by and bedraggled, was a loose gathering of girls…
"When you ripped off the valve releasing the MMP into your right arm, the surrounding structure of the SPCS system started melting, and we were forced to repair it with Clare and the Rufus corp," Kim explained, while gesturing Ron to join them on the couch.
"Hot, sweaty, and tiring in a way that I've never experienced in here," Bonnie added, while sliding her leg off the couch to free up a spot for Ron to sit down.
Weaving his way through the ashy debris that littered the pavilion, Ron sank onto the couch, accepted Bonnie's legs back onto his lap, and then felt Kim turn to lay her back against his side. Soon enough, Tara crawled through the ash on the ground to curl her arms around his waist, she buried her face into his stomach, and Monique rose to her feet to comb her fingers through his hair.
"Hard day," Kim sighed out.
Ron nodded, Monique's hands sliding down his neck to rest atop his shoulders.
"Painful," Monique added, her fingers gently squeezing Ron's neck muscles where they met his shoulders.
Ron nodded a second time.
"You like her," Tara accused, her voice sullen, her face buried in his lap, her hair covering his thighs like a shiny-blonde blanket.
"I…. don't know what to say," Ron very slowly admitted with a weary shrug of his shoulders. "You ladies are my soulmates, I love you, and I'm well-aware how insanely lucky I am to have any one of you, let alone all four…"
"And yet you meant every single compliment that you just gave to Yori," Bonnie pointed out, giving voice to the context that was empathically delivered with Ron's words. "Kind, selfless, giving, graceful, fun, sweet, wonderful, beautiful, irreplaceable… lovable…"
This time Ron didn't reply for several very obvious reasons. There was no response that he could make that wouldn't make him either disloyal or dishonest, so he merely closed his eyes and lay his head back upon the cushion of the couch.
In the silent moments that followed, all of Ron's soulmates caught on to the fact that their man was feeling both sad and regretful… and they knew exactly why. The emotions that Ron felt for Yori were there for everyone to feel, conveyed through his body language, along with the fact that he loved all his soulmates very much, and that he had no intention to be unfaithful.
Kim leaned herself back against Ron's side even harder, pressing her head into his shoulder, Tara tightened her grip around Ron's waist, Bonnie bit her bottom lip, and Monique's hands rubbed back up his face into his wavy blond hair.
Gasp!
All of the sudden, a rapid indrawn breath denoted the moment that a completely naked Japanese woman materialized out of thin air just three meters away, as a very surprised and rattled looking Yori quickly realized exactly where she was, and then started shaking her head in rapid denial.
"No, no no, I can't be in here, I won't," Yori spluttered out while turning in place like a wild animal inspecting its cage. "I need to get out of here, and I need to do it now! I won't pose a risk to you and your women… so… where can I… HOW?!"
By the time Yori finished spinning in a circle, she was gaping at the ENORMITY of Ron's mindscape, and she was whirling back in Ron's direction with desperation in her eyes. "You must reject me, Stoppable sama. Kick me out. I don't know why, but my presence here poses a risk to you, and I refuse to take part in it!"
Kim, Monique, Tara and Bonnie all heard the rising panic that Yori was feeling at merely the possibility that she'd pose a risk to the man she loved, causing them all to freeze in place, unable to react.
"Yori, stop for a moment, and listen," Ron began, his hands held palms up both in the Japanese woman's direction and in the direction of his soulmates. "I'm not certain exactly how we connected spiritually, but I do know it's completely impossible to lie in here… So tell me. Do you intend to spy on me or injure me somehow?"
"What, no, I'd never," Yori gasped out, as if the very question was completely ludicrous. "I'd rather drop dead right here and now than hurt a single hair on your head!"
It was true. All of it. Yori fell in love with Ron long before tonight, long before she attacked him and he saved her life in return, long before extreme gratitude intensified her feelings into something even more... At this point, the woman's unwavering devotion felt more like a part of her character rather than an emotion. It was solid, it was stirring… and it wasn't going anywhere...
Ron merely nodded his head, because now he knew… and so did his women.
"This outcome has actually happened before," Kim pointed out, a hand running back through her hair as she let loose a quiet sigh of long suffering. "I also accessed this place without having sex, because in the moments before we fell asleep together, I was laid bare, I was vulnerable, I was taking comfort from Ron's body, he was my whole entire world, and I felt so… connected."
This time it was Yori's turn to nod her understanding, as she felt both the truth and the context in Kim's words, and she knew first-hand EXACTLY how the redhead was feeling at the time.
"So… what… we're just going to welcome Yori with open arms now," Tara asked, her opinion on the matter perfectly clear.
Yori immediately shook her head. "No, we can't. I can't remember who ordered me to seduce Stoppable sama, but I do know the man desired I become one of his soulmates. Somehow, regardless of my better intentions, I pose a threat to this harem…"
...
…..
...….
"Uhhh, we don't use the H word," Bonnie finally pointed out into the prolonged silence that followed Yori's words, only to shrug when everyone stared in her direction... "What? We don't."
"Is that really your biggest concern right now," Monique asked, a note of wry amusement in her voice.
"Well yeah… I mean… We already know what's happening here, don't we," Bonnie asked, while gesturing aside at Yori. "I call Ron Master during sex not just because I'm a masochistic slut… I also know how the ninja chick feels right now, I know what it's like for Ron to care when he shouldn't, to help when he should turn away, to set you free and then put you back together… Yori is present here because we have that in common… and she isn't a threat."
"If Yori and Ron begin 'skill-sharing', Ron will become stronger at a rapid rate," Monique pointed out, her right hand leaving Ron's chest to instead cup around her chin.
"I also don't think Yori poses a threat to Ron," Kim admitted, albeit begrudgingly. "It's almost as if this unknown villain wants to empower Ron somehow, force him to grow faster than would normally happen."
No one reacted to that idea, because try as they might, they couldn't figure out why a nefarious villain hiding in the shadows would set Yori up to become one of Ron's soulmates, given the fact that lying and obfuscation is impossible within his mindscape, having bad intentions was all but impossible….
"Maybe this villain is banking on Yori continuing to be an ultra-dutiful and submissive type of woman in order to brainwash her again at a later time," Tara suddenly pointed out.
"That outcome will never happen," Yori seethed, not as an excuse to remain one of Ron's soulmates, but rather because of the very real distrust, anger and indignance that she currently felt for Yamanouchi's leadership… plus her desire to do as her savior commanded of her.
Abruptly, Yori blushed, as the irony and hypocrisy of her current commitment became obvious for everyone to feel both in her words and her facial expression… Stoppable sama desired that she shake off her tendency towards unthinking obedience, and she fully intended to do as she was told… Screwing up her will, to the point that her hands clenched into white fists at her sides, Yori drew in a very deep breath. "I am no longer a pawn piece moving at another's direction. My honor demands that I use my OWN judgment to do the right thing…"
While allowing a few moments to pass where he didn't respond, mostly because doing so would distract away from Yori's message and the conviction that she felt, Ron drew in a deep breath of his own, and he felt everyone's attention turn in his direction... "While Yori can't remember exactly who twisted her mind, what she does know is that he isn't Master Sensei, which is why she's already warned the headmaster of Yamanouchi that someone in the upper ranks of the school is a villain. As we speak, Master Sensei is already investigating the matter via the Astral plane…"
"So then, I'll repeat my question," Tara began, her words muffled into Ron's lap where she was burying her face between his thighs. "Are we to simply welcome Yori into the fold along with any other woman that you share a heart to heart with in the future?"
Once again Ron didn't reply, because he was currently suffering an incredibly complex conflict of interest. Once again, everybody that was staring at him could read the emotions on his face, and they knew how he felt…
"I just… realized, or sorry, I… feel… that I can bridge my own mindscape to this one, and I think I might back off for now so that you five can… talk," Yori slowly hedged, her words distracted by the spiritual effort that she was performing with her focus on a nearby wall.
Slowly at first, but then all at once and in a brilliantly bright light, a gently green glowing door appeared on the wall of the pavilion, and Yori moved in its direction, her completely naked body moving so gracefully, everyone sitting in the area watched her every swaying step. Then the kunoichi was gone, Ron was staring at the domain behind the door that he could somehow FEEL with his spiritual senses, and all of the girls were rounding in his direction with meaningful looks upon their faces.
Although none of Ron's soulmates were truly angry with him, he still felt a noose tightening around his neck as everyone's unblinking stares were leveled in his direction, and he drew himself up into a straight backed seated position, because he could already tell that this conversation was going to require him to exercise his backbone.
And then it didn't happen…
All of the sudden, all of the women surrounding Ron abruptly disappeared, as all of their morning alarm clocks went off in physical reality, and he collapsed back into the couch to stare up at the completely shredded roof of the pavilion…
Long day," Ron said to himself in the newfound quiet and isolation… "Very, VERY long day…"
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Several hours earlier, when Sato first followed Stoppable and Yori san out of the Mess Hall, and then stalked them through the halls to an obscure and fortified room, he merely wanted a chance to assassinate the impertinent boy in some out of the way location…
And now, killing Stoppable was no longer a concern.
Sato just stood in the hallway outside of what was clearly Yori's very obscure and well-hidden living arrangement, as she and Stoppable san spent the entire night together in her quarters… During which time, he felt a sick and twisted smile grow clear across his face.
By the end of the following morning, they would know.
All of them would know.
Everyone.