Fuku faces a new type of mimic

Unaware of her ally's gaze, Fuku continued to swing her breasts in a raucous dance, matching the mujina's routine as closely as she could. She and her double were practically attacking each other with their boobs now, slapping them together in a pendulous motion that the spirit seemed to find endlessly entertaining. Fuku, not so much. The onmyo master thought this might be a low point in her career, one that she hoped would be omitted from the annals of her life story whenever it was passed down to future mages. Still, she reminded herself, the endurance of this mujina and its endless stamina only served as proof of how strong it was as a shikigami. All the more reason she needed to use the ritual to subjugate it.

Finally, the mujina seemed to grow tired, sighing contentedly in its unusual, high-pitched voice, not matching the face it was wearing. The creature jumped and waved, then retreated back into its box with a head-first dive. The real Fuku would probably be injured with such a stunt, but this one's shapely body submerged completely inside, thanks to turning back into a racoon spirit towards the end of the dive. The box shut up, shook a few times, then vanished into the pool of miasma from which it had sprung.

"It seems our guest has finally departed," William noted, nodding in approval. "Good work appeasing it. Those sorts of spirits have caused me no end of trouble-"

"Yes, I'm happy to oblige," Fuku replied with a polite bow, although that was mostly a lie in this particular instance. "However... I see that you're not following your teacher's instructions." As she rose again from her bow, she wore a stern face, crossing both arms over her chest to hide the place where the sopping wet fabric of her shirt was doing little to hide her eye-catching bosom. "I believe I asked you to keep your eyes closed. Is this a failure of your discipline, or of your honor as a samurai?"

"Grk!" William grunted, quickly shutting them again after being chastised.

In this case, closing his eyes saved him from the horror that awaited the two of them. Just as Fuku was sighing with relief, seeing that William was willing to oblige her on this point, her heart sank at a new sight. "That can't be...!" she gasped aloud, barely staying on her feet.

"What is it?" William questioned, fighting the urge to open his eyes again. "Is it a particularly large youkai? I won't be able to fight it with my eyes closed."

"No... worse..."

The same miasma pit that had just swallowed up one treasure chest now spit out another. It sat there in front of the hot springs, somehow menacing, despite being no more than a motionless, decorated box with a closed lid. Fuku felt so frustrated that she wanted to scream. Was this the whole rest of the ritual? Bending over backwards for mujina?! Recognizing that they'd come too far to give up now, she walked forward, then knelt to open up the box. Like always, it popped open in the most alarming way, shooting out a blast of smoke designed to knock the one opening it onto their butt. Fuku resisted-- she was too used to the childish trick by now. The mujina inside looked up at her with a giggle, then waved.

She waved back, her own face failing to match its cheer. She'd had her chance to rest. Now, she waited for it to transform...

... Only, this time, when the smoke cleared, it hadn't become her at all. Instead, the form of William stood in front of her, his legs half inside the box and his hands on his hips. He gave a cocky grin, then laughed in that same childish voice she'd just rid herself of.

"William... Open your eyes," she instructed her student hesitantly.

He did, finding himself greeted by the sight of his teacher's very pleasant, peach-shaped bottom in semi-transparent, soaking wet panties as she stood with her back to him. He gulped, wondering if it was okay for him to be seeing this. "What is it?"

"This one is up to you," she explained, turning around with her arms crossed over her chest and moving aside to let him face his doppelganger. Only, the creature itself had other plans. Instead of hopping over to William to start mimicking his actions, the creature instead grabbed hold of Fuku's arm and pulled it to one side, leaving just one to do the job of covering her. "H-Hey!" she protested, squirming in its grasp. It had all the strength of the rather muscular westerner. She was no slouch in martial training, but it didn't mean she could match his grip strength. Her instinct was to give him a judo toss, but she noticed the other William raise one hand and shake his head while approaching quickly.

"If you attack, it attacks. Let me handle this."

Fuku nodded in recognition, but her face reddened and her eyes widened when William grabbed hold of her other arm and pulled it away, exposing the clingy, wet top, all that remained of her strange outfit besides the panties. "You-!" she began, then bit her lip and stifled her protests. "No, you're right. You're taking the correct steps to finish the ritual. Please proceed."

The fake William flashed the real one a thumbs-up, then grabbed hold of the patch of cloth covering the mountain of Fuku's breast, pinching it with two fingers. He lifted it up, exposing the flesh underneath.

The onmyo master suddenly lost her composure. "J-Just like that?! That isn't-!" she spoke through clenched teeth, curling her fingers into a fist. Her face remained red as her wet hair fell against her face, hiding the stormy expression in her eyes. "Ahem. Master William-"

To her surprise, he was already complying, pulling aside the flap covering her left breast so that she was now fully exposed on top. Her breast jiggled a bit as it fell free from the clingy fabric. He heard his sensei gasp in embarrassment and tried to avert his eyes, looking sullen. "There's no time for hesitation, Miss Fuku," he reminded her. "I have to copy its movements exactly. That also means watching its movements." As the creature began to peel the shirt up, over her head, William did just the same.

Fuku had never suspected that she would end up being double-teamed by a youkai and her ally at the same time-- the indignation of it was somehow worse than playing along with her own mimic had been. This time, she was the one closing her eyes. It was too embarrassing to watch the mujina with William's face ogling her... and actually even worse to see that the real William was having a hard time resisting doing the same. Of course, that wasn't the worst thing either of them were doing. Fuku let out an audible "no" in spite of herself as the creature hooked a thumb into the side of her panties and began pulling down.

"Apologies, Miss Fuku."

William did the same, again, averting his eyes as much as possible, as the two worked to get the clinging garment past her broad hips and down to her thighs. She struggled, but each still had one of her slender arms looped in their own thick ones, so there wasn't much she could do but watch them slide it all the way off. Once it was down past her feet, the mujina giggled, jumping back and clapping its hands loudly. With a grunt of irritation, William followed suit. The garment pooled at her toes was so scant and wadded up, it barely registered as clothing any more.

There was a moment, much longer than Fuku would have liked, where her surprisingly large, embarrassingly peaked nipples were showing, along with her neatly shaven womanhood. There was nothing in any of that to be embarrassed about-- quite the opposite. That said, while the old myth about having to marry the first person to see you naked was just that, a myth, it didn't mean any self-respecting woman wanted to be seen this way by a peer.

Fuku took the opportunity to cover herself with one arm across her breasts (barely doing the job due to their size) and one between her legs, leaving her buttocks uncovered. Before the thing had a chance to humiliate her further, she ran to grab up the ritual box from which she'd withdrawn the instructions earlier. William suspected she was going to check the scroll for something, but instead, she simply dumped it onto the ground while holding the box aloft to cover her front. It did the job, holding her breasts inside the open container and shielding her collar to the intersection between her legs, barely. In spite of everything-- her resolve to subjugate the shikigami, her training as an onmyo master, and the quiet dignity with which she usually held herself-- she now found herself shaking at the humiliation she was being subjugated to.

"Just a little longer, Miss Fuku," William reminded her, hoping his own steely expression would help her regain her own.

"Master William, I... I don't know what that thing is going to do next. This has surprised even me, but as it turns out, there are... limits to my patience," she confessed, hanging her head in shame.

"We can simply drop the ritual if need be. You don't owe the nation of Japan any more than you've given her," the samurai added.

Hearing him float the idea did help her regain some of her courage. Hearing it out loud, she knew she could never retreat. That would dishonor her training and her own sense of justice far worse than any youkai was capable of. "No. We finish the ritual. Besides... I feel the energy amassing from the shikigami. It shouldn't be much longer."

The biwa players, nearly forgotten, but still perched all around the hills, seemed aware of that fact as well. Each spirit looked to his neighbor, nodded, then picked up his instrument, preparing for one more song.

Roll 6!

Outfit durability: 4/28 (holding a laquer box in front for cover)