For now, some downtime

Maru had had more than his fair share of sex since he got the earrings. And how could he not have? His earrings were awesome.

But even then, Maru had come to understand that not everything could be about sex. Sure he could make any women slavishly devoted to the pleasure he could give them, but not only did that quickly become unsatisfying, it didn't satisfy the need for emotional satisfaction the same way properly interacting with somebody did. Which was not just significant for him and his normal breed of girls, but was especially important for his Jinchuuriki.

So for the last few hours Maru had taken a break from putting his dick into anything to spend a few hours with Yugito. They'd both dressed up a little, him in a handsome buttoned shirt and nice slacks, her in a version of her regular clothes where the red sash over her right hip had been extended into an elegant half-skirt, and a significant neckline (the pride in her voice as she explained to him it was so everybody could see her collar, even as she blushed, nearly made him fuck her right then) had been added to her purple tightfitting top. So attired, they wandered through Konoha and simply got to know each other.

While walking through the market and buying ("Yes Yugito, I do in fact have money.") his kitten a pair of cerulean earrings to go with her bracelets, he learned that she hated spicy food and was mildly embarrassed by her cliche taste for milk and tuna. When she told him she enjoyed playing a musical instrument called a shamisen, he made her promise to play for him at some point, despite her complaints that she "really wasn't all that good!"

When they later stopped at a restaurant that served tekkadon, Yugito's favorite preparation of tuna, he told her of his humble village origins, and how he was now technically an official of the Land of Fire, responsible for "high-risk negotiations" and other such politically risky diplomatic situations. He told her about his close (and completely platonic) friendship with the Fire Daimyo, and how he'd often stop by whatever manor Maru was staying at to play Go together.

When she asked about the mansion on her collar, Maru described to her his favorite mansion, not the biggest or fanciest he owned, but definitely the most special, and in his opinion the most beautiful. The mansion itself was nestled next to a small lake halfway up the side of a mountain, and overlooked a valley untouched by man (and he'd gone to great lengths to make sure it would stay that way). Three hours away on the other side of the mountain was a small town that, due to the location's proximity to the land of Hot Water, was just affluent enough to provide him with all the luxuries he preferred.

Truthfully, the mansion had not been nearly so idyllic when Maru first found it, being barely a tenth of its current size and in great disrepair. The town had also not been nearly as well off or large as it currently was. But when he had first seen that decrepit house, overgrown and abandoned, he'd known its potential. And since Maru, at his roots, was a hardworking village civilian, he'd decided the project of restoring it had to be completed without the power of his earrings, so the satisfaction of a hard job done well would forever be part of his house. It had taken him nearly three years to do, and required the use of some of the political capital his job afforded him to move trade routes through the nearby town, heavy investment in said town to make it capable of hosting the merchant traffic (which, embarrassingly enough, made him somewhat of a local hero), the...taming of a small group of bandit kunoichi so the area would have a militia to protect it, and the surprise visit of Konoha's secret Mokuton user (Maru made a mental note to try to find her later), but the house had finally been finished just over a month ago, on his 21st birthday. It was while he was talking with his interior designer about how he should furnish the different rooms that Maru had decided that such a magnificent mansion deserved only the best women to go in it with him, and he had set off to-

Maru abruptly looked up and flushed as he realized he'd been rambling on about this house to one of the very women he wanted to share it with.

Yugito, for her part, simply giggled from where she'd been resting her chin in her hands and told him, "Don't worry Master, I quite liked hearing about my future home. Plus you look adorable when you're talking about something you're so passionate about."

Maru coughed into his hand in embarrassment, but smiled back up at Yugito and continued the conversation after moving to a new topic. Still, he decided to punish her a little later for her cheek. She'd enjoy it.

*********************************

Maru began undoing the ropes on the spasming fucktoy he'd left behind in the bedroom as he and Yugito went on their mini-date. He had yet to decide if he was going to keep Anko, but he had to admit the sight of her trussed up on the bed when he'd come back had been a pleasant one. She'd even had something to keep her company while he was gone: a device that he'd had one of his kunoichi, who happened to be moderately skilled in Fuinjutsu, make (she'd been part of the bandit group he'd brought to heel, making their paper bombs and other assorted seals). It was a varnished wooden rod (obviously modeled after his dick) that vibrated when chakra was inserted into the seals painted on under its shiny polish. Due to a previous normality command of his, any woman it was inserted into automatically used their chakra to activate it, whatever their state. They could be as unwilling or **** as possible, and they'd still push every iota of chakra into it they could without causing damage to their chakra coils. Interestingly enough the act of doing so, even without meaning to, actually helped improve their chakra control. It was a benefit that many of his women took advantage of, although he'd only brought the one with him to Konoha.

Judging by Anko's shuddering moans as he unwrapped her, she approved of his choice to do so.

When he'd finished on the last knot, he pulled the rod out of her and undid her blindfold. Maru waited as Anko deliriously blinked up at him with heavily dilated eyes. When she finally seemed to recognize him, she moaned something unintelligible past the ball gag he'd put back in her mouth before leaving, and tried to twitch her exhausted limbs up to do something.

As Maru finally started undoing her nipple clamps and taking out the gag, he quietly reassured her, "Shh shh shhhh, no need for that. Rest, and when you feel up to it I'll help you shower and get dressed. If you want to sleep here tonight with us too, that's fine. That all sound good to you?" When Anko nodded up to him a few seconds later, he smiled down at her, satisfied that the proper aftercare was being applied to the mentally and physically devastated woman. Or would be when she recovered in a few hours anyway.

He patted her cheek and then arranged her limbs in a more comfortable manner, before picking up the assorted bondage equipment and putting it in a dresser in another part of the room.

As Maru emerged back into the living room of the suite, he joined Yugito on the couch, and accepted one of the drinks she'd prepared as she sipped on the other. As she cuddled up to his side and he put an arm around her shoulder, he simply enjoyed the moment, content.

A few minutes later though, he asked, "So you can manifest yourself in your inner world where Matatabi is, right?"

**Author's Note**

A few things:

1) ...fuck I really did go on a tangent about this house. Sorry, I have no idea where this all came from.

2) If Maru's age has been mentioned somewhere else and I missed it, please tell me. It's an easy fix.

3) For the record, all those facts about Yugito are pulled from her wiki page, so they're actually canon-compliant. Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to explicitly be writing more of these slice-of-life scenes, but even if they don't happen "on-screen" know that they're implied.

4) So in my musings about where this story is heading, it's come to my attention that some of the Jinchuuriki...really don't excite me (looking at you, Han and Utakata). Which is why I've been toying with the idea of Maru giving himself the ability to transfer Bijuu, to put some of the Tailed Beasts into more interesting characters. However this story has attracted a bit of a following (which is just incredibly flattering, thank you all so much) and as such is no longer just for me, so I'd love to hear your all's thoughts: [Poll Closed]

I'll be closing the poll in a few days, and I'd like to kindly ask that everybody only vote once.

5) So my previous point should have made it obvious, but I only started posting these chapters after I already had a rough plan of where I want to go, at least for a little bit. I really hope I can actually live up to those plans and that I don't disappear halfway through, and I sincerely apologize if I do so.