Festival of Seasons

Author's Note: Thanks for reading my first posted story~. I hope you all enjoy it! Keep in mind that this contains: futa on male, tanukis with large "assets," and other exotic creatures of varying folklore.

Comments, feedback, story suggestions, and compliments alike are all appreciated!

***

Chapter 1: A Warmth in Winter

GONG...

"Huff huff huff huff..."

"Grr...grr...! GRAGH!!!!!!!!"

In the coldness of the falling snow, all I can hear was my panting breath, the growling of a pursuing beast, and the crunching snow beneath my footsteps. God, my feet were freezing to death running barefoot like this. I don't even know how I got into this mess in the first place!

Last thing I remembered was making a wish at this temple, a bell ringing in my ears...and next thing I knew, my back was lying in the snow before a hungry animal started to pounce after me. I lost my shoes when my legs got trapped in some thick brush, forced to abandon my footwear if I wanted to avoid being a monster's dinner. But...there was something off about it. A ominous, intimidating presence surrounding it, and having an unreal, monstrous timbre in its guttural sounds.

I think I would have been dead by now if I didn't have a headstart and there were so many trees to weave around and vault over. But with my chest feeling so heavy right now, my legs burning up with a mix of oncoming frostbite and utter exhaustion, death was as good as inevitable. I braced my heart for the moment I would fall to the ground, helpless to this beast's predatory nature...

"Huff...huff...ugh...huff...ooooof......."

!!!!!

"AGH! AH! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Indeed I fell, but I did not trip over myself. My feet briefly lost contact with solid ground and tumbled over myself and onto a snow-packed hillside. Each of my sides hurt rolling down the steep incline, bumping against rocks and bruising myself all over. After a minute of this torment, my momentum grinded me to a halt, half-burying me in a snowdrift planted against a tree.

Was this it? I didn't want to die like this...I had something I needed to return home for...

***

"On my way, madame!"

God, I both loved and hated this time of year. Everything was so frenzied, scattered, and busy as people rushed into town for the Festival of the Moon. The inn I inherited from Mother brimmed with its usual activity, the onis asking for another round of sake in the bath, kitsunes making illogical and oft-sexual requests for their massages, and tanukis like me and my girls...hard-pressed to satisfy all their requests. My shoulders ached badly, my heavy chest heaving and huffing with exhaustion. I was sweating bad too, barely left with a moment to wipe it away before attending to my next customer.

Just one more hour to go...one long, unsatisfying hour...

***

"Ugh...agh..."

Five minutes and...still alive and uneaten...but freezing to the point of being on death's doorstep. I propped myself up onto my aching legs with my arms, clutching my bruised sides once I stretched them upright. Brushing the snow off the top of my dirty brown locks hanging over my eyes, I trudged one heavy step forward after another, barely able to see in this winter maelstrom. I couldn't even feel my feet press against the ground anymore, frozen as they were. I was probably as good as dead, even if the monster didn't get me...

...!

Wait. I see something through the wall of fog and snow! Lights through the trees! Maybe I wasn't dead yet!!!

Please...please let there be shelter...I repeatedly thought to myself, trudging through heavy snow. The closer I got, the brighter and brighter the lights did. When I finally breached the final line of trees...

!!!

"○○○○○○○..."

Though the snow continued falling across my head, there was a gentleness to it, my eyes adjusting to the bright lights...revealing something you'd see out of a Japanese fairy tale. Buildings straight from the feudal era, shoji screens everywhere I looked, the subtle murmurs of people walking the streets and lanterns of so many colors. All of it gave off a subtle warmth...but certainly not enough to thaw myself out of ice that must have been sticking to my skin by now. Thank God I could feel a solid road beneath my feet again, approaching a bridge with my head held down. That is...until my shoulder collided with the bulky side of a passerby. An angry, grunting, but feminine voice rattled in response.

"Watch yourself, yuki-onna!!! I'm carrying some VERY expensive sake here!"

"I-I...I'm sorry! I'm just so cold and-"

?!?!

"Well...see that you keep your eyes ahead of you! Not like you already give us enough trouble with those snowstorms..."

...

I...couldn't really say anything in response to the horn-headed, red-skinned giant of a muscular woman that I just apologized to. I wiped my eyes clear...no, my eyes weren't tricking me. She was, for all purposes, a giant woman about eight feet tall. Like one of those monsters out of Japanese books and traditional art...or at the very least, a very humanized version of it.

She stomped away, barefoot, cloaked, and a heavy sake urn slung over her shoulder. She was also...walking barefoot, a chained anklet clanging with each of her steps. Was I already passed out from the snow and just dreaming...?

Turning my head to face the other side of the bridge, I noticed that EVERYONE walking about was less than human in some way. Many of them with animal-like features, others looking like they were straight off the Internet of Japanese creatures. Panda girls, folks with rabbit ears, ogres, even floating ghosts.

Well, if this WAS a dream, I want my last dream to at least be comfortable, and that means finding my way to someplace warm. Hopefully an inn where I can get some food and a bath.

"Excuse me? Could I-? May I-? Could you please tell- ugh..."

It appears that people who look like me aren't welcome around here, as everyone gave me the cold shoulder...pardon the expression. What was it that the brutish woman from before called me? A...yuki-onna? I'm pretty sure I heard of that before, but I don't know what it means.

"Heeeeyyyyyy. Did you say you needed help with something, hmm-hmm???"

I turned my head around to the chittery voice that addressed me. A girl about 6 inches shorter than me, and I was already plenty short at 5'3", sat crossed-leg on top of a wooden crate, grinning mischievously in my direction and crooking her finger. She was...interesting, to say the least. Matted brown hair that looked like a bush, large hands, skinnier than human limbs...and then there was the tail. I think the best way to describe it was like a monkey's.

"So-so, did you want my help or not, hmm? I'm a very busy woman, yes yes."

"Umm...yes. I was just wondering if I could find some place to rest. Preferably somewhere warm, with food, and a bath to warm up in?"

"Ho-oh? Is that all you were looking for? Well, in that case, my price is cheap, hmm-hmm~. Lucky you~."

"Wait...price?"

"Time is money, as the old adage goes! I think...that stylish cloak over your back will do! Yes yes!"

Her weird dialect aside, I didn't appreciate the way she leaned in to appraise my hoodie like we had already made a deal. It wasn't all THAT important to me...but I would have preferred to hold onto it just to keep warm...after getting it cleaned and dried, though.

"Is there...any other way I can pay?"

"Sure sure! Got xen? Give me xen!"

"X-Xen?"

"Yes yes! Xen! Coins like these! I think- hmm hmm...five copper zen will do!"

She held up a square shaped coin with another square carved out of the center, turning it over for a quick peek before pocketing it again.

"Sorry, but I don't have any of those! Mostly all I have is...dollars?"

I reach into my pocket, holding out the spare change I had.

"You snow-covered baboon! What use is green paper to me, hmm hmm?!"

You're one to talk, calling me a baboon like that...but...I guess that only left me with the alternative..

"Hooooo...fine. You can take it."

"Yes yes! There's a good snow girl!"

"H-Hey!!!"

Immediately, her hands scurry over my fabric and practically rip the hoodie clean off from my arms and my neck. I chattered in the added layer of cold, while the monkey girl's eyes glowed as she stared at her new treasure lovingly, twirling it around before folding it up and stuffing it in a worn sack.

"Now for you...just make your way to Lady Tsuki's inn! Down this street, take the second right, and it will be the fourth big building on your left with green lanterns! Can't miss it! Kay bye!!! KI-KI-KI-KI!!!"

"Wait, that was too fast! You can't just-!!!"

And...she's gone, having lept up to the rooftops and prowling away like a ninja and giggling like a giddy...well, a monkey.

And what did she mean by girl? I mean, my hair is pretty long and my skin is baby smooth without a single trace of hair on it...but it's not like I'm THAT feminine...right? Well...maybe the slight curves in my waist had something to do with it.

Anyways, it was something at least. Following her directions to the letter, I proceeded down the second road on the right, looking both ways to make sure I didn't miss the building she was referring to.

Thank goodness there was only one building with green lanterns as far as the eye could see. The building was small...but it was quaint, cozy, and had a humble splendor to it. Walled in by shoji screens, a small moat with koi fish swimming around, and a bridge across that moat leading to the door.

Phew...Okay.

RING-RING-RING!!!

I jangled the bells from the striped, worn cord of rope, impatiently waiting for whoever the host or hosts were.

***

"Huff...finally, a chance to sit down and rest."

"Why don't you go ahead and take it easy for the night, my lady? We'll go ahead and start cleaning up the baths. As soon as we're done collecting the sake dishes from that cantankerous band of oni."

"Thanks, girls. I really appreciate it. In that case, I'll put the fires and lanterns out before bed."

They were so good to me...I really don't deserve their help. I ought to reward them later. But first...a little reward to myself. I poured myself a small dish of sake out in the reception area, tilting it back slowly to savor the sweet burn pouring into my throat. Exhaling heartily, I reclined back to give my legs a little time to rest, spreading my legs out to give my cramped and "occupied" loins room to breathe a little...

RING-RING-RING!!!

"Oh for the love of...!"

Always had to be that one last person who JUST doesn't read the sign outside! Well...better politely and gently tell them off. Maybe I could pay one of the neighbors to lodge them instead...

~~~

"The sign says "No Vacancy." I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to...to..."

What the hell...?

"I...I'm terribly sorry! I'm afraid I can't read any of this! Please...I'm just...so cold...and so hungry...please for just o-one night...could I have a bath to warm up and a room t-to sleep in?"

The plump, yukata-dressed, middle-aged tanuki, who stood at least a foot taller than this surprise, frost-bitten guest, looked down and stared into the gorgeous emeralds of her eyes. At least...with a voice and body as cute and gorgeous as hers, she MUST have been a girl, right? One of the yuki-onna, probably. But that was a problem for baths and her other guests...seeing as yuki-onna carry the cold with them and often can't control it.

"Look, sweetie. I'd love to help you, but you'll just freeze up my inn. I...know another yuki-onna on the edge of town. A very sweet woman, and she'll take good care-"

"Wait-wait-wait! I'm not one of them!"

"Excuse me???"

"I...I'm cold and covered in ice, but I swear I'm not one of them! I can...ah...I can prove- AH...AH-CHOO!!!"

"Heavens, darling!!! Come in, come in...lets get your soaking clothes off!!!"

She hurriedly ushered her small guest inside, closing the screens behind her and bringing the young girl over to the inn's firepit over in the corner. The tanuki's suspicions were debunked from the sneeze. Yuki-onna would never catch a cold. But if that was the case...then what WAS her tiny, adorable guest? Maybe one of the hot spring monkeys...?

Setting them down, she hurried over to a closet from behind the counter to pull out a spare yukata and a blanket, bringing it over to the girl in the corner.

"Arms up! Let's get those frozen clothes off you."

"W-Wait! I can do that myself..."

"Just let me...!"

She didn't wait for her guest to further complain, lifting the shirt quickly off of him and baring his...wait, his???

???

"Fufufu...hehehehe~."

"What...what is so funny?"

"Not funny, cutie. It's just that...you're pretty gorgeous for a boy, you know~."

!!!

A bashful blush colored the boy's face red, holding his thin, girly, cold-stiffened limbs over his torso to try and shield it from her prying gaze before she could stare even more at his pale skin and his reddish-pink nubs.

"Oh stop it cutie...you have a beautiful body~."

"That's...not really a compliment where I come from..."

"Well, that won't stop me from saying so anyways~. But...with that out of the way, get those clothes off that cute ass of yours and hand it over. ALL of it~. I promise I won't peek this time~."

"Thanks...I guess?"

The tanuki shimmied her hips until her back was turned to him. Ooo...she wanted real badly to sneak a peek at his undressed body. But...patience, patience...easy girl...

PLAP!!!

"O-Okay...I'm covered up now..."

His pants and his undershorts were tossed to her side, where she neatly folded them up.

"I...guess I should introduce myself. I'm..."

"Wait. We'll save the introductions for after you've warmed up. I'll make us some tea. Green is fine, right?"

"Yeah...yeah that sounds good."

She smiled wide, getting up on her tired legs and moving to a room in the back with the boy's clothes. As she moved to take care of his clothes and prepare some hot water for tea, he...couldn't help admiring her features. She stood up on two legs like a human, and most certainly had gorgeous, voluptuous features for a female...but the more interesting parts about her were the fur over her arms, the ears, a tiny leaf that was attached to her head, and a tail sticking out through a hole in her pink yukata. But even if she wasn't 100% human...she was so, so beautiful~.

But that aside, a few minutes passed in the silence of the lobby, the boy's naked, blanket-wrapped skin finally thawing and brightening to its healthy, creamy hue as he felt the life returning to him thanks to the fire. The snow and ice finally thawed too, leaving a soaked, matted mess in its place. His shivering finally steadied...and now he was just sitting comfortably on the floor in front of the firepit.

"Oh my...aren't you a cutie~?"

"Huh?"

"Sis, we need to get the dishes on floor three. You can't just...huh? Wow~..."

One of the tanukis knelt down and immediately invaded the boy's personal space, scooting up to him with some pretty untoward intentions. Her sister soon joined her on the opposite side, leaning down and towards him to examine his pretty features. Though...he was keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around him, so all they could see was his adorable, girly face.

"Look at those adorable pink rubies for lips...so kissable~. Mind kissing a woman that's a few years older than you?"

"I think so too...but I want his lips somewhere else, hehe~."

They loosened the front of their yukatas, baring some of their plump, smooth cleavage, their nipples poking the front of their fabric.

"Ladies...I'm just..."

"You what? Just trying to warm up from that awful snowstorm? Don't worry, hunny~. We have something better than a blanket~."

"Come on...open up and let us in with you...your body will feel MUCH warmer pressed against ours~."

The tanuki woman on his right moved to part the hem of her yukata, exposing her lower leg, some of her thigh, getting dangerously close to her nude pelvis.

"Yeah, especially when we press it against our..."

"That's enough. Weren't you going to get the oni's sake dishes?"

"My lady!!!"

"Aww...no fair."

"Don't make me tell you twice. Dishes. Now."

"Yes ma'am."

They collectively said, the second sister leaning close to the boy's ear, moving his long locks aside to whisper something.

"Maybe another time, cutie~. Your skin is beautiful~."

!!!

"Guh...!!!"

She licked at his ear, which definitely made the blood rush to his head as she went about her way.

"Oh. And forget about cleaning the baths this evening. We need one more for...what did you say your name was?"

"Bellamy...or Bell for short."

"Bell, then. Please make sure he has enough supplies for a bath."

"Yes, Lady Tsuki."

The older tanuki woman, Tsuki, replaced their spot right next to Bell, reclining back on the bamboo and looking down to his cute face before she poured two wooden cups of hot tea.

"Wait...so you're the inn owner, then?"

"That's right, cutie~. Here, drink this."

Bell gladly took the drink from her furry hands, slowly sipping on it and exhaling as the warmth filled and spread throughout his depths. His face was the picture of bliss and comfort...something Tsuki had the pleasure of enjoying.

"Soooo...I guess after I warm up, I'm going to need to find some place else to sleep."

His blissful face fell into a somber one as he sobered up from the reality that the inn had no vacancies available. To which, the motherly tanuki just thought to herself for a few seconds, then sighed...and then she smiled.

"I...did mean what I said earlier, sweetheart. I don't have any other free rooms I can lodge you in. Unless...you're willing to share one with my girls. From the looks of it, they'd love to keep you warm all night~."

"I'll...I'll pass on that."

"Yeah, you'd probably die from embarrassment. A shame really..."

She couldn't just kick out one of her guests to give Bell a room for the night...but she couldn't just leave the poor, gorgeous boy out in the cold either! She'd never be able to forgive herself...even if she had some ulterior motives in mind for that ass of his. God...that gorgeous, curvy, squeezable ass that made her loins throb...

"BUT...there is an alternative."

"Yeah...and that is...?"

"You can sleep in my room instead."

Choking on his tea, his face just went blank, Bell's lower lip hanging out with astoundment at what he heard. Tsuki giggled and patted his back to help him with his coughing.

"Wait what? I can't just take-"

"And you wouldn't be taking...we'd just be sharing. My futon is big enough for two people, Bell. But...I swear I won't do anything you don't want. Not like my other girls."

"I-I'm...just not sure about being in the same room with another...another woman..."

"Aww...he's shy~. Well...if that's the case, then I guess I can ask one of the neighbors to let you sleep with them...but I can't imagine you'll have any more luck with them than you will with me. I'm positive you wouldn't stand a chance with the blue oni next door. She'd just "gobble" you up in an instant. Soooo...what'll it be?"

She leaned in rather close, her ocean-blue eyes staring down into his emeralds. He was just so precious, so pure...she wanted to be the one to protect that more than anyone. But...she would also respect his wishes, should he decide to turn her offer down.

But it's not like he was against it either. It's just...it felt strange for him to be attracted to someone who wasn't human. It felt a little taboo to him, thinking he would be sharing a space with an exotic, beautiful woman like her. And...couldn't have been much worse than maybe finding out these "neighbors" of hers were either far less welcoming...or had untoward intentions in mind. With Tsuki on the other hand, there was this warm feeling of trust with her...almost like a mother's voice telling him that it would be alright.