I was beginning to see a pattern: since I acquired the sword of Futsunushi, everyone I met felt more submissive and obsequious than before. At first, I waited for someone to surprise me, for an instance of normalcy, if not defiance. But as the days passed, the behavior was repeated everywhere.
People in the household, previously polite but unremarkable in their manner, now seemed to move around me with a distinct reverence. The jewelry merchant, who brought some of the items I wanted to buy for my wives and concubines, a burly man who used to barter fiercely in the past, now practically begged me to accept his stones and necklaces at the price of my choosing. Even the peasants, who had always been respectful but distant, now greeted me with deep bows, their voices quivering slightly as though in awe.
It wasn't just fear that the people exhibited. I suppose if it was fear, it would be simple, obvious. This was something deeper, something akin to worship, as though the very sight of the new me forced them to see me not as a samurai, but as a force greater than any they had encountered. It was almost as if I made them feel insignificant. And I was beginning to like it.
One day Kazuko presented herself in my room, bowing to the ground.
"My Lord," she muttered, her gaze lowered. "Would you do me the honor of coming to my room for a few minutes?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I gather my slave heard some important news about one of your concubines," she explained. "But I haven't been able to force her to divulge the details yet. I thought you might want to hear it firsthand."
I felt an unpleasant feeling of worry.
"Which concubine?" I asked.
"Keiko-sama," Kazuko replied in a low voice.
I was hoping to hear another name. As if I knew what Kazuko was going to say. Now I was really worried.
I followed Kazuko to her room. As we walked in and she slid the door closed behind us, she whispered, pointing at a large screen, "Please, sit there, master."
Remaining behind the screen, I was able to see the corner of Kazuko's room where she interrogated her slave. The young woman was seated on the floor, her legs folded beneath her in a seiza. Two stone weights were strapped to each of the slave's thighs.
"Did you remember what you have to tell me?" Kazuko barked.
"Please, my lady," whispered the slave in a whiny voice. "I told you, I couldn't overhear everything that was said."
Kazuko slapped the woman across the face. "You're lying to me."
The woman's head dropped and tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Okay, we can wait some more," Kazuko said, her voice shaking with anger. "But I'm not sure you'd be able to walk after that, wretch."
The woman raised her gaze. "Please, mistress, please release me. You know that I'm completely devoted to you!"
"Then tell me all about lady Keiko's secret!" Kazuko exclaimed.
In response, the slave's tears only intensified.
Kazuko glanced toward the screen hiding me from view.
"Alright," she said, suddenly appearing calmer again. "Let's do it another way."
She untied the weights from the woman's thighs and put them aside. The poor slave leaped forward, kissing Kazuko's feet. "Thank you, my lady!"
"Stop! I'm not through with you yet," hissed Kazuko, pushing the woman away. "I'm just going to make it a little more fun for myself. As much as I enjoy seeing you in pain, I'd rather add some other pleasure."
She parted her kimono and lowered herself onto the slave's mouth. I heard the sounds of sloppy licking, and Kazuko's face displayed deep satisfaction.
After a few moments, Kazuko looked down at the woman and blurted, "And now, tell me all!" Kazuko abruptly lowered herself onto the woman's neck, squeezing her legs tight. The slave was completely paralyzed, unable to move her hands, only her feet jerked as she tried feebly to wiggle from under Kazuko's press.
The woman's face got redder as she gasped for air.
"Are you ready to speak?" Kazuko asked, suddenly lifting herself off the slave's neck. As the woman gasped for air, Kazuko smiled. "I'll count to three. One… two… three." And she plopped back down onto the slave's neck again, pressing her thighs in a tight noose.
The woman was only making faint gurgling sounds, trying in vain to breathe.
"Are you trying to speak?" Kazuko said. "You should've done it when I asked you earlier."
She lifted herself again and slapped the woman hard across the face. "So?"
"My… lady… please…" the woman mumbled between ragged, desperate gasps. Kazuko hovered above her mouth, allowing for some more licking and sucking.
"I didn't realize you were such a stubborn bitch," Kazuko finally said, slapping her slave's face again. "I guess, you really want me to enjoy this, don't you?"
Kazuko sat back down a little higher on the woman's chest, without restricting her breathing, and reached for a little encrusted box.
"Oh no!" I heard the woman yelp, before I could see the object that Kazuko pulled out. It was a thin long needle.
"I'll give you a choice of where I should start," Kazuko said, calmly gazing into the woman's eyes. "Would it be nose, fingernails, or ears?"
The woman, her eyes wide open in fear, only let out an unintelligible low shriek.
"Does that mean you want me to choose?" Kazuko chuckled. "So be it."
She leaned forward, pricking the slave's ear repetitively in the same spot. The young woman would scream if Kazuko didn't cover her mouth with her other hand.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Kazuko asked with a mocking concern, pausing for a moment. "What about this?" And she started pricking again.
More muffled noises followed.
"What is it?" Kazuko asked the slave, threateningly. "Speak up!"
"Madam Keiko is late!" exclaimed the young woman, Kazuko's hand allowing her lips to move.
Kazuko furrowed her brow. "She's what?"
"Madam Keiko is late! She must be pregnant!"
I froze, speechless. Of course, after I made both of my wives pregnant it shouldn't come as a surprise that the same would happen to Keiko, but the news still shocked me.
Kazuko glanced at the screen, as if she was sorry that I heard her slave's admission, and drove the needle into the woman's ear once again, leaving it in this time. "And this is so you'd remember not to disobey me ever again!" she groaned. "Get up and get out of my sight!"