Love of the Wind Spirit

Love of the Wind Spirit
By: Lady Rain StarDragon (Teresa Huddleston-Garcia)
Chapter 1: First Touch of a Wind God
Feedback is welcome. Japanese style fairy tale.

Warnings: M/F, possible rape, lime, lemon, magic, possession
Genres: Fantasy, romance, adventure, erotica
Story summary: The God of the Winds of Blessing has fallen in love with the human miko who he is guardian to. Her village is low on women, so despite her holy status, many men desire her and plan to court her. The god has overheard this, and decides that he will not let any mere mortal have her, and so decides to court her himself. Other gods have taken human wives, but he has never heard of the price that must be paid.

Our miko is surprised when he begins to court her, and must decide for herself if she wants her god as husband, or if she wants anyone at all. Will she give her guardian what he wants, or will she do her best to keep their relationship purely professional?

Even if she does allow him to take her in an even more intimate way than he already possesses her, will she prove worthy and pass a test that the God of Unity will give? Will a certain man in her village allow her to try?

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The sky was becoming grey and yellow, the dawn just beginning to bleed into the sky. In no more than an hour or so, the bruised herald of the sun goddess approach would continue on and next would come her bloody guard before she herself swept up from the horizon in her daily mighty leap. Normally, in this between time I would occupy myself with dancing wildly through the forest, stirring leaf, needle, branch and fur. Instead, I was much more sedate than I usually am, only gently sweeping between the trees and around mountains, sobered by the bragging that had filled my person the previous night as I listened to the village that relied on my protection.

For me, the night had passed slowly as the glaciers of the far north move across the seemingly barren wastes of near eternal winter. Their bragging had faded into silence and then into the mumbles of deep sleep that reveal to the spirits human’s most secret desires. Normally, such fantasies as I had listened to did not bother me, but this time they were about the only single woman left in a village that had four males to every female.

I watched as her slender form washed away her bodily filth before uttering her morning prayers and plunging herself below the waterfall to purify her soul. Her thick hair hung about her in sopping ropes of deepest midnight, quite the contrast with her moon white flesh and ruby lips that paled beneath the icy onslaught. The powerful fingers of the waterfall spirit combed through the human’s body, threatening to sweep her trembling form away. Likewise, those same fingers delicately picked through the woman’s soul, removing the dirt that had been placed there by the normal consequences of life, leaving her spirit to shine brightly once more.

I watched as the water caused her snowy kimono to cling tightly to every curve that the years had grown, proud of how my treasure had developed both inside and out. She had never had any formal training as a priestess, instead hearing my calls and doing the best that she could with my wishes. The village was far too removed from others for her to go for proper training. Thus, I had taught her all that she needed to know to serve me and other kami through her dreams. An apt pupil, she executed my commands flawlessly.

How many summers had she seen now since I had first met her? I could still remember the tiny infant that had been presented to the spirits of this area, how her very aura glowed with an unusual purity. We had all known that she was special, and I had been chosen for the honor of being her guardian due to her exceedingly free spirit. Many of her generation already had borne their own children, and the first of her own year had borne a child that was a six springs now. That would place this one at about eighteen or nineteen summers if my memory was correct. Time was not something that we paid particular attention to.

The songs and chants that I had told her to use for her purification at the beginning and end of the day rose through the mists and waters. Like the ephemeral spray of the crashing water, they floated through the air, although slightly distorted by her need to gasp and splutter them as watery appendages caressed her face. The birds and beasts of the forest, lured by the sweet voice, shyly lined up at the edge of the rushing river to watch and listen. Behind they left the overgrown grasses and shady pines, to guard this priestess in the predawn gloom.

I frowned as she finally emerged, pure and shining as some precious jewel or a perfect pearl. Now that she was a woman, the men of the village were seeking to court my treasure, whom I hoarded and guarded jealously. She never remembered my nightly attentions, how I sat by her bed and howled around her home to warn away the monsters that lurked in the mountain caves. Never had her illnesses been serious, nor had she ever experienced any dire necessity for herself or her family. The fasts that she engaged in were purely personal, completely by choice.

In order to prevent a mere mortal from stealing away what I had claimed for myself so long ago when she was presented unto me to protect, it was time for me to make my final move. I would need to fully take possession of the precious jewel that lay hidden within her very being, that wispy and intangible thing that made her who she was. I would never allow her to become tainted by the passions of men, she belonged to me, and me alone and would stay with me to minister to the village even after she left her body behind. I would need to move as quickly as wind, as stealthy as the very air that surrounded and existed in all things to accomplish my task. After all, I had heard many of the men and boys bragging as they went to sleep the last night how they would court her as I swirled around the village homes.

As luck would have it, my maiden was beginning to feel the stirring desire for a husband of her own. Long had she watched the other girls in the village grow, take a spouse, and begin their families. Often had she watched over little ones as mothers threw themselves into work, raising crops, preparing meals, or working with the textiles that traders came this far into the mountains to obtain. Her lonely sigh mingled with me as she waded from the river, the animals clearing a path to the waiting fire that had already dried her overclothes of woven blood and snow. It was here that my lovely one removed her sodden garment to dry, toweling almost as fast as I could dry her myself. A dry under kimono lay in wait for when she was ready.

I traced each curve with my invisible fingers, desiring to enjoy the woman that I had slowly been courting for so long. Never had she turned a desirous eye on any man that she had seen, and never would she once I was done. In shock at how the touch of the wind had seemed to take the shape of a male hand, her white toweling fell around her ankles as forgotten and abandoned as the tattered remnants of her old life would soon be.

“Who is there?”

Carefully drawing myself together from the miles I was spread about my domain, I coalesced behind the miko as well as I could. Form and substance was something I had never taken before, but today I would for her. With care and concentration, I made myself to the shape of a desirable male of her kind, although I had no idea what I was going to look like. It was her mind and her desire that would finish the form for me. I had the shape now at my disposal, it was up to her to make it manifest in her world that was so close and tangible to mine, to be the bridge across the mists that obscured me from the view of her mortal eyes. With depth as great as the sea and a heat as hot as the inner fires that burned below the ground of this earth did I lean against her back to whisper into her ear.

“The one who has always been with you. He who was there when your first breath blew.”

Eyes as brown and wild as a startled doe cast about as she tore herself from my grasp, spinning like a war top as she searched for what was not visible yet. The gentle breast that rose and fell blanched at the onslaught of her fear, believing that perhaps I was some brigand who would force her and take the sweet secret that lay guarded beyond her jade gates and within her golden palace.

“Where are you?”

Placing my nexus behind her once more, I wrapped strong arms around her body to pull her against me, seeking her warmth and solidity. Reverentially did I place feather lips to her nape, kissing and sucking softly before making my reply to a being that was beginning to soften despite her best efforts. With my next reply, she slipped easily into the mode of speech used by spirits.

“I am here and there, everywhere. I pass unseen in between. I swirl about, both within and without.”

“Only one kind speaks in riddles and is invisible to my sight. Spirit do you bring to me a blessing or do you bring a blight?”

“I bring to you a curse which is a blessing, I who am the source of the songs you sing.”

Slowly I traced her body with my hands, learning this new sensation of feeling as her waking desire brought yet more solidity to me. I reveled in the softness and warmth of her mortal flesh, finer than the sakura petals that rode in my hair every spring. She was as warm as the morning light of Amaterasu sun-goddess, and getting warmer with each gentle caress. Her body would be so easy to damage, and I could not allow any of those rough men to harm her, as unintentional as it would ultimately be.

“What do you seek in exchange? Sake, rice, a Kagura on stage?”

“My place within, my place without. I am seeking you, my priestess so devout.”

Her breath was growing airier, as her body was quickly tuning taut. Softly did I play my little biwa, plucking her strings with each teasing pass of my still invisible hand. This soul was no fool, I knew that she knew what exactly I was saying, couched in rhyme though it be as my kind are wont to do. Having lived for so long, and attended the gatherings of so many other kami, there was no other way for me to speak unless I began to interact with the humans more.

“Though I believe I the gift I know, please to tell me more so I may judge if so.”

“I have lain claim since you came to my realm of your shining soul. I have a copper pot, a silver plate, and a golden bowl. You are to partake of these since you are without stain, however it is so that without a human husband you will remain.”

My hand traced up her thigh and she let out a shaking moan, I could tell that she had not experienced any of these feelings before, and the woman was struggling to keep what little control she had left. The absence of tension as she began to lean into me notified me that she was beginning to weaken, that soon I would need to lay her down or risk having her fall and possibly injure herself. A gentle gust, and I had created for us a bed of soft and fresh leaves and blossoms, fragrant offerings of the spring trees. The animals had already left, and the other spirits of place averted their attention and wandered away for a time that I might finish my mission undistracted and unimpeded. It would not be long now, my wait was nearing its agonizing end.

“I believe that this I had always known, as I watched the others who are grown. Though many good men have often asked for me, I had taken a holy vow of endless chastity. Enticing Spirit who claims that I am his, may I finally know what your divine name is?”

“Many, many names have had I, a wanderer who traverses land and sky. Wind of Change and Seeker of Perfection, He with the Mountain Village under his Protection. But you my Beloved Vessel and Cherished Tama, you are to call me by Kaze-no-megumi-o-kami-sama. Only in private shall you use my shortened name, then may you scream Kaze as I am yet the same.”

I let my beautiful one digest this information. It was quite a lot after all, and I had no intention of taking her by force as other kami sometimes did with their own. I can be forceful when it is necessary, but the water and I have learned that perseverance often accomplishes better what sheer power makes slipshod work of. In my opinion, it was far better to have a fully willing vessel as wife who knew and accepted the consequences. After all, perhaps not all who met her would be willing to accept an ‘unwed’ woman’s refusal. There was a certain danger that her duties would sometimes place her in, and the very real possibility of a holy child being conceived by my wished for union with my perfect virgin.

I remained wrapped around her as parts of me whistled lowly through the trees, causing the sound of the woodland flutes to hush around us and soothe her fear. My amorous touches softened as she began to radiate palpable nervousness again, trembling as does the bamboo in an earthquake. Yet, there is another quality to the light that pulses from her core, a slightly disharmonic note that causes my own heart to feel pain. Ocean water forms in her richly earthy eyes that express her thoughts and feelings so well, and I wondered what could cause so much sadness.

Her skin was dry now, and I wanted to continue touching her naked body, but she was scared. I would not push myself on her if she did not wish it. Carefully I folded her down onto the springy natural mattress. My lovely one flinched a little, as if believing that I would ravage her or something. Did she perhaps think that I intended to steal her and return her weeks later as a half-wit, like the local Tengu so often tried to do and truly did with others? Seeking to allay her fear, I blew her garments to cover her shivering form.

How could I have been so dense? I have been too forward on this first waking encounter, forgetting myself and how shy human women are. Now I must now pay for it, atone for overwhelming her. However, I would still not allow any of the mortals to take her from me. She was far too precious to me, something more than all of the other priestesses who had served me.

“If you are not yet ready, I can court slow and steady.”

Gently I placed a kiss on her brow as I began to lose the little solidarity that I had gained from her. I could wait, her needs in this placed above my own, as it was her virgin blood that I sought, her field that I wished to sow. As proof that my visit was no dream, I caused an oblong stone to roll beneath her vision to her side. I had plans for this stone.

“Rinse and wash the dirt away, in this yorishiro I shall stay. Take this abode to my shrine, within your home priestess mine.”

I withdrew a bit from her, watching as always. I guarded her while she tremblingly donned the blazing red and white of a miko. Once she was prepared, my lovely maiden rolled up the garnet colored hakama that mimicked fire around her legs, and tied back the swooping snow of her crane wing sleeves. Reverently picking up the stone, my miko took it near the river, gently rinsing cold water over it to remove the dirt. I allowed her to believe that she was alone, as I knew that she needed to process what had transpired between us.

“Why would he want me thus? Do I want him the same way? The God of the Winds of Blessing desires a mere mortal like myself? Is it even possible to have a spirit for a husband? What am I saying? There are so many stories of gods taking human wives. But I am not special in any way!”

She was quick with her work, and so soon I accompanied her back to her village. I gloried in what little time I had her left to myself as we wended through the towering pines that stood sentinel over this lonely land. Morning mists were burning away slowly beneath the red now spreading on the horizon, and by the time we returned to the gathering of huts, much of the village would be awake and busy already.