Natsuko sat on the Tatami floor of the shrine after having finished her work for the day. It was long, she had a lot of training to do in order to master her lighter healing elements and spells but she was advancing quite well. It might only be a few more years before she managed to make it to the level of the Priestess' in terms of skill with the mystic arts. She simply relaxed now though, the wind blowing through the Shrine's chamber made for an excellent soothing time away from all the chores and discipline.
"Mghn..." Mat groaned as he came back into existence, his little body laying next to Natsuko's right hand. He was still quite taken by the teasing death that he had experienced on the sea floor, but he was far from overwhelmed.
Natsuko's ears perked up as she heard his groan. Her green eyes went down to see the little blue haired insect on the floor. Immediately she gasped, bringing her hand away from him expecting him to bite or do something else. Insects were welcome outside of the shrine, as in most eastern religions they were seen as also having a powerful spirit and killing them was frowned upon. Inside, however, the Maidens recognized that they could be dangerous to the structure of the building itself and their presence was usually dealt with by relocation.
Some Maidens simply took the easy route and snuffed them out though... Why not?
"What... Kind of bug are you." She cooed down to him as she leaned forward. She looked him over, seeing his throbbing [REDACTED] between his legs. At first she thought it was some sort of stinger, but when she realized exactly what he was, she was taken aback again. She lived in the Heian Period of Japan's legacy, and although this version of Earth was not the same in all aspects as the one that Mathew was from, the tale of Issun-bōshi would not be forged for another 500 years in the middle of the Muromachi Period. She had nothing to go on for what he was.
Mat looked up to her, somewhat shocked that she actually saw him this time. His little heart pulsed as she spoke, her language one that he couldn't understand. He knew it to be Japanese, and it was absolutely beautiful, but it he simply had no idea what she was saying.
"A... A tiny boy?" She said softly as she lifted her left hand over him. She let her index finger touch his [REDACTED], watching him as he let out a contented sigh. The maiden giggled slightly as she saw him slowly stand after, his [REDACTED] still quite visible to her. "Hello, little creature... What are you? Are you a Spirit of the area?"
"What?" Mat whimpered, looking her over slightly. She was amazed, to her she had just found the embodiment of a new Shinto spirit. She resisted the urge to run and tell someone about his presence, not wanting to offend the creature in any way. "I don't understand."
"What language is that?" She cooed down to him, watching him as he gazed back up to her. "I've never heard it before... Should I tell the others?"
"Useless..." Mat whimpered, looking up to her before he looked around to the rest of his surroundings. He saw her feet, the soles of which looked well worn and fairly well used to the point where he could see the imprint of her sole in the dirt and whatever else that was on them. Shoes were not often worn inside of the shrine...
"Fascinating..." She said happily as she watched the little human wandering around the Tatami floor.
The room was empty aside from her, the other Maidens were out tending to the plants and working to further their spells. There was one other girl, Natsuko's friend Kato, who was in charge of cleaning the grounds for the evening. She was a bit rougher than Natsuko was, her methods a bit more brash than hers and as such her skills were more suited for protecting the shrine than healing others. Natsuko spent a long time with her friend trying to get her to understand the healing arts, but she was simply more suited toward the defensive arts.
"She's found it..." A voice in his head spoke, the Australian accented girl. Mathew began to wander away from Natsuko slightly, looking up and around to see if he could see anything strange or find where the voice was coming from.
"They can't communicate, unless he suddenly found a way to understand Japanese." The Japanese woman's voice said, her accent still just as thick from before. "It's alright though, We have contingency plans in place."
"Mghn..." Mat whimpered, falling to his knees when she finished speaking. It was almost as though they sent a burst through him of the pent-up pleasure from before. He used his hands for support as he gasped, trying to get himself back to his feet for a moment after.
"He needs to keep collecting." The Japanese voice said, "Artificial shocks should get him moving how we want him to."
Natsuko watched curiously as the little Human looked back to her, his eyes stopping at her feet. She gently smiled to him, tilting her head a bit as he began to walk toward the Tabi socks that were so tauntingly displayed to him. Whoever the people in his head were, they were getting impatient... They directly changed him like they had the button to a shock collar's controls.
The Chipmunk girl giggled as she watched Mat approach her feet. She didn't move them away from him, she gently flexed her toes behind the sock's fabric and smiled.
"Careful Spirit... Those are probably pretty smelly..." She warned, but her words fell on deaf ears. She watched him approach, taking note of his little chest as it inhaled the scent. It was strange to her, completely out of the ordinary... She had expected such a small spirit to be fearful of large feet, things that could kill it or snuff it out. However, this one was practically drinking in the smell. "Hmm?"
She continued to watch curiously as he began to nuzzle into the ball of her foot. He took in deep breaths of the odor, gently kneading into her sole with his hands. The action caused her to laugh aloud, she wasn't ticklish it was just somewhat cute to her.
"You're strange." She giggled still, watching him begin to kiss at the sole of her foot.
Hours passed as she watched him before reaching out to gently stroke her index finger along his back. He was almost as though he were a zombie, drinking in the scent and loving every second of it. Mat hadn't intended on doing that, he almost always died in every world anyway and wanted to explore this one a bit more before he passed on... However, the voices had other plans for him.
"Hold on, you must be thirsty or something. I can't imagine my feet are that nourishing... I'll be back." Natsuko said happily as she stood up, she looked back to him with a smile, winking to the little spirit who stood there watching her walk away. "Don't run off too far..."
The programming ceased as Mat let out a long and almost painful sounding moan. She had disappeared before that though, the little one rolling to his back as the overwhelming pleasure ripped through his mind. It took him a few minutes to process it all - it was like he was literally a passenger in his own head. He experienced it, he felt everything and smelled every smell, but he had a tremendous lack of control...
Like a thing... Like he wasn't human...
The tiny creature slowly got to his feet once more after everything had processed, he had power over his body again - even though he was still fighting the crippling pleasure. Slowly he wandered from the main room filled with Tatami mats off into a side hallway... His first idea had come back to him; explore and see this world before leaving it again. His tiny bare feet slipped across the wooden floors of the hall, hopping over cracks in the floorboards as he looked around and enjoyed.
It must have been Japan for sure, what era? He had no idea, but it looked to be a version of Feudal Japan on Earth. It didn't explain the half-animal girls that wandered about the Shrine's grounds. His wandering thoughts had completely masked a threat from behind.
"Hey, Natsuko?" A voice slid into the empty room as a young Maiden wielding a broom poked her head in. Her long, white hair fell over her shoulders, the red tips contrasting the white Shrine Maiden's kimono top as her golden eyes scanned the room. Her voice had caught Mat's attention, she was standing in the doorway he had just walked through.
"Hey Kato! I have something to show you. Be back in a minute alright?" Natsuko hollered from another room. The Kitsune maiden smiled innocently, a fang showing from her sharpened canine-like teeth.
"Kay! I'll be in the hall finishing up for the day." She cutely replied, turning to look down the hallway as she shut the door.
Kato gripped her broom and turned to the long wooden hallway, shutting the paper-style door behind her as she hummed a little tune under her breath. It wasn't anything special, just something she was making up as she went along. She brought the broom down to the ground, but just before she began to sweep she saw a little blue insect on the floor in front of the broom.
Normally the Maidens tended to try and relocate insects, but Natsuko was about to be back. Mat lay on his back at Kato's feet as she held the broom like a staff on her right. She didn't have the time to clean the floor and relocate a bug, so she decided to take the easy route - one she often took when it came to insects.
Mat watched as her right foot lifted off of the ground, the smell of her sweat filling his lungs almost like a trap. It triggered more pleasure, paralyzing him for the time being as her foot came down. She was brutal - the ball of her foot came to rest on his tiny body forcing his head to the side as she lifted her heel and began to twist him out. She felt his little body give way underneath her sock, the insignificant creature's space quickly collapsed as she ground him out like a cigarette.
Mat's little body didn't stand a chance. His body collapsed after a few seconds of the torture, roughly mixing into the wooden floorboards.
*Squish*
*Grind*
*Squelch*
"Natsuko!" Kato shouted as she turned, lifting her foot. Mat's remains stuck to the bottom of her sock easily, leaving nothing but an arm and a kidney on the ground to mark his grave. She stepped back and gently swept the spot away with her broom, the little remaining bits mixing in with the dust before Kato peeked through the door so that Natsuko could hear her better. "Watch for bugs in the shrine. I just found one."
"Alright!" Natsuko cooed back as she entered the room, seeing Kato's smiling face through the door. "You finished in there?"
"Nope, The bug distracted me. What did you wanna show me anyway?"
Natsuko's gaze went back to where she was sitting. The floor was barren, the spirit was gone. She let out a gentle sigh, not even thinking that Mat was the insect that Kato had found. The chipmunk girl shrugged half-heartedly as she took the little thimble-sized shot of water she had for Mat and drank it down.
"Nothing. It was probably just a strange vision or something. Maybe I'm just using Majick too much."
"They say that stuff can mess with your head if you live in it." Kato replied, shutting the door as she continued sweeping. Mat's kidney and arm disappeared up into the broom, getting lost in the dirt-coated ritualistic sweeping that she was conducting as she wandered down the hallway with the Transient's corpse stuck to her sole. "It's alright though, just gotta' learn to keep it under control."
"How's your offensive skills classes going?" Natsuko asked happily through the wall, wandering back over to her seat.
"Really well actually! I may get my Katana in a few weeks... I really want the prize one though, the Priestess teaching me told me that she's looking for the person the Katana calls out for. I really want it to be me!"
"Good luck!" Natsuko said happily.
Maybe it all was just a little dream... Maybe she's just working too much...