"Come on, open up." Kuronosuke banged on the apartment's door again a few times. "I know you're in there. You don't wanna get on my bad side."
He was right about that last part – he was yakuza, after all. Well, he had to be, the person inside assumed. When you racked up as much debt as she did, the yakuza were the ones who came after you; everybody in town knew that. Given her circumstances, she had no choice but to take the deal, hoping that she could somehow pay off the skyrocketing interest. But in truth, it'd been as good as a death sentence from the start.
Not wanting to get indebted over a kicked-down door as well, she walked over to meet the man with a commanding, yet oddly warm voice. She unlocked it, but instead of meeting with his face, she almost bumped into a large, dark-skinned dome of a belly. He was massive, and exposed his skin by not wearing a shirt. As she looked down, she realized that he wasn't wearing any pants, either. Instead, he had big chubby paws, covered in slate gray and white fur, as well as golden branch patterns that extended across the beastly bits. Instead of a butt, there was more of that furry, voluptuous body, continuing up to a second set of paws, and what looked like a sea of tails protruding from his enormous thighs.
"A-Are you a yokai...?!" was all that she managed to stutter.
His human-like face scoffed at the notion. "You can call me Kuronosuke. I'm here on business." The centaur man explained, watching the scared woman with his intense pink eyes. He flicked his long dark hair away from his face, raising his pointy fox-like ears. "...Won't you invite me inside?"
She simply nodded and moved out of the way, standing in the unit bathroom's door. He didn't have any shoes to remove, so he simply walked in as the woman watched. It was impressive how large Kuronosuke was in every conceivable way, but even more so that he could enter her small condo without getting stuck. She watched the extra-large taur figure under the black man's torso, though his bits looked more vulpine than equine or bovine. That was especially true for his nine fluffy tails, brushing against the walls and her face on their way, miraculously never knocking over anything on the small hallway or her system kitchen.
Kuro looked around, unimpressed by the debtor's apartment. Too simple. Too small. Too Western for his tastes. She was clearly Japanese, so perhaps the woman lacked for choice of furnishings. It was clear that she didn't have money – one look to her face told him as much. That's why he came here, after all. The most impressive parts of the living room were the walls, plastered with achievements. Multiple diplomas, smiling photos, trophies on shelves. A good kid who'd found misfortune in the real world, he thought with a heavy heart. It made his job harder.
"Kuronosuke-san... Y-You're not really yakuza, are you...?" She asked meekly after closing her front door.
He smirked as he moved further inside, clearing the hallway. He moved his hindpaws away, sitting on them in the corner, that she could join him in the living room. "Why do you think I'm not?"
"Y-You don't have tattoos all over your body!" She said, staring at the Afro-Japanese's human upper body.
The demi-kitsunetaur chuckled. He thought that 'looking like a mythical creature' would be higher up on her list. But he decided to play up the unexpected charade.
"...So you're worried about the yakuza?"
She sat down on her armchair, looking at the weird pearly-white and golden accessories that the man had on the bottom of his ample chest. "Y-Yeah... I took money from a loan agency, which turned out to belong to the Kumagai Family. But I had to! My niece needed it, a-and the doctors wouldn't bump up her surgery unless they got paid on the side, and... I-I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be saying all of this to a stranger–"
He shook his head. To think that even doctors, the honorable workers who save lives, weren't beneath extortion nowadays... "Don't worry about it. It's bad luck to lie to Zenko, anyway..."
Her eyes gaped. "A-Are you really a heavenly kitsune?!"
"Only from my father's side." Kuronosuke replied, giving a firm slap to his taur belly, causing his sagging stomach to wobble and bounce just an inch off the ground. "My mom is human."
"Oh, thank the Kami!" The woman shouted, jumping out of her chair and kneeling in front of the amused hybrid. "They've sent a fox spirit to help me. Please, Kuronosuke-sama! Save me from these awful yakuza!"
His smile turned serious as he nonchalantly watched the long golden nails on his hand. "...Why? You took a debt, and you're expected to pay it back. It's the honorable thing to do, in the eyes of the Kami. You should've known that the yakuza don't give away money for nothing in return."
"B-But I can't pay it back! I'm already late on this month's payment.... A-And if you don't pay the yakuza, they–...t-they come to k-k–!"
"Shh, shh, come here." Kuronosuke got up himself and advanced on her, knocking over a coffee table on his way to hug her. The woman was surprised by the stranger's affection, being lifted and held to his overweight gut and vulpine fur. But it felt oddly comforting. "You're a good kid, and you did good for your niece. Tell you what, I've made up my mind. I'm not letting anyone kill you, okay? And I know just how to keep you safe."
She was too surprised by this whole turn of events, simply nodding and brushing her face against his rumbling gut. She managed to get a better look under his sagging breasts, noticing what seemed to be surgery scars. And those accessories adorning his otherwise naked torso, white hard stones and a golden forked cushion, also caught her eye. But she had a feeling that they weren't there for aesthetic reasons.
That instinct turned out to be true, as his belly seemed to droop even more and become disjointed from the rest of his body. However, it wasn't melting away from Kuronosuke's body, but parting along the lower line of his bust, unveiling a golden hollow in the biracial man's chest. Two rows of fangs delineated it, surrounded by the largest pairs on the sides. Their tips had been exposed all along, as did the end of a long forked tongue extending from the middle. A terrifyingly large maw, plastered under his ribs, with the same width of his chest. It had everything she'd expect: tonsils, palate, and throat... Flesh quivered in what could only be hunger.
She tried to free herself from him, but the man's thick arms hugged her body to his stomach, while her head pointed towards the opening. The flat golden muscle wrapped itself under her arms, pulling her closer. The woman fought with all of her strength, kicking his soft belly, but her head was soon pulled into his chest maw. The pointy teeth above her neck never came crashing down to chew on her. More than her taste, he seemed to savor her struggle.
"L-Let me go, Oni!"
The demi-foxtaur chuckled. "I'm an Oni now...? But I'm doing you a favor." He flahsed her an amused smile as he spoke. "This is the only way to keep you safe; the only place where no other yakuza will ever come looking for you..."
She turned her head to look at his face. "W-W-Who are you?!"
"Kumagai Kuronosuke. Lieutenant and heir to the Kumagai Clan. But for you...I'm your new home."
With one last exchange of glances – one terrified and the other resolute –, she was quickly funneled towards the back, squeezed into the pliant entrance that was as soft as it was ravenous. Much bigger than his regular human-like mouth, but also a much shorter trip down, as her face was shoved into a sack right beneath that mound of a belly. Her trapped screams reverberated right back at her, enclosed completely in golden-hued flesh. She was being devoured alive, and no amount of struggling could save her.
"Mmmm, what an adorable little guest~" Kuronosuke said, rubbing the barely noticeable bulge in his dome, watching the flailing legs sticking out rom his chest maw. "I promise that no-one will hurt you, not even my body. And I know you'll enjoy it, in time."
Midst the excessive slurping that his other maw made around his ensnared prey, he took a glance at her apartment one last time, making a mental note of her name from her law diploma, before turning around and casually making his way down the corridor. Despite his substantial heft, his fox-like paws barely made any sound on the wooden flooring, while his large fluffy stomach sagged between them.
But his focus, of course, was on the belly from his human bits – feeling the woman squirm in the fleshy crop, as her feet disappeared between his fangs and his chest closed back as if nothing had happened. His fangs and tongue were inconspicuously concealed in plain sight, appearing like simple adornments, and his tummy didn't look that much bigger or active , despite the desperate prey within. He tuned out from her cries and pleas, knowing that no-one else would be able to hear her. She was safe with him.
His long and fluffy gray-and-white tails brushed once more against the furniture on his way out, leaving behind not a hair of himself or the woman, as she all but disappeared to the world. To her friends and family, she would have fled; to his superiors and underlings in the Family, her body would've been disposed of, to set an example. But Kuronosuke would know the truth. The woman was his to care and to protect, and she wouldn't want for anything that he could provide. In truth, he'd always been curious about having a belly pet – or rather, a companion. She'd learn to appreciate his affection...given enough time, perhaps.
He shut the door of her apartment and moved his long hair out of his face, getting ready to go about his day as if nothing had ever happened. As if everything wasn't about to change for her...for them.
"Get settled in there, Akani-chan." The kitsunetaur hybrid spoke quietly before walking away, knowing that his words would definitely reach her. "I'll take care of you from now on~"
***
It had been four months, more or less. Time went by pretty fast, he could've sworn that his new roommate had moved in just yesterday. So much had happened, and yet, so little had changed.
The leader of the family, Kumagai Kabuto – or, as Kuronosuke called him, 'dad' – praised him for not being afraid of getting his hands dirty. He could still remember the pride in the kitsunetaur patriarch's eyes. Perhaps, he'd finally realized that Kuro was a worthy heir of his legacy. A far cry from the old fox's initial hopelessness, when he thought that his son was born in the wrong gender to lead. But he'd learned, after many years, that Kuronosuke was not only a boy, but a man. And learned that his half-human son would kill to protect his family, all without a mark on his consciousness.
But his dad didn't know the truth.
Kuronosuke perused the items in the convenience store, passing through the tight aisles with his extremely plump body. Despite his enormous taur belly and thighs, he moved gracefully and avoided knocking over any items from the shelves. Others moved out of the way so they wouldn't bump him or his tails, or to admire his rather unusual presence. Being a demitaur living among humans, it was all par for the course. As such, the hybrid was used to walking around Saitama when the streets were less packed, and everyone in the city was busy with their daily office jobs. He enjoyed the attention, but not so much when strangers decided to touch him, for good luck or more nefarious reasons.
The staff of this store was used to him coming and going, while other customers were quite awestruck by his naked, plump, large appearance. Kuro knew that he was intimidating to unaccustomed eyes – and that was before they even knew that he was yakuza! He wasn't ashamed of his occupation, but he knew that most civilians wouldn't understand how the yakuza were the real peacekeepers. Right now, he examined the tiny objects on the shelves, as he decided what he'd put into his shopping basket, quietly talking to himself.
Any observers might've thought that this was him simply being very meticulous to remember. But they didn't know the truth, either.
"Alright, what was it again...?" He seemingly muttered under his breath. "I've got soy sauce, shampoo, inari-zushi. What else was it? It's not toilet paper..." He gave his exposed belly a slight shake. "...Do you remember?"
There was silence. Then, a voice magically manifested from the depths of his belly, directly into his head. "...Sayama."
"Ah, that's right! How could I forget it?" His four chunky paws strutted him towards the green tea section, and he collected a box of leaves. "Thank you, Akani-chan!"
He replied quietly enough that nobody would catch her name, but loud enough that the girl stuck in his forestomach would understand his words. They could communicate through his magic, the same that allowed him to keep her safe inside indefinitely. Kuronosuke, the only one able to hear her words and feel her squirms coming deep from his belly, could tune out of her sounds whenever she got unruly; but she could always listen to him.
Lately, she'd been more quiet, so there wasn't any need to filter out her voice these last few days – but she also didn't respond much to him whenever he checked up on her. He knew that Akani-chan was fine, from all the kicking that she was doing to try and call anyone's attention...perhaps she simply wasn't in the mood to talk.
He brought all of his items to the cashier, paying for them before leaving with a plastic bag. He walked the streets without fear of displaying his wonderfully plump, half-vulpine bod. More curious eyes turned to him, of course – and Kuro delighted on the thought that none of them knew that he wasn't alone. The girl he was transporting was just there, a few layers of skin and flesh away from the outside world...and no-one would ever figure out her whereabouts.
The half-black, half-Japanese hybrid took the long route home, making sure to stop by the usual Inari shrine. As was the Zenko custom, he left a prayer to the goddess of kitsune, and an offering of inari-zushi, before turning back. It was an average spring weekday, and the cherry trees were no longer in blossom. The sunlight shaved off some of the cold from the mountain winds, as did his fur coat, though his exposed upper body was accustomed to the temperature by now. And it was worth it to take in the sights, all alone at his pace, instead of taking a fast but packed train... Well, aside from the fact that he wasn't traveling alone.
Kuronosuke arrived to the most traditional part of town. One of these large and beautiful traditional mansions was his birthplace, but he had a more modest home all for himself, not far from his father's. He greeted his neighbor's housekeeper as he unlocked the gate of his house and entered, locking it back before walking to the sliding front door. Compared to Western doors, the traditional shoji made of wood and paper were much easier to walk through, given his room-filling physique.
Knowing that his own housekeeper had left for the day, he had the whole place for himself. Though he hadn't planned anything exciting for this afternoon. Rather, he had a boring task to occupy himself with: doing his taxes. The demi-kitsunetaur was a honorable yakuza, not a disgraceful and immoral criminal, after all. As such, he still abode by the law...mostly. He'd still get his hands dirty – all to keep order around this city –, and he did have to downplay his occupation as a regular office job in his tax forms, but a bit of dishonesty was a crucial part of the job. It was necessary, in order to protect what he held dearest.
Though he had no thoughts to spare for his lofty ideals that would, one day, elevate him to leader of the Kumagai Family. His faculties would be spent working out a multitude of numbers, making sure that everything matched the official books of his office's illicit business. He could've had an underling do it all for him, but he wanted to be diligent and set an example for his gang. Plus, he had good company to get him through it, like every day for these last months.
"Alright, Akani-chan," Kuronosuke announced, unafraid of being overheard. "We're home now. Do you need anything while I make some tea–?"
She interrupted him. "Let me out, please, Kuronosuke-san! I promise that I won't run out from your house or anything!"
He sighed, looking down at his belly and rubbing around the squirming prey within. It was going to be one of those days, huh...
"We've been through this, Akani-chan... Look, even if I believed you – which I don't –, what good would that do...? If I do this for you, then you'll ask me again, and again. Until you figure out a way to escape the next time I'd let you out. Buuut if you stay in there, I can still keep you perfectly safe. If you run away, someone else can find you, and they won't be as docile as me."
"I-I promise that I won't run away...! I simply want to see what the world looks like outside of your belly for just a second! It's so...stuffy in here! Please!"
"Alright, it's timeout with you, now." He said, deciding to tune out her voice as she continued to plea and toss. Akani knew that her words wouldn't reach him during one of his 'timeouts', but she was desperately struggling inside regardless. Kuro pushed his hands against his skin, feeling her kicks deep within his chubby belly. Then he released his palms, and his belly bounced and sagged once more. 'Stuffy', she claimed...what? There wasn't a more comfortable place in the world that he knew of!
As his prey continued to pointlessly fight for her life, Kuronosuke calmly set up a kettle and tea cup, letting the water warm up without reaching the boiling point, while he put away his other groceries. He considered preparing his usual chanko stew, but it was too early for dinner. As he waited on the kettle, he walked on the tatami towards his kotatsu, clearing some space between the documents that were piled atop the table. The rooms in his traditional house were much more spacious, letting the kitsunetaur walk around on his paws without fear of stumbling against anything or anyone. Akani's golden-walled accommodations were much more confined than his, but the comfort that they provided were unparalleled, despite her protestations.
The hybrid trudged back to his kettle, pouring the liquid onto his Sayama tea leaves, and savoring the aroma emerging from the vapor. The local variety of green tea was his favorite. It was a shame that he couldn't share a cup, steeped to perfection, with Akani, as much as he wanted. Either he'd have to let her out, or simply toss it inside over her skin. He held her dear, yet he wouldn't say that he had fallen for the human girl, like a master wouldn't fall for their pet. At the end of the day, that was what she was: his personal belly pet, and nothing else. He still showed her love and utmost care, keeping her nurtured and entertained, and giving her the privilege of being as close to him as anyone could be, all of the time. But at the same time, she was entirely his, and his alone; and her fate was entirely at his mercy. As the dominant, he knew the role that he wanted to play – no, that he HAD to play. But the struggling Akani would still need more time to learn hers.
After a few minutes of rumination, he removed the soggy leaves from his cup and moved back to the kotatsu, tucking his vulpine forepaws underneath the thick and warm blanket. He took a sip before placing down the fine china, savoring the sweet drink with a few swishes before swallowing. Unlike his chest maw – which led directly to his dark-skinned tummy –, Kuro's human mouth led the beverage down a much longer path, through his throat and over to his taur bits until it reached his large stomach, which was currently splayed on the ground as he sat on it. He'd gained a bit of weight these last few months, thanks to his high-protein chanko diet, making both of his bellies bigger and rounder – enough that Akani's room would be noticeably more spacious and soft, but not so much that others would notice any difference aside from his weight.
He continued to slowly sip on his tea, admiring just how fiercely his guest continued to struggle in his forebelly. It had been a while since she'd squirmed nonstop like this, trying to squeeze herself out from the fleshy crop. Kuro paid no mind to her tuned-out cursing, simply setting his empty cup to the side as he worried about his more important yet tiresome chore ahead of him. He looked at the multiple piles of tax-related documents, trying to remember where he'd left off.
Then he looked at his empty cup. Maybe he should make some more tea, first...
***
After enough tea-based procrastination and soul-crushing number-crunching, his pink eyes did their best to not glaze over the papers as he triple-checked everything. It all seemed in order, but you could never tell with stuff like taxes, he thought... Perhaps he was being too careful for his own sake. Anyway, everything checked out. Now all that was left was to file it properly and pay his remaining taxes, but that was a problem for tomorrow.
He stretched his arms up, touching the high ceiling with his golden nails. Akani's struggling definitely helped him keep his concentration, stimulating his sensitive belly in a pleasurable Manner. Kuronosuke felt as her energy faded through the grueling hours, letting her fight and scream at the walls for no-one to hear, until her kicks were reduced to idle squirms. He took his paws from under the kotatsu and stretched his numb feral limbs, also flicking his pointy ears and nine tails for good measure. It was about dinner time, if his groaning taurgut was any indication. He gave his filled front stomach a few pats, deciding to tune into what his belly pet was muttering.
Before he could raise his voice, he heard the woman's crying. Her voice was hoarse after her long breakdown – but she still had the energy to keep going after all this time, somehow. The demi-kitsunetaur could tell that Akani was extremely distraught.
"What's wrong, Akani-chan...?" He asked, lovingly rubbing his thumb over his belly, to which she replied with another weak kick.
"I-I'm stuck in here...! Forever!" She shouted as loudly as her throat would allow, and sniffled. "A-And I'm going to die in here! I-I just want to go home... You need to let me out, please! I can't stand it anymore!"
Kuronosuke was shaken. He'd normally write off her sporadic outbursts as his belly pet acting up for attention, but now she was going through a full-on hysteria episode. "Y-You're not gonna die, Akani-chan... I'm not gonna let–"
She snapped. "What more do you want from me? You took my money, my freedom, my whole life..."
"I just want to keep you safe... You know that you're supposed to be inside of me at all times." After all, if he did let her go, she'd no longer be safe, and the yakuza would think that he's a lousy collector. "All I want is you, Akani-chan. I like taking care of you. Don't you like it when I take care of you...? I love you, Akani-chan..."
"Liar! You just keep me around because you didn't have the guts to get rid of me! As soon as I say something you don't like, you stop listening to me. You really think that this is 'love'...?!"
"H-How can you say that...?! I listen to you and I care–"
"Shut up!" She whimpered, before she devolved into crying again, curled up in a ball in his belly.
He was stumped. She could hear his voice every day, all day. She should know how Kuronosuke treated others – underlings, debtors, superiors, friends. And in turn, she should know how differently Akani-chan was treated from all of them. Their bond was special, one-of-a-kind. She was irreplaceable, and he didn't want to let her go. Why couldn't she see that? Was there something that he could do, to show her how much he cared...?
The demi-kitsunetaur sat back down on his tatami, knowing that, first of all, he'd have to deal with her panic attack by keeping his own anxiety low. Then, he shushed repeatedly to reassure her, as he stroked his dark-skinned dome gently, before singing a soft tune from his childhood to her:
"I can't sleep at night / I can't eat a bite / 'cause the man I love / he don't treat me right.
"He makes me feel so blue / I don't know what to do / sometimes I sit and sigh / and then begin to cry / 'cause my best friend / said his last goodbye..."
Her crying got quieter as Kuro hummed the rest of the melody. She uncurled a bit and pushed against the wall.
"...Was that song in English?"
"Yeah, my mom sang it to me..." He answered her, standing back up as he continued to rub his taut skin. "Do you want me to grab your disk player, Akani-chan? What about a box of Shlocky?"
She didn't answer, simply nodding her head, and he could tell her gesture apart from the hair brushing against the golden-hued flesh. He walked back to his kitchen area, finding a packet of biscuit sticks with chocolate coating, with 'Shlocky' written on the front in English letters. His chest maw parted, and he placed the box gently onto the large tongue that emerged, which curled back to swallow the snack down into his forebelly for Akani. Kuro then looked around in the other rooms, searching for the disk player which he'd bought for her as a gift after she'd 'moved in'. He found it in his bedroom, swapping the disc for another with soft Japanese ballads, before sending it down the chute as well.
He could hear the soft snapping and crunching of the chocolaty sticks, and her shuffling to get the disc player's headphones on her ears – but most importantly, her crying seemed to have mostly stopped, leaving only a few sniffles. Instead of more kicks and punches, he felt her palm push against the stomach wall.
"Kuro-san... Can't you open an exception for me? A very, very tiny exception... I promise to behave if you let me out for just an hour a week. O-Or even less...! I know you, and that you want to protect me so badly. T-That you don't want me to run away and get hurt. ...But I promise that I won't. I just want to stretch my legs and breathe fresh air and see the trees and the sunshine. And I'll come back to you straight away, I swear on my life...!"
"Hmmm..." He continued to rub his belly, feeling the nice weight that Akani provided. "I'll...consider it. If that's what you want."
"R-Really?!"
"Yes." Kuronosuke replied gently, even though it wasn't true at all. But the hard truth wasn't what Akani-chan needed to hear right now, given her shocked state. A little white lie wouldn't hurt... He could feel her calming down from her breakdown – a breakdown that he was the cause of, as he was well aware. Akani was so smart, but she couldn't understand that he had no other choice. He wouldn't– he COULDN'T risk losing her, not even for a single second. Both of their lives were at stake on this matter, and the risks were too high.
Now, it was time for dinner. He walked back to the kitchen, getting ready to prepare his stew before they both went to bed. Maybe she needed more time to come to terms with it, he thought... For her sake, Kuro was willing to wait however long she needed to face her reality. And even tell more white lies, if necessary. A bit of dishonesty, he'd come to realize, was a crucial part of this job.