“Ikura desu ka?” She asked. What is the price?

Kyoko didn’t know the moon spirit’s name. For all she know she was looking at Tsukuyomi herself.  The lady definitely had the look for it.

Every part of her body shone with the silvery sheen the celestial object itself. Her waist length hair fell across her back in waves that shimmered brilliantly in the moonlight. There was a bright paleness to her skin that no amount of makeup or powder could replicate, not matter how expertly it was applied. There were no pupils in her white eyes. Her voluminous midnight black kimono made her aristocratic features and silvery appearance shine all the brighter.

The noblewomen of Japan’s past were nothing in comparison. Nothing but pathetic imitations.

She sat on a whispy, translucent palanquin that had been carried down from the sky itself, borne by her servants to this clearing deep in the forest, followed closely by her personal guard. Samurai warriors in armor and crescent moon helms. Behind them were the spirit’s other retainers. Handmaidens and other servants.

She was inspecting Kyoko’s tribute. Asking for his price.

“Um... what exactly is going on? What did she just say? I don’t think I heard her right.”  

That was the boy. The human. William. Kyoko’s tribute to her moon spirit customer. A tourist from America who had come to the country after winning a trip in a radio contest. Kyoko had approached him a couple days ago in her human guise as a cute young woman. He didn’t know he was for sale right now.

Kyoko smiled and lied. “She wants you to come closer, so she can see you better.” Then she turned to the moon spirit and named a price in Japanese. An amount of gold she knew could be exchanged for enough yen to live comfortably until the next time the spirit came to earth in a decade.

Hesitantly, the young man stepped forward, eying the warriors behind the lady’s palanquin and their weapons. He was still much too stunned to think or act clearly, overwhelmed as he was by the sudden intrusion of the supernatural into his life.

The lady reached out, her hand emerging from her voluminous black robes to lightly grip him by the chin and tilt his head up. She took in the sight of him, his sea-Green eyes and his blonde hair. Kyoko had managed to bring her a few foreigners over the years, but not many. Blonde hair was still a novelty for her.

After an endless moment, the lady’s hand retreaded back into her robes. She gave Kyoko a nod.

That was all it took. A servant stepped forward, head bowed, to present Kyoko with a bag of gold. Her payment for delivering the moon spirit a new concubine.

Two samurai stepped forward, up to William. He stepped back, nervous but not yet afraid because he didn’t know he should be. Not until the warriors drew their swords in a flash.

In a testament to their inhuman skill, the boy suffered not a single scratch as he reflexively tried to shirk away from their blades. His clothes were gone in moments, cut up tatters littering the forest floor around him.

“What the fuck!?” He cried out, more from shock than anything else.

He was then grabbed by the samurai. They held him in place, twisting his arms behind his back and forcing him to his knees as servants came up with soft looking silver rope.

This was Kyoko’s favorite part. And the moon spirit’s too, if the subtle change in her expression was any sign.

The servants soon weaves a web of rope around the body of their mistress’s new toy. The intricate harness that soon bound the boy’s arms to his torso and behind his back was a thing of beauty. It extended down to his manhood, with the leftover rope extending outwards from between his legs as a makeshift leash.

He cried out and screamed until he was gagged with a soft cloth, followed by another to cleave his mouth and a third to cover it all.

William tried to look back at Kyoko, eyes wide in desperate questions. What was going on? Why was she doing this?

Kyoko paid him no mind, and made a big show of counting the gold in the bag. His muffled cries were delightful.

She didn’t look back up until the boy was being dragged away by the retinue. He was at the forefront, behind only the palanquin so his new mistress could enjoy the sight of him bound up and being dragged along.

In a flash of moonlight, Kyoko was alone. The centuries old Kitsune giggled to herself, happy that she wouldn’t have to worry about money for awhile.

Her thoughts turned to William’s sister, sleeping soundly in their hotel room, thinking her brother was having a fun night out. Kyoko would have to move fast to get the young woman bound up and off to her den.

It was almost a shame that she would have to stop using her current cute face now that it was about to be the last one seen in the company of two vanished tourists.

But hey, that was the price a shapeshifter payed to lure in her prey. Kyoko hummed to herself, happy with night of profit in the moonlight.