Isolated from the angry red moonlight by the firmly closed shutters of their bedroom window, two forms pestered together, grunting and moaning in a symphony of passion.

Finally, reaching her climax, the female form arched her back as her toes curled and her nails raked furrows into the back of the male who, stimulated by the convulsion of her insides, was brought over the brink. With a primal roar, he released his lust into her womb.

Time seemed to still at that moment, framing them in the posture of their release. Colour drained out of them and their surroundings. The achromatic field expanded rapidly, until it encompassed the whole of Kirigakure, stopping its progress, only when met by the dense wall of fog at the borders of the Water country.

A tiny flicker of lavender flame spouted up from the joined bodies of Lin Feng and Pakura, slowly spreading over them and onto the ground.

Slowly at first, then faster and faster, wisps of flame in all sorts of hues and shades originated from their bodies and started spreading outwards.

The strange thing was that they did not burn any of the achromatic objects or beings that were frozen in time, just blanketed them in a layer of multicoloured flame.

Thus, the World of Infinite Dreams was parted into two. One side occupied by the colourful flames and the other dominated by the sanguine light of the moon. After a brief moment of deadlock, with the sound of shattering glass, the world ruptured, giving way to the infinite white plane that was Lin Feng’s mindscape.

The multicoloured flames retracted back into their static bodies and colour and movement returned to them.

Destabilized by the sudden disappearance of the bed, they slammed onto the hard ground in a tangle of limbs.

Lin Feng and Pakura’s eyes widened as their memory came flowing back into them, hitting them like a ton of bricks with its abruptness.

For a brief moment, they maintained their position in a daze before with an embarrassed scream, Pakura jumped away from him and conjured up some clothes with a thought.

Lin Feng too stood up and clothed himself before turning to the perpetrator.

Kaguya was on her knees, gasping for breath with both hands supporting her weight as a stream of blood trickled down her forehead from the rank red vertical third eye which was slowly closing.

After it shut fully, she staggered up and regarded the two of them with shock in her white eyes.

As quickly as it came, the shock faded, replaced by indifference as she ran the voluminous sleeve of her pristine white kimono over her face and the blood vanished, leaving her as devastatingly beautiful as ever, marred only slightly by the newly formed crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.

It seemed that creating the illusory world had taken a toll on her.

Pakura immediately took a combat stance and conjured up her metallic hand fans, preparing to attack but Lin Feng laid a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. She took a step back, blushing as she registered the physical contact.

His face was dignified and his nerve taut as his soul shivered under the unique soul pressure emitted by Kaguya indicative off her outclassing him by far in soul cultivation. Pakura, being an astral projection generated using their karmic bond, was unable to feel it, so she looked at him confused. He shook his head, indicating that making a move would be unwise.

The three of them stood there, in a silent deadlock before Kaguya sighed and turned away, walking to a distant place.

Her melodious voice drifted to them from her receding back: “Come.”

Lin Feng and Pakura looked at each other questioningly before Lin Feng shrugged and decided to follow.

As they caught up to her, they saw her walking into a small wooden hut. It had sliding doors made of a wooden lattice covered in a translucent paper.

Sliding them apart, Lin Feng walked in followed by Pakura. Before she could step in, however, Kaguya turned her head from where she was fiddling with various implements on the other side of the room and shot her an indifferent glance before coldly stating: “Kindly take off your footwear.” She turned around without even bothering to check whether her instructions were followed as if confident that they wouldn’t dare to disregard her word.

Lin Feng, having picked up the habit of being barefoot from the Monks of Kunlun at a young age didn’t have to do anything but Pakura frowned at her imperious attitude for a bit before complying and making her footwear vanish.

They entered the room and took in the appearance.

It was a standard chashitsu, a traditional tea room. It was four and a half tatami mats in size, one wall had an alcove with a calligraphy scroll containing the word ‘negotiation’ in bold brushwork, while a short-legged table occupied the centre of the room and the wall opposite to the entrance had a set-up for brewing tea, replete with all sorts of ornate implements where Kaguya was currently busying herself with her back to them. A potted bonsai completed the décor of the room which only had the colours beige and brown, lending it an elegant atmosphere.

Lin Feng and Pakura took their seats in a seiza on the two cushions provided for them in front of the table.

They waited in silence as they watched one of the most powerful beings in the world prepare tea.

It was almost like watching a slow dance, the implements and ingredients placed in precisely measured distances which would make the act of reaching for them look artistic.

Her wide sleeves added to the visual appeal of the performance, for a performance it was, swaying in delayed arcs as she mixed the herbs and put them in the teapot to boil.

Even something as simple as boiling water had been refined into an art as the bubbling and frothing resonated against the specially shaped teapot, making music as it reached the right temperature.

With a hand on the handle and the other pressing three fingers on the lid, she tilted the teapot to pour the tea into three prepared cups in a manner which allowed the steam to curl around her body, making her figure seem mystical.

Replacing the teapot on the fire to simmer, she brought the plate with the cups to the table by shuffling to the table using only her knees and toes so it seemed like she was gliding over the floor.

Placing the plate on the table, she offered Lin Feng a cup.

He accepted it with both hands and…

Tossed its contents into the bonsai.

A depressing silence permeated the room as atmosphere grew constrained.

Lin Feng confidently met Kaguya’s emotionless gaze.

*sizzle**sizzle*

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He turned to the source of the sound and had a scare.

The bonsai had turned into a blackened stick.

“Good. At least you learn fast. I, Kaguya Otsutsuki, refuse to negotiate with a simpleton.”

Lin Feng’s eyes twitched as he tried to regulate his racing heart.

‘Your nine generations are simpletons’, he couldn’t help but obloquy at heart.

From the tea room and the calligraphy, he had guessed that she was not at her full power and incapable of destroying or controlling him for some reason. Thus, the need to come to an agreement.

Making the tea was a ploy to draw him into her pace and dictate the terms of the negotiation.

His tossing the tea was to disrupt her pace and regain the initiative.

Who knew she had actually poisoned it. First the incense and now tea.

He decided then and there, that in the privacy of his mind, she was forever going to go by the title ‘Crazy Poison Lady’.

Suddenly, her expression grew melancholy, “I lived in a ghetto in a war-torn world when I was but a mortal child. The leader of our little band of misfits was a strapping young man that found us a crevice in which to survive between the powerful cultivator gangs and the drug lords…”

Her tone became wistful, “He was my first love. But it wasn’t fated to be. I was but a shy maiden who covered her face with her bangs and could never work up the courage to approach him while my rival was a harlot who bared her bottom and jiggled her breasts at every unmarried male of age in our camp. I could only watch as he showered her with attention in the hopes of getting into her bed and she strung him along...”

Her tone grew cold, “Just like the other animals in camp. Oh… I hated her so. I wanted her to…”

She tossed the contents of the other two cups onto the bonsai.

“burn.”

The remaining charred husk, dissolved and even the soil underneath began to bubble and steam. With a wave of her sleeve, the empty cups, the plate and the remnants of the bonsai were gone.

She sighed and turned back and shuffled her way to the simmering teapot.

Pouring out another three cups, she continued, “But let young love simmer for a while till it becomes naught but a memory…”

She brought the cups to the table and placed one each in front of Lin Feng and Pakura.

“Then it becomes…”

She took up one herself, raised it to her lips with both hands and took a sip.

“bittersweet.”

Her gaze grew defocused as if she was recalling something. The charm she unconsciously sent out caused Lin Feng’s gaze to be riveted to her profile.

Pakura bit her lip in resentment and pinched his waist, snapping him out of his daze. He awkwardly ran a hand through his messy hair and looked away.

Kaguya soon recovered and showed a faint smile at them.

“Please, sample my handiwork. It’s been a thousand years since I last made it for someone. My skills might have rusted.”

She raised her right hand, palm facing forwards.

“And if you are worried about toxins in the tea… rest assured. I do so swear upon my Dao.”

An intangible ripple spread out from her and caused a resonance between it and the karmic bond. Both Lin Feng and Pakura were suddenly sure that the words she spoke were true.

Kaguya lowered her hand and smiled faintly, “That was a soul oath. Only applicable to people above Grasping Principles realm. It is quite inviolable… unless your Dao is about deceit. My Dao, as you probably already know, is the Grand Dao of Samsara Reincarnation, so no need for apprehension.”

Lin Feng and Pakura looked at each other, then nodded to her and took up their cups to take a sip.

Lin Feng’s eyes grew unfocused as he recalled the feeling of finally leaving the Kunlun Mountains after completing his assignment. He was elated with success but unwilling to part from his friends there.

Pakura remembered the feeling of being hailed as the Hero of the Sand as she stood over the body of her dead comrade.

It was in a word, bittersweet.

Lin Feng was amazed by the skill in soul cultivation displayed by Kaguya. To manifest emotions as true substances capable of affecting other souls was in the legendary realm of Creation of All Things. If they fought, they didn’t stand a chance. He was all the more curious about why they were even negotiating.

Kaguya took another sip from her cup and spoke, “My soul is stronger than you but due to some circumstances, I am currently unable to use my Dao or my principles. Thus, though I can torture you through my illusions, I am incapable of truly harming you as long as you are under the aegis of that principle which connects you. As you probably already noted, my illusions drain me and your wills are tenacious enough to withstand the time period of torture I can deal out before I myself am exhausted.”

Turning to Lin Feng, she said, “Your mortal body is in my hands but killing you would only set you free. Due to the peculiarity of tailed-beasts and your assimilation of them you are aloof from the cycle of reincarnation otherwise, in the Ghostdom, I may have been able to deal with you.

“We are cultivators and if you come from the same type of world that I do, you would know that means that we have few friends; if we are clever about it, fewer enemies and everyone else on the road is a rival. I am sure that if you found me at your mercy, you would try to strip my Dao from me and take it as your own.

“Since a peculiar set of circumstances have brought us to the negotiation table, we should put down our hatred and begin anew. To facilitate this, I will allow you two questions which I will answer truthfully, I do so swear upon my Dao. Choose carefully what you ask, for I may refuse to answer.”

Another ripple of power spread out, denoting the engagement of the soul oath. Lin Feng decided to start simple to test the waters.

“What about the poison you used during the incense game?”

Kaguya’s eyes narrowed mischievously as she covered her mouth with a sleeve and chuckled demurely, “Fu fu fu. I knew you would ask that, boy. Did it hurt your pride being bested by a woman?

“It was a combination poison. Each incense had to be taken in a certain order for the entire thing to take effect. If even a step was missing or in an incorrect order, the chemicals would become harmless. As I was the host and with the other players under my control, I was able to manipulate the flow of the game till you inhaled the last incense that set off a chain reaction in your body.

“It works by accelerating the production of white blood cells targeted at the important organs of your body, so despite your inhuman healing, it doesn’t apply as the body doesn’t recognise it as an illness. Basically, your body eats itself up from the inside.

“I do so love the fun little games my children here have thought up. They are so intricate and amusing.”

“And you add poison to everything.” Lin Feng muttered under his breath.

“Fu fu fu. Why, yes. Poison makes everything so much more exciting doesn’t it?”

Lin Feng shuddered at her overly sweet tone. She was switching personalities faster than one flipped a book. This was confusing him, which… was probably the point. She wanted to keep him off guard so he made some mistake during the negotiations and seeing that the whole thing involved soul oaths, one mistake could be fatal.

This was another way of fighting, with a dagger in every smile and toxin in each word. He frowned. He had one last free question to probe her depth. He needed to make it count.

He couldn’t ask anything too significant as she would refuse to answer and void her oath while something too inconsequential wasn’t going to help him.

He turned to Pakura. While he was an experienced hand at mercantile negotiations, this situation was more of a criminal psychologist’s area of expertise.

She nodded at him in acknowledgement and asked, “Why do you have such enormous repercussions for using your soul?”

She looked mildly surprised for a moment before turning cheerful again, “Oh… what a clever question. I thought for sure you would ask me about the seal on my Dao… should I answer you? I should, shouldn’t I, if we are to establish trust? Hmm… but it might give you a handle to exploit.

“Oh well… the thing is my soul is too powerful for my mortal body as the seal on my Dao makes it so that if I so much as even cultivate chakra, I will be reincarnated into another baby on this world. Thus, I can’t strengthen my body and using my soul strains it enough to age it by a considerable amount per use… use too much and I will die and get reincarnated.”

Pakura nodded in understanding. “That’s why you have been using poisons. Without them he could kill you before you could even cast your illusions.”

She smiled, “True. A woman has to have something to protect herself in this big bad world that we live in. Right?”

Pakura could only nod helplessly. When a thousand-year-old woman acted like a young girl, it truly was a psychological attack.

Suddenly, her face became dignified. She said, “I need you to - “

“We swear upon our bond that we will help you however you require us to, given that we get to keep the nine tailed beasts and you fully disclose your circumstance.” Lin Feng interrupted her.

Her pearlescent eyes flashed with anger. A huge pressure rippled out from her and oppressed Lin Feng, causing him to shiver as he gritted his teeth and tried to continue his speech.

Although Pakura couldn’t feel the pressure, she could see its effects on him and she tried to move into a combat ready position but Lin Feng grabbed her hand and prevented her.

“After… the full… disclosure… hah… we reserve the right to demand two more conditions as recompense… open to negotiation.” He raised his right hand which was holding onto Pakura’s left.

A ripple of energy spread out from their joined hands and the pressure melted away like fog beneath the sun.

Lin Feng gasped for breath as Pakura held him up to prevent him from collapsing.

Kaguya sighed, “Also good. I was hoping to trip you up in the word games… It’s the first time in a thousand years that I have someone of equal standing to talk to and test my wits against… I was enjoying myself quite a lot but it seems that you are impatient to get to the negotiations.”

She sipped her tea again and closed her eyes as if she was reorganizing her words.

Opening her eyes, she spoke, “Like all stories, mine has a beginning, middle and end. In my experience; I have found the beginning as good a place to start as any.”