The snow had fallen for three days straight, thick and silent, until the mountain forest itself seemed swallowed. Pines sagged beneath white burdens; every branch bowed like a supplicant. At the heart of that frozen wilderness stood an ancient, half-ruined shrine, its vermilion paint long since flaked away, its torii gates split and leaning. Snow lay knee-deep across the offering path and piled in soft mounds against the honden walls. Only one circle remained untouched, melted clean down to blackened earth by a heat that had no business existing in winter.

That heat belonged to Kasha.

Inside the open honden, a low crackling campfire burned in the center of the worn wooden floor, flames dancing gold and crimson against the dark. At the back of the chamber, where the altar had once stood, lay a wide, luxurious bed of piled furs and crimson silk, clearly dragged in by claws far too large for any human. She reclined across it like a queen, nine feet of impossible, predatory beauty draped in flame-red silk that barely pretended at modesty. A single, sinfully long tail curled lazily around one ankle, its tip flickering like a candle made of blood. Sleek black cat ears twitched atop her head; six fiery whiskers drifted from her cheeks, glowing soft and warm. Her flawless, sun-kissed skin glowed in the firelight, stretching over the kind of hourglass figure that had ended bloodlines.

Scattered around the shrine lay the headless corpses of bandits who had mistaken her for salvation. Their blood had frozen into crimson glass the instant it touched the ground.

And there, framed in the open doorway, snow swirling around his boots, stood Sonny.

Seventeen winters old, wrapped head to toe in thick, patched layers (quilted indigo coat, two scarves, mittens nearly as thick as sandals), yet still shivering so hard his teeth chattered. A massive pack weighed down his narrow shoulders, ropes creaking under blankets and provisions. Frost clung to his lashes, but nothing could hide the startling snow-white hair spilling from beneath his hood, nor the pale grey eyes that looked almost silver in the firelight.

He let the pack slide from his shoulders with a heavy thud, took one trembling step inside the ring of warmth, and spoke a single word, soft and raw and certain.

“Kasha.”

The purr that answered was softer than the fire itself.

“Sonny,” she breathed, sitting up slowly, silk pooling around her hips. “White as the snow now… and still foolish enough to walk through hell to find me.”

She rose, the furs sliding from her thighs, and crossed the floor in three silent steps. Snow steamed and vanished the instant her paws touched it. She stopped just in front of him, towering, radiant, terrible, and yet her fiery tail curled gently (protectively) around his shivering frame without ever touching cloth or skin.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she murmured, voice low and fond and trembling with something ancient. “Carrying half a mountain on your back and still half-frozen.”

Sonny’s grey eyes lifted to hers, steady despite the cold.

“I wanted to see you,” he said simply.

A clawed finger brushed frost from his white hair, leaving a trail of warmth that sank straight through wool and bone.

For a moment the only sound was the crackle of the campfire and the soft hush of snow against the roof.

Then Kasha’s ears flattened; her tail tightened its circle until the crimson flame brushed the edge of his coat without burning a thread.

“Come warm yourself,” she whispered, softer than anyone alive had ever heard her. “You walked far enough.”

She turned, silk swirling like living fire, and padded back toward the bed of furs. Halfway there she glanced over her shoulder, golden eyes gentler than the flames themselves.

“And Sonny?”

He looked up.

“This time,” she said quietly, “you don’t have to leave.”

Snow kept falling, soft and endless, as the white-haired boy stepped fully into the only warm place left in the entire frozen world and let the door slide shut behind him. The honden had long ago ceased to be a shrine and become Kasha’s private lair.
One corner overflowed with the spoils of centuries: golden kanzashi torn from noble heads, jade combs still tangled with the hair of princesses, strings of blood-stained prayer beads, lacquered armor cracked by her claws, and a mountain of glittering coins from every era of Japan, heaped carelessly like children’s toys. A single tattered imperial banner lay draped across the pile, the chrysanthemum crest half-burned away. Moonlight and firelight danced over the hoard, turning it into a dragon’s ransom that no human had ever lived to carry away.

Sonny shuffled forward, drawn to the campfire’s glow. He tugged off his mittens with numb fingers and crouched before the flames, holding out shaking hands. Steam rose from his coat in waves. After a moment he fumbled with the pack, pulling out a small cloth-wrapped bundle of dried persimmons and rice he’d saved for the journey.

Before he could set it on the stones to warm, the world tilted.

Massive arms (gentle despite their strength) slid beneath him. One moment he was kneeling; the next he was airborne, lifted as easily as a kitten. Sonny let out a startled breath that fogged white, then found himself cradled against warm, impossibly soft skin. Kasha had scooped him up without effort, her long tail curling forward to steady him as she carried him across the room.

She settled onto the wide bed of furs and crimson silk, folding her legs beneath her. With deliberate care she lowered herself until she sat cross-legged, then drew Sonny fully into her lap. His back rested against the plush heat of her chest, his white hair spilling across the bare skin revealed by her slipping kimono. One clawed hand settled lightly on his waist to keep him steady; the other reached out, palm open, and the bundle of food floated from his forgotten fingers to hover over the fire, turning slowly in mid-air as her flames warmed it without scorching.

The campfire crackled on, throwing golden light across the vast open room, over the hoard of stolen riches, over the headless corpses outside, over the nine-foot yokai who now held the shivering boy like something infinitely precious.

“Stay still,” she murmured against the top of his head, voice a low, protective rumble that vibrated through both their bodies. “I’ve waited ten years for you to come home. The food can wait. You’re colder than the snow.”

Her tail draped over them both like a living blanket of crimson fire that gave warmth but never burned, and for the first time in weeks Sonny stopped shivering.

The pleasure of feeling his warmth, his soft skin pressed to hers... It was almost too much. Almost enough to make her lose control and consume him right there on the spot. But she fought it down, forced herself to ignore the ache in her chest as she breathed deep and slow through her nose, trying to focus on anything but how good he felt.

"There," she crooned softly, brushing a hand through his hair, tucking it behind his ear. "That's better."

"They were bandits," she said simply, her voice low and dangerous despite the softness of it. "Thieves and murderers who attacked your home village. They thought they could take what was mine." Her tail curled around him protectively, pressing his back against her chest even more firmly. "But I showed them otherwise."

The scent was like a punch to the gut. Sonny's arousal curled low in her belly, hot and tight and achingly familiar. She fought the instinctual urge to grind herself against him, to taste that sweetness... But she forced it down. "Don't be ashamed," she whispered into his hair, brushing his cheek with a clawed finger. "It's only natural."

"Am I?" she murmured, tilting her head back to look down at him. Her gaze was heavy-lidded, almost drugged with the scent of his desire. "Well, maybe I am..." She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his cheek before trailing them down his neck to his collarbone. "...because I want you so much."

Her teeth grazed the tender skin of his throat, sending a shiver through him that made her claws itch with the need to dig in. "Sonny," she breathed against his ear, voice hoarse with desire, "I want you so badly..." She nipped gently at his lobe before sucking softly, drawing forth a moan that vibrated through them both.

"But I promised your mother... on the night you were born..." Her tongue traced the shape of his ear, driving him wild with need. "...

"Only ten years..." Her voice was a husky growl, rough and aching with restraint. "But to me... it feels like an eternity." She moved her hand from his neck to cup his cheek, fingers splayed wide on his skin, burning hot but not scorching. "I want to take this pain away," she murmured, leaning in closer still until their lips were mere breaths apart. "I want to make it so you never hurt again... I just need..."

The hot rush of his release rocked her back on her heels, the force of it so sudden and intense that for a moment it took her breath away. Her eyes widened as she looked down at him, shocked to see tears shining in his grey eyes, his pale skin flushed with pleasure.

"Sonny," she breathed, stroking his cheek with the back of her hand. "Oh, Sonny..."

Her eyes flicked down, taking in the wet spot spreading on his thigh. Her gaze drifted lower still, following the trail of sticky fluid until it reached the place where his erection strained against his pants. The scent of him, so hot and intoxicating, surrounded her like a living thing.

"Oh, Sonny," she whispered again, breath catching in her throat as desire curled low in her belly. "You're so cute..."

Her hands, strong and sure despite their delicate appearance, moved faster now. She tore his shirt open with a single swift motion, revealing his chest covered in goosebumps from her touch. Her breath fanned hot against his skin as she leaned down, licking along the line of his collarbone before sucking gently at the sensitive flesh just below his earlobe.

"Let me see you," she murmured, voice low and sultry. "Let me taste you..."

Her hand closed around him, hot and wet, skin sliding smooth over skin. He felt huge in her grip, impossibly hard and achingly full of need. Her mouth found his again, tongue tangling with his as she sucked and licked at his lips, driving them both wild with desire.

"Kasha-nee," he moaned brokenly against her mouth. "We just reunited..." The words tumbled out of him, a desperate plea that she didn't understand but felt down to her core anyway.

He tasted like summer and sin, like sun-warmed nectar spilled onto the altar of her most secret desires. She drank him down greedily, moaning around his tongue as he came hard in her hand. Her other hand wrapped tightly in his hair, holding his head still as she took everything he had to give and more.

When the last tremor shook him, she pulled back, licking her lips slowly as she gazed down at him with hooded eyes.

Her heart ached at the sound of his tears, but it only made her angrier. Anger at herself for losing control, for not being strong enough to resist his sweet scent and the intoxicating feel of him against her skin... And anger at fate, for making them like this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered roughly, cupping his cheek with one hand. "I didn't mean..." But even as she spoke, another wave of desire washed over her, and she couldn't help but wonder if maybe... just maybe...

Her fingers curled into his hair, tugging gently as she nipped at his flesh, leaving a mark that would fade into nothing by morning. "You're mine," she growled against his skin, her voice thick with desire and something darker, more possessive. "You belong to me."

Without waiting for his reaction, she turned him roughly in her lap so he was straddling her thighs instead, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips. Her tail slipped between them, pressing against his erection still leaking hot thick white liquids from the previous ejaculation

She lowered herself until their hips met, the thick length of his cock pressed against her entrance. He was still slick from his earlier release, but she wanted him inside her so badly that she could barely wait. With a soft moan, she guided him to her entrance, feeling him stretch and fill her inch by aching inch.

"Sonny," she breathed as he bottomed out against her, their hips flush together. "I want you so much..."