Chapter 4 - Sayuri's story

Sayuri’s Story

Where am I? Is any of this really real? What happened? I don’t know anymore. Nothing seems to make sense. My name is Sayuri, at least, that’s the name given to my by that red dragon. Much of my life outside of that ice cave is a blur. I know I probably don’t want to remember, but I can’t help feeling uncomfortable without knowing how I got here…maybe I should start at the beginning.

I remember living with my family, a group of chiro mongrels, in the white dragon cave. We were happy. Life was simple then. I would play with my brothers and sister while our parents would gather food and other supplies. The only real interesting events were when an adventurer would happen to pass through the cave. 

Adventurers didn’t concern us much. We are passive by nature, and would rather avoid a fight if we could help it. If it couldn’t be avoided, our thick hides made a natural armor against everything adventurers would throw at us. But everything changed that one fateful day…

It started off like any other day. I was playing with my siblings, and my parents were scouting around the cave. Our mother suddenly came running back to us and told us to go hide. We watched the carnage unfold from a small secluded alcove not far from the battle. Five adventurers were attacking our father, who was doing his best to hold them off. The battle left our field of vision, and we tried to reassure ourselves, with little success.

Our mother suddenly came back, heavily wounded and soaked with blood. She told us she would take us out one at a time. I was the first to leave…I was the lucky one. As she led us out of the cave, I looked back. I wish I hadn’t. One of the adventurers, a swordsman wearing blue with a yellow cape, had cornered my father against a rock. I watched in horror as he thrust his sword into my father’s body. I tried to scream, but my breath had escaped my body. My mother snapped me back into reality, and we ran for the exit. 

We finally made it outside. My mother looked back into the cave, shook her head and turned back to me. She urged me to continue forward, and not look back. I asked her to go back for my brothers and sisters. She could only avert her gaze and say there was nothing she could do for them. She lost her strength and collapsed on the ground.

She couldn’t get up, despite my efforts to both help and encourage her. She fell asleep, at least I though she was, but she never woke up. I tried to wake her, with no success. I finally realized what happened, and that I would never see her again. That thought alone was enough to cause me to collapse from grief. I slept by my mother’s body that night. It was the last bit of comfort I would ever see. I remember it rained that night. I didn’t care.

The next morning, I decided to go back into the cave to look for my brothers and sisters. I wish I hadn’t. Of all the decisions I’ve made, I probably regret that one the most. What greeted me was a sight beyond words. The cave was splattered with blood. Walking further down, I saw my father lying against a rock, dead. The lifeless bodies of my siblings were scattered about the cave. Those adventurers had murdered my entire family…and people call us monsters.

I suddenly felt incredibly nauseous. I ran from the cave as fast as my feet would carry me, only stopping when my stomach decided to empty its contents all over the cave floor. I never saw my mother’s body as I ran past the area I had slept. I didn’t see the pit I fell into either. I must have hit my head, because when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else.

My eyes opened to sights I have never seen before. This was different from the cave. It was warmer, and the walls were perfectly flat and vertical. The room was strangely square, with the only entrances being on the opposite side of the room, one that spanned the distance from the floor almost to the ceiling, and a much wider entrance that seemed to be placed in the center of the wall across from the first. This one seemed purely for light to enter.

Next to me was a strange object covered in cloth, which I later learned that humans sleep on. I believe he called it a ‘bed’. The floor was not dirt, which I had grown accustomed to. It appeared to be made of some other material that I could not dig through, although it was soft enough that I could sink my claws into it. I tried running for the entrance, but was pulled back by a ring around my neck, which was tethered to the wall by use of metal links. The ring dug into my neck, making it hard to breathe. I sat down, watching the entrance, wondering what would happen to me. I was frightened.

A short while later, a boy, about the age of the one who killed my family entered. “This is my room; you are going to live here from now on.” He said, just before tossing a bowl of what looked like scraps in front of me.

I was hungry, so the fact that the food was terrible didn’t bother me. The meals never got any better, but my life certainly got worse. Having fully studied the room, I got bored quickly. I longed for my siblings to play with, which only served to make me feel sick and even lonelier. I cried myself to sleep that night, dreaming of the happy days I spent with my family. It all seemed so real. Waking up was a terrible reminder that I would never see them again.

That day was when I realized I had entered hell. I woke up hungry, the scraps I was fed the night before did little to sate my hunger. The whimpering I was making from the hunger and pain only infuriated the human. “Be quiet.” He told me.

I was in no mood to listen and continued. This was another mistake. He came storming toward me and kicked me in the stomach. I had trouble breathing for a few minutes. I eventually caught my breath, only to hear the human chuckle. “Serves you right, worthless beast,” was all he said before leaving the room.

He came back some time later. My stomach still hurt from him kicking it. He approached me, I started growling at him. He slapped me across the face, and I fell to the floor. He tried to grab me by the stomach. Instinctively, I sunk my fangs into his arm. He screamed in pain. My efforts were rewarded with a harsh bash on the head. The impact stunned me enough so that I let his arm go. He ran out of the room. I felt a momentary sense of accomplishment, which was turned into an incredible sense of fear and regret. 

The human returned to the room with an object I didn’t recognize. In some sense, the object looked like it had the jaws of a giant ant. He grabbed me around my throat tightly, preventing me from breathing. I struggled to break free while he unlocked the ring on my neck. Despite my efforts, he would not release me. I suddenly felt myself slammed into the ground with considerable force. He loosened his grip on my neck enough to allow me to breathe, but not so much that I could escape. He pinned my body between his legs and stretched my left paw above my head. He took the object he brought in and brought it to my paw. I quickly pulled my paw from his grip. He grabbed it again and twisted it painfully. “You will cooperate, or I will rip your whole leg off!”

I had no choice. Tightly holding my paw, he once again pulled it above my head. I could feel the object’s sharp blade surrounding one of my toes. “Bite me, will you?” he said as he closed the jaws around my toe.

I screamed in pain. He released me, and I hobbled back to the place where I had been chained to the wall. He stood up. I quivered in fear, causing him to laugh heartily. “You’re in no condition to run from me. I’m not going to bother chaining you up. If you do manage to run, I will track you down and slit your throat.”

With that, he left. I never saw him for the rest of the day. I couldn’t sleep that night. I was in too much pain, and the combination of blood and tears that had soaked into my fur was irritating my skin. I spent most of the night licking my wound clean. 

Although I never fell asleep, fatigue and hunger pushed me into some sort of trance. I was painfully snapped out of it when I was hit by a hard object. It seemed that the human threw a bowl of food at me. The only thing in it was a stale loaf of bread, but as hungry as I was, it tasted like the best thing I had ever eaten. I noticed that my toe had almost stopped bleeding. That was to be one of the few pieces of good news I would have that day.

When I finished, he left the room. He came back in a few hours later. When I tried hiding under the bed, he dragged me out by my tail. Chiro mongrels have a very sensitive tail; being suspended from it feels like someone slowly trying to rip us in half. He wrapped his hand around my throat and flipped me upright. He released my tail, but started choking me again. He made a sinister smile as I desperately struggled to pry free of his grip. I remember feeling lightheaded, the sensation of flying, and a hard impact. 

I awoke some time later. The room was dark, and I could hear the human snoring on the bed next to me. Every entrance to my body was in pain. I had no idea what he did when I was out, but they secreted a thick bitter tasting fluid. In spite of the taste, I cleaned myself up and curled up to go to sleep thinking ‘how much more of this will I survive, or will I have to put up with before he gets tired of it and kills me?’ That was the last night I didn’t cry myself to sleep.

Time seemed to stand still after that day. My treatment got worse. I learned what he had done to me the next day. He walked into the room and removed his clothing. Grabbing me by the belly, he flipped me over onto his bed. He began licking me. I shuddered as his wet tongue passed between my hind legs. The feeling was indescribable. It was like everything good in the world had all been given to me all at once. It felt good, but I knew it was wrong. I felt nauseated by the feeling. The feeling suddenly started building up. I still can’t describe to this day what it was like, but it quickly disappeared, leaving me feeling empty and sick to my stomach. 

He rolled me over, placing my back to his stomach. “Now it’s my turn,” he said, as he thrust me down. To compare it to anything, it was the exact opposite of what I felt moments before. He had shoved something into my anus, and it hurt. The fact that he kept bobbing me up and down only agitated my sensitive area. I screamed and struggled, but I was stuck, I was at his mercy. He suddenly slowed and stopped. I felt something being injected into my body. I didn’t like it and struggled harder. He pulled me off after what felt like an eternity. He set me down on the floor, redressed, and left the room. This was to be my fate every day for the remainder of my stay there. To my relief, he never licked me again.

I have no idea how long I had endured the cruel treatment. It seemed like forever. I neither know nor wish to know the exact length of time. It continued until one day when he decided to try something new. 

The day started with a heavy beating. He called it ‘submission training’. I was practically his puppet, how much more submissive did he want? I had neither the will, nor the strength to fight back or struggle.

He picked me up by the ribs, wrapping his thumbs around my front legs. He sat down on the bed and placed me between his legs. A horn like object protruded straight out from between them. I assumed that this was what he thrust into my body every day. He placed his fingers on my chin and raised my head, forcing me to look at him. 

“Now, suck on this,” he said, pointing to the object protruding from his legs. “And if you even as much as think of biting me, I will ram my knife into your throat and watch you squirm.”

He grabbed my head from both sides and positioned it over the object he pointed to earlier. He began moving my head up and down slowly. I desperately hoped he would not push it down too far. 

To my disappointment, when his panting increased, that is exactly what he did, causing me to choke, pull my head back, and clamp my mouth shut. I quickly released it as it ejected a thick white bitter fluid into my mouth. I backed up in fear. He looked furious. He began shouting things at me that I neither understood, nor wish to repeat. He grabbed me by the throat and carried me into another room, still yelling. I could barely breathe as he pulled out a knife from a belt hanging from a hook. He slammed me onto the ground. 

He lowered the knife to my neck. I closed my eyes bracing for the inevitable, and hoping it would be quick. To my surprise, it never came. He pulled back, and I opened my eyes. “No,” he said, “no, I won’t thrust this into your throat. I’m going to slice open your stomach and watch you bleed to death.” 

In my opinion, the first option seemed more pleasant then the second. He slowly slid the knife into my belly, just below my ribs. The knife was dull, and was excruciatingly painful. Once the tip pierced my skin, he slid it slowly along my stomach. I was howling in pain. He reached the end of my stomach and pulled the knife out. He stood up and kicked me into the wall. “Now, make it interesting.”

I had no intention of spending the last bit of my life as entertainment for some human’s sick and twisted pleasure. If I was to die, I wanted to die free. I immediately ran out the nearest exit as fast as I could. I could hear him yelling as he chased me. I was glad that, even in my condition, I could still outrun him. The pain was blurring my vision. I eventually stopped feeling it. I hated humans. They were the cause of my pain and suffering.

I ran until I could not run anymore. When I stopped, my vision sharpened enough to see I was on the edge of a platform. I heard yelling above me. A small human began throwing rocks at me. He was quickly joined by several others. The pain of those rocks was a relief after what I had been through. I sat there taking the abuse, not like I had any other choice in the matter. I had no strength to run. I waited for death to save me from my misery. I welcomed its cold embrace.

I heard another voice above me. My hearing was fading. All I could make out was “I’m just going to kick it over the edge.” 

A pink object flew down to meet me. My vision returned just long enough for me to see a catlike figure. ‘This must be one of those dragons my mother told me about,’ I thought to myself.

It approached me. “Excuse me…” It said. 

Not wanting to hear anything it had to say, I backed away. 

“You’re hurt…” it said in a tone I had not heard for a long time. It took me a minute to recognize it as compassion.

I still had no interest in what it had to say, and backed away further, nearly falling off the edge in the process. 

It continued. “I don’t want to hurt you. You need help, that wound looks bad. Please, let me help.” Walking closer to me, it lowered its head. My hearing was fading again. I was barely able to make out what it said next. “I’m a friend.”

“Help…” Was all I could spit out.

It looked confused, but I couldn’t make out what it said, my hearing had all but completely failed. My vision was deteriorating rapidly.

There is a little known fact about chiro mongrels. We have the ability to teach others the ability to understand us. We were told never to use it. With what was left of my will, I chose to break that rule. I placed my paw on the dragon’s, and passed the ability to it.

With my strength draining, I only had one chance to ask for help.

“Better?” Was what I said instead. My vision had completely gone, and my strength was depleted. I collapsed, the last thought on my mind was ‘I’m coming mom.’

I opened my eyes. I was alive!? I jumped to my feet and looked around for any trace of my family. A sharp pain in my stomach told me the truth…I wasn’t dead. I collapsed to the floor. 

“Don’t do that, you are still hurt. You’ll open up your wounds if you do that.” A soft voice said to me. I looked in the direction the voice came from. It appeared to be the dragon from before. My hearing having returned, I could tell that it was a female voice. She sounded kind and warm. I relaxed slightly. “You need to relax; you are in a safe place. By the way, do you have a name?” She continued.

“No,” I replied sadly. She tilted her head. “Well, we can’t have you running around without a name now, can we?” Her eyes opened slightly. “How about Sayuri?”

‘What a beautiful name’ I thought. I consider this my first gift, and it was beautiful beyond words. I smiled and nodded to my new and first friend.

“Sayuri it is then.” The dragon said, smiling. “You look hungry. Would you like something to eat?”

Having thought about it, I hadn’t eaten in several days. I must have looked terrible. I hardly needed to reply, as my stomach spoke for me.

A human walked into the room. “I see our guest is awake, I’ll get another plate.” He said. I recognized the voice. It was the one that threatened to kick me off that platform. I began growling at him.

“What’s gotten into that thing?” He asked.

I growled louder. I told the dragon the reason for my growling. She seemed to understand. 

“First off, she doesn’t like being called ‘that thing.’ Second, she says that you threatened to kick her off the walkway.” She snapped.

“So, it’s a ‘she’ now? And so what if I said it? I didn’t do it.” The human shot back.

I couldn’t take this anymore. Not only did he want to kill me, but now he is insulting me. Ignoring the searing pain, I charged at him and sunk my fangs into his leg.

“Ouch!” He yelled as he kicked his leg, throwing me across the floor. “For being saved by me, you sure don’t act very grateful.” He walked towards me; the dragon ran between us, shielding me. 

She started yelling at him. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice; you seemed to be looking there enough. Besides, after that, I would have bitten you too.” 

The human sighed. “I really don’t want to argue this. I need some fresh air. My clothing should be done soaking anyway. I don’t think I’ll ever get the blood out.” He turned and walked out the door.

I felt a sense of relief, as well as some of my confidence returning as he left.

I apologized to my friend for causing them to argue. I also thanked her for helping me.

“Don’t worry. He’s like that sometimes.” She said, pausing. “We both can be a little insensitive.” She seemed to be reflecting when she said that. She dragged the plate of fish over to me. “Here, you need this more than I do.”

If I learned anything from the human who tortured me, it was not to question food. I didn’t hesitate to dive headfirst into the bowl. It was the best meal I had ever eaten, and this time, it wasn’t just the hunger that made it so delicious.

She stayed close to me for the remainder of the day. I felt comforted by her presence. I never wanted this moment to end. I wanted desperately to return the favor. I had to find a way to repay her for all the kindness she had shown me. She did it for no apparent reason at all, and without any thought of a reward.

“I want to thank you” I said, licking her face.

“You don’t have to thank me, it was my pleasure.” She said, stepping back. She sounded nervous.

Not having had a friend or anyone to play with in so long, I began to get a little mischievous. “You’re kind of scaring me Sayuri.” She said, sounding a little afraid of me.

To tell the truth, I was enjoying this. Some of that human’s sick idea of pleasure must have rubbed off on me. I felt guilty, but there was no turning back now. I pushed her over.

“Now you are really scaring me Sayuri. Please, stop this.” She acted like I was going to eat her.

I wasn’t in control of my body anymore. It seemed to be acting of its own accord. I watched myself lay behind her. I knew what was going to happen. I had no wish to stop myself. In fact, I wanted it to continue. If it made me feel so good, it would certainly work for her too.

“Sayuri, I like you, but…I don’t think I like you in that way.” She pleaded, turning me on even more.

“I don’t either.” I replied truthfully.

“What!? If you don’t either, then why are you doing this? I told you, I wasn’t interested in any thanks.” She was panicking, making me feel even more turned on.

“Please, let me do this.” I asked her kindly.

“This isn’t right. I didn’t want-” I licked her between her hind legs. She broke off. She rolled onto her back. It was obvious that some part of her did want to do this.


“Nall would kill me.” She said in a half serious attempt to stop me. “We ca-ah-n’t continue.” I gave her another lick, causing her to stutter. I could sense that she wanted it to continue more and more as I continued. Her protests quickly faded and she began panting heavily.

I continued licking her. I could feel her body twitching. I knew that whatever feeling struck me was about to hit her. 

Suddenly, a wave of juices was expelled from the area I was licking. This was different from the human’s. I enjoyed this. I savored it as I licked it off my face.

She sighed. “I guess I should return the favor.”

I felt a mild pang of guilt for what I had done, but it disappeared when she offered to do the same to me. I rolled onto my back. I wanted to feel that feeling again. 

She began licking me. She seemed to be holding back for some reason. Regardless, it felt wonderful, and unlike last time, nothing about it felt wrong. I enjoyed myself as she licked me.

She stopped for a second and looked up through my legs. “Are you ok Sayuri?”

I instantly realized why she had held back. She didn’t want to hurt me. I appreciated that. My wound was still incredibly sensitive to movement.

“Yes.” I said happily. She seemed content and continued licking my hindquarters. 

She suddenly did something I didn’t expect. He pushed her tongue into me. This feeling was better and more intense than before. I suddenly found myself panting. 

My body started trembling. My wound hurt intensely, but it was completely overshadowed by the feeling that was building up inside of me. I tried to prolong the feeling, but I failed, and it fled from me. Unlike last time, I felt exhilarated and happy.

My body stopped twitching. I rolled onto my paws and turned around to face my friend. She seemed to be enjoying the same juices that splashed my face. I decided to help her, and began licking the juices off of her face. 

“Let’s keep that a secret from Nall.” She said.

I fell asleep on the floor. This had to be the best day of my life. Not only had I been saved from a fate worse than death, and death itself, but I met a new friend and found a place I would like to spend the rest of my days. I sincerely hoped I could live here forever.

That night I had another dream of my family. We were back in the cave. My brothers and sisters were playing under the watchful eye of our parents. I sat there and watched happily. They suddenly stopped playing and everyone turned to me, a tear falling from my mother’s eye. 

There was complete silence. No words needed to be said, nor could any describe anything about what it was like to experience this dream. They nodded to me, turned around and walked away. They faded and disappeared and I was left alone in the cave. I felt lonely, but happy to see my family one last time. An inexplicable feeling of joy overcame me as I sat there on the floor of the cave, staring at where my family disappeared. I knew that, wherever they were, they were safe and happy and waiting for me. 

I slept in that cave that night, sensing a warmness I never had before. I knew my family was watching over me. I smiled as a tear fell from my eye and froze on the icy ground. 

I was happy again.