Entangled

He was but a simple traveler who had traveled to Zipangu for a change of scenery and to get away from the drama of the Chief God and Demon Lord. Although he lived in a anti-monster region for most of his life, he personally didn't have too much issue with Mamono.

The trip so far was enjoyable if not a bit hectic at the beginning of it. So many different kinds of Mamono coming and going from all sorts of corners of all the world. He was pretty tired and it was night anyway so he decided to retire for the night without doing much else.

The next day was a day of walking around and seeing the sights. Most of the Mamono around seemed as though they already had husbands of their own and the rest seemed busy on errands of some kind so they didn't pay this lone traveler himself much mind. It didn't bother him too much since he didn't like having too much attention focused on him.

It had been a few hours since his walk around the town began. He didn't have much of a plan; visit some shops; eat the restaurants and generally just enjoy nature. Going out of town or to the shrines as he was bit paranoid of the Mamono around there. Being forced to settle down here isn't part of his agenda after all. He was taking a break near what he knew to be a red-light district which seemed to be pretty active. He had no interest in visiting that place but suddenly there was a scent in the air. It wasn't too strong but it was definitely there. The smell became stronger and stronger and whatever was making the fragrance was coming closer. He felt compelled to go and find the source of the smell, damn the consequences.  On one hand this smell was a possible sign of danger and that he should leave immediately but on the other it was so wonderful and he wanted more of it.

"Hello~"

The traveler's reverie was broken by a woman's voice. He noticed black hair touching the ground. He looked up, following the hair to it's source. A beautiful young woman who smiled at him upon making eye contact. There was no mistake to him that this was a Kejourou.
"May I sit here?"
He was so entranced by her that he neglected to even say anything.
"Ah sure" he simply replied. Even though the wonderful smell was so close now. He expected to be dragged off to her place right then and there.
"So you're not from around here, right?"
Instead she was more interested in asking him questions and he did confirm that he was just a traveler who came here for some R&R. This seemed to make her more interested in him so she asked him more questions. They weren't too personal so he felt no reservations about answering them. In the middle of the conversation, after being having been compelled for awhhile now, finally gave into his ugre to touch her hair which abruptly ended the conversation. The kejourou put her hands on her hips and made made a mock offended face
"What are you doing? How rude!" She tried not to but let out a giggle anyway

The traveler panicked and apologized even though it was obvious that she was just joking. He tried to pull his hand away but found it and part of his arm wrapped in her hair. It wouldn't let go despite his attempts like some sort Using his free hand didn't help any either. "My my, it seems my hair has taken a liking to you. Now what would be a suitable punishment?" She looked away and thought to herself about this traveler's fate. All the while he was still trying to break free. And then she came to a conclusion and smiled at him. "How long have you been here and what have you been so far?" He told her he had only gotten here just yesterday and that he had been more or less walking around aimlessly for the past few hours. She became excited when she heard this and announced his "punishment". She would act as a sort of tour guide for him and show him some places that are out of the way and not really on most maps. Of course she would know of plenty of places since she lives here after all. So he agreed although there probably there wasn't much choice to begin with. Immediately she stood up and started to leave with the traveler nearly stumbling over. Her hair had wrapped itself around more of his arm now than just earlier.

And so they were off. Several humans and mamono who witnessed it found the sight humorous. They wound up seeing a lot of different places. A couple of shrines where the Kejourou was solemn while paying her respects there. The traveler felt a bit out of place here but went along with it, noticing that some of the Mamono working at the shrines giggled while looking at the both of them. And then she had several places in mind like a few of the lesser known stores where they both got some souvenirs. After that they went to go for a light hike nearby town at the travelers' insistence. She seemed to appreciate the walk more as it went on than when they had started. It wasn't too long of a hike but it was getting late. So by the end of it she took him to a restaurant and she paid for the meal despite the traveler's willingness to pay for it. She didn't really order much of anything in comparison to the traveler. After she was done eating she put her elbows on the table and rested her head on the palms of her hands and was content enough to simply stare and smile at him as he ate. "Ah! You got something on your cheek there." Before he could react and take care of it himself the Kejourou used part of her hair to take her napkin that she didn't use much to wipe it off of him without moving her arms at all. The traveler was taken a bit off guard, a fact that made the Kejourou giggle and smile a bit wider.

After the restaurant it was getting late so they decided to head back where they first met, near the red-light district. By this point more of her hair had wrapped around his arm to the point where it covered most of it. Despite being dragged around at the beginning he had a lot of fun.
"Thank you for showing me around." He said with a smile which in turn caused her to smile back at him.
"You're welcome. Do you want to want to do it again tomorrow?"
"Sounds good to me."
He told her than he should return to his hotel room soon but he wasn't too eager to return alone after the fun he had today. She reluctantly released his arm from her hair and bid farewell to him a bit sadly and went back into the red-light district. The traveler went his own way for now but after having his arm wrapped in her hair for the past couple of hours it felt a bit strange now that it was free since it felt so nice against his skin. When he returned to his room he didn't have much else to do so he just called it quits and went to bed.

The next day came and after a light complimentary breakfast from the hotel he stood outside and reviewed his to-do list of places he wanted to go to. At this point he had just about finished everything he had wanted to do in this town. So next was to leave and visit other towns and locales beyond. But even so he should at least let the Kejourou know of his plans since she's probably expecting him.

And indeed she was. Sitting at the same spot where they met even. She noticed him approaching, waved at him with a smile.
"So what's today's plan?" she inquired. In reply he told her his plans to walk to other towns and see some places near them.
"Oh." She seemed a bit dissapointed "I don't really know those places as well." Apparently she doesn't leave this town too much.
"Wanna come along anyway?" Even if she wasn't showing him around he liked her company and there was a bit of fun in just wandering around a bit anyway.
Her look of surprise at this suggestion quickly turned into a smile that was a bit smug.
"Are you...asking me out on a date?"
It didn't dawn on him when he asked but he supposed he was.
"I guess I am." He blushed a little and avoided eye contact but she just laughed and moved her head to meet his eyes
"I'd love to come along." her smile was more natural as she said this which put the traveler at ease.
The Kejourou wrapped her arms and hands around one of the travelers arms and draped her hair across his shoulders and part of his other arm.
"Shall we be off?" He didn't have much on him other than his money and a map of the area so he nodded. And then they were off again on another trip. The traveler had planned to use some other means to reach the town a bit faster but this setup was nice. Especially with her contented smile.

She didn't have much to say on the walk which didn't bother the traveler too much. The quiet walk was nice with nothing to interrupt it save for a moment where he felt comepelled to stop and put his face to her hair and sniffed the fragrance of it. She didn't tease him about it this time but instead released of her arms that was hugging his and stroked his hair a little. Once they arrived at the next town one thing that stood out immediately was a hot spring although it was just a normal one since the places the traveler planned to visit weren't a demon realm. Regardless the Kejourou didn't seem interested in the idea of going. Not because she just didn't want to soak but because of of some other reason was the hunch the traveler had. But he didn't feel like prying to find out why.

Just like yesterday they walked around to see the points of interest and a few nature trails but since the Kejourou wasn't familiar with town they were a bit lost at times. They had fun all the same and the hours seemed to fly by. On the trip back the she asked him why he enjoyed to travel. He shrugged.
"There's no complicated or pretentious reason for it. It's just been my dream to see the world is all. Of course my wandering habits caused some stress to my parents when I was a kid." He laughed, a bit embarrassed when recalling that memory. She seemed satisfied with that answer. Once they got back it was getting late but the Kejourou seemed even more reluctant to let him go from his hair than last time.

The next few days had the same routine. The traveler went to the spot and found her there waiting for him and then they would journey to nearby places. However things changed from that point on. She eventually stopped asking to come along with the traveler and just walked with him. He raised no objections to this. She also displayed more intimacy with him. On the walks she would hold him closer to her and occasionally kiss him on the cheek or forehead. One day she wrapped him almost entirely in her hair and carried him to his destination. At the end of one day she told him before parting that she had something very important to tell him. His mind raced at  the possibilities of what this meant as she returned to her home.

The next day the traveler was more than a little excited to see her. He spent little time making his way to his usual spot and the Kejourou was waiting for him like usual. She seemed nervous today.
"Let's go to my home. I'll tell it to you there." She didn't seem willing to make eye contact with him.
Instead of leaving they both went deeper inside the red-light district. She seemed careful not to let him go here. Any attempts from the Mamono working here to lure him to them was countered by the Kejourou with a harsh glare which made them relent.

It wasn't more than a few minutes of a walk. She was thinking and told him to wait outside for awhile. He nodded and decided although being alone in a place like this wasn't too ideal. After a few minutes he heard a gruff voice call out to him. It was another human male like himself.
"So you're the one." he scoffed, looking very pissed off.
"What do you-"
"Don't be stupid." He pointed at the house behind the traveler. "She's been refusing to work for nearly a week. Some days she wasn't even there at all."
To work huh? It dawned on him that she never talked about her personal life too much.
"What she does is her own business. I never forced her to do anything." The traveler flatly said in response. If she had wanted, she would've just refused him and he would've continued on his way, their meeting just being a particular thing that stood out to him for his first day here.

It stood out to him how angry he was. If the Kejourou had been married she never would've approached the traveler, let alone travel with him. Even if she did, she certainly would've told him about it. He briefly considered that this man was the thing she wanted to talk to him about but he had a feeling that this wasn't the case. No; this man was a customer.

But then he was struck from behind by something blunt which forced him on the ground but someone propped him up so that he sat on his knees. A friend of his, perhaps? He was in an incredible amount of pain and the man in front of him pulled out a small knife and began to or stab or cut him but he didn't seem interested in killing him outright. Maybe this was just a warning or perhaps he wanted him to die slowly. Any attempt at escaping to her house was made futile by the man restraining him from behind but he never spoke a word. Eventually the man with the knife apparently got bored with the whole thing. He stood up and ran off, further into the red-light district and his friend followed but not before shoving the traveler's face to the ground. Shortly after, he lost consciousness.

When he came to he was in a hospital. How long had he been out? He looked and saw the Kejourou in a corner of the room, looking down at the ground, distressed. He noticed something though. There was some blood beneath her, slowly dropping from parts of her hair. He called out to her and she immediately looked up in shock and rushed over, hugging him with both her arms and hair while crying. He asked why her hair was covered in blood. Apparently shortly after the pair left she had found him collapsed on the ground just outside her doorstep.

In her panic, she didn't know what to do other than to take him to the hospital. But since she was worried about him bleeding to death to took it up herself and used her own hair to cover the wounds during the journey to the hospital. Several Mamono saw the sight of her carrying him and helped her out in whatever ways they could. From giving her proper bandages, to offer to help carry him. This all happened hours ago evidently.

An unfamiliar face poked it's way into the room. The traveler recognized this Mamono as a Jurougumo. She smiled upon seeing the Kejourou hugging the travelers head against her chest.
"Good to see you're both doing well."
The Kejourou explained that she was a good friend of hers and they had known each other for a good number of years
"Of course I had to check on my friend. But I was also curious to see the man my friend was so fond of." Her smile widened upon taking a closer look at the traveler.
"And my is he handsome." The Kejourou seemed a bit more clingy after that.
"Oh relax. I won't take him from you. I have my own husband now after all."
The Kejourou was surprised by this announcement. "Oh really?"
The Jurougumo nodded and motioned for someone else to come in the room

It was the man that had just earlier cut up the traveler and left for dead of all people.
"We bumped into each other and he seemed to be in hurry. At my insistence he stay over for some tea and light conversation. "
The traveler had a feeling that there was more to this story but he knew better than to call her out on it.
The attacker seemed exhausted and scared of her. "Now hubby," The Jurougumo started "apologize to this young man."
Silence. "Apologize." She repeated but with a much more serious tone in her voice with her smile gone.

He scrambled out an apology. Well he thinks it was since he heard a "I'm sorry" and a "please forgive me" somewhere in there.
After hearing this the Jurougumo looked back at the traveler
"I accept your apology" he said in reply, fearing what might happen should he not do so. The Kejourou also seemed a bit on edge. The Jurougumo's smile returned. "Good to hear! Come on hubby! Let's go home!" The traveler interrupted her since was curious about something.

"Didn't your husband have a friend with him when you met?" The new husband shook his head when he brought that up.
"Oh right. Well I introduced him to another friend of mine and they're currently in some caves near the mountains for some fun."
Wait wait. A cave near a mountain? In Zipangu? The traveler could only imagine that the poor fellow's pelvis will never be the same again.

With all that done, the traveler was required to stay for a bit longer. Not for a couple more days; Magic is quite useful indeed for that. When he got permission to leave the Kejourou carried him out and again told him she still had something important to tell him but decided to leave it for tomorrow. He agreed and the next day he was feeling pretty good again. When he met with the Kejourou again she carried him to her house and took him inside.

She told him to wait but this time he didn't have long to wait as her voice beckoned him. The house itself wasn't too out of the ordinary; not that he was really expecting anything else. He went to follow the voice and went inside her room, anxious all the while. She was sitting on her bed with her hands behind her back. She seemed nervous and confessed that at the beginning she thought to show around the traveler as a bit of escapism from her usual routine. She had grown a bit weary of it. None of the men she was with were ones she wanted for herself as they were usually less than pleasant. She was truly happy when the traveler asked her to accompany him and grew more and more fond of him as time went on. And while that was happening she realized that he wouldn't stay here in Zipangu forever and eventually he'd move back home. Even worse for her was the idea that some other Mamono would eventually claim him.

"Whether you live here or move back to your old home, I want to be with you always so please..." She moved her arms in front of her, lowered her head as if she were paying tribute to a noble lord and revealed what she was concealing in her hands. It was a lock of her hair and in the middle of it there was some of ribbon tied around it.

"Please let me claim you." A lock of hair coming from a Kejourou was a very important thing for them. It's a symbol of fidelity, proof of her loyalty towards him. In most cases Mamono would just abduct them using several and they would unlikely be seen amongst humans again. But this was a sincere request; She was not using any hair to restrain him to prevent him from leaving.

The traveler stepped forward and took the hair out of her hands.
"I accept." was all he said and all he felt needed to say. She was overjoyed and stood up and kissed him. She sat back down on her bed and slowly undressed herself with her hair. She confessed that this was reason why she didn't want to go to hotsprings; She wanted to him to her nude at this sort of moment. Her arms and hair outstretched, prepared to hug him. He came closer after stowing the hair away in a pocket and was undressed also by the Kejourou's hair and then wrapped in a silken embrace. The pair made love to each other and from that point on the Kejourou would always stay by his side no matter where he decided to travel to.