Chapter 1
"Alright, men, are you listening?" Gorou looked around at his soldiers standing around him in a circle, then diverted his attention back to the map. "This is the enemy camp, and you can see our points of entry here, here and here." He pointed at each spot, checking on the soldiers again to see if they were following. While they were paying attention, something felt off, like he didn't get the type of reaction or response that is usually there.
"You guys see it, right? Remember this spot? This is the valley we had a physical training at the other day, where Shunsuke lost his water bottle, remember? Hahaha, that was a funny experience! Right?" Gorou hoped to involve the men a bit better, but the response was lackluster.
"Oi, guys... what's wrong? Is everything okay?" He looked around, concerned. Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his wrist. "Huh? What is...?" He tugged at the hand but it wouldn't budge. It wasn't strong enough to hurt, but it felt firm and restrictive. "I need to... gah!" He struggled harder against the grip, now using his other hand to pry the fingers off his wrist, when that hand was also caught by another soldier in the circle.
"...huh?" Gorou stood, staring dumbfounded at his soldiers. Was this a prank? Was something special about today? He couldn't read their expressions, but he tried his best to make sense of this situation. He found it odd that other than holding him down, the men didn't do anything else. He tried to twist his arm and flex his fingers to find a way to get out of their grasp, but they held onto him tight.
"I don't really get what's going on, but I can't explain like this! Just let me go already! What is wrong with you guys? Come on, somebody help me!"
As he uttered these words, he felt something on his tail. Hands...fingers... gently carressing the soft fur, multiple people stroking it at the same time. Gorou drew in a sharp breath, feeling every single touch send jolts of electricity throughout his body. The sensation felt like being forcefully tickled - while there was a positive feeling to it, altogether it felt wrong and he wanted it to stop.
"Guys, we talked about this! No touching of General Gorou's tail! Unhand me, this isn't funny!" He pleaded as he continued to squirm against the restrictions. He realized with growing terror that he had nothing on these guys - despite trying his best, he couldn't break free even one limb. The soldiers continued to carress his tail and the sensation made Gorou start feeling dizzy. He felt so overstimulated and scared at the same time, as it dawned on him how there was no way out of this. He was overpowered, outnumbered, betrayed. The world seemed dark around him, with no way out. His breathing quickened and he felt desperation and sheer panic take over him.
"Guys, I'm begging you! Stop! Please stop! I'm not okay with this!"
As if though it only riled them more, the soldiers found more and more sensitive spots, like the base of the tail. The feeling was so overwhelming that Gorou started to feel physical pain shoot through his entire body. He needed this to stop, but ... he didn't want to hurt these people. He didn't want to scream.
Gorou shot up from his bed with a piercing yell, his heart beating so fast and loud. His chest was heaving and his whole body was sweaty. The pain was finally gone, but the terror remained. He looked around, it was dark nighttime and it was only himself in his bed. Gorou shuddered as he felt the cold air on his flushed and damp body, trying to regulate his breathing and his thoughts.
What the hell kind of dream was that? He's never experienced anything like this before, it felt all so real and so terrible. Everything was so peaceful and nice up till he went to bed, he had been looking forward to another productive day the next morning... why did this happen now? He felt so puzzled about the fact that he had been experiencing and feeling sensations in his dream that he had never experienced in his life before. He grabbed onto his blanket for a sense of comfort and safety. His tail wrapped around his waist, now safe and without any hands on it.
Slowly, his breathing regulated and he felt exhausted after this bout of panic. His brain was trying to make sense of something that could never be made sense of. He felt awful. He wanted to forget, to move on, to act like this never ever happened.
"It was a bad dream. Nothing more than that. It didn't mean anything." He chanted to himself, forcefully convincing himself. He got up, put on some warm clothes and walked out into the yard, not sleeping a wink more that night.