Chapter 9

The morning sun began to shine as Corrin stared at the lake that Gyobu had brought her to so that they could fish together. And upon arrival the princess found herself being blown away at how beautiful the scenery looked in the morning light. And so she looked up at the anthro tanuki and commented, "Wow Gyobu, this lake is beautiful."

"Yes, this lake is quite nice no matter what time of day you come. And I'm certain that you could tell that it's also very isolated. Which means we'll be able to catch as many fish as we want without being bothered." The beastman stated, who also had a big smile on his face. He then began to walk onto the dock while he turned and looked back at her from over his left shoulder when he added, "Now let's get to our boat so that we can get onto the lake and catch some fish."

"Right!" Corrin agreed, as she followed behind the muscle gutted beastman.

She watched him set his pole, bucket, and tackle box onto the dock before he sat down onto the dock himself. She then saw him lean forward and place his feet into the rowboat before moving away form the dock and then standing up straight. He then grabbed his things and placed them into the front part of the boat. Once he had doen this she then saw him turn to face her as he asked, "Do you require any assistance getting in the rowboat?"

"Um maybe since I've never gotten into one of these before. And I"d hate to cause it to flip over." Corrin confessed, while she handed him the pole that he had brought for her to use for this little trip of theirs.

She watched intently as he sat the pole next to the first one before she saw him smile at her again and then proceeded to gently yet firmly grab a hold of her sides. He then slowly started to flitted her up into the air for a moment before quickly moving her towards the boat. Once he had done this the princess set down into the metal boat facing the tanuki while the smile remained on his face and he commented, "There you go. Now we just have to row out into the middle of the lake."

"Oh um thank you, Gyobu." Corrin let out, as a light blush had appeared on her face from not expecting him to do that. She then proceeded to sit down while he removed both of the ropes that had been tied around the poles of the dock. And once he had sat down and grabbed both of the ores that were both sides of the rowboat. And since she did not want him to do everything on this fishing trip the young woman went on with, "Wait Gyobu, why don't I help you row the boat?"

"That's very kind of you to offer, Corrin. But I couldn't possibly ask such a lovely lady like yourself to do that." Gyobu lightly protested, before he started to row thus making the muscles on both of his arms flex.

Seeing this though only caused her blush to deepen a little as she let out, "Okay, if that's what you want to do..."

After she had done this the rest of the ride to the middle of the lake was silent. This is until the anthro tanuki released the ores and then lifted a large archer over the right side of the rowboat. The sliver haired princess then saw him let go of it which caused it fall at a fast pace until the rope came to a stop which she knew meant that the archer had touched the bottom of the lake. Once this was taken care of she saw him put bait on both of hooks that were at the end of the fishing lines before he handed her the pole she was goingt o be using. This prompted Corrin to smile as she took the rod from him and then faced one end of the lake while she saw from the corner of her eye Gyobu fish from the other side.

"Hmm, I'm surprised he'd fish on the other side of the boat. Although I guess that will prevent our fishing lines from getting tangled." The young woman thought to herself, before she lifted the rod a bit into the air and then threw it forward. However, this led the bobber to just land a little bit away from the boat which caused her to become a bit confused as she wondered, "Huh? Why didn't my line go that far away from the rowboat?"

"It's because you didn't hold down the button that's in the center of the rod next to the handle that reels in the line." The brown, black and white furred Transient informed her, before she heard him turn so that he was facing her back. Once this happened the noblewoman found herself blushing again upon feeling the tanuki's body being rather close to her. She then felt his large hands place themselves on top of hers once he had continued with, "Here. Allow me to show you what to do."

"O-Okay..." Corrin stuttered out, while she did her best to focus on fishing instead of the beastman that was behind her.

And after he had showed her what to do Corrin reeled in the line and did what he had showed her. Doing this caused the line to go out quite a bit which caused her to smile. She then let out a sigh of relief as she looked over at the muscle gutted tanuki and asked, "So now that our lines are in the water I take it we wait until the fish start biting?"

"Exactly. But while we wait this gives us the chance to learn more about each other. Wouldn't you agree?" Gyobu suggested, still with a large smile on his face.

"Oh, alright. So who should go first then?" The human wondered, to which she heard the beastman let out a light chuckle.

After that had been done he then told her, "Well, is it not curtest to let the young lady go first?"

"Oh well thank you, for being so kind Gyobu." Corrin replied, as she also let out a light giggle She then looked out onto the lake before she added, "Although to be honest my home world of Hoshido is very different then Tokyo. Because you see I suppose you could compare it to this place back in medieval times." She then placed one of her hands underneath her chin when she went on with, "But regardless of that fact I will say that I always loved seeing the cherry blossom trees bloom during spring. And there was actually a lake that's similar to this one. Although I'll admit that I never fished there."

"It sounds like a lovely place, Corrin." The anthro raccoon dog remarked, before she saw his eyes widen in surprise. She then saw him smile at her again when he added, "Oh, but it looks like you may have caught your first fish."

"Oh, you're right!" Corrin responded back, as she began to reel the line back in. And once the line was completely back in the line she was quite surprised to see a small looking fish at the end of the line where the hook and bait was. And even though the fist might have not been a keeper she still found herself smilingly brightly and commented, "Alright, I caught my first fish!"

"Yes, you did. Although I'm afraid we'll have to throw it back into the lake since it's smaller then seven inches." The tanuki remarked, while he removed the fish and then threw it back into the water.

The sun began to set when both Gyobu and Corin had finished fishing for the day. And the young woman found herself smiling when she looked into the water filled bucket and saw ten fish in it. And even though she had only caught four of the keepers compared to Gyobu who had caught the most with six she still had a wonderful time. And once the Transient had rowed the boat up against the dock she watched as he stood up and removed the items from the boat he himself got up out of the boat. The young woman was then handed each of the ropes that were on the dock to which she proceeded to tie around both ends of the boat. After that had been done she saw Gyoubu extend a hand to her to which she took and he easily lifted her up out of the boat and onto the dock.

However, to the princess's surprise she found herself being pulled up and against the tanuki's body for a few seconds which caused her to blush again as she could feel his stomach and muscled chest underneath his clothes. However, he let go of her right away and said, "Oh, my apologies Corrin. I guess I put a bit too much force into lifting you up out of the rowboat."

"Oh, um that's okay." She reassured, while she did regain her bearings. And so do this she breathed in some air before she released and then smiled up at him and added, "So I guess we'll call it a day then?"

"Yes, I believe so. But please allow me to walk you back to your home." He suggested, before he began to pick up all of these of things.

Seeing this caused the young woman to want to help as she told him, "Here. Allow me to help you carry some of your things for you."

"Thank you, Corrin. But I assure you that this is no problem for me." The tanuki reassured her, before the two began to walk off of the dock and down the dirt road.

While they did this the princess asked, "By the way I wanted to ask you this earlier today. But hanging out with me isn't going to cause any problems within your guild will it?"

"Hmm? Why would you ask such a question?" Gyobu questioned, with a confused look on his face.

"I know it was a silly thing to ask. But I just wanted to ask because I was hoping we could hang out together again sometime. Only this time I'd like to go to the beach...if that's alright with you of course." Corrin suggested, as she looked towards the ground for a moment.

That was as long as it lasted though because she quickly looked back up at the tanuki when he let out a light chuckle and replied, "That sounds like a great idea. But let's make sure to do that the day after tomorrow. Because I'm certain you'd like to pick a day during the week were not that many people are there. Am I right?"

"Y-Yes, that's it exactly." Corrin replied, while she nodded her head. However, mentally she continued with, "And I also don't want Snow to find out that we're hanging out again. I mean I doubt he'd get mad or anything. But the last thing I'd want to do is cause trouble for him or Gyobu's guild."