Author's Note: Sorry for not posting last night as usual. I've been out of town. I hope you enjoy this week's installment.
Chapter 15.
"Why did I have to share the bed with my rivals on my wedding night?" Tabitha groused to his left.
"Feel privileged, I didn't even get to sleep with him on my wedding night." Henrietta retorted from his right.
"Yeah, but you got that romantic moment in the hot spring with him." Siesta offered from his left hip.
"Like you haven't ever bathed with him." Louise pointed out from his right hip.
Saito prayed beyond hope that the four young women currently sharing his bed might somehow, some WAY, think he was still asleep. Unfortunately, pinned as he was under four beautiful young women, it was only a matter of time before his body would betray him.
It had been a simple little service. Only a few of the inns' senior staff that remembered his grandmother and his parents had even made an appearance. It had been a quiet ceremony for a quiet girl. Saito couldn't decide if the tears she kept shedding were tears of joy or tears of grief. Now as he lay under the girls wishing to be nowhere else, and yet elsewhere at the same time, he began to understand.
"All four of us didn't have to sleep in here last night." Siesta complained. The feel of her generous bosom rubbing against his thigh nearly did him in on the spot. Please girls, have your eyes closed.
"Apparently my husband is awake." Henrietta noted clinically. Dang it.
"Not necessarily. I've read that men get aroused early in the morning when they are still asleep as their body prepares to wake up." Tabitha said quietly.
"I bet the dog is just playing at being asleep again." Louise complained and slid up Saito's leg to get a closer look at this face. That was the last draw. As the woman he loved slid her body up hi thigh and hip he could feel her thighs one either side of his own and his body reacted all on its own. Her cute little gasp let him know that she had both felt and most likely looking at him saluting her.
"Wow." Henrietta said in a whisper.
"I've... never seen it before." Tabitha said quietly.
Saito cracked his eyes open to see Louise straddling one of his legs, sitting back on her knees, and covering her stomach with both hands as she stared down in horror at the thing which had inadvertently poked her. Saito could just see the soft white fabric of her panties sitting on his leg, but it was the feel of her body through the fabric that was driving him wild.
"I want my good morning kiss." Saito practically growled at the diminutive girl on top of him as he struggled to rise as the other three held him down.
"Now... now... Saito. Y-y-y-you said you would wait until we got home." Louise whimpered.
"Down boy." Henrietta commanded trying to hold one arm as Saito strained to reach Louise.
Saito grinned and lay back against the bed before pitching his girlfriend forward with the knee she was sitting on. The skittish girl now had his manhood pressed to her stomach as she lay on his chest wide eyed. Saito took advantage of the surprise attack to reach up with his lips and claim his prize of her waiting lips.
"Saito please." Louise begged, pulling her head reluctantly back. "Can't you wait until we get home?"
Saito settled back and grew quiet for a moment. "What if this turns out to be home Louise?"
Louise's sorrowful expression was killing him, but it had been weeks now. Sooner or later the girls were going to have to come to grips with it. "I love you, Louise. I've loved you since we first met, and you gave me that first kiss. Please don't reject me."
There was a deep melancholy in Henrietta's voice as she interjected. "He's right Louise. We might never make it home. You should go ahead, and love while you have the chance. We never know when we might regret not having been with the person we love."
"You said yourself that you didn't think you'd be able to open any sort of a portal without a wand." Tabitha added. "If this is where we stay, I'll be happy as long as I'm with Saito."
"We promised mistress, and we'll keep our word. You are Saito's first love." Siesta urged.
Louise sat up and Saito felt the hold on his arms weaken. He didn't care anymore. He didn't care that there were three other girls in the bed with the two of them. Right now, only Louise existed in his universe. She was scared now, sitting up again. Saito reached up and pulled her up over the top of him, until she was straddling his waist and whimpering as he gently began opening up her sleeping robe to reveal her body to him. the only thing between him and the woman he loved were those pure white cotton panties that has was getting ready to take off and fulfill his desire.
At least that was what should have happened. There was one other thing now between him and the woman he loved and that was a cold grey iron skillet that was now resting against his face after a very rapid deceleration.
"What an unlucky mother I am to have a brute of a son who'd take a helpless girls virginity away from her in front of three other girls." Saito's mother said sadly.
The moment and the mesmerizing hold he had temporarily held over Louise now completely dissipated, Saito looked at his collection of young women hurriedly throwing on more presentable clothing and died a little more inside. "Good morning, mom."
"About time you decided to get up." Grandfather noted clinically as Saito's little family joined him in the dining room. His grandfather had apparently not noticed the large bruises all over his face or else was pretending not to.
"Where's Dad?" Saito asked.
"Still asleep, apparently your mother has been keeping him up at night." Grandfather reported dryly. Saito shivered a little and just kept telling himself it was because she'd been yelling at him... even though the inn had been eerily quiet last night after the party had ended.
The blushes all around on all the girls told Saito where their opinions on the matter lay. "So why didn't you let us... sleep in a little more."
Grandfather didn't seem to notice the pause as he pressed on merrily. "We never got a chance to give out the wedding presents last night son."
"The only present I would have liked this morning, got taken away from me abruptly when mom came in and told me you wanted to see us." Saito grumbled. He hated to be short with his elder, but he had really been wanting to finally consummate his love with Louise. "Who could have brought..."
"It would be very rude not to accept them." Grandfather said in a low threatening tone that made Saito gulp before finishing his last sentence.
"So what did you get for the two of them." Louise said nervously as she changed the subject.
Saito stared at the girl. She was intentionally avoiding eye contact. "What's wrong Louise?"
"I'm... I'm just trying to prepare myself for... for tonight. I'll stop trying to run away. I know you love me Saito. I'll be ready... tonight. We'll never make it home I guess so waiting until we can get back to the academy isn't going to work." Louise explained.
Saito nodded and got a grip on his raging hormones. Tonight he would finally become one with Louise.
"Well, then let's get out the gifts." Grandfather said with aplomb. "First, since Tabitha was married last night, we'll present her with this."
Tabitha looked haunted as grandfather gave her a small box. "What is this?" The quiet girl said as she opened it to find various items of jewelry.
"It belonged to Saito's grandmother before she came to our world. Those were the family jewels of her people. I want you to have them. They'll only fit you anyway." Grandfather explained gently as he hugged the girl. "I know you feel guilty having been through all you have and seeing Saito the way you do, but always remember that as long as you are by his side it will be okay."
Tabitha cried and clutched the box to her chest for dear life. Siesta patted her shoulder kindly, and smiled.
"My next gift is for your majesty." Grandfather said happily. "This one is not a family heirloom I'm afraid, but you will hopefully find it useful. Since I used to be a history professor I found some really good text books on sociology and political science. I hope you enjoy them. At least once you have Saito read them to you."
"I'm sure I'll enjoy reading them." Henrietta said diplomatically. Saito knew they would probably never reach Tristain again so the odds of her ever applying the knowledge in those books was practically nil.
"And for you my beloved little Siesta, who has made my inn the talk of the village with your gourmet cooking, I give you this." Grandfather said pulling out a weathered old tome. "Not all of my wife's research was into magic. Believe it or not she actually began to enjoy cooking. Here are all her recipes. You should find it helpful in taking care of my grandson. And remember child, if they way to a man's heart is through his stomach it helps to have a map."
The old man gave her a conspiratorial wink and the young maid had a gleam in her eye as the other girls looked on her with new found trepidation.
"My final gift is for you Louise." Grandfather said quietly as he stood. "All of you come with me."
Saito and the girls stood and followed their elder out into the forest surrounding the inn. He led them to the little shrine that had served as his grandmother's library and brought them inside. Inside, his mother and father were sitting patiently.
"Are... are you giving me grandmother's study, grandfather?" Louise asked formally.
"No. No I'm not. I have something far more precious to impart." Saito's grandfather said as he stepped over to part of the floor and began removing floor boards. When he stood he brought up a long object wrapped in silk. "This has been handed down in our family for generations. It was brought back by one of our ancestors from your world and was kept as a relic by the priests here in the village."
The old man pulled the cloth back and all the girls sucked in a breath. The staff looked like a traditional Japanese monk's staff with the golden tip and the rings on each side of it that would jingle as he walked. The part that had all the girls staring in wonder was the series of five black bands that graced the shaft of the staff below the golden headpiece.
Louise nearly cried. "We... we can go home."
"When you told me yesterday that all you lacked was an enchanted wand I had hoped that this might be what you needed. I didn't want to get your hopes up though. Will you be able to use this?" Grandfather asked.
"There's only one way to find out!" Louise crowed as she accepted the staff from the old man and raced outside. Saito's family (all of it), ran after the small girl. As she skidded to a halt on the shores of the lake she raised the mighty staff above her head and pointed it out toward the center of the lake. The explosion probably rattled the windows back at the end and sent water cascading down all over the small gathering of people. Louise was drenched, but he was practically glowing, and not just from the surge of magical energy through her.
"Are you alright?" Saito asked fearfully.
"Get ready. We're going home!"
A/N: I've been considering a really racy epilogue to this story, but I think I might keep it toned down and change the rating on this to 'T' instead. I feel too guilty writing lemons.