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Across Aster’s mansion's hallway, the young wolf pup ran as fast as he could. Cheeks flustered, slightly wet eyes, Karu passed by each servant he met on his way as fast as he could, after all, he couldn’t let them see the mighty Karu in such a state. In that whole damned house, there was only one person that the young yokai wanted to meet.
“Master Kuya!!” He shouted, bursting the door that led to the gardens open. A pinch of relief struck his heart when he saw the old fox looking at him and, wasting not a single second, he ran to him, throwing himself at his arms. “Master Kuya, I found youuu…” Karu cried out quietly, burying his face into the yokai’s chest.
Trying to understand the whole fuss, the old fox simply looked down, still trying to figure the other out. “What has gotten to you, wolf pup?” Kuya sighed, hesitantly placing his hand on Karu’s shoulder, patting him. He had gone to the gardens to have some time by himself, but guess even he couldn’t properly hide his scent from Karu with so little effort. Guess this is where his rest time ended. “What are you crying about, hm?”
“Y-your plan, master Kuya,” Karu said, lifting his head to look up to Kuya as he tugged on the older yokai’s clothes, “it didn’t work! The human even made fun of me!!”
With an unamused - and slightly confused - look, Kuya tried to recall what the other could be ranting about. Plan? That had something to do with Eiden? How was he supposed to remember something so specific with such a vague description?
“And exactly what part of it didn’t work, wolf pup?” Kuya said calmly, placing the kiseru he was smoking down on a nearby table and gently lifting Karu’s face from his chest - he didn’t want to risk getting his clothes wet or anything, after all.
Sobbing quietly and slowly recovering himself from the disappointment he just suffered, Karu’s eyes still shined as the droplets hung on his lashes. “I-I tried to surprise him with a sneak attack - just like you said, master Kuya!”
“I assume it didn’t work, then?”
“Y-yeah! I tried to tickle him, but it didn’t work! Not at all!” Karu cried out, frustrated as he remember Eiden’s face and how easily that damned human turned the tables against him. The wolf yokai pressed his eyes shut, shaking his head before looking up to Kuya again, “I need your help again, master Kuya!”
Kuya scoffed as he let out a small chuckle, shaking his head. “I figured what went wrong, wolf pup,” he mused, raising a finger between him and Karu, pointing to him, “your skills are lacking efficiency.”
“W-what?”
“You see, your technique is still awfully dull and humans, especially someone like young master, are complex beings, full of surprises. You need to improve in order to tame him, wolf pup.”
Karu listened to Kuya’s explanation in awe, feeling the wiseness behind each word. It all made so much sense, of course Kuya’s plan wouldn’t have such a flaw - his master only didn’t consider his skill level.
“A-and how do I improve it, master Kuya?”
“Listen carefully, wolf pup,” Kuya grinned, leaned his head a little forward before he began to whisper his new instructions into Karu’s ear, giving the young yokai important details that he might have missed along his first try: how to properly apply pressure against the skin, different finger movements he should try and even how to properly wrestle his human without the aid of magic.
By the time Kuya was done talking, Karu looked like he had reached some kind of enlightenment, sparking up with joy and excitement to try the new plan out.
“Thanks, master Kuya!” The young yokai said as he walked away, waving back to the fox as he got inside the house. Kuya grinned - a devious, evil smile - as Karu turned his back to him. Picking up the kiseru again to resume smoking it, the fox chuckled. “I wonder how amusing the young master’s reactions will be, huhuh…”
Back inside the mansion, Karu wasted no time in relying on his sense of smell to track down his target. Taking him nothing more than a couple of sniffs to determine the direction where Eiden’s scent was coming from.
Unsuspecting the income danger, the grand sorcerer was peacefully spending his time inside the library of the mansion, trying to finish another book without Olivine’s aid.
As the sounds of steps coming from outside got louder, Eiden turned his head over his shoulder, wondering what that fuss was about.
“Is everything alrig-”
“Human!” Karu shouted as he slammed the door open, grinning cockly as he spotted his prey.
“K-Karu?!” He gasped, letting out an embarrassing shriek after getting scared by the wolf pup like that. “A-ah, you scared me, I thought something was happ-”
“Shut it, human!” He demanded, furrowing his brows while staring at Eiden, “did you really think you could humiliate me like that and I would leave it like that?! I’ve come for my revenge, prepare yourself!”
“...what?” Eiden blinked a few times, a bit too stunned to understand what Karu was ranting about this time. “Humiliate you? But I- oh, you mean tickling you back?”
A faint red hue spread across Karu’s face as the grand sorcerer finished talking. The disrespect… How dare he?! Done with waiting to strike, the yokai ran and tackled Eiden down to the library ground, using him to ease the fall. Straddling the human’s waist, Karu looked down to his face, getting even angrier when he sensed that there was no fear or resistance coming from Eiden.
“Y-you know, there was no need to pounce on me like that,” the grand sorcerer said, still feeling his ass sore after falling on his butt like that. However, seeing Karu so excited and eager to get his revenge, Eiden couldn’t help but to play along. After all, how bad could it be? “I mean, ahm, oh, you got me!”
Karu grinned, not even allowing him to state his last words. “It’s time to punish you for disrespecting the mighty Karu, human,” latching his hands onto Eiden’s sides, he remembered the instructions of his master, putting his best efforts to bring it to practice.
As soon as his nimble fingers started to tweak and prod at Eiden’s side, the grand sorcerer felt the corner of his lips twitch. ‘Wait, there is something off,’ he thought, trying his best to play along as, much to his surprise, Karu’s moves actually felt ticklish this time.
“K-Kaharu, what ahare- pfft- hehey! Wahahait!” As the first giggles broke through his lips, it became almost impossible to hold back his reactions any longer. Eiden was caught off guard by how bad it became, what did he do? Where did he even learn to… tickle like that?”
“That’s what you get for underestimating me, human!” Karu continued, easily evading and passing through Eiden’s attempts to stop his fingers, continued to tickle his sides and lower ribs, covering the sensitive spots with poke after poke, reducing the grand sorcerer to a mess of laughter.
The wolf pup’s tail wagged in excitement as the tickling went on and on, enjoying the feeling of finally having enough “power” to subdue that untamed human. On the other hand, however, Eiden was fighting for his life as those devious claws found their way to his ribs. No matter how hard he tugged on Karu’s wrists or pressed his arms against his body, the yokai’s hands would find their way through his defenses and strike his sensitive spots again.
“T-thahAHat’s e-enohohough, K-KahAHaru!! StahahAhap!” The grand sorcerer cried out, kicking his legs behind the wolf pup as he thrash in a fit of laughter.
But Karu was way too excited to stop. No, he wouldn’t let such an opportunity slip through his fingers like this, not at all! He remembered how much he needed to beg- I mean, ask for Eiden to stop tickling him before - and now he wanted him to stop like that?!
Letting out a cocky chuckle, Karu quickly moved his hands up, shoving them underneath Eiden’s arms and making the grand sorcerer let out an embarrassing loud squeal. “In your dreams, human! This is what you get for provoking the mighty Karu, hahah!!”
“O-okahAHAHAY!! AHahAHa- I-i’m sohOHORRY, K-KARU!! AHAhah, q-quihihihit it!!” The laughter kept breaking through and interrupting his words over and over. This was nothing like Karu’s previous attempts to tickle him. The clumsy, uncoordinated movements from before had evolved into merciless, well-aimed attacks that were driving him up the walls!
The grand sorcerer wasn’t sure what happened, but he needed to figure it out as soon as possible or the yokai would actually tickle him to death. “E-enoHOHOUGH! AhahAHAH, I-I’ll d-do ahAHANYTHING!! J-Juhuhust stop!”
“Submit to the mighty Karu and I might show you some mercy, human!” Karu said, speaking louder than he usually did, just to make sure he would be heard through Eiden’s laughter. “Or suffer! Heheh…”
“F-FIHIHINE!! Juhuhust stahHAhap!!” Eiden uttered with the last bits of his strength. As Karu finally moved his hands away, the grand sorcerer let out a huge gasp, finally able to try to catch up his breath. “A-aha… t-thank you, I thought I was a… a goner, ahh…”
“It worked, it really worked!” Karu cheered, quickly springing up back to his feet. He looked at his own hands, wiggling his fingers as if some kind of power was flowing through his limbs. He then pointed back at Eiden, smiling as confidently as ever, “now, you have to obey all my orders, human!”
“S-sure… just give me a moment,” Eiden muttered, sighing as he used his elbows to support his body. Whatever happened, he thought, it should be better to play along for a while - after all, sooner or later, he knew he would have his chance to strike the “mighty” Karu back…