The Tickling War
The capital city of the Himiko Empire was the grand city of Nabeshin, a sprawling, huge, vibrant and surprisingly clean city (In comparison to most others at least) which was home to the Palace of Empress Sakura Hoshi. The Palace was a city within a city, the main complex taking on the shape of three major buildings that themselves were connected with various outside corridors and paths. The three main buildings were the home of the Great Minister’s of state and the various functions they served.
The Palace was also home to a vast and beautiful series of gardens which were inhabited by many birds, beasts and even the occasional Fairy who wandered in from time to time. A series of small, open pagodas were dotted from location to location which were placed to highlight natural beauty spots. One such pagoda was located by the side of a large pond, surrounded by flowers of all colours organised into neat rows near the small steps which led up into the pagoda. The pagoda itself was large enough to hold a small group of people, fifteen feet in height and was a dark red colour.
It was also holding two people within it, Empress Sakura and her ever faithful servant, San. Both were young women of great beauty and had dark, raven like hair that was tied into a braided tail that descended to her lower back. But the physical similarities ended there, Empress Sakura was noticeably short, only 4’11 in total, The Empress had a small face with dark eyes and thin features. She still retained an air of what could be described as ‘cuteness’ about her as she still retained her youthful features despite recently reaching her twenty-fourth birthday.
San was noticeably different from her mistress in looks, while the Empress was thin and slender; San was noticeably curved in the right places and dressed to hide the fact, to little effect. San was also noticeably taller than the Empress, standing at 5’5 and tried to avoid anyone noticing this by carefully having her body in a semi-bowed position almost all the time. Her face was more fleshed out than the Empress’s which fitted her more robust figure. What made it more awkward for the ever dutiful San was that she was three years her mistress’s junior and tried to avoid doing anything to attract attention to her physical attributes. This in itself was pointless as Empress Sakura herself cared little for such matters, but San was as humble as they come and wouldn’t dare think of drawing attention away from the Empress.
Their clothes also marked the apart. Sakura was dressed in the finest silken robes of a kimono style, dyed a bright royal gold and decorated with scarlet Dragon designs. San on the other hand wore a much more simple cotton kimono dyed a pale blue. While Empress Sakura wore a circled of gold on her head and her hair was pinned together by a comb fashioned with silver, San merely tied her hair back in a ponytail fashion with a simple black velvet band.
The two were currently seated on several small cushions and awaiting news from Fudo Tayomi, the emissary sent by the Empress to bargain with the Oracle and gain permission to wage war. Fudo was to report directly to the Empress before the two would go to the other ministers of state with the news. Tea and small rice cakes had been laid out for refreshments which were of the highest quality.
While she was waiting, Empress Sakura consulted with various reports on the build up of her Army. Knowing that the Amaz emissary would want to fight only the women of Himiko, a special Army of 8000 women had been preparing for battle the last year to combat the Amaz threat. Not wanting war, Empress Sakura had nevertheless realised that unless there was war, Amaz would dominate the Southern Ocean for the foreseeable future.
As she gazed upon a map of the island that was closest to the Empire and the Isle of Spatia. The smaller island of Argus was strategically necessary for any sort of attack against the other islands and Empress Sakura had been planning its take over and defence for the last three months. Looking at one map outlining possible attack routes once a beachhead was established, Empress Sakura was interrupted by a servant giving a cough from the steps of the pagoda “Your Majesty, emissary Fudo Tayomi has arrived and wishes to speak to you.”
Empress Sakura nodded “Very well, send him to me.” San moved to leave but was stopped with a motion by Sakura “If I am unable to trust you San, then who can I trust?” San sat back down, blushing at this compliment.
Fudo arrived at the pagoda and bowed deeply as he saw the Empress. He had served Sakura and her father before her loyally for twenty years. And he respected Sakura as a ruler and looked upon her as a niece. Though Fudo felt that a young woman shouldn’t be as serious as Sakura was, not once did he remember seeing her smile through sheer joy or happiness. Though kind to others, she seemed to have little time for anything other than affairs of state. Looking up from his bow, Fudo smiled at Sakura “It does me well to see you in such fine health.”
Sakura nodded “As it does for me Fudo. Sit down and tell me of our situation, did the Gods grant us permission to go to war?”
Fudo paused as he sat down of the cushions, wondering what he could say before deciding to opt for truth over honesty “Yes, we do have a war.”
Sakura nodded “And our stipulations were agreed to?” He was unsure as to how to address the ticklish (As it were) situation of the form of warfare.
Sensing Fudo’s discomfort, Sakura wanted to know what the older man was holding back from her “Were there any unexpected conditions brought be the Amaz Emissary?”
Knowing that there was no way out now, Fudo sighed a little “Tickling,” He said “The war is to be fought with tickling.”
Sakura looked at Fudo, though showing no emotion, Fudo could tell he had surprised her “I… I’m sorry. What was that?”
Fudo and San shared a quick look. For one single moment, Sakura had let her mask slip and show herself to be as Human as anyone else. Overlooking it for the moment, Fudo went into the story of what had happened at the Oracle and the form the war would now take on. Fudo finished by saying “One of the emissaries asked me to tell you that they’re willing to have a year long cease fire before signing a peace treaty. They then offered going to the Oracle and asking for war again, this time a proper one.”
There was a long pause as Empress Sakura considered these turn of events. It seemed utterly ridiculous to fight a war with tickling and yet… “Tell me Fudo, what do you believe I should say to that offer?”
The older man thought before answering, choosing his words carefully “As much as I would love to fight a war with no casualties, I’m afraid that we’ll have to accept their offer your Majesty. How can we fight a war with only tickling as our weapon?”
Empress Sakura considered this for a moment before remembering something that she had saw several months ago “Fudo,” Sakura said thoughtfully “Do you remember several months ago someone submitting a thesis to the Army? Something along the lines of ‘How to Fight a War Without Really Hurting Anyone’ I believe.”
Fudo nodded in remembrance “Yes I recall the name. I remember that our Generals have never laughed so hard in their lives. I believe the thesis was submitted by a young man… his name was Hiroshi Watanabe if I remember correctly.”
Sakura nodded “Find a copy of that thesis and have it sent to me. And summon my Generals for a conference in an hour. And also find me Hiroshi Watanabe and summon him to me. I want his opinion on how to fight without hurting anyone.”
Fudo bowed his head and rose from the cushions, going about his ordered duty. Sakura watched as he left and when he was out of earshot before saying “San, may I ask you a personal question?”
San blushed at this and nodded hesitantly “Of… of course your Majesty.”
“Have you ever been tickled at all?”
The servant paused before biting her lower lip and nodding “Yes your Majesty, a… young man I know likes to tickle me from time to time. He says that my laughter is very sweet to hear.”
Sakura pondered at this answer before continuing “And do you find the tickling enjoyable at all?”
San hesitated and was reluctant to answer before her loyalty commanded her to do so “I do enjoy it to an extent your Majesty, but the sensation can get quite intense.” She thought back to the times when she had been tickled until tears had come from her eyes. Almost torturous but a part of San always found the tickling quite… thrilling.
“Put your foot on my lap San.” Sakura commanded.
San looked at her Empress with hock before slowly moving her position so that she could place her right foot onto the lap of Empress Sakura. The silk slipper worn by many in the Palace was still on and Sakura merely grabbed the item by the toes before taking it off. San’s feet were small, only a five approaching a six, very well cared for and very soft. The dainty toes also had polish on their nails. While not exactly frowned upon as such, polished toenails were seen as a sign of some vanity. Evidently, San was willing to overlook some minor shame in order to impress her ‘young man’.
Sakura considered the foot carefully in front of her before then turning to face the growing look of trepidation on San’s face. Sakura stuck out a single finger and slowly dragged it up San’s sole, causing the younger woman to squirm and grit her teeth as the tickling sensations travelled all along her foot. Sakura had herself never been tickled and had no idea how it felt, what she was doing to San was also the first time she had ever tickled someone and it felt quite… interesting.
Sakura now simply concentrated on the heel of San’s foot, it being quite plump and very soft. Sakura placed her fingernail on the skin and flicked it very quickly across, causing San to sputter and almost draw her foot back from Sakura’s lap. The Empress found herself enjoying herself in a somewhat strange fashion, seeing San giggle and squirm simply because she ran a finger across her foot made her feel slightly elated.
Deciding to change her technique somewhat, Sakura straightened out a second finger and started to quickly scratch the foot with both fingers, using quick motions against the skin that made San’s resistance finally collapse as she burst into giggles. Her ‘young man’ had been quite right, San’s laughter was sweet to hear, it had quite a melodic quality to it and was quite a happy sounding laugh. San herself began to wriggle where she sat and she could barely keep her foot in place as Sakura ran her fingers up and down the heel.
Seeing how much a mere two fingers were affecting her loyal servant, Sakura now dug all of her fingers into San’s sole, making lightning quick movements up and down the whole length of the sole. Sakura flicked, pinched and raked the skin with her fingers, delighting in seeing San start to bounce on her rear end, trying to avoid the tickling but in a paradox, trying to keep her foot in the same place to avoid upsetting her Empress.
Sakura smiled as her fingers raked slowly up the sole, brushing the skin delicately one moment and with wild abandon the next. When the Empress suddenly dug her fingers into the area just beneath the toes, San shot up off the cushion she was sitting on and landed on the floor, her giggles now replaced with all out hysterical laughter. San thrashed her head from side to side and beat her hands on the floor but still did not move her foot though it starting to twitch quite a lot by now. San’s laughter had developed from her melodic giggling into a full crescendo of laughter that still appealed to the ear.
Noticing how tickling near the toes had made such an impact on San, Sakura withdrew her hand momentarily to let her servant catch her breath before placing her fingers on the toes of San’s foot and dragged them up to the top of the toes slowly, unwittingly finding the limit of San’s endurance.
“NOT THE TOES! PLEASE NOT THERE!!!” San screamed before finally pulling her foot out of the reach of Sakura’s fingers. The Empress looked on as San curled up into a ball and giggled for the next minute as the sensations of Sakura’s fingers lingered up and down her foot. After she finally managed to get her breath back, San slowly sat back up, her face flushed and some of her hair had come loose from its band. Realising that she had withdrawn her foot despite her Empress’s command, San quickly started to put her foot back on Sakura’s lap, mumbling forgiveness.
Sakura was touched by this display of loyalty and gently pushed the foot away “I think you’ve been through enough San.” She said, much to the servant’s relief “That demonstration was more than enough to satisfy my curiosity for the time being. Though the sensation of being tickled is something I’d like to experience for myself…” The sudden strange lights in San’s eyes made the Empress hastily add “At a later date of course. We have much work to do at the moment…”
XxX
Hiroshi Watanabe was surprisingly tall, about 6’3 with unkempt dark hair and a rather worn and dusty kimono as clothing. Despite his lack of riches, everyone noticed that he smiled constantly and his dark eyes seemed to be lit with a joyful flame from within. He was thin though not unhealthily so and carried a large leather satchel full to the brim with sheets of paper, quills and ink that almost made him walk at an angle such was its weight.
Empress Sakura wasn’t entirely surprised at Watanabe’s appearance. The man was a philosopher without a girlfriend and as a result, practically homeless. He had spent his entire thirty year life pursuing pacifistic causes and his treatise, ‘How to Fight a War Without Really Hurting Anyone’ had been the result of five years of hard labour and love. He had studied every single major campaign in military history in the last five centuries and had worked out how various other methods could have been used instead of the blade and shield which had been the cause of so much needless pain.
To the delight of Empress Sakura, two entire chapters had been devoted to investigating how a war could be fought with tickling as a weapon. One chapter dealing with the weapons available while the other mapping out how a battle could be fought with such weapons. Other chapters had included fighting wars with snowball fights, wars with staring competitions and even wars with story telling contests. But it had been the tickling chapters which had garnered so much interest right now.
The Empress was sitting at the end of a long rectangular teak table which was able to seat ten of her Generals on either end, each of them sitting on a small cushioned seat. Watanabe himself stood at the end of the table opposite of the Empress and kept his head bowed in respect as he answered her questions. The room they were in was rather large with a balcony that opened out to see the gardens and a set of double doors at the southern wall. They were currently focused on the weaponry which Watanabe had outlined in his treatise to tickle the enemy.
Sakura glanced at one such item that had been drawn with great care onto one page and then turned to the philosopher “So how do feathers have a more devastating affect than fingers considering their softness?”
Watanabe bowed and replied “To certain people your Majesty, a normal feather can tickle like a myriad of fingers.” With this, Watanabe reached into his satchel and pulled out a scarlet coloured feather that was ten inches in length “But a feather that has been blessed by a sorcerer will hold true for all.”
General Osaka, a short and proud man scoffed at this “And why should we believe such claims? Can you give us any proof?”
“If I were to have a volunteer, I could prove beyond all doubt the effectiveness of my methods.” As if in answer to Watanabe’s statement, the double doors opened and San entered, carrying a tray of bowls and a large pot with tea inside. She stopped suddenly when she noticed the looks everyone was giving her and started to blush at the attention.
“Ah San,” Sakura said “How fortuitous that you should arrive just now. Hiroshi Watanabe would like you to help him with an experiment. Set the tray down on the table and help him.” San nodded in agreement and set the tray down accordingly. When she turned and finally noticed the feather however, she only just managed to silence her squeak of horror as she realised what was about to happen to her…
“Now, now, don’t be nervous.” Watanabe said in comforting tones as San slowly made her way beside him “I must ask you to loosen your kimono.” San gave the Empress a pleading look but seeing that there was no help there, sighed and started to undo the silken belt which tied her kimono together. The garment loosened exposing San’s body including her long, well defined legs with well rounded breasts and smooth belly with a deep navel. Unseasonably hot weather had caused several people to go naked under their outer clothing but San protected her modesty with two stretches of woollen material covering her breasts and the second strip covered her hips to thighs.
San blushed deeply as her body was exposed before the group before her and her embarrassment only deepened as Watanabe strode towards her, the feather twirling in his fingers. He stopped beside San before turning back to the table and continuing with his lecture “Now as you probably know, certain areas of the body are more sensitive to tickling than others. In particular, those who have had a more pampered and secluded life will have much softer skin and therefore, will be more susceptible to the tickling.”
As if to illustrate his point, Watanabe suddenly struck out his hand and flicked the feather across her exposed stomach. San immediately shrieked out a laugh and brought her arms down to protect her exposed skin. Watanabe quickly withdrew his hand and turned back to face the Empress and Generals “Though the Amaz soldiers will certainly have tougher skin than San here, these magically enhanced feathers will certainly overcome that particular resistance.”
Sakura looked down once more to the book in front of her “I’m interested in your proposals to actually win a battle with tickling. Could you care to explain it?”
Watanabe bowed once more. He was in all honesty a good, gentle man but the opportunity to tickle a beautiful young woman like San helpless was far too much to resist “I do hate to bother you San but I must ask you to leave your kimono open for now.” San looked blankly at Watanabe before giving a silent sigh and dropped her arms to her sides once more as the philosopher continued talking “As we are unable to actually…” Watanabe paused in distaste “permanently remove the enemy soldiers; the best choice would be to capture them. In order to do this, the foes will be needed to be tickled into submission and then taken as prisoner.”
“Tickled into submission? What exactly do you mean?” General Osaka asked, earning himself the eternal enmity of San.
“Well first, the foe must be tickled until they lose control of their balance. Like so.” With those words, Watanabe suddenly twisted around and grabbed San’s ribs, digging each of his fingers in as he did so. San instantly shot up into the air and tried to cover her exposed spots with her hands but to no avail. Watanabe capitalised on the surprise by digging his fingers deeper into the ribs, causing San’s laughter to go into shrieks as she stepped back and lost her footing, tumbling to the ground.
Watanabe followed San’s fall and continued his tickling, now using light spider like motions to tickle up and down her exposed ribs. San tried to grab his hands but Watanabe merely withdrew them and began to poke her exposed belly with his fingers, his hands darting up and down the exposed flesh sending small shocks of electricity through San’s belly. By now, the poor woman was howling with laughter, while her toes were incredibly ticklish, they were numb compared to the sensitivity of her belly and she couldn’t even beg for mercy through her laughter.
Such was San’s ticklishness on her belly that Watanabe’s tickling sapped her strength to the extent that she couldn’t even try to block his hands. All she could do was lie back and scream with laughter as the constant shocks from the poking convulsed her. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Watanabe stopped suddenly though San was too convulsed with laughter too notice and continued to giggle as Watanabe turned back to the Empress and Generals “From this your Majesty, it can be seen how a foe can be tickled into submission. I suggest that the Army instantly start training with these tactics in order to gain an advantage.”
Empress Sakura didn’t even bother to think before giving an imperious nod “Very well Watanabe, from this moment on, you are in control of the tactics and equipment of the Army. My Generals will still have control over overall strategy but you are to be on their War Council at all times and informed of all decisions. Do you feel you are able to take on this mission?”
Watanabe bowed low “In order to prove my theories on having a war without death or suffering, I will gladly take on this role.” His words didn’t seem to impress the Generals however as more than one were looking rather peeved at this decision.
Empress Sakura simply overlooked their annoyance and continued “You have my orders; I expect to hear your plans on how to proceed with the war by tomorrow morning. Good day.”
Realising they had been dismissed, all bowed to Sakura and left apart from San who had only just recovered from her tickling attack and was now doing up her kimono, her face flushed. Feeling quite ashamed of having put San through the ordeal of being tickled by Watanabe, Sakura said “I wish to apologise for forcing you into such a position San. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just say what it is.”
San looked blank and said nothing for a few moments. Then, she looked directly at Sakura and gave the most evil smile the Empress had ever seen “Oh, I think I can think of something your Majesty.” San said, giving Sakura the most unsettling look the maid had ever given her “But not quite yet…” And with that, San scooped up her tray and left the room, leaving the Empress in a very worried state of mind…
To be continued…
Can't think of much to say other than I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. More to follow... whenever I can motivate myself into writing.
