Makoto looked up from her magazine as Ami came in the door of their apartment carrying what looked like a huge briefcase. She raised an eyebrow as she put down the magazine and quickly got up to take the heavy case from Ami. "Good grief. What is this, Ami?"
Ami grinned at her as she closed the door before more heat could escape into the early December evening. "Your birthday present." She pulled the shopping bag off her shoulder and held it up. "Along with this." She kicked off her shoes and pulled on her slippers before moving past Makoto and into the apartment proper.
Makoto just stood there watching her as she laid the bag on the couch and went over to turn the heater up. She looked down at the case, then back up to Ami. "Okay...so my birthday present is Gojira's briefcase?"
Ami grinned at her again as she pulled off her scarf and hung it on the coat rack, followed by her coat. Makoto had seen that mischevious, knowning grin on Ami before. Even after all these years, it still surprised her. "It's not a briefcase, it's a table."
Makoto just looked at her. "Uuh-huh..."
Ami waved her into the living room. "Oh, you! Bring it in here and make a little room while I get it set up."
Makoto stepped into the room and set the case/table beside Ami, then she pushed a few chairs against the wall and the coffee table closer to the couch. When she looked at Ami again, the other girl had the table set up. It was padded and about two meters long and about half that wide, with a small hole all the way through it at one end.
"A massage table!"
"Mmmhmm. The medical college offered a class on massage last month for the students going into sports medicine and I decided to audit the class. It's always handy for a doctor to know what muscles are causing what pain."
Makoto nodded as she watched Ami pull out a couple of bottles, one blue, one red, from the shopping bag and put them on the coffee table. "And I'm going to assume those are massage oils and that I'm not going to be getting this massage with my clothes on."
Ami still had that same grin on her face as she looked at Makoto again. "Right you are. But I want you to take a shower first while I finish getting things ready."
Makoto didn't say a word, but her grin matched the shorter girl's as she stepped beside her and kissed the top of her head before pulling her hairband off and heading into the bathroom...
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When Makoto turned off the light and stepped out of the bathroom, it was like stepping into another world. All the lights were out, replaced by dozens of candles that lit the apartment in a warm glow. The air was just warm enough to feel good on bare skin. She also caught a faint scent of roses, but she wasn't sure if it was from one of the many candles, or some incense hidden in the shadows. The soft whine of a violin floated through the apartment, accompanied by a low piano and Makoto recognised it as the new CD that Haruka and Michiru had sent them.
Ami stood before the massage table in the middle of the room. As Makoto stepped closer, she saw that all Ami was wearing was an over-large button-up blouse with the sleeves seemingly rolled up about halfway. It came down to just above her knees and the only buttons actually buttoned were the two just below her breasts, giving Makoto teasing glimpses of what lay beneath the shirt as Ami moved towards her. Makoto felt her pulse pick up. "Ami...that shirt..."
The blue-haired girl stopped before her and smiled as she helped Makoto remove the towel she had wrapped around her. "Yes. This is the same shirt you gave me to sleep in all those years ago."
The memories flowed through Makoto's mind like a slow slideshow... A study session for the high school entrance exams that had run late into the night...an offer to spend the night...a bad storm that had knocked the power out...a candlelit dinner of leftovers...an old, familiar nightmare that had caused Makoto to wake screaming...the comforting arms that held her through the night...the deep understanding as she poured out her soul...the unexpected kiss that caught them both by surprise...the long talk...the soft touches...
Ami draped the towel over the back of a chair and reached up with both hands to cup Makoto's face, pulling her down into a long, deep kiss that warmed them both up quite nicely before they were done. "Mmm... Happy birthday, love."
Makoto stroked Ami's cheek. "It's certainly looking to be one." Ami grinned and took the hand from her cheek, leading Makoto over to the table and helping her get lain facedown on it. Makoto didn't know what the material was that covered the padding, but it felt almost like silk. As she set her face over the hole in the table, the padding cupped her face and she realised that laying as she was, she couldn't see what Ami was doing. That thought caused her to shiver a bit. And she did again as Ami lifted her long chestnut hair to one side and kissed the now-exposed back of her neck.
Ami smiled as she felt her lover shiver under her lips, knowing that it wasn't because she was cold. She picked up the red bottle of oil, poured some into her palm, and put the bottle down. She rubbed her palms together as she spoke to Makoto, "Now this is warming oil. It's not hot, but you will definitely feel it. I'm going to start at your shoulders." She then bent over and matched actions to words, moving her fingers slowly over Makoto shoulders as she worked the oil over her skin. Her fingers traced the lines of muscles along the shoulders and neck, working over a stubborn knot right where they met. As the heat from the oil worked its way in, she felt the knot loosen and Makoto gave a soft groan as Ami felt her start to relax under her fingers. "Therrrrre we go," she said with a smile, flattening her fingers out and slowly running them down Makoto's back as though smoothing her skin out. Then she reversed her movement and kneaded her way back up to the shoulders. As she worked her way around the shoulder blades she asked, "How does that feel?"
"Mmmmmmm..." was all the response she got.
She laughed at that and added a little more oil to her hands before moving down to the lower back. Here she used a combination kneading/pinching motion to work over the muscles along Makoto's ribs and alongside her spine, then down to the muscles at the base of the spine.
After she finished with the lower back, she walked around to the head of the table, removing her blouse as she did so. She was already warm and she didn't want it draping over Makoto during this next part. She stood in front of Makoto and placed her palms flat on her back, her fingers together and the tips of her thumbs on either side of her spine. Then she pressed down and slowly pushed her hands down Makoto's back. She heard a long, low moan come from underneath her and felt every muscle under her hands go slack.
"Oooooooh, Goooood... Ami, dooon't stop..."
She bent down and kissed the back of Makoto's head before pulling her hands back up and repeating the move twice more, eliciting the same general reaction each time. She then moved back beside Makoto, giving her another light kiss on the back of the neck. Ami rubbed a little more warming oil on her palms and put her hands on Makoto's buttocks, one on each cheek. She then proceeded to knead them slowly, but rather hard. Digging her thumbs in as she did so.
"Oooh, I don't think this part was covered in that sports medicine class..."
Ami giggled at that, but didn't stop. "Nope. It's something I came across while doing some supplemental reading."
"Mmmm...I don't think I've ever been so happy that you're a studious person..."
"Not even when I help you with your calculus classes?"
"Nnn...less math, more massage..."
Ami grinned and complied, shifting the path her hands took to start on the cheeks and move down onto the back of the thighs. After a few cycles of this she got a bit more oil and moved both hands to Makoto's left thigh and repeated the 'kneading pinch' technique she'd used on her back, working this time from just above the knee to the base of the buttocks. After doing it three times she moved to the other thigh and repeated the moves.
Putting a dab more oil on her hands, she moved down to Makoto's calves and used a combination kneading and rolling movement on them. Once she was finished, she was pretty sure there wasn't a tense muscle left in Makoto's body. She put one hand on each calf and, using slight pressure, slowly ran her hands up them...over her thighs...buttocks...lower back...upper...then shoulders and finally along Makoto's neck to just below her ears.
As Ami lifted her hands away, she smiled down at the gleaming form before her. The oil and candlelight made it seem that a perfect bronze statue lay before her. Makoto's breathing was slow and even, and Ami wondered if she was actually asleep.
"Makoto..."
Ami saw no reaction. Her breathing was still slow and even.
"Maaako-chaan..."
Ami caught a slight shift in the rise and fall of her back. A barely heard, "Mmm?" came from underneath the table. She smiled at this. "Makoto, you need to turn over."
"Mph."
Ami let out a low laugh at that, and leaned over to whisper in her lover's ear, "You do want the rest of your present, don't you?"
Makoto took a deep breath... "You play dirty, you know that?"
Ami smiled and kissed the edge of Makoto's ear. "Only for you, love."
Another deep breath. "Mmmm..." Makoto shifted her arms up and lifted her face from the table to look at Ami. "I would hope so," she said with a lazy grin. A few more movements and she was on her back on the table, her hair tucked out of the way through the hole her face had rested in.
Ami stood above Makoto's head, her eyes trailing over the woman laid out before her like an idol on an altar, and swallowed around the lump in her throat. She thanked God every day that she had been blessed with the love of such a beautiful soul. As her eyes came back up to Makoto's face, her breath caught as she saw in those dark green eyes thoughts that paralleled her own. With a smile she bent over to kiss Makoto's forehead, then her fingers followed her lips and began lightly massaging where she'd kissed.
Ami's fingers worked small circles above Makoto's eyes, which slowly closed, and then moved down her temples. They moved in and over her cheeks, not so much massaging as caressing. As Ami's fingers slipped down below her ears and jaw, Makoto's mouth opened to let out a low sigh. Ami brought her fingers up to lightly trace over Makoto's lips, causing them to open even wider.
Ami couldn't help herself. Her fingers lightly cupped Makoto's face and she bent down to kiss those wonderful lips. They both felt a tiny shock, an arc impulse between lightning and water, as their lips met. Makoto was too relaxed to move, so Ami took full control of the kiss. Soon she covered Makoto's mouth with her own, and the tips of their tongues slid across each other as the kiss went on.
Finally, reluctantly, Ami broke the kiss. Both of them were breathing heavy and even in the candlelight, Ami could see a flush that matched her own covering her partner's face and chest.
Makoto sighed happily. "Wow...and I get one of these days every year?" she asked with a smile.
Ami laughed and stroked Makoto's cheek. "Two." She leaned close again. "Don't forget, I have a birthday as well."
Makoto opened her eyes to look lovingly at Ami for a moment before they slid closed again. "Ooooh, next year's gonna be a goooood year..."
Ami laughed at that and picked up the red bottle again, putting some fresh oil on her palms now that she was moving away from the face. Her hands cupped Makoto's shoulders and gave them several squeezes before sliding her hands in and up the sides of the throat, then back down. Shifting her hands forward some, her fingers pressed in on the muscles across the top of Makoto's chest, working back and forth above her breasts before bringing her hands together at her collarbone.
With her hands side-by-side and her fingers together, Ami did a literal breaststroke manuver. She pressed down and pushed her hands down Makoto's chest between her breasts, moving them apart as she neared her full reach just above the bellybutton and brought them back up along the outside of the breasts. She repeated the action twice more, and each time, as her arms rubbed over Makoto's breasts, Ami heard her give a little 'mmmm' of pleasure. She then reversed the manuver, going down along the outside first and bringing her hands back up between the breasts.
After the third pattern Ami shifted to just a light pressure from her fingertips as she tightened the ovals into circles around the base of the breasts. That drew a longing moan from Makoto once she realised what Ami was doing. A moment later, Ami slid her fingers away and down to Makoto's shoulders. She leaned down as Makoto gave a short, low whine, and whispered into her ear, "Not yet."
Ami stepped to one side and moved down to place her hands on Makoto's ribcage where she began using a kneading/rolling motion as her hands worked their way down Makoto's belly. She smiled as she saw Makoto's legs shifting as her hands moved lower. She moved her hands back up and repeated the pattern a few times until Makoto settled down and began to relax again.
Ami added some oil to her palms, and then stroked her hand down Makoto's arm and took Makoto's hand in hers. She began using her thumbs to gently massage the hand, starting at the fingertips and working over the back of the hand up to the wrist before turning it over and restarting the process on the pads of the fingers and up into the palm. Then she held Makoto's wrist as she slowly stroked her other hand up the forearm to the elbow, lightly rolling the skin. After a few strokes, she used both hands to gently knead her way up from the wrist again, this time she moved up past the elbow to work on the muscles of the upper arm, kneading them a little firmer than the forearm. After she finished, she moved around to the other side and repeated the whole process with Makoto's other arm.
Getting some more oil, she placed her hands on Makoto's thighs just below her hipbones and ran her hands slowly down the legs to the feet, then back up to the hips, rolling the skin under her hands. She shifted her hands and moved Makoto's right leg slightly to the side before lightly digging her fingers into the thigh, one hand on either side. As she kneaded up and down the thigh, she slowly increased the pressure to really dig into the muscles. After a minute of this, her hands moved down the shin and calf where she used a lighter touch. Knowing Makoto was ticklish on the bottoms of her feet, Ami used firm, constant pressure when her fingers moved down to the foot, thus avoiding the tickle response. Once she finished the foot, Ami moved up and repeated the pattern with Makoto's right leg.
Once she finished, Ami stepped back and looked over the form of the gleaming bronze goddess that lay before her, watching her breasts slowly rise and fall as she breathed. The sight caused Ami to lay a hand on her own chest as her heart literally ached, and she shivered in the warm air of the apartment.
An eternity later, Ami broke free of the spell and stepped up to touch Makoto's lips with a feather-light kiss. "Happy Birthday, my love," she breathed. She saw a smile slowly bloom on Makoto's face. Smiling herself, she turned and picked up the blue bottle that she had yet to open, then leaned back to Makoto. "The rest of your present will be waiting for you in the bedroom. You won't even have to unwrap it..."
-Fin-