The courtroom had once been a casino; now, it was a canvas: the surface on which Sae would paint a word picture to convict a man who had tried to pervert the office she now held. The three professional judges in the center sat stonefaced. The lay judges on either side fidgeted, nervous at having to decide the fate of someone they were supposed to respect. Someone she was looking forward to imprisoning.
Her job was to pursue justice, but even more than presenting evidence, the easiest way to do that was to tell a story. She leaned into her microphone. "Most honored judges, the defendant, Ero Handa, once held the post that I now hold. While charged to prosecute Japan's most notorious and influential criminals, he instead committed crimes: racketeering, bribery, larceny, and the forging of evidence. He twisted the very nature of this courtroom to serve his own interests rather than those of the people. The prosecution will show…"
She could feel a warm, steady gaze on her from the spectators' gallery. Akira was somewhere in the crowd. He had told her once that he wanted to watch her work, and he had finally found the time over his summer break. That it was Handa on trial was a delightful bonus. He had harassed her, threatened her, and nearly fired her and now he was facing justice in a courtroom, without need of the Metaverse. Just as she had promised Akira.
"You will show?" Incarceration wasn't agreeing with Handa. His temples were gray and his face was gaunt. "You couldn't lace my boots, you bitch! What makes you think you can run the SIU? Go home to the kitchen where you belong. Not that anyone will take a frigid thing like you."
The gallery erupted into shouts and shocked whispers. It was one thing for a civil servant to be corrupt. That might be forgiven if he was competent. Handa had committed the unforgivable crime of rudeness. Sae set her jaw and waited for order to be restored. She should be thrilled. If the lay judges had been inclined to find holes in her case, they wouldn't be now. It was an old insult that should no longer bother her, one she had heard since before the ink was dry on her law license. She had a handsome boyfriend who adored her.
The poor defense attorney looked like he wanted to find a nice hole somewhere. "Motion to recess so I can impress upon my client the need for proper decorum?" He turned off the microphone and gave Sae a miserable look. "Even I told him to just confess."
"Motion granted. Court will resume tomorrow at nine a.m. and the defendant will control himself or he will be evicted. Is that clear?" The judge glared at the whispering crowd. "I would also advise the public to conduct itself in a dignified manner."
Sae turned around. Cameras weren't allowed in the courtroom, but half the reporters in Tokyo were typing away furiously. And why not? The trials the Masayosh Shido's confederates were news. And the career of the latest Director of the Special Investigation Unit, the youngest in seventy years who had brought down a would-be Prime Minister and survived? Who had brought in more female attorneys and prosecuted more Diet members than the department ever had? She was tabloid fodder. The "ice maiden of the courtroom, with hair and heart like winter" as an overly poetic reporter had put it. The woman who had to be twice as severe to be taken half as seriously.
The insults were an old wound, but old wounds could still ache.
Akira was waiting for her outside the courtroom. In a polo shirt and slacks, he looked almost like a university student already. The July heat formed beads of sweat on his forehead and temple. Sae's breath caught. Imprisonment had left its mark on him too. He was still far too thin, no matter how much she, Sojiro, or his mother fed him. His eyes were hard as he fell in step beside her, not quite touching. At times like this, Sae wished he could put his arms around her in public and propriety be damned.
"You know," he said with a studied casualness. "I'm pretty sure I could bribe someone to punch Handa in the face for you."
She forced a smile. "Wait until we get the verdict. I don't want this overturned on appeal."
"Yes, Prosecutor." He smiled back and an observer could almost believe that he was just an ordinary man, not the Phantom who had suffered so much to safeguard Japan. She allowed herself glancing brushes of the hand as they walked. It was still enough to send heat sparking through her. Whatever annoyances they had to endure for the next few months, Akira was alive and with her and not going anywhere. And she was not frigid.
"Thanks for the referral, by the way. The tax attorney was very good about explaining our options. Mom will be signing the paperwork next week." His smile grew bigger and just for a moment, it was Joker and not Akira who was looking at her. "You should have seen the look on her face when I showed her the diamonds. I still don't think she completely believes me about Morgana, but it's hard to argue with money. She seems…a lot more cheerful now. Talking about taking a job with Takemi and taking some classes online."
"I'm glad." That, too, was another wound that ached no matter how many bandages she and Akira put on it. She took a deep breath. She had done her duty as prosecutor and now she wanted her boyfriend. "The office is going to be flooded with reporters. Why don't you and I go back to my apartment for the rest of the day."
"But don't you have to prep for the rest of the trial?" Recognition dawned in his eyes and the barest hint of a blush colored his face. "Right. Much easier to work at home."
His arms came around her as soon as they stepped through the door of the apartment. Sae leaned back against him, enjoying the strength of his grip and the scent of coffee that clung to him like well-fitting gloves. She sighed as he ran his hands down her sides. Mine. All mine. To keep this time.
"I really will punch Handa in the nose." He planted little kisses along the side of her neck that made her shiver and spark. "Because. You. Are. Not. An. Ice. Queen."
She turned in his embrace. "Ice maiden. You have to keep the insults straight." She snorted. "They wouldn't dare give me the dignity of a royal title. I might get the idea that I was worth more than my looks." Someday, perhaps, her daughter or her niece or whoever came after her wouldn't have to fight so hard, wouldn't have to don armor she could discard only in the presence of those she loved, but that would be a hard slog.
"Well, clearly those reporters have never been on the receiving end of either an interrogation or a lecture from you. You, Prosecutor, are a supernova. All bright flashes and intensity. Lighting up the world for everyone to see."
"And you, Professor, are a flatterer." She molded herself against him slid her lips over his. He was always so soft. Her tongue traced the outline of his mouth and darted inside. Her own armor evaporated like smoke and she was herself again, allowed to be both brilliant and playful, serious and warm. She broke the kiss. "Do you want to watch some TV? I do still have to prepare for tomorrow, but I have a few hours."
He turned on the air conditioner and joined her on the couch, and Sae leaned against his good shoulder. These quiet moments were the hardest to wrap her head around. When she was growing up, her dad had rushed from one crisis to another. She and Akira had lived with the knife at their throats for a month and then with the six weeks he had been in juvenile hall. It seemed peace would be their reward: watching television and preparing for trial and studying the stars and all the things ordinary couples did. We are lucky.
"Coming up next: Mindmaster, Tokyo's most difficult quiz show," intoned an announcer with a voice that made Sae fight the urge to sit up straight. "Test your intellect against the best Japan has to offer, but be aware: only the strongest minds survive."
"This is still on?" Akira did sit up a little straighter. "I used to watch this when I was a kid. Nobody could beat me. I used to dream about getting on their and winning twenty million yen."
Sae smiled at the mental image. "That kind of money can change your life." It had been a nice fairytale for a ten-year-old girl who had stopped believing in princes and knights: the idea that she could use her brain to escape from the cramped little apartment to one just like this one. "I almost applied once."
"Maybe we can do it someday. For charity or something." He smiled, that same infuriating smile he had had at points during the interrogation when he had had a plan, but she didn't know what it was yet. "I would win, though."
Sae raised an eyebrow. "Don't be so arrogant. You may be a scientific genius, but we prosecutors do have to have a broad knowledge base."
"Well, far be it from me to disparage the legal profession, but I'm not just a scientific genius. I'm a genius. Period. I took the IQ test and everything."
"Which are highly flawed measure of intelligence. And I did fairly well on one myself, thank you." A spark, like the one that fired through her when they kissed, raced along her skin. The Metaverse, her Palace, her Shadow: all that was gone. But the desire to win? That raged as strong as ever. She'd just found a better method of channeling it. "Care to put that to the test? Loser-"
She was interrupted by his cell phone. "It's Ryuji." He shot her an apologetic look and held the phone up to his ear. "Yeah?"
Sakamoto's voice was loud enough that Sae heard him. "Do you still have the notes from the study session. I am so dead if I don't pass, and your handwriting is easier to read than Makoto's. Would really appreciate another session if you can manage it. I still don't understand half of what Mr. Hiruta is talking about."
"Tomorrow, I promise." He winced at the noise. "I'm kinda busy right now."
"Busy with Miss Prosecutor, you mean." Sae could almost hear the smile in Sakamoto's voice. "What are you guys doing anyway? On second thought, keep it suitable for general audiences."
"We're...watching a quiz show."
"Quiz show? That's the weirdest euphemism I've ever—wait you're serious?" He laughed. "Man, you didn't waste any time heading for boring old domesticity did you? Any other guy, Niijima would've had to pepper spray him by now. But you? You come back wearing these polo shirts and talking about tax shelters, and watching quiz shows. It's like you two skipped right to the boring-yet-stable married couple stage. It's kinda cute."
Akira flushed scarlet. "I will talk to you later." He turned the phone off. "I am not boring," he muttered. "I missed the nice clothes from being the Phantom, and it's not like I can just take a quick trip to Mementos and get more jewelry and being poor was half the reason Mom was so bitter and-" he groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I am boring. I've become my grandfather."
"You're responsible." Sae put a hand on his arm. She wasn't the only one society had tried to push into a little box. Everywhere a man turned, everything from manga to American movies told him that he should be a brute, that a woman only needed to be shown her place and she would fall into submissive bliss. "I like having a boyfriend who likes to watch quiz shows and talk about astronomy. I like not breaking out the pepper spray. We don't have to do anything you don't want." They did plenty as it was, and it had been over three years since she had had sex with anyone, let alone someone she loved and...
He pulled away a little and angled himself to face her. The flush was still there, but his voice was quiet. "That's just it. I think I would like to do more." His hand dug into his knee. "But every time I think about so much as taking your clothes off, all I can see is Kaneshiro bragging about what he was going to do to you. And we've kind of reached the edge of my experience anyway."
Oh. Sometimes she almost forgot that Akira had been a soldier, had seen the same kind of thing that crossed her desk and could still make her flinch if she was unprepared. That was what made Yaldabaoth a monster: warping a man for nothing more than a game. She stroked along the line of his cheek and jaw with one hand, earning a gasp from him. "I want you. That alone means you could never be Kaneshiro."
He looked at her, eyes sharp and fever bright. "You do? I mean, I don't want to put any pressure on you or anything or—this is not how it goes in a manga!" He ran a hand up her arm, light ghosting touches. "You wouldn't mind if I did a little preliminary recon, at least?"
She almost teased him for the the metaphor, but he looked so serious and frightened that she couldn't quite manage it. "I think I could stand to do a little recon." She was, as Akechi had reminded her, a perfectionist, and this was as important as the cases in its own way. And... Ice queen. Frigid bitch. No one will ever want a woman like you.
He took a deep breath and tried for the charming smile he used as a host. "Then, about that wager. Let's make it interesting. Loser is at the disposal of the winner for the next two hours."
It was the strangest proposition Sae had ever received, but it suited him. Them. "Let the games begin."
Akira drew her close again, but there was a crackle in the air that Sae hadn't felt for a long time. Anticipation and fear and love and lust swirled together as the program came on and they waited for the first question.
"What is the capital of Uzbekistan?"
Well that was easy. "Tashkent." She smiled. "I got a 5 in geography for a reason."
"What material comprised the hairsprings of early watches?"
"Pig's hair." An answering smirk from him. "I got a 5 in history for a reason."
So it continued, the two of them shouting out answers, neither of them getting more than a one question lead. She had forgotten what it was like to match wits with someone who was her equal, not to be told to hold back because she didn't want to injure his ego. Her blood hummed. They were intellectual peacocks, showing off before mating. You're like me. Don't hold back. I can take it. I think it's arousing.
Akira put a hand on her leg. His fingers walked ever so slowly up her thigh. Sae shivered. It was just the barest touch, but her breath hitched. Touches became slow circles, rubbing the material of her pants against her skin. Promises of friction in other places, if she wanted it. If he would just move his hand a little higher… "Stop that."
He didn't. "That wasn't exactly what I would call a convincing tone of voice, Prosecutor."
She was going to gag him someday. Oh, now there was a mental image Smug, smirking, silver-tongued, bastard. "It's...an unfair advantage."
"You didn't say I couldn't." Higher and higher he went, never quite hard enough to satisfy, just enough to tease. "If you wanted this to be against the rules, you should have said something." He raised an eyebrow, actually raised it, like he was daring her to say something. "A woman as brilliant as you should be able to concentrate just fine."
If he could be like this now, she was going to explode when they finally moved past exploring. "You're definitely cheating. You'll have to pay a penalty."
His hand stopped, and Sae swore under her breath. Flashes of a giant roulette wheel danced across her mind. Sometimes she could almost forget what she had been but then an entirely innocent item—a yellow rose, a deck of cards—would explode like a powder keg attached to a tripwire. "Sorry. What was it this time? 'Penalty?'"
"Don't worry about it." He snuggled close. "Kaneshiro. Leviathan. I wish we could just...forget. I know in my head that that bastard and I aren't the same but..." He growled in frustration.
Sae scowled. These flickers from a dead world should have no power. Whatever remained of Leviathan within her had been purified. "We can't forget but maybe we can power through. Let me show you how much I want you."
"Take what's good in the Shadow. And I did cheat." Akira grinned. "Well, then," he whispered. "What is the penalty for cheating at quiz shows?"
Oh, Sae would give him a penalty all right. She wanted satisfaction, and she would get it, but even more than that, she wanted to wipe the grin from his face. She shifted so she was in his lap. Now it was his breath that was catching. His pupils were large, his skin flush, a bead of sweat already forming on his temple. She ground against him once, just enough to give him the idea. The pressure sent her thoughts rippling outward. It occurred to her, dimly, that this wasn't the brightest idea she had ever had, but she would be damned if she lost control before he did. "Do you understand?"
He didn't say anything, and for a moment Sae thought maybe she had gone too far. Then he whispered. "More? The rubbing—wow."
"This is supposed to be a punishment." Friction. He liked friction. She filed the information away. A different kind of enjoyment washed over her. She could use that part of her that had once rigged games to please Akira instead.
"Our last category for the evening: space exploration."
Sae blinked. Of all the—was he born under a pine tree or something? The smirk was already back on his face. "I hope you can take as well as you can give out." He moved against her. He was already hard as stone, and an answering warmth and wetness spiraled downwards through her.
"What was the destination of the probe Ulysses?"
Wait. She knew this one. There had been a line in one of his books. "The Sun."
"You're wrong. It was Mercury." His eyes glittered in triumph, and Sae resigned herself to spending the rest of the evening as a gibbering mess.
"The correct answer is... the Sun!"
Silence. Akira's eyes were almost comically wide. "What? There's no way-" He looked up at her. "I acknowledge your victory, Ms. Niijima." He coughed. "Do with me as you please."
She had won. Now to claim the prize. But not here. He deserved more—she wanted more—than grinding on the couch. Sae rose on unsteady legs and pulled Akira up with her. "Bedroom."
He followed close behind, his harsh breath echoing in the silence. She closed the blinds and turned on the lights. Her room had been a sterile place until last fall, little more than a room where she could sleep on those nights she was lucky enough to make it home. Now there were photographs of her and Makoto on the dresser and an open book on the nightstand. His doing. She swallowed.
He watched her, serious and silent. She was in charge tonight, and that entailed certain responsibilities. "Tell me when you've had enough, or if I do something you don't like, or if I do anything to hurt you. You don't get extra points for toughing it out. Understand?"
"Got it. Just don't shove me down on anything. Shoulder." His face gleamed with sweat, and his mask of arrogance crumbled into nothingness. "I promise I'll try to—I want to do a good job. Make this good for you."
She stepped close. "I don't think you could do a bad one." Blood pounded in her ears. Anticipation, yes, but also fear. She wasn't quite what to pretended to be either. It had been so long since she had done anything more than take the edge off or since she had had to consider anyone beyond herself. What if she had forgotten how? She smoothed his hair. "I'll take care of you."
"I trust you." He inhaled. "What now?"
What now indeed? What did she want to do with Akira now that he was in her power? Besides take him right there on the floor, which defeated the whole purpose of tonight. She wanted him comfortable, confident, when they finally did have sex. She wanted to know what he liked. Most of all Sae wanted to banish his fear that he was anything like the monsters he had battled.
"Every time I so much as think about taking your clothes off…"Well, it was a start. She stepped back and raised her head high. "Undress me." When he didn't move, she added, "That wasn't a request."
"Yes ma'am." His breathing was back to normal, but his fingers trembled as he removed her earrings and put them in the jewelry box. She would have thought he would have tossed them on the nightstand, but then he was a perfectionist too. She tried to maintain the glare, but it was difficult with his hands brushing against her with every button on her blazer that he unsnapped. The jacket slid off her shoulders and down her arms and with every millimeter, a little more of her control faltered. He turned her away from him.
And stopped. Sae went still, caught between the desire to make him follow directions and to tear off the jacket herself so they could get on with it. "Is there a problem?"
"Oh no. Just enjoying you like this. Stuck."
Sae turned, and he had the beginnings of another smirk on his face, which was not good. She wasn't as in control of the situation as she was supposed to be. Not nearly enough. "Akira, if you don't free my hands immediately, I will free them. If I free them, I will use them to bring you so close to the edge that you won't be able to add two and two together. I will make sure your shoulder is in a comfortable position, and then I will tie you to the bed and leave you like that while I finish trial prep. Is that what you want?"
He stared at her, mouth half open. "Yes. I mean no!" He spun her back around and the blazer flew off. The turtleneck followed, and cool air kissed her shoulders and back.
She and Akira stared at each other. He licked his lips as he looked her up and down. Sae met his gaze. She had never doubted her beauty—it was the only virtue she possessed that she had never been allowed to forget even for a moment—and she wanted him to stare. She could see the wheels turning in his head, fantasizing, formulating plans. He reached for her bra and hesitated. It wasn't cockiness in his eyes either. "It's okay?"
She was going to find Kamoshida and Kaneshiro and she was going to beat them bloody. "It's okay." She guided his hands to her and helped him slide the bra over her head and toss it onto the floor next to her other discarded clothes. He was breathing hard and so was she. The moment of truth. She took his right hand and cupped it over her breast. "Touch me." She hoped that sounded more authoritative than it felt.
"But I am touching—oh right." He squeezed and kneaded, slowly, but not at all casually. He furrowed his brow and bit his lip, testing, exploring, and stopping every time her breath grew quick and harsh, as if he were jotting down the results of the experiment in an invisible notebook. Tension spiraled over Sae's skin, stretching her control ever thinner. His eyes lit up like the day they had when he had deduced Shido's keyword, and he pinched. Pleasure fired alongside the pain, and her reserve snapped. Forget control. She swore. "How did you know to do that?"
"Six months in Shinjuku. Very interesting bookstores. You pick up a few things." He looked so pleased with himself. Really pleased. "Want me to do it again?"
And unmake her when she hadn't even got to touch him for herself? "I gave you a command. You haven't finished undressing me yet." She put his hands on her waist, and more cool air slid over her skin. She waited for a joke, an, oath, anything. But there was only their harsh pants of breath. She imagined she could hear her own heartbeat, thudding like a metronome.
Sae looked down. Akira genuflected before her, and his eyes were as dark as storm clouds. His neck and shoulders were corded with tension. One motion, one breath, would shatter him to pieces. "You're gorgeous," he whispered. "I try to tell you about the other stuff, but you're the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life."
Sae preened. It wasn't the first time she had heard something like that, but it was the first time she had she had heard it from Akira and that mattered. "You are a flatterer."
"Flattery means I'm lying. And I'm not lying, Your Majesty."
That was enough to bring her up short. "Your Majesty?"
"You wanted a royal title. Princess, Empress, whatever you want." He touched his forehead to her feet. "I'll do whatever you want."
A thrill shot through her. She had the Phantom, the savior of the world, on his knees and in the palm of her hand. Sae had always wanted power, had done horrible things to try to get it, but she couldn't ask for more than this. Willing submission because he trusted and wanted and loved her. Maybe it was twisted for things to be mixed together like that, but it didn't feel like the envy that had consumed her. It felt like a reward for everything they had endured since December. "You've done as I commanded. I think you deserve something for that." She raised her head. "Explore me as you see fit."
His lips unfurled into a smile. "Thank you." His hands glided over her feet and up her calves. Goosebumps erupted in his wake as heat of his touch and the cold of the air conditioner collided like a storm front. "You have great legs. They go on forever." He planted little kisses up her shins and knees, and she shuddered. She'd never known anyone to have sensitive knees, but she was learning all sorts of things today. Or maybe she was just that desperate for him. His gaze swept over her sex as he reached her thighs and hips. He colored, but continued kissing up. And, if some part of her wanted to shove his head between her legs and drive him on until she screamed, well she could wait.
They had all the time in the world.
He kissed the lines of her stomach, the valley between her breasts. Her world narrowed to the pinch of his fingers and scrape of his teeth and the cool sticky sweat on her skin, just as her thoughts broke into fragments like yes, more and like that. Her legs wobbled dangerously, but one strong arm snaked out to support her.
"Wow," Akira whispered. "You look...wow." Akira removed his hand from her breast, and a keening noise that was far too close to a plea ripped from Sae's throat.
He was supposed to be hers to command, but he was the one still fully dressed, with nothing more than sweat and messy hair to show for it. "I thought you were supposed to be at my disposal for the evening?"
"I am. At your disposal. He...he was looking at her with hunger yes, but also something soft. "May I turn you? There's something I want to show you."
"You may," and somehow her voice had an echo of command.
He turned her away from him, and Sae stared at her reflection in the vanity. Her skin was flush with exertion, her hair plastered with sweat. Goodness,, when had he made those marks? She looked dazed. Wanton. "I don't see any ice here."
"And I don't see a man who is making me do anything that I don't want. Or who's boring. Quite the opposite." She leaned back against him, enjoying the strength he had put under her control. "I want to make you look like this. I want to make you lose control." Her voice was a growl to her ears, so far from the composed director she had to be for the outside world. "I want to do to you what you did to me."
His eyebrows went up. "I—that's not necessary. This is supposed to be about you. Making you feel good."
"And exploring you. That will make me feel good. Just because I'm the one touching you doesn't mean you get off easy. If that's still what you want. I can stop here." There would be a dozen long showers in her future, but she would do it.
"No, do what you want." His harsh breath was in her ear. "I want you. So much."
Sae twisted and stepped out of his embrace. She knew exactly where to start. She knew from Makoto and Morgana that Akira had spent a day a week at the gym before the interrogation. No button down shirt could hide that he was lean and athletic, but she had never gotten to see the full glory for herself. She reached for the top button.
His eyes went wide, and he was rigid under her touch. "Don't," he managed.
Her hands went to her sides. "Akira?"
"I'm sorry." He looked down, and his voice had a hollow quality Sae had hoped that she would never hear again after Christmas Eve. "You know how my shoulder is still messed up? Well, that wasn't the only place. They left marks."
Marks. Scars, he meant. Sae had done everything she could to banish those who had hurt Akira to the darkest, dankest prisons she could find and to eviscerate the culture of silence that had permitted it, but bloody specters could still rise to taint their happiness. She laid aside the mask of control and took his hands in hers. "I don't think less of you for them." She turned to his hand to plant soft kisses on his fingers.
He inhaled. "I don't want you to think anything about them. I know some women think that kind of thing is sexy, but I just want to pretend they aren't there."
"Then that's what I'll do." If she could keep her face impassive when interrogating her father's murderer, then she could do it for him. Anything to banish the miserable look on his face. She ran a finger down his sternum. "Just another patch of skin."
Akira nodded. "All right."
"Good." She squared her shoulders and replaced the mask. "Because you still belong to me tonight." She snapped her fingers. "On the bed, arms at your sides. No touching without permission. If you touch me, well, remember what I said about leaving you here?"
"And tying me to the bed. It's like you want me to misbehave." But he lay down on the sheets, arms at his sides, and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"Don't look at me like that. I'll be gentle. Mostly." Sae knelt over Akira and flashed him a smile that she hoped was seductive and predatory.
She unfastened his buttons with brisk, efficient motions and slid open his shirt. Akira would have been magnificent, once upon a time. His muscles were still defined, but a little slack from six weeks of confinement, too few calories, and too little exercise. And yes, the scars. Little raised red lines. Knots. The edges of a circle peeking just out from the edge of where his shirt covered his shoulder. Ragged. Like someone had put out a cigarette on his skin. Her vision wavered and her hands fisted in the sheets. How dare they? How dare they?
He looked at her, his gray eyes hard. Sae felt him withdrawing into himself, preparing for the inevitable pity and grief. For a moment, she was back in the interrogation room, staring at this battered defiant student who seemed to dare her to defeat him. She willed the grief into a mental box where she kept all her useless emotions and splayed her hand on his chest, caressing red lines and pale flesh alike. "Delicious," she murmured. "I could have you for dinner."
She kissed and caressed wherever she could reach. He tasted like salt as she ran her tongue over his skin, following his muscles. Akira's breath came out in short, choked splutters. She could feel the tension in his body but his hands remained where they were. Oh, he was having far too easy a time being obedient. She was going to make him snap.
His nipples were erect from the cold. Sae's mind whirred. That had possibilities. He had enjoyed playing with her so much; maybe she should return the favor with interest. She flicked his left nipple almost absently. He gasped. Another flick. "What the hell?" His voice wasn't angry. He was...scandalized. "I thought only girls liked that."
"Don't believe everything you read in those books in Shinjuku." She smiled at him. It was another kind of thrill, another kind of power, to guess right and please someone she loved. To know that she still could please someone. What kind of limited imagination had she had to imagine that spite would do when she could have had Akira writhing under her like this?
She added teeth, light scrapes against his skin. Gasps became curses. She felt him shift, his arms trembling halfway between her and the bed. She sucked and nipped. Pure wildness and heat spiraled through her. Only the girls who worked in image clubs did things like this, her mother would have said. Not ladies, and certainly not prosecutors who needed to be taken seriously.
"Just keep...like that...more."
She never had been good at being a proper lady.
Sae pulled back. Akira's pupils were huge in his eye, and his mouth hung open. His hair was plastered to his scalp. The haunted look in his eyes was gone. If nothing else happened this evening, it would have been worth it just for that. "So obedient, keeping your arms at your side like that. I think you deserve a reward."
She lowered herself onto him and ground down. Even through Akira's pants, she could feel him straining. Close, so close to snapping to pieces. Except so was she. His pants rubbed against her, and after three years alone, even that was enough to send her into overdrive. Her nails dug into his chest and all thoughts of obedience or power or much of anything else went crashing through the window. "Now would be a good time to tell me to stop."
She forced herself to still. Akira was close, very close, if she was any judge. And it wasn't candlelight and the flowers he loved giving her so much. He wasn't even properly undressed. She was rutting against him like a dog. His eyes snapped back into focus. "It's okay," he murmured. He pulled a clump of errant hair away from her mouth. It was a tender gesture that should have had no place in the moment. "I think we can let go."
She collapsed into a heap and rolled off him, after. Her limbs felt pleasantly heavy as she surveyed the rumpled, sticky sheets and Akira staring at her, dazed and pleased with himself. Sae laughed. "My, we had made a bit of a mess, haven't we?" She wanted to make another as soon as possible. Akira was going to drive her to distraction. "Was that what you wanted?"
"I'd say the reconnaissance mission was successful." He kissed her. "I may need another one pretty soon. There are things I'm still not sure about."
Forget driven to distraction. She was going to have a heart attack. "You broke the rules, though. You touched my hair at the end there."
He blinked. "I did? I did. I don't think that should count. Nobody could stay still with what you were doing. But rules are rules." He smiled like he had just taken down another god all by himself. "Does that mean you're going to tie me up?"
"You want me to?" She hadn't given much thought to carrying out the threat. It was a nice image, him all trussed up like that. Maybe with the gag so he couldn't talk his way out of this one.
His brow furrowed. "Maybe? I mean the idea of being completely at your mercy is pretty hot. Maybe it's something we can work up to? Chains and handcuffs are still kind of a mental no-go, though. Is...is it weird that I like you being in charge?"
"Only if it's strange that I like taking charge." Her mind was alive with possibilities and plans. If he wanted to be tied up, she was going to have to research how to do it safely without hurting his shoulder and how he could tell her when he had had enough. It looked like he wasn't the only one who was going to be spending time in Shinjuku bookstores. "Whatever makes you feel good."
"You do. You always do."
Someday, she was going to figure out exactly what she had done to deserve him. "Lucky for me then that you flubbed that question."
He stiffened. "Er, yes. You know how distracted I can get with you around."
Thoughts fit together like puzzle pieces. And then she knew. "You bastard. You threw the question."
"It's not like I could just ask you to do this stuff." There was the beginning of real nervousness in his voice. "Trickster, remember?"
Trickster. Even when he was captured, he still had the upper hand. She should have learned that by now. "You can ask for anything. I'm not a mind reader."
He swallowed. "I'm going to pay for this, aren't I?"
"You have no idea." She pulled away to run a nail down his chest. He shivered. "But first you and I are going to watch another episode of Mindmaster. I want to see who would have broken the tie. And no cheating this time!"
"Yes Prosecutor." His tongue darted in her mouth. "Let's do this, fair and square."