Sigh No More
Chapter 1: One Foot in Sea, One on Shore
Never in all her life did Chinatsu imagine that one day she would be standing over Akari Akaza, with her best friend and roommate completely naked, blindfolded, and handcuffed to her bedpost. Nor did she imagine that this situation would be Akari's idea, spurred on by the young girl's incessant curiosity upon finding a pair of purple handcuffs in Chinatsu's nightstand drawer.
Chinatsu had never known Akari to be interested in the more adventurous aspects of human sexuality, or even aware of them; she was probably the most innocent person Chinatsu had ever known. Sure, there were those "practice sessions" the two had had throughout middle school and high school, but even those never went super far.
At first it was just kissing, mostly at the insistence of a Chinatsu who was neck-deep in an impassioned infatuation with a handsome upperclassman. As the two got older, Chinatsu found her attraction to her upperclassman diminish, especially when rumors started floating around in high school that the older girl was dating someone else. The two remained friends, which Chinatsu found was surprisingly easy to accept, but Akari and Chinatsu's practicing continued, the two friends often spending several nights a week at each other's homes. Neither Akari nor Chinatsu could vocalize why they kept at it, aside from the vague notion that one day it might be useful. But it was a very vague notion; neither girl showed any interest in boys or girls from that point on, until college at least.
The truth, which neither of them wanted to admit out loud, was that they kept going because it felt good. Really good. Like, everything-in-your-life-has-led-up-to-this-and-you-don't-think-you-ever-want-to-do-anything-else good. At least, that's how it was for Chinatsu, but she had the sneaking suspicion that it was the same for Akari.
When the two got into high school they started becoming more adventurous. Their mouths started traveling downwards, venturing along jawlines and exposed necks, and their hands started wandering across each other's bodies. Gradually, clothes started coming off. Touches became more tender and breathing became ragged and Chinatsu would look out the window and realize that they'd been at it for five hours and it was well-past bedtime.
They never went further than that, though. Chinatsu wanted to (god how she wanted to), and she suspected that the ever-submissive Akari would allow her to if pushed, but there was always something stopping her. This little feeling in the back of her mind, which she could never ascribe a name to, which told her that going any further would be a cataclysmic mistake. Prudish shame? Internalized homophobia?
Guilt?
When the two graduated high school, the plan to live together when they went off to college was so obvious that it was never even said aloud. Akari just sent her an apartment listing out of the blue one day, and the following week they were signing a lease agreement. Their practicing continued, but much less frequently. They both attributed it to them being busy college students without any free time, and though there was some truth to that, that truth was belied somewhat when Chinatsu started bringing other girls home with her. Akari never seemed put out by it (after all, wasn't that the whole point of the practice sessions anyways?) but Chinatsu still couldn't help but feel guilty. But she had needs and she just couldn't bring herself to meet those needs with Akari. For the last semester of their first year, the practicing stopped altogether.
Then Akari found the handcuffs. They had been given to Chinatsu by her most recent fling, though she was uncertain if she would ever try them. The idea of being tied up and giving up control didn't really appeal to her, and though she wouldn't mind trying them on someone else, how could she even bring it up to a partner without sounding like a pervert? When she expressed this to Akari, she responded with a suggestion that made Chinatsu's knees go weak:
"You could try them on me."
An hour later, Chinatsu was fiddling with the rope around Akari's ankle, making sure it wasn't loose or uncomfortably tight. The rope wasn't necessary for trying out the handcuffs, but once the handcuffs were on, Chinatsu figured, Fuck it, might as well go all the way. Akari didn't argue with that logic, nor did she protest when Chinatsu, in a last-minute burst of inspiration, used a hair ribbon as a makeshift blindfold. Chinatsu was almost certain she would.
When she finished, she looked down to inspect her handiwork. Akari's wrists were cuffed to the headboard, her arms stretched to show off her lithe body, and her legs were opened, each foot bound by rope to the legs of the bed. She was completely naked (which was a first for the two friends, aside from the few times they've visited a public bathhouse together) and her outstretched legs clearly showed off her swollen sex, marked by a wispy tuft of red hair. Chinatsu's heart skipped several beats as she saw how wet it was.
"How's this?" Chinatsu asked, walking along the edge of the bed. She knelt down by Akari's arm.
"I-It's fine," Akari said, clearly struggling to hide her nervousness. Her voice was shaking, and her entire body was tinged a delicious shade of pink. She wiggled her hips as best as she could, which was about two inches in either direction, the soft curves of her tummy and torso contorting with her struggles. "I can't really move much."
"Yeah, that's kind of the point," Chinatsu said with a giggle as she gently poked Akari in the forehead. "It's not too tight is it?"
Akari shook her head and smiled. "No, it's perfect. It's actually pretty comfy."
"Good." Chinatsu paused as she ran a finger through Akari's bright red hair. "Are you sure about this?"
"Mmh," she replied with a nod. "Just… be gentle okay?"
"Of course. You remember the safe words, right?" As she asked this, Chinatsu allowed her fingers to glide down Akari's neck and past her shoulders and up her arm, eliciting a soft gasp and wiggle from the bound girl.
"Ah…" Akari bit her lip as she tried to recover. "Y-Yeah. Yellow to slow down and red to stop, right?"
"That's it. I'll untie you as soon as you say 'red', so…" Chinatsu looked back up at her friend's face, which seemed to bare a strange mixture of excitement and trepidation, from what little of it she could see. She was starting to regret the blindfold. "Let me know if I go too far, okay?"
Akari's trepidation briefly melted away into that warm, inviting smile that was so characteristic of the young girl. "Don't worry. I trust you."
Chinatsu's fingers hovered over Akari's forearm. She wanted to say something like, 'Good' or 'I'm glad' in response, but she couldn't get the words to come out. Instead, she leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against Akari's. The dearly-missed softness of those lips and the intoxicating scent of the smaller girl's candy floss body spray calmed Chinatsu's nerves. Akari let out a whimper and, when Chinatsu tried to pull away, leaned her head forward to try and recapture her lips. With a soft chuckle, Chinatsu indulged her and kissed her again, lips barely parted. Akari moaned into her mouth, her pitch increasing when Chinatsu lightly ran her tongue along her lower lip. Chinatsu let out a moan herself as she tasted the familiar peach lip balm her friend wore.
Chinatsu pulled away again. Akari pushed forward again. She strained against her bonds, her lips searching. This time, Chinatsu stayed back. She knew she would satisfy her eventually, but for the time being she was content with watching her partner's ineffectual struggles. In the meantime, Akari's face turned an even darker shade of red and small beads of sweat began forming on her forehead. As Chinatsu's eyes travelled downward she saw her nipples harden and patches of goosebumps forming on her arms and legs. She ran her fingers up and down Akari's soft tricep, causing another gasp.
"Chinatsu…"
"Honestly, Akari," she said, a teasing lilt in her voice. "A couple of kisses and you're already this worked up? I don't know how you're going to make it through a whole night of this."
Akari let out a frustrated groan. "Chinatsu, please…"
With a proud smirk, Chinatsu replaced her finger with her lips, leaving a trail of soft kisses down her arm, until her face was right next to Akari's. She softened her voice to a whisper and asked, "Please what?" Her hand, now unoccupied, travelled to Akari's petite chest and began grazing over an erect nipple.
With a whimper, Akari pushed her hips forward as though trying to find something to grind against, but they only met cool air. Chinatsu's heart began racing as she saw her friend's agitated arousal. She could feel a wetness of her own start to pool between her legs. She ignored it, as best she could, as did she ignore the constant nagging worry that she was taking things too far, because if she was then Akari would just use the safe words, right?
"Please… kiss me…"
Chinatsu ran her finger down Akari's breast, along her soft belly, to her hips which were still being pushed into nothingness. She held her hand against those hips and gently lowered them back to the bed. She whispered into her friend's ear, "And where would you like me to kiss you exactly?"
Akari blushed even harder–Chinatsu worried that if she teased her any more she might literally catch fire–and turned her head to face away from Chinatsu. "Stop teasing me," she said with a pout.
The need in Akari's voice combined with her scent and Chinatsu's hormones to create a thick haze of arousal in Chinatsu's mind, shutting down her inhibitions, and empowering her to jump onto the bed herself. She threw her legs over Akari's waist and straddling her, and leaned over so that her face was above Akari's. She reached out a hand to stroke her hot cheek.
"But you're so much fun to tease! Especially when you can't do anything about it." Akari pouted, and Chinatsu lifted the hem of her miniskirt, exposing her black underwear. Of course, Akari didn't see this, but she did feel Chinatsu grind the increasingly wet cloth of her panties against her torso, as well as the searing heat building between Chinatsu's legs.
Akari groaned again; the chains of her handcuffs rattled, and the wooden headboard of Chinatsu's bed creaked, but she was nowhere closer to relief. The hand that was stroking her cheek slid under her head, grasping strands of her hair, as Chinatsu leaned in to plant a trail of kisses along her jawline.
When she got to Akari's temple, she whispered, "You're really getting frustrated, aren't you?"
Akari vigorously nodded.
"And I haven't even gotten started."
Akari squirmed again; her stomach grinded against Chinatsu's crotch sending a light shiver of pleasure up her body.
"Please…" Akari whimpered pathetically.
Chinatsu moved her head up, so that the tip of her nose was gently brushing against the tip of Akari's nose. With an affected sigh, she inched her lips closer and closer as her free hand travelled up to hover just over Akari's breasts. "Very well," she whispered, just as she closed the gap between them.
For a third time that night, their lips met. Chinatsu shifted further down Akari's body so that she was fully lying on top of her. Her hand cupped Akari's breast, gently squeezing the small mound and lightly grazing against her bright-pink areola. Akari moaned and began grinding her hips against Chinatsu's. With a smug smirk, Chinatsu once again grazed the tip of her tongue against those peach-flavored lips. This time she did not pull away; she teasingly traced her tongue against the tips of Akari's lips for another few seconds before she felt them part, granting access to the inside of that warm mouth.
Chinatsu darted her tongue inside, seeking out Akari's tongue, as her busy fingers lightly pinched the nipple they had been working on. Akari squealed into their kiss as her tongue met Chinatsu's. Much like the rest of her body, her tongue offered no resistance or struggle; it submitted to the complete dominance of Chinatsu's tongue.
As the two kissed, Chinatsu shook her other hand free of Akari's hair and dragged her fingers down her neck, making for the untouched breast. Akari's breath hitched and Chinatsu could practically feel the bound girl's heart race through her chest as she squirmed and struggled against her chains. Her travelling fingers found their mark and settled into the same rhythm of massaging, teasing, and pinching as her other hand. Akari moaned against Chinatsu's mouth. Chinatsu pulled her tongue back and gently nipped at Akari's lower lip before planting a trail off kisses from her lips and down her jawline and neck. As her mouth inched closer to those swollen breasts, her left hand gave one final squeeze before travelling further downwards, quickly being replaced by her mouth, which gave a tender-open mouthed kiss to the pink areola.
"Chinatsu…" Akari leaned her head back down and bit her lower lip as she pushed her breasts out, trying to get more of Chinatsu's touch. Chinatsu responded in turn, by rolling her tongue around one hardened nub and roughly brushing the pad of her thumb against the other. Akari began whining in her beautiful torment. "You feel so good…"
Finally, it was Chinatsu who was blushing, Akari's words causing her heart to do flips in her chest. "I'm glad you're enjoying it," she said, before baring her teeth and biting the tough, pink nipple. Akari let out a surprised cry, which was cut short when Chinatsu replaced her teeth with her tongue, running it around the marked flesh to soothe the bite. Her cry turned into whimpers and her whole body shivered in delight or agony. Chinatsu couldn't tell which.
Akari's grinding grew more and more forceful. Chinatsu could start to feel shivers of pleasure rack her own body, and she allowed herself a quick moment of weakness as she grinded back. Just a quick moment, and then she lifted her hips off Akari and shifted her weight to her knees. Akari groaned again at another loss of sensation.
Chinatsu giggled as she sensed her friends growing frustration. She began kissing around Akari's nipple, her fingers lifting to just barely brush against the irritated nub. "You're so sensitive," she said as she felt Akari push her breasts against Chinatsu, trying to get more of the sensations she was being denied.
"That's 'cuz you keep teasing me!"
"Oh? Do you not like being teased?"
Akari shivered as Chinatsu lightly marked a patch of skin to the left of her nipple. The pale indent left by her teeth quickly turned as red as Akari's hair. Akari turned her head and muttered something in the thick fabric of the pillow beneath her.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you?" Chinatsu lightly pinched the firm flesh at her fingertips, her chin resting on the other breast so that she could look up at Akari's agitated expression.
Akari squeaked at the sudden jolt of pleasure. "I s-said I need more!"
"More? More what?"
A low groan erupted from Akari's throat. "Chinatsu…"
"I can't help you if you won't tell me what you want."
"I… I can't…"
Chinatsu tilted her head back down to steal a quick kiss from the hard nub she had been tormenting, prompting more squealing and thrashing. "You're being weirdly modest for someone who asked me to tie her up." Chinatsu moved to kiss the other nipple, this time giving it a gentle lick as she moved away, kissing her way back up Akari's chest and neck. When she got to the spot just below her ear, she whispered, "I'm just gonna keep teasing you until you tell me what you want."
"N-No fair!" Akari whined.
"That's perfectly fair! How can I know what you want if you won't tell me?"
"You know what I want!"
"No I don't. I only know what I want. And what I want…" Chinatsu dragged her hands over Akari's breasts, as she moved back into a sitting position over her hips.
"…is to make you squirm…"
Down her sternum.
"…and squeal…"
Across her belly.
"…and laugh."
As she said this, Akari erupted into a stream of giggles, almost by magic. Chinatsu's fingers stopped around her navel, her fingertips spread across her tummy in a straight line.
"No…!"
"No what?"
"Please not tha- ah!"
Her plea was cut short as Chinatsu pressed her fingers further against her soft skin and dragged them downwards, slowly and torturously, before bringing them back up and skimming them all around her belly. Akari thrashed harder and squealed so loudly that Chinatsu was sure that any hope of a friendly relationship with their neighbors was completely shot. She looked up at Akari and took in her pink-tinged cheeks, heaving chest, and the silly girlish grin that was plastered forcefully on her face. She listened to the melodious stream of squeals and giggles coming from her eternally kissable mouth and the tortured pleas for mercy, which she knew were a mask that hid Akari's delight at the ticklish sensation. Chinatsu couldn't help but smile as well. Worth it.
"You don't want me to tickle you?" Chinatsu teased, digging her fingers into Akari's sides. "I dunno, you sure seem like you're enjoying it."
"I'm not!" Akari said through her giggles, those two words taking much longer to say than they would normally. She squirmed her torso from side to side, attempting to avoid Chinatsu's attacking fingers. Chinatsu, meanwhile, entertained herself by alternating the sides of Akari's torso that she tickled. Akari would try to shift her body to the left, so Chinatsu tickled the left side of her body. Akari would then shift to the right to try and escape the tickling, allowing Chinatsu to tickle her right side. This perverted game of Pong continued for many rounds, each time Akari growing more and more frustrated, until she forced her hips up, into Chinatsu's, and let out a strangled cry.
Chinatsu gasped at the sudden forced and shifted her hips further down, her hands pushing Akari's hips back to the bed. As she did this, she caught a glance of Akari's swollen vagina. A glace that lasted about a minute, but a glance nonetheless.
She looked back up at Akari, suddenly aware of her pounding heart and dry mouth. After giving herself a second to regain her composure, she licked her lips and whispered, her voice hoarse, "Wow, you really are enjoying this."
Akari either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it. "Chinatsu, please…"
"Are you ready to tell me?"
Akari gulped. Chinatsu continued staring at her. The tension in the air made her well-air-conditioned bedroom feel like a muggy summer's afternoon.
"I… I need—ah!" She was cut off again as Chinatsu began drawing lazy circles into her hip.
"Come on, out with it!" She tried to make it sound as though she was getting bored, even though that couldn't be further from the truth; she could happily spend the rest of her life doing this.
That being said, as much fun as teasing her best friend was, she was finding it harder and harder to suppress the urge to bury her face in Akari's glistening sex. There was a dull throb in the core of her being as she felt an insatiable hunger to taste her most intimate area. This hunger for her best friend wasn't anything new, but it had never been this strong. This potent. This overpowering.
It occurred to Chinatsu that she might die if she didn't taste Akari right then and there.
"I n-need… to… cum."
Chinatsu's fingers stopped. Akari tried to bury her face into her pillow as she groaned, either in embarrassment or frustrated arousal (probably a combination of both). Goosebumps erupted over Chinatsu's pale arms as she felt a strange thrill at making such obscene words come out of the mouth of the most innocent person she had ever known.
Chinatsu was learning a lot about herself today.
Without another word, Chinatsu dragged her body over Akari's until they were face to face again. Akari shivered as the fabric of Chinatsu's dress brushed against her skin. Her face was bright red and her bangs were plastered onto her forehead with sweat. As Chinatsu took her face into both of her hands, she swore that Akari had never looked so beautiful. "Was that all you wanted? You should have said so, silly."
Akari opened her mouth several times, as though trying to vocalize some sort of protest or plea, but she couldn't seem to find the right words. Instead, she just puffed her cheeks and pouted. "Jerk."
Chinatsu paused, taken aback, before something about Akari's expression and petulant tone caused her to break out into laughter. Soon after, Akari's pouting face turned into a smile and suddenly they were both laughing uncontrollably, all of the tension between them melting away. For a moment, they stopped being a domme and her sub, and were just two friends making love. Chinatsu felt a strange warmth spread from her heart to the tips of her fingers and toes. Unable to put a word to this feeling, she just went ahead and kissed Akari, running her fingers through her hair and stroking her cheek, all the time wondering why she had been so hesitant about this in the first place.
After what could have easily been seconds, minutes, or hours–Chinatsu had a naked and aroused Akari under her, she had no concern for banal things such as the passage of time–the two separated. Chinatsu looked at Akari's smiling face, the flood of hormones flowing through her making her so deliriously happy that it was almost worrying. Chinatsu was sure she was probably smiling too, but she honestly couldn't focus any of her attention on anything other than the warm body beneath her and the labored breathing of a young woman desperate for release. Akari's smile morphed into a frown as she gyrated her hips.
"Chinatsu…"
Chinatsu giggled and pressed her lips against Akari's forehead. "I know, I know," she said as she ran her fingers through her hair and against her cheek one more time before pulling away and making her final journey down Akari's body. She continued leaving kisses as she went down; her lips searched for the places on her body that would create the biggest reaction from Akari. A kiss on her nipple, a nibble on the underside of her breast, a trailing lick down her abdomen, a suckle on a spot by her navel that Chinatsu remembered being especially ticklish. Akari squirmed and moaned and giggled all the while, until Chinatsu finally found herself kissing the top of her mons pubis.
Chinatsu's heart stopped as the scent of arousal and the gentle tickling of Akari's pubic hair overloaded her brain and she struggled to remember her own name. Her hands, which just moments ago had been so confident in their teasing and tormenting, now felt clumsy and unwieldy, as though they were made of lead. Chinatsu scooted backwards a few more inches until she was face to face with Akari's pussy lips, by which point her face felt like it was on fire and she had completely forgotten how to breathe.
"Chinatsu?"
She looked back up at Akari's face, which was again buried in her pillow and tensed to suggest that she was squeezing her eyes shut. Her mouth was open and panting and arms tugging against her handcuffs.
"Are you okay?" Chinatsu asked, kissing the soft skin of her left thigh, the heat radiating from Akari's sex searing her skin.
"Mmm… yeah. Just… be gentle, okay?"
Tempted as she was to point out that Akari had just been complaining that she was being too gentle, Chinatsu just planted another kiss on the opposite thigh and said, "I will." She took a brief moment to catch her breath and try and calm her racing nerves–which did nothing–and sank her lips into Akari's wet folds.
"AH!" Akari yelped and thrust her hips further into Chinatsu's face, which not only made her cry even more but also nearly caused Chinatsu to pass out from over-stimulation. The heat against her face was near-volcanic and the moistness of Akari's arousal felt so damn right. Chinatsu suddenly felt she needed to send a bouquet of flowers to the friend who had given her the handcuffs.
Tomorrow, though. Right now, the only thing she wanted to do was make Akari have an orgasm so intense that the sounds of her moans could get them evicted.
"Chinatsu!"
She was certainly on the way.
Chinatsu smiled against Akari's lips and managed to find the capacity to move her arms, gently stroking Akari's breasts with one hand and worming her way underneath Akari's hips to grasp at her soft butt with her other hand. Her position locked and loaded, she turned all of her attention back to the wetness building against her lips. With a soft gulp, Chinatsu tentatively poked her tongue out and dragged it along Akari's sex.
Akari's voice rose several octaves, and Chinatsu quickly came to the conclusion that Akari was probably the best thing she had ever tasted; there was a strange sweetness underlying the natural acidity, because of course there was, this was Akari. And Chinatsu wanted more.
She gave several more licks along those lips, her heart still pounding but her nervousness now overridden with carnal desire. She moaned into Akari's sex, causing her to give a high-pitched whine. Chinatsu pulled back to look up at her friend's adorable face, quickly replacing her tongue with the index finger that had previously been teasing her nipples. Chinatsu took in her friend's panting mouth and heaving chest and felt a strange surge of pride.
"Does that feel good, Akari?"
Akari didn't respond verbally, but instead moaned and thrust her hips further against Chinatsu's finger. Chinatsu placed her hand back on Akari's hip and forced them down, stroking Akari's lips with her thumb. She took great care not to touch the spot where the clitoris was hiding.
Yet.
"I said, does that feel good?"
Akari groaned. She seemed unsure whether or not she was glad that the teasing was back. "Yes…" she moaned.
"I'm glad," Chinatsu said, kissing a spot on Akari's thigh, directly adjacent to her labia. "Now, I forget. What was it you wanted again?"
"Chinatsu, please!" Akari said with a strangled cry. "Stop teasi- ah!"
It was at this moment Chinatsu chose to gently brush against Akari's clitoris, her thumb sufficiently slick from the juices oozing from Akari's vagina. She kissed just above that hardened nub. "Just say it one more time," she muttered. "Then I'll give it to you."
Akari whimpered and squirmed beneath Chinatsu's touch. Her normally high-pitched and cutesy voice was now hoarse and husky and so unbelievably sexy. "P-Promise?"
Chinatsu left a trail of kisses along Akari's thigh and gently squeezed her rear. She looked up at Akari with a wink, momentarily forgetting she couldn't see it. "Cross my heart."
"Chinatsu… please make me cum."
Chinatsu planted a chaste kiss on Akari's clit. "How badly do you want it?" she asked, nuzzling against the wet mound.
Akari gasped and ground her crotch against Chinatsu's cheek. "I n-need it. I need it so badly…"
Another kiss, followed by a quick stroke with her tongue. "And who's your best friend in the whole world?"
There was another groan, followed by a frustrated cry of "Chinatsu!" which was either an answer or an exclamation. Either way, it was enough for Chinatsu, who wasted no more time in pressing her tongue against Akari's needy cunt.
"AH!"
Akari thrust her hips against Chinatsu's tongue, but this time Chinatsu didn't pull away. She continued lapping against her clit, alternating between long and languid strokes and quick, short laps. The hand that was holding Akari's hips down moved to her thighs, and her index and middle fingers began stroking against her lips again, before gently sliding in her slick, hot entrance.
Chinatsu flicked her eyes upwards and saw Akari's mouth wide-open as she panted in ecstasy. She looked further down and saw her heaving swollen breasts, slightly jiggling as Akari squirmed against her bonds. Chinatsu could feel her own womanhood throb with urgent need, and she squeezed her thighs together as she tried to ignore it. She focused on the adorable sound of need in Akari's voice, the feeling of her soft butt and wet pussy against her fingers, and the taste of her clitoris against her tongue. She curled her fingers upwards, pressing against the inner walls of her vagina, and closed her lips to carefully (very carefully) suckle that clit.
Akari's voice rang out again in a crystal-clear fortissimo. "Oh my God! Chi-na-tsuuuuu!"
Chinatsu moaned into Akari's crotch, the melodic sound of her voice goading her even further, as well as the building tension she could feel squeezing against her fingers. She was getting close. It seemed as though Akari was getting there quicker than any other girl she had been with. Was it all the teasing? Or her lack of experience?
Then again, maybe they've been at this longer than she thought. It could have been five minutes or five hours since they started; she wouldn't have known the difference.
"Chinatsu… I'm so close…"
Chinatsu looked back and saw Akari's tense brow and pursed lips. Yes, she certainly was. She kept up the rhythm of licks and strokes she had been maintaining, until Akari whimpered out, "Chinatsu, can I please cum?" and Chinatsu nearly died from arousal at being asked for permission. This was unexpected, but not at all unwanted.
"What was that?"
"Please!" Akari cried out.
"Please what?"
"Please let me cum!"
She was there. Chinatsu could hear it in her voice and feel it in the wet flesh pulsating against her fingers. But even deeper than that, there was something else, maybe a mental link between the two girls who had been best friends since middle school. She couldn't place why, but she just knew. She buried her fingers into that entrance as far as the would go and wrapped her lips around that nub, determined not to let go of it until her lover was completely spent.
When it came, it didn't come quite as Chinatsu expected, with an earth-shattering cry of ecstasy that shattered the windows and brought the rafters down on top of them. Rather, it was more like a wave: building from a gentle gasp out of the back of Akari's throat, to a rumbling moan that got more and more intense, until it peaked in a soft but heartfelt string of: "Chinatsu… oh god, Chin- ah! Ah! AH!" and then her body tensed like a guitar string on the brink of snapping. When she broke, she deflated like a balloon, collapsing to the bed below her as her limbs went limp and the chains around her arms slackened. Chinatsu's mouth held on to Akari's clitoris for dear life all while this was happening, until she felt her body give out and she let go with a gentle pop.
For the next few seconds, there were no sounds save for the labored breathing of an exhausted Akari and a still-heavily-aroused Chinatsu. She stared at her worn-out lover, sure that she would remember this view for the rest of her life. Akari broke the silence and said, "Kiss me." Her voice was quiet and tired-sounding, but her lips were curled into a content smile. Chinatsu was powerless to refuse.
She crawled up to where Akari was and reached up to pull down the blindfold; a beautiful pair of sparkling violet eyes looked back at her. Chinatsu smiled back at her. She never noticed how bright those eyes were.
"Hi there," she said.
Akari giggled. "Hey."
The two kissed. The intense heat and urgent desire of previous kisses was gone, replaced with a gentle affection as Chinatsu laid her body on top of Akari's and happily sank into her friend's soft warmth.
-
Five years ago…
-
"Eh!?"
Chinatsu stared at Akari as her friend's cheeks turned bright red and her eyes darted to the floor beneath them. The two girls had just gotten back from school and were still dressed in their uniforms, a red knee-length dress with a white sailor-style cardigan, sitting on the hardwood floor of Akari's bedroom. They had spent the past several minutes idly chatting about nothing in particular. As they spoke, Chinatsu noticed her friend getting more and more uncomfortable, as though she was hiding something. After a while, she asked Akari what was bothering her, and she responded with… well.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Chinatsu said, blinking in bewilderment. Surely, she must have misheard her.
"I s-said, do y-you want to p-practice kissing?"
Chinatsu's face turned pale and a knot formed in her stomach. Her eyes fell, mirroring Akari's humiliated expression. It had been nearly a year since Chinatsu revealed her crush on their mutual friend and upperclassman to Akari and the disastrous events that followed. Part of her had hoped that Akari–airheaded as she could be sometimes–had forgotten about what Chinatsu did to her. The two had never brought it up since, and aside from a few awkward silences shortly after their friendship continued completely unchanged. She never even mentioned the idea of them "practicing" again. So why now?
"Akari… where is this coming from?"
Akari wrung her hands together in her lap. "Well, I've just been thinking… I really care about you and Yui, and I know that you want to be with her and I promised that I would do anything I could to help, so…"
Chinatsu's insides twisted, making her feel nauseated. "Akari, you don't have to—"
"I know!" Akari looked up at Chinatsu, her eyes filled with a sudden determination. "But I want to!" There was a brief moment of silence before Akari's cheeks started burning again. "I-I mean, I want to help you," she muttered. She dared to sneak another glance at Chinatsu. "You haven't kissed anyone since then, have you?"
Chinatsu shook her head, biting her chapped lower lip.
"Right. So you still need to practice with someone. I mean, what if it finally happens with Yui, and you don't know what to do?" A small smile crept across Akari's face as she seemed to grow more comfortable with her argument.
At the mention of Yui's name, Chinatsu's heart started pounding, as it often did, and her mind filled with images of her and her gorgeous upperclassman embracing, bodies pressed against each other, hearts pounding in delicious synchronicity, lips inching closer and closer. Then her mental image shifted, and Yui morphed into Akari. They were lying on the floor. Chinatsu had Akari pinned down as her violet eyes glazed over, and what was once Yui's husky voice exclaiming her name turned into Akari's childishly innocent voice giving out protests that were growing weaker as their lips collided.
Chinatsu mustered all of her willpower to calm her racing heart. "I'll be fine," she said through gritted teeth. "Really, don't worry about it."
The two friends fell into a silence, broken only by the gentle ticking of Akari's alarm clock and the sound of the breeze flowing through the window. Akari looked up at Chinatsu, hands clasped to her chest and her mouth trying to form words. Chinatsu looked back at her, trying to hide her guilt behind a mask of stone. Whether it was guilt for turning Akari down or for her actions a year ago, she couldn't tell.
After several seconds of false starts, Akari took a deep breath and said, "What if I want to practice too?"
Chinatsu swallowed, her mouth suddenly very dry. "Why, uh, I mean, er…" she stammered. After a few more monosyllabic utterances, she settled on asking, "Why?"
"Because…" Akari scooted closer to Chinatsu so that their knees were touching. "I don't know anything about that kind of stuff either. And I want to be prepared in case… you know."
"You mean there's someone for you?" For some reason, Chinatsu felt her heart sink.
"No, no, no!" Akari threw her hands up in denial. "I just mean, if there ever is, I want to be ready." Her hands fell and clutched the front of her skirt. "So…"
Chinatsu stared at those hands. They were only fractionally smaller than her own, but somehow they seemed far more delicate. More easily subdued. She knew from experience that if she wanted to restrain Akari, there was little that her friend would be able to do. Knowing that made her feel sick.
"Akari, do you…" She looked back up at her friend's face. Her cheeks were still red, but her lips were gently curved into that gentle, easygoing smile that was so characteristic of her. That smile that was just impossible to say no to. The question Chinatsu was about to ask, that she had wanted to ask for almost a year, died between her lips under the radiant light of that smile. "Are you sure?"
Akari's head tilted in a nod. She reached over and wrapped her fingers around Chinatsu's hand, her head slowly getting closer to Chinatsu's. Chinatsu licked her lips, every fiber of her being screaming at her to shut this down. Push Akari away, yell at her, cry, do something! But she couldn't react fast enough. All she could do was close her eyes and brace herself for the coming impact.
Then the two pairs of lips met, and everything felt right again. She let out a gasp as her heart felt lighter than air. The voice in her head telling her that this was wrong was silenced, because she was kissing Akari and how could that be anything but perfect? All the nausea that was building up in Chinatsu's stomach evaporated. The tension she carried felt instantly soothed under the gentle caress of Akari's lips on her own, and she suddenly felt like she and Akari were floating off of the ground and out of the open window and soaring into the brilliant light of day.
They were lying in Chinatsu's bed, sweaty and exhuasted. They had both changed into pajamas and were lying under the covers, Akari's head buried in the crook of Chinatsu's neck, arms wrapped around each other as though the other would disappear if they let go. The lights were off, the room only barely illuminated by the full moon shining its borrowed light through the window, and the handcuffs had been carelessly tossed to the side of the bed. For a moment, the only sounds were the breathing of the two lovers and the gentle hum of the air conditioner.
Akari broke the silence when she pulled away to look at Chinatsu, an expression of shocked realization in her eyes. "Wait, you didn't…" She trailed off, cheeks tinged pink as her eyes darted away. "You know."
It took Chinatsu a minute to realize what Akari was trying to say. A lump formed in her throat and she quickly muttered, "I'm fine."
Akari looked back up at her, brow furrowed in confusion. "Really? You must be super frustrated."
Chinatsu shook her head. "Really, I'm okay."
"Oh." Akari's hand idly stroked Chinatsu's arm, her voice lowered like a reprimanded child. "I guess it didn't do much for you then?"
As she squeezed her thighs together, trying to ignore the incessant throbbing between her legs, Chinatsu struggled to find a way to tell Akari how wrong she was. In truth, the only way she was able to keep her urges in check was by making her shower as cold as possible before bed. It only partially helped. She kissed Akari on the forehead. "No, it did a lot for me. Trust me."
Chinatsu pulled Akari back into their embrace and ran her fingers through her silky hair and up and down her back. "I just wanted tonight to be for you. That's all."
Akari settled back into her old position, nuzzling the nape of Chinatsu's neck. The tone of her voice still seemed disappointed. "Oh. Okay."
More silence passed between the two. Chinatsu could feel Akari's body relax and her breathing slow down, even as she herself started drifting away.
"Chinatsu?" Akari said through a yawn.
"Mmm?"
"Next time is gonna be for you, 'kay?"
Next time… those words echoed through Chinatsu's mind as she felt her consciousness slip and her eyelids drop. Next time.
Could there be a next time?
