The moon rose above the clouds, radiating glorious rays of scarlet upon everything under its jurisdiction. The rays felt wonderful against what little skin I had exposed, seeping through it like water against a thin sheet of paper. While it would certainly look stunning from a spot among the edges of the forest, it multiplied from the balcony I stood on, in which I could make out a few of its largest craters with relative ease. The view also offered a splendid display of the Misty Lake, which, for the moment that the moon wasn't blocked out, shimmered like a sea of sapphires. However, the more I stared at both of these sights, the more my stomach rumbled. It was a bit ridiculous to find out that even the sight of red would make my body eager for something to snack on. Despite the contrary, I didn't actually feel hungry at all. Sure, my stomach was empty, but it still didn't give me a desire to eat. Of course, I would have to give in at some point; every creature has that sort of "breaking point", but I'm perfectly content with simply standing outside and letting the moon's radiance kiss my skin.
I began to slowly close my eyes, letting the contagious tranquility of the night overcome my mind and take brief control. At the moment, everything that troubled me fizzled out of existence, overcome by the drifting moon. Worthless youkai, annoying faries, spiteful humans, they no longer mattered.
"Milady?" A soft, melodious voice pierced through the silence.
I shook my head a bit and turned toward my maid, forcing a grin. She stood in front of the doorway, holding a platter with two small slices of cake. The silvery icing was coated with blood - much like the glow that the scarlet moon cast on her silver hair - that was slowly running down the sides of the food. It was that particular sight that made me realize how hungry I really was, and the urge to leap upon her and devour the food was almost too much to bear.
"Yes, Sakuya?" I spoke, my eyes locked on the cake.
"Well, you haven't eaten in hours, so I figured-"
"I'd love some cake!" I slapped a hand over my mouth, suddenly feeling an urge to slink away from her vision. At the same time, it is cake, after all.
Sakuya's face was strained a little, trying in vain to hold back laughter.
"I'd strongly suggest biting your tongue," I muttered.
"My apologies, milady." Sakuya snapped back to attention, holding out the platter. I quickly snatched once of the slices and stuffed it into my mouth. Each and every flavor exploded against my taste buds; an absolutely overwhelming experience. Swallowing it all at once, my stomach thereafter chose to remain silent.
"Are you okay? You seem a little dizzy," Sakuya said, setting the platter down on the floor and stepping toward me.
"I'm fine, I just didn't expect this cake to be so good!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out a hankerchief, letting my wings flap softly in satisfaction.
"Thank you," She bowed, with an uncharacteristically gleeful satisfaction about her, "I handpicked the humans myself, and made sure they all had B-type blood."
I dabbed the edges of my mouth, feeling something rather foriegn swirl around the catacombs of my heart. Such hard work put into my satisfaction . . . The feeling compelled me to show her some gratitude, but she doesn't need it. She should know her value to me.
"That wasn't necessary, Sakuya. Surely, it was difficult to find and seperate them?
"Err, not at all. Whatever makes my you happy." Her lips curved into a smile, and that foriegn feeling began to swirl again. An irresistable desire flowed from it, driving me toward her. I didn't want to ignore, or even fight whatever was driving its existance. Something like this had never occured before, but to be honest, I didn't want it to leave for even a moment.
Sakuya arched an eyebrow, but after figuring out what I wanted, a smile broke out across her face, and she outstretched her arms. I leapt into them, wrapping my own around her back as tightly as I could without causing harm, while she did much of the same. We stayed like that for a brief moment, content to simply be with each other without any sort of worry to bother us. After a rather lengthy moment, I unwrapped my arms, letting them hang lazily against my sides.
"I really do appreciate everything you do for me. I'm happy to find that I didn't make a mistake in appointing a human to be my head maid," I murmured silently.
"You're much too kind."
I grinned. "Aren't I?"
Sakuya reached down for the platter, keeping her fingers away from the remaining slice of cake. Looking upon the sight, an idea began to tickle the surface of my mind, worming into my imagination.
"I assume that would be yours?" I asked.
"It was," She stood back up and immediately held out the platter, "Would you like it?"
"Well, no, acutally. I was wondering if . . . if you'd be fine sharing it with me."
Her eyes widened for a split second, which shot daggers through me. My mind quickly went on overdrive-perhaps I should've said something less awkward, or better yet, take the bloody cake for myself. Luckily, a smile curved onto her lips, soothing my brief spout of panic.
"Of course, milady," She murmured, stepping aside and leaving the doorway unblocked, "After you."
We traversed through the wide hallways of my mansion, mostly staying in a spell of silence throughout the journey to my chamber. In fact, the only moment of conversation we had involved the cleanliness of the floors, and the unusually dirty texture they displayed. To my eyes, it was all a glaring issue that served to fuel a pint's worth of irritation. Sakuya stated that she would have it rectified as soon as possible, but even she did not sound very certain of herself, nor did she seem to care all that much. Worry did cloud my mind, but it was only miniscule blip on the radar compared with what I had planned, for the time being at least.
It didn't take long for the two of us to reach the gigantic wooden doors that led into my chamber. From the balcony, it was hardly even five minutes of walking, but the many trails of staircases had quickly elevated us to the very top of the mansion; I happened to be positioned in an establishment just next to the clock tower. Firmly grasping the golden handles of the doors, I yanked them open. A booming "thud" exploded from them as they barreled into the walls, which was a bit louder than I would have cared for. I stepped inside, with Sakuya taking a place next to me.
The room was a mixture of various shades of scarlet, with a sheen about it that told of the vast amounts of effort in order to make the room seem as intimidating as possible, like you were walking into the scene of a bloodbath. The darkest of the colors were coated on the ceiling and walls, while the lighter ones covered the floors. I ventured toward a large, wood table positioned against the eastmost wall, and pulled out a chair. Sakuya, after setting the platter right on the table's center, did the same. Sitting down, we both faced each other, making direct eye contact. I was still feeling quite nervous for the upcoming act, but I'm not going to shy away from something like this. It would be a bit dishonorable to a Scarlet for backing away from such simple challenges. Of course, this wasn't exactly what one would call "simple".
After a moment of absolute silence, I whispered, "Sakuya."
"Yes, milady?" She replied, suddenly finding the multiple scratches in the wood to be interesting.
"C-come closer. . . ."
She pulled herself to her feet, though she did take her time following through with the order.
"Would you like some cake?" I asked as soon as she took her spot next to me. My voice remained as quiet as a mouse, despite the attempt otherwise.
"Of course."
"Okay . . . could you hand it to me?"
I held out my hand, trying my hardest to stop it from shaking. Sakuya grabbed the slice by its backside - the only part in which the blood and icing were absent - and gently placed it atop my palm.
Some part of my mind desired for me to completely scrap my plan, but the majority was submerged with the strange feelings. Then again, maybe the minority was fueled by those feelings as well. I certainly didn't want any interactions with her afterwards to be awkward. I honestly don't think I could tolerate that. Sure, I could simply try not to care about it, and maybe if I try hard enough, it'd become true. I don't think I've ever been this nervous before, and with this delicous pastry settled on my hand, it could very well decide the future between myself and Sakuya. With that thought embedded into my mind, I wrapped my fingers around said pastery and placed it into my mouth, leaving one end open. Sakuya's face briefly flashed with surprise, which, in turn, shot an icy bullet of worry into me. Once my favorite maid regained herself, she walked up a bit closer and began to slowy lean her head in, her cheeks flushed with a light shade of pink. Her mouth opened and closed around the free end of the cake, biting into the cake with earnest, taking her precious time at eating it. I mimicked her actions, eagerly awaiting a pleasure that would surely be sweeter than the flavours of this dessert.
Every progressive bite seemed to last longer than it should, bringing forth the seductive thought of shoving the remaining cake aside and go straight for her lips - I decided against it, of course. The tips of our noses softly grazed one another, sending a ticklish jolt through the rest of my own. At this close of a range, I found myself studying the more delicate features of Sakuya's face: the thin lines under her eyes, piling upon each other from hours of daily caretaking; a nervous twitch upon her right cheek, most likely born during those same duties; the nearly-microscopic droplets of sweat dripping down her forehead; I treasured every single one. She herself was more of a treasure than any shiny trinkets that might be hidden within Gensokyo's soil.
There were only a few inches of cake left between us, and the urge to brush it aside became powerful, riddled with the promise of pleasure. Regardless, I continued with the process, though I noticed that Sakuya was eating a trifle faster than previously. It was to the point that our noses were now smashing against one another, giving me cause to tilt my head a little. My part of the cake followed suit, and ended up twisting itself free. Sakuya and I both stared at each other for a moment, before swiftly lifting a hand up to her lips, letting a rather musical giggle escape them. If I still possesed the ability to blush, my face would be of the same color as the floor. Responding with a giggle of my own, I quickly chewed up and swallowed my half of the cake, while my lovely maid copied the action. Without the border that the cake served for, there was nothing stopping our lips from meeting. My whole body shivered slightly, with most of that feeling being born from anticipation. The only issue was that I didn't entirely know what to do, but I like to think I'm pretty good at learning new things. How hard could such a task be, after all?
With the quickness of a lighting flash, I closed what little distance we had left and pressed my lips against hers. I rose my hands up to her face and set them against her cheeks, cradling her head as if I were holding a fragile package. Sakuya's eyelids shot up in surprise, but I refused to break away; in any case, she didn't decide to take that task upon herself, and her eyes became sealed after a few seconds.
Her lips were exactly as I expected them to be: soft and sweet. While part of that would be due to the icing that lingered around both of our mouths, it wasn't nearly enough to cause such an impact by itself; it was more like seasoning, if anything.
The sudden sheer pleasure of this act was causing a volcano of hunger to emerge from within me, and with desperation erupting from it in a steady stream, I pressed my mouth against her's even harder. It was at that moment that Sakuya chose to make a bit of an effort, and almost immediately, she matched the force I was creating, clamping her lips down on my bottom one like some sort of trap. She pulled back a little, shutting her eyes.
I was awash with joy - this was something I had never expected her to do with me, considering her general apathy toward everything. As I remained liplocked, however, a bubble of doubt began to manifest itself into my psyche, rising above the sea of pleasure that continued to flood my senses. Sakuya was the most loyal maid I had under my employment, and by associationg, very devoted to her job. That job, of course, was serving and obeying my every command. Often, she'd know to follow an order without me having to speak it. I do not know if that's due to her ability to control time or from just standing by my side for such a long time. She also treated everything with a manner of apathy, even the now-routine burgularies initiated by Marisa. Considering her attitude toward everything presented to her so far, how do I know that she's not just doing what I want, but doing what she wants. The pleasure was slowly beginning to drain away, and the bubble's mass adjusted itself to replace the empty space.
I disconnected with her, my lips forming into a frown. Sakuya's eyes shot open, and her breath came in labored bursts. At least I'm a good kisser, I suppose.
"D-does something trouble you, milady?"
"Yes . . . yes there is, Sakuya."
Her left hand fell upon my shoulder, dragging her thumb against it with a tenderness that didn't show itself very often. It sent a slight tickle through my skin, but I chose to ignore it.
"Do you . . ." I stopped myself at once, realizing what was about to part my lips, and I immediately cast my eyes to the carpet. I'm not certain if it was mere attraction or something more, but if I happen to guess wrong, we could very well have some issues in the years ahead. That's when an idea struck me, hitting me with as much force as the spear of Gungir . . . well, I don't really know how that feels, but regardless, that force carried with it a powerful blast of energy that reignited a memory. Why not simply check the chains of fate for the answer, so as to minimize awkwardness? It was brilliant, it was flawless, and I was an absolute fool to forget such an ability.
"What is it?" Sakuya murmured, her voice coated in a thin layer of irritation. Unexpected, but then again, everything this evening was unexpected.
"Hang on, please," I replied, making my tone match hers. I shut my eyes and opened up my mind, taking a start at amassing the necessary energy. Hopefully, Sakuya won't notice what I'm trying to do, but in the case that she does, I suppose won't be that much different then if I outright told her.
After about a minute, I began to see bright scarlet chains piece themselves together. This particular process wasn't quite as long as the gathering period - if I had used this power more, it would be a lot easier to get through and to decrease the tension that now hung from the air. Once twenty or so seconds had passed, I was fully picturing a mess of chains. Different scenarios for available fates were always close by each other, shooting off into a nonexistent void. Two chains in particular stood in front of me, veering off into a diagonal right. The doubt was infused with a droplet of confidence, and wasting little time, I selected the rightmost chain. Just like that, I knew what Sakuya would do if I spilt my feelings. It was somewhat surprising, but if that's what fate dictates, then I will accept it without regret.
I opened my eyes, and Sakuya's face was within kissing distance once more. Her eyes had been set alight with flickering flames of desperation, but regardless, I let a smile form on my face.
"I love you, milady," Her lips spoke, though no sound tumbled out.
Though fate had prepped me for this, hearing those words . . . I don't even know how to explain it. It's a feeling similar to that of being startled by a scream, despite hearing the breaths of the culprit behind you. That's not the most accurate comparison, but to be honest, I couldn't care less about it. All that I cared for at this specific moment was the beautiful maid that stood before me, ready to endure life's vast tests and trials . . . well, we were kind of already doing that, but I think this connection will make it a hundred times more tolerable.
"I love you too," I whispered and gave her a quick peck on her lips. The flames that blazed in her eyes were extinguished, and were replaced with an awestriking shimmer, like moonlight upon a lake.