When I heard handles being turned and steam coming out of the bathroom, I knew Kagura was finished. I sat in the center of the room near her futon as I heard the door creek open and saw steam coming from the doorway. Out she came, already in her pink pajamas, with wet hair and bare feet. She walked over towards me, then sat down next to me.

"Okay, what's the favor you want?" asked Kagura, "And why did I have to shower for it?"

"Because last time your feet were in my face, they stank," I told her, "This time, I want to know what they're like when they're squeaky clean...without dirt or foot odor in the way."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Kagura.

"Do you want your own dirty little secret to get out or not?" I asked her, "Just think of this as a freebie for me."

Kagura looked as though she was thinking about jumping out a window over this, but then she seemed to give in. Groaning in defeat, she stretched out her leg and put her foot in my lap, scrunching her toes as she did. I must have started at them a little longer than I seemed to, because Kagura had said, "Are you going to stare at them or do whatever you want to them, baka?"

She subsequently yawned after asking me that question.

"Well, in all honesty," I replied, "In the privacy of your room, I prefer doing the latter."

I figured I'd better hop to it now before she changed her mind. I grabbed the bottom of her heel with one hand and wrapped the other around the middle of her foot, bringing her toes up to my nose for a quick whiff. Yep, just as I thought, they smelled much more fragrant than her usual scent. This time, they smelled like hibiscus tea leaves. She does this weird thing with her bathwater when washing the lower half of her body where she soaks it in tea and cleans out the pores and makes it more fragrant (don't ask how I know this). I rose her foot up so that her soles would meet my nose, just as fragrant as the toes, but softer. And shinier. As I put them to my face, I felt the skin of her soles sink into me. My face would probably smell like the same tea leaves she used to bathe, but that wasn't a complaint.

I stuck out my tongue as far as it could humanely go and licked her sole from the bottom of her heel to the tip of her toes. I did this a couple more times, I just couldn't get enough. Strange that Kagura wouldn't make any of her strange comments during all this. I took advantage of her quiet reaction by wrapping my entire mouth around the arches of her foot, sucking out the flavor her feet had accumulated from bathing. I felt the taste go all over my tongue and to the roof of my mouth. I then moved my way up to her pinky toe, nibbling on it softly. It was almost like eating small candy, especially, for some reason, her next toe and middle toe. I felt the middle toe twitch a little once my tongue made its way to its tip, but I didn't mind. Funny that Kagura didn't giggle or even complain about that. I spent only a minimal amount of time on the index toe because of the one I wanted most...the big toe. Especially Kagura's big toe. Every time I saw it in the past, I always thought of sucking it like a lollipop. And this time I was, and I must say, her big toe tasted as succulent as it looked. I sucked as much flavor out of her toe as I could.

"ZZZZZZzzzzzz..."

I looked up for a moment, not taking Kagura's big toe out from my mouth. Now I know why Kagura wasn't making any of her sarcastic comments or complaining about my current advantage over her. She was fast asleep. And as per usual, she was snoring, mouth wide open and a trail of drool making its way from the corner of her mouth to the floor she slept on, along with a few strands of hair sticking to her cheek.

Well that bites. I mean, what good is it to have the upper hand in our battle of wits and blackmail material when she's not even awake to know I have the upper hand? I would have tried waking her up, but Gin and I learned from past experience that waking Kagura from her sleep was a wasted effort. Especially if she had been drinking. So instead, I put her foot down and decided to wait nearby for her to wake up so I can continue to rub my advantage in her face. I leaned back on the wall glancing at Kagura's sleeping form. For the most part I was staring at her feet, which I had just finished worshiping, but I was also checking out her butt from time to time. And okay, maybe I was also staring at her face, but you know what? It's almost cute how she sleeps. But I find that the more I stare at her, the harder it is for me to stay awake...


By the time I awake, it already seems to be morning. At least that's the impression I got when the sunlight glared through the window and onto my face. As I rubbed by eyes to adjust to the sun, I found myself being shouted at in the most ungodly tone.

"Rise and shine, Shinpachi!"

I looked up and saw both Kagura and Ayame standing with their arms crossed, looking like they were ready to kick ass. Kagura was in her usual attire, minus her flats. Ayame, on the other hand, was wearing a judo uniform. Both the barefoot girls looked my way as I tried to wrap my mind around what was going on.

"Kagura?" I asked, "What is this, and why is she here with us?"

"What do you think, baka?" Kagura asked in reply, "We're going to get to the root of your obsession with feet!"

"And how are you intending to do that?" I asked with a feeling of dread sinking in my stomach.

"The same way you found out you had it," replied Kagura, cracking her knuckles simultaneously with Ayame, "We're gonna wrestle, uh-huh!"