Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun.
A/N: Ahh, time for a nice citrusy bath~ Anywho, sorry about the delay... As per usual, I've made a double sized chapter to make up for this mistake! This was for last night, but I started to feel a bit... well, I couldn't think strait, so I delayed it untill morning! On with the show!
Sunset, Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya's PoV:
Orange looked up at me from the position she had snuggled into my arms. Her innocent eyes seemed a bit confused, yet happy, as it had been awhile since she had last eaten.
"Umm... Where are we going now...?" Ahh, I suppose I never did tell her the destination.
"Well, as you have a bit of an odor to you, I figured it best to give you a bath." I couldn't help but smile at her. It's odd, but I can't bring myself to act as cold as I normally do, around her. We were ever so gradually making our way to one of the 130 bathrooms contained in the mansion; I once made a hobby out of making the mansion larger internally, so it eventually got a little too large. Needless to say, I was forced to give up on that hobby.
"B-b-b-bath? !" The little dragon tensed in my arms.
"Well, again, you do have an odor to you." I wasn't very good at being anything but blunt with my words; if I have anything to say, and no reason to lie due to orders of Milady, I'd tell you the, perhapse painful, truth.
"Uuu~" Ohh? That was a rather good impression of the Mistess! Such as when she is particularly happy. Or sad. Or... because of other things, which I don't think she knows half of the mansion can hear her do. ...I hope that wasn't because of the latter most one. Actually, that reminds me... I really should warn the Mistress not to be so... loud.
"Now, now... Just because you hate water doesn't mean you don't have to bathe." I sure do hope I got that right... I'm not sure how I might react if it was that she finds the prospect of a bath sexually gratifying...
"B-but..." She trailed off, as she couldn't think of a valid reason as to her not taking one.
We rounded the last corner, and were now going down the coridore that contains the bathroom I had in mind.
" 'But' what? You're going to have to bathe regularly, if you wish to stay here." It would be bad to make the mansion look like a place where slobs dwell, would it not? Orange began to wimper at the thought of this being a common practice, which sounded much like the sound of a dog whining.
We finally arrived at the door to the bathroom I had in mind, so I stopped time for a moment, so as to open the door, while not having to put Orange down. Like all things during my time manipulation, the door gave a fair bit of resistance to being moved, so it took a fair bit of effort to open. Imagine trying to open heavy western style doors made of solid oak while totally submerged in water; now, make that water as thick as invisible petroleum jelly, and breatheable to an extent, and you've got the basic principal of my time manipulation down. All this swiming about I do under such harsh conditions would probably make me one of Gensokyo's finest swimmers, second only to the Kappa. Upon returning to my prior location, and once more supporting Orange, I let time do as it pleased once more.
Upon the door opening, Orange's muscles began to stiffen, as though she was just given an abrupt case of rigor mortis; now that we were within the domain of cleanliness, her fear was now starting to get the better of her. Before us was a modestly sized bathroom, which, like everything, was scarlet; scarlet tiles, scarlet porcelin, and even scarlet painted walls. The toilet was, as of late, never used; Yukari had modified the way things work within the border so as to free people from having to do such things. Well, that's what I assume, anyways. The only alternative that I can imagine would involve the entire mansion having the worst case of constipation I've ever seen, and an odd lack of need for urination. The tub was rather massive, and, like all of those contained within the mansion, it can comfotable fit up to four people.
"Now, shall I leave you to getting washed up, or are you in need my assistance?" I gave her my best smile, which I usually save for only the Scarlet sisters. ...Save for the new addition, as she's not yet a Scarlet, atleast, not if you ask me. Maybe I'll recognise her as one in a few year, but she's yet to earn my respect.
Orange began to press the tips of her index fingers together, while a hint of pink crept its way across her cheeks. "I... umm, well, I'm not very good at washing myself, you see... S-so... if you wouldn't m-mind..." Orange's fear was now pushed aside for an even greater deal of embarassment, as she found the prospect of being seen by another, even another woman, to be embarassing.
I couldn't help but laught just a bit. "Well, I suppose I too could use a bath... Alright, I'll assist in bringing you up to our standards on such things, and join you for a bit of cleaning." Living for three days, every day, makes for a large number of baths needed to stay at a reasonable level of clean. As such, I tend to take anywhere from two to six baths every day, as the noses of Youkai are a great deal easier to offend, even if they are also usually more used to the stink of sweat because of that.
"Thank you, Sakuya!" Her fear of the water stemmed from nearly drowning in the past, before Meiling had rescued her. She, a mighty Dragon, was nearly felled by mere water. Orange had never felt so close to death than when that cold water was pouring down her throat, invading her lungs, and embracing her body in its cold blackness.
"You're very welcome, Orange. ...Shall I assist you in the removal of your clothing?" As Orange processed the question, her face steadily grew redder and redder, untill it matched the bathroom. "...Is that a no?" I couldn't help but giggle a bit at her reaction.
The scarlet red face of Orange nodded once again, while avoiding eye contact.
"Well, I'll set you down now; call for me once you've finished undressing." Orange once more nodded, her blush not looking as though it wouldn't let up any time soon.
With that, I stopped time, and made my way to the tub. Let's see... I believe the best setting one a 30 degree turn on hot, and a 10 degree turn on cold. After I had finished preparing the bath, I swam my way out the still open door, before slowly pushing it closed while pushing my feet into the wood floor. It may be rather hard to open doors, but it's even harder to close them, as I can't use the wall for leverage. I enjoy going out of my way to look particularly good, even if it can be a bit difficult at times, so I make sure to leave no hint of where I dissapeared to, save for the click of the door shutting. I enjoy seeing and/or hearing their reaction to my sudden dissapearance, if they don't know about my power.
Orange's PoV:
The door was suddenly closed, and Sakuya gone, and a thunderous sound coming from behind me. I just about jumped out of my skin, before spinning around, and seeing that the faucet of the tub had been turned on.
"...W-where did you go, miss Sakuya...?" I looked about timidly, not seeing any sign of her.
"Ohh, I'm right out here." Sakuya smiled to herself from the other side of the door, as I had reacted just as she had hoped. "Do you need help after all, or...?" Sakuya began to ask, while holding her laughter in, and keeping a totally natural tone.
"N-n-no...! I-I'm fine, really!" I stiffened at the thought, and began to set to work on getting undressed.
I began to work myself free of my clothes, starting with my hat... ehh? Where is i- ohh, that's right... I lost it when I fell off that cliff... As I was sans hat, I could do nothing but skip its removal, and began to work on the removal of the rest of my outfit.
Once I had removed all of my clothes, including my ribbon, folded them all into a neat little pile, and turned back around, making sure to cover any important bits, I called out to the one on the other side of the door, "S-sakuya! Y-you, umm... You can come in no-"
Sakuya's PoV:
I stopped time, so as to once more do as I pleased, and sneak my way back into the bathroom. I slowly worked the door open, while bracing my heel on the frame of the door for leverage. When you have all the time in the world, you can do many thing that others haven't the time to bother with; such as keeping the bottoms of your shoes as spotless as the rest of your outfit.
Once I had the door open, I worked it closed behind me, while trying in vain to ignore the sight of orange trying her best, and failing, to cover herself. ...Wait, why is her hair blue? I know that it was as scarlet as Meiling's only a short while ago! I suppose I'll ask her about that in a bit, once she's able to respond... Ohh? What's this? I began to swim my way over to the girl, and look closely at her skin.
...Are those... scales? Her entire skin is covered in tiny scales! ...They look a bit soft... While not thinking, I trailed a finger over the flat of her stomach, which didn't budge in the least, due to my inability to influence living creatures directly during these times of time being nearly at a stand-still.
Just as I thought, her scales had a soft, yet oddly velvety, texture to them. Well, I think these scales of hers are proof enough that she's a Dragon; not that I had any intention of thinking Meiling's sister a liar, as China's about as honest as an Oni, and quite the good judge of character.
I suddenly came to the realization that I was perhapse going to hear her yelp as soon as I release my hold over time, as I was currently brushing my hand up and down her stomach, so I decided to stop doing as such. I'm not sure why I even started touching her in such a way...
Now, I suppose I should begin to prepare myself, shouldn't I?
I started by taking off my hair band, appron, four sets of knives hidden under said apron, first layer of my uniform, two sets of knives hidden under the first layer of my uniform, second layer of my uniform, another three more sets of knives hidden under the second layer of my uniform, under shirt, four sets of kunai hidden under my under shirt, cleavage enhancing bra, pair of knives hidden inside bra side straps, pads, nothing underneath the pads, shoes with a hidden blade in the toe of each, six thigh holsters for six sets of knives, and finally, my lacy white pair of panties, which contained a single knife. ...I like to be prepared for any level of being caught with my metaphorical pants down. It took me a good number of years to figure out the exact number of knives and kunai I could fit inside of my uniform.
That number was 163 knives, and 40 kunai; I might be a tad paranoid about being disarmed, but atleast all these layers of metal make for effective, if a bit sharp, armor. However, it does add 101.5 kilos to my weight... I felt about as light as a feather, if not lighter, without all of those instruments of death upon my body. At first, I had but a single set of throwing knives, back when I started working here. After I had gotten used to that weight, I added another set, and repeated the process. ...That kept going on untill I ran out of places to hide more knives, and, eventually, kunai.
After my clothes were in a neat little pile beside those of Orange, I allowed time to once more resume its normal rate of passage, before easily twisting the valves for the tub to the 'off' position.
"-Yaa...! ?" Just as I had expected, Orange was just about jumping out of her skin; she had actually been for awhile now, as I only slow time to a crawl, but this was the first I could actually hear of it, as all is silent within my world.
"My, what's the issue?" I asked from behind her, causing her to spin around.
"I... ho- whe- bu- How the heck did you get in here...?" Orange's voice was nothing but a timid little whisper, as she was still embarassed by the sudden feeling of someone rubbing her belly.
"I do believe I used the door." I did my best to act baffled by her question, as she's quite cute when she's confused. ...Is this why Meiling used to tease me back when she first started working here?
"Th-that's not what I meant...!" Orange was now looking irritated, her blue hair glowing ever so gently.
I took the glow of her hair as a warning, and decided to stop teasing her for now. After all, all good things must come to an end. I tested the water, and found it to be at the perfect temperature.
"Ahh, we should enter while the water's still hot; it won't stay at such a temperature for long, and it's good to clean yourself in hotter water."
"B-but..." I wasn't about to hear any excuses, so I put a finger to her lips.
"I did say that I'd assist you, did I not?" I smiled to her, which caused her blue hair to cease to glow. She gave no resistance when I picked her up once more, even if it was a bit awkward of a thing to do, seeing as we were both wearing nothing at all.
With Orange in arm, I slowly stepped into the tub, sighing with comfort once I had fully dipped our bodies into the steaming sting of the heat.