A/N: My first Senran Kagura fic! Yeah, this is a series I've been meaning to get around to for a while now. While the future of the series might be a little uncertain (Thanks, Sony), I'll always have a special fondness for it, and I wanted to show it through this not-so-little one-off.
Will there be more Senran Kagura stories? Probably. I have a few ideas I wanted to try out, but I really wanted to test the waters first and see how well this does. I know Senran Kagura is a pretty niche series, but any reviews or criticisms are always appreciated.
Enough of my rambling, though. Onward!
Breaking The Ice
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Edited By: Delusion Dreamer - Iota
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A.D. 2012, April 13th, Friday, 20:30 PM
Tokyo, Japan, Yaegashi Hot Springs
A few months ago, Yumi wouldn't ever have considered entering the hot springs with an evil shinobi, unless it was somehow part of an ingenious plan to lower their guard and assassinate them. Perhaps not even that; she was reasonably certain she wouldn't have had nearly enough self-control to keep herself from attacking half a second after their eyes met, provoked or otherwise.
It would be ridiculous, and even Yozakura would agree, to think about baring herself in any way near what she considered to be a bloodthirsty animal that she'd love to slaughter as thoroughly as possible—and the irony wasn't lost on her, at least not anymore.
That, of course, was a funny thing to think about.
Because it was a starry night in April and she was doing exactly what herself back in February would have considered an impossible fever dream. Except, instead of being naked with an evil shinobi in a mildly fancy open-air hot spring, it was an evil shinobi and a rogue shinobi and the granddaughter of a man she considered her grandfather's nemesis.
So not only would it have been a fever dream to the previous Yumi, but also likely powered by a dinner made out of expired food which somehow escaped Yozakura's watchful eye.
For the current Yumi, however, that wasn't that big of a deal. She simply sat by the edge of the ceramic tiles, watching as Asuka cheerfully made conversation with the others—mostly Homura, which wasn't surprising, but both Yumi and Miyabi did find themselves replying to the occasional question.
Basically, things were going well.
The situation wasn't exactly complicated. It was a month after the end of another school year and the subsequent graduation of the Third Years of the Elite Class, Yumi and Miyabi included, and Asuka wanted the four Elite leaders, former or otherwise, to meet up and talk about things like the future and such.
Truth be told, Yumi was certain this was just Asuka being nervous about becoming the oldest and more experienced member of her team after Ikaruga's and Katsuragi's departure, but if anything that was even more reason to accept her invitation.
So perhaps Yumi wasn't sure how to interact with Miyabi or Homura without Asuka present, and there was still a voice in her head calling her a fool for trusting evil shinobi and sympathizers while instructing her to go on an icy rampage to kill every last one of them.
But there was no actual bloodshed happening, so she'd take that as a win.
And then, amidst the jokes and laughter, Homura took a glance at the empty cups and cans by the poolside, and decided to head out to get more drinks. That was fine.
Asuka went with her to help.
Now that was not fine.
Not because she thought Hebijo's former Elite leader would take this chance to kill her—no, she had far better chances before and never took them—but because, as mentioned, she did not know how to speak with this woman.
Yumi looked at Miyabi. While the gray-haired woman sat by the hot spring's side, Miyabi was relaxing waist-deep in the water with her feet kicked up, elbows against the edge, and an eyebrow raised at her, clearly wondering if she wanted to say anything.
"..."
"..."
It wasn't long until Yumi awkwardly averted her gaze, which Miyabi took as a sign to stop worrying and close her eyes.
Whether this was about Miyabi being an evil shinobi or simply having a personality Yumi wasn't used to, she wasn't sure. It was probably the former, though, because she knew for a fact they did have things they could talk about as fellow graduates, regardless of their age gap. Perhaps the many certification exams they have to take to fill their files with proof of their skills, or Yumi could even ask about the situation with Hebijo's Elites after her and Imu's departure.
But she didn't ask any of that, instead opting to keep the awkward silence.
So maybe that was another problem for her to work through. Her first thought was to ask Asuka for help later.
For now, though, there wasn't much Yumi could find in herself to do except wait for the girl in question to return.
And so wait she did, focusing her eyes on anything except the woman before her, who was more than content to spend that time relaxing with her eyes closed. Or sleeping. Yumi wasn't exactly sure, but she wouldn't even attempt to find out.
Regardless of the state of Miyabi's consciousness, Yumi waited, and waited...
And... waited...
"... Where are they?"
"Hm?" Hearing that, Miyabi opened an eye. "Are those two late? How long ago did they leave?"
'Ah, so she dozed off.'
Yumi took a moment to think. "About fifteen minutes, I think."
"... Definitely longer than it should take. Think they're in trouble?" Miyabi asked, lifting her sheathed blade from under the water as she moved to get up.
The sheathed blade which she apparently had with her the whole time. Rather than stored away to only be summoned when needed. Like a shinobi with common sense would do.
"..." To Yumi's credit, she only stared for two seconds before deciding not to question it. "Um, you think they were ambushed? Here? That sounds… unlikely."
"Nothing is impossible for a shinobi." Miyabi was already out of the water and making her way into the building. "Besides, Homura has plenty of people after her head herself, and Asuka isn't exactly a nobody. Either could've been targeted."
"Don't start jumping to conclusions now..." Sighing, Yumi got up to follow Miyabi. "Let's just go and ask around and see if anyone saw them."
Miyabi's expression was serious, but she did nod at Yumi. "Don't let your guard down. Keep an eye for any signs of a trap."
"Yes, of course..." However slim the chance of Asuka and Homura being captured was, Yumi wasn't foolish enough to lower her guard in the face of that possibility.
But she still thought Miyabi was overreacting.
Rather than saying that, she just followed Miyabi into the building, letting the white-haired woman lead the way. In any other situation, they would have at least grabbed a towel to cover themselves.
Neither of them did, shinobi training long since beating any embarrassment from nudity out of them, and Yumi rather enjoyed the free space regardless.
Still, that didn't stop some people from staring as they asked around. Miyabi herself seemed completely unbothered, but Yumi couldn't quite stop a blush from overtaking her face every time someone's eyes wandered to her considerable chest. Even if they were all females, she soon found herself covering her breasts with one arm.
"I don't know how you put up with any of that," Yumi muttered, as they walked away from questioning another patron.
Miyabi simply shrugged. "If all they intend to do is stop and stare, there's hardly a reason to be upset over it." she reasoned. "When you're on the battlefield, being naked is the last thing on your mind. It's an entirely different situation here."
Yumi would be lying if she said she could follow that logic, but she nodded anyway.
"And besides," She continued. "I already dealt with plenty of giggly first years who drooled over me, so perhaps I built a resistance to it."
That, at least, was something Yumi could somewhat understand. She certainly wasn't a stranger to students harboring a crush on her during her time at Gessen, nor was she unfamiliar with the plenty of awkward rejections, or outright avoiding entirely, that came with that.
"That aside," she began, "it's concerning that nobody could give us a lead yet..."
"Yes…" Miyabi's expression hardened. "I would have expected to have something by now. This is concerning…"
"Don't start thinking like that..." Yumi sighed. "Wouldn't we have noticed either a fight or a shinobi barrier? Assuming there really were enemies here, it's not as if those two would be defeated without even a struggle."
Miyabi didn't look completely convinced with that answer. "Those two aren't exactly nobodies. If someone was aiming for them, they wouldn't have just attacked head-on with no plan."
'Like you did?' Yumi thought, opting not to say it out loud. "Are you suggesting they were ambushed?"
Miyabi gave her a curt, silent nod, her expression turning grave.
Yumi sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the older woman's outrageous amount of paranoia, and nodded slowly. "Let's just focus on finding them." She finally said. "It won't do us any good standing here wondering."
So they continued looking, asking around the passerby every now and again, but always receiving similar responses. While a select few had seen two women matching their descriptions heading towards a vending machine, none could tell them what happened after that.
The worry on Miyabi's face was apparent. Yumi could certainly admire the level of care the white-haired woman had for her friends, but she was also a little bit anxious of the increasing possibility of the former Elite unsheathing her katana and threatening people with it.
Eventually, they stopped by a corner of a hallway. Miyabi was busy gazing out the windows of the onsen, perhaps hoping to see those two out in another springs, however unlikely the chance of that was.
"Where are they…?" Yumi muttered in annoyance, having resorted to checking random closets and bathrooms for the pair. She wasn't about to say that Miyabi might be onto something, but it was frustrating how they hadn't seen a single hair of either of them yet.
Honestly, how could they be so irresponsible? Yumi huffed as she opened a door to a storage closet, expecting to once again find nothing. Honestly, she had half a mind to give them a long lecture as soon as she found—
Time stopped.
It turned out there wasn't quite nothing inside that storage closet.
Indeed, there were two naked women in there, and specifically the ones she had been looking for.
It just so happened the two were on the floor, a flushed Homura looming atop a similarly reddened Asuka. Their bodies were pressed against each other, Homura's thigh in particular pushing against Asuka's crotch, but any activity they were engaging in was instantly replaced by a wide-eyed stare at the shocked gray-haired woman by the door.
All three of them were frozen, none daring to move a single inch.
A few seconds later, once Yumi's mind rebooted properly, she considered several courses of action. Her favorite one was to close the door and move on. Yes, that would work. She would simply find some excuse for Miyabi and—
"Yumi, did you find anything?"
Before she could do anything, the woman in question suddenly popped up right behind Yumi, peering over her shoulder to see what caught her attention.
Unsurprisingly, she also froze.
Her very presence also had the two girls inside the room look even more ready to bolt.
"... Are you two stupid?" The former-Hebijo finally spoke. For once, in her still shocked mind, Yumi found herself agreeing with her.
Homura was the first to open her mouth, "Uh, we just—"
"All this time I was worried that you two had been captured, but instead you just ran off to do this?" Miyabi continued, her tone getting more and more agitated. "Did you seriously use getting drinks as an excuse for this?"
"Uh, well," Homura began with a gulp, "to be fair, we didn't plan this as much as it just sort of happened…?"
Asuka nodded rapidly, not having quite found words for herself just yet.
That did nothing to Miyabi's glare.
"I can't believe this, you two…" Yumi sighed, her eyes avoiding the sight. "Um, I'm not going to say a healthy sex drive is terrible, but satiating it in this sort of place is…"
"Indeed…" Miyabi nodded, bringing a hand to her face. "Out of all things, you two had to pick a storage closet? Really? I don't think Ryōna would be this desperate."
They all fell into further silence at that, even Yumi glancing at the white-haired woman.
"... She would," Miyabi corrected herself, "but getting any close to that level is nothing to be proud of."
"Ahaha…" Homura forced out a laugh, finally pushing herself off of Asuka. "Well, any place is good enough, if you're in the mood."
"No. No, it isn't," Miyabi said sternly, crossing her arms. "We came here to relax, but apparently you two can't keep your hands off each other for longer than five minutes."
"I-I'm so sorry!" Asuka was already on her feet, her face a very bright red. "We didn't mean to make you worry!"
As the two awkwardly left the room, looking anywhere except the two women outside, Miyabi simply pinched her nose and sighed. "I should have expected things to go this way… Well, if you two can't keep off of each other any longer, then perhaps we should wrap up and head to a hotel."
Asuka's eyes snapped to Miyabi in an instant. "Huh? Really? We're gonna continue?"
"Hold up, did Miyabi just include herself in it?" Homura's awkward apologetic smile melting into a smug one. "Turns out she's looking for some fun too, huh~?"
Miyabi returned Homura's look with a pointed glare. "You two made me worry all this time over nothing, I feel I'm at least due some sort of compensation." Still maintaining her glare, Miyabi allowed a downright threatening grin. "Don't think I'm going to make it easy on you, specifically."
Homura's smile twitched at that. "... Uhh, please reconsider?"
"Not a chance." Miyabi turned to Yumi, ignoring Homura's panic . "I know this wasn't exactly part of the plan, but are you coming with us?"
Just like that, the three of them focused on Yumi, who had been simply observing their conversation up to that point with a slight flush.
Homura in particular seemed like she was asking for salvation.
But instead of nodding, Yumi simply gave Miyabi an apologetic smile. "I would love to, but truth be told, I can't really stay out the whole night. I have some things I need to take care of at home."
Homura looked devastated for about a second, until the words registered in her mind and she shot Yumi a sly grin instead. "Something? Or do you mean someone?"
The implication had Yumi's face even redder, but she simply laughed it off, not quite answering.
"Ha! Alright, who is it?" Homura's eyes shone with interest as she approached Yumi. "It's gotta be Yozakura, right? Or maybe Shik—Gah?!" She was interrupted by Miyabi pulling her away by the ear.
"That's specifically none of your business," the white-haired woman growled at the tanned girl, who just shot her a mildly apologetic and mostly terrified smile.
"It's alright, really." Yumi shook her head, laughing easily. "But I'm truly sorry, I can't come with you."
"Hm. Nothing you can do if you already have something planned beforehand." Miyabi nodded. "Then I suppose we're heading out a bit earlier than expected."
And that was exactly what the four did, going to gather their things and dressing up properly before walking to the exit. As Miyabi made sure to make as many ominous comments as possible to terrify Homura, much to the amusement of the other two—and a tiny bit of guilt on Asuka's part—it didn't feel like long at all until they were at the bottom of the stairs leading to the establishment and saying goodbyes.
That was that, or so Yumi assumed, until Asuka asked Homura and Miyabi to go ahead so she could talk to Yumi about something.
Now, Yumi would be lying if she said that didn't make her nervous, if only because of how it sounded like something important, but she hid it as well as possible as the brunette moved closer to her.
"Um, Yumi…"
"Hm?" The woman in question simply smiled as her brain worked overtime to come up with a reason for Asuka to talk to her alone.
So perhaps she was overreacting, but no one ever accused Yumi of being good at human relations with anyone besides her sisters.
"Well, first, I just want to apologize, again." The brunette was blushing hard as she said so, averting her gaze at the memory. "I really didn't mean for things to end up like that. I tried telling Homura to save it for later, but then she started kissing me and… things kinda just fell apart after that."
Yumi gave her a reassuring smile. "It's fine, Asuka. Really, I probably would have slipped too in that situation."
"Ah, um, thanks…" Asuka looked back at Yumi with a smile. She seemed to be considering something as she brought up a hand to play with one of her bangs. "Well, there's also another thing," she started, her face flushing a bit. "I thought that maybe you weren't interested at all, since you never really asked, but I just realized I don't know how things are in Gessen, so I was probably assuming things…"
"Hm?" Yumi raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it's just…" Asuka averted her eyes as she continued, her lips twisting slightly upwards. "All this time, I thought that maybe you weren't into girls, or even just… this whole thing." She gestured vaguely. "But from what you told Miyabi, that's not the case, so I'm sorry for just assuming."
Yumi gave Asuka an easy smile. "You don't have to apologize for something as small as that."
"E-Even so…" Asuka continued in a nervous voice, her face bright red. "I just want to be clear about it. I'd be more than happy to do it with you whenever you want. I-I mean, it doesn't have to be sex," she added in a hurry, "just a da—hanging out like usual would be good, but, the option's there, so if you do want—"
"Now, now, calm down," Yumi interrupted Asuka, chuckling as she placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "It's alright, I understand. I'd be happy to take you up on that."
"O-Okay!" Asuka nodded, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, as a big smile overtook her features. Still blushing, she went up and kissed Yumi on the cheek before stepping back. "T-Then I should probably go. Those two will just forget I exist if I leave them alone long enough. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Of course." Yumi nodded, waving goodbye as Asuka walked away, heading off to have her threesome with Homura and Miyabi.
For a while, she watched Asuka go with a fond smile, up until she disappeared from her view entirely.
Then, when she was sure that she was out of their sight, Yumi promptly turned around and bolted towards her home as though there was a yoma hot on her heels.
20:45 PM.
Somewhere in the middle of the woods.
Yumi might have enjoyed the familiar path to Kurokage's former residence a bit more if she weren't intent on outperforming several Olympic running records. Put simply, she didn't have the time to stop and enjoy the nighttime scenery around her, nor did she have the patience to make herself known and greet the village locals as she always did.
Instead, she practically flew past all of that and moved straight to Kurokage's cabin, secluded on its own away from the village. Abandoned for who knew how many years before the man fixed it up during his seclusion, it currently served as the home of Yumi and her sisters, with the recent exception of Murakumo, who had her own adoptive family to live with and far less excuses to visit than ever before after graduating.
Regardless, Yumi knew for a fact that the other three were all home by this hour.
As soon as she reached the doors, she pulled it open with excessive force, moved inside, and all but slammed it shut. Despite the lights being on, the living room was completely uninhabited, but all that meant was that Yumi had to quickly redirect herself to Yozakura's room.
She needed someone to talk to about this, and it would not be Shiki or Minori.
Reaching the room in question, Yumi didn't hesitate to open the sliding door with a bit more force than necessary, just barely managing not to break it. "Yozakura! You won't—"
For the second time in the last hour, the former Elite found herself completely frozen.
It wasn't that Yozakura was gone. No, the girl in question was right there, giving Yumi a wide-eyed stare. She was also completely naked on her bed, and by itself there might have been plenty of valid excuses for that.
That said, there were certainly less excuses for the similarly nude Shiki to have her head right by Yozakura's crotch, her extended tongue still linked by a trail of saliva to the blue-haired girl's privates even as she stopped to stare at Yumi.
Now, if that were all, Yumi might have once again assumed the people she walked in on were in a relationship and she simply hadn't known.
However, the presence of a stunned Minori right behind Yozakura, also without a single piece of clothing and with her hands on the latter's breasts, made that sound unlikely, at the very least.
All three of them stared at Yumi in silence. She stared back, her brain simply refusing to process the sight that was right in front of her.
"... Um…" Shiki spoke first, slowly moving from her spot to move to the edge of the bed. "H-Hey, Yumi! You, ah… You're back a tiny bit earlier than you said…"
The woman in question didn't say a word in reply.
"Aha, I'm sure you gots a lot of questions…" Rising to her feet, Shiki awkwardly shuffled to the middle of the room with a nervous, strained smile. "And I'm totes sure that you'd love an explanation, right…?"
That still brought no response from the shocked Yumi.
With each second in silence, Shiki's smile became progressively twitchier. The other two on the bed weren't faring any better, simply staring at their former leader in wait for a reaction.
After about ten more seconds, Shiki finally had enough.
Suddenly taking action, the girl rushed back to the bed and lifted Minori, who only had time to let out a surprised squeal. In the split-second where Yozakura snapped out of her frozen state and turned a questioning look at Shiki, the blonde simply gave her an apologetic smile, mouthed "good luck," and then proceeded to break into a sprint and escape with Minori through the open window in a fluid motion, both girls still wearing a total sum of nothing as they ventured outside.
Blinking, Yozakura stared out of the window for several moments. It took five seconds for Yozakura to realize she had just been left behind as bait, and only two more for the panic to set in.
"..."
"..."
Slowly, the girl turned towards the room's entrance, where Yumi stood unmoving, staring straight into her soul.
The blue-haired woman opened her mouth. "Uh—"
"Get dressed," Yumi said calmly, "and meet me in the living room."
She then slammed the sliding door shut.
After a quick change into some new clothes, Yozakura found herself awkwardly sitting on the couch as Yumi stood in front of her, like a parent who was about to lecture their unruly child.
As the one who normally did the scolding, the irony wasn't lost on her.
"Yozakura." Yumi was calm and composed, and that worried her. "Would you like to know why I came home early?"
The blue-haired girl said nothing, her gaze completely focused on the floor.
Without bothering to wait for an answer, Yumi continued. "I was having a very pleasant night with Asuka, Homura and Miyabi in the hot springs. Sure, I was still uncomfortable with being around the ene- evil shinobi, but I was determined not to let my biases dictate my actions." Yumi closed her eyes, sighing. "Then, Asuka and Homura went missing. Miyabi and I had noticed and we searched for them. We thought, there's only so many places they can go in an onsen, right?"
Yumi began pacing back and forth, her eyes focused somewhere far away.
"So we searched, and searched, but neither of us could find them. We were growing worried for their safety, but… eventually I found them. Would you like to guess where I found them, Yozakura?"
"Um—"
Without warning, Yumi turned to Yozakura so fast she might have just gotten whiplash, looking absolutely irate. "In a storage closet, having sex!"
She definitely hadn't intended to raise her voice at the woman, or at all if she could help it, but she was very much past the point of caring about proper decorum.
"Now, that alone wouldn't be much of an issue. They certainly could have picked a better place, but I had assumed they were a couple and intended to leave them alone. At least, until Miyabi showed up.
"After we finished scolding them, I had assumed that would be the end of it. But no." Yumi let out a hysterical chuckle. "Miyabi talked about dragging them to a hotel and finishing the job as penance, and she asked me if I wanted to join in, as if it were the most normal thing in the world!"
"Um…" Seeing the woman's emotions fall in disarray, Yozakura attempted to speak up, "Yumi—"
"Of course, I played along with their insanity, even when Asuka told me that she would be more than happy to drag me away and fuck me senseless if I so wanted!"
"Listen, this isn't as—"
"I couldn't believe it! Even now, I'm still appalled over just the sheer degeneracy that those three displayed! They're likely off in some hotel fucking like wild, unchained animals as I speak! We're supposed to be shinobi, not some lustful, senseless beasts!"
"Can you just—"
"And what do I come home to?!" Yumi shouted, pointing right at Yozakura's face. "You're supposed to be an exemplary shinobi, the pride of Gessen, but it looks like you decided to give up on that path and become a whore instead—"
Yumi instantly cut herself off just as those words flowed out.
In a fraction of a second, the gray-haired woman's entire expression went from angry beyond words to utterly horrified.
She hadn't meant to say that. Clearly she must have thought that way if the words escaped her lips, but she had not meant to say that, and now Yozakura was staring at her with shocked wide eyes.
Yumi knew for a fact Yozakura never had an inflated ego, unlike many other prodigious shinobi she met. Usually, Yumi's former right-hand woman was perfectly willing to be lectured and showered with criticisms.
That wasn't a criticism.
What Yumi just said was a personal attack.
And personal attacks, incidentally, were something Yozakura never took lying down.
Yumi gulped, her mind working overtime trying to think of a way to salvage the situation. "W-What I meant was—"
Without waiting for her excuses, Yozakura slammed her fist into the coffee table and stood up, causing the woman to take a step back on instinct.
"Sit the fuck down."
Kurokage's esteemed granddaughter did as instructed.
"Do not fuckin' move," Yozakura ordered, then promptly left the room without another word.
Yumi sat still, doing her very best statue impression as she waited. Just like that, the situation was completely reversed, and it'd remain that way for as long as Yumi valued having an intact face, she assumed.
Incidentally, she was left alone with her very rampant, very panicked thoughts as she waited for whatever Yozakura was planning to do upon her return. She was privy to the many punishments, scoldings and groundings that Yozakura could come up with, especially towards Minori.
Minori, however, never quite went as far as calling the woman a whore straight to her face.
Thankfully, Yumi didn't have to spend too long imagining the many ways Yozakura could grant her an early death, as the girl in question soon marched back into the room with heavy steps. However, instead of her gauntlets, she was holding onto a small, flat object.
And then it was flying towards her face.
Only years of training and honing her instincts allowed Yumi to catch the object with both hands centimeters away from her face, but she had an inkling that Yozakura wouldn't have particularly minded the alternative. Quickly recovering from the impromptu attack—and deciding that confronting her attacker over it would only diminish her life expectancy—Yumi instead opted to inspect what she caught.
It was some sort of journal, and a very old one at that, judging by the faded leather cover.
Yumi looked at it quizzically, raising an eyebrow. "What is this supposed to—"
"Read."
She opened it.
The first thing that caught Yumi's eye, aside from the old, yellowed tone of the first visible page, was her grandfather's signature right on it, the only detail preventing it from being completely blank. That was already weird by itself, because it certainly matched his other journals, but hadn't she already read all of his writings?
Well, clearly not all of them, but this still raised plenty of other questions.
"Where did you even find—"
"Fuckin'. Read."
Yumi turned the page and started doing just that.
As her eyes scanned the writing, she found herself wondering what exactly any of this had to do with the situation. From the looks of it, it was some sort of poetry journal, like others the man himself shared before when he was still with them.
The style certainly matched grandfather's—not that she suspected it of being fake, of course—and, as she kept reading and turning the pages, she only found simple poems about the most random subjects.
And then she reached the seventh page.
"..."
Yumi blinked, staring at the text written in a style that was unmistakably Kurokage's.
She must have interpreted something wrong. That couldn't be it. Her grandfather would never write a poem about... this. Her cheeks were flushed from just thinking about it.
... No, he was only human. Amongst these poems, it was simply natural that there'd be an odd one out, right?
Convincing herself of that, Yumi moved onto the next poem. And then the next. And the next. But they were all about the same thing. Every single one of them.
Her hands trembled as her face grew hotter. The poems were vague, but she could very much understand what exactly they were talking about, and she suddenly knew exactly why Kurokage hadn't shown it to her younger self.
But she wouldn't allow this to sully her grandfather's memory. Poems were about giving form to a person's imagination, no? In this case, her grandfather's imagination simply happened to be going towards a certain... direction. That was all, right?
Any hopes she had of that being the case were promptly dashed as she turned a page once again and her eyes fell on the next poem.
It was far less vague.
No, it would be more accurate to say it was extremely thorough. Unrealistically so.
These weren't just poems, they were recountings of her grandfather's—
She should have closed the journal right there. Instead, her traitorous eyes kept reading, and her body, about as loyal as them, continued to turn the pages.
It wasn't long until the journal started mentioning names.
Names.
Plural.
She almost held hope that these... tales were from before her grandfather met her grandmother, but her name was very clearly there in that poem, and Yumi hadn't even reached a quarter of the journal's length yet, and many other names filled the poems, and she knew for a fact that a good number of these weren't female names, and occasionally there were multiple names in the same poem, and those sometimes included her grandmother, and she was quite certain this was Asuka's grandmother, and did this really just say Hanzo—
*BAM*
Yumi shut the journal with far more force than necessary, only then realizing that her eyes were as wide as humanly possible, her face felt horribly warm, and she was quite certainly hyperventilating.
Feeling horribly out of it even as she attempted to calm her body, Yumi shakily looked up at Yozakura, the girl in question still standing there angrily with her arms crossed as she observed the former Elite leader.
"You wanna sit there an' call me a whore? There's grandpa fuckin' 'round an' writing goddamn poetry about it," she practically growled at Yumi. "Why don't' you call 'im a whore too? An' most of fuckin' Gessen while you're at it."
Yumi shifted at the mention of the school. "G-Gessen? What are you—"
Yozakura threw a set of pictures on the table, forcing Yumi's eyes to the contents printed on them.
Much like the journal, she really should have stopped looking once the first picture made its contents apparent.
And just like the journal, Yumi kept looking at them anyway.
"This whole fuckin' 'prim and proper' thing that everyone loves talkin' about is a load of shit," Yozakura declared as Yumi continued to sift through the pictures. "Who fuckin' cares if some girl decides to bang some guy she met outside? That's nobody's goddamn business, but you got the whole damn school callin' her a slut instead!
"But here's the best fuckin' part about that," Yozakura went on. "Those pictures you're gawkin' at? Shiki took those, and those just so happen to be the same girls who prance aroun' slut-shamin' because those bitches got nothin' fuckin' better to do."
"B-But… that's not… Why…"
"Here's a fuckin' news flash for you 'bout our amazin' grandpa's time," Yozakura spat. "While they were cooped up together in-between fightin' for their lives, shinobi back then were fuckin' like wild animals. Because, ya know, maybe most of 'em figured that they didn't want the first thing inside of them be a fuckin' knife to the face."
Yumi couldn't even look at Yozakura anymore, her gaze fixed on the photos within her shaky grasp.
"Most shinobi nowadays do it and they don't give a shit anymore. I said most shinobi, because we Gessen here are the only goddamn ones who act like such whiny bitches about it, even though we got people doin' it anyway!"
That had Yumi finally looking up as she placed the photos on the table. "Wait, that doesn't explain why you got involved—"
"None of your fuckin' business," Yozakura snapped, and Yumi immediately looked down again. "Try askin' Shiki if you want the damn specifics that fuckin' bad."
Out of everything revealed to her over the last few hours, the blonde's involvement in this whole thing was the least shocking to her.
"So if you want to go around and call every single shinobi a whore for wantin' to fuck before they die," the blunette spat, "I suggest you start now if you're hoping to finish by the next century, bitch."
As Yozakura finished, Yumi had no response at all. In fact, her mind itself didn't seem willing to help her, and she could do nothing but stare blankly at the floor.
She didn't need to look up to be aware of the glare aimed at her, and eventually a frustrated sigh—more like a growl—left the blunette's lips.
"If you're done acting like we're in the fuckin' 1800s, I'm leavin'." Yozakura turned around with a huff, walking away. "Gotta find those two and whoop Shiki's ass for that disappearin' stunt o' hers..."
Just like that, she left the room, not even granting Yumi enough time to say anything else.
Then again, it wasn't as though she would've done so in her current state. She simply sat there, staring blankly at nothing in particular as her mind attempted to make sense of what just happened.
After a few moments, she glanced at the discarded journal and photos, the majority of both still unknown to her.
"..."
Then, as though in a daze, Yumi collected them, stood up, and slowly retreated into her bedroom, sliding the door shut behind her.
April 14th, Saturday, 8:00 AM.
Kurokage's Cabin.
Despite being home to an entire group of young kunoichi, weekends at Kurokage's traditional former home were actually rather quiet, Yozakura thought as she focused on going from one household chore to another, clad in a simple light blue shirt and a short gray side button skirt.
Officially, most shinobi students had no classes or training on Saturdays and Sundays, and although it was more or less expected for them to train anyway—using the lack of a curriculum as a reason to pick their own focus for the day—that still left quite a bit of free time. Shiki was always more than happy to use that as a chance to disappear and do her own things for most of the day, while Minori, who tended to be extra disruptive during weekends, started doing the same ever since that whole Battle Royale mess.
Perhaps that was a consequence of being pushed into expanding her horizons. Yozakura didn't think it was a bad thing, most of the time Minori simply went on 'playdates' with Hibari, it was when she caused trouble for someone else that the bluenette had to step in.
Which, sadly, was also a frequent occurrence.
As for the rest of them, they weren't exactly noisy in general. In Yozakura's case, even a vacuum cleaner would be completely silent with the right shinobi seal on it, and if Murakumo hadn't moved out to live with her actual adopted family after graduating—having completely ran out of excuses not to—then she'd simply be reading or drawing in her room.
Surprisingly, Yumi didn't have such a consistent schedule, but whether she tried her hand at calligraphy, brewing tea or training, it wasn't ever a disruptive endeavor.
As mentioned before, the house was rather quiet on the weekends.
… However, it was a bit too early to be this quiet already.
Sighing, Yozakura set her cleaning tools aside and looked at the completely empty living room. The morning sun was spilling into the house, and by now everyone would have been eating breakfast. The noise wasn't meant to die down until a bit later.
It just so happened that Shiki and Minori were still nowhere to be seen ever since their escape. Apparently, they slept over at some friend's house, which Shiki helpfully explained in a short phone call before instantly hanging up before Yozakura could ask for any specifics.
A bold move, but unfortunately one that would cost the blonde's life as soon as she showed her face around the house.
As for Yumi, Yozakura hadn't seen a peep of her even though she had already woken up. And she knew for a fact that her former leader was awake, because the sound of the shower running wasn't exactly hard to notice. Still, it was strange how her bath seemed to be taking far longer than usual, considering Yumi would be the first to complain about someone wasting water.
And, just as she thought that, the shower was turned off.
Briefly, Yozakura wondered what she would say to her former leader, assuming she didn't opt to escape through a window like Shiki. It wasn't like they never argued, but last night was different. She threw as many insults as possible at Yumi and left before she could convince herself to break the woman's face as well. It was the first time things had actually gone that far.
Even worse, Yozakura wasn't sure if she could stop her fists if Yumi just walked up to her and pretended nothing happened yesterday.
Perhaps she'd just have to hope Yumi wasn't any stupider than she revealed herself to be last night.
Deciding that, Yozakura began heading to the kitchen to reheat yesterday's food that Shiki and Minori didn't have a chance to eat. With only two people in the house, it wasn't exactly worth it to start a meal from zero when they had those leftovers right there.
But, before she could even leave the room, a set of hasty footsteps began approaching. Yozakura stopped in her tracks, sighing as she turned a tired gaze at the other doorway that led to their bedrooms and bathroom, and—
Her eyes widened as Yumi walked into the room.
The most striking thing Yozakura saw was that Yumi wore her furisode kimono, indicating that her Turnover was active for whatever reason. Her hair was still quite damp and messy, despite the fact she usually put so much effort into taking care of it.
It was a bit more worrying how her eyes looked tired and empty, with the dark circles under her eyes telling a story of little sleep during the previous night.
Now Yozakura really wasn't sure what to say as she took in the sight. What the hell happened?
Yumi didn't offer any explanation at first, simply staring back. Perhaps she was waiting for Yozakura to say something first, but it never happened, and so the two of them remained stuck staring at each other.
That is, until a few moments later, Yumi bowed very low.
"Please teach me how to be a whore."
Yozakura blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"I finally understood it." Yumi looked at the blunette, a crazed glint settling into her eyes. "If everyone except me is a deviant, then that means I'm the deviant, right? Right?"
"Uhh…"
Yozakura couldn't possibly be blamed for taking a step back.
"I had a very long night, Yozakura," Yumi went on, rising to her full height. She likely attempted a friendly smile, but it looked… off, instead. "I had to come to terms with many, many things and, in the end, I've simply come to realize that I'm the sole outlier in this whole mess!"
"Is… that so…?" Yozakura returned her own hesitant smile as she wondered whether to knock her former leader out. She'd understand afterwards, right?
"I used to think constant sex was just something those deviant depraved evil shinobi did to fill their empty hearts, because lust is evil," Yumi spoke with a shaky tone as her smile widened. "I just couldn't see things as they truly were at all!"
As she said that, she bowed once again, this time even lower than before.
"If this is the way things are, I will not contest any longer," she continued. "So, please, enlighten me! I wish to be a slut just like the rest of you!"
"..."
Yozakura took note of Yumi's unsteady legs and idly wondered how difficult it would be to knock out a sleep-deprived Tokujõnin.
Still, perhaps it'd be better to play along for the time being. If she was lucky, she might even get Yumi to sit down and faint by herself.
With that in mind, Yozakura racked her brain for something she could say. "... Okay, first of all, stop using words like 'whore' and 'slut' unless you want to piss people off."
"Huh?" Yumi seemed confused as she rose once again to stand normally. "But Ryōna didn't seem to mind it…"
"Well, that's because Ryōna—"
Yozakura froze right there as the words fully registered in her mind.
"Ah, um, sorry," she began after a moment. "Did you just say you talked to Ryōna? About this?"
"Oh yes, yes." Yumi nodded. "After becoming so enlightened through Grandfather's diary and those photos, I reached out to her for help. After all, who would know better about this topic than Hebijo's poster whore herself?"
Yozakura could almost understand the logic, but simply going to Ryōna for any type of help was in itself illogical.
"She gave me so many tips, and I've been meaning to put them to use." Saying that, Yumi got closer to Yozakura. "Like this kimono. I wouldn't have ever dared to use a sacred Ninja Art for something like this, but Ryōna told me that it had a... universal sexual appeal, or something of the sort."
Saying that, Yumi propped her arm underneath her chest, accentuating the size of her ample breasts.
Yozakura absolutely stared for a solid two seconds before she looked away.
She idly wondered if that was also one of Ryōna's "tips," and briefly considered making her escape before her former leader could demonstrate what else she was "taught."
It wasn't that she found Yumi to be unattractive; she thought her former leader was in fact extremely beautiful. Even now, Yozakura couldn't stop her eyes from wandering to the woman's rather attention-catching cleavage, no matter how much she told herself not to.
On top of that, it was very obvious that Yumi wore a sum total of nothing underneath the kimono, which had been a constant since she first designed it three years prior.
Evidently, nobody had ever bothered to bring up that fact to her.
The actual issue was that Yozakura had no idea what to do. The entire scenario was straight out of a fever dream, and it did no favors to her own mental state.
"Yozakura?"
Realizing that Yumi was standing there waiting for an answer, Yozakura sighed, bringing up a hand to massage her temple.
In the end, the situation was stupid, and so any resolution would be similarly stupid. If that much was impossible to avoid, then…
Oh, what the hell.
"You know what? Fine, I'll teach you."
Yumi's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing that.
"But not here, unless you want to clean up the mess afterwards," Yozakura finished, narrowing her eyes.
Even in her sleep-deprived state, it seemed Yumi was sensible enough to know Yozakura's threats weren't just empty words, because she nodded easily.
"And for the love of all that is holy, don't go to Ryōna for advice ever again."
"But… she had some good tips…"
Yozakura had to force her own retort down. "... Whatever, let's… get this over with."
Soon enough, the two of them found themselves in Yozakura's bedroom. There was nobody else in the house besides them, but Yozakura activated the soundproofing barriers on her way in anyway.
After that, they both sat on her bed, and the blunette braced herself for a sudden influx of questions.
Except none came, and instead Yumi was staring at her expectantly.
… So Yozakura was supposed to give a one-sided lecture?
Great.
At least her experience helping Minori study every other day would be useful for something.
"Look, we're going to start slow, okay? It's your first time, I don't want to overwhelm you."
Though she looked slightly disappointed, Yumi nodded. "Very well. Teach me."
Yozakura took a deep breath, steadying herself. Yumi waited for her expectantly, eagerly even. The blunette just had to hope that the sleep-deprived woman would faint before things got too serious.
With that, Yozakura motioned for Yumi to come closer. When the girl did so, she said, "We'll start simple. How about a kiss? I-It doesn't have to be long," She frantically added. "But this sort of thing usually starts this way, so… Yumi?"
To her surprise, Yumi was looking away, blushing and fidgeting with her hands. Was she suddenly getting cold feet?
"My first kiss…" Yumi muttered. "I didn't think… my first kiss would be with you."
Ah. Right. Despite dedicating her life to being a shinobi, Yumi often had vivid fantasies about marriage and being an exemplary wife.
Perhaps this was a 'violation' to those fantasies and purity, but so was begging her to be taught how to be a slut in the first place, so Yozakura didn't really care.
… Yozakura was still going to talk to Yumi about using those words so freely later, when her former leader's brain was functional enough to listen.
"Just leave it to me, alright?" Yozakura grabbed Yumi's hands, prompting the woman to look at her. "I'll take care of… everything…"
Even as she said that, Yozakura felt a lump in her throat, a cold sweat overtaking her as she actually looked up at Yumi. The woman was several inches taller than her, but at least the height difference wasn't as exaggerated as with Murakumo.
Unless lying down or standing on different heights to begin with, kissing Murakumo for too long was a sure way to cause neck pains, as both Yozakura and Shiki found out. As for Minori, it was straight up impossible without something like a stool, which was sort of amusing—
And Yozakura realized she was absolutely rambling in her head to distract herself from reality.
She was actually going to kiss Yumi, who was still staring at her, and maybe go even further.
In that case, she probably shouldn't keep her waiting too long, right?
Swallowing hard, Yozakura closed her eyes, emptied her mind, and pushed their lips together.
The first thing she noticed, or rather tasted, was the fact that Yumi used lip balm. Being in such close proximity to the woman also clued her into the scent of perfume. Yumi was never much into prettying herself up, unless Shiki happened to be in the room, so the sudden inclusion made Yozakura wonder if Ryōna played a part.
After a few seconds, Yozakura pulled herself away from Yumi, taking a moment to catch her breath. Yumi herself looked dazed and flushed.
"So," Yozakura began. "How do you feel?"
For a second, Yumi didn't say anything. Her fingers touched her lips, pausing for a bit as she stared down. Yozakura wondered just whatever it was her former leader was thinking.
Then, she looked back up at Yozakura. "Can we… kiss again?"
"Um," Yozakura blinked. "Well, I didn't really plan on kissing for that long, I figured we could move on now?"
"B-But, I think I need a little more…" Yumi actually pouted at her. "It didn't feel long enough to me…"
Yozakura just barely managed not to push Yumi down at that display.
Instead, she breathed in and kept her face carefully neutral. "Fine, come here."
With that, they kissed for a second time. Yumi was much more eager than before, practically grabbing onto Yozakura as she went in. The bluenette had to steady herself, grabbing Yumi's waist.
Yumi moaned a little when she did that.
Yozakura, unfortunately, didn't factor that noise taking a hit on her self-control. She wanted to hear Yumi do it again, so her hand slithered down the woman's side, finding her entirely exposed ass and giving the soft, plump flesh a firm squeeze.
Yumi moaned again into Yozakura's mouth. Somehow, she managed to make noises squeakier than Murakumo.
Little by little, Yozakura felt her urges grow out of control. Fantasies about her former leader who forgoed underwear entirely during battles were usually saved for lonely nights, but this was reality and the blunette was positively starting to lose it.
A sensible part of her brain told her that it was unwise to go so far so fast, that she should slow down so she didn't overwhelm Yumi.
Yoakura might have agreed with that, if Yumi hadn't picked that moment to push Yozakura down on the bed, straddling her lap while their tongues finally met.
By that point, Yozakura had concluded that her brain's arguments were invalid.
"Pwah!" Their lips separated once more, linked by a long trail of saliva for a moment before it broke, and the two were left gulping for air.
Yozakura typically wasn't much of a morning sex woman, but seeing the downright lustful stare Yumi gave her made her want to reconsider that stance.
"I want… more…" Yumi breathed out.
At that moment, Yozakura had a feeling that her original plan to wait out until Yumi passed out was quickly crumbling to pieces. She was also realizing that she was slowly losing the will to care.
Sighing to herself, Yozakura moved her hands from Yumi's neck to her waist. The woman looked confused for a brief moment, before Yozakura lifted her up. "Ah?!" In a swift motion, their positions were reversed, and Yozakura was the one straddling a flustered Yumi.
"W-What are you…" Any questions Yumi had died as soon as Yozakura lifted her shirt, revealing a lacy dark blue bra as she tossed the thing aside. "A-Ah…"
Yozakura tensed up when she felt Yumi's eyes on her newly exposed self, feeling an urge to run out of shame. She didn't do that, and instead reached down to unbutton her skirt and throw it away, offering Yumi a full view of her similarly designed blue panties.
When Shiki gifted her the side button skirt, she did, in fact, speak about those being easily removable while straddling someone, but Yozakura had promptly stopped listening to her perverted rant. The lingerie set was also a gift from Shiki, and Yozakura was only convinced by the girl to wear it often as normal underwear because of how much the others seemed to like it, even if she didn't think much of it at the time.
As she stared at Yumi's lust-ridden face, eyes wandering all over Yozakura's form like she was looking at a goddess, Yozakura was hit by the scary thought that maybe Shiki was worth listening to.
Yozakura attempted to smirk at the borderline hypnotized woman under her, though she was certain it came out a bit shaky. "W-What do you think?"
It took a full three seconds of Yumi staring right at her cleavage for her to regain a sensible part of her brain, and by that point she was blushing. "I-It looks… nice!"
"... Nice?"
"W-Well, what do you want me to say?" Yumi tried to laugh, but it didn't quite work out. "I've often had… sinful thoughts about you, Yozakura, but I never said those thoughts out loud, but now we're here, with you performing a striptease right in front of me! Do you want me to say that I'm thinking about completely ravishing you right now?!"
"Um…"
"Because I am! And I'm certain you're having similar thoughts about me! In fact, from what you said before, I'm pretty sure that all of my sisters have thought about fucking me at least once! So how do you think I should—Mph?!"
By that point, Yozakura's incentive was to shut Yumi up before she had another meltdown, and her brilliant solution to that was to lean down and kiss the wide-eyed woman for a third time. As she pressed their bodies together, Yumi's surprise gave way to pleasure as she closed her eyes and accepted it once more.
Considering that response, Yozakura felt that she needed to keep her distracted, at least so she didn't have any good headspace to either panic or whine again. Or both.
With that in mind, Yozakura went on the offensive, lowering her kisses to Yumi's neck. Yumi let out a moan, akin to the squeak of a mouse, as Yozakura began invading her private, sensitive areas.
Each and every one of Yumi's moans proved to take a hit at Yozakura's already depleted sanity. By this point, she wanted to keep drawing those noises out of her as much as possible.
She easily found a way to do just that, when her lips found their way to Yumi's breasts.
"A-Ah…~!" Yumi put a hand over her mouth, stifling her moans while Yozakura started ravishing her bosom with her tongue. She was quick to grab the hem of Yumi's kimono and pull it down to her waist, exposing Yumi's breasts outright. "Hah?!"
Her nipples were already hardening from the small amount of foreplay that Yozakura was doing. She felt compelled to aid in that, so she went ahead and started teasing Yumi's right nipple with her fingers, while her tongue gave the left some attention.
Yumi's inexperience meant she had no idea how to control her voice, as such she was moaning quite loud from just that. Yozakura was suddenly glad she put up those barriers.
It was also feeding the bluenette's needs quite well, so that was certainly an upside for her.
Once she was done playing with Yumi's nipples, Yozakura's hand began to move down lower. The gray-haired ex-Elite was already reduced to a blushing, panting mess.
And she was looking right at Yozakura, her eyes glossy with lust and need. "W-Why did you… Hah~?!"
Yumi's body lurched when Yozakura's fingers found her pussy. They stroked and teased her honey pot with a vigor that Yozakura rarely displayed otherwise, but with deliberate slowness as well, all for the purpose of drawing out Yumi's reactions and noises.
Briefly, the Elite wondered if she was starting to act a little like Haruka, before shoving the thought away outright.
"Ah… Ahn~!" Yumi's body fidgeted and convulsed as Yozakura's fingers rubbed away, working up a sweat as she did so. Only from past experience was Yozakura able to properly please her former leader down there.
Then she stuck a finger in. Then two.
Yumi's squeal might have been loud enough to crack a window.
Yozakura used her free hand to hold Yumi down by her shoulder, while the other was fervorously pounding Yumi's nethers. She didn't go too rough, she rarely did unless specifically asked, but she definitely wasn't being gentle at the moment.
And then, Yozakura felt it. Yumi's orgasm. She didn't let out a world-ending moan while it happened, but her mouth was definitely open as her back arched and let out a silent scream, before collapsing back onto the bed.
"Haah… haaah…~" Yumi panted, her body covered in sweat as she covered her face with her arm.
For a moment, Yozakura wondered if Yumi was going to pass out from all of the exercise. She was already sleep deprived as it was, was she at her limit now?
As soon as she finished thinking that, Yozakura realized that she was on her back, with Yumi looming over her and pinning her arms down on both sides.
Yumi ogled her body with open lust, as if she was barely holding herself back from having her way with her right then and there. Her hungry gaze made her look like a predator about to feast on its prey.
That look alone did a lot of things to Yozakura, especially to her womanhood.
"If we're not holding back anymore…" Yumi sat up, and Yozakura hated how disappointed she was by that. "Then that means I get to do whatever I want to you, right?" Yumi undid the last knot holding her kimono together, tossing the thing aside as she exposed her body to the bluenette. For a moment, Yumi paused, then she smirked when she noticed Yozakura's gaze falling to her breasts. She put a hand in her hair and looked right down at Yozakura. "Do you like what you see?"
The way Yumi said that to Yozakura made her breath hitch. She sure as hell wasn't about to admit that Ryōna of all people may have given some good advice, but the downright lustful stare that Yumi was giving her, combined with the seductive tone she was using, was making the bluenette hot and bothered.
Without bothering to wait for an answer, Yumi reached and hooked onto the front-clasp of Yozakura's bra with her fingers. With one simple tug, the bra came loose, violently snapping in half as her breasts bounced free.
Before Yozakura could even take a moment to react properly, Yumi was already face first in her voluptuous bosom, attacking her mounds with a flurry of kisses that caused Yozakura to moan. Yumi's arms freely explored the bluenette's generous curves, but even with the 'teaching' that Ryōna had provided for her, it was obvious she had no experience.
Yumi had wasted no effort on giving Yozakura's breasts some love. She seemed enamored with their size and softness, almost childlike as she eagerly gave her mounds affection with her lips.
Her kisses eventually devolved into licks, leaving trails of saliva wherever her tongue went as Yumi went all out on the palpable flesh like they were the most delicious things in the world.
"Mmm…~" Yozakura kept her reactions subdued, cradling Yumi's head. Only Minori had ever been infatuated with her boobs prior to this, and it was because of Shiki that the girl had always asked if Yozakura could make 'booby milk' for her to lap up. "Hah?!"
Yozakura's thoughts were put to a halt when Yumi zeroed in on her nipples, using her tongue to flick at the pink nubs in a rapid fashion until they were stiffening. Once they were, Yumi began sucking on them, taking the mounds into her hands and massaging them while she attacked her nipples. "Mmm~!"
Yumi made sure to look right up at Yozakura as she performed these maneuvers, taking in all of Yozakura's gasps and moans and she tried to hide her blushing face from the grey-haired girl. She hadn't expected Yumi to go so hard, but she shouldn't have been surprised, considering she was operating on the advice of a total lunatic.
Yumi eventually let go of her breasts, wiping her mouth as she looked down at her handiwork. The sight of a blushing, nearly naked and out of breath Yozakura who was quite clearly begging for her to continue had an unbearably intoxicating effect on Yumi.
With that in mind, Yumi went lower, showering Yozakura's body with kisses trailing down from the underside of her breasts, her stomach and eventually her womanhood. It was the only piece of clothing left between the two of them, and the only shred of decency that Yozakura had left.
So of course Yumi pulled the offending cloth off of her, tossing the thing to the side so that Yozakura was completely bare before her.
Her nethers were already wet, twitching and begging for a release. Briefly, Yumi wondered if Yozakura ever got the chance to finish after her sudden interruption the previous night.
If Yozakura was pent up and Yumi was to blame, then naturally it was up to her to resolve it, right?
That was her thought process when she bent down and gave Yozakura's womanhood a long, slow lick upwards, testing the taste of her honey pot and also to gauge Yozakura's reactions. She didn't disappoint on either end, finding the taste to be exquisite while Yozakura threw her head back and let out an unusually girlish moan.
Those moans, combined with the way Yozakura's sweat-gleaned breasts bounced with every slow breath that she took, did wonders to Yumi's own privates.
She wanted to see Yozakura do it more, so she kept licking, practically drinking in the bluenette's erotic moaning as she satiated her. As inexperienced as she was, there wasn't a single doubt in Yumi's mind that she was doing this much right.
That came at a cost, however. She hadn't anticipated her own lust and excitement to flare up from what she was doing to Yozakura. Even though she had just experienced an orgasm, she wanted to keep going, so she definitely felt disappointed when she felt Yozakura's own finish.
That disappointment was slightly subdued when she actually looked at Yozakura in the alluring afterglow. She would definitely have to thank Ryōna the next time they met.
Yumi sat up and wiped the honey fluids off of her face, taking the time to lick the remnants off of her fingers, while Yozakura came down from her high.
Yumi looked right at Yozakura, her excitement refusing to die down. So she asked, "Can we… do it again?"
'How the hell has she not passed out yet…?' Yozakura thought, bewildered by Yumi's resilience. She was running on four hours of sleep, and she wanted to go for Round Two. Only Shiki ever had the eagerness for something like that.
And just like with Shiki, Yozakura found herself begrudging at the idea. Unlike her experiences with the other woman, it wasn't as prominent.
However, she still wanted to put a needy girl in her place.
"You wanna go again? Fine."
"Thank y— Hmph?!"
It didn't take long before Yumi was face down on the opposite end of the end, with Yozakura laying by her and her hand trailing down Yumi's back.
"You wanna cum that bad?" Yozakura breathed into Yumi's ear, causing the woman's back to straighten up. "I'll give ya that. I'll make it real nice just for you."
Yozakura forced Yumi's ass into the air, baring her rear in plain, open view. Yozakura found Yumi's pussy with relative ease, having done something like this to Shiki prior. Yumi gasped when Yozakura started stroking her womanhood, covering her mouth with her forearm as the bluenette's fingers went to work in her nethers.
While her hand was busy plowing Yumi's pussy, Yozakura began to maneuver herself downwards. She sat up on her knees and made her way to Yumi's rear, not even slowing her pace with her fingers as the ex-Elite moaned into her arm.
When Yozakura was face first with Yumi's ass, after taking a moment to admire how nice it was, she stopped her fingering.
Yumi's reaction was instant, looking at Yozakura with a confused and frustrated expression. "Wh-What are you…?"
Refusing to elaborate, Yozakura simply let her actions speak by shoving her fingers back inside, but with the addition of her tongue slurping the outside of Yumi's pussy while her digits ravaged her insides.
"!" Yumi buried her face into the covers, her entire body positively shaking as Yozakura reamed her. Her tongue and her fingers worked expertly in tandem, intent on finishing Yumi off as quickly as possible.
It worked, at least that's what Yozakura assumed at first.
After her second orgasm, more subdued than the first, Yumi rolled over onto her back, using both of her hands to cover her face as she struggled to reign in her breathing. Yozakura hovered over her, noting how exhausted she sounded, and thought that would be the end of it.
As if to strictly crush her hopes, Yumi moved her hands from her face, gazing upwards at Yozakura with an impassioned, glazed look of lust, and muttered, "M-More…~"
"..."
Seriously, what the hell was up with this woman?
She could tell just from Yumi's expression that she was on the verge of passing out. She was half-tempted to just refuse, but if it could take one more little push…
Screw it.
With a sigh, Yozakura lowered herself so that their sweaty, slippery bodies were rubbing against each other. Yumi moaned, back arching slightly from the erotic sensation. Yes, she still wanted more.
Yozakura could only shiver at what Yumi would be like if she wasn't sleep-deprived.
With that, Yozakura gently moved to lay on her side, pushing Yumi to hers in the same motion. She pressed her body against Yumi's backside, making the woman shiver, before her hands found Yumi's crotch yet again.
It wouldn't take much, so Yozakura was gentle this time as she fingered Yumi.
Even now, her moans were still high-pitched. Yozakura just had to wonder how much the ex-Elite was holding herself back prior to her little revelation.
Well, that was something for the future Yozakura to worry about. The current Yozakura was planting kisses on Yumi's shoulder as she fingered her, earning shivers and moans in response.
As much as she didn't want to admit it out loud, there was a not-so-small part of Yozakura that wanted to keep going too. However, she was sensible enough to know that, despite her insistence, Yumi didn't have much left in her.
As she thought that, she felt Yumi's body shudder and a subtle wetness squirt against her palm. Yumi came, but she didn't let out any noise, or make any real movements after the fact.
"... Yumi?"
Her only response was Yumi's shoulders rising and falling, and light snoring following alongside it.
'Oh, she finally passed out.' Yozakura sighed in relief. Taking care not to wake Yumi, Yozakura gently moved off of the bed, taking the time to stretch as she did so.
When she was done with that, she calmly walked up to one of her pillows, took it in her hands, and buried her face in it as she let out a muffled scream.
God dammit, she was so stupid. She should have just knocked Yumi out before and called it a day, but no, she had to let her stupid urges overtake her instead. Ugh...
… Well, with any hope, it would finally put Yumi's whining to rest. That, at least, was enough for Yozakura to consider not digging a hole and hiding there forever.
And she still needed to whip up a creative enough punishment for Shiki and Minori, assuming they even bothered to show up out of their own volition.
With a sigh, Yozakura gathered her and Yumi's discarded clothes, threw them in a hamper, and took it with her as she left the room. Shower, laundry, then punishment. That sounded like a good idea.
April 15th, Sunday, 9:00 AM.
It was a beautiful day outside, at least in Yozakura's opinion. A clear, sunny morning, a cool spring breeze, and a brisk walk through a nature trail was enough to put her in a good mood. Yozakura normally wasn't the type for walks, but she could see the value in it.
It would have been more peaceful if it wasn't for the two overgrown children known as Shiki and Minori. Despite yelling at them so much yesterday that her throat was still a little sore, those two bounced back from it as if nothing had happened in the first place.
Honestly, why did she even bother?
"So… the last few days were pretty eventful, huh?"
Yozakura looked at Murakumo, happy to have her presence again even if only for a visit. She was without her ogre mask, a habit that she had been steadily getting used to as of late, and giving the bluenette a shy smile.
"That's an understatement…" Yozakura rubbed her temples. "But I think that whole mess is over. Yumi seemed just fine during dinner yesterday, at least."
More than fine, actually. Yumi was all but brimming with elation, thanking Yozakura personally and offering apologies for her earlier behavior. That, at least, was enough to convince her that this whole stupid thing was finally behind them.
"That's good…" Murakumo nodded. "I wondered when Yumi would find out, I was always… curious…"
"Oho? Does Murakumo wanna do it with Yumi that bad?" Like a little devil, Shiki suddenly popped up in the middle of them with a teasing look. "Get in line sister, I called dibs first!"
"M-Maybe not so soon…!" Murakumo flared up, hiding her face behind her hands out of instinct. Shiki had a laugh, while Yozakura groaned. "W-Why didn't Yumi come with you all anyway? Is she on a mission…?"
Normally, Murakumo's four sisters would go to the Tairo's mansion to pick her up on the rare occasions she had free time, mostly due to a certain pair being too impatient to wait for Murakumo to arrive, but Yumi was nowhere to be seen today.
Yozakura shook her head. "She wanted to stay home and cook breakfast for all of us as something of an apology," explained Yozakura. "I don't really mind, it saves me the hassle of cooking."
Well, that wasn't entirely true. If anyone else had decided to take the reins of cooking, Yozakura would've also stayed behind to ensure they didn't blow up the kitchen. But she trusted Yumi. Mostly.
In no time at all, the four found their way back to Kurokage's cabin. Shiki and Minori made small talk with Murakumo while Yozakura walked up and opened the door.
She was instantly assaulted by a variety of scents that could only be breakfast. So Yumi didn't have another meltdown and destroy the kitchen while they were gone. Good to know.
"Just in time, everyone~!" called Yumi from the kitchen, in an unusually sing-songy voice. "I hope this is fine, I went all out...!"
Yozakura didn't know if she was imagining the tinge of uneasiness in Yumi's words.
She pushed the thought away as she made her way to the kitchen. Maybe she was still on her guard after yesterday, her mind could simply be playing tricks on her—
Yozakura froze when she entered the kitchen.
It wasn't because Yumi made a mess. No, all of the food was laid out nicely on the table, from rice to eggs and toast, and it all looked very delicious. Yozakura had no complaints there.
Rather, she stopped because of Yumi herself.
Fitting for the role of cooking, Yumi was wearing a white apron. One Yozakura wore every time she cooked, in fact. Nothing wrong with that.
But she wore absolutely nothing underneath it.
Which means Yozakura was getting a very nice, unfiltered view of the woman's behind while she gave the bluenette the brightest smile she had ever seen her give.
"Yoza, why're you just standing… there…?" called Shiki, just in time for her to peek her head inside and see Yumi for herself, with Minori and Murakumo right in tow.
Right, the other three.
On cue, all three of them gathered into the kitchen, equally stunned into silence just like Yozakura.
Yumi turned around fully, leaning back on the counter and waving at them with a far too happy expression. "What do you think? I wanted to try something a little new for you all!" She was blushing, probably the embarrassment setting in, but she looked too excited to care about it.
If it was just Yozakura in the room, she would have started some sort of lecture.
Shiki beat her to it with a whistle.
"Wowie! I'm diggin' your new style, Yumi!" Shiki gave the ex-Elite an approving nod. "In fact, I totes wanna try it too!"
"Minori wants to do it too!" The short girl jumped in, far too eagerly. "Naked aprons, naked aprons!"
"U-Um, you two…" Murakumo, perhaps the only other sane one in the room at that moment, looked like she wanted to run.
"Come on, Murakumo, you'd totally look great in an apron!" Shiki wasn't going to settle for that, as she grabbed the woman's hand and gathered themselves around Yumi, who looked positively flustered.
Their former leader let out an awkward laugh. "W-Well, I wasn't planning on making it a group thing, but there should be some spare aprons in the closet…"
Yozakura, meanwhile, just stood there in complete silence. She couldn't muster up a retort, complaint, or anything resembling comprehensible words at that moment.
Instead, she sort of wanted to cry.
Well, there went anything resembling a normal life. That was officially out the window now. All her efforts to keep things mildly normal outside of their bedrooms, rendered useless in a flash.
She didn't know whether to blame Yumi, Shiki, or herself for it.
Faced with such a situation, Yozakura did the only thing she really could at the moment.
Namely, giving up.
"Alright, move outta the way, I'm not letting you idiots knock everything down! I'll get those aprons myself!"
If they were going to turn their house into something straight out of Shiki's porn collection, she could at least try to keep it orderly.