I didn't even realize that I had put the pairing as Bankotsu X Ayame instead of Hiten X Ayame. Thanks for the notice, it's fixed now. But I do have a Bankotsu X Ayame tale on another account, one that I wrote a couple of years ago. Hopefully I plan to update it, because reading back on it my grammar and writing just seems horrifying. Well, to me, at least.
--
Ayame gathered up her things. It was a habit of hers, to gather up her things. As if she were to run away to a place far, far away. She knew in her heart that she could not run away at all, however. She belonged to the bawdyhouse, and if they were to catch her they would beat her severely. And if they did beat her severely, she wouldn't be able to take on any other work let alone keep earning money as a prostitute. No man, no matter how drunk or out of his mind, would want to pay to sleep with a beaten and crippled girl.
Ayame tightened the front of her robes, but changed her mind and left it hanging. After all, it wasn't as if there was a night when her robes were remaining tightened for more than an hour. She fell back down onto the blanketed floor and closed her eyes.
She knew he was there. Listening. Trying hard not to listen.
Dreaming of him, his soft braided hair, his piercing hawk-like eyes, smouldering gaze and his well-tanned and toned farmer's body, her hands began to stray to forbidden places. It brought her so much shame that he was there while she was engaging in self-pleasure, but she could not help it. She loved him and was sure that he loved her back as well.
She stood up and tiptoed to the door. Ayame sunk low so that he would not see nor hear her, and in the darkness of the room, she gazed lovingly at her friend, her protector, alone. He stood guard with that menacing face of his, the face of a warrior. It turned her on immensely. But that was all she could do.
Watch. Think back to a time when it all started...
And remember...
--
"I see something." Hiten said excitedly. "Pa, come look! I see something!"
Hiten's father rose from his resting chair and walked heavily towards the field where he and his brother stood. Manten tottered on his feet, just to fall over and fall backwards again and again. The tiny tot whimpered of frustration and tossed handfuls of dirt into the air.
"Indeed." Muttered the chief. "I smell wolf."
"Wolf?" Hiten asked. He had heard of the wolf race, but never encountered one.
"Yes, wolf. From the north. My men have told me that they were decimated a while ago, I suppose she is one of the few surviving." The chief leered at the little speck of wolf on the horizon quite menacingly and placed and heavy ornamented hand on his shoulder.
"Go in and tell your mother that a refugee is coming this way. She'll know what to do."
Hiten did as he was told, dashing away to the largest hut in the village. At once his robust mother sprang out with a horde of demon women following her with water, blankets and medicine chests. They ran out to greet the girl, who at once fainted from the overwhelming attention that was brought to her.
"She's so weak." A demon boy said, his third eye blinking rapidly in amazement.
"That's cuz she's a girl, stupid." Hiten snapped smartly. "Boys are stronger than girls. Right, papa?"
The chief did not say a word. He merely looked at the girl with the same eyes that he usually gave him when he had done something wrong. But this girl hadn't done anything wrong…had she?
"Yes, she is weak." His mother said, easily carrying the small girl with both arms. "But not because she is a girl, but because she's been badly hurt. Do you remember when you were badly hurt? That time when you stubbed your toe in the ravine and cried because you broke your toe?"
"I didn't broke my toe!" Hiten argued heatedly with the anger of a child. "And I didn't cry, either!"
"Sure you didn't." said his mother as she walked away, laughing at her adorable little son. "Come inside with your brother and father, the women will be making chicken broth and pork for dinner tonight."
"Awesome!!" Hiten cried out. He picked his baby brother up by the waist and dashed towards the commons. "Pa, let's go! Chicken broth!" Hiten immediately forgot all about the little wolf girl; they were having chicken broth for dinner! Manten's bald little head sparkled off sunlight as he ran towards the warm smell.
--
"I sense something from that creature." The chief said. "And it's not good."
"What do you mean, dear? She's only a little girl."
"You're a demon too, as am I! Don't tell me you don't sense a bad aura from her, woman!"
Hiten closed his eyes and tried hard to seem as though he were sleeping. His parents weren't ordinary; they could immediately tell what he was doing and where, and how even in broad daylight. Afraid of the repercussions of eavesdropping, he turned his back to them and instead faced the hut's sturdy wall.
"I know." The mother admitted. "She does have a bad aura. But she's barely Hiten's age, dear. We can't really tell what she will bring us. We can decide on that later on, but now's not the time."
"I want to rid our tribe of the bad seed now!"
"You remember your father said the exact same thing about me when I first came." he heard his mother's voice drop. "Plus, I wasn't exactly the most attractive woman among the large selection that you could have chosen to be married to."
The chief knew his wife had defeated him yet again in the battle of words. "I know, but darling, I loved you. You're far from being a bad seed, but this girl…she's just too young. Who knows what she could grow up to be?"
"Let's just keep her for awhile. Wolves are a strong race, she could help us in future battles. We are under so much attacks these days."
"You keep in mind that she is a girl!"
"A wolf girl." She said and looked at her husband quite crossly. "You forget that if trained right, that girl could become a valuable asset to our tribe. And as you know…there aren't many of us left."
What did that mean, Hiten wondered? 'Not many of us left?'
"Fine." The chief grumbled as he rose from the bed. "We will keep her until she is of age. Then we will decide what to do with her. Remember these are desperate times; we can't afford to keep another cub if she turns out to be worthless to us."
--
"How old are you?"
"Huh?" Ayame looked up from her pile of rocks, pleasantly surprised to see a demon that at least resembled her in some way. "Are you the son of the chief?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm Hiten. How old are you?"
"I don't remember. But I know I'm older than twenty."
Hiten smirked. "Heh, well then that makes me older than you! I'm twenty-two." He declared seniority with glee.
Ayame didn't understand. "So?"
"So...it's nice to meet you."
"Me too." Ayame blushed. "Do you want to play rock stacking with me?"
Hiten and Ayame, twenty two and twenty, stacked rocks until the sun went down.
--
It all seemed like a whirlwind of memories to him. The incident had been many years back, but he could not help but feel guilty for what had happened after. In his mind he incessantly apologized for what had happened that day...he just had yet to apologize to her.
But time passed and years passed. He wished he could have undone what he did. But of course, he knew it was too late.
--
"Take this, wench!" Hiten lunged forward with his sword as Ayame ducked and rolled to the side to safety. She came behind him with her own scythe as he cleverly spun around, grabbed her wrist and knocked her weapon out of her hands. She punched him in his armoured chest, and Hiten coughed from having the wind knocked out of him. He admitted silently that Ayame was indeed getting stronger and stronger by day, and moved out of the way of several leaf blades that she was now whipping at him.
"Not too easy, huh?" She smirked. Hiten wondered when she had learned to do that attack, but he had no time to think; she had knocked him into the ground, and stood before him with his sword in her hand, smiling down triumphantly.
"I win." she said, handing back his sword and reaching out a hand to lift him up. From where he lay, she looked beautiful. Her ponytailed red hair blew in the wind wildly, and her sweat marks across her neckline and the small dip between the curves of her breasts made her all the more attractive; not to mention, she had grown quite a lot from a vagabond orphan to a strong girl.
(A strong woman)
He blushed fiercly at his inner man that was lusting for her, the most powerful female in his tribe, the one that was deemed worthy enough to fight side by side with his father, the chief. Was she, or was she not aware about the fact that his heart leaped everytime their hands brushed together? Or that he lay at night topless between his sheets, dreaming how it would feel if it were her warm, scented body that was writhing on top of him instead of the blankets? Did she know that her full lips, doe-eyes and muscular yet curvy body turned him on so much that he felt he had to relieve himself or his body would be set aflame?
Apparently not. He watched her pull the large towel off of the branch, wiping her sweat with it. He licked his lips and swallowed a lump lodged in his throat, wishing that the heat would go away. He lusted for her endlessly. Hiten hoped that their regular bath routine wouldn't set him aflame even more. But he felt that was just not possible; he had spent over fifty years with her and the feelings he felt for her were hopefully not mutual.
"Are you coming, loser?" Ayame whipped her towel in his direction and laughed. "Let's go, auntie's making chicken broth today!" She tossed him his towel and ran ahead of him. "Last one to the springs gets to do the dirty laundry!"
He couldn't wait.