Ever After
Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime.
Warning: Fluff.
I study „Happy House Class Book 2" now, what means my English is very far from perfect. Also I read the first chapter of "Writing for Dummies" guidebook, what means my writing skills are close to zero. For no reason I used here few Japanese words. I'm sincerely sorry for all that.
Chapter 3
Warning: lust
It was late night, almost midnight. Natsuki was waiting. With childish impatience she tapped her foot, her eyes never leaving the arrival gate. An endless stream of people flew around her, but she ignored them, focused only on the area before her. She tried to catch a glimpse of the familiar silhouette from a mob. Finally she saw some chestnut and she craned her neck to see better. And here she was, Fujino Shizuru, following a busy crowd. For an unskillful eye even after a long flight she looked as fresh and composed as ever. But Natsuki knew better. Even from a distance she noticed tiredness hidden in the beautiful face.
The cobalt-haired woman wanted to wave, to shout, to run and hug Shizuru tightly. Her fingertips ached, her lips tingled. But she didn't move, standing still with her hands in her pockets, only eyes sparkling, never leaving her target.
When she came closer, but still away, the brunette noticed Natsuki and smiled. Then she turned her head, her lips moved silently when she spoke. Only then the younger woman noticed that Shizuru had a company.
Two young businessmen were conversing with Shizuru while walking by her side. Natsuki saw them the first time in her life, but she felt like she knew them well: Shizuru on business was always surrounded by this kind, people with 'success' written on their faces, their every gesture polite, calculated, evaluating their future income. The rebellious biker hated them to the core, but she learned to hide her discontent.
When they approached, she could hear Shizuru's melodic voice. "Thank you for your offer, but as I said, somebody had already come to pick me up." With these words she looked right at Natsuki, her eyes smiling. The men followed her look and noticed the dark-haired beauty. Their faces brightened. Natsuki knew this expression – they were hoping for a promising double date in a future.
In unison they reached to their pockets and handed with a bow their business cards to the young woman. Natsuki took them knowing that the brunette expected her to do that, but she couldn't care less. At this moment a burning feeling in her fingertips was unbearable and she could only think how much she wanted she needed to touch Shizuru.
"I'll take this." Natsuki awkwardly reached for a small suitcase the young businesswoman was holding. For a brief moment her hand covered Shizuru's. So warm. So soft. Natsuki felt her blood rushing to her cheeks.
"Where is the rest of your baggage?" she asked quickly, trying to hide her confusion, wanting to get out of the place as fast as possible.
"We would be honored if you ladies eat a lunch with us. What about tomorrow?" One of the men chimed in.
Anger flashed in Natsuki's eyes. She was about to say something unpleasant, when she felt Shizuru's reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Ara, I don't know about my friend here, but unfortunately I'm pretty busy the whole week. Maybe another time."
The men smiled with disappointment. Natsuki didn't wait for their reply storming towards a baggage claim.
Shizuru followed her after a while, amusement visible on her face. Expecting a teasingcomment Natsuki did not give the older woman possibility to speak, marching into a cool Tokyo night with a fast pace.
Shizuru winced when she saw Natsuki's Nissan on a parking lot. While the younger woman was making some magic trying to cram the entire luggage into the car, the oldergot inside careful to not hit her throbbing head. She didn't have time to find a comfortable position in the limited space when suddenly she was pulled into a longing kiss.
When they parted Natsuki noticed a little surprised look of her beloved, so shesmiled her rare, genuine smile. "Just wanted to say okaeri," she simply explained and started the engine.
As they reached a thruway, the cobalt-haired woman spoke. "Tired?"
"Very."
Hearing the answer Natsuki didn't say anything, only accelerated. She was very aware that Shizuru was dead tired and all she needed right now was a good rest in her own bed. From a corner of her eyes the driver observed features of her beloved: eyes closed, weary but peaceful face, relaxed body – a sight always self-controlled kaichou didn't allow ordinary mortals to witness.
Natsuki knew she should let Shizuru be, but with her own body still yearning for the touch it was difficult to focus on driving. She couldn't satisfy the aching need of her senses yet, but she was sure that hearing Shizuru's voice could soothe her restless mind. So she broke the silence. "And how was Europe?"
The passenger slightly lifted her eyelids. She thought about thousands things she would like to tell, but settled with short, "Cold. And wonderful."
Natsuki raised her brows, silently demanding an explication.
"They have a real winter there right now. With huge amount of snow and biting frost." Shizuru smiled at the memory of an endless whiteness.
"What is so wonderful in snow?" the driver snorted.
"Nothing I guess."
"So what was wonderful?"
"The way they treated me there."
"I don't get it," Natsuki frowned.
Shizuru closed her eyes and sighed quietly. "They treated me like a real business partner. Just for once I didn't feel out of place."
Natsuki's frown deepened. "Do you feel out of place here?"
"No matter how much respected I am, financial business here is the man's world. I'm considered to be a freak of nature. A woman who has forgotten where her place is." Shizuru sounded tired.
Never before Natsuki heard Shizuru complaining about her job. "They are not worth your time. Maybe you should quit the damn thing." She huffed.
"I like challenges," the brunette answered with a cheerful voice and Natsuki understood that the conversation was over. Besides they reached their destination.
---
Natsuki opened the door to their apartment and while carrying in Shizuru's baggage, she started to speak. "If you want to refresh yourself, the bath is ready. If you are hungry, we have traditional Japanese food in the fridge. You can unpack tomorrow. I will make a tea for you if you wish."
Little bewildered Shizuru watched her bustling companion. "The only thing I dream about is warm bed." She sighed releasing her weary feet from shoes.
"I can arrange that," the shorter woman grinned.
However Shizuru took the offer of refreshing bath - it relaxed her muscles a little, but didn't help with a migraine.
When the Kyoto-born exited the bathroom, she noticed that the whole apartment was dark, the only source of a dim light emitted from their bedroom. She followed the light and found a steamy cup of hot green tea on a nightstand and Natsuki sitting on the bed, waiting.
On her way to the bed Shizuru stopped next to one of her unpacked suitcases and took out something, hiding it behind her back. She approached to her intrigued girlfriend and with a childish grin pushed into her hands a surprise.
"A souvenir from Europe. His name is Duran. He will help you to fall asleep when I am away on business trips."
Natsuki stared at the gift with disbelief clear on her face. She was holding a husky pup plushie.
"Don't you like it?" Shizuru faked grief.
The younger woman grunted. "Sure I do. But we are not kids anymore."
Shizuru made a pitiful face, "Ikezu."
"But thank you." Natsuki pulled the chestnut-haired woman into a hug and kissed her forehead. She felt unnatural hardness of the body under her fingers.
"Your muscles are stiff. They need to be massaged or tomorrow you'll be all sore." Natsuki carefully pushed Shizuru towards the bed. The brunette smiled gratefully and obediently rested on her stomach, entrusting her tired body to Natsuki's care.
The blue-haired woman leaned over and skillfully stripped of Shizuru's nightgown. Seeing exposed skin of her beloved's back, Natsuki had to struggle the desire of caressing it with her lips and tongue, not only with her hands. But she knew that Shizuru needed a proper massage and even the most affectionate kisses wouldn't help her condition.
Shizuru closed her eyes and a small sigh escaped her lips when warm, delicate fingers touched tense musclesof her shoulders. With a precision earned over years Natsuki's hands tenderly squeezed the familiar body. With steady rhythm her knowing digits played a soundless melody on every weary muscle, expertly tracingfamiliar curves, making the tired form relax under her touch.
Shizuru felt her body getting nicely warm and loosening up under Natsuki's tender ministrations. Lulled by the pleasurable touch she let herself drift off into a soothing sleep. She lost the sense of time, but at some point the last awake part of her brain registered that Natsuki stopped her activity. Then she felt coolness of blankets her partner covered them with, and warmth radiating from the body lying beside her. Instinctively Shizuru turned towards the source of warmth and cupped Natsuki's cheek with her hand in a gesture of gratitude.
"Thank you," the brunette mumbled, making a weak effort of staying awake a little longer.
Shizuru felt that Natsuki's head moved under her hand. The inner side of her palm was caressed with soft kisses. Then kisses moved on to tips of her fingers, shifted from her thumb to wrist and went further, making a slow, passionate track to a crook of her elbow. Shizuru felt an initial spark of desire building up in her stomach, her tired body responded to the gesture of love she was receiving. The feeling was overly nice, but Shizuru knew that if she encouraged Natsuki to go any further, her already poor shape would only worsen, the headache eventually knocking her out.
So when tender kisses climbed up her arm approaching dangerously close to her collarbone, she decided she had to stop it.
"Natsuki," she purred warningly.
Kisses stopped. The dark-haired woman sighed heavily and retreated to her favorite spooning position.
"Sorry." The biker buried her face in Shizuru's tresses, disappointment clear in her muffled voice.
Few minutes passed in silence, when a sudden loud intake of breath woke up already asleep Shizuru.
"What are you doing, Natsuki?" she growled sleepily.
"Nothing."
"This nothing woke me up."
"I just missed your scent," came the hesitant reply.
Shizuru smiled. She intertwined her hands with Natsuki's wrapped around her waist and squeezed them tenderly.
"Tadaima," she murmured inaudibly before finally falling asleep.
---
Among human senses the vision is considered to be dominant. The most of stimuli from surroundings are perceived through eyes. Not once Shizuru personally experienced the deep truth of this statement (especially when an image of the particular girl was involved). So when her eyesight got slightly blurred, she took the problem very seriously. She couldn't imagine any detail escaping her perceptive eyes.
Contrary to Shizuru's, Natsuki's sight was perfect - she was a sharp shooter, noticing tiny details from a great range, faultlessly estimating a distance to objects.
But there was some fundamental difference between Natsuki's and other people's seeing of the world. It was not something easy to notice, but sensitive Shizuru had to endure effects of this difference too many times to ignore it.
The biker had seemed to be resistant to majority of subtle body signals Shizuru untiringly had been sending her way. The most provocative dress and a very sexy pose making other males and females swoon, had earned her at best very cute, but rather slight blush from the younger girl.
Not that Natsuki hadn't seen, hadn't noticed or hadn't cared for what she had seen. When she had been in the mood, her eyes had been wandering over Shizuru's features with so much love that it had made Shizuru's heart melt; her lustful glances had been so intense that they had sent shivers through Shizuru's spine. But to put the younger girl into the mood when obviously conventional methods hadn't worked on Natsuki – that had been a challenge.
It had taken the older girl a while (full of doubts, frustrations and misunderstandings) to find out a reason. The secret, unbeknownst also to Natsuki, had been that a vision had not been her most receptive sense. With a great astonishment Shizuru had discovered that practically any other sense of the raven-haired beauty had been more sensitive. But the greatest revelation had been that the most responsive sense ofNatsuki had been the touch.
A simple touch was powerful to the rebel girl. For years lone, she didn't take well any violation of her personal space. But at the same time she longed for the closure she was so cruelly stripped off in her childhood days.
That's why the ice princess avoided any physical contact with people she was not in intimate relationship with. And that's why she was unbelievably feely-touchy when left alone with the ones she loved.
Shizuru wouldn't had been Shizuru if she hadn't taken advantages of her discovery. With delight she had examined countless ways of provoking Natsuki to get the best response. For years the older woman had elaborated a whole arsenal of refined methods to make Natsuki react.
---
Having in mind a fresh memory of the seductive behavior of her beloved a night before, well-rested Shizuru woke up with her sweet revenge planned.
The apartment was empty; Natsuki was already out for work, mercifully not waking up her companion while leaving. So without any obstacles Shizuru could come into action. A breakfast and a few phones later she was ready to take care of any detail left.
Happily humming to herself Shizuru started to unpack. With a slight surprise she found out that the usual disorder in Natsuki's part of the wardrobe was gone. Clothes of the younger woman were not only neatly folded but also ironed and put in even piles. Astonished, Shizuru decided to explore the rest of the apartment. Further inspection revealed uncharacteristic tidiness: the clean floor, no dust on the furniture, the shining bathroom, no dirty dishes around the kitchen, the fridge filled with a healthy food (only one bottle of mayo and no constant noodles), the empty bin, plus Shizuru's precious bonsai collection in a perfect condition.
"Mama was visiting?" she briefly wondered. "No," she shrugged the thought off, "Natsuki couldn't hide it from me. She sounded too sane on the phone." She smugly smiled to herself at the image of her partner ironing shirts. "Natsuki really missed me much if she did all these things. Now I must show her how I appreciate her effort."
The chestnut-haired woman had particular expectations and she hoped her lover wouldn't let her down. To make them granted she called her working girl to push her thoughts into the right direction.
"Natsuki dear, could you tell me what time will you be home?" Shizuru cooed to the phone. "I would be thankful to know because I'm preparing a special dinner just for two of us and I would like to have everything ready on time." Purposefully she made her tone very suggestive.
Shizuru had to wait a while before surprised Natsuki gave her an answer. She smiled hearing badly hidden excitement in her girlfriend's voice.
"Until five then." The older woman giggled and disconnected. There was still some work to do.
Natsuki was rather infamous for her late coming, but Shizuru was sure she would be early today. So she made everything ready at four o'clock.
Quarter past four the kaichou clad herself in the yukata, protected it with an apron and marched into the kitchen.
At four twenty five the entrance door opened.
"I'm home." Natsuki walked in and kicked off her shoes at the genkan. She expected her beloved to welcome her at the door with oh-so-seductive kiss, so she was a little confused when she didn't get any response at all.
"Shizuru?"
The older woman poked her head out of the kitchen with 'I'm busy' expression on her face.
"Ara, you are early. I'm not ready yet." Clad in an apron, with her hair up and with a spatula in her hand the brunette looked like on a serious mission. "Would you like to refresh yourself while I prepare everything?" She suggested with a sing-song voice and again disappeared in the kitchen.
Even more confused Natsuki headed towards the bathroom. Shizuru acted a little strange being so much into cooking. But Natsuki's stomach grumbled in hunger, so she didn't ponder over Shizuru's behavior any longer. It was rare for the older woman to cook, even if she, unlike her younger companion, was skilled in the kitchen. Natsuki loved every meal Shizuru ever prepared, so she wouldn't let the opportunity to pass. Too long today she was jumping from curiosity of what kind of menu her partner would surprise her with.
When Natsuki entered the dining room ready to great her beloved properly (hugs and kisses included) she found very focused Shizuru on her way to the table with a vase of hot soup in her hands, so she decided to suppress for a moment longer her need of ravishing the beautiful chief. With a charming smile Shizuru nodded at her to sit down. Natsuki hesitantly obeyed and comfortably sat on a chair and then took in her surroundings.
A decor of the small table looked quite interesting: it was a tasteful mixture of a western and traditional Japanese style. Shizuru was always careful about details so Natsuki took her time to examine them. Since she learned that the brunette was very pleased with her comments about all these little things she arranged, Natsuki never forgot to compliment her girl. She noticed some elegant porcelain tableware and western cutlery next to tastefully ornamented chawan. In the middle of the table there stood a fancy flat vessel made of glass filled with water. A single small candlelight surrounded by marguerite flowers was floating on the surface. Natsuki wondered if this was a source of a nice aroma filling the room. When she opened her mouth to make a comment, a warm breath tickled her ear and distracted her.
"Diner is served." A low murmur made Natsuki involuntary shiver.
She leaned towards Shizuru's cheek to peck it, but the older woman moved away, at this very moment deciding to take off her apron. Natsuki grunted and watched as Shizuru gracefully reached for the vase and with enigmatic smile poured some soup into Natsuki's plate.
The cobalt-haired woman's nose wrinkled at a foreign smell. "What's this?"
"A truffle soup." Sensuous whisper sent a jolt of electricity down Natsuki's spine. Shizuru again closed the distance, her breath tickling Natsuki's earlobe. The biker felt her ears getting hot. She subconsciously licked her lips and turned her head, wanting to drink from the mouth which produced so tasty sounds. But what she met was not the soft moist flesh, but a spoon with hot liquid. Natsuki blinked in surprise and focused her vision on Shizuru's face. Red orbs expectantly glanced at her, waiting patiently for her to take a try. But Natsuki was frozen, lost in the depth of this intoxicating look.
When she did not get any response, the taller woman giggled and moved even closer. The familiar scent of tea and mystery filled Natsuki's nostrils. She inhaled deeply, marveling at soothing lusciousness of Shizuru's fragrance. Her foggy thoughts were stifled when the spoon met with her lips.
"Say aaah." In the whole world only Shizuru spoke this way, with such ease making ordinary words sound so attractive. If Natsuki had any common sense remained, now it was gone. Hypnotized, she opened her mouth and let the brunette to feed her. She didn't pay attention to a strange flavor, too preoccupied with emotions boiling inside her. Shizuru eyes sparkled with lust and something more, maybe amusement – Natsuki couldn't tell, but it drove her crazy. Her face flushed, her heart accelerated. She wanted so badly to shower this beautiful woman with kisses, to lock the slim waist in a tight embrace, to conquer this perfect body. But she was already under the spell, her movements too slow to catch the treasure no matter how hard she tried. She was at Shizuru's mercy.
"Do you want more?" Shizuru purred in a low voice, her fingertips brushing Natsuki's lips.
Natsuki was only able to weakly nod.
This way they reached a dessert.
For the whole time the raven-haired woman was making weak efforts to make a contact with her hostess, but to no avail. The cruel sorceress who possessed her mid was escaping her wandering hands with ease, always inches too far for Natsuki to reach. Finally she had her chance when Shizuru dipped a small sweet potato ball in mayonnaise and her hand slowly made her way to Natsuki's mouth. The hungry wolf agilely took the bit into her mouth, accidentally grabbing Shizuru's fingers by her teeth during the process.
Shizuru's pupils dilated at an unexpected sensation of the soft tongue passionately caressing her slender digits. She suppressed a moan, surprised how much aroused she felt. For a brief moment she wanted to surrender, but her playful part took over. "Not yet." She skillfully withdrew her hand and got up, nimbly maneuvering herself to avoid Natsuki.
"Ara, I've forgotten to make a tea." She turned away ready to go to the kitchen.
Sudden absence of her tormentor woke up Natsuki from her trance. Her body freed from the spell immediately launched from the chair, finally able to satisfy the only need that had occupied her mind during the merciless dinner: to posses the perfect body presented before her.
Shizuru heard an abrupt movement behind her and right after she felt feverish hands encircling her waist, sneaking under her yukata, pressing hard on her abdomen, nails almost painfully scratching her skin, successfully halting her in the place. A ragged breath tickled the bare skin of her neck.
Shizuru's eyes widened. "Natsuki… tea…" She moaned feeling teeth grazing the sensitive skin of the nape of her neck.
"Tea can wait," came the urgent reply.
---
Indeed, tea did wait.
Not everything went according to her plan. Shizuru intended to keep Natsuki distracted through the dinner and a little after, when she would give her a promised present from Europe and make her wear it. But Natsuki released her tension a little too soon. Not that Shizuru minded. The level of hunger the biker demonstrated was overwhelming. More than willingly the brunette gave in to the force and let Natsuki devour her in every way she wanted.
Shizuru didn't remember how they managed to the bed. She didn't remember when they got stripped. All she remembered was Natsuki's feverish breath, Natsuki's insatiable lips, Natsuki's eager tongue, Natsuki's impatient hands; possessing her body with utter need, caressing rapaciously, exploring passionately. Tonight Shizuru wanted this rough touch. She needed to feel that Natsuki was real. Two long weeks without the reassuring presence of her beloved by her side made her a little paranoid. Despite a logic she had become afraid that Natsuki would suddenly disappear, vanishing into a thin air, leaving her alone. Only the solid hands of her lover leading her with confidence into rapture could silence nightmares of the past. She clutched at the firm body with desperation and let herself be lost into sensation, let craving touches guide her into happiness.
When she finally appeased her hunger, Natsuki collapsed and drifted into a sound slumber, her arms protectively wrapped around totally exhausted Shizuru. The older woman relaxed into the embrace, enjoying afterglow, too tired to make any move. She let a perspiration evaporate from their skin into a chill air - she should protect them with covers, but even a simple gesture of reaching for crumpled blankets was unfeasible in her current state.
Shizuru knew she had some time to recover – Natsuki was sleeping like a rock and it was almost impossible to wake her up. She had to wait. But she was used to wait for the biker. This was what she'd been doing for her whole life. And she would always wait, no matter how long it took, because Natsuki's response when she finally was ready to give one was always worth all the wait.
So she lay calmly observing features of her beloved. Natsuki breathed peacefully, with a content expression of a well fed puppy never leaving her face. Shizuru felt the strength slowly coming back to her body. Altogether with it something else was back: her desire. It was growing in her with every minute, making the wait unbearable.
To occupy herself the older woman decided to check out how actually deep Natsuki's sleep was. She called Natsuki's name, but got no response. She nibbled her earlobe, then blew into her ear. Nothing. She traced Natsuki's lips with her thumb, she took a dark strand of hair and tingled the nose of the raven-haired woman with it. No reaction. She went as far as slightly poking and tickling Natsuki's sides. But the sleeping beauty didn't respond to her endeavors, only a blissful smile on her face widened.
Not that Shizuru really wanted to tear her beloved out of the deep slumber. Of course with some effort she could make it. But she had witnessed Natsuki being suddenly woken up from her log-like-sleep and the subtlest of words to describe her mood afterwards would be rabid. No, she wanted her girl happy and in a good condition, so she had to wait. But with her own desire bursting her from inside, she had to find a way to calm it a little. There was a tested method she decided to use.
She carefully untangled herself from Natsuki, earning a low growl of displeasure from the sleeping form. She smiled warmly seeing how the younger woman's hand suddenly deprived of contact was blindly searching around until she found a pillow to cuddle up to.
Shizuru sneaked into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea.
Indeed tea calmed her a little, but didn't dull her desire. So when finally Natsuki stretched in the bed, the brunette was beside her in no time, brushing her lips against the slightly dry ones. Natsuki opened her sleepy eyes and focused her vision on red orbs above her.
"Hello," Shizuru whispered with a wide smile, "did you sleep well?"
Natsuki purred with satisfaction and lazily wrapped her arms around Shizuru's waist, pulling her lover down to lay on top of her. The chestnut-haired woman shivered at the contact. She felt a surge of the searing heat overflowing her body.
"I've got a present for you I have promised." Shizuru lunged forward and kissed a place above Natsuki's breastbone she knew was very sensitive.
"Lingerie...?" Natsuki made a very sexy whimper and squirmed under the touch of Shizuru's lips.
The addicting touch, the sensuous moan, the intoxicating scent kindled the passion Shizuru had dimmed forcefully. She couldn't restrain herself any longer.
"Yes," she murmured absent-mindedly, her eyes fixed on a pulsating spot of Natsuki's neck.
"Do you want me to wear it?" The biker gasped when her throat was sucked eagerly.
Red haze of desire covered Shizuru's vision, zooming out everything but her lover. "Later," she breathed hoarsely and claimed her prize.
A/N I apologize for such long delay. Lately I'm rather busy with life.
But the good (?) thing is that I have planned the whole story in my head (not that there will be much story ;D), so writing it down is a matter of… time.
Thank you for all reviews, they mean a lot to me.