Things are different now
To say that Shoukaku hadn't been on my mind since the other night, would be a bold-faced lie. I knew that night something had changed in our relationship, we stopped being just partners in crime, and I'm okay with that, I think.
Walking out of the command center I stretch up and hear a voice that sends a chill down my spine, "Shikikan-sama!"
Akagi.
Turning around slowly, I see a pair of women, dressed in counter colors, one in black and red with brown hair, brown fox ears on her head, and a collection of brown fluffy-looking tails. Beside her dressed in mostly white and blue, a woman with short white hair, white fox ears on her head, and a collection of white fluffy tails. I felt myself gulp, I had managed to avoid the first carrier division, most days, it was no secret that the first and fifth had issues with each other. The one in the black and red started to approach me, placing two fingers under her chin, then dragging them down her next to her bust line as she said to me, "Akagi knew, sooner or later, Shikikan-sama you would find your way to Akagi."
I guess this one is Akagi, that makes the other Kaga then.
Kaga tilted her nose upward and seemed to sniff the air for a moment, before looking around. Her attention snapped back to me and she said, "Interesting."
"What is it, Kaga?" Akagi asked the other kitsune format kansen.
Before she could speak, a soft coughing sound was heard, and behind them, I saw a third kitsune format, as she lowered her hand she smiled and spoke, "What it is, doesn't matter right now, correct Kaga?"
The white kitsune's lips compressed but she nodded as she spoke, "Of course, Amagi."
This was Amagi! I'd only ever heard about her, she was taller than the other two, and her robes of red and purple kept her heavily covered, she walked between the other two and linked arms with me, pulling me away from the first carrier division as she said, "I need to borrow the Shikikan for a while, I will see you at the dorms, later."
Both of the kitsune of the first carrier division bowed to Amagi as Akagi spoke, "Of course, Nee-sama."
Amagi pulled me along and around some buildings, before going in another direction, not saying anything for a good ten minutes till we ended up in a secluded park with cherry trees in bloom and she spoke, "You are playing with fire, Shikikan."
"How am I playing with fire, Amagi?" I ask with a head tilt.
Amagi folds her arms under her bust as she says to me, "You play with fire by toying with both Akagi and Kaga. It can go one of two ways: they turn on one another, or both of them turn on you."
Rubbing the back of my head and sighing, "That's not what I want, I was more worried about them figuring something out and what it could do to the harmony on the base."
She looks at me with half-open eyes as she says, "If they do find out, the base could be split in two: The pro-Akagi followers and the pro-Kaga followers. It would be a civil war, and you would be blamed for it."
I can't help it, I start to laugh, hard and wipe away a tear as I ask, "You think that's the issue? You think I'm playing them against each other?"
She blinks a couple of times, her head tilting to one side, one ear pointing up the other off to the side as she asks, "What do you mean by that? Shikikan, please tell me what the real problem is."
Looking down at my feet I sigh, "That I may have disrupted the flow of the base last night for good. With the consequences of my actions not yet known."
Her expression becomes one of concern as she asks, "What did you do?"
I laugh again as I say, "Not so much what did I do, more who did I do."
Amagi's eyes widen and her face turns red and she asks, "You WHAT?!"
I cough into my hand to try and mumble her name, "Shoukaku."
Amagi's eyes go wider than I thought possible, her mouth drops open before closing as she tries to find the words before she says in such a level tone, I didn't think it was possible, "W-what? Did you say that you slept with Shoukaku?! That's even worse than if you slept with Akagi or Kaga!"
"In my defense, she let me." I say as I put up my hands.
Amagi takes hold of my jacket as she says, "That's still not a good defense! You better tell me everything that happened, now."
Raising an eyebrow I tease her, "I didn't take you for the time to want to know what another girl likes."
Amagi's features take on an almost too-sweet smile as she demands, "Do not change the subject. Tell me what happened with you and Shoukaku."
With a heavy sigh, I hang my head and say, "A few weeks back, I wanted to check out the new open-air bath in the dorm, I climbed a tree after lights out, to get a look at it, Shoukaku was taking a night time dip after curfew, I fell out of the tree, saw her naked, we flited back and forth a little, she then shoved me out between the two loose boards on the western side of the wall around the dorm. Then we met up a few more times, then last night we had a real date, up on top of one of the port buildings, things happened, we had sex, then Zuikaku found us asleep together. There, you're caught up on the last month or so."
Amagi lets out a yelp of surprise, "How could you two be so reckless?" she pauses, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath before asking, "Did you at least make sure no one else saw you two?"
"We met up after midnight, a good half hour after lights out, we were on top of a building, and Zuikaku was looking for her sister for an exercise. But no, no we didn't, do I look like the kind of guy that thinks that far ahead?" I ask with a raised eyebrow as I add, "I'm not entirely sure how Zuikaku tracked us down so easily."
I get the sense Amagi is mad as she sighs, letting go of me and walking in a little circle as she says to me, "That is very surprising! But we need to move forward. What do you think you will do going forward? How will you avoid getting caught again?"
I shrug as I say, "I don't know, last night was her idea, she had set up a whole date with a blanket and a picnic basket on a roof of a building so that we shouldn't have been visible from below. Right now, only you, Zuikaku, myself, and Shoukaku know what happened last night… Though Kaga seemed to pick up on some kind of scent."
Amagi stopped walking around and looked at me as she sighed, "Kaga has a nose for this stuff. It's a bit of a pain, to be honest. But I need you to promise me something, Shikikan. Please promise me you can keep this secret. Please, can you promise me that?"
"Why is it so important that it be kept secret? What aren't you telling me, Amagi?" I ask as I touch her right arm.
"It is a difficult thing, Shikikan, but Akagi craves those with power. You have power, Shoukaku acts to spite Akagi, often." Amagi says to me with a heavy sigh, adding, "By bedding Shoukaku, you have light a match in a powder room."
"Oh." I say with a defeated tone of voice and look down before asking, "But I'm just a base commander, I have no real power over you girls."
"While true, your actions have consequences, Shikikan, just keep this in mind, everything is a delicate balance." Amagi sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, her ears out sideways before she turns to leave me standing among the cherry trees.
Nodding my head up and down I say, "I will try, Amagi."
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That evening I was in my quarters, thinking about Amagi's words about the stability in the port and how my actions have put that at risk but at the same time, I really liked spending time with Shoukaku. Putting my mug under my brew station to fill it with some coffee to help get me through the night, I had a ton of work to get done, so I knew I needed to stay in tonight.
My ear twitches as I hear something bounce off the back window of my quarters, and I check the time, it's still way too early for meeting up with Shoukaku. Shrugging to myself, I take my mug and head to the back, and pull back the curtain, standing outside, I see Shoukaku with that picnic basket again. Tilting my head to the side, I unlock my back door and crack it open as I say, "I can't go out tonight, I've got a ton of stuff to do tonight."
She covers her mouth with one hand and giggles, "You have work, do you? I am sure it won't take too long." She pauses and moves closer to the door, slipping under my arm and into my quarters as she turns and winks while saying, "Shikikan, what could be more fun than an evening dinner date?"
With a sigh, I hang my head and say, "Believe me, I'd like to, but I really need to get this done."
She pats my chest with one hand as she moves to my kitchen and places the basket down while giggling, "Don't be such a bore, Shikikan. Besides, I brought some leftover tempura, I was sure you'd want to try some of my cooking." She pauses to wink at me and teases; "Besides we both wasted the food last night, can't have a repeat of that tonight."
Sipping my coffee, I follow her to the kitchen, and as I reach for the basket, Shoukaku playfully slaps my hand away as I ask, "What did you do that for?"
"Because that's not how you do things, foolish Shikikan!" Shoukaku laughs and wiggles her hips as she faces away for me, before looking over her shoulder and winking as she teases out, "A lady should never make it easy for a man to get what he wants."
I put my mug down and place my hands on her hips from behind as I lean in to whisper in her ear, "But I had that last night, on the roof, remember."
Shoukaku presses her stern into me as she giggles, "So are you going to open the basket, or are you just going to ogle me?"
Sliding my hands up her sides to just under her bust before I playfully nip her right ear and reach for the basket as I say, "Why not both?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her smirk as I nipped her ear while she leaned forward, pressing herself more into me as she says, "Well, you certainly know how to make a lady blush... So, are you just going to tease me and not open the basket?"
I let go of her and step back from the basket as I sigh, "I really got to get these reports filed, it's time for the monthly reports I have to send in on how you girls are doing. It's like the one thing High Command expects me to do."
Shoukaku rounds on me, putting her hands on her hips with a bit of a pout as she asks, "Oh really?" there is a pause as she slides her hands up from her hips along her sides to her bust and moves towards me to lean forward and whisper, "What can I do to convince you to push back your work by half an hour or so?"
I gulp a little and raise an eyebrow as I tease, not thinking she'll go through with this, "Feed me that tempura while I work. The sooner I get these reports done, the sooner I can spend more than half an hour."
Shoukau smirks and pushes the basket closer to the counter and takes out a couple of pieces of tempura, before leaning forward and holding one of the pieces just out of my reach as she teases, "Eat it. Now."
Trying to take the bite, she pulls it back and places her lips against mine, I close my eyes and enjoy the kiss and when it breaks I sigh, "I really got to get this done, when it's done, I'm happy to do more."
With a sigh and a pout, Shoukaku moves back and hops up to sit on the countertop, kicking her legs in and out, giving me little flashes of her underwear as she teases, "Fine, fine. But you'd better hurry...I'll be watching you and waiting for you to finish."
I laugh and shake my head as I say to her, "Now who's the naughty one, teasing me like that?"
"Well, after last night, I learned just how… eager you are to get what you want." She giggles before leaning back swinging her legs apart then closing again as she continues, "How can I blame myself for teasing you like that when I know it drives you crazy?"
Running a hand down my face, I step away from my laptop and move over to Shoukaku as she sat on my counter top, I slowly trace my fingertips up her inner thighs, leaning in to almost kiss her before I lean back and go back to my work as I ask, "What about me doing that to drive you crazy?"
She shudders from my touch and pants, "Mmm... You definitely know what a lady likes..." she then gets off the countertop to lean in and whisper in my ear with a light nip, "But, do you know exactly what I want?"
An involuntary groan escapes my lips from her nip on my ear as I ask, "No idea why don't you tell me?"
She smirks and slips into my lap, straddling me, linking her arms around my neck as she says, "Oh, Shikikan, do I have to make it that easy for you?"
Taking a moment to brush my lips against hers, before I lean back and then around her head to look at the screen as I say, "I don't think you're making things easy, I think you're making things hard."
"Oh, is that right? How do you think I am making things hard for you?" she giggles and grinds her hips against me before nibbling my earlobe.
There is no way I can focus on this now. Reaching over and closing my laptop, before slipping my hands down to her stern and standing up, keeping her held against me I say, "Fine, half an hour or so, but then I really need to finish these reports."
She giggles and kisses my cheek while saying, "Deal. But that half an hour starts... now!" and she starts to nuzzle my neck and grind her hips against me.
Trying to keep my focus I whisper to her while I make my way to my bedroom, "I'm kind of surprised you wanted to start now, and not in the bedroom."
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The next morning, I hit send on the reports and lean back in my chair, looking to my kitchen as I see Shoukaku standing there in one of my tee shirts, cooking something in my kitchen I smile at the sight, as I ask quietly to myself, "Would it be so bad if this wasn't a secret?"
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