XVII

"Ohhh… my head…" Sachiko groaned when the sunlight hits her face as the blinds seemed to have been pulled up just to annoy her. "Hangover?" Yumi's voice sounded so loud to Sachiko somehow that she cringed and rolled onto her side away from the source of her headache. "I'll take that as a yes then," Yumi continued and left Sachiko alone for a bit before returning with a bowl of soup in hands. "Have some of the soup to cure your hangover," Yumi said grabbing onto Sachiko's leg nudging her gently. Grumbling, Sachiko managed to get up and took the bowl from Yumi and drank it down, and amazingly her headache was gone.

"Thanks," Sachiko finally said. "Good, now take a shower, we're heading out to hunt for something to eat." Yumi said leaving Sachiko along as she took the bowl away and prep her hunting spear. Listening to Yumi, Sachiko went to wash up and took a shower, when she came out Yumi tossed a spear to her and she caught it with ease.

"You're kidding me, don't we have a fishing rod or something?" Sachiko asked looking at the lake before her. "Who say anything about fishing on land?" Yumi asked with a quirked brow looking at Sachiko funnily. Without waiting for the other woman to say anything, Yumi started to disrobe her clothes down to nothing but the garments (think boxer and sport bra) and Sachiko gaped in disbelief, ignoring the eyes raking upon her lithe body as she folded her clothes before grabbing the spear again. "Let's go," Yumi said diving into the lake leaving Sachiko behind to undress.

Diving in after Yumi, Sachiko didn't know what to expect, Yumi give her friend the signal to follow and Sachiko swim up to the girl and followed her into an underwater cave. When they surface, Sachiko was at awe the how well-decorate the cave looked with all the cooking utensils a cook would have in her kitchen. What surprised her even more was when she noticed Yumi getting out of the water, the spear she held was full of fishes and Sachiko could've sworn that she never saw the girl used the spear to catch that many fishes.

Yumi started the fire and Sachiko offered to help but was declined, thus she could only sat by the fire and watched the other girl cleaning the fishes and marinate them with herbs and seaweeds before grilling them. "Hungry?" Yumi asked holding up cooked fish. Sachiko's stomach growled loudly, giving away what she's about to deny but could only blushed.

"How did you do it?" Sachiko asked once lunch was over with her relaxing on a chair and Yumi on a hammock. "Do what?" Yumi asked not sure what the other woman was talking about. "Fishing with the spear," Sachiko explained. "Oh, spear fishing? Dante taught me how, really easy though, just got to hold your breath for a long time. It's like hunting on land," Yumi said with a roguish smile on her face. "Wanna learn it after a nap?" Yumi asked. "Sure," Sachiko answered after a moment of hesitation. "Climb on then," Yumi said patting on the other half of the hammock. "I'll take the bench, thanks…" Sachiko said feeling her heart about to jump up her throat and out of her mouth.

MgM

The bubbles escaping from Sachiko become blurry, she was loosing air because unlike Yumi, Sachiko had never been under water for more than a few minutes. Her lungs are burning begging for oxygen, so much that she can't help but opened her mouth and water came pouring in instead of air. She was sinking fast now that the last of the oxygen left her lungs, as the vision of the lithe girl swimming just a bit in front of her quickly become a blur and distant.

Strong arm suddenly wrapped around and her and carried her upward, in her hazy vision the beautiful face drawn near and air once again entered her lungs through her mouth but no water got in. Sachiko thought it was strange until she surfaced with Yumi by her side, pulling her toward the safety of solid ground. Her ears ache and her chest pounding and burning, she was able to breathe again much to her relief. Quietly, Yumi held onto her hand generating enough heat from her body to push it over to Sachiko to raise her body temperature so that she doesn't suffer from hypothermia.

"I'll be right back," Yumi said and dive right back into the water again. Leaving Sachiko alone and dried, putting on her clothes and sat there waiting for the other girl to return. Minutes ticking by, Yumi finally returned with fishes hanging from a piece of rope that was used as a grip on the spear. At least now I know why there's only one grip on the spear, Sachiko's mind told her.

Dinner was made simple and the two got the whole place to themselves, with Dante away harvesting the golden wheat and Hannah making the wine. Her cousin and the miko are on their honeymoon, though not far from here, Yumi doesn't see the need to bother those two. They talked for a while, and Sachiko fell asleep due to exhaustion from all the swimming and nearly drowning earlier, Yumi didn't have the heart to wake her up and let the older woman used her shoulder as a pillow. It was strange, Yumi who never really been kind or merciful saved a demi's life and one trying to kill her at that, that mere thought brought an impish smile to her face.

When Sachiko woke up the next morning, she found herself being spooned and yet she couldn't remember what had taken place the evening before. What's worst was that her clothes lay scattered on the floor, and the hand that's on her waist was being dangerously close to her sacred place. Sachiko turned over slowly and was horrified to see and oni's face staring back at her, it scared her to the point she ended up punching at the face sending the body smash into the wall.

"Wow, glad that wasn't me," Yumi said clapping her hands while leaning against the doorway. "What the hell was that?" Sachiko snapped pointing at the limped body on the floor. "A ragged doll, you wouldn't let me go, I had to use it so that I can get up and do my morning training. Oh, and you were getting hot and removed your clothes on your own after I brought you to bed last night," Yumi said staring straight at Sachiko's sapphire eyes. She wasn't interested in her body, of course Yumi had gotten the opportunity to admired that beautiful body to her heart's content earlier. "Why you…" Sachiko groused leaping out of bed pulling the sheet with her to hide her naked body behind it as she aimed her right fist at Yumi's cheek.

Taking a step back, Yumi easily caught Sachiko's fist and pulled her into her arms locking Sachiko's hand to kept her from struggling. "Why do you think we're left alone?" Yumi asked in a husky tone as she started to nibble Sachiko's neck. "Why don't we take this to the bed since this will be your first time, hm?" Yumi asked grabbing the sheet from Sachiko and pulled it off of her, causing her to spin onto the bed in the process. Struggling to get up, but when she felt fabrics pressed against her back, Sachiko suddenly lost her will to fight. Yumi was on top of her with one hand groping her chest while the other hand paying homage to the sacred altar below.

A/N: I have a feeling that someone thinking something weird, but ehh... Anyway, cliff-hangy 'til further developement or something like that. Ja ne~