It was the best choice. No one would ever know. Not her friends, not even Hanyuu. She would pretend like it never happened. She would be faithful to her unknown husband! Alas if she ever fantasizes about another man, let alone a married one! But... What if she ended up marrying Akasaka? No, this wasn't the time for such details! The ancestors of the Furude family always know what is best for their girls! Rika was a part of the Furude family and she would never rebel!

She had once read in her biology textbook it's common for children once they enter puberty to play with their bodies to experience sexuality. It means they grow up. She didn't need to grow up though! Besides, such a thing would be a sin as the reincarnation of the God Oyashiro. It was fine this way. She had her friends, her roommate Satoko, and Hanyuu who may not have been her mother but always felt she was a motherly presence. She was the void that would cover the absence of the biological mother.

She looked at the mirrors above the sinks. Her reflection looked rather dark in the dim light. Her facial expression looked dark as well. Almost scared and worried. She inhaled deeply and smiled. Enough with the negative thoughts! If she kept it a secret no one would find out! Simple as that! Now her friends were outside waiting for her, so she didn't have to delay any longer.

Once Rika dived into the pool, Satoko went to check on her. Obviously, she had nothing to worry about, like a medical condition. Simply because she found her behaviour unfamiliar. Especially after learning that Rika had mentally exhausting divine powers, she wanted to be twice as careful with her friend's mental state.

"Rika, you sure you're okay? You looked cut off from reality a while ago." Of course, Rika wanted to avoid any questions, so she swam over to Rena's side to grab the ball from her hands.

"If you want it back, chase me down the water slides! Nipah!"

"Rika! We were just playing volleyball!"

"Interesting though! I was bored of volleyball anyway. Chase her!!" Keiichi shouted and dove in full to hunt her underwater.

Rika quickly noticed Keiichi's movements. Fortunately, he was still far away. He wouldn't know through the water she was about to come out until he got a few inches closer. She swam to the metal stairs with the ball in her arms and came out of the water heading for the water slides. Satoko called out to Keichi that Rika got away from them, but of course, he couldn't hear her underwater. His stamina needed a little more to run out so that he could finally breathe oxygen. Luckily for her, at the top of the steps to the water slides, she found Akasaka who was about to pick one of them.

"Akasaka! I mean Mamoru. They're chasing after me!"

"Who?"

"Takano brainwashed my friends and now they want to kill me!" She giggled at the end of the sentence so that he could understand it was about a game.

"I am your knight Rika! I will protect you! Otherwise, I wouldn't be called Mamoru!"

On one of the water slides was a stack of coloured rubbed rings, big enough to fit two people. Next to the stack was a worm-like water slide. An idea popped into Akasaka's mind.

"Come with me Rika." He then took a rubbed ring and decided on their seats. Akasaka would be in front of Rika. They held on by the small handles until they let the rushing waters sweep them away.

"Ready?" As soon as Rika nodded, they were released into the dizzying speed of the slide. Rika didn't realize how much time had passed, but she knew just being on the water slide with Akasaka was enough for her. She didn't want this experience to ever end. She laughed and screamed along with Akasaka. They fell with such force into the pool water, making their bodies hurt even a little bit. Surprisingly, that's where they found Keichi. How did he find them so fast? He was just at the edge of the pool!

"I've got you!"

"I don't think so! As long as I have Mamoru by my side I fear nothing!"

But they hadn't noticed Satoko who was underwater waiting for the right moment to shoot with her water gun. While Rika and Akasaka were at the top of the pool, she had taken the cherry from Rena's milkshake and melted it in the water gun. So now, in addition to water it would also throw a bright red colour by the cherry.

"You wouldn't dare to hurt Rika!" At that exact moment, Satoko showed up in front of him.

"Watch me!" The melted cherry smeared all over his face, while a few red drops fell. He tried to understand why the water was red.

"What are you doing, Satoko?"

"I stole the cherry from Rena's milkshake and put it in there"

"I thought I had eaten it," Rena said swimming over to them.

"Well... I'd better get out quick and dry up or we'll get into trouble with any of the pool managers," Akasaka murmured.

He got out of the pool and went to his table. Yukie was just about to enter the pool. She didn't hold back and giggled at his appearance.

"What's that, baby?"

"Cherry. Satoko splashed it on my hair and face, and I thought it was just water."

"Kids are kids. You know how they are. Our daughter will probably do the same when she grows up."

"Yeah... Instead of a cherry, she'll put the whole grocery store in there."

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That's how the whole afternoon went. The kids intended to sit until the pool closed around 9 pm, but ended up expending so much energy that all they had to do was pack up and go home. The Akasaka family offered to drive them home. They accepted. Besides, the kids were too tired to take a bus or taxi.

Rika and Satoko's turn came at the end of the drive. Miyuki's parents helped the girls get their things out of the car.

"Thank you so much for joining us," Yukie said.

"No, we thank you. We owe it." Rika replied.

"Let's all go to the pool together again!" Satoko suggested.

"Of course! We'll keep in touch!"

Akasaka didn't speak. He just winked at Rika. The girl noticed it and restrained herself from doing anything unintentionally in front of his wife. In the end, they said goodnight to each other and the car drove off. They saw it turn the corner and disappear into the street. Rika didn't realize it, but couldn't keep the grin off her face. Satoko did notice it though.

"I'm going in to take a shower and get all that chlorine off me. You can come instead of staring at the street like that..."

She turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Let's get inside."

It wasn't long before Satoko was washing her hair. Besides, compared to Rika's, her own hair took less time to shampoo and blow dry. That's why whenever they both wanted to bathe, Satoko always went in first. As soon as she came out of the bathroom, she found her friend in the yard putting the swimsuits to dry, before doing the rest of the housework.

"I see you're done," Rika said as soon as she became aware of her friend's presence.

"Yeah. Don't let yourself do tiring things, such as housework. I'll put the swimsuits in the washing machine and then cook. I'll call you as soon dinner is ready."

She smiled. "Thank you, Satoko. I knew I can always rely on you."

As soon as Rika entered the bathroom she undressed and checked the temperature of the water. It was still warm from Satoko's use. She then got into the tub and turned the faucet on for the shower. Her hair needed a good twenty-minute wash as it felt wooden from the chlorine bleach. Both the pool and the sea were equally to her liking. But she preferred the sea, as the artificial pool water didn't have the special sensation like the sea water. Inside the seabed, she discovered new worlds, small colonies of fish sharing their deepest secrets with each other.

She wondered what language did the fish speak. How could they understand what they said to each other since nothing can be heard in the water? Well... They're fish. Fishese can only be spoken underwater like Japanese can be only spoken in Japan.

Next time it would be her turn to tell Akasaka to join her on the sea with his family. She would love if they dived into the sea's arms together. They would be left alone for even a few seconds. They would observe the fish, and they would flee at their own human sight. And well... Maybe she'd be given the chance to hold his hands, to swim under the sun, away from prying eyes. And if he knew how to teach her scuba diving, she would gladly accept.

Everything could be done underwater, without Yukie seeing anything, and provided that Akasaka didn't catch the... Secret meanings. She didn't expect anything, since they were several years apart in age. Even giving her a paternal kiss on the cheek or forehead would be the best thing that ever happened to her.

The image had already formed in her mind as if she watched a movie. They dived from a high cliff near the shore as if the Pacific Ocean was calling them to explore and admire its beauty. Next to the corals, in the fishing towns with the eels and whales in a company, they held each other's hand like mermaids who had run away out of the kingdom, ignoring all the ocean rules. The rays of the sun accompanied her in all these mixed feelings of admiration and... Love. Was she really in love with Akasaka? Was it her youth? It didn't matter at all. Her palms hugged his arms bringing him into her embrace, and let his head rest on that breast. Luckily it was bigger than it actually was. She let him stroke its tip until he finds the nipple.

She suddenly had a feeling between her legs. It felt wet, and at the same time, a pleasant tickle spread to the whole secret area. It came from the vagina. She didn't know why, but her hand automatically went there as if to explore that private spot. She didn't think about it much. Her middle finger automatically covered the tickle. As if it were... A penis. As if it was her first time with the opposite sex.

The water continued to run over her head, washing away half the shampoo she had put in. Akasaka was now in front of her kissing her passionately. She cared about nothing. She wanted to snuggle in his arms! She wanted to nestle into his athletic body and for him to caress her chest, even if it was still small. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if he caressed her where she had turned on. But with his own fingers! Her breath now sounded like she ran and the diaphragm followed the commands from her lungs. It looked like a waving flag.

"Please... Mamoru... Mamoru!" she moaned.

You would think there was a bird inside of her, flying fast and enthusiastically. She had never felt this way before. As if all of her organs stopped working, but for something pleasant. It wasn't pain and didn't even know how to describe it, but whatever it was, it was wonderful. Just wonderful!

Then the bird flew up to her tummy. Its flight was even more intense making her womb throbbing, as if her heart was there. The labia opened ready to receive the desirable object, which wasn't there. How Rika wished Akasaka was actually there in front of her. In the bathtub. Just the two of them. He would kiss her neck, arms, chest, hips her whole body.

Abruptly, she stopped. Not by her own will. The water still ran over her head. She turned off the faucet, forgetting how much water it had been wasted. As if she had woken up from her vivid imagination. She removed her hand from the sensitive area still trying to figure out what had happened. The middle finger had detected something wet and white of unknown origin. Her breast had a light red colour like the one the face gets when we blush. Her breathing was still finding its normal rhythm, as was her heart. It still pounded ready to leave the ribcage. The labia opened and closed rapidly. Her whole body inside and out was acting quite strangely. She sat on the bathtub tiles, still trying to catch her breath.

"Why did I do this?" she murmured. "Only boys put their hand down there! Besides, I belong to the Furude family. Girls must remain faithful to their future husbands even if they haven't met them yet. If Hanyuu finds out, I'll be in huge trouble! What should I do? What am I supposed to do?!" she whined while hiding her face in her hands.

She didn't want to marry Akasaka! For now at least. It just came completely spontaneously. She wasn't thinking when she put her hand there. She wasn't thinking when her imagination was racing. Everything happened completely automatically. But... What if her ancestors were right after all? What if she actually was disgusting and unfaithful at that moment? No... Don't think about it! Pretend it never happened, like in the pool! No one's going to find out! I don't like Mamoru! He's too ugly for me! I mustn't like married men!

This is my first time writing something... Sexy. Let's put it this way. I mean, I have written something similar but it was more discreet. Now I wanted it to be spicy, but not too much. If that makes sense :P

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I never felt comfortable writing anything related to sex in my fanfics, as I didn't think it was my style. So, I finally decided to get out of my comfort zone, not out of pressure but just to see how it would go. Personally, I too had faced such feelings of aversion to masturbation, mainly due to the perceptions that my country has about sex. Besides... Someone somewhere may relate to Rika's feelings. Because healthy sexuality is a blessing! Change my mind!