In the Middle of a Fire while Standing in the Water
Chapter Three
"Let us bathe together, Kashuu-chan." Rinko placed the uchiko ball back into the closet. "It has been a while, has it not?"
Kashuu smoothed out his white dress shirt and black pants as he sat on the futon. His dark jacket was covered in dirt and tattered; it was unrecoverable. Being naked with his master had a dilemma: it exposed his body for judgement. If he had flaws, she'd see them all. She didn't say if he handled this Great Invasion well or not.
"Come." Rinko extended an open hand to him. Her black kimono sleeve draped over his legs. If he wore his casual outfit or a coat, he'd match her dark clothing. She preferred bright colours; by wearing black, the Great Invasion must've phased her. If she wanted to give him attention, it was a sign things were returning to normal.
Kashuu held her hand and she pulled him up.
Makeup was a necessity in life. It hid imperfections and enhanced one's features. It was paint and the body was a canvas. You could create anything on one's face and fingers. With water, the rules were different. In the onsen, everything on you was removed and washed away. All you had left was what you were born with. Kashuu kept his red nails and yellow earrings, though; the water couldn't take everything from you.
As Kashuu sat in the onsen, he closed his eyes. He was surrounded by warmth, despite being naked.
"You can relax, Kashuu-chan." Rinko knelt on the onsen's stone edge.
"It's hard to do so, Master. I don't know if I performed well during my missions."
"You always do well." Rinko rubbed his shoulders. Her hands were warm. He leaned back as she continued to massage him. He was stiff from all the fighting; he barely had time to maintain his skin regiment. Being in another world, he couldn't order beauty products. "When we return to our world, we should go to the spa."
They, everyone in the citadel, deserved a day of relaxation after what they'd been through. The Time Government was never going to treat them, so Rinko's family may as well cover it. She and Kashuu could get their nails done at the same time; it'd be cute to have identical designs.
Rinko slipped into the onsen and sat beside him. Their ponytails floated on the water's surface and lie side by side. In this silence, they leaned on each other. The sky was shades of silver and dark blue from this world's giant moon.
"What was it like to be possessed by a Tenka Goken, Kashuu-chan?"
He raised his hand out of the water. Droplets ran down his red fingernails and pooled on his palm. When Mikazuki lent his strength to him, Kashuu burned all over in that moment. He never moved so fast or slashed so hard in his life. Applying that kind of brute force risked breaking under pressure. Kashuu couldn't risk that exertion, as he was a hard to handle blade. He wouldn't be discarded again.
"I borrowed his power and slayed the enemy."
"Yes, I saw that, but what did it feel like?"
"It was strange..." He'd try to summarize this in a report. The Time Government was going to think he was a freak for possessing the strength of two swords; it was very uncute.
"You have been busy these three weeks. You were pretty the entire time leading, fighting." Rinko kissed his cheek lightly. "Before we leave this world, do you want to send it off? I only want to do it with you."
Kashuu blushed faintly with a little smile.
"Hm, is it a yes or no, Kashuu-chan?" She leaned close so her lips grazed his ear. "I want to spend this night taking you."
His spine tingled. Her feelings for him had no end. "Why choose me, Master?"
"Because you are special to me." She chose him as her first sword. Rinko's hand pressed against his chest. He was flat, like her. Though he was slender and didn't have much visible muscle, he was strong. His heart beat a little faster as her palm pressed over it. "No one, across all the worlds, could replace you."
Rinko's hand wandered down and stroked his thigh. In the warm water, heat grew wherever she groped him. She wanted only him right now. Her pointy nails trailed his inner thighs; her fingers ran up his flaccid cock. Kashuu spread his legs open as she clutched his balls. His testicles went taut as his cock grew and poked her wrist.
"Kashuu-chan," she said it by his ear. "Everything about you is pretty, including your cock."
Kashuu bucked his hips as she stroked his erection. The length grew thicker and longer as her hand moved up, down, and caressed his balls. His cheeks were already flushed and he couldn't hide blemishes in the bath. His hands covered his face and his palms pressed against his lips to suppress his moans.
"Kashuu-chan." Rinko released his erection to squeeze his wrists. "Look at me."
Kashuu's red eyes flicked over to her. Her eyebrows, lashes, and lips were thinner without makeup. As she was naked, she had no colourful kimono with flowers, birds, or butterflies, only her bare skin that flushed as pink as his in steaming water. He saw her bare face in the morning when she sat by a mirror and he opened her makeup kits.
Kashuu's hands returned to the water. Was he not a child of the riverbank? He knew people from high and low origins. In the end, all humans were flesh and bones. Right now, he was with someone who desired him more than anyone in the worlds. That alone made him special, loved.
"You have a pretty neck, did you know that?" Rinko left a light kiss on it. Her tongue wandered down to its crook and she nibbled the skin. Her index finger ran along Kashuu's collarbone and she kissed his shoulder. The faint smell of orange blossoms wafted between them. Even after all their washing, that scent remained on the sage. "Do you want me to stroke you and make you come now, Kashuu-chan? There are other ways to end this."
Rinko stood and the water ran down her skinny frame. She turned towards the onsen's stone frame and knelt to press her elbows on the tiles.
"I am waiting for you, Kashuu-chan. What do you want from me?"
He wanted to be with her because of how much she loved him and whispered those sweet nothings to him. Since the day he manifested, he wanted to forge an unbreakable bond with his master.
Kashuu knelt behind her and tasted her lower lips. He started with a kiss and sucked to lap up tangy fluids. His fingers rubbed her folds. Rinko slipped a hand between her legs and massaged her nub with him. His red nails and her black ones circled her clit together as it was smeared with clear fluids.
"We have done this so many times, it is second nature to you, Kashuu-chan." As his tongue trailed up, down, and between her folds, she giggled at the tingling pleasure between her legs. "Are you going to taste me forever or will we move to the next step?"
Kashuu rubbed, pressed all the places her nub and folds were sensitive to draw out her liquids and see what her desire produced. After Kashuu gulped her tangy fluids, he splashed water on his face. He was already a mess without makeup and he'd look utterly shameless with her liquids running down his chin.
"Only the two of us are here." Rinko turned and pulled him up to stand. Their bare bellies touched; they felt pulsing warmth underneath their skin. She stroked his dark bangs and ran her hand down to the bandages on his ponytail. "Be a good boy and take me. I have waited to couple with you in this world for weeks."
Rinko knelt at the onsen's edge, facing away from him.
Kashuu pressed himself against her rear and placed his hands on her hips. "Master, is it presumptuous if I'm this close to you?"
"Of course not, you are right where you belong." Rinko's hand went behind her and guided his cock into her.
Kashuu tensed as his erection entered her; the warmth inside her was hotter than the water they stood in. What she offered always made him burst with a climactic finish in his body and mind. What were the gods thinking when they created humans? Sex was too good.
Kashuu gripped her hips and his nails grazed her skin. He started thrusting back and forth; their hips and legs slapped against each other. He rested his chin on the crook of her neck as he panted.
"You want to do this slowly after everything we have been through, Kashuu-chan?" Rinko turned to face him. "The moon is so big and beautiful in this world, it would be a waste not to make love under its light."
Kashuu wanted to take his time so this would last longer. When they returned to their world, she'd make her rounds with her other lovers before she returned to him. This night belonged only to them.
They stared at each other and watched the blush on their cheeks spread as Kashuu thrust his hips back and forth. They rubbed her between her legs as clear fluids seeped out of her and slicked their fingers.
"Kiss me, Kashuu-chan."
They leaned their heads towards each other as their lips touched. Their lover tasted tangy, salty. Their bodies moved to each of Kashuu's thrusts. The water rippled with their movements. He thrust an inch back and forth. Rinko always had heat in her, be it between her legs, on her mouth, or the fingers that caressed his skin.
As his body tensed from pleasure, his thrusts went deeper and he moved slower.
"M-Master." Kashuu gasped as he broke the kiss. His lips were parted and swollen red as he panted. His ruby eyes stared straight into her brown ones. They breathed and inhaled each other's warm air. The onsen's steam mingled in it too.
"Finish in me, Kashuu-chan," the edge in her voice was a command. She smiled. "I want you to come hard!"
He had to follow his master's orders. Kashuu shut his eyes and bucked his hips against hers and stayed there as he shook. Heat pulsed throughout his whole being and he shuddered as it ran through him. He was in the middle of a fire while standing in the water. His seed spurted in her and spilled onto her folds, their red and black fingernails, and down their thighs. Droplets, clear and white, dripped into the spring's water.
As Kashuu slipped forward, Rinko caught him and led him to lie on the ground. He was naked, eyes closed, on that cool stone floor as he panted. His wet black bangs clung to his forehead and his cheeks flushed pink and his chest rose up and down. The golden earrings reflected yellow in the moonlight. His abs, faint lines, contracted. Their mix of clear and white fluids smeared over his flaccid cock and inner thighs.
His seed rolled down Rinko's inner thighs. She wasn't done with him, not until she gave him everything they wanted. She knelt by his head.
"I know why you do not expose yourself naked to everyone. You would be ravished every single hour. Do you know how pretty you are?"
"No." Kashuu kept his eyes closed. His answer was deliberate. This wasn't enough; he wanted more.
"That is a shame." Rinko's thumb rubbed his chin's beauty mark. "Do I need to remind you? Have you forgotten what we have been doing tonight?"
"Help me, Master." Kashuu opened his red eyes. If things had gone differently tonight, if a Tenka Goken hadn't lent his power, he may have never returned to her. What was left of him if he dismantled? He'd only be remembered by those who loved him. "If I broke tonight, I would've left it not knowing how you feel about me."
"I would have destroyed and recreated this universe to get you back, Kashuu-chan." This world, with its big moon, sunless sky, sheets of ice, and aged forests, was an impossibility. Only a god or demon could've crafted it. Rinko was descended from divinity and the gods themselves granted her the power to turn swords into humans. Everyone entrusted her to lead an army and maintain the flow of history. "Never underestimate what I will do to bring you back."
"Master, can you tell me how far you'll go for me?"
Rinko stroked Kashuu's erection til he was hard again. He gasped lightly as her touch rekindled heat from their recent lovemaking. His cock and her hand were slicked in semen and squelches sounded with each movement. She climbed on top of him and lined his cock up to her entrance.
His ruby eyes stared at her slicked lower lips and his erection. She wanted him to watch, so he'd remember this moment in this starless, sunless place where light only came from the moon. Despite living in timelines separated by centuries, they somehow found each other and wouldn't lose their bond.
Rinko took his cock in her. Kashuu tilted his head against the tiles. Despite the hard slabs underneath him, he bucked his hips up to reach her tight wetness.
"If you broke and went to the heavens, I would order birds to form a bridge for me to reach you." Rinko rode him up and down. "I would order the Sanzu River's ferryman to take me to his kings. I will stare down a hall of deities and demand your return. If they refuse me, I have warriors at my back."
She could forge an army with hundreds of troops and overthrow the Time Government, any government. She followed their orders because she was willing. Why else were they busying her and Sen all the time? Sure, there were revisionists and their plots to quell, but why grade them for their performance and dangle higher budgets and new swords as rewards? Saniwa were dangerous; with their powers, they could turn on their overlords at any time. She'd play their games, but wouldn't be pushed around. She had a responsibility towards her swords when she gave them human form.
Kashuu covered his mouth and arched his back as the pleasure came in waves from his cock and travelled through his hips every time Rinko went down on his dick.
"Kashuu-chan, do you want me to keep going?"
He nodded. He accepted everything she offered, even when he didn't know what she was going to give him. He trusted her; that alone was the ultimate reward.
Rinko rubbed her clit. Her other hand caressed his chest; it rose with his gasps as her finger circled his areola. His little brown nipple was erect as her nail's tip ran over it.
"What do you want, Kashuu-chan? You already know I will challenge the universe to keep you. Is there anything else you want, apart from me?"
"No!" Kashuu blurted out. She told him everything he needed to know; he belonged to her forever.
Rinko grinned and a blush spread across her face. When she came, she rode him into oblivion and squeezed his cock in succession. Their fluids ran down Kashuu's abdomen and droplets flew from their hips as they fucked. In the middle of all that, a moan escaped Kashuu and he shuddered as he came. They remained in this state, frozen in time as pleasure erupted through them and constricted them with heat and ecstasy.
Rinko lie beside Kashuu and stared up at this world's pale clouds and blue and purple sky. They may see it again, as the revisionists had plenty of schemes. They'd create new dimensions to fight and the citadels were ready for combat. They had yet to lose.
Rinko rolled over to face Kashuu. He stared at the sky, dazed. His ears perked at Rinko's giggle and he turned towards her.
"We will be heading back home in an hour." She brushed his hair off his forehead. "We should freshen up. If it is daylight in our world, can you do my makeup? I will do yours in exchange."
"Mm." Kashuu nodded. Their usual routine was resurfacing. His master promised him happiness forever.
Referencing the moon's beauty is another way to tell someone you love them.
The bird bridge is a reference to The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl myth, where two lovers reunite annually. The Sanzu River is where the dead cross over to the afterlife. King Enma, along with other judges, determine what happens to the deceased.