D11 LE slumber party (Expecting)

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi hid a thrilled smile against Senshu's abdomen as she continued lavishing the scar there with kisses and licks.

A story from her life.

Kiss.

"On Golden Mirror, one of the first birds that I decided to study to make a schematic was the swan. They glide so beautifully along the water. I thought they must be so gentle. So elegant. I was just beginning my study of birds. I thought they would be courtly and gracious. And that their song would be exquisite. Why shouldn't it match their beauty?"

Lick lick lick.

"I didn't anticipate how aggressive they could be! Or big! The big one that I decided to get close in the hopes I could get footage of it flying up out of the water. But it was a male. Highly protective of their territory and young. It was during their breeding season - late spring. A terrible time to approach."

Kiss.

"It started hissing. Not a pretty sound. And then it got all puffed-up, wings arched to make itself even bigger and more intimidating, neck stretching up, wings getting wider and wider, bigger than I could have imagined. Busking, it's called. I now know if this ever happens, you back away but do not break eye contact. But I was still learning. So I turned and ran."

She rubbed her cheek along the bare flesh of Senshu's abdomen.

"And that triggered a chase response! It chased and swotted me with its wings. Enough to raise bruises, but nothing worse than that. Mostly the injury was to my pride. And to the holoslate that I dropped in the process. Not my finest hour."

Kiss kiss kiss.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Soft moans come from Senshuken each time Haruhi's lips touch her. She keeps her eyes closed, but opens them from time to time to look at the other woman.

"Lessons, lessons! We only learn..." She pauses. "Kami you are so hot! I'm not even sure what I was just saying." A beat. "Ah yes. We learn from experience. Better than every lecture or reading."

[Kakita Haruhi]

She continued her exploration of her abdomen, stealing kisses above the scar now but still firmly against the abdomen. What lay above that point remained crop top covered.

"I am reminded that I had to be bold and foolish before I learned enough to capture useful footage. And that I survived even that awkward encounter."

"I have no idea what I am doing presently..." Kiss kiss kiss.

"But I like the song I am hearing." Those soft moans!

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshu chuckles and shifts a tiny bit so as to be able to take a better look at Haruhi. "Then I should probably inform you that what you are doing is excellent. Hot as hell." She chuckles again and leans back on the bed pillows.

"How old were you at the time. Ah! I haven't asked really. How old are you now?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi beamed at the compliment.

And edged her kisses just a little higher. Her movements pinned the crop top in place, and caused a fair amount of possibly accidental contact between her head and cheek and the cloth-covered underside of Senshu's breasts.

"Nineteen. I am now, I mean. The swan incident was when I first was assigned to Golden Mirror. I was seventeen, then. Right out of academy."

"You are about my age? Possibly older?" So much more worldly and knowledgeable.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Eighteen!" Senshu utters between small moans.

"Eighteen and dying young. Possibly today." She manages to continue.

"But it's a good death. A perfect way... to leave this realm. But!" She half laughs, half sighs.

With a twist that is all dancer’s grace and biker’s ease, Senshu slips out from beneath her, rolling just enough to shift their weight. Her hands slide to Haruhi’s wrists. Not restraining, just guiding. A heartbeat later Haruhi finds herself gently pressed into the sheets, Senshu hovering above her, her hair falling like a curtain around them.

“Hey,” Senshu murmurs, amused and proud of herself, “my turn.”

There's no force. It’s an embrace made of confidence, warmth and the quiet promise that she’ll let go even before the moment Haruhi asks.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi gasped at the sudden change in their position. Dancer's grace finding an answering dancer's pliability and flexibility.

The gentle positioning of her wrists ... having Senshu hovering over her... why was it so intensely thrilling?

She flushed, entirely forgetting how to breathe.

Only a wide-eyed breathless nod to indicate she was very glad and not going anywhere.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken hovers over Haruhi with the poised certainty of a racer at the starting line. Ready, patient, knowing the moment to move is both everything and nothing. Her lips descend on Haruhi’s neck. Careful and slow they taste the space between propriety and indulgence.

Her hands rest lightly against Haruhi’s sides, tracing curves, checking reactions, mapping each subtle shift and response. Every touch is measured, playful and teasing. Never rushing, never heavy, yet claiming the room with the certainty of someone who knows what they're doing.

Senshu’s nuzzle drifts to the hollow beneath Haruhi’s ear. Her breath is warm, a whisper brushing her skin. "Tell me another story. Please."

[Kakita Haruhi]

And how could she speak to tell a story when her heart was racing and each touch elicited new soft moans?

She could try.

"I was in the library at academy - looking for a story to read for a storytelling class presentation. And I opened a scroll - it was supposed to be a collection of folk tales. And it was. But there was, hidden in the scroll case, a letter. It was the first love letter I'd ever seen."

mmmmmm

"I knew it was meant for someone else. And I shouldn't have even read it. But I couldn't help myself. I put it back, though. So the intended person could find it."

oh! ohhhhhhh

"But I felt all fluttery. I was suddenly full of imagining."

a little gasp
speechless for a moment

"I ... I remember it if you'd like to hear it."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken's lips keep tracing slow paths along Haruhi’s neck, as if each new sound Haruhi makes is a reward she’s determined to earn again and again. When Haruhi mentions the hidden letter, Senshu smiles against her skin. Beneath the hem of the pajama top, her hand slips just enough to run along Haruhi’s belly… then stops, exactly where Haruhi had placed the boundary with her own actions earlier. The unspoken rule between them is honored like a pact.

“Of course I want to know what it said." She murmurs. Her lips return to that tender place beneath Haruhi’s ear, kissing slowly, almost distractingly. “Who finds a secret love letter and doesn’t read every word?" Her tone is playful, sinfully soft.

Her fingers glide across Haruhi’s side in a slow, thoughtful stroke, her mouth shifting from neck to the lower edge of her jaw. “And the imagining…” Senshuken whispers against her skin, as if tasting the word. “I want to know that too. Every little flutter you had. Every picture that came into your mind.” She kisses her again. Gentle, adoring, patient.

[Kakita Haruhi]

She sighed at the touches, lost in sensation for a moment.

"You will find it very tame, I think. But it spoke to me. I already loved birds from my father's ink drawings, and my little pet, but it was the first time I saw my heart as a thing with wings. Fluttering. Fluttery. Capable of soaring."

She blushed at what she was feeling - the physical intimacy, the remembered emotion.

"I was so anxious, all the time in school. Hurting because I didn't think I was good enough. Didn't think I could become good enough. And I saw how this other - this person - I don't even know if it was a man or woman - had written from that place to another who had found them there."

"Ah it made me want to find my person, my protector, my teach me to fly person."

She closed her eyes as she recited. Like she could see the hiragana in her mind.

Barely a whisper in that sweet voice of hers.

Your words protect me,
Even my pain is met with your kindness.
A bond deeper than words
Spreads its wings in both our hearts.

When I realized I wasn’t alone,
Love began to spread its wings.
Knowing we share the same dream
Gives me strength to carry on.

The wings of love fly endlessly,
Free upon the wind.
With you, I fear nothing—
Let’s walk into this future together.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshu slowly retreats, taken aback by the beautiful words. She shifts her body away and sits on the bed properly. Then she leads Haruhi to lie her head on her lap and continues listening while idly playing with the girl's hair.

"Beautiful words." She whispers and takes a look at her face while her fingers brush her cheek. "Why were you insecure? Were the other students antagonizing each other?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi liked how this position, head in her lap, let it look up at Senshu's face. And the touches to her hair. Ahhhhhhh.

"My aunt is the Daimyo. Kakita Anane-dono. The Blue Skylark. She believes that talent must be relentlessly honed and practiced. Her expectations... My sensei knew what she would expect. I am sure they were a little terriifed too, but hid it better. Relentless effort. Perfection. I have the 'voice'. Just like her. The first of my generation to have it. I had to be perfect. But also ... not a threat to her. She has not appreciated younger vocalists competing in any forum with her. So, flawless, but never a soloist. That's the other reason I learned to incorporate all the birdsong into my compositions and performances."

"It just seemed like there was no way to be good enough. And somehow being really really good was dangerous too. A very small space to exist."

"The other students... It was the Kakita Academy. Sadane is a core curriculum. And ... I was playing with computers while they went to courtier classes and made their words into weapons."

"Nothing worse than probably any other student faced. Except maybe a higher profile target, and ... easily intimidated. I think I was supposed to get cold and callused to it. But I just stayed soft and bruised."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh I like it that you remained soft. I just have to find the time to kiss all the bruises away." She keeps running her fingers through Haruhi's hair, scratching her head sometimes and caressing her neck some others.

"I was homeschooled. My older sister was basically my sensei. It wasn't bad. I was labeled a brat pretty early on so... things were generally forgiven. It's like a family joke. 'You won't believe that Senshu chan did this time!'"

She chuckles. "It works for me. This dynamic. I was always meant to be traded away after all. The last child. The last bargaining chip for business and politics." A shrug. "A few days ago I tried to get on top of the situation and stage the conditions so that I can stay here permanently. It didn't work out, but," another shrug. "I'll try again. In another time and another place. Maybe."

[Kakita Haruhi]

"We are both younger sisters." Another link.

"It sounds like your sister was a lax teacher. But, ah, that's my conditioning. Strict strict strict. Still, I am a better singer and dancer for it. I'm not sure who I would be if I hadn't had that pressure."

Was that how she had been hurt? An attempt to stay here? And she gave it up to protect someone?

"I hope you find what you are looking for. And that life lets you have it."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Ara, ara! Let's not have the night turn into that." She exclaims joyfully. Wishful thinking isn't something that fits her. She can try and if she loses, she can deal with the consequences. She has to. But she's not prepared to become that. Someone who dreams and wishes for good things to happen. It's not a role that fits her.

"A game, perhaps? We are excellent in games, right? Together we reach absolute perfection."

[Kakita Haruhi]

"We do also *need* to find out how the princesses make it work. But we could play a game at the same time."

"I am also easily convinced that kissing and cuddling is our most urgent priority." She grinned up at her.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Okay, okay. I got this!" She leans over her and kisses her lips softly. "I got you." She whispers and stays still and silent for a few heartbeats.

Then she laughs. "Scene re enactment! From the movie. You bring in the stoic formality and the tenderness. I bring in the style and the swagger. May the best woman win by being utterly and devastatingly seduced by cheesy lines and romantic drama. Kisses and snuggles are mandatory."

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi smiled up at her. Now that was a brilliant idea.

She took a moment to imagine herself the devastatingly beautiful human princess. Her posture corrected from a slouch against the bed's soft cushion to kneeling in perfect seiza.

A moment of meditative prayer. The character had prayed like this several times already in the movie, as she faced a challenge or made a decision. Which time was this?

The camping scene. By the wagon. A monologue that the sleeping dragon princess might have heard or not heard. This moment involved a lot of longing looking.

"Lay down here," she suggested to her, a point on the bed beside her. "Perhaps asleep. Remember this part? The camping scene?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshu does as suggested. She lays down, closes her eyes and tries to imitate the dragon queen's dashing half smirk.

She opens one eye playfully. "Improvisation is allowed, right?"