Chapter Text
Madame Kaji's was rougher than even Akemi had expected. When the flesh peddler had pointed them in the direction of the cheapest place to rest their heads, she had assumed a small inn, maybe a shoddy tavern; after the last few days she'd had, she would have welcomed a pile of straw.
Taigen looked more uncomfortable than she was. He seemed to flinch each time the women brushed up against him and his eyes never once strayed from the wall. She'd think it sweet if that didn't make him boring company.
Of all the things to feel after running away from an unwanted engagement with a handsome young man, Akemi could honestly say that boredom had never once been on that list.
"Tea?"
The woman who knelt down beside them was beautiful. Her hair was held up with a pretty pink comb and the gauzy outer layers of her kimono were held tight to her with lacquered pins. She had mostly tried to capture Taigen's eyes and when that proved impossible, she looked to Akemi.
The version of her from last spring would have been appalled. To have a prostitute try and share a look with her? But that Akemi had not knocked out a guard, climbed a twenty foot tall wall with her bedsheets, nor convinced a handsome samurai to run off with her. The farther they got from her home, the more the truth seemed to sink in for Taigen and it frightened her.
"We were hoping to find a room for the night?" She asked politely and the prostitute seemed charmed. She poured their cups and took payment and informed them dinner would be served shortly. She sipped slowly, ignoring the squeals of pleasure and the deep laughs of hidden men. She finished her cup and finally hazarded a look up. "We can find accommodations elsewhere–"
"You should go home."
Akemi lowered the cup. Finally, Taigen was meeting her eyes and his gaze was sharp and pointed. She opened her mouth to repeat her argument but he stopped her with a single look.
"Enough! You are not ready for the harshness of living like this. On the road? On a farm?" He sighed, keeping his voice low even as his whispering became furious. "You deserve to be wearing silk and having servants rub your feet. How long do you think you can last out here?"
"Grown tired of me already?" She said, accusatory. It was a low blow after what he had let slip about his father's treatment of his mother, but she was not well-rested enough to hold back her sharp tongue.
"Keep your knife on you. I'm going to bed." He hissed and rose, the clank of his sword drawing a few eyes his way as he made his way up the stairs. She fingered the short knife he had given her before they had fled town. It was small, delicate with a carved handle. Something given to a wife, perhaps.
Akemi let her mind wander, eyes half-focused on the tea before her as it cooled in her cup. Thoughts drifted past, something which tasted vaguely of regret. Her hands skated over her plain kimono, coming to rest over her heart. The ghost of Seki's hand seemed to warm her own.
"It seems the gentleman has retired for the evening." A stern woman questioned as she joined Akemi without so much as an introduction. She was older, still attractive with high cheekbones and a soft-spoken voice about her which did little to lessen the commanding air she carried. The woman smiled, as if she was privy to Akemi's assessment and found it correct. "My name is Madame Kaji. This is my establishment."
"We thank you for your hospitality." Akemi said on rote but her words just got her a laugh, more honest human than practiced flattery.
"This is a brothel, not a lord's banquet." Madame Kaji said. "I've seen more than a few men like him in places like that."
"Samurai?" Akemi asked.
"No, I have seen more samurai than most battles have." The woman chided, pouring another cup with the precision of a practiced courtesan. "I mean men who need to be pushed down, reminded of their place."
For a single instance Akemi's sharp mind failed her. The words were not really vulgar, salacious at most, yet they drew forth a vivid picture without her being able to stop it. Their couplings had mostly been standard from the cards her father had given her for her upcoming nuptials. Instead, the drawings shifted before her eyes, Taigen crouched on all fours, head thrown back, mouth parted, making that soft, pained, panting sound he made before he came.
Akemi shook her head and laughed to hide the way her cheeks had gone pink.
"Taigen is a paragon of manhood." Akemi defended softly. "I'm afraid you think wrong, Madame Kaji."
The woman smiled, sly as a fox, before humming. "I am many things, miss. But I am rarely wrong."
The silence felt accusatory. She sipped her tea and the words seemed to hang in the air, hanging about her shoulders, echoing until the only thing she could hear was put in his place, put in his place, put in his–
"Even if that were his desire, I am his wife. I have no skill in such arts." Akemi refuted, standing and giving a shallow bow in thanks. "I thank you for the tea and conversation, but I must retire now."
She hadn't taken more than two steps when the Madame spoke.
"This is Madame Kaji's and there is no desire we can't fill."
Akemi didn't turn, but she did follow when Madame Kaji rose and moved up the stairs with delicate, sedate steps. The hall was mostly quiet, only the soft sounds of pleasure breaking the stillness when one leaned too close to the screens. Madame Kaji came to a stop at a particular room. It was at the back-most corner and a beautiful phoenix was painted on the wood.
The Madame bowed, rose and walked off down the hall, leaving Akemi to stare at the small carved indent to open the door.
The Akemi of last year had been too delicate to fight back against her intended husband's horrid mother and her equally horrid daughters. The Akemi of last spring would have folded when her father demanded the match with the rich, fat, old merchant continue regardless. The Akemi of last spring would never have convinced a man to run away with her.
The Akemi of last spring would never have the gall to entertain a prostitute.
But then again, she thought, she was not quite the Akemi of last year.
The door was well oiled and the room hidden behind it was well-appointed. It was mostly empty, but a few trinkets remained which gave it more the appearance of a bed chamber than a reception room for a courtesan. A half-brewed pot of tea sat forgotten next to a pile of loose papers, and two folding screens separated the room in half. Akemi moved slowly to peek around the edge.
A woman sat at the vanity, hair down and face clean of any cosmetics. Her form was clear under the thin kimono that rested over half her shoulder. It felt voyeuristic to see the harsh cut of her body, the sharp way she sat which only emphasized her thin frame and lithe muscles. She was rather plain of face at first glance, too slim to be considered pretty, but then she saw the woman's eyes.
They were blue as the sea, the sky, something she had only ever seen shown in paintings depicting evil. The effect of the eyes made her whole body seem like a carved statue come to life.
"Who let you in?"
Akemi shook herself, embarrassment flooding over her. Something sick curdled in her gut and she made to run, but the woman's hand shot out faster than a lightning flash and caught her.
"I apologize. Madame Kaji led me–" Akemi rushed out.
"Oh, Kaji sent you." The woman said and any sharpness to her faded. Her hand was released and the woman waved her to the pillows around the table as if she were an old friend simply come to visit. As if sensing her discomfort, the woman let slip a small smile and it softened her whole face. "I promise not to bite."
Akemi could feel the traitorous blush climbing down her neck. She took a seat and nearly jumped out of skin when the woman sat behind her.
Not one of her preparations had ever made note of laying with a woman. She had been warned that her husband might take lovers of either gender, that some simply preferred the male form, but outside of whispers she had known little of coupling between women. Only now, with hands plucking the pins from her hair, the warm brush of the woman's breath along the exposed nape of her neck, Akemi clenched her mouth close to hold back the sigh.
"What is your name?" She finally asked once her hair was loose and she had gained control of her voice.
"My name is of no importance." She said, then catching Akemi's glare over her shoulder, her mouth ticked up in a half-smile. "You may call me Mizu."
"Mizu." Akemi tried out the name and found it fitting. "I am Akemi. How long have you been here?"
"Small talk? I thought you came here for a reason." Mizu asked but not unkindly. Her voice was smooth and deeper than she had been trained to speak, and Akemi forced herself to focus on the words even as a comb began slowly brushing her hair. Shivers raced down her spine; no one had brushed her hair to comfort her since she was a child. The yanking of maids was different. Mizu hummed. "When Madame Kaji found me, I was in a bad state. Alone, penniless. I had little to barter with and she could have asked for much worse than my type of service. We helped each other and in return when she asks this of me, it's of little consequence."
"I couldn't imagine." Akemi said softly. The fat lord who she had stayed with had been horrible but she had seen darker truths revealed to her as she had fled home to find Taigen. The Akemi of last spring thought a marriage for duty to be the height of unfairness. This Akemi saw husbands beat their wives in village squares and toss prostitutes from windows for the sin of not sucking hard enough. To be a woman was to be always treated unfairly, and she had decided then that she would separate herself as cleanly from it as possible.
"It's not so bad. Many have it worse. And I do like it, helping people." Mizu replied. "There."
Akemi realized her hair had been braided and wrapped up tight to her head. She touched it delicately. She hadn't known to fuck a woman they had to do the other's hair; she worried that Mizu could sense her incompetence and resolutely turned, taking the comb from warm fingers and gesturing calmly for the woman to turn around.
"Oh, there is no need–" Mizu started but Akemi just stood and sat behind her, combing her hair. It was a strange texture, finer than silk threads and inky dark in the candlelight. Unlike her own, her hair had a touch of a wave to it, and it seemed to glide through her comb. Mizu had gone still as stone before her, but Akemi forced herself to continue until she'd made a lopsided braid and tied it up into an equally lopsided tail.
"Thank you." Mizu said softly, and Akemi congratulated herself on the successful ruse. The woman touched the braid tenderly, and a burst of warm pride simmered in her gut.
No, it was attraction, Akemi realized. Mizu was masculine in a way which appealed to her. Seated as she was forced her kimono up and the long expanse of a pale thigh was exposed. Akemi caught herself focusing on the lean line of muscle, of the faint raised lines of scars, and moreover, the faint air of stalwart control resting just under the skin.
"We should begin–"
Akemi didn't let her finish. She had thrown herself forward, half in the lap of the other woman, her palms planted on either side of Mizu's slim hips. Mizu was quick, and a hand shot up to catch her, but Akemi could feel the way the woman's thighs opened for her, the way her breath came quicker. Most damning of all was the way her pale eyes had blown wide, the pupil nearly swallowing the iris except a thin blue band at the edges.
With a smooth arch, Mizu flipped them, and Akemi grunted as her back hit the floor. Akemi rolled her body to try and slip out, but hands caught her wrists and she was pinned down. It should have been embarrassing but for how Mizu's hips rested over hers, a pressure which she wanted to thrust up against. So she did.
"We needn't–" Mizu allowed but Akemi had been a princess once, and this woman was a warm weight above her, soft in places Taigen had been hard, and she often preferred delicacies tried by very few.
Akemi stopped struggling, but just when the hands loosened a touch, she surged forward.
Mizu looked to be expecting a headbutt in place of a kiss. Her mouth was slack for the first handful of moments, just long enough that Akemi worried that women kissed differently with each other than with men, when Mizu's body came to life above her.
Her mouth was warm and the almost chaste press of lips deepened when Akemi opened her mouth and Mizu's tongue slid in. It was wet and warm, and where her body had been held tight, here she softened. It was slower than she was used to. The three times she and Taigen had found enough solitude to touch one another it had been more quick fumbling than making love.
But this felt different. The hands around her wrists grew lax and when Akemi let herself slowly let herself sink back down to the floor, Mizu followed. Even through their layers, Akemi could feel the press of her breasts against her own, and something unexpectedly hot shimmered in her stomach. Taigen's body had been unfamiliar, the apex of his thighs a strange new frontier, but when Akemi thrust up to put a touch of distance between them, skating her hands along Mizu's firm thighs, dipping into her robes, it was a familiar warmth she was greeted with.
"Ah!" Mizu grunted, breaking the kiss and sighing prettily into Akemi's throat.
She was already slick and Akemi found it easy to let her fingers slip inside, the same way Taigen had at her directions, riding them until she was satisfied. Mizu was different, she took to pleasure as if it were pain and it was only because of the iron grip on her other wrist that Akemi didn't pull out.
"I want to see." She muttered and when she realized what she had said, any blood pooling at her hips seemed to flood her face. It did have the wonderful effect of drawing a laugh out of Mizu, which was as open and unrestrained as she was.
Slowly withdrawing her fingers, Akemi began to reach for her belt as if unwrapping a present, but Mizu stopped her, taking her still wet fingers up to her mouth and licking them clean. The flame in her cunt seemed to roar to life.
"Now." Akemi demanded, yanking at any scrap of fabric she could to get the woman bare. Mizu helped her, but the process was slowed considering each of them attempting to undress the other left them half-out of their clothes and helplessly tangled.
Akemi sat up, pulling her arms from her sleeves but being distracted by the breasts in her face as Mizu attempted to unpick the knot which had migrated at some point to the back of her outfit.
She had seen other's breasts before, and her own in the hammered metal mirrors, but those were not Mizu's and were not right at the height of her eyes. They were small and brown, but the skin looked soft. When she ran a delicate hand over them, they jumped when Mizu jerked.
She felt lightheaded when the drawings of the traditional positions floated through her mind. There was one which had been included and which stuck behind her eyelids each time she blinked and it seemed to be urging her forward, until her mouth caught on an upturned nipple and strong hands wrapped around her neck. Mizu did not push or pull, simply gripped Akemi's shoulder blade so tightly she hoped it left bruises.
Mizu rolled her hips forward, kimono undone but caught around her elbows, exposing the long line of her body. Akemi's tongue flicked a rosy nipple and Mizu's arm crushed her head to her chest.
Akemi reached out and took the sharp hip in her hand, pulling her forward until she could grind down on her hand too. Mizu was panting above her, something pained which sounded like her name, and then there was a hand on her breast too, and the arm unwound from her neck. It gripped her shoulder as Mizu rose to her knees, the hand trailing from Akemi's breast down to where the fabric had bunched around her hips. Akemi was forced to pull her wet fingers free to hold Mizu steady as she reoriented herself. She was tall even when only on her knees, and she looked down at her as the hand wormed its way past her sash and into her undergarments.
There was an explorative brush over her clit, feather soft which served only to draw a shuddering breath from her. Mizu leaned over, the braid spilling free from the shoddy tie job Akemi had put it into and it shadowed their faces when she curved herself down to kiss again.
Their mouths connected the same moment Mizu's long fingers slipped inside her. She wondered faintly which was louder, their mouths or the sound of her wet cunt. It was a vile thought, depraved and something not befitting a noble lady. But the Akemi of now found it suited her just fine.
Mizu's calloused thumb caught the soft hood of her clit and set a brutal pace, stretching out her fingers and rubbing furiously until all that came from Akemi's mouth was heavy pants. Unthinkingly, her legs fell farther open.
The curl of fire in her gut seemed to rise, her cunt clenching and the pleasure compounding until all her thoughts were focused on Mizu's mouth and the way their breaths came together.
Led more by instinct than thought, Akemi leaned forward and bit down on the juncture of Mizu's throat. The woman gave an abortive thrust, her fingers digging into Akemi's shoulder and her thumb slipping, nail catching on her clit and sending a sharp zing of pleasure blooming in her gut.
A hand caught her hair, Mizu yanking her back like a wayward dog, but she was smiling, teeth flashing in the candlelight.
"Naughty." She said quietly, but then leaned down to catch her mouth again.
It was like that, with Mizu in her lap, Mizu's hand in her cunt, Mizu's name on her lips, that the pleasure rose and she crashed over with a cry that was caught in Mizu's mouth. Her vision was spotty and her head felt heavy. Hands caught her around the shoulders and they folded down into a pile.
They were still kissing and Akemi, no longer chasing her own pleasure, took renewed interest in Mizu's.
"May I?" She asked and felt a bit silly but it bared asking. When Mizu raised a questioning eye, Akemi made a cheeky gesture to the apex of Mizu's thighs and the woman gave a scandalized huff but nodded.
Mizu remained half sprawled across the floor, robe spilled around her like something from an exotic woodblock. Her loose hair was splayed around her head and in her embarrassment she had thrown her arm over her face. Akemi thought her rather shy for a courtesan, but she was more focused on the challenge which lay before her.
Mizu's cunt was much like hers, paler and not as plump but familiar nonetheless. Getting her mouth on it was an education. A single swipe with her tongue was enough for Mizu to make a punched out sound and her strong thighs to clench around Akemi's ears. She tasted strange but not unpleasant.
"Sorry." Mizu said softly.
It took only a handful of licks to create a rhythm and a handful more to let her tongue explore. Each brush under the hood of her clit prompted a broken off sigh, and when Akemi realized she could slide in two fingers, the only sounds Mizu made were long strings of ah, ah, ah.
Akemi's mind flashed with inspiration and she rose up, planting a wet kiss on the exposed lips of Mizu's cunt before she slid up, turning her hand so the heel rested against the sensitive nub and ground down a bit, searching for the spot which Mizu had found in her. When the two fingers seemed to almost glide in and out, Akemi tested three and found Mizu so lax that they slid right in.
"Oh heavens," Akemi sighed, readying herself. It was easy to spread Mizu's thighs, she was limber and when Akemi pushed forward so her hips were flush with her hand, they seemed to fall open wider.
Mizu realized her plan the same moment Akemi rocked forward, grinding her fingers into Mizu's cunt and her heel into her clit. The sound she made was sinful, something between a whine and a moan. Akemi built up a rhythm, thrusting her still sensitive cunt against her hand. The thrust forced her hand to rock in and out of Mizu and the woman nearly wailed.
In the part of her mind not blinded by pleasure or dumbed by orgasm, Akemi thought that it was more the thought of them fucking in the common way which attracted her, a cock and a cunt, a man and a wife. That thought alone sparked a renewed spark in her gut, one which had her aiming her thrusts to grind her clit against her knuckles.
Mizu was growing close, her breathing growing erratic and her sounds more unrestrained. Mizu came in the same way she fucked, rather as if in pain. Her back arched a bit, her toes curled on Akemi's thighs where her sprawled legs had landed, and a gush from her cunt which soaked the fabric under her.
Akemi's whole focus was on the picture she made, sprawled out and watching Akemi take her pleasure, her fingers still buried in Mizu's cunt, feeling the fluttering muscles as she breathed through the aftershocks. Gently, legs hooked around the sides of her hips, forcing her knuckles onto her clit, the skin still slick with cum, but it was Mizu's quiet breath which tipped her over, the soft command of, "Come for me."
Akemi did, jerking forward and being caught in strong arms, weathering her own aftershocks tucked along the long line of Mizu's body. The candles were burning down, the incense long since finished, and Akemi gave only a vague thought to Taigen waiting in their room.
He'd only made her cum once.
Their skin was sticky with sweat and other unmentionables but Akemi felt sated for the first time since she had left her home for the last time. A powerful thigh was wedged between her legs and a strong arm was draped over her stomach. It was the same sense she had gotten when she and Taigen had laid together that first time, wrapped up in the scent of him. It was a sense of protection, of satisfaction in her, even if only for her body.
The dream came to her no doubt as a result of the sex, of waking in the morning to Mizu against her front and Taigen her back. Of Akemi lounging, pointing, directing, Mizu rising up and sinking down into his lap, of him on his back letting her take it. Of the jade phallus she'd seen sent as a tasteless part of her dowry but which she imagined first thrusting into the soft folds of Mizu, then the unrelenting clench of Taigen–
Her sore cunt twinged. They were simply dreams and Akemi knew most women would not give up a life of ease and luxury to run off with a woman to live on a farm. It had taken nearly a whole night to convince Taigen, and Akemi had the sense that Mizu would not be won over with her arguments. Still, Akemi looked up at the sharp jaw above her, and ran a single finger over it until Mizu looked down at her. Her pale eyes had darkened, the sea at storm now. She was beautiful.
The spoiled Akemi of last spring would have asked anyway. She would have goaded and cajoled until she had gotten her way, a weak little girl plying those with power to possibly let her borrow some.
And yet.
"Have you ever wanted to leave?" Akemi whispered. It felt intimate, this warm bubble of air created between their faces as they breathed the same air. She ran an inquisitive hand over Mizu's ear lobe, then her jaw, then her neck. "Just exist somewhere else as someone else?"
"Yes." Mizu replied. "With horses."
"Horses?" Akemi laughed but let herself be awash with the dream. Taigen would fish in the stream, hunt and trap. Akemi could sew and embroider. Mizu would break the horses and care for the sheep. Taigen had been insistent they get sheep. They would cook together and when the sun sank, they would curl up together near the fire. On warm nights they would sleep beneath the stars.
"With horses." Akemi repeated softly.
"Is that where you are going with your husband?" Mizu asked and the warmth seemed to chill. It was stupid to think that courtesans never spoke and they had been rather loud with their entrance. Mizu must have felt her flinch, but she did not release the hold she had on her.
"Taigen and I…we both wanted out. I thought I was giving him what he wanted but the farther we go, the more I feel like this was all a big mistake." Akemi admitted and as the words came out she felt lighter. The burden of her choices shifted to another set of shoulders. To defend herself, she said, "I do care for him. He was the only one to really speak to me as a person, not a princess, and he made me laugh. The honest kind, when I snort."
Mizu laughed then, and it rocked her whole body. Her joy was infectious and Akemi laughed too. It was back, that feeling of something larger than herself consuming every thought until they all said the same thing, the echoing clarion call of ask her ask her ask her-
"Wouldyoucomewithus?" Akemi said in a rush and Mizu couldn't have looked more surprised than if Akemi bludgeoned her over the head. "Not that you have to, I understand you have a very desirable position here and I'm sure you have many ties and–it was a silly idea, I apologize, I'm unsure what came over me–"
But Mizu's face was a map of emotions, a furrowed brow and bitten lip, and something deep and hungry in her eyes. Akemi stopped her rambling, and that hopeless optimism rose in her again and she was the Akemi from last spring, dreaming of something spectacular to reach out and save her.
"Came with us." Akemi demanded, then, "Please."
"Your husband–" Mizu said but it was half-hearted at best.
"He cares more about his sword and his reputation than me." Akemi argued. She didn't truly think so little of him, he had a strong heart which ached to be soft, but she was not going to let him stop her from reaching out for something she so desperately wanted. "If you want to come with us, you come with us."
"To a farm." Mizu questioned. "With horses?"
"And sheep. Near where my carer Seki grew up. It's in the mountains but close to this little town if we wished to come down for festivals." Akemi explained. They had sat up and she took Mizu's hands in hers. Excitement gave her cheeks a pink color and she looked younger. Akemi was lost in the hazy promise of a future free from far old men and full of warm flesh and good company. "I've never ridden a horse, so you'll have to teach me but we could have a small stable."
"That's much too expensive." Mizu argued but it only made Akemi smile. One step closer.
And she needn't tell Mizu that they would never again need to worry about money, not when she had half her dowry sewn into the hems of her robs, hidden in the false bottoms of various ugly boxes, and melted down into a gaudy ornament which now rested safely in Taigen's hair. The other half was already hidden on the property with Seki, a small portion used to buy the land.
"Say you'll come." Akemi demanded.
Mizu seemed overwhelmed but she had never once removed her hands from Akemi's. She smiled, breathing a touch heavily in her excitement, and then like a snuffed candle, all expression was gone.
Akemi nearly jerked her hands away, but Mizu was no longer looking at her. Her eyes were staring into the middle distance and it was only when Akemi leaned in to touch her cheek did she realize the tilt of the other woman's head meant she was listening to something.
"Mizu?' Akemi said softly. "You needn't come, really. I just got a touch carried away–"
"Men are coming up the stairs."
For a moment there was no trace of the woman Akemi had lain with. Mizu was something more animal than human, staying deathly still until even Akemi could hear the sound of footsteps growing louder.
Then the screams started.
Mizu was up before Akemi had blinked, wrapping her stained robe around her and reaching down into the gap between a few boxes and a folding screen to pull out a sword.
"Hide behind this screen and stay quiet. I'll come back for you." Mizu ordered and Akemi jerked back into her body just as Mizu was grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the back of the room. Another scream and a crash sounded through the door. They were going room to room.
"Mizu, wait!" Akemi demanded but Mizu was not listening to her. All of her focus was on the door and the wait for it to open. Akemi shook herself free and yanked Mizu around to face her, grabbing her chin so her pale blue eyes finally would focus on her. "I'm not hiding. They are here for me. I won't go without a fight and neither will Taigen. We just have to get to him and get out. They will follow me and let you all go."
"No." Mizu hissed and Akemi wondered which part of her plan she was arguing with.
It didn't matter in the end, the door opened before either of them could ask and the man who stepped in was quick to draw his blade when he spotted her.
It was the sound Akemi heard first, then the flash of the blade at it cut clean through the man's arms and into his neck. It was a single smooth stroke, the kind Taigen practiced on saplings during their journey. Mizu remained extended, blade facing the open door and waiting, waiting.
They didn't make her wait long. Three more men poured in, ignoring the body bleeding sluggishly on the tami mat still damp from their couplings. Akemi flattened herself against the far wall, watching Mizu disarm one of them, just his sword this time, then take off another's leg. She spun in a wide arch and cut cleanly through the boiled leather armor of another leaving an arch of blood splatter across the ceiling.
Akemi's fingers fumbled over the vanity. It was mostly empty, but her hand grazed a hairpin. It was small, cheaply made, but it had a pointed edge to help slid into hair, and when one of the men fell back , eyes focused on Mizu's exposed back–
Akemi didn't hesitate. The pin slid into his eye with a sickening pop and he flung himself backwards, flailing and clutching at the pin. Mizu turned, distracted, and the masked swordsman pressed his advantage, striking out and cutting into the soft skin of her side. Mizu blocked but it still cut deep, slicing into her hip and leaving a spray of blood when the woman turned and with a single stroke, threw back his blade and cut his throat.
Akemi only realized she was shaking when hands took hers. She jerked back for a moment, frightened, and when she caught Mizu's eyes, her whole face was broken open like an egg. Mizu's bloody hands withdrew, her whole focus seemingly catching on the smear of blood her fingers had left on Akemi's hand. Her face was speckled with blood too and her eyes seemed especially blue by comparison. Mizu's mouth opened as if she wished to say something, but all the words seemed stuck in her throat.
"I'm sorry…" Mizu finally dragged out. Her face was twisted up in heart-break and her eyes looked glassy from tears. "You shouldn't have…I'm not–!"
It was choked out, and Mizu had reached up to brush something off Akemi's cheek and seemed stricken when it only smeared the warm blood across her face.
Mizu was trying to say something else which sounded like an apology, but Akemi refused to hear it. Instead, she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Mizu until they were pressed so tightly together she could feel the warmth of the blood oozing sluggishly from her hip. Mizu's arms came up instinctively, careful of the sword, and hugged her back. She was incredibly strong.
"I'm sorry I frightened you. I promise I'm not–" Mizu tried again and it could have been clearer if she said it aloud.
Akemi had seen the look of hatred on those men's faces, then the look of fear as she advanced on them.
"Let's go. Grab your things." Akemi said instead, feeling the strange rush of power that came with knowing she had been between those thighs a handful of moments ago and came out unscathed. "We'll find Taigen and go."
Akemi helped, packing up the few personal touches even when Mizu said she would be fine with leaving them. She was hesitant about her sash. It was nearly worn thin, but it had once been of high quality, the wave pattern still visible.
Mizu stilled when Akemi folded the front of her robe shut and tied the sash about her waist. It was clearly sentimental and it felt strangely domestic to dress another woman, if one ignored the steadily cooling bodies scattered about them.
"Our room is this–" Akemi cut off when Mizu instead directed her to the stairs. "We need to find Taigen."
"Taigen can find us. I'm getting you out of here, there is no way those men came alone." Mizu argued and the argument was flimsy at best, paper-thin at worst.
Courtesans were frantically speaking in the rooms they passed, comforting the startled men in their care with soft words and delicate touches. It was done with such talent Akemi almost wished to stop and watch the way they skillfully turned the racing hearts from fear to lust.
"Taigen is a skilled swordsman, like you." Akemi tried to placate Mizu as they slid quietly down the steps, but if anything the comparison seemed to irk her. Akemi switched tactics. "He protected me when I needed him, when my father sent goons to drag me home. He risked his reputation to give me a choice."
Mizu stopped moving, looking once over her shoulder and then sighing. They were halfway down the stairs in a bubble of their own making.
"Fine, we can look for–"
A flash of a blade came from behind Akemi and she instinctively jerked back, pulling Mizu with her. She needn't have bothered, the woman rolled like the waves under the extended blade and slid up to leverage the pressure of the hilt against the man’s hand until the sword clattered to the ground. In the darkness of the stairwell, they grappled, the man slamming her wrist into the wall so hard her sword dug into the wood rather than be released from her grip. Mizu managed to get a solid hit in to the man’s stomach and he folded, for a moment slipping into the ring of candlelight from the upstairs. Mizu pressed her advantage. She was smooth as silk as she used his bent knee to launch herself up, legs catching around his neck and throwing themselves down the stairs and into the abandoned front room.
“You.” Mizu hissed as she wrestled her way on top, pressing down on the man’s hands and when he proved stronger, she slammed her forehead into his chin and forced his head to hit the wood floor with a meaty thunk.
“You!” The man hissed, punching Mizu along the edge of her bleeding side and Akemi raced forward, only to pause when she realized she recognized the voice.
“Stop!” She screamed, fear crawling up in her belly as she recognized the flash of gold in the man’s hair in the familiar shape of a heron. “Taigen!”
Both warriors froze, looking at her with wide eyes and mouths dropped open. Akemi’s frantic heart slowed slightly when Mizu removed her sword from Taigen’s neck, but then stilled when she realized his eyes had never once strayed from the place right over her shoulder.
“Hello, Princess.”
A knife was at her neck. It was very familiar, and had the same crane detailing as all of them had. It had been from the wedding set sent to her new husband and she wondered faintly on whose orders these men marched and which answer would hurt her more.
“Release her or I swear you will die slowly and painfully, strung up by your innards.” Mizu hissed and she looked ferocious. Her grip on her blade was deceptively loose, the sleeves of her kimono slipping down to expose the tops of her breasts and the blood which had dried there. The braid Akemi had crafted had come loose, Mizu’s dark hair framing her eyes which seemed luminous even in the low light.
“No, flayed for the pathetic cowards they are.” Taigen said softly. He had stood and she could see him clearly for the first time. His lip was broken and his hair was loose too, but his stance was one of surety. The men at her back shifted and the knife fluttered a bit with each nervous breath they took.
Akemi waited for the lull in breaths, that little moment where in their fear they readjusted their grip on the knife. Taigen caught her eye, and his confidence faded in a heartbeat, his feet instinctively moving forward. Akemi didn’t hesitate.
Her small blade sunk into his hand and the knife it had been holding clattered harmlessly to the ground. The breath she had been holding came out of her in a massive whoosh. Hands were around her before she could so much as blink. Mizu was at her shoulder, Taigen’s sure hands at her waist.
Akemi didn't see the cut, only heard the singing of the blade as it slashed out and the sound it made as it rend the man's throat. Akemi was swaying just slightly, the burst of fear fading and taking her strength away with it.
"We need to go." Akemi demanded. Her hands were holding tight to both of their clothes to keep herself from folding over. "We can be long gone by the time–"
"We are not traveling with this dog!" Taigen hissed and Akemi was so startled that for a moment she was struck silent. He never spoke to her like that, every woman she'd talked to had said he was respectful and polite. "Should've known you'd end up in a place like…this…"
Akemi watched him trail off as his eyes slid down off Mizu's face, to her unbound hair before settling on the half-exposed breasts peeking from the top of her loose kimono.
"Taigen, Mizu saved my life! She may work here, but she is honorable and–and you are being rather cruel to her!" Akemi defended and she could see the way both their heads jerked to look at her in disbelief. "She is coming with us.'
"Well she was different when I met her back in Kohama village." Taigen hissed but there was an embarrassed blush across the tops of his cheeks. Mizu's face turned thunderous and her grip tightened on her blade. Both seemed to be itching for a fight. Akemi worked through his words, the knowledge that there was some buried history between them.
"We've stayed too long. Whoever is coming with me, we're leaving now." Akemi demanded, marching back up the stairs to retrieve the small pack Mizu had made of her treasured objects, most of which were knives, scarves, or pretty rocks. Without so much as hesitating she marched passed towards the door and she could hear the twin pairs of footsteps follow.
"Always with the theatrics, Mizu." Madame Kaji chided from a doorway hidden by a wall. She stepped up and out, gesturing for a few of her girls to come up too. Not one looked all that surprised to find two bodies cooling in their parlor. It only took the madame one glance to see what was happening and a complicated look came over her. "So this is it."
"I can stay." Mizu offered immediately and something possessive clenched in Akemi's gut. She nearly sighed in relief when Madame Kaji simply shook her head and walked forward, talking to her softly about debts paid, a woman named Kinuyo, and life worth living.
"Go grab the rest of your things, never let it be said Madame Kaji sends you off worse than when you came to her."
Mizu smiled softly and turned to Akemi as if in question. She nodded quickly, and almost followed Mizu as the woman bound up the stairs to collect her things but the strong grip of the madame's hand at her elbow stopped her.
"So you're taking my Mizu." She said coolly. "She is special. Has been hurt many times."
At this her gaze slid over to Taigen who had taken up the countenance of a kicked puppy.
"I promise to care for her. She is…" Poems sprang to mind, recitations which had not quite been able to match the feeling of warmth as they shared breath. She settled on: "Singular."
"So she is." Madame Kaji hummed but there was a sadness at the edges of her eyes, weakness compounded with an old grief. As if distracting herself, Madame Kaji looked to the bodies. "It seems as if it was a good idea to send you to her. It seems her lessons paid off."
"Pardon?" Akemi asked politely but it was so brazen that it caught her off guard. For one which seemed to mother Mizu, she seemed awfully cavalier in selling off her body. But then the Madame seemed a touch confused.
"Mizu trains our girls to defend themselves. I figured it was she who gave you the knife?" The madame asked, gesturing to the small blade still stuck into one of the goons hands.
Akemi gaped, disperate pieces clicking together. Mizu was unpracticed in many things, skittish the moment Akemi had touched her. The way her body reacted to pleasure as if waiting for the punchline.
"Oh fuck." Akemi cursed and Taigen looked at her in shock. Madame Kaji noticed first, the way her kimono was untied, the way her mouth had to be bruised from kisses and there was a hitch in the way she stood. Taigen noticed right after.
Akemi could see each emotion flash over his face as if reading them from a book. Confusion flashed to understanding which faded back to confusion and then to thoughts which caused his cheeks to darken in a blush. She filed that reaction away to dissect on the road.
"I'm ready." Mizu nearly leapt off the last step and all she carried was a small pack. She had changed, kimono replaced with large loose pants and her breasts were wrapped down. The white bandages peaked out of her small robe before she shifted her pack to tighten her sash.
Like this she looked decidedly more masculine, any softness flattened into lean lines. Akemi's heart jumped when Mizu looked to her and she was faced with the whole might of her tentative hope.
Akemi reached out and hooked her hand through Mizu's arm. The woman let out a breath she had been holding and seemed to slump slightly. Akemi glanced once over to Taigen as Mizu said a final goodbye to the girls she had been apparently training.
His eyes tracked Mizu about the room, focused on the way she moved, how her hand always rested passively on her hilt or casually on her hip. It was not anger which seemed to seep out of him, but a strange and interested hunger. His own hand clenched unthinkingly on his own sword and Akemi realized she would be playing judge to many sword fights in her future.
There was a curious pleasure in that. That and the way he looked was only a step away from attraction. She wondered faintly if she was truly smart enough to pull this off.
When they finally gathered the horses and Taigen tried to help Mizu up into the saddle, she slapped away his hand and pulled herself up in a smooth motion which left him looking at the place where she had last been standing with something approaching bewilderment. Taking pity on him, she called him over to help her up instead.
"So," Akemi started awkwardly when Taigen had slipped back to watch their flank. Mizu's eyes were focused on the horizon and it made it easier for her to push the words out. "You are not a courtesan, are you?"
"No, are you?" Mizu asked and Akemi buried her face into her fur-lined coat to avoid Mizu's eyes and then her quiet laugh. "I did think you rather forward for a student, then you made me cum and I wondered just what you were expecting to learn."
"There is a town not a day's ride East." Taigen called as he road up, stopping to find both curled up in laughter. "What is so funny?"
Flanked by Mizu and Taigen, Akemi watched the brothel fade into the blinding sunrise. The Akemi of last night had thought it run down and poorly kept. The Akemi of this morning thanked the gods for the lame mare who forced them to stop, the fleshtrader who gave them directions, Madame Kaji who led her to the phoenix printed door.
Taigen shot considering glances at Mizu when she turned to check the woods to their left. When Taigen looked right to do the same, Mizu watched him just the same.
Smiling, the Akemi of today chided the Akemi of the coming spring who would reap the pleasures she would help sow.
"Come, you two." Akemi laughed and it seemed to echo out over the snowy trail. She kicked her mare into a trot and tossed over her shoulder, "We have a long ride ahead of us!"