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All good doms hated to seriously punish their subs. A true punishment wasn’t meant to be enjoyable, but to guide and correct behavior by using physical or small doses of emotional pain, sometimes a mixture of both. No good man or woman wants to see his love in real distress. Yet one couldn’t have it both ways, reaping the benefits of being a dom while neglecting to protect one’s sub from her own weaknesses. So Hana conscientiously spanked her girl every time she endangered herself with undeniable foolishness, every time she ignored a clear injunction she’d been given with her safety and health in mind. Hana wasn’t a girl who ever neglected her duty or did things halfway. Though she was a woman who usually acted on her feelings, she was strong enough to swallow any heartache she felt when it came to making Sakura, her liege, her love, cry to shield her from harm. If it was her duty to punish her for being careless with herself, Hana would not only spank, but absolutely welt Sakura’s butt as many times as it took for her to understand she must be more careful, even though these punishments often ended with both girls crying. Sakura understood this. This did not mean, however, that she always agreed with her love’s decisions.
The most recent trip over Hana’s lap took place because Effie, after going against her wife Elise’s orders and training while sick, got injured and came to Sakura, asking her to heal the injury so that Elise wouldn’t learn of her disobedience. Sakura had spent the day lending aid at a hospital, so she was low on healing and magical energy. She didn’t think it was right to disobey or hide things from one’s love, either, and felt that, as her sweet friend, Elise deserved better than for her to help Effie deceive her. Effie was a dear friend of hers, too, though, gentle, reserved and shy in a way that Sakura could relate to. She couldn’t bring herself to refuse her, and perhaps it would be for the best not to disappoint and sadden Elise with the knowledge that her girl had defied her. So she used the last of her healing energy to help Effie. But when her own girl came home with scratches from a battle with a demon and needed healing, Sakura, in the name of practicing what she’d tried to preach to Effie, was honest with Hana. While it may have been easier just to lead her to believe she had used all of her energy at the hospital, she admitted that she’d taken care of Effie following a little accident that she’d had. Unfortunately, Hana became alarmed and wanted to know what sort of accident it had been. As Hana, Sakura, Elise and Effie were all good friends, Hana wasn’t ignorant of the fact that Effie was sick, and this fueled her concern. Sakura was forced to explain further.
On a few occasions Hana had been guilty of trying to train while unwell, so, thankfully, she didn’t go off to report on Effie to Elise. Sakura was embarrassed about using healing energy to help a friend deceive her wife and consequently being unable to heal her own girl. She didn’t expect Hana to be pleased about it, but she didn’t expect her to be quite as perturbed as she was, either. Hana wasn’t upset about not being healed. It was the waste of healing energy, the remains of Sakura’s supply, that caused Hana to reprimand her and put her over her knee almost as soon as she got back from the infirmary.
“Saku, what if you’d really needed that energy?” she demanded afterwards. “What if you’d needed to use your magic to try and calm a demon or confuse him or heal your own wounds because I wasn’t home or heal me so I could keep protecting you?”
“I know it was silly to use the energy when I didn’t need to,” Sakura pleaded, “but, love, I don’t think it was enough energy to heal a really serious wound or calm a demon to start with!”
“You would have had enough energy a few hours later,” Hana pointed out, “if you’d saved it!”
“It wasn’t enough at the time, though,” Sakura insisted. “Did you really need to spank me for this?”
“Saku, I promised to protect you and to use this Dom/sub relationship as another way of doing that. I’m not going to let you get away with wasting the last of your healing energy! Do you think I’m only supposed to be your domme when it’s easy and fun?. . .I don’t want to punish you, Flower. I’ve always tried to protect you from anyone who would make you cry, and yet I do it now. It feels terrible. But I do it because I don’t want to lose you.”
These tender words stopped Sakura from arguing further. She still wasn’t sure she agreed that a serious punishment had been warranted in this situation, but she tried to see things from her best friend and love’s perspective.
Sakura wasn’t spanked more frequently than twice in a quarter of a year, but even that felt like a lot. When she’d been a child, she could go as long as half a year without even being scolded. Hana promised her that the more frequent reprimands and punishments in a D/s context didn’t mean that she was a fool or a burden or a failure as a submissive and wife. They only meant that her girl was devotedly paying attention to her and the way she treated her own safety and health. The attention made her feel loved - if it did not, she would never have asked to be in a Dom/sub relationship, nor would she continue to grant Hana authority over her if she didn’t believe that she always tried to be fair. Still, at times Sakura couldn’t help wanting to ask those of her friends who were also subs how often they got punished. Was it normal to be spanked eight or nine times a year as an adult? It was silly, of course - she would never be rude enough to actually go through with it, prying into her friends’ lives. But the temptation itched now and again.
Corporal punishment wasn’t popular with all doms. Though many of them and their partners had gotten the marks because they felt most fulfilled by an arrangement that gave doms the legal power to punish when it was necessary, many tried to limit the use of hitting. Some, like Hana, Camilla, from whom Hana learned some things about her own desire to be dominant and how to be a good domme, Oboro, Xander and Leo, believe that, “A spanking is worth more than a pound of gold,” and in her own case, Sakura didn’t suppose she could disagree with the adage - when she had been spanked for an offense, she never repeated it. Others, like Corrin, Azura and Elise, placed hope in the idea that, “A wise and loving word guides better than a blow,” and punished their wives, when the need for punishment arose, with verbal reprimands that were gentle, yet stung in the way that only a reprimand from someone you revere and treasure can.
But even a gentle dominant could be pushed to resort to physical chastisement. Effie learned this when Elise caught her trying to work out after having been warned not to strain a pulled muscle just yet. Though Effie thought of herself as tough, capable of enduring pain, somehow being taken over her wife’s lap was different. She couldn’t decide which was worse - the sting of her hand or the humiliation. She actually shed tears, something her pulled muscle hadn’t been able to make her do. Effie knew she had no intentions of purposely ignoring another request from her girl any time soon.
“Still,” she murmured to Sakura as she lay on her couch with her head in her friend’s lap and her red face, thankfully, hidden, “spanking me for working out with a muscle that doesn’t even hurt that much anymore is an overreaction.”
Gently Sakura caressed the silver hair. “I don’t think so, dear. She asked you not to work out till you were better, didn’t she?”
“Well, yes,” Effie mumbled. “And I do like being a good girl for ‘Lise, Sakura. But she can be a little overprotective.”
Sakura giggled. “I feel the same way about Hana sometimes.” Her stroking hand went on. “And, to tell the truth, sometimes she thinks I’m overprotective of her. I fuss at her when she exercises and I feel she’s overdoing it or if she pushes herself too hard when it comes to everyday things. I know you worry about Elise’s safety, too. In the end, though, we agreed to be their subs. They’re not only going to use the power we gave them for fun and games. As good dommes, they’ll pull rank to try and protect us if they think they need to.”
“Even if we think they’re going completely overboard?”
“Even then.” Sakura’s hand moved down to work between Elise’s shoulderblades in gentle circles. “Whenever I pack Hana’s bento, she has me make one for myself, too, and if I forget to eat it, she scolds me. I never worry about missing one meal out of three, but she worries for me, and I want to put her heart at ease.”
“I guess I understand. . .and, deep down inside, I do like the fact my sweet lady cares so much about me. It’s just that. . .I’m not used to. . .well - being protected.”
Sakura’s voice grew softer. “I know, dear. You’ll have to come to understand you deserve to be protected - and maybe even need it. It will take time. . .and practice with letting someone protect you. It did for me. Of course, my big sister and brothers did protect me and take good care of me when I was a child, especially after we lost Mama and Papa. But they’ve always been a little bit quiet and reserved. Even though their being quiet about their feelings was their way of trying to be strong, of protecting me. . .sometimes I felt I should keep quiet when I was feeling confused or hurt or afraid, too. It seemed normal not to talk about feelings, and I didn’t want to upset my big sister and brothers any more than they wanted to worry me. With Hana, it’s different. She’s so outgoing, and I know we can talk about anything - feel anything together.”
Effie thought of her own sunshine fairy of a girl, and although her butt still smarted, a smile came to her face. “Yes,” she replied. Her face grew warmer as she added, “Love is a feeling of safety. I don’t know what words I can use to describe it. . .other than. . .sweet. . .soft. . .and warm.”