[D12, EN] Into the unknown (Closed)

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Bayushi Senshuken arrives at the hotel like an one woman midnight ambush. Her bike growls to a stop beneath the streetlights, and she swings off it with the loose, predatory grace of someone who knows exactly how hot she looks and intends to use it.

She’s dressed for a date Kisha absolutely does not know it is coming. Black fitted jacket hugging her frame, crop top flashing just enough to be rude, dark jeans and boots that make her look like she’s about to win a street race and someone’s heart. Her hair is wind tousled, artfully chaotic, the kind that makes people stare a little too long.

Two helmets dangle from her hands. One for her, one for the unsuspecting imperial she’s here to abduct in the name of romance.

Senshu stands by the hotel entrance, leaning against her bike like sin on vacation and pulls out her communicator. Without hesitation, she sends a single text to Miya Kisha:

I’m downstairs. Ready for our date.

No explanation. No warning. No option to decline.

Then she returns her communicator in her pocket, smirks at the quiet night and waits. She's confident that confusion, indignation, and a flustered Kisha will soon be heading her way.

[Miya Kisha]

Confident as she may be, Senshuken is bound to be a little frustrated, because while Kisha is flattered, she is not indignant, nor is she flustered--yet--when she emerges from the ryokan, dressed to ride (even if it's a bit different a ride than awaits, but one does what one can).

She walks--it's not a saunter, no, but it's a determined stride--up to the Scorpion woman, and she gives a bow and a slight smile.

"I thought you might be calling about now, Sen-san," she says. "And I'm glad you've brought along your mighty steed."

In the lamplight, it is clear that Kisha's face is made up. She's put some time into it.

"Where're we heading?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken stops dead in her tracks the instant she sees Kisha’s composed, perfectly made up face. Her posture straightens, her shoulders tense in theatrical horror. Eyes widen and jaw drops

“Wait. Wait.” She points at Kisha like she’s identifying a culprit in a murder mystery. “You’re telling me you had been expecting me? Before I even revved the engine? Before I even thought about being irresponsible and dramatic you were getting ready? I? Predictable?”

She looks genuinely wounded for half a heartbeat… then adds another half just to be extra and smirks. "No, impossible. Unthinkable. My entire brand is at risk. Scandalous.” She glances upward as if her ancestors are raining judgment upon her.

Then her eyes roam down the confident stride, the riding clothes that do suspicious things to the imagination, that perfect makeup glowing in lamplight and her fake outrage softens into something slow, sharp, and pleased.

“You dressed like that for not a date you didn’t know was happening?"Her grin turns sinfully appreciative. "Kisha san, I feel so seen. And maybe a little attacked.”

She steps in close enough that her breath brushes Kisha’s cheek, her voice dropping into a whisper. “All right. I will need something from you.” She tilts her head. “Guess where we are going. So I can change it instantly and preserve the delicate mystery of Senshuken lore.” A smirk. "Be a good girl and do this for me, hm?”

[Miya Kisha]

"After last night, or what I remember about it, how could I not at least guess?" Kisha says. "Sometimes the wind tunnel catches the right breeze, anyway.

"But if I'm going to be a 'good girl' for you," she continues, "I'll guess, oh, the noodle place under the Seung Exchange. They do have good noodles, to be fair, and I think you might like them."

Kisha shrugs and grins. "Will that help you keep the mystery, Sen-san? Or do I need to go further afield for you?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

She sighs theatrically. "It is certain now. You see right through me. Further is always better, but let me take care of the mystery. And you."

She pauses for a moment. "You trust me right?"

[Miya Kisha]

"I put myself in your hands," Kisha says. Perhaps she is naïve. Perhaps she is simply letting go. Perhaps she realizes that any damage to a Miya would provoke reactions.

Perhaps she really wants to go for a ride.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

The Scorpion offers her hand to help her up and the second helmet.

"So what happened last night, o fair lady of the Miya?" She asks before lowering the shade of her own helmet.

[Miya Kisha]

"Flatterer," Kisha quips at the compliment.

"But for what happened?" she continues. "I'm still trying to get that all sorted out in my head. There was a lot of drinking going on, and I am only a little Miya, after all."

From someone else, batting eyelashes might well be expected. From Kisha? Not so much.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

She takes one last look behind her. "Good to go, little Miya? Hold tight." She doesn't wait for an answer and soon Kisha understands that she does have to hold tight.

She turns her head a bit to her side after a few more moments to speak to the Imperial again. "You know. Nothing happened in reality, but in my head? Oh! The things that happened in my head!"

[Miya Kisha]

Behind Senshuken, Kisha nods.

"My head had a lot going on in it, too," she says. "But I made sure to drink lots of water, and aspirin this morning helped with it. Getting a little nap in was good, too."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Now I do have to ask what was going on inside your head. Any ideas how to persuade you to reply?"

Senshu's driving is pretty tame for now. They seem to be heading to the suburbs.

[Miya Kisha]

"What do you mean?" Kisha asks, sincerely confused by the question. "I really did have more to drink than was good for me. Soshi-san having her time of things was a reminder of it."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Never mind. We didn't share the same thoughts then. Thus the question remains on why you expected my visit, Kisha san."

"A she's-just-a-friend would check on you the following morning, not in the middle of the night. And the other she's-just-a-friend wouldn't be waiting dressed hotter than hell itself, no? Unless you have a date later on, friend."

[Miya Kisha]

"Well," Kisha says, "after our time in the field, and after the temple, and after the way you looked at me on the beach today, I had a feeling something would happen. That, and a friend, a couple of friends, suggested I should take something for myself.

"I didn't know you'd pick me up," she continues, "but I figured I'd run into you, and I thought you might like to like what you see."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh, it sounds as if you're... experimenting?" She chuckles softly. "What can this poor test subject do for you, Kisha san?" She barely avoids the urge to stop the bike and look at her in the eyes. The impact of her question would have been stronger. "If we call this a date, what are your expectations?"

[Miya Kisha]

"I...have no idea," Kisha says. "I think I told you that I haven't really...done anything like this before. All I have is what people say about it, but I know enough to know that a lot of things are...exaggerated?

"But I do know you made me feel things I hadn't before. Good things. Am I wrong for hoping for them again?

"Seriously, am I wrong? I really don't know."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"No, you are not." She only says and eases off the throttle as the last lights of the city fade behind them. The bike rolls to a gentle stop in the middle of the empty highway. Cool air rushes past them. It lifts the edge of Senshu’s jacket as she reaches up and pulls her helmet off with that unstudied, infuriating grace of hers. Her hair shakes loose and her breath is visible in the night. For a moment she just stands there.

Then she swings off the bike, one boot touches the ground while the other still steadies it so it doesn’t tip with Kisha perched on top. She looks up at Kisha with a mixture of challenge and reverence, like she’s offering her something far more dangerous than mere words. She offers freedom.

“Kisha,” she says. Her voice is low but unwavering. “Take the reins of your life. Kiss me because you want it, not because I do.” The words land between them like a dare.

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha meets Senshuken's gaze with her own.

"I'm glad I'm not wrong," she says, and she slides closer to Senshuken on the bike. "And I hope you'll be patient with me," she adds. "I haven't done a lot of this. Any of it, really, before the fields."

She shifts again, and the bike wobbles. But even with that, she reaches out with both hands, puts one on each of the Scorpion's cheeks, pulls her in, and presses her own lips enthusiastically if inexpertly to the Bayushi's.

She holds them there together for a moment, two, three, before releasing the other woman's face and sitting back. Her breathing is heavier, not ragged but deeper.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshuken doesn’t just meet the kiss. She receives it like a surprise blessing she’s been secretly hoping for. The first brush of Kisha’s lips is warm, eager, a little clumsy and it makes something in Senshu melt in a way she’d never admit under torture.

When Kisha pulls back, Senshuken’s grin is slow, predatory only in confidence, not in intent. She leans in. One hand slides behind Kisha’s neck. She brings their lips together again, deeper this time, guiding her gently into a rhythm, fully savoring the soft exhale Kisha gives into her.

When she finally pulls away, Senshu is breathing harder too, though she disguises it behind a smirk as she slips her helmet back on. She swings onto the bike with practiced ease. The engine growls back to life and she takes a glance over her shoulder. It's just long enough for Kisha to see the truth under the swagger. Then she faces forward again.

“Hold tight,” she says casually. “I like you a lot, Miya Kisha. Just so that you know."

[Miya Kisha]

"I'm glad," Kisha says, and she presses herself against Senshuken's back, arms wrapping tightly around the other woman's waist. She's ridden tandem before, so it's a familiar enough thing to do, but she relaxes into it more now than before.

"I like you, too, Bayushi Senshuken," she says, although whether the sound of it reaches her ears is uncertain.

The small adjustment to snuggle in just a little closer, though, should be easy enough to understand.