Nakahama

From the moment Kisha leans in and wraps her arms around her waist, the world feels quieter. Kisha’s warmth settles against Senshu’s back, fitting there as though the space had been waiting for her. The wind swallows most words, but Senshu feels the sentiment anyway. The tighter hold, the small adjustment that brings Kisha even closer. They ride like that in silence, the city long gone behind them and the sea breeze slowly replacing the scent of asphalt.

When the coastline appears, Senshuken slows down and guides the bike off the road. She unmounts in a fluid motion. Then turns and offers both hands to help Kisha down. Steady and attentive.

"Come on,” she says softly, tapping her backpack with her fingers. “I’ve got everything we’ll need right here. Unless you’re more of a reservation-at-a-restaurant type." Her teasing smile makes it clear that she’s prepared for either. Sand between their toes or fine dining, whatever Kisha wants.

Kisha dismounts the bike with surprising grace. It's lower than even a pony, after all, and Kisha's long accustomed to that kind of a ride. But she does rest a hand in Senshuken's as she does it, a light touch rather than a reliant lean.

Stripping the helmet off, she says "Oh, this is fine and more than fine." Smiling in the starlight, she adds "I'm a shisha, after all. I do like a fine meal, but there's a lot to say in favor of a picnic lunch or dinner, especially when the scenery's good and the company's better.

"And I've had a good time when both have been worse than what we've got now," she adds. "So, again, I put myself in your hands, Sen-san."

Senshuken keeps Kisha’s hand in her own as they walk, guiding her across the sand toward the far end of the beach. The moon picks out a silhouette ahead. A large rock outcrop forming a natural alcove. As they approach, the soft flicker of flame reveals itself. Two torches burn at the entrance. A mat is laid out with care, dishes covered in lacquered lids, a chilled bottle of wine nestled in sand and unlit candles waiting for a spark. The servants who prepared this are long gone, leaving the space entirely to them.

Senshu lets out a small, pleased exhale. “Looks like we’re lucky,” she says and taps the side of her backpack with mock ruefulness. “Good thing, too. This could only fit so much.”

Then she winks. It's the slow, conspiratorial Bayushi wink that suggests she’s enjoying herself more than she plans to admit. “So maybe we get both, the picnic and the fine dining.” It’s impossible to miss the truth woven through the humor. Senshuken prepared all of this not knowing if the date would ever happen, but hoping hard enough to plan it anyway.

"I guess I know what you were thinking last night," Kisha says, and her fingers tighten just a bit on Senshuken's own. "But I still don't understand how you think this is dirty thoughts."

She looks around at what's on display. "But you've gone to so much trouble for me, Sen-san. What if I'd said 'no' to you?"

The Miya shakes her head. "You'd have someone saying 'yes' before I could finish the word, I know. I mean, just look at you!"

She sighs softly. "I was tipsy last night. And... Discouraged. I decided to play with fire just for the thrill of it." This time it is her that shakes her head.

She stops walking and shifts her body so as to face Kisha. "I'm a person. A real one. With liked, dislikes and actual feelings. Yes, if you hadn't agreed to follow me, I would be here either way. On my own. Drinking beers instead of wine and listening to depressing music." A pause, too long to be for emphasis.

"I'm going through something new to me. A... tiny small heartbreak. And in all this.. I mean it that I like you. So if you really want to be here as much as I do, let's stop. Let's not treat each other as test subjects in a long overdue experiment."

Kisha pulls Senshuken closer to her. Or, rather, she gives a tug and hopes the Bayushi will move so that she can wrap at least one arm around her.

"Was that what I was doing?" Kisha asks. "Treating you like an experiment? I didn't mean to, if I was. And I really am glad to be here with you."

The Miya looks Senshuken in the face. "I'm sorry you're hurting. Is there something I can do to help you?"

Senshuken doesn’t resist the small tug. Her hands settle lightly at Kisha’s sides at first, resting rather than claiming. There is no sharp retort, no mask of swagger this time. The question lands in a place Senshu rarely lets anyone touch.

And maybe it’s because it’s their last day on the island or maybe because she still has just enough void left for something reckless and cinematic, but Senshuken draws a slow breath, centers her weight and focuses. She isn’t a strong woman, not in the physical sense, but with focus, with intent, with the raw need to answer Kisha honestly, she finds the strength to slide her hands to Kisha’s hips. If Kisha lets her, Senshu lifts her in one fluid motion, pulling her into a tight embrace with Kisha’s legs around her waist. Their bodies steady against one another, their noses nearly brushing, Senshuken leans in until her whisper is warm against Kisha’s lips.

“You can make me fall for you,” she murmurs “and treat me gently… until you fall for me too.”

Kisha gives a little whoop as she is swept off of her feet, literally, and her small frame moved about at someone else's will. Held aloft, she kisses Senshuken again, perhaps doing a little better this time than last.

After a few moments, she will break the kiss and puff out "I'm not sure how, but I'm happy to try. To treat you gently, I mean."

Another peck on the Scorpion's lips precedes "But I think we might need to move for me to do it. I can't imagine you'd want to hold me up like this all night."

And then she kisses Senshuken again, her fingers threading through the other woman's hair.

Senshuken melts instantly, because chemistry, timing and passion always outweigh technique and experience in a kiss like this.

And yet, almost immediately, her face contorts into a comically suffering grimace. "I can’t hold you even if I wanted to. I’m dying inside just to look cool a little longer." She jokes, smirking through the exaggerated agony.

With a playful groan, she eases them toward the mat and lets Kisha down gently while staying impossibly close. Once they’re both seated, Senshu tilts her head and murmurs. “Alright. What kind of music do you want us to listen to? And do you have a lighter, Ms I-smoke-sometimes."

"For music?" Kisha says. "Something low and slow, I think.

"For a lighter? No," she continues. But a box of matches emerges from her pouch. "Better flavor with these," she says, and offers them over.

"And for the record, I think you look plenty cool, even when I'm not looking down. But that's nice to do sometimes; it's a rare treat for me."

Senshuken lets out a low chuckle, a mix of genuine amusement and that familiar, teasing Bayushi lilt. She takes the box of matches from Kisha, shaking her head slightly with a smirk as she lights each candle around their alcove. When the last flame catches, she steps back for a heartbeat, then with flair, pulls out her device and presses play. Slow, sultry, ridiculously over the top romantic music fills the small beach. Returning to Kisha, she lies down on her side, close enough to brush against her.

Her gaze flicks up at Kisha, her lips curve in that sly, teasing way, as she murmurs. “I adore our height difference. It’s intoxicating to feel how far my hands can reach.” Her finger brushes lightly against Kisha’s lips, “I can be kissing you and still my hands could wander to so many places without breaking the kiss.” She pauses, letting a soft chuckle escape her. “I have a silly secret to share. Promise you’ll keep an open mind?” The question hangs between them, playful and intimate, a quiet invitation to the next layer of closeness and mischief.

Kisha kisses the fingers that brush her lips, then reaches up to guide Senshuken's palm to her cheek. She holds it there as she leans back, bracing herself on the other elbow as she reclines.

"I suppose there are advantages to being small," she allows. "I don't feel so cramped aboard ship, for one thing."

Senshuken will feel her smile under her palm.

"But I don't think that's what you meant.

"Anyway, what 'silly' thing could you have, Sen-san?" she asks. "I'll listen."

"I have stolen your pouch twice." She blurts out. "It's not something I normally do and I have no idea why I did it, but I will certainly do it again if I get a chance." Everything is spelled out really fast and only then she takes a breath.

"I didn't took anything from inside or even opened it. But..." She chuckles nervously. "It was supposed to be a joke both times, but both times things got too heated and I forgot what the joke was about."

"So I didn't drop it, then?" Kisha asks.

Then, "Wait, heated? I thought you were having a lot more effect on me than I you. I mean, again, look at you! You're pretty--beautiful, really, and I'm, well, just me. And you know how to do things, and, and..."

Kisha trails off.

"I mean, everything was there, and it was a joke, so I get it. I don't know that I'd do it with many people, but I get it."

She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow playfully. "An actual person with likes, dislikes, feelings, etc, etc. Remember? Heated moments, yes. I have already told you that I like you. What should I do for you to believe me?"

"Sorry," Kisha says. "It's been a busy couple of days. And it's still strange to me.

"But you're right, you've said it, and you've acted on it."

The Miya's hand moves to search for the Bayushi's own.

"Like I said, I'm still new to this. I mean, you were my first kiss. Are. And my second. And third. And several others.

"And again," she adds, and moves in to touch Senshuken's lips with her own again, silly teenager that she is.

Senshuken meets every shy, earnest advance with a warmth that has nothing guarded in it. The moment Kisha leans in again, Senshu’s lips part to welcome her. The kiss blooms into something deeper. Slow at first, then hotter and hotter, fueled by the quiet hunger they’ve been circling around all night. Her hands slide up to cradle Kisha’s upper neck and cheeks, her thumbs brus tenderly along her skin as she pulls her closer, guiding the kiss without overwhelming it.

She's fully present in the moment waiting to feel every shift in either Kisha's breath or her body. When she feels it, Senshu eases back just enough to hover. Her breath ghosts over Kisha’s damp lips as their foreheads almost touch. And in that charged sliver of space, Senshuken hums a few bars from the lyrics of last night.

"When I'm lonely
All the corners of my mind start racing
Things that should be kept in the basement
Spend my time trying to erase them

But when you hold me
In the fantasy it's so convincing
I shouldn't think the things I'm thinking
But now I've gone and let them sink in

The more that I push 'em away
The more that you're stuck in my brain
The more I mentally undress
I confess

I get dirty thoughts about you
They get worse when I'm without you
Does that mean that I'm going to hell
Or are you thinking them as well, oh"

Kisha leans her forehead in to rest against Senshuken's and nods a little. Her voice breathy, she says softly "I think so, maybe."

The starlight will glint off of a tear that begins to trace down her cheek as she continues. "When you've touched me, I've felt things I'd never felt before. I didn't know that I could feel them, really, didn't know that they could be felt. Thank you, Sen-chan, for showing me."

She swallows hard.

"I...I want more," she says. "But I'm afraid."

"Hey, hey. It's okay, honey." She rushes to comfort her and leads her closer into a tight embrace. "Being afraid is part of the process." She lays a soft kiss on the top of her head. "It means that you're not ready for any of the little bits and bytes that scare you. And it makes sense not to be and it is totally okay."

She sighs softly. "You worry too much, Kisha chan. Too much and for no reason at all. When you're ready, the fear will seize and you'll have many many opportunities to get what you'll want at the time. Till then do you like us like that? Snuggling and kissing and teasing each other?"

In the Scorpion's embrace--and how strange a thing to think, really--Kisha nods. In a small voice, she says "I've liked what we've done so far. A lot. Really. And I do want more, I really do."

She snuggles in closer, her small body wriggling on the sand.

"Were you scared your first time?" she asks, still in a small voice.