Author: Carrot Sauce | Original Source: SFACG | Word Count: 3247 characters |
Translator: Yuki | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1559 words |
Editor(s): Robinxen |
When the two people got up, the rice paper was already soaked with sweat and torn. This piece of calligraphy was more tiring than practicing qigong. Even Ayaka was dripping in sweat, the two fell against the wall together breathing heavily and staring at the torn rice paper.
“Lady Ayaka, this…”
Ayaka looked at Lily and observed her, white neck with sticky hair and worried eyes.
“Ah, ahahaha—” Ayaka couldn’t help but laugh. Seeing this Lily also relaxed, laughing together. Unconsciously, the two lowered their heads together, laughing and giggling together.
Gradually their laughter stopped and they looked at one another and the atmosphere got serious again.
Looking at Ayaka’s mature, intellectual and beautiful face and those moist lips, Lily had an impulse to try kissing them.
“No, I shouldn’t… Ayaka is my master, my benefactor, I can’t treat her like other women…1”
Lily belonged to the very reserved category of women, her ability to endure was absurd.
However, the two were close together, and this warm atmosphere that had suddenly quieted down…
Lily felt as if something inside her melted… This time it wasn’t Ayaka taking a kiss, but both sides seeking a kiss together.
“I must be crazy… Why did I do such a thing…”
Though Lily was still scolding herself in her heart, she still threw herself into feeling the fierce and intense cloying with the woman in front.
“Ayaka is really charming…?? Do I really…to her…”
Once this long suppressed affection burst out, Lily couldn’t restrain it. Her face was cupped within Ayaka’s hands, and her hands slowly inched toward Ayaka’s waist…
As for Ayaka’s closing in, she didn’t have much resistance, or it should be said she welcomed it… The feelings were too crazy, her heart felt like it was melting in honey… She didn’t know how long the kiss lasted, but when they separated, a silken thread connected their lips.
Ayaka’s gaze at Lily had also changed, she had always liked this little girl but was afraid she was only playing around. Her reactions when teased were very cute but…now she felt like she wanted to stay around this little girl all the time, and if Lily left for a little bit, she would feel lost.
This wasn’t exactly desire, nor was it playing around… This was…love. No, if they kept looking in each other’s eyes, they would lose control.
“Shall we go to the hot springs…together?” Ayaka asked.
“Mnn.” A sweetness surged up into her chest, she was afraid that if Ayaka pressed her down onto the tatami, she wouldn’t have the courage to resist.
Getting up, Lily wobbled around before Ayaka gently hugged her waist. With Lily’s height, there were not many women she could lean on, perhaps only Ayaka was tall enough.
The bursts of sweetness and happiness traveled through her numb body, yet conflicted with the deep down burst of shame and self-blame. The contradictory feelings made her unable to stand straight, she pushed away Ayaka’s hand, yet closely hugged Ayaka’s arm, placing it between her chest and leaning against her shoulder.
She felt that the world was spinning, and didn’t know exactly what she was doing.
Ayaka led Lily to the hot springs, and shyly turned away when in the changing rooms.
Lily never thought that she would actually peek while they were changing, seeing Ayaka’s tall slender figure, that long black hair trailing to the waist…that tight delicate waist despite the mature charm, the round rear…
Lily whipped her head around, crimson faced and not daring to look again. She felt that she was becoming stranger and stranger.
The two wrapped their bodies in towels, their hair braided and coiled as they descended into the hot springs.
Their shoulders brushed accidently and both flinched to the side subconsciously.
Lily had a thought, though Ayaka was very strong, she was still as delicate and sensitive as herself in the face of these little accidents.
She didn’t know how long they remained in the hot springs, but she still didn’t want to be separated. She had the urge to reach down and kiss Ayaka’s round shoulder, but as the thought passed her mind, she berated herself.
They stayed in the hot springs until dawn.
“Lady Ayaka, do you have to attend court today?” Lily asked.
“No, today I will take a break, I’ll see you at the pool in the backyard this afternoon?”
“Mm.” Lily nodded erratically.
The two changed into yukatas and walked all the way to the doorway.
“Then, I…”
“Hmm, can’t bear to leave? Shall I accompany you all the way to your room?”
“Ah? No, no…”
Ayaka lifted her chin and gave her another kiss.
“I’ll see you later.”
Lily covered her lips with a hand and fled back to her room.
Once she was back in her room, she dove under the white blankets and started crying…
“What am I doing? Why did I make such a mistake… But this feeling, it’s hard to resist…sister Rinne, I…I’m sorry…2”
……
……
Lily took a nap until the afternoon, when she woke up it was drizzling a light spring rain. The wind blowing in was warm and moist with the scent of flowers.
Thinking of the appointment with Ayaka, Lily washed up and prepared, she would not be late.
She dressed up in a pretty kimono decorated in pink white flowers and rushed out.
“Lily,” On the corridor to the study she bumped into Haihime, though Haihime looked better, her eyes were a bit lonely, “Lily, where are you going?”
Lily wanted to chat a bit with Haihime, but was afraid of what Ayaka would do if she was late and Haihime was the reason, “I’m going to go meet the chief advisor, sister Haihime, you should rest well.”
It was very reasonable to go meet the chief advisor, but Haihime was very experienced. Looking at Lily all dressed up, her body excluding the scent of a blooming flower, her heart felt depressed, but she still smiled, “Mm, go then, don’t make the chief advisor wait too long, or you’ll be punished.”
“Sister Haihime…” Lily’s face pinked.
Lily ran off full of youthful vigor, but Haihime’s eyes were downcast as she looked at the hyacinth flowers blooming in the rain.
Lily quickly approached the backyard, but when she was close she purposefully slowed her run down to a walk, as if she didn’t want others to know how impatient she was.
Walking along the river path, bypassing rocks and trees, Lily saw Ayaka standing in the pavilion wearing a white yukata covered in a pearl colored feather weave decorated with a golden thread pattern. Today’s Ayaka looked bright and moving and her pink lips showed the makeup she was wearing.
Both women had dressed up and put on makeup to meet each other…
When seeing Lily dressed in pink, Ayaka couldn’t help but smile, she felt this color represented Lily’s heart at the moment.
“Lady Ayaka.”
Lily hesitated, but still approached the pavilion and walked beside Ayaka. They watched the pond lilies and the egrets swimming around.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Mm.”
“Lily, do you remember the words I said to you as you departed towards the Izumo shrine?”
Recalling Ayaka’s words, Lily’s heart started beating faster and sweetness sufficed her heart. Had she really been captured by this woman… No, that’s not possible! Her heart must be firm! Remember!
“Lily, your answer?”
Lily’s heartbeats echoed in her ears.
After a long silence, through the constant gurgling of the spring, and the drizzle of the silk like water…
“I don’t know.” Lily was unable to refuse the woman in front of her, but she could not agree, she would not refuse sister Rinne!
“I understand…” Ayaka responded normally.
Maybe she and Ayaka should stop here, despite feeling relieved, there was a bitter feeling when she thought of this.
Lily’s strength of heart and her reserved character helped her control herself. Keeping her bottom line, and following her oath, protecting the promise between her and her beloved!
But this automatic reaction towards this woman, this sweet feeling, and the throbbing, this instinctive response in her soul could not be controlled.
If sister Rinne was beside her, perhaps this would not be a problem…but when could sister Rinne wake up? When could they meet3?
This long, lonely torture was far more difficult to resist than any power attack.
“Or I’m just a useless woman…I know this is wrong, yet I don’t know how to resist this reaction…”
Another long silence.
No one spoke, Ayaka didn’t speak so Lily didn’t speak. Lily was this type of woman, if no one spoke, perhaps this would all pass, perhaps it was a good thing. But the woman beside her was Ayaka. Heian-kyo’s most beautiful and most powerful woman.
Just as the silence was about to become unbearable, Lily felt something grab her hand, and though she instinctively resisted, she was pulled into Ayaka’s arms.
The familiar sensation reminded her of yesterday night.
“I don’t need you to answer, truthfully, even if you say nothing, I already know the real answer in your heart. I know better than you, what the answer you really desire is.” Ayaka looked down at Lily, her eyes like water, and her lips and breath like an intoxicating lure.
That breath made Lily’s delicate lips involuntarily part.