Koibumi

by Hildred Billings

  The moment they realized they had aligned their omanko with each other’s legs, they began to thrust with all their strength.

  Aiko was open just enough to feel her spouse’s skin rubbing against her clitoris, and from the way Reina moaned into shoulder and pillow the sensation was mutual. Come with me. Aiko directed her leg against her spouse while also relishing in her own pleasure. Come in me and on me. She wanted to experience every part of her spouse, inside and out.

  Dry and wet.

  “Ah!” Fluids ran down Aiko’s leg as Reina cried out into her ear. “Iku!” Already? Aiko also moaned as Reina’s frenzy led her to jam her thigh against her wife. Soon they were both covered in hot aieki, Reina panting as if she ran the race of her life.

  She was beautiful.

  Sweat glistened on her forehead and in her hair, mouth open in an ongoing, soundless scream of ecstasy. Ride it, my love. No man Aiko knew of could orgasm as long and as hard as this, as a woman unleashing all of her insecurities and reclaiming the love she felt for another. Feel good now and never worry again.

  Her final groan was feminine in sound and nature, the exact sound Aiko wanted to always hear until she died. Reina fell atop her wife and buried her face into the crook of Aiko’s neck.

  “I love you.” Reina’s rear was firm and soft in Aiko’s hand. “I will always love you.”

  Reina rolled off but remained near, their legs still intertwined as she caressed her wife’s face. “Ore mo suki.”

  Aiko sat up and kissed those masculine words.

  Now on top, she could maneuver her pelvis until it hovered above Reina’s – when it came to sex, Aiko’s spouse had a second sense in knowing what her partner always wanted. She knew now, when she slipped her fingers into Aiko’s slit.

  Yes… She leaned back, breasts in Reina’s face as she sat up too. Fingers penetrated her as a tongue wandered across her chest.

  It hadn’t taken a full twenty years for Reina to know every fold and corner of her wife’s inner body, but the experience was not a disadvantage. The only person in the world who could pleasure Aiko with a single set of fingers in such a thorough way was Reina, whose unrivaled dexterity took her wife to new heights each and every time. One look into Reina’s heady eyes told Aiko everything. “No man could do this to you.” Those fingers thrust hard into Aiko, sending her reeling as she gasped into the air.

  “More,” she said, hands grabbing Reina’s head. I want to feel all of you inside of me.

  Reina was the first person to ever stroke Aiko inside; if she were also the last, it would mean a dream fulfilled.

  Aiko fell backward into the futon, the comforter swallowing her up from below as Reina claimed her from above. She was everywhere. Half a hand fucked Aiko as her legs spread wide around her spouse; a mouth meandered over her breasts, sucking, kissing, licking. The scent of their sex filled Aiko with more greed. Her body became hot with too much love inside of her.

  She didn’t realize she was shouting until her throat went raw from her orgasm.

  If she had coerced Reina to ride out hers, then Aiko knew the feeling was mutual. They rocked together until all the pressure exuded from her body like a sudden torrent ripping from her loins. She rode that torrent until the wind of her breath gave out and her omanko could no longer bear the fingers within it. Reina pulled out and embraced her wife. They fell together, side-by-side with the comforter covering them with shadows. Without a single word they rolled into another long, thorough kiss. The only sounds Aiko indulged were Reina’s heartbeat and the rain still falling outside.

  The door burst open.

  “Chotto matte!” Reina flung the comforter upward to cover their bodies as Sachiko peered in. Aiko exploded into a ball of anxiety, all of Reina’s careful attentions for naught. She pulled the comforter past her face so Sachiko could not see her embarrassment. “Ma!”

  “Gomen, gomen!” Sachiko sounded like she was muffled by her own hand. “I heard shouting, and…”

  “We were making up.”

  “I’m so sorry!” The door creaked shut; Aiko saw shadows dance across the comforter. “I’m…I’m going to make dinner. Are you two staying tonight?”

  “Apparently.”

  Beneath the covers, Aiko squirmed against her spouse, but refused to come out until Sachiko had apologized once more and left. The fresh hair hitting Aiko’s nose as she threw back the comforter was refreshing. “So much for that feeling,” she said. Mothers had that nasty habit of ruining every liaison under their roof.

  Reina hesitated before kissing her wife on the forehead and slipping her hand back beneath the comforter. Tingles tickled Aiko’s thigh as her spouse’s hand appeared there. “It’ll be an hour or so until dinner.”

  “And?”

  Reina gently eased onto her, their lips gliding together. “And I want to spend it like this.”

  Aiko concurred, her feet kicking aside the notebook they had just made love on.

  A cup of untouched coffee cooled by Reina’s hand as her fingers drummed the table in impatience. Beside her, Aiko continued to tell her to “knock it off” as she fiddled with her sweater hood and tried to look as unrecognizable as possible.

  Don’t punch him. That’s what Reina had chanted to herself since the night before, when Aiko arranged a meeting with Takeshi. Throughout the week she had gradually opened up about her relationship with him, and when she said, “English professor” and “Asked me to be his girlfriend,” Reina almost lost it. Again. Don’t punch him. Even though she really wanted to.

  Aiko promised to tell him the whole truth about being married to a woman with no intention to pick up a boyfriend. Reina figured the “lesbian” part would be enough to send Takeshi screaming. She finally picked up her coffee and sipped it, balking at the temperature as the café door opened.

  “That’s him,” Aiko whispered, her face hiding behind the long sleeve of her sweater.

  Reina crossed her legs and bore a hole into the oncoming man’s tall and confident frame.

  Oh for fuck’s sake. Takeshi was a cut-and-paste university professor straight out of a drama aimed at young adults: white polo shirt coupled with a pair of dark brown dress pants, and a matching jacket adorned with a blue handkerchief poking out of the front pocket. He looked around him as if he owned the damn place intellectually. Even his hair, neatly combed with a swish on his forehead, made Reina want to get up and slap him in the face with her wife’s notebook. There may have only been a smidge of bitterness for him being a professor like her father. Just a smidge. Maybe he’ll get hit by a car too on his way home on his crusty bike. If this fucker thought he was ever laying one hand on Aiko, then Reina would be driving that car herself in the most glorious irony to ever smack into an English professor.

  “Anata,” Aiko said in her soft, reassuring voice, “you’re sneering at him.”

  Reina turned her toxic expression toward her wife. “Go dump him now, please.”

  “I’m not dumping him.” Aiko sank into their booth. “I’m telling him the truth. We might still be friends after this.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “Actually doubtful, or you’re rooting against it?”

  “Both.”

  “Uh huh.” Aiko lowered her hood and straightened out her purple sweater. “Stay here while I get this over with.”

  She crossed the café and approached Takeshi’s table with a trepidation that only Reina could see. The man glanced up and smiled so broadly that she crumpled a napkin in her hand.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Aiko said, barely audible in the café. “Hope you weren’t waiting long.”

  “Not at all.” Takeshi said. “I’m glad you could join me again. It’s been a while.”

  The server came by and took an order from Takeshi, but Aiko declined. The first marks of skepticism crowned his face. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?” Aiko stared at her purse straps as she sat across from him. “The last time we saw each other…you asked me to be your girlfriend.”
<
br />   Reina ripped her napkin in half.

  “Ah, I did, huh…” Takeshi scratched his head. “I thought I had scared you off and that’s why we hadn’t talked since. Forgive me.”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  They glanced at one another before looking away. Reina felt like she was still trapped in that drama. Next he’ll be confessing his love to her. She would vomit. Or change the channel.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said to me, Takeshi-san.” Aiko reddened, and Reina knew her guy friend would take it as a favor in his direction. “About your feelings for me. As I told you before, I’m flattered by it, but I have not been entirely truthful with you.”

  Takeshi’s smile slowly descended into a frown. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal as you think it is,” he said, forcing reassurance. Good luck with that.

  “Well, it kinda is. You see…” Aiko tapped her left hand, adorned with her wedding band, upon the table. Takeshi’s eyes went straight to it. “I’m married.”

  The weight lifted from her sagging shoulders in a cloud of relief and guilt. Takeshi, on the other hand, blinked as if a solar eclipse were passing through. “I see. But you must be separated from your husband, right?”

  No one calls me “husband.” Reina hid her disdain behind her coffee cup.

  Aiko bit her lip. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

  “Well, I’ve been in your house, Aiko-san. There are no signs of a man living there, just your friend, who is a woman.” He smiled for himself, as if he had figured out half the universe. Scholarly types. “If you’re in the process of a divorce, it’s okay. I don’t mind. I can wait.”

  Aiko shook her head, the purple fuzz of her sweater jerking with every motion. “It’s not that simple. I’m not getting a divorce any time soon.”

  “Oh.” There went the smile again.

  “And I don’t have a husband.”

  “…Oh?”

  Something pulsed in Aiko’s throat as she shifted in her seat and glanced in Reina’s direction. “I’m married…to a woman.”

  Even with other tables full of conversation and servers rushing back and forth with coffee and tea, the heavy silence at Aiko and Takeshi’s table still stuck out like a thumb smashed with a hammer. “Aiko-san, surely you jest,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “I don’t. I’m a…” she lowered her voice, “I’m a lesbian. The woman I live with is my spouse. We’ve been together for twenty years, and I love her. I’m sorry to have to tell you this.”

  Takeshi’s eyes swirled like a doll’s. When he leaned forward again, he spoke with a voice too low for Reina to hear.

  Not too low for Aiko.

  They traded hisses and growls, like two cats in a standoff about to pounce. Reina hoped her wife would, if only to make a point to all the men in the room. And some women. Instead she ended up crying in dismay before getting up and stomping toward the door. Reina fought the automatic urge to get up and follow her.

  But Takeshi remained at the table, his face hot and his eyes blinking away something wet. Aiko flailed outside the window, motioning for Reina to get her ass out there.

  Leaving her cold coffee behind, Reina did get up – but she did not pay her tab or leave.

  She stayed focused on Takeshi and his misery, undecided if she reveled in it because he didn’t get what he wanted or because seeing him try to hold it together in public was sweeter than candy. Reina couldn’t help herself. She closed the distance between them and sat down.

  Takeshi jerked himself up and glared at her. “Kimi wa dare?” he demanded.

  Reina maintained a stiff posture. “Don’t mind me,” she said with a straight face. “I wanted to meet the man who almost took away everything that mattered to me.”

  The look he gave her – sizing her up, analyzing her androgynous clothes and hair – could have torn down the building. That’s right. Choke on it. “I’m sorry?”

  I’m not. “She didn’t tell me about you. I believed she would leave me for you.”

  Takeshi cleared his throat. “You must be…”

  “My name is Reina. Wasurenaide.” She stood up and left.

  After stopping a few seconds to pay her tab, she walked out into the sunshine, pushing her sunglasses back onto her nose and looking for her wife. She found Aiko at the corner of the building, staring at her feet.

  “He didn’t take it well?” Reina laid a hand on Aiko’s shoulder. “Don’t be surprised.”

  Aiko folded herself into her spouse’s arms. “He was mad at me for not telling him. He said he wouldn’t have cared but…”

  Reina combed her fingers through Aiko’s hair, letting them linger at the tip of her chin. “He would have. Eventually.”

  “I know.”

  “Jya, kaeru ka?” Reina pointed in the direction of their home. “The day is young. We can get something nice for dinner and watch a movie or something.” I should probably come through on that massage. The thought of ending the day with a relaxing bath and subsequent lovemaking session was not bad either.

  Aiko hung on to her as they traversed through the parking lot, their feet matching each step and a breeze blowing their hair. “I want to go out.”

  “Out? Like to a bar?”

  A nod. “I want to go to the strip club. I want to be surrounded by naked women and hear other women have sex in the toilet stalls.”

  Reina laughed, sunglasses slipping down her nose. She held Aiko closer. “Me too. But we still have to go home and get ready to go out later. And what about dinner?”

  They finalized their plans by the time they reached their street. Usually at that point they would separate and walk side by side, but that afternoon Aiko remained firmly in Reina’s public grip. The neighbors weren’t out to give a shit.

  The kitchen was a riot of colors, smells, and textures as Aiko finished preparing the appetizers she had spent the last few hours on. Bowls of salted edamame and plates of homemade pot stickers lined the counter as if she worked in an izakaya. In the living area, Reina cleared off the table to the tune of their doorbell ringing.

  “I’ll get it,” she said, disappearing from view. Aiko panicked, hurrying to finish putting together her appetizers before the first guests walked through the door.

  Voices filtered in from the genkan, one amused with Reina’s station and the other rambling in heavily accented Japanese. Oh, it’s them. Foreigners were easily pleased and Mayumi could be counted on to not care about the state of anyone’s house.

  “Aiko-san!” Chloe poked her head into the kitchen, sniffing the various food Reina carried into the living area. “Long time no see.”

  She nodded – the stove was more important than chatting. Yes, a long time though. It had been a month since her fight with Reina, which meant it was much longer than that since she last saw Chloe in the flesh. In that time Aiko had found the time to write her essay in English, and she was going to unveil it for all their local friends like one would show off a new painting.

  To Reina’s credit, she was as gracious a host as possible for her, entertaining Mayumi with randy jokes that the activist would never respond to in public. Chloe pretended to understand the nuances of Japanese puns while Mayumi fell over howling on the carpet. When the doorbell rang again, Reina got up to answer once more.

  By the time most of the guests arrived, Aiko was finished with all the food. She joined the party in the living area and took her place at the head of the table next to her spouse.

  “Ara, who’s missing?” Aiko counted five heads not including her and Reina. Mayumi, Chloe, Yuri, and even Haruka and Kaori, who were visiting the house for the first time. They looked like two lost children in the midst of “Reina and Aiko live here.” Kaori was doe-eyed from feeling like Reina’s coworker, and Haruka no doubt was trying not to smell Reina’s scent everywhere she turned. Good luck with that. Aiko was a good with a vacuum, but not that good. They both politely stared into one corner of the room, where a black
cat and a white cat perched atop the television.

  Reina pushed aside a plate of pot stickers and answered a call for more tea. “I have no idea how many people you invited.”

  “Just two more.”

  The doorbell rang.

  “There they are!” Aiko shuffled to the genkan, where she threw open the front door with a welcoming smile on her face.

  “Konbanwa.” Eri bowed her head, hand wrapped in Ruu’s. The stout woman followed with her own bow as Aiko invited them inside.

  Years since so many people populated their house…the rabble of their jokes and admissions brought a festivity that Aiko missed from her youth. She showed Eri and her girlfriend to an open spot at the front table, and she noted that her niece no longer wore her wedding band. She hadn’t heard much about what happened with Eri after she was discharged from the hospital aside from the private funeral for her unborn child, but she figured things did not look good for the marriage that brought it.

  There were happier things to think about.

  Aiko clapped her hands together at the head of the table where Reina picked out edamame and attempted to show Mayumi how best to lick a clitoris with them. As soon as the conversation died down and heads turned toward her, Aiko said, “I want to thank all of you for coming this evening. It’s been a wish of ours to entertain our friends in our home like this.”

  “Oh you liar.”

  Aiko nicked her spouse with her foot. “Regardless, I admit I’m rather shy about reading this…” She picked up her notebook, the back pages full of an English translation of what she wrote to Reina – only in third person and with some of the more intense proclamations omitted. That’s private. “But I wanted you all to be the first to hear it before it’s published next spring.” Or so Chloe claimed. The student would be returning to America by the end of the year, with the promise that her project would be published. Of course, Aiko and Reina would get a free copy. I’ll give it to Takeshi. She hadn’t heard from him since their last meeting.