Daisuki

by Hildred Billings

  Their next kiss was the heaviest yet, with tongues mutually meeting and lips searching for leverage. Aiko wrapped her legs around Reina’s waist; Reina stuck an arm up Aiko’s shirt. Beneath two layers of cotton and spandex, Reina found Aiko’s bra and tugged on it before wrapping a hand around one of her breasts. Reina swore she moaned before Aiko did.

  Everything she had wanted and yearned for the past month glided into her body as if it had never left, and she felt the need to have every part of Aiko connected to herself, to hear her voice sing praises, and to know she was wanted in return. Those sensations were what Reina couldn’t have, with just a hand in the dark and bitter night, or a detachable showerhead in the bathroom. No relief without another woman to bring it like a gift; no woman more suitable than her own Aiko.

  “That feels nice.” Aiko’s voice drew Reina out of her helpless thoughts, and she saw she continued to fondle her girlfriend’s breast beneath confounding layers of clothing.

  Reina withdrew her hand and fought to get Aiko’s clothing off her as soon as possible. I want to see her. Reina never noticed how much she loved to gaze at Aiko’s nude figure before she wasn’t allowed to anymore. I want to touch every part of her.

  Within seconds Aiko’s blouse, slip, and bra were removed and tossed somewhere either on the bed or on the floor. Reina gazed at Aiko’s confident and lean figure, with its smooth skin and soft hairs. “You are gorgeous,” Reina announced, and leaned her head forward so she could plant kisses all over Aiko’s breasts.

  Aiko flitted between happy breaths and content moans. Her continuous light thrusts against Reina did not go unnoticed, and she decided the next necessary thing was to completely undress her girlfriend.

  She had forgotten her own clothing in the process, which Aiko pointed out to her with a teasing tone. Reina spread her arms and kept her lips on Aiko’s while she pulled apart buttons and gently scratched fingernails along skin. Each nail was another piece of Reina coming undone below.

  Enough. Reina toppled Aiko and pressed their bodies together, their clothed legs entwining and their bare torsos melding. Reina fought back every urge to rip off the last of their clothing and fuck Aiko until she no longer screamed for more. I want her so bad, I might die. The best way to die.

  But Aiko was not easily dominated that night, whether from her recent experiences with the super-submissive neighbor or from her re-commitment to her relationship, Reina didn’t know. Regardless, Aiko pushed herself up against Reina, easing her onto her side so they faced one another. Aiko pulled apart Reina’s slacks before she herself knew it.

  “Oh, Reina.” Aiko rolled on top of her, one hand down Reina’s pants. She forgot about retaking dominance once she felt fingers find her neglected vulva. “I missed you so much.”

  Aiko undressed Reina until she was naked, and then dove atop her with more kisses and more touches. Her hand reached for Reina’s pelvis, fingers pressed together as if ready to dive into her body.

  Panic swelled inside Reina’s stomach, and the rush of adrenaline it provided gave her the ability to toss Aiko aside and get on top of her instead. It had been years since Reina felt comfortable having anyone’s fingers, including Aiko’s, inside her. Sometimes she still let Aiko do it, but it didn’t take long for Reina to feel a tide of “female” come blowing into her like a heretic wind speaking lies about who she was.

  If she is my “wife,” then I must be her “husband.” Reina buried her face between Aiko’s breasts, hiding budding anguish. And husbands don’t get fingers in their genitals.

  But they did put theirs in other women’s, and before Aiko could ask Reina if something was wrong she had pried Aiko’s legs apart and slammed her fingers inside her. Aiko swallowed her words with a moan and fell onto the bed, eyes rolled back and breasts puncturing the air.

  Reina concentrated on pleasuring her, ignoring her own rising needs. She held one of Aiko’s legs in her free hand as she used the other to maneuver one, two, and sometimes three fingers in and out of her ever-wetter omanko, her yelps and moans dictated by the speed of the hand between her legs. Reina couldn’t believe it had been over a whole month since she was last inside another woman.

  Aiko’s fists clutched the comforter on the bed and gritted her teeth. Reina pulled her fingers out before Aiko could orgasm. The pitiful complaints over Reina’s “cruelty” were enough to lure her into letting somebody crawl into her lap – said lap became all the wetter with Aiko sitting on it.

  “You’re so mean!” Aiko spoke between kisses to Reina’s neck, her pelvis rocking. “It’s rude to leave a lady hanging like that!”

  “Rude, eh?” Reina kicked one of her legs out and shifted her girlfriend so they sat intertwined. The feeling of Aiko’s warm omanko against her own was almost enough to end Reina. “It would only be rude for you to come before me. Like you have three times already apparently.”

  She said it with a smile, and Aiko likewise smiled back. They held each other and began to thrust.

  Reina savored the sensation of her body tending to its usual sexual schemes: the sensitive nipples, the burning thighs, the little place deep inside her stroked on the sole account of seeing another woman in the throes of an oncoming orgasm. Aiko was the most entertaining, with her hearty groans and the taste of her salty skin against Reina’s tongue. For the briefest moment, whilst on the cusp of orgasm, Reina recalled the first few times they “made love” years and years before – how shy Aiko had been then, compared to the wanton woman shouting lewd and nonsensical epithets now. Aiko always liked to say “Reina taught me everything,” but all Reina had done was expose her to the lover lurking inside. That same lover now shook with every grind of her hips as the scent of their mutual sex overpowered the sensors in Reina’s brain. She smells good on her own, but together we’re brilliant.

  Reina’s orgasm came swiftly after the start of Aiko’s: all it took was that first elongated shout from Aiko to get Reina over the hill and tumbling down after her girlfriend into the depths of pleasure. She couldn’t account for what kind of sounds came out of her mouth, for suddenly there was nothing, then everything, and the collision of both between Reina’s brain and her omanko.

  She couldn’t remember falling on top of Aiko, but when Reina regained her wits there they were, lying like common husband and wife on their marital bed. Reina lifted her head and then dropped it back onto Aiko’s shoulder, the awful weight from the past month gone.

  When Aiko spoke it was to suggest a shower together, but all Reina wanted to do was lie with her lover in the afterglow of sex. It’s been so long. A month was eternity to somebody like Reina when it came to her natural urges and instincts. Aiko. Reina breathed in the other woman’s scent and slipped back into contentment.

  As nice as making up was, Reina didn’t want a reason to have to do it again.

  “Is this seat taken?”

  Aiko snapped her head around to see a woman gesture to the nearby bar stool. Long black hair and a white dress shone on the newest patron. “Oh, no,” Aiko said, picking up her purse from the empty stool and sitting it on the floor. “Sorry!”

  “No worries.” The woman sat and brushed her hair aside, revealing smooth skin and bright make-up sparkling in the red lights above her. “Come here often?”

  This was the moment Aiko knew to put on her “charming” smile, the one Reina told her could make any lady-loving woman melt if they knew what was best for them and their beds. Aiko wasn’t sure about the validity of that, but it didn’t hurt to try when they were out. So she batted her eyelashes and pressed a hand to her face, saying through a curve of the lips, “Sometimes. We haven’t been here in a while though.”

  The other woman cleared her throat and looked at the bar counter. “We?”

  Aiko pointed to the woman chatting with the bartender beside her, a loud (and tipsy) Reina. She was old friends with the bartender from her strip club days and could go on and on about nothing if Aiko let her. “Yes. We came here together. What about you? Are yo
u alone?”

  Another bartender popped up to serve the newcomer a drink. She crossed her legs, her body toward Aiko, and rubbed the rim of her glass with a single delicate nail. This wouldn’t be a hard deal to close. Aiko may have had little experience in relationships with other women not Reina, but she knew a woman flirting with her when she saw one.

  “Sadly,” the woman said. She lifted the drink to her lips and drank like a fish kissing its own water. “Sometimes a woman likes to go out on her own.” She eyed Aiko over her drink. “See what’s out there, for herself.”

  Aiko glanced at Reina, hoping she would jump in and take over the flirtations – it’s what she was the most natural at, unlike Aiko who would fret around strangers if she didn’t drink enough. “Anything out here?”

  “Maybe.” The woman smiled with her eyes as well, their corners turning upwards whenever they looked at each other. “By the way, my name’s Chiyo. And I’ve only got two days in town to make anything of it.” She knocked back her drink.

  “My name’s Aiko.” She nodded at Chiyo. “And this is…”

  “Your girlfriend?”

  Aiko laughed. “Something like that.”

  “You’re cute.” Chiyo leaned in and winked at her. Aiko tried to discern any wrinkles in her skin but saw nothing. Odds were she was in her early twenties, a baby when Aiko graduated middle school. “Lots of girls in this town are cute.”

  “Are you…lez?”

  Chiyo guffawed into her glass as if some joke hid at the bottom of it. “Obviously! Or else I wouldn’t be here by myself!”

  “Of course.” Aiko felt foolish, but safe was always better than sorry. Lots of Japanese women liked going to lesbian bars in Ni-chome if it meant getting away from men for a while.

  Chiyo detached and had her own private conversation with the other bartender. Within seconds Aiko was alone in her own world again, since what Reina and the older bartender chatted about was boring at best, mind-numbing at worst. What did Aiko know or care about rock bands from the 80s? She had spent her teenage years glued to her TV and watching the classic idols prance around on stages in frilly dresses and big hair bows. They were so beautiful. How was I to know I wanted to sleep with all of them?

  Her thoughts were wrecked when Reina’s voice broke through her mental wall. “Eh, ii kana?” Reina poked her in the shoulder. “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a hot woman.”

  Aiko nudged her head toward Chiyo.

  Reina peered past her girlfriend and made a clicking sound in her throat. “See, the great thing about you is that you don’t even have to do anything.” She shook a happy finger beneath Aiko’s nose. “You just sit there and look pretty and the women come to you.”

  While Reina slipped off her stool and coyly introduced herself to Chiyo, Aiko looked into the steel taps on the other side of the counter and studied the outlines of her reflection. Her? Look pretty? She supposed it was possible, but Reina was a flatterer down to her bones.

  Within a minute Reina had Chiyo laughing at some stupid joke. The three of them retreated to a table in the corner of the bar, and Aiko sat and watched Reina’s magic unfold like a documentary. Aiko thought she could one day narrate The Documentary of Reina: A Lesbian Philanderer’s Tale. She wouldn’t be surprised to learn there was actual video of Reina’s past nefarious deeds somewhere out in the world.

  Reina withdrew her cigarettes and a lighter, offering one to Chiyo, who accepted it with thanks. She stuck it between her teeth and waited for Reina to lean in toward her and light the tip like a perfect gentleman. One of those moments in which Aiko wished she liked smoking so she could get some attention as well.

  But Reina liked new territory alongside the old, so Chiyo got almost all the conversation, the flirting, and all the other things Aiko only ever got at home. She remembered their first few dates before they “did” anything: Reina treated her the same way, offering her cigarettes, flirting and conversation. Now when they went out it was to either chat with Reina’s friends or find new dates to take home. The few times they ever struck out were marred with silence, for whatever Reina wanted to share with Aiko she did in private.

  Aiko slid off her chair and approached the bar, hailing the nearest bartender, Reina’s friend. “Can I get gin, please?” Aiko asked, her voice almost lost to the rabble around her.

  “Yeah, sure.” The bartender nodded toward the abandoned couple in the corner. “You two uh…doing the usual?”

  Aiko’s cheeks became hot. “Yeah, I need a drink.”

  The promised drink appeared faster than nausea. “Don’t get too drunk, now.”

  “Thanks. I won’t.”

  Aiko settled down at the table and drank fast enough to get a buzz going. Whenever Reina got that determined gleam of conquest in her eyes, Aiko knew she was better off getting some alcohol if she wanted to go through what her body begged her to do. She wasn’t like Reina, who could waltz up to a woman and seduce her then and there as if it were the world’s granted right to do so – Aiko needed help, and sometimes that meant getting enough of a buzz to not feel embarrassed about the lifestyle she had with her girlfriend.

  As she drank she listened in on the conversation. Best to know what kind of person she would invite home, she supposed. Aiko listened to Chiyo talk about growing up in the Chubu area and moving to Nagoya to go to business school and get a job in a fashion house. She did something related to marketing, and was in Tokyo for a couple days to attend a regional business meeting about opening up more stores in the fashionable areas.

  “What kind of clothing do you sell?” Aiko asked with a squeak in her voice – maybe a hiccup.

  Chiyo patted her cigarette against the communal ashtray. “Lingerie.”

  Aiko flashbacked to the red piece she had bought for Valentine’s Day. It had remained sullied from her argument with Reina that night, although the week before they finally “broke it in” when Aiko crawled into bed wearing it. “Oh,” she then said. “Sounds interesting.”

  “Ehhhh.” Reina lit another cigarette and pushed toward Chiyo. “Do you model?” Aiko wanted to die from the embarrassment.

  But Chiyo met Reina halfway. “Sometimes.”

  Aiko recognized that spark between two women in agreement. She took the cigarette from Reina’s hand and had a puff herself.

  “So,” Chiyo said, straightening herself up – Reina cleared her throat and took her cigarette back without a word, “what’s the deal with you two? You going out? This your woman? What gives?”

  Reina coughed on her smoke while Aiko said, “We’ve been together nineteen years.”

  Chiyo’s mouth fell. “No shit! So is this what you do to keep that old spark alive? Flirt with other women?”

  Reina grinned. “We do more than flirt, if you catch my meaning.”

  Again, Chiyo’s mouth fell, but this time Aiko gauged it was from a brain overload. “Really. That so?” Her eyes glazed over at the thought of it. “I’ve never done it with more than one person at a time. Is that how you roll?”

  Aiko turned her face away so Chiyo could not see her embarrassment. “There’s a first time for everyone,” she heard Reina say.

  Aiko remembered her first time – both with just Reina and with another woman between them – and doubted she was as confident as Chiyo, the lingerie marketer from Nagoya. Aiko finished off her glass of gin. The warmth of the alcohol expanded throughout her body. If they left right now most of the dizziness would wear off by the time they got home, but it would still be soon enough for Aiko to feel the bounce of confidence. She reached beneath the table and nicked Reina on the thigh, signaling her to wrap things up.

  Easy. Always easy with Reina. It didn’t take long for kindred women to fall right into Reina’s schemes. Aiko always felt a little jealous – not because Reina flirted with somebody else, but because she herself couldn’t be so bold with other women. Besides Yuri. But that was because she had known Yuri for so long.

  Within another ten minutes Reina had “
convinced” Chiyo to follow them home on the train, although they lived almost an hour from Ni-chome. Aiko wondered if it wasn’t easier (and cheaper for Chiyo) to get an hourly-rate hotel, but then retracted that thought since she wanted to go home.

  They collected their things and took turns in the toilet before leaving. As they walked down the busy and loud streets of Ni-chome, Tokyo’s most infamous gay district, Aiko slipped her arm around Reina’s to steady herself from the alcohol still making its way through her system. She was left to her own world, however, as Reina and Chiyo chatted on their way to the train station.

  And they continued to chat more on the train to the northern neighborhoods. They even chatted on the platform when they had to change from an express to a local. Aiko wasn’t used to such talkative tagalongs. Usually the women they brought home with them were shyer because it was their first (or one of) time exploring other women. Aiko could relate. She was once the same way twenty years before when Reina took her to a love hotel on their fourth date.

  She was so gentle. Aiko could still conjure the same nervousness inside her when she reflected on her first time, back when Reina still had long hair. So gentle but so passionate.

  She served some instant tea to everyone once they walked through their front door, to ward off the spring night chill and to keep her hands busy as she took in deep breaths to prepare for the inevitable. Reina and Chiyo sat in the living room, laughing. When Aiko served the tea they were already huddled together as if they were the couple.

  Upon reflection Aiko had no idea why she felt so nervous. Maybe it was because Chiyo was as aggressive as Reina; maybe it was because of the fight of the decade ending the month before. Reina was quick to move on and go back to the old regimen, but Aiko still contemplated what it all meant at times.

  Reina suggested they show Chiyo the “masterpiece” in their bedroom. Although the intention was to share their visitor that night, decorum still dictated they never outright say it…mostly for her own sake, Aiko supposed. She had learned to tolerate Reina’s sexual outbursts when they were alone, but when others were around Aiko was apt to die of embarrassment. Which was why she agreed to the tour of the bedroom, where no “masterpiece” existed other than as a convenient excuse to get everyone upstairs.