“I’m watering your garden,” Reina muttered, her hand falling away from Aiko’s head. When she gave her an incredulous look, Reina continued, “You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost. Did that guy at the wedding do something to you? Shit, tell me his name and I’ll go kick his ass.” The heat must have gotten to her as well, for her passionate declaration fell flat in both voice and body. Beads of sweat crowned Reina’s scalp.
“You’re the one who’s still wearing most of her suit.” Aiko smoothed out a crease in the silk shirt, her hand passing over Reina’s chest. “You should go change.”
“It’s hot outside of this room.”
Aiko picked up the glass and drank. The icy cold water rushed past her teeth and tongue with the velocity of relief pouring into her. “Reina…” She put the glass down.
“Yeah?”
The water had settled in the glass again before Aiko could reply. “I’ve always dreamed of having a wedding since I was a little girl. Today reminded me of that.”
Reina paused. Then, “I’m sorry, that’s a dream I can’t help you fulfill.”
Aiko was surprised at the bluntness of the truth, but she was not surprised at its existence. “I know. I thought I made peace with that a long time ago.”
“We can’t do it legally, anyway.”
“I know. I’ve made peace with that, too.” Aiko shivered beneath the chill of the air conditioner. “Just like how I’ve also made peace with the fact that, even though we even personally know gay couples who get symbolic marriages, our families would not only forbid it, but…” Aiko turned her head and gazed into Reina’s frowning face, “you would hate it.”
The fact Reina continued to sit and stare back at Aiko with the same contemplative countenance she had since the beginning told Aiko she had struck an irrelevant truth. “You know I’m not good with that sort of spectacle.”
“What sort?”
Reina pried her eyes away and looked into her folded hands. “Something like a wedding…would be too much for me.”
“How so?”
Nerves tightened throughout Reina’s body, like a cat readying its muscles for a pounce. “I don’t know if I can live up to those expectations.”
The room quieted as the song on the stereo faded out and eased into the next track. “What expectations?”
“To be masculine enough to be your husband.”
“Reina,” Aiko leaned forward and pressed her head against her girlfriend’s shoulder, “you’re more than enough.”
She hoped that would placate her, but Reina didn’t move or say a word for minutes. As the chorus of the next ballad kicked in, she stood.
“Ai-chan,” she said, staring at the window shade. “I think I owe you a dance.”
Relief bloomed on Aiko’s face like a well-tended flower. “Really?”
“Sure.”
Aiko hoisted herself up and fell into Reina’s unsuspecting arms. She buried her face into Reina’s chest and smelled the musk of body odor mixed with the starch of the silk shirt. Heavenly.
Reina wrapped her arms around Aiko, and they stood there, content, while the loud music enveloped them. The cool air dried Reina’s sweat from where it dripped on Aiko’s face when she lifted her head. “You’re really sweaty,” she said.
“It’s so humid and hot outside I nearly melted on the way home.” Reina took Aiko’s hand and held it between their bodies. “I should go change.”
Aiko clutched her free hand to Reina’s collar. She knew she didn’t have to ask Reina to stay – after twenty years, she hoped she didn’t have to.
“I love you,” she squeaked.
Reina’s hold neither eased nor tightened, as if Aiko hadn’t said anything at all. She knew she would not get any response from the unromantic Reina Yamada, yet no response was better than a negative response.
But then Reina lowered her head and pressed her mouth against Aiko’s ear. “Really?” she whispered.
Her breath was hotter than her sweat, but it sent a tingle through Aiko’s stomach all the same. “Of course I do!” She smacked Reina on the chest. “Mou. You’re the only one I’ve ever loved.”
“Then how do you know it’s real love?”
“Why are you doing this?” The CD changed tracks again on the stereo; the next song was a slow piano ballad with soft vocals. “I know.” Aiko pressed her lips against Reina’s neck and tasted her salty sweat. Even in the heat of their argument, she still felt that tingle in her stomach. “I know I love you.”
Their swaying continued despite Reina’s prodding and Aiko’s rising frustration. “Even when I’m being obnoxious? Even when I come home drunk? Even when…” Reina’s voice trailed off into another world.
“What is this about?” Aiko tried to separate from Reina but discovered her hold was, indeed, tighter than ever. “You know I love you!”
Aiko’s anger echoed above the mellow melodies behind them. They stopped moving. Reina locked her eyes onto Aiko’s and said, “It takes an incredible woman to be in love with me.”
At first Aiko wanted to huff and slither away to go pout in a corner, but with Reina holding onto her it was impossible. So instead she focused on Reina’s backwards compliment and sank under the onus of her body heat.
“Ai-chan,” Reina said while a hand cradled Aiko’s head, “I’m sorry I can’t give you everything you need.”
“You idiot.” Aiko’s heart stilted in her chest; her hands pricked Reina to the movement of the music. “I already have everything I need.”
Before Aiko could stomp her foot or start sobbing, Reina bent down and kissed her. If Aiko were not locked like a criminal in her girlfriend’s grasp, she would have fallen over from the weight of Reina’s body. The smell of skin and the sounds of heavy breathing knocked the wind out of her tingling diaphragm as she tasted the dryness of Reina’s throat.
The pretty pink dress crumpled as Reina pulled up on the hem and exposed Aiko’s lingerie to the bursts of coolness from the air conditioner. When she opened her mouth to protest the discomfort, Reina slid her hand down Aiko’s hosiery and scratched stubby nails against her skin, eliciting a laugh.
Reina allowed two seconds to turn off the stereo before she pulled Aiko out of the room and into the stifling humidity of the hallway. Aiko could taste her own sweat in her throat as her skin suffocated beneath her clothing; she looked at Reina and saw her silk shirt clinging to her entire outline. Enough to make Aiko forget about how miserable the new air made her feel.
She threw herself into Reina’s arms again and began to unbutton her shirt while they exchanged anxious, salty kisses. Reina pushed her away and did her best to scoop Aiko up into her bony arms, which included stumbling over her own feet and almost dropping her girlfriend on the staircase.
How they got upstairs Aiko would never remember, but she had a few new well-meaning bruises to show for it later. She mentioned this to Reina as they tripped over each other down the hallway, their feet slippery and the wood floors spitting the humidity back at them.
By the time they reached their bedroom, Aiko was drenched; Reina was worse, with her clothing dripping and her hair sopping wet. Aiko reached to turn on the air conditioner, but was interrupted when Reina grasped her from behind and covered her neck in frantic kisses – any part of Aiko’s dress not wet and near-ruined before now was, and when they parted it was like disengaging melted candies. She forgot all about the air conditioner once Reina had another hand up her skirt and sliding between her legs, breath heaving into her ear at a trembling tenor.
They collapsed onto their bed and rolled around on the cotton spread whilst pawing and kissing each other. When Aiko sat up during Reina’s quest to undress, she noticed her hair now dripped into her eyes and across the back of her own neck. She looked behind her and snorted when she saw giant wet spots on the cream-colored bedspread.
“It’s hot,” she said when Reina removed both her pants and underwear, the dark hairs of her vulva as sweaty as the hair on her head. �
�We should turn on the air conditioner before we kill ourselves.”
The remote, however, was on the wall at the base of the air conditioner on the other side of the room, much too far for one of them to travel and ruin the mood. Instead Reina reached across Aiko and turned on the oscillating fan on her side of the bed.
Before Reina could foist herself upon Aiko, she extended an arm and kept her girlfriend back with the end of a pointed finger.
Aiko eased Reina down onto the bed and straddled atop her, the skirt of the pink dress still bunched up around her waist. Reina stared up at her with an open mouth.
The kiss Aiko gave started at the lips, as tender as she could muster given her desire to throw herself again and again upon Reina’s waiting hips. And then the kiss traveled to her chin, then her throat, and to the first undone button on Reina’s shirt. It tasted like plastic – plastic laced with the salt of Reina’s sweat.
Aiko rubbed her forehead against Reina’s chest as she undid the remaining buttons and smoothed her hand along her girlfriend’s naked stomach. She pulled away the shirt to expose Reina’s petite breasts. The look she always gave when attention was brought to her flat chest was uncertain, at best. If I say I love them, she’ll think I think of her as a man; if I don’t, then she’ll feel ashamed.
So Aiko said nothing, and instead kissed Reina all over her chest, lips tugging at her nipples while tongue licked away the moisture between them. When Aiko looked up again she saw Reina had closed her eyes. I guess that was the right answer after all.
She placed her hand between Reina’s breasts and kissed a trail down to her navel, where Aiko’s tongue lingered. Not much further to go before she reached Reina’s waist and the worst point of contention in sex between them.
But Reina did not react, outside of expressing pleasure, while Aiko continued to kiss with her lips and used her free hand to push aside one of Reina’s legs. Aiko’s mouth met hair – wet, warm, beautiful hair – and she cautiously extended her tongue to explore Reina’s sex.
In all their years together, Aiko had performed cunnilingus on Reina only a dozen or so times, and most of those in the early years of their relationship, before Reina began developing odd behavior in relation to her occasional gender crises. She didn’t like it when Aiko was reminded of her girlfriend’s femaleness, apparently. Aiko never understood it. She loved every part of her girlfriend, from her bony breasts to her female genitalia. She loved how they all tasted, too, and today it seemed Reina loved how it felt based on how readily she provided Aiko with the means to slip a gentle finger inside.
If tasting her girlfriend was rare, then feeling inside her was rarer. Sometimes Aiko forgot what the insides of another woman felt like. She thought back to her impromptu “date” with Keisuke earlier that afternoon while she slid her finger in and out of her girlfriend’s body and nibbled her lips. She wondered how he would react to know this was what she did at home. It would probably make him miss his wife.
Aiko knew it was time to stop when Reina released a high pitched whine sounding nothing like her carefully constructed deep voice. That was Reina’s “real” voice, the one she kept buried beneath layers of self-doubt. She didn’t like making that sound.
Finished, Aiko pulled her head away and kissed Reina down by her knee, a safe distance from the rest of her. After a few seconds, Reina sat up and pulled Aiko up via the arms and kissed her on her lips, her tongue darting inside while her hands fought to undo her zipper. Fumbling like a first-timer, Reina gave up and instead hustled to get out of all her own clothing before it suffocated her.
Aiko unzipped herself and shimmied out of her dress, letting it slip down to her waist. Reina’s hand snatched out to tug on lingerie. She struggled to kick off her dress while she dealt with Reina’s pawing. She tried not to laugh at how ridiculous they must have looked.
“Matte.” Aiko held up a hand. She finished undressing, saving her hosiery for last. That she left for Reina to do. Aiko lay on her back to give Reina plenty of room to pull off the last of the clothing until they were both as naked as naked could get.
“Ai-chan.” Reina knelt down and pushed their foreheads together, her hand creeping toward her girlfriend’s hips.
“Reina.” Aiko stroked Reina’s cheek, the moisture she felt either sweat or tears. Perhaps a mixture of both. “Suki yo.”
They kissed, Reina’s fingers already inside Aiko. She reached down and scratched Reina’s undulating arm with the gentleness of the silk shirt now discarded on the floor. They continued to kiss while Reina’s tongue dove into Aiko’s lips above and her fingers likewise dipped into the other lips below.
Aiko could never be as silent as Reina – she moaned, she hissed, she even chirped as Reina increased the momentum of her arm and the sounds of sweat and sex sliding together overcame the sounds of furious kissing. Aiko begged her to slow down, then to go faster again, to do everything in between until she clenched her thighs together, pulled her head away, and shouted into Reina’s ear to never stop.
Of course she had to stop, eventually. When Aiko was satiated, Reina pulled away and shook out a cramp in her arm. Aiko’s thighs decreased in heat and slid together as easily as if covered with soap. She pulled herself to the top of the bed and slammed her face against her pillow, Reina’s body following behind and lying on top of her.
Aiko almost protested the suffocation – the fan on her nightstand was not enough to offset the heat of another’s body – but forgot all about it when Reina began thrusting against her. Although Aiko couldn’t feel much of what went on beneath her waist, she could feel Reina’s passion coursing through their embrace and hear the desire in her low voice.
Before Reina finished, Aiko turned over so they could hold one another. She wrapped her legs between Reina’s and ran a hand through her soaked hair. The more Reina breathed on her the more Aiko wanted her to stop dawdling and fuck her.
Maybe somewhere in the depths of that thick skull Reina was a mind reader after all, albeit an awful one…for she attempted to reach over for her own nightstand on the other side of the bed.
“I don’t want any of that,” Aiko said, her legs gripping Reina’s to the point the latter couldn’t move at all. “I want you.”
Reina’s chest continued to pulse with every languished breath. “But I want to fuck you!”
Laughter exploded in Aiko’s mind, but she refrained from expressing it through her mouth. “You still can, stupid!” She pulled Reina’s head down and kissed her. “Don’t make me think you don’t have an imagination!”
Reina did have an imagination, it seemed, for in the next minute she thrust against Aiko with the force of all the strength inside her. Aiko responded with her own hips buckling beneath her girlfriend, Reina’s face buried in the pillow while Aiko smashed her eyes shut in pleasure.
Between Reina’s raucous grunts and Aiko’s timed moans, they turned their bedroom into a cacophony of sexual sounds enshrined in a fortress of their feelings for one another, where fervent desires were oft renewed and those looking to worship the spirit of carnal expressions of passion and desire were invited – on other days. That day the shrine was closed to everyone but the two resident priestesses, who made love to one another until all vigor disappeared into the stifling humidity of a Japanese June day.
Aiko shouted when Reina screamed into the pillow and clutched her girlfriend’s body as if it were the key to nirvana. Her body turned to fire as her entire physical being surrendered to orgasm and her teeth sank into Reina’s shoulder – that made Reina squirm and scream more, each delicious outburst a muffled prayer in Aiko’s ear.
She was the last to still between them, her hips quivering on their own until she no longer had the will to tolerate it. Reina was limp on top of her, and their sweat mingled into one another until one body no longer stopped or began.
A few seconds later Reina rolled off and draped herself across the bed, with Aiko crawling to lie beside her.
The afternoon light dimmed from
the windows as the hour dragged on. The fan on the nightstand continued to pump out inadequate air against Aiko’s dripping back. Their linen would need changing that night, and both of their bodies needed sufficient bathing.
But it was fine – more than fine, it was perfect. No, this is what it feels like. This is what it should feel like. Their bedroom should be a shrine to their longstanding union, a holy place of routine marital bliss.
And if anyone needed any more proof their relationship was as perfectly mundane as it could be, a few minutes later they both announced the two things pressing the hardest against their recuperating minds.
“I’m hot,” Aiko said.
“I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?” Reina responded.
Yet neither of them bothered to get up.
If Reina had to listen to her section chief’s story about the night he got so drunk he accidentally pissed on his neighbor’s bicycle one more time she would bark at the moon. A good thing, when he went to tell it again, she had a lot of beer on hand to take her mind off that asinine tale.
It was the Friday of the month in which Reina and the rest of her coworkers were expected to go out drinking with their boss as a show of camaraderie. In a business world where politeness and rigorous routines were the instilled norm, the acceptable way to “let loose and bond” was when pitchers of beer were passed around a table. Reina tolerated these get-togethers for the sake of her job, but there was something about a dozen or so drunken men making her uneasy.
Not that she was the only woman in the group – on the contrary, there were two others. But Reina was the oldest by over ten years, and the most jaded. So when she looked through the plumes of cigarette smoke to see Ogawa covering her mouth to laugh at a coworker’s joke while she poured him his fifth beer of the night, Reina grimaced and lit another cigarette to add to the fray.
She didn’t feel like getting more than a little buzzed that night, since she and Aiko had plans to go to Ni-chome the next day, and Reina was too old to put herself through a weekend bender. But she still had to join the multiple toasts and accept every pour coming her way from her intoxicated male coworkers.
Daisuki Page 11
