“What, you read minds now? Hey, if you’re withholding on me in the supernatural powers department …” Jade waved a finger in mock-anger.
“I’ll let you know when I do,” the Magician-Priest caught the offending digit. “Now, I have a special something for you, will you wait? I really don’t want to.”
“Sure.” Jade tossed herself back on the living room couch, crossed her arms, and smiled. Without a sound, HuanJen vanished down the west hall and into his bedroom.
Jade lay back in the soft embrace of the couch, finding herself smiling like an idiot - something she’d never do in front of anyone but HuanJen. Actually, he was the only one that could get her to act this way.
It was Valentine’s day. It was, in her previous experience, an over-done, over-hyped, rather shallow holiday made to sell candy. On Xai, though, holidays still held serious social significance, and …
… she was in love. As tired as she was, she could feel it, burning in her like a new sunrise.
She was in love, with a man that wasn’t an asshole, wasn’t someone her father had introduced to her, wasn’t in search of a quick screw. She was in love with HuanJen. The universe worked, despite the strange hours she kept as his apprentice and assistant, despite the strangeness of Xaian politics, despite her life at Colony.
An oceanic feeling fluttered around her mind. Things were right. Things were right, just like they’d been when she’d gotten to know HuanJen, or grasped life in the death-house of the Ossuary. Hopefully tonight, depending …
… she’d really feel life. A nervous fire glowed in her belly.
“Dearest?”
“Yeah, just thinking.” The Vulpine looked up at her lover, who held a small, carefully wrapped box in his long-fingered hands.
“For you. Happy Valentines day. Thank you for being here.”
The cleric pressed the box into Jade’s hands with a kind of reverence. Unsure what to say, she opened the package carefully, surprised at her curiosity. This was HuanJen after all, you had to wonder what he thought was an appropriate Valentines day gift. He had a kind of inappropriate appropriateness.
The answer was quickly unwrapped, and proved to be a mirror. Apparently designed to be set on a table or vanity, it was held in a round frame resembling a dragon. It was pretty, apparently aged, and definitely not what Jade expected; she never thought of herself as the fancy-gifts type.
“Nice.” Jade ran her fingers over the intricate details.. “A dragon. ‘Today I have met Lao-Tzu, today I have met a dragon.’ Let me guess, this is symbolic, the clear mind, the dragon, the unseen-but-always present force of the Way?”
“No, actually it’s from a second-level Earth with a dominant Pacific-Rim-Nexial style culture and I thought you’d like it. I had it in Sanctum, the Celestial Master’s wife gave it to me. “Look on the back.” HuanJen’s voice was surprisingly sober.
Jade turned the artifact over. A note taped to it read “what I see every morning that makes my life complete.”
The Vulpine sighed. It was very, very silly, but coming from HuanJen it was something different. Silliness implied intention or stupidity, and this was merely honesty. HuanJen could knock down walls with honesty and never think twice.
“Dear?” HuanJen queried.
“Thank you, love.” Jade shook her head. “It’s … beautiful. And that’s sweet.”
“I didn’t buy it, I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to give it to you, I …”
“It’s fine.” Jade put an arm around HuanJen’s waist and hugged him, laying her cheek on his belly. “You have a way with words, love.”
“I am glad you are happy.” HuanJen’s played with Jade’s dark hair lovingly. “Happy Valentines day, dearest.”
“Thank you, and now, for you!” Jade smiled up at her lover. “You’re difficult to buy for, but I know I found the perfect thing.”
“Dear, I …”
“Drop the modesty, and give me a few minutes to get it.” Jade stood, waving off her mentor’s concern. “And no, I don’t need help.”
“I am a bit transparent, aren’t I?”
“Like a window dear, but the view is nice.” Jade smiled, and sauntered off to her room.
HuanJen sat down on a chair in the kitchen area, and thought. Trying to imagine Jade’s idea of a Valentine’s day gift left him with a blank. He smiled to himself; it was nice to receive one, at least.
Still, if there was one thing he was thankful for …
“Here.”
Jade stood in the entrance to the north hall, posing in what she hoped was a seductive manner. As opposed to her normal work or casual clothes, she wore something far fancier and far less practical; a green bustier, panties, and stockings, all cunningly designed a few Earths away to enhance the female figure at the expense of breathing room and blood flow. She was an goddess-image in black fur and revealing green, topped with a smile and playful eyes.
“Jade …” HuanJen managed before going speechless with surprise, a sight she rarely saw. He did get surprised, but speechlessnes was rare.
“Hey. Its Valentines day. Got you myself at Terri’s. Figured I knew you’d like it, er, me.” The Vulpine fidgeted. “You OK?”
“Sorry.” HuanJen’s voice was soft, reverent. “No one ever did anything like this for me before. Look at you …”
Jade shrugged. “Um. Well, I did. As sappy as it sounds, I kinda decided pretty myself up for you. Feels kind of good, actually. I feel beautiful, you know?”
“You’d look beautiful without it.”
“I’d be nude.”
“I admit that presents an appealing image.” HuanJen walked over to his lover, touching her face tenderly. “You are all I could ever have wanted on any day. Gods …”
Jade kissed his fingertips, smiling. “You’re worth it you know.”
“Thank you, dearest Jade.” HuanJen took her hand in his and began to gently kiss her furless palm. Jade inhaled deeply.
“That feels very good.”
“I had expected.” HuanJen’s voice was laced with raw emotion. “I had hoped. You realize wearing such a … gift suggests things?”
“Yes, but … it didn’t really cross my mind. Hell, I just wanted to do something I know you’d like. It came with a free pair of green bunny ears, but I threw them away.”
“Thank you.” The mystic ran a tongue along Jade’s palm. “And I just got you a mirror, I feel a bit ashamed.”
“Nah, it’s a symbol. It means more than it is, or it’s something that means more, you know. One of those things you always say.”
“Oh, nicely said.” HuanJen bit the tips of Jade’s fingers playfully. He suddenly stopped, his dark eyes locking on Jades, twin gateways into his mysterious heart.
“Can I … take you to the bedroom? If you don’t mind?”
The Vulpine smiled, a slash of lustful ivory across her black-furred face. “I was going to ask you. Shall we?”
“Of course.” The Magician-Priest made a motion to pick her up, but Jade placed a strong hand against his chest.
“Nah, let me!” Jade seized HuanJen’s waist, and quickly manipulated the lanky cleric into a kind of crude carrying hold. Moments later, she stopped.
“Huan?”
“Yes?”
“I think I’m hurting myself. I’m putting you down.”
“Of course.”
With little grace, Jade dropped her lover to the ground, HuanJen reacting quickly and landing on his feet with unconscious precision. He wasted no time in picking Jade up and tossing her over his left shoulder. With determination, he headed towards his own bedroom.
“I do love seeing you do this macho he-man crap.” Jade chided affectionately. “Want to get your club out and drag my around by my hair?”
“I won’t dignify that with a response.” HuanJen replied primly.
“Oh, yes …” Jade’s voice took on a mocking air of submissiveness. “Take me, ravage me, oh use me my flaming Taoist hunk of …”
The
re was a resounding slap as HuanJen’s free hand delivered a swat to Jade’s thong-exposed backside. The Vulpine retaliated with a light, open-palmed blow to the back of his head.
“Watch it buster.” Jade said. “Nothing kinky.”
“Well, if we must limit ourselves, then we must.”
“We’ll see, love, we’l see.”
HuanJen pushed the door to his spartan bedroom open with his foot, then swung around, and carefully sat Jade on her feet next to the bed. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him lower for a series of passionate kisses.
“I … am glad we’re here.” Jade said minutes later, catching her breath. “Right here, together.”
“As am I. I suddenly feel … less tired.”
“I’m rather energized myself.” Jade’s tongue flicked out of her mouth, drawing a wet line of pleasure across HuanJen’s neck.
“You know what that does to me.”
“I do.” Jade’s mouth ran along HuanJen’s throat, the mystic leaning his head back, exposing his neck. “oh, I do …”
Jade slithered down HuanJen’s body, undoing his plain, black top. She sucked forcefully on his left nipple, eliciting groans of pleasure, the cleric’s long fingers entangling in her hair. The vulpine moved her mouth along lover’s skin hot, taking his right nipple into her mouth, feeling his body respond.
“Good?” Jade looked up. Something in her body, his body felt different. More open. Balanced.
“Yes. Jade?”
“Dear?” Jade queried, breathing heavily.
“We’re going to make love, for the first time, aren’t we?” The cleric asked pointedly.
“I … want to.” Jade luxuriated in her passions. There was no reason to bottle them up or hide them.
“I do to.” HuanJen smiled, caressing Jade’s face. “If you are willing. You are so beautiful, love, so …”
” … and we’re gonna do it on Valentines day.”
Silence.
“That really is far too stereotypical for us.” HuanJen said slowly, mind awhirl. He never considered ‘normal’ to be a very useful word, and he and Jade didn’t fit most definitions of that word.
“Well, maybe if we’re lucky a supernatural crisis will interrupt us and everything will be back to normal.” Jade sat on the bed, the thong that had seemed a charming addition to the outfit deciding to burrow its way into her consciousness uncomfortably.
HuanJen nodded. “That is a possibility.”
“And one of our friends could have some disaster befall them.”
“True, true.”
“And there’s always some new political wrinkle that we could hear about at any moment.” Bitterness infected Jade’s voice.
“Oh. Yes.” HuanJen conceded. “So, before anything like that happens, I want to make love to you.”
“Funny, I was having about the same thoughts. Shall we …”
“No, lets not take the phone off the hook.” HuanJen said seriously. “And …”
“Look, let’s just forget it and hope we have time. With you … I think I have all the time I need.”
“I’d comment about time being subjective, but it’s just not romantic.”
“You are learning …” Jade began kissing HuanJen’s belly, working on undoing his belt. ” . .. gods, I love you.”
“I know, you seem rather aggressive, dearest …”
“Well,” Jade half-purred, “You always seem to be first to your knees for me, I’m returning the favor. Dearest …”
The Vulpine managed to get her lover pants open, she slid to the floor, forcing him down onto the bed. Without hesitation, she dropped her head into his lap, taking his shaft into her mouth.
HuanJen moaned, feeling his lover’s lips and tongue caress his most sensitive parts. He looked down at her; her eyes were closed blissfully, she seemed adsorbed in her own desire, and in him.
Jade swayed back and forth sensually, head bobbing up and down. She could taste his pleasure, tell his feelings for her by his sounds. At that moment, she felt totally herself.
“Dear …”
Jade released HuanJen’s shaft from her mouth, letting it slowly slide out between her lips. “Gods, your taste … I … yeah … I don’t want to end things early.”
“I know, and you’re quite … close. Here.”
HuanJen worked his way out of his pants and boots with relative ease, lying back on the bed. Jade looked at him, with a smile; he moved like quicksilver, unconsciously, his body flowing into an enticing position. The mystic gestured playfully for Jade to approach.
The Vulpine leapt onto the bed, straddling her mentor/lover. “You always remember …”
” … you don’t like anyone on top of you, yes.” HuanJen reached up, sensitive hands playing with the complex-but-revealing top of Jade’s lingerie. “Now, let me see …”
“Good luck, this thing took …”
There was a sound of clasps undoing, and Jade found herself able to breathe better. HuanJen held up the green bustier in his right hand, dangling it idly.
“I should never assume with you” The Vulpine shook her head.
“No.” HuanJen discarded the garment with a precise throw onto his dresser. “No, never.”
The mystic pulled Jade closer, his hands cupping her buttocks firmly. After a moment of running his fingers along her backside, he began drawing her upward, slowly working her emerald panties off.
His mouth moved along Jade’s body, pausing to lick and suck her nipples gently, then along her warm-black-furred belly, adding playful bites here and there. Eventually, Jade found herself without underwear, straddling HuanJen’s face …
… and his tongue firmly, but gently entering her, stroking along the underside of her jewel.
“oh, my …”
Jade grabbed the headboard of the bed, balancing herself. Her lover was like living water inside of her, flowing to wherever he could give her the most pleasure. The Vulpine kept rotating her hips against HuanJen’s face, moaning to herself.
“Oh, damn, this is different love …”
HuanJen ran his hands over Jade’s body, his tongue playing against her clitoris then darting deep within her, a cycle of pleasure he kept repeating precisely. Jade began to moan, thrusting against his face.
“Damn, love, oh …”
HuanJen carefully shifted Jade’s weight so she no longer was straddling his face. He looked up at her, face flushed with his own internal fire.
“I love you.” Jade whispered.
“I know. Goddess.”
“Don’t … you make me feel so …”
“Pressured?” HuanJen moved, snakelike, pulling his body out from under Jade and leaning against the headboard. He ran his fingers along her neck, drawing lines of sensation.
“A bit. Jade answered with a moan. “But then, you say it like you mean it. It’s quite a thrill. Funny, I still can’t describe you … and I don’t think I need to.”
HuanJen nodded, and drew Jade to him, lying back on the bed again. Their lips met, tongues entwining in a deep kiss …
… HuanJen gently maneuvered his hips, feeling Jades warm, wet sex brush against him …
… Jade lifted herself up on an elbow, reaching down, holding HuanJen’s shaft in her hand, guiding him into her. He was tender with her, seemingly unassertive, yet his presence overwhelmed her. He was like the ground, vast, and sometimes you marveled at how it went in all directions …
Her body embraced his manhood. Jade shuddered at the exquisite sensations as he fit into her body. His mind always could lay her bare, his words strike her heart, and now he was within her, no secrets …
… HuanJen let Jades sex enfold his own. He pulled his lover into a tight embrace. He felt her heartbeat running through his own. A man who stood on the fringes of the larger reality, he felt the world through Jade’s body.
“Huan, my …” Jade lay her head in the crook of the mystic’s neck. His hands running over her body, dancing along every sensitive spot,
his hips moving, she felt as if she were inside him as sure as he was inside her …
“I love you, dearest Jade.”
HuanJen saw himself and his lover whirling together; the yin-yang, ancient symbol, black and white separate yet together, mixing …
… Jade’s warmth, smoothness …
… HuanJen, ever present everywhere and deep inside …
Jade threw her head back and screamed, her climax roaring through her body like a silver wave. She was open like a gate, billowing like wind, her mind spiraled into a vanishing point for a moment …
“I love you …” Jade said quietly. The words came from out of the void where she had been a moment ago.
“Dearest?”
Jade felt herself return from that place-of-being. She opened her eyes, looking down at HuanJen. beneath her, like a foundation. The vulpine kissed her lover passionately, rotating her hips. She felt him surging within her, felt him close …
HuanJen looked into Jades eyes, twin green jewels with infinite depth. “I love you, Jade.”
“I know, HuanJen.”
The cleric exhaled as he climaxed, pouring himself into Jade, into her heat. Jade smiled, having the strange feeling that his orgasm was in a way, a gift to her. His eyes never left hers until she slumped against him, warm fur on sweaty skin.
Jade stroked her lover’s hair. “Oh, Huan, love …only with you. Good gods …”
“I … am glad. We did this.” The exorcist added carefully. “I do love you. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to make love with you?”
“I imagine a lot longer than Slate would be comfortable with. Same on my part I think.”
“Happy Valentine’s day.” HuanJen said simply.
“And happy Valentine’s day to you.” Jade snuggled closer to her lover. “And many more.”
“It did go a bit fast, didn’t it?” HuanJen queried thoughtfully.
“We were rushed. We can always try again …” Jade nuzzled the mystic playfully.
“Well, for a repeat, you’ll need to wait at least forty-five minutes.”
“Really?” Jade acted as if she was evaluating some numbers. “Impressive …”
Crossworld of Xai Page 39
