White Butterfly : Chapter 7
Following Hikarin’s declaration Ran became Aya throughout the house; even Baba accepted the new name with grace and a dark look at the city yujo. Aya, as he was now, took the opportunity that Crawford presented him, for an early night and retired with a lamp and the sutras, which his mother had taught him to diligently copy as a means to relieve his tension. It did calm him.
It was nearly dawn when Kimi started circling the mat. His mother had kept dogs and he recognised the signs. “No you don’t,” he said lifting her and carrying her outside.
The night was crisp as summer turned to autumn. The cherry trees were beginning to bear fruit and the air was sweet. Kimi ran in circles till she found precisely the right spot of grass, although to Aya they all looked the same.
“Puppy,” a voice said, crawling out from under the veranda to inspect the dog. It was a small child, one that Aya had never seen before.
“Are you meant to be here, little one?” Aya asked. The child, who was thin but looked well dressed, was startled to see him, but the pet name, which was the one that Baba used for Aya himself, calmed him.
The child went to climb back under the veranda. “It’s alright.” Aya said, “you can play with her, her name’s Kimi and she likes to play.” He undid the length of cord about his waist and started to dangle the loose end in front of Kimi who immediately bounded up the stairs to pounce on it. The child followed her and took the cord off Aya. “I’m Aya,” he said, the unfamiliar name uncomfortable but his now.
“Sena,” Baba said coming out, “that’s where you are.” She sounded relieved. “Do you want to come back to bed, baby?” She said crouching down.
“No,” he said firmly, “puppy.” Then he wrapped himself around Aya with enough force that Aya was winded.
“It’s fine, Baa-chan,” Aya said softly with a smile, “he can stay with me.”
“He’s your whipping boy,” Baba said quietly.
“Then he is mine to protect.” Aya said, picking them both up carefully. “Good night, Baa-chan, I’ll look after him, I promise.”
Saya and Maya’s giggling was what woke Ran a few hours later. “Kawaii,” they said, leaning against each other, they wore light yukuta that weren’t fastened as tightly as they might have been.
“A baby with a baby.” Maya said laughing.
“We should get a picture.” Saya laughed, “We’ll have to order a portrait painter all the way from Edo so that we could record this and in our infirm years look at it and go kawaii.”
“But our master has requested that we bathe you.” Maya said with a leer.
“He has plans for you before Hikarin-sama,” that name was said with loathing, “deigns to rise from her futon.”
Aya blushed but followed them, making sure that Sena and Kimi were happily tucked up in his own futon.
The bathhouse was a small wooden building just outside the main house. It had the advantage of having a fire under a metal tub, which kept the water warm to be poured into the bath itself with a pump. There was also a pump for cold water in case it was too hot. Aya stood with his hands holding together his nagajubon as the twins stripped down and climbed into the bath. “We’re to bathe you,” Saya said with a smile and a leer.
“Master’s orders.” Maya added, splashing Aya so that the thin cotton became see-through anyway.
“We’re to teach you.” Saya’s voice was sing song as she grabbed Aya’s hand and pulled him to the water.
“So you can bathe the master.” Ran’s blush became incandescent, but he peeled off his robe and stepped into the water.
“As pale as a new camellia.” Maya joked, “Now sit.” And she pushed him into the water so that he stumbled.
Aya attended his master for breakfast as he always did. The twins had bathed him rather thoroughly, their hands going into places he didn’t put his own, with the exclamation that it was for the master but their giggles betrayed them.
So when he attended Crawford he was caught in a maelstrom of shame and duty. Crawford wore a light yukuta that was open and as he stepped up to Aya he buried his face in the damp hair and took a deep breath through his nose. He was scenting him as one would an animal. “Did my twin scare you?” His voice was heavy with sleep, or so Aya thought, he would later come to recognise it as lust.
“I want to see how well they cleaned you.” Crawford murmured into his hair as he undid the belt holding fast Aya’s robes, “mine,” he murmured. His mouth was making wet designs on Aya’s throat, designs he didn’t understand. Nor did he understand the wet shivers that were passing through him. With a clear defined motion Crawford pushed away the heavy linen robe Aya wore and revealed him in his nakedness because he hadn’t dressed as heavily as he normally did after his bath.
“Camellia’s,” Crawford murmured against the ridge of his collarbone. “You smell of camellias.”
Aya was caught between terror and duty as Crawford mouthed the contours of his chest. He wanted to serve his lord, but he did not know what his lord wanted of him. All his anxiety was pooling in his stomach. “Lovely,” Crawford murmured and pushed him hard, so that Aya lost his balance, with a small cry he reached out and grabbed Crawford’s arm, pulling him down along with him. They landed in a clatter of limbs. “Silly little tayu,” Crawford almost growled and pulled open the fabric making sure to catch it on anything that protruded like nipples.
Crawford was gentle and playful, watching Aya’s expression as he licked at the pale pink nipples on his chest. Aya wanted to buck, to throw him off, but it felt good. He justified it to himself by saying that it was what his master wanted, and just because he didn’t understand it didn’t make it wrong.
The master could have anything he wanted. It felt good to obey the master.
He couldn’t stop the loud exhalation that escaped him when Crawford turned his attention to the swell of his hip bones. “I could eat you up.” Crawford almost growled it out.
By now Aya could not ignore his erection. It was not his first and he wanted desperately to be ashamed of it in front of his master but everything was coalescing there and all he could do was throw back his head and groan as Crawford trailed the tip of a single finger along the vein that ran along its underside. He wanted to buck up into the touch, which felt entirely different to when he touched himself. He wanted more. He wanted. He just wasn’t sure what he wanted.
“Beautiful,” Crawford murmured, almost as if he was trying to calm a skittish animal.
He ran the flat of his palm up Aya’s erection and with a stuttering cry Aya’s world gathered in his balls and exploded.
Crawford sat up with a smirk and looked down at the boy sprawled on the floor beside him, he looked at the cords of his kimono splayed across his skin and had an idea.
Naoe opened the door. “Master,” he said without even bothering to notice what was happening inside the room. “I’m going swimming with Omi.” Then closed the door again.
Crawford’s laugh was dark and sinister. “Well, my little camellia,” he said addressing Aya, “that ruined the mood didn’t it. You’ll need another bath.” He grabbed Aya’s chin and pulled him towards him, at the last moment, as their lips neared, Aya turned his face away and Crawford wetly kissed his cheek.
Aya gathered up his robes and left though his legs were shaky.
As he watched him go Crawford licked the last vestiges of semen from his hand and decided that the boy was sweeter than he even knew. Even if he had arranged for Naoe to interrupt them.
Glossary
Ameratsu – The Sun goddess of Shinto.
Aneki – older sister.
Bikiko - Hel
Dairai – imperial court
Daimyo – a landowner or lord.
Danna – a patron
Doitsujin - German person
Ecchi – pervert (a very mild form of the word, lit H as in Hentai.)
Fundoshi – a wrapped loincloth worn by men.
Gaiden – legend.
Gaijin – Foreigner
Gei - art
Genkan – small area in front of the door where shoes are kept.
Genki – chipper
Hakama – split culottes
Hanzubon – shorts
Hikarin – Schoen
Horimono – Japanese tattooing
Iki – sense of style.
Juni Hitoe – Lit twelve layers but the many layered kimono of the Heian period before the sumptuary laws, this could be over forty layers of fabric.
Kaasan – Mother
Kawaii – an exclamation of something’s cuteness.
Kimi – she who is without equal.
Kimono – a decorated robe
Konketsu – half-breed.
Kyu – the lowest ranking in Go
Mizuage – a deflowering ceremony
Moku – two corresponding lines in go – marks one area.
Monogatori – lit: story of a person; romances or stories.
Nagajubon – a light white kimono worn under the more ornate robes.
Natto - fermented soybeans
Nigiri – a pressed rice ball
Nihonjin – Japanese person
Obi – the wide belt used to fasten a kimono
Okaasan - mother
Omemie - Neu
Omusubi – wrapped rice balls
Onmyoji – sorcerer
Ouji-sama – your highness.
Seppuku – ritual suicide by disembowelling.
Seppun – the act of pressing mouths together- the worst of all perversions.
Shibari - the art of rope tying.
Sumimasen – the most formal way of apologising, I used this because there is no English equivalent.
Tabi – split toed socks
Takoyaki – fried balls of octopus and flour.
Tansu – a Japanese chest. This is a distinct style.
Tanto – a short bladed sword, usually used by women, part of a set.
Tatami – a mat, rooms are measured by tatami.
Tayu – a very high-class courtesan, also called an Oiran
Usagi - Todt
Yukuta – a light cotton kimono worn for sleeping or festivals.
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