White Butterfly : Chapter 17
Aya awoke slowly and languorously across the soft cushion, he was warm and secure and for the first time since his parent’s death he felt safe. Crawford sat facing him, with his chin resting on his hands and a look of smug satisfaction on his face. He looked like a predator. He had removed his haori and laid it across Aya like a blanket. Aya stretched, the muscles of his back popping but there was a pain, like a heavy weight between his legs, it was not unpleasant and something that a simple hot bath would ease.
His skin felt hot, despite a cool sweat against his naked skin, he felt exposed but strangely safe. “Did I sleep long?” he asked, his voice was cracked and querying.
“No,” Crawford said softly, “not even an hour, you seemed to need it, did I hurt you?”
“No, Master,” Aya said gently, pulling the haori over his nakedness, “you didn’t hurt me.”
“You know it was not my intention but I could not resist such temptation.”
Aya offered him a cool clear gaze, “we are all simply men.” He said, “did I do my duty well.”
“By all the gods, Aya,” Crawford said throwing aside a piece of firewood that he had been playing with. It landed with a heavy clatter. “Don’t ask if you did your duty, appreciate it for what it was, a good fuck well enjoyed. I worried I might have hurt you because you would not tell me if I had.”
“Yes, master,” Aya said standing, flinching at the burning ache between his legs that spoke of poor lubrication. “I enjoyed it, master, and you did not hurt me.”
Crawford frowned, “go take a bath,” he said, “then spend the evening as you see fit. Wait for me tonight, and I will show you such pleasures, you can even tell Fuji that I fucked you, that you are a good little concubine.”
Aya’s entire demeanour seemed to close off, as he tugged the haori tight about his chest, he could feel cool semen slipping down his the crack of ass and the back of his thighs. “Yes, master.” He said.
“If you are so determined to do your duty, Aya, then go to Rukia and ask her for the lavender balm, ask her also for the bangle of amber, and ask the twins for the lilac oil for your bath, I want you perfumed and waiting for me, I shall want you waiting for me come midnight, I shall leave word with Baba that you are not to be disturbed tomorrow, because you will get no sleep tonight, if you wish to rest do so before you come to me. If you are determined to do your duty then I will happily let you do your duty as much as I want to.”
“Have I displeased you, master?” Aya asked, looking for a moment very young and very vulnerable.
“Oh no, Aya,” Crawford’s tone was full of sarcasm, “you pleased me very well, and I would have you please me even more, I will teach you how to please me if that is your desire. I would have a companion, but obviously Aya, you would much prefer to be my concubine. Prepare yourself for my pleasure, but tell me, at least, if I hurt you in my hunger.”
Rukia was having her toenails enamelled; she sat on a cushioned bench with her foot extended on the leg of one twin as soft colour was painted on. The other was rubbing a scented oil into her scalp. She was veritably purring. Aya visited her before he went to his bath. He wore his hakama loosely belted and rather than his nagajubon he still wore Crawford’s haori. “You wished to see me.” Rukia said softly, leaning further back into whichever twin was rubbing her head.
“My master asked me to fetch things for him, he wished for me to have lilac oil for my bath, an amber anklet, and the lavender balm.” Rukia raised an eyebrow over a large dark eye, and then she smiled.
“Farfarello, bring the boy what he asks for, it seems that his master has plans for him.” She sounded amused.
Farfarello took a deep breath in his nose. “It smells like his master might have already had plans with him.” He laughed, it was a chilling sound as he opened a small tansu and lifted out several bottles, which he placed in a box for him, then from a separate chest he took a heavy silver bangle which rattled. “Give me your foot, boy,” he said, Rukia just smiled, indulgent to the whims of her elf, “and I shall put it on for you.”
He knelt in front of Aya and grabbed his ankle, lifting it, and then clasped the silver around his foot. It clanked when he moved. Farfarello smiled and leant in across Aya, scenting him like an animal, his hands holding him firm, “the only way to remove such a slave bangle,” the elf said in a whispery growl, “is to chop off the foot.” He laughed.
“My master does not care for others to touch me.” Aya said but not as firmly as he would have liked, “he would punish us both if he discovered that you touched me.” His voice grew more determined as he spoke because he knew it was true, Crawford would punish both of them, Aya might only get a whipping but Farfarello could lose his hand. “I belong only to my master, now get your hands off me.”
Rukia laughed, “look, elf,” she laughed, “he has the poise and disdain of a courtesan, haven’t we taught him well.” She turned with a recline to look at him, “perhaps you should tell my darling husband that I will visit him tonight.”
“By your will, lady, I only do my master’s bidding.” Aya said with a bow, “now by your will, I would bathe.”
Rukia laughed, “perhaps you should tell my husband that I wish you to join us if I visit him tonight.”
Aya stiffened and then schooled his complexion calmly, “if my master wishes it, I will do my duty. Now I will bathe.” He said turning to walk away.
“Aya,” she called to his back, “I have no interest in my husband, at least at this time.”
“As my lady wills,” Aya said but he didn’t turn back to her. “I will pass on your will to him, for such is my duty.”
He poured a measure of the oil into the bath before he undid his robes and stepped up into the water. The scent was soothing and the water was as hot as he could stand it, his skin turning a rich pink around the water before the door opened and he forwent the pleasure of slowly slipping into the water for a quick immersion. “Master Aya,” Naoe said from the door, “our master asked me to attend you, Baba has said that the hot water is good for my chest, I am trained to help our master in the bath and…”
“It’s fine, Naoe.” Aya said, “I’m sure Baba knows what is best, I don’t mind if you share my bath, I used to share my bath with Sano, and Baba was as much mother to me as she is being to you.”
“Did she make you wander around like a Shinobi?” Naoe whined undoing his clothes, “and I smell like a roast goose with this slime on my chest.”
“Yes,” Aya said, “and other joys, I had crooked knees. It does help. She is a good woman, strong, powerful, a good woman, if incredibly scary, I used to hide in the same futon cabinets that you do. I feel an equal amount of fear and love for her.”
He climbed up and into the bath. “She caught me running from her.” He said, hissing as the water gathered around him, “I thought she’d take my ear off.”
“Changing your grease?” Aya offered him a smile but Naoe did not echo it.
“Sit,” the boy said, “it’s easier that way, it works better at easing the ache.” Although the boy could have been no older than ten he looked very old at that moment, thin and with a certain pert youth, he looked like a peach fresh off the tree, but at the same time very old and very jaded. There was almost something withered about him, deep within, and he knew that the boy had been in Crawford’s service since he was a babe in arms, that although Crawford treated the boy as his own son he was still a servant and he served the best interests of his master.
Aya was caught between wanting to protect the boy and acceding to his will, between giving himself over to the boy’s instruction and stepping between all comers and giving the boy the chance of a normal childhood. “Naoe,” he said, “how much influence can a concubine have?”
Naoe thought about it for a moment, “the emperor has two concubines,” he said, “and he honours them and their counsel. I doubt our master would give you such consideration, I am told that all in all you are a lousy lay.” The boy’s expression was perfectly calm, as if he hadn’t ever had an emotion in all his life to try the wide peace of such serenity. He spoke with such adult words from a porcelain perfect child’s face. It was like a doll spelled to give off profanities. “You’re too shy, you just lie there like a cold wet fish. I have seen maneki neko with more life in them.” He laughed and it was a very grown up thing, “at least the master will train you in what he likes.” It felt obscene to be lectured in such a thing by a boy, by such an innocent looking boy.
“He wants you to seduce Mamoru-oujo.” Aya answered.
“And why shouldn’t I, I would have bedded him by now except that he has no interest in that yet. I have served my master, I have served my emperor, can you say the same? now turn around so I can wash your hair.”
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
Edo – another name for Tokyo
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
Geta – a type of sandal, named for the sound they make
Hakama – split culottes
Hanzubon – shorts
Hikarin – Schoen
Horimono – Japanese tattooing
Iki – sense of style.
Juni Hitoe – Lit twelve layers
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
Minarai – a time of learning by imitation
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
Noh – a type of drama performed with masks
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
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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