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“You know,” Yae Miko said, approaching Sara slowly, as if she was prone to fleeing, “today is your little Raiden’s creation anniversary.”
Sara was aghast. She had not known.
She cleared her throat stiffly, willing herself to remain composed. “I was unaware,” she said plainly, as if it didn’t affect her at all.
“Well,” Yae teased, “I’ve already spent the day with Ei.”
“I hope you both had a wonderful time,” Sara replied, and she could feel the crinkling of her brow.
“We’re to retire to the Plane of Euthymia tonight, should you want some,” and she leaned in close, breath hot against Sara’s ear, and voice but a sultry whisper “alone time.”
—
Sara gulped, wiping the sweat from the back of her neck, before she pushed open the sliding door to the Shogun’s chambers. She padded into the room slowly, cautious, so as to not drop the steaming egg rolls she had brought with her.
She set them down gently on a tea table near the foot of the bed at the center of the room, and that was when Raiden finally noticed her.
“Sara!” She exclaimed, perking up immediately. “Ei told me to expect you, so I had been wondering when you’d arrive.”
Sara sighed, rolling her eyes. “Of course she did.”
“Come here, love,” Raiden said gently, raising out her arms.
That was when Sara finally climbed onto the bed, stepping out of her shoes and crawling her way into Raiden’s lap.
Raiden held her hands, and lifted them to her lips, kissing them softly. “I missed you today.”
Once free, Sara wrapped her arms around Raiden’s neck, and felt Raiden’s own slide around her waist. “I as well,” she told her, leaning into the embrace.
“It wouldn’t do to deny her her time, though, especially on an occasion such as this.”
“An occasion such as…” Sara trailed off, confused.
“Her day of birth,” Raiden told her, all too matter-of-factly. “I assumed you knew.”
Sara chuckled slightly. “What a coincidence it is, then.”
This time, it was Raiden’s turn to be confused. “Coincidence? What coincidence?”
“That it would be yours as well.”
“Oh, I-” Raiden paused, seemingly deep in thought for the shortest of moments. “I wasn’t aware. It’s never been a day of importance before, and no one ever made notice of it.”
Sara sat back, then, chest tightening with something akin to sadness, and longing, and when Raiden spoke, it was clear it showed on her face. “It matters not,” she told her. “Back then it- well, it just wasn’t important. Now, though, I’m grateful I get to spend it with you.”
Sara couldn’t help but break into a smile, then, as a faint blush crept beneath her cheeks. “Well, Your Excellency,” she said, doing her best impression of teasing, “allow me to be the first to say it. Happy birthday,” and she kissed her, a connection so full of love, and understanding, and trust.
Raiden couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down her cheek, but Sara simply brushed them away with her thumbs, holding her face in her hands as if she was the most beautiful treasure in existence.
“And for your gift…” Sara spoke after a moment, and Raiden could practically hear the smirk growing on her face.
She threaded her hands into Sara’s hair, scratching lightly at the feathers buried near her scalp, and the tengu hummed in content. “I did see you brought food with you; is that it?”
“I brought egg rolls, yes,” and, though a smile spread across Raiden’s face, Sara didn’t let her speak, “but I also had something much sweeter in mind.”
“What are you-” Before she could finish asking her question, she had received an answer.
Sara traced her fingers from Raiden’s cheek, down to her chin, lifting slightly, and exposing a brief expanse of skin through the robe the woman wore. Her lips traveled downwards as well, down, down, down, trailing kisses like breadcrumbs through a forest. One, right beneath the shell of her ear, and it made Raiden shiver. Another, just at the line of her jaw, and Raiden’s breath caught in her throat. A third, planted firm right where her neck met her shoulder, and Raiden couldn’t fight back the gasp she released.
Her grip in Sara’s hair tightened somewhat, and the woman removed herself, lifting her head back up, and smiling at a now flushed, red Raiden.
“Sara, you-”
“Shh,” Sara pressed a finger to her lips. “Let me do this for you. Let me worship you, exactly how you should be.”
They didn’t normally bring that kind of talk into the bedroom; Raiden had always wanted to make it a point that here, stripped of titles and status and everything else that may separate them, they were equals. Now, at this moment, however, it sent a jolt of electricity through her spine.
It didn’t help when Sara ground her hips into Raiden’s lap, sparking a fire in her stomach that threatened to consume her.
She tightened her grip in Sara’s hair once more, and the woman yelped, and the storm brewing inside Raiden finally bubbled over.
“So be it, then.”
—
Raiden lay, covered in a thin layer of sweat, staring at the ceiling.
She was content.
Slightly tired, sure, but happy, covered in a mishmash of bruises and bites, as Sara lay next to her, flat on her chest, smiling wide. Though she wasn’t looking at her, she could feel the other woman’s gaze against her skin.
She turned to her side, and was greeted with exactly the sight she expected. “You’re staring,” she told Sara.
“Mmm,” Sara hummed sleepily, “not my fault.”
Raiden sidled closer, and pressed a kiss right to the top of her forehead. “I suppose not.”
They lay silent for a moment, content to bask in the warm afterglow, but a seed started to grow in Raiden’s chest, and, before she knew it, the words sprouted forth.
“Sara, I-” She sat up. “Five hundred years is an awfully long time, Sara. Never in that time did I think I’d be able to have something like this; never did I even consider it. I was a puppet, Sara, a robot; I-” She was crying now, an unbidden stream of tears chasing her every word.
“Shh, it’s okay; it’s okay,” Sara comforted her, sliding closer so her head was in Raiden’s lap, and her hand traced up and down her side. “Take your time.”
“I wasn’t even sure if I was a person. Then, I met you, and it was like fire against my heart because I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t breathe, but I still wasn’t even sure if I needed to.”
Sara sat up too, then, softly cupping Raiden’s cheek, and leaning their foreheads together. “It’s okay now though, right? We’re here, together, and that’s not going to change.”
Raiden pressed on. “Five hundred years of nothing, and now, being able to spend this evening with you, an evening I wouldn’t have even known of otherwise… It’s almost more than I can take.”
Sara didn’t speak this time; instead, she was patient, allowing Raiden time to recenter herself, and gather the rest of her thoughts.
It took a moment; in actuality, it took quite a few. Slowly, however, the tears stopped flowing, the breaths became more even, and a small smile was all that was left on Raiden’s face. A small one, but, to Sara, it was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen.
“I love you, Sara; thank you for being here.”
Sara kissed her once more, then, but spoke as well, just to be sure the message got across. “I love you too.”
As they sat there, Sara nearly falling asleep as they leaned against each other, they were at peace. No worries, no fears, nothing to take away from the pleasure of their moments spent together.
Soon enough, however, Raiden remembered the tray Sara had brought with her, and her eyes lit up. She climbed out of bed, removing herself from her lover’s embrace, and made her way to the tea table.
“What are you doing?” Sara groaned sleepily, lying back down on the mattress. “Come back.”
Raiden didn’t respond, instead electing to sit cross legged at the small table. “Hmm,” she hummed, poking the egg dish with a pair of chopsticks. “Exactly as I expected; they’re cold.”
Sara coughed, and then smiled sheepishly from where she still lay, nestled deep into the sheets on the bed.
“No matter,” she said, breaking off a piece and bringing it to her mouth.
She’d eat it all, of course.
She’d take everything Sara was willing to give, and give everything back in return.