Back to the Dream Sequel 2 Dreamland (34 page)

"To Okita-san?” Aboshi asked.

It would be a long walk, but one that I needed. Nagahama was a few
ri
away from my
shoen
, an easy ride in an ox cart. It would be a hot march in armor. And there might be those monsters foolish enough to attack us. I was still in danger until I reached my castle town. I smiled up at him, feeling like I could run the entire way and not tire or overheat. “To Okita-san,” I agreed. “But I think that he knows I was successful in reclaiming the
kuni
."

Aboshi shrugged. He knew that the man was loyal to me... to us. Else he would not be standing here. Okita had chosen to help him rather than wrestle my
kuni
under his own control. “All will know soon."

"And tomorrow we march north to drive Iida into the sea,” I said. “Then we must move south to defend Honshu."

"The lords are being rallied, even as we speak,” Aboshi said. “But I fear that this will be a long and bloody battle to drive the invaders from Kyushu. Iida's control over his allies will make it a difficult task, if we do not defeat him."

I shuddered, remembering the things in the water, how they had almost eaten Keno and me, the choked-off screams of the sailors as they had been eaten by those things. The silence of the Reavers as I felt them disappearing from my awareness, one by one. We had to cross the sea to get to Kyushu, and we needed Iida defeated before that happened.

Aboshi touched my hand, his eyes dark and worried. “We will beat him,” he promised.

I nodded, feeling comforted. I actually had won a victory over the man already. I had control of my
kuni
again, something I had discovered that he thought was unnatural. Iida was a man who thought women were meant to be powerless.

"I think that a visit to Edo is in your future,” I predicted. Once we got to Okita, Aboshi could go to Edo and tell Keno of our success.

He smiled at me, and I felt at peace.

Samojirou

Before I left, I made sure Tamazusa was settled in her castle, with Okita to guard her. I felt slightly guilty that I was leaving her to go to Keno. She had scolded me, though.

"I also need you to go to our allies and tell them of my success. A regular messenger would take too long,” she instructed. “And Keno needs to see you.” She was quiet for a moment. “He has been very good about not asking about certain things."

"He is curious,” I said softly.

"And I should say that is a good thing,” she told me. “He was very brave in his first battle."

"He told me of it,” I said. “Including the part that he wasn't able to kill anyone."

She nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. “I don't think that we have to worry that he is the Inuzaka Keno of old."

"I think that he is the man he might have been if he had not taken that vow,” I shared.

Her face lit up when I said that. “I am so happy about that!” She grew serious again. “And I will make sure that he doesn't have to worry about that, either. I will make sure that he is not involved in any of the fighting."

I walked into the shadows of Inumura's Edo castle as easily as I would have walked into my own rooms. In a way I was, since I was only here for Keno. I wasn't surprised that as soon as I walked out of the shadows and into his room, he had flown into my arms. I was glad that I had bathed and changed for him.

"Tamazusa holds her
kuni
again,” I announced.

That was all that I managed to get out before he pulled me down for a kiss. “I was so worried!” he said.

That was all that I was able to say for a while. I didn't miss that he was dressed only in a kimono, and it was barely belted.

"I was waiting for you,” he whispered. “I knew that you would be coming tonight."

Keno was plastered against me, warm and willing and all so needy. I had a flashback to his ancestor telling me the same thing. I involuntarily shuddered.

"Samojirou-sama?” Keno asked, a concerned look in his eyes. “You are all right?"

I bent down to kiss him again, not wanting to think about anything for a while.

He laughed, though, and drew back from me. “I'm feeling very subservient right now,” he teased.

I didn't know what to say to that. His stare challenged me as he gracefully sunk to his knees. He managed to untie my obi with his teeth, and I wondered why he had learned that trick. He nuzzled and nipped at the flesh he uncovered and licked my staff lovingly while I tried to figure out why he was doing this. Soon, however, I was so inflamed with passion that I didn't care.

I lifted him to his feet to kiss him again, caressing his smooth skin. My thumbs found his nipples, and I stroked them to hardness before bending over to worry them with my teeth. I feared that I was rough with my blossom, but it seemed to inflame his passion, too, as his hands twisted in my hair. I wanted to celebrate that Tamazusa had recovered her
kuni
. Keno seemed very willing to indulge in any passion I chose tonight.

"I fear, blossom, that you are not going to be sitting very comfortably tomorrow,” I told him thickly.

He laughed, wanton and challenging, touching me all over, lifting my head up so that he could attack my nipples in turn. He was gentler, but he also left his marks on me. I groaned, wondering if I was pushing him too fast even as I led him over to the futon and pushed him down onto his hands and knees. He turned and looked at me with a smile, bending his arms so that his bottom was raised high.

I knelt down beside him and bit his left buttock, leaving an impression of my teeth there. I hadn't broken the skin, but I knew that it was going to bruise delightfully. I fumbled about and found the oil. I poured it down his cleft, stroking the skin there gently. He moaned and wiggled when I did this. His moan turned into a groan when I slipped a finger inside, stretching him gently, playing with him. I took care not to touch that special spot inside of him as I loosened him for both our pleasure. I soon had two fingers in him, and he was begging for more.

His pleas were delightful, and I slowly withdrew my fingers, touching his spot as I pulled out, just to hear him scream. I oiled my staff and positioned myself behind him, before slowly sinking into his body. I balanced myself by grasping his hips, delicately as if they were petals on a real flower. When I was fully sheathed in his body, he whimpered softly, turning his chin to look at me, submissive and demanding at the same time. I smiled at him, tracing his spine with my tongue until it reached his neck. He sighed and shivered at my gentleness.

It was then that I drew back and thrust back into his body hard, almost brutally. He half-screamed when I did so again, but it was not in pain or fear, rather in ecstasy. He unconsciously arched up to meet my third stroke, and I proceeded to brutally use him. Not that he minded; he was begging for more. “Please... harder... so good, please... please...
please!
"

On his final please, he screamed and bucked underneath me, pouring his seed onto the futon as I drove myself into him harder and faster, almost angrily, until I had my own climax.

We collapsed together, a tangled heap of arms and legs. I wasn't surprised that he curled up on me, boneless and sated. “You didn't hurt me,” he whispered.

"I fear...."

He looked up and placed a finger on my lips. “You needed that. It... I don't want it as a steady diet, but you needed to celebrate that we won something. So what if you rode me hard, as Mason would say. I wanted it.” Keno blushed. “I was kind of curious, really."

I licked his finger and settled back with his head on my chest. “I can only stay until dawn, my blossom."

He kissed my chest, and I hated the sorrow that I heard in his voice. “I know."

[Back to Table of Contents]

Mason

Keno and I were wandering around Edo with one of Inumura's samurai, called Noma, as a guide. He looked about sixteen, maybe. I almost asked him if his mama let him stay out late, before remembering that he could kick my ass and was probably centuries old. He was small and wore a really odd kimono from what I could tell.

I wasn't surprised to see Keno dressed as a woman, with his whiteface on as well as some sort of hat with a veil that covered most of his face, with his hair tied back in a simple ponytail. I was surprised by how long his hair was. His black outer kimono was unfastened and hung loosely around him, showing off a colorful blue and green, tighter kimono underneath, with a small belt thing tying it closed. I didn't know why he was dressed like that, but from walking around Edo, there seemed to a variety of different styles of kimono and how you wore them for men and women.

I was dressed in a dark kimono and loose pants, which they told me were called
hakama
. I didn't care what they were called; they made me feel like I wasn't going to flash anyone, and so I was happy to wear them. I wasn't wearing a sword, because I knew I couldn't use the thing and even I knew that carrying one around would make people think I could. It felt strange not to be wearing my usual clothing, but that would have made me stick out even more. I was getting some strange looks as it was, but I knew these people hadn't seen an African American before.

"And why are we wandering around, Keno?” I asked.

"Because we can,” he told me. I heard the grin in his voice, but that damn veil blocked me from seeing his face. It was weird, and I wondered why the hell he was dressed like that. “And Mason-san, just remember that I'm a shy and delicate flower."

I got the hint that I was supposed to call him Sakura. I shouldn't forget that, seeing that he was dressed like this, but it was hard. I was getting old. “And shit, just call me Mason."

"I wish to explore Edo,” Keno said. “I just... I just need to see how it's changed. I know that this isn't close to the Tokyo I grew up in, but I can almost see it sometimes."

I believed that, because I doubted the kid had been allowed to wander around like this. I knew Samojirou had stopped by last night, from the sounds I'd heard coming from Keno's room. I was just glad Keno knew that his lover and Tamazusa were all right. I'd felt a twinge when I'd heard that she had gotten her
kuni
back. I had promised her salsa dancing. I didn't think that was going to happen now, and for some reason, that upset me.

"You got any money, Sakura?” I asked.

"I do,” he said, sounding puzzled at my request. “Why?"

"'Cause I think that your sister deserves a nice present for getting her job back,” I said.

He laughed. “I think that she would be proud of you right now. You managed not to mention anything important in public. You are learning to be discreet."

I laughed, too, even though it sounded off to me. Keno picked up on it, though. I was glad that Noma was wandering slightly ahead of us, not really paying attention to what we were talking about, just keeping an eye on us. “I think that I like your sister the way that she was in the Northlands more than who she is now."

Keno was silent for a moment. “She...."

"Isn't the same person,” I finished for him. “Shit, that sounds stupid. But she was my hot mama for a while."

"You didn't call her that to her face?” Keno asked, sounding like he was going to have a heart attack. “Mason...."

"She ain't that anymore,” I said with a shrug. “She's like my boss now. You don't have that much fun with the boss. McGann, she don't feel like she's that to me now. And shit, you know that she isn't that to Wolf right now, or he wouldn't be actin’ like he is. Man's trying to date her or something. Good thing, too, because she's a nice lady, and she needs a nice man, which he is. She told him that she was...."

I stopped, wondering why I was willing to let that secret out of the bag after keeping it for so long. Keno didn't seem to notice the slip or he was willing to ignore it.

"I think that Wolf would be good for her,” Keno said.

I was glad he sounded so calm about it, considering he'd had a crush on Wolf forever. I figured finding your True Love or soul mate or whatever the fuck Samojirou was to him got him over Wolf. “Shit, Sakura."

"You remembered,” Keno murmured sarcastically.

"Don't be a smartass,” I told him. I wondered how much English Noma knew, because I was pretty sure you weren't supposed to talk to whatever Keno was like this. If he understood what I was saying, I thought he'd have to kick my ass. “She told him something important that weirds a lot of people out. He didn't freak. End of story. But your sister, man, she's gonna go back to being a cast-iron bitch."

"Mason!” Keno snapped, horrified. He should have been used to this from me by now.

"It's a good look for her,” I continued, ignoring the small conniption fit he was trying not to have. “Not blaming her for it, ‘cause she isn't a bad lady that way. I just don't think that she's going to like me teasing her again. Or that we can act like we did on the boat."

Keno stopped and looked at me. I was kind of glad that I couldn't see his face, because actually hearing what I had said made me feel like an idiot. Shit, I hadn't sounded this bad when I was a teenager and started dating. Let me tell you, I did some really stupid shit then, but this took the fucking cake. I sounded really pathetic.

"Tease her,” he said simply. “While she isn't who you want her to be anymore, I think that she likes you."

"I figured that one out,” I grumbled. “She didn't Jell-O me."

I had figured out that she couldn't do it anymore when she lost her
kuni
, but the lady could have done
something
like that, if I had pissed her off, just with a knife. And now, I really don't think that she would. I could be wrong, but I doubted it. And I wasn't thinking with my dick, either. I didn't know why I liked the woman, but I did. Could have been that she was smart, kept her cool in a crisis, made the hardass decisions that she needed to, and was willing to get her hands dirty, literally and figuratively. McGann was the same way, but she was more like my kid sister or something. Tamazusa wasn't. I didn't know what she was, but I knew I wasn't going to think of her as a sister.