Late Morning

Sunlight streamed through the open window, and birds chirped merrily. For the first time in a number of years, the half-demon girl had managed to ignore the morning and sleep to her heart's content.

She rolled over, burying her nose in her pillow. She breathed deeply and the heady scent of what had happened the night before mired her thoughts and blocked out all other scents in the room.

She felt someone move slightly behind her, a hand creeping its slow way up her shoulders. She shuddered at the touch, and was about to say something when a second hand looped around her head to clap over her mouth. Even though Akiko knew who it was, she still couldn't stifle a sharp gasp of surprise before she calmed and surrendered to the touch.

'Ah! Hey...what're you doing? Hey...that...that tickles! Cut...cut it out! St-stop..!' She tried to say, but all that came out was muffled laughter as the person in the bed with her let their hands play teasingly across the girl's skin.

This bedfellow knew exactly how much more permanently heightened the young woman's senses were, and continued to glide sensually, as though searching for something there. This was a touch no human would be able to experience, with their physically thinner but dull-nerved skin.

She gave a quiet, low-pitched sigh, fast growing to a moan, at the sensation as the hands made their way to other parts of her body, skimming ever-so-lightly before drawing away. It was torturous, and the younger woman's moan changed into a short growl of irritation.

A pink tongue found its way to her jawline, and the all but captive halfling fought back the urge to moan loudly, instead giving only an entirely inhuman whine that communicated nothing so much as urgent need. A short whine managed to escape her lips when her partner put their hand over her mouth again. 'Why're you...teasing me...? 's not...fair!'

She felt a small tug on the skin on the side of her neck. That small tug turned into a bite, a strong one with no accounting for pain or discomfort by her partner.

'Wha...? Ah! Ow! Hey! No! Cut that out! Stop...! Stop that, I don't like it!' The move scared the girl, made her shudder at memories she wanted to forget, but couldn't. It reminded her of the many times when she had been told she was nothing but a whore, and so did not deserve consideration or pleasure of her own. It reminded her of the times her husband had been cruel, and decided he wanted to fuck, whether she was in the mood or not.... Most of all, it reminded her that she was — as always — someone else's property.

Akiko wrenched herself away after a now-habitual flinch from such gestures, covering herself angrily. "Don't do that! You know I don't like it -- or have you forgotten why?! You know I want to look at you when you do something like that, dammit!"

Her partner hung her head in shame, and the other could smell the sour, ripe-fruit scent of the emotion. She knew her partner remembered painfully well why she didn't like it. She heard a quiet, "I'm sorry..." and she sighed. She knew her beloved was sorry, but that didn't make it any less disturbing that even she thought of her as something that could be owned, not as a person.

At least, that's what such a dominating gesture meant to her people: complete and total ownership, and never of a well-meant, given-in-exchange kind. Perhaps it didn't mean the same in theirs, in the human world, but, still... it shook her.

Her bedfellow wanted to make amends, and moved up so that they could sit beside her. The half-demon felt a soft, lingering kiss on the spot where she had been bitten, or, as her people called it, "bound." It was red, and it still stung some. The kiss was pleasant, and turned into a playful nibble of her throat as they kissed their way up her neck and chin, finally meeting her mouth.

"Mmm..." was all the half-demon could say, feeling a little less hurt at the affection. She kissed back, eager to feel as though someone -- especially this particular lover -- truly cared. A hand caressed her face, and she let her long pink tongue dart out and lick the salt from the soft flesh of her lover's neck. She enjoyed hearing a gasp, followed by a moan as she suckled the area.

Her partner motioned for her to roll back over, and she did so, but not without hesitation and a shudder from a memory she tried to forget. As soon as her back was turned to her lover, the sole hand resumed its teasing dance while the other hastily slipped back over her mouth to try and muffle the loud peals of laughter to those walking just outside their door. They didn't want any other patrons of this place getting curious and discovering them together -- that would spell trouble, and possibly being chased out of the town.

Amused, and wanting to reciprocate the well-meant attention, the girl took her bedfellow's fingers gently into her mouth and began to suck lightly, lingering on the sensitive fingertips and licking them in an exaggeratedly slow fashion, which she knew was torture for her other. She heard a stifled moan, and she smiled.

She caught the hand that was still dancing, and held it still gently but firmly. She didn't want to crush anything, which she certainly would if she didn't watch herself carefully. The wrist was delicate and smooth, the hand likewise -- this was not someone used to labor and brutal fighting, as she herself was.

With a look of sin in her eyes, the silver-haired girl turned over to face the human beside her, planting a kiss on the lips that seemed to be begging for attention. The human woman simply smiled and playfully pushed her out of the bed. They should go down and eat something, she said. They could resume this later.

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Author's Note: The two women here are the same pair from "Unexpected Pleasures." This story was originally an experiment in writing without naming the characters, and conveying as much as possible through description alone. It is purposely not as erotic as its companion piece. Let the reader add their own imagination to the pair's play.