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the12thnightproject · 10 months

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Chapter 49: Buttons - Katsu, Shingen, & Sasuke continue to piece together the multiverse; Katsu and Shingen make up for lost time.

Shingen x OC; Kenshin x MC (Mai)

Previous Chapter: Here

Logline - Disguised as a boy, Katsuko finds herself working for Shingen, but her dangerous masquerade becomes difficult to sustain when she falls for the man with a fatal secret.

Warnings - this is very much a Minors DNI chapter.

“Shingen, do you remember the name of the boy who fell into the river?” I had helped myself to the hotel stationery and was writing down everything I could remember about my trip into the alternate timeline. Not to poke around in it as I imagined Sasuke was doing (he’d been typing like a madman on his tablet all afternoon), but because I still had a Sengoku era puzzle to solve. I thought I remembered the boy’s name, but Shingen had spent more time talking to the boy’s father than I had.

He looked up from his drawing pad (he claimed to be trying to figure out how to rig a flushable toilet in his castle). “Are you asking me if I remember, over a year later, a name I only heard once, after two sleepless nights, during a day that contained multiple events, one of which was witnessing your near-drowning?”

Well, I wouldn’t have put it like that, but... “Yes. Do you?” I had a theory and didn’t want to skew the results by putting it out there too soon.

“I do not.” He tugged on my hair. “Though I am flattered you credit me with that sort of memory.”

Hm. “And the other Sasuke… he told you that I was trying to save the boy who will be named later?”

Sasuke looked up at the sound of his name, alert to the potential of an interesting conversation. “Did he… I mean, did I…. er, my alternate tell you that Katsuko had fallen in?”

“No – that hadn’t happened yet. I had the luck to witness that for myself. You said that a child had fallen into the river, and then when I asked where, you told me that Katsuko had gone after him.” Shingen paused for a moment, then looked back at me. “Hiro. The boy’s name may have been Hiro.”

Close enough. “Or. Hiko?” I tapped my pen on the page.

“Yes. Or that.” He closed his eyes. “Yes. Later his father called him ‘Hikosane’.”

“He told me he was pushed.” I looked down at the paper where I had written the phrases, I handed her the note, but it’s possible Mitsunari recognized me followed by hopefully, they will take the message seriously and protect Hikosane. “In another timeline, there are some people, one of whom is named Mitsunari, who were given a message by, um… I think, to use Sasuke’s term, “alternate” me … to protect someone named Hikosane.”

“Ishida Mitsunari?” Shingen alerted at the name and glanced over my shoulder to read my notes.

“No idea. Do you know him?” I had encountered a Mitsunari when I was ‘observing’ Azuchi, but he had not struck me as capable of protecting anyone else, unless the someone else was carrying an armload of books. No. Not even then. He’d rescue the books first.

“Not well. He works for Nobunaga, and therefore my limited experience with him has been across the battlefield. He’s a brilliant strategist. If I could have found a way to arrange it, I would have lured him to Kasugayama.” As always, when talking about Nobunaga, Shingen’s posture grew tense and his voice harsh. “Mitsunari is not at all ambitious or acquisitive, but unfortunately for me, what he is, is loyal to the Oda.”

“Eidetic memory.” That non-sequitur came from Sasuke, who looked up for a moment before resuming his note taking.

I puzzled over his comment for a moment before realizing that Sasuke was describing Mitsunari. “I suppose it doesn’t matter which Mitsunari she was talking… but apparently Hikosane is so important, that alternate Sasuke risked interfering with our timeline to make sure he didn’t drown, and alternate Katsuko risked the same in a different timeline to make sure he was protected. When we get back to our time, we should try to find-”

“It’s far more difficult to locate a peasant than it is to spy on a warlord,” Shingen said, as he pulled me closer to him. “But I will see what my spies can do.”

Sasuke stood up and stretched. “I believe I’ll go back to the observatory tonight, simply to confirm when the next wormholes will open.”

“You’re not going to work on how to do the lateral jumps are you?” Even though he had said he wouldn’t, I figured the multiverse would prove to be an undeniable temptation for him.

He picked up his phone and tapped in a quick text to someone. I heard Shingen’s phone chime a moment afterward. “No. I am simply seizing upon a logical excuse to leave the hotel room for the night so that the two of you can have some privacy.”

He blinked at us a couple times, then grabbed his jacket. “Ker-vanish,” he said before slipping out of the suite.

I turned to Shingen, who was looking at his phone. “He sent you another eggplant, didn’t he?”

“The modern invention I missed more than anything else was the shower,” I told Shingen a little while later, as I emerged from the bathroom happily clean and dry. I figured I’d better stock up on showering while I could, even though Sasuke had said it would be three or four months before the wormhole reopened.

“I have very fond memories of a lake that contained a certain moon Goddess.” Shingen was sitting on the bed reading a book on – I eyed the cover – civil engineering. The combination of that academic looking text against his strong work-roughened hands was incredibly sexy. Brains and bod. “I believe I could construct an outdoor shower, of sorts, for use in the summer – the sun would warm up the water, which would, ahm, need to be stored in a large wineskin.” He flipped the book upside down on his chest. “I suppose I ought to ask. You do want to go back, right? Now that you’ve returned to the modern conveniences you grew up with, does the future tempt you at all?”

“I want to go back.” I crawled under the crisp sheets. “I felt like I had a purpose there – I never felt that here. Not to mention, I have a nephew who really needs to be shown how to climb a tree.” If I left that task to Toshiie, Nao would never learn. I turned the question back to him. “Now that you’ve seen the future, does anything make you want to stay here?”

He gestured to his book before setting it on the nightstand. “All of these books, medicines, electricity, technology, transportation, and buttons are wonderful.”

Buttons?

“But this is not my time, and there are things I need to do for the people of Kai.” He reached over and turned out the lamp, although the city lights outside kept the room bright enough to see his face. “I’m looking forward to finally meeting your brother.”

I flipped over on my side and rested my head on my arm. “Don’t be offended if he goes all big brother protective.”

His voice took on the authority he used when he was giving Katsu a lecture.I had missed his lectures. “As he should.”

Ok, maybe I hadn’t missed them that much. He might currently look like a modern man, in one of those Henley shirts he seemed to favor, lounging against the headboard of the bed, but his mind still held some old-fashioned values. Still, it wasn’t like anything he and Toshiie said to each other would impact any of my plans, so might as well let them think they were taking care of things. “If you say so.”

“I don’t trust your tone of voice at all.” That amused look in his eyes indicated he didn’t mind, though. “Come closer. We have a year to make up for.” Without waiting for me to move, he pulled me to him and nipped at the hollow of my throat, that spot that always drove every rational thought out of my mind. “The only good thing I can say about a year of separation, is that I get to rediscover all the things I can do that make you squeal.”

Squeal? Seriously? I would never.

“Squeal? I’m not that girlie. When we were ten Toshiie put a mouse in my boot, and I calmly carried it outside and set it free.” Squeal. Honestly. “And when a spider went down my kimono…” I trailed off. There was a picture in my mind of a room full of books, and a spider disappearing under the folds of a pale pink kimono. But I didn’t own a pink kimono. Must have been a dream, I mentally concluded as Shingen’s actions in the present distracted me.

“That sounds like a challenge to me.” He continued his attentions on my throat, pressing slow sensuous kisses across the skin until I was squirming with anticipation.

“It wasn’t meant to be. I just want you to –ah!” I bit my lip to make sure that didn’t come out as a squeal when he sucked at the side of my neck, his tongue making tiny circles on the increasingly sensitive flesh.

“To what?” He gazed into my eyes.

This time I had no trouble at all telling him the truth. “Love me. The way I love you.”

“I plan to. Thoroughly.” He kissed my forehead. “And I do. I love every version of you, Katsuko – the messenger, the boy, the liar, the Goddess, the Devil. I even love the you that falls out of trees.”

“I didn’t fall.” Are we going to be debating this for the rest of our lives? Ok… wow… we could be having this debate for the rest of our lives.

Shingen’s thoughts, apparently had taken the same direction as my own. “We’ll be having this discussion until we’re old and grey.” Shingen smiled at me. “I will also tell you how much I love you every day too.”

Hm. I could possibly deal with the tree thing if it was followed up by a daily dose of ILY. (#priorities). I brushed back that lock of hair that always dipped over his eye. As usual, it immediately sprang into place. “So will I.” Might as well start right now. “I love you.” Then, because it was still making me curious, I asked. “Buttons?”

“What?” Shingen murmured directly into my ear, and even that question was asked in come-hither tones, right before he fastened his teeth around my earlobe.

“Mmmm. You said… um … that you would miss buttons.” It was getting hard to concentrate on my thoughts while my body was telling my brain, just go rest, I’ll take care of this. “Why buttons and not electricity?”

He hooked one finger around the top button of the sleep shirt I wore. Then, so slowly that it felt like time stopped - then flowed backward, he undid the button, letting his finger glide across the skin revealed below. “Does that answer your question?”

“I’m… still not sure. Maybe further demonstration would be in order.” I couldn’t pull off a saucy wink, so I gazed at him from under my eyelashes.

He laughed, then pulled me on top of him, so I was straddling his waist. The sudden change in position pulled me off balance and I quickly braced my hands on his shoulders. “Something about undoing these one… at… a… time… adds to the anticipation. I can feel your heartbeat under my touch.” He pressed his index finger to the base of my throat, and in response, my pulse raced through my veins.

I took a deep breath, when once again, he leisurely unfastened another button – the one securing the shirt across my breasts. I didn’t realize I was holding that breath until the soft snick of the button’s release was echoed in my quick intake of air. His fingers brushed across my skin, following the curve of my breasts, but never venturing past the territory still covered by the shirt.

“Your purchase of this shirt was inspired.” I closed my eyes for a moment to enjoy the play of his warm hands and the cool air against my newly bared skin. He paused on the next button, hovering, unmoving… tantilizing.

“You looked rather worried before you opened that bag.” Snap. Another button was freed. Shingen inched my shirt down and kissed my shoulder, his lips and tongue lingering on my collarbone.

It took me a moment to remember. “Oh. Well, I imagine you noticed some of the other outfits in that store.” Presuming Sasuke’s escapades hadn’t completely distracted him. “I was afraid it would be something that would be an uncomfortable mess of lace and straps. Something only worn about five minutes before it’s ripped away – which always seemed to me like a waste.”

There was only one button left holding my shirt together – Shingen trailed his finger along the v of the shirt, down one side, then the other, but did not seem to be in any hurry to undo it. “Not only a waste of fabric, but I wouldn’t treat you that roughly.”

No, he hadn’t, even in the aftermath of our fight in the training room the night Iekane had forced my unmasking. Even now, those hands that had looked so sensuous holding a book were reverently cupping my breasts, thumbs brushing across the nipples, lightly teasing their hardened peaks. “I know that. Though if you wanted to be a little less gentle… I would be ok with that.”

For him it had been a year, and yet here he was, patiently taking the time to worship me. But I didn’t need him to hold back. I didn’t want him to hold back.

He froze underneath me. “Devil, exactly what are you saying? I can't imagine you want to be restrained.”

I leaned forward to hug him close. “No, not bondage.”

“No, you wouldn’t enjoy that,” he said just as I continued, “I don’t think I would like that.”

No, I would not want to be tied up and abandoned, unable to leave. Ugh, issues. I moved on quickly. “Although, a blindfold I might be fun… someday. When you blindfolded me the day of the archery exhibition, I nearly lost my concentration completely.”

Ah. There was his wicked grin. “That was not my intent, and you recovered quickly. But as to the topic at hand-” he caressed my breasts again, “if you have a fantasy, I want to know it. I will do my best to make it come true.”

Which… was so not my point. “You’re always taking care of me first and while I love that you are so generous… sometimes I want you to take care of yourself first. However fast or hard that may be.”

I wanted to be able to look at his face when he let go and be able to think, I did that.

Shingen was quiet a long moment, but those eyes darkened and smoldered with something hot and wicked. “You are a treasure.”

That final button was ripped off with his teeth-

I found myself flipped onto my back –

--his hands pinning mine over my head –

--his body hard against mine-

--my heart roaring in my ears-

He stared into my eyes, intent, fierce. “You will let me know if I’m too demanding.”

“I promise.” He knew me well enough to know that although I’m a liar, I never made a promise I did not intend to keep.

“The thing is, Devil,” he said. “It makes me incredibly, stupidly happy when I am able to satisfy you. Therefore, what I’m going to demand is that you enjoy this, because I intend to thoroughly pleasure every inch of your body.” Then his teeth raked across my shoulder, deeper and more urgently than ever before.

“I’m… good with that,” I managed to say, before his sweet and sharp attentions clouded my mind with desire, his lips and teeth igniting a trail of fire across my throat. I wanted him to touch me everywhere.

His tongue plunged into my mouth, and he released my hands to pull me closer, his body sliding across mine. Somehow, clothes were discarded, blanket and sheet kicked to the foot of the bed as we devoured each other.

Yes. This. I wanted this tumult, this passion, this--

My hips rose to meet his, only to be stopped by his hands firmly pressing me into the bed. “Hold on, Devil, I want to be sure you’re ready for-”

I’m going to kill him. I punched his shoulder. “I’m ready. I’m beyond ready. Even if I weren’t. I. Don’t. Care.” This was for him.

He touched the valley between my legs, fingers dipping inside me, drawing out my wetness like a spoon from a jar of honey. “Ah, so you are.”

Just for that, I licked his chest, then fastened my mouth on his nipple, batting at it with my tongue. Would that do to him what it did to me?

He groaned.

Empowered, I ground my hips against his, pulling him closer. He grew harder in response.

“Now. I need you right now. Gentle can wait until later.” I had thought I was pushing for this for him… but it was for me too. I wanted… I wanted…

“You win, Devil.” Without any further fanfare he rocked into me, filling me fully, completing the intense connection. I wrapped my legs around his back, driving him deeper, hanging on to his shoulders mindlessly as he pulled back, then pushed into me again, his pace increasing.

I eagerly met every demand his body made, raking my fingers through his hair then down his back, while at each thrust, I gasped at the delicious sensations that friction sent through my being.

We both win.

Urging each other onward, the pace increased, faster, harder—

-- though I had been determined that he would take his pleasure before mine, I lost track of that goal in our frenzy. And so, it was my cry of satisfaction that echoed through the room first.

As if that was the signal he had been waiting for, his answering moan filled my ears, then he stiffened and relaxed. “Treasure,” he whispered again, as his hands found mine. He brought my hand to his mouth, kissed my fingers, then his eyes eased shut.

Our hands were still linked as he drifted into a light doze with a smile still tugging at the corner of his mouth.

I swept my fingers through his hair, and I thought to myself, “I did that.”

@bestbryn

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