Chapter 24: Both Keys

It was only Genji, in the corridor, setting down a breakfast tray outside the suite door.

He knocked twice, very softly, and said through the paper, "Okami-san. Okami-san. The bath is hot. Take your time."

His footsteps went away on tiptoe.

Yuzu opened one eye.

"He knows."

"Everyone knows," Sakura said. "Get up."

"No."

"Get up, or I'll carry you."

Yuzu raised her arms, and Sakura gathered her up off the futon in a blanket, and carried her down the hall.

The private bath was empty and steaming.

Someone had filled the cypress tub to the brim.

A tray of hot tea sat on the rim, with two cups and a dish of pickled plum.

The window showed the maple garden under new snow, pink with the sunrise.

Sakura lowered herself into the water with Yuzu in her lap, and sighed from her toes to her scalp.

Every muscle she owned was sore.

She did not mind at all.

She washed Yuzu's back with a soft cloth, slowly, around each shoulder blade.

Yuzu leaned back against her chest with her eyes closed.

She poured warm water over her hair, and worked in the soap, and rinsed it.

"You did this the first time," Yuzu mumbled. "You were so shy."

"I'm still shy."

"You are not."

"A little." Sakura kissed the back of her neck. "Enough."

She pressed her palm gently between Yuzu's thighs, under the water, and did not move it, only held her there, warm and heavy.

Yuzu sighed.

After a while Sakura began to stroke, very lightly, with one finger, a slow back and forth that asked for nothing.

"Mm," Yuzu said. "Don't stop that."

"I'm not going to."

"It's like being rocked."

"Then I'll rock you."

The water moved in small ripples against the cypress.

Yuzu came without a sound, just a slow tremble that ran up through her belly and out through her fingers.

Sakura's own breath had grown quick.

Yuzu twisted in her lap and met her mouth, and slid a hand down between her thighs under the water.

Two small fingers pressed inside, easy and slow.

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