Ch.40
The water lapped against the stone edge every time she moved.
We'd been at this for a while. Round two. The hot springs were quiet and the others had gone to bed and the steam hung low over the water and Rias's back was against the rough stone with my hands under her thighs and her legs locked around my waist and every thrust pushed a small wave outward that hit the far edge and came back.
She'd stopped biting my shoulder. That had been the first few minutes, when the worry about noise was still louder than everything else. Now her head was back against the stone and her mouth was open and steam curled between her parted lips and she'd stopped trying to be quiet.
"Ah-" Low. On the push. Her voice was raw from round one and the sound she made now was rougher than usual, scraped at the edges. "Nn- there-"
I adjusted my angle. Pushed deeper on the next one and her back arched off the stone and her nails dug into my shoulders and the water sloshed around us.
She was softer than the first round. Wetter. The resistance from earlier was gone and every push slid through easy, deep, her pussy swollen and hot around me in a way that was different from the water's heat. The spring was mineral-warm and slightly thick and her body was alive-warm and slick and the two met somewhere around the base of my cock on every stroke and the contrast made my jaw tight.
Her legs squeezed tighter around my waist. My hands under her thighs adjusted, fingers spreading, pulling her closer. The stone was rough under my forearms and I didn't care.
"Ise-" Quiet. Her crimson hair was dark from the water, plastered to her neck and her shoulders and floating behind her in the pool. The steam was thicker here, close to the surface, and it wreathed her face and her breath added to it every time she exhaled. "Slower."
I went slower. Deep, grinding pushes instead of thrusts. Her head dropped forward and her forehead met mine and her eyes were close and blue-green and unfocused. My cock pressed against her front wall at this angle and each grind made her stomach flex and her mouth open wider and "ah-" slipped out.
"Ah- ah- nn-"
The water sounds were louder when I went slow. The wet noise of her body taking me was distinct from the spring, sharper, and it echoed off the stone walls surrounding the pool. Her ears went red. She'd heard it too.
"The acoustics out here are really something," I said.
"Shut up."
"I'm just saying. If anyone's awake-"
"Shut. Up." She clenched around me on the word and the grip was tight and deliberate and my vision went white for a half-second. Her mouth twitched. She'd done that on purpose.
I pushed in hard. One stroke, deep, holding. Her breath caught and her nails broke skin on my left shoulder and the sting mixed with the heat of the water and the heat of her and I ground into her, slow circles, and her eyes went wide and shut.
"Don't-" Her voice broke. "Don't do that when I'm-"
I did it again. Slow circle, deep, the base of my cock pressing against her clit on the forward press. Her legs shook around my waist. The water trembled with her.
My own breathing was heavy. The hot spring air was thick and humid and sweat was running down my temples despite being chest-deep in water. My cock ached with the slow pace, the grind building pressure in the base of my spine, and every clench of her body around me pulled at the ache and made it worse. I wanted to go faster. I didn't.
Her eyes opened. Met mine. Close. Her forehead was still against mine and her breath was hot across my mouth and her eyes were that shade of blue-green that went darker when she was close. The darker ring around the outside of her iris was visible from here.
"Ise." Her voice cracked on the second syllable. Her hips rocked forward, trying to control the pace, and I let her. She ground down against me, found the angle she wanted, and her lips parted and her eyebrows pulled together and her breathing went short.
"Ah- right- nn- right there-"
I held still. Let her work. She ground against me in tight circles and the wet sound filled the space between the stone walls and her face was close and open and her eyes were losing focus and her hands on my shoulders were doing the thing. Grip. Release. Grip tighter. Release. Grip so hard her knuckles went white.
I pushed into her grind. Met her at the bottom of each circle and added depth and her rhythm stuttered.
"Nn- I- ah-"
Her breath fogged in the cold air above the water's surface. Each exhale a white cloud pushed through her open mouth that dissolved in the darkness.
My hands tightened under her thighs. My arms were burning from holding her and the stone was scraping my forearms and the ache in my cock was past patient and I pulled her against me and thrust deep and her back slammed against the stone and the wave that pushed outward hit both edges of the pool.
"Ah-!" Loud. The sound bounced off the water and the rocks and the trees. She slapped her hand over her mouth and her eyes went wide over her fingers and the muffled "mmph-" that followed was better than the original sound.
I kept going. The angle was good and her body was open and wet and each thrust was slick and deep and the water sloshed around us and her hand stayed on her mouth and the sounds that leaked through her fingers were getting higher and less controlled.
"Mm- mmph- nn-"
My forehead was against her temple now. Her wet hair stuck to my cheek. The mineral smell of the springs and her smell and sweat and sex. My breathing was ragged in her ear and my hips moved in a rhythm I'd stopped thinking about. Just chasing it. Both of us.
Her free hand found mine under the water. The one gripping her right thigh. Her fingers laced through mine and squeezed and I squeezed back and her eyes were shut and her hand was on her mouth and her pussy was clenching around me in that quickening pattern and my cock was so hard the ache had moved from the base of my spine into my stomach.
"Look at me."
Her eyes opened. Wet. Close. Her hand dropped from her mouth. She looked at me and her face was flushed and open and wrecked and her lower lip was trembling and her body was tight around me and her hand in mine was gripping hard enough to hurt.
I thrust deep. Held. Ground into her.
She came. Her eyes stayed on mine for the first second, wide and unfocused, her mouth open on a sound that started but didn't finish. Then her body locked. Her legs crushed around my waist and her pussy clenched in deep hard waves and her hand in mine squeezed until the bones shifted and her other hand grabbed my neck and pulled me against her and her face pressed into my shoulder and her body pulsed around me, once, twice, long slow contractions that pulled at my cock with each wave.
The Boosted Gear's gem pulsed on my arm. Warm green light under the water's surface. Devil energy flowing through her skin into mine.
I was close. Had been close. Her aftershocks pulled at me and her body was hot and tight and shaking and her face was in my neck and her breath was coming in long ragged exhales against my skin and I pushed in deep and the ache crested.
I came inside her. The orgasm hit from the base of my spine outward and my hands tightened on her thigh and my hips pressed flush against hers and I pulsed inside her and the warmth spread and mixed with the water's heat and her body clenched around each pulse. My vision went. My forehead dropped against the stone beside her head. My arms shook. The water lapped against us and against the stone edges and the rhythm was wrong now, chaotic, our breathing and the waves out of sync.
Her legs loosened around my waist. Her body softened against the stone. Her hand in mine relaxed but didn't let go.
We stayed like that. Breathing. The steam thick around us, the mountain air cold on the tops of our heads where we broke the surface. The pool was still except for the small waves still settling from the last few minutes. A bird was calling somewhere in the trees above the springs. Two notes. The same one from every morning at the villa that I still hadn't identified.
I pulled out of her slowly. She made a sound, quiet, involuntary, her body clenching on the withdrawal. Empty. Her legs slipped from my waist and her feet found the submerged stone shelf and she stood, unsteady, her hand still in mine.
We drifted to the center of the pool where the water was deeper. Chest-high on me. Chin-high on her. The heat sank into my muscles and the post-sex ache blended with the mineral warmth and everything went loose and heavy. She floated beside me, her hand in mine, her head tipping back until the water covered her ears and her crimson hair fanned out around her in a dark halo on the surface.
Stars. The sky above the mountain was clear and the steam parted in gaps that showed hundreds of them. More than I'd ever seen in Kuoh. The light pollution was a distant glow on the southern horizon and everything above was black and scattered with white.
Rias's head found my shoulder. She floated against me, her body warm and light in the water, one arm across my chest. Her breathing was slow and steady. Her heartbeat was in the arm pressed against my ribs, still fast, still coming down.
I closed my eyes. The water held us. The bird called again. Two notes.
"Ise."
I opened my eyes.
Rias wasn't looking at the stars. She was looking at the far edge of the pool. The stone deck where the towels were folded and the lanterns burned low.
Asia was on the deck.
She was asleep. Curled on her side on one of the large towels, her blonde hair loose around her face, her hands tucked under her cheek. She was wearing the oversized T-shirt she used as sleepwear and her bare feet were pointed toward the water. She must have come out here while we were in the springs. Come out to take her turn in the hot water and found us gone from the near side and sat down to wait and fallen asleep.
Her Twilight Healing was active.
The green glow came from her hands, from the rings on her middle fingers, faint and pulsing in the rhythm of her breathing. The healing light spread in a soft circle around her body, reaching outward, touching the stone, the edge of the pool, the warm air. It reached the water. A tingling at the surface of my skin, barely perceptible. The bruises on my forearms from training with Koneko. The sore muscles in my shoulders. The scrape on my lower back from the stone edge.
All of it was easing. Slowly. The healing was faint and unfocused, not the concentrated beam Asia used when she was awake and working. This was ambient. Leaking from her in her sleep like a body giving off heat.
"She does that," Rias said. Quiet. Her head was still on my shoulder and she was watching Asia sleep. "When she's near people who are hurt. Even in her sleep. She can't help it."
The green light pulsed with Asia's breath. In, glow brighter. Out, glow softer. The training bruises on my arms were fading in real time, the purple-yellow marks lightening with each pulse.
"She fell asleep waiting for us," Rias said.
"For the springs."
"For us." Rias's voice was quiet. "She wanted to be near people. She always does."
The steam drifted between us and Asia. The lanterns on the deck were low, almost out, and the green glow from her hands was the brightest light in the clearing. The stars were reflected in the still water around us and the glow from Asia's healing met the starlight on the pool's surface and the colors mixed, green and white.
"She's too good for this world," Rias said.
"She's exactly right for it."
Rias was quiet. Her arm tightened across my chest.
Asia shifted on the towel. Her hand moved, reaching for something that wasn't there. Her fingers closed on the edge of the towel and her face settled and the green glow steadied.
"We should get her inside," I said.
"Not yet." Rias's voice was barely above the water. "Let her sleep."
So we stayed. The three of us under the stars, the water warm, the air cold, the green light pulsing with a sleeping girl's breath. The bird in the trees sang its two notes. The last lantern on the deck guttered and went out and the only light left was the stars and Asia's hands.
Rias's breathing slowed against my shoulder. Her arm across my chest got heavier. Her body drifted against mine in the water, loose and warm.
I held her. The night went on above us.