Discovering the Dragon

Yuriko was sitting out in the Imperial garden, watching as the wind played with fallen cherry tree petals having them dance and twirl in the air as if creating their own quiet parade. She smiled for a moment and then sighed, a frown touching her lips. She tucked a stray ebony hair behind her ear as she turned her gaze back upon the majestic castle. The fateful day that changed her life course to a completely new direction had occurred a little over a year ago. The Empress Narika had ordered the death of her husband and claimed Yuriko as her new lover. Quickly Yuriko fell into a passionate love with her new mistress, her heart claimed by the passion they shared night after night. She felt more special than she ever had in her entire life, and she felt as if she had suddenly opened her eyes and realized there was more than the darkness she had been living in for 23 years.

But nothing wonderful could ever seem to last long for Yuriko. Only a few short months passed before Yuriko learned she wasn't the only one who the Empress entertained in her bedroom – in fact the Empress had a history of young and beautiful lovers willing to concede to her every command. But blinded by her love, Yuriko told herself that she held a special place in the powerful woman's heart. After all, she had never seen Narika with any of the other women, or men for that matter. Mostly she had seen them in passing, had heard the rumors that rumbled through the castle like distant thunder before a storm, and had overheard snippets of conversation in which the Empress mentioned her other lovers.

She –had- to be special to the Empress, reasoned Yuriko. After all, Narika had spent all that time hunting her down and even killed her husband to have her. The thought of being that special to Narika brought a smile to her lips, which then turned to a longing in her lips to feel the softness of Narika's full pout against them. She quickly stood up and smoothed her kimono before quickly heading towards the palace. She would prove to herself that she held a special place in Narika's heart...she would wait for Narika in her bedroom, and show her more love than anyone else ever could.

As her feet quickly carried her down the beautiful hallways of the intricate palace she stopped dead when she heard a soft, muffled noise coming out of one of the bathing rooms. She turned her head slowly towards the sound and paced towards the door. She pressed her ear against it, her eyes going huge. She pulled her ear back and shook her head, taking a deep breath. She pressed her ear against the door – and she couldn't deny what she heard. She was near positive it sounded like two people moaning, one of whom sounded eerily familiar. She ever so slowly pushed the rice paper door a crack open. Though she had doubted her ears, she couldn't doubt her eyes. There before her was Narika making love in the bathing pool with one of her personal body guards. She gasped stumbling backwards. The moaning stopped and she heard whispered voices and the sloshing of water. Filled with fear, jealousy, anger, and deep mourning she fled down the hallway, tears streaming down her face.

She ran and ran, ignoring the burning in her lungs and side as she was too overwhelmed with emotions to bother with feeling anything but the hurt in her soul. Up until that point she had been able to convince herself that perhaps there were no others lovers, that she alone was held in high esteem in Narika's heart. But hearing the Empress make the same noises she made in bed with Yuriko with another person? It absolutely shattered her heart. It was if someone had taken the lily of her soul and ground it into the dust with their heel.

She did not know to where she was running or for what purpose. She suddenly found herself in the woods, fairly lost. She was just beginning to try and register her surroundings when she heard someone snickering behind her, and a gruff voice.

"Whatcha think a pretty lily like that is doing in our woods, Kano?"

Yuriko spun around, her eyes wide as her whole body trembled. Just as she had feared – bandits. They were ugly gruff men, mongrels who were bulky and covered in garb composed of nappy and muddy animal fur. One had his greasy hair slicked back and the other wore a strange horned helmet. Her feet slowly started edging her backwards as they began stalking towards her.

"Dunno Yuki...but we shouldn't let her go to waste."

Yuriko's pulse seemed to freeze in her veins. Did Fortune simply hate her? Or would this bring an end to the suffering she never seemed to be able to escape? She pondered her odds of fleeing or just giving in when she jumped at the sound of a voice behind her.

"If either of you bastards touch this woman I'll cut off your cocks and feed them to my dogs."

Both men glanced up behind Yuriko, who also spun around to see where the voice was coming from. The sun was directly behind the horsed figure, but she could make out the outline of shining samurai armor. The bandits snarled but seemed to back off.

"Damn samurai...always wanting everything for themselves." They eyed Yuriko hungrily before glancing at the samurai again whose horse had taken a few menacing steps forward. They glared at Yuriko. "We'll be waiting for you when he tires of you," they growled and then let out a howling laughter before turning and fleeing as best they could without bruising their egos extensively.

She barely had time to turn back around to thank the samurai when she was suddenly hoisted up into the saddle behind the mighty warrior. "Hold on," instructed the voice, and Yuriko scarcely had time to wrap her arms around the samurai before the horse took off at a sudden gallop.

Yuriko craned her neck so she could get a better look at the samurai who had saved her. The glinting silver head piece with its intricate mask kept her from being able to see the warrior's face. She frowned and eyed the rest of the armor. It was all silver, except for being decorated with a few metallic red dragons. The metal armor covered the arms, and upper torso while the midriff was covered with thick leather, and then the legs and feet were also covered with armor. It wasn't until then that Yuriko realized that the samurai had a rather lean build, which seemed rather unusual. But she shrugged it off – perhaps he was a ronin who hadn't come by enough meals.

The entire ride they were silent, the samurai concentrating on the woods ahead and Yuriko too bewildered and emotion stricken to know how to strike up conversation. Soon enough they came to a clearing in the woods, where a camp had been set up. A silver banner with a large red, snarling dragon on it stood in the middle. A few women and men milled about. Some wore intricate armor like her savior, others wore simple leathers, while still others wore fighting kimonos – it seemed to be a hardy, but eclectic bunch. So he was a ronin...and appeared to be the leader of these others, as those he passed gave him a polite bow.

They neared a large tent on the outskirts of the camp where the samurai dismounted and then turned and hefted her down from the horse. She smoothed her torn and dirtied kimono. "Domo Ari-" she stopped dead as she glanced up and finally saw the samurai face to face. Her mouth fell open and words seemed to suddenly be stuck in her throat like thick honey.

A thin black eyebrow was raised on the face of the beautiful warrioress who was around 10 years Yuriko's senior. "Is there a problem?" questioned the samurai, as if she had experienced the same reaction many times before.

"N-no, I just assum-," Yuriko stuttered, still shocked that her samurai savior was not a man, and rather was a strikingly beautiful woman. She was cut off sharply by the samurai woman.

"Come inside, we must talk," she said as she opened up the flap of the tent and motioned for Yuriko to enter. Yuriko entered and heard the warriorress call out a few commands to what appeared to be a servant standing by her tent. She entered in a moment later, and kneeled at the short table at the center of the room. She poured herself some sake and then some into the cup across from her. She glanced up at Yuriko and motioned for her to come over. "Join me?" Though it was phrased almost as a question, it seemed to come across more as a command. Yuriko walked over and kneeled down across from the warrioress. "My name is Tatsu Shiori." The samurai took a long sip of her sake before looking Yuriko squarely in the eye and speaking once more. "You know, I could have killed you for wandering into our lands." Her voices was serious, and almost threatening. Yurkio's frame shuddered as fear crept into her being.

"I didn't mean to I just-"

"What are you doing in my territory? Are you a spy? Tell me why I was right to save you from those bandits instead of saving myself from a possible problem and letting them have their way with you."

Yuriko froze for a moment, wanting to pick her words carefully. The wrong word choice could mean her head. "My name is Yuriko Hoshiko. I was running away from the Empress-"

"The Empress?! Now that's a new one...usually if anyone has royalty to run from it's the Emperor," she said with a derisive snort. "Well if you truly do not favor the royal family then I was right to rescue you. Tell me, why were you running away?"

Yuriko gave a patient sigh, and debated with herself what would be best to say. She finally decided that she could get into more trouble by being caught lying, and spilled the whole truth from the moment her husband was killed, to being the Empress's new concubine, to catching her with another man and running away in a torrent of emotions. At the end of her story she glanced down, sighed again, grabbed her sake cup and took it down in one gulp. The samurai let a grin touch her features, and it even seemed that a soft rumble of a chuckle rolled about in her chest.

"I feel I should be able to trust your story...but I cannot take any risks. I cannot let you go, for fear that if you lie you may bring back an army upon my camp. You will stay here, with me in my tent for I prefer not to put any danger on my soldiers I would not put on myself first. This way I can keep an eye on you. When I feel you are trustworthy enough, then you can decide from there where your journey will take you."

Yuriko just nodded dumbly and stared at the sake cup in her hands. What choice did she have in the matter? Besides, she didn't have anywhere to go anyway. And she owed her life to this samurai, so the least she could do was follow her orders.

Her thoughts were interrupted as two servants came in with a steaming tub of water. They set it down behind a rice paper screen in the tent, bowed to the samurai and then exited. A few moments later they came back with another tub and set it beside the first one. They bowed to the samurai again and left once more. With that the warrioress stood up. "Time to bathe."

Yuriko blinked and stared at the woman, dumbfounded.

"Well I myself plan on getting the grime off, and you look as if you could use the same. And as I said, I cannot let you out of my sight. So you best get used to it," the warrioress spoke as she began stripping off her armor and placing it on a rack that stood near the rice paper screen. Yuriko found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the beautiful woman. Though she would have been small for a man, she was very muscular and powerful for a woman. Her muscles were lean and strong, each well defined and perfectly toned. Her long ebony hair was done up in the traditional samurai knot, but she let it down and shook it out as she prepared to bathe. Yuriko could feel the heat growing inside of her as she stared at the woman in her tight battle leathers she wore under the armor. Soon these were gone too, and the woman was completely naked. She turned to Yuriko and raised a brow. "Are you going to bathe in that dirty kimono?" she questioned. Yuriko shook her head and stood, taking off the kimono and her undergarments, folding them neatly in a pile. She was acutely aware of the other woman's eyes burning into her with every motion she made, yet when she glanced up the other woman seem more occupied with bathing herself than watching Yuriko. Suddenly shy, she covered herself as best she could with her arms as she sneaked towards the tub, sliding in quickly. She forced her eyes downward, making herself not stare at the beautiful naked woman only a few feet away from her.

She turned her back to the woman, scooping the warm water over herself and scrubbing away the dirt that had been engrained in her skin from her frantic running. Occasionally she found her eyes wandering over her shoulder to eye the beautiful bathing warrioress, but each time quickly turned away with a feverish blush in her cheeks. She finished bathing quickly and was drying off with the towels beside the tub when she noticed the woman was standing in front of her.

"Here, wear this." Yuriko almost didn't hear the words she spoke or notice the clean kimono she was being handed as she was too entranced by the water droplets dripping off the woman's perfectly toned form. "Thank you," she mumbled, taking the kimono and pulling it around her shoulders. The woman just laughed at her, turning away to towel herself off and dress as well.

That evening Yuriko sat with Tatsu around the campfire as she ate the evening meal with her warriors. She found herself surprised to be enjoying the hearty soup after having been spoiled by palace food for so many months. After dinner she listened to the stories the men told, stories that ranged from old tales they had heard when children, to stories about their own fantastic lives, to stories they simply composed on the spot. She was so wrapped up in the delightful stories that she didn't even notice Tatsu moving closer to her until their thighs were touching. Tatsu didn't seem to notice the heat burning between their close contact – perhaps Yuriko was only imagining it. But she couldn't help but feel that every time she wasn't looking, Tatsu was eyeing her.

Soon the evening began to quiet down and people began to settle down for the night. Tatsu turned her attention fully to Yuriko. "So tell me about yourself Yuriko – where you are from, who your parents are...I need as much information from you as I can get in order to feel confident you are no spy intent on killing me." Though Yuriko knew her tone was serious, her words were spoken with a soft almost mischievous smile. Yuriko nodded her head and began to speak. Yuriko told her of growing up in a small town outside of the capital. She spoke of her parents – her loving mother who was controlled by her over bearing highly patriarchal father. She spoke of the hard work that she had known since childhood, but how she had often times run away during the day when her father's watchful eye was not upon her and she would explore the country side by herself – looking for dragons. She told of being put into an arranged marriage with her abusive husband, and how the relationship came to a final bloody end only a year ago. Her story of childhood blossoming into adulthood was beautiful and well told, full of glimmering detail.

When her story was finished, a warm smile spread over Tatsu's lips. "I am glad I can at least know there is some truth to your story – I too grew up in Yisan and your description of it is perfect down to the last detail." For what seemed like a long moment they held each other's gaze in a soft warm smile, but it was broken by Tatsu who glanced around them and noticed that most of her warriors had retired for the night. "Come Yuriko, it grows late and I tire." Yuriko nodded her head and followed the warrioress into her tent.

Days passed and Yuriko was still at the camp. She found herself growing closer to Tatsu – and ever more attracted to her. While her relationship with the Empress had been purely based on lust, she found her friendship with Tatsu more rewarding. Yet even still, she yearned for more with the well built woman. Tatsu began to open up little bits of herself to Yuriko, telling her about growing up in Yisan and pretending to be a boy to join the army before woman were allowed in more easily. She spoke of how she had seen the Empire change as the Emperor himself changed and became more greedy and hungry for power. She spoke only briefly of how she became a ronin – something about disobeying orders she could not follow, and not being willing to take the offered chance to make up for her disobedience. Yuriko found herself dreaming of Tatsu every night – her warm lips pressed against hers, the heat that she thought she could feel burning between them, the passion she imagined they could create together. But while Yuriko occasionally felt that Tatsu desired her in as much the same way, she never made any overt move.

One night, Yuriko's dreams of Tatsu grew more intense. As she lay on her small sleeping mat, sweat gleamed on her body as a passionate love was burning in her mind. Eyes flicked quickly behind closed lids as she squirmed a little in her sleep, soft moans escaping her lips as she dreamt of passions that she longed for so deeply she could not explain it even to herself. Yet this show did not go unnoticed by the watchful eye of Tatsu, who was awoken by the soft moans escaping her tent mate.

Something began pulling Yuriko out of her dream world. She realized that the fingers she dreamt of caressing her body were no longer the invisible touch of a dreamer. She suddenly felt Tatsu's warm fingers skillfully working their way into her dripping hole. She gasped as Tatsu's lips whispered against her ear. "Do you want this?" she said as she thrust her fingers in deeper. Yuriko, most happily shaken out of sleep, could only moan in acquiescent, her back arching to the other woman's ministrations.

Tatsu's hungry lips ravaged her neck and collar bone as she slid her fingers in and out of her sopping flower. Soon her lips found their way to her breasts, licking and sucking as she expertly weaved in and out of her. She adjusted her hand and rubbed Yuriko's clit with her thumb as she continued to pump in and out of her, while leaning down to suck on one of her nipples. Yuriko groaned and shuddered, her hips rocking with their own rhythm of need and desire. Without warning, Tatsu removed her hand and began pulling off Yuriko's kimono. It was in that moment of pause that Yuriko noticed the warrioress was already naked, and she quickly helped in removing her own clothing. Tatsu smiled when the barrier was removed, running her hungry hands up and down Yuriko's smooth skin. She kissed along her collar bone again, and then down her breasts and stomach.

At her pelvis she shifted, moving her body around so that her own desire could be tasted by Yuriko's lips. Soon they were fused in a blazing passion, attacking one another's soft depths with tongues and lips, fighting to make the other finish first. Tongues dived in and out of velvet caverns and trailed along silken folds, lips kissed and suckled on burning hot buttons, and fingers delved and caressed where they could. Moans and meaningless words were whispered into their passions, into their smoldering embrasures. Yet in the end neither one won the battle of fire, and both crashed into themselves at the same moment, every nerve lighting, every muscle tensing, as they grasped and pulled at one another, still frantically licking and sucking at the dripping explosion of passion like women dying of intense dehydration.

For hours they licked and nibbled at one another, never wanting their feast to end. In a heap of exhaustion, when she could take it no more, Tatsu turned herself, wrapping her weary arms around Yuriko as they both fell into a deeper sleep than either had known ever before.

But their reprise from reality would not last past the coming dawn...