Khoe; A Tale of Sadness & Joy Ch. 05

“What are yours?” he asked and he felt her kiss on the top of his head for a moment, “I am the one who walks into the web knowingly. I seek the love of that baby as his mother and I wish for the love of his father. I wrap the web around myself and hope that I can never escape it.”

She kissed his head again and said, “I have brought you a small snifter of brandy. It sits on the shelf next to your hand.”

She was gone a moment later, lost in her own thoughts and more worried than ever.

Kerry opened his eyes a minute after he heard the panel slide in its tracks and as he lifted the glass to his lips, he saw the careful imprint of her lipstick that she’d left behind from her own sip of the liquid.

He knew it for what it was. The gesture was her expression of her own hope.

He could almost feel the edge of what he was considering under his toes.

He considered the lipstick mark for a moment before he carefully turned the snifter so that he sipped from the same spot.

From where she stood on the other side of the door looking in through the very slight gap that she’d left herself to see, Kumiko saw it and she knew, feeling suddenly better.

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Kerry came to bed a while later, freshly shaven. Kumiko had been fairly certain that he would come to her though the shave was a bit of a surprise and she said nothing over it.

She’d tried to prepare herself. There were a few eventualities which she thought were most likely and not all of them what she might have wanted, but, … what else was there to be done?

She wasn’t surprised to see him enter carrying a thick candle to set it down and then light it before he turned off the lighting in the room. It spoke to her of his wanting something indistinct, something which might allow him to perhaps grieve as he made love to Khoe a final time using her body for the illusion which he must be seeking. And seeing that, Kumiko was prepared to allow it for him and she would never let him see her back, since Khoe had nothing on her skin such as she wore. It was a matter of not destroying what Kerry would have wanted.

So she was prepared to imitate Khoe for him as she watched him light the candle and then turn to her.

Kumiko stood up in her robe as he closed the distance between them slowly. As he neared her, she began to open the robe so that she could let it slip from her shoulders.

But he surprised her when she saw what he was about to do and he shook his head.

Kumiko was confused then.

His face didn’t carry the look of someone trying to imagine anything. He reached for her and drew her close, his hands on her hips through the robe and he kissed her very softly so that, without her meaning to, her arms rose to slide around his neck as she sighed. He really didn’t kiss like any man that she’d known.

She felt a little of his breath against her cheek from his nose and she could smell a little of his cologne, though not as though he’d just put it on after his shave. It smelled thinner somehow – as though he’d been wearing it all day and it allowed a little of his own scent to mingle with it and come through at the same time.

Kumiko inhaled it and his kisses took her away. It was all fresh and new to her and yet, it was a comforting newness at the same time, something like waiting for a bus on a cold and rainy day and then seeing an old and dear friend pull over at the bus stop in a new car to offer her a ride.

Kumiko liked the metaphor and she liked the way that he made her feel as it happened. It was something that she’d never expected from him and it caused her to question Khoe’s sanity for needing to leave this man behind her. She knew who one side of the two groups pulling Khoe’s strings were. She didn’t know them personally, but it didn’t matter. They were interchangeable enough.

She had a thought that for the love of a man like this, it would seem to be worth a try at freedom together.

But she also knew what they would do and all of it would be to Kerry to bring Khoe to heel like a dog who’d forgotten her place.

So she came to know a lot of Khoe’s pain in the next instant.

Something like this could never be allowed for Khoe. Kumiko wanted to cry – even as she felt this moment.

Kerry took his hands away then and he slowly went to his knees, opening her robe himself.

He placed his cheek against her belly as he reached to run his hands over her flanks a little slowly. Kumiko wanted to ask him why, but she couldn’t. She could only look down at his head and her hands on it as she felt his warm soft breath against her.

He drew his head away a little then and he leaned in to kiss her mound. He was slow about it, only leaving bare traces of kisses unless he was near to her cleft itself. It was where he was headed, though he went on past a few times, leaving slightly heavier kisses there as he passed.

But he was working inward. Kumiko knew it after a time and she sighed, wanting to go to her toes to give him the room without his needing to try for what would likely be an uncomfortable angle for him.

He avoided licking her for the moment, just kissing her very softly. Kumiko didn’t want to make the connection, but she did it anyway when she decided that everything made sense to her then, the way that Khoe couldn’t help herself and how she must have told herself that each time was the last time that she’d allow him this. Even the infant sleeping in the next room made sense to her then. She could understand completely.

“I won’t be able to stand much longer,” she whispered to him and he nodded just a little bit, though he said nothing. Kumiko eased herself backwards to the bed and she moved to recline and continue on up the bed to give him room. But he wouldn’t let her. She saw the upper part of his head over the horizon of her own body as he kissed on a while longer, wetting his lips more and more with her essence.

His eyes opened as he regarded her for a long moment.

His hands reached for her then, but not to get onto the bed to take her. Kerry didn’t say anything though he could easily have done that. One of his hands touched her gently, moving as though he sought to learn of her through its touch, while the other hand’s fingers gave her pleasure, though not in any overt way at first. That wasn’t his goal, though it would be included a little later, once there was more need of it.

Kumiko’s hips moved a little. It surprised her a little. She normally kept a tight rein on things the first time. Kerry brought his face down again and left little kisses, wet from her along the insides of her thighs. Kumiko wasn’t terribly ticklish, but …

She moved her hand, wanting to scratch the feeling but he caught it, turning it to kiss her palm for a moment.

“No,” he said softly into her hand, “unless you want me to stop because you don’t like it. I thought that you might like it if I returned your favor to me last night. I know you much better now, so I want to put something into it for you.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I thought – “

Before she could say the name which would ruin this, he took her other hand and looked at her. “I’ve never done this to a single woman in my whole life where I didn’t mean it for her. This is for you. Do you want me to stop? Have I done anything wrong for you, Kumiko?”

“No,” she whispered, almost horrified at what she’d been about to say. If this were any other man, she’d have managed to place everything into a compartment where it would never touch her. She did it because the men were never hers to love for herself. She was only there to provide pleasure to them.

But she knew at that moment that this was for her so she made her adjustment.

He placed her hands on his head, looking at her eyes and then he went back to it, leaving little teasing, and slightly maddening little touches with his wet lips. They weren’t much of anything, really, and yet they were at the same time. His wet fingertip opened the fold between her her inner and outer lips and slid along slowly in that seam of her for a minute while he licked a finger of his other hand and slipped it inside of her only to the first knuckle so that it was wet enough to do the same thing to the other fold.

Kumiko felt her need rising and so quickly, no matter what she’d have wanted before. She slowly raised her legs for him and he guided them back a little, making sure that she knew that he wanted them spread a little wider than she was moving them.

Now that she knew for certain that this was for her, …

The little kisses faded away, as though the damp little butterfly which left them on her had to move on, and Kumiko felt herself wanting to groan a tiny bit in disappointment.

But then his tongue slid into her. His hands were on her flanks and he lifted her whole bottom end up about an inch, surprising her as he opened his mouth wide and penetrated her as deeply as he could. She wanted to appreciate the strength that it took to lift her this way and hold her up so still.

Kumiko groaned then, a lot louder than she’d have ever intended for the sound to come out of her. Kerry began to fuck her with his tongue, forcing it so that he kept it as wide as he could for the length of time that he could do it. He was surprised at her narrowness there, not really knowing what he might have expected. But she liked what he was doing, so he kept at it as he eased her back down to the bed.

He didn’t change the angle for her when he brought his finger to his mouth. This was why he hadn’t allowed her to move up onto the bed. Right here near the edge, he had a little room. It took only a half a second and he was back to it, but she felt the pressure of his first and third fingertips on either side of her ass and then she felt his wet fingertip as it found her anus.

His next stroke out of her sent some moisture over her perineum and that finger moved to wet itself before going back and beginning to trace wet little circles.

Kumiko liked his soft touch there very much, but she had little time to think as the middle finger of his other hand slid inside of her under his tongue – which was withdrawn then to slide up by only its tip to seek for the hood of her clitoris. Another of his fingers went into her then and Kumiko’s head pressed back against the mattress then as she felt the tip of his tongue find the edge of that little bit of skin. He – he was –

He was sliding the very tip of his tongue a little from left to right, nudging the hood back a little more. She gasped at the feeling and then she found herself filling her ribs as her gasp deepened.

His tongue was lifting her clitoris then, seeking for and finding the purchase in the wettest of places on the outside of her. Between her moisture from her vaginal walls and his own saliva, Kumiko’s bud was as wet as he needed it to be when he pressed his face against her, sliding his fingers in again several times wetly.

Kumiko heard her slickness then, in moist little sounds while he drove her so gently in almost three ways.

It lasted only a second. It was just something for her to lean her rising wave against, but then he had her bud trapped as he sucked while pressing his face against her a little more.

And then his tongue began to trill against her nub.

Something rather important in the education that she’d received in the pillow arts was the ability to show a man that she was receiving pleasure – even if it wasn’t necessarily true. It was important to show a man this, she’d been taught.

It was also important, depending on the circumstances, to hold herself back a little so that she might know how to heighten this for the man.

But she’d lost that ability by this point. It lay somewhere behind where she was now as she found a thought passing her where she wondered how he’d gotten her this far down the beach. She didn’t even need to consider. It was too late for that. The wave was already beginning to tower above her. Her fingers slid into his hair, and she found that her other hand was on the bed somehow and she couldn’t remember moving it. She curled her fingers into her silk robe, bunching it tightly in her fist.

Kumiko’s whole bottom end was wet. Kerry was using both of his hands along with his tongue and his lips and, … and, …

The wave fell on her.

Her ribs heaved in three breaths. The first two were her attempts to hold her mouth shut as much as she could. She’d been taught that as the practitioner of pleasure, she was to show her pleasure to the client with at least a little tasteful restraint.

She couldn’t have hidden it to save her life.

The first breath carried a little of her sound, still trying at restraint. The second as well.

Neither one was full, she was still making a last attempt at control.

“Heee – Hee –“ was what he heard, and he pressed his tongue against that warm little thing again, allowing it to penetrate between his lips for the short distance that it was possible to. He moaned to encourage her for an instant, and then he trilled again on the tip of it.

Kumiko’s third exhalation was her cry into the silk of her robe as Kerry went on, seeking to know when he’d passed the point where she wanted what he was doing with his tongue.

Kerry wasn’t anything like a skilled sex worker; but he was a little wise enough to know that at a time like this, there was a dividing line from one woman to the next. Some would want a gentle wind-down if it didn’t take too long and some would be so sensitive that the barest touch would be too much. He froze, waiting to learn which way that Kumiko might be.

As well, he knew that some women wouldn’t want the body of a man against them too soon after, though some would want it then very much.

He eased off the last of the pressure from his tongue and he moved his hands to that one stroked her belly and the other her thigh as her legs came down to rest on his shoulders. He lifted his face to plant the softest kiss against her lips to show her that the little butterfly had returned for just a moment.

Kumiko didn’t hiss in sensitivity.

She caressed his head for a moment or two and then she began to move up the bed, taking his hand in hers as she did so that he could get onto the bed as well. As he eased himself down next to her, she hugged him tightly, kissing his wet face in her happiness. “That was very good,” she smiled when she found the time to whisper to him, “Thank you.”

He smiled and nodded; pleased to have done it well enough for her as he reached to grab the covers and pull what he could over them. Kumiko felt his hardness against her so she sought to position herself so that he could slip inside of her, but he shook his head.

“But,” she began, looking up at him, “don’t you –“

He smiled then and she stopped. Kerry hugged her and she felt his hand as it moved over her back.

“You helped me last night. Tonight was for you. If I do what you’re thinking right now, I think it would show that I’m no more than just somebody with the urges of a horse or a dog or an alley cat, for that matter. I think that I can handle my own urges. Just let me hold you, Kumiko. That’s all that I need from you now.”

She nodded, surprised at this man once again. They traded kisses for a little while and then they went to sleep.

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Kumiko awoke with a start the next morning to find that it was far later than she’d have wanted to sleep. She was alone in the bed and she could hear Ciarraighe-chan giggling out in the kitchen. She also heard Kerry blowing raspberries to cause the laughter.

She got up, pulling her robe around her and needing to pee. But she stopped on the way to look into the kitchen and she found them together. It made her lean against the doorframe for a moment.

“We gotta stop now, Ciarraighe,” the older kid grinned at his small son, “or somebody’ll think that we’re just a couple of fools.”

The child looked up and after a moment of consideration, he began on the bottle again. Kumiko’s quiet chuckling followed her to the bathroom.

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They went shopping later on and Kerry found himself lost in thought at least a little as they pushed little Ciarraighe in his new stroller – and he’d shown himself to be a happy little kid as he looked at the world around him while he sucked on a dummy contentedly.

Kerry still wasn’t particularly comfortable with all of it until he noticed the smiles of several people as they passed by in the opposite direction. He’d never cared much what others thought, but it affected him that day because of his son and Kumiko. They looked like a family and by association, he was included in it.

A part of him told him that this was what should have been between himself and Khoe, but …

After a while he looked at Kumiko a little covertly and saw that she was beginning to feel a little less like the thief that she’d mentioned. It wasn’t her beauty, though she was uncommonly lovely and he had to admit that strictly speaking, it might be said that she was lovelier than even Khoe had been, though he was reluctant to make that observation since it had been so long since he’d seen her.

He just tried to look at things a little objectively as they shopped and he saw that he was enjoying it and also the way that Kumiko seemed to be happier for this outing.

So he made the effort and stepped onto the causeway that she seemed to be trying to offer to him and he reached over and took Kumiko’s hand as they walked through the mall and she looked down at it and then back up at him with what he thought was the nicest smile.

Kumiko looked away and sighed very quietly. She felt the beginnings of her acceptance and so, it caused her to feel better. Her eye caught the display window of a shop which specialized in imports from the east, trying to create chicness out of what might be far more mundane to an oriental person. It was what she saw there that held her interest for a second.

“Would you mind it if we went in there for a few moments?” she asked and he nodded, though he saw little of interest there.

“Sure,” he smiled a little.

Kumiko turned them into the place and Kerry looked around, seeing a few things which held his gaze after all, though only to look at and maybe wonder about. The little boy looked around as well, but his interest passed in moments and his father spent the time trying to talk to him while keeping his eye open for maybe a bright little toy to buy.

What surprised him was that Kumiko had her eye on something and to his amazement, she was bargaining. “This is not a proper set,” she said, “What I see here is cheaply made to be offered for sale to westerners who wouldn’t know the difference, but might like to use this as decorative accents. Have you nothing better than this? Something which might really serve the purpose?”

The clerk was a bored-looking high school student who was now faced with a serious shopper. But she knew what she was up against and offered to get the manager and a minute later, Kerry watched as a thirty-something trendy type strutted over and Kumiko outlined what she wanted and why.

“I know that this is not the area where one might get what I am looking for, but I’m not there, so I’m looking for something at least a little usable,” Kumiko said, “Do you have a proper set?”

The woman made her mistake then, “That is a proper set, Ma’am.”

Kerry didn’t know, but he had an idea that it was the wrong thing to say as he watched Kumiko respectfully – but accurately indicate her disagreement and it began with a polite shake of her head.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not,” she said, turning a ceramic article over, “Look here. I knew this would be here. This set was made in China as a decorative approximation of a Japanese set. It’s no more Japanese than the fake sword there on the wall. The Chinese have their own way of doing this, and no Chinese would use this for their method.”