Party for 2 (D3 EE closed - Hideos Yurt)

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo nodded, understanding. He moved his hands to the arm closest to him, and raised her arm supported with his hand. With the other hand, he began a firm upward push with his hand up from the start of the elbow up to the shoulder, along the outside of the arm. He then ran his fingers down along the underside of the arm, back down to the elbow, in a massaging motion.

"When I was younger, my father used to have someone he knew visit our home to help with his stresses. She was quite young at the time, but very intelligent, and I used to ask what she was doing. How does that feel?" He asked as he began the movement again with his hand

[Ide Amaya]

This time she allowed herself the quiet moan, eyes closing. A more experienced woman might have noted the Imperial's choice of phrase, even if they didn't comment on it, but it never occurred to Amaya that his words might have meaning separate from what he intended.

"The Moto practice something similar," she commented, "though they tend to be rough in their technique. It can be quite painful, though essential when spending great amounts of time on horseback."

[Seppun Hideo]

"And my technique?" Hideo asks, watching her reaction as he moves to the lower part of her arm, the same technique following; moving from the elbow down to her hand, careful but firm. He even dared to allow his thumb just underneath the sleeve of her kimono, to touch the skin under, before he began moving his hands back up to the elbow

[Ide Amaya]

She moved the drape of the sleeve to her lap, that it would not get in his way, exposing her wrist as she did so. "Your technique is just as you are: gentle, studied, and kind. It is perfect."

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo noted the exposing of skin, as he moved his hand down her arm once again to her hands. There, he began to massage her exposed wrist and the back of her hand with his thumbs, going round in a circular motion applying light pressure to it.

"Thank you Amaya-chan" he said quietly, smiling at the girl "I wasn't sure how easily it could be felt through your kimono, but it appears to be working well. I would happily apply my knowledge to your other aching muscles

[Ide Amaya]

She barely manages to stop herself from saying something foolish, like my body is yours, but the sensation as his fingers worked between the small, bird-like bones of her hand was making it a little hard to concentrate. "I would be pleased with whatsoever aid you wish to provide," she finally said, carefully.

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo moved onto the fingers, gently rubbing down from the wrist doing each finger one at a time, and pulling on them slightly to decompress them. He did this for each finger on the girls hand.

"Then my skills are all yours Amaya" he whispered. Once he had finished with her fingers, he added "I'll move onto your other arm now, then begin with your shoulders and neck."

[Ide Amaya]

She moaned long and low and very quietly as he stretched out the fine digits, nodding her acquiescence and folding her other sleeve out of the way, gathering the voluminous fabric in her lap, a little frustrated by the fashion for these long, draped sleeves for women. It seemed to her like a waste of valuable silk, but supposed that that was the point.

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo moved to the other side of Amaya, taking her arm in his hands again. This time he started from her hand, Holding it in his and working along each of the fingers. Slowly, and gently. Pulling them slightly, one by one.

"You have such soft hands Amaya-chan" Hideo commented quietly as he massaged them

[Ide Amaya]

She flexed the hand he had just finished with and looked at it curiously, as if she expected to see something that wasn't there. "Riding gloves. The reins used to cut my hands. Mother gave me a pair of riding gloves made from the softest baby goat skin that she could find. I guess I just become accustomed to wearing them, when the gloves wore out, I would get new ones."

[Seppun Hideo]

"Ah I see" Hideo nodded as he ran circles along the girls wrist and back of her hand with his thumbs with some pressure, his thumbs going slightly under her kimono sleeve again "that would make sense, the reigns with that much riding would certainly cut into the skin otherwise. It has helped though, they are lovely to hold."

[Ide Amaya]

"Riding is hard on the body. There is a posture one must adopt, a posture that keeps the legs and the arms and stomach all tense. Although padded, the saddle is hard, and it bounces against your- your... seat," she finished diplomatically. The she snorts in an amused way, "and here I am, brought down by a simple bow."

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo managed to resist a chuckle.

"And how was riding when you were first learning it? Quite painful on your arms, legs, stomach..and seat I imagine" he smiled, focusing on the girl as he moved his hand from her wrist. He started the firm massage of her lower arm, but his hand slipped under her sleeve so she could feel the massage on her skin without the clothes

[Ide Amaya]

"I don't recall too well, I was still so young. Our journey was not even half over," that would have made her only five years old or less, "when I began riding on my own. But you are most likely quite right. In fact, it's been days since I last rode, I imagine anything more than the briefest of rides would leave me aching from head to foot."

His hand slipped under her sleeve and the feeling of his hand on her skin was unlike anything she had experienced before. It was electric and intimate and she didn't want him to stop. Is such contact a Rokugani thing or an adult thing? She thought perhaps she should ask, but then he might stop, and she didn't want to cause that.

Her 'training' - and she flushed to the tips of her ears to remember that lesson with her mother - had not covered anything like this. Nor was it mentioned in the poems and ballads of lovers that she had read and heard.

[Seppun Hideo]

His hand had moved up to her elbow, amd began its move down, leaving her arm more exposed. He noted her reactio , and once his hand had finished at her wrist he bowed.

"Forgive me Amaya-chan. In my comfort of being around you and my wish to help with the aches in your muscles I touched your skin without permission. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable."