Chapter 116: Aoi Tachibana [I / 18+]

The cold was still climbing when Aoi’s hands closed around his wrists.

Frost had already claimed the backs of Leo’s hands and was creeping up his forearms in fine white lattices that glittered under the bridge lights like glass.

His fingers were still half-curled around the crystal cradles, stiff and almost blue at the tips, and the sun-stone at his throat pulsed once, weakly like it was trying to push heat outward and failing.

Aoi didn’t say a word, she just pulled instead.

CHIME!

His hands came free of the cradles as the link powered down, and in one continuous motion she guided both of them under the hem of her charcoal tunic and pressed them flat against her bare stomach.

"Hnn...!"

Her whole body flinched hard at the cold, and a sharp little sound escaped her before she could swallow it but she didn’t let go.

She pressed his palms flatter and higher, forcing the contact deeper against the warmth of her skin.

’Take it,’ she thought. ’Take all of it... just don’t you dare leave...’

Around them, the bridge had gone dead quiet.

Through the canopy, the wreckage of the frigate was still drifting apart in glittering clouds of venting air and the amber warning strips pulsed slowly along the ceiling.

Aoi lifted her chin, and her voice came out level, in the exact tone she’d once used to silence a lecture hall full of restless students.

"Stations. Harper, full structural integrity and damage assessment... Elena, residual heat signatures and any life readings on the debris. Jin-Ah, start on salvage probability. Camila, take Chloe to your cabin for the night and keep her with you... And nobody comes to the captain’s quarters unless the ship itself is under attack."

Harper’s grey-blue eyes went from the frost on Leo’s neck to Aoi’s face, and stayed there a moment too long.

’Of course it’s her... Of course it’s her.’

She gave one short stiff nod and dropped back into her seat, and her hands were already moving across the console.

Elena turned to the sensor suite without a word, and Jin-Ah pulled up her slate and started murmuring numbers under her breath.

Camila knelt beside Chloe, who was still standing at the foot of the throne with her small hands clenched in her sleeves and her eyes locked on the frost along Leo’s jaw.

Chloe shook her head once.

"I need to go check on Leo..."

Camila took both of her cold hands and whispered something too low for anyone else to hear, and after a long moment, Chloe let herself be led away, looking back at Leo twice before the hatch closed behind them.

Nobody tried to stop Aoi.

She slid one arm behind Leo’s back and the other around his waist and took as much of his weight as she could, and he was a lot heavier than he looked when he was half-frozen.

’Come on, Leo... walk with me. Just a little further.’

The sun-stone bumped against her collarbone as she guided him off the throne and down the private corridor, and the whole way there, his dark eyes stayed half-lidded on her face.

She could feel them but she didn’t dare look back, because if she did, she knew she’d stop walking.

The door to his quarters sealed behind them.

HSSSS!

Aoi steered him to the edge of the bed, made him sit and immediately yanked the thick thermal blankets out of the storage compartment under the frame.

She wrapped one around his shoulders and threw the other across his lap, and then she pulled his hands back under her tunic and held them there with her own palms pressed over the backs of his.

For a long time, the only sounds were the low hum of the life-support recyclers and the delicate crackle of melting frost.

"Haah... Haah... Haah..."

His fingers finally flexed against her skin as the feeling came back in sharp tingling waves, and Aoi’s breath hitched at the small movement.

When he breathed out, there was almost no white left in it.

"You didn’t have to do that, Aoi..." he said, his voice still rough from the cold.

She kept her eyes on the place where his hands disappeared under her clothes.

"You used a skill that burns your core temperature to cut a warship in half... and another one with it. Of course I had to."

"Starfall Sever." A small tired grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "It kind of worked better than the description said, huh?"

"It nearly killed you." Her voice stayed even, but the formal cadence had drawn tight. "I watched the frost climb up your neck in real time, Leo. If it had reached your heart—"

"It didn’t."

"Because I pulled your hands free." She finally lifted her gaze, and behind her rectangular lenses, her dark eyes were steady. "And don’t think I didn’t see it... You were thinking about forcing Universal Determination on top of it... Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Leo was quiet for a beat, and then he let out a short rueful breath that was almost a laugh.

’Busted... She really doesn’t miss anything, does she?’

"Yeah... I was," he admitted. "That matriarch in the Vein almost tore the ventral plating off the ship... If something like that had shown up today instead of those pirates, Starfall Sever alone might not have been enough, and I wasn’t going to just sit there and watch."

"Rupture," Aoi said quietly. "Internal hemorrhage... possibly permanent damage to your body... The system’s warnings were very clear."

"I know, Aoi."

Another silence settled between them.

His hands had gone warm against her stomach, and meltwater from the frost was soaking slowly into the hem of her tunic and the blanket across his lap.

His thumbs moved once across her skin, and Aoi had to close her eyes for a second.

"Do you know what I thought the first time I watched you fly the canyon run?" she said at last, very quietly while still holding his hands against her.

Leo blinked at her.

"The sim class? You... you remember that?"

"Third week of term." A faint crooked smile touched her mouth without reaching her eyes. "Everyone else scraped the walls at least twice. You never touched them once... and you looked so bored doing it. I stood at the back of that room and thought, that boy is going to do something reckless and wonderful someday, and I’ll read about it somewhere."

Her fingers tightened over the backs of his hands.

"I told myself for a whole year it was just a teacher being proud of a student," she said. "I was very good at lying to myself, Leo... and then the sky broke, and there was no classroom left to hide behind and I still kept hiding... Behind the charts... Behind the lessons... Behind being careful."

She looked down at the meltwater dripping off his fingers, and her voice finally cracked.

"And I even led you to almost dying... I’m sorry." Aoi said and tightened her fingers.

She swallowed.

"Tonight I watched the frost climb your neck, and all I could think was that I’d been careful for so long that you were going to freeze to death before I ever said it."

Her throat worked once, and she lifted her eyes back to his.

"I’m not knocking, Leo," she said softly. "I’m already here so you know what to do..."

Leo stared at her.

The last of the frost had melted from his neck, leaving damp skin and the soft gold glow of the sun-stone resting against his collarbone.

’Since the classroom...? She’s been carrying this since the classroom?’

All those lectures... All those nights she’d stayed up plotting their routes and checking his vitals and telling him to eat something, in that same calm voice, and the whole time...

Slowly and carefully, he drew his hands out from under her tunic, reached up and framed her face with both palms with his thumbs resting just beneath the frames of her glasses.

"Come here," he said.

Aoi let herself be drawn forward until she was kneeling on the mattress between his legs, close enough that their breath mixed in the tiny space between their mouths and her heart was beating so hard she was sure he could feel it through his fingertips.

Leo leaned in and kissed her.

CHU...!

It was slow and deep and deliberate, nothing like the brief startled press of lips she’d given his cheek days earlier and when her lips parted on a soft surprised sound, he deepened it.

"Mmh...?"

Her hands hovered in the air for a second then settled against his chest where she could feel the strong steady beat of his heart under the rough blanket.

’He’s kissing me... properly~’

One of his hands slid into her long black hair and cradled the back of her head while his thumb stroked the heated skin of her cheek.

She melted into it a little more with every second with the stiff line of her shoulders softening and a small helpless hum slipping out of her throat when he tilted her head to kiss her deeper.

"Nn... mmh..."

When he finally drew back, he was smiling against her mouth, and Aoi was breathing like she’d run the length of the ship.

"Lesson three," he murmured. "Starts now, are you alright with it...?"

Aoi’s breath shuddered out of her, and she had to try twice before her voice worked.

"What... what does lesson three involve?"

"Everything we didn’t do before." His smile was warm and a little wicked. "And you’re going to look at me the entire time... No hiding and no closing your eyes unless I tell you to."

She swallowed, and the formal shape of her voice held on, but only just.

"...Understood."

’He’s giving me instructions,’ she thought dizzily. ’In that voice. And I’m saying understood like a cadet... What’s wrong with me...?’

Nothing was wrong with her but that was the problem.

Leo kissed her again, slower this time, then began working his way along her jaw.

When his lips reached the sensitive skin beneath her ear, she made a small involuntary sound and her fingers flew to his shoulders.

"Ah...! L-Leo..."

He lingered there, sucking gently until the blood rose to the surface in a dark mark, then moved lower, trailing slow open-mouthed kisses down the side of her neck.

CHU...! CHU...!

Each soft wet sound seemed loud in the quiet of the room.

Aoi’s fingers curled into the blanket still draped around his shoulders, and her breathing had already begun to change, coming shorter and less controlled with every kiss.

"Haa... mmh... you’re... leaving marks..."

"Mm-hm," Leo murmured against her throat, not sounding sorry at all.

"The others will see..."

"Let them."

’Let them,’ Aoi thought, and the words went through her like warm water. ’He wants them to see...’

His hands found the fastening at the side of her charcoal tunic, and then he paused, his eyes lifting to meet hers.

"May I?"

She nodded once, sharp and formal even now, though her cheeks were burning.

"Yes."

He opened the seals one by one as the heavy fabric parted.

’She smells really nice even though we don’t have perfumes or creams...’

Beneath it she wore a simple black compression top that hugged the generous curves of her breasts.

Leo pushed the tunic off her shoulders and let it fall then he reached for the compression top.

"Raise them up..."

Aoi’s arms lifted automatically and he drew the garment up and over her head in one smooth motion.

For a moment she sat bare from the waist up with her long black hair spilling around her shoulders and her rectangular glasses still perfectly straight on her nose.

Her breasts were full and heavy with pale skin already flushed across the upper slopes as the cool air of the quarters tightened her nipples into dark sensitive peaks.

Leo’s gaze moved over her without hurry and appreciation darkened his eyes.

"You’re beautiful," He said simply.

It had always been like a dream to see her in such a vulnerable position like this... but it was actually happening and he couldn’t stop himself.

Aoi’s face burned.

’He’s looking at everything... He’s going to see how much I want this.’

He cupped both breasts in his hands with his thumbs brushing across the tightened tips.

The dual contact dragged a soft gasp from her throat and when he leaned in and closed his mouth around one nipple, her entire body jolted.

"Ah—"

He sucked slowly with his tongue circling, then switched to the other side.

His hands massaged the soft weight of her flesh while his mouth worked, alternating between gentle suction and the light scrape of teeth.

Each new sensation pulled another sound from her, small at first, then less restrained.

"Leo... mmh..."

He left another dark mark on the upper curve of her left breast before lifting his head as his lips were slightly swollen and shiny.

"Lie back."

Aoi obeyed.

The mattress dipped under her weight as Leo tugged the remaining blankets aside and settled beside her with one knee between her thighs.

’So hot...’

He kissed her again while his hands worked the fastenings of her trousers.

The fabric loosened and he slid them down her hips together with her underwear in one careful pull, exposing the rest of her.

She was already wet.

The cool air against her heated skin made her thighs twitch as Leo’s dark eyes tracked the evidence of her arousal, and something hungry and pleased moved across his face.

"Look at me..." he reminded her.

Aoi forced her gaze to stay on his while he settled lower between her legs.

He kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other.

When his mouth finally covered her, the sound that left her was sharp and helpless.

"Ah...!"

His tongue moved with the same patient focus he applied to everything important.

Broad strokes first, tasting her thoroughly, then narrower and more precise attention to the sensitive peak at the top.

SLURP! SLURP!

One of his hands pinned her hip when she tried to lift against his mouth while the other slid beneath her, angling her hips so he could lick deeper.

Aoi’s formal composure fractured in stages.

Her hands found his hair and held on, her glasses had slipped slightly down her nose as soft broken sounds poured out of her with every pass of his tongue.

"Leo... wait... it’s... ah... too..."

...He did not wait.

He sealed his lips around her clit and sucked in slow rhythmic pulses while two fingers pressed carefully inside her.

The stretch was new and intense and her inner walls clenched hard around the intrusion.

He curled his fingers and found a spot that made her vision spark white at the edges.

"There... right there... Leo... Leo...! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnn~!"

Her climax hit like a system overload as her back arched and a sharp high cry tore from her throat as pleasure crashed through her in waves.

Leo worked her through it with relentless attention until her thighs trembled and she tried to twist away from the intensity.

Only then did he ease back with his mouth wet as his eyes full of satisfaction.

Aoi lay panting with her hair spread across his pillow and her glasses askew.

The proud set of her shoulders had softened into a looser one and when she looked at him now there was no trace of the lecturer left... only a woman who had just been taken apart and wanted more.

She reached up, pulled his face down to hers, and kissed him without hesitation, tasting herself on his tongue then she shifted, guiding him fully over her with her thighs spreading to make room for his hips.

"Mmmphhhh~ Mmmmnh~ Hmph~"

Her glasses came off with a small deliberate motion.

She set them on the shelf beside the bed as black hair fanned across the pillow like ink. Her dark eyes, no longer framed by lenses, met his without any barrier left between them.

Aoi pulled him down onto her with the heat of his body settling perfectly into the space she had made and she smiled.

"Don’t stop the lesson now, Captain... Don’t you have to continue?"