第78节

tual that her adolescent brother

had cajoled and bullied her into.

She had quickly learned what pleased him, and over the years their

furtive couplings had always followed the same pattern - like actors

playing traditional roles in a Noli drama about star-crossed lovers.

Yoritomo's hands slid under her arms and up onto her breasts,

flattening them against her rib-cage and drawing her body back against

his. This was how it had begun during that long hot summer; the very

first movement he had made on entering the shaded coolness of her room

and stealing up behind her. Then as now, she felt her nipples sprout

between his parted fingers as his great stick wedged itself between his

belly and the cleft in her buttocks.

Then she hadn't known what he expected of her, but there was no

hesitation now. Raising herself up on tiptoe, she parted her thighs

and straddled him as he slipped through.

Act Two... Even now, fifteen years and countless penetrations later,

Yoritomo felt his mind reel as he relived the moment when his innermost

desires were fulfilled. It was all he had dreamed of and more. She

had become an ardent slave that he could bend to his will, could submit

to, could suffer any indignity he fancied at her hands without losing

control of the situation or her respect.

Mishiko also remembered that moment. He had come upon her like a

rutting stag. And she, like a young doe in heat, had responded. Their

first encounter left her feeling confused and ashamed, but it had

opened a well-spring of desire. She had never loved Yoritomo, but she

was - like their father- highly-sexed. Their semi-secret relationship

had provided the opportunity to satisfy her physical needs without

going through the whole tiresome business of having to get married to a

young man that her family approved of but who, by the very nature of

things, she was bound to detest. Which was precisely what had happened

when the family married her off to the Consul-General Nakane

TohShiba.

It was only with the Herald, Toshiro Hase-Gawa, that she had

experienced the joy and pain of true love, and the fulfillment it could

bring to a physical union.

Mishiko thought of the Herald as she closed her thighs, trapping her

brother in the honey-pit. Yoritomo gasped with pleasure then buried

his face in the free-flowing shoulder-length hair she wore on these

occasions as he continued to claw greedily at her breasts.

Ohh... Mishi!... Mishi. His right hand slid down her belly, his

fingers searching out the cleft between her thighs. He was ready. She

slipped from his embrace and led him to the mattress bed.

Act Three... They clung to each other beneath the coverlet like lost

children, their bodies touching from head to toe. She brought her lips

close to his ear. 'At last! Oh, my lord and master! My one and only

love!" Yoritomo drew his head away from hers. The past could not be

expunged without calling his sister to account - and the need to do so

overwhelmed his desire. 'No! How can you say that when you betrayed

me? You gave your love to the Herald Hase-Gawa! You wrote to me,

asking to marry him! Just the thought of it drove me mad! I wanted to

kill you!" Mishiko brought his face back within reach of her lips.

'You would have been wrong to do so. Yes, I loved the Herald, but do

you know why? Because the love that brought us together was our love

for you! He never shared my bed, and never thought to!" This was

quite untrue, but it was precisely what her brother wanted to hear.

Mishiko fed him more lies.

'Toshiro brought me news from court, but most of all he talked about

you. I never tired of listening and he never tired of my questions.

When my husband was killed, falling from the sky, I took it as a sign

from the gods. I thought that if I married your favourite, I would be

able to return to live in the palace. To be near you." 'Was Toshiro

aware of this?"

'Of course! Have I not said he loved you?!" Yoritomo sat up. 'May

the Gods forgive me! I have killed my one true friend!" Mishiko

hugged him. 'Your other true friend. You still have me. Do not

grieve. He will never die as long as you and I are together.

Come...