In Caelum Fero
Dedicated to Eike, who fueled this fic by sending me fanservice pics of
both the lovely ladies featured in this. In other words: BLAME HER.
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Himiko looked around Clayman's surprisingly large loft apartment,
located above her gallery. She had been invited to visit several times,
but she never grew tired of it; of the potted plants hanging from the
low cieling and sitting on tables, of the large picture window that
overlooked the city and let the sunlight stream and brighten the entire
place during the day, of the simple but elegant furnishings....
Sometimes Himiko had to wonder where Clayman had come into so much
money. She had never stolen art for profit and her gallery was free. On
her first visit to this place Clayman had mentioned something about her
mother when Himiko had asked, but never dwelled on the topic, instead
offering her guest tea. But this time, Clayman's mysterious wealth was
not on Himiko's mind as she turned on her side and gazed out at the
moonlit night....
"Would you like some tea?" Clayman asked from the kitchen, smiling
pleasantly at Himiko, who was sitting on her bed. Most of the rooms in
the apartment were connected: the kitchen and living room flowed into
each other seemlessly, and beyond the living room, if one would step
down one rather sharp step, there was a bed and a wardrobe. Because of
this arrangement, Clayman could easilly see that Himiko's nod.
Himiko didn't know anyone like Clayman. She had known the older woman
was lonely, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself. Her request to
join her had seemed like more than an invitation to join in a business
venture, and as a result Himiko made sure after she declined to stay in
contact with her. At first she told herself that it was because she
liked having an older female role model, someone intelligent and
sophisticated. But as she got to know her new friend she realized the
lines of gender seemed to be blurred for her. Not like with Kadsuki, who
had a pretty face but the heart of a man, but something different, a
perfect combination of feminine elegance mixed with masculine charm. Her
keen intellect and sense of logic gave way to the romantic, idealistic
part of her that made her love and appreciate art on a level that most
others couldn't.
"It must be terribly boring here at night," Clayman said suddenly,
carefully edging past a table covered with sculpting supplies and extra
clay as she carried two teacups toward her bedroom. She had been making
a mask when Himiko showed up, which was now being fired in the
make-shift kiln she kept in her kitchen. "I know you usually work at
night." She placed the cups on a stand near her bed, which had a book
already resting on it, turned upside down to mark her place. As she
leaned over, Himiko reached up unconsciously to brush a piece of clay
out of her hair. At first Clayman froze for a moment, startled by the
action, but then she turned and smiled down at her before sitting on the
bed.
"I didn't have a job tonight," Himiko confessed, trying to bite back the
bitter edge in her voice. The truth was that business wasn't going very
well, either for her job as a courier or her secondary job as a
retrieval specialist. While she took cold comfort in knowing the Get
Backers were also in a bit of slump when it came to the latter, Himiko
knew for a fact that Akabane was going out on jobs without her lately.
She knew he was well within his right to. She often went on jobs without
him. But usually, especially during a recession like this, he would at
least offer her the chance to work with him. But before she could dwell
on this thought for very long she realized Clayman had said something
else before bringing up work. "And I'm not bored. I love it here."
Clayman smiled again, that sad, faraway smile she sometimes got when
Himiko said or did certain things. "Usually you look out the window, at
the people coming in and out of the gallery. With it closed you haven't
had much to do. And then I had to finish that mask and we couldn't even
talk..." She sighed. "I really should have let that wait until tomorrow,
when I could get into my workshop. It will be functional, but anything I
fire in that kiln doesn't end up very durable. But the person who
requested it said he needed it by tomorrow afternoon, which means I have
to send it off tomorrow morning."
Himiko had long since stopped listening to what Clayman had been saying,
instead fixating on her fingers. They were gently stroking the top of
her hand, as if she didn't even realize what she was doing. Himiko knew
she should move her hand. Clayman had never kept her sexuality or her
attraction to Himiko a secret, but she'd never dwelled on either of
those subjects. Himiko watched her fingers...long and slightly callused
from her work....sending a strange, tingling sensation through her
body...
Without commenting on what she had just done, Clayman took her fingers
off Himiko's hand and stood, walking around to the other side of Himiko
so she could get her tea. Himiko turned her head quickly to watch her.
Although she had probably been wearing her whole suit while her gallery
was open, she was now sans jacket and tie from when she had been
working. The shirt was still too large, but as it was tucked in Himiko
could see the curve of her hips, although her chest still appeared
rather flat.
"You should drink your tea before it gets cold," Clayman said softly.
Himiko realized then that she had been staring at her, and reached
eagerly for her own cup on the table. Clayman sat her own down at the
moment and looked down at the floor, her green eyes sad and faraway
again.
"What's the matter, Clayman-san?" Himiko asked, noticing the expression
on her friend's face.
Clayman looked up and met her eyes then, a forced smile on her face.
"It's nothing. Nothing at all. I'm sorry if I'm not much company
tonight."
Himiko had never seen her older friend look so sad before, and the fact
that she had been asked to visit her at night instead of showing up on
her own during the day made the whole situation rather peculiar.
"Clayman-san, you can tell me what's wrong," Himiko continued, both out
of curiousity and concern.
Clayman nodded and sat down on the bed again. "I...well..." She cleared
her throat. "It's just that tonight was the second anniversary of the
day my mother passed away. She died late at night, and I was the only
one with her. I didn't want to be alone tonight, not like I was that
night." A geniune smile came to her face then as she looked at Himiko's
startled expression. "She would have liked you, Himiko-san. So
strong-willed and determined and independant. She liked people like
that."
Himiko didn't know what to say. She'd seen people she cared about die
before, and she knew it was hard. The fact that Clayman had chosen her
as her companion on this night...she didn't know if she should feel sad
or honored. Finally, she choked out "you must have been close."
Clayman's smile wavered slightly as she stood up, pacing the bedroom.
"My mother and I....we were as close as people like us could get to
anyone. I was a very distant person. I didn't like the company of people
very much. And my mother was famous...many people came to her, looking
to have one last conversation with their departed loved ones. When she
wasn't fulfilling their requests she would often lock herself in her
room and just open herself to anyone who wanted to use her body. That's
how the paintings downstairs came to be. During the day there were too
many people around for me to be able to get close to her, and at night
she wanted to be alone. It wasn't until her final years, after the
paintings were already lost and she had stopped working for others, that
we really started to get to know each other." Clayman wiped her eye
then. "And then, just as we were really starting to bond...she was
gone."
Both of them were very surprised by what happened next. Just Clayman's
words were so sad, and Himiko could still feel the sting of her own
loss. So when Clayman finished talking, Himiko reached over and embraced
her. There was a long moment of silence as they just looked into each
other's eyes, Clayman's holding a mixture of shock and sadness, Himiko's
displaying her uncertainty. She'd never been the type who felt this kind
of physical contact, or any physical contact, was needed to convey these
kinds of emotions.
It seemed very difficult for Clayman to return the embrace, her arms
shaking as they slowly wrapped around Himiko, eyes squeezed shut as she
did so, as if she was afraid of what the other would see. Himiko
realized that it was because, like Clayman had admitted, she simply
didn't much care to be close to people. Letting Himiko get so close to
her was probably a big step for her.
Himiko reached up and brushed a few strands of her silvery hair off her
face, resting her hand on her cheek. Himiko had never found any women
attractive in the same way she was attracted to Clayman. It was this
attraction that kept Himiko from just ignoring Clayman after she had
finished her job for her, even after Clayman had confessed that she
homosexual and found Himiko to be very attractive. It was this that kept
Himiko coming back to see her. And it was this that made her reach other
to Clayman just now in a way she would have done for scarce few others.
Himiko moved her hand from her cheek, sliding it up into soft waves of
her hair and slowly, tentively pressed her lips into the other woman's.
Clayman's eyes opened then, surprised and slightly panicked. Clayman
immediately pulled away, putting Himiko's hand down on the bed, but
still holding it as she looked down at the bedspread.
"Himiko-san, you don't have to do that," Clayman said quickly, like it
was difficult for her to say it. It probably was. She very obviously
wanted to kiss Himiko, but not if it was just out of pity. "I know
you're not...like me. I will be fine. You don't need to do anything you
don't want to just to comfort me."
Himiko shook her head furiously, feeling a bit frustrated from having
been rebuffed like that. Clayman liked her. She's admitted it. Why was
she refusing her now that Himiko finally wanted her the same way?
"Clayman-san, I do want it," she said firmly. "I....I don't know why. I
don't like women, but....you're different. I don't know how or why."
Clayman just looked into her eyes for a long time, her expression
unreadable. Himiko was starting to feel frustrated. What next? She had
just finally admited that she wanted another woman, a woman that she
thought liked her the same way and been completely rejected. They had
been able to be friends when it had been the other way around and
Clayman had said she wanted Himiko. Could they ignore it now that Himiko
had admitted she wanted Clayman?
But before Himiko could say anything else Clayman leaned forward and
slowly, gently, placed her lips over Himiko's. Himiko gasped,
immediately reaching up to hold onto Clayman, wondering if she was
supposed to do that with another woman. But Clayman didn't object as she
reached forward, putting a hand on her younger friend's neck. She parted
her lips, which caused Himiko to do the same. For some reason Himiko
thought kissing a woman would be unusual. She was used to being kissed
by men, who initiated the kiss and then took it over. She thought it was
the woman's role to submit to that, and as a result she thought two
women kissing would be uneventful. But Clayman was just as forceful as
any man, urging Himiko to act the same way, teasing her tongue and
moving their lips together as she lowered her onto the bed, both their
mouths still tasting of the tea they had consumed earlier.
Himiko moved her hands from Clayman's back, her goal to unbutton her
shirt, and once again felt that sting of rejection as she broke the kiss
to move her hands away. Clayman just looked into Himiko's eyes for a
long time, sad green eyes meeting wide, excited, anxious, and slightly
impatient violet ones. Still holding Himiko's hands in her own, Clayman
leaned forward and began to kiss down Himiko's cheek, not moving her
hands until her lips reached the collar of her shirt, where she moved
her hands up and unbuttoned it to expose her neck and cleavage, kissing
further down now.
"More...Clayman-san..." Himiko gasped out as Clayman's lips found their
way to her neck again. Clayman stopped then, looking down at Himiko with
slightly glazed eyes, her expression impossible to read.
"Are you sure?" she asked at last. "I don't want to do anything if you
are going to regret it."
Himiko understood why she was hesitating now. She was afraid that if
they went any further then they couldn't continue being friends. Or
maybe there was more to it than that. Himiko couldn't be entirely sure
what Clayman was feeling now or really any other time. She reached for
her shirt again, and again Clayman moved her hands out of the way. "I'm
sure," she finally whispered, sitting up slightly to pull her shirt off.
She laid back on the bed, watching Clayman's gaze examining her bare
torso, savoring her the way she did with fine pieces of art. Finally,
without saying a word, she leaned forward and kissed Himiko deeply
again, running her hand along the curve of her left breast, pausing at
the nipple for a moment to tease it.
Moving her lips away from Himiko's, Clayman resumed kissing a path down
her body, this time stopping over the right breast and taking the nipple
into her mouth, teasing it with her lips and teeth gently as she played
with the other. Then she abruptly stopped, standing up again and backing
away, as if to examine what she had just done before continuing. Himiko
remained on the bed, gasping and obviously wanting more. Finally Clayman
leaned back over the bed and whispered gently, as if it were a request,
"take off your pants."
Himiko immediately stood up to do so as Clayman turned to face away from
her. She was unbuttoning her shirt now, something Himiko had tried to do
but had been denied. That, combined with the fact that she turned to
face away from her to take it off, made her wonder what she had to hide.
She finally slid the shirt off, letting it fall to the floor. There were
clean white bandages wrapped around her torso, which Himiko opened her
mouth to ask about before she noticed Clayman was removing them, quickly
and gracefully. As they were stripped away Himiko noticed sharp red
lines where they had been, indicating they had been on rather tight. She
finally reached the end of the white gauze strip, which she had neatly
rolled while she had been removing it, and she reached up to put the
roll on a table in the living room before finally turning around.
Himiko had been too busy watching Clayman to remove her pants, and she
did so hastilly as the other woman began to turn around, arms at her
side, head in the air as if she were forcing herself to have more
courage than she really possessed. By the time she was completely turned
around Himiko had just finished stripping and was (thought she felt
guilty admitting it to herself) anxious to see what Clayman had been
hiding. She had expected to see some sort of wound or scar or deformity,
anything that would make her want to hide her torso with the bandages.
Instead all Himiko saw were her modest breasts, also red-lined from the
bandages. Was that what she had been hiding? Himiko didn't comment as
she laid back on the bed, watching Clayman as she gracefully removed the
rest of her clothes. Black socks, neatly-pressed navy blue slacks, and
finally her simple white cotton briefs. She folded them neatly, doing
the same with her previously discarded shirt, probably just to stall for
time as she looked anywhere but at Himiko. It was a rather sad and
confusing moment for Himiko, who had always admired Clayman's confidence
and independence. She didn't want to go through with this if it meant
stripping Clayman's soul raw and leaving her vulnerable.
Clayman walked over to the bed, still looking defiant and still
pointedly not looking at Himiko. She crawled in next to her, pressing
herself against her, and then leaned over, kissing her again as her hand
wandered between Himiko's breasts and down lower, past her navel. Himiko
gasped. Clayman's hand was so close...just a little lower...
Clayman's fingers just barely brushed the damp opening as she moved her
hand to Himiko's thigh, kissing her deeper, more forcefully now. Their
upper bodies were alligned, their breasts pressed together...Himiko
wanted to know what happened next. She tried to move her hips to bring
Clayman's fingers closer to where she wanted them, but her hand didn't
move. Finally, Clayman broke the kiss, smiling sincerely at Himiko
before lowering her head down to her breasts again, changing her
position so she was straddling Himiko, one hand never leaving her thigh
as she ran her lips and tongue all over one of Himiko's breasts, working
the other with her hand rather roughly. She finally moved the other hand
to Himiko's other thigh and began to run her mouth downward,
occasionally flicking her tongue out as she moved lower and lower....
Clayman moved downward so she was perching on the foot of the bed, using
her hands on both of Himiko's thighs to part her legs. Himiko squirmed
slightly as Clayman's mouth made it's way down, nervous and excited at
the same time as she realized what she was going to do. Finally,
Clayman's mouth reached the hot, wet opening, causing Himiko to gasp.
She moaned rather loudly as Clayman forced her tongue in, probing and
searching, and finally finding...
Himiko moaned again as Clayman used both her tongue and her fingers to
draw her moist clit out, rubbing it slowly in time with her tongue's
agonzingly exquisite movements on it. Himiko wanted more, wanted Clayman
to go faster, but she kept her pace, achingly slow, each movement taking
her further out of reality. Himiko moved her hand down to the back of
Clayman's head, not pressing on it, just rubbing it slightly, as if this
would cause her to change her rhythm or somehow allow her to control
what the other was doing. Occasionally Clayman would remove her mouth,
letting her fingers do the work as they slid in and out of her, against
her already tortured clit, before putting her mouth back and continuing.
Himiko finally came came, hard and loudly as Clayman gave her one last
lick. As Himiko lay back panting she was vaguely aware of Clayman
pushing her back in place before moving up on the bed to lay next to
her, kissing her neck again. Himiko was still trying to catch her breath
when she moved her head down to look at Clayman, who seemed very content
at the moment, pleasuring the other girl this way.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Himiko asked her, curious as to how
one gained talents like that.
"You're not the first girl I've been with," was the rather distant
answer. Clayman sounded like she didn't want to talk about this other
girl- or girls- at the moment. She just wanted to enjoy being with
Himiko. Instead of forcing her to dwell on the topic, Himiko reached
down tentively, down between Clayman's legs.
When her hand finally managed to reach down there, Clayman's legs, which
had been pressed together, parted slightly, allowing Himiko entry. She
took this as a kind of permission, sliding two fingers. It took her a
moment from the odd angle they were both laying to find what she was
looking for, and after she did she began to rub and pinch Clayman's clit
the way she sometimes did with her own, feeling rather awkward as this
was another woman's and not her own.
Clayman's sighs and moans were soft, but enough to encourage Himiko to
keep going. She felt a certain sense of pride in pleasuring someone like
this, in making them pant and groan and squirm against her, urging her
to continue. She missed Clayman's sound of completion, which sound like
a cross between a moan and a startled gasp, and would have kept going
had the other not grabbed her wrist and pulled her fingers out, panting
"stop, stop."
Himiko wiped her hand on the bedspread as Clayman kissed her again,
slowly, deeply. When she pulled back Himiko could just stare groggily at
her face, smiling and beautiful, framed by silvery waves. Clayman
reached above her and switched off the lamp, leaving the room in
darkness except for the streetlights, headlights, and other city lights
outside the window. Himiko wasn't sure what this meant until Clayman
pulled her up against her, smoothing down her hair, which was now rather
disheveled.
"Clayman-san?" Himiko asked after Clayman had stopped smoothing down her
hair. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No," Clayman said simply, softly. That one word spoke volumes.
The End
One Last Note- I am not sure how old Clayman is. If I had to wager a
guess, I'd say she's in the over-18 catagory, though, but not much
older. Probably around 20, although she could be a little longer. I
don't think that will ever be revealed because 1.) she's a secondary
character and 2.) it seems like a lot of her image relies on what you
don't know about her rather than what you do. Also, the pic that Eike
sent me of Clayman is here. As you can plainly see from the background
of it, Clayman does have a nice apartment.
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