A Sage's Surprise (Rise AU) [Mature Content/Age-gated Public Release.]

A Sage’s Surprise (Rise AU)

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Commissioned by Blue Flaming Wings

Word Count: 2500

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“So, when are you taking that Tuzi for your own?”

The question is simple, but surprising. Something I expect of my elder sister. She is more a vixen than a cat. However, her wiles get the best of me today. The suggestion is unexpected.

Partly because I am turning a Chimera combat unit into paste, but mostly due to the revelation that she has read my diary.

Again.

After she had promised that she wouldn’t.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I did no such thing. I didn’t         . It’s just sisterly instinct, that’s all~.” Those are lies. Her sisterly instincts only arise when the opportunity for mischief is also possible. She had definitely read my diary again. My vengeance shall be swift and decisive. Her wardrobe will be going into the recycler. “N-no! I’m actually telling the truth here! It’s just that obvious that you’re going to  make that Tuzi yours!”

I look into her eyes. My elder sister sweats while waving her hands in surrender. Is it a ploy? Most likely. Should I give into my generous uncertainty? No. Could I for my elder sister? Yes.

Tch.

“Little sisters should be cuter… and smaller… and be incapable of turning me to paste…” It is good that she is aware of how generous I am. That grumbling of hers is born of relief from my might. Some are inclined to be loved by their family. I prefer to respect and love. I expect the same for me. “Well, Shirone? What do you think? What will you do about your student’s status as the most eligible bachelor?”

Hmph.

It seems that she was telling the truth about not accessing my diary.

I need to apologize.

“W-wait, a minute! You’re not saying what I think you’re saying are you!?” I examine the battlefield. It is largely clear of foes. Though most of the Union is now in orbit, the motherland that protected it’s children ought to be protected from the predations of the Chimera. “Oh, stop it with the patriotism! You can’t just imply that you’ve done the dirty with Li Song and say nothing!”

I can.

Because my sex life is private.

And, magnificent.

There are few things better in life that looking upon a battlefield filled with dead opponents whose treasures were to be taken to strengthen the nation.

Kuroka’s frustrated scream and laughable attempt at a grapple is one of them.

It’s funny because it’s ineffectual.

…

I live in state-housing. Some officers prefer private housing. My standing as a Strategic Asset to the Soviet Union would allow me a mansion.  I do not. All peoples should be given housing that all can have. However, I do not begrudge my fellows who choose lavish lifestyles.

I simply judge them.

Harshly.

Silently.

Whenever they are in my presence.

It is very entertaining.

The state provides plenty. Food, clothes, and shelter are provided free of charge. There is a furnished living room, functional kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom. Basic entertainment systems are free to soldiers, courtesy of the military, and there is a monthly stipend for the enlisted. The pay is also pleasant.

There’s very little else anyone can ask for.

Besides companionship.

Battlefield conditions do not lend well to interpersonal relations. LRU soldiers are brave, capable, and patriots. The army is lucky to have each one. However, not many are Strategic Assets deployed to hold down entire theatres. Some try. Most fail. I thank them, tell them they best not overreach, and have their abilities and status reconsidered for the sake of their continued lives.

Keeping individuals with influence from positions of greater influence and power does not make me any friends. Though they are weak and incapable and petty, they are still capable of rumormongering and leverage. Not enough to curtail me due to my spotless record, and ability to turn them into paste, but enough to render companionship with myself into a terrible affair. Pasts will be dug up, rumors will reach ears, and potential friends will drift away.

Then, I acquired a student from the Wastes and everything became better.

“Ah, Shirone, welcome back!” Li Song is of the Tuzi tribe. He lives with me, is a Strategic Asset of greater strength than myself, handsome, and lives with me. He lives with me and is handsome. I repeated those two things because they are important. A smile forms on his face while he greets me. The battlefield washes away from my mind. “How was your day, teacher?”

It was a stroke of fortune. He was fleeing from some silly woman who called herself silver something, then I arrived during his counterattack. His abilities were judged to be worth investigating for the Union and I was set as his guardian. He was apparently the Reincarnation of Lucifer and the Aspect of Conflict and through my teachings lent himself well towards the Second Incursion and helped humanity’s ascendance. History is being written around him. I do not care.

He and I live together and he’s prepared dinner for the both of us.

It smells delicious.

“Thank you very much. I thought you’d appreciate it after a long day.” I did appreciate it. I appreciated it very much. Steamed fish in the oriental style with fresh, steamed rice and sautéed vegetables. Economical, tasty, and plentiful. The table is laden with food. However, I smell something else. There is something baking in the oven? “W-well, you were promoted so I decided on making something extra to celebrate! It’s a roast! Your mother’s recipe, actually.”

I am not a woman very inclined to romance. My father told me that her wept with joy when I told him he was good father. Kuroka regularly teases me in attempts to make me crack. My mother told me all this while plying me with food. She is a very good mother and is very understanding.

I am mildly irritated by her interference with my personal life, like any mature, grown and well-kept adult would be, but I will be thanking her extensively for making me aware of my lacking in womanly charm and providing the man I adored with the recipe for my second-favorite food, so that I can enjoy my first-favorite food with my second-favorite food.

That thankfulness in mind, I heed her words to not fear acting upon my instincts instead of being diligent and composed.

I kiss Li Song thoroughly and promise him that I’ll put all the strength and stamina given to me by the meal to good use later… until tomorrow.

His silent blush, bowed head, and nod is extremely gratifying.

…

There is sharp contrast to our size to the effect that when facing each other in the nude his erect member points at my sternum. He is also broader than myself, despite his lithe musculature, and if he so chooses he can embrace me and easily hide me from sight. Onlookers and perverse minds will wonder in regards to our relations. They will ask questions concerning size and safety.

My simple answer to those questions is that everything works as intended to our mutual delight.

Then, I will politely ask them to mind their own business.

While my Touki is active.

I stand before Li Song completely bare. His eyes upon me are extremely gratifying, as is the blush on his face, but I cherish his caution the most. The man who stood before the Aspect of Destruction without fear still doesn’t wish to harm me, despite all the moments we spent together. It is my fault. I often take more than I can withstand from him and have no intention of ever stopping.

I have before me the forlorn dream of young women all over the world. His features are both handsome and beautiful. His form is bereft of scars and an strewn with rippling, taut muscle. His manhood is juts at me and throbs, yet his hands stay at his sides while he looks down at me, care and love working warring against primal need. I can see in his gaze a desperate yearning to take hold of my waist and have his way with me, which I am tempted to allow, but the pleasure of that would only be pleasure.

I intended to make love to Li Song.

So, I reached for his shoulder, stood upon the tips of my toes, and kissed him until we both fell upon our bed.

“Shirone…” He whispers my name between parted lips. His jet-black hair is strewn about across the mattress. I clamber atop him and settle upon his abdomen. Straddling him is a challenge in flexibility and arousal that I surmount as also refrain from grinding my sex against his sculpted, warm core.  I hold fast and continue to press my lips and tongue against his. I imagine that they’re the only parts of his body that could be called soft, especially with the pressure against my back and between my rear. “There’s no need for you to be careful with me.”

I was tempted, but my will is stronger than Li’s charm.

Barely.

This was not merely my moment, by his as well, and I would not allow my desires to consume me. I am a Sage of the Nekoshou. A Strategic Asset of the Soviet Union. I have killed hundreds of thousands of Chimera with my bare hands. I cannot hold my head high and declare be proud of myself, if I lost to instinct and lust, even if the one tempting me was the man I adored.

It was  very, very good try, though.

I had to put him in his place.

Pressing myself against him, I captured his lips with my own while seizing his wrists and placing his hands upon my waist. For most it would be a statement of surrender, but between him and I it was a challenge from me to him. The night was to be at his pace and as he desired. If he wanted simply embrace me in his arms and kiss me for the night? It would be so. Should he muster the courage to lead, to take, and to conquer by his own will? Then, that is what will occur.

He grew from a boy I’d rescued, to a student I cherished, and finally a man who earned the right to court me. Li Song chose to be with me, when he could be with anyone else, and stole my heart. Being a Sage made me aware of how I must act, that I must be a force of nature that nearly never yielded and pursued my goals with single-minded intensity. To make Li Song happy that meant contact, closeness, and love more than it did lust, so I pursued that in the face of everything I’ve been taught.

So, though I ought to be taking him and urging him to take me, I wrapped myself in his arms as he warred against his lust. I did as well. I was sure he knew that fact very well from how I straddled and leant against him. Instinct and nature demanded for me to take until I got what I wished. I wished for Li Song to be satisfied and happy. Thus, I did not act as instinct and nature demanded. The line I walked was slim, but I didn’t care.

I would’ve damned it and left it behind if it had chosen not to see Li’s wants and needs as something that should pursue with all my heart.

I would rather be powerless  than have him do something he didn’t want.

Now and forever.

Why?

Because, he’d do the same for me.

And, it wasn’t as though he couldn’t compromise and find courage when he wished.

He made that very evident as he kissed back and lifted me up.

…

“Do I want to know why you were limping over here?”

Friction burn.

“Gah!”

I sipped my coffee while Kuroka spat hers out. One of the few things capitalism can attest to doing right is being able to label certain luxuries as valuable resources. A day on the field without synthetic coffee is terrible. Being unable to enjoy true coffee at base? A recipe for misery, especially after a short leave, where I had been enjoying civilian life for a few days.

Long, arduous, enjoyment.

“I want to ask. I really do, but somehow I don’t like to think of you having sex, sister.” That was good. My sex life is epic and private, as I told her during our last conversation. Her thoughts best not ponder my situation for very long.  “Please, forget I asked.”

Silence? No talking? Just silence while I drank coffee with my sister?

As the Americans saying went,  had pigs somehow learned how to take flight?

“Yes. Please. Don’t talk about it anymore.” Kuroka was not dignified upon defeat. However, I was a magnanimous upon victory. I enjoyed my victory with a smile as I drank from my cup.  That was all I did. I simply smiled contently while sipping from my cup. All who say that my smile is smug rather than content are liars. I am Russian. Smug is a filthy capitalist emotion that denotes the inability to survive the harshness of winter. That is a fact. “All I wanted to know was what Li Song was planning to do about being Tuzi. Things are simpler now that you’ve nabbed him. There’ll be less diplomatic incidents around his love life.”

Ah, that way of thinking is incorrect. Li’s love life will be very complicated save for the fact that am his first and foremost.

Kuroka’s coffee cup slipped out of her hand. I caught it and saved the coffee from being spilled. Since it would’ve fallen from her grasp onto the floor, and I’d saved it from such a fate, it was now mine. That is how things work.

“What?”

It was simple. Tuzi traditions were fine. In fact, they made perfect sense. If I wanted more husbands, and I could love and support them, then I should have the right to have more. I did not want such thing, since most men were weak, lacking in conviction, and power. However, if Song found someone strong in body, mind, and spirit, convinced her to fall for him and have children with him, and I approved of her, why should I not allow it?

“Huh!?”

Again, it’s very simple.

“No. No! No, it’s not! You’re… you! You keep everything you want for yourself!” Kuroka’s words would hurt another individual. Not me. Because they are correct. I do not share what I like and love if I find no reason to do so. Thus, it’s easy to discern that I have been provided good reasons and been convinced. I expect Li to love me as completely as ever and if he does not we will have words. “Buh… but… the diplomatic incidents we were going to avoid, Shirone! Can’t you help the Union out and just keep Song to yourself!?”

Value the Union over Li Song?

Hah.

I laugh at Kuroka’s face, before taking another sip of coffee.

That was hilarious notion.