And now it is time for more punishment... with special guest Drill Instructor, Sasami Masaki-Jyurai!
Minagi continued
her family unit thing when it came time for bed. I acquiesced
readily, provided we were all wearing pajamas.
It was an
interesting experience.
I was tired enough
to fall asleep with no trouble, even though I found myself sharing a
bed with two girls, one of whom was underage. However, I did wake up
a few times over the course of the night as Yuki adjusted. Once to
her clinging to me. And again to find that she had switched over to
Minagi. I found it amusing that she had once again buried her face
in Minagi's bust. I began to wonder if she had other bisexual
tendencies or this was just a holdover from her early childhood.
Although, if she actually was bisexual, then it would help to know
before it took us all by surprise and provoke misunderstandings.
Particularly so if she didn't realize it herself.
We woke up the next
morning and it was a repeat of yesterday, save for one small detail.
“Take your time
with it and let yourself figure it out. It's not easy to do on your
own when you're just learning.”
Yuki was fussing
with the ace bandage, trying to bind her own chest today.
“This is so
hard,” she grumbled. “Why do I have to do this?”
“Because your
chest is starting to develop and it's best if you learn how to don
and wear support clothing as early as possible.”
“Can't you help
me?”
“Not this time.
This is part of your training. Besides, you should learn this as
soon as possible so I don't need to help you later on. It's already
an improper situation, even if you have every intention of marrying
me.”
“You could just
have Minagi do this.”
“I won't wake her
for this. She's already helping me enough with your training.
Besides, you are my responsibility. Not hers.”
“But sister-wives
are supposed to help each other, aren't they?”
“They are,” I
allowed. “But, far more importantly, you have gone and made
yourself into my responsibility. You decided that I am the
one to be your husband in the future. I have finally accepted this.
And then you stowed away in my truck after I told you not to come. I
can do nothing about that, except to do everything in my power to
ensure that you are not only safe, but also that you can take care of
yourself.
I sighed at this.
“Really... I can't even say that this was a mistake on your part.
That will ultimately be up to you to decide on. But know this, my
tiny love: you have made an extremely adult decision – one that has
extremely adult consequences. Your childhood, such as it was, is
over now. It is time for you to learn to not only fight for yourself
as an adult, but also behave as one. This means learning to not rely
on others as much as you used to, and accepting responsibility for
your decisions.”
As I spoke, Yuki
looked down as she bit her lip, her fumbling movements slowing to a
halt. I know I'm being hard on her, but that's what you do with
someone you love when they do something as monumental as this. I
love her and I honestly wish she hadn't come... I wouldn't have to
make her sad if she hadn't.
I only hoped that
she would grow into a stronger, better person for this.
I sighed and went
to Yuki, taking the bandage from her hands and mildly surprising her
as she looked up at me with wide brown eyes.
“Here,” I said,
as I put the end of the bandage to the middle of her trunk. “You
start at the very bottom of your chest – where you feel the end of
your sternum, your breast bone. Feel it?”
“Yes,” said
Yuki meekly, her cheeks going red.
“Good. Now hold
it with your weak hand... good. Now, take the bandage in your strong
hand here,” I said, offering it to Yuki. She shyly took the
bandage in her left hand. “Now, wrap it around twice in the same
spot – firm, but not tight just yet.”
Yuki nodded and I
spotted her as she went through the process clumsily, but she managed
alright.
“Good. Now,
while still holding the bit that's poking out here at the bottom,
pull the rest tight. Just don't make it too tight – you want to be
able to take deep breaths without any effort.”
She nodded again
and pulled the slack that remained out of the binding.
“Good. Now you
should be able to let go with your right hand and start binding the
rest of your chest. Make three good wraps spiraling up, then three
going down. Keep repeating that until you run out of bandage.”
Yuki went to work
right away. As I thought, getting the binding started was the
hardest part, but once she did everything else came easily.
In minutes, Yuki
was fastening the bandage clips and eying her handiwork in the
mirror.
“I look like a
boy,” she said glumly.
“Gender does not
matter when we are training. Even though there are times when
special consideration must be given to women on the training floor,
we are otherwise all men. Understood?”
Yuki frowned, but
nodded anyhow.
We began our
training once more – Yuki carrying three more kilograms of weights
than she did yesterday. I felt that it was a modest enough increase,
though after the first week or so I may have to cut back on how much
I add. It all depends on Yuki herself and how quickly she is able to
get stronger. With Washu's recovery shakes, who knew for certain?
One thing was for
sure, Yuki was already feeling the burn as I made her go through her
routine. However, there seemed to be a certain glow to her now. I
recognized it – this was the same that she would exhibit during
training with Yosho. She was hitting her stride and even though she
was pushing herself, she was relishing it.
The weights may
not be an issue after all, I thought to myself.
I suddenly realized
that I would have to be careful about her. Yuki, it seemed, was a
girl that liked to push boundaries wherever they may be, and
especially if they stood between her and something she wanted.
I was ambivalent
about this revelation. I found it desirable because she was
obviously a woman that wasn't going to let something stand in her way
when things needed to get done. However, she has already shown that
she'll throw caution into the wind if she wants something badly
enough. Like me for example.
This could be
dangerous.
Someone once said
that there is no such thing as good girls gone bad, just bad girls
found out. I didn't really think Yuki was a bad girl, but with that
sort of mindset a young woman could quickly turn amoral in the blink
of an eye. I would have to find a way to keep her in check –
discipline through physical exertion was obviously not doing it.
(Least of all when they don't have the lingering effects, but
unfortunately I needed her to become strong ASAP.)
Yuki and I slipped
into the cool-down phase and soon she was sipping at her recovery
shake.
And then Sasami
arrived. What was interesting was that she was not wearing any of
her usual at-home or even her traveling clothes. What she had on
more resembled her night clothes, only made of sturdier fabrics.
These appeared to be easy to move in, and tough enough to get tumbled
and rolled around in without ripping or wearing down too easily.
“SASAMI-CHAN!”
cried out Yuki happily as she went charging for her best friend.
I saw it coming
just before it happened. She looked at Yuki with an expression that
combined sorrow with wrath. I inwardly winced. Oh man, this is
gonna be bad!
Crack! Sasami
remained posed in the follow through for a moment while Yuki was left
with her head turned by the force the the slap, a stunned expression
on her face as a reddening mark appeared on her cheek.
“sasami...
chan...” Yuki murmured in shock, completely BSOD'd by the
unexpected act of violence on her person by her best friend and
confidant.
“You lied to me,”
Sasami said quietly.
OH. FUCK.
It took all my restraint not to say that out loud.
“You said you would stay at home,” she said, tears beginning to
stream from her eyes despite the angry expression on her face. “You
promised it so I wouldn't warn Nii-san. But now I see you only made
that promise so I wouldn't say anything.”
“Bu-But Sasami-”
“No!” snapped Sasami angrily, tears still streaming from her
face. “You broke a promise to me! You embarrassed me, you
embarrassed Nii-san, and you've even embarrassed your family! All
because you wanted to be with him.”
“Sasami-chan, I'm so sorry, I didn't think you really meant it this
much. But I understand now-”
“You don't,” Sasami said sadly. “You honestly don't. And you
won't until you finally see what real danger looks like. But that is
why Nii-san asked me to come here. He wants me to teach you how to
protect yourself. Yuki-chan... I am sorry, but you are going to hate
me for what I am going to put you through.”
And then, to my surprise, Sasami pulled out both of her pig tails,
letting her long cerulean hair out into a single, beautiful blue fall
that went clear to her ankles. The two hair ties suddenly
metamorphosed in her hands into long staffs – the spherical
ornaments becoming nobs on the end of each one. She handed one to
Yuki.
“You will use one of mine until Washu makes one for you.”
Yuki accepted the staff. “I won't hate you. I never could. I am
sorry I broke my promise, Sasami-chan. What can I do to make up for
it?”
“Start by surviving,” Sasami said, her voice cold and her eyes
sad.
I thought Minagi had been tough on Yuki. I was dead wrong.
Sasami was brutal. Relentless. Cold. She demanded absolute
perfection of Yuki's technique. Nothing else mattered. If Yuki
moved too fast, Sasami struck. If Yuki moved with too much power
then Sasami would strike. If Yuki was just a hair out of place,
Sasami would land a painful blow.
The movements Sasami was teaching were not complicated. They were
very basic and similar to the sort of movements ballet dancers would
learn. But time was not an ally. Yuki didn't have years to perfect
her technique. She had weeks, if even that. Therefore, Sasami
focused on pure perfection of the technique.
I could see it in her eyes that it hurt Sasami tremendously to do
this to her friend. Every strike, every sharp word, every glare had
those sad eyes. It was something I could sympathize with and I
resolved to spend some time consoling her later on.
However, I saw a strange transformation overcome Yuki. She would not
complain. She would wince at the strikes, and right away she would
try again. There was fire in her eyes, no mistake about that.
Yuki was growing up, and she was going to become an absolutely
breathtaking woman. The Jyuraians would not know what hit them by
the time we got done with her.
Minagi
took over after Sasami pronounced the lesson to be over. While I
went with Sasami to the Mimisaka
to talk with her and help prepare the evening meal, Minagi would give
Yuki her swordsmanship lessons and start on her evening callisthenics
routine.
“How do you think she's doing,” I asked Sasami as we cut
vegetables together.
“She has potential to be great,” Sasami replied. “But I'll
need at least a few weeks with her before she gets real good.
Otherwise, she'll need someone to watch after her.”
I nodded my head at that. “How are you doing?”
Sasami paused for a moment, but then continued cutting. For a long
moment, she said nothing.
“I don't know what to say, Nii-san. I love her like a sister. But
she made a promise and broke it, and I'm so angry at her, but I still
love her. And worse is that she's not even getting angry at me for
hitting her during training! It's like she wants this!”
I sighed. “I know. I know. Sasami-chan, this is tough, but these
feelings are natural when you have someone that you love make a big
mistake and the only way to fix things is to make it real hard on
them for a while. And you're angry and you want them to hurt, but it
just hurts you instead and it's confusing as all hell. Believe me, I
know.”
“But... what about her?” she asked.
I sighed once again. “I've seen her type before, Sasami-chan...
Yuki... doesn't want to be a child anymore. She's done with it. She
will do everything she can so she can be taken seriously as an adult,
because that is all she wants. What's worse is that she probably
understands what that means. She is taking the express lane on the
road to adulthood, and she is not looking back.
“You saw it in her eyes, didn't you? The fire she had in them.”
Sasami nodded. “It was scary and sad... Nii-san... will she be
okay?”
“She probably will. She's just going to be annoyed that her body
won't grow up as quickly as her mind is. Which reminds me...”
“What is it, Nii-san?” asked Sasami nervously as I leveled a
glare at her.
“No more of you and Yuki sneaking Uncle Noboyuki's doujinshi when
we get back home!”
Sasami bowed her head in defeat and Ryoko called out “BUS~TIIIIIID!”
from across the kitchen. Poor Ayeka was completely flabbergasted by
the sudden revelation.
Mihoshi giggled. “Oooh! Sasami-chan's been a naughty girl!”
Washu just smiled and shook her head, muttering, “Kids...”
Ryo-ohki was too busy munching on a carrot to notice.
I came back to the Hinase bearing two bento boxes packed full of food
that Sasami had cooked. Minagi was already finishing Yuki's
cool-down for her second calisthenics routine of the day.
Yuki was bone-tired, but seemed happy about what she was doing.
She was like those few and rare recruits you get in boot camp... the
ones that will eat up every little bit of punishment you throw their
way because honestly, in their heart-of-hearts, they want to be there
and they want to succeed and do not care how far they have to push
themselves to get there.
Even though I remained largely silent about it, it would not cease to
amaze me. Yuki was certainly not afraid of hard work. An
interesting thing coming from a girl that got whatever she wanted.
Or perhaps I was reading this the wrong way? Yuki had been held at
gun-point before, albeit briefly. That kind of thing does tend to
have repercussions on a child's psychology. Was Yuki's desire to no
longer be weak born out of a fear of being helpless? It certainly
was not an unreasonable thing. And if we really weren't taking her
desire to be stronger seriously enough, then I could see how it would
push her to this point.
But the only person that could tell us for sure would be Yuki
herself. And right now was not the time for pop-psychobabble. Her
training came first and foremost.
Coming up next... Landing on the mining world of Yatsuka! We'll see how Garrick livens up the party...
Minagi continued
her family unit thing when it came time for bed. I acquiesced
readily, provided we were all wearing pajamas.
It was an
interesting experience.
I was tired enough
to fall asleep with no trouble, even though I found myself sharing a
bed with two girls, one of whom was underage. However, I did wake up
a few times over the course of the night as Yuki adjusted. Once to
her clinging to me. And again to find that she had switched over to
Minagi. I found it amusing that she had once again buried her face
in Minagi's bust. I began to wonder if she had other bisexual
tendencies or this was just a holdover from her early childhood.
Although, if she actually was bisexual, then it would help to know
before it took us all by surprise and provoke misunderstandings.
Particularly so if she didn't realize it herself.
We woke up the next
morning and it was a repeat of yesterday, save for one small detail.
“Take your time
with it and let yourself figure it out. It's not easy to do on your
own when you're just learning.”
Yuki was fussing
with the ace bandage, trying to bind her own chest today.
“This is so
hard,” she grumbled. “Why do I have to do this?”
“Because your
chest is starting to develop and it's best if you learn how to don
and wear support clothing as early as possible.”
“Can't you help
me?”
“Not this time.
This is part of your training. Besides, you should learn this as
soon as possible so I don't need to help you later on. It's already
an improper situation, even if you have every intention of marrying
me.”
“You could just
have Minagi do this.”
“I won't wake her
for this. She's already helping me enough with your training.
Besides, you are my responsibility. Not hers.”
“But sister-wives
are supposed to help each other, aren't they?”
“They are,” I
allowed. “But, far more importantly, you have gone and made
yourself into my responsibility. You decided that I am the
one to be your husband in the future. I have finally accepted this.
And then you stowed away in my truck after I told you not to come. I
can do nothing about that, except to do everything in my power to
ensure that you are not only safe, but also that you can take care of
yourself.
I sighed at this.
“Really... I can't even say that this was a mistake on your part.
That will ultimately be up to you to decide on. But know this, my
tiny love: you have made an extremely adult decision – one that has
extremely adult consequences. Your childhood, such as it was, is
over now. It is time for you to learn to not only fight for yourself
as an adult, but also behave as one. This means learning to not rely
on others as much as you used to, and accepting responsibility for
your decisions.”
As I spoke, Yuki
looked down as she bit her lip, her fumbling movements slowing to a
halt. I know I'm being hard on her, but that's what you do with
someone you love when they do something as monumental as this. I
love her and I honestly wish she hadn't come... I wouldn't have to
make her sad if she hadn't.
I only hoped that
she would grow into a stronger, better person for this.
I sighed and went
to Yuki, taking the bandage from her hands and mildly surprising her
as she looked up at me with wide brown eyes.
“Here,” I said,
as I put the end of the bandage to the middle of her trunk. “You
start at the very bottom of your chest – where you feel the end of
your sternum, your breast bone. Feel it?”
“Yes,” said
Yuki meekly, her cheeks going red.
“Good. Now hold
it with your weak hand... good. Now, take the bandage in your strong
hand here,” I said, offering it to Yuki. She shyly took the
bandage in her left hand. “Now, wrap it around twice in the same
spot – firm, but not tight just yet.”
Yuki nodded and I
spotted her as she went through the process clumsily, but she managed
alright.
“Good. Now,
while still holding the bit that's poking out here at the bottom,
pull the rest tight. Just don't make it too tight – you want to be
able to take deep breaths without any effort.”
She nodded again
and pulled the slack that remained out of the binding.
“Good. Now you
should be able to let go with your right hand and start binding the
rest of your chest. Make three good wraps spiraling up, then three
going down. Keep repeating that until you run out of bandage.”
Yuki went to work
right away. As I thought, getting the binding started was the
hardest part, but once she did everything else came easily.
In minutes, Yuki
was fastening the bandage clips and eying her handiwork in the
mirror.
“I look like a
boy,” she said glumly.
“Gender does not
matter when we are training. Even though there are times when
special consideration must be given to women on the training floor,
we are otherwise all men. Understood?”
Yuki frowned, but
nodded anyhow.
We began our
training once more – Yuki carrying three more kilograms of weights
than she did yesterday. I felt that it was a modest enough increase,
though after the first week or so I may have to cut back on how much
I add. It all depends on Yuki herself and how quickly she is able to
get stronger. With Washu's recovery shakes, who knew for certain?
One thing was for
sure, Yuki was already feeling the burn as I made her go through her
routine. However, there seemed to be a certain glow to her now. I
recognized it – this was the same that she would exhibit during
training with Yosho. She was hitting her stride and even though she
was pushing herself, she was relishing it.
The weights may
not be an issue after all, I thought to myself.
I suddenly realized
that I would have to be careful about her. Yuki, it seemed, was a
girl that liked to push boundaries wherever they may be, and
especially if they stood between her and something she wanted.
I was ambivalent
about this revelation. I found it desirable because she was
obviously a woman that wasn't going to let something stand in her way
when things needed to get done. However, she has already shown that
she'll throw caution into the wind if she wants something badly
enough. Like me for example.
This could be
dangerous.
Someone once said
that there is no such thing as good girls gone bad, just bad girls
found out. I didn't really think Yuki was a bad girl, but with that
sort of mindset a young woman could quickly turn amoral in the blink
of an eye. I would have to find a way to keep her in check –
discipline through physical exertion was obviously not doing it.
(Least of all when they don't have the lingering effects, but
unfortunately I needed her to become strong ASAP.)
Yuki and I slipped
into the cool-down phase and soon she was sipping at her recovery
shake.
And then Sasami
arrived. What was interesting was that she was not wearing any of
her usual at-home or even her traveling clothes. What she had on
more resembled her night clothes, only made of sturdier fabrics.
These appeared to be easy to move in, and tough enough to get tumbled
and rolled around in without ripping or wearing down too easily.
“SASAMI-CHAN!”
cried out Yuki happily as she went charging for her best friend.
I saw it coming
just before it happened. She looked at Yuki with an expression that
combined sorrow with wrath. I inwardly winced. Oh man, this is
gonna be bad!
Crack! Sasami
remained posed in the follow through for a moment while Yuki was left
with her head turned by the force the the slap, a stunned expression
on her face as a reddening mark appeared on her cheek.
“sasami...
chan...” Yuki murmured in shock, completely BSOD'd by the
unexpected act of violence on her person by her best friend and
confidant.
“You lied to me,”
Sasami said quietly.
OH. FUCK.
It took all my restraint not to say that out loud.
“You said you would stay at home,” she said, tears beginning to
stream from her eyes despite the angry expression on her face. “You
promised it so I wouldn't warn Nii-san. But now I see you only made
that promise so I wouldn't say anything.”
“Bu-But Sasami-”
“No!” snapped Sasami angrily, tears still streaming from her
face. “You broke a promise to me! You embarrassed me, you
embarrassed Nii-san, and you've even embarrassed your family! All
because you wanted to be with him.”
“Sasami-chan, I'm so sorry, I didn't think you really meant it this
much. But I understand now-”
“You don't,” Sasami said sadly. “You honestly don't. And you
won't until you finally see what real danger looks like. But that is
why Nii-san asked me to come here. He wants me to teach you how to
protect yourself. Yuki-chan... I am sorry, but you are going to hate
me for what I am going to put you through.”
And then, to my surprise, Sasami pulled out both of her pig tails,
letting her long cerulean hair out into a single, beautiful blue fall
that went clear to her ankles. The two hair ties suddenly
metamorphosed in her hands into long staffs – the spherical
ornaments becoming nobs on the end of each one. She handed one to
Yuki.
“You will use one of mine until Washu makes one for you.”
Yuki accepted the staff. “I won't hate you. I never could. I am
sorry I broke my promise, Sasami-chan. What can I do to make up for
it?”
“Start by surviving,” Sasami said, her voice cold and her eyes
sad.
I thought Minagi had been tough on Yuki. I was dead wrong.
Sasami was brutal. Relentless. Cold. She demanded absolute
perfection of Yuki's technique. Nothing else mattered. If Yuki
moved too fast, Sasami struck. If Yuki moved with too much power
then Sasami would strike. If Yuki was just a hair out of place,
Sasami would land a painful blow.
The movements Sasami was teaching were not complicated. They were
very basic and similar to the sort of movements ballet dancers would
learn. But time was not an ally. Yuki didn't have years to perfect
her technique. She had weeks, if even that. Therefore, Sasami
focused on pure perfection of the technique.
I could see it in her eyes that it hurt Sasami tremendously to do
this to her friend. Every strike, every sharp word, every glare had
those sad eyes. It was something I could sympathize with and I
resolved to spend some time consoling her later on.
However, I saw a strange transformation overcome Yuki. She would not
complain. She would wince at the strikes, and right away she would
try again. There was fire in her eyes, no mistake about that.
Yuki was growing up, and she was going to become an absolutely
breathtaking woman. The Jyuraians would not know what hit them by
the time we got done with her.
Minagi
took over after Sasami pronounced the lesson to be over. While I
went with Sasami to the Mimisaka
to talk with her and help prepare the evening meal, Minagi would give
Yuki her swordsmanship lessons and start on her evening callisthenics
routine.
“How do you think she's doing,” I asked Sasami as we cut
vegetables together.
“She has potential to be great,” Sasami replied. “But I'll
need at least a few weeks with her before she gets real good.
Otherwise, she'll need someone to watch after her.”
I nodded my head at that. “How are you doing?”
Sasami paused for a moment, but then continued cutting. For a long
moment, she said nothing.
“I don't know what to say, Nii-san. I love her like a sister. But
she made a promise and broke it, and I'm so angry at her, but I still
love her. And worse is that she's not even getting angry at me for
hitting her during training! It's like she wants this!”
I sighed. “I know. I know. Sasami-chan, this is tough, but these
feelings are natural when you have someone that you love make a big
mistake and the only way to fix things is to make it real hard on
them for a while. And you're angry and you want them to hurt, but it
just hurts you instead and it's confusing as all hell. Believe me, I
know.”
“But... what about her?” she asked.
I sighed once again. “I've seen her type before, Sasami-chan...
Yuki... doesn't want to be a child anymore. She's done with it. She
will do everything she can so she can be taken seriously as an adult,
because that is all she wants. What's worse is that she probably
understands what that means. She is taking the express lane on the
road to adulthood, and she is not looking back.
“You saw it in her eyes, didn't you? The fire she had in them.”
Sasami nodded. “It was scary and sad... Nii-san... will she be
okay?”
“She probably will. She's just going to be annoyed that her body
won't grow up as quickly as her mind is. Which reminds me...”
“What is it, Nii-san?” asked Sasami nervously as I leveled a
glare at her.
“No more of you and Yuki sneaking Uncle Noboyuki's doujinshi when
we get back home!”
Sasami bowed her head in defeat and Ryoko called out “BUS~TIIIIIID!”
from across the kitchen. Poor Ayeka was completely flabbergasted by
the sudden revelation.
Mihoshi giggled. “Oooh! Sasami-chan's been a naughty girl!”
Washu just smiled and shook her head, muttering, “Kids...”
Ryo-ohki was too busy munching on a carrot to notice.
I came back to the Hinase bearing two bento boxes packed full of food
that Sasami had cooked. Minagi was already finishing Yuki's
cool-down for her second calisthenics routine of the day.
Yuki was bone-tired, but seemed happy about what she was doing.
She was like those few and rare recruits you get in boot camp... the
ones that will eat up every little bit of punishment you throw their
way because honestly, in their heart-of-hearts, they want to be there
and they want to succeed and do not care how far they have to push
themselves to get there.
Even though I remained largely silent about it, it would not cease to
amaze me. Yuki was certainly not afraid of hard work. An
interesting thing coming from a girl that got whatever she wanted.
Or perhaps I was reading this the wrong way? Yuki had been held at
gun-point before, albeit briefly. That kind of thing does tend to
have repercussions on a child's psychology. Was Yuki's desire to no
longer be weak born out of a fear of being helpless? It certainly
was not an unreasonable thing. And if we really weren't taking her
desire to be stronger seriously enough, then I could see how it would
push her to this point.
But the only person that could tell us for sure would be Yuki
herself. And right now was not the time for pop-psychobabble. Her
training came first and foremost.
Coming up next... Landing on the mining world of Yatsuka! We'll see how Garrick livens up the party...