Chapter Text
There is an unspoken softness about Acheron that Black Swan has never seen before.
As they silently wander about the grounds of her family home, hand in hand, Acheron turns her eyes to the sky. Her face is relaxed, no furrows in her brow-line, or anxiety looming about in her eyes. She trails through the nearly barren peach trees with Black Swan, eyeing the remnants of fruit that linger still. She considers plucking one from a limp branch for a familiar taste of nostalgia.
Black Swan walks up beside her, catching sight of the peach that Acheron is staring longingly at, “…Haven’t you had enough yet?”
Acheron shakes her head, “When it comes to peaches? No. There is never enough.”
Black Swan chuckles as she pulls the strap of her small lavender book bag off of her shoulder and unzips it, rummaging around inside for her phone. She quickly snaps a picture of Acheron gazing lovingly at the peach before she has a chance to look away. Black Swan pulls Acheron in next, linking their arms together and holding her phone up a little further to get one of the peach trees in the shot.
“More documentation of the trip?” Acheron asks, watching Black Swan scrutinize the pictures on her phone to make sure they were satisfactory.
“Hm, not exactly. That’s what those silly photo-booth pictures we took were for.” Black Swan gives her phone to Acheron, “Here, hold onto this for a minute. I want one of myself by the tree.”
Acheron watches Black Swan shuffle her way over to the tree, planting her hands along the base and kicks one of her legs up as she smiles brightly. The silly childishness of it all causes Acheron to chuckle briefly as she snaps the picture and Black Swan comes rushing back over to her to look at it. Finding it to be suitable, she opens up her text messages and searches for Kafka’s name, attaches all three photos and sends them her way. Kafka responds a few minutes later—Gross :). Oh, how she pretended she didn’t love them.
Acheron winds her head around, gazing about the orchard once again before her eye lands on a stump a couple of feet away from them. Her heart tugs in her chest as she looks at it, nothing the purple and tattered ribbon still tied around its base. She glances to Black Swan as she puts her phone away and asks her, “…Would you like to see my father’s favorite tree?”
“The magic one?” Black Swan perks up, “Yes, of course. Where is…”
Acheron silently gestures toward the tree stump a few feet away from them, her expression somber, “A shame you were only able to come to this place long after it stopped blooming and he had to cut it down.” She pauses as she gazes at the remains of the old peach tree, recalling the memories that it once contained, “…You asked me previously why it is that my father referred to me as Mei.”
Black Swan blinks, “And just what does that have to do with this tree?”
“Everything.” Acheron says, before slowly making her way over to the peach tree, knowing that Black Swan will eventually follow. She gazes down at the tattered ribbon fluttering in the air, “…My parents once had a child before they had me. But… it was a stillbirth. My father first planted this tree after my mother lost their first child. Subsequently, it experienced it’s first bloom while she was pregnant with me.”
Black Swan gazes down at the remains of the tree, “…That must have been so hard for them.”
“It was. So much so that my father holds onto her name still—Mei. He still wanted to name me that because, well… even though the first child had already passed on, he believed there was no point in holding onto that loss.” Acheron explains, “But my mother was insistent that the name was cursed, so…”
“You were named Yomi instead.”
“I believe it is a reminder to them of what was lost and what was returned to them a second time. Yomi—it is the name for the land of the dead in our land. I think it’s odd that they chose that name to signify the second child that had lived …but my father still sees me as the only child that he has ever had. And thus, refers to me as Mei when my mother is not around.”
“That must … be confusing at times.”
“He let it slip one day when I was in the beginning of my adolescence.” Acheron explains, folding her arms over her chest, “And when he couldn’t take it back and I pestered him for an explanation. He felt as though I was old enough to know the truth of my name and why things were as they were. Why my mother was so overprotective of me to the point that it could be suffocating at times…”
“And for you to have left them for so long, it must have pained them both a great deal to be away from you. Especially with what was written about you when you…” Black Swan murmurs, leaving her sentence unfinished.
“It is why I never told them the truth about what happened to me and…I don’t think I ever will.” Acheron says, “Some secrets are best kept to oneself.”
“In some ways they are.” Black Swan says, grasping onto Acheron’s shoulder, “But… you’ve told Kafka and I at least.”
“About that, Black Swan…” Acheron glances down at Black Swan’s hand, “I’ve been thinking that I might like to start seeing a therapist when we get back to Penacony.”
“Really?” Black Swan asks, her eyebrows rising.
“Yes.” Acheron nods her head, “We can discuss it when we get back home. But, I feel as though I might fold under the weight of our reality once we get back to Penacony. It might help if I finally… sought help for myself in that respect.”
“That makes me happy to hear and I’ll help you, but...” Black Swan smiles warmly at her, “Don’t worry about that now. We can deal with all of that later.”
“Right.” Acheron glances back at the purple ribbon on the old peach tree and then her eyes flicker back to her parent’s house in the distance, “I think we’ve spent enough time out here. Why don’t we get back to my parent’s and see what they’re doing? Surely, my mother must have finished cutting up those peach slices by now.”
Acheron returns to the house with Black Swan to find Seirei and Miyu sitting in the main room, a plate of perfectly sliced peaches waiting to be devoured on the table.
The conversation continues on as it did before—When will you leave this time? Where have you been already? Has Black Swan been enjoying her time in Izumo? We saw your latest show in Penacony, by the way. You are staying for dinner, aren’t you? Acheron is stiff and controlled as she answers her parent’s questions, neither side knowing quite sure how to act. What to do, what to say.
At some point, Acheron feels a weight dropping over her shoulders and a foreign sort of anxiety settles in on her. Caught in the throes of the moment, a thought encroaches upon her mind and she wonders to herself—Are they truly happy that I have returned? Or will I become a burden to them once more?
She seeks a moment of reprieve with Black Swan as the conversation falls into a quiet lull once more and Acheron glances to the setting sun in the distance. They should go get their belongings from the car and get settled in for a little bit. It’s been a long day of travel for them after all.
Miyu shoos them off without another word, mentioning that she should get started on dinner. Seirei falls back onto the tatami mat and lights another cigarette, giving his daughter a chance to run off for the time being. But, once she got back—how about that drink, my dear daughter?
After they go out to the rental car to retrieve their suitcases, Acheron shyly guides Black Swan toward a room a few doors down from the main room near the genkan. Pinned to the front of the door is a small, crocheted peach. Black Swan doesn’t ask any questions as Acheron opens the door to her childhood bedroom and lets Black Swan enter first.
It’s small and impeccably clean. There’s one window to the side, covered by white curtains, and then a larger sliding glass door that faces the front of the house covered by thick lavender curtains. There’s a table that’s low to the ground underneath the window, flanked at the sides by two identical bookshelves stuffed to the brim with books, with a great deal of purple cushions stuffed underneath. There are a couple of frames on the walls, filled with calligraphy that Black Swan can’t read, but also, pictures of Acheron.
Black Swan immediately gasps, her hands flying to her mouth as she walks over to one of the walls and gestures to a picture of Acheron as a young girl dressed in a bright red kimono, “Look at you and those chubby little cheeks of yours. Oh, you were absolutely precious.”
“I was three. That was taken during my first Shichi-Go-San, as is the other one next to it.” Acheron says, blushing slightly at Black Swan’s cooing and fawning. She nods her head toward the last picture on the wall where she’s older than the other two. Her hair is pulled into an intricately braided bum, pinned with golden ornaments. She wears a dark purple kimono lined with white furs, “That last one was taken on the day of my coming of age ceremony. Right before I left home for the city.”
Black Swan chuckles at the stern look on Acheron’s face in the photo, “Honestly, do you ever smile for pictures, darling?”
“Sometimes.” Acheron says with a flagrant shrug.
Acheron pulls away from the photos and glances about the room, feeling a lingering sense of nostalgia as she stands amidst the remnants of her past. She catches sight of a couple of boxes in the other corner of the room and feels her stomach tighten. And yet, some remnants remained that she didn’t wish to be reminded of.
Ignoring that, Acheron walks across the room to the other side and pushes their suitcases out of the way as she goes. Acheron pushes open the sliding doors to her closet, and Black Swan turns to watch her rummaging around for something. Acheron grunts as she pulls a large folded mattress from off the top shelf—a futon’s shikibuton—and hobbles about with it in her arms as she turns back to where Black Swan is waiting for her.
“I guess I’m getting the true, traditional Izumo experience, aren’t I?” Black Swan asks her as she walks over to Acheron and grasps the other side of the shikibuton to help her with the weight, “We’re going to be sleeping on the floor, huh?”
“As traditional as things get around here.” Acheron says, letting the mattress flop onto the floor. She runs her bare foot along the tatami floor, noting how it remains in good condition despite not having used her room for years, “Guess we should thank my mother for her incessant and impeccable upkeep of this place over the years. I really wasn’t looking forward to getting eaten up by dust mites tonight.”
“Is… that a problem?”
“With tatami? All the damn time.”
“Either way...” Black Swan stands up straight once more, “How are you feeling now?”
“I feel at peace with being here.” Acheron admits, crossing her arms over her chest, “Honestly, things have gone smoother than I thought they would.”
“Your parents are …quite the pair.” Black Swan giggles, “You said they weren’t affectionate in the physical sense, yet they’re obviously very fussy over you.”
“They haven’t seen me for a long time…” Acheron murmurs, “I don’t really know what I was expecting to be honest. I was just hoping I would be able to see them. They’ve honestly surpassed my expectations.” She glances at Black Swan, “Most of all because I brought you along as well.”
“Your father was quite eager to pester me with questions, wasn’t he?” Black Swan smiles, “Perhaps… questioning my intentions with his daughter?”
“That’s more my mother’s deal. My father has always been laid back in that respect.” Acheron blushes slightly at the thought of her mother’s previous words about Black Swan, “But, anyway. That’s enough reminiscing around in here…” She gestures toward the door, “Perhaps, we should go get that drink with my father?”
“We?” Black Swan asks, “I’m quite certain your father explicitly stated that he wished to share a drink with you.”
“You’ll join us though, won’t you?” Acheron asks, a hopeful lilt in her voice and a slight pleading in her eyes. Ah—the wounded puppy look.
Black Swan sighs with a slow roll of her shoulders, “Would you put those puppy dog eyes away? If that’s what you want, I’d be happy to join the two of you.”
Acheron’s expression brightens as she reaches for Black Swan’s hand and drags her out of her room and back into the hallway. As she catches the familiar scent of her mother preparing the dashi stock floating out from the kitchen and her father yelling at something on the TV in the main room, Acheron feels her eyes brimming with tears of the happy sort for a brief moment. She quickly blinks them away as she pulls Black Swan along.
All that time she had spent worrying about what would happen when this day would finally come, honestly…
…What had it all been for?
Acheron lays on her side of the futon, silently staring up at the ceiling of her old room.
How many times had she fallen asleep in this room during her youth? Listening to the distant sounds of her mother singing along to her ryūkōka music, as she entertained her father’s friends on a late summer night? Or perhaps, after a long day of rain and storms, listening to the crickets as they softly chirped and lulled her into sleep?
Or, what of the late nights studying for school, when she was still trying to figure out her future aspirations and dreams. Of which, she didn’t have many. But now, lying here with Black Swan at her side, watching her carefully brush through her hair and braid it down as she prepares for bed, she begins to feel something else.
Acheron turns on her side, sinking into her pillow and tucking her hands under her head. She quietly regards Black Swan as she hums softly to herself. It’s not long until Black Swan realizes that she’s being watched, slowly turning to look over her shoulder at Acheron and smiling warmly at her.
“Yes, my love?” Black Swan asks, “What’s wrong, beautiful? Can’t sleep? Is there something you wish to ask me? Or do you want to just lie there and stare at me all night?”
“You say that as if I won’t do just that.” Acheron responds.
Black Swan chuckles, “And here I thought that I was the one that was always stalking you, but perhaps it’s always been the other way around?”
“You… were stalking me?”
“In the beginning of things, don’t you remember? I wouldn’t leave you alone.”
Acheron smiles, “A good thing you didn’t.”
Black Swan finishes securing the end of her braid with a hair tie and turns around to get underneath the sheets. She leans forward and plants a soft kiss to the tip of Acheron’s nose, “And it’s a good thing you apologized.”
“Hm.” Acheron wrinkles her nose and closes her eyes, “I’ll agree to that.”
“So…” Black Swan begins, “Is there anything special you have planned for tomorrow? We kind of left this leg of our trip up to chance and didn’t really factor anything in…”
“I can take you into town tomorrow and show you some things. There’s not really that much to do around here though….” Acheron replies, “Is there something in particular you were hoping to see?”
Black Swan shakes her head, “No, not really. Whatever you decide to show me is quite fine. As I told you before, I’m here for you—and nothing else.”
“You are… aren’t you?” Acheron murmurs, feeling Black Swan reach underneath the sheets for her hand. She watches Black Swan bring the back of her hand up to her lips and kisses it, “Black Swan?”
“Hmm?” Black Swan murmurs, closing her eyes and brushing her lips against the hardened ridges of Acheron’s knuckles.
“What are you thinking about right now?”
“What am I thinking about? Hmm…” Black Swan lowers their hands down to her pillow and leans in to press a chaste kiss to Acheron’s lips. She pulls back, licking at her lower lip sensuously as her eyes grow hazy, “What am I thinking about? That’s a good question isn’t it, darling?”
Acheron blinks silently, as if she were in a stupor of some sort, “You … want to? In my parent’s house?”
“If I’m being honest, I was more so thinking of taking care of your needs tonight.” Black Swan smiles amorously.
“My needs?” Acheron questions, her eyebrows knitting together, “I don’t…”
“You’re not feeling tense? Finding yourself in need of a gentle touch to help you relax in some way?” Black Swan questions, sliding her hand along the length of Acheron’s arm, “Wound up and in need of release of some sort?”
Acheron lowers her eyes to the hand slowly running up and down her arm, “We’ve… had this conversation before, haven’t we? I don’t really need that in the same way that you do…”
“Neither do I, most days anyway. But, you’re always so focused on giving it to me regardless…” Black Swan hums, “Besides, would it be a problem if we did?”
“Is this your version of talking dirty to me?” Acheron innocently asks, Black Swan’s intentions on setting the mood almost completely flying over her head.
Black Swan hangs her head and sighs, “You know—you can be so clueless at times.” She picks her head back up, frowning, “Should I spell it out for you and tell you directly what I’m in the mood for?”
“That’s… not really setting the mood now is it?”
“You’re impossible, you know that?”
Black Swan gently pulls away from Acheron and reaches around for the sash tied around her waist. Her robe falls open, Acheron sucking tightly on the air in the back of her throat as she finds that Black Swan is completely nude underneath it. She scrambles up to try and close Black Swan’s robe, her cheeks flushing pink. Black Swan smacks Acheron’s hands away, grasping her by the shoulders and eases her back down onto the futon.
“You walked through my parent’s house like that?” Acheron chokes out.
“Oh, relax. The bathroom is literally three steps outside your bedroom door, and they were nowhere in sight.” Black Swan giggles mischievously, “I’m more so surprised it took you so long to figure it out. I thought my peaches were your favorite after all?”
Acheron inhales sharply as she looks down at Black Swan’s breasts and then back up to meet her eyes, “They are, but…” She swallows as Black Swan’s hands slide down from her shoulders and across her abdomen, “…Perhaps my mind was preoccupied with other things.”
“Other things that aren’t me?” Black Swan asks, tutting her tongue at Acheron. She slides her hands underneath Acheron’s long sleeved nightshirt and begins to push it up the length of her torso, “Now that simply won’t do.”
Acheron finds herself obliging wordlessly, raising her arms to allow Black Swan to pull the shirt off. She hears it make a soft thwap as Black Swan flings it off to the other side of the futon and sinks back into the pillow as Black Swan leans down on her. Acheron careens her head upward as Black Swan leans down to kiss her, softly and gently, as she slides a hand down Acheron’s side, gently caressing the skin.
“I want to try something new with you.”
“And that is?”
“I’ll tell you in a second…” Black Swan murmurs, her eyes drifting downward. Her hands tug at the fabric of Acheron’s pajama pants, “May I take these off first?”
“Are you going to keep asking me for permission for things like you did the last time?” Acheron asks, frowning slightly.
Black Swan presses a kiss to the tip of Acheron’s nose, “I want to be gentle with you because I know you need it after all this time. Is it so wrong of me to always make sure you’re comfortable with whatever I do to you?”
“No…” Acheron murmurs, her eyes lowering downward as she feels Black Swan slipping her fingers along the waistband, “…It’s fine. But, what do you want to do?”
“It’s nothing you won’t like.” Black Swan says as she leans back and pulls at the cropped pajama bottoms, “Perhaps a little mixture of something you like to do and something I had you do.”
“Black Swan.” Acheron sighs as she hikes up her hips and shimmies her legs to kick off the pants, “Would you just tell me what it is?”
“No panties, hm?” Black Swan asks, a hint of mirth in her voice, “Almost as if you were anticipating this very moment.”
Acheron huffs as she crosses her arms under her breasts and frowns, “I’m only wearing clothing tonight for the sake of decency. I’ll repeat myself once more—we’re in my parent’s house.”
“So?” Black Swan giggles, reaching down to shimmy her own panties off her hips, “Doesn’t the prospect of getting caught entice you in some way?”
“…Not so much, no.” Acheron says, casting a weary glance toward her bedroom door—a door that doesn’t lock. She turns on her side and looks at the lamp resting on the floor on her side of the futon. Acheron shimmies out from under the duvet just slightly and flicks the switch off, submerging the room into darkness.
“Darling, I wish to see you.” Black Swan sighs, leaning forward on her knees and patting around on the futon in search of Acheron once more.
Her hand lands on one of Acheron’s breasts and she gives it a soft squish, earning her a surprised gasp. She leans back onto her hands, pushing her hips forward as she slides one of her legs underneath Acheron’s. Acheron shirks back just slightly as she feels Black Swan rock her hips forward, before settling down on the futon.
“…You want to scissor with me?” Acheron asks, grabbing hold of Black Swan’s thigh with her right hand as she eases herself up on her left elbow, “Black Swan, I…”
Black Swan shimmies her hips forward again, “Did you need some warming up first?” She tilts her head inquisitively to the side, even though she knows Acheron can barely see her in the darkness, “Even though I’m quite ready, as I hope you can already feel.”
“You always are.” Acheron chuckles lightly as Black Swan grind their hips together, feeling her girlfriend’s telltale wetness brush against her thigh. She sighs, gripping tightly to Black Swan’s thigh as she pushes against her again, “But, I think I might need a little more to go on, if that’s all right…”
“Don’t say such things as if they are a bother to me, darling.” Black Swan chuckles, pulling back slightly, “Go on and lay down. I’ll take care of that for you.”
Acheron flops back onto her back and feels Black Swan disentangle herself from between her legs. Black Swan slowly crawls her way over Acheron, slinking along the length of her body. She leans down, kissing Acheron once more as she slides her hand between them. Her fingers slowly dance along the lower portion of Acheron’s stomach, before reaching down between her legs and cups her gently with her hand. Acheron’s hips buck slightly, turning her head to the side as a low moan escapes from her lips.
“Do not ever feel as if this is like a chore of some kind for me, my love…” Black Swan whispers, as she feels Acheron wrap her arms around her shoulders. Her hand continues to rub the outside of Acheron’s vaginal lips, “Do you still feel as you did before? About me coming inside?”
Acheron pauses for a moment, then slowly nods her head, “I’m sorry. I… can’t…”
“Don’t apologize, silly.” Black Swan hums, pressing a kiss to Acheron’s temple.
She slowly slides her middle finger in, swiping her finger along Acheron’s clit with one long, languid drag. She feels Acheron’s shoulders slump just slightly as she slides her index finger in next, slowly rubbing around Acheron’s clit in slow circles. She hears Acheron moan softly again and hums in satisfaction to herself.
“I love hearing you moan like that.” Black Swan murmurs, feeling Acheron’s hips shift against her hand, “More so, that you have felt safe enough to allow me to be with you like this. And for you, to want me to come to this place that was once so special to you…”
“I love you, Black Swan…” Acheron tightens her hold around Black Swan, her breath shuddering, “I… I…
“And I love you as well.” Black Swan murmurs, brushing her lips against Acheron’s cheek as she feels her hips arch up into her touch. She dips her fingers down slightly as Acheron’s legs widen. A small brush of her index finger near her entrance catches something sticky and slick along the tip. She returns to Acheron’s clit, massaging the sensitive bundle of nerves once more, “Feeling ready yet?”
Acheron shakes her head, “No, not yet…” She needs another moment for her mind to process who’s on top of her right now. To revel in the comfort and safety of Black Swan’s skin pressed against her own, her voice murmuring softly in her ear.
In the deeper recesses of Acheron’s mind, she envisions a version of herself slowly beginning to fade away. A woman with pale skin and even whiter hair, adorned with those cursed red flowers, her red eyes shedding nothing but tears of blood. The woman that hisses at her, that tries to maintain some sense of safety by hurting and destroying others.
The last time that Black Swan had had her like this, it had frightened Acheron so deeply that she never thought she would be able to come back to this place ever again. But, with the softness of Black Swan’s fingers sliding against her, slowly massaging her below—to the butterfly like kisses she presses to the underside of Acheron’s chin—she finds that she craves more of her touch than she believed she ever would.
Acheron raises one of her arms and reaches up to grab the back of Black Swan’s head to pull her in for a kiss. She moans into the kiss as she feels Black Swan’s fingers press down a little harder, her strokes growing a little stronger. Acheron’s toes curl as she feels her lower abdomen growing hotter, another soft whimper escaping out from the back of her throat.
Acheron breaks the kiss, her chest heaving as she pants heavily, “Black Swan…”
“Y… yes, darling?” Black Swan responds, breathing just as heavily.
“I… I’m ready now.” Acheron says, wrapping her arm around Black Swan’s shoulder again and widening her legs further. Her head falls back into the pillow underneath her, “Please… before you start driving me crazy like you always do…”
Black Swan shifts back slightly to grasp for Acheron’s thighs and hike her hips up to meet her at the core. She grinds her hips down against Acheron, relishing in the wetness and soft slick and squelching sound of the two of them pressed together. She leans back down, letting Acheron drop back to the futon.
“Let me know if you want me to stop at any point...” Black Swan whispers into her ear, after pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“You won’t need to…” Acheron whispers back, swiveling her hips up to meet Black Swan’s as she pushes against her again, “Black Swan…” She moans, tightening her hold on the woman above her, bowing her head into her shoulder, “…Black Swan.”
As Acheron moans into Black Swan’s ear again, relishing in the feel of her shifting and sliding against her—something calls her back to reality and her blood runs cold—a gentle knocking on her bedroom door.
“Yomi?” Miyu’s voice calls out to her from behind the closed door, “I thought you and Black Swan might get cold during the night so I brought you a heavier kakebuton for the futon…” She pauses, “Is it all right if I come in?”
Acheron curses under her breath as she quickly shoves Black Swan off of her and scrambles to search for her long sleeved pajama top in the darkness. Black Swan grunts as she falls over onto her side—rude. Acheron finds the shirt by one of the pillows and hastily pulls it over her head. Now then where in the world were her pants?
Black Swan manages to find them first, holding up the silken trousers in one hand as an offering. She silently chucks them Acheron’s way, giggling as she does, “My… caught by the parents, like two teenagers messing around when they shouldn’t be.” She sighs, “How cliched can you get?”
“Shhh.” Acheron hisses through clenched teeth.
“What? It’s not like she can understand me.” Black Swan mutters, flopping back over onto her pillow and pulling her robe together to cinch it closed.
Miyu knocks on the door again when she hears their voices, “Yomi?”
“In a minute, mom.” Acheron answers back, hastily shoving her legs into the pants and hiking her hips up to pull them up. She clears her throat, raking a hand through her hair and hopes that she doesn’t look too suspicious. She leans over to turn on the floor lamp by the futon, “You… you can come in.”
The door opens and Miyu pokes her head in first. She glances at the two other women—Black Swan looking oddly flushed and Acheron having trouble with keeping her poker face on—before opening the door wider. She pauses in the doorframe, cradling the folded over duvet in her arms, “I’m sorry. Did I disturb something?”
Acheron shakes her head, choking on her words, “N… no. We were… j—just getting ready to go to sleep.”
Black Swan sits up in bed at Acheron’s side, waving good-naturedly at Miyu. Acting innocently, as if she hadn’t just had her daughter pinned underneath her, rutting her hips against her with wild abandon. She stays silent though, watching on in amusement as Acheron’s panic steadily grows and she remains blissfully lost in translation.
“Is that so?” Miyu asks, her eyebrows knitting together in curiosity. She glances at Black Swan again, “Then why is she smiling so much? Like the two of you were doing something you weren’t supposed to be?”
“Mom.” Acheron wheezes, “Please. Like I said, we were just getting ready for bed.”
“You know, I accept you for who you are. But, I still remain old fashioned in some respects.” Miyu says, walking into the room and over to the futon, “But, I’ve always known you to be an honest girl, so I will take your word for it.”
Acheron looks up at her mother as she stands beside the futon, “…What?”
“Aren’t you going to get up so I can fix things up for you?”
“It’s all right. You can leave the duvet for us and I’ll put it on properly. I haven’t forgotten, don’t worry.”
Miyu presses her lips together into a pout, “Won’t you allow me to look after you for just a little while? It’s been so long after all.”
“Mom. I appreciate it, but you should go back to Papa and get some sleep. You’ve done more than enough for us tonight.” Acheron tries to reason with her.
Miyu sighs, glancing at Black Swan and then Acheron, “All right, all right…” She leans over and deposits the kakebuton on the floor, “But just remember if you should think otherwise—these walls are thin, and I can hear everything.”
“Mom.”
“Good night.” Miyu says to Black Swan, her smile oddly saccharine despite her previous words to Acheron. She looks knowingly at Acheron one last time, before she turns on her heel and makes her way across the room toward the door.
“Good night, Miyu.” Black Swan says as Miyu pauses at the door to look at them one last time. After Miyu lets herself out and the door closes behind her, Black Swan giggles mischievously, “…She knew what we were doing. Didn’t she?”
Acheron groans as she flops back down onto her back. She reaches up to fist her hands into her bangs and lets out an anguished sigh as she rolls over onto her side. “…I wish we had brought the strap so I could punish you right now.”
“That wouldn’t do any good, now would it?” Black Swan hums sweetly as she sidles up against Acheron and places a hand on her shoulder, “Do you really wish me to announce to the whole house what we’re doing?”
Acheron drops her hands from her face, turning to look over her shoulder to silently glare at Black Swan.
“Oh… that look. It’s been a long time since you’ve looked at me with those eyes.” Black Swan presses a cheeky kiss to Acheron’s temple, “Relax now, would you?”
“How can I when all I can think about right now is my mother pressing her ear to the door to make sure we’re not in here fucking one another?”
Black Swan shrugs her shoulders, rising up to crawl over Acheron and reach for the floor lamp once more. She giggles again when she feels Acheron smack a heavy hand against the ass—more so out of frustration than anything else. Black Swan flicks the light off, submerging the room into darkness once more. She returns to Acheron, pressing a kiss to her cheek, before settling between her legs and grasping the waistband of her pajama pants to pull them off again.
“Well then, I might be a problem with how loud I can be… but you know how to keep quiet, don’t you?”
There’s not much time to explore Acheron’s hometown in its entirety with the two and a half days left in their visit to Izumo, but Black Swan and Acheron make the most of what little time they do have.
Their first adventure comes about when Black Swan awakens on the first morning in Acheron’s childhood bedroom to see something dark, large and brown scaling along the ceiling. At first, she thinks it’s a part of the woodwork of the ceiling.
But, then the aforementioned brown thing spreads its wings and zooms across the room to latch onto the lavender curtains covering the sliding door in Acheron’s room and Black Swan screams.
Acheron wakes up, bleary eyed and confused as she feels Black Swan panicking and roughly shaking her shoulder to rouse her. Black Swan pulls the duvet over her head and whines—Cockroach. On. The. CURTAINS—and Acheron calmly turns to look at what’s gotten her in such a tizzy. She grimaces slightly at the sight of the roach—Ah, hello old friend.
In lieu of bug killing spray, Acheron glances about her current surroundings, looking for something to kill the disgusting bug with. She pushes her way out of the futon and crawls over to one of her bookshelves, finding an old paperback textbook with little use to her now.
Black Swan squeals as she pokes her head out of the duvet, watching Acheron calmly walk across the expanse of the room and slam the book down on the roach before it even has a chance to fly away. Black Swan squeaks once more in disbelief as Acheron pulls back the curtains and unlocks the sliding doors to sweep the dead roach outside and out of sight. She glances at the textbook in her hands and shrugs, chucking it outside on the deck and makes a note to discard it later.
After the excitement fades and Acheron calms Black Swan down—Look, it’s just an unfortunate reality of living in the countryside. Go back to sleep, it’s fine—they fall asleep for a little while longer. Miyu comes knocking on Acheron’s bedroom door an hour later, rousing them again, and lets them know that she’s made breakfast. Acheron reluctantly opens her eyes once again at Black Swan’s behest. They should go join her parents and eat with them after all.
Acheron sits at the kitchen table, still groggy and barely awake, as Black Swan plays her role of a dutiful future daughter-in-law and helps Miyu with orienting the food and dishes on the table. Seirei comes in a moment later, a folded newspaper in his hand and an unlit cigarette stuck behind his ear. As Miyu stands in front of the rice cooker, loading up four bowls of rice onto a tray, he greets her with a tiny smack on her ass and a lecherous grin.
Miyu swats at his hand, telling him to go sit at the table with his lethargic daughter and to behave. Black Swan catches the small exchange just as she sets a bowl of miso soup down in front of Acheron and smirks at the sheepish look on her sleepy girlfriend’s face. Seems like the peach didn’t fall far from the tree, now did it?
Once the remaining dishes have been set—with Acheron finally waking up when she sees the shiozake appearing before her eyes—a small appreciation for the food is said and breakfast is fit to be consumed.
Black Swan silently observes the family as they eat their meal. Acheron is a near replica of her father. From the way that she holds her bowl of rice in one hand, hunched over the table as she rips into the salted salmon as if it were her last meal. Miyu is more reserved, silently watching her daughter for a moment and wincing slightly at the ferocity in which she eats breakfast.
“Born of my beauty, you may be… yet you still remain the same after all this time.” Miyu murmurs, bringing her bowl of miso soup slowly to her lips to take a sip. She casts a sideways glance at Seirei as he throws his head back and inhales his bowl in one gulp, “Just like your father in every respect…”
Acheron stops shoveling rice into her mouth, her eyes flickering up to meet her mother’s, “It’s good.”
Seirei laughs beside Miyu, “Leave her alone, Miyu. Where’s the harm in showing appreciation for cooking as delectable as yours?” He shovels a hunk of rice into his mouth, “Which reminds me—“
“Chew and swallow first—then you may speak.” Miyu snaps, as particles of rice fly from Seirei’s mouth. She glances at Black Swan and watches her slowly lifting her bowl of miso soup to her lips and then at Acheron, “Do you see how politely Black Swan is eating? Why can’t you do the same?”
“I’m hungry.” Acheron replies, shoveling more rice into her mouth.
Black Swan hears her name in the exchange, looking expectantly at Acheron for a translation, “Is something wrong?”
Acheron sets her bowl of rice down on the table and settles her chopsticks over it, “She’s complaining that I’m eating too fast. Says I should be more like you.”
Black Swan glances at Miyu and laughs gingerly, Miyu smiling at her in return, “I mean… it wouldn’t hurt to slow down just a tiny bit, would it? It isn’t going anywhere after all?”
“Nonsense!” Seirei slams his hands down on the table and holds his empty bowl of rice out for Miyu to take, “Let the girl eat!”
Miyu slowly gets up with a roll of her eyes and walks back into the kitchen area to go retrieve some more rice from the rice cooker. She comes back over to the table and sets it down at his side, before settling back into her seat. She smiles warmly when she sees Black Swan picking up a piece of tamagoyaki from a side plate and a pleasant expression of surprise comes to her face. She silently goes back to eating her meal, mentally ticking off her checks of approval in her mind.
“And yet even with how polite she may be while sitting at our table…” Miyu says, picking up her bowl of rice and casting a knowing glance at Acheron as she takes a sip of her cold barley tea, “I know that you did not listen to the words that I had for you last night.”
Acheron chokes, sputtering on her tea and turning away to start coughing to clear her airways. Black Swan startles, setting her chopsticks down and worriedly pats her on the back. Seirei lets out a loud guffaw, more food flying from his mouth as he can’t control his laughter. Miyu sighs, shaking her head—Children.
After breakfast has been consumed and Acheron burns under the strength of her mother’s knowing gaze, Seirei goes off to the main room to smoke a cigarette and read his newspaper. Black Swan hangs back, helping Miyu to clear the dishes on the table, while Acheron goes off to join her father in the main room. They sit in companionable silence as they’ve always have—Seirei grumbling to himself as he flips through the newspaper and Acheron catches up on things from the morning news on the TV.
Something comes on that piques her interest when the news switches to less informative topics and turns to something a little more… familiar. The picture pans to the scene from last night—a woman in a wheelchair being wheeled out of the doors of the airport into a swarm of photographers and flashing camera lights.
The security that surrounds her pushes against the photographers as they shout at her—IX, IX, IX—and usher her toward a sleek black jeep, waiting on the curbside. The news quickly flickers to another snippet, an interview with Sparkle in front of a host of journalists talking about IX and her days at Nihility. Seirei looks up from his newspaper when he notices Acheron turning the volume up on the TV as the reporter begins talking about IX again.
…Ne, isn’t that that old designer you once worked for, Mei?
Acheron’s only confirmation is a slow nod of her head. Seirei grumbles as he returns to his newspaper—A damn good thing those days are over. She glances to her father, worrying her teeth along her bottom lip as her stomach begins to feel hollow. A damn good thing indeed.
Miyu comes into the room with a shopping list for Acheron while Black Swan has gone back Acheron’s room to go change. Seirei wants to have a barbecue that night to celebrate Acheron’s return home. Miyu can already see the protest beginning to build as Acheron opens her mouth, but Miyu shakes her head—she will hear none of it. Acheron didn’t think she could just wordlessly show up after being gone for so many years and get by that easily, did she?
No, Acheron. You will go into town and go shopping with Black Swan. And be quick, there is much that I need to prepare. Acheron begrudgingly takes the paper list from her mother without another complaint and goes to get ready as well.
They drive back into town, passing by the sprawling hillsides of farmland and tiny houses. Black Swan turns her eyes to the sky and notes that the sun seemed to be coming in a little more clearly than it had before. Perhaps, the sun would come out soon and clear away the overcast skies? Acheron snorts, shaking her head at the thought. One could only hope.
They got to the supermarket and make their way through the extensive list that Miyu had given to Acheron. A few faces recognize her in the store, giving her a small smile and a curt nod, as so not to disturb her in her paces. They stay in town for a little while longer after they’re done with their grocery shopping, with Acheron pointing out what little there is to see. They stop into a little cornerstone that Black Swan refers to as charming, to pick up some more nicknacks for the barbecue that night. Sparklers, remnants of the last vestiges of summer.
The tense atmosphere from before gives way to a festive and slightly more boisterous occasion, as the evening slowly rolls on into the night. Seirei invites some of his old workers over for the occasion and Acheron gives their young children sparklers to run about and play with. Miyu takes delight in Black Swan helping her prepare the food once again, giving Acheron another knowing look—a sign of slowly budding approval.
Acheron catches a firefly in her hands and sits down beside Black Swan as she’s playing with a child holding onto a sparkler. She doesn’t say anything, already knowing she has Black Swan’s attention as she holds out her hands toward her. She slowly opens them, letting the firefly float back into the night, glowing softly as it flitters away.
As the child becomes distracted and proceeds to run after the firefly, Acheron tells her—We have always thought them to represent the souls of those who wander… of our loved ones who have long since departed. She tilts her head to the side—And perhaps, I too know what that feels like in some respect, but… but, she was home now. And Acheron wouldn’t have to worry about such things any more.
The day passes again and Black Swan and Acheron make way for town once more. They take a walk around, sampling the delights of the local cuisine. Acheron is surprised to find a small, newly built Game Center near the center of town and drags Black Swan in before she can even tell her no.
She loses time to the UFO catchers, the rhythm and racing games. Black Swan tries to join her in whatever capacity she can, but she’s not good at these things at all. They leave the arcade with souvenirs in tow—more horrendous pictures from those cutesy photo-booth’s that Black Swan had come to like, and two oddly shaped “origami bird” stuffed toys that Acheron had won at the UFO catchers. As they sit in the car, preparing to drive back to Acheron’s parent’s house, Black Swan takes a scrutinizing look at the plush toys. Was she going crazy… or did these particular ones resemble her and Acheron in some way?
After searching through boxes of old memorabilia and reliving the memories of her childhood—maybe we should take that kendama back with us so you can practice some more, Black Swan—Miyu knocks on the door to Acheron’s bedroom as the early evening approaches. They don’t have much time left in Izumo, but she would like to bond with her daughter—and future daughter-in-law, hehe—in whatever possible before they have to leave for Penacony.
Miyu smiles devilishly at her daughter and Acheron already knows she’s about to be set up for another round of maternal mental anguish. The nights have been getting colder around here as of late and the water heater is acting up once again. It’s far too late to go out to the mountains and book a night at an inn for the night and go to an onsen… so why don’t we go to the sento instead?
Miyu is fucking with her—Acheron knows she is. The damn water heater was working just fine that morning, what in the world had changed? Yet, Black Swan, caught in the perpetual loop of being on the outside innocently asks Acheron what the two of them are talking about and Acheron grumbles out what the problem seems to be. Black Swan doesn’t even care to question Miyu’s supposed lies and she springs up in a heartbeat, ready to go on their purported trip to the sento.
Acheron winces as she tells her—But, it’s a public bath. Are you sure you want to go to a public bath with my mother? Black Swan doesn’t understand Acheron’s hesitation when she tells her, why not? Where was the harm in catching a small glimpse into Izumo culture that was so foreign to her own?
A half hour later, Acheron finds herself behind the wheel of the rental car, Black Swan up front with her in the passenger seat and her parents safely tucked away in the back. Seirei chuckles as he catches Acheron’s eye in the rearview mirror—A shame about the water heater, hm?
When they arrive at the sento, Seirei disappears to the male side of the establishment and Miyu links her arms with Black Swan and tugs her forward to female side. Acheron grumbles under her breath as she follows the two of them, praying for death to come swiftly.
And yet, the night at the sento passes on without much disturbance at all. Towels are shed, a lingering gaze here and there, but no mentions about a certain Penacony-born lady’s peaches are made that night. They leave the sento, warmed and relaxed from luxuriating in the baths for just one night.
As they retire to the futon once again for a night’s rest, Acheron listens to the calming chirp of the early autumn crickets just beyond her window, with Black Swan cuddled up against her side. She looks down at the woman draped over her, her silhouette illuminated by the moonlight that shines brightly through the gaps in the curtains on the other side of the room. Acheron brushes away the hair that falls into Black Swan’s face and presses a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead, before pulling her in a little more tightly.
Thank you… She whispers to the ears of those who only know the deep slumber of dreams… Thank you for being the one who would finally give this back to me.
On the last day before they return to Penacony, the week of eternal rain and grey skies finally subsides.
Black Swan wakes up to find herself alone on the futon. She pats around at Acheron’s side, before pushing the heavy duvet from her shoulders and finds Acheron standing by the sliding glass doors on the other side of the room. Acheron turns to look over her shoulder at Black Swan, gesturing toward outside. Why don’t they go outside and walk about the orchard again for a little while? After all, in Izumo, you never knew when you were just a moment’s away from losing the light of the sun.
They sit on the engawa outside of Acheron’s old room, drinking hot barley tea from ceramic mugs. Acheron regales Black Swan with more stories of her childhood as they listen to the calls of the crows in the distance. How she would wake up before it was time to get ready for school to sneak outside and watch her father tend to the orchard with his workers at the peak of selling season. The smells of her mother’s cooking—rice, miso soup, roasted fish, and tamagoyaki—would fill the house, calling for Acheron as soon as breakfast was done.
It is a simple ritual, but these are memories that bring a lingering sense of nostalgia to her heart. A fondness for what Acheron left behind when she departed the rural countryside for the steel and towering buildings of the city. When she was still referred to as Yomi by her mother. When Mei, the name that her father wanted her to be known by, was still secretly used between them.
They finish their tea and Acheron grasps Black Swan’s hand, pulling her into the orchard. They slowly make their way through the mud and sopping wet soil, still damp with rain that the oversaturated earth can no longer contain. Acheron appears to be looking for something as they slowly make their way through the trees. Even though most of them dead are rotting, no longer capable of producing fruit or flowers.
Yet, there are still a few that cling to life. Producing peaches every other season that her father carefully plucks from their withering branches and stores to ship away or eat. Acheron’s eyes brighten when she sees a peach lingering on a branch, rushing forward to claim it before it disappears.
“You’ve already had a taste of them before, but I always believe these peaches are best when freshly plucked from the trees.” Acheron holds it out as an offering to Black Swan, “I don’t need it anymore. But, I think …there might be a little magic still left in there for you.”
Black Swan accepts the peach from Acheron and takes a bite out of the soft pink fruit. Her eyebrows shoot up as the flavor hits her tongue. Mmm. She takes another bite, chewing a little faster as the juices flood her mouth. She swallows, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
“Good, right?” Acheron asks, “Take another bite. Go on.”
“Acheron, this is delicious.” Black Swan hums happily, “…What is this?”
“That’s the shimizu hakuto I once told you about—my favorite type of peach.” Acheron answers warmly, watching Black Swan as she takes another bite, “The most divine thing on this earth …that you will ever eat.”
-fin.