Lost to the War

Natalia looked into his eyes as her hand stroked his face. Then it slid down to his shoulder, before running down his arm. Then she ran her fingers all the way back up to his shoulder. She did this a couple times, before moving on to the other arm. Janek realised she was helping him wash. Not wanting to leave her out, he ran his hands up and down her spine, over the fabric of her slip. Slowly, they began to drop lower, down to the curve of her ass. He massaged her cheeks, running his hands over the soft flesh reverently. Natalia had moved to his neck by now. Janek's hands slipped underwater, under the hem of her slip, so tantalisingly close to her sex. A soft sigh escaped Natalia's lips as his fingers brushed the underside of her loin. But for now, he was content with grabbing great handfuls of her ass, kneading them, massaging them.

Satisfied that she was done washing his torso, Natalia spun around in Janek's grip, until her back was pressed to his chest. Janek's hands now rested on the tops of her thighs. Natalia took his hands in hers and gently brought them up to her breasts. Janek lifted and pushed them up together, getting a feel for their heft. They were certainly much bigger than he had imagined. Natalia's dresses hid their true swell very well. She reached her arms behind her, encircling his neck, as Janek began to knead the pale flesh. Her ass pressed into his crotch insistently. A light moan escaped her throat as Janek's fingers found her nipples.

For Janek, this was the polar opposite of his first time. It was daylight instead of night, a river instead of an alley, the sweet scent of perfume filling his nostrils instead of the stench of piss... but suddenly, doubt clouded his mind.

Natalia was... the enemy

He had been told about the wickedness of her people, their atrocities drilled into his head. He had been shown photos of houses blown up, burnt to the ground, bodies laying scattered about the front lines, of men hanging, of women raped and children maimed. He had pledged to protect and serve his country, no matter the toll or the personal cost... and here he was, his hands roaming the enemy's body, her flesh pressed against his so wantonly, her hands around his neck...

Janek twitched. Natalia yelped and broke free of him. She turned around to face him, her arms crossed over her breasts, an expression of shock on her face. Both of them stared at each other, panting. When Natalia uncrossed her arms, Janek saw that the front of her slip was ripped open, from the neck almost all the way down to her navel. When he looked back at her, there was a coy smile on her face.

"You need to calm down." She said, breathily. She took a hold of the straps of the slip and slid them off her shoulders, before pulling her arms through the arm-holes. Her weighty breasts hung under her chest, jiggling lightly as she bent over to peel the garment off her body, sliding it down her legs. She stepped out of it. The current carried the unsecured slip away from under her, but she didn't even seem to notice. Her wet skin glistened in the golden light of dawn. Tiny rivulets ran down from her neck, over her sides, over her belly and her wide hips and the puff of auburn hair over the mound between her legs, before meeting the river again.

Natalia took a step towards him. Janek, still unsure, took a step back.

"Just breathe..." she cooed to him, before taking another step. Janek's fists clenched by his sides.

"Breathe Stejpan, breathe"

He let her approach him. She moved catlike, her torso seemingly gliding on the water. When she got to within a couple inches from his face, she raised her arms and, with both hands, cupped his cheeks. Looking into his eyes, Natalia pulled her face close to his, until their lips were a hair's breadth apart. Her eyes dipped low and she brushed his lips with hers. It was so soft that it felt like someone playing a feather over his lips, but it didn't feel ticklish. Natalia did it again, lingering a bit more this time. And again, more insistently. Janek felt his resolve breaking. He felt her mouth press against his, her lips parted this time. He could almost feel the warmth that lay just beyond her lips. His heart was beating a mile a minute. Confusion clouded his mind. A sweltering fire was burning in his loins, the river doing nothing to quench it. When Natalia made to kiss him again, he grabbed her wrists, pulling away with a grunt. She stared at him, a concerned look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "Tell me if something's wrong"

She found her companion breathing raggedly, a torrent of emotions raging over his boyish face. His hands were wrapped around her wrists like twin vices. He was hurting her.

"Stejpan, talk to me. Please."

He bent his head and mumbled something.

"What? What did you say?" she implored, bending over slightly to search his eyes.

"Janek." He said through clenched teeth. "Not Stejpan."

Natalia was confused.

"Not Stejpan?"

Janek finally met her eyes. He shook his head.

"You're... Janek?"

He clenched his jaw and looked at her. His throat bobbed. Natalia understood.

"Okay." She said. "Janek. You're Janek."

He let go of her wrists, revealing crimson marks he had left on them. Before Natalia could nurse them, he wrapped his arms around her and planted his lips on hers.

"Mmmff!" Natalia grunted. But Janek had her pinned to him, kissing her fiercely. A moment later, Natalia kissed him back. Her hands slid up his forearms, holding on to his biceps. She relaxed and gave herself to him. Janek kissed her hungrily, wanting to savour the taste of her mouth. His hands ran frenziedly over the soft flesh of her back. His cock pressed into her belly through his underwear. For a while, the sound of the rushing water was drowned out by their heavy breathing.

When they parted, they were both panting. Both of them had an uncertain expression on their faces. Janek's was borne out of conflict. Natalia's was borne out of surprise, and a lingering doubt. But she was the first to smile. After a long moment, Janek smiled back.

"Janek... I don't know what to say." She said, stroking his arms. "That came out of nowhere."

She saw darkness creep across his face again.

"It wasn't bad!" she added hurriedly. "Just... caught me by surprise."

She reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Do they teach you how to kiss like that in the military?" she asked, bashfully. That got a grin out of him. He bowed his head and kissed her again. His hands slid up her sides and grabbed one breast each, kneading, massaging, caressing the pliant flesh in big handfuls. Natalia moaned in his mouth. She let him explore her body. She marvelled at how tight and muscular his arms felt under her fingertips, like they were made of solid bark. Her thoughts then drifted down to something else that felt like solid bark, pressing up against her. She moaned again. His teasing of her breasts was driving her crazy. Her whole body was bubbling with an energy she hadn't felt in a long while. Natalia realised she needed a release, soon. She pulled back from their kissing after a minute, her eyes regarding him hungrily. Her hands slipped down to the front of his crotch.

"I want you."

She whispered, running her fingertips over the wet cloth that barely concealed his manhood.

"Please."

Janek stared into her eyes. He let go of her and began pulling his underwear down his legs. Just like Natalia's slip, he let the current claim it. His member throbbed and twitched in the water. Natalia took a step back, pulling him by his hand.

"Here."

She led him out of the water, towards the picnic cloth she had laid out earlier. She picked up a towel and dried him off. Then she picked up another one and handed it to him, so he could return the favour. Natalia smiled at the almost reverent care he took of her body as he ran the towel over her skin. When he was done, he threw the towel over his shoulder. Natalia turned away from him and got down on all fours on the picnic mat. She could see his shadow looming over her as she turned on her side and laid on her back. She looked up at him, the sun behind him throwing a shadow over his face. She pulled her ankles up to her ass and spread her knees. Even though she couldn't see Janek's face, she felt her examining her body, taking it all in. She felt his eyes brushing over her every curve, every inch of skin, every rise and dip in her flesh. The thing bubbling inside her was close to boiling over.

"Don't make me beg." She whispered to him.

Janek kneeled in front of her. His hand wrapped around the base of his cock. He leaned over her, supporting himself on one arm, as the other guided his sex to her entrance. He slipped the first few times, sending electric jolts all over Natalia's body. She gasped loudly when he finally entered her. Natalia grabbed his arms and moaned, urging him. Janek began thrusting into her, as nature had taught him.

"Mmmhhhhh!" Natalia groaned under him.

Her eyes closed and her face turned to the sky. Her body shook with Janek's each thrust. She bit the inside of her lip and savoured the feeling which she hadn't felt in years. She knew how much Janek's body excited her, yet she couldn't help but marvel at how wet she was. His cock slipped in and out of her sex with almost no resistance. When Janek leaned down and kissed her, bolts of electricity arced between her lips, her nipples and the crown of her sex. She opened her eyes briefly and saw the hunger in his eyes, his primal response to seeing a woman opened up to him. It thrilled her, seeing the intensity with which he wanted to consume her with his member. Janek's fingers dug into the picnic cloth under her, just as Natalia's finger's dug into his arm, leaving bright red marks on his unblemished skin. Natalia's eyes winced shut as his member found a particularly delicious spot, and she gasped again.

"Gyaahhhhhh!"

Natalia felt Janek's ragged breath on her skin. She knew he must be close. She reached a hand between them, placing a hand on his hip. Her other hand she placed on his chest.

"Hey... hey....." she panted. She could feel his heart hammering away in his chest, under her fingertips. "Slow down..."

Janek was in a trance. He either couldn't hear her, or he didn't understand what she was saying, as he continued to pound away between her folds.

"Janek... Janek, listen to me." Natalia's hand came up from Janek's him to his face. She caressed the side of his jaw.

"Janek..." she repeated. "Janek"

Natalia saw Janek's eyes clearing.

"You need to slow down."

Janek paused, mid thrust. It took all of Natalia's self-control to not dig her nails into the side of Janek's face. He stared at her with a confused expression on her face.

"No no don't stop!" Natalia said, her eyebrows knotted in an expression of need. "I just need you to slow down. You have me for as long as you want." She cooed to him, stroking his cheek.

"I don't want you to... lose yourself yet."

Janek saw Natalia smile at him, and he nodded, understanding. He bent his elbows and lowered herself onto her. Natalia's hands slid down his back as his chest pressed into hers, and found their way between his shoulder blades. With his cock now sunk all the way in her, their loins came together. Natalia felt his crotch rubbing up deliciously against her sensitive nub which sat on top of her sex. More intimate than he had ever been to a woman in his life, Janek kissed Natalia and resumed thrusting.

The two lovers lay entwined on the river bank, groaning into each other's mouths. The sun shone on their bodies, painting them in a golden, glistening sheen. Not too far away, Piotr's tractor roamed the fields, beginning the season's harvest. Natalia's slip would be found washed up the river bank later that afternoon by a little girl, who would run red-faced to tell her mother. Janek's briefs would come to be tangled up in some branches under a bridge. No-one would pay any attention to it, thinking it to be just a rag. His boots which he had lost the day before would stay claimed by the river water for the next few decades, before being dredged up. No one would find any evidence of their coupling, or any evidence of their existence at all - except for unmarked gravestones down the line. But for that brief time on that morning, Janek and Natalia felt like they were the only souls who existed in the universe, connected in a single dream.

Natalia felt herself slipping over the edge. Her fingers dug into Janek's back, almost as if to keep her from falling. For a fraction of a second she thought she could stay in this limbo between the solid ground and the emptiness of the air forever. But then a massive tremor erupted between her legs, and she accepted the void.

Janek felt Natalia beginning to spasm under her. She pulled him to her flesh in a frenzy. Her sex clamped his member like a vice, giving him the push that sent him hurtling over the edge with her. His balls drew up and a moment later a volcano erupted in his loins. He vaguely felt Natalia gasping and moaning against his mouth... but then he wasn't sure who he was hearing. His body went completely rigid and his breath caught in his throat as he pumped his hot seed into Natalia's belly. His senses narrowed down to a fine point at the base of his sex. He floated in that void for what seemed like days.

Natalia was the first to emerge from the dark. As her senses returned to her, she felt the last twitches of Janek's member inside her. With her eyes still shut, she felt Janek's head resting in the crook of her neck. Somewhere along the way, his fingers had intertwined with hers and pulled her arms behind her head, where they now rested. She felt the thudding of her heart in her chest, and a short distance away, she felt Janek's heart doing the same. Her toes, curled up on the picnic blanket next to Janek's knees, straightened up. The muscles in her thighs relaxed and she let her feet slide down the cloth, straightening her legs. She felt aglow, a lightness enveloping her body that almost lifted her back off the ground. An indeterminate time later, she felt Janek coming back down as well. Natalia showered his neck and the side of his face with kisses. Eventually, when he lifted his head off his shoulder to look at her, Natalia saw Janek smile, and thought that it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long while.

***

Epilogue:

Piotr returned home just after noon to get his lunch. Natalia was downstairs, humming a song unknown to him as she made him a sandwich of cold-cut meat. There was a slight smile on her face, a breeze in her manner. He was expecting himself to get into a raging temper at the sight of her, but seeing his daughter looking... happy after such a long time gave him pause. He listened to her tell him excitedly about the cabaret last evening, but didn't press her about what she did later that night or where she spent it. When he enquired about Stejpan, he saw, for a brief moment, a confused look cross her face. She quickly composed herself and replied that Stejpan had indeed come along with her and her friends to the cabaret, and that he had enjoyed himself. She left it at that. Janek came downstairs just as Natalia was clearing her father's plates from the table. Piotr saw a brief look pass between the two of them, and for the rest of the time that he was in the kitchen, neither Janek nor Natalia looked at or spoke to each other in his presence. Piotr quizzed Janek about the cabaret, but as usual couldn't get more than nods and shakes of head from the young man. When Piotr asked if he could come to the field to help out, Janek nodded again.

The two men toiled in the field throughout the afternoon and the early evening. As they walked back to the house, spent, sweating, Piotr brought out his hip flask and, after taking a swig from it, passed it to Janek. Janek thirstily took a large gulp, but the next moment went red in the face and began coughing. Piotr laughed and clapped his back.

"That's a homebrew. So strong, it'll make you grow hairs under your eyelids." He grinned, watching Janek try not to throw up. Piotr could smell the fumes from the flask from half a dozen feet away.

"My father gave me my first taste when I was fourteen. I almost choked. I swore off it that very day. Didn't find the original recipe till Natalia was four and ten years old. The alcohol went down a lot easier then, especially with the tantrums she used to throw at home."

He saw Janek pause and take another tentative sip. He grimaced as the spirit went down his throat, but didn't give the flask back.

"Starting to like it, are you?" The old man asked. Janek smirked and looked down at the ground.

"Well try not to get drunk before we get back home. I can smell dinner already."

Soon the scent wafted into Janek's nostrils as well. His stomach rumbled and he realised how hungry he was. When the house came in sight, the old man looked puzzled.

"She didn't turn the lights on yet?"

The building was dark. No lights glowed on the exterior, nor the interior for that matter. The two went up the porch steps. Piotr opened the door and stepped in, followed by Janek.

"Natalia!" he called out. There was no response.

"Has she gone off to the town again?" He wondered out loud, sounding irritated. The smell of stew was strong inside the house, but Janek detected another odour alongside it - that of something beginning to burn. He stepped into the kitchen and found the pot steaming, still on the fire. Hairs rose on the back of his neck as a reptilian fear suddenly crawled up his spine, curling around his heart. In the hallway, Piotr called out again.

"Natalia!"

From inside the kitchen, Janek watched as Piotr walked by the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway - pausing when a light flicked on behind him. The old man turned around.

"Natalia-" he began. Then his voice caught in his throat.

"Papa" Janek heard Natalia's frightened voice call out.

The tendril of fear that lay curled around Janek's heart went taut at hearing Natalia's voice, turning into a vice grip inside his chest. Time slowed as Janek watched the old man turn to him, eyebrows raised, before being tackled to the ground from a dark figure behind him. The barrel of a rifle pierced the doorway, turning into the kitchen like a cyclopean eye. Behind it, a uniformed man. Janek's brain screamed at him to move

MOVE MOVE MOVE

but he stood rooted to the spot as if held by an invisible anchor. Another man with a rifle burst in through the doorway, and before another heartbeat could pass there were two rifles pointed straight at Janek's chest. Janek heard muffled yelling. He watched as the two men, their faces oddly blurred, drew closer to him. One of them pointed to the ground. Janek was paralysed. He watched the other man flank him, until he disappeared off to Janek's side. Then something hard and heavy crashed into the base of his skull, and Janek blacked out.

When he came to, he was slumped over the dinner table. His head hurt something terrific. Janek groaned as he sat up. His vision was still blurry. He tried to rub the back of his head but found that his hands were shackled. So too were his ankles, to the legs of the chair he was sat on. A figure moved in front of his vision. It was a uniformed man. The stripes on his shoulders identified him as a lieutenant. The orange glow of a cigarette hovered in front of his face. As the edges in Janek's vision sharpened, the lieutenant took a long drag and blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm glad you're back with us" he spoke, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. He stubbed it on an ashtray and sat forward.