One Night in Osaka

Alessia nodded as she reached into her purse, responding back with another Whisper spell of her own. "I appreciate that, Atsumi-san. I'll be in Kyoto in a few days, mind if I call you then?"

"Of, of course! I'd be honored!"

"Excellent." She dropped a business card onto the table in front of Atsumi, who quickly pocketed it. "That's my phone and email. Send me your phone number, we'll catch up soon." The rest of the table looked up in surprise at Alessia's presence, and Alessia continued out loud. "Ladies, sorry again about being so indiscreet. My date and I are leaving, and you all have a lovely night."

The rest of the quartet all gave eager waves goodbye.

"Have a great night!"

"I meant to say, LOVE that dress! Bye!"

"Are you two gonna go find a Love Hotel?"

Atsumi whirled on her roommate. "KAORI-SAN!!!" The other two girls looked equally shocked, with the ponytailed one hitting Kaori in the shoulder for the third time that night, this time harder than ever. Atsumi sent one last whisper spell: "Sorry about that, I really can't take that girl anywhere. But whatever you DO decide to do... have fun!" She turned off the spell, and poked at Kaori's other shoulder. "We need to get you a boyfriend, and FAST, to get your mind out of the gutter!"

Kaori laughed, pushing away at the pokes and punches. "I think that would just make it worse!" All six of them had a good laugh at that, and Alessia and Donovan exited out into the night air of Dotonbori.

***

CHAPTER FIVE: DONOVAN -- PLAY AT THIS LEVEL, THERE'S NO ORDINARY VENUE

Donovan looked around in surprise as he stepped out onto the streets of Dotonbori. In the time he'd been inside the pub with Alessia, the crowds had become incredibly thick, people packed into the streets like sardines.

Alessia stepped out after him, and her expression of surprise and discomfort matched his. "So much for getting some open air."

Craning his neck to look around, Donovan grasped Alessia's hand, and pointed to the opening of a side street. "Let's get off the main path, things might open up that way."

As they made their way through the crowd, she hooked her thumb into one of his pockets. "Keep a hand on your wallet. Atsumi, our fellow mage back there, was warning me to watch out for pickpockets. They probably love tight crowds like this. She passed along her regards and a welcome to Japan, by the way."

"Nice of her to say that. What sort of spell were you two using to talk? Was it telepathy, mind-to-mind stuff?"

"Nothing so powerful, no." As they threaded their way through the crowd, the background noise became too loud for conversation, the pair of them shoulder to shoulder with a legion of strangers.

Eventually, they made it through the crowds and into the empty side street, and Donovan had to resist the urge to pant with exertion. "You were saying?"

Alessia pulled out a compact mirror from her purse, and took a moment to inspect herself. "Resonance that directly affects a human's mind is very difficult, like trying to thread a needle in a hurricane while wearing mittens. Instead, we were using an old classic, the 'Whisper' spell. Sends the caster's words by a enclosed pocket of air, directly to the ears of the target, so that only she could hear me. I could mutter under my breath, but she'd hear me clear as anything." She snapped the mirror closed, and looked back at him with satisfaction. "It's not much harder than the Illuminate sigil I taught you, I'll email you a picture of the sigil." Hooking her arm in his, they resumed walking.

He barely registered the quiet street around them, distracted by her beautiful voice and the way she smiled at him. "I heard Lady Ebisu speak to my mind, though."

"That's only possible because you're Pacted to her. You're connected soul-to-soul, so to speak, and that allows you to speak to each other from literally across the planet." She glanced up at the sky, smiling. "It's also a mark of how powerful she is. Some very minor spirits that I've pacted with can still call out to my mind, but it wouldn't be as clear, just brief feelings like "I need help" or "I am happy with you". She leaned into him as they turned a corner down a quiet side road. "I don't think you realize yet just how fortunate you are to have a Pact with her. I was warned she was very picky in that regard."

"Right now, I'm feeling more fortunate about being here with you." Donovan felt a small shiver down his spine. Was he being smooth, or was it corny? The smile she flashed at him in response was a good sign, so he chalked it up to 'so far, so good' and gave his brain a metaphorical kick to calm down and stop worrying about everything. "Even if it's just for one night, I'd have traded being a mage, and winning a prestigious pact, all of that, to make sure I was here with you right now."

"Lucky for you, you get to have it all." Alessia stopped and turned to face him, her hands on his shoulders. "Hardly seems fair to meet someone as perfect as you...Ah!" Donovan had opened his mouth in protest, but she held up a finger in admonition. "I know that look. 'I'm not perfect', you're about to say. Well, I respectfully disagree. As far as I'm concerned, as far as for what I want, and as far as what I've seen in you tonight, which is quite a lot — I say you're perfect." She closed the gap between them, and Donovan felt his entire body grow warm as her chest pressed into his. "And it's not at all fair that we only have one night together."

The roar of the Dotonbori crowds seemed as far away as his home in Evanston. His world was quiet, still, and contained only the dazzling green eyes and the angelic face of the most beautiful woman he'd ever known. Her fingers tensed around his shoulders, and he leaned in without a care in the world. Caressing her cheek with one hand, and slipping his other around her waist, he pulled her even closer, and their lips met for the first time.

She pressed eagerly into him, her tongue caressing his as she whispered a sigh of contentment. He felt her fingers tangle in his hair, holding him close as she poured even more of herself into their kiss. Donovan was in heaven, reveling in feel of her lips, the pressure of her soft body against his, and the raw emotional high he felt from her intense desire. She wanted *him*, and that knowledge was even more intoxicating than the physical joy of their kiss.

For a few moments more, their kiss continued in urgent silence, until both of them looked up at the same time. "We're out in the open, we shouldn't —", she began to say, echoing his own thoughts, but then they looked around. In their wandering, they had ended up in a shadowed alcove, a quiet space on a dark and narrow street. There was no one around at all, no scowling or snickering locals staring at the antics of two "shameless foreigners". It was like the side streets Donovan had explored near his hotel, narrow enough to be called alleys in America, but meticulously clean save for a few plastic crates nearby.

The two of them looked around themselves, shocked by their solitude. He met her eyes again, and it was if he felt a switch being flipped inside him, all brakes and restraints utterly removed, leaving nothing but pure lust — and judging by her hungry gaze, Alessia felt much the same. They threw themselves into each other's embrace, their hands frantically roving. He felt her hand squeezing his backside, and his fingertips brushed the edges of her clothed breast. She groaned in approval, throwing her head back and thrusting her chest forward as if in offering, before kissing hungrily along the curve of his neck.

Cupping her breast gently in spite of his urgent need, he felt the hard point of her nipple with the tip of his thumb through the thin fabrics of her dress and bra, and she gasped aloud between her frantic kisses and bites. Some distant rational part of his mind warned him that she was likely marking him with bright red hickeys, and he responded back within his own thoughts with an almost giddy answer of "AND THIS IS A BAD THING?" He kissed her wherever he could reach as she clung to him, her cheek, her neck, her ear — and that last touch electrified her; her moans, her suckling kisses, her grasping clutches, all of them doubled in intensity as his tongue grazed along her soft earlobe.

He was far from silent himself, groaning aloud between desperate whispers of her name in her ear. He felt her hand slip boldly past his waistband, touching and squeezing the bare skin of his ass, and he responded in kind with another caress of her nipple, as well as reaching around to grab her from behind as well. "So gorgeous," he managed to say coherently, before returning to her ear.

"It's not fair, it's not *FAIR*," she managed between groans, but she stepped back just enough so that her hands could come around to undo his belt, her eyes burning into his. "I don't care if I'm a tart or not. Show it to me, Donovan. Please." She undid the button as he pulled down the zipper, and her hands dove in to pull down his boxer-briefs and bring him out into the open air, harder than he could ever remember being in his life.

As his shorts slid halfway down his legs, she stroked his circumcised length, taking in the look of him, and grinning in satisfaction. She leaned in for another long kiss, her hand never leaving him, and then stepped away. "Give it to me, Donovan. We don't have time to play." Turning about, she pulled frantically at the length of her dress, hiking it up past her hips as she leaned forward and grabbed hold of the edge of a crate.

The full sight of her black thigh-high stockings made his breath catch in his throat, but the silky black underwear above it forced that breath out in a low moan. Her body was breath-taking, and her brazen pose made his heart race. His fingers glided along her covered backside, reveling in the texture of both fabric and soft flesh. He idly wondered if they were silk, but set the question aside as he dropped to one knee behind her. Sliding his hands into the sides of her panties, he drew them down her thighs and over her stockings, revealing a nest of soft blonde curls. He leaned forward, a wide smile upon his lips.

"What are you... OH!" As his tongue made contact with her folds, her voice rose a pitch, her legs spreading wider on instinct. "Gaia Below, DON'T STOP!"

Donovan closed his eyes, concentrating on the feel, the beautiful scent, and the luxurious taste of her, as he reached up to gently stroke the hood of her sex in time with the motions of his tongue. She was a feast for his senses, and he could only hope that she was enjoying receiving this as much as he adored providing it.

"Donovan, that's good, that's good, please don't stop." Her breathing was ragged, her thighs shaking.

He paused just long enough to reply before diving back in. "Wouldn't dream of it. I'd do this all night, if you let me."

"I *will* hold you to that promise, mmmmm!"

A few more playful licks, and Donovan carefully pulled back that little hood at the apex of her, and let his tongue flicker across the wet clitoris that hid below. The response was immediate, with her folds becoming absolutely drenched in her arousal. "Right there, right there, right there... Donovaaaaaaan...!" A long moan built up deep in her chest, and he could hear her slap an open palm over her mouth to muffle her cries. Keeping up the steady up and down rhythm, making sure to hit that delicious little button at the end of each downward lick, his heart leapt with pride as her body shook with obvious approval, and her cries threatened to burst past her sealed lips. Hoping that no one in the main streets just a couple blocks away could hear them, he gave her hood one more pinch — and that sent her over the edge, her climax barely silenced by her hand as her hips and thighs vibrated like a tuning fork. "DONOVAN, YES!"

Taking one last taste of her, which sent an aftershock through her hips and a happy coo-ing noise from her mouth, Donovan moved back a few inches, still on one knee. He stroked his length with one hand while reaching for the wallet in his pocket with the other. He flipped it open, and with trembling fingers pulled a white foil packet from inside. He dropped his wallet on the ground, and looked around him. Miraculously, they were still alone. No spectators, no objectors, nothing. He looked back to his new lover where she was still hunched over the crate, her shoulders heaving as she took in huge lungfuls of air. "You okay, Alessia?" He carefully tore open the packet, a sound which caused her to look back over her shoulder.

"If that's a condom wrapper I'm hearing, you're about to make me a very happy woman, Donovan. And yes, I damn well WILL be holding you to that promise." Her eyes were shining in the dim streetlight, and her smile was wide and ecstatic.

"Then I'm about to make us both very happy indeed," he said as he finished rolling the latex sheath downwards, and pinched carefully at the tip. "You're the most amazing woman I've ever met. Alessia. No one else even comes close." He stood up behind her, and as she watched him over her shoulder, he lined up his body with hers.

With one gentle push, her wet opening widened to accept him and then closed softly around his length. The pair of them cried aloud in mutual joy, and she pushed back with eager hunger. "Don't be delicate with me, Mister Pierce. I need you to... I... goddamn." She shook her head, still grinning as she stared into his eyes. "Just do what comes natural, lover. Harder. HARDER!"

Grabbing her hips and handfuls of her lifted dress, Donovan eagerly obeyed, groaning aloud as he hastened to obey her demands, spurred on by her beautiful eyes burning with desire for him. Nothing else he'd ever felt came even close to the pure pleasure of this moment, not his first time on the Senior class trip with Delilah, not any of the women he'd shared a bed with in college — Jessica, Therese, Yvonette, Luisa, his memories of their faces and their beautiful nakedness flickering before his eyes, until one last face appearred before him. Marie. The look of shock on her face after they slept together for what would be the last time, and her words echoing painfully in his ears: "What, you thought we were serious, that this was going somewhere after graduation? You're a dildo with legs, Donnie. That's all you ever were to me."

With a snarl, he banished all thoughts of Marie, and concentrated on nothing else but the very real woman in front of him, groaning eagerly on each of his thrusts. Alessia's body squeezed him with beautiful sensation that was mind-altering even through the barrier of the condom, and he redoubled his efforts. As his hips slapped loudly against her backside again and again, she turned her head again to show an expression of pure bliss as she bit her lower lip to keep from screaming. This is perfect, he thought to himself as he felt his own climax slowly rising inside him. She's perfect. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Alessia's eyes suddenly went wide, her expression changing to anger as she twisted off him. Before he had a chance to react, she spun around to face him as she laid one hand on his shoulder and raised another, her fist covered in an aura of blazing light that sent a cold river of fear down his spine. He felt the flare of power from her as she mind-traced what felt to be a very powerful sigil — and he felt a blow to the chest that sent him flying, the world spinning as something hit him from behind that sent an explosion of pain down his arm, and everything went dark.

***

CHAPTER SIX: ALESSIA -- THEY KEEP ME THINKING THAT WE ALMOST HAD IT ALL

"DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!" Alessia stared hard down the length of the short street, jaw clenched and heart racing. The force-bolt she'd cast had done its job and then some, sending her attacker flying through a collection of garbage cans until he'd hit a metal lamp post with a bone-shaking impact, and hadn't moved since. She looked down at her hand, feeling strangely light-headed, before her conscious thinking finally caught up with her a moment later. "Donovan? DONOVAN?"

Just a few feet to her side, Donovan lay crumpled against a nearby wall, groaning in pain. Sparing one last glance to make sure the stranger she'd blasted was still unmoving, she hiked her underwear back up, feeling slightly awkward as she did so. Kneeling down before her new paramour, she carefully inspected him for damage with a combination of first-aid training and medical-assist spells she'd been taught. His eyes fluttering in half-consciousness, she helped him to sit up, his left arm hanging oddly at his side. Her glowing hand hovered over that arm for a moment, and the spell's diagnosis confirmed what she'd already suspected. He'd hit the wall at high speed, hard enough to dislocate his left arm out of the shoulder socket. Maintaining her first spell and bringing a second medical sigil online, she cast a pain-killer spell, her hands hovering over that arm. "Donovan? Brace yourself. I'm numbing you as best as I can, but even so, this is really going to hurt."

Wincing in sympathy, she rotated her hands around his shoulder, bracing her touchless grip on him with new strands of the crimson gravity-threads she'd caught him with earlier that night. The red light wrapped around the left side of his body, she paused... and with a quick motion, her spell snapped his arm back into place.

"FUCK!" Donovan's glassy eyes shot open, his chest rising and falling in deep breaths in agony while Alessia prepared one more spell. She drew this sigil in the air with her fingertip, a large and complex affair, and as it completed, it turned into a loose sheet of white light, which settled over and wrapped around Donovan's arm and shoulder before seeping into his body and disappearing.

She reached out to take his chin in her hand, turning him to face her. "Donovan, I —"

His gaze focused when she touched him, and he immediately drew back from her. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Her brow furrowed. "I just saved our lives. A little gratitude would be appreciated."

"You. SHOT. Me." Bracing himself against the wall, he staggered to his feet, and Alessia followed him up so they remained eye-to-eye. "Was this some kind of sick joke you thought up? Use me to get off, and then you turn around and blast me into a wall?" Looking down and realizing he was still exposed from below the waist, he reached down, and pulled his clothes back on, wincing at the pain in his shoulder.

"I didn't shoot YOU, Donovan." Alessia pointed to unconscious man off to the side, and to the weapon he'd dropped. "HE was sneaking up behind you, a knife in his hand, that one there, while you were... occupied. I shot HIM." She resisted the urge to run over the kick the mugger in the face, and break his nose like cheap pottery. "And is that really all you think of me? That I was *using* you?"

Clutching at his shoulder, Donovan grit his teeth. "So if you didn't shoot me, why did I go flying into a wall? Fuck, this hurts. Feels like I broke something."

Alessia shook her head. "You dislocated your shoulder. I fixed it. If it wasn't for ME, your arm would be hurting a lot worse and be in a sling for at least a week, but thanks to ME, I've numbed most of the pain, and you'll be healed right as rain by morning! AND you don't have slit throat, because of ME! 'THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE, ALESSIA' would be pretty damn nice right now!"

His eyes were cold. "You SHOT me. I *felt* you casting that spell, I felt my chest damn near cave in when your spell smashed into me, and I sure as hell felt that wall hit me at five hundred miles an hour before I passed out. So either you're lying, or the so-called 'Master Mage' in front of me got so damn sloppy that she shot me *first* by mistake before taking that goddamn mugger out! So which is it?"