Bound to Serve Her Shogun

What an honor this was. What an absolute honor!

Her pulse quickened along with her feet as she neared the imposing steps to the palace. The officious guards had let her through, easily mollified by the sight of the dark purple seal on the summons she had held up in one shaky hand. Through the gardens she had made her way, following the instructions she had received. To the summer palace. Eastern gate. Meet with the Overseer of the Royal Shrine.

Because her dream was to come true at last. She was to become a shrine maiden, attached to the royal household. Serving her Shogun with all the ardent devotion of her timid heart.

It was an honor, indeed. But first, she had to be inducted into service – and for that, she had been told, all she had to do was come to the palace at the appointed time. The Overseer would take care of the rest.

In through the massive doors she crept, gazing about in silent wonder at the splendid chamber within. She could have spent weeks gazing around at the gleaming stones, the quiet glints of gold, the massive artworks adorning the walls. But she had been summoned and could not be late – and so, toward the far end of the massive hall she walked with thudding heart.

"Welcome," came the low voice as she approached the dimly lit door, and she bit back a startled cry just in time. Out from the shade of an ornate screen stepped a stately, mesmerizing figure, and in that moment she knew that this could be none other than the Overseer herself. There was the regal robes, cut low and alluring. There was the gleam of her garnet eyes, and the delicate shimmer of her rose-colored locks…

But beyond all that, it was her incomparable presence that electrified the newcomer into silent, wide-eyed deference. Such poise! such easy grace! such a calm air of quiet mirth and condescension! Yes, this was most definitely she.

"And on time, too," the rose-haired lady smiled, stepping closer to her visitor and gazing sweetly down into her upturned gaze. "Such an eager new maiden. You must be quite wonderfully devoted to our divine leader, hmm? This must be a dream come true for you!"

The young woman opened her mouth to speak, but even as her lips parted the Overseer placed three lithe fingers firmly against them. "Shh. You musn't speak in this place – not until you have been ritually purified. Only then will those pretty lips be truly ready to tell the love and the devotion you have for our divine Shogun." She smiled sweetly into the wide eyes of the chastened novice, gently lowering her fingers and grasping her by the hand. "Come now – and don't be frightened. I am going to make you perfect for the presence of divinity."

Through the door they entered, and with every echoing step her pulse hammered louder in her ears. She- she was about to become… to achieve her dream… Into an even smaller chamber they passed now, and she shivered with mute anticipation as she caught sight of what appeared to be a shallow ritual bath: steaming, fragrant, and strewn with the delicate petals of the sakura.

"You won't need these anymore," the Overseer assured her simply – and before she knew it, those nimble fingers were undoing her modest clothes with astonishing efficiency and soft precision. "Stand still, little one. I simply can't allow you to be unclean in her presence. And so… all that you have brought must go. Now."

She shivered, goose pimples of chilled anxiety racing across her limbs as layer after layer was methodically stripped from her body. She was a woman, and she was with a woman, and so she knew that there was nothing unseemly about all this. And yet… oh, how the Overseer's smile caused her stomach to flutter! How those piercing eyes brought a electric shiver of delight sparking through her! How the brush of those soft fingertips across her now-exposed, modest breasts made her catch her breath in silent, lip-biting anticipation!

She- she had never felt anything so intimate before.

And then there she stood before her companion, blushing and naked, her hands flitting to cup protectively over her private parts in maidenly shame. "No, dear," came the musical voice, low in her ear – and now a finger slipped under her chin and raised her downcast eyes to gaze into those of the Overseer. "No hiding. No shame now that you're here. You will hide nothing from your goddess the Shogun – and neither will you hide from me."

A silent, blushing nod. Down from her breasts her arm dropped, down from the hollow between her thighs. "That's better," came the commending response. "You will give me those hands now…" And then, as she obediently – and wonderingly – extended her trembling hands toward her companion, the Overseer was reaching over to a basket beside the steaming bath. Out from its covered depths slithered the silky coils of a lavender rope, and now those same nimble fingers began twining it expertly around her outstretched wrists.

"You shall be bound to your Shogun with bonds of loyalty." Twining further. "Held fast to her in devotion." Looping back now to circle across. "Pledged to serve, and aid, and obey."

And with a final tug and a sweet smile into the wondering, apprehensive eyes of her visitor, the Overseer raised up the rope, tugging the novice's lithe and naked arms above her head. "Come now, dear," she murmured, and the young woman swayed and stepped after her in unskilled haste. "Into the water with you…"

The water was beautifully warm, lapping about her naked ankles as she entered with tentative steps and slow. "The maiden shall raise her hands to the goddess…" intoned the Overseer – and she gasped as her bound wrists tugged upwards, caught around the heavy golden hook that hung over the bath. "Waiting in reverence and devotion for the cleansing of the divine touch…"

Oh, the touch of the Overseer's warm cloth may not have been precisely divine – but the sensations it sparked within her most certainly were. She bit back a meek little moan of surprise as the Overseer's fingers rippled gently over her bare belly and waist, followed closely by the cleansing warmth of the purple cloth in her other hand. "She shall offer herself to the eternal Shogun: feet spread far as east is from west, hands raised high to the heaven. She will feel the presence of the divine entering in, as her self recedes before it…"

And so she hung there: gulping, eyes sinking shut in silent delight and fear, as with stroke after gentle stroke the Overseer washed her entire body. Droplets shivered down from her trembling fingers onto her loose dark locks… rivulets of fragrant water rippling from her neck and down over her bared breasts before slipping at last down below her waist and toward the intimate glow of her womanhood between her splayed legs. The Overseer intoned line after line of her mystical chant – and with every syllable, the bound woman could feel herself sinking deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the eternal Shogun…

"You yearn for her." Warm cloth slipping sensuously between her thighs. "You long for her presence." Fingertips shivering over her erect nipples. "You crave the taste of her name on your lips." Probing fingers parting her trembling lips, filling her mouth and stroking gently against her muted tongue. "You shall be bound to her through all eternity: her servant, her slave, her lover and her worshipper."

Time slipped by unheeded. The young woman moaned softly in the silence, eyes slipping shut in devout bliss as the Overseer continued her ministrations. There she hung: rapt and obedient, shuddering and nodding in mute obedience at every word from the rose-haired priestess's gently smiling lips. She- she had never felt such passionate longing before. She had never dreamed what fierce, mind-numbing pleasure there was in surrendering herself so completely to the will of the divine Shogun and her priestess…

And so it was that, when after uncounted minutes the chamber door opened and the young woman, through the mist of steam and her own anxious longing, saw a tall violet-clad figure approach… she almost fainted. The- the Shogun herself? Come at last to bless her, to accept her. That must mean… she must be…

"She is ready."

The Overseer bowed graciously before the approaching Shogun, stepping behind the naked young woman's and holding each bare shoulder fast in her delicate hands. And now… the divine woman herself was here. Stepping silently down into the fragrant water. Leaning down to tip the novice's chin up to meet her gaze. A slow, soft smile blossoming on her ageless face.

"You have done well, my friend. She is… quite ready. Come now. Let us together show her the meaning of eternity."