Bab 128: A date with Shenhe

"Shenhe, are you ready?" Kenshin asked while knocking on the door of Shenhe's room.

After Yae's date, the relationship between the group slightly changed.

Or not, the tension in the air between the 2 of them just disappeared.

But now the pregnancy of the former Shogun and Guizhong took priority.

Kenshin felt that the fact that he was in the same position as Morax even when the dragon was millennia of years older showed how early it was for him. But again, now that the baby was here, he wasn't going to say or think anything stupid.

The baby is going to arrive, and he is going to be a good father, even if he feels his hands sweating with nervousness thinking about the huge responsibility.

What if I mess up? What if there is something wrong with the birth? What if my soul will make the baby experiment with some changes we aren't prepared to deal with? What if I'm not a good father?

All those were questions that swirled in his mind when he went to bed.

But then he remembered that he wasn't alone, and a lot of people were near and ready to help.

And well, knowing that if even a dumbass and problematic child as he was came out moderately fine, the baby would probably come out even better as there were a lot of amazing people around.

After a few quick trips to Liyue to check on Morax's plan, tease Yelan and play with Hu Tao, he was finally ready to have the date Shenhe wanted for years now.

...he felt guilty just thinking about the amount of time he made Shenhe wait.

They usually played around, wrote letters together or watched the sunset, but Kenhsin knew Shenhe wanted something more, something mere friends couldn't do.

It was not only about sex, but Shenhe wanted to deepen their relationship with each other. She wanted the same degree of complicity she saw between Kenshin and the others.

And now Kenshin made some space (threw all the work at Ayato and Ayaka, who were covering for him and the pregnant Makoto respectively), and was ready to have a date with Shenhe.

They were going to go to Liyue, as Kenshin knew Shenhe was feeling a bit nostalgic, even if she didn't show it.

Even if Shenhe didn't regret coming to Inazuma, she still missed her homeland and her Master, Cloud Retainer. Kenshin told her to go and visit her, but the stubborn yet calm-looking Shenhe refused, saying that her home was where Kenshin lived.

"Shenhe, are you ready to have fun?" asked Kenshin with a smile seeing Shenhe open the door.

"I am" she answered with her usually blank expression.

"Then let's go" Kenshin turned around. "We can go to have lunch first, and lat-...."

"Where are you going?" asked a deadpanning Shenhe, who grabbed the scruff of Kenshin's neck.

"To have fun in Liyue?" asked a confused Kenshin.

"No" Shenhe immediately denied.

"May I ask....why?" inquired Kenshin, sensing that something was weird with Shenhe today.

BLAM!

Shenhe took Kenshin into her room, closing the doors as she always did.

And undressed in an instant.

"..." Kenshin felt his lower jaw hitting the floor, because of both the surprise at the suddenness of the situation and because of Shenhe's body. "What...is happening?"

"I also want to do it too" Shenhe spoke calmly, now naked in front of the still not reacting Kenshin. "Yae told me that I needed to push you, but if I did you will die."

'Dammit Yae' Kenshin now realized that all this was because Yae put some weird ideas in Shenhe's head. 'Thank...whoever it is, that Shenhe learned some common sense, even if I'm strong in the Plane, a push from Shenhe will turn me into a cloud of blood.'

"Well....." Kenshin felt something rising in his lower pants, but there was something he needed to take care of first. "Weren't we going on a date?"

"Later" was all Shenhe said while looking at the slowly growing bulge in Kenshin's pants.

"Haahhhh" Kenshin sighed and took Shenhe into his Plane.

Shenhe had already seen this place before, but it was still amazing in her opinion. This place was Kenshin's soul, and she still couldn't believe how such a large space could fit inside someone's soul.

She usually talked with her inner self, and she could sense that by the words her alternate personality used, it was the size of a dark room, maybe a bit bigger.

So comparing the 2 spaces, showed how special Kenshin's soul was.

Kenshin always felt at peace here but now..... a naked woman in the middle of his Plane was shattering his calm.

"Shenhe, you already know there is another personality inside of you" Kenshin closed his eyes to calm down, and spoke looking at Shenhe's eyes.

"Hmmm" she nodded, not seeing the problem.

"It was probably born because Cloud Retainer messed up, and I doubled up in her mess" Kenshin had to admit that he didn't know what happened, but he was probably the one at fault, like always. "You aren't like Makoto and Ei, you and your other self are one person and the same. But my relationship with her is a bit different than yours."

"Hmm" Shenhe nodded, and noted that Alter-Shenhe was quietly listening for once.

"So even if we both want to get intimate, your body is not only yours" finished Kenshin, inwardly sighing when Shenhe's face didn't change.

"Makoto and Ei are the same" she replied blandly, not minding her nakedness.

"But they both are willing to get 'busy' with me, while that is not probably your case" argued Kenshin, who seeing Shenhe still not understanding, chose to be clear. "I don't want to have sex with your body with an unwilling person inside. Just think about how would you feel if your inner personality had sex with someone else with your body."

"That won't happen" Shenhe spoke, but with a frown.

And for once, Alter-Shenhe agreed.

"We are one" Shenhe repeated Kenshin's earlier words. "She will like you like I do, just as I will like what she does."

"That's even worse" Kenshin shook his head. "If she has been 'forced' to love me through you, we definitely can't do this. But I have a solution."

Shenhe only waited for Kenshin's solution, but she didn't like this for some reason.

"In my Plane, I can temporarily separate both of you, even if your sensations and thoughts will be linked. If your other side agrees, I can put her to sleep, and that way she won't feel anything, and your body will still be... you know, untouched" Kenshin explained.

BOOOOM

"AGH!" a hit that Kenshin could have believed came from Barbatos' final attack hit him, and only a hastily formed shield avoided a hole forming in his gut.

But even before he could look up at the culprit he felt someone grabbing his shirt again.

"You have some guts, little mole, that much I will admit" Kenshin found a pair of angry red eyes looking at him.

"What the ...fuck" Kenshin asked with a grimace, feeling his breath stop after the attack hit him.

"Surprised I'm out?" Alter-Shenhe asked with a cruel smirk. "You were saying stupid things, you the dumb one chose to voluntarily release me. I didn't even need to ask her."

"If you are not going to tell me how did I mess up, get the fuck out" Kenshin said with a grimace.

"No, you are the one to tell me" Alter-Shenhe sat on Kenshin's belly making him groan, and put her face just in front of his. "Now you can't see my soul, but I'm sure you have an idea. You were always a sneaky man, but your brain is quite good."

"Your situation is too strange" argued Kenshin, looking at the red eyes that shone with viciousness, and the now black hair falling on the sides of his face, forming a curtain that separated both of their faces from the rest of the world. "There are many things that I may have messed up in."

"Ohh, but now I'm sure you know why you fucked up" Alter-Shenhe lightly smiled, approaching her face to Kenshin's so much that their noses were touching each other. All Kenshin could see now were Shenhe's vibrant red eyes looking at him, with a look that promised untold pain should he miss his answer. "Go on, speak. I don't believe the man my outer self is so in love with doesn't understand why he fucked up."

"I implied that you would like to have sex with other people" Kenshin spoke with a sigh.

"Indeed" Alter Shenhe said, and even if Kenshin couldn't see her soul, her relief was clear. "You already said we were one and the same, why would my feelings be different to hers?"

"Because my interactions with her were polarized" explained Kenshin. "You 2 are the same, but you 2 don't think the same way, and don't react the same way. Even if it pains me to say so, my relationship with you is different than the one I have with her."

"You are still not getting it" Alter Shenhe spoke, still so near their noses were touching. "You are speaking about me and her. Do you think she was the only lonely one? Do you think she was the only one who was worried about you when your letters didn't arrive on time? Do you think she was the only one waiting for your letters every Friday?"

Kenshin opened his mouth, but Alter Shenhe spoke again.

"We are one and the same, do you think she would have fallen in love with you had I refused or directly been disgusted by you?" Alter Shenhe spoke, her smirk disappearing from her face. "Even if our exchange of words is way different to the one you have with her, the meaning is still the same. I don't enjoy going to a teahouse to drink fucking tea, I enjoy being on the edge, our back and forth, the little fight we have going excites me and makes my blood boil. Even if I lost unilaterally in the past, I know the day will come when I will be able to escape the bindings with my own strength, and that day you will pay for all the bullshit you put me through."

Alter Shenhe spoke again, interrupting Kenshin once again.

"I didn't get to meet my mother, my father threw me to a demon hoping for my demise, my whole town reviled me, and my uncle just watched how my father took me away. All that hate and anger I had exploded when I fought for my life against the demon, but it was what kept me alive. I felt powerful, as if some sort of limit inside of me was broken, my strength multiplied and my brain felt many times faster. But then, the fucking bird arrived."

Kenshin didn't need to see souls to see how much she hated Cloud Retainer.

"She bound me, and turned my body into my prison. I know she wanted to help me, but it was an unneeded help. But I can understand her, at the time I was nothing more than a rabid dog that wanted to scream her pain to the world, I would have destroyed anything and anybody around me" Alter SHenhe's eyes shone with anger and fury for a moment before returning to her solemn state. "But then you arrived, a boy my age, able to seal those Remnants no one could even see, and spoke in my defence. I knew I was different from other people, if I had been free from my bindings, I would have been able to kill every human in Liyue based on my power alone, and as I grew older my strength only intensified."

"Probably" added Kenshin, knowing how ridiculously strong Shenhe was. Maybe a few secret clans or Vision bearers could have stopped her, but Shenhe was simply too strong.

"And then, a boy as strong as me appeared before my eyes. I'm not talking about your physical strength, you are just lamentable, but about the ability to make some changes in the world" Alter Shenhe's eyes focused on Kenshin's purple and golden eyes. "People would call it being 'friends', I don't think that's our relationship, but it was close to what I felt it was. I was extremely pissed off after you sealed me, and yet it was the first time I talked with someone for years, and you were the first person to make me feel something that wasn't anger or hate."

"How does this all relate to our little problem?" inquired Kenshin.

"Just as 'outer Shenhe', as you so stupidly put it, was lonely, I was too" confessed Alter Shenhe. "Your letters were always mocking and insulting, but I always waited for them for the same reason the 'other girl' did. I already said it, I enjoy our back and forth, and I feel that I will be able to break free of the binds very soon. I have been years planning to torture you, and some ideas would make those characters from all those books you put in front of me look innocent."

"Please don't"

"But again, that's the kind of relationship we have" Alter Shenhe continued. "You piss me off, I plan my revenge, and you suffer the consequences. I will leave all the bothersome stuff including those stupid letters, and the relationship with the others to the 'outer Shenhe'. The only one I'm interested in is you, and it will forever stay that way. So make me angry, mock me and piss me off, because I will enjoy paying it back to you when I get out, and in the process, I will feel even closer to you. Had I not cared about you, I would have already killed you by now."

"I don't think-"

"You are not allowed to think" Alter Shenhe spoke in a sharp voice. "I already told you the reality, you have no voice here. I won't be able to have a normal relationship, I'm far too gone for that. After our 'separation', our tastes also did. My other self loves cuddling and having fluffy moments, I enjoy moving, being active and releasing my violent tendencies. So care about her, and anger me, because that's what we both enjoy."

"..." Kenshin simply looked at the woman on top of him, trying to discern the best way to proceed.

But Alter Shenhe was a decisive woman.

"I will break free of my bindings by my own efforts" she declared, but a cruel smirk appeared on her face. "But you still messed up, and now that I'm out, I will make you pay."