All I can give you

It was an explosion of flavor, so much that Baiken didn't chew immediately, she savoured it then continued moving her jaw, Diana saw her eyes go wide.

"It's, is amazing!" She said and took another bite.

"Told ya"

"How!? How is this made!?"

"A long story, next up, have you ever tasted cola before?"

"No?" Baiken was extatic, a new thing to taste!?

Diana poured them each a glass and handed it over "Drink that"

Baiken now with full trust in Diana's choices of food almost choked when she brought the glass to her mouth too quickly.

"It's, bubbly" she said and held her mouth as a belch came out "It's mixed with air!?"

Diana laughed "It's carbonised, that's the gassy feeling you get in your mouth"

"Car, carbonised..."

"Yes, all will be made clear in due time"

The two finished their meals, Diana showed Baiken where she could take a bath, and then gave her a room for the night.

Baiken laid looking at the ceiling, wondering of all the magnificent things she just experienced, she couldn't help admit the pizza tasted better than her mother's food, that brought her thoughts back to Diana, she's her adopted mother now, she showed her so much and yet Baiken felt she had nothing to give back.

She twisted off the matrass and silently placed her feet on the carpet, her house in Saipan had wooden floors, so she over time learned how to balance her hips during her strides to insure the planks didn't creek under her weight.

She walked the same way and got to Diana's room, looking in she saw Diana lying on her side, and a sniff she gave told Baiken she was still awake.

Baiken drew the silk night dress she had on tight around her legs, then went to her knees sideways, she leaned forward and knocked then assumed her sitting posture.

Diana sat up and saw her vaguely in the dark "Baiken?"

"Permission to enter?"

Diana switched on her bedside lamp, the way Baiken sat freaked her out a little "You may"

Without using her hands, in one motion Baken was on her feet and approached her slowly, then bowed formally "Firstly I wanted to thank you"

"For what?"

"For showing me this world free of blades and blood"

Diana smiled "It's still filled with bullets and gunpowder lass..." Diana stopped talking when Baiken lifted a hand.

"Please excuse me, I need to tell you this"

"Ok?"

"You showed me all these amazing things, but I fear I have nothing in return to give you back"

"That's not what it's all about"

"Please allow me?" Baiken said again and Diana went silent.

"You asked me what I did for fun, truth is the only fun I knew of was learning to draw 'Kanji' to form words in the Japanese language, that and my mother sometimes taught me to cook"

Baiken looked up from the carpet "Then you asked me what I did to relax? By which you got the idea through my smile"

"Yes?"

"I want to tell you why I like sex, so you can see it from my perspective"

Baiken's eyes closed, Diana saw she was addressing her out of the deepest respect she had.

"Pain, it was my best friend, my partner, my signal to attack, if I at some point didn't feel pain anymore, I'd knew something was wrong.

On the day of my seventh birthday Yamamoto decided he couldn't wait any longer, and took me out to the front yard with two wooden swords. I got the idea instantly, he was going to train me, I was excited, I saw him practice the sword and dreamed of being able to do the same.

Standing in front of him he said the conditioning starts first, he placed one of the swords down, then told me to kneel, holding the sword ready he told me to brace, and bare with it for as long as possible"

Diana brought her hand up to her mouth cutting Baiken's story "Please understand, I have no regrets, I am the person I am today because of it, and the only regret maybe would be him, and not someone who respected me more"

Diana nodded and lowered her hand.

"Him naturally being right handed struck my left shoulder first, my first taste of real pain, he held back just enough not to break my arm, sure as a child you can bump your toe and it would hurt, but nothing prepared me for the pain that day.

Every day... First thing hearing its time to condition me, I cried knowing in the morning when the sun finally stopped touching the horizon, that's when the conditioning starts, and the more I cried, the more he'd condition me, the harder he'd strike me... Saying warriors who cry show weakness in front of their enemies"

Diana felt her heart cramp, she tried as much as she could to hold a straight face.

"After a while I made peace that, it's time to receive pain, and only cried when it became too much, by which he'd beat me harder...

Then pain became one with me, I accepted it, when the strike lands and I suddenly go numb, no pain, I'd withdraw from the encounter and flex the muscle that went numb until the pain returned..."

Diana was almost in tears but she held it.

"At the age of fourteen, Yamamoto decided I'm blooming into a young woman and was ready to receive sex, the first time it came as a shock to me, but it hurt, it was painful, therefore my mind being accustomed to pain thought this is right, this should be..."

"Baiken..." Diana couldn't hold her tears anymore.

"Please let me finish"

Diana wiped her tears and nodded.

"The first night I fought against him and he struck me, two means of pain in one moment, the sex, and the hand to my face, I lied and with gritting teeth took it, the next the same, and the night after.

Eventually the pain didn't come anymore, but I realised it felt good, it made me, relax, easing up the tension, the orgasm would wash some of the pain away" Baiken's eyes opened, the light of the bedside lamp illuminated her white irises.

"So, to me, it's joy, it's relaxing, I've made peace with it, and it works, it really does take the pain away..." She looked to the room, holding her fingers to her mouth "Its all I can give you, that doesn't involve the pain I know"