Artwork by: Bridget Wilde
Medium: Illustration marker,
colored pencil, and ink on bristol board
Excerpt from Part 23 / Chapter 4
"You
didn't tell me that he was handsome, Sasuke," she purred to her ninja manservant,
while
keeping her coal-black eyes
fixed upon Tarou. Sasuke, knowing better than to respond, remained
silent.
Tarou
came to a halt at what he felt was a respectful distance, and stood at
self-conscious
attention. Kodachi rose from
her velvet upholstered chair, taking up a riding crop from its place by
her side. Tarou kept his eyes
fixed straight ahead, determined to put on his usual haughty expression
of disdain for her.
She
stopped before him at a distance just inside what might be considered his
'personal space.'
Her eyes flicked over him appraisingly,
lingering here and there as she assessed him. Then, satisfied
for the moment, she turned and
began to walk behind him for a more extensive inspection.
The
sensation of her riding crop touching him just above his tailbone made
him start, and his face
burned red with humiliation
as she gave an amused chuckle at his expense.
The
riding crop began to tickle along his hip as she completed her circle.
She drew it up along
his lean flank, then over and
across his chest to play gently with the sweep of his collarbone.
"Tall,"
she remarked with a smile that was regal and aloof. She brought the riding
crop down his
sternum. "Handsome." The crop
dipped down to his belly. "Mysterious." She caught a length of the
pantyhose sash he kept tied
at his waist with her riding crop, and lifted it up to eye level for him
to
see.
"What's
your name?" she asked him.
He
cleared his throat. "Tarou."
She
gave him a toothy grin.
"Just
Tarou?"
The
intensity of her look was confounding to him, and he found himself answering
her.
"Pansuto
Tarou."
Her
approving smile was both immediate and striking. "Pantyhose?" she asked
him teasingly,
leaning in close to whisper
the word in his ear. "I like pantyhose..."
Image Copyright (C) 2000, Bridget Wilde. Used with permission