6-4-15
Rituals
Back And Forth
The teakettle on the stove was just on the brink of boiling, little wisps of steam beginning to leak from the spout.
Perfect.
The girl pulled the smaller ceramic teapot out from under the running hot water in the sink and replaced it with his cup, letting it warm while she dried the outside of the pot with a dish towel.
Now she had to move quickly.
Quickly, but carefully. He would be extremely displeased and disappointed if she burned herself or broke something. Especially a piece of his tea service.
There was no time for idle musings now. Everything had to be absolutely perfect. She had to concentrate.
Grasping the handle of the stainless steel kettle with the quilted white linen pot holder, she lifted it and very carefully poured boiling water into the smaller pot, filling it just to the center of the spout. Not a single drop spilled, which made her smile with pride. The kettle went onto a cool burner and the stove was turned off. The linen pot holder was folded carefully and put back in it's place.
One step to the side and she turned off the water, wiped the warm cup dry and placed it on a saucer on the little wooden tray. One more step as her hands went behind her back to untie her apron, pull it up over her head to hang it on the little hook then a quick pat of her hair to make sure there were no loose strands. Her long black luxuriant hair was still secured in it's bun on the back of her head, secured in place with the little wooden sticks.
Just the way he liked it.
One fleeting moment taken to survey the items on the tray. One teapot. Two cups on saucers. Bamboo whisk and tongs. Two tea strainers. Two linen napkins, folded just so.
Everything exactly in it's place.
Perfect.
Her shoulders rose and fell as a breath went in and out with a small huff to calm her mind and find her center. Unconsciously one finger went up to push her glasses further up her nose. Then her hands wrapped around the handles of the tray, lifted it and walked slowly towards the living room. She walked with her eyes forward and her back straight as she had been taught.
He waited as he always did. Silently, with his eyes on her body, a little smile on his lips. Even after all this time... all these months... she felt her cheeks burn just slightly while he looked at her. In all of her twenty two years previous she had never been completely naked in the presence of a man. Not even her father when she was an infant.
Even though it embarrassed her, she felt her nipples grow even harder under his gaze.
Trying her best to concentrate, the girl knelt carefully at the small low table and placed the tray exactly in the center. His cup and saucer went onto the little woven mat and the strainer went into the cup before she tipped the ceramic teapot and poured the water. Eyes on the cup, she counted silently for two minutes before removing the strainer and placing it on a linen napkin. Then she stirred it with the bamboo whisk exactly twelve times.
Two hands underneath the saucer as she turned slightly to offer him his tea. As usual, he sat for a few seconds to look at her before he took the offering. She waited patiently with her eyes down and head slightly bowed. It wasn't something he had taught her or demanded, this subservient posture. The girl sometimes did things her own way for her own reasons and he was more than agreeable.
For one thing, her bowed head and lowered eyes showed her submission to him and her willingness to serve him in any way he wished. Secondly it prevented her from looking into his eyes. Something which, even after a year in his service, she still found difficult.
"Thank you, sweet Nanao. Perfect, as always." After he took his cup she bowed acceptance at his praise and turned to pour her own tea. She used the same steps and timing with her own cup before raising it to her lips.
While they both sat and sipped their tea in silence, she pondered her life as she often did at that time. It was a good quiet interval they shared together three times a week. Though it was not exactly the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, there was something deeply philosophical in the ritual.
It gave Nanao time to think and clear her mind. She could sit and drink her tea and think without distractions.
Even if she was kneeling naked before this strange American man whom she called Master.
He'd been strange from the very first moment they had met and hadn't changed one little bit in the interim.
When she was born Hinami Kurosaki was stricken with a condition called apraxia, which had left her without the ability to form speech. The condition never affected her mind, which grew sharp and strong. Her parents sought out all the treatments they could and when it was determined to be untreatable they turned instead to ways to make their daughter's life happy and complete. At five years old she was enrolled in one of the country's best schools for the deaf where she spent the lions share of her childhood.
Though she wasn't deaf, Hinami learned sign language and discovered the joys of being able to finally communicate her thoughts and feelings with others. It opened up a whole new world she hadn't really imagined and she discovered within herself a treasure trove of emotions which poured from her fingers, both in sign language and in the written word. Poetry and art soon became her passions and she soon won several district prizes for both and had several of her poems published.
Then one day her life changed.
Hinami and her two best friends from school, Yachiru and Rukia, had been out shopping in the local district mall and were in the park drinking hot tea from paper cups watching the snow fall among the trees. Hinami watched her breath form from her lips in the cold crisp winter air and imagined it was the same way she formed words with her hands and her pen. She marveled at how silent the world became when the snow fell and imagined the world must be like that every day for her two best friends who had been born deaf.
Taking out her notebook and pen, she stopped in the middle of the path and began making notes. Her two friends, used to this sort of thing, just smiled and waited until she was finished.
A tap on her shoulder scattered her thoughts and she turned to see who it was, dropping her pen and notebook into the pocket of her winter coat.
At first, all she saw was black leather.
Then she craned her neck upwards to look into the man's face. He was very tall. He was older. Somewhere in the neighborhood of the age of her father, though she couldn't be sure. The man wore big boots and blue jeans and a great leather coat which seemed well worn and comfortable with use. Under a knitted cap he had short graying hair which used to be brown, much like his thick bushy mustache. The most striking thing about him was a pair of bright blue eyes which seemed to be looking all the way into her soul. They were knowing and caring but also commanding at the same time and she found herself unable to meet his gaze. Her eyes dropped immediately though she wasn't really sure why.
"Excuse me, miss." The man spoke in English with a definite American accent. "My name is Alex Cable." She bobbed a bow at him and ended up looking at his extended hand. Yes, Americans did shake hands... When she put her small hand in his to shake he covered it with his other and held on for just a moment. She tried to spell out her name with her other hand but it seemed to be shaking badly...
Large rough but gentle fingers came up under her chin and tilted her face back up to his. Something about hose eyes made her feel funny. Warm inside and tingly all down her tummy and in between her legs, which made her blush and want to turn away to hide her face.
"I have read all of your poetry. It is amazing. You stir my soul with your words." She tried to get her hand free to reply but what he said next sent her mind reeling. "You are the most incredibly beautiful and talented woman I have ever met. I would like very much to make you my wife."
Hinami had been technically speechless all of her life. But his words left her mind and her fingers numb and unable even to stammer. Behind her, the girl could hear her friends giggling. They were both quite adept at reading lips.
Then he did something even more startling.
Still holding on to her little hand in his large one, the man went down to one knee in front of her. She heard her friends gasp.
"Hinami Kurosaki, I have seen your heart and your dreams in your words and I will make them all come true."
He turned her hand over, placed something in her palm and curled her fingers closed, giving her only a small glimpse of some shiny object. Then he kissed her fingers, that brushy mustache tickling her skin.
"When I make you my bride it will make us both happy until the end of our days." It wasn't a question. He stated it as a fact.
The strange man released her hand and stood, one hand waving towards a park bench nearby.
"Come to this place tomorrow afternoon. 3pm. We will speak again."
Then he turned and walked away into the falling snow. She watched until he disappeared.
Yachiru and Rukia gathered around, their fingers chattering.
"Who was that man? Do you know him?"
"Will you marry him?"
"What did he give you?"
Hinami slowly opened her fingers, remembering there was something in her hand. It was a small silver ring. On closer inspection she saw it had tiny little chrysanthemums etched into the metal around it. It was beautiful.
Stunned but feeling a little daring, she slipped the ring onto her finger.
It fit her perfectly.
Nanao smiled to herself, hiding it behind the wisps of steam rising from her cup. She never came right out and told him directly how crazy he made her. Especially in those first few days. He had put her in such a spin she barely knew what to think.
A quick glance sideways allowed her to see him watching her, as he always did. That little smile on his lips. Even on the rare occasions when she was wearing clothes in his presence he never seemed to tire of looking at her.
He made her feel special and beautiful.
He also made her want to play the role of the dutiful and obedient wife.
