"I'm taking you out to dinner even if I have to kidnap you."
"Sana, that's not necessary. I'll be fine."
"Kidnapping it is then."
I just stared at my neighbor. I might have thought she'd lost her mind if Sana had acted 'normal' at any point since I came to this country. I was moving into my new apartment in Sapporo when the door across the hall opened. I almost dropped a heavy box on my foot at the sight of her. She was in her mid-thirties, a little older than myself, small and leggy with flawless olive toned skin. Her hair was long and wavy perfectly framing an equally perfect face. Her deep brown eyes and pert little nose complimented her full luscious lips. She was lean and athletic with perky little B cup breasts.
This morning she wore nothing but a silk robe one size too small showing off plenty of her beautiful body. She smiled at my reaction before sauntering over to me.
"Good morning, I'm Sana," she said in flawless English.
"Nice to meet you."
I sat down the box then introduced myself properly.
"We don't get many Americans in this building," she noted.
"I'm not surprised," I told her, "this is not the most touristy part of town and I've been told not many Americans choose to study abroad at such a small Japanese college."
"Well I'm glad you did. It'll be nice to have a cute guy around here to play with."
What she did next utterly shocked me. She kissed me on the lips before heading back into her apartment and closing the door.
Everyday I would run into her somewhere in the building. When I would she would greet me the same way: with a kiss on the lips. It never failed to get my head spinning. One such encounter occurred when the two of us both arrived in the small basement laundry room to start a load. It was late and we were the only two in the room.
I could feel her next to me but being as introverted as I am I could barely bring myself to look at her, let alone talk to her. After a while I heard her sigh, clearly bored. She then began rummaging through her basket. The next thing I knew she grabbed my hands and began twirling a strand of hemp rope around them, pulling it tight before tying it off in a knot.
"What are you doing?"
"Tying you up."
"I can see that. Why?"
"Since you won't talk I've got to find some other way to amuse myself."
"OK, you've made your point, untie my hands please."
"Nope," she sang.
Instead she pulled more ropes out of her basket. Had she been planning this? She bound my arms together before moving to my chest. She then secured by legs, pushing me on top of the drier. She then joined me, wrapping her arm around me and holding me close so I wouldn't fall off.
"
Now
we can talk."
We chatted late into the night as she switched out both our loads. Soon however they were done.
"Now what to do with you? I could just leave you here for someone to find."
"Sana."
"I could kidnap you, I mean you would pretty cute on display in my living room."
"Sana."
"Well I guess I can let you go this time. It will give me a chance to kidnap you later."
She helped him off the drier and began untying him.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. I like tying you up. I will be doing it again."
She gave a pinch on the ass then sent me back to my apartment.
The first few weeks had been a flurry of activity, classes and moving. After that the distance from home and the difference in cultures were starting to get to me. I became withdrawn and depressed. Sana noticed, that's why she was at my door demanding dinner, which I gently refused. She grabbed my arms and pulled my arms behind my back.
"Sana."
"I gave you a chance to come willingly."
She tied my wrists together with the same hemp rope as that night in the laundry room. Once my arms were secure she took a coat from a closet and draped it over me, hiding my ... situation from prying eyes. She then wrapped one arm around my shoulders and led me away. We ended up at table in the back of a small restaurant nearby. The place, I won't butcher the name with my terrible Japanese, served Kushiage. If you don't know that's deep-fried meats and vegetables on a skewer. We spent the night laughing and talking as she fed me, an act that got us more than a few curious looks.
"Are those crabs on a stick?" I remember asking her at one point.
"Just shut up and eat," she laughed.
After dinner we made our way back to the apartment.
"Thank you, Sana, I needed this."
I turned my back to her so she would untie my hands. She laughed again and drug me into her apartment. I was surprised to say the least. I think when most of us white folk from the States think about Japanese homes we picture people in komonos kneeling on the floor and matts everywhere while someone yells "hi-ya!" in the distance. The truth is a lot of places in Japan do keep the old ways alive. However western culture has changed Japan over the years so I found myself in just another apartment. One far more simply and tastefully decorated than my own of course but familiar in feel none the less. She had a couch and a TV, what more did she need?
"Cute, Sana, cute."
"Shush."
She forced me onto the floor arranging me to her desired position. It was like what we called Indian Style back in elementary school. She then took more rope and tied my legs together. I could no longer stand up. I was trapped.
"Sana, enough, untie me."
"I think not
Koibito
. I've been following your routine closely. You don't have class again till Monday afternoon. I'll let you go then."
"Why are you doing this?" I sighed, exasperated.
"Because you are just the
kawairashi
little
otoko
I've ever seen."
From time to time she would slip into Japanese with me. I got the impression she did it when she wanted to say something to me but make sure I couldn't fully understand it. She loved messing with me, if you couldn't tell. She sat down behind me, wrapping her arms and legs around me, pulling me close against her.
"Kamisama, anata no shiroi karada ga watashi o totemo waruku shimasu."
"If you say so."
