TEN
Sophia was a tad surprised when the concierge came across to her in the lobby and told her that Kaori was waiting for her in her car outside. She was surprised because she imagined she would have a driver. Perhaps it was just her way of asserting her independence as a scion of a wealthy family. She was certainly driving a fun car: Kaori explained to Sophia that it was a vintage Toyota Supra Mk4, manufactured in 1984 - well before either of them was born. Kaori drove it to the Kobe beef restaurant, where she handed it over to a valet who whisked it off to some subterranean car park. It was only when they got inside the restaurant that Sophia was able to get a good look at what Kaori was wearing.
Not many women of her age would have been able to pull it off. She had on a short black button-up dress, where the dress proper started just above the waist - in other words, the straps went far and deep over the blouse. The blouse was a white high-necked long-sleeve affair, ornately decorated in lacy frills. Beneath the mini dress - and accentuating the kawaii (cute) effect - were a pair of black stockings.
Sophia herself was wearing something she had bought earlier that day: a long floral Japanese dress with flared three-quarter sleeves, essentially cream with a pattern of grey blue leaves and flowers in autumnal colours. A broad red obi went around the waist, tied by a bow at the front with long, dangling tassels.
The man who owned the shop had been born and raised in Kobe, where he had learned the art of raising specially selected cattle to create the delicacy known as Kobe beef. Now in his early 70s, he was in the process of handing the business over to his son. Although he spoke no English, Kaori was on hand to translate as he explained how the cows were lovingly massaged every day to give the meat its melt-in-the-mouth quality. The beef, together with a selection of vegetables, was prepared on a hot plate incorporated in the table where the diners sat. A selection of condiments was available, but Sophia felt that to add mustard and suchlike to the meat would be to spoil it rather than enhance it. The proprietor noticed this and told Kaori that this was the first time he had seen an American not smother his beef with mustard. When Kaori translated for Sophia, she said she wasn't an American.
'Ah,' the septuagenarian replied. 'That explains it.'
After dinner, Kaori took Sophia to a dessert shop, where they enjoyed bean curd with mango and a sesame dessert, which was particularly heavenly. Given the lateness of the hour - it was past eleven by now - and the clement weather, the journey to Kaori's country place took only three quarters of an hour. The two-storey house was situated near the top of a valley several kilometres away from the nearest village. As they made their way up the winding road from the valley floor, Sophia could make out the outlines of cows standing in the fields. Kaori explained these were part of a dairy herd which supplied the milk that would be brought to her place in the morning and left in a refrigerator by the door. The cherry trees were situated on the other side of the ridge that marked off this valley from the next one.
Kaori showed Sophia to the guest room upstairs, which was furnished with two single beds, and told her she would light a fire in the sitting room, if she would care to join her for a nightcap. Sophia freshened up and joined her ten minutes later, still dressed in the same dress but minus the shoes. Kaori was sitting on the sofa, with two cups and a bottle of sake neatly laid out on the low table before her. Sophia joined her, sitting down close, but not too close, and accepted the sake from her host.
'Thank you for a beautiful evening,' she said, clinking cups and sipping at her drink, sneaking a glimpse at Kaori's stockinged feet.
'You are a very easy guest,' Kaori said. 'It is a pleasure to spend time with someone who is so accommodating.'
'Oh, I can be quite the difficult customer at times,' Sophia replied, laughing. 'But the attention to detail and the unfussiness of Japanese hospitality is enough to satisfy even a demanding person like me.'
'You like to make demands of yourself too?' asked Kaori, turning and looking Sophia in the eyes with an enigmatic look on her face.
'Some people call me an over-achiever, but I guess I'm just blessed with the ability to identify opportunities when they arise and to take advantage of them.'
'Have any opportunities arisen on this trip?' Kaori asked, moving a little closer to the Englishwoman.
'I think one may have been opening up in front of my eyes, but I have been a little shy about grasping it.'
'Why?'
'Because I'm not sure that I have been able to read the signs.'
'Do you need to have everything spelled out for you in black and white before you make a move? Can you not just plunge in headfirst?'
Sophia shifted uneasily on the edge of the settee.
'Perhaps it is that you want me to make the first move?'
Sophia sat there like a statue, her heart racing within her, waiting for the Japanese to make good on her words. Kaori slipped the scrunchie from her hair and let her raven locks fall loose over her shoulders. She moved stray tresses from her eyes and did the same for Sophia, letting her fingers stray to her forehead and her cheeks as she did so. Sophia clenched her fists on her lap, feeling as awkward and gauche as a schoolgirl.
'Perhaps Kaori thinks this is my first time with a woman,' she thought.
It was a thought that fuelled her arousal. She had found her role in this drama quite by chance. Her nervousness had been real but now she would be able to redirect it towards her own ends. Happily, she reflected, those ends would align with Kaori's and the needs of both women would be satisfied. More than satisfied, she hoped. Sated.
Kaori moved in to kiss Sophia, gently on the lips at first, showing no hint of the urgency that was surely to follow. Sophia, determined to stay in character for as long as she could, kept her mouth closed but was not entirely unresistant to Kaori's advances, responding as best she could with virtually locked lips. Clearly, Kaori was not discouraged, as she broke the kiss to whisper in Sophia's ear.
'You are a very beautiful woman.'