Steven went home elated that he was no longer a virgin. He had put points on the board. The whole thing with Haruko seemed surreal to him because he knew that guys in the popular cliques had been after her and yet it was dweeby little him that ended up with her. Not only that, then she takes the trouble to teach him how to have sex and lets him in on a secret that, if he were evil, could blow not just her family up, but the entire neighborhood. In that way, the shared secret was a method of creating intimacy and trust between them, which meant  that she felt a real need to be with him. But why? Before, he had even had girls laugh at him when he asked them out. Haruko should have been way out of his league. So what's the deal?

Then he thought about the term "outsider" she used to describe him. It is true that he was not part of the South Marlin Circle bondage community. Not just that, though; he had always been on the outside looking in. He was just too intensely smart, quirky and prickly for most people to feel comfortable with. Now what need was he filling for Haruko? Well, she wasn't into the lifestyle for herself that her family and a good chunk of her friends in the neighborhood were. In that way, even while she continued to respect the right of that community to do what it wanted behind closed doors, she was also a minority in American society at large as a biracial person and the combination of those qualities made her a sort of outsider, too. Her need for novelty thus manifested itself in her relating to him as a kind of fellow traveler rather than partaking of the activities that defined the South Marlin Circle subset.

With all the variation in personalities possible, Steven had suspected that at some point he would run into someone he could get on with, but the chances of someone like Haruko dropping in on him like she did was a bit akin to suddenly having a box containing the Hope Diamond fall out of a UPS plane and on to your head. She was just so stunning and he expected that if he ever married at all it would be someone society would tend to deem less desirable such as a fat or very plain girl. But now he found himself with one of the most beautiful girls in the entire school. He could only shake his head in a mix of bewilderment and gratitude.
 
Sunday, Steven went over to Haruko's house again and they had sex. While cuddling her afterward, she asked him if she could go to his home since he had been to hers. He agreed to that and they put their clothes back on and headed to his residence. It was maybe half the size of Haruko's abode, but easier to maintain as a result, especially as Steven was an only child. In one corner of the room was a bunch of guitars, almost all of which had been bought by his parents for him in pawn shops. "You didn't tell me you played guitar," Haruko said, surprised. "Yeah, I'm sort of one of those people that if they can't be the best at something tend to shut up about it. I'll tell you all day long about my academic accomplishments since I've never had anything less than an A, but I still have a long way to go with my guitar  work before I would feel comfortable bragging about it." "Well, play me something." "Oh God, I really hate this, Haruko. I'm not exactly Jimmy Page." "Who's that?" "You know, the guitarist in Led Zeppelin." "I still don't know what that is," she allowed. "Me lady, you have a lot to learn when it comes to music," he laughed. "Whatever. Play me something," she insisted. He exhaled half in exasperation and half in fear of looking uber lame.

He went and picked up  a Takamine acoustic he had and sat down. "I need a few minutes to warm my fingers up, so please be patient, he pleaded. While he did some natural minor scales, she asked, "Well, so far you're a great kisser, have a big cock and play guitar . What other hidden talents do you have?' "I'm learning Chinese, but I still kinda suck at it. The classes at school don't really go far enough. When I watch the Taiwan tv station I can still barely make anything out." "That's great! I can teach our kids Japanese, you can teach them Chinese and we can have them take Spanish and end up Quadlingual." Steven chuckled. "That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?"

"Okay boy, get on with it. Less practice, more playing. "Okay babe. This is a song by a hard rock band called UFO. I hope you can put up with my four note singing range. This song kinda embodied some of my thoughts when I was lonely," he revealed. The salient part of the song went:

"Try me, oh take me for a little while
before it's over and you leave me with just a smile
Try me, oh let me be the one
You say it's over
But for me it had just begun."

Then he went into the acoustic intro for Heart's "Crazy on You" and then played that song in its entirety, too.

Haruko clapped. "That was really good Steven!" "Thanks babe. But I suck so much at singing." "Yeah, but I suck at it, too. So when did you start playing guitar ?" "When I was ten. My dad sent me to classical guitar lessons to get the fundamentals under me, but that didn't last that long. I've been pretty much self taught since then." "Play me something else!" "Okay, but this is the last one, okay?" "Okay." He launched into Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away."

"Oh my God Steven,  you're really talented!" "Nah, there's a million guys who can play this song. But thanks." "Steven, stop negating yourself, okay?" "Haruko, I'm really glad you seemed to like what I played, but I try to remain levelheaded about what I can do so that I don't seem like some conceited dick." "God Steven, if it is one thing anybody who knows you would realize is that you're not conceited. Anyway, you should try playing with Akihiro. He plays guitar, too." "Who's he?" "Oh yeah, you guys haven't been introduced yet, I don't think. You remember Aya, right?" "Yeah." "That's her little brother." "Like how little?" "I think he's 12 or 13." "Steven laughed. "I'm not sure how that would look playing  with an eighth grader." "He's also been teaching his girlfriend Anita to play, too. It's so cute." "That's great! We need more female players! You should learn, too Haruko!" "No, I'm not really that motivated when it comes to music." "That's too bad. Looking like you do, you would probably have a million fans on You Tube within a week!" he smiled. She chuckled. "That would be too much pressure sweety." "Yeah. I can understand that."

He put his guitar back on its stand and reclined on the bed. "Come on Haruko, let's kick it for a while." She laid next to him as he turned on the tv and they cuddled while they watched music videos together. Then his room was suddenly invaded by his two dogs, who jumped into bed with them and started licking Haruko's face. Steven grabbed one of the dogs and turned him on his back and gave him a belly rub. "We better go take them out. I think they have some energy to burn off," he offered. "God, your dogs are so cute honey." "Yeah," he laughed. "Every home should have at least two. They're like little sanity maintenance engineers. It's pretty hard to remain depressed when your mutt is doing something funny or cute, which is a lot of the time."

Then his mom came in. "So Steven, are you going to introduce your mother to your girlfriend?" "Mom, this is Haruko." "Hi sweety!" "Hi Mrs. Morris." "Okay you guys, keep the door open." "Actually mom, we're going to take the dogs out. We'll be back in an hour or so." "Oh good. They'll love that!" she approved as the dogs, who can sense when they are about to be led outside for a little exercise, began going bonkers. He leashed the dogs up, she took one of the leads and they headed out. "You know, maybe I shouldn't have taken you with us. Now when you come over they're going to think, "oh boy! We're going for a walk!" She laughed. "God Haruko, you have a smile that could light up a city block. I'm getting up everyday now, in part, just to see your smile." "That's really sweet, Steven. Thanks." "I'm sure you get guys kissing your ass and having compliments rained on you all the time, but I'm telling you how I really feel. It's not a line to get into your panties." "Steven, I know you're being sincere. But I don't want to sound conceited either, so I feel a little uptight when someone tells me something like you just did because it's hard to respond to it without sounding like I'm totally into myself, especially since I'm a girl and we're  expected to be so nice all the time." "Haruko, just be yourself. Don't obsess over the whole sex role thing. It's too limiting and I don't want you imprisoning yourself in a box because of the whims of people who aren't you." "What I hear out of that, Steven, is that you're looking for honesty. So am I. I really like that you said that." "Well, it's like the song says, 'free your mind and your ass will follow,'" he remarked, laughing. "God Steven, the more I'm with you the more comfortable I am and not just because of the familiarity. I think it's good for me because you're showing me so much I haven't been confronted with before." "I'm glad you feel that way, babe. It's a super ego stroke to have someone say that to me."

They got back to Steven's house and he refilled his dogs' water dish and they began gulping it down. Then he fed them each a couple of treats and played with them a little bit. Haruko smiled as she watched this. "Hey Haruko, do you want to stay for dinner?" his mom asked. "No, that's okay Mrs. Morris. We're having company over tonight and I have to be there. But thanks anyway. It was nice of you to ask." "You're welcome sweety." "Would you like to walk me home Steven?" "Oh yeah," he replied and took her hand and escorted her back to her residence, kissing her goodbye at her door.

On the way back, his cellphone rang. "Hey honey," Haruko said. "Hi sweetheart. What's up?" "My mom told me that there is a kabuki play at the Performing Arts Center in a couple of months with one of the top kabuki actors featured. My mom is getting tickets tomorrow. You wanna go?" "Oh my God, Haruko, that sounds epic! I definitely would like to go." "Yay! I'll tell my mom. We're going to try to make it a neighborhood event since there are so many Japanese who live here. Do you think your parents will want to go, too?" "My mom, I think, might. I don't know about my dad. Let me ask and then I'll hit you back." "Sounds like a plan baby. Love you!" "I love you, too!" As it turned out, Steven's parents wanted to go and he informed Haruko of that fact, saying he would bring the money for the tickets when they walked to school in the morning.

After he walked her to school the next morning, his cellphone vibrated while he was in third period. He turned his back on the teacher and found that it was a text message from  Haruko telling him that she got her period and was going home because the cramps hurt too much. At lunch, he called her and asked if there was anything he could get her. "If you know how to make the next five days go by quicker you could do that," she snarked. "Well, I'll check to see if I have any anesthesia left in the medicine cabinet," he joked back. "God, I wish," she retorted. "Can I come over after school?" "Not today honey. I'm sorry." "I'm sorry you have to endure this." "Sometimes that first day is a doozy. It should be tolerable enough to go to school tomorrow. Thanks for calling." "If there's anything I can do for you let me know, okay?" "Thanks honey. I love you." "I love you, too."

He decided to try hanging out with the South Marlin Circle crowd anyway and when he showed up, Jeff said, "hey dude, sorry to hear about Haruko." "How did you know?" 'Shiho told us. I can't stand it when I see my beautiful Yumi dealing with it, so I know how you feel." "Yeah, it sucks. We had such a good day yesterday and then this happens. Kind of a buzz kill." "No shit, man. Yuki gets it really bad sometimes. It's the shits," Eddie averred." "I'm on mine right now. I feel so gross," Arisa sympathized. "But yet you look so scrumptious. Mmmmm," Cecil said. "She totally does Cecil. You better not blow it with her since tons of other guys will line up to ask her out," Dalton posited. "Oh don't worry about that my good man. My devotion to Arisa knows no bounds. I must say, though, that your Keiko is quite the stunner. A quality girl like her is not to be trifled with." "Every day with her is a blessing, Cecil."

Jeff's cellphone then rang. "Hi mom, what's up? Uh huh. Oh really? No problem. Everything okay at home? Great. Okay, see you later." Jeff then turned to the rest of the crowd. "Hey you guys, another alumnus of the club is moving our way and so my mom wants us to look out for available housing in the neighborhood." "Right on." "You got it, dude." "Yeah, I'll do a walk around after I do my homework." "Excellent. Maybe they'll have a kid Shiho might like." "I can 't remember if he has any kids or what ages they are," Jeff stated. "But it would be fantastic to see Shiho find a good situation ." "Thanks Jeff," Shiho appreciated. "No problem. You're a super girl Shiho."

As luck would have it, the aspiring new arrival was Keith Macero, who was Mr. Stevenson's best friend in high school and whose parents had lived next door to the Westfields before he went to Georgetown University and then worked for the Defense Department. He decided to quit government work, though, and hook up again with Mr. Stevenson as his company's logistics director and legislative consultant. He needed housing now within 90 days to move his family, which included his wife Elena, AKA "lovesub,"14 year old son Matt and 11 year old Tracy, out to California.

Steven walked home with the South Marlin Circle neighborhood kids, but felt pretty empty without Haruko there. That made him resolve to make sure she knew she was cared for every day.

After the homework session at Mrs. Westfield's, many of the couples took strolls around the neighborhood to look for "for sale" signs and to evaluate the houses where they were posted. Shiho, Rie, Brandon and Robbie found a house on South Stingray Circle, which was the next street over from the one the two sisters lived on. It was a two level house that arose out of the teardown and build bigger homes mania like the one three of the group lived in, though it not as huge as their house was. The exterior landscaping looked good and so they decided to report it to Lynn Perlis so that she could pass it on to her husband.

It hadn't been listed yet since it went on the market just that day, so she had Shiho run over to get the number on the sign. She got the listing agent on the line and found out it was three bedrooms with an attic bonus room and came in at 3300 square feet. The bank had foreclosed on it and paid the residents to move out without destroying or stealing anything. It had a pool, too. The next day, the agent did a walk through with Lynn and she took pictures for Keith and emailed them to him, but it also went up on the MLS. Keith and his wife flew out to check on that property and others that the kids had found that seemed promising. They ultimately decided to make their offer on the Stingray house and after having to wait a couple of weeks, the bank finally responded with a counter offer. The Maceros accepted that since the price per square foot was still below the neighborhood comps. It would take the bank time, though, to process the transaction and the title company more time to do their thing. It didn't close until early December.

Getting back to that Tuesday in September, Haruko came to the door when Steven came to pick her up. "Are you sure you're feeling good enough to go to school today babe?" "Steven, I'm on my period and not sick with the flu or something. I'll be okay. I just feel a little bleah." "Okay babe. Don't overdo it, though, okay?" "Steven, thanks for your concern. This is just one of those girl things." "Yeah, Arisa was telling me she was on hers right now, too." "Yeah,  that's what happens when you're the baby factory of the human race."

They met the others in front of Jeff Perlis' house. "Hey dude," Jeff said to Steven. "Your turn to buy a candy bar for all the girls today." "What do you want, ladies?" Steven asked them. The girls debated it as they began walking to school and settled on Three Musketeers. Haruko then whispered, "from what I understand, outsiders aren't normally asked to do this, so I kind of wonder what it means." "It's all good fun, whatever the motivation," he replied. "But I also think it means you have to buy one for all the guys tomorrow," he laughed. "Shut up," she giggled. "Now there's the smile that  knocks me out," he teased.

At lunch, he asked her if she wanted to go lay down under one of the trees so she could relax, but she wanted to remain with the rest of the group, so he directed her to sit on his lap, which she did and they cuddled that way, with him holding her tightly against him.

When they met to go home, he inquired how she felt and asked if he could go to her house after dinner even though it would mean he would be meeting her dad. She called her mom and received permission. After he ate dinner, he sucked it up and went to her house. Maki let him in with Haruko right behind her. She took him into the living room and introduced him to her dad. What made Steven feel especially anxious was that he had already fucked Haruko and her mom had likely seen it or at least heard it. She had definitely seen the aftermath, his spunk pouring out of Haruko's cunt. Erik shook Steven's hand and that was about it in what turned out to be a pleasantly perfunctory encounter. She led him into her bedroom and they laid on their sides with him holding her in his arms. "Well, that was stomach churning," he told her. "What do you mean?" "I was so nervous meeting your dad that my stomach was doing somersaults." "To be honest Steven, he had already asked me about you, so I think once he saw that you weren't actually some tattooed biker or something he was okay with you being here." "That's good. But I can understand why he would be protective of his strikingly beautiful daughters. I know that when we have kids, anticipating our daughter getting her cherry popped is going to be kind of a weird mental hurdle for me because I know how guys think. However, it's also unhealthy to micromanage your children's lives.. So it can end up being a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing."

"Does my being here help when you don't feel very good?" "I feel pretty disgusting right now, Steven. But it's comforting to know you're so concerned and I know it was hard for you to face my dad. So thanks." "As long as you feel better, that's all I want," he explained. "If you decide you want to be alone at some point, just say something. I won't be offended because I know it will make you feel better." "Steven, you're so kind." "I'm just going to be me, Haruko and let the chips fall where they may. It's all I can do. I want you to know I'm with you no matter what." "And to love, honor and obey?" she snarked. Steven laughed. "I don 't know about the obey part unless you want to submit to me," he joked, "but those first two sound pretty good to me." "They sound pretty good to me, too," she echoed. He leaned over and kissed her softly. "Steven, will you spend the night with me?" "Boy, I really want to, Haruko, but my parents would flip out since it's a school night. Sorry." "No, I understand. I think most vanilla parents would feel the same way." "It's frustrating though. It makes me feel guilty." "Steven, don't. It can't be helped." "Yeah. It still sucks, though."

At around nine, Rie and Shiho came back home and Rie had Brandon with her. "Hi guys!" Rie chirped brightly. "Hiya Rie." Steven greeted. "Thanks for being so supportive of my sister Steven. It's awesome she has someone there for her when we're not around." "That's nice of you to say that, Rie. Your sister is awesome and so are you and Shiho." "Thanks sweety. Well Brandon and I are going to have some alone time. See you tomorrow, Steven." "Bye Rie. Have fun." "So is he going to spend the night with her?" "No. They're a couple, but she hasn't submitted to him yet, so they can't spend the night together, but they can have sex since they're both over 14." "So the girls here don't submit to their boyfriends right off the bat?" "No. There is usually something like a courtship period and then he will ask her to submit to him and then it's up to her to say yes or no."

"So do your brothers have girlfriends?" "Ken doesn't because he's too young. Robbie does, but he's too young to be allowed to have his girlfriend submit to him. He also can't have sex with her." "So there are all kinds of rules that everybody is operating under?" Yeah. It's all done to ensure that the masters have the necessary self control and knowledge to properly handle and communicate with their slaves and literally take their lives in their hands without any bad consequences." "So say someone submits to a dom is there always protocol that they have to follow?" "It's up to the couple. Like with Aoi and her dominant, she obeys all his orders, but in between that is just kinda typical couples talk, 'I love you,' "how do you feel,' and that sort of thing. The dominants are taught to look in the long term and care for and develop their slaves before they settle down to full time married slavery. The dominants are also expected to go to college and then be able to support a family."

"So if a girl submits to a dominant is she expected to stay with him from there on in?" "Yes and no. The long term relationship is the ideal, but if the submissive isn't getting anything out of the relationship with her dominant  then she can leave him, which makes the dominant look real bad and he may be put in a position within the context of the community where he will not be allowed to lead anyone in it, especially if the grounds on which the subbie left him were related to abuse. However, what he might do outside of it the community has no control over."

"So what is with all the major ass kissing that goes on?" "That's a philosophical thing. The idea is to make everyone in the community feel comfortable about themselves and the others. Plus it keeps a lid on people saying hurtful things about other couples in public." "That's a trip. But whatever works."

"So why didn't you go with what everybody else is doing? Did the protocol stuff seem kinda stiff to you?" "Yeah, it seemed a little unnatural to me. Plus there are times when I just feel I want to be proactive. The thought of having to get a dominant's approval for something I want to do doesn't really agree with me." "Do you have any dominant traits?" "Well, I have a really hard time with waiting to see how the result of something will turn out, like when I blew you on our first date. I wanted to send you the message right away that I wanted to be intimate with you without having to play the usual boy-girl games because I didn't know how long it would take you to bust that kind of move on me. Plus I wanted to see how big your cock was." Steven laughed and then asked if she had a submissive side to her. "I like being spanked during sex. In fact, spanked kinda hard. Otherwise, I don't think so. I think I'm just kind of in the middle." "Well, you can only do what's right for you." "Yeah. I don't think I need any more stimulation than what I would otherwise get from sex."

"By the way, how many people are going to that kabuki play?" "Just about all the members in the neighborhood plus some people from the alumni association. It'll be so fun." "It sounds like it. I'm really looking forward to it." Steven then rolled Haruko on to her back and gently kissed her. He caressed her left cheek as he gazed into her smoldering brown eyes and smiled before he kissed her softly again. She smiled quietly at him. They spent the next half hour exchanging slow, lingering kisses. "God Steven, I love the way you kiss me." "I mean every one of them, too," he replied. "I can feel that," she acknowledged. He got up and slid down to the end of the bed and took her left foot in his hands and began to massage it. "Oh God, that feels heavenly," she sighed. "I'm glad. Just lay back and enjoy it." He massaged her feet for a while until she fell asleep. He slipped quietly out of bed and used the bathroom. After washing his hands, he went back into her bedroom and laid the tenderest and lightest kiss on her lips and then went home.