Gary felt great. School was out after today and he had aced all of his classes. Grades much better than he'd expected to get. It was hard as hell, especially with a full load of sports and a busy social life. But he'd managed it. Even with the added job his Dad had saddled him with this year. The job of making sure that Risa, an exchange student from Japan, didn't become 'sullied', as dad called it, during her stay in the US.

His Junior year was finally complete though, with only one more year of High School to go. Between his excellent grades and his position as a star on the football team, he should have most of his first college year paid for... if he did as well next year. Hadn't the coach said that a Scout from 'State' had been asking about him during the homecoming game?

He was celebrating. Riding his dirt bike over well worn trails he and his friends had made through the woods behind their homes. The little Honda's engine alternately purring and snarling through a couple of hair pin corners. He was coming to his favorite jump and opened the throttle wide. He hit the little hummock of ground clean and slid freely into the air beyond.

He loved the sensation as the motorcycles little engine bit and surged the machine forward, from the last hairpin, into the steep hillside. He reveled in the increase in weight, pushing him down on the seat as the machine leapt up the short climb — before suddenly falling away, leaping upwards into the air beyond. The sudden weightless feeling as the bike carved it's arc towards the landing area, its motor screaming wildly as the tires lost their drag upon the ground.

It was a magnificent jump. He thought he'd clear the twenty yard point this time as he floated freely in the air for long seconds. Moments that seemed almost like minutes as he calmly glanced around the surrounding woods in mid leap.

It was then that he saw Risa. She was kneeling beyond another small rise to his left. She was turned mostly away from him, still wearing her school uniform (Why she insisted on wearing that he didn't know). Whatever she was doing had so engrossed her that she didn't seem to notice even the wild screaming of his motorbike engine. Gary was so distracted by the sight of her that he almost missed the landing, but came to himself as the bike began falling away from him in the descent.

Releasing the throttle and engaging the clutch he made a free wheeling landing, allowing the terrain to stop the machine. As he slowed, he steered towards the small rise beyond which Risa knelt. He couldn't explain it, but something about what he saw was tickling a back corner of his brain.

The ignition was already switched off as the bike rolled to a stop and he simply laid it on his side. He walked up the little hill behind which Risa knelt. At the top he got a much better view of what was going on and knew what had caught his attention.

Risa was half turned away from Gary, kneeling, with her legs widespread. She was holding her wide pleated skirt up against her breasts with her left hand. Most of her slim thighs were exposed and her right hand was reaching under her, between her legs.

He didn't, at first, know exactly what she was doing, but was happy to see her. He wanted to share his news and excitement over his final grades with her, with anyone. She had only another week remaining before she left the US and returned to Japan. He looked closely at her as he climbed the last three steps to the hilltop. Her long ponytail of dark hair hung down her back. Her eyes were closed, her lips pursed and her brow was furrowed in concentration.

He was about to call out to her when he noticed the movement of her right arm. The elbow above her right leg moving in tiny little circles as she knelt there. Gary stopped and stared, his mouth falling open in realization. He couldn't believe it.

He'd heard about it from the other guys, but hadn't believed them... every girlfriend he'd ever had denied it if asked. He'd come to think it was only a guy thing, something women and girls never needed. But here it was. He was sure of it... Risa was masturbating right in front of him. Okay, not exactly before his eyes... she wasn't doing it for him to see... she didn't even know he was there. Besides, he couldn't really see anything from this angle anyway. But he was sure.

"Damn! It's real! Girls do masturbate!" was the thought that froze him to the spot.

Gary stayed where he was, unmoving, saying nothing but watching every move Risa made. It didn't last long, but then he didn't know how long she'd been there, doing that, before he arrived.

The movements of her arm changed, the elbow stilled and the forearm began swinging up and down rapidly. Fifteen or twenty seconds of this and she seemed to simply relax suddenly, all of her movements stopping. Her shoulders slumped, head bowing, like she was falling in on herself. For a long time she stayed that way, unmoving. Then, removing a small handkerchief from a skirt pocket, she wiped between her legs. The kerchief she returned to her pocket afterwards. Her skirt had slipped free of her grasp and she raised it once more. Again her right hand reached between her legs, her hips wiggled and she let the skirt fall back into place.

Once done, she didn't glance around, but picked up her school bag from the ground beyond her, stood, brushed at her knees and walked straight up the far hill towards home.

Gary waited until she was out of sight, then walked down to where she had knelt. It was a sandy area so the marks from her shoes and knees were easily apparent. There was nothing other than that, just the marks from her kneeling. He had no idea what he had expected to see. Something. Nothing. Anything.

Gary had a very active social life. He dated frequently, and for the last six months had dated Jennifer almost exclusively. But for all that, he thought his sex life sucked. He was seventeen, a local football star and he played on the baseball team as well. But he'd only really had sex with a girl four times in his life. His buddies though were always bragging about the amount pussy they fucked. Every date they got some, or so it seemed. He usually felt cheated when he had to masturbate after his own dates. If he was lucky he might have a pair of stinky fingers to sniff as he lay waiting for sleep to come.

Jennifer'd only let him really fuck her once, for New Years on their third date. It had been her idea but she'd later claimed he'd gotten her drunk... to take advantage of her.

"Maybe it's an Asian thing," Gary thought. Maybe only Asian women masturbate, since every American girl he'd tried to ask denied they ever did or would.

He stood looking at the imprints she'd made for the longest time. Kind of wondering, but not really... not really thinking at all. Mostly, he stood there and pictured Risa kneeling, looking as lovely as ever. He'd thought she was lovely since that first day, when his father had brought her home from the airport.

But, of course, he'd already made the promise to his father by then. Dad would kill him if he made any kind of advances himself. She was the daughter of some Japanese businessman who dealt with his father three or four times a year. They were always meeting for business, either there in Japan or here in the States. Dad had promised her father she would be protected here... that she would not be molested by the American hoodlum teenagers in any way. She was to remain 'unsullied' during her stay in our country. Gary's dad had promised Risa'a father so, according to his dad's way of thinking, that meant Gary had also promised the man.

Gary enlisted the help of friends on both teams, football and baseball, to help him. Word had been quickly passed that she was out of bounds. After they'd pounded two boys, for getting fresh and trying to touch her 'inappropriately' (actually, they'd only tried to put an arm over her shoulders), no one even asked her out for dates.

Gary took her to the movies a few times and once to a school dance... at his father's insistence and to Jenny's utter disapproval. He'd had fun those times though and thought Risa was great just to be with. She laughed easily at his jokes (even the ones she didn't really understand) and she danced real good too.

Whenever he wasn't out with Jenny or at practice, he was usually at home keeping Risa company. Playing games, listening to music, or simply watching television. They talked a lot about classes and each other's countries.

He'd thought a few times that she'd made a pass at him, but then had ignored them. Partly out of fear of his father, but mostly because he wasn't sure they were really passes. She was from another country, another culture where his father said their ways were different. He wasn't sure his signals weren't mixed, that what was a pass here would be one in her home. Ultimately, her friendship and happiness were more important to him. Besides, he did have Jenny by then.

Gary looked up the hill to where she had disappeared and had a sudden idea — his parents were at the cabin up north this week.

Running back to his bike he kicked it alive and headed home as fast as he could get there, taking a slightly round about route so he wouldn't be seen by Risa.

A quick look around when he got home told him he'd beaten her there. Turning on the television and flipping to MTV, he'd no more than seated himself when he heard the kitchen door open and close.

He called out, "Risa? Is that you?" She stepped through the kitchen archway, into the living room. Gary rose to his feet and began crossing to where she stood just inside the door. "I have some great news..." He stopped and looked at the clock as if just noticing the time. He frowned and said, "You are later than usual. What have you been doing?"

Her cheeks seemed to color, just the least little bit. "Nothing. I went walking in the woods on the way home. It is so peaceful and beautiful there."

"Alone?"

She stamped her foot and dropped her school bag with a thump. "Yes alone!" The anger, there only for a moment, cleared quickly. "What is your great news?"

He told her and, for the barest instant, a 'big deal!' look crossed her face. It was gone as soon as it appeared and she came forward giving him a hug, saying how wonderful his grades were and how happy she was for him. As she hugged him he deftly removed the small kerchief from her skirt pocket and asked again what she'd been doing in the woods.

"Nothing. Just walking, looking at the trees and birds. I saw a squirrel."

"Nothing, hmm?" Gary asked, stepping back and bringing the small kerchief into view. He raised it to his nose and sniffed.

Her eyes widened as she saw the cloth in his hand, recognizing it her hand dove quickly into the now empty pocket of her skirt. Her coloring was deep this time, beginning where her upper chest showed above her blouse and climbing rapidly through her neck, her cheeks, then disappearing into her scalp. The edges of her ears practically glowed where they showed through her hair.

She reached quickly for her kerchief, but he pulled it beyond her reach. He raised it again to his nose, sniffing deeply, more obviously this time. She reached for it again and again he pulled it away.

Risa collapsed to the floor then. Knees together before her, feet splaying out to the sides as she slid into a seated position. Leaning forward, covering her face with her hands, she began sobbing horribly. Great shudders jerked her shoulders this way and that as her arched back heaved with each sob. She slumped forward until her elbows reached her knees.

Gary was suddenly ashamed of himself. He tried to give her the kerchief, she batted his hand away. He began stumbling through a lame explanation about being in the woods too. How seeing her had been an accident and that he hadn't been spying.

She raised her head to look at him. "You saw?"

"Yes"

Risa grabbed the kerchief from his hands, her sobs calming as anger took it's place. "Well what do you expect? Thanks to you and your friends no boy in school will even talk to me. Thanks to you and your friends I will lose my honor when I return to Japan — still obako, still virgin. I will lose face."

Gary watched her face for some clue, his confusion obvious.

"In Japan, my father is," Risa continued, "... ah, what is the word, tsuyoi... ah... powerful. He is a very powerful man, like you are at school. My family are all powerful people, and there all boys are afraid to be with me — because of my father, my family. Growing up, I have seen many American movies about teenagers. I read many American romance novels and I have heard many stories about young American military men in Japan. When I heard about this program, to come to the USA, I knew I could find a real boyfriend here. Someone who was not afraid of my father, my brothers. I told all of the girls who have been laughing at me that I will come back home a woman. No longer a child who has yet to be loved."

Gary was confused. "But I thought... Dad said... Isn't it some big culture thing? I mean, I really thought..."

"Culture." Risa's face held a look of disgust. "Is not the American culture to have sex all through school as you grow up, then marry a virgin? If all teenagers here have so much sex, where are there the virgins you marry? In Japan, yes some stay virgin until they marry. Not all, not so many as before, but some. Things are the same-same as here. Among my friends, being virgin, having no experience, is to stay a child. To not become a woman. To be held outside and no longer a part of things... while everyone else has gone beyond. I want to go beyond. I want to be the same as my friends. I wanted to do this here, but your family here, is like mine there and everyone is afraid to be with me."

"I didn't know."

"You did not know. You did not see either. I tried also to make you interested in me. I did many things. Moving in the hall upstairs in my under clothes when only you were home. Do you think I do this always? You did not notice. I touch you sometimes, where I should not, you do nothing. Do you think any culture allows such a thing? I make my offers so obvious... and you do not hear, you do not see! You ignore me! You hate me!"

"I don't hate you. I have never hated you. When you first came here I thought you were the prettiest girl I have ever seen. A little odd in your school uniform maybe, but so very pretty. I hoped then, when I first saw you, that I could make you my girlfriend... then I remembered my promise to my father. Because he had promised your father. That's why I did the things I have. Not to hurt you, not because I hate you, but because my father said it was how you lived. That you would be dishonored and shamed at home if a boy has sex with you — or touches you 'in your woman places'. It was so hard some times, because I really wanted to touch you myself. I want you, all of you, myself. I thought you were making passes at me, but I wasn't sure. I thought I could be wrong... so I did nothing."

"Unchi!! Yabureru,... um, 'frustrate'. I am so frustrate because of you. That is why I must sometimes go to the woods... to do what I did today."

"I didn't think girls do that."

"What? Are you stupid now too? It is always talked about in the changing room at school. Any time there are only girls together, they talk about only a few things; boys, sex, boys, masturbation, school, boys, dates, and boys."

"You're kidding, right?"

"I am not kidding. I am being truthful. But, this is not important. Nothing is now important. I will go home on Saturday a virgin and I will lose face with all of my friends. I will be dishonored as one who does not make what she has said into the truth. Nothing I say will ever be believed again. To them I will be as nothing, I will not really exist." Her head fell as the tears started again.

Gary was torn. On the one hand he had his promise to, and his fear of, his father. His father scared hell out of him when he was angry. If he found out (even about this conversation), he would be really angry. Gary wouldn't see the outside of his room all summer and might even be beaten.

On the other hand, there was Risa. Sweet Risa. She who laughed at his jokes — she who had cheered the loudest for him at the games she had attended — he'd always heard her voice ringing out through all the others. Risa - who wanted it!

She'd sat by his bed for three days last month, when he got the flu. Reading to him from one of her silly novels, playing board games and replacing the compresses on his forehead until he recovered. Entertaining and cheering him, even after his parents had told her it was unnecessary. His friends and Jennifer hadn't even visited once.

"Risako-san." (Risako was her full first name and 'san' she'd told him was a note of respect added to a name in Japan). She raised her teary eyes to him. "Risako-san. If you want it, we still have tonight — and tomorrow — before my parents come back from our cabin. We have two days for you to keep your vow. I don't know a lot, and I may not be as good as in your novels. But I can take your virginity, if that's what you want. I can make love to you. Do you want that? Do you want to have sex with me?"

"Will you be my American boyfriend for tonight and tomorrow? Will you be only mine?"

"I will be your American boyfriend for tonight and tomorrow. I will be your American boyfriend next year too, if you come back again."

"Today and tomorrow is enough. Next year is next year and will be what it is. Yes, this is what I want. I have read much, and learned also from talks with my friends, both in Japan and here. I wish to learn what you know and maybe can teach you what I know as well."

The two of them climbed the stairs to Gary's room.

Once in the room, Risa closed the door even though they were, and would be, the only one's in the house. Gary went to his stereo and put in three CD's, setting the machine for random play and adjusting the volume lower than he usually listened to it. Turning back to Risa, as the music started, Gary found she was already undressing. The scarf tie-thingy part of her uniform already lay on the floor beside her.

Gary reached for his shirt but Risa stepped forward stopping him by grasping his hands. Without a word, simply looking into his eyes, she pulled his hands down to his sides before releasing him.

She stepped back and continued to undress. There was no striptease in her actions, no dancing or peek-a-boo enticements to her movements. She simply stood before him and undressed. The blouse slipped from her shoulders and fell to the floor, revealing a slip-like undergarment that ended above her skirt. This she slipped off over her head and it joined the blouse on the floor. Beneath were her narrow chest and firm mid-sized breasts. They curved in a gentle slope, tapering smoothly to an almost perfect point at the nipples. Nipples like two pink eyes looking back up and into his own. Without poses or posturing, Risa continued undressing until she was naked.