Chapter 40

Awakening on Christmas Day, I had to get Mutellip and Norbert moving, as we were going to spend time with the family. They were doing presents around 1000, and we were going over for lunch at 1230.

The two of them were shocked when we went up to the main house. They were talking about how my family must be pretty wealthy and were surprised that that we were on a private street and the family had to take care of the upkeep of the road. They didn’t know how to feel that people could be trespassed from the street.

They were still cleaning up all the wrapping paper when we walked in. Everyone welcomed them when we came in and wished us Merry Christmas. We were getting something to drink when Sameulu called us over.

“Take a walk with me, guys.”

We all walked down to the shop. Norbert and Mutellip were like kids in a candy store trying to look everywhere at once. We were directed to one of the finishing benches. Sameulu pulled a box out from the shelf beneath the bench.

“So, this box has a bunch of folders in it. These are the ones that I can’t sell. They function just fine, so pick one out for yourselves.”

They stood stunned looking at him. After a moment looking around, they both dove into the box. They both took a knife with a four-inch blade and a black grip. I was then told to grab one as well.

“Sameulu, why don’t you sell these knives?”

“I told you; there’s stuff wrong with them, some sort of blemish or other reason.”

“Do the issues affect them from working?”

“No.”

“All right, then you sell them as blemishes, at a slightly lower rate. That way you don’t just have a big box of blades just sitting around.”

He just stood there looking at me for a minute.

“You know that makes a lot of sense.”

I picked out a knife and then put the box back underneath the bench. We stood around bullshitting for a while before heading back up the main house. They had brought out the leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner. It was still a pretty big spread. What was different was there was a lot of seafood.

The main dish was Bacalhau Da Consoada. This was a staple of most Christmas Eve dinners in Portugal. It was salted codfish with potatoes, cabbage and carrots. There was also a grilled octopus dish and a large platter of cheese and olives. There were a couple of desserts as well, Bolo Preto da Madeira or Madeiran Black Cake, which was a heavy kind of fruitcake. The there was a dish called Rabanads, which was basically a fancy kind of French toast, although there was no maple syrup, just honey and a syrup made from Madeira wine.

We were told to eat until we were stuffed as they were still cooking Christmas Day dinner. Grandmother and all the tias (aunts) were hovering, making sure we had more than enough to eat.

They brought out wine for us to have while eating, and the guys thought that this was a bit strange as some children were served as well. I had to explain that most everyone here was either first- or second-generation immigrant children. The cultural tendencies were still fresh. The legal age of drinking in Portugal was eighteen, so it wasn’t a big deal to them.

I kept my drinking to a minimum as I still had to drive back and also had duty. I was lucky the Grandparents were letting me borrow their car.

I enjoyed seeing the guys have a good time with my family. It all came back to what grandfather always told me. You take care of your guys, and they’ll take care of you. It was borne out by their attitude and work ethic change.

We were given a bunch of food to take back with us. That made me think that there was one thing that we needed to get in the room. A microwave. We didn’t do that much for the rest of the day. Before going on duty, I made sure to remind them to call their parents.

Climbing out of my rack, I was glad that there was no PT until after New Years. Then things were going to get frantic. There wasn’t going to be a break until sometime in late February. I decided that I was going to take the knuckleheads out to see some of the sights of the island. We were going to visit Pearl Harbor, as I had seen in the MWR office that there was a boat tour that gave discounts to military members. I didn’t give them any say, we were getting out of the barracks today.

We picked Kiku up before heading out to Pearl Harbor. I wanted Kiku to see it for a specific reason.

It was a really nice day. They were all eager as we took the various tours and seeing the ships. Norbert and Mutellip took in the solemness and weight when we were on the Arizona Memorial. I think Kiku academically understood but didn’t totally grasp what the Memorial meant. I decided to wait and have that conversation later.

They were all amazed at how big the USS Missouri was. The tour was interesting as it explained how the sailors and Marines had lived on board.

We had a great day, and I dropped the guys off at the barracks so Kiku and I could go to dinner.

We were out for just a normal diner for dinner. After they brought the food out, Kiku surprised me with her perception.

“So there seems to be something on your mind.”

“There is. It was something that I noticed when we were on the USS Arizona Memorial.”

“Oh, and what was that?”

“I just noticed that there was a difference between how you seemed versus how we were taking in the experience.”

“And what was I doing that was wrong?”

“Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to imply you did anything wrong. You just looked at it differently from what I could see.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

I could see that this wasn’t going well. I needed to figure a way to try and salvage this.

“Growing up in Japan you have a differing view than I do of the same event. It’s neither good nor bad. There was a reverence that we felt for the sailors and Marines that are still entombed in the USS Arizona right under the Memorial we were on.”

“Wait. What?”

And there was the rub. Somehow there was some sort of disconnect. All of a sudden, her face became ashen, and it looked like she was on the verge of crying. I got up sat next to her. Putting my arm around her, pulling her into me.

“Babe, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just felt it different than we did. Not worse or better. Being there with you just made me realize something.”

“That I’m insensitive?”

“No.”

She was sniffing the whole time.

“You’re not insensitive. I just realized how much my grandmother is changing. To be honest, I was shocked to see her sitting next to your parents at the fight. I’ll show you later how you can see Pearl Harbor from the main house.”

It was like a light bulb hit her. We talked about that for a bit. She started to understand things from my family’s point of view. She seemed to be OK with it the same way that I was with her family. I dropped her off and drove back to the barracks.

Norbert and Mutellip asked what we were doing tomorrow. I told them hiking and beach gear. They then started bitching about going hiking. My response was that we didn’t have PT, so suck it up. That didn’t go over well, but they were going and that was that.

As I was getting dressed, I remembered that I needed to go see Gunny Owens. I told the guys to get ready, and we’d leave when I got back. We grabbed breakfast and then went our separate ways. I made my way over to the Platoon Offices.

No one was there except for the Gunny and Lt Wallace. I started having the conversation with Gunny about how everything would go for my trip to Airborne School.

It was going to be a three-week school, so I’d be gone after the first week of September through the end of the month. They were going to give me four travel days. I had to get an Airborne physical that they’d already made an appointment for me on Thursday, that way I’d have it out of the way before September, so I’d be good on that front.

The chuckleheads were fucking off when I got back to the room. I had to give them a swift kick to the ass to get them moving. I reminded them they better be ready by the time I got back.

After picking up Kiku, we stopped to see Sameulu. I paid him the money for the rental house. Then before picking up the guys, we stopped at the Credit Union to deposit my winnings and opened a one-year CD.

We picked up the knuckleheads and drove out to Diamond Head. Norbert was mad about my parking choice. Parking was free, but we had to walk about a half mile through a tunnel in the side of the crater.

He stopped bitching for a few minutes when I told him it was his PT for the week. After paying the five buck admission fee, we started that self-tour of Fort Ruger. It was built in the early 1900’s, as a coastal artillery site. Two of the eight artillery positions were still there and looked like they would have during WWII. We then took the trail hike. Most of it was relatively nice. The last part of it was a bear. About a hundred steps up a steep angle.

Our legs were burning by the time we got to the top. After reaching the top, we were a little bummed because we then had to climb a spiral staircase up. We were all breathing heavily by the time we got to the top of the Fire Control Bunker. It had to have been at least a hundred vertical step spiral staircase. The view out to the ocean and the coastline was awesome. Though you had to basically crawl out the viewing port of the bunker.

This would have been a great place to take pictures, and everybody regretted not bringing a camera. We went down the other part of the trail which was a lot easier. After finishing the hike, which was a little bit more than a half mile round trip, we went back to the car. Two miles total for the day wasn’t bad, but all the climbing made it a beast of a day. Everybody decided we needed a break and food.

We ran across a Zippy’s, a Hawaiian fast-food place, on the way to our next stop for the day. The thing I liked about going to Zippy’s was you could get a good meal cheap. Then it was on to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. Again, it was a five-dollar entrance fee.

This was one of the best, but crowded, places on the Island for snorkeling. The number of fish in the bay was insane. I would love to get in there with a spear gun, though I’d go to jail for that.

We got everything set up and then got the knuckleheads their rental snorkel gear. That’s when Kiku noticed something was amiss.

“Barnim, where’s your snorkel gear?”

“In the car. I can’t snorkel with a broken nose. I’ll get in the water with you guys, but no snorkeling for me.”

“That’s not any fun.”

“Being with you is fun. Having the knuckleheads here is also OK.”

I had to remind everyone to put on sunscreen as I wasn’t sure how long we’d be here. We spent a few hours between being in the water and the beach. They had a concession stand where you could buy the classic Hawaiian treat of Shaved Ice, which I came to find out that you don’t dare call it a snow cone. They get a little upset about it. They also had something called a pineapple whip. That was really good, though I had to buy a second one. As soon as Kiku tasted it, she stole mine.

We used the beach showers to clean off before heading out. We got dinner at the Mess Hall. The three of us just couldn’t figure out why Kiku was so enthused about eating at the Mess Hall.

Stopping off at the grandparents on the way to drop off Kiku, I was surprised that I didn’t realize something earlier. I hadn’t seen Mariana other than when we’d eaten at the main house on Christmas Day. All they said was that she was staying at a friend’s house. Kiku and I were told to be at the house on Thursday at 1600. We were going to do Christmas gifts and dinner.

I was surprised when I dropped off Kiku. Mr. Fujioka requested that I join them for tea. Seeing as they were leaving in a day, and I had time before my duty tour, there was no reason to refuse. After all the walking today, it was good that they had a regular kitchen table. If it had been a low Japanese table, I probably would have needed help getting up. It seemed they had set me up. The tea service was already on the table.

After sitting down, Mrs. Fujioka started serving the tea. The whole time Mr. Fujioka was staring at me, with the occasional look at my arm. About three quarters of my tattoo was showing. I figured if it was such an issue, then we’d might as deal with it right off the bat.

“Mr. Fujioka, is there something wrong? You seem to have an issue with my tattoos.”

“They are the sign of a criminal.”

Ah, and there it was.

“While that may be for a good number of people, tattoos are not the sole realm of criminals. Would you like to know the significance of my tattoos?”

“What is there to know. Criminals have tattoos.”

“Like I said, not only criminals have tattoos. These are Samoan tattoos. Showing that I’ve come of age and belong to a specific family.”

“You are not Samoan.”

“You are absolutely correct on that, though that didn’t stop them from accepting me and making me part of their family.”

He just stared at me like he didn’t know what to say.

“Then again by your estimation just having tattoos, I’m a criminal.”

I could see that he was taken aback that I was challenging his view. He sat there quietly as the tea service was finished. The topic of conversation drifted away from my tattoos. I spent another twenty subdued minutes having tea. From the way the conversation was going, I thought there might be a thawing of attitudes. Then again that could be my imagination.

Kiku walked me out and thought it went well. She was going spend Thursday with her folks before they left Friday morning. I had about an hour before I had to go on duty, as I had swapped with a guy from the Mortar Section and took his shift starting at midnight.

Norbert was watching some weird conspiracy late night show as I got ready. He gave me some good advice as I walked out the door.

“Don’t fall asleep.”

Those were wise words. The night was dead as a doornail, staying awake was hard as hell towards the end of my shift. I didn’t even stop to get breakfast. I was asleep within ten minutes of getting into the room.

Thursday was interesting, I only got about six hours of sleep as I had my physical at 1600. I grabbed lunch on the way to my physical.

This time I was sent to a different doctor. I saw Lieutenant Miller, who was an orthopedic doctor as there was an orthopedic portion to the exam. We started off with an eye test, they had to see if I could tell the difference between red and green. Then we went into the orthopedic exam. This was to make sure that I had full mobility and didn’t have any chronic pain.

The Doctor took a look at my nose and said it seemed to be coming along pretty well. He didn’t do the next check on the exam, cause it wasn’t necessary. You had to be able to reach up to eighty inches to be able to hook to the static line in the plane. Just with my height alone I was almost at the eighty inches.

The last thing he checked was the Flexed Arm Hang; this was similar to a pull up. I started by hanging on a pull up bar. Then you pull up so that your shoulders are even with the bar, which you have to hold for a minimum of ten seconds. He had me hold it for fifteen seconds. Everything else had to do with passing a normal PFT, though I had to maintain a nine-minute pace for three miles which wouldn’t be an issue.

I grabbed an early dinner as I’d taken on a couple extra hours of duty again, so I had to start at 2100. Norbert was actually being nice and said he’d grab me a sandwich or something before the Mess Hall closed.

It was just another boring and uneventful night, and I had to try and keep myself awake. Cpl Pearson brought me some donuts and milk an hour or so before I was relieved.

I was walking into the room after getting breakfast when I heard my name called out. Turning my head, I could see Kiku standing next to my car. I let her know that I’d be out in a few minutes.

I looked at the guys as I was about to walk out the door.

“You guys behave and I’ll see you next Saturday.”

“What?”

“I’m gone on vacation. Don’t get in any trouble while I’m gone. And don’t stay in this room the whole time. Get out and do something.”

“Sure dad.”

“I’m just telling you for your own good. They’re going to work us like rented mules after New Year.”

“I know.”

“So be good and get out of the room.”

Getting in the car, I was tired and hungry as hell. We stopped and got breakfast at a diner on the way to the house. After setting my bags down in my room, I climbed onto the bed and was out cold soon after.

When I woke up, Kiku was laying on the bed just staring at me.

“What’s up beautiful?”

“It’s going to be dinner in a couple of hours.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost five o’clock.”

“I slept a bit longer than I expected, though I guess I needed it.”

Going into the kitchen, Grandmother was done sooner than expected. She was putting the finishing touches on dinner as we came in. It was a simple dinner that seemed to empty all the perishables from the fridge. This left me wondering something that made no sense. So, I turned to Grandmother.

“I thought you said Mariana was staying at a friend’s house. So why are you getting rid of all the perishable food out of the fridge?”

“In actuality she’s staying at her fiancé’s house. I believe that they are going to get married in June.”

I wondered why they told me something different the other day.

“And I just hear about this now?”

Grandfather just laughed.

“I hope you’re not expecting an invitation to the wedding.”

I figured that all family would be invited. “And why wouldn’t I get an invitation?”

“You’re really asking me that? It’s not like you two really got along. So don’t expect an invitation.”

“I get it.”

Then it was explained that I was going to be responsible for maintaining the house with occasional help from Sameulu. He’d take over when I had a duty or was out on maneuvers. The rest of the evening was spent helping grandmother packing up all the stuff she’d bought. When we finished with that, she brought out the presents they had for Kiku and I. She said that we were going to open one now. Kind of like we always did on Christmas Eve.

These turned out to be the presents that everyone expects from their grandparents though Kiku’s was actually nice. It was a nice sundress, while mine was undershirts and socks. Grandmother said that we should take the rest of the presents and then open them together.

The only thing I could think of was that they wanted us to jump start our own traditions. It was about an hour or two later when everyone was ready to go to bed. Grandmother turned to me as went to head to bed.

“Against my better judgment, I was talked into you two sleeping in the same bed. Keyword, sleep. The door will be left open.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Keep your clothes on.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Kiku got ready for bed as I made sure that everything was staged by the door for the trip to the airport tomorrow. Stepping into the room, it seemed that she had become aware of my interest in females wearing Umbro shorts. She had on a pair with a tight shirt.

We lay there facing each other silently for a few minutes. I could sense a shift in her breathing and her body got tense.

“Uh, Barnim...”

Well fuck, this couldn’t be good.

“So, what’s on your mind?”

“So, I got an invitation to a New Years party, and I told them we’d go.”

“No big deal. So, you invited us to a New Years party?”

“Uh ... That’s where things get difficult.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“Kiese invited us.”

“OK. So where is it.”

“You’re not mad that I accepted the invitation?”

“No, though you will need to have to have a conversation with her. That needs to happen before Sunday.”

“I just thought you’d nix the idea.”

“No, though you need to have that conversation with her. I don’t have anything against going and can only hope she lays off.”

“OK. I’ll take care of it while you take your grandparents to the airport.”

The trip to the airport went pretty smooth. As we were saying our goodbyes, they both made me chuckle. Grandmother reminded me that they didn’t want any more grandkids in the near future. That and I needed to take care of Kiku. It seemed Grandmother had come to look affectionately on her.

Then Grandfather gave me some advice. He started with some relationship advice. Telling me to take care of Kiku as he’d come to like Kiku, he felt the same way as grandmother. Then he told me not to get in any more trouble and to stop pissing off NCOs. There were hugs all around. Standing there after they boarded the plane, I became slightly introspective.

I figured it would be a while before I saw the grandparents again. Then there was how my relationship with Kiku was progressing, and how fast it would progress. Making my way to the car, I began the drive back to the house.

On the drive back I started trying to brainstorm on what I could do to stop or mitigate 9/11. That’s when I realized that there was another attack that I might have been able to alter, but I completely blanked on. The Oklahoma City bombing happened when I was at the School of Infantry. I didn’t blame myself, as there were many things that I just didn’t remember or remember when they were going to occur. I just needed to figure a way to do it anonymously.

Kiku had our stuff by the door when I got back to the house. I could sense that there was something going on with her face.

“What’s up?”

“I went and talked to Kiese. She was upset as she had in her mind what was going to happen. I have to admit I might have led her to believe this and am also to blame.”

“Look shit happens. Sometimes you do something for what you think are good reasons that have unintended consequences. On top of that you can’t control someone else’s actions.”

There was a series of looks on her face. Disappointment, concern, and apprehension. I kept calm, as getting mad wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“Look, we can’t go back from where we’re at. You had good intentions. We can just change how we go forward. So, what’s the plan now?”

She just kind of looked at me.

“Are we going to this beach party?”

“We are still invited, though I’m not sure about going.”

“I’ll defer to your decision on this.”

“Ok. We’ll figure it out before the end of the day tomorrow.”

We packed up the car and drove over to pick up the house keys from Sameulu. He told me not to leave the house a complete mess. Turned out Aline was their housekeeper to make a few extra bucks.

We made the drive out to Kūpaua Valley and the house. It was out by itself, about three quarters of the way up the valley on a decent sized lot. Whoever built the bungalow here had to spend a lot for just the construction costs. It wasn’t an overly large house, though Kiku thought it was cute.

As we started searching the cozy bungalow, there was an interesting fact. It had more bathrooms than bedrooms. There was one large bedroom while having one and half bathrooms. The bedroom was amazing. The wall facing the foot of the bed was a glass wall that opened up to a large, covered area with an ocean view. When I turned from the open glass wall, I was rendered speechless.

Kiku was standing there naked. I was instantly hard. It only took three steps to be standing in front of her. Putting my hand on her shoulder, she went down to her knees.

“Take my cock out.”

“Yes sir.”

There was a slight shake in her hands as she undid my shorts. Once my shorts and underwear were around my ankles, she began licking along my cock. This wasn’t going to be sweet, sweet love making. Grabbing her ponytail, I slid my cock into her mouth.

There was a mix of lust, apprehension and satisfaction. I wasn’t being that gentle and at the same time I wasn’t going to hurt her. Looking down at her, I could see that she was enjoying it.

“Take your hands off. Play with your pussy and nipples.”

She hesitated for a second.

“Now.”

Instantly she was moaning around my cock as it slid in and out of her mouth. After a couple of minutes of testing her gag reflex, I told her to get a condom out of my shorts. Kiku tried to turn her head to look for my shorts. I slid the head of my cock head into the entrance of her throat and held it there.

Her eyes began to get bigger before I pulled my cock halfway out. I could see her trying to gulp air in around my cock. Fumbling around, she finally found a condom. I pulled out of her mouth, and she rolled the condom on.

As soon as it was on, I pulled her to her feet and spun her around. Bending her over one of the loungers, I trapped both arms behind her back. Gripping both wrists with one hand I pushed the head of my cock in. She let out a moan. I grabbed her hip with my now free hand pulling her to me. As soon as I had bottomed out, Kiku let out a yelp.

Reaching up, I grabbed her ponytail pulling her up off the lounger.

“God ... so deep, so full.”

With her back arching dramatically, I started to ramp up the speed and force of my thrusts. The clapping noise of our bodies was echoing in the room.

It didn’t take all that long for me to blow a load. I was breathing a bit heavy and Kiku slumped on the lounger just out of it. Running my fingertips along her spine, I could see her shivering at the contact. With a smack to the ass, I hit the head to get rid of the condom.

Coming back, she was laid across the bed. I could see her peeking over her shoulder at me. Such a mix of sexiness and cuteness. Just the swell of her ass made me think of sliding my cock back into her pussy. While the mind was willing the body wasn’t, yet.

“You like what you see?”

“I do. I’d be an idiot not to be drawn to a smart and sexy woman.” I slid behind her in the bed and pulled her to me.

“We’re going to get cleaned up so we can get some stuff at the commissary.”

She then whined.

“Do we have to? I’m comfortable.”

“Yes. We are going to pick up some groceries. We’ll make dinner, eat, open presents and then have dessert.”

“Ohh, presents. Let’s go.”

With that she was up off the bed trying to pull me along with her. I was still amazed how she could be completely submissive one moment, and then strong and assertive the next. Then there were times like this where she had a childlike enthusiasm.

“Get dressed, let’s go.”

“Shower first, don’t want to walk around smelling of sex.”

“OK.”

We took a quick shower, washing each other. There was a little fooling around while we were cleaning up. I got dressed and sat on a lounger in the covered outside patio while Kiku took longer.

“Alright, I’m ready to go.”

Looking at my watch, it’d been about twenty minutes. Getting up, I looked at Kiku and couldn’t help it but actually laughed out loud.

“What the hell are you laughing at?”

“Sorry. You just caught me off guard with your outfit.”

“And what’s so funny about it?”

Looking at her, I could only think white trash meets cute Asian. She was wearing a pair of overall shorts with another crop top shirt. The pigtails just rounded out the look.

“I just didn’t expect you to wear redneck chic.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is. Though you look cute as hell.”

“Stop being mean to me.”

“Keep being a brat and I’ll punish you.”

The trip to the commissary was interesting as this was the first time we’d done something so domestic together. It felt right. We decided to surf and turf as I’d seen a grill. I was happy with Kiku’s dessert choice, it was a strawberry shortcake cake. On the way back we stopped at my favorite liquor store for two bottles of champagne and a nice bottle of sake.

Once we got back, everything was put away and dinner was prepped. We went out onto the patio and started the grill. We both had a glass of sake while sitting on a lounger while waiting for the coals to fire up. I lit a cigar and Kiku took it from me, took a quick puff, which elicited a small cough.

“It’s not bad, but I don’t know how you do that all the time.”

“I don’t, it’s not a cigarette. That’s probably my fourth or fifth cigar of the month.”

“Hurry up so we can do presents.”

“I can’t speed up the grill.”

We spent the evening drinking and cooking. I did the grilling and Kiku took care of making a salad which we had along with the steak and shrimp I had roasted. It was a nice meal with even better company. After cleaning up, I grabbed the box with the presents in it and we went out to recline on one of the loungers.

There had always been a tradition in our family that the patriarch always handed out the gifts though normally the kids got theirs before the adults.

Looking in the box, there were four presents for Kiku and three for me. I handed Kiku the smallest present for her. Removing the wrapping paper, I noticed Sameulu had made a simple box for what was inside. Opening it up, there was a pair of black single pearl earrings. Leaning against me, she started shrieking and squealing which was hurting my ears. She pulled back to look at me.