InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Diary of a plum blossom ❯ Chapter two ( Chapter 2 )

I know, it's probably hard to understand right now, but hey! The next update comes on
Saturdaywith two brand new chapters for you. And of course all the answers to your
questions... well, always given you ask!     +Chapter two+

- A cruel fate -

She had stood there on the graveyard for long minutes, debating with her inner voice
how to go on with this. Sure, she was interested in getting out what had happened here
and she knew it would be a lot of work but where to start?

The end of her story was something she had, right here before her. But what happened
before the suicide of this prostitute, why did she kill herself and left her little sister
behind? Why?

Her eyes fell back to the book in her hands, reading would probably bring her something,
than she would be able to get some background in the library or from her grandfather.
She turned and searched for a place to sit down, choosing the small wooden shrine on
the far side of the pond. It was lonely and quite there, the sounds from the streets
around her were filtered out by the trees and on a day like this nobody would come here.

She sat down on the stairs and opened the book again.

“Who are you...” She mumbled, searched for where she had left off and continued
reading.

Back than my sister wasn’t living with us, she was someone special, very special to all of
us. Also to uncle Tomoe who always called her his little bird, singing as bright and
glorious as the nightingale in spring. He had been a friend of our father and cared for us
from time to time after father had died in spring 1938 whilst fighting in Kaifengin China.
Back there our father had saved uncle Tomoe with giving his life for him, so our uncle
was bound by the old honour codex to care for us and tried his best.

Uncle Tomoe’s wife was a Geisha, Okasan and owner of a Geisha house, she was it who
made way
for my sister to become who she was meant to be. She had turned a Maiko trainee,
about to become a real Maiko and finally a Geisha- once she would turn 20 in 5 years.

She had been the most beautiful young woman all around – mama always said that –
and would have become a perfect Geisha, talented, beautiful and honoured. Anything
could have become of her – a artist, a famous singer and much more – with a bit luck
she even could have found a noble husband and lived a happy life. A perfectly skilled
Geisha always had been a honourable woman to marry – always given her protector
would say yes to it – and uncle Tomoe was more than happy to think of this.

But than my Mother died, and my sister had to come home and care for me because
uncle Tomoe had to return to defend Japanese ground in China. At first I should come
back with her but It was impossible for the Okasan to keep a little three year old child
with my sister in the Geisha house, after uncle Tomoe left. So we returned back to our
shelter close to Tokyo, helping out in a kitchen close to a market. It were bad times, very
bad times and we almost had no money anymore to pay our small room so we also slept
in the kitchen we were working.

Nobody really had money or time to help a 15 year old girl and her baby sister – there
was a war brewing around us after all. China was a strong foe and the bound with
Germany and Italy brought the empire close to a total war, not to mention America which
tried hard to gain back control over their part of China’s market.

I could not understand much of what happened in the following years, almost nothing of
what was going on made sense for me. I neither understood the political situation nor the
War brewing in Europe, I only knew that uncle Tomoe lost his status in October 1941 as
hisown uncle Konoe gotreplaced by someone else. But my sister brought us through,
feed me and managed to keep me under a roof and warm enough to grow.

We left the kitchen we were working in late in the summer of the following year because
the owner wanted wasn’t really nice to me, he always wanted me to come and bath with
him. So we moved over to another part of the city and helped out on a fish market, till
our old helping spirit reappeared after 3 long years of absence. He had been badly
wounded but was giving us another chance – or rather – giving my sister another chance
to work as a Maiko in the house of a friend of him.

I was happy back there, very happy for my sister could use her talents again, and the
okasan, Kagura-sama of the new okiya in Akasaka was a nice woman too. She gave me a
job in the kitchen of the okiya and allowed me to attend school as I turned 6, together
with the other girls who lived there. There were a lot of kids around, either those of the
Geisha’s or homeless girls like I was, but opposite to them I never dressed up or took
part in the training. I was not even allowed to get over into the rooms for the Ozashiki,
not even to clean up over there, let alone the private rooms and baths above them.

Okasan always said I should also become a Maiko trainee and learn to help my sister, but
my sister wasn’t willing to let me do so. Okasan was fine with it and supporting my sister bygiving us free living in exchange for my sister’s service among the Geisha’s of the
house. I cleaned up and scrubbed the wooden floors, collected wood and helped out
when the cook got to the market to do my part.

Anything seemed perfect, till my sister turned 19. I was 7 back there and begun to
understand slowly what exactly my sister did for me. What she sacrificed for me... and I
started to hate it.

Kagome got a bad feeling from the end of the prologue, such stories never ended well.
Her grandfather had said the girl had been a prostitute, probably working down in
Akasake in the pleasure quatiers. Which meant she wasn’t a Geisha or Maiko but a low
ranking prostitute or something like this. She leaned over and wrote up the year and the
name of the mentioned persons, especially that of the mistress of the brothel, adding the
age of the girl and her little sister too.

She sighed and sat up again, looking over to the stone below the plum trees which was
peacefully resting untouched by the rain. Kagome not even knew the name of who she
wrote this essay about, not even had a real clue what exactly was going on in this book
yet and already felt like watching the girl and her big sister fall to prostitution and
poverty by the hands of a money carving brothel matron.

1943 was a comparably cold year and the snow came earlier than in the last 10 years,
accompanied by the uneasy political status of the land and the struggle for the ocean and
islands around. I was unknowing about this and wasn’t sure why I felt that something
was wrong back in these days, perhaps only from what the old baba-chan in the kitchen
told me about war and soldiers going to fight against those marching against the empire.

She told me of her son Mamoru who had died bravely in a attack on a place called
Hawaii. She also said that she in fact not really liked all this bloodshed or the way the
empire attacked in this case – she said it lacked in honour of some sort - but she
understood that Japan needed space, so did her son and she proudly was doing his
honour service at the nearest temple.

Her stories reminded me a lot on my mothers song over the plum blossom, but even
Baba-chan could not directly explain to me why people did what they were doing. She
said it would be the will of the Kami-sama... nobody would be knowing enough to
question those actions, let alone those of the emperor.

She was a bright old lady with a wrinkled face and a rather nasty attitude if someone
dared to say something wrong about one of her helpers of the girls around. She was the
good spirit of the house, moved to Kagura’s House after her son’s death... she often
cared for me when my sister was with the customers in the main house, she also was it
who explained to me why I never was allowed to enter the main house late in the
evenings like the other girls did.

I often sat on the window of our room and watched the customers move around in the
house opposite of the garden, the lights twinkling and the shadows dancing behind the
paper doors, laughing and singing was ringing in the air along with the music of the
Shamisen. The girls hurried across the garden to the main house, their heavy geta’s
clicking to the music and their long, beautiful Kimonos moving in the hurry. The other
girls, the Kamuro, were always with them to help with cloths and hairs of their Oneesans,
like I helped my sister from time to time with her hair and cloths.

Baba-chan also was the one who put me asleep in our little room when the customers
came later in the evenings and she was the one being with me on this one evening with
which anything had started.

She pretended to sleep, but I knew she wasn’t resting. She never was when those men
with the uniforms came – she said because she knew there was one who loved little girls
too – I was too innocent to know what she meant back than but did what she said and
stayed out of sight.

Something crashed and I awoke not thinking much about it, I was used to sounds in the
night when my sister entered our room but this was different. I can remember her voice
so clearly as if it only was yesterday she cried out behind me at the door.

“Okasan... I can’t do this...” Her voice was quivering and I knew she was almost crying.

“You are living under my roof, you are eating my rice and your little brat of a sister is still
alive because of me... without me you would have starved to death years ago!!” I heard
the heavy wooden geta move nearer on the wooden floor and grew tense. “Do I need to
tell you what homeless woman will fall pray to in this times? Do you know what will
happen if I sell you and your miserable little sister to another brothel? One for the lowly
soldiers who come home wounded and tired from the war?” She inhaled deeply. “Don’t
you understand it? This man out there is ready to pay your sticks... and for the
nourishment of your little sister too. He’s a Admiral.. do you understand that? HE KNOWS
THE EMPREROR!!”

“I can’t sell myself.. I am a Geisha, I don’t do such things...I am not a whore..” She gave
back weakly. And I could see the shadow of the Okasan, grabbing for my sister’s arm to
twist it painfully, one of the feathers the mistress carried in her hair falling from them
and to the ground beside my futon.


“No, a Geisha don’t does such things. But you ain’t a Geisha.. you have no money to be a
Geisha... do you think I took you into this house because of your talents or your patron’s
name?” She spit and I could see how she twisted her arm further. “This is a brothel! And
You are mine, without my protection you will be dead. So simply do it...and earn your
sticks for once with some proper work...It won’t hurt you..” I heard a loud sound and the
wail of pain from my sister, than the heavy Geta of Okasan Kagura vanished in the
distance. I barely dared to move as my sister started to cry, just watched the white
feather lay there on the wooden floor beside me.

“Hush child, hush...” Baba-chan moved and crawled over to my sister, taking her in her
arms to soothe her. “Don’t be afraid child...”

“I don’t want to do this...” She wailed and Baba made hushing sounds. “I don’t like to be
touched...”

“You can’t change the way the world is... there are things you don’t need to like but need
to do.“ the old woman spoke and I knew she was right, like my sister seemed to know it.

“But... but what when I...?” My sister babbled and sobbed and Baba-chan just hushed
her again.

“I know ways to prevent pregnancy...and I will care for you... I was a midwife back in my
village” She said and for a while there only was the sound of rustling silk till I felt my
sister slip in behind me in our futon. “Now sleep.. tomorrow the sun will shine again in
the land of the Flower and the Willow.”

My Sister was a flower girl, but not a Geisha.. she never would experience the traditional
ceremonies to become one .She sighed deeply and cuddled up to me, I turned to her,
doing as if I was still asleep and slung one arm around her neck. I knew she cried but I
pretended to still be asleep till Baba-chan had moved back to her own futon.

“Nee-chan are you alright?” asked.

“Kagome? Kagome nee-chan are you alright? Are you asleep??” It called above her and
her head snapped up to find her brother standing before her, a bright red umbrella in his
hand.

“Sota?” She blinked at her brother.

“Moma calls for dinner Nee-chan...”

“Is it that late already?“ She asked, she had totally lost her sense of time with the book.
She collected her stuff and stood up, walking back to the house with her brother. He
babbled something about his school day but Kagome wasn’t listening to him; she rather
asked herself how much more there was waiting in this book. She probably should also
start with the list of sources for the historical part, perhaps there was even more to find
out. She still wasn’t any further with the name of the girl but that would probably come
with the rest of the book, certain facts and such were explaining themselves -the time
and the dates for example- but there was the feeling that she had to investigate about
the places in the books more than just reading about it in the novel.

Who was the poor woman selling herself for her sister?

Tomorrow was Saturday, enough time to work on that one.

“Momma do you need me tomorrow in the shrine?” Kagome asked and looked up from
her rice and vegetables. “I do have homework in history and would like to spent
tomorrow in the library...”

“Sure Kagome, do this. Shall I wake you tomorrow morning or will you get up by
yourself?” She asked in return and Kagome pondered the choices for a moment.

“I will get up myself... thank you mama..”