Disclaimer: I do not own -man.
Warnings: Nothing worth mentioning, really. But of course,Homosexuality. 'Nuff said.
Summary: 1629 – All male cast became a custom when women were forbidden from appearing in Kabuki due to the ubiquitous prostitution of performers and fierce quarrels amongst patrons for actresses' favors. This ban failed to impede the problem though, given that the young male actors were also feverishly pursued by clients.
1629, Japan.
Edo Period.
Many bushi's were all rushing from place to place in Kyoto prefecture that morning. They received an order from their shogun, Minamoto no Arusawa, a direct descendant of Minamoto clan, to ban all females from Kabuki theatres from performing. It isn't their business, really. It was a clear order from above and they had no choice but to simply comply to show that a bushi was following the ethic code of bushido, and loyalty to their Daimyo. However even though they were ordered to removed women from alluring Kabuki plays, they still couldn't help but to remorse the idea. Women were generally the flowers of the plays and without them, Kabuki would be monotonic and will surely be tedious.
Much of Kabuki's appeal in many people especially men was due to the ribald, suggestive performances put on females troupes; this appeal was further augmented by the fact that the performers were often also available for prostitution. Kabuki theatres are sensibly blaring an edgy smell of prostitution and selling of women's precious time. Some patrons were generally watching plays because they were waging for a certain Kabuki actress, whether it's an adult or a young girl. This has always been the kind of offstage activities for Kabuki actresses since many of them were actually presented as prostitutes – be it in exclusive brothels or for a certain patron that fancy their youthful bodies.
But the existing feudal government smelled the backdoor activities in Kabuki theatres and the apparent quarrels among patrons when it comes to Kabuki actresses' attention and time, hence the decision to banned women from performing in Kabuki plays for good.
This news and sudden uproar didn't even perturb a certain Albino boy who presently working as a tsure in a very popular Kabuki theatre in Kyoto prefecture. He was just staring placidly at the commotion outside his window while the women were practically shoving themselves in hope to retain their positions in the theatre as female entertainers but immediately proved futile because the bushi'sdidn't bought their whines. The order of a Shogun was irreversible and unalterable. There was no way in heavens that they could do anything about it. The whines changed into a tumult of rage in the women's part but the bushi's were all ready for the pandemonium and upheaval of the kabuki actresses. So the feisty ones ended up in prisons for one week and the ones who obeyed without shedding any words end up packing their things and leaving the Kabuki theatres in peace.
The white-haired boy's master was particularly not pleased with this. Marian Cross owns the most endowed Kabuki theatre in Kyoto and many courtesans with high caliber works for him. Beautiful women mean both money and companion for Marian Cross. One of them definitely couldn't co-exist without the other in Cross' world, that's why when the Tokugawa Shoguns ordered that the women would be banned from Kabuki theatres, Marian Cross literally seethed with fury.
"Those fucking old runts. I'll toast them alive one of these days." The red-haired entrepreneur said while baring his perfect white teeth that particularly infuriated night with a pipe between his lips while holding strong sake in his left hand. Marian Cross continued to drink. He was a picture of an enraged lover.
Because Marian Cross was a woman and money lover.
No more. No less.
He was a handsome (?) man in his late twenties and red-haired, though men usually worn chonmage. Marian Cross growled when being asked about his hair. He said that he wouldn't shave the pate of his hair even if hell brings itself to earth.
He didn't allowed Allen to be shaved either. Nor the other actors, young and adults alike, inside his theatre. Allen remembered that Marian Cross once called chonmage a haircut for painfully idiotic men.
Allen just imply stared at his master, not even flinching at his callous words. To say that he's used with Marian's attitude would the biggest understatement of the year. He was with him for the past five years of his hellish life and Allen learned to be stoic as possible when it comes to this man. The best way to deal with Marian Cross was to be droning and dull as much as possible. Not eliciting any response from the white-haired boy, the red-haired man turned his head harshly to Allen's side and glared at him like he's the one who ordered the banning. Allen just waited for the storm to pass, and did not dare to blink nor moved from his place. He was also an actor in this theatre house but it doesn't mean that he's receiving the same treatment and wage that normal actors were receiving from Marian Cross. He doesn't receive any payment for his house chores either. In fact, he doesn't received any payment at all. The reason for this was, as what Cross put it, he was under the red-hair's care. His food was free. His clothes were free. His itinerant and house his free. That's why Cross think that he doesn't need any payment at all.
And truth be told, Marian Cross actually also made Allen his debt-payer. With mountain-high debts like Cross, you cannot just imagine how much predicament the stupid man caused to the pale boy.
Bastard.
Marian Cross continued to glare at the young boy, not noticing the small bruises in the boy's exceptionally pale arms that Allen got from his last fall. Looks like he didn't changed at all. He was just like that – clumsy and overly inept.
"What the fuck are you thinking, stupid boy?" Marian spoke like he was eating his words. Allen noticed that his master was already a little bit drunk from drinking since this morning. Allen silently tilted his head to look outside the room's window and saw that it was almost getting dark. He was standing here for almost four hours already.
"Nothing you deem interesting, master." Allen tried to answer as politely as possible. He doesn't want to anger Marian Cross in any way possible in his current state. That'll be a one-way-ticket to hell.
"Hnh. It depends on what I deem interesting, brat." Marian Cross laughed, but with enough hostility on his voice.
Allen wanted to yawn and roll his eyes for this sorry excuse for a conversation that Cross started.
"Do still want to live here, brat?" A few minutes of laughing and then Cross asked him, his face was utterly serious.
No. Who the hell would still want to live in this vile, despicable, contemptible, with you're sorry for an as – "Yes."
He have to restrain his line of thought.
"Hnh. Of course you do. This place is like a paradise to you." Marian grunted, after drinking a considerable amount of sake from an expensive glass.
Allen's eyes were practically screaming 'dreadful lies!'.
Of course, he couldn't afford his mouth that kind of favor that's why he permitted his eyes to do the screaming thing and the sad thing was, it's not as if his eyes could really scream. That's the ironic part of it.
"Yes." The boy answered, feeling his tongue getting burnt for blatantly lying. Well, it's not as if Allen doesn't lie.
As a matter of fact, he do it a lot. Especially if it concern a certain Marian Cross.
A few minutes passed and Allen was already thinking that his master fell asleep on the luxurious western chair when suddenly, Marian spoke.
"That's right."
Allen thought that maybe he missed Marian's words for it didn't make sense to the white-haired boy.
Marian Cross then stood up and steadied his wobbly feet, went to the door and glared directly to the fifteen-year-old boy who was also his apprentice.
"Allen Waker, starting tomorrow you'll be a yarō kabuki, onnagata or oyama or whatever the fuck they want to call them." Cross slammed the door, leaving Allen Walker and his jaw dropped pitifully at the wooden floor of the room, wallowing on the biggest misery he had ever faced in his entire life.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Many chōnins were living quite peacefully in a simple life in Kyoto for most of them were merchants and craftsmen who lived their life at outmost simplicity and though they could buy rather splendid belongings, the chōnins remained glued to the background of the society. They were deemed important because of their contribution to the cultural products and aesthetic ideals. About half of the populations of Edo were chōnins, and the other half were samurai.
There were many mansions surrounded the Edo castle that mainly consist of Daimyō mansions and countless bushi's serving one daimyō after another. All of them had extensive entourages and luxurious possessions that only a feudal lord could own, making them powerful enough to had a position at the current government of Japan. Most of them were government employed and with a rather high rank fitted to a noble blood.
Fujiwara clan was one of the most powerful clans alongside Minamoto clan. They were direct descendants of the previous Emperor. Fujiwara clans hold the position of Kuge. Only the most prominent families of kuge became sesho and kampaku. And one of the most powerful sesho around was a certain deep blue long-haired noble lord.
"What the fuck was happening this morning? I've heard a lot of screaming and it almost broke eardrums." The sesho growled while throwing dagger of looks to his trembling subordinates.
"S-sir! T-the Shoguns o-ordered women to be banned i-in Kabuki Theatres, s-sir!" A courageous bushi decided to answer for it will infuriate the sesho more if not given a proper answer to his inquiry. And an angry Fujiwara was never been good, that, they all know of.
"Che. Stupid commotion. Stupid morons. They should be dealing with more important things rather than wasting their freaking time dealing with society's mere garbage. This is pointless." The sesho turned over, his long hair whipping in the air while leaving his subordinates quiet breathless.
Fujiwara no Yuu.
A noble who was currently the advisor and assistant of the child emperor. He was also skilled in katana – more than a samurai could ever accomplish. That makes him a lot colder and brutally powerful of that he was being avoided like plague by both his own family relatives and subordinates alike. He was a kind of person that you should never ever mess up with, if you still value your life, that is.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Fujiwara no Yuu, or Kanda Yuu menacingly snarled while walking back to his room. He was in a very foul mood today because of the hullabaloo this morning. He was sleeping when he heard that annoyingly loud screaming coming from the downtown.
"Stupid women." Kanda muttered.
The main house of his family was located at the upper town like all the other Daimyo's mansions but he stubbornly insisted to live near the Imperial palace. The Emperor himself already offered him a grand room inside the citadel but he refused. He doesn't need a special room inside the palace. All he need is a place where he couldn't hear any rumbling noises when he was meditating and resting. That's all. And besides, Kanda hates the other nobles because of their rowdy bragging about their powers and positions and whatnot. Even his own relative pisses him off. That's why he decided to settle at the downtown where the Imperial palace was located. It makes his work a lot easier not to mention that he doesn't need to see his maddening cousins and his irritating foster father. Living alone required him to be more attentive to his surroundings because danger was a constant thing in any nobles' life. He refused any guards, bushi's or any companion that his family offered to him when he leaved the main house, perturbing his father to no end. But they should know better – that when Kanda decide about something, it's definite and final.
It was also easier to get to the imperial palace whenever the Emperor needed him.
He snarled again when he thought about his work. Well, he had nothing against his work. What aggravates him was the kid emperor. The kid emperor pisses him off. Hell, everyone pisses him off. If Kanda could just strangle the dimwit, he would gladly do so. But he was supposed to take goof care of him, assist him, until his coming of age hence, he should restrict himself as hard as possible.
"Che."
He entered his own house that he bought from his own savings – a luxurious and spacious room where everything he needed was already there. The place was airy and Kanda liked it. He could meditate and had tea in peace here. Something that he just couldn't do at the main house. He rumbled in annoyance again, remembering his foster father being… exactly like that – a painfully idiotic father.
Kanda placed his katana near the door, sat and closed his eyes. His mind unconsciously wandered somewhere and someone that Kanda couldn't seem to forget – a certain boy with a complexion as pale as the moon and hair and white as white filament.
.
.
Fuck.
He was drunk. Kanda knows it.
And It was freaking eleven in the evening.
He was walking home from a drinking party at the Imperial palace one evening because he couldn't refused the Imperial Queen and her invitation to her son's mini-revelry as thanks-giving to him for his unperturbed support and assistance to her son.
"Che. Support, my ass."
He tried to compose his unsteady feet, a violently sighed escaping his lips. He will not drink again. Fuck all the queens in the world but Kanda will not drink again.
Ever.
He was already going to turn left when he saw a glimpse of white hair running past at him – then not a meter away from him, the said white-haired person fell on the cold ground, obviously wincing on some kind of pain, evidently feeling ill because he/she was trembling all over. His/her legs were adhered together like he/she was trying hard not to pee. Kanda was about to walk again, not caring if the kid was going to die from some strange disease there – he wasn't exactly a Good Samaritan or whatsoever to pry into somebody's business and help someone he doesn't even give a fucking damn. However, the soft whimpering of that trembling voice send shiver to the inner fraction of his body and made him stop from moving to his place. He furrowed his eyebrows as he turned again to the slumped body not too far away from him.
"Fuck you." Kanda snarled at the limp body in front of him but picked it up nonetheless like a sack of rice. It seems like the kid passed out or something.
"Fuck this all. I'm drunk. I'm stupid. And why the fuck am I even bothering with you huh?" He muttered, snarling to himself, knowing perfectly that the kid on his shoulder wouldn't hear him. But he said it anyway.
The body was still quivering.
"Che."
He reached his house and threw the kid to his futon. He stared at the unnecessary problem he brought to himself and noticed that it's a boy. But he was incredibly pale. And what's with his white hair? Maybe he was just fifteen or sixteen. But his face looks more younger than that. If someone would ask Kanda he would say twelve or thirteen.
"Hnn…"
He noticed that the boy was sweating a lot and he was still moaning. His face was flushed and he kept on fidgeting, rubbing his legs together.
"Nnn…"
The whimpering continues.
Then Kanda suddenly became aware of the boy's predicament.
"What the fuck…?"
The pale-haired boy was drugged, Kanda was sure of it.
.
.
.
Author's Notes:
I know… I know… I still have Ich bin verletzt to finish but as of now it's currently under 'grammar' renovation (Yep! I'm presently editing it now). I know that I've been too tired (and downright lazy) to edit and beta'd my own work (although I'm quite aware that I might still miss something along 'my own editing process' but at least, the grammar should be somewhat… urm, acceptable, or something like that). When I read them yesterday my eyes couldn't believe that it was that crappy and… and… argh.
Anyway, let's get down to business, shall we? I've used a lot of Japanese words because I deem them necessary for the story. And I admit that this is the most ambitious fan fic that I've written so far. (Help me, God)
The period used was Edo period and it was only natural to use words that I know will have a much stronger impact if used as they are (rather than be stubborn and insist on using English translations). Besides, I find it sexier that way. XD
Okay. Edo period/Kabuki 101:
Tokugawa Shogunate was feudal regime of Japan in 17th century that was ruled by Shoguns. Shogun literally means 'a commander of a force' or simple General. In order to become shogun, one traditionally was a descendant of the ancient Minamoto clan, hence the name Minamoto no Arusawa (a fictional name that I made up to fit the history reference thingy). I kinda twisted the Japanese feudal regime history here because the Fujiwara clans' political powers should be already lost by the time that the Shogunate ruled in Edo period because their place was overtaken by the Daimyō's, lost most of their financial basis and were no longer in a position to act as patrons of culture though they still maintained their cultural influence and court culture. Only in Meiji restoration that kuge merged with the daimyo to form a single aristocratic group, the kazoku, and that was around 1860 (if I'm not wrong).
So don't sue me… Sniff. That's why this is called fan fiction...
In general, most kabuki actresses were Geisha's but according to my research, they were more common in Noh Theatres. By the way, there are three types of Classical/ Traditional Theatre in Japan – Noh, the silent theatre, Bunraku, is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater and lastly, Kabuki Theatre, a musical drama.
Glossary:
Bushi (samurai)
Shogun (A commander of a force/ General)
Bushido (which translates as the way of the warrior. This has the meaning of loyalty to one's master, self-discipline and respectful, ethical behavior)
Tsure (the companion of shite)
Shite (the main character)
Chonmage (a Japanese traditional haircut back in Edo period)
yarō kabuki (young man kabuki)Wakashū (young male)
onnagata or oyama (female-role)
Daimyō (a feudal lord)
Chōnin (a social class emerged in Edo period. The majority of chōnin were merchants, but some were craftsmen as well)
Kuge (a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century)
Seshō (a title given to a regent who was named to assist either a child emperor before his coming of age, or an empress)
Kampaku (was theoretically a sort of chief advisor for the emperor)
.
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Next update? I really don't know… Actually, I really don't have any idea why I posted this story here… [sigh]