Efflorescence

Chapter One: The Brown Haired Maiko

By Autumn Win-Dow

(AoGA House Cup: 500)

"No." Natsume simply stated as he donned his hat and made a swift attempt to walk away from his friends, of whom he hadn't seen in three years.

"Come on, Natsume!" Koko – a cheerful, brown haired acquaintance of his – suddenly put an arm around him and pulled him back. "We haven't seen you in three years, ever since you went to study in Tokyo!"

"And exactly how does this relate to going to an ochaya?" The black haired man snorted as he tried to pull himself away from Koko's hold, to no avail.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Kitsu remarked as he started to walk beside Natsume, and playfully poked the latter's forehead – which was in turn retaliated by a push to the head.

"Fun?! How the hell is being entertained by powder-faced women fun?!"

"Exactly that, Natsume!" The two brunettes rejoiced in unison at the thought of the ochaya – man's heaven.

"What man wouldn't feel happy while being entertained by beautiful geisha and maiko?" Koko sighed, dramatically looking up at the sky.

Natsume could only roll his eyes at the two's babbling.

"Hu, you're not denying it!" Kitsu realised, and Natsume scolded himself for not saying anything, just before he was forcefully dragged in the direction of the ochaya. "Let's go, Koko!"

No matter how much he struggled, a man couldn't beat two men if he didn't have the skills of an elite samurai or a swift martial artist – to which, he wasn't either.

Eventually, they had arrived at the entrance of the ochaya. Knowing that it was incredibly bad manners to offend the geisha who sat inside, Natsume stopped struggling in the grip of his two acquaintances.

Ugh, I'm not even going to try in regards to these two, he bitterly thought to himself before the door slid open, revealing a row of well-dressed, straight backed, and not to mention powder faced, maiko.

Natsume walked forward after the others, and sat himself down atop his lower legs. He could already feel the numbing pain shooting through his body as he bent his knees and stretched his feet. After a minute of being seated, he was already feeling uncomfortable with both the numbing of his feet and the overwhelming wafts of perfume in the air.

He paid no attention to the conversation between Koko, Kitsu and the geisha, as he tried to stay conscious while trying to breathe as little as possible. Suddenly, he felt a nudge from his right, where Koko was.

"Your name," The brunette male murmured as he signalled to the maiko in front of them – of whom the majority were mesmerised by his looks ever since he had entered the ochaya.

Natsume jolted back into reality and faced the women, before speaking his name, "Natsume Hyuuga."

He was about to look back down at the floor when he suddenly saw a hint of brown in the corner of his eyes – which he was sure was hair.

It was a brown haired maiko.

A/N: Okay, then. Time to explain some terminology. For , that's actually a first for me.

Ochaya: Geisha House.

Geisha: A traditional Japanese female entertainer, as well as a hostess. Not to be confused with prostitution or anything related to it.

Maiko: A woman training to become a fully fledged geisha.

I've decided that for this fic, I'm going to try out the writing style of Uncoloured186 - the five hundred words per chapter style of writing. Hopefully, it'll all go well. I've been considering this idea for a while, and I've also been doing research on the particular behaviours and traditions of the geisha, in order to keep this fic as close to the facts as possible. I'll be updating this around every day, or every two days. :)

Reviews are appreciated. :D