All for Love

Disclaimers apply as always. I have, and will, try my best to keep things objective, knowing this is a sensitive topic. But however, keep in mind that anti-Japanese, and sometimes anti-British, sentiments were quite real in Southeast Asia then, especially in Singapore where the British, contrary to their promises, failed to protect Singapore from invasion owing to certain factors.
Again, no offence is meant.

In this story, Misao's a local Chinese girl and Aoshi...well, stay tuned to find out!

Prologue

Misao's POV

Whenever I look into the mirror, I'm amazed by the lines of wisdom that are etched across my face. It's hard to believe that nearly sixty years have passed since all that happened. Sixty years is no short time, especially when you have lived through the Second World War. And what happened to girls like me after the war was even worse...to have people of another race torturing you is bad enough. But when even the people of your own race won't let you off?

I don't hate them--it was only right. I did betray them in a way, and I suffered because of it. But I don't regret what I did, because I found my happiness amid times of strife...and I was not going to let go of it. Some see it the other way, but for that bit of happiness, I'll withstand any amount of suffering and hardship. To be branded a traitor, to be beaten up and nearly killed...that is not half of what the resistance forces who were captured endured.

Neither do I hate the invading forces. True, they killed many, and many suffered under their hands, including my family members. Theirs was a reign of terror. But not all of them were wicked...sometimes, not all those who come into close contact with black ink when end up black( jin4 mo4 zhe3 hei1). You cannot judge a person based on his race, or by his actions...this is one lesson I learnt during those turbulent years.

Many may disagree, but I stand by my words--I've seen through my very own eyes enough to know that those who appear bad may turn out to be good, and those who appear to be good, bad. Some may have said I sided with the enemy, and so betrayed my own people. But I digress--if what I did was betrayal, then what was it that some of the others did for personal comfort? If I'm a 'slut' or 'vixen' because of what I did, what are those people who caused the deaths of neighbours and longtime family friends by acting as secret spies? I did not harm anyone--if I did I did not mean to.

Those years of suffering have been worth it...you can say that I have earned my happiness by pure endurance. Even if it means being called a traitor--or cheap. Only those who have been through the same understand my feelings, though not to the same extent. I did it all for my family...for myself...for the one my heart belongs to. And I don't regret.

Traitor or not? It's not up to you to decide, don't be too quick to judge. Just read my story and then decide...so let's go back to another time...another time where my hair was still long, thick and jet black, where my face was still unwizened by these lines that cross it now.

See the bustling streets below the old shophouses, with rickshaws and trishaws...the street hawkers selling delicacies by the roadside...the Peranakan lady in her sarong kebaya. Hear the chattering and laughter coming from the children playing nearby, the coarse cursing in Hokkien from the men in the nearby coffeeshop...the ticktocking of the noodle hawkers who try to draw customers by hitting wooden blocks together. And then draw your eyes to the girl in the window of the second storey of a nearby shophouse--a girl whose life will soon be changed dramatically. The girl who is taking in the same sights and sounds as you...

To be continued...

Glossary:

Peranakan: Straits born; children of a mixed marriage between Malays and Chinese.

sarong kebaya: the ethnic costume of the Peranakans, made up of a close fitting blouse and a sarong..don't know how else to describe it

Author's notes: Rather angsty I guess but things will cheer up soon. The later part of this prologue is set at around January or February 1942, before Singapore fell to the Japanese. I have (and still am doing) research for this fanfic so I hope that everything is historically correct!

As always, please C&C!