Author's Note: This is what I think would've happen to Hatsumomo once she left the okiya. I don't own the name Hatsumomo or any other people referenced from Memoirs of a Geisha. I made up all the rest of the characters though. I have only seen the movie, but I will probably read the book one day. And the story is told through Hatsumomo's and Tami's perspective; you'll learn who Tami is once you read the first chapter. And if you don't know what a Madam is it's a female pimp.

From Geisha to Madam

Chapter 1

Hatsumomo

It had been three years since I left the okiya and I had made a new name for myself. No more was I one of the top geishas in Gion, but then I was the one of top Madams in the Pleasure District. It was certainly a far cry from the glamorous life I was living as a geisha, but I certainly had a lot more freedom. I could see all the men I wanted without fear of being punished. I had met many men, but all those years I still secretly thought about Koichi and if I would ever see him again. I was finally in control of my life and didn't have to follow anyone else's rules but my own. After I had left the okiya and had to deal with the world outside of the geisha world, I calmed down a lot and became more humble. I had to start anew and I had ruined my reputation a geisha, but I had an opportunity to build a new reputation. I had to get close to a lot of business men in order to afford to open my own brothel which I called, "Hatsumomo's House". It wasn't that much money and after my first year in business I had paid off my debt for it. With the help of the first two girls that worked there; twins named Kichi and Kai.

They were six when they first came and men were willing to pay big money to be with them. Twins intrigued the men and they were able to fulfill their fantasies. Kichi was the favorite however and her name means lucky. A very fitting name because she was lucky in everything she did. She made much more money than her sister and once an American man came and told her four leaf clovers were lucky. He even gave her one and I swear I never found one in our garden, but she's come up to me with three or four at one time. Kai on the other hand was very clumsy, but sweet and unfortunately wanted to help all the time. She would break a lot of dishes and would fall a lot. By the time the first three years had passed I had paid more to replaced everything she broke and her doctor bills than I had buying her in the first place! I never wanted to separate them even though Kai was racking up a huge debt.

Then I got the surprise of a lifetime, an American girl was being sold to me so her parents could afford to go back to America. They couldn't afford three plane tickets and were trying to selling their daughter named Tamara. She wasn't just any American girl either; she was an African American eleven year old girl. She wasn't how I had pictured an African American girl in my mind; she was very light skinned, almost white, had coarse dark brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes. Her mother was the same complexion as she was, but her father was a caramel tone. I could not pass up on an exotic beauty like her and her parents told me they went to every other brothel and they denied her. So I took her in, but I changed her name immediately to Tami, so she would have a Japanese name. I still wanted her new name to be close to her old name though. Tami was a very sweet and loving girl, but as she got older she got more daring and rebellious. When I looked at her the first time it reminded me of the first time Chiyo came to the okiya; she looked very scared and hurt. Tami and I started to get closer as the years when by and I affectionately called her Tami-chan. She was the oldest the whole time "Hatsumomo's House" was open. A lot of American men liked Tami-chan because they could relate to her even though most of them were white, but she was still American.

Then I got another young girl named Etsuko, she was seven when she first came, and she was a feisty one from the beginning. She had tried to run away right after I put her to bed the first night she was there. I had to keep a close eye on her all the time and Tami-chan didn't warm up to her at first and neither did the twins. Especially Kai because those two would always get into fights and over the smallest things like fighting over who got to sit where at the table. In other cases it was more serious things like when Etsuko told me she saw Kai pick pocketing people on the street when Tami-chan would take them to the market. After I went through Kai's things and found extra money, a man's watch, and a wallet I beat Kai. Then Kai tried to smother Etsuko with a pillow as she slept. That was the most serious fight they had in the first years the brothel was opened. And then I got another older girl named Cho.

When I first got Cho, Tami-chan had just turned 12 and Cho said she would be 12 also in two months. They quickly became best friends and would help out the younger kids together. Before it was just Tami-chan and now she had a helper. In the daytime they were always together before everyone had to work. Sometimes they would even dress alike in matching kimonos. It was very nice to see that Tami-chan had someone her own age to talk to because she told me she felt lonely being the oldest one with none of the other girls being close to her age in the beginning. Cho loved to gossip and was very social. She and Tami-chan quickly became the top girls getting the most money. I think the older men felt more connected to the older girls and I think mainly because of their size. Of course being older they were taller and more developed.

I made all the girls call me mother, mommy, or mom whichever they preferred and I felt like I had a little family of my own. Even in our home we were all physically, as well as emotionally, close to one another. The way the rooms were set up was that my room was right next to the entrance and the only thing separating me from the rest of the house was thin bamboo curtains that surrounded my room. The entrance was a little strange; if you went from my room you would take a left then go down a couple steps to the front door. The girl's rooms were much more private than mine; they were four rooms on the right and four rooms on the left. They were all white with wood accents on the doors and the outsides of the rooms. The rooms were so close that Tami-chan joked that she could hear what Cho was dreaming next door; two rooms would share an internal wall. Tami-chan room was the second one on the right then Cho and Etsuko. On the opposite side Kichi was across from Etsuko and Kai across from Cho. Of course when Etsuko came I had to switch the twins around because they would yell at each other across the hallway. It was nice to not have to be alone for the rest of my life which is what I thought would happen after I burned down the okiya. I loved my girls and they loved me and I couldn't imagine my life without them. Even though things would get really hectic at times I still wouldn't trade my new life for my old one. I felt the happiest I had ever been in my entire life although I still felt like I was missing something. It took me awhile to find out what was missing, but once I found it my life was complete.