(x)Title: Beneath the Cherry Blossom Tree
(x)Summary: Hinamori Momo has worked as a maid in the red-light district as long as she can remember. And yet amidst the sex, scandals, and lies, she cannot help but be allured by the desperate mystique of the courtesan's fanciful lives.
(x)Rating: M
(x)Pairings: various
(x)Warnings: It is rated M for a reason. I'll just leave it at that for now. Those who wish to turn back or got in here by an accident, please use the back button on your top-left or the exit button on your top-right. Yes, there will be slash.
(x)Disclaimer: I do not own the anime series Bleach or any of the characters belonging to it
Prologue
"I see the Baron has come to visit Nemu again."
"I don't know why, all he does is to yell at her and slap her around"
"Didn't you know? Her mother used to be his favorite..."
"Good luck to him getting anything out of her... she's like a doll that one"
"Oh look they're disrobing—!"
"Quiet Momo, be quiet if you want to watch."
The silver-threaded obi fell to the ground as the Baron tore the kimono open, bearing the girl's smooth torso into the air. He panted for a while, seemingly tired by the exertion as his fingers fumbled with his westernized clothing. Nemu—Hisui(1)—in contrast looked serene—emotionless—beneath the man. The only indication that the girl was alive was the slight rise and fall of her ribs.
Her thickly coiled hair disarray beneath her head, she attempted to rearrange them into a more pleasing shape. The Baron's hand struck like a snake in the moment of inattentiveness. Nemu's face spun with the force of the slap. The servant girls who had been watching collectively winced as the girl brought a cool hand up against her reddened cheeks. The Baron rolled her over on her stomach, raising her hips so that her knees could them. Parting her legs open in a brisk manner, he positioned himself over his back and began to rut against her in earnest.
Hinamori Momo stuffed a fist in her mouth to stop herself from gasping. A hand fluttered over her eyes in a vain attempt to cover them. She pushed it away, her eyes dark and round as she drank in the sight of two people making love on the tatami mats she had brought in from the sun that afternoon. Nemu grunted softly, her face creasing into a thoughtful frown as the Baron's nails dug into the subtle groove of her hips. The Baron shouted obscenities at her, his pace becoming faster and faster until with a final twitch in his limbs, he came to a stop.
"What are you three doing?"
Giving off collective squeaks of surprise, the three jumped around to come face to face with a boy. The boy was exquisitely built, skin pale and his hair paler still. It had been a source of wonder at first, the cloud-colored hair, and still was rolling past his shoulders in pretence of being tamed. He crossed his arms, the limbs smooth and lithe with sinew. He was dressed in a simple grey kimono knotted with bronze pine at the hems. His oceanic green eyes, so luminous when sought by candlelight, were halved in annoyance.
"Shi- Shiro-chan." Hinamori said, trying to place an admonishing tone in her voice. The boy raised an eyebrow and looked affront as he leaned over to peer at the crack between the doors. Grunting in realization at what the girls had been looking at, he closed the doors and shooed them off the stone steps. Like pigeons, the girls got up and flocked into the yard. Two of the girls looked chagrined and smoothed out their kimono with their hands. The third merely turned up her nose and let the wrinkled fabric fall to her ankles. Noting this Toushiro cocked his head sideways and said sternly,
"The matron did not take the three of you in so you can laze around and peek at private matters."
The pink-eyed Loly's mouth twisted into a snarl.
"The only one lazing around is you—Tsubaki(2)—you lazy slut."
A sharp whimper tore itself out of Hinamori's throat. She bit her lips, clasping her hands beneath her chin. Toushiro seemed unperturbed at the comment, even less at the brown-eyed girl's lack of action.
"At the very least I know I am desired unlike a certain unmentioned..."
"Why you little!"
"Loly don't!"
Menoly, the girl's twin, held her screaming sister back as Toushiro graced them with a flat glare.
"You think you're so great but guess what? You're not!" Loly spat, writhing in her twin's hands. She pulled herself free, scratching Menoly's cheek open in the process. She flew at Toushiro, blood staining the tip of her nails. "You're nothing but a cheap whore!" The slur prompted the dark eyed girl into action. Her fingers curled, Hinamori snatched at Loly's hair and pulled her back.
"Take that back! Shiro-chan is not a whore!"
The girls screamed as they flailed on the floor, limbs tangled against each other's. Loly snapped and bit Hinamori's hand. Hinamori jabbed her elbows into the other girl's stomach and shoved her knuckles up her nose. Toushiro and Menoly forced the two apart, the snow-haired boy pulling his friend into his lap while the girl wrapped her arms around her temperamental twin. Panting Loly pushed her palm against her brow and stared in disbelief it smeared red all over her face. Huffing in disbelief, she tossed her hair behind her shoulders.
"Oh don't act so innocent Momo! You know as well as I do what happens when Ichimaru Gin goes into his room!"
Hinamori cried out,
"Tha... that's different!"
"How's it different huh? You just don't want to admit that lil' Shiro is...!"
"That I am what? A whore?" Loly flinched at the boy's harsh tone and settled down under her sister's grip. Toushiro stared at her in plain disgust, his green eyes hard and narrowed. "That's a statement not a slander and hardly anything worth fighting over." Hinamori's head drooped, her teeth clenched and her eyes tearing as his hands tightened protectively on her arms. He stood up and nodded towards the door behind him, "Enough, return to your duties, you are disturbing our customers."
The twins scampered off; Loly shot the two a dirty look before disappearing behind the corner. Toushiro sighed and brushed the dust off of Hinamori's work garb. For a moment, he stared almost speculatively before leading her towards the water pipe near the fence. As she shied away he thrust his fist beneath the cut bamboo and soaked his sleeves with water.
"Shiro-chan..."
He began to wipe her face, taking care to be attentive near the tender lips and what seemed to be bruises near her eyes. She sniffled, her dark eyes looking towards the ground as he cleaned the bite wound on her palm. When she didn't react, even when he began running water and crude soap over the cuts, he said gently,
"It's alright Momo, I'm not mad."
"But..."
Toushiro sighed again as he finished tying a handkerchief around her hand. Squeezing it briefly, he let it fall to her side and turned around. He looked back at his friend just as he reached his door, a frown mixed with reassurance touching his face.
"Don't worry about it bed-wetter Momo, and stop letting Loly and Menoly get you into trouble"
.
(1) – Hisui; jade, a stage name of sorts for Nemu
(2) – Tsubaki; camellia, a type of flower and a stage name of sorts for Toushiro