Prologue
The sky suddenly grew dark as a grey cloud drifted across the sun. the young girl wrapped the shawl tighter around her body. She looked up at the man again, studying his face. He was quite old, and had many wrinkles. He seemed to be forever frowning, with slim lips, in a straight, grim line. His hand was rough against hers, and he tugged her along the road.
They came to a gate, which he opened and quickly walked to the door, pulling her along. He pressed the bell three times, and started muttering to himself, as if to pass the time. The door opened to reveal a young woman, short black hair, and huge innocent eyes. She was wearing a simple black Yukata, and was holding a chubby pig, who occasionally snorted.
"This is the girl." the man muttered. "What do you think?" he gave her a small push towards the woman, and yanked the shawl from her grasp. The young girl gasped, and hugged herself, as if to get more warmth from the thin, cotton dress she was wearing. The lady looked at the girl. She had exquisite pale pink hair, which was shoulder length, covering her forehead, which seemed to be fairly large, although, fairly cute. But what was most striking about her, was her large emerald eyes.
"She'll do fine! Thank you!" the lady beamed at the girl, before giving the man a large sum of money. The man grunted in response, and walked out of the gate. The lady ushered the girl inside the okiya. She pushed her up the stairs, and started to prepare a bath.
"So, what is you're name?" the lady asked, while tipping oils, and herbs into the bath.
"H- Haruno Sakura." she stuttered.
"I'm Shizune, the assistant of the owner of this Okiya. You'll have to make a good impression on her. She really is difficult when it comes to buying new girls. If she likes you, you'll get to meet the other girls. There about you're age." by now, Sakura was sitting in the warm bath, while Shizune brought out a simple pink Yukata, and laid it on the towel rack. She took a cloth and scrubbed Sakura all over, to get the muck and grime off her small body.
"The Head of this Okiya was a great Geisha! She was one of the most popular in the Konoha district! You'll like her a lot. She's strict, but fair." Shizune kept talking.
"Although when she's got hold of sake, she's completely stressful for me!" she muttered under her breath.
Once Shizune had Sakura dried off, she helped her put on the Yukata. She bustled her downstairs to a room at the far end of the corridor, and opened the sliding doors a little, poking her head through the small gap.
"Tsunade-sama, the girl is here."
"In." an strong, low voice demanded. Shizune opened the door a little more, and gently pushed Sakura inside.
The room was carpeted, with a large mahogany desk at the far side. A lady with long blonde hair and chestnut eyes sat at the desk. Her hair was in two pigtails, with a middle parting. She wore a green Yukata like top, which stretched to accommodate her large chest, and black khaki pants. She was bare footed, and held a dish of sake.
Sakura flinched, and shrank under the strong gaze of the woman, who appeared to be Tsunade. She stared at the lady who scrutinized her critically.
"Well, aren't you going to kneel? Manners are needed in this profession."
Sakura immediately fell to her knees, and bowed for the lady. She stared at the carpet and froze in the position. The lady sighed.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Obedience is good. Come here." she commanded. Sakura stiffly walked to the lady, and stood in front of the desk. Tsunade pulled her around to the other side, and lifted her arms. She squeezed them tightly, and Sakura stifled a gasp.
"Not much muscle." Tsunade muttered. " But that can be remedied. Beautiful figure and face. Forehead……we can work with that I suppose, hair and eyes are good." Tsunade turned towards the door and shouted "All right Shizune, we'll take her! The money is on the table by the front door!"
A laugh sounded from the other side of the door. She had been there all that time?
"Already done Tsunade-sama!" Shizune sang.
"Already? What if I didn't like her? It would have been a waste!" Tsunade retorted. She frowned stubbornly, like a child, Sakura noted.
"My instincts never fail! You know that!" and with that, the sound of Shizune's fading foot steps sounded through the door.
"They might one day." Tsunade muttered childishly. "Anyway! You shall start your training tomorrow. You will join the three other girls in their studies of the geisha arts. You shall learn to entice men, to entertain them. You shall learn the art of the tea ritual, you shall dance, and sing, and play instruments. I do not train weak people, so you had better work hard. Also, what I am to tell you next you are to keep silent about. No word of it outside this Okiya, or to anyone apart from myself, Shizune and the girls. I shall train you to be a ninja. But more about that later. It seems that the girls have come to greet you." As if on cue, there were soft giggles sounding from the other side of the door. Sakura, who was slightly overwhelmed by this point (ok, I lie, extremely overwhelmed), slowly turned towards the door.
Tsunade let out a small laugh and barked "Ok girls you can come in and meet her now." the next second, Sakura was being attacked by three other figures. Tsunade smiled fondly at the girls. The blonde bundle attached to Sakura's left arm grinned at Sakura.
"Hi!! My name's Ino! Wow, I really like your hair!! When we get up to the rooms, I have to give you a make over!" Ino concluded her speech with a giggle.
"Not so fast Pig! She's seeing my weapons collection first! It's way more interesting than your make-up! My name's Tenten by the way! Wait till you see my shruikens! I have loads of the-"
"Hey! How dare you call me pig, you…you…bun head!" Ino huffed out lamely.
"Ha! You can't even come up with decent come backs Miss Piggy! Honestly! If you're going to try and insult me, at least use that tiny piggy brain of yours! Even Tsunade-sensei can come up with a better name when she's hung over!!"
"SHUT-UP!! You're all making to much noise!! Get out of my office!! Out!" Tsunade bellowed. The girls froze, and ran out of the office dragging Sakura out with them.
" I think I'm getting a headache." Tsunade muttered, and downed another dish of Sake.
Once the girls were in a bedroom upstairs, Sakura finally got a good look at them. The blonde girl, Ino, had long silky hair in a ponytail and sky blue eyes. She was wearing a blue Yukata.
The Tenten girl had her brown hair tied up in two buns, and wore a forest green Yukata.
The final girl, who Sakura had not yet been introduced to, had short black hair let down, and pale lavender pupiless eyes. She wore a pale lilac Yukata.
"I-I'm Hinata." she said softly and smiled at Sakura. "You get u-used to their b-bi-bickering after a while." she stuttered, motioning towards the arguing girls.
"It's nice to meet you all" Sakura murmured. Ino, who was now ignoring Tenten, inspected Sakura.
"Hrm, you're very beautiful! Your name is Sakura, right? You might have been as beautiful as me if it wasn't for your large forehead." Ino stated
"Hey! Leave my forehead alone! Ino-Pig!" Sakura squeaked timidly, her face scrunched up into a tight frown. Ino stood there and gaped at Sakura.
"Ha! I like you Sakura! Let's be good friends!" Tenten laughed out, after which, Ino emerged from her surprised stupor.
"Why you forehead girl!" she screeched.
