4.

The Consummation of Red Tiger

Yao sat on the edge of his bed. Wu stood before him like a towering mountain over a dismal flower. He cast his eyes upwards at his suitor, who had purchased his virginity for a rather high price. Yao felt discomfort in his loins. He crossed his legs in the uncomfortable, white pants and watched as the maids prepared towels and hot water.

May Leaf, Mother, and Summer Bell spent upwards of three hours describing to him what he must do. They told him how to wash Wu's penis of the blood, how it might hurt him horribly. They admitted that they did not truly know the details for Yao, as he was their first male courtesan. Other male courtesans acted as women and sold their talents rather than their bodies. Yao began to envy them.

Then the image of those haunting purple eyes arose in his mind. He wanted desperately to have this man as his suitor. He did not want the money or even the sheer physical pleasure. He wanted to love and be loved.

He admitted all this to Summer Bell over breakfast before Wu was due to his bedroom.

"Aiyah!" Summer Bell exasperated, "You are foolish to believe that this foreigner will be a suitor. And even if he is he will not meet your expectations. He would hurt you and would not give you enough gifts for your love making. You are a courtesan. You must grow accustomed to fleeting love. You will never be happy if you constantly long for something that you can never get."

Yao turned red with rage. "What do you know?" He spat.

"I have been one for years. Now I am somewhat older. I experienced this love once," she sighed wistfully. Her eyes turned hard. "I am telling you this now so you do not make the same mistakes I did."

Yao reviewed the conversation, seeing Summer Bell admonish him over and over again. She stood now behind a door, waiting in case Yao needed help. Once Wu had finished and Yao had done all the necessary procedures, she would come in and give him herbal tea. "At least we do not have to worry about pregnancy, eh?" she laughed as she explained this latter half.

Wu approached Yao, his shadow dancing in the candle light. Yao rose to his feet and, at Wu's order, began undressing the portly man. He tried to stop his hands from shaking as they undid the western suit and pants, leaving Wu in only his underwear. Wu batted him off and told Yao to undress.

Yao did so.

"Turn around and lie with your belly on the bed."

Yao nodded, slipping naked and exposing the white pallor of his skin. He lay down, feeling a cool breeze swish over his body. His muscles tensed. He knew what was bound to come. His heart began to beat faster, and he felt no arousal—only fear of that thing—that huge thing he had seen poking out of Wu's underpants. He imagined it ripping a large hole through his body. He wondered how his sisters handled it.

Wu's hands felt Yao's body, rubbing against Yao's soft muscles and even flesh. His calloused hands went between Yao's thighs and pushed them apart. Yao complied, closing his eyes. "Do you want me to scream?" Yao asked politely, almost sexually.

"That would be preferred," Wu said. He had purchased Yao for a season, summer, and now Yao would see what the next few months of his life would be like.

He felt a hand brush past his genitals and was tempted to squirm. Then he felt something rigid against him and he let out a tiny gasp.

"I'm happy to see I wasn't lied to," Wu said with a small grin Yao caught in the mirror perched just behind the bed. Yao shut his eyes tight and waited. At first he felt the slow pressing and pushing, like fitting a coin into a slot, and then a thrust that caused him to shriek out loud. He gripped the pillows and pressed him to his face.

Searing pain leaked through his body, followed by a tangled knot of pleasure overshadowed by the initial pain. Hot liquid rushed down his legs. He moaned. Wu continued to thrust into him, sending a new, confused wave of euphoria and agony coursing through him.

Wu's arm wrapped around his belly and turned him around. Wu's cheeks were flushed and his eyes were focused. Yao felt dizzy with pain. He felt as though now there truly was a gaping hole in his body. For a brief moment he thought it was over, until a new, heavier thrust penetrated him and sent his head back, bursting with a scream. Wu gripped his hands. Sweat trickled down his sides. He moved with each thrust, feeling the pain grip his body.

When it was over and another warm fluid filled him, Yao unsteadily sat up. His entire bottom half throbbed. He wiped Wu's now limp member of white matter and red and black blood. Wu turned away. Summer Bell rushed in with the maids.

"Not as much blood as I had," Summer Bell said. She picked up the soaked towel and asked Yao to lie back down. He did, feeling black leak in and out of his vision. He could barely hear Summer Bell, only the echoed thudding of his heart and his raspy breaths. Summer Bell inspected the new tear along Yao's anus with a click of her tongue. "So strange…"

Yao fainted.

When he woke up he could smell bitter tea below his nose. He took greedy sips, hoping the pain would go before he was conscious of it again. He had no such luck. It returned like sharp knives digging into his belly. He grunted and asked for more tea.

Mother shook her head. The courtesans of the house called her "ma" with different intonation, meaning "horse" rather than "mother". Yao prepared the fiery insult, but swallowed it back when she offered him a nearly compassionate look.

"Now you have suffered the first trial, the rest will only be surviving. You will suffer plenty of pain, but that is our life. You can hope to escape, but then you will realize how miserable it is to live on the streets like a dog." She said.

Yao took a long bath afterwards. He touched himself and felt a tingling pain. He retracted at once, finding caked blood on his fingers. He washed himself off as best as he could, wondering how he would use the bathroom while squatting without widening the cut. The thought amused Summer Bell.

The next lesson was about sex, now that he was no longer a virgin. She decided she would propel all her knowledge and wisdom on to him, so that he may be successful, despite being male. They sat across from each other. Yao still felt pain gripping him. He knew Wu would come the following night, having been generous to skip an evening. Yao worried that he was not pleasing enough.

"You must adapt to each man's needs," Summer Bell explained, sipping her tea daintily, "Each man likes something different. Some like role playing, some like anything but the genitals. Yours will most likely be homosexual men or men who want to be adventurous, so you have to decide by yourself. I wish I could help you, really, I do, but there is very little I can do here." She said compassionately. She had the horrible gift of excess empathy. Yao knew. He never wanted to use it against her, only for her.

Destiny's path was changing directions again.

Yao perked up, raising his head from the bed as Wu prepared to enter him, applying a lubricant around his orifice. Wu had said something about destiny.

"I beg your pardon?"

Wu repeated his statement.

"Why do you say this?" Yao asked. Wu bade him to sit up for now and arouse him. Yao did just so. He took Wu's member and applied his learned skills, feeling like a machine and not a human, like this act was no longer something done between lovers. Like this act was a mathematical problem or cleaning up broken glass: a matter of course.

"China is changing, the world is changing, and I can see it in your eyes that the tiger spirit is bound for a new forest." Wu said in his offhanded, candid way. His eyes were impassive, but his cheeks red, a sign that Yao was doing a good job. "I would be careful, Red Tiger."

Yao felt a cold lump form in his throat and the rest of the night passed like a bad dream.