Disclaimer: I do not own the manga or anime.
Parasitic Plant - A plant which lives on, and acquires it's nutrients from another plant. This often results in declined vigor or death of the host plant.
Note: This work is not beta-ed. Please excuse any grammar mistakes.
EDITED!
Shout out to Maeweather: She told me of my mix up between geishas and Oirans. Thank you for pointing that out! I appreciate it.
Chapter 5
My sleep was interrupted by a series of light footsteps getting closer and closer to the room. From the sound and rhythm of the steps it must be someone very short and very light.
'... A child?' Ripping my eyes open I grabbed my coat and jumped up the corner walls next to the door, making my arms and legs support my weight. Chakra was impossible for me to access at the moment and there were too many ninja in the area to try. The door slide open and a young girl of maybe 9-10 walked in and began to fill the laundry basket with dry folded kimono's and towels. My coat was pushed against the wall by my hand and the stray ripped strands were being held between my teeth. My heart was pounding as my sweat was slowly sliding down my face; the last thing I needed was for them to catch the attention of the girl.
"Sayo-chan! Did you get the laundry yet? Mother is gonna be furious if you don't give the girls there clean clothes before the customers arrive!"
"Coming sister!" As the young girl was turning around I threw myself to the other corner of the room and squeezed in between a couple of empty baskets at the top shelf.
'Siighhhh… I need to get out of here fast. Hopefully the rain has stopped.'
The girl took about 3 more minutes to get everything in order before I felt it was safe enough to climb down.
Making my way down the wall I put on my coat and slid the back door a little bit before closing it shut. There were ninja's patrolling the rooftops outside! I couldn't go out that way! My mind suddenly started thinking of all the different things that they would do to me if they caught me and found out who I was and who had experimented on my body. My heartbeat began to speed up and I could feel myself start to loose focus of the world around me; my breathing was harsh and I could feel my chakra start to fluctuate again. I could feel the vines and leaves squirming to the surface under my skin, pushing to break through and cover my body again.
'NO! I will NOT lose control again!' During my attempts of calming down I failed to hear the loud, heavy steps getting closer and closer to the room I was in. When I felt I had a good enough grip on my chakra to try and peek through the back door again, the door behind me suddenly slammed open.
'What?!' Twisting around in shock, I stared paralyzed at an older woman with stern eyes and a frowning painted mouth. Her hair was immaculate and intricately decorated with hairpins and combs while her face, painted with makeup, still revealed age lines, though there were signs of her being once a great beauty. Her kimono was elaborate and rich, made from obviously good material; far better than the one the alley way woman had worn.
'How?! Was I so focused on my chakra that I did not notice her footsteps?! What an amateur mistake!'
"Thought you escaped huh? Well I'm afraid you're no match for me child. This brothel caters mostly to ninja so I have learned to be quite skilled in using the little chakra I have access to, regardless of being a civilian. Now explain yourself! What are you doing in my brothel?!"
My two first instincts were to either kill her immediately and hide the body or to jump out the door and get the heck out of here, but if what she said about catering to shinobi was true then either option would just gain unnecessary attention of the ones near by.
"It was raining and I saw this door partially open. I decided to use this place as shelter until the rain stopped. Forgive me, I meant no disrespect."
Her stare bore into my eyes before glancing at the rest of my face. Pity seemed to seep into the corners of her eyes and mouth, something I was starting to think was going to become a habit with the people in this place.
Peeking from behind her was the young girl that had awoken me and an older looking young girl. They had half fascinated half pitying stares and kept glancing at my arms, legs and face; seeming unable to pick a spot to stare at.
"...What an unfortunate face you have there. If you've come for a place to work then I'm afraid you would not be what our clients would be looking for. And I won't be wasting my time with worthless attendants that won't bring in customers later in life."
"Mother, I don't think she would look that bad if we painted her entire face white. We could sell her to the house down the street, you know the one that's filled with hangyoku!" A cheerful smile broke her face as she grew more and more excited with the prospect of me joining the household.
"...SELL me?...and what on earth is a Ha-hangyoku" This place really was a mad house, less than 10 minutes had gone by in this conversation and they were already talking about me like I was an object to be sold and bartered with, along with calling me strange names. I had never heard of the word before, but to be honest I didn't know much things that didn't relate to being a good weapon. This village wasn't anything that I had imagined it to be, and not for the better. I was ,tired, confused and hungry; all I wanted at that moment was just to go somewhere safe to properly rest. Being seen as a possession to be sold, on top of being called strange names was the last thing I wanted to hear; but if nothing else then at least I wanted to know what I was being called. Knowledge is power, this is something that had been ingrained into my mind since the moment I had woken up.
The girl called Sayo smiled at me before explaining in a loud, cheerful voice, " Its what we call young girls who are bounded to a geisha house and begin their training as geisha! And if you painted your face you would look just like them! They get lots of benefits and are really close by so you could come and visit if you want."
"Enough! Regardless of her face, I am not looking for any more attendants this year nor am I looking to give another girl to the geisha house! Now leave! I have workers and daughters to feed and freshen up for the start of the day!" Her tone was harsh but the pity shown true in her eyes; was my face really that ugly that even when kicking me out she still looked at me with those eyes?
"What's all this ruckus about?" A new voice joined the fray as a beautiful, elegantly dressed woman wandered to the older woman's side, "Oh! Mother did we get a new attendant? Poor thing looks hungry and... oh my! What an unfortunate face! You could almost be cute if it wasn't for that horrible mix mash of skin tones!"
Sigh. I was getting sick of hearing about how 'unfortunate' my face was. Narrowing my eyes, I turned around and decided to leave this mad house before I saw any more people with pity in their eyes glance at me. I didn't want their pity nor did I need it; I wasn't weak to deserve such a thing. Not to mention beauty was nothing of value to me, the scientists and other ninja had reinforced the idea of power and knowledge being the most important thing. The ability to understand and see the world for what it was and the power to change it, that's all that ever mattered to my guardians.
"Wait." The 'mother' called me back as I stepped through the back door. Glancing over my shoulder I wondered what on earth she would want to tell me now. Her eyes were still filled with pity and ...was that respect?
"...Breakfast is being served right now. I'm sure there will be leftovers like yesterday. You can have some before leaving." The older woman must have caught my offended face, because her mouth gave me a wry grin and her eyes softened to something slightly amused. "Don't start with your rant about not needing food, and get over your pride. Your face is pitiful and in this world if someone offers you food you accept it regardless of how much it may sting your pride. We all must do our part to survive, so consider this the only act of kindness I will ever show you."
Sitting in a room full of half dressed prostitutes as they ate breakfast was not something I had ever seen myself doing. What was really starting to tick me off was all those glances of pity they gave me before continuing their breakfast and conversations. The current topic was who were their favourite clients and which ones they hoped would one day decide to marry them and make them their wives. The madam of the brothel seemed to be both amused and exasperated by their ramblings as she finished her own breakfast.
"Chiba-kun is an amazing lover! I've catered to him 6 times this last two months! Perhaps I can seduce him into marrying me?"
"Hehe. Really Sei? An Inuzuka for a husband? You would end up with two husbands since his partner sure isn't gonna leave the house just cause you'd move in! Not to mention I hear they are barely civilized at all!"
"Let her have her dreams Asano! Its good to hope! Isn't it Miyuki?"
A sudden hush filled the room and all the women around me looked at a beautiful woman by the porch. She was clearly the fairest of them all, with her gorgeous coloured outfit and her perfect heart shaped face, resting on an elegant neck and a graceful figure. Her eyes were cold though...eyes filled with bitterness and despair. I knew those eyes.
"Heh. I'm sure Chiba-san is a good man, however in my experience good men don't marry women like us." A bitter smile crossed her face, making the mother of the house give her a pitying glance.
"But... Chiba-san is a ninja! He could accept me, regardless of my profession! And I can accept him!" Sae-san seemed to be getting worked up about this topic, but I honestly couldn't understand why.
"I hope you aren't confusing lust and a need for release for love Sae-chan. Ninja's don't care about us like the rest of the civilians in this village. We are the necessary evil who bring in more income, help their elite forget their woes, pass important information to the right ears and teach their little baby ninja how to pleasure a woman or man. Other than that we serve no other purpose in this village." Her eyes met mine and for once I didn't see pity in them.
"You are both very lucky and unlucky little girl, people who aren't beautiful have a higher chance of being something other than pretty things to hang on someone's arm. However that does automatically take away a natural advantage, if you learn nothing else in your life, remember at least this: Women have three advantages in this world, her looks, her wit and what's between her legs. You still can make it with only two out of the three, but should you ever lose another advantage...well, those kind of women don't last long."
"...What if you have power? If you have power and intelligence you don't need the other two." Looks didn't give you a kekkei genkai or work as a genjutsu, not to mention how easy it is to ruin a look. As for what's between my legs...I don't think that will ever help me get my goals at all, so another worthless 'advantage'. Knowledge and Power changes the world. Knowledge and Power will get me my sibling and leave this wretched place.
A low chuckle broke my thoughts as Miyuki started speaking again.
"I am a tayu, little girl. I have had nobles and elite ninja between my legs, and all of them have underestimated me because of it and my looks. The weaker you appear the more power you stand to gain, and trust me, if you want to survive in this world you are going have to sacrifice everything you've got." Sauntering up, she gave me and the rest of the girls a graceful bow and quietly left the room.
The Madam Mother glanced at me before deciding to impart her little wisdom as well.
"She may be bitter but what she told you girls wasn't a lie either. Perhaps some of you may be lucky enough to gain a husband but you must steel your hearts to the notion that it might not come to pass. Good, honest men do not marry women like us, we would just be trading one life of servitude for another, anyway. Men use us and throw us away after they have taken everything about us that attracted to them. They pit us against one another and then turn around to say that they want a good woman to be their wives. We are not 'good women', we are survivors. 'Good' women are nobles and virgin girls from their home village. If you get a husband, expect him to be shrewd, and having an agenda, whether that is the sex he gets out of you or something else. Nothing worth having in this world is free, and most of you will soon realize that sometimes no matter how hard you try, life will not be fair or kind."
Signalling the attendants to start cleaning up, she shooed the girls to their 'work rooms' and left the porch door open.
Checking around for any chakra signatures, I started to walk away from the brothel house. The outside world was sure more complicated than I had ever thought, but even so, I knew in my heart that I still had a duty to find my sibling.
'Wait for me. I'm coming.'