And so we get the back story on past Mai and Naru...
Mai- About time! This is the 11th chapter!
Rin- Shut up! You get a nice scene in this chapter! (Even if it is the "you" of the past)
Mai- I do? Then hurry up and write it! Jeez!
Rin- Sometimes Mai... I hate you... ¬¬
That evening, Mai chose her best kimono and took extra care not to knock her hair lest it offend "the English Gentleman" as everyone in the Geisha house called him, he had insisted on collecting her from the house himself, an old English custom, and so she sat in her room, making the final preparations. A jade butterfly delicately clung to a gold chain around her neck as its sister swept up into her unusually light brown hair. Two beads of green jade adorned her earlobes and her face was immaculate with black eyes and red lips.
She was grace defined.
But even before the call came from outside her door to alert her of Mr Davis' arrival, she was painfully oblivious to the fact that someone was watching her get ready, and Daiki much preferred it that way; so she didn't hide herself behind shyness as he watched.
He loved her... he had watched her room every night since he'd first seen her, and now that he could meet her in public at parties, he knew that she would fall in love with him too; it was inevitable. When he heard her mother shout that the English gentleman had arrived, he clenched his dist in jealousy... it couldn't be Mr. Davis; Daiki had left him at the hotel and the man couldn't speak anything in Japanese save for "Hello."
It couldn't be him...
Mai almost jumped out of the room in her eagerness, but remembered herself at the last moment and stepped into the hallway lightly. "Thank you mother, will you be joining us?" She asked the older woman who tilted her head at Mr Davis, clearly evaluating how much he might bid...
"I think not tonight Little Dreamer." She decided. "I'll send one of the others to pick you up though." She bowed to Mr Davis and left the room, leaving the two young ones alone.
Mai smiled and bowed to her escort, enjoying the slightly frozen look on his face; no doubt this was the first time he'd not had Daiki with him since arriving in Japan. "Are you by any chance nervous Mr Davis?" She teased, holding back a giggle at his less-than-impressed raised eyebrow.
"Not at all Little Dreamer... Lead the way." He offered his arm which she took, producing a green fan and using it to hide her grin. "Would you be able to teach me some more Japanese tonight?" He asked, a little stiffly, as though he had little experience asking for help...
He must hate his dependence on Daiki... Mai thought, sympathetically. "Of course Mr Davis... I will do my best to be a patient teacher."
"Patient teacher?" He raised an eyebrow as they walked towards the house where the party was being held. "Do you think that I'll be hard to teach?" He asked, looking down past fer fan to see her mischievous grin. "Some friend you are..." He smirked at her small frown and waited for an answer.
"You don't think it will take long?" She asked, disbelievingly, and he shook his head as they walked through the door.
"Try me."
It had been three hours. In those three hours, Mr Davis had learnt enough Japanese to exchange pleasantries when meeting someone new. The two young adults sat separate to the party as Mai gave the Englishman a crash course in Japanese.
"Well done Davis-Sama."
"Thank you very much Dreamer-chan." He smirked triumphantly and Mai smiled ruefully; it was true that she'd underestimated his ability to learn. "But I'll need more practice." He decided. "You'll teach me every two days."
"Really?" Mai giggled, shaking her head. This man is like no one else I've ever met. "Alright then." She said in Japanese, nodding. "Where and when?"
"At the hotel. Sundown. You may arrive alone but I will escort you back home." He decided. "Thank you Little Dreamer." And he lifted her hand to kiss it, taking Mai by surprise.
"Mai." She whispered, leaning close to him. "My birth name is Mai." He looked at her seriously before nodding, not showing happiness or sadness and keeping his face under control.
"Thank you Mai-chan." He whispered and smiled softly.
The night was over quickly and when Mai returned home with her mother, she went to bed with a happy smile on her face.
"Mai-chan." Mr Davis said, sitting back in his chair. "May I hold much tea?" He said, slowly. Mai laughed and shook her head.
"Wrong." She giggled. "Try again."
He glared at her from beneath his dark hair. "Mai, tea." He ordered, sending Mai into fresh bouts of laughter as she shook her head and went to get the man a drink.
He took the tea from her and waited patiently for his next lesson. "Mr Davis..." Mai started but the Parliamentarian shook his head and corrected her.
"Oliver. If I call you Mai in private then you call me Oliver." He decided for her and sipped his tea. "Continue."
"Well... Oliver... I don't mean to sound rude or anything but... you don't look completely English..." Mai said, leaning forwards a little as she spoke. "So I'm a bit curious as to why that is."
She had been teaching him Japanese for three weeks now, and he had come on well, only having a little trouble with the odd phrase, and the two had become close friends.
He was silent for a long moment and Mai had almost given up hope of hearing an answer when he said, in a very soft voice. "I'm not completely English. I had a Japanese mother but she was my Father's... mistress and she died during childbirth. My father and his wife took me in and raised me as English and, because of my father's social position, no one challenges my heritage." He sipped his tea contemplatively. "I got into Parliament with no trouble... and I am, in essence, an English man. I just had a Japanese birth mother."
Mai was silent for a while; she knew that Oliver was a proud man, and so the idea of being illegitimately born was probably a heavy shame for him, and a dark secret. But he shared it with me. She thought, smiling warmly. He trusts me enough to tell me his secrets. Without thinking, she moved to sit next to him; he remained where he was, only turning his head to look at her face.
"Thank you." They both whispered, and he bent his head to capture her lips with his own. Mai wrapped her arms around his neck and he held onto her waist, kissing her gently.
They separated and rested their foreheads together. "I... I love you." She sighed, closing her eyes as he tilted her chin upwards, stroking along her jaw line with one finger.
"I love you Taniyama Mai." He whispered, kissing her once more with more passion and force than before, making her heart flutter wildly and her head dizzy.
I love you. I love you.
I love you.
When it came to the night where Mai was bid for, Oliver had managed to ship over almost all of his family's fortune, which thankfully far outweighed the financial capacity of any of the other bidders. "I'm buying your freedom." He'd said to her, during a night of promises. "I'll not let you be unhappy."
Daiki had bid against his employer that night, he'd run himself into debt and afterwards, in a fit of temper, quit his position as Oliver's translator, unwittingly leaving Mai with the job. When Oliver received a letter one morning, calling him back to England, it wasn't even discussed between them, but Mai was going with him. Once in England, they would announce their engagement, conveniently forgetting that Mai was a geisha to avoid scandal... well, to avoid too much scandal.
However, the night before they were to leave, Tragedy struck.
Oliver waited in the main room as Mai finished packing her last bag, he sipped the tea prepared for him and waited patiently. As Mai came downstairs there was a knock on the door and her mother went to fetch it as Mai ran to Oliver and embraced him.
"Step aside woman or I slit your throat." A man's voice growled, Oliver quickly moved between Mai and the intruder, who pushed Mai's mother into another room, locking the door, before entering the room where Oliver Davis stood between him and Taniyama Mai.
When he saw the face of the intruder, Oliver's eyes widened in horror. "My God... Daiki..." It was over quickly; Daiki lunged forwards with a knife, aiming deep into Oliver's chest, when Mai suddenly pushed him out of the way and the knife instead embedded itself in her back. "NO" Mai!" Oliver shouted, dropping to his knees beside Mai's barely breathing body. He pulled out the knife and threw it to one side as Daiki stared on in horror.
Oliver turned Mai over in his lap and cradled her face, leaning down and whispering in her ear, begging her to live.
"Mai... Mai please... just don't die... don't leave me now..." He swallowed hard as Mai smiled up at him, fighting to keep her eyes open and focussed on his face. "Mai! We're leaving tomorrow morning. We're going on the ship to England. You'll meet my Father and my friends... Mai, you'll like it there. You always say how much you're looking forward to it... If you die... You'll never see it... So you can't die."
"Oliver... I love you so much."
"Mai! We're getting married! We're going to England tomorrow and we're buying a big house and we're having a family! You will not die Mai!" He kissed her, desperately.
He didn't see Daiki behind him.
But Mai saw. As her world turned black, the last thing she saw was Daiki bringing the knife down on Oliver's exposed back.
NO!!!
"Both of them died that night... and Daiki then hung himself from a tree outside." Mai finished, with tears in her eyes. "This was her Geisha house... this is hwere it happened! So you have to find a way to bring her and Oliver back together... Please..." She begged, reaching out to take hols of Naru's jacket.
Takigawa cleared his throat reluctantly. "Mai... there's something we have to tell you..."
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